Nokia And Yahoo Continuing To Prosper

IrishDev.com takes a look at whats going on between Nokia and Yahoo! with word out that Yahoo! are extending their operating services into the new range of Nokia mobiles (6300, 5300) which will include in-built Yahoo! Mail access. You will also be able to synchronise Yahoo! contacts, tasks and calendars through the PC with your Series 40 mobile.

In addition to the millions of users who can add Yahoo services to their S60 smartphone, today’s announcement empowers tens of millions of people (in relation to S40 users - Ken) with the ability to enjoy their favourite Yahoo services on an even broader ranges of Nokia devices

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Canada: Its only Tuesday

Its only Tuesday and the week is going great, which means of course that once tomorrow breaks we’ll be heading into the business end of things but have to say I’m still in awe of the place.

Monday I didn’t even get near the science centre choosing instead to wander up Queen and into the Eaton Centre, a huge (and I mean huge as in it would take you a WEEK to walk around it) shopping mall. So huge was the case that we entered on the second level, made a bee-line for the Apple store and ended up spending an hour in the place where I fell in love with a Mac Book Pro, played around with it for 20 minutes and spent the rest of the time just browsing and testing, browsing and testing. Left the Apple store and checked into Indigo, another HUGE store (this time going for books, cds and more Starbucks) which clocked us up another two hours. Honest to God you’d need the week to get around, whether we head back before the week is out remains to be seen.

Today however it was on to the Ontario Science Centre to check out their exhibits which pretty much took up the whole afternoon. The phone is slowly clocking up some photos but I’ve yet to get a way to take them off the camera and onto the web.

Tomorrow I’m gonna check out the One Of A Kind Show and maybe drop in to the Hockey Hall Of Fame, see how the day goes.

There’s always that Mac Book Pro tho….

Nokia N95 Video

Via slashphone comes this video (below)

Canada: Enjoying The Session

It takes an Irish man to make a session and thats just what happened last night, sitting in a pub called Dora Keogh’s (next door to Allen’s where we had been on Saturday night after the game) we were enjoying the sessiosn - a few fiddle players, uilleann piper, flute, box etc. Up stepped my father for a song, brought the place to pure silence. Welcome to Toronto!

Spent the day crusing around, drove out to Unionville, an old-style town smack bang in the middle of all the modern developments around the city, enjoyed some good coffee, took in some of the sights and sounds. Also managed to something I wouldn’t normally do - go to mass.

Though it was being more of a tourist attraction, the church seemingly an “eco-friendly” one but really interesting to see how mass was held in this huge building - so far removed from your average parish church, floor to ceiling windows staring out at massive condos, a huge sound system and a priest with a wireless mic, sharing the mass between two alters at either side of the church.

The Guinness isn’t fantastic but the local brews are impressive. Off to the Ontario Science Centre (I think) for a few hours this afternoon, see what the craic is there… The body has finally settled into local time as well, makes things a little easier in the morning!

Nokia N95? Whats All The Fuss About?

There might not be wireless access as a standard, and there might not be GPS built in (which was a plus in me choosing the iPaq 6515 at the time) but there’s still enough to cause a fuss about with Nokia releasing their sexy N95 model in the new year.

Check the review here on Nokialist.

Canada: So The Maple Leafs Lost

One full day in Canada behind me and it was some day. The gourmet food and wine expo was fantastic. I was there around two hours, you paid for your entrance and then bought “sample tickets” (with the average sample - glass of wine, glass of beer, plate of food) costing you two “tickets”. So we strolled around, tried four or five different wines that I know I wouldn’t see in the off license in Kilkenny, had a ‘Niagra Blonde’ beer, tried a savage plate of pasta cooked in vodka sauce and topped it off with a Razz-Apple Sour cocktail.

All of that before heading across to the ACC (now that I know the ACC stands for Air Canada Centre) to catch the Toronto Maple Leafs in NHL action against the Boston Bruins. The Maple Leafs lost but I’ve been following the NHL for a decade and the result was never going to matter to me - the sheer atmosphere in the arena, the over-priced beers (at CN$9.25 a pint, the hotdogs that taste every bit as good as they smell - start to finish it was simply a great event.

After that it was taxi ride back to Allen’s on Danforth (bit of an Irish connection) where we caught a trad bands, a few bottles and home to bed in the wee hours.

Have to say - Toronto is MASSIVE, but just so easy to get around. Everything is grid-like, everything huge. Been years since I’ve been this side of the Atlantic so I’ll make no apologies for my awe! Have to find a way to get these pictures off my phone and up into that flickr account….

Now for some breakfast….

Canada: We’ve Landed

After a near 7 hour flight we touched down in Toronto around 4am Irish time. Of course, typical airport style we were waiting well over an hour for the bags to get off the belt and out onto the concourse. Great flight all the same, have to hand it to Zoom airlines, they kept everyone fed and watered, handy in-flight meal and Belfast International is a pure breeze.

If you EVER have to fly to Canada, head for Belfast. We got into the airport around 5:30, bags were put through at 5:35 and that was it. No queues, no grouchy passengers - straight to Starbucks for their caramel hot chocolate (two of them to be exact) and a quick look around the duty free before boarding around 8:30pm, flying out a half hour later.

Nothing like doing 550mph at 34,000 feet. The trip itself was around 5,500km give or take. Tired as hell now this morning, ended up sitting in the house, two bottles of beer some cheese and crackers and off to bed around 7:30am Irish time.

Its off to the Gourmet Food & Wine expo before taking in the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Bruins.

Of course I’ve also discovered that the blog looks rather strange in IE7… what happened there?

Leaving For Canada (One Week)

I’m off to Canada until next weekend where hopefully I’ll be able to blog from. Surely they’ll have internet cafés over there!

Here’s to Toronto…

Away To Canada I Go

Well not exactly just yet, my flight doesn’t leave until around 8 tonight but we’re going for a good breakfast, hitting the road for Belfast to get there in time for an evening bite to eat. Then, its off to Canada, arrving in Toronto around 10pm local time. Who knows what the blog situation will be like but now that I’ve actually uploaded photos to my flickr account I might just be tempted to snap a load of shots in Toronto and get some online.

Ah I’m just looking forward to my first proper break away anywhere possibly since I started college back in ‘01. Roll on the food, drink, sights, snow….

Have a good week!

Online Duty-Free Scrapped

RTE report this afternoon that proposed plans to allow the online sales of duty-free cigarettes and alcohol have been scrapped by the European Court of Justice. It would have been seen as a golden opportunity for Irish online shoppers (who would be smokers and drinkers) seen as the price of above items in Ireland is a tad on the ridiculous side.

The ruling is a blow to Europeans hoping to buy cheap alcohol abroad via the internet.

The Luxembourg-based court upheld the current interpretation of EU rules, which state that in order to benefit from cheaper taxes elsewhere, consumers have to travel to the EU country in question and pick up their purchases.

I’m not a smoker myself and while I certainly enjoy a large bottle on the bar at the weekend, paying €5.30 a go (in the cheaper pubs) is a bit outlandish, even if most of the stuff we get in Kilkenny is brewed here in the town.

Though, seen as the prices of flights continue to fall, you can likely pick up a flight for what would have been the cost of your shipping for heavier goods (beer) online…

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