Wise Words for You

The original Apple iPhone was a  love it or hate it device  - and incredibly slick and stylish handset, but one with a number of serious flaws. The replacement iPhone has been  rumoured  for months and  finally  we can see what Apple have kept  very  secret - the new  Apple iPhone 3G . Billed as "Twice as fast. Half the price", the iPhone certainly addresses two of the key concerns of the original - that it was expensive and slow. Looking quite similar to the original iPhone, the iPhone 3G has a slightly curved back and a number of cosmetic improvements. As well as being available in black, the iPhone 3G will be available in a more traditional white colour, but of course the main differences are under the hood. Obviously, the iPhone 3G supports 3G. But it's also an HSDPA phone, which makes it 3.5G. In addition, the iPhone 3G's tri-band UMTS support, plus quad-band GSM, GPRS and EDGE data means that the iPhone 3G should be ab...

You become whatever you think about deeply. Think only about peace, love and happiness. Feel these values as part of your life and you will become them.

Apple have announced that O2 will be their exclusive partner to distribute the Apple iPhone in the UK. Following a similar business model to Apple's deal with Cingular (now AT&T Wireless) in the US, the iPhone wil carry a premium price tag, and Apple will also receive a share of the revenue - as far as we know this is a completely unique arrangement in the UK market. Pictured to the right are O2's Matthew Key and the legendary Steve Jobs from Apple showing off the new device to the press. The iPhone offered by Apple and O2 in the UK is absolutely identical to the US model. This is a pretty familiar device to most  Mobile Gazette  readers so we won't dwell on it for too long, but very briefly this smartphone with a large touch-sensitive screen, WiFi and a two megapixel camera which has won praised for its slick interface. The Apple iPhone is not without criticism though - some of those have been down to odd quirks in the interface, the difficulty in dev...

Ignorance is like a deep sleep in which you dream you are still awake. It is a disease of humanity. The human soul forgets who it belongs to and starts reacting without referring to spiritual values.

2007 was a key year for the mobile phone industry, when big-screen smartphones really started to capture the public imagination. However, over at Nokia this point hadn't really struck home and they continued to do what they had always been good at - making phones look interesting instead. A number of product were launched in  August 2007 , but headlining the releases were the first two handsets of Nokia's "Prism" range - the  7900  and  7500 . Both these phones featured a repeated triangular pattern across the front and back, and the same theme was carried on in the user interface itself. In most respects these were pretty conventional feature phones, with the 7500 being a standard GSM affair. However, the Nokia 7900 Prism was also an early example of OLED display technologies, and this supported 3G as well. Nokia 7500 Prism (left) and 7900 Prism (right) Moving away from the polarising design of the Prisms, the  Nokia 6555  was an extremely elegant cla...

When I am continuously being battered by the storms of life, and my very spirit is ebbing away, then all I need to do is hang onto that gift called ‘Faith’, that one support which will weather the storms. Faith does not depend on a clever head, only belief: belief in the self and the strength that lies within. Faith is the seed of victory and the foundation of making the impossible possible.

I have seemed to have mentioned this many times before, but 10 years ago saw the launch of one of the most successful consumer products of all time, the Apple iPhone. An elegant device, the iPhone is really an appliance that locks customers in to the Apple ecosystem with strict limits on what they can do with the device. But what if there was another way?  OpenMoko  certainly seemed to think so with an approach where everything was “open” instead of “closed”. Launched ten years ago this month, the  OpenMoko Neo1973  was designed purely on open source software that users could theoretically do anything with. Even the hardware was designed to be hackable, and a knowledgeable user could do virtually anything with what was in effect a tiny open source computer. For people who wanted to tinker with the OpenMoko kernel or do other advanced tasks, a debug board would become available too. The phone itself seems a bit primitive by today’s standards. A 2G-only de...

People are often unreasonable, self-centred: Forgive them anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you, but be honest anyway. What you spend years to build, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway. You see, in the final analysis it is between you and God; it never was between you and them anyway.

1977 saw three key products launched that helped to bring microcomputers into homes and businesses. These were the  Commodore PET ,  Apple II  and the  TRS-80  which was launched in August 1977.  The TRS-80 (later called the TRS-80 Model I) was sold worldwide through  Tandy  and  Radio Shack  stores, and used a Zilog Z80 processor - this gave the computer its "TRS-80" moniker. Designed relatively quickly, the TRS-80 was both versatile and troublesome which gave rise to a nickname of "Trash-80". Despite the problems, the TRS-80 was a significant commercial success and several other products were released under the "TRS-80" name over the years. Back in 1977, Radio Shack owned over 3000 stores in the US with hundreds more worldwide either using the "Radio Shack" name or the "Tandy" name of its parent company. Inspired by the success of the  Altair 8800  launched in 1974 and with a desire to sell higher-ticket items, Radio S...

If I am always comparing myself with other human beings, I will either suffer from ego or jealousy.

On October 5th, 2017, a year and a day after the October 4th, 2016, unveiling of the Pixel and Pixel XL, Google will take to the stage again to announce its Pixel 2 generation of devices. This is according to prolific leaker and spoiler of well-kept secrets Evan Blass, who has  tweeted  the date along with confirmation of the processor spec for these new phone. Not only is Google repeating its original Pixel strategy with the date of the launch, it is also apparently taking the same approach with the SOC. The 2016 Pixels came with a Snapdragon 821 that was slightly revised from the 820 chip that everyone else had been using up to that point, and the next Pixels will be built around a Snapdragon 836 that’s marginally better than the current 835 flagship part. Word of this was  first reported by  Fudzilla  a month ago. In that report, it was indicated that the 836 SOC would have slightly higher maximum speeds for both CPU and GPU, and that it would offe...

We all have three eyes. Two for looking out and one for looking in. Why would we want to look in when everything is happening ‘out there’? Because the treasure we seek is inside, not outside. What is treasure? Beauty, truth, peace, happiness. You already have what you seek. You already are stunningly beautiful. You are already peaceful and loving. How come you don’t know this? Simple, you never look inwards, beyond superficial memories or recent experiences, so you never see your own riches. Take a moment to stop, look in and see. Don’t rush. Don’t search. Just look. And be aware.

People on the internet seem to think Apple CEO Tim Cook is carrying around the next iPhone, as evidenced by a photo he tweeted today of a visit to a manufacturer. Could that bulge in his right-hand pocket be the next iPhone? Is this how low we're going to go for iPhone rumours? (Yes.) Here's what this photo tells me, if that even is the next iPhone in his pocket: the upcoming iPhone will be rectangular in shape; it will look quite large in the pocket of a six-foot-something man; and it might draw some attention to your crotch. What do you see in Tim Cook's pocket? I wouldn't have thought much of this photo, other than maybe,  wow, Tim looks happy to be in Cincinnati and in a manufacturing plant , but the internet is forcing me to think about this phone-shaped object in Tim Cook's pants. Thanks, everyone.

The wind may blow from any direction, but the direction in which you go depends on how you set your sails.

Patience teaches us to sow the seed in the form of right actions and to allow the fruits of those actions to ripen in their own time. I don’t need to think about the future benefits of what I do now, because I know I will receive what I need when the time is right. If I let go of expectations and allow things to develop in their own time, I will be able to enjoy what I am doing in the present, and the future will automatically become good.

Don’t let the distance to be travelled deter you from taking the first step.

Choose a day as your day of simplicity. Speak little, and listen with attention. Do something incognito and nice for a person you are close to. Eat simple and natural food.

Life experiences are like sentences – we are always looking for the full stop, the conclusion. It’s OK to end a train of thought, but not thought itself. Thoughts are the beginning of our creation and are here to be creative. Thoughts are like the magic carpet on which the soul rides across eternity – in reality, there are no endings, no conclusions. Rest for the spirit (which is what we are) is when we allow only the current of the purest thoughts to flow through our mind – thoughts which carry good wishes and blessings for ourselves and others.

We are normally kind to people who are kind to us. But when someone is not behaving well, we tend to change our attitude, response and behaviour toward that person. We wait for the other person to change before changing ourselves. So we do not find change in others nor in ourselves. When I see others’ inner qualities I connect to them more easily. I will not be dependent on another person’s behaviour for my own growth today. I will see each person’s positive aspects and take them within myself. In this way I will become richer with each interaction.

When you look at the world through your physical eyes, you will see all the facets of our diversity: culture, race, personality, religion and so on. Seeing only through your physical eyes, it is easy to become stubborn and to try to prove yourself right. However where there is stubbornness there is no love. And trying to prove the self right is equally offensive. A diamond will sparkle even in the dust; you do not ever need to prove that you are right. In the face of the dangers that come from seeing only with the physical eyes, always think: now is the time to go beyond all divisions, beyond all that limits us and our sense of self. Whatever the race, the religion, the class – our consciousness now has to go beyond all of that

TRUE HAPPINESS comes when my mind and the senses have become quiet and peaceful. In that state, there is spiritual power; we are performing actions, but free from desires and free from attachment to what we do. Such happiness finishes any sorrow that comes to us. Take time to find that quiet and peaceful place inside and happiness will stay in our hearts forever.

The lotus is a symbol of purity, Its roots are in the mud, but the flower remains above dirty water. Live a lotus life. Be in the world, but unaffected by impurities.

The most important places to keep clean and tidy are my mind and heart. If I allow thoughts to flourish that I wouldn’t want to see the light of day, I can never have any real self-respect. By starting each day in quiet reflection and pouring positive, loving thoughts into my mind, I gradually clean out cynicism and unkindness.

ABELLIO has won the West Midlands franchise, ending a decade of control by Govia. The London Midland franchise began in November 2007, and has been extended several times beyond its original termination date of September 2015. The new operator is a joint venture of Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui. The routes between London, the West Midlands and Liverpool are set to receive an investment of almost £1 billion, said the Department for Transport. The fleet will be boosted by 400 new vehicles, which are to be in service by 2021. The larger fleet will offer space for 85,000 more passengers on rush hour services, according to the DfT. The new nine-year contract includes compensation for delays of more than 15 minutes, in line with the DfT’s policy of progressively introducing the 15-minute trigger as new franchises are agreed. The franchise also marks a step towards more devolution, because trains on local routes in the West Midlands will be jointly managed by the Department...

Tolerance means to bounce back even when thrown against a very hard wall. The ability to do this comes from sensing that life is a game and that all things move in CYCLES What is uncomfortable now will soon change. Tolerance is like saying yes to the game and enjoying it.

NTA Announces Go-Ahead as preferred bidder for bus routes in Dublin Chief Executive of the National Transport Authority Anne Graham said: “This is ultimately about improving bus services for Dublin and NTA is confident that passengers will benefit from this decision.  We believe that a new operator in the market will bring a fresh dimension to the way that services are offered. Introducing new providers encourages everybody to focus on their customers’ needs and it encourages innovation and improvements to service quality. “It has also been the experience internationally that introducing some level of competitive tendering into PSO services like this, usually results in a better deal for passengers and for the public in general. “Under the provisions of the tender, not only will service levels on the routes in question be maintained, they will actually be increased by about 35%. So passengers in areas served by these routes have absolutely no reason to worry about th...

The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

The Docklands Light Railway turned 30 years old recently, and rail bosses marked the milestone with a new map and guide on how to get the most from the service. TfL's latest map of the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is aimed at making the rail link easier to navigate. The new multi-coloured design shows the different branches between Bank, Tower Gateway and Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal, Beckton and Lewisham. TfL also released a guide '30 things to do by DLR’ as they announced 122 million people use it each year. The step-free DLR has now grown to become the 6th busiest railway in the UK and has been extended six times to meet east London's rising population. The spruced up map shows the routes through east London  and published by Transport for London Danny Price, TfL’s Director of the DLR, said: “The DLR has been an integral part of east London for 30 years and we are proud of the contribution it has made. “With a growing population, and cont...

The less I think about doing something and the faster I just get on with it, the fewer problems I cause myself. Good planning is always helpful, but time spent fretting and procrastinating is a major drain on my energy.

Ignorance makes you believe that life functions haphazardly. Wisdom teaches you that everything that happens in this theatre of life has profound significance. What you see today is not the fruit of chance but a fruit from seeds planted in the past. Plant seeds of peace now and you will create a life of peace in the future.

No matter how capable, talented, efficient or extraordinary an individual may be, without co-operation from others, no single person can develop their personal skills. Neither can we implement a task without the assistance of a parent, a teacher, or mentor. For example, an actor or singer needs musicians, producers and directors and especially an audience in order to express themselves successfully, despite their innate capacity for creativity and entertaining others. Being able to appreciate the contribution of others and being open to that influence always facilitates the fulfilment of task or a talent. It is said that even God – as powerful as God is- cannot accomplish a divine task without the assistance of His angels.

A wise soul opens the window to the future by closing the doors to the past.

Spirituality teaches me to see my responsibility and what causes I am setting in motion by my thoughts, words and actions. I just have to fulfill my responsibilities and the rights will automatically follow, because they are the effect. This may not happen immediately, but it is inevitable. The law of cause and effect, action and reaction, the law of karma is an integral part of spirituality. It gives us a basis on which to make right choices and create a beautiful future for ourselves and the world around us.

When someone lightens up your life just by their presence, you can be sure they are emitting a very positive energy. When someone puts a damper on the meeting or a conversation, you can be sure there is some hidden inner baggage which contains sorrow and darkness. Which do you bring to the party? A little light or a little dark? A lot of optimism or a little pessimism? In olden days, before one switch could illuminate a whole city, one candle had to be lit by another. So if you are aware that you are carrying a little darkness, perhaps it may be useful to spend time with someone whose inner light is already lit, and stays lit in all circumstances. Eventually we may learn the art ourselves, and then serve as a candle to others.