I love RapidShare.de. RapidShare is a free file hosting service. Anyone can simply head over to the site, use the upload feature to quickly upload any file to their servers and in return you will be given a special URL for the uploaded file. One can use the URL to distribute/share/save any sort of files. Rapidshare takes off the bandwidth burden from having to host a file on one's own server. It is awesome for use as sharing large files between friends while on MSN Messenger - which so far is a pain-in-the-butt especially when there are firewalls on either side forcing Messenger to use data proxying via their servers.

There are also entire communities devoted to sharing files over online file sharing services and RapidShare stands tall among them all. There are gigabytes of ebooks, videos, applications, photos and songs on RapidShare - all one has to do is to find it. A simple search on Google for RapidShare'd linked will turn up a lot of hits but more effective is locating a place where the stuff you are looking for are posted. Ofcourse, the question whether the shared/posted content is illegal or not boils down to the fact that uploading/downloading copyrighted, commercial material is covered under the same rules and regulations as that done on Peer-to-Peer services like KaZaa, LimeWire and the lot.

I had been using the free service for quite sometime. I even used it to share that Maldivian tourism promotion song here on my blog. If you are a serious downloader, then the premium (paid) service is well worth it - it has no delays, no time restrictions, no speed restrictions and download managers are supported. I've had solid 4000 Kb/s (total on 4 simultaneous streams) download speeds from RapidShare servers - it's not speeds I seem to get from many other servers well except for the almighty Microsoft downloads.

There are other file hosting services too: MegaUpload, MegaShares, UploadGalaxy, ZUpload are a few...

Dump that LimeWire. HTTP downloads rule!

I don't think it is not official yet but Dhiraagu has deployed EDGE service on quite a few of the mobile base stations around Male' and Hulhule'. EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution) is an update to the now familiar GPRS data services everyone uses to browse internet and send/recieve emails and MMS from mobile phones.

The coolest thing about EDGE in the perspective of end-users is that it provides three times the speed of GPRS. EDGE has a theoretical limit of 473 kbit/s while the usual EDGE over TDMA implementations can clock speeds of 384 kbit/s! Dial up and standard ISDN connections indeed do pale in comparison to the data speeds of EDGE. However, few of the current popular handsets in the Maldives seem to be EDGE capable. Accordingly, anyone wanting to enjoy the faster data transfer speeds would have to upgrade their handset to one of the newer models that do support EDGE/EGPRS.

My current handset, an i-mate SP5m smartphone, is EDGE capable and I have been able to make use of the speeds provided by EDGE. Infact, I have been able to use Woize to make smooth real-time voice calls over the EDGE connection - that is something quite unimaginable with GPRS. (Woize is an application similar to Skype but has versions available for Windows Mobile Smartphones). Browsing with a laptop or PC with the EDGE handset as a bluetooth modem also gives a more enjoyable browsing experience compared to the same with GPRS which I had posted about earlier [1] [2].

Both Dhiraagu and Wataniya are purported to have EDGE support in testing at the moment.

The used books I put up for give-away in a previous blog post are all gone now. I hope the people who got them enjoy their new acquisition.

Here are a couple more books I am giving away. The books are only a few years old and are all in excellent condition. The dedicated techies among you would most probably enjoy the first two books listed here. Grab the books you fancy by dropping me a line with the book you want and I'll let you know when and where to pick them up from.

Toodles.

The website for Miadhu News, a project by Technova from late 2005 that had managed to linger offline till recently, has finally been declared live at a recent ceremony.

The project was handled and developed entirely by Hassan and designed by Max and Immi. It was finished up early this year but had stayed offline due to lack of content in the content system. The content entry/updating process started recently and the site was declared "fit" for public access early this month.

Check out the work at http://www.miadhu.com.mv/

I cleaned out some of my old stuff today, in an attempt to make some space. The cleaning ended with several bundles of printed articles that've accumulated over the years. I also decided to part with some of the books I had but throwing them away was an option not to be considered, for books are things I cherish. So, in order to prevent the books ending up in smoke as burnt junk, I've decided to give them away. Plus, someone may really benefit from these - books aren't the cheapest of goods afterall.

Here are a couple of the books I am giving away. The photos are real pictures of the books in my possession. They are all in very good condition except for the HTML 4.0 book which is a bit weathered. All that you have to do is email me with which book you want and simply pick it up from my home in Male' sometime. Do remember to leave a contact number.

Enjoy!

I am back in Male' after spending almost a week in White Sands Resort & Spa on the third leg of the "honeymoon".

The place was, like all of the resorts, a great break away from the noisy, stuffy and bustling life in Male'. The people there were a friendly bunch and service was awesome. The turquoise lagoon around the resort island was enormous and spread far into the horizon. Snorkelling was very enjoyable inside the lagoon and the reef. Both the reef and the shallow lagoon was thriving and littered with many splendid fishes - eagle rays included! They even have a half a dozen of rays that regularly visit their "feeding point" every evening.



A couple of photos to share...

I am now a married man!

The marriage ceremony took place at Kalaafaanu School, Male' at 20:15 last night. Close family members and friends were present as the "gaazee" carried out the marriage ceremony. My friends Nishan and Mugay served as the two legal witnesses for the entire marriage process. The wedding celebration dinner was held right afterwards. Much of our family and friends attended the gathering and contributed to a friendly and fun time together. Apart from the inconvenience of having to stand at the entrance for over 2 hours, we were thrilled with the events of the night. There certainly was an interesting mix of emotions on display - happiness, sorrow and a lot of excitement...

The night was the successful culmination of almost two tiring weeks of hard work on preparations; marriage application and processing, preparing dinner invitation lists, creating invitation cards, securing a venue for the party, hiring a caterer and a lot more of countless other details. My brother and M flew in to Male' and contributed a sizable chunk of the work that went into the event. Nishan with his photography workplace ProStudio, generously provided the backdrop creation and photography services. Above all, I really appreciate all the extra effort that mom and dad pulled in to get everything smooth and enjoyable.

Anyways, the day marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Wish us the best of luck in the journey ahead!