Introducing INQ1, the world's first social mobile. With its live address book, it gathers all your friends information together from Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger.
3 Australia announced that it will exclusively offer INQ1, the world’s most advanced social networking mobile phone, and bring Facebook to the core of the user experience. With over 250,000 visits to Facebook on the mobile by 3 Australia’s customers each week, social networking on 3 is set to grow as the experience improves significantly with the release of the INQ1.
INQ brings the Facebook experience to the HSDPAenabled INQ1 with one-click access and the first ever live address book with friends’ Facebook status and profile picture displayed against their contact details. Facebook users can also blog pictures taken with the phone’s 3.2 megapixel camera straight to their pages like jimbalin's!.
Taking internet communications to the mobile, INQ1 also features integrated applications like Email, Skype, Windows Live Messenger and RSS feeds, in addition to a host of other social networking and sharing tools the user can customise.
So what do i think? Well I love iPhone and the leading edge technology Apple are ploughing into their 3G handsets. I'm an Apple advocate, show me a new toy and i will buy. But Apple products are pricey and social networking tools are not part of their OS, so battery and download speeds are slower and so more costly. Having a phone where FB and Skype are integrated into the OS address book and push email is on hand for your Gmail, this is a wicked smart phone and no other manufacturer has. Its core functionality is software led no handset which means future innovations are quicker to scope out and launch. And of course its so cheap on the data plan and handset price, it makes this social creature affordable to anyone.
Now 3, i've written you a lovely review, can i have a phone please?
Superstar DJ's The Chemical Brothers headline at this year's Future Music Festival in Sydney. And what an amazing day at Randwick racecourse: my first time to 'the races'. Sadly no horses running around or jockeys in funny outfits, just 60,000 party goers jiggling around under the hot Sydney summer sunshine. Swapping fizz for beers we trounced around the various stages to catch a glimpse of what was happening. The Chemical Brothers went all out with their PA system and investment into VJing on the stage. Longtime producers played all the favourites...check out the video for the real deal.
One of the best sets was a surprising John Digweed rustling up a blinder of tunes to rock the course. Known ten years ago to have an element of house cheese, this man has evolved his collection since joining the Global Underground label to provide sinterlising beats: undercover techno blended with electric noises and riff's beating over head. He certainly knew how to play to the crowd and venue. Sven Vath, a long time techno favourite from ze Germany was alright, i don't think the sound system did him justice, perhaps better suited to a small dark venue for his minimal style of tunes.
After saturday night, we kicked off Si's birthday in style with a massive BBQ and beers down by Coogee Beach. There was no better way to spend the day with dips into the calm water's and chewing the fat with mates whilst the BBQ sizzles the buttterflied leg of lamb and a million saugers. Well that's how to kick off your first weekend in Oz, after moving on from Wellington New Zealand. Coogee Beach is just a stone's throw away from the new pad, and Oz is calling more web work and travels into the 'outback' which is somewhere beyond the city limits. When I find it, I'll let you know.
So the brother’s wedding with Pete to marry Jules was an occasion that brought the family and mates to the southern hemisphere for the kiwi styled wedding. After arriving in Wellington the week before, everybody descended on Ohoppe and we took over all the holiday apartments possible by the beach. There was the obligatory warm-up BBQ's and day-outs in the run up to the big day.
For those not having salon and makeup appointments by sunrise, we teed off at 7.30am, there's nothing better than playing golf before a wedding. It’s the same venue where we are for the wedding party later, and a wonderful opportunity to take in the amazing sunny coastal views on the peninsula. Pete and me played an excellent game – no nerves there; making Tiger Woods look amateur.
Just deserts for achieving a handicap better than Tiger Woods - a huge English breakfast a.k.a. the last supper. Then it was time to don the suits and whiz off to the church on mass.
The wedding was amazing, simply fantastic - my favourite one so far (hey I’m not biased) and so chuffed that I could play a massive part in my brother’s day as best man. Pete had a little tear in his eye when he started reading his vowels to Jules and the whole occasion was truly lovely. Jules looked absolutely stunning in the wedding dress with Pete and the boys looking ever so dapper in our toasty morning suits.
In time honoured tradition, the food, the booze and the speeches lived up to expectation. Pete’s speech was very much a classic with intermix of laughs and heart felt words. And mine, the best man’s: well I'm just sad to say that we don't have a video of it but it was 8 minutes of laughter and character assassination of my bro. Those moments when Pete thought I was venturing onto out-of-bounds topics would swing round to winning lines. I was very nervous before hand so afterwards sinking a beer every 10 minutes to make up for cutting myself off at the reception.
The day was filled with compliments, smiles and happiness for the adorable couple. I'll leave you with some quotes from the best man's speech.
"For the second time today, I rise nervously from a warm seat with a piece of paper in my hand…"
"I’ve got a fax to read out here for the groom. This is from A Suzy Wong in Viet Nam. It reads:"
“Hey, Big Boy. How come you NO write No more? How come you NO send money NO more? When you come to Viet Nam again? The kids all miss you very much. Love you long time, Suzie.”
"He is (of course) a brother that I admire for many reasons most notably his generous nature – well with him donating his body to science. When he started his life at University he was preserving his body in alcohol the entire time he was there."
"I would like to say to Pete that you are a lucky groom for marrying Jules. She’s beautiful, smart, funny, warm, loving and caring. She deserves a good husband ----- So thank God you married her before she found one.""A great example of Pete’s passion for life will follow shortly. Pete I know is really excited to perform the traditional Hakka dance during the cutting the cake. His rehearsal the other day at the Rotarua Hakka training boot camp was spell binding."
Time for the 8 week Jim-ba-Lin adventures to begin setting off with the grand plan to take Bogotá by Christmas storm in December. With the rains closing in on Honduras, there's no options left except surfing in Nicaragua, sunbathing in Costa Rica and sailing to Colombia.
First to San Juan Del Sur, the sun and surfing capital of Nicaragua. After a shady night in Managua (the capital where you eat restaurant food behind iron bars and get serenaded by old locals brilliant on guitars) we were glad to arrive for some surfing albeit the rain is still here. We past other tourists proclaiming it’s the 8th day of rain as they exit the. Not quite sure if these travel plans are thwarted yet, the next day is beautiful and ideal for surfing. It takes half an hour to reach surf points, and a sweet adventure on 4x4 jeeps with crazy local surf dudes also piled into the back of the truck (thanks Tony Montana, you won't be forgotten). The surf breaks after big around these parts, funnelling into nature coves. Its hard ass work to swim through the breaks, but the flip side surfing is amazing (providing you don't head plant). The days are sealed off with cocktails beach side back in the town and confusing the waiters with Spanglish.
A week later, it's time for to cross the border into Costa Rica. Walking across borders in the pouring rain with no clear direction where the entry post is with 100's of cargo trucks all around you can be a little confusing at times. I made my way down to Playa Del Coco, famous for shark diving... and shark diving. I ended up renting this amazing room in house owned by three brothers named Carlos (weird?) - it was great to enjoy someone's kitchen, lounge and sundeck cracking in a Hotels Wifi next door. Two Honduran ladies came to stay that dressed like whores (thinking it was attractive) and scared me with their sexual advances. I sent for two best mates Josh and Sarah to protect me in the house. Sarah, who arrived two days early to the capital to catch her flight home to the US eventually missed her flight as all three of us travelled up to San Jose. (I'd liked to point out this was all her own doing and nothing to do with Josh and me : Sarah - Do you know the way to San Jose?)
We left Sarah in San Jose (she didn't yet know her imminent bleak airplane future), and we (the new pod cast team inspired by Ricky G) travelled through to met up with the girls in Puerto Viejo for beach and reggae action. This place is excellent: beach bars, Rasta tunes everywhere and more surfing the order of the day. To top it off the girls had hired a classy SUV for the boys to be taxied around in. Apart from WOOP WOOP, thats da sound of the Police, there were no other dramas.
As we swooped over the border (walking over an old disused train bridge) to Bocos Del Toro and enjoying more beautiful beaches on the Islands, it was time for the next step. Pandaemonium City: the place to be for dream shopping, fantastic restaurants, cheap king size suites and boats to Colombia. Soaked in American history most notably because of the former ownership of the Canal. This place is awesome. If ever you had to be stuck in a City for a week, this is the city to be stuck in - our safe passage to Colombia by boat (bit dodgy by land), was in a week's time.
As you'll see in the movie, this isn't the hard up backpacker style, but a luxury 50 foot yacht 'The Roxy' cruising through the San Blas Islands in Panama to reach Cartègena Colombia. The slender of dolphins racing the boat, snorkelling around wrecks & tiny island reefs with lobster dinners for afters are simply some highlights. Buying baby turtles so the locals didn't eat them was a little bizarre. Arriving in Cartègena at 3am after a 34-hour continuous sail was awesome!!
For those of you who'd thought Colombia might be too dangerous to go to then think again. Although Colombia has had a chequered past with the Farc wanting independence and deeply involved in global drug trafficking, the tourist side is fantastic. The government and locals over the past few years have tried very hard to promote and protect tourism, trying to shake off its poor image from the outside world. Cartègena, one of the largest ports in South America has a strong established history prompted by the Spanish colonial empire. The old town and fort areas have been beautifully restored to their original form, and there's an excellent buzz of bars and shops under the tropical sunshine. Outside the old towns lies a very modern and affluent CBD district with amazing condos that stretch the oceanfront.
As for the national parks: spellbinding. After the obligatory stop and search by guards, you enter a world of deserted forests, rocks formations and beaches. Tramping along the park coastal regions was calming though energetic, and the day’s reward is beach side beers and food before turning into outside hammocks. I have seen many clear starry nights but out here was probably one of the best. Couldn't leave the North coast until some Scuba diving was had. The best place we found was on the Islands an hour out of Cartègena. Pristine coral reef walls with eels and spotted eagle rays for eye candy. The diving in Tyrona near the park was much colder but saw for the first time a black spotted eel regurgitate the remains of a complete fish skeleton. Sounds weird I know but this is quite rarity in the dive world.
The final stop before the long hauls to LA and New Zealand is beautiful Bogotá. Steeped in Catholic region, I have never seen so many Christmas trees, fairy lights and nativity villages (not scenes, villages!) in my life. Amazing to see especially when the main public spaces have been taken over. Bogotá is a massive city, sprawling out in all directions. Again there's a colonial feel down town and interesting places to visit. It was very sad to leave this place after such a wonderful adventure, but I know more are always around the corner. Feliz Navidad!
Wow, what an amazing 7 months at Alton's Dive Center. Fun diving everyday, running bar parties at the weekend and enjoying some good mates on the island, but alas the big party had to close eventually. With Hurricane Felix now a distant storm, the rainy season was setting in during October and it was time for one final blast before saying goodbye. I have to thank Linda, Maz, Joshie and Kurt for turning up on the island. New friends which presented new opportunities to travel on South into Central America. With 2 months to go before my brother's wedding in New Zealand, I couldn't think of a better way to spend time than living it up travelling to more beautiful places down to Colombia.
Back in Utila though, The Paparazzi Girls is the honouree name for Linda and Maz, two beautiful bikini clad girls demanding scuba training and filming antics. Loving making videos, I found the two who pretty much loved the camera attention, especially Maz. On top of that having dolphins racing the boat everyday, a whale shark popping up are just a few things thrown in - it gives you a real idea of how tough it was on the Island (not) for leading dives and the job the instruction team had.
So if anyone wants to learn how to dive or just enjoy a Caribbean Island for a couple of weeks with lots of other travellers then Utila is the place to be.
Over the last two years, our envoy from the mother land is on sabatical to enjoy the sites and sounds of this beautiful world. So for funny stories, photos and professional movie shorts, keep checking in from time to time to see what the latest world scoop is. 2006 is highlighted for amazing new cultures in India and China. 2007 was a stunning year working as a professional Divemaster in Utila and traveling through Central America to Colombia. 2008, well setting up home in Sydney. I'll let you know about 2009 soon enough! Cheers Jimbalin x
3 Australia announced that it will exclusively offer INQ1, the world’s most advanced social networking mobile phone, and bring Facebook to the core of the user experience. With over 250,000 visits to Facebook on the mobile by 3 Australia’s customers each week, social networking on 3 is set to grow as the experience improves significantly with the release of the INQ1.
So what do i think? Well I love iPhone and the leading edge technology Apple are ploughing into their 3G handsets. I'm an Apple advocate, show me a new toy and i will buy. But Apple products are pricey and social networking tools are not part of their OS, so battery and download speeds are slower and so more costly. Having a phone where FB and Skype are integrated into the OS address book and push email is on hand for your Gmail, this is a wicked smart phone and no other manufacturer has. Its core functionality is software led no handset which means future innovations are quicker to scope out and launch. And of course its so cheap on the data plan and handset price, it makes this social creature affordable to anyone.
