Plamen Bakalov's personal thoughts

A place for my interests in life

Velingrad and hotel Kleptuza

Here are the promised pictures from my holiday.I'd like to apologise in advance that they are not many but I've never been in Velingrad before and I wasn't really impressed.Actually Velingrad is made from three small villages.Anyway, the pictures are taken from the terrace of my room and some are of the room itself for you to see how it looks like.On the way back I made a video of the Rhodope Mountains which is quite a stunning view.Unfortunately there is some reflection from the window but as you can see I was in a bus.

(download)

Filed under  //   holiday   hotel   kleptuza   mountain   rhodope   velingrad  

My personal domain

Hello,everybody! As you can see I bought my personal domain in the .eu sector because I'm an EU citizen and I'm proud of that.Anyway today I go to a week-long holiday in Velingrad which is a beautiful city in Bulgaria's Rhodope Mountains.I'll try my best to upload many pictures for you to see the amazing nature of Bulgaria.That's all for now.See you soon, bye!

Filed under  //   EU   citizen   domain   personal  
Posted July 30, 2009

My Future

This is going to be a more personal post.You know from my bio on the right that I'm going to study marketing in England.Now I'm going to tell you where most probably I'll be in the next three years at least.I assume that most of you know what UCAS is.If you don't go here.I could choose five different universities and these were mine in no particular order:

  1. University of Bedfordshire
  2. Oxford Brookes University
  3. Coventry University
  4. Thames Valley University
  5. Canterbury Christ Church University

From these Bedfordshire, Coventry and Thames Valley offered me unconditional offer.The other two didn't reply me at all.After a lot of thinking I accepted the offer of Bedfordshire.I know that these are not the most prestigious universities in England but marketing is not available in most of them either.I hope that I made a good choice.Anyway,I don't know if someone actually reads this blog but I will keep it updated every now and then and when I go to England I will start to post some interesting pictures as well.

Filed under  //   future   marketing   personal   universities  
Posted July 4, 2009

Bulgarian Engadget editor

Just wanted to let you know that the newest member of Engadget team is the Bulgarian Vladislav Savov, who is based in London.I think this is a huge achievement for a small country like Bulgaria and I definately have to meet this guy when I move to England soon.

Filed under  //   Bulgarian   editor   engadget   london  
Posted June 26, 2009

In Memoriam

Today is one very sad day for the whole world.Here's one of my favourite videos of the genius Michael Jackson:

This will be my only post today.

Filed under  //   jackson   memoriam   michael  
Posted June 26, 2009

Philip Kotler books

Today I received the most recent book I ordered "Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in The Age of Turbulence" by Philip Kotler.

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Several months ago my mother bought me another of his books "A Framework for Marketing Management",which is gigantic by the way.

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Anyway,I didn't read them yet but I think they will be quite useful when later in the year I go to England for my Marketing Bachelor degree.I would like to ask you what do you think of Philip Kotler?

Filed under  //   bachelor   books   degree   kotler   marketing   personal   philip  
Posted June 25, 2009

Windows 7 pricing

Today Microsoft revealed the prices that you should pay on October 22 for this new OS.If you are upgrading from XP or Vista you are expected to pay $119.99, $199.99 or $219.99 for Home Premium,Professional and Ultimate versions respectively.If it is a full retail disc that you want the prices are $199.99, $299.99 and $319.99.The good thing is that tomorrow you'll be able to pre-order the upgrades for $49.99 for Home Premium and $99.99 for Professional but these are very limited, so you should act fast.

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(via Engadget)

Filed under  //   operating   price   seven   system   windows  
Posted June 25, 2009

Samsung M8910 Pixon12 price

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According to a Spanish blog this new 12MP phone will be out by the end of August for 639 euro.It seems rather high price considering the latest news that Sony Ericsson Satio will be in 500-549 euro price range.

Filed under  //   Spain   blog   mobile   phones   pixon12   price   samsung  
Posted June 24, 2009

Nokia orders netbooks and smartbooks from Quanta and Compal, first model may launch Q3

Hot news from Bloomberg:

 BLOOMBERG News (BN) Date: Jun 24 2009 2:26:38 Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Orders Compal, Quanta Netbooks, Commercial Times Says

By Chinmei Sung
June 24 (Bloomberg) — Nokia Oyj ordered netbook computers from Quanta Computer Inc. and Compal Electronics Inc., the Commercial Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

The Quanta netbook will use Intel Corp.’s Atom chip and will go on sale in the third quarter at the earliest, the Taipei-based, Chinese-language newspaper said.

Compal will make the so-called smartbook computer for Nokia using Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM) Inc.’s Snapdragon chip, the newspaper said.

Nokia is the world’s biggest mobile phone maker. Taiwan- based Quanta and Compal are the world’s two-biggest makers of laptop computers.

Filed under  //   compal   mobile   netbook   nokia   phones   quanta   smartbook  
Posted June 24, 2009

HTC Hero

This is the first Andorid phone with a customised UI called HTC Sense™.Inside you'll find Qualcomm's MSM7200A proc running Android at 528MHz, 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM, 3.2-inch TFT-LCD with 320 x 480 pixel rez, 900/2100MHz HSPA and Quad-band GSM, trackball, GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack, G-sensor, compass, and 5 megapixel auto-focus cam with microSD expansion.The White version has an industry-first Teflon coating to keep things clean and grime free. Hero arrives in Europe in July, Asia later in the summer, and North America even later in 2009.

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(via Engadget

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HTC Sense™ DEBUTS on new HTC hero™

HTC Hero is the world’s first Android-based phone with a
customized user interface

HTC Sense to be integrated across a portfolio of
phones beginning with HTC Hero

LONDON – June 24, 2009 – HTC Corporation, a global designer of mobile phones, today debuted HTC Sense™, an intuitive and seamless experience that will be introduced across a portfolio of phones beginning with the new HTC Hero™. With its distinct design and powerful capabilities fully integrated with HTC Sense, Hero introduces a unique blend of form and function that takes Android to new heights.
HTC Sense is focused on putting people at the centre, by making your phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were designed by quietly observing and listening to how people live and communicate.
‘HTC Hero introduces a more natural way for reaching out to people and accessing your important information, not by following the status quo of today’s phones, but by following how you communicate and live your life,’ said Peter Chou, Chief Executive Officer, HTC Corporation. ”HTC Sense is a distinct experience created to make HTC phones more simple for people to use, leaving them saying, “it just makes sense.”’
HTC Hero
HTC Hero continues HTC’s leadership in cutting-edge design that focuses on introducing a variety of distinct devices to represent your own individuality. Boasting bevelled edges and an angled bottom, the HTC Hero is contoured to fit comfortably in your hand and against your face while you’re on a call. The HTC Hero is built to last, beginning with an anti-fingerprint screen coating for improved smudge-resistance and a longer-lasting, clearer display. The white HTC Hero includes an industry-first, Teflon coating, resulting in an improved, durable white surface that is soft to the touch.
With its 3.2-inch HVGA display, the HTC Hero is optimized for Web, multimedia and other content, while maintaining a small size and weight that fits comfortably in your hand. It also boasts a broad variety of hardware features including AGPS, digital compass, gravity-sensor, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, a five mega-pixel autofocus camera and expandable MicroSD memory. HTC Hero also includes a dedicated Search button that goes beyond basic search, providing you with a more natural, contextual search experience that enables you to search through Twitter, locate people in your contact list, find emails in your inbox or search in any other area in Hero.

HTC Sense
Built on a culture of innovation and a passion to enhance people’s lives, HTC shapes the mobile experience around the individual. Debuting on the HTC Hero and available on all new HTC devices moving forward, Sense delivers on three basic principles: Make it Mine, Stay Close and Discover the Unexpected.

Make It Mine
Make It Mine is about feeling your HTC phone was created for and by you. To do this, HTC encourages you to dictate and organize how you want to access the people and content in your life in a way that fits best for you. For some, this means adding glance-view widgets that push content like twitter feeds, weather and other content to the surface while others may want quick access to business-focused information like email, calendar and world-times. HTC is also introducing a new profile feature called ‘Scenes’ that enables you to create different customized content profiles around specific functions or times in your life.

Stay Close
Today, staying in touch with the people in your life means managing a variety of communication channels and applications ranging from phone calls, emails, texts, photos, status updates and more. HTC Sense takes a different approach by integrating these communication channels and applications into one single view, enabling you to stay closer to your important people. With HTC Sense, friends’ Facebook status updates and photos, along with their Flickr photos are included alongside their text messages, emails and call history in a single view.

Discover the Unexpected
Many of the most memorable moments in your life are experienced, not explained. HTC Sense is focused on providing a variety of these simple yet innovative experiences on your HTC phone that will sometimes bring you moments of joy and delight. It can be something as basic as turning the phone over to silence a ring or as simple as improving the smart dialler for making calls quicker. HTC Sense also includes ‘Perspectives’, a new way for viewing your content such as email, photos, Twitter, music and more in different ways.

Availability
The HTC Hero will be available to people across Europe in July and in Asia later in the summer. A distinct North American version will be available later in 2009.

About HTC
HTC Corporation (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry and continues to pioneer industry-leading mobile experiences through design, usability and innovation that is sparked by how the mobile phone can improve how people live and communicate. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

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The names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Filed under  //   Android   HTC   hero   mobile   phones   sense   touch  
Posted June 24, 2009