Let The Journey Begin | A Dawn Journal

A Dawn Journal First Post

First Published Date: February 24, 2007

Hello and welcome all. If you are reading this page, this is my first entry on this page but this is not my first site.

I maintain Canada’s Personal Finance Website. Please do visit as it is a neat site with lots of articles and news feeds. You might ask, "why another site if you already have one?"

Good question. I always tried to make www.adawn.net a professional type of site and I was not able to express myself outside of a financial context. If you read the articles I posted, you will know what I am talking about.

But here, I am free to talk about anything and I don’t need to watch out for what I say. Don’t get me wrong. It does not mean I will be talking nonsense. You will get the same quality writing and useful information you have come to expect from A Dawn. That’s all for now. Thank you for reading.

How An Actor and Composer Convinced Me to Join Instagram and Now I’m Hooked

Adawnjournal Instagram Is Ready

Published Date: May 2, 2016

I used to be one of those who never tried or understood Instagram, as I never bothered trying it. While I was in Myrtle Beach last week, I was sending some pictures to my nephew Shayan Mannan, who is an actor and a music director as well. His link: www.diseasemusic.com

He insisted I should open up an Instagram account to let the world see these pictures. He kept asking me to sign up and I eventually told him I might try it some other time just as a way to avoid signing up for it. I had no intention of opening up a new account only to share pics, as I have been more concentrating on YouTube posts about credit cards and rewards points these days.

However, on April 20th all of my reluctance changed. When I was enjoying the Atlantic, sitting on the balcony in my Oceanfront suite in Myrtle Beach, I don’t know how or why, but something made me sign up for Instagram on my smartphone. After posting my very first picture, I got hooked on Instagram and since then I’ve been posting new pics almost everyday, even after coming back to Toronto.

The ease of using this app and sharing pics with the world is hard to ignore. According to my nephew, “It’s better than Facebook or Twitter. Endless array of pictures from around the world.”

Here is the link to follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adawnjournal

I recommend you follow me, as I will be sharing pics from various walks of life and because I am a global traveler you will get to travel around the globe with me when I am traveling.

3 VOIP Communication Apps That Save You Money

Cheap International Calls from Smart Phone Apps

First Published Date: February 11, 2015

A VOIP App like Skype will give you very good voice quality, there is no doubt about it. However, whenever it comes to balance, getting good voice quality, and lower rates, Skype fails to make the list, as its rates are very high and unrealistic. Today, I will talk about 3 telecommunication apps you can use to make international calls on your tablet or smart phone at reasonable rates without compromising voice quality.

Ringo: Ringo is distinctive in that rather than using Wi-Fi it uses your local cell network on your phone to make international calls at incredibly low rates. I have not seen any other apps that beat Ringo’s low rates and still retain excellent voice quality. The only drawback of Ringo is that you wont be able to use it on your tablet, as it requires a cell network to make calls. However, as phones are getting bigger like tablets, most people will abandon their tablet at some point in the future, making Ringo a must-have app on your smart phone. Minimum load is $5.

OTO: OTO uses Wi-Fi to make calls and call quality is good enough to keep it as your Wi-Fi VOIP app. Rates are comparable with other VOIP apps and sound quality can beat most other Wi-Fi VOIP apps available. OTO also offers free international calling only from Korea. Minimum load is $10.

Google Hangouts: In the past, Hangouts voice quality was not that good. I noticed that it has improved a lot since then. The main advantage is if you are using Android phone, Hangouts is already on your phone. International rates are low and you can call anyone in Canada and USA for free.

What's This New Browser?

Vivaldi New Browser Looks Promising

First Published Date: March 3, 2015

Internet Explorer was history long ago, I gave up on Chrome because of concerns with Google, and I was not really too happy with Firefox. My quest for a brand new browser never stopped, but I found nothing good enough to replace good old Firefox. It seems like those days are over, as Vivaldi offers more than expected in a new, baby browser.

Opera’s former CEO, Jon Tetzchner, just launched this self-funding new browser with only 25 employees spread across the globe. Vivaldi shocked the tech world with 500,000 downloads in first ten days. You don’t need ads to spread good news.

Vivaldi uses Chromium as its backbone engine. However, its minimalistic looks and some brand new features make it a more distinctive browser than any other.

There is no menu on the top, but there is a menu strip on the left side panel to let you access bookmarks and other tools. This menu strip can be easily collapsed if you want.

There is also a note-taking feature built in that allows you to take notes for those sites you are visiting.

Tabs show thumbnails of the websites and stack on top of each other when you open more sites from the same tab. Also, the active tab shows the main color of the site you are browsing, making it easy to find a tab among others.

There are other features available as well, such as quick commands, email client, speed dial for one or multiple groups, etc.

As Vivaldi is at its early stage, there are lots of features still missing, but expect to get more features as time goes by.

We have seen many browsers in the past with a nice start, but they failed to live up to their expectations later on. Hopefully Vivaldi will not become one of them.

How to Travel and Make and Receive Calls on Your Cell Number Without Paying For Roaming

Apps Lets You Roam Over Wi-Fi or 3G

First Published Date: April 12, 2015

We all have heard one of those horror stories where someone accidentally placed or received calls while roaming and ended up paying sky-rocketing roaming charges. Well, no more. There are apps now that let you roam paying little to nothing. Today, I will talk about two such apps that will let you roam on your own phone number in foreign countries without hassle and paying big fees to phone companies.

Roamer – Roamer lets you use your own cell phone number abroad and you can make or receive calls either using Wi-Fi or local SIM card cellular networks. As of this writing, you can buy SIM cards for 40 countries on the Roamer website and it comes with free international shipping. The way it works is before you travel you buy a SIM card of that country and Roamer forwards calls made to your cell phone to that local SIM, making it like a local call with low local rates in that country. If you are on Wi-Fi, you can even receive calls for free in foreign countries. The rates to call back to your home country using Wi-Fi or local networks are much cheaper than your phone companies roaming charges. The Roamer app is easy to use and has a sleek interface.

YouRoam – YouRoam allows you to make or receive calls over Wi-Fi or 3G on your cell phone number anywhere on earth. YouRoam has an unlimited plan option for $4.99 per week that lets you make and receive unlimited calls over Wi-Fi on your own US phone number. Or you can call or text for 1 cent a minute to most US numbers.

If you do not want to use apps like Roamer or YouRoam, there are other apps such as Fongo, Groove, and many more that give you real US or Canadian numbers that you can use to make or receive calls (to/from USA/Canada) while travelling via Wi-Fi anywhere on earth.