Readers from last month may recall I got Skype working on my Nokia N95 mobile phone thanks to a program called Fring. This was all very well and good, but connection via Wifi on the N95 eats batteries like there is no tomorrow. It is also not so good for text-based chats/Instant Messages on a mobile phone keypad. Well, help has arrived in the form of the latest firmware update for my Nokia N800 Internet Tablet; it now supports Skype. The batteries of the N800 last a lot longer when connected via Wifi so it should be easier to make and receive calls when in range of a Wifi hotspot. Since I have a Bluetooth keyboard for my N800 I should also find it much easier to use the IM functionality of Skype, something I use quite a lot. The only problem with the firmware update is that it requires one to re-install all of one's applications. This is not as bad as it seems for if you have been diligent and made backups the settings for most of the programs will be retained (note the emphasis on 'most', as in: not all). The firmware upgrade also allows one to use SD cards with a greater capacity than before, so this is a boon for those who want to carry around a lot of music (like me) or videos. Mind you, I already have five gigabytes of music on mine, I don't really need that much more...

I went to bed an hour early and slept until half-three so things have improved a bit with the increased dose of anti-depressants (they are supposedly very sedating). Now all I need them to do is start cheering me up as I am still not terribly happy. I wonder how good the new anti-psychotics are, though, as I am still having unpleasant hallucinations and my paranoid delusions are really quite colourful.

As a side note to last night's Wifi fun with my Nokia N95 phone; it works a treat but leaving Wifi on all the time sucks the battery dry terribly quickly. Leaving Skype/Fring running over Wifi permanently just cannot be done. I even tried lowering the Wifi broadcast power to see if that would increase the battery life, but no dice. It will have to be a case of connecting when I want to make an international call. I will see how the battery lasts on my N800 when Skype comes out for that. I think both my N95 and N800 are great; obviously toys in some ways, but terribly useful. I would have been so utterly unhappy in the loony bin without the contact they allowed me to have.

I gave up trying to sleep at half-three. Brilliant. Oh how that cheers me up.

I was having problems getting the Wifi function of my Nokia N95 phone to work. It would not connect to my DG834GT router at all. I kept getting messages about 'Invalid shared WPA keys' when trying to connect to the internet even when I had entered the WPA key correctly. I found the solution in post number three by Plx here. I can now connect problem-free to my Wifi router, and hopefully other people's as well (assuming I have the network key or they are unprotected access points).

Why did I want to do this when I have such a high transfer bandwidth from T-Mobile on my Web'n'Walk package? Well, my internet connection bandwidth cannot be used for VoIP programs like Skype, I paid for the cheaper option that didn't allow this. IRC, email and IM programs had served me well in the loony bin last week, but for making international calls it would be nice to be able to use my Skype account over a Wifi network. It is planned for Skype to come out for my Nokia N800 at some point this summer, but as yet there is no word about exactly when.

Luckily, I was searching forums about the N95 and someone linked to Fring. At first glance this is just another IM program that lets you connect to many networks (GoogleTalk, MSN and Twitter). However, it also allows you to connect to the Skype and use your SkypeOut account to make calls to any number in the world cheaply, as well as just calling other Skype users for free. Of course, other Skype users can call you (when you are connected to a Wifi network). I had Skype working on my N95 via Wifi! No need to wait for the N800 version (although I'll install that when it arrives).

So now I can do IRC, IM and email on the N800 using Wifi or connected to my Web'n'Walk via Bluetooth and cheap international calls via Wifi on my N95. Pretty cool, eh?

I saw the boss-lady psychiatrist yesterday. She agreed to take me off the drug that is keeping me awake. Sadly, the dose will have to be gradually lowered over several days, but hopefully this means sleep will come soon.

She has also prescribed me a short-term course of clonazepam, a tranquiliser, to help me deal with the incredible anxiety I feel being locked up. To be honest, it barely scratches the surface of the terror that is my life, but even a slight improvement is welcome.

Amazingly, the nurses also were bothered to go and get my anti-depressants yesterday, so maybe I will begin to feel less miserable.

Feeling miserable, and sadly suicidal, is still a problem, though. Today I want to negociate for the return of my belt, shoelaces and earphones, so I will have to be very careful what I say. I will have to stress how much getting my medication sorted out has perked me up. Oh, and avoid saying I am as miserable as sin and if I am left alone with a bottle of cyanide I'll swallow it instantly. I do not think there is terribly much cyanide on the ward, though.

I suppose I am happy that I have my Nokia N800 and N95 to keep in contact with the outside world, and having Butter to cuddle as I lie awake at night helps a lot as well.

Some friends are going to visit this evening and I cannot express how pleased I'll be to see them. I'll ask them to dress as washer women and smuggle me out in their basket of washing.

At the end of last month I got a Nokia N800 internet tablet to replace my old portable internet device. I've been terribly pleased with it, it is quite useful and there is a load of free software available for it including a blogging app that I am using to write this.

However, for surfing the web when not in range of a Wifi hotspot one needs to make a Bluetooth connection to a phone and connect over a cellular network. I didn't think this would be a problem until I spoke to my old mobile phone service provider and they said the highest data transfer limit I could get on my (not terribly cheap) tariff was four megabytes a month; this is also known as 'piss all'.

So I cancelled my contract instantly and switched to wonderful T-Mobile who give three gigabytes of data transfer for a little over an Ayrton* a month. This is pretty much all a wired toddler could want in a month when staggering about to playgroup and the like. I got the middle data plan; there is a cheaper one for £7.50 that doesn't allow one to use IM programs and a more expensive one that allows the use of VoIP programs like Skype. Since the voice part of my tariff allows an obscene amount of calls to be made I don't need to bother with the Skype option.

Of course, switching mobile providers means normally gets a new phone, and what a marvellous new phone I have. It is a Nokia N95. This has some nifty toys built in: a five mega pixel camera, a decent music player (it supports four gigabyte micro-SD cards for holding music and pictures), high speed HSDPA 3G data access for surfing the web (either from the phone or from the N800) and a GPS with mapping software. I admit, I've only used the GPS twice (I now know exactly where I and the neighbours live), but it is quite amusing none the less. I've downloaded an application called Mobile GMaps that integrates with Google Maps and the GPS so you can track your position using overhead satellite pictures as well as more traditional maps. It is a great phone and I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for a new blower. There is a good review on The Register if you want to know more.

Sadly, fun as it is to have new toys, I am still pretty freaking miserable.

*Ayrton Senna = Tenner