2Tall Tales of Tech

Tethering HTC Hero With Android 2.1

2010-07-07T23:21:00.000-07:00

After upgrading my HTC Hero to Android 2.1 recently, one of my first thoughts concerned tethering. Would it still be possible and would it still be easy? Being able to connect to the Internet no matter where you are is very convenient and it was a feature I was hoping would remain.
It did and if anything, using it now is even easier now than what it was on Android 1.5. Below are the steps:

Plug in the USB cable into the computer and into the phone.
Select "Internet Sharing" and hit "Done" as shown below:

That's it. Your computer should, assuming it has no driver problems, be able to recognize that your phone is a modem and you should be able to connect to the Internet that way.

Thank you Google for making this so easy and thank you ACS for not blocking this functionality.

Please note: the above is true for HTC Hero's from ACS in Alaska. It should hold true for other 2.1 devices as well.

2Tall Tales Is Moving

2010-07-07T22:24:00.000-07:00

After several years of entertaining on Blogger, I've decided to move the blog and give it a proper domain and a slight "name lift." Going forward, 2Tall Tales will be known as Tall Tech Tales and will be located at :

http://www.talltechtales.com

All entries from here have been transferred but until the search engines catch up, I'll be posting in both places.

The new blog is powered by Wordpress and gives me more flexibility to do what I want and as a result, I hope it will turn into a better blog.

So, if you enjoy my entries, whether they are about TV shows, Android or Ubuntu, head on over to the new spot.

I'll see you there!

LeBron James and Twitter

2010-07-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

I guess it was just a matter of time before LeBron would appear on Twitter. With his free-agent status and so many rumors flying around about this man, I'm frankly surprised he hasn't joined the band wagon already. After all, there are plenty of other people that I'd say are less famous that have more followers than LeBron.

Of course, that may be about to change.

When I first laid my eyes on LeBron's Twitter account, it had about 80,000 followers and was not yet confirmed as his official Twitter account. That was about 10am yesterday, July 6th. At about 1pm, the account was up over 120,000 and now, at about 9pm on the 7th, he has almost 284,000 followers.

He has stated that he'll make an announcement on live television on Thursday but one can't help but wonder what the role of this Twitter account is. I suspect that by tomorrow, the amount of followers could be 350,000 or 400,000 at least. That's almost half a million fans (or not) that are watching for any news beyond what will be on TV. Really, if LeBron plays it smart, he should keep hyping the account and increase traffic to his own site as well.

So, King James may have been slow jumping into the tweeting but as far as followers goes, he's quickly joining the popular crowd. Time will tell whether he'll actually keep tweeting anything interesting or if it was just a publicity stunt.
Links:

Android 2.1 Available From ACS and GCI

2010-06-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

As announced last week, Alaskan wireless carriers ACS and GCI today made the Android 2.1 upgrade available for their respective customers to download through their websites.

Before jumping on the bandwagon, you may want to ask "what's new" and is the upgrade worth it? According to ACS, these are some of the things you'll find in 2.1:

Support for MMS (picture and video messaging)
Pinch Zoom Gesture Support for Gallery, Google Maps and Other Apps
Leap Thumbnail Views with Pinch Gesture
Enhanced Graphical Android Market with Access to over 45,000 Apps
Simultaneous Logon to Multiple Gmail Accounts
Bluetooth Contact Transfer Support
Improved Battery Life
Voice Dialing
Voice Commands
Active Call Screen with Speakerphone and Mute Buttons On Screen
Enhanced Camera Features Including White Balance and Scene Modes
User Dictionary Management (add, delete and edit custom words use
for messages and typing)
Smarter Keyboard Calibration
And much more...

For now, both companies require that a Windows machine is used for the upgrade. ACS also offers in-store assistance for those that need help with the upgrade.

To download the respective updates, visit the below pages:

If you're one of those that don't have access to a Windows computer and don't feel like going to a store, here's a suggestion for how to install the ACS update no matter what computer you have:

http://www.apexalaska.com/installing-the-2-1-update-without-a-windows-pc/

Using Google Voice With Unsupported Carriers

2010-06-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Google Voice was made available to all interested parties this past week, giving all of those interested in it a chance to try it out. No more need to request and invite, no more waiting for the eventual invite to arrive.

Alas, many smaller regional carriers, such as those here in Alaska, are not on the list of supported carriers. What to do, what to do?

Although this could be a problem, it really isn't. The carrier support only really seems to be needed for the part where the voicemail is activated for one of your phone numbers so in the end, whether your carrier is supported or not is irrelevant.

What does this mean?

It means you can pick another carrier, like Verizon, and Google Voice will still work ok.

I did exactly this. I picked Verizon and got this pop-up:

The *71 is the call forward immediate code and my Google number is immediately after it.

So, if you're using a carrier that is not supported, simply substitute your carriers call forward immediate code and Google Voice now works on your phone as well.

One important note to keep in mind: Google Voice numbers can be long distance, especially if you live in Alaska like I do. So, if you want to use Google Voice for your voice mail, make sure you have nationwide plan.

In addition, if you're using an Android handset, you also have the Google Voice app available for download in the Android Market. How much easier can it be to keep all your voice mail handy?

To find out what your carrier's call forwarding code is, contact your local carrier.

Blackberry Storm 2 Coming to Alaska

2010-06-24T17:23:00.000-07:00

Alaska has had a busy couple of days with multiple carriers announcing the release of additional Android phones as well as the Android 2.1 update coming next week.

As if that was not enough, GCI goes ahead and announced the impending availability of the Blackberry Storm 2 for the Alaskan market.

We have another exciting product launching coming up at GCI, as we will be launching the BlackBerry Storm 2 (GSM/CDMA) in the coming weeks.

The original Blackberry Storm never made it to Alaska and it didn't seem that too many cared. The Storm, although a touch phone, never quite had a reputation as a fantastic touch screen phone.

With the Storm 2, some changes have been made and I'm sure time will tell whether it was enough.

Android 2.1 Available In Alaska Next Week

2010-06-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

After many months of waiting patiently, Alaskans who has ACS as their carrier will finally get to experience Android 2.1 for their HTC Hero's on 6/29.

ACS announced the availability of the update today through their Facebook page, just a day after announcing that their customers will soon be able to buy the HTC Desire and the Motorola Milestone through ACS.

It’s ready! We are very excited to announce the Android 2.1 update will be available for ACS customers this Tuesday (6/24). A link to the update file and instructions will be posted here that morning. Thank you all for your patience, I know it has been a long wait.

Although 6/24 is set as the date in the official post, a later comment corrected this to 6/29.

Not to be outdone, GCI, the local competitor that beat ACS with their Desire/Milestone announcement, posted a tweet while this post was being written outlining similar intentions.

We're also pleased to announce that Android 2.1 for HTC Hero users will be coming next week. Look here for more on that early next week.

Overall, this is good news for customers of both carriers, both of which will be able to take advantage of the new features of 2.1. If you have a Hero, I suggest you get ready.

Sources:

New Android Device Announcements From Alaska Wireless Carrier

2010-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Hot on the heels of the Twitter announcement by local Alaska wireless carrier GCI a few days ago, Alaska Communications Systems (ACS) announced yesterday on their Facebook page that they will also be getting the HTC Desire and the Motorola Milestone very soon:

ACS is excited to announce our next Android devices, the Motorola Milestone and the HTC Desire. These are two of the hottest Android devices on the market. Stay tuned, the release date for these new devices will be announced very soon.

For customers, this is exciting news. The Alaska carriers has so far only launched one Android handset, the HTC Hero, and although a good phone, with Verizon having announced the Droid X yesterday, one can't help but feel that the Hero is a little dated.

Pricing information has not been made public by ACS but GCI has announced that the Milestone will be free, presumably with a 2 year commitment.

The question remains as to whether other smaller Alaska carriers, such as MTA, will follow.

Cats Like Tea Too

2010-06-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

It should come as no surprise to cat owners that their precious companions are up to no good at times. YouTube overflows with evidence of this so it's only right that I add my own entry.

On a recent summer day, one of my cats, Spitty, seemed abnormally thirsty. Not satisfied with his bowl of water, he resolutely jumped up on the recently abandoned dinner table looking for relief.

Relief he found, in the form of home made sweet, ice tea. Watch below what he thought of that...

As you watch Spitty, keep in mind that he has a very particular taste and is very picky. He loves coffee beans, for example, but gags at much other human food. But, when determined to get something, he goes for it...

Twitter Overload?

2010-06-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

When I find a site, service or a person I'd like to keep track of, Twitter is a very handy tool. If your favorite tech site has a Twitter account and keeps up to date with their tweets, you can learn a lot from what they tell you. So, I quite often use Twitter's site to add new people to my list of people that I follow.

Except that tonight I couldn't. Twitter was overloaded.

I can't say I've ever seen that before.

Note: as I finish this little entry, Twitter is not overloaded anymore. Back to business.

Oh, and want to follow me? Check out http://www.twitter.com/techieinak.

Dell XPS1530 and Ubuntu 10.04

2010-06-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

With the recent release of Ubuntu 10.04, I knew it would just be a matter of time before I upgraded my current installation from 9.10 to 10.4. The question was just always when.

Yesterday I finally went ahead and upgraded. For some reason, the whole process took forever but it did finish and I'm now the happy user of Ubuntu 10.04.

People always want to know what you think. Do I like it, do I hate it, can things be better? In all fairness, I've used it less than six hours so I can't give a very good perspective at the moment. However, at first glance, there are several things that I really do like.

The new theme, Radiance, is great. Although I've never disliked the previous, darker and more brown themes, Radiance is a breath of fresh air and makes everything look so much more light and inviting.
Indicator applet - the new indicator applet which is integrated with various IM and social networks is great. I use Facebook, Twitter and all those quite a bit and having this all integrated will make that so much easier. I'm not so sure how I feel about Gwibber yet and it's tight integration into the OS but it's not a bad client. I've been using Tweetdeck for the last few months so time will tell whether I'll stick with Gwibber or not.
Boot times seem to be improved as well and that's always a plus.

The only problem I had was that networking was disabled by default for some silly reason. I enabled it through the icon and it's worked ever since.

So far, those are my initial impressions. I may have more to say as I get used to the new features but I'll give that another week or so.

Until then, if you don't have Ubuntu 10.04, you should really get it. Go to http://www.ubuntu.com

The Future of Android is Frozen Yoghurt (Froyo)?

2010-05-22T00:22:00.000-07:00

This week Google took another step towards world dominance. Well, ok, maybe not but they put Apple on notice that their one man show can't expect to just do whatever they want anymore.

With the revelation of version 2.2 of the Android OS (AKA Froyo), Google is stepping up to the plate in more than one way and are showing that Apple are not the only ones that can innovate and get a crowd excited.

The features of Froyo were known to some extent before this week but for those that may have missed it, here's a quick peek at some of the highlights:

Flash 10.1 support - this is easily the most talked about feature of Froyo. With Apple telling Adobe to go take a hike, Adobe turned to Google and Apple now faces a tag team of two powerful companies, both out to eat Apple's lunch in one way or another. Although much can be said about Flash and it's image as a resource hog, Froyo has been optimized to such an extent that Flash seems to run just fine. Let's not forget that Adobe AIR is also part of this whole scheme of pushing Flash onto the Android.
Performance boost - the OS has been optimized quite a bit, with a JIT compiler and Javascript optimization. Some reports have put the performance of Froyo at hundreds of percent above Android 2.1. Any Android phone should be a dream to use with 2.2.
New market place - the Market has always been one of my gripes. On 1.5, it doesn't look very good and it lacks good organization. 2.1 has an updated Market already and it can only get better.
Speech recognition - although I'm not a huge speech feature user, I know that many are. The older versions of Android lacks in this aspect and it will be good to see some improvement on such a basic functionality. It really shouldn't have taken them this long anyway.
Exchange integration - my Hero already has this courtesy of HTC and I'm surprised Android is still behind on this. For wider enterprise adoption, Exchange support is a must have and they really need to get with the program on that one.
Installing apps on SD card - most app addicts will without doubt recount the many times they've had to uninstall or backup an app just to clear up space. Installing apps on an SD card is something Windows Mobile has been able to do for year and it's really about time that Android adds the same functionality.
OTA music sync - by launching what will without a doubt be a direct competitor to any online service Apple launches with iTunes, Google is first out of the gate with this kind of service.

There are naturally quite a few more but the above ones are the ones that caught my eye. Google is showing that they can innovate just as much as Apple can and with 2.2 they have really become a real challenger to the iPhone brand.

Questions still remain for me though. Yes version 2.2 is awesome and will without a doubt kick butt but many current Android users will never be able to partake of the frozen feast because their phones are too old and won't be supported by the manufacturers. HTC has said that phones released this year will get the upgrade but that leaves the Eris, the Hero and others from last year and before stuck at 2.1 or less.

The other thing that always strikes me about Google is when they talk about how closed Apple is and how dictatorial they seem, Google is quite big themselves and have done some pretty silly things themselves. We may not like Apple and their iPhone dominance but we need to be careful what we wish for. Android and Apple is good competition but a super-dominant Android isn't necessarily good either.

Regardless, Android 2.2 is coming and it's great! For now, Google is the white (or green) knight fighting against the Apple dragon.

HTC Hero 2.1 Update Delayed In Alaska

2010-05-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

The last week, the news have leaked out around the country that the Android 2.1 upgrade for the HTC Hero for various carriers has been delayed. Sprint seems to have taken the most public step back by announcing that the update will now be available in Q2 2010 as opposed to this month.

How does this affect those of us that live in Alaska? Well, not surprisingly, both ACS and GCI has announced on their Facebook pages that the upgrade has been delayed for their customers as well. Although this is certainly a disappointment since it seemed to be right around the corner, at least it's reassuring to know that all the bugs are being worked out first.

Of course, if you want more of Android 2.1 for your Hero right now (being the impatient society that we are), check out this review of a leaked 2.1 ROM over at Android Police. With a walk-through of the new features and a ton of screenshots, it will only get you more excited about something you don't have yet.

On a side note, the delay does bring up an interesting question. Does this delay have anything to do with the coming release of Android 2.2?

iPhone Moving to Verizon?

2010-03-30T08:18:00.001-07:00

It has long been rumored that the iPhone is finding its way to Verizon Wireless. The iPad announcement was for a long time thought to also be the time when this would be announced. As we all know, this didn't happen and we were all left scratching our heads wondering what the industry spies got wrong.

Now in March, the rumor has surfaced once again in the Wall Street Journal, now saying that a Verizon version of the iPhone will be introduced this summer. Is it true? With Apple, how can you really know anything for sure?

ZDNet has a very interesting take on this though: if this rumor is indeed true, new iPhone signups and upgrades on the AT&T network could grind to a halt.

Why?

Well, we've all seen the commercials and I think most would agree that Verizon indeed has the larger 3G network, and details such as whether you can surf and talk on the same phone are minor. The very unscientific poll ZDNet has attached to this article asks the question whether a cellphone user would stay with AT&T or switch to Verizon. At the time that I read this article, there were only 18 votes and 83% of those were in favor of switching to Verizon. Naturally, the sample is too small at this point but it will be interesting to see what it says tomorrow.

I think this could be a real danger. Whether the rumor is true or not, AT&T stands to miss out on upgrades and new activations while those that hate the AT&T network eagerly await the same experience on Verizon's network. Of course, it could go the other way as well. People may wait to renew contracts or sign up in anticipation of the CDMA iPhone.

Ultimately, the question is how many leaks Apple will let leak out. In the end, they're the ones that really will benefit.

Who knows what will happen in Alaska. Will the CDMA iPhone be exclusive to Verizon or will it be usable on CDMA carries up here, like ACS, MTA and Digitel? What will that mean for AT&T's customer base up here? Quite an interesting question...time will tell.

Empathy 2.30 Released

2010-03-29T23:37:00.000-07:00

Version 2.30 of the GNOME IM client Empathy has been released today. Love it or hate it (and I certainly had my moments when it first replaced Pidgin as the default Ubuntu IM client), Empathy has come a long way and is constantly improving. How these latest changes stack up we'll see but here's a summary of the new features:

Improved accounts dialogue, including a new Facebook account widget and first-run wizards
Better chatroom support
Better error reporting
Drag and drop file sharing

There are naturally a number of other things I'd like to see in Empathy but any improvements are good and the above definitely helps with overall usability and easy of use and considering that Empathy is the main IM client of Ubuntu, that's pretty important.

For the full release info, check out the following page.

Blackberry Beta Zone

2010-03-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

RIM has announced the launch of the Blackberry Beta Zone this week. Here's what they say on the beta site:

BlackBerry® Beta Zone is the place where Research In Motion (RIM) communicates with and receives feedback from beta participants. As a member of BlackBerry Beta Zone, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for beta programs and be among the first to try out new BlackBerry software before it's released to the general public. Your feedback will be an important part of ensuring future BlackBerry products meet the needs of customers like you.

If you have a Blackberry and like to try out the latest, don't be foolish: sign up today!

An Unexpected Discovery - HTC Hero as a Modem Using Wifi

2010-03-16T23:01:00.000-07:00

Those that own the HTC Hero and have done just some brief digging around in the wireless settings have without a doubt found the Mobile Network Sharing option. For those unfamiliar with this option, it essentially allows you to use your Hero as a modem for your computer. Simply connect your phone to your computer, check the check box next to the Mobile Network Sharing option and enjoy. It works great on my Ubuntu based laptop and on my XP laptop.

The other day I noticed something unexpected. I can tether my Hero using USB with a Wifi hotspot instead of the 3G connection.

It all happened by chance. I was trying to access a hotspot but for some reason my laptop just refused to connect. I figured I'd just connect my phone and computer and just use the 3G network. As it turned out, the 3G connection was unstable that one day so I still couldn't get online.

By complete chance, I was hitting some settings in the phone and happened to enable Wifi and Internet Sharing stayed on (typically this option is grayed out unless mobile network data is enabled). To my surprise, the Hero let me use the Wifi connection with my computer. It was as if my 3G modem had turned into a Wifi card.

Tonight, I tried to reproduce this again and found something curious. As I mentioned above, the Mobile Sharing option is not available if the mobile data connection is disabled. It can however be done.

1) Connect to a hotspot using the Wifi connect

2) Enable mobile network data

3) Enable mobile sharing

At this point, something interesting happens. With the Wifi connection active, the mobile network data connection remains in standby. Since it's checked to be on, mobile sharing is also available to check in step 3 but the actual connection being used is the Wifi connection. Once you disconnect the Wifi connection, the mobile connection picks right up.

Anyway, I'm not sure if this is useful to anyone else. Typically, all laptops have Wifi already but should you need to connect a computer to a Wifi network and you happen to have a HTC Hero handy that doesn't have a 3G connection at the moment, it can double as your Wifi connection as well.

Interesting...

Swype - A Revolutionary Touchscreen Input Method?

2010-03-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

Having joined the horde of Android users with my HTC Hero, I have never had much of an issue using the default on-screen keyboard for the Hero. I do know that others hate it, some dislike it and others are just like me. They don't mind.

However, the other day I was made aware of Swype. No, it's no typo, it's not supposed to be Skype although it could potentially help Skype users at some point.

So, what is Swype? In a nutshell, it's a new input method for touch-screen devices. Let me explain.

Normally on the Hero and many other touch-screen phones, a keyboard is produced on screen and you enter your message by punching the keys on the screen. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it doesn't. Combine it with predictive text and it's usually not too bad. Still, it's not ideal.

Swype takes the on screen keyboard to the next level. Instead of forcing you to hit each button, you simply "swype" all the characters of the word you're typing. On screen, it looks like you're drawing a continuous line on the keyboard and essentially, this is exactly what you do. To enter the word "swype" you start on the letter "s" and then just play connect the dots with all your letters, basically drawing a line from "s" to "w" and so on. The software then predicts what word you're trying to type.

I know, it sounds a little hard to believe and once you start using it, it almost seems like magic. That's how well it works! I've found that using Swype, my text input speed has increased significantly and there are rarely errors either.

So, if you're an Android user, do yourself a favor and try the beta over at http://www.swypeinc.com.

Chromium and Flash on Ubuntu 64-bit

2010-03-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

I've always used Firefox as my primary browser on my Ubuntu laptop. However, recently I've started exploring Chromium more and more and I've started to like it, with one exception: the 64-bit Flash plugin I use keeps crashing in Chromium.

Until today I've just pretty much left it alone but tonight I figured it was finally time to do something about it. It turns out the solution was so very simple: download the 32-bit plugin and off you go.

I love it when a solution only takes a few minutes to find and a few minutes to implement.

UPDATE: Scratch that, it still didn't work...the search continues.

Android or Blackberry

2010-02-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

Since the arrival of the Android platform in Alaska, I have been torn between my trusty Blackberry Curve and the HTC Hero. Do I give up what has worked well for so long just to get something new a flashy. It's a difficult choice and a comparison is worth making to see what you get with each.

Let's begin with Blackberry.

Blackberry from RIM has traditionally been a very corporate oriented device. Many of the features of the phone still cater to that market but they have made great progress in the consumer market as well with some of these same features.

E-mail is the one thing where the Blackberry rules supreme in my opinion. With regular Blackberry service, you can connect up to ten e-mail accounts to your Blackberry, from free accounts such as Yahoo, Gmail etc., to POP accounts and Exchange server accounts. Pretty much within seconds of receiving an email in your inbox, it's pushed to the phone. In addition, RIM has integrated several social networks into this push technology so whenever you have a new message on Facebook or MySpace and soon Twitter, the phone lets you know. You no longer need to check your e-mail or social networks, it's all there when something new is available.

Browsing has always been one of the downfalls of the Blackberry. Although browsing supposedly takes up less bandwidth, a feature that carriers surely love, it doesn't make it more appealing if things such as basic page layout and flash doesn't work. To RIM's credit, they have recognized this dilemma and have introduced a Webkit based browser that eventually will be available. Until then, however, we're stuck with the default one or one of the third party ones such as Opera or Bolt.

Until just over a year ago, the Blackberry did not have an app store. To find apps, they had to be downloaded online and installed to the phone through the Desktop Manager or just simply downloaded directly to the phone itself. With the introduction of the App World, this has largely changed and you can now find tons of apps in the Blackberry App World. However, the unfortunate thing is that the App World (at least on my Curve) is slow to download, slow to update and just a drag to use. It does what it needs to do but not very well. The highlight is the lists of top free and top paid apps. They come in handy.

The data service on my Blackberry has always been sufficient for e-mail, the browsing I do as well as streaming music. However, I've always been aware that with EVDO speeds, although fast, it just hasn't always cut it. For example, downloading large amounts of RSS feeds using Vlingo can take a bit.

Enter the HTC Hero, running Android.

Android is a new OS, hip and here to compete with the iPhone crowd. Being touch-based, it easily allows you to navigate around and do what you need to do with just the flick of a finger.

Just like the Blackberry, the Hero supports multiple e-mail accounts. Being a Google system, a Gmail is a must to download apps etc., so if you already have a Gmail account as your primary e-mail, this will be a perfect match. Some accounts can be a bit touch and go. Hotmail works fine while Yahoo does not. Regular POP accounts and Exchange accounts also work fine yet they all share one common thing: e-mail is not pushed immediately to your phone as it is on the Blackberry. For someone that has gotten used to getting constant updates, this is a big change. Fortunately, there is software out there that allows you to get similar functionality (Seven is an app that does that) and with that, Yahoo functionality is also suddenly available. Even so I do have to say that the e-mail experience on the Blackberry is much slicker.

The Hero definitely takes browsing to another level. With pinching and all that fun finger stuff for zooming in and out as well as a browser that's blazing fast, browsing on the Hero is a joy for the most part. With limited Flash support, some more advanced pages even show up much better than on the Blackberry. Together with the EVDO Rev.A data speeds, things like full screen YouTube is now very possible and also very enjoyable.

The Android Market adds what I feel is very much missing on the Blackberry I have. A fast app store loaded with tons of apps I would actually use and an easy way to install and uninstall everything. The one thing I do miss is the top free and top paid apps, that would be great to have.

I've already mentioned the data service a bit and it's worth mentioning again. The Rev.A data service on the Hero provides a platform that quickly gets you what you need, whether it's YouTube videos, apps or websites. Streaming music or video works very well and if data service is not available you can always switch to WiFi and utilize other connections that may be available. Together with the Android OS, the high data speeds gives you a device that's a pleasure to use.

Of course, there are many other things we could look at but those are the primary areas that concern me in the decisions that I make. One other big thing is that the Curve is a phone with a physical keyboard while the Hero has no physical keyboard and instead uses on-screen touch keyboards. Although a touch keyboard is a very different experience, I've found it to be usable enough that I won't miss the physical keyboard of the Curve.

In other words, I expect to be getting myself a Hero, quite soon.

NBC Winter Olympics Videos on Linux

2010-02-13T23:29:00.000-08:00

As with the last Olympics, NBC has once again chosen Silverlight as the technology for streaming video. Since Silverlight is a Microsoft technology, Windows user only needs to download the plugin and get on their way. For Linux users, it can be a bit more complicated.

Fortunately, Silverlight has existed in the form of Moonlight for the last couple of years and a version compatible with the NBC Silverlight player was released just in time for the Olympics.

In my case, I'm using Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit. The Firefox plugin can be downloaded here:

http://www.go-mono.com/moonlight/prerelease.aspx

For some reason, after download and installation, it still wouldn't work for me but this tip from the Mono support forums helped:

Try deleting your pluginreg.dat file (in ~/.mozilla/firefox/*/pluginreg.dat, close firefox first), then restart firefox.

Once I did this, the plugin worked as it should...now, if NBC could only get their act together and actually deliver the videos to actually play without errors.

What's the iPad for and would I use it?

2010-02-02T09:03:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of the iProducts, there was the iMac. A revolutionary, all-in-one machine available in many colors of the rainbow and quickly adopted by many. The iPod came along and showed the world what Apple thought an MP3 player should look like. It was quickly adopted and became the king of the hill. The iPhone did a similar number on the wireless industry and the world now embraces Apple products in several different categories. Despite their shortcomings, their are innovative and well designed and the consumers love them.

Enter the iPad. For weeks and months, rumors were swirling around the Internet about what the iPad would actually be. The expectation with Apple's track record was clearly something revolutionary.

Now, about a week later, I've had the time to digest what I've read about the iPad and it's functionality. The press conference was used to show off a variety of different applications, from reading to email and gaming. It seemed to me that the device did much of this very well.

The question that keeps intruding in my mind is this: what would I use it for?

I have a laptop that I use for my writing, web design, email and other web related activities. I have a Kindle that I use for reading and finding new books. I have a Blackberry that I use for calling, text messaging, e-mail, surfing and such. I have a PSP for portable gaming when I decide I want high quality gaming. I have a PS3 at home for even higher quality gaming.

The answer to my own question is simple: nothing much.

The problem for me is that I already have dedicated devices that do what I need. Take reading for example: the Kindle is made with reading-friendly e-ink. This means that you can literally read for hours and there's no more eye strain than there would be reading a regular book. Looking at the iPad, I see a screen that's very different. Will a user have the same experience there? I can't tell.

Bottom line for me, being the tech geek that I am, I'd love to get my hands on one and see what it can do but at the end of the day, it's just another device that I don't need. At this point, the one thing I would find real useful would be to use it to watch movies on trips and such but do I really want to spend $500 for a movie player?

I do have to say that although I don't see a need for the iPad for me personally at this point, I do see potential with the iPad. It's a powerful device and I think there are many possible applications for it. Schools, the health industry etc. So, although the iPad was disappointing to me as a launch device, I do see potential and with a couple of months left to go before launch, there is still time to perfect it and make it even better.

HTC Hero arrives in Alaska

2010-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

The HTC Hero finally arrived in Alaska this past week. On Thursday night, ACS held a launch party at their midtown Anchorage store, selling the device for the first time in Alaska.

What about the other carriers?

GCI has announced on their Facebook page that they will be selling the Hero as well starting next week.

MTA has no firm date on the Android section of their website yet so it's unclear when they are launching. They are stating a launch by the end of January, which in reality is next week.

24 Season 8 Premiere Review

2010-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

Jack Bauer is finally back with another much anticipated season of 24 (at least for me) and the big question on everyone's mind is without a doubt if it's going to be any good.

Season 8 begins with a Jack Bauer we're not used to seeing. Jack is relaxing on the couch, watching his granddaughter and seems to be settling into the role of being a grandfather. For those that have followed Jack since season 1, we know he has had a very traumatic life and seeing him relax is almost strange but also very well deserved. Having finally worked things out in his relationship with his daughter, it seems like he's got a nice family that loves him.

As I sit there and watch the reborn Jack, I know that the next 24 hours won't be there if Jack somehow doesn't get pulled into some sort of national emergency and as the first hour goes on, it becomes a little bit more clear what is going to happen.

With the President of the USA discussing a nuclear treaty with the President of Kamistan (nicely disguised Iran), there appear to be those not too happy with the peace that is being discussed. A plot to assassinate President Hassan is in the works and Jack Bauer ends up in the middle of it.

When an informant from a previous bust shows up at Jack's place, he has no choice but to get in touch with CTU and bring the informant in. A series of unfortunate events lead to the death of the informant and a couple of CTU agents. The informant has enough time to point to someone close to the Kamistanian president as being involved but not who. CTU, headed by director Hastings, finds a reporter that allegedly has hacked the UN databases and with special access to the president, he suspects that she is involved.

Chloe is back as an analyst and she's quick to point out that they find the involved a little too quickly. Hastings won't have any of it and clearly seems to be on a one-track mind. He seems to be headed for disaster.

The plot is typical of 24 I suppose. We know from spending seven years with Jack that unexpected things must happen and we must be left hanging at the end of the hour. That's all the same. However, in the first couple of hours, we've been introduced to a number of new characters and they all have the potential to make things interesting in the next few hours.

Take Director Hastings, for example. It appears he believes he can do the job while others are not so sure. He's quick to make decisions without analyzing all information available and once he makes that decision, he completely ignores additional input. Although he works for CTU and tries to protect the target, he could very well be the one that contributes to one disaster or another.

Analyst Dana Walsh is clearly hiding something, something her fiance doesn't even know about. A past life of some sort is intruding in her new life and there is a lot of potential her for plot twists. Is she a bad person with bad intentions or is she just someone that had a rough life and is trying to leave that all behind?

Cole Ortiz, the man Dana Walsh is to marry, seems to be one of the few brilliant guys at CTU. He confronts Hastings after an operation doesn't go according to plan and seems to be the one that knows how things should be done correctly operationally. As a result he clashes with Hastings and I can easily see him turn into someone that ignores Hastings just to get things done. He reminds me a bit of Jack.

President Hassan is obviously not surrounded by people that wish him all well and it will be curious to see what those around him actually do.

Overall, the first two hours were pretty good and has set the stage for what can turn into an exciting season. With two more hours tonight, I can barely wait.

The big question in my mind is this: is season 8 it? From what I've read, it seems like Kiefer wouldn't mind going forward with another season but that may also depend on how this season goes. I can definitely see Jack Bauer retire for good after this season, in one way or another. Time will tell. Until then, I plan to enjoy every minute of the new season.

Avatar Still Sold Out?

2010-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

This past weekend the time had come to go see Avatar. Or so I thought. With movie that has been out over a month, I figured arriving not too far before the movie started would be sufficient. But no. Avatar was sold out for the next showing and so was the 3D version. I would have to wait three hours for either version.

I don't have a need to see Avatar so badly that I'll wait three hours just to see it so at the moment, I'm still one of those that have not seen Avatar.

It was quite an interesting experience either way though. I didn't get to see one of the best movies of the year but at the same time I witnessed an phenomenon I have not seen before, at least not since Titanic.

I remember with Titanic, I had many friends that went to see it not just one but two and three times. There was so much hype around that movie and it paid off in a great way. Avatar I haven't heard much about from friends but looking at how much money it is making and how popular it still is a month later, Avatar has become a cinematic phenomenon, just like Titanic.

Android and HTC Hero Heading to Alaska!

2010-01-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Since late November, the HTC Hero has been featured on the airwaves up here in Alaska. GCI, one of the local phone companies, has been advertising the imminent arrival of Alaska's first Android-based phone. It didn't take long for ACS to follow and now both companies are advertising the arrival of Android to Alaska.

The big question is when. ACS hasn't put a date on their release and GCI is saying on the Alaska Digitel website that they expect to have the phone mid-January. So, potentially, we could be as close as two weeks away from Android in Alaska.

Being the tinkerer that I am, I couldn't quite wait that long so I started looking around for ways to run Android on other things...anything!

It didn't take long to find that Android can be run on a regular PC using a Live CD, much in the same way Ubuntu can. Of course, I wasted no time trying that and quickly had a VirtualBox setup with Android running.

Going further, I realized that an even better way to experience Android is through the Android SDK. Using the emulator included here, I can run the different OS versions and tinker around with apps and various other things. Very cool.

Then I found that there's more. Creative geniuses have managed to get Android to run on older pocketpc devices, such as the PPC6900 and also some newer ones. In theory, this seems to mean that if you're looking at running Android and even HTC's Sense on an existing phone, you can, although much slower in most cases.

So, while I'm waiting for the Hero to come and while I contemplate whether I want to give up my Blackberry or not, I tinker with Android on my own. If you're interested in the same, below are a few links that may be of interest:

Alaska Carriers advertising the Hero:
ACS - http://www.acsalaska.com
GCI - http://www.gci.com

Android SDK - http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
Android ISO - http://code.google.com/p/live-android/

http://www.androidonhtc.com

Android on HTC Google Wave Discussion
Android on HTC Files on Google Wave

Google's Nexus One Spotted

2010-01-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

Google's Nexus One Android phone has been in the news for some time now and there has been a lot of hype about it. Is it the iPhone killer we've been looking for?

Engadget already has one in their hands and a review is coming. A quick Google search reveals several other articles about the Nexus One but no real hands-on experience. That will most likely be saved for January 5th, the day of the Google press conference.

However, after reading the Engadget preview, I can't help but being a little disappointed. Google set out to release their own phone who knows when yet what it seems to be is not anything revolutionary, just another smartphone loaded with good hardware and a good OS. Don't get me wrong, Android is exciting to me and the HTC Hero is a great phone in my book but partially it is a great phone because HTC took the time to make it their own. Their Sense GUI makes the Hero the phone it is to a large extent. It shows a commitment by HTC to not just use a OS to make a phone but it shows that HTC is willing to go beyond that, make their own apps, widgets etc. to give the end user an Android experience that's really worth talking about.

Yes, I haven't actually held a Nexus One in my hand and I suspect the closest I will ever get to one is by running Android 2.1 in the SDK emulator but it does seem like Google could have done more and done it better.

I sure hope I'm wrong.

2010 and a Happy New Tech Year!

2010-01-01T17:39:00.001-08:00

2010 has arrived with the usual noise of fireworks and celebration. Here at 2Tall Tales, I can't help but already look forward to some of the things that 2010 has in store for us on the tech front.

Ubuntu will of course continue to be released and there seems to be much to look forward to in the next release, out in a few months. Apple is preparing some sort of big announcement at the end of the January, widely speculated to have something to do with a tablet PC. Android continues to march into the wireless market as well as elsewhere, spreading out a large amount of impressive handsets destined to challenge the iPhone and all it stands for. Let's not forget that Google has their own phone coming out real soon as well and Barnes and Noble with the ebook reader based on Android, the Nook.

Those are just a few things that come to mind. 2009 was a good year for tech and such and 2010 is looking to become an exciting one as well. Expect to see more about Android in particular on this blog in the next days and weeks as Google's OS makes it's inroads in Alaska.

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala First Impressions

2009-10-30T23:30:00.000-07:00

With the final Karmic Koala release just hours behind us and with a week of playing around with the Release Candidate, I have to say that upgrading from 9.04 was definitely worth it.

Karmic brings a number of improvements that are well worth upgrading for in my opinion and I wanted to share some of the observations I have noticed while using the RC for this past week.

Startup/Shutdown Time

The startup times of Ubuntu has increased in Karmic. Although I failed to take a time measurement before installing Karmic on top of Jaunty, there are several aspects of the startup process that I as a user definitely like better. One example is that the desktop is shown once its ready to be used, not as it is leading all the aspects of it. Previously, the desktop has always loaded its items progressively while you wait, much in the same manner Windows does. The Karmic experience is much more pleasing and also faster compared to what I recall Jaunty to be.

The shutdown and standby times are also vastly improved. I measured a complete shutdown to take around 7 seconds at the most, which is a pretty good. The one oddity I noticed in standby mode is that the computer seems to go through the battery life a lot quick than it used to. That may still be something that will be improved in the final version, which I am downloading as I'm typing this.

Sound Settings

One of the things that drove me up the wall when I upgraded to Intrepid about a year ago was the loss of the mic boost that Hardy had. Being a frequent user of Skype, I suddenly found myself without a proper way to actually use Skype without jumping through a number of hoops to just get the mic to work properly. I wasn't the only one either and in the end, I ended up using my XP machine for any Skype use.

In Karmic, the situation has been remedied to some extent. The mic boost has returned in a sense and once again allows me to increase the level of the input on the mic. It's still not as good as it was but it's a remarkable improvement and actually makes Skype somewhat usable again.

Ubuntu Software Center

The Add/Remove Software menu option has been replaced with Ubuntu Software Center, which seems like a way to organize the software a bit differently and also provide the framework for perhaps offering commercial applications at some point. I do think the new structure makes it a bit more user-friendly interface for those that may not be as technical as what Linux users traditionally are made out to be.

Network Manager

The Network Manager continues to improve and with it, support for wireless broadband. Using a Franklin CDU-680 unit means that I've been able to move away from many of the irritating terminal commands I'd used to have to enter to just get online. The CDU-680, among many others, is instantly recognized by the Network Manager once switched into modem mode and can be used immediately to connect to the Internet. Although this was really introduced back in Jaunty, I believe, it continues to improve.

Notifications

I've noticed that the Notifications app is now also supporting more applications. I've always found it to be a very useful way to find out what's going on and seeing it evolve is great.

Instant Messaging

Pidgin has been replaced with the Empathy IM client. Although I haven't used Empathy much yet, for some reason I never quite liked Pidgin. One primary reason was the lack of video and audio support on MSN, something that numerous other clients had managed to accomplish way ahead of Pidgin. I always found this to be quite astounding, that the premier IM app for Ubuntu didn't seem to be able to keep up. Empathy at this point seems a bit thin so I'm withholding my judgment on it for now. As always, I'll go look for what works best for me and if Empathy isn't it, I won't be using it.

Initial Impressions

I've only been at Karmic for a week now but these are my initial impressions. So far, I'm impressed with what I see. Although this install caused me a few more headaches because of going the 64-bit route, it's been worth it in the end.

In the next weeks, I'll be offering a few more impressions on Karmic. In particular, I intend to give those of you that use Dell XPS 1530's an idea of how it works on a Dell.

Stargate Universe - A New Chapter

2009-10-25T15:52:00.001-07:00

I have always been a fan of the Stargate series. I liked the movie and I've seen an episode of SG-1 here and there. When Stargate Atlantis came along, I watched every single episode, from the beginning to the end. The cancellation announcement was sudden and sad. However, a glimmer of hope that the Stargate saga would continue remained. Stargate Universe was announced as SG-1 and Atlantis were winding down.

It was clear from the very beginning that SG:U would be different than before. Centering around a mysterious ship which would leave its passengers stranded, it seemed destined to break new ground.

Finally, a month ago SG:U premiered and five episodes later (the premiere was two, I hear), I'm glad to report that SG:U is a great show.

Let's talk a little bit about background. SG:U begins with an accident on a distant planet where a Stargate with 9 chevrons exists. It's the only one around and the brilliant minds working on in theorize that a 9 chevron gate address found on Atlantis can be dialed through this gate. However, their attempts dial fails.

After recruiting a bit of outside help from a gamer whiz, they find the solution and together with an unexpected alien attack on the planet, they end up being able to dial the address. Since a that point, their only options are to either go through the gate or die when the planet they are on explodes, the whole base population that is alive runs through the gate.

The gate leads to a ship called Destiny. Sent out by the ancients a long time ago, it's on autopilot, flying through space towards a destination that is unknown.

As they arrive with limited supplies and a bunch of people, they are immediately faced with a dilemma: the life support system on the ship is busted. How do you fix something you don't have the parts for?

The following episodes continue along the same theme. Problems arise, in some cases due to their lack of understanding in regards to how the ship works, other times because they think they know how something works only to be shown that they don't. As you may imagine, this causes a lot of interesting problems.

As expected, the crew is completely new and with new characters, there are new interpersonal dramas. I've also noticed that SG:U goes into the romantic aspects much more directly than say S:A did. In some cases, this distracts a bit and feels a bit rushed, almost as if it's added on just for the sake of having a steamy sex scene in the episode. There is some romantic tension between characters that may develop later so there's plenty to see still.

I'm not going to go into detail in about the episodes at this point but for me, being a Stargate fan, I like it. As the show goes on, I may post reviews of individual episodes. For now, I'm looking forward to the next episode this coming Friday on SyFy.

Alaska State Troopers - A Review

2009-10-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

The last couple of years, Alaska has become a household name. Starting with TV shows like Deadliest Catch to the failed Vice Presidential bid of Governor Sarah Palin, everyone is curious about Alaska. It is no surprise then that more and more shows are popping up on the good old TV, displaying the last frontier and all its dangers. So, when I heard that the Alaska State Troopers were making their contribution to the Alaska mania, I was pretty excited.

Surprisingly, Alaska State Troopers on NGC is a cop show unlike any other cop show and whether that's good or bad is up to the viewer. Someone from Alaska will most likely come away with a different impression of Alaska than their grandma down in Florida.

At first, I was a bit embarrassed. The first part of the show takes us along with the Troopers as they have to deal with drunks, fights, people spitting blood and such. Being understaffed obviously doesn't help. I was thinking that "gosh, Alaskans look like a bunch of drunks."

Later on, a woman turns up on a porch completely wasted and is taken to the hospital, all while calling the Trooper who responded to the call "her friend." Another lady is pulled over for an equipment violation, who turns out to be on probation for something involving drugs. The canine unit, which happened to pull her over, takes a peek, indicating on a pack of cigarettes. Fortunately for the driver, no drugs are found.

Later on, we witness a dead moose in a lake, illegal trapping and a few other things. Mixed in with all of this are the monologues by the officers, as seen on many other cop shows. There's also a bit of showing off with the snowmobile if you ask me, although I wouldn't be surprised if that's more of a production stunt. The law riding wild on the side of a mountain looks better on TV.

The one thing that comes up several times during the show is staffing. One of the challenges for the AST is staffing. Very often they're spread out over large areas with very little support that at times can put them in sticky situations, situations that at times can make it very dangerous for them. It's not like Cops where you call for backup and you have five other cars there within minutes. Alaska Troopers must often act independently and alone and it makes it a very dangerous job. They definitely need more staff.

AST isn't like Cops or Police Women of Broward County. It isn't all action every second of the show. On most shows, something exciting happens all the time. That's what keeps you glued to the TV. In fact, there's a lot of build-up at times that results in nothing exciting. Take the dead moose on the lake, for example. We see the pilot go check it out but then nothing much more happens. The lady on probation us pulled over but no drugs are found. The most exciting part of the show must have been the snowmobile accident that required a helicopter to pick up the injured person. Taking close to three hours, you can see the agony of the guy on the stretcher and you sympathize...and wonder why in the world would you do such a thing.

Being an Alaskan, I'll watch all the coming episodes as well. Although AST is a bit slower compared to other shows, it does present a unique picture of the challenges of law enforcement in Alaska. It may not be all guts and glory, it may at times be a matter of staying alive because you're the only Trooper around. Let's just hope for the sake of all other viewers that the pace picks up a bit in the next few episodes.

Google Wave - The Next Everything?

2009-10-16T09:15:00.001-07:00

When Google Wave was announced earlier this year, I knew I had to somehow be a part of it. The concept of working together on things online at the same time with this new media was appealing to say the least. Naturally, once it was possible to do so I requested an invite to this great experiment called Google Wave.

Quite a bit has already been written about Google Wave and I imagine that quite a bit more will be written before Google's latest experiment becomes available to the masses of the Internet. As of right now, Google Wave is in a "preview" stage, whatever that means. I'm guessing this is the stage before the open beta that GMail went through for a couple of years. Obviously, it's not open to the general public at this point so that must be what it means.

For those of you wondering what Google Wave really is, here's a short explanation from Wikipedia:

Google Wave is "a personal communication and collaboration tool" announced by Google at the Google I/O conference on May 27, 2009.^[1]^[2] It is a web-based service,computing platform, and communications protocol designed to merge e-mail, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking.^[3] It has a strong collaborative and real-time^[4] focus supported by extensions that can provide, for example, robust spelling/grammar checking, automated translation between 40 languages,^[2] and numerous other extensions.^[4] Initially released only to developers, a "preview release" of Google Wave has been extended to about 600,000 users since September 30, 2009, with the initial 100,000 users each allowed to invite up to eight additional users.

So, essentially it does everything you do on the web all at once, in one place. Well, maybe not quite but as you can see in the above quote, Google Wave is definitely aiming to become the new standard of communication and collaboration.

How does it work?

If you're a user of Gmail, in a way you already have a sneak peek of Google Wave. Just as a series of emails and replies between you and another party are gathered together in one place and sorted almost as if it was a discussion on IM, Google Wave does this but it takes it to the next level. Instead of having to post replies as they are received, you can post replies anytime, your typing is seen in real time if the other party is online and you can edit other content from previous entries. Basically, the typical email conversation in Gmail makes up your Wave in Google Wave.

Your inbox consists of Waves as opposed to emails, with notifications of new blips (entries). You can invite other people to your waves and collaborate within the Wave. So, the Wave itself can be just a conversation, like IM, or it can be editing of documents, policies etc. It could also be a wiki or even a collaborative novel (several of these exists).

In addition, there are gadgets and extensions available and under development so you can easily add things like a MSN IM Wave (no need to use a MSN client anymore) or a Twitter Wave or maybe just a map with your house on it so that the friends you invited for dinner can find your house. You can also add yes/no/maybe surveys, to-do lists, mindmaps and more.

Does it work?

Obviously, that's the question everyone will ask. First of all, it's obvious this product is still in a preview stage. There is plenty of stuff that still needs to be fixed, tuned, added and so on. Many gadgets, extensions and bots just don't work. However, the basic concept is there and it works.

Let's use instant messaging as an example. The rest of my immediately family lives on the other side of the planet. The only time where we can really chat, talk or video conference at a good hour is late at night or early in the morning. Naturally, this is not always convenient because it may very well happen that one party is sleeping. With Google Wave, this doesn't matter anymore. With Google Wave, you can being a conversation that's always there. You can invite people in, you can start a conversation, whether it's live or not, and continue for days. There's no pressure to have to be up and online at the same time. Sure, your conversation may take longer but at least you have it. For me, that's a pretty important thing.

Another example is a small book project I'm working on with a couple of other people. We're gathering stories, putting them together into one big book of sorts so that it later can be shared with others. Before Google Wave, collaborating in real time could be a bit cumbersome and although Google Docs allow for this, it wasn't quite ideal for us. So, here we are, working on a project all together on Google Wave.

So, the idea behind Google Wave is definitely interesting and I'm curious to see how it could be deployed in a business environment. However, that's for the future, I imagine, once Wave is out of preview and beta.

Will Google Wave revolutionize how we communicate? Maybe, maybe not. I've found it to be more interesting than email, more exciting than discussion forums and more useful than IM.

The one thing I can see happen is that the political realm will jump on this bandwagon real quick. While Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube quickly have become political tools, I have no doubt that before you know it, Google Wave will be invaded by political agents from both parties here in the USA and elsewhere. In fact, there are already Waves for both major political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. There is a pretty lengthy wave about the current health care debate and numerous other things.

I think Google Wave is here to stay.

District 9 Review

2009-10-06T14:20:00.001-07:00

In the theatres of the world, science fiction has been well represented the last couple of years. With movies such as Star Trek and Transformers, we've had our share of intense action and mind-blowing technology on display. When District 9 rolled in, I was therefore completely unprepared.

District 9 is science fiction but science fiction on a very different level. With movies like Transformers, Star Trek and others, you see something cool but not necessarily believable. District 9 comes across as something that could be happening in the world right now.

he background goes as follows. At some point in time, a giant space ship parks itself over Johannesburg, South Africa. Nothing else happens until the brave human race decides to open it up and see what's inside.

>Inside they find a starving a leaderless alien population that is transferred to camps on the ground for humanitarian reasons. It doesn't take long, however, before the camps turn into slums and the aliens turn into beings that were saved from death to a race that the humans would rather see dead.

he movie follows the events that take place as the MNU organization carries out a relocation of the whole alien population to what can best be described as concentration camps and the events that occur during this relocation. It deals with issues we can all recognize, such as racism, profiting on the poor and so on.

I don't want to ruin the plot so I won't go any further into it at this point. However I do want to point out a few other things about the movie.

I learned from an article in another magazine that there are no Hollywood actors in the movie. I'd have to say that's about right because I don't recognize a single character in the movie. Supposedly, this was done on purpose. A lot of the dialogue was also created on the fly to create a sense that both the characters and what they were saying appeared genuine. In addition, the filming has all the marks of a documentary. Much of the movie appears to be an interenal MNU video documentary, supplemented by security camera footage as well as the occasional TV news footage. Again, all of this was done to make the movie seem more realistic.

The obvious question is: did it work?

Without a doubt, I think it did. Of all the sci-fi movies (and other regular fiction as well) I've seen in the last couple of years, this movie by far appear to be the most realistic. When you watch it, you actually feel like it really could be happening right now, or last month, in South Africa. It's a story that's sad but also eye-opening.

Being a sci-fi movie, there is naturally a ton of cool technology involved, all of it alien. However, for the most part, the technology itself isn't the focus of the story, it's merely the tool with which the story is told. The story could just as well have taken place in the New World after Columbus came or in Germany during World War II. As such, the human drama is the main focus of the story and as such, it should appeal to those that may not like sci-fi in itself. Although quite violent and gory at times, it feels very realistic.

Overall, District 9 is a must see movie if you don't mind a bit of blood and gore here and there. In my book, it's one of the best movies of the year.

Nanowrimo Title Revealed

2009-09-29T15:56:00.001-07:00

With the 3 Day Novel Writing Contest now weeks behind me, I've been using the last couple of weeks to diligently prepare for Nanowrimo, National Novel Writing Month.

Status so far: I'm working on my first "outline draft" and I've finished part one of three of the story so far. So, so far so good. My goal is to finish my "outline draft" and then clean it up a bit before November 1 comes along.

After several ideas, I have also finally decided on a name for the novel: The Departure Protocol. As an inspirational item, I have also created a little graphical banner (at the top) that I'll be using in my Nanowrimo forum signature as well as on here whenever I blog about the progress of this novel.

One thing I'm still trying to decide is whether to separate the Nanowrimo blogging from this blog itself, since a lot of other stuff on this site really relates more to technology. Feedback on that is welcome.

Djl - Steam for Linux?

2009-09-28T10:26:00.001-07:00

Digital distribution of software and games in particular has grown quite a bit in the last couple of years. I've checked out some of these services myself, such as Steam by Valve and Direct2Drive.

Being a Ubuntu user for much of the time these days, PC gaming hasn't been much of a focus for me lately. However, I'm always on the lookout for interesting thing to take my mind of the more serious stuff. Today I stumbled upon Djl.

Djl? What kind of name is that?

Naturally, my curiosity got the best of my so I decided to check it out.

In a nutshell, Djl is essentially Steam for Linux, except that Valve has absolutely nothing to do with it.

If you're not familiar with Steam, let me explain how Djl works.

Djl provides you, the user, with a client with direct access to a repository of games. To play these games, you select the game and click "Install" and after downloading the game, it's installed through Djl and started through Djl.

Sounds simple, right? The question is, is it as simple as it sounds?

The answer is yes and no.

The Djl interface is easy to use and works as advertised I guess you can say. However, when it comes to playing the games, it's a bit more hit and miss. All games I've tried to download seemed to download without problems. However, only half of the ones I tried actually worked.

The ones that downloaded, installed and ran as intended were a great example of what the potential of this product is. Unfortunately, the majority of the games I tried to install failed to run for a variety of reasons. In some cases due to incompatibilities with other software, in some cases without any real reason.

So, although Djl has a lot of potential, at this point there are just too many things that are not working. I do have to say that I have found a number of very interesting games I wouldn't have known about if I hadn't tried Djl. Since it's also updated quite frequently, I expect I'll continue to find new entertainment gems in the future.

Review - The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

2009-09-20T16:33:00.000-07:00

Robert Langdon, famous from the adventures of "The DaVinci Code" and "Angels & Demons" one night finds himself on the way to Washington D.C., summoned by his close friend and mentor for a favor. He arrives in D.C. only to find that his friend had actually been kidnapped and that he must solve a mystery to grant the release of his friend.

That's how "The Lost Symbol", the latest novel by Dan Brown, begins. Once again, Robert Langdon is faced with a mystery that must be solved and if he doesn't solve it, his friend and mentor will die. He must use his knowledge in symbols to follow the clues and find the answer that the kidnapper is looking for and he only has a few hours to do it.

In short, it's a plot set up to be fast paced, intense and full of action. It involves plenty of references to the Freemasons, their rituals and other related mysteries. "Neotic science" plays a prominent role, closely tied to the mystery Robert must solve and for the first part of the book turns into a bit of a parallel sub-plot involving the sister of Robert's kidnapped friend. Add a little bit of mysticism, new age and general history about the USA and you have a very interesting mix that makes for an interesting read.

Unfortunately, it's not as riveting as Brown's previous books. His writing style hasn't changed and frankly started to annoy me in TLS. As before, he reveals vital information to his main characters but the reader only finds out later what this information is. The chapters are short and very often ends with mini-cliffhangers. Now and then, he dumps a lot of information, whether it be background information or an involved dialogue about mystical concepts. Very often, it slows down the pace of the story and although useful information, it seems that at times it just feels inserted in the wrong places. In short, his writing style still makes it a page turner but not because of the plot being as interesting as before but because he writes the novel in such a way that to find out what is happening, you have to turn the page.

All the mysteries and puzzles in this book are just not as fascinating as in the previous books either. Although the Masons has a lot rituals and mysterious aspects of it, they just don't seem as intriguing as Opus Dei in the previous books. The New Age aspects and the mysticism that Brown introduces as plot elements just aren't convincing enough. I have no doubt that plenty of people in the religious community will be unhappy with Brown's portrayal of God and religion in this book. Although Christianity isn't really the focus of this book, Brown takes up plenty of space with philosophical arguments about man being god and God as we know him not really being real, that all religions really worship the same deity in one way or another, just with another name. In fact, the last 20% of the book is very much focused on this. While reading, I noticed that by the time I was about 80% through the book, the major aspects of the plot were done, yet the story kept going for many more pages. At first I figured that there would be one final twist to the story but in the end, the ending was very anticlimactic and left me disappointed.

Overall, "The Lost Symbol" was a page-turner that disappointed in the end. If you're a Dan Brown fan, you'll no doubt like it either way but you're more likely to get a more riveting adventure out of a Lee Child or David Baldacci book than this one.

The Kindle Experience

2009-09-16T20:36:00.000-07:00

Being an avid reader of everything from fiction to religion to science, I love books. I love reading. With fiction, it's a way to escape reality and dive into another world somewhere else, where things may be completely different. Religion teaches me a lot about "why" while science tells me a lot about the "how." So, reading is definitely a passion of mine, not to mention that doing my own writing is a lot of fun (hello to all fellow 3 day novel contestants out there).

Anyway, I'm not just an avid reader but also a tech junkie. I love technology, what you can do with it and how it can improve your life. Computers, laptops, gaming consoles, Blackberry etc., they are all present somewhere in my life. A couple of months ago, I started looking a bit closer at the ebook readers. For one, with a two week vacation coming up, I was planning on reading a lot of books but I wasn't looking forward to bringing along a suitcase of books just for that purpose. Yet, I wasn't sure and kept looking at the Sony ebook readers, the Kindle 2, the Kindle DX and a few others. Ultimately, at that point, it ended up being something I'd love to have but didn't have to have.

My wife took notice of my interest in the Kindle and, sweet as she is, got me one for my birthday. In fact, it arrived late which magnified the surprise by quite a bit.

First impression? Very impressive.

Of course, those are not very objective assessments of anything so let me try to give you a better idea of what my impressions are after a week of being a Kindle 2 owner.

First of all, let's touch on the features of the Kindle. The most important part of the unit is obviously the screen. On a reader intended to replace books, the importance of a good screen cannot be overstated. With the eink technology that the Kindle and other ebook readers use, Amazon has succeeded in providing a very readable screen from every angle and it's completely different than what I expected it to be. Essentially, the screen is pretty much the size of a paperback novel.

Of course, without books, the Kindle would be pointless. To help out on this front, Amazon has come up with a pretty neat solution. The Kindle has built in wireless data service as opposed to wifi. For me, this was actually one of the main selling points. The Kindle uses EVDO and 1xrtt data service provided by Sprint or their roaming partners and it allows you to literally access the Amazon book store anywhere you are and buy the Kindle version of the books on the go, something you can't always do with wifi. Since I live in Alaska, I had to find out whether any of Sprint's partners actually provide the service up here. A quick call to Amazon's customer service confirmed that there is indeed coverage in Alaska.

Another aspect that helps out on the reading front is the dictionary that comes pre-loaded. Find a word you don't understand? Just look it up, right there, on your Kindle.

As far as the interface goes, a full keyboard is available, which comes in handy for searches, taking notes, bookmarks etc. The Kindle has strategically placed "Next Page" buttons on both the right and left of the unit making it easy to hold it in either hand and easily navigate to the next page of whatever you're reading. The Kindle also has a five-way directional joystick for navigation as well as a couple of additional buttons related to navigation.

On the top of the unit, there's a headphone jack which can be used listening to music, audiobooks etc. The on-off switch is located next to the headphone jack.

There are also a few other features worth pointing out. First, the Text-to-Speech is definitely one of the more exiting ones. For the ebooks that have this feature enabled, it basically allows you to listen to the book instead of reading it. Although you can still notice that the voice is computer generated, it is a whole lot better than the typical reading voices I've seen previously on computers. I imagine, though, that text-to-speech will work best with non-fiction material. I can see some serious problems emerging with the software properly trying to convey dialogue in a realistic manner. So, for "Liberty and Tyranny" it's ok but I doubt "The Lost Symbol" would survive it properly.

The Kindle also has limited browsing capabilities, which allows you to use the wireless connection to do Google searches and to view other basic pages. However, despite the EVDO connection, it is pretty obvious that the browser is not intended for more than the just most basic browsing. Some of the mobile web bookmarks saved by default are a testament to this.

Another of the "experimental" features (text-to-speech and browsing are the other two) is MP3 playback. What this allows for you to do is to not only listen to your favorite music but also listen to your favorite music, all at the same time.

There are a number of other small features as well but let me point out a couple of things I've found the Kindle to be missing:

First of all, the Kindle does not have a background light. Although a light can be purchased for about $20, it is a bit disappointing that this basic feature is not available. However, for me, it wasn't a deal-breaker. I usually read a book with a light on and I expect I'll be doing the same with the Kindle.

The second feature that I miss just a little is a touch-screen. Although not something you absolutely have to have on a device like this in my opinion, it would make some aspects of using the device a bit easier. The five-way joystick takes a it of getting used to but ultimately, it does the job that it was designed for. Being a Blackberry user I would actually like to see a trackball similar to what's used on the Blackberry instead of the five-way joystick.

The third thing I noticed is that the Kindle lacks any memory card slot of any kind. However, considering that the Kindle has around 1.5GB of available internal memory, the missing memory card slot really isn't a big deal. The Kindle isn't intended for watching high resolution photos, after all, and it's not intended to replace your iPod.

Finally, it would be good if the Kindle came with some sort of software package to accommodate transfer of files, music and so on. As it is right now, it comes with a USB cable that once plugged in treats the Kindle as a large USB drive. Any copying, you'll have to do manually using the typical drag and drop or copy and paste functions of whatever operating system you may use.
Fortunately, there are plenty of third-party options that will give you the software you need to do this. On Linux in particular, Calibre is an excellent piece of software (I'll post a separate post about my experience with Calibre in a couple of days).

Ok, so I think we can leave the discussion about the features the Kindle has and doesn't have behind and look a bit closer at how it actually works. Is it a good substitute for reading a real book on paper?

My short answer is yes, it most definitely is. Obviously, being a new owner, the first thing I had to do was to get something to read. The manual, the welcome letter and the built-in dictionary only goes so far in satisfying my desire to read.

I started thinking about what books I've been wanting to get and quickly decide that "Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin would be my first purchase. Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" would be my second.

I logged into my Amazon account on my computer and added a credit card for quick, 1-click payments. Focusing once again on my Kindle, I found the titles I wanted and clicked "Buy" and then waited. About 10 seconds later, my first book was downloaded and ready to read.

Very impressive.

"The Lost Symbol" ended up being a pre-order so I had to wait a few days to get it. However, thanks to the Amazon wireless service, the book was delivered to my Kindle the day of the release, before I even woke up.

Very impressive, once again.

Buying books is, in other words, very easy and very quick. The price is also pretty good. Typically, Kindle books are $10 or less, which is very affordable. In addition, search for "-domain" and you'll see a selection of free titles. In fact, one titles currently on the Kindle top sellers list, "Full Moon Rising", just a couple of weeks ago was $6.99. Now it's free.

In addition, there are quite a few sites that offer free books, everything from the King James Bible to classic literature such as Sherlock Holmes and more.

How about the reading experience?

Well, I'd say it compares very much to reading a regular book. Thanks to the e-ink, fonts and the screen, reading a book on the Kindle feels like reading a book on paper with the exception that instead of having to flip the page, you just click "Next Page" and you'll have the next page right there. In fact, holding the Kindle with one hand is very comfortable and whether you use your left or right hand, your thumb is pretty much always in a comfortable position to click that button.

The only negative I've found so far: if you're flying, since the Kindle is an electronic device, it has to follow the rules that apply to electronic devices on aircraft. No use until the crew gives you the ok, usually around 10,000ft. When you're reading a part of the book that is particularly exciting, it's a bit irritating to have to stop reading just because someone else tells you to. So, a bit annoying but not a big deal.

I've also found that battery life is excellent. Once you actually start reading, there is really no point in leaving the wireless connection active (it'll just drain your battery) and with it off, you can read for days without recharging.

So, what's my impression overall?

I'm very happy with my Kindle. It's a fantastic device. I love reading and sometimes don't just because going to the book store to get one takes time. With the Kindle, I buy my books right there and they are delivered instantly. It saves me time and I get to do more of what I really like to do: read interesting books. If you are anything like me in this aspect, I warmly recommend it. Yes, it may be a bit expensive at $299 but for the convenience and for the amount of books available, it's definitely something to consider.

I know I love it.

Prism and Web Apps

2009-09-11T23:15:00.000-07:00

For decades, applications and their use have been limited to computers and their specific operating systems. We as users have been used to going about our computing needs using a variety of applications.

For word processing, MS Word has been the main contender.

For spreadsheets, accounting, tables, graphs and all kinds of other calculating needs, we've had MS Excel.

We've played games on our computers.

We've created graphical masterpieces using Photoshop, websites using Dreamweaver and chatted with friends using MSN, ICQ, AOL etc.

Now, these days, much of the normal use has moved out of the desktop realm and into the realm of the world wide web. As a freelancer, I use numerous apps online already to provide me with the tools I need, no matter where I am.

A few examples of these are:

Freshbooks for invoicing, billing and time tracking
Outright for accounting services
dotProject for project management
Google Apps, such as docs, email, reader for various other needs
Dropbox for syncing files locally and remotely

Bottom line: much of what I used to do on my computer, I now do online.

Recently, I've heard about a project by Mozilla called Prism. In essence, what Prism does is to create separate "apps" from all of those web that you can access from your desktop and view independently of your browser.

Let me explain a bit further, using Freshbooks as an example.

Typically, when I use Freshbooks, I open up my browser, type in the URL, log in and do my work.

With Prism, I don't need my browser anymore. Instead, I click on a link on my desktop, a windows opens up just like any other application and I proceed to log in very much in the same way as I do in the browser. So, what Prism does is show you whatever web app you're using without opening up a browser.

You may ask, what is the benefit of this? Well, for one, you avoid any browser issues you may experience. There's less clutter and it's quicker to get to. For me, that means I can save a bit of time and be a bit more productive. Best of all, it's free.

Is it easy? Yes, it's very easy. Prism can either be downloaded as it's own standalone app or added as a Firefox add-on. I used the Firefox add-on. The add-on adds a "Convert Website to Application..." option in the Tools menu in Firefox. Once you click on this, you will get another window that will allow you to select the name and the graphic icon for your desktop icon. Then you're done. It literally takes no more than 30 seconds to create.

So far, I've "liberated" Freshbooks and Outright and more are to come. Google apps, for example, would fit perfectly into this. Even better, it works for Ubuntu!

How about problems? Well, to be honest, I haven't had a chance to use it long enough to see how stable it is. Time will tell.

Links:

http://labs.mozilla.com/prism/
http://www.freshbooks.com
http://www.outright.com

My 3-Day Novel Writing Experience

2009-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

One time, a few years ago, I stumbled upon an interesting experience: write a novel in a month. The event, appropriately named National Novel Writing Month, was very interesting and I decided to participate. The problem was that it was almost over by the time I had found it.

I had to wait for year before I could participate and by the time November came around again, I had forgotten about it again and just barely made the beginning. I started with an outline for one day and ended up writing 50,000 words in a month. Subsequently, I added another 30,000 words or so, just to get the story closer to an acceptable end.

The problem with that novel for me was that writing without a clear plot and end in sight, it ended up being a mess. I have since decided that at some point I need to just re-write it and add some new story elements that I always wanted to have in the story as well as be a little bit more organized.

After the NaNoWriMo, I found out about the 3-day novel writing contest. It sounded interesting but it ended up taking a couple of years for me to actually decide to participate.

In early August, I started thinking about what story to use for this particular contest. I had one story in mind I had been working on an outline for since the beginning of the summer but it felt like too much for three days. Maybe more suitable for NaNoWriMo. Fortunately, I had another story in mind that has been brewing in the back of my mind for the last year and it felt more suitable lenght-wise for a three-day rush.

During the last weeks of August, I set out to put together a suitable outline that I felt was doable in three days. I came up with locations, characters, events and so on. I ran the general plot by my wife, a few friends and since they seemed to think it was a great story, I felt confident I would be able to produce something of substance.

In preparation of the Labor Day Weekend event, I took one day before and one day after the event off, the one day before because it happened to be my birthday and I just wanted a day off but also because I wanted to get a few things done that I normally would do on the weekend, the day after because I figured I'd need to sleep.

Today, it's the day after and I figured I should recount this experience and what it really was like.

First of all, let me share the "tools" I used for this event. I found that everyone has their favorite way to write their stories and naturally I do as well.

A Dell laptop loaded with Ubuntu 9.04
Gwibber for keeping up with the #3dnc Twitter feed and posting updates to Twitter and Facebook
The excellent yWriter5 novel writing software for writing my story, running on Windows 7 in Virtualbox
Google Earth for mapping routes for the story
Dropbox for off-site syncing
Pandora for music (although I wrote without music for the most part)
Firefox & Google for quick research mid-writing
Plenty of Irish Breakfast and Black Peach tea from Stash
Mountain Dew (regular and Code Red)
Other unhealthy foods

Initially, my greatest fear was that I just wouldn't have enough time to type my story. I had a pretty good outline with a good beginning, middle and end but I was unsure about the time. As a result, I pushed ahead fairly aggressively the first day, finishing about 13,000 words the first day. Had I not taken that one nap, I could easily have reached 15,000 or even 16,000 words. However, I found that when I get tired, my mind doesn't work well, no matter how much caffeine I pump into my system.

Progress was pretty good on Sunday as well and at some point Sunday, I was confident that I would have no problem finishing the story. I actually took a couple of longer brakes for other projects, like dinner and painting my porch.

Monday was the hardest day by far for me. It was just rough going. The story was there in my mind but it was difficult to get it out, for some reason. Eventually, I managed to get it out and finished it with plenty of time to spare, just a few thousands words short of my 30,000 word goal. However, to me, the most important thing was that the story was done, not that I got to 30,000 words.

I then spent several hours editing, adding and removing. My wife was very helpful in that area, reading through much of the finished story and correcting grammar, punctuation and other things I didn't have time to focus on while writing.

Overall, the 3 Day Novel Contest was a very positive experience for me. The thing that surprised me that most is that while I before had punched out 50,000 words in a month, I did more than half of that in three days straight. To me, this was amazing and puts a new perspective on NaNoWriMo for me. I easily made the 50,000 words last time I participated but having gone through this, I don't see a reason why I couldn't get much further now, as long as I prepare properly.

I do want to point out all of the motivation and support I received from my dear wife. She was one of the first people that I ran the story by and she was very supportive throughout the whole event, putting up with my constant typing for three days straight and reading my work in progress with great interest, which motivated me even further. The rest of my family was also very supportive, understanding my need to continue my writing, as well as being curious about the story itself (patience, you'll get to read it!).

Naturally, I can't forget all the folks on Twitter and #3dnc that constantly posted about their progress (and lack of progress). You were all a motivation to me and helped me put my own writing into perspective. It was a joy "hanging out" with you all this weekend. Let's do it again!

Also, all of those who encouraged me through Facebook, thank you. The work is done, the novel is written.

For those of you curious about what happened during these intense hours of typing, check out my Twitter feed at:

http://www.twitter.com/tallswedishguy

Also check out the combined 3 day novel contest Twitter feed updated by numerous contestants on an hourly basis at:

http://twitter.com/search?q=%233dnc

What's next? It's too early to tell yet. With this behind me, I'm shifting a lot of my thinking to the other project that has been brewing in my mind. For those curious, the first sentence of the first chapter of the draft I've started goes something like this:

Waking up for the last time didn't feel any different than any other morning, Wared decided as he opened his eyes.

The reset, well, you'll have to wait for that.

PS3 and Ubuntu

2009-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

With the recent release of the PS3 Slim and the removal of the ability to load other operating systems onto it, my thoughts went to my original release PS3 that I have Ubuntu installed on. I figured that if I have the ability that many new PS3 owners don't have, I may as well find a way to use it for something useful, right?

So, I left the games and the flashy new firmware 3.0 behind for a bit and booted into my Ubuntu partition. It looked so bare but then again, I haven't done a whole lot with it, so no surprise there.

Next, I figured I better run a few updates...and that's what I'm doing right now. So, for a few more hours, I'll be busy "waiting" while all the updates are downloaded. From there, we'll see what happens.

10 Must Have BlackBerry Applications

2009-06-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

10 Must-have BlackBerry applications

A quick Google search for Blackberry apps will reveal numerous blogs and articles full of glowing reviews and recommendations of many different kinds of Blackberry apps. Since I recently aquired a Blackberry, I felt it my duty to add another entry into this ever growing list of must-haves. Although, to not look like I copied every other list out there, I've tried to focus on some more obscure apps as well as the well-known, main-stream apps. Also note that all of the below apps currently live on my BlackBerry.

Let me know if you find this useful and if you have other suggestions, especially apps that might not be that mainstream but definitely are cool and useful, please let me know!

1. Pandora

The application that I have used the most by far so far is the Pandora music player. Being available for multiple platforms, Pandora essentially lets you pick an artist or a song and it plays music by that artist as well as other artists within the same genre. At first, I was a bit dubious as to whether this actually would work or not but I was pleasantry surprised after just five minutes. I've found myself listening to Pandora for hours without hearing a song that I don't really like or don't think fits that particular "station." To make things even better, I can listen to Pandora on my computer and on my PS3 as well. I was particularly pleased about the latter since my PS3 is connected to my stereo at home. In other words, it's a fantastic app and absolutely worth using for all music lovers. I use it heavily on a daily basis.

Download at: http://www.pandora.com

2. Slacker

Slacker is another music app that also works very well. I discovered Slacker before Pandora but have since mostly used Pandora. The difference is simple but substantial. Slacker plays music along genres, Pandora plays music according to your artist selection. So, Slacker has 'rock' categories while Pandora lets you pick the actual artist. Having said that, Slacker is still a great app if you just want to listen to a specific genre in general and I've included it in my top list even though I hardly use it anymore.

Download at: BlackBerry App World

3. Shazam

Shazam...such an odd name but what an amazing app. Just having tried it recently, it's basically an app that will connect you to the music you don't know but wish that you did. Let me explain: say you're driving down the road, listening to the radio, you switch channels and hear parts of a song that you like but you don't know the artist. Launch Shazam, hold it to your speaker and Shazam will find your song for you with a convenient link to buy it. Shazam! Will I ever use it? Now and then, maybe, but definitely cool!

Download at: http://www.shazam.com (free trial)

4. Opera and Bolt

Opera Mini is almost a must have for Blackberry users. Although the built-in browser will do for the most part, in some cases it's very convenient to be able to look at a site the way you would on a regular computer. Opera doesn't support flash and all that other fancy stuff though so it's still lacking in functionality. But, it's a good complement to the Blackberry browser.

I also wanted to mention Bolt in the same sentence as Opera since it's basically does some similar things. One added feature is that you supposedly can stream video in Bolt, although my limited testing was not able to successfully do this. However, if you're looking for a bit more than what Opera offers, check out Bolt. It's a very competent alternative

Download at: http://mobile.opera.com
Download at: http://www.boltbrowser.com

5. Facebook

Facebook, the most popular time-waster at the moment, has been available on the Blackberry for quite a while now. It's an easy way to stay in touch with all your friends anytime, whether it be at work, on the road or at home. A must-have for any Facebook and Blackberry user.

Download at: BlackBerry App World

6. Myspace

MySpace, the previously most popular time-waster, is also represented on the Blackberry platform. The functionality is very much like that of the Facebook app so in other words, it lets you keep in touch with all your friends and pretend-friends. A must-have for any MySpace and Blackberry user.

Download at: BlackBerry App World

7. Google Apps

Google, the new master of the Internet world, as naturally made it a point to have a presence on every platform imaginable, not to mention that they make their own mobile platform. However, even on the Blackberry, there are plenty of representation and since these apps are all related, I'll mention them all in one go.

Google Maps is probably the most popular of these, I'd imagine. Connecting to the massive Google Maps database and GPS enabled, it's the perfect app to replace the Yellow pages once and for all. With GPS navigation and even street view, it's a regularly used app on my BlackBerry.

Google Mail is next on the list. Although the Blackberry easily lets you connect your personal email accounts, Google actually has a very good BlackBerry app that provides similar capabilities and with an interface that's very similar to what you see on your computer. If you want to keep personal stuff separate from business, it's the perfect app to use. One thing I would point out is that it is lacking a bit in features. Attachments, for example, are non-existent. Annoying.

Google Search is part of the downloadable Google App and features an interesting option to search by voice. Although I haven't tried it that much at this point, it seems to work ok for the most part.

Google Talk is the instant messaging system that's tightly integrated into Gmail. Although I rarely use it with friends, I've found it useful for use with ReQall, another one of my favorite apps.

Download at: http://www.google.com

8. ReQall

Ever have problems remembering what to buy at the store or forget to send that report to your boss before you head out the door on vacation? ReQall is the solution to your problems. ReQall is basically a reminder of sorts. It allows you to set up reminders for to-do lists, meetings, add shopping lists and other things. ReQall will then "jog" your memory through various means, such as SMS, instant messaging (Google Talk in my case) or even email (premium edition). With the BlackBerry app you can also easily add new reminder either by typing them in or even by speaking. You can also type your reminder into IM and there is even a toll-free number you can call to record reminders, hear updates and so on. I found it to be just what I need to remember things.

Download at: http://www.reqall.com

9. Qik

Qik is a very interesting little application. Essentially, it's a video recorder. But wait, there's more: it's a live video recorder. Yes, that is correct. Register on their website, fire up the Qik app and hit record and within a few seconds, you will see a live feed on the website coming from the camera of your phone. Very cool! So, going on a crazy ride at the fair? Let your family in the lower 48 watch all the craziness while you're at it.

One important note about Qik: streaming video requires quite a bit of bandwidth. The BlackBerry Curve I have is only EVDO so the upstream is pretty terrible. However, if you have a RevA device, the quality is pretty good. If worst comes to worst, you can always record and then upload. Qik will also upload the video to Facebook and other social sites based on your configuration on your profile. A fun application although maybe not very useful.

Download at: http://www.qik.com

10. BeeJiveIM

The Blackberry is not only great at email, it's also great at instant messaging. From being able to constantly be connected with my work, I can also use all the other IM clients, such as MSN, Yahoo!, Google and so on, to keep connected with all my friends. Then I found BeeJiveIM.

BeeJive IM is all these clients put together in one plus some. BeeJive supports all the regular IM clients (A.OL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Google, Jabber) plus Facebook and MySpace chat. The best of it is that you have it all available in one program and the program also looks significantly better than any of the standalone clients. Having used this program on my PPC previously, I've found it to be a good program before and I was excited to see a version for the BlackBerry as well. A must for all your IM needs.

Download at: http://www.beejive.com (30 day trial)

Hooked on BlackBerry

2009-06-07T01:58:00.000-07:00

Being a HTC PocketPC fan for a long time, I've hesitated to jump ship to the also excellent BlackBerry for many reasons, some professional, some purely personal.

However, forces outside of my control suddenly presented me with an offer I couldn't refuse so as of this past Thursday, I am now also officially addicted to the BlackBerry.

Now, that means there's a whole new world to explore...can't wait to dig deeper!

Hulu Desktop - Expanding Online Media

2009-05-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

When Hulu launched its services, I was an instant fan. Finally, I thought, a way to watch some of the shows that I've missed on TV or just other shows I might not normally watch and I can do it on my computer! Of course, for me, this all played into a greater scheme of mine, to be able to watch as much TV on my computer by connecting it to my TV using HDMI.

At the time, this plan went down the tube due to overly restrictive bandwidth policies by my ISP so I had to abandon my plan at the time and just fork out the money for DirecTV. In hindsight, I don't regret it because there's plenty of content still you can find online.

The last year or so I've played around with the Boxee software and I've tinkered with the idea of getting a good computer set up to use as a content player for my TV. Boxee seemed like the perfect candidate, until Hulu pulled their support. At that point I could see my dreams go down the toilet.

In the last few days or so, it become apparent why Hulu pulled their support. They wanted to do their own Boxee thing. They released the Hulu Desktop through their brand new Hulu Labs. Talk about coincidence. One good idea leads someone else to copy it? I can't say but I figured I should at least check it out.

The Hulu Desktop software is less than 1MB in size and uses Flash. It actually reminds quite a bit of Boxee, which is so ironic. The question of course is if it does the same thing any better.

Hulu Desktop (HD), like I said, has pretty much the same interface as Boxee. You can easily use a remote or just they keyboard to navigate around between the different categories. You can easily find the shows you're looking for, based on categories, channels and so on. The picture quality is the same as Hulu itself and it looks like the content is too (although I think the HD content is missing).

The player is not that different from the browser version but it does have a cool preview pane that you can use to find a specific scene in a show that you'd like to skip to. So, let's say for example that you're looking for a super funny scene in a movie, you point your mouse pointer at the place where you think it might be and you'll see a small preview window pop up and play that section of the show in the window. If it's the right one, you click on it and you're taken there. Of course, you'll have to watch the ads if they come in the way. However, this is definitely a cool feature that I wish all online streaming video sites would implement.

The navigation takes a bit getting used to. It's not as intuitive as Boxee is, for example. I'm still not quite happy with it but I guess over time you'll get used to it.

Overall, I think it's a very capable player that will be a perfect fit if you're watching Hulu on a TV or just want quicker access to the content since the content browser is pretty efficient.

If you're a Linux user, at this point you'll have to wait. There is no Linux version. I tried to install Hulu Desktop using Wine on Ubuntu 9.04 and had some success. In fact, it installed fine and it starts fine, it just doesn't play any video. For some reason, it appears it can't find the Internet connection. Of course, I'm sure some smart guy will figure that one out before long too. Until then, VirtualBox and Windows works although playback isn't as smooth. So, those of us with Linux, for now I think we're stuck with the browser version.

Ubuntu 9.04 on XPS 1530

2009-05-08T23:42:00.000-07:00

Having installed Ubuntu 9.04 from scratch onto my Dell XPS 1530, the question that first came to mind was if anything is different and works better? I remember I had some minor but very irritating bugs when I first installed 8.04 on this same computer. So, let's do a quick overview of some of the issues I had back then.

Eject Button - the eject button did not work on 8.04 and unfortunately, it does not on a fresh install of 9.04 either. Bummer. I'll have to fix that one again.
Touchpad - fortunately, the touchpad worked right out of the box this time around. No need for a fix.
The Nvidia driver - this one still had to be enabled but that was no big deal.
Touchbad take 2 - the touchpad still is a bit too sensitive...when typing it jumps all over the place sometimes...annoying annoying, will have to look for a fix for that one.

Other things that work, that I have tried:

built-in camera - seems to work without problems, at least in Skype.
mic - the mic works although the volume is pretty low. I'll have to look into this one.
HDMI output - works once the secondary screen is detected in NVIDIA X Server Settings (found under System>Administration). The sound is a bit uneven though. MP3's will play fine while Flash videos play in the computer speakers instead of through my TV. Will have to work on that one too.

I'll be adding more info as I come across and use it, naturally.

For now, doing a fresh install has been a good experience and I'm glad I did it, if nothing else only to get rid of Windows Vista. I still have access to Vista but it's through VirtualBox for now.

Liberated from Windows!

2009-05-07T18:15:00.001-07:00

This last year, I have progressively been moving away from Windows and I have embraced Ubuntu. I've been stuck with Windows for many reasons, specifically because some things I just can't do on Ubuntu yet.

This past week, I finally started experimenting with VirtualBox and I've discovered salvation from the Windows empire...or at least something like it.

I discovered that with VirtualBox, I can run the software I need to while not having to boot into Windows every single time I need to do it. So, today I made the decision that my laptop is being liberated from Windows once and for all (with the exception of VirtualBox).

Ubuntu 9.04 will be installed fresh!

Mobile Video Streaming

2009-05-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

In our world of instant access to everything, now and then we see news clips where someone somewhere managed to record something regarding a newsworthy event, such as a plane crash, a cool car, silly cat or whatever. In some of these cases, the clips end up on the news.

Last night, as I was just browsing for cool PPC apps, I stumbled over the Qik application.

What is Qik, you ask?

Qik is an application that when loaded on your phone, be it a PocketPC, Blackberry etc., will allow you to share videos from your phone. The kicker is you can do it live! So, essentially, your phone becomes a live recording device and the content is viewable to anyone has access to your feed. Like the punchline of the site is, "See what happens."

Here's how it works. First, you register on the website with a username and password. If you want to you can tie your Facebook account to Qik for easy uploading of your videos. Pretty neat. You then download the application to your phone, start it and hit "Stream" and you're suddenly live on the Qik website.

Is that awesome or what?

A quick test I did last night seems to indicate that there is about a 5 second delay from recording to website broadcast but that's not bad. It's a live webcam on your phone.

So, what are the potential applications? I can see a few interesting things, like capturing noteworthy events as they happen, whatever they might be, recording on the go. Either way, it's a pretty cool application.

Check out my feed at http://www.qik.com/2tall although I'm not sure when there will ever be anything there.

Jaunty Notifications for Thunderbird

2009-04-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

So far, Jaunty is working pretty good and I haven't run into any potential problems yet. I'm still investigating to see if some of the problems I had with 8.10 have been resolved or not and the verdict is still out on that.

However, one cool thing I really like with Jaunty is the new notification system that's been implemented system-wide (with proper support from the software, of course). Essentially , system notifications all appear in the same manner now and apps can apparently be integrated into this system fairly easily.

I found that Pidgin works great with this system and so does wi-fi and ethernet connections. However, I found that since I just Thunderbird and not Evolution for my email, Thunderbird wasn't quite responding with the same notifications.

However, it didn't take me long to find that someone already began work on a plugin for Thunderbird that adds this functionality and I got it to work fairly easily.

The plugin can be downloaded here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/11530

And once installed, it looks like this:

It's pretty neat and although not a major functionality improvement, it adds a more sophisticated look to Ubuntu.

One note of importance: for this plugin to work properly in Thunderbird, you will have to turn off "Show an alert" when new mail arrives. That's the default notification with Thunderbird and is not needed anymore.

More information, including issues others have been having, can be found at the links below.

More Jaunty experiences coming soon!

Sources:

Ubuntu 9.04 Upgraded on XPS 1530

2009-04-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

Friday night, after letting all downloads finish during the day Friday, my upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 to 9.04 was finally complete. It worked out without any problems at all, which is more than I can say for 8.10.

Now what? Well, so far everything seems to work. I'm just curious if what didn't before works any better so off to tinker with all the things I have and see what works and what doesn't. And of course, time to upgrade my desktop as well, I think.

Jaunty Jackalope Release!

2009-04-23T19:23:00.001-07:00

Ubuntu 9.04, AKA Jaunty Jackalope, is out! I had initially decided to hold off a bit before upgrading but after reading some initial very positive reviews I figured that what the heck, let's go for it.

Having said that, my laptop, a Dell XPS 1530 is now upgrading. I will of course post any issues I run into.

To give Ubuntu a try, download the ISO here.

Facebook on Windows Mobile

2009-04-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

If you're a Facebook user and a Blackberry owner, you truly have a very fantastic combination. A fantastic phone that can deliver new Facebook messages and updates as they arrive.

If you're a Faceook user and a Windows Mobile owner, things haven't been looking that bright and there hasn't always been quality software to give you the experience Blackberry users can brag about.

Fortunately for us WM users, things are slowly changing. Being somewhat of a Facebook addict myself, I've tried numerous different ways to effectively get the best Facebook experience on my Windows Mobile. Since I know there are many others out there with WM devices as well, I figured I'd share my experiences.

1. Mobile Web

WM devices can usually handle mobile websites pretty well. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are a few sites that does the mobile thing pretty good. Leaving MySpace and Twitter for now, let's focus on the Facebook mobile site for the moment.

The Facebook mobile site is located at m.facebook.com. Logging in is as simple as entering the same information you enter on the regular site to login.

A note about logging in: I always have to select the "HTTP Login" found at the bottom of the screen. For some reason, when I try to login on the first page, I get an error. So, if you run into that, just hit the same link and try to login again.

Once logged in, you will be presented with the typical Facebook setup:

The Home page shows you your status, lets you update your status and shows you the status updates of your friends.
The Profile page shows your profile information as well as your wall. There is also easy access to your photo gallery from here as well as the wall, notes and groups.
The Friends page basically contains a list of your friends and their status updates.
The Inbox of course contains mail and lets you send new messages if you want.

Overall a pretty simple interface that allows the typical Facebook users to do what they need to do. Best of all, it's free and easy to access.

2. Microsoft Facebook Application

Naturally, those of us more engaged and completely addicted will want a slicker interface than just a web page. So, we go out looking for applications that will do the job. Fortunately, it seems that Microsoft has realized that Facebook is a vital application that no serious Windows Mobile user should be without so one is being introduced in Windows Mobile 6.5

But wait, you only have WM 6, you say. No problem.

The handy guys over at XDA Developers have managed to extract the application from the OS and have made if available for download. It's easily accessibly from the WM6 Software website. The download link on this page will download the .CAB file right to your phone and you only need to run it to install it.

For those interested in the origins, check out the XDA Forum page.

Now, the application itself appears to be an early beta, a pre-release, so it's not quite complete and you can tell from using it. It has a few rough edges here and there.

So, looking a bit closer at the application, what does it have?

Again, the Home page has the News Feed, Status Updates and Photos, as supplied by the feeds from your friends.
The Profile page contains the Wall, the Info page and your Photos. Your status can be updated easily from here and photos and videos can be uploaded as well.
The Friends icon of course contains all your friends and you can easily access their profiles from that page.
The Mail page has your inbox and your sent messages as well as notifications and requests.
Finally the Phone page (with the phone icon) gives you easy access to the phone numbers of all yours friends and you can easily dial them from here if you so wish.

So how does this application work? Well, considering that it's a bit rough around the edges, some annoyances are expected. The app doesn't appear to auto-update, for example, when something new happens. You have to manually refresh the screens you want to refresh. Also, the refresh option doesn't communicate throughout the whole application. So, if you hit refresh on the Home page, it will only refresh your news feed, it won't refresh your mailbox. If you refresh your mailbox, it doesn't refresh your news feed. Yet, somehow, friend requests are updated and displayed when the news feed is refreshed.

There are also other bugs. The application tends to time out or get stuck from time to time. At times, the news feed won't update, other times photos won't upload and so on. Of course, this is not surprising considering this is version v0.14 but still, it's a bit annoying.

However, overall the application is a good start and shows potential and hopefully we'll see future versions once WM6.5 gets closer to release.

3. Skybook

Skybook is another WM application which used to be known as Snap2Face. I've tried this app out a bit but mostly without much success. Most of the time, it doesn't run or it freezes and it's just a plain pain to use. If it worked well, it seems like it would be a good application but it seems that I can never get to a point of usability where I can actually make a good decision regarding this.

4. FriendMobilizer

FriendMobilizer is a new application that I've just encountered so it's new to me although it might not be new to all of you.

It's available at faceofmobile.com and it's $1.99 after a 2 day trial.

I've downloaded it and tried it and really, there's not anything worth paying $2 for as far as I can tell. I rather stick around with an incomplete version of MS Facebook than use this.

Of course, that's just my opinion. Give it a try and see what you think and if you think I'm wrong, let me know but basically, it just didn't work well for me at all.

5. Other third-party apps

There are several other applications that will allow you to access Facebook as well.

Yahoo's Go! application has a widged plugin that adds Facebook access, for example. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get that one to work lately.
Yahoo's brand new mobile site (new.m.yahoo.com) also has a nifty little add-in that allows you to see updates from Facebook, MySpace etc. You can also update your status but not a whole lot more at this point. I'll review the new Yahoo mobile site over the weekend, I think but I already like it (for the most part).
Fring, which is an application that can handle pretty much anything when it comes to instant messaging (MSN, Yahoo, AOL, Google) also has plugins for Twitter and Facebook, amongs others. The Facebook plugin works fairly well but it's pretty slow, which I think is a side-effect of it being a plugin to another program

I believe there are more ways to access Facebook than just the ones listed above and I will add any new cool applications as I find them.

Note: all of these apps and methods were tested on a HTC 6800 (Mogul) running on the ACS wireless network but should work on most PPCs, including the HTC 6900 (Touch) and so on. Some require Windows Mobile 6 while others don't.

Anyway, fellow Facebook addicts, there you have it. Dig in and see you on Facebook!

Jaunty Jackalope Coming Soon

2009-04-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

It seems like Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex just came out not long ago and here we are, just days away from the release of Jaunty Jackalope. Another upgrading cycle begins.

Now, although I'm quick to embrace new versions, I'll be doing my upgrades in steps. Since I have two computers currently running Ibex, I'll be upgrading the one that's used less first, hoping to avoid any major issues and it'll also let me explore the new items and get used to them before upgrading my XPS 1530 Dell laptop that is my primary work machine.

It'll be an interesting experience, no doubt.

Facebook Going Mobile

2009-04-04T00:42:00.000-07:00

Those of you fortunate enough to own a Blackberry are well familiar with the portability and easy access of social networks on the platform. Access to MySpace and Facebook is easy and convenient and I know I have been looking for away to get similar access on my Windows Mobile device.

I think I might have finally found what I'm looking, at least in regards to Facebook.

While browsing around wm6software.net, I found a new Facebook application. After a bit more research it turns out it's a rip from the new 6.5 ROM, all done by the good chaps over at XDA-Developers.

So, is the application any good?

Well, essentially the application has five different tabs:

1. Home
2. Personal Profile
3. Friends
4. Mail
5. Phonebook

Home

The home tab contains the typical things you might see on your Facebook homepage. The newsfeed is present as are status updates and tagged photos. The home page will let you easily see what is going on with your friends.

Personal Profile

The profile tab has more of the personal stuff. The wall, for example, is found here, as is the info tab with all your personal info and your photo albums. From here you can also upload photos and videos to your albums. One drawback is that at this point it doesn't appear that you can actually update any of your personal information so you're still stuck with doing that online.

Friends

The friends tab of course contains an alphabetical list of all your friends and has a search function and a few basic filters.

Mail

The mail tab naturally contains the inbox, sent messages, notifications and requests. It allows you to easily read and compose new messages and handle incoming notifications and requests.

Phonebook

The phonebook tab is actually quite interesting. It allows you to call those contacts of yours that have phone numbers listed directly from the application itself. It's a pretty neat feature.

Summary

Overall, this early version (v0.14) does a lot of what you'd expect from a Facebook application. What I'd like to see in the future is an integration with the OS itself so that notifications are delivered when status updates happen and new messages come in.

Having used the app for just a few hours so far, it's a bit early to form a good opinion but so far, I like what I see. I'm looking forward to seeing future versions.

One thing I can say for sure is: if you use Windows Mobile phones and like Facebook, you need this application.

Use sudo without Password

2009-03-06T16:58:00.000-08:00

Those of you that use Ubuntu with any regularity might have run into the very annoying instance of always having to enter the root password when running certain commands with sudo.

For me, I use a LAMPP server on my computer to test scripts and such locally and I installed the LAMPP control panel, a GUI, to make things a bit easier. LAMPPCP is one of those programs that requires the root password every single time you run it.

So, I had to find a way around it.

A word of caution: performing the below steps can screw some things up pretty nicely so be sure you know what you're doing before you jump right into this whole thing.

Open a terminal window.
Write "sudo nano /etc/sudoers" to open up the /etc/sudoers file.
Add the following at the bottom: "username ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL"
Save and exit.

If you do this right, you now have one less password to enter, especially if you're running this program through the start menu.

Sources:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=102758
http://linux.byexamples.com/archives/315/how-to-shutdown-and-reboot-without-sudo-password/
http://linuxtipstricks.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/how-to-change-sudo-to-not-ask-for-your-personal-password/

DirecTV2PC Success!

2009-02-16T17:12:00.001-08:00

I mentioned in my previous post how I stumbled over DirecTV2PC while trying to get some of the media sharing functionality of the DirecTV receiver to work. Well, I have taken a bit of time to download and try it out and I have to say it works remarkably well.

In a nutshell, DirecTV2PC does the following: it connects to your Dish DVR (that is connected to your network) and allows you to view any of your recorded shows on your computer. Essentially, it gives you a remote version of your list of recordings that looks and behaves just like the DVR version. From there, you just pick the show you want to watch, relax in your lawn chair, bath tub or bed and enjoy the show.

The obvious question is this: does it work well?

The short answer is yes. It works very well.

To give you an idea of what's needed for it to work well, here's a quick description of my network. I'd say it's fairly typical. My DVR is connected by cable to my router. The computer this was tested on, a Dell XPS laptop, connects using wifi to the router and streams it this way. Very simple yet very functional.

I have tested both SD content and HD content and both work without noticable problems. I don't have a HD display on my laptop so I can't really say how well it would work on a real HD screen but with what I have, full screen playback works great with both SD and HD content.

As far as I am concerned, DirecTV2PC is a great little piece of software and I expect that I'll get quite a bit of use out of it.

Now, if I can just get the media sharing part with my computer to work, I'll be all set...

Oh, and no, DirecTV2PC does not work on Linux, at least not using Wine...from what I can tell, at least.

DirecTV

2009-02-16T13:39:00.001-08:00

A little over a month ago, we decided to drop out local phone company as our phone carrier (we don't use local phone service anymore), Internet carrier (go wireless!) and TV provider, mostly because we were able to shave about $75 of our monthly bill in regards to these specific services.

I'm very happy with DirecTV and I'm especially enjoying their HD channels. This past week, I found something I hadn't known before: the HDDVR that I have is capable of showing media from the media server I run on one of my computers. Up to this point, I have primarily used this to listen to music and such on my PS3 but it was always an extra step. Being able to feed it directly to my DVR would be even better.

So, I've started exploring this "MediaShare" functionality of the DVR. As of yet, I have had no luck getting it to work with either Orb, TVersity or WMP but it's just a matter of time, I'm sure.

In the process of researching this, I also stumbled upon DirecTV2PC, which is a feature that allows you to view recorded shows on your PC while on your home network. What a great idea! So, I have now started the process of trying this out so let's see if I can get it to work. It would be really cool under Wine on Ubuntu but we'll see about that, I suppose.

Computer Failure

2009-02-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

I saw it coming a long time ago and I guess I just hoped it never really would happen. Something has finally happened to my desktop computer and it won't boot past the memory test. In fact, it won't boot at all, Linux or XP.

Great.

Luckily, I don't use it a whole lot anymore but I still have a ton of stuff on it. So now it's time for tinkering again, I suppose. Take the thing apart, investigate and so on.

I sure hope it comes back to life...

Transformers 2 Trailer

2009-02-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

For you Transformers fans out there, check out the Transformers 2 trailer

XPS 1530 Camera Problems

2009-01-14T01:09:00.000-08:00

Throughout the last few months, I have successfully used the integrated camera of my XPS 1530 to do video conferencing with friends and family. However, recently, I've been looking more into actually recording videos for some other purposes. So I started looking for some other software.

I soon found a little program called Cheese, which allows you to take photos and video very easily. It actually has some very interesting effects as well, for both video and photo.

To my surprise, I find that Cheese isn't quite working for me. It's not loading any photo or video as I load it. I found this highly irritating, naturally, especially when I have no problems with Skype or AMSN.

After a quick search online, I found the following solution:

Go to System > Administration > Software Sources.
Click on the Updates tab.
Check "intrepid-proposed" and "intrepid-backports" and click Close.
When it asks about update, select Update.
It should ask you to reboot and once you've done this, you're good to go.

Source: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1025992

Linux Gaming

2009-01-02T11:21:00.000-08:00

While surfing around seemingly at random, I ran into this site:

http://live.linux-gamers.net

This site essentially provides a live-type disc loaded with Linux and games that work with Linux, all for free and for our enjoyment. Although I already have Linux installed and as such am unlikely to just download and try this when I can just download and install the games directly, the website does have a nice list of Linux compatible games.

So, if you're at all into Linux and want to have some fun on the side, by all means, check out this site.

Call of Duty 5 vs Resistance 2

2008-12-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

When the PS3 initially was launched, Resistance Fall of Man was one of the premium titles, being a good example of what was possible with the PS3. It was one of the first games I got and a game I enjoyed quite a bit. As far as first person shooters, it reigned supreme for quite a while and now with Resistance 2 out, the experience of an alternative historical timeline continues.

2008 was the year of Call of Duty 4, the year in which thousands jumped into the FPS battles of the modern era with one of the best shooters ever. With Call of Duty World at War, the experience has now been moved back to World War II but remains largely intact.

This fall, COD5 and Resistance 2 were both released just weeks apart. With Christmas behind us, both games are now in my possession and I have had a couple of days to take in both games and get that initial impression that seems to determine whether you'll play a game to the end or not.

Starting with COD5, it was very easy to get back into the game since it's so similar to COD4. I started with the single player missions to just get things going and then jumped online in short order. After all, that's where the action is.

It took me a few hours to get familiar with the more common maps but once I got into it, I have to say I enjoyed it as much as COD4. I'm getting used to the weapons, the darn dogs and the artillery strikes that seem to be more severe than any airstrike in COD4. So, overall I like the game and once I get some more time with it I will actually post a proper review. At the very least, I want to get through the single player levels first.

So, on to Resistance 2. Resistance Fall of Man was an epic game. Resistance 2 continues in that tradition but goes even further. I've only played it for about an hour and a half so far...maybe...but I'm impressed. I really get the feeling that things are huge and more global even though I'm just running around in my little world. The first mission on the base on Iceland is pretty impressive...starting the game out fighting a colossal Goliath. Moving from there to the U.S. mainland and a base on the west coast, the enormity of the story and the part you play is very much evident and in some areas I feel like I'm running around in Bioshock. Water is dripping, sections are flooded, lights are low in some areas and aliens are popping up left and right. In fact, the water is one of my favorite aspects of that whole level. The water surface is superb and the reflections on the ceiling on some levels are very cool.

In short, Resistance 2 is a very cool game and I haven't even gotten to the online play yet.

So, which is better? It's too early for me to say which one is my favorite but the single player missions in Resistance 2 are definitely more engaging than those in COD5...at least for me. Time will tell which one I end up playing more. With different friends that play these games, I'll be able to do my online evaluation in the company of friends either way and with four days off, I'll have plenty of time for that.

Intrepid Ibex on PS3

2008-12-23T14:30:00.000-08:00

Previously I have shared some of my adventures with Ubuntu on my laptop and desktop. A few weeks ago I also went ahead and installed Intredid Ibex (Ubuntu 8.10) on my PS3.

Now you might wonder why in the world I would attempt such a thing. Well, there are several reasons actually. Although the PS3 has a browser, it's slow and buggy and the flash player doesn't always work as expected. My wish is to be able to essentially surf the internet, play movies online and such using my PS3 and my hope is that one day I can do exactly this on my PS3.

Now, before all you experts start telling my that I can't do that, I already know a lot of this functionality isn't quite mature on the PS3 version yet. Flash, for example, relies heavily on Gnash, an open source implementation of Adobe Flash, that I haven't even tried yet. However, as it develops hopefully at one point it will be capable enough. Time will tell, as they say.

Anyway, at the moment my Linux installation is very basic. I haven't done anything to it yet so I'll be sharing some of my experiments with this as I attempt them so that those of you interested in the same can share in any discoveries.

EVDO instead of DSL

2008-12-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

These days, the economy being what it is, saving money is always a good thing. A year ago I singed up for a 4MB DSL line with a local teleco company plus their DTV service. With HDTV on the horizon, it was a more attractive alternative than the other local cable provider. Unfortunately, their HD plans didn't quite work out as I had expected. Yes, they launched HDTV alright but not with DVR service.

I said "what?"

Being completely dependent on my DVR service, I had no choice but to decline and start looking elsewhere. It didn't take me long to figure out that if I got DirecTV with HD service and their DVR plus a EVDO Rev A device to replace my DSL that I would be able to cut my Internet/TV bill in half.

To get a picture of what I typically do with an Internet connection, I have two computers that are on 24/7. One I use to stream media to my cellphone on occasion. In addition, I have a PS3 I use for gaming, movies etc plus another laptop that I use for work. So, at any given time, there are at least three devices using the connecting.

Being a gamer, my concern was naturally that the speeds and ping wouldn't be sufficient to game. I found that fortunately for me, they are. Although the ping at times gets a bit high, it's not that much different than what it was with my DSL connection that it makes a huge difference. I have played numerous hours of Battlefield Bad Company now without any significant issues (except when the DO signal was lost and the modem reverted to 1X for a few minutes).

Here's how I did it:

I have one computer hooked up to my 42" TV, a computer that I typically use for watching movies online and such. That computer is set to automatically boot into Windows and auto-connect the EVDO unit (which is a Franklin CDU-680 device with service provided by ACS). I'm then using ICS to share the connection with the rest of my network through a wireless router. Ironically, a side effect of having the DTV service is that I now have a high-speed ethernet connection between my office and my den (where the TV is) so I plug my computer into the wall and then connect to my router upstairs. Very convenient. My computer upstairs is connected right into the router and then my PS3, PSP and laptop connects wirelessly.

So far, it works pretty well. My average download speeds are typically in the range of 1.5Mbits to 1.8Mbits, which is good enough to still download stuff at a decent speed as well as watch online TV shows at a decent quality. The only problem I have at this point is that my "host" computer appears to disconnect my EVDO connection every 24 hours or so and when it auto-reconnects, it doesn't go anywhere. Not sure at this point if it's a problem with the wireless modem or my computer so I'm going to connect it to my other computer here in the next day or so.

Overall though, it works well. I have a good Internet connection, better TV service and I'm paying only half of what I was paying. Can't get much better than that.

TV shows and Movies Online with PS3

2008-12-03T11:06:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, many shows seen on TV can be seen online, anytime you want to. If you have PS3, the ideal thing would naturally to be able to do this all on the PS3 without having to plug a computer in every time you want to watch a show you missed. I have started doing a little bit of research and I have found that some sites work great while others don't. So for your benefit, I have started putting together a list of all of these sites I have found.

Please note that some of these sites might not be accessible outside of the USA and functionality is based on access to these sites from the USA. If you live elsewhere, I can't say whether they work or not.

Also note that you will need the latest firmware, 2.53, for proper functionality since widescreen in the Flash player wasn't properly supported before 2.53.

Sites that work

http://www.hulu.com [W]
http://www.joost.com [FW]
http://www.youtube.com [FW]
http://www.history.com [W]
http://www.discovery.com [3][P]
http://www.veoh.com [P]
http://www.g4tv.com
http://www.nationalgeographic.com [FW]
http://www.cartoonnetwork.com [FW]
http://www.toonamijetstream.com [FW]
http://www.adultswim.com/video/index.html [FW]

Legend:

3 - Third party player required for full length shows, will not play on PS3.
P - Partial video functionality, depending on content.
W - Widescreen option available, does not use full screen.
FW - Full Widescreen as permitted by content.

Sites that do not work

Naturally, there are sites that don't work as well, mostly because they use some other third-party solution. I wanted to compile a quick list of these as well.

http://www.fox.com [O]
http://www.nbc.com [O]
http://www.abc.com
http://www.cbs.com
http://www.scifi.com [O]
http://www.southparkstudios.com

Legend:

O - Some content available from other online sources

More will be added as I find them to either work or not with the PS3 browser.

Silverlight for Linux

2008-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

After a very, very long time, the Linux Silverlight implementation is available to the public for release. Although just version 1 at this point, it's at least something to dig into.

The project goes under the name Moonlight and the homepage is http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight. That page has a link to the actual download page for the Firefox plugin.

As it turns out, although not everything Silverlight works, some of the sites that I have used in the past on Windows machines now work fine, both video and audio, so for me, it's a start. Now we just need to get the Netflix Silverlight player to work but that might be a little longer since I think that one uses Silverlight 2.0.

Anyway, a good start and my Ubuntu computers are now just a little more compatible with the rest of the web.

Quantum of Solace Review

2008-11-14T22:48:00.000-08:00

“My name is Bond, James Bond.”

Recognized as the greeting of James Bond, those watching Quantum of Solace in theaters (and other media) will find this phrase sorely missing. If it only was the only thing missing.

With Casino Royale, the James Bond franchise was given a much needed shot in the arm with the introduction of Daniel Craig as Bond, taking over from Pierce Brosnan. With a story that went back in time to introduce us to where James Bond came from and how he became the 007, it was an interesting twist with a story that finally was believable and not completely outlandish. With plenty of action and style, Daniel Craig put James Bond back on the map as a franchise that I actually could start looking forward to watching again.

With Quantum of Solace, I'm wondering what happened.

In QoS, our favorite agent picks up a while after his beloved and double-crossing Vespa died. Set on revenge (or so it seems), he goes after those involved, killing them as he encounters them, in his search for the one responsible. In the middle of this he bumps into a plot involving corrupt environmentalist out to make a quick buck as well as a CIA that is plotting to overthrow the Bolivian government in their quest to secure oil riches for the USA. Being somewhat familiar with the history of the CIA and what they have been up to in the last few decades, it is not outlandish to think that it is something they could be involved in and it makes you wonder that if there's a nugget of truth in the CIA connection, maybe there's something involved in the greedy greenies out for a big buck in the name of saving the environment?

At any rate, that's a discussion for a different day. Going back to Bond, I find that this thirst for revenge that Bond naturally denies that even exists (he is driven purely by duty, naturally) mixed in with a plot to overthrow a government in South America is not really a good mix for James Bond. To me, it just doesn't work. It's not because it's outlandish either, it's just because it's not a good story. At least I don't think so.

Now, looking a bit closer at the movie itself, there many more aspects that are either good or bad as seen through my eyes.

First of all, the opening scene was pretty cool. Nice chase scene. However, I would have to say that the action taking place after the intro music, the part right after the chase, is much more interesting and fascinating. It should all have been part of the opening. The way the movie is cut now, the action is interrupted by a terrible movie intro with a theme song that's just completely horrendous. I don't think I've ever heard anything so unfitting a Bond theme. It's too bad that the traditional Bond opening is shoved towards the back with the credits.

So, a good action sequence is ruined by a mediocre theme song and intro. It's not the only thing that makes this not a good Bond movie.

I've already mentioned the missing greeting. After all, what is James Bond without “Bond, James Bond?” Not James Bond.

Furthermore, where's the gadgets? Q was not in Casino Royale so I can understand he's not in QoS either but there are always gadgets of some sort. Not so much in this one. Yes, there were the earpieces at the theater performance and yes there was the cell phone with GPS tracking and the very cool interactive display and MI6 HQ (or wherever that was) but nothing that really stood out. There must always be gadgets.

One thing the movie has is plenty of action but it seems very unfocused somehow, very erratic, not smooth. A sense of sophistication is missing, I think. To me, Bond has always been a secret agent and although a killer, also a sophisticated gentleman and very cleaver in his own way. I missed that as well.

Can I forget cars? Yes, there's an Aston Martin in the opening sequence but what a waste. The chase scene is cool and the Alfa Romeo is a car that I also like but gosh, I wanted more car!

James Bond movies have always in one way been majestic in a sense. Bigger than life. Missions that would appear impossible. These two last movies have toned down this a notch but I can't help but miss Bond climbing all over massive cliffs or fighting on huge radio telescopes or massive underwater fights with dangerous sharks etc. To me, there was always a sense that whatever situation Bond was in, the situation itself wasn't just perilous but also the environment. Although there are certainly dangers in QoS, they're not there in the same sense as before.

Finally, what's with the Bond girls? James Bond always bumps into women in a hostile setting of some sort where very often he must not only fight them but also win them over to his side. In QoS there are a couple of women but neither are antagonistic in any real way towards Bond. In fact, they are allied with him almost from the very beginning and even though it takes a while for it to become obvious to him ti was pretty clear to me fairly early. In fact, what we end up with is a secret agent on a mission of revenge that bumps into a women also out for revenge.

Looking at things from a technical point of view, the special effects aren't bad, as is to be expected. I don't think the movie is cut very well. In fact, there are numerous scenes when it seems like part of the scene was cut out for whatever reason and they feel as if they're not tied together very well. There's also way too much camera movement in some scenes which makes it hard to follow the action. It's almost like there was an attempt to make up for location with shaky cameras.

So, having complained, I guess I should say that QoS is not completely worthless. In fact, it's not necessarily a bad movie, it's just not a good Bond movie. In fact, if you imagine replacing Daniel Craig with Matt Damon, QoS could just as well have been another Jason Bourne movie and frankly, that's the way it felt to a large part of the time. Watching it was therefore not a complete waste but I surely hope that now that Bond has satisfied his craving for revenge that we can move on to something more interesting in the future.

Once can't help but wonder if the Bond franchise is changing direction. I would hope that hopefully not. There's plenty of action out there already. Let's get Bond back to where he belongs, classy and witty action that throws in a bit of awe and gadgetry.

Intrepid Ibex Released

2008-10-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

The latest version of Ubuntu, version 8.10 Intrepid Ibex has been released. To check it out, click over to http://www.ubuntu.com.

I'll start working on my laptop today.

Another interesting thing I saw: it looks like the PS3 is mentioned in the release notes. I'll have to give that a try as well.

A few other links of interest:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading - more information about the upgrade.
http://psubuntu.com/wiki/IntrepidReleaseNotes - Information about Intrepid Ibex for the PS3

Scanning Fixed

2008-10-28T22:48:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a post several months ago that I had managed to get my printer to finally print properly while using Ubuntu. Since my printer is a printer-scanner-fax combo, I hadn't bothered with the fax part until it actually became necessary for me to scan something. It turned out to be easier than expected.

Once again, this Brother's Printer Installation guide website helped out a great deal. Keep in mind as you read this that I know am using Ubuntu 8.10. I figured that the instructions for 8.04 would be close enough:

Download the brscan2 0.2.4 file from the Brother website or click here:
Once downloaded the download window may appear, just double click on the file and the package manager will install, select install, once install is complete select close
Then back to the brother site for the ScanKeyTool or click here and the download manager will appear double click and install this as well.

It turned out, I was right. Almost. After installing, I still had to do the following:

Ubuntu 8.04
1. Open "/etc/udev/rules.d/40-basic-permissions.rules" file.
2. Edit "0664" to "0666" in "USB devices" section.
Before the edit---------------------------------
# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0664"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0664"
After the edit----------------------------------
# USB devices (usbfs replacement)
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ENV{DEVTYPE}=="usb_device", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb_device", MODE="0666"
3. Restart the OS.

However, once that was complete, I was all good to go. The XSane Image Scanner worked like a charm and I had no problems whatsoever scanning photos. What can I say? Sweet! Another thing that works!

Watching TV Online

2008-10-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

Throughout the year 2008, online entertainment has been gaining ground in regards to availability and quality. While a year ago there was very little quality online content available, these days you can find pretty much anything you'd like online. In fact, I predict that 2009 will be the year when online entertainment really takes off.

Let me share a few observations with you. At the time of writing, all the major networks, such as ABC, Fox, NBC and CBS offer their shows online for you to watch, without charge. I can watch them all online. Here's an example of the shows that are available:

30 Rock (HD)
Battlestar Galactica
Chuck (HD)
Heroes (HD)
Knight Rider (HD)
My Own Worst Enemy (HD)
The Office (HD)
Fringe
House
Cops
Prison Break
The Simpsons
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Dirty Sexy Money
Lost
Private Practice
Pushing Daisies
The Unit
CSI
Numb3rs

And so on. Not to mention that there are many other websites such as Joost and Netflix that provide commerical free streaming of full length shows and movies.

So, is there a need for a TV anymore? I'm starting to doubt it. A quick search online reveals that the following channels offer full length shows online with limited advertising:

Fox
ABC
NBC
CBS
History Channel
Discovery Channel (includes TLC & Animal Planet)
Sci-Fi Channel
TNT

Not to mention hulu.com, which carries a ton of shows as well from several of the above channels. So really, unless you need a lot of the other special channels such as Fox news, CNN, ESPN and such, gosh, you might as well ditch you TV. NBC even shows Sunday Night Football online now (with the exception of the Super Bowl and some other high profile games).

Now, if you have a TV that you can hook your computer up to, even better. Then you can just sit in your living room as normal and watch everything the way you normally do.

How can you beat that?

Now, since I've been transitioning to Linux, my next project will be to find all the stuff that I can watch exclusively on Ubuntu without using the dreaded Vista.

Tethering PPC6800 on Ubuntu (& Windows)

2008-10-18T19:50:00.000-07:00

After a long time of searching, I have finally found a very simple way to use my PPC6800 as a modem for my Ubuntu installation. The below instructions are specific to Ubuntu and have been tested by me on 8.04 Hardy Heron.

Note: I can't take credit for any of these instructions. The below two links basically both list the same information. Naturally, doing any of this is all at your own risk.

Ubuntu Support Forums (see post #23)
PPCGeeks Forum

First of all, to be able to perform the operation that I will be outlining shortly, you will need to have the compiling tools for Ubuntu installed. Execute the command seen below from a terminal window. If you already have this package installed, please ignore.

sudo apt-get install automake

Once done, go on with the following:

sudo apt-get install subversion
svn co https://synce.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/synce/trunk/usb-rndis-lite
cd usb-rndis-lite/
make
sudo ./clean.sh
sudo make install

Once the above sequence has been completed, reboot.

After logging back into your desktop, do the following:

Plug in the phone via USB. On the phone go to programs/applications and select "Internet Sharing" and then select the following.

PC Connection:USB
Network Connection: Phone as Modem

Click "Connect"

Within a few moments, you should be online and ready to surf the web just as if you had a network cable or a USB modem.

So, what does this do, you ask? Well, to be honest, I don't know all the technicalities but what it looks like to me is that the above software essentially creates a way for Ubuntu to see PPC6800 using Internet Sharing as just any other networked connection and simply uses it as the Internet connection. It's amazing how easy and smooth this use is and if are looking to use your PPC as a modem, you just can't skip this.

Windows users: I found that this worked just as well on Windows Vista. It's the first time I tried to do it on Vista as well so I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that easy or not or if it's related to my ROM upgrade at all but either way, I now have a way to easily connect to the Internet with my phone, whether it be Ubuntu or Vista.

Upgrading my ACS PPC6800 to GPS and Rev A.

2008-10-18T17:57:00.001-07:00

So, I finally went ahead with it. I upgraded my ACS HTC PPC6800 to include GPS and Rev A plus WM 6.1 and a few other apps thrown in with the "kitchen" I was using. For those of you in a similar position, I want to share some of what I went through to get this done.

Warning: proceed at your own risk. There is always a possibility that your phone will become a very expensive paperweight. So, doing the same thing that I did will by no means guarantee that you will end up with the same results, even if you use the same kind of phone from the same carrier. Your Warranty may also be void if the software of the phone is tampered with. Also remember to READ everything in the instructions at the website below. Don't hurry through this.

Having said that, let's move on.

I did a bit of research online before I just jumped in with both feet in an attempt to at least minimize an outcome where my phone would end up being unusable.

After a bit of surfing, I found this post in the forum over at PPCKitchen.org:

http://www.ppckitchen.org/forums/showthread.php?t=32

Essentially, this link has everything you need to enable GPS and Rev A on your PPC6800. To summarize, there are several things you will need to do:

Unlock the phone and load a new bootloader.
Load a newer radio that supports both GPS and Rev A. I ended up loading version 3.35.04 and it works great.
You will need to load a ROM into the phone that supports the radio since the stock one won't. Use the PPCKitchen software provided at the site for this. Download, install it and update it. You will only need to download the Titan packages for the PPC6800 upgrade.
Once the BuildOS has been installed and updated, you're ready to "cook" your own ROM by selecting various packages and OS version that later will be written to the phone. Remember to select your carrier, which in my case was ACS.
Once both the radio and the ROM have been written to the phone, your phone is ready to be used with GPS and Rev A.

The above process can take at least an hour the first time. The second time for me it took about 30 minutes and I am now the happy owner of a PPC6800 with GPS and Rev A. I have tested both and found both to be working to my satisfaction.

Ubuntu 8.10 Upgrade Finished

2008-10-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, the upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10 worked out although not smoothly. Throughout the download and upgrading process, the updater ran into a number of issues that in the end broke my desktop all together. I could get to the login screen but not any further, I simply ended up with a blank screen after logging in.

Frustrating.

So, I started digging around and I finally found a workaround in this post. It's in a post towards the bottom by Charles Curley. Here's essentially what I had to do:

Reboot and open up the shell/command promopt (CTRL+ALT+F2).
Install scrollkeeper, which removes rarian and parts of Gnome.
Purge all of scrollkeeper once step two finished.
Installed rarian-compat.
Install ubuntu-desktop.

That did it. I did a reboot and I'm back in business.

So, what's 8.10 like, you ask? Well, I've barely had time to check yet but one reason I upgraded to the beta before all the bugs were worked out was because I was curious how 8.10 would handle wireless CDMA USB modems, like the CDU-680. Well, I'm happy to report that it's working better. The software that comes with the unit still acts up but once the interface changer has been run, the network manager gives you an option to automatically connect to the CDMA connection. No need to configure GnomePPP or any other similar application. I was happy to see that. It will make it easier to use. At some point I'll have to see if I can get my cell phone to act as a modem too.

Next step: updating the laptop. I think I'll wait for the official release for that though.

Ubuntu 8.10 and Other Fun Things

2008-10-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

With the latest version of Ubuntu coming out at the end of this month, I just couldn't resist getting the beta installed on my desktop. Since my primary Linux computer is my laptop now, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it on that one first to see what happens. I know there are probably drivers here and there that might not function properly so I'd like to check that out and see what happens. It's downloading as we speek.

1hr or so to go.

In addition to that, I've been messing around with my PPC6800. Those of you fortunate enough to have a phone from one of the bigger carriers already have GPS and Rev A capability but not poor me so I've been downloading kitchens and custom ROMs and radios, trying to find a combination that works.

Will it work? Who knows.

Finally, I've gotten sucked into Eve Online again. I played it for a couple of months a few years ago and I have always felt that if I ever would play a MMORPG, this would be the one. So, I have returned, created a new character, started a new life in a new two week trial. We'll see how it goes. If all goes well, I'll keep playing for a while, we'll see.

Low Speaker Volume Fix

2008-09-15T14:19:00.003-07:00

With DVD playback finally fixed, I can finally watch movies on. However, one thing leads to another and as soon as I started doing this, I noticed that the volume was awfully low. I turned up the volume everywhere as much as I could and looked around a bit and I suddenly realized that I should have dug a little deeper in the volume settings.

If you right-click on the volume icon on the top bar and select Open Volume Control, you can specifically change the volume of your front speakers. Mine were not turned up all the way and once they were, everything sounded much better.

So, if you have sound problems, check the front speaker sound volume.

DVD Playback resolved on XPS 1530

2008-09-14T18:42:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I mentioned briefly that I had yet to get DVD playback to work despite trying every solution out there. It turns out it was something as simple as the region not being set on the DVD player. I bumped into this while doing a few things in Vista.

Now, after a quick search I have found what appears to be the solution to this on the Ubuntu side. I haven't tried it since the region was set on Vista but if you have similar problems, give this a shot, especially on a new computer.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs

Ubuntu on Dell XPS 1530

2008-09-10T09:40:00.001-07:00

I've had my XPS 1530 for a little less than a week now and I had Ubuntu installed just days after I got it so I have had a few days to tweak a few things so that they work as I would like them to.

First of all, as far as installation I simply used the Live CD for Hardy Heron. I did a test run from the CD first. While doing this, I immediately saw that the touchpad did not work as it should so I had to get a USB mouse connected to be able to go through the actual installation. So a tip: if you're trying to do this very same thing, have a USB mouse handy.

Since the 1530 I got came with Vista, I decided to keep it on there. Since I will be using it for business related stuff, I know I will need some Windows apps so I went looking for a way to install Ubuntu and then be able to dual-boot.

With Vista taking up all harddrive space, I didn't want to have to reinstall Vista again. XP is enough of a headache. Fortunately, there's an excellent guide over at apcmag.com that tells you exactly how do make Vista give up a little space for Linux. The site can be found here.

Once I freed up some space for my Ubuntu installation, I got down to business. It didn't take long to install Ubuntu and once I was done, I was ready to start installing all the other software I knew I would be using.

However, first I had do deal a few issues that I had read could come up. In fact, there is a whole range of issues that have been identified specifically for this kind of computer and the fixes that are available. These fixes I found in the Ubuntu wiki.

So, here's a few of the fixes I have implemented:

Eject Button Fix: I noticed fairly quickly that the eject button didn't work. Without a working eject button, your discs are...well, stuck.

Touchpad Fix: One other thing I noticed before anything else, in fact, was that the touchpad was way, way out there as far as being all over the place and crazy. That was literally the first thing I fixed.

Enable NVidia Driver: For what ever reason, the graphics drivers was not enabled by default. It took me a couple of tries to get this one to work and I'm still not sure exactly what I did...but it's working.

The XPS 1530 comes loaded with a number of cool things and naturally I want to use as many as possible. Here's a couple of items:

integrated camera
integrated mic
HDMI output
VGA output
remote control

The camera and mic worked without problems (although the mic had to be enabled) in Skype, so no problems there.

HDMI I am still working on, VGA I haven't tried, just as I haven't with the remote control.

Overall, so far I'm enjoying my new laptop with Ubuntu on it. Now, I just need to get that DVD playback to work...

New Laptop - New Linux Adventures

2008-09-06T12:27:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, my much anticipated Dell XPS 1530 arrived at my local FedEx office. I was fortunate enough to be able to pick it up just before they closed down for the day and being a Friday night, I now have a whole weekend to get things rolling on this thing.

First of all, the XPS 1530 comes loaded with Vista. I am no Vista fan and if you have read any of my posts before, you know that I've grown quite fond of Ubuntu. Yes, I guess I could have purchased a Ubuntu laptop from Dell right away but I have found that there are things that I really do need Windows for and I can always create a dual boot situation just like on my desktop.

So, with the computer out of the box and the basic stuff like installing some of my more used applications such as Firefix, iTunes, Picasa etc., I just finished burning a new disc with Ubuntu 8.04 on it and I ran the Live scenario to see how it held up.

Seems to work good. Next, it's time to install Ubuntu on there and it seems to be pretty straight forward. For those interested in how I will be doing this, these are the guides I've found and will be relying on to get this little project to work.

http://apcmag.com/how_to_dualboot_vista_with_linux_vista_installed_first.htm
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InstallingUbuntuOnADellXPSM1530
http://jesperdj.pbwiki.com/Ubuntu+on+the+Dell+XPS+M1530

Will it work? Without a doubt. It'll just be a matter of time.

Having said that, I have to mention that the XPS 1530 is a great computer. After less than 24 hours with it, I've found that it's perfect for my needs and I will be installing plenty of the software I need in the coming days and weeks.

NES on PS3 - Homebrew in Action

2008-08-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

I think the PS3 community has been waiting since the PS3 came out for Homebrew to be available and possible on the PS3. That dream finally came true not too long ago and it seems like development of Homebrew PS3 titles really are picking up. The best of all, the Homebrew titles are super-easy to run so these applications are easily accessible to anyone.

The latest in the line of applications to be ported is a basic NES emulator. Although it has no sound at the moment, it's an awesome thing to behold Super Mario Brothers in widescreen on a 42" LCD TV.

If you're interested in finding out more, check out this link.

iFonz 1.0.4

2008-08-11T15:22:00.001-07:00

The popularity of the iPhone touch interface can't be overstated and as evident by all the clones out there, the ability to "touch" instead of clicking is a sure way to attract interest and a lot of users.

One of the interfaces that looks very similar to the iPhone interface is iFonz. Having followed and used this piece of software since v0.9, I have seen this application grow to the current version, 1.0.4. I have to say that with this version, iFonz has finally moved into the realm of real usability.

Many previous versions were slow but usable. Since skipping a few versions, I'm not sure where the change came but with this latest version, the application literally flies. All the speed issues that potentially could have been a hindrance in the past are not themselves a part of the past.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else lies in the future for this application but for now, it remains one of my favorite apps for my PPC6800.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

Mobile VOIP

2008-06-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Considering that I'm heading out for a trip to Israel tonight, I figured I should look into some way to call back to the USA cheaply. My thoughts immediately went to my old friend Skype.

So, I headed over to the Skype website and downloaded the latest version of the Windows Mobile client.

Big mistake. It didn't work.

After digging through some forums I found that there is a specific version only that works with my particular device, the PPC6800/Mogul made by HTC. So, I did a bit more searching and found a blog with the CAB file available and I promptly downloaded it and installed it.

It worked. The sound quality is a bit so-so but it worked and that's the important part.

A few minutes later, I stumbled upon an application called Fring.

What is Fring? In a nutshell, this is it:

fring™ is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM®* friends using your handset’s internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes.

Turns out, Skype Out calls work just as good on Fring although I noticed that the volume is a bit lower and that you can't see how much money you have left before you're out. At least I now have two options, which is fantastic.

All I need now when I get there: a WiFi connection.

Re-Install Complete

2008-05-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

After a few hairy moments when neither Ubuntu nor Windows would actually boot, my re-install of Ubuntu has worked out ok.

What did I do different? Well, first of all I created a partition specifically for my /home/ directory. This is supposed to make upgrades easier since I won't have to redo all my settings and such again.

The problem I ran into was with the famous GRUB startup menu. It wouldn't allow me to boot to either OS, which of course is a problem.

Turns out all I really needed to do was to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst and make sure that my linux partition was set to hd0 and windows to hd1. Then things worked out real good.

If you have similar problems, check out this thread.

Ubuntu Reinstall

2008-05-27T14:32:00.001-07:00

I have been using Ubuntu Linux for a little over a month now with a little bit of a mixed experience. I found that installing Ubunut was a piece of cake and using various pieces of software like Openoffice, Firefox, Evolution and so on was painfree and very easy. However, I found that getting various things to work was easier said than done.

Sound, for example, is something I am still struggling with. I have sound but not surround sound. Sound in Firefox is still not working and it's frustrating.

Some other aspects, like networking, shared drives worked very good. I also managed to get Wine to work fine so that I can run some indispensable Windows applications.

However, there are several other things that I'd like to get to work properly and it feels like a re-install would be in order, especially now that I feel pretty comfortable with using Linux and I'm not stumbling around as much anymore.

So, at this point, my plan is to reinstall Ubuntu in the next day or so and then be able to start out with a blank page and do some things differently that I have learned in the last month.

Wish me luck.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

EVDO on Ubuntu

2008-05-21T23:16:00.001-07:00

My current project is this: to get a CDU-650 EVDO USB wireless modem to work on Ubuntu.

So far, I've progress quite nicely I think. I have manage to get it to actually connect and to be properly recognized by the system and that's always a first step. I just have to get the rest of the computer to realize that this is the main thing to use and not the router.

I'll try to get a guide of sorts together once I have things working.

Shutdown problem, CIFS related

2008-05-21T23:13:00.000-07:00

So, for the last couple of weeks, I have been running into this very annoying glitch on my Ubuntu installation. Every time I shut down the system, I get this error.

CIFS: VFS server not responding
CIFS: No response for cmd 114 mid 3

It hasn't really bugged me until now but after one reboot too many, I figured it was time to try to track down this little pesky bug.

It didn't take more than about five minutes to solve it. If you have the same problem, head over to this link, it'll help you out immensly!

http://blog.avirtualhome.com/2008/03/10/ubuntu-shutdown-problem-cifs-related/

The GTA Phenomenon

2008-05-09T02:16:00.000-07:00

We all know that the Grand Theft Auto series has always been very popular. From the now simplistic looking GTA and GTA 2 to the latest GTA IV with fantastic graphics, massive cities, a deep story line and a huge dose of questionable and immoral activities, its pure success might be hard to understand for some.

Personally, I'm not really a person that enjoy playing games with strong sexual themes, a lot of cussing and extreme violence and my faith keeps my from getting into games like GTA IV as well. Yet, as I sit here and I listen to those that complain and I listen to those that say how terrible this game is, it can't be denied that there is a huge demand. After all, Rockstar raked in $500 million in the first week of sales alone.
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$500 million! It's an amount that's difficult to comprehend. This is in one week! We talk about blockbuster movies when a movie makes $50 or $60 million in a week and here's a video game that earned hundreds of millions of dollars just on launch day, even beating out the latest Halo game.

I haven't played GTA IV but I have seen it in action and I have to say that what I have seen is very impressive. It looks great, the action is great and really, I could play this game all day just driving around in the cars and interacting with the environment. Now, will I? That's a separate question all together, naturally, and at this point, my answer to that is no. I really don't have a desire to play this game (yeah, call me strange). But, I do have to say, I'm not surprised that Rockstar has made so much money. I expect that they will make quite a bit more before everything is said and done. It is a game that is technically superior to most games out there. The graphics are amazing, the sound is amazing and the game play is amazing. I think I can safely say that even though GTA IV stands for so much that many people don't like, GTA IV is a great example of how video games should be made (I'm not talking content here, necessarily).

Anyway, it's time for me to get back to my Ubuntu adventures and leave gaming alone for a bit.

Progress Report

2008-05-09T02:04:00.000-07:00

So I have had time to play around with my Ubuntu installation a little more. One thing that has irked me a bit since I got my music up and running has been the lack of surround sound. So, I made it my mission for the day to enable surround sound.

You'd think it wouldn't be that hard but it did take me over an hour to get it to work. At this point, I'm not even 100% sure what I did to get it to work. However, in the process of working on this, I did stumble upon a media player (Amorok) that I like quite a bit better than the default one. It looks better, handles the playlist in a much better way I think and it also happened to have a setting to enable surround finally!

So, one more thing I can check off of my list.

The other thing I did today was to start doing some of my web development on Linux software. Previously, I have used Dreamweaver to some extent as well as Kompozer on Windows. Moving over to Linux I naturally started looking for a worthy replacement.

Quanta ended up being the candidate that at least at this point does what I need. In fact, I like how projects can be grouped together quite a bit better than the old Dreamweaver version I had. So, it did take me a bit longer to do what I did tonight because I was learning how to use Quanta at the same time but overall it was a good experience and based on what I've seen so far, I believe that I can do all the stuff I've done in the past without problems. Of course, time will tell but so far it's encouraging. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Printer Victory!

2008-05-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

So far, my biggest challenge with my Ubuntu/Linux adventure has been my printer. I'm using a Brother MFC-240C Printer/Scanner/Fax combo which has served me very well since I got it this past fall.

However, I found that getting it to work in Ubuntu was easier said than done but I finally did get it to work.

The three links below are essentially what I used to get this to work. The first link contains links to the drivers you need (LPR and CUPS). The second links shows one specific step for Ubuntu 8.04 and the third one is a link to a page that walks you through how to do the install for Ubuntu 7.10. Although I'm using 8.04, I found the instructions to be sufficient and helped me get through to the end which was the successful printing of a page from OpenOffice just moments ago. So, another victory on my adventure with Ubuntu.

Brother Linux Drivers
Brother FAQ
Driver Installation Guide for Ubuntu

Picasa

2008-05-04T22:43:00.001-07:00

Picasa by Google is an application that I have used for several years for organizing photos, printing them, ordering them, importing them and so on. Initially, I had not even thought about not being able to use that while using Linux so when it did dawn on me that I needed access to all my photos, I was happy to see that fortunately for me, there is a Ubuntu version available for Linux as well.

As I write this, Picasa is in the middle of scanning all my photos.

I have to admit that so far everything is going very smooth.

Universal Remote

2008-05-04T22:04:00.001-07:00

Being a tech guy with electronic devices all over the place, it was just a matter of time before my "media" room became cluttered with remotes. There's the one for the TV, the cable box, the stereo and the one for my PS3.

The PS3 one I can't do much about since it's a Bluetooth remote. However, all the other ones are infrared and I'd love to get rid of them all.

While pondering this little dilemma, I realized that I have an old Sony Clie Palm device in a box in my basement that I used to use before I got dragged over to the dark side of Windows Mobile. I ventured down into our crawlspace, found the box where I knew I had stored it and got it out together with it's cradle. I hooked it up, installed the Palm Desktop on the Windows side and did a quick sync to restore all the stuff I once had on it (I still had it on my computer somehow).

Why all this work? Well, the Clie's were made with good IR ports which are perfect for remote control activities. In fact, the one I have (and probably many others) came with software from Sony for this specific purpose. The software is a bit outdated now so I downloaded a nice little app I found online, Omniremote. I have yet to test it but it appears to be configurable for pretty much anything.

So, my Palm is now charged up and I think it's about time to put it to the test. Will I be able to dump all my other cumbersome remotes? Time will tell.

Skype is Alive

2008-05-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

After a week of very little work on the Ubuntu front, I finally ventured back into Ubuntu to continue a bit of my work.

The next victim: Skype.

Skype is a fantastic program that I use primarily to call my family back over in Sweden and Finland. It works very well and using Ubuntu, I would absolutely want to use it.

I head over to Skype's website and immediately see a download link for Skype for Linux. I downloaded the Ubuntu version, installed it without problems. After logging in, I connected my USB headset, changed the sound settings to allow me to use my headsets for calls and I made a quick test call to the local time and temperature number.

It worked! (at least incoming)

I also found that my USB webcam worked perfectly without any need for configuration in Skype. Awesome!

Now, the next step is to get my Linksys Skype phone to work. I can tell that Ubuntu recognizes it since it's showing up as an available sound device in Skype but the phone itself is not registering. Not a big deal at the moment though since the headset works fine.

Another mission accomplished on my Ubuntu trek.

Windows Drives Mounted!

2008-04-28T09:23:00.000-07:00

Another chapter in my Ubuntu adventure can be closed. This morning I finally successfully managed to mount one of my shared drives on my media machine, where all my music, videos and photos are kept. A victory!

Here's some links I used to get this accomplished:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountWindowsSharesPermanently#head-fb089c2083e67c8d4de440e5c598792c4cf7c642

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=280473

Now, I've got Rhythmbox up and running, scanning my music and playing it! Sweet! Now, let's see if I can improve the sound any...

Anyway, one step done, several more to go.

Publish Post

Ubuntu Installation Successful

2008-04-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

I shut down the Live CD and waited for the reboot.

The Windows logo appears. What? What happened to Ubuntu?

I quickly realize that the drive I installed Ubuntu on is a slave drive. A quick trip into the BIOS to change the priority of the drives fixes this.

Reset and reboot.

Bingo.

I get the boot menu where I get to select if I want to boot good old Windows or experience the new frontiers of Ubuntu.

Just to make sure Windows work, I click that first. After all, my work is all stored on there, if it doesn't work, I'd be toast (almost, I do have backups, fortunately, I just wouldn't want to deal with the mess of restoring everything).

It works.

Reset and reboot, selecting Ubuntu this time. After about 45 seconds or so, I'm past the login screen and I'm at the desktop.

The first thing that happens before I even get around to see what's around is that I'm prompted to download and install ATI drivers for my ATI graphics card. Very cool. I didn't even have to go ask for it.

So, after another few minutes and another reboot, I'm back to the desktop. I open up Firefox and yes, the Internet is working which means my network connection is working.

Sweet! I head over here to my little blog and notate what's going on.

What's next in the world of Ubuntu then? Well, several things:

I need to find out exactly what's in the installation package. What can I already do, what do I need to download.
I need to get my network configured if it's not already. After all, I store tons of music and photos on a network drive and I need to be able to access all of that.
Can I actually do any work here? Time will tell.
Will I be able to connect my shiny new PocketPC phone in any way?
Will I be able to use all my other hardware such as my webcam, printer/scanner and so on?

As you can tell, the adventure has hardly begun. What will the next few days hold? Time will tell.

Joining the Linux Revolution

2008-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

My first introduction to Linux wasn't a very successful one. In early 2007, I downloaded a copy of Ubuntu, hoping to try it out and see what it was like. I didn't get very far. I couldn't get the thing to boot and I left the disc to gather dust.

A few months ago, my interest was reignited when I got the latest PS3 version to successfully install on my PS3. It was cool to see that hey, this doesn't look so bad and there's more to it than blank screens that leads to nowhere. So, when I heard that the latest version of Ubuntu was released just weeks ago, I decided to give it a shot on my desktop.

To help you understand my situation a bit more, I do quite a bit of computer work at home, primarily in the areas of web design and graphic design, writing and a bit of gaming here and there. So, I was thinking, what if I can do what I do on Windows XP just as well on Linux?

So, I've looked around a bit, read about Wine and a few other things and I finally took the plunge today. In fact, as I sit here and write this, Ubuntu 8.04 just finished installing from the Live CD.

Now, this is not a hard break with Windows by any means. I happened to have a sprace 20GB hard drive sitting around so I figured, what better thing to do with a piece of hardware that might not be used otherwise than to experiment with it. So, that's exactly what I have done. I still have my Windows XP drive and the I have my Ubuntu installation. Can I live without XP? Time will tell, right?

Anyway, it's prompting me to reboot so I guess it's time to take a peek and see if I still have something that functions.

2Tall Tales Introduction

2008-04-26T19:19:00.000-07:00

Technology is all around us. It's in our homes, on our bodies, in our cars, at work. It's part of all aspects of our lives in one way or another, from the alarm that goes off to the stock purchase and the work we do at work.

For me, technology has always been an important part of life. Since my late teen years when the computer games of the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 occupied much of my time to these days when cellphones, PDAs, web design and computers in general, I have always had a great deal of interest in what technology can do. So, what better place than to share this than here.

2Tall Tales will at least initially be an outlet for my interaction with technology of various kinds and what I do and don't do with it, my opinions and experiences. I'll cover everything I find interesting and that somehow is connected to technology. In short, you might read posts about things from video games to black holes.

Of course, my aim is not to tell any tall tales but rather 2tall tales! :) Let the fun begin!