my w810i woes continue..

well, i was pretty pumped to get my w810 (twice that is since first had to be rma'd, DOA) but so far have been having some very annoying problems.  mainly the phone does not seem to hold a charge or even charge properly. i will plug it in overnight and check it in the morning its only 55% charged. tried 2 different batteries (the K750 uses same battery type), once of which was brand new and same problem.

internet is back up!! go justin from comcast!

well, on tues night, my good ole internet and cable tv both went down.  in the past year or so i've had this happen off and on but usually a few hours later the signal would come back and i'd be good; if not i could usually wiggle the cables by the outlet enough to get it to work.

however, this time i had a feeling that i just needed to get the cabling to my apt redone.  so i called up comcast, setup a time for  them to swing out and took the day off (also had to get my work license, long story short i got a dwi but got it dropped to a careless). 

comcast sent out justin (a younger tech, about my age or so, worked 7 years or so in the industry) to take a look.  he replaced my inside jack and still had major connection problems/negative signal; after investigating some more he decided to run a totally new line to my apt.  we went and talked w/my apt management office and got access to the roof and got a new cable strung.  the cabling i had was prob from when the apts were built (the cable was dried out from water and sun and just being old).



after he finished running the cable and reconnecting, bam! internet was up and hd and cable was looking very crisp.  also, he suggested to use the Pass-Through setting on my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD to get the best picture quality (prev i was using the upconvert-2) and i did notice a slight increase in quality of my hd channels.  however the quality boost may also be in part from the new cabling. 

so all in all, its good to have my tv and internet back.  evdo tethering was a great inbetween time solution but nothing beats good ole broadband.

now to call comcast and give justin some props! thanks dude!

Blackberry 8830 follow-up review

well, prior to working at my current job, i had always been either Palm or Windows smartphone user. blackberries were for the business elite not the geek, or so it went in my head.  however, after using a blackberry for quite some time i've come to love my blackberry and loathe the palm treo or moto q or other smartphones.  the blackberry just does the job so well.

up until the last year, blackberries were not really the nicest looking phone.  they were big black bricks.  however the introduction of the sleek Pearl and now the 8800 series seems to be changing this mold. 

a while back ago, i posted a review over at techrx ( here ) and gave it a very respectful/great 9.5/10. 

iPhone: unlocking that sim and browsing those filez? seems so!

well, i and the rest of the world knew this was coming; a way to unlock the iPhone sim card.  prior to this newest hack (which will run about $90-100 for the blank sim card and sim card reader/writer), the non-ATT/Cingular users could activate the iPhone via a hack but were still unable to use the phone (basically it made it a wifi ipod).

however, the good folks over at hackint0sh forums have found a way around this!  here's direct link to the forum post on the how-to.

http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2215&page=1

so, it seems like i may perhaps end up w/an iphone at some point if this hack works w/Tmobile USA.  i've  always wanted to get into the whole SIM card hacking but really never had a reason to and now i may.  i know, i am still an iphone naysayer (but thats mainly because i didn't want to switch to cingular/att) but may sway to the dark side.  we shall see.

oh yea, on top of this, Windows users now have a nice iPhone file browser. check it out at modmyiphone.com:  http://www.modmyiphone.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=301

so.. anyone wanna send me an iphone to unlock and then in turn post up a nice tutorial?? hehe, had to try.

more PS3 requests of mine...

well, was playing The Darkness today and messing around on the PS3 and decided i'd write down a few more requests/features i'd like added/changed.

-Ability to send full resolution images attached to messages in the XMB. come on, i have my photos all scaled to and hd-ready, why can't i share them?

-Ability to send images as part of the Triangle option when viewing the phots

-Playlist feature for music/vids (still!)

-Ability to pair PS3 w/Sony Ericsson phones to then use BT Remote Control to control movies (like bluetooth remote control does).

also just received back my remastered Fifth Element Bluray.  i purchased the original Bluray of The Fifth Element and after some complaints in conversion, Sony has remastered it again and actually is replacing copies of the original w/the new mastered one.  so far it seems the pixelation probs have been fixed!

By the way, here is the address to send your request to get your copy of the fifth element (bluray) replaced w/the newly released remaster.

To receive an exchange for the remastered Fifth Element Blu-ray disc, please return your Blu-ray disc (case not needed) to the following address:

SPHE Consumer Support
PO Box 157
Neenah, WI 54957
Attn: 760239

Please be sure to include your return address (no PO Boxes) and a copy of this email. Your replacement will be shipped to you via Fed Ex Ground. The disc will be sent out after July 17th.

Regards,

SPHE Consumer Affairs Team

my next tablet pc?? dell's latitude xt tablet

well, since getting, i love my tablet pc.  however, recently though it has been starting to show its age and can't quite keep up to what it needs to do.  nonetheless it might be time for an upgrade.

the tablet pc market really wasn't too big or successful initially, however recently it has started to take off.  the selection of tablets is pretty big and prices have dropped quite a bit too (previously tablet pcs were usually more a 'premium' type of laptop, 2K+ ranges). 

after looking around, found out about Dell's Latitude XT.  so far the specs look pretty sweet.

 rumors say it will be out in Q3 (perfect for me since i get my bonus in dec.. :P ) and have these type of specs (specs from engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/03/more-details-revealed-on-dells-latitude-xt-tablet/)

Single or dual-core Intel ULV CPUs (with integrated graphics)

LED-backlit WXGA 1280 x 800 display option

Outdoor viewing WXGA 1280 x 800 display option

Pen and touch support (digitizer and touchscreen)

(3) USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet (duh), 1394, VGA out

WiFi options up to 802.11n, optional Bluetooth

Optional 3G (HSDPA, EV-DO Rev. A)

ExpressCard slot, optional Smart Card slot, fingerprint reader

i like the idea of the LED backlit display and outdoor viewing.  i wonder if you can get both features or if its a one or the other type of option/upgrade? 

however the TC1100's form factor is still one i wish another manufacturer would take up.  its so nice being able to detach the keyboard and go pure slate mode.  perhaps HP will resurrect the TC1X00 someday, i can always dream!

the craziness of life

well, not sure if most know this or not but i live in Minneapolis, MN and if you follow any news lately, you probably have heard about the collapse of the 35W bridge that spans over the Mississippi River.  the bridge collapsed on wed around 6pm during the tail-end of rush hour.  around 50 vehicles were involved and so far the death toll has been very low for such a catostraphic event. 

i was shocked when my pal called me around 6:15pm after hearing about the collapse on the radio.  i flipped on my tv and was awed by the pure shock of seeing the bridge, collapes and in pieces. 

if you live in Minneapolis or near it, you probably have driven on that section of road quite a bit.  that area is considered to be one of the main veins into downtown minneapolis, usually seeing about 200,000 vehicles passing over it each day. 





the scary thing about whole incident is that there was no warning of the collapse.  it just literally fell to the river.  most of my pals live in the southern part of minneapolis (aka uptown) however i still made sure everyone was accounted for and thankfully no one i knew was involved or at the scene.   even crazier is that if this would have happened on Thur night instead of Wed, i might have been on that bridge around that time since i was meeting some pals for a reunion-tour happy hour over on the UMN campus.

my heart goes out to all of the victims and family/friends of those injured/killed.  hopefully the cause of the collapse will be found and lessons are learned.

props to my fellow MNers and their willingness to always help those in need or at the scene, always great to see/hear!

blog theme updates, twitter, and randomness

well, figured it was time to update/change my blog theme.  finally found a decent theme to use that met my criteria, black and basic.  davak then uploaded it for me and made a few tweaks and thus the new look!  thanks again for updating it so fast!!

after reading about twitter on the other techrx blogs, decided i'd join up and take it for a spin.  its pretty sweet.  i've been using the text messaging option of posting since its so easy and i can do it anywhere.  plus, its fun seeing what davak and q and shamantears are up to throughout the day.  sure seem like a bunch of busy guys!

and finally, some randomness on randomness and shuffle.  why is it that most media players have such a limited shuffle/random playback options?  i really hate it when you put a bunch of songs (ie 100 to 300) on shuffle yet after each time i start playback it shuffles the same order as it previously did.  this is a really huge annoyance i have w/my Civic Si's sound system.  i have the navigation package and in turn have the PC Card reader for music files.  i noticed that when i turn on shuffle/random it uses the same random list.  come on, it can't be that hard to make the random playback order random on each time the feature is turned on!!!! you'd think its a very basic random function in the software. i remember making a few basic java script applets and the first excercise was to make a random number generator; so its not like i'm asking for anything complex or hard to do.  just seems like most manufacturers just don't think that people use the feature or don't put much effort into it.

so thats my randomness rant on randomness. :P

peace

my W810i housing mod

well, i got my rma'd W810i back. so nice having a decent phone vs a crappy one. hehe.  however, after verifying that it worked normally i decided to the front camera case mod.  its probably one of the easiest housing mods you can do w/the W810i.  Just remove the two screws under the battery cover, pop off the housing, put on the K750 or W800 housing (almost identical housings / hardware is used among these three phones).




afterwards!



in addition to the camera housing change, i also fully disassembled my W810i and used my silver buttons from the spare parts K750i i had. the camera cover slide will not turn off/on the camera (i even purchased the camera ribbon for the K750i which did fit, however the connector that goes to the phone's pcb was vertically set not horizontally). i can now fully disassemble and reassemble my W810i in prob under 5 minutes (tried to swap out a few parts but had to then go back and replace w/the W810i pieces).

my next step will be doing some File System customizations and CID49 hacking using XS++ and Far Manager. i'll post some screenies of my phone once i get some new flash themes added and custom drivers updated. should be fun, given i don't brick my phone!!

the future of the ps3.. brighter?

well, its been about 4 months since i've purchased my PS3 and figured its time to do a little recap on on my past, current and future thoughts on the big black beast (aka ps3.. hehe).

my past relationship w/sony has been a love / hate relationship. i loved the original playstation, didn't get a ps2 at all (really just modded xboxs, didn't really get into this generation; got into the computer gaming side), got a psp but was disappointed w/the lack of good games, had no original interest in the ps3 since it was just gonna be all glitz and not much of a new experience. my sony allegiance in the other consumer electronics area still burned bright. i love sony digital cameras and their nice highend mobile phones (ie K800).

however, after jumping into the HD realm i realized it was time to pick my other next gen system. i already had my wii and enjoyed it for what it was and not for what it wasn't. so it came down to the xbox360 and the ps3. the x360 had the game advantage and a year headstart on the ps3, however the x360 didn't do the music and photos like the ps3 so the ps3 it was. the bluray player also was a selling point and the possibility of future firmware updates to do upscaling of dvds helped.

bluray looked great, the audio/video options were a nice bonus, and the initial games were pretty decent (being a racing fan, nfs:carbon was my kind of game). however up until recently, the ps3 saw a pretty nasty game drought, which really wasn't that bad since it was from early to late summer and i was super busy and its summer!

the near future for the ps3 looks very promising. we'll see some great looking games in the next few months including Lair, Heavenly Sword, Stranglehold, EyeCreate, Warhawk, and the usual sports games. the game i'm most excited for is LittleBigPlanet. that game looks amazing and so much fun, plus i'm a huge fan of games that allow for user submitted content. should be a blast and perhaps will establish its own cult following to say the least. plus, we'll have metal gear and gt5 to look forward to and also ffxiii (however that may be late 08 or even 09 for us americans.. boo! however i'd take a remixed/upconvert of FFVII to hold me off though. ).

i haven't lost faith in sony yet. i'll give them to 2008 to sell me on my purchase and the next few months should do that. lair could end up being a system selling game, the scale of it seems almost on the epic side (seeing that many enemies on screen is crazy!).

so go sony, keep up the good firmware updates and releases!!

is july RMA month?? wsod on new W810i and more geek pains

is july the official RMA month? sure seems so for me, had to RMA three items this last week: my new W810i phone (arrived DOA, argh!!), a 1GB MicroSD card, and of course my Western Digital 80GB laptop hd.  however, i guess i can't really complain since prior to this month i've only had to RMA 4 items in the last 5 years (considering how many geek toys/items i buy, not a bad number).

i've officially given up on getting OSX on my HP TC1100.  using a different external cd/dvd drive did not seem to resolve any of the install problems/slowness.  i might try the deedmo image method but at this point don't see any reason to try since it will prob run slow as heck.  so instead, i'm back to my dual booting XP/Vista setup.

been thinking about a few of the mods i want to do w/my new phone (that is once i get a replacement and verify that it works fine since my mods will nullify the warranty).  so far these are the mods i plan to do (given the phone is CID36 not CID49; the RMAd W810i was a CID49 so i may be limited on what i can do w/the filesystem and UI hacks).  glad i held onto my buddies dead K750 so that i can use those parts w/my W810i. i love how sony ericsson phones are so moddable! now if only they could get rid of that WSOD; however i think the problem i had w/my phone was mainly because it was really not a NIB phone (phone had signs of wear and tear; the camera lense had a nasty coating on it and the memory card slot was broken and the LCD display was not properly centered; i could see light on the side of the lcd). so hopefully get that back soon.   here's the mods list i want to try:

-housing mod:  going to use K750i camera cover side, replace all black buttons w/silver K750 buttons

-software mods: complete overhaul of UI (black/orange brushed metal style) and Walkman player.  Possible camera and acoustic driver hacks (use drivers from K750, W800). I may see its possible to add the camera lense switch from the K750 (given there this is supported on the W810i, which it may not be).

and i'll see if i can get tethering working too since i was able to get the non-existant VPN Internet plan from Tmobile (the $19.99 that doesn't include wifi since who wants hotspot service to start with eh?).

i'll be posting up some recipes to my hacks/mods later next week.  btw, if your a sony ericsson user, head over to my other fave SE hangout area: http://se-nse.com  some good SE fanboys/hackers over there.

peace

my tip on getting 'hooked up' in life as a geek/person

let me start off on the right foot and warn my readers that this is not one of my typical geek posts. it is, but isn't.  no, this really is a post with some tips on life itself and getting oneself through it a little easier.  like most geeks of my generation (ie Nintendo generation, late 20s to 30s), i've got 'soft' skills.  no, i'm not good at knitting or stitching, but i'm good with people.  the previous generation geeks were always criticized for lacking these skills (for most of the prev gen, you could get away with being a total geek/tech expert and not have to worry about the people skills.  the technical knowledge itself overrided dealing w/co-workers and supervisors and others outside of the tech realm (not a rip on any generation or a 'my dads stronger than yours' statement, our world got much more 'PC' than previous).

OSX86 update and other geeky tidbits

well, i figure its time for me to do a follow up post on my recent experience on getting Mac OSX 10.4.6 on my HP TC1100.  previously i was having some major problems getting OSX86 to install and to even boot after install.  sadly, my situation/experience has not changed in regards to getting OSX86 installed and running on my TC1100 tablet pc.

my installation will take over 5 hours to complete (if it does complete) but never boots.  i have tried using all of the known flags for darwin to see if that would speed up the install but none of them seem to have any effect (ie tried platform=x86pc and acpi, tried idehalt=0 and cpu=1, nothing seems to help).  i also have tried using a different install dvd (10.4.6 and 1.04.8, both JaS versions w/the amd/intel patches built in), different harddrive (since my 80gb died, but should be back this week), removed my 1GB memory and used only the builtin memory (512mb), removed the battery; again still over 5 hours to install and no luck on booting.

happy 4th of july!

some fireworks from the good ole taste of mn (where you can get anything fried! hehe)

hacks and developers

just recently two huge breakthroughs were made in the PSP underground/hacking world.  Noobz and Archaemic found an exploit in the game Lumines that basically allow all PSP firmware versions (1.5 to 3.50) and allow it to run homebrew.  this is a pretty huge find, so much so that for a few days Lumines sales on amazon exploded, at one point its sales were up 5,700%! whoa.

however, this is not the first instance that a game exploit/buffer overflow has been the entry point for hackers into a gaming console.  with the xbox there came to be a way to softmod it via a hacked game save file, i believe the game used was mech assault. 

the gamecube also had a game hack too, that game was phantasy star online. it allowed users to even put linux on the gamecube.

so i've always wondered, do developers purposedly leave the rare exploit in their code in hopes to drive their own software sales due to the exploit? even though the console maker and other software makers may not like the idea, it really seems to be plausible thought.  one that i am sure that most devs would ever speak of. 

anywho, i also see that the iphone activation has been hacked, DVD Jon has figured out a way to emulate the apple activation servers, however you will not have any cell phone abilities (but give this some time, once the sim card lock has been broken, a combination of this hack and a future one could allow those non-cingular/att users to have actual working iphones; not saying it will be me but ya never know.. i like a good hack!).

peace