I had a problem, and spent some time looking for a solution. Since it was a pain to find out how to erase all my data (hard reset) on a Blackberry 8100 from t-mobile, I thought I would post the process here and save someone some time.
Good luck!
Im not sure why, but Brits dont write reviews. I’ve recently purchased some components for my parents home theater system, for which I will be writing reviews when we get them! When I buy things in the US, I search for reviews about items before buying them. What I noticed in the UK is that there are very few reviews / it is very hard to find reviews on electronics. The items we purchased are as follows:
TILT & ROTATE ARM BRACKET 32″ to 60″ (BGL1) from Brackets UK
Pioneer S-V810A-W from digital direct
Panasonic TH-42PX60B-WAL from digital direct
Pioneer VSX-2016AV-S from digital direct
Belkin Silver Series Pureav 16Awg Hi-Performance Speaker Cable, 100′ from Amazon
Belkin HDMI to HDMI Audio Video Cable 2m from Savastore
The only thing I was able to easily find information on was the TH-42PX60 which is probably the most purchased plasma HDTV around. The rest of them, Im shooting a little bit in the dark but did the best I could. I will share my experiences on these items when I receive them in order to help others in the future.
If brits wrote more reviews, the consumer would presumably be more educated and there wouldnt be such large discrepancies in pricing between different stores.
Well, thats not entirely true, but they matter less than you think! Whats more important is the quality and size of the lens and CCD on the camera.
Wired has a great article on a subject some of you may already be experiencing!
Ftfa:
When shopping for a digicam, use 3 megapixels as a baseline for Web-friendly shots and up to 5 megapixels for making your own 8 x 10s. Keep in mind that the size of each pixel should trump their overall number. That’s largely why digital single-lens-reflex cameras rule: They have comparatively gargantuan image sensors.
Have you been trying to figure out how to keep your Windows up to date so you dont spread viruses, but are concerned that if you update, Windows will stop working?
muBlinder is a piece of software that allows you to bypass Microsoft’s Genuine Advantage check and download their software - such as Windows Desktop Search 3.0, Windows Defender, Internet Explorer 7.0 (which breaks Outlook 2003). It’s available and update from the p2plife forums (unfortunately you need to register to download it), but the solution works, and is relatively easy to update. Another solution that doesnt allow you to download the extras is WindizUpdate, a plugin for firefox that replicates the way Windows Update works.
So, I thought I would do a review of my experience with Windows XP 64. I guess the place to start is:
Why I bought Windows XP 64.
I was shopping online for a new computer for one of our employees and saw that Dell was selling these workstations with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (64 bit chips!) with cheap upgrades ($10 + shipping) to Windows Vista. Well, if you bought Windows XP, you only got an upgrade to 32 bit Windows Vista. At this point, I had a lot of faith in Microsoft Windows Vista, and thought that for sure, within 1 year, no one would be buying and installing the 32 bit Vista… that technology is for the dinosaurs. So, the option I had (for no additional cost) was to buy the 64 bit Windows XP and get the upgrade to 64 bit Windows Vista Business. I didn’t think / have time to research potential problems with that decision and thought that I was making a smart choice.
The computer arrived and I booted in to Windows XP 64 and noticed one thing that immediately concerned me… two versions of Internet Explorer. *Gulp*. If they’ve got two versions of Internet Explorer, then that means that some things don’t work correctly on the 64 bit version and you need to use the 32 bit version. This was a sign of problems to come.
Installation and Set up
Well, the next step was to set up office which was pre-installed. Im pretty sure there isn’t a 64 bit compiled Office 2003 so there was probably no benefit with running that on a 64 bit system. So, after a few hiccups and some concerns I got the machine up to spec and was ready to send it to our other office. The morning I am going to send it, I had to finish one install before it left. As I am using the computer, I get a BSOD. Uh oh. The computer shouldn’t BSOD when it is brand new. Those unfamiliar with BSODs or Blue Screen of Death might want to note that these are usually caused by poorly coded device drivers.
Well, I dismissed that first BSOD to dumb luck, packed the computer up and sent it on its merry way. The next thing to do when it is on site, is to install all the printer drivers… no problem! Well, it wouldn’t be a problem on regular windows… but 64 bit, better Windows doesn’t have the same support for printers that its weaker smaller brother does. HP attempted to address this by having a unified driver for all of its printers for XP 64. What HP probably didnt do was test it on all their printers. I wasn’t able to get it to work on the HP Color Laserjet 2500.
So, I said I would try and fix it later and would look for a solution online. Well, the next step was installing Quickbooks. I was a little nervous by this time, so did a search and found the following disappointing information about compatibility of Quickbooks in Windows XP 64.
Daily Use
Well, as it happens, the computer has started crashing and showing BSODs multiple times per day. Looks like we are going to have to send it back to Dell and get the 32 bit Windows XP.
Morale of the story is - if you are using Microsoft products, stay away from the cutting edge - it sucks pretty bad.
From me of course! Im selling 4 of them on ebay right now - Get your nintendo wii here!
From Techcrunch:
According to Kevin there are two models, 4 GB and 8 GB, priced at $249 and $449. No word on whether they’ll be shipping an unlocked version of the phone as Om Malik recently reported, but Kevin says Apple is adding both GSM and CDMA radios into the iPhone, making it truly carrier-independent. The device will have a slide out keyboard, a touch screen and two batteries (one for the MP3 player, one for the phone).
I joined up with Mediatemple’s Gridserver product a couple of months ago because of the very high value proposition posed by the company. I can host all of my sites with Mediatemple and because it is on a cluster of servers, I should have higher uptime and very few problems. Well, the technology is theoretically better but is very new, so naturally, they are having teething problems. This site has had a lot of downtime recently and Mediatemple has done the right thing by me and probably most of their gridserver customers and given 2 months of service as a concession for the troubles.
Thanks Mediatemple. I was frustrated, but gave you the benefit of the doubt that these were early bugs. We’re now back on track for me to recommend your service to others!
I have been using Garageband to edit some audio conversations. Unfortunately, I ran into a prohibitive bug that means I can no longer use garageband. I have researched online and have not seen a solution to this problem. Other users of Garageband running intel Macs have noted this issue and I think it may be specific to intel mac users. In any case, I’ll have to find another way to edit my audio. Take a look at what happens when I try to trim the fat from a conversation. Here is the before image:
then I press apple-T to split the track and:
Errr, Apple, please fix this. That is not how the application is supposed to behave!
There are some others who have had the same issues on the apple support board: 1, 2, 3
There are a few ways to move your iTunes collection to a different location. Here is an intelligent way that leverages the *nix underpinnings of Mac OS X using symbolic links.
This gives you flexibility if you need to reorganize or free up space. By creating an alias (symbolic link), iTunes treats the music collection as if it was never moved!
Ever wanted to use your iPod in your car? I did. In fact, a lot of people do. Quite a few cars these days are coming out with factory installed iPod integration. Others have a line-in input built in.
If you’re not lucky enough to have one of these, there are a few more options. The one I used to use, and I think the majority of iPod in Car users use is the FM transmitter. After doing a lot of research a couple of years ago, I ended up picking the Monster iCarPlay Plus Wireless FM Transmitter
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I signed up for web hosting with Media Temple. Seems like a great service since I can host all of my sites on one hosting plan. But I wonder, wtf is Short Path bandwidth? A few more hints on their site:
Expand the audience for your creative content by serving more visitors faster than ever before with a Terabyte of multi-routed bandwidth.
I’ve asked them for an explanation and will post their response!
Update - I received their explanation. Here it is:
To answer your question specifically, “Shortpath” bandwidth refers to (mt) Media Temple’s peering relationship with many of the premiere ISPs throughout the Internet. Our network is currently directly peered with AT&T/Yahoo DSL, Adelphia, Earthlink, Cox Communications, and Japan Telecom.
This means that if someone who uses e.g. Adelphia for their Internet connection, wants to look at your site, then that traffic only travels through our network and Adelphia’s. It never goes outside to the Internet. As a result, transfers will be faster, and we can also monitor it better.
Worried about getting busted using Bittorrent? You probably should be since it doesnt hide your identity. It seems that downloading movies is more likely to get you busted than other content. I have several friends who got notices from their internet provider after downloading movies. You may be able to do that safely too!
What you have to do is run a piece of software in the background called “PeerGuardian 2“. The way it works is by blocking IP addresses. Your list is updated based on a master list, and you can choose if you want to block corporations, educational institutions, governments, etc.
In non-technical terms, internet addresses, just like physical addresses can be traced to their owners. By blocking addresses that are more likely to be tracking copyright infringement or sending bad data, it enables you to sneak under the radar and continue to download.
As always, be careful where you get your torrents from and use a reputable source like piratebay or tvrss. While I am on the subject, I’ll give a plug for ¬µTorrent too! It’s a great windows based bittorrent client. If you are on a mac, Bitrocket is increasing in quality at a really fast pace. The built in search is awesome.
Worried about getting busted for music? allofmp3 is still up and running, and according to them is legal! I dont know about that, but $2 an album is the price music should be!
Google Docs & Spreadsheets are now available at docs.google.com. This is the first time we are seeing a rebranded writely combined with Google’s spreadsheets to form the basis for Google’s foray into the realm of office software. I imagine it wont take much before this could be used to create nearly every document in academia. With the autosaving feature, there would be no room for the excuse that your harddrive crashed!
Here is a stupid forward I got on Yahoo! Messenger about a supposed virus. Can anyone confirm this is actually a virus and not a hoax? Even if it was, use Gaim on windows or linux and AdiumX on the Mac and you wont be getting any viruses.
If a Marc James wants to add you to their list dont accept it. Its a virus. Tell everyone on your list because if somebody on your list adds them you will get it too. It is a hard drive killer and a very horrible virus. Please pass this on to everyone on your list. We need to find out who is using this accounts. Sorry for the inconvenience. Right click on your group name of your buddy list and click Send Message to all. Copy and paste this message
Check out these scans of an article about Onmac.net that were in the japanese magazine Ascii. Does this count as my five minutes of fame? I wonder what the article actually says…
Translation:
The Man Who Opened Forbidden Doors
…??
Im currently watching the Ghana - Czech Republic game and there is some bad weather outside. I see the Ghana striker go down in the box and have a penalty called and then the image stutters… then nothing. The signal is dead. I hope it comes back for a few seconds and then decide - change to analog. It’s 3 or so minutes later and ABC-HD is still out. Time warner must be lying when they say that the weather doesnt affect cable. It certainly seems to be doing it today. I had just written a complaint letter to ESPN / ABC about the poor coverage of the world cup and should have included this latest problem:
Overall, I am very disappointed with the world cup 2006 coverage. The big issues are: No espn2HD on Time Warner Cable. Large on-screen graphics that obstruct the play (see how BBC-HD in the UK has done it), and unknowledgable commentators - Most of what comes out of the mouths of the commentators is incorrect or utter nonsense. This is a really weak effort for such a big event.
The signal going out just before a penalty is something that every football fan fears. Luckily I had the analog signal to switch over to.
p.s. 10 minutes later the HD signal is still out.
Get your copy here! Hot of the press! Microsoft has released a public beta of Windows Vista Beta 2. They are using a download manager (somewhat like bittorrent) from Akamai that frankly sucks. It keeps stalling and saying it has lost the connection. I wish there was a torrent up there of this file since that is a much better way to download than DD or Akamai’s crappy download manager. What a joke.
The aptly named Griffin iMic
OS X Review
In OS X, it is pretty straightforward - just plug it in to the USB port and select it in your sound preferences. You can use the iMic for sound output on all sounds, or just in Skype.
It works very well as a consumer level device if you want to conference call with friends and family, or produce your own podcast. It also has stereo mic inputs so if you have a fancy stereo mic or want to use a splitter to mic a room in stereo, you can do that too! Im thinking about using it as an inexpensive way to do a podcast. There are two benefits using my external headset with this device over the internal mic. One is that people dont hear when I am typing and the other is that it my headset mic doesnt pick up all the background noise in the room too like the MacBook’s mic does.\
Windows Review
In Windows XP, it’s as easy as OS X. Just plug in the iMic and Windows recognizes it as an external sound input. Go into the Sounds and Audio Devices properties in the control panel. Under the “Audio” tab, you can select the iMic USB audio system for both Sound Playback and Sound recording.
Capturing sound with the iMic seems to be pretty reasonable. I have my Sennheiser PC150 headphones plugged in and my fellow skypers tell me I come in loud and clear. What’s cool with skype in Windows is you can tell it to ring on your external speakers, but play back audio on the headset. This feature is not yet built into skype for Mac. We’re only on 1.6 whereas windows is at 2.0 
This gadget truly adds value to my Mac setup and although it tries to look ipod-ish, it’s not that stylish. I would recommend it though to anyone sick of dealing with the soundcard in Bootcamp Windows and anyone else with a MacBook who wants to use Skype or other conference software.
We live in the era of the Desktop replacement notebook PC. It replaces the desktop computer, but not the desk. Like many people, when sitting at my desk, I prefer using an external monitor, keyboard and mouse plugged in to my MacBook Pro. I travel with my MacBook pro between work and home and find it frustrating to have to plug in 6 things when I get to work every day - Monitor, Ethernet, USB hub, Headphones, Power cord, external harddrive. My Thinkpad toting colleagues just drop their notebooks into the dock when they get in and hey-presto everything is up and running again.
I want to recommend the Macbook as the laptop that we should replace the thinkpads with when they come up for renewal. The macbook is certainly a compelling buy. For about 1600 bucks, you get a great business computer that can run windows. Users can even keep their personal lives separate and dual boot the computer.
As I said, I want to recommend the Macbook, but it needs to be easy for the business user. Thats where the dock comes in. Just drop it in, and everything is connected. In order for apple to move beyond the die-hard mac fan + home user market into the big bucks, they need to make the notebook more appealing to the business user.
Im not the only one that shares this sentiment
On my ThinkPad I have a small port replicator that I just click the laptop onto and all my connections are made. With the MacBook I have an array of fiddly connectors to plug-in spread over 2 sides of the book. I have to connect Power, Audio and USB to the left hand side. Then Plug in DVI-D video, Ethernet and Firewire on the right hand side.
Well if that’s not fiddily enough I have to open the lid of the book to press the power button as there is no way to turn on the book without opening it. The ThinkPad has a power button on the replicator. I have no need to use the built-in screen as my desktop display is plenty big enough and the internal screen is so poor. So I close the lid and of course the computer goes to sleep. So I then have to wake it up to use it, only problem is I can’t wake it with a 3rd party Bluetooth keyboard and mouse so have to connect a USB mouse just so I can wake it up.
If Apple are going to make headway into corporate use they need to acknowledge that a laptop is taken to and from work every day and it is not practical to plug and unplug six or seven cables twice a day
Apple. Please dont let down your business users. Our companies pay for laptops. We need you to make it a more compelling sell. Right now, I love my MacBook - but it is too hot for a laptop and too cumbersome for a desktop.