Category Archives: Technology

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Reviews, Technology

Aviary Online (Beta) – Phoenix Tool Thoughts

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A while ago Adobe launched Photoshop Express as an online Flash based tool for artists and photographers to try out so that they can edit images online. It poses an interesting role as I remember seeing an article pop up on Slashdot saying that the next version of Photoshop CS4 will not be universal, it will only be made for Windows 64-bit systems. Obviously, this has the remaining community of 32-bit Windows users and even the majority of the artistically inclined Mac users pretty pissed off. A Flash based version of Photoshop would be quite a lucrative market as it makes the platform universal. There’s no need to have people translate the Windows coding to be compatible for Mac or Linux, just use a web browser and you’re in. So far, Adobe has made Photoshop Express a free and open beta… but don’t be surprised if they decide to throw around the idea of a subscription fee once it goes “Live” and final.

However, a challenger appears. Worth1000 made a little start-up called Aviary. The idea is a set-up of online productivity suites that allow you the ability to do things from your web browser and not be constrained to locally having a copy of the program on your computer. Why? Because it allows collaboration with your peers. True, you can collaborate with (for example) Adobe Creative Suite CS3… but there’s a caveat to that. If everyone is to get a legitimate copy… well, that’s a cool $2,000 (price from Amazon.com) that’s gotta be shelled out by everyone. But apply that principle for programs like Microsoft Office 2007 et al… That’s a ton of cash. Unfortunately, most folks choose the illegal way via torrents which the coders and everyone involved don’t get a dime, but there’s always that counter argument of “They get enough money from the corporate buyers, why should we care?” I won’t get into that… But when you consider Aviary being a collaboration tool that could be available as free or with a nominally small subscription fee, it’s a pretty brilliant idea.

I used to use Photoshop CS2 or Paint Shop Pro, so I figured Aviary’s Phoenix tool would be somewhat close. On loading it, you’re greeted with a rather friendly splash screen asking if you’re making a new file or if you want to upload and edit an image of your own. The tool set is sparse, but it is still beta, so I do understand. The speed is pretty quick, there aren’t many hick-ups when I was editing the screenshots from my HTC Kaiser, but I haven’t had a chance to really play with images about 1024 x 768 to really see. My assumption is that speeds will be mainly affected by your internet connection.

Personally, I was rather impressed with Phoenix as even though it is Flash based, it never crashed my browser in Ubuntu Linux. I typically have issues of running Flash animations and browsing as they cause my browser to crash, but fortunately, that wasn’t the case with Phoenix. The only thing I do see is a disadvantage is that if you’re without the internet or cursed with a slow connection, working with Phoenix could be a hellish nightmare. I will play with it more and see how it is, but I am looking forward to the application’s development!

Reviews, Technology

The AT&T Tilt… No, HTC Kaiser 8925 done up by ZeroXR

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(Correction: The 8900 designation was for the AT&T Tilt that lacked the 3.1 Megapixel camera)

So I finally sold my P990i off to get a device that is a little more future proof via firmware updates and also compatible with digital pharmacology books for my schooling needs. Got a slick deal on a used AT&T Tilt with a 2GB microSD card, however it had one slight issue… the phone was locked down. Not really too much issue with that, cause I had plans to break the phone open myself.

Sure, it’s not a “true” HTC TyTN II with the 3G video conferencing cam, but not a big issue for me. My first task was to repeat the same steps involved in liberating my assistant manager’s phone. I would have to get JumpSPL do a few flashes and then get the unlocking code. After that was when the real fun of choosing a hacked firmware began. I wanted to play with some of the spiffy things like the HTC Cube, TouchFLO and a few other things so I gravitated toward the last Windows Mobile 6 release of Alex’s HTC Cube rom pack. That would only be the beginning… I’d get the free student edition of Epocrates for medical and drug reference information on there just in case I ever need technical data when I am in the office or out of the office.

Once I got most of the phone configured, I had to get to playing with some of the fun stuff like TouchFLO and the HTC Cube as ’cause in America those features are only available in the Sprint HTC Touch, but not on any of the other HTC Windows Mobile phones in America. It’s a rather trick looking but it does have some “productivity” to it. Personally I like it as I can quickly access functions quickly without the need to flip through menus and prompts just to do something as easy as say… turn on my wi-fi or jump to my photo albums.

My seller also had included the full version of Tomtom Navigator 6 with my phone, so I would get the pleasure of having GPS but however… The software came on an SD card, so I would have to finagle with it to copy to my microSD card. After I get on my microSD, it would be a matter of letting my Kaiser to sync up with the GPS satellites. Inside my home, I was able to get a lock on 3-5 satellites with the internal antenna… Pretty good, I would think. However, on going outside and loading it up for use in my car, I was able get a lock on 7-9 satellites. The navigation and narration are clear visually and audible.

It’s no wonder a bunch of the American TV news stations were raving about this phone last year when it dropped as a truly great phone. I remember being a previous HTC Wizard owner (from my T-Mobile MDA) that the Windows Mobile Phones were ill equipped with enough RAM for their functionality and lacked the processing power. The HTC Kaiser/TyTN II/AT&T Tilt seems to have fixed both issues in one shot. The phone doesn’t lag and the best part is it just zips along.

I would like to thank the folks over at XDA Developers for scouring and experimenting to give users the ability to unlocked their restricted devices for use on other networks. For those who want to unlock their AT&T Tilt devices and seriously do them up just like mine… Check out the XDA Developer’s HTC Kaiser Wiki here! Enclosed below are pictures of my phone and screens. The screen shots are edited by Aviary’s Phoenix online based photo-editor, which I’ll be reviewing pretty soon. Enjoy the visual porn, I am going to enjoy the rest of my weekend with a gut buster set, some almonds, whey protein and some straight razor shaving. Expect the obligatory birthday post tomorrow.






















































Fitness, Personal, Site News, Technology

Death Phone Acquired – Write-up will commence soon!

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I bid farewell to my P990i for an AT&T Tilt and it is well worth it! It was however a suicidal mistake to be up since 4am doing all the hacks and tweaks to get it all running.

I have been coping with some personal problems, so I know I haven’t been documenting my workout’s as of late, but most of them have been gut-buster sets on intermittent days. I’ll probably do a super set tonight before my super write-up.

Reviews, Technology

[Review] Two Years of Faithful Service – 1999 Mazda MX-5 Miata (NB8C)

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November 5th… I still remember that day like it was yesterday. I was doing the morning shift and I’d receive a call at home from a dealer saying “We’ve drop shipped your car to our lot! Come on over to take a look at it before we close… It is first come first serve even if you did pay the deposit to get it brought over.” I would get to the dealer at about 6:00pm and take a peek. The gauges reminded me of the days I toyed with FD3S RX-7’s but most of the car stood out like a British roadster. The sales rep would end up teaching me refined manual on the fly… so that yielding to be an interesting experience. After signing off the papers and having my car polished up, I’d roll home to Dallas in my first set of wheels that I paid with my own hands for. It was a tiring day, but it would be the beginning of even more exhaustive training for me to remember my “fancy footwork”.

It wouldn’t be until I hit the 6th month of ownership that I would come to realize the true merits of my MX-5. Sure, it’s not the prettiest one. It has bare nothing as far as features go. No premium leather seats, no power windows, no power locks, no tricked out sound system, no sport suspension pack, no aerodynamics pack, no ABS, no power steering. However… it’s been one of my more forgiving experiences with a driving machine. Before the MX-5, I was plunking around town in a Honda Integra sedan which had more heft to toss around and simply not enough power to back it. The MX-5 however feels like a zippy go-kart that could push endlessly. However… the car is not without it’s caveats. The stock steel 14″ tires are far from adequate compared to the later models getting a wider 15″ wheels or even the 17″ wheels on the later Mazdaspeed turbo versions. The gears are short so those addicted to high speeds may feel a bit “cheated” on this vector.

From the 2 years I have become attuned to the MX-5, I have been rather impressed it’s been a forgiving teacher to me. The maintenance is a bit easier than the rat’s nest that I had to deal with in the Integra. The best part being the ability to break the top down when the day is looking great! The community of folks who drive MX-5’s is staggering! So help, tips and advice are almost always readily available no matter where you live.

For a worthy car to really learn the roots of essential and proper rear-wheel shenanigans, the MX-5 is one hell of a car to do it all in. The cost of one from the 1999 – 2005 era is much lower than the newer ones, so they are plenty cheap. Truly one of the best cars to learn about spirited driving and the essential techniques to hone it properly.

Personal, Site News, Technology

Simplicity is Beauty

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I have gotten a few folks saying that my old U3 K2 layout was a bit too much… so I have decided to just keep it simple with the default clean WordPress Default layout. For one… it doesn’t have all the wacky AJAX applets. Another thing… It loads a lot faster. The best part is that WordPress 2.5 integrates a lot of the things that I had bulky plug-ins for into a neat build-in package. I know it doesn’t look “super unique” but sometimes, simplicity is the best answer.

Feel free to drop in a comment or “complaint” as need be.

Personal, Site News, Technology

Panic at the Office of ZeroXR 13mg – Unrated Director’s Cut

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The story starts at about 11pm when I was about to post a review in progress and I saw my WordPress dashboard say “Dude… 2.5 is out! Get in on this!” So naturally… I have the Dreamhost one-click daemon do it. It would warn me about needing to do a back-up for logistical purposes… (This is important later – Zero) It didn’t go as I hoped…

First snag… The install completed, but it thought I was doing a completely NEW installation. Naturally, I take the installer daemon’s advice in my e-mail saying “If your site got nuked… rename the your.site.old to your.site” Well… that failed too… So I gave up and sent my ticket to the Dreamhost support staff. I decided to give up and sleep on it.

Second big snag came from a proposed solution from the support tech. They had said one of my config files basically tried to make a separate WordPress database… but on renaming the file… It restored ZeroXR 13mg but I couldn’t access my panel… So essentially I was locked out. So I would then get another reply to try gutting everything out as if it was a base install… that still had me locked out of my panel. I just let the tech do his worst and try to muck about.

He would get everything up with the panel… just there would be no output from the site. So I would shoot the tech my next plea… “I just want my entries. I could care less about my layout…” That would lead to one of the more drastic measures… Completely ripping out the WordPress install and then reinstalling from scratch, but then using a back-up copy of my wp_config.php to read from the mySQL database. Sure enough… after the upset… it all returned. I can only say that I was in celebration.

I am glad the redundant back-up saved my bacon… Let this be a lesson. Count your blessings and do your back-ups!

Site News, Technology

Tech Teaser: Crossloop (VNC Client) Review Coming Soon!

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Unfortunately, I don’t have screenshots… so you all will have to bear through a technical review, unless someone wants to be a “tester” so I can capture images or ask you to do so. If you all are wondering what I am doing up late… Had a bad nightmare and I am a little amped from it. Keep a watch here, cause I will post it as soon as I can hammer it out.

Technology

The Hack Attack Continues! Injecting DD-WRT into a Linksys WRT54G v6!

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Many of you will remember my post detailing on how much I loved my router after doing the Tomato firmware injection for my aging Buffalo router. Today was a charity challenge that I took upon myself. Sol was back in town and we were due to hang out together with regards to family… so I would spend some time with family and him. When we arrived back at his home residence, I wanted to check out his router and see if it was a possible candidate for the Tomato Router upgrade.  To my dismay… He had a Version 6 of the WRT54G router.

I was in dismay, but I remembered that the folks at DD-WRT had their own custom firmware of their own. Much like my Buffalo router, the WRT54G v6 router does not want to play nice with custom firmwares unlike any of its siblings from v1-v4. The DD-WRT community is rather good with resources, so they have this helpful link from Bitsum on how to inject the firmware into the router. To sum up the steps:

  1. You have to download the VX Works “Prep”, VX Works “Killer”, and DD-WRT Micro firmware
  2. Throw the VX Works Prep to put the router into “Management” mode via a firmware update and let it proceed
  3. After the router is in “Management Mode”, upload the VX Works Killer firmware and let that do it’s thing.
  4. Inject the DD-WRT Micro (Generic) Firmware via a TFTP command (Windows folks, use this: ftp://ftp.linksys.com/pub/network/tftp.exe if command line scares you)
  5. When the injection completes, congrats you have a  poor man’s equivalent of a $600 Cisco grade router.

After I did the injection… Sol noticed a slight increase of his internet speed. Obviously, the next step was to hook him up with OpenDNS to protect him and my auntie from phishing sites and other malicious attack sites as well as speed up the backbone of his connection. The procedure only took 5 minutes over all and once again was totally worth the effort. My hack attack urge was satisfied and the best part… I got to make Sol’s return a fun one. Hopefully his online gaming addictions or even YouTube addictions much easier to palate for his connection.

For those about to do the jump to inject DD-WRT to their compatible routers… Just take a note from me when I did the Tomato router hack about the MAC addresses. Take down the MAC addresses for your router and keep them on hand, the DD-WRT hack does change your MAC addresses so you will have to “clone” them to restore them back to the original ones so you don’t have to fool with calling your broadband provider to have them release your “old” router’s address.