Tag Archives: Technology

Things to Come and Such!

I have another slew of tech reviews coming soon so keep your eyes out for those! I plan on taking a new approach to this particular one as it does need a second opinion for all fair intents. It will be pretty sweet!

I have returned my machine to “OEM” spec with Windows XP Media Center Edition and await for my new machine purchase hopefully later this semester. However, due to the temporal return… I have been bitten by the gamer bug again and I have a few of my favorite games. I just need to get my vintage favorite game Quake on my system and all should be golden.

My family has been bugging me to set them up a machine so they can start trying to use the web again. My last experiment was a bit of a failure as Adobe’s implimentation of Flash for Linux in combination with Firefox and Konqueror on KDE didn’t quite pan out as well as I had hoped. From what I experiences with Ubuntu 8.04.1, Adobe is STILL slacking on the job there… So I am at a loss of how to make a safe and “idiotproof” machine for them that I won’t get the lovely service call at college of “Zero! We broke the computer! HELP!!!”

To close, I leave you all with a notice that “Zero’s Farewell to College” party is almost done on the details… From that, we wait for completion of everything and I will post the invite here, on social networks and personal e-mails. Expect it to be goofy and fun!

[Linux Related] A parting of ways?

My time in Linux has been great. It’s shown me things that I never knew about my machine and even educated me on how the circuit boards on my machine interact with an operating system. Just with how the latest Ubuntu 8.04.1 release has been… It has not been very well to me. My machine sadly runs as hot as it does in Windows and uses just as much battery power. This is a downer as I Ioved how Ubuntu side my laptop could outlast the Windows side… Stability has been ok. I have run into moments where Evice (sp?) Reader for PDFs would crash on me and even Firefox too, which it’s not as bad as Windows… but it was the same stuff I was trying to get away from initially.

With me starting up school again, I have to worry about the proprietary school devices and software being compatible with my machine or it could mean an academic demise for me. This is concerning as I remember when I had my Mac Mini and some of my programs were “Windows only”, I basically had to borrow a friend’s computer to finish some of my assignments… So for me being so close to finishing school, set backs and delays are no longer an option.

Where does that lead me?

I have considered a few options… The ideal has been to eventually get another laptop dedicated to Windows duties so I can entertain myself with games when there’s down time and also use my school programs when required… which in turn would allow me to use Suzaku (my current laptop) as a Linux test machine to play with new distributions and really rip into building a machine from scratch. Though with school coming up soon… I am more under pressure to have a cleanly running machine with little time for experimentation when I am just so close to attaining my degree. I may just bang around with Live CD’s for any Linux play time fun that I wish to have and just leave the machine as a Windows one until I can get my gaming/school apps machine.

I just converted Suzaku back to Windows XP Media Center Edition with a slipstreamed copy of Service Pack 3 as I still have my machines OEM key for the license. I wish I had a copy of XP Pro, but I digress. I will hold hope that I can still get a dedicated Windows machine so I can officially retire my laptop Suzaku to Linux/editorial duties.

Seeking Assistance – Anyone good with laptop processor temps?

So I have been expressing my concerns with my processor temps… With the help of Maczimus, I would try to analyze things from the Windows side with how much gaming I have been up to lately. (Blame cousin Sol and people bailing on plans with me for that…) I downloaded CPU-Z and CPUID Hardware monitor to do some data logging on temperatures.

I will establish some base lines and update this post later today with new data I can find.

Baseline measurements will be from the initial start-up temperature of 40C. Hardware fans not active unless indicated.

With the Cooler Master Notepal running
Idle: 47C
Minimal Activity (Web, IM): 51C
Heavy Load (Games, YouTube): 59C – 60C with hardware fan finally kicking on low speed.

Without the Notepal on, but on the cooler
Idle: 49C
Minimal Activity: 55C, but reduced to 44C for a short time when hardware fan kicks up on low speed (2,900rpm)
Heavy Load: 59C with fan running at 2,900rpm

Fears about Suzaku…

I love my little laptop… I really do. Though the last few days have me concerned. I have had Suzaku for nearly 2 years now and it wasn’t until recently that the poor machine has been heating up at a vast rate both in Linux and Windows XP. In Linux, there is minimal processor strain as I usually turn off the Compiz-Fusion effects and just keep my system functional. In Windows, I use it mainly to back-up my phone, hack/upgrade my phone, and (as of late) World of Warcraft. I know I had blasted a whole ton of latent dust bunnies out when I did the RAM install for my machine on top of ripping out caked up dust on the cooling fans as well.

It concerns me as my machine is usually on for a good few hours be it doing some bittorrent streams of Linux distros, movie/anime watching, web surfing, and games. If Suzaku is on the verge of death… I need to try taking the machine apart and see if it is due for another cleansing of dust and debris. I would hate to find that my machine that has treated me so well wants to give up. Let’s pray that is not the case.

The Second Coming of the Jesus Phone – 7/11/2008 – 3G iPhone

With the summer here, all your big and essential technology shows are abound. You have the Computex show out in Taiwan being the big one for computer hardware and E3 for the gaming folks. However, if you’re an Apple fanatic, WWDC is the most noteworthy to you. This year has been no slouch either. If you are a big phone fanatic like yours-truly, then obviously you know that this year’s WWDC has the second revision on Apple’s new “killer handheld”, the 3G iPhone.

iPhone Announcement

For some, this is the boat that a number of frustrated Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Nokia S60 users have been waiting for. The inclusion of 3G cellular baseband chips, A-GPS functionality, and a few more things are just a few of the things that many iPhone naysayers and bashers had picked on the first iteration iPhone. This announcement has not shaken down some of the other competitors just yet, as far as I know. I have not seen any price breaks from manufacturers like HTC et al from the WWDC announcement, but then again, it may not matter to them because they may have a pocket ace up their sleeve thay may not be known to the masses yet. (The Touch Diamond is rather prohibitive at $700+ at the moment, eh? – Zero)

iPhone Profile Shots

Notice this time that there’s a curvature to the back of the iPhone, much like a Palm Treo. The device comes in two colors, black and white. The colors signify the device’s storage capacity: black being an 8GB and white being 16GB. This also signifies a change in how the device is built. The aluminum back of the first iPhone is a thing of the past, the back of the 3G iPhone is plastic. Some fans on the web have speculated the curvature and plastic back are more to accomodate the fun new additions of circuitry inside the phone.

The new iPhone boasts that it will be using the new 2.0 software improving the user experience with features such as a customizable Home Screen, the App Store, a Map App that can use BOTH A-GPS and cell tower and/or wi-fi hotspots to triangulate data. For those enterprising corporate users who are jonesing for a tricked out phone but were sadly disappointed in the lack of support for Microsoft Exchange server for their jobs, the new rendition of the iPhone has added support for syncing up to Microsoft Exchange servers. Early or late first generation iPhone owners can still get in on the some of these features with the new iPhone 2.0 software update, so they are not quite left out in the cold.

If you want to behold more of the features about the iPhone, check out the Official Apple iPhone page (Link)! Need more visual porn? Check out the new iPhone gallery link here.

What about the pricing information? How bad will AT&T rape me for service?” are probably the next questions for curious 3G iPhone buyers seeing to get their hands one one and possibly escape their old provider. Let’s break into the leaked confidential bulletin posted up by Boy Genius Report and find out, shall we?

Before we pick through the plans… Let me make this one point from the confidential bulletin loud and clear for you curious readers: In America, there is no way to buy the 3G iPhone without committing to AT&T and GoPhone customers are not permitted to buy them for GoPhone use either. I repeat, you cannot just buy an iPhone without a plan even in the Apple Stores. In other countries, you may be able to purchase an unlocked iPhone due to anti-competition agreements, but not much information is known on that. The caveat for the American market is that due to this closer partnership between AT&T and Apple is that now AT&T can finally subsidize the iPhone to an entry price of $199 for the 8GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. A very gutsy move as this puts the iPhone right at the same price points as AT&T’s corporate communicator market. HTC, Pantech, Palm, and RIM Blackberry devices be damned, AT&T basically created an internal smartphone war within their ranks! This has me curious as to how RIM, Palm,and HTC will play their cards in America, but that’s another discussion… 😉 for later this week.

Let’s go over the major points quoted from the Boy Genius Report post:

  • iPhone 3G will be activated at point of sale when the device is purchased in store.
  • Return period has been changed from 14 days to 30 days
  • $199 and $299 pricing is for new activations or qualified upgrades with a 2-year agreement
  • 2G iPhone data rate plans will remain available for 2G device suntil further notice
  • The new iPhone 3G data plan is $30/month and includes unlimited data and visual voicemail
  • There is not a no commitment price. This means you can’t just walk in and bang $500 on your credit card and walk out.
  • If you are an existing iPhone customer in good standing, you will be able to extend your contract for two years when the iPhone 3G launches and get the ill-na-na $199/$299 price point. Doesn’t matter when you bought an iPhone either.
  • AT&T and Apple stores “unbrick” the iPhone 3G at time of purchase, but for some reason if that doesn’t happen, you’ll be required to use iTunes at home.
  • Pre-paid and Pick Your Plan will not be allowed on iPhone 3G
  • Device purchase limit remains at (3) per customer in AT&T stores.
  • Launch day will mirror last year’s launch. This includes extended store hours, crowd controls, etc. Security will be provided to stores requesting armed police or guards.
  • AT&T is working with Apple to roll out GPS-enabled applications.

One of the first things I noticed as a definite step to progress is the in-store activation. I had read a few accounts online about some people having trouble with doing the activation at home due to the servers timing out and having to activate their phones a few days after purchasing an iPhone. This ensures that end users will have a working phone on purchase instead of angry users griping that their new toy is useless until the server can activate their device.

The purchase of an iPhone will require an iPhone data plan. The unlimited personal plan starts at $30 with any qualifying voice plan, however if you need to link with corporate e-mail accounts… you’ll need to front $45 per month for the enterprise data plan. My assumption is that a “qualifying” voice plan is a plan that is priced at least $39.99 and has 600 anytime minutes. As far as the press release from AT&T goes, there’s no mention if the unlimited iPhone data plans will include any text messaging… but that could change come July 11, 2008. As far as AT&T’s texting plans go, that could range from $14.99 – $19.99. So about $30 (estimated) for the lowest qualifying voice plan, $30 for the unlimited personal e-mail, web and visual voicemail package, and then $15 for the texting plan. A rough grand total of $75 before miscellaneous taxes and service charges would be due on the billing date; possibly around $80 – $82 after those charges. That’s decently competitive to an individual corporate user with a smartphone or Blackberry configured in the same manner. This combined with the subsidized price of the iPhone actually gives AT&T some leg room to fight. If they combine texting with different tiering of iPhone data packages, like the unlimited personal data plan being able to also get unlimited texting for a total of $80 before taxes, this may give providers like T-Mobile, Sprint, and Verizon more incentive to step up to the plate and really be creative.

Tune in tomorrow when I’ll play Devil’s Advocate and spin my thoughts from the anti-iPhone camp from the eyes of the T-Mobile/Sprint/Verizon/HTC/Palm/RIM side of things. This will actually be a 3-part series of things. The floor is now open to any pro-iPhone comments. If you have hate or bones to pick with the iPhone, save your energy for tomorrow.

“One for the Road!”

Before I turn into a pumpkin and meet sweet slumber… I think I may make a custom build and archive it to XDA Developers as a build for their “ROM Kitchen”. The build I have formed is stable, functional, yet beautiful. It is a fusion of the OEM HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile 6.1 build with bits and pieces obtained from the HTC Touch yet in a balance that is simply lean and minimal in lag. I can definitely post details of my build for those who wish to replicate it and I hope to also obtain screen captures of my Kaiser in action.

I do know one thing… I will definitely need a name for my build, should I go through with archiving it and making it available for public consumption. As much as I love Shinra from Final Fantasy 7’s fame, I can’t call it the “Shinra Enterprise Mobile Device” build due to legal copyright trademarks and all the legal mumbo-jumbo. It will have to be based on the ideals of my website, surely. If anyone has ideas for a name, feel free to pitch a comment up!

With this… I bid thee adieu!

[Contest End!] Winner for the Haiku Competition!

So after much deliberation, many rounds of Yamazaki single malt whiskey, and bottles of Guinness Draught… I have a winner for Bluetooth haiku contest. The last two poems recieved really shook up the competition. It was like a rather lively duel. It was tough as these new poems really shook things up. However… Once the dust settled… There was one clear winner.

I would like to announce Sol Badguy as the winner of my contest! Congratulations!

Silverware is for Food, Not Ears

Spoon and fork cause frustration
Silverware that can’t do squat for ears
Spoon and fork beckon bluetooth

Rei came very close… so I may see about sending her a “runner up” door prize from the “prize closet” of ZeroXR 13mg. I will give her posterity and show case her poem. The rest… Due to the lackluster showcase of entries… I will leave them in the grave. I leave you with Rei’s haiku.

Oh Aliph Jawbone
You pwn my H350 (pronounced three fifty)
It crackles too much

Upgraded Ubuntu Hardy Heron LTS with a Remix

Due to the fact that emulating Windows is not a perfect “end-all” solution for me, I have decided to make a small Windows partition for my machine for the few times I need Windows. “When?” would you say I need the operating system of the evil empire? Phone hacking procedures and some backing up of my HTC phone are essential things that could be crucial. There are also some proprietary pharmacy education tools that require the use of Windows and sadly do not play nice in Wine (for Linux) or in a Virtual Box session.

I unfortunately remember why I hate Windows so much from lack of open standards… because my native resolution of 1200 x 800 is not there, nor was my wi-fi card.

Ubuntu, however has been a pleasant experience… I have loved every minute in it! PulseAudio has been a wonderful sound server! If I can sit down and really review it… I’ll give you my full thoughts. I am going to relax for now.

Why?

I aced part one of two on my pharmaceutical aseptic training course with flying colors!

[Contest] Bluetooth Haiku! Oh Yeah!

I will be giving away the Aliph Jawbone (in glossy black) to one lucky contestant! However… You have to enter to be eligible to win! These are the following rules:

  • You must enter with a haiku
  • The haiku is to be themed about Bluetooth
  • The theme can be about why Bluetooth is cool or why it is important to you
  • You may submit your poems as a comment on this post OR send it to info@zeroxr.com
  • The deadline is May 4, 2008! That is ONE WEEK!

For those who have forgotten how a haiku is structured…

  • It’s a 3 line poem
  • Line one has 5 syllables
  • Line two has 7 syllables
  • Line three has 5 syllables
  • Can be unrhymed BUT should you add rhyme, this will add bonus points.

For you grammar purists, I know that a haiku is supposed to be about nature… but for the sake of this contest, we’ll deftly ignore that. 😛

Contest Winner Fine Print
If you are a Dallas local, we’ll arrange a meeting location and I will exchange you the headset to your possession. The headset will be in as-is condition so any further damages will be the responsibility of your own.

If you are not a Dallas local and you win, please contact me ASAP to arrange shipping information with me. You will be responsible for shipping charges. If there is a shipping option you’d like to opt for, let me know and front the cash. i WILL NOT BE SHIPPING TO COUNTRIES OUTSIDE THE USA!

May the lulz be with you!

PS – I will be posting ALL submitted haikus on announcing the winner.

NEW ERRATA, DEADLINE EXTENDED!!! May 19th, 2008 by 12:00am!