Sent from my iPhone
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Disable slow iTunes backup (Mac and Windows)
http://klauskjeldsen.dk/2008/08/05/iphone-3g-disable-slow-itunes-backup-mac-and-windows/
Qik & the iPhone Woes
I've been playing around with the iPhone. Um, or rather, it's been playing me with crashing apps. I tried deleting them off the iPhone but these crashing Zombie Apps just wouldn't die. As soon I turned the iPhone off and on again, there they were again, minus one or two. So you can imagine with my addictive collection of nearly 100 apps that it took quite a while to kill all these apps one or two at a time. I tried readding them both from the phone and also all over again from iTunes. No good, still infected with the Zombie DNA. I think there is a problem with the apple DRM on the iPhone not playing nice with the DRM on iTunes. It seems like mixing app downloads and update using both iTunes and the iPhone app stores causes problems. I am pretty sure this has been the source of my problems, with perhaps a bit of operator malfunction. I managed to jailbreak my iPhone using Quickpwn and none of those apps seem to have any problems while ALL of my other apps were crashing second after starting. Anyway, I finally gave up and did a full factory reset, scraped all my apps in iTunes, and started fresh. After everything was working I did another quick jailbreak. Why? The only thing there that I really really want is an app called Qik. It allows streaming video from the iPhone live to the Internet. Apple has said no for some lame reason to video on the iPhone. Come on Apple get your head out... I almost thought Apple understood. Anyway, so now you'll see my Qik videos (and live feed when it's up) at the bottom of my blog. There are a couple of other things that seemed neat but not worth the risk of destabilizing my feeble iPhone again. Most of the cool apps seem to be MIA after the 2.0 update. I guess they are trying to redevelope their apps for the iTunes App Store. Oh dear... I feel another rant coming on about Lamers remaking once free jailbreak apps into for profit apps on iTunes.
I've been playing around with the iPhone. Um, or rather, it's been playing me with crashing apps. I tried deleting them off the iPhone but these crashing Zombie Apps just wouldn't die. As soon I turned the iPhone off and on again, there they were again, minus one or two. So you can imagine with my addictive collection of nearly 100 apps that it took quite a while to kill all these apps one or two at a time. I tried readding them both from the phone and also all over again from iTunes. No good, still infected with the Zombie DNA. I think there is a problem with the apple DRM on the iPhone not playing nice with the DRM on iTunes. It seems like mixing app downloads and update using both iTunes and the iPhone app stores causes problems. I am pretty sure this has been the source of my problems, with perhaps a bit of operator malfunction. I managed to jailbreak my iPhone using Quickpwn and none of those apps seem to have any problems while ALL of my other apps were crashing second after starting. Anyway, I finally gave up and did a full factory reset, scraped all my apps in iTunes, and started fresh. After everything was working I did another quick jailbreak. Why? The only thing there that I really really want is an app called Qik. It allows streaming video from the iPhone live to the Internet. Apple has said no for some lame reason to video on the iPhone. Come on Apple get your head out... I almost thought Apple understood. Anyway, so now you'll see my Qik videos (and live feed when it's up) at the bottom of my blog. There are a couple of other things that seemed neat but not worth the risk of destabilizing my feeble iPhone again. Most of the cool apps seem to be MIA after the 2.0 update. I guess they are trying to redevelope their apps for the iTunes App Store. Oh dear... I feel another rant coming on about Lamers remaking once free jailbreak apps into for profit apps on iTunes.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Goaltime Rocks and keeps me on task
Every once and a while you come across something that just works for you. Goaltime is one of those things for me. http://ping.fm/52wiK
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
REVIEW: Garmin Colorado 400T
First the negative, so I can finish on positive note. It's a bit pricey in my opinion for what you get (just under 500 on Amazon). I agree with comments on the chrome-like finish (not impressive). I am not going to test the waterproof claim, as I am skeptical after looking at it (maybe light rain). The built in base map seems incomplete at the street level and they are often not very accurate. Of course the "T" (topo?) model's claim to greatness is the built in DEM (elevations) plus 3d view. Yes, it's interesting when you are around a mountain, but not so much zoomed in on a flat area.
Documentation seems weak in areas. For example, I'm wondering if I can somehow use my own maps on the 4gb external SD card I picked up at costco for 35 bucks. 4GB is really overkill for just storing geocaches as the max the unit can handle at once before droping the rest is 2000 caches (in addition to the 1000 waypoints). I found this out the hard way. I'd like to be able to switch to different directories on the fly from the unit rather than switching the gpx files out at the computer or using different SD cards. What am I going to do with that extra 3.9GBs (unless I buy their routable street maps)? While I'm on that, the base map doesn't seem routable if you want to navigate in a car (unless you make your own route from your own waypoints). I wish I could hook up my iPhone manage and download maps and waypoints/geocaches/POIs out in the wild.
It seems to take forever to load at startup (but maybe that's because I am almost maxing out the number of waypoints/geocaches). Another thing, it sometimes takes a long time to aquire a good signal and the other day it had a hard time giving an accurate/constant fix in some trees on a recent geocache hunt. At other times it seem really steady and spot on. I'm undecided on this point.
That all being said it is still a great GPSr (the best I've had so far). It is small, light, and feels good in the hand. I really love it for paperless geocaching. It is really easy to transfer data to the unit and SD card. I really like the integration to the geocaching website for downloading caches and uploading finds. Having a built in digital compass is really great for geocaching. I just feel silly spining around twice to calibrate it when I want to use it.
I haven't tried the new integrated "WhereIGo" adventures but that seems to have potential. I looked into building an adventure for my area but the current builder software seems really complex to do it right. I think I'll wait until they simplify the process a bit more (more GUI to the GUI).
I don't know anyone else with a Colorado yet but I like the idea of being able to transfer items to another unit wirelessly. I'm sure there are tons more this unit can do that I just haven't had time to get into. Would I buy again? Yes, it is really great for a geocacher or hiker (me). Can they improve it? Yes, hopefully with software updates to come (crossing my fingers)...
First the negative, so I can finish on positive note. It's a bit pricey in my opinion for what you get (just under 500 on Amazon). I agree with comments on the chrome-like finish (not impressive). I am not going to test the waterproof claim, as I am skeptical after looking at it (maybe light rain). The built in base map seems incomplete at the street level and they are often not very accurate. Of course the "T" (topo?) model's claim to greatness is the built in DEM (elevations) plus 3d view. Yes, it's interesting when you are around a mountain, but not so much zoomed in on a flat area.
Documentation seems weak in areas. For example, I'm wondering if I can somehow use my own maps on the 4gb external SD card I picked up at costco for 35 bucks. 4GB is really overkill for just storing geocaches as the max the unit can handle at once before droping the rest is 2000 caches (in addition to the 1000 waypoints). I found this out the hard way. I'd like to be able to switch to different directories on the fly from the unit rather than switching the gpx files out at the computer or using different SD cards. What am I going to do with that extra 3.9GBs (unless I buy their routable street maps)? While I'm on that, the base map doesn't seem routable if you want to navigate in a car (unless you make your own route from your own waypoints). I wish I could hook up my iPhone manage and download maps and waypoints/geocaches/POIs out in the wild.
It seems to take forever to load at startup (but maybe that's because I am almost maxing out the number of waypoints/geocaches). Another thing, it sometimes takes a long time to aquire a good signal and the other day it had a hard time giving an accurate/constant fix in some trees on a recent geocache hunt. At other times it seem really steady and spot on. I'm undecided on this point.
That all being said it is still a great GPSr (the best I've had so far). It is small, light, and feels good in the hand. I really love it for paperless geocaching. It is really easy to transfer data to the unit and SD card. I really like the integration to the geocaching website for downloading caches and uploading finds. Having a built in digital compass is really great for geocaching. I just feel silly spining around twice to calibrate it when I want to use it.
I haven't tried the new integrated "WhereIGo" adventures but that seems to have potential. I looked into building an adventure for my area but the current builder software seems really complex to do it right. I think I'll wait until they simplify the process a bit more (more GUI to the GUI).
I don't know anyone else with a Colorado yet but I like the idea of being able to transfer items to another unit wirelessly. I'm sure there are tons more this unit can do that I just haven't had time to get into. Would I buy again? Yes, it is really great for a geocacher or hiker (me). Can they improve it? Yes, hopefully with software updates to come (crossing my fingers)...
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
I survived the Red Ring of Death!
I had a panic attack the other day. I had just come back from Target with two new xBox360 games. After lovingly removing the infernal shrink wrap and security stickers. I hit the power button and was greeted with... nothing! I looked down and to my horror the red ring of death. In a panic I started digging through the documentation I had saved for the receipt and a service phone number.... ok I'll get straight to it. It turns out that my wife had unplugged the power brick for one reason or another (it must retain some power) and upon plugging it back in, I was back in the green. *sigh* So, in conclusion, my brief life and death struggle made me realize that Microsoft has not made it easy to get customer support. I hope it never happens again.
I had a panic attack the other day. I had just come back from Target with two new xBox360 games. After lovingly removing the infernal shrink wrap and security stickers. I hit the power button and was greeted with... nothing! I looked down and to my horror the red ring of death. In a panic I started digging through the documentation I had saved for the receipt and a service phone number.... ok I'll get straight to it. It turns out that my wife had unplugged the power brick for one reason or another (it must retain some power) and upon plugging it back in, I was back in the green. *sigh* So, in conclusion, my brief life and death struggle made me realize that Microsoft has not made it easy to get customer support. I hope it never happens again.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
I Digg Firefox 3
I keep on trying to use IE7. I've come to the conclusion that while they have come a long way, they just don't understand. I want my browser to do what I want it to do, not what they think I want it to do. I want to make it look how I want. I want easy add-ons. In fact, since no one who writes good add-ons uses IE7, I want IE7 to be able to use firefox add-ons! I love my ad blocker, script blocker (noscript), and cookie blocker (CS Lite). I tried the IE7pro add-on for IE7. It kind of did some of those things. I ended up uninstalling it because it broke more than it fixed.
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