tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27257573984388943242024-03-05T20:09:19.023+08:00One Sick Psi GuyMy blog , my life, my rants...plain and simple
One Sick Psi Guy (搵食世界) is MY transliteration of a cantonese saying which closely matches the "Dog eat dog" saying in english. It literarily means that we live in a world on what we make of it. Whatever hardships and blessings we take in life makes us stronger and happier .... but that doesn't mean I can't complain about it.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.comBlogger186125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-26025189287945400382017-11-28T17:21:00.000+08:002017-11-28T17:21:09.593+08:00ResurrectionDecided to revive this blog to write/rant/rave. Who knows what I'll post and what nonsense will appear.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-19585150902508336472015-03-29T16:04:00.001+08:002015-03-29T16:04:35.163+08:00Unifi two years on .... For personal reasons I changed my Unifi account at TMHQ and instead of a simple account transfer, it involved the whole shebang of having installers come to the house and setup everything all over again! At least this time they were in and out in 20 minutes because I said I will handle the configuration myself.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaKuB4OYw86VAgRLcIzwLtjpw3NTLejSkXrNjROmNo8qQZtEDovb-W4jN8RHTJFDI6mremfaRBboW729uCLArB7J2WntLEMeXHlddHMofW3uJJLVYTtwib7mK4MLXzurmkYrNNIYedYhO/s1600/IMG_0140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxaKuB4OYw86VAgRLcIzwLtjpw3NTLejSkXrNjROmNo8qQZtEDovb-W4jN8RHTJFDI6mremfaRBboW729uCLArB7J2WntLEMeXHlddHMofW3uJJLVYTtwib7mK4MLXzurmkYrNNIYedYhO/s400/IMG_0140.JPG" /></a></div>What has changed? Seems TM has new hardware revisions (still same manufacturers though) to all their components - their BTU, gateway (modem/router) and STB are now all matching and stackable but are still made by Fiberhome, D-Link and Huawei respectively. The stackability of the hardware does lend itself to looking very neat and tidy as opposed to their previous generation hardware which was the orange-white-grey combo of different sizes.<br />
<br />
<span class="posthidden" id="unifi2"> The gateway (or modem/router/whatever) is labeled WBR-2300 and is a D-Link OEM based on the same DIR-615 series but only in a different shell. The missing manual to the gateway can be downloaded from the D-link Taiwan support site. Antennas are built-in and a rated at 5dBi so will mostly work in terrace homes but triple-storey and large bungalows may experience service degradation ... YMMV. I personally had no problems but did notice a drop in connection dBm using inSSIDer - in use the speeds remain the same as before. I set my gateway to use the 80211BGN at 100% transmission power and 40MHz spectrum (i.e. 300Mbps mode for 11N) and WMM power save enabled and haven't suffered any problems thus far .... especially when I have heterogeneous devices ranging from desktop PCs, laptops, iPads, iPhones, smartTVs, DLNA servers and media players.<br />
<br />
The default setup STILL enables remote configuration by TM and should be removed ASAP - the hidden account here is using the case sensitive "operator:h566UniFi" combo to enter operator mode. Once in operator mode, proceed to Setup>>WAN and click the edit icon in the action column and uncheck "Enable WAN". Leave all other settings in the Setup tab alone and navigate to Advanced>>Access Control>>Remote Access Control. Uncheck enable for all options and repeat for the IPv6 version. Lastly, navigate to Management>>TR069 Configuration and uncheck "Enable Interval Inform". Additionally, you should add a password to the admin account (which by default is not passworded).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfb_vTwWOjBBSUowkakPEMPo-AHGeEPA3g-hdOsv2CD1HziLvtwBAHV05cIaER6QGZFDk__Hv0eRWZO3oCaHErV8I8rkFf7yQO6-mnJagaZh1mMVQce8CbwCAjZGg8NL4VGT7I63v-YLKq/s1600/rtrsetup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfb_vTwWOjBBSUowkakPEMPo-AHGeEPA3g-hdOsv2CD1HziLvtwBAHV05cIaER6QGZFDk__Hv0eRWZO3oCaHErV8I8rkFf7yQO6-mnJagaZh1mMVQce8CbwCAjZGg8NL4VGT7I63v-YLKq/s400/rtrsetup.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The only other major change is the STB which is now running a stripped down version of Android - previous versions were running a customized linux operating system. The STB has better processing power and interface navigation is markedly improved and more responsive. Additionally, the STB now sports dual USB ports and can playback media files ... or possibly allow sideloading of apks to install new apps. Will investigate this soon .....<br />
<br />
</SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('unifi2','1958515090250833647')">..... Show/hide full post</A>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-80187293276711297402014-10-20T17:06:00.000+08:002014-10-20T17:06:35.934+08:00Why you should update your TM Unifi router firmware NOW!TM Unifi subscribers with the orange D-Link router should check and update their router firmwares ASAP because of a known vulnerability in any versions below 7.19. (TL;DR - see <a href="https://www.google.com.my/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.keithrozario.com%2F2013%2F12%2Funifi-d-link-routers-hacked.html&ei=GM1EVKSWFMbKmAXd-IGICw&usg=AFQjCNFWgxaThvUUcCVTsV00qIWIA-6uAw&sig2=irEH3LDXpmgqQJfEQoVilA&bvm=bv.77648437,d.dGY" target="dlinkpecah">here</a>)<br />
<br />
If you are using any router with affected firmware, your passwords (router management) are open and susceptible to harvesting since it is also retrievable on the Internet (only if you have remote management enabled .... which is, unfortunately, enabled by default)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiviyUipUjm2Aw2O626Npul7nHP17XiRbK5vI_ODNJNLZd5zzoZ-kMRM5EK4IziXOzMjII-GgxXvG1zvho3nxXebYk_8ymI8DrlRF5nrRW0YlMdGHIeXsuzAgg9S8HpGBpy_5xzpHb2Ayz/s1600/dlink715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiviyUipUjm2Aw2O626Npul7nHP17XiRbK5vI_ODNJNLZd5zzoZ-kMRM5EK4IziXOzMjII-GgxXvG1zvho3nxXebYk_8ymI8DrlRF5nrRW0YlMdGHIeXsuzAgg9S8HpGBpy_5xzpHb2Ayz/s600/dlink715.jpg" height="141" width="400" /></a></div><br />
To update the firmware of the router<ol><li>Download the firmware 7.19 (see <a href="http://one-sick-psi-guy.blogspot.com/2014/09/unifi-d-link-firmware-updates.html" target="_blank">earlier post</a>)</li>
<li>Use an ethernet connection (wired) and plug in to any available port at the rear of the router (Except the port nearest the antennas since those are the WAN and IPTV ports and won't work). Wireless updates maybe possible but not recommended.</li>
<li>Enter management mode with your router password - search google if you do not know your password</li>
<li>Save your current configuration (in case anything goes wrong) by going to the Maintenance tab > Save and Restore > Save Settings to Local Harddrive</li>
<li>Upload and update the firmware by going to Firmware Update > Choose File > Upload</li>
<li>Wait for reboot. </li>
</ol><div>If updated, the vulnerability should be fixed and you will see this with the command</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJyAXHBDqIfJI4C3rYwzNGAbV9uXqriuf3nVdMJXfr4qcWwgIV69bRKAFk_2Ai3LchuSW_HzNT9Kn2PQc3K3byVy748Jr1LhL3tFtGgKYnQqcOaegACbYrR7tVdsa6pWknqQ0Z6-9MkR6/s1600/dlink719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJyAXHBDqIfJI4C3rYwzNGAbV9uXqriuf3nVdMJXfr4qcWwgIV69bRKAFk_2Ai3LchuSW_HzNT9Kn2PQc3K3byVy748Jr1LhL3tFtGgKYnQqcOaegACbYrR7tVdsa6pWknqQ0Z6-9MkR6/s1600/dlink719.jpg" height="150" width="400" /></a></div>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-74796625430734542282014-10-03T01:31:00.000+08:002014-10-03T01:31:36.169+08:00Temporary fix to muffled audio in iOS8.x?Anyone experiencing this where the audio output after installing iOS8.x is muffled, not clear, garbled, soft, muddled etc. ?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAhH6uw2l_3aaMfFA1IOTYoA5OsUB5SL8jHkn8RqE5yUVGcVg_eTbT9Xf0K65svudYB3oAq2Az8BeqbrS3WBcbLsu3NluSlF1PfAuALI9Eaove-uZc6R4vpC7qgGfi04EJ0fcj6MKdbGJ/s1600/imagesTMN2E60S.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAhH6uw2l_3aaMfFA1IOTYoA5OsUB5SL8jHkn8RqE5yUVGcVg_eTbT9Xf0K65svudYB3oAq2Az8BeqbrS3WBcbLsu3NluSlF1PfAuALI9Eaove-uZc6R4vpC7qgGfi04EJ0fcj6MKdbGJ/s400/imagesTMN2E60S.jpg" /></a></div><br />
THe problem seems to occur when you have multiple apps trying to access the speaker at different volumes - in my case it was a notification sound from Whatsapp and the keyboard clicks/phone lock. Since system sounds are controlled separately from system sounds, it causes the audio immediately after this conflict to become muffled. A temporary fix which may work for you (did for me multiple times) is to go into Settings->Sounds and then slide the volume bar for "Ringer and alerts" all the way to the left (minimum) and then all the way to the right (maximum) before sliding to your preferred volume.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-90527103410641612682014-09-27T15:29:00.000+08:002015-12-14T18:42:30.912+08:00Unifi D-link firmware updates<table class="tg"><tr> <th class="tg-s6z2"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.tm.com.my/Home/Broadband/unifi/home/PublishingImages/Lists/RG%20kit/AllItems/equipment-rg-residential-gateway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://www.tm.com.my/Home/Broadband/unifi/home/PublishingImages/Lists/RG%20kit/AllItems/equipment-rg-residential-gateway.jpg" /></a></div></div></th> <th class="tg-s6z2"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://sawanila.com/v10/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/unifi03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://sawanila.com/v10/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/unifi03.jpg" /></a></div></th> </tr>
</table>The default router that most (but not all) Unifi subscribers get is the orange themed D-link OEM DIR-615 rev. G1/2. The latest firmwares for this router are listed below - there is no changelog or update list anywhere so it is difficult to determine which version will work best for you. There is also currently no known firmware update for the black or silver routers.<br />
<br />
<ul><li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G1 v7.05 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
<li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G2 v7.12b05 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
<li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G2 v7.13b02 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
<li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G2 v7.14b02 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
<li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G2 v7.15b02 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
<li>D-Link/TM DIR-615 G2 v7.19b02 [<strike>DOWNLOAD</strike>]</li>
</ul><br />
<b><span style="color: red;">DISCLAIMER</span></b>: Although these are valid files, they have NOT been tested and are NOT recommended for casual users so try these firmware(s) files at your own risk. TM is not responsible for any damage that may/can occur. I too will not be held responsible for any damage/loss that may occur if your firmware update causes your router to fail.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>WARNING</b></span>: Ensure that you flash firmware over a WIRED connection. Always backup your configuration BEFORE starting a flash and ensure you know your login name and password to your Unifi account before proceeding. As a precaution, download several of the firmware files so that if one fails you may try another. Please learn and understand the <a href="http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=44909.0" target="_blank">DIR-615 recovery procedure</a> which will allow you to re-flash a router that is bricked/dead because of bad firmware.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>UPDATE 2015/11/05</b></span>: Links updated and only latest two firmwares uploaded since the older ones have bugs and should not be used.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>UPDATE 2015/12/15</b></span>: Links removed - find your own sourcesOSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-52323248151367522842014-09-19T00:31:00.003+08:002014-09-19T00:32:56.940+08:00What new in iOS 8 ... a first look with an iPad 3iOS 8 released to the general public today and after an arduous 3 hours of downloading, preparing, updating and restarting (no thanks to the <a href="http://thenextweb.com/asia/2014/09/17/internet-speeds-across-southeast-asia-crash-yet-another-undersea-cable-breaks/">downed undersea AAG cable</a>) my iPad 3 is finally running iOS 8. <br />
<br />
First off, the bad points - there are bugs still present in the GM release where iCloud crashed on me multiple times until I reset everything and so far it has been stable since. Things run ever to slightly slower and jittery (akin to iOS 7 before the 7.1x updates) and the iTunes store is running slower too ... but maybe thats because of traffic load to Apple servers. <br />
<br />
Next is family sharing - I like the idea but dislike the implementation where all accounts to be linked together must be from the same region and using the same iTunes store .... I was hoping it could cross regions/countries/stores so I can combine the multiple Apple accounts I have and I can view all the content from all my accounts from a single point - no luck on that I suppose *sigh*<br />
<br />
Good points? <br />
<br />
New keyboard functions which used to exist only on Android platforms (don't get me started with minority Windows and BB platforms). Been testing several and may review that later. Overall, the built-in iOS keyboard with predictive text is already pretty good and does not slow down the iPad compared to others like Swiftkey or Fleksy ... or maybe I have too many keyboards installed?? I'll save that for a future post.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOsP4sl2dyqlHvQuwBNDJR0zutBaL-nkX0CUTwIMqq1KA7fqvHbu4ujKr2TDOBLF3CCH_93mgNWRHyVBQyzLuqmUppZz53lDDA0ZdLebBScLDLdaqDwdMPaPm63wHFf8bKg47u1NTKhq2/s1600/IMG_0291.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfOsP4sl2dyqlHvQuwBNDJR0zutBaL-nkX0CUTwIMqq1KA7fqvHbu4ujKr2TDOBLF3CCH_93mgNWRHyVBQyzLuqmUppZz53lDDA0ZdLebBScLDLdaqDwdMPaPm63wHFf8bKg47u1NTKhq2/s400/IMG_0291.PNG" /></a></div><br />
Another interesting thing are the new multi-touch actions in apps. Mobile safari now has hidden tabs to save space and you can switch between them by pinching two fingers quickly (do it slowly and it reverts to page zoom instead) making navigation much faster. The assistive panel now has added options to call up control center and notification center. <br />
<br />
The built-in camera app now features a time-lapse mode for all devices (and additional slow-mo modes for iPhone 5s and 6 models) but its buggy on my iPad 3 and kept crashing. It does capture but calling the photo album directly from the camera app causes the album to crash. Opening each separately works though, weird. Late to the camera app is a timer with options for a 3 or 10 second delay upon pressing the shutter button. The tap-to-set exposure has also been improved with a small slider appearing so you can set the 'exposure' upon selecting an area or leave it to auto.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdc_clPPYOEAmANbbAqhyphenhypheneyqO8nwW9IeAaugQbp1g7N5O17KQ1YvgczdmPztryMPXqtUTEAe7r-eOR8S9RY_GsiCcBC1pqJ6QqH5lOu7tECptdcdpYfFtOkHH7eRFvWo2Vs2iDRfFIKoSY/s1600/IMG_0289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdc_clPPYOEAmANbbAqhyphenhypheneyqO8nwW9IeAaugQbp1g7N5O17KQ1YvgczdmPztryMPXqtUTEAe7r-eOR8S9RY_GsiCcBC1pqJ6QqH5lOu7tECptdcdpYfFtOkHH7eRFvWo2Vs2iDRfFIKoSY/s400/IMG_0289.jpg" /></a></div><br />
On the video side, now iTunes movies that come with iTunes extras play directly inside with the iPad!! Been waiting for this because before this it was impossible to view any additional bonus content except on desktop iTunes or using an AppleTV with the latest iOS installed. Although automatic on iPhones, it did not work at first on the iPad. I had to first disable loading videos from iCloud (i.e. do not show all purchases) then logout of iTunes store and finally reboot the iPad. After that just reverse the process of logging back into your iTunes store account and enabling iCloud streaming again. Once that is done, the little iTunes extra logo will appear and playback will start with the menu instead of just the movie.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvTyvzeNkFWBMioHmIqF-yQwD9ICUx3WO5jbwVb6sGG9XC81pSy_4Dt70YCVX5s8yMinaxow1mvgag8twdKf_Oy1Mf2EASOSY2-BQKG4-TZkcbCGCXBNH_xgd8U1dy7hZPjGzWiaBtw47/s1600/IMG_0285.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvTyvzeNkFWBMioHmIqF-yQwD9ICUx3WO5jbwVb6sGG9XC81pSy_4Dt70YCVX5s8yMinaxow1mvgag8twdKf_Oy1Mf2EASOSY2-BQKG4-TZkcbCGCXBNH_xgd8U1dy7hZPjGzWiaBtw47/s400/IMG_0285.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Now on to more exploring on iOS ....OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-13809506650131375752014-09-14T14:22:00.000+08:002014-09-14T14:22:05.810+08:00Can't update iTunes apps? Here a fix you can trySomething changed over the week when Apple announced the new iPhones and aWatch ... whereby some appstore updates were not working correctly with the following popup appearing in either the iDevice or on iTunes (doesn't matter which platform - tried on OSX and Windows 7/8). The popup has the message "<b>Download for free? This item will be added to your purchases, and will be available even if your Family Sharing status changes</b>" but does not proceed to do anything except loop the message.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5U1dVXZIGnTMYhd4ZZpmgNa48QnwdqDT7W5U0slMlwSkC_IJ5S9nEARAB2yZbeh2vH6BolCuoubQnFGvhlvXzVTmNxMw48oAyfSzEi4woxzAxZQurEq3GL3Bmm8nakV-Z78v09cUdTTrg/s1600/itunespopuperror.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5U1dVXZIGnTMYhd4ZZpmgNa48QnwdqDT7W5U0slMlwSkC_IJ5S9nEARAB2yZbeh2vH6BolCuoubQnFGvhlvXzVTmNxMw48oAyfSzEi4woxzAxZQurEq3GL3Bmm8nakV-Z78v09cUdTTrg/s400/itunespopuperror.png" /></a></div><br />
The error seems to occur only if you have previously purchased the affected app AND hidden it in iTunes - so for a simple fix, get into your iTunes account management and proceed to the hidden apps, un-hide the app and then proceed with the update as usual. If you don't know how to unhide your apps, then proceed <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4919" target="appstore">here</a>.<br />
OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-78757844252270032232014-05-13T23:29:00.000+08:002014-05-15T12:25:08.987+08:00What to do with an old iPod Touch 2G'Inherited' an old second generation 8GB iPod touch a few months back and it was just collecting dust on my table whereupon I decided to see what I can do with it during the long weekend break. Condition wise it was pretty scuffed and scratched but everything works fine so that was a good sign. None of the accessories were included but luckily this is old-gen stuff so the 30-pin cables can be found really cheap (Daiso to the rescue!) plus I already had a few lying around so no problems there. The bad thing is that it is OLD (yeah, in Apple terms this is end-of-life stuff) so the highest official iOS that can be installed in 4.2.1. <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYd5Gwxa_jtvGChsNoS9mkcGLf1sO-_mWFTuDvEhWP6hh3guWWDyNqBdTYJrFl-7Xw46GbV2YVjE8q0CVicC7FnzJjhOGzIZAwZaLjWFNbyy67YNVvs2VKOkaOaeNP5IlHC4vO0eHZ5RZo/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYd5Gwxa_jtvGChsNoS9mkcGLf1sO-_mWFTuDvEhWP6hh3guWWDyNqBdTYJrFl-7Xw46GbV2YVjE8q0CVicC7FnzJjhOGzIZAwZaLjWFNbyy67YNVvs2VKOkaOaeNP5IlHC4vO0eHZ5RZo/s400/IMG_0135.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<span class="posthidden" id="ipod2g"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_n5ercKDNLohdRRMV3UkNcCfGjU3edqnnptGb2i6bUgSUWmPDKTP8nddmSBrF_UEYEXnxy-JM7Dsr6Cqr53oCx8fSZr8kYIiHKehm1TUs7FF6dJcsbSj7Ay5YQh2GAaGWShyphenhyphen-cy978Qv/s1600/IMG_0003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ_n5ercKDNLohdRRMV3UkNcCfGjU3edqnnptGb2i6bUgSUWmPDKTP8nddmSBrF_UEYEXnxy-JM7Dsr6Cqr53oCx8fSZr8kYIiHKehm1TUs7FF6dJcsbSj7Ay5YQh2GAaGWShyphenhyphen-cy978Qv/s400/IMG_0003.jpg" /></a></div>I proceeded with doing a clean reset of the firmware/software since the original owner had a bunch of stuff in there which I didn't want. Once that was done, it was now down to repurposing the device for simple gaming to pass the time. It would work as a simple video player but it can't play my stored videos from iCloud and the internal memory does not allow much media storage (~6.8GB after iOS install); additionally iOS 4.2.1 does not offer Home Sharing so it couldn't stream from the NAS or play from the UPnP server.I could have chosen to install <a href="http://www.whited00r.com/" target="wd">WhiteD00r</a> which I did for another iPhone3G (AT&T) but found the stability a little too flaky and the choice of apps in the App Time Machine limited. So with the stock iOS firmware I dived in to see what still works and what doesn't. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Recently, Apple decided to allow older devices to download older versions of apps found on the appstore and this was a boon for last-gen device owners. This means that eventhough the app may state "requires iOS7.0 blablabla" sometimes the appstore may have an older version cached and allow that version to be loaded instead. After a few hits-and-misses, the screenshots below show what I have on the iPod now and it will probably last its new owner a long time before she tires of it (I'm not the one playing it).<br />
<br />
<table><tbody>
<tr> <td><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4OtVH2wNzXDpugb8kfb4je7er3SSWD9rOYkkmB30AOgukVxPneofdqG4thKxgQZ8jMsp8G-mfa6NJ6dmETx4TjeD3RTLujc_t-fZf-zBKyr442ZKoKBrOaVG8RUB9brOVQUSkhz3wlIA/s1600/IMG_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4OtVH2wNzXDpugb8kfb4je7er3SSWD9rOYkkmB30AOgukVxPneofdqG4thKxgQZ8jMsp8G-mfa6NJ6dmETx4TjeD3RTLujc_t-fZf-zBKyr442ZKoKBrOaVG8RUB9brOVQUSkhz3wlIA/s400/IMG_0002.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><br />
Where's My Water - Disney<br />
Mahjong Deluxe - EnsenaSoft<br />
Mahjong Artifacts HD - G5 Entertainment<br />
>Sudoku - Finger Arts<br />
Solitaire++ - Chronological LTD<br />
Treasures of Montezuma - Alawar Ent.<br />
Jelly Car - Walaber<br />
Tiny Wings - Andreas Illiger<br />
Drop7 Free - Zynga (also works with paid)<br />
Plants Vs Zombies - PopCap<br />
Jewel Mania - TeamLava<br />
Jenga - NaturalMotion<br />
Save Toshi DX - Nitako LTD<br />
iBlast Moki - Godzilab<br />
Super 7 - No Monkeys<br />
Fuzzle - CandyCane LLC</td> </tr>
<tr> <td><div style="text-align: right;">HK Mahjong - Apply Bits</div><div style="text-align: right;">Peggle - PopCap</div><div style="text-align: right;">Mixed Words - Quattro</div><div style="text-align: right;">Amateur Surgeon 2 - [adult swim]</div><div style="text-align: right;">Unblock Me - KiraGames Co. Ltd</div><div style="text-align: right;">UnWord - Mullet Games</div><div style="text-align: right;">W.E.L.D.E.R.</div><div style="text-align: right;">Pac-Man - Namco</div><div style="text-align: right;">Temple Run - Imangi Studios LLC</div><div style="text-align: right;">Time's Up! (USA) - Repos Production</div><div style="text-align: right;">Amazing Breaker - Dekovir Inc</div><div style="text-align: right;">Circadia - Simple Machine LLC</div><div style="text-align: right;">The Lost City - Fire Maple Games</div><div style="text-align: right;">Percepto - Daniel Hooper</div><div style="text-align: right;">Home Sheep Home 2 - Chillingo</div><div style="text-align: right;">Water Maze H2Whoooa! - Big Goose Egg </div></td> <td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGsO7Sbqszn2qgnz2amXypzkmuL69ZG-dR-cb-crx0qTGl80sXy_W30SkdW92E7hYgQ9WM7mAmfpqGcBqYu3hSMEhCHhJccoS619P9hX7LTKW6J8qb3hETO7Q3tdtap_OydaM_mZ59CzU/s1600/IMG_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghGsO7Sbqszn2qgnz2amXypzkmuL69ZG-dR-cb-crx0qTGl80sXy_W30SkdW92E7hYgQ9WM7mAmfpqGcBqYu3hSMEhCHhJccoS619P9hX7LTKW6J8qb3hETO7Q3tdtap_OydaM_mZ59CzU/s400/IMG_0004.jpg" /></a></td> </tr>
<tr> <td><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTyL-S_ivSUQFJEe_uGfhZVXHg9TmgI4chpSyaQqno0G2cLbeHPxA4w3hVNjJA2R4I_GZlx6tqLPXfRBAy2e_uB_dKHwkaQwv2AdZuMad2dBCnQBOY-wjuZYhxccITXXZUNh2OR96CIj-/s1600/IMG_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKTyL-S_ivSUQFJEe_uGfhZVXHg9TmgI4chpSyaQqno0G2cLbeHPxA4w3hVNjJA2R4I_GZlx6tqLPXfRBAy2e_uB_dKHwkaQwv2AdZuMad2dBCnQBOY-wjuZYhxccITXXZUNh2OR96CIj-/s400/IMG_0005.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><br />
Cut the buttons - Open Name LTD<br />
i.Game 16 Mahjong - Webi & Neti Internet Services Inc<br />
Cross Fingers - Mobigame<br />
Up With A Fish! - Oceanhouse Media<br />
Pix Maze - Activision Publishing Inc.</td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
There are lists available out there that try to categorise appstore apps based on iOS version support like <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/appleclubfhs/support/advice-and-articles/finding-apps-for-older-devices" target="oldgenapp">here</a> but they may be inaccurate because they only report the version as provided by the app developer to the appstore. The list does not report any earlier versions which are cached and provided to last-gen devices.<br />
<br />
If you are attempting similar project, things to note with 2G iPods - they have limited OpenGL ES support so highly animated games and apps that require that library will not work because the hardware does not exist in the device. Older games also made use of OpenFeint (which has since closed) instead of Gamecenter but this can be avoided just by ignoring the login screens. Hardware wise, the 2G iPods have no camera or internal microphone so any apps making use of those will not install and/or will not work.Note the device remains non-jailbroken eventhough it is possible to do so .... I just haven't had the time and didn't require it JBd anyway. The apps shown above are either free to play or purchased in the appstore.<br />
<br />
</SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('ipod2g','7875784425227003223')">..... Show/hide full post</A>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-46909753495900305992014-04-27T01:50:00.000+08:002014-04-27T01:50:02.741+08:00Can things get any worse(r)?My earlier attempt to try to post something every week went into a disastrous and epic fail when I suffered multiple hardware failures ... who knows where all this bad karma is coming from.<br />
<br />
First thing to die was my iPhone which was only ~5 weeks old. It was a slow death starting with no early indications other than the cell reception dying first. I initially thought it was due to the nearby cell tower was under maintenance so I didn't think much about it. It was only about 12 hours later when the WiFi then proceeded to die and wouldn't connect to any access points at work or home. Going online to do troubleshooting, the apple website suggested to do a network reset - tried it and failed. The phone then proceeded to act weird and then went south of the border by displaying the dreaded screen asking me to plugin to iTunes to restore. iTunes didn't work and I kept getting the 1611 error which supposedly meant liquid damage. After an on-the-phone diagnosis, I was asked to bring in the phone to a service centre. Since Malaysia has no Genius bars, I had to go to an authorized service centre instead and lucky for me it was in 1Utama behind MacCity. Two weeks later, I get a new (possibly refurbished??) iPhone but I lost all the content from the previous phone ... which was nothing since it was close to new anyways.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4IeLhxF6rWyLU14FjtrHbBPDNlh5uI6ai9hFSzR-3WSQr36kKpsvdf13B1HQt3aVxHzjepWJb7yJewJuspIEss7bjM_wSCQGYza2d38NlFhJlJCn210vitI74zNiLzHLsee_W-OhlbMP/s1600/20140318_064545558_iOS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi4IeLhxF6rWyLU14FjtrHbBPDNlh5uI6ai9hFSzR-3WSQr36kKpsvdf13B1HQt3aVxHzjepWJb7yJewJuspIEss7bjM_wSCQGYza2d38NlFhJlJCn210vitI74zNiLzHLsee_W-OhlbMP/s320/20140318_064545558_iOS.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Next to die was my PC workstation .... with a flaky motherboard. It still runs but I have lost all PCI bus lanes and thus no graphic expansion slots are available. Luckily, the board still had an onboard GPU and I used that to boot and continue work. I tried to buy a replacement motherboard from China but unfortunately, while the replacement arrived safely and installed OK it just wouldn't boot. Luckily I managed to get a refund for the faulty board and I am currently looking for a similar board to replace in the future. <br />
<br />
The problem with branded PCs like the Acer I have is that the boards are so customised that I can't find any other replacement without sacrificing the features - the original motherboard has 4 USB headers (plus 4 onboard USB ports) which is really rare on commercial motherboards. Additionally, it has a firewire header for the IEEE1394 800 front port AND the case switches (on/reset/lights/) are all on a single plug instead of multiple individual plugs for OEM boards. Using a normal motherboard would required quite a lot of work to rewire the case to work ... that's a future project for now if I can't find another replacement board.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6n7D9yZsCZ7FjW_3uqOzTUEF0G5ZJb3169mzOp0EyWI42Er48YnaF363mJfhMuqafoyVUPulR4F_M12X3ZLePTzXy3tYJgfXYSjl2FKjFTxOPjhyphenhyphenQQwht26eL1v2y5ViePhOeabh_AW9D/s1600/IMG_0074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6n7D9yZsCZ7FjW_3uqOzTUEF0G5ZJb3169mzOp0EyWI42Er48YnaF363mJfhMuqafoyVUPulR4F_M12X3ZLePTzXy3tYJgfXYSjl2FKjFTxOPjhyphenhyphenQQwht26eL1v2y5ViePhOeabh_AW9D/s400/IMG_0074.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fhgEQU_WTx4MZFlZR0qgcRU2gRiEtPTdSxYQZH5NcyorrhDyCXh3xQFE1Pgv869nu0hnGlmdWrpjBt0NPHVXXeHxBtMudEE3FZMh-EgoCsOva6CSidgdXFsKDsFDjctJLj8ZFC6OXkfC/s1600/IMG_0075.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-fhgEQU_WTx4MZFlZR0qgcRU2gRiEtPTdSxYQZH5NcyorrhDyCXh3xQFE1Pgv869nu0hnGlmdWrpjBt0NPHVXXeHxBtMudEE3FZMh-EgoCsOva6CSidgdXFsKDsFDjctJLj8ZFC6OXkfC/s400/IMG_0075.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Everything has settled down for now (fingers crossed) and I hope it stays that way.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-4722460367890821662014-03-16T01:16:00.000+08:002014-03-16T01:16:37.165+08:00Worst things you're doing with your smartphoneI have never faced a problem like this until I got an iPhone (coming from a dumbphone which lasted 9 days per charge for one thing ... *sigh*). The problem I'm talking about here is the effort required to ensure the safety and security of information on the phone. If you own any smartphone - be it an iOS, Android or other device - these are the things you should NOT be doing (with focus on iOS and Android). There are probably many more things that can be done, but these are top on my list of things:<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Leaving your phone unlocked</span></u></b><br />
Its a hassle to keep unlocking phones especially if you're the kind that keeps checking your facebook and twitter feeds every 2 minutes but this is your first line of defense if, heaven forbid, you lose your phone or it gets stolen. Androids typically have that pattern unlock screen whilst iOS has the PIN instead. Using the iPhone 5s, I am grateful for the TouchID fingerprint system because it represents the best of both worlds by providing simplicity of a single touch with the complexity of the PIN without having to lift my finger. The latest Samsung S5s also have the fingerprint scanner on the home button but it is not used for locking the phone and instead is only meant to app use (like verifying PayPal accounts) so that point is moot.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
iOS devices have a deadmans option whereby if you enter a passcode or TouchID too many times it locks the device permanently. Additionally, you can opt to wipe the device if attempts to crack the device exceeds 10 times. Similar options exist on Android but they are crackable (or at least manufacturer/provider resettable).<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cc0000;"><u><b>Not backing up information</b></u></span><br />
Smartphones are now multi-use devices and perform additional functions of a camera, music player, map, etc. Losing a phone usually results in a lost of a LOT of information that possibly is not replaceable (i.e photos and videos). Use your phone's backup function if available and save your heartache should anything bad happen. iOS has iCloud whilst Androids have Google drive - both free options which you should be exploiting to save your data ICE.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/google_drive_logo_39631.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/google_drive_logo_39631.png" height="155" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
All major platforms are also now supported by Microsoft's OneDrive which will offer automatic uploads through the individual mobile platform apps. I personally use iCloud backups for phone settings and app data whilst OneDrive for iOS handles all my photo backups to my cloud (this because I have multiple legacy OneDrive accounts with 28GB of lifetime storage)<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;"><br /></span></u></b>
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Setting up the GPS</span></u></b><br />
Did a simple test - took a friend's smartphone, searched around and launched the map application. Nearly every single time, the map/GPS application had its 'home' setting to the phone owners actual home address. Now imagine if your phone is NOT passworded/passcode locked and someone manages to get hold of it, launching the app will tell them exactly where you live and gives them an easy target for their next heist (especially if you lost your bag with your phone, wallet, house keys etc). Get the picture?<br />
<br />
Set the 'home' location to any app you are using (Google maps, Garmin, Waze etc) to a nearby location that you know of. I mean, do you really need that GPS to tell you turn by turn directions to your house from the nearest shopping mall that you visit weekly? Else, set it to a public location like a school, mosque, temple, 7-11 etc.<br />
<br />
<u><b><span style="color: #cc0000;">Address book/Contact list problems</span></b></u><br />
Yes contact lists are convenient and make you lazy at forgetting numbers but here's a tip which has relevance with the first tip above. In the same test I mentioned earlier, the contact list ALWAYS had a listing for HOME, MAMA or PAPA or something along the lines like that. Now you've all heard or read emails about horror stories that someone's parents received a phone call telling them that their son/daughter has been kidnapped and demands a ransom ... where'd they get the number? Why from your unlocked phone inside your phone's contact list of course!! How nice of you to provide these nasty people with information like this.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://assets.martinezmedia.net/brandonmartinez/2010/07/IMG_0013.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://assets.martinezmedia.net/brandonmartinez/2010/07/IMG_0013.png" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
If you REALLY need to list your parent or sibling's phone numbers (or any close relative) its best to list a nick name that only you know and understand. Be creative and have fun - but be prepared to answer your mother if you listed her in your phone book as 'Constant nagger'<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Taking photos</span></u></b><br />
Photos are fun. Photos are useful to capture a moment in time. Selfies are also fun. Nude selfies are NOT. A smartphone in the hands of another user other than yourself may result in your embarassing photos being leaked out. All devices (unfortunately) allow the photo directory content to be viewed in any computer without even having to unlock the device.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://fs01.androidpit.info/ass/x95/9922795-1366752669452.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://fs01.androidpit.info/ass/x95/9922795-1366752669452.jpg" height="400" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
If you want to take nudes or unmentionables at least use a encryption app - there are dozens out there you can choose from that can give you a level of privacy which your default phone camera app cannot.<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Leaving apps logged in</span></u></b><br />
I suffer from this habit too as I tend to leave most apps logged in - but at least I lock my phone and set it to wipe if its being hacked into. Many popular apps keep you logged in even when you shutdown the app (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flipboard) and anyone with access to your phone will basically have access to those app accounts too. Worst case scenario is with banking apps. I wich app developers would incorporate additional protection features to prevent this. The only one I know of is Evernote which has an additional PIN entry aside from the normal login to prevent anyone from viewing content so you can remain logged in. For other apps, its best to log out especially if you don't lock your phone.<br />
<br />
<b><u><span style="color: #cc0000;">Not installing an antivirus and app manager</span></u></b><br />
This is for Android/Windows Phone devices only. Due to the open nature of the platform and also based on a phone owner's actions, an antivirus may be necessary. If you use an Android and often sideload your apps downloaded through fileshare/rapidshare/forums/etc, you should have an antivirus app installed to <i>reduce </i>the likelihood that your device will be infected with malware. Windows phone devices may run on a separate build as opposed to their desktop operating systems so the jury is out on whether it is needed or not.<br />
<br />
For androids - even with the latest releases - app management is still horrendous. You need a management app to help corral apps from misbehaving and making your device run out of resources. Always uninstall apps you never/hardly use because those apps WILL slow down the device even if they are not running (don't ask me how or why, I still can't figure that out yet)<br />
<br />
<u><span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Allowing apps to access facebook/twitter/etc</b></span></u><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7LgK8GgXQVCTv1Dtw5cGoXzDfUDwrXR_qyWlz-w0hi1a5Z4_dfKvr3aMU3RrQf0sHh12hoFTHPnBOPGcGv4oBhqh6uILKNQ1VqValDm2rtorIWmqET_8EhWWxwXNjP_2NOSDGMAdDdBi/s1600/endomondo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7LgK8GgXQVCTv1Dtw5cGoXzDfUDwrXR_qyWlz-w0hi1a5Z4_dfKvr3aMU3RrQf0sHh12hoFTHPnBOPGcGv4oBhqh6uILKNQ1VqValDm2rtorIWmqET_8EhWWxwXNjP_2NOSDGMAdDdBi/s1600/endomondo.jpg" height="640" width="202" /></a></div>
Once again, laziness makes people prefer use a single sign-in method to use an app. Many apps do allow you to link your facebook/google/microsoft account as a sign-in method and in return, the app is given permission to post on your behalf to your facebook/mail/google plus/etc page. Some apps like endomondo sports tracker and nike run can post on your behalf so you can show off to your facebook friends how far you have run and how long it took.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, this also reveals information similar to the GPS tip above. Using several posts, a stalker can pin point the exact location where you live because your start and end locations are always the same. Next, the app tells them when you are not home or when you ARE home. Personally, I wouldn't want an unknown person to know that. The right picture shows a screenshot of someone (I randomly selected a facebook user) who allowed EST to post on their page .... now I know where he lives and when he's not home.<br />
<br />OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-73026254622352540462014-03-09T01:40:00.000+08:002014-03-09T01:40:39.472+08:00Busy busy busyMissed several week's posts because of the Chinese New Year + end of semester exam preparations + personal exams. Oh, and my PC decided to die on me in the most unceremonious way - it still works but all PCI-e slots are not working ... took me so long to figure that out. Luckily it fell back to its internal on-board GPU so at least it is currently still in a usable state with legacy unaccelerated graphics (on board only has a 7100nvidia GPU). Local service and support won't sell me the board on its own unless I bring it in and purchase with service fees so I have to look for alternatives. Seeing as it is a rather 'old' PC (CPU socket wise) its difficult to get good LGA775 motherboards anymore. Additionally, I realised further problems with buying a so-called branded PC ... the feature set found on this PC cannot be replicated on any commercial boards available for public purchase. Yeah, somehow Acer has designed this board with so many additional I/O options that if I buy an off-the-shelf motherboard, more that half of the PC's connectors won't work because they have nowhere to plugin into! <br />
<br />
On its own, the mobo (which is an OEM MCP73) has 4 USB 2.0 + 1 IEE1394 ports on board. Then it has four (yup, 4) on board USB connectors to support the additional 4 USB ports on the casing top AND the card reader AND another USB port in front. Most boards only have 2 additional USB connectors. Additionally, the original board also has 1 additional IEEE1394 connector to the front firewire800 port. Looks like I have to scour ebay for refurbished boards else go without the ports. *sigh*<br />
<br />
Other things that kept me busy was my new phone .... that will be for the next post.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-44393586206607169662014-01-20T00:50:00.000+08:002014-09-27T15:34:03.233+08:00DiGi Prepaid DIY nano simSince getting an iPhone, I was forced to look for nano SIMs but I'm a prepaid user and majority of local telcos are hesitant to provide a nano SIM unless you sign up for a postpaid package (money sucking tactics). There were two ways to get around it - first is to get a nano SIM cutter or at least someone who has it to cut the standard mini SIM . Buying a cutter is useless because I only need one card (I'm not opening a phone store) so wasting RM17 (cheapest I could find) for a single use item was out of the question. There were some shop/stalls offering the cutting service at a few ringgit but I never had my phone with me at those times.<br />
<br />
So, I had to resort to cutting my own. After reading many horror stories about failed cuts online and other advice, I was initially hesitant ... but eventually, I took a leap of faith and cut my own since I basically had no choice. Here's what I did ...<br />
<br />
<span class="posthidden" id="nanoSIM"><br />
Get a template - there are various templates you can print out to get cutting guidelines. Find one that you feel comfortable with and works with your printer and paper size. I used this one <a href="http://www.airportal.de/nanoSIM/" target="template">here</a>. [UPDATE Sept 2014 - link is dead, search google for "<a href="https://www.google.com.my/search?q=nano+sim+template&oq=nano+sim+template">nano sim template</a>"]<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgyi2o57TP_F1LMD7iHe99rcyaBLxWE9SCympJfpxAB7sr6Mfb8iMoedQ_WgOvpvVS_DJeAiMbqezfzVkqi1jTW8OB-0lqMewmb0M7sqapmXt-sPAV8vz2luW8GdLIh6PURnRYP1UjHkw/s1600/sim1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="pix"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqgyi2o57TP_F1LMD7iHe99rcyaBLxWE9SCympJfpxAB7sr6Mfb8iMoedQ_WgOvpvVS_DJeAiMbqezfzVkqi1jTW8OB-0lqMewmb0M7sqapmXt-sPAV8vz2luW8GdLIh6PURnRYP1UjHkw/s400/SIM1.jpg" /></a></div>Before doing the actual cut, I tried out on several expired SIM cards I had on hand for practice - I tested a Celcom xPax mini SIM, TMobile micro SIM, Optus mini SIM and Starhub mini SIM. It is easiest if you have a micro SIM (image top right) but it works just as well with mini SIMs (image top left) - with micro you don't cut across the gold contact points but you have to with a mini. Ask around for unused SIMs or mobile phone vendors if you wish to get some practice before hand.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACskzUeNhc61YYJsY4WaKLqaV9CaCBjonB_ozIFhBknzb-EMwBgG2LIcMQgFrZzVWr7mPgHkYA1FGR1ziHsprAzGojdznrSQwz-tS25TRlfKa2b-OPJyNi8TgQ9b5O7_Gk1nmJKY9Z5TX/s1600/sim2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="pix"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACskzUeNhc61YYJsY4WaKLqaV9CaCBjonB_ozIFhBknzb-EMwBgG2LIcMQgFrZzVWr7mPgHkYA1FGR1ziHsprAzGojdznrSQwz-tS25TRlfKa2b-OPJyNi8TgQ9b5O7_Gk1nmJKY9Z5TX/s400/SIM2.jpg" /></a></div>The final cut was made on the DiGi prepaid mini SIM. All five attempts worked out fine anyways with a 100% hand-cut success rate.<br />
<br />
My advice for those wanting to try manual SIM cutting - make sure your cutting tool is sharp and strong. Flimsy school paper scissors will NOT work. Large heavy duty cutters may work but are unwieldy and may block your sight from cutting on the correct line. To test your scissors, try sticking a piece of tape onto both sides of an expired credit card (or any SIMilar thickness plastic card) and test on that. The scissors should cut through the tape layers and the card between neatly with pulling or stretching the tape. If at any point this fails, you may want to look for a different tool.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvXPzzpP51bwbx7DEheO3IGif1Umn72qcRb2qRGUW9KbkrwPunAEsimLkRWzgnKAx4fUMigV79d1f4laNgElcNyR677cgjxzGwSOmpXU00mebmYJJad6Wfcf3uLr_oGJ6mFeD2lfufhTg/s1600/sim3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="pix"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPvXPzzpP51bwbx7DEheO3IGif1Umn72qcRb2qRGUW9KbkrwPunAEsimLkRWzgnKAx4fUMigV79d1f4laNgElcNyR677cgjxzGwSOmpXU00mebmYJJad6Wfcf3uLr_oGJ6mFeD2lfufhTg/s400/SIM3.jpg" /></a></div>The SIM standard specs are pretty forgiving and you can actually overcut (or undercut) quite a lot and the SIM will continue to work. The problem with overcutting is that the SIM will be smaller than the official nano SIM size and will not fit in the tray properly (this will make removal and insertion very difficult). So you could always UNDERcut and then sand the edges to size if you're worried. I overcut the Starhub card I tested with in the picture above and ended up with a nano SIM too small for the iPhone tray ... the SIM card still works on other phones if I tape it to the contacts though.<br />
<br />
The thickness is the relatively same for most of the cards I tested so no sanding was necessary except for one which was ever so slightly thicker. <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=YMMV">YMMV</a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: red;"><b>Disclaimer: Any attempts at cutting your SIM card are at your own risk. Cutting your SIM card may destroy it, damage your handset and void your handset's warranty and I will not be held responsible.</b></span></i></div></SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('nanoSIM','4439358620660716966')">..... Show/hide full post</A>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-11041542812243149452014-01-18T19:43:00.002+08:002014-01-18T19:43:50.349+08:00Setup ... and wait<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefFC5QeGFYGO_iWOb-q0YhIEAWied7t-SK8LRam3iy0MW2fmZ0TYgjNKDnKtDFHa_aJ4HqkhZ5rnu84YEOmId5yTFuC-W7gzItEDKCWvgZM-xWgl8YSRZDwRYLmb_eiwNFTcLDjyhM1FT/s1600/IMG_0009.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefFC5QeGFYGO_iWOb-q0YhIEAWied7t-SK8LRam3iy0MW2fmZ0TYgjNKDnKtDFHa_aJ4HqkhZ5rnu84YEOmId5yTFuC-W7gzItEDKCWvgZM-xWgl8YSRZDwRYLmb_eiwNFTcLDjyhM1FT/s320/IMG_0009.PNG" /></a></div>Yay! .... setting up it really taking so long - shouldn't have synced with my cloud. Oh wellOSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-8376372078659252832014-01-10T23:56:00.000+08:002014-01-10T23:56:08.983+08:00OMG .... itchy fingers made me do itIn the last moments of the very first Asian Apple Store Lunar New Year sale ... I made a purchase. I feel a hole burning in my wallet <i>liao</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPUtRsqKVxWAr9Wn2OMbq63IrrdoT35sqDVYdGOrpdzC88XBa7pMOdjreGouITDy1S0_ZElJmUcSKlFHXoLChG1BFCwmanwWzUmOPCmtdE4v005IZzOHeXSA6-mzFMgVQ3xnPmhysSmWw/s1600/arrgh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAPUtRsqKVxWAr9Wn2OMbq63IrrdoT35sqDVYdGOrpdzC88XBa7pMOdjreGouITDy1S0_ZElJmUcSKlFHXoLChG1BFCwmanwWzUmOPCmtdE4v005IZzOHeXSA6-mzFMgVQ3xnPmhysSmWw/s400/arrgh.jpg" /></a></div>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-30672118991706952292014-01-04T01:08:00.001+08:002014-01-04T01:08:57.834+08:00Unifi/Streamyx is IPV6 readyAs the world <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/01/ipv6-takes-one-step-forward-ipv4-two-steps-back-in-2012/" target="ipv6">slowly begins its transition to IPv6</a>, its funny that Telekom Malaysia has actually rolled out IPv6 features but not enabled them .... but then its not like there is any advantage of doing it yet.<br />
<br />
If you're running on TM Unifi or Streamyx you can actually start using IPv6 on the network already. For example, if you're using Unifi on the defautl DIR-615 Gx router, the steps are as follows<br />
<br />
Login to your router at the default address of 192.168.0.1 using a web browser (if you changed this, use the correct IP accordingly). You can use either the admin or management or operator accounts - all will work the same for this. Locate the first tab at the top for SETUP and then the left-hand side menu for IPV6 option. Then choose the option for "Enable IPv6 WAN connection" <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAe0XT-ExIi1DQgdj0EVdX8d5jiYqY3uo3dGhS5q1Bvn5P_Kt3ofeDJHKKGPS_pc55DZNWO5XKXxGQFkkStLpyG5WU6XwRgORXeI9J3e9RRl7GD5CewUgxR_Sh_CHmxjlbmkiWdx8Ib2zH/s1600/ipv6-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAe0XT-ExIi1DQgdj0EVdX8d5jiYqY3uo3dGhS5q1Bvn5P_Kt3ofeDJHKKGPS_pc55DZNWO5XKXxGQFkkStLpyG5WU6XwRgORXeI9J3e9RRl7GD5CewUgxR_Sh_CHmxjlbmkiWdx8Ib2zH/s400/ipv6-01.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Once enabled, choose PPPoE from the drop down menu (since SLAAC does not seem to be enabled at Telekom's end for now) and you'll see the options expand for account settings.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o7TraUDE7aApmPMsVlzfjLe6TFL2VAByZYUY-Rm-nabDaVwFJS1XE2YFpAltB6ZhAq6fkzKLw-jX8T2h6JE3yN9eaIfCajycSqZz2FvQDFUKSO1hcgUZx28KfD_k7rdmt8fwPrl2nsJ8/s1600/ipv6-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9o7TraUDE7aApmPMsVlzfjLe6TFL2VAByZYUY-Rm-nabDaVwFJS1XE2YFpAltB6ZhAq6fkzKLw-jX8T2h6JE3yN9eaIfCajycSqZz2FvQDFUKSO1hcgUZx28KfD_k7rdmt8fwPrl2nsJ8/s400/ipv6-02.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Choose to create a new session and then enter your Unifi account settings (the same as the ones found in the Internet setup page). Choose to "Obtain IPv6 DNS Servers automatically" for now else you can search for OpenDNS IPv6 options on Google.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIqMeS6wBgLV_KZ_mr1jSg-7_D9JPuFtdvJmGwi5fXtKgjthheKr1TmPDafYg9UkYg0NTUbv-vCDHiQ8tIuXLItcVplG-gHBhK2lu93loyV2l5RI2rIZlWITzcbPZmXSGi5GFKeauQ_eW/s1600/ipv6-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBIqMeS6wBgLV_KZ_mr1jSg-7_D9JPuFtdvJmGwi5fXtKgjthheKr1TmPDafYg9UkYg0NTUbv-vCDHiQ8tIuXLItcVplG-gHBhK2lu93loyV2l5RI2rIZlWITzcbPZmXSGi5GFKeauQ_eW/s400/ipv6-03.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Once that is done, click on the [Save Settings] button and then reboot the router. Upon completion of reboot, you can then proceed to the STATUS tab and view the IPv6 connection information if you logged on successfully.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYm2kHivlFIYwzkpwEjw7_sgeSEWVpeTKC6eEGF8NvikjwuvfyteEOgl-J1HtH9bDLK0KpD4bVa6XBY7MVEwbW-84wINs-hzr3YMNxqY_JutB5GFhLXdNNrctWtTuE4KahMO2X1NkJAQu/s1600/ipv6-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYm2kHivlFIYwzkpwEjw7_sgeSEWVpeTKC6eEGF8NvikjwuvfyteEOgl-J1HtH9bDLK0KpD4bVa6XBY7MVEwbW-84wINs-hzr3YMNxqY_JutB5GFhLXdNNrctWtTuE4KahMO2X1NkJAQu/s400/ipv6-04.jpg" /></a></div><br />
You can then proceed to use any of the available tests online to check IPv6 connectivity. You'll see that you have dual-stack connectivity which means you are runnng both IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously on the same network infrastructure without the need for any tunnelling.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwKw_yFYiXNQYt3M1PTweyZODl42sxWLRtthcakrpYWsQjofEFiV5L-9FRMMxe0lRByY85pvcHUgHTwHWQ91GgWzgJdeEx-ylz7Zd5aphgWj1LKCHd3kh0XDt6heKDQDJBocXrIPihN_5/s1600/ipv6-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdwKw_yFYiXNQYt3M1PTweyZODl42sxWLRtthcakrpYWsQjofEFiV5L-9FRMMxe0lRByY85pvcHUgHTwHWQ91GgWzgJdeEx-ylz7Zd5aphgWj1LKCHd3kh0XDt6heKDQDJBocXrIPihN_5/s400/ipv6-05.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So, why implement IPv6? There aren't many advantages or benefits to using IPv6 now unfortunately since majority of networks are running IPv4 but with IPv4 exhaustion already here more networks are expected to migrate soon. If you're an online gamer, there are reports that <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/computing/168394-xbox-one-will-be-best-experienced-with-ipv6-how-do-you-get-ipv6-at-home-though" target="ipv6game">IPv6 will improve latency and routing times</a>....so maybe you can try it out there and see if there is any change.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-48175875475195891402014-01-03T16:17:00.000+08:002014-01-03T16:21:08.931+08:00A 2014 resolution ... I hope<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-M_X7nUehSzhyVQRF66sg4QXDKFQq9hMhcsQaH1NyrH3amAH-JpHgdboxPQj41KRiK79zVirG9atj3f5rU2VdLdkTHfU3hY9nFgqYg44va7iEmCAxyDK_qiV0nJfR-z_mXkqPeDtggKq/s1600/1527076_10202097589138034_1403322959_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-M_X7nUehSzhyVQRF66sg4QXDKFQq9hMhcsQaH1NyrH3amAH-JpHgdboxPQj41KRiK79zVirG9atj3f5rU2VdLdkTHfU3hY9nFgqYg44va7iEmCAxyDK_qiV0nJfR-z_mXkqPeDtggKq/s400/1527076_10202097589138034_1403322959_n.jpg" /></a></div>Its a new year ... and I decided I probably should be more actively writing my nonsense here. So I hope to be able to add a post each week or month at least (fingers crossed)OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-43072502035335369512013-06-02T15:37:00.001+08:002013-06-02T15:37:42.593+08:00Finally a better firmware for default Unifi routersReferring to an earlier post <a href="http://one-sick-psi-guy.blogspot.com/2012/09/problems-with-unifi.html" target="unifidns">here</a>, there has finally been an <i>unofficial-official</i> firmware to fix the DNS problem with the DIR615 routers. The firmware updates G2 routers to version 7.15 and finally forwards DNS requests correctly between the router and the users in the LAN (previous firmwares timed out on most DNS requests thus making most pages never fully load or just time out)<br />
<br />
So, save your config (just in case, the update shouldn't delete settings but you never know) from the menu. Download the firmware from <a href="https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2552840/all" target="unififirm">here</a> and update using the administration menu. Tested on two routers to work better than the original (one was 7.12 the other was 7.13).OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-89955235804161578152013-06-02T03:00:00.000+08:002013-06-02T03:02:19.741+08:00Awww ... even iTunes makes mistakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP-BGu9pX7a3Hp5McW86oJzJMadJbd8K1NNId61Whsx8Fn1JWeUryNcl1WWZO4z2zsVRBPWi1PqlV4z7efTKQRtoS6Cfv8Ot8JHigEHzlR-kruY4S6KINm5Il6RWgtGVHMlZqe9g9Pd6p/s1600/ituensweird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP-BGu9pX7a3Hp5McW86oJzJMadJbd8K1NNId61Whsx8Fn1JWeUryNcl1WWZO4z2zsVRBPWi1PqlV4z7efTKQRtoS6Cfv8Ot8JHigEHzlR-kruY4S6KINm5Il6RWgtGVHMlZqe9g9Pd6p/s320/ituensweird.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
*Sigh* - as advanced as Apple is, iTunes does make mistakes like the one above. It probably was a indexing error with their backend servers.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-4228858515382809132013-04-06T02:03:00.000+08:002013-08-12T02:20:05.747+08:00Ultraviolet DRM is terrible and I wish it would dieWhat is <a href="http://www.uvvu.com/" target="uvvu"><b>ultraviolet</b></a>?<br />
<blockquote><i>UltraViolet is a free, cloud-based digital rights collection that gives you greater flexibility with how and where you watch the movies and TV shows that you purchase. When you buy a movie or TV show from a participating retailer, it's automatically added to your UltraViolet Collection and you have options to stream it over the Internet and/or download it for offline viewing to a variety of connected devices. Because UltraViolet offers so many viewing choices, you have greater freedom to choose where you want to watch - on a mobile device, computer, television, game console, etc.</i></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7-9nuY3wQ-giAlqR-OIWdPOwvlDhEkc0yDr_PzPug-tWW92YQW-HT-7cFRejXlUqQHqXwNcm0jkYbL-7VCsGwcRZuqtS7YXQAoeNhTL1_MnqHECAW5FEAi63n9gf9dWcsfj0gTxuNR3Z/s1600/UltraViolet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE7-9nuY3wQ-giAlqR-OIWdPOwvlDhEkc0yDr_PzPug-tWW92YQW-HT-7cFRejXlUqQHqXwNcm0jkYbL-7VCsGwcRZuqtS7YXQAoeNhTL1_MnqHECAW5FEAi63n9gf9dWcsfj0gTxuNR3Z/s1600/UltraViolet.png" /></a></div><br />
What was it intended for?<br />
Uhm ... to replace iTunes (it is headed by Warner Bros) as another means to distribute movies digitally legally. Probably was meant as a way to avoid paying Apple more money and to torture customers with yet another DRM system.<br />
<br />
What is good about UV?<br />
Three things only - your movies are "in the cloud" and accessible anywhere (not really), movies are available online through streaming (broadband required to stream) or offline through downloads and content can be shared with friends and family. Thats it. Nothing else. Nothing else they advertised really works.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTEGNUIhWxO-6HYPVHfH7TET0aDvdpraZkErxIm8QjwFNfdLz77rWwqRRWoNaOCVu9WDUgMyppPZ87XA9WJdYxZo0WGlDBeDNG14iOZv0v-m1sJIR8jVByh3SjLLGkmXfbt8xp5bA3uVg/s1600/flixster_pc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpTEGNUIhWxO-6HYPVHfH7TET0aDvdpraZkErxIm8QjwFNfdLz77rWwqRRWoNaOCVu9WDUgMyppPZ87XA9WJdYxZo0WGlDBeDNG14iOZv0v-m1sJIR8jVByh3SjLLGkmXfbt8xp5bA3uVg/s400/flixster_pc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Why does it SUCK SO BAD?<br />
Hmmm ... how do I put this as clear as possible ...<br />
<ol><li><span style="color: #cc0000;">You need multiple accounts to access your content</span><br />
First you need to sign up for an Ultraviolet account. You do that <a href="https://my.uvvu.com/ssp/public/registrationStep1Page.jsf"><b>here</b></a>. Once you have a UV account, you need to create ANOTHER account at EACH AND EVERY respective studio that is distributing using UV - e.g. I now have accounts created in the <a href="http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/ultraviolet/about.html" target="sonyuv"><b>Sony Pictures Store</b></a>, <b><a href="http://www.universalhidef.com/ultraviolet/whatisultraviolet/" target="uniuv">Universal Hi-Def</a></b>, <a href="http://www.flixster.com/" target="flixster"><b>Flixster</b></a> and <a href="http://wwws.warnerbros.co.uk/uv101/index.html" target="uvwb"><b>Warner Bros</b></a> ... so in total 5 new totally unnecessary accounts just to download my digital 'copies'</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">It is difficult to view content</span><br />
It is IMPOSSIBLE to view any of your content without downloading their software or apps. To watch on your PC/Mac you download Flixster. Same goes with tablets, phones, phablets and whatnots. The downside of this? There is no way to show your content onto your living room TV or audio visual system short of connecting your computer to your display. At least with iTunes you can still get an Apple TV to view your content on the TV or use any iDevice with the proper av adaptor (hdmi/component/etc) to display content. Using a tablet/phone/PC as your player means you actually need to mirror the content onto the TV.</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">Quality of UV is poor</span><br />
Overall video quality of UV distributed films ranges from good to really poor. Compression is noticeably higher than iTunes digital downloads and detail is often lost. Worst thing is that UV downloads are 2-channel STEREO only. Supporters may claim that this was intended because the digital downloads are meant for portable devices which is true but if iTunes digital downloads can provide both 2-channel stereo AND 5.1 channel surround, then I'd go for iTunes anytime because I like knowing that I can still pipe the full surround experience if necessary.</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">UV tablet/phone applications suck</span><br />
The Flixster tablet app sucks on all the platforms I've tried it on. On the iPad, the app integrates with Rotten Tomatoes and shows current/upcoming/past movies which is actually rather cool. The movie download/streaming section though leaves a lot to be desired. Movies download with no problems but often remain in processing mode indefinitely. This means that the downloaded version can never play and if you attempt playback it will revert to the streaming version instead. In some cases, movies that were successfully downloaded, processed and can be viewed offline can suddenly revert back to its undownloaded state and will no longer work thus forcing you to delete the file and redownload. On android tablets, I've had even less success with the app crashing often and movies suddenly stopping for no reason.</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">UV desktop applications suck more</span><br />
The PC desktop application is probably the weakest. I though iTunes was bad - UV is worse. Unlike tablet apps, the desktop PC version of flixster has no links and is purely for playback only. The software is not optimized and cannot playback video content unless the app is made full screen. In a window, the content jerks and frame rate drops dramatically thus making it impossible for you to have multiple applications open on your desktop so you can't watch a movie whilst check your facebook status at the same time.</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">There is no easy way to backup files</span><br />
Unlike what the support website says <a href="http://www.uvvu.com/faqs.php#question-41"><b>here</b></a>, there is no easy way to backup your UV digital movies. Digital content is downloaded as a binary file with no extension and a random string of alphanumeric characters (it is actually an mp4 file wrapped in their own DRM encoding). You can't really transfer this file anywhere because the target app you copy it into will not recognise the file. For every device you own and activate with UV, the file downloads with a different filename so it is impossible to map files between devices. D-U-M-B. They should have done it like iTunes where downloads happen as M4V files. Backup? Just copy the file out. Move to another PC/Mac/iPad/iPhone? Just copy the file in. No nonsense. No fuss. Compared to UV where I have had to download the exact same movie 4 times on 4 different devices just because their files are different.</li>
<li><span style="color: #cc0000;">You can only buy/redeem movies on the PC</span><br />
Yup. STOOPID. For a distribution method supposedly meant for portable devices, there is NO WAY to get new content without going back to your desktop and logging into individual websites. Some of you might think that you can browse websites on the portable device so why not do it there? Nope. Impossible. Most websites I've been too won't work with tablet browsers. Either the pages won't load or your code won't work (even though the same code works when used in desktop)</li>
</ol>So as much as possible, try to avoid UV like the plague until they give up trying to force consumers with another doomed format.<br />
OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-54258164507433342302013-03-30T16:11:00.000+08:002013-04-06T02:04:24.288+08:00The sad state of local arts sceneIts saddening to see the effect of lack of funding towards arts locally. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://performingartsfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/p_chowkit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="http://performingartsfunding.net/wp-content/uploads/p_chowkit.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
It starts off with a little known production called "Chow Kit Road! Chow Kit Road!" which is being produced by local company Masakini Theatre Co. Although initial publicity was adequate, as time progressed, hype and interest in the show started to wane. Recently, they were caught off guard when their main source of funding decided not to sponsor the show. <br />
<br />
Those that have never been involved in any major production need to know that the costs of running a show like this runs into the hundreds of thousands of ringgit if not millions. This amount goes into payment for the cast and crew, venue rentals for rehearsals and shows, external payments for media (lighting, AV, printing etc) and so forth. A major chunk of cash goes into royalties if the show uses commercial content or is a licensed production. Without sponsorship, a show basically grinds to a halt with a showstopping screech.<br />
<br />
<blockquote><i><span style="color: magenta;"><b>CKR!CKR!</b></span> basically uses the songs of the late Sudirman to narrate the life story of its main character. More details can be read on their webpage <a href="http://performingartsfunding.net/about-chow-kit-road/"><b>here</b> </a>but suffice to say it mostly resembles (as written) a local version of Rent!.</i></blockquote><br />
Although it is unclear why the sponsor decided to withdraw funding, it is equally disheartening to see the cast and crew which have putting so much effort only to hear news like this. It is not uncommon for things like this to happen since the arts is still viewed as more as a hobby as compared to other jobs like engineers or doctors where the so called 'ROI' is more clear cut and measureable.<br />
<br />
The problem now comes with how the production is to continue without funding. As it is, they have around less than two months to come up with the required cash to proceed and have thus resorted to crowdfunding which is found <a href="http://performingartsfunding.net/performing-arts-funding/" target="ckrckr"><b>here</b></a>. Main thing is that successful crowdfunding requires two things - a sizeable 'crowd' and a convincing plea delivery - of which <b style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: magenta;">CKR!CKR!</span></b> has none of. Based on whatever I can gather, tickets are selling slowly, there is not much interest save for a few active members and any social media sites are woefully lacking. <br />
<br />
Their crowdsourcing video with their director was uninspired and sounded as if she had given up and was forced to say something to fill in the dreadfully long and mostly empty 1.5 minutes. And what is with the old-film look to the video? It was badly filmed with low audio and has no real delivery goal. Recently, they added in another video with missiles and bombs which had no relation whatsoever to their plight and instead makes them look like their joking around. To a new visitor, it shows that the cast usually rehearse in a war torn country in a well equipped air-cond studio that is easily bombed?!?? WTF? Sad really.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Fx9XdqnooDPd8VoI0Ona2KmkjdXp_LJXsO2yCAV-nRSIxse9OkMbntq8-YmTcrv4JYyir6nfItNKBn7wJi_veepjIPQSHtMZRSlPgOm5gxCk8emFNLfriR5T4GVIzRrX9eYK7sfOcmyQ/s1600/masakinifail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Fx9XdqnooDPd8VoI0Ona2KmkjdXp_LJXsO2yCAV-nRSIxse9OkMbntq8-YmTcrv4JYyir6nfItNKBn7wJi_veepjIPQSHtMZRSlPgOm5gxCk8emFNLfriR5T4GVIzRrX9eYK7sfOcmyQ/s640/masakinifail.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>They need US$550,000. As of today they have US$282.00 which is 0.05% of their goal. They have 35 days to reach their goal. Which means they need to have at least one EXTREMELY generous donor or get ~US$15707.00 donations DAILY. Their so called 'plea' for people to donate US$1 (yes, I really do mean 'plea' with quotation marks because their video basically asks this as a question which is something that should never be done) means they need 15,000 people to donate daily which is pretty unreasonable when their facebook/twitter/social media sites roughly have around 300-400 likers/subscribers.<br />
<br />
Word of advice - find out how to do proper crowdsourcing videos (Google has plenty of help) and hit the social media sites fast! A plea needs to tell the viewer not just WHY they need the money but WHERE the money goes to and HOW it will be used. Get the cast/crew along to help in the plea to show it is a concerted effort instead of one desperate woman's plea. And for gawd sakes stop the FX videos ... they're just embarassing.OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-42058250648829199992013-02-16T16:06:00.000+08:002013-02-16T16:09:28.005+08:00iBooks or Kindle?Here's a comparison of both apps with the same book - Sway by Amber McRee Turner - on the Kindle app (purchase book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sway-ebook/dp/B007ZV2KDW?cor=US">here</a>) and on iBooks (purchase book <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sway/id524471673?mt=11">here</a>).<br />
<br />
Both books appear in their apps fairly similar and obviously the content is the same but the presentation is controlled by the app you read the book in. These are how the books appear on your 'shelves' in the apps. You can't resize the book 'sizes' in the apps but the Kindle does show a larger cover.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTHs25XhSOW8HomCImvPx_WMmWFBLRKOKFYdkL82QqUK4zfI-3VekgrQtbi808mBtQgvVL-ZJ2XA-6CT5NXUFpa_sGHCS2MhZ3YeLuWvnlYQqkm48ivpkrXgM_NJvz_hH1cNic6k0iehT/s1600/sway_library.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTHs25XhSOW8HomCImvPx_WMmWFBLRKOKFYdkL82QqUK4zfI-3VekgrQtbi808mBtQgvVL-ZJ2XA-6CT5NXUFpa_sGHCS2MhZ3YeLuWvnlYQqkm48ivpkrXgM_NJvz_hH1cNic6k0iehT/s320/sway_library.jpg" /></a></div><span class="posthidden" id="kindleibook"><br />
The Kindle app takes over the whole screen to show the book pages. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbYr6_LcNSPD2FLvHVRm2tQOIBNwpZfkSM3DMckRtmYF2BfVa4fkxPcwNZWcJMfbltKOuzPUkR1jV2XO9nJhUYqsc_-iq94z0-2FVjnP9bOu1bqnQLud3iAuw0ScPDXbm4Bz3S7TFIGcW/s1600/sway_kindle_firstpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrbYr6_LcNSPD2FLvHVRm2tQOIBNwpZfkSM3DMckRtmYF2BfVa4fkxPcwNZWcJMfbltKOuzPUkR1jV2XO9nJhUYqsc_-iq94z0-2FVjnP9bOu1bqnQLud3iAuw0ScPDXbm4Bz3S7TFIGcW/s320/sway_kindle_firstpg.jpg" /></a></div>Ibooks on the other hand shows the background slightly at the edge of the book.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4EqnFuQIDBUdMRMtexesbQzGpJVFYTTaiNTrSbkLicvG5jV7cgkkalDsPm1e8xnu2YhLAFkomzEzLi3uYTIZ6GWYKkbSDURrRWYt8L-u4qOM4FrLi2q-LIPxyIk88ZyJPV0rC8iSb2Ha/s1600/sway_ibook_firstpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_4EqnFuQIDBUdMRMtexesbQzGpJVFYTTaiNTrSbkLicvG5jV7cgkkalDsPm1e8xnu2YhLAFkomzEzLi3uYTIZ6GWYKkbSDURrRWYt8L-u4qOM4FrLi2q-LIPxyIk88ZyJPV0rC8iSb2Ha/s320/sway_ibook_firstpg.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Tap on the centre of the page and both apps show hidden options for font/colour/text settings. The Kindle has slightly more options compared to the ibooks app. The usual options to increase and decrease font size and contrast are present but the Kindle app also adds options to increase and decrease line spacing as well as change between single and double column layouts (only available in landscape mode). Font selections are minimal but there is always a "publisher font" to allow for unique fonts embedded into the kindle book.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TxVz8s83OijGu9f-xNdBQSethIlNR_WUkyLBZncv222Iu9HZV2-7QpoqlKKzya5LaJtRm02d-N9SnH5N4-MCHzbuJ3ypnbM0RjhtTPtNkDB1urgATMoCuNX446cid4EGWVRLBr8ADc99/s1600/sway_kindle_options.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_TxVz8s83OijGu9f-xNdBQSethIlNR_WUkyLBZncv222Iu9HZV2-7QpoqlKKzya5LaJtRm02d-N9SnH5N4-MCHzbuJ3ypnbM0RjhtTPtNkDB1urgATMoCuNX446cid4EGWVRLBr8ADc99/s320/sway_kindle_options.png" /></a></div><br />
Comparing the ibook app, the options for font size and contrast perform the same tasks as the Kindle app (or maybe its the other way around?). The unique option in the ibook app is the availability to show book content as a continuous stream instead of page by page (the full screen option removes the 'borders' mentioned earlier)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVCqs9VNmimmFIUdTqt4u3A_vNM6rAj3Tsi6Ma5NfR3a5DaVQUHtevX2gHvYFHXk0WdFt2ElRCIUciBaR6VPkukqp8y8yp0qeb4x1e2aaVmVAxoIq3qQ-tZm_6xB7mVavj8HAEVr5K-2C/s1600/sway_ibook_option2.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVCqs9VNmimmFIUdTqt4u3A_vNM6rAj3Tsi6Ma5NfR3a5DaVQUHtevX2gHvYFHXk0WdFt2ElRCIUciBaR6VPkukqp8y8yp0qeb4x1e2aaVmVAxoIq3qQ-tZm_6xB7mVavj8HAEVr5K-2C/s320/sway_ibook_option2.png" /></a></div><br />
The Kindle app allows normal, sepia and night time modes for viewing books and this is how they look like.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUO_UpVTappmKdHQjPTQc5srQwI-i7oWw1wUJQADZinrdYiIYYtP2jb4AYRRiRJ8hg6mq4WjfzDjiAjAY6bYCFXjXrZhYfw2vKZ9LbAWP0YR60qZkfL_Oz0Box5BNZdJZCAb_dpv6ZNg0/s1600/sway_kindle_whitesepianite.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWUO_UpVTappmKdHQjPTQc5srQwI-i7oWw1wUJQADZinrdYiIYYtP2jb4AYRRiRJ8hg6mq4WjfzDjiAjAY6bYCFXjXrZhYfw2vKZ9LbAWP0YR60qZkfL_Oz0Box5BNZdJZCAb_dpv6ZNg0/s320/sway_kindle_whitesepianite.jpg" /></a></div>The ibook app has the same options (called themes) and displays the same content as the Kindle but note how the ibook app tries to tint images to match the background as opposed to the Kindle app in which the images always remain bright white in nightime mode.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaq429FuZ5yqRta_jOWPs3huPbKhrfoE0SUk8on0Qc7L9Ix-YUJxoKVUjZ1YUrPGB-ZimZv_KlLjCS_Kz0d_kWiaJvZXprwyIUIwe2_9iqljEP12dd0HUSPwpmFTg5BKYnIMY9zE4-q9bc/s1600/sway_ibook_whitesepianite.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaq429FuZ5yqRta_jOWPs3huPbKhrfoE0SUk8on0Qc7L9Ix-YUJxoKVUjZ1YUrPGB-ZimZv_KlLjCS_Kz0d_kWiaJvZXprwyIUIwe2_9iqljEP12dd0HUSPwpmFTg5BKYnIMY9zE4-q9bc/s320/sway_ibook_whitesepianite.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Screenshot below show the normal, minimum and maximum font sizes available for this particular book.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptoC2CD6s9RuzjMSRjGO7GnVsZwYeDOEAVXbrSB_M3BEIprHHVElaRja2rN23sUMX8hIdyP3oMWpTQ2D3R6nOKqXL2u5La6lNuJMM0SQq-mB1yS-hflXywa0gXGi41lAgXG0VSkKPp9uy/s1600/sway_kindle_size.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptoC2CD6s9RuzjMSRjGO7GnVsZwYeDOEAVXbrSB_M3BEIprHHVElaRja2rN23sUMX8hIdyP3oMWpTQ2D3R6nOKqXL2u5La6lNuJMM0SQq-mB1yS-hflXywa0gXGi41lAgXG0VSkKPp9uy/s320/sway_kindle_size.jpg" /></a> </div><br />
Comparitively, the ibooks app screenshot below shows the normal, minimum and maximum font sizes. You'll notice that the Kindle app manages to show a smaller minimum font size and the ibook app has the larger maximum font size - although both extremes are basically impossible and impractical to use anyways.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIv6tlrhCgEBMk5NPga9J8w0LuTzaH8JtaYwUAj4geyg21w3FPRrH6WFV_H4nZGP9CPQ9pAKiOZQiXVpXs1SOsA2zEV_y5nyHwd1fPgSFGCwueDv0NMoswkfxhx3lT9jb1VAal77BDI-O7/s1600/sway_ibook_size.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIv6tlrhCgEBMk5NPga9J8w0LuTzaH8JtaYwUAj4geyg21w3FPRrH6WFV_H4nZGP9CPQ9pAKiOZQiXVpXs1SOsA2zEV_y5nyHwd1fPgSFGCwueDv0NMoswkfxhx3lT9jb1VAal77BDI-O7/s320/sway_ibook_size.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Landscape mode on the Kindle app defaults to a single column layout but the options allows for a switch to a easier to read two-column layout so that each sentence does not extend too long.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4FUS_tbCRebhiOKtHlo32mYgUxhYkM3YZFHbPICcgBVj4LZ1jtshwGytwKPgB7hC9eQc106UuAOXBK4VWqK2L3rdQw3CCagbvk9aNNbFecZDRo1Vr2LR2vz29JpRFBuwD8CwZC9rn5Pm/s1600/sway_kindle_landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF4FUS_tbCRebhiOKtHlo32mYgUxhYkM3YZFHbPICcgBVj4LZ1jtshwGytwKPgB7hC9eQc106UuAOXBK4VWqK2L3rdQw3CCagbvk9aNNbFecZDRo1Vr2LR2vz29JpRFBuwD8CwZC9rn5Pm/s320/sway_kindle_landscape.jpg" /></a><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO4wQFb-ALqH_2748qThnJB53zn_9WW9Cs3uLVb8zRs_35pcgHXvOTP8vrY-vAXHTyTM-j0Who6ARGGfuJ2Od3S91c611klCj_50M54STqLn2FH7Fa3AT9Dv-tFxZ_-YhkxyHLlqPcrZY/s1600/sway_kindle_landscape2.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbO4wQFb-ALqH_2748qThnJB53zn_9WW9Cs3uLVb8zRs_35pcgHXvOTP8vrY-vAXHTyTM-j0Who6ARGGfuJ2Od3S91c611klCj_50M54STqLn2FH7Fa3AT9Dv-tFxZ_-YhkxyHLlqPcrZY/s320/sway_kindle_landscape2.jpg" /></a></div><br />
In the ibook app, the landscape mode always displays as a two page book spread ... I personally like how the little details like the shadow cast in the middle spine of the book is rendered to make the book 'feel' 3D-ish.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEogCS7Ovs6Jv7dOVC42T158l53VJ-w9ObJSp8CGILXhyphenhyphenWms6ih-rG22PJEcsZbLMBGYA8-mgNIJE3KeV8jkOul_0AKAOgKc7UMtXaVG7RyPnqRjFeRAHP14P50t9tErKWFzBNom_Lh2t3/s1600/sway_ibook_landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEogCS7Ovs6Jv7dOVC42T158l53VJ-w9ObJSp8CGILXhyphenhyphenWms6ih-rG22PJEcsZbLMBGYA8-mgNIJE3KeV8jkOul_0AKAOgKc7UMtXaVG7RyPnqRjFeRAHP14P50t9tErKWFzBNom_Lh2t3/s320/sway_ibook_landscape.jpg" /></a></div><br />
So ... which app is better? Well, both apps have very strong pros and cons.<br />
<br />
Kindle Pros<br />
<ul><li>Smaller app size</li>
<li>More books available in the Kindle Store - and more free options</li>
<li>Flexibility to view and sync books on the app (both iOS/Android), Kindle readers, web app (using Google Chrome) or with the Kindle application on PC platforms</li>
<li>Has some iOS enhanced books that only work with the Kindle iOS app - mainly because of animations/videos</li>
</ul><br />
Kindle Cons<br />
<ul><li>Many books are unavailable outside of the US region (but workarounds possible)</li>
<li>Less interaction/interactivity in books - mainly as display only</li>
<li>Syncing takes time - especially with a large library</li>
<li>Although app size is smaller, overall data usage is larger in the Kindle app because of syncing</li>
<li>No control over what displays in the library - shows all books in account</li>
</ul><br />
iBooks Pros<br />
<ul><li>Many tie-in books are available for free</li>
<li>iBooks offer more interactivity - especially in kid books and textbooks</li>
<li>More reference books and educational books available</li>
<li>Less region restrictions</li>
<li>More control over syncing and library display</li>
</ul><br />
iBooks Cons<br />
<ul><li>Smaller selection of books in comparison</li>
<li>Less 'free' optons availablt</li>
<li>Only readable on the iOS app</li>
<li>Larger app size</li>
</ul><br />
General Pros<br />
<ul><li>Both apps offer options to sync to your own ebooks and PDFs</li>
<li>Both offer subscription based services (although the ibooks option is through the newstand instead)</li>
</ul><br />
General Cons<br />
<ul><li>You don't own any of the ebooks you've purchased - both iTunes and Kindle store is allowed to delete books from your account based on their discretion</li>
</ul><br />
</SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('kindleibook','4205825064882919999')">..... Show/hide full post</A>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-3763465227588667252013-02-08T23:20:00.001+08:002013-02-08T23:58:50.000+08:00Facebook isn't private at all ... so why are you posting your shit online?Most facebook users would have seen the useless post about asking your friends to "unsubscribe from my posts" or something along the lines of not wanting to spam your timeline/feed. Although it does work to some extent (it doesn't really hide anything - just stops publishing to a friend's wall ... they can still see it if they want to) it does nothing to protect your privacy online.<br />
<br />
Facebook is unfortunately very 'open' and may actually violate some privacy T&Cs. After numerous attempts at setting/resetting options in the profile pages this is what I have found out.<br />
<br />
<span class="posthidden" id="fbsafe"><b><u>All your actions remain public as long as you are friends with me</u></b><br />
Yup ... whatever you like/unlike/share/post/tag/subscribe can be seen by everyone. If you chose to post all your actions online they remain as a live feed on a ticker which is updated in real-time. [PS: If you don't see a ticker, that means your account is either dormant, inactive, insufficient feeds etc ... see <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/184242534997259/" target="fbticker">this</a> for official statement from FB]<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3CZMlFxfZunxHfT91z80kGsQPw8oCBV3JTbdqkov05nAzGIkJKzTT4YbhRlun8YroaXOZUXtc_zEXvqqzWk8xbhGScVpOxSVQtlIfulU7PFcP4CjqFL_-KGE8y4Jz8KteAOY0TWLolI0/s1600/fbticker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="117" width="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg3CZMlFxfZunxHfT91z80kGsQPw8oCBV3JTbdqkov05nAzGIkJKzTT4YbhRlun8YroaXOZUXtc_zEXvqqzWk8xbhGScVpOxSVQtlIfulU7PFcP4CjqFL_-KGE8y4Jz8KteAOY0TWLolI0/s400/fbticker.jpg" /></a></div>Most people never notice the ticker because by default, the ticker is hidden at the top right of your newsfeed page. Mouseover and you see the dropdown menu for "Show ticker" .... by watching the feed scroll through for a while, I've noticed my friends have pretty weird tastes and likings.<br />
<br />
<u><b>Published e-mail address</b></u><br />
Facebook used to publish your e-mail address (the one you signed up with when you created your account) on your profile page - unless you chose to hide it. Using your email address, a simple search on Google would reveal some pretty interesting (and sometimes shocking) information about your friends.<br />
<br />
Luckily, FB tried to block this privacy loophole by quitely replacing all your e-mail addresses with a computer generated one ending with @facebook.com. If you never noticed this, then go to your profile page and you'll see your new facebook email address which people can send email to (and it will appear as a message on your feed). You are free to change this back to your own address but why would you want to?<br />
<br />
<b><u>Usernames</u></b><br />
So facebook evaded the privacy issue with emails ... it will never be able to solve the next problem - that humans are really lazy @$$holes.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYSo4xZWDbnOJfWESicXglbX6IVfwuRDD1rbP2fOGZpIlUDQQLth7cjwhftQzsVyUynY8JtULrE1x5NU4Yuyp7bPSTAfd-f_qmfHG_iWLLsVSKpPu10YJc69xYRPV22d2PWeegrWveicS/s1600/laziness_16ca71da-4189-4deb-948a-ed871aebb9d5%255B1%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcYSo4xZWDbnOJfWESicXglbX6IVfwuRDD1rbP2fOGZpIlUDQQLth7cjwhftQzsVyUynY8JtULrE1x5NU4Yuyp7bPSTAfd-f_qmfHG_iWLLsVSKpPu10YJc69xYRPV22d2PWeegrWveicS/s400/laziness_16ca71da-4189-4deb-948a-ed871aebb9d5%255B1%255D.jpg" /></a></div>Ask yourself this, how many accounts do you have (email, banking, forum, etc) that use the same USERNAME you have on facebook now? Take that username and feed it into your favourite search engine and you may be surprised what turns up. On my last check, I have friends subscribed to S&M forums, hentai sites, LGBT forums, religion based sites etc ..... the list goes on and on. Note that this flaw won't work if you let facebook auto generate a user name for you (which I recommend for all sites)<br />
<br />
<b><u>Some funny algorithm ... which I'm still figuring out</u></b><br />
Go to a friends facebook page - look for his/her friend list - start clicking around the friends on their list. Then click on your friend's subscriptions/likes and do the same with the friends of your friends (i.e. check out their subscriptions/likes and so on). Sooner or later, on YOUR OWN facebook news feed you will see a suggested friends or suggested posts (especially if using the facebook app on ios or android) of whatever your friend (and friends of friend) subscribed to or liked eventhough they were hidden from their timeline.<br />
<br />
Believe me ... it gets creepy what some people like.<br />
<br />
There are probably other ways you can facebook stalk someone but these are the most obvious ones I've found so far ... and for those on MY facebook friends list, don't worry - your secret(s) are safe with me and will remain as such till the day I die.<br />
<br />
</SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('fbsafe','376346522758866725')">..... Show/hide full post</A><br />
OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-51419723549912690362013-01-26T16:40:00.000+08:002013-01-26T16:40:52.462+08:00Its finally overAfter a very tiring and hectic semester, I've reached the final week and will finally have time to myself for other things instead of work / assignments / lectures / meetings / paperwork / shit.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW4dDlZrduzjW8xlpfiDhQqbV_GzLDj4O_OSwdyK661mvAAxmY4gbYpu7r14sW6R1ndhxAGLd-tLyBiImpv_irpMqF2tYYHT0IwU_tv-r1YY4MznYb8G3LnI52fiNXyrRmYFoEmC1sQyBq/s1600/tumblr_lvavv19p8L1qk9qdso1_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="225" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW4dDlZrduzjW8xlpfiDhQqbV_GzLDj4O_OSwdyK661mvAAxmY4gbYpu7r14sW6R1ndhxAGLd-tLyBiImpv_irpMqF2tYYHT0IwU_tv-r1YY4MznYb8G3LnI52fiNXyrRmYFoEmC1sQyBq/s400/tumblr_lvavv19p8L1qk9qdso1_400.jpg" /></a></div><br />
OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-14637188388019189942012-11-30T16:12:00.001+08:002012-11-30T16:16:53.875+08:00Block iOS app updates without jailbreakingMedia player apps on the iOS platform are being targeted by Dolby for patent licensing issues and are forced to remove support for AC3/E-ACE/TrueHD(MLP) audio decoding. This causes many files to playback without audio unless they are re-encoded. Users of the apps have been complaining (to deaf ears I suppose) because if they updated the app without keeping a backup copy, there is no way to return to the older version without jailbreaking and downloading a cracked app.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNNXi_x6JLCiCUor_zqVMCMWTVnInPO7ecXXpzDD5U-JMAwll8lYLliTkLIMBSjyqV7vJzf5TF9in-orqHXB5UebE21lCZgo_rk3Ir0-AMhq2iqjRwvab5qXS7RDQ9iGvzN_k5dV_zEp3/s1600/appstorepre.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVNNXi_x6JLCiCUor_zqVMCMWTVnInPO7ecXXpzDD5U-JMAwll8lYLliTkLIMBSjyqV7vJzf5TF9in-orqHXB5UebE21lCZgo_rk3Ir0-AMhq2iqjRwvab5qXS7RDQ9iGvzN_k5dV_zEp3/s400/appstorepre.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><span class="posthidden" id="updatestop"><br />
If you are the lucky ones that still have older versions of the apps on your device that still decode Dolby audio, then comes the dilemma of the various update notifications in the appstore. Because of these apps requiring update you can't just tap on the [Update All] button at the top but must go thru them one-by-one. If you have JB'd your device you can install from the cydia appstore something like Update Hider, <a href="http://moreinfo.thebigboss.org/moreinfo/depiction.php?file=otabegoneDp">OTA Begone</a> or <a href="http://apt.thebigboss.org/packagesfordev.php?name=No%20AppStore%20Badges&uuid=&ua=Mozilla/5.0%20(Windows%20NT%206.1)%20AppleWebKit/537.11%20(KHTML,%20like%20Gecko)%20Chrome/23.0.1271.64%20Safari/537.11&ip=210.195.216.17&id=210.195.216.17">No Appstore Badges</a> to disable the updates. <br />
<br />
For those still on un-JBd iOS devices there is another way to do it without having to JB. You need a desktop PC/workstation and download and run<a href="http://www.i-funbox.com/" target="ifun">iFunBox</a> for the platform (Mac/Windows only). Navigate to the classic tab on the top and locate your application's sandbox folder. On the right-panel, locate the iTunesMetadata.plist file. Then there are two ways to disable the updates from appearing in the appstore. First is just to delete the entire iTunesMetadata.plist file. The app will still continue to work but will NEVER update because when the update page is selected in the appstore, no metadata for that particular app will be sent to check for updates. Problem with this method is that if you sync with iTunes on your desktop often, it will create a error message prompt. You can ignore this message because it is mostly complaining that it cannot sync the app properly to create a backup copy with your desktop or iCloud - all other apps and content will sync normally. If you never sync using iTunes you will not get any error messages.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWhaky_AY6cE-8Oku5k-oHXMu_m671YzSHVZhaNNkwKdEA2uMr9HRd947CzBQcXbZB4NZKaV8PE-SL9rBVHJDCqus9TWneVUvONZZG6FmQgSIT47qzQsLnufNI3iHrF928z8nUetc00Fi/s1600/iosupdate1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWhaky_AY6cE-8Oku5k-oHXMu_m671YzSHVZhaNNkwKdEA2uMr9HRd947CzBQcXbZB4NZKaV8PE-SL9rBVHJDCqus9TWneVUvONZZG6FmQgSIT47qzQsLnufNI3iHrF928z8nUetc00Fi/s400/iosupdate1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The second method is to copy the <b><i>iTunesMetadata.plist</i></b> file onto your desktop and open the file for editing in your favourite text editor (e.g. notepad, notepad++ etc). Locate the fields for <b><i>softwareVersionExternalIdentifier </i></b>and <b><i>softwareVersionExternalIdentifiers </i></b>which are usually near the bottom. Delete those keys and the associated values immediately after (usually between an <integer>XXXX</integer> for the external and <array>XXX</array> for the internal) Save the file and copy back into the app sandbox overwriting the existing file. Now if you reopen the appstore the update would be gone but the apps still works the same and you can safely do an [Update All] in the appstore and the other apps remain unupdated forever. In some cases, I had to delete the softwareversionBundleId too .... YMMV, so do a backup before attempting.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibzxn2LSzj8iXHX8yLayTP5Rjp2jFN8krfLaapptHviiTi0KqzT7-OXYna9FqqgEA-IaZi89YabA_FFZkREZtpaeLHHKwBhX5suviXeNc75fSR6izBZcNfTgN75DFVVWjbFrd3UWrj30sb/s1600/iosupdate2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibzxn2LSzj8iXHX8yLayTP5Rjp2jFN8krfLaapptHviiTi0KqzT7-OXYna9FqqgEA-IaZi89YabA_FFZkREZtpaeLHHKwBhX5suviXeNc75fSR6izBZcNfTgN75DFVVWjbFrd3UWrj30sb/s400/iosupdate2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></SPAN><a href="javascript:expandcollapse('updatestop','1463718838801918994')">..... Show/hide full post</A><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="color: #cc0000; font-size: x-small;">DISCLOSURE WARNING! I do not provide any guarantees that this will work on your iOS device although they have been tested to work on an iPad 2 and 3. Any results from attempting these steps are your own consequences and I will NOT bear any responsibility for any harm/error/crashes/failures/corruption/death/injury caused to yourself or your device.</span></i></div>OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2725757398438894324.post-55815248033969661982012-09-24T15:05:00.000+08:002012-09-24T15:05:00.256+08:00ARGH! I'm a digital hoarder tooEvery few weeks or so, I go to Amazon's Kindle section and click on every free Kindle book there. Turns out I've amassed over 1220 books ever since and I've only fully read from start to finish 5 of them.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrURCOdGjF6hcPA-Ahg-WfzC9rZ18kYUUI9AHFkIf8rz4ZQiXerdxpTOTZntqdAXVwRlPB3kxnbJdwJc3hH_-9aTCDRkjqtzzUmZlmIZhJI86a2BzoOsRo-IdYLDowlzUNGnUmGcAvYNP/s1600/IMG_0800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="300" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVrURCOdGjF6hcPA-Ahg-WfzC9rZ18kYUUI9AHFkIf8rz4ZQiXerdxpTOTZntqdAXVwRlPB3kxnbJdwJc3hH_-9aTCDRkjqtzzUmZlmIZhJI86a2BzoOsRo-IdYLDowlzUNGnUmGcAvYNP/s400/IMG_0800.jpg" /></a></div><br />
It gets worse ... 'cos I have 91 books on iBooks too<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHZRJ4fOswd3jduFSLa7QZ0DjsLX5lmrtkPEcqx94LLwAzd6JrU7ao9IsSrTZHabWq3e7vcj1oHiaNM4-Ub5zLjUYbMdhT3eqHCAdFL4AoFWkfiHAnLK2EfWiSRl7lHj1JqGY1SurAmv-C/s1600/IMG_0801.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="400" width="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHZRJ4fOswd3jduFSLa7QZ0DjsLX5lmrtkPEcqx94LLwAzd6JrU7ao9IsSrTZHabWq3e7vcj1oHiaNM4-Ub5zLjUYbMdhT3eqHCAdFL4AoFWkfiHAnLK2EfWiSRl7lHj1JqGY1SurAmv-C/s400/IMG_0801.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I give up trying to track apps on IOS ... last count was at 3884 with the most expensive being US$32.99 ... and even that was free. OSPGhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10979259748223823063noreply@blogger.com0