tylerTech Blog

I ran a speed test this evening. Wow its fast.

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Slimmer PS3 is here!

The gaming console that made the blueray player cheap has now dropped a slimmer design in our laps! September, this console should launch with a price point of $300. This is really cool, and it makes any “early adopter” look like they adopted a ps3 with an eating problem. More at Engadget

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Android and T-Mobile

Everyone knows that Android and Tmobile are today’s hot couple in the tech world. I have had a Tmo G1 (HTC Dream) since around March and I love it. I was originally promised by the people at my local Tmobile shop that 3G would launch in Spokane, WA in April, so I was stoked. However, the real date was August 12 of this year. So for the last few days, I have been loving my new 3G experience. I can now lord over the iPhone owners who feel they have something over me (3G).

However, news lately has said that no future pastry updates will be given to the G1 and that cupcake is it.  Tmoble has claimed that this is not the truth, but frankly I think HTC dropped the ball on the Dream (G1) by not including enough internal flash memory. This puts pressure on developers to find a solution using micro-SDHC technology. If they can find a way of using the sd memory to store system files (assuming you don’t yank the card out while the phone is running) you have limitless room for development of better ROMs.

I have begun to learn Java as a way of proving new apps to the Android marketplace, and I don’t fully understand the complexities of the way the Android system works, so there might be another reason why you cant use the external memory to store system stuff. Oh well, it will be fun to see how the hacker community takes little or no official support for their device. It will be like the AT&T and Samsung dropped support for the Blackjack I at Windows Mobile 6.0, and the hacker community took up arms and developed some sick 6.1 ROMs for that device.

It is all a waiting game…

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OpenSolaris and data integrety.

Due to a friend of mine’s advice, I recently took the plunge back into Linux. My previous experience with UNIX-based platforms (besides using a MacBook as my daily driver, who counts that right?), have been very bad. I have never been able to manage well on any UNIX-like platform before. This was until last semester during my computer science class. I had to learn C++ in a linux lab and I managed to do ok after learning how to function in a terminal. We used some version of CentOS.

I got into a discussion about Matt’s (SliceofUNIX) new project to build a fileserver. He had been telling me about some good luck he had with this new file system called “ZFS.” While I dont really understand the specifics of it, because file systems are not really my area of expertise outside of knowing the difference between FAT32 and NTFS in a Windows environment, he did explain to me that it operates like a RAID, and a better one at that, constantly error checking and making it easy to setup and expand. So my quest into OpenSolaris began.

Those of you looking for advice on OpenSolaris should continue to Matt’s page ^^^ up there. He has quite a few tutorials on how to do things he has had trouble getting through on the platform.

Because of his advice, it got me thinking of data integrity. Basically, I have single copies of much of my data on external hard drives. Much of it is kept off of my machine simply because having hundreds of GB of music and movies is a waste of precious internal space on my laptop. I decided I want an over-the-network solution to my data integrety needs. However, I haven’t really gotten far enoguh into the idea to do anything about it. I currently have OpenSolaris setup as a fileserver with a ZFS containing a 160GB and 80GB drive I happened to have hanging around. It only makes a zpool, which combines their capacity into one large drive, unline the ZFS I want to do with four 1TB drives giving me 2TB of space, having the ability to lose 2 drives, and none of my data.

I will keep you posted on progress as the semester continues.

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Netbooks are Awesome; for some people.

I work at an IT job for a smallish university. We have recently begun testing netbooks for our staff and faculty members. The funny thing about these netbooks is their ridiculously small size and the big expectations that come with them. We have given out approximately 15 of these so called “computers” to various members of the university over the past 3 weeks for testing purposes. I can grant these netbooks their intent, they are small, ultra portable laptops designed for simplicity, portability and battery life. However, most people dont seem to realize, unless they have at LEAST 2GB of RAM, they are simply unusable. We developed a spanked down image for these little beasts of burden so that we can have a standard XP image for the lot of them, yet they only shipped with 1GB, requiring us to upgrade them all in the fiend. The model we are issuing is the IdeaPad S12. I feel these laptops are useless to anyone outside of a tech job for a couple of reasons.

1) End-users are stupid most of the time. This leads them to assume computers are magic boxes of electricity that somehow magically work. This is the type of person who double clicks repeatedly on Internet Explorer when it doesn’t launch immediately, then wonders why 800 copies open simultaneously. Because of this, they are not qualified to handle a netbook, which by it’s very nature is a slower piece of hardware

2) Because of 1, IT (or like-minded consumers)  are only capable of using these laptops properly with the proper OS. They aren’t functional with a standard XP image on them. These laptops are best suited by a Linux Distro or a Hackintosh build, both of which are not suited to end-users.
If you are considering getting a netbook, don’t.

I will however.

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Apple still profiting

Turns out Apple is doing well despite my thoughts that without Steve Jobs running the show they would drive into the ground. According to them they are having the “best non-holiday quarter [in terms of] revenue and earnings”. This is happening while thousands are losin their jobs and we are experiencing one of the worse recessions since the great depression. Somehow, they manage to sell plenty of iPods and iPhones despite this.

However, they aparently are not interested in developing a netbook. Stupid Apple.

Engadget has more stuff on it.

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Jailbreaking your 3.0 iPod Touch/iPhone

So a big problem I encountered with jailbreaking my device on 3.0 was the error message:

“Internal Error, Could not perform immediate configuration (2) on essential”

So the way you fix this problem is to rejailbreak the device with redsn0w 0.7.2. When you get the option to install Cydia and/or Icy, select ONLY Cydia and continue with the jailbreak. This will keep Icy on your device and will fix the permissions issues with Cydia.

If you appreciate it, email me about it!
author (at) spilky.com

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iPhone 3G S and 3.0 are out! Shipping Delays!

While I may not ever plan on owning an iPhone, simply because I have a G1 and I have the Android bug. I think the new 3G S is still pretty spiffy. Its cool that Apple came into the new age with everyone else by adding copy/paste, picture messaging, and a real compass… All of these are things my G1 was shipped with. It is really stupid though that AT&T hasn’t released MMS messaging yet, nor does it look like they will include tethering in their data plans, likely to be an extra charge. So greedy. Don’t get me started on my thoughts on carriers. *cough*here*cough*

Now you can navigate while spelunking when you dont have a GPS signal

Not only are new iPhone owners happy about the new devices they will be getting, they are also peeved about Apple’s decision to delay the receipt of their precious babies. How annoying is that to see a delivery date of tomorrow and see that Apple forked over extra money to delay your happiness.

I have a MacBook, but I think Apple is already seeing its decline in a post- Steve Jobs world. I mean we already see that Disney might be in trouble with the underage Miley Cyrus scandal (according to 4chan, ha!), read about it HERE. Her PR people claim it is a hoax and that it isn’t really her. If it is, I just don’t see how hard it is for celebrities to just have a “I’m not going to let you take pictures of me while I’m blowing you” policy. I haven’t seen these alleged photos, as Miley Cyrus is 16 years old, and that is morally wrong to seek them out. However, if they are real, isn’t she dating the Jonas Brothers? I think they would be pissed since the alleged photos don’t involve them, although I think Disney could attract a whole new fan base to replace the Christan yuppies if they did something like that.

I hope this showed the Christian Right that they have to be less uptight and realize that even the most innocent, pure, “sex icon” is still a human and therefore, can still have sex. Let me know what you think in an email to: author@spilky.com

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MMS/Copy/Paste are upgrades?

Tomorrow is the big day. Apple announces it’s 3.0 software update. There are speculations that this update will be the most innovative of all of the software updates to date! Such Apple innovations such as MMS, background applications and copy/paste features!!!

As you can probably tell, I am speaking ironically, and I have nothing but grievances against Apple’s software on their iPhone and iPod Touch (Family Guy). Granted, they are very well marketed, they are sexy as hell, and have a very functional developer backing… however these things come at great limitations. The developers are shrugged into a corner as to what they can do with the platform and there are arbitrary guidelines in place which limit what they can put in the app store anyway!

Case in point is that recently Tweetie 1.3 was denied from the app store for offensive language on Twitter. That is like banning the Safari app because more than half of the Internet is pornography! Not that censorship of any kind is OK, it just shows that Apple is very wrong in their choices.

Also, how are people excited about copying and pasting… and how are they allowing Apple to get away with giving them copy and paste as a “feature?” That is basic functionality folks… they should be demanding blood for not having it. MMS too. Any phone that is incapable of sending and receiving photos shouldn’t be on sale in America today. If I send a picture of something to someone, they better damn well be able to see it.

For these reasons, I support the iPhone Dev Team and everything they are doing. Granted, you don’t get the same kind of open developing that you get from the Android platform (hopefully that opens up some more as well), but it’s a start. You can at least do unapproved Apple things and submit them to Cydia. Everyone that has an Apple device should unlock their hardware. It belongs to you, you should be able to make the most of what it’s capabilities are. I have an iPod Touch and an HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) and I love the combination of these two devices. They are very powerful together.

I will have another post tomorrow (hopefully!) about the 3.0 update.

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The Cookie is Taunting me

So someone decided to bring cookies in. I had like 6 of them AHHHH. So much for bringing a V8 and a granola bar to have a more “healthy lunch” since I forgot my mac n cheese at home. I might as well go home and eat it too. lol

I need a gym buddy to keep me motivated. Hell, I want it to warm up, I really want to hike/camp this summer.

For the record though, I didnt eat the last cookie. YES! Now to go drink 5000 calories of beer this weekend! Oh no!

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