Is You Geeked Up? | Technology Blog for the Computer Geek | isyougeekedup.com

Let’s face it, the stock screen protector supplied with the HTC Touch Pro sucks.  It’s too difficult to install since it leaves very little room for error.  If you are off by 1mm, the screen protector will hang of the side just a little.  Over time, the edge of the screen protector will pull up and  all the dust and lint inside your pocket will dig into the screen protector.  Eventually, the whole screen protector will come right off the screen, leaving it naked and prone to scratches.  This is exactly what happened to me after 2 weeks of using the stock screen protector.

Scratches along the top (click to enlarge)

When I first got my HTC Touch Pro, I immediately looked at an InvisibleSHIELD product to protect my device.  However, they didnot have one developed at the time the HTC Touch Pro was released.  I just checked their website recently, and to my surprise, they finally have them in stock.  HURRAY!

Supposedly, the same material used in the screen and body protectors are also used in helicopter blades to protect them from debris.  The film is only .2mm thick (2 tenths of a millimeter) and is scratch-proof.  The video on their website is more than enough proof of the InvisibleSHIELD’s capabilities.

Scratches around the bottom and a dent from being dropped onto wood floor from 4ft high (click to enlarge)

Not only does the InvisibleSHIELD protect the screen, it also protects the entire body of the phone.  This is extremely important to me because I don’t use a belt clip or holster and I hate bulky silicone cases.  Bulky cases seem to defeat the purpose of having a small, portable phone.  However, with the InvisibleSHIELD installed, the phone won’t get any thicker and it becomes protected from drops.   I can’t count the number of times I’ve left my cell phone in my lap while driving, then eventually getting out of the car and having the phone fall from my lap onto the pavement.  With the InvisibleSHIELD, I can finally put my worries to ease.

I put my order for an InvisibleSHIELD in today.  It should be here sometime next week or the week afterwards.  Once I get it, I’ll write a review and post some pictures.  In the meantime, take a look at the pictures to see what I’m griping about.

Almost all of us have come to the point where we had to reinstall our operating system whether it be Windows, Linux, or MacOS.  Typically, it would take me about 2 hours on a good day to rebuild a machine by completely reinstalling Windows XP, all drivers, and standard software like Firefox, Office, etc.   However, restoring a system using imaging software such as Acronis True Image takes only 20 minutes.   While I don’t reinstall often, it is a pain when I have to.  This is where making an image of your PC can come in handy; you won’t have to manually restore everything because you will be able to restore an image.

Making an “image” basically means taking a snapshot (image) of all of the data on your hard drive and storing it in a file which can be restored at a later date.  The image contains your operating system (like Windows XP), all files which were on your computer when you made the image, and all configuration settings like your Windows product key, computer name, etc.

When an image is made, you can choose what to make an image of, whether it be a couple of folders or the whole hard drive.  Typically, the image is compressed to save space, and can then be stored anywhere you want.  It would be a good idea to store the image file on a separate hard drive, like an external hard drive, in the event that your main hard drive dies.  If that happens, you’ll still have your image in a safe place.

Once you have reinstalled the operating system on a computer, installed all the drivers, configured your settings, and installed your necessary software, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to make an image.  Making an image takes roughly 20-30 minutes (or longer depending on how much data) and then takes about the same time to restore.

The imaging software I recommend is the Acronis True Image series.  Because of the intuitive backup and restore wizards, the software is extremely easy to use with lots of customization.  Another thing I really like about the Acronis True Image products is that it lets you create a boot CD which contains all of the same backup and restore utilities found in the main program.  This means that you won’t have to load the software onto the PC being imaged; you can just pop in the boot CD and make an image.  The image can then be stored in a variety of places such as a hard drive in the PC, a network share, and USB drive.

When the time comes to restore your image because of say, a virus or corrupted system files, the boot CD can be used to restore the image.  Just boot from the CD and use the restore wizard to restore your image to your hard drive.  You’ll then have a fully functioning system ready to go, in a fraction of the time it would take you to manually reinstall all of the software!  This is a fairly common practice used by many IT companies to cut down on time spent

While the HTC Touch Pro comes with an array of applications loaded by default, there are a few good programs they left out, like Google Maps.  After sorting through tons of applications for Windows Mobile, I’ve come up with a list of useful programs to load onto your virgin Touch Pro.

• Advanced Configuration Tool - This program allows you to tweak all sorts of settings
• CorePlayer - Media player.  Plays almost all music/video formats and has better streaming capabilities than the stock Windows Media Player.  TCPMP is not working on the Touch Pro (yet), so this is the next best thing.
• Diamond TF3D Config - Although the program was made for the Touch Diamond, it will work on the Touch Pro.  If you’re using TouchFlo3D, this program will allow you re-arrange the tabs as well as remove unwanted tabs.
• GMobileSync - If you use Google Calendar, this program will allow you to sync your Google Calendar to your phone.  You may get an error after syncing, but don’t worry, the calendar entries will sync.
• Google Maps- Surprisingly, this wasn’t included in the list of stock programs.  Google Maps is almost a no-brainer; it lets you search maps, get directions, show traffic, etc.  Better yet, Google Maps even works with the Touch Pro’s built-in GPS.  Using GPS with Google Maps will let you create a route from your current location, but it does not automatically re-route in the event of a detour.
• Kevtris 2- Tetris for your phone, ’nuff said.
• PdaNet- A must have program if you plan to tether (use your phone as an internet connection).  You can connect via bluetooth or USB connection.  Supposedly, the program disguises your data usage so it looks like you’re browsing from the phone, not from your computer.  Most carriers have a tethering fee in addition to the standard data charges.  PdaNet basically lets you evade those tethering fees by disguising the traffic.  I’ve used PdaNet on and off for over a year and have had no tethering charges or additional fees.
• PHM RegEdit - Registry editor for Windows Mobile.  A must have if you plan on doing any advanced tweaks.
• Remote Desktop for Windows Mobile 6 - This is just what it sounds like, a remote desktop program for Windows Mobile which lets you access your remote desktop enabled PC while away from it.  Why they did not include this in the stock ROM is beyond me.  Remote Desktop comes in handy if you need to access a PC, but don’t have a computer available.
• SPB Mobile Shell- An alternative to TouchFlo3D.  Mobile Shell basically replaces your home screen with its own interface.  I use SPB Mobile Shell because I find TouchFlo3D to be laggy at times and cause overall sluggish performance.  Installing Mobile Shell helped performance overall and there’s also a ton of customization that can be applied to suit your liking.
• SPB Insight - An alternative to the default newsreader “RSS Hub”.  RSS Hub is pretty good, lightweight, and fast, but it lacks a few things.  One is the lack of images, the other is how RSS Hub only downloads part of an article, making you visit the site to read the rest of the article.  SPB Insight not only downloads images, but it also (most of the time) downloads the entire article for offline viewing.
• SPB Pocket Plus - A very powerful today screen plug-in.  Lets you add all sorts of plugins and shortcuts to your today screen with lots of other features.  I use Pocket Plus as one of the tabs in SPB Mobile Shell.
• Sprite Backup - This program backs up your phone, contacts, programs, etc.  Backups can be scheduled and only take about 5-6 minutes to run.  It is always a good idea to have backups!
• TorchButton - Lets you use the camera’s flash function as a flashlight.  The application is lightweight; you just run the program to turn on the light and run the program again to turn it off.  By default, the LED light will only stay on for 30 seconds to prevent burn out.
• Total Commander - A feature filled file explorer program with too many features to list.  This is a definite must have program because you will never know when you’ll need it.
• VNC Viewer - Exactly what you think it is.  Will let you connect and control the desktop of any VNC server.
• vxUtil- Network utilities such as ping, traceroute, whois, etc.  Network administrators may want to look into this program; it could come in handy and save you time.

My Touch Pro Today screen with SPB Mobile Shell and Pocket Plus	Recently used programs tab in SPB Mobile Shell
Weather Tab in SPB Mobile Shell	SPB Insight Tab with News Feeds

By itself, Firefox is a great browser, but what really sets it apart from all the rest are the addons available for Firefox.  Addons are basically widgets within Firefox.  There are many, many extensions out there that do all sorts of cool things, but I’m going to focus on my favorite and most useful addons.

Here is the list of addons I use the most:

1. ForecastFox - An addon which tells you the weather.  Displays information in the bottom status bar.
2. SearchStatus - Sits in the bottom status bar and reports the currently displayed page’s PageRank and Alexa Rank.  Very handy for webmasters to get a quick glimpse of where their pages are.
3. FoxMarks - Every person who has more than one computer should have this addon.  FoxMarks syncs your bookmarks across multiple computers to a central server.  Comes in handy when you use multiple PCs throughout the day.  If you bookmark something on one PC, it will not transfer to your main PC.  This is where FoxMarks comes in handy!
4. FasterFox - This plugin basically “turbo charges” your Firefox browser and can speed things up quite a bit.  It doesn’t speed up your internet connection, but it does prefetch links (load links in the background) and allow you to tweak Firefox network settings.  With FasterFox, you can grant Firefox more connections to use when connecting to a web server.  Do the web admins a favor and don’t turn this too high.  If you’re unsure of what to do, leave it at the default!
5. Web Developer Toolbar - A toolbar with lots and lots of functionality.  Mainly gives information, like CSS info, dimensions, etc about the page being viewed.  A must have for any web master because of the simplicity and huge functionality.
6. DownThemAll - The best download manager in my opinion.  This download manager will allow you to download anything at a very high speed.  It works by downloading multiple parts of the file simoultaneously, then reconstructing the file as a whole once all the parts are finished downloading.  DownThemAll also opens up multiple connections per download, similar to the way FasterFox speeds up web browsing.

Finally, here’s a screenshot of my browser.  At the top, you can see the Web Developer Toolbar.  At the bottom status bar (from left to right), you can see FasterFox, FoxMarks, SearchStatus, and ForecastFox.

With Obama as president and the Democrats controlling the House of Representatives and the Senate, a new assault weapons ban provision is on the horizon.   The first assault weapons ban was signed by Bill Clinton and was in effect from 1994 to 2004.  Basically, the bill outlawed “assault weapons” which are defined below:

Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

• Folding stock
• Conspicuous pistol grip
• Bayonet mount
• Flash suppressor, or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
• Grenade launcher (more precisely, a muzzle device which enables the launching or firing of rifle grenades)

Semi-automatic pistols with detachable magazines and two or more of the following:

• Magazine that attaches outside the pistol grip
• Threaded barrel to attach barrel extender, flash suppressor, handgrip, or silencer
• Barrel shroud that can be used as a hand-hold
• Unloaded weight of 50 oz (1.4 kg) or more
• A semi-automatic version of an automatic firearm

Semi-automatic shotguns with two or more of the following:

• Folding or telescoping stock
• Pistol grip
• Fixed capacity of more than 5 rounds
• Detachable magazine

If you are looking to make some money, assault weapons or parts would be a good thing to invest in.  It’s extremely likely that these weapons will be banned in the near future.  However, if a person owns a prohibited weapon before the ban is enacted, that person’s weapon is grandfathered in, meaning the weapon is legal as long as it was manufactured prior to the date the ban becomes enacted.

People are already buying up guns, ammo, and accessories in fear of the ban.  I went to a gun store a few days ago and it was packed.  Everybody was trying to get theirs, including the store employees.  One employee was buying 3 AR-15 stripped lower receivers, which is a good idea because the lower receiver is the item that will be banned.  After the ban is enacted, if you have a stripped lower receiver, you’ll probably be able to find parts to complete it.

As soon as the ban is enacted, there will only be a limited supply of pre-ban guns and accessories.  The weapons ban will drive the demand way up, while the supply of these items will shrink.  As the supply dwindles down, the price of these items will skyrocket.

Some less pricey items to get before the ban are:

• 30 and 20 round magazines
• Pistol magazines over 10 rounds
• Extended pistol magazine

If you’ve got a bit more to spend:

• Complete assault rifles (AR-15, AK-47 especially)
• Machine Pistols (Mac-10, TEC-9, etc)
• Lower receivers for assault rifles

AR-15 Stripped Lower Receiver

30 Round Magazine

Basically, try to get anything that will be become illegal before the next ban comes.  The ban may even be worse than the last ban in 1994, it may ban all assault weapons, so get your gun while you still can.

Out of the box, the HTC Touch Pro is really an amazing device.  However, it still brings the infamous Windows Mobile lag with it.  While the lag is not as bad as previous Windows Mobile smartphones, it still is present and may bug people who notice the lag.

Slow tab scrolling in TouchFlo 3d, laggy scrolling in windows,  slow opening programs, slow opening menus, etc are all typical lag indicators.

The good thing is, there are a few things tweaks you can perform to make the Touch Pro more responsive.  First off, you will need to install Advanced Configuration Tool on your phone.  You can download it here:

http://www.touchxperience.com/en/advanced-configuration-tool/downloads.html

After you have installed the program on your phone, launch the program and make the following changes:

Under the “Perfomances” category:

• Change file system cache to 8MB
• Change file system filter cache to 131072
• Change Glyph cache to 32KB

Here’s what the configuration should look like:

After you’ve made the changes above, soft-reset your device for the changes to take effect.  Once the phone is booted up, enjoy the increased speed and performance from your Touch Pro!

To all you coffee drinkers out there, you’re going to love this.  Vietnamese style single cup filtered coffee is extremely flavorful that packs an extreme kick.  Think of this type of coffee as espresso, but instead of a shot, you’ll have a whole cupful of delicious, strong iced coffee at a fraction of the price you would pay at Starbucks for a “gourmet” cup.

You will need the following items and ingredients:

• Glass cup
• Single cup filter
• Coffee grounds - it is best to get dark roasted, coarse grounds.  Trung Nguyen and Cafe’ Du Monde make excellent choices
• Sweetened condensed milk - DO NOT get evaporated milk, they are not the same.
• Additional cup with ice
• Hot water (near boiling temperature)

First, pour about 1-2oz.  of condensed milk into the glass cup.  The condensed milk adds sweetness to the coffee to offset the bitterness.  You can use more/less condensed milk based on your preference.

Then, measure out your coffee and insert it into the bottom of the single cup filter.  Typically, I use 2 heaping spoonfuls, but this can be adjusted based on how you like your coffee.  More grounds for a stronger brew, less grounds for a weaker brew.

Here’s a picture of the coffee grounds in the filter.  Try to get the grounds as even as possible, but you don’t need to be perfect.  Note, the stainless steel filter is not inserted at this point.

Insert the stainless steel filter over the coffee grounds.  How much you screw the filter down will also determine the strength of your coffee.  Screw it tightly for stronger coffee or lightly for weaker coffee.  However, if you screw it down too tight, the coffee will take a long time to brew (over 10 minutes).

If you cannot screw the metal filter down because you used too much coffee grounds, then just set the filter in and give it a firm push.  This will compress the grounds and keep the filter in place while brewing.

Now, place the filter over your cup.  Add a small amount of hot water (near boiling temperature) to the filter.  About a 1/4 inch of water would be good.  Let the water seep through the filter until there is no water left.

Here’s what the brewing would look like in the initial stage.  After the initial 1/4 inch of hot water is finished brewing, you’ll have a small amount of brewed coffee as shown in the picture.  You’ll then want to fill up the filter to the brim with hot water, then put the top cover on.

Now, just sit back and wait for your coffee to brew.  This should take 4-5 minutes.  If your coffee is brewing faster, then you either need to add more coffee grounds or adjust the tighten down the filter.   If the coffee is taking longer than 4-5 minutes to brew, then you’ve probably screwed down the filter a little too tight.

Here’s what the process will look like after the coffee has finished brewing.

Stir the coffee and condensed milk until the condensed milk is completely dissolved.

Then, pour the coffee into a separate cup with ice.  You don’t want to use the same cup you used to brew the coffee because the overall temperature of the cup will be hot, which will melt the ice quickly.

You can either enjoy the coffee hot or cold.  I prefer cold because the coffee tastes smoother and the melting of the ice helps even out the bitterness.

Enjoy your full flavored, espresso strong coffee!  The key to getting the brew you like is to experiment.  Adjust the amount of condensed milk to adjust the sweetness.  Adjust the amount of coffee grounds to adjust the strength of the coffee to suit your tastes.  In my opinion, this coffee is more like a cold treat than a cold drink.  It is very, very tasty with a huge caffeine kick!

If the boot loader to your Windows Server 2008 machine gets corrupted or deleted for whatever reason, it really is a painstaking process to get it fixed.  The boot loader to my machine got deleted somehow while I was resizing partitions.  After scouring the web, I could not find anything on rebuilding the boot loader for Windows Server 2008.  All I could find were instructions to restore a Windows Vista boot loader, but luckily, the process for Server 2008 is similar.

Due to the lack of recovery tools on the Server 2008 installation CD, the boot loader must be rebuilt manually.

For this guide, I’m going to assume your installation has a drive letter of C:.

Insert the Server 2008 installation CD into your DVD-ROM.  Restart your computer and boot from the CD.

Choose to repair your computer, then open the command prompt.

At the command prompt, use the following commands:

c:
cd boot
bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr
bootrec /rebuildbcd

After using the “bootrec /rebuldbcd” command, you will be prompted to accept a Windows installation.  Accept the installation, then wait for the process to finish.  Once it’s done, reboot your comptuer and you should have a boot loader ready to go.

If you do not have a “boot” folder in the system C: drive, then copy the “boot” folder form the Windows installation CD to the C: drive.  Use the following command which assumes E: is your DVD-ROM

mkdir c:\boot
copy e:\boot\* c:\boot\

Afterwards, just use the boot restore commands to rebuild the bootloader.

Back in February, eBay decided to raise fees for all auctions. They didn’t outright tell us they were raising fees, they left that to fancy tables with percentages. What eBay did do, however; was convey the image that eBay was lowering insertion fees attempting to blind us from the obvious final value fee increase. See my post from January for more background information on this controversy.

Beginning on September 16, 2008, eBay is raising fees in the same manner, yet again! They attempt to blind you by first telling you that insertion fees are being lowered to $.35 and $.15 (depending on the category), but they left out the fact that final value fees are rising in the email they sent out to all sellers today. Nowhere in the email notification does it tell you that final value fees are rising. You have to do some digging to get to the charts. Here they are below:

You’ll notice that these fee changes are different from the changes in the past.  While eBay has somewhat decreased the final value fees by .5% for some categories, most categories are having their fees hiked up.  For example, look at the last row in the second table.  From 3.5% to 9% for the initial $50.01- $1,000!  That’s more than a 200% increase!

To dig even deeper, let’s take a look at exactly how much this will impact sellers.  For example, say I sell a digital camera on eBay with a price of $500.  Under the current fee scheme, the fees would be:

50 * .0875 = 4.375

450 * .0375 = 16.875

Total = $21.25

Now, if we sell the same $500 camera, the fees under the new scheme would be:

50 * .08 = 4

450 * .045 = 20.25

Total = $24.25

That’s a $3 increase between the new and old fee scheme.  $3 may not sound like a lot, but over time it all adds up.  Not only does it all add up, it adds up in eBay’s favor.  Even though they are losing a maximum of ~$.38 (cents) per auction closing under $50, they are making up for it with all of the higher priced listings.  Not only that, eBay also gets a second cut of the pie from Paypal, which is owned by eBay.  After Paypal and eBay fees, you’re looking at almost a 10% overhead just for fees!  When will the madness stop?

It’s only sometime until Google comes out with their own auction site and hopefully it is soon.  They already have Google Checkout, so hopefully they’re well on their way.  For now, I’m sticking to Craigslist and local social networking sites to get my stuff sold.  That way, I get cash in my hand and don’t have to worry about the outrageous fees from Paypal and eBay!

After seeing the unusually high price tag of a Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Adapter, I almost had a heart attack. $99.99 retail. Let me say it again, FREAKING $99.99; is Microsoft out of their mind? I mean, routers and wireless adapters cost much less than that! Luckily, there is a way to create an adapter with a La Fonera wireless router.

Basically, the La Fonera is loaded with a third party firmware called DD-WRT. The firmware allows you to put the Fonera into client bridge mode. This basically lets the Fonera connect to your home wireless network and pass that data through the ethernet port to your Xbox. Its kind of like one of these Linksys gaming adapters, but cheaper and with more capabilities.

Here’s the full guide:
http://fonerahacks.com/index.php/Tutorials-and-Guides/Xbox-360-Wireless-Adapter-Using-the-La-Fonera.html

NOTE: You must have a La Fonera with DD-WRT firmware loaded onto it before this will work. If you need help installing DD-WRT to the Fonera, see the guides here