Bookmark Access

Compared to the default web browser in Android, Dolphin allows for an easier access to bookmarks. It is as simple as swiping your finger to the right of the screen.  Doing so will display a fully customizable list of your favorite webpages.

Once in the bookmark menu, you have a few options.  You can tap the bookmark you want so that it will open in the current tab, organize the order in which the bookmarks are listed, and edit the information on those bookmarks (URL, gesture pattern, etc…).

Gesture Browsing

This is the most innovative and cool part of this browser. Gestures are basically designs that you draw on top of the browser window.  The browser in turn associates that design to a URL or browser command and then executes it.  It’s easier to understand if you see it rather than try to imagine it.

In picture 1 you see that I have The Outro open.  The button in the lower left section of the screen is the gesture button.  Once you tap it, you’ll see picture 2.  *Note that the yellow squiggly attached to the pointer is the background for the gesture interface. Once you see this page you have to draw out the gesture that is associated with what you want to do.  In this instance, I drew out a cursive o and half of a cursive t (as seen in picture3) which I have set to open www.theoutro.com (as seen in picture4).  Picture 5 is proof that theoutro.com has opened.

Tabbed Browsing

This is a nice feature because it mimics the functionality of a desktop browser, like Firefox.   However, it isn’t as easy to use as Firefox.   To add a tab you have to click the plus sign located to the right of the open tab.  Once that is clicked, a window similar to that of the bookmark page with the addition of a URL box will open.  From there you can choose to open a bookmark or type in a custom URL.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the Dolphin HD browser.  It is a very simple yet capable web browser that destroys the default Android browser and gives Opera mini a run for its money.

I give the Dolphin HD Browser a 4.5/5

“Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online.”

What that means is fellow geocachers hide geocaches, which can be any type of container as long as it can hold a log book, outside where it can be legally accessed.  For instance, there is a statue memoralizing Robert Peary located near where I live.  Someone placed a geocache at this site as a way to bring in out-of-towners in to see it.  The container was a fake rock that contained a log book for successful cachers to sign.  Link to Geocache page.

The reason I enjoy this hobby so much is because it takes the good ol’ pastime of hiking and site seeing and mixes it with technology.

Technology

The GPSr (Global Positioning System Receiver) is the basic tool used for Geocaching. Although, it is not the only technological tool. Many popular companies are developing devices and software packages for Geocaching. For instance, Magellan and Garmin have been creating car and hiking GPSr’s, recently, to include modules for Geocaching. Also, software developers for both the iPhone and Android systems have been actively creating and updating helpful tools.

C:GEO

A popular software package that I, as well as the majority of Geocaching Android users, use is called C:Geo. Its a completely free tool that is built for both the casual and hardcore geocacher. C:Geo takes advantage of the Droid’s built in GPSr and allows the user to search for geocaches based on the phone’s location. For instance, say you’re in Washington DC and you suddenly have the urge to geocache. Simply open C:Geo and tell it to search for nearby geocaches, and it will display a list of geocaches base on their locations starting from nearest to farthest.

It also has a built in search function so that you can look up any geocache by name, location, GC numbers (unique number given to each geocache), or username.

Another function that C:Geo provides saves geocachers from a lot of headaches.

Finally, C:Geo allows you to post a “Found it” status on geocaching.com from where you are. No longer do you have to try and remember the names of all the geocaches you found during a long day of caching, you can simply log them as you go.

Where C:Geo comes up short is that it will only allow for live geocache searches while in 3G service. Once you drop signal, which happens frequently in the woods, C:Geo is basically useless.

Thankfully, C:Geo has released an update in which you can save geocaches onto your SD card for later use. This way if you know that you’re going after a certain geocache that won’t be in a 3G zone, you can cache it and pull it up in “offline” mode when needed.

Recently, I had a Sony Vaio laptop given to me with the task of repairing it.  Once repaired and returned to its owner, the owner stated, with disgust, that the laptop has run like crap since the day she bought it.  She asked if perhaps the laptop could have been a lemon.  “Its not the laptop,” I told her.  “Its most likely Windows Vista that’s making your computer run like crap.”

In desperation, she forked over the money for a Windows 7 Upgrade Disk. Once purchased, I took it home with the thought of what a headache I had before me.  According to Microsoft, I was going to have to format the computer with Vista, install drivers in Vista, and then upgrade to Windows 7 via the upgrade disk.  Turns out, that the Windows 7 Upgrade disk is bootable and has the same interface that you would expect from the Windows 7 Home Premium disk.  I was able to format the partition and install a fresh copy of Windows 7.  Let me remind you that I didn’t install this over top of Vista’s file system.

I haven’t been able to test this on any other machines yet, so it could have been a fluke.  So don’t rush out getting upgrade disks unless you have a legal copy of Vista or XP, just in case.  My only hope for this article is that it potentially saves you the $70+ you could be spending for a full Windows 7 disk.

If you attempt this install, please share your experience by commenting below!

*NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that although it is possible to install Windows 7 without having XP or Vista previously installed, it is ILLEGAL to install it without owning a copy of XP or Vista.

Resizing NTFS partitions with Ubuntu

1. Insert Ubuntu Disk (I used 9.04)
2. Reboot PC and when prompted boot from disk
3. Click “Try Ubuntu without installing”
4. Once booted into Ubuntu go to System  > Administration > Users and Groups
5. Click on Root and then on Configure
6. Create a password for root and click ok
7. Open up a terminal window and type in su without the quotes and press enter
8. Enter the root password you just configured and press enter
9. type in gparted and press enter
10. Once the gparted GUI launches, you’ll notice a graph of the HDD and how its split up in partitions.  Right click the partition you want to resize and click resize
    

    gparted

11. Once the new window opens, change the partition size to whatever you wish and click ok
12. After step 11, you can either apply the changes and allocate the free space through windows or right click it and format it with NTFS.

When dealing with video problems, they can be classified into two categories: hardware and software.

Software Problems usually originate from corrupt driver files.  Drivers are kind of like the middle man between Windows and the actual hardware device.  Without a driver Windows does not know the correct language to speak to the hardware.  For example:  If I went to Korea and needed to buy something, I wouldn’t know how to communicate what I needed to the cashier.  If  I had a translator (driver) with me, I could easily purchase what I needed.

Now that I’ve defined what a driver is, we can start to diagnose the problem.  Since you mentioned that the problem existed when you were running Vista and continued and worstened when you upgraded to 7, it could be due to a bad driver.  To test this theory reboot your computer.  Are you able to see any of the graphics or text (HP Logo screen or RAM count) that appear when booting without the lines running on the screen?   If so, the problem exists within Windows and is most likely a bad driver.   Comment this page after you’ve done what I’ve asked and I’ll continue on once I hear your response.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, I am the proud owner of the Motorola Droid.  This phone IS the iPhone killer. I know that’s a bold statement, but that’s how I feel.  This phone does everything from 3G web browsing, real time map updates while running a GPS, media playback, YouTube integration, thousands of apps, and more.

The following is a breakdown of my favorite features on the Droid:

3G Web Browsing. The web browser built into the Droid is much like the one implemented into the iPhone.  It allows for scrolling and zoom capabilities by the touch of the main screen.   A lot of phones on Verizon’s network up until now have great phones but terrible mobile web browsers.  If you wanted to navigate to a site that did not implement a mobile version of its site, you were screwed.  The Droid however allows you to view web pages in their original format.

802.11g capabilites. The Droid also has the ability to connect to access points for quicker browsing if you’re at home, work, Starbucks, or wherever.  Thanks to the nice little alerts bar at the top of the interface, its easy to connect to open WiFi connections that you may have stumbled upon.  You can also set up secured APs through the Droid’s settinsg app which will keep a database of SSIDs and their keys.   Once the Droid picks up one of the saved SSIDs, it will automatically connect to it.

WiFi

Google Maps/GPS/Car Mode. I absolutely love these features.  The Droid has an App that comes preloaded that changes the desktop layout of the droid into an easier to navigate while driving interface.  Instead of having to search for basic features such as phone, maps, and Google voice search on a cluttered desktop, they’re placed on a neatly organized toolbar.

The google maps and GPS integration is amazing.  This feature makes car GPS’s obsolete since Google maps never gets outdated.  What I mean by this is when you set up a route that you would like to travel, the Droid queries Google Map databases for the best route and then sends the latest map to your phone for navigation.  This is a great feature as long as you start your journey in a place that has 3G.  Maps will be unable to load if you attempt to set up a route from outside of the 3G network since Google databases will be unreachable.

Car App

Google Maps

Media Playback. The Droid comes default with a 16Gb micro SD card installed.  This allows for a lot of storage space for apps, music, videos, and other data.    Most of my 16Gb card is filled with mp3.  The music player is somewhat limited in features but organized neatly and efficiently.  When you first open the Music Player you are greeted with 4 options: Artists, Albums, Songs, and Playlists.  Each one respectively shows what it’s title describes.  Once you choose how you want to play the music, you are taken to the player itself.   The player comes equipped with Album art, playlist, shuffle, repeat, song information, play/pause, rewind/backtrack, fast forward/skip to next track, and a progress bar.

Multitasking. The Droid allows for true multitasking.  For instance, I use my Droid basically as a media center for my car.  I have the Droid connected to an FM tuner and resting on a dashboard mount.  It is common for me to be running Google Maps and Music Apps simultaneously.  The Music plays constantly until google maps has to tell me something or a phone call comes in.  In that case the music pauses and picks back up where it left off once the other apps are done alerting me.

YouTube Integration. I haven’t used this feature to its fullest potential yet, but it seems like a great idea.  With this preloaded app, you are able to view YouTube videos on your phone.  There is a built-in YouTube search button which allows you to search the YouTube database and load up videos.

The other feature in this app is the ability to record videos with the Droid’s built-in camera and then immediately upload it to YouTube via WiFi or 3G.  I’ve only tested this by uploaded a 30 second video, but it did in fact upload it pretty quickly (probably about 1 minute).

Youtube

Sliding Keyboard. The Droid is the only Android phone in Verizon’s arsenal that has a physical keyboard.  All other’s have touch screen keyboards much like the Dare’s or Env Touch’s.  The touch screen keyboard is nice, but I like to know that I’m actually hitting buttons.  This also allows, for me atleast, to minimize errors and compose e-mails/texts quicker.

Through all of its glory and majesty, there are some problems that I have with the Droid:

Screen is not multitouch. The screen on the Droid does not support multitouch which only really hurts the use of the on screen keyboard.  For instance, if you are typing something and accidentally have two fingers touching the screen at once, the Droid will only accept whatever the last key you typed was.  So if I typed the letter D and then had two fingers on the screen and tried to touch F, the Droid would register it a D.

Making phone calls. It seems like making a call is more of a hassle than it should be.  Say I wanted to make a call to my friend Todd.  There are 5 + ways I can go about this.  1) Open the phone app and dial his number 2)Open the phone app, hit the Contacts tab, scroll down to his name, touch his name, and finally pick whether I want to call his home or cell 3) Open phone app, hit contacts, touch search icon on phone, and begin to type his name out, touch his name, and choose whether to call his home or cell 4) Make a shortcut of his contact information on the Droid’s desktop 5)use google voice/text search and use keywork “Call Todd.”   It just seems that it takes too many touches to call anyone.

Overall, I give the Droid a 4.5/5

Regretably, I’ve been noticing that a lot of my hardware, in my Dell XPS 410 is not supported in Ubuntu (sound card, printer, etc…). The Ubuntu forums provides tons of “solutions” for hardware problems, but either I don’t have the expertise, the solutions don’t apply to me, or I have to add 20 lines of code to a certain system critical file.    I’m not saying that Ubuntu is a terrible OS, but I’m saying its a terrible OS for my PC and my patience.

I’m sure there are people who will be reading this who have the same PC as me and can’t figure out why I’m having so much trouble.  When it comes down to it, I work 10 hour days and don’t get home till 6pm at night.  Once I’m home I usually like to hop on my computer and shoot the shit with friends.  Sometimes I’m put in a situation where someone wants to talk on Skype.  I have an account from when I had XP and installed it on Ubuntu.   As it turns out, Ubuntu doesn’t support my sound card and it won’t recognize my mic.  So I googled solutions and found 100s of pages of restults.  I tried about 10 of them just to be left frustrated and let down.  Next thing I know its time to turn in for the night.  Now on the otherhand, I have Ubuntu 8.10 running on my Dell Inspiron B130 without any problems.   It does what I need it to and couldn’t ask for more from it.

Now I’m back using XP on my XPS and am loving how everything seems to be compatible.  No longer do I need to do custom editing on files.  Most problems can be fixed by downloading a program or driver.  Although, I’m experiencing a noticable performance defficiency in XP as compared to Ubuntu.  Overall, I’m happy with XP and will stick with it for my primary PC.

What are your experiences with Ubuntu as compared to XP?

I took and completed both the CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) and CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional) classes throughout my academic careers.  I have yet to get the certifications.  Which is where I am now.  I have recently read over all of my CCNA Modules and have purchased a CCNA cram book that I’m reading now.  I hope to be certified by the end of next month.

I’m hoping that this will make my peers and employers take me more seriously and maybe, just maybe get me a promotion or atleast recognition.

I hope to post some more before I take the test, but in the case that I don’t, I will post on the results.

-Jim

When I first joined Xbox Live people played games to interact with each other.  This is where I met most of my online friends which I now know by name, address, phone number, email, etc.  (NO, I didn’t hack there accounts to get this info.)  We would play Call of Duty 2 constantly and laugh about how someone shot you in the head from across the map or how you got caught on a latter or were killed due to bad lag.  If you lost a game then, it just meant that you needed to improve your skills during the next game.  If I remember correctly, people used to switch teams between games so that teams would even out.

Halo 3 Rankings

Now if you play Gears of War 2 or Halo 3 you have to worry about being called a racist slur or having bad feedback left against you because you play the game better than someone else.  I can honestly say that my feed back was 85% preferred and 15% avoided during the COD2 time period.  When Gears of War 1 and Call of Duty 4 came out my feedback went to 65% preferred and 35% avoided.  I barely trash talk on Live and if I do its because someone insulted me or a friend online.

Like stated before, kids online are generally all assholes any more.  If you would have asked me back when I was 13 to say the words fuck, shit, or call someone’s mom a whore I would have rejected the offer.  I can’t even remember how many times I have been called a Nigger, Spick, Wetback, etc online by a white child who is somewhere between 10 and 16 years of age.  The worst part of it is that this language is used all too commonly without any type of coaxing.

Furthermore, I’m tired of hearing excuses.  FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NOBODY HAS USED A LAG SWITCH SINCE HALO2.  Stop using that as an excuse for dying.  Maybe there was a murmer in your internet connection.  Did you ever think of that?  No, you probably didn’t since you can’t think rationally due to the competition.

What do you guys think about this topic?

Its not really the sight of chunks flying, its more the sound that it makes that pleases me.  All of those that play Gears can agree that the sound of a headshot is awesome.  Usually when you hear the squishy popping noise of a head exploding, the sounds of players shouting, “OH SHIT” or “JESUS CHRIST” are soon followed

If you happen to join a game on live that I’m in, you better believe that I have the sniper rifle in my hand awaiting the moment that some poor chap stops to pick up grenades, or any weapon for that matter.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not even close to the best sniper in the game, in reality I’m probably second to last.  The rarity of me actually getting a headshot makes the successful shots all the sweeter.