Lucky number 7

Well, I was all excited last week when my Windows 7 Party pack arrived.  I figured a quick update of my Media PC and I’d be on my way.  My brother asked me on Thursday whether or not I had already updated my box but I was at a meeting on Thursday.  He said he’d just been a Windows 7 training session at Avnet and the average time to update was around 15 minutes so I shouldn’t have any problems.  I decided to put off the upgrade until Friday since I had some time while most of the family was at a marching band event.  I had 45 minutes to spare so it should be easy.

That’s when the fun began.  First, I started the update and it took FOREVER to complete.  Actually, it never did complete.  I left for my filming duties at the game and when I returned, the HDTV attached to my Media PC was blue (not the Windows Blue Screen of Death mind you, but no TV signal was coming to my set.)  After a few minutes the TV turned off (due to the lack of signal) so I shut the system off and rebooted.  Windows 7 obligingly rolled back the update and I was able to record Stargate Universe (albeit, I missed a few scenes and we picked up the repeat on SyFy channel at 11:00 PM).  Weird, but okay maybe I missed something.

I tried again in the morning and afternoon, with both failing.  Now I was 0-3 and scratching my head.  Rather than waste precious time waiting for the update to complete, I decided in the morning to watch “Supersize Me” during the update and in the afternoon, I watched “Citizen Kane” – Both were better than I expected.  At this time I was seriously considering CANCELING the Windows 7 party, even if I had to return the software to Microsoft.  After the third failed update, I thought, maybe there was a “blue screen of death” message that was just not being displayed to the big screen so I decided to borrow a VGA monitor and attach that during attempt #4.  That way, maybe I’d get some reason why the update was failing.  (Attempt #3 included a bootlog that somehow got lost so I didn’t have any diagnostic information.)  Anyways, wouldn’t you know it, but having the VGA monitor attached, the update completed successfully!  Windows 7 even fixed an audio problem I was having on HD stations!  It still took some 7 hours to complete, though.  I re-attached the HDTV and got no signal.  HUH?  Why was it working on the VGA monitor and not on the big screen?  I decided maybe the video drivers were incompatible with Windows 7 or needed to be updated.  That didn’t solve the problem either.  I interrupted Windows 7’s boot cycle (press F8 during boot up) and started in 640×480 mode and the big screen started displaying info.  At least there was something.  I tried a few times changing the video modes with no success so I changed video modes using the NVidia control panel rather than Windows 7’s control panel.  After 8 hours (actually more like 14 hours considering I started at 10:00 AM on Saturday morning), the system is finally working as expected.

I suspect that the bad video drivers were the ultimate culprit.  Without any way of visually seeing that the update was progressing, I assumed that the update had hung so that’s why I ended up killing the update when the screen went blue.  There was never really anything wrong with the update other than the screen turning off due to bad video drivers.  This was apparent when I had the VGA monitor attached.

Moral of the story: only update to Windows 7 if you have a regular VGA monitor attached or you’re sure you have the correct video drivers (I would still opt for the first option.)  It’s unlikely that many people will run into this particularly nasty bug, but hopefully this blog will point at least one person in the right direction.  Other than that, Windows 7 Media center is great and I love the new task bar.  The OS feels ’snappier’ and nearly everything is as easy to use or easier than Vista was.  An additional bonus: Windows XP mode is available as an update to Windows 7 Ultimate so I might yet be able to play Myst 5 on the big screen (Myst 5 wouldn’t run under Vista but it should run under Windows XP in emulation on Win 7).

I took the plunge

Well, over the weekend, I took the plunge and switched back from T-Mobile to AT & T.  My motivation was the new iPhone 3GS (16 GB version) as well as the corporate discount I get from Choice Hotels.  The 3G speeds have been amazing (although I did have to cycle power after activation for the 3G to start up…weird.)  And the phone itself is markedly faster.  Video recording capability is excellent and the compass is integrated into Google maps.  I’m doing a test now to see how long I’ll go without jailbreaking (or if).  Given my history it looks more like ‘when’ than ‘if’ but I’m open minded.  I miss SBSettings pop up, Cycorder, Qik, Veency (VNC), and a few others, but I haven’t determined how much I miss them.  I’ll post back with an update later.

Push Notification is now working on my Jailbroken 3.0 iPhone 2G

Got it working this morning with the “PushFix” patch in Cydia.  Only thing, I’m starting to get cross postings in AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).  Random people in NY are showing up on my iPhone.  Interesting way to meet people but pretty unexpected.  Also, I turned on all notifications in SportsTap but I’m going to throttle back to just the D-Backs.  I don’t know if there’s a discernible pattern for who I get on AIM, but it’s been entertaining.  So now, I have MMS, Push Notification and Tethering.  Is there still any reason to change to a new iPhone other than speed (and a little convenience)?

Todays Hack: MMS

Well, today I successfully got MMS working on my iPhone. I can send pix to and from my T-mobile iPhone. I suppose with email integration and always-on Internet this feature might be less important, but at least I can send my kids picture mail.

Looking forward to OS 3.0 for iPhone

It looks like the pwnage tool will make my phone compatible with the 3.0 firmware this weekend.  Hope that things stablize a little bit.  I still occasionally miss calls and I don’t know if that’s because I have too much stuff running or if it’s something with T-Mobile’s network.  There isn’t a really “gotta have” feature I’m looking forward to, but the 3.0 firmware does represent a milestone in terms of potential (e.g. Video Streaming with the HTML 5 support and the hardware interface changes.)  Hopefully, we can hook our iPhones up to a TV for less than the $50.00 for an Apple-only video cable (Please!)  I’ll post again after the jailbreak is successful!

The New Alchemy

My son is a big fan of the Anime series “Full Metal Alchemist.”  I watched the first few episodes and I was intriguted by the alchemist rule of Equivalent Exchange.  In the case of the episode, the consequence of Equivalent Exchange cost the main characters something of equivalent value (An arm and leg or corporeality).  Now, I did a Google search on “The New Alchemy” and I came across “The Long Tail” and a post below the website contrasting the atoms economy versus the bits economy.  I think this is something traditional governments and companies fail to grok: information can not be made scarce like atoms, but fundamentally, it isn’t matter.  We can try to “protect intellectual material” but how can you protect something that isn’t material using material rules?  It’s not like the police can return your intellectual property back to you because you “cannot unring a bell.”  In particular, once the information is disclosed, you cannot remove it from everyone’s minds.  Also, once something has been digitized (or once it was created digitally), you can make infinite copies at practically no cost: alchemy indeed except without any initial material to be converted.  So much for equivalent exchange.  In the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe, energy and material can be exchanged (although the cost of said exchange was somewhat winked at), and there was an allusion to the equivalence between energy, material and thought in the episodes with “The Traveler.”  In any case, it remains to be seen what the long-term consequence of free information will have on the world, but I (among many) think that it will be a better or at least more interesting world.

Playing video podcasts on the iphone in the background.

It’s a hack but here’s the excerpt…

So, since the 2.0 update, apple have decided to eliminate the ability, to play Video podcasts as audio only. Why would you want to play Video Podcasts as audio only? click more to find out, and to find out how you can do it on 2.0 So, on the 1.1.4 firmware, Video Podcasts were played as either Videos by selecting them from the Videos Section of the iPod, or audio if you selected them from the Podcast section. The Audio only selection was quite good for Podcasts such as “Diggnation” or “Totally Rad Show”, as these didnt require video all the time. Meaning you could put the phone to sleep and still play the audio (HELPFUL for activities requiring both hands). However since Apple updated to 2.0, you can no longer play the video podcasts audio only. Hence no longer being able to listen to the shows when you’ve got no spare hands, although, there is a workaround STEPS 1. Open the iPod and select the video podcast from the “PODCAST” section. 2. Close the iPod and return to home screen (Video will stop) 3. Put iPhone to sleep 4. Double tap the home button until the “mini” iPod menu opens. 5. Click Play and then unlock 6. You can now listen to the podcast while surfing Safari or sending a text message! Hope this helps.

From:

http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/08/16/playing-video-podcasts-as-background-music/

I’m raving about Boxee this week

Contrary to popular belief (among the crew of the Galactica), Boxee is not the name of Apollo’s adopted son; instead it’s a piece of client software that aggregates video on the web and places it into a unified control and display environment (i.e. you don’t have to visit YouTube’s or Hulu’s web pages; you can just surf them from one program.)  I’m only running in 640×480 mode at home so it’s not up to its full potential (might have to do with scaled fonts in Vista.)  And it doesn’t run as a client on the iphone.  But it’s great for watching YouTube, Hulu, TV.com and even Joost (sometimes.)  My harmony remote works fine and they even have an iPhone remote (for free) which controls Boxee and provides a virtual keyboard, etc.  I tried integrating the Boxee client software into Vista Media Center but had some problems (screen was zoomed in and I couldn’t see the whole screen or scroll left and right).  But, for an alpha software package, I couldn’t be happier.  I might install it on the kids’ macmini and try it in the bedroom upstairs.  So far, so good!

More iphone updates

Well, I have a couple of iPhone updates. First, I found iclippy for cut and paste within the iPhone. Works okay so far. Next, I added imobilecinema which plays some flash video. Then, I was able to get streaming YouTube by updating my APN. Life is grand ain’t it?

The Butler Effect

I was talking with a co-worker this morning about how level of service is perceived by people.  In the “old country,” a Butler was a luxury reserved for the very wealthy.  He was in charge of household affairs or perhaps even for picking out clothing or drawing a bath.  Such luxuries were not available to the common folk and so having such a personal valet was seen as something outside of many people’s reach.  As a result, people had no alternative but to ‘fend for themselves.”  America was, in large part, settled by the descendents of those common folk and so ‘Butler mentality” isn’t a ready part of the American psyche.  Witness how few people use “valet parking” on a regular basis (unless, of course, by force because parking is unavailable otherwise).  We like “self service” at the gas station (to save a few pennies per gallon), self checkout at the grocery store (to save time for short lists), and even self-examinations versus visiting the Doctor.  We wouldn’t mind having maid service to clean up but most of us would rather keep our pennies in our pocket and clean up ourselves even if we could afford it.  Why is this important in marketing and on line business?  I suspect that presenting things to Americans as “butler” services is somewhat off-putting to many people.  This is somewhat because where they fit on the “butler continuum” differs based on their upbringing and personality makeup.  Some people prefer a high level of service and others are either more cost conscious or simply like the independence of making decisions for themselves (perhaps as a perception of personal dignity – “I can do that for myself!” – or as a rejection of paternalism.)  Personalization (especially in things like marketing and even in surveying) can fall victim to the Butler Effect because just starting an e-mail with “Dear BOBBY” can be perceived as too informal while “Dear SIR” might be too stiff.  Marketing to the largest segment of the market means treading carefully between extremes.  There’s more here but it should be further researched.  In the mean time, these are a few thoughts to get the conversation flowing.