Archive
Category: Technology
This new Sony Vaio mini laptop is first netbook I saw that has a hi-resolution 1366X768 10.1” screen, which will make a big difference in user experience of this laptop, improving its owner’s productivity tremendously.
Most 10.1 inch netbook computers come with a 1240X600 screen, which makes doing any work in Microsoft office extremely difficult, some other software won’t even open in that resolution.
I tried the keyboard, very comfortable, together with the chassis, this netbook is very well built.
At $499.99 CAD, this netbook laptop is a good choice for people who want a small and light computer to carry around and also get some work done.
This new Acer netbook computer looks very similar to its larger siblings of the Timeline series, the build looks quite nice.
The screen is a low resolution one, however, at $329.99, this thing is a steal.
This Gateway netbook computer comes with a 11 inch high resolution screen (1366×768), it is a little larger sitting beside all the 10 inch netbooks, but it comes with a larger keyboard as well, which makes typing much more comfortable. The keyboard does not feel very solid, however.
This Samsung netbook is very ordinary spec wise: 10 inch low resolution screen, 1 GB RAM, 160G hard drive, but the design and build quality look very good. It is also much more expensive than the Acer model.
See and download the full gallery on posterous
Posted via web from XJL’s posterous
When I grabbed my iPhone, switched to iPod mode and about to rushed out of the door to go to work this morning, something very strange and distressing appeared on the screen: No Content. WTF? I clicked on the “playlist” button, “video” button and “Podcast” button frenetically, no response, nada. Last time I checked, which is last night before I went to bed, I had more than 14gb of music, podcast, audio books and video loaded on the phone, now “No Content”? What is going on? I connected the phone to my computer, and a message jumped out: “iTunes cannot read the contents of your iPhone, …. please restore the iPhone to factory settings..” What? I don’t want to lose all my applications, messages and settings, not to mention the unlocked and jailbroken status of the phone!
Did some research on the internet, seems that this is a quite common problem, especially with iPhone 3G, with no obvious solutions. Many people tried factory restore functions in the iTunes and went through the unlock and joailbreak process again and again, only to find the problem persisted.
Turns out there is a very easy fix for this problem:
On your iPhone, go to general settings and choose “reset”, in the following options, choose “reset all data and settings”, confirm and let iPhone go to work, this whole process only takes 1 minute or so, depending on how much data the phone has to wipe out. All my third party applications are intact and my wifi network settings are still there. Some of the home screen buttons are gone, but they are all shortcuts to websites, so no big deal.
Next, connect your iPhone to iTunes, and a very nice surprise jumped out:
Choose restore, and you will see this screen:
The process takes about 5 minutes, after it is done, you will find that all your home screen buttons are back, together with call history, contact list and SMS messages, in fact, the iPhone will be restored to the exact same status last time you synced with iTunes. Nice, isn’t it?
If you are a Dell Pocket PC X51v owner like me, you know what I am talking about: I love my X51v, but it is getting old…
I take my PDA with me everywhere: on my morning commute to work everyday, on the 17-hour flights to Asia and to the local library. I listen to music, watch TV shows and movies on it, check emails in a hotspot, make Skype phone calls and take notes on it, the X51v has been an amazing digital assistant to me.
However, it has been two years since Dell stopped development on their PDA product line, and the X51v is in dire need of a refreshment, especially after Microsoft updated their Windows mobile OS to version 6 earlier this year.
Dell does not provide the upgrade for the X51v, but you can do it on your own, here is how:
1. you need to get a copy of the customized WM6 ROM for X51v by following this link:
Unzip the downloaded file, create a folder on your PC hard drive and save the uncompressed files in it.
2. Get a SD card, format it to FAT32 file system on your PC.
3. copy the two files you unzipped in step 1 to the root of the SD card.
4. Connect your X51v to external power, insert the SD card. Press the on/off button (top front), Wifi button (on the side) and the reset button (on the back) all at the same time, the ROM files on the SD card will run.
5. A file will show up, double click action button (front bottom, center of the d-pad) to run it, the new ROM image will be loaded, it will take a while, so be patient.
6. After the image file is loaded successfully, do a hard reset on your X51v by holding down both the on/off button and the reset button at the same time.
7. After the system boot up and guide you through a brief calibration process, you will see screen like this:
Windows Mobile 6 Today Screen
Windows Mobile 6 on X51v System Info
8. Congratulations, you are done, enjoy your refreshed X51v with Windows Mobile 6 Pro!
Credit and reference:
This ROM is developed by “Makuu”, please check out his posts at:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=384266&page=14
If you need more visual tutorial on how to upgrade your X51v to WM6, this youtube video might help you:
 |
Turn Data Roaming “OFF”: Be sure to download and install the latest version of iPhone software (version 2.0) from iTunes. By default the setting for international data roaming will be in the “OFF” position. |
 |
|
|
To turn data roaming “ON/OFF” tap on Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming |
||
|
|
|||
|
Utilize WiFi Instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE: WiFi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants to browse the Web or check email. |
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Turn Push Email “Off”: Data usage from email can accrue quickly. Check email manually using WiFi instead of having emails downloaded to your iPhone automatically. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone. |
||
|
To turn off the Auto-Check functionality tap on Settings>Fetch New Data and select Manually |
||
|
|
|||
|
Consider Purchasing an International Data Package: If you are traveling outside the U.S., purchasing a Data Global Plan will significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad. |
|
|
|
|
|||
|
Reset the Usage Tracker to Zero: When you arrive overseas access the usage tracker in the general settings menu and select reset statistics. This will enable you to track your estimated data usage. |
|
|
| To reset Usage Tracker to Zero tap on Settings>General>Usage>Reset |
|||
‘Linux is a platform for people, not just specialists’
In a future undominated by Windows, Ubuntu hopes to be the provider of a service ecosystem for free software
Glyn Moody
The Guardian
Thursday May 22 2008
Canonical chief executive Mark Shuttleworth
In 1999, the South African-born Mark Shuttleworth sold his internet company, Thawte, which provided digital certificates for websites, for more than $500m (£254m). After spending $20m on a trip into space, he started the Ubuntu project – named after an African word meaning “Humanity to others”, or “I am what I am because of who we all are” – which has since become the most popular GNU/Linux distribution.
Technology Guardian: To what extent did your space trip feed into Ubuntu?
Mark Shuttleworth Going to space and seeing the Earth from a distance makes it very clear just how interdependent we are. So I wanted to do something that was really global; free software is a phenomenon that is truly global.
TG: What are the implications of choosing that name?
MS That this is a platform for people. Linux has come from a tradition of being a platform for specialists. We articulated the challenge for us very clearly in our name: “Let’s make this something that we can proudly give out to people who are not passionate about technology.”
TG: How does your company, Canonical, fit into this?
MS [Ubuntu] has its own release cycle. It has its own governance structures. Canonical plays a significant role in those, and we are the largest underwriter of all the work that gets done. We make sure that it releases on time; that it’s available globally; that it meets criteria; that it works across a certain portfolio of hardware that third parties have asked us to certify. But we don’t take credit for all of the smart thinking that happens in Ubuntu. In fact, in almost every release there’s been an idea that came from volunteer participants that turned into a profoundly important feature in that release.
TG: I gather that you had a rather unusual way of picking the people you originally employed at Canonical.
MS I simply read a large amount of correspondence between the developers on one of the projects that is key to the way we do Ubuntu, the Debian project. It’s amazing how much jumps out in terms of the way people think, the depth of their experience. So open source is not only a great way to develop your own talent and skills, but it’s also a great way to get a job, and a great way to go looking for people.
TG: What’s the business model for Canonical?
MS Our business model is entirely based on services around our software. Because Canonical plays such a key role in Ubuntu, even though it doesn’t monopolise access to it, we’re a preferred partner for Ubuntu. Whether it’s technical support, which we think people are more likely to buy from us than from anybody else, or whether it’s engineering, customisation, or the enablement of the platform on particular hardware, Canonical has a privileged position.
TG: How close are you to breaking even?
MS Not close. It will require time and ongoing investment. We’ve positioned ourselves for what we see as the future of software – unlicensed software, people having access to the software that they want at the time that they want it. The service ecosystem around that software will fund it. And if we are the company that has best anticipated that future, then we will be best positioned to benefit from it.
TG: How did the deal to put Ubuntu on Dell PCs come about?
MS We found out about it after it was a fait accompli. [Dell are] very much a numbers-driven company. They asked their users what they wanted to see. They had a lot of data and that data pointed to us. That was a little unsettling, because we didn’t have a relationship. But it was a significant step up in our corporate profile. It will be very interesting to see what we’re able to do with companies like Dell, which are aimed at a wider audience. That’s my number one challenge: how to make the Linux desktop something that you want to keep on your computer.
TG: Will you be coming out with a tailored version of Ubuntu for the ultraportable sector?
MS We’re announcing it in the first week of June. It’s called the Netbook Remix. We’re working with Intel, which produces chips custom-made for this sector.
TG: Do you think that GNU/Linux will ever become a significant force on the desktop?
MS I think that depends on how people define a desktop. If people continue to define a desktop as the thing that they run Microsoft Word on, then Windows will retain its position. My sense, though, is that people are increasingly defining the desktop as the thing that they get access to the internet from. In that case, there’s a real possibility that we’re able to shift people onto different platforms. I think it’s the emergence of the internet as the killer application, the thing that describes what you want from the computer, that opens the door to us.
TG: Recently you publicly criticised the ISO for the way the way it handled the voting on Microsoft’s OOXML; how seriously do you think ISO’s credibility has been damaged by that episode?
MS Very seriously [for] anybody who is passionate about open standards. The ISO process has traditionally worked very well; it’s quite an academic, considered process, but it really wasn’t designed to handle a case with very, very vigorous corporate lobbying and an enormous amount of money being spent to try to get a particular outcome. And with hindsight, there were a number of very serious flaws in the process.
TG: As Ubuntu gains in importance, do you feel that you have an increased responsibility to speak out in this way?
MS I think we all have a responsibility to contribute to the public discourse. I have a level of economic independence, which is perhaps a good and a bad thing, but at the very least my opinion can’t be bought that easily.
Curriculum vitae
Age 35
Education University of Cape Town, Bachelor of Business Science, 1996
Career
1995-99 Founder and chief executive, Thawte Consulting
2000 Founded HBD Venture Capital
2001 Founded the Shuttleworth Foundation
2004-present Chief executive of Canonical Ltd, founder of the Ubuntu project,
Family Single
Hobbies Travel, technology, internet, science fiction, snowboarding