Asus EEEPC T91!!!!

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Well I had my eeepc 701 for a long time [well for a laptop anyway] and I figured it was time to upgrade… and upgrade I did. I got the Asus EEEPC T91 Tablet PC. Have had it for about a month and am prepared to explain the pros and cons of this little convertible pc

First off the specs

  • Intel Atom Z520(1.33GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, FSB 533MHz)
  • 1 GB DDR2 SODIMM memory
  • 8.9″ WSVGA (1024×600) Resistive Touch Panel, w/ LED-backlit
  • Integrated Graphics Controller; Shared w/ system memory
  • 16 GB SSD + 16 GB SD Card Bundle

Ok so its not a super computer but it is decent!

PROS!!!

  • Full Touch Screen
  • Screen rotates for reading
  • Small size
  • Great battery life
  • DUAL SD Card Slots

CONS…

  • Small keyboard
  • Asus bloatware
  • Not linux friendly
  • Fingerprint magnate

Ok so let me explain the pros and cons… the T91 is a 8.9 inch tablet that can be used as either a netbook or a tablet.

Its small size and great battery life make it a perfect companion on long flights or car trips. The touch screen comes in handy for drawing or just playing games. Its also nice for reading e-books.

It comes paired with a 16gb SD card and 2 SD Card slots [1 free after the 16gb] Providing you with the ability of a maximum 80GB of storage space! [16gb ssd and 2x 32gb sd cards]

However it has a glossy black case that is a big fingerprint collector. I myself liked the matte black on the old eeepc but you cant win them all. The small keys take a little getting use to if you have been using a full size laptop but if you have been using a netbook you should be fine. It is also not very linux friendly due to the graphics chip but I prefer windows on a day to day basis so thats not a huge fault for me. The only major complaint I have is all the Asus Bloatware that comes bundled with it. While it is nice if you like yahoo widgets and such I just dont like it. However it is easily disabled and removed in about 30 seconds. It also ships with windows xp home. Why they did not include xp tablet I don’t know but I plan to upgrade this one anyway.

All in all this is a great little tablet for the money and hopefully I will get years of use out of it as I have my other Asus products

-Tracker

P.S. Sorry for the lack of updates life has taken its turns but hopefully the road is a bit straighter ahead and I will have a bit more time to do more on here!

NES Rumble Pak! [NES]

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Now this is pretty neat. I was really interested because it was done by a student like myself and it was entered into an engineering expo.

Now basically it works kinda like the N64’s rumble pack. However they are unable to control when the rumble happens. So if your playing Super Mario and your just about to leap over a flaming stick of doom  you might want to be aware that it could rumble at the exact moment and cause you to run right into it. If I had more of these laying around I might try it for myself, but for now my NES will simply have to live with playing Shut ’em Ups and giving me a thumb cramp. Speaking of Shut ’em Ups, if you have an NES I highly recommend sky sharks. That is a Fun game. Tracker do you have that one? I know you have tons of games for your NES. Oh and this post gives me another reason to play the NES tonight.

I think I’ll keep an eye on his blog as well. Looks like he likes to tinker.

-DarkWarrior

Via http://andygoetz.org/post/an-nes-rumble-pak

Hard Drive Failure? Part 1

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Ok so about a month ago my hard drive began to fail. It was not completely gone but it wouldn’t boot either. So that is what my next series of posts is going to be about.

The series is going to be as follows.

1. What Causes Hard Drive Failure

2. How to prevent data loss

3. What to do when your disk fails

4. The conclusion.

So lets get started…

WHAT CAUSES A HARD DRIVE TO FAIL

Just like a car your hard drive will eventually fail. Moving parts break down over time. The time it takes for it to fail is different for every drive. I have a drive in my computer right now that has been working for over 5 years while the old drive I just pulled out lasted just over a year.

The internals of a drive are very sensitive the drive heads [what reads the data] float a micron above the platters [the disks that hold the data] and when a drive is put through a lot of vibration the heads can become offset causing a hard drive to fail.

Heat is also a problem that can cause a hard drive’s life span to be shortened. It is important to make sure your computer is in a cool room and there is enough air flow inside the case of your computer.

Static is a major computer killer. This one mostly only applies to people working on computers. It is extremely important to make sure you don’t transfer static to your hard drive. When ever installing components into a computer make sure to wear a static wrist band. If you don’t have one make sure to touch the side of your computer.

Power Surges are also a point of failure. To help prevent this make sure that your computer is ALWAYS connected to a name brand surge protector. [not the cheap ones you can get at the dollar store]. Most surge protectors come with some sort of insurance. For example if my computer failed while plugged into its surge protector and its because of a power surge I have upto $100,000.00 of coverage on it.

In my case my drive had a head / platter issue. When it would try and read I could hear a clicking sound from the heads trying to read.

In part 2 I am going to talk about Data Recovery Hospital and how to prevent data loss mostly by way of proper backups and disk clones.

-Tracker

[iphone/itouch] iPhone bike mount

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neat
This is really neat, A DIY bike mount for your iphone. I will be sure to work on making on of these myself, probably 2 of them, one for my Standard Pedal bike and another for my dirt bike. Now I would probably never take my iPhone on my dirt bike, but I just want to see how well it looks. I’ll be sure an post some results and probably make some modifications.
The original story is from one of my favorite blogs, Gizmodo.
So check ’em out at the original story page:http://gizmodo.com/5610361/the-free-iphone-motorcycle-mount?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+%28Gizmodo%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

[iPhone] FaceTime over 3G

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image

So while looking through my many RSS for some cool mods to look at I found this interesting article that shows me something I need to try, its called My3G. It’s an app only available to people who jailbreak their iphones and can be used to do things that your phone will refuse to do on 3G, such as FaceTime if you have an iphone 4, it also does tethering which is what I am really interested in. We already saw Trackers post about his internet comparison so I want to do one myself. I will be sure to post my results! But in the mean time check out this air compressor guide by PAN. If you need a black max compressor shoppok.com have them at everyday low prices take a look on https://www.shoppok.com/tools-for-sale-cg/black-max-air-compressor-sp.

Check this new article here:http://www.megaleecher.net/FaceTime_Chat_Over_3G.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBestInternetNews+%28Megaleecher.Net+-+Making+technology+work+for+you…%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

How To Root Non-Sprint HTC Hero!

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We all know I cant leave well enough alone and have to do more on my phone than what its suppose to do so within the first 24 hours of having my android phone it was rooted!

I am on the Bluegrass Cellular network. It is a CDMA based phone that operates on a network just like verizon. This method may work for other carriers but I have only confirmed it on Bluegrass… There are reports of it working on Cellular South as well via the XDA-Developers forum

The instructions are very simple and I am pulling them from the XDA-Developers Forum on a post made by markachee. I will be adding my own information in as well.

NOTICE / WARNING / READ THESE:
1. I give no guarantees for anything that may or may not result from following these instructions (or any mistakes made).
2. Doing this will probably void your warranty, BUT as long as you don’t run some other carrier’s RUU (not talking about ROMs here, talking about the official upgrade files. what’s important is that your hboot version doesn’t change) you can always just flash your carrier’s RUU to go back to unrooted completely stock.

Known issues:
NONE! This is a clean procedure that leaves your current rom as is. Any issues you have will be related to whatever ROMs you choose to flash or additional packages you choose to flash to your current rom

The chances of you breaking your phone are VERY VERY slim but if it does break you are the one responsiblie for it 😉

1. Upgrade to 2.1
We know this works with the initial 2.1 updates, but later updates may patch it. If you have installed additional updates from your carrier, you may have to flash the original RUU to be able to root.

I took my phone down to bluegrass and had them do this step for me 😉

2. Download and extract the Android SDK
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
You really only need this for the adb binary. If anyone can suggest a better way to get it than downloading the entire SDK, let me know.

3. Download and install HTC Sync
Some carriers have specific versions of HTC Sync (I know Cellular South does).
You could also just install the adb drivers.

4. Download the hack and extract it to your SDK tools directory. (or wherever you have adb)
It’s attached to this post.

5. Turn on USB Debugging on your phone
Settings -> Applications -> Development -> USB Debugging

6. Plug your phone in USB

7. Run the script
For Windows this is runindos.bat. You should be able to just double click it.
That’s it. This will flash the Darch version of AmonRA’s recovery.

8. BACKUP
At this point you should probably backup your current stock rom (see Recovery guide below) and backup your PRL. (navalynt has good instructions on this in his root guide).

Now you can flash a custom rom or just flash the provided su.zip (see Recovery guide below) for Superuser Permissions (root) within your current rom.

I did not bother with a custom rom all I did was flash using the su.zip that was included in the download.

Recovery

Recovery is where you can backup, restore, and flash ROMs or additional app zips.

To enter Recovery mode on your phone, power the phone off. Then hold home and press the power button. Keep holding home until you get the recovery screen.

You’ll see several options, but the first thing you’ll want to use is Backup.I’ve always used the nandroid option, not sure of the differences between it and bart. Backing up does exactly what you’d expect: copies your current ROM to your sd card. It doesn’t change anything on the phone. It does take a few minutes so be patient.

Most roms will suggest you wipe first, and there is a menu option for that in recovery also. Just choose wipe, then factory reset. This does nothing to your sd card and only wipes application data (app installed from the market, settings for any app, etc).

After you’ve backed up, Recovery is also where you flash new ROMs or additions to your current ROM. It’s easiest to pick a rom you want on your pc, and transfer it to your phone over usb. you can either do this the normal way, or if you’re already in recovery, there is a USB-MS option you can use. Some Recoveries require flashable zips to be in the root of your sd card (not in any directory). After the ZIP is on your sd card, choose “install zip from sdcard” and pick the zip of the ROM you want. That’s it. After it’s done flashing, reboot your phone. If you wiped and flashed a full ROM, the first will take several minutes.

If you flash a ROM and either get stuck in a boot loop or just don’t like it, go back into recovery under the Backup option and choose nandroid restore. Pick the option you get (it’s a directory named with your phone’s serial number) and you’ll see a list of backups named with the date/time they were created. Choose which one you want to restore, wait a few minutes, then reboot and you’ll be back to exactly where you were.

You can download all the files needed using the following link or goto THIS thread on XDA and follow the links to the main sources.

Big thanks goes out to all those who developed this hack and took the time to perfect it!

DOWNLOAD

-Tracker

New Toy!

Tracker3 Comments

So I got a great deal on a HTC Hero for Bluegrass Cellular and got it in the mail a couple days ago… Hopefully I will have info on rooting as well as a review and some other stuff shortly…

On another note I do have it rooted and tethered to my laptop and the speeds are comparable to my home DSL connection…

Above is my laptop through the cell phone

And this is my home DSL connection… Slightly higher upload and lower ping but sadly also a lower download speed.

-Tracker

[Research Project #1] vpn’s

DarkWarriorLeave a comment

downloading
So surfing on the internet is awesome right? Well of course! But lets just say you got “disconnected” from a website for a certain manner of behavior. Or maybe you live outside of the United States and want to watch our wonderful (soon to be ruined by subscription) Hulu! Well fret not, I am in the process of finding different ways of achieving this goal.

At the same time in this post I am introducing something else, Research Projects, I have about a billion of them, but now I’m going to put them on the net! Also I am going to make a thread in our forums so that they start to get some use! I haven’t figured out if I am going to make my own sub-forum just for it or if I’m going to put them in different sub-forums as classification, but I’m sure i’ll figure it out eventually. My usual way of research is to bookmark 10000 pages and then make a ton of text files with random information. Ironically I do the same for my college notes and research papers and often times I do really well in the classes and on the papers.

So there is this site called proXPN and it looks pretty legit, I found it using a reliable source and I hope to have a review about it soon. And also some other services and the like to do similar tasks. Like I said I have many, many, many projects. So expect a lot of these updates to be random and spur of the moment.

-DarkWarrior

Lack of updates…..

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Ok so you may have noticed that over the past few months there has been a serious lack of updates on the site and the cause of that is simply put life. With all that’s going on I have not had the time to work on any of my sites.

That is why I need everyone’s help. The reason for not posting is that I don’t have time to come up with the content. So what I need you to do is go out and find all the best mods or create your own stuff. Send it into me via the contact us page and it may end up on the site. If you have your own blog post your mod there and send me the link. Its a good way for you to get your site noticed by others 😉

Hopefully I can come up with some new content soon.

-Tracker