Slide vs. LX–Exinor calls this bout.

I’m fairly new to the “cellular world.” Yeah, I know… “Exinor, where the HECK have you been?!”

Well, ANYWAYS… I wanted to take advantage of Sidekick’s unlimited data plan, with their latest releases. My first choice was a Sidekick Slide. Great concept for a phone, switching from the original swivel to a screen that slides straight up. Could’ve been great… too bad that’s pretty much the ONLY good thing about the phone.

The screen is smaller, which honestly most people won’t care about–but the major downfall of this phone is that the microSD slot is placed in the most inconvenient location: behind BOTH the battery and the SIM card. This is alright for people who normally don’t take their card out of their camera, but for those who do, this is a nightmare. It even states in the pdf that you have to take out just the battery, when you REALLY have to take out the battery AND the SIM card (demonstrated to me in a T-Mobile store). I mean, just LOOK at it–

Many times over too, my roller ball stopped working, in which case I had to blow on it furiously to get it working properly again. Also, the ambient sensor doesn’t seem to be working properly, because the screen goes from dark to light too many times.

The other redeeming quality I found about the slide (besides the sliding screen), is the keyboard. I know many others would argue this trait, but speaking as a newbie to the technology, the buttons are close enough together to allow you to type messages fairly quickly.

Now–the Sidekick LX’s ambient sensor is perfect (at least so far), with at least 1 second lag time for the screen to adjust to the background light. The memory card slot is behind the back cover, but in its own separate location away from the battery.

The slim, sleek design of the LX makes it more appropriate to attempt to fit in your pocket as opposed to the slight girth of the Slide.

Conclusion: Slide wins in concept, but not in design. Cheaper, though.

Linking USB Digital Olympus Camera + Vista (Explorer)

You: “I would like to link my Olympus Digital Camera to my PC via a USB port because I don’t have an xD Picture card reader.”

*Clicks on [Open folder to view files]*

You: “OMG… these are pictures I took a LONG time ago… where’s my new ones?”

Vista:

If you try to copy the pictures, and preview them after you copy them to your HD, you will find that they are still the same new pictures that you took recently, BUT the thumbnail vista gives them in Explorer looks like older pictures you have taken.

Now… how to solve this?

Right click the picture, go to Properties.

Go to the “Details” tab.

At the bottom, right above “OK”, click Remove Properties and Personal information

Click the bullet that says “Remove properties from this file:”, Select All, then OK.

After it’s all said and done, refresh windows explorer, you should now see your new pictures instead of your old ones!

Internship in SL with Iota Studios: Complete

Here’s a mini log of everything I’ve done during the course of my internship with Iota Studios. All of it entails 3D content creation and modeling.

First up, an assignment to make a realistic weapon. I used the image of a gun called the “Callahan Pistol” to create this grayscale model in Second Life.

Second, I had to create a weapon of MEGA proportions. Inspired by the weapon detail in Monster Hunter, I made this weapon that’s kinda a scythed hammer that can shoot lightning bolts. It’s called the “Black Lightning”.

Third was the exact opposite. I had to make jewelry using tiny prims. I used a specimen known as the “Moonstone Necklace” to inspire this model.

Finally, the most challenging project–was a fully customized avatar. Unfortunately, on this one, I didn’t do as good as I would’ve hoped… but I do look to improve, and I’ve learned a lot about it. I used Samus Aran from Metroid to inspire this build. It’s a female armor set.

The following two pictures are simple builds I made in my spare time to test my skills. I do hope to market everything soon.

My final thoughts: Actually, in the course of this internship, I have met my goal of becoming a proficient builder. I think I can take on the title of “Advanced Builder,” but in order to become an expert of 3D content creation, I still have much to learn and practice.

If anybody wants me to attempt to create something for the in SL of their choosing, I’ll do my best, and give you a discounted price until I become an expert.

(btw… sorry I took so long to make a new post)

Windows cannot connect to the printer, HP deskjet 5100 series

Finally, I can access my printer on my home network… using particular advice from this forum post, I was able to access the wizard to install my printer… however, my model wasn’t listed under available signed drivers, and pointing towards my setup CD didn’t work… so I just installed the drivers for the 5400 series and voila!  It’s working!  When I still try to connect to it through the network, access is denied… but if I try to manually print any document from a text editor or word processor, it works

Me is happy.

COMPAQ is… SPARTA!!!!!!

I haven’t written so long because of sheer MADNESS problems with my laptop and it’s wireless, courtesy of Vista, of course.  Through it all, I went through a crazy process trying to install Linux Ubuntu, and I ended up "destroying" my Broadcom wireless network as a result… thus, I put it in to Best Buy for servicing.  The diagnostic showed that the laptop couldn’t be fixed, so I got an exchange for it.  I now have a Sony Vaio N-Series, and just for ha-has, I tried to run the Ubuntu live cd.  Alas, I had NO PROBLEM getting it working.  It so happens that trying to get Linux working on HP/Compaq is a nightmare in hell.

I was able to start my Second Life internship with <a href="http://iotastudios.wordpress.com">Iota studios</a>, CEO Cody Rauh/Perefim Cao.  I’ve made a few interesting 3D builds so far, as that is what the internship entails.  Many content developers in Second Life know that any complete object holds three things together:

• A 3D design/interface
• Texturing
• Scripting

Sculpting is also part of the mix, but very optional… as there are very few things that can’t be made without prims… but it saves prim count.

Sustainable WiFi and media delivery in developing countries…?

This is the aftermath of the NYC wireless meeting yesterday. A couple of entrepreneurs, Michael Hannilan and Tejpaul Bhatia, builds a company based on shipping media and servers via a storage unit to foreign countries using WiFi to develop their internet networks. Their claim is to “take advantage of developing WiFi and WiMax networks” by shipping content that they can use over the internet. There are a few problems with this model though.

1. This puts major power in the hands of the ISPs (Internet Service Providers), for without them, there is no service to begin with, and they can decide the bandwidth rate of existing networks… so that the ability to give high quality interactive media to these folks MAY be limited.
2. This models focuses on the customers being the companies who so desire to give them content to distribute… where these companies themselves can infiltrate the areas and do such a thing.
3. The content distributed is very limited particularly to what they’re offering… as opposed to the high tech ad-hoc society of YouTube, Usenet, etc., where the amount of content provided is limited to the user’s desires… and the amazing ability to share everything with everybody.

Maybe… some sort of survey/feedback form can be distributed not only to collect other metrics to prove that there is a market there to address… but to also confirm what the users need so they can continue to distribute content that users actually WANT.

Vista strikes again (video card problems)

I can’t believe the deficiencies that Vista has with my video card. When I routinely try to do my DJing gig on Second Life, I have to run Second Life + Winamp/Shoutcast. Now this is ridiculous, because eventually, my windows (and screen) looks like the following:

Now… my explorer bar RELOCATES to the top of the screen, when actually, it still only responds when I try to navigate it as if it were on the bottom. Whenever I maximize/minimize the windows, some appear transparent. Add on to this that the screen flickers back and forth, and you only end up with an extreme eyesore.

I’ve tried the following:

1) Reinstalling/updating the video drivers.
2) Running Vista in safe mode.
3) Closing everything else that runs in the background.

After a bit of research, I noticed that the video card that my computer was equipped with is a weird one… the nVidia GeForce 6150. I went to some universal driver websites only to find one or two drivers tops for this card. I was always considering downgrading to Windows XP, but what if the same problems exist alongside those drivers…? nVidia isn’t giving us enough support here, what are we supposed to do?

In part, this is a cry for help, but I’m not going to stop trying to figure out what’s wrong.

Windows Live Writer… O RLY?!

I’m testing out this new tool I downloaded from Microsoft called Windows Live Writer for my blog… it’s a desktop app that’ll synchronize with my weblog whenever I have an active Internet connection… This will be particularly useful whenever I bring my laptop places WITHOUT an Internet connection, but have something to write about.  Perhaps if I keep it up, I can even catch up to my colleague Marshall Sponder and his frequent blog updates.

My latest news is that I’m currently going to tackle doing custom projects for clients on Second Life, and have developed my own special tipjar app… which I hope to complete soon and put it up on SLexchange.

Also, I’m organizing an event (or series of events) for YoD 2007 (Year of the Dolphin), on Second Life.  My partner in this endeavor is Reg Mannonen, one of the most well known aquatics on SL.  I’m currently collecting information on dolphins and their endangerment, so I can find a way to have this information available to the public on SL.

Verizon and Belkin, you BOTH fail (Troubleshoot DSL problem)

Verizon DSL… decent internet, reputable company. But guess what: over the course of three weeks, my internet went on and off on me every five minutes, causing me to have to relog on Maple Story, Meebo, and Second Life. Now… you can sure bet that I called Verizon to troubleshoot the issue, but they just kept telling me to restart the modem, and a bunch of silly nonsense, one of which I even logged into the DSL modem itself to re-configure it.

Now… curious as to what could be causing the problem, I logged into my router to see when/why my DSL connection is cutting off. Look at what I see:

Firewall log:
Tues Aug 7 13:48:42 2007 1 Blocked by DoS protection 192.168.2.3
Tues Aug 7 13:49:46 2007 1 Blocked by DoS protection 192.168.2.3
Tues Aug 7 13:50:43 2007 1 Blocked by DoS protection 192.168.2.3
Tues Aug 7 13:52:55 2007 1 Blocked by DoS protection 192.168.2.3
Tues Aug 7 13:54:05 2007 1 Blocked by DoS protection 192.168.2.3…

Now seriously. What kinda company configures a router to block the ISP by default. What’s wrong with you people?

Curious as to how this might be, I click on “Connection Type” on the menu to the left, only to see it’s to Dynamic by default… where it should be set to PPPoE, thanks to the insane security Verizon has put on their lines.

So I click into PPPoE to configure it, use the Master Verizon Account name and password, as well as naming the service “Verizon” (though I’m sure you don’t have to do this by default). Once saved, my DSL connection was up and running again.

Many have warned me that Belkin hardware was unfriendly. Cisco/Linksys FTW. I’ll focus on getting one soon.

Sports brands and their Mobile game plan…

Mobile Monday aftermath, a panel with several speakers from organizations such as MLB… talking about what their plan is for mobility and mobile apps.

Key points made:

• Users mainly use their cell phones when bored.
• Users look to get content in the LEAST amount of clicks.
• Users usually use sports apps to gain quick game scores.
• Text messaging is the predominant use of cell phones currently in the US.

What had struck me though, is that a member of the audience asked a question about Wi-Fi being implemented in the technology of these phones… and they simply responded by saying general carriers (e.g. Verizon, Sprint, Cingular, etc) will dominate for at least the next 5 years. Yet the main complaining was that standards haven’t been implemented for cell phone interface.

Way I see it, standards will never come about if these rabid companies keep going with their greedy competition. Somebody needs to check up on them big time. The market for cell phones is diverse, but very unfriendly.

They also need to remember that Wi-Fi will dominate the market eventually, and it’s all about timing. As anybody can see, AT&T decided to go with the flow as they made a partnership with Apple for the iPhone (which was also a hot topic at the meeting). You either follow these technologies… or get left behind. Ignoring Wi-Fi’s presence in the mobile space will leave a dent in many companies to come, and it’s slowing down our potential growth.