iPhone 3g and iOS 4
Posted by Biffster in iPhone/iPod on July 7th, 2010
I recently upgraded my iPhone 3g to iOS 4, and jailbroke it at the same time. I don’t know which of these two led to my phone’s performance degradation, but something did. All of a sudden, everything was dog slow. It was easy to find out why, too: I only had a teeny, tiny amount of RAM free. That’s not good, not good at all.
Fortunately, Lifehacker had a great, easy-to-follow article for downgrading the 3g to iPhone OS 3.1.3. It took me about 15 minutes total. Muy bueno!
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a backup from 3.1.3. Worse, I lost a lot more data than I thought. Contacts, calendars, 2dos, those were all fine. I sync to Google for all of that. But my data files for Angry Birds? Gone. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Facebook Photo Zoom – Google Chrome extension gallery
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux, Firefox, Web on May 15th, 2010
I have just started converting to Google Chrome as my main browser. I love Firefox, and have been using it since way back in its Phoenix pre-build days. But Chrome is so fast, and so light-weight. Both browsers are open-source, and both are excellent choices.
One of the best parts of Firefox were extensions. People expanded the functionality of Firefox in ways that were never imagined thanks to the ease of writing extensions for Firefox. Google learned that lesson well, and made Chrome easily extensible, too.
I’ve been looking through the wide range of extensions available for Chrome. There are already thousands, some good, some not so good. The extension that I most miss – Paste Email Plus – doesn’t have an equivalent for Chrome. But I have stumbled across some excellent ones. And some extensions that are surprisingly simple yet elegant. One such extension is great for those of us who use Facebook:
Facebook Photo Zoom is a simple, light-weight extension that integrates directly into Facebook so you can see the larger images of photo albums, profile photos and more whenever you hover over a zoomable image!
Howto install amarok 1.4 in Ubuntu Jaunty | Ubuntu Geek
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux, Digital music, Install, Open Source on April 24th, 2010
I keep meaning to blog about this post, and keep forgetting. I personally can’t stand Amarok 2.x but loved Amarok 1.4. The link below gives an easy step-by-step procedure to install Amarok 1.4 in newer versions of Ubuntu/LinuxMint. Note: in the list of steps, replace “jaunty” with whatever Ubuntu distro you are using.
Some users are not happy with amarok 2 and they want to install amarok 1.4.This tutorial will help them to install amarok1.4 version.
Howto install amarok 1.4 in Ubuntu Jaunty | Ubuntu Geek
iPhone, TWIG and podcasts at 2x speed
I was listening to TWIG (This Week In Google with Leo Laporte) a couple weeks ago, and the topic of listening to podcasts at high-speed came up. This is something that I had never even considered. According to one of the panelists on that week’s TWIG, a person’s brain can actually absorb more data when the information delivery process is sped up. So I decided to give it a try.
The iPod and iPhone have a simple option to set the speed for podcasts and audiobooks to 2x. The iPod/iPhone has some type of tone enhancer so that the spearker’s voice doesn’t sound like a Chipmunk. I am impressed with how well this works. Any music played on the podcast sounds weird, of course. But otherwise…
After trying this, I decided that I quite like it. I listen to all podcasts at 2x speed now. It has a major pro and con; both are the same thing: I can listen to twice as many podcasts now. The pro is that I can actually listen to all of the podcasts I subscribe to. The con is that I run through all the episodes before the week is done, so I end up with nothing to listen to at the end of the week.
All in all, I recommend trying podcasts at 2x. At the very worst, you can hit a button and go back to normal speed. 
Stop Wine-ing: 15 Games for Linux | Linux Magazine
Posted by Biffster in Debian/Linux, Games on March 29th, 2010
Many believe that Wine and other Windows emulation solutions may be their only recourse for high-quality gaming enjoyment. That, however, it not entirely true. There are plenty of smaller, independent gaming houses developing and releasing premium commercial games for Linux alongside Mac and Windows offerings. Search hard enough and you’ll find games ranging from low-resource puzzle solvers to 3D first-person shooters.
Stop Wine-ing: 15 Games for Linux | Linux Magazine
Netflix streaming on the Wii!!!
Posted by Biffster in Geek Stuff on March 26th, 2010
Netflix has been promising it for a while. I signed up for the waiting list way back in November. Finally, the wait is over. Wii discs are being mailed out NOW! Mine is waiting for me in the mailbox at home. Streaming movies and TV shows on the Wii. Does it get much better than that?
Of course, this means I have to find some way to get my 6 year old to let me use the Wii. I haven’t been able to play my copy of Madden 2010 because he absconded with it. Trying to keep him off the Wii long enough for me to watch a season of a show in one sitting? Dunno….
Coming this Spring – Netflix instantly streams movies online to Wii
Posted by Biffster in Miscellany on March 12th, 2010
Symphony of Science – The Poetry of Reality (An Anthem for Science)
Beautiful, gorgeous, poetry brought to life, this video shows that science can be magical.
