Tong Family (richtong.org sync)

!

“Downgrading”:http://code.google.com/p/iphone-elite/wiki/DowngradingBaseband your Baseband firmware fixes the bricking of your iPhone. If you upgraded to firmware 1.1.1 and this wiped our your iPhone, this will fix things. Basically, you download the 1.0.2 and reload it onto your iPhone This actually fails because the 1.1.1 upgrade does two things, upgrades the software for the central processor and…

These big LaserJet 4250n take a long time to run out of toner and there are host of remanufactured ones. But if you want the geniune article, there are two choices, the HP 42A (Q5942A) which lists for $150 or the HP 42X (Q5942X) listing for $225 according to “HP”:http://www.shopping.hp.com/supmodel/printing_supplies/LaserJet/LaserJet%2B4250n/1 the big difference is that…

this is what tends to happen with sudden shutdowns. The hard disk are cached, so you can really torque them. The fix is to run chkdsk /r from the Windows XP CD. But I can’t even keep the computer up long enough to do that, so need to wait for a new power supply Unmountable…

If you have an unlocked cell phone or iPhone that you are bringing into China, you need to set all kinds of custom things. “Shanghai Expat”:http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/index.php?name=MDForum&file=viewtopic&p=449343 has collected all the settings in one place. How convenient: h2. WAP The WAP information page is : http://www.monternet.com/moneditor/cs/wap/wapguide/ The settings you need are: Wap Home : http://wap.monternet.com Gateway…

I’ve heard of companies not liking modders, but wow, Apple is certainly taking it to extremes. If you have unlocked your iphone, their latest firmware 1.1.1 actually makes “bricks” or makes the phone useless if it detects it. Talk about extreme measures. They actually will make inoperable something that cost $400-600 just by a simple…

!

I keep forgetting how to do this, so here are the instructions again. They are a little arcane: # “Download”:https://www.blackberry.com/SoftwareDownload/index.jsp?client=cB5RB4aRB from the Blackberry CSL download site both the desktop manager and the 8300 Chinese input version Powered by ScribeFire.

Ryan has given all of us some great tips about taking the very hard to take night cityscape shots and firework shots. I’ve been reading quite a bit about these techniques, but he really has some great tips. Here they are for the next time you need to take an impressive night time display: #…

“Bob”:http://bobsplanet.com asked me about backup as did Richard, so here’s a quick review of how to do backup. There has been a long evolution here for me. Originally, at home I bought a tape backup that did a mammoth 5GB, but I just never used it. Then just had a big PC with lots of…

The first of these, the Nikon 18-200 is an amazing lense. Only for digital cameras, it is the only lense that most folks are going to need most of the time. Cost is high, but the quality is very good. $800 buys a lot. Plus it is image stabilized and paired with the Nikon d40x,…

Often times I’m watching CSI or especially Cold Case and I just love the songs. Most fans have sites for this stuff, but “TuneFind”:http://tunefind.com/show/CSI seems to do the most professional job of this. Powered by ScribeFire.

We have one of these at work and you need a little update to the color profile ICC and also they have really fixed their setup “guides”:http://www.redrivercatalog.com/profiles/downloads.htm so you can set all the arcane parameters. The short of it is to set: # Photoshop to let photoshop determine colors # Set relative colormetric (and try…

iPhones uses a much narrower plug, so most headphones and cassette adapters won’t work. I’ve cut away the plastic on my Etymotic 4 and 6is and this seems to work, but when I do it on my Sony cassette adapter, it causes the whole thing to break. A non-intrusive fix is to buy a dongle…

Intel has been leading on the desktop for a while now and now with the new Barcelona coming out from AMD, it is more equal on the server. So, if you are trying decide whether to buy a notebook or a desktop, what’s the scoop? Is there a new processor refresh around the corent. Here…

!

!>http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/screenshot.png! Folks have been busy figuring out to install third party applications on the iPhones (and presumably the new iPod Touch which uses the same software). “Installer.app”:http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/ is one such attempt. It downloads over the EDGE network directly so that’s pretty cool. Can’t wait until Apple supports this directly. You then can download stuff. If…

The day was coming where folks realized that with things like iPhones or Blackberrys that you should just be able to use your mp3 as a ringtone. Blackberry just lets you do it. In Apple’s case, they want $0.99 for the track and then another $0.99 to make it into a ringtone. So what can…

!

AppleInsider | Apple to offer early iPhone adopters $100 credit – Jobs After personally reading hundreds of emails from disgruntled iPhone customers, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs appears to have had a change of heart and now plans to offer early iPhone adopters a $100 credit towards future Apple purchases. In an open letter to…

Because OS X just logs you without a password by default (like Windows 95 used to), you can really forget your password as I did with a now ancient iMac (the one that looked like a lamp). So how do you recover. Well, Google is my friend and here is what Elliot says: Mac OS…

I’ve had this tripod for a year now and I must say it was super expensive, but worth it. The tripod is $520 and the head is $270, so don’t lose it, but on the other hand, there are lots of photos I couldn’t have gotten particularly landscapes without it. The only real hiccup has…

!

With PCs, I normally don’t get their extended warranty since they don’t tend to break. With Windows laptops, they normally have a year and I can fix most of them. (I’ve replaced the hard disk of an ASUS notebook four times!). But, with the Macbooks, we ended up buying a three year service contract for…

A DFI LanParty UT with an Athlon X2 3800 has been gradually failing. Throwing memory errors and now has sudden shutdown problems. It is very nasty figuring out what is wrong. If you read posts on sudden shutdown, folks often blame (so things you should try if you’ve got similar problems): # Heat. This is…