- Blog
- Profile
- Homepage
-
Chinese on Cingular Blackberry
Turns out that Blackberry has done specific versions for each carrier as I noted before, but the “Pinstack”:http://blackberryforums.pinstack.com/showthread.php?t=3311 site was sometimes right, sometimes wrong. Google however seemed to be able to find the correct software downloads. Just a warning, before you do a download, back everything up! # BlackBerry Software for Cingular All Cingular customers…
-
H.264 for Video iPod Conversion
I’ve been using Videola which has been OK and is free, but the user interface is confusing and it is easy to create invalid iPod Video formats particularly with variable bit rate encoding. It’s best to stick to 640Kbps video and 128Kbps audio and you get good results. Using Videohelp, I found DVD-Guides.com – H.264…
-
Any to Any Video Format with a VOB to MPG example
“Videohelp”:http://www.videohelp.com/guides.php?tools=&madeby=&formatconversionselect=VOB+to+MPG&howtoselect=%3B&orderby=Date&listall=1&hits=25&archive=0&listallusers=&search=Search+or+List+Guides has an amazing tool that lets you put any type of format conversion to any other type and then shows you the guide that it has and the tool to use. For instance, to convert a VOB to MPG, see the search got me to this “guide”:http://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=224833 which tells you how to do it…
-
Cingular Blackberry Unlock
“Pinstack FAQ”:http://www.pinstack.com/blackberryfaq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=6&id=191&artlang=en&highlight=unlock. bq. Cingular customers Try the free route first. Call International customer service (Cingular customer service number is 800-335-4685 24hrs) Tell them that you are traveling and need to roam using another SIM on prepaid. They will ask you for your Blackberry’s IMEI and then give you the unlock code. Be sure to have…
-
Chinese Text to PinYin
Well, I use Google to translate Chinese characters to English which works OK, but I really need something that also translates to Pinyin so I can read it. “Ping Asian Imports”:http://www.pingasianimports.com/Chinesepinyin/Translate.asp has such a tool. What I really need is something that takes a web page or a PowerPoint document and double converts to Pinyin…
-
Phone Geeks for Blackberry, RAZR and CU320
With a shiny new Blackberry 8700c, it’s fun to see what the power nerds are doing to make it fast and personal, here are some great sites to follow: * “Blackberry Forums”:http://blackberryforums.com. This is pretty active and the “8700”:http://www.blackberryforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52 forum has some good things on problems and new software like a video player. * “RIMarkable”:http://www.rimarkable.com/.…
-
Merging M2V and MP2 elemental streams back into MPEG 2
Well, I use TMPGEnc Creator to encode my MPEG2 streams. DVD-Labs really likes to have the audio and video streams split into M2V for the video and M2A for the audio (sometimes called MP2 if it is encoded in MPEG2 audio). But, iPod Videola really likes either the complex MPEG2 or VOB files, so I…
-
Walker Bay WB 10F
!
-
Reinstalling Windows XP Easily
“Reinstalling”:http://winhowto.blogspot.com/2006/06/how-to-reinstall-windows-xp-easily_22.html is a pain and I need to do that now. I have a 75GB system drive that I want to replace with a 750GB (woo hoo!) drive, but I don’t want lose all the installation stuff. So how can I do this? You need something called the Bart PE
-
Ack Windows Geniune Advantage Failure
PC Hell: Windows Genuine Advantage Problems and Fixes. Ack one of my PCs has been infected with geniune advantage problem. I can’t seem to fix it other than reinstalling which wipes out the entire installation as I think this is a version I got from the Microsoft Company Store. Interesting, this isn’t something that is…
-
New Cingular Phones
!
-
Home Movie DVDs to iPod Video
OK, I need to get a bunch of my home movies from their DVD .VOB format back into a long .MPG file so that I can make H.264 files for iPod Video. As usual, there are a zillion formats and it is hard to figure out the easiest way to do it. Here is the…
-
Shooting Fireworks
!New York Institute of Photography – Fireworks Photography – Tips for Great Fireworks Photographs from NYIP. Happy 4th of July, here are some tips on shooting fireworks. The basics are that you need a tripod and you need to be able to take a long exposure. With “digital cameras”:http://www.nyip.com/tips/current/digfirewks.php, you need a tripod, a cable…
-
Bob on Canon Lenses
“Bob”:http://bobsplanet.com is really a great photographer. By his permission, here’s an excerpt on picking lenses. Don’t you love IM? Bob Wise says: good, how are you? Rich Tong says: Goofing off. Scanning 35mm film from 1999 and looking for cameras. Have to leave in 3 minute to go to work We should talk cameras and…
-
Motorola V3 RAZR Modding
OK, now that we have a Motorola V3, its fun to see what the internet world has been doing to customize it. It’s kind of amazing the tools that are now available and the amount of hacking people have done: * “Motox”:http://motox.us. This is a big modding site with lots of firmware. The essentials are…
-
Calvin’s New Bike
Alex got one last year, now its Calvin’s turn. Some choices: !>http://www.redlinebicycles.com/adultbikes/bikes/images/Conquest-24.jpg! * REDLINE | ADULT BIKES | CONQUEST 24. This is a 24″ wheeled Redline Cyclocross. It has a 17.4″ standover.
-
Useful Utilities
“PC Magazine”:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1936083,00.asp normally isn’t that useful anymore and it is a pale imitation of its former self, but this piece on cool utilities is really useful. Here are the top ones: * “Roboform”:http://roboform.com. A great utility even if it does cost $30. Keeps track of all your passworks. * “PartitionMagic”:http://symantec.com. Its is $70, but it…
-
Password Safe
My buddy Bill was using Roboform for password saving and I liked it, but I’m too cheap to pay for something like that. There is an open source project that seems to do much the same thing called “Password Safe”:https://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/
-
Fuji F10 on the fritz
We have a pair of F10s and an F11, but one of them is now on the fritz. The lens cover won’t open, even though the rest of the camera turns on. With Fuiji, you have to send it to an authorized repair center. Fujifilm: Support & Contact Center: Repair Information & Locations: Consumer Digital…
-
Canon Rebates
Canon is really tough to get rebates from. But, you need to follow the instructions at “Canon Rebates”:https://www.web-rebates.com/canon/Main/Default.asp and you can Prequalify on the site which is supposed to save time. Also make sure to really read the instructions about what they want. # Copy of the dated sales receipt from an authorized dealer (make…
-
Canon i9900 from Canon Digital Rebel XT Printing with Photo Paper Pro, Adobe Photoshop CS or CS 2 and Red River 68 lb glossy
Tong Family Blog: Canon i9900 ICC Profile Guide. Previously I had done some printing from scans, but now with this Digital Rebel set for AdobeRGB, its’ time to really fine tune the printing. The basic information is in the ICC Profile guide. But, the instructions are way too confusing. Here’s a step by step guide…
-
Y.A.W.N — Yet Another Website on the Net
Is it just me or do there seem to be just so many social and other networking sites arriving on the network. With the amount of venture capital going into consumer web things these days, I can only guess what the explosion will be like. Anyway, continuing the campaign to get the username “rich” on…
-
Google Spreadsheets and Motorola Q
Google Spreadsheets – Sneak Peek mentioned to me by “John”:http://www.theludwigs.com as good enough spreadsheeting. I’m on the trial. Also Peter mentioned to me the “Motorola Q”:http://reviews.cnet.com/Motorola_Q/4505-6452_7-31473357.html and Dave has told me that Windows Mobile 5 is good. I’m glad I sold my RIM stock 🙂
-
Comparison of Fuji F10 vs. Canon Digital Rebel vs. Sony DSC-H5 vs. Canon PowerShot 500
“Digital Camera Info”:http://digitalcamerainfo.com is the only site that I’ve found that has analytically compared the color, resolution, noise for these widely different cameras. It’s interesting to see how a $2600 Canon 5D with aa $1100 lense compares with a $300 compact. Here are the high points: * Professional DSLR. The Canon 5D at $2600 street…
-
HTPC 2006
I built up a Home Theater PC last year based on the Intel Pentium M, the ATI 9600 with component output and a home theater case with 60GB of memory. I actually got it to boot up in 1080i mode although I needed a dedicated LCD monitor and I also found the ATI software to…
-
Comcast DVR is the Motorola DCT6412
broadband » DVR From Comcast FAQ. I’m really just learning how to use this thing. It is way complicated. The main issue is that channel switching and input are just so slow. There are some kind of cool tricks though: h2. Copy to a DVD “Replayguide”:http://replayguide.sourceforge.net/dct6412/. This is a great guide that shows you how…
-
Channel Logos
!>http://www.lyngsat-logo.com/images/ls_logo.gif! “Lyngsat Logo”:http://www.lyngsat-logo.com/tvcountry/us.html. An incredibly cool resource. When you are hacking up remote control scripts, I’m always looking for logs. This site has every logo up to date from just about every country. A great service.
-
iPod Video conversion
Well, I haven’t been super serious about this, but “Plastic Bugs”:http://plasticbugs.com/?p=305 has a good guide for Mac users. I use Videora to do the conversion. The worst part is figuring out how to transcode. The short story is that if you have home videos, the H.264 format is the best. It is very efficient. Just…
-
Seattle Senior Activities
It’s complicated to figure out what folks who are 55 years or better should be doing. Here’s a quick list courtesy of google:”Seattle senior citizen”: * Seattle Parks & Recreation: For Seniors. Seattle Parks and Recreation Senior Adult Programs offer a wide range of activities for seniors that change each season. * “Senior Centers”:http://www.seniorservices.org/sc/centers.htm. A…
-
Philips ProntoPro NG TSU7000
!