A Nerd's Blog

Hatin' on Givin' Flowers

2011-03-05T10:05:00.001+02:00

I've had this question in my mind for quite a while: what's with people and giving flowers??

Personally I hate doing that. I hate flowers, I hate haggling with the sellers, I hate having to look for one good flower among 100 bad ones. Are gifts so old fashioned that they should be replaced by flowers?

It's bad anyways from a significant number of POVs. First it's the obvious one: those flowers that you buy were pulled from their roots, thus killed. Is it better to see them slowly dying visibly in your house rather than blooming on the fields?

Second, suppose you find a great deal for some flowers, they're looking great, you bought them and gave them to the person you wanted to. But what if they have a longer way till home? Till then, those beautiful flowers will be well and truly withered. You mean you wasted your money for what's to quickly become a mere filling for the trash can?

And third, if that person is supposed to do some other things till they get home, they will surely be quite limited in movement by the flowers they must hold. Surely it's an OK idea?

So yes, those are a few reasons why I hate giving flowers. Sorry girls, you're only getting good ole presents from me! (Sure, on certain occasions even I have to agree a flower can do good, but only sometimes.)

Smartphones: Do you really need one?

2011-02-04T22:45:00.005+02:00

In the past couple of days, I've had a few experiences (upon which I will not provide details, since readers will figure out what they are about as soon as they're finished reading this post) that reminded me of this pet peeve of mine: people with smartphones that do not know how to use them.

Imagine the following: you want to get a new phone. You've got plenty of money, or you've found a smokin' offer at your carrier, and you're ready to go buy it. You go buy the phone, then start playing around with it. But then you find you don't know how to install a new theme, or how to disable push mail.

Well, that's all because you chose a smartphone. So as to be clear for everyone, a smartphone is a cellphone running an operating system (either iOS, in which case it's an iPhone, Android, Symbian, in which case it's most likely a Nokia, Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7, or Blackberry OS). Since it's an OS that they are running, they're obviously not intended for casual users, who only use their phones for talking, texting, or taking pics, and who occasionally install new themes or games. And now I will expand my point of view.

Today, people in the search for a new phone have quite a few choices. In my opinion, unfortunately though, the well known phone brands have chosen to release fashion models or budget phones running OS'es. This is quite a bad choice, as it increases the price for more powerful terminals (the way I see it, if there were less phones running, say, Android, maybe the prices would be lower). Understandably, consumers looking for such models do not care for push email or complex applications and what not. And certain OS'es just make simpler tasks more difficult for the average Joe.

Let's take Symbian, for example. An "outdated" OS, which struggles to face its competitors, Android, iOS, BB OS and most recently, WP7. Nokia has started to release a great many budget models which would supposedly appeal to casual users or teens. But how can an operating system storing a link to the File Manager in the Office menu or needing additional settings in order to install older apps or themes be intended to non-computer-savvy people? Yes, the menu in Symbian OS isn't as intuitive as on "dumbphones" (phones not running one of these advanced OS'es), and, since themes are treated just like apps, having an installer and a security certificate, some settings must be modified when installing older themes or apps, or else the phone rejects them. Definitely NOT a good choice for normal (non-business) users.

Let's talk about iOS now. iOS is only used on the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. The iPhone has become something of a symbol of wealth. If you have an iPhone, you must be rich, because you have had to pay for it (you or your parents), and then you have to pay the monthly bill which can get pretty costly if you're using a data contract. However many people own an iPhone, and that's because the software is much more intuitive, almost anyone can understand it. People just take it the way it is, pay for the few apps or games that they install and have absolutely no problem with it. More computer-oriented users go ahead and jailbreak it to achieve the device's full potential, but that's another story. But yes, even if an iPhone is expensive, it's the right choice if you don't care much about gadgets but you do want to spend a lot of money on a phone.

And now let's tackle Android. In the few years it has been on the market, Android OS has garnered quite a large fanbase. It is, just like iOS, and maybe even more, intuitive and can be used by anyone out of the box. Sure, there are a bit more things to it, such as homescreen widgets and additional settings, but it's doing a great job at attracting casual users. Again, those who want more from their Android-powered smartphone go ahead and root it, but for the rest, it's fine as it is. However (and I'm not meaning to hate on Android, in fact I prefer it over iOS), it's still a bit difficult to the average user, who seeks primarily a good phone, then a music player, or a device to play some games or surf the Web on. Apart from certain exceptions, prices for such smartphones are just a bit lower than that of the iPhone though (the exceptions being closer to a dumbphone).

Windows Phone 7? Clearly meant for business. For people who need Exchange connections to mail servers or VPNs. And the price tags support this statement.

And then there is Blackberry OS. The Blackberry is something of a status icon as well. But just HOW much does a normal user require a phone which handles push email and has a business-y look all over, including but not limited to the interface? And all my babble about application/theme installing (if possible, I have no experience with BBs) applies here as well.

Bottom line: no, I'm not being jealous on people who get smartphones, just 'cause I use a SE K800 (although it's not a bad phone at all). No, I'm not meaning to prevent them from using more advanced devices (even if there is hardly any sense in someone studying a particular area that they don't like. We can't all be IT guys, the ride is no fun.). I'm just expressing my opinion on the lack of necessity for cellphone companies to release budget smartphones. Nowadays there are many dumbphones that can handle this piece of the market in style (and here I would highly recommend Sony Ericsson phones. They may not be good with smartphones, but, having been centered on dumbphones for what, 11 years?, they have a great deal of experience with user experience. Their phones have a pleasant interface, intuitive menus, and lots of functions while leaving out those obviously not needed by the consumer and which would only make their usage of the terminal more difficult.), and are also reasonably priced. Just my 2 cents.

The next topic I will probably tackle in a post of such lengths will be the industry of dual SIM phones in my view.

Move LockScreen to Unlock (Cydia)

2011-01-29T21:30:00.009+02:00

Like many other iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad users, I too want a piece of the heaven that is Android on my device. Since we can't safely install it on some of the iDevices just yet (see The iDroid Project for details), the next feasible step is modifying the interface to increase the similarity to Google's mobile operating systems.

There are quite a few Android themes out there for iOS, but they all use either the default lockscreen or a skin to turn it into the Android lockscreen with sliders. But I have never seen a mod to change the lockscreen into the stock top-swiping lockscreen found on older Android versions (CMIIW). Until now.

Move LockScreen to Unlock is a quite new hack on Cydia which does just that. It provides a way to unlock your iDevice by swiping the lockscreen either direction or one that you choose in the Settings screen. You can also hide the default lockscreen slider, but even the creator of this mod recommends that you first test it thoroughly before taking that decision. For me, it's the 2nd day of using it and I have no problems. It also works when locking the screen while in an app, returning to the app after unlocking.

Move LockScreen to Unlock can be acquired on Cydia for $0.99 from the Modmyi repository... or another, more shady way.

Winter makes a surprise comeback...

2011-01-23T00:44:00.003+02:00

At least here, in Bucharest.

Dreams And Their Doings

2011-01-09T12:26:00.002+02:00

First, Happy New 2011 everyone!

Now back to the topic of this post. Today I want to talk about dreams, since I've had quite a peculliar experience with one.

Most of you know what dreams are. They are projections of our subconscious that we have when we are asleep. They appear in the deep sleep stage, and are beneficial to our brain.

Dreams usually express wishes that we, unable to fulfill them, have tucked away into the subconscious. Sometimes though, they might also take the duty of "letting some steam go", the stress accumulated during the day. In those cases, one dreams of very bad things, of tragedies, such dreams being called nightmares.

Seeing as dreams often express our deepest wishes, it is not at all weird for one to wake up from a dream and feel great sadness upon realizing that the object of their desire, of their dream, is no longer obtainable.

...Or is it? I know, for one, that such a thing has happened to me a couple of times. I dreamt about finally getting something that I have desperately wished, then waking up, I found that I was not able to fulfill that goal. Every time, I would spend a few minutes to regain my image of real life, then I would feel frustrated over breaking all links to the dream.

Maybe I am the mad man in all of this. But it doesn't seem, at least to me, out of the ordinary to have this type of reactions, since dreams are, as I said, the expressions of our subconscious.

Just a thought of mine. Have a great day!

As 2010 is drawing to a close...

2010-12-31T15:10:00.002+02:00

So this is it, folks. Here we are, at the end of a very busy year. A year with lots of ups and downs, happy times and moments of grief, good or bad luck.

How was this year for me? It revealed some parts of me that I never knew of, it parted me with loved ones and then brought them back to me... It made me realise once again that life is to be lived to the fullest, "like there's no tomorrow". However, it also hinted me towards the need of a good foresighting of the future. It helped me see the blessing of a good friend. It brought back to my attention the importance of family. And it made me see once again my mistakes, my deepest flaws.

New Year Resolutions? While I'm sure I will not be able to keep them... First and foremost, this year, I will definitely try to be a better friend. A better overall person. Also, I hope I will succeed in being a bit more... parsimonious, so to say, with my money. For as so often was proven to me, troubles never wait for one to be ready.

I will also try to escape, in as small a percentage as possible, my Internet and gadget addictions. This goes hand in hand with my financial resolution. ;) And last, but not least, I will try to post more in this small space of mine. While I know my blog is as of yet not important enough to be indexed by Google, Yahoo and other search engines in higher places, I hope that in the future, by changing my writing techniques and tackling news related to my (and the Net's) interests, I will achieve a greater number of readers.

Indeed, this goes against one of the 10 Christian commandments: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." (Exodus 20:17). Though I do believe God would find no wrong in the desire to spread one's thoughts to as many people as possible, with the purpose of finding like-minded ones. But I digress.

While typing, another resolution has come to my mind. I will try, this year, to broaden the subjects tackled by this blog, to more than IT, and also change its name to reflect that. If I /will/ succeed that, however, only God knows.

8 and a half hours left of this old 2010... May you and your family have a great 2011, and may all your wishes become reality.

Motto:

"Happy new year,
May we all have our hopes, our will to try,
If we don't we might as well lay down and die..."

Another Way To Transfer Books From Your PC to Stanza on Your iPhone/iPod touch

2010-06-28T08:43:00.012+03:00

Many of you might know about Stanza, the popular eBook reader for the iPhone and iPod touch. It really is a very good app, and the best part is that it's free!

Stanza reads all kinds of formats, from ePub, to PDFs. But say you want to transfer a PDF or a book in another format from your computer to your iDevice and you have no WiFi capabilities. Well there is another way to do that...

YOUR iTHING MUST BE JAILBROKEN FOR THIS TO WORK!

1. Open SBSettings, then tap More.

2. Scroll down to App Folders and tap it.

3. Scroll down to Stanza and tap it. You will get a pop-up with its path in the filesystem.

4. Now, on the computer, open SSH or iFunBox or whatever you use to transfer goods to your iThing and navigate to the indicated path. Place your books there (they have to be in one of these formats: ePub, eReader, HTML, TXT, PDF, DOC, RTF, MS LIT, Kindle, Mobipocket or PalmDoc).

5. Back to your iPhone/iPod, go launch Stanza. Your new book will appear in the books list, with the first page as a book cover if no one is provided.

6. If the title and author are messed up, tap the small circle next to the book, then tap the Edit button. You can edit the title and author name.

And that's all. You can now read your books. This particular one that I chose (and probably others too) looks pixelated when in landscape mode and zoomed in so that the text stretches from one edge of the screen to the other, but it's still clear and OK to read. I actually read for one hour out of that last night.

Pulling the plug on the Speedtouch 330

2010-05-14T08:54:00.003+03:00

It's 9:02 AM now. In about...uh, half an hour i'm off to my ISP to hand in my crappy Speedtouch 330 ADSL modem in order to get a new one, probably the Huawei MT882.

Well it's been quite a journey, i've had this modem for about 2 years. Each and every new installation of the software would bring upon some moar problems, for instance i could not install it on the RTM version of Windows XP, and i could barely find a Vista version to use it on Windows 7 (which in turn, led to BSOD's at startup every now and then). I did appreciate the fact that the two LEDs would blink according to data usage, for instance when i was downloading a torrent, the USB (download) LED would practically shut off, due to immense traffic.

Oh well. Right now, i'm creating an image of the setup CD, for backup. When this is over, i'm off. Glad to meet you, Speedtouch 330, you introduced me to the Internet.

Windows 7 - First Impressions

2010-03-09T23:31:00.002+02:00

I finally got around to buy a 1 TB hard drive. Of course, the first thing i did is install Windows 7, in Professional flavour. My desktop uses an Intel P4 HT processor at 3.3 Ghz, 2 GB RAM, and a Geforce 6600GT video card with 256 MB memory.

Guess what? Se7en runs perfectly on this configuration. I installed a sum of programs, such as Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Eset NOD32 antivirus, DisplayFusion etc. Boot-up only takes about 30 seconds (until you can start using the computer), Aero is shiny and smooth, and overall it's working great. I haven't tried really difficult tasks until now, but at least for internet, chatting, Office and multimedia, it does its job perfectly. Later on I will try games and other more challenging stuff.

But I do have one disappointment: I didn't get any games with it! XD

One Year with my Cookie

2009-12-28T21:09:00.002+02:00

Yep, on the 25th I celebrated one year since i bought my LG Cookie! ^______^ After one hectic year, in which i even had to change the screen once, i still STRONGLY recommend to get it, now that Blackhorn and his awesome crew have finally managed to hack the A-Class interface, making Flash themes possible ( see the My LG Cookie forum for more details). Aside from that, its an awesome phone, with really great multimedia functions, with a huge battery life for a phone with a 3" screen, and minor bugs that can be easily solved by a software upgrade. And now, its also cheaper!

a poem from the moon kingdom

2009-11-11T04:49:00.000+02:00

Some people are like beautiful lights, making the world a little brighter.

Some are candles
others are torches
but Theo is like a sunrise.

T-chan

2009-10-25T10:49:00.004+02:00

They ask "Why?".
"Why do I spend so much time
Tethered to the Internet?
Why?"
They don't know about her
Or the joy that she brings me.
If they knew, they would hate her.
Why?
Why wont they let me be with her?
My guardian angel
My second mother.
Why?
I call her my sister.
But she's more than that.
Sister and mother at the same time.
That's why!
That's why I spend day and night
In the virtual space,
The perfect escape!
That's why!
Waiting for her to join me
In our own little world.
So we could enjoy each other.
That's why!
But our lives, our dreadful lives
Take us apart, stand between us
As if we were felons.
Why?
Why does everyone try to stop us
From getting together? Why?
Why is our friendship illegal?
Why?
I've had enough, I want to break free
From this world, go to the Silver Millenium
And be reborn.
Yes!
I want to clean this filth off me
And evade in that world of purity
And innocence... The Moon Kingdom.
I do!
I want to meet my beloved princess....my Serenity,
And my dearest friend...Theresa.
And live happily ever after...
YES!
....And then I wake up, still on Earth.
A dreadful planet, of shattered dreams.
My life is still the same.
Why?
At least she's here..hopefully she won't leave
Never let me, please, for I am hopeless.
Without her, the final joy of my life would be destroyed.
T.

Was in the mood for this. Have no idea where this came from. ^_^

It's Been a Looooooooong Time...

2009-10-04T18:50:00.001+03:00

Yeah, I haven't been doing lotsa stuff since i last posted. I started highschool. And i hate it. -_-
The only good part of highschool is that we're studying C++ :3.

As for the SMN, no new additions.

Some Updates...on Everything!

2009-09-07T21:30:00.004+03:00

Wow, I haven't been posting for quite a while. So here's the stuff i've done recently:

- added SM episodes up to no. 120 (Sailor Moon S Episode 31)
- added almost all scans of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon artbooks.
- added an alarm tone of the first Sailor Moon R eyecatch (the one with SD senshis)
- added lots of MP3s ripped from the Sailor Moon Memorial Music Box CDs (only the first 3 or 4 until now)

Also, I've been to Turkey for one week. So I have to give you a piece of advice. Even if you're short of money, if you go to Kusadasi DO NOT STAY AT HOTEL MELIKE! You are not allowed to bring food or drinks from the outside, there is no minibar in any of the rooms, many don't have TV, the rooms are overall dirty...all in all NOT a good choice. Instead, go to Hotel Grand Nett, which is nearby. It has a pool with clean water, each room has a minibar and a TV. You are still not allowed to bring food and drinks from the outside, but if you have a backpack or something you can hide them in there and then store them in the minibar xD. Also, there is a bar at the pool where you can have several types of food and drinks. There is also a wireless network at the hotel (i was told that the only thing they do for the money you pay, which is 5 TL, is tell you how to log in. so if you meet someone who already paid perhaps you can ask them to give you the network settings. if not, a friend of mine found another unprotected wireless network on his PSP. after that no one found it again but if you're lucky to find it, you can go online for free.).

Also, you might notice that i've made a few modifications to the blog. In the form of buttons with links to some of my favorite websites. Please visit them too if you enjoyed this blog (to the owners of the websites: the lack of HTML skills and the layout of the blog do not allow me to offer links to your websites in another way. I'm very sorry about that, I still keep the same respect towards your websites :) ).

OK nuff said. See ya!

Sailor Moon Network Updates

2009-08-21T17:27:00.001+03:00

- added episodes up to no. 73 (Sailor Moon R Episode 27)
- added some Sailor Moon pics, more soon.

New additions to the SMN

2009-08-13T14:52:00.002+03:00

Yeah, I started downloading SM episodes once again. As you know, the whole season 1 is available, and now also Sailor Moon R episodes, up to nr 13 (59). Also I have added the full versions of "Princess Moon" and "Otome no Policy", together with ID3 tags and album art. ^_^

ATM i'm trying to download the 14th (60th) Sailor Moon R episode, but at 15 KB/s, that's quite a tough job.... Usually I download an episode in 25 minutes. It's been more than an hour now and I still don't have it. Estimated time left: 1 hour -_-. My ISP started sucking recently, good thing I'm moving to another one in September. Can't wait! SAILOR MOON AT TEH SPEED OF LIGHT!!

OK that's it for now. Bye!

Name Issues...

2009-08-10T21:32:00.001+03:00

I recently found another blog called A Dude's Blog!! OMGROFLBBQ SHOCK!!!
so to keep mine unique, i have renamed it. now its called A Nerd's Blog!!

(shockingly original isnt it? o_O)

NEW DIGITAL CAMERA YEEEEEYYY!!!

2009-08-09T21:55:00.002+03:00

yup, as the title says. i finally got a new digital camera: the Olympus FE-370. its the 2nd day i have it and its simply awesome. it takes really good pictures and the videos, though uncompressed, look far better than any phone / PMP.

Here are some photos of the camera:

so i will be re-recording some of my videos. if any of the people who read this post have watched any of my videos, i ask them to place a comment with the name of the video they want to be re-recorded on the "IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! PLEASE WATCH!" video.

That's enough for now. See ya!

EPIC CHINESE-ENGLISH TRANSLATION FAIL!

2009-08-02T13:42:00.000+03:00

click me for epic fail

simply awesome. Period.

First season of the Sailor Moon anime available on the SMN!

2009-07-31T13:20:00.003+03:00

After long battles, I have succeded to download all of the episodes from the first season of Sailor Moon. As usual, they are available on the SMN. I will be taking a break to download because:
1. absolutely no one has downloaded :|
2. i have to find a way to super-compress them as they occupy 8.21 GB of HDD space O_O

Also I have added 2 mobile MP3 ringtones: call tone and message tone . I am planning to add a folder with SM pictures (just about everything i can find on teh intertubes) and some mobile wallpapes.

C'mon, don't be scared, come and download! xD (although, according to recent news, Sailor Moon might be re-broadcasted, for now only confirmed in Japan and Italy, so the SMN might become useless, if the anime will actually be re-broadcasted all over the world).
Have a great day!

The Sailor Moon Network

2009-07-27T09:55:00.002+03:00

OK, since I am an SM fan, I decided I could help other fans to download the episodes easier.
As a result, I produly present you today The Sailor Moon Network!!-->ftp://metalboy.dyndns.info
To access, I recommend Firefox or Filezilla.

The Sailor Moon Network is an FTP server hosted on my own computer from which you will be able to download SM episodes!

OK now some info and rules,

1. maximum download speed: 50 kbps (i know, crappy, but i've set MODE Z compression to the max. also, i might be getting a faster internet connection in September)
2.don't be greedy! download only one file at a time.
3. i reserve the right to close connections if needed (if my net is slow or if there are too many users; dont worry though, i wont do that often :D)
4.this FTP server will be online almost 7 days a week, ~13 hours a day.
5. all episodes are with Japanese voices and English subs.
6.the sound quality is average; the image quality is close to perfect
7. new episodes will probably be added every day. only the first 25 episodes are available right now.

Good luck downloading! Also, if anyone has episodes from the same sub team/of the same type (japanese sound, english sub), mail me and i will give you special permissions. :) it would be helpful, since its pretty difficult to find them.

Dailymotion rules!

2009-07-16T11:52:00.003+03:00

I usually don't use Dailymotion. For all my video needs i have YouTube (which is starting to be a biatch IMO).
but today i wanted to find the 9th episode of Sailor Moon, first season (what? i'm a straight guy but i still like it! ^_^). i couldn't find ANYWHERE. not on DC++, not on torrents, and as for youtube i was too lazy to merge all the pieces.
then i found dailymotion. apart from the fact that it had the WHOLE 24 min episode, i am pretty sure it doesn't bother users with stupid copyrights. and also, it has a version in my language.
so i am gonna get an account on dailymotion and check it out, and then update here.
see ya!

**UPDATE!!** actually im not getting an account anymore, cos, apparently, Dailymotion's servers reduce the framerate of videos to the point that they are pretty choppy. After some more intensive searching, i finally found it on DC++. so it remains the best choice.

Light Your Life?!

2009-07-12T11:05:00.006+03:00

a piece of advice to all readers : NEVER BUY A SUNPLUS MP4 PLAYER! (i'll explain how to figure out which is Sunplus)
and what i mean by Sunplus player? Sunplus is not a brand, it's a company which makes SoC's which are practically the brain of the MP4 player (a brain suffering from Alzheimer if you ask me...)
how to figure out which is Sunplus? no, not by opening it up. ask the vendor to let you look at its UI a bit. if the music list looks like this:

then it's definitely a Sunplus and you must avoid it at all costs!

now why do i say you should avoid it? first of all, the UI. come on, it looks ugly, doesn't it?
also you can not multitask with a Sunplus player (ie. read an e-book while listening to music). also, the videos are (rarely and vaguely, but visibly) choppy.
worst of all, the firmware is very stiff. if you backup the firmware from such a player, you will see that it contains all files for NES, GB and GBC emulation. the thing is, they have to be activated inside the main firmware files. that's exactly the problem. if you got one with NES emulation only, there is nothing you can do to activate GB and GBC, because, for some reason, even if the end file is the same size as the original, the player will still encounter some form of error and either won't turn on or won't emulate any game. also, if you're unlucky enough (like me), even that NES emulation will be of poor quality. example: mario in SMB has no face!

i, for one, must be the most unlucky person regarding Sunplus players. i had one which could also emulate GB and GBC and all the emulations were great, but i bricked it one night, when i tried to modify its firmware and unplugged it while flashing. so the people at the repair shop gave me a new one, which has no GB, no GBC and bad NES emulation. but i swore to god that i will never buy a Sunplus player again. i wish i could get a Rockchip one but they dont sell them in my country....

anyway, bottom line, NEVER BUY A SUNPLUS!! not a good idea.

**UPDATE!!**i started downloading movies and converting them for my PMP. absolutely all freeze every 3 seconds or so, in the worst cases (Yes Man, at the Village Roadshow logo), the image de-syncs from the audio. i made thousands of tries, until i discovered one of the possible reasons: the framerate. so, converted to 20 fps, they work decently (still freeze every now and then, and yes man still desyncs). strangely, TV shows work perfectly on almost-maximum quality...

WMG AND UMG SUCK!!

2009-07-08T23:39:00.005+03:00

i am so sick of WMG and UMG's tyranny on youtube. any videos which include even a few seconds of a song released by them is instantly removed/muted/prohibited in (literally) half the countries of the world.
i will offer 2 examples. the first: a video of mine about my old laptop. in order to demonstrate its capability of plying music, i opened musikCube and (completely randomly!) played Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get it Started" for about 1-2 minutes. The result? My video got blocked in 25 countries of the world (give or take but it was close to this)!
ok then, another video of mine. A slideshow of pics with LOLcats (which was previously muted because i used "Omen" by The Prodigy and "Informer" by Snow, don't know exactly because of which). I used as one of the background songs "Heater" by Samim. The result? My video is A-OK, only that sometimes ads will appear next to it (i don't mind that, cos i have Adblock Plus! XD). So that's how you have to do it! I'm pretty sure Ministry Of Sound (which released "Heater") gets the same $$$ out of ads as WMG and UMG with their removing/muting/prohibiting in certain countries.

Thank You Ministry Of Sound and keep it up! And if you agree with me, please sign this petition regarding WMG and UMG .

See ya soon! And keep up with me on Twitter (see sidebar)!

Some Thoughts of Mine about Michael Jackson

2009-07-02T10:08:00.002+03:00

I cannot say I was a fan of MJ. But I am sorry for his death nonetheless.
Last night, MTV Romania broadcasted the recording of his first concert here. I watched it, and it made me think....

October 1, 1992. Bucharest National Stadium. 70.000 people, waiting anxiously for the King of Pop to appear. A boom of light, and the crowd explodes in ecstasy. 2 minutes of standing ovation....
During the whole concert, all these 70.000 people reacted in the same way. Either screaming with extreme joy, or moving their lighters in the air, or singing along with their idol. Not to mention the other thousands of people in front of the TV and radio. It surely was, for all of them, an unforgettable night.

17 years later, Death took away one of the most important people for them, and also the hope of seeing him again in concert, although some probably went to his concerts in other countries. now, they're only left with memories....

RIP Jacko.

What some people won't do...

2009-06-18T21:07:00.007+03:00

Today I stumbled upon a 115-in-1 ROM for the NES. Among the first 100 games there are none repeated as far as I saw. And apart from some name problems (an entry called "ASCII" takes u to a ping-pong-like game) and, of course, logos deleted from games, I haven't seen any problems. Except for these:

(bigger version here )

Look carefully under the "Push START button" sign. You'll see that instead of the normal text like "Copyright whatever LTD. Licensed by Nintendo Of America." it says "Licensed by NNNNNNNNNN of AAAAAAAAA Inc." etc. Just a proof of what Chinese would do not to get caught.

Also, it seems that support for the Light Gun is removed from certain games, such as Duck Hunt and Hogan's Alley (CMIIW).

Watch a video here .
And download the ROM here .

Nightwish Splash, Startup and Shutdown (Simulation)

2009-06-14T19:05:00.002+03:00

For download link go to:
http://myforum.lasyk.net/showthread.php?t=45200

Siemens CFX65 - first startup in 5 months

2009-06-06T22:47:00.001+03:00

Since i've accidentally broken my KP500's screen, i'll have to return for 1 week to my old life with my Siemens CFX65. Apparently this model isn't very known. But then again, its specs aren't shiny....

Anyway, it's just for a week...

I passed my exams!!

2009-06-06T22:44:00.002+03:00

I have to share my joy with you:

Language: 94%
Maths: 100%
Geography: 100%

...i'm a little genius...

Windows XP Menu Icons for the K800i

2009-06-06T00:15:00.001+03:00

You remember my post, "My First Shot at SE Modding", right?
You remember how I said that I probably won't create anything related to modding, right?
Well this is the proof that I was wrong.
Yes, here it is. The most realistic Windows XP Menu Pack! (maybe too realistic for some, but for us nerds I hope it won't be a problem)
BTW the media player skin is not part of the pack.

Click on the video and read the description to download.

Photography Break

2009-06-04T13:59:00.003+03:00

A good friend of mine took on photography one year ago. She takes great photos, and I only noticed them a few weeks ago!

Anyway, have a look. You got nothing to lose!

AromeAcannelle's Website on DeviantArt

Nightwish - Kiteen Pallo

2009-05-23T09:10:00.001+03:00

One of the best Nightwish songs ever. Too bad it's so short.

My First Shot at SE Modding

2009-05-22T20:53:00.003+03:00

Recently I've been very eager to try and do with my K800i what all the cool people on myForum, SE-NSE, TopSony and other sites do (menus, firmware flashes etc). I have lost my original USB cable so I went out to buy a new one. (It looked very much like the original, the DCU-60, but it had a "Made in China" label.)

Came home at 10 PM. Opened up Firefox and started looking for forum posts for beginners (Thx again myForum and solidsnake and kobrakaan! You're the best!). Some time ago, I updated my K800i's firmware with SEUS (a very bad choice but I didn't know that) so now it had CID53. So, as I found out, it was harder to mod.

Then I found a post about JDFlasher. Started searching, after a while I found it. Downloaded it, watched Akshay's (thanks to u too!) demonstration video, then opened Far manager.

At first, (I can't remember very well) I tried some different menu icons. Not all worked, because the K800i was Orange-branded. So today I decided to unbrand it.

I looked over a few more forums, got an account at TopSony, where I got firmware backups from. Also, I downloaded backups for the startup/shutdown screens/sounds.

I then opened Far manager, plugged in my phone, then flashed the firmware. 10 minutes later, it looked like a normal K800i! (of course, it's not unlocked, just unbranded).

The first thing I can tell you is that the battery level doesn't have to be 100%. I believe that 50% is enough (although I don't think that the battery is being discharged during flashing).

Then I had another wish. I wanted to be able to create stuff too. So I started working on a Windows XP startup/shutdown theme (splash, startup/shutdown screens and sounds).

For startup and shutdown screens, you should make 2 240x320 PNGs. They can be animated, if you want to. But most important, you must name them like this:

Startup: STARTUP_IMAGE_SEMC
Shutdown: SHUTDOWN_IMAGE_SEMC

In case you haven't noticed, the files MUST NOT HAVE ANY EXTENSION. Yes, that's right. You only have to choose .PNG format in your picture editing program, then remove the extension from the file.
Example: you save it as startup.png but before flashing it, make sure it's called STARTUP_IMAGE_SEMC .

For the splash screen, you can use a 240x320 PNG (NOT animated), but it must be called SPLASH (again, without an extension). So, if you name it when saving SE.png, you must rename it to SPLASH .

For the startup and shutdown sounds, you can use either .MIDs or .MP3s (maybe even more formats but I haven't tested), this time WITH the extension. Also, they shouldn't be too long. They must be named like this:
Startup: STARTUP_SOUND_SEMC.[mid or mp3]
Shutdown: SHUTDOWN_SOUND_SEMC.[mid or mp3]

For the desktop, just use the files in the archive at the bottom of the screen. In that archive there is also a Windows XP theme which fits nicely with the rest of the changes. Send it to your phone via USB or BT and apply it before changing the startup, shutdown and splash.

(For flashing instructions, read some forum posts. If you feel you're not up to this, forget it. It's better for you and for your phone).

And yes, the startup, shutdown, splash and desktop worked. But there is a strange bug in the desktop. I've told the creator about it. You can see it in this video:

It is pretty great anyway.

I don't think my modding career will include creating, just using other people's resources. But if I can prove this way that I know a thing or two, then I think it's OK.

I'd like to thank all the great people at myForum, SE-NSE, TopSony. They are really good at these things. I'd also like to thank w.junior for the Start Menu-style desktop, den_po for creating JDFlasher (keep it up, dude! it's a great tool for those morons who update their phone software through SEUS, but it wouldn't be bad if you could find some way to also copy from th phone to the PC. It would be easier to make backups.) and solidsnake and kobrakaan for their great input in myForum.

Now for the archive. I've included here things that you might find useful: Far manager and JDFlasher, the Windows XP desktop, theme (which you are supposed to send normally to the phone and apply it!), startup, shutdown and splash and the ORIGINAL desktop, startup, shutdown and splash for both the generic K800i firmware and the Orange Romania branded one.

Click here to download

K800i Games MegaPack!!!

2009-05-16T22:03:00.002+03:00

Here you have it, ladies and gentlenerds! The K800i Games MegaPack!!
After 7 months of R&D, I proudly present you my very own MegaPack with 125 SE K800i games for your playing pleasure (they're not all brand new though)!

Here is the download link. Enjoy!

The v10d Unleashed

2009-05-07T14:58:00.006+03:00

Since Christmas I am the proud owner of an LG KP500. I really like it because it's cheap and yet it has the features I need.
But the firmware version it came with (v10c) had tons of bugs.
A few months ago, while scurrying for information, I found a software update program from LG on their UK website. But it didn't support the KP500.
So a few days ago, I opened it out of curiosity. Surprise! It now even supported the KP500 model sold in my country!
I hurriedly grab my USB cable and the phone. After 10 mintutes of tinkering with the flash loader utility, I finally managed to enter the update section. It took me 15 minutes to download the firmware and another 10 minutes to flash it. And hey presto! it was done.
The first thing I noticed was that they corrected a bug in the QWERTZ keyboard for my language. Before, it had two Y's and no Z's. Now I have the Y and the Z in their appropiate places.
The next thing. and most important IMO, was that it uses the processing power of the phone more efficiently now. The best example are the videos. I had a few that were at 512 kbps video bitrate and 30 fps and the audio would always lag at the beginning. So for the others I had to convert them to 256 kbps bitrate and 15 fps and the movement was as jagged as hell! Now, those videos play just fine. I sent one of the videos off my K800i (~300 kbps bitrate and 30 fps and it has no problem) and set the KP500 to play them at the same time as the K800i. The phones were at dead sync all along the videos, which, before the update, would always lag on the LG.
The next day, I noticed something else which brought me joy. Now you also have black in the drawing panel, both for the pen and the background. I've felt the need for black so this is a welcome change.
Also, on the v10c you couldn't change the volume of the radio when the screen was locked. Now you can do that too.
As for the restarts, I haven't had any, but it's just a few days since I upgraded.

One thing bothers me though and I'm pretty sure it's not from the v10d version. Now I can't access Music sync mode when plugging the phone in the PC. I would get a "USB device not recognized" balloon for a second, then the phone would reboot. If anyone knows why this happens. don't be afraid to post a comment!

That's about it. As soon as I see other changes, they will appear in a blog entry.

**UPDATE!!** yup, it's been a couple (or more) of months since i updated my Cookie and i've had absolutely NO RESTARTS!! ^_^

no other changes seen...

China is FAST!!!

2009-05-04T19:03:00.005+03:00

So you probably know the LG KP500, right?

But you probably didn't know that the "land of miracles" (read "land of cheap shit") already released a clone of the KP500.

It's called the LC KP500. Not very original, is it?
You can check it out here (the website features horrible English. It could be hard to read for some). The funny part is that, on a closer look, the main screen looks awfully much like the one from the new Samsung touchscreen phones...
Well, chinese crap is never gonna end, is it? It was, for me, a surprise, to see that, only 5 months away from the original, the chinese copy is entering the market (after all, I own a KP500 myself and I gotta say it's worth every cent)!

"Chinesed" Brands part 1

2009-05-01T17:30:00.003+03:00

Just a few examples of what happens when Chinese companies really want to sell their products:

1. The VAIC Phone

As if anyone would be that blind not to see the difference. And anyway, who would trust a VAIO (or VAIC, for that matter) phone?!

2. A phone with a City-Shot camera

Oh yeah, in the future, we'll hear nerds talking about this new invention: (due to braces, th=s and c)
"Hey, have you heard about the new 2 MP Thity-Shot camera?"
"Oh yeah, they thay that it know offerth brightneth and contratht thettings"
"Oh wow, that'th incredible!"

More photos as soon as I get them. Thanks to the people uploading the videos on youtube from where i took the screenshots.

How-To Episode 2: How to remove the virtual keypad in LG KP500 games

2009-05-01T15:15:00.001+03:00

Just watch the video and tell me if you like it. For Episode 1, go to my Youtube profile: theodorgh
I will accept suggestions for further episodes.

Do You Need Some...Fences??

2009-04-30T20:24:00.011+03:00

OK so you remember my post about VistaMizer, right?

(I doubt anyone read it but whatever.)

In the screenshots you've seen the icons on my desktop sorted into categories with text labels above them. That is a program called Fences developed by Stardock. You can download it here.

Fences is still a beta, but the people at Stardock say it "is free and will always remain free".
Let's hope they'll keep their word.

So what does Fences do? In a nutshell, Fences helps you create groups of icons and call them whatever you want. It practically becomes part of the desktop, because, even when some icons don't have a category and you delete or move one from inside those icons, the rest will regroup with the same effects as inside "fences" (the effects do encumber the PC somewhat but they're great. Imagine 10 icons moving themselves to fill an empty space!).
You can change the colors of the "fences", their transparency, brightness etc. If you're too lazy, the program can create "fences" for you, you just have to select one of the layouts.

Some great features of Fences are:

snapshots: You can take snapshots of the desktop and revert back to them if you have a problem or something. After installing, Fences takes a snapshot of the desktop before adding any "fences" so you can revert to your good ol' desktop.
quick-hide: You can double-click an empty part of the desktop to make all the icons and the "fences" disappear (That's more likely to be used as a party trick than to ease your life). After that, double-click again to make everything appear back!
storing "fences" sizes and positions on a per-resolution basis: in English, that means that the program can automatically scale the icons so the "fences" layout will be kept intact when you switch to another screen resolution

As I said, Fences doesn't need a lot of system resources For example, it doesn't take longer for the computer to boot when it has to open Fences too. The only side-effect is noticeable when you move windows and you have the "show window contents while dragging" option activated. Other than that, it's A-OK.

Stardock, we can't wait for the Pro version! And keep it free please!

Now for the screenshots:

2 of My Friends

2009-04-30T20:13:00.006+03:00

First of all, a word of warning: sarcasm in this post will be marked with italics. Like this. OK?

I am sure you can't wait to see some of my fellow classmates and also my best friends. Here I have some photos of 2 of them.

First is Sorin. He is a very smart dude and also my deskmate. We are very good friends and we never fight.

In the following photo he is performing a karate move.

OK, next is Razvan ("The Kid" or "Bunny"). He is also a good friend of mine. In this photo he is focusing on playing FIFA 09 on the PSP.

Alright, as soon as I get more photos, I'll post them...

Helloooooo...
Anyone here?

Damn.... I'm alone again...

Having Windows Vista on an Old Computer: The Lazy Man's Way

2009-04-28T09:00:00.007+03:00

Sure, if you weren't lazy, you could just grab a Vista DVD and try and install it. Then you would tinker with it until you would notice some hair loss.
My PC, for example, has a Pentium 4 HT proccessor at 3.00 Ghz and 1 GB of RAM. If I were to run Vista on it, that Aero UI would surely have a hard time introducing itself.
So I turned my head to those millions of programs that "can change your XP to Vista safely!! ". Last night I tried the Vista Transformation Pack. But I stopped during the setup, at that choice, whether to incorporate it in the OS or in its setup files.

Incorporate in the OS: There was a description kinda like this: "Please deactivate any unnecessary software that could halt the setup with their warnings." Funny, but this sounds synonymous to "please deactivate your anti-virus software because it might stop the installation of lots of trojans and thus kill your computer".
Incorporate in the setup files: They said that if you do that, you can't revert back to the Windows XP look. So of course I didn't choose this either.

This morning, I went out to look for VistaMizer. Lots of people said it was pretty good. I quickly downloaded it (from here) and then started setup.
The installing process isn't very difficult. At one point, you can choose which parts of XP should VistaMizer transform (although it's hard because that wasn't translated from German...). 10 minutes and a restart later, you'll have your very own Windows Vista XP!!

Here's some screenshots. The red things with text labels above them are another program, which I will write about in another post, providing that Blogger doesn't delete my blog for having 0 viewers...
(Click The Pics to Make Them Bigger! Sshh!)

Introduction

2009-04-27T09:33:00.001+03:00

OK so welcome people to my blog. This will be a place for me to spread my thoughts around like a stepped-on pile of shit! For this reason, you might want to heed these warnings:
1. This blog is written by an inexperienced teenager from Mars. If you feel that you don't have the patience to read the posts here, please use your pointing device to select mankind's best creation: the "Back"button.
2. According to my mood, this blog might contain one of the following:

a lot of anger
stupid videos
lots of cursing
linear functions

If you feel that you're better off milking a cow than reading my posts, please follow the above guide to go away.

OK... now for the viewing pleasure of the 3 or 4 people left, let's go on with the blog. I won't be posting very often because, first, I use the computer mainly at weekends and, second, because i'm in my exam period at school. When that period will be over, I'll be posting anytime I have something to post and I'll make a public announcement with that.

Enjoy!

Oh and I forgot to mention that 90% of the posts will be boring, technological brainy stuff. Unless you have an idea or two about the Internet, computers and stuff like that, get out NOW!