May 29, 2008 at 6:44 PM · Filed under Apple / Mac
It happened in a matter of hours from its official release from Apple, Mac OS X 10.5.3, the latest major release of Leopard has been hacked to run on your average PC using a special kernel to bypass special restrictions. Major build releasers such as JaS and Kalyway have already put out Combo Updates which will convert your Hackintosh to the latest version of Mac OS X Leopard which introduces a bunch of new features including upgraded drivers, over 200 bug fixes, and a new 9.3.0 kernel.
Files are currently being downloaded from various popular torrent sites including bay of plundering and green little demon. You know what I mean! I’ll post my success (or failire) of upgrading my current 10.5.2 Kalyway Hackintosh to the latest 10.5.3 using the now widely available 10.5.3 Kalyway Combo Update that hit the green this afternoon…
UPDATE!
It all works, smooth as glass. Just follow Kalyway’s instructions and be sure that you don’t have any old kernel boot entries in your /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist. My kernel went from “tohkernel” (Old 9.2.0, from my 10.5.2 Combo Update), to “mach_kernel” (9.3.0, included in 10.5.3 Combo Update) and I set to timeout to 5 seconds because I hate waiting. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the below screenshot is money in the bank. At least for me.
May 22, 2008 at 7:16 AM · Filed under Personal Rants
With oil prices out of control and the cost at the pump reaching new highs every day, people are now moving to more fuel efficient gas/electric hybrid cars like the popular Toyota Prius to save money on hitting the daily commute. Some people are taking the savings even further by modifying their hybrid cars to run on additional batteries, claiming insane figures when it comes to miles per gallon. But are you really saving green when you get in your “green car?”
Two words: Not really.
While your brand new gas/electric hybrid car may be better for the environment, it might not be so good for your wallet in the long run. Sure, for a large family driving gas-guzzling V8 SUV’s who are living the American dream with decent jobs, a 4 bedroom house, and a few dozen credit cards, the savings are right in front of their face in the numbers: MPG. The long term isn’t much so… Was that hybrid your first car? Of course not. You already had a car you were driving around while it was sucking you dry. For most people, spending $20,000 or more to save gas isn’t an option right now.
Let’s say your average beater gets roughly 25 MPG. I know, it’s older, way past 100,000 miles and you could use a BMW. It’s OK, you’ll get one when somebody rich in the family dies. The 2008 Toyota Prius gets an average reported MPG of between 45 and 55. Let’s call it 50 MPG (From Edmunds.com user comments). That’s twice the fuel efficiently of your current pile of shit. According to various averages from Googling, the typical American faces a round-trip commute of roughly 50 miles round trip between home, work, and back again. For the new hybrid, this is a single gallon of gas a day - $4.00, which adds up to roughly $28.00/week in fuel costs. Your beater? $56.00.
For the above-average American with really good credit, that new hybrid is going to cost about the same per month as it uses in gas between the gas cost itself and the monthly car loan payment, doubling your cost per month of driving which equals out to be the exact same cost of the car you own right now. Sure, it’s only until the hybrid is paid off, but is it going to survive? Do you know how to pop the hood and do quick fixes to your new gas/electric car like you can on that old Ford Explorer? Probably not. Dealership time!
And let me tell you, it’s a known fact that the dealership makes more money off repairs over the life of the vehicle than it does in the actual sale of that car or truck. You’ll be back and they know it. And new technology is always more expensive to repair than taking your beater to the local Repair-O-Rama. For one, there are a lot less parts floating around for your 2008 Toyota Prius than there are for your 1998 Ford Explorer. Also, since you paid to ride, you’ll pay to ride again if you want your new car back from Toyota. Do you know how many years the electrical system of a hybrid lasts? Probably not because they haven’t been around long enough! I don’t even trust power windows to last. Get ready to bend over.
What happens to all those dead worthless hybrid car batteries? Are they eco-friendly, too? Doubtful. They’re going to be around a lot longer than your car will, eating away at the environment you tried to protect. Going green isn’t exactly cost effective for the average lower-to-middle-class American living paycheck to paycheck and they’re the ones that are really effected by these high gas prices.
Want to save the environment and save some cash? Buy a bicycle.
May 16, 2008 at 5:30 AM · Filed under Mobile Gadgets
I’ve been playing with my new phone for about a week now, the HTC PPC-6800. I’m in love. It’s smaller than the 6700 I had, jet black and spring-loaded with enough power to do things such as 802.11b/g wireless, stream every kind of media imaginable, and even act as an FTP or torrent server. Now that’s hot. My eBay purchase wasn’t so hot, however. The phone won’t vibrate and I’m still not 100% sure it’s fixable without doing an insurance claim and forking over another $95 in addition to the almost $300 I paid for the phone used. There is also a very slight LCD burn which is inherent to the phone’s super heat generated by long days of excessive Wi-Fi usage. Yes, this baby gets smokin’ hot.
The LCD burn is barely noticeable, even by me, but the vibrate feature is something I wish I had — even if it kills the battery life and rattles the battery cover like there’s no tomorrow. And to top it all off, I’m still missing the sync cradle which was supposed to be included with my eBay purchase but the mondo eBay store shipper simply forgot to include. Oh, and I paid for rush UPS 2nd Day Air shipping and they sent it UPS Ground. Granted it arrived in 3 days instead of 2, I’m still out 2X the shipping cost without a refund. Looks like it’s time to do a PayPal reversal and play hard ball.
It’s too bad, too. I’ve used this eBay seller in the past last year and received such an amazing “like new” BlackBerry that I deliberately went back to this person/company (BatteryMania) for a phone I just had to have in pristine condition. And what a load of shit he shipped me. Now, I’d just be happy with the damn $10 generic sync cradle they forgot to include. Even if I throw in another $95 and use my insurance claim to get a phone in better condition, I’d still be paying less total for the whole nine yards than I would’ve if I renewed my contract for another 2 years and bought this PocketPC from Alltel.com.
So, I’ve marked another eBay seller off my list, and I’m still fighting with BatteryMania to get my god damn $10 sync cradle. Shipping costs refunded? As soon as I hit the PayPal dispute button and vent my anger to the automated Gods, we’ll see what happens with that. All in all I’m still happy with the purchase. I’m easy to please when it comes to new toys and I’ll slowly save away piece by piece for my insurance claim hundo.
TomTom, go home.
April 30, 2008 at 10:21 AM · Filed under Mobile Gadgets
Well, that didn’t take long! And it’s not that my BlackBerry doesn’t work great, don’t get me wrong — this is a solid platform trusted by hundreds of thousands Hollywood stars and Government officials alike. The only problem I have with it is that it works too well. Yeah, you heard me right. There’s nothing to tinker, hack, or mod. It’s so stable it’s scary. Try loading 10,000 contacts on your Treo and call me when it stops crashing. This little device packs a punch, but my wireless carrier has really dumbed it down. No multimedia messaging (MMS), locked GPS that forces you to buy the cheap no-thrills $9.99/mo. TeleNav, and since it’s a CDMA BlackBerry, there’s no 802.11b/g wireless support.
So, I’m going back to Redmond. Back to Bill Gates. Back to another Windows Mobile phone with all the toys. The PPC-6800, also known as the HTC Titan, “Mogul” and a few other carrier-specific nicknames. Paired with Windows Mobile 6.1, threaded text messages, multimedia message support, 802.11b/g wireless, high-speed EvDO on the Alltel/Sprint EvDO network, unlocked (hacked) GPS ready to roll with Google Maps or Windows Live, and Skype for international calling anywhere in the world from anywhere in the world? Now that’s a phone. Or should I saiy, that’s a small laptop with a built-in phone.
I’m looking to order the new HTC PocketPC (PPC) in the next week or two. Mmm, features.
April 24, 2008 at 6:22 AM · Filed under Mobile Gadgets
I’ve had my new BlackBerry 8130 for about a week now and I must say, while there are some cons over pros on this little device, it’s really rock-solid and stable. Gone are the days of random freezes and crashes like Treo’s and PocketPC’s in the past. I was actually able to leave a wide range of applications idling over night with no network issues (jmIrc, IM+). It seems to keep a stronger connection to the data network than any smartphone I’ve had in the past and with BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), my e-mail comes faster than usual without the battery drain.
With my Treo, I used ChatterEmail to get push e-mail using IMAP IDLE (RFC 2177) and with that combination, I could barely keep it going an entire day. Since the Canadians check my mail for me, I’m only downloading messages that have already been compressed and specially cooked for my BlackBerry (Just like Mom used to make!). While the only “true” push e-mail is offered on your @<carrier>.blackberry.com address which comes free with when you join the BB club, I’ve noticed only short delays, maybe 5 seconds to 5 minutes in most cases, for receiving mail on my SSL IMAP server. Considering to save battery life on my Treo I had to set mail checking intervals to 15 minutes, this is a good thing.
The form factor is probably what I love most about the phone and also what I hate most about it. It’s small, light, and so unlike a normal smartphone. I feel like I’m going to crush it or drop it constantly and that wouldn’t be good considering how expensive this little thing is. At the same time, I love being able to slip it in my shirt pocket — something I’d never attempt with my other smartphones, when I need to reach for it a moment later but don’t want to fiddle with the holster.
A lot of people complain about the cramped SureType keypad. It’s a full QWERTY layout midgetized. I’ve used QWERTY keypads for a long time now and I can tell you, it didn’t take but a few days to start blazing on this tiny keyboard. The secret, like I’m sure you’ve heard elsewhere is don’t look at the screen! SureType is pretty damn sure, getting about 80 to 90% of the words correctly with half the keys. Overall, I’m happy with the BlackBerry 8130. With a beautiful 2 megapixel camera, sleek look, and solid proven Operating System, what more could you ask for? Except for MMS, Wi-Fi….. I’ll just stop here.
