Read this article on Eurogamer, and it pretty much explains that simply doing what your console was designed to do - play games - is destructive. This is due to the technology being very intensive and prone to overheating. XB360 owners no doubt already know the deal, but this was a very interesting read.
Found in the comment section a link to this contraption, and it's pretty much a replacement case for the XB360 with a stronger fan and much more ventilation. So, essentially, it's better for your components and outputs less noise than the XB360 does. For anyone interested, they have pre-built units located here.
I would be interested in seeing if they have any for the PS3, but just for the sake of research. The QuietPC company, at the moment, does not. Hopefully, with the coming of the PS3 Slim and the fact that it cuts the power and heat consumption of the PS3 Fat in half, we are on the road to not needing this. But from looking at screens of the PS3 Slim, I am intensely concerned about ventilation.
Ciao!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Weekly Android Update
Since I'm always tinkering with my phone, I figure that I should blog about the wild-world of customization and everything.
As of right now, I am running Cyanogen's 4.1 Experimental Branch. Admittedly, it's merely for the Global Search, which I don't use a lot, but it's nice to have.
Here is a look at all 5 of my home screens. The lovely lady on my background is the beautiful Jesikah Maximus (doubt that's her real name).
Here's a link to the full 1280 x 800 image I have on my desktop.
I'll be back with more posts; I need to launder my dress shirts and get back to packing.
Ciao!
As of right now, I am running Cyanogen's 4.1 Experimental Branch. Admittedly, it's merely for the Global Search, which I don't use a lot, but it's nice to have.
Here is a look at all 5 of my home screens. The lovely lady on my background is the beautiful Jesikah Maximus (doubt that's her real name).
 |
| From Android |
Here's a link to the full 1280 x 800 image I have on my desktop.
 |
| From RenAldo's Random Ramblings |
I'll be back with more posts; I need to launder my dress shirts and get back to packing.
Ciao!
Friday, August 28, 2009
When are WE going to get over it?
A Caucasian reporter talking about the racist undertones still expressed by people of his own ethnicity.
- - - - - - - - - -
*Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.**
For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans finally going to get over it? Now I want to ask: "When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?
Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes" should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in "Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."
Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.
We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment, perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.
But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president. But instead we now hear that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to "assassinate Obama."
Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?" How long before we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world, look like us? How long until we white people can - once and for all - get over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color? How long until we white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us superior? How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?
How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?
I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners? How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do? How long before we starting "living out the true meaning" of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that
"red and yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?
Until this past November 4, I didn't believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long enough to see us white people get over our racism problem. But here's my three-point plan: First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him and his family from us white people.
Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying,in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President Obama. Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of our damnable color prejudice, "We HAVE overcome."
- - - - - - - - - -
*Andrew M. Manis is associate professor of history at Macon State College in Georgia and wrote this for an editorial in the Macon Telegraph.**
For much of the last forty years, ever since America "fixed" its race problem in the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, we white people have been impatient with African Americans who continued to blame race for their difficulties. Often we have heard whites ask, "When are African Americans finally going to get over it? Now I want to ask: "When are we White Americans going to get over our ridiculous obsession with skin color?
Recent reports that "Election Spurs Hundreds' of Race Threats, Crimes" should frighten and infuriate every one of us. Having grown up in "Bombingham," Alabama in the 1960s, I remember overhearing an avalanche of comments about what many white classmates and their parents wanted to do to John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Eventually, as you may recall, in all three cases, someone decided to do more than "talk the talk."
Since our recent presidential election, to our eternal shame we are once again hearing the same reprehensible talk I remember from my boyhood.
We white people have controlled political life in the disunited colonies and United States for some 400 years on this continent. Conservative whites have been in power 28 of the last 40 years. Even during the eight Clinton years, conservatives in Congress blocked most of his agenda and pulled him to the right. Yet never in that period did I read any headlines suggesting that anyone was calling for the assassinations of presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan, or either of the Bushes. Criticize them, yes. Call for their impeachment, perhaps. But there were no bounties on their heads. And even when someone did try to kill Ronald Reagan, the perpetrator was non-political mental case who wanted merely to impress Jody Foster.
But elect a liberal who happens to be Black and we're back in the sixties again. At this point in our history, we should be proud that we've proven what conservatives are always saying -- that in America anything is possible, EVEN electing a black man as president. But instead we now hear that school children from Maine to California are talking about wanting to "assassinate Obama."
Fighting the urge to throw up, I can only ask, "How long?" How long before we white people realize we can't make our nation, much less the whole world, look like us? How long until we white people can - once and for all - get over this hell-conceived preoccupation with skin color? How long until we white people get over the demonic conviction that white skin makes us superior? How long before we white people get over our bitter resentments about being demoted to the status of equality with non-whites?
How long before we get over our expectations that we should be at the head of the line merely because of our white skin? How long until we white people end our silence and call out our peers when they share the latest racist jokes in the privacy of our white-only conversations?
I believe in free speech, but how long until we white people start making racist loudmouths as socially uncomfortable as we do flag burners? How long until we white people will stop insisting that blacks exercise personal responsibility, build strong families, educate themselves enough to edit the Harvard Law Review, and work hard enough to become President of the United States, only to threaten to assassinate them when they do? How long before we starting "living out the true meaning" of our creeds, both civil and religious, that all men and women are created equal and that
"red and yellow, black and white" all are precious in God's sight?
Until this past November 4, I didn't believe this country would ever elect an African American to the presidency. I still don't believe I'll live long enough to see us white people get over our racism problem. But here's my three-point plan: First, everyday that Barack Obama lives in the White House that Black Slaves Built, I'm going to pray that God (and the Secret Service) will protect him and his family from us white people.
Second, I'm going to report to the FBI any white person I overhear saying,in seriousness or in jest, anything of a threatening nature about President Obama. Third, I'm going to pray to live long enough to see America surprise the world once again, when white people can "in spirit and in truth" sing of our damnable color prejudice, "We HAVE overcome."
Saturday, August 22, 2009
The Cancer That's Killing Greek Life
I would like to apologize to anyone who might get offended. The views expressed in this blog are strictly those of my own and do not in any way reflect the general consensus of whatever organizations I might be attached to at a given moment in my life.
It's no surprise that I know my fair share of people who are involved in Greek Life. It can even be seen that a decent amount of people know me. I wasn't Super-Pledge by ANY measure of the phrase (ask my LBs, lol), but people who know me and see my work on campus and interact with me can tell that I was, for lack of a better phrase, "made right."
----------------------------
I would like to give a shout-out to all my prophytes who made me; whether they saw me one night or were there for all of them. You, gentlemen, have my eternal respect
----------------------------
Nothing compares, however, to the words of older chapter brothers who actually say that they are proud of the work being done on the yard; a feeling which I experienced after what was probably the toughest year I went through both mentally and emotionally.
Concurrently, from my own experiences, I know that you don't need to be on line for 15 weeks, in the dead heat of the summer, in the kut till the wee-hours of the morning, slapped like a slave and treated like a demi-human in order to be a contributing member of the Greek-Letter World.
I know that the true measure of the efficiency of a process lies in the composure of the resulting member: A person that is dedicated to their organization and works hard in spite of the glitz and the glamor, not for it.
I have seen the goodness and the darkness in many corners of Greek Life, and as I wrap up my work on the yard to transition between Collegiate and Alumni levels of involvement, I am fully expecting to learn an infinite amount more.
In spite of the recent resurgence of Greek Life involvement on my yard in the past months, I cannot help but feel that Greek Life is in trouble.
This has probably happened to everyone, and it starts with something simple - as catastrophes are normally prone to do.
It could be a conversation about anything, but as soon as someone hits you with, "Excuses!", the switch in your head moves from "tolerant" to "annoyed"
It's almost as if it's an automated response. Clearly, someone not being able to appease the other merely cannot have the benefit of the doubt, right? On the contrary, they must be using excuses!
You might overhear the chatter at a mixer about how Invictus was their favorite poem during their pledge process, or how they "caught hell" if they "let the train run off the track".
I've always wondered why people share parts of their process with people not in their organizations.
The answer to this statement is simple: Reputation
And as some people seek to etch out a reputation on their yard and beyond, I've always wondered the repercussions of such actions.
Let's be honest here; I am an apathetic, cynical and a slightly self-centered individual. I call things like I see them, so I will like to thank you in advance for blowing off. These are my opinions and if you want to express your own, leave a comment or get your own blog.
Why is "reputation" my answer to my self-proposed statement? I feel that it starts with the individual. The individual seeks glory. The individual seeks recognition. The individual wants the pat on the back. The individual wants to stand out and be special.
As it pertains to the advancement of society, the individual is destructive in nature.
That's not teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision. It is the ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to obtain uncommon results.
The main thing that aggravates me is that many of my fellow Greeks absolutely love talking about pledging. They love talking about when they were on-line. They love talking about how terrible things were. They love talking about how much they hated their DP.
What the shit? Why are you reflecting on something that was traumatic? You almost never hear recollections on those aspects such as soul searching, bond building and general thinking outside the box. It's all the "glory" of pledging without the grime. What about the bond between pledges? What about the educational aspects taught by older members? What about living your ritual? What about respect for the vision of your founders?
You only hear horror stories. And they're regaled in a manner that is befitting of anecdotal repetition, as if the storyteller wishes to establish a certain image.
A Reputation, so to speak.
Of course people want to talk about the terrible things and stand in marvel as onlookers gape and guffaw at the trials and tribulations. As I said, the individual wants to feel special. What better way to feel special than to do something that about 1% of people get to do?
I personally know more than my fair share of people who were a certain way while they were pledging, but didn't amount to 5 cents worth of shit when they were done.
I don't like it. Everyone knows "Invictus". Everyone knows Excuses. Everyone knows about "apples". Everyone knows about "Be Strong". Just by being associated with those things doesn't mean you actually really pledged.
I know plenty of people that know a plethora of "pledge-related information and protocol", but clearly carry themselves in a way that shows that their process was lackluster, and that they either skated or had neglectful prophytes.
And it's a shame because, we are living in a world where someone could skate by and listen in on enough Greek Life-related conversations so that they can pass off as having pledged.
That is why I believe that the talks of pledging and everything must stop. Immediately.
We are rapidly approaching a precipice of a loss of attenuation. The only things that remain are the jagged rocks at the bottom, their teeth littered around a cavernous maw of redundant nomenclature. Soon, the only differences between us will be the colors of our jackets.
I begrudgingly request that every Greek please stop talking about pledging unless it's with someone in your org or axillary.
Pledging is more than just an ass whoopin. Anyone can get their ass whooped; that shit isn't an accomplishment. Neither is talking about how long you were on for; that shit is circumstance.
The real people who love their org can party on Friday night, get in at 4am, and still get up at 7am to drive to a cluster meeting a state over.
The real people who love their org make sure the chapter is on the same page and not bickering over petty shit.
The real people who love their org make a conscious attempt at servicing their community.
I honestly believe that many people revert back to the hay-day of pledging because their current body-of-work stinks, and they have almost nothing to show for it.
I realized a long time ago that the people who really got down didn't need to talk about it, because you could see in their perseverance and pride in their work.
Actions speak louder than words, so just observe how some of my fellow Greeks carry themselves on the yard.
A lot of the things in Greek Life are irresponsible, and we must trim the cancerous cells if we wish to prolong our lives.
I will digress and admit that it is a beautiful thing for Black Greek-Letter organizations to have so many things in common. Being able to discuss things like your own organization's version of an "apple" might be entertaining at first, but it's really destructive.
As Black Greek-Letter organizations, yes, we all pay tribute to Africa by crossing over. And there are a certain amount of "rites of passage" that pledges are subjected to.
But we're treading the sludge and barely keeping our heads above the surface in this melting pot of matriculation. We're unknowingly revealing to people not within our own esoteric circles many intimate aspects of our processes. We're damn near giving the authenticity away.
All for a Reputation?
It's no surprise that I know my fair share of people who are involved in Greek Life. It can even be seen that a decent amount of people know me. I wasn't Super-Pledge by ANY measure of the phrase (ask my LBs, lol), but people who know me and see my work on campus and interact with me can tell that I was, for lack of a better phrase, "made right."
----------------------------
I would like to give a shout-out to all my prophytes who made me; whether they saw me one night or were there for all of them. You, gentlemen, have my eternal respect
----------------------------
Nothing compares, however, to the words of older chapter brothers who actually say that they are proud of the work being done on the yard; a feeling which I experienced after what was probably the toughest year I went through both mentally and emotionally.
Concurrently, from my own experiences, I know that you don't need to be on line for 15 weeks, in the dead heat of the summer, in the kut till the wee-hours of the morning, slapped like a slave and treated like a demi-human in order to be a contributing member of the Greek-Letter World.
I know that the true measure of the efficiency of a process lies in the composure of the resulting member: A person that is dedicated to their organization and works hard in spite of the glitz and the glamor, not for it.
I have seen the goodness and the darkness in many corners of Greek Life, and as I wrap up my work on the yard to transition between Collegiate and Alumni levels of involvement, I am fully expecting to learn an infinite amount more.
In spite of the recent resurgence of Greek Life involvement on my yard in the past months, I cannot help but feel that Greek Life is in trouble.
This has probably happened to everyone, and it starts with something simple - as catastrophes are normally prone to do.
It could be a conversation about anything, but as soon as someone hits you with, "Excuses!", the switch in your head moves from "tolerant" to "annoyed"
It's almost as if it's an automated response. Clearly, someone not being able to appease the other merely cannot have the benefit of the doubt, right? On the contrary, they must be using excuses!
You might overhear the chatter at a mixer about how Invictus was their favorite poem during their pledge process, or how they "caught hell" if they "let the train run off the track".
I've always wondered why people share parts of their process with people not in their organizations.
The answer to this statement is simple: Reputation
And as some people seek to etch out a reputation on their yard and beyond, I've always wondered the repercussions of such actions.
Let's be honest here; I am an apathetic, cynical and a slightly self-centered individual. I call things like I see them, so I will like to thank you in advance for blowing off. These are my opinions and if you want to express your own, leave a comment or get your own blog.
Why is "reputation" my answer to my self-proposed statement? I feel that it starts with the individual. The individual seeks glory. The individual seeks recognition. The individual wants the pat on the back. The individual wants to stand out and be special.
As it pertains to the advancement of society, the individual is destructive in nature.
That's not teamwork. Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common vision. It is the ability to direct individual accomplishments towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to obtain uncommon results.
The main thing that aggravates me is that many of my fellow Greeks absolutely love talking about pledging. They love talking about when they were on-line. They love talking about how terrible things were. They love talking about how much they hated their DP.
What the shit? Why are you reflecting on something that was traumatic? You almost never hear recollections on those aspects such as soul searching, bond building and general thinking outside the box. It's all the "glory" of pledging without the grime. What about the bond between pledges? What about the educational aspects taught by older members? What about living your ritual? What about respect for the vision of your founders?
You only hear horror stories. And they're regaled in a manner that is befitting of anecdotal repetition, as if the storyteller wishes to establish a certain image.
A Reputation, so to speak.
Of course people want to talk about the terrible things and stand in marvel as onlookers gape and guffaw at the trials and tribulations. As I said, the individual wants to feel special. What better way to feel special than to do something that about 1% of people get to do?
I personally know more than my fair share of people who were a certain way while they were pledging, but didn't amount to 5 cents worth of shit when they were done.
I don't like it. Everyone knows "Invictus". Everyone knows Excuses. Everyone knows about "apples". Everyone knows about "Be Strong". Just by being associated with those things doesn't mean you actually really pledged.
I know plenty of people that know a plethora of "pledge-related information and protocol", but clearly carry themselves in a way that shows that their process was lackluster, and that they either skated or had neglectful prophytes.
And it's a shame because, we are living in a world where someone could skate by and listen in on enough Greek Life-related conversations so that they can pass off as having pledged.
That is why I believe that the talks of pledging and everything must stop. Immediately.
We are rapidly approaching a precipice of a loss of attenuation. The only things that remain are the jagged rocks at the bottom, their teeth littered around a cavernous maw of redundant nomenclature. Soon, the only differences between us will be the colors of our jackets.
I begrudgingly request that every Greek please stop talking about pledging unless it's with someone in your org or axillary.
Pledging is more than just an ass whoopin. Anyone can get their ass whooped; that shit isn't an accomplishment. Neither is talking about how long you were on for; that shit is circumstance.
The real people who love their org can party on Friday night, get in at 4am, and still get up at 7am to drive to a cluster meeting a state over.
The real people who love their org make sure the chapter is on the same page and not bickering over petty shit.
The real people who love their org make a conscious attempt at servicing their community.
I honestly believe that many people revert back to the hay-day of pledging because their current body-of-work stinks, and they have almost nothing to show for it.
I realized a long time ago that the people who really got down didn't need to talk about it, because you could see in their perseverance and pride in their work.
Actions speak louder than words, so just observe how some of my fellow Greeks carry themselves on the yard.
A lot of the things in Greek Life are irresponsible, and we must trim the cancerous cells if we wish to prolong our lives.
I will digress and admit that it is a beautiful thing for Black Greek-Letter organizations to have so many things in common. Being able to discuss things like your own organization's version of an "apple" might be entertaining at first, but it's really destructive.
As Black Greek-Letter organizations, yes, we all pay tribute to Africa by crossing over. And there are a certain amount of "rites of passage" that pledges are subjected to.
But we're treading the sludge and barely keeping our heads above the surface in this melting pot of matriculation. We're unknowingly revealing to people not within our own esoteric circles many intimate aspects of our processes. We're damn near giving the authenticity away.
All for a Reputation?
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Fun With Android - Contacts Modification (Partial)
Welcome all! I hope you enjoyed reading about customizing your desktop and have taken strides yourself to create an environment that is unique to your own style and needs! I'm interested in finding out the disparities between those who truly despise going into menus, and those who only want the essentials on their home screens.
(Funny disparity, my phone layout is the opposite of my computer layout. On my computer, I prefer to have a blank desktop and opt instead to use menus and Object Dock.
Moving on! I personally feel that Google Contacts is a powerful addition to Android, and that just goes hand-in-hand with my love affair for GMail. The ability to have all your contacts sync'd safely into your email account is truly powerful; Google is quickly becoming a universal standard (if it hasn't already) and with the addition of Google Voice and Google Wave, we will have little need to travel outside of our one single login to have to do much of anything!
As you can see from my Screen III, I like having my most contacted people all on one screen as shortcuts. Allow me to show you the process of doing this in case you were wondering.
To do this, all you have to really do is just long press anywhere you have open space, but I'll start with a fresh template.
The first step is to long press your desktop until the menu comes up.
After you select "Shortcuts" you determine what type of shortcut you want to create. There are all sorts of nifty shortcuts you can make, but for now, we'll do "Contact".
Scroll through your contact list and select the indivual that you wish to make a shortcut of.
And there you go!
The cool thing to me about this is that I can contact the people I get in touch with the most without having to bother with who is "Starred" or whatever. For the most part, the benefit to me is that I don't need to go into a menu to reach someone.
It takes a couple of minutes or so to get everything right, but I have a "Top 16" so to speak now. Wow. I can't believe I hearkened back to MySpace days. Shoot me now.
Now, call me a stickler, but the default Contact app just doesn't seem good enough for me. The one thing that is actually cool about it is when you go to your Favorites, you can clearly see the icon of your contact.
But when you go to the main Contact list, you don't get jack-squat.
That's annoying to me for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that all the work that goes into making a contact icon for the large majority of your contact's is wasted. If someone isn't in your Favorite's, then you never see their icon outside of a phone call.
So, I went on a journy through the Land Of A Jillion G1 Contact Programs and settled on one that I Like, aContacts.
(Funny disparity, my phone layout is the opposite of my computer layout. On my computer, I prefer to have a blank desktop and opt instead to use menus and Object Dock.
 |
| From Renarudo's Random Ramblings |
Moving on! I personally feel that Google Contacts is a powerful addition to Android, and that just goes hand-in-hand with my love affair for GMail. The ability to have all your contacts sync'd safely into your email account is truly powerful; Google is quickly becoming a universal standard (if it hasn't already) and with the addition of Google Voice and Google Wave, we will have little need to travel outside of our one single login to have to do much of anything!
As you can see from my Screen III, I like having my most contacted people all on one screen as shortcuts. Allow me to show you the process of doing this in case you were wondering.
To do this, all you have to really do is just long press anywhere you have open space, but I'll start with a fresh template.
 |
| From Android |
The first step is to long press your desktop until the menu comes up.
 |
| From Android |
After you select "Shortcuts" you determine what type of shortcut you want to create. There are all sorts of nifty shortcuts you can make, but for now, we'll do "Contact".
 |
| From Android |
Scroll through your contact list and select the indivual that you wish to make a shortcut of.
 |
| From Android |
And there you go!
 |
| From Android |
The cool thing to me about this is that I can contact the people I get in touch with the most without having to bother with who is "Starred" or whatever. For the most part, the benefit to me is that I don't need to go into a menu to reach someone.
It takes a couple of minutes or so to get everything right, but I have a "Top 16" so to speak now. Wow. I can't believe I hearkened back to MySpace days. Shoot me now.
 |
| From Android |
Now, call me a stickler, but the default Contact app just doesn't seem good enough for me. The one thing that is actually cool about it is when you go to your Favorites, you can clearly see the icon of your contact.
 |
| From Android |
But when you go to the main Contact list, you don't get jack-squat.
 |
| From Android |
That's annoying to me for a couple of reasons, but the main one is that all the work that goes into making a contact icon for the large majority of your contact's is wasted. If someone isn't in your Favorite's, then you never see their icon outside of a phone call.
So, I went on a journy through the Land Of A Jillion G1 Contact Programs and settled on one that I Like, aContacts.
I don't feel like blogging anymore. It's noon and a nice day, I'm gonna go ride my bike. Wish me luck!
Fun With Android - Desktop Modification
As you will soon see, I like having a certain amount of "stuff" on my phone. I like accessibility, but I also want to maximize space utilization. I went through the ardurous process of getting the capability to take screenshots of my phone JUST FOR YOU, my faithful 3 readers.
Without further ado, here is the first in what will be a long-running expose on the fun one can have with the Android platform.
Keep in mind that I have a rooted phone and the ONLY builds I use are JFs.
First up, allow me to state that FreshFace has revitalized how I interact with my phone. For one, it was a bit laggy, but upon utilizing Apps2SD capabilities (I have yet to do the "optional" lines of code), my phone's memory was free to be utilized for cache and other important phone duties. I don't think I have a fast enough SD card to have all the cache on it, but maybe time will tell.
Also for the record, I am using the 1gb card that shipped with the phone, and my ext2 partition is 110mb.
The cool thing about FreshFace is that it is similar to other programs like aHome and openHome (I may be incorrect on the spelling of the latter), but FreshFace was initially publicized via T-Mobile's own program on the Market, AppPack.
I think that Mobile Backup is useless because all it does is back up your contacts. If you're using Android, all your contacts are already backed up on Gmail. LAME.
I use Movie Finder (for a later post) so I'll avoid Movies by Flixster, and I need to reinstall My Account, which is actually a cool program that shows you your current minutes left, when your cycle ends and even allows you to pay right from your phone.
I don't like the layout of Phonebook, and opted instead to use aContacts (both of those will be covered in a later post, in addition to FB Contact Sync). Sherpa seems lame compared to Where and Places Directory.
I use Phone Fusion Voicemail, so Visual Voicemail isn't appealing to me. Also, I found out that T-Mo's Visual Voicemail requires you to talk to customer service or something, which isn't terrible, but Phone Fusion only requires you to set up an online account and click a button in a menu. I prefer PF because I can modify my VM's online and/or on my phone. Also, it has a Widget :-D
WorldTour is the last recommended program, and I LOVE IT. I cover it later in the post.
There are a lot of nifty little tweaks you can do with FreshFace. Opening the menu gives you a couple of branches you can follow.
This screen lets you customize the Desktop directly. For Screen Count, you can have as little as 1, and as many as 9.
A cool tweak is "Screen Indicator". Currently I use "Dots", but there are a couple of other ones here as well.
Right below is "Roman Numerals", which I just switched to. Funny discovery, upon switching to Roman Numerals, I discovered that FreshFace labels the "Home" screen as "2", the one directly to the left of it "1" and the one to the right as "3". I flipped all the way to the far left and discovered that it's labeled as "4", lol. Cool, I suppose.
You can also customize the colors of pretty much everything except the icons themselves!
When you click to modify a value, a nifty wheel comes up, then prompts you to select the center when you're finished.
What I like the MOST about FreshFace is that it lets you customize the amount of Home Screens you can have. 3 wasn't enough for me, so I decided to double that and give myself 5. Here are my current screens, from left to right.
As you can see, I'm not really sure what to do with the right-most screen. I suppose I'll just leave it alone for now. FreshFace comes with a bunch of neat widgets like Digital World Clock, ESPN, Quick Note, Quick Tweet, RSS Reader, Showtimes, Stocks and Weather, but for one reason or another, I don't bother with them. The only one I "use" is Showtimes, and only to really see what is playing. I don't go to the movies unless I'm with my girlfriend, so I might remove it and opt for something else.
I already use Weatherbug and the Task Bar weather, as you can see, so a weather widget doesn't do it for me. Interstingly, I use a Battery Widget, and I know people that prefer a weather widget on the screen, but a battery icon in the task bar. To each his own, I suppose.
Also, I'm running with the 2300mAh battery that I bought from Celldealz.biz (don't be fooled; I thought I was getting a 2200, but they sent me a 2300! SCORE!). This means that I generally leave both forms of location tracking (GPS and Cell Tower), 3G and Bluetooth on. When I leave my house, I turn off WiFi manually. Hence, I don't need any of those widgets that toggle those settings, because it's not a chore for me to go into the Settings menu and do it myself.
Another cool program is WorldTour. The screenshot is self-explanatory.
I have it set to update every 30 minutes. I wish I could change the update ratio to 10, but oh well. While I was refreshing and taking the screenshot, it changed from Earth to Eiffel Tower.
COOL!
That's it for Desktop modifications. I left the Drawer and a lot of Icon tweaks alone, but the sky is the limit with FreshFace.
The next installment will be Fun With Android - Contacts Sync
Regards!
Oh, while I was editing the post, my wallpaper updated again. Enjoy!
Without further ado, here is the first in what will be a long-running expose on the fun one can have with the Android platform.
Keep in mind that I have a rooted phone and the ONLY builds I use are JFs.
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| From Android |
First up, allow me to state that FreshFace has revitalized how I interact with my phone. For one, it was a bit laggy, but upon utilizing Apps2SD capabilities (I have yet to do the "optional" lines of code), my phone's memory was free to be utilized for cache and other important phone duties. I don't think I have a fast enough SD card to have all the cache on it, but maybe time will tell.
Also for the record, I am using the 1gb card that shipped with the phone, and my ext2 partition is 110mb.
The cool thing about FreshFace is that it is similar to other programs like aHome and openHome (I may be incorrect on the spelling of the latter), but FreshFace was initially publicized via T-Mobile's own program on the Market, AppPack.
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| From Android |
I think that Mobile Backup is useless because all it does is back up your contacts. If you're using Android, all your contacts are already backed up on Gmail. LAME.
I use Movie Finder (for a later post) so I'll avoid Movies by Flixster, and I need to reinstall My Account, which is actually a cool program that shows you your current minutes left, when your cycle ends and even allows you to pay right from your phone.
I don't like the layout of Phonebook, and opted instead to use aContacts (both of those will be covered in a later post, in addition to FB Contact Sync). Sherpa seems lame compared to Where and Places Directory.
I use Phone Fusion Voicemail, so Visual Voicemail isn't appealing to me. Also, I found out that T-Mo's Visual Voicemail requires you to talk to customer service or something, which isn't terrible, but Phone Fusion only requires you to set up an online account and click a button in a menu. I prefer PF because I can modify my VM's online and/or on my phone. Also, it has a Widget :-D
WorldTour is the last recommended program, and I LOVE IT. I cover it later in the post.
There are a lot of nifty little tweaks you can do with FreshFace. Opening the menu gives you a couple of branches you can follow.
 |
| From Android |
This screen lets you customize the Desktop directly. For Screen Count, you can have as little as 1, and as many as 9.
A cool tweak is "Screen Indicator". Currently I use "Dots", but there are a couple of other ones here as well.
 |
| From Android |
Right below is "Roman Numerals", which I just switched to. Funny discovery, upon switching to Roman Numerals, I discovered that FreshFace labels the "Home" screen as "2", the one directly to the left of it "1" and the one to the right as "3". I flipped all the way to the far left and discovered that it's labeled as "4", lol. Cool, I suppose.
You can also customize the colors of pretty much everything except the icons themselves!
 |
| From Android |
 |
| From Android |
When you click to modify a value, a nifty wheel comes up, then prompts you to select the center when you're finished.
 |
| From Android |
What I like the MOST about FreshFace is that it lets you customize the amount of Home Screens you can have. 3 wasn't enough for me, so I decided to double that and give myself 5. Here are my current screens, from left to right.
 |
| From Android |
 |
| From Android |
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| From Android |
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| From Android |
 |
| From Android |
As you can see, I'm not really sure what to do with the right-most screen. I suppose I'll just leave it alone for now. FreshFace comes with a bunch of neat widgets like Digital World Clock, ESPN, Quick Note, Quick Tweet, RSS Reader, Showtimes, Stocks and Weather, but for one reason or another, I don't bother with them. The only one I "use" is Showtimes, and only to really see what is playing. I don't go to the movies unless I'm with my girlfriend, so I might remove it and opt for something else.
I already use Weatherbug and the Task Bar weather, as you can see, so a weather widget doesn't do it for me. Interstingly, I use a Battery Widget, and I know people that prefer a weather widget on the screen, but a battery icon in the task bar. To each his own, I suppose.
Also, I'm running with the 2300mAh battery that I bought from Celldealz.biz (don't be fooled; I thought I was getting a 2200, but they sent me a 2300! SCORE!). This means that I generally leave both forms of location tracking (GPS and Cell Tower), 3G and Bluetooth on. When I leave my house, I turn off WiFi manually. Hence, I don't need any of those widgets that toggle those settings, because it's not a chore for me to go into the Settings menu and do it myself.
Another cool program is WorldTour. The screenshot is self-explanatory.
 |
| From Android |
I have it set to update every 30 minutes. I wish I could change the update ratio to 10, but oh well. While I was refreshing and taking the screenshot, it changed from Earth to Eiffel Tower.
 |
| From Android |
COOL!
That's it for Desktop modifications. I left the Drawer and a lot of Icon tweaks alone, but the sky is the limit with FreshFace.
The next installment will be Fun With Android - Contacts Sync
Regards!
Oh, while I was editing the post, my wallpaper updated again. Enjoy!
 |
| From Android |
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