I picked up a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 which fulfills a want since these beautiful devices have come out. I hope this will replace the netbook that is the current travel companion which was a Acer Aspire One E255 at the time of writing.

Reasoning

I wanted to stay and support Android and with Ice Cream Sandwich announced to go onto the tab by Samsung I know it will be supported for a while longer. The fall back is as always the flash / ROM scene such as Cyanogen Mod.

This put Samsung in a good place. Xoom 2 was only just released so there were none on the shelves when I was browsing (for several days) and then there was the Sony Tablet S. The specs were relatively similar (16GB, nVidia Tegra 2, 1280 x 800 (WXGA), 802.11n) but I wanted 3G which the Sony did not have but Samsung lacked SD card slot. The Sony was priced the same as the iPad 2 WiFi on offer. I went for Samsung in the end.

The next decision was the size. There were 10.1 and 8.9 in stock but no 7 inch. It was a hard decision between the 2. The 10.1 came out before the 8.9 and a lot of accessories are designed around the 10.1. The up side to the 8.9 is that it has all the same specification as the 10.1 but squeezed into a smaller form factor. This means the DPI is higher because the pixel count is the same all be it on a smaller diagonal screen and according to reviews the internals have been moved around and made it more balanced to hold.

Box

The box was smaller than the iPad 2 but at the same time had a lot of wasted space. The tablet sat on top of a layer of card which hides the bundle accessories:

• USB cable
• Universal USB wall charger
• Earphones
• Quick start guide

As part of a “gift” with the purchase of 2 Samsung Galaxy Tabs we got free screen protector (which I poorly placed only to be salvaged by my brother Tommy Tsang), a HDMI cable and a 8GB Sony memory stick. I think I would have preferred the memory card reader instead but the HDMI cable was more expensive RRP.

Hardware

I got the black version of the tablet but there is also a white one. The only difference is the back which have the different colours. It’s a shame the front bezel does not have the matching colours like the iPad 2. The unit feels solid and well built with no flexing at all.

The glass front stretches all the way across to the frame which is nice but the frame edge is raised higher than the glass. The frame edge is coated in metallic looking paint but it’s made of plastic. The back has a software rubber touch which is nice and does not feel as cold as the glass on the front. The bezel width is less than a thumb widths thick but enough room to allow a person to hold on to the device without touch the screen.

The Samsung badge is on the front and back and suggests the natural tablet orientation is landscape. In landscape orientation the speakers and dock connector is at the bottom edge below the Samsung logo. The dock connector resembles an Apple connect but it’s proprietary. I wish Samsung had stuck with the standard micro USB like it’s Samsung Galaxy S2 phones! The power, volume buttons and 3.5mm headphone jack are at the top edge of the tablet offset to the left.

The sim card slot is on the top edge offset to the right. There are no labels describing what the ports or buttons except for the sim card cover do but they are intuitive. Even with the label on the sim card cover it is not obvious which way round the sim should be inserted unless you consult the quick start leaflet.

Software

P7300 came with Android Honey Comb (not sure which version) but immediately I performed a system update. In order to do this I had to add my Google account and also sign up for a Samsung account. I think it should be able to do an update without having to set these up. Once that was done it took approximately 20 minutes after downloading the update to install. It required a reboot as well and I could see it updated the baseband version to P7300XXKJ6. The new Android version was 3.2 with Kernel 2.6.36.3. One problem that occurred was the Android market place on the home screen stopped working after the update but it just required the icon to be removed and re-added to the screen.

The tablet comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. It looks fairly similar to stock Honey Comb but with a few different bits here and there. The best part of the interface is the mini apps. These app shortcuts are overlayed on top of any app and allows the apps in the mini app bar to be accessed.

The problem with the software is lack of customizability. Coming from a phone with Cyanogenmod it seems very locked down. The widgets are fixed to certain max and min size which does not allow it to be stretched across the screen. The apps in the mini app bar can not be changed and the software includes software which I do not use and cannot be removed such as Pulse News.

Another criticism is home button. On the iPad this is a hardware button where as the Sammy tablets it’s software. This is not a problem for me but what is a problem is the UI thread priority. With a button it’s a hardware which can send interrupts to the software. On Android Honeycomb the software buttons at the bottom (including the home button) seems to run in the same UI thread and therefore it stops responding when something hangs. The button is very important because it should stop and kill any app. There have been several times where I have to press and hold the power button to turn off and on the the Galaxy Tab again. This brings me to another point. There is no restart in the power button menu!

Battery & Performance

The battery life on the tablet is very good so far. I am able to get a day of on off use for general browsing and using apps and games. I generally play games on it for approximately 1-2 hours total a day but not all at once. At the end of the day it usually has about 15% of battery life left.

I have the screen brightness on auto and screen timeout on 2 minutes. I have wifi ‘n’ turned on at all times as well.

One of the annoying things I have found is the lack of task manager in a situation where large amount of resources are in use. Whilst it has a task manager, it is an app with what seems to be the same priorities as other apps so when an app like Skype keeps hogging the resources you have to wait for it to finish to turn off and on the device (there is no restart option).

Live wallpapers also seem to slow down the animations on everything. It is very noticeable especially when scrolling lists.

Accessories

I have found it hard to find accessories in brick and mortar stores for the 8.9 Tab. Most of the items on display here in Hertfordshire are either iPad 2, Motorola and if any are Samsung accessories they are for the 10.1 version. Online shops are better but it’s very hard to tell if the accessory is compatible with 10.1, 8.9 or both due to lack of descriptive information on products.

I even purchased a AO case and it’s flawed in design. The top front edge of the case flips up as if there is not enough slack or something along those lines.

In the end I returned the case and got the official Samsung Book style case which comes in black (EFC-1C9NBEC) and ivory.

Summary

I like the tablet overall but it does have some problems (typical Android products?). The hardware is very slick and nice. I feel Android is more or less on par with Apple but the software still needs refinement.

Samsung Galaxy S And Galaxy Tab Not Getting ICS

Related posts:

1. Samsung 46D8000 Mini Review
2. Acer Aspire One D255E Mini Review
3. Crysis

1. T-Mobile Store – Closet store on arrival. Staff was helpful in helping us and offered a regular pay and go mobile phone sim. This was apparent when he said you can buy bundles via SMS.
2. Vodafone Store – Asked for a sim for a tablet just like T-Mobile store but this time we were only offered a tablet tariff sim card. The data plan was very limited: £5 for 50mb
3. Three Store – Same question as per the other 2 stores and was offered a tablet tariff again. This time on a more generous at £10ish for 1GB. I Asked if a “normal” mobile phone pay and go sim can be used instead of the tablet sim that was offered and the sales guy said and I quote “2 different networks, one for mobiles and one for tablets.” He went on to say Three would block the tablet if it was using a mobile phone sim. At this point I smelt something similar to feces… I left the store not long after that statement.
4. Carphone Warehouse – Another helpful guy who as an independent representative from a network carrier suggested some tablet sims. I inquired about using a pay and go phone sim and the representative said it could be done but it’s not guaranteed to work, as I suspected.
5. O2 Store – I decided to not mention tablet when I asked about their text & web pay and go sim. It has 300 text + 500mb if you top up £10 each month and the credit stays on the phone so you can use that to buy data bolt on for example.

I do not know what the terms and conditions state about usage of the sims and devices and so proceed with caution. I do not take any responsibility or liability for your action from the information given.

I settled on the O2 sim. I went to the store last because I liked the text & web tariff but also you could manage it online.

Related posts:

1. My Year At GSK
2. iPhone 3G Thoughts
3. Neo Freerunner

I’m preparing myself to move from 10.04 to 12.04. With 12.04 as the next Long Term Release (LTS) coming in the next release I thought it was time to prepare for the inevitable move from old to new.

Setup

LTS from Canonical has support for 3 years for the desktop but it has been increased to 5 years for 12.04 code named Precise Pangolin. My Linux headed server currently does a lot and I like to treat it as a production system which cannot go down for long periods of time. The following services are being used:

• FreePBX – PBX system which manages the phones in the house
• Energy@Home – Logs power usage at home
• uPNP – Allows streaming of media to the T.v / Playstation 3
• Ampache – Music streaming service
• MythTv – DVR for digital and analogue T.V

Most noticeably the most important one is FreePBX. The rest are good to have but will only cause inconvenience if it was not running. To complicate things slightly the system is currently using LVM. I have never migrated an LVM before.

Hardware

The computer was originally built in 2004 with some minor upgrades including CPU, RAM and HDD but it’s starting to show it’s age. The hardware was bought as a budget secondary desktop computer but has since resided to a headless 24×7 server. Now it has so many services and software running that the load average is constantly above 5 on a AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (1×2.4GHz stock) with 2GB RAM. The system has a 500 watt PSU but consumes around 130 W.

I think it’s time it received some TLC and a well deserved upgrade and it would be perfect if I could time it with the next LTS. Some of the features I’ll be looking for are:

• Gigabit Ethernet (hopefully 2 if possible)
• More than 4 SATA ports
• At least dual core CPU
• Water cooled CPU

Check List

List of things to do before upgrading:

1. Backup user files – Music, pictures, etc
2. Backup settings – FreePBX, Gnome(possibly), fstab, apache conf, …
3. Backup website files
4. Backup Database

Test Backup

It’s always important to test the backup to ensure they actually work! Files and databases are easy. They can be restored into a different database and files can be copied to a different computer or different location as long there is enough space.

Summary

I probably won’t migrate on the day of release but I may test the backup plan around that time to make sure everything works. Once that’s done, Setup a VM and try installing and restore some of the backed up data and see if it works.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to get extra-long desktop support cycle

Related posts:

1. Downtime
2. Replace /dev/xxx With UUID
3. FreePBX Symlink From Modules Failed

The product is aimed at action sports which can be mounted on a bike or helmet but there are other attachments that come with it.

Box Contents

The specification of the camera is not great but it’s a budget camera so it’s no Go Pro which are used on shows such as Top Gear. The case is metal and state to be waterproof. There are rubber rings around the 2 screw points. One at the back to access the micro SD card slot, micro USB for charging and accessing the SD card, reset button and one at the front which holds the plastic cover over the camera. The casing feels tough and durable but I’m not sure about the plastic lens cover.

The box contained a lot of accessories such as a (non adjustable) bar mount, Velcro and Velcro straps and belts. The bar mount is made of 100% plastic including the locking screws. There are rubber inserts inside the bar holder but the rubber is not very well formed and can easily fall out if poked.

The Velcro straps and holder are better and include generous amounts. There are pieces which have adhesive on but I’m not sure of the quality.

Use

I’m sure the unit was suppose to come with a manual but mine did not. Just to some up in case others have had the same:
LED (in use)

1. Solid Red, No Green – Displayed when turning the unit on with a press of the button. The unit is warming up / initialising
2. Solid Red, Solid Green – The unit is powered up and ready to record
3. Solid Red, Flashing Green – Unit is recording

The recording process would be:

1. Press the button
• Solid red light appears
2. Wait for solid green light
3. Press the button to start recording
• Green light starts to flash
4. Do recording
5. Press button to stop recording
• Green light turns solid
6. Press and hold the button to turn the camera off
• Both lights turn off

The battery is rated 3.5 hours and I have managed to test it for a non-continuous 2.5-3hours without any problems.

Date Time Stamp

By default the date time stamp should be shown on all recorded videos. To make changes to this perform the following:

1. Plug in the USB cable to a computer or insert the micro SD card
2. Navigate to the root of the SD card i.e not inside any of the folders
3. Create a text file called time.txt
4. Edit the text file and enter the following YEAR.MONTH.DATE HOUR.MINUTE.SECOND N 50

Replace YEAR.MONTH.DATE HOUR.MINUTE.SECOND Y 50 with actual date. The Y is a flag to tell the camera to show or hide the date time stamp i.e N or Y. Leave the 50 (not sure what that is for). Example text that should be in the time.txt file:

2011.11.28 13.45.00 N 50

The above code will set the date as 28/11/2011 with a time of 1:45pm and do not show date time stamp.

Example Recording

The transfer rate using the device and supplied USB cable was extremely slow! It was averaging around 715kb/s on a 4GB non rated micro SD card. Also it seems to split the recordings into 30 minute 16 second per file.

Ok it doesn’t show the sound quality but it’s an idea on how well the video function performs.

Summary

For the price the camera makes a good throw away camera. It comes with cheap mounts but enough to get someone started. At under £25 + £10+ for the memory card I won’t cry if it breaks.

Chilli Technology Action 3 VGA Head Cam – Black

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1. Dorgem Open Source Montion Capture Software
2. Flip Ultra HD Review
3. Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 Mini Review

One of the reasons I switched to MySQL instead of using the built in phonebook was because the numbers weren’t matching the ones in the internal phonebook. The built in phonebook only allows numbers so international numbers with + or numbers with hyphens cannot be matched to phonebook entries. Using a user defined database and query will solve these problems.

Setup MySQL

We need a schema and a table to store the phonebook and I’d suggest a new user with at least SELECT privileges. The script below creates a schema called freepbx and a table called phonebook:
--
-- Create schema freepbx
--

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS freepbx;
USE freepbx;

--
-- Definition of table `freepbx`.`phonebook`
--

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS `freepbx`.`phonebook`;
CREATE TABLE `freepbx`.`phonebook` (
`name` varchar(50) NOT NULL,
`number` varchar(20) NOT NULL,
`phone` varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (`name`,`number`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1;
phonebook.zip

The table contains 3 fields:

• name – The name of the number
• number – The matching phone number
• phone – The type of phone number E.g mob

Add Contacts

Run the following query to insert new contacts in the phonebook:
insert freepbx.phonebook (name, number, phone) values ('Danny','123456','mob');
Replace Danny, 123456. mob with your own values. The name and number (the first 2 items in the values) are required and the phone (‘mob in the example) is optional. When omitting the phone field run the following query instead:
insert freepbx.phonebook (name, number) values ('Danny','123456');
The name and number combined must be unique otherwise it won’t create an entry in the database. See below for how it will be displayed on the phone / reports.

The Siemens S68H which comes with the Siemens Gigaset 685IP will display all the caller ID if it fits on the display but the text will “just go off the screen” if it does not, only display the first part of the name. The number is always displayed below the caller ID where possible.

Setup FreePBX

Log into FreePBX and go to Tools Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control > CallerID Lookup Sources Click the Add CID Lookup Source button to add a new phonebook directory. Select MySQL from the Source type This will change the require informations on the page. Enter the following information:

Source Description: MySQL
Source type: MySQL
Cache results: yes [tick]
Host: [server address]
Database: freepbx
Query: SELECT CONCAT(name, IF(phone IS NOT NULL,CONCAT(' (', phone, ')'), '')) as cid FROM phonebook WHERE number like '[NUMBER]'
Username: [username]
Password: [password]

Source description can be any name and it will be used a reference in other settings. The Host will typically be localhost unless the MySQL database is installed on a different machine.

The query will show Danny (mob) if the phone field is populated. The brackets are automatically inserted. If the phone field is empty (NULL in the database) it will just show the name Danny

Press the Submit Changes button to save the new caller ID look up.

Go to Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control > Inbound Routes and select an inbound route which will use the new phonebook. Under the CID Lookup Source section select the phonebook called MySQL (or what ever it was named in the Source description) in the Source dropdown.

Press the Submit button to save the change and repeat for all other inbound routes which will use the MySQL phonebook.

Apply the changes for all the settings to take hold.

Summary

Having MySQL as a source makes it a lot more flexible and customizable. Also it can be linked to an existing directory. More technical knowledge is required to manage the contacts but that comes with the flexibility.

Setup MySQL CallerID Lookup Source on FreePBX

Related posts:

1. Enabling Remote Access To MySQL
2. MySQL Tuning
3. Linksys SPA3102 And FreePBX On Ubuntu 10.04

One of the first mod to a Honey Bee is the fuse mod. This mod adds 2 fuses to the helicopter between each motor and the 4 in 1 (4-1) controller. This is to prevent a power surge reaching the controller. This can happen when the propeller stops spinning and power is not reduced for example during a crash. If the person doesn’t doesn’t cut the throttle fast enough then the electricity will goes to the motor but because the the motor can’t spin the propellers it’s not using up all the power and that then goes to the controller which can’t handle it.

Parts & Tools

I acquired most of the parts from Halfords. Whilst it was not as cheap as it use to be, it’s better than replacing the 4-1.

Parts list:

• 3 amp mini blade fuse
• 5 amp female spades (HEF 511)
• Heat shrink (10 mm diameter) or sleeves for the spades
• Main and tail motor wire (EK1 0226) (Optional)

The two fuses are used for each motor. The main motor which turns the main blades is bigger than the tail rotor and have different power ratings. I chose mini car fuses for it’s size and price but normal and micro sized fuses will also work. The spades are used to as the fuse holders. It’s best to them sleeved because they are quite close together and can cause a short, by passing the fuse. I also bought a set of spare motor wires in case I screwed up the mod. Also it meant I didn’t have to splice the cables.

There are different sized spades and it’s a judgement call as to what size is needed depending on the size of the fuse. Micro and Mini fuses should be interchangeable but the normal size fuses may need a bigger spade.

Fuse Price comparison:
All fuses were the same price for different ratings. It was the size that determined the price. All fuses came with 2 in a box. Prices are correct to 09/11/2011.

The table above illustrate the price difference is largest between mini and micro fuses (55% increase) where as the normal to mini size is marginal (11% difference). Also the biggest difference in physical size is going from normal to mini. Halfords also sell LED mini fuses which light up when a fuse is blown. These cost more than the micro fuses at £3.29. Whilst they are nice to have it is not very cost economical if they need replacing a lot (depends on how often the helicopter crashes badly).

Tools list:

• Pilers
• Wire strippers (optional)
• Soldering Iron & Solder (optional)

The pilers are needed to cut the cable ties off the Honey Bee which hold the wires to the chassis. Also they are needed to cut the wire and strip the insulation from the wires. There maybe more effective tools such as wire strippers. I also used a soldering iron to tin the tips of the wire and left a blob of solder for better contact but this is not necessary.

Preparation

First turn off the helicopter if not done so and remove the canopy.

Cut the cable ties holding the wires. This gives the wires some slack to work on them.

Take note which way the wires go into the 4-1. In the above picture, both were positive on top.

Fuse Mod

I will detail the steps I took which included using the soldering iron, extra motor wires and heat shrink wrapping instead of sleeves (turned out better than sleeves for holding the wire to the spades better)

1. Plug in and heat the soldering iron up
2. Remove the main motor power cables from the 4 in 1
3. Remove the positive pin from the connector



4. Remove the positive pin from the spare main motor wire same as above
5. Remove the sleeve from the spade
6. Strip back the open end spare positive motor wire
7. Feed the wire through the small loop in the spade. It does not matter which side of the spade
8. Tin and leave some solder on the wire
9. Pull the wire back to the into the loop and crimp. Make sure the wire is securely held in the spade
10. Do the same to the positive motor wire coming from the main motor:
1. Strip back the open end spare positive motor wire
2. Feed the wire through the small loop in the spade. It does not matter which side of the spade
3. Tin and leave some solder on the wire
4. Pull the wire back to the into the loop and crimp. Make sure the wire is securely held in the spade
11. Fit the fuse into the spade
12. Push the spare positive motor wire pin back into the connect
13. Put the corrector the right way up into the 4-1 controller
14. Test
15. Measure and cut the heat shrink. Make sure the head shrink covered the spade and extends onto the wires
16. Heat the heat shrink up so that it shrinks sufficiently around the spade and wire
17. Do the above again but the for the tail wires which is the connector below the main motor

Tips

Once both mods are done perform a small test flight, easing the power in and letting it off and then more power and letting off. By repeating this process you’ll eventually lift off and “land” again to ensure nothing is loose. I found that the my crimp wasn’t as secure as it should be so every time the fuse moved it would stop and start the motors. This would be catastrophic if it happened in flight.

Summary

This mod is very good and should come with the helicopter… but it doesn’t. I have already replaced the fuse twice!

* Fuse (automotive)
Esky Honey Bee Fixed Pitch V2 Fuse Mod
ESky Honey Bee FP HBFP V2 – Fuse Mod – Easily Protect Your 4in1

Related posts:

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I have been eyeing up a Samsung 8000 series T.V since last year and since the only discount that was applied was around £200 from release till the the C model was EOL with the new D series, it made me selfishly unhappy that other people knew this was a great T.V.

Assembly

The T.V comes in 2 main parts: the T.V itself and the stand. Putting the T.V onto the stand was a fairly simply task. Whilst it can be done as a one man task, 2 is definitely recommended. The stand is in 2 parts and must be assembled before putting the T.V on. Fixing consists of screws which are supplied but require Philips screw drivers. Once the T.V is slotted onto the stand, it can be left on without support but again this is not recommended.

The T.v can swivel on the stand and it’s very stiff. So stiff that you would need to hold the stand down so that it doesn’t rotate with the panel.

Connectivity

The Samsung T.V comes with a variety of connections main located at the rear and side of the unit, towards the left hand side when the rear is facing you (right hand side when looking at the D8000 from the front). USB and HDMI are full sized ports but some older ports must use a special Samsung adapter. I do not like the idea of having proprietary connectors but the unit is so thin it may be hard to mount a full sized SCART connector with enough strength.

The composite cable was very confusing to hook up. The same adapter is used for component video but the adapter has 2 red ends. The manual is black and white so it didn’t help and also the manual doesn’t even separate out the cables like the real cable. You can see in the above picture how I connected the cables together. The composite cable was used by the Nintendo Wii.

Setup

The setup process was very simple and clear. During the setup process, I was surprised and shocked that it had built in Wifi! I still opted for the wired option because I had one there and connected. Everything worked out of the box except for tuning channels because we didn’t have the ariel cable set up. Everything we watch is through Sky.

HDMI-CEC With Onkyo TS-SR508

The T.V comes with Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) which allows commands to be sent via HDMI. In the Sony T.V we had before it was called Sony Sync. Samsung calls this feature Anynet+. It allows the devices to send commands to one another such as remote control keys (like volume) from one device will pass it on to the other device. One of the best uses of CEC is turning the D8000 on also turns on the Onkyo Receiver on as well and also works by turning it off (to standby).

The 508 works with the Samsung T.V. The volume, on/off, pass through all works together. Whilst the volume controls from either remote turns the sound up or down on the Onkyo, the volume it reports back by the T.V OSD is 10 points above what Onkyo says it is. I could not find a way to turn off the Samsung volume OSD which appears on top of the Onkyo’s inbuilt volume OSD. Also the Samsung volume OSD flickers between 2 OSD. First saying Anynet+ then disappears and then displays the volume in numbers which causes the flicker. I prefer the Onkyo volume OSD because it has a volume level bar and value shown at the same time. Also the Anynet+ OSD is usually 10 units off the Onkyo volume reading.

A huge issue I have encountered is when the T.V is switched on it powers up the receiver from standby and after a few seconds it changes the input from what ever was selected before(usually cble/sat) to TV/CD. This is very frustrating because it means every time the T.V is turned on, you need to use the Onkyo remote to change the input selector. I have looked online and can confirm it’s the Samsung T.V doing it and not an Onkyo problem. The issue has persisted from the previous model (C8000). This leads me to believe Samsung will not fix it and the change in input is probably aimed at a Samsung receiver. There is no option to disable this without turning off Anynet+ (which defeats the object of not using the receiver remote).

I have also tried using the non-ARC HDMI port (any HDMI port except for 2), resetting Anynet+ and setting the input of Sky (the most used input) from cble/sat to TV/CD. The latter method worked but the sound goes out of sync even with lipsync turned on and other sound oddities like multi-channel goes funny or the sound fades on certain sound frequencies.

The last solution I found was to use a universal programmable remote such as Logitech’s Harmony remote controls but I think this is a workaround more than a fix. Also these remotes are not cheap (especially if you have just bought this T.V).

Apps

The apps are a good concept and offer some enhanced features otherwise would be delegated to the Xbox or PS3. The 46D8000 has 1GB of memory (around 900mb usable) for apps which include Lovefilm, weather, stocks, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There are plenty of apps to download from. Since using the T.V I have not really used them after trying them out but I don’t have a Lovefilm streaming subscription.

3D

The glasses that were included with the D8000 were the SSG-3100GB. They are big and bulky but they were also comfortable. They were a good pair of stock glasses using a CR2035 flat watch like battery. Sync with the T.V was tricky. If the Samsung T.V wasn’t in 3D mode the glasses will not connect to the T.V.

Also the glasses are very fragile. I managed to drop the SSG-3100GB from around waist height whilst I was putting them back into the foam sheet cloth that came with the glasses and the lense cracked, rendering them useless.

Before trying the 3D I had read it was not as good as what you’d see in the cinema. This set my expectation lower and after watching Gnomeo & Juliet the Internet wasn’t even half right. The 3D doesn’t pop out and almost hit you like the cinema but more like pops out of the T.V slightly.

Sky Remote Control Code

The Sky controller T.V buttons stopped working after the switch from the Sony KDL32W5000. The volume buttons were the most frequently used keys. To fix this issue the Sky remote T.V code must be changed. To change Sky code to 1340. Sky has a code look up page found here. I tried to use the Sky Active service but it didn’t list the T.V model. The remote control revision number should be printed on a label on the back of the battery cover which says SkyHD rev.xR on the second line and where x is the revision number.

Updates

Updates are checked automatically and a message box appears when a new one is found.

Summary

The T.V is a big upgrade from my 32W5000 Sony Bravia T.V The options and features included go above and beyond what I was use to. Once you’re use to looking at thin bezel even computer monitors seem to have an unnecessary thick plastic boarder around them. The 3D was more or less useless in my opinion because it doesn’t have the depth that a cinema screen gives and there’s hardly any content current that require the technology.

If it wasn’t for the Onkyo receiver issue this would have been a faultless T.V

TX-SR508 keeps resetting input – HDMI-CEC problem?

Related posts:

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2. Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Mini Review
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The multichannel support allows for 2 or 3 phase CT clamp compatibility. Channels are different from appliances. One CC128 device can have multiple appliances. Each appliance (according to the XML spec) can have multiple channels. Each channel are captured individually and the channel label is only shown when there are more than one channel captured in the graph legend. This means that IAMs will not show the channel prefix because they can only capture one channel at a time.

The graph will display each channel like separate appliances. The changes made to the database meant the temperature data is also treated as if it was a channel and therefore reduced a lot of code specifically written for temperature data retrieval.

Other interesting changes include data filtering in the datalogger. There are now options to check the data acquired from the CurrentCost device to ensure data integrity such as garbled data or supurious data points. This still can be further improved to filter each channel but at the moment it allows for filtering of maximum appliance ID (default is 9 and is 0 based) to device name checking.

To upgrade from 0.6.5 there are a few database upgrade scripts attached to Issue 24

Download the new version at http://code.google.com/p/energyathome/downloads/list

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1. Create a new disk which is larger than the original
2. Attach it to the VM
3. Download Gparted Live CD ISO file from http://gparted.sourceforge.net/livecd.php
4. “Insert” the CD into the virtual machine by selecting the Gparted Live ISO file downloaded in the previous step
5. Boot the VM and select to boot from CD
6. Follow the onscreen prompt to boot Gparted Live in X (GUI) mode
7. Gparted should start after it has booted. Note the disks path of the small (source) and larger (destination) drives
8. Enter the following command to copy from one drive to the other:dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb where /dev/sda is the source and /dev/sdb is the destination. This will take a while to finish
9. Refresh Gparted and the new drive will have partitions and data matching the old drive
10. Move and resize the partitions
11. Double click on the Exit button on the desktop and select Shutdown
12. Go back to the Storage settings for the VM and re-arrange the disk SATA port in the Attributes section.
13. Change the SATA port so that the new drive is on the port the old drive was on. This requires assigning the old drive to a third port, change the new drive to the old port and change the old drive port to the old new drive port
14. Save the changes and boot the VM

If any of the partitions were deleted and re-created the UUID needs to be updated. See Replace /dev/xxx With UUID

Ensure the new disk boots before detaching the old drive.

increase size of virtual disk

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It also has the option to test for blocked / censored sites which maybe usefully to find a more open DNS.

Download and run the software. It will take a while whilst it tests the different DNS and at the end it will produce a HTML report, listing all the DNS in order of speed. Not only does it test DNS servers from companies but goes down each server such as the primary and alternative ones.

The report is comprehensive and quite technical with little to no explanation as to what the column titles mean so I thought I’d try and explain them:

• IP – address of the DNS server which can be used to configure your DNS
• Descr. – description of the DNS server. This will most likely tell you who the DNS server belongs to
• Hostname – label for identifying the server. It’s a more friendly way to display an address than an IP address
• Avg(ms) – average time it took for a DNS query. Lower the better
• Diff – difference from the first DNS. A postive number means it’s faster than the top entry.
• Min – quickest time it took for a DNS query
• Max – Slowest time it took for a query
• To – Don’t know
• NX – A.K.A RCODE is a response code for sites that do not exist. I think the value is the number sites which are “NX Hijacked” which means the DNS is returning a different page to what the site should be. For example when you go to a site which does not exist and your ISP shows it’s own “404″ webpage. Example below:



• Notes – Any other information like censored site information or incorrect domain name to IP address (usually means caching)

There is a helpful summary at the top of the page which states whether your current DNS is the fastest or not and what the recommended DNS settings should be.

namebench website

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10 things to do after installing Ubuntu 11.10

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The test is simple. Click and drag the colour boxes and re-arrange them from one colour to another. The colour boxes on the left and right are fixed and they are the start / end colours.

My results are attached. Also take note of your current state. A well rested eye may do better than a tired one.

Speed Up Your Internet for Free! Google TV Updated, Splitting Coax, DIY Automatic Remote Backup, How to Be a Product Reviewer and More!

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Software and services for password manager have been around for a long time. I was skeptical about using such products because I thought it was leaving “all your eggs in one basket”. Loose your key file and / or password, goodbye to your box of login details. It also have it’s advantages too. For example it can automatically populate a log in form and if it has a password generator, it will (mostly) always be more secure than one that is written down or remembered from a dictionary word(s).

I decided to try such services after all the news around Sony’s PSN fiasco and even more services such as EA and Code Masters break in.

Scope

For my first venture into using such software I decided to limit the use to my non-essential accounts such as forums and casual websites which require a password. If I loose the password for such sites I can reset them and more importantly not care (as much) if I loose them.

What’s On Offer?

I was considering what I believe to be the two popular solutions: LastPass and KeePass. They do the same thing but their implementation is very different. LastPass is a Software As A Service (Saas) where everything is stored in the cloud. It is accessible online and using browser plugins and as an App on phones. The mobile editions are not free compared to the browser versions but it is cheap. Recently LastPass was compromised and shows what the dangers of trusting sensitive information to third parties or service outage.

KeePass on the other hand is a local client which also have plugins for various browsers. I opted for this solution and decided to manage the distribution of the password database externally. KeePass is not as well integrated as LastPass but at least I know who and where my password DB is. KeePass is open source and there are currently no cost to use the software.

Both solutions are cross platform and offer mobile clients.

Distributing KeePass

KeePass uses a .db file to store the database of passwords. Multiple databases and therefore files can be created in any accessible locations. This makes it very easy to send or use a file sharing service. I chose Dropbox as my preferred service. Sending a file makes it vulnerable because it can be intercepted. In this case (and for any single point of entry / failure) use a strong password for your KeePass databases. I also recommend using a keyfile / password combination.

Setup

KeePass needs to be installed and a new database needs to be created. Go to http://keepass.info/ and download the latest version. I chose 2.x branch. Follow the on-screen prompts to install the program. Start the program and proceed to create a new database. This will prompt to save the database as a file. Save it in the Dropbox folder so that it is synchronized. It may also prompt to save the key file if chosen to use a key file. I’d recommend not saving this to Dropbox and manually copying it to other locations / devices as this will not change like the password database will. Also this is needed every time to log into the database.

Browser Support

There are plugins for web browsers which will link to the KeePass database. Using the plugins allow the web browser to automatically enter username and passwords and prompt to save login details. I tried KeeFox with Firefox which worked but in order for KeeFox to work KeePass also had to be running which meant you had to type in the password everytime you started Firefox. You don’t have to login but it meant KeeFox wouldn’t have access to the login details. Also you could save your password so you don’t have to enter it when KeePass started but I felt that neglected the point of using a password manager. It’s a balance of convenience versus security.

Limitations

One problem I had encountered was integration with native software. Whilst the browser is supported fairly well, there are no hooks or integration with desktop software. One restriction I hit was logging into a web service within a game e.g Windows Live, EA, etc. It meant I had to minimize (and hope it did not crash), find and copy the password to clipboard and switch back in good time before KeePass wiped the clipboard. What made it worse was some games (like Mass Effect 2) did not allow pasting of passwords! The automatic typing of the password which was aimed at passwords on webpages or when a dialogue box appears doesn’t always work within the game. I would suspect this is the same for all applications.

Corruption

I received the error message above which means I am totally locked out of my password database!

Summary

Whilst I’m still cynical about password managers I can see it being a valuable tool. My main concern is putting “all your eggs in one basket” so to speak but at the same time cannot remember a 64bit password. The final straw came when my key file stopped working and I uninstalled it. I believe 2 factor authentication is the way forward.

Sony PSN hack is only the 4th largest data breach of all time

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One of the goals I wanted to flash the firmware for was to get VPN service working. Tomato did not support this whilst OpenWRT only supported OpenVPN. DD-WRT could potentially support PPTP as well as OpenVPN because DD-WRT was based of OpenWRT.

Diving into the support database of DD-WRT, I found the DIR-615 was supported but some revisions were slightly harder to flash than others. Luckily the one I had was D4 revision which was part of my Virgin Cable package so it was a simple case of downloading the file with “factory” in the file name, log into the router settings page and upload the .bin file and wait.

The flash was painless in my experience but I did have issues with Firefox 4.1 crashing when I tried to setup a new admin user when you first access the admin page after the flash. After getting past this (by quickly entering a username and password and hittin submit) it was all up and running.

I was impressed with the multitude of options that are available. Everything from the usual wireless, LAN, WAN, etc settings to the power of the wireless signal emission, VPN, hot spot, etc. It reminded me of flashing my phone and getting a more customization and unleashing more features and function of what the hardware can do. The interface was not pretty but neither was the stock firmware. It’s worse because of the plethora of settings and tweaks available crammed into tab style navigation.

I had problems with getting VPN to work from outside the network. This may just be a problem with port forwarding or VPN passthrough issue but internally within the network it connected to the VPN with no problems.

After running the router with DD-WRT for about 4 months the router died. I was not able to access the web interface and the wireless was not showing up. I Downloaded the factory firmware from http://www.dd-wrt.com.I performed a hard reset:

1. Press and hold reset button with a pen for 30 seconds
• The power light will eventually blink green and orange
• The power light finally blinks orange constantly
2. With the pen still pressed against the reset switch, Unplug and then plug the power supply
3. When the power comes back the power light will still blink orange. Keep holding the reset button for another 5 seconds.
4. Remove pen (or instrument used)

The router will not be functioning at this point. Connect a computer to a LAN port, assign the computer with a static address of 192.168.1.2 (the last digit can be anything from 2-254). Start a browser and go to http://192.168.1.1 An “Emergency Room” page should load asking for firmware to be uploaded. Select the firmware (the .bin file) and upload it. It will then proceed to flash the firmware.

The router will be ready when the power light is a solid green and proceed as normal to configure the router again.

Overall I’m very impressed with the features DD-WRT others over the stock firmware. If the firmware was more stable and better documentation about each setting then it would be a winner. At this point I’m reluctant to flash my main router which is a Netgear WNDR3700.

DD-WRT Settings Wiki

DLink DIR-615 D2 (VM supplied) Power LED stays orange.

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If your looking for a previous command hit the key combo [ctrl + r] and the prompt changes to (reverse-i-search) Type in the command and it will a list of matching commands. Press enter to run the previous command that is listed.

Hak5 1007 – Yubico and the future of authentication

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I’d love to automate as much as possible and also get some great UIs along the way (Minority Report / Iron Man anyone?). An article I came across from How To Geek was a step closer to the dream. Using a bluetooth device to lock and unlock your computer.

Why Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a short distance radio communication so this makes it ideal for detecting the distance. Wifi is a medium range so if it was employed for locking and unlocking the computer it will never happen till your out of the house or even further (which may work for some people). Near Field Communication and RFID are possible candidates but this is even shorter range than Bluetooth. Also it means having to touch in and out so that doesn’t work.

BTProximity

BTProximity by Dave Amenta is a free (as in beer) software for Windows which allows a Bluetooth device to perform certain actions when a Bluetooth device comes and goes from range of the computer. Actions available include:

• Lock and Unlock
• Sleep
• Shutdown
• Hibernate

The software monitors for a specified MAC address of a Bluetooth device. This device can be paired or unpaired with the computer. There are settings to control how often it polls to check if the device is still in range and the number of tries and timeout in milliseconds before it performs an action. The latter setting allows for interferences or bad connections between the computer and the device.

The poll time allow for more frequent checks but at the detriment to more power use of the device but can detect the device a lot quicker.

One of the limitations with the software is that the Bluetooth adapter on the computer must use Microsoft’s Bluetooth software stack. I’m currently using a Belkin F8T012 without the Belkin software installed on a Windows 7 computer which works.

Settings

Drawbacks

One of the main cons for using this type of set up was the drain on the battery. I had tried to find a bluetooth device that was wearable and didn’t have to do much but connect to a computer. Alas there was hardly anything that existed.

Also sometimes the software failed to work and seems to not lock / unlock when the device is in range again. It constantly showed a red icon and I have only had it work once by selecting reset option from the right click menu of the tray icon.

Summary

The software works really well and does what it says. I’m fortunately enough to have a Bluetooth dongle which uses the Windows Bluetooth stack to enable the software to work. The icon in the task tray changes colour depending on if the device is detected within range or not. The only issue I have ran into, which may not be entirely the software’s problem is that it may unlock the computer when the Bluetooth device is within range but it does not wake my monitors up from standby. I know it has unlocked itself because Windows play the unlock sound and I can hear it through the speakers.

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I had acquired some Individual Appliance Monitors (IAM) which connect to the CurrentCost energy monitor. I had tried to design the software to cater for multiple channels but found that it did not work 100%. With no way of testing this was not a surprise. I had scheduled the 0.7 milestone release all for making Energy@Home work with multiple monitors but time went by so quickly I thought I’d get it to a good working state and release it so that other people can get their IAMs (or other monitors) working.

Whilst conceptually it seemed simple to add multiple monitors the code changes that went into it was fairly large. Most of the work went into the web front end to handle more than 2 data series. The database and data logger components were already geared up to accept the new channels. I guess the web GUI shows some of lack of web design experience.

The overlay function was dropped because of the response times and complexity in refactoring the code to work with and without the current energy data series. Also the data grid stopped showing the energy values but it stilled showed the date and time with the temperature. On raising a new issue in the Google Code issue tracker the page stopped loading which hampered my progress to update the issues.

In light of all the happenings above I decided to release it under 0.6 branch and work out the bugs for 0.7 release.

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sipgate provides a SIP trunk which can be used to make or receive calls. It has one of the best cost value I have seen because there are no line rentals, a local number can be selected within the UK or have a premium non-geographic number. The price of calls are also cheaper than my current teleco (Virgin Media).

Register

I missed this opportunity but before registering ensure you can perform tests within 15 minutes of signing up. Sipgate allows free calls for testing after verifying your email address. With this in mind continue to setup FreePBX before signing up to gain maximum number of time for testing!

FreePBX Setup

Navigate and login to the FreePBX administration page. Go to Setup (tab) > Basic (heading) > Trunks > Add SIP Trunk to set up the Trunk. Enter the following information in the relevant fields whilst leaving the rest default if not mentioned:

Trunk Name: sipgate
Outbound CallerID:[Outgoing telephone]
CID Options: Allow Any CID
Maximum Channels: 1

Outgoing Settings

Trunk Name: sipgate
PEER Details:
username=[SIP-ID]
type=peer
secret=[SIP password]
qualify=yes
nat=yes
insecure=very
host=sipgate.co.uk
fromuser=[SIP-ID]
fromdomain=sipgate.co.uk
dtmfmode=rfc2833
context=from-trunk
canreinvite=no
disallow=all
allow=gsm&ulaw&alaw

Incoming Settings: [Clear all fields]
Register String: [SIP-ID]:[SIP password]@sipgate.co.uk/[SIP-ID]

Trunk name for both sections are required but can be named differently but for this example it’s called sipgate. The fields which have brackets around them “[]” means this comes from sipgate and requires going to sipgate’s settings page to get it. For now enter some random number and it can be replaced later. If you have been following my guide then continue configure the rest below otherwise scroll down.

Click Submit Changes button to save the trunk.

Next is to add an inbound route by going to Setup (tab) > Inbound Call Control (heading) > Inbound Routes

The page will have a blank form ready to accept a new inbound route. Enter the following:

Description: sipgate
DID Number: [SIP-ID]
Set Destination: [set extension]

The description is again a personal choice, the [SIP-ID] is on the sipgate website. Just like before enter a random number for now and it can be changed later. The destination should be the device or devices it should ring.

Press the submit button to save the inbound route.

Add an outbound route so that FreePBX can make calls via sipgate:
Setup (tab) > Basic (heading) > Outbound Routes

Route Name: sipgate
Dial Patterns that will use this Route:

prefix: 8
pattern match: .

Trunk Sequence for Matched Routes: sipgate

Route name is customizable and so is the dial pattern but the above is similar to the default “dial 9 for outside line” except this is set to 8. This override is required when adding credit to sipgate account for making outbound calls. Alternatively use a sip client to connect to sipgate. The trunk sequence should include the sipgate trunk created at the top of this section.

Submit the changes to save.

If you have not listened to what I have said and you have already signed up to sipgate.co.uk then apply the settings and your ready to test/use.

NAT

Ports that needs to be opened are:

• SIP: 5060 (UDP)

I also had to disable SIP ALG in my Netgear WNDR3700 router. This is located in WAN Setup > NAT Filtering and checking the Disable SIP ALG. Without doing this you may not hear the caller.

Register Part 2

Go to http://www.sipgate.co.uk and sign up. The password for accessing the site will be different to the one used Once complete and your email is verified login to sipgate and click on Settings on the top right of the screen. It should be under your full name. The Overview tab will contain all the information needed.

Go back and enter the details in FreePBX, submit the changes and apply the changes for the settings to take hold.

Payment

Adding credit for the first time to the account is simple if the system worked. Just like a topup it asks for amount to credit the account, payment details and security code… The security code can be obtained by calling the number 10200. This number can only be called from sipgate. A good way to weed out robots. The problem was I rang the number but there was no sound on the call. The call was definitely answered and I could hear and talk when receiving calls.

I even tried opening ports and tried using the STUN server to connect to sipgate but I still had the same issue. It turned out this was a NAT/Firewall issue which blocked incoming voice data which was solved in the NAT section. After configuring it correctly I got through to the automated number and entered the security number. Before I fixed it I used Paypal instead which did not require a security number.

Summary

sipgate is a very affordable SIP trunk compared to other services I have seen including Skype (for SIP/ Connect) which require a monthly fee similar to a monthly line rental charge.

The call rates are also fairly cheap and also provides emergency call locations to emergency services. You can pick the locale of the phone number which is a nice option to masque or provide friends and relatives a local number.

http://www.sipgate.co.uk

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I was looking for a replacement to Dropbox after the EULA / T&C changes and found SpiderOak to be a very attractive alternative. It’s a backup and folder sharing / sync software which runs on all 3 major platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux). In this article I will compare the differences between Dropbox and SpiderOak.

Signup

Registering for an account was fairly simply. Not much different to other sites around today. Entering the usual details of username, password and email address with a confirmation email after. The service provides 2GB for free which is the same as Dropbox but there is no possibility of extending this without paying. Dropbox has a referral feature which adds 250mb to your account. I have accumulated a few referrals in my time so I have more than the 2GB space but I use less than this currently (but close to the limit).

Dropbox only required a login for each client to access the same account but SpiderOak required more.

Desktop Software

The user interface is not as user friendly as Dropbox but it is also a lot more powerful. Consider SpiderOak a power user tool. It splits items up by category of what you want it to do. There are:

• Status – What SpiderOak is currently doing on the machine
• Backup – Used to manage backup of local directories
• View – Look at items in the “cloud” (backups). The browser also includes revision of each file if multiple backups exist
• Sync – Allow backups to be synchronized across multiple devices
• Share – Allow other people access to files or upload to your SpiderOak

Starting with the Status tab, there are multiple tabs within this page. The first one is overview. This is a good indicator as to what is happening with the 3 main features of Spideroak: Backup, Sync and Share. There are small details within each status such as how many files are currently being upload and the remaining amount in backup, Number of “Syncers” in Sync and the number of sharers in Share. Moving to the Queue sub tab within the Status page shows the files that are waiting to be processed.
Actions
Logs show what happened in the past such as files being uploaded and downloaded, shared or sync’d and Stats just gives a summary of what the program has done.

Unlike Dropbox where a directory is placed on your computer where everything is sync SpiderOak uses the more traditional method of allowing users to choose the folders to be uploaded. This is the job of the Backup tab.

The View tab shows a list of files in a tree node structure similar to Microsoft Windows classic sidebar view. It’s quick and efficient but does not allow multiselect (to delete multiple backup files for example) nor any preview of the file. The view also shows the amount of space free and used by the backup in graphic form (where as the Status page show it in numeric format).

Sync allows multiple computers to share and keep files up to date with each other. This is the core of what Dropbox does.

SpiderOak also allows users to share access to other users. The difference with SpiderOak is that they allow other uses to login without a passwork. Also the public area is designated by yourself instead of SpiderOak where as Dropbox have public folders where files are shared and stored.

Initial Upload

As with any online backup systems there largest and longest part of process is the initial upload of the files. Fortunately SpiderOak compresses the files prior to upload making this process quicker. Dropbox does not do this making the initial upload longer. For some reason after every upload the files took a long to in the “finalizing” stage. Even if the file size was marked as 0 bytes? This occurred through the time I was using it.

Subsequent Uploads

Updating existing files for both services are fairly similar. Whilst Dropbox doesn’t compress the files to be uploaded it does upload only the changed bytes.

Sync

One disadvantage of SpiderOak is the the lack of LAN Sync. This greatly increases the speed of synchronization because the files are transfer over the network instead of out through the Internet and back again.

I encountered a server error 500 when I was adding a device which was running on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. It quit automatically but when I went to add it again the device had been added to the list. I then had to go back and select reinstalling device so that I could select the device from a list instead creating one. There was about 1-2 minutes while it was doing a 10 step process but eventually loaded the normal SpiderOak interface.

Once the second computer was up and running I had to set up a new backup directory. This directory would be where files are synchronized to. I used my Dropbox directory as a test. I disabled Dropbox on both computers but ensuring they were both synchronized. Once that was done my Windows computer already had a backup set up of the directory and everything was uploaded. When I tried to add the second Linux computer’s Dropbox directory it kept complaining I didn’t have enough space and kept popping up with a message to buy more space. I thought the “advanced de-duplication” would see it was the same directory with the same stuff in it as the Windows computer! Alas it didn’t. To get it to work I renamed the Dropbox directory and created an empty folder, added it to be backed up and then I was able to select the 2 Dropbox directories from each computer for synchronizing.

Couple hours later and it has managed to create the folders on the second computer but still no files. This is unacceptable!

Pricing

As of 13/09/2011

• 2GB – Free
• 100GB – $10 per month or $100 per year for each 100GB

In comparison Dropbox charges $9.99 per month for 50GB which makes SpiderOak cheaper.

Summary

Security perspective it’s great but the trade off for that is recovery. The version backup is a major bonus but again the trade off is space. The latter isn’t an issue because you can turn off versioning to keep the space down.

The biggest issue I had with it was the Sync. The fact that adding the second computer’s directory as a backup with existing files in it causes it to spontaneously show the popup is unacceptable. Whilst I believe the merge tool was built for this situation I think it’s a flawed model. Also the time it took to Sync the files across was too slow. It was during peak time so my bandwidth was throttled by Virgin Media it should at least start to synchronize files across. In the end I gave up and went back to Dropbox.

Dropbox vs. the Alternatives: Which Online Syncing Service Is Right for You?

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The error at the bottom says Status: 0xc0000225
Info: An unexpected error has occurred.

The problem was APIC setting had to be turned on. To do this:

1. Select the VM from the list
2. Click Settings button on the toolbar
3. System category
4. Tick Enable IO APIC

Status 0xc0000225 Error When Installing Windows 8 Developer Preview on VirtualBox

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