Rooted and Flashed

I finally went for it and rooted my HTC Eris and Flashed a new ROM  / Updated OS onto it last night! It turned out to be easier than expected.  I just downloaded the 1-click root app and installed it on my phone. Then downloaded the ROM I was interested in / had been following for a while.  Then copied the zip file to my phone, powered it off and rebooted it while holding the up volume and power button at the same time.  This gives you a menu for making backups, wiping the internal storage, & flashing a new ROM from the SD card.  After making a backup I wiped the internal storage, and flashed the new Android 2.2.1 Tazz Froyo build to the phone.  Now I'm wishing I had done this sooner!  The phone runs faster, is more responsive, and I have all the new features in 2.2 that I didn't have in 2.1.  Mainly voice commands, vastly improved battery life, moving apps to the SD card form the limited internal memory, Tethering, and improved features in many apps that weren't available in 2.1.  Since my phone is out of warranty and wasn't going to get any new OS updates from Verizon, this was my only option to get the new features until my contract runs out.

Now I can wait for the end of my contract and not be missing out on the new OS features.  I see 2.3 Gingerbread is already out and developers are making new builds.  In a few months I might try the new version!

Body Browser by Google Labs

Check out this great demo of WebGL & HTML5. The technology is less interesting than the usefulness for study of the human body and it's various systems! Zoom in and turn on the labels. Click on muscles and organs to isolate them...

Body Browser - Google Labs

Simon's Cat in 'Santa Claws'

Love these. This is what our cat does at night while we sleep. Check out his whole series.

My new Roku!

Check out the Roku player for Streaming video from the web, Netflix, Amazon on Demand, YouTube, Podcasts, and many more.

Upgrade Your Life

 Check out this great productivity book.  You can read the first chapter for free at Amazon via their web based version of the Kindle reader or go to the books website to see the updated "Life Hacks".  Updated because computers and the internet are in a constant rapid state of change.

Mermaid Mosaic

Julie's latest mosaic piece: Mermaid Mosaic as posted by: Jayne Photo.  Check out her Etsy site and her flickr images as well as the youtube videos of how the mosaics come together.

Videos showing how these mosaics were created:
Sea Turtle Mosaic
Mosaic Sun Clock
Dragonfly Sunflower Mosaic
Long Tailed Gecko
Mosaic Table Tops
Indian Blue Peacock

New photos on Jayne Photo

www.jaynephoto.com

Thinking about rooting my HTC Eris and installing Android 2.2

Reading recent posts on a Facebook fan page for the HTC Droid Eris.  A few people have rooted their phones and installed Android 2.2.  They claim better performance because they can over clock the processor and better batter life?  Of course these two things seem to be mutually exclusive.  So, I'm waiting to read more on others experiences.  I'm not having any issues with my phone so I guess I'm not as motivated as some of these other people.

I'll bet if the few that are claiming slow performance reset their phones to the factory settings and selectively reinstall some of the apps they use their problems would go away.

Anna and I Walking on the Beach

Run-A-Muck Photos

Photo of the day!

www.jaynephoto.com

Another great photo!

www.jaynephoto.com

My step daughter Sarah has a new photography site!

She has some wonderful photos at her new web site: www.jaynephoto.com. I helped with the site design and setup this past week and weekend. If you're on facebook there is a fan page too.

COTM - Dad Life

Amazon's Kindle App for Android Has Arrived!

Woo! Hoo! It just arrived Monday. I've been slowly progressing through a book that is on my laptop in digital "Kindle" form, wishing I had the Kindle reader on my phone. Now I do, so I expect to get much more reading done on this book. I love they automatic syncing between my laptop and the phone. When I open the book it is always where I left off which ever device I was last reading on. Plus the software for the PC and Phone is free! So, I didn't spend any money on the Kindle reader device!

Amazon's Kindle App for Android Comes at Crucial Time

Battery Drain of my Android 2.1 Phone

The other night I went to bed as usual and put my phone on silent mode and left it by my night stand.  Usually in the morning I just switch it back to normal mode and the battery level is only slightly lower than when I went to bed.  Not much battery drain when the phone is not in use other than stand by mode.  This particular morning I got up and the phone was dead.  I plugged it in and was able to turn it on only to find the batter was completely drained!  This was a bit disturbing.  Especially since I use task killer and never leave background tasks running. I continued to experiment during the day with charging to see what was going on.  I couldn't get it to charge more than 1/3 the way.  So, I went to the Verizon store at lunch and asked them about it.  Their response was, "Oh, with those phones you have to take out the battery, wait a moment then re-insert the battery to "re-register" the battery with the phone."  While this sounded like bogus hokus pokus, I decided to give it a try.  The after noon went much the same.  The phone still would not charge.  After work I went back and they decided to give me a new battery.  Well that didn't seem to make much difference.  So, I searched for similar issues and found nothing that really matched this problem.  Finally I decided it was a software "glitch" and recorded all the apps I had installed and my screen layouts then went for the "Hard reset" option.  This resets the phone to the factory settings.  Then I had to reactivate the phone but that was automated OTA (over the air).  So I was able to re-download my apps and put back all my screen icons.  Once I logged back in to Google all my contacts, email, calendar, etc. came right back.  This step of Settings, Privacy, Factory data reset fixed my problem. By the way, HTC's site says the Factory data reset is under Settings, Security.  I'm sure this refers to Android 1.5 that was originally on the phone.

Afternoon trip to Tahoe

After spending the first part of the day getting some things done and cooling off in the pool, my wife came up with the idea we run up to Pope's Beach in Tahoe, and enjoy the remainder of the day then get some dinner and head back.  So, we quickly packed up a few things and headed off to Tahoe.

The water was coolish but not too cold, we jumped right in!

After the beach we headed out for dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express at Heavenly Village.  Anna was tired by the end of the day and fell asleep on the drive home.

Catch 22 in awareness of our own competence.

Catch 22 in awareness of our own competence.

9800 address plaque

9800 address plaque
Originally uploaded by picksnoz

Julie's latest mosaic! Visit her flickr site to see more photos of this project and others.

Time Management

The most difficult thing about time management is prioritizing tasks. Thanks to a lecture on this subject I watched by Professor Randy Pausch. I've found a logical, simple, and easy method for prioritizing tasks that both helps me get important items done while reducing or eliminating the unimportant busy work that often comes my way, thus saving me that potentialy wasted time.

Items should be organized on a 4 square table with Important / Due Soon in the upper left, Important / Not Due Soon in the upper right, Not Important / Due Soon in the lower left, & Not Important / Not Due Soon in the lower right. Here is an Example Time Management Chart. This chart / method of task prioritization came from a time management lecture by Professor Randy Pausch from Carnegie Mellon. He is also the author of The Last Lecture (book link at Amazon), here is the video of this lecture. This method struck a chord with me. Until seeing this method, I found most other systems for prioritizing tasks to be too combersome.

First big splash of the pool season!

Facebook Security Settings

Here is a sight reclaimprivacy that was featured in Wired Magazine and on Lifehacker.  They made a simple browser bookmark that will scan your security settings in Facebook and tell you where you may want to make some changes.

Nurture Shock

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children Just picked this one up last night.  Just in the first chapter I've found several things I'm going to change about the way I encourage my daughter with her school work and life in general.  Started chapter 2 last night and found more good points for me to work on.

My first thought after reading and realizing that I need to change how I act was... back when we attended a local group called ToughLove, their main teaching was: "We can't change others. We can only change our own behavior."  By changing our selves we affect others.

Why Don't Students Like School

Maybe with this book I can be better at helping my daughter with her homework.  The first chapter was compelling so I bought a copy from Amazon.

Why Don't Students Like School: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What It Means for the Classroom

Droid Software Update!

My Droid Eris from Verizon Wireless just received the System update notice! The phone is downloading it now 77.7MB large over the air. Definitely seems like the Android OS update to 2.something. Probably 2.1. It appeared right after I plugged it into the charger. I wonder if that was a trigger for the update notice? or was it because it just rolled over to midnight. ;-) Only 2-3 bars but the download went pretty quick ~5 minutes or so.

The update is ready to install. Pressing the Restart & install button now!


I'll post more after the update is successful.

Ok, Expect about 1 - 1 1/2 hours to finish the update and recreate your screen layouts.  I had to place all the application shortcuts back on the various screens.  Google Voice wouldn't run after the update finished and the phone booted up.  However after I shutdown and re-started the phone all was back to working.

It did remember my Google account login and was able to re-sync all my email, contacts, favorites, etc with no problems.  Adding my office Google apps account as an additional email account was simple.  I updated about 4 apps to match the new OS version.  Navigation looks good and will easily replace my Garmin GPS I had for the car.  I finally get to try out Google Goggles, and Google Buzz as a native app!

Some things I've seen people having trouble with...
Before you install the update, it says some things will be reset to the defaults.  What I experienced is just my screen layouts or "scenes" were reset.  All my Google login information was retained so all I had to do was go to settings, Accounts & Sync and click Sync now.  Then all my contacts saved in my Google account re-synced to the phone.  My facebook, flickr, & twitter accounts also re-synced..  The toughest part was putting the icons back where I had them on the various screens.  This gave me the opportunity to re-think which icons I needed and I put some new ones from the 2.1 update on instead.

I guess there is a way to backup the "scenes". I think I saw an app for that.

I had to go to Settings and Personalize to reset my Home wallpaper and Lock screen wallpaper but the image I used was saved on the SD card with all my other photos, videos, and files, so it was easy to reset.

PS Remember to go to the market and under menu select downloads and check which of the apps you had installed now have updates.  There should be several to bring the apps up to compatibility with the 2.1 update.

Sunset at Dana Point, CA

Boogie Board

Recently I found a neat new writing tablet that is thin & light and easy to use.  It uses very little power (one watch battery will last it for years).  It only uses power when you erase what you have written.  It's was only about $30 with shipping.  Anna is having fun using it too.  Check it out Boogie Board LCD Writing Tablet.  I found out about it before it was available so I got a bit of a deal when I did a pre-order. It's made by iMPROV Electronics, and they have their own ideas for target markets.  They are pushing the "green" angle with the idea that you'll use less paper once you start using this device.

Your copier may know more about you than you know!

I should have posted this sooner.  It has hit the news recently but it has been discussed on security blogs & podcasts for a few weeks.

Copiers in offices get replaced as they age or new features are needed.  The old copiers are hauled away by the vendors and nobody is aware that all those documents that have been scanned, copied, printed are saved on an internal hard drive.  These copiers are then either refurbished and re-sold or if they are out dated sold over seas.  All those documents are shipped with the copier on the internal hard drive to whom ever buys the copiers.

See this discussion / report from the Security Now podcast at grc.com.  The part to look for starts only about 4 paragraphs down “Steve: It was a hopping week, Leo. CBS did a report…”

Facebook's Eroding Privacy Policy: A Timeline

This is a problem and making things worse, many people don’t even think about the security & privacy settings or they mistakenly ass-u-me Facebook’s settings default secure or private.  In fact Facebook’s defaults on a new account are to share as much as possible to make the service “more useful”.  Yeah right.  More useful to whom?  Facebook and their advertising partners!

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-timeline