I wanted a way to share my phone data plan and still preserve battery life among my devices. All without having to dish out any extra money for an additional battery or 3G connection/plan. With 4GB of data through my current phone plan, why not share that between my Android Tab as well?

Many people have suggested Wifi tethering, which ticks all the boxes, except when it comes to battery life. I found that my phone would be quickly drained having to maintain both a 3G and Wifi connection simultaneously; I ended up in most cases plugging the phone into my Tab’s USB Port to charge it while wifi tethering was active, however the charging power didn’t meet the power requirements and it would slowly, but surely, lose charge which I guessed probably wasn’t healthy for the life of the battery (it ended up getting quite warm).

Then the option of using a USB 3G dongle or dedicated 3G wifi device came to light; however it would’ve still required me to sign up for another data plan, and additionally carry around a dongle. I wasn’t prepared to spend more money on a redundant 3G plan.

As the Iconia Tab has a full-sized USB port, and my phone supports USB tethering, why not just combine the two? I could get the charge from the Iconia battery (which lasts aeon’s longer than my phone, due to physical size, etc..), and still share my data plan between my devices. I can even put my tablet into Aeroplane mode to save even more power

• Acer Iconia: A500
• HTC Desire (I’m 99% sure that any phone with USB tethering will work; no custom ROM or kernel required)

• My Acer Iconia is using the Taboonay ROM with the richardtrip Kernel. I’m pretty sure only the Kernel is a prerequisite, and it can be flashed to the stock Acer Iconia ROM (the Taboonay ROM may be optional). I might do some testing with the stock ROM at a later date.
• Your Iconia will need to be rooted (using IconiaRoot).
• ADB or something like Terminal Emulator.

1. Flash the richardtrip Kernel, you can find more detailed instructions on the XDA forums for this particular step.
2. Plug the phone into the USB port on the tablet and optionally put your tablet into Aeroplane mode.
3. On the phone, put the device into USB tethering mode. This will differ between devices, however it’s probably in your settings menu near the Wifi tether option.
4. On the tablet, using something like terminal emulator, type the following commands (thanks richardtrip);

su
dhcpcd usb1
setprop net.dns1 8.8.8.8

su will give you elevated permissions. This step won’t work without root.
dhcpcd usb1 will ask DHCP to get an IP address from the phone via the USB connection. This step won’t work without the right Kernel.
setprop net.dns1 will set the DNS to point to Google DNS (8.8.8.8 is an easy number to remember!).

Post a comment, I’ll see if I can help

In progress. Check back soon

Dell BIOS updates have some undocumented command line switches that may be useful for system administrators. These are a few of the notable command-line arguments;

In order to bypass the Battery and AC adaptor check when attempting a BIOS update for a Dell laptop, simply run it with the /forceit command, for example;

• DELL_BIOS_A10.exe /forceit

You can also extract the actual image using commands like writeromfile, for example;

• DELL_BIOS_A10.exe -writeromfile

Dell use a variety of update programs depending on the age of the computer, so some commands may be deprecated or renamed. Let me know in teh comments if you find any other interesting Dell BIOS command line switches.

Where would I be without this gem! It’s worth the $5.50 AUD!

This app will essentially backup every piece of data on your phone onto the sdcard, ready to be restored as needed. It’s essential for anyone who wants to trial different ROMs on their phone and take their data with them. Alongside ClockworkMod, it’s unbeatable.  It has saved my ass quite a few times, thus why I felt it deserved the paid price, and the praise

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup

Okay, so maybe there is just ONE element of HTC Sense that I can’t just let go of; and that was the keyboard.

Can you spell drought? Well I thought I’d break it, by bringing a fresh new Android perspective to my site

The HTC Desire.

A magnificent phone, now a year old it was a driving force to help bring Android into the mainstream market. And I wasn’t the only one to own one in the family — which really highlights it’s density across the market.

As with any Android device owner who likes tinkering, I felt the need to unlock my phone and bring out it’s full potential, courtesy of the ample number of ROMs available on the XDA developers forum. I was using LeeDrOiD up until a few months ago (when the updates died down) and moved to my current ROM, CyanogenMod. CyanogenMod is pretty well developed, and still quite stock which I like. I didn’t necessarily like any of the HTC Sense launchers and twidbits — they were all a  little useless, so a stock environment was quite welcome– and awesomely fast.

You will find a few other Android related posts on my site, which describe a few useful apps and tweaks/tricks I’ve learnt over the last year with my HTC Desire. You can find them under the Android category

Continued from Part 1…

Microsoft have a few utilities available for Windows XP, to assist productivity. The complete list can be accessed here, however I’ve noted a few particular utilities below:

Tweak UI

Tweak UI brings out some of the hidden options in Windows XP, that otherwise aren’t changeable through the stock XP control panel.

The installer requires administrative privileges to run. You can try the standalone executable, however I doubt it will work without administrative privileges also.

Virtual Desktop Manager

Do you use a lot of Windows? Virtual Desktops was something (and still isn’t something) that Windows has ever concentrated on. For Windows XP, you can install Virtual Desktop Manger which places four desktop areas at the tip of your mouse.

The installer requires administrative privileges to run, and no standalone executable is available, due to the nature of integration into the Windows GUI.

Alt-Tab Replacement

One of the best features in Windows Vista and Windows 7 is the thumbnail previews of Windows. The Alt-tab Replacement Powertoy attempts to mimic that where possible in XP. It’s nowhere near as clean and sleek as the Aero based thumbnails, however it’s a step forward.

The installer did require Administrative privileges, however the standalone executable doesn’t. Just copy and paste it into you Startup directory so it runs every system start and you’re good to go.

Power Calculator

If you really need a calculator that’s capable of graphic functions, then Power Calculator is for you. While it’s  not a direct replacement of the in-built Windows XP calculator (you can’t beat simplicity!), it will provide you extra functions such as unit conversions and graphing functions.

The installer may require Administrative privileges, however the standalone executable doesn’t.

Currently in the workplace, Windows XP is the ‘norm’. Disappointingly, Windows 7 has not yet graced the SOE, and by the look of things, it may not for a while yet. In the meantime, I’ve found a few features made my Windows XP SOE a little lacking compared to a standard Windows XP.

ClearType

It still astounds me that this isn’t enabled by default, and our current Windows XP SOE isn’t any different. Below is a link to the ClearType control panel file, which assuming your account isn’t restricted too much (this still runs on a limited Windows XP account), you can adjust and fine tune your computer’s font to make it easier to read.

• Download the ClearType Tuner Control Panel

Adobe Gamma

Corporate-wide desktop distribution often means calibration for multiple monitors (e.g. laptops, desktops) are not taken into account. The Adobe Gamma tool (a similar tool now integrated into Windows 7), is a Windows XP alternative, that may also run without administrative permissions. It allows you to fine tune your displays contrast and brightness  settings, as well as colour information, to make colours appear true.

• Download the Adobe Gamma Control Panel

Distinctive XP Themes

This suggestion may be pushing the boundaries of an SOE, however if you find the default Windows XP blue theme slightly dull, you can install three other known, and Microsoft Certified themes (apart from ‘Silver’ and ‘Olive Green’).

The Royale, Royale Noir and Zune themes are all usable XP themes to make your work environment a little more interesting than Blue, Silver or Olive.

• Download the Windows XP Themes

The files will need to be extracted into the C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes directory. You will need Administrative privileges to install these files.

Once installed, go to Display Properties, Appearance Tab, then change the Windows and buttons option to the two new options; Media Center Style and Zune Style. The Royale and Royale Noir can be selected under the color scheme field.

More in Part 2…

I’ve recently come face to face with a limitation of the Lotus Notes platform; synchronization from my Lotus Notes Calendar to Google Calendar. Example cases such as towards the end of lunch, when it’s nice to know of any upcoming meetings or appointments, as well as their location.

LNGoogleCalSync is a free, open-source solution. It’s a small Java application that will allow you to specify your Lotus Notes details, along with your Google Calendar details, and update any new meetings or appointments from your Lotus Notes calendar to Google Calendar.

Notifications can be transferred as Reminders in Google Calendar, and then also synchronized to a multitude of mobile devices such as iPhones and Android devices.

Regular synchronization of this application is also easy. Running the program with the ‘-silent’ parameter, will hide any GUI prompts. Task Scheduler can be used in Windows XP, Vista and 7, to allow for regular synchronization updates.

The main website seems to be slightly out of date, in terms of information, however the download link will still provide you with the latest version from the Source Forge project page.

Visit the LNGoogleCalSync Website!

Windows 7 Jump lists are brilliant… until they break .

My personal primary use of this tool includes pinning my lecture notes to products from the Office Suite, as well as folders with subject information for quick access.

Unfortunately, I’ve experienced a slight issue, in particular with the Office 2007 Word jump list. While I am now using Office 2010, I felt the problem and subsequent solution was worth publishing should anyone else, still using Office 2007, experience the same issue.

The problem in question; Occasionally I have found that the Jump Lists would be cleared for no apparent reason, and would not allow any documents to be pinned, nor update with any recent documents. This left me with a jumplist like the picture below;

From a technical perspective, the reason behind this is still unknown, however a solution does exist. After some Googling lead me to this post, with a subsequent solution to the problem. While the solution won’t restore the previously pinned items, it will allow you to pin new items, and restore the ‘Recent Items’ functionality.

1. Navigate (e.g. using Start > Run) to;
   • %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\
   • %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\
2. To prevent losing the existing jump lists for other applications, cut all the items out of that folder, and place them somewhere secure.
3. Add an item (e.g. any file) into the specific drop-list that was malfunctioning.
4. Restore the previously backed up items, remembering to not replace any duplicates. This will restore your other jump lists, while also fixing the broken one.

If that doesn’t fix the issue, you can also delete all of these files, in both folders, safely. However, you will lose any pinned items in any other applications on the taskbar.

You should now be able to pin new items to the jump list! Additionally, recent items should start appearing as you view new files and documents.

Half-Life 2 was originally featured in the original Game Music post, but only with a limited selection of the available (awesome) songs. Here is a more in-depth compilation of my favourite Half-Life 2 tracks, including tracks from Episodes 1 and 2.

Many of the Half-Life 2 tracks use extremely heavy baselines; they should be listened to on a decent sound system, with a decent sub woofer, in order to give the tracks, the justice they deserve

In addition to the note above; the quality of the clips below compares only marginally to that on the official sound track (which happens to come with Audiosurf).

view remainder of this post…