A Thought For A Day

Installing Android On An O2 HTC HD2

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 16:54:00 +0000

Hey,

I set up an O2 Branded HTC HD2 for @JoeGarde to run Android yesterday.
It was pretty complicated and I never found a clear guide to the whole process while doing it, so I thought I'd toss a few notes that I made on here.

The first step, which wasn't mentioned anywhere was updating the ROM on the phone:

HTC's Support Site has the ROM updates for O2, Vodafone and Vanilla versions of the HD2.

(Along with being necessary to complete the install this update adds the ability to format the SD card, which will come in handy later)

Once the ROM was upgraded the next thing that needed to be upgraded was the radio image.

In order to install the Radio Image you need to have HSPL or HSPL2 Installed.
You get these from a HSPL Thread on the XDA-Developers forum:
Which one you choose is based on what version of SPL you have installed already, so read the instructions carefully.

Once HSPL is installed download an updated radio image from This HTC HD2 Radio ROM Thread. (I used the most recent one and that worked for me).

Install the image with this Custom RUU.

Once these updates are installed you should be ready to choose a build from the XDA HD2 Android Development Forum.
Follow the instructions that come with the build (here is where the ability to format your sd card from the phone may come in handy) and you're done!

Note:
This is a guide for the people who may have tried the first thing they found only to have the screen fade to black whenever they tried to boot their Android build.
These steps were found through trial and error.
I accept no responsibility for anything that happens to your phone while trying to follow them.
It is an assumption of this guide that you will read everything I have linked to.
If you find that I have some steps wrong or I have linked to something terribly out of date, please leave me a comment and I will fix it.
You will need to set up an account on XDA in order to download files there, if you could take the time to thank the people who's put in all the time and effort to make the tools you're using I'm sure they would appreciate it.

I hope this helps some lost soul find their way.

-Rory

Oh The Memories

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 17:45:00 +0000

I just got an email from The Kingdom Of Loathing which I thought was fantastic.

Have a read:

Dear Ankhwatcher,

Okay, I'm not good at this kind of thing, but I feel like I have to give it a try. So, here goes:

I was hanging out the other night, listening to some old mp3s, and I was just overcome with memories of when we used to hang out all the time. Remember? You were an intrepid, fearless adventurer, and I was the free-to-play, fun-and-funny online role-playing game that won your heart. Do you still remember those good times? I can't stop thinking about them.

I mean, I know things got kind of messed up at the end, and believe me, I'm sorry. If I could take any of that back, I totally would. And I know people grow and change, and you're not the same person you were then, but hey -- I've changed, too! I thought and thought about how to win you back. I figured I'd make you a mix CD, but I couldn't decide what "our song" was. So I just concentrated on becoming a better game for you, and here's what I came up with:

Remember how much fun you used to have with your clan? Alternately, remember how you never joined a clan because you didn't see the point? Either way, clans now have clan dungeons, group zones where your whole clan can work together. Crawl through sewers to Hobopolis, a vast underground vagrant vacation vista! Slide into the slime tube, and stir-fry sassy slimes!

I know I wasn't the prettiest game when we were together, so I had some work done. Almost every interface got an interface-lift. You can even manage most of your inventory via chat commands! I also came up with a way for you to automate some of the things you don't love about the game, so you can spend more time with the parts you do love.

Not only that, but there are way more animated .gifs than there were before. Don't worry; I haven't lost that low-fi edginess you love, but I'm a lot easier to play with now.

You can also have a custom title now, just in case you didn't feel like I appreciated what made you unique as an individual.

I should also say
Haiku Dungeon's been revamped.
See what I did there?

Maybe you quit because you got sick of always adventuring above the water. I admit that seems unlikely, but I fixed that, too -- there are a bunch of underwater zones with new food, equipment, mechanics, and challenges.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, trust me. I'm still the silly, clever, deceptively-complex game you fell in love with, only with about 95% more awesome.

So, I'm just sayin', if you can find it in your heart to give me another chance, I won't disappoint you.

If you don't drop by, I promise I won't bother you again. I just really felt like we deserved one more try.

Love,

The Kingdom of Loathing.
http://www.kingdomofloathing.com

Not Every Application Developer Deserves Your Support

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:29:00 +0000

Some months ago I bought the paid version of an application in order to unlock a few extra features and support the developer.
Recently I tried to get an updated version of the application (which I had bought direct from the developer) or a refund so I could buy it in the Android Market.

I recieved this charming little note back.

Sadly I rebought the application before I read it.

No, I don't do this. This is exactly what I don't like the way Google runs their Market. Google decided for some incredibly unfair reason that all customers and users should get all upgrades and new versions for free forever, regardless of the enormous time and effort on the programmer's part. That is not how normal software works. When you buy software for your desktop computer you don't get all future versions for free forever. You have buy them. They might be cheaper than rebuying from scratch via a reduced upgrade price, but they aren't free!!!

So now I have people who buy my software by PayPal and want me to honor Google's rip-off to my own disadvantage. I'm under no obligation to sell my software through third party means in the same way Google runs their Market, but people expect it from me. They expect me to just send them free software whenever they ask.

Furthermore, PayPal upgrades are even more inconvenient for me since the process isn't automated...so now I have to manually email the program to any individual who asks for it. At least Google's method of ripping me off is automated and doesn't take any additional effort on my part.

Most people piss away the same amount of money on a single cup of coffee or about twice as much on a single movie ticket, but for software they can use for years on end, they want free upgrades and expect refunds three months after the fact.

It's a rude way to treat me, frankly.

Since PayPal won't honor the refund after sixty days, I will simply send the money back to you as a separate transaction. It'll be $2.76 since that's what PayPal paid me after taking their cut. PayPal will of course take a second fee out of it for the return transaction, so it'll probably be between $2.00 and $2.50 by the time it gets back to you. Don't spend it all at once.

Congratulations of the last three months of free software you were able to benefit from. I wish everything in life were so affordable.

@ATFAD #twitter how about now?

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:57:00 +0000

This better not result in any more spam.

@ankhwatcher did this work?

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:38:00 +0000

After my post conversation notes to Eske, got reposted twice without @eske at the start I thought I would investigate a means by which this can be avoided.

Now my rss pumper is set up to only put "Blog Post:" in front of posts with no @ symbols in them.
This probably won't work. But it's worth a try.

Valve Have Planned My Night For Me

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:31:00 +0000

Hey there,

The Left4Dead Team over at Valve Studios seem to have been a little worried that I might watch tv, study or work on Appz.ie tonight.
In order to avoid this outcome they have planned my night out for me as best they can.
They have released a free* update to L4D 2 called "The Passing".
This update adds a new campaign mission to the game and bunch of new new features you can read about on the L4D Team Blog.

So hey, I know how I'll spend the night!

If you'd like to play with me just add Ankhwatcher on Steam.

*Free for us kickass pc users. Those sheep on the XBox get to pay money for it. Hah.

Thanks for reading!

-Rory

Relax and talk phones

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:11:00 +0000

Hi there reader,

It is time to sit back, relax and have a nice sip of root beer.
You don't have any root beer? Well then it sucks to be you.

Along with root beer I have a newly rooted Google Nexus One (root phone?).
Why did I root my phone?
Simple really: I was sick of the contacts icon.
You see the contacts icon seems so unnecessary.
When you've seen the slick design of the HTC Sense UI the native google one seems clunky.
Of course I was being a complete idiot, as both the Cyanogen Mod ROM and the Modaco ROM don't change the stock interface*. (The screen grab on the left is actually the Modaco ROM).

What rooting my phone has done for me is allow me to install great root-only applications this includes ROM Manger, which I used to switch from Cyanogen Mod to Modaco (and am currently switching back with) and the screen grabbing tool I used to take that screenshot.
I'll continue to play around with it and install the HTC Desire ROM when I'm sure it's stable.

*Technically this isn't true Cyanogen changes the interface a little bit, it adds more blue and makes the WindowShade (Notification Pulldown) transparent.

Thanks for reading!

-Rory

@eske conversation show notes

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 23:11:00 +0000

Applications:

Twicca

Listen

My Tracks

Hoccer

AndAppStore

BatteryLeft

Battery Indicator

Podcasts:

No Agenda

Daily Source Code (from restart)

Skeptics Guide To The Universe

NSFW (second to last episode)

Phil Hendrie Show Flashback

Websites:

Escapist Magazine. Com

Android Guys

These Are The Droids

Comrades Fore

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:00:00 +0000

Dear Friends First,

Today a man in your employment acted in a manner that would inspire animosity, distrust and even dislike between us. But I believe we should not accept that we are enemies yet, we should endeavor to be friends first.

The man in question was a security guard tasked with protecting your property, and he came to tell me that I was not allowed to make use of your sparsely populated bike-racks.

Although he was friendly at first he made it clear to me that I was unwelcome.

I am a student working three-days a week in your neighboring company HiberniaEvros.

I was let-go some time ago, but found work with HiberniaEvros, much to the delight of my friends.

First I got the job and then I realized that to get to that job I would need a bicycle.

Unfortunately I am unable to find a better home for my bike during work hours than your rarely used bike-rack.

I worry that if I leave my bicycle in a less sheltered spot than your rack it might be damaged, stolen or mistreated, and that would be a shame because to me, my bicycle is a very valuable friend.

First: It gets me to work on time.

Second: It helps me get in shape.

I am willing to waive you of any responsibility for what happens to me or my property while on your property.

So please, ask yourself, instead of becoming enemies don't you want to be friends first?

Rory Glynn

Appz.ie

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:17:00 +0000

Hey there!

I've decided to follow my star, take a chance and build a website.

So I bought a domain and hosting from blacknight.com.

The url for my new site is http://appz.ie, when it's done it should be fun and interactive.

If you want to keep track of my progress just go to the site blog at blog.appz.ie.

Have fun!
-Rory

Nexus And Me - Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:15:00 +0000

I am a big fan of podcasts, in fact I listen to them so much I occasionally go a week without listening to any music.

When I got my Nokia it was a revolution to be able to download podcasts directly to my device.

But Nokia's podcatcher has some issues:

It is difficult to set up - URLs must be put in manually, because the built-in search only finds podcasts that were around four years ago.

The most crippling problem however is that Nokia podcatcher occasionally just stops working. It simply dies and refuses to open again. The only solution is to hard reset the phone.

On Android you have choices, lots of choices.

After trying a few different podcatching apps (including listen and mypod) I have settled on a very good free app called MediaFly.

Mediafly is great because it allows you to:

Manage your podcasts online.

Stream/download podcasts.

Stream/download video podcasts.

So... mediafly literally does everything I want and more.

Mediafly does have issues though:

As with every podcasting application I've tried on Android, Mediafly occasionally fails to find updates I know (because I subscribe to the same RSS feed in Google Reader) are out. (This issue might be caused by Meteor, my carried blocking ports. But I definitely never had it on the 5800.)

-Rory

Nexus And Me - Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:31:00 +0000

I know it might seem odd to start with Twitter, but ever since I first purchased a data plan some months ago the functionality and quality of my Twitter application has been paramount for me.

The Symbian OS has what I consider to the be the best Twitter application in the world.

It's called Gravity and its developer Janole has become something of a hero to me by keeping his users up to date on his latest activities on his twitter stream, and generally fighting the good fight for Symbian.

On the NexusOne there are many, many twitter applications. I have tried a few, here are my problems with them:

Failure to connect:
Several clients simply refuse to work on my data network the two best ones are:
Seesmic & Tweetcaster

Some clients worked but were overly reliant on the menu button, which kills it for me for example:
TwitterRide & Swift

The clients I use can thus be said to have run the gauntlet they are:
Twidroid: The old reliable of the android platform, Twidroid is a favourite of many users who have been using android since the G1 came out.
Twidroid can be relied upon to work, it's not pretty and the on-screen buttons are too damn small but it always works.
&
Twicca: My current favourite is the very dark and very cool Twicca. Twicca offers more customisation that almost any of the other options. It has a funny way of finding tweets but not loading them until you go to look at them. Sadly the buttons are still a bit small and the menu button is relied upon a bit too much for my liking. (You can sort of work around it with the back button).
But when it comes right down to it Twicca is just beautiful, you can even colour-code your tweets.

I don't have root access to take a screenshot, so here is one from the web. (The developer is Japanese, so they have a big following in Asia).

Nexus and Me.

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:52:00 +0000

I am a recovering symbian user. I introduced myself to the smartphones by purchasing a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a device which runs the Symbian S60 V5 touch-screen operating system.

I spent a year with the 5800, broke one, drowned one and eventually came to the conclusion that Symbian was the wrong OS for me.

When Google announced the NexusOne, I resisted as best I could. But when NexusOne News posted this article:

http://news.nexus-one.co.uk/post/329073525/how-to-get-your-hands-on-a-nexus-one-if-you-live

My resolve broke down.

I hit buy, and relations in the U.S. forwarded me the device.

A week ago I received my NexusOne, and I have used it exclusively since then.

In my next few posts I will stack the 5800 and the Nexus against one another and tell you about my experiences with them.

-Rory

Read Comics And Books On Your S60 V5 Device

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:28:00 +0000

Got a Nokia with a touch screen?
Great!

Here's how its done.
(This is going to be quite a ride, so hang on!)

First we need to lay the groundwork, so you need to install Python for S60.
Maemo Garage is the home of PyS60.

In order to do this properly you would have to download the latest version from the version list ( the file with the name ending .tar.gz) onto your computer.
Then you would have to decompress it (twice) with 7-zip.
and dig through it and install these two files:
Which you would install on your phone.

Instead I have put them on my webserver for you, you can download them and install them directly on the phone.
( Remember the version on my server may not be up to date.)

Once you have installed these I recommend you run the updater application on your phone (It may be called 'Application Updater' or 'SW Update') and update python.

Now that we have python installed we can go get our comic book reader.
The reader is called 'TouchComic' and the creators blog is here.
You can get the latest version of TouchComic and txt_converter here.
You should download and install TouchComic on the phone, you only need to download the txt_converter.

Now you should be all set, if you have a comic in .cbz (a bunch of image files in a renamed zip folder) you should be able to open it with TouchComic and read it.

If you have a .txt file (for example Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom) that you would like to read, put it on the device (I have yet to figure out a way to download a txt file directly).
Then fire up the Pythonx.x.x [x being the version numbers] in your applications folder and go options=>Run script=>txt_convertor.py select the .txt file and it will convert it to a .cbz for you.

So now you have a functioning ebook reader and comic book reader.

If you are ready for yet more adventure this is a list of Python for S60 applications you could try.

If you find a cool apps, or have any problems setting up the software, just comment below.

Have fun!
-Rory

My MemoryC.ie order arrived today

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:52:00 +0000

I don't mean to gush... but I will:
I am really impressed with MemoryC.ie
Why?

Their prices are fair (about the same as their competitors: Elara.ie and Komplett.ie)
They have a great interface for finding your ram. And I really mean that. If you know what your machine needs you will have it priced in 5 minutes or less. Komplett and elara make pricing laptop ram incredibly difficult by not sorting it properly, memoryc just sort it.
It's usually not difficult to find a discount voucher. (I have a thing about those discount code boxes, whenever I see one I need to put something in it. I've cancelled orders before because I got pissed off about not having a code, with MemoryC a quick google usually solves it.)
They put stuff in the post, fast. I ordered something (Standard Post) before lunch on Tuesday, and recieved it before lunch on Wednesday. That happened because they got it to the post office before 5. Awesome.

There are also somethings that annoy me about MemoryC:

They're sponsoring the gaming clan I belong to, but they didn't give us a discount code. (I mean why not? Just give us a 5/10% code to track what purchases are driven by us and encourage us to spend money with them. They're sponsoring PC gamers because we buy so much stuff anyway.)
Out side of RAM, Memory Sticks and Hard Drives their range and pricing is quite poor.

So there you have it, if you're in Ireland looking to buy RAM, Memory Sticks or Hard Drives MemoryC is the place to go. If your looking for other computer bits, they're probably only going to irritate you.

-Rory

P.S. I got irritated by the Blogger interface while writing this post, and wrote this.

The Tic-Tac Song

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Life is fun as a tic-tac,
Things get done as a tic-tac
When you're orange and round,
And you don't hit the ground.
Life is fun as a tic-tac!

This better work this time.

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:44:00 +0000

I'm sending this blog update from pixelpipe, it should only appear on A Thought For A Day if the routing tag works!

And French

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:20:00 +0000

It is now only 20 minutes until boarding starts. my headache has pretty much abated as has my tiredness. I'm starting to like it here, the sun is low in the sky and is casting big shadows through the floor to ceiling windows, I have a nice cool hand rail to rest my head against and the relaxing cacophony of rowing Indian Children as a backdrop to my thoughts.
Now back to important issues: Canadian Small Change:
Canadian Small Change (as used in Toronto International at least) seems like a good metaphor for everything in Canada.
Canada feels to me as a mid-point between the tastes and attitudes of The US, The UK with a good whack of their own home-grown identy mixed in.
In my wallet of Canadian cash I have a few US quarters, a US nickel, a couple of Canadian Dollar and two Dollar coins, I have notes with pictures of the queen.
The convenience-kiosk provided a similar mix: You see beef jerky and think, this Canada thing is bs, I'm in the 51st state. But then you realise that the package describes it in English And French.

The Sacred Cow

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I'm now waiting at the gate for my flight to LAX. It should start boarding in 40 minutes, and take off in 70. The airport staff are using the doors here as a shortcut into the arrivals system. They seem to be feeding people who somehow accidentally escaped the customs and passports control back in.
I bought a bag of beef jerky in an attempt to lighten my load of Canadian pocket-change left over from buying a meal and a drink.
I think I've been coping surprisingly well for a half-drunk, sleep-deprived tourist who has never seen this weird little currency before.
I'm sitting in a little enclove with an Indian-looking Mother and her Sons, I can't help but feel a little guilty as I rip chunks of the sacred cow apart in front of them.
But never mind, if we start worrying about other people's belief's in this time of modern multi-cultural society, we soon won't allow ourselves do anything. Which would be bad... but at least my jaw would stop hurting.

Molson

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:08:00 +0000

I'm sitting in the Molson-Pub Bar & Grill in Toronto International Airport, I'm sucking an ice-water through a lemony straw. I've probably got another half an hour or so of good faith with the staff before they encourage me to order or leave.
The good faith I have is based on the Double Morgan and Coke I had when I came in.
It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but instead of making me pleasantly drunk it gave me a wet-slap of a headache which nearly knocked me unconscious.
It suddenly occurred to my body-clock that I had been awake for 18 straight hours (ironic because it is 6 o'clock pm here in Toronto) and it responded my making me so incapable of focus that I had a tricky time making eye contact with the staff to ask for water.
My wonderful master-plan for my trip through Toronto has completely fallen through.
The aformentioned plan went something like this: go to Toronto. leave the airport, and get a train into a nice downtown area. Eat a meal and wonder around. Return to the Airport and Fly to LAX.
Naturally enough my plane to Canada was hideously delayed and I spent time that was meant to be spent investigating Toronto, sitting on a floor in Dublin.
When I arrived at YYZ I discovered that US Immigration had created a marvellous, inescapable red-tape maze, which chewed me up and spat me into the US departures end of YYZ.
Time to move on.

Michelle In DIT

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:06:00 +0000

Michelle In DIT
Originally uploaded by ankhwatcher

Took this picture of Michelle in DIT today.
(Also found out that I can post pictures and posts straight to my blog from flickr)
-Rory

Update

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:19:00 +0000

One of my poems and two of my articles were read out in Joels Awful Snack 89b!
Thanks for the mention Joel!
-Rory

First Kiss

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:32:00 +0000

We danced slowly, I am naturally uncomfortable with dancing so I was very relieved to find her a willing and capable lead. I followed her as we gently moved from side to side.
I did my best to pick up any other mannerisms, like looks and gestures: if she looked down and to her left I looked down and two my right. I immediately drew the comparison to 'looks' from Zoolander.
After a while I stopped clowning around... I was distracted by the smile which had bloomed on my partners face.
I noticed that she was much, much closer than she had been when we started dancing. I wanted to know that she was on board with us kissing (part of why I enjoy being drunk is that I stop worrying about this stuff) so while doing my best to keep the slow beat of the song I looked in her eyes and notified her that we had been moving closer together.
She insisted that I had been the one moving closer to her but I still held it was mutual. I told her that 'regardless of the cause we will meet in...' and I trailed off, I had no idea how long we were dancing, when did we start? How far apart were we then? What distance had we covered so far? In the end I decided there were simply too many variables so I chose an arbitrary number that would give her time to laugh at this outlandish statement and resume dancing in time to steadily lean in and kiss before the song ended.
'thirty or forty seconds' I said immediately regretting it, it suddenly sounded like an eternity. But before I knew it we were locked in a tight embrace on a dance floor kissing in a somewhat melodramatic way.
It was a truly excellent first kiss.

-ANkh

Bastard Review Song

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 03:05:00 +0000

On Tuesday my good friend Neil told me about an idea of his to make Zero Punctuation style reviews of the plays we would see as members of DIT Drama.
I was quite taken with this idea and in this shower this morning (A great deal of my ideas arrive in the shower... typically the only place I cant use a notebook or a tape recorder) I had an idea for song.
In order to keep the song structured and in my head I continued to sing it to myself for the next half-hour. So if anyone asks... that is my excuse.

Anyway this should be sung in a loud and verbose manner, possibly accompanied by a piano.
It's times like this I wish I had given a crap when I was taking piano lessons*.

Bastard Review
Before
It's just another crazy bastard review!
Find out what those crazy bastards, think of you!
In yet another crazy, BAS-TARD REV-IEW!

After
That was a crazy, bastard review.
Just another crazy bastard review.
Oh please mother, don't make me watch another...
BAS-TARD RE-VIEW!

I hope we get to use it.
-ANkh

*It's an odd fact that I was never interested in art or drawing anything until well after people stopped trying to teach it to me, the same with music.

Evil Crane

noreply@blogger.com (Ankhwatcher) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:58:00 +0000

Arwen's rather demented belief that The Crane looked 'evil' prompted me to attempt to make an evil Ralph Steadman style crane.
Thus we have: Evil Crane.
As usual drawing a female of the species caused my normal breast-drawing-panic and I had to go scurrying through my photo archive for a girl in t-shirt. I eventually used a picture of my ex-girlfriend.
Ah... I don't miss her much... but I do miss her breasts...

-ANkh
P.S. Check out plurk. I'm really starting to like it.