Recently in My Gear Category

Just found out some nifty shortcuts for the iPhone:

1) Double-click the 'home' button even when the phone is still locked and it gives you direct access to your iPod controls or in some cases your Favorites (v1.1). You can change this in - Settings\General\Home button.

2) Take a screenshot from your iphone from anything your looking at, by holding down the 'home' button and the 'sleep' button at the same time. You hear the photocamera click like on OSX then you can find your screenshot in your camera roll under pictures. This works only after firmware v2.0 update.

3) When scrolling far down in for example contacts, you can quickly go to the top again by tapping the grey top bar that holds the time etc. This works in Safari too.

Forget the previous post about setting Mac OS to read NTFS with the little plugin I talked about earlier. THE tool to run multiple operating system is besides obviously bootcamp, (comes with MacOS) is virtual machine software like PARALLELS or VMware Fusion.

Ive been working with Parallels now for a week running my XP installation done with bootcamp, and i am a very happy chap now.

Besides the easy way of grabbing and altering files on the NTFS partition, I can run now all my windows applications inside MacOS and visa versa in XP. It even has some support for OpenGL and DirectX to run a small selection of games through the Virtual machine (no LFS *Sigh*). My first revelation was working in MacOS in Photoshop and having my Winamp (i hate iTunes) streaming my fav tunes through Parallels as an application running in my "dock" (task bar). Next was the impressive switching from windowed view to full screen XP, bit like turning a cube (like switching users in MacOS).

You can run the apps in a VM window or set the apps to run coherence (as they belong to MacOS), and it has great support for USB devices, like external HD's and camera's etc.
It hasnt installed my build in webcam actually, missed that one doing skype through parallels, but that can run in MacOS self anyway.

Besides XP you can run many other operating systems like Linux distri's or Vista etc on multiple Virtual Machines.

Going to try VMware Fusion also, they say it has a lot more grunt (runs faster) then Parallels.. lets see about that.

View Parallels demo:

Going to kill the balloons again :P

Repost from 17-09-2007

To start my monday morning with some tweakin, just killed the annoying balloon text pop-ups. YAY!

If you want to do it also, use this microsoft article:HERE

The MacBook Pro (MBP) is HOT, ... no seriously its bloody hot! To the point you can't even use the keyboard without burning your fingertips.
First I thought, must be a XP problem on the MBP, but its a serious problem on both Operating systems, but yeah worse on XP.
Anyways, the way to attack this is in OSX is with smcFanControl, but under XP I haven't found a proper tool to manage the fans like in OSX.
The InputRemapper, comes with fancontrol but just doesnt do anything. So for now the only way to stay cool, is to use smcFanControl in OSX, set it to a higher fan level, reboot directly in XP without turning the power off, then the fans will stay at the RPM set in OSX. :(
It would be good if BootCamp will add this to its features when booting into XP.

After a massive 4 years, my true trooper and dear companion passed away. My beloved HP nc8000 has been a super piece of equipment to me, and I was blessed and amazed about its performance and very impressive endurance. Even in the last hours it was capable of handling my massive Photoshop files and even been able to run COD4 :)
(My HP nc8000 - 1.6 Ghz Mobile proc, 2Gb RAM, 40 GB HD + 80 GB HD Multibay, Ati 9200 Pro Mobile 64 Mb dedicated)

Ok ok.. this was really bad timing, and was hoping for it to survive until June or July, thanks to some quick support on both sides of the globe (Pa & Steve from Vital), I was able to acquire quickly a new machine, and took with that a huge step forward! As of now I can try to enter the design world as a MacBook Pro user.
Equipped with a massive 250 Gb HD and 4GB RAM on Mac OSX AND Windows XPPro i've got all the best of both worlds!

Installing the MacBook with both operating systems was a breeze with BootCamp and all XP drivers packed in the box by Mac! Now who’s not afraid hey :)
Although Im familiar with Mac Os and already acquired a special interest in the OS, for now I am still setting myself up on XPPro, mainly coz I have most software for it.

Lots of new hurdles to conquer to make both worlds work the way I want or was used to, but for sure its going to be a very interesting journey!
But excuse me for a moment,.... first I have to delete "comic sans" from my new machine before I proceed :)

Thanks HP nc8000 for a super time! -RESPECT-

I was using my internet access to download golf courses to my phone, so I would have the score card of the courses I played also on my phone.
After a round of golf you normally put your card in for the score so you cant really look back what u have done.
I was using Wireless18 to keep my data and score .. anyways.. getting sidetracked again, will tell about that another day.

So I wasnt a heavy data user any way, but on the pre-paid they had some kind of unlimited usage with a fair use policy attached, so that was great.
I also had SMS-text to every where around the globe, because I was using the 49 dollar Maxi Cap.
The 49 dollar Maxi Cap made pay EVERY MONTH 49 dollars, what was a bit annoying but gave 250$ of talk text and what eva.. It wasnt like you put 49 bucks on and you can sit on it as long as you want.. NO!, even when you never used it completely the 250 bucks OR even the 49 bucks you still had to put in new 49 bucks in order to continue using the phone.
I kept track if I went over just the last few months and I did in those months, so it wasnt stealing yet from me.

As I said they announced that they would kill the internet usage in December 2006 by text message, but they never said to me on text or mail or whateva.. WATCH OUT your overseas TEXT messages will be banned TOO, if they did they prolly hide it with a stupid commercial txt message at the top saying new promotions with your MaxiCap and then at the bottom no overseas texting, then I could have deleted it tho.. i'll keep that one open!

Obviously on NYE i tried to text my friends and relatives overseas to warn that 2007 had arrived in Sydney and it was coming their way FAST! :)
First tries I thought ok, the service could not be delivered due to the heavy usage of all texters.. but now I know it was because all PrePaid users got booted from that privilege.. grrr,..
First of all I am annoyed by this, as bloody Vodafone was changing their plans, and Im pretty sure that thousands of people like me couldn’t to the same I wanted.
That also means that Vodafone was missing out on mega pesos due to this fantastic move..
I went to the Vodafone store the other day to do some questioning, and the guy said well it isnt official yet but they are setting up PrePaid add-ons for Internet usage and for overseas texting! WHUT? that’s not how you do it, when u throw away old shoes please do it when you got proper new ones!!!!!

So here is my reason for not texting all of you, but lucky I had my site and e-mail already set and done.
Im now on for a plan, as the 49 bucks I used to spend on PrePaid with all services can easily give me a full plan with all shebang and a new phone.

Who wants a new phone, as I prolly going to stick with my w800i as with the 2 GB memory-stick and FM transmitter Im still a very happy camPER!

Guess what after almost 2 months I finally have my w800i replaced, and now I can use my MMR-60! Just to give u a little side story how Fonebiz (shit) repair centre in Brookvale handled this case.. ahum.
My problem was that the w800i worked fine, but just didn’t connect with the MMR-60 radio transmitter.

First everything was possible at fonebiz and the phone would be fixed within a day.
They forgot to look at it, when I came back that day and “Aaron”, the guy that served me said “I put my best engineer on it and he will work on it straight away!”. Those lines always give me the creeps.. anyway, the engineer couldn’t fix the problem by switching some components in the phone and at the very end of the next day fonebiz told me they had to order a new phone for me.. meanwhile they have given me a temporary phone type Brick from year 1963 .. grr.. This was just before Easter, and I thought “ no way” .. Im not going to run around with this piece or crap as temp phone, I want atleast some of my functionality back of my w800i.

The hour before driving off to the mountains for Easter, I went over and decided to pull my phone out of the repair scheme so I could use it for the long weekend, as fonebiz first said they needed my phone in order to get the new one, thought that was silly but hey.. whoami. I asked again if they could launch the request without my phone present, and willing enough fonebiz said “ yea..” sure lets try.
2 Weeks have passed, and I called in again, they said no problems, we are still waiting for your phone, call in later.. 1 week later, I called in again.. same story.
Then a week after that I got a call from “Aaron”, if I could tell them what my provider was so they could order the correct phone!.

”WHUT” !, euhh.. take deep breath, count till 10.. breath out…

“Aaron” I said… in my best forgiving way, you suppost to order the phone way before that, and besides that you know I am provider in depended as I’ve pulled my card out now 4 times before your nose.. also to put it in that “BRICK™” of a lone phone!
“ Yea yea.. sorry sorry.. mix-up here.. we will order the correct phone.. thank you!
At least 2 weeks later,.. I called up again, and asked the status of my phone. Euh… yea.. sorry we need your phone in order to get the new one ! “ *Sigh* “ !
I had almost a book full of lines that I wanted to yell out to him.. but kept my kewl, and did some grumpy huffing and puffin.. told him that he could have figured that one out almost 2 months ago.
Any way.. luckily my buddy Wayne had bought the same phone but hadn’t used it yet.. so he said you can have my phone in the mean time until you new phone arrives, As I was afraid that now I would be out of a decent phone for a while.. and wouldn’t like to walk around with that “BRICK™” from the stone age.
I switched my card to Wayne’s phone, brought the phone in and went home.
Guess what… next day early morning I get a text message saying your phone is ready to be picked up! Grrrrrr….within half a day.. Amazing.. I mean after all that before, I felt like “ could you please give my efforts for replacement etc.. a bit more credit.. and wait a couple of days.. lol.
Any ways I can now listen to my 2gb of MP3’s from my phone on the radio! And got a brand new phone.. (I did gave the brand brand new one to Wayne tho).

The MMR-60 is a very kewl device, the reception to the radio is alright.. I’ve got my antenna in the back of the car and have to put the phone in the middle console to have a clear pick-up.
The sound quality is a bit less but acceptable! The coolest future is that the MMR-60 glows on and off during play.. very nice.

Sorry for being quiet for a little while, being unemployed really is a very busy and time consuming occupation.
And I’v got some more stories like this that I’m gonna write of my chest here.. so beware !

Ive got my 17" RS4 rims w000h000, and brand new tyres 225x45x17 :) Gosh.. that looks so much better!

Well here it is, my '99 audi A4 1.8 !! Gosh im very very happy with it, runs like a charm and look fab for his age! Got new sprayed bumperbars, and a year warranty on it. Now looking for some nice rims, as these default alloys are better then the normal ones but still not my taste..

Nice rear with big oval muffler tip, not like the turbo versions with two seperate pipes..

Sleek leather trim, lets u slide into the car..., also the car features powersteering, electric windows back and front, central locking, climate control. And the boot fits easily 2 clubsets and trollies.. :)

The car also holds a 10 CD stacker in the back, which when my w800i finally gets replaced wont be that necessary but so far its conveniently loaded with some kewl sounding tunes, and yes Berend also Dave Seaman's Global Underground release #16 - Cape Town CD2 :) Hooyah!

ps no logos on this car.. :)