Online Shopping Mega-Binge

What I ordered online yesterday (click on the images, some will lead you to magic places):

Toshiba Portégé Z830 13.3" Ultrabook

From: Besbuy Cost: $1K Cad sans tax; free shipping ~ yay! 

Other Specs: Intel Core i5, 128GB SSD, 6GB DDR3RAM, 1.6MGHz; 1.1kg(!) 

Justification: My old laptop is too heavy. Well, not that much, but yeah about twice as much. It's pretty awesome, but I never really liked it for its looks;  it's a wee bit awkward. Mostly though, I hate fumbling with the power-cord every time I take it out for class; time to buy an "ultrabook". [Update: sold out on day 1! Even though I pre-ordered it, I guess I'm still going to be waiting for BestBuy to order more of these from Toshiba. =(]

Honestly though, I don't absolutely need a new computer; I just wanted a new toy. I was considering a Macbook Air, just for of the portability factor; and the fact that I am bored of Windows and wouldn't mind playing with a new OS. But I really did not want to compromise MS Office (I'm kind of attached to it) even given the Mac version. When I stumbled upon this, it was like a sign from above.

I've had a Toshiba Portégé before (13.3" M800 white, discontinued) and I absolutely loved it; it was small, light, and gorgeous. But, there was a teeny accident involving my brother, cousin, aunt, NOT me (ahem), and some warm, sweetened milk. This was when I had to get my current laptop; it was not in the budget so had to find a good "deal". Yes, it was unplanned, and yes, maybe that's why I never loved it enough -  I'm totally superficial. Toshiba Sr is now fixed, and owned by my mom. It suits her. :)

Okay, I'm starting to feel guilty, old Gateway (14" ID49C02h) is completely awesome (Intel Core i5-460M, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 640 HDD = awesome; but the track-pad SUCKS, lighted or not). I love you Gateway, don't die on me for the exams okay?

I'm not replacing the Gateway with Toshiba Jr, just supplementing it. I intend to use the ultrabook just for school and outdoors purposes. Back home, my sweet setup involves the Gateway, external keyboard, external mouse, and an HD TV screen. Once you go extended display, you don't go back; it's the truth.

Other Things I just had to get from BestBuy with this purchase: MS Office 2010 Student and Home (really, Windows PC should just come with this already), MS Wireless Studio Series mouse (Peri), and a screen protector (cant be having keyboard imprints on the screen of my brand new baby).

I'm not sure why I also got the Golla iPhone case (Turquoise), I think it might have been on sale. I removed the XBox 360, Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed Revelations from my cart at the last minute; I really needed to tell myself I have some impulse control. Oh, and not to mention, exams.

Moving on...

CaseLogic 16" Laptop Messenger Bag

From: Amazon Cost: $40 Cad sans tax + shipping

Justification: I've had my Golla bag for too long (two-three years), and it's never going to wear out, so I must just buy a new bag already.

I love my Golla, I'll never get bored of it; it's slim and sleek and still holds a lot. So it will remain in my wardrobe, as an alternative.

I've never used a messenger bag for school before, but now that I'm no longer using public transport and walking half-a-mile to and from classes everyday, not to mention that the ultrabook's gonna be pretty lightweight, I can move on from backpacks. Also, it's pretty great looking... love the Orange interior.


Snupped Custom Sleeve

From: Snupped Cost: $45 Cad sans tax + shipping

Justification: Toshiba Jr is gonna need protection from the harsh, outside world full of scratches, smears, dents, dust... yes the sleeve is more expensive than the bag, I realize that now. It didn't seem to dawn on me when I was happily designing my to be hand-made sleeve. Oh well.

I originally ordered a sock sleeve, but now I want a zippered one. I've asked them to make the change, hopefully they'll get my message before they start working on it.

This website is pretty sweet. I think they're coming up with new sleeves for ultrabooks in 2012, so once I hear back from them, this order might be further delayed so that I can get one of the newer sleeves instead.


Gelaskins Custom Skin

From: Gelaskins Cost: $30 Cad sans tax + shipping

Justification: What the Toshiba Jr got in intelligence and personality, it lacks a bit in appearance.  Not to fear, we can always dress it up in pretty dresses.

I was going to create a skin with one of my own works-of-art (pft!), modified to incorporate the Toshiba banner on the laptop; but I'm going to save my Photoshop masks (yes plural, I made one for the Gateway too - see, I do love it, please don't die on me Gateway) and come up with something over the break maybe. So I chose one of the (many) HD wallpapers that I have. This one is just awesome; and it works all by itself without any tweaking. I have a great HD image with gears on it, but that one's going to need a little modification... maybe later.

These are my over-indulgent Christmas gifts to myself (excluding the ones from Sephora... ugh, too long a list to blog). I might post again when I get the goodies... but until then, Happy Holidays! :)

Edward Redressing: Step 2 - JailBreak

Specifics: iPhone 3G 16Gb IOS 3.1.3 on Windows 7 (x64) using RedSn0w IClarified is an all-round good resource for tweaking with your Apple devices; there are excellent tutorials to jailbreaking your particular device on the site. I used the tutorial on RedSn0w for 3.1.2 and 3.1.3 on Windows. The steps are pretty straight-forward; the only tricky part is selecting your firmware version on RedSn0w, and getting your device into DFU mode. Also note, your restore might not work just because of the RecBoot interference I mentioned earlier, just restart your computer and see if that helps. Things to keep in mind: >> Firmware 3.1.3
	If that's your version, you will need to download the 3.1.2 version as well and have it on hand. RedSn0w will need to identify if it is compatible with the .ipsw that you used. It currently does not recognize 3.1.3 but works just fine if you select your newly downloaded 3.1.2 version, even if it's not the one you restored to. Just follow the steps and you'll get to this part.
>> Boot and Recovery Mode Icons
	RedSn0w lets you pick .png's to use for the boot and recovery screens. The boot screen is where the Apple shows up, and the recovery mode screen is the one with the USB going into iTunes. I've changed my boot screen to my personalized logo -- it's pretty sweet every time it boots. Just another way to feel that my device is no longer in Apple's clutches. Read the instructions carefully as to the type and size restrictions for these images. Also, make sure you check "Install Cydia".
>> DFU Mode
	You'll get to a screen which will tell you to go to the next step only if your phone is turned off and connected. The next screen gives you instructions to get your phone into DFU mode. DFU and Recovery mode are not the same, DFU mode usually doesn't have a screen/logo -- it's blank. Eventually you'll see the jailbreaking image of the hard drive... looks scary the first time. Getting to DFU mode can sound difficult, but if you follow the instructions RedSn0w gives you exactly, until it starts jailbreaking, it will work. There are other ways to get your phone into DFU mode as well, but I'd say just stick with the timed ones RedSn0w provides.
After this, you will have successfully jailbroken you iPhone. Notice the new application Cydia installed on you iPhone. This is the popular "AppStore" for JailBroken iPhones. Next Post: Step 3 - Customize... coming soon =P

Edward Redressing: Step 1 - Downgrade

I have been quite happy with my iPhone3G, despise its limitations due to apple's restrictive OS. I've had friends who jailbroke their iPhone, but I never felt the need to. Until recently that is. When Apple decided to bring out the 3GS, the 3G processor might have suffered just a bit to keep up with the new OS, but when IOS 4.0 came, with the brand new 4G with all its bells and whistles, it was the end of 3G life as 3Gers knew it. Even though most of the 4.0 features were not turned on on the 3G, the processor still couldn't handle the load. Or that's what I thought then -- the lagging and the crashing had to be a result of too much demand on the processor. It turns out that 4.0 just a crappy OS all and all. I now have almost all of the software features on my iPhone that I once coveted the 4G, and more. The only thing that I feel like I still lack, and I'm being honest, is the HD video-recorder and camera with the Flash. I like my reception just the way it is, thank you very much. Anyway here is my log, for those of you who might go the same way, or for in case I have to restore again: Step 1 - Downgrade. Specifics: iPhone 3G 16Gb from IOS 4.0.1 to 3.1.3 on Windows 7 (x64) using iTunes 9.2.1.4 and RecBoot 1.1 I decided to give up some new features of the 4.0, like the enhanced spotlight search and folders, to get rid of all the aforementioned problems. New to making any kind of software change on my iPhone, I was hesitant to download a previous firmware off the internet. But there is none officially available, even though there is a way to pick your software version to restore from... beats me. >> Download Previous Firmware
	Here is a good place to get any previous iPhone firmware; I went down to the previous one, 3.1.3 for the 3G.
>> Manual Backup
	Restoring your iPhone to an older firmware means potentially losing your profile and therefore your settings and data. This is because the backup Apple keeps will most likely not be backwards-compatible. Maybe it is, but Apple doesn't want to make your life easier, who knows. So I'd suggest manually backing up your info if you don't usually sync with a third-party software (like MS Outlook). Keeping your calendar and contacts on your Google account is pretty handy now that you can sync your iPhone calendar and contacts with Google OTA, just like Mail.
>> Restore via iTunes
	Once you're comfortable with/without your data backed-up, launch iTunes and plug in your Jesus Phones. On Windows, press Shift on your keyboard and click the iTunes Restore button. This lets you select a firmware file (.ipsw). Navigate to the location where you downloaded your firmware and select it. iTunes will continue with the restore process until the end when it moves on to verify the software (or something). Here, after downloading an entire firmware on your iPhone, iTunes will realize that you have rejected Apple's latest release, and because it cannot fathom as to why you would commit such an error in judgement, it will get confused and give you an error -- most likely the infamous error 1015. There is a whole family of restore errors that iTunes can throw at you, and you will find their definitions on Apple Support. Error 1015 is encountered when you downgrade your firmware. Why? Because doing so is not "supported".
>> Boot your Device outside iTunes
	iTunes will then prompt you to restore your iPhone again. Just ignore it, and close iTunes. Your iPhone is now locked in the recovery mode: this is where you see the picture telling you to connect to iTunes. You need a software to boot your device out of this mode: RecBoot did the trick for me. There were some issues with the previous version of RecBoot for Windows Vista and 7 users, so make sure to get the latest version that does NOT need libusb.dll installed. On the other hand, if you do end up needing to install this .dll, install RecBoot on an XP if you have one; you can use RecBoot separately from the rest of the downgrading/jailbreaking process. The instructions to RecBoot can be found on the site, and it's pretty straight forward. You launch the .exe and press "Exit Recovery Mode". Once this is done, you're iPhone will startup in the firmware you downloaded, and it will be activated. At this point, you would have successfully downgraded your iPhone.
Note: The new version of RecBoot might interfere with restore and jailbreak, even after it is closed. I found restarting my computer after using RecBoot removed any remaining processes that might conflict with other software accessing your iPhone.

Tico the Shell

As I head out for my last exam of the year with Computer Information Systems, I thought I'd leave with a video that I've been meaning to post. I was extremely excited for the class called Animation with Blender, because I thought it would force me to finally learn Blender. But I started hating it because in the face of Object Oriented Programing, Networking, and PHP, Animation seemed like a complete waste of time. Begrudgingly however, I started to work on my final project. After I was done, I had fallen absolutely in love with Blender and my faith in the class was reestablished. This is what I came up with:

The music (Pink Panther theme by Henri Mancini) was edited via Audacity and compiled with the video using Avidemux. Everything, other than the music and some textures, was made by me in Blender.

Task App Wanted

This is out to the iPhone lovers and know-alls. I switched over from a Treo 650 to the iPhone about two years ago, and as sad as it makes me to say this, it wasn't all gain for me. I had to make a few compromises with this move.

I have obviously gotten from the iPhone more than I did from the Treo (wi-fi capabilities, more storage space, and better interface all around - internet browsing, e-mail, music, sms, camera...). However, even though I have managed to reintegrate almost every thing I used my Treo for, I was never able to use the iPhone as an organizer as I did my Treo. There is just something that is missing; actually there is a very particular something that is missing: a native task application.

It never fails to boggle my mind why Apple would leave that out. This one simple app could bring the iPhone over from the cool, electronic "toy" to something those busy, important people would take seriously. I know that there are excellent 3rd-party apps out there that more than cover the capabilities of a simple Treo 650 Palm Task List. But there is one major issue with them: they don't have access to the iPhone outside the app (when the app is closed). This means they require some sort of internet connection to send any message (like an alert) to your phone when they are not open.

Apple did come up with the Apple Push Notification Service, which I had thought would be a way for 3rd-party apps to communicate with the iPhone even when they are closed. And it is, only that it needs an internet connection. Point of this new service? You can now get alerts for your tasks, if you have access to the internet and are willing to drain your battery life by leaving notifications on. APNS checks every 30 seconds with the server to see if you have a notification waiting, or so I've heard. My iPhone did go in a comma once or twice when I had notifications on. So not only does this help nothing (there are already ways to get alerts via SMS - see later), it actually makes it worse.

If you can settle for SMS alerts instead of the built-in iPhone alerts like the ones you get from the Calendar app, you still need an internet connection. The task app needs to save your tasks on a server somewhere, which will send you the text (or e-mail) when you need it to (and, as far as I know you need a subscription for this kind of service). This means that say if I wrote a task and needed an alert for it before I could find an internet connection, say I went camping for a few days, there is no way to do this other than make a calendar event or set an alarm with a note.

What I currently have on my iPhone is Appigo's Todo iPhone app. I can add tasks on the go and set a due-date and due-time; I can make check-lists and projects, as well as specific tasks like call a contact, visit a website, e-mail a contact, right from the task list. The only problem is, no alerts. It can't remind me to do what I need to do, unless I turn on push notifications - power-drain and internet required. I currently sync my tasks with Toodledo.com (which also has its own iPhone app that I haven't tried yet) which in turns keeps in sync with my task list at MS Outlook.

Here is a peculiar problem: Toodledo has an sms-notification service, but in order to get this alert, a "remind-me" check-box must be individually checked for each task. The Todo app I currently use does not have this option, there is no way to check this option on the iPhone. I was wondering if the Toodledo iPhone app has this ability, I wasn't able to tell by the pictures on the App Store. Anyone use this app?

I am just now downloading Appigo sync, which will sync my Todo list on the iPhone to my Task list on MS Outlook, via wi-fi of course. This would prevent needing Toodledo to sync my tasks, but the alert problem still isn't solved. MS Outlook apparently has an sms-notification service, but as luck might will it, it doesn't support Fido. Even if it did, I'd still need wi-fi to synch my tasks first, before I could get an alert.

I have actually reverted to using my school agenda for tasks (homeworks, projects, due-dates), and haven't used an electronic task-list for about a year. If I need a reminder for something, I just make an event in the iPhone Calendar app. All these problems, and all Apple needs to do is make a native iPhone Task app, which wouldn't need to leave the iPhone via an internet connection just to come back and initiate a message when needed.

I have come to think that finally jail-breaking the iPhone might be a solution, but I am yet to find an app that does what I need. Any ideas?

edit: when I say "native" I mean "default" - those apps by Apple itself that you can't delete. These have access to the iPhone even when they're closed it seems ex. the Calendar, Alarm, Mail apps. I just realized that "native" technically refers to what I've called "3rd-party" apps here. Sorry for the confusion. I want a default task app; or any way that I can get alerts for my tasks without an internet connection.