I just wanted to let you know that I still write posts but on a different blog.  The link is:
www.lifebybyte.blogspot.com

          

          Hello everyone, I just recently bought my first android phone, which turns out to be the G1.  Sadly, it is seen as outdated (as said by the android team themselves); however hope is not lost because thanks to people over at cyanogen, you can bring new life into your "old" phone.  Rooting an android phone is nothing new that only highly skilled computer techs know how to do, and can be done fairly quickly but there is always confusion on how to start.  Here I want to provide you with links and information that I know works.
          First off, I will give you some worthwhile reasons to root your phone.  One being that you are able to save your applications to your SD card, and I'm not just talking about backing up the .apk file (which you can also do).  You can store and use all of your apps from your SD card itself with the Apps2SD program.  With it (which is part of the cyanogen rom itself) you are able to download all of the apps you want, and keep your phone's memory free.  This feature is optional and requires more work, which I will explain later in this article.  Also, Apps2SD only stores the application itself onto your SD card, so the cache that the app uses is still mostly stored on the phone memory. The good thing is that it is a very small amount of data on your phone's memory, and is useful because your cache is quickly accessible on the phone, more so then if it were on the SD card.  Another new addition you can get by rooting is the android 2.1 eclair rom, which is faster than the 1.6 (in my opinion).  It adds two more screens (making a total of 5), new applications icons, a refreshed system look, tethering and more.
          If your mouth isn't watering  by now then I suggest you get some serious help.  For those that are interested, here are links to the latest cyanogen update guide for the T-Mobile G1:

Cyanogen Update Guide

          Now there is cyanogen 4.2, which is an updated version of android 1.6. Then there is cyanogen 5.0, and that is the 2.1 eclair rom (possibly will be updated to 2.2 in the future).  It is up to you which one you choose.  With 5.0 you have to install the "DangerSPL" which sounds pretty bad and that is because it WILL brick your phone if it is not installed correctly.  Sorry, I am not trying to scare you away from it, but I just wanted to point out that you should make sure to follow the directions carefully and correctly.  The reason you need this is because the 2.1 rom is bigger than the 64mb rom space that is originally set for the G1.  Luckily the instructions are very simple and short (I did it with no hiccups).
          Now for those of you who want to have all the apps your heart desires (like me), here are some requirements that you must fit.

• You must have a SD card
• The SD card must be at least class 4, but class 6 is recommended. (There should be a number on the card it self, that is how you know.)
• Your phone must be rooted.

          Once you fit those requirements you are good to go!  Well you are at least ready to set your SD card up, for Apps2SD.  Here I will point out the link to the step-by-step guide for it:

Apps2SD
          Note: For cyanogen 5.0 (android 2.1) you need to enable Apps2SD in the settings, then restart for it to work.

          I will warn you that by doing this, you are wearing out your SD card faster than with normal use.  In other words it will die faster, so I would suggest that you backup everything constantly so that you don't lose anything.  Once you are done, all of your previously installed apps will be moved "automagically" to your SD card.
          If you follow each step carefully, you should have no problems.  Thank you for reading, and if you have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment box below.

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Thought that this invention was worth noting.  If endorsed right and works like it should, we could very well see these in our backyards in 3 to 5 years.  Please leave any comments below.

          If you are a mac user this site is something you need to know about.  There are tips that are updated constantly throughout every day and some you may have already known, but others you will be surprised to learn.  One of the most useful tips that surprised me was the ability to use your Facebook chat with iChat.  All you have to do is setup a few quick things with the iChat server, and you are done. Each post is put into a category such as, web browsers, 10.6, iPhone and much more. This allows for easy access to what concerns you.  Additionally, there are help forums for any problems you have with your mac computer or apple product.  Everything from applications to X11 can be discuss there, and there is a section for any feedback you'd like to give out about the site.
          Also, the tips aren't always given by the writers themselves, but you can submit your own.  The writers will check it out and post it if it works.  I visit this site everyday, because they always have something new for me to learn.  I have subscribed to it in "My Blog List" so you can see the latest tip there or you can subscribe to it yourself.  Obviously if you use Windows the site wont be of much use, but you can still find out new things about your competitor.
          Thanks for reading and as always, if you have any comments or questions please leave them.

Here is the link to the website : Mac Hints
Also, this is the link to the Facebook chat with iChat: Mac Hint Facebook

          

          If you didn't know, there is a way to download different parts from a website using Safari.  Such as an image, .GIF animation, .SWF animation or even a video.  If you click on "Window" in the top menu bar and then "Activity", you will see all of the contents of the website(s) you are looking at.  It may not seem useful, but it is a great simple way to download a video from a site such as Youtube.  When you are on a website with a video you want to download, you just go to "Activity" and look for that video file.  Make sure that you are looking at the content of the page with the video because "Activity" will show every window or tab you have open.  Now to locate the video, you just have to scroll down slowly and pay attention to the file sizes while you scroll.  For the most part, everything should be a few kilobytes (KB) or bytes until the video.  The video will normally be the largest file you see, that is in megabytes (MB).  With Youtube you will have to wait until the video has fully loaded until you can download it.  So it will look something like "4.0 of 11.0 MB", until it has fully loaded the video.  Once it is finished you just double click the file in "Activity" and it should download to your desktop.  I've noticed that some files download as a flash file (.FLV) or mpeg4 (.MP4), so you can use your own video converting software if needed.  Now this wont work with every site, because some sites are more protected than others, so don't expect to download everything you see.  I find this very useful instead of downloading some other software to just simply download videos from different web pages.  What do you think?  Did you already know this? Please leave any questions or comments below and thanks for reading.

          

          I've been helping out some of my friends with their computers, which they were getting ready to sell and came across Kill Disk.  With Kill Disk you can be sure that the files on your hard drive are erased well enough, so that no one can recover them.  Great for any computers that may have very personal information on it.  It should work with just about any computer, no matter the operating system or size of hard drive.  There are different versions, including a free version that allows you to do a one pass zero method.  You also get updates from Kill Disk free as well.  If you chip in some money for the paid version, you can do up to 99 passes on your hard drive (making your data harder to recover) and it writes over your drive with algorithm's that support 17 security standards.
          Kill Disk uses your bios to delete your hard drive, which means you will have to boot from your Kill Disk CD.  Check it out for your self because it is especially important that your hard drive is clean a and safe from thieves.  Here is the link: Kill Disk.  If you have any questions about how to use it or have any other hard drive erase methods please leave a comment.  Thanks for reading.

        

          This sounds like a no brainer right?  It's common sense, so why am I telling you?  Well it's because people don't realize how dangerous it can be to not delete everything off a hard drive.  It came to me after I bought a used Xbox 360 hard drive.  I went on it to start moving my files from my old hard drive to the new one.  And I noticed that there were two credit cards on it.  Now if I was some thief that would be like finding a gold mine.  But it's not only game console hard drives that you should worry about, but any type: external, cell phones, computers, even media players.  Sometimes we don't realize how personal our devices are and they can quickly be used in the wrong manner.  I know I don't want to see a surprising bill of $5000 dollars worth of games and music that I didn't purchase.  Also this a good time to rethink what we put in our portable devices.
          Have any questions or comments please leave them.  Thanks for reading.

          

          Are you one of those people who have an extremely large amount of media?  Is the iPod Classic's 160gb hard drive not big enough for you?  Or maybe you have a 5th generation video that you think is worthless. Well its time you took that baby out and upgraded it to become a large massive beast.  If you have a 5th generation 30gb iPod, then you can upgrade that hard drive to a 120gb for $139.  If you want to swap in a fresh battery as well, thats only $19 more.  If you have the 60gb or 80gb 5th gen (Not Classic) iPod video you can upgrade your hard drive to 240gb for $169 and your battery for $25 more.  With Apricorn's iPod hard drive and battery upgrade kit, you should be able to do the process safely and quickly.  It comes with a hard drive (if you ordered it), a battery (if you ordered it), a very thorough video manual, and case opening tools.  The hard drive and battery also come with a 1 year limited warranty.  They say that the process takes from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how comfortable you are with taking things apart.
          I would definitely do this with my 5 gen 30gb iPod, but I want a iPod Touch.  Hoping they come out with a 128gb soon.  Anyways, do you think that it's worth upgrading  your old iPod?  It'll have a new battery, so it will last as long as a brand new iPod.  If you are curious about how to take your iPod apart, check out this youtube video: iPod Upgrade video.  It is a lot easier than I thought it'd be.  Also here's the link to Apricorn's iPod upgrade page: Apricorn iPod Upgrade.  So how many of you will do this?   If you have any questions please feel free to leave them, thanks for reading.

          

          Creating my own website has been something i've always wanted to do.  And I have started but have had a lot of trouble because of my little experience with html coding.  While looking around for help on various websites, I stumbled upon W3Schools.  I was amazed on the helpful tips that were given, as well as all of the coding examples you can try for yourself.  It is a completely free site that teaches you HTML, XHTML, Javascript, DTD, and much much more.  It has helped me so much because I was having trouble with flash videos and after going to that site, the problem was solved.  

          You don't even need to use your own HTML code software with some of the tutorials.  There are numerous of "Try-it-yourself" examples that allow you to use their online text editor to test out things before putting it onto your website.  So if you put a little time into reading some information from the site you will be able to create your own website like a pro.  Now when you create an amazing website, don't forget to mention who told you about the site (just kidding).  

          So go on and design your personal web page.  You don't even need a fancy HTML code software, you can start it in a simple text editor.  For Windows users: Notepad and for Mac users: TextEdit.  Just save the file as .html and there you go.  Here's the link: W3Schools Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them.

        
          Recently I discovered this gadget site that offers information on all types of devices.  Computers, GPS systems, external hard drives and much more are found here.  You will find plenty of details and even help discussions on various gadgets.  You can either search for a certain thing or browse by different categories or companies.  Also, if you don't see your device listed you have the option to submit it to be added to the site.  That way you can get the help you need, hopefully quickly.  Check it out for yourself, I found it quite interesting.  Here's the link GDGT
          The site has user reviews which are great when your are looking to purchase a product, but know little about it.  Please leave comments on what you think of it and if you know of any sites like it, I'd love to know.  Thanks for reading and I hope you found this enjoying.

        

          Lately I've been interested in finding ways to stream music to/from portable devices and computers, I recently found Lala.  Lala is an online music store that allows you to buy web songs/albums.  Web songs are only 10 cents to buy and you can listen to the song as many times online (not a download) and a web album is the same, but range from around 50 cents to $1.50.  What is even better is that buying a web song or album, deducts that cost from the full download.  So if you wanted to listen to a new song or album online for awhile before making a full purchase, you won't have to worry about paying twice for something you already have.  I have actually found that most individual songs are either 79 cents or 89 cents, with very few 99 cent songs.  Even albums are occasionally cheaper than other music stores like iTunes and Amazon.
          Now what does all of this have to do about streaming your music?  Well every song or album you buy is put in your online library.  You can go on any computer, sign into your account and start playing a song.  So simple and nice because of the easy access.  However, the fun doesn't end there because you are also able to upload your music library from your computer.  With the free Lala Music Mover application, you just effortlessly select your music folder and it does the rest of the work.  So you can have access to your entire music library from any computer with internet (and flash).
          Since it uses flash you can not use Lala with a mobile device (at least not yet), but with Lala's merger with Apple there may be hope for an iPhone app soon.  So tell me what you think of it.  I'm definitely going to be using this site often for my music purchases.  Thanks for reading and I hope this was useful to you.  If you do want to sign up, please use this link: Sign Up 

        

          One of the biggest problems with portable gadgets is that their battery life never seems to last as long as we had wanted.  Which then you have to continue to plug in and recharge which can take hours.  Or if your not near a plug-in outlet you will have to bear without your device for the time being.  I'm sure you as hate it as much as I do, and luckily there are some solutions to fixing your short battery life misfortune.  Such as buying a battery case.  Now and days, more and more cases are having a battery extenders built in.  Such as Seido's Innocase Surface, which is a case for the Blackberry Tour 9630.  There are also a few different battery cases with the iPhone as well.  The Power Slider Case for the iPhone 3g and 3gs which contains 120% of your iPhones battery.  Giving you a chance to fully recharge and then a little more.  There are also battery cases made by Mophie that allows for a full charge and more.

          Additionally, there are separate battery packs that provide more compatibility between different devices.  Along with the option to charge more than just one device, separate battery packs normally contain a larger battery than in a battery case.  And maybe for the same price as a case that can charge your device one full time, you can get a battery pack that is able to charge it twice or more.  The Satechi iCel 4400 mAh Battery Pack can charge your iPhone at least twice, and it is able to charge other cell phones and media players.  Another major battery pack company is imaxpower.  Their IMP500 can charge your iPhone four times, the IMP880 can charge it six times, and IMP19500 can charge it 20 times!  Not saying that anyone needs to have that big of a battery with them, but its a great option for long trips or hikes.  The packs aren't limited to iPhones either, other media players, cell phones and laptops are covered too.  Check them out for yourself and please leave any comments if you've had any experience with the packs.  Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this.

                                 

Both are great pieces of software that work on Mac os x and Windows, they allow you to access files from one computer to another.  Simplify Media's applications allow you to share your music collection and photo collection to another computer and Orb allows you to share the same, plus any other file or document on your computer.  I like Orb especially because of the ability to share music, photos, and videos to a PS3 or Xbox 360,  but the application doesn't seem as secure as Simplify Music or Simplify Photo do.  Also both of them are available in the Apple App Store, but they are not free. I have had experience with Orb and I will most likely never pay for the software.  I like the idea of sharing any file you want over the internet, but the application and Orb's server just isn't stable.  I would recommend that you keep an eye on it though.  I mean problems can be fixed and who knows, maybe soon they will get better and downloaded onto everyones computers.  But right now I would stick with Simplify Media.  I can't fully back it up because I have not bought the iPhone app, but from the many reviews I've read it seems better off than Orb.  The interface looks more stable, but from personal reviews it has a problem with large libraries.  Why would you pay for something that wont work for everybody.  I know I wont be getting it anytime soon because I have many gigabytes of music I'd love to stream.  Also Simplify has three iPhone apps (but only 2 different types).  Two are Simplify Music (Original) and Simplify Music 2.  What really gets me mad is that users have to pay eight dollars for the updated version, when they could have given it as an update to the original.  So six dollars (Simplify Music Original) plus the updated version (eight dollars), and that doesn't even include the third app that cost four dollars to stream your photos.  So all that for some application that may not work well with large libraries.  I would definitely be mad at the company if I had paid for the original and then pay even more for the update.
          But just because things are bad now doesn't mean that won't get better.  I think that these apps are worth checking into, and I am surely going to keep my eye on them.  I would love if Simplify Media had a free or lite version of their app so it could be tested, like Orb does.  I tried Orb on my friends iPhone and it was slow loading media and skipped a few songs, giving me different errors.  Now what is interesting is that Orb is suppose to work via your Orb server (www.mycast.orb.com) with any computer, phone or internet device for free.  But they are making you pay to use it on the iPhone, one to access files (music, photos, documents) from your computer and the other Orb Live allows you to stream video feeds to your iPhone.  If you do go to the website (without using the app), you get a horrible interface that is very slow to load.  It doesn't separate multiple songs, so if you chose an album to play it would put all of the songs together.  Making one 32 minute or however long song.  If they just simply updated their mobile interface, it would be more enticing to users.
          Offering a nice clean interface for free would get them more attention then making people pay for it.  But again I would continue to see how they grow and watch out for other competing apps (maybe even free) that will try to get noticed.  Thanks for reading and here are links to the websites and iPhone apps.

Orb: Computer Application 
iPhone app: Orb Live, Orb Live Free, Orb Media

Simplify Media: Computer Application
iPhone App: Simplify Music, Simplify Music 2, Simplify Photo

It's been talked about a little hear and there, but in most cases it can be pretty expensive.  $60 per month for Verizons 3G Mifi router.  Which is pretty nice, knowing that you will mostly have a good connection and speed wherever you may go.  There is also Clear Internet's Clear Spot WiMax Router.  If you are lucky to live in a city with Clear internet available I would choose that.  Because unless you are going to be going out of the state a lot Clear's Home Internet and Mobile Internet plan is actually less than $60.  All you need is to buy or lease the 3"x5" WiMax router and the Clear USB Modem.  Its perfect for using it with an Ipod touch or any other portable device that uses wifi.  Use Skype or any other Voip service and you have a phone.

Check out Gizmodo's review on the device: Clear Spot
I am going to try this out hopefully someday, and if I do I will definitely tell you how it is.

          FeedMyInbox is one of the simplest websites to use.  All you need is a website that has an RSS feed (look for the blue or orange icon in your url address bar) and an email address.  You type in the website and your email address and hit submit.  You should get a confirmation email, and you will receive an email about your site within 24 hours of confirmation.  It is useful because there are some news sites that I will forward to my phone so I can read it when I want.  This is free and requires little work to setup.  Check it out for yourself with the provided link above and get daily news delivered right to your email.
          And with my post on how to Receive Email on Any Phone, this is available to everyone.  If you have any comments please leave them below and thanks for reading.