Belle Refresh (111.140.1511) Complete Changelog & Screenshots

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Now that my N8 is up and running Belle refresh here's the full changelog as well as some screenshots (video to follow as soon as upload is complete). I must say even though the change-log does look quite impressive I'm not seeing much of a difference performance wise, the 808 still loads webpages faster even though the N8s browser is a newer version, and unfortunately both the gallery UI and camera UI haven't changed to match that of the 808.

Of the N8 specific changes look for the widget called "photo wall" which is also available on the 808 as well as some apps such as DLNA player & Big Screen.

 Nokia Belle 111.040.1511

-Browser updated to 8.3
Full HTML5 support
Offline services

-Nokia Maps Suite 3.09
Use voice search for Maps & Drive
See photos on Map
Multipoint routing
Explore nearby places from Homescreen
Public transportation integrated with line information & departure times

-Nokia Social updated to 1.5:
Automatic linking to Facebook and Twitter
New Homescreen widgets
Improved preformance
Renewed app layout

-N8 Specific imaging apps:
Bi Screen
Colorize IT
PlayTo
Gallery Widget (photo wall)

-QT4.8

-Ovi services renamed to Nokia services


-Improved Music Player:
Refreshed "Now Playing" view
Lists are tabbed for easy access, and are swiped between
new Artist view
Play & Pause from pull down status bar (Status only, not toggles)


-New Widgets:
Clock, analogue big
Clock, Mechanic
Clock, Text
Calendar, Agenda view
RSS Widget
Bookmark
Contact individual (social upgrades)
Contact, group (group support upgrade)
Music player, Medium
Weather now
Weather forecast
My location
Social widget
Facebook, Summary
Facebook
 Twitter
Mobile Data Counter
Search
Email, New arrival
Gallery
Notes
Email, Detailed
Toggles (2G/3g, Offline, silent, BT,  Cellular)

Video: Nokia Belle Refresh in Action

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As promised, here is the video of Nokia Belle Refresh in action on the N8, as you can see there isn't much change on the UI front. In fact to the unaware onlooker it would appear to be the same as the original Nokia Belle; I can't but help be reminded of PR1.3 for the N9, except that 1.3 carried many more bug fixes and under the hood changes.

If you still haven't downloaded the update either get it through Nokia PC suite on your computer, or check for software updates OTA on your Symbian phone.

Samsung's ATIV S Already Proves Poor Design

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What you're looking at is Samsungs newly released ATIV S, the first WP8 device to be released.  Take a closer look, specifically at the backplate of "Brushed Aluminum" what do you see? Loads of scratches! (Focus beneath the Windows Phone Logo). The image above comes directly from the official Windows Phone blog who posted some first thoughts on the device, raving about it's beautiful design.

Well obviously the folks at Sammy didn't think through the design too much as you can clearly see that the painted aluminum is a hack job, I've had my N8 for over two years now and with extremely rough usage it still isn't showing a second color beneath, and I can't imagine the guys at the Windows Phone blog had much of a chance to bounce this off the sidewalk yet.

I'll let you imagine what the back of this phone will look like after a month of usage...

Random Useless Fact: The First Ever Death in a Car Accident; and the First Ever Speeding Ticket

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 Speed Kills, but how can you define speeding? After all it's still a completely relative term till this day, speeding in Germany on the Autobahn doesn't hold the same definition as speeding in a School Zone.

The first ever death by automobile was in the 1896, 12 years before the Model T went into production (the Model T was the first ever mass produced car). On the fateful date of August 17th 1896, Bridget Driscoll was crossing the street in London when she was hit by a car belonging to the Anglo-French Carriage Company driven by Arthur Edsall; who at the time was giving demonstration rides in the vehicle.

According to reports the vehicle was driving at a "reckless pace, fit for a fire engine"; when the driver lost control and headed towards Bridget at a mind blistering 4Mph (6.5Kmph).  Unfortunately the vehicle was moving to fast for her to get out of the way and she was run over.

The first speeding ticket was issued 8 years later in 1904, when Harry Myers was cited by an Ohio police officer in Dayton for driving at a reckless pace of 12Mph on West Third St.

Fun Fact: Apple Can't Relase the iPhone 5 in China Without the Risk of being Sued by a Chiniese Knock-Off Company "Goo-Phone"

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This week Apple announced the iPhone 5 which true to the design leaks is nothing more (on the outside) than an elongated iPhone 4/4S. Interestingly enough a repetitive design might be the least of Apple's worries surrounding the impending sale of the all new iPhone. A China based phone manufacturer called "GooPhone" bet big on the iPhone 5 leaks; and they just might cash in VERY big.

Going with nothing more than their gut feeling and the leaked parts of the iPhone 5, GooPhone made their own phone based on the same design all the way to the two-tone back-panel of the phone resulting in the android running "GooPhone I5" (in case you're interested the specs of the phone are quite impressive for a rush job: Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, Android 4.0 ICS with an iOS 6 theme, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 4-inch screen with an impressive retina display resolution of 1280 x 720).

This itself is nothing new when it comes to phones and the Chinese market, for as long as either of the two existed  they have played their little game of  "Monkey See- monkey Do", what makes GooPhone special is that they went that extra step and actually patented the deign of the GooPhone I5 in Chinese courts, and were approved! (keep in mind that the leaks were never patented, so GooPhone were the first to the office with their product)

As far as the Chinese courts are interested GooPhone owns the rights to the iPhone 5's design, should Apple decide to release it's latest iPhone 5 there they might (and most definitely will) end up in trouble with the Chinese courts and GooPhone.

In other News Samsung has acquired GooPhone for the sum of $500,000,000 (500 Million), stating that they were interested in their wide array of patent portfolios. (that last sentence was a joke in case you couldn't tell).

Injustice: Gods Among Us Tokyo Game Show Trailer

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NetherRealm Studios and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment have released a new trailer at Tokyo Game Show 2012 for their upcoming fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among Us.  You can check it out here or below:



To be completely honest, this looks absolutely great.  The gameplay looks very fluid, complex, and intense and the overall design is definitely heavily influenced by Mortal Kombat.  Very exciting!

New Halo 4 Screenshots and Renders

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Halo Waypoint is hosting some great new screenshots and renders from Halo 4.

The screenshots feature shots from Campaign, War Games, and Spartan Ops, and you can check them all out here.

The renders feature both characters and enemies and weapons and vehicles, and you can check them out right here.

Overall the game is looking very slick, though I must confess, I'm not a fan of the Jackal redesign, particularly their stubby face.

Halo 4: Covenant Weapons

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343 Industries has released a new trailer for Halo 4 showcasing several of the game's Covenant Weapons.  Fans of the franchise will recognize some old favourites returning to the game, some tried and true staples, and a new weapon as well.

You can check the trailer out here or below:



I'm personally quite happy to see the Covenant Carbine make a comeback.  While I certainly had no issue with the Needle Rifle, the Carbine has been a favourite of mine ever since its introduction almost eight years ago, and I'm sure I'll be spending a good amount of time with it once again.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - Official Trailer 2

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The second official trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released, and you can watch it here or below:



I'm ecstatic to return to Middle-earth this Holiday, and I can hardly believe it's been over a decade since Peter Jackson first allowed us to set foot there.  While many are skeptical about the book being broken up into three films, I have faith in Jackson to deliver yet another stellar experience.

December 14th can't come fast enough!

Darwine on an Intel Mac

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I wrote this a while ago, and since stopped playing with Darwine. If you are looking for help with Darwine, look here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Darwine

Here's my original post:

---

If you don't have an Intel Mac, this won't work. Period.

Since I've been all about Darwine lately, and I had a request for help, here's a quick how to for getting set up with Darwine. Keep in mind you need an Intel Mac for this.

1. Install X11. It's located on your Tiger install DVD. If you're not running Tiger, you should stop here because you don't have an Intel Mac.
2. Download the latest version of Darwine from http://darwine.opendarwin.org/download.php. Make sure you grab the x86 version. You probably could use the Universal too, but I haven't tried that.
3. Open the disk image you just downloaded, and copy the entire Darwine folder to Applications.
4. Go to Applications and open the Darwine folder, then open the WineHelper application.
5. Go to the WineHelper menu, and pick "Configure Wine". It might look frozen up for a bit, but let it do its thing. Once it loads up, you don't have to do anything except click "Save". This is where I messed up first, and if you don't do this step, it just doesn't work. Close the window after hitting "Save".
6. Back in the Applications/Darwine folder, open the Sample WinLib Applications, and then open winemine.exe.
7. Play some Minesweeper.
8. If that worked, you should be able to open any exe with Darwine. Keep in mind, most everything won't run, but you can at least try to open it.

For a list of known compatible applications, check the Darwine Compatibility Wiki.

That being said, keep in mind that if you happen to find something that runs in Darwine, consider yourself lucky. It is seriously limited, and should just be viewed as something just to play with. Don't blame me or the Darwine developers if this completely destroys your system. Have fun. Anything I missed, or anything you want more help on, add it to the comments.

Gamebryo lives!

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As an update to this post about the sale of Emergent assets (the company behind the makers of game engine Gamebryo) -- Gamebryo lives again!

South Korean company Gamebase purchased the assets, is creating a new US-based company, and it will be run by the former VP of sales, David Brame.

From Gamebase president JY Park:

"The Gamebryo 3D engine has been a flexible, transparent, dependable solution for video game developers and publishers globally and has been used to develop hundreds of titles. Our first goal is to focus on the company's roots - working closely with customers and providing excellent customer service. This is one of the key reasons why Gamebryo evolved into such a popular development engine."

From new stateside president David Brame:

"This is an exciting day for Gamebryo customers. Over the next few weeks we will be actively communicating with Gamebryo developers around the world to update them on our future plans and activities."

I'm no longer associated with Emergent, but I'm glad to see something I invested some serious time and effort into back from the brink. Gamebase were great partners for us while I was there, and it's good to see the U.S. incarnation in the hands of someone as capable and supportive as Brame.

(Note, Gamebase in South Korea is different from the stateside GameBase.info, a much-needed initiative to make gaming accessible to gamers of all abilities.)

CES 2011

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I so dig the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Partly, 'cause I digz the gadetz. But more, because I like to see technology trends positioned or realized.

Since this is primarily a gaming blog, I'm excited about the expected showings from folks like Turtle Beach for audio (I so need an all-in-one pair of gaming headphones); Mad Catz (for higher end, branded peripherals); and Nyko (for broad diversity and accessible peripherals).

And since 3D is "The Thing" (not a fad; I really believe it's A Thing, on the way to the glasses-less version), I expect to see 3D itself become a new platform for gaming hotness, with a lot of showcase media coming from gaming (I wonder how often Call of Duty: Black Ops will be used as the state-of-the-art for 3D gaming?). I expect NVIDIA to make a strong showing on this front.

And it wouldn't be 3D -- and gaming -- without one of the most anticipated forays in this space: Nintendo's new 3DS handheld device. Nintendo will actually be making an appearance at CES this year -- not a normal occurrence for a company that prefers to throw its own standalone quality debut shows.

Could be nifty...

My so-called (connected gamer) life

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I used to have my various social sites and feeds fairly connected -- in a way I wanted them to be.

That fell apart over time (for mostly good reasons, as authentication between services tightened). Since I'm all about planned setup with minimal follow on work (work smart to avoid working hard, when possible), I stepped back to look at how I could re-set what content goes where (and when), and at the same time push forward with what I'm calling an "integrated gaming" experiment, using Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

Here are the pieces of my "integrated gaming" case study:

• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Xbox 360 console title)
• Project Legacy (Facebook app)
• Ubisoft Uplay Website

The nice thing about the Ubisoft Facebook game and Uplay site is that despite still being in beta (there are some rough edges and non-enabled content), they take care of the integration / relation between the console achievements, uPlay account, and Facebook connections (once you do all of the requisite activations).

Pieces of the Assassins Creed integrated gaming experience.

Outside of Assassin's, to simplify the effort, broadly, here are my buckets of data:

• My various blogs (7-12)
• Xbox Live data
• Social site feeds (specifically, Facebook and Twitter)

Now, I generally share differently for different audiences, and here are my most-used pipes for displaying the data:

• The World
• My Website
• My blogs (The World +/-)
• Twitter
• Friends only
• Facebook
• Targeted view
• LinkedIn
• Game aggregate site (in this, case, Ubisoft's Uplay site)

And, in graphical form:

Data sources and data pipes.

Now, I want to do at least the following:

1. All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook
2. Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn
3. Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook
4. Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter

For the most part, I use Twitter to fire off to my various pipes. By default, everything that goes on Twitter goes to Facebook (if I want the world to see it, I'm fine with friends seeing it -- but not vice versa). I can narrow that, and make it so that just tweets with "#fb" go to Facebook (and even though I don't use it, for clarity I've marked data in these diagrams I'd like to show up in Facebook with the "#fb" suffix).
Likewise, currently, only tweets marked with "#in" go to LinkedIn, because I want to show a more targeted, professional slice of my micro (nano? pico?) posts on that site.

So, to make 1 and 2 above "easy", I used http://twitterfeed.com/ to post all of my blogs to Twitter, which then automatically pipes all of them to Facebook. To avoid having to create and maintain a separate Twitter ID for "professional posts" to go just to LinkedIn, and because the LinkedIn BlogLink application seemed to be down, I instead added the "#in" suffix in TwitterFeed to any posts from the two blogs I want to go to LinkedIn.

Blogs --> TwitterFeed (all) --> Facebook (all) and LinkedIn (select)

Getting my Xbox Live data (Achievements and what I've played / am playing) used to be as easy as logging onto the various gaming social sites, being careful not to provide Xbox Live credentials to potentially skeevy sites. My previous site of preference was GamerDNA.com, but at some point that seems to have stopped working, and is at best running a week or so behind what I do on my Xbox 360 -- which defeats my real-time notification goal.

Also, with regular changes to Twitter's API to require OATH, etc., and Microsoft understandably not providing an RSS feed of my XBL activity (privacy concerns for minors, etc.), it's a bit tougher to populate that feed. I understand the gimping, but if I've chosen to set my XBL privacy to "everyone", I should have access to that feed to do with as I please.

I was using Xbox Live Nation's Twitter integration, which is supposed to update just once an hour, when I'm online only, but I actually don't think this works anymore, since it doesn't use OATH. Xbox apps on Facebook have been spotty at best, and they don't solve my Twitter post needs.

Xbox Live data piped to Facebook, via three implementations, and only a partial solution.

That said, I'm also using the "Xbox 360 Live Gamercard" app for Facebook for now, which says it will post my status and Achievements to Facebook (I've used it before, but it stopped working, so I removed and re-added it, but haven't yet seen it update my online status). And I'm using the official Twitter / Xbox App, thought that only shows status to people in my XBL friends list who also have the official app installed, too.

So, for now, despite Xbox and Facebook having an integration, I seem to be stuck on being able to post my gaming activity from XBL to Facebook to a narrow audience. Likewise, I'm not able to post my gaming-specific updates (say, from the Assassin's Creed Facebook app and Uplay). Really, all I need to allow this is an athenticated relationship (via OATH or OpenID) that's bidirectional between Facebook and Twitter, and a keyword scraper, so that posts with "via Project Legacy" get piped to Twitter. (Don't worry, I don't publish every level jump and achievement -- that's annoying on Facebook, and more annoying for folks that are trying to avoid Facebook.) 
So, here's where I netted out:

1. All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook (done)
2. Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn (done)
3. Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook (partial)
5. Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter (this is right out)

The complete picture.

If you have a better way to do this, let me know in the comments.

And maybe next time, I'll talk about the actual Assassin's Creed integrated gaming experience itself.

Some housekeeping notes:

• While I have my Twitter feed available to the world, and I'm very cognizant, intelligent, and responsible social media user, I would probably change my tweets to "protected" if I were working for an anti-social media corporation.
• This diagram is loosely based on "Context Diagrams" from Atlantic Systems Guild, the folks who did a portion of my requirements and systems analysis training back in the day, and I've used many of the tools ever since.
• For my toy review blog, I now host the pictures on DeviantART, because this gives me a another audience for cross-posting.

Xbox Live Gold is Free this Weekend

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(I don't work for Microsoft)

Just a reminder -- The Xbox Live Gold Membership service is free this weekend to all Xbox owners.

So, if you're normally a "Silver" or "Free" XBL user, this weekend gives you a chance to see what all of the fuss is about. Get access to multiplayer gaming, things like Netflix streaming (if you're a Netflix subscriber), ESPN-exclusive content, Gold-only (or available first) offers and demos, and a bunch of the stuff that makes gaming (for me) preferable on the Xbox.

If you find you like the service, do yourself a favor and find a friend who already has a membership to refer you -- you both end up with some decent bonuses (extra XBL time, points for purchases, XBLA titles, and the like).

(Oh, and this isn't trumping up one service over another; think of it as a gamer-centric PSA for a weekend event. So, all PSN and other game services fanboys or trolls can keep their opinions to themselves.)

Torchlight, paper prototypes, and iterative design (with kids)

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I'm a big fan of Torchlight, the PC RPG darling from Runic Games.



I'm a fan because I like dungeon crawling hack-n-slash brawlers with smarts. I'm a fan of a game that takes the genre, refines what works, and adds new gameplay elements unique to the title (Pets! That you feed! And they turn into bigger, badder things! That have their own inventory and can do the runaround to return to the village and sell your unneedables, so you aren't wasting too much time doing inventory management and grieving left-behind treasures!).

Watching Runic move a successful PC game to the Xbox 360 (via XBLA this March), has been a neat case study in reworking UI, controls, and functionality to work on a different platform, without reducing features (and, in fact, back-porting some of the new features from the upcoming Torchlight II for PC to the XBLA version of the first Torchlight game).

Most of all, I like that Torchlight is fun.

But this post isn't about that; it's about usability, paper prototyping, and not learning things that keep you from learning.

Part of my background is formal usability. I've done the whole usability / human factors / user-centered design circuit at a few companies.

My kids have not.

Sure, they're firmly steeped in the comic book, toy, and video game geekdom that is going to be their life. But, because they're on the younger side, for personal and developmental reasons I've actually kept them fairly distant from a lot of the games I play (excluding stuff like Disney Epic Mickey, of course).

Recently, they started watching me play select games, including Torchlight (I turn the blood off), asking questions about RPG tropes, leveling, stat and inventory management, and the like. I was surprised by the detail and specificity of their questions, and their intuitive linking of design follow-ups based on previous answers.

Having watched me play Torchlight for a sum of 2-3 short sessions, they surprised me one Saturday morning with their own analog and paper prototypes of the game.

Granted, I'm biased, but understandably impressed not just with their reverse engineering the game rules after such short exposure to the game; I was taken with their mini-re-enactment of usability and paper prototyping.

First, there is this paper prototype they worked up.

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 1 (Too much fidelity)

They told me they abandoned it right away, because they realized after they made it, they didn't need the keyboard. What they hadn't been taught (but had figured out on their own), is a paper prototype too close to what you're trying to represent is less flexible, and it's tougher to iterate with it.

Next came this more stat-centric version of the rules. They said they didn't try to re-create the HUD like they had in the first prototype, because "they knew how that worked", and "that's not what we want to play with" (they wanted to iterate on the stats side of things).

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 2 (Sans HUD, more stats-driven)

This one captured more of the rules set, and let the girls iterate on the character, enemy, and weapons stats. This one is interesting to me, because while it starts with enemies and weapons they'd seen while watching me play, they quickly branched into the creative and invented their own "Rhino Monster", "Cobra Staff of Venom", etc.

They said they figured out, though, that as they changed the numbers (damage, rate, elemental, etc.), they were erasing and redoing work on the prototype, which was taking time and "making it messy" (my oldest has a bit of an attachment to order).

So, they created separate stat cards they could write up quickly, and lay on top of the paper prototype to "overwrite" previous stats, add stats to creatures or weapons, etc.

Torchlight kids' paper prototype 3 (separate, swappable stat cards)

Following closely behind this, as they were trying to explain the game to their two-year-old sister (they went through a lot of iteration before I woke up as a new audience). They found analog avatars a useful communication tool, so they dug out toys that closely matched what they were building, and used those to explain the game to their sister.

Torchlight kids paper prototype 4 (Physical avatars)

I'm not sure, but I get the sense at this point the prototyping effort went off-rails, and they started instead "playing Torchlight" with their toys. Wish I'd been around for (and videotaped) that.

Fascinating stuff, and fatherly pride aside, I'm impressed with how efficiently a 9- and 7-year-old worked through gameplay prototyping, not having learned stuff they'll potentially later have to unlearn in order to learn how to do it right.

Now I'm making game deconstruction and design a regular part of our unofficial learnings at the Creighton household.

(For those curious, the character, basket and potion are from the Mattel Disney Princesses (Polly Pockets-like) line; that's Bell. The sword and staff are from LEGO ninja and pharaoh single-pack capsule toys. The fish is from the Hasbro Littlest Pet Shop line. The rocks that represent embers are tiny, actual rocks. The cat I think is one of the few non-Schleich animals we own; Schleich stuff rocks.)

Potential Fix for Halo Connection Problems

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I used to always have problems connecting to other people on Halo. I could connect fine to Matchmaking games by myself, but I very rarely could join Tom or anyone else on Adelphia. If either of us tried to connect to the other person’s party, we’d see the same error message:

You aren’t able to join this party because we’re having network problems. Sorry about that.

I used to see that phrase in my nightmares. Microsoft even has a KB article on it. Last week, through my endless scouring of the net, I finally found the solution. I’d give credit where credit is due, but I can’t find the forum posting that I found this on (if I do, I’ll add it here), but here is the simple quick solution:

Turn off UPnP on your router.

That’s it. For my Linksys WRT54G router, UPnP is on the Administration tab, and since I turned it off, I have been able to connect without any problems. In case you’re curious UPnP is “used by certain programs to automatically open ports for communication.” (According to my router’s help). I haven’t had any problems with anything since I set it up, so I would say it isn’t too important.

Edit (06-26-06): After I moved, the problems came back. Making my XBox the DMZ host and turning off UPnP seems to have worked…for now.

Edit (11-03-07): I no longer care about this. Halo 3 fixed whatever the issue was, and I doubt I'll be playing much Halo 2 on Live anymore :)

Motorola v323i and iSync

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Last week I got a new Motorola v323i phone from US Cellular (which blows my old LG out of the water). I wanted just a basic phone with bluetooth and decent reception so I could sync it with my iMac. Unfortunately, it doesn't just work out of the box since iSync doesn't support the phone.

After a little research, I found this reference on how to write your own phone plugin. I also found this guy's site where he had already written a plugin for a v325 (basically the same phone).

So with a little tweaking, I made my own v323i plugin. To use this, unzip to your Library\PhonePlugins folder. You might have to create the PhonePlugins folder if it doesn't exist. Then add your phone as a bluetooth device, and if all goes well, you should then be able to add it in iSync.

Right now, I haven't built in USB support so it's bluetooth only. Also, for some reason the phone icon doesn't work, but it will sync your contacts and calendar. Feel free to shoot any questions or problems my way...or if you know of a better place for file hosting.

Get it here...

Sirius and XM Merger

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I got this email last night. I'm definitely looking forward to MLB games on my satellite radio.

February 19, 2007

To: SIRIUS Subscribers

Today is a very exciting day for SIRIUS customers. As you may have heard, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are merging to form the nation's premier audio entertainment provider.

This combination of our two offerings will benefit you - our loyal listeners. As a single company, we'll provide superior programming to you every day with the best of both SIRIUS and XM. Currently, XM and SIRIUS broadcast a wide range of commercial-free music channels, exclusive sports coverage, news, talk, and entertainment programming. Howard Stern. Oprah and Friends. The NFL. MLB. NBA. ESPN. CNBC. Fox News. Additionally, the combined company will be able to improve existing services such as real-time traffic information and rear-seat video as well as introduce new ones.

After shareholder and regulatory approvals, we anticipate that the combination will be finalized by the end of 2007. Until then, both companies will continue to operate independently. We will continue to provide you with the uninterrupted service - as well as the outstanding customer support - that you have come to expect and enjoy from SIRIUS. We do not anticipate any changes in your service during the merger process, however, please call our customer care team on 1- 888-539-7474 should you have any questions.

We look forward to the many benefits this combination will offer and continuing to make your listening experience an enjoyable one - offering more of the Very Best Radio on Radio.

Stay tuned,

Mel Karmazin, CEO






Forward Looking Statements
This letter contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the business combination transaction involving Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., including potential synergies and cost savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statement: general business and economic conditions; the performance of financial markets and interest rates; the ability to obtain governmental approvals of the transaction on a timely basis; the failure of SIRIUS and XM shareholders to approve the transaction; the failure to realize synergies and cost-savings from the transaction or delay in realization thereof; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; and operating costs and business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on employee retention and on our business relationships with third parties, including manufacturers of radios, retailers, automakers and programming providers. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in SIRIUS' and XM's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2006, June 30, 2006 and September 30, 2006 which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site http://www.sec.gov The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and Sirius and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.

Important Additional Information Will be Filed with the SEC
This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination involving SIRIUS and XM. In connection with the proposed transaction, SIRIUS plans to file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 containing a Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and each of SIRIUS and XM plan to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The definitive Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of SIRIUS and XM. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF SIRIUS AND XM ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by SIRIUS and XM through the web site maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC can also be obtained by directing a request to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, Attention: Investor Relations or by directing a request to XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., 1500 Eckington Place, NE Washington, DC 20002, Attention: Investor Relations.

SIRIUS, XM and their respective directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding SIRIUS' directors and executive officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2006, and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 21, 2006, and information regarding XM's directors and executive officers is available in XM's Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 3, 2006 and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 25, 2006. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.



Please note: this is not a promotional e-mail. As a SIRIUS subscriber, you will periodically receive service notices via e-mail. These service notices are intended to provide you with helpful information that will facilitate and enhance your SIRIUS listening experience.

Jailbreaking iPhoney, my iPod Touch

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I love my iPod Touch "iPhoney". I like pretending I'm super cool and making fake phone calls on it in Hannaford. But I love it a lot more now that I've bitten the bullet and jailbroken it using iJailbreak. The process took a while, but was really simple. All I had to do was start it up, tell it if I wanted to install the iPhone apps (yes!), and restart it a few times when told to. Any doubts about doing it are completely gone, and my iPod screen is full of cool stuff now, including the iPhone Mail and Notes applications.

Gmail IMAP via AIM mail

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I was about to break down and pay for some mail service that has IMAP so I could use the instructions on downloadSquad for accessing GMail through IMAP when I noticed that apparently the free AIM Mail account that everyone who has a AIM screenname gets supports IMAP, and apparently has no space limit (or that I could find anyway), so that solves all my problems right there. Finally, I'll be able to access my GMail in a client on my iMac, laptop, and my iPhone jailbroken iPod Touch. So here's how I did it:

1. You'll need an AIM account that you don't already use for mail. If you don't already have one, sign up for one.
2. Follow steps 1 - 6 of the instructions at downloadSquad to get your AIM account set up in your mail client. You'll need to know a little about how to set up an email account in your client. The important parts are:
   
   • The AIM IMAP server is imap.aim.com
   • Use your GMail address as the email address (not your AIM one)
   • Use your AIM login and password for the IMAP server
   • Make sure to use GMail's smtp server with your GMail address as your username and your GMail password.
3. In Apple Mail and on iPhoney I had to set the correct folders for Sent, Drafts, and Trash.

That's pretty much it. I haven't come across any problems so far, but I'm surprised I hadn't seen that anyone else has done this before.

PureView of Jerash #808

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Today I took my 808 Pureview with me to Jerash; for those of you who don't know, Jerash is one of the best preserved Roman Ruins in the world. Anyways this was the first time I actually planned to take my 808 on a photo-shoot so I tried  being a bit artistic about it. Personally I'm pretty proud of the results since I usually suck at photography, it's nowhere as impressive as some of the other 808 shots I've see; but it's a start.
(click for full view)


This is the entrance gate to the ruins,  I love the clarity of the sky behind it.


Lossless zoom is amazing in cases like this, the details are amazing!!


There I was surrounded by hundreds of years of culture, and priceless ruins and I decided to take pictures of sand; still the quality is impressive.


My attempt at being a little "artsy"
I realize this area was the scene of hundreds of bloody fights till the death, but all I could think of was that this is exactly where the top gear crew raced while on their Middle East Christmas special :)

As always your feedback is appreciated!

AliGoneMobile Now Uses "Disqus" Comment System + How-to For Your Own Blog

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 I've been looking at using a different comment system for the blog for a while now, but I've always thought it to be too much trouble to go through to actually implement one of the better known comment systems rather than using Bloggers horrible built in Comment system. Finally spurred on by Dani I looked into it and TADA! We now have a new commenting system, powered by the amazing Disqus! (give it a spin, if you're reading this be sure to leave a comment).
Surprisingly switching to a new comment system took less than 2 minutes to complete and embed into the site URL, so here's a quick how-to (just to make this post slightly educational):

• First off head over to Disqus.com
• Login or Create an account
• Click on the big orange "Get This on your site" button"
  
• Then fill out the form with your site details and your own personal Disqus details (so you can manage the comments on your site)
  
•  Hit Continue and you'll get the option to select which blogging service you use (Wordpress, Blogger etc.), select the appropriate one and it'll implement itself onto your blog. No need to deal with any scary code or anything!

All done? Awesome now go eat a cookie! (Or else it won't work)!

Fun Fact: Apple Can't Relase the iPhone 5 in China Without the Risk of being Sued by a Chiniese Knock-Off Company "Goo-Phone"

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This week Apple announced the iPhone 5 which true to the design leaks is nothing more (on the outside) than an elongated iPhone 4/4S. Interestingly enough a repetitive design might be the least of Apple's worries surrounding the impending sale of the all new iPhone. A China based phone manufacturer called "GooPhone" bet big on the iPhone 5 leaks; and they just might cash in VERY big.

Going with nothing more than their gut feeling and the leaked parts of the iPhone 5, GooPhone made their own phone based on the same design all the way to the two-tone back-panel of the phone resulting in the android running "GooPhone I5" (in case you're interested the specs of the phone are quite impressive for a rush job: Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, Android 4.0 ICS with an iOS 6 theme, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 4-inch screen with an impressive retina display resolution of 1280 x 720).

This itself is nothing new when it comes to phones and the Chinese market, for as long as either of the two existed  they have played their little game of  "Monkey See- monkey Do", what makes GooPhone special is that they went that extra step and actually patented the deign of the GooPhone I5 in Chinese courts, and were approved! (keep in mind that the leaks were never patented, so GooPhone were the first to the office with their product)

As far as the Chinese courts are interested GooPhone owns the rights to the iPhone 5's design, should Apple decide to release it's latest iPhone 5 there they might (and most definitely will) end up in trouble with the Chinese courts and GooPhone.

In other News Samsung has acquired GooPhone for the sum of $500,000,000 (500 Million), stating that they were interested in their wide array of patent portfolios. (that last sentence was a joke in case you couldn't tell).

Specs Showdown: Apple iPhone 5Vs. GooPhone I5

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Earlier I mentioned Apples conundrum concerning the iPhone 5 and China, where GooPhone owns the rights to the iPhone 5's design (read all the awesome details here)، While reading up on the GooPhone I5 I was surprised to discover it wasn't just another half baked Chinese knockoff with a VGA resistive touch screen and a .3 MP camera. In fact the I5 is the complete opposite it's screen resolution is even better than the Retina screen on the iPhone; it has a quad core processor, Expandable memory and the 32GB version costs less than half the price of the 16GB base model on the iPhone 5. It seems Goo are here to stay.

Jordan Begins Censoring News under Pretext of "Pornography"

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Surprise surprise, the real reason why Jordan suddenly decided to censor "pornography" from the internet.

Last month Jordan approved a law that would begin to censor websites that contain pornography off the internet, the law itself is idiotic; but the timing mighty suspicious, especially since Jordan is NOT governed by the Islamic laws of Sharieh.

Earlier this week what is probably the true reason of this censorship came to light:

 A new law states that : “any electronic publication that engages in publication of news, investigations, articles, or comments, which have to do with the internal or external affairs of the kingdom require registration with the Commerce Ministry and licensing from the Press and Publications Department"

Any website that fails to register will be blocked and any Jordanian located offices will be closed "without providing a reason or obtaining a court order" and the author of any article will be held responsible for any comments (by others) posted on his article.

So to everyone who's complaining about the US not removing that stupid video making fun of the prophet... what do you have to say when Arab/Muslim countries are more interested in censoring the news than protecting their own prophet. Instead of blindly boycotting anything that's American in the desperate hope that they'll actually notice that your upset how about you open your eyes to the world around you.

In case your interested to why this is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights read here: http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/10/jordan-move-censor-online-expression

My so-called (MORE connected gamer) life

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As an update to this post about connecting my gaming experiences (and connection gaps), I think I may have solved some of the gaps, and decided I don't want to fill one particular one.

Where we left off:

1. All new blog posts auto-publish notice to Twitter and Facebook (done)
2. Select blog posts (my acting and gaming blogs) auto-publish notice to LinkedIn (done)
3. Xbox Live activity is automatically posted to Twitter and Facebook (partial)
5. Select Facebook game activities post to Twitter (this is right out)

(First for #5, even though I figured out how to do it, I've decided I don't want to post my Facebook game activities to Twitter. Most of my time in those games at this point is industry research, would likely be noise to my non-Facebook following Twitter followers, and the recursive problem the Facebook-to-Twitter-to-Facebook pipe could cause -- while interesting -- is not something to which I should probably subject either set of followers.)

For #3, "partial" meant my Xbox Live activity and Facebook connectivity was limited to my Xbox Live Friends list that had also done the on-console and in-Facebook integration -- an overlap of maybe six, out of my dozens of Xbox / Facebook "friends".

So, that created this picture (the Xbox / Facebook app is orange, because it does what it's supposed to do -- just not as much as I'd like it to do):

The connected social media gamer: Gappage.

Enter raptr.com.

The site's headed up by Dennis Fong (former pro-gamer "Thresh", and the guy behind such things as Gamer.com and gaming social site Xfire.com); and RealNetworks/Rhapsody Ranah Edelin; and former eBayer Dave Swenson ('member me Dave? 'Member?).

Anywho, with a bit of tweaking and some recent upgrades that made it usable for my particular needs, raptr.com's slotted into the gaps I needed filled.

By creating a raptr.com account, and giving it my Xbox Gamertag (just the handle, not the account or login info), raptr was able to pipe my "now playing" and Xbox Achievements info to Twitter and/or Facebook (since I have that info available as "public" in the Xbox console privacy settings).

And it lets me post some other value-add information with those two bits of data -- like notification when I pass an Xbox friend with my Achievements, and a published daily summary of what I've played in a given day.

It also lets me customize some of the messaging, so my "I'm playing" notice reads, "I'm playing [gamename]. If it's got multiplayer, let's play ..."

(Sadly, it doesn't let me customize my Achievements comparison note, so no, "I just passed aancsiid with Left 4 Dead Achievements! Face!")

So, to avoid too too much noise to my outer circle, I use Raptr's sharing configuration to pipe the "I'm playing" message to Twitter (which auto-pipes to Facebook, since I have XBL friends on both services), and pipe the Achievements, daily game summaries, and braggadocio only to Facebook (via Facebook Connect), under the assumption my Facebook crew is more of an inner circle (at least compared to the Twitterverse), and may care more, and/or are less likely to tell me if they don't.

All of that looks like this:

The connected social media gamer: With Raptr.com goodness.

(And for Facebook connect, there's an option to not broadcast status of Facebook games, which my connections probably appreciate.)

So, all that's got some niftage by itself, but Raptr enables quite a bit more.

By downloading and installing the Raptr desktop client, I can have it do the same things for my Steam games it does for Xbox titles -- with no extra work or configuration. (That same client will enable the same kinds of things for World of Warcraft character status and Sony PSN Trophies.)

The client can do other things like serve as a Trillian-lightish IM client, and keep tabs on your various game connections and whether they're online. To be honest (and no disrespect meant), I could care less about that particular functionality -- but maybe that will change if I can get comfortable with a better understanding of how they handle and protect things like my Windows Live ID and password. (Besides, it's kind of onerous to set up.)

So, for completeness, here's how everything looks with Steam added in the mix:

The connected social media gamer: With added Steam-y goodness.

Right. So I've probably beat this to death.

But like I said in the original post, "I'm all about planned setup with minimal follow on work (work smart to avoid working hard, when possible)".

Plus, I got to make yet more Visio charts. So ... win?

Hrm ... up next ... maybe phone integration? Ve shall see....

Changing how we assign RPG points

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Y'know what? I like RPGs (Role-Playing Games, to the uninitiated). A lot.

But I like to own my character -- assigning points, building my version of a fighter (brawler/heavy/tank), rogue (thief/ninja), mage (wizard/warlock/enchantress), ranger (Legolas-want-to-be), etc.

And auto points assignment? Puh-lease. I've suffered that when playing in a party with noobs, or in game designs that freeze the game any time any person in the party stops to assign -- or even look at -- their own stats.

Assigning RPG points drives me mad, because I want the benefits and customization of explicit skills assignment, but it interrupts the game. And, yeah, it's worse when I'm in a multiplayer game, and we're all of the same mindset.

How do we assign stat points without disrupting the flow of combat, action, or story in RPGs?

My solution? Allow retroactive assignment of RPG points.

Simply put, you wouldn't be required to assign points until you get to a break point, but once you do (and once you assign the points), you get the benefits of those skills assignments retroactively to the point(s) when you earned them. Sure, you won't get things like "Attack + 10" as far as doing damage to baddies, but maybe you will get multipliers, etc.

Think about it, you're tooling through the dungeons of Azeroth (or Dr. Doom's Latverian castle, or the Morlock Tunnels), going from battle to battle, and you don't have to stop. You don't interrupt the story, you don't get caught in the "Battle. Grind. Stats management. Battle. Grind." loop. You don't tee off your party members by interrupting their game.

Not to say this isn't potentially wicked hard to implement. Maintaining the count of unassigned points isn't bad, but holding onto which permutations of level ups for previously completed scenarios would take bit of work. But it's certainly doable, with the caveat that the scope of which past events are or aren't allowed retro skills assignment is communicated and intuitive to the player. (Under the hood, there's probably a difference between how you handle checkpoint (snapshot) versus save (write-to-disc) data.)

Game designers could even couch any trade-offs in a "late skills assignment tax" (but, y'know, renamed to  something trope-appropriate).

This also creates opportunities for some cool design gimmicks.

Think about caching up your points, and then blowing things up in a single skills assignment binge fest, jumping 2, 3 or (madness!) 5 levels at once. And maybe there's a genre-appropriate "instant replay" mechanic, that will go back and play splashes of "big moments" that benefit from the skills assignment (that barmaid you chatted up in the King and Queen Tavern? You just got some more information, because of your +10 charisma allocation. (I betcha the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto could pull off this orcs and elves version of the "play-of -the-day".)

Heck, designers could create special features in hubs that make the leveling up that much more integrated to the mechanics of the game, and that much more meaningful and memorable.

Oh, and hey, I'm not saying you only do retro assignments to solve my frustration with points assignment. You still need to fix the bad, in-the-moment stats management problems, too. Don't freeze out other players while I'm checking my stats (even if I'm hosting).

Even if it's in the heat of battle, don't freeze me out from assigning my stats. Give me a "pay now or pay later" choice. Much like the jerk who takes all the loot from his party, if I choose to duck out of battle, let that impact the rest of my team when they need my help, so they can get on my case later. Give me an "Edifying Cloak of Invisibility" as I duck off into a cowardly corner to selfishly level myself up. Or, add a positive gimmick, like a "Cocoon of Character Enhancement" (can you tell I'm not a high-fantasy writer?) that protects me as I level my character, but attracts enemies who will attack my shell, weakening it, until it shatters, and they can kill me more quickly in my vulnerable state. This would add an urgency to the stats assignment, and a tactical element for team play -- I could attract a bunch of baddies (as long as I have skills points to assign), taking the heat off of my party, and they could launch an AoE attack on them (one that doesn't have friendly fire impacts, por favor; or maybe it does; Hmm ...).

So, who agrees this might solve some of this stats management headaches and game-flow interruption?

Or am I the only one who things about these things?

(By the way, the font I used to make the top graphic is "BADABOOM", from those ridiculously top-knotch Blambot.com guys.)

Transformers Universe MMO

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Nice -- Hasbro and Jagex Games Studios (RuneScape) announced the new Transformers Universe MMO at this year's BotCon.

It seems to take an aesthetic page from the Transformers: War Within comic series (and the under-appreciated Transformers: War for Cybertron game).

Wonder if they can take any game design notes from me?

(Seriously, I haz good ideaz.)

Game teaser and character design videos are below.

X-Men: Destiny and Silicon Knights

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My last post about next year's Transformers MMO linked to a post of mine from years ago about my ideas for the same type of game.

I also noticed in that same post that I'd want someone like Silicon Knights to do a "Too Human take" on licensed fare, and apply their "engagement theory" game design to established IP properties. (There's a nicely done video on their site that explains what they mean by their philosophy of game development).

Fast forward 5 years, and we've got an IP I dig (X-Men) getting the SK treatment in the form of the Activision-published X-Men: Destiny.

Sure, maybe the above is just a well-funded, slickly cut-together E3 trailer, but I'm genuinely stoked about the combinatorial potential of this game.

There's a high bar set by Raven Software's X-Men Legends games, and I'm hoping this new title is the same caliber.

I want Microsoft to target me more

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I remember reading years ago a comment an analyst made about targeted advertising, and rather than complaining about the future of personalized adverts, he welcomed it.

"Advertisements only about stuff I'm interested in and that I actually might want to buy? If only!"

I was thinking about that with my gameplay experience, particularly Microsoft's Xbox Live.

It's really harder than it should be -- and requires too much active effort on my part -- to keep up with all of my games, new DLC, upcoming stuff, and the massive amount of rotating XBL (or PSN, or Steam, or ...) deals.

What I'd like is for the "My Xbox" section of my dashboard to show things like "Minerva's Den [BioShock 2 DLC] is 50% off this week!"

Or, "New The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim videos are available" (because they know I watched a few videos about the title).

Or, it would serve up developer commentary videos for a specific game, when they know I've played the demo.

Ideally, this would be customizable, so I could click and record a "not interested" response, and get things moved down in my virtual interest queue.

Basically think of it like a Netflix dashboard, where XBL, PSN's "What's New", Steam, and whatever storefront with which the Wii U ends up are serving up "You might also like", "Top 10 for Adam", etc.

Oh, and profile / identity tagging (which Netflix does NOT have), so my wife isn't messing up my queue (No, I did not watch/play that romantic comedy game where everything worked out in the end so please don't suggest "The Bachelor: The True Story" to me.)

I know it's coming. I'm lazy and impatient, so I hope it's coming sooner than later.

Potential Fix for Halo Connection Problems

I used to always have problems connecting to other people on Halo. I could connect fine to Matchmaking games by myself, but I very rarely could join Tom or anyone else on Adelphia. If either of us tried to connect to the other person’s party, we’d see the same error message:

You aren’t able to join this party because we’re having network problems. Sorry about that.

I used to see that phrase in my nightmares. Microsoft even has a KB article on it. Last week, through my endless scouring of the net, I finally found the solution. I’d give credit where credit is due, but I can’t find the forum posting that I found this on (if I do, I’ll add it here), but here is the simple quick solution:

Turn off UPnP on your router.

That’s it. For my Linksys WRT54G router, UPnP is on the Administration tab, and since I turned it off, I have been able to connect without any problems. In case you’re curious UPnP is “used by certain programs to automatically open ports for communication.” (According to my router’s help). I haven’t had any problems with anything since I set it up, so I would say it isn’t too important.

Edit (06-26-06): After I moved, the problems came back. Making my XBox the DMZ host and turning off UPnP seems to have worked…for now.

Edit (11-03-07): I no longer care about this. Halo 3 fixed whatever the issue was, and I doubt I'll be playing much Halo 2 on Live anymore :)

Motorola v323i and iSync

Last week I got a new Motorola v323i phone from US Cellular (which blows my old LG out of the water). I wanted just a basic phone with bluetooth and decent reception so I could sync it with my iMac. Unfortunately, it doesn't just work out of the box since iSync doesn't support the phone.

After a little research, I found this reference on how to write your own phone plugin. I also found this guy's site where he had already written a plugin for a v325 (basically the same phone).

So with a little tweaking, I made my own v323i plugin. To use this, unzip to your Library\PhonePlugins folder. You might have to create the PhonePlugins folder if it doesn't exist. Then add your phone as a bluetooth device, and if all goes well, you should then be able to add it in iSync.

Right now, I haven't built in USB support so it's bluetooth only. Also, for some reason the phone icon doesn't work, but it will sync your contacts and calendar. Feel free to shoot any questions or problems my way...or if you know of a better place for file hosting.

Get it here...

Sirius and XM Merger

I got this email last night. I'm definitely looking forward to MLB games on my satellite radio.

February 19, 2007

To: SIRIUS Subscribers

Today is a very exciting day for SIRIUS customers. As you may have heard, SIRIUS Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio are merging to form the nation's premier audio entertainment provider.

This combination of our two offerings will benefit you - our loyal listeners. As a single company, we'll provide superior programming to you every day with the best of both SIRIUS and XM. Currently, XM and SIRIUS broadcast a wide range of commercial-free music channels, exclusive sports coverage, news, talk, and entertainment programming. Howard Stern. Oprah and Friends. The NFL. MLB. NBA. ESPN. CNBC. Fox News. Additionally, the combined company will be able to improve existing services such as real-time traffic information and rear-seat video as well as introduce new ones.

After shareholder and regulatory approvals, we anticipate that the combination will be finalized by the end of 2007. Until then, both companies will continue to operate independently. We will continue to provide you with the uninterrupted service - as well as the outstanding customer support - that you have come to expect and enjoy from SIRIUS. We do not anticipate any changes in your service during the merger process, however, please call our customer care team on 1- 888-539-7474 should you have any questions.

We look forward to the many benefits this combination will offer and continuing to make your listening experience an enjoyable one - offering more of the Very Best Radio on Radio.

Stay tuned,

Mel Karmazin, CEO






Forward Looking Statements
This letter contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the benefits of the business combination transaction involving Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., including potential synergies and cost savings and the timing thereof, future financial and operating results, the combined company's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "will," "should," "may," or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of SIRIUS' and XM's management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of SIRIUS and XM. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statement: general business and economic conditions; the performance of financial markets and interest rates; the ability to obtain governmental approvals of the transaction on a timely basis; the failure of SIRIUS and XM shareholders to approve the transaction; the failure to realize synergies and cost-savings from the transaction or delay in realization thereof; the businesses of SIRIUS and XM may not be combined successfully, or such combination may take longer, be more difficult, time-consuming or costly to accomplish than expected; and operating costs and business disruption following the merger, including adverse effects on employee retention and on our business relationships with third parties, including manufacturers of radios, retailers, automakers and programming providers. Additional factors that could cause SIRIUS' and XM's results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in SIRIUS' and XM's Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2006, June 30, 2006 and September 30, 2006 which are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site http://www.sec.gov The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and Sirius and XM disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.

Important Additional Information Will be Filed with the SEC
This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination involving SIRIUS and XM. In connection with the proposed transaction, SIRIUS plans to file with the SEC a Registration Statement on Form S-4 containing a Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and each of SIRIUS and XM plan to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. The definitive Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus will be mailed to stockholders of SIRIUS and XM. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF SIRIUS AND XM ARE URGED TO READ THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY IN THEIR ENTIRETY WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC by SIRIUS and XM through the web site maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Free copies of the Registration Statement and the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus (when available) and other documents filed with the SEC can also be obtained by directing a request to Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020, Attention: Investor Relations or by directing a request to XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., 1500 Eckington Place, NE Washington, DC 20002, Attention: Investor Relations.

SIRIUS, XM and their respective directors and executive officers and other persons may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the proposed transaction. Information regarding SIRIUS' directors and executive officers is available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 13, 2006, and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 21, 2006, and information regarding XM's directors and executive officers is available in XM's Annual Report on Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2005, which was filed with the SEC on March 3, 2006 and its proxy statement for its 2006 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 25, 2006. Other information regarding the participants in the proxy solicitation and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in the Joint Proxy Statement/Prospectus and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC when they become available.



Please note: this is not a promotional e-mail. As a SIRIUS subscriber, you will periodically receive service notices via e-mail. These service notices are intended to provide you with helpful information that will facilitate and enhance your SIRIUS listening experience.