I just upgraded my desktop computer with a new Z77 motherboard and i7 core. Intel has decided not to support Vista x64 for the Z77 chipset. This makes a lot of things not work properly. So I went ahead and purchased the Windows 8 upgrade.
On Windows Vista x64, Windows 8 allowed me to create USB media. So I created a USB Windows 8 install key.
Windows 8 "Keep Nothing" option did not delete my files. Keep Nothing refers to what is upgraded and available as installed and usable programs. It also refers to not bringing over favorites, contacts, settings, documents, etc into the new Windows 8 installation. Files in the root of your hard drive will not be moved so long as they don't conflict with Windows' installation folders. Windows installation folders will be moved to Windows.old or Windows.old.0000 if Windows.old exists, and so on.
This is identical to what happens when you install Windows Vista, or Windows 7 on a hard drive without formatting it.
That was my first big worry, as I could find no information indicating what Keep Nothing did with other files and directories in the root of the hard drive. I ended up backing up hundreds of gigs of data to make sure it wasn't lost. After I installed Windows 8 and verified it's behavior, I then reran the install from the USB key while formatting my hard drive. Now I let Windows 8 re-partition the drive.
Windows 8 creates multiple partitions. I am not sure why. But the advantage for me was to finally convert over to GPT. I couldn't do that without re-partitioning.
So far, I am not as dissatisfied as I expected to be. I really thought this would be horrible. As I haven't yet done heavy development on this system, I can't say for sure how the Windows 8 behavior will affect me. We'll see that soon enough.
Windows 8 did freeze on me once. Right after cleanly installing Windows 8, I poked around, and I found the "PC Settings" menu, and chose to run Windows Update from within that menu. That just got stuck. 0% downloaded, and then no response to anything except mouse movement. Couldn't get out of it, couldn't ctrl-alt-del, couldn't do anything.
Even after reboot, I couldn't get the updates to install, but this time I went to the Control Panel, and clicked Windows Update. It just wouldn't download anything.
I got around that by installing all of the updates on this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35670
relating to KB2770917.
I picked this update to install manually as it appeared to be the most comprehensive of the updates that Windows was itching to install.
After all of these updates were installed, Windows Update started working.
My installations have so far been working. Hopefully I can continue PCI Express development on this system soon.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Unlock iPhone
Since my AT&T contract expired almost a year ago, I have always been looking for ways to unlock my 04.11.08 baseband. Here's what I've found out. AT&T has been unlocking out of contract iPhones since April 8 2012! I can't believe how long it took for me to find out!
If you are out of contract (2 years or paid Early Termination Fee), then call AT&T and ask them to unlock your iPhone. You will need to be fully paid up (no outstanding debts to AT&T). At that point they will put your iPhone on the unlock list.
Finally I can take my iPhone out of the country or use T-Mobile if I like.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
"The Coming Revolution" by Zamir Cohen - Good Laugh
I just received a new book as a gift from my mother. It is a 'scientific' look into how the Bible and Judasim was correct all along. It is written by Zamir Cohen, a prolific writer and Rabbi from Israel.
I started reading this book last night, and I can say that after finishing a couple of chapters I am confident in my analysis of the whole book.
A chapter begins with an incorrect scientific assumption that was prevalent anywhere from a few years ago to a few thousand years ago. This incorrect scientific assumption is then later revealed to be false. The logic from bad science to newly proven good science is backed up with a lot of scientific proof from many different sources in astronomy, chemistry, physics, and many other fields.
Zamir now pulls out a series of quotes from the complete range of Jewish learning, and uses these quotes to prove that Judaism knew the previously stated science, and must have known that from the Jewish God.
At first glance this seems to be really clear proof of how the Jewish God handed over many of the secrets of the world to the Jews, and this proves how Judaism is the one true religion.
There are 2 glaring flaws in all of this. The first flaw is how Zamir ties the quotes to the science.
The first chapter is about the big bang theory. Zamir describes a world where everyone, since the beginning of man's existence, believes that the world had always existed in a steady state. He implies that the Jews were the only group of people to believe that the world didn't always exist as it is today. He then goes on to describe the scientific steps which show a preponderance of proof for a moment of creation (ie the big bang). Now he goes back and shows how the Jews had known this all along.
The scientific community begins to believe in the big bang -> God created the world!
Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch?
The second flaw relates to the astronomical amount of Rabbinical quotes, relating to all areas of life, in the complete range of Jewish learning. The quotes that Zamir chooses are only the ones he can manage to thinly tie to some form of science. Jewish leaders and Rabbis since Judaism began have been passing on knowledge to their students. They would spend their days teaching these students, and much of what they said has been written and passed down. It would be highly unlikely if all of their quotes would be wrong (even the quotes that relate to science). It is much more likely that a few of the things stated would prove to be correct.
Let's take a room full of the insane and write down everything they say. In 10 years, let's see if, of the thousands of jabberings of gibberish, any of them are true. If any of them are true, then I'm converting to Insanism. Clearly they have a window into the truth of the world!
Let's have Zamir Cohen write a book about all of the quotes from even a single book of ancient Jewish learning, and scientifically prove everything in that book. Now that would be a mind-blowing read.
I started reading this book last night, and I can say that after finishing a couple of chapters I am confident in my analysis of the whole book.
A chapter begins with an incorrect scientific assumption that was prevalent anywhere from a few years ago to a few thousand years ago. This incorrect scientific assumption is then later revealed to be false. The logic from bad science to newly proven good science is backed up with a lot of scientific proof from many different sources in astronomy, chemistry, physics, and many other fields.
Zamir now pulls out a series of quotes from the complete range of Jewish learning, and uses these quotes to prove that Judaism knew the previously stated science, and must have known that from the Jewish God.
At first glance this seems to be really clear proof of how the Jewish God handed over many of the secrets of the world to the Jews, and this proves how Judaism is the one true religion.
There are 2 glaring flaws in all of this. The first flaw is how Zamir ties the quotes to the science.
The first chapter is about the big bang theory. Zamir describes a world where everyone, since the beginning of man's existence, believes that the world had always existed in a steady state. He implies that the Jews were the only group of people to believe that the world didn't always exist as it is today. He then goes on to describe the scientific steps which show a preponderance of proof for a moment of creation (ie the big bang). Now he goes back and shows how the Jews had known this all along.
The scientific community begins to believe in the big bang -> God created the world!
Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch?
The second flaw relates to the astronomical amount of Rabbinical quotes, relating to all areas of life, in the complete range of Jewish learning. The quotes that Zamir chooses are only the ones he can manage to thinly tie to some form of science. Jewish leaders and Rabbis since Judaism began have been passing on knowledge to their students. They would spend their days teaching these students, and much of what they said has been written and passed down. It would be highly unlikely if all of their quotes would be wrong (even the quotes that relate to science). It is much more likely that a few of the things stated would prove to be correct.
Let's take a room full of the insane and write down everything they say. In 10 years, let's see if, of the thousands of jabberings of gibberish, any of them are true. If any of them are true, then I'm converting to Insanism. Clearly they have a window into the truth of the world!
Let's have Zamir Cohen write a book about all of the quotes from even a single book of ancient Jewish learning, and scientifically prove everything in that book. Now that would be a mind-blowing read.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Unlimited voice, text, and a ton of data for less
I have been an AT&T customer since I got my first iPhone late in 2009. I have been paying a $100+ bill every month. I like having unlimited talk (and not just mobile to mobile).
Sadly, my iPhone is locked and jailed. But I still searched for ways to lower my bill.
Go here: http://goredpocket.com
I now have a prepaid account with auto-refill every month. The cost is $60. No additional fees. I have unlimited talk, text, and 2 GB of data. This is half the price of what I used to pay.
NOTE: Auto refill didn't work the first time for me. That wass sad, but I was out phone service for one morning until I noticed and re-ordered. Beware the auto-refill! After this happened, I attempted to re-enable auto-refill one month later just at renewal time. Now 2 months have passed since auto-refill first failed, and this time around auto-refill worked properly. Hopefully it will keep working.
I have a locked iPhone that is working fine on Red Pocket as they are an AT&T MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator).
Before:
Unlimited voice
200 texts
3GB data
~$120
Now:
Unlimited voice
Unlimited texts
2GB data
$60
Unbelievable. Been using Red Pocket for almost 2 months, and it is providing me the same reception as AT&T (as they are using the AT&T network).
The caveats are:
Bad customer support, takes forever to get a hold of a CSR (Customer Support Representative)
No visual voicemail (iPhone voicemail button now calls voicemail instead of displaying it)
No MMS (Group messages will still work if you disable MMS in the iPhone options)
Saving $50+ a month is worth it.
Sadly, my iPhone is locked and jailed. But I still searched for ways to lower my bill.
Go here: http://goredpocket.com
I now have a prepaid account with auto-refill every month. The cost is $60. No additional fees. I have unlimited talk, text, and 2 GB of data. This is half the price of what I used to pay.
NOTE: Auto refill didn't work the first time for me. That wass sad, but I was out phone service for one morning until I noticed and re-ordered. Beware the auto-refill! After this happened, I attempted to re-enable auto-refill one month later just at renewal time. Now 2 months have passed since auto-refill first failed, and this time around auto-refill worked properly. Hopefully it will keep working.
I have a locked iPhone that is working fine on Red Pocket as they are an AT&T MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator).
Before:
Unlimited voice
200 texts
3GB data
~$120
Now:
Unlimited voice
Unlimited texts
2GB data
$60
Unbelievable. Been using Red Pocket for almost 2 months, and it is providing me the same reception as AT&T (as they are using the AT&T network).
The caveats are:
Bad customer support, takes forever to get a hold of a CSR (Customer Support Representative)
No visual voicemail (iPhone voicemail button now calls voicemail instead of displaying it)
No MMS (Group messages will still work if you disable MMS in the iPhone options)
Saving $50+ a month is worth it.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Block Instant Preview
If, like me, you hate the instant preview button in google search, then here's the solution for you:
(Instant Preview is the previewing of the website on the right side of the screen which pops up when you click or stop the cursor over the rectangular button immediately to the right of each result.)
Thanks to my friend Roie for coming up with this solution.
Install Stylish for Chrome or Firefox. Use a custom style that works on 'URLs on the domain' of 'google.com'. Set the code to:
.vspiic { background: none !important; }
.vspii { border: none !important; height: 0px !important; }
Enable the style.
That's it. You have now disabled instant previews in Google search both for http or https.
(Instant Preview is the previewing of the website on the right side of the screen which pops up when you click or stop the cursor over the rectangular button immediately to the right of each result.)
Thanks to my friend Roie for coming up with this solution.
Install Stylish for Chrome or Firefox. Use a custom style that works on 'URLs on the domain' of 'google.com'. Set the code to:
.vspiic { background: none !important; }
.vspii { border: none !important; height: 0px !important; }
Enable the style.
That's it. You have now disabled instant previews in Google search both for http or https.
Windows 7 wrong taskbar icon
Glitches happen. When my Taskbar icon for ExceedOnDemand.exe decided to switch to the big blue question mark, I was frustrated. My desktop and Start Menu icons for starting ExceedOnDemand looked good. It was the icon that appears on the taskbar once ExceedOnDemand is open that was wrong. Instead of seeing the usual icon, I was seeing the icon that belongs to "Windows Help & Support".
I'll save you the time of trying to figure this out, and I'll just let you know that it has to do with the pinned settings of the Taskbar and the Start Menu. The folder:
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned
contains Microsoft specific information for determining which applications are pinned to the Taskbar. This folder is the one responsible for showing the wrong icon every time I launched ExceedOnDemand.
I would suggest moving the whole folder (User Pinned) to a back up location. This will restore the proper icons and completely reset the pinned items in your Start Menu and on the Taskbar.
About: Windows 7 Taskbar Icons, Windows 7 Pinned Icons.
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