First thing you should do is contact the other player via IM or email and let them know you are ready to play. Both of you will need to off of YoVille when you start.

Go to Facebook and click the icon to open the YoVille application. When it comes up, do not press the START button as you normally do.

Beneath the START button, you will see a dropdown that says Connect To The Default YoVille Server. Click this dropdown and you will see a list of available servers for you to use. IM the list to your fellow crew member. They will need to see if any of your listed servers are available to them. When you have both found a common server, select it from the dropdown and click the START button.

Pick a place to meet (your apartment, at the furniture store, etc.). When your friend appears, click their avatar and select Play A Game. Select either Tic Tac Toe or Rock Paper Scissors and begin play. Now you can max out each others game coins for the day.

1. Go to Facebook and then access the YoVille applicaton.

2. When the YoVille app has finished loading, go to the top and right-click the Free Gifts tab.

3. Select Open Link in New Tab. Repeat this step a few more times so that you have 6 or 7 tabs open to the Free Gifts page.

4. Go to each tab and select the GIFT that you want to send (they can be different or all the same). Do not press the Proceed to Send button yet!

5. After you have selected a gift on each tab, go back to the first tab and click the Proceed to Send button. Repeat this for each tab.

6. Go to each tab and select the FRIEND(S) to send the gift(s). Do not click the Send YoVille Gift Request button yet.

7. After you have selected the intended recipients for each tab, go back to the first tab and click the Send YoVille Gift Request button. Repeat this step for each tab.

8. Go back to the first tab, you will see the YoVille Gift request that you have created. Click the Send button. Repeat this step for each tab.

You can now close your browser. The requested gifts will be sent to the selected friends.

Another way that you and your crew can help each other out is by playing games to maximize daily coin collection.

my laptop is currently running windows 7 rc build as its main os due to the fact that win 7 lets you use and record clearQAM channels (that alone convinced me to stay with win7). however, i did not remember having any luck playing my tv shows from my ps3 via the media center sharing.  mp4 files worked fine but tv shows always gave me the usual cannot play back file error.

i have no idea what update added this feature but kudos to microsoft on that feature!!  this not only lets me use my PS3 as a media center extender but also any other pc can playback files via DLNA client. (i am assuming this since i have not tested).  keep reading for more details and the video demo.

there are a few caveats of playback/streaming .wtv files:

- skipping and fast forwarding really suck and most likely cause your video to hang or freeze
- scene selection (hitting square to bring up scenes) doesn’t work either, lets you see frames but does not go to them or starts playing
- i’ve only tested network, non-encrypted hdtv shows on windows 7 rc

nonetheless a step in the right direction for DLNA and us PS3 owners.  now if only we could control the windows 7/media center tuner via DLNA and stream live tv…. hmmm..

for now, here’s  a video demo of it in action on my hp dv6700t and my ps3.

[youtube n6Fi5OrO8ec]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6Fi5OrO8ec

You can use these links a total of three times, instead of just once. Right-click on the notification link and open in a new tab. Perform the work and receive your earnings. Close the tab and repeat two more times. From one person’s notification, you will receive 45 coins and 18 experience points.

1. Go to Facebook and then access the Farm Town applicaton.

2. When the Farm Town app has finished loading, go to the top and right-click the Send Gifts tab.

3. Select Open Link in New Tab. Repeat this step a few more times so that you have 6 or 7 tabs open to the Send Gifts page.

4. Go to each tab and select the GIFT that you want to send (they can be different or all the same). Do not press the Proceed to Send button yet!

5. After you have selected a gift on each tab, go back to the first tab and click the Proceed to Send. Repeat this for each tab.

6. Go to each tab and select the FRIEND(S) to send the gift(s). Do not click the Send Farm Town Gift Request button yet.

7. After you have selected the intended recipients for each tab, go back to the first tab and click the Send Farm Town Gift Request button. Repeat this step for each tab.

8. Go back to the first tab, you will see the Farm Town Gift request that you have created. Click the Send button. Repeat this step for each tab.

You can now close your browser. The gift request will all be sent and your friends will be quite happy!

Also check out How to Get More Coins and Experience from Working on Your Neighbors’ Farms

1. Don’t waste your money on trees, people will gift them to you.

2. Don’t waste you money on chickens or sheep as these can be gifted to you as well.

3. Calculating time until harvest for crops and trees:

For a 1 day crop: 1% = 12 minutes
(strawberry, cabbage, watermelon. and potato)

For a 2 day crop: 1% = 24 minutes
(wheat, tomato, peas, and rice)

For a 3 day crop: 1% = 36 minutes
(coffee, sunflower, corn, onion, apple, lemon, and orange)

For a 4 day crop: 1% = 48 minutes
(pumpkin, banana, pear, peach, and plum)

For a 5 day crop: 1% = 60 minutes
(coconut, mango, cherry)

4. Always hire others to harvest your crops, never harvest them yourself. You get 20% more by hiring others to do the work, plus, you can be plowing while they harvest which will save you time.

5. Add farmers you trust to your Buddy List or have them become your neighbor. Use them as your primary source for hiring.

6. Crops in storage will not spoil.

7. Fruit on trees will not spoil.

8. Visit your neighbors’ farms. You gain experience points and can receive small jobs to pick up some pocket change.

9. To maximize the usage of space, go to Preferences (the wrench icon in the upper-right corner) and check the Remove Spaces Between Fields checkbox. Click the green button with the checkmark on it. This will allow you to place plowed fields right next to each other.

10. If the game is running slow, go to Preferences and uncheck the Smooth Graphics checkbox and check the Freeze Animals checkbox. Click the green button with the checkmark on it.

1. Open Firefox.

2. Right-click on the bookmark bar and select New Bookmark.

3. In the Name textbox, input Bing, in the Location textbox input http://m.bing.com/.

4. Check the Load this bookmark in the sidebar checkbox.

5. Click the Add button.

Select the newly created bookmark and Bing will appear in the sidebar.

You can now easily do the following:

get movie times: movies [location]
(movie 98119 or movie Seattle, WA)

check the weather: weather [location]

perform simple calculations and solve simple algebraic equations

track a package: type the name of the shipping company (DHL, FEDEX, UPS, etc.) and then the tracking number

get a stock quotes: [ticker symbols] quote
(GOOG MSFT quote)

get a definition: define [word you want to define]

• awesome battery life, the best so far (about 4-5hours in real world; rated at 6hrs)
• nice 10″ display,
• solid build feel
• normal hdd, memory card slots, normal lan and vga ports
• pinch zooming touchpad (can do pinch gesture in IE and zoom in and out)

CONs:

• small touchpad
• perhaps a little heavier than dell/hp netbooks (but also makes it feel sturdier built)

Overall: definitely a good netbook and i give it a 9/10.

i liked how long the battery lasted on it and how the keyboard had pitched keys (angled at edges and more space between keys than the dell and hp flush keys). 

vga and lan ports also handy and gives it an edge over the other netbooks that opted to use proprietary adapters. however the smaller touchpad is a bit annoying and the only main negative

for full specs, check out Samsung’s official page over here:

Instead of constantly reinventing your resume, you should break it down into modules. Some modules will never change, such as your name and contact information. Other modules will change once in a while, such as education, certifications, and organizations. Modules for objective, summary and professional experience will change greatly, sometimes with each new resume.

To create your modules, open up Microsoft Word and use a copy of your existing resume to build your modules, some of your work is already done. Decide how many different versions of each module. Copy the coresponding module from the resume and paste it on the document. Now make any necessary changes. To make it easier to use, label the target job of each module so that when you are building a new resume, you know which modules to use. After you have finished all required modules, save the document with an easy to recognize title.

The next time you need a resume to apply for a new job, open your modules, find the ones you need and copy and paste them into the new resume. Make any adjustments that you need to and you’re done. Now a new resume takes little time to compose.

• very nice keyboard, and key layout
• larger touchpad
• nice display
• decent sound for a netbook
• good battery life
• large normal harddrive
• hdmi output for hooking up to hdtvs

CONs:

• touchpad buttons are actually built into touchpad (takes a while to get used to)
• glossy display hard to see in direct sunlight (but this is normal for glossy displays)
• normal harddrive so is suspectible to jars/dropping (unlike ssd based netbooks)
• Function keys require using the FN button to use (again a minor complaint)
• no VGA-output (can’t hook up to most normal computer monitors)

Overall: seamonkey gives a thumbs up to it: 8/10

another good netbook w/a good keyboard layout and larger touchpad area.  initially the touchpad left and right click buttons were hard to get used to since its built into the touchpad itself. however the clicking tactile feedback for them makes it easier to adjust.

the biggest con to the dell mini10 is its lack of a vga out connector for an external monitor; however instead it does have an HDMI output to allow it to hook up to most new hdtvs.

Nice that it uses a normal harddrive and in turn has tons more space for applications.  This netbook falls nicely into the 10″ netbook genre with the most common features that seem to define this area: atom cpu, nearly full keyboards, 2 to 3 usb, hdd or ssd (larger for hdd), webcam, memorycard reader.  One defining feature is the hdmi out but this does again come at the cost of a vga out. 

• Hide the Favorites Bar - f you’re like me, you do not rely on the Favorites Bar in Internet Explorer for navigating to your bookmarked pages. If it is left enabled, you end up dedicating an entire row of your toolbar for the Favorites and Add to Favorites buttons. Follow these steps to hide the Favorites Bar and return the Favorites and Add to Favorites to their IE7 positions.
• How to Add Feeds and WebSlices to the Favorites Bar - Internet Explorer 8’s Favorites Bar allows you to add RSS feeds and WebSlices which makes it easy to monitor your favorite sites for new content. RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds are web feeds that are used to publish frequently updated content. WebSlices are a completely new feature for IE that allow users to subscribe to certain content contained within a web page. The WebSlice behaves in a similar manner as the RSS feeds, allowing the user to subscribe to the content for updates.
• Disable Sounds in Web Pages - If you are tired of having your browsing experience suddenly interrupted by embedded sounds in the web page you are viewing, you can easily disable this feature. This can be an important step to take if you find yourself doing a lot of surfing at work.
• How to Disable the WebSlices Notification Icon - WebSlices allow users to subscribe to content directly from within a webpage. If WebSlices are available on the page, a notification icon will appear when you mouseover the content. If you don’t utilize WebSlices, this notification can be a distraction.
• Reopen Closed Tabs - You finally get to the webpage that you have been surfing for and now you have accidentally closed the tab. This can be a very frustrating situation. Luckily, Internet Explorer 8 is quite forgiving and allows you to easily reopen the closed tab, even if you have closed other tabs after it.
• Create a Shortcut for Opening in InPrivate Mode - By adding a simple command line switch to a shortcut, you can easily open Internet Explorer in the protective InPrivate mode without having to launch it from a non-private window.
• How to Disable Automatic Image Resizing - When you view large images, Internet Explorer’s default settings make the browser resize the image to fit within the browser window. If you would like to see the image in its original size instead, you can disable this functionality.
• Display the Stop and Refresh Buttons Before the Address Bar - By default, Internet Explorer 8 places the Stop and Refresh buttons after the Address Bar. If you want all of the browser controls to be grouped together, you can move your Stop and Refresh buttons to the left of the Address Bar.
• Reset to Default Settings - If your browser is misbehaving, resetting it to the default settings might be just the fix you are looking for. By resetting Internet Explorer, you remove all previous settings but does not affect your Favorites, RSS Feeds or WebSlices.
• Increase the Maximum Connections Limit to Download More Than Six Files at One Time - By default Internet Explorer 8 limits the number of files that can be downloaded at one time to six. While this is higher than previous versions of IE, you can still get it to do better.
• Make the Favorites Bar Display as Icons Only - By reducing your Favorites Bar to show only the icons, you can access more of them from Internet Explorer’s Favorites Bar. This works great for sites with recognizable favicons like Gmail, Google Calendar, etc.
• Place the Menu Bar Above the Address Bar - If you use Firefox, then you are used to the menu bar being placed above the address bar, however Internet Explorer 8 places it below the Address Bar. You can move it by using a simple registry hack.

• Adjust the User Account Control (UAC) Settings - The UAC was a pain in Windows Vista, and changing the settings for UAC was an even bigger pain. Windows 7 allows you to change the User Account Control settings from the Control Panel so you can easily adjust the settings to your liking.
• How to Attach VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) Files - Sometimes it is inconvenient to be actually reading your ebook (when your driving is a good example!).I use Virtual PC quite a bit for checking out various operating systems. sometimes I have files on a virtual OS that I need to use on my real system. This usually means that I have to fire up Virtual PC and run the desired operating system. Windows 7 allows you to attach VHD files so that you can access the disks from your virtual OS without having to run Virtual PC.
• How to Run an Application as Another User - In previous versions of Windows (XP and Vista), you could ran an application as administrator by using the context menu. You had no such option if you were wanting to run the application as a different user. Windows 7 adds this ability, allowing you to use the context menu to run a program as the administrator or as another user.
• How to Open a Folder in a New Process - Windows Explorer normally opens all folders within a single process. While you could change this via the Folder Options, it would cause all folders to open in new processes. Windows 7 allows you to easily select a single folder and run it in a different process.
• Hide or Show Libraries in the Navigation Pane - Libraries act as pointers to various folders containing similar content such as music, video, photos, etc. You can easily add or remove libraries from your Navigation pane to suit your needs.
• How to Create a New Library - By default, Windows 7 comes with six Libraries (Communications, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos). You can create other Libraries if these don’t meet all of your needs for media like e-books, comics, tutorials, etc.
• How to Restore Default Libraries - If you deleted any of the default libraries, you can recreate them one at a time, but there’s a much easier way to get back the default libraries that come with Windows 7.
• How to Set the Taskbar Buttons to Show Text Instead of Icons-Only - Unlike the Windows of old, Windows 7 uses an icon-only Taskbar. If you find this difficult to use, you can return the buttons back to the way they used to be so that the button displays a label for the open file or application.
• Using Desktop Slideshow to Change Your Wallpaper - Desktop Slideshow is a Windows 7 feature that changes the user’s wallpaper at a preconfigured interval. This is great for people that find themselves easily becoming bored with staring at the same wallpaper everyday (or hour!).
• Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Manage Open Windows - Windows 7 includes some quite useful features for managing your open windows by simply dragging windows to different places on the screen. You can also use keyboard shortcuts to do the same thing.
• Using the Problem Steps Recorder - Whether you provide technical support as a profession or just help your family members when they have computer problems, you will find the Problem Steps Recorder to be a wonder tool. It takes the pain out of trying to discern what a user experienced when they encountered a problem with Windows itself or some application that they are running on Windows. It makes it easier on the user as well, as they no longer have to try and describe what happened. The Problem Steps Recorder is a simple tool that provides advanced documentation and screen captures of what took place on the users screen from the time they begin recording until the time they stop.
• Easily Open Another Instance of an Application - Sometimes it is necessary to open another instance of an application (as long as it supports multiple instances) that you are using. Instead of going to the Start menu, Windows 7 provides two simple ways to make it happen.
• Change the Start Menu Power Button Settings - If the current setting for the Start Menu power button do not meet your needs, you can easily change it (to sleep, hibernate, or shutdown) by following these instructions.
• How to View and/or Change Your HomeGroup Password - You set up your HomeGroup for sharing files on your network, but now you’ve forgotten the password. By going to the Control Panel, you can either view the current HomeGroup password or go ahead and change it.
• Speed Up Taskbar Thumbnails - The Windows 7 taskbar displays previews of running programs via some very cool thumbnails. To speed up these thumbnails so that they appear instantly, follow these simple steps.
• How to Clear the Print Queue - It’s always a major pain when you check your printer queue and see a long list of items that never made it to the printer (something went wrong). Here’s a quick and easy way to clear your printer queue, so when you’ve solved the problem, you won’t get slammed by all of those queued items.
• Drag and Drop a File to Open It with a Quick Launch Application - There are times when you need to open a file with an application other than the one associated with that filetype. For example, I use Notepad to for looking at various filetypes, but I don’t want it to be the default app. By placing a shortcut to the desired application in my Quick Launch bar (or pinning it to the Taskbar in Windows 7), I can use my keyboard and mouse to drag and drop the file onto the icon and launch it in the desired application.
• Add a Website to the Desktop Right-Click Menu - If you have a site you visit frequently, but don’t want to use it as a homepage, you can add the site to your Desktop context menu. When clicked, Internet Explorer will open the desired site.
• Can My Computer Run XP Mode? - XP Mode is a Virtual PC based environment that can be installed and run on a compatible Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate machine. The feature provides users with a safety net for compatibility to run there applications, just in case the apps do not run on Windows 7. In order for XP Mode to run on a computer, the PC must meet a set of requirements.
• How to Enable the Quick Launch Bar - By default, Windows 7 does not have the Quick Launch toolbar that most Windows users are familiar with. If you wish to keep using this form of navigation, or if you’ve upgraded your computer to Windows 7 and want to use your old Quick Launch Bar, you can enable it by following these steps.
• Installing and Using Windows XP Mode - Windows XP Mode on Windows 7 (Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise versions) simplifies running applications on Windows XP by utilizing a virtual environment. While you can run the guest OS in the Virtual PC window and execute your applications from there, you can also run them from the Windows 7 Start Menu (or Desktop). XP Mode is great for running older applications and for testing new ones that you aren’t ready to put on your Windows 7 system.
• Change the Settings for Virtual Windows XP (or other Virtual Machines) - You may want to change the settings for your Virtual XP or other Virtual Machine (such as memory, adding a hard disk, disabling Auto Publish, etc.) that you have on your Windows 7 system. While the method of doing this isn’t easy to find, it is easy to do.
• Customize How the Date is Displayed in the System Tray - By default the Windows 7 taskbar uses large icons, which makes for a bigger taskbar. This easily allows not only the time to show in the system tray, but the date as well. You can customize how the date is displayed and what information it will show.
• Put a Flip 3D Shortcut on the Taskbar - By default, Windows 7 has no taskbar shortcut for Flip 3D, Aero’s sexy method for switching between open windows. Here’s a quick and easy way to create a shortcut and place it on your Taskbar.
• Put a Recycle Bin Shortcut on the Taskbar - If you like keeping a clean desktop, then even having the Recycle Bin icon sitting there can be annoying. By placing a shortcut on your taskbar, you will have easy access while keeping it off of your clean desktop. This recipe adds the shortcut to the Taskbar instead of pinning it to the Windows Explorer icon.
• How to Disable Aero Peek (Preview Desktop) - By placing your cursor over the Show Desktop button (the small rectangle) at the end of the Taskbar, Aero Peek will show the Desktop. It does this by hiding any open windows and showing the outline of where they were. While this is pretty cool, it can be annoying.
• Install the Telnet Client - By default, Windows 7 doesn’t install the Telnet client. The client is for text-based communication with remote systems. You can install it by following these steps.

the upgrade went almost too easy and i already found a reason to love Windows 7 and Media Center.  ClearQAM support!  Keep reading for the rest of my initial impressions and see windows 7 media center w/some ClearQAM in action!

My Windows 7 upgrade from Vista took about 30 minutes.  My machine is an HP DV6700T laptop w/a 2.5gh c2d, 4gb ddr2, 500gb harddrive (dual booting osx of course)

The only thing that was not compatible was the HP Quick Launch button software.  I had to remove that prior to upgrading.

My Vista setup included all of the HP Drivers including the biometric scanner and software.  So far all software is working in Windows 7 also (including fingerprint software and cyberlink youcam).  I have noticed a weird/quirky behavior of the fingerprint login at times (like the fingerprint reader doesn’t read my finger, hehe)

I’ll be honest and admit that I readdy don’t mind Vista.  Most of the hardware I run it on is powerful enough to run it w/o problems.  So for me, Windows 7 is mainly about adding more multimedia based functionality and usuability/ease-of-use.  One thing that OSX Leopard has taught me is that Spotlight / Windows Search can make your life VERY EASY! finding apps/settings is just as searching for them.

However Windows 7 shocked my eyes open with ClearQAM compatibility in Media Center!! HOLY CRAP!!!  Microsoft promised ClearQAM (or so i’ve told myself, hehe) in Vista but never delivered initially ( however there are hacks to add it in). What is ClearQAM? ClearQAM tv tuners will let your computer/tv read any unencrypted HD/Digital signals over your coaxal connection (ie cable in your apt/home, not antenna based).  With a ClearQAM tuner you do not need to use a CableCard since the signals are not encrypted to start with.  So you can get all of the local, basic HD stations over a cable connection for free and in near perfect quality vs antenna OTA HD.  you may also get other unencrypted channels and even pay-per-view if your neighbors are watching/ordered. no ClearQAM support was my biggest gripe about Vista and SP1 for it.

Sadly though, us Bluray users are still left in to third party solutions (hopefully) for native bluray playback in Windows 7.  I purchased PowerDVD9 just recently for this reason alone.  however, it crashes Media Center in Windows 7 everytime i try to use it.  So again, no bluray support at all in Media Center.

so far i’ve noticed a few quirks w/my Media Center remote, i can no longer use the Media Center button to launch Media Center, rather i have to hit Guide or My Recorded TV.  i’d also prefer more recording options; let me be able to choose to record One Show a Day on Any Channel option! I’d rather have too many recording options than too few. its called an advanced menu for a reason!

HD channel quality is great. I usually will hook up my laptop to my hdtv via hdmi (also, why can’t windows 7 automatically change my default audio device to HDMI when i plug in my hdmi cable??) and it looks just as good as my cable hd dvr  box did.

So just my quick thoughts on Windows 7 RC1 after a week of using.  Come on Microsoft, give us native bluray playback! we know hd-dvd didn’t win but throw us bluray owners a bone.

Oh yea, video demo of clearqam and powerdvd bluray media center addon below:

[youtube srdpJwh8ly8]

Many people are now saying that the media and the government is blowing the threat out of proportion. They like to quote that around 36,000 people die from influenza in the United States each year. The problem is that this is not your typical, run-of-the-mill seasonal influenza. This is an H1N1 influenza. These are very different germs.

H1N1 has shown itself in the past to have great killing potential. The flu pandemic of 1918 was H1N1. It killed between 20-100 million people worldwide. To put that into perspective, the holocaust killed around 15 million people. All of World War II killed around 60 million people.

Regular seasonal flu typically causes deaths in the elderly population. H1N1 strains have the potential to cause a screaming inflammatory reaction or cytokine storm. Considering younger humans have a stronger immune system, this may be why H1N1 strains have a greater tendency to harm the young.

During the flu pandemic of 1918, fifty percent of the world–one out of every two people–were infected. Seasonal flu typically only infects 5-10% of the population each year. The potential economic strain through our medical system and through loss of work is tremendously higher.

All outbreaks of H1N1 are not so severe; they do give supportive evidence of H1N1 characteristics. During an outbreak of swine flu among soldiers in Fort Dix, New Jersey in 1976, it caused x-ray evidence of pneumonia in at least 4 soldiers and one 1 death. This outbreak reinforces the idea that swine flu can kill the young and healthy. An outbreak at a fair in 1988, 76% of swine exhibitors showed antibodies to H1N1 and thus had been probably infected. One young woman died, and one third of the health care professionals who took care her became infected. The outbreak of 1998 shows how contagious the swine flu can be.

Now, I hope people will understand why health officials are taking this potential threat so seriously. H1N1 has shown herself to be very dangerous in the past.

Disclaimer: I’m not an infectious disease expert.

well, as my tweets may tell; i’ve decided to redo my os setup on my HP DV6700T laptop. for a little while i was trying (not very hard) to sell my hp laptop since i was using my air or wind more when on the go.  however after realizing the costs of a macbook pro and how much i prob would get for my hp i decided on keeping my hp and in turn relook into hackintoshing it.

last year i tried using a kalyway osx86 distro/installer and had pretty good success except for no builtin wifi, shaddy shutdown/audio issues (you either get working shutdown and no audio, or audio and having to hard power down laptop; doh!) which are two big negatives if your trying to use it as your main os.

however this time i decided i’d try to use a newer distro/installer, iDeneb 1.4 (it also was patched to 10.5.6; another thing that usually broke my setup was updating!).

keep reading for my thoughts, list of working items, tips and a video demo.

update! sd/mmc/ms card reader working (see below)

First things first, i do not promote piracy/bootlegging/etc!  This post is for educational and geeky purposes only :)  If you enjoy using OSX Leopard, support Apple and buy a copy!

Here is my exact hardware configuration of  my laptop (since there are tons of dv6xxx models out there).

• HP DV6700T CTO (June 2008)
• Intel C2D 2.5Ghz T9300 Penryn
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 500GB WD SATA HDD
• Bluray/DVD+-RW Combo Drive
• Webcam, Mic, Biometric (Authentec, AES2501)
• SD/MMC/MS Ricoh 5-in-1 card reader
• Geforce 8400 GS 256mb w/HDMI out
• ALC260 Audio (Conexant HD Audio)
• Intel 4965AGN Wifi (temp replaced with a msi wind realtek wifi)
• HP Bluetooth

Installation and Notes

I intially tried using the Kalyway 10.5.2 distro/installer (notes for this will be at end of post) but updating to 10.5.6 really made a mess of my system and broke audio/shutdown and other quirks.  Instead, I decided to use the iDeneb 1.4, 10.5.6 distro/installer.iDeneb includes the EFI Chamelon bootloader and tons of drivers/fixes; some have complained about the distrib but i haven’t had any probs yet.

1. Boot to the iDeneb disk.
   • Prior to installing, i did a full backup of all of  my data and always recommend others to do so too. losing data is not fun or cheap
2. Partition your hard drive via Disk Utility (i have been installing osx on my first partition and leaving my second one for vista/win7 if i dual boot; seems easier to fix bootloader issues).  I make my partition 1 for osx, and partition 2 as ms-dos fat which i will format to ntfs if i install vista/win7.
3. I used a vanilla kernel since my cpu is the same exact model that was used in macbook pros of the same time released, choose the Nvinject 256mb video driver, alc260 audio, and default smbios.  i also added the ideneb tools/apps since they are handy to have.
4. let it install, which took about 25 minutes and booted right into the initial setup wizard with sound!
5. if you plan to dual boot; i finally tracked down a solution to the ever dreaded HFS Partition error after you install vista/win7: link over at http://www.insanelymac.comit appears vista’s bootloader breaks the mbr’s ability to see the darwin bootloader osx uses.so if your going to dual boot, here is how i get my setup to work:
   • install osx on partition 1; create both partitions in disk utility prior to installing osx.
   • install vista to partition 2
   • do the fix to osx (per link)
   • boot to vista install dvd, repair vista
   • do the fix again and use darwin as main bootloader

List of Working/Non-working in OSX LeopardWorking:

• Native Video Resolution, Output to HDMI, Quartz Extreme Supported, Rotation
• Audio output to speakers; Onboard Mic and webcam in Photobooth and Screenflow
• Headphone / Speaker autosensing
• DVD/Bluray Drive read/write
• Touchpad / Keyboard
• Volume hardware keys
• MS Wind Realtek mini-pcie wifi (with compatible mini-pcie card and custom/hacked bios, notes below)
• Bluetooth
• USB
• Wifi/BT off/on switch
• Shutdown (however delayed)
• SD/MMC/MS reader (ricoh 5in1) now working! see below.

Not Working:

• HDMI audio (no output device)
• VGA out (however hdmi works fine)
• Native Wifi card in the DV6700T (intel 4965AGN)
• Mute button, play/next/prev media keys (appear to work but do nothing)
• SD/MMC/MS reader working!
• 56K Modem
• Bluray video playback (no os/software support, reading as data disc works)
• Sleep/Hibernation (never sleeps or does not wake from sleep)

Untested/Unverfied:

• Biometric scanner (hardware detected, no software)
• Firewire (untested, does not show up as hardware)
• ExpressCard slot (may work but my hdtv tuner card not supported??)
• S-Video

Conclusion:

Basically by using iDeneb i just turned my semi fast and cool HP into a late 2008 macbook pro (geekbench2 score: 3271 ).  to me, sleep/hibernation for this laptop is not that important since its big, heavy and powerful.  it will either be on or off.  i plan to use it for my more intensive iMovie projects and perhaps to try my hand at more advanced hd video.i have seen posts that say they have figured out the sleep issues w/the dv6700t but i’m a bit leary to try since my setup seems to work very good minus the little details.

i was very happy see hdmi video work the instant i plugged in my hdtv and also the headphone/speaker autochanging working was a def bonus too.

however a big SHAME on you HP for requiring a custom bios to use a ‘non-supported’ mini-pcie wifi card.  but that just goes to show you the goodness of a community; the osx86 community is definitely that of a sharing community.  so here is my contribution

UPDATE: SD/MMC/MS card reader working using driver from here: http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=132679&pid=975994&mode=threaded&start=uses the same driver as the dell mini9 :)just a quick video of it in action below:

[youtube PYrYkjtvZ2M]

OTHER NOTES:

if you plan to swap out your wifi on the DV6700T, you will in turn need to flash a custom/hacked bios to allow for non-whitelisted devices to be used.  if you do not use a custom bios you will get a 104 error when trying to boot your laptop and in turn cannot boot into any os.

here is a good post w/links and instructions on flashing:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=120190

i used the F.58A bios on my DV6700T and it works great and has the Apple post logo too

———

to get kalyway 10.5.2 working on the hp dv6700t (my config or similar)

1. installed kalyway 10.5.2 custom build to partition 1

2. used default kernel (non vanilla) and speedstep; used nvidia NVInject 256 video and just generic hda audio (fixed later!)

3. booted fine; no sound though or wifi and shutdown issues

4. installed windows 7

5. broke osx install, had to repair per these noteshttp://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=33216

6. once bootloader was fixed; continued to resolve problems w/osx and audio.

7. got audio working both speakers, mic and buttons by doing the following.

install theAppleHDA ALC268 drivers from here:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=82025&hl=alc268&st=0

then went to this link and went through fixing shutdown issues
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=96434

however trying to update to 10.5.6 broke my audio and reason why i used an already updated distrib/installer

———–

just some good and related links for reference:

• Kalyway 10.5.2 to 10.5.6 @Insanely Mac
•  Set newer portable Macs’ sleep mode
•  Taruga and ALC268 audio working @Insanely Mac
•  Fix ALC268 and working shutdown @Insanely Mac
• AppleTimeFix for dual booters @Silverwolfs
• MSI Wind and OSX86 Wifi drivers @MSIWind.net

at one point in my life i recall having a multiboot setup of 5 different os’s. recently i’ve triple booted my msi wind w/3 os’s and my macbook air w/a mere dual boot…

however, recently i just redid my desktop setup and upgraded hard drives (did full backups, rotated out my older than 3 years old hdds; remember that hdds will fail and when they do its usually not right after  a backup). this time i decided to keep my current setup simple; just a single boot setup w/the option to dual boot w/any os i want by leaving a 100gb partition unallocated and unformated.

normally my desktop would be a multiboot setup of xp prof (32bit), mce 20005, vista ultimate 64bit, ubuntu, os x leo; in turn requiring a partition for each os.  i decided on not doing a multiboot setup due to the much improved performance of virtual machines in the last 2 years and the availability of memory for very cheap!  i just did a minor update to my desktop and went w/an AM2/AM2+ board and in turn the ability to run a 64bit os and 8gb of memory.

so now i run my other operating systems in vmware and in turn can keep my partitions much cleaner and much easier to rebuild/restoring after testing new apps or files (just in case they are virus ridden).  on the laptop front, i’ve come to realize that i really only end up using one of the operating systems and in turn go back to a single boot setup so i can reclaim the hdd space.

so yes, i admit that i really only do use one os on my computers but that os is dependent on what the computer is used for. windows is still my main one but os x is getting much more love on my laptops.  my macbook air w/the ssd upgrades really have taken the role of my portable machine.

i run the following:  vista ultimate 64bit on my desktop, vista and win7 on my msi wind, osx leo on my macbook air (but use parallels and xp), and vista for my hp.

so why do i multiboot? i do it for the knowledge acquired, keeping the skills fresh, and just for the geekiness that is multibooting.  whats more geeking than messing w/bootloader or the MBR or grub??

finally, here’s a few of my youtube vids of multibooting and various machines/setups.

Ubuntu on a TC1100

[youtube 1rvnK9SmXf]

Quad booting on my desktop

[youtube EJPWgDQhjQ0]

Triple booting w/osx

[youtube GWqg5RtW6eI]

HP DV6700t and OSX

[youtube WzRwHKGMz9M]

MSI Wind Triple boot (osx, xp, vista)

[youtube BjJ7JKbUe5c]

MSI Wind, OSX and Vmware demo

[youtube 3YHprxzxnN4]

MSI Wind triple boot (osx, ubuntu, xp)

[youtube APZyhMspnJE]

MSI Wind touchscreen mod, vista origami experience 2.0

[youtube Mp21JySw6dA]

Dell Latitude XT and Win7 beta

[youtube hioUYiWlHNQ]

Macbook Air (rev a, 64gb ssd) boot, sleep, shutdown times

[youtube -G-DorsOhMA]

being a windows poweruser/geek, i have become accustomed to installshield guides and registry hacking to get my settings and programs running.  however with OS X, installing applications is almost too easy.  just open and drag the app to the Applications folder.  wait? thats all?

yes, simplicity can be a beautiful thing.  this simplicity is shown throughout the whole operating system and applications. in this part 2 i will detail my personal experiences with OS X and the software side of things. again, this is probably a pretty boring read for any OS X hardcore users or power users. 

in my part 1 post, i basically outlined my impressions of mac hardware (macbook air).  its nicely designed, expensive, and for the most part pretty reliable.  for the most part it seems to me that most of the hardware is probably more power than most everyday users would ever need and in turn would explain why mac users never/very rarely complain of slowness or freezing (given it isn’t a failing hard drive).

so this post is more centered around me and getting myself familar using OS X Leopard from a windows power user/elite standpoint.

the first thing i’ve noticed from the start is that OS X is VERY INTUITIVE.  its almost too intuitive, especially for us windows users who are accustomed to using Installers, self-extracting .exe installers, .msi installs, etc.  installation of most programs is just a matter of mounting the .dmg file and then dragging the actual application to wherever you want it installed.    also, the application itself is an object not an individual file however the way it is presented to the end user is that its a single looking file.  this is pretty nice for the non-power user who just needs to install the application.

one of the biggest problems i have had with OS X is finding appropriate mac software that can replace what i’ve been using in a windows environment. however i realized that the easiest way to get around this was to just use VMWare Fusion and run a virtual XP on it.  i used Nlite and created a custom, slim-streamlined XP iso installer removing most of things i didn’t need (ie outlook express, msn messenger, msn explorer, extra device drivers i’d never use, etc).

apple’s own software suites are very nicely built and accessible (iwork and ilife). imovie is much more accessible for most users; i know i am still struggling to figure out premiere so imovie is a nice relief in its ease of use and features.  apple’s included templates in iwork are nicely done and fill most basic/general tasks.  garageband 09 is a pretty amazing piece of music software.  you can now use magic garageband to quickly craft a random mix based on a few template/genres.

and finally, i love being able to make a dashboard widget from any webpage or part of a webpage using Safari.  since minneapolis, mn is part of google’s transit web app, i decided to make a google transit widget that lets me find public transportation from any address that has bus service/routes. very handy!!

so yes, simplicity is beautiful.  now lets get some visuals! see some vids of os x in action on my macbook air.

Making your own google transits dashboard item in Leopard w/Safari

[youtube -5xD8L7uCRU]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5xD8L7uCRU

Front Row, Itunes, VMWare fusion demos

[youtube nn-KU8srbzo]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn-KU8srbzo

Itunes and Visualizer in action

[youtube gXiJewBdyl4]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXiJewBdyl4

and yes, the kool-aid is good but doesn’t always quench this geek’s thirst.  don’t worry windows, i still love you for your dvring and in turn i cannot see myself leaving microsoft as a main os in my household but rather i see a newly forged co-existence of os x and windows in this geeks world.

so far its an amazing piece of hardware and so tiny!

anywho, i hope to post a full review next week after i get a chance to take it for a full spin. until then, i thought i’d tease you with a few comparison pictures w/my macbook air and msi wind.

however, Q was looking to upgrade to the this year’s revision of the air and in turn sell his rev A, macbook air.  me being the sucker and gadget whore i am took him up on his offer and in turn have now converted to using my air as my main on-the-go laptop.

and well… os x leopard and mac hardware are a pretty good pair. i take that back, an amazing duo!  and yes, the kool-aid tastes pretty sweet.  keep reading for the first gulp and video of me opening up my air.

(this will be a multi-post blog)

i’ve always been a windows boy most of my geeky life.  however lately i’ve been dabbling back into my roots.  my first memories of a computer are of the green screened apple IIe’s in our old grade school’s library.  the highlight of the day would be getting a crack at typing and oregon trail.

in the next year, our county (a very rural area in mn) consolidated and in turn built a very modern, state-of-the-art high school.  we had ITV in each classroom along w/2 computers and 4 data jacks connected to the internet.the computers of choice initially were the first gen colored mac towers.  i remember scarfing down my lunch so i could run off to the computer lab and play some 2 on 2 in armor alley (via appletalk). oh the memories.i was lucky in that i had access to the internet before ads were allowed.  before google.  before msn.  when aol was the king and a popup was a kind of book for kids.  later though, our computer lab moved towards IBM PCs and in turn Windows.

my first taste of windows was 3.1 and very shortly after win 95.  after win 95, i shied away from apple and macs and in turn became the windows man i am.throughout the last few years, i’ve tried out an older mac or two but haven’t really ever spent much time using it.i’ve always hackintoshed nearly any laptop i get my hands on but in turn do not get a true apple experience. so my recent macbook air acquisition would allow me that.  now after having it over 2 weeks, i can finally give real feedback on OS X as it was intended.

Apple Design / Hardware

I’m not going to beat around the bush on this topic; Apple wins design over most and almost all laptop and consumer product companies. The Macbook Air is a piece of beauty.  This is NO $400 netbook; this is an ultraportable notebook.Most design cues that Apple introduces are usually so good that most companies will try to take the design and put ‘their spin’ on it.  This is (imo) a compliment to Apples taste and style.  I will admit that Apple does have a few cavets to their designs in that they like to dictate a specific connection type that may not always be industry standards or adopted (mini display port, firewire, etc) but do support them with most lines.

Also, another thing i have noticed for the most part is that the reason why OS X Leopard/Tiger/OS9 etc, all run/ran so great is the fact that Apple gives you more power than you think you really need.  This is probably why anyone’s experience with OSX is so much more a positive one in that there is rarely any lag or slowness (the macbook air may be an exception but that is just because of its size and its target market: the geek elite).

The Macbook Air is not a normal mac laptop atleast not in my opinion.  It is a high-end (but lowend, depending on what specs you look at) machine targeted at a rather smaller group of ‘cloud’ users and those who need a very portable but still capable laptop.  Storage space is probably the biggest con of such devices since it does use a 1.8″ ssd or single platter P-ATA drive (64gb or 80gb respectively).  This alone makes it hard for most ‘normal, everyday users’ to justify its high price for limited specs.  This is a complimenting laptop more than anything (again in my opinion).

The keyboard is a full sized on and also is backlit.  The touchpad is AMAZING.  It is huge and does multitouch gestures.  Initially the gestures took a few days getting used to but after a very short time i notice myself trying them on my work Dell XT and other laptops realizing that i’m doing nothing but just clicking.

Screen is very bright and clean and the builtin iSight and microphone are very convenient for google talk or skype or even screencasting.  Ports are very limited on it, which for some is a negative since it only has one usb port, one mini-display port and a headphone jack.   However the limited ports are to be expected on such a piece of hardware.

All in all, a very solidly built laptop with some very Mac-ish features that make it stand out.  Only downfalls i can see would be lack of optical drive (but then again it is an ultraportable and most do not come with one), limited ports, glossy screen can be hard in sunlight and some have noticed heat problems from the p-ata drive.

Coming shortly, part 2 and os x leopard from a windows users point of view…

btw, here is a video of me opening up my macbook air. i did cleanup the thermal grease on the gpu and cpu and also swapped my 80gb p-ata hdd for the 64gb ssd samsung (not in the video).

[youtube m062C4rLiE4]

Amazon’s Kindle 2

• Kindle 2: Play Minesweeper - While the Kindle is an excellent reading device, let’s face it, sometimes you just want to do something mindless for a spell. You can play Minesweeper on your Kindle, but everyone else will think you’re being productive.
• Kindle 2: Listening to Ebooks with Text-to-Speech - Sometimes it is inconvenient to be actually reading your ebook (when your driving is a good example!). Using Kindle’s Text-to-Speech functionality, you can listen to your ebook while you are busy doing something else, and then switch it off so you can continue reading from where it left off.
• Kindle 2: How To Reset the Device - If your Kindle locks up or fails to respond, you can easily reset it by following this tech-recipe.
• Convert PDF, DOC, TXT, and HTML Files for Reading on Your Kindle 2 - You’ve acquired a large collection of ebooks in various file formats over the years and want to put them on your Kindle, but how? If you are running a Windows computer, you can easily and freely convert them so that you can read them on your Kindle.
• Kindle 2: Listen to Music While You Read - If you enjoy listening to music while you read, then you’re in luck. By loading some of your favorite MP3’s onto your Kindle, you’ll be able to listen to your favorite songs as you read your ebook goodness.
• Create Photo Albums for Viewing Images on Your Kindle 2 - The Kindle 2’s 6″ high-resolution screen with 16 shades of gray makes it a decent and convenient way to view your favorite photos while you are on the go. By creating different directories for each subject type (such as family, friends, etc.), you can have your own photo albums for easily viewing the desired photos.
• Kindle 2: Using Keyboard Shortcuts - Keyboard shortcuts provide a quick way of performing various tasks on your Kindle. Once you get used to them, you will use them all of the time.
• Kindle 2: How to Increase the Size of Images in Ebooks - While reading a book on your Kindle, you come across an image that you’d like to take a closer look at. You can magnify the image by following this tech-recipe.
• Kindle 2: Using Search Options to Extend the Searching Capacity of the Device - It’s bound to happen, you are reading an ebook and come across something that you would like to find some more information on. By using your Kindle’s search line and selecting the appropriate option, you can search your items, the Kindle Store, Google, Wikipedia, the Dictionary as well as any notes you have attached to the ebook.
• Kindle 2: How To Delete Ebooks, Photos and Items - It’s easy to get books, pictures, music files and other items on your Kindle. At some point, you are going to need to remove some of this to make room for more stuff. Here’s how to delete the files off of your Kindle 2.