Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

Here is an interesting article from Mark Cuban. He is discussing the NBCUniversal/Comcast deal and Al Franken. I was reading my RSS feeds and came across this post from Mark. It got me thinking on 1. the future of media (cost) 2. how legislation could inadvertently change how and what media we get.

It is worth the read.

http://blogmaverick.com/2010/02/24/senator-al-franken-is-requesting-user-caps-on-internet-bandwidth/

I mainly develop inside of a virtual server / application. In the last year I have been using Virtualbox instead of Virtual PC. I have a base image that I use as a testing machine. It is a base Windows XP image. I recently discovered that I could save some disk space by using a few commands to shrink / compact the vdi file.

To do this you will need to install a small application Nullfile (http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/nullfile-1.02.exe) This allows the empty disk space / unused data bytes to be filled with zero-bytes. You can read more about this at (feyrer.de/g4u/)

Once you have the file copy it to your Virtual Image. Run a disk defrag on your Virtual box system. After running a few defrags, you now need to just run the nullfile.exe. You only need to doubleclick the .exe.

Once the file is done, shut down your virtual image.
Open a command prompt and navigate to the directory where your vdi file is located. Mine is c:\vpc

Once in that directory we will be running the vboxmanage utility. On my Windows 7 pc it is located at C:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe

Here is the command we will be using modifyhd -compact

“C:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe” modifyhd -compact “c:\vpc\BaseXP.vdi”

Once this was completed my virtual image went from 4.3Gig to 2.7Gig.

Have fun with this utility. I was able to shrink my typical Windows 2008 server image to a much smaller size.

I have been asked a few times to share the steps that I used to get all my photos off my iphone. Here are the basic steps to download all the photos on your iphone using Windows XP or Windows 7:
Windows XP:
1. Attach your iphone via usb cable
2. When XP asks what application to use select: (Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard)

3. It will then attempt to read the files

4. XP will then start the import wizard

5. You then can select all photos are a subset

6. At this step you can label your pictures and select the directory to save the images.

7. The import process will now begin (may take a few minutes)

8. You are now complete and can close the window


I hope this little tutorial helps. I was able to get all images saved and have a backup.

I have posted before the Media center plug-ins that I have used with my media center.  After upgrading my Mediacenter PC to Windows 7, some of my favorite ones no longer work.

My absolute favorite : Web Guide (WebGuide) will not work with 7.  I hope they come up with some type of fix / new version

However, there are a few great plug-ins that you should look at for media center 7. 

Hack7mc has a great list that I think covers almost all of them.  The only item I think they missed was MyMovies.

So head on over and check out the list.  You should add this to your MC7:

http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/04/5-plug-ins-every-windows-7-media-center-install-should-be-using.html

The primary laptop that I use (Thinkpad) just got re-installed tonight. I was using the Beta / RC of Windows 7 Since Nov of 2008. I just realized that it was due to expire in the next 2 weeks. Early last year I purchased 3 copies of windows 7 Premium for 50 dollars each on Amazon during a pre-order event. I just had never taken the time to re-image / install.

The wonderful thing about this install was that there was no upgrade. You just get the joy of a fresh install.

I did use my new favorite installer (http://www.allmyapps.com) to get all my easy applications back.

I finally had the chance to test the new Logiitech Touch application (Logitech touch)

What a great little app. You essentially install the server side of this app on the computer you want to control, then run the app on your iphone. The iphone app lists all available (controllable) systems on your network. You then can use the mouse / keyboard by moving around on your touch or iphone.

This is a great feature to add to my Home theater system (windows media center). It seems to be nicer than typing on my windows remote.

The site iisinformation.com has recently gone through a re-launch. Head on over to www.iisinformation.com to check it out.

The move from community server to wordpress was successful.

So I decided to jailbreak my iphone again. This time I was taking a trip out west SteamBoat and wanted the ability to tether my phone and get internet access. I had previously purchased an iPhone app (iphonemodem) and had success.

However, this time I decided to try a new app for tethering. Mywi (http://www.rockyourphone.com/index.php/mywi.html). What an amazing app. I was in the Chicago airport with a layover and was able to get some work done with out having to pay for wi-fi.

MyWi basically allows you to turn your iPhone into a wireless access point. I set the app to have an SSID of SecureWebAccess and then used WEP and a password to secure it. After those 2 steps, all I had to do was connect to it with my laptop like any other wireless network. Just for that trip it was worth every penny.

As for other jailbreak applications, I use ROCK manager and have installed a few other tools that allow me to quickly change settings with just two clicks.

Who else has had good luck with Jailbreak?