Chris Drumgoole

Well, sort of.

I’ve got an S60 mobile phone (the Nokia N82). This application, JoikuSpot, when installed on my S60 device, creates a WIFI Hotspot which shares the GPRS connection. I can then connect to this hotspot using my iPod Touch while, oh, sitting in Beijing traffic!

This solves the only real complaint I had with the iPod Touch (no bluetooth for internet connection sharing).

Rocking!

Buy Data!

Those of you in China, be sure to buy a data plan from China Mobile or China Unicom! Otherwise you’ll be surprised with a rather large bill at the end of the month (or your employer will be surprised, which ever the case may be).

I have the 100RMB a month for 800 MB of data. I’ll monitor this to see how it goes. I hope this is enough…

Some Initial Concerns

As this is “beta”, there are some deficiencies worth mentioning. First, the hotspot it creates doesn’t have any security yet. Yikes! Joiku, the software maker, states future versions will add security. Let’s hope this becomes a reality sooner rather than later. Second, I am curious what the battery consumption on my N82 will be after a 30 minute cab ride. I’ll report back if I notice any excessive consumption. What’s probably more of a concern is me hitting, and then bypassing my monthly limit of 800Megs.

GigaOm suggested not to use this application unless you had a nice 3G service for your phone. But in actuality, now that China Mobile has Edge, the speeds are acceptable, at least for the time being.

Here are some screenshots I created from my S60 device:

It was a very small download and quick install. It automatically placed the icon in the Applications folder.

After running the application, it first asks whether you want to share your connection. When you select “yes” it will ask what connection to share. For me, I shared the “CMNET” connection (note, this is only valid for China Mobile).

Now, you can see the Wifi Hotspot is connected and available for your device(s) to access.

After selecting the JaikuSpot Wifi hotspot on my iPod Touch, I can began accessing Websites. On the phone, it shows you how much data is being sent in both directions.

You can also see what devices are connected - a useful feature, at least until security is added to the app.

I’ve been back in Beijing for a few days and have had a chance to play with my new gadget, the iPod Touch. Here are some observations:

• I jailbreaked it. Currently at version 1.1.2 - waiting to upgrade to 1.1.3 until the jailbreak process is more fullproof. Here are my jailbreaking notes.
• It’s slick - nice interface, and Safari + Wifi makes it a nice toy while at the coffee shop.
• I am surprised why Apple decided to make 2 partitions - the first one is around 300 MB, the 2nd one, for lal your data, spans the rest of the storage (in my case, almost 8GB). The problem with this 300 MB limitation on the first partition is that is where the applications are installed to. I am already full! I have read though that people have simply moved the Applications folder to the other partition and created a symbolic link. I’ll try that today or tomorrow. But, why bother with 2 partitions?
• I wish it had Bluetooth (and consequently Bluetooth-enabled internet access). I’d love to be able to pair it with my mobile phone so I could access the Internet in the taxi. YES, I know that an iPhone is essentially this! But I didn’t buy an iPhone, did I?! (besides, unlocking would have been a pain, more expensive, etc.)
• The build quality and packaging is surpurb. Nice all-metal casing, glass scratch-resistant face - gadgets are getting somewhere!
• I haven’t gotten music and movies to sync properly yet with gtkpod or amarok. I’m following this guide, and am getting close! Will hopefully get this working soon. The files transfer, but the iTunes DB doesn’t get updated properly. But, I won’t be using this as my primary multimedia device. I want it primarily for these two reasons:
  • Internet Tablet
  • Big(ger) screen movie viewing during travel

Well folks, I think I have out done myself this time.

Really…

As some of you may know, I had to make an unexpected trip to the U.S. for a funeral. Well, I am currently on my way back to China - I am at the Minneapolis airport waiting for my flight to Narita.

Well, on the way to the lounge, I found this neet ZoomSystems vending machine selling ipods, among other things. Here’s a photo I borrowed from anoither website, click on the image to go to that Website.

Just for fun, I went to it and played around with the touch screen interface. Hmm, they have iPod Touch’s. It sure would be nice to watch my videos on that nice 3.5″ screen instead of the smaller 2.5″, or whatever it is, that I have on my 5G iPod Video… Hmm, the 8GB model is US$279.99… I figured I could transfer my videos over between the two iPods during my almost 3 hour layover. The plan was perfect!

A quick impulsive credit card swipe later, I was the new proud owner of the iPod Touch. And because it wasn’t an iPhone, it wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) have any nasty activation issues.

Ha!!

It turns out that this bloody thing REQUIRES you to “activate”, or initialize it using iTunes. And, of course, iTunes runs only on Windows and Mac.

The world is not fair for us freedom loving trouble makers…

Here’s a picture of my currently useless iPod Touch plugged into my old Appe PowerBook G4 running Ubuntu. Oh, the irony. I just had to have Linux on this thing, huh?

As you can see, it requests a connection to iTunes. Grrr…

So, I’m stuck not being able to use my new toy until AFTER my long flight - which was the main reason I bought it in the first place!

And here’s a random tidbit… For fun, I decided to scan the lounge for open bluetooth devices. Here’s a screenshot:

Steve is my phone, but it’s interesting to note the 3 computers with bluetooth and the 2 BlackBerrys. Is it normal for BlackBerry to have Bluetooth open? Maybe it’s those people with the stupid bluetooth ear pieces with the annoying “I’m Cool, But Not Really” blinking blue light…

Oh well, time to go to my plane…

So I guess I should retire the ‘ol “N95″ category for this blog.

“Wait, What?!”

…you may be asking yourself… Yes, I did just buy it in June of this year, so that’s… 5 months and a few days of ownership. Man, I think that’s a record for me!

Here’s the reason:

I want an iPhone. There. I said it.

My dutch friend (yes, the fact that he is Dutch has just about zero relevance here) accused me of “flip flopping”. Yes, I would agree with that….

I went from using an Apple for my first computer, to hating Apple, to buying an iPod, then Airport Express, then a Powerbook, to hating Apple again, to installing Linux on my Powerbook (a post is in the works), and now back to wanting to get an iPhone.

Can I not just make up my mind and stick with it?!

Simple answer: No. With technology, I cannot make up my mind. 

Great, but didn’t I just buy the N95? Money don’t grow on trees, son!

Read the title of this entry: I sold the N95 for RMB 2600 (yes, he did a good look over today and found all the nicks and scratches….). I’ll be in Portland, Oregon on the 21st of December. I’ll buy the iPhone there for US$399. Tax free. That’s around ~2950 RMB. So, it’s a NETT ~300 (depending of exchange rate fluctuation from now ’til then) for a new phone.

The ONLY two things I am going to miss are the 5mpx camera and the GPS mapping. But I can live with that. I have a nice 6mpx Canon point-and-shoot, and maybe I’ll get the Garmin Nuvi. Maybe not…

China don’t have no 3G, so don’t need that shiz.

One of the things I critisized theiPhone was in the past was the lack of earth-shattering technical advances - specifically that it only packed 2.5G (Edge).

The N95 worked on just about any network available on earth. quad band GSM, UMTS, WCDMA, X59TQP, AJAX75, POS1000, whatever blah blah. (Ok, not the U.S. 3G network, but I don’t live there, so…) I now realize: who gives a crap!? I don’t travel much outside of China…

Seeing that China won’t be getting 3G (or at least a western-standard for 3G) any time soon, it doesn’t make any difference.

Also, let’s not forget that Beijing just upgraded to EDGE. So the iPhone fits perfectly here.

So, Chris is a Mac geek now!

Not so fast there. I am perfectly happy with my Linux set-up at home. I still don’t like OSX, for various reasons. And I still don’t support Apple’s sadistic genius business model(s), as a consumer, that is.

But remember - I won’t be using the iPhone in the states. I’ll be hapilly using it, unlocked, on the China Mobile network. No profit sharing from me! I’m sticken it to the “man”!

The guys at symbianguru have great spoofs off Apple’s Mac vs. PC commercials, although this time, its Nokia N95 vs. Apple iPhone.  I suggest you watch them.  Those of you in China, Typepad (where symbianguru is hosted) is blocked (no surprise), so below are the YouTube links.

1. N95 vs. iPhone - MMS
2. N95 vs. iPhone - Camera
3. N95 vs. iPhone - Internet
4. N95 vs. iPhone - GPS
5. N95 vs. iPhone - Going to China?
6. N95 vs. iPhone - ??? (Not posted yet)

I suggest we all stop for a moment, step back, take a deep breath, and start using our brains.  The iPhone is all hype - been there, done that.  It doesn’t provide any tangible technological advances that you won’t see on any other phone.

It’s typical Apple style - “let’s market eye candy” to make up for the technological deficiencies.

I’m glad I live in China where I am not bombarded with the iPhone hype at every street corner.

Yesterday marked a complete shift in my idealogical thinking.

I used to have the opinion that console game systems were worthless.  “Just buy a really good computer and play games on that!” I would say.  Heck, I prefer the Mouse + Keyboard combination over a controller any way.

I used to play console systems.  I had an NES, an SNES, then switched to computer gaming, then got an original XBOX for Christmas in 2001, I think.  Or was it 2002?  Any way, that was pretty cool, although it was essentially an Intel-based PC with an nVidia graphics card.  Then I decided, when I sold the XBOX and moved to China, never again!

But, That is all changed, now.

With my almost-obsession with the “connected home”, my plan was to have a good desktop (not purchased yet) to become the keeper of my media.  Photos, music, tv shows, movies, etc.  (Of course I would still buy DVDs, I am talking about downloaded media).  Then I would have a “Media Extender” which would … “extend” my media from the PC to the TV.  What to get, I asked?  the Apple TV, when it comes out?  Man, $300 is a chunk of money for that…  A Media Extender from Netgear or Linksys or other 3rd party?  Possibly…  But then I ran across the XBOX 360.

The X360 will act as a Media Extender with a Media Center 2005 PC or a Vista PC.  AND, it plays games!  AND, its only slightly more than the $300 the Apple TV costs (and that guy doesn’t play games).

So, I bought an XBOX 360 yesterday.  And a bunch of games to go with it.

3 words: Pretty damn cool.

I especially like Need for Speed: Carbon and Rainbow Six: Vegas.

I won’t be able to test the Media Extender capabilities for a few months until i buy my new PC - am waiting for Vista to come out.

Something I don’t like about the X360 is the fact that I have to pay money to play multiplayer games online.  That sucks.  BUT, the international-access internet in China sucks monkey balls, so I suppose I’ll be playing solo for the time being.

IMG_1637.JPG

Originally uploaded by chrisdrum.

Well, it seems to be a tradition of mine. Whenever I go to the U.S. on business, and I take my powerbook, it somehow gets damaged. This time - at the company outing the night before my flight. I had my powerbook in the computer bag over my sholder, stepped on a loose rock around the fire pit, it moved, I fell on the bag. Ouch. It takes a beating though - the thing still works!

$50 iBooks cause stampede!

Source: The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Wow, I am truly amazed. People will go to this much trouble to get their hands on a 4 year old Apple iBook. People: It’s 4 years old! Come on! Don’t give me the BS answer/excuse “oh, I don’t have a computer” blah blah. 4 years old. 4 Years Old! 4 YEARS OLD!!!

If I were one of the idiots who decided to camp out at, say, 4am, and I saw that many many more people have camped out for several hours earlier, I think I would have enough sense to say “Screw it” and go home to sleep. Sadly, there are idiots out there - those that just don’t use their brains - that decided “eh, why not - I might just get my hands on a new lap top.” Wrong! It’s old moron! Must have been before their morning coffee.

Spend $300 for a new computer at your local CompUSA. Jeez.

Go [here](http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784465530) for brilliant slide shows of the event.

If you are like me and owns an [Apple Airport Express](http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/), and you live in Beijing using China Netcom ADSL, don’t upgrade to the firmware 6.2. (I can’t seem to find the link to this new firmware on Apple’s website anymore, so I wonder if it is a problem all around).

Any way, it seems that from v6.1.1 to v6.2, they broke PPPoE. Nice work. Last week, my phone and ADSL cut out because I forgot to pay the bill, but that also happened around the same time I upgraded the firmware. I didn’t realize this connection as I figured the ADSL was not working due to being shut off. Any way, I paid. Still nothing. If there is one thing China is good at, is providing service only when people pay. i.e. if you pay, service is active instantly. if you don’t, it is turned off instantly. Impressive.

But, the ADSL wasn’t working. So I decided to try plugging the computer directly to the ADSL modem and use the PPPoE software on the computer. It worked. Good thing they let you upload an older firmware! So, it works now.

Tomorrow morning, I have a 6am conference call with the states. So I am going to have a relatively early night tonight - as opposed to last night when I got home around 1/1:30. Two old friends of mine are in town, one who left China last year to go to school, the other, I went to uni with. They are a couple now - a very small world.

My headphone jack on my powerbook is on the frits. Only one side works - the left to be exact. I have tried several headphones, same issue. (they work fine with my iPod). Grrr. I wonder what is next…

You may have noticed the “Recently Watched” / “Currently Watching” sections on the left (scroll down…). The formatting is still crap. I’ll get to fixing it one of these days, sorry. I have spent some time modifying the css, but, alas, I am hardly a css wizard. Any special ideas?

And remember I posted how Flickr was [broken](http://www.cdrum.com/?p=253) when the servers moved to the US? And how I had to modify the links in the plugin to www-us.flickr…….? Well, I think they got their act together, which means, I had to revert to the unchanged plugin file. No idea how long my gallery was broken…. grr