From a bit of Googling last time I wanted to clean up the autocomplete
The two files that contain web addresses and history and which can be removed are:
"Blazer BF-History" and
"Blazer URL Autofill"
These files are stored on internal memory. They can be deleted using a file manager like Filez (freeware).
http://www.freewarepalm.com/utilities/filez.shtml
Blazer will recreate new clean files the next time it's opened.
Wednesday 8 December 2010
Saturday 27 November 2010
Free unlock codes for Orange San Francisco (AKA ZTE Blade)
I'm still very pleased with the Orange San Francisco Android phone but I'm a little less pleased with the Orange data charges and I'm considering getting a foreign SIM for when I go to France on holiday so I was interested in getting the phone unlocked.
There were various cheap unlocks on ebay but I came accross a link to a free unlock code generator site.
http://www.nextgenserver.com/calculator/
I put in the IMEI code and it generated an 8 digit number.
I put a Vodafone SIM in the Orange San Francisco and it asked for an unlock code. I entered the 8 digit number and the phone was unlocked and registered with Vodafone.
I've yet to get the data connection working on Vodafone as it was just an experiment and that SIM doesn't have cheap data on it.
The lack of APN settings (I guess) prevented the phone from signing in with Google for the mail and it complained about that.
When I have a SIM with data that I actually want to use I'll experiment with APN settings. There were none in the list with the Vodafone SIM in so I guess the Orange APN settings come with the SIM.
When I put the Orange SIM back in everything worked but I had to enter my Google password again.
I've seen no signs as yet of any malware on the PC as a result of my visit to http://www.nextgenserver.com/calculator/ if there prove to be any issues I'll update.
There were various cheap unlocks on ebay but I came accross a link to a free unlock code generator site.
http://www.nextgenserver.com/calculator/
I put in the IMEI code and it generated an 8 digit number.
I put a Vodafone SIM in the Orange San Francisco and it asked for an unlock code. I entered the 8 digit number and the phone was unlocked and registered with Vodafone.
I've yet to get the data connection working on Vodafone as it was just an experiment and that SIM doesn't have cheap data on it.
The lack of APN settings (I guess) prevented the phone from signing in with Google for the mail and it complained about that.
When I have a SIM with data that I actually want to use I'll experiment with APN settings. There were none in the list with the Vodafone SIM in so I guess the Orange APN settings come with the SIM.
When I put the Orange SIM back in everything worked but I had to enter my Google password again.
I've seen no signs as yet of any malware on the PC as a result of my visit to http://www.nextgenserver.com/calculator/ if there prove to be any issues I'll update.
Saturday 13 November 2010
UK PAYG mobile data cost as at November 2010
I've not found a good "data centric" comparison of the UK mobile networks. I make very few personal mobile calls but I use a fair bit of data. I've also bought an Android phone so I'm very interested in mobile data costs.
Vodafone
Vodafone have recently introduced "Freebee" on pay as you go.
If you top up by £10 you get £10 in credit plus 300 texts and 500MB of web access "free".
The "free" standard UK texts and UK web access expire after 30 days.
I can't find a data bundle to buy from Vodafone.
Orange
Orange have a PAY deal called Dolphin which gives "free" internet and texts.
If you top up by £10 you get 300 "free" texts plus 100MB of "free" internet.
An additional 250MB can be bought for £5 which also lasts a month.
T Mobile
T Mobile don't seem to have any "free" data but their bundles seem quite reasonable
5 day Internet on your phone £2.50 Unlimited internet for 5 days
1 month Internet on you phone £5.00 Unlimited internet for 1 month
6 month Internet on you phone £20.00 Unlimited internet for 6 months
It seems that "Unlimited" has a fair use policy of 1GB each month.
O2
O2 have a similar deal to Vodafone, this is called "Text and Web" and can be activated by calling 2202 FREE or Text TEXTANDWEB to 21300.
Top-up £10 - £14 Get 300 UK texts and 500MB UK data. This seems to last a month.
3
Historically "3" have had the edge on mobile data. The now withdrawn 3Pay tariff had the attractive feature of 150MB of internet which lasted for 3 months with a £5 top up. The current tariff is "Pay As You Go on Three" which also gives you 150MB of internet with a £5 topup but it only lasts a month.
"3" now have a slightly different approach to bundles. A £10 bundle gets you calls texts and 500MB of Internet but once the month has gone, so has the £10 of credit. Alternatively there is the £5 500MB for a month deal.
Conclusion
Sadly Orange seem to have the worst deal for my Android San Francisco so it's down to the unlockers for me shortly.
I have a Vodafone SIM in an old phone so I may change that to have "Freebee" but the credit would build up if I used it regularly.
I'm very interested in the T Mobile 6 month £20 deal. Perhaps I will get that once my initial Orange £10 top up has been used up.
Vodafone
Vodafone have recently introduced "Freebee" on pay as you go.
If you top up by £10 you get £10 in credit plus 300 texts and 500MB of web access "free".
The "free" standard UK texts and UK web access expire after 30 days.
I can't find a data bundle to buy from Vodafone.
Orange
Orange have a PAY deal called Dolphin which gives "free" internet and texts.
If you top up by £10 you get 300 "free" texts plus 100MB of "free" internet.
An additional 250MB can be bought for £5 which also lasts a month.
T Mobile
T Mobile don't seem to have any "free" data but their bundles seem quite reasonable
5 day Internet on your phone £2.50 Unlimited internet for 5 days
1 month Internet on you phone £5.00 Unlimited internet for 1 month
6 month Internet on you phone £20.00 Unlimited internet for 6 months
It seems that "Unlimited" has a fair use policy of 1GB each month.
O2
O2 have a similar deal to Vodafone, this is called "Text and Web" and can be activated by calling 2202 FREE or Text TEXTANDWEB to 21300.
Top-up £10 - £14 Get 300 UK texts and 500MB UK data. This seems to last a month.
3
Historically "3" have had the edge on mobile data. The now withdrawn 3Pay tariff had the attractive feature of 150MB of internet which lasted for 3 months with a £5 top up. The current tariff is "Pay As You Go on Three" which also gives you 150MB of internet with a £5 topup but it only lasts a month.
"3" now have a slightly different approach to bundles. A £10 bundle gets you calls texts and 500MB of Internet but once the month has gone, so has the £10 of credit. Alternatively there is the £5 500MB for a month deal.
Conclusion
Sadly Orange seem to have the worst deal for my Android San Francisco so it's down to the unlockers for me shortly.
I have a Vodafone SIM in an old phone so I may change that to have "Freebee" but the credit would build up if I used it regularly.
I'm very interested in the T Mobile 6 month £20 deal. Perhaps I will get that once my initial Orange £10 top up has been used up.
Orange San Francisco
I have had a hankering for a smart (or at least smarter than my Sony Ericsson k530) phone for a while.
I had been looking at the Nokia 5800 but that was persistantly sticking around the £200 mark on PAYG or unlocked.
I liked the iPhone but the cost was too high for something I might well loose.
Recently the cheap Android phone from ZTE (the blade) as sold as an own brand by Orange has been getting good recommendations so I went to have a look in a shop.
It isn't the swishest piece of consumer electronics I have ever held but it looked fine as a phone switched off.
When turned on the screen resolution and display quality is very good.
The touch screen operation is well up to the standard of my iPod Touch and it works well.
On WiFi (the fairest test) it is at least the equal of the iPod Touch in terms of browsing the internet.
Out and about on the mobile metwork performance is more variable.
I've experienced various strange "hangs" in appplications but I think this is lack of connection.
I'm considering getting the unit unlocked from Orange and trying a "3" SIM in it as from the experience of other phones "3" seem to be a bit better round my way.
The other factor is the cost of PAYG data on the network.
"3" used to be the best for this but others now seem as good or better. See another post for more details.
I had been looking at the Nokia 5800 but that was persistantly sticking around the £200 mark on PAYG or unlocked.
I liked the iPhone but the cost was too high for something I might well loose.
Recently the cheap Android phone from ZTE (the blade) as sold as an own brand by Orange has been getting good recommendations so I went to have a look in a shop.
It isn't the swishest piece of consumer electronics I have ever held but it looked fine as a phone switched off.
When turned on the screen resolution and display quality is very good.
The touch screen operation is well up to the standard of my iPod Touch and it works well.
On WiFi (the fairest test) it is at least the equal of the iPod Touch in terms of browsing the internet.
Out and about on the mobile metwork performance is more variable.
I've experienced various strange "hangs" in appplications but I think this is lack of connection.
I'm considering getting the unit unlocked from Orange and trying a "3" SIM in it as from the experience of other phones "3" seem to be a bit better round my way.
The other factor is the cost of PAYG data on the network.
"3" used to be the best for this but others now seem as good or better. See another post for more details.
Friday 3 September 2010
Recovering a Buffalo Link station
I bought a secondhand Network Attached Storage unit recently.
I have another identical unit which has been fantastic.
This one "played dead" and when reset booted into "Engineering Mode" or "Emergency Mode".
I could find the device on the network (indirectly by the address given by the DHCP table on the router) and it would respond to a ping but that was it.
When trying the web browser interface using the now known IP address nothing happened and the browser timed out and when I installed the "navigator" software on a PC it found it but said it was in "engineering mode".
After more Googling I found a "firmware update" program from Buffalo ( LSUpdater.exe ).
The instructions I found at " http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/The_LinkStation_firmware_flasher " were very useful in applying it.
After changing the web interface language from Japanese to English (!) all seems to be well.
If you are thinking of buying a NAS don't let this put you off. I suspect the one I bought was the victim of a misguided (and unsuccesful)attempt to delete data on it before selling it.
My current one has been great and I've high hopes for this new one as well.
I have another identical unit which has been fantastic.
This one "played dead" and when reset booted into "Engineering Mode" or "Emergency Mode".
I could find the device on the network (indirectly by the address given by the DHCP table on the router) and it would respond to a ping but that was it.
When trying the web browser interface using the now known IP address nothing happened and the browser timed out and when I installed the "navigator" software on a PC it found it but said it was in "engineering mode".
After more Googling I found a "firmware update" program from Buffalo ( LSUpdater.exe ).
The instructions I found at " http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/The_LinkStation_firmware_flasher " were very useful in applying it.
After changing the web interface language from Japanese to English (!) all seems to be well.
If you are thinking of buying a NAS don't let this put you off. I suspect the one I bought was the victim of a misguided (and unsuccesful)attempt to delete data on it before selling it.
My current one has been great and I've high hopes for this new one as well.
Sunday 25 July 2010
Pocket Tunes
There are many many applications for the iPod Touch/iPhone and generally I've found that free applications are fine.
I use the iPod Touch for listening to Internet radio and I'm fussy about radio applications.
The best free one I found was Fstream but that could have had a few better features.
I have Pocket Tunes on my Palm Lifedrive and that is excellent given the constraints of the hardware.
So I invested in Pocket Tunes for the iPod touch. This was £4 well spent. It records, has an extensive list of stations and works well.
I use the iPod Touch for listening to Internet radio and I'm fussy about radio applications.
The best free one I found was Fstream but that could have had a few better features.
I have Pocket Tunes on my Palm Lifedrive and that is excellent given the constraints of the hardware.
So I invested in Pocket Tunes for the iPod touch. This was £4 well spent. It records, has an extensive list of stations and works well.
Saturday 17 July 2010
Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area 0x00000050
I often find myself undertaking computer support for family members.
One has an Acer desktop PC with Windows XP on it.
It is a typical "casual user" PC and runs AVG free antivirus.
I had a phonecall saying that it wouldn't turn off.
I recommended holding the button and it turned off.
When turned on again it would get to the account selection page (or perhaps half way through loading the account and starting up) then crash and reboot.
Safe mode didn't help (or work) and nothing would make the machine complete booting up.
Turning off the automatic reboot on error got a Blue Screen Of Death to appear which said
"Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area" "0x00000050"
This provided something to work on.
Googling suggested hardware faults, viruses and a few other things.
I have a Bart PE CD and booting the machine up with that worked OK.
Hardware tests using utilities on that CD all checked out OK and it was perfectly stable on Bart PE.
I then came across a very helpful hint in a forum which pointed me at a conflict between AVG and the Acer E-Lock Management utility.
I booted using Bart PE, found "eLock2FSCTLDriver.sys" in C:\WINDOWS\system32\eLock2FSCTLDriver.sys and renamed it and a similarly named file to have an underscore in front of them.
Having done that the PC booted (Hooray !) and I uninstalled AVG. I then uninstalled every useless and pointless Acer utility for good measure.
The machine now starts up fine.
I put on Microsoft Security essentials instead of AVG. I use this on a machine at home which had another AVG issue.
Hopefully this will help someone else.
One has an Acer desktop PC with Windows XP on it.
It is a typical "casual user" PC and runs AVG free antivirus.
I had a phonecall saying that it wouldn't turn off.
I recommended holding the button and it turned off.
When turned on again it would get to the account selection page (or perhaps half way through loading the account and starting up) then crash and reboot.
Safe mode didn't help (or work) and nothing would make the machine complete booting up.
Turning off the automatic reboot on error got a Blue Screen Of Death to appear which said
"Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area" "0x00000050"
This provided something to work on.
Googling suggested hardware faults, viruses and a few other things.
I have a Bart PE CD and booting the machine up with that worked OK.
Hardware tests using utilities on that CD all checked out OK and it was perfectly stable on Bart PE.
I then came across a very helpful hint in a forum which pointed me at a conflict between AVG and the Acer E-Lock Management utility.
I booted using Bart PE, found "eLock2FSCTLDriver.sys" in C:\WINDOWS\system32\eLock2FSCTLDriver.sys and renamed it and a similarly named file to have an underscore in front of them.
Having done that the PC booted (Hooray !) and I uninstalled AVG. I then uninstalled every useless and pointless Acer utility for good measure.
The machine now starts up fine.
I put on Microsoft Security essentials instead of AVG. I use this on a machine at home which had another AVG issue.
Hopefully this will help someone else.
Saturday 26 June 2010
A bit of trouble updating an iPod Touch to iOS 4.0
I had my doubts about the wisdom of updating the firmware of my iPod Touch to 4.0 from 3.1.3 and in retrospect I was right.
It all seemed to be going well at first but what was probably intended to be the final stage crashed when doing the restore of my content.
None of the music was there but the apps were. However none of the added apps worked.
A re-sync got the music back but still no working apps. The music was in it's full 256kb/s glory not the 128kb/s AAC+ which I had previously squashed it to.
Perhaps this was part of the trouble, the previous back up didn't fit in my 8GB iPod Touch with a film I had on it.
I followed the advice on the Apple website about de-authorising and re-authorising. I then deleted, re-downloaded and synced the apps.
Finally, in desparation I reset the iPod Touch. Then, after re-syncing it all worked. It also came up with a new background on the home screen.
Others might have had more trouble getting their touch to work again.
It all seemed to be going well at first but what was probably intended to be the final stage crashed when doing the restore of my content.
None of the music was there but the apps were. However none of the added apps worked.
A re-sync got the music back but still no working apps. The music was in it's full 256kb/s glory not the 128kb/s AAC+ which I had previously squashed it to.
Perhaps this was part of the trouble, the previous back up didn't fit in my 8GB iPod Touch with a film I had on it.
I followed the advice on the Apple website about de-authorising and re-authorising. I then deleted, re-downloaded and synced the apps.
Finally, in desparation I reset the iPod Touch. Then, after re-syncing it all worked. It also came up with a new background on the home screen.
Others might have had more trouble getting their touch to work again.
Tuesday 4 May 2010
send.vodafone.net
Not only is the 3 SMTP server a bit hit and miss but send.vodafone.net seems to be a black hole.
Perhaps my e-mails will appear.
Back to the search for a very cheap or free SMTP server supplier.
Perhaps my e-mails will appear.
Back to the search for a very cheap or free SMTP server supplier.
More Bluetooth DUN trouble
I was in a relatively remote part of the UK for the weekend and neither 3 or their roaming partner had any coverage to offer me.
Vodafone could manage a GSM signal so I tried to get the Bluetooth DUN working to the Vodafone working again.
Eventually I did (but I didn't know why) and a bit of Googleing on "cdgcont" lead me to this excellent explanation of different phones and their use of the context definition.
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Setup/3G
The differences between Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones listed were particularly enlightening.
Vodafone could manage a GSM signal so I tried to get the Bluetooth DUN working to the Vodafone working again.
Eventually I did (but I didn't know why) and a bit of Googleing on "cdgcont" lead me to this excellent explanation of different phones and their use of the context definition.
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/HOWTO/Setup/3G
The differences between Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones listed were particularly enlightening.
Saturday 6 March 2010
Making an MP3 file appear as podcast in iTunes
To make an MP3 file imported into iTunes appear as a Podcast as against music in the library a tag needs to be added to the MP3.
To make a file appear as a podcast first edit it using ID3-TagIT
Switch to "Shown TAG Ver. 2".
select your file and right click on it.
then "Tag Ver 2 functions" - "Edit Tag Ver 2"
and you will get a display with 7 tabs.
Putting information in the "Main Entries" for Lead Artist, Title & Album
will make this appear in iTunes but the tab needed to make a podcast is "User Defined Frames".
Put "PCST" in the text frame descriptor and "Podcast" then click "Add user text frame" then click "OK".
This will have added a tag which ITunes will recognise.
Now import into iTunes.
At this point when the file in in "music" do "Get Info" and "options" and tick "Remember playback position" and "OK".
Then, "Get Info", "Options", and change Media Kind: to "Podcast"
Then the file appears in iTunes in the "Podcasts" section.
To make your recording come up with a nice picture a small JPEG can be added to the file. Add through "Options" "Artwork" "Add" "OK".
(later addition)
You can skip the first bit by importing the file as a normal song and then setting the "media kind" to "podcast".
To make a file appear as a podcast first edit it using ID3-TagIT
Switch to "Shown TAG Ver. 2".
select your file and right click on it.
then "Tag Ver 2 functions" - "Edit Tag Ver 2"
and you will get a display with 7 tabs.
Putting information in the "Main Entries" for Lead Artist, Title & Album
will make this appear in iTunes but the tab needed to make a podcast is "User Defined Frames".
Put "PCST" in the text frame descriptor and "Podcast" then click "Add user text frame" then click "OK".
This will have added a tag which ITunes will recognise.
Now import into iTunes.
At this point when the file in in "music" do "Get Info" and "options" and tick "Remember playback position" and "OK".
Then, "Get Info", "Options", and change Media Kind: to "Podcast"
Then the file appears in iTunes in the "Podcasts" section.
To make your recording come up with a nice picture a small JPEG can be added to the file. Add through "Options" "Artwork" "Add" "OK".
(later addition)
You can skip the first bit by importing the file as a normal song and then setting the "media kind" to "podcast".
Saturday 13 February 2010
The iPod Touch
An iPod touch has appeared in our family.
I'm very impressed with the user interface. It also works well over WiFi.
There was a modest amount of messing around getting the WiFi key in. The answer was putting the full hex key in, for some reason the pass phrase didn't work.
A jolly good device and I'm sure it will be popular.
I'm very impressed with the user interface. It also works well over WiFi.
There was a modest amount of messing around getting the WiFi key in. The answer was putting the full hex key in, for some reason the pass phrase didn't work.
A jolly good device and I'm sure it will be popular.
Thursday 4 February 2010
Three SMTP server smtp-mbb.three.co.uk is back !
With as little publicity as when it went, the Three SMTP server smtp-mbb.three.co.uk has started working again.
Perhaps I should have stuck with it but the indications from Three when it stopped that this was by design rather than accident.
Very strange.
Perhaps I should have stuck with it but the indications from Three when it stopped that this was by design rather than accident.
Very strange.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
I get the iPad !
I've been toying with buying an iPod touch or perhaps an iPhone but neither device does it for me.
The iPod touch is little more than a version of my Nokia N810 which does less and the iPhone is another phone.
I want a larger device for mobile use. What I would really like is to connect to a phone using bluetooth.
As announced the iPad has bluetooth but the level of functionality is unknown. The touch has limited bluetooth functionality but the iPad might link to my phone and be the device I'm looking for.
If it does that I will be in the queue.
The iPod touch is little more than a version of my Nokia N810 which does less and the iPhone is another phone.
I want a larger device for mobile use. What I would really like is to connect to a phone using bluetooth.
As announced the iPad has bluetooth but the level of functionality is unknown. The touch has limited bluetooth functionality but the iPad might link to my phone and be the device I'm looking for.
If it does that I will be in the queue.
Friday 8 January 2010
Virtual Radio
I've been trying another internet radio application, Virtual Radio recently.
http://www.vradio.org/index.php?js=a
The Java version works OK ish on my Sony Ericsson but seems to strangely drop out every half an hour. It also has somewhat random adverts.
The S60 Nokia version seems fine but perphaps less robust on the move than Nokia Internet radio.
Both worth a try for free though.
http://www.vradio.org/index.php?js=a
The Java version works OK ish on my Sony Ericsson but seems to strangely drop out every half an hour. It also has somewhat random adverts.
The S60 Nokia version seems fine but perphaps less robust on the move than Nokia Internet radio.
Both worth a try for free though.
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