Stray Thoughts

I actually am ashamed to say I did not know that Amazon MP3 Downloads sold, legally, DRM-Free MP3’s. After losing my entire music library to the evil DRM monster, I lost faith in purchasing music legally and used less legitimate methods to recover my music library.

Not anymore, however. Amazon MP3 downloads have a great collection (they have 90% of the music I listen to, anyways) and the price is really, REALLY, reasonable. Most tracks for 89 cents to 99 cents, and the album discounts are amazing as well.

I will start using the service immediately. I believe my first purchase will be the “The Best Of” Album by Radiohead. Not only do I get great music, but it’s also a load off my conscience.

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All right, I haven’t written on my own blog in so long I don’t know how this is going to work out.

This post is meant to give tips on using SIM-unlocked phones in the states. I got AT&T Prepaid, and it seemed painless enough, and I seemed to get great coverage… until I got to school.

NO SERVICE! What the hell, I asked myself. Apparently, the majority of AT&T’s GSM coverage is on the 850Mhz bandwith, so I got GREAT coverage in some places, and HORRIBLE coverage in others. In this case, unfortunately, my school where I live in is the “HORRIBLE coverage” place.

I asked about T-Mobile… great news! The majority of their GSM coverage is on the 1900 Mhz bandwidth, so I will be switching ASAP.

What I want to emphasize is, CHECK YOUR PHONE’S CAPABILITIES BEFORE SIGNING UP FOR SERVICE. If you have 850Mhz capability, AT&T may be a great choice for you. If not, you may want to consider T-Mobile.

FYI: My phone is a SCH-M620 from Korea with an i600 ROM inside. What that means is that it acts like an i600 although it’s technically not.

Good luck with your phones!

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In my trip to New York City this past Spring, I was shocked to find that my cell phone hardly got any signal down in the subway system. I asked my friend who was traveling with me if it seemed odd to him, and he looked at me all weird, saying “How would you get signal down here?” (By the way, the picture on the right is not a picture of a typical subway in Seoul, rather, it is of a special “E-Train”)

Well, (in a proud-to-be-a-Korean tone) In Seoul, not only do you get basically full-strength signal for all your cell phone needs, you also get terrestrial DMB (Digital Media Broadcast) signal, which means you can watch TV in the subway, provided you have the cell phone or the PMP (Personal Media Player) that supports that feature. I guess I had expected New York City to be same in this on-the-move, technological sense, if not better.

Of course, this is not all fun and games. Sometimes, there are ignorant and ill-mannered people that talk as loud as they possibly could on the phone in the subway, and to the mostly anti-social city folks in Seoul, that’s not exactly pleasant. Same goes with DMB. Some people elect not to wear earphones, and it gets annoying if you’re trying to sleep.

So I guess even the lack of a certain technological feature can have its positive consequences. Sometimes technology isn’t the best, eh?

Tags: subway, cell phones, DMB, signal strength, technology, Korea, New York City

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There’s an article today about designing and possibly making a dirt-cheap, ultra-thin $200 tablet PC that can run Firefox and maybe Skype on a Linux kernel. Read the story here.

Tags: technology, PC, tablet PC, linux, firefox, skype, thin, cheap

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If you are a Windows User, XP or Vista, you are sure to encounter BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) Errors sometime. The problem occurs a lot more often if you are building your own computer, as opposed to buying a pre-built one. As annoying as these are, (especially since they seem to be unique to Windows; Macs and Linux don’t tend to get “fatal errors.”) there are fixes you can try. Personally, I have never had to completely trash a hardware or resort to formatting because I got a BSOD error. Here are a few tips on how to diagnose and fix your own BSOD. (Notice that the pic on the right seems to have a problem with “Beep.sys :-D”)

1. Update your drivers. I know most people do this now. Just in case.
   
2. Always note the message on the BSOD Screen. Most likely, your BSOD will have a very specific error message such as “UNEXPECTED_KERNEL” or “IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_OR_EQUAL.” Always note these because most likely these will be the key to solving your problem. Sometimes, the BSOD screen goes away too fast to note the error. In this case, follow these steps: Right Click on My Computer, Select Properties, Go to Advanced tab, Under Startup and Recovery, click settings and uncheck the box that says Automatically Restart. The next time you get the BSOD, you should be able to read it.
3. Google is your best friend in solving BSOD error. If you get a BSOD error, the odds are, someone out there got the same error for similar reasons under similar conditions. Always search for the error message (that you found in #1) and see what other people have to say about it.
4. If lost, Memtest! In my opinion (I do not know if it is the truth), RAM is the most fragile and breakable piece of hardware in your computer. If you’re getting random BSODS and crashes, check your RAM first. Download Memtest, burn it to a CD using a program like Nero (you won’t see any visible files on the .iso file), boot from CD, and let her rip.
5. Try to be Hardware-Specific. When you’re searching for your solution in Google, try to see whose fixes have similar or the same hardware as you do, as that may lead you closer to your solution.
   
6. If your first attempt doesn’t work, try another. If the first fix you decided to try from Google does not work, do not be discouraged. There are literally hundreds of ways thing could be going wrong, and you may have just crossed out one wrong answer from that list! (Sorry, but you really have to be patient when doing this)
7. Try Eccentric Solutions/Workarounds. Sometimes these problems are not meant to be fixed. In that case, you just have to find workarounds. Look online. If you’re playing a game, try windowed mode, varying quality settings, etc. (For example, my Age of Conan refused to play for longer than 5 minutes but when I played it in Windowed Mode it did not crash once.)

I hope this helped you get started on the right way to solving your BSOD. If you have any other tips you would like to share, comment on this post!

Tags: Windows, tips, BSOD, blue screen, windows error, error, fixes, blue screen of death, DIY, guide

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Facebook is starting to roll out a new design today to revamp the already-awesome Web 2.0 interface. Although facebook has become such a big part of most internet users’ lives, sometimes some of the cool features actually bogged you down, such as the mass invites for applications and useless groups. The Feed will be apparently controlled by an analog bar so that you can control what info goes out in the feed and what does not.

Applications, the good and the bad of Facebook, have been “tamed” by the new redesign. Hopefully what that means is that you do not have to scroll through miles of application boxes to get to the Wall of some people’s profiles.

Those who (like me) cannot wait for this new redesign, you can access it at www.new.facebook.com. I guess this is another resurface of my facebook addiction…… yay.

Tags: facebook, new facebook, internet, web, web 2.0, facebook redesign, facebook feed, social

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GoDaddy.com has started sale of .Me domains, which opens the possibility of a whole new world of domains. Although registration has been hellish, there are couple of domains that I think are pretty cool.

1. Aweso.me: I actually think 8 or 9 people have rushed to buy this domain, but they all have receipts for it… it’ll be funny to see how GoDaddy works this out.

2. Ac.me: Looney Toons, anyone?

3. Ani.me: 漫画を見るか。(Supposedly means “do you watch cartoons?” according to online translation. Hey, I’m Korean, not Japanese)

4. Welco.me: I don’t know any feasible websites that could use this (because are there any websites that don’t want to welcome people?) but still….

5. Summerti.me: I hate summer… no I really do… but summertime is so often romanticized…

6. Perfu.me: Perfume sueprstore!

7. Ho.me: The home of the internet(?)

8. Downti.me: I know the domain doesn’t suggest it, but our servers do not have any downtimes!!!!

9. Chro.me: Check out my grills…

10. All the collection of “adult” .Me domains I could think of on short notice….

• The obvious, f$%*.me
• threeso.me
• blow.me
• touch.me (maybe not exactly vulgar depending on how you look at it..)
• hold.me (same as above)

Ahh.. whatever. Any additions are welcome on the comments

Tags: internet, domain, .me, godaddy, godaddy.com, registration, domain registration, new domain

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Most American technology enthusiasts often look to East Asia (Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, etc.) in envy, for all the new and cool technologies and gadgets always seems to hit the region first, then on to Europe, then always to America very very last. Here are only some of the examples of the “truths” about the technological “superiority” (I guess, but not really) in this part of the world:

• 100Mbps Internet do really exist at an affordable price at personal homes. I have previously gotten download speeds of 15 MBps (read, megaBYTES per second). It took about 2 minutes to download an entire DVD-quality movie.
• I think Japan is developing 1Gbps internet now…. holy s@#*
• Cool Phones: Cool phones are always come out first in Korea. Did you know that the iPhone was NOT the first touch phone ever? *gasp! My mom has the Prada phone (which was RIDICULOUSLY expensive) which has full touch screen. Its variants are just coming out in the American market, sans the “Prada” marking.
• 3G technology (for those who don’t know, it’s a relatively speedy mobile technology) is widely used, allowing for fast mobile internet, developed 3D phone gaming, and…
• Mobile Video-Chat Phones. They are not too widely used, but they are well developed enough where it IS usable and have appeared on numerous soap operas and commercials.
• Wi-Bro which is a high-speed mobile internet for computers. It differs from the technology currently in America (like the Verizon/Sprint plugin card) that it can be used in high speeds (such as in a KTX train which goes up to 350 km/h) and offers high speeds
• 5G technology is in development for use in the next decade in Korea.
• Free Quality Online Games (for everyone). If you pay attention to the gaming industry outside America, you probably noticed a company called “Nexon” now trying to set a foothold in the American Market with games such as “Nexus” and “KartRider.” Many of those companies have existed in Korea free of charge (unless you want to get items which helps you win) for a long time and the gaming industry has developed that way. Of course, there are paid games too.

I actually don’t know many myths that exists about Asian technology, although I have been asked many years back in Hawaii by a classmate if internet actually existed in Korea

• Fast Internet ≠ Web 2.0 Korean internet has fallen behind America TREMENDOUSLY in the Web 2.0 market. Blogs are dominated by large internet portals such as Naver, and collaboration is almost nonexistent.

I actually don’t know what to add to the myths list… if you have a myth that you would like me to confirm or bust, comment and I’ll reply ASAP.

Tags: Korea, technology, East Asia, cell phones, phones, 3G, 5G, internet, fast internet, web 2.0, 100Mbps, 1Gbps, video chat phones, online games,

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1. It’s not Korean. I’m Korean. Koreans and non-Korean phones do not go together very well.
2. I don’t like getting my screen littered with fingerprints. Touchscreen = lots of fingerprints.
3. Once everybody has something (like the RAZR in the ages past), it’s not really that cool to have it anymore.
4. The chances are, the prices will drop in the near future…. again (how many times have there been a price drop since launch?)

And most importantly….

5. I don’t have the money :-D:-D:-D

Tags: iPhone, reasons, phone technology, summer plan, purchase, money, apple, iphone 3g, phone, cingular, at&t

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1. The massive amount of solar energy that can be harvested in the deserts of the West will not be harnessed indefinitely because of its “probable” adverse environmental effects on the native scorpions.

2. Energy powered by salt-water is ready to be commercialized, but the government puts a massive tax on readily available salt water which makes it an energy source that is more expensive than gasoline. See link: Man Cures Cancer and Oil Problem With 1 Invention?

3. New and inefficient methods of extracting gas keeps the gas market alive, but the energy needed to extract gas by such methods is fueled by coal power plants, which pollutes the air even more and speeds up the Global Warming.

4. Under American pressure, the U.N. declares the Kyoto Protocol void because of its “hypothetical” and “unproved” nature.

5. “Profitable Energy Act” is passed, which declares all alternative energy researches illegal.

Tags: environmeny, renewable resources, Republican, election, comic, global warming, solar energy, bogus

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