tehgeek.org

Chrome 5 Beta Released

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:08:15 +0000

Now that Chrome version 4 has been officially released as a stable browser version, Google has now given users a chance to check out the Chrome 5 beta. Javascript performance has improved in this version, as I ran a SunSpider test for my previous Chrome 4.0.249.78 version and overall benchmark speed has increased when comparing to this new 5.0.307.1 version.

http://www.thechromesource.com/chrome-5-beta-released/

Interview: Chrome OS Zero’s Hexxeh

geek — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:48:47 +0000

From Chrome OS Diet to Cherry and now the latest, Zero, Hexxeh has been the primary source for Chrome OS build releases ever since Google released the Chromium code to the masses in November. They’ve been popular mostly because they work with a lot of existing hardware, plus the builds are small enough to fit on any USB drive. We got a chance to ask some questions of Hexxeh, who just released Chrome OS Zero a few days ago and talks about how he got started, future job prospects and some technical features in his latest version.

Interview w/ Chrome OS Zero’s Hexxeh

Verizon makes Bing deal with shady update

geek — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:06:44 +0000

It’s about time Verizon got some more bad press for the crap they do to limit users. They may brag all they want about having the “better 3G network” but they are a very shady company that is all about locking out features in phones to make a buck. Now they have taken that a step further, they have removed a feature once present on Blackberries, and did it without warning with a silent update. Users have started to take notice and they don’t seem to like it on CrackBerry or on Verizons forums.

Verizon has unilaterally updated user Storm 2 BlackBerries and other smartphones so that their browser search boxes can only be used with Microsoft Bing.

The move is part of the five-year search and advertising deal Verizon signed with Microsoft in January for a rumored $500m.

Previously, the search box – baked into the top of Verizon’s browser, above the url address bar – could be set to search Google, Wikipedia, and other sites.

[source: The Register]

Google on a release bender?

geek — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:51:30 +0000

The past few days has seen many projects come out of Google. A short list of them:

Google Chrome Extensions – Windows and Linux users — but not yet for Mac
Google Chrome for Mac Beta – “The initial beta version, termed Build 4.0.249.30, requires Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard, and is only compatible with Intel-based Macs.”
Google Chrome for Linux goes Beta
Google Visual Search – “coming soon” to Android
Google Public DNS
Google Dictionary
Google Real Time Search

LHC suffers power failure

geek — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:45:13 +0000

The Large Hadron Collider has once again suffered a power failure, this time taking CERN’s web site associated with the LHC also offline. Some believe that it may be that the Higgs Boson is somehow disabling the LHC from the future so that it is never discovered.

New iPhone in the wild?

geek — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:23:28 +0000

So, there I was, reading my Twitter updates and what do I spy? According to a MacRumors Apple is testing out a new version of the iPhone, referred to in the article as version “iPhone3,1″. This would make it a “major” revision, hopefully adding a bunch of new features to the iPhone. I know the folks that use the Verizon network have been hoping to get an iPhone when the Apple/AT&T contract is supposedly up sometime in 2010. I’m not 100% sure Apple would go through trouble for a carrier that is not compatible with the majority rest of the world. It would probably be good for the US sales, but how would Apple have to change the OS to deal with voice/data limitations of Verizon’s 3G network?

[source: MacRumors]

What would you like to see in the new iPhone?

Cydia Crashing

geek — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:24:57 +0000

Like many people around the globe I have a jailbroken iPhone. Normally this is a great thing, allowing me to run a few things you just cannot get on a “vanilla” iPhone. Anyways, while going on an install bender [happens perhaps once a month] I decided to check out an audio mod.

The mod was called Mobile Volume Sound. Now normally I install things and everything is a-ok, it either works/does what I though it did or it doesn’t and gets removed. This time around after a SpringBoard restart Cydia would launch but while “Loading Data” it would just close, no error. Everything else on the phone seemed to work just fine, even the newly installed audio mod.

I tried restarting my phone, fixing permissions, no joy for this sad panda. As the phone still functioned and my only issue was Cydia I put off this “problem” until tonight. After a bit of Googling [sorry Google I know you hate to be used as a verb] I came across some information that allowed me to take a few pieces and put them together to actually solve my issue.

***Below is what worked for me – what may work for you could be different. I’m not responsible if you brick your phone***

So what I came across first was that it could be the cache files have corrupted or in some way gone “bad” and in turn causing Cydia to crash. To fix this do the following:

1. SSH into your iPhone or iPod Touch.
2. Navigate to /private/var/lib/apt/lists
3. Delete all the files in /root/private/var/lib/apt/lists/ except for the partial subfolder.
4. Reboot or respring and re-open Cydia.

That may work for some that have issues of Cydia not opening, it however did not work for me. So it got me thinking, out of all the apps I’ve installed/uninstalled since having my phone I’ve never had an issue with Cydia opening. I decided instead of targeting Cydia I would go after this app that has somehow robbed me of my precious.

Again I SSH’d into my phone
I then used the command dpkg -l to list all installed packages [programs] installed via Cydia/apt.
Looked over the 3 column list giving you the package name, date and short description of the package.
I was able to locate it: com.chpwn.mobilevolumesound 1.1 Adds the volume sound found in Mac OSX to the volume popup.
I then performed the command dpkg -r com.chpwn.mobilevolumesound
I then exited SSH and was able to open Cydia without issue.

If you should stumble across this and find it helpful please let me know.

Google launches Google Chrome OS

geek — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:15:09 +0000

This past Thursday (11.19.09) saw Google release a preview of it’s long awaited “web” OS.

Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers. As with the Google Chrome browser, development will be done in the open from this point on. This means the code is free, accessible to anyone and open for contributions. The Chromium OS project includes our current code base, user interface experiments and some initial designs for ongoing development. This is the initial sketch and we will color it in over the course of the next year.

Source: Google Blog

I heard Leo Laporte talking about it today (podcast is TWig) and it sounded like a really cool idea, but I’m just not sure how it’s going to really work out. If Google could perhaps have an “offline” version then I could see it gaining ground in the netbook market for sure.

To read about either Google Chrome (the browser) or Google Chrome OS you can go to chromium.org and check it out. Also let me know what you think of Google OS, is it the future of netbooks, or a non-starter?

Hello world!

geek — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:07:56 +0000

I hope to make this a site about geek stuff and real life events.