How to enable or switch to RAID/AHCI mode from IDE on an Intel ICHR chipset without reinstalling Windows

Credit for the following goes to: gLk*zaP and goaliejerryy at hexus.net. I'm just reposting these two posts from that forum because I've needed the information a few times, not found it easy enough, and am tired of all the Internet know-it-alls posting worthless and incorrect advise like, "just go buy an add-in card [even though you have a perfectly good, fast raid controller built in]" or "Impossible. You'll have to do a compelete reinstall." when in fact this is a simple matter of telling Windows, "hey, you're about to be rebooted and should use a new storage driver to boot the same installation of Windows. Windows should be more graceful about this, but it really isn't a big deal.

The core issue is that if you originally installed using the included IDE drivers for the ICHR controller while it was in IDE mode, to convert a single drive to a raid WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY INTEL (talking to the folks out there that think they know but DO NOT), you must first switch the controller to RAID mode in the BIOS and get windows to install and recognize the RAID drivers. There's a catch-22 here though because if you switch to RAID in the BIOS without the drivers installed, Windows can't boot past NTLDR or what ever bootloader is being used initially. The solution seems simple, install the Intel RAID drivers. The problem there is that in their infinite wisdom, Intel decided that if their RAID controller can't be detected, then their installer will refuse to install the drivers. See the problem? If they'd just allow a simple, force install of the drivers, this would all be much less trouble.

On to one of many solutions:

OP Post by gLk*zaP

If you have installed Windows when your mainboard SATA controller was set to native IDE mode,

you usually cannot switch later to AHCI or RAID mode, without completly reinstalling windows.
But there is a way...

A very interesting article about the features and possible benefits of AHCI mode, including comparisons
of different drives, and if it might be faster or even slower for you:
http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/624/


I recommend making a disk image of your current windows partition before you
continue and make any changes to things like registry and drivers.
Use programs like Norton Ghost or Acronis True Image, there should be free trial versions available.


Activating AHCI/RAID mode for mainboards with ICH9(R) southbridge

If you are using a 32-bit Windows XP AND want to use RAID on ICH9(R), please scroll further down.
Everyone else, either AHCI or RAID mode and for all other Windows versions, read on.


What you need:

- Intel Storage Manager Software (Version 7.5.0.1017 iata75_cd.exe)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/13494/a08/iata75_cd.exe&agr=N&ProductID=2101&DwnldId=13494&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All+Operating+Systems&lang=eng

- Registry fix for ICH9(R): http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/Download2/ICH9R-AHCI.reg

Follow this step by step:

1. Go to Start, Run, iata75_cd.exe -a -a
This will appear to run as normal setup, but will actually just extract the needed files to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver
Note: For 64-bit Windows versions, chose the iaStor.sys from \Driver64\ instead of \Driver\.
Copy the iaStor.sys from there to \Windows\System32\Drivers\

2. Double-click the downloaded ICH9R-AHCI.reg file. A safety question should pop up, answer yes.

3. Now reboot your system. Go directly into the BIOS menu, change SATA controller mode from IDE to AHCI or RAID. Exit & save changes.

4. Boot into windows. It will detect new hardware now, cancel that wizard.
Instead start the downloaded Intel Storage Manager Software (iata75_cd.exe), this time without any paramaters.
When it is done installing, reboot once again.

5. Now in your device manager Intel (R) ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller (or RAID) should show up.

6. Enjoy.


Activating RAID mode with 32-bit Windows XP on mainboards with ICH9(R) southbridge:

NOTE: NOT CONFIRMED WORKING YET

What you need:

- Intel Storage Manager Software (Version 7.0.01020 iata70_cd.exe)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/13315/a08/iata70_cd.exe&agr=N&ProductID=2101&DwnldId=13315&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng

- Intel Storage Manager Software (Version 7.5.0.1017 iata75_cd.exe)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/download.aspx?url=/13494/a08/iata75_cd.exe&agr=N&ProductID=2101&DwnldId=13494&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All+Operating+Systems&lang=eng

- Registry fix for ICH8R: http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/Download2/ICH8R-AHCI.reg
- Registry fix for ICH9R: http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/Download2/ICH9R-AHCI.reg

1. Go to Start, Run, iata70_cd.exe -a -a
This will appear to run as normal setup, but will actually just extract the needed files to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver
Copy the iaStor.sys from there to \Windows\System32\Drivers\

2. Now i am not sure which registry fix you are supposed to use for Raid mode and 32-bit XP.
Either the old ICH8R or the ICH9R. I have to rely on feedback from other users here.
Double-click the file, a safety question should pop up, answer yes.

3. Now reboot your system. Go directly into the BIOS menu, change SATA controller mode from IDE to RAID. Exit & save changes.

4. Boot into windows. It will detect new hardware now, cancel that wizard.
Now, start the installation of the new version of the Intel Storage Manager Software (iata75_cd.exe).
This will replace the old iaStor.sys with the actual ICH9R version. When it is done installing, reboot once again.

5. Now in your device manager something like Intel (R) ICH9 SATA RAID Controller should show up.

6. Enjoy.

Notes: It has been mentioned that hard drives that have been partitioned using tools such as Acronis Disk Director,
might be unable to work with RAID mode as boot drives. I can confirm this myself, Windows does not even start loading,
you get an error like 'Inaccessible Boot Device'. You need to partition this drive again using just Windows Disk Management Tools.
I am using 32-bit XP myself, and so far couldnt get RAID mode working. I keep getting the reboot loop.


Activating AHCI/RAID mode on mainboards with ICH8(R) southbridge

What you need:

- Intel Storage Manager Software (iata621.exe)
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=N&ProductID=2529&DwnldID=12474&strOSs=45&OSFullName=Windows*%20XP%20Home%20Edition&lang=eng

- Registry fix for ICH8(R): http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/Download2/ICH8R-RAID.reg

1. Go to Start, Run, iata621.exe -a -a
This will appear to run as normal setup, but will actually just extract the needed files to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver
Note: For x64 Operating systems, chose the iaStor.sys from \Driver64\ instead of \Driver\.
Copy the iaStor.sys from there to \Windows\System32\Drivers\

2. Double-click the downloaded ICH8R-AHCI.reg file. A safety question should pop up, answer yes.

3. Now reboot your system. Go directly into the BIOS menu, change SATA controller mode from IDE to AHCI or RAID. Exit & save changes.

4. Boot into windows. It will detect new hardware now, cancel that wizard.
Instead start the downloaded Intel Storage Manager Software (iata621.exe), this time without any paramaters.
When it is done installing, reboot once again.

5. Now in your device manager something like Intel (R) ICH8 SATA AHCI Controller (or RAID) should show up.

6. Enjoy.

Thanks a lot to Supershanks for finding it, and JZ at the german Gigabyte forum for working this out.
I have merely done the translation from german to english.
Original threads on german Gigabyte forum:
http://forum.gigabyte.de/cgi-bin/sbb/sbb.cgi?&a=show&forum=1&show=2647&start=0#1
http://62.109.81.232/cgi-bin/sbb/sbb...=449&start=0#1

Followup post by goaliejerryy which I found useful.

THIS WORKS ON VISTA 64.

My main problem was I wanted to clone my current OS partition onto a yet to be installed Raid-0 configuration. BUT, research informed me that first Vista had to have RAID drivers installed - and normally, you cannot install such drivers except at the time of original OS installation.

(note to Intel - I am amazed that no one over there ever thought that perhaps someone would want to setup a RAID system AFTER installing the OS....)

So, I needed to make my current version of Vista have the raid drivers installed before I could clone, but as you know, if you found this post, there is no straight forward way to just install the drivers without just clean installing.

This post has the answer.

I just want to say thank you to the original poster, all those who contributed, as well as "eliprand," whose advice of 05-05-2008 was critically important. (And if he got if from someone else, thank you too!)

Here is exactly what I did, just in-case someone has a similar setup as I do.

Mobo: MSI-7345 P35 chipset, NEO2-FR, w/ ICH9R RAID controller on-board
Bios: 1.10 (most recent)
OS: Vista Ultimate 64

First - I downloaded most recent version of Intel Matrix Storage from Intel website.
Second - I followed the directions in the first post, just substituting the newest version of the Intel Matrix Storage. Extract the files, move the appropriate .SYS file. THEN run the registry hack noted in the first post.
Third - reboot, and set bios to AHCI, since raid won't work yet.
Fourth - windows will start up (progress, since it wouldn't even do this before), let it run its install of drivers (since you can't stop it.)
Fifth - look above at Eliprand's post, wherein he describes editing the registry of "iaStor" to Start = 0x4, and editing "iaStorV" to Start = 0x0. THAT IS THE KEY.

Sixth - reboot, set to RAID in BIOS, then Vista will start up and install new device drivers, configuring each currently installed hard drive to run with the RAID drivers.

CHECK - in device manager, under "Storage Controllers," it now lists the ICH9R Raid Controller. WHOOT!

NOTE: This worked for me even though I do not even have the RAID drives installed yet.

Thank you all again. Note also that I recommend that anyone who thinks they may, at some time in the future, want to add a RAID setup to an existing Vista install, do this now - there is no harm in having the raid controller run your non-raid drives. (If I am wrong, please correct.)

Anyways, thanks for saving me hours of headaches, and the pain of reinstalling Vista!

Netflix and Hulu working on YOUR Android device! (tested on Xoom and Thunderbolt)

I first posted this writeup on my Android enthusiast site ( here at AllDroid.org ).

Firstly, this is NOT a hack and DOES NOT require root. This DOES require a proxy of sorts but I think it can be done free (I paid for the app that's making this possible because it's WELL worth it) and in theory should only require the new Flash 10.2 app from the market, one other app, and a bit of setup. As of right now, PlayOn.tv is only available for Windows and I haven't found a Linux equivalent (or Mac for that matter). I'm still looking but if anyone else finds one and want to share here, PM me and I'll update this post with credit to you for the info.

Short Version of Directions:

1. Download and install PlayOn.tv (get it HERE)
2. In the setup, enable Netflix and provide your Netflix credentials
3. Go to the Android market on your device and search for PlayOn
4. Install and configure the client
5. Watch your Netflix movies on Android!
6. Thank me for sharing this simple little trick with you

Longer Version:

1. Download and install PlayOn.tv (get it HERE)
2. Once installation is complete, open the control panel from your system tray.
3. Be sure the server is running (you should have a green box saying running. See image below to compare). Also be sure server is set to "Automatically run" when your PC starts.
   1. 
4. Navigate to the Channels tab and provide your netflix credentials (as well as any other service you'd like that requires them) and check the "enabled" box for that service. Next click the Test button to be sure they're correct and that PlayOn can access Netflix correctly.
   1. 
5. If you'd like to try and get mobile access working (so you can access this content from anywhere, while on WiFi at home), navigate to the Mobile Access tab and check "Enable Mobile Access" and if your router supports UPnP (to configure NAT port-forwarding), select "Automatic", otherwise set "Manual" and configure your router to forward port 57331 to the same port on your PC's IP address internally (this process varries for every router, but most modern routers support UPnP though you might have to enable it through your routers web interface). Use the "Test" button to confirm that PlayOn.tv is accessible from the outside (I believe that uses a server on their end to confirm connectivity).
   1. 
6. Now on each of your Android devices, search the market for "Flash 10.2" and install.
7. Then search the market for "PlayOn" and install.
8. Open the PlayOn app and follow the instructions to access your content!

PlayOn provides access to all sorts of content and once configured you can access it from virtually any modern UPnP client such as XBox 360, PS3, GoogleTV, etc......

Enjoy!!!!

Block specific domains in results from a Google query (experts-exchange.com anyone)?

In case this hasn't been blogged to death I want to introduce you to a new feature of Google.com's search engine that will help clean up your search results. There is one site in particular that this feature practically seems to be built for and if you're an IT pro either you pay this site (and succumb to this extortion) or you will love this feature and use it.

If you want to block all results for a given domain, just click the link for the evil result (maybe this is Google's way of showing them SOME mercy), then navigate back and hover over that same result. A new option will show up allowing you to block the site. Below is a highlighted example of the link after following the result and navigating back.

Enjoy!

DotNetNuke FileManager and ACTIONS menu break with performance compression on

I've spent no less than 6 hours over the last 2 days trying to figure out why my sites ACTION menu (SolPartMenu) and FileManager module were broken. I typically use Chrome for my primary browser and definitely use it when it comes to development work. Next I prefer FireFox and firebug, and then there's IE which I use mostly just for compatibility testing.

Looking at the source code behind the specific tags the problem revolved around, it was clear that this was a JS issue and appeared to be related to jQuery within DNN or ASP.Net AJAX, but the errors I saw weren't helping me much. It wasn't until I decided for reasons I don't even recall, to try the same in IE, that I saw an error I could search on more readily. When I took that error to the DotNetNuke forums, I found my solution and a post that indicates the cause is known. The combination, I find troubling. This seems like something that deserves more attention than it's getting and I hope that this post will have come to your attention MUCH faster than the one that helped me which by the way, is located HERE. I do want to thank William for the solution and I don't want to sound ungrateful, but he is on the DNN team, this is a fairly nasty issue, and I think it deserves a more proactive solution so here I am.


The symptoms:
    You click the "+" sign in FileManager to expand the root folder, or you click the ACTIONS menu to make it open up/drop down but in both cases, you just get an indefinate "wait" animation (spiral for default).


The indicators:

• For Chrome:
• In the Developers Tools, Console tab, Errors group: "Failed to load resource" on the current page.
• For FireFox after clicking the image:
• In FireBug, Console tab, All group:
• A "POST" that returns 200 OK, but with the error symbol
• A JS error
• Index or size is negative or greater than the allowed amount"  code: "1
• http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1/jquery.min.js
• "(function(a,b){function cg(a){return d...a:a+"px")}}),a.jQuery=a.$=d})(window);"
• For Internet Explorer after hovering over the image:
• In Developer Tools (F12), Console tab:
• "SCRIPT5022: Sys.ArgumentException: Cannot deserialize empty string. ScriptResource.axd?"
• or if you copy the error and search by pasting it:

•   SCRIPT5022: Sys.ArgumentException: Cannot deserialize empty string.

  Parameter name: data  ScriptResource.axd

The solution:

1. Login to your dnn instance as host
2. Navigate to:
1. Host Settings
2. Advanced Settings
3. Performance Settings
4. "Compression Setting" (yes, there is another "Compression Settings" group, no it's not the one you want)
3. Set "Compression Setting" to "No compression"
4. Scroll down and click "Update"

NOW your ACTIONS menu and FileManager module should be working once more.

Buyers beware: "Cheap" Android tablets are NOT "like iPads"

I wrote the following to post on Craigslist in response to an abusive number of ads where one or more people in the Phoenix metro area are trying to convince unsuspecting tablet shoppers that these "cheap" ($80 - $350) Android Tablets are "like iPad" or that a shopper should "compare to iPad" when in fact they are nothing like an iPad in terms of hardware or O/S and thus would not provide a user experience even remotely similar.

There appear to be a number of either ignorant, or malicious posters here on Craigslist trying to push weak Android tablets at or above retail prices, and claiming they are "like iPads". As an Android developer, and someone who knows both platforms intimately, this infuriates me and I'm not one to standby and watch someone try to take advantage of others to begin with.

Here's what you should know when buying a tablet right now:

There are 3 main categories: Windows 7 "Slates", Apple iPads, and Android Tablets.

Windows 7 "Slates" are really very thin, portable Windows PCs running on somewhat limited resources. They can do most anything you could do on your PC with Windows, just not as quickly and gaming is somewhat limited. This makes them very useful, but the interface is not designed to be "finger friendly" so there is a trade-off for their power. They also run on Intel Atom or Core 2 Duo processors and so their battery life is far shorter than iPads and Android tablets (3-6 hours vs 5-10 hours).

Apple iPads and various Android Tablets are actually quite similar in many respects and in the end, the choice of platform is largely just a matter of preference, but the HARDWARE can make a make difference. Most notably is the screen. iPads ALWAYS have very nice LCD, capacitive, multi-touch screens. Nearly ALL of the cheaper Android tablets (there are very few exceptions right now, but the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy, and Viewsonic GTablet are the most common) have cheap LCD screens that result in poor viewing angles, and use resistive screens which means they are not as "easy" to interface with and are generally not multi-touch. Unless you want a very inexpensive tablet (perhaps to use just as an eReader), you likely want to avoid resistive screens. If you want to experience the difference, go to Frys Electronics in Tempe or Phoenix. They have a very nice selection now where you can try them out first. You'll also be able to see first hand how ridiculously expensive some selling on Craigslist are.

The other major hardware factors to look out for are Memory and Graphics. "Memory", a term frequently misused, refers to the amount of RAM (Random Access MEMORY). RAM is very fast and is used as a temporary place to store data to be used by the CPU. More RAM means a faster tablet, especially with Android. As of right now, 256MB of Memory is considered inferior at best. 512MB is reasonably good. 1024MB (1GB) is quite good and anything more is great. The latest and greatest Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom have 1GB of Memory. I'm not sure how much the iPads have because Apple tends to be a bit mysterious about that, but the iPads are designed in such a way that the relevance is different and you can't shop for an iPad with more Memory anyway (you can show for an iPad with more storage). Many of the Windows 7 Slates have 2GB because Windows needs more Memory.

People often mistakenly refer to MEMORY but actually mean storage, such as internal "NAND" or "SSD". That's "Storage", not "memory" and it will save programs, data, and things like your pictures and music, even after the device is turned off, your battery goes dead, etc.. For more information about Memory (and it's distinction from storage), Wikipedia has a good article (google "Wikipedia Computer Memory" to find THIS entry.).

Graphics are important in a modern computer as well, but only the nicest tablets make a point of telling you which graphics cards, or chipsets are used. Right now the iPad2 is claimed to be 900% faster than the iPad and the "cheap" android tablets are generally not as "fast" or powerful as the first iPad. Any Android tablet based on the "nVidia Tegra" platform will be quite fast and have very good graphics performance. The ViewSonic GTab, Motorola Xoom, and a few other less common tablets are based on these platforms. They will always have capacitive screens and nearly always have at least 512MB of Memory.

In short, these "cheap" (less than $600) Android tablets are not "like iPads" nor should you "compare to iPad" because they typically have only 256MB of Memory which isn't much for an Android Tablet, have resistive screens which means you will not have a nice interface or multi-touch which should be a given for a tablet, tend to have cheap LCD displays that provide poor viewing angles and you'll find it difficult to use because you either have to prop it up, or move your head directly over it, and they generally have weak graphics so they won't visually be as smooth as the iPad. They might have similar applications available, but the overall experience will be significantly less pleasing than an iPad or nicer Android tablet.

If you see one of these ads, it should be "flagged" (using the links toward the top-right of the post) as prohibited for being misleading, or in many cases that I'm seeing, "spam/overpost" because the same, misleading ad, is being posted over and over. Another issue you as a Craigslist user have the responsibility to address, is flagging posts as "prohibited" when the ad uses unrelated or misleading keywords as many now are. For example, when these cheap Android tablets use "iPad" or "Xoom" as a keyword. That would be like posting an ad for a 1975 Volkswagen Beatle then using keywords like "Lamborghini", or "Ferrari" to draw people to the ad. Appropriate keywords for any tablet would be: portable, touch-screen, tablet. A tablet like the Xoom might use keywords like: Capacitive, 1GB, nVidia Tegra, Dual-core, etc.. Notice how those are descriptive and provide a way for other users to find groups of like items.

Craigslist will not tolerate abuse of the search system and flagged ads are removed quickly. Given the frequency with which certain individuals have been posting inappropriately, the site is especially responsive right now in the "Phoenix craigslist" > "for sale / wanted" category so if you are one of the abusers, save yourself the time, and other users the trouble and stop trying to get away with these abusive ads. Automated systems are in place to facilitate fast moderation and your ads will receive minimal views. It takes FAR less effort to identify, flag, and remove your ads, then it takes for you to post an ad up.

Enabling the touchscreen in Linux for the Exopc / Wetab

The Exopc is a Windows 7 Slate with some pretty incredible specifications by today's standards and costs less than Android equivalents (or even many with far less "Oommph" to them) so I thought to begin a port of Android over. I've never done this before but it seemed logical that the first step would be to get Linux working entirely first since Android is really just a layer over Linux.

Using a USB flash device install approach, I got Ubuntu 10.10 x86 (and ultimately Debian 6/Squeeze amd64) working except for bluetooth and the touch panel. I Googled for days and found all sorts of tutorials and HOW-TOs on the issue, and with Ubuntu 32bit, installing the EETI eGalax binary package took care of the matter AND provided a rather nice control panel (maybe too nice since it helped me screw up right-click functionality).

Debian Squeeze amd64 was another beast though and the primary issue where the EETI installer was concerned, comes down to hardware IDs and Xorg implementations. Their installer script isn't very robost and makes some very bad assumptions.

I ended up back at a tutorial I was constantly running across written by Samiux. The advice there made no difference for me though. After checking and double checking, I could see that xinput recognized the panel, but every time I tried to calibrate (with the stock app included with Debian or the one he suggested), I'd hit the 2nd point and it just wouldn't proceed. The cursor would go top left and that was all there was to it. I Googled more and found another, far less verbose tutorial, but the one thing it mentioned, that I recognized, had a very important difference compared to Samiux's.

The key is underlined and highlighted in the following because it's easy to miss:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i8042.noloop=1 usbhid.quirks=0xeef:0x1:0x40"

That "1" in "0x1" actually represents a hex value equivalent to "0x0001" but it was different in this other tutorial I saw. This made me recognize the "0xeef" prior as matching part of the device ID for my panel is it shows using 'lsusb'. Mine is "0xeef:0x72a1" so I updated that line to read:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i8042.noloop=1 usbhid.quirks=0xeef:0x72a1:0x40"

I once again ran update-grub, reboot, and I was happy to find that the touch screen would now calibrate and worked quite nicely. Hopefully that fact that you found this means you're close to getting your setup working too.

If that didn't do the trick for you, I suggest your next step is a custom kernel to be sure you're using the latest eGalax drivers in the kernel. In my case this was a good idea regardless because I needed a kernel that was more appropriate for this Intel Atom system.

I don't know anyone will have interest so I won't do it proactively, but if you'd like my kernel (for use with the Exopc), let me know in a comment and I'll set you up.

Stereoscopic technology and how LG is abusing your ignorance

Let's get your curiosity up, blood boiling, or at least set the stage. The LG Optimus Tablet does NOT have a "3D" camera, nor does it have a "3D" screen anymore than I had on my 486 some 17 years ago (can't remember how far back that was so don't flame).

What it DOES have is two cameras spaced appropriately to record left eye and right eye images that can be combined to created various stereoscopic content. From all the public information and reviews available so far, it appears that they are including software that will record from both cameras and process them to be viewed in an anaglyph (see Wikipedia for more details) format. That format required color filtered glasses that have the nasty side-effect (at best) of an odd "shimmery" feel to the photo and distort the colors. These images can be viewed on ANY color monitor with enough color depth. Actually, they can be viewed on a piece of paper using highlighters of the appropriate color and corresponding glasses.

Unless LG has gone the extra mile and stored the video in a more common industry format (like top/bottom or side-by-side), then plays THAT format back in anaglyph on the tablet (which is possible given the power of the Tegra 2 platform, but unlikely since most companies take the lazy way out), this means that "3D" video recorded from your Optimus tablet won't playback on your 3D TV using your active shutter glasses. You'd still have to use anaglyph glasses that distort the colors.

In fact, let me show you how unremarkable the tech is that they're claiming. Go find a pair of those cheap cardboard "3D" glasses you have lying around from a cereal box, 3D DVD, commic book, etc..  Now go hit THIS link and enjoy your "3D" computer monitor. If you weren't aware, YouTube has features targeted specifically at anaglyph content. HERE is a great example. You could go do this on the iPad right now too (or use whatever method is required to view YouTube videos on the iPad and search "anaglyph 3d video").

Also, want to take "3D" photos on your current Android handset? HERE is a list of apps to help you do just that and other related tasks. Amazing!

This tech (both Anaglyph and LCD shutter glasses) is so old, that it's been available with ANY nVidia video card running on Windows for the last 10+ years. In fact, the "new" 3D tech on your TV isn't new either. I was using the same active shutter technology at least 13 years ago. The only thing that's really changed is the glasses are wireless (for the sync signal) and the tech now works on flat-panel technology because they've got the refresh rate high enough. CRT tech has been capable for at least 15 years (any CRT capable of 120Hz vertical refresh).

As far as the "3D" camera is concerned; you might call me pedantic, but a 3D camera is NOT 2 cameras pulled together in software, but something more integrated. The difference is a gray area, but cost is a sure way to separate the two. Go find a camcorder that can do 720p@60 fps in 3D that will play back directly to an industry standard 3D monitor like your typical consumer 3D TV and you'll see what I mean. As I said earlier, LG MIGHT have gone the extra mile to make this possible, but I doubt we'll be so lucky or they'd be showing off the tab connected to a 3D TV and someone watching that with shutter glasses instead of the anaglyph playback we're seeing now.

So apparently LG thinks we're all ignorant and wants to talk up their hardware as if it's something so special.

An unintentional mistake, or abuse of social media? Jawbone and Netflix in trouble?

Hardly minutes ago I received the email you'll find below. It simple and clearly states that if I tweet a particular messages that mentions @Jawbone and @Netflix, I will receive 1 year of Netflix and a Jawbone Jambox for no further cost, effort, or lottery. Who can say no to free? Not I when it's this easy so I tweeted then hit the link to see what else @Jawbone had to say and noticed an interesting tweet from them:

"@tnisly See our Twitter feed--it's for a chance...." even as I write this, I just found a new one, "@slambthelamb This opportunity is for a chance to win one year of Netflix Streaming and a Red Jawbone Jambox."

When you understand that you can't truly "undo" a tweet, that makes for an interesting situation. The email from JawBone reads as a promise to trade a service (a tweet from me) for goods and services (Netflix and the Jambox), but their tweets say that my service was actually only for an entry into a lottery. In the end, they get their nearly free advertising (mass-emailing does have a cost associated with it) while Twitter bares the larger expense and those of us duped by Jawbone/Netflix have nothing to show for it.

I'd say that qualifies as misleading at the least and of interest to the FTC at most. I'll be interested to see how they try to back peddle their way out of this one.

Hi friends, one last special gift for Valentine's Day. Jawbone has teamed up with Netflix to offer a FREE year of Netflix streaming and a RED JAMBOX. All you have to do is tell us what your Valentine's Day guilty pleasure movie is by tweeting: "Yo @Jawbone @Netflix, my VDay guilty pleasure movie is_____." >>>Tweet Now The contest ends 12:00 PM PST on 2/14.

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Memory = Storage?

Now I'll admit that it's been a while since I last looked up the definition of "memory" in the context of computing. In fact, the last time I had to do that, you could likely have earned your A+ certification if you knew what RAM meant. Back then as i recall, "memory" was synonymous with "RAM" which is volatile and a major factor in a computers performance. Storage is non-volatile and generally MUCH slower than RAM. Apparently Dell has grown so large that they now hire "sales staff" that will deal in computer/technology equipment, but that doesn't need to know even the most basic terminology. I love Dell, use their equipment (or branded equipment they sell anyhow) and this really isn't to bash them, but to share a laugh with you.

02/02/2011 08:57:28PM	Session Started with Agent (Maricel G)
02/02/2011 08:57:34PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Welcome to Dell US Chat! My name is Maricel and I will be your Dell.com Sales Chat Expert. I can be reached at us_con_sl_apos_chat or via phone at 1-800-289-3355 ext. 7284516. How can I help you today?"
02/02/2011 08:57:37PM	Agent (Maricel G): "By the way, the number provided above is our team's voice mail box and the message box to type in is on the bottom portion of the chat, just to the left of the send button if you are having trouble finding it."
02/02/2011 08:58:18PM	Rainabba: "I wanted to find out how much memory the Dell Streak 7 has and if there's any release date on the Streak 10. Can you answer either?"
02/02/2011 08:59:19PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Hi Michael :D"
02/02/2011 08:59:59PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Glad you chatted in today and I'll be happy to assist you."
02/02/2011 09:00:12PM	Rainabba: ":)"
02/02/2011 09:00:46PM	Agent (Maricel G): "The memory of Dell Streak 7 can be expanded up to 32 gb. :D"
02/02/2011 09:01:12PM	Agent (Maricel G): "As of the moment we don't have an update for Streak 10 yet. :)"
02/02/2011 09:01:23PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Are you planning to get the Streak 7 today?"
02/02/2011 09:01:33PM	Rainabba: "I'm sorry, by memory I mean RAM, not storage."
02/02/2011 09:02:07PM	Agent (Maricel G): "yeah, it is the same thing Michael :D"
02/02/2011 09:02:24PM	Agent (Maricel G): "The storage is the ram of the unit. :D"
02/02/2011 09:02:29PM	Rainabba: "I'm considering the steak 7. I'd really like a tablet soon, but I'd rather have a 10" one. I'm having trouble finding a 10" one that has all the other specs I'd like (which only the Galaxy and Streak 7 seem to have so far)."
02/02/2011 09:04:30PM	Rainabba: "Actually Maricel, Memory/RAM is nothing like storage. RAM=Random Access Memory and is nearly always volitile. Storage is persistent and by definition not volitile. I wouldn't have started this chat to ask if I didn't know the difference and knew how signi"
&nbsp	ficant it is.Too many 1GHz and dual-core devices exist now running Android which have too little ram and this creates a bottleneck because of how Android manages memory.
02/02/2011 09:06:00PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Oh I see :D" (Notice the 1.5 minute delay here while she looks up the definitions)
02/02/2011 09:06:16PM	Rainabba: ":)"
02/02/2011 09:06:32PM	Rainabba: "I'm surprised that's not listed on the Tech Specs."
02/02/2011 09:07:05PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Sorry about that, I am actually referring to the internal memory or how big is the capacity of the memory to save information."
02/02/2011 09:07:14PM	Agent (Maricel G): "That is right."
02/02/2011 09:08:00PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Well, if your looking for more information about that Michael i would recommend you to call our technical support department."
02/02/2011 09:08:26PM	Agent (Maricel G): "I wish I could further help you but as you've reached the Sales parts and accessories department, I can only place an order."
02/02/2011 09:08:39PM	Agent (Maricel G): "You can call them at 800-624-9896"
02/02/2011 09:09:01PM	Rainabba: "Thank you."
02/02/2011 09:09:05PM	Rainabba: "Have a nice evening."
02/02/2011 09:09:32PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Same to you Michael, I am sorry about this, I wasn't able to help you."
02/02/2011 09:09:41PM	Agent (Maricel G): "Thank you for your time today. Would there be anything else I can help you with?"
02/02/2011 09:09:48PM	Rainabba: "No problem. Take care. That's it."

A long standing issue finally brought to closure regarding B16

I write this in response to B16 and a blog post he directed me to HERE.

The original post contents (in case they become otherwise unavailable) can be found below:

Life is crazy and unprecedented, but I am taking the time to write this for some insight on whats going on. So far life has been crazy outside the Marine Corps, college is going great, I am currently going for a bachelors of computer science, more less the business side of the house. Anyways, enough of the boring stuff lets get crackin’!
What happened to the drama with that guy from AllDroid? Well let me be exactly clear: Some of my actions were completely filtered by anger/frustration/purely not thinking ahead. I had noticed the owner, (Rain) was very voiced. If he sees something that he sees not fit or great to his liking, for example his quarrels with certain developers (I will not disclose names because that is the past and drama is not needed). Those actions infuriated me and almost became the demise of my involvement in the android community. I made a decision to post root instructions on another site, (also I will not disclose due to the lack of real intelligence that user base seems to flaunt), I was very involved in helping my friend figure out how to root the damn phone, some how I ran across the blogspot before Bird did, but never mentioned because I thought it was old news and for earlier versions of android. Failure on my part, so far my score is negative 2, unconsciously I screwed Rain over and in all reality I just wanted out, there is informants, networkers like Phoxus, Users, Developers and last but not least – TROLLS, oh god the trolls, anyways, I wanted out and the entire scene was getting messy.
Here is the hard part, I have embedded myself in this community, and have met some of the coolest people I have ever met in my life without ever shaking their hand. Rainabba, as much of an asshole I think he can be, he is actually a very cool person aside from his eccentric style of leadership, I am writing this to get a lot of this off my chest, and I recently contacted him and talked a little to him, letting him know I see where I went wrong and that I apologize, I am not taking on the burden of saying I am/was responsible for the failure or damage to the website. I will say though, the effect of my actions were far from positive, they were obviously negative. That being said, I am sorry for those actions and decisions I have made in the past. Anyone who knows me can tell you, or if your a close person to me you know I am a genuine person and veer away from malice in my heart due to the crazy things I have witnessed in previous events in the middle east. For the results of my actions, Mike I am sorry and I apologize, am I owed an apology for the way things have been conveyed to me? No. I don’t request those, except from my daughter. What I did was morally wrong and I didn’t think all things through, I am just saying some of your actions drove me very far and fast away from the foundation of the site. Leading me to leave. Like I said I apologize, sorry for the mess made, and I hope this somehow relieves you of some of the tension, turmoil and stress from the entire chain of events leading up to and thereafter of my actions and correlations with you.
In the other news it feels a quite bit better to let that out. I will be signing up for Google I/O 2011 when the registration opens and I will be getting with Mr Birdman (Steve) and hopefully a few others, I have a hotel on standby and ready for habitation, so yes parties will entail. If you want to get involved and hang out please feel free to let us know on twitter @b16a2smith and @_mrbirdman_.
Also, I now have a nook color, and will probably be doing some work on it, I like the device, so yes it deserves attention. I will fill you guys in on more stuff including the crazy ventures I have chosen in life. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment, no trolls please, I paid my toll.
B16

So here's the short version from my perspective. B16 was at the time an admin at AllDroid.org. I was given instructions on how to root the DX from Birdman. I wrote a tutorial to share (of course with the intent of driving some traffic to AllDroid at the same time). B16 posted the same tutorial without credit or mention of me or AllDroid, but on another site, without saying a word to me. After confronting him, I found out that he was angry/upset/annoyed with me, but hadn't said anything. I took this very personally. I won't put words to how I felt because this post isn't meant to reignite old pain, but to explain things as I see them which includes why I feel this issue is now closed and I'm "at peace" about it. Anyway, I eventually got over the incident itself, but have continually found myself nearly enraged at the fact that so few people knew the truth of what happened and until today, B16 had not owned up to it all.

Today everything changed. B16 not only owned up to it, but apologized which is above and beyond. I would have considered it notable if he had done this privately with me, but he went a step further and posted publicly to his personal blog. I respect that and think it means a lot. It's my opinion that it takes courage to do something like that. I'm not here to say we're buddies and trust is hard to earn with me to begin with (thanks in large to me being too willing to give it in the past), but I'm willing now to put this behind us and move forward in at least a professional manner, if not more.

As a fellow Marine who has changed drastically from the time I stood on the yellow footprints to this day, I can understand how the Corps can invoke significant change and I didn't even see combat as he did. The culture shock (I hadn't even seen Full Metal Jacket or The DI) was insane for me and I can imagine what it would be like to multiply that effect a few times, but he's lived it so a drastic change in personality/attitude/outlook (what ever it might be) is something I could understand occurring and believe in. Anyway, not that I'm qualified to "shrink" him, I'm just saying that I believe his post was sincere and I have my suspicions as to why it occurred (he mentioned some of this).

As a result of my anger and resentment at B16, I'm sure I've hurt my image with the community and there's no taking much of this back, but I hope that with his post today, some people can at least come to see why I've taken the position I have with him up to this day and perhaps my humanity can be forgiven to some extent in light of this. I'm not asking to use this as an excuse and I will live with the consequences of my words. If I have stepped out of line at any point, you now have my apology B16.