E@zyVG’s Vichar::World Connected

At last a much better way to play them Youtube (and alikes) videos on your WM powered phones … no more fisrt downloading and then watching. You now have direct, unfettered access to Youtube, Google Video & Veoh, in all their glory. Simply install the CABs listed below, go directly to these websites, and click on a video to play. That’s it

If you follow the instructions exactly and use the preconfigured TCPMP settings, you should be able to play videos smoothly if your network connection is adequate.

Installation instructions:

1. If you already have a version of TCPMP installed, uninstall it now.
2. Install tcpmp.pocketpc.0.72RC1.cab: link here
3. Install FlashVideoBundle.CAB (this MUST be installed in the same location as TCPMP): get it
4. Soft-reset

Note: In order to play back videos on a touchscreen-less MS Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) platform, you’ll need THIS TCPMP CAB file (instead of the one linked in the tutorial) – while the other CAB file, FlashVideoBundle.CAB, can be installed on Smartphones as well.

Caveats:
Requires pocket IE. This plugin will not work with Opera, NetFront, Picsel, etc. (at least for now). However, it is compatible with PiePlus.

Tips:
- If your video is scrambled, change the video driver setting from “Raw Framebuffer” to “DirectDraw.”
- Google video is a mess, IMHO. They mix links to Youtube, Google and even AOL and they continue to index lots of videos that have been removed. In addition, the complexity of their javascript/flash code make it a bear to deal with. If you are using it, I’d recommend skipping their main page and going to their “Top 100″ page instead.
- Veoh videos tend to be higher quality than youtube, so it requires a fast connection.
- When clicking on a video image or title, be patient rather than repeatedly clicking it. It takes a little time to load up TCPMP, especially the first time.
- The FlashVideoBundle will work with TCPMP .81Beta, however I wouldn’t recommend it.
- If you want to disable the pocket IE plugin, first exit IE and then run “DisableVL.exe” in your TCPMP install directory. To enable it again, run “EnableVL.exe”

P.S.> Tnx to all developers for this great pieace of code … works like a charm on my HTC P3300.

UPDATE (01.02.08): This one is for WM 6.1 update (cab came out on Jan 22, 2008 — to fix the youtube issues)

1. Uninstall your TCPMP and Flashbundle player. Yes you have to install TCPMP and Flashbundle all over. I read you had to do this or else it wont work properly.
2. Install TCPMP (a media player that is used to play many files.For example youtube videos ). When you install it chose to install it to your SD card.
3. Copy the NEW Flashbundle cab (the one I provided) to the program folder that was created for TCPMP on your SD card
4. Once you copied the Flashbundle Cab to the TCPMP folder run the Flashbundle Cab from there and chose to install it to the SD card instead of local memory.
5. Soft Reset

If you ever experiece issues where you flashbundle doesnt work dont worry. Youtube updates their site many times and our Flashbundle is incompatible. Lucky for us we got a source where they update the Flashbundles to work when this happens just visit : http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh…=youtube+tcpmp

Videogame systems have come a long way from the days of a paddle and a bouncing ball. Interactive games, online play and realistic graphics have moved gaming from something that only kids play to a pastime that has entered many homes. With the Cell processor playing the lead, high-performance graphics engines in support and advanced interface and display technologies in the wings, Sony’s Playstation 3, Nintendo’s Wii and the Xbox 360 Elite have driven video-game platforms to the cutting edge of consumer electronics design. So much so, that it is only through a nostalgic look back at the early days of gaming platforms—specifically the Atari 2600 from 1986—that one can appreciate just how far gaming has come.

The two most recent gaming systems entered the market about a year after Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was introduced. The Sony Playstation 3 was launched in North America last Nov. 17, and the Nintendo Wiiwas launched two days later. During the 2006 holiday season, 1.1 million Xbox 360s were sold, compared with 600,000 Wiis and 490,000 Playstation 3s.Thanks to Semiconductor Insights, we can have a brief tour of what are todays Top 3 gaming consoles made up of:

Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite

Sony PS3

Nintendo Wii

Right now I am using HTC P3300 “Artemis” - an award winning pocketpc phone with Windows Mobile 5 (upgraded to WM6) and cool design. But there are few things that I am missing, and one of them is a full QWERTY keyboard.

This is what I am hoping to own as my next mobile device replacing my current Artemis - the HTC P4550, code name “Kaiser” (sounds very cool).

Running on Windows Mobile 6 Professional, the P4550 has a 32bit Qualcomm MSM7200 CPU at 400Mhz (wonder how it compares to Samsung 400Mhz and perhaps PXA 412Mhz) with 128 MB RAM and 256Mb ROM with a 2.8 ” TFT screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with unique option that lets you tilt the screen to have it sit on your desk perfectly aimed at you.

The device supports plethora of networks - CSD, GPRS/EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, HSUPA. Other key features include - SDIO, microSD, TransFlash slot, USB 2.0 client, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, WLAN and 3MP primary camera with VGA forward facing secondary camera. The only thing that I can think of missing from this killer device is VGA resolution - now that Toshiba and E-TEN are offering small-size Windows Mobile phones with touch screen and VGA resolution (640×480, but Toshiba offers even more: 800×480) it seems a little bit strange that HTC is missing this one from high range product such as Kaiser ……… making surfing the web much more pleasant experience than on QVGA screen.

Another really cool addition could have been a fingerprint scanner for authentication, such as one on Toshiba G900.

Complete specs for this device can be found here.

I guess the price will be quite steep for this device here in Moscow, at a mobile retail shop, perhaps somewhere in the range of $800-900, as I paid around $750 for my HTC Artemis. But that ain’t gonna stop me from getting one, that if I have cash :) Plus I am anxiously awaiting for one of those MIDs, running Linux, to hit the street.

I have been waiting for this one for some time now and now it is on my mobile phone and I am super happy.

I have been waiting for WM6 upgrade for my HTC P3300. Now there is one available today, though not being an official ROM from HTC, as it is based on official O2 XDA Orbit WM6 German ROM, which is based on HTC P3300. I have tried this method on my CID-Locked HTC P3300 device several times and it works nicely, including GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth.

DISCLAIMER: Make sure you have original ROM as well, just in case your device stalls. I am not responsible if you brick your device.

The following WM6 ROM is of course in English, dont want one in any other language.

1. Download the WM6 English ROM

2. Download the package for upgrading your device

3. Copy the os.nb file to extracted folder (ARTE_WWE_WM6) and rename the file to tom.nba

4. Establish an ActiveSync connection

5. Run UpgradeRom_Artemis.bat

(don’t bother about the text output, as the package is from other “WM5 Crossbow Style” ROM)

6. After around 25-30 mins hard reset your device

>> If you encounter some problem while flashing, try change the value from 03900000 to 03500000 in the UpgradeRom_Artemis.bat file, and then try flashing again.

Once you are in WM6 Today screen, when you get 3 seconds screen for extended rom to be launched -> press soft-reset (you don’t want WM5 related patches installed on top of your WM6 device), unless you have flashed your device completely with another WM6 “other language” ROM, meaning you have CID-unlocked P3300 and just want English ROM.

Welcome to all new Windows Mobile 6:

Check the following forum for more help and details. Or wait for the official WM6 ROM from HTC.

P.S. Thanks to “bepe”, a member of xda-developers site.

UPDATE (02.02.08): Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro - Introduction and Running on HTC Artemis

IBM claims its new 4.7GHz dual-core Power6 microprocessor is the fastest ever built, offering twice the performance of its predecessor while consuming hardly any more power.

IBM just launched the dual-core 64-bit POWER6 processor, built in a 65 nm process, 790 million transistors and runs at a clock speed of 4.7 GHz., which doubles the speed of the previous generation POWER5 while using nearly the same amount of electricity to run and cool it.

The POWER6 chip has a total cache size of 8 MB per chip – four times the POWER5 chip – to keep pace with the processor bandwidth. With 300 GB/s on tap, IBM boasts that its processor has so much bandwidth that the POWER6 chip could download the entire iTunes catalog in about 60 seconds. IBM believes that it has designed the POWER6 chip with a balanced amount of bandwidth and processing power. IBM is so happy with the benchmark results that it has dedicated an entire section of their site to publishing POWER6 benchmarks on a whole slew of different types of workloads.

IBM’s new POWER6 chip is a 64-bit, dual-core processor with 790 million transistors running at up to 4.7 GHz and 8 MB L2 cache

What is remarkable about the processor is that IBM apparently made significant improvements in power consumption. According to the company the Power6 processor does not consumer more power at 4.7 GHz than the Power5 at 2.2 GHz – while providing roughly twice the overall performance. Scaled down to the predecessor’s clock speed, the Power6 consumes only half as much power through a process called “voltage/frequency slewing,” IBM claims.

In another design to reduce energy consumption and heat production, processor clocks can be dynamically turned off when there is no useful work to be done and turned back on when there are instructions to be executed. Also, the chip has configurable bandwidth, enabling customers to choose maximum performance or minimal cost.Parts of the memory not being utilized are dynamically turned off and then turned back on when needed. In cases where an over-temperature condition is detected, the POWER6 chip can reduce the rate of instruction execution to remain within an acceptable, user-defined temperature envelope.

Cross section of a IBM POWER6, photographed using a scanning electron microscope, shows two transistors in gold.

Indeed, POWER6 is looking significantly better than the IPF lineup for a number of tasks, a fact that makes one wonder about the impact that the new launch will have on competitors.

Times have never been so hard for AMD.

“Working to ease a cash crunch as it hustles to keep pace with larger rival Intel, scrappy chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices said Monday that it plans to raise up to $2.2 billion in a debt offering.

News of the offering comes after AMD posted a stinging first-quarter loss last Thursday of $611 million, or $1.11 per share, down from a profit of $184.5 million, or 38 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Sales sank to $1.23 billion from $1.33 billion.

The loss left AMD with just $1.167 billion in cash, a worryingly low level given its heavy debt load after its acquisition of graphics chip specialist ATI in a $5.4 billion deal last year. The offering may also cool speculation that there could be a private-equity buyout of AMD.

AMD announced it will sell $1.8 billion worth of convertible notes, giving buyers a 30-day option to buy up to an additional $400 million in notes to cover any over-allotments.

AMD is battling back after Intel grabbed a big chunk of its market share during the first quarter. The company bumped up the clock speed on its dual-core Opteron processors to 3 Ghz on Monday. In addition, it’s betting that the introduction of a four-core processor, dubbed Barcelona, will give it an edge when it is introduced in the second half of this year.” - Forbes

I am very well aware of the fact that today Intel Core 2 (Duo and Quad) processors are superior to that what AMD has to offer, but I am 99% sure that as I am planning to be upgrading my computer, I will be going for AMD X2 6000+ (after price drops) in the coming months, and really hope that the future Barcelona (Agena FX) core [as I read] will be able to bring back AMD in strong position. This though I cannot promise regarding when I’ll be picking the next video card, as I am really tired of certain aspects of drivers that ATI cards have to offer and I am quite sure that next video card will be from nVidia (8600GTS 256MB or 8800GTS 320MB). There are a lot of loyal users and I am one of them … just make sure that we are getting good offer, if not the best.

BTW, if there will be no way else to survive but being gobbled, the only company that I will be happy to see AMD being acquired by will be IBM. Not to mention they together for years have been contributing and sharing technologies and have a track history of being reliable partners. Or perhaps by some Indian Company. :-p

Great article on how to set up WDS at home with minimum cost and running the DD-WRT modified firmware. DD-WRT is a third party developed firmware released under the terms of the GPL for many 802.11g wireless routers based on a Broadcom chip reference design. For a list of supported devices, please see the Supported Devices page.

Here’s a rough draft of our home’s floor plan. It’s absolutely NOT to scale and doesn’t show all areas. You will see on this diagram the location of the primary AP (A) and of the second AP (B) that I added as a WDS node. More on that follows below.

I’d picked up a Linksys WRT54GS wireless router on Ebay some time ago and had put it away as a spare if anything should happen with my main router.

This weekend I decided to use it to set up a Wireless Distribution System (WDS) in my home to fuller home wireless coverage. Plus, I love doing projects like this!

First things first, by definition a WDS is a system that enables the interconnection of access points wirelessly. It allows a wireless network to be expanded using multiple access points without the need for a wired backbone to link them, as is traditionally required. WDS may also be referred to as repeater mode because it appears to bridge and accept wireless clients at the same time (unlike traditional bridging). It should be noted, however, that throughput in this method is inversely proportional to the number of “hops”, as all traffic uses the same channel. For example, client traffic going through one relay station before it reaches the main access point will see at most half the maximum throughput that a directly connected client would experience.

Article and HowTo 

Barcelona is AMD’s first quad-core processor, featuring four cores on a single 65nm die. Unlike Intel’s quad-core Kentsfield, Barcelona is not made up of two dual core die, which is why AMD calls it a “native” quad core solution. Although there is a technical performance advantage to AMD’s approach, we’re unsure if it’s something that will be visible in real world testing.

What is known is that Barcelona—as AMD has dubbed this first iteration—isn’t so much a brand-new architecture as it is a highly refined, tweaked version of the existing AMD x86-64. Those tweaks are numerous and significant. It’s probably fair to suggest that Barcelona is to the current Opterons as Intel’s Core 2 is to the Pentium M—designed from the ground up, on a base of the old with a lot of new stuff rolled in. The cores themselves are enhanced and the firm has jiggled with the memory controller and cache memories. Being what AMD terms a true quad-core implementation, the cores can be individually throttled.

AMD will initially launch at speeds ranging from 2.1GHz to 2.3GHz, but by the end of this year you can expect higher clock speeds. On the desktop, AMD’s Agena core will be a Barcelona equivalent shipping at between 2.7 - 2.9GHz. Kuma will be a dual-core variant of Agena shipping in the 2.0 - 2.9GHz range.

What this architecture will bring to us, the desktop users … this remains to be seen.

OMG …got it working !!!

Here is what i did:

On your PDA
1. Go to BT settings on your device and make it discoverable.
2. Go to COM Ports Tab and create a new incoming port (mine is COM6)

In GPS2Blue
3. set your GPS to 4 (this is your internal GPS port ..see under Start –> Settings–>GPS)
4. enable BT on and set it to the COM you created in step 2.
5. Press Button ON

On your PC
6. Open your Bluetooth settings… i used Microsoft not Widcomm
7. Add a new Device
8. Choose your PDA
9. When this is done click properties on your device and go to the TAB services.
10. Now it will find a serial Port (SPP) ‘Serial Port’ COM 8 (in my case) enable it and press OK.

11. Now go to the TAB Com Ports and press button ADD. Choose your device and choose the Serial port.Now you have connected COM port 8 on your PC to COM Port 6 on your device. The only thing you will have to do is choose COM Port 8 as your GPS port in your application.

- Tnx to Tranzy from xda-developers.org

New year is knocking at our door steps and it is time to make gifts to our loved ones, and of course to yourself.

Apart from getting a new monitor, Acer AL2216Ws, I decided that it was not enough to satisfy my list of presents and decided to replace my HP hw6510 with HTC P3300 “Artemis”. I know it runs Windows, but it is the best as of today - plus I got there WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and it is small and coool.

In the office I was gifted with state of the art Logitech webcam known as QuickCam Ultra Vision, perhaps the best desktop webcam available in the market. Simply love the gift. This one will replace my plainvanilla Quickcam that I have right now. I hope I will be able to use this new cam with Linux without much trouble.

Apart from these I am also getting Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 3000, from a person I love dearly. This new combo will replace my older Logitech Cordless Desktop MX.

Now all I need is new dual-core computer, packed with the latest and the greatest :)

This is coming out to be really nice when I see all the new tech stuff I am going to start the new year with.

I wish everyone a very Happy New Year.