Realme C2 Product Review

Purchased a Realme C2 Android Phone today for 4,990 pesos. It only comes with a charger and charging cable, unlike other smart phones I've bought before which include earphones and a protective case. I even had to shell out an extra 250 pesos for a protective case. Specs are as follows:

• Model RMX1941
• ColorOS Version V6.0
• Android Version 9
• Processor Octa Core
• RAM 2.0 GB
• Device Storage 16.0 GB
• Front Camera 5 Megapixels
• Rear Camera 13 Megapixels

According to the seller, the Realme brand is a sub-brand of OPPO. The device has a 1-year warranty so if I need to have it fixed, I just have to bring it to an OPPO service center.

I am excited to explore how this device will perform compared to my last phone, an SKK Hyper X Core. Too bad, the SKK brand is no longer available. Hope the Realme brand lasts longer since it is connected with OPPO.

The only concern that the sales person told me about was that this product likes to do automatic updates frequently. And true enough, as soon as I connected with our home wifi network, it already wanted to download the latest Android OS update. I appreciate that apps like Chrome and a File Manager are already installed. Had to add Grab, Viber, etc. and these installed seamlessly, too.

The screen is a bit longer than my last phone. Specs wise, I think that the only difference is that this phone has an Octa Core processor and Android 9 for the OS.

I'm still trying to get used to the (X) button for closing apps. I'm not really sure if it closes all the apps that are open, or closes all but the one on the screen when you press it. But other than this small annoyance, I think that the phone is performing well.

Will try to update this article if I find more things I like or dislike about the phone.

SKK Chronos Era

Bought a new phone since my old phone was starting to have issues. Was looking for a comparable phone from SKK, near the price that I purchased over a year ago. The closest priced unit was the Chronos Era at 2799.

Here's the specs for the SKK Chronos Era based on the CPU-Z app from Google Play

Display: 4.59-inch 720 x 1280 pixels 320 dpi (same as what I had before)
Chipset: Mediatek MT6580 (same)
CPU: 1.3GHz Quad-core 4x ARM Cortex-A7 (same)
GPU: Mali-400 MP (same)
RAM: 960 MB (half of what I had before)
Storage: 5.24 GB internal storage
Memory: roughly 1 GB
Main camera: 8 MP (rear) (lower than what I had before)
Front camera: 5 MP
Connectivity: 3G/HSPA+, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
Freebies: Jelly case (instead of a Flip case)
Ports: microUSB
Android Version: 6.0

I think I'm beginning to have buyer's remorse because some of the specs are lower for roughly the same amount I shelled out last year.

In terms of performance, I was able to test out Clash Royale, Google Chrome and Instagram, and these are all working fine. Clash Royale was playing well without me having to adjust any settings.

I'm not a fan of the movable "button" on the screen for home, minimizing windows, and back. I think this was invented so that in case a part of the display no longer works properly, you can still move the button to a different part of the screen so that it can still function. But it is an eyesore when you open an app and I find that I have to move it to a different part to press a button on the app.

Also having a hard time adjusting again to a "physical" app management button. But this unit has that at the middle bottom part. Having to long press that to be able to cycle through all open apps, then swipe left to close the app seems more tedious than the swipe up - swipe left motion I got used to.

They tried to make the phone's interface look like an iPhone by using iPhone-like icons. You can look like an iPhone, but it would be better if you could perform like an iPhone.

Now, for some positives.

If you're a text to speech fan, it is now easier to get alternative voices. You no longer have to download additional apps on Google Play for additional voices on the phone. There's already an option under Settings > Language & Input > Language to select additional voices.

You now have an option to transfer files using the USB cable instead of charging the phone as the only option. In my previous phone, downloading File Manager to transfer files wirelessly was the only option.

I guess that's the end of my positive list. I'll try to come up with more as time progresses.

So, technology does not always advance with time. After a year, I was expecting better specs for the same price. But I feel like I got a downgrade for the same price. Maybe I didn't search well enough. I was actually considering the iRobot brand because their prices were below 2,000 pesos for roughly similar specs, but when I used their display, it seemed slower than what I was used to.

Maybe I should have gone for SKK's Hyperblade X, which was what the sales lady was aggressively pushing. But it cost 500 pesos more. I'd like tech to be better at the same price, or same at a lower price.

UPDATE: Was disappointed with this unit. I was getting all sorts of malware installed in it despite doing a factory reset and installing Kaspersky as my first app. It appears that the phone comes bundled with malware infested apps. Why would SKK even consider such a practice? One of the apps with built in malware was the HD Player. And once the malware has infected your phone, it is pretty difficult to remove it despite installing and updating antivirus or anti-malware apps.

PC Express Limited Warranty and Cash Price List

Bought an APC BX625CI-MS 625VA Battery Backup less than two years ago as of this writing. The unit failed last night and the circuit breaker would no longer reset. By just plugging in the unit to an outlet, a continuous tone would be heard. Power light is steady, but even if you press the power button to try and shutdown the unit, the noise would continue, and you would have to unplug the unit from the outlet.

I thought that the unit had a two-year warranty as advertised on the box it came with. But when I went to PC Express, the same shop I bought it from, they told me that items purchased from them only came with a one year warranty. This was despite the 2-year warranty label on the APC box. To process this unit, they wanted to charge me a Php 500 processing fee. They would then send the unit to APC and the processing time might take 3 to 4 weeks. And even if they return the fixed unit, its warranty would only end up being continuous, which means I could probably only use the unit for another three months before its warranty runs out.

The unit I purchased more than a year ago was priced at Php 2,850.

I couldn't wait for 4 weeks so I decided to purchase the same unit model. The price of the unit on PC Express' price list was now 3200. That's more than a 12% price increase in less than two years time. I figured I'd rather invest the 500 peso processing fee in a brand new unit than risk the old unit failing again in a couple of months.

I was expecting to get a discount from PC Express since they usually provide a discount for customers when they pay in cash. But they have what they call a "CASH basis" price list. It essentially is the same price list they have been providing all these years with the term "CASH basis" printed on it. This means, gone are the days of a cash discount from their stores. The price on the list is what you would pay if you paid with cash.

I was not a happy customer. PC Express discourages warranty claims by charging a processing fee. I got in touch with the Department of Trade and Industry and narrated my concern. (You can call them at 751-3330 local 1). According to them, in this case, PC Express shouldn't have asked for a processing because services should be free under a warranty. It should be PC Express' responsibility to spend for the shipping fee of the unit to APC's repair center because the product was still within APC's guaranteed two-year warranty.

Called up APC to see their take on the issue. (You call call their customer service hotline at 976-9999). They advised that I should have called them directly at their hotline and after troubleshooting, if the unit needs replacement, they can have a replacement shipped within 2-3 business days, or if the unit is out of stock, within a week. But APC agrees that PC Express shouldn't be charging their customers a processing fee since the unit is under the 2-year warranty.

So, if you go through the same experience I went through, if your battery backup is still within warranty, call APC directly.

Blade-less Fans

I was buying parts from a hardware store at the U.P. Town Center when I noticed several blade-less fans on display. It was simply a circular frame, and out of that space, air was blowing through. It was amazing! There was a cut-out diagram, explaining how the fan was actually working using the same ideas used in a vacuum cleaner, but in reverse - instead of sucking in air, you are pushing out air - and you could actually think of the frame as a special type of air outlet instead of the typical vacuum tube (no electronic pun intended).

The price was also amazing. One of the cheapest models was priced at 29,900 pesos. That's outrageous, considering that you can buy electric fans at 500 pesos. I didn't check the kilowatt rating of the blade-less fan, but I don't think your electrical consumption would be that far off from an ordinary fan since both still use motors. So, for me, why buy a product that functions in the same way as another, but is 58 times more expensive. It just doesn't make economic sense. At that price, I could buy enough electric fans to last a lifetime.

And the product is simply an electric fan without blades. The level of coldness it can generate does not even compare with an air-conditioner. And you can get an air-con for less than 10,000 pesos or about one-third the price of the blade-less fan.

I will say this for the blade-less fan though. It is a conversation piece, and would probably be best for people who don't care about the price of a product.

Technologically disruptive products are usually imitated within a year or two. Think of the iPhone and how fast competitors came out. But in the case of the blade-less fan, I wonder if it can be considered as a disruptive product. It seems that this type of fan has been available since 2009. And now that it's 2016, you still don't see many competitors arising. I guess for now, the ordinary electric fan is still king of the fan market.

SKK Chronos Ace Plus Product Review

Purchased a new smartphone a few days ago since my old one was having problems with the battery. The SKK Chronos Ace Plus was the closest product with specs similar to my old phone but at two-third's of my old phone's price. Moore's law is at work - at least with mobile phones.

Here's the specs for the SKK Chronos Plus based on the CPU-Z app from Google Play

Display: 4.59-inch 720 x 1280 pixels 320 dpi
Chipset: Mediatek MT6580
CPU: 1.3GHz Quad-core
GPU: Mali-400 MP graphics
RAM: 1976 MB
Memory: 5.12 GB internal storage
Main camera: 13 MP (rear)
Front camera: 5 MP
Connectivity: 3G/HSPA+, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS
Freebies: Smartphone case
Ports: microUSB
Android Version: 6.0 Marshmallow

So far, I've installed most of the apps I've been using like Clash Royale, Chrome, Kaspersky, etc. and these are working fine. There has been a time when the phone restarted and seemed to be stuck at the SKK logo for a long time. (This was quite a scare since the phone is just 3-days out of the box) I just long-pressed the power button and the phone was able to shut down. I restarted it and it seems to be working fine. I guess this is something I have to watch out for.

If you're a gamer, the battery will probably be drained in one to two hours so you'll find yourself recharging every few hours. But if you aren't using the phone for anything graphics intensive, a fully charged battery should last you an entire day.

The fact that the phone comes with its own case is a bit neat since it is hard to find a case for most unknown brands at phone-accessory shops. The phone has a light sensor near the front camera and when you close the case (eliminating light), the display changes to a clock which shows through the case hole.

The phone also comes with its own charger and ear phones. The manual could have been done better. There isn't even a diagram for the different parts of the phone. But I guess it is assumed that most people nowadays know their phone basics.

Anyway, at 2699 pesos, I can't complain (not yet). I've ran into an SKK page where there are customers who are dissatisfied with SKK products, calling these the worst smartphones and tablets in the Philippine market. But I hope I don't end up being one of them. If the phone lasts as long as my old smartphone did (1 year and a half), then I would say that I've gotten my money's worth out of it. I guess I'll be updating this post based on how the phone performs. Till then.

Bulging Battery on Coby CMP500 Nitrox

Coby CMP500 Nitrox

My Coby CMP500 Nitrox has served me well for almost a year and six months. But lately, it would power off on its own despite the battery charge still being above 60%. So I decided to check the battery by opening up the case.

CMP500 with the battery removed

I'm not sure if you can notice it, but the battery is bulging.

Slight bulge in the left side of the battery

When I checked the shop at SM North Edsa Annex where I purchased the unit, they said that they did not have available batteries with them. Their repair center in Manila probably has one, but it would cost around 800 pesos or roughly 20% of the original price of the unit. But with newer models from other brands costing only about 3 times that amount, I did not think replacing the battery made any sense if the unit would conk out soon enough.

Thank you Coby for a year and a half worth of service. But with unavailability of immediate service and replacement parts, you'll probably find yourself losing potentially loyal customers to new competition.

APC Back-UPS 625

My APC ES 500 UPS was making a continuous noise the other day. I tried resetting the circuit breaker and re-using it and it still seemed to work. But today, it finally conked out. Even after unplugging all devices, and resetting the circuit breaker, and resting the UPS, it still gave a continuous noisy tone.

I read on some forums that you could try replacing the internal battery of the unit. But if you try to do so, and the unit is still busted, you end up having a useless battery. So I decided to just replace the UPS unit. PC Express only had one APC battery back-up available, the APC Back-UPS 625. Had to shell out 2850. The only thing different with the ES 500 is the lack of an extra outlet. I usually make use of all four of the outlets - tower, monitor, printer, and DSL modem. Now, I have to swap out the printer or the modem.

The APC Back-UPS 625 boasts of  up to 50 minutes runtime in case of a power-outage. It also has a two year warranty, but I wonder if this is vetoed by PC Express' one year warranty. I have been satisfied with APC's performance since I started using it as a battery back-up so I hope this unit will do as well as the ES 500 series. Will give an update in case it under-performs.

DBAN (Darik's Boot And Nuke)

It was the first time I tried installing Windows on a hard drive that had Linux Mint installed. Windows setup wasn't even recognizing the hard drive. So, after searching online, I found out about DBAN. You can download the tool from www.dban.org and store it in a USB drive.

Once you set up your BIOS to boot from that drive, it brings you to a menu where you have several methods of nuking the hard drive. I read at first that once you begin the nuking process, it wipes all data off of all drives including the USB drive itself. So, I thought that once I was in the menu, I should unplug the USB drive since the program was already residing in memory.

I was wrong. None of the formatting methods worked after I unplugged the USB drive. All of them were giving an error. I tried pressing F4 to troubleshoot the error but there was no joy. So, I decided to restart and just keep the USB plugged in during the entire process. And DBAN did format the USB drive along with my SATA hard drive. And the entire process took 7 hours for a 500 GB hard drive. Talk about low-level format indeed.

But it worked. Windows setup was able to detect the drive afterwards.

My only complaint was the advertisement splash screen at the end of the formatting process. I don't mind having the add as long as it allows me to escape it somehow. Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete did nothing. I had to do a hard shutdown just to reboot my PC. Despite this, I would still recommend this tool to anyone having a hard time installing on a hard drive with Linux installed.

cloudparty: build your own 3D game

Pretty soon, everyone will have the capability to create their own 3D game. This seems to be the idea behind cloudparty, a website that allows its users to create 3D environments for their avatar to explore.

I tried it out and the image below shows some of the objects that are already built into the game.

So far, the development environment allows you to create static objects from blocks. You can modify the material used in each individual block. If you've played Minecraft, then you should have an idea. Or if you haven't played Minecraft, but have played with LEGO blocks, then you have a grasp of the principle.

If you want to test out the game shown above, just click on the following link.

https://www.cloudparty.com/loc/7949812808

The character can move using either the keyboard arrow keys or W, A, S, D. The character can jump using the spacebar, and can even travel long distances, like teleporting, using the left mouse pointer.

If you're excited to start creating your own 3D game, then give cloudparty a try!

Windows 7 Installation

The past two days have been tough but the Lord is merciful.

• Both SATA drives failed for some reason. Probably a delayed write failure.
• Primary drive which contained the OS would boot up to the windows logo, then encounter just a black screen
• Secondary drive had no OS
• Both drives were still seen in BIOS
• after enabling S.M.A.R.T. in BIOS, both drives encountered an error "Hard Disk Error"
• This made me suspect that both drives might be failing (highly unlikely but wierd things have happened before)
• Purchased a new HDD
• After much difficulty (perhaps due to old media) Windows 7 was installed in the new HDD
• Hooked up the secondary drive (the one with no OS) to this new primary drive. Both seen in BIOS, but in windows explorer, the secondary drive cannot be seen. Checked "disk management". Secondary drive has a yellow triangle with an exclamation point. Cannot be manipulated (format, partitioned, etc). Installed EaseUS recovery software and was able to get some files off the HDD. Would have gotten more out if not for the 2 GB limit (encouraging the user to upgrade). Just recovered the important files. Just for the record, tried several other recovery software like Pandora, Puran, etc. but none of these were helpful in this scenario. Wish there was better software than EaseUS since that 2 GB restriction is a difficulty if you have HDD sizes in the hundred GB range
• Thankfully, the old primary HDD was seen when hooked up as a secondary drive. Volumes seemed to be intact. Running chkdsk on each drive as of this writing. Will update this post if there are interesting developments. 

Update:

• The computer has been locking up more frequently since the hard drive replacement. CPU usage seems to spike during these times and applications show a NOT RESPONDING tag.
• Experienced several BSODs, and one was BAD POOL CALLER. Might be related to the Windows updates that the computer was installing automatically so I disabled these
• Probably a MOBO, PROC, MEMORY issue, so I might as well look into the possibility of replacing all these three plus the power supply, because as a unit, these devices have been together for about 5 years now. It has been a good run, but now, my MOBO may be damaging my drives.
• Just thankful that data has been recovered and transferred to other storage media. Will update this post if the MOBO et al replacement was a success and all the troubleshooting issues have been cleared.

Update 12/29/2013:

•  Replaced the MOBO, and with that, had to replace the PROCESSOR, RAM, POWER SUPPLY, and even DVD drive since all of my previous drives were IDE based and the new mother boards only support SATA devices. Even had to replace memory because my old one was DDR2 and the new board requires DDR3.
• PROC is a 3.4 GHz AMD A4-5300 APU with Radeon HD 7480D
• Board is an MSi FM2-A55M-E33
• RAM is 4GB
• Windows detected most devices except the sound and the built-in NIC (Ethernet / LAN port). Windows installed generic sound drivers for the audio but I couldn't hear anything from my speakers. Tried updating all drivers with the DVD that came with the MOBO. Started with chipset, then progressed from video, to audio, then finally LAN. Catalyst Control Center was giving all sorts of errors from explorer has stopped working to Load MMdriver has stopped working. (Perhaps because I've updated the chipset drivers AFTER installing a bunch of other software - VLC Player, photo editing, etc.) But at least I got the sound driver installed in the process and I finally heard the Windows chime when logging in. So after some research, I decided to uninstall Catalyst Control Center. Surprisingly, the sound still works even after uninstalling, but then there was this unplugged - plugged annoyance. Followed this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCQOTBXFznw to change the settings of Realtek Audio controls. No more annoying pop-ups.

ProjectY RTS

If you are looking for a game like Dune 2, Starcraft 2, or Command & Conquer: Generals for your tablet, then you will probably enjoy ProjectY RTS 3D Public Beta. It is available for free on the Google Play and you can check it out here.

The game requires Android 2.3 or higher and about 29 MB of space.

Like many RTS games, the goal is to conquer all territories in the entire map. Since this is a relatively young game, there are only a few maps free. This, by the way, is how developers will probably make money, by selling new maps.

There can be up to 4 multiplayers, but I haven't had the chance to test it with friends yet. Still, the single player customized campaign was good. There's also a tutorial campaign.

The main difference with this games and other RTS is you no longer create structures and harvest resources. Instead, the main resource are the robot brains, or pilots. These either drive vehicles or occupy structures like turrets and factories.

So, with prebuilt structures existing all over the map, the player (or AI) who can manufacture units and quickly occupy other territories will gain the long-run advantage in the game.

I find that once you have 3 rocket tanks (long range units) and a pair of repair tanks, you're good to go. Just support these with scorpion tanks for protection. The rocket tanks are your main offense. I hope that as the game progresses, The game gets more complicated rock-paper-scissor scenarios like Starcraft (still my favorite RTS of all time). But I think the reason why Starcraft had such variety was because it had 3 races. Maybe ProjectY could introduce a second race, maybe organic aliens.

Units have various types of upgrades like armor, health, range, etc. But there is an upgrade called automate upgrades which is what I go for since it can be a pain micro-managing on a tab. Although there are groupings of units, upgrades will still be done individually unless you automate it.

There are also specialized structures like an Air Control Tower which you can use to bomb areas in the map. But unless there are special buttons that can be assigned to structures, like what can be done to unit groups, then managing this is also challenging. I'm just thankful the factories have a rally point feature.

Overall, I give this game 5 stars. It is one of the best games I've played on a tablet, and I think it has a lot of potential. Hopefully, developers can come up with a story mode campaign, and air units, and more free maps. If your an RTS fan, you should give this game a try.

Installing Linux Mint 15 (Olivia) from a USB drive

I decided to install Linux Mint on an old laptop that had Ubuntu 12.10. I decided to do a clean install, erasing Ubuntu since it wasn't performing properly.

Used Universal USB Installer 1.9.4.7 to create the bootable USB drive.

Went into BIOS and made sure that the laptop's first boot device was the USB.

Booted up with the USB drive plugged in and just followed the instructions on the screen. At first, it wasn't recognizing my wireless internet connection, so I had to plug my DSL modem directly into the laptop's Ethernet port to get things going.

I also had to do some skipping while it was installing language packs since that was simply taking too long.

Finally, the last "hiccup" was when there was a message prompting me to restart - I pulled out the USB drive, thinking it was safe, and so that it wouldn't boot to it on restart, but there was a kernel panic error message. I hoped for the best and simply did a hard shutdown, and when I booted up (with the USB drive unplugged), Mint was fine.

First thing I did was test if it now recognized my wireless internet connection. Still did not, so just went into settings, networks, and entered my password for wireless access. Was able to surf just fine on Firefox.

Tested an .mp4 and .mp3 file on VLC, and they played ok, so there were no problems there either.

My laptop's keyboard was causing all sorts of weird behavior, perhaps because of sticky keys. I decided to hookup a USB keyboard from a desktop. I then ran a terminal and typed in xinput --list. This gave me a list of all devices and I looked for AT ... keyboard and made a note of its ID. Then, I ran xinput float ID to disable the laptop's built in keyboard. According to some forums, you'll have to do this everytime you restart in order to disable the keyboard. I think there might be a more permanent solution out there, so that I don't have to do this process for every reboot, but for now, this temporary fix will do.

This should keep the users happy. All they want is a computer to access the internet from.

I must say, for new software an old device, Mint sure runs smoothly and looks good. Might help you breath new life into your aged computer.

Product Review: Tenda 300Mbps Wireless N Easy Setup Router

With an increase in gadgets requiring Internet access in our home, we finally decided to go wireless. And out of all the existing routers available, we picked one on the lower end of the cost spectrum. The entire product cost around PHP 1200 and comes with a one-year warranty.

This package comes with an installation CD, an Ethernet cable for connecting the router to a desktop computer, manuals, a power adapter, and of course, the router itself.

Setup of the physical connections of the router was pretty easy. Just hook up port 1 to the desktop (where your DSL modem was originally connected), and hook up the DSL modem to the WAN port at the back of the router.

Detecting the router proved to be slightly challenging even though I was already using Windows 7. Even though I went to 192.168.0.1, I wasn't going into the router's management interface. I had to pop-in the router setup CD, and after running setup, I was given an option to CONFIGURE the router.

The first page you see will allow you to change the SECURITY KEY, which will hopefully prevent unauthorized access to your internet connection.

First order of business is to change the admin password which is the same as the admin username. You can do this from the TOOLS tab at the top menu then choose CHANGE PASSWORD from the left side menu.

In case you forgot to change the SECURITY KEY, you can go to the HOME tab at the top menu and change it from there.

Next, configure the type of internet connection. You can do this from the ADVANCED tab at the top menu then choose INTERNET CONNECTION SETUP from the left side menu. Our internet provider uses DHCP instead of PPPoE so I chose DHCP.

After doing this, our wireless gadgets were able to connect to the internet. But the desktop was not able to. The reason for this was because the DSL modem was also configured to the address 192.168.0.1 by default. This was conflicting with the router's default assigned address. This was probably the reason I couldn't detect my router initially and why I needed the setup CD.

To solve this problem, simply assign a different address to the router. Do this from the ADVANCED tab at the top menu then choose LAN SETTINGS from the left side menu. Assign a different IP Address for your router. Try something like 192.168.5.1.

After changing the IP address for the router, my desktop was then also able to connect to the internet.

There are some additional features that I haven't explored yet, and I'll most likely try tweaking those in the future.

So far, I'm pleased with this product and would recommend it especially if its your first time to configure a wireless internet connection at home.

AVG 2013 License Number Location

If you have installed AVG Anti-virus 2013 and are wondering where you can find your AVG License Number, just follow the steps below.

• Start AVG and then click on the Options menu. 
• Select About AVG. This should open a new window as shown below.

• You should be able to see your License Number just below the Product Name under License Information. (I've covered mine with the yellow bar)

I hope this information was able to help you out. ^_^

NEO M72S Laptop Black Screen

This serves as a journal of sorts of the steps I tried in order to resolve the "black screen" issue on a NEO M72S Laptop. But aside from that, I hope it is able to help you out in troubleshooting your own laptop problems.

Symptoms:
When turning on the laptop, you know there is power since there is a light on the power button and you hear the laptop fan spinning, but all you get is a black screen. I also kept hearing the DVD drive create some kind of noise, as if it was trying to read a DVD, but there was no media present in the drive.

Troubleshooting steps taken:

• Thought it was a DVD drive issue. Tried removing the DVD drive from the laptop. Refer to YouTube for some tutorials. (Did not resolve the issue)
• Pressed CTRL - ALT - DEL (A.K.A. the three fingered salute) simultaneously repeatedly. BIOS screen was able to come up after several tries.
• Checked BIOS settings. Made sure the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) was the first boot device. Saved settings.
• Checked power saving options in Windows XP. Made sure no settings made the laptop go to sleep or turn off after several minutes of being idle.
• Updated AVG definitions in Windows XP and ran a full system scan. AVG didn't find anything.
• Swapped out RAM with known good RAM from another laptop. This seems to be the issue since the other laptop which was originally working fine is now encountering the "black screen" issue.

So at this point, after almost an entire day of troubleshooting, the only way I can get the original laptop to work is by pressing CTRL - ALT - DEL until I can get the start up screen. Even if I shutdown or restart from Windows, the laptop ends up in the "black screen" state and I have to either power down manually (holding down the power button for 5 seconds, or press CTRL - ALT - DEL to get back into BIOS/Windows).

Zoho Creator vs Grubba vs SodaDB

I've been checking out free online databases out of curiosity and so far, Grubba, SodaDB and Zoho Creator are the three which are really free. But being free actually has its drawbacks.

Most of these databases have existing templates such as an "address book" or a "to do list". So creating a database that you can VIEW, ADD, EDIT and DELETE, (VADE) can be done within minutes. But below are my criticisms for each DB.

Grubba cannot be embeded in your own website. To access the user interface, you have to access grubba.net. I guess this is fine for some users, but if I want to display my data on my site, this is not a viable option for me.

Zoho Creator is the best looking online DB option, and it has a lot of features that are only available if you upgrade to a paying subscriber. But their free plan works - the only drawback, only a single user can access the database. The only way other users will be able to see the database is if you become a paying customer. I guess some people still need a personal database so there will still be some people opting in.

SodaDB actually allows anyone to VADE through the database you create. And it gives you the option of setting user permissions on the DB. The problem is, the only permissions available so far are either complete VADE or only View. Data integrity and security is compromised if everyone can edit or delete the data. If you only allow the view option, then I guess this solution works best since it is the only free solution that anyone can access. Adding, Editing and Deleting data becomes the responsibility of a single user.

All these DBs require your email address, this at the end of the day is the price you pay.

So if your excited to build that site with a back end, check out these three installation-free options.

Autodesk Homestyler

Check out what I was able to do after playing around for a few hours with Autodesk Homestyler. All you need to do is sign up for a free account and you can start immediately. No hassles of software downloads since it is web-based.

The closest competitor to Homestyler in my opinion is Roomle. But I just wasn't satisfied with my experience with Roomle.

In today's fast paced environment, rapid prototyping software can help improve the customer experience, allowing a client to immediately visualize an Architect or Interior Designer's idea or concept. Sure changes will happen to the plan eventually, and sometimes, the plan is even better looking than the actual product.

I would suggest using the 3D option for touring the design. I was searching the Homestyler forums for options so that the embedded design defaults in 3D but could not find any tutorials for such. But feel free to view the image in 3D mode, pan around, zoom in and zoom out.

Electricity Generating Clothing

I can still remember having a discussion with one of my classmates a few years ago about the advent of clothing that could power mobile devices. Back then, we theorized that the clothing should be able to harness kinetic energy from human motion, in a similar way that kinetic watches are powered by the pendulum like motion of the wearer's arm while walking.

Now, electricity generating clothing is almost a reality. David Carroll of Wake Forest University along with his students have developed a material dubbed as Power Felt. It is a material which they synthesized using carbon nanotechnology. It uses the principle of thermo-electricity instead. It converts body heat into electricity. In the video, a 1 inch by 1 inch Power Felt material was able to generate roughly 2 mV of voltage after being held between the thumb and index finger for sometime. While the voltage levels were erratic, I'm sure that with the use of suitable electronics, the varying voltage can be converted to a stable DC supply which is important for mobile devices.

From money.cnn.com 

It is not clear from the video if more area, and hence more Power Felt, is necessary to generate more electricity. One might initially think in terms of solar panels, stating that the more panels there are, the more electrical energy one will be able to generate. I would think that trying to cover as much surface area of your body as possible will generate more electricity, Patients with a fever would probably be more productive than those who are out cold (pun intended).

One could probably envision a wetsuit with a mesh of power felts in a grid-like arrangement becoming an ideal mobile power source. The U.S. military is probably working with this technology to enhance the arsenal of soldiers on the field.

Perhaps, later on, the idea of humans as being part of the electric grid, seen in the Matrix, may not be far fetched. People would be wearing electric generating suits for most part of their days, and even in their sleep, only removing it to take a bath. The scenario would probably stink.

You could even think of spans of this material being placed near heat sources like ovens, refrigerators, furnaces, etc. to act as an additional means of generating electric power. This would at least augment the electric bill.

As for drawbacks, the first thing that comes to mind would be the suit being a source of electric shock. The person wearing it might get fatally electrocuted.Engineers would probably come up with safeguards against these but it would bring a whole new meaning to phrases like "dressed to kill".

These are the types of technologies we, as members of the human race, should be investing in especially as the sources of energy in the world are gradually waning. Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, and private research agencies would be better off placing their money in this type of research instead of "the next fun thing". The next internet application or video game will not even run if global power eventually goes out. We should be preparing for the future right now. We know that the world's oil supply will run out before century's end. Coal deposits might follow suit. And unless a new means of energy can be harnessed to meet the global demand, anarchy and chaos awaits once people experience the energy shortage. Can we survive a world without power? Perhaps power felt will allow us to avoid this question.

D-Link DFE-520TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter

Replaced my NIC about two weeks ago. Tried out D-Link's DFE-520TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter. From time to time, I would get an error 651 whenever I tried to go online. I would also notice that the Internet icon at the bottom right corner of my screen would have a red X mark instead of the usual yellow triangle with an exclamation point whenever it is not connected.

I would simply go into device manager, uninstall the D-Link network adapter, scan for hardware changes and Windows 7 will automatically re-install the drivers. This seems to resolve the error 651 issue and I would be able to go online. The problem would be gone for a day or two, then I would have to go through the entire process and it is getting old.

So, just wondering if any of you techies are experiencing the same problem I am having and if you have found a permanent fix, a little assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Error 651

Just got home from work and was trying to go online when I started receiving the following error.

Called my ISP and they walked me through a few troubleshooting steps.

• Restarted the ISP modem
• All lights were normal
• Went to device manager, and noticed that one of the devices was listed as Other Devices

I thought it was merely a Driver issue so I swapped network ports (my mother board has a built in LAN port but for some reason, I was using a PCI card) and lo and behold, I was back on line. It is good to have a back up. It turns out my LAN card gave out. Even after trying to update it via the Internet, a driver could not be found for it.   

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