Making Your Phone YOUR Phone

June 19, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

After waiting a very long time for Verizon to release a Gingerbread ROM for my Droid 2 phone, I started hearing that this might not happen until the third or fourth quarter of the year – if ever. I appreciate Verizon’s position. They want to ensure that their new Android devices (with Gingerbread or Honeycomb) have the best features. And if previously existing phones get updates, then there is less “incentive” for customers to upgrade to the “new” phones.
I understand the sentiment inherent in Verizon’s approach (and their public statements). But as a tech savvy customer, I really despise being treated like a rebel. I bought an Android phone so that I could customize my own wireless experience. I bought an Android phone to have access to the broadest range of applications. I didn’t buy this phone to ensure the hegemony of Verizon.
Consequently, I chose to root my phone. Then I chose to upgrade my phone to a custom ROM (i.e., Liberty). And I was supremely excited when Google released Gingerbread (and the SDK) late last year. But I have waited to take the plunge and install a Gingerbread-based ROM. First, Gingerbread ROMs were very immature. Second, I really wanted to have a ROM based upon the vendor builds. A few months ago, I got excited that there was a leak of Verizon’s D2 Gingerbread build. But that leak has not been followed by a general release. So I waited.
Since the leak earlier this year, there has been a lot of growth. There are numerous Gingerbread builds for the D2. And the folks on the Liberty team have been working on their new build. As of this week, Liberty Gingerbread (a.k.a., LGB) is now at v0.8. With this latest release, stability has increased. And performance is always improving.
So after a lot of hesitancy (and a wedding or two), I’ve finally decided to tae the plunge. I am now running on LGB v0.8. So what did it take to get from Liberty 2.0.1 to the latest build? Here was what I did:

As a first step, I needed to deploy a Gingerbread build so that I could be on the new Linux kernel. I followed the recommendation found here and grabbed the ‘monster leak’ file. With a great deal of hesitancy, I flashed the revised kernel (wiping the system and cache) – and crossed my fingers. The result was a very vanilla build. But I was now on the right kernel.
Once I had the right base, I then re-downloaded the ‘donate’ version of the Liberty Toolbox. From within this tool, I was able to download and flash the new bits for Liberty 0.8.
My first thoughts about the new build were “wow” and “this thing sucks major power.” So I decided to get to work. The first order of business was to get all of my apps installed onto the new system. I could have used Titanium Backup. It is an awesome tool. But I chose to see how the base Android Market app would do on a Gingerbread ROM. For the most part, I was satisfied that my apps were recovered. But a few key apps didn’t get restored. I’m still researching why this was the case. But I now have all of my apps restored.
On Liberty 2.0.1, I used Advanced Task Killer to keep my system clean. But since I am now on a new kernel, I want to ensure that I test the base memory management capabilities of Gingerbread. Therefore, I uninstalled ATK. It may find it’s way back onto the phone at some point. But for now, I’m living with the base OS task management.
Since I was already seeing some battery issues, I decided that I would enable Juice Defender. I had purchased Juice Defender Ultimate. But was disappointed to learn that the Ultimate version didn’t work on Gingerbread. But the basic program did work fine. So I now have a good battery management tool that is helping to deal with battery management.
The overall look and feel of the new LGB ROM is great. But if I was going to rock a new ROM, I really wanted to make it look fantastic. So I downloaded a new theme (GingerComb Juiced). I also paid for the Beautiful Widgets pack. I really love the widgets in this package. So I now have a “killer look” to my fresh new system.
I rounded out the effort by switching to LauncherPro Plus. The New Liberty Launcher is good. But I have grown so accustomed to LauncherPro that I decided to replace the default launcher.

So what is the result of all of these changes? First, my phone looks great.

Second, my phone appears to be operating well with reasonable task, memory and battery management. But time will tell on this front. Finally, I have stuck my finger in Lord Farquaad’s eye (i.e., Verizon). This phone is mine. Yes, I respect Verizon’s right to deny me support. But they can never take my freedom!
-Roo

There Is Honor In Competing

June 12, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Hebrews 12:1

Today was my second chance to participate in the 2011 Kansas City Corporate Challenge. I got up at 5:15 to assemble my gear and get ready emotionally. Clyde Miller arrived at 5:50AM. We strapped my bike onto his car and we headed out to Shawnee Mission Park. Today was the duathlon/triathlon competition. And my job was to ride around the park four times (approximately sixteen miles).

My spirits were upbeat. And my attitude was positively ebullient. After this year’s bicycle commuting, I was ready for the challenge – despite the looming hills and the threatening weather. I ride about twenty five miles every day. And there are some substantial hills on the return home. So I wasn’t too worried about completing the course. In fact, I took finishing for granted. Boy, was that premature!
Clyde started us off at 7:00AM when he began his swim. He did his leg in about thirty minutes. I give him so much credit. I can’t imagine swimming in open water with a pack of people kicking you in the face. I heard them call our number when Clyde left the water. So I lined up and got ready for the transfer. I worried about the transfer and getting clipped into my pedals. But the transfer went so very smoothly. I started off my part of the race with excitement. This was looking epic.
During the first lap, I did fantastically well going up the hills. I was dropping folks w/o much trouble. And my downhill pacing was good. [Note: I hate downhill racing. It requires much finer motor control. And my poor vision really reduces my ability to react quickly – especially in a big pack of people. But I was doing remarkably well going downhill.
I passed the start/stop line and shifted up into a high gear so that I could grab every ounce of power/momentum on the downhill stretch before the dam. When I shifted up, I heard a very disheartening clunk in my rear derailleur. I could still pedal. So I figured it was just a poor shift on my part. I kept hammering across the dam and then turned to go up the hill. And that’s when I figured out what happened: my shifting cable between my shifting levers (on the handlebars) and the rear derailleur had failed. I tried to shift down and nothing happened. I made it halfway up the hill before I had to hop off and run it up the hill.
I rode across the next flat and down the next hill. And I then tried to shift down. There was no joy. I tried to shift up – but with no success. My rear shifting was completely kaput. So I was riding a fixie in a high gear up and down the hills of Shawnee Mission Park. I had to hop off twice. I tried on two more occasions to fix it myself.
After about twenty minutes of fiddling and walking, I finally made it to the north side of the park. I rode down toward the transfer point where I had seen a bike repair truck from BikeSource. So I stopped at the finish line, dismounted and headed for the repair truck. My teammates thought that I was done. I had to wave them off and hoof it to the truck. It took about ten minutes for the tech to resolve the cable issue. Fortunately, I knew the tech. In fact, he was the person who had prepped my bike for KCCC almost six weeks ago.
After taking almost forty minutes on the second lap, I finally was back on the course for the third lap. The shifting was smooth, but I was hesitant. I probably did a twenty minute third lap. By the time I passed the start/stop line, I was one of the last folks still on the course. As I started my last lap, I had finally gotten back into the rhythm that I had built on the first lap. The final hills were tough but not punishing. I hammered through the last lap in about thirteen minutes.
While I don’t have the final time I posted, I think it was almost ninety minutes – a full thirty minutes off what I had expected to do. Yes, I did have a mechanical failure. But I did finish the course. And surprisingly enough, I wasn’t last. I was certainly in the last third of the participants. But I was passing people even during the last lap.
But for me, I must chalk this up as a moral victory. This was my first relay competition. So any time was obviously my best time. More importantly, I finished the course. I really thought about just packing it in when I rolled into the transition area for the repair. But as I thought about it, I realized how silly that would have been. I was here representing the USMC. Young Marines were (and are) in harm’s way. And they never gave up. So how could I give up on a simple bicycle race. I HAD to complete the course – regardless of which position I ended in.
The bottom line lesson for me was the obvious lesson of perseverance. I would finish in order to validate the work that Clyde had done. I would finish in order to give Julie her opportunity to compete in the running segment.. I would finish so that I could prove to myself that there is honor in the competition.
I must say “thank you” to all the volunteers who made the race possible. I must also say “congratulations” to the victors. Finally, I must say “Amen” to my Lord and Savior. Thank you for allowing this lesson to be so permanently impressed into my consciousness. I will not soon forget the message from the hills of Lenexa, Kansas.
-Roo

WordPress Updates Its Commenting Engine

June 11, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

Earlier this week, I got an email from WordPress about changes to their commenting system. Basically, they’ve opened up commenting to Facebook and Twitter accounts. That means that you can read your favorite blogs and comment without creating a WordPress account (or without commenting anonymously).
This is a tremendously simple change. And it is a tacit admission that federated identity is not quite there yet. That’s too bad. I had hoped that open and reliable identity management would already be available by now. But as a blogger, I welcome having a reliable source of information about the identity of my readership.
And I expect that this capability will soon be followed by Facebook “like” capabilities.
-Roo

Platform Pivot Possibilities

June 11, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

Anyone who has read my musings before already knows that I have loved technology for a very long time. You are also aware that I’ve used many different forms and flavors of technology. The list of operating systems is quite long. On the server side, I’ve used: Univac Exec 8, IBM MVS, IBM VM/ESA, IBM MVS/ESA, IBM z/OS, SunOS, Solaris, Irix, DG-UX, HP-UX, IBM AIX, Windows NT, Win2K(x), Linux and a host of other platforms. On the desktop, I’ve used: CPM, UCSD Pascal, HDOS, MS-DOS, PC-DOS, Windows (many flavors), MacOS (many flavors), Xenix, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Linux (many flavors) and a plethora of experimental OSes.
As you look at this list, you have to be thinking a few things:

Roo is really old,
Roo is fickle,
Roo has been through a lot of tech transitions, and
Roo is really, really old

So why would I recite this list? Am I building a new resume? [No, I’m not.] Am I a preening, arrogant technology elitist? [Yes, I am. But that’s not the reason I recorded the list.] I wrote the list because I’m becoming convinced that it is time for yet another technology pivot.
There are some big trends that are becoming absolutely obvious:

Computing technology is for everyone. So it must necessarily be simple and bullet-proof. Over the past three years, I have deployed more “appliance” devices at home than I have deployed computers. Yes the appliances are computers. But for the average consumer, they are plug and play functionality. This includes: set top boxes, wireless routers, wireless extenders, wireless printers, wireless cameras, wireless phones, wireless monitoring systems, etc.
Everything is becoming mobile. Computers are getting smaller. They are embedded in everything (including my heart). And they are increasingly becoming disconnected from fixed structures (like an office or a home).
We are finally starting to see new user interfaces. Just as the keyboard was displaced by the mouse, the mouse is now being displaced by human touch. Haven’t we had pen computing for almost a decade? Yes, we have. But the iPhone made touch computing ubiquitous. More importantly, touch is not the only new user interface. Speech recognition is becoming ubiquitous as well. I can now talk to my phone and place calls (or write emails). I can now talk to my car (or its GPS) and get driving directions. With speech and touch replacing the hands and fingers that were tethered to a swivel chair, we are accelerating the move towards mobility.
Retail purchasing and provisioning are finally reducing the need to go to the store. It is very possible to sit in your chair at home and order anything for delivery right to your door. I won’t go into the moral impacts of promoting such sedentary lives. But I do think that this change is transforming the way that we live – and the computer systems that we utilize.

These trends (and a few other minor trends) are allowing new competitors to jump into prominent positions. And these changes are putting strains on older competitors.
The big boys do see these trends. Microsoft recognizes these changes. And I think that they are trying to compete in these spaces. But their corporate identity (based on sales pros getting commissions) is becoming outdated. Their corporate ethos allowed them to miss the entire music resurgence that Apple inspired. Sure, Microsoft is now in that business. But not before Apple seized the entire market. The Zune is cool. And the Zune market is feature-complete. But the battle was lost because Microsoft was trying to protect their existing channel model.
The Microsoft phone strategy has been equally anemic. They did indeed recognize the mobility trend. But Windows Mobile was incomplete and clunky. Can WP7 and its successors thrive? Uh, using the number ‘7’ in your name won’t repeat the Windows 7 success. Did Microsoft have a chance? Yes. Can they seize market from both Google and Apple? Sure, but they are taking table scraps from their competitors. And their corporate heritage is holding them back. Android has succeeded because it is repeating Microsoft’s PC success: Google has built an open platform.
Microsoft isn’t the only company at a crossroads. Apple is also at a crossroads. Their model of retail purchase via iTunes and delivery to a desktop device is now under assault. The iTunes infrastructure has always used the desktop as the hub of your music experience. But staying with that model would be like staying with high-end audio equipment. Sure, some audiophiles still have a stylus and all of their other component gear. But component audio was replaced by compact discs and then by PC audio.
The new model is to buy the rights to the music and to store the music remotely. This allows you to access your content anytime and anywhere. You don’t have to be at your desktop. You don’t have to stream from that same desktop. And you don’t have to sync with that desktop. You store your licensed content in the “cloud” and then stream it to wherever you want to play it. For me, this meant that I could stream some cool music to Meredith’s outdoor wedding site while we decorated that site. It also means that I can have my entire library available while I’m at work or in the car or on my bike.
And as of this morning, I’ve now switched all of my podcast content from my desktop (and iTunes) to my mobile device. I’m playing with both Doggcatcher and Google Listen. I haven’t chosen my final podcast catcher, but the choice to push content to my mobile device is now made.
That’s a horribly long setup to the real point of this article: I have finally broken the musical cord that tied me to my desktop computer. And last year, I severed the cord related to web content browsing. For me, this mobility push has been thanks to Google and Android. For others, they are thanking Apple and iOS. But the trend is obvious: cloud-based music is yet another desktop tether that can be severed. And with cloud-based services like file storage (via Google Docs, or Dropbox or any number of other tools), I can snip yet another tether.
Think of a bundle of helium-filled balloons. I’m slowly snipping the strings that hold them down. And I think I may soon be cutting the last of the ties that hold me to my desktop computer. Once I can effectively type on a mobile device, I may be able to come out of the cave where my desktop computer is connected.
The final straw will be whenever I purchase a tablet. And when that happens, I will be free of both Microsoft and Apple. I may end up being dependent upon new vendors (like Google or Amazon). But it is just about time to change things up in my computing ecosystem. I can’t wait for yet another technology transition.
-Roo

What Isn’t In The Cloud?

June 4, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

In the eighties, we saw the emergence of email and file transfer across unimaginable distances. We also began to see network games being offered by startups like CompuServe. No, I don’t remember my original CIS id number. Nor do I remember my first real accounts with an ISP (in the early nineties). But I do remember MUD’s.

Times sure have changed – and my how they haven’t changed.

Today, I use “the cloud” for the following services:

Email,
File/document transfer/sharing,
Reading,
Photo sharing,
Music streaming,
Video streaming,
Remote access (to corporate systems as well as to my own systems),
Remote banking,
Shopping (and shipping),
Ticket ordering (i.e., transportation, entertainment, etc),
Bureaucratic animal taming (i.e., tax forms, student loans, job apps, medical forms, insurance forms, pharmacy/prescriptions, daycare payment and forms, etc),
…and an endless list that would be too darned tedious to fully enumerate.

So what has changed since I was young?

Everything is available online,
Everything is available in real-time (except government services),
Everything looks good, appealing and/or enticing,
Almost everyone has access to these online services.

But let’s really think about this for a minute. Is there really anything new under the sun? That’s a debatable proposition. The means of communication are varying – but the need to communicate remains. The means of commerce are changing – but the need for trading skills for money and money for goods remains. The means of government control are varying – but the innate desire for people (and governments) to control you still remains. Solomon was right when he wrote (in Ecclesiastes 1:9) that there was nothing new under the sun.

In my limited view, I see a compelling truth: if there really is nothing new, then the tried and true solutions (as found in the Scriptures) are still very applicable – even to a twenty-first century citizen. God is in control. And our Creator can still teach us about our own condition – and His solutions for our difficulties.

-Roo

What Isn't In The Cloud?

June 4, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

Cloud computing has been around for as long as there have been computers. When I was in high school, I was involved in “cloud gaming.” Yeah, it wasn’t the same kind of thing back in 1976-1979. But I could connect the school’s remote terminal to the district’s mainframe. From this connection, I programmed (and played) Blackjack and poker. I also began to play games like Colossal Cave.
In the eighties, we saw the emergence of email and file transfer across unimaginable distances. We also began to see network games being offered by startups like CompuServe. No, I don’t remember my original CIS id number. Nor do I remember my first real accounts with an ISP (in the early nineties). But I do remember MUD’s.
Times sure have changed – and my how they haven’t changed.
Today, I use “the cloud” for the following services:

Email,
File/document transfer/sharing,
Reading,
Photo sharing,
Music streaming,
Video streaming,
Remote access (to corporate systems as well as to my own systems),
Remote banking,
Shopping (and shipping),
Ticket ordering (i.e., transportation, entertainment, etc),
Bureaucratic animal taming (i.e., tax forms, student loans, job apps, medical forms, insurance forms, pharmacy/prescriptions, daycare payment and forms, etc),
…and an endless list that would be too darned tedious to fully enumerate.

So what has changed since I was young?

Everything is available online,
Everything is available in real-time (except government services),
Everything looks good, appealing and/or enticing,
Almost everyone has access to these online services.

Are new things available each and every day? They are indeed. Just look at the image above. I can use my phone to control file transfers to/from my home PC. There are some really unique and exciting things that materialize every day.
But let’s really think about this for a minute. Is there really anything new under the sun? That’s a debatable proposition. The means of communication are varying – but the need to communicate remains. The means of commerce are changing – but the need for trading skills for money and money for goods remains. The means of government control are varying – but the innate desire for people (and governments) to control you still remains. Solomon was right when he wrote (in Ecclesiastes 1:9) that there was nothing new under the sun.
In my limited view, I see a compelling truth: if there really is nothing new, then the tried and true solutions (as found in the Scriptures) are still very applicable – even to a twenty-first century citizen. God is in control. And our Creator can still teach us about our own condition – and His solutions for our difficulties.
-Roo

A Welcome (And Unexpected) Resolution

June 4, 2011August 22, 2018 Lorin Olsen

Last weekend, I tried to get my Android phone to scrobble the songs that I listened to via Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player. I tried the Last.fm Android client. I loaded the ScrobbleDroid client (which did work with the Android Music app). But I had no success. So I set the problem aside for a few days.
And then things started to work.
I decided to play something at the office. And I noticed that there was a message in the information bar of my phone. The message was simple: my music was being scrobbled to Last.fm (via the Last.fm client). This was great news. But as an analytical geek, I was disappointed because I had no idea which change resulted in the successful outcome I was experiencing.
Unsatisfied with success, I’m now trying to reconstruct my apparent success. The only thing that changed during the time between when it wasn’t working and the time that it began working was that a new version of the Last.fm client was deployed to my phone. [Note: I used passive voice in the last sentence because I didn’t deploy it by choice. I had selected automatic updates for this app. And it got updated. Using active voice, I would say that my phone (and the app market) updated the application.]
Since this is the only change I can identify thus far, I must lean towards this change as being the probable source of my success. But I am not wholly convinced – yet. There is an obvious interaction between Google Music, Last.fm and ScrobbleDroid. And since one of those components did change, then I could just close the book: problem solved. Unfortunately, I haven”t seen the code for any of these components, so I can’t really say which is the root cause for the change in status.
But at this moment, I am going to accept victory as a desirable outcome. I now have one cloud music application that does meet the majority of my listening needs. That system is the Google Music client. I also have one retail music channel that meets my needs. That music channel is Amazon.
On the whole, I have one question: what’s changed? That’s easy. I’ve finally broken the leash that iTunes has on my music library. Now that I am not wholly dependent upon Apple, I can objectively evaluate the iCloud offering whenever it becomes available.
For now, there is peace in the music valley at Chez Roo.
-Roo

The intersection of vision and action

Month: June 2011

Making Your Phone YOUR Phone

There Is Honor In Competing

WordPress Updates Its Commenting Engine

What Isn’t In The Cloud?

What Isn't In The Cloud?

A Welcome (And Unexpected) Resolution