MIUI Android

I’ve been using the MIUI ROMs for about a month since I left CyanogenMod CM7.  MIUI is based on CM7 but it is a far more polished and refined ROM.  There are some major changes you would notice i you move onto the ROM such as the very iPhone-esque menu system.

I am currently using Galnet’s version of MIUI and it’s definitely the best ROM I’ve used on my Galaxy S ever.

One of the major differences between MIUI and CM7 is the fact that external SD works.

Some of my favourite features are:

• Built-in app to check for ROM updates
• Fully customisable via the theme settings allowing you to mix bootscreens, icons etc from various themes to have it they way you want
• Super sleek and speedy

Check out the video for the ROM in action:

You can view the MIUI site and the changelogs here.

Galnet MIUI.

Thread on XDA.

Transmission Impossible?

It’s been a while since anything’s been posted on the blog.  But, a new means of keeping up to date could be on the horizon.

We are currently exploring the realms of podcasting and hopefully, we can get our first podcast out within the next few weeks.

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for any further updates on this…

Sky+ HD Box – Blue Screen

Been a while since any posts went on here so thought I’d share this as this issue seems common.

The situation is this: Sky was working fine, then, without warning it just comes up as a blue screen when switching it on.

I use HDMI but used to use SCART, which was still plugged in.

According to my find on the interweb, SKy recommend you DON’T use both.  Just have one plugged in to avoid any issues.

So I found a few potential fixes, as follows.

Resolution 1:

1. Unplug Sky box/turn off at the mains
2. Hold the Back Up button on top of the box and power the box on
3. Keep holding the button until a black screen appears telling you it is updating the box and may take up to 10 minutes (4 lights on the front of the box will come on)
4. After the update the box will go into standby, allow a few minutes for it to come out of standby, if it doesn’t then manually do it by pressing SKY button on the remote
5. You should now have it back up and running

Resolution 2 (this is an answer from Sky Technical Support themselves):

1. Unplug power lead from Sky
2. Unplug Scart from Sky
3. Disconnect/connect HDMI from Sky
4. Disconnect/connect HDMI from TV
5. Reconnect Sky power
6. Wait a couple of minutes
7. Press SKY on the remote

Some people report this one doesn’t work unless they press TV first then SKY on the remote

Neither of those worked for me and nowhere had the solution I found.

Resolution 3:

Try a different HDMI cable

Panic over, as I thought the box was wrecked and would have to pay for a new one but it’s all good.

Hope this helps if you run into this issue as well.

Samsung Galaxy S 2.3.3

 

I’ve been running 2.3.3 on my Galaxy S for a few days now, after trying Darky 10.0 Beta 3 which had numerous bugs.  The stock ROM seems OK, the only annoyance is that after a few minutes on a call, the other person can’t hear me but I can still hear them.

I haven’t bumped into any other issues.  I noticed on XDA last night that Darky 10.0 RC3 was released but as I’m on Clockwork Mod (CWM) 3.0 I can’t flash it unless I downgrade CWM and I can’t be bothered, especially seeing as all variants of 2.3.33 have stability issues that won’t be ironed out until Samsung release 2.3 officially and then the devs can sort them out.

If you want to try it yourself, this is what I followed.

How To Play Genesis/Megadrive/Megadrive II Games On PS3

 

I’ve just had a quick go at playing around with GenesisPlus GX and downloaded some ROMs of classic games I remember playing as a kid.

So far, I’ve tested Beavis & Butthead, Batman and Batman Returns.  Hard to believe these games weigh in at 1-2MB…how things change!

So, how do you do it?  Easy.

First, you need to have a jailbroken PS3 running CFW.  I am using KMEAW 3.55.  You will also need FTP access to the PS3 or, my preferred method, Comgenie’s Awesome File Manager (this is the method I will be describing).

Next, download the .pkg.

Once downloaded, put it onto a mass storage device such as a pen drive etc (FAT32 format).  Put it in the root, don’t put it in a subfolder.

Plug your storage device into your PS3 and go to ‘Install Package Files’ and scroll to the Genesis Plus .pkg and press X.

Once installed it will add the icon to your XMB.

Having an emulator is all well and good, but you’re gonna need games…so, first, head here.  The link takes you straight to the Genesis section so you can use the lettered links to find the games you want.  The ROMs are mostly measly 2MB files so won’t take long.

Once downloaded, copy them to your mass storage device (doesn’t matter where you put it this time i.e root or subfolder).

Plug it into your PS3 again and then go to Comgenie’s Awesome File Manager.

On one side, drill down to ‘dev_hdd0/game/GENP0001/roms’ and on the other, drill down to your external drive and find the ROM(s) you downloaded.  Highlight it, press O to copy and it’ll appear on the opposite side.  If that doesn’t copy over, press SELECT and the screen will be red instead of BLUE and try again and the ROM will show on the PS3 then.

Once that’s done, quit out of Comgenie and scroll to your GenesisPlus entry o your XMB and press X.  When it loads, it will list any detected ROMs you put into the directory as above and just scroll to the one you want to play, press X and voila!  Retro gaming with shoddy sound but ohhhhhhhhhhhh, the memories!

ENJOY!

PS3 CFW 3.41 – 3.55

Unless you’ve been hiding with Osama Bin Laden, you must have heard that the PS3 has been opened up like a tin of beans.  A few hackers have been working on CFW (Custom Firmware) which is built on the OFW (Official Firmware) from Sony with some tweaks.  The idea is that the CFW makes Sony’s servers believe the machine is running OFW thus allowing you PSN access etc.

Along with this, there is an install pkg item in the XMB (Xross Media Bar) allowing users to install any homebrew pkg files.  The downside is, these pkg files need to be signed otherwise you get an error code.

As a test, I tried downloading an officially signed PSN full game and installing.  Installation was a complete success, but the pkg then gets checked to see if you’ve actually purchased it and it tells you to renew/purchase your license and takes you to the store to buy it.

I’m quite interested in the Homebrew potential.  The Wii had many apps etc to download but it just seemed pants.  With the PS3 there could be a lot more potential for some decent coding and hot apps.

The annoying thing I’m finding though, is that, as well as raping my F5 key, there are shitloads of fake or duplicate posts incorrectly named causing outrage within the relevant community boards.

If you’re looking to get involved, make sure you read EVERYTHING first.

Miso

Found this app the other day and it is pretty awesome.  In a nutshell, it’s Foursquare for movies/TV shows.

You earn points and badges for “checking in” to movies or your favourite TV shows but you can also see who else is watching or has recently watched what you’re viewing.  It’s a social network platform as well as an online leaderboard to illustrate how much time you spend watching movies/TV.

It integrates with Facebook and Twitter so it allows you to tell your friends what you’re up to – if you have both linked you get more points than just having one linked.

Badges range from watching your first comedy to enduring shed loads of horrors.

You can download it on Android devices and iDevices as well as use the website itself to check in.

Give it a look here.

X10 2.1 Update

Sony Ericsson began rolling out 2.1 on 31 October.  Starting in Nordic regions first then rolling out to Europe some time within 1-2 weeks after.

I got impatient and decided to flash my handset to the Nordic ROM then do the 2.1 update.

Any X10 users will rejoice when I say that the interface is far more intuitive and responsive and the display is sharper and crisper.

I would say that it was well worth the wait and let’s just hope we get further updates down the line.

Battery life does seem to be improved significantly and (this is what made me even happier) call audio is louder making it possible to use it in busier places without having what seems like a conversation with only yourself.

Root access is possible as well meaning, all round, I’m one happy chappy!

I am annoyed however, as I’ve had to wipe my phone 3 times now – nothing wrong with the updates, I just accidentally removed mediascape or somehow managed to disable wifi and was unable to recover these so had to restore via the SE PC Companion and start again.

The new Backup & Restore feature is really sweet but only allows you to back up and recover market apps so any .apk files installed outside of the market won’t be backed up.  Although if you acquire root, you can just use Titanium Backup.

The Market also has had a few tweaks ie if you go back to your downloads on the Market you can tell it to download updates automatically.  The GUI of the Market has also had a bit of a clean up making it easier to use.

Facebook and Twitter (yes!  We can finally get the proper Twitter app!) can both sync with your contacts and you can now have your contacts displayed with their FB/Twitter display pics instead of having to download a 3rd party app to do the job for you.

A few other things worth a mention are the lovely Live Wallpapers, Wi-Fi Tether but perhaps a big one I haven’t mentioned above, if the new keyboard.  On 1.6 I was using Better Keyboard and even then didn’t like it much.  The new default keyboard makes less room for mistakes and is very responsive which is pleasing as sometimes, I couldn’t be bothered to send a message or do anything because the keyboard frustrated me back on 1.6 so decided to cut out the hassle by avoiding it when I could.

So, in summary, this is an awesome update.

For those that are eagerly awaiting the update and want to skip the wait and get it now, check out the details on XDA:

Nordic ROM Flash

Root Nordic 2.1

And We’re Live, Please Do Not Swear!

So, October 5th is finally upon us and the switch over seems rather quick…it would appear that if you opt in today via this link and then reply to the text that’s it, you’re on immediately.  As mentioned in the previous post, some users will see “Orange”, others will see “T-Mobile Orange” and I’d imagine the reverse would be observed by Orange users.

If you can’t make use of the service your phone will tell you that you have lost network and can only make emergency calls etc and to use normal network services you need to change settings (this is if you’re doing a manual network selection).

I would imagine there may be some delays experienced based on the fact approx. 30 million customers will be serviced by Everything Everywhere and if a large percentage of these opt in, it may take some time for everyone to be provisioned, but it does seem very quick so you may be looking at a very minor delay.

And it’s a wrap.

Just need to await the 3G rollout!

1 Day To Go!

Only one more day to go until the face of mobile networking changes completely.

From tomorrow (October 5th) customers who have opted in via here will start to make the most of two networks instead of one.

For anyone logging onto “T-Mobile Orange”, you will only have access to 2G at the moment.  However, Orange uses EDGE rather than GPRS which means that you get a significant speed increase until 3G/HSDPA is activated in Q1 next year (this may be subject to change).

Some users automatically log onto the network once T-Mobile signal is unavailable, but others need to do a manual network selection.  Some handsets that are 3G enabled also need to be set to 2G/GSM only before it will detect “T-Mobile Orange” rather than Dual Mode etc.

Another way to express interest is to send a free text to 2121 saying “Yes” and this will opt you in as well.

Once you’re able to get onto the network you will be notified by text and you can view more details by going here.

As for Orange customers, you can register your interest here to use the T-Mobile network and you will also be notified when you can make use of the service.