Olografix Tech Blog

My girlfriend reads a lot, I mean a lot a lot. I figured with her going on maternity leave and being in waiting rooms  and feeding the baby and everything, having to lug around a brick can't be fun. With the price of the Kindle dropping, I figured it was time to get an eBook reader. Here is what I knew I wanted : E Ink display. With the amound of reading going on, I could not afford something that needed plugging in daily. Also, I knew my girlfriend would always forget to plug it in. Small, lightweight Quality of display I did not need 3G connectivity. My Android-powered phone can turn into a Wi-fi hotpsot at any time to download a book Anything else is a bonus In Canada, we basically have the choice between the following products : Kindle Sony eReader Kobo The screen and keyboard of the Kindle really set it apart and the price was just right. The Kobo just looked weird to me and the Sony product did not have a keyboard for my target price. So the Kindle it was and ...

This was something else to setup. Not because of Android, but because of software developed by Samsung called Kies. Kies is a pretty sad piece of code, it takes ages to install, requires .NET framework, takes ages to open and provides features that you'll never use when you plug your phone to your computer. These features are possible from your phone anyhow, that's why you got a smartphone, right? I got the dreaded "MTP Application" error that could not install. It just kept looping and would not recognize my Galaxy S. Well the problem seems to reside in filenames with extension that contain more than 16 characters after the last period. That's right, as much as it seems ridiculous, it seems to be true! Someone wrote a program to find those Evil  files. And here  are the instructions I found to make this happen. If that download link does not work, Google " FileSearcherforKiesFix.zip " and you can find it easily. In the end, I still had to factory rese...

I have to talk about the first game I thought was worth purchasing on my Android phone. Pocket Legends is a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that was developped for iOS and Android. For those who know World of Warcraft, Pocket Legends is WoW on a phone! You can play three different characters: Sorcerer, Archer and Warrior each with different skill-sets and game-play. This game is actually on a "free to try" model. It allows you to move your character up to 15 levels and navigate two "worlds" for free. To continue past that point, you have to buy Platinum (4.99$ for 30 Platinum). The next "world" costs 4 Platinum and so on which is very reasonable considering the product you are getting. This game makes full use of the phone's hardware. With a full 3D world you can zoom in and out, pan your view and truly enjoy how much phones (or portable devices because you can use this on a iPod Touch ) have evolved. I'm running a 1Ghz processor in my p...

I should write about this because I've been researching this a little. When it comes to syncing documents across computers and devices, it seems everyone is trying to develop the perfect solution. I'm just uncertain which way is the best. I hate to have multiple versions everywhere and trying to keep things up-to-date. Here are a few things I've been using (and I use it all as they all do something different. Google Chrome .  I've switched to this light weight browser a little while ago. Of course, I use Google products quite a bit and their tools sync nicely together. One nice feature is bookmark and extension sync. Enabling this allows me to use Chrome on my home PC and anywhere else with my portable version of Chrome (found here ) and have all my bookmarks and plug-ins organized the same way every time I launch the browser. The portable version of Chrome is really nice as well. This allows it to be installed on a USB key. Just plugin the key and launch the app, no ...

For those who don't know, Google has used desert-based code names for the different Android versions. The names went from Cupcake to Donut to Eclair to Froyo and the next iteration is to be called Honeycomb. So here I am, running 2.1 (Eclair) and waiting on Froyo to be released in the next few days (I hope!). The problem with Android is that it is taking the same path as Window Mobile. This is both good and bad. The fact that is open is good. The fact that carriers and phone makers can modify it is kind of bad. The customization becomes a problem when it causes delays in releases. If I could run a "vanilla-Froyo" (without rooting the phone), I'd probably have the new version running on my phone. The Nexus One has this pleasure because it was sold directly from Google and so OTA (over the air) updates were sent out very quickly. The rest of us have to live with customizations being tested out by all these people who are trying to create "the next best thing...

One of my birthday gifts that I gave myself was a Slingbox . This little box allows for a single user to access what is currently playing on a TV receiver at home (in my case, my satellite receiver) and watch it to any (or almost any) web-connected devices such as a laptop or cellphone. Of course, what's great about this is that you can be anywhere in the world and have access to your programming. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't need to have my TV all the time, but one thing from being an avid sports fan is that it is nice that you can have a peek at the game going on anytime you want. It also adds the possibility that I can share a couch with my girlfriend and she can watch her show while I watch mine on the laptop. You can watch on the train or while cooking, it's a great product for a one-time purchase fee. Cell providers are trying to push TV to their devices using paid services. My current provider charges 8$/month for this service. My Slingbox cost about 180$ ...

I think it's safe to say that 2010 was the year of the tablet PC. There were many talks about Tablets before then and a few companies made weak attempts before that, but 2010 really changed things around. Right now, you've got one company that is in full flight: Apple's iPad. I am not a "fan" of anyone in particular, I try to post unbiased opinions. I own a 5th Gen iPod. The iPad, although a big seller, seems like more of a toy than anything else right now. Three big things I don't like about it. First, no front-facing camera. Second, no Flash support. Third, the Apple App store (or to be more precise, the Apple ecosystem). Apple's ecosystem is a bit troubling to me. Once I buy a piece of hardware, I want to be in control of it. I don't need someone telling me what I can and cannot install on my device. I understand what they are trying to do though, they want to make things work easily for EVERYONE. I get that, and I agree with it. But for more "...