Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Funny Moment 7: Drop the Ball! Bark Not.

The same dog in Funny Moment 4 sometimes was a bit of a clown. Once I was playing with him, tossing around this large partially deflated ball.

I nearly fell over laughing when at one point it looked like he refused to drop the ball.

He couldn't because it was stuck in his mouth.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Transferring Data From A Sidekick To The SK 4G

I mentioned earlier the ways that the data can be imported from your old Sidekick from TMobile's webpage to the new Sidekick 4G.

Before transferring your service, place the SD card currently in the SK 4G into the old Sidekick and save your photos onto it. Next is download the utility to send your other info to the SIM card, and do the transfer. I didn't do it this way, but it could easily be a headache-free way to transfer your data.

What I did was a bit different since I was told to use synchronize when importing my data but it never worked for some reason. TMobile's site has a page called MobileLife. Go there and follow the prompts to upload the CSV or VCF file and then click synchronize. You may need to compare what's on the old SK with the info on the website. Then update and synchronize every now and then. If you transferred the pics as transferred above and put it back into the new SK, you're in good shape.

Next was a little troublesome for me for some reason. Use the USB cable to transfer your Notes from your export from the computer to the new Sidekick. You'll see a menu of choices, one of them is to use the SK as a mass storage device. Choose that. Your computer should detect the SK and set up a drive in My Computer for you to make the transfer. Then copy the files from the export directory onto that drive. In my case, it set up the SK as drive E:.

Some of you may have used Intellisync to do the transfers. Customer Service may be able to help if all else fails. I did a bit of research on this as well before doing my transfers.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Review

The newer Sidekick 4G seems to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors that used the Danger OS formerly owned by Microsoft. And who can forget the 3-4 day data outage that cause a lot of problems and inconvenience for many people? The keyboard was a great advantage. Its built-in AIM client when the vibrating part was set right, was quite strong. In some cases, strong enough to vibrate itself off a table. I would venture to say it was strong enough to generate a few comedy bits...

"But officer, this big thing vibrated my car right into the pole..." We all know not to text and drive. In some cases, it felt kinda like a joy buzzer, making you look like when you're shaking hands with someone who had one.

If you were waiting for a relay phone call, you could easily put it under your head or chest and the vibrating could wake you.

On to the Sidekick 4G. The Android OS was a nice change including the touch screen. The trackball is still there, but not as a rolling, but as an optical. Just roll your finger over it. Some other basic features were kept like the Menu and other keys. It doesn't vibrate as strongly as the old Sidekicks did, but it's still a good vibration. The screen doesn't do a 180 degree flip, rather, you're pushing it upwards to open to show the tactile keyboard underneath. I'm a little worried about some people who tend to open their screens a little hard, thus possibly breaking the little plastic piece in back. The thing is probably a bit tougher than it looks. Rather than hold down the lower right button to put it into sleep mode, you tap the power button. Turning it off, hold it down and press "Power off" when the menu pops up.

The number of applications available, more free than pay, are quite a few. Some look better than others. One of the first things I installed was the AIM program. Next thing I noticed was that the vibration wasn't much of a vibration. Just a quick "boomp." Kinda felt like someone fell over and died unless I missed something in the setups. I looked around for other AIM and other IM clients and came across Meebo. It used a longer vibration time, about the same as the old Sidekick. But its buddy list isn't that great.

The included browser was pretty nice, and a little looking around netted me Firefox, Opera, and some other browsers. The browser had a couple bookmarks that you couldn't delete. A workaround was to create a folder, move them into that folder, and delete that. You can even uninstall and delete an app that you downloaded, but the included apps you can't quite remove.

Other included apps were Maps with GPS directions, Calendar, an office kind of editor, Files access on the SD card, front and back camera, YouTube, TV, and a whole lot more. One big thing is the YouTube application also includes captioning support, as evidenced from when I watched an Annoying Orange video.

Battery power seems to be a bit short, unless I recharged it wrong when I got it. It uses a standard Samsung EB504465VA 1500mah battery. The USB connector isn't the standard size connector but a smaller size one. Next post in a week or two will tell how to put your exported data back in.

The Sidekick 4G isn't exactly a smartphone killer, but it does the job for those who don't heavily use their phones like others do. But of course, there's always the pads, tablets, and netbooks out there.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Black Sand Review

A few weeks ago, MSSD's Malz Theatre showed Black Sand. This looks like a thriller style of movie, complete with a lot of suspense. But what made the movie move slowly in its two hour showtime were all the flashbacks. Despite that, it was fairly good. I had a hard time understanding some things due to the signing nature of some of the actors, but I managed to understand what was going on. I'll watch the DVD with subtitles.

The synopsis on the webpage:

"Four students descend upon a tropical rain forest resort in Costa Rica with the purpose of having an adventure for a vacation at an aunt's place. Beautiful waterfalls and lush green jungles are the first sign of heaven but there's also a darker side to paradise. The four are warned not to venture outside after dark. Something from the jungle is stalking the vacationers. Whatever it is, is it protecting a secret or is it something so unspeakable?"

The end was a bit of a surprise, with a few twists and turns thrown in.

I'm not going to reveal the ending if you've not seen it. I'll just say romance is in the air.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Bringing Down the House 2: Panels

Back in a previous post, I said I would post about bringing down the house. I was out at a costuming convention, and Jamie Berke was with me when I did a lifecasting panel. Lifecasting is the process of making a copy of your head and face by the use of alginate, plaster bandages, and bald cap, to list a few supplies. When I do panels, I involve the audience as well as pass around references, supplies, humor, and so on.

In this case, there was an Improv panel before mine, meaning they were a comedy improvisation panel. You can guess the rest.

I started out by a brief description of what's used and what to do and what not to do. Then I brought out my model, got him ready, mixed the alginate and applied to him. After that, it became more a Comedy Central panel than a lifecasting panel what with the humor the Improv people and I were throwing around, keeping everyone rolling in the aisles.

Once I was done with applying the plaster strips to the alginate-covered model, I sat down and let a few people draw on the drying plaster head with markers, thus bringing more laughter. As it turns out, the entire panel had just about every seat loaded and some people were standing in the back as well as in the doorway.

I then removed the entire mess from the model and showed the audience what it looked like inside. I didn't have time to pour the casting media in there as the curing time would take overnight. It was the end of the panel after a short question and answer period.

I later heard from a couple friends that they'd like to see me do the panel again. I think I could if those Improv people would invade. They helped in keeping the place rolling.