CyanogenMod 10.1.3 on the AT&T Samsung Galaxy S2 (I777)

So I am finally back in the world of Android after using an iPhone 4 for the past year or so. I had a Galaxy S3 for a few weeks but ended up having to sell it (long story). Luckily a friend of a friend had an old Galaxy S2 (AT&T I777) he was willing to part with for a decent price. If you've read the blog in the past you know I am a huge fan of this phone so I snatched it up quick.

Also, if you've read this blog in the past, you know I'm a big fan of running custom ROMs as well. So it only took about 30 minutes of getting it before I was working on installing CyanogenMod. It was a little more difficult than I remember... It had been a while since I had gotten to play with an Android but it didn't take long for it to all come back to me. I finally got it loaded up with CyanogenMod 10.1.3. Even though this is a bit of an older handset it is still, in my opinion, one of the best on the market. The S3 and S4 are obviously better but I will still put the S2 in the top 10 Android phones out right now.

CyanogenMod is just as awesome as I remember. The differences between it and the stock AT&T release are striking. AT&T is notorious for loading their phones with bloatware. A quick root and the installation of a custom ROM take care of all of this. Of them all, CyanogenMod is one of the sleekest as far as size. They keep things very light and fast with a minimum of "extras". However, everything you need is included right there, built in. The need for additional apps to do basic tasks is low. Even the performance enhancements that used to require an additional, usually paid, app are gone. You can adjust your CPU clock right there on the fly in the settings menu.

I'm not going to go into a ton of detail on CyanogenMod or the Galaxy S2. They are both subjects that have been beat to death online. They've both been out for long enough that if you have a question, someone out there has already answered it. That is another reason I am a bit of a fan of using what is considered by most to be an "older" handset. If it breaks? Someone else has already broken it the same way and posted a very detailed step-by-step on how to fix it. I can't count the number of times that I have had an issue and within minutes had the issue resolved with a simple Google search.

Which brings me to my last point... Don't expect a custom ROM to be perfect. There will always be bugs. When I first installed CM 10.1.3 onto the Galaxy S2, my MMS messages would not send or receive. After a quick Google search I popped into Root Browser, deleted a file, rebooted the phone and everything was working properly. Just don't get frustrated if everything doesn't work right out of the box. Play around with it, find something that doesn't work, and just Google it. Or head over to XDA. That is a community that definitely has it all figured out.

Teacher builds computer lab... For free.

I don't normally just link to another blog/article but I couldn't pass this one up. It is a story that needs to be told and spread as much as possible...

Everyone knows that these days technology has become a huge part of education. There are tons of schools using laptops, iPads, digital whiteboards, etc. in the classroom now. Computers are an essential part of getting the younger generations ready to compete in the current and future job market. Without at least a basic set of computer skills there are many jobs that will simply be out of reach to them.

Unfortunately, there are still many schools that simply do not have the budget for a computer lab or other equipment to help their students get a head start on learning to deal with computers. Such was the case at ASCEND, a "small arts K-8 school in Alameda County School District" in California. With no budget for equipment, one teacher took it upon himself to make sure the students at his school had the basic tools they needed to jump-start their education in technology. With the help of donated computers and some Open-Source software (Ubuntu Linux) Robert Litt, a sixth-grade teacher, set up a full computer lab for his student for the grand total of $0.

To read the whole story, check out: "How One Teacher Built a Computer Lab for Free" at ifixit.org.

Donated Computers

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Open Source Operating Systems

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A Free Computer Lab!

A Quad-Core Computer for $130

The other day I was checking out one of my favorite tech blogs, ! ComeAtMeBro-Daily tech news, and came across a post that I just had to share. I don't want to jack the content so I'm just going to post a pic and the link. You should definitely go check it out though. I can easily think of over 9,000 DIY projects I could do with one of these things.

Quad-Core Computer for $130!

To check out the article either click on the photos or this link to go straight to the blog.

Samsung Galaxy SII i777 (AT&T)

Sorry I've been away for a bit folks. Between preparations for the holiday and playing with a new toy I recently picked up, I've been all out of spare time. Speaking of the holiday, I hope everyone had a great one! Now, onward to the geek stuff.

So I had been using an iPhone 3GS since my iPhone 4 crapped out on me a while back. Ok, so I dropped it in the river but let us not talk about that... *twitch*

I had been shopping around for a while trying to decide what to get when I was eligible for an upgrade. I had been bouncing back and forth between the One X and waiting for the Galaxy SIII. I played with a live demo of the One X in a couple of stores and it was pretty bad ass. Then one of the reps recommended I check out the Galaxy SII that they currently had on sale. After messing around with it for a bit I realized that it was, for the most part, all the phone I really needed. It had recently had Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) released for it which was a bonus. It runs a dual-core processor, has plenty of onboard memory and storage, an outstanding camera, etc. So I decided I would give it a shot. I always have 30 days to return it if it sucks, right? So here it is, the Samsung Galaxy SII (i777):



Samsung Galaxy SII

It is just a bit smaller than the One X and the HTC Vivid which was another phone that was in the running to be my next purchase. After a few days of playing with it I really have zero complaints. It is incredibly thin, very light, and the battery life is excellent. Plus if I ever get tired of Ice Cream Sandwich I can always throw CyanogenMod or another custom ROM on there.

If any of you are looking for a new phone, I would highly recommend the Samsung Galaxy SII. It is available on most carriers and since the Galaxy SIII is coming out soon you should be able to find it for a really good price.

Now, can anyone recommend some good Android apps for me? I've been using an iPhone for the past year or so. Haven't had much chance to check out the Android stuff lately.

Windows Phone to overtake Iphone's iOS market share by 2016?

Today, Lance Whitney from CNET posted an article highlighting a recent study of market trends in mobile phone sales. The study claims that by 2016, Windows Phone platform could rise above Apple's iOS platform in total mobile sales. It is a long-term projection based upon past trends and the advances Windows has made in the mobile market. It seems that much of the speculation rests upon recent sales of the Nokia Lumia which is running the Windows Phone platform.



Apple iOS vs Android vs Windows Phone

Personally I think it is way too soon to tell how Windows Phone will hold up long-term. Sure, the Lumia has garnered a decent reception, but in my opinion Android and Apple will be the kings of the mobile market for many years to come.

What say you?

1and1 Hosting + Magento = Epic Fail

Ok, so I decided to go with Magento for my little project. I am confident that I made the right decision. However, I am in no way confident that I made the correct decision about my hosting company. I have a hosting package with 1and1 Hosting that I use for random testing, FTP, email, and random other geeky goodness. So far, for the small tasks I have thrown at it, it has been a solid host. However, after spending several hours trying to install Magento and dealing with several failed connections, corrupted files, and random other annoyances, I am ready to throw in the towel with 1and1.

Please understand, I do not in any way claim to be an expert when it comes to web-design, coding, or computers in general. However, I have over 15 years experience in the field and would describe myself as "capable." I have worked for companies where I was entirety of the IT Department and I have worked for companies where I was but a cog in the wheel. My experience covers the gamut of computer related specialties. Competent at all, Master of nothing; I suppose.

The first issue, which should have been a key indication as to their level of support, is that fact that they are still using PHP4 as their default. PHP5 is available if you simply place a line of code into your htaccess file. No biggie. Got that sorted. FINALLY got Magento installed after setting up the database and squaring away all of the pre-reqs. Did a couple security updates and... CRITICAL MASSIVE UBER FAIL.

Ok, maybe not that bad. But it seemed that every time I made a simple change in code I would run into problems. I admitted that it might have been me so I did another fresh install and did things by the book. I made no code changes myself and simply went with the bare stock files. Still had problems. So, I conned a friend into setting me up with some space on one of his GoDaddy accounts. Uploaded Magento, got everything running, and went at the code. Not a single problem. Everything ran extra smooth.

So, boys and girls, daddy is switching hosting companies and starting over.

Moral of the story? Fuck 1and1 Hosting.

Stay tuned.

New Project: First step... E-commerce.

Ok, so I have had a project idea in the back of my mind for several years and am finally going to tentatively takes a step closer to putting that project into motion. I won't reveal too much at the moment but I do want to get some opinions about one aspect of it. This project will involve the retail sale of several products on a website. While I am fairly experienced with most web-design aspects, e-commerce is not something I have spent a lot of time on. I am looking for a cart system for my website and have it narrowed down to two:

 

or

The reason I have it narrowed down to these two is fairly simple. I want an open source cart. Not only is it much cheaper but they are much more customizable. I know they can sometimes be buggy simply due to the open source nature of things but I am starting small so I don't really see it being a problem.

I have researched these two quite a bit and just from the specs I am leaning a bit more towards Magento. However, I was hoping to get some feedback from those of you who have actually used one or both of these. Just to give you a better idea of what it will be used for I am looking at starting with 8 standard products. There will be only two options; color and size. I haven't decided on a payment gateway yet but I will most likely go with Authorize.net, Quickbooks, or maybe even PayPal. If you guys have any experience with these carts I would really appreciate some comments about them. Any input would be appreciated.