Finally, Andot has come out a customized version of WM6 ROM for HTC Tornado Device. Yes! My Dopod 577W is HTC Tornado Device. I grabbed a copy but holyshit! I do not know how to flush it into my Dopod 577W because it is not an executable format... A big tragedy to me because I have to spend another few hours to Google about how to flush the ROM.

I must tell you that this world is very fair! There is no free-lunch in this world. I spend almost 3 hours in Google and type not less than 100 search keywords but I get nothing! Finally, I give up on search for a total reference but to learn how to flush my Dopod 577W on how to use the utilities! After an hour, I succeeded. It took me a lot of courage and very high risk to do that. It seems the Lucky Goddess is always smiling at me, so I get it done in 1 round. LoL. I am damn proud of myself!

 

Now I am going to teach you How To Flush Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 into DOPOD 577W or HTC Tornado Device. Please allow me to make a few declarations here.

1. All the tools that I am using in this guide comes with no warranty or guarantee, use it at your own risk.

2. The Windows Mobiles ROM that I used is an unofficial release from this PRO! So... use it at your own risk!

3. Please don't come to me if you fail.

4. Read the whole article before you take any action! Ensure you understand and know how to do it right!

 

Download the tools and ROM below if you want to flush your device based on my guide.

1. Tools  (Download it and extract into a folder, you will need to use it soon!)

2. Andot's Windows Mobile 6 for Tornado Perfect English Edition Released!

 

There are 11 steps involved

Step 1 - Preparation

Step 2 - Application Unlock

Step 3 - SuperCID - install cert.cab on phone

Step 4 - SuperCID - Patching the ROM

Step 5 - Disable USB Connection

Step 6 - Access the Bootloader

Step 7 - Format BINFS via TeraTermPro

Step 8 - Enable USB Connection

Step 9 - Running the GSM update

Step 10 - Running the OS update

Step 11 - Installing input method (optional)

 

Step 1 - Preparation

Please get all the tools and ROM ready. Kindly install Mircosoft Active Sync 4.5 or above. Connect your device via USB.

** Make sure you are using a HTC Tornado device, it is also known as Dopod 577W, Qtek 8300, Qtek 8310, Imate SP5, I-mate SP5m and Orange SPV C600. Ensure that your battery is charged up to at least 50%.

 

Step 2 - Application Unlock

Now, look into the folder with you extracted the Tools. Open the SDA_ApplicationUnlock.exe and click Remove Lock button. The purpose this is to ensure that you can install any unsigned 3rd party application (which is the tool needed to SuperCID in the next step) . If your device is already application unlock, you can skip this step. But it is no harm to do it again...

 

 

Step 3 - SuperCID - install cert.cab on phone

If your device is patched with SuperCID, you can skip this step and proceed to Step 4, if you have no idea what is SuperCID, you can do it again. First, locate the SPV Services inside the tools folder. This is the software to do  SuperCID. Extract it to a folder, let's say on a desktop. You will see three files in it. Cert.cab , TyphoonNBFTools.dll and SPV-services.exe. Copy cert.cab to any location on your smartphone and install it.

 

 

Step 4 - SuperCID - Patching the ROM

Now run SPVServices.exe which is located same folder with the Cert.cab, you should see this. RAPI Init was successful means that your ROM is ready to be patched with 16 bytes of data in order to allow it to be flushed with any ROM, by clicking on Set CID, your warranty is void. Stop here if you don't want to lose your warranty.

 

 

Step 5 - Disable USB Connection

Turn off your phone, detach the USB cable, and disable Microsoft Active Sync USB connection.

Open Microsoft Active Sync, click File -> Connection Settings -> Uncheck the allow USB connection

 

 

 

Step 6 - Access to the bootloader. During the phone is turned off, hold the camera button and attach the USB cable. Wait until a 3 colour screen appears, that is your bootloader screen.

    

 

Step 7 - Format BINFS via TeraTermPro

Now, please run the TeraTermPro inside the tools folder. Please select the USB port as connection type.

 

Type 'info 2' without the quotes. Then, hit Enter, this is what you will see a screen like this. Notice the HTCSuperCID on the output display.

 

Now, you are all set to go!

Type 'format BINFS' without the quotes. It is case sensitive, you must key-in the alphabet accordingly. Please type format BINFS and not format only because with Format only will erase your IPL and SPL which is your bootloader ... (if you did that... you are in deep shit!)

The HTCSuperCID means your device is SuperCID and it can be flushed with any ROM, even though its not meant or could destroy your device. If you do not see HTCSuperCID, it means that you did not SuperCID properly, repeat Step 4. Once it is done, type 'ResetDevice'

 

 

Step 8 - Enable USB Connection

Now you are ready to flash your device. Please enable Microsoft ActiveSync USB connection, refer to Step 5.

 

Step 9 - Running the GSM update

Now locate the WM6GSMUpdate inside the Tools folder. Please run RomUpgradeUtility, you should see this screen.

 

Click "I understand . . ." and then click Next, then click  "I completed the steps. . .". Hit Next and it will verify your information.

After that click Update and watch as the meter moves on your device and your screen.

Do not attempt do anything silly now because your IPL, SPL and Radio are being patched now. Anything unexpected(for example power loss, USB cable detached, and etc) which happen could render your device useless. This process will be fast enough, around 2 minutes. Once it is done, it will reboot by itself and you will be returned to the bootloader screen.

 

Step 10 - Running the OS update

While you are in the bootloader screen, extract Andot's V6 Perfect English Edition Windows Mobile 6 for HTC Tornado  and the rest is pretty similar to the Step 9. Run ROMUpgradeUtility which in inside the Windows Mobile  6.0 ROM folder, you will see the same RUU screen, do the same thing and upgrade. But this time ,you are installing Windows Mobile 6. This process takes time, around 10 minutes will pause for some times at 99%, just be patient. Once you are done, your device will reboot once again but this time, your device will be loading Windows Mobile 6!

 

     

 

Welcome to the new world of Microsoft Windows Mobile 6!!!

 

Step 11 - Installing input method (optional)

The Windows Mobile 6.0 that you just installed do not have the T9 English input method. You can find it under the Tools folder and install it by yourself.

 

Leave your message if you have any question.

 

Happy Upgrading~!

 

The future of computing is at your fingertips!

What is Microsoft Surface? It is a coffee-table looks like computer! 

So what? What is so great about this coffee-table?

I would say this is another cutting-edge and state-of-the-art product from Microsoft. The table design is simple but very presentable. It equips with a glass top, where you can see it looks like normal glass. It is a big touch screen! It can detect your mobile phone when you place it on top (perhaps this is a blue-tooth connection, where you needs to synchronize it for first time...) .

I found it real cool because of the creativity! Right now, it can pull out your multimedia files and edit it via the "Surface". You can draw anything on it. You can play your favorite movies with it too! In future, perhaps you can place your coffee order via the table:

Maybe you can do this and that with it... Imagination leads to infinite creativity!

Find out more and enjoy the movie below.

 

As usual, we have to be caution about everything that Microsoft produced...

If I would place my mobile phone on top of it, what should I care most?  Yeah! That's my personal contacts and some "real" movie archives!

I did not see any security features embedded into the product overview or explicitly stated else-where. Perhaps it will be a lot of bashing sessions on this topic but who cares? After all, it is still an innovative product

 

Happy Surfacing!

 

 

Microsoft Windows Server 2008! Yes! It is correct. Today we are going to install the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Beta 3! This is not an official release of the final retail version. So, some of my content may not be accurate if you compare with the retail version.

Quoted from here. Of course, you can expect some "unexpected" delay on the launch date or the product arrival date... but that's another story

Just announced at the Worldwide Partner Conference, Windows Server 2008 will be launched jointly with Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles. As the most important enterprise launch in company history, this will kick off a "launch wave" of hundreds of worldwide events hosted by Microsoft. Read more.

Things that you need to do the installation is a computer at least with Pentium 4 HT or Dual Core, 1GB RAM, 10 GB hard disk space (inclusive 5GB system used). Most important, the product key! Once you get all things in your hand. Insert the installation DVD into your optical drive and boot the computer from it.  You will see the screen as captured below. Select your preferred language, currency and keyboard layout and start the installation.

 

 

 

 

After you key in your product key, you will have 2 installation options which is full installation or choose to install the core component only. If you are unsure about this, just click the full installation and click next.

 

 

The rest of the installation process is pretty easy. Accept the licensing terms, click Next for a few times. The installation will run all the way to the end. It took me around 35 minutes to get into the desktop screen(installation on virtual pc). Nothing challenging. No difficult term for you to guess. No more boring blue-screen installation. Never ask you to enter any information except product key. No pre-settings needed. NTFS will be the default file system. Indeed, it is a very user friendly installation. Microsoft did a good job on this! The system engineers now will have more time for online games system compatibility testing!

I like this installation, it is easier compare to previous windows server version. Even compare with Windows Vista, for this server you do not need to do any diskpart or any command line to get the hard disk formatted. Aha! It is so simple to install Microsoft Windows Server 2008. Even my 5 years old little brother who know how to type and click can install it! 

 

 

 

Next post, I will show you something beyond the desktop screen :) Stay tuned.

 

 

Happy Installation!!

 

The next step to do after the installation of Microsoft Windows Server 2008. You need to reset the Administrator account password. Here, I spotted something new! You can create a password reset disk! Dude, this is so nice! From now on, we do not need to download 3rd party tools to reset the administrator passwords which is set by our managers! Yes! Password cracking is easier! Thanks Microsoft! LoL. Do not abuse the tools. Use it in a good way, please. Ok?

After you change the password, you shall reach to the desktop. Nothing fancy, the background color is ugly. I don't like it. Who the hell pick this default color?! 

  

 

The first thing I do is... Select a wall paper, to replace the default blue color background. It looks a lot more better now, right?

I checked with the Server Manager window, I found a lot of things to configure. Well, basically nothing to highlight for normal user, more toy for the system engineers only.

 

The start menu is inherited from Windows Vista. It is clean and simple. Ah! Not to forget, the beloved Shut-Down Event Tracker is still exist...

I don't know why I needed to fill up the reason when I want to shut down my server. It is totally P.O.S. (Piece of Shit!) . Although it can be turned off manually but I dislike Microsoft enable it by default. It is an annoying tracker... forgive me if you treasure the tracker very much.

 

Yes. These are the shut down screen and the login screen. It looks pretty boring isn't it? Especially with my 19" LCD, these screen looks extremely plain! They should have something like the DVD menu, some animations or movies display ... Anyway, it is not a big deal. We can stand the boredom.

 

That's it. Nothing fancy. Nothing interesting if you have nothing to do with the server. Basically, it is good because it simplified most of the things. You need to configure it only when you need to do so.

 

Happy Exploring!!

 

Last week, Microsoft officially release the latest version of Visual Studio codename "Orcas". It is Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition Beta 2.

Visual Studio 2008 delivers on Microsoft’s vision of smart client applications by letting developers quickly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version lets any size organization create more secure, more manageable, and more reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista, 2007 Office System and the Web. By building these new types of applications, organizations will find it easier than ever to capture and analyze information so that they can make effective business decisions.

 

Yes! I got the DVD image from the Microsoft MSDN downloads site. The installation goes pretty much same as the previous version. It takes around 4.5GB disk space to install it. The first time fire up the Interactive Development Environment (IDE), it will ask you to choose the default environment settings.

 

 

Immediately, I spotted a good feature! For new every new project, you can choose which version of .NET framework that you wanted to use! Yes! Finally, they concern about the compatibilities. It really save the efforts of switching .NET Framework version for the sake of new IDE! Previously, in order to enjoy the new version of Visual Studio, you have to "upgrade" your project to the newer .NET Framework! Fortunately, now we have a painless migration(from 2005 to 2008) to new IDE!

With the .NET Framework 3.5, you have more templates(VB.NET and C#.NET) for Office 2007. It is really ease the developer to create seamless office integration application or add-in.

You can check here for the Feature Specifications for Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5.

 

A quick run of the new IDE. It is not much different, I got pretty disappointed because I was expecting something like 'ribbon' from Microsoft Office System 2007... Oppsss! Wait a seconds! I found something new on the menu bar. That is a TEST menu over there! Wow! We can do unit testing with the new IDE! That's cool!

 

 

The last thing I found before I turn off my virtual machine is the LINQ object appears in the Web Project control/object toolbar! Yeah! That's good! More toys for the developers!

 

Since it is a beta release, I do not want to use it for the actual development. Furthermore the .NET Framework 3.5 is a beta version too. It is always risky to use beta version software. Basically, if you are staying in front of the technology field, you should consider to be an early adopter of the newest version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (code name Orcas).

 

Happy Programming!!

 

Hey folks! Do you know about offline blogging or remote blogging? Are you using any applications / programs to blog offline? Well, I am.

I am using a free offline/remote blogging tool name Windows Live Writer (to-date release is Beta 2) from live.com Writer Zone.

Another option for offline blogging is to use the Microsoft Words 2007. Yes! It is equipped with the blog-post feature if you have not discover it! It is very handy. Yeah! Now you can blog from your office! No longer worry about bosses checking on you because you are using the Microsoft Words, it don't make you looks very suspicious! The more you use it, the more hardworking you are. LoL!

First for the Windows Live Writer, it is really a convenient tool. You can setup and synchronize your account easily including blogger.com, spaces.live.com, and other blog service provider who support/provides the standard blogger API for offline blogging!

More benefits of Live Writer from can be found here and here. I am lazy today... very lazy. I don't feel like saying much... perhaps too much posts for 2 weeks :P

Check on the screen-shots below. Even though Windows Live Writer beta 1 is sucks BUT Windows Live Writer beta 2 is cool with a lot of enhancements (Thumbs up for the development team)! It is even cooler because it is free! I definitely hopes it will be included into every version of Microsoft Windows Vista for FREE!

You can save your blog into your local hard disk drive. You can post the draft and edit online! The best feature is you can retrieve up to 500 posts from your blog! I know for some free blog service providers do not offer back up service or do not offer really-user-friendly import and export services. Now, with this feature, you can download your blog post with the WYSIWYG(What You See Is What You Get) view! It is very convenient for the blogger who do not know much about blog database! For me, I have two blogs running. This one you are reading is the main site, I have another spaces as a backup mirror or phishing point! I just need to write an article once but post it twice and viola! I got a backup spaces in a blink of eye!  

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Yeah! I know you want to know how to blog from Microsoft Words 2007. You must be shouting "Hell! Where is the blog-post feature?! I can't find it!!! You big fat Liar!!!!"

Oppsss. It isn't my fault if you cannot get it. You need to spend a little more time because Microsoft did put in a lot of efforts to confuse you with their new and enhanced user interface... See the screen-shot below and you will know how to get it by clicking the New button from the menu!

 

 

 

Just like most offline blogging tools, you will need to setup your blog account with Microsoft Words 2007. Shit... Account setup again! They never know we are so stupid! We just want to use it! Setup and configure is always done by the gardeners who live behind our houses!!!

Okay. No worry on this! It is a known-issue that you have no time to Google about it. So you can click here to learn the so-easy setup procedure...

If you really don't know how to do the account setup, I will be okay to help you with a little fees. (Yeah, that's my main motive to post this easy-to-understand but difficult-to-implement post!) LoL

 

Happy Offline Blogging!

 

 

Extremely boring post. Don't waste your life if you don't understand the title...

Today, I am looking into my Google Analytics Report. I found out that is too many of PORN searches reach into my page, something like teen XXX, malay gay, black kok... you know what KOK is that... anyway, I am scratching my head on how to "tell" Google about the wrong results.

Finally! I found the answer in Google! Oh yeah! That's the mighty Google, it always know what I wanted and prepared for me! Thanks!

I found this page name Google Webmaster Tools.

 

You can supply your GMAIL account as the user account for this tool. After you login, it will ask you to be verified as the owner of your site before you can utilize the tool :) . It is very simple verification procedure, either add a meta tag or a html files with specific file name. After you added your site, you are start to manage it!

 

It is a very comprehensive tools for your to submit your removal request into Google search index. Well, this will actually helps you to eliminate/"purify" those porn-horny visitors :)

 

Some other interesting features will be the crawl rate and statistic. You can actually view how many data(quantitative) that Google crawled from your site. and the crawl rate can be set too! Well, I guess nobody want below Normal crawl rate if you value your ranking in Google search index

 

If you are serious about SEO or you want to know the search engine actually works in crawling your site. You can check this tool. It provides very comprehensive help and Google is never recommend you to link to any SEO. I know you run your blog, forum, CMS and etc. So, this is the right tool for you to communicate with Google. Although, it is not powerful enough to grant you the #1 / First rank in every search but it definitely helps you to improve your site traffic if you use it right !

 

Happy Google Webmasters!

 

 

  

Nowadays, almost every home has a computer. Perhaps two or more computers. The growth of technology has make the community to demand more from the computer. In 10 years ago, with the Microsoft Windows 95/98/ME, if you mention that you are able to setup a local area network or a file sharing network, you are probably get millions of dollars pay! With the growth of technology, file sharing is never a difficult job anymore. Instead, it is only a 2 to 3 mouse clicks job.

Of course. I am not going to bore you with the history lessons again. Let's see scroll down for something useful! Please tell me that you know about the terms of Files/Folders Sharing or Networking before you proceed. Often, I encounter a very silly problem in Microsoft Windows XP networking environment. Especially for those newly setup computers.

After you create a Share folder and trying to browse it from other computer, most likely another computer with Microsoft Windows XP installed or other version of windows... a pop-up windows / dialogue will appear and ask for your login credential.

The most non-sense thing in this case is the User Name : column / text box is disable for editing (grey colour, as the screen-shot below).

 

You could not change the user name and forced to use the Guest account. After some tries with the passwords in your mind, perhaps you notice that the Guest account is disable by default in Microsoft Windows XP with SP2. So, no matter how many times you try the login, you can't get into it because of the account status... Stupid enough, isn't it? But how to solve this? Enable the Guest account ? Yes. You can do so, but by enabling the Guest account, you will create more havoc in your work place or home because Guest (every one) can browse into your shared folders which is not really nice...

Here, I have another solution for you to enable the User Name: column or text box. So, you can type in your login credentials to access the shared folder. Smart or not?

First, you open the file explorer by double click the My Computer, under the TOOLS menu bar select Folder Options... A Folder Options window will pop-up. Go to the View Tab, inside the middle part of the windows. Locate this option called Use simple file sharing(Recommended), it is checked by default. As the screen-shot below.

 

All you have to do it to uncheck it, and click Apply.

 

 

Try to access the shared folder from other computers again. Now, you should receive a login window with User Name: column or text box enable! Very likely, your problem is solved by now!

If you are really that lazy or feel secure with your network, you can try to enable the Guest account for the sharing / host computer, so you no need to supply the login credentials to access the folders. Anyway, Kok mING do not encourage you to enable the Guest account, never do it unless you want a guest.

Happy networking!

 

 

This is going to be a technology post but I will try my best to write as "funny" / "hilarious" as I can... So I won't bore the I.T. illiterate readers

First of all, what inspires me to write this... Often, we heard people talk about how great is .NET and what it can do and etc... It is overwhelming. Simply overwhelming. In many situations, people start to mis-understand what is .NET.

 

Let's start with a little history lesson, short but brief!

.NET derives its name from a well-known Microsoft Software Component called .NET Framework. What is this? .NET Framework is a large pool of pre-coded libraries or objects for Microsoft Visual Studio.NET to use. If you don't know what is libraries or objects. No worry. Just make is as a TOOL! :) A handy tool for programmers. 

.NET started its journey since year 2002 with the first release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (often we refer it as Microsoft VS .NET 2002). .NET framework has a few versions and use by different version of Visual Studio. See table below.

.NET Framework	Microsoft Visual Studio Version
1.0	Microsoft Visual Studio 2002
1.1	Microsoft Visual Studio 2003
2.0	Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
3.0	Orcas or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (still in progress)
3.5	Orcas or Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (still in progress)

*** I am not sure which version of .NET framework that Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 will use. It is just a wild guess...

As you see table above... In past 5 years, Microsoft is putting a lot of effort to capture/expand the developer population. Well, forget about it. You don't need to know that :) For .NET Framework version 3.0, it is included in your brand new Microsoft Windows Vista  if you don't know... :) For most developers or programmers, we are definitely waiting for the version 3.5 because this version will include a new compiler that will support new features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), as well as new language features in C# and VB.NET.

Every one thinks that .NET must be Internet related. This is partially wrong, but I could not deny it fully. It is because .NET Framework has the capability to interoperable between web and windows/desktop interface. It is all depends on what kind of software solution you need!

I met some employers or bosses which thinks that if you don't have .NET experience then you knows nothing in web-development. Gosh! I wish I can slap them hard. Kick them far far away. Besides .NET, we still have JAVA or JAVA EE if you know what is that. Even without .NET or Java knowledge, you can still development a web site with plain HTML...

.NET is just a term for a group of tools. So, when somebody mention that they know .NET, you better ask them which .NET language that he/she knows :) For example, my blog is developed with C#.NET and uses XML as database, currently utilizing .NET Framework 2.0 :)

If a person says he has more than 7 years of .NET experiences. Just ignore him, it is because .NET was introduced at year 2002. Now is year 2007 only. Even you are a beta tester, I bet it is like 1 year earlier than the other to feel the beta version of .NET Framework 1.0. If you are interviewing people, ensure you have the right candidate with the right experiences :)

To summarize, .NET is not the owning the Internet. It is a lot of other tools to develop web-site or Internet application or system (e-commerce, CMS, BLOG and etc).

I hope I did not bore you with this. I wish you have better understanding on this topic. Feel free to ask me more questions too!

The long awaited Service Packs 2 for Windows Server 2003 is ready for public download!

As usual! I am the real risk-taker. I installed it when Windows Update display it to me!

Just to share with you. I failed first installation with a freshly started Windows Server 2003. It display something like low in resources error message.

But I succeed with one more try! I don't know what caused the problem. Perhaps I utilized Windows Server 2003 unlike any other people... So this strange installation behaviour happened to me!

This is the second day after the SP2 installation. My system is still running well. Still able to BT, surf and chat.

If you are considering to deploy SP2, you may try it out with a testing machine first. As usual, M$ never come out some real fine shits for no reason.

:D

 

I got a copy of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate and Microsoft Office System 2007 from the MSDN Subscriber download...

I downloaded it some times ago but I have not enough time to setup for a look and feel.

Last week, I am quite busy but still manage to fire up my virtual pc and run the Windows Vista Installation. Previously, I tried to installed those beta releases or debug builds... never success. But amazingly, this time I got it installed! The installation is smooth. As easy as other Microsoft Operating System. All you need to do it to click "Next", "Yes", "Accept", "OK" and "FINISH". hahaha  

Many people say we need high-end hardware to run Windows Vista and Office System 2007 because of their extra-ordinary GUI. I admit that this time... I am truly impressed by Microsoft. This Windows Vista really comes with GREAT interface. The design is so futuristic. Anyway, I run this copy of Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate under Microsoft Virtual PC environment. It is still having quite ok performance after I install the VM Additions for the O.S. itself. I do not really know if can be run on any non-HT or non-DualCore processor or not... I doubt it very much... perhaps I will try to get it install into my home computer soon. Provided all my games will be supported and playable under Windows Vista environment :D

I capture some screen shots for ya!

 

These are some new wall papers.

     

   

Interesting? Attractive? haha. I really liked this... but I won't upgrade my Windows just because of this reason...

 

I captured the Office System 2007 interface for you to have a look too!

   

 

 

Nice interface, isn't it? But please... I really find myself outdated... because I am having a hard time to use the new windows and office. I can't locate most of the functions... but it is somewhere within the software! Just gotta spend more time to familiarize with it!

Please don't ask me to send you a CD copy of Windows Vista or Office System 2007... I will not give you, you gotta buy it yourself!! haha I am a bad ass, as usual.... :P Don't curse me!

All the screen captures or wall papers are not display in actual size. You may right click and "save as" then open it from your computer again. It will display with its actual size! :D

That's all for now. Tons of works waiting for me... and today is Saturday...