Upgrading TomTom Maps

TomTom unit came up with a warning saying that my map is out-of-date already. So what do I do? Download the latest ones from the Internet, of course.

Lots of sites host TomTom maps, but I usually do a search on forum.gsmhosting.com first. The forum would usually have a compatibility matrix, too. As before, upload the new maps to your unit, and run the EasyUseTools keygen to crack the maps.

I used to run RunMeForAllAutomatic and the batch file will do everything in one go. Didn't work this time. I had to supply my DeviceID, copy the map meta files to the laptop and then run RunMeforDCT. And I had to run the batch file multiple times for multiple maps.

Trip to Viking Twice

Not a lucky day for me. Rushed out of the house to find that I have left all my keys and even wallet behind. All I've got is my backpack and my phone. Called up the wife. Really no point to have her drive all the way home to open the door for me and drive back to work. Called my siblings. All of them have left for work already. At least Mom's home. I decided to walk the 1.5kms to get the spare keys from her.

A few hundred meters down the road, it started raining. Ran to the nearest taxi rank and hopped into a cab. Lucky for me, my cabbie doesn't mind the short distance and the fact that I don't have any money with me. Though I did pay him with the money I borrowed from Mom. So I grabbed the spare house keys, took the spare car and drove back to my house. The keys won't work. In our haste, we got the wrong keys.

Drove back to the house. This time, my Mom's already waiting outside with the right keys. Got back to the house, grabbed my keys and wallet, switched cars, off to the office.

Nook Color Upgrade

Days after the new software came out, I upgraded the Nook Color from version 1.1.0 to 1.2.0. I don't really care about the new email client, Adobe Flash Players, or the Nook appstore. Newest is always the best.

Upgrade can be done OTA via WiFi, or if you're trigger-happy, do a manual download of the zip file, copy it over to the root directory via USB, and the firmware will auto-install after a few minutes.

Sydney Royal Easter Show

Has been drizzling the whole day. If it weren't for the date-specific tickets, I would've just stayed at home, instead of going to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The rain stopped for a while by the time we got out of the bus, so it's not too bad. Still happy that the wife and baby didn't come along, as the whole place is packed. First activity we watched is the dog races. Man, those dogs are really hyper. I wonder what the trainers do to make them so motivated. Next, we watched the daredevil bikies do some stunts. The ground is still wet, so they only performed the easy ones. Started drizzling again, so we took shelter inside the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome. Everybody else had the same idea, so the place is packed. Love the produce displays.

Lunch is hotdog on a stick for $4.50 and chips for $6.50. Strange that the chips cost more than the hotdog. If you look hard enough, you'll find stalls selling hotdogs for $6. Ponchos for $5. Umbrellas for $9. After lunch, we checked out the cows, the horses, the sheep, the cats, the blokes chopping wood, etc. By 5pm, it's time for the Grand Parade, which has more cows, more horses, more sheep, more alpacas, more pigs, etc. Can't believe we wasted 1.5 hours for that. By 6pm, I was in such a hurry to meet up with the wife, I didn't have the time to look at the showbags anymore.

Movie 2011.04.21 - Ears, Open. Eyeballs, Click.

Definitely having mixed feelings after watching this movie. Call it a documentary, but you never hear the background commentary. From start to finish, it's just the camera recording what goes on in a military training camp. Morning till night, the officers shout at the recruits non-stop. Just watching their daily routine is so stressful, I don't think I'll survive a day. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them goes amok and does something crazy. Bath time, meal time, training time, cleaning time, prayer time - the recruits are being shouted at, manhandled, threatened, insulted, abused. Makes me wonder whether what the COs are doing are legal or not. Maybe that's how it's done to toughen up the newbs. Maybe it's just a necessary evil.

Movie 2011.04.16 - The Accidental Husband

Wavering insecure bride-to-be breaks off from happy-go-lucky firefighter fiance on the advice of a radio host cum doctor love. Patrick Sullivan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) takes his vengeance by marrying Dr. Emma Lloyd (Uma Thurman), at least in the computer records. Now, Emma is supposed to marry her publisher fiance (Colin Firth), but that's not going to happen unless her previous "marriage" is annulled. That's the set up.

A lots of things happen while Emma is trying to get Patrick to sign the papers. In the process, Emma realizes that Patrick is not such a bad guy after all. Ditto for Patrick. Heck, they even started to like each other. All that turned sour when Patrick reveals the true state of things. He signed the papers, and Emma went back to her fiance. On her wedding day, right in the middle of the proceedings, she decided that she loves Patrick more, and rides off with him in a firetruck. Movie's not as bad as I expected.

Nookie Froyo and CM7

After some forum-browsing and a bit of downloading, I managed to have the NookieFroyo image installed on a microSD card and running on the Nook Color. Not too impressed - it's just the standard AOSP (Android Open Source Project) Froyo with not much apps included. No GApps, no Android Market. I believe there's a browser included, but it's not as fast as the one on my SGS.

Installed the CyanogenMod7 (Android 2.3.3) and GApps package instead, and things are starting to look better. The whole thing feels faster, snappier, and best of all, Android Market. Flash runs fine. YouTube works. 7" kiddie video goodness for the baby.

Next step is to maybe flash the NC with CM7, instead of simply running it off the microSD. However, I kinda like the simple, clean interface of the NC. And I still wanna see what the April B&N update will bring to the table. I can simply install the Nook app to my microSD-based CM7 (or even the SGS), but I just found out that Read to Me Books only works with the real Nook Color. Oh well, maybe I can wait till the Nook app is upgraded to support Read to Me books.

NC Is Here

The Nook Color finally arrived. The Barnes & Noble Android-based ebook reader retails for US$250, but I managed to snag one for US$200 in B&N's eBay store using a coupon code. First impressions - the tablet is a bit hefty; the IPS screen is very bright and very clear; the whole things feels solidly built.

Not much of a book reader (anymore), so I'll just whack in NookieFroyo and turn the Nook Color into a full-fledged 7" WiFi full-color multitouch Android tablet. Heck, with CyanogenMod7 just released, I might skip Froyo and get myself a Gingerbread!

Cancelling eBay Bid

Last day of auction for my 40GB iPod Photo, and the winning bidder emails to say that he wants to cancel his bid because he put in an unrealistically high value. $775 for a second-hand 4th-generation iPod? Right.

Next time this happens to you, immediately put in the correct maximum bid. That should overwrite the previous one. According to eBay, you can't retract or cancel your bid as a general rule. Unless there's a significant change in the item description, or you've made an honest mistake in typing in the max bid.

Two avenues open to you:

• fill up a Bid Retraction form
• if you're lazy, contact the seller and get him to cancel the bid