Technology Guides

I was sitting in my dorm room watching the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother, which by the way was amazing, when my friend came in and asked if I could help him install a third-party Windows 7 Theme. Now I have never actually done it myself but it seemed easy enough. My friend explained the instructions seemed complicated but here’s a dumb downed version that should be easy for the everyday computer to understand.

Step 1

Download Universal Theme Patcher and run the application that matches up with your operating system, either x86 (32 bit) or  x64 (64 bit). To check this go to Computer–>System Properties. Under the System heading will be your system type.

Once you run the correct version, you’ll see a screen like this. Now manually patch all three files. A backup of each file will be made so don’t worry if something goes wrong, you’ll have the original files.

After you’ve done this you’ll be asked to reboot. Once you have rebooted, you’ll be ready to move on to Step 2.

Step 2

The reason you’ve decided to load a new theme is most likely that you saw a crazy theme that you just loved and wanted to embark on the journey of installing it. If not, there are some great sites that offer like the ones at Addictive Tips (Remember to save it and not open it). Once you’ve got your new theme saved on your computer, extract it to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes.

Step 3

Now make your way to Control Panel–>Personalization and select your newly installed theme. Voila, you’re done.

Update: Some people have made it easy to install Windows 7 Themes and one of those happens to be one of my favourite themes. Smashing Magazine makes a post of desktop wallpapers for the current month. Someone else just took those wallpapers and made a theme. Check it out, Smashing Magazine January 2010 Windows 7 Theme because I am loving it.

Popularity: 22% [?]

Midway Games has announced a release date for its new game, Wheelman, for the end of the coming month of March. Tigon Studios, a company founded by Vin Diesel, is working closely with Midway Games to produce this all-new video game for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony Playstation 3 and PC. Both these companies have assembled world class people as well as up-and-coming young talent to help produce this game.

“We’re designing Wheelman to play like a Hollywood blockbuster,” said Vin Diesel, Wheelman star and executive producer, Tigon Studios. “Playing this game will be just like taking control of the greatest car chases from feature films, except this time you’re in the driver’s seat.”

For the first time ever, a video game is set in Barcelona. The developer of this game has provided three reasons for this setting, primarily because it is such a beautiful city—complete with great geography, natural landmarks and breathtaking architecture, all of which have been integrated into the game. This makes for a great backdrop while you, the gamer, are creating carnage everywhere. It is also the perfect setting used to depict the real world as a basis for all the different personalities in the story (e.g., Romanian arms dealers, the Chulos street punk biker gang, and Spanish mafia). Last, but certainly not least, Barcelona is jam packed with sweeping highways and tunnels—great for high-speed pursuits, as well as narrow alleyways that are perfect for bikes and smaller vehicles.

Now, what is this video game about? In essence, the storyline is as follows: Vin Diesel is the main character playing an undercover CIA agent named Milo Burik. His job is to infiltrate the gangs of Barcelona to gather intel on a covert heist. He is an amazing driver, so he works as the “wheelman,” hence the name of the game. The cops come into play because he’s undercover, and since the local cops have no clue, he has to stay one step ahead of them.

The whole gameplay heavily reminds me of Burnout and GTA; Burnout because of its destructive theme, and GTA because of its real world focus and the third person on foot gameplay. Nevertheless, Wheelman has something to offer gamers that both these games don’t: each vehicle is finely tuned and thus the level of gameplay has gone up.

For example, each car in Wheelman has its own physics model for handling and damage, making it much more realistic and allowing the gamer to pull off better drifts, 360 spins, handbrake turns and other stunts. One of the huge features that I noticed was the Vehicle Melee System and being able to shoot at enemies while driving. The Vehicle Melee feature allows gamers to sideswipe pursuing enemies with a simple flick of the joystick. Wheelman’s devastating “slam-n-ram” manoeuvres can be carried out in all directions, just like how it would be in a Hollywood-style car chase.

It doesn’t just stop with those two features; you also have the option of being able to “Air Jack” a car. The days are over where you stop gameplay by getting out of a car and stealing a new one. In Wheelman, you can leap from one moving vehicle to another. On top of this, there is a feature called “Aimed Shot,” which enables gamers to slow down gameplay in order to achieve better accuracy while shooting targets, such as weak spots on cars. This feature works in conjunction with another called “Cyclone.” Gamers are allowed to perform the cyclone move; the cyclone move turns the vehicle 180 degrees and makes an Aimed Shot.

Now let’s get to the objective of this post: the cars and bikes. Wheelman is loaded with as many cars and classes as GTA. There are a multitude of vehicles, such as compact hatchbacks, German sedans, limousines, sport cars, vans, scooters, trucks, and sport bikes. However, let’s not forget about the weapons. Wheelman has all the standard weapons one would expect to see in such a game, including pistols, machine guns, sub-machine guns, grenade launchers, and assault rifles.

In terms of actual gameplay, Wheelman is jam-packed with action. It contains 105 side missions that are broken down into seven categories: Fugitive, Contracts, Street Showdown, Hot Potato, Taxi, Made to Order and Rampage. These side missions tie into the main story and help unlock key bonuses such as garages, weapon/ammo caches, tuning shops and taxi points. Each side mission shows up on the PDA map and sends you an email once it is unlocked.

Wheelman is such a versatile game and action packed that people from Hollywood are trying to develop a script for its movie adaptation. Everyone should keep in mind that it was the game that came first. Currently, the movie is considered as a completely separate entity, which confuses many people. Look out for this game at the end of March 2009, as well as the game-based-movie later on.

Watch the trailer here.

Popularity: 29% [?]

How many times have you found yourself looking through a drawer and seeing charger after charger for your cell phone with no use at all? I know I have a bunch and I have no idea what to do with them. It’s the same with mp3 players and laptops. Every company has its own way of making chargers for its many products. Apple and Nokia, have always made their chargers respectively the same. It’s helped Apple become a major player, as its whole line-up is compatible with the same charger made over 5 years ago.

On Tuesday February 17th, 2009, a historic landmark was agreed on where 17 of the largest cellphone makers including Samsung, Nokia and Motorola, decided to work together to make a universal standard charging system for cellphones by the year 2012. This system will be identical to the trapezoid-shaped microUSB format used by RIM’s most recent devices, the Bold, Storm and Pearl Flip. Unfortunately, this standard will likely be released in 2012—light years in my mind. Nonetheless, it’s better than nothing. Apple will likely stick its trusty charging standard that has proven golden over the years.

At first glance you might think, oh why would these big companies change things that have worked for them for so long? Well this is a completely valid question because, like cheap printers with their more expensive replacement ink cartridges, cell phones have expensive replacement charging cords that see huge revenue. At the beginning of the implementation, companies will see slightly lower revenues but it will be made up later with lower packaging and manufacturing costs. Instead, companies will sell charging cords separately so big companies like Nokia will now not need to include it in their phone packages. Since it will save costs, these companies will also reduce their greenhouse gas emissions from 21.8 million to 13.6 million tonnes per year, as well as cut energy consumption globally by 50%. 

This might not be the biggest news though because as technology progresses, we will see more and more demonstrations of wireless charging. When Palm unveiled its Pre smart phone, it also introduced the Touchstone wireless charging adapter. 

Excerpt from wiredathome.blogspot.com

The power cord has long been the enemy of many people around the world. You always had to place things according to where the plugs were or you’d have some cord running all across the room. Nobody really notices or thinks about the power cord once it’s being used and has found its place. However, if it could be thrown away, it would make a world of difference.  Now there is a solution to get rid of some of those plugs, wireless charging. To get things straight, this piece of technology won’t replace all of your plugs but is a huge step in the right direction to making the power cord obsolete. Currently there are two ways to wirelessly charge a device, and they are being offered by two different companies. WildCharge will start selling a conductive charging pad and eCoupled will offer an inductive laptop specific pad with a compatible notebook all by the end of 2008. Both companies will offer adapters at a range of $30. If you are the type to enjoy science, then you’ll probably be able to guess the difference in technologies between the two. Conductive charging passes electricity when two objects come in contact. Inductive charging happens when there is a physical gap between two objects.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’m sure you’ve heard many times that the Apple iPod Touch is basically the same as the Apple iPhone except for a few notable differences. The Apple iPhone has a camera and can make calls. Well not anymore. With a free application from the App Store, now the only difference between these two devices is the fact that the iPhone has a camera.

Download Fring or TruPhone from the App Store. I prefer Fring as it offers not only free calling, but it offers Skype, MSN, Twitter, Google Talk and much more. Once you’ve done that, register for all the services that you apart of and now you are one step closer to start calling. You are allowed to dial straight from the Cellular tab within Fring. A small drawback for the application, Fring, is that when you search for your buddies it will only look at the beginning of the personal name. For example. Your buddy Bob has an email called bob@cool.com and has a personal name called (L) Bob (L). If you search bob, nothing will up. If you search (L), Bob will come up. This search feature is horrible for people who have friends that constantly change their name.

Next, what you’ll need is a set of headphones much like the Apple iPhone ones that offer a pair of headphones and microphone. Xpress Canada offers very cheap in-ear headphones that offer the required mic.

If you’re looking for a more true calling application then TruPhone is the better option. It allows you to make free Wi-Fi calls with VoIP with other Touch users and Google Talk users. They have plans to add the ability to place calls to landlines. They also plan to offer services such as MSN, Twitter, Skype and Facebook.

Do you have a different method for turning your iPod Touch into a phone? If so, share it here.

Update: The new Apple iPod Touch that will be released sometime in September will have a built-in mic so you won’t have to buy headphones with a microphone. Read about the new Apple iPod Touch.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Recently the iPhone Dev Team has created yellowsn0w and this has allowed users to unlock their Apple iPhone very easily. Once your contract is done, you’ll be able to switch it to any carrier or you can do that right now. The process to unlock your 3G iPhone is very easy. First off, make sure you have the correct Modem Firmware which is 02.28.00. To find this, go to Settings–>About and scroll down to the bottom. If it isn’t at this Baseband then go into iTunes and restore it, and update it back to 2.2. Then you’ll use QuickPwn to get it to 02.28.00. Now we are ready to unlock your iPhone.

Steps

1. Click Cydia
2. Click Manage
3. Click Sources
4. Click Edit
5. Type in apt9.yellowsn0w.com
6. Go back to Home screen
7. Take your old SIM card and insert your new SIM card
8. Power off and wait 10 seconds
9. After waiting 10 seconds power it on
10. On the top left, it should have the bars and your carrier
11. If not, repeat steps 8 through 10

Now you should have any unlocked Apple iPhone ready to use with the carrier of your choice. Remember if you are using T-Mobile that you’ll need to turn off 3G.

Do you have an iPhone? If so, share your thoughts on which plan is best to couple with the iPhone as there are many different alternatives as I am totally confused on this issue.

Popularity: 5% [?]

All the major phone manufacturers are all abuzz about creating an iPhone killer much like the digital music industry was trying to create an iPod killer. Now Microsoft might have finally succeeded at doing that with the new generation Zune as it’s currently hard to find in many US retailers. But that’s not the story for today. Today I am here to report on the Blackberry 9000 which is supposed to be an iPhone killer.

RIM is one of the only big name brands yet to come out with some sort of response to Apple’s iPhone. Now that is all about to change. Jim Balsille, co-CEO of RIM, and the most publicized out of the RIM top shots, has slowly been changing the direction of the company to a more consumerist market rather than the business one. With the huge success of the Blackberry Pearl, it only makes sense that they make this step to produce a product to match and beat the iPhone.

Popularity: 23% [?]