Running Android apps on Windows with BlueStacks

What have been Outdated Penang Uncle up to lately? I have been trying out Android apps on my laptop using BlueStacks.

Before BlueStacks, there is only Android SDK that has the emulator to try out Android apps on Windows. To do that you have to install Android SDK, install bla bla bla and then do bla bla bla and finally try to the Android apps on Windows.

Thanks to BlueStacks, now I can skip a lot of steps and just double-click to install the Android apps into BlueStacks. Sounds like installing software on Windows right? I will show you how in following post, do stay tune or subscribe to rss of this blog.

To download, go to BlueStacks website and then go to download page to download BlueStacks App Player.
http://bluestacks.com

For Windows 7, make sure you install BlueStacks using administrator permission so avoid any installation problem. If I remember correctly, BlueStacks runs only on Windows 7, too bad for older version of Windows. Update: BlueStacks now runs on Windows XP as well! [I was using version Alpha v2007 when I write this post, latest version is 0.6.2.0563_REL]

Most of users will find the BlueStacks icon (gadget to be exact) appear on desktop after installation success. Launching Android apps on BlueStack is actually through Windows Gadget of BlueStacks.
If you don't find the BlueStacks icon, minimize all windows (Start button + m) and then right-click on any place of desktop, select "Gadget". The Gadget windows will come up, you should able to see BlueStacks Gadget. Left click and hold on the gadget, then drag it to any place at desktop that you prefer.

BlueStacks' default installation already come with some Android apps, such as Bloomberg, Pulse, Kids Learn to Read FREE, and Talking Tom 2 FREE.



If you want to more apps from BlueStacks, you can go to BlueStacks website by click on the "Get More Apps" button.

It will open your default web browser and asking you to login with facebook account. That is the only login that BlueStacks provide. After login, there are total of 31 apps that available for you to install.

BlueStacks also allow Android phone owner to send apps from Android phone to BlueStacks on PC. I am not sure the motive of this feature, if you already have Android phone, why would you want to use the apps on PC? Example, if you send Angry Birds from your phone to PC via BlueStacks' Cloud Connect, the progress or level completed on Angry Birds cannot be sync between phone and PC. So there is not really a benefit right? Anyway, I will show you how to install apps through Android market, Amazon apps, and install apk directly. So stay tune ya.

Thing to note: Do not install apps that need sensor to play, because laptop don't have accelerometer sensor. Would not able to play the game anyway. However if your tablet have the sensor, you might able to make use of the sensor to play apps that need sensor to play. :)


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source: I learned the tricks from XDA forum :)
pix source: BlueStack pix from BlueStacks

Why switch to Samsung Galaxy S 2?

Samsung US come out with a nice TV commercial to woo iPhone users. Watch the youtube:

Now you have more solid reason to switch to GS2 right?

If you still can't decide, here are some of my post to help you to decide:
Samsung Galaxy S 2 - everything you need to know
More of Samsung Galaxy S 2
Samsung Galaxy S 2 teardown
iPhone4s vs Samsung Galaxy S 2


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source: saw this video at youtube!

Internet 1996 vs 2011

Internet has been ever changing since 1980s. See how much the Internet change since 1996 compare with 2011.

Click on the picture to see in fullsize.

Happy Thanks Giving to fellow US friends!

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source: http://dailyinfographic.com/true-hollywood-story-bipeds-and-the-world-wide-web/1996-vs-2011

Nook Tablet Teardown

People at iFixIt must be very busy these few weeks with so many devices come to market within a short period. Barnes & Noble (is a online book store) come out Nook Tablet to fight with Amazon's Kindle Fire.

Equips with a dual-core OMAP, 1GM RAM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Custom Android OS and supports upto 48GB of mini SD card, do you want to get one? I think I will still get an iPad2. :P



If you prefer to read it at iFixIt website, go to this link:
Nook Tablet Teardown at iFixIt website


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source: teardown from iFixIt, I wrote the rest.

Amazon Kindle Fire Teardown

Amazon Kindle Fire supposedly come out to compete with iPad. People who wish to get something like iPad but don't want to pay the high price, and do not want to buy no-name brand from China manufacturers, would consider Kindle Fire as the top choice.

With dual-core processor, Android 2.3 OS, WiFi, multi-touch display, looks like this is a good choice. If you need to update your facebook status where ever you go, then this is not a good choice since no 3G connectivity (WiFi is not available everywhere, okay?).

Okay, here is the teardown, enjoy!


If you prefer to read it at ifixit, here is the link:
Amazon Kindle Fire Teardown at iFixIt


Btw, I am trying out Android apps using BlueStacks on my Windows 7. BlueStacks is an Android emulator. Stay tune for the tutorial of it, or subscribe to RSS or follow me in blogger.

p/s: I found out the ifixit embed code always show up as 2 same ifixit windows, I have tried IE, FireFox and Chrome, all show same problem. I have no time to debug it, just ignore the 2nd one, it is the same ifixit.

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source: iFixIt for the teardown, I wrote the rest, okay?

Motorola Droid RAZR Teardown

How can this blog complete without any teardown? I haven't post any teardown this month, so let's do it on this weekend. :)

Motorola DROID Razr, is also know as DROID HD, is a new release from Motorola. It supports GSM/CDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA/EV-DO/LTE/WiFi b/g/n, meaning it is a world phone, you can use in most of the countries in this world, except North Korea. :P

Okay, cut the crap and see the teardown yourself here:


Or if you prefer, go directly to ifixit website at link below:
Motorola Droid RAZR Teardown at iFixit.

And if you like to see the spec of this phone, go to gmsarena:
Motorola DROID RAZR spec at gsmarena

Have a nice weekend. :)

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source: ifixit

Teach your children electric or electronics

How do you teach children about electric or electronics? By using broadboard like this?

Pix source: Wikipedia

Only if they are more grown up right? What if you want to teach 3 or 5 years old about electric or electronics? Using breadboard is not really a good choice because breadboard is small and not easy to use. Even sometime myself also find it difficult to plug in some components into breadboard.

So how about using some material that can be find at home and make learning electronics a fun stuff?

Squishy circuits are a project from Thomas Lab at University of St. Thomas. Here is the TED video of the demonstration of Squishy circuit:


This is how to make a conductive dough:


This is how to make a insulating dough:


This is how to play squishy circuits with young children:


Visit Squishy Circuits official website for more detail:
http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/

Here are 2 posts on how to dowload TED video:
http://outdatedpenanguncle.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-download-ted-videos.html
http://outdatedpenanguncle.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-download-ted-videos-ii.html

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source: video from TED and youtube and squishy circuit

Super fast find file for Windows

For most of the Windows users, they use the default "search" function on Windows to find their file. There are a few problems with it.

For older Windows, the search function just not doing the job right, meaning it cannot find the file I want, even though I gave the right keyword. This happen a lot during Windows XP time. So I use cygwin to search file.

For Windows 7, the search function become better and faster. Why it can become faster? It is because it keep on indexing all the files (including emails). The problem with this is that it create a huge index file on hard-disk  Although hard-disk (non-solid-state type) are very cheap nowadays, no problem with Windows creating a Gig or two on a 500G or 1T hard-disk. But this will be a problem for solid-state type hard-disk, because solid-state hard-disk still very expensive. So in order to save the disk space on my laptop (I use solid-state hard-disk, hehe), I disable the indexing but search function become super slow.

Luckily I found a software that search files as fast as Windows 7 search (with indexing turn on), but without the huge indexing file! Introducing FileLocator Lite. The same company also selling the pro version, named "FileLocator Pro", but this cost US$39!

Anyway, you can download the setup file for lite version here:
http://mythicsoft.com/Page.aspx?type=filelocatorlite&page=download

I found out the lite version is good enough for me for daily usage. Search with asterisk (*something*) always give me the right file. You can also search by modified, created, or last accessed date of a particular file(s).

Actually this software also called "Agent Ransack" but the name seems like not really suitable for work (NSFW), so the company compile the same code with different product name.


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pix source: http://mythicsoft.com
source: I wrote this review!

Contact me for software review at: ahsiang888 at gmail dot com

Outdated Penang Uncle PageRank

PageRank of this blog is not consistent. I did reach PR1 last year, but then it drop to zero after Google panda update. Don't ask me what is panda update, google it if you want. :P

Recently I found out this blog is getting PR2. Wow! Jump from zero to PR2!

This is the snapshot of PR check on http://www.checkpagerank.net/



This is the snapshot of PR check on http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

Some blogging/website experts told that backlink is very important to PageRank, most important is quality backlink. I am not hiring anyone to create backlink to this blog. All I did is just comment on other blog and website of my opinion on their articles.

How about you? How you promote your blog/website?


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source: I wrote this!

How to update maps for Garmin nüvi 255W

Recently I borrow a GPS (Garmin nüvi 255W) from my friend so that I can use it when traveling to Kuala Lumpur. Since the maps in his GPS is dated April this year, I decided to update the maps to the latest one.

Updating maps for Garmin GPS in Malaysia (Singapore and Brunei too!) is super easy. Thanks to the people at community of MalSingMaps.com! Another great thing about MalSingMaps is they update the map at least once a month, which is much better than the official Garmin update that happen once every quarter (read 3 months) only!

Here are the steps:
1. Go to MalSingMaps.com to download the latest maps.
     http://www.malsingmaps.com/portal/downloads.php
    There are 3 types for Garmin Format section. For the super easy method, download the first type, which is usually name like this "MSM NT v5.xx". "MSM NT for Mapsource v5.xx" is for another method, refer to malsingmaps.com forum for detail.

2. Unzip the zip file. For version v5.29 and v5.30 which I downloaded, it has 2 files in it. gmapsupp.img is the map file, while product.JCV is junction view file, which not being supported on this 255W. If you have a GPS that support junction view, you should also copy it. For this example, I will just copy both file, so that other Garmin GPS can benefit from this tutorial.

3. Connect the GPS to your computer via USB. It should take a while for Windows to detect the GPS.

4. Because you update any map, do a backup first. Since this GPS is my friend's, so I just backup everything, even though I really just need to backup the old map. It took me about 1 hour for me, because the transfer rate for Garmin nüvi (not latest one) are just USB1.0 speed only, the max is about 600k per sec.

5. After backup is done, it is time to replace the original map. Depend on where you store the maps, you should copy and replace gmapsupp.img in your device.
Either on device: :\Garmin\      [gmapsupp.img is here]
Or on SD card which on the GPS device:  :\Garmin\  or :\Maps\

6. After copy finish, it is time to verify the map.

7. Disconnect the GPS from your computer, turn on Garmin nüvi 255W.

8. After the GPS is turn on, click "Tool" -> "Settings" -> "Map" -> "Map Info". You should able to see "MSM NT v5.30".

9. If you don't find it, turn off the GPS and connect to computer again. This time put gmapsupp.img to another location mentioned in step 5.

10. If you find there is more than one map, just check on the map that you want to use. For my case, I saw "CN North America NT 2010.10", because my friend bought this GPS at US.

That's it, you just get yourself to update Garmin GPS!
Unless the shop that sold you the GPS willing to do it with no cost at all, why not DIY! (Do It Yourself)
:)

If you still have question or problem, just go to the malsingmaps.com forum to find out. You have to register to post question but registration is free!
Malsingmaps forum


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source: I wrote this!

Online QR code generator

I posted a free QR code Reader for PC (QuickMark) in last post. This software require you to install the software. If you do not want to install any software or you are using company computer/laptop that not being allow to install any software, here is a website that generate QR code for free!

Here is how:
1. Go to this link:
free-2d-barcode-data-matrix-or-qrcode-online-creator

2. Fill in the text or URL to encode in the text box.

3. Choose your preferred encoding type, I chosen QR code.

4. Click "Generate", wait for a while for your QR code to show up.

5. Right click on the barcode and save it to your computer/laptop. Or copy it and paste it directly.

Of course this free service is for personal purpose only, if you want to use it as business, please buy commercial software.

This is Outdated Penang Uncle QR code, I upload it to imgur.com and put it in this blog.


p/s: I found another website also provide free QR code generator. Also it is for personal use.
http://i-nigma.com/CreateBarcodes.html

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source: I wrote this and the QR code link is from http://www.wikarski.com

QR Code Reader for PC

What is QR Code? QR code is a 2D barcode that represent information like websites and contact info. The 1D   barcode is the usual barcode that we see on most of the food product. That contains numbers only. So to store more information such as links, QR code being invented. Usually we can see QR code reader on Android phone (Barcode Scanner App) and iPhone (QR Reader for iPhone). It is very rare to find QR code reader for PC, it is because QR code reader require a camera, which some PC don't have a web cam. And we don't usually carry laptop around just to read the QR code.

With more and more websites and companies use QR code for their posters or promotional flyer, PC user with no smartphone (Android and iPhone) felt like being left out. Luckily I found a software that will help PC users to read the QR code, without the need of camera or webcam.

QuickMark QR Code Reader for PC is the software that I am talking about. Not only QR code, it can also read many popular 2D and 1D barcode format, using webcam, drag and drop, and screen capture.

This software also can create 2D barcode for you. This is OutdatedPenangUncle 2D barcode that I created previously, you can try it to use this barcode reader to read this barcode.


This QuickMark also available for Windows Mobile, which is very surprise for me, no one would support Windows Mobile platform nowadays. The company even compiled their code for different screen size resolution!

Of course, iPhone and Android are supported as well. Samsung Bada OS and Symbian S60 also supported.
To find out the suitable setup file for your device, go to this link below:
http://www.quickmark.com.tw/en/basic/download.asp

Also available for Chrome browser extension:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bhddglpocgogkbpkbkoieiplhgbjmiim

update: I forgot to mention, you can also drag and drop for this software. Meaning if you see a QR code image, you can just drag and drop it into the box of this software to decode it. 

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source: I wrote this!

How Much Does The Internet Weigh?

How Much Does The Internet weigh? Really. No, not based on the knowledge or database. But based on mass of electrons that moving the Internet. How much do you think? in kg? or ton?

Actually it is just 50 grams. HAHA.

See the video to find out how. Anyway, this is just another waste time post from Outdated Penang Uncle. :P


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source: youtube!

7 billion world population explained in video

Yesterday I posted the chart of world population that reaching 7 billion. Here is a video that help you to understand the population growth since the time we have some sort of human population statistic.



Which continent are you from?



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source: youtube!

World Population reaching 7 billion

It is expected the world population to hit 7 billion in next few weeks. The number of people on Earth has more than doubled in last 50 years. Where are you in this chart? Go to to interactive chart via the link after this picture.
I am 4,266,975,210th person according to the chart. :P



World Population Interactive Chart at BBC

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source: BBC

Facebook wall of shame

Facebook Facebook, how many of you out there are NOT using Facebook? I am still using Facebook because 99% of my friends use Facebook. So in order to get update of a friend, Facebook. In order to see the photo that my friend took with me, Facebook. How about you? Do you still use Facebook?

Here are some fact about Facebook (click image to enlarge):

Also see why you should quit Facebook :D
What you should quit Facebook
Video: why you should quit Facebook
More reason why you should quit Facebook
More Fact on Facebook

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source: http://dailyinfographic.com