DLP Portable HDTV Projector

A friend of mine just had his work assign him a HDTV compatible DLP (LCD) Projector. This means the small projector he is giving sales presentation could also be used to have a 10 Foot Screen for Superbowl... in High Definition!

He has the PLUS U4-131. The manufaturer is PLUS, which I hadn't heard of before. But it lists for $3,500.00 and found it online for $2,200.00.

Very nice picture, not many inputs. But definately looks like a score for him!

Travel Reservations

Places to look for discount plane tickets.

http://www.aa.com - American Airlines since i have miles with them

http://www.expedia.com

http://www.travelocity.com

http://www.orbitz.com

http://www.southwest.com - Cheap in US flights

Upgrading my XBOX

Ok mike, earl and I spent 4 hrs yesterday getting mine setup. It works. I have the chip installed. The BIOS updated (the most time consuming... But will now take 6 minutes). XBox is backed up. And a new 120gig hdd is installed.

I have backed up 6 of my games.

Halo and DOA3 run from the local disk, so the discs sit on the shelf

The sega genisis emulator rocks

The slide show program is buggy

Downloading games to my computer at 7MB/s yes megabytes!

Only thing I have to chat with the guys on the irc channel is how to hide the modchip during post. No matter what it keeps loading up.

There are a couple things I need to update about what you need to get going.

• EvolutionX - CD to allow you to FTP to the xbox


• QWIX - Makes ISO's of your backed up files


• DVD2XBOX - Copies your game to the HDD


• How do you get the MSFT dash back (default.xbe)


• X2BM - Creates BIOS.BIN files to update your executer 2 mod chip


• DeadFile - Creates a 100MB file for your BIOS


• xcuter 4979 BIOS vs Cromwell BIOS - fill 2 slots with Xcuter / 2 with Cromwell


• Nero - Burns your DVD-R's

More Links
Team Xecuter - http://www.teamxecuter.com/

Cromwell Flashing Tutorial - http://www.teamxecuter.com/cromwell.htm

Qwix ISO COmpile + Nero Burning Tutorial - http://www.teamxecuter.com/qwixnero.htm

Creating a Bios Image file - http://www.teamxecuter.com/biosimage.htm

XBOXGeek.com - hosted on an XBOX using gentoox

Alchohol Prices

OK, no comments, but I have been wanting to figure out what a good price is for common drinks I buy. 🙂

Bombay Saphire Gin 1.75 L

• Ralphs -


• Price Club - 27.99


• SavOn - 37.99

Robert Mondavi 1999 Cabernet

• Ralphs -


• Price Club - 16.99

Tanquery Gin 1.75 L

• Ralphs -


• Price Club - 23.99


• Rite-Aid - 36.99 - sale 23.99


• SavOn - 31.99 - sale 27.99

Tanquery 10 Ten

• SavOn - 23.99 - sale 19.99

Carb Solutions - 6pack

• VONS - $12.99 - double coupon


• Rite-Aid - $11.99


• Wal-Mart - $8.99 - With $1.00 off coupon $7.99!

XBOX Media Player (XBMP)

Well I sure did show alot of self control. I am now the proud owner of a XBox chip. I don't even own a freakin Xbox yet. And... I got 2 other people to buy one with me so I now am on the line to help them chip their systems. Basically there are 4 of us heading over to another guys house who already has this working and are going to mimic his setup. 😉 SWEET!!!!

The key is to get the cromwell bios onto the chip, and then install the Evolution Menu system. From there the other programs get loaded... which will be the Media Player.

Update: Read the following site to get a full download of the tools without having a network connection. xbox-scene - slayers evox v2.5

The Chip

EVOX

Evolution Tutorial

TeamXecuter.com - mod chips

Currently looking for the X-ecuter 2.3 Plus Modchip , and v3.0 is coming out soon as well.

Place to buy testing chips
System-mods.com Contact Page

Comparison of X-ecuter 2.3 Lite / Pro

System-Mods.com - News

Wiring for 2.3b Lite

Downloads

XBOX Skins, and fun stickers

Mike and I bought Skin's for our XBOX's... is it just some way of being different, I'm not sure. But after looking at Carbon Fiber, Tribal, Yellow and Blood Red skins... I just went with BRIGHT RED. It was 1/2 the price, but will let me see how these things work.

We went with the deluxe (of course) kit that covers alot more of the box then a standard kit. It was all of $3.00 more. 🙂

There are several places to buy from:

DecalGirl.com - I bought here, accepts PayPal!

SkinSane.com - Good selection (has the Tribal pattern

awesomeskins.com - This place sucks

VOIP phones

I am finally looking to get a LAND line at my house now. Not really because I want to make alot of calls, but because i am tired of not having a number, and having people have to wonder how to reach me. I have selected http://www.vonage.com/ as the company I'm going to go with for service. They provide all the hardware for you, and have free caller id, voice mail, and call forwarding and pullback.

This means I can use my internet connection to make all of my calls, and have inbound calls when I am at home ring on my desk, not my cell phone. Thus cutting down some of my phone bill costs. This system also uses your regular telephone (only 1 I think). So you can have a cordless, internet phone!

They will also transfer a phone number from another company... AH NUMBER PORTABILITY! They say it takes 6 weeks to transfer! Imagine that. 🙂

Other articles about VOIP

There is also a voicemail, follow-me type service RingCentral

Merry Christmas 2003

Happy Holidays!!!

I just wanted to drop everyone a line and wish them the best holidays possible. I had been fretting on how to send everyone a card, and realized being a super nerdy guy, I should get with the times and send Electronic Cards for the Holidays.

Click [read more] in the corner!!

As you may or may not know this has been a year full of challenges for me and I am happy to say that things are going well. The company I was working for Wireless Knowledge closed its doors this year... and I was lucky enough to be picked up immediately by Qualcomm. So I am back in my old group working as the Infrastructure Architect for Qualcomm's IT group.

On the social front I have been doing my best to see everyone possible and stay out of trouble. Its been great to know that I have such good friends in my life. There were several big adventures this year. I did a week long dive trip down in La Paz, and just recently spent 10 days in the Nevada Desert at the Burning Man Festival! I just got back from doing another high speed driving school at Buttonwillow! I've started Indoor cart racing!

This past year has also seen me spending more time with The Brotherhood. For the last several years I have always been a behind the scenes guy and rented costumes. This year I really got in and participated with decorations, invitations, and made my own costume... which lead to me growing lots of facial hair. I have put pictures up in the gallery.

This coming year I will be finding my own place to rent, doing more parties, attending a dating class with my brother, going diving more (another trip to Australia with some friends), and

1. You will need your Microsoft Office CD!


2. Visit http://office.microsoft.com/officeupdate/
   

Upon visiting the above site, you can have the web site check your computer to see what updates your installed version of Office needs. At some point during the installation of those patches it WILL ask you for the CD that you installed the software from.

Please let people know about these patches, as once a virus starts spreading around this site will be overloaded.

*** {03.36.004} Win - MS03-035: Word macros may run automatically

Microsoft released MS03-035 ("Word macros may run automatically"). Most versions of Word are vulnerable to a flaw that lets a malicious document circumvent the macro security model and automatically execute macros upon document opening.

FAQ and patch: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-035.asp

Source: Microsoft http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/microsoft/2003-q3/0020.html

*** {03.36.005} Win - MS03-037: VBA document properties buffer overflow

Microsoft released MS03-037 ("VBA document properties buffer overflow"). The Visual Basic for Applications engine, included with many Microsoft desktop applications, contains a buffer overflow in the handling of document properties that allows a malicious document to execute arbitrary code on the system.

FAQ and patch: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-037.asp

Source: Microsoft http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/microsoft/2003-q3/0017.html

*** {03.36.009} Win - MS03-036: WordPerfect convertor buffer overflow

Microsoft released MS03-036 ("WordPerfect convertor buffer overflow"). A malicious WordPerfect document could trigger a buffer overflow during the conversion process, leading to the execution of arbitrary code. Various versions of Microsoft Word, Office, FrontPage, Works and Publisher are affected.

FAQ and patch: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-036.asp

Source: Microsoft http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/microsoft/2003-q3/0021.html

Creating a MAME Arcade Cabinet

I am a big fan of 80's vintage video games. I actually own 4 of them. They are nice to have, but are a challenge to maintain, move, and use. They don't fit into the normal household decor, and the chances of having a game that others like playing when they visit is difficult. The idea of building a single Super Video Game has always been something I have wanted. I made an attempt at this 5-6 years ago with Steve, but found our efforts to dashed. Mostly because of joystick inputs, and not choosing a powerful enough computer.

Now there are several vendors that make all the key components. For around $1500-$2000, you can have a brand new, full sized, Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator in your house. Here are the links I found, and I will update when proceed further.

Pre Built

http://www.hanaho.com/products/HotRodJoystick/support.html - "HotRod Mame Joystick - The one I own"
- x-arcade

http://www.dreamauthentics.com/ - Premade Cabinets

http://www.slikstik.com/default.aspx?Affiliate=16 - SlikStik - MAME Joystick

http://www.cybertechdesign.net/mameroom/ - MameRoom - Ultimate Arcade II

http://www.cybertechdesign.net/mameroom/order_uaII.asp - Ultimate Arcade II - Prices

Searches

http://www.google.com/search?q=mame+joysticks+keyboard&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N - google search "mame joysticks keyboard"

Building Your Own

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm - Site on how to build your own cabinet

http://leafstation.com/ - "MameStation - building your own game"

http://leafstation.com/ms2home.html - "MameStation II - The best home built Mame Cabinet"

http://yourpage.blazenet.net/ditto/cabinet.htm - Some dudes cabinet

http://www.dragonslairii.com/arcade/MAMEv1/CP.asp - Home made console

http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/hardware/game/mamejoy/ - x-arcade vs devestator joysticks