Axon Haptic Tablet Available for Pre-Order
For those that are daring enough to jump off the deep end, you can now pre-order the rumored Axon Haptic tablet (not to be confused with Axiotron’s Modbook) for a cool $750 . The capacitive-touch Hackintosh tablet boasts compatibility with Windows 7 as well as all Darwin-based OS platforms, including Mac OS, though on Axon’s website they state that Apple’s EULA specifically prohibits installation on any non-Apple hardware, though that’s certainly not going to stop anyone… after all, they call it a Hackintosh for a reason.
Some might believe the 1.6Ghz Atom N270 leaves a little to be desired, though it still has fairly decent hardware for a tablet. Specs include a 10.1″ LED backlit screen, 320GB HD, 2GB RAM, a removable battery, 3x USB ports, ethernet, card reader, VGA port, WiFi and for additional $70 you can add a Verizon 3G SIM card, and yet another $70 will get you Bluetooth GPS.
It’s up in the air at this point how well full-fledged operating systems will behave with the capacitive touchscreen, though I think it’s definitely a step in the right direction to bring more devices to the market as alternatives to the iPad that allow something more than a mobile OS. If nothing else, it might cause Apple to consider the possibility of competing with them, but then again, does anything anyone does really ever affect what Apple does?
For full tech specs and description, visit Axon Logic’s website, but see if I’m not the only one that’s bothered by the fact that they copied Apple’s top bar right off their website for their own….
Quick Tip: Use AutoHotKey To Disable Your Touch Pad While Typing
Call it laziness, call it fat hands, call it bad posture, call it whatever you want. I’ve found on my latest laptop that the touch pad is either placed in an inconvenient spot, or perhaps it’s just more sensitive than my last laptop. Whatever the case, I’ve run into the trouble of the mouse jumping while I’m in the middle of typing; it’s particularly frustrating whilst blogging. Through the magic of AutoHotKey you can make the problem disappear!
I was browsing for possible fixes to this problem and stumbled across an old article on Lifehacker with this solution. I’ve now been using it for a couple weeks and it’s completely solved my problem. Before I get started with the quick how to, be sure to check your synaptics driver, it may have an option to disable the cursor while you type already built in. Go check real quick and then join me after the jump for the details. Read More
Use Air Display Over a USB Cable
From the department of the less than useful, i.e. my mind, comes a hack of debatable usefulness.
Stepping back for a second, one might argue that this could come in handy for those who have crappy wireless networks or are working from a coffeeshop which has a completely rubbish network, as many do… But then you’d probably just switch to an ad-hoc network, nonetheless, I present for your general amusement, a way to run Avatron’s Air Display app [$9.99] over USB.
Things you’ll need:
- Jailbroken iPad
- MyWi or USB tethering installed
- Air Display for iPad
- Air Display for Mac
- iPad USB Cable
How To Easily Install Android on Your iPhone
Less than a month ago, some crazy guy released instructions on how to install Android on your iPhone, now while I followed those instructions and got Android installed it was more than a little complicated, so I didn’t write it up. But now comes iPhodroid.
iPhodroid will automatically copy the required files to your iPhone, and the best part? No more needing a Linux virtual machine to pull this off. This solution is only available for Mac users currently.
First off, you’ll need:
- An iPhone 2G or 3G running 3.1.2 (doesn’t support 3.1.3 yet)
- Your iPhone should be jailbroken with Blackra1n, PwnageTool, or RedSn0w. Devices jailbroken with Spirit won’t work.
- OpenSSH installed with default password (alpine)
- Macfuse installed on your Mac
- iPhodroid
Step 1: Disable auto-lock on your iPhone. To do this, go to Settings-> General-> Auto-lock and set it to Never.
Step 2: If you haven’t already done so, download Macfuse and iPhodroid.
Step 3: Install Macfuse.
Step 4: Extract iPhodroid to your applications folder.
Step 5: Connect your iPhone to your Mac. Open iPhodroid and hit run. Expect the process to take a few minutes.
There you have it! Just keep in mind that Android on an iPhone is still buggy and will drain your battery an in hour, but it’s pretty cool to play around with.
Video: Using an iPad 3G’s Micro SIM in an iPhone
For those of you who don’t believe that this works or don’t care to try it for yourself, here’s a video of an iPad 3G Micro SIM card being used in my stock iPhone 3G running iPhone OS 3.1.3.
You can of course try this yourself by following the instructions outlined in my previous post.
Scratch magic
It’s probably happened to all of us LCD owners at one point or another… somethings scratches that beautiful real-estate you’re so proud of, and it makes you cry a little on the inside every time you see the glaring blemish. Good news! I’ve found a way to remove scratches… even fairly deep ones!
Disclaimer: I’ve tried this trick on one screen, a Samsung LCD TV (LN40A550). I can’t be sure it works on all LCDs, and I’m pretty sure it won’t work on the glossy type, only the anti-glare screens.
Ready for it? A white pencil eraser! Not the white ink pen erasers, which are rough, but a soft, white pencil eraser.
When we received our screen at work it had several deep scratches in one corner. It looked as if something sharp like a screwdriver scratched it. After reading somewhere online that white erasers worked, I gave it a shot. I was able to completely remove them by rubbing them with a white pencil eraser for a couple of seconds, then cleaning the residue with Windex and a soft cotton cloth.
Don’t believe me? Check out the pictures after the break. I can’t even tell where they were before, by sight OR feel. If your screen is scratched, consider giving this trick a try, then post a comment and let everyone know if it worked for you or not.
I’ve Returned
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but apparently that doesn’t apply to Google, although it is slightly reassuring to know that their server clusters don’t actually incorporate human hearts. I digress. Over the course of a few days I’ve all but disappeared from the hollowed pages of Google Search, major bummer, I used to be the number two result (also numbers 3, 4, 7, 12, and 42) when searching for ‘Aaron Nelsen‘ but now I’m stuck at the bottom of the first page of results, plus Hijinks Inc. doesn’t show up until page two.
In other news, banks cut interest rates because of the cuts the Fed made, and the market continues to be as unpredictable as an inebriated schizophrenic. Both of which are major thorns in my side.
Along the same lines, I’ve made more money in the past six months by changing a portion of my cash holdings from the US dollar to the Euro than I have from the stock market. That’s depressing.
Oh and I’m in the process of upgrading my iPod touch to the 1.1.3 firmware and attempting to jailbreak it, if I’m successful I’ll post instructions on how to rock that scene.
Installing NES games on your iPod touch
Here are some instructions for installing NES games on your iPod touch or iPhone. These will best benefit you if you already have a jailbroken iPod or iPhone and a wireless network.
Updated: 1-15-2008
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