Hijinks Inc.

Category: Technology

  • iTunes Error -9808

    A friend of mine suddenly couldn’t access the iTunes Store after upgrading to the latest version, every time he tried to purchase something he kept getting the following error:

    “We could not complete your iTunes store request,an unknown error occurred (-9808)”

    I couldn’t find anything online about it, so here’s how we fixed it under Windows XP. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options -> Advanced Tab, make sure that both the SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 options are checked. Then under Security make sure that the “Check for server certificate revocation (requires restart)” is unchecked. Then click ok, restart and fire up iTunes.

  • 230 / 25 = 9.2

    I’m at the South Mill and the internet here has been down since yesterday. Basically, I figured out they lost their PPPoE Username and Password for their DSL modem, not a big deal, right? Just call tech support… or not. Apparently they went with a local company called Binary.net, which only offers tech support during normal business hours, so if you have a problem over the weekend you’re out of luck. Lame!

    Long story short, I’m currently sharing my 230kbps connection through my cell phone with 25 other people. This is officially slower than dial-up. Now I could be mean and cut them all off, but their little faces lit up like it was freaking Christmas when I started serving up sweet bandwidth.

    p.s. Much love to the people at Internet Nebraska, who don’t suck… It’s a pity The Mill isn’t even your client.

  • Eee PC

    I just purchased an Eee PC from Newegg.com and I’m pretty excited to see what a budget Linux laptop is capable of. I’d also really like to replace the screen with a touch screen, but since the computer is meant for my girlfriend I’m not sure she’ll exactly support that idea. Oh well.

    Now I started writing this post on Monday but I didn’t finish it, and since I just got the computer today (Wednesday) this is going to be more of a review, as opposed to a “oh man, this is gonna be sweet” post.

    Like I said, I just got the computer. Obvious first impression is “holy crap! It’s small!”, because frankly it is… Moving on to a more technical note, I clocked the boot time at 33.7 seconds, just over double the claimed 15 second boot time, still not bad. This is the 2G Surf model, so it has a slightly slower processor which might explain the slower boot time. When compared to the 31 second boot time of my Macbook Pro it truly is an impressive feat.

    More random thoughts on the Eee PC after the jump
    (more…)

  • Prolonging the Life of Your Laptop

    Spending a large amount of time in various coffee shops has given me the opportunity to observe quite a few people breaking basic rules of laptop care, probably due to the fact that no one ever told them that what they were doing was stupid.

    Here are five tips for prolonging the lifespan of your laptop computer. Please note, this list is merely in the order I thought of them and not necessarily ranked by severity.

    [ 1 ] Don’t put your computer in standby, or worse leave it on, and then put it in your carrying case/messenger bag! Even if it’s only a five minute drive to your local coffee shop.

    [ 2 ] Don’t close the lid while the laptop is still on. Planning on leaving your laptop on all night to finish that illegal BitTorrent download? Take the time to turn the screen off in your power prefs (or using the functions keys on your laptop to dim the screen) and leave the lid open. Closing the lid causes heat that would normally escape through the keyboard to build up and could damage your screen in the long run.

    [ 3 ] Don’t use your laptop on a bed, blanket, pillow, or any surface that your laptop is going to sink into. This blocks the airflow to cooling vents on most laptops, leading to heat issues.

    [ 4 ] Don’t eat or drink around your laptop. Pretty obvious, right? Yeah, but I still break it almost every day (in fact, I’m breaking it right now!). And because I ignored this rule my laptop was killed a few months ago by a poorly placed glass of iced coffee *sniff*

    [ 5 ] Don’t run with scissors, right? Same applies to laptops 😛

  • What’s Your Setup?

    In a shameless attempt to try and generate some reader interaction I’m asking you all a question, what’s your computer setup? I’m looking for whatever details you feel like posting, brand, hard drive size, memory, etc.

    Here’s my current setup:

    MacBook Pro
    15.4″ LED backlit display
    2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo
    4GB RAM
    256MB GeForce 8600M GT video card
    160GB HDD
    8x double layer SuperDrive
    OS X 10.5.1 / Windows XP Pro / Fedora 8

    Accessories:
    LaCie 500GB Network Attached Storage
    Canon Digital Rebel XTi (400D)
    Sony MDR-XD200 studio style headphones
    8GB iPod touch (jailbroken)