ForcaTech Blog

That’s right. The highly anticipated Android port for the HP Touchpad is here–somewhat. The popular aftermarket Android firmware distribution team has been working on the port ever since HP removed themselves from the tablet market and began selling their unsupported tablets starting at $99.

Today they released the “LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS” ALPHA edition of Android 2.3.5 for the HP Touchpad built on CyanogenMod 7.1.0. The thing to keep in mind here is that it is the ALPHA release and as such it is 100% AS-IS, unsupported, non-warranted and installation is NOT encouraged.

What doesn’t work? Phone and messaging related items have been left in the build but–obviously–are not supported. Many–MANY–apps have compatibility issues including the fact that some can not be found in the market at all! There have also been reports of issues with sound, camera and wifi just to name a few.

TO INSTALL:

Install is supported on Windows, Mac and Linux however I have only attempted the install from Windows XP as well as Windows 7.

You can find all of the steps to install as well as all files needed from the official thread on rootzwiki. You can see a video of the ACMEInstaller process here.

Alternatively, I have downloaded all needed files you need to get Android working on the Touchpad including the instructions and packaged them into a single ZIP file which you can download here.

TO INSTALL ANDROID MARKET:

One thing that the CyanogenMod team didn’t include in the install instructions is how to install the Market. If you are left wondering “How do I install the Android Market on my Touchpad” here you are.

Start by downloading the latest Google Apps zip. At the time of this posting the latest is 0828 which you can download here.  DO NOT extract the ZIP. Boot your touchpad into Android. Connect it to your PC and turn on USB storage when prompted.  Copy  apps-gb-20110828-signed.zip to the root of your touchpad and then unmount and reboot. When the boot menu appears choose boot ClockworkMod. From there you will want to install the .zip file from SD card. Reboot and when you boot into Android you should be prompted to log in to your Google account and then you are all set. The Market will appear in your app drawer.

INSTALL EXPERIENCE:

After installing this on two touchpads I can say that I am very impressed. This release doesn’t feel like an Alpha to me. 95% of the of 100+ apps I tried to install were compatible and didn’t have any major issues. Several seemed to lack rotation support but other than that they seemed to run very fluid. The rom runs much more smoothly on the touchpad than on several phones that I have used it on and I am excited to see what happens as the rom community grows around the touchpad.

To see the rom in action check out the official CyanogenMod video here and while you’re at it check out the other Touchpad videos on his channel[Rootzwiki].

[As always you are responsible for any bricks, void warranties or explosions. ForcaTech is in no way liable for any damage your device may incur due to any information here. Install at your own risk.]

As if society wasn’t lazy enough Hasbro has announced that they will be releasing new varieties of classic board games with an electronic tower that is going to run the game.

The tower will manage aspects of the game such as dice rolls, rent, cash flow, etc. The tower “bathes the board in infrared light, and a camera can see reflectors placed on each game piece.”  The days of dealing out paper money and a banker are gone apparently. Paper money is being replaced by a plastic money card that is automatically reloaded by the tower when you pass go, collect rent from another player, etc.

Monopoly Live will be available this fall for around $50. You can still pick up the classic for around $15 if you are terrified about Sauron’s tower being able to watch your every move don’t want to drop the cash for the electronic version. But just think of all you will be missing. As one of the games designers, Leif Askeland said “The tower never makes a mistake”.

So its almost here. Excited? February 10th fan boys and girls will be rushing to their nearest retailer to pick up their long awaited Verizon iPhone. But should you?

Sure. I guess. There are plenty of reasons why you should and shouldn’t. For those of you coming from an AT&T iPhone 4 you may be disappointed. While Verizons voice and data coverage is much better their 3G speeds are lacking in comparison to AT&Ts. From my experience I was able to get speeds around 300kbps while indoors with AT&Ts 3G as opposed to around 80kbps with Verizons 3G.

Another down side to the Verizon iPhone is the CDMA network it is on. While using the AT&T flavor of iPhone you can use voice and data simultaneously. Verizons network is limited to either data OR voice until LTE hits later this year however the iPhone 4 isn’t LTE capable.

One other difference while not as big of a deal to me personally is the lack of a SIM card. If you need to swap between handsets you won’t be able to simply swap SIM cards. Instead you will have the pleasure of going into a Verizon store or calling customer service.

On top of all of this the iPhone 4 has been out for 8 months and with Apples yearly release schedule a new flavor of iPhone is bound to be coming out fairly soon. Perhaps an LTE version of iPhone will be release just a few short months after you get locked into another 2 year agreement…

Despite all of this hundreds of thousands of you will be picking up your modern, shiny iPhone 4 thanks to the marketing genius that Apple is and Verizons iPhone pre-orders have been sold out for a while.

Of course there are arguments in favor of getting the iPhone with Verizon. For starters there are those of you bound to Verizon whether it be from being locked into a family plan, AT&T not having as good of service in your area or various other reasons. For me who is rarely on the phone, always using data and in a good AT&T coverage area the AT&T iPhone is the way to go.

Then again you could always go android, but I will open that can of worms later.

Why did it take this long? During my last visit to the grocery store I was astonished at what I found there. DiGiorno is now selling frozen pizzas WITH Nestle cookie dough included! It is the perfect union really…

The only variety I found was pepperoni pizza and chocolate chip cookies but what more do you  need? It looks like there are other varieties according to their Facebook but I couldn’t find any at my local store.

If you aren’t looking for something sweet they also have a pizza and buffalo wings combo that you could check out.

College kids, bachelors and lazy housewives unite! You can now make a more complete meal without having to actually put forth any effort. Baby steps. [Digiorno FB]

Those of us who use the internet now-a-days have grown accustomed to the fact that when we go to google.com we may not see the standard ‘Google’ logo above the search field. Google from time to time–whether for advertising purposes or to pay recognize recent events, anniversaries, holidays, etc–has changed up their logo with a Jack-o-lantern, snowman, etc. When the Google logo is non-standard like this they call them “doodles”.

These Google doodles have all been pretty static–until now. Today those of you who pulled up Google to type in a quick search probably said “Oh, a new Google logo I wonder what this one is for.” It wasn’t until I went to mouse over the logo to see exactly what the occasion was when I was surprised to see the logo begin to move like the classic Pac Man that we all know and love.

Initially I sat and watched assuming it was some kind of flash image. It wasn’t until Pac Man got eaten by one of the ghosts that I realized that I might actually be in control. For the next life I realized that it was in fact a playable game! Using the arrow keys on the keyboard I was actually able to play the game just like any other Pac Man game.

The interactive doodle is in fact a full 255 level game with the 256 level kill screen(I got close – level 3)–just like the original. Today’s doodle the first interactive doodle for Google. Marcin Wichary, a senior user experience designer for Google, worked with a member of the “Google Doodler Team”(this is what I want to be when I grow up) to create this unique doodle. [Google]

Thermal grease,  thermal gel,  thermal compound,  thermal paste,  heat paste,  heat sink paste, heat transfer compound or heat sink compound. These are all names used to describe the fluid substance used to increase thermal conductivity between two components.  Often used in electronics to improve thermal dissipation by compensating  for the irregular surfaces of two components(such as a processor and a heat sink).

Despite how flat the top of a processor or base of a heat sink look there are sure to be imperfections that will prevent the two surfaces from fully sitting against each other. The thermal compound acts as a filler to ensure that 100% of the CPU will be touching the heat sink.

Another purpose of the compound is to fill in all the tiny crevices on the heat sink and metal plate that covers the CPU. To improve conductivity some extreme overclockers will sand down–also called lapping–the metal plate that covers their CPU as well as the heat sink in order to create two completely flat surfaces. This will allow you to use less thermal compound and the less thermal compound you are able to use the better the heat transfer from your processor to your heat sink. There are plenty of guides on how to do this–Google is your friend. If you have done it correctly you should have a shiny bronze surface on your processor that you can use as a mirror. From my experience I have only noticed a 2-4c degree improvement in temps on CPUs I have lapped which in my opinion doesn’t make the hours of time spent worth it. Not to mention you will void your warranty if you do this.

There are many different kinds of thermal compound ranging from silicon based to metal based. For the most part, metal based compounds have much better conductivity.

Is it worth it to remove my heat sink, remove the silicon compound and apply artic silver 5–or some other type of metal based compound–in its place? My answer–it depends on the individual. I have noticed a significant improvement moving from silicon paste to artic silver 5 with multiple processors. Currently I am using a Phenom II X4 Quad-Core clocked at the stock operating speed–3.0Ghz. With the stock silicon compound my idle temps were hovering around 42c which I felt was a bit high considering my ambient room temperature was 21c. I removed the heat sink, cleaned it and the CPU plate with alcohol and a cotton swab and applied a small dot of Artic Silver 5 to the center of the CPU plate–for instructions on your specific CPU view a complete list of guides here.

After going through about 5 heat cycles–allowing your CPU to reach max operating temps then completely cool helps the compound to settle–I was pleased to find that my idle temps had dropped a full 10c. This was a much better result than I was expecting. Usually I see a 4c-6c improvement but in this case I am assuming that the factory just did a poor job of applying the silicon compound.

So is it worth it? Ultimately it is up to you however in my opinion the 10-20 minutes you spend reapplying thermal compound is worth it. Especially in this case where for $5 and 10 minutes I gained a 10c degree temperature drop which allows for longer processor life or greater overclocking ability.  With the silicon compound that came on my processor I was only able to overclock from 3.0Ghz to 3.6Ghz. With the artic silver 5 I was able to stably reach 3.9Ghz and had no issues after running stability tests for 10 hours.

So once again reapplying new compound is worth it in my eyes but that doesn’t mean I am encouraging you to do it! If you don’t know what you are doing you could really mess something up and I am not going to be responsible when you do. If you do decide to reapply compound go find a good guide on the internet since I have barely touched on what needs to happen to successfully reapply compound.

I have stumbled across one of the best gimmicky toys I have ever seen. The gun takes 3 AAA batteries which are used to charge the flying duck. Connect the duck to the controller for a quick 10 second charge and then let the duck loose.

The tricky part is the birds flight time is 30 second–during which time the duck is bobbin’ and weavin’–and you have to get 3 direct hits to bring the duck down in that time. Each time you hit the duck it stutters for a second–dropping altitude–to reveal that you have hit it. After 3 shots the duck is downed–cherish that sweet sweet victory–then do it all again.

At only $29 I may have to give one a try and let you know. [HS]

Today is the day. Windows 7 has been officially released. Did you go out and pick up a computer sporting the new operating system?

It was also a big day for Microsoft in AZ. The first retail Microsoft store was opened in Scottsdale today. As you can see from the photos the store looks pretty impressive and very futuristic but vaguely familiar at the same time. [gizmodo]

I have posted random grumblings and praise of Windows 7 over the past few months as I have used one of the release candidates but Gizmodo has compiled an impressive list of 27 different reviews. For all you could ever want to know about Windows 7:

CNET
“Windows 7 presents a stable platform that can compete comfortably with OS X, while reassuring the world that Microsoft can still turn out a strong, useful operating system.”

PCWorld
“…the final shipping version I test-drove appears to be the worthy successor to Windows XP that Vista never was.”

NYTimes
“[Microsoft's] three-year Windows Vista nightmare is over.”

IT Pro
“Windows 7…is competent and functional due to internal improvements and the user interface is attractive and good for productivity.”

bit-tech
“For want of a better way of describing it, Microsoft has essentially fixed Vista and the result is arguably Microsoft’s best operating system to date.”

Guardian
“Windows 7 is simply the best version of Windows you can get.”

Slate
“Indeed, the new Windows is not only the best operating system that Microsoft has ever produced. It is arguably the fastest, most intuitive, and most useful consumer desktop OS on the market today.”

Maximum PC
“…Windows 7 is unquestionably the best version of Windows that Microsoft has ever released, and is the true successor to Windows XP.”

Tech Radar
“No version of Windows is ever perfect, but Windows 7 really is the best release of Windows yet.”

PC Mag
“It’s far and away the best OS we’ve ever seen from Microsoft.”

Wall Street Journal
“I believe it is the best version of Windows Microsoft has produced.”

ElectricPig
“With Windows 7, Microsoft wants us to believe that it’s got its OS back on track and for the most part we feel they have.”

Engadget
“Where Vista felt like a sprawling mess, Windows 7 has patched up the holes and feels like a tight, unified mechanism.”

Telegraph
“Windows 7 is the operating system Vista should have been…”

Hexus
“This is the operating system that Windows Vista should have been.”

Digital Trends
“…Microsoft has returned for redemption with Windows 7, otherwise known as “what Vista should have been.”

AP
“Windows 7 [is] a slick, much improved operating system that should go a long way toward erasing the bad impression left by its previous effort, Vista.”

V3
“…Windows 7 is a worthy successor to Windows XP…”

Federal Computer Week
“There is nothing wrong with Windows 7 – and we’ve always thought Vista was a better operating system than its reputation suggested – so if a new system happens to come with it, then you’ll get a fine operating system.”

PC Pro UK
“We like Windows 7 a lot – so much so, that the disappointment that was Windows Vista has already become a distant memory…”

Technodorm
“If you have the money to spend, there is no reason why you shouldn’t upgrade.”

Laptop Mag
“If Vista left you somewhat disillusioned with Windows, we suggest you upgrade to Windows 7.”

Cult of Mac
“I need to go wash my eyes out with bleach.”

The Inquirer
“Windows 7 is as pretty as Apple stuff, just as easy to use, and does not treat you like a moron.”

Computer World
“…it’s finally time to upgrade.”

TechWorld
“Windows 7 feels like an anti-Vista…”

Gizmodo
“…if you’re coming from Windows XP, Windows 7 will totally feel like a revelation from the glossy future. If you’re coming from Vista, you’ll definitely go “Hey, this is much better!” the first time you touch Aero Peek. If you’re coming from a Mac, you’ll—hahahahaha. But seriously, even the Mactards will have to tone down their nasal David Spadian snide, at least a little bit.” [gizmodo]

I will say this; No operating system is going to be as minimalistic as Windows XP however hardware is constantly improving and there aren’t many computers out now that can run Vista or Windows 7. One of the big problems with Vista in my opinion was at that it was so resource intensive that the majority of hardware out at the time struggled to run it. That being said, even on my workstation computer that has no issues running Vista or Windows 7–and maxes out the in OS performance ratings that are useless for the most part–Vista is much more clunky than Windows 7.

It doesn’t end there. Windows 7 is much more user friendly and intuitive and the new taskbar is great once you get used to it.

A cheetah can run faster than any other animal. A gecko’s feet can stick to almost any surface without using liquids or surface tension. And some roaches scurry at nearly 50 times their body length in one second, which, scaled up to human levels, can be around 200 miles per hour.

MIT professor and robotic designer Sangbae Kim has looked at members of the animal kingdom in the past and successfully replicated their impressive abilities–two of which being the Stickybot,which can climb walls similar to a gecko and the iSprawl, a robot which mimics a cockroaches movement.

Kim’s next animal that he and his students are going to attempt to imitate is the cheetah. Current robots can be very efficient on flat terrain but in rough areas speed and mobility is very limited. The PackBot, for instance, which is used by the U.S. Military is barely able to go 5MPH.

Kim hopes that over the next 18 months he and his students are able to create a prototype that will have enough power to reach 70 MPH quickly.

The first step will be to create a computer model to calculate the optimal limb length, weight, gait and torque of the hip and knee joints.

The biggest challenge in this project won’t be the structure, but getting enough power from a motor to get to the desired speed quickly, says Kim.

If successful this could be a huge break through in the fight to bring functional sci-fi-esque robots to the world we live in. We will still be leagues away from an I,Robot or Star Wars world but imagine the uses of a robot capable of covering terrain quickly and efficiently! As long as it can handle stairs better than the Honda Asimo and can take control of our hands forcing us to learn an instrument by endless repetition then we will be impressed.

Then again, this could also be a huge break through in a robot uprising leading to the eventual destruction of the human race. One way or another, this is cool. [wired]

These videos show the VASIMR VX-200–the worlds hotest, most powerful space ship engine–being tested in a vacuum chamber. One of the best achievements of the VASIMR is that the plasma engine will make a huge cut in fuel consumption required for space travel. Currently 7.5 tons of propellant are used each year in the shuttle and other spaceships. With the VASIMR that will be cut down to 0.3 tons.

The engine is also much faster. So fast that instead of the current 6 months it would take us to get to Mars it would only take roughly 39 days.

The VASIMR will be tested at the International Space Station in 2013.

The battle rages on. Pre just got its WebOS 1.2.1 update. What does this mean? Not much if you don’t use iTunes. If you do, you can sync your pre once again. Hurry and sync it up! Apple is sure to come out with an update in the coming weeks that will once again block it. Then, a few weeks later Palm with come out with WebOS 1.2.2 that will unblock it once again. And so on, forever.

At first sight the picture above looks like the control panel from a Sci-Fi space ship. It is actually a sketch of apples latest patent which is suppose to be a large multi-touch surface that can recognize all 10 of your fingers and palms as well as your cheek and nose when you smoosh your face against it.

In the patent filing they claim that this system would provide, “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.” Whether they plan on making a futuristic keyboard, mouse replacement or they are looking to put this technology on the Apple Tablet we are excited to see this come to the market. If Apple decided to put it on the Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispenser we would still be excited to see it.

You thought I was kidding!? Well, I was–kinda. Activelink’s ‘Power Loader’ is constructed of 500lbs of aluminum alloy and 18 electromagnetic motors. The Power Loader also has force feedback so you can in a sense feel what the arms feel as far as if you have something in your hand or not.

The suit right now is limited to being able to pick up 220lbs but that is still pretty cool since it requires  literally no work on your side.

They hope to have a version that is more fluid and capable of lifting more commercially available by 2015–not official but we believe they will have jet packs as well.

Despite my feeble attempts to summarize what Google Wave is and what it is capable of I have still been asked by several people, “so what IS google wave exactly?”

Instead of attempting to explain it again I will let this guy–who does an excellent job!

Tired of that lousy Quad-Core PC with 8GB of RAM? You are in luck my friend. SGI now has a personal option for those of you in need of a super computer. As their tag line says they are “making supercomputing personal”.

The Octane 3 is now available starting at the low low price of $7999 (USD). If that isn’t enough machine for you the Octane III can handle up to 80 CPU Cores–EIGHTY!–1TB of RAM! and enough room for ten 2.5″ SATA 2 hard drives.

Hiroo Iwata–developer of the robot tiles seen above–has created what will one day be a virtual floor at a VR lab at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The Robot Tiles are covered with a conductive fabric that is able to detect the direction you are walking and bring the blocks in place in front of your feet.

As they are this is not very functional but with some work these could potentially be a seamless, infinite floor. In a virtual reality environment this could allow you to realistically feel like you were walking from California to New York while remaining in a relatively small room.

Once these became more efficient and usable they could even create different textured blocks or blocks with varying densities so that if in your virtual environment you walked from a street to the grass you would feel the difference below your feet.

Well, the device that Sony said would change the way we listen to music forever is here. And is it changing the way we listen to music? Not so much. I am not going to deny the fact that it is pretty awesome but definitely not Earth shattering.

The technology is this. The ear buds use capacitive technology–just like the iPhone and G1–to detect that it is in its ear. To start listening to music shoot these in your ears. When the ear buds hit your capacitive skin they begin playing the music. To pause take one ear out. Pretty cool. [SE]

After months of rumors it looks like ATT has finally decided to roll out their femtocells in a soft launch to a few markets. Those markets include Atlanta, San Antonio, Seattle and a city or two in North Carolina.

What is a femtocell? It is a device used to extend your wireless/3G range. If you live in an area where the reception is bad then you can pick up one of these devices, hook it up to your home internet connection and get a beautifully strong 3G connection.

While this is great and all, you are having to plug this into your router, which is most likely a wireless router…. which will give you a better connection over WiFi than you will get over the femtocell 3G. Now all phones don’t have WiFi capabilities and so this is a big perk for the 3 nation wide customers few ATT customers who have a data plan with a phone that doesn’t have WiFi built in.

This should help alleviate some of the 3G load and make it a little more reliable and snappy but since the majority of 3G is eaten by iPhone users and the femtocell doesn’t really help to get iPhone users off 3G I foresee the improvements being minimal. [BGR]

AMD’s next-gen DirectX 11 graphics cards will feature Eyefinity which will allow you to connect multiple monitors that can be used as a single display.

Multiple monitor workstations is nothing new but this technology actually simulates one large monitor across the displays. The above is an example of six 30″ dell monitors pieced together as one to play a video game. In the past you could have these 6 monitors hooked up to your computer with a few graphics cards but you would only be able to play your game on one of them.

AMD says that they are working with manufactures to create monitors that have very thin bezels(borders) so that there is not as big of a gap between displays. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA for these in sight.

AT&T has announced that they will be rolling out their 7.2Mbps HSPA 3G this year to a few markets. T-Mobile is now claiming that they will do the same–maybe they will start by rolling standard 3G out to more markets, we are still without 3G for T-Mobile where I live.

So, where do we go from here? Most carriers will soon be talking about their 4G networks however, T-Mobile is boasting their super-boosted 3G rocking out at 21Mbps.

While most carriers are doing the smart thing and dropping 3G at the 7.2Mbps barrier and moving up to 4G, T-Mobile is going to use and abuse the 3G network for as long as they can. They claim that they will be able to reach near 4G speeds in 2010. [mocoNews]