Blog Archives

I’m Helping with a Monster Hunter Portable 3rd English Fan Translation!

Recently I’ve been helping out Team Maverick One translate Monster Hunter Portable 3rd to English!  It’s a fan translation with the aim of making the game playable in regions it was never officially released.

I’ve been correcting machine-translated English and writing lots of useful scripts to help everyone out. ^^

So if you’re wondering what I’ve been up to …

Searchlight 1.1 released

Searchlight, my application for lighting up your world (or at least a few metres in front of you) using your Android device’s LED has been updated to 1.1.

This update brings better behaviour on HTC Sense devices, where the screen is kept on (as this is necessary to keep the device’s light switched on).  In addition, when the screen is …

Searchlight: An Android LED torch powered by the Search button

Light up your device’s LED no matter which app you’re in by holding Search.

Descent

My fantastical image called “Descent”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Time for my obligatory seagull picture.

Here you can see a couple of seagulls going in for the kill — on some bread. Would they have it any other way?

I’ve increased the contrast and played around with saturation a bit. Call me crazy, but I decided not to crop the picture.…

Finding Froggy

My fantastical image called “Finding Froggy”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

This is for all the people who wasted their lives on Sonic Adventure trying to find Big the Cat’s best friend, Froggy.  Here he is.

For the curious this is yet another of the amphibians to get themselves stuck in Huntersdale’s basement.  But instead of the legions of toads, we have a frog this time!  It was a fair bit …

Bid for Freedom

My fantastical image called “Bid for Freedom”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Here’s just a couple of the many toads that have recently hatched near Huntersdale at Royal Holloway, rescued from a dark, dry basement down a set of stairs much too steep for them to climb back up!…

I’ve Been Expecting You…

My fantastical image called “I’ve Been Expecting You…”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Do you expect me to talk? No, Mr. Human. I expect you to GIVE ME BREAD, DAMN IT

Making Ringtones Loop on Android

Update 2012-01-06: ICS appears to have a bug where the end of the file is chopped off, so ringtones do not loop properly. If I find or hear a solution I’ll update again!

Update 2010-11-09: Added clarification on why I suggest having a short (sub-10 second) ringtone. You want it to loop, right? =P

Following on from my previous articles

Team orders in F1? They’re here to stay–get over it!

Just wanted to quickly chime in on the whole Ferrari one-two fiasco.

I basically agree with what David Coulthard kept saying on the BBC’s extended coverage–no matter what fans or press may shout, you can’t take the teams out of Formula 1.

They spend millions of pounds on research, design, manufacture, promotion and, of course, the drivers: so is it …

Torchure 1.1.1 Released

I’ve uploaded a minor bugfix release for Torchure to the Android Market, which fixes the buggy systems preference not taking effect.

Don’t remind me of the irony……

Torchure 1.1 Released

My first Android Market update!  Hope this goes well.

This update includes:

  • A new colour! You can change the screen to red, to help preserve night vision. This makes the torch less effective, mind.
    • To switch colour, either swipe sideways on the screen or use the new menu option!
  • New preferences have been added to let you choose what colour

Torchure for Android

Ever found yourself in need of a torch, but only had your phone handy?  Look no further!

Torchure (for Android) is a pretty simple application.  It turns the screen white and, as default, whacks up the backlight to maximum.  I did say simple, didn’t I?

However, it also lets you change that backlight brightness (useful if, say, you’ve been to …

Desperate Struggle

My fantastical image called “Desperate Struggle”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Ducklings. There’s not really much else to say.

BeetleSpider

My fantastical image called “BeetleSpider”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Nature’s accumulated too many costs recently, so it’s consolidating many of its species in an attempt to rein in expenditure.  First up is this BeetleSpider, with the legs and spinnerets of a spider, plus the body of a beetle!

…  Otherwise known as a Walnut Orb Spider, commonly found outdoors in the UK.  Not that I can remember seeing …

My Personal Ninite Installer

This is basically for my own future reference, but the last few Windows installs I’ve done I’ve used Ninite to install most of my favourite software — easily and quickly!

If you’ve yet to discover it, check it out!  Or if you’d rather just install software other people recommend wihout thinking, you can install my particular favourite software loadout.…

Supreme Commander 2 Hidden Objectives List

Update 2010-03-26: Missed “Master of Pawns” hidden objective off of Cybran mission 6.  Added it.

Trying to find and complete all the secret missions in SupCom 2?  Here’s a quick and dirty list of them all!

This information is copied from the map files within the SupCom 2 directory.

Feel free to copy and paste — a link back to …

Gnome Power Manager Hides Do Nothing

Found this rather handy post that tells you what to do in newer versions of Gnome Power Manager, which for some reason hide the Do Nothing options as default.

Personally I find it irritating as the battery readout in all the distros of Linux I’ve used on my Eee report the battery at 0% over half an hour before the …

Introducing BitButcher — An Open-Source NDS ROM Trimmer

I’ve always wanted to make a software headline like that.  Eee!

Welcome to BitButcher, a small program designed to do one thing and one thing well: trim Nintendo DS ROMs.

I got a bit fed up of the ones already out there, most because they were either closed-source or they had bad GUI design combined with clashing backgrounds.  Search as …

Take Control of Your Settings — Configuring Synaptics Touchpads and Making GNOME Respect Them

Update 2010-05-28: If you’re using Fedora 13, then the configuration for synaptics touchpads is done through what is practically the old xorg.conf method. (This is as udev now handles devices instead of HAL.)  Check out the Fedora Wiki for more information.

The Problem

Today I’ve been trying to configure the touchpad on my Eee PC 901 to my liking.  It’s …

Stop Exact Audio Copy Crashing on Windows 7

When I tried to rip a disc using Exact Audio Copy on Windows 7 x64, I found it kept crashing as soon as the rip tried to start.  Bummer.

Remembering the previous times I’ve used EAC, when you click a button to start a rip, it asks you where you want to save the ripped files.

Turns out if …

Delete Songs From Smart Playlists in iTunes

Update 2009-11-23: Corrected Mac keyboard keys.  I don’t own a Mac myself, but a friend of mine tells me that iTunes defies the normal behaviour of many other Apple applications. Probably because it’s ancient and desperately needs an update.

Made a smart playlist to find songs you want to delete, then found that the delete function no longer works?

Just …

Pinch to Zoom? Nah, I’m Fine, Thanks

What is this generation’s obsession with pinch to zoom? It’s so often touted as “natural”, “intuitive”, and “cool” that it’s beginning to make me go insane! Yes, it might be cool, but have the people who say these things even thought implications of both what they say and the use of such an interface?

I am Your God; BOW DOWN TO ME

My fantastical image called “I am Your God; BOW DOWN TO ME”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Another of my friends chilling down at the river.

Where there’s food, there’s fighting.

Where there’s bread, there’s dread.…

The Windows 7 Taskbar — Keyboard Goodness

If you’re fortunate enough to be using Windows 7, then no doubt you’ve noticed the new taskbar.  Well, here’s a couple of golden nuggets of info for you:

Did you know that all the icons you line up on the taskbar automatically get keyboard shortcuts?  If you want to launch one of them, just press the Windows key and

A Word of Warning: Check Your Windows 7 Backup Settings

Backups in Windows 7 have been greatly improved, what with the fact you can restore from them (without needing to take a separate backup) and that they backup to networks better.

However, there has been one change which caught me out, thanks to a subtle and ambiguous rewording of the backups dialog.

When backups are taken, as default only user

Adding your most recent Twitter tweet to your Pidgin status

This guide is intended to be a more up-to-date mirror of the guide you can find at Tech Jawa.  All credit to them for the original instructions!

Basically nothing changes, but I just like to be comprehensive.

  1. Download the TwitterStatus plugin.  It’ll be a file ending in .pl.
  2. Move this file to your Pidgin plugins folder.  If

Ogg Vorbis Encoder for Windows

I not so long ago made a post about using Ogg Vorbis for Ringtones on Android, as it considerably reduces the lag between getting a phone call and the phone actually playing the ringtone.  The same goes for music on the device–it just starts playing quicker.

Anyway, just now I realised that I didn’t link to any encoders for …

Use Ogg Vorbis for Lag-free Ringtones on Android

Update 2010-06-21: If you want to use custom ringtones in the first place, install Rings Extended from the Android Market, then go to Home > Settings > Sound & display > Phone ringtone.  When it asks which application you want to use, select Rings Extended, and check the checkbox so that it doesn’t ask you again.

This will work anywhere …

Strip ID3v1 Tags from MP3s in Linux

For kicks I decided to remove all the ID3v1 tags from my music files today.  They were just getting in the way and served no useful purpose — since I had perfectly fine ID3v2 tags — so they just had to go.

I cooked up a little command to help out here!  But first, we need to make sure you …

Forgotten the Installation Code for your Sagem Digital Set-Top Box?

It’s annoying when that or something similar happens — in my case, someone else had changed the code meaning I couldn’t retune the box to accept more channels.

But all is not lost!  Simply follow this quick guide.  This is from a Sagem ITC 62 — it may or may not be the same process for other models:

  1. Press Menu

Hey there, Handsome.

My fantastical image called “Hey there, Handsome.”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Are those wings sticking out of your body or are you just happy to see me?

Here’s a picture of a beast Dragonfly waving to all the passers-by in my Nan’s back garden.  You can tell it isn’t a Damselfly because this one can’t fold it wings back along its body – they have to stick out sideways.  It’s also …

Angel of Ocean

My fantastical image called “Angel of Ocean”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Alright, the title is a bit of a misnomer; this seagull was captured just above the waters of the River Thames.

Now I know what I said before about not liking taking nature photos so much, but these are the kinds of photos I like.

They’re dynamic; they capture scenes that we are unable to see with the naked eye.  …

Quickly Open an Elevated Command Prompt in Vista

Just a quick little thing I noticed, although everyone else probably knows it by now.

To launch an elevated command prompt (i.e. a prompt with admin privileges, required to do various things if UAC is enabled on Vista), simply open the Start Menu (Windows key), type “cmd” without quotes, and press Control+Shift+Return.

This will bring up a UAC

I’ll Modify You in to Next Week.

A couple of days ago I came across this interesting quirk, and I had to do a double-take before I realised what had happened.

Basically, I recently got a NAS and decided that I wanted my router to save its bandwidth usage statistics on it.  That way whenever I perform an upgrade to the firmware on the router I won’t …

Eternal Serenata

My fantastical image called “Eternal Serenata”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Like the first photo I uploaded to this site, Boldly Growing, this was taken at Mottisfont Abbey National Trust garden.  However instead of out in the gorgeous gardens, I was inside a rather ‘cosy’ (read: cramped) used-book shop located on the site.

I happened to spy this rather odd looking insect having a rest from its fatigue (read: injury), …

Fixing Slugs in WordPress

Having trouble selecting the slug you want in WordPress?  If you’re like I was just a moment ago, you’ll try changing the slug on one of your categories to something different that you prefer, only to have WordPress change it back to whatever it was previously.  What gives?

Turns out the solution might be simpler than you think — check …

Lazy Days

My fantastical image called “Lazy Days”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Here’s a picture I took a little while back of my aunt’s dog, George.  He’s a lively bugger (my aunt’s finger getting broken is proof), but this photo captures the moment where I actually managed to get up close to him without him trying to take my head off.

And I was lying down.

Good one.…

Dirty Sexy Photography

My fantastical image called “Dirty Sexy Photography”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Did you know I’m really not into this “nature” stuff very much?  It’s just that there’s so much of it around I can’t really avoid it…

Take this for example.  Captured near the coast in North Devon, this rather saucy number demonstrates that creatures really will do it anywhere, even on camera.

What impressed me most is that they could

Changing GPRS, MMS and Access Point Settings on Android

I feel kind of silly for falling foul of this, but I guess it’s just a case of going against what you’re used to.

I was looking for a way to check on my MMS settings on Android.  On just about every other phone I’ve used it’s been a submenu of the messaging application, so that’s where I went — …

Buzz Lightyear, Away!

My fantastical image called “Buzz Lightyear, Away!”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

I have a weird attraction to this photo…  It’s probably because instead of the bee bee-ing posed on the plant as you would normally see in a photo such as this, it’s heading straight past me!

If that bee were better bee-haved I might have gotten a picture of it on the plant.  Wait, I have taken pictures …

Stella Artois

My fantastical image called “Stella Artois”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

That’s the name of the cat. Seriously!

Reset iTunes Dimensions to Fit Resolution

Here’s a handy little feature that I find useful.  If you ever play around with the size or location of the iTunes window and want to make it fit the screen better, simply follow the instructions:

If you’re on Windows:
hold Shift and either double-click the title bar or single-click the maximise button  (The title bar is the small bar

Phoenix Wright — Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations Soundtrack Download

That was a mouthful of a title.

Over time I’ve played and thoroughly enjoyed the Ace Attorney series of games, from Phoenix Wright to Apollo Justice.  But for those of you familiar to the series, you’ll notice that this is the soundtrack for the third game in the series.  So why have I posted this one?

You see, this soundtrack …

Boldly Growing

My fantastical image called “Boldly Growing”. Shame the link is broken or you've disabled images.

Here’s a rather funky photo I took at Mottisfont Abbey National Trust garden.  I love the shape of this flower — I don’t think I’d seen anything quite like it until that day.  Doesn’t it look like some kind of space-faring organism?  I’ve probably seen something that looks like it in Star Trek…

It also seems to remind me of …

Fix Windows Sidebar Gadget File Association in Vista

Have you ever somehow managed to break the Gadget file association in Windows Vista?  I have somehow, and that means that you can no longer install gadgets.  Double-clicking a .gadget file does nothing, and the Sidebar offers no option to install gadgets itself!

If you try to re-associate the files with Windows Sidebar by telling to Open With… and …

Fix Superuser Permissions Hanging on Android

Superuser Permissions hanging? Force closing? It’s cool (to fix).

Unlock Android Device Using PUK Code

Locked yourself out of your phone? No problem.

Advance Wars 2 Soundtrack Download

You owe it to yourself to listen to the Advance Wars 2 soundtrack.

First Posts

First posts. Just how do you make them?