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Don’t want to buy one of those little wireless cards that Carriers are selling for $100?  Me neither so I got wireless tethering on my HTC Aria that I use with AT&T.

Now what needs to be made clear is that this was not done on Windows but instead using Ubuntu.  I actually found this easier to do on Linux and had trouble with Windows (big surprise?). Unfortunately the article was written while I was on a Windows Machine so some files may be RAR’d or ZIP’d as opposed to being tar’d'd’d'd.

Files you will need that should be downloaded right now and placed in your home folder.  For ease of use, I suggest making a directory and putting them all there for example: /home/<user>/tetherfiles

• fw_bcm4329_bin.zip
• wireless_tether_2_0_5-pre3_apk.zip
• android-sdk_r07-linux_x86.tar

Download all of these and store in an easy-to-remember location.

The first file we are going to use is the Android-SDK (software developers kit).  You will need this to install applications manually that are not from the marketplace (since AT&T are the only ones that got rid of it..).

Step 1.  Extract the contents of the android sdk kit

$ tar -zxvf android-sdk_r07-linux_x86.tar

Step 2.  Copy the adb application from the tools folder to the /usr/bin folder (requires root).

# cp android-sdk_r07-linux_x86/tools/adb /usr/bin/

Step 3.  Setup the rules file under /etc/udev/rules.d/ and name it “51-android.rules”.  The file must contain the following (1 line) :  *** Note : You must be ROOT!

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", SYSFS{idVendor}=="00b4", MODE="0666"

Alternatively, you can just copy paste this line in and it should take care of it.

echo "SUBSYSTEM==\"usb\", SYSFS{idVendor}==\"00b4\", MODE=\"0666\"" > /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

Step 4.  Restart udev.

$ sudo restart udev

Step 5.  Make sure USB Debugging is enabled by going to Settings > Applications > Developer > USB Debugging (make sure there is a checkmark next to it) and plug it into your ubuntu laptop or desktop.  Now use adb to get a list of devices.  The result should look similar to this..

$ adb devices
List of connected devices
HT07YR002154

Step 5.  Unzip wireless_tether_2_0_5-pre3.apk from it’s respective ZIP archive and install it to the HTC Aria using adb.  Make sure you have your device ID written down.  My devices ID in the previous step is HT07YR002154.  I expect yours to be different.  Correct syntax should be “adb install <apk file> <device ID>”.

$ adb install wireless_tether_2_0_5-pre3.apk <device ID>

Step 6.  Now that we have the actual Wireless Tether application installed, we need to copy over the binary file it will use.  Unzip fw_bcm4329_bin.zip and you should have the fw_bcm4329.bin file.  This file will need to be in the “android.tether” folder located in root of the SD Card.  If you have your phone plugged in feel free to switch it from Charge only to Disk Drive, then you can simply copy it over that way.

$ mkdir /media/<device>/android.tether
$ cp fw_bcm4329.bin /media/<device>/android.tether/

That’s it.  Feel free to now launch the Wireless Tethering applicaton.  You can add this to your Aria’s *slides* as a program (you know, the thing under “widgets” in the add menu).  Upon opening it will find the configuration BIN and should work like magic.

As always, comments are appreciated as well as tweets and the retweets.  Also, if there are any questions I will try to answer them as quick as I can.

Good luck!

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If you’re like me you’re almost always “on the go”.  Work, school, sleep, work, school, sleep, and repeat.  I like to know when my downloads are finished and since I always have my phone on me this is probably one of the most nifty things you can do.

Requirements

• SMS Gateway
• sendEmail
• uTorrent
• SMTP Server
• Any kind of CLI experience will help but is not required.

You will need each one of these, especially the SMTP server which will be responsible for sending the notification.

1. Find your SMS Gateway
   You can find your SMS Gateway using this list I found on Wikipedia. Since I use AT&T my SMS gateway will be “txt.att.net”.  This means sending an email to PhoneNumber@txt.att.net will send an email to the specified phone number in the form of a text message.  Write this down or save it in notepad.
2. Setting up sendEmail
   If you haven’t already downloaded it from the link above then you need to.  Put it some place easy to remember such as C:\ or something easy to get to.  This way there will be less for you to type.  I am using C:\sendEmail.exe in this example.
3. Servers
   You want to have this information ready.  You will need:  SMTP Server address, port, username, and a password all for the authentication and connection.
4. Set up uTorrent to run sendEmail
   This is the fun part.  Right click on a torrent and select properties and then open the Advanced Tab.  There is a field there for “Run this program when the download finishes”.  This is what we are interested in.
5. Build your command for uTorrent
   Since sendEmail is a command line utility we need to build the command for uTorrent to execute it.  You can follow this exact example below…

   C:\sendEmail.exe -f <from@domain.com> -t <phone@gateway> -u “subject” -m “message” -s smtp.server.com:port -xu “username” -xp “password”

   
   

   Also, uTorrent has some pre-placed variables for you to use : %N for the name of file and %D for where it is saved so you can be specific with your notification.
   
   
   

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Have you ever wanted to remote in to your PC at home or at work to grab some files or a family member or a friend is having issues with their computer and its a simple fix but you don’t want to drive all the way to their house? I introduce to you Gbridge, Gbridge is a free software-only solution available for all versions of Windows and uses your Google Account for authentication. It is an extension of Google’s gtalk service and lets you remotely control PCs, sync folders, share files, and chat securely and easily. You can share your desktop with your designated friend from anywhere in the world and automatically traverses firewalls and NATting routers without the need for configuration! Gbridge allows you to securely share and access files and let friends view photos instantly remotely with no download needed. Transfer and sync large files and folders to and from anywhere with no size restrictions, then use AutoSync to auto-schedule, auto-resume, and do incremental transfers as well as set up and auto-backup of your important folder to a local or remote PC.

Here’s a rundown of the features and functionality offered by Gbridge:

• Access files shared by Gbridge on your or your friends’ computers, from within a Web browser.
• When remotely viewing photos, it creates automatic thumbnails and sideshows.
• It also gives you instant access to video and media files.
• Access the regular Windows shared folders/drives between your computers.
• Use remote desktop over an encrypted connection to your or your friends’ computers.
• Use AutoSync to synchronize folders between your computers and/or friends.
• Use EasyBackup to automatically have a directory(s) backed up to another computer.

Lets get our technolust going by first downloading  Gbridge and saving  it to your desktop. (Gbridge Download)

• Once the download has finished, install Gbridge. Installation is really straight forward, just go through the motions of the prompts until it is installed.
• Once you are done with the installation, you’ll be asked for your Gmail/Google account information, and to give a host name in the login screen as below.
  
• Once you have inserted logon credentials you’re ready to go, but you might want to set up Gbridge on any other computers you own to create a virtual network amongst your PC’s. You can use the same logon at each computer for Gbridge.
• You’ll now see a list of all your Google Talk friends listed in the Gbridge window, as well as a list of folders that you are current sharing. You can share files as well as chat with your friends directly in Gbridge. They do not have to install Gbridge to chat with you, but will need the software to access your shared files from their computer
  
• Gbridge has a sample folder shared by default, but can easily add others from the SecureShare tab. Simply select a folder and choose friends with whom you wish to share that folder with. They’ll now be able to browse the contents of that shared folder as well download files using a web browser.
  

With Gbridge you can remotely control your computer as well as let other friends control your computer or vice versa. This can come in handy when you forgot a file at home you can simply remote in or say a family member or a friend is having computer issues you can simply remote in and take a look at it for them. Below are steps on how to configure Desktop Share.

1. Click the DesktopShare icon on the toolbar, and select “Configure Gbridge DesktopShare”.
2. In the “DesktopShare (VNC) Configure” dialog box, check the checkbox “Allow access after verify DesktopShare password”.
3. In the same dialog box, setup a password in “Desktopshare Password for this computer” and click “ok”.
4. The Gbridge will do a self test for the DesktopShare. If you see a stack of mirrored windows, that means the selftest passes. Otherwise, it is likely your firewall is blocking the DesktopShare server from accepting request. Typically your firewall will pop out a window asking your permission when gbridge desktopshare server (gbwinvnc.exe) starts, please select “always allow”. This is a very critical step. If your firewall does not do pop up, then you will need to check your firewall setting and allow desktopshare server listening on port 5905.
5. The remote-control is now turned on. On the other PC, log in to Gbridge using the same Google account, then click the icon of the PC to be controlled in the tree in the  Friends tab, and select the meun “Access my Gbridge DesktopShare”, and type the password you set in step 3. A firewall warning message may popup, please select “allow”.

Check that out you have now configured a nice little VPN between your computers and friends computers. Now let the file sharing begin! Ha! Gbridge is a nice little app that will help you out in the long run. I find myself using it every day. Makes it easy when a family member calls that they are having issues with their system, all I do is remote in and check it out, saves the trouble of having to drive all the way across town for a simple fix. Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think of it in the comment section below!

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Tilt-Shift Effect

Tilt-shift photography has been around for nearly 43 years and is still popular today.  Granted, this tutorial isn’t about what you would call “true” tilt-shift photography but rather simulated but still achieves the same effect with more control.

Recently it has been used the most in taking a photo of a real-life environment and digitally editing it so that it looks like a model (see : miniature faking).  This tutorial aims to teach you how to achieve this effect using Photoshop along with a few very useful pointers.

Original Stock Photo : “Bridge” by thadz on sxc.hu (stock-xchg)

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In our previous post about customized Linux Distros we got you to a web app for creating customized linux distros based on ubuntu.

Maybe you’re not an ubuntu fan but an OpenSUSE fan..Well we still have another one for you.

Make your way to SuseStudio. It’s my personal favorite.

You get a nice intuitive ajax/jquery powered GUI and interface specifically designed to help you customize your very own openSuse distro.

Although at this moment they are constantly reaching their capacity and the only way you can gain access is by requesting an invitation from them.  As far as I remember it did not take very long (maybe a week or two at most?) to get my invitation.  From then on you can sign in using your google account and others.

Picking Your Purpose

The first part is where you decide what the purpose of your build will be.  Will it be a server?  Will it be a desktop GUI environment?  What are you going to use it for?

These are all the thoughts I had going through my head when I first started customizing my version of OpenSUSE.

You get to pick between Server, GNOME Desktop, KDE Desktop, Just Enough OS or Minimal (for the most part).  Again, this is just a baseline of what your disc will contain.

The rest of the software configuration is up to you later on in the setup of your custom OpenSuse LiveCD or install disc.

You will get to start out on the general configuration tab where you get to choose network settings and have it set as static, DHCP client, and whether or not you want the firewall on by default. as well as default language, keyboard, and time zone.  You will also have a chance to edit the default users.

Root will of course be there by default with a default password of “linux” which should be changed.  You can also add and delete extra users, set their passwords and home directories as well as their groups.

Customize Look

One of the phases that may come next (or later if you don’t care for it much) is to customize the look and feel.

This basically amounts to setting a custom logo and setting a custom wallpaper for it to use by default.

Unfortunately in terms of customization of looks this is pretty much as far as it goes since there is no *desktop theme* customization feature (for now anyways).

Either way the customization is one of the more exciting aspects because you know someone, even if it’s just you, will see it each time it’s booted up.

Appliance Settings

At the appliance tab of the configuration menu you can customize settings as if you were going to run it as a virtual machine.

Select memory size and amounts, add Live installers, VMWare support as well as Xen support.

Startup

Startup configuration is…well, startup configuration.  Although it sounds promising it only allows the configuration of the user modes and whether or not you want it to show a customized EULA.

The EULA part I like as well as choosing which run-level it starts in but I still think it needs some more customization to startup.

The run levels you have to choose from… Single User (1), Multi user / No Network (2), Normal Console (3), and Graphical (5).

The software customization tab is obviously the most useful piece of this entire “distro-generator”.  Add software packages, add programs, add repositories, etc.  It’s all there and it’s all for the adding (or removing).

Software

This of course is the main feature of any distribution authoring/editing/remixing web-app or third party software.

..and alas, the easiest part is building the distro because of course all you have to do now is wait.

You can have it built a few different ways.  ISO format for easy burning, VMDK for virtual machine disk images as a quick loading type (also a good way to test it), a Xen guest or a USB thumb flash drive.

Since there’s a few different ways to have it built it really cuts back on the whole *oh great I have to convert it 4 times* factor.

Building the Image

Also, after it is done being built, you can have susestudio open it in a virtual machine-esque web app for up to an hour.  You can then SSH to it and use the desktop GUI (if required) to check it out and make sure everything is A-OK before you download it.

Plenty of tools out there but OpenSUSE Studio is by far my favorite.

Go sign up for OpenSUSE Studio invites.

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