David Pollitt

Guest Blog Wednesday featuring Andrew Greeman – Why hello there…

// January 28th, 2009 // View Comments // Guest Blog

Hi.  My name is Andrew Greeman.  Some of you might know me, others may not.  So, perhaps a quick introduction is in order.  I am 22 and live in the frigid city that is Duluth, MN.  I met David at UMD, where we were both Management Information Systems majors.  I have since graduated from UMD.  During the day I am an IT Intern at IKONICS Corporation, which specializes in photo chemical etching.  But at night, I am an aspiring DJ/Producer in a group named Arsenal, or alone as Peruvian White.

I look forward to offering my reviews and opinions on the current state of technology, music, art, and anything that I find interesting.

Check me out at:

http://www.myspace.com/arsenalbangs

http://soundcloud.com/peruvianwhite

Enjoy

Install Wordpress Locally

// January 26th, 2009 // View Comments // Blog

Recently I wanted to setup a WordPress installation locally to test out new theme changes. Previously I was doing all of my changes on my live install. For obvious reasons I wanted another option.

1.Install WAMPSever – Windows,Apache,MySQL, and PHP Server. Get the software here.  It is a pretty straightforward install, just follow it while selecting all of the defaults.  Start the server up once the install is done.

2.Download the latest WordPress install here.

3.Click the WAMPServer icon in the taskbar and select “WWW Directory”, copy the new WordPress install files here.

4.Create a database for the installation by clicking the WAMPServer icon again, and selecting “phpMyAdmin”, then type in the database name of your choice into the box that says “Create New Database” in the center of the page, and select “Create”.

5.In the WWW Directory open and edit “wp-config-sample.php”.  Change the following values:

define(‘DB_NAME’, ‘wordpress’); // new database name
define(‘DB_USER’, ‘root’); // MySQL username (root is default)
define(‘DB_PASSWORD’, ”); // no password assigned by default
define(‘DB_HOST’, ‘localhost);

6.Save this “wp-config-sample.php” as “wp-config.php”.

7.Open up http://localhost/ in any webbrowser to complete the wordpress installation process.

Thats all there is to it. From here you should be able to install themes, plugins, or anything else in the local WWW directory. For any theme changes you make in this local install, just copy the .php file and upload it to your live server when you are satisfied with the results.

-DPollitt

Divide Mountain & Saint Mary Lake

// January 25th, 2009 // View Comments // Photography

Divide Mountain & Saint Mary Lake – Glacier National Park Montana, originally uploaded by dpollitt.

A shot of Saint Mary Lake with Divide Mountain in the background. It was a fantastic Summer day in Montana, with those perfect clouds and nice temps. This is near the St Mary entrance to Glacier National Park. Shot at 17mm.

-DPollitt

Best Free Blackberry Storm Software

// January 25th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Software

There isn’t a ton of free Blackberry Storm software out quite yet. We are all eagerly awaiting the Application Center launch to see some real programs come out. Here’s a roundup of the best free apps I use on my Storm:

Gmail – Info
Google Maps – Info
FlyCast – Info
Youtube – OTA Download
TwitterBerry – Info
Softreset – OTA Download
Viigo – Info
Quickpull – Info
AP Mobile News – Info
Opera Mini – OTA Download
Google Sync – Info
TinyTwitter – Info
Wall Street Journal – Info

Best built-in apps:

Google Talk
Facebook
Word To Go

-DPollitt

Blackberry Storm 9530 Running OS 4.7.0.90

// January 22nd, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Popular

It’s only been 9 days and already a new OS from RIM has been leaked for the Blackberry Storm 9530.  This is OS v4.7.0.90 Platform 4.0.0.114. 

First Impressions:
-Full QWERTY keyboard in portrait mode-New feature
-Camera does not always save images, seems to do whatever it wants
-Accelerometer in Camera app is blazing fast, rotates instantly(Note, this is great, but the camera is extremely unreliable in actually saving the images)
-Font on keyboard has increased in size, and/or the face has changed. It looks substantially larger
-Font on Call screen has increased in size, and/or the face has changed.
-Hover over icons does not follow finger still
-”Media Card Inserted” error came up every few(1in3) battery pulls
-VSOD(Verizon Screen of Death) has come up on multiple battery pulls – I did not have an issue with this on .86
-Memory Free increased from 32.2MB to 36.3MB after battery pulls on each OS (v4.7.0.86 vs. v4.7.0.90)
-OS is very responsive, Media player is very responsive
-Fades from screens seem to be quicker and you don’t even notice much of a fade now.
-Screen Lock works fast and well under normal use

Get the leak via Crackberry.com

Some Screen Caps:

-DPollitt

Blackberry Application Center Storefront

// January 19th, 2009 // View Comments // Blackberry, Software

The long awaited Blackberry Application Center Storefront seems like its finally going to get its launch.  Gizmodo is reporting that an upcoming March release is likely.  Since the Storm debut in November, many users have been wondering when this much needed capability would surface.  Currently the Blackberry website has a page allowing developers to signup to become part of the Storefront.

Will this be an all encompassing storefront, allowing purchases of Software, themes, ringtones, music and video?  This would put it closer on par with Apples iPhone.  I think the more likely outcome will be a consoliated location for software, with possibly a future integration with an existing pay-per-use music store such as Rhapsody.

Sources: Gizmodo/Blackberry

-DPollitt