BlackBerry Caller ID and Address Book Not Displayed for Incoming Calls

If your BlackBerry is only displaying the phone number of an incoming call, and not the name or label assigned to it in your address book, you need to disable content protection.

Go to: Settings -> Options -> Security Options -> General Settings -> Content Protection
Either disable Content Protection or keep Content Protection Enabled, but select “No” next to “Include Address Book:”

And now you won’t offend every single person that calls you by asking who they are.


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The New Face of P2P BitTorrent – “Pirate Bay ‘could soon be obsolete'”

Here is a good article that was sent to me about The Pirate Bay’s legal outcome and why it really will not make a difference in the future. New technology such as iPredator and Tribler would eliminate the need for centralized torrent tracking sites.

The Pirate Bay

“Peter Sunde, one of the founders and spokesperson for bitorrent tracker site, The Pirate Bay, is said to have found out that they had lost their court case in Sweden several hours before the official verdict was delivered thanks to information supposedly leaked by what is claimed to be a “trustworthy source”.

The Swedish Courts are unimpressed and brought in the police to investigate. Regardless of the final outcome after the dust has cleared from any remaining legal wrangles, The Pirate Bay verdict appears to be achieving the opposite to the outcome intended by the copyright advocates with support for the site and its political offshoot, the Pirate Party reportedly going from strength to strength.”


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Jabber Instant Message Server and Shut Down Your Computer With a Text Message – Hak5.org

I was just over at Hak5.org because they posted a new video.

A section of this video dealt with setting up an Openfire server for IM. Forward to about 11:10 to learn about it.


Also, shut down your computer with an SMS text. Requires Microsoft outlook or Thunderbird portable. This is a link to the thread in their forums

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Nuclear Bunker Data Center In Sweden

Here is another short post about something interesting. Its a bit dated, but still sweet.

Over at Royal.Pingdom.com there is an article about “an underground data center that has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb. It looks like the secret HQ of a James Bond villain.”

Not bad.

A little excessive, but cool nonetheless. Owned by one of Sweden’s largest ISPs, it is located in an old nuclear bunker that dates back to the Cold War era. Click the link to read the full story and see the awesome pictures.

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Free Software – Nmap for Conficker, PortableApps, FreeMind Mindmap, and Twitter News

Nmap 4.85BETA7 Released to Scan for Conficker Worm
Front page news over at http://insecure.org/. I downloaded the latest version of Nmap and ran a scan on the local machines. Seems that are good. The newest version of Nmap contains a script that when run will give you a probable prognosis on your computer’s status. They list the command to run the script as well.

Over at PortableApps.com I just finished downloading the full suite version of PortableApps for USB drives. Using this allows you to store your bookmarks, settings, and other info on USB flash storage drive and take them with you wherever you go. Includes popular applications such as Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird, Sunbird, ClamWin (AntiVirus), Pidgin, Sumatra PDF Reader, KeePass Password Manager, OpenOffice, AbiWord Word Processor, a notepad, an audio player, and a few games. All of these are run directly off the USB storage drive and leave nothing behind.

Direct Download Link: http://portableapps.com/download

FreeMind is a mind mapping application that I recently started using pretty heavily. Its Java-based implementation appeals to both Windows and Linux users. Found this originally on LifeHacker.

FreeMind info link: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Twitter:
There is some talk about Google possibly acquiring Twitter. I know that Twitter has received offers in the past, and I am wondering if they will consider this one. I like Google’s apps anyways. Full story here: http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-41940-118.html

I have not been posting much because I am working on some new stuff behind the scenes. Be one of the first in the forums.

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Elite Technologies WiFi Project, Drawball.com, Pixlr.com

These three things recently came to my attention while I was conversing with others.

First up to bat is Elite Technologies, based in Terre Haute, Indiana. They are a group of computer enthusiasts that focus their energy and skill on wired and wireless networking among about ten other listed capabilities. Their business staff consists of volunteers so far.

They have an benevolent outreach project that began in 2007 and aims to construct a WiFi network for everyone in the Wabash Valley. People are donating portions of their bandwidth and a section of their buildings in order to mount antennas. They state originally was going to donate a large sum of cash towards the project but subsequently backed out. They can be reached at: http://www.elitecommunications.biz/
Keep up the good work guys, I like projects like this.

Next, lets switch over to the arts.

A link to drawball.com came to me pretty late tonight and I was intrigued. Apparently it is a website that hosts a large interactive flash canvas that you can mark up at will. A wall for virtual graffiti, claim some real estate while you can. I of course wrote MAVERICKBLOGGING.COM on there somewhere, see if you can find it. (Near 12 O’clock)
http://two.drawball.com/

Additionally, pixlr.com has a web-based image editor that I will definitely fall back upon if I ever find myself without access to a proper program. Next time I am caught unprepared or don’t want to install a program on the machine I am using, I will certainly hit up this website. http://www.pixlr.com/editor/

Apparently Adobe has an online version of Photoshop, but it requires a subscription. I haven’t looked into this one at the moment, but will.
https://www.photoshop.com/express/landing.html

I will get back to what I need to be doing now, but felt that these were some noteworthy links. Contact me if you know of other cool stuff I should check out.

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Wifi, Bluetooth, and Copper Mod Installations Dell Inspiron e1505/6400



This project started out as an innocent do-it-yourself (DIY) wifi card upgrade on my Dell Inspiron e1505/6400 laptop. The laptop was also having cooling issues that required stripping it down to its core. While I was in the neighborhood, I figured that I would go all out and add Bluetooth for Skype and a custom cooling modification. Factory cooling on laptops is usually sub par. I will show you how to do all of these modifications, and have full albums of pictures to guide you.


Gigabyte N300 Series WiFi Card

The Gigabyte GN-WI06N-RH N300 Dual-Band Mini Card is an awesome wireless internet card that has an Atheros chipset, fits into a Mini PCI Express slot and is IEEE 802.11a, b, g, 802.11n draft, and 802.1x compliant. Atheros is heavily backed by open source (Linux/MadWifi drivers). That means that the card will work with Backtrack 3 for Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) professional penetration testing and Aircrack-ng for legal WEP encryption cracking. Here is the best WEP key cracking guide I found so far for the Atheros chipset. Additionally, the card has connectors for up to three antennas, and only selects the one with the strongest signal. In addition to the two factory antennas integrated in my laptop, I used the third port to connect a 9dBi high gain external antenna. To attach the antenna to the card, you will need this U.FL Mini-PCI Laptop to WiFi Booster Antenna Cable (RP-SMA). You will also need to drill a hole into the side of the laptop to mount the connector for the antenna. I did this easily by hand using wood drill bit, because I didnt have my awesome new Dremel at the time. This makes for a great modular setup so you can go into covert mode without the antenna. I could also quickly attach different antennas depending on the application (like Wardriving and Warcarting). The card has great firmware and a 300 Mbps wireless transmission rate. Unfortunately, I did have some have a conflict issue between the Gigabyte utility software and something on the laptop – possibly with Windows XP Professional. A complete reinstallation of the Gigabyte drivers and utility seemed to fix that for now. The card and the external antenna are a lot of fun, but you may get some extra attention at Starbucks.

Bluetooth

Now we get to install the bluetooth module . . .
Totally out of character, I did not research this at all before I jumped into it. I didnt know if it was possible to install the Dell TrueMobile 355 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR) adapter and have it work with my sexy Blackberry Bluetooth HS655 Headset to make Skype calls. This turned out to be an incredibly easy mod and cheap upgrade. I would say that nearly everyone can do it.

I ordered the Bluetooth Module because it is Bluetooth 2.0 compliant with backwards compatibility with bluetooth 1.1 and 1.0 specifications. It also has an enhanced data rate of up to 3Mbps, so you can sync quite a few devices up to it. It plugged directly into the laptop’s motherboard through the 10 pin cable that was already present and hiding in a cavity behind the card door. Accessing the cable could not have been easier. Remove the battery by sliding the spring-loaded slider on the bottom of the laptop. Remove the plastic cover inside the battery cavity with a small flathead screwdriver. This is the screwdriver set that I use.


Dust everything off (Very useful to have around, I use it on everything), and you will be ready to boot up.

Well that was easy enough, but the driver installation was a bear. Windows has some sort of native Bluetooth controlling software that is terrible and tries to override the new drivers. But once I conquered that, voice quality is great, and the buttons on earpiece control functions in Skype the same way they would if the Bluetooth earpiece was paired with your cellphone.

The newer Dell Laptops probably come with Bluetooth standard, but this is an easy install for those of us that don’t have it.

Copper Cooling Mod

The cooling issue had increased to the point that the laptop was noisy, hot to the touch, and shutting itself down (computers may do this so they dont overheat). The cooling issue was a typical combination of poor airflow due to dust collection, and aging cheap factory Thermal Interface Material (TIM) between the heatsink and processors.

Curing the issue on this laptop will quickly become complicated by the slight (sub-1mm) gap that is present between the graphics processor and heatsink. The typical upgrade of applying a better thermal compound will not work in this case due to the gap. Thermal pads and thermal tape can span this gap but tend to be utterly inefficient with heat dissipation. Instead I read about a copper modification, and decided that was what I needed to do. Unfortunately suppliers for such small custom copper shims and order quantities are virtually nonexistent. Luckily, Metal Offcuts was recommended to me, and I will gladly pass them on to you. They are located in the UK, are responsive, and ship rapidly to other countries. They are more than happy to accommodate custom orders when you email them.

C106 is the recommended grade of copper for the shim in this project. I did not have the proper tools like a Micrometer and Feeler Gauge to precisely measure the gap, so instead used my abundance of guitar picks of various marked sizes. I will order those proper tools though. Now assuming that the picks are actually the size that they say they are, the gap was a little larger than .7mm but smaller than 1mm. Length and width of the GPU die are affirmatively both 11mm. I decided to order both the .7mm x 11mm x 11mm and .9mm x 11mm x 11mm shims.

After stripping the residue off the processor dies and heatsink with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol, or Pure Acetone followed by isopropyl alcohol on a lint free cloth or Q-tip, I dry fitted the shims and found that the .9mm x 11mm x 11mm worked best. Cleaning Guide.

Then I quickly lapped both sides of the copper shim, and all heatsink contact points. I used a flat glass table* to evenly distribute weight, water as a lubricant, and both 800 and 2000 grit sandpaper. Although, there is heavy debate that anything higher than 800 grit is a waste of time. If you are going to lap your heatsink or Integrated Heat Shield (IHS), I recommend following this guide. WARNING: If you have exposed processor dies (like I do – see picture), do not dare go near them with sandpaper.

*I was advised that it is best to place the sandpaper on a glass table face up, and then press the copper shim down upon that in order to sand. This would disperse the pressure more evenly than if you held the copper piece in your hand and tried to sand. Use the table as a work surface. This especially applies for larger areas, like the bottom of heatsinks. (Although the heatsink on the Dell laptop does not allow for this approach)

Once everything is sanded, spread thermal grease on the central processing unit, graphics processing unit and the contact points of the thermal cooling assembly IN A VERY THIN LAYER! Place the copper shim on top of the GPU die, and reinstall the heatsink in one shot (redo thermal paste if you place it down and pull it back up). Finally, patch everything back together, and no, there weren’t any extra screws when you started.*

*I used thermal compound on both sides of the copper shim. I did not apply the compound to the shim itself, but rather on the processor and the heatsink. Then I put everything together. I have not experienced any slippage because I keep that laptop on a desk. When I do start to use it on the run, I would replace the compound only between the shim and heatsink with Arctic Silver Thermal Epoxy if there is slippage. I don’t expect it to slip with the current compound though.

I did not monitor the processor temperatures before and after the cooling upgrade, but the fan is silent and the laptop is not hot to the touch at all.

Overall, I am happy with everything. The computer is silent, stable, and now has a lot of cool new features.



Be sure to visit the grocery list to make sure you have everything.
*Note: Currently does not have the Bluetooth card required. Also, the copper shim must be ordered from the eBay vendor listed above.


If you are intimidated by any of these mods, I can do them for you. Thank you Dan for emailing me about parts of this post that I was vague about. Please visit the forums if you want to discuss this project in length.

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Blackhat Forums Gets Hacked

Well it goes to show that nothing is ever really secure. Even a popular forum run by some very proficient computer enthusiasts was compromised. Although the conversations between the administrators and the individual on MSN seemed to reveal that it “was nothing personal,” the site has been down for some time now and there are concerns that he had access to the database. For now, you will have to visit the IRC channel.

Best of luck guys, I hope that everything is back up soon.

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Arctic Cooling Silencer NV5 Rev. 3 GPU Cooler Installation *56k Warning*

I usually plan out the subject for my posts well in advance. But that was not the case with this post. Last week, a grinding sound began to emit from my main desktop. I assumed that it was the CPU fan without bothering to open the case, and ordered one from The Fan Van seller on eBay, who was recommended to me. When it promptly arrived, I opened the my desktop’s case . . . and it was not the CPU fan afterall.

It was the GPU cooler instead.

My Arctic Cooling Silencer NV5 Revision 3 is a replacement for the factory heatsink on my nVidia GeForce 6800 GT graphics card. It is compatible with all nVidia GeForce 6800’s and apparently 7800’s as well. So I scramble to find a replacement, and they are very hard to find. I was only able to find one place. Arctic Cooling has a 6 year warranty on this part and offered to replace it RMA. I needed one ASAP, so I ordered the one I found and shipped my old one to Arctic Cooling’s site in California for replacement. I guess I will sell the replacement whenever it arrives.

EDIT: 03/25 – Arctic Cooling did stick to their word and issued a replacement under warranty. Very Generous.

Now on to the installation.

But first, we will need some theme music . . .






Now we will actually get on with the installation . . .

Arctic Cooling Silencer NV5 Parts

Arctic Cooling Silencer NV5 Parts


To remove the old one, you simply unscrew the four nuts holding the cooler to the card (Image 1), and unclip the fan cable (Image 2).


Image 1

Image 1

Image 2

Image 2


Next, clean off any residue on the GPU and other contact points with isopropyl alcohol and a lint-free cloth. (Images 4, 5, 6)


Image 3

Image 3

Image 4

Image 4

Image 5

Image 5


Luckily the GPU cooler comes with thermal compound already on it, but if it didn’t, I would use Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.


Thermal Compound Already On It

Thermal Compound Already On It


Place the cooler flat on a table with the threaded pegs facing up. Then flip your graphics card so that the GPU is facing down. Align the four screw holes and carefully guide the pegs through them. Once they are through, reattach the metal x-plate rubber side down and screw on the four nuts (the supplied slot cover conveniently works as a flathead screwdriver).


Four pegs sticking through card

Four pegs sticking through card

Finally, attach the remaining thermal pads on the backside of the card where the peripheral contact points are on the other side. Although it is dicey to be using a blade this close to the card, you will not be able to peel off the paper without one.


Thermal pads on backside

Thermal pads on backside

Then attach the passive heatsink by carefully pressing its four raised contact points against the thermal tape you just installed.


Passive heatsink on back

Passive heatsink on back

After all that, the card is ready to be installed in your computer. Be sure to plug the cooler’s fan cable into the graphics card before you close the case, or your fan will not have power.

By the way, this cooler takes up two slots in the back of the case, one for video ports and one for heat exhaust. This second slot is part of Arctic Cooling’s Direct Heat Exhaust System (DHES). This system is very efficient because it prevents the fan from recirculating warm air inside the case to cool the GPU. Overall, this is a very good cooler and it is unfortunate that the fan bearings in my original one went bad so early. Feel free to stop by my photo album of the entire project

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ConnectPro 2-port USB and PS/2 KVM Switch Review

ConnectPro 2-port USB and PS/2 KVM switch Pro-1 2UL

Unfortunately this KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse) switch does not get a glowing review due to some defects.

Features:
3 USB Inputs
One PS/2 Port
One VGA Output (to monitor)
Two VGA Inputs (from computers)
4 Status LEDs
Switch to deactivate PS/2 Keyboard
Large button on top to manually switch views
Hotkeys

You will need one open USB port on the back of each computer you wish to hook up to the switch for keyboard and mouse functionality.

The large button on top has been problematic, because it will sometimes get stuck between views if it has not be fully depressed (happens more times than you would think). The second issue is a transient one. The KVM switch decides to randomly switch views by itself. This could possibly be due to the counterintuitive hotkey configuration:

Left Control + Left Control + A = Switch to Next PC
Left Control + Left Control + 1 = Switch to Port 1
Left Control + Left Control + 2 = Switch to Port 2
Left Control + Left Control + <-- = Toggle Beep On/Off Left Control + Left Control + Function Key = Auto-scan F1 = 5 Sec F2 = 10 Sec F3: = 20 Sec F4: = 40 Sec F5: = 60 Sec I don't have two left control keys, do you? I'll concede that customer support was nice about correcting my misinterpretation of the configuration. You have to tap left control twice, not hold down the keys like a typical hotkey combination (Control + Alt + Delete, etc). If you have a sloppy typing style (such as myself), you may accidentally trigger it. Overall I was disappointed, but I'll live with it. It could be that mine is defective. For $43 shipped from Amazon.com, it was well priced. I can’t really afford the downtime to return it, so I’ll keep it around until it either gets worse or I upgrade to a DVI monitor.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com.

This is a sponsored review. If you would like to request a sponsored review, please do so here.

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