Just wanted to post this for posterity. If you’re using TVTime but aren’t getting any sound, I recommend this, as it worked for me:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tvtime/+bug/472770/comments/25
Thanks, Pete Graner
So, my contract with T-Mobile ended. Or will end. In any case, I was due for a brand new phone and a brand-spankin’ new contract. Though T-Mobile has been very nice to me, I wanted to see what else was out there. So I set out on my quest asking around to Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular — the normal suspects. Most had plans that were higher than T-Mobile for about the same service.
But in every single conversation with a representative, they were stumped when I asked them a simple question:
“T-Mobile has wi-fi calling on all their wireless phones. Do you guys have any phones that do that?”
All I got was blank stares, so I continued.
“Well, with my BlackBerry 8120 , if I don’t get signal (which is common in small towns when I travel or when indoors (read: The National in Richmond) my phone jumps on to wireless networks to make calls.”
I don’t want to get too technical, but it is just that simple. If there’s a more-powerful 802.11 (read: wi-fi) signal than the cellular network, my phone jumps onto it and from there I can make calls. It’s called UMA and it’s a killer feature. Instead of calls/texts/internet on T-Mobile’s network, I can do it on a wireless network at wireless speeds.
What I got from most of the reps is, “Oh, well… our Wi-Fi phones let you text and browse the internet.” No, that’s not what I mean. I want to make calls when I have terrible signal. DO YOU HAVE THIS FEATURE? “No.”
Slightly off-topic: Well, as it turns out, most of the companies do offer something similar, and it’s called a Femtocell. AT&T sells one for $150. What does it do? Well, you buy it ($$$), then hook it up to your internet ($$$) and it’ll let you make calls on your wireless network, while the company charges you for USE OF YOUR OWN INTERNET CONNECTION. JKOnTheRun puts it nicely, as does Gizmodo. T-Mobile actually leverages their use of this network with their @Home service, which for $10 a month you can make unlimited UMA calls (Get it… you’re @ Home?)
But this isn’t exactly what I’m talking about. And none of the carriers (save T-Mobile) who have Wi-Fi phones offer the service to make calls over Wi-Fi without extra equipment. The phone I have is over 2 years old now, meaning the technology is at LEAST that old. And not ONE of the reps in the 4 stores I went to knew anything about the feature?
So, anyway, I re-upped with T-Mobile on a better plan than I had, and I’m getting a Bold 9700. Pretty friggin sweet.
Thank you, T-Mobile, for not charging me out the ass for this kick-ass feature that apparently doesn’t get around to other providers.
But do any of you in the cell phone business know what the hell I’m talking about? Does this just not get around to the other companies?
I don’t use Twitter’s new RT feature. I just don’t. Sometimes I want to add a comment before or after a tweet, or shorten it.
But once in a while I use it out of convenience, when I’m browsing the Twitter website.
I did this on @richardroeper‘s feed, retweeting his information about his new book. Well, when something is new-RT’ed, it shows up who retweeted it on your timeline:
But when you go to hover over the “you” in that “Retweeted by you,” you’re presented with Twitter’s latest feature/bug.
It shows you pop-up information for user @you. Clicking the text in “Retweeted by you” will bring you to your own timeline, while clicking “you” in the pop-up takes you to @you’s profile.
How completely pointless.
When you hover over something tweeted by someone else, the feature works properly.:
Of all the useful information on the internet, there’s no tutorial on how to make the “burned toast” effect in Photoshop. You know what I mean. Short of rigging a Jesus toaster, there isn’t an easy way to make this effect without some serious knowledge of Photoshop. Till now.
What you’ll need:
1. Open the image of toast. If it’s a little burned (like mine is), use the dodge tool to lighten it up.
2. Open the image you want to toast. I’m going to make some Reagan Toast.
3. Then, you’ve got to strip out everything that isn’t the person, unless you want it in the photo. In this case, the flag has to go. I don’t want to mess with it this time. Don’t worry about accuracy below the neck. You won’t need it.
4. Also known as THE HARDEST STEP. This is where a black and white photo comes in handy, because most of the work is done for you. After converting the image to Grayscale (Image>Mode>Grayscale), you need to alter the levels (Image>Adjustments>Levels, or Ctrl+L) so you have almost nothing but black and white, with very little gray.
A little gray is okay, but your image has to be discernible in black and white. Tool around with the levels to find something that works. I spent 30 minutes trying to get the levels right on this particular Reagan image, so here’s one I made earlier:
(I told you it wasn’t gonna be easy).
5. Now comes the fun part. Select everything that isn’t your new picture using the Magic Wand tool.
Note: If your image contains text, make sure to select the inside of Ps, Rs, Os, Qs and other open letters.
Then select the inverse. (Select>Inverse, or Shift+Ctrl+I). Ctrl+Drag your image onto the toast. You may need to resize (Edit>Free Transform, or Ctrl+T).
6. Photoshop will put the image onto its own layer, which is important. If it doesn’t, please make the new image on its own layer.
7. Poke out the eye of the background layer (the toast) and make sure the Reagan layer is selected. Then, Select>Color Range. This is where you select the darkest part you can. You can try to select on the little screen they give you, but it’s easier to select on the actual image. What you select will show up as white, or black if you invert. (Again, I’m switching back and forth between Reagans.) Make sure the toast isn’t visible when you do this.
8. Once it’s all selected, click OK. Untick the eye on your Reagan layer, tick the eye on your toast and make your toast layer blue. This will leave a selection on your toast in the shape of your Reagan.
9. Select your style of burnt toast with the burn tool. For best results, use an exposure of between 65-85%. Any more will be too dark, but lighter creates a nice “light burnt” effect. Back to the Reagan with him holding the GIPPER baseball jersey, it would look something like this:
Nice, eh? Now you can go back and forth to the Reagan and select lighter grays and burn them with a lesser exposure than your blacks, but be careful. It tends to accentuate wrinkles and is a pain in the ass to do.
I recommend going back at least once more and burning the whites in your Reagan to around 20% with one pass-through.
Questions? Comments? Leave them below! Here are my final results. All images are CC-BY-SA.
Some of you might know I’m now tending to a beard. I’m keeping it short, and it will probably never be as luxurious as the beard I grew up till the day of Dave’s wedding:
But I’ve noticed something that bothers me about my beard. I’ve got red hair in it. There’s no other red hair anywhere on my face (or body) that is anywhere near this particular shade of red.
I would say that this is just a really light brown, but it’s very clearly GINGER RED and it only grows in certain patches. Does anyone else have this phenomenon? Should I dye it, or leave it as-is?
I know this post isn’t as incendiary as most of mine, but this is my blog and I decide the damn content.
Because I’m bored, I’m starting a new project. It’s called Billy Mays Chat Roulette. I use an image of the late great Mays in ChatRoulette and see how many people will give him the thumbs up. If you want to help, leave a comment here.
I had a conservative recently admit to me that he believes progressives are a threat to America. Earnestly and honestly a threat. That’s wonderful news, because I’m supposed to say NOW, FELLOW PROGRESSIVES! NOW IS THE TIME TO LAUNCH STEP 3 IN OUR PLAN TO DESTROY REAL AMERICA!
Yes, “Real America®” full of “Real Americans™.” My blood boils when I hear anyone talking about DC not listening to the “real Americans,” I wonder what that makes me? The teabaggers would have you believe that I’m not a real American because I believe socialized medicine and single-payer healthcare systems work cheaper and better for citizens over the “We’re gonna raise your premiums when we feel like it” system we have now.
They’d say I’m not a real American because I support the “Ability-to-pay” model of taxation.
I’m apparently not a real American because I don’t believe the free market is always right, and sometimes the government has to step in and create demand to fix it. This reminds me of my favorite joke:
Q: How many libertarians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None. The free market will take care of it.
That pisses me off. Why don’t my opinions matter as much as this lady?
Photo courtesy of marisseay on FlickR. Check them out for more teabag goodness.
This is that psychotic teabagger conservative logic that just baffles me. I’m insulted.
I know that real Tea Party members (I’m talking Ron Paul, not this bullshit populist “THANK GOD FOR FOX NEWS” crap) honestly believe in free-market principles and strong local governments, but I’d like to remind them that normally, the free market SUCKS BALLS. My favorite example from that last link is as follows:
The Exploding Ford Pinto: Ford knew for years that it would cost only $11 per Pinto to correct defective gas tanks that exploded upon impact. The company decided it was cheaper to let its customers burn and pay out damages to victims or their families instead.
That’s looking out for individual liberties, eh?
Posting this here because I deleted it from my PAGES on my website.
I’m borrowing a concept from Bill Maher, but the two are very different. I don’t claim to have ownership of the concept, but these will be posted here when I update either my Twitter or Facebook status.
Most of these “new rules” are going to be about customers at Walgreens, people in Lynchburg, VA or people I know. I won’t ever give any names, so if a new rule will apply to you, and you think I’m making it because of you, just accept it as my own view.
I don’t promise these on any kind of frequency — just as my life permits.
Used SCIgen to create “Byzantine Fault Tolerance Considered Harmful.”
Googled that title and found this SCIgen article: http://bit.ly/1VhBNI
Yeah, just a quick post here. No politics, no religion. I just want to say that I think Conan is getting shafted by the NBC executives. That said, Leno probably is, too.
