The first thing you need is your Vonage web account information. Once you have it, enter the following into your web browser, making sure to replace the parts in bold with your account information.

https://im-config.vonagenetworks.net/config?&login=USERNAME&password=PASSWORD&type=1003

You’ll end up with a page full of mostly useless information. however, you want to copy down the following entries as they relate to your account:

ProxyUserName=username
ProxyUserPassword=FAB16g93E7a
ProxyDomain=a.vonim.com
ProxyPort=10000

Now that you’ve got the secret information, you have two choices depending on whether your iPhone is jailbroken or not.

1) If your phone is NOT jailbroken, go the the App Store and grab the free FRING application. Once you’ve set your free Fring account up , go to More then Add-ons
Select SIP, then Other

Fill out the fields as follows:
User ID = ProxyUserName
Password = ProxyUserPassword
Proxy = ProxyDomain:ProxyPort

(mine was a.vonim.com:10000)

Now save those settings and try making a SIP call. you’ll notice that your calls appear to come from your Vonage line. Neat!

2) If you phone is Jailbroken, get on Cydia and install the free SIPHON aaplication. Install it, then go to your iPhones settings menu and open up the settings for Siphon. Enter your username and passsword that you got from the webhack above. For server, enter the Proxydomain:Proxyport.  (mine was a.vonim.com:10000) There’s all sorts of other settings you can make if you’re a real SIP guru.  Close the settings, fire up Siphon and start dialing.

Be sure whenever using either softphone to include the area code when dialing.

In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected. Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces. Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

DNS (Domain Name System)  – is a method by which the URL’s you type into your browser are translated into the actual Internet IP-addresses fo the appropriate servers. Its by using these unique addresses that information gets routed properly around the Internet. A common comparison is your postal address: You can think of the URL’s as your NAME and the IP address as your street and house number.  Your mail won’t reach you without the address. So for every Domain name out there, a unique Ip address exists. When you make a request in your web browser for a particular website, it queries its DNS provider for the correct IP address and then takes you there. By default you’re probably using your ISP’s DNS servers to provide this functionality for you.

You can create a free account and then set your router or home your home PC’s individually to use OpenDNS’ servers instead of your ISPs. OpenDNS categorizes domain names and URL’s into all kinds of useful collections which you can then choose to allow or deny access to from your network.  OpenDNS grabs your DNS “queries” and, for categories which you’ve chosen to block , it inserts its OWN ip addresses in the return, rather than the actual destination. For example, you can choose to block adult content.  When you type in “www.playboy.com” in your browser, your computer queries OpenDNS for the correct IP address. OpenDNS, sees that you’ve chosen to block this site, and instead of returning  216.163.137.3 (the acutal playboy.com address), it returns with an address owned by OpenDNS. So when your browser goes to this new address, you’re greeted with a nice blocked message that looks something like this:

By intercepting these addresses, OpenDNS has the ability to block all sorts of malicious or unwanted content, and notify you if it detects you trying to access it.  For instance, they can currently detect if you’re infected with the conficker worm.

They also offer all kinds of great statistics about your network’s usage. You can customize the block messages and looks as well.  For the price, OpenDNS can’t be beat.

There are instructions on the OpenDNS website for configuring both home routers and individual computers. For more info click here.

According to Trend Micro’s summary:

Two things can be summed up from the events that transpired:

1. As expected, the P2P communications of the Downad/Conficker botnet may have just been used to serve an update, and not via HTTP. The Conficker/Downad P2P communications is now running in full swing!
2. Conficker-Waledac connection? Possible, but we still have to dig deeper into this…

Here’s a link to more information from Trend Micro

Here’s a link to the conficker “eye test” – it’ll let you know if your machine is infected or not.

http://www.talkbiz.com/confickertest/

In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected.  Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces.  Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

Installing XBMC Sirius Script

You’ll need an original Xbox running Xbox Media Center for this. I haven’t tested this on any other XBMC platforms.

• Download the python script here:
• In the Sirius folder, edit RunSirius.py. Look for this snippet of code and enter your Sirius username and password in quotes:

# SET ME!  SET ME!  SET ME!
USERNAME = “USERNAME”
PASSWORD = “PASSWORD”

Save the file.

• If you’ve got Xbox Media Center running on your modded Xbox, I assume you already know how to initiate an FTP connection to your Xbox.  Go ahead and connect and upload the entire Sirius directory to your SCRIPTS directory. On my Xbox this is on the Q: drive.
• Back in the XBMC gui, navigate to Scripts, and run the RunSirius.py script. If you like you can rename this file later to default.py, and then when you click on the Sirius Folder it will run automatically.
• If all goes well, you should be greeted by a list of categories. Work your way through the menu and click on the station you want to stream. You should see the media player kick in and give you a message about caching the content.  Then your sweet digital music should begin to play.

A few notes:

1. You can pay a few Sirius a few bucks more a month and increase your bitrate to 128 mb/s, which sounds as good as the satellite receiver.  Supposedly they are changing this pricing structure in the near future, so its possible this script may break.
2. If the caching is taking too long before your tunes start playing, go into your XBMC center settings and decrease the cache size for “Unknown type Cache – Internet”. You can drop this down to 256K or whatever figure works best for you.
3. Since it’s caching audio and the song title lookup is live, often it will display the next song’s title

Installing SiriusWM5 on Windows Mobile

• Install TCPMP for for your device. Here’s a link to smartphone edition for Windows Mobile 6.1. This works on the BlackJackII. Download the file, transfer it over to your device via ActiveSync.  In file explorer on your mobile device, click on the cab file to install it.
• Download the wmv9 codecs for TCPMP here
• Unzip the files and place both .DLLs and copy them to your /WINDOWS folder on your mobile device via ActiveSync.
• Download and install via ActiveSync SiriusWm5 cab file here
• Open SiriusWM5 on your Windows Mobile Device
• Go to File > Settings.
• Enter your Sirius Account information. Check USE TCPMP and, if its installed to your memory card, choose “TCPMP on MemCard”. Additionally, if you’ve anted up for higher quality stream, select “CD Quality Stream”. (CD Quality works great over Wifi or 3G, but will probably fail on Edge or lower). Save your settings.
• Choose your station, and click Connect. You should be prompted to enter some CAPTCHA info, then TCPMP should start playing your stream.

note: Song Titles won’t display.

1) LOGMEIN - This takes a little pre-planning. To start, go to their website and create yourself a free account. Next time you’re over at your friends’ or relateives’ house, connect to the logmein website and load up the remote access software on their computer.  Make sure you let them know you’re doing this so they dont’ freak out when they see an unexpected icon.   Next time they have a problem, as long as they have internet connectivity, you simply log in the the logmein website from your home. Their PC will show up in a list of managed computers.  Choose their computer, put in teh appropriate credentials and Voila! you’re controlling their desktop. Depending on their issues and network speeds, it can be a bit clunky. It still beats getting in the car and schlepping over there every time Grandma can’t print.

2) ShowMyPC – this is good for those spontaneous calls from the unexpected friend or relative whom you haven’t already set up on your list of LogMeIn client computers.  When you get the dreaded call from your buddy, and he still has Internet connectivity, have him browse to www.showmypc.com.  From there, he can click on the SHOW MY PC to REMOTE USER link.  A small bit of software is downloaded. Have him run it. It will create a secure outbound connection thereby poking through his firewall to one of showmypc’s SSH servers, where you’ll meet up with him.  Once he opens the software, and  chooses SHOW MY PC NOW, a unique access code will be created.  On your end, you fire up the same tool from their website, however, you choose VIEW REMOTE PC.  Have your friend read you his  code over the phone. Type it in on your end, and a secure VNC session is created for you to remote control his desktop.

Both of the above apps have paid versions which offer all kinds of other nifty features like file transfers, custom logos, etc., For the most part, however, the freebies should work fine.

One other tip – Make an image of your relative’s hard drive once you get it in working order.  Next time they have a problem, get their files off, roll that image back on, and you’re good to go. Saves alot of time troubleshooting mysterious slowdowns. Here’s a link back to some info about Cloning your hard drive for free.

“It lists thousands of kosher restaurants and includes the Book of Psalms, the three daily prayer services, the Traveler’s Prayer, a Hebrew calendar, and two versions of Grace After Meals.” Apparently GPS and Cell Phones are OK as long as there’s none of that dirty internet on them. Nice idea.

I wonder if it shuts down automatically on Friday night? Here are some other features I heard they are including:

1) Default voice of Jackie Mason
2) Yells at you in “Mother-In-Law Voice” when you miss your turn.
3) POI are all Doctor’s offices, mostly podiatrists and urologists

4) Special mode that guides by landmarks: “Make a right when you get to the hospital where Uncle Mort had his goiter removed…”

5) Speed Warnings over 25 MPH: “Oy Vey! You’re going too fast! You’re driving like a meshuginah”
6) Media Player preloaded with Yentl, the Jazz Singer, and Fiddler on the Roof
7) Routes you half-way through every trip to visit your Grandmother
8 ) Warns you when powering up that you look a little thin. “Have you been eating enough? Maybe you should have a nosh before you leave.”
9) Unfortunately, maps are only available for Boca Raton and the lower East Side of New York
10) Hot key to call your Grandson for help using the damn thing

Windows Mobile 6.5 Running on HTC from Jesus Diaz on Vimeo.

Here’s what the home screen looks like on the BlackJack II.

<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-US&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:32399c2b-866b-4dc3-868e-f18de0efd390&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" target="_new" title="Demo: Windows Mobile 6.1 Home Screen">Video: Demo: Windows Mobile 6.1 Home Screen</a>

WinDirStat

Here are three FREE tools you can use- one for each OS- Windows, OSX and Linux. They are all fairly similar.

WindirStat (Windows) – Great graphical disk analysis tool. Lots of custom settings like # of threads, color coding, etc.,This program is fast. Its good for running against a shared directory to see who’s taking up all the disk space.

Disk Inventory X (OSX) – The author says that this was written to be like WindirStat, so its basically the same thing. Although it doens’t seem quite as feature rich. Gets the job done on a Mac.

Disk Inventory X

KDirstat (Linux) – Supposedly, Windirstat is a clone of this bit of software. Although it’s a KDE program it will run in any X11 environment.

KDirStat

All three of these programs can help recover disk space, and keep that old hard dirve from filling up quite as fast.