The Raspberry Pi - HTPC with XBMC

Yesterday i took delivery of a Raspberry Pi Model B, for those of you that dont know, The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools.

I bought mine from Element14 as a development computer and also to see how cheap i could build a working HTPC/Media player replacement i currently have a Apple TV and a Windows PC plugged into my 3D tv in the living room, this currently takes up space and power, as i am trying to reduce my power bills and save money i thought that i would try to bring down the power consumption by trying out the Raspberry Pi.

So what do you need to get up and running.

1x Raspberry Pi
1x Micro Usb cable or a 5v power pack with micro usb end 
1x SDHC or Micro SD card with full size adaptor
1x HDMI or RCA cable to connect to a TV or monitor
1x Usb keyboard and mouse or media center remote
1x Raspberry Pi Distro

I had a quick read on the Raspberry Pi website and the quick start guide and chose my OS as i mainly wanted this to be used for media, So i chose Raspbmc which is based on Debian and XBMC created by Sam Nazarko, this is a very clean and fast distro and is relativly easy to install, this is still in prodcution and there are nightly builds available at the moment until the final version is released.

Installation Via Windows

Its very easy to install just download the Windows installer from here, its compatiable with wondows 2000 upto windows 7, download it and extract the files to a folder on your computer.

Open up the folder and double click on the Installer.exe, you will be presented with an error message, just telling you that the Utility erases all data on your device that is selected and by using the tool you accept that Raspbmc takes no responsability for data loss. Click on the OK button and the program will load.

When it has loaded it will look like the image below 

Select your SD card then click on the Install button ( you do require and active internet connection for this as it needs to download content from the raspbmc website) when this has done you will be prompted to finish the installation on the Raspberry Pi itself and you also require and wired LAN connection with internet access to finish off the install wireless will not work for this.

Once you have the Raspberry Pi plugged in and turned on it will start the install, this takes between 20 - 45 mins depending on your speed of your broadband connection, best bet it to go and grab a coffee or a beer and leaving it to install.

Once the installer has finished it will auto boot straight into XBMC itself, this is the basic installation finished, you can now power it down and take it back to the tv unless you are using the Pi where you have LAN access, i had to go into my office whnere my router was to get my LAN/Internet connection.

XBMC itself starts up and is functional and plays media that i have put on the memory card itself, and it will play media over the network from my NAS but only with the LAN connection which i dont have where my TV is only in the office, you can however play media from any USB source you might have so a portable hard drive or a portable desktop hard drive with a power source.

If you are wanting to use a usb wireless adaptor then you will need to find one that is compatiable with debian which there are lots to choose from, i am personally using the wireless card that i had plugged into the HTPC ( Linksys AE1000 ) so there was no extra cost, i need to install the drivers and create the conf file for my wireless encryption settings then it will connect automatically which i will have to find on the internet first.

You can also go into the settings to install new apps and sources into your raspbmc installation but more so you can update the verion of raspbmc right from the menu itself as mentioned there are currently nightly builds being written so if you want to keep on top of the releases or just to try out the new features that are implemented then you can get them from here, this is also good if your installation goes a bit weird with the new changes you can simply just roll back to the last known working release and wait until the new release has been fixed.

In my next update i will be adding my wireless drivers and settings so that i can use the unit on my wireless network and also adding some extra add-ons like the ability to use your iPhone as a remote and extra apps like YouTube, AirPlay and uTorrent.

5 ways to avoid data overuse on 4G LTE

Now that the iPhone 5 has been released there will be lots and lots of people that will be going over their data on their plans, to avoid this the ACMA have released a post, Five ways to avoid data overuse and bill shock from new 4G LTE phones

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has released an easy-to-use infographic, showing five ways to avoid overuse and bill shock, when using a phone on a high speed 4G/LTE mobile network.

Overseas research suggests users of high-speed 4G/LTE networks could use more data than they’re used to and may experience bill shock as a result.

If you follow the tips in the above picture you will be fine and not go over your plan and costing yourself heaps of extra $$$ on you next bill.

Google TV hits Australian shores

Google TV is finally available to buy in  Australia. After much bundling and exclusive product periods, the Google TV from Sony is now available to purchase, How much is it and where can you get it?

The Google TV from Sony is available on the Sony Website and also at Sony Centers for $299. From the 1st October, you will be able to purchase it from Harvey Norman and other associated retailers which should also be $299.

The unit boasts the ability to turn any TV into a smart TV. It certainly does that, but for $299 what exactly do you get for your money and will it be a competitor to the Apple TV, being 3 times the price.

In the USA there are lots of features to use like Netflix, Hulu and HBO Go, but as the latter two are american only services these wont be available to us here in Australia, we will be getting Chrome, YouTube, Google Play and Sony's Entertainment Network, we can also add ABC and Quickflix but these have to be installed manually they do not come pre-installed.

If you dont own an Amplifier then you are going to be a little disappointed as this means that you cant plug the Google TV unit into your set-top box for an integrated experience, you have to plug it directly into another HDMI port to use.

I personally cant see this doing very well on the market even for the android lovers there simply isnt enough content for it to survive, especially when you can pick up an Apple TV for $99 and have all the online streaming capabilities of the Apple Store and also if Jailbroken can unleash a whole new world of media at your fingertips.

What's in the box

It comes with 8GB worth of internal storage and plays most of the formats you could ask for, including .mkv, .avi, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4, .flv and .mov. It’s got two USB inputs, an optical audio output, Bluetooth, ethernet port, Wi-Fi and one HDMI input.

It’s controlled by a double-sided remote that connects via Bluetooth and features both a full, backlit QWERTY keyboard and a multi-touch trackpad. The remote can also act as a controller for your other home entertainment devices thanks to an IR blaster built into the set-top box.

Telstra 4G LTE Speed Tests

I have had my iPhone 5 all of 2 days and already I'm cranking out the speed tests, the coverage of the Telstra 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network is already in all major cities accross Australia and all major airports.

I'm in Townsville and although the covereage does not quite reach my house, I can get 1 bar sometimes depending where I am in the house.

I have conducted a number of speed tests to show how well the network is working and also what I think can be expected in the future for this network.

Distance from CBD	Download Speed	Upload Speed	Latency (Ping)	Server	Signal Strength
0 KM	16645	20499	69	Brisbane	Full 5 Bar
0 KM	25312	18794	68	Brisbane	Full 5 Bar
0 KM	15070	19954	69	Brisbane	Full 5 Bar
1 KM	16600	22990	64	Brisbane	4 Bar
1 KM	15131	16307	68	Brisbane	4 Bar
1 KM	25846	20216	69	Brisbane	4 Bar
1 KM	16726	10523	64	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	26970	20413	69	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	28679	16720	68	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	22651	13477	61	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	26449	17927	69	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	27467	23767	68	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	16276	6287	68	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	25985	11853	69	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	25091	5787	69	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	28544	17754	69	Brisbane	3 Bar
1 KM	12411	31140	49	Brisbane	3 Bar
2 KM	15672	12928	49	Brisbane	2 Bar
2 KM	11764	12977	48	Brisbane	2 Bar
3 KM	9504	5620	49	Brisbane	2 Bar
3 KM	6213	2843	49	Brisbane	2 Bar
4 KM	23850	4339	47	Brisbane	3 Bar
4 KM	9494	1525	88	Brisbane	2 Bar

Speeds above shown in *KBPS

So we can see from the results that the speeds vary from the high 20's to the low teens in the actual city itself, and also some high and low results away from the city this was in a shopping center though which I think may have a antenna on the roof. From what I can tell though I get the best speed results when I only have 3 bars of reception which is very strange to me as you would expect to see the best results with the highest amount of reception.

Some tests were also taken whilst I was walking in the street which will have also affected the results but not in the way that I expected, as i was going into an area with more reception, very confusing. I have checked the Telstra 4G Coverage Map Here and I should be getting a good amount of speed from where I am situated but still only getting approx half of what I could be, and it appears that the majority of the coverage is out at sea ??? This will more than likely be for the residents of Magnetic Island but even so its still wierd that I would get better coverage on a boat out at sea than on land.

So what can we expect of the 4G LTE Network in the future? Well just as the 3G network started out really fast in comparison, the 4G LTE network will do the same as more and more people jump on the band wagon and get Mobile Broadband Sticks and 4G LTE capable phones. The network will slow down considerably so the results above whilst seem pretty fast now in 6 - 12 months will more than likely be a lot slower especially on the upload side of things anyway.

So in summary so far I am pretty impressed with the netowrk and the speed of surfing and downloading apps. Lets just hope that the speeds keep up and also that the coverage gets better outside of the city, currently the plans are pretty expensive for the data that you get on the Telstra network but as more and more people conenct up the cost will hopefully reduce and more data will be made available on the network.

How to Turn Off iPhone 5 4G LTE

If like me you can only get the 4G LTE reception when you are in the city or you are just on the outskirts of the 4G LTE zone then you will notice that your phone is constantly flipping between 3G and 4G LTE thus using lots of battery.

To Disable / Re-enable 4G LTE on your iPhone 5 simply follow the instructions below.

Tap on Settings

Go to General

The tap onto Mobile Data or Cellular Depending where you are in the world.

Then simpy move the "Enable LTE" slider to either on or off.

Turn on Battery Percent on iPhone

I have been asked a few itmes how to get the battery % symbol next to the battery display on your iPhone, this is quite simple to do and can be done in 4 easy steps please follow the instructions below.

• Tap “Settings”
• Then “General”
• Tap “Usage” and you’ll see the screen with information on the iPhone usage since last charge, including standby time, call time and data usage. You don’t need that now and you should…
• Turn on the toggle for “Battery Percentage”

Thats it you will now see percent symbol next to the battery in the top right corner.

Scam Alert !!! Scam Alert !!!

So today i received a phone call form a so called IT Support Company called Quantum PC Support  www.quantumpcsupport.com, they called me from an unknown number and we very quick to tell me that my computer was sending them many many errors, shock horror!!!!.

I played along with them as to see what info they were trying to get from me, they even put on a Australian accent to make it sound so much more real, so she had me venture into my computer into computer management, then to Event Viewer > Windows Logs > Application, which looks like the image below.

Now there will be errors in there 100% and they will try telling you that your computer is sending them these errors, these errors happen on every single computer and they are nothing to worry about 99% of the time, and they are definatley not being sent out to anyone over the internet (NOT EVEN TO MICROSOFT unless you press that send error report button when you  get an error on your screen).

They may even try telling you that they are from Microsoft, but Microsoft will never ring you for such reasons ever.

She didnt like it when i told her what my job was and that i knew that she was lying to try and get money out of me, she very abruptly put the phone down.

What they are ultimately after is you to buy their fake antivirus software from them and once they have your credit card details they can pretty much rob your bank.

This company has even gone as far as getting fake twitter and facebook accounts to fool you into thinking that they are a legitimate business, here in Australia all business's are required to have a ABN (Australian Business Number) for GST purposes of which this company does not.

So Remember if  you get any calls saying that your computer is sending out error messages to them, then it is 100% fake and they are just trying to scam you.

If you have had any of these phone calls please let us know and ill add them to my list of dodgy companies that are doing these scams.

This company is not just operating in Australian but also the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand and Ireland. what makes it even more laughable is some of the spelling on their website and the fact that there is a banner at the top of the homepage saying that the will never just call you un-announced trying to sell you something !!!!

iPhone 5 Official Release

So As i mentioned yesterday the new iPhone 5 will be available on the 21st of September for us here in the land of OZ and most of Asia , the UK and of course the USA.




Below is an Excerpt from the Apple website confirming all of the new features and ecaxtly what to expect from the new iPhone.




Apple® today announced iPhone® 5, the thinnest and lightest iPhone ever, completely redesigned to feature a stunning new 4-inch Retina™ display; an Apple-designed A6 chip for blazing fast performance; and ultrafast wireless technology*—all while delivering even better battery life.** iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new features including: the all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography and turn-by-turn navigation; Facebook integration; Passbook® organization; and even more Siri® features and languages.


iPhone 5 is the thinnest smartphone in the world, with an all-new 7.6 mm anodized aluminum body that is 18 percent thinner and 20 percent lighter than iPhone 4S. Designed with an unprecedented level of precision, iPhone 5 combines an anodized aluminum body with diamond cut chamfered edges and glass inlays for a truly incredible fit and finish.


The new 4-inch Retina display on iPhone 5 delivers even more pixels than iPhone 4S, making the already incredible Retina display even better. By making the screen taller, not wider, iPhone 5 is just as easy to use with one hand so you can tap, type and scroll the same way you always have, while enjoying even more of your content including amazing apps optimized for the larger Retina display, widescreen HD video, a full five days of your Calendar and more of every web page.

iPhone 5 comes with iOS 6, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system with over 200 new user features including: an all new Maps app with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation and an amazing new Flyover™ view; Facebook integration for Contacts and Calendar, with the ability to post directly from Notification Center; Passbook, the simplest way to get all your passes in one place; new Siri features, including support for more languages, easy access to sports scores, restaurant recommendations and movie listings;***** Siri and Facebook-enabled apps like Photos, Safari® and Maps; and Shared Photo Streams via iCloud®.
While most of us will have to wait for our contracts to be up for renewal before we get our hands on the new iPhone 5, im sure that there will still be quite a lot of purchase's out of contract and lots of Iphone 4s on ebay very soon.

So there is a new resolution screen (what does this mean for our apps) most of the apps on the App Store will already be updated to accomodate the new screen resolution and for those that havent been already updated there will be a black border around the app to fill the gap.

Will i be getting a new iPhone 5, probably not unless i can get enough money to buy one outright as ive still got a way to go on my current contract, although i would love to have one in my hand come the 21st september, im thinking that just like the iPhone 4s there is going to be some teething issues so its always better to wait for a few months and let the dust settle.
But will will just have to wait and see....

iPhone 5 Announced

So It was announced today that the iPhone 5 will hit the market on the 21st September 2012, many of us Australians want to know will it work with the 4G LTE network over here, whilst there hasn't been any mention of this on the Telstra website, it looks pretty likely that it will be, if like me your on a 24 month plan and you got the Iphone 4s then you will have at least another 12 months to wait (SIGH) lol, Although this is not a bad thing as it will no doubt have issues when it first comes out.

So what can we expect from the new iPhone 5
Below is a list of known features

Bigger Screen - 4 Inch Diagonal Screen
New Mini Dock Connector
New Charging Cable to go with the new dock connector
More Ram - 1GB of ram apposed to the 512MB in the 4s
Newer Processor - The new Apple A6 processor
NANO Sim
Slimmer Design
Slightly Taller to accomodate the bigger screen
IOS 6

New Charging / Data Cable

New Charging Dock and also looks slightly longer

Check back for more info as soon as i get it, this release is expected again to make apple lots of money and more apple fans but we will have to wait and find out.

Add Gmail and Google Apps Email to your phone

Google is a great way of using email since it is free, google apps is the enteprise edition of Gmail, i have noticed that if you use the standard gmail option on the Iphone when adding your email to your phone that it does not allow the syncíng of contacts, if you follow the steps below you can sync all of your contacts to your phone if they reside on the google apps servers.

1. Open the Settings application on the iPhone's home screen.
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
3. Tap Add Account....
4. Select Microsoft Exchange.
5. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail address.
6. Leave the Domain field blank.
7. Enter your full Google Apps email address as the Username.
8. Enter your Google Apps password as the Password.
9. Tap Next at the top of your screen. (Choose Cancel if the Unable to Verify Certificate dialog appears.)
10. When the new Server field appears, enter m.google.com.
11. Press Next at the top of your screen again.
12. Select the Google Apps services (Mail, Calendar, and Contacts) you want to sync.
13. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhone option when prompted. This will also allow you to keep syncing with your computer via iTunes.
14. To sync only the My Contacts group, you must choose to Delete Existing Contacts during the Google Sync install when prompted. If you choose to keep existing contacts, it will sync the contents of the "All Contacts" group instead. If there are no contacts on your phone, the latter will happen -- the contents of your All Contacts group will be synced.

That's it! You can now access Google Apps from your iPhone. If you have Push enabled on the phone, synchronization starts automatically. You can also just open the Mail, Calendar or Contacts app and wait a few seconds to start a sync.