Mmmmm Gingerbread

So I decided that it was time to wipe my phone and start from scratch (again).  It was running horribly slow and to even make a call I had to wait for the home screen to load.  While I was making this decision I started looking through the Rom Manager app (available in Android Market) and came across ChevyNo1's new Gingerbread build.

I did a double backup of my current setup (all possible since I have a rooted phone) so I had nothing to lose.  If it messed up I just have to boot the phone into recovery mode and reload my backup.  It downloaded and installed flawlessly.  I did the initial Google login setup and let it load for a half hour or so when it was done.  I noticed it was getting pretty warm, then I saw there was an icon in the notification bar.   I checked it out and it had said that it had reloaded my 60 apps.  That was pretty sweet.

With the fresh OS installed the phone works amazingly fast and looks even better.  It has a Black theme, which means they got rid of the ugly grey bar that I hate so much, plus the menus and icons are all redesigned too.  Visually it has a few cool scrolling and opening/closing effects, and my favorite effect is when you turn off the screen, or let it time out it looks like an old TV powering off.

I am not going to go into great detail, I just wanted to share that it has been a good experience so far.  I think I'll keep it until something better comes out.  I had actually held onto the last one for a few months, probably the longest running version for my phone since I got it a year and a half ago...

Second Life - My thoughts

So I decided to (finally) try out this whole Second Life thing. I was watching some reruns of The Office and there is an episode where Dwight has a Second Life and it is exactly like his normal life, except he can fly... So I signed up (free) and created a character that looks nothing like me (out of the 10 or so preset characters you can pick from) and installed the game.

The download was quick, and the 2nd download during install was pretty quick too.  A very easy process. I did get an error that my video card wasn't recognized, so we'll have to see how that goes.  It logged me in, made me accept the terms and conditions.  Went through download part 3 and BAM there I was.

I was immediately invited to the Zombie Attack group because I was referred from their website.  Lots of Zombie attacks and my first in-game impression isn't good.  This is like a horrible zombie game.  I then went into the Destination Guide and and teleported myself to a random place.  This time the Grand Canyon. Even after changing the graphic settings every which way, it doesn't look all that good.  Plus that graphics card error seems to be an issue in that the screen flickers or goes blank.

I guess I'll uninstall and maybe try something else... Any suggestions?

Craigslist Scammers

Out of nowhere today I got a handful of emails in regards to my items for sale on Craigslist.  I was excited about it, so I started to reply.  Then I noticed a pattern with the emails. One was simply "We like it", then next was "Interested" and the third was also "Interested".  Plus, they had typed something very similar to "still have your stuff?" in the subject line. I knew it didn't look right so I decided to investigate. 

Fortunately, since I am a Gmail user there is a little downward pointing arrow to the top right of the message. (as seen in the below picture.)  Actually every email provider should have the same type of option, I just like Gmail the best.

Clicking this link gives you a list of options for the email. One of these options is called "Show Original".  What this does is opens up a new window and gives you the text details of the message. What their servers see the email like.  All of the data that you don't normally need to see.  The email program (or website) take this raw information and turn it into a presentable email message.

Once this page is loaded it looks like the below image.  What you are seeing here is actually the very bottom of the message, Starting (at the bottom and working up) with the message itself and the senders information. I pointed out the main piece of information that I was looking for, which is an IP Address.

So at this point we have an IP address.  What good is that?  It actually isn't the IP Address of the person who sent the email.  It is the IP Address of the internet provider from where the email was sent.  What makes this a little (or sometimes a lot) inaccurate is that it is possible with some email addresses using the web client it could show the IP address as the address of the email provider.  What I ended up finding with these few emails was a little bit more. I went to the website: http://www.ipaddressreport.com/ and clicked on "Find hostname of this IP Address".  It is a website that gives you some public information about an IP Address.

And there you have it.  Saudi Arabia.  I ran the other IP Adresses and got Thailand and United Arab Emirates.  Blatantly not local. I decided not to reply to the emails and just let it be.  I just don't want them to get my actual email address, when all they have now is the anonymous Craigslist email.

So hopefully this will help at least one person from being scammed when selling stuff online.