You are partitioning your hard disk when you are dividing it into several areas called partitions. So when you partition a 160 GB hard disk into two equal partitions or areas, you would now have 2 disk drives each with 80GB hard disk space. You can then assign two separate drive letters for each (such as C: and D: drive letters)

Normally we partition hard disks before installing an operating system such as Windows. However, when we need to partition our hard disk when an operating system is already installed, we can easily do so by using the free Easus Partition Master Home Edition.

With the Easus Partition Master Home Edition made by Easus, you can easily

1. Create a new partition from your free space.
2. Delete an already existing partition
3. Resize/Move an already existing partition
4. and even format the partition to a file system you want (i.e. FAT32, NTFS, HFS, etc.)

What’s really great about the Easus Partition Master Home Edition is that you can create a new partition from the free space of your already formatted hard disk. This comes very handy to those people whose computers are predefined with only one partition in their hard disks. Easus Partition Master would create the new partition using the free space of your source partition without harming the files in it.

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1. Web Folders / Web disk / WebDAV problems on Windows 7

The introduction of Skype to the iPhone has brought the services of Skype into the Apple mobile world. Skype offers the same services to the iPhone version which is free Skype to Skype calls, free instant messaging to Skype members, and cheap rates to call landline and mobile phones. You can get it here.

The services of Skype are also available in our Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, and Motorola mobile phones using Skype Lite.

Skype Lite is a JAVA application made by Skype itself and is available to a variety of phones.

There are two ways to download Skype Lite. You can download it directly to your mobile by using your network provider’s data services (which would cost you) or Wi-Fi (which is free if your phone supports it and you’re in a Wi-Fi hotspot). You can also download the installer through your computer (which is available at the official webpage of Skype Lite)and transfer it to your mobile phone.

If your phone can open JAVA enabled applications then you can still install Skype Lite even if your phone is not in the list of supported handsets. I used the Sony Ericsson G900 installer for the Sony Ericsson P1i (which is currently not listed in the supported handsets) and it worked. Actually the screenshots shown here is on a Sony Ericsson P1i.

How to Use Skype Lite for Free

Skype Lite like the Skype made for the iPhone and computer, needs to have an internet connection. For your Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, and Motorola mobile phone to access or use Skype for free, it would need to be connected through Wi-Fi and not through the regular data service by your network provider.

If your network provider’s regular data service is used, it may result to your network provider charging you for it.

Skype Lite Disadvantages

1. Unlike the Skype which is available for the iPhone, Skype Lite does not offer free Skype to Skype calls. This is a VERY HUGE disadvantage.

2. You also can’t receive Skype calls for free. You would need to buy Skype credit just to receive calls!

Add in to the fact that if your phone does not support Wi-Fi, and you would like to receive calls, then your in for multiple charging. Skype would charge you using Skype Credits, and then your network provider would charge you for the data service.

Chat or Instant Messaging using Skype Lite

Skype Lite however can be used for free chatting or instant messaging of your Skype contacts using a Wi-Fi connection. It notifies you whenever you have a new message and there is no delay in receiving or sending messages.

I hope Skype revises Skype Lite so that it is more like the iPhone application so that our Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, and Motorola mobile phones are able to make free Skype to Skype calls. In the meantime, you can still enjoy free instant messaging using Skype Lite and your phone’s Wi-Fi connection (if your phone supports it).

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1. Convert Movies and Videos for your Samsung Omnia

We all know that the MS Pro Duo is quite expensive compared to the other memory cards in the market. This is the reason why many are making fake memory sticks and selling them cheap. These fake memory sticks have several disadvantages that I really don’t recommend using them.

A cheap alternative has come out to the market – the PhotoFast CR-5400. It is an MS Pro Duo adaptor which has two slots for Micro SD where you can put in two memory cards at the same time.

Micro SD cards are a lot cheaper than the proprietary MS Pro Duo memory stick. The small capacity Micro SD cards are even cheaper. With the PhotoFast CR-5400, you will surely save as you can combine small capacity Micro SD to have a big capacity MS Pro Duo.

The product is advertised in http://www.photofast-adapter.com/ as being able to handle two 16GB Micro SD cards to combine for 32GB of memory. It is a product of Rejoy.se and can currently be bought there. There are several sellers however in online stores such as Ebay which sell it for a cheaper price.

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Aside from the noticeable new logo, the subscribe and email update buttons are now at the top so you would have an easier time to subscribe to updates on new articles from this site.

The sidebar now includes a live traffic widget which turns on for a few seconds whenever you go to this site. The most popular posts, the most recent posts, and the most active topics are now shown in tabs format.

If you look at the bottom of the posts or articles, you would notice the improved comments section, article promotion section, and related posts section. I hope this encourages you to comment, promote, and read more of the articles here.

I have also put up new pages which are: (1) About TechieChips and Disclaimer, (2) Disclosure Policy and Privacy Policy. Please also take the time to read them.

This site is best viewed using Firefox, but it is also compatible to Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 6, and Internet Explorer 7.

I spent my whole Christmas vacation to do this and tomorrow is the start of my day job but I will still do minor changes to the design of this site. If you have any reactions or comments on the new design, please do write it at the comment section below.

Cheers!

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My uncle briefly went to Germany for business matters. Unfortunately his mobile phone which he brought there got broken because he dropped it 2 stories high. (He said someone bumped him while he was using it) He was then forced to buy a new phone and told one of his personnel to go to the nearest store and buy him a Nokia N95 and if possible the 8GB one.

He returned and told him that the Nokia N95 8GB was unavailable but he was able to get a black one and at a cheaper price. Lo and behold he bought this:

Notice how different it really is from the real N95?!

First of all it isn’t even a slider, like the real N95 is. Secondly, look how the keys are positioned. The number 0 is on the far right! Look at the menus, it tried to emulate the real Nokia N95 menu but failed miserably. Wait, it has one feature that the N95 doesn’t have – TouchScreen!

When I looked at the back cover, I saw a 5 Megapixel camera, and a not so Nokia-like appearance again.

When I removed the battery, I saw another set of lies

If you look carefully, the Nokia Sticker is just brashly placed in the back. I think it was taken from a real N95 unit and was attached at the back of the fake Nokia N95. I checked out the IMEI, (I purposely did not show the IMEI in the picture) it was a real IMEI from an N95. I checked the IMEI via the phone using *#06# and it showed me a different IMEI from what was displayed at the back.

So if your out shopping for an N95, don’t worry once you see the unit, you can immediately see the difference. Just be careful if someone is buying the mobile phone for you. He/She might be duped like the personnel of my uncle. Be careful as well when you buy online. They might show a real picture of an N95 but deliver to you a fake Nokia N95 mobile phone. Before buying, check out the reputation of the seller through his past transactions. A price too good to be true should also be avoided.

By the way, my uncle bought a new phone immediately after he saw the unit.

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I recently stumbled upon the pleasefixtheiphone.com and I couldn’t help but vote on their online polls. The website is basically about bringing together all the complaints on the iPhone and iPhone 3G and coming out with a list of what people would like fixed on the iPhone. In shorter terms, people’s wishes for the iPhone are listed there.

As I am writing this article (10/24/2008) the top 3 wishes for the iPhone in pleasefixtheiphone.com are

1. Copy and Paste functionality
2. Syncing the iPhone with iTunes over Wi-Fi
3. Ability to view Flash content in Safari.

Just the previous day, the top wish for the iPhone was “Firefox as a web browser” and “Copy and Paste” was a near second. The third was the ability to view emails in landscape mode by just tilting the iPhone.

“Firefox as a web browser” in the iPhone is now nowhere to be found in the top ten wish list. Maybe because people just want to play Flash in their Safari browsers (which is now in the third spot). Or maybe because many people know that Apple wouldn’t do that. Why would they put a browser other than theirs?

The Top Wish for the iPhone

“Copy and Paste” functionality is clearly a problem in the iPhone. It’s my main concern with the iPhone and many other too as can bee seen from pleasefixtheiphone.com. Why wouldn’t it be? How can a touch screen phone not have a select-copy-paste function? You thought Apple could have done something about that after the first iPhone release. Come iPhone 3G and you still couldn’t copy and paste. What a shame…

Text or SMS forwarding is also one of my concerns for the iPhone – although this could have been solved by the “copy and paste” functionality. If we cant forward text messages at least let us copy and paste it into a new message!

As long as Apple doesn’t fix this, it would remain at least in the top 3.

So what are your complaints or wishes for the iPhone? Don’t forget to write it below (comment section) and indicate it on the pleasefixtheiphone.com site!

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We want, nonetheless, devices that are capable of different functions. In a recent get together I attended in SMX, I was annoyed I had to buy $3 value FM radio. It was used to hear language translations. Not that I am against Jurassic technology, but the thing is that there are gadgets that are more than just FM radios, and those are what I would prefer more. For instance, some cellphones have radio. I have Motorola L6 and it does not have it.

Cellphones are among the products of technology that offer a lot of possibilities. In the market now, mobile phone brands compete with their features. Notable features include the camera, internet browsing, and FM radio. My L6 has them except the latter, hence my annoyance in having to buy a radio. Hence too, my dismay in Motorola.

I wrote this article to voice out the features of Motorola and L6, and my disappointment. For one, I have been wanting to use that phone as modem to access the internet with GPRS speed. The concept is not ideal in that internet surely slower with GPRS. But I wanted to try anyway. I tried many times. I only needed to install the Motorola software that came when I purchased the phone. I failed in all my attempts. It says it was installing the driver in the computer and it reads. I tried connecting the phone via cable and Bluetooth. It says it was installing the driver in the computer. I waited and wasted my time. It was a hardware problem in the end. That Motorola!

Looking back, I thought I bought the mobile phone at a reasonable price, especially that I bought it $40 less than when my colleague bought one just a week earlier. All was to his vexation. What made me more surprised is what I recently saw in a magazine published April of 2005. The L6 cost $400 (20,000 pesos in my country)! That was a few months before I bought my Motorola. What does that mean? Perhaps demand quickly went down. And why would demand decline? I thought people were not satisfied because many other phones do more than being slim. Today, an L6 costs only around $80.

This is not to say the L6 is no good. There certainly are many good features. People are envious on how I can associate a ringtone to each of my contacts. In other models, changing ringing tones are allowed in calls but not in texts. Customizing is more possible with my device than perhaps with Ericsson models or Samsung. Being slim is also a plus. The trend in gadgets today is making devices as tiny as it can get. The L6 is at par. The annoyance may just be too much that I had to write an article. I wanted to use the L6 as modem. I can only want.

With cellphone brand competition so strong today, we have more choices. You are free to choose feature-rich sorts. L6 apparently lacks several features. It doesn’t have radio and it won’t allow using the phone as modem, which I needed. I can only aspire for a better mobile phone. I can only say “that Motorola!”- that (damn) Motorola.

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We talk about optimization when we want the most out of something. For instance, optimizing my palm pda, I use it as dictionary to look up the meaning of the word “optimize”. According to the Webster program in my zire, “optimize” means “to make as perfect, effective, or functional as possible”. A device then is effective, thus optimized, if it works with its full potential, if not more. We can actually speak here of 101% as I believe I am making my eee work more than it potentially is capable.

The desktop of my eeepc currently looks like this:

I beg you to hold your comments for a second. Much as I would be delighted to be called “tech savvy”, I am not. With such a desktop you might be thinking I am a geek, but I apologize I have to burst your bubble. I am an ordinary computer user like you. Rest assured what you will be getting from this article are not the technical details or hacks. I am just a curious individual who has Mr. Google as his buddy. I owe much to googling the net for useful utilities.

The eeepc is just a small laptop, so people mistake it to be incapable of doing things a normal desktop would do. It has only 4 gigs of hard disk space and 512 megs of memory (pertaining to the eeepc 4g). Mine has 4gigs of hard disk space and I had the memory replaced by a 2gig apacer memory module. But still, with such specifications, the device can do only so little. Hence the need to optimize. The effects of the tweaking are certainly more than what I could ask for. Right now I could not possibly entertain the idea of replacing my eee because I am so preoccupied with all its wonders.

I have Windows XP installed in my eee (though it looks like vista, it is XP). I chose windows over Linux simply for convenience. Apart from the expected programs like MS Office, I have in my eee installed and fully functioning “huge” programs. Notable is Adobe Photoshop CS3, which has allowed me to work on numerous photo editing tasks to date (it is something really worth buying).

Installed in my device as well are portable fully-functioning programs. Portable programs have been very common lately. These are programs that you can store in a flash disk and run in any computer. Particularly enticing to portable applications is their size, they are usually small and free. Thus, they are very suited for the shortcomings of the eee. Among the programs I stored in my SD card (my main storage is apparently the SDHC card which has bigger capacity than the solid state drive of the eeepc) are Audacity (music editor), google earth, PDF Viewer, Poker game, and a Portable Flash. 

Programs that comprise the productivity team are Kaspersky (an anti-virus that is worth the penny), Geogebra, a program that allows computation and graphing of Math equations (I am a Math teacher), Firefox 3 (fast and secure web browser) to name a few. To complete the list though, and what sets my device apart from ordinary eee with XP installed, are the small programs/utilities I acquired from forums. Credit goes to the advanced users/programmers that spent time to craft programs that are very useful yet free. Most of these utilities can be seen in my taskbar. For one, there is the eeectl program which lets me see the current temperature of the device. It also allows me to overclock/underclock the CPU (or make it work faster or slower). Though eeepc is advertised to run at 900MH, it is actually underclocked to only 630MH, and eeectl allows me to make the device work at its full potential (with caution of course). Another useful program is the astray+, which allows me to have the common screen sizes (like 800×600 or 1024×768). With this I can play games normally. In fact, I have big games running on my small laptop. (Notable are Warcraft 3, Counter Strike and Porshe Unleashed)

Part of the definition of optimize is “perfection”. Having a beautiful desktop brings us closer to it. Making my user interface beautiful and functional are the programs I put on it. Among them are rocketdock (a launcher that is faster than the object dock), Rainlender that makes my laptop an organizer too, Clock of gljakal.com (a light program which displays transparent analog clock), and just recently, the TinyResMeter which informs me of the actual CPU speed and ram data (so I won’t be ignorant of the apparent condition of my device). These are really small yet effective programs. You might actually be using a sidebar or Google desktop in your pc and you know how they can slow down your device. The 4G version of the eeepc will have difficulty running such programs, so I stick to my equally enticing utilities.

With all these installed, all that is left to do is to configure the startup so that your eee is not slow in loading. Note that I have many other programs that initially run when my computer starts (like the Bluetooth tray, TV tray, etc). You can disable them, and thus run only the useful programs when your eeepc starts. You can do that by hitting run and typing “msconfig”. You will find the startup tab there and you can easily select the programs you want to run on startup.

All the rest are optional tweaking. I particularly like the vista look so I googled for vista msstyles. There are a lot of themes available; it is a matter of careful looking. It is in fact careful looking that will lead your device to being a more functional and close-to-perfect one. Now, isn’t that optimized?

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Now for those who hate math, I would like you to meet Geogebra (merge of geometry and algebra), an application program designed to simplify matters concerning numbers and graphs. They say the best things in life are free. Geogebra is pretty much one of the best things- it is a freeware. You may download the program from this site: http://www.geogebra.org.

The program looks like this:

Looking at it you may have thought it will not be easy to use the program. In this article, I do not intend to teach equations or programming, as you may have also guessed they are needed to make this program work. In just about anything, we want only the best. I thought of extracting perhaps some of the best of this program and that is what I am to lay down for you. Thus, this article is practically for everyone- teachers or students, lovers or haters of math.

This program work much like usual Windows programs do. There is menu bar and toolbars whose purpose can be seen by pointing your mouse over them.

I argue that the key in optimizing this application is working on the slider. The slider is found in one of the toolbars. Selecting it and clicking on the drawing pad (the white area, where the coordinate plane is), a window pops up asking for some values. Upon accomplishing the form, a horizontal segment (or vertical) with a point on it appears. The name you give on it serves as a variable (whose value dynamically changes when you drag the point).

The idea is that whatever math concept you may have failed to imagine or verify, you can clearly see with the use of the slider. The slider, serving as a variable, shows how a certain graph or function behaves as we change the values (or drag the slider). You can make as many sliders (or variables) depending on the need of the function or graph. As an example, we use slider to study the graph of the sine function (one of the trigonometric functions). To graph the sine function, we simply type the function at the bottom of the screen where the “input” is. Pressing enter gives us the graph of the sine function.

We verify this true from our trigonometry class in high school. The graph of the sine function is a wave. What we want to know is how the sine wave behaves if (1) there is a multiplier “a”, (2) there is a divisor “b” in the angle, and (3) if there is an addend “c”. Thus, our function is redfined as “f(x)=a sin(x/b) + c”. We can only wonder how these three variables a, b and c affect the sine wave. With the slider, however, this will be clear. Now, as we have a slider “a” already, all that’s left is to construct two more sliders and redefine the sine function. Redefining the function is done by right clicking the function on the left and seleting “redefine”.

With the sine function redefined, we note that the function is actually moved from the free objects folder on the left to the dependent folder. This is because the graph of the function this time depends on the values the slider have. Our graph is now dynamic.

We can move any of the sliders to see the effect of changing the values of the multiplier/addend to the sine function. For instance, increasing the value of “a” gives the wave more altitude. Hence, the graph is taller. Setting the value of “b” close to zero makes the period shorter, thus the graph repeats right away.

This is something we may have not understood well in our trigonometry class before. With geogebra, it is easy to see and understand the concept. Among the other topics you may want to explore using the slider are: the circle, the line and its slope, the parabola, and so on. They key is the slider. For the line concept, you may create slider for slope and intercept.

I am still new to this program but upon discovering the slider I thought I found the main feature. The slider makes graph dynamic. If students of today are learning through pictures, they will certainly learn more seeing something that moves. This is technology today, providing what we perhaps can only imagine before. This is geogebra, redefining the teaching and learning of mathematics. This is the power of the slider.

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I am a secondary school math teacher and technology has been my buddy in teaching since I acquired some of it. In this article, my objective is to showcase the wonders of the palm pda; how something as small as your wallet can do so much. I use my zire 72 (palm pda) in my math classes. I seldom use it nowadays though with my acquisition of a tiny pc in asus eee. But it still is and remains to be what I fondly refer it to my students: “everything but the ref.”

Acquiring a personal digital assistant (pda) has been my dream since college because I have always been fascinated with technology. I had classmates who had one. Their device though could only do a thing or two, which I verified is not the true potential of pdas. There is more to the zire than a poor camera with some games and ugly organizer. There is a lot more.

As I am an art enthusiast I would like to begin with the user interface. This is the first thing I look for in a device: it has to be beautiful. I am not pertaining merely to the outside. The interface has to look good. Devices have very simple built in interfaces. I am not satisfied with that and so I did something with my palm so as to have the “vista” or “iphony” look I admire. Using zlauncher and some skins you can simply google, you can make your pda look like these: 

Having a good-looking interface means a lot to me because it makes me want to take more care of my device. It makes me enjoy looking at it too, which is an advantage especially if you have tasks that it reminds you of. This brings me to the next important thing your pda must have: the organizer.

Palm pdas have built-in organizers but I find it lacking a lot of things. Also, the interface is not so pleasing. What I will suggest for an organizer for your palm is the Agendus of Iambic. It looks like this:

The good thing about the Agendus is that it combines many organizer-features into only one program which handles them all pretty well. With the Agendus I get to be reminded of my many tasks in school and outdoor meetings with my friends. I also get to keep minutes of our meeting. There is no more forgetting of birthdays and phone numbers. Agendus is also a good way of keeping notes.

I mentioned how I wanted the look of vista in my device. Apparently, it does even more than just “looking like a pc”. My zire is actually a minute pc. Being so, it has a file explorer much like the explorer of windows. There are several programs available but I prefer Resco Explorer for simplicity. Here it is:

We now move on the more exciting part of “the wonder”. My pda, for one, is my mp3 player. I use the program Aeroplayer for my music needs. For my movies (yes, full-length/two-hour movies) I use the Coreplayer. Recently, this program has been updated to play even raw youtube videos (flv files) and that is what I like about it.

Palm is not behind in terms of gaming. There are a lot of games in the palm platform that are visually appealing. To name a few, I have the GTS racing, Bike or die, Warfare Inc. (capable of multiplayer via bluetooth), and ofcourse the ever-time-killer text twist.

Apart from multimedia, what else is the palm capable of? A lot. I use it as my remote controler of home appliances, my guitar/voice tuner, and my music/sound mixer just to name a few.

I mentioned that I am a math teacher. Now what is it that is useable for math? How about the hundred dollar-value graphics calculator? Powerone calculator can be used to graph and compute derivatives and integrals (calculus stuff). Apart from the calculator, among the useful programs for teachers like me and students alike are: the bible, the dictionary (ofcourse, and I prefer the Merriam pocket dictionary), the mini office applications (I use documents to go), the encyclopedia (I use columbia), the ebook, and the pocket internet (I use the opera mini for palm).

Other notable programs include the resco idguard, a program that safekeeps my passwords and important informations; Softick cache, a program that hasten the access to the sd card (note that my device only has 25mb of internal memory. I mainly rely on the external storage); Uninstaller (what could it possibly do?); Receiveit that allows me to receive practically any file type on my palm; Resco backup (it is useful to back up your files often, and you know why); and Liberty control, which allows me to wirelessly control my laptop. And yes, it controls even the mouse of the pc. The students just get stunned seeing technology at its finest.

These are the reasons my zire stays in my palm. It does a lot of things for something that is cheap. The key really is tweaking it, finding the right programs to make it work with its full potential. Do you have a palm pda? I would like to tell you it can do a lot of things. I am a teacher and let me tell you something. Reread this article and be convinced. Palm is everything but the ref.

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