Hackintosh with iLife installed

Just want to share my latest attempt to run mac on a VMWare.

My goal here is to:

1. install iLife

2. resolve the audio and resolution issue that I encountered during first attempt.

Installing iLife '09

Snow leapard running on VMWare 1680x1050.

There's still a problem on loading iMovie. It says that Quarts extreme required. If you know how to fix this, please comment or email me. So far, everything is smooth except for the iMovie.

IPhone 4

I got my iPhone 4 last September 24, during the Globe corporate release at 111 Valero, Makati. That morning I received a text message from the account manager telling me to get the iPhone at the launch.

Tomorrow is the 2nd weekniversary (<--lame!) of my iPhone and here's my feedback.

1. The over exposure of the camera is dependent on the focus. you should have a good focus to have a good exposure. The HDR feature is very useful for exposure, but for videos, I really have to set the focus well.

Photo Tip: try to set the focus not exactly to the subject but somewhere that it has some part of the subject and sompart of the background. This is to balance the exposure of a dark subject and a background with high lighting. Just like what we do in DSLRs.

Try to do something like this:

2. The antenna issue is true, but you can buy a cover to prevent your hands from touching the black stripe at the left side of the iPhone. You won't notice it on places with high reception (somewhere like beside a cell site.. Haha. )

3. I really have to turn off auto correct. Go to Settings> General> Keyboard> Turn off everything.

4. Turn off the data connection. And ruin the APN to make sure that you won't connect.

Settings> General> Network

Turn off Enable 3G

Turn off Cellular Data

Go to cellular data network you can see some APN entries: try to do this..

instead of using internet.globe.com.ph you just type anything such as internet.globe.com.ph.fake

so that you can remove the fake word whenever you really need to connect to the internet.

5. Battery saver:

-Turn of Wifi (settings>wifi)

-Turn off 3G (settings>general>networl)

-Turn off Notifications (Settings > notigication)

-Turn off Location Services (settings>general> location services)

-Close apps when not in use (double click the home button, click and hold the app, then press - button.

-Set the brightness to low.

There you have it my first blog about the iPhone 4.

Google Voice

I'm now using google voice. It allows free phone call to US and Canada. It's just like magic jack but it's free you can access it from within you gmail account just like Google chat.

You can only register to google voice when you're in the US. Lucky for me I have someone to register it for me. Now I can use it here in the Philippines.

Globe Broadband 3 Mbps

Last July 21, I tried to upgrade my internet plan to 3Mbps. I called the Globe customer service and ask for options. The 3Mbps Data Only for Php 1995 a month seems to be a nice deal. I've waited for almost a month and I tried calling them everyday asking for updates. But the Customer service doesn't help. They just repeat what they say everyday that they don't have any updates from the support group.

Here's their routine.

1. Get th reference number.

2. Put you on hold.

3. Verify your request.

4. Put you on hold and check for the updates.

5. Tell you that your request is already being processed by the technical group.

6. They always verify your contact number.

7. They will tell you that they will make a request.

8. They will tell you that the request they made will be prioritized.

9. They'll ask you if there's anything else they can do.

10. Bye!

Then on the 2nd week of August, I called them again to check for updates. I found out that the request they made on July 21 is wrong. The customer service told me that this request PCxxxxxxxxx is not the correct reference number and I should have MOWxxxxxxx instead. After giving me the correct reference, I got my upgrade in 2 days.

I got the upgrade and tried to test it. Here's the result from different servers in speedtest.net.

Quezon City Server/BayanTel

Ping Test: 74ms

Download: 3.83 Mbps

Upload: 0.20 Mbps

Makati Server/Pldt

Ping Test: 278ms

Download: 1.49 Mbps

Upload: 0.13 Mbps

Metro Manila Server/Sky Broadband

Ping Test: 50ms

Download: 1.21 Mbps

Upload: 0.04 Mbps

Mandaluyong Server/Globe

Ping Test: 72ms

Download: 4.02 Mbps

Upload: 0.16 Mbps

Paranaque Server/Cable Link

Ping Test: 315ms

Download: 0.97 Mbps

Upload: 0.05 Mbps

Credit Card Charges

I talked to a credit card officer last night because of my finance charge. I got a finance charge of almost Php 3,000 but I only left around Php 3,000 unpaid balance and paid more than the minimum amount . I asked the officer why is the finance charge so big that it is almost 100% of the unpaid balance. The officer told me that they charged me based on the total amount of the credit used in the last statement and not on the unpaid balance. So if I have Php 10,000 on my last statement and I paid Php 9,999 which is higher than the minimum payment required, the bank will still charge me based on the Php 10, 000 balance of the last statement. This is very deceiving. I used to think that they only charge me 3.5% of the unpaid balance. So watch out for your next statement. Spend wisely.

Finance charge reference

Goodnight.

Inaantok na ko. May ipis sa floor. Wala ko pakialam tulog na ko. Sh!@#t gagapangan nya ako. Kadiri, kadiri talaga. Tinakot ko sya, inangat ko ang kamay ko, tumakbo sya. Mabilis ang takbo nya, tapos di ko na sya nakita, magaling mag tago ang mga ipis. Tapos nag abang ako baka lumabas pa. Pero inantok na ko kaya hindi nalang.Goodnight.

Globe Service

Internet
I'm starting to be unhappy about the globe service nowadays. Last week it's the first time to have no connection for a week. One of my friend told me that I'm still lucky because in other network it took months before they get their connections back.

Prepaid Sim
The prepaid service of globe is becoming congested as their promo tries to match other network's unlimited calls/text. Just a while ago, I have to resend a message seven times for it to be sent successfully. It's also hard to connect to a call when using the 238 promo. I think networks are congested with all these free/unlimited promo. Even the normal metered calls/text are affected by this promotions. I think It's better to have it metered but surely reliable than have it unlimited but crappy.

Within this week, I'll be trying their post paid service. I hope It's better this time. For the internet, I think there's nothing I can do about it. In fairness to Globe, their internet is very fast (in my area) the only thing I hate about it is when you try to reach the customer service, they always tell you the same thing over and over, "You are affected by the network restoration blah blah.. ".