So I needed some iPhone software. For that I went to iCam. I was able to check to see if my cameras were supported before I picked up the app. It works great.

There is a piece of software you need to have running on a pc to publish the feed though, so I have that running on my home server. I actually have one instance per camera running as a service to autostart with the server. I just realized I rebooted it “the hard way” and the cameras are up, so cool!

So some iPhone software, an app running on the server and a server. So far so good. I used the same process to run these apps as services as I have for dropbox.

So when we went to vegas I had the cameras wirelessly watching the dog and now I have wired them (it is much faster) directly to the router. It was hot in the attic.

The iCam software can actually turn on and off motion sensing from the iPhones, so you can not only see the motion events that are captured along with a real time video, but also turn off the feature which can also send you push notifications if you want. It is pretty full featured. I only have 2 cameras and have room for 2 more. I will need a new router at that point! The motion events it captures are in jpg, so I have those saved to my dropbox on the homeserver that way my laptop and iPhone get the new pics when there is motion. So I can view the pics that way too.

I only have AT&T so I had to unlock the G1 first here: http://www.unlock-tmobileg1.com/. Within an hour I had my unlock code. I tried to call TMobile and although I was able to give them some story about the phone the email came back in the morning telling me I had to have my service for 60 days.

Then I have a problem with the speaker on the phone. I will probably end up replacing the earpiece, but for now I thought I could root it and patch the speaker volume settings. I needed root and I figured I would installed 2.1 at the same time since I was on 1.6.

I followed this: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Full_Update_Guide_-_HTC_Dream which also includes this: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=DangerSPL_%26_CyanogenMod_5/6.

So I can tell you it was a bit scary compared with jailbreaking, but if you follow the directions and be careful to check the antenna version you will be ok. I hope to upgrade to 2.2, but 2.1 is much better than 1.6 for sure.

I installed about 5 kids apps and already I am out of space. So since I rooted I can use apps2sd by partitioning my SD card. The problem is these are ext parts, so windows can’t do them easily. No problem. Just reboot and hold the home button the rom you used for recovery probably has a format option. Use it. You will lose all the data on the card, but you have that backed up anyway right?

Now I have another 512megs for apps so I an start Kids Android App Reviews .com

As most of yo know you can only have one exchange account on your iPhone at a time however. DeVry was a wash since I could not even get their exchange to talk to my iPhone anyway. So how did I find a use for two exchange accounts on one iPhone?

Well it turns out if you use Gmail on your iPhone you do not get calendar or contacts sync. Unless you follow the instructions here: http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?answer=138740&topic=14252
.

But still you are stuck with one exchange server. So now I cannot get my mail from Sage….

Unless I follow the instructions here:

http://modmyi.com/forums/file-mods/691011-two-exchange-accounts-activesync.html#post5023037

Basically you edit /private/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/com.apple.accountsettings.plist copying the settings for your account (about 1/3 of the way down) and pasting it again. Be sure to change all of the pertinent settings, especially any of the UUIDs etc. (I just changed one character at the end. You will get a chance to change the settings on your phone when you go back into settings.

To edit the plist file I neede to SSH into my phone. It is jailbroken and I have openSSH installed. I use winscp on my laptop and I used Plist editor for windows to actually edit the file. Be sure to make a backup!

Now I have Gmail contacts and calendar and email on my iPhone – this means PUSH notifications for Gmail too.

cool..

(update before this actually posts):

I was able to add a third account. The one thing I learned was to remove all but one account and then configure it then add the other two back into the xml file. If I tried to edit all three at the same time then it would just exit without saving.

It isn’t that I am doing anything wrong, it is just that I do not need the next guy who gets my machine to look up my photos or something like that. I might have some unencrypted files that I do not want them to access. You know stuff like that.

So what do I do before I sell a laptop or otherwise release a HDD into the wild?

I use DBAN. I simply install it to a bootable USB (or DVD) and let it run. I choose all the defaults and just let it go. The last drive I ran it on it took 36 hours to run. I feel reasonable secure that my data is no longer on the drive and it is left in a state that I can either install the OS or place the restore disks from the manufacturer in the machine and let it go.

Seriously a good option. I remember Shawn asking me a few years ago if I did this and I kinda laughed it off. I took him very serious after some reports of data on HDDs coming off of Ebay etc.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1178239/Computer-hard-drive-sold-eBay-details-secret-U-S-missile-defence-system.html

http://blog.alertsec.com/2009/09/ebay-allowing-unencrypted-drives-to-live-on/

Anyway. Not my data.

Anyway this is the process I follow to shrink my virtual PCs.

1. Disk Cleanup
2. Delete Uninstall files – all those $ files in C:\windows
3. Defrag – at least two times
4. Run the precompactor tool from MS
5. Close the virtual pc by properly shutting down
6. Run the management console for virtual PC and edit a disk then choose to compact it

This has worked well for me. I usually get my images down a few gigs using this method. I do not mount the vhd in another virtual pc as a slave drive anymore either. Also I work with Windows 2003 Server the most at the moment, so I do not worry about hibernation files and the like.

Finally I usually 7zip to Ultra compress the vhd. This usually gets them below 8 gigs or so and I am all set.

I still do not turn it off. It saves me more key presses than it costs me.

Man what a phone and more. We have all seen the commercials and perhaps checked out an iPhone in person at a store, but nothing compares to bringing it home and using it for a few days.

It really is an outstanding device. In the past 2 days I have used my phone to make 2 calls (within 10 minutes of owning it and then not since), listen to music, geocache, watch youtube videos with my family, watch my online class, take photos and navigate to a restaurant.

Nothing compares. Previously I owned a PPC 6700 from HTC. It ran Windows Mobile. yeah it was ok and did a lot of this as well, but not the same. Nowhere near the same.

Here are some interesting? ones:

http://www.anwhite.net/zik.txt

http://www.anwhite.net/zk.txt

http://www.huberstyle.com/xxInc.htm

http://www.huberstyle.com/wh.htm

http://www.huberstyle.com/xInc.htm

Fun….