January, 2009

Mobility — No Comments
30
Jan 09

AT&T USBConnect Mercury from Sierra Wireless "Error 668: The connection was terminated."

Straight out of the box, the AT&T USBConnect Mercury manufactured by Sierra Wireless left a little to be desired. So did the technical support AT&T was willing to provide me.

“Don’t worry about me, AT&T Wireless. I’ll figure this out on my own. Thanks, though!”

BACKGROUND
All in all, it’s a neat little package and I really have to commend the Sierra Wireless guys for a great piece of engineering and design. Leave it to the %#*&! carrier to rebrand it and ruin it with their provisioning.

The device is a little USB dongle that is part *supposedly* read-only flash memory and part cellular data connection. All powered off the USB port, as it should be, with the driver and application software (AT&T Communication Manager) installer on the read-only flash memory. Pretty nifty idea, as usually worry about taking a data card with me and not having driver software to use it. This solves that problem. Now if they’d just put the OS X software on there too. When will we learn?

So, I’d installed one of these on a Mac a few months ago and, surprise surprise, this Windows install proved to be a lot trickier. No, seriously, I was surprised. I remember it wasn’t that long ago that one had to hack the OS X kernel to get a Verizon Wireless card to work on a Mac. I’d be speaking from person experience if the binding EULA didn’t prohibit taking such actions. ;)

Now, after the install, I rebooted and ran the cute little “AT&T Communication Manager.” I got four out of five bars and decided to try clicking on the inviting little button that said “Connect” only to be greeted with a nasty little Windows dialog box informing that “Error 668: The connection was terminated.”

I googled all over for a good solution, and, although I got a lot of good pointers that fleshed out almost the exact nature of the problem, I still had no solution. I don’t usually spend too much time with tech support, unless I’m desperate. I gave them 60 minutes on the phone at which point I decided I’d be better off continuing to work on the problem myself.

A lot of the posts I’d read pointed me back to Sierra Wireless to get their version of the software. I’m usually a big fan of using OEM software over third party ports, so I gave it a shot. Sure enough the installer threw about fifty new drivers in, along with a new connection interface application called, “3G Watcher.”

Unfortunately, I still had no joy with the new app. I felt like I was getting the same error message with different verbiage. The app threw the “Disconnected from ” “Invalid profile” message at me.

Then I remembered the hack I had to try on my Tilt to get Dutty’s ROM to let me run Slingplayer Mobile. It was really simple and just involved making on little tiny change.

SOLUTION
So if you find yourself getting the “668 terminated” message, the solution is really simple. You aren’t supposed to do this, but you just need to make one little change to the profile. Just change the “Access Point Name (APN)” value from “ISP.CINGULAR” to “WAP.CINGULAR” and you should be good to go.

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Uncategorized — No Comments
28
Jan 09

Will This Be Worse Than The Great Depression?

Can anyone possibly imagine more than two years of real unemployment rates exceeding 30%?

MassMedia — No Comments
27
Jan 09

New Dark Future From Frank Miller?

One good thing about entering an economic downturn: a new dystopic classic from Frank Miller is undoubtedly around the corner. Miller has created three titles set in separate dystopic futures: Ronin, Hard Boiled, and Give Me Liberty.

I recently spent some time re-reading some of my favorite Frank Miller works. These are some of my favorite favorites. I don’t know where he gets this stuff from, but it makes me smile inside when I see something on CNN that looks something he made fifteen years ago.

I recently learned that Miller frequently has his characters attacked in the groin area.

Some dark futures, although fantastic, exceed their believability. The Mad Max world is just unrecognizable from our own. The same goes for most post-WMD apocalypses, be they germ/zombie- or nuclear-oriented. Most films just generally fall flat in this department, lacking either credibility (“Where did all that sand come from?”), story (See Planet of the Apes), or both (See Class of 1999).

Miller’s worlds are believably scary. Take Ronin for example. Set in the midst of a global economic depression that has spanned much of the 21st century. All you see of the world in Ronin (1983) is small parts of what is left of midtown Manhattan; this world has devolved to exhibit little difference from thirteenth century Japan. If anything, this world is more savage. Again, maybe it is the medium, but I believe the tones of these stories challenge the vocabulary of the screen.

In Give Me Liberty (1990), Miller depicts a less fantastic world, set much closer to the present. He shows us a close-up view of a Chicago housing project though the eyes of a young woman named Martha Washington. To call this existence grim is to understate the obvious. Washington has to dress like a boy to avoid getting raped on the way to school.

Needless to say, Miller wrote this story after he left DC.

Like the world of The Watchmen, in Give Me Liberty Congress has repealed the 22nd Amendment, allowing the President of the United States to continue to be re-elected after two full four-year terms. Our armed forces are engaged in conflicts across the globe. Corporate greed and the avarice of the ruling class are destroying the nation.

It may be coincidence, but it is on the on the heels of periods of economic hardship like the one we are in now that Miller has created his darkest worlds.

MassMedia — No Comments
23
Jan 09

Why It's So Hard to Make a Blockbuster Based on The Punisher

Punisher: War Zone may get it right. We’ll see. I discarded my collection of War Zone issues (I had two copies of Volume I Issue 1) about four years ago. It was a way cool series in the late eighties – early nineties. Especially the Wolverine crossover that was set in Africa. Those were what first got me really into Jim Lee as an illustrator. That, and Uncanny X-Men #248. Whoo-weee. That was some mighty pencilling.

But, I digress.

The Punisher is Marvel’s answer to Batman, if for no other reason than he is a comic book hero of the urban-superpowerless-metalegal vigilante who’s family was killed by criminals and has lots of cool gadgets. He is unique to the Marvel Universe for other reasons. He is generally considered by the mainstream heroes to be a criminal. He was originally introduced as a foe for Spider-Man to thwart. The cover of that issue depicts an Oswald-esque Punisher on a rooftop taking aim through the scope of a sniper rifle. In fact, he doesn’t really fit any of the criteria of a super-hero. He’s basically a criminally insane sociopath who’s super power is his passive-aggressive grief.

The Punisher character is more like a cinematic action hero who has been ported over to the comic book medium. No wonder it’s so hard to get the character and his story back into movie form. They’re already on loan from the film industry. He’s a Martin Riggs / John Matrix / Parker Barnes . But waaaayyyyy out there.

This isn’t the hero who ties up the bad guys and calls the cops to tell them where they are. When The Punisher bests the mob boss, he doesn’t cuff him and call the cops; he ties him up in sausage links and feeds him to his own guard dogs.

MassMedia — No Comments
23
Jan 09

Movies of 2009

I just went and watched a bunch of previews and here are the movies I’m looking forward to watching in 2009.

Coraline, 2/6
Watchmen, 3/6
I Love You, Man, 3/20
Adventureland, 3/27
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 5/1
Terminator Salvation, 5/9
9, 9/9

I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I’ve always had a soft spot for Sandra Bullock, and although I doubt it will be up for much critical acclaim, I’m looking forward to seeing All About Steve, releasing March 6.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a good chick flick.

Mobility / Technology — No Comments
22
Jan 09

The Presedential Cell Phone

Selectra Edge from General Dynamics

No word yet on ICBM via SMS.

Local / OldStuff — No Comments
22
Jan 09

Cedars of Lebanon

Just found this article on CurbedLA about the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, the birth place of yours truly.

Uncategorized — No Comments
22
Jan 09

I LOLLED

I seriously lolled when I saw this on Engadget.

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