Netflix on the Droid X

On May 12 Netflix announced that they had launched a Netflix app on Android.  This was great news for Android owners, however there is a downside.  The app is currently only supported on a limited number of devices.  Sad, but true.  And of course, it's not supported on my Droid X for some strange reason.  The Droid X is a great multimedia device (that's one of the reasons I picked it over the Droid Incredible), so why in the world it isn't supported out of the gate is beyond me.  There's probably some technical reason, but it's still annoying.  It's supported on the Incredible, of course.

About a week ago I discovered that some enterprising soul had figured out how to get Netflix to work on a variety of additional Android devices, including my beloved Droid X.  Yay!  If you follow the link, I was able to get it to work by following option #1.  I downloaded the Netflix APK with the check disabled.  Worked like a champ!

Rooting the Droid X

So last night I finally got around to rooting my Droid X phone.  As expected, it was generally uneventful.  I used SuperOneClick to root the phone, which proved to be pretty easy.

The hardest thing was installing the drivers for the phone on my Windows 7 64-bit system.  I used the version of SuperOneClick that included drivers, and that worked out fine.  I had to manually install several drivers for all of the related devices that showed up as not installed under Device Manager in Windows 7.  Once that was done, I ran SuperOneClick, clicked the "Root" button, and I was done.

So now what?  I've rooted my phone.  Big deal.  Well, that's pretty much the case.  Unlike jail-breaking your iPhone, the things that you can do after rooting your Android phone are pretty much uninteresting, in my opinion.  Jail-breaking your iPhone unlocks a lot of capabilities because Apple has locked so many things down in the first place.  But because the Android platform is by nature a bit more flexible and open, there are very few things that can't be done with an Android phone already.

The biggest thing I did was uninstall a bunch of the "crapware" that comes already installed on a lot of Android phones.  On my Verizon Droid X, I uninstalled the Skype Mobile app (regular Skype now supports both 3G and Wifi calls, so no need for a "special" version), Madden NFL 2011, NFS Shift (another game), City ID (an annoying pop-up app), the Blockbuster app (never used it), VZ Navigator (I use Google Maps), and I think a couple of others.  None of these apps can be uninstalled without rooting your phone.  They probably recovered very little space on the phone, but it made me feel better that they're gone.

I installed droid VNC server, which is kind of cool.  It lets me control my phone from my PC.  I also installed Titanium Backup (free version).  I haven't dug very deep into this one yet, other than to use it to uninstall all the crapware I mentioned above.  It comes HIGHLY recommended from a lot of sites.

I also installed ShootMe, which lets me take screen captures of what's on the phone, something you can't do without rooting your phone.  That is kind of handy.


That's really it so far.  I'm sure there is more out there, but I haven't had time to uncover everything yet.  Stay tuned.  I'll post more if I uncover anything truly earth-shattering.

I will say that I am interested in trying the CyanogenMod custom ROM.  Sadly, it is not yet available and (won't be for some time) for the Droid X, according to @cvps, one of the guys working on Cyanogen.  Hopefully it will happen eventually, as it looks very interesting.  I want me some Gingerbread!

Angry Birds on your computer...through the Chrome browser

If you feel like your life is not complete because you don't have a smartphone (Android or iPhone), and you don't own an iPod Touch or iPad, and as a result have been unable to enjoy this Angry Birds game that everyone is always talking about, well, now is your chance.

Google announced last week that Angry Birds is available on your PC via their Chrome browser.  I'm an advocate of having multiple browsers on your computer anyway, since sometimes one of them stops working.  It's always good to have a backup plan.  And if you're using LastPass, don't worry...Chrome supports that as well.

So, if you don't already have Chrome, go ahead and install it.  Then follow the link above to install Angry Birds from the Chrome Apps Store.  I think you'll need a Google account as well.

Throw productivity aside, because you'll be playing Angry Birds for a while!

MLB At Bat 2011 for Android

For about 3 or 4 years now I've bought the MLB Audio package.  It lets you listen to MLB games over the web, home or away, with no blackout restrictions.  It is an AWESOME deal for $19.95.

Last fall I got a Droid X mobile phone, so this year I decided to try out the MLB At Bat mobile app for Android.  I think this will be a better option this year, since I'll always have my phone with me, but might not always have a computer (or WiFi connection).

MLB unfortunately doesn't let you use the mobile app AND the web app for one price.  You have to pay $19.95 for the web subscription and then $14.95 for the mobile app.  Very annoying.  When will they go to a one price gets you "all you can eat".  Pay for the content, not the delivery of the content.  Anyway.

At least I think that is the deal.  I just logged on to the MLB site and was listening to the Diamondbacks vs. Giants on the web as well as on my phone.  This might be a pre-season feature where they enable it for everything, but lock things down once the season starts.

I guess I'll find out on March 31.  I'll update this posting when I find out more about what's going on.

PLAY BALL!!!!

Superior password management using LastPass

Several months ago (around October 2010) I ran across a software product called LastPass that helps you manage passwords for all of the various web sites where you have an account (bank sites, health care, online newspapers, anything).  I've been using LastPass as my primary password management system for a couple of months now and it is FANTASTIC.  I've completely switched over to using it for 100% of my passwords on all of my machines.

In a nutshell, LastPass removes the true barrier to people using secure, hard-to-guess passwords: EASE OF USE.

You can read about all the features on their web site, but here are some of the highlights that make LastPass, in my opinion, the best password management system available.  I highly recommend that you think about switching over to using it as soon as possible.

• It's free for basic functionality.  Only $12 per year to use it on your mobile phone.
• You keep ONE master password to get access to all of your other passwords.  Only one password to remember.  You can make that one password hard to guess, but easy for you to remember.
• Your passwords are maintained on LastPass servers and synchronized among any and all computers (or other devices) you use.
• Your data is strongly encrypted on your PC before it is uploaded to LastPass, making it extremely secure.  LastPass does NOT have access to your stored passwords.  Nobody can access your data without your master password.
• LastPass fully integrates with all the major browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera) on Mac and Windows, as well as iPhone, Android and Blackberry.  After the encryption and security features, the browser integration is probably the single best feature of LastPass.
• When you visit a web site's login page, LastPass automatically fills in your username and password.  You don't have to remember your password for ANY web site anymore -- just your Master Password.
• Because you don't have to REMEMBER every password, you can create a different password for every web site you use.  If one web site become compromised, which happens far more frequently than we all would like, your other sites are safe because you don't share the same password across multiple sites.
• LastPass is pretty simple to install and configure.
• LastPass will import passwords from your current browser, if you've been using that method to store your passwords now (which is actually VERY insecure).  Once you get them into LastPass, you can slowly start changing them to be more secure.
• LastPass will analyze your entire set of passwords and point out where your passwords are not ideal, identify sites that share the same password, and rate your overall password security.

Again, I can't recommend LastPass enough.  Check it out.  Let me know if you need help.

First blog post...the beginning of a new era

OK, so, I'm only about what, maybe 10 years late to the blogging scene? What can I say? I've been busy.

I have a Twitter account (which I rarely look at), and a Facebook account (which I use for keeping up with friends and family). I'm in the tech industry, and generally the "resident computer expert" for a handful of those friends and family members. But, I don't really want to clutter up my Facebook page with a bunch of nerdy, tech chatter. So, I have decided to use a blog as my forum for talking about my nerdy, tech life.

I'm sure that most of this is nothing new, but it's a place for me to talk about what I'm doing in the tech world, mostly at a personal level. And anyone who is interested can follow. What computer am I building, what is the latest gadget I have purchased, what device am I hacking apart as of late. You get the picture.

Maybe some of you will find value in this. Maybe not. Either way, I'll be talking about it all here.

Thanks, and enjoy!

-- Brian