1. My BlackBerry won’t mount on my Mac as a Mass Storage Device
Mass Storage Mode allows your phone to mount as any USB hard drive or flash drive would thus allowing you to copy files back and forth between the phone and your computer. Firstly, the phone needs to have Mass Storage Mode enabled. This is done by going into the phone’s options menu and then selecting “Memory.”

• Media Card Support: On
• Encryption Mode: None
• Media Transfer Protocol (MTP): On
• Mass Storage Support: On
• Auto Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected: Yes or Prompt

If you have these settings and your phone still won’t mount, the likely cause is a carrier unlock. Unlocking your phone disables Mass Storage Mode. To remedy the problem, iCrack has a patch to re-enable it. However, the patch runs on Windows only and doesn’t work in all circumstances. To manually enable Mass Storage Mode, you need to enter what’s called the Engineering Screens. Follow the directions from BerryReview to access the escreens:

To access the escreen, access the device “Help Me!” screen. For QWERTY devices, perform the key combination Alt+Shift+H on the home screen. For SureType devices, type Alt+EACE on the home screen. For SurePress devices, hold the Escape button, and tap the screen upper left, upper right, upper left, and upper right corners in that sequence.

The “Help Me!” screen contains the application version, PIN, and current up time. Without leaving the “Help Me!” screen, enter that information into the generator. The generator will give you the 8 digit code for the current “Help Me!” screen. If you close the “Help Me!” screen, the device uptime will no longer match the uptime used to generate the code.

Type the 8 digit code into the “Help Me!” screen. You will not see the digits as you type them, but once all 8 correct digits are entered, the escreen will activate. Make sure to use Alt for the numbers on QWERTY devices. Make sure to use multitap to enter the digits on SureType devices.

Once activated, the escreen will replace the “Help Me!” screen for the duration specified when generating the code. You can close the escreen earlier by setting your device clock ahead past the expiration time, reactivating the “Help Me!” screen, then setting your device clock back to normal. Note: Devices with a vendor ID of 1 (RIM engineering sample devices) will always have the escreen open.

Obtain the 8-digit code with this generator.

Once you’re at the escreen, click “OS Engineering Screens” and then “USB.” Select the seting for “Mass Storage (MS)” and click the BlackBerry button and choose “Toggle MS.” Now your BlackBerry should connect to your computer with no problem.

2. My BlackBerry experiences random sync errors telling me to “Retry Sync”
I really don’t have a good explanation for this one. Sometimes syncing contacts (or anything else) with BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac works, and other times, the sync fails telling me to retry. When you are receive an error message, hold down the option key and click on the sync services icon in the menubar and select Reset Sync Services. If you don’t have this menubar icon, go to System Preferences>MobileMe>Sync>Show Status in Menubar. Doing so will probably prompt you to reconcile some sync conflicts but hopefully you’ll only have to do this once.

I hope this helps any other BlackBerry and Mac user who’s experienced the same problems.

Email and instant messaging were invented over 30 years ago when computers and networking technology were in their infancy. Email and IM both mirrored traditional communication channels: snail mail and face-to-face conversations. In many circumstances, this paradigm breaks down. Google Wave assumes today’s technologies (Wikis, cloud data, stronger search algorithms etc.) as the basis for a communication platform.

It is important to note that Google Wave is not designed to be just another Google product but rather it is an entirely new protocol. Anyone could setup their own wave server if they choose to. On that note, it is also important to note that the wave protocol is still under development and is a long way from becoming an email replacement (if it ever does).

The main screen

After signing into Google Wave, you are greeted by three-column interface similar to Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007. Anyone who’s used an email client shouldn’t have too much difficultly figuring this out. I’d say the UI is a bit more intuitive than Gmail’s. The real conceptual difference people need to get used to is the idea that conversations are hosted in one location. Gone are the days of sending emails out to multiple people which usually ends up in a mess of reply chains. Once a wave is started, people can be added as participants who can make changes to any part of the ongoing discussion. In a way, this style of communicating is reminiscent of a discussion forum, however it is much richer thanks to “gadgets.” Gadgets are mini-applications for polls or maps you can put right in the conversation. Ultimately, wave works much better than email for groups of people. The fewer participants a wave has however, the less obvious wave’s benefits are. Also, the built-in chat function behaves in the same way a full wave does. It’s not enough like chat nor is it differentiated enough from a regular wave to really make much sense.

At this point, wave is really just a toy. Many of the features (such as contact management) are still very basic. Also, if wave wants to stand any chance of being adopted, it needs to have some backward compatibility with email.

Aditional Reading:
Google Wave and the Dawn of Passive Aggressive Communication
WSJ: The end of the Email Era

Stalker screenshot

Being locked down by a ball and chain (Verizon contract), my options for innovative cell phones looked as broad as toothpick splinter. Being on a family plan, simply opting to pay the Early Termination Fee to switch carriers posed more trouble and complications that it was worth. Desperately wanting a smartphone, I had only two choices; Blackberry (which I affectionally dubbed Suckberry), or Windows Mobile. I chose Suckberry despite my general dislike for it and due to the stagnant nature of WinMo development.

Not wanting to extend my contract with Verizon, I bought a Blackberry Storm off one of my teammates knowing this was one of the most hated Blackberry models RIM produced.  For the sake of not turning this post into a review of the Storm, I will summarize my experience so far.

• The phone is usable, I have no qualms about the touch screen, and it is actually better than most of Verizon’s other touch screen phones.  Overall, the build quality of RIM’s products is very good.
• The Blackberry OS leaves much to be desired.  It’s a one trick pony: messaging.  Especially Blackberry Messenger; it’s a very compelling app but not enough to keep me on a BlackBerry.
• Ultimately, having a smartphone I don’t really like is still better than my old Samsung Alias.

Now that Apple’s exclusivity agreement with AT&T is near it’s end, Verizon has announced at least two Google Android phones as well as the Palm Pre coming to it’s network, the smartphone/network landscape is about to get a lot more interesting.  The availability of 4G networks within the next year will also be something to consider.

Hopefully, the race to land deals with phone makers and pressure from the FCC will make for a consumer-friendly smartphone market.  Call me a hypocrite with my BlackBerry, but my Storm has allowed me to figure out what I want from whatever smartphone I choose in the future.

Additional Reading:
Why You Can’t Get a Good Phone With Verizon

Shoulda gone to Costco

Today, I participated in a truly absurd undertaking: a challenge called Fruit by the Football Field. Remember those rolled up, fruit-flavored, tape-like candy? The goal of the challenge was to eat a football field’s length worth of Fruit by the Foot. We were divided into two man teams with one member starting at each end of the field, eating our way to the center.

I typically eat a lot, but this challenge proved to be much more difficult than expected. The raw amount of sugar proved to be too much for me to handle. By the end, my mouth was coated in a slimy sugary film that sort of burned, not to mention the soreness of my jaw from the chewiness. My saliva changed colors as I consumed different flavors of the candy. I ultimately ate 24 yards worth in what can only be described as an indescribable experience. The amount of discomfort could not be matched by anything else I’ve ever done.

From a nutrition standpoint, 24 yards= 1920 calories and 216 grams of sugar.  It could have been a lot worse.

Yard by yard.

At the end of the day, I think that this challenge reinforces the concept that the consistency/texture of the food being consumed matters almost as much as the volume ultimately eaten. Also, General Mills should give us some sort of sponsorship because this was the stupidest 20 dollars I have ever spent.

I guess at least Sean and I came in second.

More photos here and here.

Being tech savvy means I’m usually the one my friends and family come to when they can’t figure something technology-related out. It looks as if maybe one day, the rate of innovation might leave even me in the dust. Scary.

What I found most interesting was how linear my PR’s were from 60m to 500m. Also oddly, those to events happened to be above average. Definitely very strange.

My times are almost perfectly linear.

Be sure to check out what Jing has to say about my metabolism relative to a cheetah’s too!

The session window for AT&T Wi-Fi

Today I spent a good chunk of time there working on various projects and had the opportunity to test what would happen to my Wi-Fi access after two hours. Apparently nothing. Awesome .

If you accessed this page by directing your browser to http://sonicage.com/btan, you should have seen a “404 Page Not Found” error. This is the result of one of many changes I’ve been making here over the last few days. The proper address for my site is now http://brianjtan.com. I chose this domain after much deliberation so if you don’t like it, you can buy something else for me.

In the meantime, I’ll be tinkering with the infrastructure and design a bit as I try to find new content to post as well. Hopefully I’ll be able to get into the habit of posting regularly too. Anyways, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, leave ‘em in the comments.

On another note, I recently wrote about the Kor One Hydration Vessel. I’ve got 5 unique coupon codes that will score you $5 off the purchase of one. Let me know if you’re interested.

Olympic Champions and world record holders

It’s hard to believe that the Olympics Games in Beijing took place nearly a year ago given the many unforgettable performances witnessed by the world. For most people, one athlete’s performances stand out in particular. Michael Phelps undoubtedly took the show with an unprecedented 8 gold medals, 7 world records and 1 Olympic record. In total, Phelps has won more gold medals than any OIympian with 14 and has broken 35 world records the last of which he broke just today at the World Championships.

Phelps is definitely one of the greatest athletes of all time, with more to come. Call me biased, but Phelps’ records are a little overplayed relative to Bolt’s world record performances on the track at 100m, 200m and the 4×100m relay. Here’s why.

Since comparing the two sports directly isn’t an equal comparison, I will represent the records in terms of percentages.

The 50m freestyle and the 100m dash are the shortest sprint races contested at the Olympics in swimming and track and field respectively. a quick look at the world record progression (50m free/100m dash) shows that over the course of 33 years, the 50m freestyle world record has dropped 2.92 seconds, representing a 12.24% change. On the other hand, the 100m dash record (discounting the pre-electronic timing era) has fallen from 10.06 to 9.69; a 3.68% change over 44 years. Furthermore, in the case of swimming, we often see the same record broken multiple times in the same meet. In track, this hardly happens and the time in between record changes is much longer except when someone breaks their own record.

The same comparison can be made for the 100m freestyle and the 200m dash, the next distance up in each respective sport. Starting in 1975, until the 2008 Summer Games in which records were broken in both events, the swimming record fell 7.96% compared to the track record’s 2.27%. Looking at progressions for other records, the drop in the swimming records are much more dramatic over time compared to track records with track records being broken less frequently. It would seem, judging by the rate of world record progression, that swimming records have not approached the limit that track records are at currently.

This is also demonstrated by the fact that over the course of the last 8 years, Phelps has broken his own 200m butterfly record 7 times dropping his record by 2.96%. Usain Bolt broke his own 100m dash record by 0.31% and Michael Johnson’s 200m dash record by only 0.10%. Bolt’s 200 record was even even more impressive due to the fact that many considered Johnson’s 19.32 record as unbreakable. Phelps was able to break 7 records due to the sheer number of event distances and strokes for him to swim. As a versatile and dominant swimmer, he can swim the same distance using multiple strokes. Bolt doesn’t have the same options available to him.

Bolt’s records are a more impressive historic achievement despite the fact that the swimming records are broken with much greater margins and frequency. Swimming records still have some ways to go before athletes physical ability to break them will be questioned. Phelps is no doubt an astonishing athlete, but Bolt’s record breaking performances still awe me in a way that Phelps’ performances never did for me.

I realize my comparisons are highly unscientific and very rough so feel free to tell me I’m wrong. Although there are others with me on this one.

Further reading

• USA Today’s comparison of Bolt and Phelps
• http://kempton.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/usain-bolt-vs-michael-phelps/