Free and Fast Fix: Galaxy Nexus Can't Hear my Ringtones/Notifications

The GNex is a wonderful piece of engineering, combining Google's latest software, Android 4.0 and Samsung's beautiful displays.

Hughesnet...um what?

Hughesnet has a little thing called a FAP, where you get a tiny bit of internet metered out to you. If you exceed your allowance you are busted down to a crawl for TWENTY-FOUR hours! My plan is for 400 MB a day. That's right 400 MB. Hughesnet is so nice, they threw in any extra 25 MB as a percentage. So my usual allowance is 425 MB. I've learned to live with that, and I check my allowance all the time. Imagine my surprise when I check ed my allowance and it was this:

HOLY FUCK a GB!

What happened? Are you guys seeing numbers like this? I am not complaining at all, but I can't even touch that, I've been trained to avoid using the internet for so long...

Sad, but Determined

So the few of you that follow this blog do so mostly for advice on Xbox Live, and finding solutions to getting back online after moving somewhere that doesn't have proper broadband. Please don't stop asking questions, and know that deep down I really appreciate your comments and feedback! It makes me so happy to see that comments are posted almost every week and that people are finding help through the community. Although I will continue to support these questions (and any other tech questions you might have,) I am going to have to change the direction of this blog, and hopefully change it into something inspirational.

You see, I am really, really, sad.

Today, I went out with my wonderful wife to a place that I used to live. While I was getting dressed up, I noticed that I was having problems getting my shoes on. Like bad problems. My stomach is so big that I can't even really get my own shoes on.

It's time to get my priorities straightened out.

Does Xbox Live Work with Verizon 3G? LTE?

Update: I now have 4G (LTE) at home and I can use Xbox Live  on both Verizon 4G and AT&T HSPA+. Hey everyone, and I am sorry that I have not posted for a long time. Its been a long time coming, and those of you that have asked questions about using Hughesnet on Xbox Live know the shame that comes with logging in to Live and not being able to link up with your friends online. There are so many great games coming out and most of them are online games: Gears of War 3, Battlefield 3, Modern Warfare 3, and the list of older games like Halo: Reach and the upcoming Halo: Anniversary have a bunch of us chomping at the bit to jump online and get the old game-face on. So what works and what doesn't? I am going to break it all down for you after the break.

E3, Microsoft and BF3

Today was a pretty big day for the geek in me, and I made sure to watch the Microsoft keynote today at E3. From Microsoft came news of some really neat Kinect integration with a brand-new dashboard, games galore using the world record holding hardware and a teaser from our favorite Spartain.

Xbox Live Labs on Hughesnet

If you have logged into XBL in the past week, you might have noticed a Labs program. It looks enticing, download the program, let it gather information on your internet connection and send it to Microsoft. (It is located in the community window on your dashboard.) Neat thing is, you don't have to do anything to it. Just let the darn thing run. Always on the lookout for way to let Microsoft know that there are those of us out here that don't have blazingly-fast interwebs, I went to download Labs.

Well, there is a huge problem here for those of us on Hughesnet. We all have the FAP to deal with, and there is a disclaimer that pops up saying that running labs is going to run through a lot of data. Well thanks for being vague, but really, we need a more concrete number than that.

Life Sucks Sometimes

I went from looking at a huge promotion to not having a job at all. If you know me, really know me, you know that this pattern has followed me my whole life. No matter what job I have, be it the US Air Force, or being a cook, I strive to do the very best that I can. I also know that I am pretty smart when it comes to leadership and have a really good head on my shoulders for most things. So I look to advance and move up the ladder, and something always comes along and smashes me to the ground.

So I am staying home with the baby, which isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. He is an awesome baby, and I dreamed about being able to watch him grow up while I was toiling away over a stove at work. Well, I got my wish.

Not sure where I am going in life, or what career I am going to get into. All I do know is deep down, I don't like cooking and honestly, being a chef was going to be something that is not only hard on me, but hard on my family. What is hard is making it on one income and $115 a week on unemployment. What sucks is losing health insurance for my whole family. Although, looking at Japan, I think that I have things pretty good right now.

Life sucks sometimes, but I guess it is what we make of it that counts.

Maybe the forces that be have a bigger plan for me.

I just don't know.

Verizon, Android, and the iPhone

Today, Verizon and Apple announced the CDMA version of the iPhone 4. So, what does this mean? The inclusion of such a popular phone can't be ignored. Let's take a look at the possible impact of the Apple and Verizon iPhone.

First of all, this isn't a Verizon exclusive deal. Verizon never said that there isn't going to be a Sprint or T-Mobile iPhone. Keep this in mind if you are on another carrier. The iPhone isn't going to be announced on another carrier tomorrow, that would steal the thunder from Verizon, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the iPhone on another carrier or two in six months or so.