I recently stepped up my photography from amateur to semi-professional, I bought a digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and decided to put to active use my knowledge of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and exposure settings. Due to my cash at hand I had to make do with a Pentax *ist D, Pentax's oldest DSLR camera. But it is just perfect for my need, it has sufficient megapixels of 6.3 which is just what I need since I only plan to post my pictures online ( http://olafusimichael.shutterchance.com ) and print some on a 5" x 7" photo paper. Also the picture quality is awesome, in fact it has excellent picture quality ratings from all the reviews I read. And best of all, it is very compact, so light-weight that I often hold it in one hand and I find it relatively easy to take with me everywhere.

In order to create a collection, I began snapping all the wonderful scenes around me: the bridges, sunset, busy highways and so on. But on a number of times I needed to adjust the image properties like contrast and temperature in order to better convey the message in the picture. To do this in the world of professional photography, Photoshop has been so recommended that you would believe it's the only option. But for an opensource freak like me, there most be another equally good alternative, and my search for this alternative led me to Google's Picasa. Though Picasa can't do multipoint cropping, background design and many other creative design stunts, but to make a picture eyepopping and adjust the exposure Picasa is the perfect tool.

Just recently I noticed there was a flaky 3G service (MTN of course) in my room, but my phone seems too comfortable restricting me to the near useless EDGE service. I decided I was going to force my phone to use the 3G service, so armed with my computer, internet access and Google, I searched for a way to do this and I was so resolute I won't mind porting a code meant for a USB modem. But to my utmost surprise, I ended up discovering a code (like those IMEI checking code *#06# or Nokia warranty code *#92702689#). This code is definetely android's best kept secret, the code takes you to a sort of troubleshooting settings screen. It is *#*#4636#*#* enter it on the dial screen and as you enter the last character * the phone will switch to a new screen, the Testing screen. The image below is a screen shot of what you'll see.

Like a diamond streaked with earth
Whose beauty is concealed beneath
Like a tiny twinkling star
Whose greatness is above par
Like a ship that dots the sea
Loaded with treasures only few see
Such and more is Elebele
Having a history beyond a ballet
Though with a size that shrinks a town
Yet has a most humbling brawn
Like a city set on a hidden hill
And from within others look small
The hometown of many great men
Men whose lives make them a gem
A big heart, and to strangers well psyched
Playing host to strangers and companies alike
And like a dream waiting to be born
Is very peaceful with hardly a turn
Everyone knows everyone like a joint
Even an awkward description will hit the point
Here everyday is a new day
No one's got time for yesterday
Everyone lives in a fluid harmony
Whether you have too little or too much money
Even the clouds and rain do testify
Though at a rather alarming frequency
And through the heart of the town is a stream
That flows right through the back of every home
And unknown to the many that travel through the town
Who do not see beyond the structures and busy crowd
Nor beyond the Shell, Bayelsa Palm, AIT and plastic industry
Nor the numerous stores and small scale retail industry
Is that this is a land flowing with milk and honey
Though in ways unusual and yet lovely
The milk of friendliness and opportunities
And the honey of dreams and pleasant realities

Remember that post I made on modding your G1 and how I mentioned that I just recently modded mine. Well after flashing cyanogenmod 6.0.0-DS on my G1 and was stunned by the exquisite (Windows 7 – like) graphics, I was greatly disappointed to find my G1 so slow that navigating to the homescreen became a touch and travel activity. The camera app was greatly frustrating, after taking seconds to open it is only good for snapping still scenes because the pictures are taken seconds after the shutter button has been pressed. Not forgetting the gallery, that one became so useless I started searching the android market for any alternative app. When I try to view the pictures I took with the phone's camera, it takes forever to scroll to the next picture. The phone app wasn't left out, typing phone number has never been this hard, and after all the frustration and the tendency of you forgetting why you wanted to make the call, it takes about 5 seconds for the call to be terminated after you end it.

I must confess that I still preferred my modded G1 state to the unmodded (running android 1.6) state because I now run the latest android version, I can install apps on SD, I can install root (requiring) apps, and I can install apps meant for android 2.1 and above. So I convinced myself that all I have been reading about cyanogenmod, that it is way faster than the stock OS, is true and I am going to make that true fact a reality on my G1. Armed with Google, I searched the internet using various words combinations to locate any article that might address a similar issue. But I was disappointed to discover that as far as the internet is concerned I am the only one with such an issue. After giving up on finding any online assistance, I decided to fiddle with the settings on my modded G1 and one day I struck luck, after changing a couple of things mostly disabling a lot of CPU sucking tweaks, my modded G1 became really fast. So in the following paragraphs I am going to share with you the changes I made on my G1 that made it work real fast.

For a long time I have wanted to be able to check my bank account online. I have accounts in United Bank for Africa (UBA), Spring Bank (now Enterprise bank), Intercontinental Bank (now Access bank) and GTB. Despite the fact that the account I have in GTB is a current account and those in the other banks are savings accounts, I find GTB's current account less expensive to manage and GTB's customer service way better than all the others put together. So in few words, I actively use my GTB current account and in fact, I hold two Domiciliary accounts and a MasterCard account with GTB.

This past month I went to the GTB nearest to me and filled the Internet Banking form, but to my surprise I didn't receive the promised mail that will provide me my login details. But yesterday I was able in under 20 minutes to enable my accounts (the current, 2 dorms and a mastercard) for internet banking, and the details of how I did it is what I want to share with you.

As you'll most likely know (if you have read my previous posts) I am currently running my compulsory one year NYSC scheme in Bayelsa state as a Mathematics teacher in a community school, Elebele. Well, towards the end of the month of July, the school rounded up for the session we (both teachers and students) were given a two months holiday. Though, I spent the majority of the days in those two months in my lodge, I managed to summon enough courage to withdraw all my allowee for the month of August and go for a daring adventure across rivers and sea to Nembe and Brass Islands in Bayelsa state.

So in this essay of mine, I am only going to focus on the 10 days out of the two months that I spent on this adventure. I am not going to bore you with lots of words but with pictures.

I have been hearing about a “Wireless Tether” app for months now and even tried installing it, but to my disappointment it requires me to have rooted my phone so I couldn't use it. Then last week I finally rooted my phone and was amazed by the quality of connectivity I got between my phone and my laptop. And another amazing thing about this wireless tethering than makes it far desirable than the USB tethering (that comes along with the android OS 2.2) is that it allows multiple computers to connect and even phones that have wifi. And you can also create an access list to allow internet access for only selected devices (computers, phones and maybe, printers).

So in this post, I am going to explain extensively to you how to use the wireless tether app to share internet access on your android phone with other phones and computers.

Remember that post I made on changing the google account of HTC Dream? Then you will remember me saying “I bought a fairly new G1...”

Well, there was this day I posted a tweet on twitter saying I had issues with data usage of my G1, and a friend (@kenniy) responded and told me to mod my G1 for optimum performance and recommended Cyanogen Mod. Since that day (which should be 6 months ago), after reading about the benefits, I decided in my mind that I was definitely gonna mod my G1. Then after reading about doing it on several websites and discovered that most of them had very different ways of doing it with a common recurrent warning that my phone might get bricked, I finally gave it a trial 5 months ago. I choose a website that explained very well with detailed snapshots of the process, then I discovered that I couldn't go past the first stage because my G1 has android 1.6 (donut) and the steps will only work for 1.5 (cupcake). I searched for ways of modding my G1 running donut, and the only site I found that seems to explain it well didn't have a single snapshot and had too much warnings. So I suspended my desire to mod the G1 till when I have used the phone for a considerable time, when I won't be too bothered if the phone bricks.

Well that time came yesterday, I just couldn't put up any longer with the restrictions of the small internal memory and the fact that some applications are now being built for OS 2.1 (eclair) and above. So I braced up and faced my fear, and believe me I'm glad I did. I now have the latest android OS (froyo) running on my G1, can now send files via Bluetooth and even operate a swap partition on my phone.

So in case someone might need a more recent post by a more current user, I decided to share my experience, step by step and with snapshots. So let's go!

I know that I am a bunch of surprises
Surprises that leave my friends dazed for days
I know that I am quite unpredictable
Though majorly in ways quite desirable
I know very well that I'm a change freak
With a mind that flutters with each clock tick
I'm convinced my mind has its own mind
Though now I do not seem to mind
As long has it stays within its bounds
And is quick to perceive the outer sounds
I know I think way to much
Though with efforts not much

My life is fraught with dreams
Collections of well coordinated stray thoughts
Aspirations made more fluid than streams
Wishes in the fjord of reality caught
Desires seeking expression in my future
Dreams I daily run through in my mind
Constituting my second most valued treasure
And to the world have they made me blind
But surprisingly, I discovered today
During my daily meditation routine
After thinking back several days
Analyzing my life and looking within
That one of my dreams, a weird one
A really funny self-aggrandizing dream
That makes me feel nobler than King John
But has a chance of fulfillment that's slim
And now it has come true
Even truer than in the dream
Giving me hope of seeing more dreams come true