Yesterday I launched a new website venture for a new video game that is being released this Thursday. The game is called Rift: Planes of Telara. My website in a community/fansite that is based around realm vs. realm and player vs. player combat within the game of Rift (basically fighting/combating other people in game).

The new website is Rift RvR and PvP Resource, tell your friends.

Justin Computer

Well, I have been waiting patiently the last few weeks for my Android 2.2 update on my original Droid. This morning it finally came, and let me say, I am quite happy with the new additions! Here is a quick review of some of the things I noticed in my first day of using 2.2:

• Old menu button on home screen replaced by small widget like button that has a phone, menu, and browser button. Does not seem to be configurable but still a nice change.
• 5 home screens by default! For those of us not using a modified home screen this was a nice surprise.
• New menu backdrop and scrolling feature.
• New task switcher that now shows 8 applications instead of the previous 6 applications.
• A built-in Twitter client.
• Visual updates to the messaging clients (gtalk and messaging).
• Some much needed Gmail client updates that make it easier to switch accounts and skip through emails.
• Overall smoothness in operation, especially when swiping across home screens and scrolling through the menu. Where before there was always slight hitching and not complete smoothness.
• Visual configuration changes to the camera application, very nice too.
• VOICE ACTIONS! Wow, if I have to say the single best thing about Android 2.2, it is the voice actions. There are all kinds of actions you can now perform by simply just telling the phone what to do. I am amazed at the quality of voice recognition and how accurate it is. It is basically a whole new app (well you do have to download it from the market) with all new interfaces for quickly doing things, like sending emails/txts, pulling up maps, getting directions for navigation, and many others.

Those are some of the things I am remembering after a day of use. I have not had time to test out Flash 10.1 and I’m not even sure that made it into this release. More details on Android 2.2 can be found here at Android 2.2 Platform Highlights, also worthwhile to take a look at a couple previous reviews for tips and tricks, here and here.

Justin Computer

Ever wonder if you could sync your Mac Address Book to Gmail Contacts? Well, I did, in recent preparation for my new G1 Google phone that is in the mail It is a fairly simple process, it is easier if you have previously connected an iPod/iPhone/PDA or some type of handheld device to your Mac (because you’ve already setup iSync most likely). I followed the instructions here, How to Enable Mac Address Book to Sync with Google’s Gmail Contacts. It mentions using the command line to edit the plist file, but there are other GUI alternatives like PlistEditPro to make things simpler. In short the steps are:

1. Backup your Mac Address Book!
2. Modify the “~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iPod.plist” file (if necessary).
3. Open Address Book settings and check the box to “Synchronize with Google”
4. Open up iSync and click “Devices -> Sync Devices”, or enable menubar sync.
5. Wait for sync operation to complete, then login to your Gmail and verify the new contacts show up.

All in all it works out pretty well. I have encountered an issue if you connect say an iPod to your computer and sync iTunes, it will overwrite the changes you make to the “com.apple.iPod.plist” file. While the link I posted above says how to remedy that situation I could not get it to work myself. Here are a few additional screenshots to show the process.

Justin Computer