Z's Blog

Installing Android ICS on HTC HD2

Zubin Saigal — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:15:50 +0000

After almost a year of running Android 2.3.x from my SD card while keeping Windows as the base OS, I finally decided to take the plunge and go Android only. That despite the pathetic battery life it's been giving me. Let's hope running it from NAND instead of SD offers an improvement there.

I first directly tried installing MAGLDR 1.13 but ended up with nothing but a white screen with the green HTC logo. This was because I had HSPL 3.03 which is unfriendly with the install-Android-on-HD2 world. A few minutes of panic later, I discovered that HSPL4 was finally out now. God bless them. Quickly fired it up from here.

Next, install MAGLDR 1.13 from this link and ClockworkMod Recovery (250MB) from here.

For my first NAND Android install, I'm trying the NexusHD2-ICS-4.0.3-CM9 V1.2 build. Seems a popular and fairly stable choice going by the long thread with positive feedback. It also has a useful WIKI entry here.

The easiest way going forward is to set MAGLDR in USB storage mode, copy over the NexusHD2 zip file. Then go back to the MAGLDR menu, scroll to and select the AD recover to jump into clockworkrecovery. Browse to the zip file you want to install and run it.

After you are done with the install use the reboot option in the clockworkmod menu to come back to the MAGLDR menu. Scroll to NAND boot option and press the call button. Wait a while for the first boot. You now have Android ICS installed and running. Enjoy!

Google Marketing!

Zubin Saigal — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:24:30 +0000

What kind of retards is google employing from Delhi for marketing?! Firstly, why you would hire a marketing person from Delhi to call prospective customers in the south truly beats me. They're practically a different species. So I got a call from them this morning for a customer's website saying someone has created a new advertsing account for that website. So i explain to this sales rep that it is a customer's website and not our website.

He then goes on to ask what our business is and what my domain name is. I tell him we run a web hosting business called nettigritty and the website is nettigritty.com. His next question - "is it your own website". No, it's my neighbours website that I like calling my own. Why on earth would my business give out someone else's website when asked for our website. Of course it is my website you @#$#@$.

To try and cut this retardedness short, I go ahead and tell him I already have a google advertising account which I have been using for many years. His next question: have you signed up for this recently. @#$@#@$%#$. What part of many years sounds recent? He goes on and persists saying ok, we would like to offer you some initial credits on your account to get you started. If there was a slap-caller-silly button on my phone, I would have happily used it many times at this point. Alas.

I finally had to dumb it down and tell him all over again in many more words - existing account, many years, initial credits would not apply, thank you, bye! What a start to the week. Hello Monday morning!

Open Letter to Taco Bell

Zubin Saigal — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:15:26 +0000

Last evening, I visited Taco Bell in Gopalan Mall on Bannerghatta Road deciding to finally give it a try and brave it despite almost everyone I have come across, almost consistently telling me that it is bad food (except for one person who said you have recently imrpoved). Serves me right for not listening to the majority I suppose. But this was not just bad. This was the worst food, if I can even call it food, that I have tasted, ever. No, I'm not exaggerating, not even by a small stretch.

My wife and I ordered the meal for two. How bad can a taco, quesadilla or some nachos be? Well, you at Taco bell India seem to have taken it on yourself to set the standard as low as possible. Obviously, we did not finish that meal. But it left me disturbed, horrified and somewhat shocked by what I had experienced.

I am appalled and very surprised that the same group that churns out some great food in both Pizza Hut and KFC, both of which I love, could do something this terrible with Taco Bell. Please have someone actually taste what you are selling at these stores. I don’t think people would want to revisit something like this. It's no surprise that the crowds are taco bells across Bangalore are always so low in number.

Maybe it is time to rework the strategy for this brand in India. Charge people a little more and produce better, fresh food, not some pre-packaged maybe-this-will-do nonsense. They will thank you for it. Good food will always bring back people. Bad food, even if given away free, will only bring people to your store once, given that they actually make that mistake.

Please don't think from outside your buns, it's only shit coming out. Whoever is doing the thinking, please have them use their head instead.

A visibly very upset yum restaurants' fan!

Outsourced support!

Zubin Saigal — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:34:43 +0000

I was sent to this link today by a spamming autobot on twitter - 10besthosting-blahblah-websites.com. The top rated site has a real nice design and offers the usual oversold everything. I decided to use the chat link on the site to see what they're really about. Transcript follows:

Ariel: Hi Zubin. My name is Ariel, how are you today?

Zubin: Hi Ariel

Ariel: Hi. How can I help you today?

Zubin: I wanted to know if there is any kind of limitation in your plans

Zubin: everything unlimited sounds somewhat too good to be true

Zubin: what's the fine print?

Ariel: Could you please provide me the Web URL, from where you have contacted us for Chat?

Zubin: which company are you from ?

Zubin: hello ?

Ariel: I need the URL in which you have clicked on Live Chat.

Ariel: We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. But, we need your co-operation as we are in the process of enhancing the Chat icons on our Web site and during this period we want identify the exact page from where you have contacted us. This will help us to determine the list of pages from where we usually get the chats and organize the Chat icons in a better way.

Zubin: i clicked the chat link on your home page

Ariel: Yes, please provide me the URL.

Zubin: of your home page ???

Zubin: is this some kind of outsourced support?

Ariel: We have sister concern company's.

Ariel: Hence, please provide me the URL in which you have clicked on Live Chat.

Zubin: never mind. thanks.

I had never considered outsourcing our support before. I'm now sold on never considering it :)

Information Overload

Zubin Saigal — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:37:47 +0000

Quite an inappropriate title considering how much content I have been putting on this blog. However, I'm not talking about my blog. Its the internet with all the personal and global updates and all those new apps to connect to every social networking site. Brilliant stuff. I'm presently on a heady cocktail mix of trillian, seesmic, twitter, facebook, bing and good ol' mail (Orkut seems like the vague, outdated, old, useless past. It just doesnt work for me any more). Its like if you really wanted to know what everyone (online) in the whole world was doing, you could. Even Nostradamus didn't see this one coming, I'd bet. Its almost bordering on too much information. At times, you have to shut out and breathe, and say, enough. And then come back for more. No, this isn't going to be a long piece to try and compensate for the time I have not written. Just thought I'd put down what was presently on my mind. I'll save you that much extra information for now and try to come back here soon. Cheers till then

take 2

Zubin Saigal — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:54:09 +0000

I'm done with this planet
and the people around
bored out of my brains
with the same old sounds
i want to move to another another place
with green skies and red shores
and other things that don't exist
in a place i haven't seen before

i want to breathe in a new kind of air
the sort that doesn't suffocate me
the sort that fills me up
in a way that it empties me
lightens me of everything i carry
takes it all away and sets me free

arms stretched sideways
i want to fly through the air
with a smile on my face
and wind rushing through my hair

Only..

Zubin Saigal — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:59:04 +0000

At first I wondered who these four are. My second thought, this was priceless! Amazing artwork. A fine example in modern signage. Sheer brilliance! No, I did not find it outside a loo, that would hopefully say only one (or maybe two ) can go. It was on a lift. Quite amazing how many parallels and ideas crop up from this one

Congratulations Manan!

Zubin Saigal — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:55:35 +0000

The ad that struck gold at Cannes! enough said

nagged!

Zubin Saigal — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:52:37 +0000

yes, i was nagged into this one. agreed, i should update more often but we're all allowed to disappear once in a while, aren't we? particularly with some floating numbskulls who refuse to take a hint that you aren't interested in visting certain places and people. ok, lets not make anyone feel too important now. completely unnecessary and undeserved.

i haven't been entirely in non-writing mode. Just writing shorter more directed things that stay offline and underground I'll write here, soon. I'll try anyway. Planet Zeus ain't going anywhere any time soon!

BIA – First trip

Zubin Saigal — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:44:05 +0000

Bangalore NEEDS that new airport and anyone opposing it needs to go live in Maikedaatu. Welcome progress, welcome infrastructure! I do however tend to somewhat agree with the critics that said this is the airport we should be upgrading from and not upgrading to. Let's hope I'm wrong and there is a good chance of that considering I didn't see the inside of the terminal or get a first hand experience of how things are working behind that tall facade. That will happen soon, I'm hoping. I hear its been having a lot of co-ordination issues but I'd like to think of them as teething problems and am sure they'll get ironed out soon enough.

Anyway, I took the trip yesterday morning and made my way to this new happening place in town. How could I not! It's THE new place to be at after all! First up, here's the trusted steed that flew us there and back.

Bangalore International Airport is about 45km from home and it took me around an hour and 15 minutes including a little 10 minute stopover for something extremely important, details of which are best kept secret

This .. might explain how we did such good time

No, I didn't do a constant 130. I would have reached in 34 minutes and 36 seconds otherwise (thank you dear Math teacher). The road, for most part is good, except for a few patches where it looks like they're broadening it and should be good for takeoff soon as well.

The Airport itself was a nice and open space with plenty of parking. This is such a welcome contrast to the cramped space we've been used to at HAL. The terminal is long on the outside and huge inside (I'm told) and has this nice big bag (advert) by Louis Vuitton bang in the middle

and is lined up with Airline, Hotel and Travel desks on the front of the terminal.

It also has a few places for the hungry traveller's companion on the outside. We had started at around 8 in the morning without breakfast or a cuppa so spotting Subway, Baskin Robbins, Gangotree and the likes was like finding an oasis in the Sahara. Hallelujah!

Thank you PR for making this trip happen. We, ok, I did a little flying on the ground after you left

More pics are here and here's PR's post on her experience of the little (for me and not so little for her) trip.