From your iPhone/iPod/iPad:

Step one: Open the app store app

Step 2: Tap featured on the bottom tab bar, and if it isn’t already selected, tap either “New” or “What’s Hot” on the top tool bar.  Then scroll to the bottom, and tap “Redeem”.

Step 3: Enter your promo code!

One you have submitted your code, the app will automatically download to your iOS device.  The app will usually install to the first available space you have on the device OTHER than the first page.  So, if you have an open spot on page 2, then it will be there, if page 2 is full, then it will be on 3, etc etc.

If you entered a code from an iTunes gift card instead of a promo code from a developer, then the sum of that giftcard will be applied to your iTunes account, which you can then use to buy some cool apps.

From iTunes

If you happen to be at your computer with promo code (or iTunes gift card) in hand, you can also enter it in iTunes.

Step 1: Open iTunes, and click “Store”

Step 2: Find the “Quick Links” section on the right hand side of the iTunes app, and click “Redeem”

Step 3: Enter you code, and click Redeem

This will start downloading the app if it was a promo code, or apply the cash value to your iTunes account if it was a gift card.  The only drawback about doing it this way for promo codes, is that you have to sync your device with iTunes before it will be installed on your device, which kinda sucks.  The easiest way by far for promo codes is to enter the code on your device.

So, I go about my work the next day, everything is going fairly well.  I fire up foobar (my media player of choice) and the first problem pops up.  Foobar is trying to access my music located on my NAS via a map drive and is having issues.  So, I think maybe it is just a permissions deal, so I try to login to that device via explorer.  It fails too.  Now no Internet access either. WTF.  I fire up my Mac Book Pro, it can hit the NAS and the web just fine, so the problem isn’t the NAS and it isn’t the network.  I reboot the windows box (that’s the default fix for windows machines right?).  It comes right up, I’m back online.  I try to access my mapped drive.  Again, everything network related fails.  At this point, I am having thoughts of downgrading to Vista (or maybe even XP).  I mean, this is basic networking here, what gives.

After saying some choice words and doing a little exploring, I eventually made my way to Windows 7 Network and Sharing center, which shows the problem:

After clicking the little warning sign between This Computer and Network, windows starts its automated network diagnostic tool.  After it runs and does its thing, it turns out that the problem it fixed was: “The default gateway is not available”.

Well, this seemed to fix the problem, but only temporarily.  After either some random amount of time, or if I tried to access local area network devices, or just had a lot of web traffic in general, my network connection would go down, I’d go through the process of repairing the default gateway and be back on my way.  The problem is, this happened often, way to often - especially for a “modern” OS.  Using the network diagnostic tool to fix this was simply a patch, not a solution.

This madness led me to do some more digging, which is when I came across this link.  Basically, the problem is for motherboards that have that use the Nvidia nForce chip-set.  The problem is not the chip-set, but the default drivers that ship for it with Windows 7.  Yay Windows.  If you open the network controller properties (Right click on My Computer, then click Manage, then Device Manager, then Network adapters, then right click on the adapter you wish to view, then click properties, then click the Driver tab) you should see a screen like this:

Notice the Driver Provider section, it should say Microsoft.  The solution to this problem is to install the nForce drivers for Windows Vista (64 bit in my case).  Doing this is fairly simple.  You will need to go to Nvidia’s website and download the driver for your particular motherboard.  When you get to a page, you will see a screen like this:

Be sure to pick nForce as the product type.  Now the tricky part, you need to know the series and product.  I’ve had my machine for a while, and really didn’t remember which one it is.  So, I used a super handy tool called CPU-Z.  This tool inspects your hardware, and gives you very detailed info on it.  Using this I was able to determine that I have the 5 series 570 SLI chipset (yeah I know, I need to upgrade).  After you run it, click the Mainboard tab to get to the info you want for the download page.  Below is a screen shot of what you should expect to see when you run CPU-Z:

What you will end up downloading from Nvidia’s site will be an exe – 15.25_nforce_winvista64_international_whql.exe – in my case.  If you try to double click the exe and run the setup, it will NOT install what you want.  What you have to actually do is extract the files from the exe.  I used win rar for this task, but you can use what ever archive utility of your choosing.  With win rar it was as simple as right clicking the file and choosing Extract Files from the context menu.

After you have extracted the driver files, you will need to open the network controller properties (Right click on My Computer, then click Manage, then Device Manager, then Network adapters, then right click on the adapter you wish to view, then click properties, then click the Driver tab) and click the update driver button.  You will then need to choose Browse my computer for driver software, then Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer, then Have Disk, then navigate to the directory where you extracted the driver files and hit ok.  The screen should look like this:

You want to choose the one marked NVIDIA, then hit next and just follow through the dialog from there.  After the wizard is complete, your network adapter will be fixed and you won’t have the super annoying The default gateway is not available problem any longer.  If you check your network controller settings, they should now look like this:

Notice that the Driver Provider now says NVIDIA.  If your controller screen looks like this, then your inter-tube-webz are now fixed.

Enjoy.

The Dreaded Recovery Mode Screen

So, my saga started after trying to apply the latest patch from apple for my iPhone which was to guard against the “serious” SMS vulnerability that had come to light after the Black Hat conference in Vegas. More info on that can be found here.

Anyway, after downloading the 297 MB patch in iTunes, some error occurred half way through the patch process that left my iPhone in recovery mode.   None of the current “Hold power button & home button for 30 seconds while standing on your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time” type fixes would get the phone out of this dreaded recovery mode.  The solution from apple is to hit the restore button, and wait for 3 hours (exaggerated, I know but that’s what it feels like) for your phone to be restored – then try to reapply the patch.  Well, that pretty much just sucks, so I went about looking for a better solution.

As it turns out, a better solution is out there.  There is a program, for both Mac and Windows, called iRecovery.  It is a command line tool and will save you much time.  I learned of its existence from this link:  http://ipitg.net/how-to-kick-iphone-out-of-recovery-mode-mac/

I have copied their instructions below, just in case they should be removed from their site for whatever reason.

The Process:
Download iRecovery (for windows, go here & here).
Install iRecovery.
Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app
Run this command: “iRecovery -s”
Type: “printenv”
Look for this variable in the list: “auto-boot”. Most likely, yours will be set to false (hence your problem).
If “auto-boot” is set to “false” or isn’t present at all, follow the rest of this guide. If it’s set to true, try restarting your iPhone/iTouch by holding home and power for 10 seconds.
Type this: “setenv auto-boot true”.
Type: “saveenv”.
Type: “reboot”.
Your iPhone/iTouch should now reboot into normal mode.

This worked on my iPhone 3GS running the 3.0.1 OS.

Now go forth, and fix your iPhone.

You can play  his resignation by going here.  For those of you that need instructions, use the arrow keys to move, and the space bar to jump.

Enjoy.

Anyhow, I purchased this app for the iPhone the other day.  At almost $10 bucks, it’s kind of steep as far as iPhone apps go, though after playing with it for a couple of days, I really like it.  I won’t go into the details, but if you are interested, you can check out the complete feature list here.

One of the cool features shredder has is that it will adjust to your playing strength.  It starts at a base of 1400 ELO, then adjusts itself up or down as you win or lose against it.  It also provides you with a rating based on your play.  My personal opinion is that it rates both sides too high based on some of the mistakes that it makes which have allowed some of my wins against thus far.

 
Below is my first game against shredder playing the black pieces.  Enjoy.

• Cut / Copy / Paste
• Wide-screen keyboard for email (and 3rd party apps)
• Turn by turn directions
• MMS Support (iPhone 3G only)
• More blue-tooth hard ware compatibility and communication
• Voice Memos

Supposedly, over 1k API’s have been unlocked.  This means there should be some killer apps coming out soon.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll be happy with the cut/copy/paste, and the MMS support.  

For a more detailed listing of new features, check out this link.

I often refer to Mac OS X as “Linux that works” as far as the desktop and end user experience is concerned.  Granted distro’s like Ubuntu are great, and getting better all the time, but they still don’t come close to the polish that OS X has for a *inx based system.

One complaint I do have, is the OS X screen shot key combination(s).  On windows, its simple, press “Prt Scr” to copy the entire screen to your clipboard, or “Alt + Prt Scr” to copy the window.  Granted, there is no user feedback, and it is really a no frills approach, but it works, and is simple.

On OS X, you have to play twister with your fingers on the keyboard to get a screen shot.  What gives?  I mean seriously, you have to hit “Command + Control + Shift + 4″ then hit space bar to capture a window to the clipboard?  OS X does makes a lot of things very easy (not to mention ‘shiny’), but this is not one of them.

In case you are wondering here is the full list of OS X Screen shot commands:

Command listing credit goes to: http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/2006/01/01/mac-os-x-screenshot-secrets.html