Samsung G600- Synching with a PC

Sometimes, when you spend ages trying to work something out, you promise yourself you’ll write it down, in the hope that it’ll help someone else… so, this post is in exactly that spirit.

This post is useful to Windows XP users who have problems with connecting up their Samsung mobiles. Everyone else- this article will be useless!

A review of the phone will follow once I’ve had more time to check it out, but for now, here’s a synopsis of the problem I had trying to connect my new Samsung G600 to a PC with a USB cable.

If you plug in a Samsung G600 to your computer using a USB cable, even if you’ve installed the sync software, you’ll probably be confronted with a nice error: the data is invalid. The Samsung software that comes on the disk with the phone wont recognise the phone, and Windows will try and install it, but will fail.

Having been pleased with my new phone thus far, I was disappointed. I assumes a quick Google would fix it. It did, but the bizarre problem, which 90% of users will never bother working out how to fix, renders the PC-phone connections facilities useless. I was disappointed with Samsung. Anyway, I worked out how to fix it.

1. Install the latest software from the Samsung website
   I wont link to it, because it looks like the kind of site that changes its permalink structure along with its webmaster’s socks- just give it a quick google, it’s easy to find. I don’t know if the new version is vital, but it has some features that aren’t on the disc that comes with the phone, and that software wont auto update to the new version.
2. Fixed the ballsed up registry entry
   The problem I had was rooted in the registry- a bad place to make mistakes.
   

   Damaging the system registry is the fastest way to transform your PC into a novelty CD player. Don’t blame me if you breaks everything! Probably a good idea to make backups and all the other good things you ought to do but always forget to now, then.

   Open up the registry editor by hitting Win+R, typing regedit and hitting enter. Once inside you need to find the appropriate keys: navigate to:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE » SYSTEM » ControlSet001 » Enum » USB and open that key up to reveal the set of keys inside.

   You will see lots of Keys- (they look like folders) all of them have unintelligible names like Vid_04cb&Pid_016&MI_00. (The top few have sensible names like “Root_HUB”). Each of these keys refer to a device that the computer recognises when the device is plugged into it. We need to find the Samsung ones. Easiest way: expand the first level of each of these keys by working from the bottom of the list up; hitting all the [+] icons. Each key has a set of values inside; were’ interested in LocationInformation- scroll through all the keys you’ve just opened up by selecting the top one in the left hand pane of the registry editor, and using the arrow keys to scroll down until the LocationInformation entry has the word SAMSUNG in it. When you’ve found the right key (folder); right click on it (the one that’s called Vid_xyz) and click Permissions…. Check both Allow boxes, and then click the Advanced button. In the dialog that comes up check the box “Replace permission entries on all child objects…” and press OK. Confirm that choice, and then press OK.
   Repeat this process for all the Keys which refer to your phone functions (if you have other Samsung stuff installed that works ok, leave it alone).

   Click OK and close whatever you opened, to get yourself back into the real world. Now try connecting your phone.

That should fix it!

Posted in Miscellaneous, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Photography and Child Protection

A few times I’ve been tasked with taking photographs with strict child-protection controls- for example in South Africa documenting an orphanage which homes HIV+ orphans, and in the UK, promotional material for youth events- with the obvious issues of identifiable children in the photographs.
Taking photographs in this environment can be tricky- here are my tips for producing good photographs which cover your brief and respect child-protection guidlines.

1. Before you start: What is the brief- have you been asked to take photographs? If not- think really carefully about how your snapping could be perceived. If you’ve been asked- by whom- does the person have suitable authority? Have they obtained permission from guardians? If not, don’t go there at all. No means no.
2. Prepare: From a child protection point of view, consider permission forms, taking along some form of ID or a business card to reassure people of your legitimacy and accountability. People are assured if they know who is taking photos, why and that they could access them. Who knows, parents might get in touch to order prints or commission portraits. In general: be accountable and flexible.
   From a creative point of view, consider meeting the brief- if it’s to show kids at play, consider shots of their toys, sand, their paintings and grubby fingers- it’s amazing how much can be implied without featuring individuals. If the shoot is to emphasise sorrow, think about the postures possible without faces.
   If there are likely to be people you know wouldn’t mind your taking photos, for example if there is a youth event and you know some of the parents who will be happy for you to take photos,
3. Connect: Even if the shots you finally produce can’t contain head-shots, don’t ignore faces- to take photos of kids well you need to connect, be friendly. Make sure you give yourself enough material without faces, but take some with them in- and remember to edit carefully.
4. Edit and review: When reviewing consider the limitations- exactly how vague must the photos be? Can a child be identified from your photo? Always show the material to whoever bears final responsibility and explicitly discuss the suitability of shots used in terms of child-protection issues. Mark your stock so that you don’t accidentally use it elsewhere.

Some examples

Click a shot for a larger view.

Here a shot that doesn’t show the child’s face manages to express an awful lot about her surroundings.

Taking photos of this kid I made a good friend- before these shots we’d messed around for ages, taking it in turns to take photos of one another- obviously all of the shots I couldn’t use, but it built up a repore- later on I got him to wave his arms around and cover his face.

Kids love playing and props can be real handy. Bring along a hat or a scarf. If the kids are doing blind-folded races like here, then go with it.

This scenario was a craft morning at the local sunday-school- it’s all about the activities, so focus on the hands and activities are good.

These images are hosted on Flickr.

Posted in photography | 2 Comments »

MooJax Comment Posting: Moved

This post has been moved to a new location at:

http://handsandfeetdesign.com/mcp/

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

MooTools versus jQuery

MooTools and jQuery are both JavaScript libraries- frameworks which make JavaScript easier, faster and more reliable. Although they are slightly different, it’s very much a one-or-the-other decision as to which one you’ll use to build a site.

To get rid of the suspense, here’s my judgement:

Sorry, jQuery- you’re just too cumbersome to get to grips with, and your homepage is just plain ugly.

And that’s despite jQuery being the weapon of choice for both the BBC and apple.
Let me explain why.

It’s worth pointing out that in my experience jQuery and MooTools are horses for slightly different courses. jQuery is about instantly giving a developer nice easy functions- fade this in, fade that out, AJAX-ify that. It’s a set of ‘products’ you can apply to your page. MooTools is more strictly a framework- the functions that come with it and the documentation place emphasis on delivering code functionality- more fundamental pieces like building blocks to build into the end packages that you might get in one go from jQuery.
You might wonder why that makes MooTools better in my opinion- well I guess it’s that unlike many people, I’ve a lot of experience with JavaScript, and I like using it to do unusual and uncommon stuff. And I also like to customise. jQuery takes the apple approach to design- it bests guesses your preference, and just gives you a fade out. MooTools much more obviously gives you opportunities to customise, to decide the exact transition, time frame, colours, ad infinitum.

MooTools, though you often need a few more lines to get what you want done, just makes way more sense. jQuery might accomplish something with one line, but it tends to be a long complicated line, where you can’t see which bits do what. MooTools might need three lines- but three lines which each make perfect intuitive sense, where you can see how to modify your code to get a longer transition, or add another function to some effect.

It’s worth pointing out that MooTools is a bit quicker, but jQuery is a lot nicer in terms of namespace- it’s only footprint is (optionally) the dollar ($) function. So in theory, jQuery will site nicely with any other JavaScript or libraries without colliding. In my experience, however, I’ve found that using jQuery will invariably break anything I’ve done with MooTools- yah boo sucks.

At the moment, despite a shocking lack of decent documentation jQuery is very much more popular. One day I’ll sit down and learn how to use it- but for now I’m much happier with my MooTools.

Posted in JavaScript, web-development | No Comments »

Improved MooJax Comment Posting

A while back I posted my MooTools powered Wordpress-comment AJAX-ify-er. That is, a Wordpress plugin that uses the MooTools library to make your blog comment form all swooshy. (I’ve discussed why I built it for MooTools and not jQuery in my JavaScript library discussion)

I wrote it because I was suprised no-one else had. And as a first effort, it wasn’t bad. But it could be a lot better- and now it is- I’ve completely remade it for version 1.0 and it now has a smaller namespace footprint, it’s more reliable, and has better failover behaviour.

Here’s some of it’s features:

• It utilises the MooTools JavaScript framework- there’s a 90% guarantee it wont work if you’re using a jQuery powered plugin.
• The new version features a much smaller namespace- it only registers the object MCP and so it much less likely to collide with other functions.
• It’s better than the old version. In every way, under the hood.

As before, it’s available for download from the Wordpress site

The instruction installations:

• Unzip and install to your wordpress folder/wp-content/plugins
• Enable from your admin panel. If you’re not yet using MooTools it should work fine.
• You can use CSS directives to style the throbber: just set a directive for the form.throbbing class.

The support instructions:

• Post a comment here- don’t forget to leave your address!

The ‘gratuity’ beg:

• Find a local charity. Volunteer for them, preferably. If not, give them money. Go home. Look after your kids and your wife. Maybe turn on the computer again after a few days.

Posted in JavaScript, web-development | 13 Comments »