Maybe running SQL SErver 2008 and Dropbox on my Tablet is not such a bad idea

I was long worrying that running Dropbox and SQL Server 2008 will totally ruin my Tablet PC as a drawing device. Turns out it was not as terrible as I thought. But I will definitely observer it for a few more days before I can make any concerte conclusion.

Little Big Planet PSP failed to connect to PSN

Tried connecting Little Big Planet PSP to PSN, and failed. The experience of entering user name and password on that device was simply terrible, and it doesn't save what I entered if the connection failed. What a bummer.

Found another problem with the Toshiba Netbook

Once again I went to Fry's Electronics, and once again I spent sometime messing with the Toshiba Netbook. Getting a netbook that allows me to consume media without the heat problem I am having with my Tablet is sure a great thing, and the Toshiba Netbook does deliver a machine with cold body even after turning on for long long time. However, for some reason I kept thing that something is "off", that there's something wrong with the device. Today I found it out: it's the sound.

It turns out that the audio volume coming out of the device is pretty darn low when I tested it in the store, and it was confimred by this forum. People seem to find way to "live with it". There's also another Windows 7 related sound issue. So should I pay money to buy a device and that "live with" the problem? I don't know . That' an issue I should seriously think about.

Plus there's a little funky price issue. Based on the sales at Fry's claimed, the one selling at Fry's comings with Windows 7 Started edition and with 250Gb harddisk for US$279 (US$302 with tax), while the one at Amazon is selling at US$289 but with only 160gb harddisk.

I also saw the much older version of MacBook selling at $699. It would made a very nice iPhone development machine, but suddenly I have any platform to take care of. And $700 to buy an outdated model gives me an odd feeling.

Asus O Play is another gear that I keep thinking about getting but not quite so sure that I should get it. There's now a better incentive for me to get it as it comes with a 1 year wired magazine subscription. But then is that I don't have a HDTV, and the same task can be easily performed by my PC with ONE PROBLEM: my computer is pretty darn noise, and may potentially ruin my viewing experience. Still, it would make so much more sense if I get a HDTV, and then hook the media player to a HDTV. That actually led me to start thinking about getting a 46 inch HDTV.

So I'll probably check with my coworker A Wong and see if he has any tips on HDTV.

Found another problem with VirtualBox: Networking

I rarely use VirtualBox at home, but since I want to update the SQL Server 2008 on the Windows 7 VM I used in the office while doing other stuff, I decided to run it. And I was glad I did that because it reveal a problem with VirtualBox that I didn't realize: Networking. Specifically, the virtual box gave gave my VM a non-192.168 IP address. And thus the VM CANNOT see my home network. Yet, it has no problem connecting to the external network. That got me pretty confused.

Oh well, at least I can map to my physical DVD Drive to get the update done. But .. it's just ... odd....

So this is how I saved my Tablet PC ...

I was trying to activate the OSX partition on my Tablet PC, only to find out that the partition wasn't working properly. No problem, I thought, for I had a bootable thumb drive that allows me to boot Acronis DiskDirector or TrueImage as that I could fix bootup problem a will.

It turns out that the drive has PROBLEM, and thus not able to bootup! It put my machine in a limbo stage as the result! Forturnately, I can install the DiskDirector on my work machine, create a new boot media, and recover my machine.

What a mess I put myself in.