DarthNinja.com :: Blog

I wasn’t very impressed with Sapphire’s bootskin so I decided to change it, here’s how you can do the same.

First of all, the boot skin is the graphic that shows up as the phone is turning on.  The default droid bootskin looks like this:

Here is how to change your bootskin (root required):

1. Download a skin you like, most are zipped and ready to install.
2. Install [ Android Terminal Emulator ] from the market.
3. Copy the bootskin you downloaded onto the root of your SDCard and name it “bootanimation.zip”.
4. Open terminal emulator and run the following commands.  (Ignore the $ and # signs).
   $su
   #cp /sdcard/bootanimation.zip /data/local/
   #reboot
5. Your phone should now reboot with the new bootskin.

These are the steps I used to change my boot skin, if they don’t work for you, you may want to try some of the other steps listed [ Here ].

There is also a free version of a paid app that you can use, although you can’t import new skins unless you pay.  The app still requires root:  [ Boot Animation Changer LITE ]  I will most likely post a review of this app in the near future.

I have not found a good source for bootskins yet, [ This Site ] has a handful, but only a few good ones.
If you know of a good place to find skins, leave a comment!

Here are a few good skins from the link above:

Midnight, default skin recolor:

Aperture Science skin:

Modern Warfare 2:

Two screenshot apps up for review:  drocap2 and screenshot.
Both of these apps do require root access, so if you’re not rooted they will not work.

First up:  screenshot

This app works well enough, although you need to make sure to check “invert red and blue colors” or the screencap’s colors will be all screwy.

You can take the screenshot based on a timer or by shaking the phone, they both work well enough although the shake option tends to take 2 pictures rather then one.

You can save files as BMP, PNG or JPG images.

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Next: drocap2

This screen cap is about the same as screencap, but it feels much more polished.
The interface loads as an overlay overtop of other apps (presumably what you would be taking a picture of) which is nice.
You can pick any time from 1 to 60 seconds using the slider which is more precise then screenshot’s drop-box.
You can set the capture mode under options to one of ether Timer, Shake, or Notification.  Notification puts a button in your status bar that you press to take a picture.
There is also the option to enable a timer-tick sound for screenshots using drocap2.
You can save files as JPG or PNG.

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Overall drocap2 is the winner with a better looking, better designed interface and a few more features.

Stats:
[ drocap2 ]:  free – requires root – 266.5 KB

[ screenshot ]:  free – requires root – 81.9 KB

Now that I have rooted my phone to droid 2.2 [ using this great walk-through ] I can finally get around to reviewing some of my favorite apps!

I will be posting short reviews of apps or app categories, along with screenshots and/or videos.

I will try to remember to tag my review posts correctly so they show up on this page.

For anyone wondering;
I have a rooted Motorola Droid running Android 2.2-Sapphire 0.7.0
I will try to remember to post if an app requires root access.

Earlier today Valve/Steam apparently had some sort of account-database issue and were forced to restore account data from a backup.
Users have reported missing games from purchases made during the last week.  Another indication of data being restored from a backup is that player’s recently changed Steam avatars have reverted to their previous avatar.

I myself am missing at least 8 games from my account and have had my avatar changed.
This error with Steam’s record keeping is troubling to say the least.

At the present time I highly recommend you submit a Steam support ticket!
[Steam Support]

Steam is currently running a 10 day long summer sale starting June 24th and ending July 4th!
New sale items every day.

Some sale packs are:

• Call of Duty Pack 75% off
• All CodeMasters games 66% off
• Two indie game 5-packs $20 each
• 33% off the Valve Complete pack
• 55% off Starwars Complete pack – $170 worth of games for $75

Today-only specials:

• Trine: $4
• Bioshock 2: $15
• DiRT 2: $10
• Aion: Standard Edition: $20
• Counter-Strike: Source: $6.80 (Now with 144 new achievements, and running on the OrangeBox Engine!)
• Unreal Deal Pack: $14
• Killing Floor: $5
• Overlord Complete Pack: $4.50

[Source:  Steam Store]

This week is EA week over at the Steam Store with a new EA game or games on sale each day!

Today (Monday) Crysis and Crysis Warhead are both 50% off at $15 and $10 respectively.

Check back each day for more sale items!

[ EA Week ]

Valve released a new TF2 update today which enables TF2 on OSX.

Also, anyone that plays on a Mac before the 14th gets a free Mac earbud hat.
(Although you can get away with playing a round in a VM )

Also be sure to check out the awesome mac video Valve has released:
TeamFortress.com/macupdate

There is also a comic that apparently has something to do with hospitals for fruit.

I’m not much of one to buy things on Impulse (Stardock’s Steam clone), but they have some decent sales on this weekend:

Sins of a Solar Empire – $3.99
RTS, have not played it myself, but the editors of PC Gamer would not shut up about it a while ago.
Normally $19.99

.

Demigod – $9.99
I’m sure you’ve heard of this game at some point.  It’s another strategy game, but again I have not played it.

(Oh and if you poke around, they also have some free stuff too – apps and games that is).

QuantZ is a great little physics-based puzzle game – easy  to learn but hard to master.

It has a Mac version, so you can play it on that MacBook someone gave you.
It also has Steam Cloud support and 15 Achievements.

QuantZ is well worth the current $3 sale price.
(QuantZ on Steam)

Valve has apparently decided to give away Portal free to anyone with Steam!
Portal is also now playable on OSX for Macs!
To quote:

Portal used to cost money. Until May 24th, it’s free. End of story.

Well, technically speaking, there are some strings attached. Fortunately, they’re entirely decorative. We just like the way they look, swaying in the gentle breeze created by a million people simultanously fainting from shock at the news that Portal is free. Now you have no reason not to try Portal.

“I have a reason,” some of you are probably typing into an angry email. “You see, sir, I own a Mac.”

Well guess what: For the first time ever, Portal is also available for the Mac.

“Capital news! But the excellent puzzle adventure Portal won over 40 Game of the Year awards; Surely it must cost at least five or six hundred dollars.”

You’d think that, especially since it actually won over 70 Game of the Year Awards. But, like we keep saying, Portal is free. Free on the Mac. Free on the PC. But only until May 24th. So you only have a few days to decide if your free copy of Portal is worth the price we’re currently charging – which is you ever-so-slightly moving your index finger just barely enough to click the big red “download” button right there to the left.

Portal Promo Page:
http://store.steampowered.com/freeportal/