What does this bills does? Gives copyright holders full control over what sites to block via the ISP level is what those 2 bills generally does but each bill does things different. Protect IP Act was the first bill that the MPAA and RIAA been trying to pass down the pipe for 2+ years but became the hot topic the past 5+ months.

What does the Protect IP Act do? Protect IP Act gives a list of URLs that ISPs are required to block. It’s an internet blacklist is the shortest term here. Then you have a second list that ISPs are not required to block but will get immunity if they do block them, we call those the internet gray list. This bill pretty much makes us like China but at ISPs level and not the DNS level.

What about this SOPA? What this bill will do is allow copyright owners claims a site is infringing on copyright and what would happen is A) any ad revenues are blocked forever, B) site is blocked at DNS level, and C) search engines will have to block those links. This bill is almost like China but pretty much does more damage to the site’s owner(s). Also with this bill pretty much forces the site owner(s) to censor themselves if they want to make sure they don’t get in trouble as anyone who has the very lest of infringing materials can put the site into world wind.

If any of these bills gets passed, it’s the end of the internet because we’ll be setting the path for the rest of the world. If we block the internet, then the rest of the country will start following through. So help out by emailing your Senator to vote against those bills.

Anyhow, I do not have much to say at this immediate moment, not much going on. Hey, those who do read this, feel free to talk about stuff, you know? o.o Just post a comment and let’s start something? XD

Okay, the only thing worth noting (which just popped into my head right now…) is the RenFest I am about to head to. Who wants pics!? I KNOW I DO. I never got to take pics of the freaking OmniCon down here because everything I had died for some strange reason. Seriously. All of it. My phone, my camera, my DSi. Kaflooey. Hardly fair. I have remedied this by getting new batteries and new devices. XD

Also, I wish I could afford my final pieces to my… Me costume. Red amber contacts. Yeeeessss.

SO EXPECT PICTURES OF THE HOUSTON RENAISSANCE FESTIVAL! And now… WE GO!

Anime-Splash-PG05IMG

Enjoy the new splash screen!

In case anyone wonders what it looks like, here’s what it looks like:

Onto more serious (though not by much) matters.

This weekend I am going to a con. It is tiny, unlike others I have been too and never done anything about. I figured since I missed AX this year, I will be going to this one. It is called OmniCon, and for the sake of having something to post about, I have made a FaceBook. *shudders*

Upon this Book of Face, I shall be posting pics and minor posts of the events there and really… That’s about it.

Neatest thing about this year’s OmniCon is that I shall be meeting the Black and White Power Rangers (Mighty Morphing, of course)! *fangirl squee*

I will make little posts about it and stuff, and oh my… I should make a Twitter.

With that said, I have now made a Twitter. Here: http://twitter.com/#!/HorosCorner

Also, FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002602214411

I refuse to make them look pretty. More to come, maybe. I dunno. I sleep now. Night!

Turns out what I was thinking right because the more I research the more I started to understand what was going on. Since the Motorola XOOM‘s bootloader’s unlockable is where I start learning more (I have a 3G XOOM, still waiting on the 4G upgrade to come out). And I recently upgraded my X to the HTC Thunderbolt and learned that there bootloader is also unlock (by unlocking it through HBOOT flash).

So here I’ll put down what I’ve learned so far.

What Exactly Is A Bootloader?

A bootloader is a piece of code that runs at the low level. You can think of it as the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) of a computer. It’s purpose is to execute the kernel and OS for actual boot. The bootloader also checks the signature to make sure it’s an official ROM provided by the manufacture assuming that the bootloader is still locked. With an unlocked bootloader you can flash customized ROMs without having to worry about signature checks. This is why having an unlocked bootloader is important.

Because of the fact that Motorola started locking down there bootloader without the option of unlocking it is such a big deal to the modding community. But because of the modding community, they have found a way around it. Just because the bootloader’s locked doesn’t mean you can’t get root access.

What Exactly Is Root?

Root is a user account that has full access and permission to all files and folders of an OS. This means you can do pretty much whatever you want to the OS (in this case the Android OS). I’ve used root access to copy my notification tones and ring tones directly to the phone instead of on the memory card (for a good reason).

Usually to root an Android device you will need to find an exploit and once you exploit it you can then gain perm. root access. This is how it was done with the Droid X in Android 2.1 there was an exploit where if you toggle on/off either the WiFi or Bluetooth after running one command you’d be able to gain temp root access so you can copy all the files you need for perm root. Because of the fact that the Droid X’s bootloader isn’t unlockable we had to make due with that.

With the XOOM, since the bootloader’s unlockable, once you unlock the bootloader all you had to do was flash a new system image which already included root access.

For the HTC Thunderbolt, you had to gain temp root to downgrade, once downgraded you can then flash a new image that will turn S-ON to S-OFF (S meaning Secure, meaning the bootloader is either checking signatures or not) before upgrading back up with perm root.

So, has you can see, the ways of rooting an Android device varies. But as long as the bootloader’s unlocked, you can get root pretty easy and flash custom kernels and ROMs. Because the Droid X and all newer Motorola phone’s bootloader will never be unlockable, you won’t be able to load true custom ROMs but can make due because of the modding community.

What Exactly Is A ROM?

A ROM, in Android’s case, is the actual system. It’s pretty much the changes to the /system directory customized to either be less bloated or to be speed up the performance. This will sometimes includes changes to kernel itself but you won’t be able to change the kernel if the bootloader is locked and cannot be unlocked. Changes to the kernel sometimes makes improvements of the overall stability and/or performance as well.

Think of the ROM as a different flavor of an Linux OS (assuming you know something of the Linux OS, even if you’ve just heard of Red Hat and Mandrake) is the easiest way to explain I can think of.

And The Recovery?

The recovery (located on the recovery partition) is used for trying to recovery your phone. Basic recovery is usually a way for formatting the phone and allows for software updates. On a rooted/unlocked bootloader device, you can flash a custom recovery (or in terms of the Motorola Droid X, Droid X2, Droid 2, etc, using a bootstrap to hijack the recovery call) for more options such as backing up the whole phone (current ROM), flashing customized flashable zip files (such as adding themes or different ROM), etc.

Questions To You

Weren’t you using a Blackberry before?

Yes, I was, and loved it, but then after I gotten used to my Droid X and saw what I can do, I just tossed my Blackberry to my mom. My mom loves my old Blackberry so it worked out for her.

But You only had your X for less then a year? What gives?

Multiple co-workers and friends gotten it, the more I played with it, the more I wanted it, called Verizon, and they gave me a really good deal for it with the extended battery. Can turn down an awesome offer.

You said you have a XOOM? Why you didn’t say anything?

I was typing up a post about it on the XOOM itself but became too lazy. I will say this, though. Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) is fucken awesome!

How you liking the Thunderbolt?

The Thunderbolt is awesome, even more so now that I don’t have to experiences the random reboots (that started happening yesterday, June 12th) because of the new radio I’ve flashed and am using Flyweight ROM.

Anyways, can’t really think of much more to say but if you have any questions let me know in a comment or email.

First off, it doesn’t remind me of Internet Explorer anymore, which is very good, second, the ad blocking software that I know and love on Firefox (AdBlock Plus) has a similar add-on for Chrome which made this jump to the top of the list. What’s also great about Google Chrome is how fast it is. Mind you that I’m using a pretty slow hard drive (in fact, my hard drive is what’s current keeping my system getting at a perfect 7.3 as the lowest rating, my hard drive is at 5.3 while processor/ram is at 7.5 and graphic (both gaming and general) is at 7.3) and a click of the shortcut for Chrome opened in a blink of an eye.

Firefox will still have a place in my heart but my new love is now will always be forever Google Chrome now~.

So why did I went back to the old layout? Simply because the other design wasn’t working out for me like I hope it would. Anyways, I’ll do some more articles when I get around to it, for now I’ll lead it at this.

Anyways, what’s been new is Shira Oka is now finally out and can be bought here at Impulse Driven and I’m very excited about it and you should buy it!

Also what’s been new is that I’ve finally decided to taken the dive and actually start studying up on and practice for the A+ exam just so I can become A+ certified to open more doors (and get the heck out of my current job).

Also going to try to get a few things done around the site if I’m not too lazy (yes, I’m lazy, but you all know that already).

And Tron: Legacy is awesome watching it in IMAX 3D, GO WATCH IT!