Finally I can make Yogurt at home consistently.

As I was cleaning my garage I re-discovered my Yogurt Maker Euro Cuisine YM80 Yogurt Maker I bought on Amazon now $24 http://www.amazon.com/Euro-Cuisine-YM80-Yogurt-Maker/dp/B000EX16RY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387383830&sr=8-1&keywords=yogurt+maker

Then I used starter culture my sister suggested which is Yogourmet Freeze Dried Yogurt Starter now $16.35 on Amazon for a 3-pack http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GVIS4M/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I used a Pyrex 4 cup glass container for 1% milk.

1. Microwave and highest power for 10 minutes in a Sharp 1200w microwave.

2. Let it cool for about 15 minutes.

3. Add 1 packet of the starter and stir well with a fork.

4. Put it in the Yogurt maker and turn it on.

5. Checked after about 4.5hrs and found that it is mostly done (It is supposed to maintain about 120F. Room temp was about 66F in Dec In Northern CA).

6. Shut off the Yogurt Maker but let the yogurt sit in it for an hour or 2 and then put it in the fridge.

To make the next batch, I used 3 teaspoons of this yogurt as the culture. Worked for NF milk too and perhaps needed another 30min in the Yogurt Maker.

Now I am the resident expert in making yogurt!

Upgraded Samsung Galaxy Note 2 T Mobile SGH-T889 from 4.1.2 to 4.3.

My Samsung Galaxy Note 2 T Mobile SGH-T889 was rooted but otherwise stock because I wanted to use wifi calling where the signal was not good in my sister's house in Bethesda, MD surrounded by woods and in UCSC campus room of my son. As the signal gets better perhaps there is no need for wifi calling.

Anyway, because my phone was considered "modified" OTA upate did not work. I used Samsung Kies to update and it did go reasonably well. It took barely 1 hour. To root it again I used http://honai-android.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-to-root-galaxy-note-2-t-mobile-sgh.html and it also worked. Only problem was wifi tether App gave me some trouble but eventually I got it to work. Not sure if the phone is subject to T Mobile's 500MB per day limit though. I ended up spending almost 2hrs on the wifi hotspot.

So far the phone is stable but there is one surprise. Firefox Sync does not work. May be it is time to switch to chrome browser on the phone. It seems Android 4.4 aka Kitkat will be available around Mar 2014 from T Mobile. I may end up going to cyanogenmod and Kitkat, the minute I decide that wifi calling is not so important. It is possible right now to update this phone to Cyanogenmod kitkat. I just don't want to be on the bleeding edge particularly with a phoen I depend on every day.

I did not like the Samsung GUI. So, I used Apex Launcher like before and now it is like I had it before. I will update this based on my experience in the next few days.

Update: Dec 17th
unistalled Firefox Browser and Firefox beta. Re-installed Firefox (Not Beta).
Now able to sync with firefox on other computers.

My experience upgrading Toshiba R835-P94 from Win 7 to Win 8.1.

It all started when my son who is a Windows expert of sorts decided that it is about time he switch to Win  8 and and he actually said that he got used to the Metro interface easily. I decided to check it out. So, here is what happened roughly.

At about 9pm last night, I tried to create bootable USB using Win 8 Pro .iso I had when I bought it for $15 promo about 1 year ago and have a key. unetboot on win 7 struggled and failed to create USB boot image.

I tried to do it on Xubuntu 13.10 (dual boot on the same laptop) using startup disk creator and it did but did not boot and was not seen in Windows either.

So, I used xfburn on Xubuntu and created a DVD. It was 11pm by then.

This disc did not boot either. So, I opened Win 7 and found setup.exe file. I double clicked it and then it asked for my key. I entered it and then it tool 2.5 hrs and several boots and at 1am, I was in Win 8 Pro. So, what about Win 8.1? That required update to Win 8. I pushed the button to install all updates and went to bed.

This morning at 7am, it said that updates failed and to retry. I did and finally it got done at 8am after several reboots. Then I upgrade to 8.1. It finished at 9am after several reboots. I installed classic shell to get the familiar start button. There you have it.

Moral of the story so far, I did not seem to have gained anything. Just did this to make the OS current for what it is worth. My son did a complete delete and clean install directly from Win 7 to 8.1 and he said that it took 15min. Just because I wanted to keep my taxcut software intact, I upgraded and kept all the files and programs. If I knew that it takes so, long I would have backed up my data and re-installed programs.

Google Voice obi110 replaced Vonage. Perhaps next year would be end of landline.

http://blog.obihai.com/2013/10/important-message-about-google-voice.html
"Google announced the end of support for XMPP based calling with Google Voice. This will happen on May 15, 2014.
Since your OBi device uses XMPP to communicate with Google servers, the end of support will directly impact how your OBi device can be used with your Gmail account and its associated Google Voice phone number. Unfortunately, you will no longer be able to use the Google Voice communication service to make calls using the phone connected to your OBi device.  Also, the ability to receive calls to your Google Voice number, directly from Google’s service, will not be possible."

So, what am I thinking? Me and my wife have unlimited calling in the US using our cell phones with unlimited LTE data on T-Mobile. I am sure that we will have unlimited calling feature on any carrier or prepaid card.

I have panasonic link2cell cordless phone system with 4 handsets. I already paired my phone and my wife's phone to receive calls using bluetooth on the cordless handset. All I need to do is forward my google voice calls to cell phones and I can receive calls made to my land line number. Outgoing calls will use my cell phones. Only limitation with the link2cell is that for outgoing calls, DTMF tones are not passed on from cordless handset to the cell phone. That means, I may have to directly use cell phones to call if DTMF tones are required.

One thing is for sure. Technology will evolve. Perhaps, Google will directly sell a product like chromecast and call it phonecast to connect to any landline phone to make receive calls?