How to get the best interest, quality and save time at the same time?

Are you trying to save some money by depositing in savings account? If so, good! Putting spare money in deposit is good way to fight inflation and even make some money. Currently, the inflation in Bulgaria is 4-5%, where deposit interests are 5-7% depending on the bank, so deposits are the best safe way to save money. Or are they? What if I tell you there is MUCH better way to save small amounts of money? Yes there is - it's food. That's right food can give you way better interest that every bank. How you may ask? It's actually really simple - with the whole global economics problems the prices of daily groceries rise constantly. If you buy something today, in 2-3 months it's price will be higher and usually it'll be more than the 7% your bank is giving you! For an example, 3 months ago a jar of beans cost 2.79 BGN (1.43 EUR) where now it costs 2.99 BGN (1.53 EUR) which is just above 7% rise. Another example is a bottle of spaghetti sauce - 3 months before was 1.59 BGN (0.81 EUR), now it's 1.99 BGN (1.02 EUR) or a massive 25% increase! Also, for the latest example, the quality of the sauce is now worse than before! So if you bought it before, not only you saved 25% + inflation, but you got a better quality too! Of course you have to buy a lot of bottles to really worth it. Here it comes the time saving too - buy bulk! Buy packages of 10 or 20, but first check the expiration date of course (most products have 1-2 years). That way you'll go only 1 time (loose time for one purchase), but you'll buy as for 10 times :) Time is money ;) Ok, some calculations:
Let's say you buy 20 jars of beans:
20 x 2.79 = 55.8 (before)
20 x 2.99 = 59.8 (now)
This is 7% saved in just 3 months or 2 "free" jars of beans! Considering you eat from those jars and the price rises again through the year, we can estimate around 10-14% APY! Not bad :)
Let's say you buy 20 bottles of spaghetti sauce:
20 x 1.59 = 31.8
20 x 1.99 = 39.8
Again, here we got 4 "free" bottles and an estimation of 50% APY!!! Get that! Not to mention the quality and time.
Now, here it comes the fun part - promotions! It's another way to save even more money and combined with bulk buying it saves A LOT! Yesterday I saw those jars of beans discounted to 2.19 from 2.99! That's 36%!!! Let's do the calculation again:
20 x 2.19 = 43.8
20 x 2.99 = 59.8
That are more that 5 "free" jars! Estimation of more that 50% APY if you buy only when a promotion is active! And there always will be a promotion when buying bulk - don't start searching for a promotion when you run out of food! When your reserve is less than 40% it's good to start looking for promotions to refill it ;) Also promotions can be used to save money and time even when the prices are not going up constantly. Right now there is a promotion for my favorite rice - 1.99 BGN (1.02 EUR) for 1 kg package, where it's normal price is (for a loooong time) 2.45 BGN (1.25 EUR). Calculation:
20 x 1.99 = 39.8
20 x 2.45 = 49.0
Around 4 "free" packages of rice or estimated 15% APY!
Only one golden rule when buying bulk - buy one to test it before buying a lot, because the quality may got worse and you'll end up with a lot low quality food!
In the end, you can get over 20% APY when combining different foods. Let's say you gave 1000 BGN (511 EUR) for bulk buying this year at 20% APY average:
1000 x 20% = 200 BGN saved through food for 1 year
1000 x 7% = 70 BGN max saved through deposit for 1 year
As you can see you can easily get over 3 times better interest from food than from your bank. The more food you buy, the more savings you have :) It's up to how much you eat and how many people are there in your house. Of course bank deposits will still remain the best safe way to save money, as you can't spend 100 000 for food, but you can put them in deposit. So next time you see a promotion of a food you regularly eat, don't hesitate - buy! If you don't have the money - find it and buy! Presuming you have a deposit account, you'll be able to repay the debt when next salary comes, so get money and buy the food, as it'll give you better interest than your bank will!

MenuetOS/KolibriOS on Acer Aspire One

This is my next conquest in the series "OS for the Acer Aspire One". I've managed to boot MenuetOS and KolibriOS (it's based on MenuetOS) on my AOA110 by using a flash drive. Some may ask why? Because I can :) KolibriOS is a bit easier to make as it has bootable CD image already build on their site, where MenuetOS has only a floppy image and we have to make a CD image out of it. But the hardest (and dangerous) thing to prepare is your flash drive! You have to divide it into 2 partitions - one with CDFS file system (the FS on all compact disks) and one normal (FAT or NTFS). Not every flash drive supports that, and the way to be done depends on the controller in it. I really should make another post about how to do that, because it's really big question, but for now search Google how to do it on your flash drive and then follow the instructions below. Of course if you have an U3 flash drive, then you don't need to search anything, just use Universal Customizer to insert the CD image into your CDFS partition. After you get the things going with your flash drive, everything else is pretty easy - put the CD image into your CDFS partition on your flash drive, reboot and boot from it :) This way you should be able to boot other OSes (like Windows XP), but I haven't tried it yet. Now let me show you the steps to boot MenuetOS, as it's a bit harder:

1. Download Menuet32.
2. Use UltraISO or other imaging software to put .img file into your CD's boot sector like that:
2.1. Click on Bootable -> Load boot file...
2.2. Choose .img file
3. Save .iso image.
4. Open the program corresponding to your flash drive and burn your .iso image to your CDFS file system.
5. Reboot your netbook and boot from you newly added USB-CD

KolibriOS steps are just two - 4 and 5 from the above ;) Hope you like the experiment :)

Chromium OS on Acer Aspire One

Recently ReactOS 0.3.14 was released with USB support and I decided to try it. Unfortunately I got blank screen on my AOA110 right after the beginning (after loading a couple of drivers) of the installation :( So I decided to search for other operating systems and try them on this Aspire One AOA110. Then I remembered trying Chomium OS on my PC a while ago (failed miserably) and decided to give it a shot. It worked with a little exceptions:
Mouse sensitivity setting is not working
Brightness setting is not working. Fn key combination is working good though.
To get Chromium OS running on your machine you'll need:
1. 4 GB flash drive
2. Latest Hexxeh build
3. Image Writer
4. A little time
Steps are really simple:
1. Insert flash drive
2. Run Image Writer
3. Select img file
4. Select USB flash drive you inserted
5. Click Write
6. Wait to finish
7. Reboot and try your Chromium OS build :)

Mazda EPC 2 Portable Launcher

I've searched a lot around the net for a portable version of Mazda EPC (Electronic Parts Catalogue) 2, but didn't found anything, so I decided to do it myself (back in 2010). Installation of Mazda's EPC is really pain in the ass, not to mention you loose all of your History when reinstalling. Here I'll show you 3 things:

1. How to prepare Mazda EPC 2 to be ready for portable launching
2. How to make your portable launcher.
3. Links to my portable launcher and source, in case you don't want to compile yourself (you still need to prepare the EPC though)

Ok, lets go!

Note: No PortableApps.com Format Specifications are met as there were none back in 2010. Still, this launcher works like a charm even in the latest PortableApps.com platform.

Part 1 (preparing Mazda EPC 2 to be ready for portable launching):
1. (Optional, but recommended) Install Windows on a virtual machine.
2. Install your Mazda EPC 2
3. Import all of your CDs in the same folder as your BIN folder.
4. On your PC (or on another PC, if you don't use virtual PC) create a folder to store your portable version of EPC. Inside of it create 2 folders - App and Data.
5. Copy all of your EPC files in App folder.
6. In Data folder create folder called Settings. In Settings folder you should put 2 files - borland.reg and MAZEPC.INI (this one I recommend you to get it from your own installation - it's stored in your Windows folder, e.g. C:\Windows)
End structure should be:
MAZDAEPC
- App
-- A1 (if you have this disk installed)
-- A2 (if you have this disk installed)
-- B1 (if you have this disk installed)
-- B2 (if you have this disk installed)
-- B3 (if you have this disk installed)
-- BACKUP
-- BIN
-- LOCAL
-- SAVE
- Data
-- Settings
7. Now prepare the launcher (part 2) or download it (part 3) and put it a side to your App and Data folders.
8. Run the launcher. You should get an error of a missing file. Go to the PC you installed Mazda EPC, find the file (typically in your System32 folder) and copy it inside your App\BIN folder (so it's next to mazdaepc.exe). Do this for all the files needed and in the end you should get Mazda EPC 2 protable running ;) I don't remember the list of files you need to copy, as I did this two years ago, but that's the way I've done it and it's working perfectly (tested on XP x86, Vista x64, 7 x86 and x64 and even 8 Developers Preview x64).
9. Enjoy!

Part 2 (writing and compiling the launcher)
1. Either install NSIS or download it portable from PortableApps.com
2. (Optional if you want icon) Either install IcoFX (or other icon editing software) or download it portable from PortableApps.com
3. Make a file called Mazda.nsi and paste the following code in it:

SetCompress force
SetCompressor /SOLID /FINAL LZMA
SetDatablockOptimize on
!include 'LogicLib.nsh'
!include "Registry.nsh"
Name "Mazda EPC2"
OutFile "MazdaEPC2Portable.exe"
VIProductVersion 1.0.0.0
VIAddVersionKey ProductName "Mazda EPC2"
VIAddVersionKey Comments "by metal03326"
VIAddVersionKey FileDescription "Launcher for Mazda EPC2"
VIAddVersionKey FileVersion 1.0.0.0
VIAddVersionKey ProductVersion 1.0.0.0
VIAddVersionKey LegalCopyright "Copyrights 2010"
CRCCheck off
SilentInstall silent
XPSTYLE on
Icon "Icon.ico" // Remove this line if you don't want Mazda's icon
Var AppDir
Var SETTINGSDIRECTORY
Section 'Main'
StrCpy $SETTINGSDIRECTORY "$EXEDIR\Data\Settings"
StrCpy $AppDir "$EXEDIR\App"
ReadINIStr $0 $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "InstallPath"
StrCmp $0 "$AppDir" +2 0
WriteINIStr $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "InstallPath" "$AppDir"
ReadINIStr $0 $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "SavePath"
StrCmp $0 "$AppDir\SAVE" +2 0
WriteINIStr $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "SavePath" "$AppDir\SAVE"
ReadINIStr $0 $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "LocalPath"
StrCmp $0 "$AppDir\LOCAL" +2 0
WriteINIStr $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "LocalPath" "$AppDir\LOCAL"
ReadINIStr $0 $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "BkupDir"
StrCmp $0 "$AppDir\BACKUP" +2 0
WriteINIStr $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "BkupDir" "$AppDir\BACKUP"
${For} $R0 1 10
ReadINIStr $0 $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "DataPath$R0"
StrCmp $0 '' +4 0
StrCpy $R1 $0 2 #
StrCmp $0 "$R1,$AppDir\$R1" +2 0
WriteINIStr $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "ExecEnv" "DataPath$R0" "$R1,$AppDir\$R1"
${Next}
CopyFiles $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\MAZEPC.INI "$WINDIR\MAZEPC.INI"
IfFileExists $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak 0 +5
Messagebox MB_YESNO|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION "Previous registry backup of 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Borland' found. This maybe is caused by improper termination last time. If this is the case and the termination was done on this computer, please click 'Yes'. Do you want to use this backup before continuing?" IDYES +1 IDNO +3
DeleteRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\Borland"
nsExec::ExecToStack `"$WINDIR\system32\reg.exe" import "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak"`
Delete $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak
ClearErrors
EnumRegKey $0 HKLM "SOFTWARE\Borland" 0
IfErrors 0 +2
Goto +5
nsExec::ExecToStack `"$WINDIR\system32\reg.exe" export "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Borland" "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak"`
Pop $R0
StrCmp $R0 '0' 0 +10
DeleteRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\Borland"
nsExec::ExecToStack `"$WINDIR\system32\reg.exe" import "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.reg"`
SetOutPath "$AppDir"
ExecWait "$OUTDIR\BIN\mazdaepc.exe"
Delete $WINDIR\MAZEPC.INI
IfFileExists $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak 0 +4
DeleteRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\Borland"
nsExec::ExecToStack `"$WINDIR\system32\reg.exe" import "$SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak"`
Delete $SETTINGSDIRECTORY\borland.bak
SectionEnd

4. (Optional if you want icon) Extract mazdaepc.exe icon with IcoFX (or other icon editing software) and place it next to Mazda.nsi
5. Compile Mazda.nsi with NSIS and you should get MazdaEPC2Portable.exe file next to Mazda.nsi
6. Place it next to App and Data folders from your prepared (part 1) Mazda EPC 2 portable and run it!
7. Enjoy.

Part 3 (download time!)
Here are links from previous 2 parts as well as links for the source code and the compiled launcher. Enjoy!
borland.reg
My MAZEPC.INI (I really recommend using yours)
Source code (Mazda.nsi)
Compiled binary (MazdaEPC2Portable.exe)

Save precious pixels by using thin scrollbars

Hi all. Recently I bought second hand Acer Aspire One AOA110 ZG5 and found 1024x600 pretty inconvenient for browsing. Then I found Thin Scroll Bar extension for Google Chrome. I know it's not much, just a couple of pixels, but still it's good. So if you are a Chrome user, give it a shot. Hope you like it.

PS: It also makes tiny scrollbars to all dropdowns.

FPse for Android

Remember your old Sony PlayStation? Remember you have a box of old games picking dust under your bed? Well it turns out there is a pretty big chance you can play them on your Rena3 tablet. Here's how and a list of games I tested:

What you'll need:
1. An original disk with PSX game.
2. An optical drive.
3. Your favorite burner (I recommend ImgBurn).
4. FPse for android

You'll need to make an image of the game and run it through FPse. That's all. Here is a list of games I tested.
Note 1: that I only played about 5-10 seconds of the game, just to make sure it works. I can't guarantee you won't have problems later in the game.
Note 2: I used default settings, except Dualcore boost and Thread priority options - those I turned on of course  This means if you have performance problems with some of the games below, you might be able to fix if you play with the settings.
Note 3: if the game has a background music, I strongly recommend you to turn it off.

Working games:
Beast Wars - Transformers
Colin McRae Rally
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Diablo
Doom
Doom Final
Driver
Driver 2
Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo 2 Arcade Mode
Grand Theft Auto
Grand Theft Auto - Mission Pack #1 - London 1969
Grand Theft Auto 2
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Men in Black
Mortal Kombat - Special Forces
Mortal Kombat 2
Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat Trilogy - Perfect!
Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed
Need for Speed V-Rally
Oddworld Abe's Oddysee
Oddworld Abe's Exoddus
Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary
Re-Volt
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Tekken
Tekken 2
Tekken 3
Test Drive 4
Test Drive 5
Test Drive Le Mans
Test Drive Off-Road
Test Drive Off-Road 2
Test Drive Off-Road 3
The Italian Job
Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider Chronicles
V-Rally 97
V-Rally 2
Vanishing Point
Quake II
Warcraft 2 The Dark Saga
Worms
Worms Armageddon
Worms World Party
Worms Pinball

Menu only:
Gran Turismo 2 Simulation Mode
Need For Speed
Need For Speed 2

Intro only:
Jackie Chan - Stuntmaster
Need For Speed Hot Pursuit
Test Drive 6

Not working at all:
Mortal Kombat Mythologies - Sub Zero
Ms. Pacman - Maze Madness
Need for Speed High Stakes

If you want to add a game to this list, please post below.

GTA3 Anniversary - Tweaks, Tips, save games etc.

Note this articles is about GTA3 for Android. If you want to play GTA or GTA2 on Android, you should read my other post ;)

I just got 100% completion of Grand Theft Auto III on my stock Rena3 running Android 2.2. I'm starting this topic to help people optimize GTA3 for maximum performance, required for the game to run smoother on Rena3 tablets. Also, I'll help people with tips, if they got stuck somewhere. I've uploaded my 100% completion saves (see below) for curious people wanting to explore all unlocked GTA3 on their mobile device. Ok, here we go...

Tweaks:
Tweak #1: Use GTA3 Graphical Settings + Launcher to reduce drawing distance to minimum (other things should be to low settings already) or download my gta3.set file.
Tweak #2: GTA III Ultra Performance FINAL - This should improve FPS for some quality loss. I had troubles starting the game after installing this mod, but the problem was in handling.cfg file, so backup your com.rockstar.gta3 before applying.
(Maybe) Tweak #3: I've tested RAM Manager Pro, for which the author says "Play GTA 3 and other heavy games without lags.", but didn't found any difference. Still, if you can try it yourself, it may work for you ;)

Tips:
Rule #1: Rocket launcher is your best friend! There are A LOT of missions which can be A LOT easier if you have Rocket launcher.
Rule #2: No cheats if you want 100%
Tip #1: Play the game in reverse - first collect all hidden packages (see Tip #2), do all firetruck, police car and ambulance missions and then go for the missions, as you'll have full arsenal of guns, 6 stars and a heart next to your save place. Also, you'll have an endless sprint, which can be very helpful at times.
Tip #2: To get to second and third islands without cheats, see this video. It could be a bit tricky as you need to go forward, sprint and jump at the same time, which on Rena3 is impossible (2-point multi-touch, and you need 3), but with practice you'll get it when to stop sprinting and jump. After you are in 2nd island, you can get to the 3rd by car - underwater tunnels.
Tip #3: To get the last hidden package (the one that's on the bridge between 2nd and 3rd island) and unlock Rocket launcher, you'll have to learn to fly the Dodo and land on top of the broken bridge. It it's possible, land on your top, to destroy your Dodo, as it'll be much easier to jump to the package.
Tip #4: Use GTA3 100% Completion Checklist to track your progress till 100%.
Tip #5: When doing police car missions, there is a trick to make your target stop and get out of the car - when you are close to him, press back button (to go to menu) and then resume the game. That's it! He'll stop and get out of the car, so you can easily kill him. If it's now working, try again from a longer distance (sometimes it's not working when you are too close).
Tip #6: When doing firetruck mission DON'T turn your water gun. Never! You just go straight ahead and hit the target while pumping water - aim at the engine. This will extinguish the fire immediately.
Tip #7: When you get to do Kenji missions, do them first, I won't tell you why (you'll see) or you won't be able to do 100% completion.
Tip #8: When doing "A Drop in the Ocean" mission, get an FBI car, which you'll need for EV crane. FBI car is the only vehicle not parked anywhere. If you do not get it now, you'll have to reach high wanted level later to get it.
Tip #9: After you complete Ray's missions, use his Patriot to drive around Portland, as it's bulletproof (it's available in my saves below).
Tip #10: Last mission is pretty easy if you have Sniper rifle and Rocket launcher, so after cut scene showing Catalina's chopper, jump down the hill and go to you save place to get you ammunition and then go to the dam and finish the mission - shoot cars and trucks with your RL and columbians with your SR. In the end, shoot down the chopper with RL, go up the stairs, where the columbian snipers were, and shoot all columbians on the roof next to Maria. Now you are ready to meet Maria and finish the game, without a single health lost.

Save games (100% completion):
Portland save - Bulletproof Patriot in the garage
Staunton save - My favorite cars in garage - 2 Cheetahs
Shoreside Vale save - 1 Cheetah and 1 Banshee
Story line save - only story line is completed. The rest is yours ;)
All saves (excluding story line save) here.

I haven't tested GTA3 on 2.3, so if someone is, feel free to share. I've tested the game on 2.3 and it's better. Also make sure to use version 1.3, as it has graphics options in the menu and you can go with even lower resolution for higher FPS. Also I'm open to suggestions as tips and I'll put here most asked questions about missions.