Upgrading LG G3 Mobile Phone to Android Mashmallow (6.0)

Recently I brought a used Korean version LG G3 mobile phone for a Virtual Reality (VR) project. The mobile phone required update to the latest version of Android operating system. This Korean model of LG G3 didn't offer Over the Air (OTA) updates.

The first step in the update process is to connect the model phone to the computer using USB cable. However the standard Android 'Google USB Drivers' didn't work. After some searching I found that LG Universal Mobile Drivers from LG support site.

Next I used the LG Mobile Support Tool program on my computer to start updates. This model is not supported by LG Bridge Software. After couple of updates I managed to upgrade the mobile phone to Android 6.0 Marshmellow. Each update requires a download of 1GB update and you need to wait for the phone to reboot and optimize all the Android applications.

There was one glitch in the upgrade. Had to restart an upgrade when I faced 'Upgrade stopped due to an error' message.

Here rather straight forward way to upgrade the phone to latest Android 6.0 (Marshmellow):

• Download LG Universal Mobile Drivers.
• Connect the phone and put it in MTP mode.
• Download LG Mobile Support Tool.
• Follow instructions on the screen. Each upgrade download is about 1GB

India's Hidden Hotbeds of Innovation

Prof.Anil Gupta is father of my friend. A quiet unassuming man dressed in hand spun cotton shirt. Only years later I learnt about his work with grassroots inventors and innovators.

Anil Kumar Gupta taught at famed business school, he started 'Honey Bee Network' to help grassroots inventors and innovations. Every year his management class traveled to rural India to study and learn from traditional knowledge and innovation of the people.

In this 2009 TEDTalk India's Hotbeds of Invention he shares his experiences with Honey Bee Network. Enjoy and get inspired.

Deploying Jenkins Continuous Integration (CI) Server on Ubuntu LTS

For the past few weeks I have been helping Internet-in-a-Box(IIAB) team develop their Continuous Integration (CI) infrastructure setup using Vagrant, VirtualBox and Jenkins CI server.

Running Jenkins server from .war file might be convenient. But it is recommended to deploy GNU/Linux Continuous Integration (CI) server using these instructions.

# Add Debian package repository of Jenkins GPG key:
$ wget -q -O - https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable/jenkins.io.key | sudo apt-key add -

# Then add the following entry to your/etc/apt/sources.list:
$  echo deb http://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list

# Update your local package index:
$ sudo apt-get update

# Install Jenkis server:
$ sudo apt-get install jenkins

# Start Jenkins service and verify its status:
$ sudo systemctl start jenkins
$ sudo systemctl status jenkins

# Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser and copy paste in the secret password.
# Follow the on screen instructions to create Jenkins server admin account
$ sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword

# Open the ports 8080 through your firewall:
$ sudo ufw allow 8080
$ sudo ufw status

Adding a monit service to monitor the Jenkins server is a good idea. Monit ensures that Jenkins server is restarted automatically when it crashes.




# Create a Jenkins monitoring file with following lines with:
$ sudo nano /etc/monit/conf.d/jenkins
check process jenkins with pidfile /var/run/jenkins/jenkins.pid
    start program = "/etc/init.d/jenkins start"
    stop program  = "/etc/init.d/jenkins stop"

Also you'll need to configure mail server to send Jenkins build reports.

ProDisk Mini White Balance Card

I picked up a Seculine ProDisk Mini White balance/ Grey Card/Color balance card combo in Bangkok. Apart from the usual white balance calibration filter, grey card and color card. This one also comes with a mirror on the back. Now this is a complete mystery to me.

Wonder what's the purpose of a mirror? I hope it's not for checking my nose hair or something.

"Misha" Childrens Magazine

Do you remember 'Misha' children's magazine?. I have a fond memory of reading the magazine sitting on the windowsill waiting for my parents to return home. After two decades I visited the store that sold these English language magazine published in Russia, there were no trace of any magazines. Sometimes you would see this magazines in secondhand book stores but that is very rare now.

Searching through the Internet, I found this blogger share a digital copy of the magazine. He writes in this post titled Remembering Misha

"Back in the 1980s, Misha (which translates to bear in Russian) was the most popular children’s magazine in India published in English. Within its glossy pages, you were treated to folk tales, science fiction, riddles, photographs,pen pal sections, puzzles and illustrations. As an added bonus, it smelled awfully good."

"Unfortunately the collapse of the USSR spelled death for many Soviet publishing houses (Raduga, Mir and others) and Misha soon became extinct."

According to few sources, the magazine continued to publish in Russian for long time after the collapse of the USSR. I reached out to the former editor of the magazine for confirmation.

LaCie saves the day once again!

Three weeks into my photographic assignment. My teammate accidentally knocks the laptop running the backups, the laptop and the connected external drives crash to the floor.

Fortunately my LaCie rugged drive survives and lives to fight another day. The laptop and the other external hard drive took lot of damage. The moral of the story, mistakes happens especially when you are on the road and exhausted. Make sure you invest in good gear.

Noise Bridge China Trip # 7

It time for the next edition of Noise Bridge China Trip #7. This annual trip is organized by San Francisco based Noise bridge hackerspace.

Head over to the event Wiki page for more information on how to join the trip. If you are interested to travel with fellow makers and hackers to various manufacturing spaces in China then this is your golden opportunity.

As of writing this blog post, this is tentative schedule.

• 7-October-2017 -- Leave home for Hong Kong (arrive in Hong Kong on 8-October)
• 8-October-2017 -- We all meet in Hong Kong -- hotel: to be determined
• 8-October to 11-October -- Hong Kong
• 11-October to 16-October -- Shenzhen
• 13-October: tour of factories
• 15-October, 4pm-6pm: Chaihuo x.factory Bring-A-Hack
• 16-October to 19-October -- Xi'an
• 19-October to 24-October -- Beijing
• 24-October to 28-October -- Shanghai
• 28-October-2017 -- fly home (arrive NA or EU on same day)

Keep an eye on the Wiki page
https://noisebridge.net/wiki/NoisebridgeChinaTrip7 for most up-to-date information.