Kumar's Blog

2012-02-11T17:12:00.001-08:00

QR code

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

QR code for the URL of the English Wikipedia Mobile main page, "http://en.m.wikipedia.org"

QR Code — abbreviated from Quick Response Code — is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and large storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of four standardized kinds ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, Kanji), or by supported extensions virtually any kind of data.^[1]

Invented by the Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, the QR Code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes.^[2] It was designed to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.^[3]

The codes are used frequently in the United Kingdom^[4] and the United States^{[citation needed]}; QR usage is growing fastest inCanada and Hong Kong.^[5]

Standards

Structure of a QR code, highlighting functional elements

There are several standards in documents covering the physical encoding of QR Codes:^[6]

October 1997 – AIM (Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility) International^[7]
January 1999 – JIS X 0510
June 2000 – ISO/IEC 18004:2000 Information technology – Automatic identification and data capture techniques – Bar code symbology – QR code(now withdrawn)
Defines QR code models 1 and 2 symbols.
1 September 2006 – ISO/IEC 18004:2006 Information technology – Automatic identification and data capture techniques – QR Code 2005 bar code symbology specification
Defines QR code 2005 symbols, an extension of QR Code model 2. Does not specify how to read QR Code model 1 symbols, or require this for compliance.

At the application layer, there is some variation between implementations. NTT DoCoMo has established de facto standards for the encoding of URLs, contact information, and several other data types.^[8] The open-source "ZXing" project maintains a list of QR Code data types.^[9]

Uses

Although initially used to track parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR Codes are now (as of 2012) used over a much wider range of applications, including commercial tracking, entertainment and transport ticketing, product/loyalty marketing (examples: mobile couponing where a company's discounted and percent discount can be captured using a QR Code decoder which is a mobile app, or storing a company's information such as address and related information alongside its alpha-numeric text data as can be seen in Yellow Pages directory), band in-store product labelling. It can also be used in storing personal information for use by government. An example of this is Philippines National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) where NBI clearances now come with a QR Code. Many of these applications target mobile-phone users (via mobile tagging). Users may receive text, add a vCard contact to their device, open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or compose an e-mail or text message after scanning QR Codes. They can generate and print their own QR Codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several pay or free QR Code-generating sites or apps. Google has a popular API to generate QR Codes,^[10] and apps for scanning QR Codes can be found on nearly all smartphone devices.^[11]

QR Codes storing addresses and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) may appear in magazines, on signs, on buses, on business cards, or on almost any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR Code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the telephone's browser. This act of linking from physical world objects is termed hardlinkingor object hyperlinking. QR Codes may also be linked to a location to track where a code has been scanned. Either the application that scans the QR Code retrieves the geo information by using GPS and cell tower triangulation (aGPS) or the URL encoded in the QR Code itself is associated with a location.^[12]

QR code has been used and printed on Chinese train tickets since late 2009.

QR Codes can be used in Google's mobile Android operating system via both their own Google Goggles application or 3rd party barcode scanners like ZXing. The browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR Codes to sendmetadata to existing applications on the device. Nokia's Symbian operating system features a barcode scanner which can read QR Codes,^[13] while mbarcode^[14] is a QR Code reader for the Maemo operating system. In the Apple iOS, a QR Code reader is not natively included, but more than fifty paid and free apps are available with both scanning capabilities and hard-linking to URI. With BlackBerry devices, the App World application can natively scan QR Codes and load any recognized Web URLs on the device's Web browser. Windows Phone 7.5 is able to scan QR Codes through the Bing search app.

In the USA, QR Code usage is expanding.^{[citation needed]} During the month of June 2011, according to one study, 14 million mobile users scanned a QR Code or a barcode. Some 58% of those users scanned a QR or bar code from their home, while 39% scanned from retail stores; 53% of the 14 million users were men between the ages of 18 and 34.^[15] QR Codes are also being tested for "virtual store" formats, particularly in South Korea^[16]and Argentina.^[17]

While the adoption of QR Codes in some markets has been slow to begin (particularly in markets such as the United States, where competing standards such as Data Matrix exist), the technology is gaining some traction in the smartphone market. Many Android, Nokia, Blackberry handsets, and the Nintendo 3DS, come with QR Code readers installed. QR reader software is available for most mobile platforms. Moreover, there are a number of online QR Code generators which enable users to create QR Codes for their own needs.

Design

Storage

The amount of data that can be stored in the QR Code symbol depends on the datatype (mode, or input character set), version (1,...,40, indicating the overall dimensions of the symbol), and error correction level (L[ow], M[edium], Q[uality], H[igh]). The maximum storage capacities occur for 40-L symbols (version 40, error correction level L), and are as follows (where character refers to individual values of the input mode/datatype, as indicated):^[3]^[18]

Numeric only	Max. 7,089 characters (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
Alphanumeric	Max. 4,296 characters (0–9, A–Z [upper-case only], space, $, %, *, +, -, ., /, :)
Binary/byte	Max. 2,953 characters (8-bit bytes)
Kanji/Kana	Max. 1,817 characters

Here are some sample QR Code symbols:

Version 1 (21×21). Content: "Ver1"
Version 2 (25×25). Content: "Version 2"
Version 3 (29×29). Content: "Version 3 QR Code"
Version 4 (33×33). Content: "Version 4 QR Code, up to 50 char"
Version 10 (57×57). Content: "VERSION 10 QR CODE, UP TO 174 CHAR AT H LEVEL, WITH 57X57 MODULES AND PLENTY OF ERROR CORRECTION TO GO AROUND. NOTE THAT THERE ARE ADDITIONAL TRACKING BOXES"
Version 40 (177×177). Content: "Version 40 QR Code can contain up to 1852 chars. ..." (a total of 1,264 characters of ordinary/ASCII text [taken from an early version of this Wikipedia article])

Encryption

Although encrypted QR Codes are not very common, there are a few implementations. An Android app,^[19] for example, manages encryption and decryption of QR codes using DES algorithm (56 bits).^[20] Japanese immigration use encrypted QR Codes when placing visas in passports.

Error correction

Example of a QR Code with artistic embellishment that will still scan correctly thanks to error correction. Content: "M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG"

Codewords are 8 bits long and use the Reed–Solomon error correction algorithm with four error correction levels. The higher the error correction level, the less storage capacity. The following table lists the approximate error correction capability at each of the four levels:

Level L	7% of codewords can be restored.
Level M	15% of codewords can be restored.
Level Q	25% of codewords can be restored.
Level H	30% of codewords can be restored.

Due to the design of Reed–Solomon codes and the use of 8-bit codewords, an individual code block cannot be more than 255 codewords in length. Since the larger QR symbols contain much more data than that, it is necessary to break the message up into multiple blocks. The QR specification does not use the largest possible block size, though; instead, it defines the block sizes so that no more than 30 error-correction symbols appear in each block. This means that at most 15 errors per block can be corrected, which limits the complexity of certain steps in the decoding algorithm. The code blocks are then interleaved together, making it less likely that localized damage to a QR symbol will overwhelm the capacity of any single block.

Thanks to error correction, it is possible to create artistic QR Codes that still scan correctly, but contain intentional errors to make them more readable or attractive to the human eye, as well as to incorporate colors, logos and other features into the QR Code block.^[21]^[22]

Encoding

The format information records two things: the error correction level and the mask pattern used for the symbol. Masking is used to break up patterns in the data area that might confuse a scanner, such as large blank areas or misleading features that look like the locator marks. The mask patterns are defined on a 6×6 grid that is repeated as necessary to cover the whole symbol. Modules corresponding to the dark areas of the mask are inverted. The format information is protected from errors with a BCH code, and two complete copies are included in each QR symbol.

The message data is placed from right to left in a zigzag pattern, as shown below. In larger symbols, this is complicated by the presence of the alignment patterns and the use of multiple interleaved error-correction blocks.

Meaning of format information
Message placement within a QR symbol
Larger symbol illustrating interleaved blocks

Four-bit indicators are used to select the encoding mode and convey other information. Encoding modes can be mixed as needed within a QR symbol.

Indicator	Meaning
0001	Numeric encoding (10 bits per 3 digits)
0010	Alphanumeric encoding (11 bits per 2 characters)
0100	Byte encoding (8 bits per character)
1000	Kanji encoding (13 bits per character)
0011	Structured append (used to split a message across multiple QR symbols)
0111	Extended Channel Interpretation (select alternate character set or encoding)
0101	FNC1 in first position (see Code 128 for more information)
1001	FNC1 in second position
0000	End of message

After each indicator that selects an encoding mode is a length field that tells how many characters are encoded in that mode. The number of bits in the length field depends on the encoding and the symbol version, as shown below.

Encoding	Ver 1–9	10–26	27–40
Numeric	10	12	14
Alphanumeric	9	11	13
Byte	8	16	16
Kanji	8	10	12

Alphanumeric encoding mode stores a message more compactly than the byte mode, but cannot store lower-case letters and has only a limited selection of punctuation marks. Two characters are coded in an 11-bit value by this formula:

V = 45 × C₁ + C₂

Alphanumeric character codes are as follows.

Code	Character	Code	Character	Code	Character	Code	Character	Code	Character
0	0	9	9	18	I	27	R	36	space
1	1	10	A	19	J	28	S	37	$
2	2	11	B	20	K	29	T	38	%
3	3	12	C	21	L	30	U	39	*
4	4	13	D	22	M	31	V	40	+
5	5	14	E	23	N	32	W	41	-
6	6	15	F	24	O	33	X	42	.
7	7	16	G	25	P	34	Y	43	/
8	8	17	H	26	Q	35	Z	44	:

Decoding example

The following images offer more information about the QR code.

1 — Introduction
2 — Structure
3 — Layout & Encoding
4 — Levels & Masks
5 — Protocols

License

The use of QR Codes is free of any license. The QR Code is clearly defined and published as an ISO standard.

Denso Wave owns the patent rights on QR Codes, but has chosen not to exercise them.^[6] In the USA, the granted QR Code patent is US 5726435, and in Japan JP 2938338. The European Patent Office granted patent EP0672994B1 to Denso Wave, which was then validated into French, British and German patents, all of which are still in force as of November 2011.

The word QR Code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.^[23]In UK, the trademark is registered as E921775, the word “QR Code”, with a filing date of 03/09/1998.^[24] The UK version of the trademark is based on the Kabushiki Kaisha Denso (DENSO CORPORATION) trademark, filed as Trademark 000921775, the word “QR Code”, on 03/09/1998 and registered on 6/12/1999 with the European Union OHIM (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market).^[25]The US Trademark for the word “QR Code” is Trademark 2435991 and was filed on 29/09/1998 with an amended registration date of 13/03/2001, assigned to Denso Corporation.^[26]

The word QR CODE is a separate trademark assigned to King Estate Winery Limited, US trademark 85293411.^[27]

Variants

Example ofMicro QR

Micro QR Code is a smaller version of the QR Code standard for applications with less ability to handle large scans. There are different forms of Micro QR Codes as well. The highest of these can hold 35 numeric characters.

Standard QR Code is the QR code standard for applications that possess the ability to handle large scans. A standard QR Code can contain up to 7,089 characters, though not all QR readers can accept that much data.

Risks

Malicious QR codes combined with a permissive reader can put a computer's contents and user's privacy at risk. This practice is known as "attaging", a portmanteau of "attack tagging."^[28] They are easily created and may be affixed over legitimate QR codes.^[29] On a smartphone, the reader's many permissions may allow use of the camera, full internet access, read/write contact data, GPS, read browser history, read/write local storage, and global system changes.^[30]^[31]^[32]

Risks include linking to dangerous websites with browser exploits, enabling the microphone/camera/GPS and then streaming those feeds to a remote server, analysis of sensitive data (passwords, files, contacts, transactions),^[33] and sending email/SMS/IM messages or DDOS packets as part of a botnet, corrupting privacy settings, stealing identity,^[34] and even containing malicious logic themselves such as JavaScript^[35] or a virus.^[36]^[37] These actions may occur in the background while the user only sees the reader opening a seemingly harmless webpage.^[38] In Russia, a malicious QR Code caused phones that scanned it to send premium texts at a fee of USD$6 each.^[28]

Request Processing Lifecycle phases in JSF

http://www.javabeat.net/articles/54-request-processing-lifecycle-phases-in-jsf-1.html

1) Introduction

This article will explain the sequence of activities that will take place while processing the Request in a typical Web Application. The various phases like the Restore View Phase, Apply Request Values Phase, Process Validations Phase, Update Model Values Phase, Invoke Application Phase and Render Response Phase are covered briefly. First-time readers of JSF are requested to read the introductory article Introduction to Java Server Faces in JavaBeat.

2) Life-cycle Phases

As soon as a JSF Application in initiated by calling the Faces Servlet (which is configured in the web.xml file), series of activities will take place. These activities come under the category of JSF Request Processing Life-cycle Phases. The phases are,

Restore View
Apply Request Values
Process Validations
Update Model Values
Invoke Application
Render Response

The above Life-cycle Phases are not sequential. For example, the control may be re-directed to Render Response Phase from Process Validation phase in case of any Conversion or Validation Errors.

3) Restore View

A JSF View or Simple View is nothing but a collection of UI Components. For example, consider the following login form,

        Enter your username:                        
                Enter your password:

The above form has a root UI Component called 'view'. It is having three child components namely a text-field (with identifier 'usernameTextField'), a password-field (with identifier 'passwordTextField') and a command button with name 'Submit Values'. So, this whole set-up represents a view. It is also possible to have any number of sub-views as represented by a 'sub-view' tag in a single form. The state of the view can either be stored in the Server or in the Client Browser. If it is stored in Server, then it might be cached in the HttpSession object, else it may be represented as hidden text-fields in the client end. The strategy whether the view state is stored in Server or Client is determined by the property called 'javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD'.

The default value for this property is 'server' which means that the view state is restored in the Server. The other permitted value is 'client'. This property is specified in the Configuration file (web.xml) as follows,

      javax.faces.STATE_SAVING_METHOD     client

Now, let us see the activities happening in this phase. If the request is made to a URL for the first time, then a new View object is created and rendered to the Client. Else (because the view state is already found in the cache), the view is restored and displayed. In our example case, we saw three child components. Any Custom Convertors, Validators, Renderers, if attached for the UI components, will be restored in this phase.

In case, if the UI Component values are directly mapped to the property defined in a Managed Bean, then the value for the property is restored and it is associated with the View. Most of the works are handled by the ViewHandler class through its method restoreView().

4) Apply Request Values

In this phase, the values that are entered by the user will be updated on each and every individual component defined in the View graph. More specifically, the processDecodes() on the UIComponentBase method will be called for all components. Here, the process of applying the Request values to the UI Components is called Decoding. For example, in the above sample login form that we have taken, the user input values will be applied on the components (text-field and password). The outcome of this phase may either end in Process Validations Phase or the Render Response Phase.

If the child components include Action components (such as command button or a hyper-link), and the immediate property is set to true, then any Action Events associated with it will be queued by calling the UIComponentBase.queueEvent(FacesEvent) method. Since the immediate property is set to true, the Action Event will be immediately fired at then end of this Phase. On the other hand, if the immediate property is set to false, then the Action Events are queued and fired only at the end of Invoke Application phase, and for editable components (more specifically, components that implement the EditableValueHolder interface), all the conversions and the validations will take place if the property 'immediate' is set to 'true'.

If any of the Conversions or the Validations fail, then the current processing is terminated and the control directly goes to the Render Response for rendering the conversion or the validation errors to the Client.

5) Process Validations

This Phase will process any Validations that are configured for UI Components. For example, consider the following code snippet,

 Enter your phone-number

The above code defines a Custom Validator called PhoneNumber Validator which will validate the given string against some standard format. It is possible to define and attach any number of Validators to a Component. In this phase, JSF Implementation will traverse over the UIViewRoot to fetch all the child components and ask the child components to validate themselves by calling the method UIComponentBase.processValidators().

So, the child components will get a list of Validators that are defined for them and then invoke the Validation logic defined on them. These validations will only happen for the UI Components only if the property 'rendered' property is set to 'true'. If the property is set to false, then Validations would not take place. It is important to understand that even before Validations occur on UI Components, conversions will happen. For example, consider the following code snippet,

 Enter your birthday:                  (MMM-dd-yyyy)

The above code attaches a Date Time Converter to the component 'birthdayTextField'. So, the user entered request value is made to get converted to the pattern 'MMM-dd-yyyy'. If any Conversion error happens here, then the current Process Validations Phase is terminated and the control is directed to the 'Render Response' Phase for reporting any errors.

6) Updating Model Values

If the Application has reached this phase, then it is obvious that the user entered request values are syntactically valid. The values that are stored in UI Components will be made to synchronize with the Model objects, which are usually Backing Beans. For example, consider the following code snippet,

 Enter your username:            
            Enter your password:

In the above code snippet, we have defined two UI Components namely a text-field and a password field. The corresponding model object for this form is the LoginBean class. Since the LoginBean is treated as a Backing Bean (else, it can't be used in Method Expressions), the Application should have defined this in the Faces Configuration file as follows,

      UserBean     user.registration.UserBean     request

In this phase, the processUpdates() method in the UIComponentBase will be called, which in turn will call all the processUpdates() method that are defined in the child components. Setting the request value to the Model object may also result in Events to get queued and fired.

7) Invoke Application

In this phase, all the Listeners that are registered for the UI Components will get invoked and the Listeners will usually contain the Application specific logic. Note that for all Action Components (like the Command Button or the Hyper-link), there always exists Default Action Listeners which when invoked will display the current page. Consider the code snippet which defines an Action Listener for the Button click,

In this phase, JSF Implementation will call the method UIComponentBase.processApplications() method which can immediately call the Render Response Phase.

8) Render Response

And finally, we have reached the Render Response whose job is to render the response back the Client Application. Before rendering the response, the state of View is stored in the cache by calling the method UIViewRoot.saveState() method.

9) Conclusion

This article provided an overview about the various phases that are involved in JSF Request Processing. It should be noted that, not at all times, phases will occur in a sequential manner. A phase encountering Errors (like Conversion or Validation Errors) or Events may redirect the control to the final phase without passing through any of the intermediatary phases.

2012-02-09T10:58:00.001-08:00

Big Tax Mines That Could Blow Up Your Return

finance.yahoo.com/news/big-tax-mines-could-blow-050133260.html

Most people don’t have tax returns as complex as Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich or Barack Obama, but even if you aren’t reporting a Cayman Island account or many millions in S-corp. profits or book sales, there are brand-new pitfalls to watch for as you go to do your 2011 return.

Congress’s relative gridlock last year means there aren’t a slew of complex tax changes to deal with when you file this year — but there are some doozies that may trip up taxpayers.

For instance, thanks to a law passed in 2008, investors now face new rules and a new form for reporting cost basis for stocks sold in 2011. And now that brokers are reporting your cost basis to the IRS, too, it’s all the more crucial that you get it right.

Also, taxpayers with financial assets overseas need to make sure they’re on the right side of new rules, and a new form, for reporting those assets. The penalty for failing to file the new Form 8938 starts at a flat $10,000 and rises to as much as $50,000, and that doesn’t include other potential penalties.

Payback time

Meanwhile, the tax breaks for homeowners who made energy efficient improvements shrank last year, and those rules are labyrinthine and easy to get wrong. Plus, homeowners who took part in the 2008 first-time home-buyer tax credit — for that year, that tax break was an interest-free loan, not a grant — face their second year of loan repayments.

And taxpayers who converted their individual retirement account (IRA) to a Roth IRA in 2010 and chose to spread the tax payment over 2011 and 2012 (that was an option thanks to a one-time tax break) must pay one-half of the income taxes owed on that conversion on their 2011 return.

“That conversion you did? Now the chickens are coming home to roost,” said Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst with CCH Inc., a Riverwoods, Ill.-based tax publisher and unit of Wolters Kluwer.

“People seem to have fairly short memories, and something they did in 2010, they’ve forgotten about by 2011 and tend to assume it’s a dead issue,” he said.

While making an honest mistake doesn’t necessarily land you in hot water or steep penalties, why risk a letter or call from the IRS?

The payroll tax cut

One major tax issue going forward is the payroll tax cut and whether Congress will extend this tax break — a two-percentage-point reduction in the Social Security taxes paid by workers — beyond the two-month extension through February that lawmakers enacted in December. The payroll tax cut essentially replaces the Making Work Pay credit — that credit expired, and is no longer reflected on Line 63 of Form 1040.

While there’s no tax-return pitfall here to worry taxpayers, some workers are confused by their changing paycheck amounts. And since employers have until Jan. 31 to implement the two-month extension, workers may see additional paycheck adjustments.

“If I had to pick one thing that we’re hearing grousing about, it’s the payroll changes,” said Cynthia Jeanguenat, an enrolled agent in Virginia Beach, Va. “People want to know, ‘How come my check changed this week? I worked the exact same hours.’”

Be prepared for more changes as Congress revisits this tax break.

New rules to report foreign assets

You’ve heard about the IRS going after money held in offshore accounts? That’s related to taxpayers failing to file the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR.

But this year, some taxpayers need to steel themselves for a new, broader reporting requirement, thanks to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, passed by Congress in 2010.

This new requirement is in addition to the fact that taxpayers with accounts overseas worth $10,000 or more generally are required to report those funds to the U.S. Treasury on the FBAR form.

Put simply, the new rules require that if you have overseas accounts worth more than $100,000 if you’re married filing jointly, or $50,000 if single, you must report those assets on the new Form 8938 and attach that to your tax return. And the new rules encompass more types of financial assets than the FBAR.

“This was actually passed to, in essence, catch a bigger potential group of taxpayers,” said Ryan Losi, a certified public accountant and partner in charge of the international practice at Piascik & Associates in Richmond, Va. “They want to expand the web of reporting.”

The failure-to-file penalty for this new form starts at $10,000 and can rise to as high as $50,000 for people who fail to come into compliance, Losi said.

The rules are complex and more detailed than described here, so find a tax professional with expertise in this area. Read more about FATCA on this IRS.gov page.Also see "Do I need to file Form 8938?" on IRS.gov.

See this IRS page for more on when and where to file the FBAR.

Cost-basis confusion

Investors reporting their capital gains and losses face new reporting requirements this year. And your broker must also report your cost basis to the IRS.

The goal of the new rules is to make sure taxpayers pay their capital-gains taxes, and this way the IRS will be able to compare and contrast your claims to your broker’s.

The new rules phase in over three years, so brokers are required to report cost basis on only a limited number of stock-sale transactions for the 2011 tax year. As part of the changes, the IRS now requires that investors fill out a new form, Form 8949, and Schedule D has been revised.

And that new form is not easy to decipher.

Surprise tax hit on inherited assets

Speaking of capital gains, people who inherited assets from someone who died in 2010 may find themselves with a bigger-than-expected tax bill, Luscombe said.

In 2010, when reporting the cost basis of assets, estates could opt for the usual stepped-up basis; that is, the asset’s value at the time of death. (That date-of-death cost basis is then subtracted from the sale price to calculate a capital gain or loss.)

Or estates could opt out of the estate-tax rules and go with rules that used carryover basis — that is, put simply, the price the decedent paid for the asset. That means a much higher tax bill, potentially, than a date-of-death basis; if, say, the person purchased the asset decades earlier the cost likely was much lower.

Traditionally, if heirs sold the assets soon, Luscombe said, “they’d have limited gain because they have a basis for date-of-death value.

“But because of the way 2010 was handled, with people being able to elect to not be subject to the estate tax and therefore subject to carryover basis,” he said, “the heir could be subject to a very significant gain on the sale of the inherited asset.”

For 2010 deaths, executors soon will send out Form 8939 noting the basis, Luscombe said. Some taxpayers may be surprised how low that basis is — and how much capital-gains tax they owe.

Also, that cost-basis figure noted on Form 8939 might not be enough to satisfy the IRS if you get audited. Heirs “might want to go back to the executor and get any support the executor has for determining that basis so if they get audited they’ll have that to show the IRS,” Luscombe said.

Payments due

Remember that IRA-to-Roth conversion you did back in 2010? Taxpayers had the option then of spreading out their income-tax hit over 2011 and 2012. Time’s up, at least for the first half of that bill.

It’s a similar story for anyone who took a 2008 home-buyer tax credit, which was really an interest-free loan rather than a credit. Taxpayers had to start paying back that loan in 2010 (15 equal payments over 15 years).

This year, at least, those home buyers don’t have to fill out Form 5405 again, as long as you filled it out last year and your situation hasn’t changed. (Generally, that means you still own the home and it’s your main residence.) There’s a new line on Form 1040 to report your loan payment: Line 59b.

Energy efficient home improvements

Making your home more green with energy efficient windows and appliances used to pay off at tax time — as much as $1,500. But that tax credit shrank considerably in 2011.

In 2011, the maximum credit for eligible projects is $500 — and that’s essentially a lifetime total.

If you tapped the credit in previous years, “you may not have anything left to take in 2011,” Jeanguenat, the enrolled agent, said. “I don’t think people generally are aware that this was a cumulative credit.”

Until 2016, there is still a separate tax credit in effect for bigger-ticket home-improvement projects, such as installing solar panels, wind turbines or geothermal heat pumps. Homeowners can reap up to 30% of their materials and installation costs back at tax time — and there’s no dollar limit on the credit.

Andrea Coombes is MarketWatch's personal finance editor, based in San Francisco.

2012-02-05T01:43:00.001-08:00

How to install Google Android on the HP TouchPad (with CyanogenMod7)

The CyanogenMod team has released the first public build of Google Android for the HP TouchPad tablet. Right now the software is still in the alpha phase, which means that not everything works as it should. There are still bugs with the Bluetooth, camera, and other functions, for instance. But for the most part, the operating system is now up and running on HP’s discontinued tablet and anyone can install it.

While the HP TouchPad originally shipped with webOS 3.0 software, the tablet’s hardware is similar to many Android tablets. Since the future of webOS is uncertain — and right now there are hundreds of thousands of apps available for Android and less than 10,000 apps for webOS, many of the people who picked up cheap HP Touchpads when HP discontinued the tablet in a $99 fire-sale have been looking forward to installing Android.

The steps below will help you to do just that. This will create a dual-boot setup, allowing you to switch between Android and webOS. Again, this is alpha software, and things can go wrong. You’ll also lose music or other media stored in webOS when you follow these steps.

The current version of CyanogenMod for the TouchPad is based on Android 2.3.7. Once Google released the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, developers will start working to port it to the TouchPad, but that work could take several months to complete.

Update 1/18/2012: CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 has been released. While it’s still pretty rough around the edges, this is the first build of Android 4.0 publicly available for the HP TouchPad. You can install it by following our step-by-step instructions.

They’re similar to the instructions below, but there are a few key differences.

Update 12/15/2011: CyanogenMod released Alpha 3.5 of CyanogenMod 7.1 Android for the HP TouchPad. The only real change to the install process is that you now download the alpha 3.5 file instead of the Alpha 1 file. The rest of the steps remain unchanged.

If you’ve already installed CyanogenMod Alpha 1 and you want to know how to upgrade to Alpha 3.5, you can follow our step-by-step instructions. You’ll likely be able to apply future updates following the same steps.

Instructions for a fresh install:

1. Download and install the Palm Novacom software for your computer. You can find grab the latest software for Windows, Mac, or Linux from the HP website.

2. The next step is to download three files from the RootzWiki forum and one more file from the Moboot project.

If you want to install the Google Android Market and Google apps such as Gmail and YouTube (which you probably do), you’ll also want the gApps installer for CyanogenMod. You can download it from goo-inside.me or from the CyanogenMod wiki.

All told, you’re downloading 5 files:

ACMEInstaller.zip
update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3.5-fullofbugs.zip
update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
moboot_0.3.3.zip
The latest gApps package for CyanogenMod

3. Unzip the ACMInstaller file to the same directory where Palm Novacom is installed. On my computer that directory is C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc.

4. Connect your HP TouchPad to your computer with a USB cable.

5. On the TouchPad you should see a USB notification. Tap the symbol to mount your tablet as a USB mass storage device on your computer.

6. Open a file browser on your computer and create a new folder on your HP TouchPad called “cminstall”

7. Copy the update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip, update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip, and moboot_0.3.3.zip files into that directory. If you’re also installing gApps, drag tat file to the cminstall folder as well.

Do not unzip these files first.

8. Now it’s time to reset your HP TouchPad. To do that follow these steps:

Tap the home button and then hit the arrow key to bring up a list of applications.
Navigate to Settings.
Choose Device Info.
Select the red Reset Options button at the bottom.
Tap the Restart option on the following screen.

If you want to install the Google Apps including the Android Market and Gmail apps, scroll down to the bottom of this article for details on how to add those features.

9. As soon as the screen goes dark, start holding the Volume Up button — don’t let go until you see a big USB symbol on your display.

10. Your computer might take a moment to recognize the TouchPad.

11. Once it’s recognized, open a terminal and navigate to the Palm Novacom directory. On a Windows computer you can do this by following these steps:

Click on the Start Menu.
Type “cmd” (without quotes) into the search box.
A terminal window should open up — but you’re in the wrong directory.
Type “cd c:\” and press enter to get to your root directory.
To navigate to the correct directory, type “dir” and press enter to see a list of directories.
On my computer, I next typed “cd Program Files” and hit enter, then “cd Palm, Inc” and hit enter again.

12. Enter the following command (without quotes) and hit return: “novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller”.

That’s pretty much it. For the next few minutes you should see text flying across your screen. When it’s done, the HP TouchPad will boot Google Android.

In order to get back to webOS:

Press and hold the power button.
Choose the reboot option.
Then select “reboot to webOS” from the next menu.

Note that you’ll only be able to reboot to webOS if you’ve installed the “moboot” file as described above.

This method installs the open source CyanogenMod 7.1 version of Android on the tablet. It’s based on Google Android 2.3.7 software.

If you didn’t install the Android Market and other Google apps, it’s not too late to do it at this point. Just follow these steps:

Download the latest gApps package for CyanogenMod 7 from goo-inside.me or from the CyanogenMod wiki.
Copy it to the same “cminstall” directory on your TouchPad where you placed the CyanogenMod installers.
Run the ACMEInstaller program again from your computer — or you can try adding gApps during your initial installation.

If you’re familiar with using ClockworkMod Recovery, you can also place any update files in the root of your device’s storage and reboot into recovery from Android and use ClockworkMod to apply updates.

Note that the first time you boot after installing gApps you may want to hit the “cancel” button instead of signing in with your Google account right away. That way you have time to connect to a WiFi network before the Android Market tries to load the list of available Google applications.

App support

Even if you do install the Android Market, you may find that some of your favorite apps aren’t listed. I couldn’t find the Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps, or Dolphin HD web browser apps when I searched the Market for them on the TouchPad.

This is likely because the Android Market doesn’t think they’ll be able to run properly on the TouchPad’s hardware. They will.

You just need to install them manually. If you have a rooted Android phone or another device you can use an app such as Titanium Backup or ROM Toolbox to create backup copies of any apps installed on your device. You can then email them to yourself or copy them to your tablet using another method.

I was able to successfully install all four apps listed above. They don’t all look great on the TouchPad’s 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel display, but they do run.

Update: There’s an update that fixes the problem with the Android Market that had prevented certain apps from being listed. If you’re running CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 2, then the Android Market fix should come pre-loaded. If for some reason you’re still using Alpha 1, there are two ways to install the Market fix.

Method 1: Using Android and ClockworkMod Recovery:

Download update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip from Multiupload
Connect your tablet to your PC via a USB cable and mount your tablet as a USB mass storage device.
Copy the update file to the root directory of your device.
Press and hold the power button on your tablet.
Choose the Reboot option.
Select Recovery from the next menu.
Your tablet will reboot to ClockworkMod Recovery.
Use the volume buttons to scroll down to “install zip from sdcard.”
Tap the home button to select that option.
Tap the home button again to “choose zip from sdcard.”
Use the volume keys to scroll down and select the update file.
Tap the home key to select.
From the next menu, use the volume keys and home key to select the “yes” option.
After the install is complete, press the power button to go back to the main menu, and tap home to reboot your system.

Method 2: Using Android or webOS and the ACMEInstaller

Download update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip from Multiupload.
Connect your tablet to your computer and mount it as a mass storage device.
Create a folder called “cminstall” on your device.
Copy the update file to that folder.
Reboot your device into recovery mode by restarting the tablet and holding the Volume Up button until a big USB icon appears on the screen.
Follow steps 11 and 12 in the tutorial above to open a terminal, navigate to the Palm Novacom/ACMEInstaller directory, and enter market “novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller” to start the install process.

Once you’ve done that, you should be able to find Google Maps, the Dolphin HD or Opera web browsers, or other apps in the Android Market.

If you’re wondering exactly how the ACMEInstaller works, you can read more about it at the CyanogenMod blog. Basically, the app resizes the webOS media volume to create space for Android system, cache, and data volumes. It then installs CyanogenMod, the Moboot bootloader, and anyother files such as the Google Apps.

This is why using the installer tool will erase any songs, photos, or other media stored in your HP TouchPad webOS media directory.

The good news is that CyanogenMod 7.1 for the TouchPad will then treat the webOS media area as if it were an SD card — so you can access webOS media from Android, or access your Android files from webOS.

You can find out more about how the first alpha release of CyanogenMod for the HP TouchPad works in my hands-on post, or check out this video:

What to do if you can’t reboot to webOS

If you followed the instructions and put Moboot and ClockworkMod Recovery in the cminstall folder when you first flashed Android you should be able to use the “reboot to webOS” option to restart your tablet in webOS. If not, you can only reboot to Android — but don’t worry. There’s a way to fix this.

While in Android, connect your tablet to a computer via a USB cable.
A “USB connected” option will show up in your notification bar. Tap the option that says “Turn on USB storage.”
Your tablet should show up on your computer as a USB disk drive.
Create a folder called “cminstall.”
Place Moboot, Google Apps, or any other file you need to flash into that folder.
Reboot your tablet while holding the Volume Up button to enter recovery mode.
From your computer, follow steps 11 and 12 from the installation tutorial again to open a terminal, navigate to the novacom folder and use the “novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller” command.

That should send the new components over to your TouchPad and the next time you boot you should have the missing features such as the ability to enter ClockworkMod Recovery to select your boot options.

What do to if ClockworkMod Recovery fails to install

It’s possible that Android may install properly, while the ClockworkMod Recovery installation fails. One theory is that this happens sometimes if you have a custom webOS kernel in the /boot partition. Here’s what you can do manually install the Recovery:

Unzip the update-cwm_ternerloin-1012.zip file to the same director where Novacom and your ACMEInstaller files are located.
Connect your TouchPad to your computer and reboot into Recovery by holding the Up Volume button while you reboot.
Open a terminal and navigate to the Novacom directory.
Type the following (without the quotes): “novacom boot mem:// < uImage.ClockworkMod”

What to do if you’re pretty sure your tablet is frozen

First, make sure your device is really frozen. The install process can take a while, so it might look like nothing is happening even when there’s activity. But if five or six minutes pass and you find yourself looking at blank screen, try pressing and holding the power button and home button at the same time for about 30 seconds. This should cause your tablet to reboot.

What to do if your device repeatedly fails to wake from sleep

CyanogenMod 7.1 for the HP TouchPad is still alpha software, which means it’s still pretty rough around the edges. One of the biggest problems users have found is the so-called “sleep of death,” which basically means that from time to time the tablet will fail to resume from sleep when you press the power button.

One possible fix for this is to install a software patch that should eliminate or at least reduce sleep of death instances. You can find details on how to do that in our article about the sleep of death.

Restoring webOS with the webOS Doctor

If you royally mess things up you can also try to restore your system to factory default condition using the webOS doctor. The folks at webOS Internals have put together a nice set of instructions for doing that.

I want to restore webOS, uninstall Android, and recover all missing space

If you just use the webOS doctor to restore webOS, you won’t actually erase Android or change the storage partition size — which means the space in your media partition that was allotted for Android will still be inaccessible.

But the CyanogenMod team has released a tool called ACMEUninstaller which you can use to completely remove Android and change your partitions back to their normal size.

Just download the latest version from the link at the RootzWiki forum, unzip the app to your Palm Novacom directory and run it the same way you would run the ACMEInstaller app.

Bonus round: If Android isn’t your thing, you can also install Ubuntu Linux on the TouchPad.

Note that while it’s pretty hard to completely “brick” the tablet and leave it entirely unusable, it is possible to do so. Installing Android may void your warranty — especially if you’re unable to restore the tablet to its factory default settings. So please proceed at your own risk, and understand that neither Liliputing nor the developers at CyanogenMod can be held responsible if something you do to your tablet causes it to stop working properly.

2012-02-05T01:34:00.001-08:00

Install Android 2.3.5 Unofficial CyanogenMod 7.1 ROM On HTC Dream G1

By Zayed Rehman on Jul 29 2011 2 Comments

Android’s earliest smartphone generation, has blatantly refused to die. Determined to see the evolution of the OS through to stages beyond imagination, the HTC Dream G1 just received a customROM based on Google’s latest Android 2.3.5 firmware, shortly after the firmware was released for the Nexus S 4G. Since then the firmware has been operated on and dissected and finding itself ported onto a handful of Android handsets. In the HTC G1’s case, credit goes to XDA-Developers forum member dw9906 for compiling a CM7.1 based ROM from Cyanogenmod’s source.

Credits to CyanogenMod, Ezterry for the 2.6.36.4 kernel & Google for Open Source.

As for the features of the ROM you can see those below:

Android 2.3.5.
Apps2SD.
JIT on/off.
Surface dithering on/off.
Compcache Settings.
VM Heap Settings.
Swipe to clear Notifications.
SetCPU Settings.
Tablet Tweaks.
Slide status bar to adjust brightness.
Option to disable Wallpaper.
CyanogenMod extra rotation settings.
Built in Screenshot app. Hold in Power button for option.

For a complete list of changelog, extras and queries, visit the forum thread at XDA-Developers. According to the developer, the ROM doesn’t seem to contain any bugs. So if you wish to give your G1 a rush of Android 2.3.5, here’s how you can get this ROM up and running on your device.

Disclaimer: Please follow this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips will not be liable if your device gets damaged or bricked during the process.

Requirements:

A Rooted HTC Dream G1. See how to root the HTC Dream G1.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Install via ROM Manager from the Market.
CM7.1 (unofficial).
Custom kernel (ezgb-2636-v1.5_S.zip). Using this is optional.
Google Apps.

Instructions:

To begin, download the ROM and copy it to the root of your SD card.
Now reboot into recovery and make a Nandroid backup.
Select wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache and wipe dalvick cache.
Navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the ROM copied to your SD card.
Once the ROM is chosen, it will be flashed to the device and will take a few minutes.
When the ROM is installed, simply reboot your device.

[VIA XDA-DEVELOPERS]

2012-02-04T23:48:00.001-08:00

How to install Android 4.0 on the HP TouchPad (CyanogenMod 9 Alpha)

The first public build of Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now available for the HP TouchPad. The tablet originally shipped with HP’s webOS software, but hackers have been installing Google Android on the TouchPad for months.

Up until recently, only Android 2.3 Gingerbread was available for the tablet, but now the CyanogenMod team has released CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 for the TouchPad. It’s based on Android 4.0 and includes Google’s new user interface which is optimized for tablets without physical buttons. It’s a good fit for the TouchPad, which doesn’t have the home, back, and menu buttons found on most earlier Android phones and tablets.

Updated 1/30/12: CM9 Alpha 0.6 offers a number of bug fixes and a few new features including a quick settings menu that takes up less space and a menu that appears when you press-and-hold the power button. You can install the latest software using the steps below. If you’re upgrading from an earlier build, just copy the new files to your cminstall folder and skip to step 8 below — or follow our guide for updating your software using ClockworkMod.

CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 is still pretty rough around the edges — which is why it’s labeled Alpha 0. The camera doesn’t work, and it might never work. There’s no hardware video acceleration, which means Netflix won’t work, and HD YouTube videos wan’t play. The microphone doesn’t work and audio is glitchy.

Titanium Backup doesn’t work, and many apps may fail to show up in the Android Market.

My TouchPad has also rebooted unexpectedly several times since installing Android 4.0.

If that doesn’t scare you off, here’s how you can install CM9 on the HP TouchPad. First I’ll talk about installing it from scratch — assuming that you’re starting from webOS and you’ve never installed Android on the tablet before.

Further down in the article I’ll also explain how to upgrade from CyanogenMod 7 or other Android software.

1. Make sure Java is installed on your computer.

Visit the Java download page from your Windows, Mac, or Linux computer and download and install the latest version.

2. Install Palm Novacom driver

There are several ways to install the Palm Novacom software, but the easiest is to use the Universal Novacom Installer.

You can download the .jar file from Google Code, and once it’s downloaded, click it to run.

Follow the instructions and it should install Novacom on your computer. Note that this will only work if Java is already installed.

You’ll also want to make a note of where the files are installed. On my Windows 7 PC, the Universal Novacom Installer created a folder called c:\Program Files\Palm, Inc.

3. Downoad ACMEINstaller, Moboot, ClockworkMod and optionally gApps

The next step is to download all the files you’re going to need. You’ll find the latest links for most of these files at the RootzWiki forum, but here’s a list of what you need:

ACMEInstaller2
update-cm-9.0.0-RC0-Touchpad-alpha0.6-fullofbugs.zip
update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
moboot_0.3.5.zip
gApps for CyanogenMod 9

You can find links for the first 4 files at RootzWiki. There are a number of different places to find gApps files. CyanogenMod is based on open source software and doesn’t include the Google Android Market or other Google apps such as Google Maps out of the box. Since CyanogenMod 9 is still in the early testing phases, there’s no official gApps add-on, but a number of independent developers have created versions of gApps that may work with the software.

I downloaded gApps 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip from here.

Bonus round: You can open the gApps zip file and remove the apk installers for any apps you don’t want to install. Just make sure to leave GoogleServicesFramework alone.

As a matter of explanation, ACMEInstaller2 is an installer file which is run from your PC. the update-cm-9.0 file is the Android 4.0 ROM, update-cwm is the ClockworkMod custom recovery utility, and Moboot is an app that allows you to choose between Android, webOS, and ClockworkMod when you boot your tablet.

4. Place ACMEInstaller in the same directory as your Novacom files

If, like me, Novacom is in your c:\Program Files\Palm, Inc directory, just copy ACMEInstaller2 to that directory.

5. Connect your HP TouchPad to your computer and enable USB mass storage mode

Use the USB cable that came with your tablet to connect it to a PC. You should see a USB notification in the upper-right corner of the TouchPad. Tap on it to enter USB drive mode.

This will allow your tablet to show up as a removable drive on your desktop computer.

6. Copy remaining files to your TouchPad

Open a file explorer on your computer and navigate to your TouchPad. Create a new folder called “cminstall” without the quotes. Then copy these files from your PC to that new folder:

update-cm-9.0.0-RC0-Touchpad-alpha0.6-fullofbugs.zip
update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
moboot_0.3.5.zip
gApps 4.0.3 11.12.22.zip

Do not unzip any of these files first. They’re supposed to be zip files.

If you’re using Windows, you may need to eject your TouchPad from your PC before continuing.

7. Reboot your TouchPad

Tap the home button and then hit the arrow icon to bring up a list of applications.
Navigate to the Settings tab.
Choose Device Info.
Select the red Reset Options button.
On the following screen (see image below) tap the Restart option.

If you’re already running an earlier build of Android, you can restart much more quickly just by pressing and holding the power button and then choosing the restart option.

8. Press and hold the volume button

As soon as the screen goes dark, press the volume up button until you see a big USB icon on your screen. Then wait for your computer to install any drivers. Assuming you’ve already installed the Palm Novacom software correctly this should just take a minute or two.

9. Open a command terminal and navigate to the Novacom directory

After your computer installs the drivers, it’s time to get ready to run ACMEInstaller. Here’s how you do that on a Windows computer:

Click the Start Menu.
Type “cmd” (without quotes) in the search box.
This will open a command prompt.
Type “cd /” (without quotes) to enter your root directory.
Navigate to the correct directory. Typing “dir” (without quotes) will show a list of directories.
On my computer, I next typed “cd Program Files” and hit enter, then “cd Palm, Inc” and hit enter again.

10. Run ACMEInstaller

Now enter the following command, without quotes: “novacom.exe boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller2″

The USB icon should disappear from your TouchPad screen and now you should see lines of text run across your screen for a few minutes. If you don’t, it’s probably because the Novacom drivers haven’t been installed properly.

Try rebooting your computer and trying again. If that doesn’t work, try uninstalling and reinstalling Novacom by revisiting step two.

If everything works properly, your TouchPad should now boot into Moboot.

From here, you can choose to boot into CyanogenMod by hitting the home button. Or you can choose to reboot to webOS by using the up and down volume keys to navigate to the webOS option and then hitting home.

11. (Optional) Install update-chargerFix

Update: This step isn’t necessary if you’re installing Alpha 0.5 or later — but these are the same steps you would use to flash *any* update using ClockworkMod Recovery.

One of the bugs in CM9 Alpha 0 is that the tablet charges very slowly. But there’s already a fix for that. You can download the update-chargerFix-alpha0.zip file from goo-inside.me or Techerrata. Then follow these steps to install it:

Place the zip file in the root directory of your TouchPad’s storage (or in a folder that you can remember).
Press-and-hold the power button to reboot the touchPad.
From the Moboot menu, choose ClockworkMod.
Use the volume keys to scroll down to the entry that says “install a zip from SDcard” and tap the home button to select.
Using the volume and home keys, highlight the update-chargerFix file and select it.
Scroll down to select yes.
When it’s done installing reboot into CyanogenMod.

You won’t need to install the ChargerFix for future versions of CyanogenMod, since it should be included.

gApps addendum: Note that some users have reported that ACMEInstaller2 doesn’t automatically install gApps, but you can use ClockworkMod to install the gApps zip following the steps outlined in part 11 for applying the charging fix. Just substitute the gApps zip file for the update-chargerFix file.

It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with ClockworkMod anyway, since it provides the simplest tools for backing up and restoring your system, wiping data, or applying OS updates.

Upgrading from CyanogenMod 7, MIUI, or any other Android software

If you’re upgrading from an earlier build of Android you can skip many of these steps. In fact, all you need to do is download update-cm-9.0.0-RC0-alpha0.5-Touchpad-fullofbugs.zip on your TouchPad, reboot to ClockworkMod, and install update from ZIP.

But, and it’s a big but, you’ll run into trouble if you do this without wiping your data first. In other words, you’ll lose all your apps and settings. So the preferred method for upgrading from CyanogenMod 7 Alpha 1, 2, 3, or 3.5 to CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0 is to use ACMEInstaller2.

Note that the original ACMEInstaller will not work. So make sure to upgrade to version 2. Then just:

Copy update-cm-9.0.0-RC0-alpha0.5-Touchpad-fullofbugs.zip and thelatest gApps zip file to the cminstall folder on your TouchPad.
Connect your TouchPad to your PC.
Reboot the TouchPad, pressing the volume-up button until the USB icon appears.
Run ACMEInstaller2

This should install CM9 without erasing your preferences. You’ll also probably want to install the latest gApps. But there’s no need to update ClockworkMod or Moboot unless you really want to.

Once you’re done, you may also want to check out step 11 above for instructions on applying an update that will help the Touchpad charge more quickly.

It’s also probably not a bad idea to use ClockworkMod to make a backup of your system before starting, and it’s never a bad idea to use it to wipe your cache.

While it is theoretically possible to triple boot CM7, CM9, and webOS, it’s apparently a pain in the behind, and the CyanogenMod team doesn’t plan to release any tools to make it easier.

This upgrade method should work whether you’re running CyanogenMod,MIUI, or any other software — assuming you’ve already installed ClockworkMod and Moboot.

2012-02-04T23:47:00.001-08:00

CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0.6 for the HP TouchPad now available

CyanogenMod developer Dalingrin has released a minor update to CM9 for the HP TouchPad tablet. The latest software is still based on Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but it includes a handful of bug fixes and a few new features.

CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 0.6 offers some improvements for the touchscreen, an option to to hide the bottom toolbar in full screen mode, the ability to scroll through the quick settings menu, and preliminary support for ROM Manager Premium. ROM Manager is an Android app that lets you flash updates without first manually rebooting your device into ClockworkMod recovery and navigating through its menus.

The new software also now brings up a menu with several options when you press-and-hold the power button. You can shut down the tablet, reboot the TouchPad, take a screenshot, enable airplane mode, or changed a few other settings.

If you’re already running an earlier version of CyanogenMod Alpha 9, there are two easy ways to update:

Download the latest Alpha zip file (update-cm-9.0.0-RC0-Touchpad-alpha0.6-fullofbugs.zip) to your TouchPad, reboot into ClockworkMod Recovery, and choose to “install zip from sdcard.” You can find more detailed instructions in our post on updating from Alpha 0 to Alpha 0.5.
Place the latest Alpha zip file in the “cminstall” directory on your TouchPad and run ACMEInstaller on your computer to install the update the same way you installed Android in the first place. Once the update.zip file you want to install is in the cminstall folder, just check out our originalguide for installing Android 4.0 on the TouchPad and start with step 8.

If this is the first time you’re installing Android 4.0 on the TouchPad, you can use our step-by-step guide for installing CyanogenMod 9. It will walk you through the steps of adding Android, ClockworkMod Recovery, and the Moboot to a TouchPad which is already running HP webOS software.

2012-02-04T23:46:00.001-08:00

How to install CyanogenMod 7.1 Android Alpha 3 on the HP TouchPad

Update: CM9 Alpha 0 is now available, making it possible to install an early, buggy build of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich for the HP TouchPad.

The CyanogenMod team has released a new build of Google Android for the HP TouchPad. The tablet originally shipped with webOS 3.0 software, but last month a group of developers successfully ported Google Android to run on HP’s discontinued tablet.

CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 includes a number of updates and bug fixes, including:

The “sleep of death” problem which caused the tablet to fail to resume from sleep should be gone.
WiFi should work better.
There’s preliminary support for the HP TouchPad 4G.
The status bar should use fewer system resources when running full screen apps.

This is still an alpha build, and it’s still a bit rough around the edges. For instance, the camera has been improved, but it still doesn’t work very well when you’re running Android. Alpha 3 also seems to introduce a new bug: when you plug in headphones the tablet speaker will shut down, but you won’t be able to hear any audio in your headphones. So proceed with caution, and if you’re happy with Alpha 2 and really need working headphones, you might not want to update just yet.

If you’re installing CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 from scratch on a TouchPad tablet running webOS, you’ll want to grab the new ROM from the RootzWiki forum and then follow our step-by-step instructions. The latest ROM is called update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip.

Things are much easier if you’re already running Alpha 1 or Alpha 2 on your tablet and you’ve made sure to install ClockworkMod Recovery. Here’s all you have to do:

Download update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip from the RootzWiki forum. You can either download it directly on your tablet or on your computer and then copy it to your tablet.
Make sure the ZIP file is located on your SD card.
While running Android on your TouchPad, press and hold the power button and then select the “reboot” option.
Tap the option to “Reboot to Recovery.”
Your tablet should reboot to ClockworkMod Recovery.
Use the volume buttons to navigate to the option that says “install zip from sdcard.”
Press the home button to select.
Use the home button to select “choose zip from sdcard.”
Use the volume keys to navigate to the file you want. If it’s in the root directory of your SD card, just scroll down until you find it and then press the home button. If not, navigate to the folder you want, press home to enter the folder, and then press home to select the update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a3-fullofbugs-signed.zip file.
Once you’ve selected the ZIP file, scroll down with the volume buttons until you get to “Yes.”
Press the home button to apply the update.
After Alpha 3 is finished installing, you can use the volume buttons to scroll down to “Go Back” and keep pressing it until you see the option to “reboot system now” and press the home button to reboot.

That’s it. Now you’re running CyanogenMod 7.1 Alpha 3 on the HP TouchPad. It should provide a much more stable experience.

You can also use the same ACMEInstaller tool you used to install Android on the TouchPad in the first place to install the update. Just follow our steps for installing Alpha 2, but use the new file instead. But really, there’s no reason not to just use ClockworkMod. It’s faster and easier, and you can do the whole thing without a computer.

You can also check out some of the other settings in ClockworkMod to do perform actions such as making a complete backup of your device (which can come in handy if anything goes wrong), or wiping the Dalvik cache (which is often a good idea before flashing a new ROM, but not entirely necessary when flashing an update like Alpha 3).

Some users have had problems with WiFi failing to work after upgrading from Alpha 2 to Alpha 3. The solution seems to be to remove your existing WiFi settings and reboot your device.

In other HP TouchPad Android news, developer fattire has started working to bring Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to HP’s tablet… but he says it will likely be a few months before it works well enough to release a public alpha.

Right now he can boot to a lock screen, but the touchscreen isn’t working, so there’s no way to unlock the device and use it yet.