Category: Soapbox

Soapbox style rants

Corporations, iPhone, Soapbox, technology

Life on the straight and narrow

| be3n

My life without a jailbroken phone. . . A return to playing by the rules.

The jailbreak for my new iPhone 4 has not yet been published. So I’ve been forced to spend the last few days living within the confines that apple deems acceptable use of my phone. It’s been harder then i thought. Even though many of my favorite jailbreak apps are still not compatible with iOS 4, there are a few things i realize i miss dearly. Some other mac geeks that disapprove of my whole jailbroken lifestyle think i’m better off. I’m here today to enumerate the most pressing reasons i prefer a jailbroken iPhone. Before i start, a disclaimer. . . it is easier for me with my many other iOS devices at the ready, so i won’t get into the many networking diagnostic tools are very useful for me with work. I will simply state the many features, apps, and interface enhancements that i have come to expect from my iPhone.

Saurik’s Cyntact: i was surprised at just how much i missed seeing my contact photos in the list. I paid $1 to the man eons ago for this little hack just to support him for all his efforts that he doesn’t charge for. Now i find myself missing it most of all.

Spektro’s Notify: i thought for sure apple was going to steal this one right up. I wish they had. Without it’s handy icons and reminder sounds, my new messages often go completely unnoticed. It lights up icons on the title bar to quickly inform you when you have new txt, email, or voicemail messages.

Big Boss’s SBSettings: Worth it for brightness alone. It’s convenient info screen and customizable toggles also allow me to quickly turn on and off resources and services for battery, privacy or other reasons. Resources like wifi or gps or even applications that need to be shut down.

ZodTTD’s Emulators: NES, SNES, and now Playstation! It’s just what i need to get my Kong on at the DMV or while baby sitting status bars.

Yiller’s Firewall IP always reveals what my apps are talking about. You’d be surprised how many apps go phoning home about you. Do you know what they are saying? Phone number, GPS info, anything can be beamed to whomever while you use your flashlight app.

Realize that this is only the tip of the glacier that is the jailbroken/homebrew community. Especially with the sales of commercial projects like MyWi which allow you to transform your iPhone into a wireless access point and inspell, spell check above and beyond what apple eventually integrated. The future for jailbreak is bright. The wait, will hopefully not be much longer. Thanks again to everybody who makes it possible. (MuscleNerd, planetbeing, saurik, and comex to name a few)

Corporations, iPhone, Soapbox, technology

it’s not iPad security leak! it’s at$t’s security leak of iPad account info!

| be3n

at$t chasing dollarsThe media keeps reporting an iPad security leak. it’s not iPad security leak!  it has very little to do with the iPad.  it’s at$t’s security leak!  it’s only that it solely effected owners of 3g iPads with data plan with at$t. all the media cares about is iPad.  point the blame where it is due!  Security of your user’s private info must be a serious concern for all companies.

Corporations, iPhone, Soapbox, technology

AT$T is broken in California!

| be3n

at$t chasing dollarsApparently, a huge outage is killing iPhone service all over California.  My own customers and friends have reported getting a disconnect message when trying to call me.  I myself have been unable to make any calls and even txts have been failing and repeating very strangely.  I called 611 furiously and after only a few minutes of complaining, they gave me a $150 credit to my account.  This doesn’t compair with the aggravation and possible loss of business.  (in fact, it took 4 calls to actually communicate with a rep)  My only hope is that if their customers effect the bottom line enough, they might just fix the problem.

Corporations, Culture, Media, movies, Soapbox, technology

Feeling Blu.

| be3n

Blu-ray LogoJust a few days after acquiring my new Blu-ray burner, i’m already transcoding my first HD movie. After an hour to rip, i must wait nearly 3 hours to transcode. i don’t know why i expected it to be more difficult then it was.   Perhaps i should wait to see the output before making such a boast.  Before you cry DMCA, remember that fair use allows me to make any additional copies of media that are required to play it. How else am i supposed to play Prestige on my iPad in HD?  don’t answer that.  We’ll let the lawyers fight it out.

hardware, iPhone, Soapbox, technology, Wisdom

iPhone 3gs and Touch 3g users should have their shsh blobs backed up by now! Even if you are not jailbroken!

| be3n

the easiest way is with umbrella.  the hardest part is to put your phone in restore mode and plug it into a computer to get it’s unique id.  after that, you reboot your phone normally and put it away. it is never modified.  Umbrella is run on a computer and it requires that unique id.  the data is actually retrieved directly from apple’s servers and may differ in version from the software on your devise.  you can even cache your blobs on saurik’s server right form umbrella without ever violating your apple warrantee or modifying your devise in any way.

overview of the process and reasons:
http://www.saurik.com/id/12

official umbrella site:
http://thefirmwareumbrella.blogspot.com/

Corporations, hardware, Internet, Politics, Soapbox, technology, Wi-Fi

May i borrow a cup of wifi?

| be3n

The internet went out again.  it seems that time warner is made of sugar or wicked witches.  They melt in the rain.  last time we traced the run from pole to modem, but it seems that water continues to find a way in.  Luckily i set a little something up with the neighbors.  It had to be put in place after the last time when i ran off my iphone using tethering.  Believe me, edge at home is ONLY for desperate people.  A time warner serviceman made it out this morning to fix it.  Knowledgeable workmen AND speedy service, this is a side of time warner i’ve never seen before.  I’d still like to see less of these glitches and of course the 8Mbit we’re paying for!  Even more then that, i’d like to see a real solution.

Real Solution

What i’d like to see, is a solution to the fundamental internet problem once and for all.  What problem?  The lack of free and available internet to ANYONE throughout public spaces (and even private ones).  That is a stimulus with a real and tangible benefit.  Our wireless communications carriers have failed us.  We gave them the very air and they repay us with early termination fees and dropped calls.

The powers that be could bring the internet in through the power lines.  You can get incredible bandwidth though existing infrastructure and utility poles make great places for hanging access points.  Heck, i wouldn’t even mind if they snooped (you know they spy already).  In fact people would probably line up to be snooped on free wifi all over town! once we have a nation wide public wifi network and everything plugged into the wall was also connected to that network, things will really start to get interesting.  Imagine a world where our gadgets conspire to improve out daily life?  What if you never had to set an alarm clock?  Simply plugging it into the wall gets it online and sets the time.  Imagine a world where wireless communications doesn’t require faustian contracts with providers full of marketing and empty promises.  What if a txt didn’t cost 20¢?  What if you could make a call or send a message from your pocket for free?  What if this actually happened?  These simple ideas will extend the functionality and integrate our devices and networks in ways we cannot even comprehend.  I honestly believe that combined with IPv6 and other great implementations, these foundations of technology that will pave the way to the future we’ve seen in science fiction.