Waisting my time at the Apple Store

I’m at the Apple Store resolving an issue with my iPhone camera.  The same camera Jitter that is already an extended replacement with Apple for the iPhone 6 Plus.  No warranty left and no love for my 6s Plus. They wanted to charge me $80.  After begrudgingly agreeing and waiting an hour for the repair.  i returned to a phone with a completely non-functioning camera.  whoops.

Final iPhone Backup Before Apple Replacement

I hurriedly backed up my phone in preparation for Apple replacing it.  I have now been here for 3 hours.  I spent most of my time waiting for someone.  Now waiting for activation of the new phone.   Then waiting for restore.  In all, my customer service experience was much worse then expected.  After very helpful and accommodating internet support, I received absolutely terrible support from the Apple Store itself.  When i asked to complain to a manager, the “Leader” they brought out was condescending and robotic in his rhetoric.  The 2nd guy, was a lot more understanding, but Apple needs to take a hard look at their customer service.

End of an era! cydia.be3n.com shuttered after 7+ years!

In truth, I haven’t touched it in years.  I haven’t even touched cydia recently. Sadly, all this work would only be useful for someone with an original or 3g iPhone. Apple certainly doesn’t support those devices anymore.  Does anyone still use them?  Unfortunately, my ISP insists that I remove the content.  After 7 years of hosting it, they realized it violates TOS.  I should check the logs.  I wonder if it will even be missed.  People say the internet never forgets.  Sometimes it is quite the opposite. For nostalgias sake, I left the instructions site up: http://cydia.be3n.com/ (at least that does’t violate Dreamhost TOS).  For the record, much of my work continued support well into iOS 4.

cydia.be3n.com site

. . . Maybe it will rise again on S3?

Power Nap drops my watts to the floor!

I finally ensured that all of the background tasks on my primary desktop would quite literally run in their sleep.  Now I can leave it asleep a majority of the time.  I am continually impressed with the energy efficiency of the new MacPro. The wattage depicted represents not just my slumbering beast, but several small appliances as well (including two Raspberry Pi).  Getting a bit greener.

15 Watts  APC Display

Bizarre FaceTime error could have horrifying security implications!

ios9 facetime iconI just got off a very strange call. Apparently, a complete stranger received a FaceTime request from me. “Butt Dial” right?  no big deal. Not this time.  At the time, i was in the middle of a FaceTime call with my dad.  I am almost certain I know exactly when it happened because i noticed a call-waiting style interruption on our call.  The first strange thing i noticed was that the incoming caller was my dad.  The same dad, I was presently talking to.  I rejected the call, thinking it was my dad accidentally calling from a different device. Then, moments later I get a mobile call from another LA number.  This time from an irate husband demanding to know why I would FaceTime his wife.  Unfortunately, I may have given them the wrong impression by asking questions of them.  The IT guy inside me wanted to figure out what just happened. Needless to say, they didn’t enjoy being grilled.  I barely had time to get out a few apologies, i don’t think they even realized that I hadn’t actually even called them.  I did get some answers.  They were not on a call at the time.  They were not even on the device.  My call history shows no outgoing calls save my dad.  my dad’s history doesn’t show the missed call on my history from him. I am almost certain I will never know what actually happened.  I am guessing that Apple FaceTime system might be a bit more duct tape and spit then we were lead to believe.

Links to Download Xcode DMG for all version!

Ok, i was doing some work with Mac Ports on an old 10.7.5 machine (9 year old iMac still works great).  I realized that i needed an Xcode install for 10.7.5.  I spent hours trying to find links to old Xcode versions on Apple’s Developer site.  They are gone.  Broadening my search to google, I found this amazing trove of links.  I am posting them here for my own selfish reasons, but i linked to the original post. Why must Apple insist on deleting the past.   enjoy them while they still work.

(you will need to be registered as an apple developer for these links to work.  Anyone can do it and it is free.)

Addition:

Xcode 15
15 Beta 4: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_15_beta_4/Xcode_15_beta_4.xip

Xcode 14
14.3.1: https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/Developer_Tools/Xcode_14.3.1/Xcode_14.3.1.xip

Xcode 11
11.4 Beta 3: https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/Developer_Tools/Xcode_11.4_beta_3/Xcode_11.4_beta_3.xip
11.4 Beta 2: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_11.4_beta_2/Xcode_11.4_beta_2.xip
11.3.1: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_11.3.1/Xcode_11.3.1.xip
11 Beta: https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/WWDC_2019/Xcode_11_Beta/Xcode_11_Beta.xip

Xcode 10
10.2.1:  https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_10.2.1/Xcode_10.2.1.xip
10.2:  https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_10.2/Xcode_10.2.xip
10.1:  https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_10.1/Xcode_10.1.xip
Beta 2:  https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/Developer_Tools/Xcode_10_Beta_2/Xcode_10_Beta_2.xip

Xcode 9
9.4.1  9F2000:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835?ls=1&mt=12
9.3: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_9.3/Xcode_9.3.xip
9.2: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_9.2/Xcode_9.2.xip
9.1: https://download.developer.apple.com/Developer_Tools/Xcode_9.1/Xcode_9.1.xip
beta GM 9A235: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_9_GM_seed.xip

Xcode 8
8.3.3:  https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode8.3.3.xip
8.3: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_8.3.xip
8.2: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_8.2.xip
8.1: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_8.1.xip
8: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_8.xip

Xcode 7
7.3.1: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_7.3.1.dmg
7.2: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_7.2.dmg
7.1.1: https://download.developer.apple.com/…/Xcode_7.1.1.dmg

Continue reading “Links to Download Xcode DMG for all version!”

iPhone takes another dump!

This morning I woke to see that I hadn’t plugged in my phone overnight. I plugged it in and continued to prepare my breakfast.  I returned to find the boot screen staring ominously at me.  It never booted. So much for my jailbreak.  I tried a few things (force restart, safe mode, no luck).  Oddly enough, my watch was still receiving txt messages- no other iMessage client was working at that time).  Now i am restoring to last year.  (lol – it’s only 2 weeks old)

iphone 6s plus wipeiphone 6s plus restore

Great work Pangu! Jailbreak 9-9.0.2!

Once again, Chinese team Pangu drops a public iOS jailbreak for all the devices presently released including the new iPhone 6s/+. The usual warning about backing up your devices and that most of the software on cydia must be updated to work with the OS.  We know that 9.1 is already in the pipe.  I hope no unnecessary bugs were burned.  Taig did amazing work in iOS 8 to ensure that their bugs were released at the perfect time for maximum effect and user elation.

Only windows app presently.  My windows virtual machine decided to implode this morning, so i used my gaming PC to get it done.  (my new windows VM is still updating)

I was successful jailbreaking my iPhone 6s+ that had been OTA updated to iOS 9.0.2.  Strangely, I received no confirmation screen upon success.  Pangu recommends restoring your device directly to 9.0.2 instead of using the update feature on your device.

Pangu9 Jailbreak start

Continue reading “Great work Pangu! Jailbreak 9-9.0.2!”