.me, .mac, and .myself

The WWDC opening keynote by Jobs on Monday June 9th, 2008 is going to packed full of stuff, if we're to believe all the rumours that are going around right now in the blogosphere! There'll be the 3G iPhone with GPS, and its 2.0 firmware with 3rd party development support. There'll also be the expected 70+ new countries pledging telecoms support for the JesusPhone. It doesn't just stop there though. Bloggers are expecting there to be newly updated MacBooks and MacBook Pros, OSX 10.5.4 (despite 10.5.3 just being released!), the preview of OSX 10.6, and the revamping of .Mac into what is suggested to be .Me, or MobileMe.com.
The latter is just about the only thing where I can do something about it. If Apple were to migrate all .Mac users over to .Me, thus enveloping iPhone and Windows users too, then the existing .mac usernames have to be ported over. Some blog forum users gave an inspired post, saying that if the email address would beomce @me.com, then they would immediately register stoplaughing@me.com! Hilarious!
But why wait until June 9th? If you register for a Free Trial at www.mac.com, you have 30 days to try it out, and hold onto that username past the WWDC keynote. And so off I went to register! Sadly, that poster did register "StopLaughing" username... mac.com was suggesting I use "StopLaughing1" which really doesn't cut the mustard. So I went for something similar: "EveryonesLaughing", which hopefully should evolve into "EveryonesLaughing@me.com"!
Which, funnily enough, is true! :D
What wouldn't be funny is if this rumour is false, and it remains as "EveryonesLaughing@Mac.com".... I might get lynched by the Mac Fanboys for that.... :S

EDIT: my boss just signed up a fantastic one: DontThrowShit@me.com :D

MobileScobbler - everything you wanted to know about your current song!

Just added this app which looks interesting. Once you have a login at www.last.fm, this app will check what you're listening to and compare it against what others have been listening too. Keywords such as genre, artist, comparable artists, and other factors are selectable. Thus this gives you the opportunity to broaden your exposure of music beyond your existing iTunes collection. It even has a shortcut to let you buy the album from iTunes music store! 

If it just offered that alone it would be quite good. However, MobileScrobbler goes further in listing a biography of the artist, and even lyrics to the current song! There is also another button called Events, would be interesting to see what's listed there if it really is updated.

PS. It works great over EDGE!
PPS. It eats up the battery too! Best to disable all MobileScrobbler functions in Settings, and check its logo is off the top status bar.

A P2P app for the iPhone??

At first this sounds ludicrous... why on earth would you want to have a P2P app on your iPhone? Battery is already limited enough as it is... let alone drain it even more with constant downloading and uploading. And exactly how many TV shows can you fit onto the 8GB model?
Well its all made clear with iSlsk. This app is a pretty slick app.
If you can imagine the iTunes music store, but free, then thats a close approximation!
Of course, the developer makes the disclaimer that you should only download music that you've bought legally.
But it works astonishingly well. You can search for songs, and select which one you want, and what bitrate its at.
After downloading to \var\mobile\media\downloads folder, the app then gives you a choice of importing the song into the iPod app, and playing it there! Amazing.
One problem though, is keeping the song. Once synchronised to iTunes, the music is lost. You would need to SSH into the iPhone to copy it out, before re-importing into iTunes and then back to the iPhone. The iTunes music store is still one step ahead of the competition.... :)

EDIT: It does crash abit, but when you reconnect, it can resume from where it left off.
Also, as long as you don't import the songs into the iPod app immediately, and leave the songs in the /var/mobile/media/downloads section, you can sync with iTunes without issues.

Hutchison Telecom to offer Apple's iPhone in Hong Kong, Macau

http://www.pr-inside.com/hutchison-telecom-to-offer-apple-s-iphone-r614194.htm

HONG KONG (AP) - Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd. said Thursday it signed an agreement with Apple Inc. to offer the popular iPhone in Hong Kong and Macau later this year.
Terms of the deal were not released.
The telecom company _ majority-owned by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. _ operates second-generation mobile-phone services

in Hong Kong, Thailand, Israel, Macau, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Vietnam. It also operates third-generation services in Hong Kong, Macau and Israel. It has a fixed-line business in Hong Kong and Israel.
Earlier this month, four other Asia-Pacific mobile providers announced a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in their respective markets later this year.
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. will sell the multimedia gadget in Singapore; Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India; Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines; and Optus in Australia.

The announcement comes as Apple looks to expand sales of the iPhone _ a combination phone, music player and Web browser _ that was launched in the U.S. in 2007.
Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. has been snapping up contracts with wireless providers around the world in recent weeks ahead of the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in June in San Francisco, where Chief Executive Steve Jobs is widely expected to announce the next-generation iPhone. 

Quake3 on iPod Touch

Wow, this is so cool. Forget Doom on iPhone, this is real hardcore 3D gaming!



And this one shows how smooth the Quake3 demo runs... fast and smooth!

Finally made it to iPhone firmware 1.1.4

After a long time researching on exactly how to update my iPhone's firmware to 1.1.4, I finally took the plunge and did it!  Took less time than i imagined really.  It was a YouTube video that really gave me the confidence to do it (Thank god for the Internet!)

Before we go on, here are afew things that you need to know and prep beforehand:

Prep work:

1) Backup your iPhone via iTunes

You'll want to do this so that iTunes stores your latest data from Contacts, Calendar, SMS, Notes, Stock portfolio, Weather locations etc.  It wont backup your 3rd party apps so make a note of your repo sites.  If necessary, backup any game saves by using SSH into your iPhone (if you know how to get the games on there, you already know how to do that).  Once you have run iLiberty+, your iPhone will be unlocked etc, but will have no data until you restore from this backup.

2) Download the 1.1.4 firmware package

The file is called iPhone1,1_1-1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw.zip and is accessible from here .  Now, my Mac tried to be ultra friendly and download the ZIP file and display its contents in Finder like a folder.  However, when you try to "Restore" the iPhone to 1.1.4 firmware in iTunes, it is expecting a ZIP file, not a folder.  I sort of got around this by renaming the folder into "iPhone1,1_1-1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw.zip" and downloading it again.  It may be possible to just archive the entire folder into a ZIP file, but I'm not going to go down that road since it works for me. :)

 3) Download iLiberty+ for OSX or PC

This software is wonderfully packaged into a nice neat UI you could almost hug.  And it works too!  Get it from here

4) Check what Bootloader version you're using.  Assuming your iPhone is cracked, use Installer to add this repo site: http://www.trejan.com/irepo

Install BBInfo under Utility category.  Run this to see whether your Bootloader is 3.9, or 4.6.

Actual instructions:

1) Backup iPhone to iTunes.  

Once you sync it, it should do a backup.  If not, manually click on SYNC.  Proof of backup is viewed in iTunes' preferences > Syncing

2) Connect iPhone to USB connector

You should see the iPhone summary page popup.

3) "RESTORE" from specified location.  

Important note: Click RESTORE, not the Upgrade button!  Afew people tried that, it iLiberty+ didn't work.  

On OSX, hold ALT key and left click Restore.  On Windows, its SHIFT click Restore.  Specify the firmware ZIP file, and just let it do its thing.  It will then do several things, and eventually return to the iPhone summary page but display message along the lines of "This sim card is not the original AT&T one, please insert that one."  We'll sort that out in the next step.  I believe Windows users also need to ensure that iTunes recognises the iPhone again by unplugging it and reconnecting.  Once its recognised, Windows users need to close iTunes app down before doing the next step.

4) Run iLiberty+ and tick all three options.  I believe you can tick the 3.9FB option too if you know you have 4.6 Bootloader on your newer iPhone model.  Let it do its thing and it should only take 3-4mins max.  For Windows users, CAREFULLY follow the instructions to remove and plug in the USB connector.  Once its finished, you'll see the app congratulate you with an "Enjoy" message, and the iPhone reboots to the "recharging" screen.  

5) Start up iTunes again and restore.  iTunes is smart enough to release it backed up this iPhone, so restore from previous backup.  Once done, all your standard data will be restored.  Songs and movies are sync'd separately.

6) Sync songs and movies.  As per the usual way, click on the tabs and select your playlists etc.

7) Add in your Installer sources again, and enjoy!  My previous post on sources can be found here: http://onceyougomac.blogspot.com/2008/01/iphone-sources.html

Recommended reading / Further information:

Tutorial steps and screenshots on using iLiberty+

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=847 (OSX screenshots)  

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=849 (Windows screenshots)

http://hacktheiphoneitouch.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-unlock-your-iphone-with-iliberty.html More screenshots, and even snapshots of what you see on the iPhone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic9w_toaVuM YouTube video tutorial

Slim Aluminum wireless keyboard even works on Windows!

Ever since it was debuted on the Apple online store, I've been lusting for this.
I already have the original white bluetooth wireless keyboard, which has served me very well.
However, on my frequent trips to the local Apple retailers, and while in the UK Apple store testing the Macbook Air, I fell in love with the tactile feel of these keyboards. Its small, tiny footprint means it hardly takes up any desk space. In fact, it looks as if its been embedded into the desk! I no longer need any of those soft gel wrist rests now.... the desk now becomes one giant rest! Its that low!
Hooking up to my Mac Mini was no problem at all, once you load up the Bluetooth Connection Manager.
And just out of curiosity, I tried pairing it with a USB Bluetooth dongle on Windows XP SP2. It worked!!!!

Well, upto a point. I took it to work and just loved how it saved so much more space on my desk. Then something struck me as I tried to lock the keyboard - Where's the CTRL-ALT-DEL??? Yep, Macs have no need for that (well, they do... its CTRL-ALT-ESC i think, to Force Quit unresponsive apps). But the Delete key Macs recognise is the equivalent of Backspace, on Windows keyboards. After much researching via Google, it turns out the problem is solved by running this little application called SHARPKEYS.EXE. Its a small app that makes a tiny change to the registry, mapping one keystroke to an action. In this case, I mapped the left Command key (defaulting to be a Windows key) to now be the Delete key. After a quick reboot, it works just fine!

I still can't get the Fn key to be recognised, but I suspect thats because its a special key for Apple, and as such requires specific keyboard drivers usually only acquired through Boot Camp, and its resultant driver disc. It's not a deal-breaker, so I'll keep it at this for now.

FYI, if you fancy going down the same route, download SharpKeys from here: http://www.randyrants.com/2006/07/sharpkeys_211.html
Alternatively, you can try AutoHotKeys, which apparently does the same: http://www.autohotkey.com/