This look likes one heck of a tablet. Basically a full featured tablet with long battery life. It may be the most compelling to me, even though I've heard bad things about Android 3.0. This is really close to the ultimate laptop idea I had way back in October of last year. It would be nicer if the screen were detachable and swiveled, but we can't all win. I wonder also if Windows 8 will work on the Eee Pad.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Custom iPhone Ringtones on iTunes 10.2.1
Apple seems to have finally tried to fix the ability of users to create custom ringtones by converting .m4a file extensions to .m4r. Here is one way of working around this "fix."
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/93672-no-more-custom-ringtones.html#post1072148
http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/93672-no-more-custom-ringtones.html#post1072148
Well, I finally figured it out. Somehow and maybe iTunes creates your AAC file, but marks it with extended attributes that causes iTunes not to accept it. Changing the permissions alone does not remove the extended attribute from the file. I tried create a copy of it and it still retained the original attribute from the file. After some digging around the internet and finding out that the extended attribute was for downloaded files from the internet that had not been executed yet. The OS thinks its a virus???
I tried to make another copy by using the following command.
cp -rX original_file new_file
This removed the attribute and also when imported into iTunes, it had no trouble and I could see it in iTunes. I am going to try to do it again and see if it shows up again just to confirm it wasn't me.
ImToast
[UPDATE]
I just tried it again and iTunes is putting the extended attribute on any new AAC files it creates so you can't import it back I guess.
More SSH problems - fixed
I had SSH problems with my iPhone 4. This solution fixed it. Find the original post at
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/iphone-4-hacking-17/iphone-4-post-jb-ssh-problems-1477/
http://www.iphoneforums.net/forum/iphone-4-hacking-17/iphone-4-post-jb-ssh-problems-1477/
I had the same problem. Found this and it fixed the timeout issue right away:
Delete this files: (I used iFile
/ System / Library / LaunchDaemons / com.ikey.bbot.plist
/ Bin / poc-bbot
Reinstall OpenSSH
Technical Information (Analysis)
Worm:iPhoneOS/Ikee.C is a worm that uses the default root password in SSH in order to spread among jail-broken iPhones. The worm also changes the affected machine's background image.
Installation
When run on an iPhone, this worm takes the following actions:
1. Attempts to set a file lock at /var/lock/bbot.lock in order to verify that only one copy of the worm runs at a time.
2. Attempts to copy the file /var/log/youcanbeclosertogod.jpg to /var/mobile/Library/LockBackground.jpg
3. Removes the /usr/sbin/sshd directory and stops the SSH daemon.
4. Attempts to spread using several hard-coded IP ranges.
When the worm infects a remote host, it does so by copying /bin/poc-bbot, /bin/sshpass and /var/log/youcanbeclosertogod.jpg from the local system to the remote system. It also copies /var/log/youcanbeclosertogod.jpg to /var/mobil/Library/LockBackground.jpg on the remote system.
The file /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.ikey.bbot.plist is also copied to the remote system and the following command is run:
"launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.ikey.bbot.plist"
This command is used to load the worm remotely, and to add it to startup on reboot on the remote machine.
The worm then remotely stops the SSH daemon and deletes the automatic start on reboot option for the SSH service.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Touchscreen Devices
Tablets are cool. I just don't see much purpose for them. Supposing I had the disposable income for one, I'd probably get an iPad. The BlackBerry Playbook just went up for preorder, and it looks really cool from the videos. However, it's still to be seen how it actually runs when its on-screen operation isn't being rendered by computer graphic artists. People seem to not mind the lagginess of current tablets. The iPad seems kinda laggy sometimes, but that's pretty much a non-issue with iPad 2. I've played with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and it amazes me that people would actually pay money for that. It does have a nice form factor, but it's just so slow. The HP TouchPad looks pretty interesting, but as far as I know, there isn't a shipping date or a price set. The only experience I've had with the Motorola Xoom is from online reviews. Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch doesn't seem to like it as Android Honeycomb seems rushed and spotty. All around, the tablet scene seems to be in its infancy still, and I still haven't found what purpose it would serve in my daily life even if I could afford one.
The tablet wars remind me of the smartphone wars, and the same things seem to be popping up all over again. Which ports are included, what apps are available, does it play Flash (oh, Lord). Personally, one of the bigger factors that I care about that nobody seems to ever play up in the press is inertial scrolling and finger tracking. When I toss the screen, I expect it to move as fast as my finger. When I release my finger, I expect the screen to bounce naturally and intuitively (whatever that is). I've played with some Windows Phone 7 devices that my friends own, but I never got the sense that it was really tracking my finger the way I was using the screen. When I tossed the screen, it didn't really seem to follow the physics of my finger's flick. That's why I keep running back to my iPhone. I've tossed the Nexus One's and the Galaxy Tab's screens, and it feels really artificial, especially given its inherent lag. A combination of consumer assumption and manufacturer design, we all have some idea of how quick a page should flick on these devices. There's some ideal weight and size of these pages that we toss around, and I think that Apple has got it the closest. Especially with the touchpad on my MacBook Pro, I feel significant delight when I scroll through webpages, tossing the page with my two fingers. Back when I was Boot Camping, I'd always turn on the MBP to OS X when I just wanted to go on the internet. Even the Magic Mouse has pretty slick one finger scrolling. In Windows 7, the scrolling always happened in discrete, 3-line segments. Not smooth, not inertial, didn't track the speed of my scrolling. Man, compared to OS X, it was so jarring and uncomfortable. I prefer web surfing on OS X and iOS.
Believe me, I used to be all about PC before I got my MBP, even before I got my iPhone. Macs are expensive and overpriced, they use old hardware, they have proprietary ports that nobody likes, they're way underpowered, no games, they're just about form and not about function, etc. etc. Nevertheless, the one thing I think PC-proponents need to understand is user experience. I wax poetic about typing and using the mouse on my MBP to friends. I don't play games on my computer really, so what use do I have for a 19" Asus desktop replacement with 1GB video memory? That aside, we're talking about tablets. I know people hate on the iPad because it does't have certain ports on its body: SD card slot, HDMI, USB, but like Steve Jobs said at the iPad 2 unveiling, it's not about features, it's about vision. Even iPad alternatives don't have all these ports, but the critics won't point that out. Apple has created an ecosystem that is pretty diverse and consistent, from AirPlay to iTunes to FaceTime. Who else has a comparable ecosystem worth buying into? I'll give the TouchPad and Playbook some credit in this area because the associated smartphones and tablets will play nicely together whereas there is nothing of the sort with the iPad. However, that is really just one part of it. Your home can't be filled with RIM products, and if your house is filled with HP products, they don't play very nicely together unless they're all brand new. Microsoft is doing a pretty decent job with some PVRs being powered by their Mediaroom software, eg. Telus Optik TV, and the Xbox being able to act as a cable box. Google is starting with Google TV, but that's another confusing product that people aren't really "getting" just yet. Bringing it back to the ecosystem and Apple's offering in this area, I don't really see anyone else providing the same experience. The iPad is connected to iTunes, the App Store, Apple TV, and it's head and shoulders above the competition, in user experience, in its ability to track finger movement and physics, and in its
The tablet wars remind me of the smartphone wars, and the same things seem to be popping up all over again. Which ports are included, what apps are available, does it play Flash (oh, Lord). Personally, one of the bigger factors that I care about that nobody seems to ever play up in the press is inertial scrolling and finger tracking. When I toss the screen, I expect it to move as fast as my finger. When I release my finger, I expect the screen to bounce naturally and intuitively (whatever that is). I've played with some Windows Phone 7 devices that my friends own, but I never got the sense that it was really tracking my finger the way I was using the screen. When I tossed the screen, it didn't really seem to follow the physics of my finger's flick. That's why I keep running back to my iPhone. I've tossed the Nexus One's and the Galaxy Tab's screens, and it feels really artificial, especially given its inherent lag. A combination of consumer assumption and manufacturer design, we all have some idea of how quick a page should flick on these devices. There's some ideal weight and size of these pages that we toss around, and I think that Apple has got it the closest. Especially with the touchpad on my MacBook Pro, I feel significant delight when I scroll through webpages, tossing the page with my two fingers. Back when I was Boot Camping, I'd always turn on the MBP to OS X when I just wanted to go on the internet. Even the Magic Mouse has pretty slick one finger scrolling. In Windows 7, the scrolling always happened in discrete, 3-line segments. Not smooth, not inertial, didn't track the speed of my scrolling. Man, compared to OS X, it was so jarring and uncomfortable. I prefer web surfing on OS X and iOS.
Believe me, I used to be all about PC before I got my MBP, even before I got my iPhone. Macs are expensive and overpriced, they use old hardware, they have proprietary ports that nobody likes, they're way underpowered, no games, they're just about form and not about function, etc. etc. Nevertheless, the one thing I think PC-proponents need to understand is user experience. I wax poetic about typing and using the mouse on my MBP to friends. I don't play games on my computer really, so what use do I have for a 19" Asus desktop replacement with 1GB video memory? That aside, we're talking about tablets. I know people hate on the iPad because it does't have certain ports on its body: SD card slot, HDMI, USB, but like Steve Jobs said at the iPad 2 unveiling, it's not about features, it's about vision. Even iPad alternatives don't have all these ports, but the critics won't point that out. Apple has created an ecosystem that is pretty diverse and consistent, from AirPlay to iTunes to FaceTime. Who else has a comparable ecosystem worth buying into? I'll give the TouchPad and Playbook some credit in this area because the associated smartphones and tablets will play nicely together whereas there is nothing of the sort with the iPad. However, that is really just one part of it. Your home can't be filled with RIM products, and if your house is filled with HP products, they don't play very nicely together unless they're all brand new. Microsoft is doing a pretty decent job with some PVRs being powered by their Mediaroom software, eg. Telus Optik TV, and the Xbox being able to act as a cable box. Google is starting with Google TV, but that's another confusing product that people aren't really "getting" just yet. Bringing it back to the ecosystem and Apple's offering in this area, I don't really see anyone else providing the same experience. The iPad is connected to iTunes, the App Store, Apple TV, and it's head and shoulders above the competition, in user experience, in its ability to track finger movement and physics, and in its
Saturday, January 8, 2011
SSH problem iOS
Oy oy,
I had a problem SSH-ing into my iPhone the other day. It's an iPhone 4 running 4.2.1 tethered redsn0w jailbreak, and I'm running this from my MacBook Pro 7,1 on OS X 10.6.6. Cyberduck and Terminal weren't getting through, so I did a quick Google search.
1) you have to clear out the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file on your Mac
2) Navigate there with Terminal by typing "cd ~/.ssh" and "open ."
3) Open known_hosts with TextEdit and delete everything
4) Save and quit
5) Try SSH again
That's the fix that worked for me. Cyberduck and Terminal are now both able to SSH into my iPhone. Cheers.
I had a problem SSH-ing into my iPhone the other day. It's an iPhone 4 running 4.2.1 tethered redsn0w jailbreak, and I'm running this from my MacBook Pro 7,1 on OS X 10.6.6. Cyberduck and Terminal weren't getting through, so I did a quick Google search.
1) you have to clear out the ~/.ssh/known_hosts file on your Mac
2) Navigate there with Terminal by typing "cd ~/.ssh" and "open ."
3) Open known_hosts with TextEdit and delete everything
4) Save and quit
5) Try SSH again
That's the fix that worked for me. Cyberduck and Terminal are now both able to SSH into my iPhone. Cheers.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Windows PC Internet Messed Up
I'm just killing all these tech problems around the home. My Windows desktop's internet stopped working recently, and I could only access a few sites, Google.com being one of them. I thought the problem was with the Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato v1.28 firmware that I recently set up, but that wasn't it. I plugged it into the modem directly, but that wasn't it. I installed a bunch of Windows updates very recently, but that didn't seem to really matter either. I googled "can only access google" since it was one of the few things I could actually see, but there were very few concrete answers.
Luckily, the wireless was working, which isolated the problem and helped me to research the problem. A few virus scans later (there was a few Java exploits and a Trojan from a Format Factory installer), I still couldn't access the full internet. Luckily, I happened upon this thread. It advised me to check out an article on TCP/IP Winsock Catalog Corruption. I followed the simple steps:
- Grab an Administrator-level command prompt.
- Run 'netsh winsock reset'.
- Restart your computer.
And that did it. Anyway, if you run into something similar, that should work for you. The reason I'm posting this is because so many threads from years ago addressed the topic, but none of them had any real answer. This one worked for me, so maybe it'll work for you too. Cheerio.
Fixing an Xbox 360 E74 Error; iDroid 3G
Yo bros,
It's been a while, eh? I just got home from Fort McMurray this past Friday morning, so I have a bit of time to do a few projects. The two on display today are installing Android on an iPhone via the iDroid Project, and fixing an Xbox 360 E74 error. Hardware for both was provided by a friend. Let's just say his name is Andy.
The iDroid bit was very straightforward. There really isn't anything to say about it except that I can't wait for it to come to later iPhones. It's still really chalky and laggy on the iPhone 3G, but the mere fact that it works is amazing. Here is a shot of "Andy's" iPhone 3G.
I'm following @iDroidProject on Twitter, and they seem to be making a lot of progress. It's cool, but not usable for me at the moment.
Next up is the Xbox 360 E74 error. The basic premise is that the graphics processor unit (GPU) is overheating, so you need to fix the heatsinking situation. Typically, you have to undo it all and put on some new heatsink compound on the GPU. I didn't take any pictures of this fix, but I will recommend the resources that helped me fix it. There are a lot of garbage videos and tutorials out there, but I found these to be top notch.
It's still to be seen whether this will actually fix the Xbox or not, but at the very least, these are the steps I took to fix it. Maybe they will help you.
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