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Tags:contacts, iPhone 4S, sms messages, update settings, verizon
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Easy jailbreak your iPhone

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

With www.jailbreakme.com jail breaking an iPhone suddenly became too easy not to do. I’ve jail broken iPhones before with ultrasn0w but this is too simple. Just go to that site on your pre-4.0.1 iPhone, slide your finger across the screen and you’re done.

Simple! But what next?

Your new app installer is called “Cydia”. It’ll be on your home screen. Go play with Cydia and install some apps. Not all are free and none of them are approved by Apple. Now that you can install anything on your iPhone you need to be a little more cautious. It is no different from downloading apps from the web and installing them on your computer — the code is not vetted by any single governing body and you need to be thoughtful as to what you’re installing.

First thing is to fix the root password. iPhones have a default root password of alpine. So install “mobile terminal”, open it and type “passwd” to change your password. Alternatively, connect to your home wifi network, install openssh on your iPhone then go to Settings -> WiFi and take note of your IP address. Then from your laptop ssh into your iPhone and change your password with the passwd command. Also change the “mobile” account password with “passwd mobile”.

Next install the PDF Patch fix (since that security vulnerability let you jailbreak your iPhone via jailbreakme.com in the first place).

Now follow these simple steps to unlock your iPhone so you can use it on different networks.

Finally, go have fun. Change themes, message alert tones and customize to your heart’s content. When new versions of IOS come out be sure to download and jailbreak before you install them to your device. Don’t just click “install” in iTunes.

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Tags:cydia, iPhone, jailbreak, unlock
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Location based services for mobiles

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Location based services have been around for a number of years in the research community. They were always fun to build and excellent research vehicles but needed something to change before hitting the streets. Well, now we’re beginning to carry GPS enabled devices these services have hit the mainstream. I regularly use Yelp and Around Me on the iPhone to find local restaurants, gas stations, and coffee shops. The integration with the maps application is a fantastic coupling. Now Google have released their search services with the “Near me now” service (iPhone and Andriod in US only).

Location data for these applications is usually derived from GPS readings but it is not limited to that. You can use wifi spotting, video capture, parse user calendars or discover location by inference (I am near Alice and Alice knows where she is so I can find where I am). But in practice are these other inputs really required? Or are they all part of a larger model of the real world?

Location based services are a manifestation of pervasive computing in the real world. Next will come more complex context aware services with social aspects and recommendations. I’ve oft heard the question “who will pay for the infrastructure for pervasive computing?”. I think the answer is still “we will” but now you can add “and already are”.

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Tags:google, gps, location based services, near me now
Posted in google, mobile phones, pervasive computing | No Comments »

Augmented reality steps closer

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

BBC tech News is reporting on mobile phone handsets with augmented reality. The article says that this is the first time AR has been available on handsets which is not strictly true. In CIS at Strathclyde University we had MSc students developing prototype map assistants on handsets with AR back in 2003, and I’m sure we were not the first. Maybe the BBC mean this is the first time AR handsets have hit the mainstream.

If you read the article bear in mind that the cyborg theme is erroneous and misleading. Yet another UK media attempt to glamorize a story and attract attention. Regardless, the technology is very cool. Sign me up.

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