Mark Dalby

Tonight, After much speculation, deliberation and procrastination (@jason your a git!) our friend Steve jobs unveiled a gadget that will make anybody even slightly tech-savvy sell their own grandmother.

Introducing the iPad…

At first glance the device looks like somebody has had their iPhone on a stretching rack. but once you see a demonstration you immediately see the appeal, The 9.7″ screen is the perfect size for watching podcasts or films on the move and If you have ever tried to read a large email or document on your iPhone your eyes will definitely appreciate the space.

Technically speaking the iPad is nothing short of amazing, it packs a 1Ghz Apple A4 processor that can decode HD video for up to 10 hours on a single charge.  To put that into perspective my 12 month old  Macbook can only do 4 hours before it’s battery dies (and that is pretty good for a laptop.)  It looks like Apple buyout of P.S. Semiconductor is going to pay off pretty fast.

It comes with all the usual bells and whistles we have come to expect from Apple…

• Accelerometer
• Ambient Light sensor
• 802.11 (b/g/n) WIFI
• Built in Speakers
• Microphone
• Multi Touch Screen
• Bluetooth2.1 capability (3G Model Only)
• GSM / EDGE / 3G (3G Model Only)

At the moment thre is no solid release date for the UK but there is a LOT of speculation that it will be hitting our shelves in June.  The release date for America has been confirmed for April 2010.

Pricing for the US models are suprisingly cheap…

WIFI ONLY

16GB – $499

32GB – $599

64GB – $699

WIFI and 3G

16GB – $629

32GB – $729

64GB – $829

Click here for more information.

According to Apple the next version of the iPhone 3G and 3GS to be shipped out will have a modified boot rom which is reported to have been hardend against the 24kpwn exploit that so many cracking groups are using to jailbreak your phone (Blackr41n, Purpler4in, Devteam).

I actually find this pretty annoying, I’ve just shelled out for a brand new iPhone (which aint cheap) and I’ll damn well use it how I please!! But not to worry I have faith in “The Scene” to have this broken pretty quickly.

For those of us that already enjoy an unrestricted iPhone it is important that you DO NOT upgrade to the latest firmware.

Hopefully apple will learn that its better to work with these people than against them, Take android for instance, You can run multiple apps at once,  It had copy and paste out of the box and the only complaint I’ve heard is that of bad battery life.  But the next-gen batteries are out soon so that will clear itself up.

Anyway, I’ll make sure to update you guys as soon as the new boot-rom is cracked.

Cheers,

Mark

Before I actually write any meaningful content, I just want to say… I told you so!

Danger (a Microsoft subsidiary) yesterday announced to Sidekick users that they have got little to no chance of ever seeing any personal information that was stored on their device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos. This is apparently the bi-product of a “Server Failure” and Danger’s datacenter.

Now, I’m not a sidekick user personally (I don’t think they really hit the UK) but when did “Server Failure” become an acceptable reason for losing massive amounts of data (Backups anyone?).

Not only that but “Server Failure” could be one of a trilliondifferent things. This mentality of generic bullshit catagorizing is really starting to annoy me!!

This is yet another prime example of why I never use Microsoft products.

If you visit the T-Mobile website you are given the following message…

T-MOBILE AND MICROSOFT/DANGER STATUS UPDATE ON SIDEKICK DATA DISRUPTION

Dear valued T-Mobile Sidekick customers:

T-Mobile and the Sidekick data services provider, Danger, a subsidiary of Microsoft, are reaching out to express our apologies regarding the recent Sidekick data service disruption.

We appreciate your patience as Microsoft/Danger continues to work on maintaining platform stability, and restoring all services for our Sidekick customers.

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low. As such, we wanted to share this news with you and offer some tips and suggestions to help you rebuild your personal content. You can find these tips in our Sidekick Contacts FAQ. We encourage you to visit the Forums on a regular basis to access the latest updates as well as FAQs regarding this service disruption.

In addition, we plan to communicate with you on Monday (Oct. 12) the status of the remaining issues caused by the service disruption, including the data recovery efforts and the Download Catalog restoration which we are continuing to resolve. We also will communicate any additional tips or suggestions that may help in restoring your content.

We recognize the magnitude of this inconvenience. Our primary efforts have been focused on restoring our customers’ personal content. We also are considering additional measures for those of you who have lost your content to help reinforce how valuable you are as a T-Mobile customer.

We continue to advise customers to NOT reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost.

Once again, T-Mobile and Microsoft/Danger regret any and all inconvenience this matter has caused.

Shocking,

Mark

I seem to do this quite a lot for people,  So I’m thinking it’s time to write some instructions.

Take the following scenario….

I’ve forgotten the Wireless password for my router (WEP / WPA Key).

Ok first up, if your on Sky or O2 broadband there is a sticker under your router so stop being a *#!@$ and do a little manual investigation before googling.

If the sticker is non-existent then follow the below…

1. Plug your computer into your router via a cable (of get on a computer that already has the WEP key installed and is connected)
2. Open your browser of choice (Firefox, Chrome, Safari). If this happens to be Internet Explorer…
   • STOP!
   • Turn off your device.
   • Run a nice cold bath.
   • Chuck it in

   You don’t deserve to use a computer!!!

3. Type the following into your web browser… http://192.168.1.1 or if that doesn’t work try http://192.168.1.254
4. A pop up box should come up asking for a username and password.. this is normally username: admin password: password.  If for some reason this doesn’t work go to http://www.routerpasswords.com/ to get your password.
5. Now once you have logged in you should see a category that says something along the lines of.. “Wireless Security” or sometimes just “Wireless” click on that and voila! there is your WEP Key.

note: there are occasions where the above addresses don’t work, if this is the case please add a comment and i’ll get you the relevant address.

Happy Hacking,

Mark