How To: Successfully switch between multiple iTunes accounts from different countries

I have, up until just now, been vexed. Vexed by the seemingly random nature of my iPhone 3G’s reactions when switching between my Australian and my US iTunes accounts.

It’s quite simple: once upon a time, I lived in Australia, and bought a number of applications for my iPhone using my Australian iTunes account; now, I live in the US, and have bought a number of applications using my US iTunes account. To the best of my knowledge, having multiple iTunes accounts is the only way to buy applications that are limited (for some reason that involves pure bastardry) by geography – yet another manifestation of the stupidity that brought us DVD region coding. But I digress…

On the iPhone, if I was to enter the App Store, I might see that updates are available for one or more apps on my phone. I have a desire to update them all, being a sad addict to the latest and greatest.

However, vexation ensues – some apps update, but a dialogue pops up stating that “Your account is only valid for the US version, so bugger off.” or something to that effect.

Hey, whisky tango foxtrot, I have a US iTunes account! Oh, I’m currently logged in with my Australian account. OK, simple fix, in the App Store, log out and log back in with the other account, then re-check for updates…. Right?

Nope. Not a sausage. I try to log in and out of different accounts, to no avail. Hilarity ensues. Swearing closely follows.

Until this evening, when I decided to:

1. Open the App Store on my iPhone 3G.
2. Check for updates with my US account.
3. Update all apps bought or procured using the US iTunes account, which bounces me back to the home screens.
4. Open the App Store again.
5. Log out of my US account.
6. Hit the Home button.
7. Open the App Store again.
8. Log in with my Australian account.
9. Hit the Home button.
10. Open the App Store again.
11. Update all apps bought or procured using the Australian iTunes account.
12. Write this article.

So, now I have a workaround, and if you were having the same issue, so too do you.

No worries, you’re welcome.

How To: Use a pair of older Airport Extremes to build a Dual-Band network (802.11 N and G)

A handy guide to setting up a dual band wireless network without buying a brand spanking new Airport Extreme. Why would one want to do such a thing? Well, if you have a bunch of devices that can take advantage of 802.11N (MacBook Pro, Mac Mini) and a bunch that can only do 802.11G (iPhone 3G, MacBook, etc), then this will allow the -N devices to work to their full potential. Speed. I. Am. Speed.

It works so long as you happen to have a couple of the older Airport Extremes just hanging about the place, which in my case, I do – one-with-802.11N-and-Gigabit-LAN-that’s-one-model-older-than-the-current-Dual-Band-Airport-Extreme (heretofore referred to as The Newer One), and an-older-one-with-802.11N-but-only-10/100-LAN-Airport-Extreme (The Older One).

This How To ain’t mine. In fact, I owe it to Gruber at Daring Fireball for pointing me in the direction of this very useful guide by some unnamed chap at Luo.ma.

Hats off, Unnamed Chap!

As things have a habit of falling off the internet, I have archived a copy of Unnamed Chap’s post on this subject as a PDF. ‘Tis here.

How To: Synchronise Contacts & Appointments between a Work Windows/Exchange/Blackberry world and a Home Mac/Mobile Me/iPhone world

Here’s my setup. If yours is similar, then this post may help you.

Work

• Windows PC
  • A Dell Latitude D410 running Outlook 2003 under Windows XP, FWIW.
  • Importantly, I am allowed, as a local admin on my machine only, to install applications & plugins.
  • Previously this worked on a Dell Latitude D620 and a D630 too. Same permissions WRT installing plugins to Outlook.
• Exchange Server
  • No idea of what version (OK, let’s say it’s probably 2003), but it doesn’t really matter – work has stated categorically they will not support the iPhone, and we’re not going to try and modify any Exchange settings.
• Blackberry
  • An AT&T Blackberry 8820, EDGE/3G/WiFi model, but, again, who cares, it is what it is, which is unimportant to the synchronisation problem.
  • Previously it was an Optus 8707g – again, not relevant, as it doesn’t matter with this solution.
• Blackberry Enterprise Server
  • No idea about the relationship between the Exchange Server and the BES, but really, it’s irrelevant, as I can’t change any of it. It just works in the background.

Home

• Mac Mini
  • Running Leopard, 10.5.8.
  • iCal used as the calendar / appointment management application.
  • Address Book used as the contacts management application.
• MacBook Pro
  • Same setup as the Mini.
• iPhone 3G
  • Synchronisation enabled via Mobile Me.
• Mobile Me subscription
  • Sync servers / cloud / buzzword du jour

The Goal

At work I have a decade+ of contacts, and years of calendar appointments, in Outlook, and I want to:

• Have ALL of my contacts, and +/-3 months of appointments synchronised between all of my work and home devices.
• Have any changes made at work on the PC in Outlook show up everywhere else.
• Have any changes made at home on one of the Macs in iCal or Address Book show up everywhere else.
• Have any changes made on the Blackberry show up everywhere else.
• Have any changes made on the iPhone show up everywhere else.
• Have all changes propagate in a reasonable amount of time, say, an hour or so.

The Ideal Solution

One sync service to bind them all…

However, one small sticking point: no such thing exists, as far as I can see.*
*(feel free to point me at the One True Sync in the comments, I’m happy to be wrong on this and happy to pay money for The Ideal Solution).

The Alternative Solution

The previous statement about the Ideal Solution isn’t necessarily completely correct – it should probably read “without full control over all the key parts of your electronic world, no such thing exists, as far as I can see”.

If you have control of the entire system, then you probably have the ability to specify system components that work with each other and a single sync solution out of the box (or with minimal configuration).

• For example, you might well do what my (enormous, multinational) employer has done, and standardise on a given flavour of Windows on PC desktops & laptops from a single supplier, MS Exchange Server at the back end, Blackberrys for mobile use with the RIM Blackberry Enterprise Server bridging the gap.
• Alternatively you might eschew the PC world for that of Apple, and standardise on Leopard on Macs for users, Leopard Server at the back end, iPhones for mobile use and Mobile Me to synchronise everything (of course, it looks like Snow Leopard Server might change all of that and allow you to ditch Mobile Me and synchronise everything via SLS, but that’s another topic).

In either case, you have a working synchronisation system – any reasonably objective observer should probably agree that, whether they prefer Windows PCs or they prefer the Mac, it’s entirely possible to have a working system that syncs Contact and Calendar data pretty well if you keep everything relatively homogenous.

Stepping back slightly from the black or white approach, you may decide that your Windows world can accommodate the odd iPhone or two, by upgrading and configuring your Exchange Server (2007 as a minimum, I think) appropriately to allow a mixed environment. I hear that this works pretty well. Hooking up your iPhone to the Exchange Server gives an iPhone user pretty much the same experience that Blackberry users get – instantish propagation of any updates you make to your Contacts or Calendar. Nice. You may have worked out that when it comes to getting the job done, seven times out of ten I am tool-agnostic… hence the benchmark for sync being the Blackberry experience. It works.

Out here in the world that I inhabit, my organisation controls their infrastructure with an iron fist, and has categorically stated that the iPhone will not be supported. Sound like you?
Oh, and if you’re in roughly the same boat as I am, then you’ll have noticed that using the available Apple tools, you can sync with Exchange, or you can can sync with Mobile Me, but you can’t sync with BOTH.

Damn and blast!

Never fear, for a solution is at hand…

The Half-Arsed Solution

Finally, you’ve waded through all this introductory prose, and here’s the meat. I make no claim to this being a unique solution to the problem outlined above, however I did quite a bit of searching and couldn’t find much that looks like a decent explanation or a How To. Perhaps it’s so obvious that any self respecting nerd finds it below him/her to actually spell it out. Perhaps my solution is a crime against nature, like boy bands or emo haircuts. Nevertheless…

To put it simply:

• Let  everything on the work side take care of itself (like you had a choice) – Outlook / Exchange / BES / Blackberry.
• Let everything on the home side take care of itself – iCal, Address Book, Mobile Me, iPhone.
• Use Plaxo as the intermediary between your Windows / Outlook / Blackberry world, and your Mac OS / iPhone world.

Ooh, but I hear Plaxo was bought by Comcast, and aren’t they meant to be a tad evil? Well, possibly, but trafficking with Comcast might well be worth it to not have to manually synchronise your information. Your decision.

In a little more detail:

On Plaxo.com

1. Signup for the Plaxo service.
   1. You’re looking for www.plaxo.com, in case that wasn’t obvious.
   2. There’s a bunch of extra features to Plaxo that may or may not be of any value to you; I don’t use any of them, I have enough social networking tools at my disposal, the last thing I need is yet another. Use ‘em or ignore them, it’s irrelevant to the synchronisation functionality.
   3. Feel free to give Plaxo as little or as much profile information about you as you like – I gave ‘em very little, although…
   4. Remember, you’re entrusting a copy of all of your contacts and all of your appointments to these guys, so read the T’s & C’s carefully… If you’re uncomfortable, proceed no further.
2. Set up Plaxo in general.
   1. Plaxo works on the basis of a single central source of data on the Plaxo servers, with a number of ‘Sync Points’ (eg. the Plaxo Outlook plugin on my work PC, or the Plaxo preference pane on my Mac Mini) that are able to push information each way.

On the Work / PC side of things

1. You don’t need to touch any of the following:
   1. MS Exchange.
   2. RIM BES.
   3. The Blackberry.
2. You do need to install software and configure it on:
   1. Your Windows PC.
3. Back up your PC.
4. Back up all of your Outlook contacts, appointments and anything else you value. I suggest archiving each type of data to a separate .pst file, in case the sync process corrupts everything, or you want to ditch this idea as too hard roll back to a happier, simpler time.
5. No, really, at least back up the Outlook bits. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
6. Ensure you have the ability to install the Plaxo plugin on the Windows / Outlook side of the house.
   • You may need to be a local administrator for your machine to allow this sort of thing.
   • If you’re not able to do it yourself, perhaps it’s time to be nice to your local sysadmin, IT helpdesk or anyone else with this level of control, and get them to do it for you. Good luck with that.
7. Download & Install the Plaxo software on your Windows PC.
   • If you need instructions on downloading, this How To is too advanced for you. Stop now.
   • Install the software on your PC. Follow Plaxo’s bouncing ball. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but it’s not difficult.

More to come…

MacHeist 3

Without wanting to make too big a deal out of it, it’s worth noting that the MacHeist bundle is about to expire, and it’s an opportunity to get hold of some sterling Mac applications on the cheap.

Applications that you get for your US$39 / AU$55 / 27 quid  / 29 Euro are PhoneView, iSale, Picturesque, SousChef, World of Goo, LittleSnapper, Acorn, Kinemac, WireTap Studio, BoinxTV, The Hit List, Espresso, Cro-Mag Rally and Times.

Plus, if you pimp the deal on Twitter (”tweetblast”?), you also get the following thrown in: Delicious Library 2 and Multiwinia.

I must admit that I pretty much bought the bundle for Delicious Library 2 (which I had been thinking of buying at full retail), PhoneView (as I’d like to be able to get data off my iPhone 3G without too much hackery), and Picturesque; the other applications look useful to varying degrees, however I’m treating them as nice to have freebies that came along with a US$75 discount on the three applications that I really wanted. I suspect that I’m far from being Robinson Crusoe in this regard.

More details here – http://www.macheist.com/ and here – http://www.macheist.com/tweetblast .

Discussion of the pros and cons related to this sort of thing can be found at Daring Fireball (with many links to other discussion of the topic).

Apple OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server

A tidied up version of a collection of posts on MacTalk.com.au. This thread, for reference. 

I’ve been trying to find info on Snow Leopard Server for a while, as it seems pretty interesting from a few perspectives, even for individuals.

My main interest is as to whether Snow Leopard Server is a possible replacement for the pair of Mobile Me memberships in our house (maybe more), used mainly to keep a few Macs and some iPhones in sync. 

I’m happy to be proven wrong here, but to my mind an investment of ~US$500 for Snow Leopard Server (10 client licence, to be run on an existing Mini, so no HW cost) compares favourably with a 2x ~US$99 / year recurring cost. The simple maths is that for the two of us, it’ll pay for itself in 2.5 years. Add my brother, plus my sister in law and my Dad with their iPhones and multiple Macs, and that cost is run down in a year. Oh, and this works if I value my time at no more than AU$0/hr…

Fine, fine, sure …as long as SLS can do the important bits of what Mobile Me can do. It doesn’t have to do everything Mobile Me does, just the important bits.

From what I’ve found through Googling, trawling through various Mac-focussed sites (including Apple), Apple is pitching Snow Leopard Server with features such as (the following are cribbed from from the aforementioned Apple site link, which is caveated “All features on this page are subject to change.”, of course.).
Bolded emphasis is mine.

Mail Server
Mac OS X Server’s open standards-based mail service is the ideal server for small businesses or companies looking to bring email in-house. Snow Leopard Server dramatically increases its performance and scalability with an overhauled engine designed to handle thousands of simultaneous connections. Mail services have been enhanced to include server-side email rules and vacation messages.

iCal Server 2
iCal Server, a calendaring and scheduling service based on open standards, was the first commercial CalDAV calendar server. Snow Leopard Server follows up with the next major release of iCal Server, which includes group and shared calendars, push notifications, the ability to send email invitations to non-iCal Server users, and a browser-based application that lets users access their calendars on the web when they’re away from their Mac.

Remote Access
Secure remote access to your business network has never been more critical than in today’s increasingly mobile world. Snow Leopard Server delivers push notifications to mobile users outside your firewall, and a proxy service gives them secure remote access to email, address book contacts, calendars, and select internal websites.

Address Book Server
Introducing the first open standards-based Address Book Server, Snow Leopard Server makes it easier than ever to share contacts across multiple computers. Based on the emerging CardDAV specification, which uses WebDAV to exchange vCards, Address Book Server lets users share personal and group contacts across multiple computers and remotely access contact information without the schema limitations and security issues associated with LDAP.

Addressing just the bits I’ve bolded, this suggests to my fevered imagination that SLS might be ‘Mobile Me For Enterprise’? I’m not the one who coined that phrase, but it kinda fits. 

 

Mail Server – ‘bring email in-house’

So, perhaps I can host my own mailserver, using my own domain(s), and not have to have an @me.com email address to get push email to my iPhone? I know, I know, there’s no mention of Push mail in the Apple blurb, but…

 

iCal Server – ‘push notifications’

…there you are!

 

Remote Access – ‘delivers push notifications to mobile users outside your firewall’

…and there we have the ‘p’ word again. In conjunction with ‘mobile users’, forsooth!

 

Now, a little more generally:

 

Push Notification seems to be tied to Snow Leopard Server

See Apple Insider’s commentary and analysis here, with page 2 here. The article also makes some interesting (YMMV!) incidental points regarding Push Notification Server and “Snow Leopard’s Mail, iCal, and Address Book … gaining high profile support for Exchange Server messaging, they’re also being updated to support open push messaging with Apple’s own Snow Leopard Server. Rather than being based on EAS, Apple’s own server push products are based on interoperable, open standards, the same as PNS.”.

 

It looks like ZFS support will initially be integrated into Snow Leopard Server

…and not the desktop OS X. Whilst Apple Insider seems to make sense at first with their point that Apple has a tendency to introduce some things in the Server version of the OS first, and then trickle them down later to the more consumer-oriented desktop version, I must admit to wondering how many server admins would be happy being guinea pigs…

 

For a different take on things, take a look at AppleInsider | Snow Leopard Server to ramp up scalability and performance.

 

Key points (much snipperage, read the full article for the details):

OK, sounds like that’s covered an inbuilt Push Email server. Next…

OK, an all-encompassing third party statement, that I read as “Woohoo, Exchange for the rest of us”. Next!

iPhone-savvy Wiki services and remote access   

Along with sending push notifications to mobile users outside the company’s local network, Snow Leopard Server also enables mobile access for setting up secure incoming connections to remote users, providing them with proxy service access to their corporate email and intranet websites.

Keepin’ the dream alive for a Mac Mini-based Snow Leopard Server to replace a few Mobile Me accounts and act as a file server. Now all I need some some skills so I can run it…

Twitter

eCods now has a Twitter account.
No, I don’t know why either…

Review: Panasonic DMC-LX3 Digital Camera

 

One of these just arrived at eCods’ Australian HQ, to replace both an older Canon G3 and a rather old Canon Ixus 400 compact, and to be the pocketable/handbaggable junior partner to a Canon 40D DSLR.

In lieu of actually doing some work and investing some thought and energy in our own review, here’s some links to reviews done by DPReview and then some initial impressions.

Specifications & Someone Else’s Review

• Here’s the specifications at DPReview. Briefly:

  • Format	Ultra Compact
    Price (street)	AU$630 incl GST
    Max resolution	3648 x 2736
    Image ratio w:h	16:9, 4:3, 3:2
    Effective pixels	10.1 million
    Sensor photo detectors	11.3 million
    Sensor size	1/1.63 “
    Pixel density	24 MP/cm²
    ISO rating	Auto, Hi Auto (1600-6400), 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
    Zoom wide (W)	24 mm
    Zoom tele (T)	60 mm (2.5 x)
    Image stabilization	Yes, Lens
    Manual Focus	Yes
    Normal focus range	50 cm
    Macro focus range	1 cm
    White balance override	5 positions, plus 2 manual
    Aperture range	F2.0 – F2.8
    Min shutter	60 sec
    Max shutter	1/2000 sec
    Built-in Flash	Yes, pop-up
    Flash range	8.3 m (Auto ISO)
    External flash	Yes
    Flash modes	Auto, Red-Eye Auto, On, Red-Eye On, Red-Eye Slow Sync, Off,
    Exposure compensation	-2 to +2 EV in 0.3 EV steps
    Metering	Multi-segment, Center-weighted, Spot
    Aperture priority	Yes
    Shutter priority	Yes
    Lens thread	Yes, optional adapter
    Continuous Drive	Yes, 2.5 fps, max 8 images
    Movie Clips	Yes, 1280 x 720 @ 24 fps, 848 x 480, 640 x 480, 320 x 240 @ 30fps, 320 x 240 @ 10fps
    Self-timer	Yes, 2 or 10 sec
    Orientation sensor	Yes
    Storage types	SD/MMC/SDHC card, Internal
    Storage included	50 MB Internal
    Uncompressed format	Yes, RAW
    Quality Levels	Fine, Standard
    LCD	3 “
    USB	USB 2.0 (480Mbit/sec)
    Battery	Lithium-Ion rechargeable
    Weight (inc. batteries)	265 g (9.3 oz)
    Dimensions	109 x 60 x 27 mm (4.3 x 2.4 x 1.1 in)

• Here’s DPReview’s in depth review of the LX3.
• Here’s DPReview’s big comparison of ‘prosumer compact cameras’ between the Canon Powershot G10, the Kodak Easyshare Z8612 IS, the Nikon Coolpix P6000, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3, the Ricoh Caplio R10, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ5, and the Canon Powershot SX110 IS.

I’ll spoil the ending of that comparison:

Ratings and recommendations

With such a varied group of cameras it’s impossible to pick a single camera we’d recommend to everyone – if you want lots of telephoto reach you probably won’t want the Panasonic LX3, for example, and if you want something pocketable the Canon G10 and Kodak Z8612 IS will be off your list. There are a couple of cameras we’d struggle to recommend to anyone – the Ricoh R10 is a lovely, well specified camera, but it just doesn’t take very good pictures, and one or two we’d suggest exercising caution over (such as the Nikon P6000, which isn’t as good as it thinks it is). The Kodak Z8612 IS offers an awful lot of camera for a remarkably low price, and would make a good ’starter camera’ for a teenager wanting to learn a bit more about photography, but the image quality isn’t good enough for more serious applications.

The two real high end cameras here (the Canon G10 and Panasonic LX3) offer very different approaches to the concept of a compact SLR replacement, with the LX3 easily our preferred choice; given the choice we’d choose a smaller body and wider lens over more bulk and more telephoto every time.

If you do want telephoto capabilities and don’t want the bulk of an SLR (which will give you far faster focus at long focal lengths) or one of the many ‘SLR like’ ultra zoom cameras on the market, the compact super zooms offer a good compromise between performance and portability. There’s little to choose between the Canon SX110 IS and the Panasonic TZ5 (not to forget the Sony H10, reviewed here) – it’s more a matter of preference (the TZ5 gives you better wideangle and the SX110 gives you better telephoto and more manual control).

And the ‘winner’ (YMMV)…

Overall winner: Panasonic LX3

The Panasonic LX3 gets so many things right that we knew before we started it would be the camera to beat in this group. It’s not that it has the highest measurable resolution (the Canon G10 wins that one) or the biggest zoom range (in fact its one of the smallest here), or even that it offers the most intuitive controls (never going to be the case with a camera so small). No, what’s so impressive about the LX3 is that Panasonic has actually produced a camera aimed at photographers, not one designed by a marketing department. So instead of going for the easy option of adding even more megapixels and beefing up the other headline specs, the designers concentrated on the things that actually matter to a photographer.

Thus we get a fast zoom with a real wideangle, a superb screen and excellent image quality, including high ISO performance puts most competitors to shame. The LX3 is positively understated compared to some of its competitors, which loudly proclaim the ‘bigger is better’ rather than ‘less is more’, and it’s a far, far better camera for it. It’s small enough to carry anywhere, fast and subtle enough for street photography and good enough to produce a decent 8×10 without the need to use raw.

Of course it’s not perfect; the controls are pretty fiddly (as it’s so small) and there’s no telephoto to speak of, but if you want telephoto you’re not going to be considering this camera. If you want more SLR like controls and a longer zoom – and don’t mind the bulk – go for the Canon G10. Me personally? By that point I’m using an SLR. For a carry anywhere ‘walk around’ camera I’d go for the LX3 every time.

Initial Impressions

First impression 
Wow, it’s small, in a good way.

Second impression
I don’t think I’ll be too worried by the small zoom, and I really like the 24mm wide angle.

Third impression
Surely they can’t fit all those features in such a small piece of kit. 
It’s smaller than an iPhone 3G in width and height, with the body being about an inch thick, and the lens another inch on top of that. Eminently pocketable for a bloke, easily handbaggable for a lady.
Obviously not in the same ‘invisible’ class as a Canon SD, but significantly smaller than my old Canon G3. According to DPReview, the G3 = 121×74x70mm, the G10 = 109×78x46mm and the LX3 = 109×60x27. I think the “x27″ is a furphy though, if thickness is defined as = camera back to lens front. I’d say it’s more like 109×60x46mm; so, a little smaller than the G10, but not much.

Capping and Strapping…
I’m not a huge fan of a removeable lens cap, as I reckon it’ll be more easily lost on a pocketable camera than on an SLR, due being used in different, more informal, settings. Also not a fan of neck straps in general (it comes supplied with a neck strap). Next steps then are to transfer the Op/Tech wrist strap off the G3 and onto the LX3, and also order an “Auto Lens Cap” designed for the Ricoh LC-1 camera. This lens cap, with the addition of a few bits of (invisible) padding, basically self-threads onto the LX3, and gives lens protection without the need to remove and replace a lens cap. More at this bloke’s site. Of course, a picture is worth a thousand words (pun intended), and a video probably adds at least three more words:

Lens Mod – LX3 – YouTube

Un-Jailbreaking – “Re-virginising” the iPhone 3G

iPhone Hacks has a great guide to re-virginising the iPhone 3G – http://www.iphonehacks.com/2008/10/virginizeiphone.html.

Main points reposted here because the internet is a fickle beast.
Apologies to iPhoneHacks if they’re not impressed with the re-post of their guide; if so, please contact me.

Step-By-Step Guide to ReVirginize or Restore iPhone

Sometimes you just need to…

…get in touch with your inner Fonzie.

Review: Fun Pod Kitchen Helper

If you’re lazy like me and couldn’t be bothered slapping a few sheets of MDF together, or just using a stool, the Fun Pod is a great way of getting the kids involved in the kitchen. It is basically a little enclosed stand for your kids with an adjustable height platform to help them make a mess when Mum is making a choccy cake.

Being quite heavy and with wide feet on the bottom, the Fun Pod is very stable and will put up with a two year old doing his best gorilla on a flagpole impression. One thing to watch out for is to make sure the adjustable platform is inserted the right way up. If not, the locking ridge will not engage and your little bundle of joy may just push the platform out with their feet and bundle themselves down into a deep dark hole. Can be useful though, especially if the platform is re-inserted whilst said child is sitting at the bottom of the Pod. 

As said before, the more DIY Dad could knock one up pretty easy but this is well built and safe.

Retails for A$230, £120. . There are additional extras which can turn the pod into a butchers block and a high chair for some more multi-purpose action.

All in all, a nice bit of kit which, whilst taking up a bit of room in the kitchen, it can also be pretty satisfying to pretend it is a missile silo and is about to launch your kid into orbit after they spill the flour all over the place.

Review: Ikea High Chair (’Antilop’)

We’ve had a few high chairs, mainly rather fancy ones with all sorts of cushioning, padding, adjustable bits and the like. I’m a bit a a sucker for adjustable bits, so you’d think that I’d be all for ‘em in a kids high chair.

Nope.

It may have been mentioned before that our kids are ‘enthusiastic’ eaters; the euphemism probably applies to lots of kids (or perhaps ours are strangely messy, but I’d wager on the former). All that padding, all those joints and adjustable bits, they just end up with random bits of food stuck in them, or squirrelled away into crannies that only a full disassembly will expose. Who does a full tear down of their high chairs every day?

Not being that OCD, but being generally a fan of cleanliness, I’d stay away from the complex and usually expensive high chairs.

These are better:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Together they make up a useful, convenient high chair, that (out of the high chairs we’ve used) is the easiest to clean. It even has a seat belt. 

AU$19.99 for the chair. Five bucks more gets you the tray table too. It seems the chair only comes in red or blue now; white used to be the only option.

Get one of these instead of the expensive one you were looking at.
Sure, it’s Ikea, and it won’t win you points when all the other parents come around to visit, but on the other hand, your sanity will be intact, as you’ve not spent the past three hours cleaning the bloody thing!

Recommended.

Arc-AAA Torch / Flashlight

I have one of these:

It’s an Arc-AAA torch (flashlight, for those of the American persuasion). Specifically, it’s the Arc-AAA ‘Premium Edition’.

In short, it’s awesome.
Go, buy one.
No, I don’t get a kickback. 

If I know you, and you’re on my (very short) list of people who get birthday or Christmas presents, then there’s a good chance that I’ve given you one of these.
You’ve probably wondered a little at the time about my choice in gifts, but smiled and been gracious anyway. And then after using the torch a few times, had an ‘ah hah!’ moment, and my gift didn’t seem so strange after all.

There are three models of Arc-AAA:

•  The Arc-AAA LED Flashlight – this is the standard version, costs US$29.95, ‘CS’ LED, minimum output about 5.5 lumens, minimum run time about 5 hours until it’s down to 50% light output.
• The Arc-AAA ‘Premium Edition’ – this doesn’t seem to be available any more, it did cost US$44.95, ‘DS’ LED, minimum output about 9 lumens, minimum run time is the same as the Standard model. This is the one that I have, and have given out to a few friends and family.
• The Arc-AAA ‘Premium w/GS LED’ – this is available as of February 2009, and costs US$49.95, ‘GS’ LED, minimum output about 10.5 lumens, minimum run time is the same as the other models.

I could wax lyrical about this piece of kit, but I won’t, because Dan Rutter at dansdata.com has already done so.

At length.

Twice.

His reviews are very, very  good, so go and read them, although ignore any and all references to Arc being out of business (they were, but they rose from the dead, and I can confirm that I bought Arc-AAA’s off their website in late 2008):

• Dan’s first review of the original Arc-AAA, from 2001 (!). He’s updated the review recently with longevity comments, so read this one first.
• Dan’s most recent review, of the Arc-AAA versus another LED torch.

Jailbreaking the iPhone 3G – Part 2 – iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 / OS X 10.5.6

Well, that was easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the issues from the previous post (Jailbreaking the iPhone 3G – Part 1) are easily resolved now that Apple has released the official 2.2.1 firmware update.

I now have a fully working jailbroken unlocked iPhone 3G.

For a full walkthrough, with all options outlined, see this post by intomobile.com – very useful (I’ve copied and pasted the subset of their steps that I used). The Dev Team Blog page is useful too – particularly for the steps required to workaround the problems with 10.5.6 breaking DFU mode.

For the exact steps that I took, read on.

 

Step Zero – The Starting Point (and some info on getting Optus to carrier unlock your phone)

A note on the status of my phone / contract, as it matters when looking at the process to take (in short, I get the easy route, with least complications):

• My iPhone 3G has never been Jailbroken before.
• My iPhone 3G had Apple’s official 2.2 firmware loaded on it. It had NOT been upgraded to Apple’s 2.2.1 firmware (not that it matters, in my case).
• I’m on Optus Post-Paid.
• I have called Optus’ iPhone specific line (Australia 133 713) and requested that the phone be network unlocked, so that I can use any SIM, from any carrier (hello Telstra or 3).
• This carrier unlock is free for Optus post-paid subscribers. With a carrier-provided unlock, you have no need for the Dev Team’s yellowsn0w – your phone is already unlocked.
• For info, the process for getting the free carrier unlock (so that you can use your iPhone 3G with any carrier) is quite simple:
  • Call 133 713.
  • Specifically request that Optus unlock your iPhone.
  • The Optus technician will confirm that your iPhone has been used to make at least one call using the Optus SIM.
  • They’ll also check that they have the correct phone number for the phone you’re unlocking.
  • They’ll ask you to provide your phone’s hardware specific IMEI number.
  • They will then provide you with a confirmation number (mine was 5 digits).
  • They will then inform you that within 10 business days you will receive an SMS from Optus confirming your iPhone has been unlocked.
  • The SMS may include some instructions for what to do next, which is to connect the iPhone to your computer, running the latest version of iTunes, and Restore the phone.
    I assume the restore will reset the Activation of the iPhone to be permanently Activated, but will see. 

So, my iPhone is, in the terms used by the Dev Team on their iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 page:

SIM Free/SP Unlocked/Factory Unlocked iPhone 3G

This applies if you bought your iPhone 3G for $$$$$$$. This model of iPhone 3G doesn’t have an Service Provider lock (aka factory unlocked) and you are able to put any SIM card into the phone and get service. Your phone is already unlocked so you do not need to worry about baseband updates, simply upgrade to 2.2.1 using iTunes and then use QuickPwn to Pwn and Jailbreak. This will add Cydia and Installer too.

 

Step 1 – Deciding Whether To Upgrade The iTunes Way To Apple’s Vanilla 2.2.1 Firmware

According to the Dev Team post, I’m unconcerned by the radio baseband upgrade that is performed as part of Apples 2.2.1 firmware upgrade in iTunes, and I should simply connect my iPhone to iTunes and upgrade to 2.2.1 normally.

Done.

 

Step 2 – Fix The OS X 10.5.6 USB / DFU Mode Issue

As I’m running Mac OS 10.5.6, the update that broke DFU mode, I now need to temporarily re-enable DFU mode. This is accomplished by rolling back to the 10.5.5 USB setup, but not in the same way that broke USB on my BlackBook in Part 1. In this case the Dev Team guys have nailed it pretty simply:

Fixing DFU mode on 10.5.6

As noted previously OS X 10.5.6 introduced a bug that affected the use of DFU mode. with some Macs. There have been previously published hacks and techniques to fix this, but here is another method that can be used to temporarily restore DFU functionality in order to use QuickPwn or PwnageTool.

1. You will need an account with ADC (Apple Developer Connection) this is free and takes a few minutes to sign up, you should read the terms and conditions carefully and you should only sign up if you are thinking of developing applications in the future – http://developer.apple.com/mac/
2. Download the disk image “IOUSBFamily-315.4-log.dmg”  for Mac OS X 10.5.5 Build 9F33” (yes, that is a “5” in 10.5.5 - this is a developer debug package of the USB kernel extension).
3. Unplug non-vital USB equipment, such as external DVD writers, USB scanners, USB mass storage devices, at the most leave a Keyboard and Mouse connected.
4. Install IOUSBFamily-315.4.1.pkg from within the disk image
5. Reboot your system!

Now your Mac can work with an iPhone in DFU mode.

Sweet.

 

Step 3 – Use Pwnage Tool 2.2.5 To Prepare A Custom .ipsw Firmware File

All of the links that follow are as per the Dev Team’s links on their blog. Feel free not to trust me, go to their page on The Pirate Bay and use those links if you must!

• Not sure if it matters, but my iPhone was connected via USB, with iTunes running and open during this process. YMMV.
• Back up your iPhone in iTunes.
• You backed it up, right?
• Fire up your BitTorrent client of choice.
• We’re on a Mac, so download PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg - you could just use QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg, but using the full Pwnage Tool in expert mode gives you the opportunity to tweak things in a much more pleasing manner.
• Mount the .dmg file, and drag the PwnageTool pineapplesque icon out onto, say, your desktop.
• Doubleclick the PwnageTool icon on your desktop.
• Select “Expert Mode”.
• Select your iPhone version (iPhone 3G).
• Click “Next”.
• Allow Pwnage Tool 2.2.5 to find the vanilla Apple iPhone 2.2.1 OS firmware that was downloaded via iTunes when you upgraded to 2.2.1 in Step 1.
• Select the iPhone 2.2.1 OS firmware:
  • iPhone 3G firmware filename – iPhone1,2_2.2.1_5H11_Restore
• Click “Next”.
• Select the “General” category.
  • Click “Next”
• General Settings:
  • If you have a legitimate iPhone contract with your carrier (for instance, an iPhone contract with Optus), you will need to uncheck the box next to “Activate”.
  • Make sure you do this, otherwise you’ll end up with a successfully jailbroken iPhone, but the phone won’t work. Yep, happened to me, I had to re-do everything…
  • Change Root Partition size to 1024MB, so you have more room to install applications off Cydia or Installer.
  • Click “Next” (Keep clicking “Next” until you get back to the “Build” screen).
• Select “Build”
  • Click “Next”.
• Save the custom restore file to your desktop (you can save it wherever you like, of course).
  • For the iPhone 3G this should be named – iPhone1,1_2.2.1_5H11_Custom_Restore.ipsw
• Wait for PwnageTool 2.2.5 to build your custom iPhone 2.2.1 OS firmware file.
• When asked if the iPhone has been Pwned before, choose the appropriate option:
  • iPhone 3G = “No”
• Connect your iPhone to your Mac, if it’s not already connected.
• Follow the directions in PwnageTool to enter “Restore Mode” (DFU).
  • If for some reason you’re already running a “Pwned” iPhone, you don’t need to do this, and can just skip ahead to the iTunes restore sequence.
  • Hint: Press the “Power” button slightly before pressing the “Home” button. Remember, press “Power” just a tick before pressing “Home”.
  • If you followed the directions correctly, you will be rewarded with a blue window exclaiming your success – this is a good thing.
  • Click “OK”
• You will see “I Can Haz Success”
  • Quit Pwnage Tool 2.2.5
• Fire up iTunes
• You will be told your iPhone needs to be restored
  • Click “OK”
• Option+Click the “Restore” button in iTunes
  • Make sure you hold down the “Option” key on the keyboard while clicking on “Restore”, as this allows you to choose which .ipsw file to restore onto your iPhone 3G.
  • Choose the “iPhone1,1_2.2.1_5H11_Custom_Restore.ipsw” that PwnageTool built (it’s probably on your desktop).
  • Click “Open”.
• Wait.
  • Wait some more
  • After some more waiting, you will be told that your iPhone that your iPhone has been restored
  • Click “OK”
• Disconnect iPhone AFTER iTunes recognizes it.

Reconnect the iPhone

• Restore your backup of your iPhone data.
• Start enjoying your jailbroken iPhone or iPhone 3G running iPhone 2.2.1 OS!

Part 4 – Undo the DFU Fix

• Download the disk image “IOUSBFamily-327.4.0-log.dmg” for Mac OS X 10.5.6 Build 9G55”
• Install IOUSBFamily-327.4.0.pkg from within the disk image
• Reboot your system!

Part 5 – Lessons Learned

If you have trouble doing something that’s currently quite popular and hacky, wait. Someone smarter than you (or, more likely, smarter AND with more time on their hands) will work it out, make it easier, and post a How To on the internet.

Jailbreaking the iPhone 3G – Part 1 – iPhone Firmware 2.2 / OS X 10.5.6

At the risk of looking like a doofus, I will admit to having had some trouble with jailbreaking my iPhone 3G.

With an array of Macs and a Windows machine at my disposal, what I thought would be rather trivial turned out to be… a tad more involved.

[Edit: However there's a happy ending, which you can read in Part 2]

 

 

A few points in summary:

- The basic idea of jailbreaking is explained fairly well here and here. Some more benefits become apparent here and some good applications available to jailbroken phones are discussed here. There’s also some good stuff at LifeHacker.  BTW, if you don’t know what it is, why the hell do you want to do it? Schnapperhead!

- The difference between Pwnage Tool 2.2.1 and QuickPwn is that Pwnage Tool gives you the option to resize your boot partition, amongst other things, whilst QuickPwn does not.

- If working from a Mac, the first step is to upgrade your iPhone to 2.2 firmware.

- Download Pwnage Tool 2.2.1 (bittorrent is your friend, links later in the post).

- Download the vanilla iPhone 2.2 .ipsw file (link later).

- Run Pwnage Tool, follow the bouncing ball to do an Expert install, up the size of the boot partition to about a gig (to allow room for applications from Cydia, the Jailbreak equivalent of the App Store).

- Have Pwnage Tool build you a modified version of the 2.2 iPhone firmware.

- Enter DFU mode as instructed, and allow Pwnage Tool to jailbreak your phone.

- Embrace the alternative lifestyle of the jailbroken…

 

Guides written by those smarter than me:

- Jailbreaking guide at iClarified.

- Re-enabling DFU in OS X 10.5.6, again at iClarified. My advice is to NOT do this, see later in the post for why. 

- Unlocking guide from, you guessed it, iClarified.

 

The hardware and software:

- iPhone 3G 16Gb, firmware version 2.2, Optus, unlocked by Optus a few months ago.

- All Macs (MacBook Pro (3,1), BlackBook (3,1), Mac Mini (2,1)) updated to OS X 10.5.6. with no further updates available.

- Dell D620 laptop running Windows XP SP2, with iTunes 8.0.2.20.

 

Downloaded:

- Mac – Pwnage Tool 2.2.1 – Official Dev Team torrent.

- Mac – QuickPwn 2.2 - Official Dev Team torrent.

- Windows – QuickPwn 2.2 - Official Dev Team torrent.

- Apple iPhone firmware 2.2 – Apple.com download. Do not download with Safari, it deconstructs the .ipsw file; instead, use any other browser.

- Apple 10.5.6 Combo Updater – Apple.com download. Possibly necessary if you try to muck around with re-enabling DFU in 10.5.6 by screwing around and swapping in 10.5.5 kexts.

- Note that a Windows equivalent to the Mac-only Pwnage Tool is in development; it’s called Jailbird. 

Review: Ikea Stove / Cooktop Guard

This?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent. Highly recommended.

It’s the Ikea “Patrull” Stove / Cooktop Guard, and it’s quite useful in stopping little hands from grabbing for saucepan handles and the like.
Stainless steel, adjustable width, two small screws into benchtop (one each at the extreme rear of each of the side wings).

~AU$30 a couple of years ago, quoted in 2009 USA Ikea catalogue as US$19.99.

See it in the 2009 US Ikea catalogue (on page 24) here http://info.ikea-usa.com/Catalog/ or in a PDF version here – http://www.who-sells-it.com/images/catalogs/77/pdf_17008.pdf.
That last link isn’t to any special site, I don’t have any affiliation with them, it’s just a Google result.

Review: Tommee Tippee Silicone Bib

This is a Tommee Tippee silicone bib:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has a pocket at the bottom. It is adjustable for different sized necks (although your kid would have to be built like a tighthead prop to use the largest setting) It’s made of silicone. It wipes down easily, and can be washed in a dishwasher if you so desire.

I think they’re technically called the ‘Roll n Go’ bib, if you’re searching around on the web for them.

Cost was about AU$10 about three years ago. A quick Google search indicates that they’re going for around four quid in the UK, so that sounds like it’s still about right.

These are really handy, in that your kid’s inevitable mealtime spillage is caught in the pocket at the bottom of the bib, instead of landing on their lap, leaving them with a clean shirt / top, but with filthy shorts / skirt.

Mostly.

Our kids are rather enthusiastic eaters, so ‘mostly’ probably describes the best result possible for any solution short of cutting a head-hole in a 6m x 6m plastic drop sheet and generous application of a firehose.

A friend also introduced us to an alternative usage that’s pretty cool – at smoko time (oh, OK, ‘morning tea’ then, fine…) fill up the pocket with some sultanas, Cheerios or the like, and your little dude or dudette can munch away on the go. Best outside, see my note about enthusiastic eaters. This also works pretty well for feeding time if you’re in a car; it may reduce the number of times you have to turn around and pick up the kids’ lunch to under 1.4 million / hour.

Recommended.

• Twitterage

  • iPad from @dreamhost ? 2010/02/03
  • Hey, @dreamhost, your iPad contest is most cunning. Dreamhost, forsooth. 2010/01/28
  • I think I'll also give BusyCal a go - it's billed as "iCal Pro". 2010/01/25

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