Todays Hack: MMS

Well, today I successfully got MMS working on my iPhone. I can send pix to and from my T-mobile iPhone. I suppose with email integration and always-on Internet this feature might be less important, but at least I can send my kids picture mail.

Looking forward to OS 3.0 for iPhone

It looks like the pwnage tool will make my phone compatible with the 3.0 firmware this weekend.  Hope that things stablize a little bit.  I still occasionally miss calls and I don’t know if that’s because I have too much stuff running or if it’s something with T-Mobile’s network.  There isn’t a really “gotta have” feature I’m looking forward to, but the 3.0 firmware does represent a milestone in terms of potential (e.g. Video Streaming with the HTML 5 support and the hardware interface changes.)  Hopefully, we can hook our iPhones up to a TV for less than the $50.00 for an Apple-only video cable (Please!)  I’ll post again after the jailbreak is successful!

The New Alchemy

My son is a big fan of the Anime series “Full Metal Alchemist.”  I watched the first few episodes and I was intriguted by the alchemist rule of Equivalent Exchange.  In the case of the episode, the consequence of Equivalent Exchange cost the main characters something of equivalent value (An arm and leg or corporeality).  Now, I did a Google search on “The New Alchemy” and I came across “The Long Tail” and a post below the website contrasting the atoms economy versus the bits economy.  I think this is something traditional governments and companies fail to grok: information can not be made scarce like atoms, but fundamentally, it isn’t matter.  We can try to “protect intellectual material” but how can you protect something that isn’t material using material rules?  It’s not like the police can return your intellectual property back to you because you “cannot unring a bell.”  In particular, once the information is disclosed, you cannot remove it from everyone’s minds.  Also, once something has been digitized (or once it was created digitally), you can make infinite copies at practically no cost: alchemy indeed except without any initial material to be converted.  So much for equivalent exchange.  In the Star Trek: The Next Generation universe, energy and material can be exchanged (although the cost of said exchange was somewhat winked at), and there was an allusion to the equivalence between energy, material and thought in the episodes with “The Traveler.”  In any case, it remains to be seen what the long-term consequence of free information will have on the world, but I (among many) think that it will be a better or at least more interesting world.

Playing video podcasts on the iphone in the background.

It’s a hack but here’s the excerpt…

So, since the 2.0 update, apple have decided to eliminate the ability, to play Video podcasts as audio only. Why would you want to play Video Podcasts as audio only? click more to find out, and to find out how you can do it on 2.0 So, on the 1.1.4 firmware, Video Podcasts were played as either Videos by selecting them from the Videos Section of the iPod, or audio if you selected them from the Podcast section. The Audio only selection was quite good for Podcasts such as “Diggnation” or “Totally Rad Show”, as these didnt require video all the time. Meaning you could put the phone to sleep and still play the audio (HELPFUL for activities requiring both hands). However since Apple updated to 2.0, you can no longer play the video podcasts audio only. Hence no longer being able to listen to the shows when you’ve got no spare hands, although, there is a workaround STEPS 1. Open the iPod and select the video podcast from the “PODCAST” section. 2. Close the iPod and return to home screen (Video will stop) 3. Put iPhone to sleep 4. Double tap the home button until the “mini” iPod menu opens. 5. Click Play and then unlock 6. You can now listen to the podcast while surfing Safari or sending a text message! Hope this helps.

From:

http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/08/16/playing-video-podcasts-as-background-music/

I’m raving about Boxee this week

Contrary to popular belief (among the crew of the Galactica), Boxee is not the name of Apollo’s adopted son; instead it’s a piece of client software that aggregates video on the web and places it into a unified control and display environment (i.e. you don’t have to visit YouTube’s or Hulu’s web pages; you can just surf them from one program.)  I’m only running in 640×480 mode at home so it’s not up to its full potential (might have to do with scaled fonts in Vista.)  And it doesn’t run as a client on the iphone.  But it’s great for watching YouTube, Hulu, TV.com and even Joost (sometimes.)  My harmony remote works fine and they even have an iPhone remote (for free) which controls Boxee and provides a virtual keyboard, etc.  I tried integrating the Boxee client software into Vista Media Center but had some problems (screen was zoomed in and I couldn’t see the whole screen or scroll left and right).  But, for an alpha software package, I couldn’t be happier.  I might install it on the kids’ macmini and try it in the bedroom upstairs.  So far, so good!

More iphone updates

Well, I have a couple of iPhone updates. First, I found iclippy for cut and paste within the iPhone. Works okay so far. Next, I added imobilecinema which plays some flash video. Then, I was able to get streaming YouTube by updating my APN. Life is grand ain’t it?

The Butler Effect

I was talking with a co-worker this morning about how level of service is perceived by people.  In the “old country,” a Butler was a luxury reserved for the very wealthy.  He was in charge of household affairs or perhaps even for picking out clothing or drawing a bath.  Such luxuries were not available to the common folk and so having such a personal valet was seen as something outside of many people’s reach.  As a result, people had no alternative but to ‘fend for themselves.”  America was, in large part, settled by the descendents of those common folk and so ‘Butler mentality” isn’t a ready part of the American psyche.  Witness how few people use “valet parking” on a regular basis (unless, of course, by force because parking is unavailable otherwise).  We like “self service” at the gas station (to save a few pennies per gallon), self checkout at the grocery store (to save time for short lists), and even self-examinations versus visiting the Doctor.  We wouldn’t mind having maid service to clean up but most of us would rather keep our pennies in our pocket and clean up ourselves even if we could afford it.  Why is this important in marketing and on line business?  I suspect that presenting things to Americans as “butler” services is somewhat off-putting to many people.  This is somewhat because where they fit on the “butler continuum” differs based on their upbringing and personality makeup.  Some people prefer a high level of service and others are either more cost conscious or simply like the independence of making decisions for themselves (perhaps as a perception of personal dignity – “I can do that for myself!” – or as a rejection of paternalism.)  Personalization (especially in things like marketing and even in surveying) can fall victim to the Butler Effect because just starting an e-mail with “Dear BOBBY” can be perceived as too informal while “Dear SIR” might be too stiff.  Marketing to the largest segment of the market means treading carefully between extremes.  There’s more here but it should be further researched.  In the mean time, these are a few thoughts to get the conversation flowing.

The Heretic strikes back with cut and paste on iPhone

Okay.  Here’s a really ugly hack:

A) I installed Veency onto  my (jailbroken) iPhone.

B) I installed UltraVNC as my VNC client

C) I installed Texter.exe from LifeHacker. (http://lifehacker.com)

D) I created a macro called “pst” that consists of just “%c” and which is activated by the TAB key

E) I activated the VNC connection (Actually, I connected using the VNC proxy using my iPhone data cable but that’s a another post)

F) I’m now remotely controlling my iPhone and I entered into the “Notes” application

G) I typed “pst” [TAB].  Instantly what was in my clipboard on my PC appeared on the iPhone in the notes application.  Using the same process, I can paste URLs into my iPhone within Mobile Safari

Like I said, it’s a pretty ugly hack and there are probably better ways to get data into Notes or to create bookmarks in Safari, but I’m just betting there will be a day when this becomes even more useful.

Confessions of an iPhone Heretic

First of all, I absolutely LOVE my iPhone (My wife calls it the “other woman.”)  What a terrific platform and such an innovative network of applications.  The app store is amazing!  It’s kind of like visiting a bazaar or a swap meet with many programs available at very reasonable pricing.  My iPhone has quickly replaced my previous attempts at MP3 players (I took the journey from downloading podcasts onto CDRW to play in my car, to downloading the MP3s using Juice and copying to my previous smartphone, to now syncing my iPhone with iTunes.)  Given my love of all things iPhone, you might find the headline misleading or incorrect.   Far from it, there are definitely things that should be improved and which Apple has been lagging on.  I could take the path of “True Believers” and simply WAIT (and WAIT and WAIT) until Apple has a chance to fix them, or take matters into my own hands and take my own chances.  It is this second path that I chose, not because the iPhone is bad but because it has the potential to be so much better.  First, I used Jailbreaking software to unlock AND jailbreak my phone.  The reason is simply economic: T-Mobile offers me an unbeatable deal on my existing service (Sharing 1000 minutes b/n 4 phones + unlimited SMS + T-zones for $110/month).  AT&T could not offer anything close to that and because I’m “grandfathered” into this service, my rates are unlikely to change unless I switch to AT&T from T-mobile.  Also, because of some ‘hackery’ I’ve been able to get a nearly unlimited data plan for a mere $6.00 month (included in the $110 above) – About the only thing I can’t do over the EDGE network is stream YouTube (and there may be a hack for that.)  Jailbreaking has also opened up the possibility of non-App store applications (such as streaming Qik video and SSH access to my phone.)  I can even use VNC to remote desktop to my iPhone (great for Screen Captures and keyboard access) and surf the web throught the data cable when I’m at work (boatloads faster than EDGE).  Now, I did have a problem with my iPhone display but I simply restored the iPhone 2.1 firmware, brought it back to the Apple store and they gave me a replacement unit.  About the only thing I *haven’t* done yet is actually write an application for the iPhone.  Currently, the only (legitimate) choice is to purchase an x86 iMac, download the (Free) SDK and code it up (and of course go through the rigamorole of getting my app released in the App Store.)  However, there has been some movement to port Java and PHP to the iPhone (Jailbroken of course).  The only thing I *have* to have is my iPhone on the T-mobile network (unless AT&T would match the deal I have now), but barring that, I’ll remain a heretic.  Perhaps one day, “the Great Schism” can be repaired but exclusivity has forced me to follow the Protestant ways of my ancestors.  Sola gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Scriptura.

Why so serious?

test file

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