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

Posted via Pixelpipe.

wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

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wapen.jpg

Why so serious?

test file

Posted via Pixelpipe.

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Posted via Pixelpipe.

Again from iphone

Gonna see if friendfeed gets updated. Fingers crossed

A voice of moderation

I was raised in a Conservative family tradition.  I remember watching the Watergate scandal as a youngster (The name William Ruckleshouse stuck in my memory) and I remember pulling for Gerry Ford in 1976 (A friend of mine, Bryan Duffy, wrote to Carter and got invited to the Inauguration).  I remember listening to Reagan’s acceptance speech when we were visiting Italy in the middle of the night.  I remember the flush of pride I got when I got my Republican National Committee card in 10th grade despite not being able to vote.  In High School, I was tops in Current affairs and I even considered entering politics when I left school as one of the generation’s “Neo Conservatives.”  My wife and I met after George HW Bush won the 1988 election and we talked non-stop about it.  I celebrated the 1994 retaking of Congress by the Republicans.  I listened intently to Rush Limbaugh in the 1990’s and even wrote a count-down clock to Bill Clinton’s ouster in 1996.  The 2000 election saw us stay up late on election night following the George W Bush-Al Gore race, although by then, I could genuinely see that either candidate would make a good President.  I’ve heard that people generally become MORE conservative as they get older (Ben Franklin was a notable exception) so I’m really bucking the trend by moving toward the middle.
So…what changed?  Along the way to adult hood, I decided to grow up.  Instead of categorizing (and demonizing) people I disagreed with, I started to listen and appreciate them.  Instead of trying to prove I am right, I decided to find out why they felt as they did and suddenly my preconceptions started falling.  Abortion is always wrong, correct?  What about the Church that considers family planning to be abortion?  Higher taxes are always wrong, correct?  What about providing a safety net for families so that a catestrophic illness doesn’t wipe out their finances?  America was built on rugged individualism, correct?  What about community, family, and the common good.  Traditional Values will save America, correct?  What about alienating the part of the country that grew up with different values or who struggle with Biblical values or the Bible as the measuring rod for morality?  Can we not come up with a means of living that doesn’t hurt others?  Someone humorously remarked “Now that I know all of Life’s answers, someone went and changed the questions,”  but I wonder if the converse has wisdom, too: Now that I’ve forgotten my original questions, the answers seem more apparent.
I used to know the answer to the question “How Would Jesus Vote?”  After all, Eccl. 10:2 says that the “heart of the wise man is inclined to the right but that of the fool is inclined to the left.”  God MUST be a Republican, correct?  Well, it really looks like everything must be in balance.  Eccl. also says “to every thing there is a season.”  Perhaps in one season, we need to be active and making changes and in another season we should make relatively small changes.  Perhaps “activists” (on both wings) always believe we should be making changes, while other times we need to make small changes (i.e. Gridlock isn’t always a bad thing.)  Moderation might seem like a “cop out,” like refusing to take sides (and in some ways it really is), but I think it’s ultimately a decision I can live with.  You cannot guarantee I’ll vote one way or the other.  It may make me less predictable, and more dangerous, but a little more real (and a little more fun.)

Christapendent

Well, I finally did it: I unregistered from the Republican party and am now an independent voter.  It was hard, but I feel it is the right decision.  I even started a group on Facebook called “Christiapendents”  (Get it, Christians who are Independents?)    I started this group precisely because most Christians will blithely join political parties because they think that they’re supposed to.  In the past, the Democratic party held the moral high ground as the “party of the people.”  There are still conservative “Dixiecrats” who will never leave their party and who have strong Christian values.  Equally, the 1980’s brought “conservative” Christians into the Republican party (a counter to “godless Democrats.”)  I, for one, have had enough of this bickering and recrimination.  I feel that the political party system is so inbred that as Christians, we ought to seek to be independent of them.  I understand how many Christians will see this as losing “our place at the table.”  (I wonder if this is why some African Americans might be reluctant to leave the Democratic party and I know it’s one of the things keeping Christians in the Republican party, having heard the statement on more than one occasion).  I believe Martin Luther King said that the Church isn’t the State nor is the State the Church, but that the Church is the conscience of the state.  Now, this doesn’t mean I’ve made my mind up on who I’m voting for (both candidates have merit and although John McCain would be good for my home state and “…all politics is local” he is out of touch with many other issues of importance to me besides foreign policy) nor am I opting out of the voting process.  I think Christianity isn’t a fiefdom that belongs to either party and so by declaring my independence of parties, I have the freedom to vote for either.  I hope other Christians of conscience likewise choose to separate themselves from political parties (Geo. Washington encouraged us to not have them at all) and find their voice on their own.  It’s scary and it has risk, but I think it’s the right thing to do (okay, that last part sounds like an oatmeal commercial).  I think in my next blog, I’ll probably comment on why I am now a moderate instead of a conservative or liberal.

From iphone

Test too. Pretty chic.

Blogging from iphone

Wow! I love using my iPhone. Why not try blogging? Twitter is easy, too.