.nrg on Mac OS X

published on January 29, 2008 » filed under Macintosh, Tech

A word on playing .nrg (nero DVD images only) on OS X:

Rename the file extension .iso, drag the file on to VLC. The image will play as a DVD would. Why someone chose to encode Porco Rosso as a NRG and torrent it, I don’t know. I imagine VLC would play copied VOBs straight from a folder on your desktop in Windows… nice app. Anyway, some DVD-quality Miyazaki is on the agenda tonight.

VLC, btw is only the very best media player (no itunes in terms of categorisation… then again itunes is not itunes anymore) ever. Available for Mac and PC, Linux etc. from their website: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

It plays everything!

iPhone 1.1.2 Unlocking

published on November 14, 2007 » filed under Macintosh, Tech

If you have a brand-spanking new iPhone in the UK (purchased from O2 or Apple) it will run on Firmware version: 1.1.2. You can’t unlock this right now, although a ‘jailbreaking’ application exists for 3rd Party Apps. But that’s not a problem; there is a way you can downgrade your phone to an older firmware- version 1.1.1, and then you can unlock it.

First follow this guide: Downgrade 1.1.2 firmware. To remove 1.1.2 from your iPhone- the downgrade takes you to 1.1.1 Firmware which is super hackable, I’ve written a post about it: here.

If you’re in need of some help, gimmie a buzz (leave a comment). If you live in Edinburgh, for a fee, I’ll do it for you ;-)

Personally, I’d leave it. The unlocking and downgrading of 1.1.2 is days away from being perfected and safe… today, as it stands, the whole thing is a bit hit-or-miss… for me that’s part of the thrill, its a wee bit like old school hacking.

Update: This is the most popular post on the site, in reality the most useful thing I can say is follow this link. Its not an easy process- but there ya go. ModMyiFone.com is the best resource for all things iPhone.

iPhone 1.1.1 Unlocking

published on October 26, 2007 » filed under Macintosh, Tech

Update: Here’s a new thread for 1.1.2 (if you have a retail UK iPhone from O2 / Apple it running 1.1.2). So if you have the newer firmware; see this post.

I took a deep breath and made the jump to firmware 1.1.1… after following anther straight-forward guide from modmyiphone.com (my previous iphone upgrade post is here). The update is not intended for use by anyone who has modified their iPhones (I have both bypassed activation and hacked the phone to work in the UK on any network). The process was not simple, there were hiccups, I couldn’t find much help on google when I ran into the first issue so I thought I’d note them here.

My iPhone came with 1.0.2. I used the modmyiphone.com [IPhone_unlock_OS_X_Part_1] guide (as noted in my previous iphone post that hack was really easy). So, YES if you followed the mod my iphone guide linked here, then you can safely move on up using their new guide here.

1. Safe to Stick with ModMyiPhone Guides
If you used the earlier modmyiphone guide (to unlock and activate on 1.0.2) at this link. You can upgrade. No problem. Why it doesn’t say this on their own site I don’t know- there are many people asking for confirmation in their forums. Yes; its safe- I’ve done it.

2. Norz, and “Waiting For Data…”
Next up, during the backup of my baseband (not a required step, but very much recommended) using the norz code – I followed the steps as noted in the guide to the letter… but on entering the code:
launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
followed by
./norz seczone.backup 0x3FA000 0x2000
I did not receive the dump from my base-band, as expected. But the terminal told me it was
Waiting for data...
I waited 10 minutes. Then panicked, looking through the Google Code Wiki for the tool that ‘revirginizes’ the base-band I found a tip that fixes this little bug.

To begin, lets say you’re going through the guide right now- you’ve entered the code above and following the request for iPhone to backup the ’seczone’ you’ve got the “Waiting for data…” line. First off, cancel that by pressing CTRL+C. Next enter a command to restart iPhone’s CommCenter:
launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
now we’ll stop commCenter again, with a -w thrown in for good luck (”UNIX! I KNOW THIS SYSTEM!” – Lex) It may even be a good idea to restart your iPhone at this point… do that and then enter:
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.CommCenter.plist
Now run the norz command
./norz seczone.backup 0x3FA000 0x2000

And that should be that. Go back on to the guide… another tip: restart your mac, restart the iPhone (you won’t damage it at this stage). Switch off Cyberduck and logout of terminal: logout. Try plugging the iPhone into its dock / charger, these tips have worked for others.

3. iNdependence : “Pre 1.1.1 Upgrade” Button Grayed Out
A strange problem- my Pre 1.1.1 Upgrade button would not click. The faq’s online put this down to having SSL (I installed this via Installer.app back when I did my original unlock) disabled or uninstalled. Even if it is installed AND running you’ll need to use iNdependence’s own SSL installer, this will require restarting the iPhone and then iNdependence.app. But things will work after that.

4. Set Up Your iPhone
Really, no messing around- make sure you are on the “Set Up Your iPhone” Screen, not the sync- let that finish, restart iTunes if you have to- you’ll need the screen that is in this screenshot to be active in iTunes or your upgrade won’t work.

5. Cleaning Up
After jailbreaking, activating and unlocking – all necessary and simple if you read the How To’s – you can delete Unlock.app via iNdependance and might want to install Installer.app for installing apps straight from the iPhone via Wi-Fi. Its really nice.

6. iPhone forgets EDGE Settings
There’s a fix for this here.

7. Non-US Number Formatting
SSH into the iPhone, go to:
/System/Library/Frameworks/UIKit.framework/PhoneFormats/UIPhoneFormats.plist
Then replace the US segment by following the tip in this forum.

There are some fixes in 1.1.1 that I’ve noticed: speaker is louder, double-tap ‘home’ to view contacts / song playing. The Auto-Brightness is working again, Safari is a little faster I think. Also- after all that hacking and cracking, my recent calls, sms’, emails etc. were all exactly where they should have been. Even my “Usage” deets were still in place. Wow! I love the dev team. Only wish Apple weren’t being so ‘difficult’ with this box of fun. Tying it down till February isn’t encouraging.

Pilgrimage

published on October 24, 2007 » filed under Macintosh, Tech, Travel

Just for Kids

Apple Store, Glasgow is very nice and shiny. Staff were helpful and things were mactastic to the ninth level… had a shot of an iPod Touch (yikes, quite a drop in quality from its big brother the iPhone). Like good little consumerists making the pilgrimage we left with little white bags (but no receipts; apple e-mail you a receipt “y’know for the planet” is how the saleslady explained it). Got a Bluetooth Mighty Mouse and Bill grabbed some CDs, continuing on the silly-vain I changed the demo ‘touches to run you tube videos of billy being silly, and there’s billy being silly above also. what a kid.

Anyway nice place. Just wanted to mention it here. See what an image looks like in the site’s new styling really… la-di-dah.

Enso… nice box!

published on October 16, 2007 » filed under Macintosh, Tech

check out Enso. Its a dressed-up app and script launcher with transparent windows (and a lot of heart!). Watch the demo video for the product, its very pretty – but I know most of the commands or mouse clicks to do pull-off of the “wow” items (definition, add map, search google, calculator, translate) in my un-tampered OS X –and I’ve got them down to instantaneous motions, no interrupting of my ‘flow’. *cough* disclaimer: this website is no showcase of any ‘flow’ i might have. Anyway, just wanted to say- OS X (hodge, Leopard is released on Oct. 26th rawr!) has a all of great app launching, calculating, translating AND transparency goodness you need… why add something big green and up-its-own-arse on top of an already up-its-arse OS? I get the feeling the creators should stick to the web design, as that’s one slick site, and leave off the ‘world-changing’ for now.

today i was a little let-down, to pull off a vista-crushing ‘next generation OS’, for my money Apple’s new OS ‘Leopard’-s launch date (announced earlier today) should have been followed by some blow-you-away extras that haven’t been announced yet. why isn’t iLife part of the OS, still no “screen sharing” out-of-the-box (it does exist: you need a pricey .Mac account to utilize the technology), there’s no built in iPhone to iChat voice link-up (something a bit skype-y y’know), there’s no iChat SMS service, there’s no support for NTFS hard disks, there’s no Virtualisation of Windows (still boot windows or mac). what a rip-off for you students too- apple has raised the education price of OS 10.5. ouch. can’t blame AT&T for that. I suppose the box is very pretty.

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