The iPhone Dev-Team has finally published the software unlock for iPhone 3G: yellowsn0w (Note that it’s a zero in the word sn0w, not letter o). This is the original post. Earlier the team claimed the unlock is only for earlier version of the baseband, however this is not true for the actual unlock. This unlock applcation is only for iPhone firmware 2.2 with the lastest baseband firmware 0.2.28.00. The package is still in its beta, so proceed with cautions. Here are the steps to unlock you iPhone 3G.

1. Update iPhone Firmware

If your iPhone’s firmware is not up to date, you need to update it first. If you are not sure about your iPhone’s firmware vesion, tap on Settings -> General -> About. Version is your iPhone firmware vesion, it should be 2.2 (5G77). Modem Firmware is the baseband firmware version, it should be 02.28.00. Use iTunes to update your iPhone’s firmware.

2. Jailbreak iPhone

After your iPhone’s firmware has been updated successfully, use QuickPwn to jailbreak your iPhone. Here are two execllent tutorials if you don’t know how to do it.

Windows

Mac

3. Use Cydia to get yellowsn0w

Upon successfully jailbreaking your iPhone, you can see two extra applications on your home screen: Cydia and Installer. My personal preference is Cydia. By default, Cydia doesn’t have the repo for yellowsn0w, you have to add it manually.

• Tap on Cydia to invoke it.
• Tap on Manage on the lower right corner.
  
• Tap on Sources.
  
• Tap on Edit.
  
• Tap on Add.
  
• Enter http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com .
  
• Tap on Done on the top right corner.
• Tap on Changes on the lower left corner and then Refresh on the top left corner to refresh the list.

You should be able to see yellowsn0w package in the Sections -> All Packages. Just install it and turn off your iPhone and restart it and it should be unlocked.

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I just bought myself a PS3 for Christmas. It’s not only a video game console, but also an entertainment center. It supports a lot of the video file formats.

I have some DivX files with subtitles. These files are AVI files with either SRT or IDX/SUB subtitles. When I first tried them on the PS3, the subtitles are not shown up.

At first, I thought I need to re-encode the AVI files with hard coded subtitles. This process would degraded video quality and it also takes quite a while to do so.

Thankfully, there is a better solution. All you need is a free program called AVIAddXsubs. You can download it here.

The usage of the program is simple. Just put the AVI file with the subtitle files in the same directory, enter or browse the file name in the first text area and click on Create Subtitled DivX File. By default the program create the file with .divx extension. I did this on an external hard drive, so I just connect the hard drive to the PS3 and the file is ready for playback. To enable the subtitles, press the triangle button and select the subtitles option to turn it on.

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One of my forum readers has come up with a way to unlock a Chicago 8000 GPS. If you happen to have a Chicago 8000 GPS, you can follow the instructions in this thread . Thank you Jackwang878!

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I just worked on an infected computer of my user. The virus/trojans are kinda scary. They blocked the malwarebytes.org. Therefore, you cannot go to the web site to download the software. I managed to get the file downloaded on a different computer and move it over. Once I got the setup file over, I cannot install it. It seemed like the trojan knows the name of the setup file. I renamed the setup file and I was able to get it to install. After installation, I cannot get it to run! I figured it’s the same thing that trojan prevents the application to run. So, I changed the application’s name and I was able to invoke the application. After the application was running, it failed to update the definition. However, I was able to run the Anti-Malware and scan the computer.

You might think this is typical behaviours of trojans. What’s so special about it? They are special because even in safe mode, the restrictions imposed by trojans still persist. That means the trojans authors have figured out some ways to circumvene Windows safe mode.

Anyway, none of these would happen if you use the computer as a regular user. Remember NOT to use an admin account for any internet activities EVER.

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When I bought my first digital camera, I spent $75 just to get a spare battery. It is not cost effective. When I was choosing my second camera, I wanted one that can take regular AAA batteries.

My decision was only partially right. Now that I have a camera that can take regular AAA rechargeable batteries, I found that I had to charge the batteries the day before I intend to use of the camera. Otherwise, just forget it. Even if I charged the batteries a few days earlier, they are not usable when I need them. That’s because the charge drains quickly on these regular NiMH batteries.

Thankfully, there is hope. I found these Eneloop batteries by Sanyo. These batteries are incredible. The cost is basically the same as the regular rechargeble batteries. Do not let the 2,000 mAh spec fool you. They are actually much more useful than those 2,500 mAh batteries. I now can really use my camera whenever I want without worrying about the batteries. I will not buy those regular rechargeble batteries again.

Click on the link to go to Amazon’s page for Eneloop batteries.

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I used to use FileZilla to transfer files between my iPhone and computer. It works well with smaller files. I was trying to copy some huge movie files from my computer to my iPhone and the estimated time is several hours! One reader has suggested a program called DiskAid, but I have not tried it yet. I think it’s a good idea to try it out.

The web site is here. Both Windows and Mac OS X versions are provided. You also need to install iTunes in order for the program to work.

Once installed, you can run it before you connect your iPhone to the computer. You cannot drag and drop files from Windows Explorer or Finder to it. Everything is done through the program. You cannot select multiple files at the same time, but you can select a folder. The transfer speed is fast compared to the file transfer via wireless connection.

For version 1.5, the default location on the iPhone is the /var/mobile/Media . If you want to access other location, use the selection box on the lower left corner to switch. Note that you have access to some of the system files now. Be careful about deleting files you are not familiar with, you might render your iPhone useless.

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When I first learned that the PwnageTool is available for iPhone firmware 2.2, I cannot wait to get my iPhone jailbroken again for the new firmware. After I successfully did it, I wanted to try out the Goolge Street View, but I could not figure out how to use it. There is no indication on the settings to view the map in Street View. After playing with it for a while, I finally found that if you do a search or drop a pin, you can see a new person icon.

Click on the person icon let you see the new street view.

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In the past, I usually downloaded the latest FireFox manually for setting up machines. It’s kinda tedius and I finally decided to write a script to do it automatically. Here is the code. Note that the site doesn’t not get updated frequently. For example, the latest FireFox 3.0.4 didn’t appear at the site several days after it’s available to public. I have also modified it to download Thunderbird without a problem.

FTP_SITE = 'releases.mozilla.org'
REMOTE_DIR = '/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/latest/win32/en-US/'
LOCAL_DIR = 'c:/Software/firefox/'
FILE_MASK = '*.exe'

from ftplib import FTP
import os

def handleDownload(block):
    downloaded_file.write(block)

ftp = FTP(FTP_SITE)
ftp.connect()
ftp.login('anonymous')
remote_files = ftp.nlst(REMOTE_DIR + FILE_MASK)
newestfilename = os.path.basename(remote_files[0])

if not os.path.exists(LOCAL_DIR + newestfilename):
    downloaded_file = open(LOCAL_DIR + newestfilename, 'wb')
    ftp.retrbinary('RETR ' + REMOTE_DIR + newestfilename , handleDownload)
    downloaded_file.close()

ftp.close()

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My forum started to get a lot of spams since the beginning of this month. The spams were from some kind of spam bots. My first reaction was to find SMF mods that can deter the spams from coming. There are a few mods available for fighting spams. However, I could not get these mods to install for some reasons.

Finally, I came up with a way to stop the spams without additional mods. Here is what I did.

1. Click on ADMIN menu and click on Registration on the left.
2. Click on SETTINGS.
3. Change Complexity of visual verification image: to High: Angled letters, considerable noise.

After the changes, there are no more fake users created by spam bots.

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