Tony's Blog

AT&T Blocks MMS on Iphone Plans even if you pay for it!!!!

2008-09-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

We should all be aware by now that if you are one of the few of us that actually played by the rules (to a certain extent) and actually have a legit Iphone through AT&T in the US, Swirly MMS will not work and your sim chip will not allow you to send MMS from any phone you put it in! This is because AT&T blocks this feature in their system by using a profiler that runs every night to disable MMS if you have the iphone plan! This is rediculous and I think AT&T should at least here it from us. Even if you do not feel as strongly as I do, please take the time to let them know that what they are doing is not OK.

Contact AT&T

If anyone else feels as strongly as I do about how AT&T blocks mms on the iphone send a letter to corporate complaints, or email them:
at&t
5020 Ash Grove Road
Springfield, IL 62711
or go here AT&T Corp Comments

I sent them a comment on the corporate site above and got a phone call back from a corporate complaints rep. I have attached the message I sent below. BTW she basically told me it was impossible if the iphone plan was on my line because the profiler runs and night and changes it back.

Sent this to AT&T, Maybe if they get enough complaints they will actually listen!

I am writing to complain about something that AT&T is blocking on Iphone users. I currently have an Iphone 3G on my family plan with unlimited messaging. I also have another phone that I would like to use from time to time in order to send and receive Multimedia Messages (a feature included on the family texting plan i pay for). I was very upset to learn that the MMS feature is blocked on my line because I have an Iphone, regardless of whether I pay for it or not. This is a major issue because your website clearly states “With just one package - ALL lines in your FamilyTalk group can send and receive UNLIMITED text, picture, video and instant messages with anyone in the US.” I was on the phone with a customer service representative for 45 minutes who was oblivious to the fact that AT&T blocks this before she realized that this is common practice for iphone lines. Once she was told by a supervisor, she relayed the message that there was nothing she could do. I asked to speak with the supervisor which took another half hour to get on the line to speak with me. The supervisor was not helpful, I told her what your website states and she told me not for the Iphone because it doesn’t support it. I told her that I am paying for a feature that AT&T is deliberately blocking and I demand the restriction be lifted and she refused. I am a loyal customer to AT&T and have been for over 10 years and I simply cannot figure out what the reason is for this restriction. Something as simple as lifting a restriction can make your customer happy and after an an hour and a half on the line with AT&T support, they refused to unblock a service I pay for. AT&T does not block this service on any other phone, regardless of whether or not it supports MMS and to block something that I pay for is preposterous . Especially after asking a supervisor to lift this restriction. Please feel free to call me with any questions you may have or for more information regarding my issue.

Sekai Camera New App in development for Iphone!!

2008-09-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

Everyone needs to check this out. The concept is sweet!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/09/17/tonchidot-madness-the-video/#comments

There site is

thingfling.com

2008-06-23T07:06:00.000-07:00

Every morning I wake up and browse through a bunch of one deal a day sites (ex: woot.com) and I just came across a new one that is pretty cool. www.thingfling.com basically the same idea as woot. They ship real quick and they have some cool stuff. They also do the random crap like woot does but we can actually buy it without their server crashing (for now). My last $10 random crap purchase from them came with 20 earbud style headphones, a usb a to b cable with LED's and a Linksys cordless standard/VOIP Phone!. The phone is both a standard DECT cordless phone, and also works with VOIP. www.thingfling.com, It's a pretty cool site to add to your list of places to checkout :)

The application indesign has unexpectedly quit c3 running leopard

2008-03-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

OK, so I haven't posted anything on my blog in a looooong time but this problem was so annoying and I couldn't find a fix anywhere. I got my girlfriend a new computer for her birthday and from day one Indesign CS3 wouldn't load, I kept getting "The application indesign unexpectedly quit". I went through all the recommendation of deleting the adobe indesign folder from the user library/preferences folder with no luck, checked for updates etc. I created a new user and indesign worked fine. Sure I could have had her log in with a new user account but she just customized her profile to her liking and I really wanted to figure it out without having to inconvenience her. I ended up fixing it by changing the permissions recursively on the indesign folder in applications. Easiest way to do it would be to highlight the folder and hold the apple key and push the letter i on your keyboard. This will bring up the information for that folder. In my case, the permissions were set correctly so I simply gave system and admin read/write permission and user read permission. I also made sure to click on the little gear under the permissions and apply it to enclosed items, this is the same as writing it recursively. Another way of doing this would be to launch the terminal and give the following command

sudo chmod -R 775 /Applications/Adobe\ InDesign\ CS3

YouTube Fix for unlocked iphones (cannot connect to youtube)

2007-09-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Step 1

Download this zip, and unzip it somewhere.

Step 2

Get your activated iPhone ready, and connect to it via SCP or SFTP or whatever you have that lets you access the file system.

Tip: iNdependence is a wonderful program for the Mac that can install SFTP in one click. I recommend this, and Transmit to connect to the SFTP on the iPhone (remember, user “root”, password “dottie”.)

Step 3

Navigate to /var/root/Library/Lockdown on the phone, and upload those three files you unzipped. Overwrite the stuff on the phone.

Tip: Paranoiacs always back up.

Step 4

Navigate to /var/root/Library/Lockdown/activation_records. See that long numbered plist file that looks like “88921140141031443517.plist” or something? The name varies, but you’ll see it. Open it up in your favourite text editor.

Step 5

Find this bit.

Select what I have selected there.. the bit under DeviceCertificate.

Step 6

Replace that bit with the following:

         
<data>
   LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJUSUZJQ0FURS0tLS0tCk1JSURQekNDQXFpZ0F3SUJBZ0lLQTRC
   UllCOVBRUms3NlRBTkJna3Foa2lHOXcwQkFRc0ZBREJhTVFzd0NRWUQKVlFRR0V3SlZV
   ekVUTUJFR0ExVUVDaE1LUVhCd2JHVWdTVzVqTGpFVk1CTUdBMVVFQ3hNTVFYQndiR1Vn
   YVZCbwpiMjVsTVI4d0hRWURWUVFERXhaQmNIQnNaU0JwVUdodmJtVWdSR1YyYVdObElF
   TkJNQjRYRFRBM01EY3dOekl6Ck1EZ3dNMW9YRFRFd01EY3dOekl6TURnd00xb3dnWWN4
   TVRBdkJnTlZCQU1US0RNNE5URmhOamRqT0dFM01ETTMKTnpjek9HWXhOVEJsTTJGaFlU
   WTJOV1U1TkRFNU5tUXpOekV4Q3pBSkJnTlZCQVlUQWxWVE1Rc3dDUVlEVlFRSQpFd0pE
   UVRFU01CQUdBMVVFQnhNSlEzVndaWEowYVc1dk1STXdFUVlEVlFRS0V3cEJjSEJzWlNC
   SmJtTXVNUTh3CkRRWURWUVFMRXdacFVHaHZibVV3Z1o4d0RRWUpLb1pJaHZjTkFRRUJC
   UUFEZ1kwQU1JR0pBb0dCQU9XTEIxejYKMEI0M0l3SVRudFFNS0JacW51YmkxSjR4cnJO
   SmtvWC9GUmtjS1NoemQwZnBTRXplNi9ZcTE2ZDVjaTg1dUt0agpUSnRHRFpjcTltaFlt
   TWc2anZUelB4b3g1Z09ib0h1NGFVeGNlZ2NHUDhtRFpUcjdPM21rZU1rV0RRVkd2Z3NL
   CkwwdWE0WGJZVXdiYnB6aFJTN041aWZERXJSWUt3UlljWXovVkFnTUJBQUdqZ2Qwd2dk
   b3dnWUlHQTFVZEl3UjcKTUhtQUZMTCtJU05FaHBWcWVkV0JKbzV6RU5pblRJNTBvVjZr
   WERCYU1Rc3dDUVlEVlFRR0V3SlZVekVUTUJFRwpBMVVFQ2hNS1FYQndiR1VnU1c1akxq
   RVZNQk1HQTFVRUN4TU1RWEJ3YkdVZ2FWQm9iMjVsTVI4d0hRWURWUVFECkV4WkJjSEJz
   WlNCcFVHaHZibVVnUkdWMmFXTmxJRU5CZ2dFQk1CMEdBMVVkRGdRV0JCVHBsVTJrZE5z
   eFpFbmEKTXFUSnVaVWdaQzM1WHpBTUJnTlZIUk1CQWY4RUFqQUFNQTRHQTFVZER3RUIv
   d1FFQXdJRm9EQVdCZ05WSFNVQgpBZjhFRERBS0JnZ3JCZ0VGQlFjREFUQU5CZ2txaGtp
   Rzl3MEJBUXNGQUFPQmdRQ3FjbVNyTnFnWldGdkZJYzluCkNwMktacUVRK0ozdTNLS2h4
   ZUwzR05KZ2twS3JQa3R3RC8rRGhIMlFDRUNtRUNMNTI0MHVLWGkvTzFlZjZZMkIKWjM4
   SVFuOHVoci9oYkRXUWFpV1o2OFhQWUEvTzRFZ3lKMHp6cmlzMks3UzBPSG9vTm1uZVow
   cEVMMElib2ZaOApKRjhHbjRaK0I2dHR6MEtQSDdJWTJ3LzRYZz09Ci0tLS0tRU5EIENF
   UlRJRklDQVRFLS0tLS0K
</data>

Save the file back onto the phone. Just make that modification to the phone’s file, upload it to the phone.

Step 7

Reboot the iPhone — you’re done, and can watch Chocolate Rain ten times a day.

props to SuitCase, 3rd of September, 2007.

Apple Drops Iphone prices by $200

2007-09-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

That's right. Apple has dropped the prices of brand new (not refurbished) Iphones by $200, bring the 8gb to $399 and the 4gb to $299. Apple also introduced a new line of Ipod's including the Ipod Touch (pictured above) that's basically and Iphone without the phone piece.

IPHONE UNLOCKED!!!

2007-08-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

New Jersey teen unlocks Apple iPhone, uses on T-Mobile network
Friday, August 24, 2007 - 02:03 PM EDT

"A teenager in New Jersey has broken the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cell phone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones," The Associated Press reports.

"The New Jersey teen collaborated online with four other people to develop the unlocking process," AP reports.

"George Hotz, 17, confirmed Friday that he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile's network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from San Antonio-based AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone's cellular technology," AP reports.

"The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday to his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. It takes about two hours to perform," AP reports.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Ryan" for the heads up.]

Buy it here

Read his blog Here!

Checkout his videos on youtube too! George Hotz is the man!

Apply custom ringtones to your Iphone (OS X only)

2007-07-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

I came across an awesome application called Ifuntastic that allows you to use music files you crop as ringtones. I used garageband to crop some mp3's and exported them as m4a files. The program does work perfectly, however you have to follow the directions each step of the way. The app will seem like it crashes during the process, but be patient, go make a sandwich or something and it'll get the job done soon enough. There are some cautions as with any app, such as auto sync will stop working and you will have to manually sync w/ itune, but it didn't happen to me. I got the app off of demonoid but it is also available HERE!

Hope some of you find this useful!

UPDATE: New version 2.0 is HERE

Explore neighborhoods at street level–virtually

2007-07-05T22:10:00.000-07:00

Google Maps has an awesome new feature called Street View. To use it simply zoom out so the entire U.S. map is visible and click the Street View button. This feature is only available in a few cities for now, I can't wait for Cleveland!

Streetview Sitings!
http://streetviewgallery.corank.com/

Check out the video tutorial!

Microsoft's version: http://preview.local.live.com/ Not as easy to use in my opinion.

Use Street View to:
	View street level photographs (select cities)
	Take virtual walks; pan, rotate and zoom
	Explore cityscapes, landmarks, points of interest
	Find shops, restaurants, parks, hotels and more

Iphone Nano

2007-06-26T10:22:00.001-07:00

Iphone Nano

Yes. . . I Photoshopped it!

2007-04-25T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hi, this site is all about ninjas, REAL NINJAS. This site is awesome. My name is Robert and I can't stop thinking about ninjas. These guys are cool; and by cool, I mean totally sweet.

Facts:

1. Ninjas are mammals.

2. Ninjas fight ALL the time.

3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

HAHA LMFAO

Verizon is trying to stop the t-shirt sales!!

2007-01-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, Verizon has sent an E-mail to BlueFishTshirts.com threatening a lawsuit for copyright infringement! Checkout the Digg posting and don't forget to Digg this and help make Verizon look worse then they already do. Seems like a stupid move in my opinion, VerizonMath was beginning to fade away. Next thing you know, Verizon gives it CPR and now it will be back and more popular than ever!

!! DIGG HERE !!

or Visit Verizonmath.blogspot.com

Apple IPhone to be released in June!

2007-01-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

All the rumors ended up being true. Apple has created a phone that will be available for Cingular customers called the IPhone. Don't know how they were able to use the name since Linksys already has an IPhone, but Apple has good lawyers. Anyways, the phone itself looks great and perhaps the best feature that other might overlook is the multi-input touchscreen. This senses when two fingers are touching the screen and allows you to resize images by simply moving your fingers apart or together. Checkout www.apple.com to get more information about the IPhone.

Check out my error message in the Feb. issue of Win IT Pro

2007-01-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

That's right, the error I posted earlier in this blog will be showcased in the February issue of Win IT Pro! If you have any send them to rumors@winitpro.com.

Get a Verizonmath t-shirt!

2007-01-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Shirts are now available here! Don't forget to pick a few up and check out verizonmath.blogspot.com

It's not a "Southern thang" anymore

2006-12-29T10:40:00.000-08:00

Finding a great place to get away from work for an hour can be more difficult than it seems. We learned that the hard way. For us, Town Fryer was a rare find that offered a great place for out of the ordinary food and a fun time. Friday lunch at the Fryer became our lunch tradition. Unfortunately it was short lived once we found out the Fryer will be closing. Clevelanders who have had the opportunity to eat there will be losing more then just a restaurant, they're losing a great time in a fun and welcoming environment. It will not be easy to find a replacement for the Fryer, we will miss you :(

If you haven't had a chance to experience The Town Fryer, visit http://www.thetownfryer.com/ and stop in before they close for good.

Windows Vista. . . It's nice!

2006-12-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

The RTM version of Windows Vista was released to business users about a month ago and I had high hopes. I've always liked exploring different operating systems, and in the past few years I've found at least a few things I've really liked in most. When I saw the first build of Vista, I knew that this OS would be huge. I write this post under Vista Business Edition running on my Mac and the look and feel of the OS is just as appealing as the hardware it's running on !(MacBook) Since the release of OS X, Macintosh had the eye candy that Windows lacked. Apple became more of a style than anything, and the Ipod was the perfect companion. It looks like Microsoft is finally catching up with their latest operating system. If your hardware supports it, Vista's Aero Glass gives your windows theme a transparent look,(shown in screen shot above) and the start menu has a sort of Gnome look to it. Many Mac fanatics will argue that Vista is a carbon copy of OS X. I do admit the argument can be made, but my rebuttal would be that Mac stole ideas from Xerox from the beginning. In my personal opinion, if every OS stole what's good in another, users like us win.

In a nutshell:
Vista looks and runs nice even if they stole from Apple. Let's hope they market it better then the Zune.
It will get bombarded with hack attempts to highlight any security holes hackers might find, but Windows users are used to the patch your OS everyday thing anyways.

Asia scrambles to restore communications after quake

2006-12-28T15:42:00.000-08:00

Hate to always link to articles but it's hard to find time to add content to this blog, here's the article!

Converting DVD movies for the iPod using Mac OSX

2006-12-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

Found a very nice piece of software called Handbrake that allows you to convert a dvd to Ipod format. Handbrake is completely free and can be downloaded here

Anders.com has a full tutorial for both Mac and Windows users!

Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer

2006-12-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

You can view the trailer Here.

View the Solar System with Stellarium!

2006-12-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Stellarium is an awesome open source program that allows you to view the solar system! Stellarium is packed with features and is unbelievably accurate. Check it out @ www.stellarium.org

Asia wakes up to life without technology

2006-12-27T11:05:00.000-08:00

BANGKOK: It was a tsunami for the digital age, a collapse of the virtual world that radiated through much of Asia and beyond after an undersea earthquake late Tuesday off the coast of Taiwan.

People woke Wednesday to find themselves without e-mail or the Internet and, in some cases, without telephone connections, cut off from the real world around them.

The earthquake, which triggered a tsunami alert and some physical damage, ruptured two of the undersea cables that are part of a communications fretwork that circles the globe.

Coming on the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people, it was a reminder of the world's increasing dependence on communications technology.

Financial companies and technology services suffered most directly, with banking services and securities trading all but crippled. Operations from travel agencies to newspapers to schools were struggling to maintain their routines.

Full Article

Report: Apple forged options documents

2006-12-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

BusinessWeek

NEW YORK

Shares of Apple Computer Inc. fell Wednesday after a legal publication reported that former company executives apparently forged documents to maximize executives' stock option profits.

The Recorder, a San Francisco-based publication owned by American Lawyer Media, reported late Tuesday that federal prosecutors are looking into forged documents at Apple related to administering stock options.

The publication also disclosed that CEO Steve Jobs has hired his own outside counsel separate from the company's legal team.

Apple is one of nearly 200 companies that have disclosed SEC, DOJ or internal investigations for potential backdating of stock options. Backdating refers to retroactively pegging the strike price of an option to a day when the stock traded cheaply. Options with low strike prices are more valuable to their owner because they are less expensive to exercise.

In October, Apple said an internal investigation raised concerns about how two former officers recorded and accounted for stock options. Citing people with knowledge of the investigation, The Recorder reported those two former officers were General Counsel Nancy Heinen and Chief Financial Officer Fred Anderson.

Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computer fell $3.84, or 4.7 percent, to $77.67 in morning trading on the Nasdaq. The stock has traded in a range of $50.16 and $93.16 in the past year.

Vista Security Flaws Uncovered

2006-12-26T20:13:00.000-08:00

by Michael Calore

Tuesday, 26 December 2006

One full month before Microsoft Windows Vista ships to consumers, hackers and security experts have already discovered six serious flaws in the operating system. Vista was made available to business customers one month ago. Since then, the experts have been throwing everything they can come up with at this build of Vista hoping to discover possible vulnerabilities before the general public starts running the OS on their home machines.

John Markoff of The New York Times profiled the security software firm Determina and its tests to uncover exploits in Vista.

Here are some of the flaws, paraphrased from the NYT story:

Determina discovered a bug in Internet Explorer 7 that allows malware to be surreptitiously installed on a user's computer if he visits a "booby-trapped site" while browsing the web.
Determina also discovered a way to disable a network's Microsoft Exchange server by sending an infected email.
An unnamed Russian programmer discovered a way to hack his user permissions on all Windows systems on a corporate network using a Vista exploit. This is particularly dangerous, since a hacker could use his increased privileges to circumvent IE7's built-in sandbox controls.
Tokyo-based company Trend Micro has discovered a hacker on a Japanese message board offering to sell information about a Vista security flaw for $50,000.

Flaws are to be expected, especially in something as widely used and anticipated as a new version of Windows. Microsoft will most likely be releasing patches constantly during Vista's first six months on consumer desktops. Either way, if you're planning on running Vista right away, invest in some security software -- and use Firefox!

Shocked? I hope not ;)

Craythur is your desktop to go.

2006-12-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon a pretty cool AJAX desktop called Craythur. Creating an account is free and easy. Craythur allows you to Upload files, create tasks, calendar entries, etc. all from your web browser using their desktop-like interface. Looks a lot like Aero Glass. Nice work if I may say so myself.

Sun's Looking Glass 3D Desktop Released

2006-12-24T21:09:00.000-08:00

Looking Glass, which was first shown off in 2003 and released as an open-source project in 2004, allows users to run a Java-based desktop environment on top of Windows, or on Linux or Solaris. The software allows certain applications to be run in a "2.5D" environment, allowing them to be rotated in 3D space to maximize the available desktop space.

The interface also includes a launch bar along the bottom middle of the screen, similar in appearance to the Apple OS X's Dock.

According to the developers, Looking Glass includes several interesting features not included in either the Apple or Windows OSes: the ability to "fly" left or right to a new virtual desktop, or to use the "back" of a virtual window. Windows can also be organized on their "side," allowing a "bookshelf" view of the available windows. Users can download the new Looking Glass interface from Sun's Web site.

ExtremeTech Article

VerizonMath T-shirt contest winner!

2006-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

I won first place in the T-shirt contest! check it out, Verizonmath.

Fantastic Four: Rise of Silver Surfer

2006-12-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

So my girlfriend and I went to see Night at the Museum yesterday and happened to catch the trailer of the Fantastic Four sequel. Good luck finding it online, I've looked many places and could only get a very poor quality cammed bootleg of it, barely watchable. Stay tuned to Fantastic Four, or go see Night at the Museum. You won't be dissapointed, the movie is great!

VerizonMath

2006-12-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

Check out this horror story of just how bad Verizon Wireless customer service is. Make sure you have at least 20 minutes for this blog. George is the man for posting this! Verizonmath, http://verizonmath.blogspot.com

Funny Computer Errors

2006-12-23T12:23:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the best error message you will ever see! If you have some funny messages post them!

VMWare releases Fusion for Mac OS X

2006-12-23T12:06:00.000-08:00

The new VMware desktop product for the Mac, codenamed Fusion, allows Intel-based Macs to run x86 operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris, in virtual machines at the same time as Mac OS X. It is built on VMware's rock-solid and advanced desktop virtualization platform that is used by over four million users today.

With Fusion, you can run traditional PC applications on your Mac: if you need to run PC applications, you can now do so by leveraging the power of virtual machine technology.
Fusion allows you to:

* Create and run a wide variety of 32- and 64-bit x86 operating systems on OS X without rebooting. You can simultaneously run PC applications next to your OS X applications.
* Leverage Virtual SMP capabilities to gain additional performance improvements. On any Mac with dual-core processors, you can assign multiple CPUs to your virtual machine to gain additional performance for CPU-intensive workloads.
* Access physical devices from the virtual machine: read and burn CDs and DVDs, and use USB 2.0 devices like video cameras, iPods, printers, and disks at full speed. Even devices that do not have drivers for OS X will work in a virtual machine.
* Drag and drop files and folders between OS X and virtual machines to easily share data between the two environments.
* Leverage the cross-compatibility of VMware virtual machines. VMware virtual machines created with existing VMware products are all cross compatible, including virtual machines created by VMware Workstation, VMware Player, VMware Server and VMware Infrastructure 3.
* Run any of the 360 virtual appliances available from the Virtual Appliance Marketplace (http://vam.vmware.com).