Despite the superb performance of my Landy in the snow, the poor beast fell foul of that terrible affliction… human error.

It seems that I simply cannot remember to turn off the headlights when getting out of it on a cloudy day (or at dawn/dusk).

In order to save the embarrassment of having the guys at the office try to bump-start it (with a completely flat battery), or the ignominy of being jump-started by a Nissan Micra (yes… it happened), I developed a simple circuit using an old relay and a cheap buzzer in order to stop this happening again.

If you want to check wiring colours for your Land Rover, look at my Manuals page [here]

As you can see, the Relay being in a ‘Normally Closed’ position would make the buzzer sound all the time the lights are on, but the power from the ignition opens the relay and stops the buzzer sounding. When you turn off the ignition and remove the key, the relay closes, and if the lights are still on, the buzzer sounds.

This isn’t complicated, but boy does it save some hassle.

Now… the next thing to do is build this into as small a package as possible, and determine the least intrusive way of connecting the 3 wires to the Land Rover without having to dismantle the dashboard!

After procuring a simple NC relay (courtesy of the local Motor Factors), I planned the connections out as follows:-

I then soldered some wires onto the buzzer, and crimped connectors onto all the cables as you can see. The reason for using a ‘NC’ (Normally Closed) relay, is that when then ignition is in the ‘on’ position, the relay is charged, and the contacts open. Therefore breaking the connection and stopping the buzzer from sounding. When you turn off the ignition, the buzzer will sound if there is power to the bottom leg of the relay (labeled ‘Lights+’ above). Therefore If the lights are off, no power = no buzzer, and if the ignition is on, open-contacts = no buzzer.

Next, I needed to connect it to the wiring in my Landy (which as you can see, is a bit archaic!) – On my ex-Military model, the Blue/Black wire is live when the main headlamps are on (I didn’t want the buzzer for side-lights, just in case I wanted to park it on a lane and leave those on). The earth was snagged from a screw into the bulkhead (where most of the relays seem to be earthed anyway!), and the Ignition live was derived from a spare spade connector on the Ignition barrel. You can probably find your particular wiring diagram [here]

Job’s a good ‘un – Buzzer sounds now if I leave the headlamps on with the ignition off.

Yes it’s that time of year when we eat too much, drink too much and have unnecessary arguments with relatives over the pitiful TV that they laughingly call entertainment.

As one of my readers, you’re probably going to be in receipt of a number of gadgets, gizmo’s and techno-treats this year (despite the death of the British Pound according to my friend HERE)

The question is… what do you do with all your old tech? Well here are some ideas of how you could repurpose that equipment:-

Laptop’s

Despite your apparent need for 4Gb’s of RAM and Quad-core processing, that old laptop of yours seemed blisteringly fast a couple of Christmas’s ago… so what happened? Well ‘you did’ apparently… Most PCs and Laptops just get slower due to lots of unnecessary software, media and temporary files. Of course at this point you already have a nice new shiny one, so why don’t you format the hard-drive on the old one (or use the recovery disks) and give it to your Nan or Grandad so they can Skype you? One useful idea is to put Ubuntu on it as there is then little danger of Trojans, Viruses or Malware infecting your poor unsuspecting (and unknowledgeable) Grandparents.

Ubuntu Installation Guide: [link]

Old Net-tops, Notebooks and Underpowered PC’s

There is an excellent article on LifeHacker.com that details how to create your own Media Center PC from an old computer [link] or you could even turn it into a NAS (Network Attached Storage device) for your home network for the purposes of Backup (Pictures etc), Media (Music, Films) or for downloading .torrent files etc. Again this is detailed in a nice article from LifeHacker [link]

Mobile/Cell Phones

Yes… we all need the latest iPhone or Android (obviously the latter if you are a proper tech-head!), but that Nokia or Samsung you use to use for making calls and sending texts is still a perfectly functional bit of kit. Here are some ideas for that too:-

• Stick a Pre-pay SIM in it (on a different network to your usual one), and put it in the boot of your car with a cigarette lighter charger for emergencies – e.g. Your phone is dead/lost/no signal and you have broken down.
• Stick a Pre-pay SIM in it, enable ‘fixed dialing only’ (A mechanism that only allows the phone to dial pre-configured numbers), and give it to your young children to put in their School bag. They can’t call anyone or play games on it, but again, in the case of an emergency or missing a School bus…
• Give it to Phone for Heroes – they use the sale of these old handsets to support the Help for Heroes charity

Televisions

Its patently ridiculous how many TV sets we are throwing away because they are Analog… You can purchase a Freeview box for about £20 and turn it into a Digital TV, so why not put it in the spare room for when the kids are home for Christmas or make sure that Granny can watch TV in the Kitchen and Bedroom?

If you still have no use for it, then take it to a charity shop as they can then use the proceeds to fund a good cause.

My Guide to Reusing old TV and HiFi equipment: [link]

Games Consoles

Its frightening how many games consoles end up at the local tip… Those old XBOX consoles are probably one of the most hackable devices out there. By making a minor internal modification with an xecuter chip, you can use XBMC (XBOX Media Center) software and turn your XBOX into a full-blown Music and Video media box. Marry this up with one of the old TV’s above, and you’ve created a Media box for your games room/summer house.

Installing XBMC on an XBOX: [link]

Surround-sound / All-in-one players

Well these are fantastic for enhanced the kids games-room – add one of these to their games console and they have a more immersive experience, and the volume levels tend to go down. Another good use for these is to add to the Media system detailed above and place in your Summerhouse/Shed for those garden parties. Its just a case of unwinding the speaker wires and you have a sound system in the Garden. Add an old Radio Receiver and you can pipe your favourite music station into the garden whilst sunbathing.

My Guide to Reusing old HiFi equipment: [link]

First of all, lets get the obvious out of the way:-

I am in no way responsible for any damage, voiding of warranties, loss of data or inability to use your TouchPad based on the information below. The use of this information is completely at your own risk, and it is your fault if you brick your device.

SPECIAL THANKS should go to Dalingin and all of the CyanogenMod team for making this possible – You guys rock!

This information presumes the following:-

• You are using Windows
• You know what a “Command Prompt” is
• You have at least half-a-idea what you are doing…

Please do not email / msg me with questions, place comments at the bottom of this post, and I will (if I can) try to answer them.

This information is gleaned from RootzWiki, XDADevelopers and #cyanogenmod-touchpad IRC channels.

For this I used:

• 1 x HP TouchPad 16Gb
• 1 x Sony Laptop (Win7 64bit)
• 1 x USB Lead
• 1 x Coffee
• 1 x Cheesy Comestibles

(the last two aren’t necessary, but make the experience a bit nicer!)

Before Installing watch this video for an overview of the process for the initial install:
http://tinyurl.com/3exy2v8

NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE JAVA INSTALLED – you can check this by opening a command prompt and typing: java -version

If you don’t get something similar, goto:  http://www.java.com/en/download/index.jsp

Lets Begin!

1. Download files from http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?4011-Discussion-CyanogenMod-team-Touchpad-port (CM7)

http://rootzwiki.com/topic/18843-releasealpha2-cyanogenmod-9-touchpad/ (CM9)

Note: The links above is for the Alpha Release – Check the RootzWiki forum for later versions

README and Installer: – REQUIRED
CM7/CM9: – REQUIRED
Clockwork Recovery: - RECOMMENDED

(The 3 above items are contained in the Alpha Release in the above Rootzwiki link)

Moboot(bootloader menu) – REQUIRED
http://code.google.com/p/moboot/downloads/list

GAPPS (Google Apps) – REQUIRED FOR GOOGLE MARKET
http://goo-inside.me/gapps (select 20110828 Universal” at the top)

Moboot(bootloader menu) – REQUIRED
http://code.google.com/p/moboot/downloads/list

GAPPS (Google Apps) - REQUIRED FOR GOOGLE MARKET
http://goo-inside.me/gapps (select 20110828 Universal” at the top)

NOTE: If you are ‘upgrading’ from Alpha1 to Alpha2, just use the ClockworkMod Recovery (described in Step 15) to install the CyanogenMod main ZIP file.

2. Novacom  (The tool that sends the update to the TouchPad)  - REQUIRED – WITHOUT THIS NOTHING WORKS!

http://forums.precentral.net/canuck-coding/278224-universal-novacom-installer-uni-v1-2-1-a.html

Also note, if you have older versions of Novacom, uninstall them first to avoid conflicts.

3. Install Novacom, then go into Windows Services and ensure that the “Palm Novacom” service is started – If you don’t, you’ll get a “cannot connect to server” message later.

4. Insert USB Cable and click on “USB” option that pops up in the top left of the WebOS screen

5. On the PC, you’ll see this:-

6. Create a folder called cminstall on the TouchPad drive

7. Copy the following files into the cminstall folder:-

• update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-a1-fullofbugs.zip     (or whatever the latest one is at the time of reading this)
  
• update-cwm_tenderloin-1012.zip
• moboot_0.3.3.zip
• gapps-gb-20110828-signed.zip

8. Safely Unmount/Eject the TouchPad drive from your PC (use the Windows Tasktray option) but leave the cable plugged in

9. On the TouchPad WebOS, go into “Settings, Device Info, Reset Options, Restart” – The TP will reset. As soon as the spinning icon (Before the HP Logo) appears, hold down the Volume-up button until a USB logo (smaller than the one in step4) appears on the TP Screen. If it doesn’t appear, try power and volume up.

10. Unzip the Copy Readme/Installer and copy the ACMEInstaller into the Novacom program folder

Note: This could be “C:\Program Files\Palm, Inc”, or something like “c:\program files (x86)\HP SDK\bin”

11. Start a command prompt – NOTE: In Win7 use ‘right-click “run as Administrator”‘

12. Navigate to the folder where you unzipped the ACMEInstaller (cd “\program files…. etc”)

13. At the PC command prompt type : novacom boot mem:// < ACMEInstaller

(replace ACMEInstaller with ACMEInstaller2 for CM9)

14. You should see the TP start installing CyanogenMod – BE PATIENT – This can take about 10-20 mins.

You *MAY* get a lot of ‘Alarm Expired’ warnings – Ignore them and wait, wait, wait….

When it reboots, you should see a nice CM7 Desktop, but we still need to install some more goodies….

15. IF the main Google Apps (e.g. Market) are missing, then perform this step:-

First we need to get all the standard Google Apps, this is done by downloading the latest CM7 Google Apps package from http://goo-inside.me/gapps (“20110828 Universal” at the top) and place in the ‘downloads’ folder on the TP. Reboot the TP into ‘recovery’ mode (press and hold power and select ‘recovery’), and then select “install zip from sd card” and select the gapps zip file you copied onto the system, then reboot

(More information can be found here: http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?7809-How-to-Install-Google-Market-amp-Apps-on-CM7-Alpha-TouchPad)

16. There are various other ‘key’ apps that may or may not work, and here is a workaround for Maps, Facebook and Twitter

Mount your USB on the TouchPad (slide up the notification bar. touch “USB Connected” and then “Turn on USB Storage”). Copy the following ZIPs into the ‘Downloads’ folder.

• Facebook APK:
• 1.5.2 – http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1018816
• 1.6.4 – http://www.apktop.com/facebook-for-android-1-6-4-themed.html
• 1.7.2 – http://www.filesonic.com/file/2349366644 (this one will FC unless you use FakeGPS or something similar)

• Twitter APK: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1270284

• MAPS APK: http://alchemistar.blogspot.com/2010/12/google-maps-v50-now-in-3d.html

• Lots of useful apps together in one place: http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?7828-Missing-Market-Apps-Installer (courtesy of SonofSkywalker3 on IRC)

Unmount the USB and then use File Manager on the TP to browse to the Downloads folder and install each of the APK’s.

Another Market Fix – Show ‘hidden’ apps (Like Google Maps) – NOTE: Not needed for Alpha 2

This one is a ‘recovery’ fix (see item 15 for example of how to install)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/27861013/update-cm-7.1.0-tenderloin-marketfix-Flemmard.zip

Pairing the HP BlueTooth Keyboard

Wallpapers look a bit pants?

Getting write access to /system (for things like AdFree, Chainfire 3D Pro and ES Explorer to work) – Thanks to <exiles> on IRC for that one.

Note: This can be dangerous – Not for the faint of heart… and will be fixed in the next release. This is issue 113 – Please check for updates here: http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/detail?id=113

Open a Terminal Emulator and, and type the following commands (the ‘su’ command will prompt for superuser privileges – select ‘yes’):-

su
busybox mount -o rw,remount /system
cd /system/xbin
ln -s busybox mount
mount -o ro,remount /system
exit
exit

I’m stuck and need more help!

The first thing to do is check the ‘issues’ list here:- http://code.google.com/p/cmtouchpad/issues/

Or you can visit http://webchat.freenode.net/ and chat to the guys in the #cyanogenmod-touchpad channel

Some of the common FAQ’s

Q: How can I install ClockworkMod after installing CyanogenMod?
A: Repeat the install process as you installed CyanogenMod, but this time simply put the ClockworkMod zip file in the cminstall folder in the “media partition”. Now repeat the process of running the ACME Installer, and ClockworkMod will be installed. A new option will appear in moboot for selection to boot ClockworkMod.
Q: How can I install moboot after installing CyanogenMod?
A: Repeat the install process as you installed CyanogenMod, but this time simply put the moboot zip file in the cminstall folder in the “media partition”. Now repeat the process of running the ACME Installer, and moboot will be installed. A new menu will appear on each boot, to allow you to select the desired boot option using the volume keys, and then the home key to select.
Q: HELP HELP my Touchpad is frozen. It’s been like this for over 20 minutes.
A: Hold down power + home for at least 20 seconds and the Touchpad will reboot.
Q: How do I select in moboot?
A: Select the desired boot option using the volume keys, and then the home key to select.
Q: Selecting “Reboot to WebOS” reboots to android
A: Install moboot per the instructions above.
Q: How do I install Google Apps? (Gapps)
A: Download the latest CM7 Google Apps package from http://goo-inside.me/gapps, and pick “20110828 Universal”. Install this ZIP via either ClockworkMod as you usually would flash a zip, or use the ACMEInstaller, like you were installing either moboot or ClockworkMod
Q: My touchpad shut off and wont turn back on now.
A: HARD REBOOT (POWER+HOME BUTTON) for 20-30 seconds works.

The question that I have to ask myself is; How can I really protect myself online?

Ask yourself this simple question: Do I use the same/similar passwords for all my accounts?

Now I happen not to, but I am in no way adept at protecting myself. In fact this very blog has been attacked in the past by Spam Bots, and when the Gawker sites got hacked, I quickly found my Facebook and Twitter accounts had been accessed.

How can you prevent the cascading loss of your identities?

Well I now use this set of simple rules:-

• NEVER use the same password across all my accounts. This is the golden rule!
• I (try to) use differing passwords for differing systems, for example;
  • Banking -> I use a different password for ALL online banking accounts and credit cards.
  • Online ‘forums’ that don’t matter -> I use one password for them all
  • Chat Clients (MSN, Skype etc) -> I use one password (but not the same as the ‘forums’ one)
  • eBay -> Unique password
  • PayPal -> Unique Password (but similar to eBay so I don’t forget it)
  • Desktop / Laptop -> Unique passwords for each
• I use numbers instead of vowels and punctuation marks in order to make long/complex passwords.
  • Consider the password “password1″ – that could take Dictionary attack a few seconds to bypass, whereas “p4ssw0rd_h4rd” would probably only be cracked by Brute-force and could take days.
• I Check my password strengths here: http://www.passwordmeter.com/
• I use alternative email addresses (e.g. an unused Hotmail account) for Forum/Tech sites that force you to register.

So now you see what I do, consider these common passwords and ask yourself how many of them (or variants) you use…..

• Wifes name
• Kids name
• Date of Birth (forwards, backwards, wife’s, kid’s etc)
• Favourite pets name
• “Password”
• “12345″
• “Computer”
• “Fred”

Scared? )

This might interested you too – XKCD’s detailed description of how insecure your password could be, even following these rules…

Going a bit off-track today, but thought I would share with you my recent purchase.

Nope, not the latest in Wireless technology, or a shiny new mobile phone (although I have had this one for nearly a month now!), but an old, slightly worn, ex-military Series III Land Rover.

It’s purchase came about after the missus decided that she wanted rid of the Chrysler Grand Voyager in order to get an Audi Convertible. This of course left a slight issue; How would we get the three Irish Setters that we own down to the river (my car is a Jaguar XK8, so no chance there!)

We decided that a ‘cheap and cheerful’ 4×4 would be the answer, and after asking around, managed to acquire ‘The Sarge’

No to be honest, the test drive was erm, how can I put it, scary! This 1983 ex-military Landy has no power steering, all round drum-brakes, steering that has to be used to be believed, and a gearbox that has about 2 feet of play in it.

Needless to say, I fell in love with it instantly!

The Sarge - 1983 Series III Land Rover (ex-Military)

After a bit of negotiation, the seller (a nice chap also called Paul) threw in an extra spare wheel so I could utilise both mounts (there is one on the rear door as well as the bonnet)

Fuel Tank Selector

Its a 1983 Series III (registered at DVLA in 1986), and still has the Infra-red / Convoy light selectors inside, and has dual fuel-tanks that can only be filled by removing the seats (not so much fun on these snowy days, I can tell you!). There is a manual selector on the front of the seat panel between the drivers legs that lets you select which fuel tank you are using. As you change the selector, you see the fuel gauge change to match the tank you have selected.

Of course, when I bought it, it was ‘Farmer Green’, you know, that lacklustre powdery green that they used to come in… In any case, I decided that it had to be changed. So armed with a laptop, I visited that old faithful ‘eBay’

On eBay I found “Military Vehicle Paint – 2.5 lt Satin Finish”, perfect I thought. So with this and a litre of Black Satin, I attacked the project with vim!

After ‘googling’ a bit, I came to the general consensus that a paint roller would work fine. Well, I have to say, that even with my lack of preparation (which was basically giving it to the local hand car wash for a hour), it came out really well. So well in fact, I still haven’t put a 2nd coat on!

The seats were terrible inside, but in exchange for a quick website revamp, Collards Upholstery recovered the seats in Andrew Muirhead leather. As you can see the picture, Russ done a fantastic job of them.

Andrew Muirhead Leather on original seats

You can see from these other pictures that it still has the Convoy / Stealth light selectors and switch on the dashboard, although the infra-red switch is hard-wired to the normal headlamps now (shame!)

Headlamp Selector (with 'Convoy' and 'Stealth') - Not sure what 'Rear Guard' is....

Infra-red selector switch

You can also see from the rear view, that it has the waterproof ‘screw on’ lenses, and the overrider bumpers too.

Rear View with Overrider and Screw On Lenses

The interior of the rear cabin is in the standard military style, with two bench seats and storage areas for munitions. You’ll note the jerry-can sneaking into the bottom left of the photo. I acquired this from the Army Surplus in Chelmsford (for a bargain £20 including spout + spare seal!)

Interior of the rear Cabin

Things I had to do straight away:-

Lucas 6JF Fusebox

Land Rover Series III Mirror

The indicator Stalk was seriously stiff, and never returned (and with the road noise, you can’t hear the relay clicking!), so that had to be changed (eBay – £14). Next was the fusebox. I would randomly loose indicators, interior light, brake lights. Unfortunately the old Lucas 6JF fuse boxes have aluminium contacts with a steel rivet running through them. The net result is that corrosion makes everything a bit flaky. That said, £8 later (again eBay), I had a brand new one, and it took 5 minutes to fit. Lastly was the passenger side mirror (you need wing mirrors in a LWB Landy!), another visit to eBay and £14 later I had a brand new one!

The rope on the front has hand-woven eyelets (with a stainless steel shackle) and is made from natural fibre rope. I got the chap down at the Chandlers at the bottom of Market Hill in Maldon to make this for me, and to his credit, only charged me a total of £30 which I thought was a bargain as it took him an hour to do!

'The Sarge' Door Decal on my 1983 Series III Land Rover (Ex-Military)

My next item on the list was some decals. I have the usual ‘It may be slow, but it’s 100% British’ on the back, but then added a ‘Sarge’ decal to the doors. In addition, I added a ‘K9 Unit’ to the back quarter, and ‘Escape Hatch’ to the inside of the rear door.

Current issues that I need to address:-

• Clutch is awful. Sometimes it works, sometimes I have to use all my strength to get it into 1st gear.
• 4×4 Selector is gummed up inside the gearbox, so I can’t use 4×4 at the moment (although this should be fixed tomorrow)
• Passenger door is a bit rotten (anyone have one spare?)
• Roof leaks a little around a (badly fitted) sunroof.
• Needs a drivers-side step (wife is only 5′ tall LOL!)

Also open to any suggestions on how to improve it

2012 Update!

OK, Changed the gearbox for a Wolf XD one, so now we have 4×4 and a useable clutch (although no Synchro in 1st/2nd LOL) and  I’ve fixed the leaking roof by permanently sealing the sunroof closed with silicone sealant, then painted over the joint… yup, I did that!

Some of you who know me, know that I live in an area of England called ‘The Dengie Peninsular’. This is basically an outcrop of land in Essex that lies between the Crouch and Blackwater rivers, and includes the large towns of Maldon and South Woodham Ferrers. At the centre of this Peninsular is a village called Tillingham, purportedly having the lowest rainfall for the whole of the UK!

On this Peninsular is another village called Latchingdon, and this is where a good friend of mine called Vincent Basham lives.

Vince is a self-taught seascape artist, whose sharp eye for detail and ability to capture the motion of the waves clearly shows in his work.

Born in Maldon, Essex, and educated at Thurstable School in Tiptree. he has developed a passion for painting seascapes and sunsets since living in Cornwall during his early twenties. This passion lay dormant until recently when following back surgery, he had to re-think his glazing career of 30 years. He has now taken his art into a full-time occupation, and is continually honing his skills. Recently he has been mentored by another famous professional Essex born landscape artist. Although he has painted purely for pleasure during his glazing career, he was re-inspired following holidays to the Maldives and Cyprus which proved inspirational. He paints mainly in oils, and most of his work features the locations he is familiar with (such as St. Georges in Cyprus, or the Crouch River in Essex)

Vincent was recently signed to a Gallery in the west country, and has released a series of his paintings as limited edition lithographic prints of 195 or less.

You can view all of his artwork in his interactive gallery on his website at: http://www.vincentbasham.co.uk

Yes… Can you believe it… I’ve changed phone again!

I’ve left the good ship Apple, and hoisting my Jolly Roger, jumped aboard the frigate Android.

My first impressions of Andriod (2.1) is that it is more powerful than iOS4, but perhaps not as polished. Clearly there are much better ways of doing certain things, and maybe Apple’s iOS (or iPhone itself for that matter…) are not as powerful, but you have to hand it to the guys down in Cupertino, they sure know how to give something ‘form’. That said, the Andriod OS provides a lot more flexability that iOS, and there are certain aspects of it which clearly surpass iOS.

At this stage I would say that I am 50/50 as to which is better, and I will be holding out my judgment until the Froyo update appears for my Samsung (next month I hope!)

Anyway, after wrestling with Android, these are my Tips ‘n Tricks to help you along your way…

Contacts & Calendar Syncronisation

Well forget doing a straightforward Contact Sync… it’s not going to happen with Outlook, at least not directly. The Samsung software is s**t, and there is no standard Andriod<->Outlook tool our there for free [Feel free to correct me if you know different! Ed.]

What I did was this:-

• Exported all my contacts from Outlook to a CSV file.
• Wiped my GMail contacts.
• Imported (using their standard tool) the CSV file.
• Android then auto-syncs the contacts.

Calendar syncing on the other hand is straightforward; Use the ‘Google Calendar Sync’ applet from Google (free) and that’s it! Android will sync back and forth with no issues.

Keyboard

After a little acclimatisation, I’ve found that the ‘Swype’ keyboard works really well. Just press and hold on any text input box to change the ‘Input Method’ to Swype. The tutorials (available by pressing the Swype button on the keyboard) really helped me a lot.

Desktop (or Winterboard for you iPhone users!)

Android has some nice features, some of which I think may be unique to the desktop on the Samsung version of 2.1, namely the ability to create folders, but not just folder that contain apps, but folders that (for instance) contain recently received files over Bluetooth, or Favourite contacts. In addition, you can add ‘widgets’ to the desktop (e.g. Facebook status, Twitter, Weather etc)

Global Search

This is acheived by pressing and holding the left-hand context menu. You can exclude/include search areas within the settings pages (e.g. Hide Twitter contacts)

Navigation & Augmented Reality

Make sure you download the latest ‘Google Maps’ and ‘Wikitude’, the former now has turn-by-turn (complete with Street View integration!), and the latter lets you use your phone to find, for instance, a local ATM by holding your phone up and layering the information over the camera’s view. Google Goggles is also very interesting and uses the camera to provide information & translations (e.g. point at a foreign road sign!)

Secret Codes (not tested by me…)

Rooting your Device (for Android 2.1)

• update (this is the zip file you will need)

1. First, install the correct drivers for the Galaxy S onto your computer.
2. Connect your Galaxy S to your computer, and mount the internal storage drive.
   • It’s easiest to find out which is which by taking out the ‘external’ Micro SD card under the cover (if installed), that way only one  drive will appear when you mount the device.
   • To mount, pull down your notification bar and select the “USB connected” notification, then tap Mount.
3. Place the file (link above) into the Internal storage.
4. Now you want to get into the recovery mode.
   • Turn off your Galaxy, and hold down Volume Up and Home keys while pressing power.
   • Hold all three until you get the opening image, and then release the Power key, but keep the other two held until you end up in recovery mode.
   • To navigate, use the volume up and down to move the highlighted area, and the Power button to select.
5. Select Reinstall Packages, and hit the power button.
6. The file will install, allow it to do so and reboot.
7. Once the Galaxy is rebooted, you should notice the SuperUser application in the app drawer. You’ve got root access, and the SuperUser applet will always pop up to ask if you want to permit an app to have root.

Once you have root, you can get some more interesting apps from the Marketplace – for instance, a screen capture app (yes… I know its built into iOS…) which works without having to use the SDK.

Rooting 2.2 (Froyo)

Simply visit here:-

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-root-and-unroot-samsung-galaxy-s-i9000-with-a-single-click/

Rooting 2.2 + Speed Fix (Froyo + Speed Fix)

This is a *really* good site, complete with a (non-megashare style) download link!

http://hemorrdroids.net/froyo-with-new-speed-fix/

You will of course know how difficult it has been for the humble 3GS iPhone user to JailBreak his/her phone. Well finally a group of elite hackers and coders have put together a ‘userland’ Jailbreak.

‘userland’ means simply – point and click… no complex restore processes; just plug your phone in and press ‘Jailbreak’

You can download it at http://spiritjb.com/

I’m off now to download all those Cydia goodies that I miss )

UPDATE – July 2010

This has now of course been superseded by www.JailbreakMe.com – this site doesn’t even require you to connect your iPhone to a PC, just simply visit the URL from Safari on the phone itself. Once complete, run all the Cydia updates, reboot and then you can install Ultrasn0w to allow full unlocking (at present up to 4.0.1 firmware) to any carrier.

I’ve been playing with my iPhone, and have discovered that a lot of the GSM codes that work on your average Nokia, also seem to work on the iPhone – but with more detail

I’ve compiled a list of these below (and yes… blatently borrowed the information from various other websites!) – I haven’t checked all of these codes, but most seem to work as described.

Note: (Call) means press the ‘Call’ button after entering the code shown…

General Codes

Call Forwarding / Divert (for each call type, e.g. Voice, Data, etc):

Call Barring/Blocking:

For Pre-pay / PAYG phones (these seem to be AT&T specific, but give them a go!):

That’s all folks!

Paul

Ok, before we begin, you need to check that you have the following configured:-

• iPhone (Jailbroken) with Cydia installed
• A PC (or Mac) with a SFTP (SSH Secure FTP) client (FileZilla is a nice ‘free’ client)
• A copy of the ROMs you want to play
• A fair idea of how to use Cydia, SFTP, SSH etc…

Step 1.

Install Mame4iPhone, simply search on Cydia for ‘Mame’ (from the ZodTTD repository) and it will be the 2nd or 3rd item down the list.

Step 2.

Install “WhatIP” from Cydia (this app will tell you what IP address your iPhone is using)

Step 3.

Go back to the iPhone home screen, and tap on the WhatIP icon. You should see something like this:-

Step 4.

SFTP into your iPhone – The default username / password is “root” and “alpine”  [As a side note, its a good idea to change this!]

Place the ROM’s into the following folder: /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/MAME/roms

Step 5.

Play !!!!

As you probably know by now, I’m a VB programmer. I’ve spent many year using VB6, and am now (under duress) having to migrate to VB.NET.

The purpose of this article is to show you some cool hint’s, tip’s, trick’s and bug-fixes that I’ve found along the way. I’ll be updating this Blog entry as time moves forward, so stay tuned to this one!

List View Flickers

This is just plain stupid. The standard ListView control (as part of the Common Control Library 6) invalidates the entire control each time a new item is added – e.g. lvInfo.Items.Add(“Hello World”)

This can be fixed using a little bit of Windows ‘SendMessage’ tweaking;

' Place at the top of the Form Class

Declare Auto Function SendMessage Lib "user32.dll" (ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, _
 ByVal msg As Integer, _
 ByVal wParam As IntPtr, _
 ByVal lParam As IntPtr) As IntPtr

 Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
 Const LVM_SETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE = (LVM_FIRST + 54)
 Const LVM_GETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE = (LVM_FIRST + 55)
 Const LVS_EX_DOUBLEBUFFER = &H10000
 Const LVS_EX_BORDERSELECT = &H8000

' Place in the Form_Load event

 Dim styles As Long
 styles = SendMessage(lvInfo.Handle, LVM_GETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE, 0, 0&)
 styles = styles Or LVS_EX_DOUBLEBUFFER Or LVS_EX_BORDERSELECT
 Call SendMessage(lvInfo.Handle, LVM_SETEXTENDEDLISTVIEWSTYLE, 0, styles)

This fix gives you a nice, smooth update each time.

The next fix is “How to keep the last item entered into a ListView visible…”

lv = myFormName.lvInfo.Items.Add("My Information to Show")
lv.EnsureVisible()

Simple, but effective!

Getting the App.Path in VB.NET

Another simple one (when you know it!) :-

Dim AppPath As String = Application.StartupPath()

Reading and Writing INI Files

Microsoft wants us to abandon INI Files and use XML instead. Whilst this may seem logical, its not always the simplest way of doing something (which sums VB.NET up really….) – This Class will give you a simple way of reading and writing INI Files.

Public Class IniFile
 ' API functions
 Private Declare Ansi Function GetPrivateProfileString _
 Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetPrivateProfileStringA" _
 (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
 ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpDefault As String, _
 ByVal lpReturnedString As System.Text.StringBuilder, _
 ByVal nSize As Integer, ByVal lpFileName As String) _
 As Integer
 Private Declare Ansi Function WritePrivateProfileString _
 Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" _
 (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
 ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal lpString As String, _
 ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
 Private Declare Ansi Function GetPrivateProfileInt _
 Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "GetPrivateProfileIntA" _
 (ByVal lpApplicationName As String, _
 ByVal lpKeyName As String, ByVal nDefault As Integer, _
 ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
 Private Declare Ansi Function FlushPrivateProfileString _
 Lib "kernel32.dll" Alias "WritePrivateProfileStringA" _
 (ByVal lpApplicationName As Integer, _
 ByVal lpKeyName As Integer, ByVal lpString As Integer, _
 ByVal lpFileName As String) As Integer
 Dim strFilename As String

 ' Constructor, accepting a filename
 Public Sub New(ByVal Filename As String)
 strFilename = Filename
 End Sub

 ' Read-only filename property
 ReadOnly Property FileName() As String
 Get
 Return strFilename
 End Get
 End Property

 Public Function GetString(ByVal Section As String, _
 ByVal Key As String, ByVal [Default] As String) As String
 ' Returns a string from your INI file
 Dim intCharCount As Integer
 Dim objResult As New System.Text.StringBuilder(256)
 intCharCount = GetPrivateProfileString(Section, Key, _
 [Default], objResult, objResult.Capacity, strFilename)
 If intCharCount > 0 Then GetString = _
 Left(objResult.ToString, intCharCount)
 End Function

 Public Function GetInteger(ByVal Section As String, _
 ByVal Key As String, ByVal [Default] As Integer) As Integer
 ' Returns an integer from your INI file
 Return GetPrivateProfileInt(Section, Key, _
 [Default], strFilename)
 End Function

 Public Sub WriteString(ByVal Section As String, _
 ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As String)
 ' Writes a string to your INI file
 WritePrivateProfileString(Section, Key, Value, strFilename)
 Flush()
 End Sub

 Public Sub WriteInteger(ByVal Section As String, _
 ByVal Key As String, ByVal Value As Integer)
 ' Writes an integer to your INI file
 WriteString(Section, Key, CStr(Value))
 Flush()
 End Sub

 Private Sub Flush()
 ' Stores all the cached changes to your INI file
 FlushPrivateProfileString(0, 0, 0, strFilename)
 End Sub

 End Class

 

This can be used in the following manner:-

 Dim settings As New IniFile(Application.StartupPath & "\My_INI_File.ini")
 gCustName = settings.GetString("General", "CustName", "Not Registered")
 gCustSerial = settings.GetString("General", "CustSerial", "")

Due to a very wet spring followed by a wet July, and a fantastic August, we have an abundant crop of Sloes this year. Sloes are the fruit of the Blackthorn shrubs, and when ready to pick, show a white-ish blush on the otherwise deep purple berries.

These plum-like berries are very bitter, and are only used in Jams and preserves or as a core ingredient in Sloe Gin.

Traditionally you should wait for the first frost, or even place them in the freezer overnight, but after experimentation over the last couple of years I can categorically state that this seems to have no effect whatsoever, and just appears to be folklore!

My ‘Dengie’ recipe is as follows;

• 1 x empty screw-top wine bottle (or bottle with a cork that removes easy… e.g. Port, Sherry or Pineau)
• Fresh Sloes
• 1 x Small Wine Glass of Sugar (normal granulated is fine)

Method:-

• Clean and rinse the target bottle.
• 1/2 fill with Gin (use a half-decent Gin for best results)
• Tip the wine glass of sugar into the bottle
• Wash the Sloes
• Pierce the Sloes with a fork (a ‘Silver’ one is not mandatory – despite folklore!) and place in bottle till the Gin and Sloes reach halfway up the neck of the bottle.

Note: If the Gin reaches the neck before the Sloes, tip some away (into the next bottle obviously!) as the Sloes and Gin should reach the neck of the bottle at the same time.

Ongoing Care:

• Shake the bottles vigorously once a day for the first week (the sugar will settle, so try to get it evenly mixed)
• After Week 1, shake weekly
• Wait for at least 3 months then decant the Gin (minus the berries and any sediment – I use a fine mesh sieve lined with muslin cloth) into fresh bottles

Sloe Gin is best served as a sipping aperitif in shot-glasses, or over ice for a longer drink (or carried in a hip-flask for those cold winter mornings!).

I’m told that the boozy-Sloes can be used to make an interesting Jam/Jelly afterwards, but I haven’t tried this myself yet!

2011 Update

Hello again avid reader, here is a brief update to this post: Try adding a few crushed Damson’s to the mix to make it a bit sweeter and richer, or even replace the Gin with Vodka (again, a ‘good’ one!) to make Sloe Vodka.

After much messing around, I have jailbroken my iPhone 3G that I updated to 3.0 firmware on Friday.

Please note that if you want to copy my instructions and do this to your own phone YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK.

NOTE: These instructions explain how to JAILBREAK an iPhone 3G NOT an iPhone 3GS.

“Jailbreak” means you can run ‘unauthorised’ applications that are not in the Apple Store – It does NOT mean ‘UNLOCK’  for use on other mobile networks. Please don’t ask me how to do that.

Ok, first of all, go to http://redsn0w.com, follow the link and then download the 0.7.2 redsnow jailbreak app and unzip to a folder on your desktop.

Plug in your iPhone to the PC and ensure that you switch it OFF after you connect the USB cable.

Next run the redsn0w.exe file.

Browse to find your ipsw firmware file. This will be located in:-

 c:\Document and Settings\<your login name>\applications data\
     Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Update. 

I suggest you back up the ipsw file before you begin.

Click “Next” and ensure that you ONLY INSTALL CYDIA – If you install ICY, most of the dependencies get screwed up and you can’t download anything in Cydia.

Next follow the on-screen instructions carefully, which are:-

1. Hold down the power button till the Apple logo appears
2. Immediately hold down the Home button (whilst still holding down the power button) for about another 8 secs.
3. Release the power button, but keep the home held down for another 20 secs

During this process, the PC may install a new USB driver. If things seem to fail because of this, just start the process from the beginning.

Once the Jailbreak process starts DO NOT DISCONNECT THE CABLE OR INTERRUPT IT!

The whole thing takes about 5 mins.

On completion, go into Cydia and search for OpenSSH and install that, then install WhatIP – Once both are installed, run WhatIP to get the IP address of your iPhone and then use something like PuTTY to SSH into your phone to test it.

The username is “root” and the password is “alpine” (these are the default), if you have been successful, you should see something like this:-

Now you may ask yourself “What are the advantages” of this?

Well, some of the ‘cute’ things that Apple have now released in their 3.0 update were previously available via Cydia.

Along with these things (like Cut’n'paste, video recording etc), there are a lot of apps that Apple simply did not want users to have access to.

Fundimentally the iPhone is a Linux phone based on a Debian distribution, and because of this there are a whole raft of applets and tools that are being ported to work on this phone.

Here are some examples of the Cydia app’s that I’ve installed and use:-

“Make it Mine” - This overrides the carrier name to anything you want.

“WhatIP” (mentioned above) – Shows the IP address of your iPhone

“CompactTV” – Watch or Download South Park, Family Guy, Simpsons and American Dad

I’ve just upgraded my iPhone to 3.0 and was alarmed to see that to utilise Internet Tethering (which frankly, would be a ‘last resort’), I would need to pay O2 an additioanl £14.68 a month on top of my existing data connection!

Fear not humble iPhone users, there is a solution out there. Browse to this URL from Safari on the iPhone:-

http://www.iphone-notes.de/mobileconfig/

Select your country and carrier,  and download the Tethering profile (ignore the warning message)

Note: This doesn’t mean you get data for ‘free’, but if you already have a ‘data package’ it should be included within that, rather than paying a separate ‘Tethering’ charge (like O2 are trying to get you to do!)

When you go back into Settings, General, Network you will now see that the Internet Tethering is ‘Off‘ (as opposed to ‘set up’)

If you now tap on the “Internet Tethering“, you get a new screen that allows you to enable it

Just as a footnote – if you are wondering how I captured the screens on an iPhone, simply press the top power button and the home button at the same time, and the current screen is saved to the camera roll.

Nokia 6680

Having just upgraded to the iPhone, I then had the task of disposing of my old phone(s) – The problem is that the kids always want to steal my previous devices, but are on a different network to me.

One of the phones (a Nokia 6680) was SIM-Locked to Orange. This phone is of the type ‘BB5′, this means that the only way to unlock this till recently has been to take it to a shop. Well not any more!

This is the step by step guide to unlocking Nokia’s of the type: 6630, 6681, 6680, N70, N71, N90, N91

• Get a DKU-5 (or equivalent F-Bus) cable. The normal USB cable that comes with the phone is not suitable, it must be an F-Bus cable.
• Install Nokia PC Suite (any recent version)
• Plug the cable into the phone and then into your USB port and let your phone get detected.
• Close down any Nokia Applications that might start up.
• Right-Click on My Computer, and then on ‘Manage’
• Click on ‘Hardware Manager’ in the left-hand pane
• Expand the ‘Ports’ section and check which port the Nokia phone is on – NOTE THIS DOWN!

Ok – Next stage is to get the software.

You need to get the BB5 Calculator from here: http://users.net.yu/~dejan – [Direct Download LINK]

• Unzip the file to C:\bb5_unlocker
• Edit the “bb5_unlocker.cfg” file and change the COM Port to the one you noted above
• Double-click on install.bat
• Click on “READ PHONE”
• When it says ‘Done’, click on “MAKE LOG”
• Copy the xxx.log file (e.g. 317617303633274_BB5.log) from the /logs subfolder into the /psw folder
• Click on Exit
• Double-Click on BB5_calc.exe – it should say “Done”
• In the /psw subfolder, there will now be an xxx.psw file. Open this is in Notepad, and you will have all the unlock codes. You can either enter these manually, or :-
• double-click on BB5logunlocker.exe
• click on SP Unlock

Following these instructions, I managed to unlock two 6680′s in 2 mins flat!

Yes… It’s true… I have succumbed to the coolest gadget of them all; The Apple iPhone.

I resisted for a while (mainly due to it only being available on O2 in the UK), but in the end managed to get O2 to take over our 12 phone contract from Orange, give us 3 iPhone’s and 5 Nokia E71′s (plus a couple of spare phones), and even pay our termination clause on the Orange contract. It just shows how desperate the carriers are to get you tied into a 2 year contract nowadays!

Anyway….

First impressions; As with all Apple packaging, you feel a little disappointed as it is always very minimalist, but once you start playing with the iPhone, you realise why it is so much better than the other touch enabled devices out there. I’ve had the LG Prada, HTC Touch, HTC Touch Pro, and even the Samsungs with touch sensative buttons. I can honestly say that they are not even in the same ball-park as the iPhone.

Ok, onto the top free Apps (and as always, please feel free to comment with your fav’s as well!)

1. Free RSS Reader – forget the others, this does exactly what it say’s on the tin. Add all your favourite feeds, or browse to a site and it automatically detects any feeds that are available.  Supports Landscape
2. Google Earth – Just because it is sooooo cool to zoom in on your own house. Supports ’tilt’ view.
3. eBay – Yes… I do need to know what I am bidding on or selling 24/7 !!!!
4. iTranslate – this does need a data connection, but allows you to save phrases so that you can prepare for your encounter at the patisserie in advance! – Also has the ability to play the phrase (a little scratchy,  but still useful!) out of the speaker/headphones.
5. last.fm – Ideal for all those Audioscrobblers out there… plays your fave’s and lets you listen to the usual last.fm radio selections.
6. MMS – because the iPhone can’t do this yet!
7. VNC Lite – Allows me to manage a server remotely. It’s a bit fiddly, but it does let you do everything you need to in an emergency (e.g. Reboot the server or reload your software)
8. midomi – Remember “Shazam!”… well that cost’s £1.00 per go!… Midomi is *free* (and surprisingly recognised me humming the Godfather theme!)
9. Stanza – good intuitive eBook reader
10. GuitarChords – handy pocket aide-memoir for all your Guitar Chord needs
11. Ok, this one is a ‘Paid for’ (£2.99) application called TV Plus, but what a fantastic applet… this program allows you to view the TV listings for your region, and then instruct your Sky+ or SkyHD box to record it no matter where you are! It uses a pre-registered “My Sky” account name / password to log into Sky and then remotely instruct your Sky box to record!

Silly Stuff!

1. Pac Man Lite – Namco’s original, now ported to the iPhone
2. Jellycar – I can’t even begin to explain this… just download it and laugh!
3. Labyrinth LE – great use of the inertia sensors for marble madness fun.
4. Darts -yep… it’s Darts!
5. FS5 Hockey – Remember those happy days at the seaside playing Air Hockey with your sister!

Tips;

1. Removing an App or rearranging the ‘Desktops’

If you hold down your finger on any icon for more than a few seconds and all the icons wobble. Once they are wobbling, you can drag them from one ‘desktop’ screen to another. You can also delete them by clicking on the (X) icon in the top-left of the icon.

2. Drag an App to the far right-screen to create a new ‘desktop’ area.

Thunderbird Syncing

Ok, this is a problem at the moment, only solved by using 3rd party app’s.

Here is a solution for contacts only (calendar to follow shortly apparantly)

1. Install Funambol Mozilla Plugin into your copy of Thunderbird [link]

2. Install the Funambol iPhone app (just search for it in the Apple App store)

3. Create a free account at Funambol [link]

4. Enter the account details into the options page of Funambol on both the iPhone and Thunderbird

5. Click on Tools, Funambol Plugin on Thunderbird and click on ‘Click to Syncronize’ and wait to finish

6. Click on the Funambol icon on your iPhone and do the same

You can set Thunderbird to sync both the contacts and calendar, but only the contacts arrive on the iPhone at present. The Thunderbird client can also be set to sync automatically (but not the iPhone end)

Hi all,

As a developer I tend to install an awful lot of freeware, shareware and paid-for applications on my PC in order to assist me with the day-to-day development of applications.

However… over the years I have noticed a trend where Microsoft themselves release a lot of ”applets’ under the guise of “Microsoft Research”, “Technet” or “SysInternals” (www.SysInternals.com is now part of Microsoft Technet)

I have compiled a (not exhaustive, so please contribute) list of my favourite utilities and applications which are mainly from Microsoft (with a couple from other sources) that enhance Windows XP and Windows 2003. I haven’t tested them on Vista (as I still don’t use it!), but I suspect most of them will still work.

SysInternals Applets

• Process Explorer – A proper replacement for Windows Task Manager. This improved applet allows you to explore each process properly (instead of just showing 20 copies of RunDll32.exe like Windows Task Manager does!)

Process Explorer in Action

• FileMon – This shows all real-time file activity (with the ability to filter). Without this application I never would have fixed the album artwork issue I had on my Media PC (everything showed up as ‘The Searchers’ !!!)
• TCPView – This displays a list of all open TCP sockets, their destinations and the application that opened them. Essential for tracking trojan or malware infections.
• ADExplorer – Ideal lightweight tool for exploring Active Directory or LDAP servers. Fast, portable and free!
• BGInfo – Great applet for Server Installations. You can use this tool to display the configuration (machine name, IP address, MAC address + much more) as the desktop background. Great when you are using a KVM to access multiple machines.

BGInfo in action

Powertoys / Control Panel Tweaks

• Sequoia View – An excellent tool for visualising the contents of your hard disk (and where all the space went!)
• ClearType Tuning Control Panel – ‘Tunes’ the ClearType fonts to make them work with your LCD Display
• Command Prompt Here – Add’s an ‘Open Command Prompt Here’ option to Explorer’s right-click menu
• TweakUI – this is the ultimate Windows XP powertool, letting you change *lots* of system settings…

Fun Stuff & Utilities

• Webcam Timershot – Takes a picture of from your Webcam and saves it to your hard disk at preset intervals
• Virtual PC – Lets you run Windows, Linux or even Windows Server on your PC as a ‘Virtual Machine’
• Zune Desktop Theme – Get a nice tidy ‘Black’ look to your Windows XP desktop
• Mount ISO’s – This applet works like Daemon Tools, allowing you to mount an ISO as a virtual CD Rom drive

System Application/Applet Replacements

• Notepad2 – Everything that Notepad should have been! Line numbers, syntax highlighting, plus much more…
• 7Zip – Everything that PKZip used to be…. the ultimate Zip/unzipper, and even supports all those nasty .gz and .tar unix formats as well!
• PuTTY – Forget Hyperterminal, PuTTY is a *tiny* Telnet application that also supports SSH, Serial and just about every terminal type you will need. Ideal to put on your USB key.
• UltraVNC – This is a cross-platform remote control application that works in the same manner as PCAnywhere or GoToMyPC, except it’s ‘Free’, fast and works with all the VNC protocols. This means you can effectively control a Linux box from Windows (and visa-versa) or even your server from a mobile phone!

I will be updating this list periodically, but please feel free to comment with some more suggestions!

Paul.

Hi All,

I’ve had my trusty Samsung i600 for some time now, and I feel that I finally have it working to the point where everything I actually use is now installed on it!

So, here are my top 10 downloads / purchases for the i600

1. Windows Mobile 6

Yes, if you bought your phone a while ago, then you definately need Windows Mobile 6. It’s faster, more stable, and has a few new features. You can upgrade this yourself on the Samsung website, or (if like me) if you have Orange UK, follow my guide [here]

2. SDA_ApplicationUnlock.exe [sda_unlock Download]

This smart little applet allows you to run ‘unsigned’ applications on your Windows Mobile device. Obviously care should be taken, but generally, as long as you know what you are doing, all should be fine. I’ve tested this unlocker on the HTC Touch, HTC Touch Diamond and the Samsung i600 without any issues.

3. BirdieSync (commercial, but worth it!) [http://www.birdiesync.com/]

This applet basically crowbar’s itself into Microsoft’s ActiveSync, and thereby allows you to syncronise your Windows PocketPC / Smartphone with Thunderbird. Not only will it sync emails &  contacts, it will also sync with Sunbird and Lightning! Well worth the €19

4. Google Maps [www.google.com/gmm] (See item 10 as well!)

Ok… I know that i600 doesn’t have GPS built it, but as a ‘quick hack’, you can use an external GPS mouse, and armed with Google Maps, get a rudimentary Sat Nav. Obviously there are limitations dues to download speeds, and of course data costs need to be taken into consideration, but as a stop-gap this works well.

5. Ilium Software’s Screen Capture [http://www.iliumsoft.com]

This great little application allows you to take screen shots of your Windows Mobile device for inclusion in Blogs (I use it here a lot) or just for tech support purposes.

6. Mobile Registry Editor [Mobile Registry Editor Download]

This is probably one of the best registry editors for Mobile devices that I have come across. It runs on your PC (rather than the device), and uses ActiveSync as a conduit to access the registry. It’s fast, and easy to use. What more do you need?

7. BTCrawler [btcrawler-v110-beta Download]

This tool allows you to go a bit of Bluejacking on your Windows Smartphone or Pocket PC. The author of this software (http://www.silentservices.de) had to withdraw it after Germany brought in anti-hacking laws. Unfortunately some useful tools, such as this, suddenly became illegal. In any case, you can download it here (among other places), and it is great for diagnosing issues with handsfree kits etc.

8. BTARouter – Commercial [http://www.chartcross.co.uk/]

This commercial application (costs about £5) allows you to route all the Audio from your mobile device (MP3′s, games etc) into your Bluetooth headset.

9. Quickmark[http://www.quickmark.com.tw]

You will notice that there is a 2d ‘barcode’ on the home page of my blog – these are call QR Codes. You can see similar ones on other websites (I think Makezine used to have them…). The applet makes use of your Smartphone’s camera in order to ‘read’ the barcode. Once decrypted, it will then give the the ability to visit the site (for URL’s) or dial the telephone number. The applet is suprisingly fast (takes about 1/10th of a sec to pick up the details) and works flawlessly on my i600. Each screen capture is stored in the ‘My Documents’ folder on the mobile device as serialised BMP files, e.g. sshot000.bmp, sshot001.bmp etc.

10. GPS Test (Free) [http://www.chartcross.co.uk/]

This is a handy free took from Chartcross that gives you the means to test an external GPS mouse on your Windows mobile device.

Feel free to comment with more useful tools for us Windows Mobile 6 users!

Those of you that have a WM5 or WM6 device know the horror of Picsel – yes that interminable wait as you watch the spinner on your screen whilst it loads.

I have a nice easy solution for you!

This registry hack reverts all image views back to the default WM5/6 built-in viewer.

I suggest using “Mobile Registry Editor” by Breaksoft for this.

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\bmpimage\Shell\Open\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\bmpimage\Shell\DRMOpen\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\gifimage\Shell\Open\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\gifimage\Shell\DRMOpen\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpgimage\Shell\Open\Command

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\jpgimage\Shell\DRMOpen\Command

Change the "Default" value from “picselifv.exe” “%1" компютри втора употребаto “pimg.exe” “%1"

This takes instant effect, and makes for a much happier user )

Paul

6th June 08

Hi All,

Well once again I have a new phone!

It seems that Orange UK wanted to upgrade my business account (saving me £2000+ per year) and give me 6 new phones in the process!

The one I decided to play with is the HTC Touch, and obviously I had to get under the bonnet and have a little ‘tweak’ )

Unlocking

Ok, this is pretty straighforward. All you need to do is run two apps on the HTC, and one on your PC to recover the 8-digit lock code.

Here are the exact steps:-

• Download HTC Unlocker (Google to find it!)
• Connect your Phone and establish the usual Activesync Connection.
• Browse the the ‘My Documents’ folder on the phone and place the Cert_SPCS.cab and the EnableRapi.cab in there
• Run Cert_SPCS.cab and EnableRapi.cab by using “File Explorer” -Click through any warnings
• ON YOUR PC: Run Touch_Unlock.exe
• A few moments later you will seea file appear in the folder called Unlock_Result.exe
• Open HxD.exe and drag Unlock_Result.exe onto it.
• Look for your IMEI Number (its under your battery) and find it in the Hex File. The 8 Digits that appear after it are the unlock code.
• Place a Sim card from a different provider in your phone, and enter the 8 digit number when prompted (I had to do this twice on my phone)

As you can see, my unlock code was 55644428, but obviously that is tied to my IMEI number (before you try it!) – you will also note that I wiped out the last 4 digits of my IMEI (didn’t want the world to know that info!)

Bluetooth DUN (Dial Up Networking)

As you will know from my previous experiences with trying to get my TomTom working on the Samsung i600, it is almost impossible due to the BT DUN being removed from WM6. Well all is not lost my friends – it seems that on the HTC Touch (and maybe other HTC phones as well), you can install a .cab file that restores this functionality.

Instructions again:-

• Download the WM6 BT DUN Cabinet File [WM6 BT DUN]
• Unzip to Desktop on your PC
• Browse your HTC through ActiveSync and place in “My Documents” on the phone
• ON THE PHONE:Using File Explorer, run the WM6_BT_DUN.cab file and click through any warnings
• Reset your phone
• Run TomTom’s “New Phone” process.

I would recommend updating your TomTom using the TomTom Home application first. These updates seem to really help when it comes to setting up phones, and mine even downloaded the (600 contact!) telephone directory off my HTC without a hitch.