Rumor roundup: ‘iPad 3’ release date, specs – The Washington Post

Rumor roundup: ‘iPad 3’ release date, specs – The Washington Post.

iOS 5 jailbreak a bit buggy

Looks nice but...

Having a lot of issues after my jailbreak  weeks ago, more on the iPad than the iPhone. Lots of crashing out of apps indicate some instability with the system.

I also notice that Dreamboard, while it looks neat, the concept of a theme within a theme (Dreamboard->Honeypad->theme in Honeypad) doesn’t work so well. Perhaps in the iPad 2 or the iPad 3 (supposed to feature an A7 quad core processor?) with the horsepower, it will be able to handle the system requirements, but right now, iPad 1 just can’t handle it.

iOS5 Untethered Jailbreak

So last night, after months of not having had a jailbroken phone (since the update to iOS 5) I took the step to jailbreak the phone. The motivation behind this was the release of the untethered jailbreak this week, courtesy of the iPhone-Dev team and @pod2g.

Supported devices are:

• iPhone 4 (GSM – CDMA)
• iPhone 3GS
• iPod touch 4G
• iPod touch 3G
• iPad 1

It was not without some issues.

There are some steps you need to take before you begin:

1. First off, to jailbreak the phone, you need to download Redsn0w ver. 0.9.10b3 for Windows or for Mac
2. Download the IPSW for iOS 5.0.1 for your specific device. This page has a list of IPSW’s for the different models.
3. Make sure you have the latest version of iTunes.
4. Make sure you are on the 5.0.1 version of the iOS. (Settings->General->About->Version
5. BACKUP YOUR PHONE

Now that you have all of the items you need, here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Connect your device to the computer you have it partnered with and hold the power key down until the slider to shutdown the device.
2. Launch Redsn0w
3. Click on Extras->Select IPSW->Select the one you want.
4. Go back to the main screen and click the Jailbreak button
5. Make sure the “Install Cydia” box is ticked
6. Click Next
7. Make sure your device is bot turned off and plugged into your computer before you get to the next step
8. At the next step, you need to put the device in DFU mode. Follow the steps on screen.
9. Once this is complete (it takes a bit of time), you will see a Cydia icon on the screen. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a jailbroken phone.

What next? Check out my earlier blog post on what to do after you jailbreak your device.

Happy New Year and A Resolution (or two)

Haven’t been posting in a while, primarily because work has been crazy busy. Also because just as most families in this time, we are filled with kids activities, adult activities, travel, conferences, holidays, blah, blah, blah.

I hope that all of you had a good holiday and here’s to a great 2012, regardless of what the Mayans say.

I only have one resolution this year and that’s to live a healthier and greener lifestyle. I figure if I make the resolution broad enough, then I can claim success even if I am only able to make an incremental improvement in my lifestyle.

So, one change we are making is to eat as per the new health guidelines, using whole grains, more veggies, more fruit and less sugar. So far, the biggest issue is keeping enough fruit and veggies in the house to accomodate the kids’ appetite. Zachary had four apples (!) as a snack on Sunday (not all at once). We also switched to brown rice. This was most difficult for me. after all, growing up in Asia, white rice was all we ever used. Rice cookers do not work with brown rice, they work better with plain old white rice.

So those small incremental changes will be accompanied by a slight change in our shopping habits. In an effort to reduce recycling and trash, we want to try to get as close to a zero waste kitchen as possible.

I found this great site, http://thezerowastehome.com/ which tries to limit the huge amount of crap we throw out every day. I am pragmatic enough to know, especially with a child with allergies, that we will not be able to achieve true zero waste (the need to have soy milk and soy yogurt comes to mind); nevertheless, any step towards that goal will be helpful.

OK, maybe I have another resolution. I will try to post at least once a week on the blog, even if it’s just a link.

Texting and Driving

My wife is part of the Injury Research Coalition here in Wisconsin and she sent this to me as an item of interest. It’s long, sad, and well worth a watch.

Hurricane Irene induced photographic beauty

My entire family (as well as my wife’s) live up and down a narrow section of the east coast (from Williamsburg, VA to NYC). With Hurricane Irene, I’ve been a bit concerned about everyone’s safety. As a result, I’ve been reading the accounts on the Washington Post site to keep up with the storm. I came across this little stub and was impressed.

From the washingtonpost.com:

5:08 p.m. Hurricane-induced photographic beauty

The light over the last few days has offered some in­cred­ible conditions for photography. A case in point is this image below, snapped Friday morning at the Alexandria, Va. waterfront. It looks like some surreal drawing rather than an actual photograph:

Twitter moves faster than earthquake

Interesting phenomena about how the internet sometimes can show you a glimpse into your future. Apparently, when the earthquake hit the east coast a few days ago, twitter was flooded with tweets as it was happening. In fact, if you were following tweeps from the Charlottesville area (as I do), and you live say in NYC, you would have been given advanced warning about your potential future.

Now granted, it’s just a few seconds of warning, but still, it’s amazing how twitter has been used to broadcast the Iranian protests against the improprieties that occurred during the last elections, the Mumbai terrorist attacks, the Egyptian/Libyan/Algerian/Syrian uprisings and now earthquakes.

Interestingly enough, this was predicted by Randall Munro in a comic he did about a year and a half ago:

7-Eleven Introduces The Hot Dog Flavored Potato Chip: Gothamist

 

Courtesy of the Gothamist

7-Eleven Introduces The Hot Dog Flavored Potato Chip: Gothamist.

Not sure what to make about this. 400 calories packed in 22 chips.

Jobs Quits as CEO of Apple, AAPL stock sell-off begins

Steve Jobs has submitted the following letter of resignation to the Board of Directors of Apple:

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

Update: Apple COO Tim Cook will replace Jobs as CEO, as per Jobs’ recommendation. Jobs was also made Chariman of the Board. Tim Cook has filled in for Jobs when he was off for health reasons. This was expected once Jobs decided to to step down.

Update #2: The news immediately affected the stock market. From Bloomberg News:

U.S. stock futures declined after Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive officer of Apple Inc. (AAPL), the world’s second-largest company by market value.

Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.4 percent to 1,166.80 at 7:18 p.m. in New York. Nasdaq-100 Index futures fell 1.1 percent. Apple shares dropped 5.2 percent to $356.67. Jobs said he’s resigning and recommended Tim Cook be named his successor. Jobs said he would like to continue as chairman.