Author Archives: scottsoapbox

Jailbreaking Your iPhone 3.0

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Apple’s latest software for the iPhone (3.0) adds many nice and a few needed features to the iPhone.  Many of the sorely missing features addressed by Jailbreaking your phone are now in the core Apple source.  So is JB still worth it?  I say yes.  JB for 3.0 still offers:

  • Tethering (without additional monthly fees)
  • Categories (organize your apps into folders like games)
  • Free turn by turn GPS (still coming soon from Apple)
  • Cut & Paste w/ save feature (ie never type your email out again)
  • Video recording for non-S iPhones
  • Additional customization options (lots)

I Smash Phone has a nice guide for Jailbreaking but I would make one change that will save you some time:  Don’t download the Apple 3.0 firmware from his site. Instead, let iTunes do it’s thing and update your phone to 3.0.  Then when asked for the *.ipsw file find the Apple one on your computer.  See below for locations:

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[user]\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

Vista or Windows 7: C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates

redsn0w-browse.pngNote: replace [user] with your username on the computer.

For Mac users, the file will be here: ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates/

If multiple *ipsw files are listed, make sure you grab the one with the most recent timestamp.

ISmashPhone.com: How To Jailbreak iPhone OS 3.0 On Windows and Mac Using redsn0w 

Gateway Sets Itself Up To Fail

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While netbooks & nettops have been pouring into homes around the country, many netbook users have been craving a bit more power.  Nvidia has promised this power bump with few comprises in their new ION platform which couples the ubiquitous Atom processor with a 9400M GPU instead of the standard integrated solution.  This spring many saw demos of the added power ION brought to the table and the anticipation for real products grew.

Lenovo announced what would be the first ION netbook the IdeaPad S12, with promises of pre-orders in June and deliveries in July.  Unfortunately when those promises became reality, Lenovo admitted it had fibbed a bit.  While you can now buy a S12 – if you want an S12 with ION (the whole reason to buy the S12) you would have to wait until September-October. Marketing students will now ponder what Lenovo hoped to accomplish with such a deception…

Enter Gateway’s LT3103. Launched seemingly in response to the Lenovo bait and switch – another 12″, full keyboard, netbook with a better GPU just after the IrONic truth came to light.  The company couldn’t have timed it any better if it was staged, but will this gift of circumstances translate into gang-buster sales?  My guess is no.  Sadly, Gateway completely missed the boat and provided customers with the opposite of what they wanted: instead of more power the gave less. Let me explain:

The LT3103 uses a AMD Athlon 64 L110 Single-Core Processor – which from what I can tell is an old Athlon 64 2800+ chip underclocked by a third. Now while Athlon is a more powerful CPU than the Atom, the power drain of the old CPU led Gateway to lower the clock speed significantly.  Still the Athlon running at 1.3Ghz should be on par with the Atom at 1.6Ghz.  Unfortunately, Gateway set the chip to 1.2Ghz.  Strike 1.

The Radeon X1270 GPU in the LT3103 scores a meager 328 on 3DMark06 (todays reference for GPU power). While this is better than the 100-ish scores that Intel’s integrated graphics receives it is vastly below ION.  The Asus N10 has a Atom chip + 9300M GPU (the closest real world product to the ION) scored 1417 3DMarks.  ION netbooks with the better 9400M will probably score somewhere between 1600-2000 once they are on the market.  And the slight gains here will be offset by the slight CPU losses. Strike 2.

Finally, Gateway has avoided making any battery claims thus far (always a bad sign) but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt here.  We’ll assume the LT3103 gets OK battery life.  The older CPU and GPU will both consume more power than their standard fare netbook bretheren as will the larger 11.6″ screen.  So it is safe to assume that battery life will be on the low end of the netbook typically long life spectrum – if not worse.  Now had Gateway included enough extra umph in their latest offering to offset the power loss it would be one thing, but if it isn’t going to perform better than the average netbook… why would you settle for less battery life? Strike 3.

Now let’s look at what Gateway could have done to create a wildly successful product. The standard is well established: 10″ screen, Atom CPU, etc. etc.  No guessing here.  And customers are calling for larger screens, full keyboards, and more power – all without losing the portability and price.  Now with AMD parts you can’t do all of these things but you could do all but one – and Gateway could have cornered the market for 3 months until ION really rolled out.

Take the LT3103 and split the difference on the underclocking and put a competitive GPU in it.  Now we’re looking at 1.5Ghz Athlon besting the Atom by 15% and ATI X1400 with 3x the horsepower (1064 3DMarks) of the X1270 and a significant boost over integrated solutions.  While this won’t best any full sized notebooks, you at least can wipe the floor with any netbook on the market.  The CPU price should be the same and the GPU cost increase should be small. Meaning that only one area would be lacking in the checklist of “perfect” netbook: battery life.  The power drain of this upgraded device would be even higher and most likely take it out of the realm of netbook longevity and down into notebook times.  But here’s the thing: no one would care.

OK some people would care, but those people aren’t going to buy a 4-5hr life device anyway (assuming the original LT3103 could hit those times), they’ll go with one of the 8+hr devices out there.  But many people would trade longevity for power as long as the size, weight, and most importantly price all remained in line.  Gateway could have easily brought the upgraded device to market for $449 (instead of $399) and possibly thrown in a 2nd battery at $499. Many customers would gladly find an outlet or grab a second battery to have the most powerful netbook available.  And right now those customers have 0 choices on the market.  This fall there will be several.  Gateway those sales could have been yours.

Medicare Vs EveryoneCare

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Medicare is currently costing the US almost $500,000,000,000 per year (and growing) which equates to 5.77% of EVERYONE’S paycheck.  Unfortunately we are currently only taxing 2.9% of everyone’s check so we have a $180B shortfall.  Which is currently being picked up by the general budget and some past overages.  Once the overages run dry, it will become difficult for the general fund to cover the entire difference.  But I digress.

Medicare currently covers around 40M people or 13% of Americans.  Now I think most people will agree that the medical coverage of medicare is mediocre at best but it allows for a reasonable comparison of the costs of baseline (borderline) coverage.  So we do the math and:

EveryoneCare would cost Everyone’s Paycheck 44%!!! – and I mean EVERYONE just like Medicare taxes the Fry Cook along with the Wall Street Banker.  So can we really afford universal health care?

Of course, these numbers assume that the burden is shared equally like Medicare.  If you imposed a “progressive” structure that omitted or reduced the burden on anyone it would result in an even higher numbers for those still footing the bill.  And remember that this is ONLY the cost of Medicare expanded to everyone.  This would be in addition to your current taxes and what not that come out of your check.  It also doesn’t include any increases related to providing care that is better than the admittedly mediocre Medicare.  It also omits any additional expenses in expanding the current systems bureaucracy tenfold.

The Most Important Word Ever Spoken

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You may have never thought about this, or you may think that it’s impossible to determine the most important word ever spoken. To the contrary, it is quite obvious, once I make you aware. I am referring to the single most important word ever uttered in the history of the planet! The answer is: “tetelestai”. If you think this looks like Greek, you’re right. But most historians & scholars agree that this is the language that was most likely spoken at this time & for this particular event – the most important word. And since it is absolutely that, I believe it is valuable to be able to say it, just as it was spoken. It is pronounced “teh-tel-eh-stye”. Go ahead say it. “tetelestai”. Good, don’t you love the sound of it? You will.So what does it mean? The translation can vary slightly (another reason to know the original word, so you get it exact), but is usually rendered “It is finished”, or “It has been finished” (Jn 19:30). This word was the 6th of 7 statements made by Christ on the cross. So now what does this mean? To fully appreciate it, we must first understand what was happening during this crucial time in history.

The cross of Christ is the central event of the entire universe. Everyone before it, looked forward to it, and everyone after looks back. Christ was on the cross for 6 hours (9 to 3). During the first 3 hours He took abuse from men, the jeering & mocking, etc (Mt 27:39-44). The second 3 hours He took abuse from God Himself (Mt 27:46, Is 53:4-6). This is why the sky turned dark (Mt 27:45). It was between the Father & the Son alone, too personal, too sacred for anyone else to watch. It was during this time that Christ was actually being pushed into hell to suffer the wrath of a holy God on our behalf (Rom 1:18, 1Pe 2:24). We are incapable of understanding the shock, torment, and loneliness of such an experience, especially for One who had never sinned or been separated from the Father (2Cor 5:21). But it must be so to satisfy God’s justice, the payment for sin must be made. So somehow, again beyond comprehension, in a finite amount of time, Jesus endured an infinite amount of suffering & wrath. He literally became sin for us (2Cor 5:21).

Just before 3:00 Jesus states, “I thirst” (Jn 19:28). Previously He refused anything that might reduce His suffering (Mt 27:34), but now He asks for it. Why? He was about to utter “tetelestai”. To declare to the world & all of history that the most significant accomplishment of all time had been finished (Jn 19:28). The perfect sacrifice had been made. The sinless one paid the price for all us sinners (1Pe 3:18). God’s wrath had been satisfied, and His holiness maintained (1Jn 2:2, Hab 1:13, Rom 3:21-26). To make this declaration, Jesus needed to moisten His parched mouth & throat so that He could speak loud & clear for all of us to hear, that wonderful truth of His finished work. In Mt 27:50 it says “He cried out in a loud voice.” That loud voice was “tetelestai”!! His work on earth had been finished. “tetelestai”! Truly, this was and is the most important word ever spoken. Amen?

– Daniel Kuban (5/25/09)

Will Netbooks Exist In 2 Yrs

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AMD announced today that they have a chip that will compete with the Atom chip dominating the netbook landscape… starting in 2011.  Which begs the question – will netbooks even exist in 2 yrs or will they be swallowed up as low end notebooks.

I see the netbook category still around in 2 yrs but much smaller -niche wise not size wise- than today.

Between ION, dual core atoms, and more the current NETbook goes from handling 90% of the typical consumer load to 99% and thus becomes a not-over-priced-ultra-portable or notebook.

However the net only (ok mostly) concept is sound especially with more and more cloud type services coming online (could resist).  With the first ION net-er-notebooks about to launch at $500 it’s safe to say they could run $300 in 2 yrs.  Which shows that price differentiation is going to be less important in the future – at some point you hit the bottom (keyboards, trackpads and such all cost SOMEthing to make).  Which leaves weight and battery life.  So the netbooks of the future will be $200ish, weigh less than two pounds, have a real world battery life of 12 hours (claimed 15-18), and have just enough power to play hulu (which by then will be accelerated).  OK maybe that’s 3 years out ;)