[Hack] Use Straight Talk's $45(ish) Unlimited Plan on an iPhone

Getting the most bang for your buck these days from your wireless carriers is hard.  Most carries have discontinued "unlimited" data plans altogether.  So unless you are fortunately enough to be grandfathered into one, like me and my family was then you just can't get a package that you dont have to watch your data reminiscent of the old days watching minutes.  Where is my free nights and weekends lol!  



I have spared you from prolonged rants, however click the "Show" link below to get the full experience!

A funny story, there is some piece of.. AT&T rep out there that sold my mother on the idea that she could save a few dollars a month by changing the package.  The grandfathered, unlimited data package that you can not get, nor will be able to get on the carrier or any other ever, quite possible package.  His rational is that we weren't using much data.  Of course not, half of west Tennessee was without 3G and the small town where me and my sis went to college, was no different.  We had wifi on campus and at home, and the evil grueling speeds of the edge network made it pointless to use their data.  That is until we went to the "big city" of Jackson, where I tend to spend much of my time.  They have had 3G coverage for a while. Now that we have 4G in my small town and pretty much every where we go, I use it a lot.  I have gotten my second notice that I have used yet another GB of data and will be charged $10 for the next.  Way to go ahole AT&T rep.  I would beat you if I found you!  I don't guess it would matter, if I used to much AT&T would just throttle me.  I mean why do the carriers offer unlimited data, if you use too much, they make it so slow its unusable.  My little sis gets the 4G logo, but gets dial up speeds.  What a drag.  So no netflix for her.  Sorry sis.  Now that I have gone way off topic.

Everything fell into place this morning after I had done a little research.  My buddy has a el-cheapo Blackberry look-a-like phone that uses the Straight Talk carrier.  He also has a $45 a month "unlimited" plan which includes data.  He came to me a while back asking if I could unlock his iPhone 3G S, which I did and after that whole fiasco was over, much to my dismay, the voice service worked with the Straight Talk (going to abbreviate that to ST from now on) SIM in the unlock iPhone, but no data service.

Immediately I assume that their "unlimited" data package is only for "feature" phones and not for smart phones, which they must detect and block.  But after thinking about it and finally finding a webpage to back up my theory (http://goo.gl/49PgI) I realize that since the iPhone was designed for AT&T only, changing the APN settings just didn't stand out. 

To use the ST carrier, I was going to have to change the APN settings on the iPhone.  The device is currently not jailbroken since I just had to restore it through iTunes to get it unlocked (officially by AT&T), however having a device jailbroken is not required for this task.  This method is approved with iOS 6, but I will test it on an iPhone 3G S running 5.1.1 this afternoon.  If I forget to post back, then its all good and follow the same instruction set.  You may have to install the ST profile from the website below (see the "Warning" section), but it will disable MMS features.  A small price to pay in my opinion cause who cares if you can send pictures via text message.  Email it yo!  You can even email it to someone's phone as a text message, so handled! (10DigitPhoneNumHere@mms.att.net for AT&T, not going to look up the other carriers right now, perhaps later).  

It just so happens that while checking with T-Mobile to see if they had coverage in our area, I got talked into purchasing one of their SIMs for $.99 (yup 99 cents, plus shipping so it was like $1.99).  From what I understand you must have a third party SIM that isn't your Straight Talk or an AT&T SIM.  Verizon iPad SIMs work (believe they are microSIMs which will work fine for iPhone 4, 4 S, or the new 5).  You may be able to work something out to get it to stay in the tray for the 3G S.  So I have this T-Mobile SIM, additionally its unactivated, in fact it's currently still on the credit card size card that they come on.  Well I did end up giving my friend that SIM to call and activate with them if ST devices to throttle him, and with the data he is now using, I guarantee it's coming, but I have another still on the card.

So here is the process.  What you will need:

• Unlocked iPhone (must be carrier unlocked  (see below for details)
• T-Mobile SIM (or other carrier than Straight Talk or AT&T, again Verizon iPad SIMs work along with many others such as Prepaid carriers)
• Straight Talk SIM (activated with whatever phone you had on the plan you are going to)
• Patience (or punching bag / squeezy stress ball)

1. Close all opened apps (See below, 1: Closing Background Apps)
2. Place T-Mobile SIM in iPhone (See below, 2: other carrier SIM, 3: cutting to fit microSIM)
3. Open Settings, General, Cellular, Data Network
4. When Data Network Appears ( the screen will move back to Cellular)
5. Swap T-Mobile Sim to Straight Talk Sim
6. Wait for the “NO SIM” splash to disappear
7. Press Cellular again and Data Network should still be there.
8. Go to Settings and make sure the information below is entered.

Cellular Data:

APN: att.mvno
Username:
Password:

MMS

APN: att.mvno
Username:
Password:
MMSC: http://mmsc.cingular.com
MMS Proxy: 66.209.11.33:80
MMS Max Size: 1048576
MMS UA Prof URL: http://www.apple.com/mms/uaprof.rdf

NOTE:  It has been reported that you may have to enter the APN a couple of times as it is slow registering and may replace it back to "phone" or whatever the default is.

9. Press Cellular to Exit.
10. A restart of the iPhone may be needed, and should be done. ( Hold down Top Button, slide to Power off and then start again with Top Button)

WARNING!!  The following method will disable MMS, so you will be unable to send/receive pictures/video/audio via text message.  This isn't a big deal, but possibly avoided.

Some people may have to install the Straight Talk profile found on the website unlockit.co.nz especially if you use an older version of iOS that doesn't allow for changing of APN settings.  Straight Talk profile installed first ( Go to http://www.unlockit.co.nz from your iPhone and follow your Nose) as this is the only way to set the Data Proxy needed (or some websites won’t work I have been told)

1. Closing Background Apps on iOS:  Double tap "Home" button, the round button on the front and is the only physical button on the front of device.  Press and hold on any icon that shows up on the bottom row that appears after the double tap, and start pressing the minus icons to close your background apps)  If you don't know how to do this, and are worried watch a youtube video, please dont reply to this saying I had you deleting your apps!  If you didn't know about this, congrats, you just learned why your iPhone acts all screwy and is sooo slow now.
2. You cannot use the Straight Talk SIM for the process, but you can for the actual use of the phone later.  Try another prepaid carriers SIM.  I have heard that Verizon uses SIMs in their iPad's and those will work just fine.  
3. There is an excellent visual aid found here: http://goo.gl/ocxQr or see below

[Review] Google Chrome comes to iOS!

Finally the day has arrived that Chrome has officially landed on the Apple App Store!  On launch you get the familiar Google login.  From that, I deduce that I will have no trouble with getting my bookmarks, but after taking the "tour", I seems that moving a tab from your computer to your phone (or iPad/iPod Touch) is just as easy.

 

The overall interface is nice and clean and about what I would expect from Google.  I really look forward to putting this app to the test and truly hope that like on my Mac, Chrome has found a permanent home and daily driver on my phone.

This is also a great opportunity to give the "BrowserChooser" jailbreak hack a try.  BrowserChooser by Ryan Petrich can be found on the BigBoss repo (a default repo) in Cydia which will allow users to change their default browser on their iOS device.  

Welcome to my iPhone Google!

[Tech Support] Clean your infected computer

It is really easy for some bad software to sneak its way onto your computer.  I'm going to talk about a few ways to remove these threats.  First I'm going to provide you all with a list of free tools that will aid in your computers recovery:

1.     Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM): Effective and easy to use.

2.     Spybot: Search & Destory:  Sturdy and versatile malware removal

3.     ComboFix:  Powerful windows repair tool and infection removal

4.     RKIll:  Stops all processes, such as infections with pop-ups (Fake Anti-virus pop-ups)

5.     GMer: Respected Rootkit remover, hard to use.

6.     Sophos AntiRootkit:  My Rootkit removal favorite

7.     SuperAntiSpyware (SAS):  Another good choice for malware removal

I use many tools to clean a computer and most are all free.  I have yet to run across a software package, free or not, that will remove ALL infections.  So finding a good combination that works for you is important.  Malwarebytes for example will allow you to run a free trial for their premium package, but I usually just hit the “decline” button and use the free version.  That leaves the program with Quick and Full scanning ability, which is exactly what I want it for.  Unless you just have plenty of resources on your computer (an over abundance or RAM), then you don’t need or want a bunch of monitoring tools running in the background of your system.  You can simply not click on suspicious emails and links, which is a better habit!

Many infections today include “fake antivirus” programs.  These are the infections that generate a pop-up screen that looks like a legitimate Anti-virus program and it tells you that you are infected.  By purchasing the full version, the application can remove the found threats; just enter your credit card information…see where this is going?  Your computer is not necessarily infected with what those applications say they are, they tell all computers that they have those infections. 

In addition to the fake antivirus applications, you will also get some that continuously popup some other time of screen or error message.  These infections often will keep you from opening other applications or Windows components such as Task Manager.

So what do you do if you can hardly work with the computer because of the popups or limitations?  If only you could run your infection removal tools to get rid of them.  I wanted to note that for some the infection just won’t allow for you to do anything.  In that even, you may want to start some of these processes in Windows Safe Mode (with Networking if possible), however you want to do as much in Normal mode as possible.  To get into Safe Mode, reboot your computer.  As soon as the computer comes on, hit the F8 key repeatedly until you get the black screen with the options to choose Safe Mode.  You actually only have to hit the F8 key once, but the timing is often so hard to catch that I just say keep on hitting it.  If the computer starts beeping, just ignore it.  If the Windows logo/boot screen pops up before you get a chance to choose Safe Mode, then you missed your window and need to restart.

With a bit of luck, you have a good restore point to go back to, so fire up System Restore by either typing it into the search box at the bottom of the Start Menu or enter "rstrui" (or you can hunt it down manually at C:\Windows\System32\restore\rstrui.exe).  If you cannot access this tool due to infection or there are no restore points, see below.  Now point to a restore point that is long enough ago that you know the missing icons was not a problem and let System Restore do it's thing.

If successful, that may get you back on track and should now have the ability to remove the infections that lie dormant (for now) on your machine.  Remember, System Restore doesn’t remove the infection; it really just replaces the Windows Registry (and perhaps some Windows components) that tells Windows what to load when an event happens such as start up.  So if you have gotten this to work, infection removal should be top priority before you go back to your work or games.

If that isn’t an option, try the handy little gem RKill.  RKill stops all processes that should not be running on a normal Windows install, causing the fake antivirus popups to cease for the moment.  RKill comes in several different variants just in case your infection won’t allow that variation to run.  It comes in .exe (executable, standard Windows application), .com (command file, similar to .exe), .scr (Usually a screensaver) and it also comes with various names all in the hopes that you can just run 1 variation.  If you can get it to work, RKill will do the job. RKill will then create a log file that pops up after it runs telling you what processes it stopped.  If you are fairly sure you know what you are doing and you know for a fact a file in that list is not something that should be running on your system, you can then go and hunt it down for deletion.  Might want to try to compress it (.zip) just in case.

Now that RKill has stopped the popups, you are in business.  Now is the time to run you removal tools.  I suggest running Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) at this point and clear the infections.  After MBAM has completed, you should be ok to restart your computer so that it can finish its job.  Your computer should boot normally now. 

Because infections will often do things like hide all of your Desktop shortcuts or worse, at this point I would attempt to try the Windows System Restore route (mentioned above).  If that is the way you decide to go, starting the infection removal process will need to start over, but this really is the best way to go.

Once your computer has rebooted after successfully running MBAM, your computer is likely still infected with other fun stuff.  Time to fire up a secondary scanning agent such as Spybot: Search & Destroy or SuperAntiSpyware.  Once those have completed, you should be pretty safe.  Might even want to run the third application just to make sure, but that’s up to you.

Hope this helps out someone.  Tune in next week for more fun tips and tricks

[Hack] iBooks Author "Snow Leopard Hack"

iBooks Author "Snow Leopard Hack"

Ok, ok I stole this from OSXDaily.com (http://goo.gl/LZkrk), one of my daily reads. I have actually read this on a few different sites, however this did not work for me until I tried a small edit. See instructions below:
Apple's free interactive book creation app iBooks Author was just released, allowing for anyone to make multi-touch iBooks for iPad. Unfortunately it's officially for Mac OS X 10.7 only, and if you try to install it on Snow Leopard, you'll get an error message. With a little work we can get around that error message and install and run iBooks Author in Mac OS X 10.6.8.
This is not supported by Apple, although the app appears to work fine and if you just want to explore the application it's more than enough. If you plan on publishing with iBooks Author, you should use OS X Lion though.

1. From the Mac OS X desktop, hit Command+Shift+G and enter /System/Library/CoreServices
   
2. Locate SystemVersion.plist and make a backup copy of it to the desktop
3. Launch the Terminal and type the following:

sudo nano /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist

1. Locate the keys ProductUserVisibleVersion and ProductVersion and change their strings from "10.6.8″ to "10.7.2″
   
2. Hit Control+O to save the file
   
3. Now launch the Mac App Store and find and download iBooks Author
   
4. After iBooks Author is finished downloading - do not launch it yet, instead open /Applications/ and find the app, then right-click on it and choose "Show Package Contents"
5. Now open the folder "Contents" and locate and open "Info.plist", you can use nano or your favorite text editor
   
6. In Info.plist, look for "LSMinimumSystemVersion" and change the accompanying string from "10.7.2″ to "10.6.8″ and safe the file
   
7. Now go back to the SystemVersion.plist file and open it again:

sudo nano /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist

1. Locate keys ProductUserVisibleVersion and ProductVersion again, but change their strings from to "10.7.2” back to "10.6.8”
   
2. Save SystemVersion.plist
   
3. EDIT: Before launching iBooks Author, move the app to the desktop. This will fix the icon and it should launch just fine. After that, close iBooks Author and then move it back to your Applications folder. Viola!
   
4. Launch iBooks Author
   The iBooks Author icon will probably keep it's strike through it, but the app opens fine and everything seems to work. You may also need to upgrade to iTunes 10.5.3 if you want to sync the iBooks to an iPad.

[Tech Support] Playstation 3 (PS3) Care

I have been playing the fairly new Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game for Playstation 3 since about a week after its release.  Although the game is great, it still has several bugs that have been yet to be worked out.  It's not unlikely that my PS3 will freeze or even shut off completely while playing this game.

I went to Google and did some research on if this was damaging my PS and what I could do to prolong it's life in general.  To my disappointment I found very few definitive answers on the subject.  Sony is even very little help.  But I did find a few common things to do.  First I am assuming a couple of things.  One is that you have not removed the enclosure (the case) of your Playstation.  And the second, is that I own a Playstation 3 slim model and that since I do not have the older version, I don't know where the ports are, but it should be similar.  Common sense goes a long way!

1.  To prolong your Playstation's life the very first and most critical thing you can do is place it in an open and well ventilated area.  This means it cannot be placed in a small cubby hole in your entertainment center.  I know this really quite frankly sucks, because it is a pretty good looking unit and was aesthetically made to fit in with other devices in your entertainment center.  At least 1 foot in all directions should be open for the PS to breath.

Along with that, if you have any other devices that run hot that the PS may be sucking in air from, move either your PS or the other device.

This next thing is totally from my own thought patterns and I have nothing to back this up, but I believe that raising the PS a bit using whatever means would only help airflow from the 2 ports on the bottom side of the curved body.  With a quick look, you will notice there is no vents on the squared off "base" of the PS unit.  A book, or in my case 4 rubber pad lift my Playstation just a bit, adding a about an 3/4 of an inch more clearance for the vents to suck in air.  The PS units can get pretty hot, so use some common sense on what you put under it.

2.  Next is cleaning.  I have read that some vacuum the ports.  Some use canned duster to spray into the ports as you would computer.  The only problem I see with spraying into the device, is most of that debris and dust is just going to fly all over the inside of the unit and unless you have taken the enclosure off (which would void your warranty by the way), then most of that junk is going to stay inside the unit.  I think a little of both is the best route.

Any vacuum with a hose attachment should do just fine.  I spray into the ports using a can of Fellowes brand Duster and the proceed to quickly get the vacuum onto the ports to try to suck out all the floating garbage.

3.  What I know from reading is that the "Intercoolers" for both PS3 and XBOX actually cause more damage than they prevent.  Although I am not exactly sure why.  You would think cooler air being blown into the device would help air flow, but again from what I've read, this isn't the case.  So no intercoolers.  I do however have a small fan (think computer case small) blowing in from the back of my entertainment center.  This promotes good air flow in the space around my PS3.  I let the unit itself handle its intake and exhaust.

CD/DVD lens cleaners is another route that I have read bad things about.  The little discs with the brushes on the bottom to "gently" sweep away the dirt from the lens, can actually just scratch the lens.  Good idea, but it doesn't work.


I know this is mostly just more of the same, but I really wanted another place that people could go to get this information.  I hope it helps someone out there get another year or so of enjoyment from their Playstation.  Until next time!

[Opinion] My introduction to Arduino

I began writing a description of the Arduino unit and then I decided theirs was better.  

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. - http://arduino.cc/en/

While looking at all the fun stuff on the website http://hackaday.com/ I noticed a pattern.  So many of the titles had Arduino in it.  Figured I would see exactly what it was an wow, a prefabbed unit desigend for people to build all sorts of goodies.  

Now its my turn.  I am thinking I want to start with what has been done, and then move on from there.  My first goal will be to use SiriProxy and my iPhone to control the temperature in my home.  Using VPN, I believe I will be able to adjust the temperature even while I'm on the road.  So for those weekends away, I can leave my heating down to a bitter 55ish degrees and when I'm on my way home, I can adjust it remotely and have it nice and warm by the time I pull in the drive.

Yes, I do realize that I must be a huge geek for being excited about this, but for those who were thinking the same thing, me being a geek that is, is only because this type of action isn't mainstream yet and you haven't had time to take it for granted.

I am truly intrigued at all of the projects popping up using Arduino, Microsoft's Kinect, and other setups.  The possibilites are endless and the platforms have already been developed and handed to us in a nice shiny box!

Time to get my learn on.  Fortunatly for me, my best friend is an electrician by trade, and he can expect that I will be hounding him about all sorts of basic electrical questions.  Capacitors, voltage, 

[Personal Note] The Walking Dead on AMC

I have just recently found a fun past time in AMC's The Walking Dead.  It's the first show that I know of on this subject.  Although post apocalyptic shows are nothing new to this fan, such as Battlestar Galactica, it is nice to have an ongoing zombie story to look forward to.

It's about the lives of several survivors who are living in a zombie-infested reality.  I was super stoked to find this on Netflix, yet it only wetted my appetite.  I was forced to download the remaining series to catch up.

Now I thoroughly await seeing the new episodes.  If you like zombie flicks, then you too may enjoy this one.