Stuff and Nonsense

So, while I’m frustrated by communications difficulties with a… communications company I’ll share another frustrating experience with you.

I sign up for an online share dealing account. It says instant access, just give your bank details etc. So I do this and yes, it really does take just 10 minutes to fill in all the forms. And the final step… “You will now receive a temporary password through the post…”

In which universe exactly does that count as “instant access”?

Please, if you invite someone to a conference call, make sure you are there. Is it too much to expect the host to be there when one dials in at the right time? or a minute later? or five minutes later?

As I write this out of frustration it’s been six minutes… that’s just rude.

Sometimes when you need to go see a customer the travelling rather than the customer can fill you with a certain reluctance. Not so today’s meeting though. I had to visit my most delightful customer today and the travelling was a joy! The customer is in Leeds so I was able to drive to my mum’s in Warrington and spend a quiet evening with her before an early start to get the Transpennine Express to Leeds.

I like Leeds city centre (as a place to visit for business anyway). Out of the station a ten minute walk to another pleasant meeting, a few hours meeting then, thanks to the magical iRail application on my iPhone a gentle walk to the station in good time for a cup of tea and a short wait for the return train.

Getting out of the office doesn’t get much better. Leeds rail station is clean, simple and efficient, the announcements regular, accurate and clear. I had a 3G data signal for most of the journey so managed to catch up on email and project updates.

In fact the only slight downside on the train as I write this is the group of middle managers in the next bay noisily justifying their existence by making as many pointless phone calls as possible. The management babble is hysterical! Perhaps it’s a game to see how many synonyms they can use in a single sentence so they can avoid agreeing to, asking for, or actually doing,  anything at all while trying to sound as though the world rests on their flabby shoulders.

Since I’m people watching I may mention also the cool guy in the good suit. Immaculately dressed, he wears a slight frown and tensely grips his coffee cup as if it’s the only restraint preventing him from getting up and tearing the muddle [sic] managers limb from limb. I have the iPhone video app ready to go. If it all kicks off it’ll be on YouTube before we get to Warrington.

There is a geek sat to my right. He is typing something on his phone. He’s been at it a while. Looks familiar, fat bloke, no hair, seems to be enamoured of his iPhone. Wait, he looked at me! It’s ok, he’s gone back to his typing. I wonder if he is looking over my shoulder? Damn, he must be psychic. Every time I glance up to check on him, he’s already looking at me. He’s good at this. Scarily good; I think I’ll move seats…

…it’s no good, I’m on the other side of the train now and he’s moved too! He’s quick for a fat bloke. He’s still on my right though, he’s typing again! is he writing about me… “Saw this fat bloke who kept moving I think he thinks I’m typing about him”.

Hang on! Where’d he go? We came out of the tunnel and he just evaporated in front of my eyes!

Oh wait… I’ve been writing about my reflection. I knew he must have been cheating! No-one is really that fast.

So, here’s what worked for me to get my iPhone unlocked.
First some definitions because if you were an iPhone virgin as I was until just two weeks ago these terms may be unfamiliar to you.
Jailbreak – this refers to the practice of getting the iPhone to a state where you can install third party software without going through the apple app store and hence opens up the opportunity of using hacks written by people cleverer than either you or I.
Unlocking – is what needs to be done to get the phone to work with a sim from a provider other than o2 (in the uk)

Now I got my iPhone second hand without a warranty or contract so I had little to lose if this process turned the phone into a pretty brick. Doing this will invalidate your warranty so if that scares you don’t go any further.

Now I have a mac at the moment and although I’d prefer to be able to do this via the pc, i am making an effort to learn mac so that’s all I can do.

The first thing is to use iTunes to upgrade to firmware 2.2. If you are currently using a turbo sim of some sort this will likely break it. You have been warned!

Now if you don’t have a bittorrent client go get one then use it to search for quickpwn you are looking for the 2.2 version since that’s the firmware you now have.

Once you have downloaded quickpwn just connect iPhone to mac and run quickpwn. It will check your phone is suitable then it will download the firmware package you need. This replaces the operating system on your phone with a hacked version. It takes a while but once done you will see a pineapple at startup rather than the apple logo. You will also see the cydia application which is basically a third party appstore!

Now point your browser at iPhone-dev.org then follow the link to their blog. Scroll down till you see the cydia source URL. Go into cydia on your phone and add the URL as a source repository. Once done you can browse for the yellowsn0w app version 0.9.4 is the one that worked for me.

Finally then install the app and follow the directions on the blog.

5 minutues after getting my hands on version 0.9.4 I had orange 3g and could makes calls with my regular sim card.

Thank you to the awsome developers who made this. I think apple deep down don’t want to work too hard to prevent something that increases iPhone uptake but I’m equally sure that o2 must be pissed and apple will do something because they have to been seen to do so. As long as you don’t restore your phone from backup though I guess all could be well for some time.

I typed this whole post on my iPhone using the wordpress app available from the app store. Anyone who says the keyboard input on iphone is anything less than genius is looking in the wrong place. I only get two and a half little fat index fingers to cover the screen width yet I can type as fast as I can think. Still loving ‘miphone’

Wow. My old friend Stu Carroll I see is on facebook now. I’m about to invite him to be a friend (again) but thought I’d post here some edited highlights of what would have been our most recent correspondence had either of us been actively using friends reunited a few years ago! “Old friend” doesn’t quite do it justice actually. Stu & I dropped out of sixth form together to begin what was then a YTS placement. We’d been best friends for years prior and were closer even than Simon and I for some years. When we had a family reunion and a bit of  bash, Stu was in the photos! We were so close for so long and not a girl in sight that some of my family actually thought we might be Gay!

On September 7th 2005 Stu found me on Friends reunited and sent a message, a snippet of which (to jog Stu’s memory) is shown below. No-one reading this, except possibly Stu could understand how pleased I was to receive it given the stupid, immature way in which our business partnership ceased as we entered our twenties.

…It’s probably taken me more than a couple of minutes to figure out how to start this little note…. but I guess the easy thing is to start with the simple ‘how the hell are you?’.

Fit and well, I hope. Looking at your ‘profile’ it seems to be the case – a wife and sprogg, eh? You never really struck me as the ’settling down’ type but then I never struck me as the ’settling down’ type either and I’ve ended up a similar hole… er, I mean position (1 wife, 4 kids – but no dog!!).

I had to smile at your profile – good to see ‘computer programming’ is still in there (as a bit of fun or a career?)…. some of the favourite words summed you up pretty well from what I remember – but only in that I had to look half of them up (you always were a smartarse!!).

There’s more and while it’s not personal especially I’ve no wish to post it without Stu’s OK; what’s above is enough to get the gist.

Well Stu, I hope you’re reading this. I wasn’t ignoring you. The truth is I joined FRU then didn’t bother for a long time. I did not see your message for over 6 months. Not until March 2006. I immediately responded at that time with what follows.This is mostly complete, only some drivel removed.

Stu!!!

First things first. I forgot I’d even joined this thing. My full membership had lapsed and the e-mail address I registered with I only just accessed for the first time since last July!

So, no, I wasn’t avoiding or ignoring you, I wouldn’t. I don’t think you have contacted me before, believe me, I would have remembered! I have to say my heart skipped a beat or two (not surprising for a man in my condition) when I saw a message from you but the tone and content were a great relief. It’s amazing what a few years and a few trips round the block will do for your outlook on life. I have always regretted the way thinks went; it’s possibly the only regret of my life that I could have made come out differently. Like you I can’t even remember what the hell went on. It all seems like it happened to someone else now.
…
We did have a lot of laughs and the friendship is sorely missed. I really believe that no friendship can ever be so strong as those forged during school days. We lived in each other’s pockets for what seemed like years since Halton ITeC.. remember that?… I still tell my wife and anyone else who will listen about the trips across the road to the chippy where we’d ask for “A bag of chips and a can of coke” and the Chinese woman would say “you want flidge?” and we’d reply “No, just the can of coke!”. I’m grinning right now recalling that one…

…How is your Mum? and John? and Lol? I always had a great respect for your Mum and John, she was educated and smart and I always remember John being very tolerant, helpful and supportive. I sincerely hope they are all well and happy.
…
I get out of the office occasionally, how about I drop you a message next time I’m going to be up your way and perhaps we can grab some lunch somewhere (chip shop in widnes?? just kidding!) Enjoy that mid-life crisis!, hope to hear from you again soon.

All the best mate, great to hear you’re well.
Les

Since sending this reply I have more avidly monitored FRU in the hope of a reply but judging by his profile, Stuart didn’t use it either for a long time!

So, dear reader (I know from the stats that a plurality of readers is rare on this blog…) heart warming recollection, regret and nostalgia over with, I’m off to try and make a new friend of one of my oldest.

Wish me luck!

Despite my reluctance for social contact I must confess to being very pleased to hear via facebook that some old friends from senior school are well. I seem to recall being only slightly more sociable at the age of 14 than I am now and then only within a small group. That small group though was very important to me and I suspect others among us and formed a core of friends for the entire duration of secondary education for some years beyond with those we could keep in touch with.

Our firm friends were myself, Simon Walters, Darren Archer, John Crowley and Alex Hall. There were others of course but outside of school as well as within, this was the group who would persist. In the 24 years since leaving school I have I think only seen John Crowley. I don’t count Simon, surrogate brother that he is as we’ve remained in touch since we were 5 yrs old and today are god parents (yes, I’m an atheist as his he but that’s a whole other post right there) to each other’s children.

To see photos of Darren today was wonderful. Also of Faz, who whilst not in the circle above due to being in a different form group was none-the-less a frequent co-conspiritor! Everyone is heavier (though none, I suspect as heavy as I) and have similar close-cropped baldness-aint-getting-me haircuts! Remarkable how, after all these years the faces are instantly recognisable.

So, to all friends, past and present, absent or not I wish you all a very happy New Year and look forward to remaining in touch even if by the ethereal medium of the Internet we all inhabit these days.