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Upgrade to iOS4, Jailbreak & Unlock Iphone 3G

22 Jun

Apple released their latest iOS4 firmware for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, & iPod(s). It’s an exciting time for everyone since there are tons of new features in this new firmware. The iPhone Dev Team was quick to release new tools to enable you to unlock your iPhones with great ease. I’ve just finished successfully jail-breaking & unlocking my iPhone 3G and have thus decided to show you folks how to do it.

REQUIREMENTS:
iPhone 3G *WARNING* DO NOT FOLLOW THIS GUIDE IF YOU OWN AN IPHONE 3GS*
Wi-Fi Connection [only for ultrasn0w installation]
USB Cable to connect your iPhone to your PC/Mac
Latest version of iTunes
Windows or Mac OS X

Step 1:

Download the iOS4 firmware along-with the redsn0w that corresponds to your OS.

iOS4 firmware for iPhone 3G
redsnow 0.9.5b5-3 Mac OS X
redsnow 0.9.5b5-3 Windows

Alternatively, iTunes will ask you now when you connect your iPhone 3G and you can simply click on “Download & Install” and your iPhone will be updated to the latest firmware. Just make sure that it’s iOS 4.0 and not something that comes out a few days hence since they’re sure to patch the baseband vulnerability in the next version.

Step 2 [Optional]:

Create a back-up of your iPhone. Do this by connecting your iPhone to your PC/Mac and right clicking on your iPhone in the iTunes Side-bar and selecting Backup. Alternatively, if you don’t want a back-up, you can run the following command in a terminal window [Mac OS X] and this will prevent the iPhone from creating a backup during the update/restore process. This is good for those people that don’t want a backup since the iPhone takes AGES to create a backup.

defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

Step 3:

Restore your iPhone 3G to the latest firmware by holding down the Option Key (Mac Users) or the Shift key (Windows) and clicking on Restore in your iPhone Options screen within iTunes. Choose the firmware you just downloaded so that iTunes restores your iPhone 3G to the new firmware.

If you want to keep your apps & settings, choose to update it rather than restore. Again, hold down the Option key to select the correct IPSW or allow iTunes to update the iPhone automatically.

Step 4:

Once your iPhone 3G has rebooted and now has the new firmware you will be locked in if you don’t have an official carrier’s sim and your iPhone isn’t factory unlocked. Now is the time to use redsn0w to jailbreak this bitch!

NOTE: DO NOT PANIC IF YOUR IPHONE REBOOTS INTO RECOVERY MODE. THIS IS NORMAL.

Run redsn0w for your OS.

Browse for the IPSW that you just restored your phone to. If you asked iTunes to automatically update your firmware will be located in:

~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

Select the 4.0 firmware IPSW.

[Hint: it's called iPhone1,2_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw]

Then, redsn0w will tell you that the IPSW has been identified. Now click Next. After a short while, it’ll show you some options.

Choose the options that you like. [for those that need an unlock, make sure you install Cydia]

Click Next.

Follow the instructions on entering recovery mode. They’re very easy to follow, just do it! :)

redsn0w will start jailbreaking your phone. Be patient while it does so. This may take upto 10 minutes. (more if you’re on USB 1.1)

Step 5:

Once the jailbreak is complete, your iPhone will reboot with iOS4. Since redsn0w has already activated your phone you can stop here if you don’t need a carrier unlock.

Only follow Step 6 if you DO need a carrier unlock.

Step 6:

Now with your new OS on your phone, make sure you’re connected to your Wi-Fi network and then load Cydia. Cydia will need to reload and update it’s data in some cases, let it do so. [this might take a while depending on your internet connection speed...]

Cydia might exit and return to the springboard. In this case, simply restart Cydia, again wait for it to download packages and update all the necessary info it needs. If it asks you to upgrade essential or do a complete upgrade go for the Complete Upgrade. [always better..]

Next, go to Manage -> Sources -> Edit ->Add.

Add this URL exactly as it is:

http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com

[That's a ZERO between sn0w and not an O..]

Select Add. Once the repository is added, Cydia will automatically load ultrasn0w into it’s package database. You still need to INSTALL it however. Go to Search. Type in “Ultra”. Hit Search. You’ll find ultrasn0w. Select Install -> Confirm. Once the installation is complete, the iPhone will reboot.

Step 7:

Once your iPhone 3G reboots, you should see your carrier appear at the top of the screen. All done! Now if you want to restore your applications and their data, sync with iTunes and restore your backup after that. This will restore your contacts, applications, and other data. Cydia apps will need to be re-installed.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully updated your iPhone 3G to the latest iOS 4.0. There are tons of new features and noticeable speed improvements right off the bat!

Questions and comments are welcome :)

 
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Posted in Techie Stuff

 

Paypal & Emirates NBD – Stay away

12 Jun

Just an update on the Paypal withdrawal situation here in the UAE. I’ve stopped doing them because I found that there were too many uncertainties dealing with the banking system here. I recently received a new debit card from Emirates NBD so I thought, “Lets try another shot at Paypal withdrawals”. Luckily I was smart enough to do a test amount, I tried withdrawing $9.11. The withdrawal has been showing up as “Completed” in my Paypal account since 25th April 2010. The funds haven’t yet appeared in my account. I don’t ever expect them to show up. Am I going to call Emirates NBD about this ? Nu-uh!

Also, according to another report from one of my readers (wow, I have readers now!), the Paypal withdrawal didn’t work for her either. She tried a withdrawal on the 13th of May and is still waiting for her funds to show up.

So in conclusion, this is my advice to you folks. Don’t try Paypal withdrawals in the UAE with Emirates NBD debit cards. Yes, there used to be a glorious age once upon a time when they did work but that time is gone now. Customer service is an ordeal to deal with, and they don’t quite understand what’s wrong with their system so there are no hopes of fixing it. There you go. Do please let me know if you got it to work and I’ll update this post. : )

 
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Posted in Way out there

 

Naughty ol’ GoDaddy.com!

31 May

I recently attempted a domain transfer to another registrar. The steps outlined at Godaddy are pretty straightforward. However, there is one KEY step that goes unmentioned. At Godaddy, they say that to get your domain successfully transferred you need to:

1. Start a transfer request with your other registrar.

2. Login to your Godaddy control panel, set the domain to Unlock.

3. From your Godaddy control panel, cancel your Private Registration (if subscribed..).

4. Provide your transfer registrar with the AUTHORIZATION CODE.

Once the transfer is initiated by your receiving registrar, Godaddy sends out a friendly lamenting email:

===================================================================
SORRY TO SEE YOU GO. WE’LL ALWAYS WELCOME YOU BACK.
===================================================================

Dear ********,

We are sorry you transferred your domain name(s) away from GoDaddy.com. We are committed to providing quality services and products, and hope that we met your needs.

If you feel your transfer was in error, or if you have changed your mind, please contact our 24/7 sales department at (480) 505-8877. They will assist you in transferring your domain name(s) back to our registrar.* Keep in mind that we continue to offer low prices and $6.99 transfer rates on some domains.

Sincerely,
GoDaddy.com, Inc.

*Please note that ICANN’s Transfer Policy may prevent you from transferring your domain name within 60-days of a transfer.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
Copyright (C) 2010 GoDaddy.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

However, one thing that they FAIL to mention is the fact that you NEED to login to your Godaddy control panel and ACCEPT the transfer request from within. If you do not do so within 5 working days, your domain transfer fails. How’s that for sneaky ?!

Infact, Godaddy goes as far as to say that if you DO NOT want the transfer to commence, please login and reject it. However, they make no mention of the fact that you need to accept the transfer request from within the control panel for it to actually work. Interesting use of ‘appearing transparent’.

Anyhow, luckily I was on top of my domain transfer so I was able to login and make it happen since I just happened to look at my “Pending Transfers” page within the Godaddy control panel. Just keep this stuff in mind when you try to transfer a domain folks =)

 
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Posted in Techie Stuff

 

Best DNS Servers for du Dubai

30 May

Lately I’ve been really pissed off at my internet connection. Browsing appears to work so slowly that I was in-fact considering an upgrade to 24Mbps broadband. Right now I have a 512 kbps connection at home. I know, sounds crazy but the insane cost of internet in the UAE forces people to make such choices. I pay AED 189/month for this connection. That’s around $52. Unbelievable eh ?

So I considered upgrading my connection but then realised that once I start downloading something I do in-fact tend to maximize the usage of the available bandwidth. This made me suspect that the problem is obviously something browsing related. Now, comes the question, what are the major differences between browsing vs. downloading a file ?

Well, the major difference is DNS lookups. Once a download starts, there are no lookups required. However, browsing a page often requires 10 or more DNS lookups and this can considerably slow down your browser and impact performance.

In Dubai we have two different telecom providers who are mostly the same. Telecom is severely restricted in Dubai and government owned to a great extent. This explains the high cost of internet amongst other things. The ISP’s run their own DNS servers however they also run a country wide content filter (proxy server) that usually ends up filtering content such as porn, government criticism, anti-UAE propoganda and more.

Until two years ago the DU DNS Servers weren’t all that reliable considering that they were down from time-to-time. So I was using a combination of Google’s Public DNS and OpenDNS. However, since I started noticing slow lookups (owing to the fact that neither Google nor OpenDNS have servers in the UAE..) I decided to do a benchmark to see what might be the best option.

For this benchmark I used namebench 1.2. namebench is a project that basically compares a number of DNS servers and tells you which one is the best for you to use. However, Google Public DNS researchers advise that statistical significance can only be achieved with over 5000 queries per nameserver. Hence, I set the following parameters for my namebench test:

Servers to test:

8.8.8.8 – Google Public DNS
208.67.222.222 – Open DNS
208.67.220.220 – Open DNS
80.227.2.2 – du Dubai
80.227.2.3 – du Dubai
213.42.20.20 – Etisalat Dubai
195.229.241.222 – Etisalat Dubai

Number of Queries: 6000 (Total 54,000 queries)

Number of Runs: 1

Test Data Source: Mozilla Firefox

Test Selection Mode: Automatic

+ Include Global DNS Providers
+ Include best available regional DNS services
- Include censorship checks

Censorship checks were disabled because the censorship in the UAE is not based on a DNS system. It’s a proper content filter. The reason I chose 1 run is because caching nameservers will give inaccurate results in the 2nd run. The namebench program looks at your browser (I chose Firefox but could’ve chosen Safari or Chrome..) history and creates queries similar to those that would be created when you browse your favorite sites. This ensures better DNS performance evaluation for YOU.

Obviously there are a number of issues that need to be considered here. Latency for OpenDNS and Google’s Public DNS will be much higher than for Etisalat or du. However, we are going to take into consideration the DNS server’s caching performance since they’re being bombarded with a high number of queries in this test.

namebench settings

So onto the test results. It took approximately 3 hours to run this test. This is owing to the high volume of queries that needed to be served. Looks like Etisalat and Du’s DNS servers suffer from periodic latency. This is the reason why you’ll notice sluggishness in an otherwise fast browsing experience. The best performers were:

1. Google Public DNS
2. UltraDNS
3. OpenDNS

The reason Google’s public DNS won out was because it returns consistent results with consistent latency. The problem with du’s servers are that they tend to lag at random times. This is evident from the following results:

Google Public DNS:
Mean Response Time – 291.83ms
Lowest Response Time – 153.66

du DNS:
Mean Response Time – 512.76ms
Lowest Response Time – 12.89ms

This shows that the response time for certain queries for du seems to stretch on so much that it causes the average response time to be driven up considerably!

Response Duration Chart (first 200ms)

Response Duration Chart (first 200ms)

Response Distribution Chart

Mean & Fastest Individual Response Duration

Mean & Fastest Individual Response Duration

So what’s the verdict ? Well, namebench suggests using Google’s Public DNS as your primary resolver and then du’s DNS servers as the secondary and tertiary resolvers. However, it’s obvious from the results that there is a chance that du’s DNS servers can throw up a pretty fast response more often than not. Hence, it makes sense to set them as primary and secondary and set Google’s Public DNS as tertiary. The reasoning behind this is if a DNS request is sent out:

1. du’s servers answer quickly.
2. Your browsing experience is better.

OR

1. du’s servers lag.
2. Google Public DNS takes over and answers the request.
3. Your browsing experience doesn’t suffer.

Hence you get the best of both worlds! So make sure you set your DNS up as follows if you’re using du in Dubai:
Primary Server: 80.227.2.2
Secondary Server: 80.227.2.3
Tertiary DNS: 8.8.8.8

Happy browsing!

 
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Posted in Techie Stuff

 

Speeding in Dubai

21 May

I figured most of you already knew about this. However, I was shocked & surprised at the ignorance of the masses. So I must share this with you NOW. Why ? Because folks driving at 120 kmph on emirates road in the innermost lane are tiresome.

People on Emirates Road tend to drive above 120kmph but once they near one of those ugly alien speed cameras, they tend to slowdown. Stop doing that, NOW.

So here’s a tip for you:

From the Green Community Roundabout – All the way to the airport exit, you can safely drive at 150 kmph. Of-course the safety of said speeds is up for debate but you won’t get flashed by a speed camera.

Oh and I know that the speed limit on Sheikh Zayed Road is 100 kmph. But please people, don’t be so naive. Drive at 120 kmph. You won’t get flashed.

Folks continuously speeding up and abruptly slowing down for speed cameras ARE ALSO A DRIVING HAZARD. Just sail through ‘em as long as you’re not above 150 on Emirates and above 120 on Sh. Zayed. Enjoy!

This information is verified by me. I paid over AED 2,000 in traffic fines last year. I pretty much know where you can get flashed and where you can’t. Oh and I’m fine-free since last year, in-case you’re having any doubts =P

 
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Posted in Way out there

 

Which exchange rate should I select ?

19 Mar

So I was at the ATM the other day. Armed with my CitiBank NRI Rupee Checking Account Debit Card. Ready to make a withdrawal. The ATM in question was an ATM from Standard Chartered Bank, UAE. The reason that I’m not really selective about ATMs (I don’t try and look for a Citibank ATM) is that with the NRI Rupee Checking Account, there are NO FEES on any international withdrawals at any ATM. Nifty, eh ?

Well, there I was, at the ATM. I wanted to withdraw AED 1000. So I did the usual, put the card in, keyed in my PIN, selected withdraw, selected AED 1000, and then…

The ATM pops this question:

Would you like to use Standard Chartered Bank’s exchange rate of Rs. 12.78 = 1 AED or use the Maestro Exchange Rate that will be calculated later ?

Left Button – Maestro Exchange Rate
Right Button – Standard Chartered Exchange Rate

Now, anyone who cares about any amount of money would be confused at this point of time. Should I go for full disclosure with the 12.78 rate or should I take the unclear route of “unknown exchange rate”.

On top of this the ATM slyly built some credibility around itself because the first “Notice” it gave me when I inserted my card was:

“Your bank might charge you for transactions at this ATM”.

Such a nice ATM! Shouldn’t I trust it ?

I asked a few friends, most of them said that they would take the Rs. 12.78 exchange rate because in that case they would at-least know how much money they’re being charged.

WRONG!

Always take the Maestro/VISA/Intl. Agency exchange rate. When a bank asks you this question, it’s usually so that they can make a quick buck on the exchange rate. Besides, Maestro’s exchange rate will always be better simply because they use the rate for that day’s wholesale international currency exchanges across the world. This means that you’ll get the best rate even though your transaction is significantly smaller than what would qualify for a “wholesale” exchange.

So I chose the Maestro option and I was wondering if I did the right thing. I obviously had no way of knowing what exchange rate had been applied until I came home and logged into my Citibank Online interface.

Rs. 12.46 to a Dirham!

HUGE DIFFERENCE!

This is a significant difference in exchange rate. Even for a small transaction such as an AED 1000 withdrawal, I would’ve paid Rs. 320 extra had I gone with the Standard Chartered Exchange Rate.

That’s a 25 Dirham difference. That’s a 2.5% difference. It’d be 250 Dirhams if you were withdrawing AED 10,000.

So what’s the lesson here ?

Well, quite obviously, go with the big guy’s exchange rate. Ditch the middle-man. : )

[Another example of this would be that a bank would usually give you a better exchange rate than a currency exchange outlet. This doesn't apply for USD exchanges in Dubai because those are usually pegged.]

 
2 Comments

Posted in Count those dollars

 

Paypal in the UAE – Conclusion

14 Mar

Well, I’ve been meaning to post this for a while for all you folks out there. Yes, the two of you. Following my experiences and experiments with various banks here in the UAE I’ve reached the unfortunate conclusion that withdrawing money from Paypal to a bank account here is quite difficult, if not impossible.

A small recap. I used to use Emirates NBD for my Paypal withdrawals. The Emirates bank debit card worked wonderfully with the Paypal system and money would show up, post withdrawal, in my account. It’d take about 3-4 days to get credited. Not too shabby. However, after their system “upgrade” around May 2009, this functionality became rather sketchy and money now takes anywhere from 7-20 working days to show up in my Emirates Bank Account. Of-course, while it DID work the exchange rate was a shabby 3.57 AED to a Dollar. =/

Anyhow, my quest for a debit card that works with Paypal withdrawals has ended without resolution. I’ve tried the following debit cards in the UAE:

Citibank UAE – Does not work online.
Mashreqbank – Does not work online.
Standard Chartered UAE – Does not work online. In-fact, it doesn’t even have a CVV2 number.

Since Paypal has re-enabled withdrawals to Indian bank accounts I just get all my money to my Paypal India account and then withdraw it to my Indian bank account. (HDFC Bank) This works quite seamlessly once more and withdrawals take about 3-4 days to show up on your bank statement. Paypal has a new system where-in you have to specify what your source of funds is. For a website with advertising income, the category I choose is “Freelance Journalism”. Granted that this isn’t accurate but their options aren’t either.

On another note, Citibank UAE has a great deal on NRE accounts for Indians. You can open an NRE account with CitiNRI and if you deposit Rs. 200,000 (2 lakhs for the Indian folks..) you become a preferred customer. What this means is that you don’t get charged for most bank transactions and your minimum balance is waived for 20 years. Alongwith this, you’re also eligible for a free zero balance dirham checking account in the UAE. Pretty nifty, huh ?

Oh and there’s a cool bonus on top of this. Withdrawals from the NRE debit card attract no charge at any ATM world-wide. [that means you can use ANY bank's ATM and you won't see a charge..] Pretty cool!

So to sum it up. In the end, Paypal withdrawals in the UAE to debit cards don’t work well at all. Most banks won’t allow you to use their debit cards online. Those that do (Emirates NBD) have some sketchy systems that aren’t really all that reliable. I haven’t done any research on withdrawals to credit cards but that really isn’t all that great because they always attract cash advance fees. If anyone has any info on working debit card withdrawals for Paypal in the UAE (which bank are you with ?), fill me in! : )

 
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Posted in Count those dollars

 

3G Performance Review in Kenya – Safaricom

28 Feb

Well, after my travels around Kenya I am now in a favourable position to rate the 3G internet performance in this country. To begin with, I started my journey in Nairobi (the capital). As detailed in a previous post, you don’t need any documentation to purchase a pre-paid sim-card in Kenya. Just pay 100 KSh and you’re good to go. I also took on an ongoing unlimited bandwidth for a week offer for KSh 1000. So with KSh 1,100 I was setup with an unlimited data plan on my mobile phone which worked almost everywhere in the country.

Without further ado, here are the numbers:

Nairobi:
Speedtest.net Results:
Download: 307Kbps Upload: 265Kbps
Coverage: Excellent

Nairobi has excellent city-wide coverage with Safaricom. You can get a 3G signal at most places and you’ll be able to use the internet pretty well. While these speeds aren’t exactly mind blowing, it does the job for me. I’m not really looking to stream youtube videos in realtime while I travel through the Savannah.

Masai Mara:

There wasn’t any 3G coverage in the Masai Mara. Edge coverage was acceptable and I used that most of the time. Websites would load pretty speedily and I could check my e-mail, etc. Network coverage is a little weak in the Masai Mara but this is expected since the area is a wildlife reserve and those big cats ain’t got no use for mobile phones :P

Lake Nakuru/Nakuru City:
Speedtest.net Results:
Download: 750Kbps Upload: 277Kbps
Coverage: Excellent

This was definitely quite impressive considering that Nakuru is only the 4th largest city in Kenya. (and there aren’t THAT many cities). 3G coverage was excellent throughout the city and was available even in areas within the wildlife park. Nothing like checking your email while sitting next to an African Rhino.

So to sum it up. If you have a phone that is 3G enabled, a laptop that you can tether it to (or simply browse comfortably on the phone), it’s definitely worth it to grab a Safaricom pre-paid card while you’re in Kenya. Most hotels/lodges here do not provide internet access and if they do, it’s usually slow and expensive. If you’re here for more than a few days this setup definitely works out.

For this review, I used my iPhone 3G with the Speedtest.net iPhone application. The iPhone was tethered to my Macbook using the steps described in my previous post. It’s pretty straightforward.

Oh and here’s a tip. It’s always better to tether over USB rather than Bluetooth. This is mostly a no-brainer but latency is FAR better over USB. Keeps those pages peppy!

 
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Posted in Techie Stuff, Trotting

 

Day in the Mara: Of travels and technology

24 Feb

Kenya has been quite a surprise, to say the least.. Writing from our tent in the Masai Mara is quite an experience. We don’t have electricity, but I do have internet access owing to Safaricom’s generous 3G service. Though there isn’t any 3G coverage available in the Masai Mara, they have an excellent package (7 days unlimited internet, 999 KSh ~ 50 AED ~ $13.69). So you pay 100 KSh for your Safaricom sim-card and then another 999 KSh for the 7 day package and you’re good to go. Well, Safaricom’s sim doesn’t directly allow you to tether so you do need to visit:

http://unlockit.co.nz

Simply choose to leave your APN, Username and Password blank. Install the generated profile, and voila! tethering is now available.

Another surprise in Kenya was how progressive their anti-smoking laws are. They don’t allow you to smoke anywhere! There are designated zones in parks where you can go and smoke. We found out by accident walking through a park and seeing a spiral of smoke coming from one corner. Park fire ? Nope, desperate smokers :)

Anyhow, that being said, there WAS a worm in Zara’s first meal in Nairobi. Actually, two. Welcome to Africa :D

Our first day in the Masai Mara was pretty cool. Contrary to what most folks say, taking a van is almost the same as taking a land cruiser. The van is a 4WD vehicle and the drivers are forbidden from going off the track anywhere. So land cruiser or not, you’re sticking to the track for the most part. Also, the vans are equipped with ham radio so the drivers can talk to each other. What this means is that if one guy spots a great beast, you’re sure to end up there pretty soon :) We saw two lions, tons of wildebeest and many other animals. For a two hour drive, it sure was eventful!

We start tomorrow at 6:30am. More on that when it happens =)

 
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Posted in Techie Stuff, Trotting

 

Global Village Dubai

15 Feb

I made a trip to Global Village today. Was quite a nice evening. However, most of the pavilions are full of cheap generic crap which you can find most places on earth. The good stalls definitely worth taking a look at are:

Indonesia – Was quite interesting with a variety of different things. Picked up a pack of 3 cute keychains for AED 10. Very nice!
Africa – Had a lot of stuff. Kenya was over-represented but they had some good stuff. Picked up a wall-hanging (made of banana leaves) for AED 30.
Turkey – Had a lot of nice Turkish stuff. Including these interesting fruit soaps that look like the fruits. So there’s an orange flavoured soap that looks like an orange :P Apart from that, they had some great Turkish bowls with painting work on them. Very pretty!

Other than that, most of the pavilions were quite the usual. India wasn’t impressive because you get better stuff everywhere else in Dubai. Didn’t check out Pakistan. Egypt wasn’t nice because it focused more on the modern arabic egypt rather than the ancient mysterious egypt that we love =)

Don’t forget to check out the cute lil’ hippos @ the Africa pavilion. And the dudes that Zara thought were Masai Mara guys in front of it. Valentines day was quite nice this year =)

 
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Posted in Trotting

 
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