Marcelo Toledo

You will need windows or Mac for the first moment and then you’ll be free. I have a VMware image in my computer and I could never make it work with USB, this time I had a chance to look after this issue and found out why. Linux’s VMWare doesn’t work with USB 2.0, to workaround this you can either change it to 1.1 through software (Kernel or BIOS) or you can use a USB 1.1 Hub, another option is using a temporary machine with windows, I have one at work and that’s what I did.

You need to install the latest iTunes and then install a software called iBrickr. The interface is designed to read like an interactive tutorial - just download the Zip file, extract it somewhere and run ibrickr.exe. You only need to install the application Installer, which will make it possible to install things directly from an iPhone connected to Wi-Fi or EDGE. From now on you won’t need Windows or Mac anymore.

Setting up your iPhone

1. Go to your iPhone and connect to the internet

2. Open Installer and install OpenSSH

3. Find the ip address you are connected to, ssh to it. Will take a minute or so to generate the keys for the first time. Enter the default password dottie, change it and log out.

Mounting iPhone on Linux

Now we need to make your Linux machine able to mount a directory remotely through ssh. You have two options, you can either use Ubuntu or command line sshfs, I will use sshfs here.

sudo apt-get install sshfs

Add yourself to the fuse group

sudo adduser johndoe fuse [Replace johndoe with your username]

Re-authenticate using su - johndoe to avoid /dev/fuse errors later on (or reboot). We’ll be leaving this terminal open for the rest of this guide. Turn off auto-lock on your iPhone by going to Settings -> General -> Auto-Lock -> Never, if it shut down you will lost carrier.

When running sshfs you may receive errors. Common ones are about /dev/fuse - logout, reauthenticate using su - johndoe, or rebooting is a simple solution (although not needed).

Finally mount it

sshfs root@iphone-ip-address:Media /media/iphone-media/

Installing latest Gtkpod

Now we’ll set up gtkpod, it will be installed in a different directory and won’t affect your current installation. Check out libgpod and gtkpod via svn.

svn co https://gtkpod.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gtkpod/gtkpod/trunk gtkpod
svn co https://gtkpod.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/gtkpod/libgpod/trunk libgpod

Install libgpod

cd libgpod
mkdir ~/storage
./configure --prefix=~/storage
make && make install

And now the gtkpod

cd ../gtkpod
PKG_CONFIG_PATH=~/storage/lib/pkgconfig ./configure --prefix=~/storage
make && make install

Create a ~/bin/gtkpod-local.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/bash
 
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=~/storage/lib ~/storage/bin/gtkpod

Give permission to execute

chmod +x ~/bin/gtkpod-local.sh

Use your script to run it and you can use it just like a normal device that has been mounted, set the exact version of your device, ignore any errors about mmap’ing the ArtworkDB, or about not having permission to copy the playcount file. The current version doesn’t support album images, but someone is working on a patch and should be ready soon.

After transferring your data you might want to restart the iPhone, open the iPod program, then hold the home button for a solid three seconds, this will restart springboard and have it read the newly written database, your music should be available right away.

To unmount use:

fusermount -u ~/iphone-media

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Microsoft has just applied for a mind reading patent, two engineers are responsible for this patent, they are specialists in Human-Computer Interaction and Brain-Computer Interfaces.

Asking people to execute specific tasks in the computer, video recording and asking questions later might not produce reliable answers. “Human beings are often poor reporters of their own actions,” Microsoft says.

The patent application details how this interface would work. Secret sources points that Google is writing a plugin to search your brain.

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Thinkgeek team created a shirt to display Wi-Fi signal, the glowing bars on the front dynamically change as the surrounding Wi-Fi signal strength fluctuates.

It shows signals in 802.11b or 802.11g and it’s 100% cotton. The animated decal is removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for easy washing and the baterry pack is concealed in a small pocket sewn inside the shirt, works for a few hours with 3 AAA batteries.

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I try not to spend my money on things that doesn’t work for me, I had a Palm V years ago, it was perfect for a few months, then suddenly it became too heavy and too complicated to carry. I realized that the only similar thing I would like to have is a smartphone.

Yesterday I was thinking if I should buy a Nokia N95 or an iPhone, I made my mind, my perfect phone doesn’t exist yet and I will stick with my simple phone for a while more.

Mark Pilgim has a strong opinion on the iPhone case.

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It was 10 years ago that Michael Dell, speaking before several thousand technology executives at ITxpo97 in Orlando, answered a question about what he would do if he were CEO of Apple with a remark he probably instantly regretted:

“What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.” (link)

As others have noted, Apple’s (AAPL) market capitalization today is more than double that of Dell (DELL):

Apple: $140.4 billion

Dell: $62.27 billion

But don’t shed a tear for Micheal Dell. According to a list of the 400 wealthiest Americans published last month, his net worth is more than triple Steve Jobs’.

Michael Dell: $15.5 billion

Steve Jobs: $4.9 billion

[Chart comparing 10 years of Apple and Dell share prices courtesy of NASDAQ.]

Source: CNN Money

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