Gadget Techie

UPDATE: I highly suggest NOT updating your iPhone to the newest 3.1 OS. After using the phone a couple of days I have noticed that my battery drains A LOT quicker. And by a lot I mean it is under 20% at 4pm after not using it AT ALL and having fully charged it the night before. If you have already updated, you can always revert back to the 3.0.1 OS (there are plenty of websites that show you how).

Well, either technology LOVES to break on me, or Apple is slacking because I am just having a slew of problems with them. First my Macbook Pro starts acting up (read my previous posts), and now my iPhone 3G just bricked on me. For those that don’t know, when an iPhone “bricks”, it basically just dies and is only useful as a brick or paper weight since it won’t turn on or do anything.

The brick happened when trying to update to the newest iPhone OS 3.1. After downloading the update via iTunes and backing up my phone, I kept getting an error message and my phone would stay in restore mode (as pictured above). After searching through forums, I got many crazy “solutions” that required a lot of deleting of files and stuff so I kept looking. After some time, I came upon the right solution for me. It did not require anything complicated or the removal of a bunch of files.

You essentially want to put your iPhone into DFU mode (DFU = Device Firmware Update). This puts the iPhone in restore mode before loading the OS. To do this just follow these steps:

1. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone to the computer
2. Press and hold the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons on the iPhone for exactly 10 seconds
3. Release the Sleep/Wake button while still holding the Home button down
4. iTunes should pop up a window similar to the one shown below

Now you can restore and update your iPhone. After the process is done, you will be given the chance to restore the latest backup (so don’t freak out when you see that your phone has gone back to the factory settings and has none of your email accounts or contacts).

Hopefully this will help someone. I am really disappointed in Apple. Seems like they are slipping up.

Macs are known for their ability to just work. Software seems to behave very well and for the most part, you don’t get as many crashes or freeze ups as on a Windows machine. However, the more I use my Macbook Pro the more I realize that, while it is true that you get less lock ups and crashes on a Mac, when something weird does happen, it is VERY hard to find a solution.

My first problem of this sort with my Macbook Pro was with the wifi. Whenever I would put my Mac to sleep and wake it up in an area with a different wifi network, it would not acquire a proper IP address until I turned off the firewall. Then, after it acquired a proper IP address, I could turn the firewall back on and go about my business. I spent hours on the phone with Apple Tech Support (which by the way is amazing!) trying to get this fixed. In the end, I upgraded to Snow Leopard and that seemed to make the problem go away.

Now enter my second issue: not being able to minimize windows. This time in Snow Leopard, although judging by forum posts it doesn’t really matter what version of Mac OS you have. This appears to be a random event and is not isolated to just one application or window. The yellow minimize button would be grayed out as well as the minimize option under the Window menu. The shortcut key (Command+M) doesn’t work either. Quite a few people seem to be having this issue and yet I found it extremely difficult to find a solution for it. Therefore, I am posting it here so as to increase the chances of someone finding it.

Turns out that it has to do with Quicktime. If you run Quicktime, open a movie file, make it full screen, and then quit Quicktime, the problem should be fixed. Like I said, when there is an issue on a Mac, it is very difficult to track down the culprit just because most of the time the root cause makes no sense.

Emoji icons are Japanese picture characters of emoticons. If you have looked at the app store lately, you have probably run into quite a few of them either in the title of some apps or the reviews of apps.

Now before I continue, realize that ALL iPhones have the emoji characters built in. All the apps in the app store that claim to install emoji characters onto your phone are not being entirely truthful and making a quick buck off of you (if you buy their app). The characters are already in your phone, you just need to enable them.

The reason why emoji characters are not enabled on most iPhones is because they belong to 3 different Japanese operators including SoftBank Mobile (used to be called Vodafone). Therefore, phones that come through them (think of them as service providers such as AT&T) have emoji enabled by default. Because these characters technically belong to these Japanese operators, AT&T or any other company does not have the right to have them enabled and as such do not let you easily enable them.

That is where these apps in the app store come in. They are able to access the hidden settings in your phone and enable them. Once enabled, the app is not needed anymore and is basically useless. As of this writing, there is no free emoji app in the app store. However, there is a free emoji enabler app in the app store: Spell Numbers

“What is the difference”, you may ask. Well, this free app’s main purpose is to spell out numbers that you type. It’s secondary purpose is enabling emoji. It is basically the author of the app using a loop-hole to get around Apple’s crackdown on emoji enabling apps. Apple does not like apps who’s main and only purpose is to enable the emoji keyboard.

The developer of Spell Numbers tried to make sure that Apple would not catch on to it’s true purpose by requiring that you enter a certain unique number into the app in order for it to activate the emoji keyboard. The following are instructions on  how to get everything to work from start to finish:

1. Once you have downloaded the app, run it and type the following number: 91929394.59 and press Return on keyboard. Nothing should happen.
2. Close app and go to Settings
3. Press General
4. Press International
5. Press Keyboards
6. Select Japanese
7. Enable Emoji
8. Go to Notes or SMS and press the small globe key to the left of the spacebar on the keyboard. Now you should see them. You can swipe left and right to go through them.
9. You can delete the Spell Numbers app now

*If 91929394.59 does not work, go to the developer’s site at waterworld.com.hk and check to see if he changed the number. He normally refers to it as an Easter Egg in the app. If you have never heard of “Easter Egg” being referred to in software terms, check out this article in wikipedia.

That is it. You have just enabled the Emoji keyboard on your iPhone for free. You do not need to worry about it getting disabled when you backup or sync to iTunes. The only way it would get disabled would be if you were to wipe your iPhone and reformat it (do a clean reinstall of the iPhone OS).

Parallels and OnTheHub are currently offering free copies of their amazing Parallels Desktop 4.0 to the winners of their Twitter contest. The instructions are on their twitter accounts and on the OnTheHub page but basically, all you have to do to enter is: Re-tweet #parallels4students. That is it! The contest might still be going so hurry [...]

Google and Hasbro are teaming up to bring you the classic game of Monopoly with a new twist: Google Maps! You will basically be able to play Monopoly using real locations. It is called Monopoly City Streets.

Each player will start with $3 million and be able to buy property and constructs buildings to get rent [...]

While working on Hillegass’ book Cocoa(R) Programming for Mac(R) OS X (3rd Edition). I made this small app. It is called Speak Line and it basically speaks whatever you type in the text field. It is very entertaining.
The book shows you how to do it with the default voice but I could not stop there. [...]

Today I was programming in Xcode and realized that every time I ran my programs, I would get these weird messages in the debugger console. They didn’t break anything or cause the program to end prematurely but it made the compile and run process take longer and flooded the console with the weird message “unable [...]

A lot of people always ask me what the easiest way to create ringtones for the iPhone is. Apple made sure to make the process time consuming and not that obvious for the average user. Instead they offer to create the ringtone for you through iTunes at a price. Well I am here to tell [...]

After installing the new OS X Snow Leopard on my Macbook Pro, I encountered some incompatibilities with some software. All of these incompatibilities were easily fixed by updating the software except for one: my HP printer/scanner/copier software.

The printer was working fine as a printer but I was not able to scan anything. I would press [...]

Up until today, I have been using hot corners in Mac OS X Leopard in two ways:

To start the screen saver as a way to lock my machine (require login)
To put the display to sleep when I am in class and wish to conserve energy or hide my screen without having to log back in.

After [...]

So last night I decided to go ahead and read up on how to enable tethering on my iPhone. For those that do not know, enabling tethering lets you use your iPhone’s 3G data connection to connect your laptop or desktop to the internet. You basically connect the phone to the computer via the iPhone [...]

Ever since I bought my Macbook Pro 15″ I have been VERY happy with it. The operating system is great, the laptop hardware is very nice, and everything works together flawlessly. That is, until now. I have found the first con of this laptop: it’s sharp edges.

Because of it’s unibody design and the way they made [...]

When deciding how to go about learning Objective-C and Cocoa Touch for the iPhone, I came up with various methods. My first method was to read online tutorials from various sites. I soon learned that this was not the way to go. Most tutorials are quick and dirty and as such don’t really go in [...]

I have officially purchased a Macbook Pro 15″
The specs are as follows:

Intel Core 2 Duo – 2.53GHz
4GB of 1066MHZ RAM
320GB Hard Drive @ 7200RPM
Nvidia Geforce 9400M

I must say that this machine is VERY well made. It feel extremely sturdy while still maintaining the beauty that Apple products are notorious for.
Last night, after downloading Xcode [...]

I have not updated this blog in a while and decided that now is a good time to do so.
I am planning on learning Objective-C (Apple’s programming language) and creating an iPhone app. I still do not have an idea of the app I want to create. I just know that I want to make [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part [...]

UPDATE: Once you are done reading this post, make sure to go to the homepage of this blog (http://gadgettechie.net) to read the other parts of this series. You can also click on the Apple category on the right of this page.
You can find the other parts of this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part [...]

So I go home today and to my surprise there is a Geek Squad car on my driveway.
I consider myself very knowledgeable in technology and especially computers. So when I saw that someone in my family had called Geek Squad I was offended! Why would they not ask me for help. There is no need [...]

Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I have decided to transfer the voltage regulator circuit that I previously posted about onto a strip board.
I am still trying to work out the best layout of the components but here are a couple of pics of what I have so far. In [...]

When I bought my Black 16GB iPhone 3G, I could not decide whether I wanted to buy a case for it to protect the phone or if I wanted it bare so I could see and feel the iPhone (the iPhone is beautiful and the new 3G one feels A LOT better in your hands [...]

Apple came out with a software update yesterday (Monday). While it is not version 2.1 which rumors say will have cut and paste capabilities, this iPhone OS update does (supposedly) fix the sluggish performance experienced by users after the 2.0 update.
Apple has been very “secretive” as to what this 2.0.1 patch actually fixes/improves keeping the [...]

This was a fun project. I got the idea for it at a website (I cannot remember which at the moment). The idea is simple: You make a circuit that sends out an IR (infrared) signal to the TV with the same frequency at which the TV remote operates, essentially ”masking” or “jamming” the signal coming from the [...]

Once again, I decided to build my own equipment instead of buying it for a lot more. This time it’s a logic probe. It uses a 12F PIC to detect when a signal is high (1) or low (0). Being that it has a lot of pins and only one is needed for the probe, [...]

Throughout my undergraduate career I focused entirely on analog circuits. Now that I started this hobby, there was no avoiding digital and to be honest, I felt horrible that I had a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and I knew very little about the digital side of things. Because of this I set out to [...]

I bought the iPhone 3G the weekend it came out. Waited about 4 hours in line for it. I already had some experience with an iPhone since I had bought my girlfriend the first generation version (I decided to wait until 3G and GPS was in the phone).
After getting the iPhone 3G I began running [...]

I am testing the Wordpress app on my iPhone. Hopefully it works.

This little circuit is a money saver! Before making it, I was looking for a varibale power supply for my projects and the prices were usually well above $100. It wasn’t until I went to the electro-tech-online.com forums and talked to some people there that I realized that I could just make my own power [...]

The very first circuit that I ever made on my own was a stereo audio amplifier. I chose to make this circuit out of necessity. At the internship I was in, the computer seemed to not amplify the audio coming out of it and my speakers did not have an amplifier either and so the [...]

Well hello fellow viewers. This is my very first post on this blog. I am still unsure of the aim of this blog but for now I think I will focus on my hobby: electronics.
I recently got into this hobby and so far have invested well over $300 on it. In my opinion that is very [...]