You have to love these guys. They are modern day heros. Now Apple might think contrary, but you have to admire the Dev-Team’s vibrato. Their stamina. Their commitment. This disparate group of programmers, hackers, telecom industry workers, et al, from all over the world, doing what Apple should have done all along. Make the iPhone open to any and all GSM networks around the world. There might be those who would brand them thieves and hacker-thugs. But I commend them.

Having been an early adopter of hacking my iPhone, I am in awe of these guys. They have taken the task and turned it into an art form. They’ve taken the time to find the vulnerabilities of the iPhone and the OS to deliver their payload through any available vector. And then they wrap what use to be a terminal command line nightmare, into the slickest Mac and Windows applications I have seen so far, to accomplish the task. Thank you all for the hard work you do. And thanks to Apple for not trying to rain on the Dev-Teams achievements.

I spent maybe 30 minutes total this morning using PwnageTool and iTunes to get my custom 3.0 .ipsw file built and onto my iPhone. Once that happened, the Pwnage payload did its “magic” on the iPhone by auto configuring itself. While this was going on I Tweeted about it. (Okay I’ve become a TwitterNerd or perhaps a TwitWit now). Then I did a restore from the backup I did before starting all this, like a good little iPhone citizen should do. While that was happening I made my Peet’s coffee and breakfast. I knew it would take a bit of time to load all my iPhone apps, music, etc back on the phone.

The next step is to get all my Cydia apps and hacks loaded … WinterBoard, Five Icon Dock, Open SSH, BossTools, TMobile Carrier Logos, etc. These things are the icing on the iPhone cake. So now it’s time for me to SSH into my iPhone and load my custom desktop, and dock I’ve created. It’s a job … but someone has to do it.

I know. I know. It’s just a phone. Get a life! But hey at least … I pwn it!

There has been a huge ramp-up for the release, starting long before last weeks “World Wide Developers Conference” (WWDC). The fan-boy blogs and the Twitter-verse has been on fire. But Apple has also been pushing hard too. This is their cash cow, their baby. That and all the iPhone apps that will now have to be updated and OS 3.0 compatible by the OS 3.0 release date tomorrow? We’ll see.

Well actually I have seen. I Tweeted earlier tonight in two separate tweets :

Those #iPhone #apps are just pouring out. I got 4 just today. Seems like everyone is trying to get their apps 3.0 ready. Keep ‘em coming. 10:19:19 PM June 16, 2009 from Tweetie


#app #iphone updates:
iTV http://bit.ly/xiL4J
Amazon http://bit.ly/158j1y
Twitterific P http://bit.ly/VBHkG
Trip Cubby http://bit.ly/o9BS8
10:16:14 PM June 16, 2009 from Tweetie

@MuscleNerd from the iPhone Dev-Team did a live broadcast and demo of “UltraSnow” the new iPhone OS 3.0 jailbreak. You have to love these guys! The software isn’t officially released and already they have a jailbreak written and ready to go for the new OS. You can find out all the particulars on the Dev-Team Blog.

So I’m ready with my 1st-gen iPhone for the Dev-Team to deliver PwnageTool and QuickPwn their two wonderful jailbreak apps … for the rest of us. Oh how I’d love a new shinny iPhone 3G S … but alas … I’m poor. And seeing how I use T-mobile I can’t get a subsidized iPhone from AT&T. I paid full price for my original one. Not again. But then again I’ve heard that before too. I’ll just take a wait and see attitude. I know I’ll get enough of the new OS benefits. But will they be enough? Only time will tell.

So iPhone enthusiasts, fanboys/fangirls & the uninitiated … start your engines! 3.0 is coming! 3.0 is coming!

When the going gets tough … the tough go shopping!

Took a little trip down Portland way this past weekend. It was a Valentine’s getaway. Little did I know I’d be coming home with a new computer and display. Up until this point my Al SiO2 iMac and my old school MacBook Pro 15″ G4 were doing the trick.

Then there was that fateful trip to the Portland Apple store that Saturday. I laid my eyes on the new Apple 24″ LCD display, connected oh so nicely to a new uni-body MacBook Pro. I was in love … or at least certainly in lust.

Apple has finally made it too easy to connect this beautiful 24″ display to to its new line of uni-body MacBooks and MacBook Pros. In an instant I saw my future. It entailed selling my old 24″ iMac & my trusty MacBook Pro, in order to make way for this magnificent new combo. I was hooked. I must have it. I must have it now! To my credit, I waited an entire day before making the purchase. I was doing my duty as an American citizen to help stimulate the sagging economy. Yeah! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Now that I’ve had the 15 x 24 combo … I’m liking it so much. I like having two displays. This is an awesome way to get a 15″ pallet display, and a 24″ working display. Yes it takes up a little more desk space … but in the long run it’s worth it. I also don’t have to sync two computers. When I go to a client … I have everything I need on this one computer. Oh … and did I mention it’s even faster than my old 2.4 Ghz 24″ iMac? Now all I need to do is replace the 350 GB 5200 RPM HD currently in the MacBook Pro with a new Segate 500 GB 7200 RPM HD and it will be even zippier. Woo hoo!

The downside … if any … is no FireWire 400 on the new uni-body MacBook line. The MacBooks only have USB 2. No FireWire at all. The MacBook Pro had only 0ne FireWire 800 port. Onthat count I’m lucky. All the external storage I have I bought with multi-interface ability, including FireWire 800. But my trusty LaCie DVD burner, will go by the way of the Dodo. It only has FireWire 400 capability. Yes there are adapters to be had to use it on a FireWire 800 bus. But once a single FireWire 400 device is connected to an 800 chain, the entire chain is slowed to 400 speeds. Drat!

Like every technology advance there will be those who wax nostalgic and or rant about how Apple is forcing them into a place the user is not ready to go. From my point of view … oh well. Don’t buy it. But at some point you’ll have to give up your OS 6 running Mac of yore. Or not. That’s the beauty of being a Mac user. Macintosh computers tend to last (almost) forever. And we are such a vocal and loyal bunch that sometimes we don’t want to give up what we have known and loved in our pasts.

Not me baby! I’ve always been bleeding edge. Ouch! I’m always a dive in head first and see how long I need to tread the digital waters. It’s how I learn. It’s part of how I keep up. I need to go through some of those growing pains. I need to experience what my clients might go through, so they don’t have to. It’s part of being a consultant. I bleed so you don’t need to.

As of this moment though … I’m in love with my new gear. As always I’ll keep you informed as I find new things to rant or rave about. Right now … I have some new external hard drives I need to look at. Mmm … technology.