How to get rejected from the app store (iPhone OS)

After shedding light on an impending rootkit demo for Android yesterday, seems only fair to share this link today bout Apple’s rejection policies:

http://infoworld.com/d/developer-world/how-get-rejected-the-app-store-854

The article goes on to list 12 well-known sure fire ways to get your app rejected, and admittedly more than half seem to be more rooted in corporate evil than any sort of sense.  I’m still happily clutching my iPhone, but it does leave me wondering how long Apple can hold onto their iPhone/iPad/iPod userbase with innovation and design quality when they’re so busy alienating them with limited choices after the purchase.

Ooops, your Android phone got rooted!

“Hoping to understand what a new generation of mobile malware could resemble, security researchers will demonstrate a malicious “rootkit” program they’ve written for Google’s Android phone next month at the Defcon hacking conference in Las Vegas.”

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/060210-android-rootkit-is-just-a.html

This is just another reason I have mixed feelings over how Apple handles apps with the app store.

Yeah, it means I can’t run whatever I want, and have to play by their rules without jailbreaking, but it sure makes rootkits a bit harder to pull off.

iPhone users finally get tethering

AT&T has finally announced a tethering plan for the iPhone as well as new plans for data packages in general (replacing the old ones for NEW customers).  More info here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37467137/ns/technology_and_science-wireless/

What I want to know is this:

Will I be able to tether my iPad to my iPhone?  This seems like a no-brainer and a perfect example of Apple technology working together, but will undoubtedly be blocked by the money-hungry suits at AT&T hoping users pony up for TWO data plans.  I hope I’m wrong.

UPDATE:

AT&T claims you won’t be able to tether the iPad through an iPhone, but that the issue is not contractual.  Instead, it’s a limitation of how Apple has blocked the bluetooth PAN profile on the iPad.

Much like how MyWi continues to be the main reason people are willing to jailbreak their iPhone, I can see this being a damn good reason to jailbreak an iPad since given the choice between the two, I’d rather jailbreak a device that isn’t tied to a contract and that I don’t count on to make calls, etc.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Welcome!

Welcome to the site.  Check the “About the Author” page for what this site is all about.

Garmin nuvi 660 Bluetooth Fix

Kind of off the topic here, but I own a Garmin nuvi 660 GPS that I absolutely LOVE, but the bluetooth functionality just quits working all by itself every few months.

There’s an endless amount of horror stories online about this with various suggestions for a fix, but most people just end up living without the bluetooth or sending the unit back to Garmin each time the bluetooth fails until the warranty expires.

Through my own trial and error, I put together what’s needed to fix the problem yourself.

The bluetooth problem usually manifests itself as such that bluetooth becomes disabled on the nuvi, and enabling it causes the GPS to lock up or freeze.  Holding down the power button will reset it, but bluetooth is still disabled and re-enabling just causes it to freeze again.

I’ve put together a fix that contains steps to follow and a file you’ll need to replace on the nuvi 660 while it’s connected to your PC.

I hope this reaches other fellow Garmin owners that just want their bluetooth to work.  And Garmin, if you’re reading this, would you please consider providing a PERMANENT FIX TO THIS ISSUE!!??

Link to download fix:

Garmin_nuvi_660_Bluetooth_Fix.zip

Classmates.com Can Suck My Firewall.

So. . . every couple months I get spammed for days straight from classmates.com because someone has looked at my page, signed the guestbook, or maybe even THOUGHT about looking at something for all I know.

Every couple months I attempt to CANCEL receiving email from them, since I could really care less about it.  I -might- care if you didn’t go there only to find out you can’t see anything without first paying them money.  I’m sure those of you that have been to the site know what I’m talking about.  The best part is, you can’t even cancel or change your email settings without first signing in and walking through 15 ads.

I don’t even KNOW what my damn password is.  I signed up 5+ years ago, and that’s the only time I was ever “logged in”.  So, since I don’t know my password, I can’t even login to unsubscribe.  Imagine a scenario where you have an email address, let’s say spongebob788@happydomain.com and you sign up at classmates.com with it.   2 years tick by and you no longer have that email address, but someone else signs up with happydomain.com, picks the address “spongebob788″, and now they’re getting your classmates.com spam, and they can’t cancel it!

Since I can’t unsubscribe, and they have NO other means to contact them other than through the website once you’ve signed in, I’m left with one choice.

-BLOCK THE BASTARDS-

That’s right, I run my own network and email infrastructure, so I looked up their CIDR range at ARIN, which happens to be:

65.243.133.0/24

Add that to your firewall, block port 25, and you’ll never receive crap from them ever again (unless they change providers, then you’d just have to add their new CIDR)

So, classmates.com – “SUCK MY FIREWALL”

Updates to photo site

Just went live with the new version of my photo site.  Check it out by clicking below:

http://rnhphoto.com

What’s changed?

1) Better navigation

2) Flash slideshow on the front page

3) Portfolio’s are all flash-based now and easily updateable

4) More pics in most of the portfolios

Keep an eye here as well since now that the site is more update-friendly I’ll be adding content regularly and expanding the features.

Humans generating energy – BEST IDEA EVER!

http://dvice.com/archives/2008/12/revolving_door.php

Check out this article at DVICE.  Immediately I’m thinking of other ways we can harness energy from human movement.  Think of *ALL* those people at the gym on stairclimbers, friction weight machines, etc.  The friction on all those machines could be created by electricity generating systems.

Imagine a model where your gym membership was free because the gym’s could “sell” the electricy you generated while exercising to the grid.

No, No, Relax. . . Really

Styrofoam Dome Home

Tom, I thought of you instantly when I saw this.

Interconnectable, fairly cheap, and easy to assemble.  Similar concepts have been around for a while, but this looks to improve on existing cheap, fast, alternative housing offerings.

The article does touch on things like high-resistance to earthquakes, etc.  Given the lightweight, solid construction, I imagine this is quite true and could be a heck of a selling point for at least this “type” of housing in highly volatile areas as either temporary or semi-permanent housing.

DVICE is running the full article.