Apple: Next iPhone update could break unlocked phones

From ChinaTechNews.com:

Microsoft (MSFT) has announced further plans to open Vista source code in China.

Microsoft has reportedly signed a new government security program source code agreement with China Information Technology Security Certification Center, allowing CNITSEC and other approved institutions to look over the source code and relevant technical data of Microsoft's products, including Windows Vista, Windows XP, Office, Windows CE and etcetera,so as to improve their evaluation on the security of Microsoft products. The agreement is an important part of the MOU signed between National Development and Reform Commission and Microsoft in April 2006.

Microsoft's Government Security Program helps government departments and international organizations evaluate the security of Microsoft products. CNITSEC previously signed an agreement with Microsoft on security source code in February 2003 and was authorized to check over the company's major source code and technical data.

Microsoft's move should bring good results in the promotion of information security and enhancement of mutual trust between China and the United States

According to a post on his blog, a well-known Norwegian hacker has figured out a way to bypass restrictions on the iPhone that forces people to activate on the AT&T network. Now the iPhone might be worth buying.

Digital Journal — Jon Lech Johansen, a 23-year-old famous for his hacking of consumer electronics, says he has cracked the iPhone. In a post on his blog on July 3 (titled "iPhone Independence Day"), Johansen said: "I’ve found a way to activate a brand new unactivated iPhone without giving any of your money or personal information to AT&T NSA. The iPhone does not have phone capability, but the iPod and WiFi work. Stay tuned!"

Johansen's blog, titled "So Sue Me" provides source code and software for hackers to activate an iPhone for iPod+WiFi use.

Hackers and coders have been working around the clock to crack the iPhone's security restrictions since its launch a week ago.

Apple is in a long-term contract with AT&T, meaning anyone who wants an iPhone must activate it through the wireless carrier.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T said it was "necessary" to activate the iPhone on his company's network to "ensure optimum performance."

Despite what AT&T's spin doctors have said, anyone in the tech world knows the wireless provider has what can only be described as a horribly slow Edge network, and many Apple fans want to use the phone without activating on AT&T.

The hack is important for an iPhone owner who wants to travel abroad and use the Internet or the phone's music without having to pay AT&T to activate the phone.

As hackers continue to dig through code, cracks will also (likely) eventually lead to a way for the iPhone to work on another network. The phone comes locked, and a crack is (of course) against AT&T and Apple's contract.

No doubt, few crackers actually care about that.

Johansen is practically a god in the underground tech world, most well-known as "DVD Jon" for reversing the code on DVDs that protect them from being pirated.

On his blog, Johansen warns the "application will not do anything unless you understand the magic numbers as well as add the hosts entry," and you will need software installed on your computer. 

trackback: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/203417/Norwegian_Hacker_Claims_to_Have_Cracked_iPhone_AT_T_Restrictions

by Christopher Hogg

Trackbacks, explained

Trackback is basicly a link of reference to other websites, blogs, where you might have wanted to comment, critique or to refer to as a source of information. It will automatically ping the server of that specific website, so the owner of the original site is notified about your trackback. The result effect is that your website's popularity increases and you gain authority in that specific topic for gather opinions from various different sources.

1. You should start by enabling trackback from any public websites. Enable this option by going into options->blog settings.

2. The most obvious method to trackback from a live space, is hit the "blog it" option. THis will bring you to a posting page, where the trackback link is already filled in.

Notice the ending of trackback link from a live space ends in "***.trak".

3. To find out the link for trackback for a specific entry on a live space blog, right lick "Permalink", and you will see the link to that entry in the poped up property window. Now just change the extention "***.entry" to "***.trak".

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First step: the most important step... Download Mac OS X JaS 10.4.8 AMD Intel. You can find the file through eMule or BT, here is a link to the seed for BT: http://www.sendspace.com/file/lpt3jg

Good, now burn a dvd from the image file you've just downloaded.

Now, for duo boot users. You should do a disc partition, an application called Partition Magic, or Acronis disk Director Suite 10 should do the trick. But remember, the disc format for the OS X must be "FAT 32 Logical" not "NTF", remember!!! After you install the system, you then need to change "FAT 32 Logical" to "FAT 32 Primary", remember!!! SO that OS X can start properly.

put the dvd into computer, restart and you will see...

here you select the language, you can choose chinese.

After choosing which driver you will install OS X, e.g. D:\ or E:\, you will be asked to format the disc into Mac OS Extended (Journled)

Very simple.

If you have Intel CPU, choose the file for Intel CPU!!!!!

Skip...

The total instalation time is about 30 minutes or so, you can rest aside and listen to some music or watch some tv.

Haha, you are done. Here is a comparison with MacBook pro.

trackback: http://pop.6park.com/chan6/messages/31270.html

Things to look for when select a cellphone

Many of you will be going on holidays overseas this summer, and consider buying a cellphone, digital camera, mp4 and etcetera. Here I would give you some suggestions in picking a cell phone, as the last gift I can give you before we say goodbye.

The integration of camera, mp3 into cellphone is almost an inevitable procedure of any phone behind the glass display case. Sony Ericsson has just released w610i is one of the delegates of these popular walkman/digital cam phones, though it is not the type of phones I would select.

For professionals, businessmen, many of the functions such as push-email from the highly successful Blackberry, schedule/calendar, notepad, internet and etcetera are equally important to entertainment functions. PDA (personal digital assistants), those that lack the function of mobile phone, but would serve all the above needs are dying out. The future belongs to the decedents of PDA’s, which combines the functions of pocket pc and mobile phone. Such phones are called Smartphones. The obvious choice comes to mind would be an iPhone, which is coming out in just 4 days (June 29th). Other choices includes Blackberry phones, the latest is Blackberry 8300 (Curve), but slightly too expensive both to purchase and to maintain (the service that is).

The secret to Smartphones’ power lies within its integrated firmware, which includes an OS (operation system); so that one can update its software at convenience, e.g. install/uninstall softwares, games. You can do absolutely anything you do on a computer, read pdf books, listen to mp3’s, watch optimized movie clips, play games and ectcetera.

Some popular phones, like Nokia 3250, an excellent smartphone with Symbian 9.0 has a problem that dust can get inside the space under the glass screen. Motorola also have some great phones, the new Razr looks slick, but the drawback is its short battery duration and it’s not a smartphone so that you are limited in installing applications. Some additional aspects you should look out for is that the phone should be at least tri-band or quad-band GSM phone, it specifies the frequency it supports so that it will work in Canada. Other things I would personally look in a phone are the size of its screen, talking time, wifi/Bluetooth support, battery duration (this is most important), signal and its ability to resist dust/water/impact.   

Long story short, buy a phone, buy a smartphone. If the phone was a man, than its OS (symbian/Microsoft/linux) is its brain so that it can accept new applications that would serve other purposes than a simple mobile phone. The screen is its face and the battery duration whos how long it lasts without sleep, haha. Good luck finding your phone.

Because of different computer games have different qualifications in terms of graphics, compatibility, hardware and operation, so their programming are done differently, especially there is quite a few distinctive platforms and different companies also have their own preferences. Some popular platforms are Microsoft’s XBOX, Sony’s PlayStation, Nitendo’s Wii etcetera. When you want to play a specific game, you need to know which platform it runs on. For example, you need to own a Playstation to play its games.

There is one more platform, perhaps the most well known of all, is PC. Although the performance of PC is not as superb as those specialized gaming platforms, it still holds a great market share in gaming entertainment. Most of PC is based on Win32, and runs Windows. Many popular PC games are developed with DirectX because it is introduced by Microsoft and contains all the graphic displays, operations and controls. If you want to develop these kinds of games, you need to download a very large SDK (free) library. Today, I will describe another graphic engine, OpenGL.

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a standard for a cross-platform graphics development. Some of the games developed by OpenGL are Doom3, Quake, and etcetera. Strictly speaking, OpenGL can be developed for any platform, and you don’t need to download a SDK, (if you have Visual Studio) because Microsoft cooperated with SGI, so it provides the running library.

Ok, you can now see the code attached; ‘I’ copied it from the Microsoft website. When you run it, you will see a little red light flashing and spinning.

You should have Visual Studio C++, start a new Win32 Project, and use any name you wish. Under Application Settings, choose Windows Application and Empty Project. When the project is initialized, you will see a folder called Source Files. Right Click it and choose Add New Items, choose Code in the popped up window. Then choose C++ File(.cpp), give a name, and hit ‘ok’.

Copy & paste the code included as followed. Then run it.

Source Code:

// MyOpenGL.cpp : Defines the entry point for the application.
//

#ifndef _WIN32_WINNT // Allow use of features specific to Windows XP or later.
#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0501 // Change this to the appropriate value to target other versions of Windows.
#endif

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN // Exclude rarely-used stuff from Windows headers

#include < windows.h >
#include < GL/gl.h >
#include < GL/glu.h >
#include < gl/glaux.h >
#include < math.h >

#pragma comment( lib, "opengl32.lib" )
#pragma comment( lib, "glu32.lib" )
#pragma comment( lib, "glaux.lib" )

/* Windows globals, defines, and prototypes */
TCHAR szAppName[]=L"Win OpenGL";
HWND ghWnd;
HDC ghDC;
HGLRC ghRC;

#define SWAPBUFFERS SwapBuffers(ghDC)
#define BLACK_INDEX 0
#define RED_INDEX 13
#define GREEN_INDEX 14
#define BLUE_INDEX 16
#define WIDTH 600
#define HEIGHT 450

LONG WINAPI MainWndProc (HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
BOOL bSetupPixelFormat(HDC);

/* OpenGL globals, defines, and prototypes */

GLfloat LightAmbient[]= { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f };
GLfloat LightDiffuse[]= { 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f, 1.0f };
GLfloat LightPosition[]= { 0.50f, .50f, -6.0f, 1.0f };
GLfloat Lightspecular[] = { 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f, 1.0f };

GLfloat LightAmbient1[]= { 1.0f, 1.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f };

GLvoid resize(GLsizei, GLsizei);
GLvoid initializeGL(GLsizei, GLsizei);
GLvoid drawScene(GLvoid);
GLfloat yrot=0.0f;
GLfloat xrot=0.0f;
GLfloat zrot=0.0f;

/*Win32 code*/
int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{
MSG msg;
WNDCLASS wndclass;

/* Register the frame class */
wndclass.style = 0;
wndclass.lpfnWndProc = (WNDPROC)MainWndProc;
wndclass.cbClsExtra = 0;
wndclass.cbWndExtra = 0;
wndclass.hInstance = hInstance;
wndclass.hIcon = LoadIcon (hInstance, szAppName);
wndclass.hCursor = LoadCursor (NULL,IDC_ARROW);
wndclass.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
wndclass.lpszMenuName = szAppName;
wndclass.lpszClassName = szAppName;

if (!RegisterClass (&wndclass) )
return FALSE;

/* Create the frame */
ghWnd = CreateWindow (szAppName,
L"OpenGL Sample",
WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_CLIPSIBLINGS | WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
WIDTH,
HEIGHT,
NULL,
NULL,
hInstance,
NULL);

/* make sure window was created */
if (!ghWnd)
return FALSE;

/* show and update main window */
ShowWindow (ghWnd, nCmdShow);

UpdateWindow (ghWnd);

/* animation loop */
while (1) {
/*
* Process all pending messages
*/

while (PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_NOREMOVE) == TRUE)
{
if (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0) )
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
} else {
return TRUE;
}
}
drawScene();
}
}

/* main window procedure */
LONG WINAPI MainWndProc (
HWND hWnd,
UINT uMsg,
WPARAM wParam,
LPARAM lParam)
{
LONG lRet = 1;
PAINTSTRUCT ps;
RECT rect;

switch (uMsg) {

case WM_CREATE:
ghDC = GetDC(hWnd);
if (!bSetupPixelFormat(ghDC))
PostQuitMessage (0);

ghRC = wglCreateContext(ghDC);
wglMakeCurrent(ghDC, ghRC);
GetClientRect(hWnd, &rect);
initializeGL(rect.right, rect.bottom);
break;

case WM_PAINT:
BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
break;

case WM_SIZE:
GetClientRect(hWnd, &rect);
resize(rect.right, rect.bottom);
break;

case WM_CLOSE:
if (ghRC)
wglDeleteContext(ghRC);
if (ghDC)
ReleaseDC(hWnd, ghDC);
ghRC = 0;
ghDC = 0;

DestroyWindow (hWnd);
break;

case WM_DESTROY:
if (ghRC)
wglDeleteContext(ghRC);
if (ghDC)
ReleaseDC(hWnd, ghDC);

PostQuitMessage (0);
break;

case WM_KEYDOWN:
switch (wParam) {
case VK_LEFT:
zrot+=1.0f; break;
case VK_RIGHT:
zrot-=1.0f;break;
case VK_UP:
xrot+=1.0f;break;
case VK_DOWN:
xrot-=1.0f;break;
}
default:
lRet = DefWindowProc (hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam);
break;
}

return lRet;
}

BOOL bSetupPixelFormat(HDC hdc)
{
PIXELFORMATDE***OR pfd, *ppfd;
int pixelformat;

ppfd = &pfd;

ppfd->nSize = sizeof(PIXELFORMATDE***OR);
ppfd->nVersion = 1;
ppfd->dwFlags = PFD_DRAW_TO_WINDOW | PFD_SUPPORT_OPENGL |
PFD_DOUBLEBUFFER;
ppfd->dwLayerMask = PFD_MAIN_PLANE;
ppfd->iPixelType = PFD_TYPE_COLORINDEX;
ppfd->cColorBits = 8;
ppfd->cDepthBits = 16;
ppfd->cAccumBits = 0;
ppfd->cStencilBits = 0;

pixelformat = ChoosePixelFormat(hdc, ppfd);
SetPixelFormat(hdc, pixelformat, ppfd);
return TRUE;
}

/* OpenGL code */

GLvoid resize( GLsizei width, GLsizei height )
{
GLfloat aspect;

glViewport( 0, 0, width, height );

aspect = (GLfloat) width / height;

glMatrixMode( GL_PROJECTION );
glLoadIdentity();
gluPerspective( 45.0, aspect, 3.0, 7.0 );
glMatrixMode( GL_MODELVIEW );
}
//construct the basic objects, and put them in a list
GLvoid createObjects()
{
GLUquadricObj *quadObjBody;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjNet;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjTop;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjUp;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjDown1;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjDown2;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjHandle;
GLUquadricObj *quadObjHead;

glNewList(1, GL_COMPILE);
glPushMatrix();
glScalef(0.7,0.7,0.7);
//draw the handle
glPushMatrix();
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient1);
glTranslatef(0.0f,.0f,-1.4f);
quadObjHandle = gluNewQuadric ();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjHandle, GLU_SILHOUETTE);
gluCylinder(quadObjHandle,0.02,0.02,0.5f,32,32);
quadObjHead = gluNewQuadric ();
gluSphere (quadObjHead, 0.05f, 64, 64);
glPopMatrix();
//draw the top
glPushMatrix();
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient1);
glTranslatef(0.0f,.0f,-1.05f);
quadObjUp = gluNewQuadric ();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjUp, GLU_SILHOUETTE);
gluCylinder(quadObjUp,0.25,0.3,0.1,32,32);

quadObjTop = gluNewQuadric();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjTop, GLU_LINE);
gluDisk(quadObjTop,0.02f,0.25,10,10);
glPopMatrix();
//draw the body
glPushMatrix();
glScalef(1.0,1.0,.80);
quadObjNet = gluNewQuadric ();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjNet, GLU_LINE);
gluSphere (quadObjNet, 1.205f, 8, 64);

glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient);
quadObjBody = gluNewQuadric ();
gluSphere (quadObjBody, 1.20f, 64, 64);
glPopMatrix();
//draw the bottom
glPushMatrix();
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient1);
glTranslatef(0.0f,.0f,0.95f);

quadObjDown1 = gluNewQuadric ();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjDown1, GLU_SILHOUETTE);
gluCylinder(quadObjDown1,0.25,0.3,0.2,32,32);

quadObjDown2 = gluNewQuadric ();
gluQuadricDrawStyle (quadObjDown2, GLU_SILHOUETTE);
gluCylinder(quadObjDown2,0.15,0.2,0.3,32,32);

glPopMatrix();

glPopMatrix();
glEndList();

}
//initial, lighting, enable something
GLvoid initializeGL(GLsizei width, GLsizei height)
{
GLfloat aspect;

glClearIndex( (GLfloat)BLACK_INDEX);

glShadeModel(GL_SMOOTH); //make the color smoothly
glClearColor( 0.50, 0.50, 0.50, 1.0 ); //set the screen clear color
glClearDepth(.0f); //set the depth of buffer
glEnable(GL_DEPTH_TEST); //allow depth test
glDepthFunc(GL_GREATER); //the type of depth test
glHint(GL_PERSPECTIVE_CORRECTION_HINT, GL_NICEST);

glEnable(GL_LIGHTING);
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_AMBIENT, LightAmbient);
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_DIFFUSE, LightDiffuse);
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_SPECULAR, Lightspecular);
glLightfv(GL_LIGHT0, GL_POSITION,LightPosition);
glEnable(GL_LIGHT0);

glEnable(GL_NORMALIZE);
glFrontFace(GL_FRONT_AND_BACK);
glMatrixMode( GL_PROJECTION );
aspect = (GLfloat) width / height;

gluPerspective( 45.0, aspect, 5.0f, 10.0f );
glMatrixMode( GL_MODELVIEW );

createObjects();
}

//move
GLvoid drawScene(GLvoid)
{
glClear( GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT );

glLoadIdentity();

glPushMatrix();
glTranslatef(0.0f,0.0f,-4.0f);
glRotatef(xrot,1.0f,0.0f,0.0f);
glRotatef(zrot,0.0f,0.0f,1.0f);
glPushMatrix();
glRotatef(yrot,0.0f,1.0f,0.0f);
glPushMatrix();
glRotatef(90,1.0f,.0f,.0f);
glCallList(1);
glPopMatrix();
glPopMatrix();
glPopMatrix();

if(abs(yrot - 360.0f) < 0.01)
yrot=0.0f;
yrot+=0.5f;

glFlush();
SWAPBUFFERS;
} 

trackback: http://pop.6park.com/know1/messages/11075.html

please excuse me for any spelling/grammar errors, I don't proof read.

--------------------------

My little Journey to The West, from The Spirit of "Why Not" to Quantum Computers

"啊卡" 我去滑铁卢取的经

First, I'd like to congratulate myself for able to write some professional stuff instead of the random b.s. I used to write before, and for having the privilege of entering University of Waterloo in the coming up autumn. Truly thrilled and excited, I was also invited to its early morning reception session for president scholarship receivers.

This year, 2007, is the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Waterloo, and I was given a pin of remembrance, coated in black and gold, upon my arrival in the festival room. I also received a sticker with my name and my program "software engineering" on it. It certainly was quite an honour to become a Waterloo prospect, especially a student in software engineering. Several professors from various departments have spoken, and congratulated me. Since software engineering itself is a double-jointed program, I'm still trying to figure out which faculty I belong to. Although many have told me this is a program which gets the best parts from both faculties, but I know the apparent truth is similar to stepping my feet across two boats.

Mr. Johnston, the president certainly has a good sense of humour and approach when comes to inspiring and encouraging young students. The aspect of character which was not seen in those speakers I met in the "Top Applicants' Reception" in University of Toronto. Mr. Johnston has also told the audience that Waterloo was selected as the most intelligent community in the world in 2007. It happens to be so, that many people would wonder "Why?" when approach something new, but UofW's spirit is to wonder "Why not?”

Mr. Johnston has also given the students a glimpse of some of the frontier technologies that are been exploited in the Waterloo Research Park. The one I found the most interesting was the research in Quantum Computers. The president of RIM has said that the capacity of data holds in a blackberry is 2-3 times larger than the supercomputer 20 years ago, which occupied several room weighing several tons. The advances in the development of "chip", is because of the advances in physics. But within the next decade, we will eventually hit the physical limit, where processors can run no faster than it already running. At that stage, we will have to use quantum computers, which replace traditional charge, 1 or zero, with the spin number of the fundamental particles. Quantum computers will make use of qubits (quantum bits) instead of bits (1 or 0). There will be 1, 0, and the superposition of 1 and 0. (Both 1 and 0 at the same time). This area is the area where all laws of physics break down. I was quite fascinated by this topic.

As I looked around, I can see the same passion in everyone else’s eyes. This was one of the reasons I chose Waterloo. I like its spirit.

P.S. Please don't penalize me, I don't proof read.

--------------------------

SEOUL, South Korea – May 19, 2007 – Blizzard Entertainment^® today unveiled StarCraft^® II, the sequel to its award-winning real-time strategy game StarCraft, at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitational event in Seoul, South Korea. The announcement took place inside the Olympic Gymnastics Arena, in front of thousands of attendees, who received a presentation that included a StarCraft II cinematic trailer and a gameplay demonstration by the development team.

Designed to be the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, StarCraft II will feature the return of the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg races, overhauled and re-imagined with Blizzard's signature approach to game balance. Each race will be further distinguished from the others, with several new units and new gameplay mechanics, as well as new abilities for some of the classic StarCraft units that will be making a reappearance in the game. StarCraft II will also feature a custom 3D-graphics engine with realistic physics and the ability to render several large, highly detailed units and massive armies on-screen simultaneously.

"With StarCraft II, we'll be able to do everything we wanted to do with the original StarCraft and more," stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We recognize that expectations are high following the long-running popularity of the original game, but we plan to meet those expectations and deliver an engaging, action-packed, competitive experience that StarCraft players and strategy gamers worldwide will enjoy."

StarCraft II will include a unique single-player campaign, as well as fast-paced online play through an upgraded version of Blizzard's renowned online gaming service, Battle.net^®. In addition, the game will come with a powerful, full-featured map editor that will put the same tools used by Blizzard's designers into the hands of players.

Blizzard is developing StarCraft II for simultaneous release on the Windows^® and Macintosh^® PC platforms. Further information about the game, including details on the single-player, multiplayer, and map-editor features, as well as system requirements, pricing, and availability, will be announced in the months ahead. To learn more about StarCraft II, please visit the official website at www.starcraft2.com.

About the StarCraft Series
Since its debut in 1998, the original StarCraft has won unprecedented critical acclaim and has remained a staple of tournament gaming worldwide. The game's expansion set, StarCraft: Brood War, also released in 1998, is still considered by many to be one of the best add-on products ever created. To date, the series has sold more than 9.5 million copies worldwide.* StarCraft's gritty sci-fi universe has also spawned numerous complementary products, including several novels and action figures, as well as a pen-and-paper role-playing game.

Visit www.starcraft2.com for screenshots, features, and updates. Long Live Blizzard !

FAQ

Infor from: http://www.starcraft2.com