Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

If you are part of the group that is having reception issues with your new iPhone 4, here is a great DIY bumper.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/01/iphone-4-gets-a-1-alternative-to-pricey-bumpers/

Instead of purchasing a $30 bumper, you can make one with a $1 Bracelet.
What would be interesting is if you could find an Apple branded bracelet.

As an avid soccer fan this has been a great world cup so far. Lots of goals, lots of action and news. So far I have seen great play, fantastic failures, bad ref’s, and great goals.

6/23/2010 USA vs Algeria 10:00 AM EST.

Can we make it to the 2nd round. We need a win. Thanks to ESPN3 and a few iPhone apps, I have been able to hear or watch a lot of games.

The keynote speech by Steve Jobs was great. I personally like the moment where the wifi was not working. Beyond that little issue the overall presentation was great. Especially the launch of the new iPhone. I can’t wait to get my hands on the new device. I don’t think of myself as a gadget geek, however I use the iPhone as a business tool. From email, cellphone, remote access, and notes I find that the little device is priceless. My only complaint with my current iPhone (3g) is the speed. It seems to have got slower over time.

So come the end of June I am guessing I will have a new phone, maybe even one for my wife. I’ve been with ATT since ’99, when it was ATTwireless.

There has been a lot of talk in the news about AT&T allowing people still in contract till the end of the year getting an early upgrade deal. To check if this is available to you, you only need to go online and check availability or just call *639#. ATT will text you back if the account can upgrade. As you can see, I am ready to be the proud owner of a new iPhone if I desire.

I hope everyone else has the chance to upgrade.

I have read a lot of great posts on tips and tricks on the iPad. Here are a few that I use the most.

1. I love the feature of a soft reset (I use this on my iPhone a lot) You hold down Top button and the Home button (the only two real physical buttons) for a few seconds and it will cause a reset.

2. Screen Shots – I got a lot of emails from people asking how I was able to get screen grabs from the iPad for the VPN post (iPad VPN setup). I used the screen capture trick on the iPad (this also works on the iPhone) : You hold down the power button (top) and the home button (bottom) for about a half-second and it will do a screen capture that is saved into your pictures area.

3. Web page scrolling. How many times have you been on a page that scrolls down forever on the iPad. Then you realize that you want to get back to the top to get to the navigation. Well all you need to do is hit the title bar and it will take you back to the top. I wish I would have known this one earlier.

4. Quick Mute : just hold down the down volume button. I use this one when the Strawberry shortcake video is too loud…. (kids)

5. Remove “Sent from my iPad” in your email: This is a not really a tip but a suggestion. I don’t like to promote the fact that I’m using an iPad or iPhone. : go to Settings | Mail, Contact, Calendar | Signature. You can remove it completely or replace it.

6. Add Web link to Home Screen: I often visit some sites more than others. You can save that link directly to your iPad home screen. I have lifehacker there. When in Safari on the ipad select the favorites button (the Plus “+”) sign, then select “Add to Home Screen”

7. Try to stay out of direct sunlight : Just like MACbooks the screen does not do well in areas with lots of sunlight. You can push the brightness as high as it can go, but it is still hard to read.

The folks over at fastmac.com are working to create the u-socket. It is a power outlet with two USB jacks in the plate. This is a great little product. So far it has had some delays. Head on over and check out the specs – http://fastmac.com/usocket.

This little gem is available for order for $20.00. Sounds like it is not available yet. I plan on ordering this today. From other forums it sounds like it will power an iPad 10W power. We will have to see. Not only does this allow for a central charging station, it will make for a clean layout.

Continuing my security theme, I decided to see what the iPad looks like on a network. Can you ping it, what does nmap say about it, does OS detection work, are there any open ports?

To test this I used both my iPhone (jimiz-phone) and iPad (jimizIP) connected to my wireless network.

The first thing I did was lookup the MAC address. There are many ways to do this but I like to use (www.coffer.com/mac_find/) It answers with Apple Inc
7C-6D-62 (hex) Apple, Inc
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
UNITED STATES

I then ran 3 different OS detection tools: Nmap, zenmap, and xprobe2. NOTE: Zenmap is really just a GUI for nmap but it does clean up the OS detection. All three tools did a good job on calling out the OS as MAC

Nmap: iPad (It detected the iPad as OS X 10.5.6)
Interesting ports on JimizIP.jimizhome.com:
PORT STATE SERVICE
62078/tcp open iphone-sync
MAC Address: 7C:6D:62:C7:FA:17
Running: Apple Mac OS X 10.5.X
OS details: Apple Mac OS X 10.5 - 10.5.6 (Leopard) (Darwin 9.0.0b5 - 9.6.0)

Nmap: iPhone (it detected the iPhone OS)
Interesting ports on Jimiz-Phone.jimizhome.com:
PORT STATE SERVICE
62078/tcp open iphone-sync
MAC Address: 00:26:B0:67:18:B3 (Unknown)
Running: Apple iPhone OS 2.X
OS details: Apple iPod touch audio player (iPhone OS 2.2)

Zenmap: (both iPad and iPhone) detected both devices as an iPod Touch iPhone OS 2.2 – Screen Capture

Xprobe2: iPad (OS x 10.4.1)
[+] Primary guess:
[+] Host JimizIP Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.4.1" (Guess probability: 100%)
[+] Other guesses:
[+] Host JimizIP Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.4.0" (Guess probability: 100%)
[+] Host JimizIP Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9" (Guess probability: 100%)

Xprobe2 iPhone (OS x 10.4.1)
[+] Primary guess:
[+] Host Jimiz-Phone Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.4.1" (Guess probability: 100%)
[+] Other guesses:
[+] Host Jimiz-Phone Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.4.0" (Guess probability: 100%)
[+] Host Jimiz-Phone Running OS: "Apple Mac OS X 10.3.9" (Guess probability: 100%)

Each OS detection package did a pretty good job in showing it is an apple product. Nmap was able to identify the iPhone. I am guessing as the nmap OS database get’s updated it will also detect the iPad.

One interesting item that did show up is that port scan showed that port 62708 was open on both the iPhone and iPad. I did a little looking and it is the iphone-sync port.

Overall it looks like both devices are fairly secure over the wifi connection. It is always amazing to see what information your devices leak out (MAC address, open ports, OS detection, and user info)

I have been asked a few times to share the steps that I used to get all my photos off my iphone. Here are the basic steps to download all the photos on your iphone using Windows XP or Windows 7:
Windows XP:
1. Attach your iphone via usb cable
2. When XP asks what application to use select: (Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard)

3. It will then attempt to read the files

4. XP will then start the import wizard

5. You then can select all photos are a subset

6. At this step you can label your pictures and select the directory to save the images.

7. The import process will now begin (may take a few minutes)

8. You are now complete and can close the window


I hope this little tutorial helps. I was able to get all images saved and have a backup.

I purchased my iphone in December, so far it has been great. I even have my wife interested in getting one. Recently my phone had the ringer on / off button come off. It is a chrome looking switch on the side and the chrome part appeared to break off. I’m not sure how, because I have not dropped the phone and it lives in my pocket most of the time.

I had some free time this week between meetings and decided to stop into the apple store to see what it would cost to fix and how long it would take. To my surprise, it was free to fix and they did it in about 5 min. That included getting time from the people at the “something bar” and unpacking a new Iphone to replace mine with.

When I left the store with a new phone activated, I was able to sync while walking in the mall to my car. Google Sync got all my contacts and calendar items back in less than 1 min. When I hooked the phone up to Itunes, it restored ever setting and files from before the switch. (GREAT)

When I used my windows mobile phone, the sync part was the same (getting contacts and calendar back) but the rest of the experience was horrible. No backups (unless you did them) and every provider I had took days / weeks to get a replacement phone. Not to mention they would never just switch out a phone for you.

At the end of the day, I have to hand it to apple. Great product, great service, and great experience.

I have to admit that I like my new iphone. I am able to do the things I require of a phone, make and answer calls. But I am also able to do the things that I require from a smart phone, read email (exchange), view calendar, sync contacts, and surf the web. What the Iphone brings to the table is the extras. The applications that are available make it more of a useful tool than just a phone.

I was able to justify a new phone because my other phone died (cracked screen and decided to shut off every 3 hours). However, the justification for getting an Iphone rather than replacing the one I had was a bit harder. Not just the cost, but also moving from windows Mobile to Apple.

In the end the applications and the interface won me over. After getting the iphone I was able to use the remote desktop application (over New Years) to save me in a client situation.

If the reasons I mentioned above are not enough. I just read this article (Card Counting)http://www.lvrj.com/business/39633187.html that talks about a card counting application for the iphone. You could justify your purchase with just this application and go out to make a little money using the program. I do not condone cheating (sounds like using an application to count cards is a federal offense) but you could test this program.

Since I finally got a new phone (iPhone) my old blue tooth head-set a jabra BT250 (Info) did not seem to have that great of quality with the phone. I’m not sure if it was because it is 5 years old or that technology has changed. The BT250, as ugly as it is, treated me very well. I used it in the car and when I was at home.

Yesterday my new Blue Tooth arrived via usps. It is a Jawbone 2 (Jawbone) What a great headset. My kids were in the background during my last conference call and people did not even hear them, and I could hear the conversation (wow). I’m not sure how the noise canceling is done, but it is great.

So I am now back to being safe. Using a headset when driving and being able to hear, what a great thing. I was able to get the Jawbone 2 for ($69) from (mrbdepot.com)

I just saw today that there is an app that you can get to allow for Copy and Paste. It appears that it does not work in Safari. I can live with that. The ability to copy and paste is huge. One example is for a wireless network key that is 32 characters, get it in an email and paste into your key area. Typing that is a pain in the rear.

This app is only for those who have completed JailBreak

http://lifehacker.com/5136011/clippy-brings-copypaste-to-jailbroken-iphones-everywhere-except-safari