Don’t take too many pictures in Commie UK

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Robin

You could be thought of as performing reconnaisance for terrorist (hey! that word again – what does it mean, nowadays?) acts. Especially don’t take any pictures of the police. No, not even if they’re committing atrocities. You’ll get busted with a 10 year incarceration or unspecified fines.

Man appears free of HIV after stem cell transplant

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Robin

The procedure is still to dangerous to be used routinely – around 1/3rd of people die during the op, but this guy, who was transplanted with a mutated form of stem cells (with crippled CCR5 receptors, without which most forms of HIV can’t latch on to the cells, lending a natural immunity) made it and the docs can’t detect any HIV virusses: 2 years after the op!
They’re hoping this will lead to practical cures within 5 years…

Haiku: The BeOS Successor

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

Here’s hoping that Haiku can keep it up where BeOS didn’t make it. That was an awesome OS.

Drive-by Passport Cloning

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

This guy has built a proof-of-concept machine for around $250,- which allows you to remotely read RFID chips in passports and then clone them. There’s a video of the machine in action as well.

Lords say surveillance society erodes foundations of UK %u2022 The Register

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

It seems the only ones with their heads screwed on straight in the UK are the Lords – a non-elected body of oversight on government that are appointed by the queen or by right of birth. It ain’t such a bad thing, having other people checking up on the elected twits.

The House of Lords Constitution Committee has warned that increasing use of surveillance by the government and private companies is a serious threat to freedoms and constitutional rights. The Committee s report said “The expansion in the use of surveillance represents one of the most significant changes in the life of the nation since the end of the Second World War. Mass surveillance has the potential to erode privacy. As privacy is an essential pre-requisite to the exercise of individual freedom its erosion weakens the constitutional foundations on which democracy and good governance have traditionally been based in this country.”

Lords say surveillance society erodes foundations of UK %u2022 The Register

OwnerIQ: Product user manuals, help, forums tips and tutorials.

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

Very usefull, huge collection of manuals about just about everything.

Another DIY Ring Flash Project

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

This one is for the flash on your camera, and uses fibre optics to create the ring directly around the lens. It goes for $5,-

Fences: Desktop Icon Organizer

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

This makes little transparent windows on your desktop to organise your icons in.

Formula 1 Cars getting KERS

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Robin

Kinetic Energy Recovery System, stores the energy created by regenerative breaking and stores it in a battery. When the driver presses a button, he gets a turbo boost as the energy store is emptied onto the drivetrain. This system gives him up to 6.5s of turbo boost per lap.

Iran Joins the Space countries

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Robin

Iran is now one of the few countries with a space programme, capable of launching satellites into space.
Of course, the US is now worried that they have developed it specifically to rain down EMP weapons on them.

Ipod Touch 2G Jailbreak on Windows

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Robin

So, they’ve finally done it. It’s not automated, because it’s a tethered jailbreak: ie. every time you reboot, you have to go through this whole process again, but it’s a jailbreak. Dev Team is still working on unlocking the bootrom. When they do that, they’ll automate the process.

It is not easy, but it is possible. I still recommend waiting for some program from The Dev Team.
We take no responsibility. Read everything before start doing something.

Downloads:

Firmware 2.1.111
Firmware 2.2.112
Xpwn13
iRecovery14
Boot helper15
Rslite16 %u2013 when you extract it, install the application libusb (it is in iRecovery folder) on this folder. In case of something happen, restart the PC in Safe Mode and uninstall libusb.
If you are on Vista, when you install libusb, press the right button, then proprieties and put it in Compatibility WinXP Service Pack 2

Process:
1.Extract everything in a folder in c: JB (it is easier)
2.Copy the rslite folder %u201Cfirmware bundles%u201D to %u201Cxpwn%u201D folder.
3.Copy the Firmware 2.2.1 to %u201Cxpwn%u201D folder and rename it to %u201COriginalFW.ipsw%u201D (if in your PC does not appear the extension, just rename to %u201COriginalFW%u201D)
4.Go to %u201CStart%u201D, then Execute%u2026, then write %u201Ccmd%u201D and press enter
5.Write %u201Ccd C: JB XPwn-0.5.7-win32%u201D and press enter
6.Write %u201Cipsw OriginalFW.ipsw patchedFW.ipsw -s 700 bundles Cydia.tar%u201D and press enter. It will take a while. When it is back to normal line of command and it is possible to write, close the cmd.
7.Now on the xpwn folder there is a file called %u201CpatchedFW.ipsw%u201D. Rename it to patchedFW.zip and open it with Winrar. Find the .dfu file that starts with iBSS and a .img3 file that starts with iBoot and extract both to %u201CiRecovery%u201D folder. Rename it back to %u201CpatchedFW.ipsw%u201D.
8.Rename both files that you extracted to: %u201CiBSS221pwn.dfu%u201D and %u201CiBoot221pwn.img3%u201D
9.Open Firmware 2.1.1 with Winrar (same process) and find the iBSS, extract to %u201CiRecovery%u201D folder and rename it to %u201CiBSS211.dfu%u201D
10.Turn on your iPod Touch (if it is off)
11.Connect it to the PC.
12.Put it in DFU mode17
13.Open cmd again. Type %u201Ccd C: JB iRecovery%u201D
14.Type %u201Cirecovery -f iBSS211.dfu%u201D. Close cmd and open another.
15.Disconnect the iPod, wait some seconds, connect it again.
16.Now write all t he following commands separately (write one, press enter, write other, press enter%u2026)
%u201Ccd C: JB iRecovery %u201D
%u201Cirecovery -s%u201D (ps: will appear iPhone$ and you will write the commands in front of that).
17.%u201Carm7_stop%u201D
%u201Cmw 0?000000 0xe59f3014%u2033
%u201Cmw 0?000004 0xe3a02a02%u2033
%u201Cmw 0?000008 0xe1c320b0%u2033
%u201Cmw 0?00000c 0xe3e02000%u2033
%u201Cmw 0?000010 0xe2833c9d%u201D
%u201Cmw 0?000014 0xe58326c0%u2033
%u201Cmw 0?000018 0xeafffffe%u201D
%u201Cmw 0?00001c 0?200f300%u2033
%u201Carm7_go%u201D
%u201Carm7_stop%u201D
18.Open a new cmd and type %u201Ccd C: JB ircovery %u201D e depois %u201Crecovery -f iBSS221pwn.dfu%u201D. Close the cmd.
19.Open iTunes and it will say that iPod Touch is in %u201Crecovery%u201D.
20.Hold SHIFT and press %u201Crestore%u201D (at the same time). Go to xpwn folder, select %u201CpatchedFW.ipws%u201D file. Do restore.
21.Your iPod will stay with black screen and will not be recognized by the PC, neither turn on or nothing, that is normal. Just relax.
22.Go to the folder were you extracted the %u201Cboot helper%u201D. Over there there is a file called %u201Cboot.bat%u201D. Open it.
Open the Task Manager and go to Processes tab
23.Kill %u201Cipodservice.exe%u201D and %u201CAppleMobileService.exe%u201D and rapidly go to the prompt where you opend %u201Cboot.bat%u201D, press enter and hold home power. When it says to release the power button, release it. But when it says to release the home button, stay pressing it, until the PC make a noise showing that everything is ok. If it remains a unknown device, do it again until it is right.
24.Follow the instructions that appear. Disconnect the iPod from the PC and connect it. When the white screen appear press enter.
25.Type %u201Carm7_go%u201D and after %u201Carm7_stop%u201D then press CTRL C and put %u201Cn%u201D, press enter.
26.Now type %u201Cgo%u201D and after CTRL C and %u201Cn%u201D again.
27.Your iPod Touch should do the boot, with Cydia and everything.

Tutorial18 made by Arthur and Caio and translated by me 😀

Thanks Arthur

Thanks Caio

If anyone saw any error in my translation, tell me what it is and I will correct. I am sorry, I am Brazilian 😀

I did not tried this tutorial, because I do not have iPod Touch 2G.

iPod Touched » Blog Archive » Ipod Touch 2G Jailbreak on Windows

Encyclopedia

Posted on February 11, 2009 by Robin

So I have this bee in my bonnet about wikipedia being used for anything at all. Why? Because it’s not peer reviewed: it’s user reviewed, with users with the most reviews having the most powers – even if they make nonsense edits on things they know nothing about. Then there’s the political infighting and the obvious bias when it comes to certain people, cults or religions. Search the Register for many many examples.

So what then? We need some kind of trustworthy encyclopedia, don’t we? Well there are plenty of specific knowledge resources out there, so I’m not going to start on that, but Brittanica or Encarta are both paid systems, so to find out anything you’re going to need to pay.

Fortunately there are three free, peer reviewed alternatives:

1) Conservapedia, which is still user generated, but they have better rules than wikipedia.

2) Citizendium which was set up by a dissatisfied Wikipedia founder and uses experts in the field as well as strips anonymity.

3) Europeana, set up by the EU itself and with considerable help from a whole load of libraries, should be very good indeed. Unfortunately they had no experience with the scale of the project and they keep implementing new hardware in an attempt to keep up with demand. This means the encyclopedia is broken now and again.

8/9/10
There’s also the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, where articles are peer reviewed