Jail breaking the iPhone/iPod touch

Image via CrunchBase

This is a very simple and straight forward guide to jail breaking your iPhone or iPod Touch. If you get stuck and have any questions feel free to ask here in the comments or contact me on twitter.

For PC users
(note: make sure any software you download is compatible with your device before you use it, check both your device's generation and the firmware currently installed on it)

• Step 1: Download iTunes and restore your device if you must.
• Step 2: Download the Blackra1n tool for windows.
  
• Step 3: Simply have your device connected to your PC with the USB cable, make sure iTunes is not running and run the Blakra1n.exe file that you have just downloaded.
  That's it, enjoy your new jailbroken phone!
  
  ____________
• Step 4 (optional): If you have iTunes version 9.1 or above you might get an error saying "The program can't start because ASL.dll is missing from your computer", if that happens copy the contents of the Blackra1n folder to these directories:
  
  

  32 Bit – C:\Program Files\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support
  64 Bit – C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support
  

  
  Read more: How To Fix Missing ASL.dll While Running Blackra1n http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/how-to-fix-missing-asl-dll-while-running-blackra1n.html#ixzz0uaS4gXPh
  Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

• Step 5 (optional): Once you have the files copied simply run blackra1n.exe from the new directory or create a shortcut for it on your desktop and run it from there. Everything should run smoothly from here. Enjoy your new jailbroken phone!

I will add a guide for Mac users soon, keep checking back.

Credit:
Thanks to the Blackra1n team for providing an easy to use jailbreak tool.
Many thanks to Techie Buzz for info on the ASL.dll error and how to fix it. For the original article see : http://techie-buzz.com/how-to/how-to-fix-missing-asl-dll-while-running-blackra1n.html

Mac OS X Intstallation log [Last Update 22/7/2010]

Image via Wikipedia

This is a log of events and steps taken to install Mac OS X Snow Leopard to on a normal PC. It will be updated as I progress.

• Attempted to Install Mac OS X 10.4 on a Mac Compatible machine. After successful install the machine restarts and gives an error message asking to "Reset the computer". Several repeated attempts later also failed. I Suspect an error with the Hardware itself.
  
• Set up a Hackintosh USB flash drive. Attempted to install it on the same machine to confirm whether its a hardware or software error. The error still persists, this time the machine restarts during the Apple logo screen.
• Set up Hackintosh successfully on a different machine (will be referred to as Mac_B from here on). Mac_B is now currently running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
  
• Downloaded the iPhone SDK 4 and XCode 3.2.3 (requires free ADC account) and install them. The installation failed because it requires the OS to be updated to at least Mac OS X 10.6.2 (current version 10.6)
• Downloaded the latest update for Snow Leopard Manually (must choose the "Combo" update if you plan to jump the versions in between your current and the latest). After the update Snow Leopard starts up but gets stuck on a blue screen that it refuses to go past.
• Tried re-installing Snow Leopard via USB flash drive again, the installation seems to have rolled it back to Mac OS X 10.6 and left all the files on the hard disk untouched.

Warning to all Android users in the MiddleEast

After months of hunting down Android phones in the market and finding the best deals, I have finally settled on the HTC Legend, which is a fantastic Android phone. However, there is a slight problem, it doesn't come with the Android Market App pre-installed! After several Google searches (do you see the irony in this?) I was unable to find any legit way of downloading the Android Market to my phone. Android phones distributed in the Middle East (or from the Middle East as I have found some EU countries also suffer from this problem) do not have the App installed as it is not supported in this region, and Google does not provide the App for download.

There are two ways to get around this:
Option 1: I found several users on various forums complaining about this problem. In order to fix this problem to resorted to rooting or flashing their phones' OS, something I do not recommend unless you know absolutely what your doing and also because it could void your phone's warranty.
Option 2: The easy option is to download free alternatives to Google's Android Market like SlideME or AndAppStore (mind the naughty apps). They may not have all the Apps found on Android Market but they are quickly catching up and might someday even exceed it. There are several other alternative markets out there but these two seem to be some of the more popular ones.

You can bide your time with these market apps and hope that the next update for your Android phone will contain the Android Market, or avoid the problem completely and import a phone you are sure will contain the App like the Nexus One.

Welcome!

Woo! My first blog post!
Welcome to my blog and enjoy your stay!
This is be mainly a Development/Programming blog for various languages and platforms. I'll be posting and documenting tips/tricks, tutorials, reviews and experiences I've had with development. You might occasionally find some posts on the current tech trends and some of my personal opinions on what's going on around.
This is blog is aimed at gaining/sharing knowledge and bridging gaps, so if you have any questions within my field of knowledge, please ask away and I will try my best to answer. On the other hand, feel free to correct me if I have posted any wrong information, we all make mistakes and my purpose here is too learn just as much as to share what I have learned.

Thank you!