mendax.org » homebrew http://mendax.org WyldKard's mental brouhaha. est. 1996 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:02:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Upgrading iPhone 3.0.1. to jailbroken 3.1. http://mendax.org/2009/10/05/upgrading-iphone-3-0-1-to-jailbroken-3-1/ http://mendax.org/2009/10/05/upgrading-iphone-3-0-1-to-jailbroken-3-1/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:00:32 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/?p=1843

Since we picked up an iPhone 3GS a couple months back, our jailbroken/unlocked 2G iPhone has been sitting on a shelf collecting dust, as though a forgotten relic in the battle against Big Apple. Now forced to use AT&T, which drops calls at an alarming rate compared to our experience with the 2G iPhone on T-Mobile, we’re still happy with our service overall, if only because the iPhone user experience, occasional dropped call or not, is still better than using any other cellular phone in the United States. Yes, that’s how great the iPhone 3GS is, and why Apple’s market dominance in this area continues to swell.

That said, the iPhone isn’t perfect, and one of the imperfect things about it is the fact that Big Apple is doing its damndest to keep the iPhone user experience consistent, and in doing so, limiting the types of applications that developers can release in the AppStore. Now, admittedly, the need to jailbreak an iPhone in order to run third-party “homebrew” applications is no longer what it was when we first decided to hack our 2G iPhone two years ago. Quite simply, the AppStore has evolved into a pretty nice store, with a great selection of apps that do most everything we need to. And where it doesn’t offer a particular app that we’d like it to, in most every case, that kind of app isn’t available in Cydia either. That is, except for three that we consider must-haves, two of which we mentioned in our mendax.iphone article. Specifically, we’re talking about Backgrounder (which lets us run any application in the background), SBSettings (a quick way to toggle settings on/off), and the more recent GV Mobile (the infamous Google Voice client).

While our experience using GV Mobile hasn’t been flawless (the app crashes consistently when changing forwarding numbers), an update is on its way. With no word on whether Apple will ultimately approve or deny the official Google Voice app, GV Mobile is our only hope for using Google Voice on our iPhone today. Having access to SBSettings again is a fresh walk down memory lane, and significantly reduces the need for us to jump into Settings to enter airplane mode, as we can now easily turn off select services when we need to save some battery life. Plus, we can now disable everything except wireless, which is nice if we want to use, say, Virgin America’s in-flight wireless (even though, realistically, we’ll almost always have our MacBook Pro with us for such trips). But Backgrounder, assuming it works as well as it did on our 2G iPhone, is the cornerstone of the must-have jailbreak scene. Finally, we can keep Pandora running while switching to Google Maps (or a GPS application), or keep active any other audio programs while fiddling with whatever other apps we need to.

But enough about why we decided to jailbreak again. Let’s get back to how. While the process for jailbreaking is amazingly easy these days for older iPhones, the 3GS has been a different story. Until very recently, jailbreaking tools developed by the iPhone Dev-Team didn’t work on the 3GS. Even now that they do, how to upgrade a non-jailbroken 3.0.x iPhone 3GS to 3.1 and put a jailbreak in place isn’t a solution readily advertised. Even the guides at iClarified aren’t entirely accurate. After spending too many hours this past weekend figuring it all out, it’s time to share our procedure.

  1. Obviously, back up your iPhone and sync it with iTunes before you begin.
  2. If you haven’t already, download the 3.1 iPhone update via iTunes, but don’t install it.
  3. If you no longer have it, download the 3.0.0 iPhone update. The iClarified guide says you can alternately use the 3.0.1 update, but it did not work for us.
  4. Jump into a terminal window, and type the following commands: 
    cd /etc/
sudo pico hosts

    You’ll have to input your admin password at this point, after which you’ll be in a simple text editor window. Use the arrow keys to get down to the bottom of the document, and add the following line at the end:

    74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com

    Hit Ctrl+X to exit, press Y to save, and hit return to overwrite the old hosts file. What this step does is redirect iTunes to a jailbreak-friendly server for firmware updates, instead of relying on Apple’s servers to control which firmware updates you’re allowed to receive and use on the iPhone.

  5. Download redsn0w v0.8 and run it. You’ll be prompted for the 3.0 firmware file. Follow the prompts, and at the end of the redsn0w process, you’ll have a jailbroken 3.0.0 iPhone 3GS.
  6. Now, download PwnageTool 3.1.3. Run it, and click on the expert mode icon. Select the 3GS icon, and proceed with the program. Make sure the program uses the 3.1 firmware update. Refer to Step Six of this second iClarified guide. If you are an AT&T subscriber, ensure that “Activate the phone.” remains unchecked. If you check this box, you will be unable to get new carrier settings from iTunes. Also, it’s not likely that you need to mess with the partition size, so don’t worry about it.
  7. You can follow the rest of the iClarified guide, but don’t worry about putting your iPhone in restore mode. Instead, once PwnageTool is done and has output a custom 3.1 firmware package, jump into iTunes, hold down the option key, and click on the Restore button from the iPhone screen. You will be prompted for a firmware update: choose the custom firmware file, and let iTunes do the rest. When your iPhone finally reboots, it will be jailbroken, and Cydia/Icy will be installed.
  8. You can now sync the phone from your last backup to restore all your old apps and such. You’ll also be prompted for the 5.5 AT&T carrier file, which you’ll need to install to enable MMS.

At this point, you’ll have a fully-jailbroken iPhone 3GS running at the latest firmware revision. Jump into Cydia and install jailbroken apps to your hearts content!Similar Posts:

]]> http://mendax.org/2009/10/05/upgrading-iphone-3-0-1-to-jailbroken-3-1/feed/ 0 Little reason left for jailbreaking. http://mendax.org/2009/06/18/little-reason-left-for-jailbreaking/ http://mendax.org/2009/06/18/little-reason-left-for-jailbreaking/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:00:06 +0000 WyldKard http://wyldkard.com/?p=1767 Post image for Little reason left for jailbreaking.

When jailbreaking first began on the iPhone, allowing users to install third-party applications, there were definitive advantages for going through with the somewhat tedious procedure, which is why some sources claim that at least ten percent of iPhone owners had done the deed. We did it, unlocked our iPhone, and have been happy using our 2G iPhone on T-Mobile’s network since the first unlocking apps were available in 2007. To this day, we still use applications only available from Cydia to compliment what we can obtain through the AppStore, because many apps available from Cydia have features restricted by Apple (tethering apps, background apps, etc).

Slowly, however, the need to jailbreak has dwindled, despite the fact that the process for doing so has gotten easier and easier. The AppStore’s selection of applications, compounded with Apple’s own improvements in the iPhone’s OS, have been effective in combating the jeailbreaking scene; many reasons to jailbreak have been nullified, such as the official inclusion of copy/paste, turn-by-turn directions in upcoming GPS applications, (eventual) AT&T support for tethering and MMS, and the sheer size of apps available. In other words, there are only a handful of reasons left to jailbreak and run unsigned Apple code, and every one of these reasons goes back to restrictions imposed upon developers by Apple. Interestingly, the fact that Apple didn’t crush the jailbreaking scene by somehow banning jailbroken or unlocked phones from accessing the AppStore/iTunes, and instead paving ahead with software improvements, was a much more effective solution to their perceived “problem”.

Our recent revisions of our must-have app list for the iPhone should be some indication of jailbreaking usefulness. All of the apps we recommend from Cydia clearly do things that Apple, or AT&T, would not be pleased with, though definitely make power-users happy. There’s the ability to selectively give applications the opportunity to run as a background process, a way to store app icons in folders so as to keep icon sprawl on the Springboard to a minimum, the requisite tethering app, a quick and efficient way to toggle phone features on/off, and finally an app to customize the look of one’s device by skinning the UI. Arguably, all of these things should be allowable in the AppStore, though clearly they’re not because they can alter the “feel” of the iPhone experience in a way that may be negative if used improperly. (For example, background apps can make the iPhone sluggish, poor UI skins may be ugly, etc.) In other words, Apple would rather guarantee a common experience, rather than give people a potentially bad user experience, so as to make more sales.

With less people needing to jailbreak, there’s obviously less need for multiple distribution centers for unsigned apps (if there ever was one). So it’s no surprise that Installer.app is now dead, with Cydia remaining king of unofficial app repositories. Maybe Installer.app and Cydia haven’t exactly become resources for the truly hardcore, but in many ways, Cydia remains the only source for software that Apple will likely never allow. That’s despite the fluff still available on Cydia, but sifting through it, there’s enough hardcore apps left that we’re still glad jailbreaking is around, and why we look forward to a jailbreaking method for the iPhone 3G S soon.

In the meantime, we expect Apple to continue adding features to the iPhone OS, and some day in the future, perhaps we’ll finally see better icon management on the Springboard, interface customizations, and a quicker method for toggling features on/off without having to dig through Settings. And when that comes to pass (iPhone OS 4.0?), the need to jailbreak will be even slimmer. It may not kill the jailbreaking scene entirely (heck, retro-gamers still need their emulators), but with less reasons to jailbreak, less developers will be interested in making jailbreaking a possibility, and that means that further jailbreaking improvements will move along much slower.

In the end, the lesson to developers is clear: it’s not about keeping a device from being hacked, its about lessening the reasons to hack a device in the first place.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2009/06/18/little-reason-left-for-jailbreaking/feed/ 2 A clear disconnect at Nintendo http://mendax.org/2009/04/03/a-clear-disconnect-at-nintendo/ http://mendax.org/2009/04/03/a-clear-disconnect-at-nintendo/#comments Fri, 03 Apr 2009 18:00:19 +0000 WyldKard http://wyldkard.com/?p=1620

Reggie Fils-Aime is not the man we want to see heading Nintendo’s North American chapter. That’s not to say that he’s totally off-base with his opinions and statements, but as VentureBeat’s recent interview of Films-Aimes illustrates, the man comes across as far too defensive of Nintendo, even for a President. Maybe that’s because Nintendo should be defensive given the onslaught of Microsoft and Sony, for despite the Wii’s propensity for flying off shelves, the library of “must-have” Wii titles is fairly low compared to what’s offered by Nintendo’s competitors. Really, how long can the Wii endure with only a couple novelty titles? Isn’t it true that the average 360 or PS3 owner buys more titles than the average Wii owner?

We’ve long said that Nintendo needs a leader who’s not only willing to cater to a new generation of young gamers, but also to the original Nintendo generation, who is now grown up and wants more mature, engrossing titles. But Nintendo neglects this latter segment in much the same way George Lucas turned away from the original Star Wars geeks, giving fans a watered-down set of prequels with little weight and too much CGI. Fils-Aime, similarly, doesn’t quite grasp the desires of the old-school fanbase, but perhaps that’s to be expected from a man who marks the SNES days as the origin for his love of Zelda. It’s not as though the man was wearing diapers when the first two Zelda titles were released on the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), so what gives?

The disconnect at Nintendo doesn’t end in its North American headquarters, however. Rather, its infected the very roots of Nintendo’s core, which is why the Wii is such a paradox: for a company that stressed so many times that it’s in the business of making games, not media centers, it’s definitely odd that the Wii sets itself apart from the 360 by offering a free-to-download web browser. There are even third-party keyboard peripherals available at mainstream game shops. Where’s the gaming nexus here? It would be one thing if Nintendo wanted to firmly leverage Flash for developing small, casual games played through their Opera-powered browser, but that’s not what Nintendo’s done. Nor have they extended the ability of third-party keyboard peripherals to be used as game controllers, so as to mimic the experience PC gamers have in many titles.

And while Nintendo can access YouTube and other video sites, they missed the ball on NetFlix integration. Because they’re a stout gaming company and not willing to promote non-gaming activities? Then explain the weather, picture, and voting channels on the Wii, which clearly promulgate non-gaming activities. Nintendo’s actions are clearly going one way, while their “100%-gaming” philosophy says something else entirely. But that’s okay in one sense, because we’re no longer fighting against the PC stereotype that Microsoft so ardently opposed when they first pushed the XBox into consumer’s hands. Nowadays, we expect our consoles to do more than play off-the-shelf video game titles. What Nintendo, and to a degree, Microsoft and Sony need to firmly embrace, however, is this “totality” philosophy, instead of half-assing their media center initiatives. After all, what the Wii lacks in computational power, it can make up elsewhere, and offering channels that leverage more than just games is exactly what Nintendo needs to do.

As with the iPhone, maybe a number of features weren’t available upon initial release. What was important, however, is that the framework was intact, such that the platform could evolve over time. The Wii already has a polished, simple interface, which is far more user-friendly than the interfaces of the 360 or PS3. And the channel system, if innovated upon properly, can easily seed Wii owners with online video streaming, magazines, and music – all areas that Nintendo’s competitors have not fully explored. The difference is that if every console manufacturer suddenly invested in these areas, the Wii’s simplicity, and price, would immediately gives it a market boost, for the same reasons that it couldn’t stay on shelves for the first year it was available.

Back to Fils-Aime and his silliness:

We don’t believe used games are in the best interest of the consumer. We have products that consumers want to hold onto. They want to play all of the levels of a Zelda game and unlock all of the levels. A game like Personal Trainer Cooking has a long life. We believe used games aren’t in the consumer’s best interest.

The topic of used games is relevant to the recession, and arguably anyone with frugality in mind. Fact is, replayability is not a huge feature in most games, and its natural for people to exchange their gaming assets in the same way they shuffle other forms of media. The Zelda titles, for instance, don’t offer much to a gamer once every level has been played and unlocked – like most every other game on the market. Even games with more replayability, like, say, Fallout 3, will ultimately be consumed of its content by an eager gamer. Rather than complain about the second-hand gaming market, what Nintendo should be doing is developing games with non-liner gameplay, and perhaps focusing on a digital distribution model that would make buying games easier for customers, with the added bonus of combating physical game exchanges. The reality is that despite Fils-Aime’s ridiculous opinion, used games are absolutely in the consumer’s best interest, because in most cases, they get the same experience as buying a game new, but at a cheaper financial cost. Fils-Aime’s quasi-defense?

Describe another form of entertainment that has a vibrant used goods market. Used books have never taken off. You don’t see businesses selling used music CDs or used DVDs. Why? The consumer likes having a brand-new experience and reliving it over and over again. If you create the right type of experience, that also happens in video games.

Perhaps in Nintendo’s white towers, there is unlimited money to throw around, and bags-of-holding that make storage inconsequential, but in the real world, people really do buy used goods. Come on, Reggie, Powells isn’t that far from Seattle (you have a Nintendo-plane, don’tcha?), and there are undoubtedly many a used-book shops in downtown Seattle, too. San Francisco’s Amoeba Music is an obvious testament to the popularity of used music/movies, and again, there are plenty of lesser known stores that cater to similar crowds. And most importantly, the user’s experience is not diminished by these supply chains, because when they get home and pop their media into the appropriate player, the experience is still new to them.

In other words, Fils-Aime is plain wrong. Combating the used games market is not only ignoring revenue streams that are as-yet untapped by the console industry, but it’s also ignoring (and thus under-utilizing) the strengths of the Wii. And that’s rather unfortunate, because on one hand, Nintendo’s a great innovator of products, which is why we bought the Wii the first place. On the other hand, Nintendo is being short-sighted with the Wii, and that’s resulted in a poor game library that’s made us not want to hold onto our Wii. In fact, if it weren’t for the Wii’s homebrew scene, we wouldn’t have hooked it back up to our television after a recent move, and that’s something Nintendo, and others, needs to take note of – if homebrew is keeping buyer’s attentions, then what does the company need to do to incorporate the offerings of homebrew developers into the product?

Right now, the Wii’s growth, even its entire legacy, is wrapped up in how it will leverage its software. Gimmicks like the Wii Fit will only go so far, because they’re expressly limited by their accompanying software programs. If Nintendo wakes up and starts asking the NES faithful what they want in a system, and not just the kids of the NES faithful, then Nintendo’s stake in the console wars will be well-earned. Cooking Mama in the living room, a cooking application in the kitchen, and ubiquity that future generations will grow up with. It’s the dream Microsoft has been shooting for for years, but it’s within reach of Nintendo right now.
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]]> http://mendax.org/2009/04/03/a-clear-disconnect-at-nintendo/feed/ 0 Bones Wiley embraces the folk music. http://mendax.org/2008/10/17/bones-wiley-embraces-the-folk-music/ http://mendax.org/2008/10/17/bones-wiley-embraces-the-folk-music/#comments Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:12:59 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/10/17/bones-wiley-embraces-the-folk-music/

Bones Wiley, playing "I'll Remember You this Way". Two days ago, Bones Wiley posted two more videos on his YouTube page. The videos suffer from minor synching issues (likely vidnik related), but otherwise showcase a very nice transition of Wiley’s musical style to something more folkish, ala Bob Dylan.

We’re quite fond of Wiley finally singing at a lower octave, and this departure from his more pop-ish tracks sounds a lot more natural for him. Drop the man some comments at his YouTube page or at the end of this post, and tell him what you think.

You can check out the aforementioned videos below.
‘Cause it’s You

I’ll Remember You this Way

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/10/17/bones-wiley-embraces-the-folk-music/feed/ 0 Reality check: [tabletop] roleplaying isn’t dead. http://mendax.org/2008/10/02/reality-check-tabletop-roleplaying-isnt-dead/ http://mendax.org/2008/10/02/reality-check-tabletop-roleplaying-isnt-dead/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:45:58 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/10/02/reality-check-tabletop-roleplaying-isnt-dead/

Girl in demon costume, from a Privateer Press game. Not to come across as a Tobold-hater what with our recent post about him, but what’s with him being out-of-touch with traditional roleplaying games (RPGs)? The guy claims to be in a regular group that gets together twice each month, and yet he doesn’t understand the market? Okay, maybe it’s because he’s only been playing the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, and has thusly ignored everything else out there, but even we’re not totally in the dark about the state of the tabletop RPG market.

Not only have most major RPGs seen many updates over the last several years, but many lines have been refreshed almost completely (e.g. White Wolf’s World of Darkness games). Then too is the often vapid support for independent RPGs, resulting in conventions like the indy version of GenCon. Taking things a bit further, we’re also seeing a re-merger of RPGs and miniatures. With the popularity of miniature wargaming steadily rising, many RPG developers are incorporating miniatures to aid in resolving combat scenarios.

In the end, tabletop gaming is far from dead, even if it’s not getting the mass media coverage that MMOGs are getting these days. And why should it – tabletop RPGs cater to an audience with a higher base intelligence (compared to video games that usually cater to children), and doesn’t support the massive income numbers that monthly MMOG payments foster. Claiming that traditional RPG developers are struggling just because they’re not bringing in the income that MMOG publishers do is like asking why the author of a novel makes significantly less than the movie based on his work.

To paraphrase one of the commentators at Tobold’s site, “Tabletop roleplaying games won’t ever die, as long as people still place merit in storytelling and face-to-face socialization.” To date, video game RPGs remain too limited compared to what can be done in tabletop RPGs, and they’re intrinsically less social thanks to their poor interfaces.

That’s not to say that non-video game RPGs don’t have their flaws and their own sets of limitations, but in a world where we’re constantly forced to utilize technology, it’s a nice change of atmosphere to slip away and get back to gaming’s roots.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/10/02/reality-check-tabletop-roleplaying-isnt-dead/feed/ 0 The ION drum’s weak link. http://mendax.org/2008/09/30/the-ion-drums-weak-link/ http://mendax.org/2008/09/30/the-ion-drums-weak-link/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:18:45 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/09/30/the-ion-drums-weak-link/

Separated O-ring. We bought Rock Band 2 a week after it was released, and after getting our groove on, we hopped online and ordered the ION Premium Drums, having sold out Rock Band drums months earlier. We held off on a pre-order because of the price, but who can resist the allure of a more customizable drum setup when Rock Band 2 is already in your possession?

We won’t bother with a full-on review of the drums because there are plenty such reviews out there already. What we will say is that despite being a tad top-heavy, the drums are a joy to play with. Unfortunately, we had to delay playing with them after we set them up, because upon tightening the wing-nut to fasten our blue drum, we heard a weak “snap” and noticed that the O-ring that holds the drum in place separated from the screw it was attached to. We’re guessing these two pieces are epoxied at the factory, and somehow we got a dud, because we didn’t tighten the wing-nut on this drum any more than we did the wing-nut for the others. We can’t help but think the design for this pieces is poor, as the screw could easily have been longer and “hooked” at one end so as to make the O-ring unnecessary.

In any case, rather than disassemble everything and pack it back up, we did what any hobbyist would do: we grabbed the super-glue and decided to put the two pieces back together ourselves. Fortunately, super-glue worked, and we were off and playing after waiting for the glue to dry.

Unfortunately, a week later, and the banging away at the set caused the blue drum to sag sadly, because the super-glue didn’t hold what with all the drum-pounding we did. Surprisingly, the screw and O-ring are a very tight fit even without any new super-glue, but we’re off to try the homebrew fix again. We also sent ION a message through their web site hoping that they’d send out a replacement part, rather than have us pack everything up again and return it to Amazon. (It’s a piece that has to cost, what, $1 or so?)

We’ll keep readers apprised as to how ION responds.

Update (10/02/2008): Our e-mail to ION resulted in an automated response to check the FAQ. There, we found their Technical & Warranty Support number (401-658-3131). We were able to get through to a representative immediately, who quickly provided us with a form to fax in for replacement parts. Unfortunately, the representative also said that the part we needed may not be readily available given how popular the product has been, so we may have to wait a little while. In the meantime, our super-glue method has held, though we haven’t actually hit the affected drum yet to see if it fails again. Nonetheless, props to ION for having great customer service, even if it takes an extra week to get us the part in question.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/09/30/the-ion-drums-weak-link/feed/ 0 Gaming industry corrupting the blogosphere? http://mendax.org/2008/09/18/gaming-industry-corrupting-the-blogosphere/ http://mendax.org/2008/09/18/gaming-industry-corrupting-the-blogosphere/#comments Thu, 18 Sep 2008 22:00:47 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/09/18/gaming-industry-corrupting-the-blogosphere/

When Wolfshead commented on Tobold’s ego several days ago, we didn’t intend to comment on it. Not because Wolfshead isn’t dead-on, but because we had nothing further to add. In short, commentary on Tobold’s ego came up after Tobold announced that Mythic handed him a media subscription to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR). In other words, Tobold was given a free account, which some readers perceived as a conflict of interest, thinking that Tobold’s objectivity about the game would clearly come into play. We seized the opportunity to jest that we, too, would accept such an account to keep writing about WAR. We let the topic rest until today, after Tobold’s recent post, entitled “Hear me brag!” naturally reminded us of Wolfshead’s comments days earlier. Says Tobold:

Tobold. Writing this blog is a considerable effort, which I sustained now for over 5 years and over 2,200 posts. I don’t do it out of financial considerations, which is why you don’t see any ads here. I do it because I want my voice to be heard, and because of the recognition blogging earns me. Official recognition, in the form of a press pass to a Blizzard convention, and a comped account for WAR is nice.

Well, we can’t say Tobold didn’t warn us that he was going to brag, what with all that back-patting. Fair enough, he’s a popular blogger, and he relishes the fandom. He should be proud of his blogging accomplishments, but let’s not ignore the fact that he quickly feigns being a victim when the slightest disagreement comes his way, and finds a clever way to fight back with his Toboldgate proclamations. Yes, word-play like that is likely tongue-in-cheek and we don’t fault him for it quite as much as Wolfshead appears to, but there’s something really annoying about someone who goes to unneeded lengths to point out how great they are, how they are above the corruption inherent in the industry (despite accepting benefits thereof), and constantly catering to whatever readership he can earn and maintain. Any blog devoted to a particular subjects, particularly one as volatile as the MMOG market, needs to be hard on a variety of topics, and if one is constantly playing the political game, their positions will ultimately be contested and accused of corruption. In short, a “suck it, I got a free subscription to WAR” would have been far more preferable to the attitude Tobold projected.

As for the very act of being offered a media subscription, we all know that they’re out there (well, we do now). How does one think most gaming reviews happen? There’s a reason blogs like Opposable Thumbs are able to write weekly features on WAR before the game’s release, and why they can review hardware that would otherwise be too expensive for the lone, homebrew blogger to afford. On the one hand, knowing about these free review subscriptions/copies may make a reader feel like the publication won’t be objective in the future (as has been the case with print-publications in the past, particularly when advertising comes into the mix), but on the other hand, we’d like to be able to make that decision ourselves with full disclosure from the publication/blog given ahead of time.

In other words, Tobold’s revelation of his free subscription isn’t the issue. How he mentioned it, and how he reacted to commentary afterwards, was. As for the companies offering these subscriptions/copies, they ought to make the publication mention it in any features/reviews, particularly when it comes to lone bloggers like Tobold, who most people don’t expect to be given a media subscription in the first place. Otherwise, the integrity of the lone blogger is put into question, which is bad enough considering that most lone bloggers aren’t worth following in the first place. What the blogosphere doesn’t need is industry souring the words of the few bloggers who do manage to stand out, despite their ego.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/09/18/gaming-industry-corrupting-the-blogosphere/feed/ 2 Bring AppStore-banned apps to Cydia/Installer.app! http://mendax.org/2008/09/15/bring-appstore-banned-apps-to-cydiainstallerapp/ http://mendax.org/2008/09/15/bring-appstore-banned-apps-to-cydiainstallerapp/#comments Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:45:32 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/09/15/bring-appstore-banned-apps-to-cydiainstallerapp/

Banned.Per Nullriver’s own statement, Apple’s final judgement on NetShare is simple: perma-banned from the AppStore. Despite Apple previously publishing the utility and earning money from its sale, Apple pulled NetShare on what we assume are AT&T’s wishes. (NetShare enabled tethering of an iPhone’s data service, such that other computers could utilize the respecive internet service. Such tethering is not allowed per AT&T’s terms of service.)

Apple also recently denied listing Podcaster, an iPhone application designed to update podcasts and simplify their management. Apple’s claim with Podcaster is that it duplicated functionality of iTunes, an Apple product. As John Gruber pointed out, however, Apple had no qualms with publishing applications that duplicate functionality of other Apple products, like calculators, note-taking applications, etc. In other words, Apple seems to have banned an application that “threatens” one of the functions Apple’s flagship software package handles, without adequate explanation.

What’s frustrating about these bans is that Apple hasn’t published a clear-cut guide on what disqualifies an application from being able to be listed in the AppStore. Rather, Apple expects developers to actually develop the application by investing time/money, and then cross their fingers in the hopes that they haven’t angered anyone at 1 Infinite Loop.

We’re somewhat drawn to the analogy of the Microsoft Internet Explorer fiasco from several years ago, because Apple’s lock-down of iPhone development, and the successive AppStore bans thereafter, are no less anti-competitive. That is to say, Microsoft got in trouble because they bundled their web browser with Windows, and didn’t give end-users the option to not use it and install something else instead. Here, we have Apple forcing users to use iTunes to handle all media files on the iPhone, despite not making clear rules for what can and cannot be published on the AppStore. Where’s the friendly, liberal savior of the computing industry that we thought Apple represented?

If anything, hopefully these AppStore bans will urge the respective developers to distribute their applications via Cydia and/or Installer.app. It wouldn’t be the first time that one of these distribution systems sold software for use on jailbroken iPhones, but even if that’s a concern, free distribution will still show Apple that end-users won’t put up with Apple’s totalitarian methods. These AppStore bans are exactly the fuel that the jailbreaking community needs to show certain clowns that jailbreaking is hardly irrelevant, and that iPhone application development should be as open as possible. Suffice to say, as long as Apple keeps up with these hard-handed ways, the market for hacked iPhones won’t go away anytime soon.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/09/15/bring-appstore-banned-apps-to-cydiainstallerapp/feed/ 2 mendax.wow discontinued. http://mendax.org/2008/09/10/mendaxwow-discontinued/ http://mendax.org/2008/09/10/mendaxwow-discontinued/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 07:00:11 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/09/10/mendaxwow-discontinued/

Goblin Tinker.Sorry for those who’ve been hanging on, but it should have been clear by now: we stopped playing World of Warcraft (WoW) some time ago, and with that, mendax.wow was effectively killed. Should someone wish to resurrect this WoW add-on compilation, we’d be happy to continue hosting it, but unless that happens, expect mendax.wow v2.41 to be the last one published.

In the heels of this announcement comes word that InsomniMax, which initially shared roots with mendax.wow despite their drastic differences in the end, will also be discontinued. Maxator hasn’t mentioned such on the InsomniMax web page (which we only spotted today!), though it sounds like he will not be moving ahead with WoW either.

Looking back, the birth of mendax.wow is a testament to the gaming community, from the players themselves, to the motivated LUA coders, to those managing the distribution of the respective add-ons. From the simple out-of-box UI that WoW shipped with, to some of the first add-on compilations, and later the excellent Ace libraries that made developing WoW add-ons significantly easier, future MMOGs are poorly designed if they don’t support user-enabled UI packages. Blizzard has shown that not only can opening up UI tools to the community greatly increase gameplay, but that opening up these tools doesn’t mean that a developer is enabling botting, automation, or other vile methods of gameplay. Blizzard, in support of LUA, struck a great balance in usability and restricting certain methods from players, and we wholeheartedly expect Mythic to follow Blizzard’s example in Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR).

In conclusion, thanks for the support, and please keep supporting the add-on developers who spend countless hours making the magic of MMOGs even more magical.

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]]> http://mendax.org/2008/09/10/mendaxwow-discontinued/feed/ 2 Phone + bestiality = good design? http://mendax.org/2008/09/05/phone-bestiality-good-design/ http://mendax.org/2008/09/05/phone-bestiality-good-design/#comments Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:00:38 +0000 WyldKard http://mendax.org/2008/09/05/phone-bestiality-good-design/

Talk to the crotch, please.Somehow, at the 2008 Good Design Expo, Japanese company Willcom showcased a concept phone to what Forever Geek refers to as “the adoring public”. The phone is not only oversized, but in the shape of a teddy bear, and requires the user to talk into the bear’s crotch as though to give it fellatio. Fortunately, the bear is anatomically incorrect.

How such a design monstrosity (it’s not even a good-looking teddy bear) is being displayed at the Good Design Expo is amazing. Even more frightening is that the concept phone sells for $500 (which would tend to suggest there’s little concept about it). While we hate to say it, only in Japan could such a monstrosity be considered a desirable product to both manufacture, and ultimately buy.

What’s with designers coming up with wholly unpractical products, anyway? While the phone’s design is an expensive novelty aimed at being “cute” (presumably in an attempt to infer that the bear is whispering to the user), there’s no clear way to dial un-programmed numbers via the bear-phone. All in all, the novelty of the phone could probably be re-created with some clever hackery of an existing phone and teddy bear, for much cheaper than $500 and with arguably better results on the cuteness scale. Plus, enterprising folks at home could either find a way to make communication work in a way that one doesn’t need to talk to the bear’s crotch, else slip full-on into the realm of bear-phone bestiality. Either way, we bet it’d sell in Japan.

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