Apps for the Touch update

As I was saying in my last post, I believed the applications Apple was "providing" to touch users (aka charging way too much for) were something I wished to have. I was also not prepared to pay $20 for them. But, through wondrous searching, I have found these applications through AppSnapp. All I had to do was add an additional source to the Installer.app source list. Voila, they were there. So, I now have Google Maps and Weather on my iPod touch. I didn't feel I needed Stocks or Mail, considering I only use web based mail, and don't really keep up with the stock market. I have also turned my touch into a GPS node via a service called <a href=http://www.navizon.com>Navizon</a>. My iPod touch has officially been turned into my PDA, bwahaha.

iPod touch 1.1.3 jailbroken

Free iPod Touch - Your FREE iTouch resource for tutorials, t... The iPod Touch 1.1.3 firmware has been jailbreaked or jailbroken or hacked, whichever term you prefer! Unfortunately the jailbreak will NOT come out until February, when the official SDK comes out. Here are details on the jailbreak: - It does require opening up your iPod Touch and playing with the hardware - The hacking teams claim that they discovered the code "LittleBear" when they decrypted the firmware - An Official SDK will be released sometime in February - A lot of applications still won't be able to work in the jailbreak - Springboard.app may not work, and Customize.app may not work either Unfortunately this Jailbreak does have a lot of downsides. Fortunately the SDK for the iPod Touch or iPhone is coming out next month, so we can look forward to that. With the new SDK, the hacking community will be able to solve a lot of problems like adding flash to the iPod Touch, adding line rider to iPod Touch, and more.

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I think that's ridiculous. This is becoming a really stupid battle between Apple and the hackers. Now, Apple has the nerve to charge $20 fucking dollars for five applications that should be included for free in the new update anyway (applications being Mail, Google Maps, Weather, Notes and Stocks). Or, preferably without the update, considering updating makes the jailbreak useless, as far as I'm concerned. I'm not about to open up my iPod and start fucking around with the innards. Apple needs to get a fucking life and come to terms with the fact that no amount of updating is going to stop hackers from getting what they want from their technology (yes, the technology that they dished out the money for). At this time, I am currently looking for a weather and notes application for my jailbroken (1.1.1) iPod touch. The huge downside to the Installer.app is the fact that you cannot search for applications. It would be so unbelievably easy if I could just enter "weather" into a search box, and have all relevant applications come up. I would then be able to choose which one suits my needs best. The moral of the story: I wish Apple would just give up trying (and failing) to stop the installation of 3rd party applications. If they did, everyone's life would be easier.

D&D Character Test

I think this is too cool. I love long, detailed quizes like this. I especially like personality analysis. I also enjoy D&D. So it's a very nice quiz in my books. The detailed results are most excellent. This was based on 156 questions, I believe.

I Am A: True Neutral Human Druid/Wizard (2nd/2nd Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-11

Constitution-13

Intelligence-12

Wisdom-11

Charisma-10


Alignment:
True Neutral A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Primary Class:
Druids gain power not by ruling nature but by being at one with it. They hate the unnatural, including aberrations or undead, and destroy them where possible. Druids receive divine spells from nature, not the gods, and can gain an array of powers as they gain experience, including the ability to take the shapes of animals. The weapons and armor of a druid are restricted by their traditional oaths, not simply training. A druid's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast.


Secondary Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (15)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXXXXX (8)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXX (9)
Chaos --- XXXXXXXXX (9)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXX (6)
Neutral - XXXXXXXX (8)
Evil ---- XXXXXXX (7)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXX (8)
Gnome ---- XXXX (4)
Halfling - XXXXXX (6)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Orc - XXXXXXXX (8)

Class:
Barbarian - (-4)
Bard ------ XXXX (4)
Cleric ---- (-4)
Druid ----- XXXXXX (6)
Fighter --- XX (2)
Monk ------ (-23)
Paladin --- (-23)
Ranger ---- (-2)
Rogue ----- (-8)
Sorcerer -- XXXX (4)
Wizard ---- XXXXXX (6)

Logitech Setpoint is a really bad piece of software

I use the Logitech MX5000 mouse and keyboard set. This includes connection using Bluetooth. I've been having a really annoying problem with the crappy software that comes with it. Even though this software has been updated about three times since I got this thing, the problem still remains. Here is a post I submitted to the Logitech support forums:

"I can't exactly recall when this started happening. I know it's caused by Setpoint because it stops when I exit Setpoint. I would simply not use Setpoint, but I lose functionality of my keyboard when Setpoint isn't open. The problem is: when I have Setpoint running, the top window I am using switches from active to inactive at approximately one second intervals, and keeps repeating that cycle. So, if I try and type something, I can't type it properly because the window will go inactive while I'm typing. I exited Setpoint just now, or else this post would take about five hours to write. I updated to the new version of Setpoint, including the firmware upgrade. I thought it might fix it, but it didn't. I'm using the MX 5000 Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I hope someone can help, because this is getting severely annoying. Thanks."

It's really dumb and really annoying. So, unless I have Setpoint open (which I do not because of this problem), I can't use the media keys on my keyboard. I think that's completely shitty, and wish this shit would get fixed. I wish I could figure out how to use the Microsoft Bluetooth stack (yes, I know, ironic that in this case I would prefer a Microshaft product).

Logitech is seemingly infamous for crappy software. It makes it worse that it's them, because they're a peripheral company, and peripherals rely heavily on software to function with the rest of the computer. Not to mention the fact that you need peripherals to use a damn computer...

iPod touch + Last.fm = success!

I figured out how to jailbreak my iPod touch! I was right, version 1.1.2 has patched the TIFF exploit, and therefore caused AppSnapp not to work. So, I downgraded. Since there's not such a large difference between 1.1.1 and 1.1.2, it's not a big deal. After that, it was smooth sailing. I have successfully gotten MobileScrobbler on my iPod touch, yay!

iPod touch + Last.fm = hate

As I have said, I got an iPod touch for Christmas. I figured since past iPods were so successful, they would keep the same basic configuration for everything. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I was happily scrobbling my tracks (see definition of "scrobbling" below, taken from www.UrbanDictionary.com ) on my old iPod nano with a simple parsing of the iTunesDB. Since said file is such an integral part of the whole iTunes dealy, I thought they would never get rid of it. I was very wrong. So, now I am scrambling to look for something that can scrobble my music. But not before the whole album art fiasco. Why the hell can't there be a centralized album art server, kind of like www.musicbrainz.org is for song tags? People can just query the database whenever they need album art. But I digress. I found a program called MobileScrobbler that is an application that is directly on the iPod touch (it also works for iPhone). Unfortunately, you need to install an application that will allow you to put applications on your iPod touch/iPhone. Silly, eh? So, I tried this. The program that allows for applications, called AppSnapp, would not install on my iPod. The FAQ of the program site says that it's because I have run the AppSnapp installer too many times, and I need to restore. A little drastic, but I oblige and do so. I try again and get the same thing. Now I'm fucking annoyed. I tried posting on the Last.fm group for the program, but that was only a couple minutes ago. I'm afraid of what it might be though. This program supposedly exploits a TIFF glitch in the iPod/iPhone. The sites for AppSnapp and MobileScrobbler both make reference to firmware version 1.1.1, although the most recent version is 1.1.2. This might mean that Apple has since updated the software to fix this glitch, and therefore rendered both programs unusable. That would be really fucking lame, especially for such a benevolent program like this. Almost as lame as the fact that they changed the entire system around, so the iTunesDB is no more. I hate large companies.

 

1. Scrobble

260 up, 19 down

When Last.fm automatically sends the name of each song played by audio player, they call this "scrobbling."

The application will scrobble your playlist.