Wednesday, November 11, 2009

How to Easily Jailbreak Your iPhone 3G in Windows

I've finally jailbroken my iPhone 3G. For those of you that don't know what jailbreaking is, it basically allows your iPhone to run programs that have not been approved by Apple. There are a bunch of really cool programs that are not in the App Store. My favorite one so far is a program that allows you to disable rotation of the screen that many of the iPhone apps support these days. While rotation is useful sometimes, it's annoying when you have a sideways picture, and you turn your iPhone to look at it right side up only to have the picture rotate.

So, this post describes how easy it is to jailbreak your iPhone these days.

1. Make sure that you are running version 3.1.2 of the iPhone software. To do this, click on the Settings icon, then go to General --> About. There you should see Version 3.1.2 (7D11).

2. Download the jailbreaking program blackra1n by clicking here. It'll take you to geohot's website. Click on either the Microsoft logo and save the file blackra1n.exe to your desktop.

3. Plug your iPhone in (and make sure everything is backed up!). Close all open programs.

4. Double click on the blackra1n.exe icon. A screen should pop up that says "make it rain." Click on the "make it rain" button.

5. That should be it! Just leave your phone alone and let it restart. There will be several dialog windows that pop up on your screen. Just click OK and close the blackra1n program.

(Disclaimer: As always, installing unauthorized software on your iPhone could void any warranty and seriously mess up your phone. You assume these risks and are responsible for anything that happens to your iPhone.)

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Ok, after you install blackra1n, you have to install a package manager in order to install third-party applications. (This is sort of like the App Store). I like Cydia. So, when your iPhone is done rebooting, tap the blackra1n app on your iPhone. It should take you to a screen like this:

Tap on Cydia, and it'll install Cydia on your iPhone. After Cydia is installed, open up Cydia, and you'll be able to install third-party apps! Easy, huh?

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A must-have app is SBSettings. This program allows you to install other tweaks such as the anti-rotation app that I discussed above. Just search for SBSettings in Cydia and install it. Then, search for Rotation Inhibitor to install the anti-rotation app.

Note that you will not see any app icons for SBSettings or Rotation Inhibitor. I didn't get this at first, but to access these programs, all you have to do is slide your finger across the top of the iPhone (i.e., the top bar where it displays the AT&T bars and battery). A menu should drop down like the picture above. There you can quickly turn off wifi, rotation, and other settings. Pretty handy!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I Am a Child of God

Another one from the Jenny Oaks Baker Violin Collection with me on electric violin.


I Am a Child of God from Alma on Vimeo.

Love is Spoken Here

Another one from the Jenny Oaks Baker Violin Collection with me on my electric violin.


Love is Spoken Here from Alma on Vimeo.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief

From the Jenny Oaks Baker Violin Collection, played on my Yamaha SV-200. (Yeah, this sounds a lot better with an acoustic violin and piano, but it's easier to record with an electric violin.)


A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief from Alma on Vimeo.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Chicken Omelettes

A friend of mine told me his favorite food was chicken omelettes because he liked eating two generations of a family at the same time.

Mormon Song

Monday, June 30, 2008

How to Install LDS Scriptures on a Blackberry

This is a short tutorial on how to install the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price on a Blackberry. People are amazed when they see the scriptures on my Blackberry. I keep getting asked how to put scriptures on a Blackberry, so here’s how you do it. (I have a Blackberry Curve 8320, but this should work with all the newer Blackberries - Pearl 81xx, Curve 83xx, and 88xx.)

Step 1: Memory Card
- Make sure you have a large enough memory card. These are pretty cheap these days. My microsd card is 2GB.

Step 2: Install MobiPocket Reader
- You can download MobiPocket Reader here and follow the instructions listed on the website.

- Alternatively, you can install it over-the-air (OTA) by going to http://m.mobipocket.com/ from your Blackberry’s browser.

Step 3: Download LDS Scriptures
- This was the thing I had the most difficult time with. The church website, lds.org, does not offer the scriptures for MobiPocket. So, I had to find one online. Not just any version, a free version :). It took me a while, but I found one. I tried looking for it again the other day, but I couldn’t find it again for some reason. I’ll save you all some time by putting a copy of the one I downloaded here.

- After you download the file, unzip it and copy it to your Blackberry. (Basically, you plug your Blackberry into your computer with the USB cable. In Windows, click on My Computer and then click on the Blackberry drive; it should be listed as a flash drive. Then open the eBooks folder and copy the LDS Scriptures Blackberry.prc file to the eBook folder. On Macs, open up the mounted drive and go to the eBooks folder and copy the LDS Scriptures Blackberry.prc file to the eBooks folder.)

- That’s it! Open up MobiPocket on your Blackberry, and you should be able to see the scriptures.

Installing Additional Church Content
- Although you can’t download the scriptures from lds.org, you can download a bunch of other stuff like general conference, manuals, Ensigns, and hymns. Click here to go to the church download site. It says it's for Palm devices, but the files work for Blackberry as well.

(Disclaimer: I’m not responsible if you mess up your Blackberry. Make sure you back up your data before you try this!)