There comes a time in any teenage boy’s life when they feel the urge to measure their junk.

The same is sometimes true in day-to-day OS X living.

Sometimes when I’ve been on a rampant deleting spree through all my files, I want to know how many megs I managed to knock off my minuscule MacBook Air SSD in order to feel good about myself, before recycling them all to hell.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to check this from the Trash Can itself, but here’s another simple way:

From Finder, Go To Folder (Command + Shift + G) and enter:

~/.Trash

This will expose the otherwise hidden Trash folder, allowing you to do a quick Get Info (Command + I) to size it up. (Any folder with a leading period is automatically hidden in OS X).

Snow Leopard is expected to bring improvements to OS X’s Trash, including the ability to restore accidentally deleted files to their original location with one-click.

*Image not to scale

Is normal porn getting you fat? Change your diet! Find out how, as Barry Buckfist shows you some “real melons” in this mostly SFW screencast. On a Mac – no less.

As someone who is gearing up to head overseas, I’ve put my laptop into somewhat of a lock-down mode, password protecting everything to make sure that it can’t be molested if it falls into the wrong hands abroad.

However, the drawback of such tight security is that (with the omission of physical labelling), if my laptop falls into the right hands, there’s no way the finder can figure out who the laptop actually belongs to.

Enter this handy hint, sourced from Apple’s own Leopard Security Configuration Guide. The hack allows you to place a custom phrase in the OS X Leopard Login Screen, just above the user name and password.

Crank up the terminal, and enter the following:

su [your admin username]
sudo -s
sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText “This laptop belongs to Jason Deacon, and you don’t.”

Of course, you may want to garnish your welcome message with maybe a contact phone number, email address or more impressive message than the example here.

The beauty of this hack is that as your contact details change when you travel, updating them is a simple as re-entering this into terminal. No more re-printing labels on the road, and you’re able to enter much more information here, too.

The Apple Security Guide is a good read, which I thoroughly recommend if you’ve got an eye for that sort of thing. We’ll explore more security tips in time!

Do I simply place it back in its box, so that in years to come I can look up to that dusty mantle and comment to my grandson, gesturing with my smokey pipe,

“Fucking look at that son! No, up there on the mantle piece! Underneath the dust! See that box? Best box ever – ‘cept for your Grandma’s! Ha ha.. But seriously – listening to me now, eyes this way son – that young man, that, is an original Apple iPhone. Best piece of technology you could buy back in the day. It may look a little bulky nowadays, but believe me, that piece of beautiful art did more than just look pretty – it was a Phone, an iPod, an Internet communications device!…”

Perhaps I could give my old iPhone a new lease of life – a change of career if you will – and use it to shave with and drink beer from… Though no doubt people would stop hanging around with me at the bar, as I bragged about how this was to the my 15th beer I’d chugged from my iPhone, and could still whoop everyones arse at pool…

Perhaps I should just keep my old iPhone next to my bed, in case I have had too many real beers, and I can’t quite seem to pleasure that special someone I picked up tonight; that’s when I have the phone fully charged, with finger poised over the iBrate app…

Having a jailbroken iPhone could never be more important, could it Steve. 

Well, seems like I sorted out this problem with a little “diary entry” work. Thanks for listening guys. 

The Google Van, or a subcontractor for Google (similar as Skyhook in the U.S.) has been trawling the streets of Melbourne and beyond in preparation for a looming Australian iPhone launch.

Choosing ‘Locate Me’ in the iPhone Maps app now reads location settings from Wifi hotspots in and around the city, in addition to using Cell Tower Triangulation, giving yet another ominous sign that the iPhone is just that little bit closer to launch here.

Locate Me data is becoming increasingly more accurate right across the state, with readers reporting being located to their nearest street corner, as far out of Melbourne as Croydon.

Using Locate Me with Wifi turned off.

Using Locate Me with Wifi enabled.

Although iPhone firmware 1.1.4 unlocked does not automatically support the Map app’s Locate Me feature, it can be enabled by loading a 3rd party app Triangulation app first, which somehow tricks the iPhone into enabling the Triangulation service on the device.

How far out have you found Wifi Triangulation in Melbourne?

In this week’s podcast, Dan & Jase look at Apple crash reports, 3G iPhone rumours in Australia, and other businesses using Macs to promote their non-Mac products! Click here to listen with iTunes.

We hope you have sexy times, and wish you all the best for 2008! Happy listening! And buy ya self somethin’ pretty.

When iTunes 7.5 came out i eagerly downloaded it, as i have so many times before with all other Mac software updates. But for the first time, this one bit me in the arse.

I probably shouldn’t have thrown caution to the wind and updated, simply ’cause i’m running an unlocked, jail-breaked 1.1.1 iPhone as my main phone and organiser.

It turnes out iTunes 7.5 didn’t like to play with my iPhone, as when i connected them together in marriage, i got an error message (pictured) and was not able to access my iPhone – it simply didn’t come up in the side bar of iTunes.

So i searched for a way to downgrade back to iTunes 7.4.2 (which i was able to download), but couldn’t find a definitive guide or an answer to other people asking the same thing in threads.

So i decided to venture into risky territory and fix this via trial and error, as it was getting really irritating not being able to sync up new podcasts or contacts etc..

Firstly i sync-ed my iPhone’s contacts and calendar to my old PowerBook which was thankfully still running 7.4.2, just in case anything went wrong (so i could retain all the new info i’d entered into my iPhone’s calendar!)

I then copied iTunes.app to my desktop, as well as my “iTunes Library” and “iTunes Music Library.xml” so i could stick them back, in case they got written over with new old/new installation.

I then installed the 7.4.2 version and it went totally smoothly and totally worked! Fantastic.

Now i’ve just gotta remember not to update iTunes, as could easily be done via the software update without really realising, if you’re a little absent minded at the time.

But now what for the future? No iTunes updates for me and my hacked iPhone, forever? Perhaps!

Does 7.5 accidentally/on purpose now deny syncing with hacked iPhones, just like 1.1.1 stopped some jail-broken iPhones running at all?

Is this problem i had widespread enough that hackers are working on an iTunes fix?

Something else i wonder is if i was to update to 1.1.2, would iTunes 7.5 play nice with my iPhone?

Let us know your experiences or comments below.

The dealio is this: iPhone only knows how handle numbers of a certain length without an area code, and seeing as most of us are using iPhones with a US firmware, that length is the minimum American phone number length (much longer than that in Australia – 8 digits).

That means that when someone calls your iPhone from a home phone (or mobile) that doesn’t send the area code down the line (9### ####), and you have the number listed in your contacts with an area code (03 9### ####), then iPhone doesn’t quite cotton on to the fact that they’s the same thing.

Too many times I’ve received calls from friends, but iPhone didn’t clue on that they were in my Address Book, so I had to spend the first part of the conversation trying to figure out who they were without sounding like too much of a tool.

So you’ve done your Australian Phone Number Mod, what now?

Som people had reverted to adding both the area code version and the normal version of numbers to their contacts, but a better alternative is at hand! The chaps on the iPhone Dev Team have a workaround, by means of replacing the Springboard app. with a modified one. The modified one whispers sweet nothings into the iPhone’s ear about phone numbers being able to be only 8 numbers long and still cool.

Read up on the mod here.

For me this was an absolutely crippling problem, but there is surprisingly little info on the net about how to fix it.

Help share the love, and donate to the Dev Team if you find it of use!

And thank the lord for the iPhone Elite team! This week they came up with a method to re-virginise sim-unlocked 1.0.2, and further more, rather than users having to screw ’round in the terminal they put together an automated process(es) which makes the whole ordeal rather damn simple!

And even better, i can attest to the fact that it works! So if you indulge in some re-virginising goodness, be sure to donate some moola to these fine folks, allowing international peoples like mwa to enjoy the benefits of 1.1.1, and use of the iPhone as just that, a phone.

After i’d revirginised, i then followed this guide where it details upgrading from a re-virginised 1.0.2 iPhone to 1.1.1, and further more unlocking your updated iPhone. Thanks so much to the iPhone Dev Team for that beautiful solution, anySIM.

For those interested, i’ve posted some photo’s from my re-virginising escapades…

I definitely decided to run with the auto install that also facilitates a backup of your seczone – good stuff in-case things go apple shaped. Oh, and don’t forget to install MobileTerminal via AppTapp before you start so you can have some terminal access to kick off the virginiser, if you want some cool green text action like i got (and in case things go wrong).

“Yes please”. Or just “Yes”, as i typed in. Manors aren’t required in terminal land.

And another “yes” to forge ahead with the risky business. At this stage i pretended i was calm and cool. All was going well. Just say yes and don’t ask question. No shit in the pants yet.

And all is done! My iPhone was ready to be upgraded, then laid horizontal again to make it function in the land Down Under. Awesome!

Virgin tastic.

I almost did shit myself when i saw that unread text message up the top there. I freaked that the re-lock had been unsuccessful and that i’d just received a new message. Buuuut i eventually realised that not only does iTunes backup your contacts etc, it also backs up your text messages, your clock alarms, ringtones etc and background picture! Very nice. Pants still dry.

Whilst upgrading to 1.1.1 via iTunes, i came across a fantastic error, which made the iPhone display… nothing. It was a blanket of grey. Oh oh… Is this what it’s like in bricked heaven? I’ve come to so far! I’m not ready to die yet!…

But thankfully re-trying the upgrade was successful.

God i love anySIM. That lock logo is the sorta sexy that makes me want to dress up like a woman and “pick myself up at a bar type-thing” in the mirror.

And just like that, BOOM! Yes Optus away! Like having a brand new phone. Double home key click and double space bar here i come! And iTunes store, too, i guess.

Now do i take ‘50 more steps’ to install apptapp now? Or wait ’till simpler GUI version is created…

You may or may not have already changed the default phone number format on your iPhone from the default American set to a more international standard.

If you’ve done this by replacing the ‘US’ value in the PhoneFormats file with that of your own country, you may have noticed that Apple’s interpretation of how your local numbers should look isn’t quite what you had in mind!

I certainly did, so instead of copying the default set of Australian values into the US spot, I pasted in the following:

04## ### ###
+6# ### ### ###
(03) #### ####
(08) #### ####
(02) #### ####
9### ####
8### ####
5### ####
1#00 ### ###

Now iPhone can tell the difference between a mobile number and a home number with an area code present!

Of course this list serves me well, for a Victorian, however you may feel free to make changes to suit your own locality. For those international visitors, play around with mixing hash signs with numbers in order to get the desired effect.

Using the Address Book as a testing ground is a great time saver.

Additionally, I ended up keeping all these filters into my Mac’s Address Book for smooth Australian action everywhere!

How to change iPhone’s default number format – a recap

If you need a recap on how to modify the number formats on your iPhone, here’s a quick summary, thanks to the numerous excellent iPhone blogs such as modmyiphone and hackint0sh:

Using SFTP (which you would have installed using iNdependance and instructions like this when you unlocked your iPhone), retrieve from your iPhone the file:

/System/Library/Frameworks/AddressBookUI.framework/ABPhoneFormats.plist in 1.0.x

or, /System/Library/Frameworks/UIKit.f­ramework/Ph­oneFormats/UIPhoneFor­mats.plist in 1.1.1

Pop this file through this handy BINARY to ASCII converter, open with TextEdit and find the ‘US’ country value. Replace the values in it with those from your own country code (AU, for Australia) or even better, using your own customised version of the ones listed above.

Save and replace this file once again via SFTP, then restart your iPhone.

Viola! Now your iPhone speaks good fair dinkum Aussie, or German, or Spanish…

UPDATE: You may have noticed that your iPhone sometimes can’t quite tell the difference between phone numbers with and without area codes. This is because the firmware needs a little more ‘Australian’ tweaking to tell it that big long American phone numbers aren’t cool anymore. Find out about that one here.

So the iPhone kicks butt as far as pre-saving map data in the cache goes.

When you’re at home on your wifi, you can preload all the map lovin’ that you can handle to save yourself downloading it over EDGE (or GPRS on Australia’s Virgin network! Rock on!) when you’re on the road and need those directions pronto!

What’s equally supurb is the way that the Maps App handles routing directions.

If you plug in two locations to check out where you’re heading off to (I find I’m not so much using the Maps while driving, but more to suss out the journey before I leave home), while you’re on your speedy wifi, then iPhone automatically pre-loads all the intersections into its memory.

Even the iPhone knows how bad EDGE/GPRS speeds are, and tries to save you the download time!

So if you’re planning a trip, be sure to pop all this in before you leave home and the maps will be hot to trot before you’ve even tied your shoes.

Of course this has little bearing for me, as I’ve pretty much already cached-up ever square metre of my state at every detail level anyway! No, I am not a nerd!

I wouldn’t have to do this if the iPhone were 3G. But, well, that’s not till next year.

I’m unashamedly a big reader of Fake Steve. I like his slant on real-life news, and terrific ability to bag people out.

Often on this site, and many others like it, the author will link to numerous relevant and interesting pages as part of a blog entry.

On my Mac, I like to load these in seperate tabs while I continue reading the main thrust of the blog.

Have you tried opening a link in a new window on your iPhone yet? Unless the web developer lends you a helping hand, it can’t be done.

Enter Richard Herrera of Doctyper, with a genius workaround that will have you getting it on like there’s no tomorrow!

Click here to see his solution (not in a new window, I might add)

In a nutshell, you simply add two bookmarklets to the top of your boomkmarks menu (for easy access). One is called ‘Open in New Tab,’ while the other is aptly named ‘Open in Same Tab.’

If you want to load a link in a new ‘tab,’ just pop up the bookmarks menu and tap ‘Open in a New Tab,’ and automatically all the links on the page will be set to target=”_blank.” Tap the corresponding bookmarklet to revert the page to normal if desired.

So so simple! And to make matters even better, Safari keeps you in the loop by automatically putting a ‘new window’ icon beside all of the links.

This certainly has just made my day!

Along with Jason, i too changed the scrolling carrier logo YES OPTUS.

Whilst he replaced his with “iPhone”, i went the slightly more ghetto approach to gain some street cred with all me homeboys and girls. And mum and dad. See below…

Happiness comes in many packages. Mine came in this one (pictured).

Apart from the lady handing me over the package being a fan of Star Gate, it looked like my birthday had come. And it may as well have been my birthday, given the sausage surpise that awaited me behind the gimicky wrapping paper.

Here’s how to make sure your first iPhone experience is one to remember.

Step one.
You get your box.

Step two.
Take a shower to wash away the sins of the day from being around Window’s machines.

Step three.
Wear somethin pretty. Maybe a splash of cologne. You didn’t pay all that money just to fumble around like a bogan. Gotta look sharp.

Step four.
Manicure fingernails for ultimate touch experience. Don’t want any blood drawn in the heat of the night.

Step five.
Dim the lights. Put on some sexy keynote action from January 2007, to get you in the mood.

Step six.
Open the fricken box and stop blogging about it!

Of course I wasn’t expecting Visual Voicemail to magically work in Australia, but surely hitting the button would just call my normal Voicemail, no?

Thanks to the chaps over at hackint0sh, now it can! And the best news is that you don’t even need to enter the firmware (those who have restored to factory default for reasons of stability like me, breath a sigh of relief)!

Punch this into your ‘last century’ dialer:

*5005*86*xxx# (where xxx is your Voicemail number).

So, on Virgin (cough) that is *5005*86*212# and viola! Hello Voicemail!

Think of all the taps hackint0sh just saved us! Now we don’t have to put Voicemail in our favourites.

Handily, accessing Voicemail this way automatically enables the in-call keypad. Hats off to you, Apple!

Now, if only I could figure out why I’m not receiving the new Voicemail notifications from Virgin? All other SMS’s come through fine, so surely I don’t have to mess around with this, do I?

I’d been enjoying the splendours of AppTapp’s additional home screen icons (particularly VNotes, a superb voice recorder as part of AppTapp) when I started to notice that a few things weren’t quite right about the place…

Animations suddenly were skipping frames and super sluggish in parts! (Particularly when unlocking the phone).

I tried numerous tests to see what was causing it: it wasn’t that there wasn a lack of free space, because when I removed all my songs – it still underperformed.

It wasn’t converting the Address Book Language file to ASCII in a bid to change the number format, because putting the binary version back on made no difference!

Reverting the You Tube hack didn’t bring me any joy either.

Something must have cocked up somewhere… but what to do?

Well, being a fairly anal-retentive guy, I can’t stand something running at only 95%, so the choice was to just restore the thing with iTunes.

I was planning on putting YouTube back on after the restore, but when it occured to me that in order to do that, I’d basically have to reinstall all the mods which might put me back to square one minus some hours, so I decided I could live without YouTube and Australian-formatted phone number mods.

I’d read that flashing the modem to unlock the SIM was restore-resistant for 1.01 and 1.02 firmwares, so off I toddled to restore town!

Everything worked dandily, the SIM unlock remained, I just had to use iNdependence to ‘activate’ the phone and we were good to role, complete with sexy smooth animations once more.

EDIT: The joy was short lived, only a day later all the animation slowed down again, however, I ended up solving the problem for good here, by replacing the YES WHATEVER OPTUS carrier logo from the menu bar.

To unlock his iPhone for free, it all started here, thanks to the iPhone Dev Wiki. There are some other guides like this, but he found this one the easiest to understand.

In a nutshell: Use iNdependence (a much better, more refined alternative to iActivator), to jailbreak the phone with one click, pop SSI onto the baby and also activate it for use as an iPod and wi-fi ‘communicator’.

Then, install AppTapp onto your jailbroken iPhone to enable you to install SFTP (required to read/write to the file system) and a bunch of other sexy 3rd party apps. And when they say party, they mean party! AppTapp installs by itself if your iPhone from your Mac’s Finder, and then it’s just a matter of selecting the packs (SFTP in this instance) that you want to install. Very handy!

The Dev Wiki do a pretty good job of detailing the process, but essentially, once SFTP is installed you can connect to the iPhone’s filesystem by using an FTP client pointed to the phone’s IP address on your wireless network. How sneaky!

After all the fun of going through the above, Jase found this site which looks to be an even better way to happyness (1 tap to unlock!) and furthermore, the creator says ‘Don’t donate to me, pick a nice charity’!

He hasn’t yet tried it himself, but let us know in the comments if it works for you! Another set of instructions worth a geez are over at modmyiphone.com, which may help you out!

Then finally, to release the YouTube love, Jason successfully followed this guide to enable the YouTube button to work as intended. This handy converter combined with these instructions will also free you of American formatted phone numbers (not doing this can become a huge annoyance after a while)!

He is now the proud owner of a fully functioning iPhone after getting a plan with Virgin and adding a 300Mg per month data option for an extra AU$10.

Remember – we aren’t responsible for any of the content linked to on this blog, or what might happen because of it, so use this info at your own risk. Jason now just has to find a way to get rid of the “Yes Optus” that displays on the screen.

EDIT: ‘Yes Optus’ carrier logo is now off Jason’s iPhone, with an surprising performance gain to boot! How lovely!