Mike Southby

As promised, I now have more Google Wave invites available after the initial batch.  If you need one, take a look at my original post for details:

http://www.mikesouthby.co.uk/2009/10/google-wave-invites-are-in/

Enjoy.

I have to be honest; I can take or leave Facebook.  Sure it is probably the most used social networking service out there but I much prefer Twitter.  Facebook has too many Pirates, Vampires, Racers and other annoyances for my liking these days.  I wonder if Facebook – like many before it – is becoming a victim of its own success.  The number of Facebook users may well be continuing to climb but I wonder for how long, it’s becoming too commercialised and too full of junk.

Still, I acknowledge Facebooks relevance and am surprised to see that the latest version of the Android specific client which is found on the new Motorola Droid has not been ported back to the wider community.  The version available in the Android Market is pretty poor.

So you want the new version?  OK, it’s actually quite easy to get it to work:

Caveat:  You MUST uninstall any previous versions of Facebook from your device before trying to install this new version.

• Download this file and copy it to the root of your SD card
• Open a terminal window and type the following:
  su
mount /system –o remount,rw
rm /system/app/Facebook.apk
cd /sdcard
cp Facebook.apk /system/app

You don’t need to reboot, the Facebook app will show up immediately in your menu.

Enjoy.

Note:  Feel free to add me on Facebook if you wish but remember to add a note that you’ve come from my blog otherwise as if I don’t know where you’re from I may not accept your request, and more importantly, any requests to join your Vampire or Werewolf clan (or any other for that matter) will not be met with enthusiasm.

Typical, the day after I flash my ROM to Cyanogen v4.2.4 a new ROM, v4.2.5 is released!

To upgrade to v4.2.5 you can follow the same instructions as per my previous post but substitute the file in step 2 for this one.  If you already have v4.2.5 installed, you can also use CM Updater – available from Android Market – to automatically download and upgrade to the latest ROM.  I have tried both methods this morning to see if one is better than the other and they both produce the same results.

The change log from v4.2.4 to v4.2.5 shows the following:

• Eclair/Blur animations
• Eclair Dalvik
• WiFi update from Eclair
• Kernel tweaks
• Tiny video player is back
• Update phone mod from Cytown
• Contact list photos patch from Geesun
• Browser settings fix
• USB tether works thru WiFi connection
• Apps that automatically change the wallpaper work once again
• Other bug fixes and tweaks

I have only been running the new ROM for a few hours now but first impressions are that it is much faster.

Kudos goes once again to Cyanogen.

It’s been a while now since I changed the ROM on my G1; I’ve been more than happy with Cyanogens v4.0.4 ROM which has proven to be very stable and pretty quick.  I still find it amazing that he and other developers are able to push out these ROMs to a higher standard – and much quicker – than the service operators themselves.  T-Mobile have a team of developers working on this and yet they just don’t seem to be able to get it right, they still think the way forward is to fill our devices with crapware and customisations which frankly either don’t work, or slow things down to a crawl – when will they learn.

Now that the things have settled down after Cyanogen received his C&D notice from Google, I thought it was about time to switch up to his latest stable ROM release; v4.2.4 comes with numerous enhancements and bug fixes and promises to be speedier than ever.  Time to find out!

Notes:  For the purpose of this guide, I am assuming that you already have an older Cyanogen ROM installed (v4.1.99 or older) and you are using Cyanogen Recovery v1.4.  Of course following these instructions may work with other combinations but I have not tested them so if that applies to you, by all means use this as a guide but you do so at your own risk.

Before starting, assuming that you don’t want to sit with your G1 plugged into the power socket, it’s a good idea to give it a charge and ensure your battery is at least 75% charged, then when you are ready:

1. On your computer, download the Android 1.6 Recovery Image from HTC’s website.  This isn’t like one of the normal recovery images you’ll be used to running, but you’ll need it in order to ensure the Google Apps are working.  For ease, download this to your desktop so we know where to find it in later steps
2. Next, download Cyanogens’ latest v4.2.4 ROM, again saving it to your desktop
3. We now need to copy both of these images onto your G1 so connect it to your computer using a USB cable, making sure that it is still turned on.  Now, drag down the status window on the G1 and mount your phone so that it is accessible on your computer.  Navigate to the root on your G1’s SD card and copy the two ROMs from above onto the SD.  Once this has done, you can disconnect the USB cable and turn the G1 off
4. Hold down the home button on the G1 and power on, this will allow you to boot into the Recovery Mode
5. Once the Recovery Mode had loaded up, perform a Nandroid Backup [Alt+B] just in case you run into any problems in the later steps
6. Next we need to wipe the ext3 partition on the SD card so that once we have flashed the ROM, we have a nice clean system without any of the remnants of the previous ROM, enter the console [Alt+X] and type:
   mount –o rw /dev/block/mmcblk0p2 /system/sd
cd /system/sd
rm –r *
recovery
7. Perform a data/factory reset [Alt+W]
8. Next, we install the first ROM which will allow you to continue to use the Google Apps once Cyanogen v4.2.4 has been flashed in the next stage.  Choose to apply any zip from the SD [Alt+A] and choose signed-dream_devphone_us but DO NOT reboot your G1 once this has been applied, instead go straight onto the next step
9. Install Cyanogen v4.2.4 ROM by again choosing to apply any zip from SD [Alt+A] and choosing update-cm-4.2.4-signed.zip
10. Now restart your G1 [Home+Back]; you may find that during the restart, you’ll be returned to the Recovery Menu as the cache is formatted.  This is not a problem so just restart using [Home+Back] once again
11. All that remains now is to go through the initial configuration of your G1 and mate it with your Google Account details however, on the initial screen check your APN details as I have found that whilst the APN lists have been updated since v4.0.4 some of them are no longer accurate (specifically the password), as in my case, the o2 payandgo APN is now slightly wrong and needs to be edited otherwise data will not work.  The following steps are o2 payandgo specific so adjust this based on your SIM provider and data plan; other APN details are discussed in a previous post
12. Click Menu and select the correct APN – o2 UK payandgo – then edit the APN details ensuring the following are entered:
    NAME:  o2 uk payandgo
APN:  payandgo.o2.co.uk
PROXY:  Not Set
Port:  Not Set
USERNAME:  Vertigo
PASSWORD:  password
SERVER:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
MMSC:  http://mmsc.mms.o2.co.uk
MMS PROXY:  193.113.200.195
MMS PORT:  8080
MCC:  234
MNC:  10
APN TYPE:  Not Set

Notes:  I have shown you the steps to perform a clean install of the v4.2.4 ROM which is the way I choose to update, I tend not to keep much in the way of data on my device and any photos or documents etc can be copied back onto your SD card once the upgrade has been done using a USB cable.  However, you can upgrade your existing ROM instead by missing out stage 6 above; this should leave your already installed applications and data intact.  You may need to open Market afterwards though to rebuild your application database so that you continue to receive application update notifications.

Caveat:  All modifications which attempt to bypass the base system settings allowing you to install custom ROMs *could* brick your phone (and if you’re not sure what is meant by that, please don’t read any further!).  I am not responsible, this guide gives you the information you’ll need, what you choose to do with it is down to you.

As always, I make a few base customisations to the nice clean ROM once it has been installed, obviously at this stage you may choose to do the same or do something different but this is what I do:

• Cyanogens ROMs are designed for speed and efficiency so do not have all of the audio files that come with an original ROM, however this is easy to fix to ensure that you have all of the ringtones and alerts, simply download the audio zip and extract it to the root of your SD.  Restart the phone and you should now have access to them all
• I’m not a fan of desktop wallpaper, perhaps it heralds from the days when it would have an impact on system performance; perhaps it’s just because I don’t like clutter.  So, I prefer to have a simple black background which I think looks much smarter.  To do this take a picture with the camera but keep your finger firmly pressed over the lens whilst you do, then choose this ‘image’ for your desktop.  Easy.
• The first app that I always install is a battery status app which gives a much better representation of the amount of charge available than the one which comes as standard, so head to the market and install Battery Status – Free
• Finally, I upgrade to the latest version of Google Maps – v3.2 – which is far better than the version which comes with the ROM, to do this download the update file and using the same method as above, put this file onto the root of your SD card and reboot into the Recovery Mode menu and apply the update.  Once your G1 has rebooted after doing this, you should see the updates Maps icon on the home screen and have access to the latest version of maps which has layers (showing you traffic hold ups etc) amongst other things and is much faster.  Worth noting also that if and when the voice navigation feature is enabled outside of the US (currently it is not available in the UK owing to licensing restrictions on the map data), you will already have the core map application ready to go!

I hope you find this useful, enjoy.

Firstly I’d like to say that I’m not much for politics; sure I watch the news as often as I can and try to keep up on current affairs but when it comes to individual parties, policies or politicians themselves, in my experience they are all as bad as one another.  There are pros and cons for all of them.  Gordon Brown has faced his fair share of criticism since becoming Prime Minister, some justified, some not so.  I think anyone who becomes Prime Minster is open to criticism, whether we like the person or not I think we would all agree that it is a tough job in more ways than one.

My problem with Gordon Brown has nothing to do with politics; it has nothing to do with his parties policies.  My problem is with the way in which he continues to fumble his way through life, seemingly blasé of his responsibilities and the way he should be acting, all the while receiving an extremely large pay check, paid by us the taxpayers.

I was reading through the papers this morning and came across the latest articles, featuring yet more stories documenting his trail of let downs.

The leading story is of a letter which he sent to a mother whose son recently died in Afghanistan.  The conflict requires no introduction; it seems not a day goes by that we do not hear of another tragic loss, the loss of another son, another father or another husband.  War is nasty business, I don’t blame Gordon Brown for us (the British Armed Forces) being in Afghanistan, the whys and what for’s are I think the responsibility of more than one man; though we may not like to admit to the fact, sometimes war in inevitable and necessary to preserve our way of life.  However, Gordon Brown in his position of Prime Minister has a responsibility to represent the government, the country and in a roundabout kind of way us the public in expressing his gratitude and condolences to the family and friends of the fallen.  It comes with the territory as they say and if he cannot be ‘bothered’ to do it properly then it’s time to step down.  As well as wrongly-spelt names, the letter to the dead soldier’s mother contained four other mistakes.  He wrote ‘greatst’ for greatest, ‘condolencs’ for condolences, ‘you’ instead of your and ‘colleagus’ instead of colleagues.  He also spelt security as ‘securiity’.  To show how personal the letter was and how much effort he had put into writing it, he ended the letter with repetition by writing ‘my sincere condolences’ and ‘yours sincerely’.  In total the letter had more than 20 mistakes in it, not bad for a single sheet of paper.  Now I do understand mistakes happen, I often make mistakes when writing letters but I always check back afterwards, especially if the letter is important.  This soldier gave his life serving his country, and this is the best he can do?  I think it’s a disgrace.  Gordon Brown has since phoned and apologised but personally I think he could have done a lot more, perhaps a personal visit to apologise in person; surely that would have been the least he could have done given the circumstances.

Here’s the letter:

I then read about the way in which he laid his reef of poppies during Sunday’s Remembrance Day service.  I have no doubt that he did not mean any offence but yet again, it is another public show of his lacklustre attitude towards his responsibilities.  Unlike every other government representative, even the Queen; after laying his reef he simply stood upright and did not bow his head as a gesture of respect.  I’m sure it was a genuine mistake just as I’m sure personally in his own mind he was reflecting on the sacrifices of those being remembered but he was not just there as an individual, he was there representing us.  He had a responsibility which yet again, he seems to have neglected very publicly.

I go back to my opening statement; my thoughts have nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with government policies on war or any domestic issue.  However I wonder about the suitability of Gordon Brown for the role of Prime Minster, a role which carries so much responsibility not only for our country, but for us as its people.

Gordon, you MUST do better otherwise please, step aside.

Rant over.