Adding Wallpaper to HTC Widget HD using iFile

The default wallpaper for the HTC Widget HD is just a black background. However, you can choose to insert your own wallpaper. This can entirely be performed using iFile:

1. Copy your wallpaper into this location 'var/mobile/Library/Springboard'.

2. Rename your wallpaper as 'HomeBackgroundPortrait.jpg'.

3. Respring.

In my case, I like the default wallpaper '100.png' (the one with the bubbles) and it can be found for my iPhone in the directory 'var/stash/Wallpaper.ajkUws/iPhone'. The screenshot is illustrated here.

Borowitz Report: iPad prevents adultery

New and serious "research" uncovered by the Borowitz Report dated 19 May 2011, says that iPad owners are less likely to commit adultery “because they stop noticing other people altogether.”




The article here, goes on to say that the study, which was conducted on a sample of one thousand iPad owners, found that not only did iPad use make them thoroughly uninterested in extramarital sex, “their nonstop talking about the amazing features and apps on their iPads made them completely unattractive to potential sex partners as well.”

Being an iPad owner, I was both agreeing and offended by the article. Firstly, I thought being less likely to commit adultery was a good thing. However, the article was extremely discriminatory towards iPad owners since it would apply to all Tablet owners, unless, it supposes that potential iPad owners were more sexually promiscuous than the average Tablet owner before they bought the iPad.

Secondly, my wife notices me less when she's checking her facebook updates on her Macbook. So obviously, you become less sexually interested also when you're (1) on facebook and (2)using your Macbook. Although, if you're checking your facebook updates of your ex-girl/boyfriend, that would be very suspicious so this is obviously something very difficult to factor into any experiment or research study.

Thirdly, the sample size of 1000 iPad owners is extremely small, given that there are many more iPad owners than any other tablet in the market. And being an Asian, I suspect that the sample size wasn't reflective of the global ethnic demography. However, having checked the chinese app market, the higher than average rankings of tintillating apps/ebooks suggest that being Flash-unfriendly was definitely necessary in keeping Asian iPad owners on the straight and narrow.

In conclusion, given that Mcdonalds is required to put up warning labels on their paper cups regarding the dangers of hot fluids, there should then be a warning that pops up at 30 minute-intervals of iPad usage, reminding every iPad owner not to forget to spend a few minutes stretching, talking to your wife and kids and petting the family dog.

Winterboard Alternative: PerPage Themes for iPhone 4

As you may already know, there are far more adventurous possibilities for theming your iPhone if it is jailbroken. Having been dissatisfied for some time with merely swapping wallpapers, I explored various theme packs on Cydia. This requires time and patience as some themes don't work well with other plug-ins. Recently, I've stumbled upon PerPageHTML, which is a very cool alternative to Winterboard for those of us who like to install cool themes for their iPhones.

PerPage is currently a free tweak in Cydia (although there is a paid version as well) which allows the installation of PerPage Javascript-based widgets on the SpringBoard. However, it is far more powerful than Winterboard because it allows the user to specify which page each widget would show up on. For example, as shown below, I've installed the HTCAniPPH perpage widget to display only on the Homescreen i.e. 'Page 1'.



This is useful because it allows other widgets to be installed on every page and with the paid version of the tweak, overlapping widgets can also be installed. In my case, this allows me to continue using my LockCalendar tweak for my Lockscreen.

For further tweaking of the weather locale in the HTCAniPPH widget, SSH or use iFile to go into the 'var/mobile/Library/PerPageHTML/HTCAniPPH/configureMe.js' and substitute the default weathercode at var locale = "SNXX0001". (SNXX0001 gives me Bukit Panjang). Your weather code can be found by going to www.weather.com.

Below are the weather location codes for Singapore as used by AOL Weather, The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Yahoo! Weather.

SNXX0001, Bukit Panjang
SNXX0002, Bukit Timah
SNXX0003, Changi
SNXX0004, Paya Lebar
SNXX0005, Serangoon
SNXX0006, Singapore

My icons are from the Winterboard theme 'HTC Froyo'.

PerPage has proved to be very stable on iOS 4.2.1.

How Apple can improve the next iPhone

Phone blog website GottabeMobile has got an interesting article here about practical teen concerns on the areas where an Android phone has managed to do better than the iPhone 4.

In the article, the author Kevin Purcell highlights four practical areas his teenage son feels Android phones do better than iPhones:

(1) Text Messaging
(2) Casing and Screensize
(3) Onscreen keyboard
(4) Camera access

Funny thing is, 2 out of the 3 iOS related issues already have jailbreak solutions. The drawbacks of iOS text messaging in terms of the inability to quick reply at lockscreen have been addressed on the Cydia store by iRealSMS 3.0, BiteSMS 5.2 and other sms apps, while his gripe about quick camera access can be easily overcome by button remapping jb tweaks.

I would add that iOS 5 should really address the issue of why we cannot organise our photos into different albums on the iPhone. The only clean solution is to pay US$4.99 for a Cydia app like Photoalbums+ to do this.

And unfortunately, I think Swype is not going to be available on the iPhone anytime soon...

Breakdown of iPhone components: Assembled in China by FoxConn for US$6.50

Every once in a while, there’s an economics professor who manages to put together a research paper that appeals to gadget geeks and iPhone nerds. Recently, it was reported in Vox that a Professor Xing tried to do this by digging up a breakdown of the country of origin and the corresponding costs for the various components that go into an iPhone 3G.



Table 1. Apple iPhone 3G’s major components and cost drivers


His thesis was that the Chinese labour costs for the iPhone assembly accounted for only $6.50 out of a grand total of $178.96 and hence a revaluation of the Chinese dollar will not really have a real impact on US competitiveness and the global demand for products simply assembled in China. In fact, if the same iPhone was assembled in the US, given that labour costs are 10 times more than China, the manufacturing costs would have been $65, resulting in a grand total price of $237.46 or a 30% increase in price. Now, looking at how laptop costs have come down, I suppose the costs of materials wouldn't have increased substantially for the iPhone 4(despite the higher specifications) and so this analysis probably still holds true.

Given that the iPhone 4 is currently priced at $199 bundled with an AT&T plan, I would say that the iPhone pricing seems to be fairly competitive based on the estimated costs of materials which obviously haven’t taken into account software development and integration costs, as well as other administrative overheads. Which explains why Apple is still the world leader in the smartphone market - not just on account of its App Store.

How to reset and reboot your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

How to Reset or Reboot iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch

Recently, I've had quite a few friends asking me what to do when their iPhone crashes or locks up in a way that prevents the iPhone from responding to the normal iPhone restart procedure. This happens occasionally with jailbroken iDevices whenever there are cydia app conflicts with the firmware. Typical symptoms are having the iDevice going into an endless boot loop or having the screen stuck at the Apple logo.



Reset the iPhone by holding the sleep/wake button (the 'Power Button') at the top right of the device and the home button (the 'Circular Button') at the bottom center of the face at the same time. Hold them both until you see the screen go black and the white Apple logo appear. When this happens, you can let go - the iPhone is rebooting. Sometimes, I've had to reset several times before the iDevice goes back to the homescreen. Once you reach the rebooting sequence (where you see the spinning graphics), you should wait for the reboot to complete and this may take up to a minute. If nothing happens or if the spinning graphics stops for more than a minute, there could be a system hang and I would try to reset again.

Resetting the iDevice should not remove or delete any data or settings.

iPad parody: Can you swat a fly with an iPad? Answer: Yes

Newsday had a TV commercial several months ago where they introduced their app for the App Store. You can use a newspaper to swat a fly. Can you do the same with an iPad? Answer: Yes.