Elliott C. Back: Internet & Technology

The process of updating your 1.1.4 first-gen iPhone to 1.2.0 is simple. Even though the official winpwn release for Windows and the iPhone 3G isn’t out yet, here’s what you need to do to unlock, jailbreak, and upgrade your 1.4 iPhone to the 2.0 3G firmware!

[STEP 1] Download Winpwn 1.0.0.3 RC1 from the official source, or my local mirror. The filename is winpwn_1.0.0.3_RC1_Setup.zip; after you download it, download Apple’s 1.1.4 firmware, choose that ipsw from the “browse .ipsw” button, and click “iPwner” to WinPwn it. You’ll see something like this:

7/20/2008 4:10:49 PM – This is winpwn ver.:1.0.0.3 RC1
7/20/2008 4:10:50 PM – Apple Mobile Device Support Version 2.0.0.33 installed.
7/20/2008 4:11:01 PM – Debug level:1
7/20/2008 4:11:02 PM – Debug level:0
7/20/2008 4:11:02 PM – Debug level:1
7/20/2008 4:11:10 PM – File from: iPhone1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw
7/20/2008 4:11:10 PM – Recognized as:iPhone1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw Type: IPSW_iPhone
7/20/2008 4:11:10 PM – Be sure to connect an iPhone!
7/20/2008 4:11:13 PM – Failed to load image catalog
7/20/2008 4:11:34 PM – Failed to load payload catalog
7/20/2008 4:13:09 PM – Setting up iPhone device object
7/20/2008 4:13:09 PM – Registering callbacks
——————-
7/20/2008 4:13:10 PM – Unzipping .ipsw file to Application Data\cmw\winpwn\1.0.0.3\ipsw
7/20/2008 4:13:10 PM – Found device product id:4752
7/20/2008 4:13:10 PM – iPhone connected
7/20/2008 4:13:15 PM – OK
7/20/2008 4:13:15 PM – Creating ramdisk
7/20/2008 4:13:16 PM – Padding ramdisk
7/20/2008 4:13:16 PM – Ramdisk successfully created
7/20/2008 4:13:17 PM – Putting iPhone into recovery mode.
7/20/2008 4:13:17 PM – AMDeviceEnterRecovery res:0
7/20/2008 4:13:21 PM – iPhone disconnected
7/20/2008 4:13:29 PM – iPhone entered recovery mode
7/20/2008 4:13:30 PM – Sending ramdisk to iPhone.
7/20/2008 4:13:31 PM – Transfer took 1734.375ms
7/20/2008 4:13:31 PM – Modifying environment…
7/20/2008 4:13:31 PM – Starting pwnage
7/20/2008 4:13:41 PM – iPhone left recovery mode
7/20/2008 4:14:44 PM – Found device product id:4752
7/20/2008 4:14:44 PM – iPhone connected
7/20/2008 4:14:44 PM – Your iPhone has been pwned

[STEP 2]: Now you need to BootNeuter your phone. Using the Installer.App download an install it. Instruction on how to neuter the bootrom can be found on the dev team’s site. It’s quite easy, just run the app, select Neuter, and hit the “Flash” button.

[STEP 3]: Update iTunes to 7.7, if you haven’t already. Get a hold of a 2.0 firmware made with iPWNAGE 2.0 for the Mac. Firmwares, for example, are available on torrent file sharing sites.

[STEP 4]: Shift-click the “restore” button in iTunes and select the custom firmware you obtained above. Thanks to PWNAGE 2.0, you now have a first-gen iPhone running the 2.0 firmware, with full ability to run games and apps from the iTunes Application store! Enjoy Super Monkey Ball!

I am running through these steps right now on my first-gen iPhone, and so far everything works as advertised. Of course, I’m not responsible if something does go wrong and bricks your iPhone…

Update: If you have trouble getting your wallpaper to show up, or just see a black background, connect to the iPhone via SSH or from a terminal on the phone itself, delete private/var/mobile/Library/LockBackground.jpg, and restart. You’ll be able to set your own wallpaper.

Update 2: It’s official, WinPwn for Windows XP has been released, so just go use that!

Also, you should check out How to Unlock the iPhone 3G on Google Knol.

Knowing how many gigabytes a month you’re using can be important if you have a metered internet connection, or your ISP measures your bandwidth and charges you if you go over. I know many Universities in the US have implemented bandwidth-overage charges (which students decry as unfair and stifling) to help combat bittorrent P2P filesharing, which will sap even a wide broadband connection. So, whatever your reason, you may want to see what applications are using bandwidth on your PC. The following instructions are for Windows XP / Vista.

The solution is to download and install NetLimiter 2 Monitor, a free application for bandwidth monitoring. If you like it, and want the ability to shape your internet traffic (limit the bandwidth used per application), you’ll need to pony up and buy the full version. Note that it uses the Win PCAP libraries to capture internet traffic, you may need to install them if you don’t already have them.

The main monitoring tab shows you how much you’ve uploaded and downloaded per application, in real time. For example, in my screenshot I refreshed the firefox tab I was working on, so you see Firefox using 99% of the activity. Steam, a gaming platform from Valve, is always chittering to their servers, so you see a .01 kbs from them.

The statistics tab is where it gets useful, telling me I’ve downloaded 95 GB this month, and uploaded 49 GB. You can also click on an application or time period and get detailed statistics across either of those dimensions. Fantastic!

If you hurry over to new.facebook.com you can see a Beta version of their new design (Pulse says they took it down, but they haven’t for me). It’s interesting, because while it’s definitely going in the right direction, it’s nowhere near complete or solid. It is unusual for a company to publicly “try out” their design work, but Facebook is the first of a new breed. Anyway, here’s my take on things, starting with the new “home page”, your wall:

The new wall page, the first page you see when logging in

• The new “All Posts / Wall Posts / Posts by Me” filters are nice.
• Only three posted items in the right bar? It should have at least 10.
• Posted items have a thumbnail and text; without the text, they are mostly blank space.
• There is a ton of blank space between the footer and chat bar!

The new info profile page, tells you about you

• The edit information button renders wrong.
• The “fan pages” have too much blank space with the vertical layout!

The photos page has the best layout

• The photos page is perfect, the spacing is great. There’s little wasted space here!

Note also that on a wide monitor, there is just a huge amount of blank space to the sides of each page. Also, Mashable has their own “New Facebook” review; they conclude stuff isn’t “working as I’d expect.”