Rogers recently changed their cancellation policy, the tl;dr version, you pay whatever is left on the cost of your device.

Say if you go to the Rogers store and get the Samsung Galaxy S2 phone, for 99 dollars, then cancels the next day, you would have to pay 450 dollars. The subsidy for the phone. And if you cancel 12 months into your contract, the cancellation fee would be (450/36)*(36-12). So you get the point. However, this plan is only effective for those who recently signed a contract for a phone, or did a HUP, since I did neither of that, I am on the old cancellation policy. I called in, and found out that if I was to cancel today, I would pay the same amount of money, 450 dollars for early cancellation fee. So why not do a HUP?

That I did, that I did.

I upgraded my Motorola Milestone to the Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE phone, boy oh boy, was it a nice upgrade. It is fast, but then again, I got the Milestone the minute it came out. (It had Android 1.6 on it at first.)

The phone is almost amazing, but shitty Rogers added a crap ton of junk apps and Samsung added useless apps as well. Sadly those apps are “System apps”, apps that you can not simply delete. These apps in questions are not needed for the operation of the phone, they are stupid apps like “urMusic” from Rogers, and “Social Hub” from Samsung, which is rather useless. Time to clean up the phone a bit.

Rooting the phone

I rooted the phone the minute I got home. Rooting the phone requires a bit of terminal knowledge.

Steps (From of xda):

Download the zergRush exploit, the su binary, and the Superuser.apk app from:

• zergRush exploit [here]
• su binary and Superuser.apk [here]

Once you acquire these binaries, fire up the terminal, go to the Android SDK, and locate the adb tool then:

Open up a terminal and execute:

• adb push /path/to/zergRush /data/local
• adb shell
• chmod 755 /data/local/zergRush
• /data/local/zergRush
• Wait for about 5 minutes, for the zergRush exploit to root the phone

• adb remount
• adb push /path/to/Superuser.apk /system/apk
• adb push /path/to/su /system/bin
• adb shell
• chmod 644 /system/app/Superuser.apk
• chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
• reboot

Voila, the phone is now rooted.

sudo mksandwich -mode bitch >/dev/mouth

Once we root the phone we should be able to see:

The Superuser app listing applications that have root permissions.

The next step is to delete unwanted applications from the phone, head to the market place and install TitaniumBackup. This will allow us to backup the phone and remove those unwanted applications.

I removed the following “system applications” without any harm:

• IM
• Rogers Live
• Samsung Apps
• Shop
• Social Hub
• urMusic
• urMusic New Releases
• Music (I’m using the leaked ICS music application, so that I can sync against my Google Music account)

After this step the phone should be clean of unwanted apps.

The next step is to make the phone ad free, or relatively ad free, head to the market place and install AdFree Android. This will allow us to modify the hosts files, which in essence disallow ads being loaded.

Remember, both the TitaniumBackup and the AdFree Android app requires the phone to be rooted.

So now we have an amazing phone, without those unwanted apps, nor ads. Go nuts.

Oh, and you also should get an Otterbox for your phone, the Rogers Samsung S2 LTE version of the phone (with the 4 buttons on the bottom) is the same as the AT&T skyrocket version of the phone, so pick one of these cases up.

While in class today I saw someone with the Eee Pad Transformer with the keyboard dock, the only thing I can think of is: “Not sure if stupid or…” The user interaction is rather stupid, since to operate the “mouse” the user was touching the screen.

Press screen, screen wobbles a bit, press screen, screen wobbles a bit, press screen, screen wobbles a bit…

Also, for $558.97 you might as well throw in 400 more for a real Mac Air, or something similar in terms of netbooks.

Don’t get me wrong, I have a Xoom myself, and I just can’t see a tablet in the foam form of a laptop, or a laptop with Android installed.

The start menu is a fail, and a fail menu is fail menu.

I honestly hope to god that bloody menu can be disabled, or switched into the classic mode. As far as I can tell, no one will want to use that, its a pain in the ass to find the icon for the application, and too much mouse movement just to open the bloody application. Also, I can’t imagine it will sit too well with power users, nor seniors.

With Windows Vista and 7, you can simply press the Win key, then start typing for the program you want to start. (With a Mac, Command – space, then the program’s name.) Hope this is also true for Windows 8.

Also, I think its agreeable to say that Microsoft’s live service simply sucks, time to move on there, I want my stuff to be managed by Google’s cloud services. Stick with what you are good at, making OS, and forget about competing in markets that you simply can’t. Personally, I want a bloody iPhone, but without deep integration with Google’s cloud service it is a turn off, so I shall be sticking to my Android devices.

I shall be getting a copy of the ISO tonight and trying out Windows 8.

Thanks to Twitter, sites that uses multiple providers for single click sign on are forced to use additional mechanisms to ensure the /uniqueness/ of their user accounts since Twitter does not return the user’s email address.

I thought the whole point of one click sign in is for user to get into a particular website just by one click. If I trust the site, I would have no problem with using my Facebook/Twitter/Google account to use the single click sign on feature, as well I would have no problem with the identity providers giving the third party my basic information. However, if your site requires the user’s email, then I suggest that you stay away from Twitter. Look at what this Twitter employee has to say about not returning an email address.

I was doing the authentication stack for the site that I am working on, however, Twitter does not return an email, where as Facebook and Google OAuth v2 does. Insert rage here. I’m not sure what Twitter was thinking… Now I am forced to track users with the tuple (provider, uid). Thanks Twitter for causing extra columns in the database.

PS: Twitter, we apologize in advance if you get “Password Resets” since you don’t give us the user’s emails, we are generating one for them with: :email => access_token.uid+”@twitter.com”

As a seasoned web application developer, I have to say ruby on rails is some serious /magical voodoo automagical shit/, compared to the more traditional Java/.Net/PHP, which are fortunately are all C styled syntax languages. I am still exploring ruby, and trying to figure out what everything does what.

Ruby on rails is one serious framework, it make developing a breeze, we were able to develop the first production ready release of our application in less than three weeks.

6:33am, checked in project Amadeus.

Ruby is frustrating, but is automagical.

I see your little threat email, I reserve the right to write a proper response when I get time, you little fucking bitch. Watch out, watch out.

Alright, off to the Apple Store I go, this time I am armed with my MacBook Pro with an empty drive, I managed to copy everything to my backup drive. I will see how everything goes.Got to the Apple Store, and Alex P. helped again, I told him what I did and the symptoms the computer experienced. So he took over, plugged in the Ethernet cable so that the computer can boot over the network.

He tried:

• Visually verify the hardware to see if anything was wrong, and it seems that everything was working
• Install 10.7.2 from the network, which failed on xar_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the USB key, which failed on var_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the network, with Apple’s own ram, which failed on var_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the USB key, with Apple’s own ram, which failed on var_verify

At this point, he said that it is probably a logic board issue, and that the next step would be taking one stick of ram out and test the system, but then again, even if that was the case, the logic board would still have to be replaced, thus more down time for me.

To which I suggested that he replace the machine with a new machine with the same specifications. He thought about it, and agreed to it, since I have already wasted over 5 hours of my time sitting at the bar (it would have been better if they served alcohol.) He asked me about the specs of my old machine, and then told me that since that my old machine is not being produced anymore, I would get a replacement of the same specs but a newer version, so I’m not going to object to that.

My old MacBook Pro was the mid 2009 version with the product code “MC118LL/A” with spec:

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
• 250GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

Was replaced with the late 2011 version with the product code “MD318LL/A” with spec:

• 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
• 500GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm
• Intel HD Graphics 30005 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M with automatic graphics switching

So not a bad replacement, however, now I do have to ask to get the power adapter replaced as well, since it is a 60W, and the new MacBook Pros comes with a 85W charger. Because the charger gets REALLY hot when in use.

I am also going to have to shop for a set of 8GB 1333mhz ram for the machine, since I am a ram hog with all my VMs running on the machine.

In detailed specs:

• Old MacBook Pro
• New MacBook Pro

Since I still have over 10 more months left on my Apple Care, I was offered to either transfer the existing 10 months to my new MacBook Pro, or get a refund, and then buy a new Apple Care for my new MacBook Pro.

All in all, Alex did what I wanted in the end, a new computer with the same specs. Now I have my machine up and running, still in the process of getting all my programs back. At least the money that I spent on my first MacBook Pro was well spent, despite it was a tidbit expensive. (The beauty of it all was that I got a free brand spanking new computer, as well as a free copy of 10.7 on my Apps account.)

So coming back to the bet, it was a memory/logic board/hardware issue!

MacBook Pro 2009
7,975,404 presses
589,880 clicks (not exact, tap to click is enabled)
269.33 miles traveled by the mouse

I brought home a new MacBookPro the other day (well yesterday) It had nothing but a clean install of 10.7.2, I installed Skype, and did a bit of video calling, to my surprise it was using over 300% of the CPU. Unless if it is solving the cure to cancer, that should not happen.

I tried multiple versions of the software, and they were all taking up the same amount of CPU cycles. Fucking frustrating!

This was the before picture

This is the after picture:

The fix hack:

I realized that Skype uses peer to peer with supernode peers for call routing. I have a Rogers extreme connection, without a firewall, and my IP for the mac placed in the DMZ.

I enabled the Mac OSX Firewall, and disallowed incoming connections to Skype, so now I can video chat, and as well have the CPU stable at around 60% instead of 300+%

However, I noticed that Skype will automatically switch to HD Video when there is enough bandwidth, and there is no way to limit that, how fucking stupid. 1.2mbps video for an hour is 4.2 gigabytes. Imagine someone in a long distance relationship.

Anyhow, I use a Mac, and using ipfw I am able to limit the bandwidth used by Skype, thus it should not show HD videos anymore, and effectively also lowering the CPU temperature.

The two rules that limits my Skype to only use 70kilobyes per second. (246 megabytes/h)

ipfw pipe 55555 config bw 70KByte/s
ipfw add 55555 pipe 55555 src-port 5665 #the port Skype is using


Part 2 of my lemon Macbook Pro, part 1 is here

I took my computer to the Apple Store in Ottawa, a fellow named Alex P. helped me with the troubleshooting. According to him, it seems that the hardware is still working the way it is supposed to, which was somewhat a relief, however I feel there is still something odd going on.

What Alex did was, he plugged an Ethernet cable into my Mac so that it can PXE boot from a configured image from a backend server at the Apple Store.

They did:

• Stress test: everything passed
• Hardware test: everything passed
• Reset the ACL on my machine
• Replaced my charger, apparently it was broken, odd… (But reading the reviews here… thank god I have the Apple Care?)

However nothing worked.

Then he proceeded to install 10.7 onto my machine, however, at about 20 minutes mark, that failed as well, so now my machine is at a state of:
OSX 10.5, upgraded to OSX 10.6 (all minor version upgrades until 10.6.8), upgraded to 10.7 (all minor version upgrades until 10.7.2), partially downgraded to 10.7.

So now my computer is literally a random mix of 3 different operating systems. Jolly, at least Alex was able to get the machine into a more “stable” environment, and I was able to backup all my files. However the machines experienced a number of kernel panics near the end of my backup operation.

Then I wiped the drive hoping to do a clean install of 10.7 from a USB stick, however, that all went to hell, since the installer wasn’t able to xar_verify the BSD package. (Memory issue?) So now I have a machine, with an empty drive, jolly! Well at least I was able to recover all my files with relative ease (Although I had to delete Starcraft II and WoW since they were taking up 40+ gigabytes of space)

What really befuddled me was how to purchase 10.7 onto my Apple Apps account, since I already have 10.7 installed on my machine, and to my surprise, Apple Store’s employee told me that I had to install 10.6, then purchase the App, and wipe, and install 10.7. Or I can dish out 2 times the amount and get 10.7 on a USB stick.

Yes I understand that MacBook Air does not have a DVD drive, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the MacBook Pro users should suffer as well. I even offered to pay 29.99+ tax and just for them to add the bloody app onto my account. Nope, they can’t do it.

So rather wasting my time installing an older version of the OS so that I can have the latest version, I’m just going to torrent 10.7 and make my own bloody USB installation stick. For a low low price of a 8 gigabyte USB stick. Apple, I am throwing money at you, and you say no because of your stupid distribution method.

Time to head back to the Apple Store and do a clean install. So I wonder if it will succeed this time, and if it will be stable or not, not having a computer pisses me off. I *hope* this is the last time I have to go back to the Apple Store, next time, I am demanding for a new hardware.

PS: When a customer ask you what “segfault” is, try to explain it as a program trying to access a region of memory that the OS has not allocated to the program, (or in the worst case, even the OS can’t access, ie, invalid address), rather than a “memory issue”.

I am willing to bet a lot of money that it is a memory problem.

Today I brought a Macbook Pro 2009 edition in late to replace my broken Dell laptop. As well as an Apple Care warranty for my MacBook Pro (and the 10.6 upgrade DVD). I brought these items to my University campus, which is an authorized Apple dealer and service centre.

Everything started out great, (took a bit to switch to OSX from Windows, but eventually I removed Windows from Bootcamp) However, the problems began to surface…

1. The Superdrive failed to read my disks. Instead, it spun up and down and refused to either read or simply reject my disk, I took it to the campus service dealer to get it fixed. (Not a problem, 1 day downtime and he replaced the drive and the cable.)
2. Then my system management controller started acting up. My battery would not charge even after I had plugged my charger in. The light would be very dim and I was to forced to re-align, plug and unplug the magnetic connector to ensure that it turned a solid green. This happened even when I had made sure there wasn’t anything foreign in the ports. Soon after, I took the computer back to the service agent and let him to take a look at the problem. He suspected that it was a logic board issue, along with the system management controller which needed to be reset. He suggested he take my Mac in for 2 days to see what the problems were. That was fine. After waiting 2 days, everything seemed to be working just fine, however, this only lasted a few short weeks. Of course the problems started arising as suspected.
3. The technician at my university’s authorized campus dealer also mentioned that my charger was not right and that I had somehow “switched my charger with someone”, not sure how you can switch with someone. I guess it happens more often then I think what with everyone using Apple products. I guess it was a little surprising since I am usually very careful with my computer, and I am pretty confident that my 2009 (now ancient in the Apple world) charger would not get mixed up with another charger. As time went on, I noticed that my charger would get really hot. Hot enough that I felt as if I cracked an egg on it, I could have breakfast in a few short seconds. I tried my friend’s Macbook Pro charger (2011 edition), however, with it were a lot of unwanted white noises that blared into the headphones, which I cannot say I had been expecting.
4. I went back to the service agent and upgraded to 8GB (for a cost of course), for the sole purpose of completing a school project that required a lot more memory than what I had. (CS349 UI class, Host > VM > Eclipse + Android VM, just imagine the memory usage…)
5. Now the king of all problems I faced, the problem that rendered my mac to a very expensive paper weight:
   • I turned on my computer, logged in, and Finder suddenly crashed. Absolutely nothing was displayed, no icon was presented, no wallpaper, no dock. No response to my keyboard. Nothing.
   • I turned on my computer for a second time, logged in again, everything started out “fine”, opened up an application. Of course, the application crashed, as well as Finder. Then I received no response from my keyboard. Wonderful.
   • Pretty much anything I did from that point forward, Finder and everything else would crash. Seems realistic doesn’t it? I mean turning on the computer does take a lot out of a computer and can leave it useless, right?

So now my overpriced MacBook Pro is a very expensive piece of CNCed aluminum door stopper, and I have been getting by on my Android Tablet. I love the irony there.

I booted into the system recovery menu, repaired, verified my disk, and as well as fixed the permissions. Everything is fine there.

One thing I did notice is that all the crash results is generated by the SIGSEGV, so something somewhere is causing all my applications and Finder to segmentation fault. (Hint 1, memory, logic board issue)

I also created a new user account to see if it was my user account’s fault, nope, same behavior across the board. (hint 2, that it probably wasn’t a software issue)

It is kinda upsetting, I purchased a Macbook Pro believing that it was better than other laptops, because I am paying a premium for it. As a poor university student I was hoping to have the computer last me until the end of my university career. I have always defended my purchase whenever people bashed Apple for their expensive hardware, but this time it is just plain upsetting, I have upcoming exams that I need to study for, and all my stuff is on my computer. (I really can’t afford to have downtime with it)

I know that you get a sour grape from every batch of sweet grapes. I am going to the Ottawa Apple Store today to see what they can do about my computer. Hopefully, they can either:

• Fix it, and have my data intact
• Give me a new computer of the same specs, and somehow give me all my files back from my hard drive.
• Little or no downtime for me as possible

The most optimal solution would be: For them to give me a working computer of the same specs, and give/sell me the old computer’s hard drive, so that I can copy all my files over. Otherwise I will lose massive amount of time, and have a lot of downtime on my hands.

I talked to my girlfriend about it, shes having issues with her 2011 13 inch Macbook Pro as well. Her Mac’s USB ports wouldn’t work, and it is the second time that Apple has replaced the entire machine, so she lost all her files twice…. and had to go back to backups.

I will keep a post of what happens today, if the Apple Store doesn’t solve my problem, I am going to write to the district Apple Manager, and switch back to Windows, and will in the future to tell my friends to not get Apples. (I was on the verge of becoming a dedicated Apple user until last night. 1 Macbook Pro, 1 Mac Mini, 1 Apple TV, iPhone) Because come and think about it, for the price of a Mac, I could get 2 non Apple hardware and have a backup in case of emergencies like this.

I have posted my issues on the forums at macrumors.com, surprising, and sadly, someone said:

If you’re an attractive female, then you will probably just get a new computer, though.

I honestly hope that isn’t true.