Sam Lu - goSammy » Apple

BBM Probably Won’t Be Available to iPhone/Android

Sam Lu — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:53:37 +0000

If you keep up with the tech rumor mill, you might have heard some rumors that BBM could make it’s way in some form or another on iPhone or Android. I became a bit hopeful that this closed messaging protocol would finally become cross-platform, but now that I’ve done some more research, it’s not very likely that RIM will open this up.

The Rumors

When I first heard that RIM was going to release an SDK for their BBM platform, I got kind of excited. Within my group of friends, about half of them use Blackberries and they’re always “BBMing” each other. Apple fanblogs and alike also seemed to share the same sentiments, hopeful that the release of an SDK could at least mean that third-party developers could create cross-platform apps for BBM.

The SDK

The Blackberry Dev Environment. Uses the Eclipse IDE and a simulator of your choice.

A couple weeks ago, RIM released the SDK on its developers portal but cautioned that only an interface for Java was provided. Still, upon seeing this my initial thoughts went, “that’s no problem, I could probably run an instance of Java on my server and have my iPhone communicate through that.” Well, after downloading it and reading the documentation, the SDK they released is only intended for the creation of Blackberry apps to build upon the BBM platform (as you can see with their bundled simulator in the screenshot above). For example, you could create a chess game where moves are sent via BBM to get parsed by your app which would reflect the move in your game. Not exactly what a lot of us were thinking.

How About Reverse Engineering the Protocol?

Before rumors of an SDK surfaced, I pondered the idea of reverse engineering BBM. After some googling, some other people on random forums also have come across the idea but it’s quite unrealistic for the following reasons:

It’s probably illegal
Messages sent by BBM have to pass through RIM’s internal servers
Each Blackberry has a unique PIN which identifies itself on RIM’s servers

I’d also guess that each message that gets packaged up to go through RIM’s servers gets encrypted in some way. Reverse engineering an encryption scheme alone could be a lifelong task.

It Doesn’t Make Sense for RIM to Open it Up

After coming to terms with the limitations of their SDK, it made me realize that it’s probably not in RIMs best interest to open up their BBM platform for other devices other than their own. BBM is a huge feature that draws a lot of people to use their products, and they even advertise the heck out of it.

A Blackberry TV ad showcasing BBM

iPhone has a Huge Market Share in Canada

Sam Lu — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 03:34:47 +0000

While working at Mediumrare, we toyed around with some ideas of mobile apps and most of the time, it would be an idea for the iPhone. Now, as a developer, I loved the SDK that Apple prepared for Developers in order to create apps for iOS. However, it’s also important to understand your audience. Although Apple boasts about having a huge chunk of the pie in regards to mobile device market share, it shouldn’t be accepted at face value.

Today I came across a very interesting presentation titled Rethinking the mobile web. It brings up points that we shouldn’t disregard other mobile devices just because the iPhone has taken North America by storm. The presentation states that globally the iPhone has <4% of market share.

However, I was taken aback when I came across a map which laid out the distribution of different mobile operating systems per country:

If you’re developing mobile apps in Canada, then it seems the device to develop for is the iPhone/iPod touch. Data from StatCounter Global Stats indicates that the device has an 86% market share in Canada. The accuracy of the data is unknown but it does help put things in perspective and it’s not hard to believe that the iPhone has that much dominance in Canada. At my university, I have observed that a lot of students own an iPhone or iPod touch.

If you’re involved with developing for mobile devices or interested in the topic, I’ve embedded slides from the presentation below:

Rethinking the Mobile Web by Yiibu

View more presentations from Bryan Rieger.

iPhone Specific Favicon

Sam Lu — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:49:24 +0000

Earlier this week, Google released a mobile version of Gmail Tasks which could be accessed on the iPhone/iPod touch or an Android device as its internet browser is also WebKit based. I thought it was great that Google allowed us to manage our tasklist previously only accessible through Gmail or a Google Gadget on the go now – but was pleasantly surprised at the attention to detail when you added the site to your Home screen on the iPhone:

How did Google specify this iPhone specific icon?

Getting your site to have this “iPhone specific favicon” was just as simple as applying a regular favicon. To do so, just insert a tag like so in the section of your markup:

rel=“apple-touch-icon” href=“PATH_TO_ICON_HERE” />

Obviously, just replace “PATH_TO_ICON_HERE” with an image path and you’re all set!
To keep things to spec, be sure to design your icon in a 57×57 pixel canvas and export it to PNG format when finished.
If you’d like a sample to work with, why not check out the tasks icon Google uses?

Jailbreaking & Unlocking 1st Gen iPhone on 2.0.2

Sam Lu — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:33:50 +0000

Warning: The following only applies to non-3G iPhones. 3G iPhones running 2.0+ firmware cannot be fully unlocked yet (meaning that you can only use it on official carriers for now). They can be jailbroken though, but it is your responsibility to research how to do so as this guide only applies to 1st gen iPhones!

Also with the upcoming release of 2.1, I am not sure if QuickPwn will work with 2.1 yet. Please use this guide only with 2.0.2.

This guide also only covers OSX specific software for the first essential step. An alternative Windows guide can be found at macgeekblog.

Skip to guide

One day I received a newsletter from eBay trying to persuade me into buying some summer gifts. On that newsletter was a link to some iPhone listings and by chance, I came across a listing for an unlocked 1st gen iPhone running 1.1.4 firmware. The bidding stayed at $200 for days so I figured I’d watch it. Near the end, it still stayed the same and I figured it didn’t get many hits because it was listed as an “I Phone” whereas people would probably be searching for an “iphone”. Regardless, I won the auction and now had an iPhone. Wanting to upgrade it to the newest firmware, I searched for hours on methods to use while still keeping it unlocked. Through blog postings and forum threads, I found a way to achieve it so I had an iPhone running 2.0.2 with the new app store functionality while still being able to install unofficial apps through Cydia, and also was able to make phone calls on the Rogers network.

“Pwning”

At first, I had absolutely no clue how I was going to run 2.0.2 while keeping the phone in an unlocked state. I first looked into ZiPhone as that got some exposure on digg but later found out that it did not support 2.0.2 yet. Through some hints I found another program called QuickPwn which would do half of what I needed.

What QuickPwn will do is what is apparently termed, “pwning” your phone. When your phone is “pwned”, it is for the most part, in an unlocked state with the exception that you cannot make phone calls on an unofficial carrier…but don’t worry, BootNeuter will fix that.

The first thing you need to do first before pwning your phone, is to get your phone to the official 2.0.2 firmware first. You can do this by plugging your iPhone into your Mac and then doing an update through iTunes. (Note: as of this post, 2.0.2 is the newest firmware. I am not sure if QuickPwn will still work on future firmware releases).

After the update is done, you’ll get this

After iTunes updates/restores your phone to 2.0.2, you can now run QuickPwn.

If your iPhone is not connected to your mac (it should already be since you just updated/restored it through iTunes), QuickPwn will present you with the following prompt:

Connect your iPhone if it’s not plugged into your mac already

Once QuickPwn recognizes your iPhone, it will start doing its thing…

QuickPwn does its thing

Later QuickPwn will ask you to push some buttons on your iPhone that will need to be carefully timed. Just follow the onscreen instructions.

After, your iPhone will reboot and iTunes will popup the following error. Do not worry about it.

QuickPwn will then reengage a connection with the iPhone and then iTunes will present another popup.

QuickPwn will do its thing again and send files to your iPhone:

When the progress bar nears the end, QuickPwn will give the following popup:

Do not press “OK” because when your iPhone reboots at the end, QuickPwn will start running the entire process again. After your iPhone reboots you will notice that it boots up with a pineapple logo (QuickPwn) rather than the original Apple logo:

However, iTunes will now recognize your iPhone

At this point, you can start doing all the synching you want, but if you find that you cannot make/receive phone calls, read on…

Fully Unlock the Phone With BootNeuter

To be able to receive/make phone calls, you will need to download an application called BootNeuter which can be downloaded through Cydia (already installed via QuickPwn). Below are the series of steps you would need to go through in order to obtain BootNeuter:

Open the Cydia app:
Select the Search option at the bottom:
Search for BootNeuter and once found, select it:
Press Install:
Confirm the Install:

Once BootNeuter is done installing, open it and apply the following settings:

Neuter: ON
FakeBlank: OFF
Unlock: On

Your iPhone might need to reboot, but afterwards, try making a call — it should work!

Applications From the App Store Crash Upon Launch

This is actually a bug of the 2.0.2 firmware (which might have been fixed with the recent 2.0.3 release but I’m not sure if QuickPwn will work with 2.0.3 yet). ilikemyiphone.com released a solution to this problem.

Rogers Is FINALLY Bringing the iPhone to Canada

Sam Lu — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:48:13 +0000

In a previous post, I mentioned that I heard a rumor from a source (a friend of mine who works at Best Buy) that the iPhone was coming to Canada in January/February this year. Obviously, that was just a rumor, but today ReportonBusiness.com has posted a Globe and Mail update mentioning that Rogers has finally announced that it has reached a deal with Apple to finally bring the iPhone to Canada sometime this year.

It’s been a long time coming and the iPhone can’t get to Canada soon enough, but I think this could mean bigger implications to the wireless sector of Canada.

In another post, I mentioned how Canadians are paying some of the worst data rates in the world. It’s gotten a bit better, but some people who are unofficially using the iPhone in Canada are forking up $65/month for 1GB of data. Compared to the US, iPhone users on AT&T only have to pay something like $20/month for unlimited data.

Apple has no doubt made an impact on the wireless industry in the US by dictating those data rates. I’m hoping that they have the same impact in Canada because I’m sure they don’t want the experience of the iPhone to be ruined with terrible data plans. The iPhone needs an unlimited data plan in order to be experienced the way it was intended. Here’s to hoping that Roger’s data plans match those of AT&T.

Apple Comic: Vol. 2

Sam Lu — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 15:00:16 +0000

Synopsis:
In the middle of the night, iPod shuffle wakes up because he drank too much iced tea. He then finds a silly way to waste his time, but wakes up iBook in the process.

Apple Comic: Vol. 1

Sam Lu — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 04:17:23 +0000

Last year I started a little comic strip with some of my Apple hardware. It didn’t get a lot of exposure and it got lost during the upgrade from my previous blog, so here it is again.

Synopsis:
iPod Shuffle is reading the fliers one day when he comes across an interesting product. He shares his findings with his buddy, iBook.

iPhone Web Concept Kit

Sam Lu — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:21:49 +0000

During one of my lunch breaks at work, I came up with a concept for a web application that would be used on the iPhone. I had a difficult time finding an image of the iPhone with the exact dimensions for the screen inside so I took it up myself to make one in Photoshop that could be used for mockup purposes.

Download iPhone Web Concept Kit

If you’re a web developer looking to make a website tailored to the iPhone, you probably already realize how handy this kit could be. So if you want to whip up a mockup, download it. Everything is editable right down to the AT&T text, so I guess if you’re bored and want to modify the iPhone to look red with a different service provider, go nuts.

Contents:

One zip file containing a PSD

Notes:

Helvetica is a common font that was used. The iPhone uses it too, so unfortunately if you do not have that font, you’ll either need to buy it or use something similar like Arial as a cheap alternative.
For those who haven’t used an iPhone, the URL bar doesn’t always stay there, but it’s nice to have when presenting.
For more information on designing web content for the iPhone, please check the Apple Developer Connection page.

Thoughts On 4th Generation iMac

Sam Lu — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:42:27 +0000

Apple has finally updated the aging design of the iMac. The all-in-one desktop which used to be white with a trademark rimshot glass case is now aluminum and glass. The body of the new iMac is akin to the iMacs since the G5. It stayed with the introduction of the Intel processors and now it’s been updated, this time with a totally new look that leaves me with mixed feelings. Gone is the color scheme of white and grey — enter grey and black, a color scheme that is similar to many PCs.

The Design

I’m not very impressed by the new design. The color scheme matches my Gateway tower, as well as my sister’s Compaq tower (with the exception of the red logo and blinding green LED light). Grey and black in my mind associates with PCs, whereas white and grey was Apple’s trademark color scheme on most of their hardware since the introduction of the space-age looking iMac.

But enough about my gripes. After all, it’s just a color scheme right? Unfortunately, I’m not liking the large black border around the display either. It makes the iMac’s design less simplistic and I think the contrasting aluminum chin would be distracting. On the plus side, the iSight is now effectively hidden in that black border.

The choice to make the display’s exterior glass is also something I’m not a big fan of, but apparently there are a ton of consumers who love the glossy display. This is purely a personal preference which I won’t knock.

On the good side though, the depth of the iMac is thinner. It makes me wonder how Apple manages to stuff all the hardware that is in there in such a sleek package.

The Hardware

Inside the iMac, it’s insides are near similar to the iMac of previous generation. There isn’t that much of a speed boost and the 1GB standard offering of RAM is the same from last time.

Besides the fun circuitry and modules inside the iMac, Apple is offering a newly designed keyboard with their iMacs. It’s heavily influenced by the keyboard on the Macbook, thus giving it a very sleek profile. There’s also a wireless Bluetooth version available as well, incomplete without a number pad.

Concluding Thoughts

Personally, I’m not a fan of the new design of the iMac. It’s color scheme is the trend of many common desktop PCs and the large black border makes the overall design less simple. With similar power beneath the case as well as an odd offering of new laptop-style keyboards, I’m glad I bought an iMac of last-gen. Besides, it matches the style of my iBook.

With the current design of the PC-like grey and black iMac, I think this logo slapped on there (along with a corresponding screenshot) seems a little more appropriate:

iPhone Rate Plans Revealed. What’s in Store for Canada?

Sam Lu — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:19:23 +0000

This article is outdated. The final plans have been revealed for Canada over at AppleInsider.

Three days before the coveted iPhone hits the shelves of Apple Stores across America, Apple has revealed the plans available for its device to be used on the AT&T network.

iPhone Rate Plans as shown on Apple’s website

As many would agree, these rates are surprisingly reasonable. Actually, if I were living in America right now, I’d consider getting my hands on an iPhone the day it’s released. The ability to have internet and email access in your pocket has so many possibilities (looking up directions on Google Maps for one), and it’s really great that Apple and AT&T are able to provide all that access with an unlimited plan for a really reasonable price.

Can Canada see the same reasonable rates?

As I mentioned before, Canada has really atrocious data plans. Due to this, I’m kind of skeptical that rate plans for the iPhone in Canada can be as reasonable as what is offered stateside.

To put this in perspective, I thought I’d check out what AT&T normally offers with their data plans.

450 Minute voice plan (5000 nights & weekend mins): $39.99 USD/month*
Data Connect (unlimited data plan): $79.99 USD/month*
Rough Total (without taxes or extra monthly charges): $119.98 USD/month
Compare this to a similar plan for the iPhone: $59.99 USD/month
* Rates offered for the Chino Hills area

Obviously, there’s some subsidization or special exceptions with the rate plans for iPhone. It’s possible that Apple might have pulled some strings, but I’m thinking the plans for the iPhone are cheaper because it has wi-fi available as a substitute for internet access so it doesn’t have to bog down AT&Ts networks. Again, that is all speculation on my part.

Now what does Canada offer with similar terms? I did some investigating on the Rogers Wireless site as they are the candidate most likely to carry the iPhone if it does make it here.

Mega Time (250 minutes, Unlimited Eve & Wknd): $35 CDN/month || $32.67¹ USD/month
200 MB Blackberry data plan ($5 per extra MB): $100 CDN/month || $93.34¹ USD/month
Rough Total (without taxes or extra monthly charges): $126.01¹ USD/month
¹ Based on Canadian/US closing exchange rate @ 1.0706 of June 25 according to the Bank of Canada

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any plans that are really comparable to what AT&T offers, but they were as close as I could find.

Now you’re probably looking at the rough totals and saying, “They’re almost the same! What kind of argument do you have here?!”
Well, if you refer back to my previous post about Canada’s data plans as compared to the rest of the world, you know that if you were to use up 500MB of data in one month, Rogers would charge you something like $1600 for downloading that amount. Compare that to the $79.99 you’d only have to pay for reaching that amount on AT&T.

However, it’s quite possible that Rogers can offer what seems to be a “reasonable plan” after comparing the data at hand. Meaning that they might offer a $59.99/month plan as AT&T offers, but with only 200MB of data a month. Because really, the rough totals are almost similar with the exception of the data being allotted.

Who downloads over 200MB of data using their mobile phone?

Who would use over 200MB in one month on a mobile phone you say? Well, the iPhone is multimedia oriented, offers a full internet browsing experience, and allows you to watch YouTube videos on it. Considering that your average YouTube video is usually over 10MB, watching these can add up.

But can you really use that much of your data plan with the iPhone? If you chose to just use your wireless providers data networks for email and moderate web surfing, and left the YouTube video watching for when you’re on a wi-fi network, it’s plausible to not reach the 200MB cap. After all, there is wi-fi built into the device and there are quite a few places in Calgary that are outfitted with wi-fi. So if you have the ability to use it, and is also faster than an internet connection you could get on your wireless mobile network, I think that 200MB a month might just be enough — at least for me anyways.

Here’s to hoping that Apple pulls some strings with whoever provides wireless service for the iPhone up here.

Sam Lu - goSammy » Apple

BBM Probably Won’t Be Available to iPhone/Android

The Rumors

The SDK

How About Reverse Engineering the Protocol?

It Doesn’t Make Sense for RIM to Open it Up

Related Post

iPhone has a Huge Market Share in Canada

Related Post

iPhone Specific Favicon

Related Post

Jailbreaking & Unlocking 1st Gen iPhone on 2.0.2

“Pwning”

Fully Unlock the Phone With BootNeuter

Applications From the App Store Crash Upon Launch

Related Post

Rogers Is FINALLY Bringing the iPhone to Canada

Related Post

Apple Comic: Vol. 2

Related Post

Apple Comic: Vol. 1

Related Post

iPhone Web Concept Kit

Related Post

Thoughts On 4th Generation iMac

The Design

The Hardware

Concluding Thoughts

Related Post

iPhone Rate Plans Revealed. What’s in Store for Canada?

Can Canada see the same reasonable rates?

Who downloads over 200MB of data using their mobile phone?

Related Post