Howdie.
I haven't been on here for AAAAAAGes. sorry about that. But I've made a new website which is taking up most of my efforts when it comes to internet stuff.

It's a site about Royton where I live and I hang out on the forum. See you there? But only if you live in/near Royton :)

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Here's the story so far:

2006 - got fed up of windows. bought an ibook. kept it for 2 years until the screen broke and the system got generally quite tired.
2008 - almost bought a macbook pro but the price put me off and I craved the old file management system of windows explorer (I never did make friends with apple's finder system)

TODAY:
- vista is unstable on my dell so I decide to dual-boot with xp.
- create partition (fine)
- install xp on partition (fine)
- xp doesn't recognise my wireless adapter
- so i carry computer and monitor to my nearby house which transmits my wifi signal (my computer is in my workplace)
- plug in ethernet cable directly to back of computer
- xp does not pick up the internet signal from my ethernet cable (!!)
- run back to shop, get blank cd, jump in car, go to mum's house to download driver for wifi adapter
- download driver, burn to cd, jump in car, go home
- driver doesn't install properly so still no wifi and no ethernet connection (!!)
- I needed the internet to download vistabootpro and .net framework 2.0 to complete the dual-boot process
- run back to shop for 2nd blank cd, jump in car, go to mum's to download vistabootpro and .net
- download files to cd, go back home
- double-click .net installer but am told I need XP Service Pack 2 first
- run back to shop for 3rd cd, jump in car, go to mum's to download SP2
- microsoft refuses to let me download SP2 because I'm using firefox
- open internet explorer but microsoft site doesn't let me download SP2 because Mum's computer already has it installed
- find 3rd party site. download sp2
- find sp3 on mum's computer so burn sp2 and sp3 to cd then go home again
- to be continued...

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We saw the above film last night. It contained the line "your life is an occasion, rise to it". I like that quote. The film was ok

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1. Powercut at julie's house
2. Went to jazz club up Manchester instead
3. Sign on door of jazz club says "closed due to powercut"
4. Go back to car but noticed it is missing presumed stolen
5. Get a lift home and start checking ebay for a new car
6. Phone police next door to report stolen car. They say try the pound
7. Turns out car was towed and I pay £135 to get it released.
8. On way home I accidentally smack into a kerb, bending steering column and writing the car off.

So that was my bad day. Points 1-7 are all true. Number 8 is completely made up.

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Pretty good if its real. What a crazy technique
http://uk.youtube.com//watch?v=jSsnskJZmA8

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Go to Google and search for mark goodwin nose trumpet. How very nostalgic.

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I'm in Apple. I've stumbled across a nice little keyboard and am just giving it a quick test drive to see if I can type quickly and easily. Not sure how much it costs yet but I'll be giving julie a nudge in this direction so see if she can afford it for me. ;)

Remember, the best things in life are from apple

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I'm following instructions from here. Here goes nothing...

1. I've downloaded all those bits of hacking software and patches and restoration packs etc.
2. I've set the phone to restore mode.
3. iTunes has detected I'm in restore mode and I've now told it to downgrade its internal software to version 1.1.1 that I downloaded earlier. It is now downgrading... how very exciting! At the moment though, the phone part is still not hacked. All I'm doing here is making the iphone actually work as a web browser, youtube viewer, google maps user etc etc without signing up with O2 first.
4. Bit of a drama. iTunes reports an error code 1015 but apparently this is normal and can be ignored. Yikes.
5. Shut down iTunes. Breath deeply.
6. Now its time to hack into the vulnerable 1.1.1. software and activate all the features.
7. OK. Problem here. The "independence" software won't open. It keeps quitting itself. I'm going to reboot the computer and see if that helps.
8. OK it turns out I forgot to read the "readme" file. I've now installed "independence properly" and am up to the next step. Time to follow this youtube video. Fingers crossed now.
9. I've got stuck halfway through the youtube video. This could be a tricky one. But if it goes wrong I can just restore the phone and start again.
10. OK I sussed it out. That was fun actually.
11. I have done the jailbreak thingy and the phone is now fully functioning. I am now updating the firmware back to 1.1.2 for increased functionality and then I've just got one more piece of software to run and then I should be home and dry... apart from the phone/text features, which is very sad but it should be unlocked soon. I can't decide whether to go with the hacked simcard idea or wait for a software hack. I think I'll just go for the simcard thing.
12. Couple more hickups but I'm working through them. Any second now..... any.... second..... now.....
13. OK it's all gone wrong. I think I unplugged a cable at a critical moment and ruined everything. I've got to start back at step 1 now.
14. Actually I think I simply forgot to install the final bit of software and I'm not if I ruined it all in the process of trying to figure out what happened. I'm now trying to run the final bit of software but its popped an error message at me. I'm trying to get around it though...
15. Sack it I'm starting again
16. OK good, we're back on track now. Things are going well. I'm up to step 11 above now lol
17. Whoops, an unknown error occurred. That's not good. Restart itunes and see what happens.... nothing. D'oh!
18. Back to step 1. This is frustrating but I'm getting much quicker at all of the steps with each new attempt
19. I've been through it all again but got the same error code (1602) again. Time to ask the experts on the iphone web dev forum

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I drew this in the pub the other night whilst waiting for my turn on the pool table. 10 bonus points for anyone who can guess what the orange object is

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Just got me one of these

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OK so I haven't unlocked mine yet but apparently the unlock solution has finally been released for my version of the iPhone (the previous USA version was unlocked/hacked months ago but the UK version proved tough to crack). The solution actually costs 59 EURO which is something like £45. Gotta be worth it but I might wait until some more people have tested it first.
Excitement!!

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I watched Shirley Valentine last night with Julie. It was just as good as I remember when I watched it about 15 years ago. Shirley (aged about 45) says:

"I have led such a little life, I have allowed myself to lead this little life when inside there is so much more. And it has all gone unused, and now it never will be. Why do we get all these feelings and dreams and hopes if we don't ever use them? That is how Shirley Valentine disappeared, she got lost in all this unused life."

It's a good movie-film. Recommended. Only £3 for a week's rent from Blockbusters.

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You gotta see this. click here

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I almost sold something to a celebrity on eBay last night. The winning bidder's name looks a lot like George Galloway but it's just spelt slightly differently (I can't tell you how it's actually spelt in case he reads this and gets miffed). Anyway, my tummy did a little flutter at the thought of selling something to George Galloway.... the muppet.

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Apparently, the software unlock for the iPhone will be released by hackers tomorrow at 6pm (~1am UK time) and can then be downloaded from here. This is the news I've been waiting for... unless it's a false alarm. Goodbye O2 (and fascist commercial tie-ins) and hello Orange. Roll on tomorrow night!!

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