Well, there are a few free options that are easy to use (and phone unlocking software isn’t always easy to use!). I came across Ruchira Sahan‘s blog which details the process, and provides the required software. Basically, you need to generate an unlock code which is based on your IMEI number (a unique code for your modem/SIM card). Software gets that for you, and will unlock the modem for you as well. He details it much better, but a summary of what I did to unlock my Huawei E1752 (an older o2 broadband USB modem) is:

1. Close the o2 connection software
2. Download the software he links to in this post, run it (there was only 1 COM port to select in my case, and it had an obvious HUAWEI label), and let it retrieve the IMEI
3. Using that IMEI, I used the calculator he links to from this post to generate an unlock code
4. Using the same software, I then enter the unlock code from the previous step, and it unlocks the modem for me, with no errors or delay
5. Finally, because the o2 connection software is still crippled (and wouldn’t work with my Three SIM), I downloaded the generic Huawei connection software for that model, and many other models, from dc-files.com. I did check for the presence of a virus, but still be careful when downloading any of this software. I created a new profile in that software, but that’s all I did (nothing with dial in numbers, networking, APNs or anything like that).

I rarely use my o2 Broadband Modem, now that I have tethering with my iPhone4 (and a plan that includes 2GB of data), but it is handy to have in the laptop bag. It’s much handier to have with a SIM from another network on standby too!

There are 2 issues potential customers of 3Pay for iPad face.

Firstly, Three claim you can’t get prepaid MicroSIMs (the smaller SIM card that goes in to an iPhone 4 and iPad), and that they only exist for post-pay, monthly contract users. As of the time of writing, their website mentions they’re “coming soon” (and has done for a number of months now, and their phone support people told me twice in the last 2 days that they don’t exist and that there is no immediate release plans for them. I came across a thread on boards.ie where a Three representative claims 3Stores had them. A quick trip to Liffey Valley 3Store (note, the actual Three shop, not a reseller of Three services), and a short time later I’d one in my hand, promisingly labelled “MICRO SIM 3PAY BROADBAND[sic]“. I was told there was 1GB data included (no sign of how to get this, or any credit on the account). I also provided details to register, which I had to bizarrely handwrite, but registration doesn’t appear to have happened (I had to fill in the details on the MyThree website). So, ignore the 3 website, and ignore what 3 tell you on the phone. Go to a 3Store and you can get a prepaid MicroSIM.

The second problem many will face is registering on the MyThree website, so you can top up and buy daily/weekly/monthly passes for your “broadband”, you’ll need to be able to receive an SMS with your newly create password (or, for future reference, to retrieve a forgotten password). The iPad, of course, has no such SMS facility. So, you’ll need to find a device capable of receiving an SMS that will accept your new Three MicroSIM. Given that the most common device is an iPhone 4, and that most of these are locked to their network, you’ll need to find an unlocked iPhone 4, or an iPhone 4 from Three. Alternatively, you can hack together, or buy, a MicroSIM to SIM adaptor. In my case, I made an adaptor and used a newly-unlocked 3G modem from o2 to both test the Three network and receive their SMS.

So, once you can overcome those 2 hurdles, you should be able to enjoy Three’s network on your iPad, with 3Pay.

Feel free to contact me if you think I can answer any questions on any of this!

Incident management is more about recording, with a good level of field-specific detail, a given incident and to then be able to analyse trends in that data at a later date. Decisions For Heroes allows users to record rescue incidents, keep track of certification, some basic resource management, built in communication and notification, manage non-rescue incidents (such as training and events), and all in an easy, and clearly well-researched UI.

Take the Decisions For Heroes tour to get a more complete run down of the application’s capabilities. Price plans start from €40 which might seem expensive for a web application, but not when you break it down. It’s not €40/user, for a start, and when you examine the man hours spent on recording and reporting, you’ll find significant time savings with Decisions For Heroes.

Robin has spotted a way a web application could help a life-saving vertical market, has built a fantastic application, has involved plenty of field-expertise (aside from his own) and delivered an absolutely fantastic solution for the market. If you look at the video and tour, you’ll see the level of detail has been well thought out, and that this is not a thrown-together application done on the cheap.

Congratulations to Robin and ByteSurgery, for delivering!

Google, for example, has 1.5m results for the same search term!

Engadget have a decent brief video review of the new device, if you have yet to see it.

My new battle is now do I wait for this, or get the G1 (I no longer need to worry about whether I get the iPhone 3G or the G1). That the N97 is still based on Symbian Series 60 worries me, as does its resistive touch-screen (rather than the much more responsive capacitive variant). However that’s a whole pile of features in a much better looking phone that the G1, that I just can’t ignore! Decisions, decisions!

1. First up, have your headset ready, along with a small Phillips screwdriver, and a small flat screwdriver (or a suitable plastic priser. Obviously, unplug the headset before starting repairs!
2. Looking at the left earpiece (the one with the microphone), look in to the earpiece itself, and behind the foam, you’ll see where the earpiece being held by 4 clips (for the want of a better term). Prise the outer plastic away from the inner bulk of plastic at those 4 points (approximate positions arrowed in the picture below). That should release the inner plastic which forms the bulk of the earpiece.
3. With the earpiece assembly released, a silver screw is exposed (arrowed in the image below) at the centre. Unscrew that to release the microphone assembly from the outside of the headset.
4. Once disassembled, take care not to stretch the wiring (on either side of the headset assembly)
5. Hopefully, you’ll see the damaged wire in roughly the same position (as this is where it’s usually kinked by the rotation of the microphone. It may be broken altogether. When working with this wire (a think co-axial wire), there are two things to keep in mind. First is that the wire is very thin and delicate, so treat it with care when stripping it. Secondly is that the outer and inner cores aren’t all that conductive (presumably because the mix of copper and other materials used) so when you’re using a standard multimeter, for example, it might not work like you expect.
6. Carefully strip back the outer (black) insulation, and the inner (white) insulation. Repair, by soldering at least a few millimetres of the copper portion of each core. Be careful to adequately insulate the cores from each other. Luckily, there’s a bit of spare length in that wire to work with.

Update: As requested (quite some time ago!), I’ve added photos of the wiring in the sound-card circuit-board (that bulky Plantronics-branded box that’s inline, just above the USB plug. The wire colours are listed below, and are top-down as you’re looking at the circuit board with the printed text the right way up (i.e. “Copyright Plantronics” is down the bottom-left of the board).

For the left hand side of the circuit board (that’s the side with the USB plug), the order is bare (no colour cover), black, green, white and red. For the right side (the headset side), it’s: green, blue & copper/bare, red, green & red, blue, green & copper/bare, red & copper/bare, copper/bare (no colour), and white.

Click on the images (and then click the image on that page, again!) to see larger versions:

I, along with many others on the various Apple rumours forums, have been waiting for a MacBook Pro ~12″, for a year now. Of course, we’re all disappointed that it looks like we’ll have to resort to the iBook replacement, the MacBook (no Pro!), we’ve had to wait even longer as each rumour turns out to be untrue. I was surprised to see that no 12″ replacement of the PowerBook was announced alongside the 15″ and 17″ MacBook Pro, as neither are that portable. Light, sure, and decently specified, they are not portable. Try using one on a train or a plane. As a travelling developer, I need something portable with punch. Mac OS X is one good operating system, and I want on the bandwagon.

Alas, I’ve to wait, as each day I question my decision when lovely portables are being brought out that will give the rumoured MacBook 13.3″ a run for it’s money. The age old computer hardware dilemma of “should I wait just another month?”. Well I’ve waited thus far with my hobbling Sony VAIO k600 (r505 to you US visitors), I’ll wait another few weeks for the MacBook announcement which will be happening “next week” (again) according to the various rumour sites.

I wish they’d just announce it, as I’m sure many would be happy to pre-order it. Besides, going by the problems of the other 2 MacBook models, the first of the 12-13.3″s will be going back anyway!

More “next week”!

The second solution seems the more technically sound solution. The root of the problem is the BIOS that all PC owners have come to love/loathe is not present in the Intel-based Macs. Instead a newer form of loader, EFI, which is not readily compatible with BIOS. Que left BAMBIOS which boots under EFI and emulates a BIOS (or some of it at least, thus far) so that BIOS-aware operating systems (older Linux, Windows 2000/XP, etc.) can boot. Maybe the first undocumented solution is actually based on this second solution, details are that sketchy. Good luck to the person who wins the currently $12k bounty!

Though Microsoft is likely to benefit from being the first of the three games console makers to release its next-generation console, a recent report by Strategy Analytics suggests that Sony’s PlayStation 3 will win 61 percent of the next-generation console market by 2012. The report predicts that Sony will sell 122 million PS3s worldwide, Microsoft will sell 59 million Xbox 360s, while Nintendo’s Revolution will trail the pack, selling just under 18 million units globally by 2012.

It’s not surprising for ENN to publish such gibberish but, I mean, doesn’t predicting the number of consoles to be sold worldwide over the next 7 years push the credibility of such a report? Who do Strategy Analytics actually expect to believe them?

So my solution was to download the latest drivers and manually install them. At the time of writing, that was v1.84.55. If you just run the .exe it will probably fail saying it couldn’t find any existing compatible drivers to update (sigh!). So I extracted it with WinRAR. And within the Drivers folder of the extracted file is a CTZAPXX.exe application. I ran it first selecting the Driver Uninstallation option first (and ticking “Delete all shared Creative audio driver files”), and rebooted.

On reboot, I canceled out of the standard New Hardware Found / Device Driver installation dialog boxes. I ran the same CTZAPXX.exe application again, this time opting for “Driver Installation” and ticking “Overwrite existing shared Creative audio driver files”. Another reboot later (just for good measure), I let the New Hardware wizard do it’s thing, and all is hunky dory.

I’ve not seen a solution to this anywhere, so I said I’d type it up, in the hope that it’d save someone the hours of frustration I went through.

The environment variable thing took a bit longer to figure out, and Google falls well short on being able to help with keywords like “variable”, “environment” “not” “set” and “CygWin”, and the various combinations thereof! So the problem is that if you set a system variable (as against a user one) in the Environment Variables dialog of System Properties (right click My Computer | Properties | Advanced | Environment Variables on WinXP will get you there) it isn’t set in a CygWin shell you launch from your keyboard. It is set, as expected, when you open a new Cmd window, use the Cygwin installed shortcuts, or double click on the cygwin.bat file itself. Yes, I was opening a new shell window each time, and not expecting it to reflect real time, in the one shell window! … Anywho, the problem was caused by type32.exe (the “IntelliType” keyboard driver software) being the process that spawned the new CygWin shell. It obviously reads the environment once at start up and uses that to pass to processes it spawns. No nice solution other than to kill type32.exe, and relaunch it (you can just Start | Run | type32). I guess it’d be easy enough to write a wrapper script for that, but that extends beyond the “is it really worth the effort” line, which this post has now become!