iPhone Unlocking Scams.
When I was investigating the possibility of unlocking my new iPhone I was dismayed to find many scammers offering an easy online unlocking service.
There are a large number of websites that look genuine and have a lot of positive customer feed back offering an easy unlock service for $17 to $25. They all have one thing in common, they supply step by step instructions and a couple of download links where you can down load “their” jailbreak (unlocking software). The thing is the links are for software that is freely open source and available to download for nothing.
To unlock the phone you first have to jail break it using free software called Sn0wbreeze. Once it is jailbroken you have access to a directory of applications called Cydia. Here you will find the utility to unlock your phone to any carrier.
I investigated at least ten different websites offering to unlock your iPhone immediately all charging you for the service and without exception the download links and instructions used the free software I mentioned above.
The disadvantage with jailbreaking your phone to unlock it is you have to repeat the process every time Apple releases an update. This is because when the phone was first registered the Apple servers have a record of the service provider and ensure the correct system is downloaded each time the phone is updated.
The best way to unlock the iphone is at the end of the contract, contact the carrier and request the phone is unlocked. The carrier is obliged to unlock the phone for you and update the information on the Apple servers.
The advantage is you can keep the phone updated with the latest system with no fear of it being re-locked.
The disadvantage is depending on the type of contract you have with the particular carrier you may have to pay an administration fee. It is also not instant as the update on the Apple servers can take up to fourteen days to be activated.
Which ever way you decide to unlock your phone don’t be tempted to pay for it using the many ‘instant ‘ services listed on Google. Do it for free using the same system the scammers are charging you for or do it officially through you existing carrier.
If you do get tempted and pay for your phone to be unlocked, check to see if the process involves down loading a free app from Cydia. If they instruct you to do it that way you have been scammed and paid for something which is free!
NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone
As a Sci Fi writer I felt I just had to reproduce the post below. Sci Fi and reality grow ever closer! The times people have spoken to me when they have found out I write Science Fiction and say Sci Fi and aliens are a lot of rubbish, I wonder if they will be as confident now?
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star’s habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new explanet candidates, researchers announced today (Dec. 5).
The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope’s total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.
The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler, orbits a star very much like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life, scientists said.
“We’re getting closer and closer to discovering the so-called ‘Goldilocks planet,’” Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said during a press conference today. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]
The newfound planet in the habitable zone is called Kepler-22b. It is located about 600 light-years away, orbiting a sun-like star.
Kepler-22b’s radius is 2.4 times that of Earth, and the two planets have roughly similar temperatures. If the greenhouse effect operates there similarly to how it does on Earth, the average surface temperature on Kepler-22b would be 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius).
Hunting down alien planets
The $600 million Kepler observatory launched in March 2009 to hunt for Earth-size alien planets in the habitable zone of their parent stars, where liquid water, and perhaps even life, might be able to exist.
Kepler detects alien planets using what’s called the “transit method.” It searches for tiny, telltale dips in a star’s brightness caused when a planet transits — or crosses in front of — the star from Earth’s perspective, blocking a fraction of the star’s light.
The finds graduate from “candidates” to full-fledged planets after follow-up observations confirm that they’re not false alarms. This process, which is usually done with large, ground-based telescopes, can take about a year.
The Kepler team released data from its first 13 months of operation back in February, announcing that the instrument had detected 1,235 planet candidates, including 54 in the habitable zone and 68 that are roughly Earth-size.
Of the total 2,326 candidate planets that Kepler has found to date, 207 are approximately Earth-size. More of them, 680, are a bit larger than our planet, falling into the “super-Earth” category. The total number of candidate planets in the habitable zones of their stars is now 48.
To date, just over two dozen of these potential exoplanets have been confirmed, but Kepler scientists have estimated that at least 80 percent of the instrument’s discoveries should end up being the real deal.
More discoveries to come
The newfound 1,094 planet candidates are the fruit of Kepler’s labors during its first 16 months of science work, from May 2009 to September 2010. And they won’t be the last of the prolific instrument’s discoveries.
“This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth’s twin,” Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
Mission scientists still need to analyze data from the last two years and on into the future. Kepler will be making observations for a while yet to come; its nominal mission is set to end in November 2012, but the Kepler team is preparing a proposal to extend the instrument’s operations for another year or more.
Kepler’s finds should only get more exciting as time goes on, researchers say.
“We’re pushing down to smaller planets and longer orbital periods,” said Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead at Ames.
To flag a potential planet, the instrument generally needs to witness three transits. Planets that make three transits in just a few months must be pretty close to their parent stars; as a result, many of the alien worlds Kepler spotted early on have been blisteringly hot places that aren’t great candidates for harboring life as we know it.
Given more time, however, a wealth of more distantly orbiting — and perhaps more Earth-like — exoplanets should open up to Kepler. If intelligent aliens were studying our solar system with their own version of Kepler, after all, it would take them three years to detect our home planet.
“We are getting very close,” Batalha said. “We are homing in on the truly Earth-size, habitable planets.”
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.
New Website Design & Spam Comment Filter
It has been a while since I have written anything for my blog. No real excuse just being lazy I suppose.
Anyway if you have visited my personal website before you will notice that it has recently been updated with a new design. I have also combined it with an old website I had left languishing unloved in cyberspace.
So if you have arrived at this site from www.cliveosbornerapley.com then welcome. That site was hosted on my mobile me account but as Apple will be closing the mobile me service next year in favour of iCloud I thought it an ideal time to combine the two sites.
You will also notice many more comments on my blog postings. Most as you can see are not very relevant to the post content for which I apologise. There is however a reason for my madness.
There were always many comments getting through my comment spam filter and ending up in my inbox for review. I would normally let them build up over a week or so then log on to my account and delete them all.
The majority were posted by automatic link building software or in some instances by real people just trying to link back to their websites to improve their Google ranking.
They were nothing but a nuisance and just caused me work getting rid of them.
Several weeks ago I stumbled across a special WordPress plug in that automatically took these spam postings and removed the back links the posters were trying to add to my website. This cancelled the back link power of the comments but it gave my blog postings comment activity in Google’s eyes, which helps in the page ranking.
An added function of this neat plug in is to randomly replace the spammer’s links with my own links that feed back to my other websites. This hits them with a double whammy their links replaced by my own, it is very satisfying that their spam posts are not doing anything for them but helping me two fold!
So at a stroke this new plug in beats the spammers at their own game. So please ignore the inane comments on some of my posts they are there for a good reason.
Harvesting Honey From My Top Bar Hives
Two of my beehives were getting full (even after a wet summer) so it was time to give them a little space. I decided to remove three bars of caped comb from each.
I lifted the first bar giving me room to slide the other bars along. (I no longer have a follower board in my strongest hive as the bees have expanded to fill the whole thing). I moved the bars along until I came to the caped combs, which happened to be about four bars along in both hives. I lifted each bar out carefully then with a sharp jerk shook of most of the bees. I removed the rest using a soft bee brush. I then put each bar into one of the small NUC s I had built. It takes six bars so is just right for placing the full combs into. When I had removed three combs from the first hive I gave the Nuc a couple of puffs of smoke to keep the bees away and covered it with a cloth leaving a corner turned back slightly so any stragglers could escape.
I replaced the bars with new empty bars and closed the hive back up. I worked carefully from the storage end of the hive without disturbing the brood area, which is another advantage in having a hive with offset entrances. I repeated the process with the other hive and once it was closed back up I carried the honeycombs in the Nuc up to the house away from the bees.
I lifted each bar in turn, brushed of any remaining bees and cut the comb from the bar into a food standard bucket.
I put the lid on the bucket and stood it in the kitchen. I cleaned the remainder of the comb from the bars and stored the Nuc box and bars away in the shed.
To extract the honey from the comb I use the crush and strain method. First I cut the comb into smaller chunks.
Then with disposable rubber cloves break it up finely by hand. I find this the best way of doing it rather than using a tool such as a potato masher or wooden block. It is easier to get the comb and honey into a fine mush and remove any missed debris such as the odd earwig or bee.
The result should look like this.
There are several ways of making up a DIY strainer but if you look you can find them fairly cheaply on the Internet. I brought my strainer and honey bucket (It has a large clog free drain valve for filling jars) brand new from ebay.
Put the strainer over the honey bucket and pour the honey comb mush into the strainer. Cover the remainder of the mush with the bucket lid and let the honey drain through the strainer overnight. You can add more to the strainer as the honey drains through. Make sure you undertake this process in a closed room. You don’t want your house full of bees or wasps for that matter, trying to steal the honey.
I ended up with just over 14lbs of honey from the six combs plus a good saucepan full of bees wax for making polish.
Having only taken three combs from each hive there should be ample stores to see them through the winter. The next harvest will be when they are just starting to build up in the spring. I will then remove any remaining honey left over from their winter stores and give the bees plenty of empty space to expand into again.
Originally posted on my Beekeeping website http://www.topbarbeekeeping.com/
Update To Guardian Sci Fi & New Websites
I have recently been busy updating Guardianscifi and working on some new websites.
Guardianscifi.com has had a complete make over. It was long over due because the site looked flat and old fashioned especially for a Science Fiction website!
Pop over and have a look HERE
Due to all the different links to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk plus the currency conversions I have split the Guardianscifi website into two. There is now a guardianscifi.co.uk site that simplifies the linking issue and gives the user a cleaner and better experience. It is almost identical to the .com version except for the links and other subtle changes.
If you are in the UK check it out here www.guardianscifi.co.uk
The other two new sites are:
http://www.hammerdrill18v.co.uk and http://multifloorvacuum.co.uk
The first one is a review of Li Ion powered hammer drills. The new battery technology far surpasses the old NiCad powered cordless drills and really makes the old mains powered versions obsolete. The site also links you to the best online deals after you decide from the reviews which model suits your needs best.
The second site reviews multi floor vacuum cleaners specifically the Dyson models that are of course the best bag less vacuum cleaners available. Again the site links you to the best online deals.
So if you are in the market for a new hammer drill or vacuum cleaner check out my review sites first.