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.
Is Science Fiction In Terminal Decline?
I read recently that the plug has finally been pulled on Stargate Universe. So the Stargate franchise will shortly go the same way as Star Trek, to become endless repeats on obscure satellite channels.
I am not aware of any new main stream Science Fiction series on the horizon are you? And before any one says what about Dr Who on the BBC? The viewing figures for that are declining as well so it is only a matter of time.
As for books, new authors are in the main being ignored. You only have to browse the Sci Fi forums to see which ones are being read and recommended. Unless your name is Asimov, Clarke or Heinlein et al. forget it! You will be completely ignored.
There are of course the odd exceptions such as the film Avatar, which had record viewing figures and should have put Sci Fi firmly on the map. But what has happened since? The decline continues.
Are Sci Fi fans in the main conservatives afraid of new things, change or experimentation? Happy to watch constant re-runs of Star Trek, Stargate, Babylon 5 and re-read the same old books written by long dead authors?
If that is the case then the outlook for Sci Fi as genre is bleak. What do you think?
New Website & Book
In addition to my two Science Fiction novels, I have written two eBooks one on natural beekeeping and the other on tropical fish keeping.
I have also put part three of the Guardian trilogy to one side. (It is only temporary there will be a final book eventually) because I have decided to broaden my horizons further and write a historical fantasy.
Due to the diversification I thought it was time to produce a proper author website. The Guardianscifi.com website is too specific and my personal website clive.uk.com is well… personal.
So I would like to introduce you to www.cliveosbornerapley.com. Please take time to visit and let me know what you think.
Now back to the historical fantasy it is currently sitting at 19000 words and growing daily (well perhaps weekly 
)
The working title is ‘A Moment In Time’: A recently graduated archaeologist is working on an excavation in Pompeii. He has an accident and is knocked unconscious. Two thousand years in the past a Roman Centurion is returning home to Pompeii because he has just inherited the family estates due to the mysterious deaths of his father and elder brother.
He is knocked off his horse during an earthquake. When he returns to consciousness he has strange memories that are not his and they seem to foretell of an impending disaster.
It takes him some time to make sense of his new memories but when the volcano erupts he ensures many people escape that otherwise would not have done.
When the archaeologist returns to consciousness after what is just a few seconds his world as he remembers it has subtly changed. Unfortunately things are not what they seem and outside forces are at work. He must discover what is happening and regain some control over his destiny.
Well that is the outline at the moment but things always seem to change as I write so it could be completely different by the time it is finished!
I will put the unedited chapters on the cliveosbornerapley.com website so you can read and comment on them as they are written.
Achilles Tendon Rupture Update
At the end of eight weeks I had to attend the Hospital for a check up. I was hoping I could finally do without the Aircast boot. I had been increasing the amount of weight I was putting on my foot after the sixth week.
I was concerned that when I took the boot off in the evenings my foot and ankle were still very swollen. The doctor checked the scar and the area around ankle and I asked about the swelling. He told me the swelling was normal and not to worry about it. I then had to kneel on a chair so he could squeeze my calf muscle, this should cause my foot to twitch. This is apparently the way to test for tendon rupture. If the tendon has snapped then the foot will not twitch.
Unfortunately my foot did not twitch. The Doctor was concerned that it had not knitted together properly so the boot had to go back on until an ultra sound scan could be booked.
Just over a week later I finally got my scan. It showed that due to the tendon rupturing for the second time it was healing abnormally. It was this that was causing the swelling at the back of my ankle. I had to take things easy for a further two weeks then start gentle physiotherapy. The Doctors decided the lack of foot twitching was due to the tendon being stiff.
The physio was difficult at first and made my tendon and calf ache. I supplemented the exercises with ever-longer walks. Slowly things returned to normal.
I was finally given the all clear by the hospital Doctors last week so I don’t have to attend any further clinics. (Hooray!)
I do still have to continue with physiotherapy until there is sufficient strength in my tendon for me to stand on one foot and raise myself up onto my toes (I cannot do that yet).
I find that after eight months I am nearly back to normal (How often do you stand on one leg and raise up on your toes?) The only adverse effect is I have a limp for the first few hundred yards or so when I walk. Once the tendon warms up I can walk without a limp. I am also paranoid about it going again so I am very careful.
One moral from my sorry tale? If you feel as though you have been kicked in the ankle, it is very painful and comes up in a bruise. Don’t assume you were kicked and leave it to get better on it’s own. Go to the Doctor immediately. The sooner treatment starts the easier it will be.