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while it is possible to unlock a jailbroken iphone 3gs using the 06.15.00 baseband upgrade, it comes with a set of risks. one of those being -- it's possible to get stuck in the dreaded recovery loop (stuck on the apple logo or low battery warning and restarting after a few minutes). it's a tethered boot so if you reset the phone without it being tethered, or if it crashes, your phone may be temporarily bricked. iphones can never be truly "bricked" by software means, but you may be limited in what version of the ios software you may run. i had successfully unlocked the 3gs and used it internationally, but after i got back to america the phone was stuck in a loop after turning the phone off.

i had to sift through many, many blog posts and forum discussions of how to get the iphone 3gs in a usable state after getting into a recovery loop after a baseband update. at first i tried to use redsn0w to simply jailbreak it again, no dice. it would "jailbreak" but then would go back into the loop. i tried to restore with itunes -- won't work because of the changed baseband. i tried to use a custom 4.2.1 firmware to restore with itunes -- won't work either. then i put the iphone into dfu mode and fired up tiny umbrella to try to kick it out of recovery mode. it worked, but it got stuck on a greenpois0n init screen.

after a few hours of frustration and trying to restore over and over in different ways, i finally found a method to get the iphone working again. i found a forum post that mentioned that apple was still signing the 4.1 ipsw and does not require a shsh blob. i put the iphone in dfu mode, then fired up itunes then tried to restore to the 4.1 firmware. it actually started to install, but it would eventually pop up a 1015 restore error. after that however, i opened up tiny umbrella and clicked on the iphone on the device list. in advanced, i unchecked "set hosts to cydia" and then clicked "fix recovery." then it would load up the greenpois0n init screen, but once i restarted the iphone, it booted into 4.1 without any problems and i was able to use the phone as normal (with an at&t sim). despite being stuck on 4.1 for now, it's at least better than a non-working iphone 3gs.

it's also another constant reminder to always back up your data -- once your iphone gets stuck in recovery you'll lose all your data through the restore to get it working again.

during my travels in hong kong, i had access to a locked american iphone 3gs, but i needed to unlock it to use it. to unlock it, i had jailbroken it using redsn0w and upgraded the baseband to 06.15.00 on ios 4.2.1. the baseband upgrade itself is a clever hack to flash it using the ipad baseband onto a locked 3g or 3gs device to give it the capability to be carrier unlocked.

before i upgraded the baseband there were many disclaimers mentioning that there was no way to come down the unlock and that you wouldn't be able to restore to stock firmwares anymore. knowing this, i went for it anyway since i was really hungering for some moblie broadband access in hong kong as well as the option of calling in cases of emergency.

so i unlocked it and downloaded ultrasn0w through the cydia package manager. i bought a one2free mobile broadband sim card for a week's unlimited access of internet. once connected i noticed that the tethering option was active so in addition of having 3g data access through the iphone, i was able to use it with my macbook pro as well.

one2free is labeled as csl on the iphone screen, and offered great reception everywhere. i was pleasantly surprised that there's full coverage on subways, but coverage all over hk was wonderful. from kowloon to the main island and surrounding small islands. it's a far cry from the not always reliable coverage from at&t all over los angeles.

note: there is a caveat to upgrading baseband and unlocking your iphone 3gs which will be addressed in the next blog post. it is still a tethered boot, and in trying to upgrade/restore the phone (or maybe even crashing/rebooting the device), may render the device in the dreaded "recovery loop," which means it stays stuck on either the apple logo or the red/low battery screen.

...breaktimes are coming soon. in the beginning of october i spent three weeks running around asia, and once i got back i spared no downtime and spent a rowdy weekend in gainesville, florida for the fest 10. no rest for the weary, so many doctor and car appointments throughout the week later i spent a furious weekend coding for the hollywood hack day. what weekends? i followed it up with staffing three full days of pacific media expo, which i've been doing for five years running so far.

no full free weekend for me yet..! there is a pyladies workshop which i will be giving an intro talk and mentoring for on saturday. you might call me an activity overachiever, and you would be correct. in college, at any given time i was officer of at least three different student organizations. burn out? i've learned my lessons. the rest of the weekends this year are full of nothings and fun social things. this year i'll be giving thanks for all the awesome opportunities and new experiences i've had this year. and appreciating the skill i have in avoiding burn out. the solution? have a deadline of planning. be insane, and then have a weekends of breathing time.

this last weekend (nov 5-6, 2011), i participated in my very first hackathon at hollywood hack day. i was fortunate to team up with friends pydanny, audrey roy, and randall degges. we spent the weekend laser focused on our project and in a span of 48 hours we were able to concept, develop, and launch audition rocket, an easy platform for online auditions. casting directors can create casting calls and actors can audition online with their webcam.

we used the opentok api, and through our hard efforts we won their "best use of api" award which is a kindle fire. i'm honored to win the prize, and it shall be interesting to figure out how we split the device four ways. but seriously, it was a great productive weekend and i'll be much more eager to participate in future events that allow me to flex my creative and developer muscle in a short course of a weekend.

after a long vacation, i don't tend to get jet lag. what i get instead, is what i call "jet forward." i tend to come back from trips during the evening, so after the airport all i wanna do is just sleep. so i end up having a really good rest "early" (10-11pm) in the evening and i start waking up at 7-8am, matching my usual schedule during vacations when i'm trying to be productive while traveling.

so i've been trying to enjoy and keep up my "jet forward," and i've been sleeping around 10:30ish. the luxury is that i don't have any events or pressing issues that i need to stay up late for the time being (and i sort of want to keep this up). so i end up waking at 7am, checking my mail to responding to various issues, and then getting breakfast!

i am a huge fan of breakfasts, and i end up not eating that much for the rest of the day which also helps me with my general diet and metabolism. i have this energy throughout the day because of the well rest and early breakfast, and then i get sleepy at 10pm and knock out. i start off my day right and things aren't as annoying as if i were if sleepy. i eat breakfast. i have well rested. plus all around.

and of course this means, i should travel more.