AfterNote

How to secure against the Android MMS hack

2015-07-28T10:21:00.000+08:00

Here's how to secure your Android smartphone against the latest threat, which reportedly consists of sending just one specially crafted MMS loaded with a malware payload. Until the actual firmware patch comes around (which could take a while), the workaround is to disable automatic MMS receiving right away.

The settings will differ by model and OS version, but here are the steps at least for the Samsung Galaxy S6, running on Android Lollipop 5.0.2 :

1. Open the Messages app and click on Settings :

2. Go to More Settings :

3. Select Multimedia Messages :

4. Disable Auto retrieve :

That's it. Oh, and if your Google Hangouts app is set to process SMS, that is another attack vector. Disable SMS processing in Hangouts as well.

Though MMS and SMS are baked into every phone's firmware, and even supported by newer apps like Hangouts, these old standards are getting more obsolete by the day. It's time to move to the 21st century and use messaging apps instead.

Avengers : Age of Ultron end credits scene

2015-04-26T23:48:00.001+08:00

SPOILERS FOLLOW.

Okay, you've been warned.

If you are going to wait the 10 minutes or so it seems for the Avengers : Age of Ultron end credits scene, then all you need to know right now is : don't bother. There is no end credits scene. There is only one line of text. And it says "The Avengers will return". Of course, we already know that, since we're going to see more action in Captain America : Civil War in 2016 and after that Avengers : Infinity War Part 1 in 2018 and then Part 2 in 2019.

On the other hand, the mid-credits scene is more interesting and worth staying about another minute or so for. There is Thanos (the guy whom we saw earlier in the rocket chair), putting on the Infinity Glove and saying "Fine, I'll do it myself". But the Infinity Glove is empty, so we know that he will be on the hunt for all 6 of the Infinity Stones to complete the collection, which will most likely be the topic of the Avengers : Infinity War movies.

Questions remain, however : wasn't the Infinity Glove supposed to be in Odin's own heavily-guarded Weapons Vault back in Asgard? But then, we've seen that it definitely could be breached. Or, like some others have discussed, perhaps Loki, posing as Odin himself, somehow gave it to him. Perhaps as part of a deal. Or a trick of some sort.

And there's the part about the Mind Stone being stuck in the Vision's head, how would Thanos get that one?

Well, we shall see, won't we?

Samsung Galaxy S6 model codes

2015-04-18T11:04:00.002+08:00

The Samsung Galaxy S6 model codes for Singapore are as follows :

SM-G920IZBAXSP
SM-G920IZBEXSP
SM-G920IZBFXSP
SM-G920IZDAXSP
SM-G920IZDEXSP
SM-G920IZDFXSP
SM-G920IZKAXSP
SM-G920IZKEXSP
SM-G920IZKFXSP
SM-G920IZWAXSP
SM-G920IZWEXSP
SM-G920IZWFXSP

Note that this is for the regular Galaxy S6, not the Galaxy S6 Edge.

The problem when trying to register the product warranty is that there is no hint of the correct model code on the receipt, or on the box, or in fact anywhere else. After trolling the forums and elsewhere on the net, as far as I can determine, the convention seems to be like this :

SM-G920I is the base model code, that is, the regular Galaxy S6.
Z, no idea what Z is
B, D K, or W would be the color code (B for Black, W for White, no idea about the rest, perhaps Gold and Blue)
A, E or F would be the memory size (A for 32GB, E for 64GB, F for 128GB)
XSP is the usual Samsung country code (XSP is for Singapore)

There is a huge list of Samsung country codes over at the XDA forum, you can look it up if you like.

So, for example, my regular Samsung Galaxy S6 64GB Black bought from M1 Singapore would then be SM-G920IZBEXSP, while the 32GB model would be SM-G920IZBAXSP.

Might update this when more information is available. Hope that helps.

10 Ways to Secure Your Internal Network

2015-01-10T17:40:00.001+08:00

We see this often. On the outside, you have these imposing fortress walls. Once inside, there are no further defences and everything is wide open to attack. The same applies to networks as well. Once you get past the big imposing firewall, everything on the internal network or intranet is wide open to further intrusion.

So here are 10 ways to secure your internal network. These measures range from the simple to the more draconian.

1. Harden existing machines. Update OS patches as they become available. Keep anti-virus signatures updated at a reasonably high frequency. Nowadays commercial AV vendors push updates to clients multiple times per day. Even the free ones update once per day and that might be good enough for many cases.

2. Reduce the attack surface and minimize exposure by closing unused ports and shutting down unnecessary services. Case in point is the Asus wifi router infosvr issue where a service that wasn't really needed turned out to be a big security vulnerability.

3. Secure remote access protocols. At a minimum, enable Network Level Authentication if you are using Remote Desktop to remotely access other Windows machines. Also, ensure that a minimum set of users is allowed to remotely access these machines. Whether for Windows, Linux or any other OS, remote login is a powerful function. Hand this out only when needed.

4. Ensure encryption is turned on for network traffic wherever possible. This applies equally for client-to-server traffic as well as server-to-server traffic (such as application server to database server).

5. Optionally, go beyond simple encryption by turning on IPSEC with two-way certificates to defeat sniffing, spoofing and other impersonation attacks. Certificate management could be a problem as you would probably need to own an entire PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) setup for this.

6. Setup an intrusion detection system (IDS) to monitor network traffic. This is a given but it is easier said than done, as IDS systems tend to either generate too many or too few warnings and alerts. Tuning an IDS can turn out to be an exactingly fine art in itself.

7. Conduct regular vulnerability assessments. Just about the same network penetration testing tools are available to both attackers and defenders and many of them are free and open-source, so this is definitely doable. It just takes effort and time - or if you have to outsource this, it will take money. Quite a bit of money.

8. If you have a wireless segment, you can follow these 11 guidelines to secure wireless networks. In particular, disable over-the-air management of wireless AP's, and enable the highest encryption levels wherever possible. Whether this is WPA2 (Personal) with a suitably complex password, or going all the way to two-way WPA2 Enterprise with 802.11x EAP-TLS depends on your situation and level of security required.

9. If you are letting public visitors use your internet as a courtesy or as part of your legitimate business operations, use a guest wifi network separate from your internal network. Never shall the two mix.

10. Where possible, for your wifi network, find the setting for and enable AP isolation. This will invalidate certain classes of attacks on the WPA2 protocol on the internal side of the network.

Samsung Galaxy S4 launch date and tech specs (Update 2)

2013-02-25T14:18:00.001+08:00

CNET has confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be the definitive model at the unveiling on the launch date of 14 March 2013 at the Samsung Unpacked event in New York.

The current thinking regarding the Samsung Galaxy S4 tech specs is as follows :

Processor : Octa-core Exynos 5 / Quad-core Exynos / Snapdragon 600 1.9Ghz

Display : 4.99" 1920x1080 Full HD Super AMOLED (alternatively, SoLux or SLCD)
OS : Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Memory : 2GB RAM
Internal storage : 16GB, 32GB or 64GB
Camera : 13 megapixel rear with 1080p video recording, 2 megapixel front
Dimensions : 140.1 x 71.8 x 7.7mm
Weight : 138g

The biggest uncertainties remain in the two "biggest" items, namely the choice of processor and the display. To date it is yet to be confirmed whether the processor would be based on the awesome new ARM big.LITTLE architecture which would mean the 8-core Exynos 5 chipset, or a more "normal" quad-core Exynos but clocked at a slightly higher rate, or as some have said, unlikely though it may be, that Samsung would abandon their own Exynos series and go with Snapdragon instead.

As for the display, most are in agreement that it would be 4.99" or you could round it off to 5" if you like, on the other hand the concern is whether Samsung is finally, finally ready with their mass production of their Full HD Super AMOLED display tech or they have to fall back on something else such as Super LCD or some such equivalent. All will be revealed on 14 March 2013, including the official release date, product availability and so on, hence we shall wait and see.

See also :

1. Samsung Galaxy S4 tech specs

Updates on the Apple vs Samsung Patent War

2012-12-20T11:07:00.000+08:00

Latest updates in the Apple vs Samsung patent lawsuit aka thermonuclear war. CNet reports that :

A key patent that Apple successfully used against Samsung in its multibillion-dollar courtroom brawl earlier this year is at risk following a re-examination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office All 21 claims of U.S. patent No. 7,844,915 - also known as the "pinch to zoom" patent -- were rejected by the Patent Office today, following a re-examination.

That makes 3 major patents invalidated or close to getting invalidated that Apple had been using against the other side :

1. Multi-touch
2. Rubber-banding effect
3. Pinch-to-zoom

Interesting to see that the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is finally making some common-sense decisions after the billion-dollar verdict had already been handed down. It's either that, or as they say, that the wheels of justice move slowly - but they do move.

Samsung Galaxy S4 tech specs

2012-12-18T07:26:00.001+08:00

According to sammobile.com and some other tech websites, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S4 tech specs are rumored to be as follows :

Exynos 5450 2.0GHz quad-core processor based on Cortex A15
5" Super AMOLED Full HD 1920x1080 display
13-megapixel camera

If any of these specifications is even near true by itself, it would be pretty awesome. 2.0GHz quad-core CPU? Unreal.

And that holy grail of all OLED screen aficionados, the Full HD Super AMOLED display, hopefully with a "+" non-Pentile arrangement. If they could pull that off, itwould be a technical coup of the highest order. After all, Samsung did show that they could pull off a Retina-busting 2560x1600 display with the Google Nexus 10, albeit with PLS tech, so the next logical step would be to do something close to that with AMOLED.

However, these are all early stage speculations. The photo is a purported early rendering as well. We shall watch and see what the actual product specs will be like.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 LTE : how to turn off 4G setting, remain in 3G mode

2012-10-29T15:44:00.001+08:00

Just had a chat with a Facebook friend, he was asking about turning off the 4G/LTE setting for the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Though I didn't have a Note 2 on hand, I guessed that with the TouchWiz interface and all, it should be pretty similar to other Galaxy phones in the series.

So here's how to do it :

Go to Settings, More ..., Mobile networks, Network mode.
There will be 4 options : LTE/GSM/WCDMA(Auto mode) , GSM/WCDMA and so on.
The 2nd option will leave the phone in 3G mode but disable 4G/LTE mode.

Hope that helps.

Mozilla Firefox 14 : setting for new tab to blank homepage

2012-08-27T14:33:00.001+08:00

Mozilla Firefox 14 has a new tab feature which by default shows your most recently visited pages. While this may seem to be a convenient feature, it may be a privacy concern as it shows anyone nearby at a glance what your most frequently visited websites are the moment you try to open a new tab.

Actually this "feature" has been implemened since Firefox 13.0 and Firefox 14.0 has just carried on with this setting. There is currently no easily-accessible user interface setting to change that. In order to set your new tab homepage to say a blank page, you need to do the following :

In Firefox, enter about:config in the address bar.
Simply click through when asked about "This might void your warranty". No worries about that screen, it's a joke. Firefox is a free software so you don't get any kind of warranty actually.
Search for the newtab setting by simply typing "newtab" in the search box (as shown in the screenshot above).
Double-click on the setting browser.newtab.url and set it to about:blank which gives you a blank page if that's what you want.
Optionally, you can set this to any other homepage you like.

While we are here, there is another setting that you might want to change. Similar to the newtab "feature", since Firefox 13, and now also in Firefox 14, the smooth-scrolling setting has been enabled by default. To turn it off, do the following :

In Firefox, enter about:config in the address bar (or remain in the config page if you're already there).
Search for the smooth-scroll setting by simply typing "smoothscroll" in the search box (as shown in the screenshot above).
Double-click on the setting general.smoothScroll to set it to false.

Hope this helps.

(Update : this works for later Firefox versions as well, so far it's worked fine with Firefox 15 and Firefox 16).

See also :

1. How to fix color management problems in Mozilla Firefox

How to secure your home wireless network and wifi router

2012-07-03T11:23:00.001+08:00

Securing your home wireless network is important, because you do not want to :

Get accused of being a criminal or worse, a terrorist, because somebody used your wifi network to hack others, threaten somebody, or looked for bomb-building instructions (let's say).
Allow others to intercept your online traffic, see what websites you are surfing, or hijack your user sessions, usernames and passwords over-the-air.
Receive a "friendly visit" from a SWAT team complete with assault rifles and flashbang grenades

Hence, here are 16 steps to secure your home wifi router and wireless network, ranked in descending order of importance (red for critical items, blue for medium-priority items, and purple for low-priority, optional items) :

Remote management should be turned off to disallow any attempts to login and manage the router remotely from the external (Internet) interface. This is the most important setting that should be double-checked during setup, though it is typically already set to disabled out-of-the-box.
Turn on WPA2 with AES encryption : should be set to encrypt all wireless traffic and discourage over-the-air sniffing and interception of client traffic. This is another important setting to disable casual sniffing of over-the-air traffic. Do NOT use WEP, it can be cracked in a matter of minutes. The fastest WEP crack was done in under 1 minute (!). Also, do NOT use WPA with TKIP, it has been shown to be compromised as well.
Turn off WPS (Wifi Protected Setup) : there is a serious bug in the WPS protocol that potentially allows break-ins to millions of wifi routers : it turns out that Wifi Protected Setup is not very "protected" at all, and that the searchable key-space is only around 11,000 instead of 110 million, which is easily crackable in a matter of hours or perhaps less. Hence pre-shared WPA2 keys should be set manually instead of relying on WPS.
Set a complex pre-shared key : after ensuring that WPS is off, the minimum length of WPA2 pre-shared keys set should be at least 12 characters long to discourage brute-force attacks.
Set a complex password for router management : never leave the wifi router using the default out-of-the-box passwords such as admin, linksys, netgear or some such. Use a suitably long and complex password.
Disable over-the-air management : disallow attempts to sniff or hack router management over-the-air. This setting may be labelled "Enable Web Access" on some Cisco/Linksys routers, and could be under a different name on other brands and models.
Enable HTTPS (SSL) for management : after disabling over-the-air router management, this setting will discourage casual sniffing of router admin password over the wired interface as well.
Disable UPNP : to disable attacks on Universal Plug-and-Play (UPNP) that potentially allow hackers to utilize the wifi router or take over router management.
Update wifi router firmware : from time to time, there will be updates to the router firmware for bug fixes and security updates. Do keep on top of these updates to keep your wifi router secure.
Remove unused incoming NAT rules : after disabling UPNP, this part of hardening is to close unused ports and reduce exposure to NMAP-style port scanning. Ensure that incoming NAT or firewall rules point to the right internal IP address and ports. Separately, outside the scope of router hardening, ensure OS hardening : check that the internal servers are suitably patched and hardened, including shutting down unused services when they are not needed.
Setup separate guest network : instead of giving your guests access to your entire internal network, most modern wifi routers have a feature to set up a separate guest network which is isolated from the rest of your internal network. The guest zone would have its own wifi password as well, which you can hand out to your guests when they arrive. As a best practice, you may consider changing the password after each set of guests leaves, or you can also disable the guest network entirely after their visit.
Set DHCP reservation : for internal printers, network storage devices or other servers that you have, that usually use DHCP to obtain an IP address, you can "reserve" fixed IP addresses for each of these devices, which would have the IP address allocated by the specific device's MAC address. More for convenience than security, but it does make it a bit easier for you to notice "strange" IP addresses that should not be there.
Set static DNS servers : for slightly (or drastically, depending on your ISP) improved performance and security, you may consider using an alternative static DNS server such as Google's DNS service at 8.8.8.8 (primary) and 4.4.4.4 (secondary).
Enable AP isolation : this is a workaround against the so-called Hole196 vulnerability, which allows attackers inside the network to get hold of the encryption key. Not a worry most of the time for home users, unless you have guests coming over and you share your network with them by helping them enter your wifi password on their devices. For handling guests, it is actually preferable to set up a separate guest network for them (see earlier point above). Note that enabling this setting would most likely bring down your connection to your other networked devices such as printers and network storage, hence enable this only if you do not have such devices in use.
Hidden SSID : to discourage casual attempts to connect to wifi routers, turn off SSID broadcast. People will typically first try their luck at connecting to stations that are broadcasting SSID's.
Wireless MAC filter : not that secure since MAC's can be easily spoofed, hence this is put as a last option. Again this does not help much against determined and professional attackers, but discourages casual attempts.

Hope the above router hardening guide is not too overwhelming. If you must, do the first half at least, these should be considered mandatory steps nowadays. If you possibly can, do EVERYTHING on this list, with the exception that the last 3 items are optional.

The Hidden SSID option makes life a little bit more inconvenient as you have to manually set up each client since it can no longer scan for openly-broadcasting wifi routers. In Windows 7 for example, you have to select the option "Connect even if the network is not broadcasting its name (SSID)". Determined attackers have tools to sniff out your hidden SSID's anyway, so this option is not really very secure actually.

The wireless MAC filter option makes life even more inconvenient (you have to take note of each new client's MAC address and add it to the permitted list) and gives even less back in terms of security (MAC addresses can be easily changed and spoofed with a simple command in Linux and a few clicks in Windows), so in most cases we might not want to bother much with it.

Some people talk about reducing the wireless signal strength. Some router firmware allows that. But you do not really want to do that, because it will reduce your level of convenience while all that your adversary needs to do is to get a signal booster, or simply move in a little bit closer to your wifi router's location. If you are really paranoid enough to be thinking about shielding materials, signal penetration and stuff like that, perhaps you shouldn't be using a wireless network at all (and you probably work for an agency with about 3 letters in its name).

Anyway, the above should contribute a lot towards reducing your security exposure. Don't wait further, secure your home wireless router now.

How to fix color management problems in Mozilla Firefox

2012-04-13T10:32:00.000+08:00

Recently I've been looking at a Firefox color management problem. Certain colors on websites seemed to be off, especially white backgrounds that looked like they had a yellowish tinge. The issue was encountered on Mozilla Firefox 11.0 but I've actually been having this issue for quite some time already.

This problem seems to affect only a small proportion of Firefox installations out there. Among my machines, which include 2 desktops, 3 laptops and another from the office, only one of the machines seems to have been affected. Apparently the issue had been there since Firefox 3.5 where color management was enabled by default, but I did not notice the colors were off until some time after the graphics drivers were updated. It could be due to that, but I couldn't be precisely sure that it was the cause.

I've managed to fix the problem by changing the color management setting to disabled. Here's how to do that :

In the Firefox address bar, enter "about:config" (without the quotes), as in the screenshot above.
There's a warning about "This might void your warranty!". Having paid exactly zero dollars for your software, there actually isn't any in the first place, so click on the "I'll be careful, I promise!" button.
Now do a search for the color management setting. Simply type "gfx.color" to start searching for the property name.
Double click to change the setting from 2 to 0.

That's it.

Color management will be disabled and the colors should hopefully look normal now.

References :

How to unroot the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800

2012-03-21T16:34:00.007+08:00

So you have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. And for some reason you wish to reverse the process and unroot it. Perhaps you need to send it in to a service center for a warranty claim. Or simply you wish to restore your device back to its original state in order to do an official firmware update via Samsung Kies or OTA (over-the-air).

Whatever the reason is, it's easy enough. You simply need to flash back the original stock kernel. From the original firmware sources, I have extracted the stock kernel for the Galaxy Tab 7.7, 3G+Wifi edition (GT-P6800), with the kernel edition being DXLA2 from the Singapore region. Here are the steps to do this via Odin :

Look for the file Kernel_P6800DXLA2.tar (do a search for it).
Run Odin. This assumes you have Odin v3 1.85 installed on your PC. If you have followed the rooting and CWM Recovery installation instructions earlier, you should already have it.
Turn off and then turn on the tablet in download mode. Hold down both the Power and Volume Down buttons until the tablet turns on, and keep both buttons pressed until the download screen comes up.
Connect your Galaxy Tab 7.7 to your PC via the USB cable.
In Odin, click on the PDA button, and select the file Kernel_P6800DXLA2.tar downloaded earlier.
Click Start, wait a few seconds for the kernel to install and the tablet to reboot.

After flashing the original stock kernel, here's the outcome and side-effects :

You will lose root access (of course).
Apps which require root access to run will obviously no longer work (such as Titanium Backup as mentioned in the Top 10 Reasons to Root list).
You will lose CWM Recovery.
The SDcard write problem fix should still remain fixed, since root access was required only for a one-time change to the permissions file.
Your binary counter should not increase since you are flashing back to the original stock kernel.

If you are on another ROM for a different region, then you can go to the original firmware sources thread on XDA, download the appropriate firmware for your region, extract the zImage file like I did, and create a .tar file for Odin to install over to your device.

Hope this helps.

References :

Top 10 reasons to root your Android mobile phone or tablet

2012-03-16T19:18:00.003+08:00

Some of you may have heard of it in whispered tones : "you can do this (or that) if you would only ROOT your phone". You might wonder what is this "root" thing and what it might do for you. Well, the term "root" comes from the "root user" in the Linux operating system, which Android is based on.

The root user has super-user privileges on the system and is able to do practically anything and more or less make any changes he or she likes. In short, it allows you to do a number of things that is beyond the reach of ordinary users. Benefits of rooting may range from the ability to fully customize your device, add features, work around limitations, or even fix existing bugs or issues in the system.

Hence, if you are a little technically-inclined and are comfortable with taking a bit of calculated risk to acheve what you want, here are the top 10 reasons to root your Android mobile phone or tablet and the apps that can help you achieve the customizations and features you might want :

Apps and data backup - This allows you to backup every app on your device, including the data that the app uses. Generally, you need root access to do this because by default, each app only has restricted access to its own data, and by all rights should usually not be allowed to access or mess with other apps. One of the best backup tools available on Android is Titanium Backup Pro which naturally, requires root access to work.
System image backup - This allows you to make a backup image of the entire Android system, including the bootloader, firmware and all installed system apps. This is in case a custom firmware installation goes wrong, or if some app misbehaves in an inexplicable way and you need a way to revert to a working copy. It's something like what Norton Ghost or Acronis Trueimage do for Windows PC's. The usual method to accomplish is this via CWM Recovery (also known as ClockWorkMod Recovery), but do note that the installation method is very much device-specific and varies between different models, and even between 3G and Wifi-only models. The root and CWM Recovery installation process for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 has been described in an earlier post here.
Worldwide navigation - the default Google Maps bundled with most Android devices only has turn-by-turn voice-guided navigation enabled for a handful of countries, such as the US and Canada, and some European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the UK. Outside of these countries, such as most of the Asian region, users who wish to have this feature need to use a modified version of Google Maps that has worldwide navigation enabled. Root access is required to uninstall the bundled Maps app before installing the modified version.
SDcard write problem fix - some apps, in particular file managers and compression utilities, have write problems with micro-SD cards in Honeycomb tablets. This is related to a permissions issue and is described in further detail here. As system files need to be modified, root acess is required to fix this issue.
Support for large files - if you need to copy large files like movies and such into your SDcard, you may encounter limitations since by default SDcards are formatted with the FAT32 filesystem which restricts file sizes to below 4GB. To be able to utilize files larger than that, you will need to format the SDcard to NTFS and install Drive Mount, which is able to mount NTFS volumes, with an option to auto-mount upon bootup.
On-the-fly file encryption - the more security-minded amongst us know to secure our data with file encryption, and that truly transparent, real-time, on-the-fly encryption (OTFE) is one of the better ways to achieve that (as opposed to single file encryption which is slower and not as secure). The reference software for this in the Windows domain is Truecrypt, and the closest implementation so far in the Android world is LUKS Manager, which provides OTFE capability using AES encryption.
Running Tegra 3D games - if you are into 3D gaming on Android you might have run into the fragmentation issue : some games are available only on certain models of phones or tablets that have a certain graphics chipset. Most commonly encountered are the cases where the games are built for the Nvidia Tegra chipset and the user has a Galaxy series device which uses the Mali chipset instead. This is where Chainfire 3D comes to the rescue, acting as a proxy between the gaming app and the hardware, translating OpenGL calls for the Tegra chipset into equivalent instructions for the Mali chipset. Root access is required because this involves low-level system function calls.
Remove status bar on Honeycomb tablets - instead of hard buttons, Android tablets running Honeycomb nowadays have soft buttons on an always-present status bar at the bottom of the screen. And then there are some people who are distracted by it, say, when watching movies, and wish to remove even that entirely. This can be done via the Honeybar app.
Alternative system fonts - one thing that those who wish to really customize their devices can do is to change their system fonts. The Root System Font Installer app lets users choose from over 200 system fonts, which together with custom homescreens and widgets, will enable you to put together a truly unique look for your device.
User profile switching - one of the bugbears facing some Android users is that there is no obvious built-in way to switch between different user accounts and profiles, the way Windows users are simply able to do at the click of a button. This shouldn't be the case as Android is built upon Linux which *is* a multi-user operating system. The SwitchMe Root Profile Manager app takes care of this little shortcoming.

Now that we have 10 reasons to root your Android phone or tablet, here are 4 reasons not to root your Android device :

Your device may be bricked if something goes wrong during the rooting process. There are 2 main types of bricking. A soft brick can still be recoverable by re-installing a fresh copy of the original firmware. A hard brick is a bit more tricky to deal with, requiring either a special "USB jig" to reset it - or a visit to the service center, which brings us to the second point.
There is a risk that you may void your warranty if you have rooted your device, and then you subsequently encounter some problem, and bring it over to the service center for repairs. Of course for devices over the warranty period this is a moot point, and there have been a number of cases where rooted devices are still being accepted for warranty repairs, but for some this could be a serious consideration.
The automatic updates provided by the PC-side software such as Samsung Kies typically check for the signatures of the installed kernels and ROM's, and on rooted devices, these software may block automatic updates of new firmware revisions. This may be a consideration for those who wish to have a seamless upgrade experience. For those who regularly dabble with Odin or Mobile Odin, CWM Recovery and such, it probably isn't that much of an impediment to download and install the updated firmware manually.
If all you want to do is to install apps outside the Android Market (or known as Google Play Store nowadays), you do not need to root your device. All you have to do is to go to Settings, Applications, and check the "Unknown sources" box. That's it. There is no need to root an Android phone or tablet to install apps from alternative sources, unlike Apple's iPhone and iPad where you need to jailbreak the iOS device just to have this capability.

So these are the top 10 reasons to root your Android device, and 4 reasons to perhaps not to.

As for the actual mechanics of rooting the device, the instructions for each specific model of mobile phone or tablet are slightly different. For detailed instructions, you can head over to the XDA Developers forums and look for your model. In particular, the instructions for the Samsung Galaxy S2 are as described in this thread, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 rooting instructions have been posted here earlier.

Mobile 3G prepaid broadband in Malaysia : Celcom vs Maxis comparison

2012-03-14T16:54:00.003+08:00

Whenever there are school or public holidays coming around, many Singaporeans will head over to Malaysia for vacations, whether self-drive, or taking bus/coach to places like Malacca, Genting, Kelantan or perhaps via a plane trip to Kuala Lumpur or Penang. And one of the first things that we look out for (besides food of course) would be prepaid mobile broadband access.

For the past few holidays that we have been travelling to Malaysia on driving holidays, we have alternately tried out the prepaid mobile broadband packages from Celcom Xpax X2 and Maxis Hotlink. The following is a review of the experiences we have had on these two providers.

Celcom claims to have the widest mobile coverage in Malaysia. Based on our usage that seems to be a reasonable claim. The catch is that they did not say at what speed that coverage is supposed to be at. Actual transfer speeds we experienced were usually less than 10 KB/sec and sometimes as low as 1-2 KB/sec, which really does kind of stretch the definition of "broadband" somewhat. At these speeds, it was hardly useable even with images turned off.

Apparently Celcom had clamped down prepaid broadband speeds to EDGE or 2G mode only. We managed to find a Celcom Blue shop in Malacca and asked the counter staff about this, as we saw an iPhone 4 demo unit running in 3G mode. They confirmed with us that 3G speeds are only available to postpaid customers. Not quite sure whether this is an "official" reply regarding policy, but our experiences seemed to agree with this.

Maxis on the other hand stated upfront that their prepaid mobile broadband speeds would be up to 384 kbps. We tried out Maxis Hotlink after putting away the Celcom card, and in practice we managed to get actual transfer speeds of 30-40 KB/sec over 3G, which is close enough to the claimed 384 kbps. This was seen both in the Huawei mobile broadband software and over on Speedtest.net testing.

Speed-wise, it was fast enough for casual surfing and browsing, though you would still want to think twice about downloading larger files, or using anything that is more bandwidth-intensive. Youtube videos loaded okay, just don't expect to be able to enable the HQ or HD options though. Coverage-wise, Maxis Hotlink was quite good, and we achieved 3G speeds around the hotels and shopping malls in Malacca, and even along stretches of the North-South Highway.

Availability-wise, Maxis Hotlink 3G SIM cards and packages are starting to become available at more places, especially along the crucial North-South Highway E2, where they have opened up more counters recently at rest points in recent months. You would find Celcom Blue being sold at one rest station, and there would be a Maxis Hotlink counter at another station down the road.

If there is one thing that could be improved with Maxis, it's that the language option of their SMS menu system defaults to Malay, which immediately befuddles all of their foreign customers who do not speak the language. Other than that small issue, Maxis probably offers the best value proposition in prepaid mobile broadband for Malaysia so far.

As for Digi, we have not tried it out personally, but based on reports from forum users, it is supposedly somewhere in between Celcom and Maxis, hovering around 10-20 KB/sec in typical urban locations. Good reviews from fellow forummers and users are one thing, but on the other hand, the 3G SIM cards or broadband packages for Digi are apparently harder to come by. Perhaps the lack of availability of Digi's 3G SIM cards is due to an as-yet under-developed retail distribution network.

With time, we hope that for the continued development of broadband services in Malaysia, Celcom would enable full 3G access speeds for pre-paid customers, for Digi to improve their speeds and retail distribution channels, and for Maxis to default to English menus or at least provide an easy way to switch to English for their foreign customers travelling to the country.

Cybertron Con 2012 photos at Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore

2012-03-11T23:23:00.002+08:00

Back from attending my first Transformers convention, conveniently held not too far from home in sunny Singapore. Here are some photos from Cybertron Con 2012, held at the Resorts World Convention Centre at Sentosa.

The spinning Universal logo ball in front of Universal Studios Singapore. A very familiar logo for movie watchers. After a while you realize that the entire word doesn't fit in one frame, so you get whatever you can. Or you simply take a video of the thing :)

Poster near the venue, in the public outdoor area.

Nice scene that might not be out of place in a movie. Still at the public outdoor area. Fantastic view.

One level down to B1 into the air-conditioned area (see the aircon vents in the background?). This place is much cooler compared to Level 1 which is admittedly downright hot in the tropical Singapore climate despite the huge transparent coverings over much of the area. Perhaps they could have domed and air-conditioned the whole place, no?

Entrance to the Resorts World Convention Centre where the event is being held.

People queuing up to get in. Pretty long queue. Lots of Transformers fans over here in Singapore.

After some time queuing, the entrance to the large convention / ballroom is finally reached.

In there, visitors walk through 28 years worth of Transformers toys, from every known series starting from Generation 1 (G1), to G2, Energon, Armada, Cybertron, Robots in Disguise, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Transformers Animated, Prime, the live-action movies series, Transformers to Revenge of the Fallen to Dark of the Moon (anything left out?). Pretty impressive collections in there.

Close-up of Optimal Optimus from Beast Wars. Already rare and expensive when it first came out, close to impossible to find nowadays.

Jetstorm from Beast Machines. Another hard to find one.

Unbelievably, this one is still mint in the box. The confused case, known variously as Skyfire, Jetfire, the Robotech VF-1 Veritech transforming variable fighter, aka Valkyrie in the original Macross saga, and this even has its place in the Battletech world, where it is known variously as Wasp, Stinger, Pheonix Hawk and Crusader.

Primus from the Cybertron series. Believed to be the only case so far in any series where they have released a Primus that transformed into Cybertron itself.

Moving on to the more familiar and recent Movies series. Many people have many of these models, with all the popularity and attention drummed up by the 3 recent live action Transformers movies.

More Movies series. The original release of Bonecrusher is increasingly rare nowadays. There were a number of re-paint jobs done after that, but they all looked significantly different from the original.

Moving on to the custom artwork section. This is quite nicely done. One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall, from Dark of the Moon, where Optimus Prime defeated Sentinel.

White balance is always tricky in an indoor setting, particularly at the Convention Centre with all the soft, dim yellow lighting emanating from the distant ceiling. Fortunately most (all?) Canon cameras come with a custom white balance function, so all you have to do is to select an area *that ought to be white*, sample it, and it smartly auto-corrects the white balance accordingly. Neat.

Another example of custom white balance at work. This is a custom Crimson Bumblebee. Nice metallic finish.

The big 22-foot (6.7m) tall Optimus Prime statue from the Movies series dominating the convention hall area. Supposedly this is on a 1:1 scale.

Close-up of the 22-foot Optimus Prime statue. You can pony up SGD $20 (USD $16) to have a photo taken professionally at eye level with Optimus, where you have to climb some stairs and metal strutwork to get up on a platform to do so, or you can take whatever photos from whatever angle you can get from ground level.

All in all, pretty decent stuff for Transformers fans to look at. Show going on from 11 to 14 March 2012 at Resorts World Convention Centre, Sentosa, Singapore.

References :

1. Transformers Cybertron Con 2012 Opening Hours at Resorts World Sentosa Singapore
2. Cybertron Con 2012 (official website. for further info and ticketing)
3. Transformers Singapore (official Facebook page)

SDCard write problem fix for Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800

2012-03-10T14:58:00.001+08:00

There are those of you who know the experience. You went out and got yourself a Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. You then promptly bought and loaded in a 32GB micro-SDHC memory card. You then install a third-party file explorer or zip manager app. Perhaps it is Astro File Manager, or Androzip, or ES File EXplorer, or my personal all-time favorite for both desktop and mobile, Total Commander. You find that you can read files from your SD card but you always get an error when you try to do a write operation, whether it's copy or move in, delete, or create a new directory. But somehow it works fine if you use the default file explorer. Which you have given up on because, well, it doesn't offer you what you want. Or you just plain don't like the look of it.

This is more of an issue with the default permission settings in the Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS than it is an issue with the tablet hardware itself, or your particular SDHC card. This has been known to occur across different tablet models as well, from the Galaxy Tab series to the Motorola Xoom, even to some of the cheap Chinese Android tablets out there. It is 100% a software problem. So no worries about the hardware here. And it doesn't occur on the Galaxy S2 or Galaxy Note which are generally running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread.

Turns out Google had for some reason since Honeycomb 3.2 decided to split the write permissions for the internal memory (the path of which is confusingly named /mnt/sdcard) and external SD card memory (the path being /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard) into WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE respectively.

Before Honeycomb 3.2, apps only had to request for the permission WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and they would have write access to both the internal and external so-called "sdcard" sets of memory. Now, apps have to request for WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE if they want to write to the external SD card, but many of them have not yet been updated to do so yet. This affects file managers / explorer / compression utility type apps most often because users would tend to use them to copy / move / zip files within the file system.

Security theory aside, what's the easiest way to fix this? First off, your Galaxy Tab 7.7 needs to be rooted and CWM Recovery needs to be installed. If you're not already there, take a look at the tutorial on how to root the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 which also includes the instructions to install CWM Recovery as well.

Next,download the file fix_perms_20120205.zip to your tablet. You can do this via a copy/paste into the Card folder while your tablet is connected by USB, or if you're reading this on your tablet, you can just download it directly into /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard. Do not unzip the file. Just leave it as a zip file.

Finally and here is where you have to do the same thing as when you were trying to do the initial root. Unplug the USB cable (if it is connected) and turn off the tablet (hold down the Power button and select Power Off). Turn on the tablet in recovery mode - hold down both the Power and Volume Up buttons until the tablet turns on, and keep both buttons pressed until the recovery screen comes up. Using the Volume Up, Volume Down and Power buttons, go to install update from external storage, and point it to the file fix_perms_20120205.zip that you had put in earlier. Reboot when done.

Once rebooted, your apps should now have full write access to the external SD card memory. Actually what is happening is that when your apps request for WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, this patch adds the WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE permission as well, so your file explorer / compression apps will now work as you would expect. You can read up the XDA links in the references if you want the full details of the SDCard write saga or if you would like to know how to accomplish this by yourself manually.

Indications are this method should work for the other Samsung Galaxy Tab series of tablets as well, such as the Tab 7.0 Plus, 8.9 and 10.1, or even the Motorola Xoom or other models, so long as they are also rooted and have CWM Recovery, but hey don't quote me, I have not tried this method on all these other models. Hence the references are all provided below and if you have one of the other Honeycomb 3.2 devices, you can judge for yourself whether you might want to carry this out on your own.

As for Ice Cream Sandwich, it is not yet known whether this bug or ah, "feature" will remain, but latest reports are that, yes, they are going to continue with this separate permission model. Hopefully in the future, more apps would have been amended to include the necessary permission/security settings but in the meantime, users would probably have to continue using workarounds such as this.

References :

1. How to root the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800
2. [FAQ] Common Issues with the P6800 and their Solutions
3. [FIX] Fix external SD Card permissions
4. Writing to external SD guide

Samsung Galaxy S2 gets ICS from 10 March 2012

2012-03-09T23:34:00.000+08:00

Via the ever-attentive users on the Hardwarezone forums, we have seen reports that the long-awaited update to ICS (Ice Cream aka Android 4.0) for the Samsung Galaxy S2 will be available starting from Sat 10 Mar 2012. As expected for a start this will be for the international version of the Galaxy S2, model number GT-i9100. This was earlier noted by Engadget which in turn was based on the initial announcement from Samsung themselves.

But there has been some concern in the community about some of the remarks, particularly the part in the announcement that said : "Because of ICS OS feature, Adobe flash and Bluetooth 3.0 HS will not be supported in ICS OS (Bluetooth 3.0 is supported still)". At the point of writing, the community is still trying to figure out whether this implies what it seems to (*gasp* no Flash support?!!). Scattered reports earlier have indicated that Adobe Flash had been working fine on custom ICS ROM's as well as some, ah, leaked ROM's for the S2 with Touchwiz included et al that had somehow made their way out into the wild. It also remains to be seen whether Samsung would in the next few days do a Galaxy S1-like turnabout and declare that all is well, after all.

As for worldwide availability that is also not too clear at the moment, though if the same distribution pattern observed for Android 2.3.6 were to apply, we would see the first rollouts appearing in Europe, starting from the UK region, on to Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and then Australia before reaching the rest of Asia, Hong Kong, Thailand and finally Singapore and Malaysia. That is, if the same pattern holds. We'll have to see about that.

Whatever the release date is, this might be a good time to go and do a full backup of system+apps+data via Samsung Kies, Titanium Backup Pro, CWM Recovery / Nandroid or whichever is your preferred tool of choice. Just in case that Flash, or Face Unlock, or something else does not entirely pan out, there is always the option to go back. After all, despite most indications that ICS is already pretty much useable, remember that this is a POINT ZERO version after all (you know, as in FOUR POINT ZERO).

Meanwhile, the countdown continues ...

How to enter Chinese text in Android via Hanyu Pinyin, the fastest way (so far)

2012-03-07T17:21:00.001+08:00

Ever wondered what's the best way to send out that Mandarin SMS or Whatsapp message to your Chinese friend or colleague? Here's the fastest way to enter Chinese text in Android, particularly if your Android mobile phone or tablet is one of Samsung's Galaxy series, HTC, or another model that comes with Swype pre-installed. These instructions were taken with and are meant for the Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-i9100 model, but it should be quite similar for other supported models such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, Tab 8.9, Tab 10.1 or the Galaxy Note and so on.

First, if you have not already done so, go to Settings, Language and keyboard, Select input method (as above), and select Swype.

Next, select Swype settings (under the Select input method option) and un-check all the other languages that you typically would not use. For myself, that leaves me with US English and 简体中文 (that is, Simplified Chinese) as above. Now you're all set.

When you next need to enter text in an SMS, message or any other text input box for that matter, simply look for the "En" icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap once to change to ZH mode (ZhongWen), and then you can simply Swype any valid Hanyu Pinyin combination. The wonderful thing is that this works for both single words and for linked phrases as well (like "xinjiapo", or "Singapore", as above). That's 3 words at one shot in a single Swype motion. How about that?

I can put out around a very respectable 10-15wpm if they are mostly single words. My Chinese typing speed can actually go up to an incredible 20-30wpm if I incorporate linked phrases such as “新加坡” (Singapore) as shown in the example screenshot above. I can't even write anywhere near as fast with conventional pen and paper since it doesn't "support" linked words.

As for the other methods, such as word-by-word handwriting recognition, for me they are as slow as pen and paper. Often even slower, since there is this element of trial-and-error sometimes when your handwriting strokes are not recognized.

So you can try "Swype Pinyin" if you like. It's the absolute fastest way I've found to enter Chinese text in Android so far. If you find anything faster yet, do let me know :)

5 tiny computers that entertain, educate and hack

2012-03-03T23:59:00.001+08:00

Small little computers are all the rage nowadays. In the past few days, we've had a bunch of news and product announcements in this area. Here's a roundup of 5 tiny computers that have the ability to entertain, educate or hack their way into your lives.

1. Always Innovating HDMI Android Dongle ($50-$99)

Recently, Engadget has brought our attention to a little computer-in-a-dongle by Always Innovating, which puts a TI OMAP4 1GHz processor into a USB dongle with HDMI output that turns any HDMI-capable TV into a "Smart TV". The highlight is that it runs Android 4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich on a stick indeed. With a communications suite including Wifi and Bluetooth, most Android apps should be able to run as is. You get web browsing, video streaming and playback, games, and whatever else Android aps do, though navigating with Google Maps might be a little difficult if you're pairing this tiny computer with a giant 65" TV :)

2. Raspberry Pi ($25-$35)

CNet tells us that the launch of the oh-so-cheap Raspberry Pi has led to the crash of all the websites involved from the Raspberry Pi Foundation to the 2 retailers element14 (Farnell) and RS Components that are actually doing the distribution and selling of the devices. Yeah I should know, I was dropping by a friend's company this Wednesday where they were all trying to order a bunch of these to play with. The Rasberry Pi is available in 2 editions (both running on 700MHz ARM11 processors), the $25 Model A and the $35 Model B, the latter of which adds an Ethernet port and 2x USB 2.0 ports, though the Wifi module is not out yet. This is basically a cheap single-board computer (SBC) meant for the educational and hobbyist markets, so you can order one and hack something up with it. That is, when stocks become available after the initial launch-date crush that sold out all the (reportedly) 10,000 units.

3. FXI Technologies Cotton Candy ($199)

CNet has separately noted that a company called FXI Technologies is launching what might be termed mid-range for this class of computers, the saccharinely-named Cotton Candy, which like the one by Always Innovating, comes with a USB plug on one end and a HDMI output on the other, plus Wifi and Bluetooth thrown in. This costs a little more than the prior two but by golly, check out the specs, you are getting pretty close to Samsung Galaxy S2 territory here, minus the glorious Super AMOLED+ display of course. The specs include an ARM Cortex-A9 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM and a Mali 400 GPU. You get to choose your operating system : Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or Ubuntu Linux. Sweet.

4. Malice Afterthought F-BOMB ($50)

Related to a similar DARPA project, this is perhaps the first actual implementation of a new class of "network munitions" as mentioned by Vernor Vinge in his sci-fi work Rainbows End. The acronym being "Falling or Ballistically-launched Object that Makes Backdoors", this is a $50 computer that is crammed with 8GB flash, Wifi, Linux, a battery and an optional GPS module, this lilliputian hacker is small enough to be launched, air-dropped, "accidentally" dropped, or stealthily installed in say a smoke detector, where the onboard software can run cracking software to hack into whatever wifi network it detects. Cheap and expendable, this brings a whole new dimension to the term "smart ammo".

5. Pwnie Express Pwn Plug ($480-$630)

This came in via Wired. You gotta love the name - if you know anything about computer security at all, you know that "pwned" means "owned" - which is what this professionally-developed device does. Its motto being "Plug and Pwn", this allows a perpetrator, whether by social engineering or some other means, to plug in a mains-powered Linux computer that quickly sets up a covert, encrypted backdoor *from behind* a corporate network where people from the outside can quickly tunnel in and ... do whatever it is they wish to do, whether it is to conduct a legit system penetration test (if they are the good guys), or all-out cyber mayhem (if they are the bad guys). Prices range from $480 for a basic no-frills version, all the way up to $500 to $600 for 3G or Wifi versions, which enable *wireless* tunnelling. Imagine that.

How to root the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800

2012-03-01T22:16:00.002+08:00

The steps below show how to root the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800. Note that this guide is for the 3G+Wifi version only. For the Wifi-only version, GT-P6810, the steps are similar but you need to get a different copy of the root image. Be sure you know what you are doing, why you want to do this, and before this you should be familiar with your Android tablet in general before you try to go deeper into rooting and other such hackery.

Part 1 : Rooting

1. Download and install Samsung Kies if you have not already done so. This will install the necessary USB drivers to talk to your device.

2. Connect your Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 via USB and make a backup with Samsung Kies. This is in case anything goes wrong in the process, you can restore your data from the backup.

3. While your Galaxy Tab 7.7 is still connected, download root.zip and do a copy/paste via Windows Explorer under the folder GT-P6800, Card (see screenshot above). In the Android filesystem, this corresponds to the /mnt/sdcard/extStorages/SdCard folder (use this path if you had downloaded the root.zip file directly to your tablet).

4. Unplug the USB cable and turn off the tablet (hold down the Power button and select Power Off).

5. Turn on the tablet in recovery mode. This could be tricky if you have not done this before. Hold down both the Power and Volume Up buttons until the tablet turns on, and keep both buttons pressed until the recovery screen comes up. Some instructions say to release the Power button earlier when you see the device turned on but I've found it does not work half the time.

6. When in recovery mode, select install update from external storage, look for and select the root.zip file using the hardware buttons (Volume Up, Volume Down, Power).

7. Reboot when done. Your device should be rooted. You will see a Superuser icon in your Apps menu. Any apps that require root privileges will bring up a prompt, somewhat like the Windows 7 or Vista UAC prompt that asks you whether you want to allow or deny superuser access. That's all there is to it.

Part 2 : Install CWM Recovery (Optional)

Installing the CWM Recovery image is an optional procedure but it had saved me a couple of times with my Galaxy S2 while I was playing with custom kernels and custom ROM's and such. This is a utility that replaces the default recovery module (when you press Power and Volume Up on boot). It allows you to make byte-for-byte backup images of your boot partition, system and user apps and data, and restores the entire system as necessary. Something like what Norton Ghost or Acronis TrueImage do for Windows computers.

To install this, you have to root your device first, i.e. Part 1 above must be completed successfully. Here are the steps :

1. Download Odin3 v1.85. This is a utility that allows you to flash custom firmware and kernels to your Android device. Simply unzip it to an empty directory. There is no installation required.

2. Download P6800_CWM_Recovery_5.0.2.7.tar and save it to an empty folder.

3. Close Samsung Kies. If you have any other application running that syncs mobile phones or other devices over USB, such as Nokia Suite, Microsoft ActiveSync, Zune, or anything similar, close it as well. This is to prevent conflicts with Odin when it is communicating with your tablet.

4. Plug in the Galaxy Tab 7.7 via the USB cable. Turn it off (hold down Power button and select Power Off).

5. Turn on the tablet in download mode. Hold down both the Power and Volume Down buttons until the tablet turns on, and keep both buttons pressed until the download screen comes up. This is different from the recovery mode in the rooting part in Part 1 which uses the Volume Up button. Some people set it in the wrong mode and nothing seems to work. Myself, I had forgotten wholesale on a few occasions to go into the download mode with the same result. If you have booted successfully into download mode, you should see some warning messages and so on. Follow the instructions until you see the waiting to download message.

6. On your PC, run odin3 v1.85.exe. Click on the PDA button and select the path to the P6800_CWM_Recovery_5.0.2.7.tar file you downloaded earlier (see screenshot above). Click the Start button, wait a few seconds for the image to transfer over, let it reboot, and that is it.

7. The next time you boot into recovery mode via the Power and Volume Up buttons, you will see the new CWM Recovery screen instead of the default recovery screen. You can then make full system backups and restores as you wish.

Disclaimer and fair warning : this is a compilation and summary of procedures that have worked for many people. It should generally be safe. But I shall not be responsible if your device is bricked or your warranty is voided, data is lost, your device goes up in smoke, etc. Like I said, do this only if you are sure you know what you are doing, and you know why you want to root your device.

This compilation of instructions is due mostly to the XDA Developers forum, Galaxy Tab 7.7 section. If you like you can go over there and say thanks to the folks who have made this possible. If you face any issues you might want to ask for help there as well.

References from XDA Developers :

1. [ROM&GUIDE] Official Firmwares SGT 7.7 P6800 + P6810 Download
2. [GUIDE] Root
3. CWM RECOVERY 5.0.2.7 [GT-P6800][3g]

Transformers Cybertron Con 2012 Opening Hours at Resorts World Sentosa Singapore

2012-02-29T09:51:00.000+08:00

The first Transformers convention held in Singapore will be going on at Resorts World Sentosa Singapore, from 11 to 14 March 2012. Jointly organized by Hasbro Singapore and Resorts World Sentosa, the opening hours will be a little staggered and they are different for each day as below :

Sunday 11 March 2012 : 11am - 9pm
Mon-Tue 12-13 March 2012 : 10am - 9pm
Wed 14 March 2012 : 10am - 6pm

Yahoo reports that amongst other things, there will be : a 22-foot (6.7m) tall Optimus Prime statue, one of the largest Transformers statues ever, Transformers drawing classes by top Hasbro artists (at select times), and 3D action figure dioramas.

Here's the promotional poster :

Have never quite managed to go over to USA so far for BotCon and so on but since we've got a TF convention right here in Singapore, hey why not. Already got tickets for the whole family. More details and ticketing over at cybertroncon.com.

Singtel 3G APN settings for Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

2012-02-20T15:03:00.001+08:00

One of the first things that I did upon getting my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 was to ensure that the Singtel 3G APN settings are correct. At first glance it looked like the local sets of the Galaxy Tab 7.7 GT-P6800 did ship with more or less the correct CSC (Country Specific Code) package which contains appropriate APN settings for all the 3 Singapore telcos Singtel, M1 and Starhub.

This seems to work fine, except that in certain areas I would only be able to get 2G coverage with the attendant low speeds (i.e. no high-speed 3.5G or HSPA+ speeds, indicated by a H+ icon at the lower-right corner of the screen), but then it was going fine with H+ on my Galaxy S2 on the M1 network. On the Hardwarezone forums, I've read that you can configure it with slightly more optimized settings as follows :

Name: IDEAS E-mail
APD: e-ideas
MMSC: http://mms.singtel.com:10021/mmsc
MMS proxy: 165.21.42.84
MMS port: 8080
MCC: 525
MNC: 01
Authentication type: PAP or CHAP
APN Type: internet + mms
APN Protocol: IPv4

- The rest of the settings are "not set".

With the above, after a few days of testing, there did seem to be improvement in being able to attain H+ speeds more often and at more locations. Upon further examination, apparently these settings are a combination of the pre-defined IDEAS E-mail and IDEAS MMS settings. Funnily enough, the addition of the MMS settings shouldn't have made much of a difference but it looks like it did at least for my case.

The screenshot above shows the settings as they look on my device. To get here, go to Settings, Wireless and networks, Mobile networks, Access Point Names. As usual with this kind of thing, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), but if you're on an Android device and using the Singtel network, you could consider giving this a try.

Singapore : Telco authority IDA to mandate improved 3G mobile coverage standards, cap mobile roaming charges

2012-02-15T17:03:00.000+08:00

IDA, the overall Singapore telco authority, has recently come up with a couple of mandates to try to resolve two of the most pressing issues faced by mobile phone users in Singapore. ChannelNewsAsia had reported that "to improve 3G mobile coverage in public areas, the Infocomm Development Authority has set an April deadline for telcos to improve their service standards. Telcos must ensure that there is more than 99 percent 3G coverage in outdoor areas, roads and MRT tunnels, up from the current 95 percent. Within buildings, especially offices, there must be more than 85 percent coverage. Operators have until April next year to improve on their 3G coverage for buildings".

The second measure had more to do roping in the totally exorbitant roaming data charges that have made the news recently, like the recent case of the man who received a SingTel bill of over $300K for overseas roaming. On this, ChannelNewsAsia reported that "telcos will roll out a service for consumers to suspend data roaming services when they incur S$100 in data roaming charges every month. Telcos will face a stiffer fine of up to S$50,000 if they fail to meet any of these service standards, up from the current penalty of S$5,000."

While this is certainly a laudable attempt to improve the service levels of the telcos, in my opinion more could be done. For example, take the 85% 3G coverage requirement for buildings. I wonder why there is such a relatively lax requirement of 85%, as compared to the requirement of over 99% for outdoor areas?

I don't know about you, but I certainly do not stand around in outdoor areas most of the time trying to catch a signal to surf around. In contrast, the times when I do need 3G coverage more often would be indoors - checking the calendar between meetings, sitting down at a cafe waiting for somebody, attending a day-long conference or seminar, things like that.

From a user experience point of view, the relative priority of building and outdoor coverage could probably be flipped. We should ask for something like over 99% coverage in buildings, and over 95% for outdoors, roads and MRT tunnels. This should go a long way towards alleviating user frustration when trying to surf the web or even make simple phone calls inside buildings, auditoriums, meeting rooms, conference halls, and carparks, amongst the many indoor locations where people need 3G coverage.

Another way is to equalize priority and mandate 95% everywhere as a first step and ratchet that up towards 99% over a few years, and then finally we will start talking 3 nine's, 4 nine's and so on (99.9%, 99.99% etc). Actually, I wonder why there is a difference being made between outdoor and indoor coverage in the first place, creating an artificial regulatory distinction that allows the companies to reduce costs by providing service levels that *just* meet what is mandated, or even allow levels to drop below that and hope for shall we say "less than aggressive" enforcement. It should be simpler to mandate and easier to check, with less ambiguity over what exactly constitutes indoor vs outdoor environments, like for example, if I am sitting at an outside table at a coffeeshop is that considered outdoors, and does it become an indoor environment when the coffeeshop owner extends the motorized awning over the tables when it starts to rain? With a uniform coverage requirement such questions become moot.

Apple nets $46.33 billion revenue, Samsung gets $42 billion in Q4 2011

2012-02-01T09:10:00.000+08:00

Tech earning season is in and we are looking at some incredible numbers out there. For Apple's Q4 2011 results, the official press release noted that the company "posted record quarterly revenue of $46.33 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.06 billion". Of course, this was given the fact that the launch of the Apple 4S with its updated 1GHz dual-core processor, 8-megapixel camera and Siri voice interface, had helped to boost the sales numbers tremendously. In addition, Engadget reported that Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads in the quarter, as well as just over 37 million iPhones - a 128% increase over the same quarter last year. Engadget also noted that Apple is back into the number one slot, ahead of Samsung which sold a stunning 35 million units this last quarter.

Talking about Samsung, they are doing pretty well too, with their Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100GT selling like hotcakes for the past months and also the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus have given Samsung a last push towards the end of the year, and most likely this will continue into 2012. Engadget posted that Samsung "pulled in 47.3 trillion won ($42 billion) in sales, thanks in no small part to the over 300 million phones Sammy sold last year. While mobile accounted for roughly 40 percent of company sales and half of its operating profit (2.6 trillion won, or $2.3 billion), its semiconductor business did almost as well, raking in 2.3 trillion won ($2 billion) in profit over the same period." Notably, the Samsung TV's have been selling pretty well also, and it is now generally long been acknowledged that Samsung has taken over Sony's former top spot in the TV industry.

On the other end of the scale, on Yahoo via Reuters, Motorola has lost $80 million in the very same quarter, in what could be the last quarterly report it sends out before Google completes its acquisition and takeover of the company. CNet also added that the company shipped 5.3 million smartphones and 200,000 tablets in the period, and that the results show that beyond Samsung, which has virtually smothered the market with its Galaxy line of smartphones, the other handset vendors have struggled.

And then there is Nokia. Whatever has happened to Nokia? It has been struggling to break back into the high-end smartphone market even with the late launch of its WP7 phones (the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 series). Nokia has lost a staggering $1.4 billion in Q4 2011. Reuters also mentioned that Nokia revenue had dropped a huge 73% last quarter compared to a year ago. We even have had analysts putting out memorable quotes like this : "Nokia gives Microsoft a chance to enter the big stage. If they cannot make it work, arguably this is the end of the road," this from Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham.

So this year, in 2012, we can look forward to the continued rivalry between Apple and Samsung, with the multi-billion battle between the Apple and Android camps going into the next round with the long-awaited arrival of the Apple iPhone 5 and the all-but-certain Galaxy S2 successor, the Samsung Galaxy S3. Rumors are swirling thick and fast, with talk of either 2GHZ dual-core or quad-core processors, faster graphics chips, and insane screen resolutions of 2560x1600. Nokia will have their work cut out for them trying to even compete on the same playing field. They have barely made it there with their Nokia Lumia 800 series, and they will have to continue to innovate and move product in a big way, if Nokia-Microsoft is to be even considered a viable third player in the white-hot mobile market

The WD HDD and Thai flood situation : what you can do

2011-11-22T17:33:00.000+08:00

Over the past couple of weeks or so, gadget shoppers worldwide have watched as the impact of the WD HDD factory shutdowns due to the massive Thailand floods have caused hard drive prices to soar upward. In many cases, HDD prices have doubled or even tripled within just a month. Here in Singapore, for example, for the popular portable WD 1TB USB HDD, it used to cost $129 at the prior IT fair, after which it retailed for $139. After the floods hit, the price climbed to $159, $179, and now at some stores it is going for a breathtaking $299. We'll just have to see how much these go for at the next upcoming IT fair, SITEX 2011.

Now, how did these price increases come about? Some of these price increases could be attributed to panic buying as individuals and companies, large and small, went into stocking-up overdrive mode. According to IDC, Thailand accounted for up to 45% of worldwide hard drive production in the first half of the year, and that nearly half of that capacity was affected by the flooding as of early November. So that would make say, 20-25% of worldwide hard drive production being affected. Those of us who also happen to be watchers of the commodities markets would recognize this as the classic supply-driven scenario, where pricing happens at the margins, and even small supply disruptions could lead to large increases in price.

What we do know currently : based on this article, WD 2.5" HDD production has been hugely impacted. These are the units that go into notebooks and portable USB hard drives, so it shouldn't be too surprising that this type of HDD's have gone up in price. On the other hand, apparently Seagate is relatively unscathed, though it is said to be running low on other components it needs that come from companies that were affected by the supply chain disruptions. In other news reports, Asus is running out of hard drives, HP is being approached by the likes of Facebook and Google because they had moved fast to lock in supplies, and Bloomberg had reported that Seagate has even been offered some $250 million upfront to lock in hard drive capacity. Might that have been companies like HP, perhaps?

On a personal level, what you can do, besides holding off on buying new hard drives, particularly those 2.5" HDD's that are getting scarce? You could consider switching to SSD for notebook or desktop boot drives. But you'll have to bear in mind that gigabyte for gigabyte, these could be up to an order of magnitude more expensive than conventional hard drives, even with the recent run-up in HDD prices.

Case in point : for that WD 1TB USB HDD mentioned above? At $129, it used to be 12.9 cents per gigabyte, and when it ran up to $299 the per-gigabyte cost went up to 29.9 cents. Fine, but as for let's say the OCZ Vertex 2 120GB that I have in one my of laptops, it currently costs $259, which works out to $2.16 per gigabyte, which was 16 times more expensive then, and that ratio has reduced to 7 times more expensive now. But if you consider that you can get up to 10 times the performance (in terms of IOPS, or I/O operations per second), the value proposition is getting slightly better now.

Or, you could also join the tablet revolution if you have not done so already. If anything else, this situation might even have the potential to speed up the process of conversion from netbooks and laptops to tablets, whose capabilities, with dual-core processors and increasing memory size are now encroaching upon the territory of entry-level notebooks. Looking at it this way, now is as good a time as any to start moving to tablet computing.