The back to the Pre seemed to have a little extra room under the cover, so I stuck a penny in for a test fit.  The cover closed with a little force and there was no awkward bulge sticking out the back, so I went ahead and ordered some extremely strong rare earth magnets.

These were the exact magnets I ordered: Magcraft NSN0640 1/2-Inch by 1/16-Inch Rare Earth Disc Magnets, 24 PACK

Once you receive the magnets, all you need to do is tape them to the back cover.

There’s no bulge in the cover, but I did notice that the slider gap at the top of the phone opens up a little bit more.   This could get annoying to some people, but it’s not all that big of an issue for me.

The rare earth magnets I used are very strong.  They have no problem holding the phone in place upside down, and they also have no problem attracting a fairly hefty multi-tool.

Now, what can you do with a magnetic phone?  Use your imagination!  I stuck some magnets behind my dash and made a magnetic car mount (inspired by the Touchstone car mounts).

I’ve had this mod on my Pre for about three days prior to writing this article and I’m happy to report that my phone has received no ill effects from the magnets.  All my data is still intact and the phone is functioning as perfect as ever.

This guide isn’t just limited to the Palm Pre.  If you have any extra space in the back cover of your phone, try a test fit with a penny.  If the penny fits, then so will these magnets.

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This little modification will allow you to track your Palm Pre if it ever gets lost or stolen.  Just ask this guy what he thinks about GPS tracking on his iPhone.

After implementing this GPS tracking method, your Pre will email you updates with GPS coordinates based on a predefined schedule.  The email you receive will contain the Pre’s battery information as well as a Google Maps link of where the GPS coordinates are pointing to.

To start, you’ll need to have a rooted Pre with SSH access.

Instructions:

1. Mount the file system with read-write access.

   mount -o remount,rw /

2. Make a directory for the GPS tracking script we’re about to make.

   mkdir /home/scripts

3. Add the code below to the beginning of the /etc/event.d/crond to enable the cron daemon at startup.

   start on stopped configure
   stop on runlevel [!2]
   description "crond"

4. Create a crontab entry and schedule the tracking script to run. NOTE: I’m using nano as the text editor. If you do not have nano, you can install it using the Optware package feed, or just use vi as the editor.

   mkdir -p /etc/cron/crontabs
   nano -w /etc/cron/crontabs/root

   Add the following to /etc/cron/crontabs/root:

   */5 * * * * /home/scripts/track.sh

   The */5 means the script will run every time the number of minutes is divisible by 5. E.g. at 5, 10, 15 minutes, etc.  Increase the denominator for less frequent updates.

5. Finally, create the track.sh script in the /home/scripts directory created in step 2.

   nano -w /home/scripts/track.sh

   Copy/paste the code below, but be sure to edit line 2 to include your email address

   #!/bin/sh
   DEST=YOUR_USERID@DOMAIN.com
   
   pos=$(luna-send -n 2 palm://com.palm.location/startTracking '{"appId": "ILovePalm", "subscribe": true}' 2>&1 | tail -1 | cut -d, -f4,5,8 | sed -r 's/[^-\.0-9,]//g')
   
   lat=$(echo $pos | cut -d, -f1)
   lon=$(echo $pos | cut -d, -f2)
   spd=$(echo $pos | cut -d, -f3)
   bat=$(grep BATTERY: /var/log/messages | tail -1 | awk '{print $8}' | sed 's/%,//')
   
   now=$(date)
   
   # Enable this below if you want to keep logs - not sure where to write them /var/home/root not the best place.
   # echo $now,$lat,$lon,$spd,$bat >>mygpsdata.log
   
   #Build a message variable for all the data to be logged.
   msg=$(echo $now,$lat,$lon,$spd,$bat )
   
   #Build message content to be sent
   msg2=$(echo $now Speed:$spd  Battery Level:$bat  URL http://maps.google.com/maps?q=$lat%2C$lon)
   
   ret1=$(luna-send -n 1 palm://com.palm.messaging/sendMessageFromCompose '{"recipientJSONArray": [{"value": "'${DEST}'", "contactDisplay": "'${DEST}'", "prefix": "to$A", "identifier": "palm_anon_element_8"}], "messageText": "'"$msg2"'"}' 2>&1)
   
   exit

6. Reboot your phone to start the cron daemon and you’re finished.  You should now see emails coming into your inbox with the GPS coordinates of your Pre.  I just archive the emails in Gmail to keep my inbox from becoming cluttered.

Here’s the tracking in action:

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Most of the air bubbles worked their way out, but there’s still one on the right edge that refuses to go away.  It gets smaller day by day, so maybe it’ll just take some more time before it vanishes completely.  The edges were OK at best; there’s some overhang on the front bottom edges.  However, the battery cover installation was pretty much flawless and looks great.

Had I taken a little bit more time, I may have been able to get a perfect install.  The good thing is, you can just send your InvisibleShield back and get a brand new one, which I’ll probably do once I get my replacement Pre.

Before:

After:

UPDATE: 4 days after installation, the bubble is gone!

Before:

After:

The skin certainly looks much better than it did immediately after the installation.  Just remember to work slow and get out as many air bubbles as you can before the skin starts to dry.  The edges are staying stuck on really well, even on the bottom edge where I screwed up.

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The first thing I did before installing was clean my work surface to make sure it’s free of dust and debris.  Then, lay out everything you need.  I added a pair of latex gloves and an alcohol rubbing pad to clean the phone.

Take the alcohol pad (or plain rubbing alcohol and a lint free cloth) and clean your phone.   Make sure there are no fingerprints or dust left afterwards.

Now, get ready to apply the skin.  Take off the rubber gloves (the skin’s adhesive sticks to the gloves easily) and open the application sponge package.

Moisten your fingertips generously with the sponge.  As you pull off the skin from its paper backing, be sure to apply some solution to the adhesive side to keep it from sticking.  After you’ve completely removed the skin, it must be soaked with the sponge.  Remember, moisten the adhesive side of the skin with the sponge, not your phone itself.

Once the skin is nice and wet, start the application.  Work slowly and make sure the edges and openings line up.  I did the back piece first and lined the speaker and camera holes up first before moving on.  You’re supposed to use the squeegee to iron out air bubbles as you apply the skin, but it’s terribly difficult.  I just waited until after I had the skin applied, then went over it with the squeegee card.

Make sure the skin is moist for easy application.  If the adhesive side dries out, it will start to stick. Here’s what my back cover looked like immediately after application:

I’m not too worried about the air bubbles.  What looks like dust are also just tiny air bubbles.  In a few days, they’ll be gone – just like with my Touch Pro.

Keeping the edges stuck down is the hard part.  Here’s a tip for that: use plastic wrap.  After applying the skin, simply wrap the phone in plastic wrap and wait a few hours.  The plastic wrap works wonderfully at keeping the edges down.

Then proceed with installing the front piece.  Make sure your fingertips and skin are moist!  I lined up the earpiece and center button cutout first, then proceeded to stick the rest of the skin down.  Here’s what I ended up with:

Not too worried about the air bubbles because once again, they will go away with time.  The edges were a pain to get down, however.  One thing you don’t want to do while installing your skin is stretching to correct.  If you’ve slightly misaligned the skin, remove the entire skin and start over.  Don’t try to pull one side of the skin to correct because you’ll end up stretching the skin and possibly creating overhang on the edges.

Once you’re finished, wrap the phone in plastic wrap to help the edges stick and leave it alone for at least 12 hours.  Don’t touch it, don’t put the battery in, and don’t use it.  Just be patient and let it dry.

Installation was about 30-40 minutes going slowly.  Make sure to be patient and take your time to line the skin up properly.  If you don’t, you may find yourself removing some overhang from the edges.

If you’re really worried about the air bubbles, see one of my old articles with before and after pictures of another install.

I personally like the InvisibleShield.  Some people don’t like the “tackiness” of the skin, but I love it.  It helps keep the phone from sliding around and/or slipping out of my hand.  The “tackiness” wears off in a few weeks, however.

Screen sensitivity is not affected as far as I can tell.  There’s a little more resistance when sliding due to the “tackiness” of the skin, but all of my screen taps and swipes are registering just fine.

Another positive for having a skin is that it repels grease and oils much better than your phone would naked.  Palm Pre owners know how greasy their phone gets after a few hours of use.  The coverage is very good with only the plastic matte edges being exposed.  I’m not too worried about the side edges as much as I’m worried about the screen.

As far as the protection goes, the InvisibleShield is superb.  With my Touch Pro, the skin did its job very well, which I look forward to seeing in my Palm Pre as well.

Edit: Just got this in my email.  There’s a 30% discount on Palm Pre skins through June 30, 2009. Just use the code: iphonepalm

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The bootup time test is pretty retarded.  Actually, it’s really retarded.  Not because I love my Pre and the iPhone 3GS spanks it in boot time, but because nobody really ever turns their phone off, so why would it be included in these “real world” tests?

Aside from that, the Pre seemingly does have the 3GS beat in internet browsing, but that was only one webpage.  Also, they were using Sprint’s and AT&T’s network; a better test would have utilized wifi to even out the field.

This test doesn’t mean much of anything since it didn’t really measure the speed of each phone’s hardware.  Rather, the tests were highly dependent of the network it was on.  Had the 3GS been on wifi, would it have beaten the Pre?  Maybe.  I’m sure we’ll see some more tests in the future now that the 3GS is out.

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But many other software and applications are not designed to automatically detect them. It is on the part of the user to know when the software patch is available, download it correctly and install it.

This all is too much asking for an average computer user and that is the reason that more than 90% of the computers worldwide are vulnerable just because their software is not updated to the latest release. The recent outbreak of Conficker malware is the case in point, which was able to exploit a security hole in Windows, for which a patch had been released by Microsoft way back in 2008 itself.

Get Software Update Notification with Secunia PSI

Thankfully, there are some useful tools available, which can maintain a record of all the applications installed on your system and keep an eye on the availability of the latest software patch available for them.

Secunia Personal Software Inspector is one such tool. It is available for free download from Secunia website and is light-weight, only about 500kb. Install it, and it will start keeping an eye on the latest updates available. You will be surprised to know, how many programs and software are lying in your system, which are outdated and the latest software update has not been installed for them.

Remember, not updating the software regularly, is one of the important cause of getting your PC Security compromised.

How Secunia PSI Operate

The Secunia PSI works by examining files on your computer (primarily .exe, .dll, and .ocx files). These files contain non-specific meta information provided by the software vendor only. After examining all the files on your local hard drive(s), the collected data is sent to Secunia’s servers, which match the data against the Secunia File Signatures engine (https://psi.secunia.com/) to determine the exact applications installed on your system.

This information is then used to provide you with a detailed report of the missing security related updates for your system.

Download Secunia PSI

This is a guest post by Silki Garg. She is a blogger and advises on safe internet browsing, security updates and malware prevention. A visit to her blogs is recommended. You’re sure to find something of interest.

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First, you must have rooted your Pre and installed/enabled SSH.

UPDATE 7/7/09: Newer method directly below.  Allows USB tethering along with bluetooth.

Thanks zeropoint46 for this awesome post detailing an easier method to enable tethering.  This method will allow you to tether over bluetooth or USB.  If you want to tether over USB, make sure you have USBnet setup.

1. First, SSH to your Pre and su to root.  Then, remount the root file system as read/write.

mount -o remount,rw

2. Then, enter the /usr/bin directory, make a backup of PmConnectionManager, and stop the process

cd /usr/bin
cp PmConnectionManager PmConnectionManager.orig
stop PmConnectionManager

3. Using vi and only vi, edit the PmConnectionManager file.  Find the line that says “Disabling IP Forwarding^@0^@^@^@” and change the o to a 1.  In vi, type “/forward” to search for the string, hit the insert key to enter insert mode and edit the line, then hit esc and type “:wq” to save and exit.

vi PmConnectionManager

4. Save the file after you make the edit, then start the PmConnectionManager process back up.

start PmConnectionManager

Now /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward should contain a “1″ instead of “0″.  Previously, the ip_forward setting would always read/reset itself to “0″, making tethering very disruptive.  With this method, that value will stay at “1″.

5. Setup a NAT rule in iptables by running

/usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE

6.  Finally, add the command in step 5 to a start-up script in /etc/event.d.   Using nano as the text editor, you would run

nano -w /etc/event.d/ipforward

Then copy/paste the lines below into the file

start on stopped finish
stop on runlevel[!2]

console none

pre-start script
     /usr/sbin/iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE
end script

Save and exit the file and reboot your phone.  Then, connect using bluetooth or via USB utilizing USBnet. Make sure your wifi is turned off so your traffic will route through the Pre’s EVDO connection.  Everything should be good to go at this point.  If you’re having trouble, make sure you have no firewalls running.

Old method posted 6/15/09:

Connect to your Pre’s NAP (network access point) via Bluetooth:

Ignore this error message on your Pre:

Using PuTTY, configure the following settings under Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels:

• Source port: 8080
• Destination: Dynamic and Auto radio buttons
• Click Add and you’ll see the port in the “Forwarded ports” box

Then, initiate the SSH connection to your Pre.  Going through Bluetooth and using port 222, your connection window will look like this:

Once you’re at the login screen, configure your browser’s SOCKS proxy with:

• Address: localhost
• Port: 8080

Now you’re good to go! Enjoy the tethering capabilities of your Palm Pre.  Here’s proof:

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Programs are installed through the Pre’s built in ipkg package manager.  Installing programs is as easy as adding the Optware repository address to the ipkg configuration.  Then, all you have to do is run “ipkg install <package name>” form the root shell and VOILA, your program is installed.

Ipkg installs the packages to the /opt directory.  Adding /opt/bin to your binaries path wouldn’t be a bad idea.

For complete instructions, the Pre developer wiki is the first and only place to go:

http://predev.wikidot.com/adding-the-ipkg-repository

There’s also a great guide on how to enable SSH and allow connections through the internet.  No more connecting through wifi and using unsecure telnet:

http://predev.wikidot.com/backdoor

Let the fun begin!

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Credit goes to dsevil from the PreCentral forums for discovering the now infamous Easter Egg left by the Palm developers.  Those sneaky, but hilarious, developers found a way to incorporate the “Konami code” into WebOS.  To enable developer mode, type “upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart” into the Universal Search, then hit the icon for Developer Mode and enable it.

From what I gather, enabling Developer Mode opens up the built-in firewall and allows some commands to be input.  To continue unlocking the phone, follow this guide on enabling root access:

http://predev.wikidot.com/rooting

If you get stuck trying to run the “talk.py” script, install cygwin with Python and run the script from there.  The script basically starts the telnet daemon and opens port 23 in iptables.  Now you can login as root with no password through wifi.

As for making changes to the various configuration files, you first need to mount the root file system with read/write access, instead of the deafult read-only.  Once you have root access, run:

mount -n -o remount,rw /

Any changes you make can now be saved.  BE CAREFUL!  There is a very real possibility of bricking your phone.  Believe, me, I did it within the first 5 minutes of tinkering.  I changed the wrong character and my phone was stuck at the Palm boot screen.  To unbrick your phone, you’re going to have to run the WebOS installer found here:

http://palm.cdnetworks.net/rom/pre_p100eww/webosdoctorp100ewwsprint.jar

Happy tinkering!  If you find something cool, please post it here to share with others.  If you want to talk with some really smart guys, come to the #webos-internals channel on irc.freenode.net.

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http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3g-s/

Let’s take a look at the new features:

“The Fastest iPhone Ever” – Claims that the new 3GS is up to twice as fast as the 3G model.  Seeing as we don’t know any hardware specs, nor can we trust Apple’s tainted advertising reputation, we’ll just have to wait till the phone comes out and becomes subject to real world tests.  However, Apple claims that “launching messages is 2.1 faster, load the NY Times in Safari: 2.9 times faster.” (Gizmodo)  If this is true, then WOW, what a great improvement.

Video – 30FPS at VGA resolution (640 x 480) is outstanding.  Shame on Apple for making me install Quicktime (bleh) just to watch their demo video.  Anyways, the demonstration looks great!  A full 30FPS with no lag or stutters, however, I’m a bit skeptical because the video was not made with a real iPhone 3GS in a real world scenario.  You heard me, the video was made to look like a real world demo.  Just look at the guy holding the iPhone; there’s no way anybody could hold the phone that steady.  You be the judge: iPhone 3GS Video Demo.  This better not be another Apple marketing gimmick.

3-Megapixel Camera – Pretty cool tap to focus feature.  Autofocus isn’t a big deal; it’s been around for years and is just another thing for Apple to over glorify.  The macro and low light are outstanding though.  Check it out: iPhone 3GS Photos

Voice Control – Been out for years and there’s a reason nobody uses it: because it always sucked.  Will the iPhone’s voice recognition and decoding be better?  We’ll have to wait and see.  But why, oh why, is Apple touting a feature that’s been around forever like it’s hot out the oven?

Compass – Pretty cool, but really only useful if you’re walking around.  GPS does the same thing (gives you your heading), but needs a few seconds of data before it can determine your heading. Google Street View + the compass is a good combination, since you could basically turn your body and the Street View would line up with what you’re looking at.

Cut, Copy & Paste – LOL!!! It only took three revisions to get this feature. . . Being able to copy/paste pictures is nice, however.

Landscape Keyboard – Again, it only took three revisions. . .

Messages – Multimedia messages to be exact.  Going along the same lines as my last two comments.  Even more depressing, read the fine print: MMS support from AT&T coming in late summer.

Search - Exactly like the Universal Search incorporated in the Palm Pre.  Palm beat you to the punch on this one, Apple.

Accessibility - “These features include the VoiceOver screen reader, a Zoom feature, White on Black display options, Mono Audio, and more.”  How useful. .

Internet Tethering – Pretty much the biggest fail.  What’s been around for years and years, finally comes to the iPhone.  But there’s a kicker, its not offered in the United States.  “Tethering is not currently offered in the U.S. and some other countries.”  Sucks.

Voice Memos – Isn’t there already “an app for that”?

Nike + iPod – No comment except for,  “Wow, that’s nice?”

Stocks – Isn’t there already “an app for that”?

YouTube – Don’t tell me it took three revisions for YouTube functionality.

As the title of this post says, Apple has definitely found success in some areas, but most definitely failed in others.  The speed increase, video recording capabilities, compass,  and camera functions are all impressive.  Apple could’ve wowed even more people if it ditched the low 480 x 320 resolution screen in favor of a WVGA 800 x 480 resolution screen.

In other areas, however, Apple is playing catchup with long time available features like copy/pasting, landscape keyboard, MMS, and YouTube functionality.   Internet tethering is also a big let down, but blame AT&T for that one.

The inclusion of Voice Memos and Stock tracking as part of the iPhone’s 3GS main features is pretty pitiful.  Having these items on Apple’s main features web page makes it look like they’re trying too hard by padding the feature list with crappy “extras” if you will.

When the original iPhone came out, it was full of innovations.  Now on its third revision, while still introducing some new features, you can’t deny that Apple’s playing catch up as well.

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