Following the steps below I have managed to get my iPhone 3G back to firmware 3.1.2 and then use blackra1n to jailbreak it again. Please note this is likely to erase all the current data on your phone so make sure you have recent backup of your apps, media and settings (this should happen automatically everytime you synchronise your phone anyway!).. Also it is important to note that this method will not downgrade your baseband!

You will need to have some understanding of computers to get through this tutorial but I have tried to keep it as basic as option:

1. Firstly you need to download firmware 3.1.2 to your computer. You can find the right version for your phone on the iClarified site. Save this file to your Desktop as we will need to use it during the restore process.

2. Open iTunes and connect your iPhone using the USB cable. If you haven’t synced your phone in a while now is a good time to do it so you can make sure there’s a recent backup of all your data.

3. Once the sync is finished, go to the iPhone summary screen (screenshot below) and OPTION+CLICK (Mac) or CTRL+CLICK (PC) the restore button. This will open a window for you to select the firmware file you wish to restore. Navigate to your desktop and click on the file you downloaded in step 1. The restoring process will begin.

4. After a few minutes a phone boot ups your device will have finished the restoring process but you will receive a 1015 error. DO NOT WORRY, this is actually good and it means the firmware was downloaded and installed properly.

5. Download iRecovery from this link (PC and Mac versions available). If you are on a PC you will need to install the usblib file that is part of the archive and then install the latest version of iRecovery which can be downloaded from here.

6. Once iRecovery is installed, run it from the command line by typing “irecovery -s”. Wait for the ] prompt and type the following. In my case I waited for quite a bit for the ] prompt and it didn’t appear so I pressed enter a couple of types and the ] prompt finally came up.

] setenv auto-boot true
] saveenv
] /exit

After the last line you should be taken back to the command line prompt which is now safe to be closed.

7. Reboot your phone by holding the HOME + POWER buttons for about 10 seconds. Once the phone is booted go to SETTINGS -> GENERAL -> ABOUT to confirm that the firmware is in fact the 3.1.2 (screenshot below).

8. You are now ready to jailbreak your phone again using blackra1n which can be downloaded here

9. Once blackra1n works its magic and the phone is restarted, open iTunes and synchronise your media files and applications back to the phone. Please note that if you have installed any apps using IPAs downloaded from websites other than the iTunes / Cydia / Rock store, you will need to install the AppSync for OS 3.1 patch which can be found at the Hackulous repo http://cydia.hackulo.us/

I hope this method has worked for you as well and feel free to let me know or add any comments or tips in the comments section below!

Enjoy it.

Yes it is a preview only and Google has made it pretty clear that we are bound to encounter some issues along the way (which is definitely the case), but apart from the usual development bugs, I think there’s quite a bit of work that still needs to be done with the IA if they want this thing to really become mainstream.

I’ve had a couple of “wave” exchanges with a few of my colleagues and the first thing I noticed is that once the Wave gets bigger than 3 or 4 people, it is considerably harder to follow the conversation and blips that are not entered at the end of the Wave. It’s funny because as I was writing this I had the urge to type “comments” instead of “blips” because that’s how it feels with the way the information is currently organised.

One of the guys at work defined it as a glorified mash up of a Messenger and an email client. To me it kind of looks like a threaded forum with infinite subthreads.

My first tentative in using it at work didn’t last long either. I had a brief and a few links that I wanted to send and discuss with one of our designers and a conversation that started on Wave ended up back on Messenger and eventually we started exchanging emails again.

You could say it is just a matter of getting used to it but my perception is that given my busy daily schedule, I will always go back to whatever is the easiest and most effective way to communicate and collaborate and so far Google Wave hasn’t delivered on that.

Perhaps it will make more sense if there’s a Desktop client that alerts me when Waves are updated otherwise it will be another tab that I have to keep open in my browser and I know this is not going to happen.

Last but not least, the whole thing is still running very slowly so I believe that are some serious performance issues that need to be addressed before this can be launched to the public.

All in all, it looks like a great tool but I suspect there might be a little bit too much hype around it at the moment. I’d actually rate Sidewiki as having more potential to revolutionise the way we currently do things (in this case reviews) than Wave has. I’m actually surprised there hasn’t been much buzz around the impact this may have on all web properties but that is a subject for another topic.

If you still haven’t got your Google Wave account, I still have one invite left so feel free to leave a comment with your email address and I’ll add you to the list.

To read more about Google Wave, you can check the following articles:

Mashable: Google Wave – A complete guide
AdAge: Get ready for Google’s new Wave act
ZDNet: First impressions of Google Wave

To me, one of the really interesting things to come out of all these Facebook initiatives is that we are starting to see brands finally move away from the so called microsites to leveraging what some of the bigger social media platforms have to offer.

It just makes so much more sense to engage with users where they are used to go as opposed to build something independently and then spend a huge amount of money trying to get people there. And the result is usually disappointing and the money spent becomes harder and harder to justify in future projects, meaning limited scope for new ideas and innovation.

In many ways, the move away from microsites is also is directly related to the fact that marketers are finally giving up on the illusion of being in “total control” of the environment where their brands live.

Longer term, I wonder what the effects of this movement will have in the way digital agencies go about their business? Many are still making a mint with website development and surely they will still be around for a while but how long until clients realise they can actually get better results by using existing platforms to directly engage with their audience at a fraction of the cost?

This approach also lends itself to the possibility of experimenting with less financial risk and the final result is often innovative, targeted creative ideas that actually work.

There’s also an interesting article that touches on this same subject at We are Social’s facebook page

To find out more about the TED 5Seeds campaign, watch the video below or check the following links:

Mumbrella: brids v humans in ambitious Tooheys 5 Seeds Cider launch

Come with me: Brave clients = great campaigns

It’s not a new idea as such but as far as I know it is the first time it is being used in such a big scale and what an amazing pulse check for a President this could turn out to be!

Check the video below and then visit Open for Questions to check it out.

For instance – in my opinion – the most overrated web 2.0 word thrown around these days is Social Media.

At the core of it, social media is used to describe a platform through which a conversation between two or more people take place. Whether it happens on Facebook, Linkedin or at a supermarket isle, they are essentially the same thing: people discussing, interacting and exchanging information on things and interests they have in common.

As far as I am aware, this conversation thing has been happening for a few million (or is it billion?) years at least, so can someone please tell me when did that become media?

Back to my first paragraph, maybe it’s because no one could make a buck by becoming a Conversation Specialist, but all of sudden people are prepared to pay for advice from a so-called Social Media Strategist?

Yes social media platforms play a very important role in helping brands listen to, engage with and influence consumer behaviour, but the way some of the experts go about it is a bit predatory and opportunistic.

People have always talked and will continue to talk about brands they love or hate. Yes they are more connected than ever now so their voices can become louder and reach further, but please oh please stop making it sound like it’s something complex and out of this world.

Social media is not rocket science, no matter how high or low tech is the platform you’re using. Social media is a lot of common sense, along with full transparency of who you are and why is it that you’re interested in joining the conversation.

Disagree? I am always happy to be proven wrong!

Get the ball rolling and let me know what you think about it…

I guess the main reason is that it doesn’t have much penetration back home where most of my friends are. So on a personal level I do have an active account and use it to keep in touch with some of my triathlon mates and people that I only see occasionally or have worked with in the past, but certainly I don’t consider myself a heavy user…

Nowhere near as much as other people I know anyway, including my girlfriend, who’s logged on from the time she wakes up till she goes to bed.

I think most people? use Facebook as a way of keeping in touch with their friend’s lives without having to bother to meet them face to face for a catch up. It has become people’s dose of daily ‘socialising’ so they can feel they are part of a bigger group and not feel ‘alone’.

On a more professional level, I’ve been doing a bit of work with my triathlon coach to help him increase website traffic and hopefully generate coaching leads.

Amongst other things, I started him on Facebook (he’s a bit of a gumby when it comes to computers) with a simple profile and also created a group for his athletes to join. Within the group we added a few key races that we know most people usually attend and let them invite others to join too.

Lastly, he’s automatically broadcasting new blog post via his status update. I know some people will say this isn’t good practice but in this case I think it is worthwhile as the updates are not so regular (weekly at best) so it is unlikely to annoy people.

So far the results have been really good and Analytics says 5% of the traffic coming through to the website is coming from Facebook.

At this stage and with limited time available, I am not sure how much more we can actually do to leverage this social network but if you have any other tips or good examples on how you use Facebook to connect with your audience, feel free to post away!

iPhone app developers, here’s your chance to become rich and famous…

How many of us would be prepared to pay $2 bucks to have the Bullshit bingo in our iPhones, perhaps with some randomly generated ‘buzz words’ each time you run it, or even themed words based on meeting types? We could even setup a website with user generated content where people people can generate their own themes and relevant buzz words around industries they know about???

SO, why don’t you tell us what your bullshit bingo would look like?

These guys are basically venturing out on the street searching for ordinary people with good fashion sense. They stop them, interview them, ask about what they are wearing and post it online, with links to brands and online shops where you can buy whatever you’re interested in. Talk about engagement, relevance AND a business model that can actually generate quality leads who are actively interested in your brand!!!

Go and check it for yourself at http://beautifulstranger.tv

It is an interesting concept to watch and participate.

Here’s the full story so get in there and have your say!