Justyn Smith | Blog » IT

Import Google Contacts to iCloud easily

Justyn — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:43:58 +0000

Since updating to iOS 5 I figured I would give the whole iCould thing a go for my contacts, calendar and mail. The only problem here was that exporting my Google Contacts and importing the into iCloud was that everything I read said I need to use iCal / Address Book to get them across. I ended up using Sunbird to transfer the Calendar across, and came across these simple instructions in MacRumors forum.

Requirements are Gmail Account and a valid iCloud account (Apple ID)

1. Go to your Google Contacts

2. Click the More > Export

3. Choose the group or all of your contacts you wish to export, whichever you prefer.

4. Choose vCard format and click the Export button.

5. You will now have a contacts.vcf which has been downloaded to your computer. Put it on your desktop if you prefer.

6. Rename contacts.vcf to yournamehere.vcf (example: justyn.vcf)

7. Log in to iCloud.

8. Click Contacts
Important Note: Make sure there are no contacts listed here before importing or this may not work. The page needs to be blank.

9. Drag the .vcf file into the window under All Contacts.
The page will highlight with a blue rectangle when you drag the .vcf onto it. Wait a little bit. (It took about 8 seconds for mine to import. I only have 136 contacts though.)

On your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud and make sure Contacts is listed as ON.

My Firefox addons

Justyn — Sun, 01 May 2011 06:50:43 +0000

My web browser of choice is Firefox. I have been using it for years and since the upgrade to 4.0 losing the status bar, I thought I might create a post with my Firefox Addons.

Adblock Plus – Homepage
This addon is self explanatory. It allows you to block ads based on filters that you can subscribe to.
Status-4-Evar – Homepage
Since Firefox 4, the status bar has been hidden. This addon enables the statusbar that we’ve all grown to love.
Download Statusbar – Homepage
This will allow your downloads to show on the statusbar instead of opening a new window.
IE Tab 2 – Homepage
Allows you to have pages load in an IE tab, rendering them in IE7, IE8 or IE9 compatability.
StumbleUpon – Homepage
Addon bar for StumbleUpon users.
Greasemonkey – Homepage
Allows you to change webpages via bits of Javascript, can get scripts from UserScripts.
Image Zoom – Homepage
Allows zoom and rotation of images.

Microsoft launches IE6 Countdown

Justyn — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:18:17 +0000

Microsoft is monitoring the worlds usage of Internet Explorer 6 by launching a website, IE6 Countdown. Their aim is to try and get the global usage under 1% so more websites can drop Internet Explorer 6 support which will save web developers a lot of work trying to support a web browser that is 10 years old.

At this point in time 12% of the world is using IE6 which is down 9% from last year. China has the highest users of IE6 coming in at 34.5% where Norway and Finland come it at just 0.7%. Australia is only at 3.2% while the US comes in just under at 2.9%.

If you have a website and would like to join the cause you can add a banner to your website asking the user to upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer.

Exposé switching on Microsoft Windows

Justyn — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:30:24 +0000

One of the things I like about OS X is the exposé styled window switching and I found that was lacking on Windows. I do like how Microsoft have made the alt+tab nicer in Windows 7, but I wanted more. I wanted that OS X style, which can be achieved with a nice utility called Switcher.

I have Switcher set to alt+tab and gives the feel of exposé. I have also installed another small utility called SmallWindows which can set a “hotspot” for your mouse which will activate the exposé style switching too. I have mine set to the top-right corner.

iOS 4.2.1 Download Links

Justyn — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 03:21:44 +0000

Everyone knows Apple has recently released iOS 4.2.1 to the public. I figured now would be a good time to post the direct links to the firmware updates. If you are currently JailBroken and update to 4.2.1 you may lose your JailBreak or Unlock at the moment.

iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone 4

iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone 3GS

iOS 4.2.1 for iPhone 3G

iOS 4.2.1 for iPod Touch 4G

iOS 4.2.1 for iPod Touch 3G

iOS 4.2.1 for iPod Touch 2G

iOS 4.2.1 for iPad

iOS 4.2 for AppleTV

If you’re wanting to test the Find My iPhone feature that is now part of iOS 4.2.1 (for iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 4G) you can check out Apple’s website on how to setup Find My iPhone.

My Cydia Sources and Applications

Justyn — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 02:54:37 +0000

Everytime I upgrade my firmware I JailBreak it and have a hard time remembering which sources / applications I have setup in Cydia. I figured if I wrote a post it will not only benefit me but some other people out there may also find it useful. Please use at your own discression and don’t blame me if you break your iPhone/iPod/iPad when using any of these applications or sources.

My Sources List
iHacksRepo – http://ihacksrepo.com
Hackulo – http://cydia.hackulo.us
Sinful iPhone – http://sinfuliphonerepo.com
xSellize – http://cydia.xsellize.com

Installed Cydia Applications
AndroidLock XT – An Android like lock.
FastCopy – Removes delay for copy/paste menu.
FastSnap – Use volume buttons to take photos / video.
FolderEnhancer – Improves and extends iOS4 folders.
iFile – A file manager and viewer.
Installous – Enables installation of IPA files.
iSpeedTouched – Find possible security keys for WiFi networks.
LockInfo – Customize LockScreen with Mail/Calendar/Weather e.t.c.
MarkThatMessage – Timestamp on all messages in SMS application.
MobileTerminal – Terminal for the iPhone.
NoSpot – Hides SpotLight page.
PhoneCloser – Stops Phone from appearing after making / receiving calls.
QuickReply for SMS – Reply to SMS/MMS from any location.
SBSettings – Toggles for 3G/WiFi/Location e.t.c.
SpringFlash – Turn on LED via Activator.
uRemote – Remote control for uTorrent WebUI.
3G Unrestrictor – Remove “WiFi only” on applications (FaceTime e.t.c.)
20 Second Lock Screen – Keeps lockscreen active for 20 seconds.?

Speed up the iPhone 4

Justyn — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:30:50 +0000

I take no responsibility if you destroy your phone, it explodes or your arm falls off.

So you’re probably thinking the iPhone 4 is fast enough already, right? Well if there is any bit of performance you can squeeze out of a device then why not? After doing all this I get around 360MB – 370MB of available memory after a reboot.

First things first, you need to JailBreak which is simple as going to JailBreakMe in Safari on the iPhone. You can either download limera1n or greenpois0n to JailBreak.

What I did was download and run langdel.sh which deletes all language packs except English and Japanese (chmod it to 755 and run as root from MobileTerminal). If you want to remove all except just English, you can run langdelen.sh which is what I did.

Next I deleted the following Launch Daemons from /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/.

- com.apple.Dump* – 2 daemons to disable purpose is to dump the crash for apple evaluation.
- com.apple.Report* – 6 daemons to make reports about what caused the crash/what were running e.t.c.
- com.apple.CrashHouseKeeping.plist – Also deals with crashes.
- com.apple.VoiceOverTouch – Another Voice Control daemon.
- com.apple.aslmanager.plist – This daemon manages system logs.
- com.apple.awd_ice2.plist – Apparently only affects the iPhone 3G and 3GS. It’s not known what its function is on those devices, however, so remove this daemon at your own risk.
- com.apple.datamigrator.plist – Used to transfer contacts from SIM card to phone. iPod touch users can delete this.
- com.apple.marcoagent.plist – Logs errors with WiFi connections (failed to connect).
- com.apple.marco.tcpdump.en0.plist – Logs errors with WiFi connections (failed to connect).
- com.apple.mediaremoted.plist – Backend for AirTunes.
- com.apple.scrod.plist – This daemon deals with Voice Control. If you don’t use Voice Control, you can delete this daemon.
- com.apple.voiced – Yet another Voice Control daemon.
- com.apple.syslogd.plist – Logs system events.
- com.apple.powerlog.plist – This is used to monitor any incompatibilities with 3rd party chargers.
- com.apple.tcpdump.server.plist – This daemon is apparently used to dump traffic on a network. Removing this daemon has no adverse effects on one’s device.
- com.apple.mobile.profile_janitor.plist – This daemon’s function is currently unknown, but removing it has no adverse effects on one’s device.
- com.apple.searchd.plist – Disables Spotlight search if removed. The Spotlight page will still be there, but nothing will show up when you start typing. Disable this daemon if you don’t use Spotlight.
- com.apple.chud.chum.plist – This daemon is thought to relate to Apple’s CHUD (Computer Hardware Understanding Developer) tools. Removing this daemon will have no adverse effects on your device, unless you are a developer.
- com.apple.racoon.plist – Used for Virtual Private Networks. Disable this daemon if you do not use any VPNs.
- com.apple.chud.pilotfish.plist – This daemon is also thought to relate to Apple’s CHUD tools. Removing this daemon will have no adverse effects on your device, unless you are a developer.
- com.apple.AOSNotification.plist – This daemon deals with MobileMe syncing. If you do not use the MobileMe service, you can disable this.
- com.apple.AdminLite.plist – This daemon tries to return control of your device to you if it thinks that you are waiting for a lengthy process to respond. It does this by force-quitting the process, so if you’re tired of your apps crashing and you would rather wait a few seconds for them to finish what they’re doing, disable this daemon.

The next thing I did was edit com.apple.locationd.plist which makes locationd run when needed and not at startup.

Change:

>RunAtLoad>/>

>RunAtLoad>/>

The other thing I did was delete the following files from /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/ which removes shadows from the icons on the SpringBoard.

- FolderShadowBottom.png
- FolderShadowBottom@2x.png
- FolderShadowBottomNotch.png
- FolderShadowBottomNotch@2x.png
- FolderShadowTop.png
- FolderShadowTop@2x.png
- FolderShadowTopNotch.png
- FolderShadowTopNotch@2x.png
- WallpaperIconDockShadow.png
- WallpaperIconDockShadow@2x.png
- WallpaperIconDockShadowT.png
- WallpaperIconShadow.png
- WallpaperIconShadow@2x.png
- WallpaperIconShadowT.png

Another thing I have done is in /System/Library/Frameworks/UIKit.framework/ I deleted all the Keyboard*.plist except for Keyboard-default.plist, Keyboard-en.plist and Keyboard-en_AU.plist. You’re setup may vary though. I also deleted Keyboard-Emoji.artwork and Keyboard-Emoji@2x.artwork since I don’t use Emoji.

iPhone 4 reception issue

Justyn — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:28:36 +0000

If you have been looking at news lately you would have noticed that the iPhone 4 loses signal when held in your left hand. It seems if you bridge the little gap on the stainless steel band at the bottom left of the iPhone 4, you lose signal.

You can watch the following YouTube video to see the problem in action.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=03PQyWp0mWE

iPhone 3G 3.1.3 sync with Debian

Justyn — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 05:12:37 +0000

This post is mainly for my reference but hopefully it may help some of you. I am running CrunchBang Linux 10 which uses Debian Squeeze as a base. I changed my /etc/apt.conf from “squeeze” to “testing”.

This is how I got my iPhone 3G to sync in Debian.

Step 1 – Install needed packages.
apt-get build-dep libgpod gtkpod ifuse apt-get install git libsqlite3-dev checkinstall

Step 2 – Install packages from Sid / Unstable.

libimobiledevice
libimobiledevice1
libplist1
libplist-dev
libusbmuxd-dev
libusbmuxd1
usbmuxd

sudo dpkg -i usbmuxd*.deb lib*.deb

Step 3 – Download and install ifuse
git clone git://git.sukimashita.com/ifuse.git cd ifuse ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr make sudo checkinstall -D make install

Step 4 – Download and install libgpod
git clone git://gtkpod.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/gtkpod/libgpod cd libgpod ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr make sudo checkinstall -D make install

Step 5 – Download and install gtkpod
git clone git://gtkpod.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/gtkpod/gtkpod cd gtkpod ./autogen.sh --prefix=/usr make sudo checkinstall -D make install

Step 6 – Create mountpoint
sudo mkdir /mnt/iPhone sudo chmod 777 /mnt/iPhone/ sudo useradd -G fuse

Step 7 – Get iPhone ready
Plug in iPhone, then run.
ifuse /mnt/iPhone mkdir /mnt/iPhone/iTunes_Control/Device/ sudo lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial (get the long iSerial number) ipod-read-sysinfo-extended /mnt/iPhone/

Now you should be able to load gtkpod and sync music to the iPhone.

CrunchBang Linux and EeePC 1000HE

Justyn — Sat, 08 May 2010 10:14:35 +0000

I was running Windows 7 on my EeePC and decided to get rid of it. I formatted my drive completely and installed CrunchBang Linux 10 (Statler). Statler is an Alpha release and based off of Debian Squeeze but still running the lightweight Openbox.

For those that are familiar with GNU/Linux know that CrunchBang Linux was using Ubuntu as a base, but now they are using Debian instead. You can have a read about why they switched to Debian.

For anyone with a low-end machine or even wanting to get a nice fast distro running I would highly recommend CrunchBang.