The well awaited Jailbreak / Mod for hacking the PS3 has finally been made public, and as reported earlier, you can now backup your PS3 games and then run them from the PS3 HDD (HardDisk), without having to put the BluRay disc into the tray. Of course this means its time to invest in a good HDD or so, because you soon will be at a loss for disk space.

Here is how the thing goes down:

Ingredients:

• A PS3, slim or fat, running any firmware 3.4.1 or above



• PS Jailbreak USB Modchip (Available from ChipSpain or OzModChip)
• A USB pen drive, with FAT32 with its “Backup Manager” file available from: Here
• An original BluRay disc of PS3 game which you would love to backup!

Instructions:

1) Power off your console making sure there is no disc in its disc tray.

Note: PS3 SLIM: Remove the Power Chord before plugging in the USB

PS3 FAT: Turn off power switch found at the back of the console

2) Plug the USB jailbreak device and Power ON the console and just as soon (immediately) press the “Eject” button. If done correctly, the console should show two LEDs turned on

Once after that, the USB LED should turn green (see below pic). This will indicate that you are good to go as the PS Jailbreak has been successfully loaded onto the PS3 console.

Note: If the LED turns Red, it just means when the Power and Eject sequence wasn’t performed properly. Try again

3) Wait for the console to boot, once done plug-in the external USB storage device (pen drive or HDD) which has the “Backup Manager” setup to the console’s USB port. We downloaded the “Backup Manager” in the pre-requisite stage of this How-To Guides

4) Open the “Game Menu” and choose the option that says: “Install Package Files” and then choose “manager.pkg”.

The above step will install the “Backup Manager”, that will be responsible for any other task performed in the future on the hacked PS3.

5) Without hesitation, insert the genuine BluRay PS3 game into the disc tray and let it slide inside. Once done, Press “O” on the joystick and you will be prompted as to where to backup the inserted game. Options will be of internal HDD or external HDD – choose on your preference

Loading From Backup:

Just insert a fake DVD to fake the loading process and dumb the PS3 console. Run the “Backup Manager” in the “Games Menu”. Press “X” to play the selected backup game.

Note: For the mean time, you will have to keep the PS Jailbreak USB attached to the console to run backup games.

Enjoy some hardcore gaming fellow geeks!

It is no surprise that the HTC HD2 remains one of the best ever released smartphone in the market as of yet, due to its amazing hardware specs. Also, it does look stunning – but as long as it comes with the now proclaimed “dead” OS (Windows 6.5) the power utilized by it shall never go beyond the first gear. The very best and professional coders are doing their best to port the very well known and famous Android OS onto the HTC HD2 to make use of its shear power!. But the problems have come just as easily as the idea to port Android on it. They are coming in constant problems with the phone’s Snapdragon core and the tool called HaRET that is supposedly used to boot Linux from Windows based CE-based devices.

However, good news does not keep far from reach as these problems have been successfully solved and the community moves ahead to actually finally bring a user-friendly Android version to the smartphone in the coming days!

Excerpt from Official Nexus One blog: [googlenexusoneboard.blogspot.com]

” Starting today, Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. This update provides some great new features including support for making your handset a portable hotspot and support for Adobe Flash within the browser.

In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone’s notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set. This update will be rolled out gradually to phones – and most users will receive the notification by the end of the week . We hope you enjoy these new features. ”

In case you are just too hasty and can’t wait for the Update Notification on your Nexus one, You can Install Android 2.2 latest Build Froyo FRF85  manually And you can download it from here [ http://android.clients.google.com/packages/passion/signed-passion-ota-42745.dc39ca1f.zip ]

The Old time buddy and partner of Microsoft in Search, Yahoo who has not been growing until recently also showed an increased share in the May and grabbed 18.3% of US Market Share as compare to 17.7% in April according to the data released by ComScore. On the hand the leader in Search Market Google share dropped from 64.3% in April to 63.7% in May and the results are not settling well with the ComScore.

In a Recent Blog Post ComScore has notified that It’s gonna fix its Search Measurement. As both Yahoo and Bing have put tons of links on their Home-pages which are ‘Search Queries’ disguised as content.

Traditionally, the industry has thought about a “search” event as a submission of a query that subsequently presents a set of results to a user. comScore’s definition of search requires that the user be presented with search results and be able to completely change or refine their search directly from the result page. This encompasses the traditional “text box” query, as is the case with the major search engines’ main search entry point.

via ComScore

via: SeattlePi

Sony has recently launched their new entry level DSLRs: the DSLR-A390 and DSLR-A290. According to the images leaked on the Internet, they have added more grip to it with addition of image-stabilized 14.2MP CCD on both the SLRs. While the higher priced A390 has a tilting LCD, the A290 has a fixed LCD, no liveview (which is sad) and hosts a larger viewfinder.

The A390 will cost $600 while the cheaper A290 will cost $500. The cameras are set to release next month.

Press Release:

• DSLR-A390 with 14.2 megapixels, Quick AF Live View and 6.7cm (2.7-inch) tilt LCD; DSLR-A290 with 14.2 megapixels
• Compact, stylish body with new grip design and revised button layout for comfortable handling
• Quick AF Live View with tilt LCD (α390) for live image preview with fast, accurate autofocus
• Friendly on-screen Help Guide and Graphic Display
• HDMI output and BRAVIA Sync

June 9, 2010: The α (Alpha) digital SLR range from Sony grows further with two stylish, affordable new entry-level cameras.

Ideal for first-time DSLR users, the DSLR-A390 (α390) and DSLR-A290 (α290) offer a dramatic step up in picture quality and creative options from point-and-shoot compact cameras. Just as importantly, they’re beautifully easy to use, even if you’ve never handled a DSLR before.

With a resolution of 14.2 effective megapixels for flawless, low-noise images, both cameras offer the speedy shooting responses that are prized by DSLR users.  The α390 adds the extra benefit of Quick AF Live View. This unique system teams the convenience of live image preview on the tilt-angle Clear Photo LCD with speedy, accurate phase-detection autofocus.

The most affordable new DSLR from Sony, the α290 offers the same 14.2 effective megapixel resolution as the α390 in a compact body that weighs just 456g (excluding battery and media).

Both cameras feature an attractive new grip design that allows even more comfortable handling. Upper control areas of both models have also been revised with a clear, uncluttered new button layout.

Even DSLR novices will find it brilliantly simple to explore the generous creative features of both new cameras. The intuitive Graphic Display makes it easy to understand the relation between shutter speed and aperture, plus the effects of your chosen exposure settings on the final picture. The Help Guide offers clear, concise explanations of camera functions, illustrated by a sample image to show the results you’ll achieve. Quick access to shooting and playback function menus is streamlined by colourful on-screen icons.

The α390 and α290 include a mini-HDMI terminal for direct connection to any HD Ready TV (requires optional cable). Support for PhotoTV HD ensures even better-looking still image reproduction on compatible BRAVIA™ models.  BRAVIA™ Sync allows control of slideshow and other camera playback functions in comfort using your TV remote.

The stylish, easy to use new α390 and α290 digital SLR cameras by Sony are available from summer 2010.

Image credits: dpReview

Below  is a text message which is circulating in Pakistan for quite some time now

“Life.net.pk is a beta version of Facebook created by UET  Lahore students of CS department.plz do visit.“

Statistics:

Below are some important statistics of life that i think you should know, courtesy of sitelogr.

Estimates Visits per day:  333

Domain:                                Life.net.pk

World Rank:                         #1,600,976

Estimate Value:                   $729 USD

Website IP:                            74.52.129.114

FEATURES:

OK, in this part of my article i will discuss some key features of LIFE.Being a beta version of Facebook it is quite evident that it would have most of the features of Facebook such as:

• Status updates
• Wall posts
• Photo and Video upload
• You can also see that how many people are online
• News Updates
• A Unique Chatting room apart from that chat box where you can only chat with friends
• Ability to maintain you very own “Block List”.
• Really effective Privacy Settings

Domain Traffic Graph:

FINAL VERDICT:

I won’t say that this site is unimpaired and perfect but their is always a room for improvement and from an Islamic perspective we should use this site to show Facebook that we are not completely dependent upon your so called “social network” but that is for you to decide.

Yesterday in an Interview with Michael Arrington of TechCrunch at TCDisrupt Carol Bratz CEO of Yahoo also pointed out Yahoo’s deep interest in Social and how they value users interaction. Yahoo seems be targeting markets which are currently ignored by rivals like Google. They certainly have very good user base in Asia, and not to mention they own Asia’s largest B2B site Alibaba.com too.

It is not yet clear If the directive was issued to ban the entire Facebook or the Facebook fan page in question. We will of course update this post as more details become available to us.

Facebook is hugely popular in Pakistan with over 1 Million users. However this recent provocative Facebook fan page asking everyone to draw Prophet Muhammad  on 20th May has stirred up anger across the local blogging community.

[ Update #1: 19-May-2010 4:00 pm PST ]

Alright I am using PTCL DSL and I can confirm that access to entire facebook is blocked. Even the widgets we have on this blog are not showing any facebook share link.

Earlier Lahore High Court issued the order to block the access to Facebook in the country against the plea filed by a religious group in the country.

[Update #2 19-May-2010 8:45 pm PST]

Facebook already has started to receive the impact of the ban. Facebook pages views are down by 6%

[Update # 3 20-May-2010 1:00pm PST]

Facebook Banned in Dubai too. Wikipedia, Flickr and Youtube Banned in Pakistan

[Update #4 20-May-2010 3:00 pm PST]

Going through various blogs covering Facebook ban in Pakistan. We can safely assume that 90% of Pakistanis approve of this ban.

[ Update #5 20-May-2010 5:55 pm PST]

There are reports over the Web and users from different countries are confirming over Twitter. That finally Facebook has removed the ‘Draw Muhammad Day fan page’.  Facebook was banned in several Muslims countries today including, Pakistan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

Correction: It was not removed, It was inaccessible for a while.

Related: Facebook Banned in Bangladesh

[Update 6 31 May 2010]

Pakistani court has issued the order to lift the ban on Facebook after the official apology and assurance that in future no blasphemous content would be available to users in Pakistan

Google is all set to release Android 2.2 also known as Froyo which is believed to be upto 500 percent faster than Android 2.1, As we know it would have full support for Flash However what is even more surprising that it would have built-in USB tethering  enabling the users to share their Data connection with their Laptops and moreover you can turn your Android Phone into a portable ‘Wifi Hotspot’. And these features are quite evident in the above Screenshot posted over TechCrunch.

[via: TechCrunch]

Yesterday  I finally made a switch from ufone (postpaid) to Telenor Persona after seven years, I am not the kind of guy who just switch networks every now and then. Telenor offered me a golden number too for a price Rs. 1000. Anyway Since I am quite addicted to use Internet on my iPhone the first thing I wanted to setup on New connection was GPRS settings. So here is a quick guide to configue GPRS and MMS on your Telenor connection.

Settings via SMS

For Internet: Write “Internet” and SMS it to 131.
For WAP: Write “wap” and SMS it to 131.
For MMS: Write “mms” and SMS it to 131.

SMS settings could take a while therefore I set it up manually on my iPhone in just less than 60 secs. :-}

Access Point Name/Node: internet
Login name: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
Password: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
Authentication: Normal

Configuration for WAP

Access Point Name/Node: wap
Login name: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
Password: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
WAP Gateway IP: 172.18.19.11
Port (if required): 9201
Port (if required for HTTP handsets): 8080

Configuration for MMS

Access Point Name/Node: mms
Login name: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
Password: Telenor (Case Sensitive)
WAP Gateway IP: 172.18.19.11
Port (if required): 9201
Port (if required for HTTP handsets): 8080
Relay Server/ Messaging Server: http://mmstelenor or http://172.18.15.1

If you are an addict like me, I would recommend you activating the Unlimited (2GB fair use) Data Package for a charge of Rs. 500 + Taxes per month. Huge Thanks to Propakistani for this guide which quite helped me a lot. :-}