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Hong Kong, part of the China, is currently the only place that is not “protected” by China Great Wall. It will change very soon, probably. In China, the Chinese government wants to require all the hardware manufacturers to install Green Damn before selling PCs in mainland China. Unfortunately, the government failed to do so.

The Hong Kong government is now trying to introduce another version of Green Dam. They are planning to do it at the Internet Service Provider. Government will give a huge list of so-called inappropriate websites to ISPs. ISPs are required to block local people from viewing it. They said the want to protect the children, of course.  Since the list will not be disclosed, the truth could be controlling all the sensitive information about the government. All the anti-government protests and political news will be blocked.

The weird thing is that there are groups of people love the policy. The policy will be likely to be passed. I thought everyone loves freedom. No one wants to be controlled, right?  If you are living in Hong Kong, let’s say goodbye to the Internet freedom.

It seems bluetooth in iPhone firmware 3.0 is more opened. You can now play games using bluetooth peer to peer network. You can also enable internet sharing of iPhone 3G connections by using the bluetooth connection with computer. Unfortunately, the real problem is: I can’t transfer images and files to other smartphones using bluetooth. Contacts cannot be shared easily, also. Not all the smartphones have data packages included.

The problem was partly solved in iPhone firmware 2.2.1. (Partly because I can’t send and receive contacts using bluetooth.) Users can jailbreak the iPhone and install iBluetooth from Cydia. I was searching information to see whether it works with the newest firmware 3.0. The official answer from the developer is “may be”. Compatibility is not guaranteed.

I am trying my luck today. Boom! It works for the latest version 1.0.8. I am able to send and receive files between different bluetooth devices now. It’s the real uses of bluetooth that should be there in iPhone firmware 3.0 by default. Developer said he is working on it and will support firmware 3.0 completely in the future. But it takes time since iBluetooth needs to rewrite to suit 3.0.

I am not sure whether the newest iPhone OS 3.1 SDK will allow bluetooth file transfers within the app itself.  (For instance, the hope to transfer files with bluetooth using AirSharing). But I really hope the dream comes true.

[via MeDevil]

When I was trying to restore my iPhone 2.2.1, it showed the above message in “Set Up My iPhone”. I do backup correctly everytime I synced with computer, but iTunes does not do the job well. I have retried several times but it didn’t help. Don’t know why it happens. Lesson learned: You can’t trust iTunes. Backup the stuff manually before restoration. Sometimes things will go wrong.

Finally I have a short time to try the new Firefox 3.1 beta 1. After the release of Google Chrome for Windows, I always hope to have the Mac version because it is a very fast browser. Take a look of the Google Chrome review here. Finally I found one for Mac: It’s Firefox 3.1 Beta 1.

I am using the ADSL2 which delivers 18Mbps download speed. The connection is very stable and I found that there is huge difference when I use Google Chrome in Windows. Firefox 3.1 Beta 1 also gives me the same feeling. It loads webpage fast and quickly. The memory used still very similar, but the page loads at least 2 seconds less. Here are some highlighted features to be found in Firefox 3.1 Beta 1,

1. Web standards improvements in the Gecko layout engine
2. Added support for CSS 2.1 and CSS 3 properties
3. A new tab-switching shortcut that shows previews of the tab you’re switching to
4. Improved control over the Smart Location Bar using special characters to restrict your search
5. Support for new web technologies such as the and elements, the W3C Geolocation API, JavaScript query selectors, web worker threads, SVG transforms and offline applications.

Firefox 3.1 beta 1 is now available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It does not pass the Acid3 Test for 100%, but who cares, I need a fast browser. That’s all I wish.

iTunes 8 has arrived. It comes with an exciting new feature called Genius Sidebar. Genius Sidebar can recommend songs related to the one you are playing now. It is great but I feel like it’s something similar to Google Adsense. Adsense shows the related ads that you are browsing. And Genius Sidebar shows the related songs that wants you to buy.

I am not saying Genius Sidebar is good. I just feel that they are pretty similar. At least Genius Sidebar helps me to complete my album and discover other great songs. Other thing I love about the Genius Sidebar is that it can automatically generate playlist. When you are playing a song, click the genius button below on the right, then select the “Genius” on the left sidebar. A playlist will be generated. Good for those have big music library.

Gizmodo said the iPhone used for demonstration in WWDC08 keynote has a front camera. Gizmodo leaves us the question whether it is really a front camera or a greasy fingerprint. You can take a note of it here, it is about 01:18:27 of keynote. After I watched the video for a few times, I think that should be just greasy fingerprint. Here are the reasons,

1. The iPhone suspected to have front camera is appeared is in front of iPhone 3G introduction. That means by the time Phil Schiller shows you this, no one knows whether we will have iPhone 3G or not. If you were Apple employee, you won’t use iPhone 3G for demo before the official announcement is made, right?

2. iPhone 2.0 beta does not show any clue about video chat. Video chat definitely need an interface unlike voice chat, right?

3. iPhone 3G has passed to FCC for approval. If it has front camera, everybody knows it.

4. Since video chat is one of the most wanted feature by Apple fans, while Steve Jobs does not tell you about this exciting feature during iPhone 3G demo?

5. The full specification is now on Apple.com. It does not mention anything about video chat talktime. Will Apple hide this critical new feature and update the website later on?

What do you think? Greasy fingerprint or front camera? Tell us your reasons.

It has been a hit topic in hackint0sh. It happens after Italian TV interviewed Zibri for the ZiPhone program. The TV reporter said Zibri helped a lot of people to unlock the program. hackint0sh users feels the report is sayin that Zibri is a super hero.

I am not sure what happen with iPhone Dev Team and Zibri in very detail, so cannot comment whether Zibri steals the code or not. I will only be happy to have a easy software to jailbreak and activate iPhone.

ZiPhone is a very good program since it preinstall BSD subsystem to Installer. iPhone Pwnage Tool can do the same thing, but the Installer cannot detect the BSD subsystem correctly. ZiPhone simplified the complicated progress of unlocking, jailbreaking, bootloader downgrading and more. I only hope to stop the fight and look forward for more good iPhone hacking program so that we use and donate.

This is highly expected. And currently there are lots of rumors surface. MacRumors reports that there are many evidence showing Apple are going to produce 3G iPhone. Other news report said Apple need to make a 3G version in order to launch Asia’s version in 2008 as promised. Additional news report added that Japanese brand Aiphone permits Apple to use iPhone in Japan. cellular-news reports that Taiwanese Hon Hai Precision Industry will produce the 3G iPhone. Kevin Rose also talked about 3G iPhone during his popular show Diggnation.

Source said Apple Asia’s representative told the media that iPhone will definitely come to Asia within 2008. We additionally called Jill Tan, Asia’s spokeswoman, and she declined to comment. We further asked whether iPhone will be launched in Asia or not. She replied “Yes, it will be launched as promised by Steve (Apple’s CEO)”. Then, we go further by asking whether it is 3G version or not, then she declined to comment.

Since Steve promised iPhone will be available in Asia by 2008. In Asia, many places have been switched to 3G for years. In Japan, there is no 2G network. Steve only have 2 choices when he want to launch iPhone in Japan: 1. Force local cellular operator to invest in 2G network again; 2. Add 3G compatibility to iPhone. While the first point is highly impossible, iPhone should have 3G by 2008.

Additional source said 3G iPhone will be launched in Hong Kong (located in China) in August. All the local cellular operator declined to comment. There are only 2 operator including PEOPLES(owned by China Mobile, who said currently there is no deal and no more talks with Apple) and HKCSL which provides EDGE connection.

There was a drama happened for 3G iPhone. There is a fake picture saying iPhone by local operator SmarTone-Vodafone is coming in Hong Kong during April. That was posted in Hong Kong forums and spread quickly. SmarTone-Vodafone is a 3G operator and later declined there is no co-operation with Apple. Would that mean something?

If you are not rush to buy the iPhone, it is worth to wait for better 3G version.

We will keep an eye on Apple Asia to find out more news about 3G iPhone.

» Read more: 3G iPhone news rumor roundup

Sometimes the OS will mess up if installed wrong program, no matter you use Mac OS X or Windows. Personally, I don’t have the preference on whether using a Windows or Mac OS X. I uses both, actually. Here is my story on how I get the annoying dialog keeps pop out in Mac OS X.

I installed Internet Cleanup 5 to try. Internet Cleanup is a software that can help to clean all the internet traces and spyware. I tested it using the demo version and recommended my readers to try it. The review article is on local magazines. It worked pretty well during the demo period, but not so good after it is over.

After the demo period, the above dialog keeps coming out and say I need to purchase. I uninstalled the program using AppZapper and repair my disk permission. And then, I tried everything on the support page of official site and nothing helps. The above error dialog stays here. The worst thing is that when I pressed OK, the dialog appears again and again after sometime. Really annoying.

I feel so angry and can’t believe a program can act like this. There is no uninstaller present in the Installer program. The InternetCleanup Agent dialog keeps coming out and say I need to pay for it.

I am now trying to contact with the developer to see if they can help.

I can’t believe I made my Mac OS X like this.Video after the break.
» Read more: Very annoying pop-up on Mac OS

No doubt Digg.com is a popular community site. And the recent change seems make the whole community angry. You need over 200 Diggs in order to get on top of the front page. (and for just few minutes…). If you are lucky enough, the site will go over 200 Diggs and stays on the top. Previously, you only need 50+ votes to be appeared in the front page.

Getting 200 Diggs for submitted stories is not easy. Take a look of upcoming page of Digg.com, the stories are rolling very fast. Only if you have a lot of friends or readers of your site, (like Engadget) it seems not so possible to become the popular story of Digg. This explains why many popular stories are from famous sites like Engadget, Gizmodo, TorrentFreak, Wired, etc.

I am not an expert of Digg and there is only 2 stories (595 dugg here and the other one have 894 dugg. ) of winandmac.com is heavily dugg. But Instead of having petition, I think we should think so positive way to deal with it. So here is the following 5 ways I think it may work (You are welcomed to leave comments to discuss your positive ways):

» Read more: Getting on top of Digg is harder and harder. How to deal with it?