iDemocracy Activator 1.3, CARNAVAL v0.4 and Ringtones in 1.1.1

It's time for your daily iPhone unlocking news update. :) In case you're wondering why I've been keeping track of the iPhone unlocking scene recently, blame my friends with their shiny 1.0.2 iPhones. :P Since I'm nosing around, I might as well post it here as well. For posterity's sake. As if you'll believe that...

iDemocracy Activator 1.3 & Updates

Drakenza has re-uploaded iDemocracy Activator 1.3 and released a statement that it works on 1.0.2 and 1.1.1. The last version had a file missing that caused problems during jailbreak so downloading it again is recommended.

iDemocracy Activator 1.3 released! Now using CARNAVAL and wiNstaller! Confirmed working on firmware 1.0.2 and 1.1.1!

EDIT: iDemocracy Activator 1.3 Re-Released to include a missing CARNIVAL file that was causing jailbreak errors that weren't actually there. Now fixed.

There are some misc updates to the FAQ and the acknowledgment pages as well. Not too sure what they are. :P

Get iDemocracy Activator 1.3 here.

CARNAVAL v0.4

I was just in time to catch brasuco announce CARNAVAL v0.4. (Clueless about CARNAVAL? See my previous post about it.) According to brasuco, these are the changes:

CHANGES: Minor Bug Fixes, Beginning of Internationalization.

Yeah, I know, not very specific and doesn't look like it warranted a bump to v0.4. Well, feel free to go ahead and make your own iPhone activating app. :P

Brasuco also revealed what's in store for the new CARNAVAL:

FUTURE WORK---->

INTERNATIONALIZATION

I'm trying to make CARNAVAL in different languages, mainly because the whole process depends a lot on the instructions.
Right now I have versions in english (orignal), portuguese, and spanish (thanks to Gandalfj).
If you want a version in your languange you can help by translating the language files that are located under the "text" CARNAVAL's subfolder.
Just pay attention to the format and to the line breaks so things don't get messy. Post your translation here in the thread. That's is gonna help in case there's more than one translation to the same language (because others will also give their opinions).
It's also nice if you can run a trial with your translation to see if everything works fine. Of course, credit for the translation will be given.

BUG FIXES:
It seems some vista users are experiencing some problems with iphuc that makes CARNAVAL Intaller.app installation to fail. I'm already looking into it.

Summarizing that into a single line, it looks like you can expect more languages and more bug fixes in CARNAVAL. :)

Get CARNAVAL v0.4 here.

Edit: CARNAVAL v0.7 out.

Ringtones in 1.1.1

The iPhone Elite team has added/updated a page about using .m4a ringtones in 1.1.1. It requires patching MeCCA on your iPhone (no idea what MeCCA does, presumably something to do with ringtones/sounds) with a hex editor to allow you to use .m4a files as ringtones again.

One small caveat is that you must rename your .m4a ringtones to " .m4r", with a space before the dot. A small price to pay for custom ringtones in 1.1.1, or you could just use SendSong. I'm blissfully ignorant of the significance of the differences in either method. :P

See Ringtones111 or SendSong.

Free: dotfiles, Open Text Book, Readeroo, we are multicolored

Offtopic: You may have noticed there was only one post yesterday. And it wasn't the freebie post. Oops. Believe it or not, that wasn't totally my fault. (Although the late post today is partially my fault. :D )

I lost internet connectivity for most of the later part of yesterday and wasn't able to get it fixed. :( Today, the internet pipes still seem quite clogged up to me (pages loading slowly). At least it's a massive improvement over yesterday's situation.

On another note, with the recent Google PageRank updates (yeah, you're gonna hear about this from me too :) ), this blog is showing a PR3 for most data centers. I seldom check my PageRank but the last time I did (2 days ago :D), it was a PR4, so I guess I dropped by one. I wasn't affected by the first PageRank update 2 days ago (stayed at PR4, although I'm not sure when I hit PR4...), so too bad for me this time. Heh. At least I have the same PageRank as Youtube.

Ok, enough offtopic nonsense from me and onto some freebies...

dotfiles

Strictly for Linux geeks only, dotfiles is a place to show off your dotfiles (.bashrc, etc) or learn from the pros (shh... not so loud). I remember writing one of these quite a while back. Stolen from a site like this of course. :)

Open Text Book

Open Text Book is a blog that features free (open source) text books. It is updated on a regular basis.

Readeroo

A Firefox extension, Readeroo queues up articles into del.icio.us (I always have trouble typing out del.icio.us out) so you can read them later. It does this by cleverly adding a "toread" tag when you haven't read an article and changing that to "donereading" tag when you are finished with the article. The neat part is items will still appear in your del.icio.us account even if you're done reading with Readeroo.

we are multicolored

Create your own flags or see what flags have been made by others at we are multicolored. We are multicolored isn't really a program/web app that helps you out (unless you're into creating flags), it's really

to promote awareness around the contemporary immigrant experience.

But I thought it was interesting to see the dreams of others and where they come from. Kinda like PostSecrets.


The end. As always, comments are welcome and more freebies await you tomorrow. (If my pipes aren't clogged that is... :) )

Crysis PC Demo download links

- image shamelessly ripped from GameUpdates. :)

Description:

Earth, 2019. A team of US scientists makes a frightening discovery on an island in the South China Sea. All contact with the team is lost when the North Korean Government quickly seals off the area. The United States responds by dispatching an elite team of Delta Force Operators to recon the situation. As tension rises between the two nations, a massive alien ship reveals itself in the middle of the island. The ship generates an immense force sphere that freezes a vast portion of the island and drastically alters the global weather system. Now the US and North Korea must join forces to battle the alien menace. With hope rapidly fading, you must fight epic battles through tropical jungle, frozen landscapes, and finally into the heart of the alien ship itself for the ultimate Zero G showdown. - GameUpdates

The Crysis demo is finally out and as predicted, it requires some heavy duty hardware to run on. Just look at the recommended specs below.


Recommended System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.2GHz
RAM: 2.0 GB RAM
Hard Drive: 12GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS/640 or similar
Soundcard: DirectX 9.0c compatible

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
Processor: 2.8 GHz or faster (XP); 3.2 GHz or faster (Vista)
RAM: 1.0 GB RAM or 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
Hard Drive: 12GB
Video Card: 256 MB
Soundcard: DirectX 9.0c compatible


Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, NVIDIA 8800 and 12GB of harddisk space??? Wow, EA wasn't fooling around. Crysis, not Vista, will be the leading reason for new hardware upgrades this holiday season.

Download (Crysis_SP_Demo.exe 1.8 GB) at:

• Torrent @ GameUpdates
• http://na.llnet.cdn.ea.com/u/demos/Crysis_SP_Demo.exe
• GamersHell
• Softpedia
• ActionTrip
• AusGamers
• FanGaming
• FileFront
• InterNode Games Network
• FileShack

More download links at Crysis online.


You may also need these latest drivers/hotfixes (courtesy of Crysis online).

• Nvidia beta drivers
• Microsoft Windows Vista Hotfix
  

3 Doors Down - Citizen Soldier Single & Video Free Download (Now With Lyrics)

Citizen Soldier was recorded by 3 Doors Down as a tribute to the National Guard. Well, at least that's what the description at the official National Guard site says. That's all I know about this song at this point, other than the fact that it's free to download. :)

The site mentions that you need to register to download the song and it's limited to the first 50,000 people... (and they really like to emphasize that the song is free by stating it's free twice in a row)

Sign up for FREE Song download

Complete the form below to get a free free download of 3 Doors Down - Citizen Soldier.

MP3 download is limited to the first 50,000 people

However, I don't think either of those claims is true. ;) You can definitely download Citizen Soldier without registering and you can also download the video! Ha! I sure caught them off guard. :)

My bad folks. You do need to register with the National Guard at this link to download the song. No real details needed though. Just enter anything! (I personally tested this again.) But registration is NOT needed for downloading the video! My apologies go out to everyone who were clicking their fingers off on the song download link below and coming up with a big blank screen. :)

Citizen Soldier Direct Download

Song - http://www.1800goguard.com/movie/getsong.php (256kbps/6.5MB) Sadly, registration is required to download the song.

Video - http://iostudio.vo.llnwd.net/o1/falconFLV/citizenSoldier_hi.flv (High Quality Flash Video/23.58MB)


If you need an FLV video player (to play the flv file you just downloaded), you can download FLV Player or try converting the video into other formats with Zamzar (just paste the above video URL into Step 1).

Edit: I know most people are probably not gonna download the video so I've decided to embed the YouTube video. But if you're a fan, trust me the big video download above is worth the wait.

Citizen Soldier Lyrics (transcribed by me)

Beyond the boundaries of your city's lights,
stand the heroes waiting for your cries.
So many times you did not bring this on yourself,
when that moment finally comes,
I'll be there to help.

On that day when you need your brothers and sisters to care,
I'll be right here.
Citizen soldiers holding the (light for OR lives of) the ones that we guide from the dark of despair.
Standing on guard for the ones that we sheltered,
we'll always be ready because we will always be there.

When there are people crying in the streets,
when they're starving for a meal to eat,
when they simply need a place to make their beds,
right here underneath my wing,
you can rest your head.

On that day when you need your brothers and sisters to care,
I'll be right here!
Citizen soldiers holding the (light for OR lives of) the ones that we guide from the dark of despair.
Standing on guard for the ones that we sheltered,
we'll always be ready because we will always be there...

there... there... there...

Hope and pray that you'll never need me,
but rest assured I will not let you down.
I'll walk beside you but you may not see me,
the strongest among you may not wear a crown.

On that day when you need your brothers and sisters to care,
I'll be right here!
On that day when you don't have the strength for the burden you bear,
I'll be right here!
Citizen soldiers holding the (light for OR lives of) the ones that we guide from the dark of despair. (Citizen soldiers)
Standing on guard for the ones that we sheltered,
we'll always be ready because we will always be there.

Edit: Thanks to Ari (in comments) for the fix to "guide from the dark of despair" from "died from the dark of despair"! The only explanation I can offer is that my ears are quite deaf. :)

Edit: Another fix courtesy of pvt hallmark (in comments) and Louise (via email) - from "holding the lives of the ones that we guide" to "holding the light for the ones that we guide". I ought to get my ears checked. ;)

Edit: Some say light, others say lives. Oh well, you get the idea. ;) Both are up till Brad steps in to correct me. :P

If you see anything wrong with the lyrics (I'm not too good at listening to what people are singing about :P ), please tell me about it below. :)

iNdependence 1.3 Beta & iDemocracy Updates

iNdependence 1.3 Beta

The Operator has announced iNdependence v1.3 beta, a popular iPhone jailbreak app for Macs. Here's what he says:

The 1.3 beta release is out. This release adds automated anySIM 1.1 installation and ringtone customization for firmware 1.1.1. See the CHANGELOG for details. Beware, this has had limited testing done on it, so there may be some bugs (especially in the new ringtone customization code). Also, there is no documentation yet for the new features (the CHANGELOG is the only documentation right now).

Full Changelog (emphasis mine):

v1.3 beta (Creemore) - 10/26/07

- Added anySIM 1.1 installation/removal to allow for SIM unlocking (finally!)
- Included warning when installing anySIM about needing a virgin phone
- Changed all reboot instructions to indicate that only the Sleep button needs to be held down to turn phone off
- Added confirmation and warning about deleting libarmfp.dylib when uninstalling SSH. This should solve the conflict between Installer.app and iNdependence
- Got Windows build working again (still out of date functionally though)
- Got ringtone customization working on firmware 1.1.1 (lots of new code for this so it could be a bit buggy still)
- Added 'Sync Ringtones' button to restore ringtones after iTunes clobbers them when it syncs
- Documentation has not yet been added for the new 1.1.1 ringtone functionality or anySIM installation

Edit: iNdependence 1.3 beta 2 out.

iDemocracy Updates

Meanwhile at the Windows camp, Drakenza is still working on the iDemocracy tutorials. He has updated the iDemocacy home page making it friendlier for new users and has added an FAQ and donation page to the iDemocracy wiki.

iDemocracy ver 1.2 is also in progress and can be expected in November. Official word from Drakenza:

iDemocracy is currently at version 1.1, but 1.2 is currently in development and will release sometime in November, with a number of new features that will hopefully remove the need for any computer knowledge whatsoever for anyone to do just about anything on their iPhones. Also, we're going to integrate a few other projects, such as PACAY/CARNAVAL, to make your lives easier.

I think I will have it done and released sometime in November. As for the features, it will have integrated activation, Installer.app fix built in, more available functions, etc... And some more big features :)