When you jailbreak your iPhone these days, SSH (secure shell) for remote connections is automatically installed.  It’s really handy to be able to connect, but there’s one issue:

The root password for every single iPhone (1.1.4, anyway) is “alpine”.

This means that by default, when SSH is enabled, anyone can connect to your device and wreak havoc.  It’s wise to do something about this, so one of the first commands savvy users will type in after connecting is…

# passwd root

…to set their own password.  This is actually a bad idea, because the passwd tool doesn’t work correctly on the iPhone (it’s not a normal function of the device) and you’ll wind up stuck in an endless crash loop.

But fear not!  There is a way to change your password (and, if you happen to have gotten stuck in that loop, fix the issue).  It’s all detailed on this page at matsimitsu.nl, for which I was immensely grateful.

If your 1.1.3 or 1.1.4 iPhone is jailbroken, go do it, and be successful with it.

After watching the Republican Debate in California last night on CNN, and seeing the way Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reacted to what Governor Huckabee had to say, I’d say he was quite taken by Mike’s ideas and the charisma with which he presented them.

At the last minute, I figured I’d send a message to Governor Schwarzenegger to seek an endorsement for Governor Huckabee, rather than Senator McCain. Here it is.

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

I am writing this at the eleventh hour to implore you to endorse Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, rather than Senator John McCain.

I lived in Cupertino, California when you were elected as Governor of California. I was one of the people who voted you into office. The reasons I did so were very similar to the reasons I support Governor Huckabee now. You uplifted me. You were concerned about my well being, rather than special interests. You repealed the car tax immediately, and set your indelible mark upon the Great State of California by being honest, fair, and charismatic.

These are all characteristics exhibited by Governor Huckabee, and I think you saw that during the debate at the Reagan Library last night. Mike Huckabee is the true conservative with the good of the American people at heart, and he will shape the Federal Government into one that will let even the poorest citizen become all that they possibly can become.

Honestly, I don’t know why the similarities never occurred to me before… Like you, he is inventive, and you both have an an amazing ability to think creatively on your feet. You’re both open to ideas from all sides. You are both progressive, with a populist tone. But the most important reason of all for you to endorse him, Governor, is that he honestly, truly needs you. He is being marginalized by the media, and you’re the one with the power to break him out of the cage into which the conservative elite are trying to place him.

I implore you, with all my heart, to inspire the American people, and show them that now truly *is* the time for change, not for continued rhetoric from Washington insiders and businessmen. You could make an absolutely earth-shattering impact by endorsing Governor Huckabee, or merely add an attractive footnote to the McCain campaign.

Please, Governor Schwarzenegger… shake things up; show me the greatness of the your indomitable spirit once again… give your endorsement to Mike Huckabee. I thank you so much for taking the time to read the thoughts of one of your former supporters, and I wish you all the best for your continued success in the future.

Looking Forward,
–Matthew Judy
Columbus, OH

Your boy, Giuliani, is a goner. He’s backing McCain.

You could focus on Romney, but he’s going to lose key states to the true conservative candidate in this race; the one who actually cares about the lower-and-middle-class working man: Governor Mike Huckabee.

You never wanted Senator McCain to have a serious shot, but the result of your meddling is now clear before us: you’ve boosted a moderate Washington insider to front of the Republican pack. You marginalized the candidate who the people of Iowa selected, and who was leading the polls by double digits in both South Carolina and Florida. You used your influence to boost Giuliani and Romney, and now neither one can stand against McCain. Your efforts have only served to suppress the one candidate who can beat him. Well done.

And right on McCain’s heels, you’ve placed the duplicitous businessman, Governor Romney, who is only recently pro-life, weak on several other conservative issues (though much stronger than McCain), and has more skeletons in his closet than Norman Bates.

You all talk about electability, but imagine either Governor Romney or Senator McCain going up against the Hillary Clinton Machine™. They’d be slaughtered by the 527-financed blitz of attack ads containing all of the dirt that candidates like Huckabee have been too good-natured to utilize for their advantage. And now it’s an even rougher path because Bill’s throwing his weight around. It’s gonna take a true conservative — an eloquent, charismatic, progressive populist — to stand against that juggernaut. There’s only one in the race, and the fact is that he’s not going anywhere.

You wish Governor Huckabee was running out of money. He’s still got about a million dollars available to him, having earned about well over half a million in the last week alone. It may seem like a paltry sum, but the fact is that he’s only spent about 1.7 million in the entire 12 months of his campaign. McCain spends that much every week, and Mitt Romney, in about 96 hours.

Governor Huckabee is in this to the finish, and your choice is clear. You can either start backing him, or hand the nomination to McCain. At the very least, give him equal coverage in the media, and equal time to speak during debates, so that the people can hear him and make up their own minds. That’s what you probably should be doing anyway.

… not “Former Baptist Minister”.

It’s really starting to annoy me that the press won’t leave Governor Huckabee alone about his faith. The most irksome manifestation of this attention is that he is constantly referred to as a “former Baptist minister”. That’s about enough of that noise.

He’s made it very clear that he’s running for the office of President, not Pastor, of the United States, and that he’d rather focus on the issues rather than his religion, but the media has never let up on him about it. This is a challenge not faced by any other candidate, even former Mormon Bishop Mitt Romney. Nobody calls him that, but it’s the truth. More…

You’ll notice some changes here… a new header, and a focus on content related to the 2008 Presidential Campaign for Mike Huckabee.  I’m doing whatever I can to get him the republican nomination, and the victory in November, and now that’s going to include archiving my thoughts here.

I’ll be putting most of my technology rants on hold to speak on behalf of Governor Huckabee, because this is more important than iPhones and a never-ending stream of lousy software user experience.  This is about selecting a republican candidate who can beat the Clinton Machine™, and then making sure he does so.

So, please come on by to get the truth about Governor Huckabee; his ideals, his platform, and his electability.  Watch his videos, get inspired, and get involved.

… even in the Mobile space.

Unless you’re living in a Faraday cage, you’ve seen the Internet hype around Android, Google’s mobile platform. The iPhone-alternative seekers and FOSS evangelists are engaging in a collective circle-jerk around it, because it has the potential to “beat the iPhone” and bring open-source to mobile. I think it will definitely have a profound impact on mobile devices, and there’s no disputing that an open mobile platform is exciting, especially one backed by Google. But guys, I’m not ready to circle up just yet. My apologies.

Yes, Open Source is definitely awesome, but its potential for “beating the iPhone” is limited. If there’s one way that Apple humiliates everyone else, it’s with their ability to make something universally usable. Personally, I love all that Android’s open nature has to offer the hardcore power users and developers. Open-source is great, offering infinite freedom for niche geeks like you and I, but that doesn’t translate to something that’s going to make it in the mainstream market.

More…

So now we’ve got this walking pile of fail over at Wired predicting MICROSOFTALYPSE this holiday season, just because Nintendo has decided to push back the release of Super Smash Bros: Brawl to January 2008. Three whopping months. Sweet Tree-Topping Jebus, where do I start with this?

How about this approach: I’ll come right out and say it. Halo 3 notwithstanding, there is minuscule-to-no chance whatsoever that Microsoft will catch up to Nintendo, or even beat their sales numbers, in this upcoming season. Super Smash Bros: Brawl’s availability (or lack thereof) will have a less-than-significant impact on performance this Christmas.

Look, I know all the hardcore Wii gamers (myself included) are frothing at the mouth for SSB:B, but you all have to realize that we’re in the minority as highly-connected, hardcore gamers. A whole lot of Nintendo console owners (the clear majority, I’d wager) have never purchased a Super Smash Brothers title in any incarnation. A slightly larger percentage have played someone else’s copy, and many more have heard of it. The negative effect of its absence from the shelves for the next three months can’t begin to compare to the positive effect of the presence of universally appealing titles that everyone has been waiting for. Especially one in particular… More…

Wow, I can’t believe I still hear people referring to the Helio Ocean as a serious iPhone competitor. These people clearly have yet to experience the iPhone. I, too, mourn the lack of 3G and GPS functionality on the iPhone, but I don’t miss having a hardware keyboard. The iPhone keyboard works amazingly well after a little practice, and this is coming from a former SideKick 3 owner. That device had the best hardware keyboard, for its size, I’ve ever used.

As a former T-Mo customer, I was hesitant to move away from the simple, straightforward plans offered by the company. Turns out I was really worrying about nothing… AT&T’s plans for new subscribers are perfectly clear. I do miss having an AIM client on my phone every day, but I’ll have one soon… that’s only a matter of time now, whether Apple likes it or not.

What I’ve gained by switching, on the other hand, I can barely begin to discuss here… More…

Picture of Gates actually smoking the good stuff
not found, due to the fact that he is a colossal nerd.

It never ceases to amaze me.

Bill Gates can say whatever he wants, and everyone just believes it. It doesn’t have to be true, nor accurate. Sources are not required for his data. I don’t even think he needs to use real words.

“Windows Vista dumple splort nooka plix, brumity chubba chubba chubba <tongue click> bortnoy esparghery.” — Bill Gates

And that, apparently, is everyone’s cue to run out and buy Microsoft’s latest pile of mediocre-ware. Also, he said he wants a Frosty from Wendy’s. Equally baffling is this marvelously delusional diatribe:

“Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.” — Bill Gates, NewsWeek

Wow… by comparison, the first statement actually makes more sense. It must be nice to be able to spew utter nonsense and have the world continue to see you as some kind of corporate hero and saintly philanthropist. I don’t think I’ve heard a such an ill-advised challenge posed since President Bush’s infamous “bring it on” schtick.

Now for some reality: No exploits have been found that allow a Mac OS X machine to be completely taken over, certainly not without some kind of user authorization or direct physical access to the computer. Out of the box, Mac OS X is still untouchable. Issues have been found in certain applications and web site, but nothing that allows a “total take over”.

Now, shall we take a quick look at the security record of your widely-installed OS, Bill? I don’t think we need to… it’s well established that there are hundreds of serious exploits in Windows XP, and new ones ARE discovered every day. It also doesn’t take a whole special campaign (such as the Month of Apple Bugs event) for people to find them in bunches. Glass houses, Bill.

And now for the real fun: despite all of the truly impressive (no sarcasm here) security features in Windows Vista, most exploits, viruses, worms, and Trojan horses made for Windows XP continue to work just fine in Vista. It really is all flash, and very little substance.

What’s got me so riled up is that no matter what Bill Gates says, no matter how full of utter crap he is, his word is gospel, and people continue to fund the Microsoft machine. Nobody will rebuke, nobody will retort, nobody will call him out on the utter lies he spreads.

Fine. I guess it’s up to me.

You go to hell, Bill Gates. You have no talent, no craftsmanship, and no passion, and it shows in virtually everything your company makes. You could change things… if you cared, you could make everything work seamlessly; but that’s not why you’re in business, now is it? You don’t fool me, and someday soon, you won’t be able to fool anyone else. Microsoft is a parasitic entity sucking the life out of the computer industry, and you, Mr. Gates, are a shining, socially retarded example of exactly what money can not buy.

No, iHockey is not one of them. Cool, though, huh?

When the iPhone was unveiled, I had never wanted to own a new gadget as badly. For ten years, all I’ve ever wanted was a Newton with a phone. Suddenly, here was the Apple device to meet that specification. I was overjoyed.

Now, some time has passed, and I’m able to look at things through a more analytical lens. Bathed in the light of reality, it is clearly apparent that, despite everyone’s expectation otherwise, the iPhone is not for me… not yet, anyway.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the device, and I think Apple’s hit a home run here… we’re just waiting to see how far the wind actually carries it. I think it has the potential to change a lot of thinking where smartphone design is concerned, and it makes Windows Mobile look like a joke. The overall concept, design, implementation of the device: I am in love with it. My reticence stems from very specific needs, which are twofold: More…