• 32GB Option
• 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus
• Video Recording capabilities with upload to Youtube function
• Voice Control
• Compass

The other new features coming to the iPhone such as:

• Cut, Copy & Paste (about time!)
• MMS and contact send/receive via SMS
• Bluetooth transfer and A2DP support
• Data tethering to your laptop (USB or Bluetooth)
• Spotlight Search
• Landscape keyboard across all apps
• Voice Memos

will be available on the current iPhone 3G, the iPhone 2G and included oin the new 3GS. A free software upgrade to Version 3.0 of the firmware will be ready for download to the public June the 17th.

For the die-hard Apple fanboys, a Quicktime stream of the keynote speech given by Phil Schiller is now online.

Downloading MySQL and installing on Leopard is a breeze with the native package.

I migrated my database (dump/restore) and recreated my wordpress user, but still kept getting this error:

Error establishing a database connection

The user could log into the database from the console as shown:

lantrix@lexx:~ $ mysql -u wordpress -p
Enter password:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 19
Server version: 5.1.34 MySQL Community Server (GPL)

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql> use wordpress;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> show tables;
+-----------------------------+
| Tables_in_wordpress         |
+-----------------------------+
| sk2_blacklist               |

So what is the problem?

Google provides an answer, with a log lived post from My Macinations providing the solution. It’s all to do with correcting your php.ini with the proper MySQL socket location.

Now, back to testing my new version of the Twitter Tags wordpress plugin. #hashtags now work!

I was trying to get OpenBSD bootstrapped using the PXEBoot NIC in a server. I decided to use my Mac which has tftp and bootpd installed. This post is quite in depth and technical so if you are game then read on.

The quick and short of it was I turned it all on, and copied my pxeboot image, like this from the Terminal:

sudo apachectl start
sudo service tftp start
sudo cp /Library/WebServer/Documents/pub/OpenBSD/4.4/i386/pxeboot /private/tftpboot/


Then I neeed to setup the bootp server which comes with Internet Sharing. The idea was to add the pxeboot filename needed by OpenBSD (the file copied to tftpboot above) to the bootp (AKA dhcp) server options. The important file here is /etc/bootpd.plist. If this file doesn’t exist when Internet Sharing starts then bootpd will create it, removing it when it stops. But courtesy of Jules.FM “if the file already exists when it starts, the Mac will leave it alone and not overwrite or remove it”. So to add new dhcp options you perform these steps:

1. Start Internet Sharing
2. Copy the file somewhere safe: “cp /etc/bootpd.plist /tmp/“
3. Stop Internet Sharing
4. Edit /tmp/bootpd.plist
5. Add your required options
6. Copy the file back in place: “sudo cp /tmp/bootpd.plist /etc/“
7. Start Internet Sharing

Since the Mac bootpd.plist file has no option for “filename” documented and since there appears to be a bug in the bootpd implementation with respect to supplying dhcp_options I added these data options to the bootpd.plist file:

dhcp_option_66

wKgCAQ==

dhcp_option_67

cHhlYm9vdA==

dhcp_option_93

AA==



In RFC2132 (Paragraphs 9.4 and 9.5) it specifies that options 66 and 67 are for the tftp server and boot filename. However the bootpd bug meant I had to encode the string “pxeboot” to hexadecimal “0×707865626F6F74” then Base64 encode it being “cHhlYm9vdA==” and that is way too time consuming to stuff around and try something else everytime the tftp file retrieval fails.

Don’t try using the dhcp_option_66 I had either as it is an encoded IP of my tftp server, not yours.

I got it all going, and the MacBookPro worked as planned, but the bootp server offered a filename of “pxeboot” and the silly Intel 10/100 card decided to fail due to missing files on the tftp server. Many hours later and I figured I should use a network sniffer instead of trying to turn on tftpd logging.

A packet dump showed \377 or 0xff being appended to the filename by the boot client (intel Nic on remote server) when using tftp to request the file. This made the filename “pxeboot” look like “pxeboot\377” in Wireshark’s view of the packet, as discussed here by other pioneers in netbooting.

If I get a full working implementation of dhcpd/tftp/pxe using the Mac – and actually working independent of the intel nic problem on the server, I’ll update this entry or write a complete run down.

Don’t hold your breath though. I rebuilt the OpenBSD server using bsd.rd (being a ramdisk installation) so my need is no longer a driver.

A Podiobook is an Audiobook delivered via a podcast. Evo Terra coined the phrase back in 2005 when podcasting was in its infancy. 2005 you say? Well sometimes I take a bit of time to come around to something good.

I’ve started listening to my first one. Descent – Book one of the 7th Son series by J.C. Hutchins (click through on that link to start listening to it as well).

The cool thing about this is when you sign up (instead of just subscribing to the feed I linked above) you can actually set how often the audio chapters get released to you. One a day or longer – and best of all it is Free!!! Well if you like the book you can and should donate an amount to podiobooks, and the author will get 75% of your donation.

Stuck on a train 3 hours a day? Run out of podcasts? Sick of your Music? Try a Podiobook.

Additionally the Age have reported on the pricing Telstra will offer on their bundles:

The cheapest monthly plan will be $30, paying either $279 upfront for an eight-gigabyte iPhone or $399 for a 16Gb model. Customers who do not want to pay upfront could sign up to an $80 plan for the 8Gb model or a $100 plan for the 16Gb model.

I’ll still opting Vodafone for now, but lets see what the Vodafone pricing and data usage policy will be compare to Telstra’s. If they are almost the same (and I doubt it) it could prompt me to jump carrier. The coverage that NextG have is unrivalled in this country – but has been pricey to use for data so far. SMH Blogger Adam Turner correctly speculates that even though the pricing is out, there is no mention of data usage. Don’t get too hyped about Telstra’s offering just yet. Despite the fantastic infrastructure they are usually the most expensive.

Just to show I’m not entirely biased, Telstra are taking pre-registrations at their website. Thanks to @IdleThoughts for the heads up on this.

My preference is Vodafone so I clicked through and pre-registered with them. You can do so too at their pre-registration page – and apparently a sales rep will call you back. I’m currently with them on the $79 cap, so I should be able to carry right on and hopefully get the best data plan possible. More details after a Sales person calls me.

If you follow through and read their referenced article at Electronista then the story changes slightly. They state that the iPhone will allegedly support up to 42Mbps by the end of 2008 in Australia (on NextG is inferred) “according to a senior offical“.

One more click through to the claim at ITNews and the referenced senior official is actually Sol Trujilo the Telstra CEO; and the article doesn’t mention anything about the iPhone. It is about Telstra offering a HSDPA+ service via their NextG by end of 2008.

The 3G iPhone does actually support the NextG frequencies which operate on 850 Mhz. The technical specifications on Apples iPhone page show that the 3G unit works on UMTS/HSDPA frequencies of 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz. This doesn’t mean the 3G chipset actually supports these NextG speeds.

Telstra have not yet announced the iPhone to be available through them despite Optus and Vodafone issuing press releases intending to carry the phone.

And now we come to the price. Stevie J announced in his Keynote Speech that the price of the 8GB model would not exceed USD$199 even in other countries. That comes in at about AUD$210 for an iPhone 3G 8GB at todays exchange rate. Historically there is a severe markup of 30% or more on products sole in Australia out of the USA, made by Apple.

We will see where there goes in the near future when pricing is actually announced. I’ll see you all with your new iPhone in July!

It is all fixed now, and probably time to rebuilt the DNS server up to the latest OpenBSD (Version 4.3).

June is just around the corner and my current Vodafone contract runs out this month. Perfect timing.
The reason I was hoping for Vodafone is this: with a $79 cap, the $500 credit (currently) covers 3G data usage. You pay $1 per 5 minute block out of your cap. Its totally different how Telstra charge: $60 per month on top for data and $0.25 per MB.

Since I make about $100 of calls in a month, that’s $400 of included data in my cap; or 33 constant hours of 3G data. But wouldn’t it be nice if Vodafone shifted to an untimed/uncounted data plan for the iPhone. That is the ultimate Geek Nirvana.