SIM Card Registration Failed Solution

Few days ago I sent a message on twitter "Anyone know the reason for Nokia's SIM Card Registration Failed problem?". Got quite a few solutions from my friends . It is the most common problem with Nokia mobile phones. Restarting the phone few times or removing SIM and cleaning the contacts also fixes the problem. Try some of the solutions that worked for me.

Solution 1: Blocked SIM or Faulty SIM

In countries like India, you need to register your SIM card. The cell phone company blocks the SIM if they don't receive the application within few weeks of activating the phone. Please check if this is case.

Take out the SIM and test it with a different phone, if the phone fails to read the SIM, get the SIM replaced. Few days ago this worked for a friend with a brand new Nokia handset here in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Solution 2: Clean SIM Contact Pins

Take out the battery and SIM card. Use a clean eraser to wipe the gold contacts of the phone and on back the SIM card. Replace the SIM and make sure its firmly held in place. Few phones tend to start to working when you bang them on your palm a few times due to this reason. Tighten the tiny screws on the back panel of the phone near the SIM card if they are loose.

Solution 3: Phone Software/Hardware Issues

Despite all your efforts, the phone refuses to work then try to the phone repaired or replaced. Some users found that the cellphone firmware upgrade tends to fix this issue. I got a Nokia phone firmware upgraded, it fixed the problem for few months. But the phone started to have the problem again.

Unfortunately there seems to be no sure fix for this problem. Most cell phone service centers including Nokia Authorized shops often fails fix this annoyance. They even charge you service fee just for checking the phone :( .

I would love to hear your experiences, have you had this problem? Did you manage to fix it. Thank you ajuonline, BasilKurian, geohacker for your suggestions.

Google Nexus S

You heard about Google Nexus S and all the buzz right. Well, I asked a friend what he thought about his shinny new Nexus S. He said the he found the 4" Contour phone display screen little odd and the phone does seems to get hot.

What are your thoughts about Nexus S?

Create Android apps with a web browser

Googlelabs Inventor for Android lets you create Android applications with a web browser. No programming experience needed!

Creating an App Inventor app begins in your browser, where you design how the app will look. Then, like fitting together puzzle pieces, you set your app's behavior. All the while, through a live connection between your computer and your phone, your app appears on your phone. Read more...

MeeGo Road Show in Hanoi

Vietsoftware and Intel co-hosting a MeeGo roadshow in Hanoi on December 28, 2010 in Hanoi.

MeeGo Roadshow Event Details

• 9:30 to 10:00 Registration and Welcome guest
• 10:00 to 10:15 Welcome speech
• 10:15 to 10:30 Introduction MeeGo Core
• 10:30 - 10:45 Introduction Asianux distribution on the MeeGo Lite 2.2
• 10:45 to 11:00 Demo Lite Asianux 2.2
• 11:00 to 11:30 Introduction Intel AppUp and development programs.
• 11:30 to 11:50 Gifts!
• 12:00 to 13:30 Lunch

Location: Saigon Hotel - 80 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi

Get in touch with Trang or Hoa for registration
Ms. Trang: trang.nguyen @ metanvietnam.com
Ms. Hoa: hoaptt@asianux.org.vn

Google Mobile Maps 5.0 for Android

If you are excited by the Google Maps UI features demo by Google's Andy Rubin @ Dive Into Mobile. You can try them out on your android phone with the new release of Google Maps 5.0 for Android

With Google Maps for mobile 5.0 you can explore maps in 3D—tilt, rotate and try “compass mode” to see new perspectives that can help you navigate around. Maps are now more reliable when you’re offline, and we’ve added offline rerouting in Google Maps Navigation (beta). To get the latest version, search for “Google Maps” in Android Market and update. Note that not all new features will be available for all phones. Read our blog post for more information.
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/next-generation-of-mobile-maps.html

Firefox 4 Daily builds on Ubuntu 10.10

Last evening I met Firefox Hacker Dietrich Ayala in Hanoi. He was surprised that I don't use firefox 4 yet. So here what I did to get the daily builds of firefox 4 onto my Ubuntu 10.10 machine.

# Add the mozilla daily builds PPA 
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mozilla-daily/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install firefox-4.0

# Make Firefox 4 as default browser
sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser
There are 3 choices for the alternative x-www-browser (providing /usr/bin/x-www-browser).

  Selection    Path                       Priority   Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0            /usr/bin/chromium-browser   40        auto mode
  1            /usr/bin/chromium-browser   40        manual mode
  2            /usr/bin/firefox            40        manual mode
  3            /usr/bin/firefox-4.0        40        manual mode

Press enter to keep the current choice[*], or type selection number: 3
update-alternatives: using /usr/bin/firefox-4.0 to provide /usr/bin/x-www-browser (x-www-browser) in manual mode.

Testing Firefox Babies

Firefox is my most commonly used application, coming next only to terminal and Emacs text editor. Perhaps I would able to isolate and report more problem in the coming months. Accessibility and UI issue are at the top my list right now.

Have a look at the presentation of how you can help to make firefox better.

Testing Baby Foxes

How to install Sun JDK on Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick meerkat”?

Surprised to find that Sun Java packages were missing in Ubuntu Maverick (10.10). The new Ubuntu release uses OpenJDK by default. I needed sun-java6-jdk package to use a eclipse IDE development Android ADT plugin.

Found the solution in this StackOverFlow thread How to install Sun JDK on Ubuntu 10.10 “Maverick meerkat”?

# Add this line to your /etc/apt/sources.list file
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu maverick partner

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk 

# Get rid of OpenJDK 
sudo apt-get remove openjdk-6-jdk openjdk-6-jre openjdk-6-jre-headless openjdk-6-jre-lib 

Managing Creative ZEN Mozaic with mtp-tools

Using the Creative Zen Mozaic in Ubuntu 10.10 is a nuisance. The ubuntu standard Rhythmbox Music Player has problems with this MTP portable player. In previous version of Ubuntu Gnomad2 was used to manage these devices, but it is no longer available in latest verion.

My solution is to use the mtp-tools on command line. You can install the package by typing the following line on the terminal or use Ubuntu software center program.
sudo apt-get install mtp-tools

Next get rid of the Gnome Gphoto2 VFS program that will try to automount the device as a camera.
killall gvfs-gphoto2-volume-monitor

Now you are all set. Connect the device and lets see if we can detect the player with mpt-detect command.

$ mtp-detect
libmtp version: 1.0.3

Listing raw device(s)
Device 0 (VID=041e and PID=4161) is a Creative ZEN Mozaic.
   Found 1 device(s):
   Creative: ZEN Mozaic (041e:4161) @ bus 1, dev 6
Attempting to connect device(s)
USB low-level info:
   Using kernel interface "usbfs"
   bcdUSB: 512
   bDeviceClass: 255
   bDeviceSubClass: 0
   bDeviceProtocol: 0
   idVendor: 041e
   idProduct: 4161
   IN endpoint maxpacket: 512 bytes
   OUT endpoint maxpacket: 512 bytes
   Raw device info:
      Bus location: 1
      Device number: 6
      Device entry info:
         Vendor: Creative
         Vendor id: 0x041e
         Product: ZEN Mozaic
         Vendor id: 0x4161
         Device flags: 0x00000001

Now to get the list of folders on the device, use mtp-folders command.

To deleting a folder, type mtp-delfile -n <id> .

Lets create a new folder and copy all the mp3 files from the current folder to the device.
mtp-newfolder Classic_Hits Music 0
find -name *mp3 -exec mtp-sendfile {} <folderid> \; If you have a similar MTP portable player, hope this short tutorial will get you started.

Change Samba Password Expiry Setting with pdbedit

We have a Zentyal (Formerly EBox) Linux Small Business Server running as our office file/print server. Its runs smoothly hardly needs any maintenance. Except for this one issue, every few weeks I hear complains from staff that they can't logon to file server.

Quick peek at the Samba server logs reveals that 'password expired'. So there is password aging setting in force here.

 
[2010/12/05 17:33:45, 1] auth/auth_sam.c:sam_account_ok(179) sam_account_ok: Account for user 'tom' password expired!.
[2010/12/05 17:33:45, 1] auth/auth_sam.c:sam_account_ok(180) sam_account_ok: Password expired at 'Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:20:57 SST' (1291515657) unix time. 

Lets remedy that using Samba pdbedit tool. We are gonna reset the 'Password must change' policy to all the users on the server.

Zentyal uses LDAP to manage the passwords, so we use '-b' option to point to the LDAP backend. And we change the default policy to passwords never expire.

pdbedit -b ldapsam:ldapi://var/run/slapd/ldapi  -P 'maximum password age' -C -1

account policy "maximum password age" description: Maximum password age, in seconds (default: -1 => never expire passwords)
account policy "maximum password age" value was: 0
account policy "maximum password age" value is now: 4294967295

# Defaults Before reset 
Unix username:        tom
NT username:          tom
Account Flags:        [U          ]
User SID:             S-1-5-21-3818554400-921237426-3143208535-5056
Primary Group SID:    S-1-5-21-3818554400-921237426-3143208535-513
Full Name:            Tom Thumb
Home Directory:       \\filesrvr\homes\tom
HomeDir Drive:        H:
Logon Script:         logon.bat
Profile Path:         
Domain:               SRV
Account desc:         Thumb Sucker
Workstations:         
Munged dial:          
Logon time:           0
Logoff time:          never
Kickoff time:         never
Password last set:    Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:46:51 SST
Password can change:  Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:46:51 SST
Password must change: Sat, 05 Mar 2011 17:46:51 SST
Last bad password   : 0
Bad password count  : 0
Logon hours         : FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
init_sam_from_ldap: Failed to get password history for user director

# After reset

Unix username:        tom
NT username:          tom
Account Flags:        [U          ]
User SID:             S-1-5-21-3818554400-921237426-3143208535-5056
Primary Group SID:    S-1-5-21-3818554400-921237426-3143208535-513
Full Name:            Tom Thumb
Home Directory:       \\filesrvr\homes\tom
HomeDir Drive:        H:
Logon Script:         logon.bat
Profile Path:         
Domain:               SRV
Account desc:         Thumb Sucker
Workstations:         
Munged dial:          
Logon time:           0
Logoff time:          never
Kickoff time:         never
Password last set:    Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:46:51 SST
Password can change:  Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:46:51 SST
Password must change: never
Last bad password   : 0
Bad password count  : 0
Logon hours         : FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

How to switch to OpenDNS in Ubuntu

I prefer using OpenDNS instead of local ISP DNS servers. OpenDNS is faster, better and totally free. Read the How to switch to OpenDNS in Ubuntu for faster browsing post on OMG Ubuntu to learn more.

What OpenDNS can do

OpenDNS is available to use for free and comes with plenty of features that make it a more desirable option over that of your ISP – not least of which is speeding up your browsing!

OpenDNS works anywhere in the world via a global network of servers that ensure all of your DNS requests automatically go to the OpenDNS server that’s physically closest to you.

“The result is an immediately-noticeable faster, more reliable Internet for everyone in your household.”

The service is so good it’s even used by many well-know brands all over the world, with customers ranging from Nvidia & BP to Lush! cosmetics and DC shoes.

How to Convert .BIN/.CUE Files to .ISO in Ubuntu

Here is another way to convert BIN/CUE’s files to ISO CD format in Linux. Before you start install the ccd2iso package using your system package manager.

 ccd2iso <.img filename> <.iso filename>
 ccd2iso cdimage.bin newcdimage.iso

Another solution would be to use the bchunk program explained in this post

bchunk filename.bin filename.cue filename.iso

KeePassX Cross Platform Password Manager

Ask me my phone number, I have to look it up. But I do have uncanny memory for passwords. May be I type them so often that they are etched in my brain.

If you have manage a large set of usernames and password KeePassX is a good choice. It is good way to manage all your access information for the a SME organization. You can organize the data into different categories (Local Networking information, Mail Server, Webserver, Emails account information etc)

Automated password generation is another feature that I use often. You can choose the length of the password and the combination of numeric, special characters. Its cross platform available for multiple operating systems so if your boss uses Windows, it will still work.

KeePassX Features

• Extensive management- title for each entry for its better identification
  - possibility to determine different expiration dates
  - insertion of attachments
  - user-defined symbols for groups and entries
  - fast entry dublication
  - sorting entries in groups
• Search function
  - search either in specific groups or in complete database
• Autofill (experimental)
• Database security
  - access to the KeePassX database is granted either with a password, a key-file (e.g. a CD or a memory-stick) or even both.
• Automatic generation of secure passwords
  - extremly customizable password generator for fast and easy creation of secure passwords
• Precaution features- quality indicator for chosen passwords- hiding all passwords behind asterisks
• Encryption- either the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or the Twofish algorithm are used
  - encryption of the database in 256 bit sized increments
• Import and export of entries
  - import from PwManager (*.pwm) and KWallet (*.xml) files- export as textfile (*.txt)
• Operating system independent
  - KeePassX is cross platform, so are the databases, as well
• Free software
  KeePassX is free software, published under the terms of the General Public License, so you are not only free to use it free of charge, but also to redistribute it, to examine and/or modify it’s source code and to publish your modifications as long as you provide the same freedoms for your modified version.

BlindLead.org HTML5 accessible wordpress website

Few weeks ago I received a email from Ted Moallem, we collaborated on Blind Lead project in August this year. The BlindLead.org project website seems to be inaccessible to screen readers users. Ted used the latest version Wordpress 3.0 content management system (CMS), but Black Letterhead wordpress theme and the page structure were creating some problems.

Decided to attempt redesign the website using HTML5. HTML5 offers many accessibility improvements with new elements, ARIA landmark roles etc. Initially I thought of building with Starkers HTML5 theme. However Wordpress ships with a HTML5 complaint theme Twenty Ten so I decided to stick with it. Added some rounded corners, little bit of typographical changes, disabled the sidebar widgets for now. And the site looks better already.

Next I set about cleaning up the inline styles in the page content. Some of the styles were introduced by the wordpress editor and other external editors.The pages structure needed some re-organizing as well. Added headers instead of just bold text. The Web Developer Document Outline feature comes in handy here. You can access it from Web Developer > Information > View Document Outline menu item.

Right now we have only few pages, blog posts, photo gallery and accessible widgets would be added to the site soon. This is my first HTML5 website, there is lots of things to be fixed. So give me your feedback and share your experiences working with HTML5 accessibility.

Nina Universal Braille Teacher

Here is yet another innovation from N.Krishnaswamy the creator of Universal Braille Kit (UBK)

Nina Universal Braille Teacher is battery operated handheld device which aids teaching and learning of braille alphabets. This model is designed for the English language, but other languages are also supported. The Nina Universal Braille Teacher is available two models, a teacher model built with LEDs to provide visual indicators for sighted teachers and the student model with audio messages only.

The device is manufactured at Workshop For Rehabilitation and Training of the Handicapped (Worth Trust) in India.

If you are interested to procure the device, please do get in touch with Worth Trust.

Worth Trust 48, New Tiruvalam Road
Katpadi, Tamil Nadu (India)
Phone: 0416-2242739 0416-2243464
Email: worth@md3.vsnl.net.in
Website: http://www.worthtrust.org.in

AEGIS project video

AEGIS is an EC-funded FP7 project that seeks to determine whether 3rd generation access techniques will provide a more accessible, more exploitable and deeply embeddable approach in mainstream ICT (desktop, rich Internet and mobile applications).

You can now view the AEGIS project video online here.

Drupal Installation Profiles, Distributions and Features

When you think you learnt all about Drupal CMS. You stumble across across few new features that boggle your mind. Have you stumbled across Drupal Installation Profiles, Drupal Distributions and Drupal Features yet?

If you haven't heard about these, don't worry. Read Isaac Sukin wonderful article Simplifying Use-Specific Drupal Sites: Installation Profiles vs. Distributions vs. Features

Japan-Vietnam Workshop on Software Engineering 2010 (JVSE 2010)

JVSE 2010 is the third joint workshop on software engineering aiming to further strengthen the progressive R&D collaboration between Japan and Vietnam. This workshop intends to exchange on-going research topics in software engineering and related fields as well as to find possible research collaboration of all participants. In particular, theoretical researchers are encouraged to present the research results that would be implemented as tools. Graduate students and young researchers are encouraged to present their on-going research and initial results, and to participate to obtain new ideas and overview of current trends. JVSE 2010 is a special event to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of Faculty of Information Technology, University of Engineering and Technology, VNU Hanoi.

The workshop is about all aspects related to software engineering. The topics include but are not limited to the following categories:

• Software specification and verification
• Software testing
• Formal methods and industrial case studies
• Component-based development
• Software evolution
• Software metrics and measurement
• Software process improvement
• Real-time and fault-tolerant software
• Modern software architectures
• Multi-agent systems
• Software services and cloud computing

INVITED SPEAKERS

• Keijiro Araki, Kyushu U., Japan
• Zhenjiang Hu, NII, Japan
• Hiroyuki Iida, JAIST, Japan
• Atsushi Ohori, Tohoku U., Japan
• Kazuhiro Ogata, JAIST, Japan
• Mizuhito Ogawa, JAIST, Japan
• Koichiro Ochimizu, JAIST, Japan
• Masahiko Sakai , Nagoya U., Japan
• Hiroyuki Seki, NAIST, Japan
• Akihiko Takano, NII, Japan
• Shoji Yuen, Nagoya U. , Japan

Event Details

• Event Name: Japan-Vietnam Workshop on Software Engineering 2010 (JVSE 2010)
• Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010
  11:00p - Friday, December 10, 2010 12:00am
• Location: Room 212, E3 building, 144 Xuan Thuy rd., Cau Giay dist., Hanoi, Vietnam
• Website: http://www.coltech.vnu.edu.vn/~hoangta/jvse2010/