Did you ever think about moe-ficating your smartphone? I did when I saw this Evangelion iPhone case lately somewhere on the interwebs. Being still fascinated by Evangelion 2.0 I couldn’t resist and ordered the Rei version. The only shop still having a few in stock was Strapya World. Haven’t heard about that shop before but looked quite solid and they didn’t disappoint me. The small package arrived here in less than two weeks, which is really good for SAL shipping.

Looks way better than the usual backside view indeed. The funny thing about iPhone owners is that all of them, at least those I know, have a bunch of cases and accessories lying around after a few months. Maybe just because no one wants to look at an incomplete fruit on the back of a 700€ phone. ^^;

Today Apple is selling stuffs with reduced prices over on the Apple Store by the way. (Unfortunately even with those discounts their products are way too overpriced.)

But lets get back to the Rei case:

It’s an officially licensed product by Bandai and costs ~12€. Although the description said “Super smooth rubber fits tight to an iPhone” it’s made of usual PVC. Hopefully it won’t scratch my iPhone. You can order the case here, and looks like there are other versions available too.

Strapya World has a bunch of other Evangelion accessories in stock too. From usual cellphone straps up to iPod Nano and PSP cases.

And also these:

Interface-Headset earphones! The Rei version of course. ^^;

The headphones are also made by Bandai as you can see on the boxes. And looks like a thick blue book fell from the ceiling this week too. xD

There’s also an Asuka version available for those readhead-tsundere freaks out there. ^^;

The sound quality isn’t top notch of course but the headphones don’t sound that much worse, compared to my 50€ Creative headphones which I’m usually using with my iPhone.

After all the important thing about those is the look, right? Do you customize your gadgets too?

And last but not least a piece of good news:

Nendoroid Mio is currently prepared for shipping!

Since the release of iTunes 9 a few weeks ago  I’m using iTunes as my default music player.

One thing that bugged for a few weeks was that Genius wasn’t as helpful as I should be.

A little info about Genius taken from Wikipedia-sensei for those not familiar with this feature:

The Genius feature, introduced in iTunes 8, automatically generates a playlist of songs from the user’s library which are similar to the selected song. Genius playlists are created by the ratings system and collaborative filtering. An iTunes Store account is required because information about the user’s library must first be sent anonymously to Apple’s database. Algorithms determine which songs to play based on other users’ libraries, and Genius becomes more intelligent given a larger data set. The resulting Genius playlist can contain 25, 50, 75, or 100 songs and can be refreshed for new results or saved. The Genius Sidebar will similarly recommend selections for purchase from the iTunes Store based on the selected library track.  iTunes 9 added Genius Mixes, where the Genius software finds similar music and automatically puts them into mixes.

It worked fine for western music of course, but for all my Japanese music it didn’t find useful, matching stuff.

The problem is that I have an Austrian iTunes account and there isn’t something like a global iTunes Store. There aren’t much Japanese artist available here and some Apps from the App Store are only available in Japan too.

The only workaround for this is creating a Japanese account.

Thanks to free Apps you can create one for free. If you’d like to buy stuff there you can get a iTunes Japan Music card from Jlist here.

As some comrades on Twitter were quite interested in how to create a Japanese account, I decided to do this short tutorial.

Now let’s get started:

Open up iTunes, and click on “iTunes Store” in the left sidebar.

Scroll down to the bottom in the Store window. Click on the small circle resembling your country in the bottom right.

You should see this screen. Scroll down again and select Nippon.

Now select some random free App from the App Store or simply click on this link which directs you to an Eden of the East like App currently quite popular in Japan. (More info about this App can be found at ahbonk’s burogu.)

Click on the “Get App” button.

A dialog like in the screenshot above should pop up. Select “Create new Account” or however it is called in your language.

Click on “Continue”. At the Apple EULA check “Accept” and choose “Continue” again. (Yes, the Store switches to English now.)

On the next page you have to enter your email address. This address has to be different from the one you use with your primary iTunes account. If you don’t have a second mail address you can simple create as second one over at gmail.

Choose a password and a random question and answer. Select your birthday and check or un-check if you’d like to receive spam mails from Apple. ^^ Click… guess what… “Continue”.

At the top of the next page “None” should be selected if you didn’t order a iTunes music card from Jlist.

If you bought one you can enter the code in the field “iTunes Gift Cards” below.

After you filled in the information you will notice that Apple wants you to enter your name and your Japanese address. Please don’t freak out now ^_^

Enter your last name first and your first name after that! This is… JAPAN!!!

As phonetic name just enter your name again.

Now you have to enter a Japanese fake address. First the postal code (seven digital numbers), then the prefecture and the city. As far as I know are those the only things which are checked by Apple. You can use an address you know, one provided by a Japanese friend or just use one from the list below.

At the “Address” field enter some number which should look like that: “1-56-21 okino-cho”.

(Common -cho names are : hiromi, yanagibashi, yamato, hayama, nakamura, tono, izumi, wakamatsu, shinmachi, oomachi, …)

Enter some random phone number and click continue.

There should appear some text which tells you that a verification mail was send to you per email.

Click on the link in that mail and your account will be activated.

Congratulation you own a Japanese iTunes account now! Just sign in via the button on the top right and you are done.

Seems like Apple doesn’t care that much cause it doesn’t really matter if you are a Japanese or not if you pay for it, right?

For those interested: The new blog will mostly likely be up and running at the end of next week, be prepared to update your RSS readers. There will be another post here on the old blog next week cause I’m expecting three boxes to arrive by tomorrow^^

Today the part of the Apple community which wants to think really different had something to celebrate: iPhone/iPod OS 3.1 got the jail breaking-treatment.

Kagamiku wanted to guide you through this “tutorial” because Rin seems to prefer bananas over pineapples (^^;) But I’m not sure if this tutorial is helpful. Considering the outcome… I guess eating some chocolate bananas would have been the better solution. My upgrade failed 3 times! )

It was time for some good news for Apple fans as a lot of folks out there are really disappointed that the iPod touch didn’t get a camera. This caused some rages over the interwebs as you can see in the example below ^^

(If you speak German mute it, cause it makes no sense that way.)

But lets get back to the topic: Pwnagetool 3.1 is only available for Mac atm and jailbreaks  the iPhone 1st Generation (2G), the iPhone 3G and the iPod touch 1G . Redsn0w will follow soon according to the Dev-Team. 3GS will take a little bit longer. But fortunately a user over @ xsellize pwnd some Firmwares including:

2G (Unlocked Activated with Cydia & 768MB partition)
2G (Unlocked Unctivated with Cydia & 768MB partition) For official carrier users who want PUSH
3G (Activated with Cydia & 768MB partition)
3G (Unactivated with Cydia & 768MB partition) For official carrier users who want PUSH

You can download them over here.

After the download, unpack the *.rar file. Inside is this cracked firmware.

Now open up iTunes.

Turn off your iPhone and unplug the USB cable.

Push and hold the home button and plug in your USB cable.

Keep holding the home button until your iPhone shows an USB cable pointing at an iTunes icon.

iTunes pops up a message telling you that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode.

Click the “Restore” button while holding the Shift key and choose the downloaded firmware file. (The pic above shows the usual iPhone/iPod page. The option “Update” won’t be available in recovery mode.)

Usually your iPhone should starts to upgrade as usual now. Be patient and play with your Nendos in the meantime.

My iPhone-chan however decided to go tsundere and went nuts… 3 times! @_@

Seems like I’m not the only one with this problem after taking a look on the forums.

Had to restore it which took quite long of course. I’m using my iPhone none-jailbreaked now which is really annoying! Going to JB it on a friends new MacBook Pro on the weekend. Would be a good opportunity to do a hands-on on that device, eh?

I wasn’t very active in the blogsphere, Twitter and so on. The reason is that I finally got around to play a game I wasn’t able to when it came out (cause I was in the army at that time).

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Lately acquired stuff: Fallout 3 Collectors Edition and Apple Universal Dock.

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Fallout 3. Just too addictive and awesome. I’m playing for one week now (not 24/7 though), finished the main and a ton of side quests, the addons Operation Anchorage, Broken Steel and Mothership Zeta (which was just released last week). Have to decide if I’d like to start Point Lookout or The Pitt next…  Guess this is one of the best games I’ve played so far.

Most of you know the story behind Fallout 3, but here is a short round up for those not familiar with it below the trailer:

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[youtube=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYHo1Z5KODQ&w=873&h=525&fmt=18]

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The background story of Fallout involves a United States alternative history scenario which diverges from reality following World War II. The transistor was invented just before the war, while vacuum tubes and atomic physics became the cornerstones to scientific progress, eventually achieving the technological aspirations of the early Atomic Age and locking society into a 1950s cultural stasis. Thus, in this alternative "Golden Age", a bizarre socio-technological status quo emerges, in which advanced robots, nuclear-powered cars, directed-energy weapons and other futuristic technologies are seen alongside 1950s-era computers, telephones and typewriters, and the aesthetics and Cold War paranoia of the 1950s continue to dominate the American lifestyle well into the 21st century.

The federal government organizes the states into 13 commonwealths to promote economic stability, but this only divides the U.S. as they put their own ambitions before those of the nation. Tensions rise over the next century due to an increasing energy crisis caused by the depletion of petroleum reserves, leading to the "Resource Wars": a series of events over the next few decades which included a Europe-Middle East war, the disbanding of the United Nations, the US annexation of Canada and a Chinese invasion and military occupation of Alaska. These eventually culminated in the 2077 Great War, a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that created the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout.

Much earlier in 2054 however, the U.S. government had begun a nationwide project to build fallout shelters known as "Vaults" which would officially house privileged segments of the population within. In reality and unknown to most of their inhabitants, a large number were actually built for human subject research.  Each was built to help test something in some way, ranging from overpopulation to deliberate radiation contamination.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war between the USA and China. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101. When the player’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down.

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The setting is soooo awesome. Especially the 1950s style of the blown up DC city area , 50s music which plays on the radio and the level of detail of nearly everything. The developers pointed out that the are quite familiar with the fact that 200 years after such an event most building would be completely destroyed (even the most massive skyscrapers and such would collapse around 200 years if no humans would be around) and that there would be green grass, trees and what not but they wanted to create a Fallout-like atmosphere.

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The Collectors Edition comes in a real life version of the lunch boxes you’ll see in game from time to time.

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Backside view.

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That’s what’s inside the box. (Besides the game DVD itself of course).

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Vault Boy booble head figure. (Just like the Vault-Tec promotional items ingame) Rin approves ^_^

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“The Art of Fallout 3” hardcover book of exclusive concept art and commentary.

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Special DVD “The Making of Fallout 3”. (Yah, that’s how a glass desk looks after some gaming.)

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Buying this game is really worth every cent. Highly hikky approved, but you won’t be able to stop playing it once you started xD

As we are already ttalking about addictive stuff lets move on to some supply for another thingh you don’t want to miss once you’ve tried it. The iPhone.

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I really like my X-tand for my desk but definitely needed a second Dock thingy for my bedroom. After browsing trough a lot of 3rd party Docks which are only 3G compatible I decided to buy the original Universal Dock. 40€ isn’t that much given the fact that you can charge every iPod and iPhone with it

The worlds best Smartphone disserves a great Dock anyway. (Those who haven’t seen the light yet, should consider to try a jailbreaked iPhone for one week.)

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The Universal Dock comes with a Apple Remote. Quite handy because with this I don’t have to navigate to the iPod App and push “Play” when the iPhone is docked on the bedside table.

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Dock Connector and AV-/ Audio-Out on the back.side.

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To conclude this post I’d like to share the panorama pics which I took yesterday.

Huge file ahead! Click to get the full-sized picture.

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On top of Hohensalzburg Castle in the center of Salzburg. with a length of 250 meters and a width of 150 meters, it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. Construction of the fortress began in 1077, it’s also known for the “Reisszug” the worlds oldest funicular railway.

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Unfortunately the second one is messed up. Seems like there were some smudges on the lense.. ToT

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As most off you know, I had an eye-surgery last week on Tuesday to get rid of my –9 dioptres. Wasn’t using any devices too much over until today. But I guess you folks noticed a few Tweets over the past days and a Dannychoo.com member stuff entry on Monday. Just had to. Why? because the Mirai Clock App is finally available via the AppStore!

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But lets talk about how eyes smell, why Apple isn’t always awesome and why mysterious pictures of me appeared on the net last week now.

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Were the magic happened: Privat clinic Wels St. Stephan.

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Had the surgery around 18:00 UTC+2. Would like to share how that stuff works:

First you get a pill and a  few  eye drops to anesthetize  the eyes. After this you lay down on the operation table. The Laser get’s programmed via a laptop. The doctor uses an alcohol solution to loosen then lift a thin layer of the epithelium. The laser is loaded (unfortunately without a geek-ish sound message xD, a few leds are tuned on and you see a green point that’s coming nearer and nearer. (Guess what the green light was, ehehe). Everything get’s blurry and you smell the scent of burned cornea. After a few seconds the green light disappears, the doctor slides the epithelium back to its place and puts a protective lens into your eye.  The same process is repeated at the second eye. After a few minutes everything is over and you are able to see everything already quite clear!!! You leave the clinic with a few eye drops and pills (if it starts to hurt.)

And it starts to hurt around 15 minutes later. Was going to bed that as soon as I arrived at home with a few pills of course. But the pains aren’t that bad as this might sound. Fell asleep thx to the pills quite soon.On the next morning everything felt quite ok. Had to visit the doctor on that day. Was already at around over 80% eye-sight.

Had another visit last Friday were I met my former classmate candlej (who started his burogu techpantsu.net last week. I already sense some win, looking forward to more burogu entries over there.)

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We were showing off our netbooks, had some coffee X sweet stuff and were talking about random animu, tech and what not stuff while trying to browse ecchi sites without getting noticed by other costumers. Each others blog loaded on our netbooks in the pic above. Just noticed the nearly athletically pose of mine while doing some ~puni~puni~ action with my iPhone 3G.

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candlej was so generous to drive me home with his cocksdane as he had nothing to do anyway (besides some work related meetings and other unimportant stuff). The iPhone cam failed completely above o_O A few hours later a blog post appeared on the interwebs which told the world that I’m still alive and unveiling some unknown details. Check it out here.

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But back to the topic: Had another visit at the doctor today: 100% eyes-sight and I can use devices and such! Just have to use eye-drops for a few months now.

I highly recommend to think about this surgery if you hate to wear glasses or contacts.

For folks in Austria a special tip: Dr. Wienerroither, a master of the mysterious art of laser surgery. hikky seal of approval get!

As I was already in Linz I visited the best shop in this city: The McShark Store, Austria’s Apple Premium Reseller No.1 (we don’t have an Apple Store yet over here.) Got an iTunes 25€ pre-paid card to pay for the Mirai Clock App because the iTunes Store doesn’t accept my virtual credit card for some weird reasons.

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Forgot to bring along my iPhone cable… this needs to be replaced as you can see above. Was mostly used with the Xtand on the desk! I’m not very satisfied with the quality of this cable considering the product it comes with. I’m glad that I bought another one right away when I got the iPhone.

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A lot of stuff happened over the last week, have to read a ton of burogu entries or so now. More details about SAFs and other merchandise stuff will follow soon.

I’m so glad to be back to the virtual world ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!

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I’ve got a few accessories for my iPhone 3G this week.

My first “Cinema Display” . The Just Mobile Xtand with the typical Apple-design made from aluminium.

Not necessary but cool xD

A Power Support crystal jacket to protect the iPhone if it isn’t resting safe and secure in its Xtand. To shield the screen from the wear and tear of day-to-day activity, the Crystal Jacket also includes a crystal film.

A Griffin USB to Dock cable, cause one adapter isn’t enough.

Finally I found some time to blog about my newest gadget:

An iPhone 3G 8GB!

Why did I get one? Well, I need a gadget which is able to keep me connected and up to date wherever I may be in the most geeky way xD

No pictures of the un-boxing process available as it took only a few seconds, couldn’t await to check out my first Apple product.

Got a “cheap” rubber cover for the iPhone but I guess I will look for a more stylish one in the next days.

Safari, Mail and Fring (a multi-messenger): A few of the most important things if you are away from home during the week.

As the 3G comes with an built in GPS Module you never get lost again wherever you may be.

Want to check out if you are able to open the curtains in you hikkikomori room without fearing some sunlight?

There’s an app for that too!

Or are you going to mount another shelve for your waifus? Get a level bar for your iPhone!

Although I’m using a 60GB Creative Zen Vision M: Having your fav-songs on the phone is quite nice.

Or do you hear a song on the radio for example and you don’t know the artits, title and so on?

Get Shazam!

Unfortunately the data-base seems to be not-otaku-friendly, cause Shazam isn’t able to tag most of my Anime or random J-Pop songs. But mainstream stuff works fine.

iPhone cam test shots:

Not that bad for a mobile phone in my opinion. (The pic remindes me that I forgot to take a GSC FSn meido photo session oO)

I guess I don’t have to mention that I’m completely satisfied with my iPhone and it definitely wasn’t the last Apple product I purchased xD

Especially as I’m looking for an laptop. Maybe my second screen has to wait a little bit longer. But why is this stuff so overpriced?

The shown apps are just a few of my installed ones but it’s quiet tricky to find the best ones as there are already over 15.000 apps available in the App Store!

Any fellow-iPhone-using otaku out there who can recommend some useful apps for my iPhone-chan?