Will the iPhone 4 Replace the BlackBerry?

BlackBerry devices are popular in the world of business use. Its popularity is especially seen in the United Arab Emirates and among the working class. At the hub of the UAE is Dubai. Dubai is a center of oil rich exporters and is one of the wealthiest areas in the world. There are also a high proportion wealthy people who are young. Recently the UAE announced they will be blocking emails from BlackBerry phones as well as other messenger services along with web browsing. This was done due to Research in Motions encryption of their messages. BlackBerry prides itself on its security and encryption methods and that is one reason it became a leader in the business world.

After the announcement of the block the Emirates Telecommunication Corp began to offer handsets for free along with very affordable rate plans. This move was to encourage users to switch from BlackBerry’s to another phone including the iPhone, Nokia, LG and Samsung. The rival telecom provider, Du, is set to make similar offers. Still this is not the biggest hurtle that the UAE faces. The Blackberry’s functionality will be limited to travelers to the area and that will be difficult to explain to foreigners who travel there. No only will this effect the receipt of emails the roaming services will be affected as well.

With this latest development provides the opportunity for iPhones as well as jailbroken iPhones to become more popular. For many countries the only way they can buy or use an iPhone is if it is jailbroken.

Does Jailbreaking iPhone 4 Cost Apple Money?

One of the reasons Apple sited when filing an appeal to the recent exemption from the US Copyright office allowing jailbreak was the cost of the process to the company. Apple claims that they receive complaints numbering in the millions from iPhone owners who have jailbroken devices. Complaints include the crashing of the device, bad battery performance and general issues with instability and reception. They state that crashes have been reported on over one million iPhones and when they include subsequent crash data they estimate they have handled over two million issues related to jailbroken iPhones crashing.

Apples costs to support issues and problems arising from jailbroken iPhone are considerable. Issues may be due to the software that is installed after the jailbreak. As Apple believes that the installation of third-party software, not approved by Apple, violates the user agreement and that jailbreaking infringes on copyrighted code they filed a petition to have jailbreaking declared illegal. This petition was, obviously, denied.

Apple argues that the cost to support jailbroken iPhone takes away money that could be used to develop better products and to support the consumers who comply with Apples terms.

Now that jailbreaking has been declared ‘legal’ Apple contends these costs will rise. While Apple is not opposing the recent exemption they do not want jailbreaking to become a widespread phenomenon. The most annoying thing to jailbreakers is that whenever Apple releases an update to the iOS of the phone they have to re-jailbreak the device and re-install all third-party software that the have installed.

British Media Calls for Suspension of Pakistan from Cricket

The match-fixing scam had been taken up by British media very seriously and all major news papers have indicted Pakistani players even before full truth has come out. Almost all of them have called for life ban on Pakistani players from international cricket and suspending Pakistan, as they feel that this incident has damaged the very status of the game and ICC to take a serious note of this.
The media is in no way wanting to be lenient on untruthfulness exhibited by some of the players howsoever trivial the offence might appear to be like bowling ‘ No Ball’ on order. The suspension would mean cancellation of the oncoming one-day series.
Quoting the fact that Pakistan has a bad reputation of being involved in corrupt practices in the past; it does not deserve any sympathy this time around.
The Daily Mail has demanded that the ICC should have the guilty players banned for life. Even if it hurts some, it is okay but the honor of cricket which is at stake must be protected.
The need of the hour The Daily Mirror says is that a prompt action now will certainly desist young players from resorting to dubious ways to earn that extra buck. The very character of the game has been threatened by money in one way or the other. It is for those administering the sports to ensure that players do not fall prey to threats or blackmail.
The Guardian has termed this scandal as cheating and asked ICC to sort things out once for all. It adds that the game in recent has been accused to have others forms of wrongs like ball-tampering, match-fixing, gambling etc. and its time ICC takes serious note of this.
The media has also pointed out cases of bad administration in Pakistani cricket, that too when a person as senior as its President heads the Board.

Fixing Scandal Stuns Pak Cricket

The spot-fixing scam unearthed through a sting operation on Saturday, has shocked one and all of cricket lovers in Pakistan. The London Metropolitan police arrested and released a man named Mazhar Majeed for his alleged involvement in bribing some players to fix some deliveries during the just concluded Test match between Pakistan and England. No player has been charged yet but the revelations have already dented Pakistan’s name enough to invoke sharp reactions across the country.

Amir Sohail the erstwhile Pakistan skipper has advocated calling back those players whose names have figured in the scandal. Pressure has also been put on Chief Patron of the Board, President Asif Zardari to take action against the players and administrators.

Sohail was in favor of taking action against as well as the officials who were equally to be blamed. Iqbal Qasim former Test player also expressed dismay at the level the game has fallen. He couldn’t believe what he saw on the TV early in the morning as he prepared for the day’s Ramadan fast. He seemed more disturbed to see a youngster like Aamir 18 was in this so early in his career and held seniors responsible for this.

Pacer of the golden era of Pakistan cricket, Sarfaraz Nawaz , said that he suspected such goings on a long time back. He attributed the indiscipline in the team to the callous and soft approach PCB had with the players. Haroon Akhtar and Tariq Azeem the senate members in Pakistan assembly and also Standing Sports Committee, held PCB responsible for all that has happened and demanded stern action against Ijaj Butt, chairman of PCB.

Police Find Cash in Pak Players’ Hotel Rooms

Scotland Yard conducted a raid in the Pakistani players’ hotel rooms. These players were implicated during the “spot fixing” scandal. The amount of cash that was found during the raid turned out to be much more than what the cricketers’ get as their daily allowance, media sources have said.

‘The Independent’ reported that a phone was made to Mr Saeed Yawar at 7.30 in the evening at the hotel in Swiss Cottage, north London, where the players were staying in London. The phone call said that 2 police officers wanted to meet him. 2 hours were spent by the police searching the rooms of most of the players. At the end they confiscated the cell phones of Asif, Aamer and the captain too. Rooms of several players were searched including Mr. Butt.

The police officers found bank notes in large numbers in the rooms of Pakistani players but their names have not been revealed as yet. The amount evidently far exceeded the daily payment that the players are supposed to get from their respective employers. Whether these bank notes are anywhere related to the match fixing allegations is still not clear as the investigation is still in progress.

The dressing room of Pakistan players was visited by the detectives from Scotland Yard only yesterday just after the 3rd days’ match of the 4th test against the Team England ended. The raid exposed another instance of match fixing and the alleged connection between the bookies and the Pak players.

Rehashing 50-Over Cricket

Cricket started as weekend leisure for the elites of England in the eighteenth century. With the spread of British Empire it traveled to other continents and took shape of Test match cricket. Initially, England and Australia were the only Test playing countries later joined by others.
Since the longer version was time consuming and even after five days of playing results were not guaranteed, the new version of one day cricket became a popular hit. From 60 overs in the beginning it got settled for 50 overs with terms and conditions modified to the present ones.
The 50 over games are working well though Twenty20 format is also growing in popularity with hilarity and glamour adding spice to it. To surprise of all, Cricket Australia has come up with yet another concoction of 45 overs for the local Ford Ranger Cup from earlier 50 overs, on a trial basis for the season commencing October.
As per the new format each team will bat 45 overs in two parts of 20 and 25 overs in the same innings. After 20 overs the team batting will bat out the next 25 overs from where they had stopped after 20 overs. Each team can field 12 players as against 11 at present but only 11 will be allowed to bat or bowl. The bowlers will get to bowl 12 overs in all instead of 10 in the 50 over game.
Then there is a point system in which a team leading in the first 20 overs will earn one point and four more points if they win the game as against the present system of winner getting all the points. So even if you land up losing a match you still can earn points.
This fundamental change seems to have come at a time when Twenty20 has become a better crowd puller as compared to 50 over matches. After the drab Test match cricket, 50 over games had become more exciting because of guaranteed results and there is hardly any requirement to further make drastic changes in its rules. Yes, use of technology for doubtful decisions is necessary to ensure justice to all but beyond that it will kill the spirit of the game which, as it is, is losing its popularity due to sheer frequency of the tours and tournaments these days.

Games, Multitasking and Apps are Major Reasons to Jailbreak iPhone 4/3Gs, So Why Not?

There are many reasons to jailbreak the iPhone and there are many reasons to not jailbreak the iPhone. You have to weight the pros and cons before you decide if you want to jailbreak your iPhone.

On the positive side of jailbreaking there are cool apps that will allow you to enjoy nostalgic games. If you like SNES games then SNES4iPhone is an emulator that will let you play all your favorite games.

Multitasking is even better if you jailbreak your iPhone. It is even better than the stock multitasking that Apple provides. Proswitcher is a multitasking app that will give you a popup window where you can swipe through all open applications. You can easily close any open app by swiping up and closing the app by touching the ‘x’.

Now to the cons of jailbreaking. The life of your battery is really the biggest sacrifice when you jailbreak your iPhone. The iPhone 4 has a larger, more powerful battery and a faster A4 processor but that may not be enough to keep your battery going depending upon the apps you choose to run after you jailbreak your iPhone.

Security issues are the other concerns of jailbreakers. Your iPhone is more at risk to hackers and unwanted access. When you open up the device allowing you to install whatever you want you also allow it to be accessed more easily by others. This is unavoidable. If you follow smart security practices you can prevent a breach of your information.

Now that Jailbreaking iPhone 4/4G/3Gs is Legal More People May Have Questions about the Process

When the US government declared jailbreaking legal in regard to the DMCA more people became interested in the process. When you jailbreak your iPhone you can install apps that are not available through iTunes or not approved by Apple.

The ability to install programs that Apple wants to prevent you from installing requires that you override the presets and locks they have inserted in the software that controls what is and is not allowed to be installed. Apple puts many controls on all the devices that they sell. One of the locks is what requires you to sign a contract with one of the carriers of cell phone service that Apple has an exclusive arrangement with.

When you jailbreak your iPhone you will experience a whole new level of functionality. There are alternate internet browsers you can use as well as modem software that will allow you to tether your iPhone to your laptop.

Since the announcement that declares jailbreaking legal you no longer have to rely on patches that hacker develop to access the OS of the iPhone. Now the only threat that Apple has against jailbreakers is that they will void their warranty. This is pretty much an empty threat as jailbreaking can be reversed if you ever need to have your iPhone serviced by Apple.

Now that jailbreaking is legal and easier to do that ever will you join the ranks of millions of other iPhone owners who jailbreak their iPhones?

Pakistani Cricket Teams Manager May Quit

Yawar Sayeed the manager of Pakistani cricket team has decided to call it a day after the team’s English tour. Having spent 26 long years, he is intending to try something different and also devote more time for his family.

The Board chief Ijaj Butt is not in favor of Sayeed leaving and is confident of encouraging him to carry on for the sake of Pakistani team and Sayeed too has said in the affirmative.

Yawar Sayeed was involved in the controversy in which senior players like Sayeed Afridi, Yuonus Khan were held responsible for division among the team players while on Australian tour early this year. He declines these allegations and saying that he has nothing top do with selection of the team and held Younus in high esteem.

It was the Board he feels, which wanted, to instill a sense of discipline among the players and he as a manager did his duty assigned to him. The condition of Pakistan cricket as it stands today is what had made him continue as the manager.

Yawar was given a short braek when Abdul Raqib was made manager in his place when Pakistan toured Australia and new Zealand in November 2009. he was brought back after being cleared by a high level investigating team.

“Conditions Don’t Matter For T20 Cricket” Says Robin

Robin Singh the Mumbai Indians coach is confident of his team’s chances in the Champions League beginning September 10th. This comes after they brushed away all the opponents in IPL-3 only to lose to Chennai Super Kings in the finals. They meet some of the best teams in the cricketing world in the second edition of Champions League.
Robin Singh is sure of his wards adjusting to South African conditions and the bouncy pitches will be no hindrance as most of the players had played in that country during IPL-2. Also, unlike one day games, even the fastest of bowlers get only four overs to bowl. With local talent in form of Duminy and Mclaren in the team, he expects youngsters to come good in company of the great Tendulkar.
The former Indian all-rounder was speaking to Indian Express prior to leaving for South Africa. He was okay with the concept of Champions League which includes the top teams who have excelled in the local tournaments. It gives chance for young talent to grow in the company of some of the best and experienced players.
In addition to Indian players the team owners have their eyes on the performance of their international players also. Injury to Kiron Pollard their key player was a matter to worry about but he is sure to recover soon. McLaren has been inspiring playing for South Africa and that augurs well for Mumbai Indians chances.