I've moved from Blogger!

I'll continue to blog, but I'm hosting my own site now. Please check me out over at blog.thomasphillips.info!

The Engineering Profession

Came across this quote I really liked on Jack Ganssle's newsletter The Embedded Muse.

Engineering ... it is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege. (Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the United States)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

iOS (POSIX) Security

I've long been interested in learning more about jailbreaking/ device security. The problem is, I did not know where to start. The topic requires so much knowledge about other fields, that it's kinda impossible to just jump right into finding exploits. In my quest for info, I learned lots about Unix, POSIX, and Apple's implementation into their iOS (and Mac) devices.

Recently, I found the iOS Hacker's Handbook. This is the book I've needed all this time. It's perfect for the stage I am in my learning. It goes through building custom ramdisk images for iOS 5, using scripts and tools (redsn0w) that have already been developed and tested. By not reinventing the wheel, so to speak, I can incrementally increase my understanding of the subject without being inundated with technical jargon beyond my comprehension lol.

There are some scripts that don't work as presented in the book, so I opened them in TextEdit and examined them, making changes when necessary to fit my particular situation. This has made me much more comfortable with Unix shell scripting, as well as served as served as a great introduction to python for me. Hope DevTeam has room for me!

Now to think of a clever hacker pseudonym...th0mas probably isn't gonna cut it, huh?

Wait...I'm smart???

At work the other day, I came to an astonishing epiphany - I am smart. Like smarter than I thought I would ever be. Don't get me wrong, I'm not conceited. I just thought of all the obstacles I've overcome on the route I took to get to where I am, and I became almost overwhelmed with a sense of pride in my accomplishments to date, as well as excited about the things I have yet to achieve.

Y'all still don't feel me tho..here's a little background.

Above all else - Persevere

Sorry if I've told this story before..I just felt compelled.

I was never a stellar student. I wasn't horrible, but I did what I had to do to make it through. I got my first C in the 4th grade. I think it was in handwriting...mighta been math, but that's not important - I had never gotten anything lower than an A to that point. I did well enough through junior high to place into Renaissance High School - [arguably] the best public school in Detroit.

Favorite under-the-radar iOS 6 and iPhone 5 features

I just wanted to post a few thoughts of my first week with iPhone 5 (2 weeks with iOS 6). Overall, I like them both. The features they advertise are always nice, but I always appreciate the silent updates - the things that generally go unnoticed, but add to (or detract from) the user experience.

AppleScript to create Address Book Entries

For work, I created a test for MAP-enabled devices. Being that iPhone now supports MAP, I figured a good test would be to create a huge contacts list on the iPhone, then pair the device to the unit under test and see how it responds. I (obviously) did not want to have to manually create hundreds or thousands of contacts, so I looked into using Automator or AppleScript.