Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Possibility of SIM unlock on iOS6.1 (iPhone 4)

Hi, its been almost two years since the last post, haha.....
And here it goes.
[This post is a kind of experiment! I wrote a post about the same stuff in Japanese and the access to this one is quite high for me, so I want to see how it goes in English (since the number of English speakers is so much more than that of Japanese).]

So, about three weeks ago the JB tool called "evasi0n" has released which allows us to JB iOS6.x devices. At the same time, there is a software called "Ultrasn0w Fixer 6.1" in Cydia store. Also in some auction sites, there are a lot of products saying "SIM unlocked iPhone 4 with iOS6.1 BB01.59.00." Given the situation, I thought iPhone 4 with iOS6.1 (with preserved BB 01.59.00) could be SIM unlocked by ultrasn0w and I did an experiment on my own iPhone 4 on the 13th of February, 2013.

The result was... negative.
I have an iPhone 4 iOS4.0.2 with BB01.59.00 which is jailbroken. So what I did was jailbreak this device with Sn0wBreeze 2.9.9 and produced CFW so that I can update iOS4.0.2 to iOS6.1 preserving BB01.59.00. Then, I applied ultrasn0w 1.2.8 and ultrasn0w fixer for 6.1.

But it did not work at all. Some people on JailbreakQA also said it did not work on iOS6.1 on iPhone 4 (Although Some Japanese blogers reported iOS6.1 on iPhone 3GS was successfully SIM unlocked).

So, that's it. Mmm, single post without any other iOS related posts does not seem reliable, does it? :P
Well, let me try to post some more in the future... They will be basically just translation of my Japanese blog.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Response to Diana's

I just realized that this post is the second post since I came here... Lazy me :P
(Well, I wrote some in Japanese though)


Several days ago Diana wrote something on her blog as a response to my post, and they were interesting questions to think, so I try my best to reply from my point of view. Oh, and I have to mention before saying anything that my knowledge is mostly based on my student life in Kyoto University, so it might be wrong for other Japanese universities (I guess it is not so different... right?). OK, so here I'll write down what I think below:


Question "what is the cause of no-study atmosphere in Japanese universities?"


I think mostly because it is not hard to graduate from universities in Japan. For example, especially since I came here I feel master courses in the Netherlands are much harder than those in Japan. There are so many things to read, to do and to remember here. Of course there are also so many things to do even if you are a student in Japan, but, at least from my point of view, it is much harder here than in Japan (believe me, I spent one year as a master student in Japan, so I suppose I know something about lives of Japanese master students :P).


Hmm, OK, to be honest, it is doable, not too hard even here (first two weeks were literally too hard because of this "bad" teacher! He was the first teacher for me here, so I thought I couldn't pass any exams in the Netherlands. But now I know he was not a typical one and I think I'll be fine with exams).


However, even in Japan, I know some students in Kyoto who work (namely, study) so hard by themselves especially in the department of mathematics and physics. In these faculties, competition between students is so serious that almost all the students who managed to get into master courses are so motivated (I heard it is normal to fail the entrance exam of these graduate schools and to try again next year. It's not normal for me to study one more year only for the entrance exam). So, what I wanted to say is that not ALL the Japanese students are lazy (some might complain if I forget to say this! hehe).


You asked me if I agree with the idea: The level of education is relatively low, which means students don’t need to study much. This results in low expectations from companies and that is why they test students after graduation.


I disagree with this because I think the reason why companies do not expect much from students is not because the level is low but because they expect something else which does not related so much with academics. This must be the reason of low level. So, I think it is the other way round.


Companies usually expect "potential (do you understand what I mean? I want to say the ability of learning something)" from students. They don't expect much from student for the moment, but they do in the future (after their job training). To estimate "potential," companies try to know students' past (what they have done etc.), and in order to estimate it, the procedure of recruiting takes so long:


firstly, you need to submit an entry sheet (which asks you about your educational history, your experience of success/failure, the reason of choosing that company etc. The questions differ from company to company very much). Next step is web-test, which test your ability of mathematics, logical thinking, English and Japanese etc. Sometimes they ask you to take an aptitude test. Only if you pass these ones, you can finally take interviews. However, some companies would do a "group interview" in which we have to work together with other applicants to discuss about a given problem which does not have any correct answer (e.g., "It is infamous that Japanese people cannot speak English, even though most people learnt it in junior high and high school . What should be done to make the situation better?" "Recently the winners of sumo are always foreigners. What is the best way to produce Japanese winners?" etc). The bad thing about this group interview is that the result is not only dependent upon your ability but also upon your luck (your performance might depend on your group members, right?). After these processes, you can go to individual interviews.


Then, the next question is: Why do people go to University then? If you don’t need to study for graduation and getting jobs, why don’t you just apply for a job without a diploma.


Many people who is doing job-hunting say that it is very important from which university you come (even though nobody cares which university you graduated in business scenes anymore). Some of them have disadvantages because they are not from "good universities," and they actually claim about it a lot. Sometimes they cannot apply for a briefing session (provided by a company) because the webpage says "it's fully booked," whereas some from "good universities" can apply at the same time!


As I wrote before, entrance exams are very competitive and difficult. You know why? Because if you are from "good universities," you can take advantages as I just wrote above. Then, why companies do those discriminating things? I think this is because they think usually smart kids (I am mentioning 18-year-old people from high school) can show a good performance in entrance exams, and can enroll into good ones. Usually these "smart kids" have high "potential" than those who perform less. I guess this is the reason why people try to enroll into a good one instead of running straight into getting a job after high school.


What is strange is that there are, obviously, foreigners applying for jobs outside April. Are there really no Japanese people who get a job on a different time than right after graduation? This might be a biased view on the situation, I cannot imagine that you can only apply for jobs during a certain period. Companies need employees, independent of the period of the year they’re in. Do you know anyone who has applied for a job after graduation?


Really? I just know one German girl who applied for a job outside April (but still, she was a student when she applied), and believe me, this girl is the ONLY ONE who did this as far as I know. To apply for jobs in Japan, you need to submit this "entry sheet" to the company, and they just receive them only for a certain period. After this period, the website says "the deadline is over." I don't know what they would say if you try to apply for a company after the deadline, but I guess you really need a good reason why you were not to be able submit them in time.


Do you know if your teacher has children? Do you know their hobbies? Do they talk to you about other things than your courses?


Yes for all the questions :)
I think my supervisor is exceptionally friendly with students (I think I'm lucky with respect to it).


...let me tell you something I heard from a professor from my university. He and a colleague have been working with Asian students and they don’t like the formal attitude (“Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. No, sir.”), they think it is too distant. Where do you stand on that topic?


In Japanese language, these is a formal way of talking (I think you know about it quite well, don't you? :D). For this reason, I wouldn't have the same feeling with those Asian students. I feel the distance between teachers and students in the Netherlands is too short, instead! Students call their teacher with their first name here...! I was quite surprised when I first hear someone does that. I couldn't even believe my ears :P


Aaaaaaa!!! I promised to write this by the end of March, but it's the beginning of April now... Sorry><

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Came to the Netherlands!

Yes, I arrived at the Netherlands!


On the 31st of January, I left Japan and arrived at Schiphol airport on the same day.
Mattias kindly came to pick me up and we went to his home town Houten.
We ate dinner with his nice family and stayed there for one night. Because Mattias has to go back to Leiden next early morning, we woke up at around 7 am and ate breakfast. After that, his dad and me were talking for about an hour and he kindly gave me a ride to my new dormitory. It was sooooo helpful because I had a lot of luggage, and I didn't know exactly how I could come to this dorm :P


As soon as I arrived here Mattias came and we talked in Japanese a lot, so I actually didn't feel I was in Europe, but since I ate two meals in Mattias's family house, both meals and house are so different from Japanese ones, I finally felt "I came to Europe" :)
I really like European kind of dishes, but for these two days I'm eating easy making pasta every time, and I feel so weak (?) now. I need more potato or rice kind of things... But the problem is I don't know how I can buy vegetables in a supermarket! There is a machine in order to weigh things (like potatoes, onions, apples etc.) and put a sticker on it, so that at a casher a clerk can know how much would it be. And I don't know how to use this machine... :P


I need to learn so many new things here, and this is a part of fun to be a stranger :D


I'm enjoying the life in the Netherlands so far (for only three days yet, though).


Tomorrow is the orientation day for all the international students.


First day of school!!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Acceptance!!

Yay!!!!!!


I have been accepted from Utrecht University as an exchange student from next February!!!


I got this email the day before yesterday, and I have to reply something by tomorrow.


This email says I have to pay 433 Euro for a resident permit. So expensive...


One of my friend kindly told me that there might be a good place to live in Leiden from Feb.


He said, from Leiden to Utrecht, it would take 40 mins by a train.


Where should I live?


Well, I have plenty of time to think about it.

Monday, October 11, 2010

New People to The House

It's been so nice to be in HdB recently. The new residents are so nice :)

It has been so long for my slippers to be hidden by someone during I'm taking shower. This is awesome, this is my beloved HdB XD

I'm really looking forward to spending this new semester with those people.

The result for my exchange programme didn't come yet... Hurryyyyyy!

I don't like waiting for an answer... I'm so desperate!!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

About Japanese Universities

In the last entry I wrote I'm not sure whether Kyoto University is normal in Japan or not, because I heard one thing about this university: To graduate Kyoto University is way too easier than other Universities like Osaka University, because even during an exam period, we don't need to study to get credits (of course it depends on the classes, but if you choose "right" classes, you don't need to). This is the only reason why I'm wondering this question.

However, people say that all the Japanese universities' students' levels are so low compare to other countries'.

Why? Because usually we don't study after enrolling in our universities. In order to enroll in universities we study very hard, and that's all. We don't need to study that much in order to graduate, especially in Kyoto University.

And also the social system is a little bit strange compare to European one: When it comes to job seeking, all the students HAVE TO skip their classes otherwise they cannot get any job. This job seeking activity is very competitive so their priority is not studying. Usually job seeking season starts summer, one year before our graduation (For example, if you are a bachelor student, your job seeking season starts summer on your 3rd year), and ends spring (just one year before your graduation). *note: Academic year in Japan is starting from spring.

During this job seeking activity, we have to go to Tokyo (the capital city of Japan) so many times to take interviews etc., have to prepare for them, and sometimes they want us to write about something (what is your weakness, what is your regret in your student life, what did you do most as a student, what is your image about our company etc.) so that we cannot study very much, and the worst thing is those companies (usually) don't expect anything academic from students, even though we've spent at least 3 years by then at universities. I know we don't need so many academic knowledge when we work, but still it's not good if they do not expect ANYTHING from our study and grades. I guess the reason why they don't care about our grades or anything is because we usually have to take an online exams on their website, so that they can judge with those results. I think this is one of the reasons why we don't study much. We don't need to for graduation and getting jobs!

Another strange system is this: if you want to find a job in Japan after university (not an intermediate recruitment), you have to be a graduating student. That is, if you already graduated from your university you cannot even apply for the selections. I really don't understand this system, and I have no idea why do they do this. (Oops, this topic has nothing to do with Japanese universities :P)


Oh, and answer for the Diana's question: the relationship between students and teachers is... Hmm, until we became 4th year students, there are usually no relations. When we are 4th year students, we need to write a thesis with teachers' help to graduate, so during this time we'll be quite friendly.


Phew, I'm really tired of writing this long one...><


(Practice makes perfect! I'll keep writing this English blog so that I would suffer less in the Netherlands :P)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

How Long the Exchange Programme Would Be?

I just got an email from Utrecht University's international office's woman.


She said even if I got an approval, that doesn't mean I can stay there for one year yet, because each academic year starts from fall semester, and I'll go there from spring semester. This would make me staying there for 2 academic years (each half of them), so they cannot give me an approval for one year at once. Instead, I have to do it well in the spring semester so that I can stay another semester: Apparently, whether I can stay in the Netherlands for one year depends on my performance in the spring semester!!


Mmm, I don't know if I can do a good performance in English... This is the situation.


I'll do my best!


...Well, I have to get an approval at first. :P