UPDATE: Apparently, you can enter the SSN 141-11-1111 to bypass all the crap that I had to go through.

I bought Om Malik’s phone a few days ago, and, after some delibration, decided that prepaid was the way to go. Given the plan I was choosing, it would only be $5 more, but with no contract. Little did I know that I was embarking on a 24 hours of AT&T, Verizon, and Apple customer support hell trying to get my iPhone on a prepaid account. I now finally got it on a prepaid account, with my old Verizon number successfully transferred over.

It appears that the AT&T system has changed slightly, and the previous guides out there might be outdated. So, here’s the scoop on what happened, and how I finally got my iPhone activated with a prepaid account.

First Attempt: Try an invalid SS#

I followed this straightforward guide on TUAW. I put in a fake SS# and name, but I did put in my real credit card information into my iTunes account. I also put in my old Verizon number that I wanted ported over.

I hit the submit button on the 2 year contract plan, and expected to be rejected, so that I could choose a prepaid account. However, AT&T actually accepted my information and activated my iPhone! I was now the proud owner of an iPhone under the account name of “Wireless Person.” I was aghast, because now I was bound to the 2 year contract under a false name, but with my credit card.

I called up AT&T and explained the situation, and they immediately canceled my account with no repercussion. I was relieved.

Second Attempt: Try an invalid SS#, but this time, with an invalid credit card

After canceling my account, I discovered I needed to go to the AT&T store to get a new SIM card, since the one I had was burned. My iPhone was left in a zombie state where it could not be activated again.

Apparently, this happens often. I was actually charged $25 for a new SIM, but you’re NOT supposed to be charged. So, the next time you’re asked to pay for a SIM card for your iPhone, challenge them.

I returned home and decided to do the same steps, but this time, putting in an invalid credit card number. However, you can’t just choose any number, since CC numbers must satisfy the Luhn Algorithm. iTunes will check this, and will reject any number that doesn’t satisfy this constraint. Basically, look on this page to find a generated credit card number (I won’t provide this).

So, I went ahead with the same steps, but now with an invalid credit card number that would be rejected. I submitted my information again, and waited. And waited. Finally, a screen came up that told me that my activiation would require more time, and an email would be sent. Again, I was surprised, since I was expecting to be rejected immediately.

I called AT&T again, and told them my situation. The next few hours were spent trying to get another representative out of my account (presumebly, they were going to approve my credit?? Which is ridiculous). Finally, my account was rejected. I reconnected my iPhone, and chose a prepaid account. And I click submit. And, I waited. And, waited.

By this time, my patience was running out. I called AT&T again. Apparently, they were having trouble porting my number over from Verizon. The next few hours were spent talking to porting department. Apparently, since I had tried to port my number over earlier, it was conflicting with the current port. I had to actually wait until the next day to get this resolved.

Finally, after more chats with several AT&T reps, I was able to get my number ported, and my iPhone activated with a prepaid account. In total, it was about 25 hours after my initial attempt.

Summary of Steps to Prepaid Account

1. Sign up for a 2 year contract with false information:
   SN = 999-99-9999
   Credit Card = find on this page OR put in a wrong address, security code, and date (although I haven’t verified this, it’s probably safer just to find a fully invalid #)
   Name = Wireless Person
   and everything else is arbitrary
   If you have a number to port, make sure to put that in too.
2. Submit and wait. It may not reject you outright.
3. If it doesn’t, and you get an email saying it will take more time, then call up AT&T and explain your situation. Also make sure to mention if you are porting a number, because an errant request may have gone through.
4. They will reject your application.
5. Unplug and replug in your iPhone. You should now see an option for a prepaid account.
6. Choose a prepaid account and hit submit. You won’t be able to change your information, which is okay (you will fill it in later).
7. Submit and wait. Your phone may not be activated immediately.
8. If it isn’t, give it about 30 minutes. If it still hasn’t been activated (they will send an email if they do), call AT&T and once again, explain your situation.
9. Hopefully, they will now be able to port your number, and activate the iPhone while you’re on the phone with them.

With respect to the original tutorial, this has become more complicated. The main reason is that AT&T seems to be more lax about the credit check, which in turn, will make it harder for people to get a prepaid account. Following the steps above, you should be able to get your iPhone activated within a few hours. In my case, it was worse, because I had created another false account, and my old number was being ported too many times in a day.

Alternate option with porting
Another option, if you don’t want to deal with all the porting issues while setting up a prepaid account, is to simply get a new number with the iPhone. Then, after you’ve activated your phone, you can call AT&T and port the number at a later time, which may be easier.

It looks like VH1 had Tay Zonday make a Summer Break version of Chocolate Rain. It looks like Tay may be making it big. We’ll know it when he finally gets his own Wikipedia page.

The Flying Steps have a video that poignantly shows the life of a breakdance troupe on tour. The Flying Steps are renown bboy group from Europe. I remember watching their videos back in 2000, when they won 1st place at Battle of the Year, one of the world’s largest breakdancing competitions.

The life of a breaker is hard, both financially and physically. Most breakers dance because they’re passionate. It’s just not an easy way to make money or become famous.

This video is a small glimpse into the life of the street dancers you see on urban corners.

Apparently this is the new viral video that’s spreading. It’s Chocolate Rain by Tay Zonday, and he states two things that people always say about him: his voice is low, and he looks young (he’s 25). There’s already too many remixes to count on one hand: Sung by McGruff the Crime Dog, Vanilla Snow, Sung by Darth Vader, Animated, and Music Video-ized.

Already at 844,559 views at the time of this post.

CraigStats is a great statistics resource for Craigslist apartment listings in San Francisco. They’ve been running the statistics for the past year or so, and have graphs and data for average rental price for studios and bedrooms for each neighborhood, and much, much more. They also have a heat map for prices. It looks like Russian Hill and North Beach on fire, but, I would have expected SOMA to be quite hot as well.

This is one of the most stunning remixes I’ve heard–it’s Snoop Dogg and Kirby, an unlikely combo. They work so well together it’s frightening. Listen for yourself.

This has to be one of the weirdest renditions of Thriller I’ve seen. It’s done by the inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines. Apparently, they put their free time to good use with a pretty impressive show.

This is a video of Imogen Heap performing one of my favorite songs, Hide and Seek, live for 103.1 FM. Her use of the vocoder on the vocals is simply beautiful and penetrating. Ironically, the sparseness of the vocals lends depth to the song.

Here’s the original audio and video:

I played my first round of golf this past weekend with my good friend Joel Sacks. He was patient enough to show me the ropes, despite the fact that I’m a lefty. Yes, I’m a lefty when it comes to sports requiring two hands, like golf and baseball.

My first experience with golf has taught me two fundamental lessons: golf is all about the individual, and the golf swing is a totally unnatural motion.

In golf, the ball sits motionless waiting for you to hit it–there is no one to blame but yourself for a bad shot. The only enemy is the course itself, and the only person you have on your team is yourself. Also, there is only one chance to hit the ball for each shot, and an error could mean disaster for your score (and also a long walk off the fairway). These elements all add up to a lot of psychological pressure.

Furthermore, the golf swing is a monster. From a non-golf player’s standpoint, it doesn’t look too difficult. But, in actuality, it’s probably one of the most difficult movements to master, and I’ve done a lot of other sports that have notoriously difficult movements, including wushu and breakdancing. For me, it’s the combination of the precision required and the unnatural twisting of the torso that make it difficult.

But, the good thing is that the people at Nike have done a beautiful motion capture of Tiger Wood’s swing, which, as Ray Romano says, “reminds me of looking at the inside of a Swiss watch.” You’re able to view the super slow motion swing video from 6 different points of view.

The flexibility in his arms and shoulder is simply amazing. Pay attention to his arm position at the top of his swing, it’s frightening how twisted they are with respect to the rest of his body. I think next time, I’ll be spending more time at the driving range.

This is DJ Kentaro doing what he does best: rocking it on the vinyl. Pretty amazing stuff about halfway in.

And here he is DJing at the 2002 DMC Technics World Championship. He was the first Asian to win the Final in the championship. He was 20 at the time.

I also noticed that he doesn’t use any headphones. Is that common? It has to make is so much more difficult to find and manipulate the beats.