Unfortunately, Canadians carrying Android phones don’t have access to paid apps on the Android Market as it is currently open for only the US and UK. This was a huge problem for me since I’m absolutely terrible with directions – I needed a GPS-software on my HTC Hero!

The current “best” GPS-app is the Copilot by ALK Technologies, and sadly I couldn’t pay and download their application. Searching on the Android Market didn’t work. Direct URL via barcode scanning didn’t work. Nothing did! Or more correctly put: there was no simple way of doing it.

In order to access paid applications with a non-US/UK Android you have to do the following:

1. Root your phone

2. Install Connectbot (only if you have an HTC Hero)

3. Install MarketEnabler

Sounds simple right? Not really. Be prepared to set aside an hour or so (it took me nearly 3 hours with lots of Googling. Hopefully this will help you shave off some time).

Are you in your comfy clothes yet? Let’s begin!

1. Root your phone

This will take up most of your time. It will take up even more time if your phone has Firmware 2.73.x.x or above, since you’ll have to downgrade your phone first. There’s currently no way to root your phone from more updated firmware.

Since the steps are a bit complicated and long, I won’t paraphrase or try to simplify/clarify the instructions that I’ve found. Instead, I’ll just link to them.

1. You’ll need to set up ADB/USB Drivers for Android  Devices so your computer can properly communicate with your phone.

2. Downgrade Your HTC Hero So It Can Be Rooted or if you have another Android-enabled device that is newer.

3. Root your HTC Hero or if you have a G1 or Mytouch.

4. Pick and install a custom (rooted) ROM for your device. For my HTC Hero, I used MoDaCo’s Custom Hero ROM. To get this to work with other devices, you’ll have to find custom (rooted) ROM’s specific to your device. Custom ROM’s also provide better stability and speed so you get the double benefit! This step is mandatory in order to root your Android.

2. Install Connectbot (only if you have an HTC Hero)

Phew. Now, the easy stuff. Remember to skip this step if you don’t have an HTC Hero, since there’s a bug in MarketEnabler which prevents it to work with HTC Hero.

1. Download Connectbot here.

2. Open Connectbot and hit ‘Local‘ when prompted for connection location.

3. Enter ‘su‘ to get Super User permissions and type ‘rm -rf /data/data/com.android.vending/cache/*‘.

4. Reboot, and move on to the last step!

3. Install MarketEnabler

Download MarketEnabler and select T-mobile to emulate your location to the US. Open up ‘Market’ and enjoy!

- Peter Kao

I’m not going to lie to you, this is probably the most useful post thus far on my blog (if you’re a young entrepreneur, that is).

Here’s the list of all the grants and loans (aka free money) for young Canadian entrepreneurs residing in Ontario:
Ontario:

Youth Entrepreneurship Partnerships Grants for NON-PROFIT Organizations- provides funding of up to $100,000 per year for up to 3 years to non-profit organizations in Ontario that facilitate the development of an enterprising culture amongst Ontario’s youth (typically between the ages of 12 – 29) by providing them with educational, experiential, and entrepreneurial opportunities and programs.
Young Entrepreneurs Program: Summer Company – up to $3000 for students between 15 and 29 to start a summer business.

Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program – not clear on the benefits, it’s like an “after hours” co-op program for more info contact:
Ministry of Education and Training – MET Hotline Telephone: (416) 326-5656, 1-800-387-5656

For the complete list, click here

Enjoy.

- Peter Kao