Archives for December 2008

iPhone Dev Team’s Binary Message

December 31, 2008 by Douglas

The Dev team recently posted a binary message on their site and we thought we’d help you figure out what it means. First, you need to know that the code is written in binary. This is the code that computers run on. You can use a binary to text conversion tool found here to convert the code. So the original looks like this: 011101100111010001100001011000100110010101110010001000000011011000110001
00110000001101100011000000110001001101110011010000100000

After translation you get this: vtaber 61060174

“vtaber” is the word “IGNORE”. It is decoded using ROT13 which is “a simple substitution cipher used in online forums as a means of hiding spoilers, punchlines, puzzle solutions, and offensive materials from the casual glance.” (Thanks wikipedia!) [Read more…]

Filed Under: dev team, unlock Tagged With: dev team, unlock

Cydia Gets Fancy – New (Animated) Graphics

December 31, 2008 by Brooke

Well, it seems that I have missed a very cool new feature in Cydia. When you are on the Home option (on the lower menu bar) in Cydia, you get a menu with options such as Featured Packages, More Packages Source, F.A.Q…etc. If you select the Featured Packages option, you get a nice list of the featured applications (sponsored, free, commercial…etc). Everything seems normal but, wait until you select one of the apps…things get all crazy! :)

When you select one of the featured apps, keep your eye on the icon in the upper right corner. Yes, it was totally animated…switching from the icon that represents what category the app is in to the application’s actual icon. Not only is it cool that it is animated but, I love that you now get to see the app’s actual icon instead of the generic icon that represents what category the app is in! This is currently implemented in all the apps in the Featured Packages section as well as the sources in the More Package Sources section. Though, I heard through the grape vine that this is going to work it’s way into more areas of Cydia! Very cool! Cydia is like all fancy now! :) [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia App Tagged With: Animated, Cydia, Graphics, icons

MacCiti Wallpaper Packs – Including Screenshots

December 31, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

I recently wrote an article about the themes that are currently available via the MacCiti source. Because the MacCiti source is primarily a themeing source, it also includes a few wallpaper packs. I’m always torn when it comes to wallpaper packs…they are an easy way to get wallpapers onto your iPhone or iPod Touch giving you more modding ability but, I don’t always want to install them because I don’t know what all the wallpapers look like or if I even want all the wallpapers in the pack. So, I thought I would make things a little easier on you and show you what is in each of the four wallpaper packs currently available in the MacCiti source. The four wallpaper packs include; TamsWalls, MacCiti Wallpaper Pack, MacCiti Aura and GH Wallpaper Pack.

Remember, when you install wallpapers, they are added into your stock Settings application under the option Wallpaper. For those of you who are curious, wallpaper are located in the Library/Wallpaper folder on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Below are the screenshots. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia, MacCiti, wallpapers Tagged With: iPhone, iPod touch, MacCiti, Mods, Wallpaper

Cydia Update 1.0.2684-40

December 31, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

I was surprised to open Cydia and see any update for Cydia itself! The update to version 1.0.2684-40 of Cydia does make some nice changes to the application.

The first change I noticed was that when you select an application in Cydia, there have been a few changes to the look of the package Details page. The first change you will notice is that the icon, title of the app and version of app are now at the top of the page. Below this, there is now a new option; Change Package Settings. This option allows you to turn on/off Show All Changes. It says that the Changes option (on the lower menu bar) will only show upgrades to installed packages however, you can turn on Show All Changes for any application that you do not have installed to see any changes made to it as well. The other new addition to the package details page is nice new icons next to each section! Which I think look great!! [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia App, updates Tagged With: Cydia, iPhone, iPod touch, New, Update

Dev Team Presents at CCC in Berlin

December 30, 2008 by Douglas

The Dev Team gave a presentation on the jailbreaking and unlocking processes at CCC in Berlin last week. It’s about an hour long but very intersting. This was the first time most of the team had met in person. Here’s some notes I took from the video:

– There are about 180 active users from within Apple’s corperate IP range downloading pwnage tool or quickpwn
– Apple released their security patches one at a time which allowed each one to be reverse engineered. If they did it all at once, it may not have been possible.
– The Dev Team has worked through a lot of levels to get the jailbreaks and unlocks to work. Thanks Dev Team!

[via crunchgear]

Filed Under: dev team, jailbreak, unlock, videos Tagged With: dev team, jailbreak, unlock

Macworld & CES 2009 Rumors & Coverage

December 30, 2008 by Douglas

Next week there will be many announcements coming out of Macworld and CES. We will be monitoring all of the iPhone and iPod Touch related news and will keep you up to date on all the breaking news. There are lots of rumors but of course, nothing confirmed yet. Here’s the rumors so far:

– iPhone Pro: an iPhone with 60GB of storage, true 16:9 aspect ratio, slide-out keyboard, one megapixel front camera for iChat, and a high quality camera, with good lenses, optical zoom, and video capability.
– iPhone Nano: Smaller and lower priced.
– iPod Touch 7″ or 10″: Possibly only announced at Macworld but released in fall of 2009.

Filed Under: Apple, iPhone news Tagged With: CES, Macworld, rumors

Doodles (simple drawing application) Upate – Version 1.1-1

December 30, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

I do not normally write about updates to applications but, I was impressed with how quickly an update for Doodles was released and with the features it fixed/changed!

If you remember from my initial review of Doodles, there were a few issue with the ability to change the background once you had selected it. In the previous version of the application, if you used a photo as the background, you were unable to change it. Well, with this version, that has been fixed. You can now change the background no matter what it is. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia, Doodle, iSpazio, toys Tagged With: Doodles, Drawing, iPhone, iPod touch, Update

MacCiti Themes – Screenshots of Themes in the MacCiti Source

December 30, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

I recently wrote a post about MacCiti, a new source, which is available for install via Cydia. MacCiti is a theme source which means it contains mostly themes, ringtones and wallpapers. So, I thought I would take a look at what they have to offer.

Honestly, it took WAY longer than I thought to install all the themes, get screenshots of each theme and organize them into a post. So, I apologize for not having this post out sooner. The screenshots are exactly what each theme looks like. I did not do any modding to individual themes which means, I did not turn on the transparent dock or turn off icon labels or check icon files to see if they were spelled wrong if they didn’t show up correctly in the theme. So basically, I didn’t do anything to make the theme look it’s absolute best (which I must add, drove me crazy!!). But, you will see what each theme looks like and it’s potential! Below are screenshots of most of the themes that are available via the MacCiti source…that way, you can decide if you would like to install it or not. [Read more…]

Filed Under: MacCiti, themes, WinterBoard Tagged With: Cydia, MacCiti, Mods, source, themes

FlipBook Contest

December 30, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: App Store

Price: $4.99

We recently found out that Flipbook is running a contest. If you are not familiar with Flipbook, it is an animation application that allows you to create your own flipbook. Because I know many of you really like this application, I thought I would let you know about the contest…maybe you could win!! They are currently running a contest for the best Flipbook creation. The contest started December 25th and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on February 8th. Below are entry details and what the prizes will be as well as a demo video of what is possible with Flipbook! Check it out! Oh, the best part is that Flipbook is also on sale for $4.99 (regularly $9.99)! [Read more…]

Filed Under: App Store, FlipBook Tagged With: Contest, FlipBook

New Sources – Sleepers.net and MacCiti

December 29, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

There were two new sources available to be installed through Cydia in the last few days. One was Sleepers.net and the other was MacCiti. Sleepers.net is a source that includes third-party software and themes. This source is maintained by Stan Weatherby (stan@weatherbytech.com). The second source, MacCiti, is a primarily a theme source and is maintained by Michael Babiy (michael.babiy@yahoo.com). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia, MacCiti, Sleepers.net, source Tagged With: Cydia, iPhone, iPod touch, MacCiti, Sleepers.net, sources

Doodles – Drawing Application

December 29, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

Doodles is a simple drawing application that is available in Cydia via the iSpazio source. When you first open the application you will get a white page with a lower menu bar…this is actually the main drawing page of the application. The options on the lower menu bar are (left to right); Save, Background Options, Line Options, Symmetry Options and Erase.

The Background option allows you to choose a background for your drawing. You can choose a solid color, a photo out of your Photo Albums or you can take a picture. The only issue I have with this option is that once you have selected a background, there is no way to delete it. You can change the background if you have chosen a color background but you cannot erase the background and if you set a photo as the background or taken a photo for the background you can neither change it nor erase it. You have to close the application and reopen it to start over. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia, Doodle, iSpazio, toys Tagged With: Doodle, Draw, iPhone, iPod touch

WinterBoard Mods – Dialer, Keyboard and Progress Bar Mods

December 28, 2008 by Brooke

Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

Well, after a six long days of traveling and family get togethers for Christmas, I’m working my way through the Cydia apps that were released in the last few days. Below are a few notable WinterBoard mods. The first mod is a dialer mod which changes your phone keypad. Apple X Dialer, via BigBoss, does exactly what it sounds like….gives your dialer an Apple X theme. The second mod is a keyboard mod. Carbon Fiber Keyboard, via BigBoss, is a mod that will give your keyboard a carbon fiber look. Both of these mods installed and worked correctly for me. The third mod is my favorite…a Safari Progress Bar mod via BigBoss. This mod changes the loading bar in Safari when loading a web page. It comes in a few different colors including; Dark Blue, Aqua, Red, Orange, Lime, Green and Pink. All of these mods are activated via WinterBoard. SEe screenshots below. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Cydia, mod, WinterBoard Tagged With: BigBoss, Dialer, keyboard, Keypad, mod, Progress Bar, WinterBoard

AT&T Data Network Down

December 28, 2008 by Douglas

If you’ve been wondering why your iPhone won’t connect to AT&T’s data network today, you wern’t the only one. According to Engadget.com and chicagobreakingnews.com, a power grid went down in Michigan which shut down data services in parts of the Midwest. My grandfather who uses a AT&T USB adapter to connect his laptop to the internet said he couldn’t connect this morning and it was about 5:30pm when my iPhone reconnected to EDGE. During that time my iPhone would show that it was connected to 3G but it wouldn’t actually work. Below is part of a press release from AT&T and a screenshot from my iPhone during the outage. If you are still having troubles, try restarting your iPhone by completely powering off your iPhone and turning it back on. Thanks to everyone on Twitter for keeping informed of the outages. [Read more…]

Filed Under: AT&T Tagged With: AT&T

$99 iPhones

December 27, 2008 by Douglas

AT&T Walmart has announced their iPhone pricing and unfortuntly they are not $99 or 4GB. They are $197 for 8GB and $297 for 16GB. Although that might sound like bad news, you can still get iPhones for $99. AT&T is selling refurbished iPhones for $99 for 8GB and $199 for 16GB through December 31st. Hurry before they are sold out!


Apple iPhone 3G – 8 GB – Black (Refurb)	Apple iPhone 3G – 16 GB – Black (Refurb)

Filed Under: AT&T Tagged With: AT&T, iPhone, Sale

How to Spend My $50 Gift Card at Best Buy?

December 25, 2008 by Douglas

I just got a $50 gift card for Best Buy for Christmas. Here are some ideas I could spend it on for the iPhone. Got any others? Anyone used the A/V Cable before? We’ve done a review of the DLO Portable Speakers and they are pretty nice. Let me know what you think in the comments. I’m open to non-iPhone ideas too!