The BigBoss source was recently updated to version 0-10. The update removes the bigbossbetarepo source. So, if you have the bigbossbetarepo source installed and you update the BigBoss source, the bigbossbetarepo source will be automatically uninstalled (and removed). In future beta app releases, BigBoss will release a specific source url that will have to be manually added to the device. See BigBoss’s full article below. Or, check it out HERE on his website.

I put up a betarepository a month ago with the intent to have it host unstable packages for hacker level users that wanted to take an extra risk and were both willing and able to provide syslogs for debugging problems. This actually worked well for the BossPaper initial release.

It turns out that many users that did not fit the above description installed this repository anyway. In addition, all sources packages included it. Those “all sources” packages are dangerous and no one should ever install them.

The result of all this is that a bunch of end users have installed my latest beta updates intended for beta testers only. Due to that, I now have had Saurik release an update of the bigboss repository that conflicts with the beta repository. This will uninstall the beta repository from everyone when they upgrade the main source.

I will be posting the beta repository URL for users to manually type in for each beta test in the future and I will expect only users capable fo debugging problems (without complaining mind you) will install it.

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It seems that BossPaper has received on more quick update. The update fixes a few bugs and adds a new Solid Color wallpaper option. You can view view the full change log below.

Now for the good news! For those of you who having been waiting for this application to be released in the main BigBoss source, you will not have to wait much longer, BigBoss plans on releasing version 1.0 of BossPaper tonight (as long as there are no major bugs with the 0.99 version).

One thing to note is that this application only works on the 3.x firmware though BigBoss has been testing the app on firmware 2.2.1… see his notes below.

0.99 Change Log:
    • Added solid color option. When enabling solid color selection, any images you selected are ignored, all timers and changing papers are disabled.
    • Made some adjustments so that the longer durations will work. This should enable someone to set long times ranging in hours and still have the image swap. Prior to this, it required for the iPhone to be unlocked on springboard the whole time before that image would swap.
    • Fixed issue where hi-res images in camera roll wouldnt show up in preview because they were too large.

I have done some testing on 2.2.1 with BossPaper. It *mostly* works but there are a few problems: 1) The image doesn’t stop rotating because the springboard API to detect when an app is loaded changed. 2) Some settings app gui problems 3) My routine to copy dock is broken. I am not sure how much effort I am going to take to fix these things.

As it stands, I plan to release v1.0 as 3.0 only sometime later tonight baring any major issues with 0.99 reported. So far all issues seem minor.

Read full article HERE.

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Push Notifications SBSettings Toggle allows you to quickly and easily toggle on/off your Push Notifications via SBSettings.

If you toggle Push Notifications off in SBSettings, it will turn off all Push Notifications. It would be like going into your stock Settings application the Notifications option and turning it off.

I did have a little bit of trouble getting the toggle to display when I first installed it. I had to go into the More option in SBSettings and then turn the Push option off and then back on before it would show up in SBSettings. You can get the Push Notifications toggle via the BigBoss source.

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BossPaper, a wallpaper application, has been updated to version 0.95. The update includes quite a few bug fixes but does add some new features. Some noteworthy new features include; you can now choose wallpaper from the stock Wallpaper category, the Single Image option is now available, you have the options to turn off the random feature and there is now a Delete All option in the wallpaper section. The full change log for version 0.95 is below. The application is still in the BigBossBetaRepo and has not been released in the main BigBoss repo but, hopefully we are getting close. It really is a very cool application. Remember, you can stay up-to-date on the apps progress HERE.

0.95 Change Log:
    • Used better randomization algorithm. The images seemed to be repeating too often.
    • When locked, image was switching one more time. Fixed this so that the image did not switch on lock.
    • Added sequential ordering option to show images in order rather than randomize.
    • Added Wallpapers folder to images to select folders.
    • Added some explanation on dock replacement screen when winterboard is installed that winterboard will be used to replace the dock.
    • Added single image(s) selection. You can select images by browsing the folders on the flash disk. If both images and folders are selected, all will be rotated. If you have folders selected, you must delete them if you wish to show only images. You can also preview the images.
    • Made the prefs app switch paper when closed if a preference reload is required so the user “feels” like something is happening.
    • Took some extra steps to make sure no timer is running if only 1 image is selected.
    • Added a “delete all” button for image mode. (Note this button is intentionally difficult to press).

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BossPaper, a wallpaper application, has been released as a beta in BigBoss’s beta source. Below is some info about the application so far (it is still in the testing phases). If you are interested in being a beta tester, be sure to read ALL the info below (and THIS post).

I am releasing BossPaper v0.91 BossPaper v0.93 beta tonight for testing (if you grabbed anything < 0.93, please update). There are still a few features that I plan to implement that are not in this version, but I think it is a good idea to start getting feedback.

In order to test it, you must install the bigboss beta repository, which I have also released into Cydia for those of you that said you are a “hacker” or “developer” when you loaded Cydia the first time. BossPaper will automatically install logmailer because if you have any problems, I would like a logmailer output of your syslog. If you don’t plan to send syslogs to me when having problems, well then you should not try to beta test this. Of course the first non-beta repo version will not require logmailer. If you hate having logmailer icon, you can hide it for now using SBSettings.

Based on the success / failure of this release, I may move it into a public repository before adding the remaining features.

Currently, the app requires 3.0. I am not sure if I plan to support 2.x or not. Every day there are less 2.x users and more 3.x users. It makes little sense to focus on 2.x for a new app.

Features missing are:

1) Ability to select a single image. If you want a single image make a folder with that image for now.

2) Ability to exclude a single image or images. For now you have to delete it off the folder. In future you will have a way to tell it to not load that image again.

3) Photos - Camera roll is working because these are photos. If you sync pictures using iTunes, these are actually no longer images but an sqllite database of images. Therefore, you cannot use these images. (I haven’t tested this very much. So it could be in accurate).

4) I may examine lock background as well, although I am worried about performance. The lock background should be stationary so that you dont drain your battery while locked. I will think about this more.

5) Other things I didnt list here.

I am also releasing some BossPaper paper packs to go along with it.

Full article HERE.

BigBoss recently released a new source in Cydia, bigbossbetarepo. The source will contain beta/alpha/test applications. This is not a repo that everyone will want to install. If you install the source, you need to be willing to test applications and give feedback about there performance. Because the apps released in this repository are test and beta, they do have the possibility of crashing your iPhone or iPod Touch (thus, requiring a restore).

If you decide to install bigbossbetarepo, you will need to also install Openssh (and be comfortable with ssh’ing) and logmailer (which allows you to inform developers of issues with their applications).

BigBoss does say that applications released in the bigbossbetarepo repo will eventually make their way to the main BigBoss source. So, if you do not want to beta test application and take the risk that it might include, just hold out until they are released in the main source.

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BigBoss has a new wallpaper application in the works called BossPaper. The app will allow you to control the wallpaper on your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can choose what you want your wallpaper to be, if you want it to rotate through different wallpapers, how long you want each wallpaper displayed, what transition you want betweem wallpapers… etc. We should see a beta version of the app in Cydia in the next few days. Read the discription below for more info.

I have been working on a new FREE app called “BossPaper”. This is a very configurable advanced wallpaper app that lets you control what wallpaper shows up on your SpringBoard. You may be saying, “But Winterboard does that!” Sort of, but not like this. BossPaper can work with Winterboard (or without). Read on for details.

Last year, Saurik released Winterboard. This enabled some new features none of us have ever seen before such as rotating desktop wallpapers via Javascript HTML pages. While this was revolutionary for us iPhone owners, it also came at a cost. Performance running these themes sucks. There are a few ways the Javascript based images can be implemented and all of them have problems. If you load them all into memory, Springboard uses a signficant amount of memory. If you fade them, Springboard uses a lot of CPU. Javascript is very memory / CPU heavy. In addition, the Javascript runs behind all applications and while applications run. This impacts performance heavily and causes apps to lag even while you’re using them and not on SpringBoard. In addition, the script continues to run even while the iPhone is locked draining battery.

I have had it on my list to solve this for a while. The result is BossPaper. BossPaper is an advanced wallpaper manager that puts total control of wallpapers into your hands. BossPaper has these features:

    • You control which images are displayed. You can use camera roll, installed themes, or a combination of! With Winterboard, you could only install a theme and use what came with it. Now you can use images from many themes or other sources such as BossPaper packs.
    • BossPaper stops rotating images as soon as an app launches. This prevents battery and CPU drain.
    • BossPaper stops rotating images as soon as the iPhone is locked. This prevents battery drain.
    • BossPaper uses very little memory and CPU! It does not inject into apps only SpringBoard so you should not notice any application lag running it.
    • BossPaper can use one of many transitions such as fade, water drop, page curl – you configure which one(s) you want. Configure how long the transitions last.
    • BossPaper lets you control when to rotate images. You can rotate it on a timer you configure or you can rotate when an app closes, or both!
    • BossPaper lets you hide icon labels so those that do not want to install Winterboard can use it without.
    • BossPaper lets you dim the wallpaper.

For more info and screenshots check out the orginal post HERE.

Yesterday, there was an update to SpotBright, a Spotlight enhancement application. The update fixes some crashes problems that a few people were experiencing and fixes launching of web clips. After testing, I’m still having a little bit of trouble with web clips. Let me know in the comments how it is working for you.

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Categories 2.23-1:
    • Added some debugging info for some crashing some folks are seeing
    • Added some permission changes to some folders to “guess” what some crashing may be as a long shot

SBSettings 2.99-5:
    • Added some debugging info for some crashing some folks are seeing
    • Added some permission changes to some folders to “guess” what some crashing may be as a long shot

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First off, most all regular apps should work on 3.0. The changes were not that severe for most apps to stop working. So if the app is not in the list, it probably works. What probably does not work are apps that rely on mobile substrate or any sort of springboard patching. These all use undocumented APIs.

Next is to understand why some things are not working *for you* that are listed on the “working” list. Many apps require root access and use a trick that involves the dirname command. This command was not present in some older packages in Saurik’s older repository. Saurik set up a newer version of his repository for 3.0 (which will merge back in to the trunk soon). The point is, many of you may have his older repository instead due to one of these reasons:

1) You used an early Icy without its essential updates that do not fix saurik’s repo.
2) You used apt backup to restore your packages and it restored the old repository.
3) You did not accept some essential updates.
4) Some other thing that I am not aware of. But the cause is most likely failing dirname command.

You can check if you have this issue in Cydia: Load Cydia, wait for it to do its thing then go to manage, sources, then look for Telesphoreo in the list. If you see this line of text *exactly*, you have the new repository “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS 3″ (this is good!) If you see this line: “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS” (this is bad) you have the *old* repository.

One more thing. If you install something and get an immediate spinning wheel of death, reboot. Some times mobilesubstrate’s install causes this and after a reboot it will be fine.

You can see the full post and view the compatibility list HERE.