To this end, I have constructed a server that duplicates the functionality exposed by Apple’s signature server, except using “on file” results rather than live requests.

All we need, then, is to make iTunes use it. Luckily, most operating systems also have the ability to locally define bypasses on specific hostnames through a file called hosts. Using this, we can redirect requests to Apple’s signature server to Cydia.

So, open the file C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts (Windows) or /etc/hosts (Mac OS X) and add the following entry to the bottom of the file.

74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com

Now, when iTunes thinks it is talking to Apple, it is talking to Cydia instead. Doing this will allow iTunes to access signatures already stored by Cydia’s “on file” feature.

This server will also act as a cache for any SHSH blobs it hasn’t seen, acting as an intermediary to Apple’s server. This effectively registers your device with the “on file” mechanism, which means you can now enjoy the protections of being able to downgrade your firmware in the future even if you aren’t jailbroken.

This point should be stressed: even if you don’t jailbreak, and even if you never intend to jailbreak, you should consider using the new “on file” service.

Let’s say that Apple releases an OS upgrade in the future, you take it, and they break something important. Maybe they break your e-mail account, or your todo list. Your business is now crippled.

If only you could downgrade, right? Alas, Apple won’t let you anymore. That’s where the new signature cache server comes in: by doing your restores through this server you secure your ability to not accept upgrades from Apple if the need is dire.

Check out the full article HERE.

To view this new feature, you will need to go into the iTunes application and then the More option on the lower menu bar. Here you will see a Ringtones option in the menu. Once selected, you have the ability to view Featured, Top Tens (by genres) or Genres of ringtones.

If you see a song from the list that piques your interest, select it. This will bring you to an info page that contains the Artist, Album title, Genre and Release Date of the song. You are also able to preview the ringtone, read reviews about the ringtone and see more media by the artist (which include songs, albums, videos… etc).

You can listen to the ringtone by tapping on the ringtones title. The ringtones range from about 20 second to 30 seconds in length. Each ringtone can be quickly purchased by tapping on the purchase price which will switch to a Buy Now button.

Once you select Buy Now, you are giving the option to assign the ringtone as the default ringtone (that would be your main ringtone), assign it to a specific contact or Done which would just add the ringtone into the list of ringtones available on your iPhone. Once you have made your selection, you will need put in your iTunes password.

Voilà, a new ringtone.

ScreenShots

However, do not update to firmware 3.1 via iTunes. We haven’t heard anything official on the 3.1 firmware update and how it affects jailbreaking and unlocking yet. We will keep an eye on the Dev-Team for more info.

Original Tweets:
“iTunes 9 plays well with already-jailbroken and unlocked devices”

“@JonathanCee @VictorBissou yep it’s safe to update iTunes if already jb/unlocked. Just don’t update iPhone firmware too!”

The Genius feature will make recommendations for new apps based on the apps you already own. It will give you a list of recommended apps and why they have recommended them. The Genius section will be located in the App Store application in the Features option. At the top of the Features page it will now have tabs for New, What’s Hot and Genius.

The second new feature is Ringtones. There will be over 30,000 ringtones available from all 4 of the major music labels. They ringtones will be sold for a $1.29 (USD) each.

Remember, you may want to hold off on updating until we have more info on how jailbreaking/unlocking will go.

This also works for free promo codes from developers. Also, remember that when you buy a song or application, all other iPhones on the same account can download them for free. This is a great way to share the cost of a game your brother or sister might also want. If you have any other questions on how this all works, please let me know!

There’s lots of drama lately about applications being pulled from the App Store. There’s all kinds of ideas why some were pulled. Some were pulled, brought back, pulled, brought back, and pulled. Unlike PhoneSaber, which is rumored to come back with Star Wars official branding, NetShare will likely never come back unless AT&T changes some things. NetShare allows your iPhone to share it’s cellular data connection over WiFi. I decided to see what I could do about getting a refund. Here’s what I did:

1. Opened the App Store in iTunes.
2. Over on the top right under quick links I clicked “Account”
3. In the middle I clicked “Purchase History”
4. I found the NetShare app in the list and clicked the arrow on the left of that item.
5. I clicked “Report A Problem” on the right hand side of the item
6. I send this email: this application was removed, I would like a refund please

I received this email in response:

Dear Douglas,

I’m sorry to hear that the application you recently purchased has been removed. I can understand how this would be disappointing for you. My name is (name removed), and I will gladly offer assistance.

You will see a store credit of $9.99 in three to five business days. You may need to sign out of the iTunes Store and then sign back in before you see the credit in your account.

Thank you for choosing the iTunes Store, Douglas. Your satisfaction is a priority for us.

Sincerely,

(name removed)
iTunes Store Customer Support

Please Note: I work M-F 1:00-9:30 PM EST

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to assist you.

I received this yesterday and I already see a refund today in my iTunes of $9.99

There have been a few websites reporting that there was a rumored beta testing program going to be released where developers could give you an app for free to test if you were some kind of reviewer or tester. I was kinda confused because I thought there was already something like this. Then I saw this article from TUAW explaining adhoc and that it was already available.

Here’s how it works. You give the developer your UDID (unique device identifier) and they can compile a zip file of their app with your ID. It will only run on your iPhone. To get your UDID, Erica Sadun made a sweet little app that when ran, opens an email with your UDID and ready to send to the developer, you just need to add their email address. Once the developer send you the app you can just drag it in to the applications section of your iTunes. Developers can do this to up to 100 iPhones. I’m not sure if this is per app or for all apps.

We tried this with the developer of Garf. Remember that game? The one like Simon? The developer sent me the app zipped up with a Mobile Provision file, AdHocJLA.mobileprovision. I tried dragging them both into iTunes and the app did show up in applications although it didn’t have the icon, it just had a generic App Store icon. I ran the sync on my iPhone/iTunes (took forever) and IT WORKS! The app installed fine and I got to play and test it out!

If you’re looking for applications to be tested or reviewed you can get a hold of us via our Contact Page and we’ll send you our UDID.

Click here to download AdHoc via the App Store.

Updating iTunes will not affect your jailbreak or unlock.

There appears to be a major bug in Appstore / iTunes which is a service that is constantly running on the iPhone.I have had many issues with just using AppStore with a lot of apps installed. It takes often 10 or more minutes to try to install. It fails over and over and has to keep retrying. If I log the events using “top”, I can see the iTunesStore binary running with most the CPU in the system and a crash report process constantly coming up. Often times, the phone reboots and takes forever to restart. It seems that deleting some apps helps this work better. I will be looking into this more.


This also seems to affect Cydia and probably will affect Installer 4. Sometimes you install something and find no icon. From what I can see, the above issue occurs during this state. When you install something even from Cydia, the iTunesStore app is again using all the CPU, the phone is running slow, there is a spinner next to the carrier icon, and no icon shows up. If this happens to you, try these steps to resolve it:

1) Uninstall the item(s) that are not showing up in Cydia
2) Reboot the phone
3) Reinstall them in Cydia

Repeat until it works.

Make sure you read all the info below before proceeding!

I found a way (using the strings command in the terminal) to disable the backup function. This means that YOUR PHONE IS NOT GOING TO GET BACKED UP. Let me repeat that. If you do what I list below, YOUR PHONE WILL NOT GET BACKED UP.

This command will change a hidden setting in the iTunes preferences that will force it to skip the backup process.

1. – Quit iTunes.
2. – Open Terminal.app
3. – Copy and paste this in, then hit return:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes DeviceBackupsDisabled -bool true

4. – Open iTunes
5. – Plug in your iPhone (2.0 or 3G) and sync.

It will take a few seconds, assuming you don’t have a ton of music or podcasts.

Changing the ‘true’ in step 3 to ‘false’ will re-enable the backup feature.