Month: March 2009

iPhone OS 3.0 Coming Soon

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

This is not a rumor and it has been verified. Venture Beat reports that in their March 17th event, Apple will not be showing off any new hardware, but it will be previewing iPhone firmware 3.0. In other words, we can expect to have firmware 3.0 released to the public sometimes around June or July. And if we get new software, chances are we'll get new hardware as well...

Boy Genius Report has been tipped that firmware 3.0 will allow MMS and tethering via BlueThooth and USB. What about this good old copy/paste? That's a mystery so far...

iTunes 8.1 Released

Guest Author ∙ March 11, 2009

iTunes 8.1 has been released. You can get the update though Apple Software Update. Here is the description:

iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. You will enjoy noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing.

In addition, iTunes 8.1 provides many other improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation). • Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ. • Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows. • Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs. • Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods. • Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus. • Includes many accessibility improvements. • Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

iPod Touch 2G Full Jailbreak PC Tutorial

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

As you all know the greatest thing just occurred: the iPod Touch 2G has been fully jailbroken. But how do you jailbreak? Very simple.

This tutorial is for PC users only. There is no Mac version available yet. The Dev Team is updating PwnageTool and Quickpwn to work for this. You need to wait a bit. This method requires a FULL restore.

OK so you must first download QuickFreedom. You can download it here, here, or here.

Make sure you have the C++ Distributable Package and LIBUSB. You can install LIBUSB directly from the program. Just press the button in the beginning. So here we go:

When you open the program you are welcomed to the main menu. Click the "Jailbreak" button in the center. Make sure it says LIBUSB is installed and give it a second for it to find and copy the firmware file. When the option becomes available click next. Choose whether you want to install Installer and if you want custom boot logos. When done press the "Create Firmware" button. When that's done it will put the custom ISPW in the desktop. Click next. Now put your iPod in DFU mode. Hold the Power and Home button for 10 seconds and then the Home button for 8 seconds. When in DFU press the "Start Pre-Jailbreak" button. When it is done you can close the program. Open up iTunes. Go to your iPod. Press and hold shift and click restore. Select the ISPW in the Desktop and wait for it to restore. When it finishes you are done.

Post any problems in the comments and I'll try to help.

***********WARNING***********

I have seen a few reports that this is NOT working correctly with Windows 7 and that installing LIBUSB causes some problems. Please do not try this if you are on Windows 7. I will look into this and will get back to you.

UPDATE: Hey guys. QuickFreedom 1.1.1 has been released. It's the same as before so you can still follow the instructions above. But this update fixes most if not all bugs that you guys in the comments were experiencing. You can download it here, here, and here.

Kyper App Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Ian Marsh, indie developer who brought us the beloved Scoops and Textropolis has made yet another addictive iPhone game. Kyper. Kyper is all about speed, in fact Ian calls it the "fastest game on iPhone". The gameplay is simple yet addictive. You control your ship by moving your device. You need to avoid all asteroids. But there are two types of asteroids. The red (to me they look orange) slow you down. You must stay away from these or it will slow you down. The closer you are to them the more they slow you down. The green (to me they look yellow) speed you up. You must get as close to these as possible. But if you crash into any of the asteroids you die. Although the game may sound simple it is no easy challenge. Especially once you get going really fast. As Ian himself said, after you pass 1,000 km/s that's when you go into "holy crap" mode. Kyper is not a relaxing game!!

iPod Touch 2G Is Now Fully Jailbroken

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2017

I knew they were up to something. The Dev Team had just been too quiet for a while, and a few days ago, I called them up on it. I was right!

Let's welcome the iPod Touch 2G to the now growing family of jailbroken iDevices, or the "pwned for life" family, as MuscleNerd calls it. Apparently, the Dev Team has found a fatal flaw in the iPod Touch 2G's bootrom, making it pwnable, no matter what firmware update comes along.

You could already jailbreak your iPod Touch 2G via a tethered version, but that was not very convenient, and this method probably turned off many of you. This new method available is the 24kpwn LLB patch, aka fully untethered, and supposedly much easier.

The Dev Team says:

Those of you who hang out on IRC or were able to read between the lines in the various blogs, forums, wikis and twitters may realize that we — and importantly, that’s a that’s a collective, cross-team “we” :) — had been hoping to hold onto this full ipt2g jailbreak until the next version of the iPhone came out. That didn’t happen, but maybe it’s too late for Apple to fix the bootrom in the next iPhone.

In a forum post announcing the iPod Touch 2G jailbreak, MuscleNerd says:

Here it is. Just drop it into your existing pwnagetool or xpwn flow. You can even combine it with the nor-only variations to make this easy to install from iTunes without touching your main fs.

It's bitter sweet that this has to come out in this manner, because it *really* would have been nice to save for the next iPhone. On the other hand, nobody knows the struggle to jb like iPod Touch 2G owners So it's good for them.

Now it's a waiting game to see if Apple can react fast enough.

Edit: The patch needs to be applied directly to the LLB without decrypting it first, using "bspatch" or equivalent. The resulting img3 should have this sha1: SHA1(LLB.n72ap.RELEASE.img3)= 82734c7cdf945ba5421b83962aab3ab91e4fb23a

The raw patch to the firmware that transforms the “tethered” jailbreak into an untethered one was released but it’s not yet packaged up into the PwnageTool or QuickPwn flows. I will try to come up with a tutorial asap.

As usual, if you have any question, feel free to leave a comment.

UPDATE: dannyswrld created an iPod Touch 2G jailbreak tutorial for us!

My Theme – Danny’s Theme

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

So I thought I would post my iDevice theme as well. It is a combination of a few Winterboard themes and packages and some icons made or shown here. And here it is:

So what did I use?

I installed "Five Icon Dock", "ReflectiveDock", and "LiveClock" from Cydia. In Winterboard I enabled "Transparent Dock" and "No Undocked Icon Labels" And then I applied my theme.

You can download my theme here. Again, credit goes to those who made these. I just combined them. You like?

Do You Pirate Apps? Watch Out, Your iPhone May Tell On You!

Sébastien Page ∙ March 9, 2009

A very small security enhancement has been made for iPhone and iPod Touch applications by Ben Chatelain, developer of the Full Screen Web Browser app who was tired to see his app pirated and available for free everywhere online.

Ben says:

The solution that I came up with is for the app to simply detect whether it has been compromised and to send that data over the wire to our server. All of these simple server pings are logged along with the unique device identifier (UDID) so that illegal usage can be tracked. Then, the server controls a demo period; after 10 runs a message is presented which gives the choice of visiting the Full Screen Web Browser page in the App Store or exiting the app.

Very ingenuous but is this really gonna stop crackers? I doubt it but it is already a first step towards anti-piracy, which I see as a big improvement.

My New Favorite iPhone Theme: ReText

Sébastien Page ∙ March 8, 2009

It had been a while since I had found a good iPhone theme in Cydia but this morning, when I refreshed the sources, I came across ReText. A quick look at the theme preview and that was it! I installed the theme and activated it in WinterBoard, and here we are. Isn't it nice?

Check it out; it's from the MacCiti repo.

Cydia Store Now Open

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

[digg-me]It was just yesterday that I wrote about the App Store for jailbroken iPhones, and it is now live and running under the name of Cydia Store.

The Cydia Store is nothing more than an option that lets you purchase applications in Cydia. Not as straightforward as the official App Store, purchasing an application in the Cydia Store is however pretty simple. Either sign in using your Facebook or Google account as well as your Amazon account for payment processing and that's about it. Cydia Store doesn't support PayPal yet but this option should be available in the next few days.

The first application available for sale in the Cydia Store is called Cyntact and is a pretty new feature for contacts that lets you see the profile picture of your contacts in the contacts list. Cyntact is sold for $1, which is a very decent price considering what this app does.

Needless to say that your iPhone has to be jailbroken in order for you to access the Cydia Store. If your iPhone is already jailbroken, launch Cydia and a message will pop up asking you to update Cydia. Once updated, you will see the paid for applications showing in blue in your list of available apps. So far, only Cyntact is available.

As I already said before, I am extremely happy that the App Store will now have some real competition and that developers let down by Apple's fascist regime can finally have a place where to sell their applications. For those of you shocked by my use of the word "fascist", I invite you to read the wiktionary definition: a political regime ideologically based on centralized government, violently repressing any criticism or opposition of the regime, leader cult and exalting nation-state and/or religion above individual rights. Sound familiar?

Please feel free to leave us a note in the comments section below.

App Store for Jailbroken iPhones Coming Soon

Sébastien Page ∙ March 6, 2009

Saurik, the developer behind Cydia is working on an alternative to the dictatorship of the Apple App Store that will break Apple's grip on the iPhone. There is not much information about it yet, but I assume this will be a new feature added to Cydia that will let you pay for apps.

Like many of you, I am tired of seeing the best apps rejected from the App Store. Apps like Cycorder or xGPS will never make it to the App Store, unless Apple decides to loosen up on the SDK. This new Cydia Store coming up will finally give a chance to non qualifying apps to be distributed in a semi-controlled environment, while generating revenues for the developers. Of course, you will still need to be on a jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of the Cydia store.

According to the WSJ:

Another small company plans a store called Rock Your Phone for iPhone users who have not yet modified their devices to make it easier to download and buy unauthorized applications. A third start-up is building an online store that specializes in selling adult games for the iPhone.

Yeah, now we're talking! Bring on the porn!! hehe.

More seriously, I think this initiative is a big step towards freeing your iPhone from Apple's claws and finally empowering the users to do or install whatever they want on their iPhones.

The iPhone Will Die on June 29, 2009

Sébastien Page ∙ March 6, 2009

Roger McNamee, founding partner of the investment firm Elevation Partners, the same firm that decided to pay $100 million to lift its stake in Palm from 25% to 39% made some serious prediction in an interview with Bloomberg.

McNamee calls no less than the death of the iPhone on June 29, 2009. Wow, this guy has huge balls to say something like that on television...

June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later. Think about it -- if you bought the first iPhone, you bought it because you wanted the coolest product on the market. Your two-year contract has just expired. Look around. Tell me what they're going to buy.

Question is, will you switch to Sprint for the Palm Pre when it comes out?

X-Plane Racing Review

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Laminar Research has released yet another flight simulator app for the iDevices. This time around it's one we've been waiting for: X-Plane Racing. That's right, racing! The app consists of 'highway-in-the-sky', 'hoops' that you can go though. There are 4 regions for now and 4 planes (as developer states: "for now"). There's a course per region per plane, for a total of 16 courses to race though. You can play against the AI plane, which will give you quite a challenge. Courses vary, based on location. Sometimes you will be going almost straight up, sometimes down canyons and valleys, and sometimes close to a river.

As for locations, you can choose from :

Canyons (the default location and quite fun and challenging). Juneau, Alaska (mountains and rivers combine to make it challenging and fun to race in) Anchorage, Alaska (ups and downs and mountains, can you avoid crashing and win at the same time?) Provost, Canada (both easy and hard, combines a little of all the other regions)

And as to the planes:

F-15 Eagle (my favorite. Has afterburner, is the default one, and goes fast) F-4 Phatom (it's ok, but I don't like it, a bit difficult to control) F4-U Consair (feels a bit weird at first, but you get the hang of it. Slower than the others but is more controllable) P-51 Mustang: (same goes as for the F4-U Consair, but this one is VERY tricky to land).

My experience with it has been very good, same as with all the other X-Plane apps. Laminar Research puts a lot of work and quality into their apps. No bugs found so far, everything is going smoothly. Beating the AL plane is tricky and any mistake can cost you. Awkwardly, even if you are in the lead, the AL plane shows up in front of you. But that does not bother me, I still beat it :) . Also, at the end of each course it tells you your time and how many hoops you missed, and the AL plane's time and how many hoops he missed. But there is more.

The AL plane is a lot of fun, all 16 courses................yeah yeah. But there's another thing about the app, something that gives it a kick. Multiplayer. That's right, Laminar Research has added multiplayer to the game. So as long as you and the other player are connected on the same Wi-Fi network, you can race against each other. Booyahh!! This feature is a blast. Playing with your friends is a blast. Especially since they are smarter, and trickier than the AL plane. For those owners of the other X-Plane apps, nothing to worry about. An update was released with other stuff this morning and it includes multiplayer. BUT, you don't get hoops in the sky or a marked course.

The app also features a sound system when landing (also added to the other apps in the update) so either a squeak from a nice landing or a thump from a hard landing. Also in "Racing" and added to the other apps are visible afterburners, and a basic autopilot. I must say, Laminar Research is outdoing themselves. And they are trying to put everything they can into the app, pushing the limits (I'm on a 2G Touch, supposed to be better for gaming, and it got hot!). A little note, the apps are always being updated with a bunch of things. There is an option to set the tilt (in ALL apps) so you can even play from bed. The desktop version of X-Plane is FAA approved, the iPhone version has 90 something percent accuracy. Now that's good!

The app is currently priced at the same price as all the other X-Plane apps, $9.99. There is a "series" of X-Plane apps:

X-Plane - $9.99 - The original, and best for general use. Still my favorite one. X-Plane Helicopter - $9.99 - Came later on, strictly helicopters. A little harder (I don't own it though) but I say this because helis are hard to fly. X-Plane Airliner - $9.99 - Came along with Heli, strictly airliners. Although fun it is a bit more challenging. But it's great fun to fly a 747 on your iDevice. X-Plane Extreme - $9.99 - All about speed and the extreme. Very fun, and my personal second favorite. X-Plane Racing - $9.99 - As mentioned above.

All of the apps now have multiplayer. I am loving every app and highly recommend them. You will get lots of fun no matter which app you get. Plus who has not wanted to fly a 747 on an iPhone?! The X-Plane apps are the only flight simulators on the App Store and they are just great. In case you cannot decide which one to get I will post later on which I recommend depending on what you like.