Month: August 2009

Apple Under Fire

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 11, 2018

If you're a regular reader of this blog, by now you may have figured out that I'm not a big fan of Apple. I love my iPhone and I honestly couldn't live without it anymore but I strongly dislike Apple. Ok, I hate Apple!

I hate the way they do business. I hate the way they treat their suppliers. I hate the way they treat their employees. I hate Steve Jobs for being such an egomaniac. I hate the way fan boys would die for a sneak peek at a beta version of a new Mac OS. I hate how Apple is controlling what apps I can install on my iPhone. Worst of all, I hate Apple for being such a close ecosystem and forcing its users to stick to Apple, and Apple only.

It seems that I'm not the only one getting tired of Apple. Last week, Jon Fortt of Brainstorm Tech wrote an interesting article comparing Apple to Microsoft's earlier behavior. Jon Fortt actually goes as far as apologizing to Microsoft:

I'm sorry, Microsoft. On behalf of Silicon Valley, I’m sorry.

We cursed you, mocked you, labeled you the Evil Empire. Your crime: trying to control the technology world. Sure, we had reason to be upset. During the dawning of the PC era, the Windows operating system made you the most powerful company in tech, and it went to your head.

Your detractors say you intimidated PC makers, crushed Netscape, and tried to turn the web into an extension of the Windows platform. As it turns out, local darling Apple (AAPL) probably would have done the same thing.

Just look at how Apple is behaving today with a fraction of the power you had.

Better and more insightful is Jason Calacanis' message to Apple Fanboys and girls. While the video might sound a little too much and insulting at some points, I think the general idea is true. It's interesting to note that Jason Calacanis was a long time Apple lover and recently decided to go back to PC.

Weekly Wrapup: Gpush, PrivaCy, MMS, Tethering, and More…

Sébastien Page ∙ August 30, 2009

Sunday is my lazy day where I tend to be not creative at all, hence the wrapup most. If you missed anything on the blog this, here is a quick summary of everything we talked about.

Gpush brings Gmail push notifications to Gmail

All in all, Gpush is a good and cheap application that does exactly what it’s supposed to. However, it can become very annoying if like me, you receive a couple hundred emails a day.

Stop apps from spying on you

Thanks to the collaboration of Saurik, BigBoss, and the major companies tracking your apps stats, it is now possible to opt out of being spied on via an application appropriately named PricaCy.

I predict MMS will be coming to the iPhone in the next few days

I predict that a soon to be announced 3.1 firmware will come with some type of carrier update that will allow AT&T users to finally be able to send and receive MMS through their iPhones.

On iPhone 3GS tethering

It was the first time I actually tethered my iPhone 3GS and I have to admit that I am incredibly impressed with the speed.

iPhone goes into safe mode

I had heard about the iPhone safe mode before but I had never experienced it until a few days ago.

Fix for the "couldn't activate cellular data network" error

This error often appears after jailbreaking and/or unlocking and it is mostly characterized by the fact that your iPhone can’t connect to the internet using the cellular data network, and you can’t send text messages anymore. Here is a quick fix.

Could Not Activate Cellular Data Network: You Are Not Subscribed to a Cellular Data Service

Sébastien Page ∙ August 29, 2009

If you recently updated your iPhone firmware, or jailbroke/unlocked your iPhone to use it with a different carrier, you may have encountered the following error: Could Not Activate Cellular Data Network: You Are Not Subscribed to a Cellular Data Service

This error often appears after jailbreaking and/or unlocking and it is mostly characterized by the fact that your iPhone can't connect to the internet using the cellular data network, and you can't send text messages anymore.

The first thing to do in that case is to reset the network settings and reboot your iPhone. If it still doesn't work, then there is a more radical fix that will put everything back on track.

First, get on wifi and visit this website http://www.unlockit.co.nz/#_Custom from your iPhone. You should see this page, which will allow you to create a custom APN.

Under "Carrier", tap the drop down menu and choose your carrier. Note that there are many carriers listed there and that it might take you a bit of scrolling down to get you where you want. So choose the right carrier and tap "Done". This should populate the custom APN info.

Once the custom APN fields are populated, tap "Create Profile" and wait a bit. It will exit Safari, and take you to the settings application. Finally, just tap “Install” and this will set up your custom APN on your iPhone. Reboot your iPhone and you should now have Edge and 3G connectivity.

iPhone Safe Mode – Have You Seen This Before?

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Yesterday night, I was quietly watching some bad reality TV when a push notification showed up on my iPhone. I grabbed the phone, looked at the notification and I slid to unlock the phone in order to launch the mail.app.

To my surprise, the following screen appeared.

What's strange is that I wasn't doing anything with the phone. That day, I did nothing but installing a new app (TomTom), and I am 100% positive I didn't mess with any of the settings.

I had heard about the iPhone safe mode before but I had never experienced it until today. I know the iPhone can only get into safe mode on jailbroken iPhones and that it has something to do with the fast respring. That's about all I know about this issue.

I simply tapped "OK" and turned off the phone. For a minute, I was scared that the problem would persist after rebooting the iPhone but it didn't.

Has your iPhone been into safe mode before? If so, why do you think that happened?

iPhone 3GS Tethering Makes My Wifi Jealous

Sébastien Page ∙ August 27, 2009

I've been in the Midwest for the last 3 weeks, traveling around Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan with very few opportunities to get on wifi. Worse, most of the places I went to didn't even have 3G coverage, forcing me to rely on the slow Edge, when available. I am currently in Chicago (for one last day before finally going back home to San Diego) where there is some very fast 3G coverage.

The first thing I did when arriving in Chicago was to enable tethering with this simple hack. It took about a minute to get it to work and to get my laptop going. It was the first time I actually tethered my iPhone 3GS and I have to admit that I am incredibly impressed with the speed.

I didn't make any scientific test to see how fast it really is, but it seems to me that my wifi at home is not faster than that. Every once in a while there is a little downtime but nothing really annoying.

If you want to use your iPhone to get internet on your laptop (also known as tethering), I suggest you have a look at this hack.

Prediction: MMS Coming to the iPhone Within Two Weeks

Sébastien Page ∙ August 26, 2009

I am no psychic but if you read this blog on a daily basis, you should know that I am usually right when it comes to making predictions on future events or features coming to the iPhone.

My latest prediction is that within 2 weeks, Apple will release firmware 3.1. This is actually pretty obvious as they are about to unveil a new line of iPod Touch at an Apple even on September 7.

I also predict that this new 3.1 firmware will come with some type of carrier update that will allow AT&T users to finally be able to send and receive MMS through their iPhones.

As usual, as a measure of precaution, I want to say that I might be completely wrong and that Apple won't unveil a new iPod Touch, and that there won't be any 3.1 firmware or MMS for a while, but someone something tells me otherwise ;)

PrivaCy Prevents These iPhone Apps From Spying on You

Sébastien Page ∙ August 25, 2009

Last week I wrote an article about how certain applications are spying on you and tracking some of your personal data. Although the practice is legal, it is nonetheless very controversial.

Thanks to the collaboration of Saurik, BigBoss, and the major companies tracking your apps stats, it is now possible to opt out of being spied on via an application appropriately named PricaCy.

Pinch Media realized this fact, and took the lead in contacting me regarding getting this feature out there to all the users of jailbroken devices: they care.

With BigBoss, we then contacted all of the other providers, getting not only their blessing, but also their technical expertise in disabling their systems.

The result is PrivaCy: a new Settings panel that allows you to selectively opt-out of sending anonymous usage statistics to each of these providers.

This extension was a team effort, and was able to be executed as quickly as it was thanks to the help and interest of the companies involved.

I am positively surprised to see how the major tracking providers were proactive and willing to address the matter by collaborating with Saurik and BigBoss.

If you're slightly concerned about your privacy, I suggest you download PrivaCy, which is available for free from Cydia. Hopefully, Apple will release a similar feature to allow the opt out from data tracking for non-jailbroken iPhones also.

Gpush Brings Gmail Push Notification to the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

Gpush is a new application available in the App Store that brings Gmail push notification to your iPhone. I have been using Gpush for a few days now and it works as advertised.

I initially installed this app because I was waiting for an important email and I didn't want to refresh my inbox every 5 minutes. So I paid the $0.99 and downloaded Gpush.

The set up is very easy and straightforward. You just have to enter your Gmail username and password and click "save". Then you can go to the settings and choose how you want to be notified. You can be notified with a sound (same as the new voicemail sound), an alert (the pop up showed in the image above), and a badge.

Right after installing Gpush, I tried it out by sending an email to myself from my Hotmail account. The push notification came almost instantly, both on my iPhone and my PC. I was really impressed! But notifications don't always come that quickly. I sometimes receive notifications a couple minutes after receiving the email on my PC.

One downside to this app is that you only get notifications of new emails. You don't actually get the email in your inbox. So after receiving a notification, you still have to launch the mail.app and retrieve the email.

Another downside, somewhat bigger, is that these push notifications seem to drain my battery very quickly. I'm not sure about that because I've been way deep in Michigan for a few days with no wifi, only running on Edge, which is notoriously bad for battery. I don't know if it's my constant twittering or my girlfriend playing too much Bejeweled, but it does seem my battery life hasn't been really good since I installed Gpush.

All in all, Gpush is a good and cheap application that does exactly what it's supposed to. However, it can become very annoying if like me, you receive a couple hundred emails a day.

You can download Gpush [iTunes Link] from the App Store for $0.99. I look forward to reading your thoughts about this application.

Weekly iPhone Wrapup: TomTom, Torrents, Yahoo Calendar, Videos, and More…

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Here is a summary of the articles that were posted on the blog this week.

TomTom for iPhone Now Available in the App Store

After making its debuts in New Zealand, Australia, and Europe, the TomTom iPhone app is finally available for download in the App Store.

Your iPhone is spying on you

Some applications available in the App Store are spying on you, tracking your personal data and reporting this information “home”.

Download torrents on your iPhone with Torentula

Ever wanted to download torrents on your iPhone? It is now possible thanks to an application called Torrentula.

How to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone

Until now there was no way to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone calendar but Yahoo wrote a blog post about how to do that over the air.

Edit videos on your iPhone 2G or 3G

Here is a hack that allows you to view the videos you record with Cycorder or VideoRecorder directly in your Camera Roll. Additionally, you can trim the videos, exactly like on an iPhone 3GS.

iPhone Nano into the wild

We took this mini iPhone for a ride at the local Apple Store in San Diego.

iPhone Nano Into the Wild

Sébastien Page ∙ August 22, 2009

That's what my cousin brought back from his last trip in Hong Kong. They proudly call it "i-phone Nano" (not iPhone Nano). The interface is very similar to the iPhone but obviously with much less functionality.

We took this mini iPhone for a ride at the local Apple Store in San Diego. A few people (including a couple Apple employees) really thought it was some type of prototype. It was fun messing with them for a minute...

Edit Videos on Your iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G

Sébastien Page ∙ August 21, 2009

iPhone Download Blog reader kper sent me a very good hack for iPhone 2G or 3G owners who would like to have the same video editing capabilities as the iPhone 3GS. Basically, this allows you to view the videos you record with Cycorder or VideoRecorder directly in your Camera Roll. Additionally, you can trim the videos, exactly like on an iPhone 3GS.

How to Sync Yahoo Calendar With Your iPhone Calendar

Sébastien Page ∙ August 19, 2009

A couple months ago, I wrote an article on how to sync Google calendar with your iPhone calendar. Until now there was no way to sync Yahoo calendar with your iPhone calendar but Yahoo wrote a blog post about how to do that over the air.

It's very simple but it does require you to run the latest 3.0 firmware. It is also important to note that "once you start syncing your Calendar with your iPhone you will be upgraded to Yahoo! Calendar Beta automatically. You will not be able to go back to the old calendar product once this is complete".

How to sync Yahoo calendar with the iPhone:

1. Go to Settings > Mails, Contacts, Calendars >Add Account > Other

2. Tap "Add CalDAV Account"

3 . For the Server settings, simply type "yahoo"

4. Type in your Yahoo! username and password you use to signin to your calendar.

5. Click "Next" and it should verify your information.

6. You're done :)

Next time you open the calendar app on your iPhone, you will be able to choose to view your Yahoo calendar. Every time you will load the yahoo calendar, it will sync over the air.