GeoHot Unlocks iPhone 3.1.2 Baseband 05.11.07 With BlackSn0w

By Sebastien Page on Oct 31, 2009

GeoHot just published a video of the first unlocked iPhone running OS 3.1.2 and baseband 05.11.07 using BlackSn0w. Earlier this week, GeoHot was offered $10,000 to work on the 05.11.07 unlock. Initially, he said it would take him 24 hours. It’s been more than 24 hours but it’s still darn impressive.

BlackSn0w hasn’t been released to the public yet. My guess is that GeoHot is still testing it. BlackSn0w is supposed to work on both the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS and will unlock to any carrier.

We don’t know when BlackSn0w will be released but I’ll sure try to be on top of it and let you guys know.

Are you excited?

 

BlackSn0w is the New iPhone Unlock

By Sebastien Page on Oct 30, 2009

There is good news for those of you who accidentally updated their iPhone to firmware 3.1.2 in iTunes and updated the baseband to 05.11.07. After being offered a bounty of $10,000, GeoHot started working on BlackSn0w, an unlock for the iPhone 3.1.2 baseband 05.11.07, and it seems he’s getting closer to finding a solution.

In a blog post titled “A Heap of Trouble“, GeoHot posted the following image:

If you zoom in the image, you can read this:

hello there, this is geohot
this is the most complicated injection i have ever done, and it uses a public command
… prepare for blacksn0w, although i gotta still figure out this zamboni

GeoHot said on Twitter that BlackSn0w is still ways away so don’t expect it to be released tonight.

When I see how shaky BlackRa1n is, I will probably stay away from BlackSn0w and I will patiently wait for the Dev Team to release an update to UltraSn0w. That’s just me though.

Are you eager to get your hands on BlackSn0w? Will you use BlackSn0w, or like me, will you wait for the Dev Team to release their own iPhone unlock?

 

iTunes 9.0.2 is Out! Safe for Jailbreakers & Unlockers

By Sebastien Page on Oct 29, 2009

iTunes 9.0.2 was released this morning and includes the following features:

  • An improved look and feel, including a new Column Browser for easily browsing your artists or albums, movies, TV shows, and more.
  • iTunes Store has a brand new look, with improved navigation for quick and easy exploration.
  • iTunes LP and iTunes Extras create unique experiences that feature exclusive interviews, videos, photos, and more — available with select album and movie purchases on the iTunes Store.
  • Home Sharing helps you manage your family’s iTunes collection between computers in your home. iTunes can automatically transfer new purchases, or you can choose just the items you want.
  • Genius Mixes are created for you by iTunes and play songs from your library that go great together.
  • iPod and iPhone syncing now allows you to organize your iPhone and iPod touch home screens directly in iTunes. Syncing is now also more flexible, allowing you to sync individual artists, genres, or TV show and Podcast episodes.
  • iTunes U items are now organized into their own section in your iTunes library.
  • Sync with iPod nano (5th generation), iPod classic (Fall 2009), and iPod touch (Fall 2009).

MuscleNerd confirmed that iTunes 9.0.2 won’t interfere with your jailbreak and/or unlock.

 

GriP (Growl for iPhone) Notification Extension for iPhone

By Guest Author on Oct 29, 2009

This is a guest post by Antonio J. If you would like to guest post on this blog, please check out the guidelines.

I absolutely adore my iPhone. However, there are some little details that are increasingly affecting the experience because the UI starts to show its age. I could name the lack of multitasking, or the lack of active content on the lockscreen and/or springboard (no widgets). Or, my main grip, the lack of a decent notification system.

Now that push notification apps are pretty much everywhere, it becomes obvious that the iPhone OS notification system does not cut it anymore. This is something even more blatant when you compare with the elegant and non-obtrusive way WebOS and Android handle notifications.

Jailbreakers however can suffer less with this. GriP (Growl for iPhone), a Project by KennyTM, author of other well known projects like QuickScroll, presents a great alternative to the stock notification system, even on its current beta stage.

Read More

 

GeoHot Working on Unlocking iPhone Baseband 05.11.07 for a $10,000 Bounty

By Sebastien Page on Oct 28, 2009

GeoHot, the little genius behind BlackRa1n is back at work and is reportedly working on an unlock for baseband 05.11.07. Baseband 05.11.07 is the latest baseband version of the iPhone OS 3.1.2 which is not unlockable for the time being.

The Dev Team has been working on unlocking 05.11.07 for a while without much success so let’s hope GeoHot will be a bit more lucky…

There is something that ticks me though. At first GeoHot said he would not work on an unlock for 05.11.07. Fastforward 24 hours later and GeoHot changed his mind when he was offered $10,000 by Jody Sanders to develop an unlock for the latest iPhone OS. Read More

 

Xpandr: Shortcuts Made Easy on the iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Oct 27, 2009

Do you have to enter the same text over and over again on your iPhone? Do you need a reply template for emails? If so, Xpandr is for you.

Xpandr is a shortcut expander for the iPhone / iPod touch. It allows you to define an unlimited number of shortcuts to save time and make your life easier. It works in every application, even on App Store applications.

Let me tell you how beneficial Xpandr is for me

Every day on Twitter people ask me where to get jailbreak information. So every day, several times a day, I have to manually type a tweet containing the following URL: http://www.idownloadblog.com/jailbreak/. Not too complicated, but when you have to do it 8-9 times/day, it gets very annoying.

That’s where Xpandr comes in. Xpandr allows you to create macros, or shortcuts if you prefer. To create a shortcut, simply tell Xpandr what the shortcut is and what the value of this shortcut is.

In our example, my shortcut is !jb (as in jailbreak) and the value of this macro is http://www.idownloadblog.com/jailbreak/

Now if I go to any application on my iPhone and I type !jb, it will automatically insert http://www.idownloadblog.com/jailbreak/.

I also set other shortcuts for !unlock, !signature, and more… This is a real time saver.

Xpandr is available on Cydia for $1.99 and I believe it is worth every penny.

Have you already tried this application? If so, tell me us what you think about it.

 

Tutorial: Jailbreak Your iPhone With BlackRa1n RC2

By Sebastien Page on Oct 26, 2009

GeoHot came up yesterday with an updated version of BlackRa1n called BlackRa1n RC2. This new release supposedly fixes a bunch of issues that some of you may have encountered, especially while trying to jailbreak an iPhone 3G.

This step-by-step guide and tutorial will show you how to use BlackRa1n RC2 to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch, either on a Mac or a PC. This works for all iDevices, except for the iPod Touch 3G. This tutorial was made using an iPhone 3GS but again, it should work on all devices except the iPT3G.

I already wrote a BlackRa1n tutorial and the steps are identical but a few people emailed me or tweeted me asking to write a tutorial for BlackRa1n RC2.

Before we start, you have to understand that BlackRa1n is a jailbreak and jailbreak only. BlackRa1n will not unlock your iPhone. As a matter of fact, if you want to unlock your iPhone, do not use BlackRa1n as it will update the baseband and make it impossible to unlock for the time being.

If you want to unlock your iPhone, I suggest you use PwnageTool. PwnageTool will help you create a custom IPSW that won’t update your baseband, thus allow you to unlock using UltraSn0w.

How to jailbreak your iPhone with BlackRa1n RC2: Read More

 

BlackRa1n RC2 is Out

By Sebastien Page on Oct 25, 2009

It seems that GeoHot was quicker at releasing BlackRa1n RC2 than he thought. Originally, BlackRa1n RC2 was supposed to be out tomorrow but GeoHot said on Twitter that it was already available for download.

According to GeoHot’s blog post:

** Update — RC2 is out **
Fixed 3G issues
Tethered jailbreak for 3.1 OOTB ipt 8GB and new 3GSes
Fixed Icy issues
Both Windows and Mac
If you used RC1, no need to rerun

Hopefully BlackRa1n 2 will fix all these issues…

BlackRa1n RC2 can be downloaded from our iPhone Downloads section. The tutorial to jailbreak your iPhone using BlackRa1n remains the same.

 

Weekly Wrapup: Here Is What You Missed

By Sebastien Page on Oct 25, 2009

In case you missed some this week’s articles…

iPhone in-app purchase scam – The buyer will ultimately be the big loser in this game.

Top 10 Halloween iPhone apps – I though it would be interesting to have a selection of iPhone apps to get you in the Halloween spirit.

Fix for BlackRa1n issues – To fix this annoying issue, simply install the afc2add patch from Cydia then reboot your iPhone.

Copy music from iPhone to computer – I didn’t want to have to buy another license for my netbook so I had to go the good old way about transferring my music to my computer.

Write for the iPhone Download Blog – I’m looking for writers!

Move multiple icons at the same time with MultiIconMover – MultiIconMover allows you to select multiple icons to move them to a different page on your springboard.

BlackRa1n RC2 coming – Ealier today, GeoHot tweeted that he will release a new version of BlackRa1n.

 

BlackRa1n 2 Coming Out

By Sebastien Page on Oct 25, 2009

Ealier today, GeoHot tweeted that he will release a new version of BlackRa1n.

coming tomorrow, #blackra1n RC2!!! fixed 3G support, tethered ipt2 MC and new 3GS support; icy is already fixed

Apparently, BlackRa1n RC2 will fix some of the most annoying issues that many of you (especially iPhone 3G users) have experienced.

I will let you know once BlackRa1n 2 becomes available for download. In the meanwhile, you can still refer to our BlackRa1n tutorial.

 

MultiIconMover: Move Several iPhone Icons at Once

By Sebastien Page on Oct 24, 2009

MultiIconMover is one of those applications that should not exist. Why? Simply because they are so good that Apple should have implemented them into the iPhone OS. Yes, that’s how good I think MultiIconMover is.

This app is very simple yet very practical. It allows you to select multiple icons to move them to a different page on your springboard. So instead of moving your icons one at a time, you can select many of them and move them all at once wherever you want.

MultiIconMover is a mod, not really an application per say, so you won’t find an icon for it after installing the application. Follow these steps to get MultiIconMover into action

  • Simply tap and hold your finger on an application until they all start wiggling.
  • Then select all the icons you want to move and a little red checkmark will appear (see image above).
  • Now move to a different page and hit the “home” button.
  • Done! Your icons will be moved to the selected page.
  • Hit the home button one more time and the icons will stop wiggling.

This is definitely a faster way to move your icons around the springboard.

MultiIconMover is available for free in the App Store. No, I’m kidding. It’s on Cydia…

What do you think of this mod?

 

Do You Want to Be a Guest Author for the iPhone Download Blog?

By Sebastien Page on Oct 23, 2009

You already read this blog, now you can help make it better!

This blog has grown to a very large audience of passionate iPhone users. Instead of keeping the blog closed up and just focused on my experience and views about the iPhone, I want to open it to all of you and let you share your opinions, your rants, and your point of view of anything you want.

You have the opportunity to have your words published on the blog for the rest of the readers to see. You want it?

What kind of content am I looking for?

Anything related to the iPhone. I prefer topics centered around jailbreaking the iPhone, but anything from news to app reviews will work if it’s well written.

Guidelines

  • Your articles have to be written in good English
  • Your article must be original and must have never been published before on the Internet
  • You agree to not publish the post anywhere else (i.e., in your own blog or as a guest post in other blogs)
  • It’s better if your articles have been spell-checked before being submitted
  • Please include a few images
  • You can include up to two links in the byline, which will be displayed at the bottom of the post

How to submit your articles

You may email me your articles including images at Seb [AT] iPhone Download Blog.com. I will review the post and let you know if we could publish it or the site or not.

Thank you for your interest :)

 

How to Transfer Music From iPhone to Computer

By Sebastien Page on Oct 22, 2009

Lately, I have been working on getting my iPhone ready for our long trip beginning in about a week. I started a few weeks ago by moving my contacts and calendars to the cloud with Google Sync. The next step was to move some of my music from my computer to my netbook.

I could just sync my iPhone before leaving and load it up with music but if something wrong happened (ie if I had to restore), I would lose all my music, which is why I think it is wise to move the music I want to my netbook.

There are many iPhone to PC softwares out there. My favorite is Lenogo (for Mac and PC). I use it on my everyday computer to copy music from iPhone to computer. Tansee is another solution but I like the UI of Lenogo better.

All these softwares cost money though and I didn’t want to have to buy another license for my netbook so I had to go the good old way about transferring my music to my computer. Read More

 

How to Solve iFunBox, iPhoneBrowser, DiskAid, and WinterBoard Issues After Using BlackRa1n

By Sebastien Page on Oct 21, 2009

After jailbreaking using BlackRa1n, you may be facing an issue where you can’t access the root folder of your iPhone using tools such as iFunBox, DiskAid, and iPhoneBrowser. Some users also report issues when using WinterBoard. I said it and I’ll say it again, BlackRa1n is crappy. If you have the option, I recommend using PwnageTool instead. It is a much more reliable and stable jailbreak than BlackRa1n.

The problem comes from the fact that BlackRa1n doesn’t add the afc2 support to your iPhone that is necessary for iPhoneBrowser, iFunBox, and DiskAid to access the file system and allow the transfer of files such as Winterboard  themes, NES ROMs, etc…  to the iPhone. In other words, you can’t access the root partition of your drive.

To fix this annoying issue, simply install the afc2add patch from Cydia then reboot your iPhone. Done!

Have you had many issues with BlackRa1n? Let us know what you think about this jailbreak by leaving a comment below.

 

Top 10 Halloween iPhone Apps

By Sebastien Page on Oct 20, 2009

There are a few hundreds Halloween iPhone apps in the App Store and with October 31st coming up, I though it would be interesting to have a selection of iPhone apps to get you in the Halloween spirit.

These apps are not ranked in any specific order. I just went to our online App Store, searched for Halloween apps for iPhone, and sorted them by ratings. Then I handpicked 10 that seem to have lots of potential. Read More

 

iPhone In-App Purchase: You Are the Big Loser

By Sebastien Page on Oct 19, 2009

Last week Apple started authorizing in-app purchase for free iPhone apps. This move was very well welcome by developers who see in this a better way to fight app piracy. I personally don’t think in-app purchase will change much to app piracy, but I might be wrong.

I am sure of one thing though: you, the buyer will ultimately be the big loser in this game. Let’s take the example of an iPhone game. Before in-app purchase, you would buy the game for let’s say $2.99. You own the game and the 40 levels it includes. If there are new updates to the game (ie. new levels), you get them for free. It’s all good.

Now with in-app purchase, most developers will give you the same game for free, except it only has 2 levels. If you want 10 more levels, it will cost you $0.99. Another 10 more levels is another $0.99. Another 10 more levels is another $0.99, etc…

So instead of paying $2.99 for the full game, you now have to pay $0.99 at a time to get the upgrades or newer levels. In the end, the full game will end up costing you more than you would have paid if you had purchased the game in one shot.

I understand not all developers will go that way but I’m pretty sure a lot of them will.

What do you think about in-app purchase? Do you think that ultimately, the buyer will benefit from this? I look forward to hearing your thoughts…

 

Weekly Wrapup: Jailbreak & Unlock Tutorials, and Much More…

By Sebastien Page on Oct 18, 2009

This is a recap of this week’s articles…

BlackRa1n is NOT the greatest jailbreak ever – If you think BlackRa1n is the best, you probably were not around when iPhone OS 1.1.1 could be jailbroken directly from your iPhone.

PwnageTool updated for iPhone 3.1.2 – This updated version of PwnageTool now supports the iPhone and iPod Touch OS 3.1.2.

iPhone 3G and 3GS PwnageTool tutorial – This step-by-step guide and tutorial will show you how to jailbreak your iPhone 3G or 3GS OS 3.1.2 using PwnageTool 3.1.4 for Mac OS X.

Jailbreak /unlock iPhone 2G PwnageTool tutorial – A a step-by-step guide and tutorial that shows you how to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone 2G 3.1.2 using PwnageTool for Mac OS X.

BlackRa1n for Mac – GeoHot announced the release of BlackRa1n for Mac.

Jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2 – This article is a summary of the options you have to jailbreak your iPhone 3.1.2 depending on your model.

Unlock iPhone 3.1.2 – This article is a summary of the different options you have to unlock your iPhone, iPhone 3G, or iPhone 3GS running 3.1.2.

Future iPhones will be jailbreak-proof? – Apple decided to give some hard time to jailbreakers by fixing the 24Kpwn exploit on the iPhone 3GS bootrom, which is the exploit that allows you to jailbreak your iPhone.

10 iPhone apps to save the planet – A selection of green iPhone apps.

In-app purchase and piracy – To me, in-app purchase will not kill iPhone apps piracy.

Orbit for iPhone – Orbit brings you an instant way to switch between pages on your home screen.

 

Orbit (Previously Expose) is Now Available on Jailbroken iPhones

By Sebastien Page on Oct 17, 2009

There has been a lot of noise recently about a concept called Expose (see video below). Today, Expose is more than a concept and it has officially become an application renamed Orbit for the occasion.

Orbit brings you an instant way to switch between pages on your home screen. Based on the “iPhone Expose” concept, this modification gives you an icon that, when tapped, animates your home page into Orbit.

The app was created by Steven Troughton-Smith, the developer of Stack. If you have a Mac, you might even be familiar with the concept as Orbit is pretty much like Spaces on the Mac.

Orbit is available from Cydia for $1.99. I haven’t downloaded the application has I wouldn’t make any use of it (I don’t have many apps installed) but I know there are a lot of people out there who were patiently waiting for the release of this app.

 

Will In-App Purchase Kill iPhone Apps Piracy?

By Sebastien Page on Oct 16, 2009

Yesterday the news fell that Apple was finally allowing free iPhone apps to include in-app purchases. Until then, developers who wanted to offer a free trial of their applications had to create 2 versions: a full-featured paid version, and a “lite” stripped-down version with very basic features.

The news was very well welcome, especially by developers who see in this new system a chance to reduce application piracy. Two articles got my attention yesterday as they were insinuating that in-app purchase for free apps was the end of piracy.

From MobileCrunch:

Here’s the trick: while you can crack an iPhone application and throw it up for all to download in a matter of seconds, you can’t fake an In-App purchase receipt. A pretty notable chunk of the In-App purchase process is actually handled on the developer’s server, in addition to Apple’s – so unlike the initial purchase (which devs actually get to know very, very little about), developers know pretty damn well exactly which iPhones should be running which In-App Purchase. Developers have a specific receipt for each in-app purchase, which resides on their server. Faking this would be like tricking Amazon into shipping you a TV that you didn’t pay for.

From TUAW:

“Will this help in anti-piracy measures?” Definitely. StoreKit allows developers to validate receipts, ensuring that unlock codes are only sent to paying customers. Add a hash-check algorithm for the current device and developers have better control over who gets to use their applications.

I am not much of a technical person (“StoreKit” and “hash-check algorithm” sound like Chinese to me) but I really doubt that in-app purchase is the end of piracy. If anything, it’s going to start a new era of iPhone app piracy.

To crack an application, you first have to download it. So let’s say I’m a cracker, I download the app, I pay for the in-app purchase that “unlocks” the full-featured app. Now that I have everything, I just need to crack the application and make it available to the general public.

Nothing changes. Maybe the way I crack the application changes. Maybe I have to bypass a few new protections like the StoreKit thing, but in the end, if I have the full application to work on, there will always be a way to trick the app into thinking it is legit.

So to me, in-app purchase will not kill iPhone apps piracy. At best, it will slow it down and instead of getting the cracked version of XYZgame in 2 hours after the release, I’ll get it in 3 hours. At the end of the day, you still get your cracked app.

As I said above, I’m not technical at all and I might be missing something here. I’m interested in hearing what you have to say about it. Do you think in-app purchase will put an end to iPhone app piracy? Why? How? Leave a comment to share your views.

 

10 iPhone Apps to Save the Planet

By Sebastien Page on Oct 15, 2009

I don’t know if you guys are aware of it but today is Blog Action Day, an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The goal is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion about important issues. This year’s topic is climate change so we selected a few applications that will help you lower your environmental impact on our planet.

iLocavore

iLocavore (download for free) will be your mobile tool for finding locally grown foods and locally made products at home and on the road. Never get stuck shopping at the big box stores or the giant chain restaurants again. You will always be able to find the independent retailer, the farmers’ market, the restaurant that supports local farms. Really experience the local scene when you travel, and easily support your local economy, local farmers, artisan producers, and independent retailers while at home.

Carticipate

Save money on gas while helping the environment by carticipating with friends, family, groups, or co-workers. Coordinate driving plans, carpool, or a ride share by indicating where you are going, when, and post your ride. The app will match you to local carticipants going your way. Carticipate (download for free) is also available on Facebook, for those friends of yours unfortunate enough not to have an iPhone and want to rideshare.

iRecycle

iRecycle (download for free) makes it easy to access over 100,000 recycling and disposal locations for over 200 materials anywhere in the United States. Find places to drop-off your old cell phone, get directions and find out what else they accept. With information provided by local governments, industry insiders, organizations and everyday consumers, you can recycle hundreds of products from packing peanuts to computers.

Carbon Tracker

Carbon Tracker (download for free) enables you to manage your personal carbon footprint from commuting, vacations, or business trips. Use the iPhone GPS feature to determine the approximate distance of each leg of your trip, select the mode of transportation, and let Carbon Tracker calculate your carbon footprint. Set monthly maximum footprint goals, and play an important role in helping to reduce carbon emissions globally.

greenMeter

greenMeter (download for $5.99) is an app that computes your vehicle’s power and fuel usage characteristics and evaluates your driving to increase efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and cost, and lower your environmental impact. If you’re into hypermiling or eco-driving, want to make your transportation more efficient, or are simply interested in maintaining a green lifestyle, give greenMeter a try! It pays for itself within 1-2 tanks of gas.

Green Outlet

One of the easiest ways to save money is to reduce your electric use and while you save money on your bill your also helping save the environment. Green Outlet (download for $2.99) helps you identify which of your household appliances are costing you the most to run so you can make informed decisions about your electric use. By selecting the types of appliances you use in your home and entering how many hours of use per day for each green outlet will give you a detailed list of what your appliances are costing you and will show you how to save money.

GenGreenTips

Many people are dedicated to going green on Earth Day, but we believe making small changes are the way to take better care of the planet every day! GenGreenTips (download for free) will suggest a Green Tip of the Day that you can use to decrease the environmental impact of your daily routine in a small, but significant way.

AllOrganic

Want to eat healthy and naturally? Want to help reduce the negative impact that we have on the environment? Find it difficult to locate and find establishments that sell & serve organic and local foods? Then AllOrganic (download for $0.99) is for you. AllOrganic is a green resource for people who want to eat healthy, and eat organic in the city you live in, or while traveling.

Cruelty-Free

Published by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics’ (CCIC) Leaping Bunny Program, Cruelty-Free (download for free) is a shopping guide that lists over 200 U.S. and Canadian companies that do not test ingredients, formulations, or finished products on animals. The Leaping Bunny Program certifies that no new animal testing is used, so you can be confident about your cruelty-free choices.

GoodGuide

GoodGuide (download for free) helps you find safe, healthy, and green products while you’re shopping in the store. GoodGuide strives to provide the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies. This app makes it fast and easy to get the information you need, to help you make better decisions on everyday purchases based on what’s important to you.

Do you use green apps? Let us know in the comments…

 
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