How to Prepare Your iPhone or iPad for the Spirit Jailbreak

By Sebastien Page on Apr 30, 2010

Even though Comex delayed the release of Spirit, we know that we’re just a few days away from the official release date. Spirit will sure be able to jailbreak your iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but the exploit used will most likely be patched in a matter of days by Apple.

To protect yourself in the event of an “accidental upgrade” to a newer firmware which would make you lose your jailbreak, you will have to save your SHSH blobs.

What is SHSH and why save them?

Taimur gave us a pretty good description of what SHSH are and why they are important:

“So first up, what exactly is SHSH blob or ECID SHSH? Well, it is basically is a unique signature which is checked against Apple servers whenever you decide to restore the firmware on any of your iDevice (iPhone, iPad and iPod touch). Once a new firmware is released, Apple stops signing the older firmware, hence making it impossible to restore back to the older firmware from iTunes.

Now to “why is it important to save SHSH blob”: The creator of Cydia has setup a new server which basically mimics Apple’s verification server and can save your older signature (SHSH blob) so that you can downgrade or restore back to the older firmware. This is important because if you don’t have your SHSH blob saved, and accidentally update to new firmware, you’ll loose your jailbreak and furthermore, you wont be able to downgrade back to older firmware to re-jailbreak your device.”

The Dev Team warned us yesterday about the consequences and gave us simple directions on how to save our SHSH. There are 3 ways to do that:

  1. If your iPhone is already jailbroken, you can save your SHSH on Saurik’s server.
  2. If you’re not jailbroken yet (ie. you have an iPad), you can use Firmware Umbrella to create a local copy of your SHSH blobs
  3. As an alternative to Firmware Umbrella, you can use autoSHSH

Note that saving or backing up your SHSH blobs is not vital or mandatory. It’s just a safety step that will allow you to restore or downgrade should something go wrong in the future.

Read More

 

Spirit Jailbreak Release Delayed

By Sebastien Page on Apr 29, 2010

I don’t know if it’s just a bad joke but Comex, the developer behing the userland jailbreak Spirit, just said on Twitter that he was delaying the release of this new jailbreak.

This decision came after Comex read a year old article about how quick Apple was at patching a security hole in firmware 3.0.

If true, this piece of news is a a huge let down. Everyone was really waiting for Spirit to be released. I fail to understand the logic behind this decision. Whatever date the jailbreak will be released, there will always be the risk of Apple patching the firmware at some point.

Cross your fingers! Maybe Comex is just playing with our nerves… How do you feel about that?

 

How to Remove Cydia Ads

By Sebastien Page on Apr 29, 2010

Sure ads in Cydia are the bread and butter of underground developers, but sometimes ads can just be a little too intrusive or overwhelming. Worse, it can alter the whole user experience by slowing down the performances of Cydia.

Our buddy over at FSM found a nice way to get rid of the ads in Cydia. If you want to increase Cydia’s performance, this simple hack is for you.

SSH into your iDevice and browse to /Applications/Cydia/ and create two copies of package.js computer ( one is your backup and you will edit the other one ) . Inside that file search for var depiction = package.depiction .

Edit that line so that  depiction = package.depiction will become depiction = null .

Now save the file and copy it back to /Applications/Cydia/ , overwriting the original one. That’s it. Now restart Cydia and enjoy.

Pretty simple, isn’t it? If you like this hack, make sure to thank @MurdaFSM on Twitter.

 

Spirit Jailbreak for iPhone,iPad and iPod Touch Coming Tomorrow

By Sebastien Page on Apr 29, 2010

A few weeks ago I was telling you about Spirit, a new userland jailbreak by Comex that would supposedly jailbreak all iPhones and iPod Touch 3.1.3, no matter what model, as well as the iPad 3.1.2.

After a month of painful wait, the official realease date finally came from Comex himself. When someone asked him on Twitter when we could expect his Spirit jailbreak to be released, Comex said “Friday”.

It is pretty unclear what Spirit will look like. It was originally believed to be a browser-based jailbreak like jailbreakme.com but Chpwn confirmed a few hours ago that Spirit doesn’t work out of a browser. He also made it clear that Spirit will work for the latest firmware of the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.

That is indeed good news for some of us who “accidentally” updated to 3.1.3 and got stuck without a jailbreak. It’s important to note that Spirit is a jailbreak only. It will not unlock your iPhone! There is no word about a 3.1.3 iPhone unlock and if I were you, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I suspect we won’t see a 3.1.3 unlock until iPhone OS 4 is released in a few weeks.

If you’re going to be using Spirit for your iDevice, MuscleNerd recommended NOT to update iTunes to the latest 9.1.1 version. According to MuscleNerd, iTunes can detect Spirit and remove it, so make sure you stay away from this “update” button.

I just got my iPad and I was feeling really miserable without all my jailbreak apps. I’m glad I’m going to be able to take full advantage of this beautiful device as soon as I jailbreak it with Spirit.

What about you? Are you excited?

 

What The Heck Is Going On Here?

By Sebastien Page on Apr 29, 2010

Dear iPhone Download Blog reader,

Over the past few months, I’ve been receiving a few emails, tweets, and comments from some of you complaining about the site. Your main concerns seem to be that what I write about is not new to you (ie. you’ve seen it on other blogs before) and that the topics covered are somewhat boring.

In this post today, I would like to acknowledge your concerns and explain myself to you.

I take it as my responsibility to update the blog at least once a day. No matter what happens, there is always something new on the blog every single day. You make me the honor to visit my site and I want to give you something fresh every time you come. That’s my goal, and for the last 12 months, I haven’t failed once to deliver one article a day.

My fiancee and I have been traveling through South East Asia for the last 6 months. We went to countries like Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, and believe me, it’s not always easy to find Internet in some of these countries. Besides there is a time difference of about 10-14 hours, which means that when you go to sleep, I usually get up, and vice versa.

The point I’m trying to make is that it’s been incredibly challenging for me to keep up with the news and find the time to blog about it. Traveling is exhausting, and it’s rarely convenient for me to pull out my laptop and write about stuff, especially when I’m sick like I’ve been for over a month now.

I understand that this is not your problem. You come here to get the latest news, hacks, and info and again, it is my responsibility to give you what you come here for. I just want you to know that I haven’t given up on the blog, that I am very well aware that it hasn’t been as good as it was, and that I do take your concerns very seriously.

Today, I would like to ask you to bear with me for another few weeks. I’m currently in France and it seems it should be a little easier for me here but the blog will not be back to 100% until I go back to the States in a month and a half.

I’m sorry if I haven’t delivered to your expectations. Instead of keeping this on the down low, I thought it’d be better for me to explain what’s going on and be completely honest with you.

I value you as a reader/commenter/online friend and the last thing I want is to disappoint you. I am sorry if I have and I can promise you that things will be back to normal soon. As a matter of fact, things will be even better than it ever was soon!

Thank you for reading, and thank you for caring enough to let me know when I underdeliver. Your opinion is important to me and I will always respect your views.

Yours truly,

Sebastien

 

Snappy: the Fastest Camera App for iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Apr 28, 2010

Have you ever missed a great picture because your iPhone camera app was to slow to launch? If so, then read on because Snappy might be the answer to your frustration.

Snappy is a jailbreak app available from Cydia that allows you to quicky launch the camera app simply by tapping and holding the status bar.

Look at this demo to see how Snappy works.

Snappy is the kind of app that makes me wonder why Apple hasn’t implemented this yet. I mean, it’s pretty basic, yet very useful.

Have you tried Snappy yet? What’s your take on it?

 

30 iPhone Experts to Follow on Twitter

By Sebastien Page on Apr 27, 2010

I am often asked on Twitter who people should follow for good iPhone information. I thought it would be useful to create a list of my favorite iPhone people on Twitter. You may follow all these people in one click by following my iPhone List on Twitter.

I included myself on this list but you’re already following me on Twitter, right?

30 iPhone People to Follow on Twitter

  1. MacRumors
  2. Gizmodo
  3. Just Another iPhone Blog
  4. Simple Reviews
  5. iSmashPhone
  6. Apple Insider
  7. The Unofficial Apple Weblog
  8. Apple iPhone School
  9. TiPB
  10. iPhone Alley
  11. Mac World
  12. iPhone in Canada
  13. iPhone Savior
  14. iPhone Hacks
  15. FSMdotCOM
  16. iPhone CTO
  17. KRAPPS
  18. The App Era
  19. Simon Blog
  20. 9 to 5 Mac
  21. iClarified
  22. iPhone Dev Team
  23. MuscleNerd
  24. ziPhoneApps
  25. iEvoluti0n
  26. Mod My i
  27. AppAdvice
  28. Appy
  29. Sebastien Page
  30. iPhone in Canada

If you have people you’d like to see on this list, please add their Twitter username in the comments.

 

GeoHot: I Have So Much To Finish Before I Work On The Jailbreak

By Sebastien Page on Apr 26, 2010

Yesterday I was telling you about LimeRa1n, a new potential jailbreak by GeoHot for all iPhones and iPod Touch. It seems that many people have gotten in touch with GeoHot by phone or even by showing up at his house (this info can be found in the whois records of his websites), asking for the jailbreak.

Apparently, and for obvious reasons, GeoHot wasn’t particularly pleased, and I guess he’s growing tired of people bugging him about a new jailbreak.

He made this clear today by saying on Twitter that we shouldn’t be expecting a jailbreak from him anytime soon.

What do you guys think of all this? Do you think he’s trying to mislead us to surprise us better soon? Or is he just not working on a jailbreak after all?

 

How to Install Android On iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Apr 26, 2010

Last week I posted about iPhone hacker PlanetBeing who successfully installed Android on an iPhone 2G. For those of you who would like to replicate this hack, Android A Lot has written a very detailed tutorial on how to install Android on an iPhone 2G.

Installing Android on a jailbroken iPhone is not for the faint of heart. It involves quite a few steps and if you don’t have basic technical knowledge, I suggest you stay away from it. If you think you’re up to the task, then head over to Android A Lot to read the detailed tutorial.

Additionally, you might find this video guide to installing Android on iPhone pretty useful. Note that this hack is for iPhone 2G only. As usual when messing around hacks live this one, understand you’re doing this at your own risks.

If you decide to install Android on your iPhone, please share the results with us in the comments.

 

LimeRa1n: A New Jailbreak-It-All By Geohot

By Sebastien Page on Apr 26, 2010

A few weeks after teasing us with a video showing an untethered jailbreak for all devices, an iPad jailbreak and an iPhone 4.0 jailbreak, GeoHot is now rumored to be releasing a new jailbreak called LimeRa1n in the next few days.

The rumor started when iHackinTosh got tipped about a new website called LimeRa1n.com. After checking the whois info, it appears that registrant info for both LimeRa1n and BlackRa1n is in the name and address of GeoHot.

The questions on everybody’s lips is now when will GeoHot release LimeRa1n and what device will it allow to jailbreak? LimeRa1n should be available in the next few days and it should work on all devices, including the iPhone and iPod Touch 3.1.3, as well as the iPad.

A jailbreak for these devices has been around for a while now but they’ve never been released in order to prevent Apple to patch the exploits in a future OS update.

While, LimeRa1n has no set release date, you can still jailbreak you iPhone with BlackRa1n, PwnageTool, and RedSn0w.

Excited about LimeRa1n?

UPDATE: LimeRa1n is making the headlines again. Check our LimeRa1n page for all the latest information about this jailbreak.

UPDATE 2: LimeRa1n jailbreak for iOS 4.1 released.

 

iPhone News You Missed This Week

By Sebastien Page on Apr 25, 2010

This is a summary of the articles that were posted on iDB this past week.

 

Mini Review: Reeder 2 For iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Apr 24, 2010

A few months ago I wrote about the best RSS readers for iPhone. At the time, Byline was my favorite, even though it was missing a couple important features such as being able to share articles on Twitter.

The Byline app description in the App Store has been saying for months they are working on version 3 which will add tons of new features. Turns out they “worked on it” for so long that someone else outdid them.

My new favorite iPhone RSS reader is Reeder 2. I’m not going to get too much into details but I’d rather give a short and sweet review of it.

Pros:

  • Easy to use and well thought UI
  • It is incredibly fast. Items sync in just seconds
  • Ability to share on Twitter
  • Ability to save to Delicious
  • Quickly “star” an item
  • Easily browse starred, new or all items

Cons:

  • I don’t really like the light-colored UI
  • I wish it gave a larger preview of items

See, many pros and very few cons. Reeder definitely took over the Byline spot in my iPhone dock. If you’re in the market for an RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader, then give Reeder a try. At $2.99, it is the best RSS reader for iPhone you can get.

 

Android On The iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Apr 23, 2010

Dev Team member PlanetBeing successfully ported a debug version of Android to an iPhone 2G.

The iPhone is set up with a dual-boot configuration. At the beginning of the video, you can see it running iPhone OS, but then PlanetBeing successfully boots Linux of his iPhone. This video shows the full boot process and PlanetBeing using Android for Internet browsing, text messaging, etc…

On his blog, PlanetBeing says:

It should be pretty simple to port forward to the iPhone 3G. The 3GS will take more work. Hopefully with all this groundwork laid out, we can make Android a real alternative or supplement for iPhone users. Maybe we can finally get Flash. ;)

Feel like having Android run on your iPhone too? You can download the pre-built images and sources here. I suggest you do not try this unless you really know what you’re doing.

Anyone will give this a shot?

 

17 Pink iPhone Themes for Women

By Sebastien Page on Apr 22, 2010

Is your girlfriend’s iPhone a little boring? Then spice it up with this selection of 17 pink iPhone themes for women, or for men with very girlie tastes…

All these pink iPhone themes are available from Cydia and are for use with WinterBoard. Needless to say that you have to jailbreak your iPhone before being able to install any of these themes. Read More

 

Apple Drops The J-Word (Jailbreaking)

By Sebastien Page on Apr 21, 2010

“This article is about adverse issues experienced by customers who have made unauthorized modifications to the iPhone OS (this hacking process is often called “jailbreaking”). Issues that have been encountered include instability, disruption of services, and compromised security.”

This is the summary of a new support document posted on Apple’s website last week. I don’t know if you noticed but they clearly used the word “jailbreaking”. This is a first!

The document goes on and on about how bad bad bad bad bad jailbreaking is for your device. According to Apple, there are 6 main issues encountered by proud owners of jailbroken iPhones.

As much as I would like to prove Apple wrong, I have to admit that they are right on most of these issues:

Device and application instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.

Unreliable voice and data: Dropped calls, slow or unreliable data connections, and delayed or inaccurate location data.

Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, YouTube, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as MobileMe and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.

Compromised security: Security compromises have been introduced by these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information, damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or viruses.

Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch on a single battery charge.

Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to the iPhone OS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone OS update is installed.

What Apple failed to mention is how awesome jailbreaking is! For those of you still on the fence, you may want to learn more about what jailbreaking is, and what the reasons for jailbreaking are. If you’ve already jailbroken, check out the best jailbreak apps and add your favorite to the list.

 

Survey Confirms The iPhone Is A Chick Magnet

By Sebastien Page on Apr 21, 2010

I just read on TechCrunch about a new survey of 1,500 women that found that men with iPhones are more attractive to women. The survey, which was conducted by a UK mobile retailer, reveals that 54% of them would be more likely to date a man if he owns an iPhone.

This somewhat useless information comes a year after another survey that had found that iPhone owners are younger, richer, and smarter than others. What the survey failed to reveal though, is whether or not an iPhone 3GS owner is hotter than an iPhone 2G owner.

I’m very skeptical about the serious of this survery but I’d still like to hear your thoughts about it.

 

The “Next iPhone” Debacle: How It All Happened

By Sebastien Page on Apr 20, 2010

Are you feeling a little confused about how and when this whole lost next iPhone story happened? Yeah, me too… Here is a short and sweet wrapup for you:

February 21: A kid posts on TwitPic what seems to be leaked pictures of the next iPhone. He says: “I found this photo while doing a twitter search for “iPhone 4G”, and found this pic and saved this photo from a pic uploaded by a chinese tweeter.” No one will really see or hear about these pictures until they were confirmed real by Gizmodo a couple months later.

March 18: Gray Powell, a young Apple software engineer walks into a bar in San Jose, most likely gets drunk and forgets a prototype of the next iPhone. On the same night someone finds this phone that appears to be an iPhone 3GS. From what he can tell, the iPhone is running a new OS (most likely OS 4).

March 19: The guy who found the iPhone wakes up and looks at the new iPhone and realizes it’s been killed. Nothing but the “plug to iTunes” logo shows on the phone. The phone has been remotely wiped off by Apple. He then notices there is something wrong with this iPhone. It takes it out of the case and realizes it is actually a prototype.

April 17: A month after the supposed next iPhone was lost and found, Engadget gets the first scoop and scores some pictures of it. Some say it’s a fake. I’m one of those skepticals.

April 18: Engadget gives more proofs it’s for real. In the same time, John Gruber talks to some of his sources at Apple and confirms the theory of the lost iPhone.

April 19: Gizmodo allegedly paid between $5,000 and $10,000 to get their hands on the device. They took it apart and ran a full review of it. At this point, there is absolutely no doubt that this is indeed the next iPhone.

On the same day, Gruber publishes a new post to clarify that Apple didn’t “lose” the iPhone, but that it got stolen. If you ask me, I believe it was indeed lost but they call it stolen so they can get it back quicker.

Apparently during the day, Steve Jobs himself called Gizmodo and asked them to give them back the lost/stolen iPhone. Gizmodo asks for a proper written request. Later that day, they receive an email from Apple’s General Counsel asking for the phone back. Gizmodo agrees.

What Now?

Is everything going to be back to normal again? I doubt it. For one, Gray Powell, the dude who lost the phone, probably lost his job at the same time. Knowing the ruthlessness of Steve Jobs, dude is most likely not going to find a job in the Silicon Valley for the next 50 years. Does he deserve this? Well, yes and no. Gray’s loss of the iPhone lead to the biggest leak in history of Apple’s products and if you’re going to be so stupid to lose such an important thing, you do deserve to be fired. At any rates, it sucks to be him right now…

There is also the ethical issue. Was it ok for Gizmodo to buy this lost/stolen iPhone when they could have helped return it to Apple instead. Blogs are trashing Gizmodo right now for publishing all this. I think Gizmodo did what everybody would have done in the same situation. Heck, were they supposed to keep all this info for themselves? No, they’re a tech blog, that’s what they do for a living. One thing is sure though, they should prepare themselves to face a UTSA lawsuit…

Where Gizmodo was wrong was when they gave more details about Gray Powell, the guy who lost the phone. This was a very shitty move from Giz to put this poor guy on the spot like they did by putting his name out there.

What do you think of this whole situation? Are you glad you got an early sneak peek at the next iPhone? Do you believe Gizmodo was wrong in buying the device? Do you agree they completely screwed things up by revealing the identity of Apple’s employee? I look forward to reading your thoughts.

 

This Is The Next iPhone

By Sebastien Page on Apr 19, 2010

A few days ago, Gizmodo received the pictures of what was supposed to be the next iPhone. We see these all the time and when I read that this iPhone had been found in a bar in San Jose, I completely disregarded the rumor.

Gizmodo happened to actually get their hands on the device and decided to take it apart. Against all odds, it turns out that looking at the “guts” of the device, it seems extremely likely that this is indeed the next iPhone.

Why, will you ask, why should we believe this is the next iPhone and not some crap fake from China? Well, according to Giz, the proofs are pretty strong:

  1. According to Gruber, it’s been reported lost
  2. The screen resolution seems much better than the iPhone 3GS
  3. According to the person who found it, it was running OS 4.0
  4. It is recognized as an iPhone when you plug it in iTunes
  5. Finally, the definitive proof is the Apple-branded components which can hardly be faked

What’s new in this iPhone?

  • a brand new and slick design
  • a front-facing camera
  • an improved back camera
  • camera flash
  • an improved screen display
  • Micro-SIM (like the iPad 3G) instead of the standard SIM
  • 3 grams heavier than the iPhone 3GS
  • the battery is 16% bigger than the 3GS

There is much more to it and I really suggest you check out Gizmodo‘s coverage for all the details, pictures and videos.

You know that I’m always tough on Apple, usually being really critical but if this is indeed the new iPhone, I believe it is going to blow our mind as Apple is finally giving us the hardware we’ve wanted for a while.

What do you think?

 

iPad 3G Ships By May 7 In The US

By Sebastien Page on Apr 19, 2010

It’s now official, the iPad 3G will be ship in the US by May 7th, according to Apple’s website. It’s interesting to note that even though Apple hadn’t been specific on a launch date back when they introduced the iPad, they did say it would launch 90 days after January 27. In short, they’re late, but not really…

I know I’m not buying an iPad 3G. Why would I pay extra for 3G when I can simply tether my iPhone and share its 3G with my iPad? But at $130 more than the wifi-only version, I don’t think it’s a bad deal.

What I really like about it too is the flexibility of the 3G data plan. You choose the amount of data per month you want to buy (250MB at $14.99, or unlimited data at $29.99).

“Best of all, there’s no contract. So if you have a business trip or vacation approaching, just sign up for the month you’ll be traveling and cancel when you get back. You don’t need to visit a store to get 3G service. You can sign up, check your data usage, manage your account, or cancel your service — all from your iPad.”

There’s still no official launch date in other countries. For more information, check out Apple’s website.

 

iPhone News You Missed This Week

By Sebastien Page on Apr 18, 2010

Here is your weekly recap, in case you missed any of the articles that were published on the blog this past week.

 
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