If the name Rainn Wilson doesn’t ring a bell, maybe you will recognize Dwight Shrute, the character he plays in the hit series The Office. A few days ago he posted this picture of his iPhone email inbox. Quite hilarious!
iPad Data Cost All Around the World [Hint: the US is Very Expensive]
By Sebastien Page on Jul 31, 2010
The guys over at Tableau Software created this interesting chart that shows data cost for the iPad 3G in every country that currently carries the iPad. As you can see there is a huge gap between the cheapest (Singapore) and the most expensive one (France).
The US is one of the most expensive countries in term of iPad 3G data. However if you’re one of the few people who were grandfathered in the unlimited plan for $30, you have a pretty good deal.
[Gizmodo]
SpringFlash: the First Jailbreak App for iPhone 4 Only
By Sebastien Page on Jul 31, 2010
With the iPhone 4 jailbreak to be released soon, BigBoss has created a jailbreak application dedicated to this device only. The app is called SpringFlash and like the name suggests, it is an application that takes advantage of the iPhone 4 LED Flash to serve as a flashlight.
SpringFlash will be a Springboard Activator-based application which means you will have to use Activator to define a gesture or activation method to launch the app (ie “tap and hold the status bar). Since it is Activator-based, the great advantage of SpringFlash is that you won’t have to look for the app icon to launch it when you need it.
I’d like to say that I have tried SpringFlash but since there is now iPhone 4 jailbreak yet, that would be a lie…
SpringFlash will be available under the BigBoss repo for free. Now we just need a jailbreak!
[BigBoss]
Winners of the BodyGuardz Screen Protectors Giveaway
By Sebastien Page on Jul 30, 2010
And the winners of the BodyGuardz screen protectors giveaway are ThaSickness and Swiftman. You 2 should check your inbox as I will be emailing you soon to ask for your mailing address.
I went through all the comments you guys left and I have to admit it was kind of a hard pick. Man, someone even offered to give “sexual favors” if I chose her. Tough choices, hey? haha. More seriously, I actually randomly chose the 2 winners.
To everyone who entered to win, thanks for participating, and stay tuned because we’ll have more of these giveaways in the near future.
OpenAppMkt is a New App Store Alternative [No Jailbreak Required]
By Sebastien Page on Jul 30, 2010
OpenAppMkt is a new App Store alternative that takes full advantage of iPhone web apps, which means that no jailbreak is required.
Remember when the iPhone first came out and Steve was praising those web apps? Well OpenAppMkt gathered some of them and packed them up in a nice and convenient web app.
To install OpenAppMkt simply point Safari to http://www.OpenAppmkt.com/ and follow the onscreen instructions.
Installing OpenAppMkt won’t install anything but a Safari bookmark on your iPhone homescreen. Hitting the bookmark will take you to OpenAppMkt web app from where you’ll be able to browse web apps and install their bookmarks on your homescreen.
To be clear, these are just web apps. by installing any of these apps, you aren’t actually installing anything but a Safari bookmark on your homescreen.
I love the concept and its implementation. You sure are limited to what you can do with a web app but OpenAppMkt is a nice and convenient alternative to the App Store or even Cydia.
Update: A few people are missing the point here. I’m going to quote Mike Masnick from TechDirt who sums up why OpenAppMkt is good and different:
Overall, this fascinates me for two reasons. First, it’s good to get more people realizing that HTML is already pretty damn good at creating app-style experiences, without having to create special compiled code and, second, it’s a really clever way to totally route around Apple as a gatekeeper (without requiring a jailbreak), and is a reminder that even on “closed” systems, openness will often find a way.
[TechDirt via B00b1]
Ballmer Says Apple Sold More iPads He Would Have Wanted Them to
By Sebastien Page on Jul 30, 2010
Haaa Steve Ballmer is one funny guy. He recently spoke about the tablet market and the iPad during Microsoft’s annual financial analyst meeting. Here are some of the highlights:
Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a product [...] They’ve certainly sold more than I’d like them to sell. For us, the job is to say we have a lot of [intellectual property] and software and we’ve done a lot of work on ink and touch. We have got to make things happen. Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we have to with Windows 7 on slates. We’re in the process of doing that as we speak.
We’ve got to push right now with our hardware partners. People will say, ‘When?’ I’ll say, ‘As soon as they are ready, and it is job-one urgency.’ Nobody is sleeping at the switch.
As Johnny Evans said this morning on 9 to 5 Mac, now that Apple has showed Microsoft the way, they are now firing up the photocopiers.
Simply Amazing: iPhone Controlled AR Drone
By Sebastien Page on Jul 30, 2010
This is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen an iPhone do! Thanks to its built-in wifi system, you can control the AR.Drone using the built-in accelerometer in your iPhone. It also comes with 2 cameras that let you see what you’re doing. Seriously, isn’t this amazing?
The AR.Drone is exclusively available from Brookstone only. To control your drone, you will have to download the free application from the App Store.
It sells for $300, which isn’t cheap but might be well worth it for gadget lovers.
iOS 4 Jailbreak Won’t Be Called Spirit
By Sebastien Page on Jul 30, 2010
We’ve all been waiting for a while for the new jailbreak for iOS 4 and it sure seems we are on the right track. I know many of you are very anxious for the tool to be released but I’m not. I really want my jailbreak back too but I want it stable and bug free, which is why it hasn’t been released yet.
We’ve all been thinking the new jailbreak will just be an update to Spirit, and we all assumed the name of the tool would be Spirit 2 or something along these lines. Today a little bird tells me the new jailbreak for iOS 4 and iPhone 4 will not be called Spirit.
Now don’t ask me what it’s going to be because I don’t know. iPhone hacker iH8Sn0w joked that the new jailbreak would include “pie” in its name but this is not true.
Just for the fun of it, what do you think it should be called? Sn0wSt0rm? Blu3Thund3r? UltraDr1zzle?
Iconic Stand Turns Your iPad Into a Mini Computer Screen
By Sebastien Page on Jul 29, 2010
StealthArmor iPhone 4 Cover [Review]
By Sebastien Page on Jul 29, 2010
A couple of weeks ago Fusion of Ideas sent me 3 StealthArmor covers for iPhone 4 to review and after having used one of them on my phone for a while now, I think I can give you a honest review of the product.
What is it?
The StealthArmor is a cover for iPhone 4 (and other devices). Like the name suggests it’s just a cover, not a full case. It comes in 3 different series, including various finish styles such as carbon, matte, metal, wood, leather, etc…
Here is how Fusion of Ideas describes the StealthArmor: Read More
Slow iPhone 3G? Apple is Looking Into it
By Sebastien Page on Jul 29, 2010
Is your iPhone 3G slow after upgrading to iOS 4? You’re not the only one. Apple’s forums and tech blogs are filled with reports from 3G owners who are desperate for fixing the issues iOS 4 brought.
The most common criticism is that the phone is slow after an upgrade. There are also many complaints that the phone drains the battery quickly and becomes excessively hot. Concern about general problems such as slowness and battery life on gadgets isn’t unusual, but using iOS 4 on the iPhone 3G seems to make the problems so bad that the phone is nearly unusable for some people.
The WSJ was told by Apple they are looking into this matter and they might be already working on a possible fix.
In the meantime, if your iPhone 3G is running slow after installing iOS 4, here is a tip to make it faster.
The Banned iPhone 4 Outtakes
By Sebastien Page on Jul 29, 2010
I really can’t get enough of these videos. After the banned iPhone 4 promo video, the banned iPhone 4 antenna video, and the banned iPad promo video, here are the outtakes. These guys are on a roll. Hopefully they don’t lose their cool.
[Thanks John for the tip]
Hack Turns Your iPod Touch Into an iPhone
By Sebastien Page on Jul 29, 2010
You’re going to have to take this one with a huge grain of salt but it seems a company called Yosion figured out a way to turn the iPod Touch into an iPhone. And no, this doesn’t require you to use some VoIP service. This hack, if legit, might be the ultimate iTouch hack ever made.
Basically the “Apple Peel 520″ comes as an iPod Touch case that includes an Infineon baseband chip, an extra 800 mAh battery, and a slot for a SIM card. Just pop a SIM card in and plug your microphone-equipped ear buds and you should be good to go.
The Apple Peel 520 will presumably go on sale this week in China for $45 to $75. There isn’t much proofs this is real so don’t get too excited about it.
[Engadget]
Site Info: Did You Notice How Fast The Blog Is Now?
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
Hey guys I just wanted to let you know that I moved the blog to some bigger servers and that the site should be considerably faster now. iDB has grown very fast over the last year and it sometimes couldn’t take all the traffic it gets, thus crashing or returning error pages.
This is just a thing of the past. Everything should be much faster now!
Upgrading to better servers is the first step to an overall improvement of iDB. Some more things will change soon so stay tuned 
Oh Look What I Just Received in the Mail
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
I just received my free iPhone Bumper in the mail today, courtesy of Steve Jobs and everybody at Apple.
First impressions? Meh. I don’t like cases and the Bumper is no exception. The iPhone 4 is such a beautiful device that it kills me to trap it in a case. I put it on, took it off and gave it to Tina so she can protect her very first iPhone. She’ll definitely need it more than I will.
If you haven’t yet, here is how to claim your free case from Apple, or simply browse our iPhone Accessories Store to choose from hundreds of different iPhone cases.
How to Sync Shared Google Calendars With Your iPhone
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
My fiancee Tina just got her first iPhone today and one of the first few things we wanted to do was to sync our shared Google calendars to each other’s iPhone. I thought that since we already share our Google calendars “online”, it would automatically sync both our calendars on our iPhone by setting up Google Sync. It didn’t. Turns out it was just a tiny bit more complicated than this.
Here are instructions to sync shared Google calendars between iPhones:
An iPhone App That Makes Popcorn
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
iPlunge Might Be the Coolest iPhone Stand Ever
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
If iPlunge is not the coolest iPhone stand ever, it might just be the most original one. Gotta love the product description too:
No plumbing required! Use it at work, home, train, plane, it works anywhere! Wow, what a handy stand!
You can preorder your iPlunge from here for just about $6. Can’t go wrong with that…
Light Leak is Causing White iPhone 4 Delays
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
There’s a price to pay if you want to make beautiful devices, and Apple knows exactly what this price is… The Street as an article this morning that reveals the white iPhone 4 delays may be due to back light from the iPhone display screen leaking out around the edges of the glass and seeping through the back of the phone.
[...] the light seepage presents a very specific problem to the white phone since it is far more transparent than black. The iPhone is made like a glass sandwich. Apple uses Corning’s Gorilla glass on the front and back of the phone and a metal band runs around the outside doubling as an antenna.
If I were in charge of that, I’d say put a case on your iPhone and you won’t see the light anymore but we all know Apple wouldn’t want such a quick fix for such a major issue… or would they?
The White iPhone 4 has been awaited like the messiah since June 15th. Apple has now postponed its launch for the third time, the latest ETA being “later this year“.
iOS 4.1 Beta 2 Can Jailbroken With RedSn0w
By Sebastien Page on Jul 28, 2010
iOS 4.1 Beta 2 was released yesterday and according to MuscleNerd, you can already jailbreak it using RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5. If you’re not a developer, you shouldn’t mess around iOS 4.1 Beta 2 but I’m sure some of you won’t resist the temptation.
If you’ve updated to 4.1 beta2 on iPhone 3G or iPod 2G (non-MC), you can use RedSn0w 0.9.5b5-5 to jailbreak. Just point RedSn0w at the official 4.0 IPSW, even though you are on 4.1 Beta 2.
This will not hacktivate your iPhone so make sure you are on an official carrier. If you rely on an unlock, do not do this. Do not get anywhere near iOS 4.1 Beta for that matter.
MuscleNerd notes that you may experience network problems after jailbreaking iOS 4.1 Beta 2. This will be a problem until the Dev Team updates RedSn0w.
Again, proceed at your own risks…
