Behind the Places That Facebook’s iPhone App Goes [Rant]

by Guest Author on Aug 20, 2010

Continuing in my short lived residency here at iDB is my Friday rant that is usually based off a particular story in the week that rubbed me the wrong way. When we reported about Facebook adding GPS check in capabilities I knew my topic had been sealed. I will preface my outburst by informing you all that I am one of the few individuals I know who doesn’t have a profile in the world’s biggest social platform. I had one for less than a month and every lousy expectation I envisioned came to life.

I have no bones to pick with users who have Facebook accounts. If I did I would have almost no one to talk to. My beef comes from the irresponsible undertones involved with the new Places feature embedded within the iPhone app. I have yet to hear a responsible or even reasonable explanation for desiring to participate in sharing your location with your “friends”. The whole memories still not being captured song and dance that Facebook cites as motivation is as corny as a field in Iowa. Read More

 

FolderCloser Jailbreak App Automatically Closes Your iPhone Folders

by Sebastien on Aug 19, 2010

If like me you get annoyed by folders staying opened after you launch and close an application from within this folder, then FolderCloser should be the right mod for you. Available for free in Cydia, FolderCloser will automatically close the opened folder at app launch. There are no settings or icon for this app. Just install it and your folders should now close by themselves.

 

Five Icon Switcher Tweak for iPhone

by Sebastien on Aug 19, 2010

Five Icon Switcher is a new mod by Chpwn that, just like the name suggests, brings an additional icon to your iPhone multitasking switcher. Not groundbreaking but simple and very convenient. That’s the kind of mods I like!

 

The iPad is Shipping Faster and Faster

by Sebastien on Aug 19, 2010

About a month ago we reported that there was production delays for the iPad, pushing the shipping time to about 7-10 days. Apple’s website now shows shipping times of about 3-5 days, which is basically twice as fast as it used to be. In the meantime, it looks like the iPhone 4 production is accelerating too as shortages are expected to be a thing of the past soon.

Are you still waiting for an iPad or an iPhone 4?

[TUAW]

 

Apple CEO Steve Jobs Can Finally Bring The House Down

by Guest Author on Aug 19, 2010

Poor Steve. All he’s wanted to do since 2004 is tear down his old mansion in Woodside, California. The Jackling House as it’s called has been owned by Jobs since 1984 and apparently has historical significance that local preservationists wanted to keep around. I say that in past tense because as it seems is the case with everything Steve wants, Steve gets.

The house was designed and manufactured in 1925 for copper mining magnate Daniel Cowan Jackling. The architect behind the mastery was drafted by a celebrated Californian named George Washington Smith. Apparently that means something to a certain amount of someones.

9 to 5 Mac reports that back in ’04, Jobs was given permission to tear down and renovate the structure but a group called Uphold Our Heritage sued the city and the Apple CEO. The courts finally backed down if no appeal against the demolishing permit was filed. The dedicated members of Uphold Our Heritage dropped their last appeal on July 19th after Steve tactfully didn’t move on the tear down requested by a couple of local residents.

I say tactfully because now that appeal against such procedure has been abandoned, his lawyer Howard Ellman states “we’re going forward”. Not without an inventory though. A Quote from the Almanac News Report reads:

The town has hired architectural historian Michael R. Corbett to conduct an inventory of historically significant parts of the house. Preserving these items for posterity is a key condition of the demolition permit issued by the town in 2009.

All this seems insane really. I’m typically not for the destruction of historical landmarks but since this is technically a man’s house, he should be able to paint it bright magenta and put a Richard Simmons statue in his bathroom. It would be different if he was trying to buy an already marked landmark. Do you think the Jobs should have just left this alone and allowed the house to be used for historical reasons? Let us know in the never to be demolished comment box below.

 

Can I Buy A No Commitment iPhone 4? Apple Says No

by Guest Author on Aug 19, 2010

This is odd. Like nearly every phone available, when the iPhone 4 was released you had the option of purchasing the device without any commitment to upgrade your AT&T contract. 9 to 5 Mac shows us a section from Apple’s FAQ’s that has them saying  you the device requires a 2-year wireless contract. Take a look at what it says.

Originally the contract free iPhone 4′s were sold for $599-$699 without the AT&T subsidy. Apparently AT&T is saying that nothing on their end has changed, which has left some (including myself) wondering if this is because of the recent jailbreaking allowance granted by the U.S. Senate.

Have any of you recently bought a contract free iPhone 4? Or is this Apple’s passive aggressive nature coming out in hopes to kill off buyers who jailbreak/unlock an iPhone and resell it for higher profits?

 

Fix for “Unable to Load This Page” and “Login Failed” Errors on Facebook 3.2

by Sebastien on Aug 19, 2010

Yesterday night Facebook updated their iPhone application to version 3.2 which brings the new Places feature to our favorite phone. While this update comes with a cool new feature, it also broke the Facebook application all together for some of us (me included).

The symptoms are the following:

  • You get the “Unable to Load This Page” error message anywhere you go in the application
  • You get the “Error – sorry there was an error” message while trying to load Places
  • You get the “Login Failed – Unable to Connect to Facebook” error if you’re trying to log in the application.

The cause? Apparently the problem appears on jailbroken iPhones running BiteSMS.

The fix? The fix that worked for me was to uninstall BiteSMS. Facebook worked flawlessly after that. Once I reinstall BiteSMS though, the problems come back.

There is another fix explained on Redmond Pie:

I opened SBSettings, More, Mobile Substrate Addons. I then disabled BiteSMSsb, resprung, and now FB works fine. Not sure what that addon does, but so far BiteSMS works fine, as does FB.

This didn’t work for me. Well, actually it worked but then BiteSMS is completely crippled (ie. no quick compose), so I don’t really consider this a fix.

Considering I use the Facebook app every other month, my choice is clear: I keep BiteSMS running and leave the Facebook app for dead. Hopefully BiteSMS will be updated soon to fix this compatibility issue.

If you’re having the same problem, please share your experience in the comments section.

UPDATE: Thanks to CDXX who provided a link to an actual fix from BiteSMS developers in the comments:

Replace the file /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries/biteSMSsb.plist with the one you download from http://cydia.bitesms.com/biteSMSsb.plist

REBOOT not respring.

The BiteSMS dev also says that an update to the app will be made available on Monday via Cydia. Yippee!

 

iPhone 4 Production Finally Catching up With Demand

by Guest Author on Aug 19, 2010

Rodman and Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar tells GigaOm that waiting for an iPhone 4 will become noticeably easier by the end of September. If the production of devices finally gets on par with their demand, Kumar says the iPhone 4 should sell 14 million units in the 3rd quarter and 15 million in the 4th. What’s unbelievable is that those predictions are actually feasible and not ridiculous.

Without a “big” delay in supply Kumar believes that Apple can lynch off the flow of supply enough to stay well ahead of their expectations. I would say he’s right given the record numbers thus far.

It’s worth mentioning that the mentioned analyst cites that LG is pumping out more 9.7 displays for the iPad’s production as well. His predictions are that the popular handheld should be able to achieve 5 to 6 million units this quarter. Not bad for being a big iPod Touch.

What has your experience been lately? Have any of you tried waltzing into an Apple (or other retailer) and been able to walk out with an iPhone 4? Let us know how your luck has been in obtaining the new iDevice in the comment section.

 

How to Install Android on Your iPhone 2G or 3G with iPhoDroid

by Sebastien on Aug 19, 2010

Android on the iPhone is more of a “project” than anything else. It’s buggy, unstable, and doesn’t even bring all the features needed to fully use the iPhone. So why in the hell would you install Android on your iPhone? Just for the heck of it, of course! Thanks to Sergio McFly, this is now easily possible.

iPhoDroid 1shot is probably the easiest way to install Android on your iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G. It doesn’t require any file editing or anything that might scared the least technically advanced of us. Without further ado, here are the instructions to set up Android on your iPhone. As usual, proceed at your own risks…

Step 1: Make sure your iPhone is jailbroken and Cydia is up to date. If it’s not jailbroken, do so by using JailbreakMe.

Step 2: Download the latest version of iPhoDroid 1 shot from here. The download link is at the very bottom left of the page.

Step 3: Make sure your iPhone is connected to your computer via the USB cable. Launch iPhoDroid and click “shoot”.

Step 4: iPhoDroid will extract the touch driver and transfer the cache/system/data folders to your iPhone.

Step 5: iPhoDroid will now place your iPhone in recovery mode.

Step 6: After that, you will get the OpeniBoot splash page with different options (Apple, Android, Install, Uninstall). Use the volume buttons to highlight the “Install” option, then tap the Home button to select it.

Step 7: Some code will then be running on your screen. Once done, your iPhone will reboot in the Android OS.

Done! You can now enjoy your crippled iPhone running Android.

If you’re one of the few courageous men out there to try this hack, please let us know how it’s working for you by leaving a comment below.

[iClarified]

 

Facebook “Places” An Update in Their iPhone App

by Guest Author on Aug 19, 2010

Late Wednesday evening, Facebook added a location check-in feature to their hugely popular iPhone app. “Places” is the official title, and the social media kingpin is expected to be the eventual champion of such (GPS) location based utilities.

Similar applications allow you to publicly announce your whereabouts, with Gowalla and Foursquare among the most popular. At least they were.

The Washington Post is among the seemingly endless sources that report once a user “Checks In”, their location is broadcasted on both their personal and public feed. Security adjustments can be made within your profile to change just how known your want your movements to be.

This seems certain to be a dagger to Foursquare and company, but Facebook’s approach doesn’t have the add-ons that other apps have. In Foursquare, you’re awarded various badges and even mayorships based on the frequency and uniqueness of your visits.

Places seems to simply announce your position to your friends, and shows your profile picture on a GPS map. Facebook allows you to ‘tag’ those you’re with (like with their photos) so others can follow where they are as well, though they need to authorize you to do such beforehand.

On the surface it all seems like an inevitability merely coming to fruition. My opinion is that this addition to the application spells trouble, and not the type related to the new-found competition of existing services. From my experience, many people are “friends” with individuals they barely know or have just met. For instance someone meets you at a party, and after talking for 10 minutes asks “Are you on Facebook“? And just like you’re mutually privy to each others profiles.

So will this kill Foursquare type apps? Or will the competition from the 500 million potential participants on Facebook just make them step their game up? Will you be participating or do you plan to keep your Places to yourself? We at iDB would love your opinion in the comment box on this important addition to the world’s largest social network.

 
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