Month: October 2008

DevTeam still working on 3G unlock

Sébastien Page ∙ October 6, 2008

The DevTeam posted today on its blog that it is still working on the iPhone 3G unlock. They apparently broke some hardware in their testings but got it back to work after a round of upgrades and downgrades. I don't like copy/pasting large parts from other people's blogs but in the DevTeam's case, I always find it hard to paraphrase them and it makes more sense to give you the full text. Read the full post here.

Disclaimer!! This is a purely technical post with no pragmatic use! There is no 3G unlock in this post. There is no iPod Touch 2G jailbreak in this post. It’s just a random technical post related to the 3G unlock.

We’ve been exploring different ideas with the 3G unlock, but this past weekend one of us hit a big snag. For whatever reason, all of our poking and prodding of the 3G baseband caused it to finally have a breakdown. After one specific exploit run, all of a sudden our baseband stopped responding to the OS.

Somehow our software hacking had caused the baseband chip’s SPI bus to stop responding (so it looked like a hardware problem). Even though BBUpdaterExtreme reported the correct baseband version, it failed basic tests like memtest.

If you’re familiar with the baseband revision history for the 3G iPhone, you may have noticed that the above captures were done at the original 01.45 baseband. As dire (and hardware-related) as these messages sounded, though, there was a simple solution. We just updated to 01.46 and then downgraded again (because we can run unsigned code on the baseband CPU) to 01.45.

We tried to recreate the problem by using the same exploit over again, but it doesn’t appear to be reproducible (which is actually disappointing, as it might have been exploitable).

Logo, images and icons locations on your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ October 5, 2008

Most of the themes you have for WinterBoard often comes with a bunch of new cool icons, carrier images, logos, badges, etc... WinterBoard makes it very easy for you to customize your iPhone but sometimes I want to change one little icon and apply it to all my themes. So how do you do this? Well, you need to know the location of the icon or image inside your phone, SSH into the phone and "manually" change the file.

Below is a summary that will make it easier for you to locate these files:

SpringBoard

Calculator Icon - /Applications/Calculator.app/icon.png Maps Icon - /Applications/Maps.app/icon.png Calendar Icon - /Applications/MobileCal.app/icon.png Mail Icon - /Applications/MobileMail.app/icon.png iPod Icon - /Applications/MobileMusicPlayer.app/icon.png Notes Icon - /Applications/MobileNotes.app/icon.png Phone Icon - /Applications/MobilePhone.app/icon.png SMS Icon - /Applications/MobileSMS.app/icon.png Safari Icon - /Applications/MobileSafari.app/icon.png Camera Icon - /Applications/MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Camera.png Photos Icon - /Applications/MobileSlideShow.app/icon-Photos.png Clock Icon - /Applications/MobileTimer.app/icon.png Settings Icon - /Applications/Preferences.app/icon.png Stocks Icon - /Applications/Stocks.app/icon.png Weather Icon - /Applications/Weather.app/icon.png YouTube Icon - /Applications/YouTube.app/icon.png

Dock - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/SBDockBG2.png

Locked Screen

Unlock Text - /System/Library/Frameworks/TelephonyUI.framework/bottombarlocktextmask.png

Slider Bar - System/Library/Frameworks/TelephonyUI.framework/bottombarknobgray.png

General

Ringer background when you use volume keys - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/hud.png Badge (alert bubble for calls, sms, etc.) - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/SBBadgeBG.png Top info bar - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FST_BG.png

Battery Charging Screen

Battery Background - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/BatteryBG_1.png-BatteryBG_17.png

Top Info Bar (signal strength, battery, etc.)

Carrier Logo lighter one - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_CARRIER_ATT.png darker one - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_CARRIER_ATT.pn

Signal Strength /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_0_Bars.png-FSO_5_Bars.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_0_Bars.png-Default_5_Bars.png

Bluetooth - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_Bluetooth.png

Background bar color HomeScreen - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_BG.png

Background bar color Lock mode - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FST_BG.png

Background bar color for all other screens (Text, Safari, Mail, etc.) - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/default_BG.png

WiFi Bars /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_0_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_1_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_2_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/FSO_3_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_0_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_1_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_2_AirPort.png /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/Default_3_AirPort.png

Power on Screen

The logo - /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/applelogo.png

Power Off Screen

Power off slider - System/Library/Frameworks/TelephonyUI.framework/bottombarknobred.png

Calculator

Background - /Applications/Calculator.app/CalculatorBackground.png Screen Background - /Applications/Calculator.app/LCDBackground.png

iPod

Rating Stars - /Applications/MobileMusicPlayer.app/star_filled.png

Phone

Keypad - /Applications/MobilePhone.app/BarDialer_Sel.png

SMS

Input Field (Bubble where you type you're text message) - /Applications/MobileSMS.app/BalloonInputField.png Balloon 1 (Bubble where sent text messages are) - /Applications/MobileSMS.app/Balloon_1.png Balloon 2 (Bubble where received text messages are) - /Applications/MobileSMS.app/Balloon_2.png Bottom Bar Background (Background behing the text input field) - /Applications/MobileSMS.app/MessageEntryBG.png

Safari

URL Bar (Idle) - /Applications/MobileSafari.app/Url.png URL Bar (Inactive) - /Applications/MobileSafari.app/UrlInactive.png URL Bar (Active) - /Applications/MobileSafari.app/UrlProgress.png

Mail

Trashcan - /System/Library/PreferenceBundles/MobileMailSettings/trashmbox.png

Please feel free to add more to the list.

iBowl: For those Can-your-Phone-do-this-ers, and that’s it

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

From the makers of iGolf comes iBowl, the game that promises that you can "take the lanes with you wherever you go." But before you hang up your real bowling shoes, there are a few things you should know. I myself got excited when doing my daily browse of the Top 25 Free applications in Apple's App Store. After reading through several raving reviews, and considering its #2 position on the Top 25, I decided to give it a go.

The first thing you see when the application is loaded is a set of very simple instructions. Select what side of the lane you wish to throw from, and hold down the "bowl" button strategically placed in the middle of the screen (so you can cradle your phone in your hand) and bowl. Let go (of the button, not your phone), and watch your ball soar rather randomly down the lane and knock over pins. Their description on the App Store claimed it detected spinning your iPhone to spin the ball but I have yet to experience it.

Now, some of you might be thinking, it's free what did you expect. Well, I didn't really expect anything, after all, I wasn't a fan of iGolf when it was released. I have to admit this game does have a few nice features such as the ability to play a full 10 frames, and a high score board to keep track of the 'king pin'. But don't let the "challenge a friend" option fool you, it just opens a new email with an inserted link to download iBowl.

A few suggestions from this lowly iPhone gamer would be to tighten up the acuracy on the ball movement down the lane, or even to explore other options like using touch instead of the accelorometer. Some realistic physics, or at least random pin action would help out.

Also, SGN could consider selling cases with adjustable wrist straps to lower the amount of iBowl related damaged iPhones. Changing the fake "challenge a friend" option into at least 2 player mode just goes without saying.

So although it is a descent presentation and a neat idea, this thing is about as useful as the apps iLighter and iBeer, mostly for those "hey can your phone do this"ers. I found that this application sat unused on the springboard unless I was showing it to people, and even then could only muster up a few frames before it got tiresome.

SGN seems to have some great ideas going with these iSports apps, and I'm excited to see what updates and future apps they bring us.

Apple and Starbucks – Honeymoon Over?

Guest Author ∙ Updated September 20, 2016

Something is going on between Apple and Starbucks. For a while, it seemed that they seemed to be getting closer, but now I think there might be trouble in paradise.

The Starbucks Icon in the iTunes WIFI store seems to be broken. For those of you who haven't tried this feature, you get an extra Starbucks icon in iTunes whenever you are in a participating Starbucks. When I first got my iPhone, I went to a Starbucks and tried it out. The Starbucks page showed me the name of the Currently Playing song, a history of the last songs played, and links to find out more about the Song and Artists, and links to buy these songs in the iTunes WIFI store.

Users are reporting in many support forums and discussions that instead of seeing the Now Playing Starbucks screen when they touch the Starbucks Icon in iTunes WIFI Store, they see a never ending "Loading..." Screen.

Apple not only seems to be ignoring these threads, they seem to even be trying to remove Starbucks References on their Web pages. Even the links to the Starbucks agreement on Apple.com are no longer there (www.apple.com/itunes/starbucks) and reroute you here instead. A search on "Starbucks" on the Apple site shows you the preferred link to iTunes WIFI store, but takes you back to the same place as before. In fact if say "View All Search Results" after searching on the Apple page, all four top links take your right back to the same place. It's as if they had removed references to Starbucks from everywhere but their support forum.

And there are lot of links there. All where people are saying that instead of getting a Starbucks page in the iTunes Store, their iPhone is just showing a screen with the word "Loading..." that goes on and on.

There are many other forums out there with people talking about this problem. So far, I haven't seen a published work-around or response from Apple.

After my first upgrade to 2.0.1, it stopped working. Each time I go into Starbucks now the endless "Loading..." screen. Every 30 seconds or so I see a flash of the screen that is supposed to be showing, but it quickly goes right back to "Loading..." again.

I have been trying to pin point the issue. I have read that the older iTouch's don't seem to have this problem, but I have tested on both the iPhone 3G and the iTouch 2G and they both have the same issue.

Talking to support on both sides of this is getting me nowhere. Support on both sides of this issue don't seem to be aware of the feature, never mind the problem. I talked to the Manager at the local Starbucks and they had no idea that the feature was even available. They had a "guy" that they used to fix their network problems, but he only came in when they called him. They seemed to think it was a non-issue and I could tell fixing this wasn't there first priority. So I called the Starbucks customer support and they said that it was an iPhone issue, not a Starbucks issue. They said they would talk to the local manager of my Starbucks and have them see what they could do. The follow up phone call I was promised never happened.

So then I tried calling Apple support. At first, they too were confused about the feature even existing. After explaining it to the Customer Support rep, they switched me to the iTunes Support group. This person said that it was a known problem and had to do with the way the network was configured at the Starbucks. They sent me some links and encouraged me to go back to the Starbucks and get the Network Administrator to call Apple. I printed out the links (which really said nothing much) and tried again with the Starbucks. No Joy! This was about two weeks ago and it still is saying "Loading" each time I go.

Anyone else have any experiences to report on this? Please let us hear about it.

Creating an iPhone-Controlled Wireless Home Audio System

Guest Author ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

I am a bit of an audio geek and I have been longingly looking at the multi-room music systems for years. They have really started to get a lot cheaper lately but the price for most systems still start at $1,000.00. It is hard to convince my spouse that the idea of having a central music server and music piped into other rooms is $1,000 cool. So when I got the Remote [iTunes link] Application for my iPhone, i started to think about what I could do for a lot less money. Remote lets you control your iTunes library using wifi anywhere in your house.

We had already encoded all our music into MP3 and placed it on a central computer in our kitchen. We installed some really great speakers there, but what happens if we want to listen in the bedroom or living room? We could run speaker wires throughout the house, but we have an older house and it is expensive and/or unsightly to run speaker wires throughout the house. Also if we did have speakers wired in, we would need a multi-room receiver and we would still have to run back to the kitchen to change the song or pick another playlist.

I had looked in the Apple Store at Airport Express recently and read about how you could use it to create "wireless" speakers and noticed in my iTunes settings dialog box, the ability to send music to these "Airtunes" speakers. After purchasing a refurbished Airport Express from Apple Store, and a few hours fiddling with them, I came up with a pretty nice and cheap solution.

I used Airport Express and a pair of old but cute PC speakers to create a remote speaker set. I bought and installed Remote on my iPhone, configured it and now I am able to control my iTunes, sitting right next to the remote speakers.

It works pretty great so I thought I could share with you what worked for me. These instructions will let you broadcast music in iTunes. You can use Airfoil to broadcast music from other music players to your Airtunes Speakers.

What you you'll need to get started:

Apple Airport Express Airport Express Stereo connection kit (or a Monster mini-to-RCA left/right audio cable or Monster mini-to-optical digital Toslink audio cable A Mac or PC with wireless connectivity (Mac with AirPort or AirPort Extreme wireless capability - PC with 802.11a, 802.11b, or 802.11g card) Powered speakers (computer speakers work great!) or a local amplifier and non-powered speakers. iPhone or iTouch with Remote [iTunes link] application installed.

Getting started:

Plug in the airport express wherever you want to place your remote speakers. Install the Airport Utility application on your Mac or PC. You can either download it at this link or use the accompanying CD to install it. Use the Airport Utility to scan for the Airport Express Hub. When it is located, click Continue to set it up. The Utility will read the configuration information and prompt you for a name and password. Name it something that will instantly let you know which speakers you are turning on and off. For example, "Downstair speakers" or "Kitchen Speakers" works well. Click Continue. Use this guide to continue making choices as you set up the Airport Express. The easiest path is to just add it to an existing wifi network, but if you don't have one you can set up one between your pc/mac and the Airport Express. When done, the airport Express lcd light should be a solid green. Plug in your speakers and then using either the Airport Express Stereo Connection Kit or individual connectors you can purchase at Radio Shack, connect the Airport Express to your speakers. Repeat steps 1 through 6 for each airport Express you want to install (ie for each set of speakers you want). Test that you can broadcast to your remote speakers from iTunes. Go to iTunes and purchase Remote application. Follow these steps to set it up and connect it iTunes on your PC or Mac. Launch Remote on your iPhones. Using Remote Settings, turn on the speakers you want to control. Sit back on your couch and pick playlists and songs to play.

Backgrounder runs multiple apps at once

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 22, 2022

Backgrounder from Lance Fetters is a new Cydia app out that promises to turn your ordinary iPhone into a multitasking machine. And after a quick download I'd have to say it delivered it in style.

Upon install you'll get a hard respring. But don't get caught looking for an icon, because there is none. You activate the app by opening up any legally downloaded Apple App Store app, (I haven't gotten it to work with cydia apps), and holding down the home button until a prompt pops up and lets you know backgrounder is enabled.

Now, for those of you who use a music app like Pandora, and want to listen to your Pandora music while you browse your photos or do something else on your iPhone, be excited. I personally use it when I am playing a video game. I hit pause, run backgrounder and quit the game, send a text, and re open the game and voila! No loading time, and I didn't lose my progress in my game.

I haven't tested the battery usage, but I'm assuming it makes a noticeable difference if you leave it on. And it will stay on until you restart/respring or disable it manually the same way you enabled it.

Bottom line is, this application will help make light work of those once tedious app switching jobs. I am cody lee, and I approve this message

Fring is out! Officially

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

A few months ago I talked about Fring on my personal blog. At the time, this app was just being released for jailbroken iPhones. Six months and 3 firmware upgrades later, Fring made its way to the App Store.

What is Fring?

Fring is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, including make free calls, live chat and seeing your contacts online presence with all your fring, Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM friends using your iPhone’s Internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes.

So far, Fring is the only VoIP app available in the App Store, along with Truphone, althought other similar apps are coming soon.

I haven't tried Fring yet but expect a review from us within the next few days. In the meanwhile, if you try it, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

Don’t overlook those iPhone earbuds

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

If you are like me, you look at the iPhone earbuds and leave them in the box. The ones I got with my previous iPods were pretty non-descript and very basic.

It wasn't until i started reading the manual (ughh) that I realized that these earbuds are not the typical iPod headphones. They come with a special switch/microphone that lies between the earbuds and the place where the two separate wires join together. You can use this switch to do all sorts of things. And it even works when the iPhone is locked.

When you are listening to music:

Click once to pause, and again to play. Click twice quickly to skip to the next track

If you get a call while the headset is plugged in, you can hear the ringtone through both the iPhone speaker and the headset. HERE IS THE COOLEST PART. If you are listening to music when the phone rings, The music pauses itself and then resumes when you hang up.

When the phone rings:

Click once to pick up the call. The microphone allows you to talk with just the headphones on. You can also reject the call. Press and hold for about two seconds, then let go. When you let go, two low beeps confirm you declined the call. (you can also do this by pressing the on/off button at the top of the phone)

When you are already on a call:

Click once to end a call

When you are already on a call, and you get a second call:

Click once to switch to an incoming or on-hold call and put the current call on hold. Click again to switch back to the first call. Press and hold for about two seconds, then let go to switch to an incoming call and hang up the first call. When you let go, two low beeps confirm you ended the first call.

Save web pages for offline reading with Instapaper

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated March 18, 2019

You're at the San Diego airport just about to get on this flight to Chicago for a conference you really don't want to attend when you come across this looong article on the New York Times website about how the Senate finally passed the bailout bill. You'll never have time to finish this article before the usual "please turn off all electronic devices".

In the good old days, you would have had to wait to land in Chicago to read this article. Thanks to Instapaper, these times are over.

Instapaper allows you to easily save them for later, when you do have time, so you don’t just forget about them or skim through them.

Let me explain you how to use Instapaper.

First, you have to download the free version of Instapaper (or get the paid one). Registration takes about a second as it doesn't require much information from you (you don't even have to give your email address!). The app uses a JavaScript bookmarklet, which you have to manually tweak to make it work on the iPhone. I imagine later versions will be easier to install. Basically, it creates a bookmark on your iPhone.

When browsing the web and finding an interesting article, simply go to your bookmarks and use the Instapaper bookmarklet. It will instantly save it so you can read the text offline later.

Additionally, you can use it on your own computer by adding a bookmarklet in your toolbar. Every time you click this bookmarklet, it saves the article for offline reading. Then you can go back to your iPhone and sync your computer activity with your iPhone. In other words, you can save web pages from your iPhone or your computer and sync them.

At this point, I am not sure why you would need the paid version. The free one is just perfect. I was able to save over 30 pages for offline reading (it was supposed to save only 24!).

You can view the saved article as text or as "web". The "web" version is very buggy and caused the app to crash every single time I tried to use it. The text version is just as good as what I would expect anyways.

Your queue of saved articles Reading a saved article

This app is a must-have for anyone slightly interested in saving web pages for later reading. It is simple, yet efficient, and... it's free! Don't you love free?

This just in, new version of iTunes

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

If you are still reading this article even after the not so interesting headline, you get mad respect. Anyways, in almost virus protection software fashion, Apple has released another iTunes update: iTunes 8.0.1.

Apple lists the new features, well actually they're all bug fixes at the download site.

iTunes 8.0.1 supposedly improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist. Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano. Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading. Improves checking for updates from the App Store Improves accessibility with VoiceOver. Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

Certainly nothing enough to make me rock the boat between 8.0 and my pwned 2.1 iPhone (who just recently started getting along). But for those of you who are interested in having cutting edge Apple software, let me know how it works...(or if anything stops working).

As usually, you can download the latest iTunes version from our iPhone Downloads page.

P.S. I generally let the DevTeam tell me when to update ;op not Apple.

iPhone Custom Ringtones, Easy AND Free?

Cody Lee ∙ October 2, 2008

[digg-me]This is one of those little Internet gems that I wouldn't have discovered if I didn't walk in on a friend of mine browsing a site called myxer.com a few weeks ago. Now before I go any further in my story, those of you who are already aware of the site or don't care to expand your custom ringtone library, I encourage you to stop reading, and check out another great article on the blog. But to those of you who are still intrigued, prepare to become emotionally, mentally, and technologically aroused.

Ok, so I sit down to check out what he's got going on, and he is getting free ringtones of all the latest hits (and even a lot of movie and tv show audio) sent to his cell phone. Of course this is like every other free ringtone/background site, I'm thinking, so when he asks "You think this will work with your iPhone?" I blurt out "no," so fast I almost seem to interrupt him. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous of all the cool free stuff he was getting for his moto Razor.

Then later that night something magical (that's right, I said magical) happened. In browsing the myxer.com website, I came across a link that said, click here for iPhone download. Upon further investigation, I found you can actually download any ringtone on the site, in .m4r format, so you can then SSH them into your ringtone folder, or just drag and drop in iTunes and sync up.

The entire process is extremely quick, and the library of ringtones is enormous. Having tried other custom ringtone options through Cydia apps and such, I must say this is the most streamline and easy to use.

The only thing I would suggest you look out for is iTunes won't recognize any file (even .m4r) that is over 30 seconds long. Also be advised the backgrounds I tested didn't look very good, and the games aren't compatible at all. But the fact that I can now jam out to Lil Wayne's "Man I miss my dogs," when my old high school buddies call, is enough to make me, well, write a short article on a small time web blog. Have a good evening.

Google Chrome for the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ October 2, 2008

[digg-me]Unless you've been living on Mars for the last 2 months, you probably know that Google launched its own web browser called Google Chrome. It's very unlikely that Apple will let Google develop Chrome for the iPhone for the good reason that Apple and Google are now competing in the mobile sphere: Apple with the iPhone, and Google with Android. There are many other reasons why Apple would never let Google (or anyone else for that matter) develop a web browser for the iPhone but this one is the most obvious reason.

However, there seems to be hope that Chrome will be developed by independent developers and made available for jailbroken iPhones. That's at least one may think when looking at this site.

Now, do you want my take on it? I believe this page is misleading and is actually not offering a download of Google Chrome for the iPhone as an application, but I am convinced they are offering the download of a Google Chrome theme for the iPhone.

So yes, you'll be able to download something Chrome-related for your iPhone but it will not be a web browser. It will simply be a theme that you'll be able to apply using WinterBoard. That's what I think but I may be wrong. If so, please feel free to prove my wrong in the comment section.