Month: April 2011

‘CleverPin’ for the iPhone is an Innovative Way to Balance Ease of Use With Passcode Security

Can this guy be stopped? Hot off the heels of the super-popular Springtomize, Filippo Bigarella is back with his latest jailbreak concoction.

CleverPin is a jailbreak tweak for the iPhone that allows you to make the iPhone's passcode lock a little less intrusive from a day-to-day usage perspective.

Ask yourself the following question, and answer honestly; if you're at home, do you really need that passcode lock enabled?

Some of you may, but a good lot of you may not. That's where CleverPin lives up to its cleverness; it disables the annoying passcode lock when you're within the vicinity of a pre-authorized network, such as your home...

DropBox Updated for iPhone, Now Allows for Bulk Photo And Video Uploads

Yes, yes, yes! Finally, the DropBox app for the iPhone is actually useful!

We don't usually make it a habit of covering app updates on iDB, because if we did, we'd spend all day talking about them.

But this is too exciting of an update for me to ignore; this is something that I've been wanting since DropBox's inception on the App Store.

The new ability to bulk upload photos and videos, takes what was in my opinion a novelty iPhone app, and instantly turns it into an absolute must have...

SBSettings Update Brings New Features and Bug Fixes

In the past we've deemed SBSettings an absolute "must have" jailbreak app for all jailbroken iPhone users, and we still stand by that statement with the latest update to the hugely popular jailbreak app.

If you're new to the jailbreak scene and have no clue what SBSettings is, basically it's a completely free, fast, and skinnable device manager from the developers over at BigBoss. Here's the best part: to launch the app simply slide your  finger across the top banner and a window will drop down with several, customizable toggles such as  Bluetooth, Brightness, WiFi, 3G, Airplane mode, CallerID, and more! 

Apple Teams Up With Square to Sell Mobile Credit Card Reader

The mobile payment industry has been rapidly developing. Companies like Square are starting to offer transaction services for payments through smartphones like the iPhone.

Square allows you to receive credit card transactions on the iPhone through their app and plug-in reader device. Apple is now selling Square readers in its online and retail stores. An interesting move, considering the iPhone 5 could have built-in NFC technology...

Third Party Company Building BBM Compatible Messenger?

For those who don't know what BBM is, take a seat. BBM stands for BlackBerry Messenger, and is RIM's exclusive messaging service that makes keeping in touch with fellow BlackBerry owners a cinch.

Last month we heard rumors tossed around that the exclusive messaging service would finally make its way to iOS at the end of April. The gossip was later denied by the BlackBerry maker in an official statement to BGR. Well, it looks like if RIM isn't gonna bring BBM to iOS, someone else might have to...

GeoHot Gives Left Over Donations to EFF

If you missed out on the Sony vs. GeoHot saga, let me quickly fill you in. GeoHot (real name George Hotz) was one of the first people to jailbreak the iPhone years ago. He's been in and out of the jailbreak scene since then, but had recently turned his attention to Sony's PS3.

After hacking the console, GeoHot released the code to the internet. Sony caught wind of this and took the infamous computer wiz to court. Hotz hopped online and asked for donations to help him in litigation, and received overwhelming support. He told supporters that he had received more than enough help to survive the first round of legal fees...

White iPhone 4 Finally Launching on April 26?

It appears that Apple is planning on releasing the white iPhone 4 in exactly ten days. Several recent reports have confirmed a "Springtime" launch, and April 26 looks to be the lucky day.

According to iPhoneItalia, Apple will finally release the white iPhone 4 next week.

2Phone Case Gives Your iPhone Dual Sim Cards

Dual-SIM adapters have been available for the iPhone for a while. It's even speculated that we could see dual-SIM technology show up in the iPhone 5. If none of the current offerings for dual-SIM adapters appeal to you, you might want to see what Rebel Simcard has cooked up.

The Rebel 2Phone case for the iPhone 4 will give your device the ability to make and receive phone calls on 2 different lines, or 2 different carriers. The coolest part is that both SIMs are active at the same time, meaning you can make calls on both lines simultaneously...

‘Black Keyboard’ Allows You to Use the iPhone’s Black Lockscreen Keyboard Anywhere

If you've ever disabled your iPhone's "Simple Passcode" in the Passcode Lock section of the Settings.app, then you're no doubt familiar with the black keyboard that's hidden within iOS.

Most of the folks I know stick to the simple numeric passcode as a means to protect their iPhones, thus they're not aware that a black keyboard even exists.

The sad news is that besides the lock screen, you're unable to use the black keyboard anywhere else; that is, until now.

Black Keyboard is a new jailbreak tweak available for the iPhone that allows you to enable the elusive black keyboard anywhere...

Toys R’ Us and Best Buy iPad 2 Promotion

If you haven't been able to snag an iPad 2 just yet, pay attention. It looks like the rumors we heard about Toys R' Us becoming an iPad 2 retailer soon were spot on.

The Toys R' Us website is spreading the word that the toy store chain now has iPad 2 stock at many of its retail stores. It appears to just be specific locations, not completely nationwide. I also couldn't find a way to order online.

That wasn't the only retail chain gossip that seems to have materialized. MacRumors is reporting that Best Buy featured its rumored iPad 2 promotion in today's sales ads.

For those that don't recall, Best Buy was accused of withholding stock for sales purposes, then later revealed that they were holding onto local iPad 2s for an upcoming promotion.

Like Toys R' Us though, it seems Best Buy also has a limited amount of inventory. Engadget has gotten their hands on an employee bulletin that mentions the promotion :

"The iPad 2 will be featured on the front cover of the April 17 ad, and because of this, the reserve system will be turned back on" ... "Corporate Support Teams know that many stores won't be in the optimal situation to handle customers' requests"

The document goes on to say that multiple stores are quoting a minimum of 3 units per model of the device, but that is only at select locations.

If this round of shipments is anything like the last, they are going to go quickly. It appears that if you have been looking to get an iPad 2, today would be a great day to do it.

Have you gotten your iPad 2 yet? What do you think of it?

Top 10 iPhone News You Might Have Missed This Week

This is a summary of the most popular articles published on iDB and our sister, ziPadBlog, this past week.

Please make sure to spread our iPhone wisdom by sharing our posts on Twitter and Facebook.

Troubleshooting Cydia: problems with broken repos Geohot and Sony settle in Playstation lawsuit CutYourSim offers a permanent iPhone unlock iOS virus hiding behind jailbreak and unlock ads? More evidence points to September launch of iPhone 5 Impressive iPhone 4 3D demo How a permanent iPhone unlock works Apple releases iOS 4.3.2 RedSn0w can jailbreak iOS 4.3.2 Jailbreak iPhone 4.3.2 with PwnageTool bundles Untethered jailbreak confirmed to work with iOS 4.3.2 Android vs iOS, Google always wins

From our sister iPad Blog, ziPadBlog.com:

3D on the iPad 2 No iPad 3 coming later this year? iPad 2 demand up 40% from its predecessor More iPad 2 jailbreak updates iPad rocking US PC market InvisibleShield for iPad 2 review

Time Warner Channels Back on iPad App

We told you about all of the fire Time Warner Cable was under after releasing its new iPad application. The popular software saw tremendous success until networks starting interfering.

Discovery and Fox networks pressured TWC into removing their channels from the app. Viacom forced Time Warner to remove 11 of their channels from the application, and is currently in litigation with the cable giant.

Today we bring you an update on the situation, as several media outlets are reporting that some of the pulled channels are starting to reappear in the iPad app.

The returning channels include Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet from Discovery networks, and National Geographic, FX, and Fox News from Fox. Obviously due to their legal dispute, Viacom channels still remain excluded.

What's really interesting is that competing cable company, Cablevision, has recently rolled out its own iPad application that allows customers access to close to 300 channels. TWC is currently offering around 50 channels, depending on the subscriber package.

The difference might be in the technology used to stream the content. While TWC broadcasts the video over the internet, Cablevision streams the media via Wi-Fi from their digital cable boxes. However, both methods require the user of the iPad app to be in their home to view the content.

The good news is that major cable networks are starting to realize that we are in the 21st century. Times are a changing, and only the companies that figure out how to adapt will survive. We'll keep you updated on future news regarding the iPad app lawsuit.

What do you think?

[Tuaw]