Month: November 2011

iControlPad Finally Available, Brings Physical Controls to iOS Gaming

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 11, 2023

We've been hearing about the infamous iControlPad for nearly three years now. We first reported on the accessory back in 2008, when it was still in early stages of production. Then we didn't hear a peep about the product until the Summer of this year.

The iControlPad was soft-launched back in July, but it still had some major hurdles to overcome. The inventors didn't have any major distribution partners, and third party compatibility was non-existent. But that has all changed with ThinkGeek's support...

Latest RedSn0w Will Jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 Beta 2

Alex Heath ∙ November 4, 2011

MuscleNerd has spoken. The Dev Team front man has tweeted that the latest version of RedSn0w will in fact jailbreak the just-released iOS 5.0.1 beta 2.

The jailbreak is still tethered, and you'll need to point RedSn0w to the iOS 5.0/5.0.1 IPSW to perform the jailbreak for the time being...

Apple Seeds iOS 5.0.1 Beta 2 to Developers

Cody Lee ∙ November 4, 2011

Well, here's something we didn't expect. Apple has just seeded a second beta of iOS 5.0.1 to developers. It's hard to recall a time when the Cupertino company released a beta version of any incremental iOS update, but a second is almost unheard of.

The first iteration of iOS 5.0.1 was released just two days ago. The update brought about all kinds of maintenance, including patches for the infamous battery bug and the Smart Cover issue. We haven't noticed any changes in beta 2 as of yet...

How to Theme Your iPhone Like a Kindle Fire

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 4, 2011

It's no secret that I'm pretty pumped about Amazon's Kindle Fire. While I know that may seem disgraceful to say on iDownloadBlog, I have to admit that the Fire looks sort of compelling.

The Kindle Fire is obviously no match for the iPad, but it isn't trying to compete with the iPad — that's why I think it'll succeed. Now that the formalities are out of the way, let's talk about Kindle Fire for iPhone — a DreamBoard theme that make your iPhone look similar to Amazon's upcoming foray into the world of tablets...

The iPhone Accounts for Over Half of the Entire Mobile Phone Industry’s Profits

Alex Heath ∙ November 4, 2011

Apple's iPhone accounts for 52% of the overall profits for the entire mobile phone industry, according to a new report by Cannacord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley. The iPhone consisted of more than half of the industry's profits in the last business quarter.

The iPhone 4S is expected to push Apple's share of the mobile industry's profits to 60% in the final quarter of 2011. According to the report, the iPhone 4S was the best-selling handset on Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint for the month of October.

CBS CEO Claims Apple Approached Him Over Apple TV Deal

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 3, 2018

Over the last few years there has been ongoing speculation that Apple was looking to start a TV subscription service. The content would be available on Apple's wide range of devices, and would rival that of Netflix and similar services.

Despite the rumors, we've never actually seen anything materialize. But CBS CEO Les Moonves rekindled the gossip yesterday afternoon with some comments he made on the company's quarterly earnings call regarding the Apple TV...

iOS 5 Tip: Show Hourly Forecasts in Weather App

Alex Heath ∙ November 4, 2011

Apple added a nifty feature in the iOS 5 weather app that lets you see the hourly forecast. Instead of the daily forecast, you can drill down each day and see hour-by-hour temperatures and rain percentages.

Simple tap on the current day in the Weather app to trigger a drop down with the hourly forecast for the day. Nifty!

Sn0wBreeze Adds Support for Tethered iOS 5.0.1 Jailbreak

Guest Author ∙ November 3, 2011

Today iH8Sn0w updated his popular jailbreak tool Sn0wBreeze with support for the iOS 5.0.1 developer beta. This update also fixes the iBooks sandbox and Location Services issue with the iPhone 3GS.

As usual, this update blocks a UDID check and beta timer. This means that you do not need to be a registered developer to use this beta and that you can use the beta for as long as you wish...

How to Forward Push Notifications to Your Mac or PC Using ‘GrowlNotifier’

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could forward all of your iPhone's push notifications to your Mac or PC? Well now you can, if your iDevice is jailbroken.

GrowlNotifier is a free jailbreak tweak that allows you to easily forward all of your push notifications to your Mac or PC with just a few easy to configure steps.

Check inside for a video walkthrough and tutorial...

Angry Birds Reaches 500 Million Downloads Worldwide

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 3, 2011

It seems we just can't get enough of those Angry Birds, with developer Rovio announcing that the game has been downloaded a whopping 500 million times worldwide.

The half a billion downloads are made up of the three Angry Birds games currently available: Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio, and Angry Birds Seasons.

Key to the game's success is its cross-platform nature, with Angry Birds available to download on most platforms you could care to name, with iOS, Android, web, Mac, and Windows all present, and versions also set to come to the Nokia Asha 300 and 303 phones...

Android Phones Require More Repair Costs Than iPhones

Alex Heath ∙ November 3, 2011

Android phones have been proven to break, malfunction, and require more repair costs than iPhones and even Blackberries.

The cheapness of most Android handsets is costing the telecoms a staggering $2 billion per year, according to a report from wireless services firm WDS...

Case-Mate’s Tank is the Toughest iPhone Case You’ve Ever Seen

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 26, 2017

Apple has been highly criticized for the glass panels it uses on the front and back of its smartphone. The design was introduced in 2010 with the iPhone 4, and has obviously stuck around with the unchanged iPhone 4S.

The glass casing means that the handset isn't very durable. Luckily, cases can help protect it from drops and other accidents. In fact, Case-Mate makes one that will protect the iPhone from being run over by a large SUV...