Year: 2012

HomeCourts brings banner shortcuts to jailbroken devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

No, it has nothing to do with having an advantage in a game of basketball. HomeCourts is a jailbreak tweak that lets you access a series of banners on the Home screen that serve as shortcuts. I still don't quite get the name, but I think it has something to do with shortcuts being on the Home screen? That's my best guess anyway.

HomeCourts features pairs of configurable shortcuts. There are two shortcuts for making a phone call, two for sending a message, two for launching websites, etc. All of these shortcuts can be assigned and configured in the Settings app. Needless to say, HomeCourts is about as cumbersome as it gets for a jailbreak tweak.

Poll: is Microsoft launching Office for iPad today?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 22, 2018

Microsoft is unveiling something today, but the company would uncharacteristically release no agenda for today's presser, which begins at noon Pacific time. A media release only mentions that Microsoft will be making an announcement today and teases "news live from San Francisco via webcast".

It's gotta be some kind of a biggie as Steve Ballmer, the CEO, "will share the news", per the release. But what exactly is it? Office for iPad, anyone? It's a simple YES/NO poll so cast your vote now...

BioLite CampStove lets you charge your iOS device by burning stuff

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Say what you will, but all day long performance is a pipe dream with today's power-hungry iOS devices. Because these are mini computers, iOS devices require lots of juice to run. Unfortunately, space constraints and today's battery technology just can't keep up with the realities of mobile computing (yet).

Folks tackle the problem with battery packs, but that's just another item to lug around while out and about. And guess what, a battery pack is one item that routinely gets forgotten in my camping preparations. But I never forget a camp stove.

Enter BioLite's CampStove, an awesome new 'accessory', basically a special camp stove which lets you burn stuff - be it wood and pine or twigs and leaves or other bio mass - to convert heat to energy via its built-in thermoelectric generator, so you can charge your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The campfire will never be the same. A cool promo video follows right below...

How to make your iPhone speak the current time and date

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Sometimes you just don't have time to look at the time. Or maybe you're in a dark room, and don't want the iPhone's light to blind you as if you were staring directly into the sun. In either of these scenarios, using TimeSpeak would be appropriate.

TimeSpeak is a jailbreak tweak that will speak the current time and date out loud when invoked via an Activator action. The tweak contains numerous options for speaking certain parts of time like day, month, hours, minutes, seconds, etc. Take a look inside for a full video demo...

MultiBoot is a quick boot toggle for jailbroken iPhones

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

MultiBoot is a tweak that allows you to quickly respring, reboot, safe mode, or power off your iPhone using a Home screen app icon. This same concept has been accomplished time and time again on the Cydia store, so MultiBoot doesn't exactly have originality on its side.

That being said, MultiBoot is a solid tweak that performs its functions reliably. Check out our full video walkthrough for the full details on how it works...

Google in a state of IP denial over Android, warns patent expert

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Dispelling a notion that rivals are taking Google to court out of frustration over their inability to slow down the Android freight train, patent expert Florian Müeller makes a point in a post over at his FOSS Patents blog that a collective market capitalization of the various corporations suing Google is approximately $1.06 trillion versus Google's $188 billion market cap.

More important than that, he says, "the companies who claim that Google's Android infringes on their intellectual property are too diverse to believe in a conspiracy". Müeller also notes that the Japanese giant Fujifilm, which mostly played defensive role in litigation, has also sued Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility for Android's alleged infringement of four of its patents...

Apple starts blocking Russian servers that authenticate in-app content for free

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Making good on its promise, Apple has started to block Russian servers which authenticate paid in-app content for free, The Next Web reports. The company is blocking IP addresses that host the rogue in-appstore.com domain by issuing takedown notices to hosting companies. PayPal has also intervened to block a private account through which donations had been collected, citing violation of its terms of service.

Despite this, hacker Alexey V. Borodin, the brains behind this controversial method, has already moved the servers to another country in an attempt to evade Apple’s legal requests...

3 reasons to get excited about this year’s iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ July 16, 2012

It's October 4th, 2011, and Apple is hosting its highly anticipated iPhone event. SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller is on stage, and after about 5 minutes of discussing changes to the iPod line, he utters the words that everyone has been waiting to hear: "Next, iPhone."

A sense of disappointment spread throughout the tech world as Schiller went on to unveil a familiar-looking iPhone 4S. Where was this teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 that we had been hearing so much about? With the bigger screen, and LTE? What about all of those leaked cases?

Of course, the 4S would go on to be a huge hit for Apple. But the whole experience has left a lot of consumers with low expectations for this year's iPhone release. Well it's time to raise them. There are actually a few reasons why you should be excited about Apple's next handset...

Sprint officially launches its LTE network

Cody Lee ∙ July 16, 2012

Great news Sprint customers, your carrier has just officially joined the LTE party. As expected, the company flipped the switch on its next-generation network in 5 markets this weekend.

Believe it or not, this is actually Sprint's second attempt at launching a 4G network. Back in 2008, the carrier took a gamble on WiMAX technology. But obviously, that didn't quite work out...

DisplayMate CEO on why Apple’s TV set will have a Retina display

Cody Lee ∙ July 16, 2012

Just because the rumor mill is focused on the next iPhone and iPad Mini right now, doesn't mean it's forgotten about the Apple television. The consensus still seems to be that the Cupertino company is working on a TV set.

The latest bit of speculation on the topic comes from DisplayMate's Raymond Soneira. The CEO says that he believes that the rumored Apple television will feature a display with its popular Retina technology...

More claimed next-gen iPhone fronts with centered FaceTime camera

Cody Lee ∙ July 15, 2012

It's been an unusually eventful Sunday evening here at iDB. Earlier, The New York Times ran a report on the rumored "iPad Mini," and now a new photo of purported next-gen iPhone components has surfaced.

The image you see above is a pair of iPhone fronts, supposedly from Apple's next smartphone. And like the front panels we saw back in May, they depict a relocated FaceTime camera and an elongated display...

AppAnalytics: a beautiful way to capture your app usage habits

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Let's be honest here for a second. Jailbreak apps don't exactly have a reputation for being easy on the eyes. In the majority of cases, they are fairly basic, sometimes crude, but more times than not they get the job done. And when it comes to jailbreak apps or tweaks, getting the job done is enough; we're not overly picky when it comes to aesthetics.

But when a jailbreak app appears on the scene that looks like it was designed to move units on the App Store, you can't help but take note. AppAnalytics — an app usage app for jailbroken devices — is a great example of this. It's a beautiful looking jailbreak app, and it too gets the job done...