Cody Lee

Cody Lee, iDownloadBlog.com’s longest-serving Editor, joined the site in 2008. He specializes in uncovering the best deals on Apple products, apps, and accessories. With years of experience in technology journalism, Cody helps readers save money while staying informed about the latest trends and updates in the Apple ecosystem. Cody’s history with smartphones goes almost as far back as he does. As the son of a Nokia employee, he was exposed early on to handsets like the N91 and the Communicator. He has since been involved in nearly every aspect of the mobile phone industry. While going to college, he worked at a Nokia factory, building handsets, and later moved on to a sales position at a major wireless carrier.

Apple and Time Finally Reach iPad Agreement

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

The iPad was expected to be a new medium for publishers in the print business to reach their customers, but so far it has yet to catch on. Disagreements between Apple and major publishers on digital subscription terms have seriously crippled the device's potential.

The Cupertino company actually caused quite a stir in the magazine industry last February when they announced the conditions of their in app subscription policy.

Apple would reap 30% of the profits generated from in app subscriptions of an App Store application. They also required that publishers beat or match the prices of their subscriptions offered outside of the app.

One publication called these terms "economically untenable." In fact, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is currently investigating Apple's policies on their App Store subscription services.

Negativity aside, Apple achieved a breakthrough last month when Bloomberg stated that they would be launching a $2.99 monthly subscription service for their Bloomberg BusinessWeek application.

Since Bloomberg signed on, a lot of eyes have been on Time Inc., to see what their next move in the digital world would be. According to the Wall Street Journal, the country's largest magazine publisher has reached an epic deal with Apple.

Starting Monday, subscribers of Sports Illustrated, Time, and Fortune magazine will be able to access the iPad editions for free. The app will have an authentication process to determine if the user is a subscriber or not.

Time has still not reached a deal for selling digital subscriptions to the iPad editions of their magazines. Much like the TV networks' disputes over TWC's iPad app, it seems as though many major magazine publishers are having difficulties figuring out how to exist in the digital realm.

It'll be interesting to see what the print media industry looks like in 5 years.

What do you think?

Foxconn Employees Still Treated Poorly?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

This is one of the saddest stories in Apple's epic saga. They continue to do business with large manufacturing companies that just can't figure out how to treat their employees. It seems like we are always hearing about employees of Apple's suppliers being poisoned or working in insufferable conditions.

To be fair, Apple is one of largest electronic manufacturers in the world. That kind of notoriety would put a target on anyone's back. But it is concerning that Apple still pays Foxconn money, even with the ongoing reports of their lack of compassion for their employee's well-being...

White iPhone 4 Teardown

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 2, 2018

In an interview with Steve Jobs and Phil Schiller last week, the 2 executives commented on how difficult it was to make the white iPhone 4. So how did Apple finally get things right?

It was certainly inevitable that someone was going to open Apple's white iPhone and look inside. After a 10 month delay, due to several design and manufacturing problems, who wouldn't want to take a glimpse of what's going on inside this thing?

Lima is a New Browser-Based Cydia Alternative

Cody Lee ∙ May 2, 2011

After Cydia was crippled by the the recent Amazon EC2 outage, jailbreakers have been seeking out alternative options to get their favorite iOS extensions. Currently, Cydia is widely known as the "only" jailbroken app store, but it certainly seems like the Infini Dev Team is looking to change that.

You may recognize them as the developers who are bringing back the popular Icy package installer, which has been absent from the jailbreak scene since iOS 3.0. But Icy's not the only Cydia challenger these guys have been working on. They have another project in the oven called Lima...

YouTube Removes Video of Saurik’s Interview on Jailbreaking

Cody Lee ∙ May 2, 2011

Last week, we posted a video of an interview with Cydia's creator, Jay Freeman (saurik). The clip was about 6 minutes long, and consisted of saurik showing off many of his favorite tweaks and iOS extensions in response to the question, "Why should you jailbreak your iPhone?"

The video garnered a lot of attention. It was sort of surreal to see the guy who's devoted much of his life over the last several years to developing and maintaining Cydia explain why he loves jailbreaking so much. It seems like the video's popularity ultimately led to its demise...

Plex Streams Your Mac Media to Your Apple TV2

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2011

If you have a 2nd generation Apple TV and have been looking for a way to stream content to it from your Mac computer, you should check out Plex. For users who want to share videos with their Apple TV, outside of their iTunes library, there many not be a better option.

Plex is a popular media server for streaming audio and video files to iOS devices. While it has been in the App Store for quite some time, it hasn't become available for Apple TV owners until the last 6 months.

A developer by the name of Quiqueck made a plugin to work with jailbroken Apple TV2s. This means that you are able to stream media from your Mac, right to your HDTV. The plugin is still very primitive but if you are the adventurous type, you can try out The Tech Journal's tutorial.

It's important to note that Plex is for Macs only. If you are using a Windows machine, you'll have to go with the alternative XBMC plugin. If you have the option, I think the user interface of Plex makes it the better option of the two.

For folks who are still running stock Apple TVs, don't feel left out. The Plex iOS app has been confirmed to have AirPlay support on the way, which would allow you to stream content from your iDevice to your Apple TV.

Of course the real solution to this mess would be for Apple to just open up an App Store for the Apple TV. Then Plex and other media server software companies could just build client apps strictly for the ATV2.

What do you think? Do you use Plex or another jailbroken app to stream content to your ATV2?

GeoHot to Help with iPad 2 Jailbreak?

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2011

If you don't recognize the name GeoHot, you must be new around here. The infamous electronics expert first garnered public attention when he traded his ground-breaking, unlocked iPhone for a brand new Nissan 350z. Did I mention he was 17 years old at the time?

Since then, the New Jersey native has been in and out of the jailbreak scene, more recently grabbing headlines for dismantling Sony's PS3 system. The electronics giant took the young hacker to court over his PS3 exploit, and since then, GeoHot has been laying relatively low.

Chronic Dev team member, p0sixninja, is hoping he doesn't stay gone for long. The talented iDevice hacker has recently tweeted, "Damn, this one of the slowest progressing jailbreaks ever. I think I kinda miss geohot a bit."

It seems that p0sixninja and other jailbreakers are having a tough time with the iPad 2's A5 processor and associated bootrom. Apparently p0sixninja feels like GeoHot could be of some help, as he publicly challenged him in a race to see "who could dump the iPad 2 boot rom" the fastest. GeoHot has reportedly accepted.

p0six mentions that having a worthy opponent might motivate him to work harder, let's hope he's right. We are now venturing into the 3rd month since Apple launched its latest tablet, and there still doesn't seem to be an official iPad 2 jailbreak in sight. As always, we will keep you updated on the latest iPad 2 jailbreak news.

Icy Cydia Alternative Makes a Comeback

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2011

That's right folks, the silky smooth Cydia alternative is back up and running. For folks who have been around the jailbreak scene for a while, you undoubtedly remember Icy. The dpkg installer worked similar to Cydia, but always seemed faster and more refined than its counterpart.

Since Cydia and Rock joined forces, there really hasn't been any competition in the jailbroken app store industry. Icy is looking to change that by returning to the scene with a fresh coat of paint. Does it have what it takes to be a worthy challenger after being gone for so long?

Speed Intensifier Speeds Up Your iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Tired of waiting for Apple to release the next iPhone to experience faster speeds? Luckily, there's an app for that. Well, at least there is if you are using a jailbroken device.

Speed Intensifier is a 2-part tweak that can speed up your iPhone's performance by shortening or completely removing iOS animations. These transitional animations typically happen when you open a folder or window, and can really slow you down as you bounce between apps...

xBackup Allows You to Completely Backup Cydia with One Tap

Cody Lee ∙ May 1, 2011

Apple has been dropping firmware updates like they were going out of style lately. Just 2 months after iOS 4.3 was released, a third update is on the horizon. Luckily, the jailbreaks are keeping up with the releases, but are you?

While most folks don't appreciate rebuilding their iPhone, I relish it. I love starting with a clean slate and making my iPhone look completely different than it did before. If you haven't upgraded to a recent firmware in fear of losing all of your stuff in Cydia, check this out...

Apple Accidentally Shipping White iPhones With In-House Software?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

Everyone knows by now that the white iPhone 4 is shipping worldwide. While the 10 month-long wait for the mysterious device has finally come to an end, is it really the end of the white iPhone 4 saga? Maybe not.

Since its launch last week, renowned iDevice hacker chpwn has been asking the Twitter nation to check their new white iPhone 4s for special markings. Apparently, a few lucky folks have limited edition iPhones and may not even know it...

How to Spot a Failbreaker

Cody Lee ∙ April 30, 2011

For those who haven't been keeping up with the latest iPad 2 jailbreak news, let me bring you up to speed. Last week there was an unknown Twitter user proclaiming that he had created an iPad 2 jailbreak. He uploaded videos and pictures of what seemed to be an iPad 2 running Cydia.

He built up close to 1000 Twitter followers, and even had media outlets (including us) mentioning his work on Apple's tablet. Although we maintained a certain level of skepticism, a part of us wanted to believe the photos and the videos were real.

Some people got so wrapped up in their beliefs, that they blindly downloaded an unknown EXE file from the hacker. He claimed that this was the iPad 2 jailbreak everyone was waiting for. Luckily, it was nothing more than a simple app designed to error out. It could have easily been something much more malicious.

For folks who are looking for help to dismiss future fakes, the Chronic Dev Team have posted a video on their GreenPois0n website that educates the average joe on how to spot a fake video of a jailbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4St2eJA6geQ

The Chronic Dev Team's GreenPois0n software has been a staple in the jailbreak community for the last few years. They are currently working on a real iPad 2 jailbreak, but have stated as recently as last week that it is no where close to being done.

While the fake jailbreak from last week can be written off as a bad prank, the next time folks may not be so lucky. We encourage you to check back here for the latest information on an official iPad 2 jailbreak.