Jeff Benjamin

Jeff has been with iDownloadBlog since 2010, acting as resident video specialist, and tutorial expert. He earned his degree in Computer Network Systems back in 2001, but decided Cisco routers and the like just weren’t for him. Since then, he’s been heavily involved with online writing. He’s written for numerous tech and video game sites since the late 1990′s, and has a knack for explaining things in a simple, clear, and concise manner. Jeff works primarily from the east coast on his Retina Macbook Pro, and shoots video with a Canon DSLR. During downtime he likes to travel the world, visiting the various Apple Stores across the globe. You can email him at jeff [at] idownloadblog.com and follow him on Twitter @JeffBenjam or on Google+.

iKeyWi Adds Customizable 5th Row Keys to iOS 5 Keyboards

There have been many keyboard tweaks released over the years, and I've had issues with practically all of them.

iKeyWi is the latest keyboard tweak to make its way to Cydia, but this one if probably one of the more stable ones that I've used thus far.

That's not to say that it's not without a few opportunities for improvement, but as you'll see on video, it's a very good start...

iFaith SHSH Blob Tool Updated to Version 1.4.1

Renowned hacker iH8sn0w has released an incremental update to iFaith — the SHSH blob utility for Windows.

The update includes support for the latest version of Apple TV firmware, Tiny Umbrella blobs, and a host of other fixes. Check inside for the full change log, along with a link to our full blown iFaith tutorial page...

6 Great Jailbreak Tweaks for Mobile Safari

If you're looking to supercharge your iPhone's Mobile Safari browser, then look no further than Cydia. There, jailbreakers will find a plethora of tweaks to add certain features to Apple's bare bones web browser.

In fact, there are so many tweaks available on Cydia that it's easy to get lost if you're relatively new to jailbreaking, or even if you've been going at it for a long time.

With that in mind, we've put together a list of six of our favorite jailbreak tweaks to get the most out of Mobile Safari...

Saurik Helps Pod2g Makes More Progress on iPhone 4S Untethered Jailbreak

It looks like the caching issues that jailbreak guru pod2g was facing are now a thing of the past.

Just a while ago, the iPhone hacker updated his blog acknowledging that he had solved the the A5 chip cache issue, which means we are even closer to the reality of an untethered iPhone 4S jailbreak.

pod2g also touched on a few other points of interest regarding the much anticipated release...

SwitcherCleaner Micromanages Your iPhone’s App Switcher

SwitcherCleaner allows for more fine tuned control over the apps in your App Switcher. It works by automatically placing the items found in your App Switcher into "quit" mode, and only displays apps that are actually running.

SwitcherCleaner is an offshoot of a previously released tweak entitled SwitcherMod. In fact, it borrows its only two features directly from SwitcherMod and brings them to iOS 5...

NCInstaCall: Make Phone Calls Directly From Notification Center

NCInstaCall is a jailbreak widget for iOS 5 that allows you to make phone calls directly from Notification Center; hence, the "NC" in NCInstaCall.

The purpose of the tweak is to allow you to dial your friends from anywhere. The fact that Notification Center is accessible from anywhere in iOS 5 makes this possible.

Take a peek at our video synopsis of NCInstaCall inside...

Hacker pod2g Updates iPhone 4S Untethered Jailbreak Status

For those of you waiting for an iPhone 4S untethered jailbreak, we've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that skilled hacker pod2g is working hard and making definite progress on an iPhone 4S untether. The bad news is that he's hit a stumbling block on his way to finding a solution...

Top Jailbreak Tweaks of the Week

Welcome to our tweaks of the week. Last week we covered Siri Proxy plugin tutorials, jailbreak Tweaks for power users, and much, much more in high definition video.

Like usual, please make sure to spread our iPhone, iPad, and iOS video guidance by sharing our posts on Twitter and Facebook.

How to Jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 With RedSn0w Beta 9

As promised, a new and improved version of RedSn0w was unleashed just a few moments ago, and one of its primary features is the ability to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 outright without the assistance of any additional firmware.

This makes for one of the easiest jailbreak methods possible for iOS 5.0.1. Check inside for a video walkthrough of the jailbreak process, along with a brief tutorial...

biteSMS 6.0 Featuring iOS 5 Compatibility Officially Released

It's finally here. After what seemed like an infinite beta test, biteSMS 6.0 has hit Cydia for public download.

With it comes all of the features you've come to know and love, plus a few surprises and UI enhancements. Best of all, it's a free download if you've purchased an older version of biteSMS. Check out our video coverage inside...

Spotfb: Execute Spotlight Commands to Launch Facebook Sections

Spotfb is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to launch different sections of the official Facebook app by means of predefined Spotlight commands.

All you need to do is swipe over to your Spotlight page, type the command, and tap return. It'll then launch the specific Facebook page that pertains to the command that you typed.

Honestly, we're not sure who would be willing to use such a tweak; it'd be much faster to just launch the app and venture to your desired section, wouldn't it?