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+.

How to Add a Blurred Background to Notification Center

Most of the tweaks that have come out for Notification Center have focused solely on function. BlurriedNCBackground is a jailbreak tweak that puts function aside in favor of looks.

And it looks good; real good. If you want to add a blurred background to your Notification Center, then check out the video inside for more details on this interesting visual tweak...

IntelliScreenX Giveaway!

IntelliScreenX — the highly anticipated jailbreak app for iOS 5's Notification Center has landed on Cydia, and to celebrate, we've teamed up with Intelliborn to give away five (5) free copies.

As with most of our giveaways we've made it real simple to enter.

Check inside for details on how you can win your very own copy of IntelliScreenX, which is now available on Cydia for $9.99...

CallBar 1.0 Features Seamless iOS 5 Integration

The latest update to CallBar will add seamless iOS 5 integration to the much loved jailbreak tweak.

CallBar 1.0, as it's being called, is the same CallBar we reviewed back in July, only perfected.

Check inside for a video sneak preview of CallBar 1.0 before it hits Cydia...

What is Minecraft – Pocket Edition All About?

I'll be the first to admit, I'm terrible at Minecraft. In fact, I'd never played it until just a few hours ago when I downloaded it on my iPhone.

Needless to say, you Minecraft experts will probably find this video a bit humorous, perhaps even a bit appalling.

Nevertheless, I've put myself out there in order for you to see what Minecraft - Pocket Edition is all about. Check out our video inside...

aTV Flash Black Officially Released for Apple TV 2

aTV Flash Black, the software solution that adds a multitude of new features to a jailbroken Apple TV 2, finally released yesterday after many moons in beta testing.

The 1.0 release is pretty much the same as the version we showed you not too long ago, though there are a few changes that have been added since then.

If you have an Apple TV 2, aTV Flash Black is the surest way to get the most bang for your buck out of Apple's self proclaimed "hobby" device...

Kindle Fire vs iPad 2: Bootup Times, Web Browsing, and Netflix Streaming

I finally acquired my highly anticipated Kindle Fire this morning, and I've been putting it through its paces all day long.

It's a decent first attempt by Amazon, and it has tons of potential, but it still suffers from the fact that it's a first generation device.

Even still, we thought it only appropriate to compare Apple's latest tablet to Kindle Fire. How does the iPad 2 stack up to Amazon's debut entry into the tablet race? Check out the interesting — yet ultimately unscientific — video comparison inside...

biteSMS Adds New Quick Compose Feature in Notification Center

The latest version of biteSMS is shaping up to be something special. The team has worked hard for months, issuing beta after beta to get version 6 of our favorite jailbreak messaging client just right for iOS 5.

We already covered some of biteSMS' upcoming new features before, but this time around we're focusing exclusively on one feature in particular — quick compose from Notification Center.

IntelliScreenX has it, and now the biteSMS team has it as well. Check inside for a full video walkthrough of the new quick compose elements of biteSMS...

How to Open the App Switcher From Your Lock Screen

Multitasking on the Lock screen you say? Indeed. LockScreen Multitasking is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to launch your iPhone's App Switcher directly from the Lock screen.

This makes it possible to launch apps, and enjoy the other features contained in your device's App Switcher without even unlocking it...

SuperScroller: Page Up and Page Down Using Activator Actions

SuperScroller is a jailbreak tweak from Ryan Petrich that allows you to scroll up or down using an assigned Activator action.

Many viewers are questioning the tweak's usefulness on our YouTube channel, but I could certainly see someone using SuperScroller as their preferred method of page navigation; for instance, when reading.

Check out the video walkthrough inside, and judge for yourselves...

How to Use iTunes Match: The Complete Walkthrough

After a little bit of a delay, iTunes Match was released to the public today. iTunes Match is a service that's built into the latest version of iTunes. It lets you match, upload, and play music on a variety of different devices.

This is an extremely cool service that allows you to take your entire iTunes library with you on the go, even if you have a measly 8GB iPhone.

Unfortunately, we don't think that Apple has done a very good job explaining the full benefits of iTunes Match. For that reason, we've created this ultimate iTunes Match tutorial, FAQ, and video walkthrough...

How to Tweet Your Current Song Using iOS 5’s Built in Twitter Integration

TweetSong is a jailbreak tweak for iOS 5 that makes it easy to tweet out your #nowplaying song using iOS 5's built in Twitter integration.

It works by assigning an Activator action to pull in the current playing song from your music app, placing it conveniently into the body of your tweet.

If you're curious to see TweetSong in action, check out our video walkthrough inside...

iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 3 With iTunes Match Seeded to Developers

Admittedly, we were expecting a final version of iTunes with iTunes Match to hit the scene any day now, but it looks like Apple is still squashing some remaining bugs.

In other words, iTunes 10.5.1 Beta 3 with iTunes Match was just seeded to developers a few minutes ago. We've installed it, and we can report that the overall experience is much faster than previous betas...