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+.

QuickDictation brings faster dictation access to the Messages app

If you rarely use the audio message feature in the iOS 8 Messages app, then perhaps you should consider changing the functionality of the audio message button into something more useful. QuickDictation is a new jailbreak tweak that allows you to do just that. It changes the audio message button into a dictation button, which is normally resigned to the keyboard.

MusicScroller adds a pop-up alphabet indicator to the Music app

Yesterday, we told you about Skippy, a new jailbreak tweak available on Ryan Petrich's beta repo. That tweak was the result of a Reddit request to bring a pop-up HUD overlay to the scroll index in the Phone app and Contacts app.

Sadly, at least in the current release, Skippy doesn't work for the stock Music app's list view. But a brand new tweak called MusicScroller steps up to fill in the gaps. MusicScroller brings a simple pop-up alphabet HUD indicator to show your current location while scrolling through lists in the stock Music app.

New ‘Typecast’ tweak brings “now typing” and read receipt indicators to the fore

Typecast is a new jailbreak tweak that makes the "now typing" indicator and read receipt indicators associated with message conversations more prominent. Typecast is especially good when juggling multiple conversations at the same time, because it places the now typing indicators right on the conversation inside of the message list view.

If you've ever used TypeStatus, a similar tweak from which Typecast draws inspiration from, then you pretty much know what to expect here from a technical standpoint. But it's the way that Typecast presents itself, and the fact that it works with additional apps, that makes it warrant a look— even if you already use TypeStatus.

Ryan Petrich’s ‘Skippy’ adds an HUD overlay for quick index jumps in iOS

Ryan Petrich has posted a brand new jailbreak tweak on his beta repo called Skippy. It's the result of a request fulfillment for an r/jailbreak reader.  Skippy makes it easier to navigate quick index jumps by implementing an HUD overlay.

The quick index jump feature is the vertical list that appears on the right side of your iPhone when scrolling through alphabetically sorted content. Users can vertically swipe on the alphabet to quickly jump between items in the list that begin with the letter last selected.

To make it easier to see the current letter, Skippy displays a handy HUD that showcases the letter that you've landed on.

The iOS 8.4 signing window is now closed

If you haven't upgraded to iOS 8.4, it's now too late. Apple has closed the iOS 8.4 signing window according to IPSW.me. It's now impossible to upgrade or downgrade to iOS 8.4. All users are now forced to iOS 8.4.1 or higher upon restore.

ChargePulse: make your iPhone’s battery icon pulse when charging

Although the small lightning logo appears next to the battery icon when charging the iPhone, I still find it difficult to quickly discern whether or not my device is charging. For whatever reason, it always takes me a second or two to realize that the lightning icon is there, indicating a charge.

With a tweak like ChargePulse, you can easily spot when your iPhone is charging, even when it's two to three feet away. ChargePulse makes it readily apparent that your battery is charging by adding a subtle pulse to the battery icon in the status bar.

Prism adds a visualizer to the stock Music app in iOS 8.4

Want to feel more connected to your music? Prism, a new visualizer jailbreak tweak for the iOS 8.4 Music app, can help you do just that.

Not only does the Prism visualizer work with the music that you have stored locally on device, but it also works with Apple Music if you happen to subscribe to Apple's recently launched streaming music service. 

LinkCollector lets you delay opening links until later

LinkCollector is a brand new jailbreak tweak that allows you to collect multiple links, and open them at your leisure all at once. Instead of opening the links that you collect immediately, you can simply defer them.

When you attempt to open a Safari link from another app, you'll get a banner notification that informs you that a link has been collected. You can tap the banner to open the link immediately, or you can let the banner timeout, and open the link(s) when you visit Safari later.

igSpeedster: an awesome tweak for managing multiple Instagram accounts

igSpeedster is a new jailbreak tweak that's squarely aimed at social media managers with multiple Instagram accounts. But you don't need to be a social media manager to benefit from igSpeedster, as it's not uncommon for a person to have multiple Instagram accounts.

I like to keep my personal and work Instagram accounts separate, so a tweak like this is right up my alley. Yet, igSpeedster does more than just let you manage multiple accounts. It adds the ability to save images to your photo library, tap on links, copy captions, and repost photos. It really is one of the best Instagram jailbreak tweaks that I've seen thus far.

Review: Skiva PowerFlow 7 Port StandCharger + Giveaway

Chances are that if you’re reading this review, you have more than one portable device that charges via USB. Maybe you have two—a tablet and a phone—or maybe you have multiple phones.

Admittedly, someone like me is a bit of anomaly, as I review phones and cover them on a daily basis. Hence, it’s not out of the ordinary for me to have multiple smartphones at any given time. This has especially become true as I get acquainted with more Android devices.

One of the main caveats of having this many portable devices is keeping them charged. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up a phone or a tablet that I haven’t touched in a while, only to find it dead—the dreaded "dead phone syndrome".

The problem really is two-fold: a). I don’t have enough wall outlets and chargers in convenient places to keep the devices topped off, and b). my devices are usually scattered all over the place.

Skiva’s new PowerFlow StandCharger 7-Port USB Charging Station aims to eliminate both problems. It can charge all of your devices at the same time via the seven 2.4 Amp USB ports, and it also houses each device in a organized manner.

But does the Skiva do enough to warrant a serious look? Is this $59.99 device truly better than your current system of charging your device? Check out our video walkthrough and thoughts inside.

New ShiftCycle tweak lets you quickly change the case of selected text

Have you ever wanted to quickly change the case of a block of text after the fact? Sure, you can always go in and change casing letter by letter, but wouldn't it be better if you could do so with minimal effort?

A new jailbreak tweak called ShiftCycle allows you to do just that. By simply highlighting text you wish to change, and tapping the Shift key, you can easily change and cycle through text casing in a matter of seconds.