Sébastien Page

Sebastien is the Founder and Editor in Chief of iDB. Once a BlackBerry user, Sebastien instantly fell in love with the iPhone when it was first announced in 2007. Shortly after, he decided to start sharing his knowledge of the iPhone and its nascent ecosystem, which led to the creation of this blog. Sebastien currently owns 14 iPhones, 4 iPads, a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, a MacBook Air, 2 Apple Watches, 3 Apple TVs, countless HomePods and AirTags as well as a few pairs of AirPods.

Sorta QuickPWN 2.2.1 Is Out. I Say Stay Away

Sébastien Page ∙ January 29, 2009

I knew it wouldn't take long for some hacker to come up with an unofficial version of QuickPWN to jailbreak the new firmware 2.2.1. This time, it's Russian hacker Vortex that created the bundles and if I can give you a piece of advice, STAY AWAY from it.

People using this unofficial QuickPWN had varied results. So again, wait for the Dev Team to come up with an official version. They are most likely already working on it and I bet you we'll have updated versions of QuickPWN and PwnageTool within a week.

As usual, I will give you the heads up when I have more info!

If you really can't wait and want to take the risk of messing up your iPhone, then you can download this unofficial version of QuickPwn here.

UPDATE: Just got a tweet from MuscleNerd saying "iphone users in particular (even 2G) can do permanent damage running "untrusted" bundles (either broken or intentionally bad)"

If I wasn't clear enough before... DO NOT USE unofficial versions of QuickPWN or PwnageTool!

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App Store to Get $19.99 Premium Games Section

Sébastien Page ∙ January 29, 2009

Don't you love rumors? Well, here is a new one for you, and I think it is more than a simple rumor. Apple is supposedly considering creating a $19.99 section in the App Store for "premium games". According to PocketGamer, "it's thought only a relatively small number of publishers would be partners in the new section, although in fairness, relatively few are currently geared up to create games with $19.99 production values."

If you think about it, it totally makes sense that Apple would want to create such a section in the App Store. Apple is not hiding its ambitions of having the iPhone and iPod Touch take over what your Nintendo DS or Sony PSP are doing, namely, be a kick ass portable gaming console.

Mike at TUAW says that "it's an interesting idea, and actually, though obviously it would cost consumers more, the bottom line in the App Store has always been worth, not price -- there are currently premium games being sold on services like Xbox Live and the Wii's Virtual Console for $20, and gamers are willing to pay, as long as they get the bang for the buck that they expect."

I'm not a gamer at all so, as far as I'm concerned, I couldn't care less, but I think it's very interesting to see where Apple is heading to. You gotta love Apple business model!

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Heads Up On Firmware 2.2.1 And Jailbreak/Unlock

Sébastien Page ∙ January 28, 2009

Since firmware 2.2.1 was released yesterday, a lot of concerns were raised whether or not you should update. The quick answer is NO, do not update if you care about your jailbreak or your unlock. MuscleNerd released a video on Qik giving us more info about the situation. Below are notes from the video.

About the iPhone 3G:

If you use YellowSn0w, you do not want to update to 2.2.1 as it will remove the possibility to install it. The only way you could do it is my installing a custom firmware that doesn't update the baseband. PwnageTool and QuickPwn do just that but they haven't been updated for 2.2.1 yet so wait for them to come out.

About the iPod Touch 2G:

The 2.2.1 firmware doesn't affect your ability to jailbreak your iPod Touch 2G. It didn't remove the ability for the Dev Team to do a tethered jailbreak. The Dev Team is still looking for an exploit to allow an untethered jailbreak. In other words, hang in there, they are working on it.

About iPhone 2G and iPod Touch 1st Gen:

2.2.1 doesn't affect your ability to jailbreak or unlock but again, wait for an updated version of QuickPwn and PwnageTool to do that.

As usual, I will report to you as the news come about 2.2.1 and jailbreaking/unlocking so you may want to subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified in time.

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iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 Available. Jailbreakers, DO NOT Update!

Sébastien Page ∙ January 27, 2009

Apple just released firmware 2.2.1 and as usual, if you are on a jailbroken iPhone, do NOT update!

According to MacRumors:

iPhone Firmware 2.2.1 Update

This update contains bug fixes and improvements, including the following:

Improved general stability of Safari Fixed issue where some images saved from Mail do not display correctly in the Camera Roll

Products compatible with this software update:

iPhone iPhone 3G

The baseband has been updated too (Modem Firmware: 02.30.03) so again, do not update your iPhone if you are jailbroken/unlocked.

Apparently, there is no major features added to this update. I will keep you posted as the news come.

As usual, you can download the latest firmwares for all iPhones and iPod Touch in the iPhone downloads section.

Thanks @dannyswrld for the tip and for this update on what's up with 2.2.1:

Faster and snappier! Less crashy. All Safari bugs I know of have been fixed. RAM is definitely better. Apps don't eat it up as much as before. Bug fixed where saved images were pixelated and blurry. Bug fixed where when you turned on an app on a flat surface the accelerometer would turn off. Emoji's still work.

Leave a comment about what you think is new in this firmware.

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Search Cydia Repos From The Web

Sébastien Page ∙ January 27, 2009

ModMyi recently created an online directory that lets you browse Cydia apps directly from your computer. It's something I had thought about doing for a long time, but didn't have the technical skills or finances to put it in place.

Cydia apps listings show basic information about each application as well as a screenshot.

I find this tool much more convenient to use than your iPhone/iPod Touch when simply browsing apps. Note that you won't be able to download any app from the site.

Try it out here!

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New Apple iPhone Commercial “Read”

Sébastien Page ∙ January 26, 2009

Apple has a new ad airing on TV called "Read". They use the same format/structure as usual, which makes this ad not really interesting. The moral of this ad? There is an app for everything!

Watch the video below and tell us what you think in the comments.

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Hotmail POP3 Support For iPhone Now Available In Select Countries

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 20, 2016

Windows Live Hotmail now supports POP3 in a few select countries including United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Japan, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

According to SoftPedia:

First off, the POP server needs to be pop3.live.com (port 995), while the SMTP server is smtp.live.com (port 25). Users will have to provide their full Windows Live ID (username@hotmail.com), and then the password that they have associated with the account. They have to bear in mind the fact that the Windows Live Hotmail POP3 service must use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) both with the POP and SMTP connection, as well as take advantage of SMTP authentication. Thus, users will have to specify that POP SSL and Authentication are indeed required, with the same being valid for TLS/SSL.

Sorry folks. It's not available in the US yet! If you're using Hotmail in the US and want to set it up on your iPhone, read my tutorial called How To Set Up Hotmail On The iPhone or check out the mBoxMail app.

Via iPhone Alley

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hClipboard is Another iPhone Copy/Paste App

Sébastien Page ∙ January 23, 2009

Earlier this week I posted about Clippy, an application that brilliantly brings copy/paste to the iPhone. I love Clippy. It is simple and it does exactly what you want it to do. One thing it doesn't do is letting you copy text from Safari, but hey, you can't ask it too much...

Available since today in Cydia is hClipboard, a copy/paste application that does the same as Clippy, except it makes it harder for you use...

Before installing hClipboard, I looked at the "more information" tab in Cydia about this app. I was a little overwhelmed by the amount of directions to use this app. I think that I'm a pretty smart guy when it comes to tech stuff so I didn't read the directions and decided to try it thinking I would figure it out.

I installed the app and went to the my Mail app to try it out. Once there I didn't know what to do. I briefly looked at the instructions online but honestly, I was turned off. To me, an app should be simple enough so a caveman can do it. This app required to much effort from me. I know that I should just read the instructions and I would get it in a minute but for some reason, I don't want to.

That's too bad because hClipboard seems to be a pretty good app from what I read... I'll stick too Clippy!

UPDATE: I wasn't able to fall asleep last night so I played around with hClipBoard for a bit and I realized how easy it is to use.

Simply place the cursor where you want to start copying text and hit the "select from here" icon (see image above) Then place the cursor where you want to end the text copy and hit the same icon to "select to here and copy" That's it. The text is now copied to your clipboard. You can repeat the steps above several times and have multiple copied sections on your clipboard. Now whenever you want to paste the text somewhere, simply tap this piece of text on your clipboard.

You can also create templates of text you paste on a regular basis, which is very convenient for email signatures for examples.

hClipBoard is definitely better than Clippy and after giving it a real try, I can tell that this is my new favorite copy/paste app.

Let me know you experience with the app in the comments.

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How To Watch Ustream Over 3G

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

I made it clear that I'm not a big fan of Ustream. One of the concern many of you have is that it doesn't work over 3G. Well, I've got good news for you. Thanks to this simple hack, you will now be able to watch Ustream over 3G, and not only rely on wifi.

In order to do so, there are some prerequisites:

Your iPhone must be jailbroken - see quickpwn 2.2 tutorial You must install the following apps from Cydia: Mobile Substrate; OpenSSH; VoIPover3G (reboot after install) You must not be scared of playing around with your iPhone files...

Now comes the funny part! Note that from now on, I assume you are familiar with SSH. If not, there are plenty of tutorial on YouTube that will show you how to do that.

1. SSH into your iPhone and go to the root directory "/"

2. Navigate to /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries

3. With a text editor, open VoIPover3G.plist

4. Look for:

Filter = {Bundles = ("com.Fringland.Fring", "com.apple.AppStore", "com.audiofile.Interstate", "com.apple.MobileStore");};

Now add this part: , "tv.ustream.player"

It should look like this:

Filter = {Bundles = ("com.Fringland.Fring", "com.apple.AppStore", "com.audiofile.Interstate", "com.apple.MobileStore", "tv.ustream.player");};

Don't forget the "," and the quotation marks!

5. Save the changes you just made and upload the file back to its location: /Library/MobileSubstrate/DynamicLibraries

6. Now go to your springboard and delete the Ustream application. Reboot your iPhone and reinstall Ustream from the App Store.

7. You're good to go! Ustream should now work over 3G!

I want to thank GreenGeek to email me all these instructions! If you have such hacks you want to share with us, feel free to contact me.

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RedSn0w FAQs – Everything You Wanted To Know About RedSn0w

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

After hearing about RedSn0w and watching the video demo, you most likely have many questions. Most answers to these questions are in the Dev Team's blog, but given then amount of comments, it's not really easy to find what you want.

Fortunately for us, Caleb Mingle wrote a nice FAQ page with most question related to RedSn0w you can think of, such as:

What exactly is a 'tethered' jailbreak? Will you give us an ETA for release? What is this: 32957a35889c4dd2f8dfe483dd9023eafb6b4a22? Has anyone decoded it? I heard that this mod involves modifying hardware.. am I right? Is this jailbreak more difficult then the other jailbreaks? Do you think all Cydia apps will work properly on the 2G? etc...

Go over there to get answers to your RedSn0w questions!

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Ustream is Useless

Sébastien Page ∙ January 21, 2009

If you read this blog on a regular basis, you know I don't beat around the bush. I say things straight, and that's most likely the reason why you love (or hate) me.

Today, I want to talk about how useless of an application I think Ustream is. On the paper, it looks great. Live TV on your iPhone from anywhere you have an internet connection, whether it is wifi, Edge, or 3G. But when you actually look at the live streams available, you realize that there is nothing worth wasting 2 minutes of your time.

To Ustream's defense, I have to admit that the technology behind it is great but that's all there is to it. Why is Ustream getting so much buzz? Simply because Michael Arrington talked about it on TechCrunch a few days ago. And when something is on TechCrunch, you can bet that every blog is going to talk about it as well within minutes.

I installed Ustream out of curiosity, played around with it, looked at parts of the inauguration (it was actually cool that Ustream had this going on yesterday), and deleted it because all the available streams just sucked!!

In comparison, I think Qik is much better, although it is not in the App Store (only available in Cydia).

I'm looking forward to you showing me how wrong I am and how cool of an application Ustream really is ;)

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