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.

That happened in the iPhone world today 10/21/08

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated July 6, 2017

From now on, everything worth of your interest that don't have time to blog about will be summed up in a news roundup that we will publish here. So if we miss some of the cool iPhone news, you'll still be able to know about it. We will give you a short snippet of what it's about with a link to the source of the article.

Ford Makes Photo Editing iPhone App

In an unique attempt to spread the word about their upcoming crossover car, the Ford Flex 2009, the Ford Motor Company has developed a free native iPhone application for editing and enhancing photographs.

Apple officially surpasses 10 million iPhones sold in 2008

Apple announced today during its quarterly conference call that it has already surpassed its goal of 10 million iPhone sales in the calendar year of 2008. The company, which sold just under 7 million iPhones during the September quarter alone, said that this was the iPhone's "breakout quarter."

MapQuest aims towards iPhone

MapQuest, the creator of its namesake mapping website, has debuted a version of the site designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. Whereas Apple handheld users were previously directed towards the desktop pages, the site now presents pages formatted for the size of the iPhone, with special controls and larger buttons and fonts.

School of Rock app released for iPhone, iPod touch

Paramount Digital Entertainment has launched the School of Rock app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The program is based on the School of Rock movie, and teaches users about the principles of music, while focusing on four main areas, divided into the School of Drums, School of Keys, School of Guitar and School of Bass.

Cooliris Comes To iPhone - Now You Can Surf The Mobile Web in 3D

Cooliris (formerly PicLens) makers of a browser plugin which transforms the web into an immersive 3D experience, has just released their first application for the iPhone. The new Cooliris App brings 3D web surfing to the iPhone. Like their plugin, the iPhone app lets you browse using their unique "wall of content," a 3D wall that you can flick through using finger swipes and can touch to zoom in and out. This app lets you search Google, Flickr, Yahoo, SmugMug, and DeviantArt. Also like their browser plugin, the Cooliris iPhone App delivers relevant news and articles from across the web via a "Discover" feature which presents iPhone-optimized content organized in categories like News, Sports, Tech, and more.

BlackBerry app store to rival iPhone's

Research in Motion today confirmed the existence of its rumored BlackBerry Application Center, the company's attempt to parallel the iPhone's App Store. The portal will serve as a central hub for BlackBerry owners looking to download and manage apps instead of the web downloads and separate stores used before.

Fring partners with Austria's mobilkom for VoIP

fring's press release states that "[t]his is the first time a leading network operator has integrated an open mobile VoIP communication and mobile internet community offering into their business model, and represents a sea change in the relationship between traditional mobile carriers and mobile internet communications offerings such as fring."

Lala Unveils iPhone App, Unusual 10-Cent Song Sales

When we last checked in with Lala, the music service promised us access to our local collections from anywhere over the web. Using a unique combination of uploading and matching their collection to yours, you can sync your various libraries and listen to them any place where internet is available. Now they are back with some brand new features, including a vastly expanded catalog, an iPhone app and the unheard of 10-cent song.

Preview Video of synthPond Music Toy

An iPhone developer has forwarded a video of his upcoming synthPond iPhone application that provides a music toy to create 3d/4d sound effects through your iPhone or iPod Touch headphones.

Brightkite Location-Based iPhone App Now Available

Brightkite has released a native iPhone application to interface with their web service. Brightkite is a location-based social network in which you can see where your friends and what they are doing.

Let it snow: Snow Reports for iPhone

Snow Reports, from Eddit Incorporated, provides the ability to create your own personalized lists of your favorite ski resorts, and then track the snow conditions and weather at those resorts. Snow Reports can access information for over 2,000 ski areas around the world through OnTheSnow.com's online service.

That happened in the iPhone world today 9/20/08

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated July 6, 2017

These are some of the things that happened today in the iPhone world and even though we didn't have time to blog about it, I thought that would be nice to share these news with you:

Using the iPhone's GPS without a network connection

We know the iPhone 3G has "assisted" GPS that uses the phone's Internet connection, but with some patience and preparation, you can still use Google Maps and the GPS to some degree without connectivity.

Study: iPhone users frustrated with news portals

Study proves iPhone users are frustrated, but not by slow speeds or crappy battery life.

Turning the iPhone Into a Digital Photography Tool

The iPhone 3G brought changes in shape, function, features, etc., but to the dismay of many cell phone photographers, the device retains the same 2.0 megapixel camera as the first iPhone. apple enhanced the camera via software improvements by coupling the camera to the GPS features of the iPhone 3G to enable photo geotagging, but this did little to calm the complaints about the camera’s resolution, lack of flash and other features available on a few other phones. However, users have developed exciting ways to use the camera, and there are several innovative third-party applications to help along the way.

Maildash provides message templates for iPhones

PureBlend Software has released a new app designed for people who need to send e-mail or SMS messages via an iPhone, but prefer to avoid typing. Maildash allows users to quickly reply to messages by selecting a message template and hitting the send button. Maildash includes a series of common replies, and allows the customization of these templates or new ones as desired.

Briefcase file transfer app available for iPhone

Hey Mac Software has released Briefcase, a file transfer application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Users can download any type of file or directory onto their device, without the need for cables or extra client software.

Mark/Space launches Fliq social app for iPhone, Touch

Mark/Space has launched Fliq, a social networking app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Users can send photos and contacts to one another in real-time, without using e-mail, SMS or instant messaging configurations. Content can also be shared with anyone on the same Wi-Fi network.

iPhone boosting mobile developers, advertisers

The iPhone appears to be providing a significant boost to related mobile industries, involved parties claim. Andrew Fisher -- CEO of the company behind Shazam, an app which lets users identify songs through an iPhone's microphone -- notes that although his outfit is over four years old, prior to the iPhone 3G, people would only use earlier versions of Shazam three to five times per phone.

iPhone 3G shrinks profit margins of US carriers

Appleís iPhone is currently squeezing profit margins for US wireless carriers, with analysts expecting a drop in third quarter financial results in the coming weeks. Reuters reports that AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint are all expected to unveil lower-than-expected results, thanks in part to a larger subsidy on the iPhone 3G, and users reducing the total cost of their services

Sonic Boom is the perfect complement to Sonic Lighter

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 9, 2018

Last month, I talked to you about a fun yet useless application called Sonic Lighter. At the time, we even got an interview with Jeff Smith, the CEO of Smule, the company behind Sonic Lighter. A month after Smule launched its Sonic Lighter to worldwide acclaim, they release their newest complementary product, Sonic Boom in the App Store.

Sonic Boom [iTunes Link] turns your iPhone into a virtual firecracker that can be ignited using your finger as a virtual match or a second phone running Sonic Lighter. Strike the match, ignite the fuse, wait...BOOM!

Sonic Boom’s real-time explosions can be documented around the world – since it first became available about 36 hours ago, over 7,500 explosions have been detected. While explosions thus far have been concentrated in North America and Europe, several recent explosions were detected in the town of Curepipe, Mauritius in the Southwest Indian Ocean.

It's still useless but it's still fun!

Change your iPhone boot logo with LogoMe

Sébastien Page ∙ October 19, 2008

LogoMe is a new application available in Cydia that will change your boot logo without having to rejailbreak or restore. All you need to do is installing the application, launching it and typing in the URL where the photo can be downloaded from (that means that your photo has to be somewhere online - ie. Flickr). You will not be able to change your boot logo by using a photo from the library.

Once you've typed in the location URL, tap "Download" and LogoMe will download the file. After having downloaded it, you'll be able to preview your boot logo. When I previewed mine, it showed a white bar at the top but I decided to install anyway. When you're done, reboot your iPhone and you should see your new custom logo. Note that the white bat doesn't show on my custom boot logo anymore once installed.

A cute pink iPhone theme for women… or girlie men

Sébastien Page ∙ October 19, 2008

There is a really well designed pink theme for iPhone and iPod Touch in Cydia this morning called CarbonPink. This complete custom theme was designed by KillSign specifically for the ladies, or anyone who really likes pink and black.

CarbonPink comes with custom sliders, battery, keyboard, dialer, SMS bubbles, and more. It currently has over 230 icons. Really well done but obviously not for me... Tell us what you think about this theme.

Create an iTunes account without a credit card

Sébastien Page ∙ October 18, 2008

[digg-me]So you have a spanking new iPhone or iPod Touch and you can't wait to download all these applications from iTunes until you realize you need a Credit Card to have an iTunes account. Or, maybe you do have a Credit Card but the app you want is not available in your country? Don't panic, there is an easy solution to this problem, and best of all, it's totally legit and should take you about 2 minutes to set up.

This tutorial will teach you how to create an iTunes account in any country whether you have a credit card or not. All you need is 2 minutes, an Internet connection and have iTunes already running on your computer.

DIY iPhone Alarm Clock Stand

Sébastien Page ∙ October 18, 2008

In the DIY series, we had the paperclip iPhone stand, the iPhone binder clip dock, and now we have the iPhone alarm clock stand. Nathan Barry, the creator of this cheap alternative to an iPhone stand, used the plastic packaging that the iPhone 3G came in and used a sharp carving knife to craft it. Nathan says:

I'd been after a nice looking digital clock for the bedroom for ages, so I was pleased with the 'Digital Clock' app from the iPhone App Store. It's quite customizable (colour, brightness and digit style) and auto-rotates. Only problem is you have to leave it on all night - which used to drain the battery almost flat, until I discovered the 'Airplane Mode'!

You can see his pictures on Flickr, here and here.

DevTeam getting closer to 3G unlock

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

It had been a while since we had heard from our favorite team of hackers, namely the DevTeam, but today they posted on their blog, giving us an update about the status of the iPhone 3G unlock.

We made some significant 3G progress this week.

Here’s a screenshot of a 3G iPhone whose baseband has been modified. And even though it’s modified — and fails the integrity check — it’s still running. Can you guess where the patch was made?

So, can you guess where the patch were made??

DiskAid wants to be iPhoneBrowser

Sébastien Page ∙ October 17, 2008

After SSH, I believe that iPhoneBrowser is the best way to manage your iPhone files. It is easy and quick to use, especially if you want to play around with your themes or fonts. This being said, it's gonna be hard for a new software to make me stop my relationship with iPhoneBrowser.

Now comes DiskAid, a free software which does most of what iPhoneBrowser does, but "most of" is not enough... I want DiskAid to do more than that. Let's see what Digi DNA, the company behind DiskAid says about it:

DiskAid is a tool for PC and Mac which enables to use your iPhone or iPod Touch as external Disk. With DiskAid you can transfer files and folders between your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Computer.

* DiskAid is a Freeware, 100% free of charge * PC Windows & Mac OSX compatibility * Supports iPhone 1, 3G and all iPod Touch * Auto detection feature, just plugin it in ! * Copy Files & Folders between your iPhone or iPod Touch and your Computer * Files & Folders Browser * Drag & Drop * Features rich file organization including folder creation, renaming... etc. * No jailbreak needed * Supported firmware versions : 1.1.1 to 2.1

Looks pretty good. One big benefit of using iPhoneBrowser over DiskAid is that iPhoneBrowser provides a file preview which is very helpful when editing themes or icons. Like iPhoneBrowser, DiskAid does NOT allow you to change file permission.

DiskAid also pretends to transfer music files from your iPhone to your computer. That's true, you can do that. What they don't tell you though is that you will not be able to know what files you're moving as music files are encoded and look like something like this F0012-0848463. So unless you know that F0012-0848463 is the song "Lounge Act" by Nirvana from the album Nevermind, you'd never find out by yourself. I say: useless!

I'll stick with iPhoneBrowser...

Firemail brings free email landscape mode to the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated February 14, 2018

Firemail is a new application that does exactly what TouchType does, except that Firemail is free...

As soon as you launch Firemail, it will allow you to type your emails in landscape mode. Type in your subject line and email body, then you can choose to "send to MobileMail", which opens your default email. From there, you can select the recipient and send the email. You can also "Save to bookmarks", which saves the snippet of text to use it in another email.

Firemail [iTunes link] is free and is currently your best option for typing emails in landscape mode... well, at least until Apple decides it's a must-have feature.

How to sync your iPhone with multiple computers

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

[digg-me]If you tried before to sync your iPhone with more than one computer, you probably had an error message saying that your iPhone is already synced with another iTunes library and asking if you want to erase this iPhone.

There is somewhat of an easy hack for this that Andrew Grant explains on his blog. You will need some basic hacking skills for this (I'm no hacker and I was able to do it). Andrew also lists editing tools that you will need to download: UltraEdit for PC, and HexEdit for Mac.

Basically, the process takes 3 steps:

Backup your library Find your iTunes library ID Change your library ID

1. Backing up your library

On the additional computer you want to sync with, backup “iTunes Music Library.xml” and “iTunes Music Library” (you can find these in your iTunes folder in your “My Music” (on XP) or “Music” (on Vista) or in your "Music" directory on Mac) to a safe location. These are the files you will be modifying.

2. Find your iTunes Library ID

On the computer that currently syncs with your iPhone, open “iTunes Music Library.xml” with any text editor and look for the entry between the <string></string> tags, after “Library Persistent ID”. Note that it should be in the first 15 lines of the code. Now copy this entry as you will need it in the next step. You can now close the text editor.

3. Change your library ID

iTunes stores your library info in an XML file and a binary file. You will have to edit both of them. Note that iTunes must be closed. This part is a little tricky so either go to Andrew's blog or follow directions that I copied from him below:

On the machine you want to sync with open “iTunes Music Library.xml” in a text editor. Again, find the entry between the <string></string> tags after “Library Persistent ID” and copy this entry exactly. This time you can use the clipboard if you wish.

When you have a copy, replace this entry with the one you copied in part 1. Make sure you do not change anything else, and the length of the entry is 16 characters/digits. Save this file and close it.

In the Hex Editor, open “iTunes Music Library” (Tunes Music Library.itl on PC).

Select “Find and Replace” from the Edit menu. Make sure “Hex” matching is selected (not ASCII). In “Find” enter the ID you took a note of in Part 1. In Replace, enter the ID you copied at the start of Part 2. Choose Replace All, there should be one match.

Save this file and close it.

That's it! See, it's not that hard.

This is a quick rehash of Andrew's post. For detailed information with pictures, I highly recommend you go visit his blog.

If you know of an easier way to do that, please let us know in the comments.

iGPS360 module ready for order

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated December 26, 2016

Orange Gadgets, the folks behind the still awaited iControlPad, announced today on their blog that their iGPS360 add-on module for iPhone and iPod Touch is available for order for $75.

This state of the art module, as Orange Gadgets calls it, is supposed to bring full GPS capability for your iPhone and iPod touch. We have yet to see a video demo of this accessory. There is no word about it but I assume this will be available for jailbroken iPhones and iTouches only.

Looking at the company's website and blog, I wouldn't feel safe to pre-order this product, but maybe I'm just too carefull... From Orange Gadgets' blog:

The current expected ship date for the module is 10/22/2008 (which is still subject to change depending on the arrivals of the housings). Keep in mind that not all 1000 modules will be ready by that date as they come out of production bit by bit. So please be patient after you place your order. We will send you a confirmation email once your order is packed and ready to ship.

If you want one, hurry up as they have only 1,000 in prod right now... Would you feel safe pre-ordering from an unknown company anyways? Let us know in the comments.