JailbreakCon 2012 schedule: here’s how it’s all going to go down

If you haven't grabbed your tickets for this year's JailbreakCon event, you may want to hurry up and do that. The largest jailbreak-centric convention on the planet is coming to San Francisco, California in just two short months.

The convention is going to be held at the South San Francisco Conference Center, and it already has an impressive list of guest speakers slated to appear. Want to see how it's all going to go down? Here's the 2012 WWJC schedule...

The next iPhone and in-cell display tech

A certain hit-and-miss Asian trade publication (I know, don't start) reported this morning that the initial shipment of a sixth-generation iPhone could be disrupted due to yield problems with in-cell panels the device is believed to adopt.

Apparently, suppliers are experiencing yield rates too low to generate profits, despite the fact that Apple allegedly offered an estimated $10-15 per-panel subsidy. Really, what's up with in-cell tech and the next iPhone?

iOS hacker P0sixninja leaves the Chronic Dev Team

Famous jailbreak master Joshua Hill, known in the community as P0sixninja just announced on his Twitter account that he is leaving the Chronic Dev Team, a reputable group of iOS hackers he helped create a few years ago, and of which he was considered the front-man, up until now.

At this point of time, it is unclear what the motivations behind the departure are. A follow up tweet sent by P0sixninja makes it sound like it might be a money matter, but my sources tell me it is far more complicated than that.

Apple nearly shelved the iPhone because it wasn’t good enough

Despite producing multiple iPhone prototypes (here, here and here) leading up to its blockbuster 2007 release, the company's brain trust nearly shelved the project because it didn't believe the device was up to Apple's exacting standards of what a mobile phone should be, Cupertino's vice president of industrial design Jonathan Ive revealed in an interview.

One of the issues that had the team consider axing the iPhone involved the device's touchscreen accidentally initiating a phone call when put against one's ear. Apple later solved this by equipping the iPhone with a proximity sensor which automatically turns off the display to prevent spray input from your face...

Apple TV gets Hulu Plus with one-week free trial

Hulu announced today that folks can now use its paid service to stream thousands of television shows and movies to their television through the Apple TV set-top box. The app's been in the works since last year (though a tweak for jailbroken Apple TVs lets you access your Hulu Plus without too much fuss). It's now finally ready for public consumption, right from your main menu...

Apple’s arrogance blamed for low iPhone penetration in Russia

The iPhone is as popular in the nearly 150 million people market of the Russian Federation as it is elsewhere. However, unlike in the United States, Western Europe and in most other developed countries, Russian customers are expected to pay through their nose to get their hands on the sought-after device.

If you ask carriers, Apple's arrogance in dealing with its Russian wireless partners is behind the company's relatively low penetration in that market. This of course creates a sizable opportunity for Android cheapos. If I were Tim Cook, I would book a flight to Moscow to discuss lowering shipment commitments in exchange for a more flexible pricing scheme lest I lose their support...

You can now save Facebook posts for later

Recognizing a growing popularity of dedicated services that save articles for later reading, the social networking giant Facebook today quietly updated its backend to enhance its mobile and desktop apps with this functionality.

Aptly named 'save it for later', it does just that: you can now save other people's posts for later reading through the new Saved option under the lefthand pane revealed when you tap the sidebar menu button...

Disable double-height status bars with MonoBar

In the world of jailbreak tweaks, there are some that are really worth getting excited about. These would be tweaks like Dashboard X and Springtomize, that add significant functionality to iOS.

This, however, is not one of those tweaks. MonoBar is just a simple hack that disables the double-height status bar that appears when you're recording a voice note, or in a phone call...

Create custom actions for contacts with CallTap

The contact list in iOS pales in comparison to its counterpart on other mobile platforms. There's no embedded photos, no integration with social networks profiles, and no quick way to send emails or texts.

Luckily, if you're jailbroken, you can resolve most of these problems by installing tweaks. Copic or ChatPic can add photos to your contacts, and CallTap will give you a way to quickly message them...

How to enable the Nitro Javascript engine for Google Chrome

"Chrome will never be as good as Safari," many lamented upon Chrome's iOS debut, "It doesn't have access to Apple's private Nitro Javascript Engine." If your device isn't jailbroken, that still rings true, but if it is, then not so much anymore.

That's because Nitrous — a new jailbreak tweak available on Cydia — unlocks the Nitro Javascript engine for alternative browsers like Google Chrome. Does it make a difference? Yes. Check inside and see for yourself.

FLASHr: a flash notifications case for your iPhone

It seems like a gross oversight, on Apple's part, that there's no external indicator for notifications on the iPhone. This means that unless you happen to see a push notification come through, you have to unlock your handset to see if you have any missed calls or text messages.

Apple tried to remedy this issue with a new feature in iOS 5 called LED Flash for Alerts. It uses the iPhone's camera flash to alert users that they have new notifications, but for a number of reasons, this solution is far from perfect. Enter the new FLASHr case by Phaze5...

Samsung’s product chief dumbs down litigation with Apple to rectangles

Wired sat down with Apple's Jony Ive to talk design ahead of the trial of the century which kicked off in northern California today and the publication is now extending the courtesy to Samsung, interviewing its product person to hear the other side.

Samsung's Kevin Packingham discussed patent and design accusations between his company and Apple, the result of which is bound to have serious ramifications for both parties. Unsurprisingly, the executive played down Apple's concerns that the Galaxy tablets and smartphones copy the iPhone and iPad slavishly, pointing out there's really just one way to go about the candy bar form factor...