3 Beautiful Notification Center Concepts

The iOS 5 Notification Center has been getting a lot of attention lately in the jailbreak community. Third party widgets have already been made available that mirror functionality in tweaks like SBSettings. Themes are starting to get introduced for different widgets, and several concepts have surfaced that re-think the look of the Notification Center itself.

We've gathered three of the best Notification Center concepts, and they look beautiful. Let's hope that jailbreak devs will start distributing themes like these for Notification Center in iOS 5...

SpotURL Jailbreak Tweak Lets You Visit Websites From Spotlight

Would you like to add a little more functionality to your iPhone's Spotlight? SpotURL is a new jailbreak tweak, by Filippo Bigarella, that allows you to visit a website straight from the Spotlight page.

Instead of having to enter a web address in Mobile Safari, SpotURL will let you enter the address right on your iPhone's homescreen. For quick navigation to a web page, SpotURL is about as good as it gets.

How to install .deb files

While Cydia is a decent hub for all of the available jailbreak apps and utilities, there's no arguing that dealing with the clunky package installer can be a bit cumbersome at times.

For folks that weren't aware, you can manually install jailbreak apps and tweaks without ever opening Cydia. All you need is the .deb file of the package you want to install, and an FTP client like iPhone Explorer or Cyberduck.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to manually install a .deb file on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Your iPad as a Hat? Yeah, Sure

If you ask a parent, they might call it intuitive. If you ask a musician, they might call it inspiring. To a doctor, it’s groundbreaking. To a CEO, it’s powerful. To a teacher, it’s the future. If you ask a child, she might call it magic. And if you asked a British Lady, she’d say it’s just a hat.

This woman wearing an iPad as a hat was spottted at the annual Royal Ascot, a five-day racing event that has highlighted both British fashion and horseracing since it was first created in the 1700th...

AT&T Silent About Unlocking iPhone

For the first time in history, Apple is now offering factory unlocked iPhones in the U.S. If you walk into your local Apple store, or browse online, you can purchase an unlocked iPhone 4 for operation on any compatible carrier. These unlocked devices start at $649.

AT&T does not currently offer unlocked iPhones in the United States. AT&T has yet to state if it will offer unlocked iPhones in its stores, or if the GSM carrier will unlock previously purchased iPhones.

Introducing the iDB ‘Themes’ Page

Judging by the popularity of pasts posts regarding themes, we understand that there's a very strong theming interest in the jailbreak community.

For that reason, we are proud to unveil our new "Themes" page which will be the permanent hub for all of our theme coverage, video tutorials, walkthroughs, and faqs.

We plan to update our theme page with at least one new walkthrough of a popular theme each week, but likely more.

Interested in seeing what our new Themes page looks like? Step inside for a look around...

What It’s Like to Work at the Apple Store

Apple stores are world-renowned beacons of retail success. Their architectural design and aesthetic feel set Apple apart from 99% of the retail market. When you walk into an Apple store, the atmosphere is bright, airy, clean, and filled with happy geeks that are willing to assist you.

But what's life like behind the white and metallic walls that house Apple's retail employees? The Wall Street Journal has combed through leaked Apple training manuals and interviewed former Apple employees. Here are some of the findings...

Leaked Screenshots of Facebook’s New Photo-Sharing App Surface

It appears that the tech world hasn't seen the last of major iOS software announcements this month. The folks over at TechCrunch have gotten their hands on some pretty interesting information regarding a certain social networking company and a new photo sharing app.

The website has received dozens of screenshots and documents from an unknown source that depict a new Facebook app running on an iPhone. What's more, the software looks like a portal for a new Instangram-like photo sharing service...

Apple Bans Big Brother Security App that Records Users Passwords

A few days ago, we gave you a list of passwords not to use. You might recall that the data from the post was collected from an iOS app called Big Brother Security. The software made headlines when the developer went public with the information.

Daniel Amitay performed a little experiment by anonymously collecting user's 4 digit passwords from his Big Brother Security app. Though his findings were quite interesting, publishing them may not have been the brightest move...

Jailbreak Widget Brings iPhone’s Multitasking Tray to iOS 5 Notification Center

WidgetTask is a new jailbreak widget for the iOS 5 beta that adds a multitasking tray to Notification Center. This widget is from the same people behind UISettings - another third party widget that's available for iOS 5 beta jailbreakers.

Like SpringPrefs, WidgetTask adds itself to the iOS Notification Center under your already-installed widgets. Instead of having to double tap the home button to access your multitasking tray, WidgetTask will allow you to switch apps with ease from the Notification Center pulldown.

QuickGoogle Jailbreak Tweak Lets You Search Google from Anywhere

I can't believe that I'm just now finding a tweak that lets you search Google from anywhere. There's another tweak out there that does something similar, right?

If not, I'm shocked that it took this long to get a tweak like QuickGoogle on the Cydia store, but the good news is that it's here, and it works marvelously.

QuickGoogle is a very simple tweak that uses an Activator action to pull up a Google search pop up notification box anytime and anywhere you please. Want to see how QuickGoogle performs in action? Then check inside for the full video walkthrough...

AppSlide Gives Your iPhone a Back Button, Sort of [Video]

The iPhone's all-touchscreen design caused Apple to make some steep compromises. The device lacks physical buttons that can be found on the simplest of phones. Though the list is long, it seems like the omission of a physical camera and standard back button sit at the top.

Lucky for us, we have the bright minds of the jailbreak community to make up for iOS' shortcomings. Apps like Activator and FastSnap easily solve the first dilemma, and the new Cydia tweak, AppSlide, solves the second. Back button anyone?