Apps

Pusher jailbreaks your iPhone 2.2 firmware… without really jailbreaking!

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated September 20, 2016

Rip Dev, the Russian equivalent of our own Dev Team released a new tool called Pusher that installs Installer on your iPhone without jailbreaking it!

This is why we have developed a tool that does something else... and it's absolutely amazing. Here's what it does: it puts some tools (including our own Installer) onto the user partition of the phone without opening the system partition up! You get Installer, a whole world of third-party tools that didn't got into the AppStore for some reason, such as Kate, Qik, Snapture, and dozens of others, all that without compromising your security or voiding the guarantee!

The tool is named Pusher (mostly because it pushes some things onto the iPhone, and because we found the allusion funny). It works for both 2G and 3G phones running 2.0.2, 2.1 and 2.2 firmwares. Simply download it, launch and follow the instructions on-screen - the whole process takes about 3 minutes.

I really like the idea but the main turn off is that since Pusher installs its tools on the user partition of your iphone, it leaves the main partition locked, which prevent the installation of important tools such as BSD Subsystem or SSH.

Pusher is only available for Mac OS X so far but a Windows version should be coming soon. You can learn more about Pusher from here, and download it here.

UPDATE: Here is what BigBoss has to say about Pusher:

Pusher is RiPDev’s 2.2 version of a jailbreak. This should be avoided and not used. Instead use the dev team’s jailbreaks. RiPDev’s version will block access to / partition and make it impossible to install Cydia. (They want you using Installer of course). It’s pretty much worthless since most the packages are in Cydia. The dev team’s jailbreak allows you to use both Cydia and Installer. There is no valid reason to use Pusher instead of one of the pwnages below.

Take Better Night Pictures With Night Camera

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

Ever since the iPhone came out in June 2007, one of the main criticisms of its hardware is the less-than-impressive specs of its camera. These days, a 2 megapixel camera with no auto-focus or flash doesn't cut it for a smartphone. Pictures taken at night or in low-light especially suffers from blurs, despite my best efforts to hold it still, like in this photo:

The app Night Camera [iTunes link] helps with this specific problem. The program uses the accelerometer to figure out if you're holding your iPhone steady enough to take a picture. When it knows the iPhone is steady, it automatically takes a picture. Check out the result:

For only $.99, night pictures and pictures in low-light are greatly improved. I also think this is one of the most useful and innovative ways to use the iPhone's accelerometer. Just keep in mind that this program does not fix the iPhone's deficiencies which could be rectified with flash or auto-focus. Still, for a buck's upgrade and as an avid iPhone photographer, this app is well worth it.

For all your presentations, Pointer is what you need

Guest Author ∙ Updated February 5, 2016

As an academic, I've been using presentation software intensively and had my share of panicked presenters, unprepared seminars and lame conference keynotes. But I also had my share of clumsy moments when I needed to be both next to the main screen and to click on my laptop because my clicker wouldn't work at the last minute. No more, thanks to Pointer ($.99) or Stage Hand ($7.99).

Neither will prepare your presentation for you, or protect you against really annoying questions from the audience; it will not make that d*mn beamer work, but it will turn your iPhone into the most convenient clicker you've ever had.

Your phone is always near you. You can jump to any slide. You can see notes. It just works.

Both can walk you through both PowerPoint and Keynote presentation, using the Wifi connexion of your MacBook. Both can double as rough track-pad, even outside of a presentation. Both need you to download and install a local applet beforehand, and I recommend that you set everything up before you start. Although the software works right away, there are some tweaking to do with multiple screens parameters in your Preference panel. Both have similar options: clicking sound, typeface size, jump to a given slide, highlight color.

Beside the price, there is little difference: Stage Hand has a convenient Wifi meter and a “Slide mode” where you can slide to switch to the next slide, and —more importantly— where your iPhone screen shows the actual slides of your presentation (current slide or Keynote's Presenter Display).

LiveCLIQ brings video streaming and recording to the iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2017

Like Qik and FlixWagon, LiveCLIQ is a free application that allows live streaming and recording of videos directly from your iPhone. Before some of you get too excited, let me tell you right away that this app is only available for jailbroken iPhones. This means that if you're on a stock iPhone, you will have to wait 2017, until Apple finally decides to add video recording to the iPhone for you to enjoy this neat feature...

Here is how LiveCLIQ works. First I downloaded the application from Cydia. After installing, when you launch the application a message shows up asking for your "token number". This got me confused for a while. I understood that I needed some type of registration but nothing was telling me where to get this "token number". The "more info" link for this app in Cydia was showing the LiveCliq.com website and going there didn't help me at all. After googling "livecliq", I finally found the LiveCliq.NET website where you can register.

Your iPhone As A Numeric KeyPad

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

As much as you may love your MacBook, you have to admit that the lack of a numeric keypad can sometimes be a pain in the ass, especially when typing credit card numbers or playing around with Excel.

A simple yet brilliant solution is now available so you can use your iPhone or iPod Touch as a wireless numeric keypad. First you will have to install the Balmuda's Numberkey Connect software on your Mac, and then download the Numberkey app [iTunes Link] from the App Store.

This is only available for Mac so far but I can see it coming to a PC near you soon enough...

[TechnaBob]

Google Voice App finally out! Rohit’s Take On It…

Guest Author ∙ Updated July 6, 2017

Friday - an anxious wait for google voice app, Saturday - frustration over it not being out, Sunday - the big question whether apple is deliberately holding back the release, Late Monday - the revolutionary product from Google is finally out! This pretty much explains the Google Voice App wait saga. The long wait process was indeed killing and with every passing minute, the rumor that Apple would nip Google's cool voice app in the bud was annoying me. I couldn't help but remember the fate of netshare, podcaster, castcather and a galore of other apps which had to face the axe from Apple. But a voice in me kept whispering that Apple couldn’t be naive to just turn down the Google Giants voice app especially when they have Google CEO, Eric Schmidt as a board member. So despite the rumours that Apple had killed the Google Voice application, I carried on my wait with bated breath. Was it worth it? Oh Hell yeah!

Before I mention about its fascinating features, an important thing you need to know is that you won’t find the voice feature the moment you open the updated Google mobile app. It’s turned off by default so go into the settings option and there you will find a Voice search on/off button. Besides this you also get to decide whether you want contacts, previous searches and websites to be included in your Google search. Then ofcourse there is a gallery of various Google Apps which we all love. (Wish these Google apps launched in an inbuilt browser instead of safari!).

Leaving aside all the features which come packed with the app, the real icing on the cake without a shadow of doubt is the Voice feature. I was a little skeptical as to how effectively it would work but I was fascinated with its easy usage and almost spot on voice recognition capability. However, it may get annoying some times and also there is an issue of lag in the recognition process. But one cant deny the fact that this is a giant leap in voice search and Google will only make it better from here.

All said and done, this truly is a brilliant app which deserves to be on your iPhone!

Google Voice Search. Cody’s take on it…

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

After reviewing the 2 previous voice recognition iPhone apps by Excuse me Services rather harshly, I knew Google's new voice recognition option in their mobile app was up against a wall of skepticism. But, of course, you can never underestimate Google, who have literally taken the software industry by storm in the last 8 years.

I'm going to make this review short and sweet, like my experience with the app. After of course downloading from the App Store, I was ready to give this thing a shot. Needless to say I was anxious to see if it was going to live up to all the hype.

You're first greeted with a search screen, here you can type in any question, any address, any search query, and Google's advanced search engine goes to work, bringing you the most accurate results. To search via voice, you just hold the phone up to your ear like you are talking on the phone, and say whatever question or search topic you would like to google. The software senses the phone is rotated in the 'talk' position, and beeps, to alert you it is ready to receive your voice instructions. Using your voice or typing, both prove to be quick and effortless. Voice recognition is on par with similar applications, and at times is a lot better.

And that's about it. Google's mobile app is easy to use whether you are talking or typing, and with only 1 screen, (a settings screen and a screen with links to google's other softwares) proves to be the least tedious of the other search softwares that recognized user voices.

I would like to see the speakerphone voice recognition be more accurate, handset recognition is almost dead on. I would also like to see voice commands for other applications. But that may defeat the application's 'simple' purpose. Although maybe not living up to quite all of the hype, this application does prove to be the best in its class, and that Google is still cutting edge when it comes to software development.

SBSettings v1.0.1

Sébastien Page ∙ November 17, 2008

SBSettings brings the concept of toggle and app launch directly from the springboard, giving you the ability to launch it no matter what apps is running by just sliding your fingers across the status bar. The drop screen appears with docked icons like 3G, Wifi and SSH. These toggles are green when enabled and red when disabled. There is also quick access to hiding icons, respringing, restarting, and features like the "Apple kill switch", etc...

With 1990+ downloads in one day, SBSettings is one of Cydia's top apps.

With v1.0.1, you can move important toggles on the springboard where they are always available instantly while other apps are running.

New changes:

Add icon to dock Added theme support Home button now closes the window Disabled entirely on lock screen (this one was annoying)

SBSettings is available for free on Cydia. After installing it, you won’t find any icon on your screen but just slide your fingers across the status bar to make it appear.

MCallShow tells you more about who’s calling you

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated October 31, 2018

A new application is available since this morning in Cydia called MCallShow, brought to you by the developers of MCleaner. MCallShow is a call information enhancer that shows the location data of the incoming or outgoing call.

So when you call someone who's not in your contact list, instead of just showing the phone number, your iPhone will also display the location you're calling. I guess this feature is more useful for incoming calls.

The downside of this app... Well first, it's a paid app and although you can try it free for 15 days, it will then cost you $5. Second, the company is in China. I don't have anything against Chinese but a few bad experiences on eBay taught me to be careful about doing any type of business with people located in China. Lastly, it seems that MCallShow requires quite a bit of work on your end to set it up properly.

I didn't get to try this application and I would love to hear from anyone who has. Let us know in the comments...

The Best Free iPhone Weather App

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

The weather app that comes with your iPhone is usable, but it doesn't provide much information. Sometimes an icon doesn't tell you exactly what you can expect weather-wise. Heading into these autumn and, eventually, winter months we'll need more information about the weather.

Even with the advent of the App Store, there hasn't been a free weather app that just knocked my socks off. Perhaps I am a bit tougher to please than the average iPhone user because I have been a weather producer at the television station I work at.

Well, the must-have free weather app is finally here and it's no surprise that it was created by The Weather Channel [iTunes link]. It features the current conditions, an hourly forecast, a 36-hour forecast and a 10-day forecast. I really like the hourly forecast. Today, I see that the rain is going to start to pick up at around 6 p.m. Very useful.

The "Explore Map" option (pictured, above) features doppler radar, which shows you exactly where it is raining, snowing or both. Another extremely useful feature.

There's also an updated video of the forecast for the major city near your area. And finally, there's a "Severe Weather Alerts" tab. "The Weather Channel" can detect your location using your GPS if you allow it.

So, if you haven't bought a full-featured weather app already, get "The Weather Channel." It's free, and I highly recommend it.

Tatomic: an original action puzzle game for your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

VGViews, an independent games development company, has released its first title for the iPhone – Tatomic [iTunes Link].

Tatomic is an original action puzzle game that is fun, addictive and really hard to put down once you start playing.

The basic premise of Tatomic is simple. Connect pairs of atoms into colored chains to make them explode and disappear. You earn point bonuses by clearing multiple chains at once. The amount of atoms to clear a chain changes with each level, and so does the game speed.

The game features original music, and state of the art graphics and animation.

Tatomic is available from the App Store for $4.99 | Download

Transformer app makes your iPod Touch look like an iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ November 13, 2008

Do you want to push the customization of your iPod Touch a bit further? Then the new Transformer application might be what you're looking for.

Available for free in Cydia, this app will make your iPod Touch look like an iPhone by adding various icons to your springboard. It will for example add the signal bars, the phone and the camera icon.

I don't have an iPod Touch so I was not able to try this app but if you do, please let us know in the comments.