iPod Touch

Is the iPod Touch For People Who Don’t Want an iPhone?

Apple's event today wasn't filled with too many surprises. The iPod Touch was beefed up in features that included many of the predicted and leaked abilities that were floating around. Mimicking nearly all of the features of the iPhone 4 makes me wonder now more than ever if the Touch is specifically designed for those who don't want an iPhone.

Adding FaceTime and Retina Display to the Touch gives it both of the best features from the iPhone 4. The speedy A4 chip will make the two devices close to equal in processing time, something that the iPhone previously ousted the Touch in considerably. So what's the difference?

Target Announces You Can Trade Them Your iPhone for a Gift Card

I'll warn you ahead of time, this is a ridiculous piece of news. The folks over at Target have come up with a plan that will allow you to trade in your iPhone or iPod Touch to receive your very own gift card with the amount you're granted in return.

So how much can you expect to get for your respective iDevice you ask? CNET says supported stores will issue you a card that ranges from "a couple dollars" to $200 in value...

Predictions for Tomorrow’s Apple Event

Unless you've been underneath a rock for a few weeks you're aware that Apple will be holding their annual September event this Wednesday. With such an event so close, you can pretty much find a rumor for any wild idea you could think of. We figured here at iDB we'd toss around some ideas and let you add your own.

I'll start with the casualties:

Netflix Comes to The iPhone

Remember back at the WWDC when Steve Jobs talked about Netflix coming to the iPhone this summer? It turns out they met their deadline because the recent update is up in the App Store and includes iPhone and iPod Touch support. Highlighted in the apps description is the following:

Apple to Hold “Special Event” on September 1st

Surprisingly, we didn't get an invite for this, but TechCrunch did, and according to it, Apple will be holding a "special event" on September 1st, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10 am.

The invite comes with the image above, which strongly indicates the event will most likely be focused on music. Let the speculations go wild! What are they going to unveil? My guess is we're going to hear about the new iPod Touch with a nice Retina Display and a front-facing camera for FaceTime. Apple will also probably unveil a cloud-based version of iTunes... 

Hack Turns Your iPod Touch Into an iPhone

You're going to have to take this one with a huge grain of salt but it seems a company called Yosion figured out a way to turn the iPod Touch into an iPhone. And no, this doesn't require you to use some VoIP service. This hack, if legit, might be the ultimate iTouch hack ever made.

Basically the "Apple Peel 520" comes as an iPod Touch case that includes an Infineon baseband chip, an extra 800 mAh battery, and a slot for a SIM card. Just pop a SIM card in and plug your microphone-equipped ear buds and you should be good to go.

The Apple Peel 520 will presumably go on sale this week in China for $45 to $75. There isn't much proofs this is real so don't get too excited about it.

[Engadget]

How to Jailbreak Your iPhone or iPad With Spirit

Spirit has to be the easiest and quickest jailbreak ever. JailbreakMe was fast, but Spirit takes it to a whole new level. I'm not really sure a Spirit tutorial or guide is necessary because it is so simple...

Before thinking about jailbreaking your iDevice with Spirit, there are a few requirements that you need to know about. Please head over to this post I wrote earlier to read the "fine prints" and make sure you know exactly what you're doing.

I wrote this guide by jailbreaking my iPad using Spirit but the steps are exactly identical for the iPod Touch and iPhone. Steps are also identical whether you're on a Mac or PC.

Note that Spirit is a jailbreak for every device. It will NOT unlock your iPhone.

How to jailbreak your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad with Spirit

Step 1: Download Spirit from our download page.

Step 2: Make sure you have at least version 9 of iTunes.

Step 3: Back up your iPhone, iTouch or iPad in iTunes, just in case something goes wrong.

Step 4: Launch Spirit.

Step 5: Click "Jailbreak".

Step 6: Wait just a few seconds until you see this image:

Step 7: Your iPhone will reboot and you should have the Cydia icon on your springboard.

Congrats, you just jailbroke your iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad using Spirit.

Errors & Troubleshooting

Windows Vista or Windows 7 users may get the error c0000005.

To avoid this error, you have to run Spirit.exe in compatibility mode. To do so:

Right click on Spirit.exe and select Properties Select the compatibility tab Check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for” box and select Windows 98 / Windows ME

Tutorial: Jailbreak Your iPhone With BlackRa1n RC2

GeoHot came up yesterday with an updated version of BlackRa1n called BlackRa1n RC2. This new release supposedly fixes a bunch of issues that some of you may have encountered, especially while trying to jailbreak an iPhone 3G.

This step-by-step guide and tutorial will show you how to use BlackRa1n RC2 to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch, either on a Mac or a PC. This works for all iDevices, except for the iPod Touch 3G. This tutorial was made using an iPhone 3GS but again, it should work on all devices except the iPT3G.

I already wrote a BlackRa1n tutorial and the steps are identical but a few people emailed me or tweeted me asking to write a tutorial for BlackRa1n RC2.

Before we start, you have to understand that BlackRa1n is a jailbreak and jailbreak only. BlackRa1n will not unlock your iPhone. As a matter of fact, if you want to unlock your iPhone, do not use BlackRa1n as it will update the baseband and make it impossible to unlock for the time being.

If you want to unlock your iPhone, I suggest you use PwnageTool. PwnageTool will help you create a custom IPSW that won't update your baseband, thus allow you to unlock using UltraSn0w.

How to jailbreak your iPhone with BlackRa1n RC2:

How to Jailbreak iPod Touch 2G 3.1.1

A few days ago was the release of the iPod Touch 2G jailbreak for 3.1.1 (as well as other devices). There is a bit of confusion because the Dev Team's blog post says you must be pwned before jailbreaking. I'm sure a lot of people (like me) demonstrated the sad smiley to perfection when they read this. Luckily, there is a way to jailbreak it.

You'll need the 3.0 firmware, RedSn0w, 3.1.1 firmware, and the latest PwnageTool. All these are available from the download page.

Here is a step-by-step guide/tutorial on how to jailbreak your iPod Touch 2G 3.1.1:

Why the New iPod Touch Doesn’t Have A Camera, Or the Story of How Apple Does Business

Yesterday Apple unveiled a new line of iPods, including the Nano and the iPod Touch. Unlike what everybody was expecting, the iPod Touch didn't come with a camera. Steve Jobs gives an explanation to the NY Times:

“Originally, we weren’t exactly sure how to market the Touch. Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine,” he said. “We started to market it that way, and it just took off. And now what we really see is it’s the lowest-cost way to the App Store, and that’s the big draw. So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. We don’t need to add new stuff. We need to get the price down where everyone can afford it.”

That's interesting how a $149 iPod Nano gets a video camera with speaker and microphone but yet, the $399 iPod Touch doesn't. Steve says they wanted to cut the price and not give more features. I say "bullshit".

What Apple wants to do is to give you one reason (the price) to buy an iPod Touch this year and another reason to buy another iPod Touch next year when it finally comes with a camera.

This is exactly what pisses me off with Apple. They give you very basic features one at a time so you always have a good reason to buy the latest product. They did exactly the same with the iPhone. Video recording and copy/paste could have been implemented since day 1 but instead, Apple decided to wait as long as they could.

This is not a proper way to do business. If anything, this is a way to take your customers for fools.

What do you think of all this?

iPod Touch 2G Full Jailbreak PC Tutorial

As you all know the greatest thing just occurred: the iPod Touch 2G has been fully jailbroken. But how do you jailbreak? Very simple.

This tutorial is for PC users only. There is no Mac version available yet. The Dev Team is updating PwnageTool and Quickpwn to work for this. You need to wait a bit. This method requires a FULL restore.

OK so you must first download QuickFreedom. You can download it here, here, or here.

Make sure you have the C++ Distributable Package and LIBUSB. You can install LIBUSB directly from the program. Just press the button in the beginning. So here we go:

When you open the program you are welcomed to the main menu. Click the "Jailbreak" button in the center. Make sure it says LIBUSB is installed and give it a second for it to find and copy the firmware file. When the option becomes available click next. Choose whether you want to install Installer and if you want custom boot logos. When done press the "Create Firmware" button. When that's done it will put the custom ISPW in the desktop. Click next. Now put your iPod in DFU mode. Hold the Power and Home button for 10 seconds and then the Home button for 8 seconds. When in DFU press the "Start Pre-Jailbreak" button. When it is done you can close the program. Open up iTunes. Go to your iPod. Press and hold shift and click restore. Select the ISPW in the Desktop and wait for it to restore. When it finishes you are done.

Post any problems in the comments and I'll try to help.

***********WARNING***********

I have seen a few reports that this is NOT working correctly with Windows 7 and that installing LIBUSB causes some problems. Please do not try this if you are on Windows 7. I will look into this and will get back to you.

UPDATE: Hey guys. QuickFreedom 1.1.1 has been released. It's the same as before so you can still follow the instructions above. But this update fixes most if not all bugs that you guys in the comments were experiencing. You can download it here, here, and here.