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Meet Project Ara, Google’s modular smartphone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Last October, Motorola’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group, then a subsidiary of Google, announced an interesting partnership with PhoneBloks with the goal of creating highly modular smartphones that customers could build and update themselves much like LEGO bricks.

Basically a free, open hardware platform, Project Ara calls for a structural metal endoskeleton frame designed to hold a bunch of different items in place.

Swappable parts would include commonly used phone components like a display, keyboard, battery, electrical components, cameras and custom 3D-printed module enclosures. The audacious idea behind Project Ara is to allow folks to easily swap out malfunctioning modules or replace components with better parts as technology evolves.

Those who custom-build PCs will know what I'm talking about. It's interesting that the 100 engineers strong ATAP group, led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan, was not included in Google's sale of Motorola to Lenovo and instead got folded into Google’s Android team to work under the direction of Android's new head, Sundar Pichai.

Today, Google posted a video providing a glimpse into the DIY smartphone project, ahead of the first Ara Development Conference which runs April 15-16 at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California...

How to quickly shorten links using Action Menu

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 4, 2014

Have you ever wished for a native way to shorten URLs in iOS? Obviously, you can easily do so with third-party apps, but iOS lacks a native way to shorten links on stock devices.

If you're jailbroken, however, it's easy to shorten URLs directly from the copy and paste menu using a handy Action Menu add-on. The add-on, which is entitled Goo.gl shortener for Action Menu, allows you to shorten URLs directly from the copy and paste menu. Take a look at our video walkthrough to see how it works.

CamText: add a live camera to the Messages app background

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 3, 2014

CamText is a new jailbreak tweak that lets users text using the stock Messages app with a live camera background. The most obvious use for a tweak like this is to provide its users with a safe way to text while walking down a busy street.

Since the camera provides a live view of a user's surroundings using the Messages app background, it's possible to keep one eye on an impending obstacle, and another eye on the ongoing conversation. While I believe it's pretty sad that it's come to this—we can't even look up while crossing the street like a normal person—it's hard to deny the idea's usefulness in the face of the circumstances.

How to add now-playing details to the iPhone’s status bar

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 3, 2014

PlayMe is a super simple jailbreak tweak with one goal in mind—it allows you to add now-playing information to the iPhone's status bar, such as album artist, and song title. PlayMe works well with the stock Music app, but it also plays nice with third-party applications like Spotify.

As you play music, PlayMe will rotate between the album artist name and the name of the song repeatedly. There are no options to configure to change the way the tweak displays the now-playing text, it's totally an install and go affair. Have a look at our video walkthrough after the break for a closer look into how PlayMe works.

Fleeting: an awesome jailbreak tool for speed reading

Jeff Benjamin ∙ April 3, 2014

Fleeting is an Action Menu add-on that allows you to select a block of text for speed reading. It contains its own interface that displays one word from the block of text at a time in quick succession. It's done in a way that makes the text entirely legible, even when moving at hundreds of words per minute.

If you've ever been intrigued by the idea of speed reading, then you should check out Fleeting. Have a glance inside at our full video walkthrough for more details.

Auxo 2 review: one of the best jailbreak tweaks ever gets better

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 20, 2018

Auxo is dead.

Perhaps that's what some of you thought last June, when you first saw Apple unveil iOS 7 at its 2013 Worldwide Developers Conference. You weren't alone. Even Sentry, the tweak's prolific designer, sat with a temporary moment of dejection as he watched Apple unveil its newest stride in mobile computing.

Less than a year later, Sentry is back, and he's brought along QusicS, a skilled developer who's helped him express a brand new take on a legendary tweak. Whereas the original version of Auxo gained popularity from its full app previews, Auxo 2 is much more of an evolutionary take on iOS 7's App Switcher as a whole.

Ultimately, this has proved to be a wise decision, because Apple's version of the App Switcher is nowhere near the limited mess that it was on firmwares below iOS 7. Auxo 2 is a serious refinement and feature-filled update, and I believe you'll find that it significantly improves the process of switching apps.

We've been testing Auxo 2 since Saturday. Does it live up to the hype? Check out our full review and video walkthrough for the answer.

How to enable five additional dynamic wallpapers in iOS 7

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 31, 2014

Do you enjoy using iOS 7's dynamic wallpaper feature? Would you like to get your hands on five additional wallpapers? If the answer to those questions was yes, then you definitely need to check out this jailbreak tweak.

HiddenWallpapers is a jailbreak tweak that's available free on Cydia, and it unlocks five additional dynamic wallpapers for your iOS 7 device. Three of the wallpapers are admittedly a bit pedestrian, but there are two that I think are quite special. Have a look at our video after the break to see the new wallpapers in action.

MathPass: use simple math problems to unlock your iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 31, 2014

MathPass is an interesting new jailbreak tweak that's perfect for those who are just beginning to learn multiplication, or for those who just want to stay alert and have a little fun doing it. MathPass asks you to answer simple multiplication problems from the Lock screen, with the product being the Passcode that will unlock your device.

For example, MathPass might ask: ten times one is? Your answer would then be 0010. It's 0010 and not just 10, because you're required to enter a four digit passcode in order to unlock your device. That's pretty much the whole gist of MathPass in a nutshell; check out more detail inside.

How to enable Facebook Chat Heads anywhere in iOS 7

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

Facebook's Chat Head feature is now available to use anywhere in iOS 7 thanks to a timely update to the well-received MessageBox tweak. If you can remember, MessageBox was the jailbreak release that allowed users to enjoy Chat Heads anywhere in iOS, not just in the default Facebook app.

Developer Adam Bell has updated MessageBox to play nice with iOS 7, freeing the Chat Heads feature from the confines of Facebook's Paper app. Want to see how Chat Heads look in iOS 7? Step inside for our full video walkthrough.

Ultrakam lets you shoot film-like 2K video on iPhone 5s

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2018

As you know, the iPhone 5s's iSight camera can shoot full HD 1080p video (1,920-by-1,080 pixels) at 30 frames per second, as well as slow-motion clips at 120 frames per second at a reduced resolution of 1,280-by-720 pixels (720p). The back shooter can also take eight-megapixel stills at the image capture size of 3,264-by-2,448 pixels.

But what if the handset could take a series of stills in a rapid succession and stitch them together to form an ultra-resolution footage?

That's what Ultrakam, a novel iPhone application by Hassan Uriostegui, does for you. Available in the App Store for $6.99 for a limited time, the software brings 2K film resolution to your iPhone 5s at 30 and 20 frames per second.

It also includes a handy film-like 24 frames per second preset and can automatically smooth rack-focus during recording. Read on for the full reveal...

Cylinder: the Barrel-inspired jailbreak tweak now available on Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 30, 2014

Cylinder—the jailbreak tweak inspired by Barrel—has been updated and listed on Cydia's BigBoss repo. The tweak, which we previewed back in February, allows you to add various animation effects to the icons on your iPhone's Home screen.

The awesome thing about Cylinder is that it allows users to create their own animations via special Lua scripts, and combine multiple animations by layering them on top of one another. Cylinder is a tweak that's much deeper than it might seem on the surface. Check out our updated video walkthrough inside to learn more.

How to remove the slide to unlock arrow on the Lock screen

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 30, 2014

Have you ever wanted to remove the little arrow icon that resides to the left of the text on the Lock screen? Well, you can now do so by means a new jailbreak tweak entitled NoSTUArrow. As you may have already put together, the "STU" stands for slide to unlock.

Admittedly, this is one of the simplest jailbreak tweaks that you'll find on the Cydia store, but that's what's wonderful about jailbreaking; there's truly something there for everyone. Interested to see how NoSTUArrow works? Have a look at our video walkthrough inside.