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Auxo for iPad review

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 11, 2018

I've been covering jailbreak tweaks for a long time, and I've seen quite a few big releases in my time doing so. Tweaks like Octopus Keyboard, IntelliScreen X, Dashboard X, and most recently, Velox, come to mind.

But perhaps no tweak has been as anticipated this year as Auxo for iPad has. It is, of course, the big brother to the original Auxo tweak for the iPhone, which has proved to be extremely popular, and just as successful.

Needless to say, Auxo for iPad has some fairly big shoes to fill, and even bigger expectations. We all know how Auxo looks and feels on the small screen, but the question is this: can such a tweak be successfully translated to the iPad's significantly larger screen? More importantly, will it provide users with a better overall experience when using their devices? Check out our full review inside, as I break down the ins and outs of this long anticipated jailbreak release.

Kamcord adds voice narration to iOS games

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 23, 2017

If you haven't heard about Kamcord yet, it's a startup which provides technology that enables iOS games developers to offer in-game recording functionality. The Y Combinator service is funded by some of the biggest venture capitalists around, including Google's Ventures funding arm, Andreessen Horowitz, Yahoo's boss Marissa Mayer and others.

And with over a hundred iOS games incorporating Kamcord solutions and over 500 million gameplay videos being recorded in the last six months, Kamcord has clearly hit the ground running. Earlier this week, the firm announced several new features to the service, including the ability to narrate gameplay videos, in real-time...

Gameloft posts first teaser trailer for Modern Combat 5

Cody Lee ∙ June 6, 2013

Fans of the popular first-person shooter franchise Modern Combat will be happy to hear that Gameloft has just posted the first teaser trailer for the next iteration of the game, Modern Combat 5.

As you can imagine, the trailer doesn't offer up too many details about the game itself. But it does feature a handful of entertaining action sequences in near-console quality graphics. Enjoy...

New hack allows you to run Plex on Apple TV without jailbreaking

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Good news third-gen Apple TV owners! A new hack has surfaced for the popular set-top box that doesn't require a jailbreak. As most of you know, the ATV3 hasn't been jailbroken since its release last year, and there's no word on when or if it will happen.

The hack, referred to as 'PlexConnect,' essentially allows you to run Plex media center software on your Apple TV, enabling you to playback various types of content from your local network on your big screen. And all it takes is a single settings change...

Preview: Auxo for iPad

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

In just two days, one of the most anticipated jailbreak tweaks to ever hit the iPad will touch down. Obviously I'm referring to Auxo for iPad, the jailbreak tweak that will finally reinvigorate the iOS app switcher on the larger screen.

Auxo for iPad has taken a long time to arrive, because it has been meticulously built and designed. Instead of simply porting a rough version of the tweak to the iPad, the team behind the popular iPhone release decided to take their time and get it right. Did they accomplish their goal? You'll have to wait until our review on Thursday for the answer to that. In the meantime, check out our hands-on preview teaser video of Auxo running on the iPad.

Flipswitch: a new centralized toggle system for iOS

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

We've covered hundreds if not thousands of jailbreak apps, tweaks, and themes over the years, and many of them contain some form of toggle to enable and disable functionality on device. Wouldn't it be great if there was a centralized means of providing toggles, instead of each developer wasting resources to come up with their own? Having a centralized toggle framework would also ensure that functionality remains more or less the same amongst the variety of different apps and tweaks.

That's where Flipswitch — a new centralized toggle system for iOS — steps in to save the day. A collaboration between developers Ryan Petrich and Jack Willis, Flipswitch is a generalized toggle framework that's ready to go out of the box. This is a new tool that will make it easy for developers to implement toggles into their apps and tweaks with very few lines of code.

Take a look inside as I talk about FlipSwitch, and showcase its sample tweak — Switchicons — in our video walkthrough...

How to add a translucent status bar to Safari

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

Have you ever wished for the ability to see through Safari's status bar while browsing your favorite websites on your iPhone? If so, then TranslucentStatusBar for Safari might be right up your alley. It's a tweak that forces the status bar to be translucent while using the stock Mobile Safari app. Check inside for a video walkthrough of the tweak in action.

New Activator beta adds new flick icon gestures and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

Activator has been around for a long time, and it's safe to say that it's a staple jailbreak app, and probably a little bit under appreciated. While new fangled tweaks seem to get all the shine, Activator, the gesture plumbing that many jailbreak tweaks rely on, keeps on trucking along.

Since the initial 1.7.5 beta release at the beginning of May, Activator has been on the receiving end of a significant overhaul of its structure and inner workings. Perhaps the most exciting of all of the updates happened yesterday, with 1.7.5 beta 6. This new release adds support for per-app launch gestures and icon flick gesture. Think Velox.

In other words, Activator just got a lot more power under the hood, and it'll be interesting to see what developers and users like you, do with it all. Take a look inside as I dissect these two new features and showcase how they can be used.

MiniPlayer 2.3 adds new ‘Play Next’ and share features

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

In case you haven't noticed, I'm quite fond of MiniPlayer. It's an app that started off a little homely looking, but has transformed itself into one of the better jailbreak tweaks that you'll find on iOS.

The dynamic duo behind the tweak — Surenix and MPow — have been obsessively refining MiniPlayer over the last few weeks; so much so that I'm beginning to worry about them a bit. Guys, it's really okay if you want to take a break. Remember, deep breathes.

At any rate, the end users have reaped the benefit of the development team's obsessive level of detail and thought. I once said that MiniPlayer 2.2 was the defining moment of the tweak, but let me restate that, MiniPlayer 2.3 is the defining moment of the tweak. That is, of course, until MiniPlayer 2.4 appears with lasers and its own built-in coffee bean grinder.

But seriously, MiniPlayer 2.3 brings quite a few new (and quite useful) features to the proverbial table. For starters, there's a new tap gesture to reveal repeat options, sharing options, and shuffling. There's also a great new addition that allows you to add an iTunes inspired 'Up Next' (here dubbed Play Next) track, along with the ability to rearrange the playing order of the tracks in your MiniPlayer queue.

Take a peek inside, as I step through a few of the most outstanding new MiniPlayer features in our video walkthrough.

SemiRestore brings an easy one-click restore to jailbroken iOS devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ June 4, 2013

SemiRestore is a restore solution for jailbroken iOS devices. It allows you to restore your device to almost stock levels, removing everything from settings to jailbreak apps and tweaks, to even App Store apps. It's probably as close as you can get to a stock iOS device without actually restoring using iTunes.

We've reviewed an early version of SemiRestore before, and while it showed promised, we had mixed feelings about it. This was namely because the app forced you to go through a lot of steps in order to achieve the desired result — a clean iOS device that allows you to maintain the current firmware and jailbreak.

But we've got some very good news: SemiRestore has come a long way since that early preview. In fact, on the beta 4 version that I tested, it's a true one-click solution. Yes, literally, all you have to do is plug in your iOS device, open the SemiRestore app, and click the SemiRestore button.

I once praised iLEX RAT for its ease of use, but this is probably about as easy as it gets. Check inside for our very own video walkthrough of SemiRestore beta 4 in action.

Twitter’s Vine reaches 13 million users on iPhone, lands on Android

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 9, 2018

Twitter's Vine debuted in late-January exclusively on Apple's iPhone so you could easily spam the web with a few seconds worth of "viral" clips. While we knew it would eventually land on Android, its somewhat slow adoption had prompted Twitter to go back to the drawing board and add more features.

Less then five months later, Vine for Android is a reality. And reminding us that Vine still exists, Twitter has proudly announced that the iPhone edition now has thirteen million users - hardly what you'd call a successful iPhone app.

Perhaps a bit unsurprisingly, many features from the iOS app are currently missing in the initial Android release. On the other hand, the Android version happens to include a feature Twitter says isn't possible on the iPhone...

OpenOnSearch makes Spotlight a little more useful

Cody Lee ∙ June 3, 2013

I don't use Spotlight much. The page, which sits to the left of the main Home screen in iOS, lets you do some really useful things like search for stuff on your device and the web. But honestly, most of the time I forget it's there.

But jailbreak developers are looking to change that. We've seen a number of tweaks designed to enhance the Spotlight page, like SpotEnhancer and SLEnhancerSearch, and today we've got a new one to show you. Here's OpenOnSearch...