Monday, November 8, 2010

iOS 4.2 available to download on November 9 or November 12 2010? [iPhone / iPad / iTouch]

Now that the iOS 4.2 gold master was released to developers, while iOS 4.2 apps are already arriving in the AppStore, we are certain that iOS 4.2 will be arriving next week.
When exactly next week, though?
According to conflicting reports from two German websites, that could be either November 9 or November 12.
German iPad news site PadBite.de reports quoting an unnamed Deutsche Telekom communique that iOS 4.2 will be available to download on November 9. 2010.
At the same time German site iPhone-Ticker.de reports that the iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPad and iTouch should be available on November 12, 2010.
iPhone-Ticker.de’s report seems to be more substantiated, as they’re quoting two files that they’ve found on Apple’s website, referring to a November 12, 2010 date for updated “carrier bundles” in Germany.
Here are these files:
http://iphonediags.apple.com/CarrierBundles-12Nov10-Update/O2_Germany.ipcc
http://iphonediags.apple.com/CarrierBundles-12Nov10-Update/Vodafone_de_iPhone.ipcc
No matter which date will be the final one though, we’re sure iOS 4.2 will be available to download shortly.
By the way, if you’re an iPhone jailbreaker / unlocker this is the time to save your SHSH blob files viaTinyUmbrella as a jailbreak for iOS 4.2 should be coming within days after iOS is out, seeing that iOS 4.2GM can already be jailbreaked.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Skyfire iPhone App Back After a Day's Break!

After just a day of being taken off the Apple's Application Store due to staggering demand, Skyfire, the Flash-playing iPhone browser is back, but in limited dosage.




The makers of Skyfire, Skyfire Labs brought it back to the browser today after slight modifications to reduce the overwhelming load on its servers. From now on, once a certain number of downloads are reached, Skyfire Labs would adjourn the availability until its servers work out the additional workload. 

"We are taking this approach because Skyfire believes a good user experience should come first, and we would rather have fewer, happier customers, and add new users as we can support them," Jeff Glueck, the chief executive of Skyfire Labs, said in a post on the company's blog.

Interestingly, Skyfire Labs was forced to removeits software application from Apple's Application Store within just five hours of its debut due to the overwhelming demand which risked its server and bandwidth capacity an overload.

Skyfire Labs' capacity issues have arised due to how its technology handles Adobe's Flash, which is used across the web to view video and other content, but is not supported innately by the iPhone. Instead, the Flash content is decoded first on Skyfire Labs' servers into HTML5 on the fly and then delivered to the handset.

The popularity of Skyfire is a proof in the wide popularity of Flash in online video game-playing. Apple has been pushing its new technology HTML5 for its iPhones stating that Adobe's Flash hurts the performance of the iPhone and consumes too much battery power. Adobe has vehemently denied all such claims.

Work Continues on Preparing Cydia for iOS 4.2

Chpwn and saurik have been burning the midnight oil prepping for the updated version of Cydia, according to a tweet by MuscleNerd.

Previously we reported that the iOS 4.2 jailbreak may be delayed because Cydia is not yet ready for the new firmware.

Hopefully they will finish in time! In the meanwhile you can see the updated Settings pane screenshoted below...





MyOS Lets You Enable and Disable Features of Your iDevice

MyOS is a new application that lets you easily enable and disable features on your device straight from Settings and without having to edit a plist.

Toggle one or more features and then press the Respring button.
By default, only the default features for your platform are enabled as of version 1.0.1.


Enable/disable These Features:
● Multitasking - Gives you the user the option to turn Apples native multitasking feature on and off at will.
● Homescreen Wallpapers - The ability to enable and disable Apples own implementation of backgrounds in SpringBoard on and off.
● Unified iPod - Whether you like iPod.app on your iPod Touch or having Music.app and Video.app on your iPhone, this gives you the choice.
● AppStore - Don't like what the official AppStore has to offer, or want to prevent people from using it? this gives the ability to turn off the AppStore.
● Contacts (iPhone models only) - Stand-alone contacts make no sense when you have the Address Book in Phone.app? using this option you can turn it off.
● HDR (Requires hardware camera) - Enable HDR on unsupported devices or disable it from your iPhone 4, the decision is yours.
● GameCenter (iPhone 3G only) - Enable GameCenter on your iPhone 3G.
● Camera.app (Requires hardware camera) - Disable the camera on your device.
● Voice Control (Voice control capable devices only) - Disable Voice Control on all supported devices. 

You can purchase MyOS from the Cydia Store for $.99.



Thursday, November 4, 2010

How to Jailbreak Using a Custom Restore IPSW and RedSn0w (Windows)

These are instructions on how to jailbreak your iPhone using a custom restore ipsw and RedSn0w for Windows.

**At this time you cannot generate a custom restore ipsw using Windows. You will have to download one or get it from a Mac friend. You may find it easier to use one of the simple jailbreak options like Limera1n or Greenpois0n.

Step One
Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage

Download RedSn0w from here and place it in the Pwnage folder. Likewise, download the latest 4.1 firmware for your device from here.

Extract the redsn0w zip that you just downloaded into the same folder.




Step Two
Launch the redsn0w application from the redsn0w folder we extracted earlier.


Step Three
Once RedSn0w opens click the Browse button


Step Four
Select the 4.1 firmware ipsw we placed in the Pwnage folder on our desktop then click Open.


Step Five
Once the firmware has been verified click the Next button to continue.


Step Six
RedSn0w will now prepare the jailbreak data


Step Seven
From this window you can select the jailbreak options you would like. Choose to put your iPhone in DFU mode.


Step Eight
Please plug your iPhone into the computer and make sure its OFF then click the Next button


Step Nine
RedSn0w will now guide you through the steps to get into DFU mode. You can find more help with DFU mode here


Hold down both the Home button and the Power button for 10 seconds.


Release the Power button and continue holding the Home button until RedSn0w detects the device.


Step Ten
RedSn0w will now exploit your device with limera1n.


Step Eleven
Your device will now be in pwned DFU mode.


Step Twelve
Launch iTunes and select your device from the list on the left. To make iTunes restore to a custom ipsw, hold down Shift and click the Restore button. This will bring up window letting you select the custom ipsw for restore.


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Coolest New Feature in iOS 4.2

The shiny new iOS 4.2 Golden Master was seeded to developers yesterday. The update most famously brings Multi-Tasking to iPad, as well as folders and Game Center, bringing the tablet completely up to speed with its iPhone and iPod Touch brethren. Hopefully this is a sign of iOS device unification from this point forward, as fragmentation is one of the things that continues to plague the Android platform. Additionally, 4.2 brings AirPrint wireless printing and AirPlay media streaming to all current-gen devices (sorry iPhone 3G- no printing for you).
As all the aforementioned features have been covered quite extensively already, and are sure to get even more coverage when 4.2 is released to the general public in a week or so, I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight one of the great new features of 4.2 that seems to have slipped under the radar. I'm referring to a little something called MIDI.
What's so exciting about a digital music interface that was invented in the early 80s? I'll even admit I may have skimmed past the MIDI API's added in the first 4.2 beta without so much as batting an eye. But now that it's here I think the importance of the new framework is setting in. The iPhone and iPad have already gained some attention as music creation tools (if only in novelty), but I believe serious musicians may now start to recognize iOS as a real studio tool. The large touch screen of the iPad makes it a pretty powerful (and extremely flexible) controller. It will be interesting to see what developers come up with using the iPhone's accelerometer and gyroscope as MIDI input. I'm surprised this feature hasn't garnered more media attention, but I'm sure it will when we see the first Radiohead album composed entirely on an iPad.

Apple Approves Skyfire Browser That Can Play Flash Video

Apple has approved the Skyfire mobile browser which is capable of playing Flash video. It will be available in the App Store soon.

According to CNNMoney, Skyfire will be available for download at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday for $2.99.

To get around Apple's restriction, Skyfire came up with an innovative solution: When users click on a page that contains Flash video, Skyfire's servers download, render and translate the video into HTML5, which is a Web standard that iOS devices support. Skyfire then displays a thumbnail that users can click on to stream the video from its servers. "We will attack those pesky blue Flash error messages," said Jeffrey Glueck, Skyfire's CEO. 

You can learn more about the browser 
here.