Apple's Newsstand Revitalizes Dying Industry

General Electric may "bring good things to life," but it's Apple that brings good things back to life.

Specifically, the arrival of Apple's Newsstand storefront in iOS 5 has done wonders to revitalize the publishing industry, which has withered away in recent years to a dismal shell of its former self. With magazine and newspaper sales down almost across the board, Apple's Newsstand is inspiring readers to enjoy their favorite periodicals in an entirely new way.

Report: No 7-Inch iPad in Store for 2012

Apple's 2012 iPad strategy apparently doesn't include the long-rumored 7-inch model, according to the latest insight from analyst Brian Blair with Wedge Partners. On Friday, Blair revealed that the "iPad mini" remains a mythical idea largely invented by the rumor mill. Blair tells investors that there is no credible evidence or supply-chain chatter to suggest that such a product from Apple will soon arrive.

[Review] Make Phone Calls From Notification Center

 With this Notification Center Widget you can make calls from Notification Center.

Are you a power iPhone user? You might find a Notification Center widget that has been dubbed NCInstaCall useful. It has been made a developer named Will Coughlin and it's free in Cydia. As you can see from the image above, you get a new widget added to your Notification Center with the name, version, author, and the iPhone's Phone application icon on it. Tapping on it toggles its special ability - bringing up a Phone keypad and allowing you to make a call. The NCInstaCall keypad and prompt looks like the image below:

Hacker i0n1c Taunts An iOS 4.3.5 Untethered Jailbreak

Was i0n1c joking or not joking? That... is the question.

There are many people who have still not upgraded to iOS 5 because they are stubborn and want to wait for the untethered jailbreak that pod2g and the Chronic Dev Team have been working on. Some of those people are running iOS 4.3.5, which doesn't have an untethered jailbreak because iOS 4.3.3 was the last untethered jailbreak made. For those people - we have some possible humor (or maybe a serious concept) to share with you. iOS hacker and security expert, i0n1c, said that he will be working on an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.5.

Report Claims Apple Pressuring Manufacturing Partners to Meet February iPad 3 Release

A FocusTaiwan report claims Apple is pressuring its manufacturing partners to meet a February 24th iPad 3 release deadline. This also happens to be Steve Jobs' Birthday.

According to the report, a local chinese-language newspaper reported “the iPad 3 might be launched on Feb. 24 to mark the anniversary of the birth of Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs.” The report also cites Taiwanese supply makers in Apple’s iPad 3 supply chain who claim Apple is pushing for a mid-first quarter launch of the iPad 3.

9 in 10 Mobile Purchases Originate from iDevices

Apple's iDevice line is certainly doing its part to stimulate the economy. That's according to a new report from retail analysis firm RichRelevance.

Despite enduring a four year lul, eCommerce has picked up the slack and returned to levels of consumer engagement not seen since prior to the 2008 global economic meltdown. In fact, comScore data shows that of the seven days in the last ten years where eCommerce has generated beter than $1 billion in revenue in a single day, six of those seven days have taken place this holiday shopping season.

MAME Emulator Makes its Way Into the App Store

Arcades are a dying childhood pastime, but emulators have kept the quarter eating, and allowance sucking games of our youth alive. Even better, the good people at TouchArcade spotted a free Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) available for free in the App Store.

The emulator ships with nine “less than stellar” ROMs including: Circus, Crash, Hard Hat, Fire One, Robot Bowl, Side Track, Spectar, Star Fire and Targ. Thankfully iMAME operates like its non-iOS emulator counterparts and allows users to play a nearly limitless amount of games granted they have a working ROM. The app loads ROMS using a third-party utility like iExplorer without jailbreaking.

[Review] Add Some Screenshot Options to Your iDevice

 

IsMyFlash gives you some new screenshot options.

Are you looking for a way to make taking screenshots on your iDevice more fun and less bland? We've found a jailbreak tweak that might help you do just that. It's new in Cydia and it has been dubbed IsMyFlash by its developer AuzKenneth. Normally, when you take a screenshot, all that happens is you hear the shutter noise and then see your screen turn white for a split second to simulate a camera flash. As it turns out, you can do so much more than that with your screenshots if you want to.

[Review] Hide the Lock Screen Battery When Charging

Have you ever wanted to do away with the lock screen battery when you charge your iPhone?

Sometimes we adore our wallpapers so much, that we are annoyed by the black background and the battery that appears when we are charging our iDevices. Sometimes, we have a theme that just doesn't go good with the lock screen battery. Sometimes, there are other reasons. If any of the above fits you, then you should try out this new jailbreak tweak that has been dubbed NO LSB by the developer Manvir Singh.

Pod2g and the Untethered A5 Device Jailbreak Tweet

Pod2g is just about done adding his finishing touches.

Everyone is excited about the iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak. But, what people are really waiting for is the iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak for A5 devices such as the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. There are still a great number of people using iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4G, iPod touch 3G, and iPad (these are A4 devices) handsets,

[Review] Get Information On Applications By Tapping On Them

This new jailbreak tweak gives you some information on applications that you want to launch.

Remember the free jailbreak tweak that was released not too long ago by greensnow known as confirm launch IOS 5? What it did was it allowed you to get a popup that confirmed if you wanted to launch an application or not. The only problem was, it was kind of bland. If you want a different jailbreak tweak that is also free, but does more, then check out an even newer jailbreak tweak dubbed InfoTap by the developer PathKiller29. The best part about InfoTap is that it even has some settings to configure whereas greensnow's tweak did not.

The major difference between the two is that InfoTap gives you information as well as the option to launch or cancel when opening an application. You can also enable or disable the feature quickly by using an Activator action whereas confirm launch IOS 5 automatically worked after installing it and the only way to disable it was to uninstall it. InfoTap puts a new cell in your Settings application that allows you to pick an activator action. The developer recommends using some kind of a status bar action because its easy to use and hard to input by mistake. The settings look like the image below:

UltraSn0w 1.2.5 Released - Helps Unlock iOS 5.0.1 on iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4

An updated version of UltraSn0w has recently been released on Cydia and better yet, it seems to support the latest publicly available iPhone firmware, iOS 5.0.1.

Users interested in unlocking will still need an unlockable baseband to utilize UltraSn0w but for those of you who meet the requirements, it is now possible to unlock your iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, and/or iPhone 4 while running iOS 5.0.1. The exact requirements that are needed to utilize UltraSn0w 1.2.5 can be found below:

[How To] Use the Custom iFaith Firmware File to Restore Back to iOS 5.0

Once you've built your iOS 5.0 custom firmware, downgrading is easy.

As I reported earlier this week, iH8sn0w released iFaith version 1.4 which allows you to save your iOS 5.0 SHSH blobs and APticket so that you can create a custom iOS 5.0 firmware file to use in downgrading your iDevice back to iOS 5.0. The guide on saving your iOS 5.0 SHSH blobs and APticket can be read here. iFaith works with iOS 5.0.1 too. But since people are nervous that the Chronic Dev Team's untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 might not work with iOS 5.0.1, there is all the more reason to just play it safe and get insurance for iOS 5.0 as I like to call it. Since we just posted a guide on how to make the custom iOS 5.0 firmware, this guide will show you how to use the firmware to restore to iOS 5.0 on your iDevice.

iFaith 1.4.1 Released

iFaith is the amazing application that pioneered iOS 5 downgrading.

In case you aren't familiar with iFaith, it's a Windows application made by iH8sn0w that dumps your SHSH blobs and APtickets locally so that you can make custom signed restorable firmwares. iFaith was the first application that allowed you to make a signed '.ipsw' file for iOS 5. If you like what you're hearing so far, you might be interested in hearing that iH8sn0w just Tweeted on Twitter that he has released an updated iFaith 1.4.1.

Restoring a Jailbroken iPhone made Painless (relatively)

One of the most sure-fire ways to fix a myriad of problems with an Iphone is to restore the firmware in iTunes. One of the most dreadded tasks apparently is the need to restore a modded and jailbroken iPhone. I have come up with a process that is realitvely simple and painless. Many people want to restore from backup- but this generally only causes problems in the long run from carrying forward corrupted data so always restore as "new".

This process assumes a jailbroken, modded iPhone with both Cydia and AppStore apps installed, 2G or 3G on 2.x firmware.

1. If you do not already have installed, install AppBackup and Chronus from Cydia. Note on these apps, if you installed apps after installing Chronus, you may want to reinstall so that the new apps show up in the list. AppBackup will not reliably restore app data in 3.1.2 so you should back everythign up using CHronus. It now works well for both jailbreak apps and AppStore apps.

[How-To] Using tiny umbrella to update/downgrade/restore

This guide is for people wanting to use tiny umbrella to restore to firmwares Apple is no longer signing.

Currently Apple is signing: 5.0.1 and 4.1(3G/3GS only for 4.1)

Using tiny umbrella is mainly for iPhone 3GS/4, ipod touch 3G, and iPad since you do not need SHSH for previous devices (although there is a soft SHSH being done on iPhone 3G for 4.0 and up firmwares now but that can be easily avoided by using redsn0w then pwnage tool). For this to work you NEED to have your SHSH for the firmware you are trying to restore to. If you do not then tiny umbrella will not help you restore to that firmware.
If you have never saved your SHSH before just give tiny umbrella a try, you may find you have SHSH after all, it doesn't hurt to check

A new version of tiny umbrella is available from the link below. The developer has added a lot of new features and overhauled the UI. Click the link to check the changes and get the latest version. You can also read about the changes here: Jailbreak Utility TinyUmbrella Gets Big Update

PS Vita Sells more than 321,000 units in 2 days

Sony has sold over 321,000 PS Vita units in just 2 days according to sales reports from Famitsu. This was fithy thousand short of the Nintendo 3DS which moved 371,000 in the first 2 days. However it did beat the PSP’s record which is something Sony have to be pleased with. The original model when released in 2004 in Japan moved only 166,000 units in the first two days.

How to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 on Windows or Mac

The gap between iOS updates and tethered jailbreaks is awfully narrow these days. All of the iOS 5 betas were almost immediately jailbroken, and the same pattern is now following with official iOS 5 releases. Yesterday’s iOS 5.0.1 update, which is intended to fix battery drain issues, is the latest to be added to that list. The two big exceptions to the jailbreak are the dual-core iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. The A5 chip has proven to be quite the hacker’s nightmare. The iPad 2 only has a jailbreak available for the ancient iOS 4.3.3. The iPhone 4S has yet to have a publicly released jailbreak.
For the pre-A5 devices it does work on, this is a tethered jailbreak, that means you will need to connect your iOS device to a PC every time you reboot or power off. There is a Cydia tool called Semi-tether, which can give you limited functionality after a reboot. But it still doesn’t give you the freedom to use everything on your phone after rebooting.
Here’s how to jailbreak your older iOS device running 5.0.1:

Jailbreaking: The What and the Why

In buying an iProduct, you're accepting that its fate will be dictated by Apple. They control what kind of apps you install on your device, which of the hardware functions you can exploit to their full potential, and which carrier you can use your iPhone with. They've loosened up on at least one of those fronts in the last year or so, expanding the types of apps available in the App Store, but many—screw that, most—of the same restrictions still apply. Want to install an app that Apple hasn't explicitly approved? Sorry. Want to use an app over 3G that's been designated for Wi-Fi? Nope. Want to tether your phone? Run applications in the background? Change your device theme? Install system-wide gestures? No. Such. Luck.

How To: Jailbreak Any iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad

So, you've heard about jailbreaking, and it sounds intriguing. And dangerous. (But mostly just intriguing.) Here's how to hack your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad—yes, iPad—into an unrestricted, freshly empowered mega-machine.

MacBook and MacBook Pro Tips and Hints

Taking Screen Shots of Specific Windows or Portions of the Screen

Windows has one button to take a screen shot: PrintScreen. It takes a copy of the screen and puts it into the clip board. That’s it.
Mac lets you put files onto the desktop with one keystroke. Its easy, if you want to capture part of the screen and put the resulting screen shot on your desktop Command+Shift+4

How to Quit Programs in Mac OS X

Sometimes in Mac you have to quit programs because for one reason or another they hang. It took me 2 months of using my Mac before I had to learn how to do this. I challenge any windows user to go 2 months without a crash.
Anyhow, hit COMMAND+OPTION+ESC and select the application that’s giving you fits. Hit, “Force Quit”.
You can also do this on the command line using the commands ps aux to list the PID’s and then kill -9 <pid> to kill the process. But isn’t command option esc so much nicer?

Downgrade from iOS 5 to 4.3.3 Using TinyCFW

For those of you that just can’t wait for the upcoming untethered jailbreak, there is finally a way to downgrade your device to iOS 4.3.3 from iOS 5. Provided that you have save your SHSH blobs from your device on 4.3.3, just head on over to this page to download TinyCFW (downloads are on the right side of the page). NotCom, the developer of TinyUmbrella and TinyCFW released a short post on what TinyCFW actually does:

Untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 previewed, release on its way

Many people out there with iDevices running iOS 5 are eagerly waiting for an untethered jailbreak for their iOS devices. Jailbreaks were released in the past for iOS 5, but one would always have to connect their device to a laptop or a PC to get it booted up. A French hacker, Pod2g has just shown off what maybe the world’s first untethered jailbreak for a device running iOS 5.