Author archive: Sayam Aggarwal
3:45 pm, Jul. 28, 2010
If you’re getting around now to jailbreaking your iPhone and love social media, think about adding qTweeter to your app arsenal.
There are plenty of awesome Twitter and Facebook iPhone apps, but Cult of Mac finds qTweeter a must-have because you can broadcast social media updates just by pulling the app down from the status bar, and, say, vent about your co-worker while reading a particularly annoying email (not that we would, of course), rave about a new band you’re listening to the track or ask the peanut gallery what you should have for dinner by sending them a link to a take-out menu from a web page.
This $4.99 app has been one of our favorites since it launched in 2009. Here’s Cult of Mac’s quick guide to getting you started with it.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Jailbreak, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | 7 Comments »
11:40 am, Jul. 28, 2010
If you haven’t upgraded to iOS4, VolumeButtonExtender available on Cydia is worth checking out. While the iPhone offers a couple of ways to control your music, you need use the screen to do it, not a great solution if you’re jogging, using it in the car or otherwise need to turn adjust the volume or skip tracks quickly with just one hand and minimal attention.
VolumeButtonExtender gives you quick access to the music controls, even in standby mode, using just the volume buttons. Available on Cydia, the handy utility also helps extend your battery life. Here’s Cult of Mac’s guide to help get you started.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in News | 4 Comments »
11:28 am, Jul. 28, 2010
If you type a lot on your iPhone and haven’t upgraded to iOS4, BTstack available on Cydia is worth checking out.
The iPhone’s on-screen keyboard and auto-correction are great, but if you write long missives or are used to hammering out complex messages on a keyboard, you’ve probably wanted to use an external keyboard to get your point across at one time or another.
This is where BTstack keyboard comes in: it’s a simple paid application that lets you hook up most external Bluetooth HID keyboards to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Keep in mind that it doesn’t support more sophisticated commands for your mobile opus (selection, copy/paste, etc.) but it works like a charm for straight typing. Here’s Cult of Mac’s quick guide to get you started.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in Hardware, How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | 4 Comments »
10:27 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
Your life is on your iPhone, so if you want to share it with friends, family and co-workers, what’s better than capturing what’s on your iPhone screen? ScreenRecorder for iPhone is a Cydia application that captures your iPhone screen — be it a tutorial, demo or demonstration — with the tap of a finger. Here’s Cult of Mac’s step-by-step guide of how this paid app works.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Screencasts, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | 4 Comments »
10:04 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
Although the iPhone does allow you to setup a lockscreen passcode, it doesn’t give much flexibility in choosing one, allowing you to set only a four-digit passcode. If that doesn’t pass your security test, here’s how to set passcode your ex won’t be able to guess. NB: If you haven’t upgraded to iOS4, this tutorial on setting up a lockscreen passcode is for you.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPod Touch | 7 Comments »
9:45 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
If you accidentally updated your jailbroken iPhone 3GS, you cannot simply downgrade it by restoring to an older version of the firmware (even in DFU mode) because of an added layer of security by Apple.
However, if you have a previously jailbroken iPhone 3GS, there’s a possibility that Cydia saved some files called SHSHs to help you bypass this added security. Cult of Mac’s how-to guide will help you do it.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, iPhone 3G S, iTunes | 27 Comments »
9:35 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
The Backgrounder app makes running multiple apps on your iPhone easier than juggling your daily schedule. Do keep in mind that running too many apps will slow down your device and suck the life out of its battery a lot quicker.
Still, Backgrounder is a great gratis app we’re glad to have handy. Here’s Cult of Mac’s guide to how it works.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | 2 Comments »
9:25 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
Unless you jailbreak your iPhone, the file system will remain off limits as Apple intended. Even so, many people who jailbreak their phones stop with Cydia. There are, however, a few reasons you might want access to the file system on your device. SSH allows you to do just that using a Wi-Fi connection and a suitable Mac or PC client.
It can come in handy should you need to install something that’s not directly available on Cydia, think beta apps, etc.
Here’s Cult of Mac’s how-to guide to get you started.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Mac, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 2 Comments »
7:20 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
If you’re going to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, before you get started, we highly recommend you backup your device’s SHSH blobs.
With the release of iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch G3, Apple added an extra layer of security to prevent hacking, jailbreaking and unlocking. Apple is constantly closing the exploits used by jailbreak hackers by updating the firmware of its iPhone/iPt and iPad. If you accidentally upgrade your jailbroken device to Apple’s latest firmware, you can’t re-jailbreak it until hackers release new jailbreak software.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Mac, Tips & Tricks, iPad, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 12 Comments »
6:59 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
If you haven’t upgraded to iOS4, this app will allow you to access multiple Microsoft Exchange accounts on your iPhone, keeping your work and personal email and calendar info etc. always at hand. Here’s Cult of Mac’s how-to guide to getting started using the AddExchange application which allows you to add multiple Exchange accounts available from Cydia.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 1 Comment »
6:20 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
The iPhone, as Steve Jobs pointed out in his 4.0 keynote, currently has the best implementation of Copy/Paste feature of all smartphone platforms. However, it still does lack some feature like a history of the clips you’ve copied, web search for selected text, etc. If you add a Cydia app called Action Menu Plus Pack, which retails for $2.99, you can easily add those as well. Here’s Cult of Mac’s how-to guide for installing and using the app.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps | No Comments »
5:48 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
From the earliest iPhone and iPod Touch models, Apple opted to disable OBEX — aka Bluetooth file transfers on its devices for security reasons. Now, thanks to iBlueNova, a Cydia app well worth the $5.99 price tag, you can transfer files — music, pics, etc., — to and from your iDevices. Here’s Cult of Mac’s how-to guide to get you started.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Media, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | No Comments »
4:59 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
Thanks to iOS4, Apple now offers its own solution for switching between applications. If you’re using an older operating system, try this method for getting some multi-tasking on your Apple device using the handy ‘ProSwitcher’ app, which gets the job done using minimal memory to keep your device speedy as you pause that epic game to check out the weather.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | No Comments »
4:49 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
UPDATE: I was initially a little surprised by the vociferous reaction to this post about installing Installous, an unofficial App Store for pirated apps. The instructions are a quick Google search away and we’re hardly the first to publish an Installous how-to.
I guess we raised a few red flags — like putting “How To Pirate Apps” in the headline and including a half-hearted disclaimer. The intent was for it to be part of a comprehensive Jailbreaking Superguide that deals with all the things people want to do when they jailbreak their devices, including playing around with Installous.
The intent for the Superguide is to be straightforward and frank — a one-stop shop for everything people want to know about jailbreaking. We don’t condone piracy, but it’s a fact that a lot of people jailbreak their devices to experiment with things like Installous. I find it dishonest and hypocritical when publications skirt around issues like this; like publishing BitTorrent guides and pretending that no one’s going to download a pirated movie.
However, it’s obviously disingenuous to say we condemn piracy in a post that shows readers how to pirate software. Personally, I’ve always believed publishing information is one thing and acting on that information is another. I’ve always liked publications that informed me about things we’re not supposed to do. I can then make my own moral decision whether to act on that information or not.
But while pirating is something people indisputably do when jailbreaking, it was a misstep for us to actually include a comprehensive DIY. Whatever our intentions, it teeters on advocacy, and was thoughtlessly disrespectful to the many app developers out there who make their livings off of programs we admire and think people should pay for.
As our readers have pointed out in comments and on Twitter, we crossed a line here. CultofMac.com isn’t some modern-day Anarchist Cookbook. We support developers and enjoy their many wonderful creations. Saying there are ways out there to install cracked apps is one thing, showing people how to do it is another.
So my apologies to readers for misjudging this, and to developers for being insensitive and opportunistic.
Also, please don’t attack the author, Sayam. This was my idea, not his. He’s a freelance writer and I commissioned him to write it, so please don’t be mean to him.
– Leander.
PS: The BitTorrent link to “pirate” copies of my Cult of Mac book posted in the comments is actually a publisher-sanctioned seed. No Starch Press turned it into an e-book and seeded it. So please help yourself, it’s free and legal.
See TorrentFreak: Publisher Posts Mac Books on The Pirate Bay
Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Tips & Tricks, iPhone, iPhone Apps, iPod Touch | 180 Comments »
4:25 pm, Jul. 26, 2010
Although the Cydia app offers an extensive soup-to-nuts package, every once in awhile you might find it useful to add a source to the ones already available. Here’s Cult of Mac’s guide on how to add a source to Cydia.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 4 Comments »
9:15 am, Jul. 13, 2010
According to a recent tweet published by the DevTeam member planetbeing, he and MuscleNerd have finally managed to unlock iPhone 4 using the ultrasn0w tool by DevTeam, thus allowing it to be used on any GSM network worldwide.
My soft-unlocked iPhone 4 (in Canada). I’ll have video in a couple of hours once I can top-up the SIM http://twitpic.com/24ycdv
Although not a permanent unlocking solution, it’s still a big deal for all the iPhone 4 owners as not only does it mean freedom from AT&T and its outrageous international roaming charges but also the ability to use it in countries other than the five where it has been officially released.
With the upcoming spirit jailbreak for iOS 4, it will be much easier to unlock the new device. However, they are waiting for Apple to release a firmware update (4.0.1 or 4.1) but once it’s released, the unlock will be released too.
@planetbeing via Redmond Pie
Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in News, Top stories, iPhone 4 | 7 Comments »
5:01 am, Jul. 01, 2010
The iPhone 3GS users who are not willing to upgrade or are waiting for Antenna issue to be fixed cannot use Apple’s latest iMovie suite on their device because of lack of backward compatibility, at least according to Apple. Some said that it was an issue with the smaller RAM on the device but that doesn’t seem to be the case as those who have already jailbroken their device will now be able to use it.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Jailbreak, Media, News, Top stories, iOS, iPhone 3G S, iPhone 4, iPhone Apps | 16 Comments »
5:31 pm, Jun. 23, 2010
If you’re going to jailbreak your iPhone or iPad, the first thing you MUST do is backup your device’s SHSH blobs.
With the release of iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch G3, Apple added an extra layer of security to prevent hacking, jailbreaking and unlocking. Apple is constantly closing the exploits used by jailbreak hackers by updating the firmware of its iPhone/iPt and iPad. If you accidentally upgrade your jailbroken device to Apple’s latest firmware, you can’t re-jailbreak it until hackers release new jailbreak software.
You can, however, downgrade your device to the previous firmware version which can be jailbroken — if you have your SHSH blobs on file.
You can extract these SHSH records and save them with the help of a utility called Umbrella. Here’s how:
These records are firmware specific and each time you update, you should repeat this process to save the records for the particular firmware version.
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Mac, Tips & Tricks, Top stories, iPad, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 7 Comments »
1:30 pm, Jun. 22, 2010
Redsn0w by DevTeam allows you to jailbreak your device, to get complete control over it (see why you should jailbreak here). Currently, redsn0w version 0.9.5b5-3 allows you to jailbreak a device that has already been upgraded to firmware 4.0, without losing the jailbreak data. However, it will NOT unlock the device, enabling it to be used with different GSM carriers worldwide.
Please note that this tool will NOT work if you have ANY iPhone 3GS, newer iPod Touch G2 or the iPod Touch G3. (On the newer iPod Touch, serial number begins with ‘MC’.)
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, Top stories, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch | 39 Comments »
1:05 pm, Jun. 22, 2010
The Pwnage Tool by the DevTeam hacker group allows you to create custom iPhone firmwares for the purpose of jailbreaking, to get full control over your device (see why you should jailbreak here).
Currently, the Pwnage Tool version 4.0 allows you to update your previously jailbroken device to firmware 4.0, without losing the jailbreak data. However, it will NOT unlock the device, enabling it to be used with different GSM carriers worldwide.
Please note that this tool will NOT work if you have the iPhone 2G, newer iPhone 3GS, newer iPod Touch G2 or the iPod Touch G3. (On the newer 3GS, go to Settings –> General –> About, the fourth and fifth digit of the serial number should be greater than 40 and on the newer iPod Touch, serial number begins with ‘MC’.)
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Posted by Sayam Aggarwal in How-To, iPhone, iPod Touch | 9 Comments »
![The Evolution of the iPod Nano [Infographic]](http://www.cultofmac.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/ipodnano6g_evolution-250x150.jpg)
