Killian Bell - page 328

Popular jailbreak tool PdaNet has just been updated to introduce a nice new feature that hides iPhone tethering usage from its carrier. The update comes as AT&T begins a crackdown on customers who illegally use their device’s data connection without paying for a tethering plan.

To identify illegal tethering, AT&T looks at the type of packets hitting its network; any packet that doesn’t come from an iPhone is checked and warnings are then sent to the offenders informing them they must cease their wrongdoing or be billed for their use.

PdaNet’s new feature works by masking those packets and making the carrier believe they’re coming from an iPhone, and that all of their subscribers are being good boys and girls.

A shameless clone of the popular Canabalt running game for iOS has passed Apple’s approval process and is now available in the App Store. Free Running uses the Canabalt source code and makes no effort to be different or hide its imitation.

Canabalt’s source code was released by its developer last year so that other developers code use its game engine to create their own games. It was released under an MIT open source license, and its developer makes it clear that other developers cannot “distribute or redistribute [the] game code, art or sounds.”

PLD Soft have done exactly that with Free Running; taking the code, repackaging it with little to no changes, and submitting it to the App Store under a new name. Unfortunately for the great Canabalt, Apple approved it, leading to questions about its App Store approval process.

Apple released iOS 4.3.3 on Tuesday to address the infamous location tracking issues with the iPhone. To our surprise, however, the update to does prevent the latest untethered jailbreak solution, leaving 4.3.3 still vulnerable to the hack.

Dev-Team member C0mex posted a message on Twitter yesterday that confirmed the exploit was still successful. While we don’t recommend you try jailbreaking the latest iOS release with Redsn0w or PwnageTool, it’s only a matter of time before both tools are updated.

In its fight against the jailbreak community, Apple usually fixes the vulnerabilities that make the latest jailbreaks possible, forcing hackers to find another exploit. The fact that it hasn’t with the latest iOS release is evidence that Apple rushed to get the 4.3.3 software out and quickly quash the location tracking bugs, putting an end to the whole ‘Locationgate’ saga.

We’ll keep you updated on the iOS 4.3.3 jailbreak as it progresses.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCP4dgqinYo

Spider Jack is a puzzle game from Chillingo that just hit the App Store, and I’m betting it will be the next iPhone game craze. It bears an uncanny resemblance to Cut the Rope and offers a similar style of play mechanic, but instead features an adorable green arachnid called Jack, whose mission is to return to his web to get his fill of flies.

It features 75 levels skilfully designed levels that promise to test your reflexes and foresight. Using pieces of web (not rope) you must carefully avoid the electrical beams and guide Jack safely home to his web. Use hairdryers to you advantage and try to collect as many stars as you can along the way.

Each level features multiple solutions, and the impressive visuals have been hand-drawn and optimized for the iPhone 4’s Retina display. Realistic physics attempt to give you a taste of “what real web-slinging is like,” and offer a puzzler that’s suitable for players of all ages and abilities.

Spider Jack’s similarities to Cut the Rope means many will already be familiar with its gameplay style, and to those who have beaten every level of Cut the Rope and are begging for something similar, Spider Jack has you covered. I’m sure it will follow in the footsteps of its inspiration and be the App Store’s next big success.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Apple’s new family of iMac all-in-ones released earlier this week boast an Intel BD82Z68 platform controller hub that isn’t scheduled for release until May 11th. The Z68 chip, designed for Sandy Bridge 1155, was first discovered by TonyMacx86 and later confirmed in an iFixit teardown.

The Z68 allows for solid-state drive data caching when a system is equipped with a combination of storage drives. So users could install a small, relatively cheap SSD along with their traditional hard disk drive and have the SSD serve as a cache – dramatically increasing access speeds to their files and applications. The new iMacs can be ordered with both an SSD and a traditional hard disk drive installed, and the Z68 can allow users to see this combination as just one drive on their Mac.

Sources in Apple’s supply chain have revealed to an analyst with Sterne Agee that the company is planning to refresh the rest of its Mac lineup “in upcoming months.” Shaw Wu issued a note to investors yesterday that claimed all Mac products yet to be refreshed this year are “due for refreshes” soon. That includes Apple’s MacBook, MacBook Air, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini computers.

The last update to Apple’s MacBook – the company’s entry-level notebook – came in May 2010. Wu believes an update to this line is especially important as the MacBook currently counts for one-third of Apple’s notebook business, which itself equals 73% of all Mac sales.

The MacBook Air was only refreshed last October, but recent speculation claims Apple will soon swap the notebook’s ageing Core 2 Duo processor for the new Sandy Bridge chip.

The Mac Mini was last updated in June 2010 and the Mac Pro a month later in July. Wu believes the upcoming updates to Apple’s Mac computers will counterbalance “a very minor cannibalistic impact” the iPad 2 could potentially have on the Mac business. The touchscreen tablet has reportedly effected sales of most computers – especially netbooks – in some way since it hit the market.

The MacBook Pro lineup was updated back in February to introduce Intel’s newest Sandy Bridge processors, and the company’s Thunderbolt technology. The iMac family then followed with an update earlier this week to add the same features.

[via AppleInsider]

Apple is reportedly working closely with Verizon Wireless to introduce over-the-air software updates to the iPhone with its iOS 5 firmware. Starting this fall, iPhone users will be able to update their iOS software wirelessly, without having to plug the device into iTunes, or involve a computer altogether. It’s a luxury Google Android and Palm webOS users have been enjoying for some time, and Apple’s finally bringing it to iOS.

Multiple sources for 9to5Mac have revealed the feature will debut with iOS 5 and will support subsequent iOS releases. Apparently, Apple already has the technology, but doesn’t want to release it to the masses all at once. It will therefore be available only to Verizon customers initially.

Multiple sources who seem to know a thing or two about Apple’s third-generation iPad are claiming that the device will boast a 3D display. One “Hollywood insider” talking to RCR Wireless says the device is already in the advanced planning stages, and “the fact that the iPad 3 is 3D is a dead cert.”

She went on to say that the big film studios were currently running around like blue arsed flies trying to gear up to release plenty of 3D content in time for Apple’s next launch.

RCR reveals the story has also been backed up by a source at Foxconn – the factory that manufactures Apple’s devices – who have “spilled the 3D iPad beans” to several of their closest industry sources.

Crescent Moon Games are currently enjoying App Store success following its release of Gears, a physics-based ball roller that has rocketed to the top of the App Store’s paid charts, and featured as one of our must-have games last week. The team is already working on its next iOS release which looks like it could be just as successful – a dual-stick shooter called Deadlock which boasts co-operative and competitive online multiplayer with support for up to 8 people.

Deadlock will initially offer 5 levels and 3 game types, including deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture & hold. It uses Game Centre integration to connect players to online games, and features a 30-level ranking system that allows players to progress as they play.

There are 30 weapons to choose from, including assault rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, and grenades; and a load-out system that allows users to upgrade their weapons with a range of attachments to provide things like improved aiming and additional damage – all of which are unlocked as you progress.

An interesting option within the System Preferences of the new lineup of iMacs launched yesterday has led to speculation that Apple could be working on a new wireless keyboard with backlit keys. Backlit keyboards are currently a luxury only those with MacBook Pros can enjoy.

Within the keyboard menu of System Preferences, users have the option to “Illuminate keyboard in low light conditions.” Without an Apple wireless keyboard equipped with backlighting, this preference obviously has no use whatsoever. Which leads us to believe that, unless Apple made a rare mistake with some code, they’re currently working on a nice new keyboard in the Cupertino camp.

Using a MacBook Pro with a backlit keyboard in low light conditions really is incredibly useful, and I’d be first in line for a backlit keyboard for my desk.

[via 9to5 Mac]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdAAbu-nMkY&feature=player_detailpage

G-Form is a case manufacturer who enjoys taking 12 lb. bowling balls and dropping them onto delicate iPads in an effort to prove their cases can withstand some pretty extreme impact. Their latest trick is to take a perfectly good 13-inch MacBook Pro, slide it into a soft, floppy G-Form Extreme Sleeve, and drop it from a 20-foot balcony.

Of course, just like the iPad that fell victim to a falling bowling ball, the MacBook suffers no damage thanks to the sleeve’s rather impressive ability to absorb the impact.

If you’d like to throw your MacBook from your balcony, the G-Form Extreme Sleeve for MacBooks is now available to pre-order. The sleeves are available in black and yellow and start at $69.96 for the 11-inch MacBook Air, rising to $79.95 for the 13- and 15-inch notebooks.

Microsoft is trying to lure iOS developers into creating applications for the Windows Phone 7 operating system by offering an API mapping tool which helps them port their applications over from the iPhone. Jean-Christophe Cimetiere, Microsoft’s Senior Technical Evangelist for Interoperability, unveiled the tool on the Windows Team blog:

With this tool, iPhone developers can grab their apps, pick out the iOS API calls, and quickly look up the equivalent classes, methods and notification events in WP7. A developer can search a given iOS API call and find the equivalent WP7 along with C# sample codes and API documentations for both platforms.

Included in the package along with the API mapping tool is a 90+ page guide entitled “Windows Phone 7 Guide for iPhone Application Developers;” a series of “developer stories” from devs who have already ported their iPhone apps over to Windows Phone 7; and a compilation of the key resources needed to get started.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYWAmKJOesU&feature=player_embedded

Physwitch is a new tweak for jailbroken iPhones that enhances the way in which we multitask within iOS by allowing us to switch between our applications using our device’s volume buttons.

Once activated Physwitch is a great way of multitasking on the iPhone, and looks much more sophisticated than the traditional iOS method of switching between applications. Instead of swiping through a collection of icons in the multitasking tray, you can cycle through each application with a real-time preview of what’s happening in each app.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJ1JZgaDOq0&feature=player_embedded

ColorWare is famous for taking gorgeous new gadgets and giving them a nice lick of paint. The company is now painting iPad 2s for those that don’t like the original look, but as usual you’ll pay a high price for a customized device.

Prices start at $900 for a 16GB Wi-Fi only iPad, which increases to $1,100 for the 64GB model. If you want a 3G capable device, prices start at $1,030 and rise to $1,230 for the 16GB and 64GB models respectively. Alternatively you can send in your own iPad and have it painted for $400.

It’s certainly not a cheap service, but ColorWare does a fantastic job of customizing your device. You can have the body, antenna, logo and home button painted in a variety of weird and wonderful colors; using either solid, metallic or pearl paint. You can also have your whole device coated in a soft touch finish for an additional $55.

Well, what are you waiting for?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um4gLMZDXkA&feature=player_embedded

Apple has released a new commercial for its iPad 2 that follows the same theme as its previous ‘We Believe‘ commercial launched in early April. Entitled ‘If You Asked’, the new ad focuses on the iPad’s user experience and how people perceive the device rather than its technical specifications.

The smooth guy in the voiceover reads:

If you ask a parent, they might call it intuitive. If you ask a musician, they might call it inspiring. To a doctor, it’s groundbreaking. To a CEO, it’s powerful. To a teacher, it’s the future. If you ask a child, she might call it magic. And if you asked us, we’d say it’s just getting started.

Apple’s commercials for the second-generation iPad thus far have been a little more personal than the company’s other ad campaigns; highlighting what users can achieve with the device, rather that what the device itself is technically capable of.

It really is amazing that the iPad is being used in so many amazing ways by everyone from toddlers to CEOs.

Apple has officially informed AT&T that there will be no new iPhone this June or July, according to a customer care representative for the carrier. One AT&T customer noticed his eligibility date for a subsidized upgrade had been pushed back by over five months; when he contacted the carrier for an explanation, a rep gave him the following statement:

Apple has informed us that they do not plan to release the iPhone in the June to July timeframe, though there will be a newer version in the future. Unfortunately, we have not been given a release time for the new phone. We will release this information on our website when it is available to us.

It’s unusual that this kind of information would be passed down to employees ahead of an official Apple announcement, however, you can’t help but feel this particular AT&T rep is right. As June gets closer, the number of reports that suggests a later-than-usual iPhone release are increasing, and any hope of a new iPhone before September is quickly being quashed.

Apple is now expected to announce a new iPhone at its yearly iPod event traditionally held every September.

[via MacRumors]

Apple’s new family of iMacs launched today, featuring Intel’s latest Core i5 and i7 processors, 4GB of RAM, and 3x faster graphics; all the ingredients needed to bake a super speedy all-in-one. However, there’s one thing missing from Apple’s lineup of four ‘ready-made’ iMacs, and that’s a solid-state drive. Without one your shiny new iMac might not be as fast as you expected it to be.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWPFfb4mF6k&feature=player_embedded

For a while Cydia has been the one and only source for jailbroken applications and tweaks, and it hasn’t really had a lot of competition. That’s about to change, as a new web-based installer called Lima is on its way to give Cydia something of a challenge.

Developed by the Infini Dev Team, Lima runs in the Safari browser and doesn’t require any additional applications – you just navigate to its webpage to access all of its packages. Downloading and installing packages is just as simple as it currently is with Cydia.

Judging from the video at the top, Lima looks like a nice, snappy way of accessing jailbroken apps and tweaks, without the downsides of the often slow Cydia. However, I’m not sure whether you’ll we’ll still be able to add our own repositories like we can with Cydia, or whether we’re stuck with whatever Lima has to offer.

As much as I love Cydia, sometimes its slow reload times and all too frequent errors prove to be a huge frustration, and I’m looking forward to giving Lima a try. What do you think; will Lima give Cydia a run for its money, or is it facing an uphill battle? Let us know in the comments!

[via iPhone Download Blog]

Apple’s online store is back up following some downtime this morning and just as we all expected, it now features a nice new family of iMacs.

These new all-in-ones boast Intel’s next-generation quad-core i5 and i7 processors, the company’s high-speed Thunderbolt technology, 3x faster graphics, and a FaceTime HD camera.

There are four new iMacs to choose from starting at $1,199 – two 21.5-inch models and two 27-inch models – all four come with 4GB of RAM and a FaceTime HD camera capable of shooting video in 720p.

Here are your options:

A new malware threat called ‘MACDefender’ is targeting Mac OS X users browsing the web using Apple’s Safari browser. The software automatically downloads a file through JavaScript, but users must first agree to install the software, making the potential threat a low risk to careful users.

The malicious software was highlighted on Monday by Intego – the company behind the VirusBarrier X6 antivirus software for Mac – after Apple Support Community users started reporting the threat. Intego say the software prompts users to download a compressed ZIP archive after clicking on a dodgy link in their search engines. The file is then decompressed and begins installing MACDefender on the system.

Apple’s online store has just gone down, and according to recent speculation, when it comes back up it will feature a brand new lineup of iMacs, boasting Intel’s newest family of Sandy Bridge processors and the company’s Thunderbolt technology.

Sources familiar with Apple’s plans revealed to AppleInsider over the weekend that updated iMacs would launch today, May 3rd, just as stock of the current models has slowly diminished.

We’ll keep you updated and let you know when the store’s back up.

The latest build of Mac OS X Lion introduces an iOS-like method of removing applications installed via the Mac App Store. Within the new Launchpad application, users can click and hold on an app’s icon to start the ‘jiggling’ – just like in iOS – and an ‘X’ button appears in the corner of each icon which users can click to uninstall applications.

Don’t worry about deleting applications accidentally, however; just like iOS, users will be greeted with a message that asks them whether they’re sure they wish to delete the application. Clicking delete will move the application, and any files associated with it, to the Trash.

This feature currently only works with applications purchased from the Mac App Store, but I’m hoping it works with any application installed on your Mac when Lion is finally released.

[via MacRumors]

At the top of our list of must-haves this week is Gameloft’s brand new World of Warcraft-like MMORPG called Order & Chaos Online. Set in a vast fantasy world with thousands of other players from around the world, this is the most promising real-time RPG to hit the App Store yet.

Also to feature is the third release of Zenonia – another RPG which promises to provide “greater enjoyment that the previous two Zenonia’s combined.” The Midgard Story has been revamped and upscaled for a truly epic gameplay experience.

Gears is a physics-based 3D ball roller that defines its genre with an immersive adventure across beautifully detailed worlds that feature dozens of unique and challenging levels.

Find out more about the games above and check out the rest of this week’s must-haves – including Unpleasant Horse and Snuggle Truck – after the break!

A new Safari feature hidden within the latest Mac OS X Lion build is expected to compete with services like Instapaper and ReadItLater as a method of saving pages for later reading. The ‘Reading List’ feature appears to be partly based on HTML and javascript, and is likely synchronize bookmarks between Mac and iOS devices.

Discovered by MacRumors, Apple’s description of the feature is the following:

Reading List lets you collect webpages and links for you to read later. To add the current page to your Reading List, click Add Page. You can also Shift-click a link to quickly add it to the list. To hide and show Reading List, click the Reading List icon (eyeglasses) in the bookmarks bar.

The feature is currently inactive within the latest build of Lion, so those running the release won’t be able to try it out just yet, but as a massive Instapaper addict I can’t wait for Reading List to go live.

Hints of Apple’s upcoming cloud-based storage service – now dubbed iCloud following the company’s takeover of the iCloud.com domain – have been found within the third release of the Mac OS X Lion developer preview under the ‘Castle’ codename.

First discovered by Consomac.fr is a ‘Find My Mac’ feature thought to offer the same functionality as the ‘Find My iPhone’ feature built into MobileMe. What’s more interesting, however, are the strings that indicate users can upgrade from MobileMe to a service called ‘Castle.’

‘Castle’ is believed to be the codename for iCloud – the cloud-based storage service that Apple is currently developing. The service is expected to offer users a way of storing their music and other content in a digital locker, which they can then stream to internet connected devices such as the iPhone and iPad, and save storage space which would usually be taken up by storing content locally.

The service got its ‘iCloud’ name after Apple purchased the domain from a Swedish company called Xcerion, who offer a similar storage service. Xcerion received $4.5 million to rebrand the service and give up the iCloud.com domain.