Take out the trusty old ex-acto knife and whittle down your T-Mobile SIM cart just right and you can cram it right into your iPad 3G’s medulla oblongata. Jailbreak with Spirit and you can then use your iPad to send SMSes, provided you’ve got some command line skill. Who said there was no reason to jailbreak your iPad?
[via 9to5Mac]
Spirit by comex allows you to jailbreak your device, to get complete control over it (see why you should jailbreak here). Currently, spirit allows you to jailbreak any device that has already been upgraded to firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3 or even an iPad on version 3.2. However, it will NOT unlock the device, enabling it to be used with different GSM carriers worldwide.
The “Spirit” iPad/iPhone jailbreak is available for download from the Dev Team. You can download Spirit here.
The free, untethered jailbreak is available for Mac and Windows, and works with any iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch on firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3, or 3.2. It’s a quick, easy, one-click process, according to QuickPwn, although the Cydia app is buggy. Just download the jailbreak software, plug in your device, and your iPad or iPhone is instantly recognized. Hit the “Jailbreak” button and you’re done.
Note: Before performing a jailbreaking make absolutely sure you’ve got a backup of your SHSH blobs so that if anything goes wrong you can restore to 3.1.2. You can find a step-by-step guide from Redmond Pie here.
Spirit is not a carrier unlock (which allows you to use unauthorized wireless carriers like T-Mobile).
The Dev Team highly recommend syncing with iTunes before trying this jailbreak. If anything goes wrong, you will have to restore the device. It’s especially iffy on the iPad.
Note: On iPad, all this is still sort of beta. Some packages in Cydia, not designed for iPad, might screw up your system and require you to restore. Be careful. (And no, Cydia’s appearance is not final.)
Dev Team: Spirit Freed.
I just noticed something about surfing the web on an iPad. Here’s a hint: look at the red circle in the New York Times screenshot above.
It was hard to spot because it’s actually noticing something that’s not there: the blue Legos where the Flash plugin should be.
In January, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, he wasn’t able to load the NYT‘s front-page videos (remember the Lego bricks visible during his debut event?) The absence of Flash seemed like a major problem. Video, games, rich-media — none of these would work, pundits said, and the iPad would be a crippled device.
But that hasn’t proven to be the case. Not at all. During the past month I’ve been using the iPad, I’ve rarely encountered problems with the lack of Flash. All the sites I visit regularly – the BBC, NYT and Wall Street Journal — all of them have quickly made video and rich-media available in iPad-friendly formats.
YouTube is especially iPad-friendly. I’ve yet to encounter a YouTube video the iPad wouldn’t play. And because so many sites use YouTube to embed video, it seems like a lot of the web is iPad-friendly.
The only problems is streaming music from MixRiot (which I use a lot but isn’t exactly mainstream) and playing Farmville and thousands of other Flash games. But given how much time I waste fertilizing my kids’ crops and sending them gifts, that’s actually a blessing.
And it’s only going to get worse for Flash. Look at the chart below from Encoding.com, which does a lot of video encoding for sites like MTV and MySpace. In the last four quarters, Flash video (represented by FLV and Flash VP6) dropped from 69 percent to only 26 percent of all videos. Meanwhile, the H.264 format went from 31 percent to 66 percent, and is now the most popular format by a long shot.
Here’s a couple of screenshots from the iPad’s YouTube app showing the dramatic difference in quality between Wi-Fi and 3G.
The screenshot above is from video streaming over WiFi. And below is the same YouTube video playing over 3G.
I paused the video before taking the screenshots and tried to take them at about the same point.
The difference is clear. Over Wi-Fi, video quality is near high-def. Over 3G, it looks like a bad QuickTime movie from the mid-1990s.
Of course, this isn’t new — it’s just much more noticeable on the iPad’s big beautiful screen. This has been the case on the iPhone for some time, but on the smaller screen, the difference in quality isn’t as dramatic.
Meanwhile, our readers are reporting that Verizon’s MiFi delivers: there’s no difference in quality between Wi-Fi and 3G on Verizon’s network.
UPDATE: As our friend Chris Foresman of Ars Technica fame points out in the comments, 3G tops out at a paltry 64Kbps. ” It looks like crap on the iPhone,” says Chris, “so it shouldn’t be a surprise that it looks like crap 4x as big?”
Foresman says the 64Kbps number isn’t generally known, but is reported in Apple’s developer docs. AT&T had said there would be a limit, but didn’t say what it was.
64Kbps is pathetic for 3G. According to the International Telecommunication Union standards body, 3G specifies a minimum data rate of 144Kbps in high-mobility (vehicular) applications, 384Kbps for pedestrian applications, and 2Mbps (that megabits per second) for indoor (stationary) applications.
And here are the screenshots full size:
The honeymoon is over. I’ve discovered my first major disappointment with the iPad 3G, and I’ve only just started playing with it. Video over 3G on the iPad totally and utterly sucks.
The picture is noticeably downgraded on a 3G connection. The built-in YouTube app delivers video that’s very low-res compared to the video it delivers on a Wi-Fi connection. It’s barely watcheable.
And apps like the ABC app and Netflix won’t work on 3G at all. They both The ABC app launches a pop up that says: “Please connect to a Wi-Fi network to use this application. Cellular networks are not supported at this time.”
It may be better to get a Wi-Fi only iPad and invest in a MiFi, which appears to work flawlessly for delivering high-def video, according to reader reports on iLounge.
UPDATE: My mistake. Netflix does work over 3G. The video quality is clearly lower resolution however.
Here’s a couple of screenshots showing the difference:
The iPad 3G is the iPad everyone’s been waiting for. Let’s face it: the 3G data connection and GPS makes this the iPad you don’t want to to leave at home.
Here is what the iPad looks like close up:
As expected, the iPad 3G has already been jailbroken — only a few hours after its launch.
MuscleNerd of iPhone Dev Team posted pictures and a video to YouTube showing a jailbroken iPad 3G running Cydia.
MuscleNerd used the “Spirit” jailbreak, an software tool that promises untethered unlocking of Apple’s recent devices (iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, and iPads). The Dev Team has promised to release Spirit to the public soon. In preparation, be sure to backup your SHSH Blobs. You can find a step-by-step guide from Redmond Pie here.
Here is MuscleNerd’s video showing Cydia running on an iPad 3G.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFmy1rolqpw&feature=player_embedded
Via Redmond Pie. Thanks Taimur.
Less than a month since its release, there are nearly 5,000 apps available for the iPad, most are games but there are some important early sellers in the medical and finance titles.
Distimo, a start-up that analyzes app stats, tallied some 4,870 applications for Apple’s magical tablet to date. (You can download the full report here.)
Games dominate iPad apps, with 32% of the total at 1,577 titles so far, Entertainment and books trail far behind, together they total about half as many apps with 455 and 396 titles, respectively.
The first thing you’ll want to do on your brand new iPad 3G is sign up for a data plan. It’s pretty easy, and you can do it right on the iPad. It’s basically half-a-dozen finger taps (except for typing in your credit card number of course).
Here are step-by-step by instructions, courtesy of this knowledge base article from Apple.
Last year, accessory LUXA2 released the H1-Touch stand for the iPhone and iPod Touch, which allowed you to position your handset on your desk like a miniature monitor. It looked great, but wasn’t particularly useful.
I don’t think the same can be said for the LUXA2 H4, a larger version of the same stand for the iPad. The reason for that is mostly because it allows you to easily position the iPad as a monitor when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard… and unlike the official Apple dock, the H4 has a swiveling mount that allows you to easily rotate your iPad from landscape to portrait orientation and back again.
The H4’s got a few strikes against it — those holding prongs, while keeping the iPad secure, don’t look very good — but all in all, it looks like a great solution for anyone who does a lot of typing or video watching on their iPad. $50 will get you one.
I’m waiting here like a kid at Christmas, pulling the curtains, hoping to see the UPS Fed-Ex truck outside. Some of you guys on the east coast may have got yours by now. Let us know in the comments. And send us pictures; we’ll post them.
Just a friendly Cult of Mac reminder that if you haven’t already pre-ordered an iPad 3G, and if you aren’t already elbowing Greg Packer for elbow room at the front of the 5th Avenue store lines, Apple’s official retail stores will all be closed from 4pm to 5pm today to prepare the staff for the imminent launch of Apple’s mobile broadband capable tablet. 17:00:01 is the earliest you’re possibly going to snag one unless UPS Santa pays you a visit before then.
Here’s what we’re curious about: how many of you are intending on picking up an iPad 3G after work today? If so, please let us know how you get on in the comments. We’d also be interested if the intermittently available iPad WiFi is more readily available in the retail stores now that the 3G is available.
Anyway, that’s it: the last first-gen iPad release date. Except for us poor suckers in the rest of the world, that is, but hell… we don’t count.
[via 9to5Mac]
Although individuals have already demonstrated working hacks of Apple’s iPad, it seems like it’s taking them forever to actually release a working jailbreak… and if you’re an iPod Touch owner, it seems like it’s been even longer since the first working, untethered 3.1.3 jailbreak was demonstrated, only to never be released.
It looks now like everyone has something to look forward. According to the iPhone Dev Team’s blog, they intend on releasing an iPadjailbreak sometime soon after the iPad 3G goes on sale.
These grips made from recycled tire rubber in five different designs assure your iPad won’t slip. (Insert obligatory sanitary pad joke here).
They look cool — throwing star design anyone? — and will make sure your device will stay firmly in hand, even in those awkward situations like the iPad puppy effect.
NinjaGrips cost $15 each and ship most places worldwide starting the first week of May.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fyx7U7TH2bQ
This fantastic proof of concept video by the guys over at Magic Jungle Software demonstrates their forthcoming game, Chopper 2, being output from an iPad to a 42-inch HDTV, with an iPhone or iPod Touch used as the game’s controller.
It looks incredible, but perhaps more interesting is Distorted Loop’s take on the video, which is that this would be a fantastic direction for a relaunched Apple TV to take: an audio-visual, app-running console hooked up to your television that can be controlled by an iPhone, iPod Touch or even a “future low-cost touch sensitive remote control” that would ship in the box.
A product like that would not only finally realize the wasted potential of the Apple TV product line, but put Apple on track to compete with the likes of the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as furiously as the iPhone currently competes with the Nintendo DS.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg isn’t the only politician to use an iPad. Russian President (and Putin-wielded political hand puppet) Dimitry Medvedev was spotted using an iPad during a recent meeting of the State Council, the Council of the Arts and the Council for Science and Technology. Unlike Stoltenberg, though, Medvedev was quick to reveal his own Ludditical tendencies, claiming that he initially found the iPad “impossible to read” (perhaps he prefers e-paper) and only warmed up to it when he downloaded the beautiful Russian novel A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov… which, incidentally, you should definitely read in the Nabokov translation if you can find it.
[via TUAW]
If you want to cover your precious iPad with the LV logo, be prepared to shell out about two-thirds the cost of the device itself.
In stores next year, the Louis Vuitton case will come with a price tag of $366 compared to the $499 for the basic iPad.
Touted as the first designer iPad sleeve from a major fashion house, you have to wonder what’s taking the rest of the overpriced, logofied pack so long. By the time this one, and others, are on shelves there may be an iPad 2G already available.
Via Geeky Gadgets, GQ
Well, would-be iPad 3G owners. Your long, long wait is finally coming to an end. According to 9to5Mac, pre-orders of the iPad 3G are finally starting to ship, and should be in your hands by Friday. If you didn’t pre-order one, you may be able to snag an iPad 3G at an Apple Store if you swing by after 5PM.
Got your shipping confirmation? Brag about it to us poor suckers in the comments.
Update: Reader Chris Wanja says, “I see you pulled it from the 9to5Mac article. In the mass of the 130+ comments, I added to a lot of them. We… have come to the conclusion that the image is Photoshopped due to NO one else having a shipping confirmation via email or order status. Several people confirm with other blogs and forums that they have not yet shipped, but are “prepared for shipment”.
Seems like a rather pedestrian use of Photoshop, personally. Have any of our readers received shipping confirmation yet?
Confirming earlier rumors, the New York Times is reporting that Apple has purchased ARM design firm Intrinsity for an estimated $121 million.
Great News! You don’t have to wait to use your iPad as a MIDI device.
Jameson Proctor, fellow Brooklyn resident and newly established app developer, has brought us a fantastic iPad Midi Controller for $4.99.
MxNM LE, which stands for Mix N Match MIDI Limited Edition, offers 135 virtual buttons sliders and knobs for your programming pleasure and you’ll need to use the MxNM WiFi Server to connect your iPad to your sequencing software of choice. The next update will allow the user to add labels to each control. I can’t wait for an OSC release to give me my monome fix.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z00VCzoIVc
Apple’s own iPad dock gives an easy and handy way to use a physical keyboard with your tablet, but one annoyance is the official dock’s inability to allow you to type when the device is in a landscape position.
It’s slightly irritating, but the Book of Joe has an easy-to-follow instruction manual on how to dock your iPad in a landscape position.
Essentially, you prop up your iPad (in Joe’s case, with the official iPad case) and use an iPod cable extender to connect the iPad to the dock connector. It’s a lot more of a kludge than it has to be, and I imagine a bluetooth keyboard and a sixty-nine cent business card holder would be a better solution for the price. Still, if you’ve got this stuff lying around already, it’s not a bad hack… at least until a third-party accessory maker comes out with a dock that allows typing in both landscape and vertical orientations.
Need another reason to justify your purchase of a frivolous iPad? Pop Cap Games shows us just how valuable the iPad touchscreen surface is for gaming in a demo of Plants Vs. Zombies HD.
Apparently, the iPad can handle 11 simultaneous points of contact, which is perfect for the man with six fingers on his right hand. Or if you’re into playing games with friends and stuff, this makes for some great multiplayer action. Imagine 11-way air hockey, or 11-way Hungry Hungry Hippos. Which reminds me, when is the board game Crossfire coming to the App Store?
This is the cutest game demo video I have ever seen. It’s almost as cute as the trailer for Babies.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP6lIcScVh0&feature=player_embedded
A couple of Reuters reporters scoured electronics shops in Shanghai for an iPad clone until someone led them to a dark backroom on a fifth floor of one of the city’s many clone marts.
You can’t see a whole lot from the blurry pic, but they report that the counterfeit iPad sports three USB ports in what looks like a heavy-set, pumped-up iPhone. This isn’t the first iPad copycat to come out of the area, but this one looks more like the Apple device.
The price for the faux iPad is just slightly lower than the real deal 2,800 yuan ($410), compared to the iPad’s $499-$699 price. It runs a Windows OS.
Denver police arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with an iPad theft that also cost the victim part of his pinky.
20-year-old Brandon Darnell Smith was arrested early Saturday at a traffic stop.
“It’s bittersweet,” the victim, 59-year-old Bill Jordan, told local ABC affiliate 7NEWS. “The bitter part of it is there is nothing anybody can do to replace this. It is what it is.”