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JailbreakCon kicks off this weekend, and Cult of Mac will be there!

Scores of hackers are expected to gather for JailbreakCon in South San Francisco Conference Center on September 29th.

Jailbreaking, the process of circumventing Apple’s restrictions in iOS, has become a cultural phenomenon in recent years. In response to the mainstream interest in jailbreaking and everything it has to offer, JailbreakCon gathers the greatest hackers, developers, and users together in one place to learn and share new ideas.

Whether you’re a diehard jailbreaker or an interested onlooker, there’s going to be a lot of interesting stuff going on at JailbreakCon this year. The iPhone 5 and iOS 6 will be hot topics, and there’s a good chance we’ll hear news regarding a jailbreak for Apple’s newest smartphone.

Cult of Mac will be at JailbreakCon as an official media partner, so stay tuned for breaking coverage from the convention floor! Here’s what to expect:

iOS jailbreak developer Ryan Petrich has successfully gotten the old iOS Maps app, which was powered by Google and boasted features like Street View and walking directions, running under iOS 6. The port is said to be unstable at the moment, but it’s working, and with a little more work, it could be available in all its glory to users with jailbroken iOS devices.

While we don’t expect a public iOS 6 jailbreak — much less a jailbreak for the newly-released iPhone 5 — for quite some time, it appears as though things could be moving along quicker than originally expected. Noted jailbreak developer Grant Paul just tweeted a screenshot of Cydia on the iPhone 5’s taller display. He’s saying that he didn’t fake the Cydia icon, which would lead us to believe that the iPhone 5 has already been jailbroken.

A4 devices like the iPhone 4 and fourth-gen iPod touch can be jailbroken on iOS 6 already, but A5X devices like the iPhone 4S and third-gen iPad cannot be. Cydia running on the iPhone 5 is an even more impressive feat given the fact that Apple’s newest iPhone sports an entirely new, proprietary A6 processor.

Apple unleashed iOS 6 on the world today, and as with any new iOS release, the update temporarily kills jailbreaking. A public jailbreak for iOS 6 will be released eventually, but it will likely take months. Until then, the latest jailbreak-friendly version of iOS is 5.1.1.

If you’re jailbroken on iOS 5.1.1, should you bother with updating to iOS 6 before the new jailbreak comes out? Here’s why you should, and here’s why you shouldn’t.

During the onslaught of iPhone 5 news that’s been circulating this week, a tethered jailbreak for the final iOS 6 Golden Master (GM) was released. The iPhone Dev-Team announced the update yesterday.

While iOS 6 will be unleashed for the public to download on September 19th, hackers have already been working on finding exploits to create a public jailbreak release.

FireCore today released aTV Flash (black) 2.0, the highly-anticipated update to its flagship software for the jailbroken Apple TV. Version 2.0 brings a number of enhancements, including a Library View for browsing media content by category (TV, movie, etc.), integrated search, and trakt.tv support for keeping content wirelessly synced between multiple Apple TVs.

Sadly, aTV Flash (black) still doesn’t support the third-gen Apple TV, as a jailbreak for Apple’s latest set-top box has not yet been released. But second-gen Apple TV owners can grab today’s 2.0 update now.

Using mobile Safari’s private browsing mode on an iOS device is a pain, because you have to activate and deactivate via the Settings app. In fact, I’ve always found that it’s just easier to use a third-party browser. But not anymore. If you’ve got a jailbroken iOS device, installing the Privata tweak allows you to switch back and forth between Safari’s private browsing mode within Safari itself.

It took Apple a long, long time to bring customizable wallpapers to the iPhone, so who knows when — or indeed if — the Cupertino company will make them scrollable. But rather than waiting, why not install the WS Wallpaper tweak on your jailbroken device and add scrollable wallpapers yourself?

iOS developer Marco Arment has discovered two new iPads — believed to be two iterations of the upcoming iPad mini — in his Instapaper developer logs. The devices have the “iPad2,5” and “iPad2,6” model numbers, according to their operating system, which haven’t been seen before, and could point to Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + cellular versions of the device.

It’s been relatively quiet on the Apple TV jailbreak front since the untethered jailbreak was released for iOS 5.0.1. The only thing we really know about the third-gen Apple TV jailbreak is that it won’t be released for awhile. An untethered jailbreak is being worked on for new Apple TV owners behind the scenes, but no ETA has been given.

A lot is still happening in the Apple TV jailbreak community, however. FireCore today announced a huge update to the popular aTV Flash (black) software. Version 2.0 will supercharge a jailbroken Apple TV with even more features and improvements. A short beta period for aTV Flash (black) 2.0 will be offered before the final release, and there’s a limited number of spots available for those interested.

Using banners for your notifications — rather than full-blown alerts we had to suffer prior to iOS 5 — is a great way to ensure incoming alerts stay out of your way while you’re busy sending tweets, chopping fruit, or writing emails. However, it would be nice if those banners could be even slimmer — maybe the same size of the status bar.

Thanks to DietBulletin, they can be.

One of, if not the, staple app for jailbreakers is called biteSMS. Apple’s Messages app is nice, but biteSMS takes it to a whole other level. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get biteSMS. A marquee feature is the ability to quickly reply to a message from anywhere in iOS (including the lock screen) without entering the actual Messages app. It saves a lot of time and looks really cool. And Quick Reply just scratches the surface of what biteSMS can do.

Fans of biteSMS will be happy to learn that a major update has been released today that brings several new improvements. The Cydia app’s developers have also offered a 50% discount for those of you wishing to buy the version without ads.

It’s not difficult to open up the Settings app and activate or deactivate things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Airplane Mode. But it could be a whole lot quicker. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could have an icon on your home screen that allows you to toggle these things instantly — without having to navigate the Settings app? Thanks to IconToggles, you can.

Here’s an awesome little jailbreak tweak that you might find incredibly useful. It’s called Turn to Hangup, and as its name suggests, it instantly dismisses incoming calls when you place your iPhone on its face.

With Nintendo adamant it’ll never bring its games to iOS, the only way to enjoy your favorite titles on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad is to jailbreak your device and download an emulator. But that’s no longer the case. You can now enjoy more than 100 NES and Game Boy games in your iPhone’s web browser.

Lots of people love to jailbreak the Apple TV, but the process of unlocking the little hockey puck’s full potential can be a pain. When you want to jailbreak an iPhone or iPad, it’s as easy as downloading the free Absinthe tool, plugging your device into your Mac, and clicking a button. Once you’re jailbroken, Cydia is automatically installed as an alternative App Store for finding tweaks and apps.

On the Apple TV, it’s not so easy. Sure, the actual process of jailbreaking isn’t that difficult, but aside from staple packages like aTV Flash (black), you have to manually install third-party Apple TV apps via a command line interface on a connected desktop computer.

A new installer app for the Mac called Nito makes it much easier to install third-party apps on a jailbroken Apple TV.

There are many premium content services that use DRM to limit where and how you can watch videos. iOS apps like HBOGO, DirecTV, and Amazon Instant Video will all let you watch content on your device, but you’re blocked from streaming via AirPlay or through an HDMI cable. We know, it’s silly. It’s all because of the contacts and licensing deals Hollywood makes with digital distributors.

What if there was a world in which no DRM could keep your content shackled to an iOS device? A new jailbreak tweak makes it possible to stream what you’re watching—no matter what the source—to your TV through the magic of AirPlay.

If you’ve been browsing the Internet every day in the hope that someone’s going to announce a jailbreak for the third-generation Apple TV you bought back in March, then look away now. iOS hacker Pod2g has confirmed that neither he, nor any other hacker he knows of, is working on an exploit for the Apple’s latest set-top box.

An app that promises to double, if not triple, your iPhone’s battery life sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Jailbreak tweaks and apps have claimed to improve iOS device battery life for years, but for the most part it’s all smoke and mirrors. What sets a new jailbreak tweak called BattSaver apart is that there’s no magical software voodoo or cheap tricks. BattSaver actually works, and that’s because it gives you finely tuned control of what happens inside your iPhone.

An iPhone’s battery will last much longer when the device is barely used. We all know the tips that say to turn screen brightness down, don’t leave WiFi enabled when you’re not using it, leave Bluetooth off as much as possible, etc. It’s basic logic; keep as much of your iPhone turned off as you can and your battery will last longer. Your iPhone deals with 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, push notification, and even EDGE radios all the time. Running everything will drain your battery in no time.

BattSaver doesn’t magically create more battery life. Instead, this tweak efficiently manages your iPhone’s settings for you.

Apple unleashed iOS 6 beta 4 this afternoon with several minor changes and the glaring omission of the stock YouTube app. iOS 6 is expected to make its public debut this fall alongside the next iPhone, but for now the software is entrusted to the hands of the developer community.

Those who know what they’re doing will be pleased to know that iOS 6 beta 4 can be jailbroken with the current version of the popular RedSn0w tool.

PreviewMaker is a new tweak for jailbroken iPhones that’s likely to be particularly useful to app developers, theme designers, reviewers, and more. It takes all the screenshots you’ve taken on your iPhone and applies an iPhone-style frame, meaning you no longer need to edit each one and add it manually.

The day has finally come, folks. Legendary designer Surenix has brought the benchmark iPhone jailbreak theme called “ayeco”n to the iPad. We showed you a sneak peek of ayecon for iPad last week, and the Winterboard theme is now available for everyone to get in Cydia. It look gorgeous.

It was recently revealed that jailbroken iPads are not able to use Amazon’s new Instant Video app. The issue is a common one that similar apps, like HBO GO and DirectTV, have dealt with in the past. The reason jailbroken iPads couldn’t access Amazon’s video streams seemed to be related to DRM. Amazon may or may update the Instant Video iPad app with a fix, but in the meantime, there’s an easy way for jailbroken iPad users to get around the restriction right now.

Amazon released its Instant Video iPad app yesterday. The app allows Amazon Prime members to stream and download movies and TV shows on the iPad over a WiFi connection.

If your iPad is jailbroken, you won’t be able to watch anything in the Amazon Instant Video app. This isn’t the first time a content provider has blocked access to jailbreakers, but it’s certainly still disappointing.

It’s a great time for jailbreakers. With iOS 6 and the next iPhone right around the corner, it’s never been a more exciting time to for the iOS jailbreak community. If you’re into jailbreaking, you’ll be pleased to know that the world’s first jailbreak convention is headed to San Francisco, California this September, and I’ll be there representing Cult of Mac.

We’ve already given you initial details about JailbreakCon 2012, and now the full convention schedule has been posted for all to see. The lineup of speakers and workshop leaders includes some of the premiere members of the jailbreak community, including the hackers that are already working on a jailbreak for iOS 6.