Hacks

That’s a video of an obviously jailbroken iPhone being used with a nifty keyboard. Is this the shape of things to come? A third party iPhone keyboard add on? Would you buy it?

via:9to5Mac

Apple is still steadfastly against the idea that you should be able to Jailbreak your iPhone. You can imagine why, you might use more of that precious data or you might install programs that aren’t from the App store. Worse yet you might find a way to run android on the thing. Let’s face it, Jailbreaking your iPhone is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Just because you own the thing doesn’t mean you should be able to use it how you see fit. Nope you’ve got to leave everything up to Apple. End sarcasm.

Still, Apple’s position is that Jailbreaking is bad and the company has a new weapon to help prevent you from actually Jailbreaking the thing. The new tool? The new MacBook and MacBook pros the company recently revealed. Sure the machines are beautiful and I really, really want one but if you try to use one to Jailbreak your iPhone you’ll be out of luck. Apple has made some clever change in the OS or hardware that prevents the iPhone from going into DFU restore mode when attached to one of the new machines. If it is in the OS… more...

You know those iPhone types: Eating sushi, drinking high grade port, lighting fine cigars with hundred dollar bills in their billiards room during a game of snooker, maybe they even have a monocle. Wait, that is completely over the top, the only person who actually behaves like that is Hadley Stern. The more accurate stereotype is a geek with disposable cash. But stereotypes never capture the full picture and the iPhone is gaining popularity with those who want to save money!

Can that be right? According to this Wired article it turns out that lower income groups are the fastest growing iPhone market segment. The idea is that while the iPhone seems expensive it isn’t if you use the iPhone to replace your internet service, landline and TV. To get the most out of it you’ll have to jailbreak the thing but, as these folks are pointing out, the future is clear: someday you’ll only pay for one data stream and trust it to deliver all you digitizable wants. 

Taking the risk of turning iPhonematters into Digg (lists ahoy!) here’s yet another list of Best iPhone Apps. The twist this time? These are the best applications for techies. That means a terminal running on your iPhone, SSH, and other geeky bits most people not only don’t want on their iPhone they don’t even want to know these Apps exist. Most of the inclusions are pretty good but one wonders about the inclusion of Drinks. Drinks is a $3.99 application that is a catalogue of, well, drinks. Are techies a group of drunken lushes? And are they so stupid they don’t realize that they could use Google to search for drinks recipes? The mind is fully boggled.

The new version of the Dev team’s iPhone pwnage tool is out. Version 1.1 adds some new features and takes care of some existing problems. It fixes 1.1.4 edge settings; as well as adding custom package support, custom logo support, and auto delete of BootNeuter.app.

For those who don’t have the pwnage tool, you can get it here. If you do have the tool, all you have to do is auto-check for updates and update the software. It is as easy as opening the program. Please also note that this software only works on a Mac. Windows users will have to look elsewhere.

[via iPhoneworld]

IPhone Development team RipDev has found a way to activate the included Screenshot utility that’s hidden inside of every iPhone.

The method involves editing a .plist file located in “/var/mobile/Library/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist” and restarting your iPhone. Just by holding the Home button and toggling the mute button, you’ll take a screenshot which will be promptly added to your camera role. For those of the faint of heart, an App called “Apple Screenshot Enabler” sets everything up and is available from the Installer source “http://repository.ripdev.com”.

Via: TUAW

iPhone jailbreaking superstar Zibri has just released the latest version of his popular iPhone jailbreaking software. Prior to this release, ZiPhone (for 1.1.4) was only available to “early donators and sponsors.” Zibri suggests that if you restore to 1.1.4 (don’t update) before jailbreaking, everything should work smoothly. We’ve used ZiPhone on past firmware versions successfully, so there’s no reason this one shouldn’t work perfectly. However, Zibri may have waited a bit too long before releasing the 1.1.4 jailbreak- there are already several other jailbreaking and unlocking options for 1.1.4.

Link: ZiPhone

USAToday takes a close look behind the driving force of the iPhone’s pseudo GPS function and the technology needed to accurately pinpoint a user.

Before using the less accurate method of Cellular Triangulation, the iPhone if on Wi-Fi uses data from SkynetSkyhook. Skyhook works by tracking Wi-Fi access points and mapping them out to pin point a location

Via: Mac Rumors

When Installer first arrived on the scene, one of the most praised projects was a working version of Doom for the iPhone. The Application was far from done but such a monumental undertaking motivated developers to create games along with working emulators. The good news is Doom for the iPhone won’t be going the way of Duke Nukem Forever.

Stephen T recently took over development from Stepwhite and sent TUAW a video demonstrating the new control system implemented. While the games runs much smoother than previous builds and in Widescreen mode, using a finger to navigate may prove to be a hassle in a first person shooter, you might block out your aim and decrease response time.

Here’s hoping to a steady development because if it can’t run Doom, it ain’t worth buying…

Via: TUAW

A feature sorely lacking from the iPhone’s messaging Application is MMS (Multimedia Messaging System) support which even the most basic of bargain bin phones have. For the time being we are forced to rely on 3rd party Apps such as iSMS, a total overhaul to the default SMS Application. Another alternative lies in Apple’s Mail Application

The premise of MMS is being able to send Media to another handheld device such as music, short video clips or pictures. The iPhone is only capable of doing pictures and music (through Erica Sadun’s SendSong utility) sending since there is no native Application that allows video sending or a video camcorder. However, Mail can be used to send MMS messages alongside SMS. A little known hint, Cellular Carriers allow a cellular number to formatted as an email address (otherwise known as a SMS gateway) with the setup being