Get Reckless Getaway in the App Store for Free for a Limited Time

We really love a good deal here at iDB (who doesn’t?). That’s why we find it necessary to report about the latest iOS app or game sales. But what’s better than getting a discount on an app or game? Getting them for free.

Yesterday we told you how to get a free copy of Jetpack Joyride, a popular game that normally goes for $0.99 in the App Store. And now we have word of another game that’s gone free for a limited time: Reckless Getaway…
Reckless Getaway is a classic arcade game whose premise is based on the fun parts of other racing simulators, like crashing and reckless driving. Here’s more about the title from the App Store’s description:

“Who’d a thought robbing the bank would be the easy part? Now comes the real challenge – to escape with your hard-earned loot having the fuzz hot at your heels! Weave in and out of oncoming traffic; dodge, outrun or ram pursuing police cars and just generally crash, smash and thrash your way through 16 varied levels.”

The game typically goes for $2.99, but if you act fast, you can grab it for free. Download Reckless Getaway for your iPhone or iPad in the App Store.

Did you get your free copy?

On Android’s Software Fragmentation

We’ve expressed our opinions on Android software multiple times here on iDB. You can imagine that, as an iPhone blog, we are a little biased towards the iOS platform, but our issues with Android don’t come unwarranted.

One of our beefs with Android is that its apps seem to lack the polish that iOS apps have — even in software that is available on both platforms. Why is that? Well, not only do developers have to worry about multiple screen sizes, they also have to worry about multiple versions of Android…
Sure, iOS has a lot of versions out in the wild. But studies have shown that above 90% of iDevice users are on iOS 4.0 or later. Android software, however, is a different story. And Michael DeGusta decided to investigate the phenomenon.

DeGusta took a look at 18 popular Android handsets and their support for the most recent versions of Android OS. The results show a platform that is devastatingly fragmented. Here are some of his findings from the research:

■10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two year contract period.
■11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after release.
■13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped selling the device or very shortly thereafter.
■15 of 18 don’t run Gingerbread, which shipped in December of 2010
■In a few weeks, when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out, every device on here will be another major version behind.
■At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich.
How do Android devices get left out of software updates? For starters, when Google releases a new version of Android, not all devices get it right away (as you can see above). The manufacturers and carriers have to get ahold of it first.

Manufacturers get the update and have to adjust their software accordingly (Samsung has it’s TouchWiz and HTC has its Sense flavor of the OS). Then it’s pushed on to carriers for beta testing. And since all of these companies move at their own pace, customers get screwed.

Tell Siri to Restart Your iPhone 4S

Here’s a quick pro tip for the iPhone 4S-wielding iDB readers out there. Do you know what happens when you tell Siri to “restart?”

Try it, and you’ll find out.
Now wasn’t that fun?

(Oddly, I haven’t been able to get Siri to turn my iPhone off. Weird.)

Apple Giving Away Free Copies of JetPack Joyride

Apart from the weekly app sales we see from developers, there are other ways to get good deals on games. One way, for instance, is to go to Starbucks. If you don’t mind their coffee, the retailer gives away free apps to their customers.

But what if you don’t like coffee? Well then you could check Apple’s App Store Facebook site. According to TouchArcade, the company has started giving away free app promo codes to Facebook users that “Like” the App Store’s page…
Apple is currently giving away free promo codes to the popular Jetpack Joyride title. The game is normally $0.99 in the App Store, but you can grab it for free by visiting Facebook.com/AppStore. Here’s TouchArcade‘s explanation of the promotion:

“It’s the first of a new promotion process courtesy of Apple, and I can’t wait to see what else they end up giving away for free. Now, I’ve got no idea either how long this promotion is going to last, when it’s going to rotate to something else, and how many promo codes there are to give away…”

Seeing as how no one really knows how long this app giveaway is going to last, you may want to act fast. If you don’t want the game or already own it, it looks like you can give your free copy to someone else. Here’s hoping that Apple makes this a weekly or monthly event.

Did you grab your free copy?

MuscleNerd Gives Update on iPhone 4S Jailbreak Status

Ever since Apple unveiled its latest version of the iPhone earlier this month, we’ve all been wondering one thing — when would it be jailbroken? And now that some of us have had the device for two weeks, we’re definitely ready to start hacking.

Tweaks are being updated with iOS 5 compatibility, and new utilities are being introduced that are specific to the new software. So how long must us iPhone 4S users wait until we can access this stuff? Luckily, MuscleNerd has some info for us…
The Dev Team frontman gave up some details on his Twitter account late last night regarding the status of the iPhone 4S jailbreak. The good news is, the Team has managed to exploit Apple’s latest smartphone and install Cydia.

The bad news is, that seems to be as far as they’ve gotten. MuscleNerd posted this message, “VERY preliminary 4S JB. (Huge missing pieces prevent public release. LOTS of work left),” along with these screenshots

Conan Makes Fun of Apple’s Siri Commercial

Chances are you’ve seen Apple’s newest commercial for Siri. It features random people talking to Siri in all sorts of situations, whether it be trying to tie a bow tie or trying to send a text message.

Comedian and talk show host Conan O’Brien has a slightly different vision for what the Siri commercial should be like, so he put together a parody version of the popular commercial that features some more interesting questions for Siri to answer…

Apple Working With Sprint On iPhone 3G Data Issue

Sprint’s iPhone 4S launch turned out record-breaking handset sales for the carrier. After four years of waiting, the operator is finally able to offer its customers Apple’s coveted smartphone. But the rollout hasn’t been all sunshine and roses.

Several Sprint customers have been reporting 3G speed issues with their new Apple handsets. And although we’ve seen it with our own eyes, Sprint has stated that there isn’t a problem. But The Next Web has evidence that proves otherwise…
TNW is reporting that an internal email is making its way around Sprint right now in regards to the customer complaints. The email reportedly states that Apple and Sprint are working together to fix this “confirmed nationwide issue” of slow iPhone data speeds.

The site points to the Twitter account of a Sprint subscriber which confirms the internal message. Apparently Don Southard was read the email after speaking with his 6th customer service agent in the last two weeks regarding his iPhone’s poor 3G speeds.

But Sprint continues to maintain that there isn’t an issue, giving The Next Web another statement claiming that the iPhone 4S is performing as expected. But we’re not buying it. $10 bucks says Sprint customers receive a carrier update by Thanksgiving.

iTunes Creator Reportedly Leading Secret Apple Television Project

Rumors have been bouncing around for years regarding Apple and its secret TV project. No, I’m not talking about the $99 media box. I’m talking about a full-blown television set with the words “Made in Cupertino” printed on the back.

Thanks to a quote from Steve Jobs in his recently-released biography, the speculation has regained some traction over the last couple of weeks. Pundits are now reporting that we could see an Apple-branded TV set as early as next year…
Bloomberg added fuel to the fire yesterday by providing more “evidence” of the product’s existence:

“Apple Inc. is turning to the software engineer who built iTunes to help lead its development of a television set, according to three people with knowledge of the project. Jeff Robbin, who helped create the iPod in addition to the iTunes media store, is now guiding Apple’s internal development of the new TV effort, said the people, who declined to be identified because his role isn’t public. Robbin’s involvement is a sign of Apple’s commitment to extending its leadership in smartphones and tablets into the living room.”

If the iPhone 5 rumors taught us anything, it’s that these sources with “knowledge of the project” can’t always be trusted. We don’t doubt that Apple has looked into making TV sets, but will the idea ever make it out of the R&D labs? We don’t know.

However, there seems to be a lot of people who believe that we’ll see an Apple-flavored TV set within the next 24 months. We’d love to see Apple do for TVs what it’s done for smartphones computers, and tablets.

How about you?

I Will Miss You, Steve

The death of Steve Jobs has been affecting me much more than I anticipated. Just like everyone else, I knew Steve’s days were numbered, yet, I didn’t really prepare myself.

Instead, I did what I sometimes do to unconsciously protect myself. I put my feelings aside and kept ignoring emotions as though they didn’t exist.

When the news broke, I was terribly shocked, but not surprised. At the time, I was very sad, but I think I didn’t process the information right away. Again, I think my brain blocked my feelings to protect me.

As I watched Apple’s celebration of Steve Jobs in Cupertino yesterday, I couldn’t help but feel immensely sad, my eyes filling with tears. A few of them eventually fell on my face.

How did I get there? How can I be so affected by the death of a man whom I had never met? A man that, mind you, I had very much disliked for many years.

‘AppLocker’ Password Protects Your Individual iOS Apps

Here’s a pretty useful little iOS tweak, especially if you’ve got kids who like to go tapping icons on your iPhone, with little regard for your saved game progress or super-important work document you’ve been editing.

Just as AppLocker’s name might suggest, this $0.99 tweak adds a new pane to Settings.app, in which a password lock can be added to all your iOS applications, meaning they won’t launch unless you know the special word.
What if you just want to lock out certain apps, you ask? Well, for those of us who just don’t want kids (or other untrustworthy people for that matter) from accessing Twitter, the App Store or any other app, you can also choose which apps get locked down. Want people to be able to open Safari, but not Facebook or Twitter? No problem!

These passwords don’t just protect apps that run from the Home screen either  – AppLocker also knows to protect apps that are already running, and as such will prompt for a password even when launching an app from the multitasking tray.

Apple is known for adding features to future iOS released which started out life as jailbreak apps and tweaks. The new Notification Center in iOS 5 is one such example, and we hope this becomes another.

Hear that, Apple?

Apple Quietly Updates iPad 2 Smart Covers

Apple today took a hammer to its curent lineup of iPad 2 Smart Covers, discontinuing one color and adding another. The rest of the lineup has also been given a minor makeover, according to MacRumors.

The move comes alongside a silent MacBook Pro refresh, with Apple choosing not to make an announcement about the changes to either product.

Smart Covers have proven popular amongst iPad 2 owners who want to protect their giant 9.7″ screen without adding the unwanted bulk of a full-on case. These changes refresh the six-month old colors, while also making the interior of all Smart Covers the same color as the exterior – a change that should have been made before they ever went on sale! The Product RED cover is still two-tone, though…
Those wanting to pick up an orange polyurethane had better get down to their local Apple Store before they are sold out, because Apple decided to pull the color from its lineup, with a beautiful dark grey color taking its place.

Semitethered Jailbreak Updated with Bug Fixes and Speed Improvements

BigBoss has pushed an update to the semitethered jailbreak that brings multiple bug fixes and speed improvements. Version 0.7.9 of SemiTether is available in Cydia now for folks on iOS 5 that have jailbroken with a tool like RedSn0w.

The SemiTether jailbreak is being improved to make it a more viable contender to a full untethered jailbreak. BigBoss is working with saurik to improve his jailbreak alongside a mobile substrate Cydia update.
Change log:

1.Device does not sync with itunes and only errors. Hopefully solved.
2.Device reboots after 2-3 minutes.
3.App sync issue – this is unworkable. Appsync hard patches system files and does not even use mobile substrate. I had to conflict with it. For now, semi-tether boot is impossible with appsync. You guys need to bug those guys to fix appsync to use mobile substrate (like everyone else uses).
BigBoss also notes:

“Saurik is working on an update to mobile substrate that will solve many of the issues with the semi-tether package. Hopefully this will be out in a day or two. At this time, we can finalize beta testing. I plan to hold further updates until after Saurik has released his mobile substrate update. Saurik’s updates will eliminate the need for the long 90 second respring on boot also.

This update was only tested on iphone 4. After saurik’s mobile substrate changes, more devices will be tested. Next updates coming in next 2-3 days.”

Once you perform a tethered jailbreak on a compatible iOS 5 device with RedSn0w, you can install the SemiTether package from the BigBoss repo in Cydia. A semitethered jailbreak functions almost exactly like an untethered jailbreak, except that you can only use certain stock iOS apps after a reboot until you connect your iDevice to a computer and execute a tethered jailbreak again.

If you’re confused about the difference between a tethered, untethered, and semitethered jailbreak, we explain it all here.

Video Shows iBooks Running on Jailbroken iOS 5

As is always the case when a new release of iOS comes out, jailbreaking can cause a few weird and wonderful things to happen with certain apps.

One such oddity is the way jailbroken iOS 5 devices seem unable to run Apple’s iBooks app, with tapping the icon resulting in an immediate crash.

With the new Steve Jobs biography going on sale, not having a working release of iBooks could be a potential deal breaker for many jailbreakers out there, but as this video shows, there may be light at the end of the tunnel…
Followers of the jailbreak scene will know the name iH8sn0w, and his latest video shows off iBooks running on a clearly jailbroken iOS device. The minute-long video shows Cydia and the Notification Center so we know that this is indeed iOS 5 and, more importantly, a jailbroken device. Then iBooks is launched – no crash, no problems.