Tweetbot for iPhone On Sale For a Limited Time

Tweetbot, the popular Twitter client for the iPhone, is available for a limited time discount at only $0.99 (down from $2.99). In my original review of Tweetbot I gave it a glowing recommendation, and I still use the app every day on my personal iPhone.

For the first time ever, Tweetbot is on sale in the App Store. The price drop follows the release of the poorly-received Twitter for iPhone 4.0 update.
If you’re on the fence about Tweetbot, make sure to read my review of the app. There’s a very good chance that it will be your new favorite. In the short time that the app has seen a price drop today it’s already started climbing to the top of multiple charts in the App Store.

Has the recent Twitter update turned you off to the official app? Who’s with me in the Tweetbot camp?

Motorola Wins Injunction Against Apple in Germany

Motorola Mobility has just announced that it has scored a major victory in its ongoing patent war with Apple. Just as the iPhone-makers have done to Samsung, Motorola has just won an injunction that bans the import of 3G iPads and iPhones into Germany.

This will be the company’s second German court victory in as many months, but the ramifications for Apple are a lot more serious this time around. Unless Apple wins an appeal, it will be forced to stop shipping some of its biggest products into the country…
According to FOSSPatents, a Mannheim Regional Court just granted Motorola Mobility an injunction, banning the import of iPhones and 3G-capable iPads into Germany. The patent-in-suit is a European Patent regarding mobile-originated wireless packet transfers (data).

The court’s ruling today not only blocks iPhone and iPad shipments, but it also contains an order for Apple to pay a yet-to-be determined amount to Motorola in damages. That amount will be defined by the German-based sales of Apple’s infringing products from past years.

Here’s what Apple told AllThingsD about the ruling:

“We’re going to appeal the court’s ruling right away. Holiday shoppers in Germany should have no problem finding the iPad or iPhone they want.”

Even if Apple doesn’t win an appeal against the injunction, the ban only applies to the importing of products. The company will be able to continue to sell current inventory in Germany as usual, and word on the street is it’s got plenty of it.

But make no mistake about it, this was a huge win for Motorola that will likely help it in future patent lawsuits against Apple. Also keep in mind that Google put up over $12 billion dollars to buy the company for this very reason — patent leverage.

Scribblenauts App Store Game Introduces Gameplay Integration with Siri

Popular handheld puzzler Scribblenauts has seen an update to its iOS version that brings an iPhone 4S-only feature to the game.

For those not familiar with the concept, Scribblenauts’ challenge comes from the requirement to achieve specific goals by manoeuvring Maxwell around the level by using adjectives and nouns to create in-world objects. Tell the game you want a flamethrower or ladder, for example, and you’ll be given one. It’s an interesting approach to the puzzle genre.

This new update goes one step further by allowing you to speak your conjuring requests using the power of Siri on the iPhone 4S.
Scribblenauts developer 5th Cell has decided to call the new feature “Scribblespeak” which we find suitably descriptive, and although it might not greatly change the actual gameplay of Scribblenauts, it is a welcomed addition to an already solid game. As the video above shows, players can simply tell the game which objects they wish to use and the app then spawns them. What could be more simple?

Scribblenauts is available in the App Store now for just $2.99.

Upcoming OnLive App Brings High-End Console Gaming to the App Store

OnLive has announced its new iOS app that will allow gamers to play games over the OnLive service right on their mobile iOS devices.

The app will effectively bring console-style blockbuster games, like L.A. Noire and the Batman titles, to the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Until now, OnLive account holders were only able to view the service from their iPads without actually playing. That all changed today with the announcement that OnLive’s new app is awaiting approval in the Apple App Store. Soon, we’ll be playing ‘real’ games on our iOS devices…
OnLive has been around in some shape or form for awhile now, and we’re big fans of it here at iDB if only for the shear technological genius that it must have taken to make the system work. OnLive, for the uninitiated, allows the playing of games over the internet, with the heavy lifting done on remote servers and video sent to whatever device you are playing on. Your keyboard and mouse commands are sent the other way through servers, and the whole thing works just as if you are playing a local game.
OnLive’s new app will not only act as a standalone portal into the OnLive service, offering on-screen controls for those games which support them. Gamers will be able to connect OnLive’s Xbox 360-like Bluetooth controller to an iPad or iPhone and use that to control the games. If you were looking for truly portable gaming, then you just found it.

We are imagining the scenario: you’re playing a hot, new game using OnLive’s MicroConsole, but you need to go to work. You take your iPad and a wireless controller with you, and you’re good to continue where you left off on your lunch break. “Awesome” just does not do that prospect justice.

Just to add an extra kick, OnLive has also confirmed that their app will support AT&T and Verizon’s 4G networks, meaning users will be able to play games even when a Wi-Fi network is not available. Obviously, that does not affect the iPhone at this point, but the fact that it is possible is still really cool, and we all know a 4G iPhone will come at some point, don’t we?

The new OnLive app should go live in the App Store at some point this week, and we can’t wait!

Are you an OnLive user? If not, will this development push you over the edge and make you give it a try?

AT&T Set to Smash Quarterly Sales Record This Holiday Thanks to iPhone 4S

US wireless provider AT&T is set to smash its own quarterly sales record after announcing that it has sold roughly 6 million smartphones in the first two months of the fourth quarter.

That mammoth result means that the carrier needs to sell just 100,000 smartphones during the last month of this quarter in order to match its current record, which was set during the third quarter of last year.

The reason for AT&T having such a great quarter? The iPhone 4S, of course…
“AT&T’s strong smartphone sales in part reflect a higher number of handset upgrades from customers who were waiting for the launch of a new iPhone. AT&T previously announced that it activated more than 1 million iPhone 4S’ in the first five days the device was available. AT&T said iPhone 4S sales remain strong.”

The belief that AT&T customers were holding off upgrading until a new iPhone was announced is quite possibly true. If our Twitter feeds were anything to go by during the weeks and months without an iPhone announcement from Apple, then there was plenty of pent up demand for a new handset.

The fact that existing iPhone owners wanted to stick with the brand should come as no surprise, after a recent study suggested that 84% of current iPhone owners would buy another one in the next 12 months. As the saying goes, “once you go iPhone, you don’t go back,” or something like that anyway.

Offering a cheap iPhone 4 and an almost free iPhone 3GS probably won’t hurt AT&T’s figures, either.

FireCore Releases Major Update for aTV Flash

Even though jailbreaking hasn’t done for the Apple TV what it has for the other iDevices, it still has made quite an impact. FireCore’s aTV Flash (Black) application is a perfect example of that, adding several features to the popular media hub.

For those not familiar with the software, aTV Flash is a jailbreak application for the Apple TV 2 that includes a web browser and support for streaming dozens of file formats. It is the app for Apple TV jailbreakers, and it just received a major update…
Among the improvements found in the new update are a revamped Couch Surfer feature (aTV’s web browser), and several bug fixes. Here’s the full change log:

■Added support for .IMG files
■Added option to mark specific folders as grid or list view
■Added subtitle position setting
■Added support for larger thumbnail images
■Added support for UTF-8 paths in DVD files
■Added web page auto-loading feature
■Added screen position setting in Couch Surfer
■Added show/hide menus option
■Improved audio synchronization in DVD and AVI files
■Improved metadata fetching logic
■Improved filenames parsing logic
■Improved playlist logic that marks files as watched
■Improved buffering performance
■Improved ISO files handling (resolved network error warning)
■Improved error handling for DVD files
■Improved growl notifications display logic for audio files
■Improved warning messages for unplayable files
■Improved grid view stability
■Improved fanart loading
■Improved memory management
■Improved installation routin
■Improved installer device detection
■Resolved issues with long DNS names
■Resolved issue with extra period appearing at the end of some DNS names
■Resolved crash observed when audio subsystem could not be initialized
■Resolved issues with chapter handliing logic
■Minor UI improvements
■Many other miscellaneous fixes
As you can see, the update includes a lot of improvements, and it’s free for current aTV Flash Black owners. If you don’t own the software yet, you can pick it up for $29.95 from FireCore’s website.

Of course, you’ll need a jailbroken Apple TV 2 to run the application. If you haven’t jailbroken yours yet, or need a refresher, be sure to check out our step-by-step guide. It’s just as simple as it is with other devices.

Introducing Our Dedicated iFaith Page

Over the next few months we will be rolling out more dedicated pages for some of the most useful tools our jailbreaking toolbelts. First up for bid is iFaith — the SHSH blob, custom firmware creating, downgrade tool for Windows users.

If you missed yesterday’s post about iFaith, you can find it here. Otherwise, step inside for a look at our dedicated page to iH8Sn0w’s iFaith…
You can visit our new page by visiting http://www.iDownloadBlog.com/ifaith/. There you will find explanations, walkthroughs, history, and video tutorials all surrounding this great jailbreak assistant.

You can also find a quick link in the menu bar above. Simply hover over Jailbreak and select iFaith.
Let us know what you think of our new page, and any suggestions you may have as well!


Springtomize 2 Winners Announced

A special thanks to everyone who entered our Springtomize 2 giveaway. An extra special thanks to Filippo Bigarella for creating Springtomize and being generous enough to give a few copies away free of charge.

Inside are the five fortunate winners of our Springtomize 2 giveaway. Are you one of them? There’s only one way to find out…
And the Winners Are…
■AkramDurdi
■Steven Holy
■Aaron Penick
■Leyay Farah
■Garofano
We are in the process of contacting each one of you and/or adding your Cydia ID’s. Please give Filippo at least a day to get the ID’s successfully added once we’ve received them.

If you didn’t win, you can still pick up Springtomize 2 for a very reasonable price. If you haven’t seen all that Springtomize 2 has to offer, watch our video below.
Again, thanks to everyone who entered, and stay tuned, more exciting giveaways are right around the corner.

Ac1dSn0w Beta 2 Jailbreak Tool Released, Fixes Copyright Infringement Issues

The Pwn Dev Team has released a major update to their jailbreak tool, Ac1dSn0w. The tool was made available to the world a couple of weeks ago as an alternative to other apps for jailbreaking, like RedSn0w and PwnageTool.

Ac1dSn0w Beta 2 supposedly fixes the copyright infringement issues that the original beta possessed. The download file size has also been significantly reduced from over 100MB to about 11MB.
From the Pwn Dev Team blog:

CHANGELOG:

Beta 2:

■Fixed legal issue
■Fixed problems with ramdisk (black screen)
■Removed boot logo
Supported Devices (iOS5/iOS5.0.1):

■iPhone 3Gs
■iPhone 4
■iPod Touch 4 G
■iPad 1
Ac1dSn0w still offers a tethered jailbreak. Because we have been led to believe by other jailbreak developers that this release of Ac1dSn0w is indeed legal, we have added the Beta 2 download link to our Downloads page. You can also see our dedicated Ac1dSn0w tutorial for Beta 1 to learn how to jailbreak with the tool — the steps have remained exactly the same. Ac1dSn0w is only available on the Mac.

You may be asking why you should use Ac1dSn0w, and, honestly, we can’t give you a good reason at the moment. Currently, the tool offers nothing more than (actually, it technically offers less features) other prominent jailbreak tools like, RedSn0w.

The developers of Ac1dSn0w have promised that big things are coming for Ac1dSn0w users, like the ability to remotely jailbreak an iDevice, but the current Beta 2 offers nothing to make you jump ship from what you’re already using to jailbreak.

ESRA: A Siri-Like Assistant For Older iOS 5 Devices

Let me preface this by saying that ESRA will be a disappointment to those who are expecting it to compete with Siri.

Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s talk more about this jailbreak app. ESRA stands for Experimental Speech Response Application, and as you can see from the video, it more than lives up to the “experimental” portion of the ESRA acronym.
ESRA is still in development, and as its name states, it’s still very experimental. The speech recognition is probably the one area that needs the most improvement, as it pales in comparison to Siri.

In my opinion, the best thing ESRA has going for it is the robot voice. The voice sounds a lot more human than Siri, but that’s probably because it’s just a bunch of canned responses, and not a truly dynamic assistant that’s flexible in responses like Apple’s innovative assistant.

Still, ESRA is a good conversation piece for older device owners if you can happen to get it working. If you’re interested and you have a jailbroken iOS 5 device, you can download ESRA for free from Cydia’s BigBoss repo.

What do you think about ESRA? Is it worth it?

Simple Concept Gesture For Multitasking on the iPhone is Brilliant

Sometimes we see a concept video and think, “Wow, why hasn’t Apple done this?” Such is the case with a simple multitasking gesture concept by UI designer Max Rudberg.

While the iPad offers multiple enhanced gestures for navigating through iOS, including 4-finger swipes and pinch moves, the iPhone still lacks basic gesture support that would make navigating so much easier. Rudberg’s concept takes a very simple approach to reinventing the way we access the multitasking bar in iOS 5 on our iPhones.
On the iPad, you can swipe up with 4 fingers to access the multitasking bar at any time. You can also swipe to the side to move between open apps. It seems impractical to swipe up with 4 fingers on the iPhone, but there needs to be a similar gesture available.
Rudberg’s concept is so simple that it makes us headdesk. The user could simply swipe up with one finger from the bottom of the iPhone’s screen to access the multitasking bar anywhere in iOS 5. This method of access is way more intuitive than the current double tap of the home button.

Apple, why have you not implemented this gesture yet? Sometimes it’s the simple things that really make a difference.

10% of US Mobile Subscribers Own iPhones

A new survey carried about by comScore claims that only 1 out of 10 American mobile subscribers own an iPhone, with Apple’s handset reaching the 10.8% mark as of October 2011.

The survey also suggests that Samsung is currently the top OEM in the country, with their phones currently in the hands of a quarter of all cellphone owners.

In fact, of the top five OEMs in comScore’s chart, Apple sits fourth, behind Samsung (25.5%), LG (20.6%) and Motorola (13.6%). Canadian firm Research In Motion takes fifth place with an ever-decreasing share of the market. Not great times for BlackBerry fans at all.
The situation on the platform side of things is rather predictable with Google’s Android sitting atop the pile, well on its way to making up half of the smartphones used in the United States with 46.3%. Having the top three manufacturers offer phones using your mobile operating system helps with Android’s market share dominance.

Apple’s iOS sits second with 28.1%, which is not to be sniffed at considering the number of handsets it’s running on. With just three models on sale; the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS, Apple offers significantly fewer models than the device’s that run Android currently. With that in mind, these figures should not be surprising to anyone not living in a cave for the last three years.
Both Android and iOS are gaining in share, while the competition from RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian are all slipping. Microsoft will no doubt be hoping to arrest that slide with an increased marketing push for Windows Phone 7 alongside the launch of Nokia’s first handsets using the WP7 platform.

Is anyone really surprised by any of these figures, or do they agree with what we all thought was happening in the market anyway?