SwipeShiftCaret: Move your cursor a single character by swiping

Don’t you just hate it when you need to position your character in a specific spot, but you can’t accurately do so due to the iPhone’s lack of single character movement? I think we’ve all been there.

Fortunately, SwipeShiftCaret solves that issue by allowing you to swipe your finger on the screen to move a character space either left or right.
A mere swipe of the screen is all it takes to position your cursor exactly where it needs to be to make your necessary edits. Really, iOS should have had a feature like this since the very beginning. The fact that it’s still not here in iOS 5 is kind of baffling to me.

For jailbreakers, you can stop tearing out your hair now. SwipeShiftCaret is available for free on Cydia’s BigBoss repo.

Don’t you think this will save you a lot of time and frustration?

Sara: A Siri alternative for older devices, including the iPhone 2G

Looking to add Siri on your iPhone 2G, iPod touch, or virtually any other pre-iPhone 4S device? Then look no further than Sara.

Sara is far from perfect, but if Siri Proxy is not an option for you then it is likely the next best thing.
There’s no denying that Sara is limited in function when compared to the real thing; for instance, you can’t use location based query commands without Sara returning some sort of nonsense. Alarm clocks don’t work, weather can be inaccurate, and a whole host of other grammar inaccuracies ensure no one will be mistaking Sara for the real thing any time soon.

But it is free, and it’s a decent addition for owners of older jailbroken devices like the original iPhone or iPod touch.

Sara even features some advanced options like translation, YouTube search, and more. Of course, you can do all of that with a real jailbroken Siri implementation, but it’s still nice to be able to pull this off on an older device where Siri was never intended to run.

If you want to try this for yourself, add the following repo to your sources: http://isoftjsc.com/ and download the package that corresponds with your device. Be aware that the download will likely time out a few times, but keep trying; I think their servers may be getting hammered.

In the end Sara is another wannabe Siri alternative that doesn’t come very close to the real thing; however, it’s better than nothing if you aren’t up to fooling with Siri Proxy and/or you have an older iOS device.

What are your thoughts on Sara?

Guess which smartphone retains its value better than any other handset

The long term value of a product is largely determined by its resale value. That’s why so many people will ask what the resale value of a car is before purchasing it.

Obviously it’s not as big of a factor when looking for a new smartphone (unless you’re paying full retail), but it’s still a concern. And according to a recent report from priceonomics, no other handset retains its value better than Apple’s iPhone…
As you can see in the graph above, the iPhone tends to hold 53% of its MSRP (or full retail price) after 18 months of ownership. Android handsets came in second in the report, maintaining about 42% of their retail price, and BlackBerrys fell in dead last.
Priceonomics’ research also found that Android devices have the highest cost of ownership (yes, even higher than BlackBerry) out of smartphones, depreciating an average of $18 a month over an 18 month span. iPhones lose about $13 a month in value over the same amount of time.

Obviously, resale value isn’t everything to everyone. A majority of people are still going to choose their smartphones based on personal preference. But if it is something you’re interested in, then the facts definitely point to the iPhone as the better buy. Interesting.

Have you found that your iPhones tend to have better resale value than other smartphones?

iOS overtakes Mac OS in web traffic stakes

With Apple shifting more and more iPhones and iPads by the day, and the iPod touch merrily trundling along in the shadows, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that iOS is becoming a real player in just about every market. With so many people browsing the web on their tablets and smartphones, all running iOS, how long will it be before they overtake the Mac in web traffic share?

Well, according to ad company Chitika, that time has already arrived…
We shouldn’t really be so surprised. The iOS platform has been growing considerably over the last few years, with people owning iPhones that may never have contemplated buying a Mac. With new potential customers flocking to buy iPhones and iPads, it was really only a matter of time before the Mac lost out.

The move to a mobile world where iPhones and iPads become our main access point to the internet is well underway, and according to Chitika’s numbers the iOS platform overtook Mac OS during the early part of 2012. It’s a trend that has been gathering pace since September last year, and shows no sign of changing course.

Huge iPhone 4S sales could well be a contributing factor to the increase in iOS share of web traffic over that period, and with a new iPad on the horizon, we don’t see things changing a great deal any time soon. With our worlds becoming more and more mobile, and web sites moving to accommodate mobile users with special versions of their sites designed for smaller screens, many of us are using tablets and phones as our window to the internet.

Do you use your iOS devices for browsing the web, or is that something that is still very much a job for your computer?

Foxconn Hacked By Swagg Security Group

Foxconn, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner, has been back in the media spotlight over the last few weeks. Last month, the New York Times pointed to the company in its report on the poor working conditions in Chinese factories.

Foxconn has since been the target of activists and protestors, but now it’s found itself in the sights of a different breed. It seems that the world’s largest component manufacturer has been hacked by a new group called Swagg Security…

As 9to5Mac tells it, Swagg Security, or Swaggsec, infiltrated Foxconn’s corporate servers yesterday, stealing an enormous amount of classified information. The group of hackers uncovered email usernames and passwords, including that of CEO Terry Gou, and other Intranet login info.

But they didn’t just take the data, they uploaded it. A link to a torrent file on The Pirate Bay was posted to Swaggsec’s Twitter account yesterday along with this message:

“Users of Cyberspace,

So Foxconn thinks they got ‘em some swagger because they work with the Big Boys from Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and Apple? Fool, you don’t know what swagger is. They say you got your employees all worked up, committing suicide ‘n stuff. They say you hire chinese workers ’cause you think the taiwanese are elite. We got somethin’ served up good…real good. Your not gonna’ know what hit you by the time you finish this release. Your company gonna’ crumble, and you deserve it.”

The note goes on to discuss the Foxconn attack, which appears to be in response to the recent poor labor reports. Apparently the information Swaggsec stole, and published, contains enough data to log into Foxconn’s client system and place a manufacturing order. Wow.

Given the fact that Swaggsec’s Twitter account was created just a few days ago, we imagine this isn’t the last we’ve heard from them.

It’s just a shame there wasn’t any iPhone 5 information in the leaked data.

iTunes Accounts Being Hacked to Steal Money From Store Credit

The amount of customers reporting that their iTunes account have been hacked is growing steadily on Apple’s Support Forum. Customers are reporting that their accounts are being hacked, and the hackers are then using the accounts to purchase gift cards, make purchases on the store, and even using their PayPal accounts.

The Globe and Mail reports customers that have been hacked are growing increasingly frustrated with Apple’s response to the issue…
Many of the iTunes users whose accounts have been hacked are increasingly frustrated with Apple’s customer service, saying the company at the very least has dithered in fixing the problem. Some accuse the tech giant of being indifferent to the problem.

To remedy the situation, Apple is refunding the money that has been stolen and quickly reverting the account back to their original settings. But according to the report, Apple’s customer service is not acknowledging there is a problem — even though the Support Forum continues to grow.

While some hacks are for personal financial gain, some crooked developers hack accounts to give themselves positive ratings on their own apps. A Vietnam developer allegedly hacked over 400 accounts two years ago to give himself five-star ratings on Apple’s iTunes App Store.

When The Globe and Mail reached out for comment from Apple, they responded, “Apple takes precautions to safeguard your personal information against loss, theft and misuse.”

While hacking is expected on almost any online marketplace, many users believe it’s more widespread on the iTunes Store than people think. They appreciate Apple refunding the money, but don’t think they’re seeing the bigger picture of hacking.

Tiny Umbrella Developer Reminds Us to Save Our iOS 5.0.1 Blobs

Are you enjoying your newly jailbroken devices as much as we are? If so, you may want to make sure that you have saved your iOS 5.0.1 SHSH blobs. If not, you could risk losing the ability to jailbreak in the future.

It’s been over a month since Apple released iOS 5.1 beta 3, so it wouldn’t surprise us to see a public release sometime in the near future. And from what we’ve heard, the new software will patch the Corona exploit…
TinyUmbrella developer, notcom, just posted this brief message on his blog:

“With the quiet time between jailbreak and iOS version, make sure you get your SHSHs saved. I’ve been working on the TinyUmbrella rewrite (albeit sparingly due to real life demands). It’s important to make sure you have your 5.0.1 SHSHs tucked away safe. There is no guarantee that we’ll have things this good again.”

Although Cydia can store your SHSH blobs, we recommend using a utility like iFaith or TinyUmbrella as well. If you’re not sure how to use these applications, we have step-by-step tutorials and other resources on our Downgrade page.

Any questions?

Use Your iOS Device to Control Your TV and More with the VooMote Zapper

The iOS accessory space has seen a number of universal remote control add-ons over the last few years. There’s the Peel, and the Griffin Beacon — both of which allow you to control your entire entertainment center with your iOS device.

But now there’s a new kid on the block, the VooMote Zapper. And unlike the aforementioned accessories, it doesn’t require an external infrared receiver. The Zapper plugs directly into your device’s 30-pin dock connector, and doesn’t require batteries…
When combined with its accompanying app, Zero1.tv’s VooMote Zapper turns your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch into a universal remote control. You can use it to control your HDTV, Blue Ray or DVD Player, and a host of other home theatre equipment.

Here are some of the Zapper’s most notable features:

■Easy setup wizard lets you configure the remotes for your devices within minutes.
■One Touch (Macros) starts a sequence of commands with a single button.
■Personalize your VooMote Zapper however you like it.
■Manage multiple devices in different rooms with Room Control.
■Use a simple finger swipe for all core functions, such as changing channels.
■Set up customized remotes once and use iCloud to push all that information to the rest of your iOS devices.
What’s really cool about the VooMote remote is that it works out of the box with thousands of products. And if you’re stereo receiver or other device isn’t supported, you can teach the VooMote Zapper new commands in minutes.

It looks like even Apple is impressed with Zero1.tv’s accessory, as it has recently listed it on its online store. The VooMote Zapper is available on Apple.com in both white and black, or directly from the manufacturer in a variety of colors, for $69.99.

What do you think of the VooMote Zapper?

How to Use Activator Actions Via Terminal

Let’s just chalk TerminalActivator into the “I do it just because I can” category.

TerminalActivator, as its name might suggest, allows you to execute Activator actions via a terminal emulator.

It works well, but the developer is obviously targeting a very small audience. Full video demonstration inside…
The only reason I could see using TerminalActivator, is if you wanted to perform automated commands from the terminal that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do, or wouldn’t be able to do without using an extremely lengthy set of commands.

TerminalActivator makes executing commands, launching apps, adjusting toggles, and more, extremely simple via a terminal. You can use any terminal, Mobile Terminal, Prompt, whatever you fancy.

TerminalActivator is definitely a niche tweak, but nonetheless, at least it’s interesting. It could be worth your time if you seek to run automated commands via terminal, or if you just want to experiment creating batch commands.

What would you use it for?


Alter Your App Switching Animations With ‘Jepit’

Jepit is a jailbreak tweak that attempts to add new app switching animations to your iDevice.

Along with animations, Jepit also includes the ability to change the speed of said animations.

Sadly, its lack of polish hinders what could otherwise be an eye catching tweak. Take a look as we go one-on-one with Jepit inside…
The stock iOS app switching animation features a horizontal wrap-around motion that hides the previous app behind the newly selected app. Jepit adds onto this stock animation and allows you to add additional effects — app fade, vertical, vertical stretch, and horizontal stretch being among them.

Sadly, not all of the animations work, and some of the ones that do are mislabeled, misspelled, or a combination of the two.

In addition to animations, Jepit allows you to adjust the speed of an animation. Again, I had some very mixed results with this; some worked well, while others didn’t work at all.

The bottom line is that Jepit is a tweak that needed a few additional coats of polish before it was released. It’s hard to recommend using it for free, let alone paying the $1.59 asking price.

What do you think?

Samsung Note: It’s Not a Phone, It’s Not a Tablet, It’s a Phablet!

A few days ago, Samsung released a teaser for what they called the next big thing, in which they made fun of us poor Apple users. Today we found out what the next big thing is when Samsung showed off the Note, during the Super Bowl.

I was a bit confused while watching this. Is it a phone? Is it a tablet? It seems even Samsung isn’t sure what the Note really is. Turns out the Note is a phone/tablet hybrid, with – I’m not kidding you – a stylus…
The Galaxy Note sports a 5.3-inch 1280×800 screen, powered by a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, and 16GB of built-in memory. Some nice specs, but is that enough?

I’m really not sure there is a market for such a device, but Samsung might prove me wrong when the device goes on sale in the US on February 19th.

What do you think?

‘ColoredKnob’ Updated With a Host of New Colors

ColoredKnob is a tweak that we covered in the past, and it was met with a fairly warm reception. We really liked it; in fact, the only thing holding us back from absolutely loving it was the limited amount of colors available in the initial release.

Apparently the developer heard our cries, because ColoredKnob has just been updated with a ton of new colors, making it much more appealing that it was before…
ColoredKnob is a wonderful way to customize your ‘Slide to Unlock’ nub because it doesn’t require any theming apps like WinterBoard to work; all you do is install it and go.

Best of all, even with the update and the bevy of new colors, it’s still free on Cydia’s BigBoss repo.

If you haven’t checked out ColoredKnob, check it out and let us know what you think about it in the comments below.


iOSOpenDev App for Creating Jailbreak Tweaks Now Available

Last week we told you about iOSOpenDev, an app aimed at lowering the learning curve for iOS developers looking to create jailbreak tweaks. The utility allows users to develop tweaks using Apple’s own Xcode software.

As promised, iOSOpenDev is now available for download. So if you have a little bit of a background in programming, and you’re looking for a way to get into jailbreak development, you might want to check it out…
Developing Cydia tweaks doesn’t get much easier than this. iOSOpenDev includes pre-made templates for Activator listeners, SB Settings toggles, and Notification Center widgets. It will even build the project into a .deb file, so it will be ready to submit to the repository of your choice.

All you need to use the application is a Mac computer, running at least Mac OS X 10.6 or later and Xcode 4 or higher. The developer warns that iOSOpenDev is still in beta, but he believes that it’s ready for public use.

If you’re interested in the application, you can download iOSOpenDev here.

How to Watch the Super Bowl On Your iPhone

Over half of the US population is expected to be in front of a TV set today watching the Super Bowl. But for those of you that for one reason or another can’t get in front of a television this afternoon, there’s other ways to catch the game.

If you happen to have access to a computer, you can watch it there. The game will be streamed live via NBCSports.com and NFL.com. No computer access? That’s ok, we’ve come up with a few ways to follow all of the action on your iPhone…
Verizon Customers
Verizon customers have it made. The carrier owns the exclusive rights to streaming Super Bowl XLVI to mobile devices, so all of its subscribers have access to the game. If you happen to own a Verizon-flavored iPhone, you can tune into the game by downloading the NFL Mobile application. You’ll need to subscribe to Verizon’s Video service ($3 day, or $10 month) and a hefty data plan, but this is by far your best option.

As a side note, Bell Canada customers can also watch the game live on their iPhones via Bell’s Mobile TV app.

Workarounds
Considering how strict the NFL is about copyright protection, finding a good workaround can be tough. If you own a SlingBox, that’s probably your best bet. The set top box can sling live TV to your iPad or iPhone, and we’re assuming it will work for the Super Bowl. Otherwise, you can try a VNC (Virtual Network Application) application. This isn’t the greatest solution, but it should enable you to watch the game on your iPhone or iPad via NBCSports.com or NFL.com on your computer. You’ll definitely want an app like Splashtop, which will stream both high resolution video and audio to your device.

If you’re really desperate to watch the game natively on your iPhone, you can try apps like Justin.tv or Ustream. Word on the street is that you can use them to catch live sporting event streams — but we wouldn’t know anything about that.

Non-Video Coverage
If you’re not looking to watch the Super Bowl live, there are several ways to keep tabs on the game from your iPhone. Apps like ESPN’s ScoreCenter or ScoreMobile will be providing play by play stats and score updates, and the official NFL ’11 app should provide some interesting content. Afraid you’ll miss out on the new beer commercial that everyone will be talking about Monday? No worries. Most companies will be uploading their Super Bowl TV ads to their YouTube channels. In fact a lot of them already have. Just use your iPhone’s native YouTube application to search for ’2012 Super Bowl ads.’

Know of any other ways to catch the big game on the iPhone or iPad? Share them with us in the comments below.