The new iPad giveaway!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is by far the biggest giveaway that we’ve done at iDownloadBlog, and we’re inviting you to participate.

Yes, we’re giving away a 3rd generation iPad to one fortunate reader. Why buy a new iPad when you can get one for absolutely free?

All you have to do is follow a few instructions and you’ll be entered to win. The winner will be announced next Friday. Check inside for more details…
How to win a new iPad (Black, 16GB, WiFi only):
Step 1: Like this post on Facebook, and like our Facebook page.

Step 2: Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and post a comment on the video with your thoughts and your Twitter or Facebook ID. We’d also appreciate it if you gave a thumbs up to our video, though that has no bearing on the giveaway.

Step 3: Follow us on Twitter and retweet this post.

If you successfully perform those 3 steps, then consider yourself entered to win.

If you don’t have Facebook or Twitter, remember those services are free to sign up. It’s worth it when you consider that you can win a new ipad for free.

This giveaway is open to international readers, and we will handle the shipping cost involved as a courtesy to you.

We really love our readers and the awesome support that you have shown us over the years. We wish we could give an iPad to each and every one of you, but this is the next best thing.

Have you entered yet? A winner that meets all of the requirements will be randomly selected next Friday, March 23rd, 2012.


The new iPad costs Apple at least $316 to build

It’s become something of a ritual for some. Apple releases a new device, be it iPhone or iPad, and then someone waits patiently to get their hands on it with the sole aim of ripping it apart. It’s a regular assurance these days, and the new iPad has suffered the same fate as its brethren.

This time around, amongst others, IHS iSuppli got their hands on a new iPad and set about doing the only honorable thing: ripping it apart with the sole aim of trying to figure out just how much one of these things costs to make and, thus, how much the device is adding to Apple’s world famous bottom line.

The answer very much depends on the model sold, but regardless, Apple is indeed making plenty of profit on each iPad sold…
Unsurprisingly, that new Retina Display does not come cheap. Being provided by Samsung initially, and with Sharp and LG rumored to also come on board, that display could cost Apple as much as $90 depending on the manufacturer and volume. That may not sound a lot, but it’s potentially nearly a quarter of the finished tablet’s retail value.

When it comes to the low-end 16GB WiFi iPad, Apple has to fork out around $316 to produce the tablet, with the retail price being set at $499. This, according to iSuppli, means that Apple is looking at around 37% profit. As the retail price increases, so does the profit. The 64GB 4G iPad retails at $829 yet costs $409 to make. That’s a profit of 51% for those playing along at home.

Based on those numbers, Apple will no doubt be hoping we all buy the top of the range model, rather than the bottom of the range WiFi-only iPad. No surprises there, then.

Apple confirms 8am iPad launch this Friday

If the evidence stacking up wasn’t enough to convince you the new iPad will be available for sale on Friday, at 8am, maybe this official announcement from Apple will.

In a press release sent earlier today, Apple confirmed that the new iPad will be available in the US and nine additional countries, on Friday at 8am…
Apple® today announced the new iPad®, the third generation of its category defining mobile device, will arrive at Apple’s retail stores and the Apple Online Store (http://www.apple.com/) on Friday, March 16 at 8:00 a.m. local time in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK; along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

Of course, you can still pre-order, but you won’t receive your iPad anytime soon. All in all, if you haven’t already pre-ordered, getting in line at 8am this Friday is your best bet to get your hands on the new iPad.


Imperium: an app switcher replacement for your iPhone

For most, the iPhone app switcher features enough options to get by. For jailbreakers? It’s a whole different story.

Imperium is a jailbreak tweak that seeks to replace the App Switcher with OS X-like Mission Control inspired functionality in tow.

If you consider yourself to be an iOS power user, then check inside to see whether or not Imperium will fit into your daily workflow…
Imperium gives users the ability to set predefined app shortcuts, kill apps, toggle functions like Bluetooth, adjust brightness, and launch apps from a scrolling list of all of your installed apps.

Imperium uses Activator, and features several settings to adjust the look and feel of the tweak.

Once released, Imperium will be available on Cydia for the price of $0.99.

What do you think?

Hud: Visualize when your music skips to the next track

Want a quick and easy way to visualize when the music you’re listening to skips to the next track? If so, then Hud may be up to the task.

Unlike a tweak such as MusicBanners, Hud places the album art and track name smack square in the middle of your iPhone’s screen.

Check out our video demonstration of Hud inside…
Hud plays nice with music apps such as Spotify, and it will showcase the head up display everywhere except the Lock screen. Interestingly enough, the description of the tweak says it doesn’t work with the iPod app, which I found a bit peculiar. I tested it out, and sure enough it worked fine with the iPod/Music app.

Hud can be downloaded for free from Cydia’s ModMyi repo. Let us know what you think about it in the comments below.

How to install iPhoto and iMovie on iOS 5.0.1

iPhoto was the big new app release that Apple touted at its new iPad media event, but the bad news is that it requires iOS 5.1.

For those of us with jailbroken iPhone 4S’ and iPad 2′s, this places us in an interesting predicament.

Since there is no way to jailbreak iOS 5.1 on these devices, updating now would not only prevent us from jailbreaking, but it would also prevent us from downgrading back to iOS 5.0.1 now that Apple has closed the signing window for that firmware.

So, what to do? Fortunately, there’s an easy workaround to this problem, and we’re going to walk you through the process on video…
Watch the video above to learn how to use iFile to trick the App Store into letting you download iPhoto, iMovie, or any other app that has a 5.1 requirement, without actually updating your device. To do this we use iFile.

Step 1: Open iFile and navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices

Step 2: Tap on SystemVersion.plist and select Property List Viewer

Step 3: Tap ProductVersion and change 5.0.1 to 5.1

Step 4: Exit iFile and respring your device

Step 5: Open the App Store, and download and install iPhoto, iMovie, etc.

If you’re using iPhoto, you will need to watch the video below that shows you how to fix the crashes present in iPhoto on iOS 5.0.1. Otherwise the app is completely unusable because it continuously crashes. All you’re doing here is opening Cydia and installing the iPhoto501Fix package. This should eliminate most of the crashes present on startup.
Let us know if you were able to successfully get iPhoto and iMovie working with your jailbroken iOS 5.0.1 installation.

Hopefully the new iPhoto wasn’t so much of a temptation that you upgraded to 5.1 and lost your jailbreak.

What’s your experience been like?

Update: And if you’re experiencing problems, you CAN switch back to 5.0.1 using the steps above after installing iMovie, iPhoto, etc.