AlwaysArrange: move your app icons without using wiggle mode

Moving your app icons without even thinking about it. Quite the interesting idea, no?

That’s exactly what an upcoming jailbreak tweak called AlwaysArrange allows you to do — move your app icons without needing to enter wiggle mode.

Check out our full video walkthrough inside for the low-down…

AlwaysArrange features a simple settings panel that yields a kill switch, and a Long Press Duration setting that adjusts the time you have to tap and hold on an icon for it to be eligible to move.

Setting the duration to 0 allows you to move any app icon instantly. Setting it to a higher number adds a slight delay before the app is eligible for movement.

Since you can’t enter into edit/wiggle mode via normal means, dragging any app icon into the status bar will place the device into wiggle mode instead.

AlwaysArrange is not available just yet, but it’ll be released on Cydia’s ModMyi repo for free in the near future. Stay tuned.

Thoughts?

Foco aims at making your iPad speaker sound better

I’m sure that most of you already know about Kickstarter, the platform that helps people like you and me get funding for various projects. Since its creation in 2008, Kickstarter has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs get their project started.

Today, we sit down and talk to Adewale Adeluyi-Adelusi and Bojan Smiljanic from Unique Design Solutions about their new project, Foco. They tell us what it is, why they created it, and hopefully you’ll like their project enough to pledge a few bucks…
What is Foco?
Anyone who owns an iPad 2 or 3 today can identify with the diminishing sound from the rear built-in speakers. We wanted to create a simple device to change that. Foco is a unique device that captures the sound escaping away from you via the rear speakers and refocuses the sound towards the front of the iPad. With Foco, you get a richer, more fulfilling sound experience when using your iPad.

If you haven’t unlocked your iPhone with the SAM unlock, you better act fast before it’s too late

iPhone Dev Team member, MuscleNerd, just tweeted that Apple is currently working on fixing their activation servers.

This means that sooner or later the SAM unlock will no longer work for your jailbroken iPhone.

The good news is that if you backed up your activation ticket like we instructed in our tutorial, your current unlock should be safe for good.

MuscleNerd
@MuscleNerd Looks like Apple's currently fixing their activation servers. But the good news is that previous tickets gotten via SAM trick still work.
26 Apr 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

MuscleNerd goes on to state that any new unlock requests will probably be “hit or miss” going forward, eventually to the point where they will be all “miss”.

In other words, If you’ve yet to unlock and you still desire to, you better do so now.

Not surprising at all to see Apple jump on this, I’m surprised they didn’t get to it sooner.

What do you think? Have you unlocked yet?


Twitter for iPhone updated with push notification improvements and more

Twitter has just announced that it has pushed a new version of Twitter for iPhone to the App Store. The app entails a number of updates including an improved Discover tab and more functionality for its push notification feature.

The Twitter app has received a lot of criticism over the redesign it received back in December of last year. In fact, a lot of folks left it for other third-party clients. Well this new update may be enough to win some of them back…
Leading off the improvements is a revamped Discover tab. You can now use this tab to browse an activity stream of tweets that are favorited and retweeted by people you follow, allowing you to “discover” new users.

Twitter also improved its Search function in the app, making it easier to find the things that you are looking for. This includes a new auto-complete and suggestion feature that will help you track down people or topics.

And finally, push notifications now work with Interactions. So now you can be notified when someone retweets or favorites one of your tweets, or follows you. In the past, push notifications only worked for direct messages and mentions.

As always, you can update your Twitter app via the App Store. Or if you don’t have it, you can download it here for free.

What do you think of the new Twitter update?

New concept video shows multiple iPad apps running on screen at once

This isn’t exactly what I envisioned when I created a concept for MultiLayer iPad app functionality a few weeks ago, but it’s certainly a start.

After speaking at length with iOS developer Kyle Howells — the brains behind the awesome jailbreak tweak CardSwitcher — he graciously agreed to compile a specialized version of said tweak, which allows users to interface with multiple iPad apps on the same screen.

This means that it’s entirely feasible to play games while watching your Twitter timeline, or check your stock prices while browsing the web via Safari — all from the same iPad.

Running multiple apps on-screen simultaneously has been a dream of many iPad owners. We’ve seen similar concepts from Kyle in the past, so I’m confident that if anyone could pull this off, it would be him. Check inside for a demonstration video of the concept tweak in action…

Bear in mind that this is just a concept tweak to show off the potential of the idea. I had the tweak running on a jailbroken iPad 2, and it ran fairly smoothly. It would undoubtedly perform even better on the iPad 3, and the Retina display would be much more adequate when it comes to discerning small text from the reduced app windows.

Kyle has big ambitions when it’s all said and done; this is more of a proof of concept than anything else. We’ve witnessed similar ideas from other developers before, but after speaking to Kyle I think it’s entirely possible that he could be the first one to bring such an idea to fruition.

What do you think? Would you use a jailbreak tweak that allowed you to use multiple iPad apps simultaneously? Sound your opinion in the comments below.

Turn your iPad into a MacBook Air with this keyboard case

If there’s one thing that the iPad accessory space isn’t short on, it’s keyboard cases. There are a number of them available from several top-notch manufacturers including Zagg, Logitech, and Kensington. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for one more.

Meet the Brydge, an aluminum bluetooth keyboard case for your second generation or third generation iPad. Made from the “highest quality materials,” the accessory makes your tablet look (and function) an awful lot like a MacBook Air…

We saw a similar product surface earlier this month, but what sets the Brydge apart is its patent-pending hinge. This allows you to position your iPad at nearly any angle while you work. The case even comes with optional built-in stereo speakers.

The Brydge isn’t available yet. Its creators are currently running a Kickstarter project to try and raise $90,000 to bring it to market. If you’re interested, a pledge of $150 will get you one of the first units off of the assembly line (without speakers).

What do you think of the Brydge? It’s a bit pricey.

The 2012 Apple Design Awards nominations now open, get your apps ready

As Apple announced this morning that it will hold its annual WWDC conference from June 11-15 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, they also revealed details about this year’s Apple Design Awards. The prestigious award recognizes the best of the best in iOS and Mac app design, innovation and technology adoption.

Developers who intend to have their work included for this year’s Apple Design Awards consideration are required to submit their apps by May 1 through Apple’s developer portal. However, even if you don’t submit your app, Apple could still award your work in one of the categories…
The 2012 Apple Design Awards website explains nominated apps should be well-designed, state of the art and innovative:

Well-Designed
Apps that are inviting, engaging, easy to use, intuitive, and compelling.

State of the Art
Apps that take advantage of the latest hardware, OS releases, and technologies to offer rich functionality, high performance, and extensive system integration.

Innovative
Apps that are revolutionary, inspiring, and do things in new and creative ways.

Last year’s winners include Chair Entertainment’s medieval hack’n'slash game Infinity Blade , algoriddim’s djay for iPad and Pixelmator, an awesome Photoshop alternative for the Mac, to name a few.

What apps do you think should get the Apple Design Award recognition this year?

I’d love to learn about your picks down in the comments.

150 young developers have a chance to attend WWDC 2012 free of charge

If you didn’t get the memo or can’t afford forking $1,599 for this year’s WWDC conference, but are a full- or part-time student over the age of thirteen, Apple’s got you covered. The company said it will offer 150 students a chance to win scholarships for WWDC 2012, which includes a free of charge ticket to all conference sessions.

The company will judge applicants on “technical ability, creativity of ideas expressed in products or projects, prior WWDC attendance, as well as technical and work experience”. If there is a tie, the most creative applicant has an edge, Apple noted…
The official WWDC 2012 Scholarship website says scholarship applications are due by Wednesday, May 2, 2012 at 5pm Pacific. The iPhone maker strives to recognize and award some great apps by young developers:

If you’re a student that’s creating some really cool apps, tell us about yourself. We want to reward outstanding student developers with the opportunity to attend this year’s conference on a WWDC 2012 Student Scholarship.

Applicants must be full or part-time students age 13 or older and be members of the iOS Developer Program or Mac Developer Program, each costing $99 a year, or the free iOS Developer University Program.

I know what you’re thinking. Kid devs, right?

You’d be surprised with how young some of the developers out there really are.

Take, for example, Thomas Suarez, a sixth grade student at a middle school in the South Bay of Los Angeles who began creating and selling his own work on the App Store shortly after Apple had released the iOS software development kit in February of 2008.

Here’s a video of Suarez doing a TED talk – turns out he’s also an excellent public speaker, too!

So, what were you doing in sixth grade?

I sure as hell wasn’t building apps or doing TED talks…

Status update on the iOS 5.1 jailbreak

We’ve had a lot of folks asking us what the status is on the iOS 5.1 jailbreak, so we figured we’d give you guys an update with the latest info. As usual, pod2g has given us some insight into the progress of the hackers via a recent string of tweets.

The good news is that they have managed to bypass the ASLR (Address Space layout randomization) already. The complicated security measure could’ve taken much longer. The bad news is that a public jailbreak still seems to be a ways out…
“ETA for 5.1 JB : no clue! We’re going to set pieces of the puzzle together this week. We could have issues… Could be 1 month maybe 2… Maybe never… (!)

I know 1 month seems long, but it’s short to work on a project like this when it’s a hobby and you’ve other things to do as well.”

It’s important to remember that most of these guys do have normal day jobs, or at least other projects that they are working on. Releasing free jailbreaks doesn’t exactly pay the bills.

Also keep in mind that it’s not a good idea to complain about the jailbreak’s progress to pod2g, or any other hackers, on Twitter. All that does is make the jailbreak community look bad.

Besides, they do a pretty good job of keeping us updated on the latest developments. And of course, you can always count on us to bring you the latest in jailbreak information the moment we get it.

Denver Broncos ditch their playbooks for iPads

This is kind of cool. The Denver Post is reporting today that its hometown NFL team, the Denver Broncos, has decided to swap out its bulky 500+ page playbooks for Apple’s slim and trim tablet. The football team just purchased 120 iPads.

The organization feels that the tablet gives it a competitive advantage over its opponents. Not only is the iPad more mobile, but its library of available software gives it the capability to help players and coaches do far more than study plays…
Here’s an excerpt from the article regarding the Bronco’s specific iPad software:

“For the digital playbook, the team partnered with Parker-based technology startup PlayerLync. The PlayerLync app allows players and coaches to write notes and highly plays using the tablet’s touchscreen. The playbooks are then saved on remote computer servers, allowing players to access notes from previous games.

A key component to the software is that it runs in the background even when a player is not reviewing the playbook, enabling the app to determine when a coach has an update to push to players, such as a new short-yardage and goal-line package.”

But a team’s playbook is usually one of its most-guarded secrets. What happens if a player loses his iPad?

“With the iPad playbook, the Broncos have two ways to secure their game plan. The Verizon [LTE] network connection will allow the team to remotely wipe the iPad if it is lost or stolen.

If the network is disabled, the PlayLync app has a “time bomb” feature that deletes the playbook based on a set time determined by the Denver Bronco.”

Wow.

Of course, the Broncos aren’t the first team to ditch their paper playbooks for iPads. Last year we told you about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making a similar move.

But the concept is still relatively new to the NFL. Only three out of the 32 teams use tablets. And they still aren’t allowed to use them during games out of concern for foul play.

What do you think about iPads in the NFL (or sports in general)?

Gevey releases new Ultra 5.1 SIM interposer for the iPhone 4

We’ve recently seen some great options surface for unlocking our iPhones. For instance, AT&T recently started unlocking off-contract handsets. And then of course there is the new SAM method that popped up over the weekend.

But the competition hasn’t stopped GEVEY from releasing a new SIM interposer. In fact, it’s stepping up its game. The new Ultra 5.1 for the GSM iPhone 4 supports more basebands and has more features than ever before…
■GEVEY Ultra 5.1 works with any iOS version between 4.1 and and 5.1
■It works with 1.59, 2.10, 3.10.1, 4.10.1, 4.11.08, and 4.12.01 basebands.
■New chipset operates under the 3-volt standard to save battery power
■Enhanced signal strength for strong, consistent voice and data connection
As with previous interposers, the GEVEY Ultra 5.1 only works with jailbroken iPhones. And although Furious Mod will keep you from having to dial 112 after every reboot, we are assuming you still have to do so initially — which is illegal in some countries.

Regardless, if you don’t qualify for AT&T’s unlocking terms, and you can’t get the SAM method to work, the GEVEY Ultra 5.1 appears to be a viable option. And if you’re interested, it looks like Applenberry has them in stock for just $49.99.

MotionX Sleep: a sleep cycle alarm clock done right

Do you hate your alarm clock? I certainly did. I have broken many snooze buttons over the years. That’s why I’m so excited to have finally found an iPhone app that wakes me up.

MotionX is known for their wonderful navigation apps including MotionX GPS and GPS Drive. MotionX Sleep is their latest addition to their iPhone offerings and unsurprisingly it’s a wonderful experience…
Before I begin, let me explain that I am what some call an “aggressive sleeper.” When I’m asleep, I unknowingly do everything possible to stay asleep. To combat this, I have tried every trick from hiding my alarm clock to buying a sunrise alarm clock. I’ve heard about those “sleep cycle” alarm clock apps, but due to poor reviews, I was skeptical.

If you are not familiar with sleep cycle apps, the premise is simple. You place your phone face down on your bed or under your pillow (while plugged into a charger) and fall asleep. The app uses the accelerometer to track movements while you sleep and uses this information to determine whether you’re in a state of deep sleep or light sleep. The app then decides the best time to wake you up before the alarm time. Since you are not ripped out of deep sleep, you wake up feeling refreshed and energized. What is more important, you stay awake.

MotionX Sleep is both an exception and a life changer. While this app is a little bit late to the party, it certainly makes up for that with a great interface and an accurate algorithm. Setting the alarm is a breeze. Then you simply tap the start button, place it under your pillow, and it begins working. The alarm sounds are pleasant, since waking you up is not as difficult. You can choose between church bells, people cheering, thunderstorm rain, and a few others, along with music from your library.

MotionX Sleep comes with many additional features. When you set it up, you set a sleep goal at a certain amount of hours. You start logging before you go to sleep and you save the log when you wake up. From there, MotionX Sleep shows you a graph with information about when you were in light sleep, deep sleep, or awake. MotionX Sleep will also show you how long it took you to fall asleep. You are provided with statistics on deep sleep percentages and sleep efficiency, by day, previous week, previous month or an overall average. Your logs are viewable so you can compare sleep statistics on a day-by-day basis.

The alarm settings are most useful if you wake up at the same time on specific days. While you are able to set which days the alarm will sound, you can only store one time for it to wake you up. I would like to see multiple alarms for different days in future updates.

MotionX Sleep also knows that proper daily exercise is vital to a good night’s rest, and for this reason adds a highly accurate pedometer feature to the app. Start it before you start walking and it will continue working while the screen is locked or even if the app is running in the background. It can periodically provide you with spoken updates with the included Voice Coach on time, step counts, and calories burned. I have used this a few times and I actually find it useful.

In closing, I highly recommend MotionX Sleep to anyone tired of battling the alarm clock. If you are weary of waking up to annoying alarms or constantly changing up your wake up strategy, this app will be your savior. It is available to download in the App Store for only $1.99.

If you tried or like a similar app, let us know about your experience in the comments.

How to unlock your jailbroken iPhone right now using SAM – confirmed working

Chinese iPhone hacker Loktar_Sun has released a method for unlocking a jailbroken iPhone by yourself using Sam Bingner’s SAM (Subscriber Artificial Module) package.

The unlock technique has been verified by iPhone Dev Team member MuscleNerd. He was able to unlock his iPhone 4S and get it running on T-Mobile’s network.

This is very big news for iPhone owners everywhere, and means we don’t have to wait for AT&T to unlock our phones if we want to use it on another GSM network.

Check inside for more details…
Note: See our latest video tutorial for more hand-on details.

Once you have the package, follow the instructions found here for the full unlock details.

How to unlock your iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, etc
Step 1: Step one: Install Sam Bingner’s SAM (Subscriber Artificial Module) package. I recommend that you get it from repo.bingner.com since older versions have a different interface and may not work for this purpose.

Step 2: Enter SAM by either going through the settings menu or find the SAMPrefs icon on your springboard. You will need to have the SIM card you intend to use in your phone.

Step 3: Go to utilities and select “De-Activate iPhone”, your ActivationState under “More Information” should now be “Unactivated”

Step 4: With SAM enabled, choose “By Country and Carrier” in “Method”; find your carrier, for some carriers operating more than one Carrier ID you may need to select “SIM ID”; if you pick the wrong one this won’t work.

Step 5: Go to More Information”, copy or write down the IMSI in “SAM Details”, then tap “Spoof Real SIM to SAM”.

Step 6: Go back to the main SAM screen and change your “Method” to manual. Paste or enter the IMSI string we saved in Step 5.

Step 7: Connect your iPhone to your computer and allow iTunes to activate it, double click “Phone Number” parameter at the main device screen and make sure that the ICCID matches that of your SIM card. If not you need to start over from Step 1.

Step 8: Unplug your phone, close iTunes.

Step 9: Disable SAM. The source article says to uninstall SAM and delete your lockdownd profiles; it’s unnecessary.

Step 10: Connect your phone to iTunes again, you should get an error saying that your phone cannot be activated. This is normal. Just close iTunes and open it again.

Step 11: You should see signal bars in a short time, congratulations.

Step 12: Push notifications may stop working after this procedure but can be easily restored by “clear push” utility in SAM followed by connecting to iTunes.

The SAM package can be downloaded by adding the following source to Cydia: repo.bingner.com

We’re in the process of testing this for ourselves, and will be back with a full report once we have unlocked our iPhone successfully.

Note: according to the tutorial, this unlock method will only allow you to use the SIM card that you use to unlock your phone with, so you will not be able to freely switch between SIMs. It’s an unlock, but it apparently still has limitations when compared to a true factory unlocked phone.

For that reason, if you’re on an older out of contract device with a provider like AT&T, we still recommend you follow our previous method for unlocking by contacting AT&T directly.

More details to come soon. What do you think?

Update: I have personally confirmed this works. My iPhone 4S is now running on T-Mobile.

Research finds that iOS users are far more active than Android users

Chitika, an ad network whose reach spans across more than 100,000 websites, is out with a new report this weekend regarding mobile platform usage. The firm has been tracking real-time activity on its network over the last 24 hours, and the results are pretty interesting.

Despite Android devices garnering close to 50% of the smartphone market, Chitika found that iOS seems to be the mobile OS of choice among its users. Here in the US, at least, devices running Apple’s operating system accounted for nearly 70% of recent activity…
Of that 70% (68% to be exact), iPads were the most popular, with around 45%. iPhones accounted for 15%. And iPods made up just under 10%. To put these numbers in perspective, Android devices were only responsible for 28% of mobile activity.

Devices in the “other” category — made up of Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc. — only accounted for 19% of traffic. This accurately reflects the current state of the mobile landscape, as both RIM and Windows Phone manufacturers struggle to snag marketshare.

While these may seem like boring statistics to most people, this data is invaluable to mobile advertisers. These companies want to target the users that are most likely to be surfing the web on their devices. And according to this report, that’s iOS users.

Do Android users not use their devices to surf the web?