iOS 4.3.4 Jailbroken

Jul 172011
 

Recently, Apple released an iOS 4.3.4 update to patch a PDF vulnerability that allowed several pirate crews to jailbreak the iPad, iPod and iPhones. The effects on piracy advocates such as Apptrackr was negligible however, with an iOS tethered jailbreak being released by Redmond Pie, a short time after Apple’s update.

This jailbreak enables access into Cydia for all current iOS devices, save for the iPad 2. However, due to the nature of the jailbreak, some users have advised potential pirates to wait for an untethered jailbreak, to prevent the inconvenience of re-jailbreaking one’s phone after every update.

Current users of jailbroken iPhones don’t have much to miss out on though, considering that the only updates in the latest iOS are there to prevent the jailbreaking of iOS devices, except perhaps, the ability to delete and cancel downloading applications.

You can follow the tutorial here if you want to jailbreak your iOS 4.3.4 device, at Redmond Pie.

Google+ iOS Edition

Jul 072011
 

Ever since Facebook became a deca-billion dollar construct, spawning companies which are worth billions of dollars in their own right (Zynga), there have been many attempts to dethrone this almighty social networking juggernaut. As we all know by now, Google+ is the Californian based company’s social network foray into the basically monopolized market. I’m not going into specifics here, but it basically looks like… Facebook, except, it’s not Facebook.

That’s not the point though. Currently, Google has just posted a Google+ application to the app store. It’s pending approval currently, while no approval process was necessary for the Android marketplace, for obvious reasons. Other information confirmed by Google, is that the application is not only for iPhones, iPod and iPad users can rejoice that they haven’t been forgotten by the search engine superpower.

Google is also releasing an Application Programming Interface for Google+, which will allow developers to create applications for Google+. Allowing software to interact with the service, as well as people, this API will certainly provide a greater amount of flexibility for users to exploit.

A couple of screenshots exhibit the features of Google+, including the much touted ‘Circles’ feature, where you can direct messages, and view messages only from particular social groups. There is also integration with Gmail, and GoogleTalk- perhaps a nice selling point about the social network in general.

In other news, remember that old site Myspace? The decaying site was just sold by its parent company for $35 million, a pittance compared to what it was originally worth. Even online newshub, ‘Huffington Post’ was sold for much much more. It serves as a reminder that perhaps, even Facebook might lose its grip on the Social Networking market.

Check out Google+ here

 

Five Productivity iPhone and Android apps

Apr 232011
 

With all of the new and VERY complicated smartphones and tablets, productivity apps have become immensely popular and useful for the average smartphone owner. However, many people don’t know much about the top productivity applications

Productivity can be interpreted differently by different people. It’s direct definition is “the quality of being productive or having the power to produce” which overall, basically means the ability to get things done quickly and stress-free. Here are the top 5 productivity applications for iOS and Android smartphones and a brief summary of each.

iOS  Productivity Apps

1. Tips & Tricks – iPhone Secrets

This $0.99 application is mainly directed towards those iPhone users that aren’t very tech savvy or have never owned an iPhone before. It is essential information in over 120 written tips and free updates with each revision of iOS. The great thing about this app is they keep it new and current. Some of the tips are advanced ones that you would not find on your own.

2. Flashlight

This is the #1 free productivity app store application. It is the most basic, easy to use flashlight that uses the LED flash to its fullest ability. The only downside to this app is that it can burn up your battery if the flashlight is turned on for too long. Strobe/Blinking mode is also supported and best of all its free.

3. JotNot Scanner Pro

Out of all of these applications JotNot Scanner is my favorite. This $0.99 app gives you the ability to scan and save documents, receipts, whiteboards and more all from your iPhone! However, this is not like a photo app at all. It makes your photo a clear black and white document, but you can also have the picture in color. Overall, this app is very useful and can help anyone out that wants to keep and save documents easily.

4. Week Calendar

This $1.99 application is pretty much a better and more equipped version of iCal for your iPhone or iPod touch. Week Calendar provides a calendar overview with a better day, week, and month overview. This application is directed towards the type of people that need to keep track of what they’re doing and when they are doing it.

5. iTranslate ~ the free translator

iTranslate is the best Universal Translator on the App Store today. It includes over 50 languages, Voice recognition, Conversation Mode, 18 free voices, Dictionaries, save & copy, and Landscape mode. Whether you’re doing your language homework in school or just wondering what a certain word or phrase means this is the app for you! Best of all its free!

Android Productivity Apps

1. Root Explorer

This app is just $3.97 and Root Explorer is the ultimate file manager for root users. Access the whole of android’s file system (including the elusive data folder!). Additional features include SQLite database viewer, Text Editor, create and extract zip or tar/gzip files, multi-select, and many more!

2. Swift Key

SwiftKey is a great $1.99 application for anyone look for an easier to type on keyboard. From the Android Store “SwiftKey Keyboard uses AI technology to make typing smart, fast and personal.” This app is innovative, useful, and very easy to use.

3. ADWLauncher EX

ADWLauncher EX is an awesome way to tweak your phone without any rooting or hacking needed. Just $3.35 to tweak your Android desktop. It comes with hundreds of themes, Icons editor to create your own customized shortcuts, and a customizable main dock. ADWLauncher EX is different from ADW.Launcher in that it has a lot of new additions and improvements.

4. ezPDF Reader

ezPDF Reader is a simple, $0.99 app that basically is a PDF Reader! One addition is that it plays both video and audio. One cool thing you can do with this app is called Freehand draw. It says to just long click on the screen to activate and you can change the color and thickness of the line. Pretty cool, right?

5. JuiceDefender Ultimate

Last but certainly not least is JuiceDefender Pro. This app is kind of pricy at $5.09 but still seems like a very great application for those that are having batter problems. It gives you “Absolute control over your battery” and includes wifi control, 2G/3G control and many more!

All 10 of these apps are great productivity apps for many different types of people on two different platforms.

What are your favorite types of productivity apps? Let us know and comment!

 


BBC iPlayer App for iPad and Android To Be Released Soon #BBCiPlayer

Feb 092011
 

BBC which is one of the most respected UK websites and news source is releasing iPlayer App for iPad and Android devices. BBC iPlayer App should be released this week  which will enable you to:

  • Watch live TV and listen to radio (not previously widely available on mobile devices)
  • Access the BBC’s full catalogue of catch-up programmes; seven-days’ TV and radio on demand as well as series stacking (as you get on the web)
  • A simple and intuitive design with high picture quality and personalized favorites (making the most of the touch-screen UI, and a popular feature on the website)

For more info head over to BBC Internet Blog article by Daniel Danker.

iPad 2 Camera, Yes Sir!

Jan 202011
 

It is so obvious that iPad 2 will have some type of camera but this time iOS 4.3 Beta 2 shows some evidence as well. Developers found out three icons showing in one of the home images for iPad: Camera, FaceTime and PhotoBooth.

ipad 2 camera

Img Credit: MacRumors.com

 

Only outstanding question is if applications showing in this new iOS is for the front facing camera or both rear and front facing camera. It would make perfect sense that Apple releases iPad 2 with two cameras just because other competitors found it very valuable to have it.

Rear  camera is mostly used for recording video (some do HD) and pictures.Front facing camera is mostly for video chat with Apps such as Tango, Skype and as you can see in the image above Facetime.

How did Windows 7 Phone Sale Go? Not So Good

Nov 102010
 

Michael Cote from Cote Collaborative said “Mondays aren’t great launch days…” which commented as to why Windows 7 Phone sale by T-Mobile did not pass 50.000 units. Let me guess: Friday’s are better?

Latest reports by Apple and Google stated that they sold or activated over 250.000 devices per day, whether that would be Samsung Galaxy Tab, iPad or iPod Touch. Microsoft apparently sold only 40.000 units this past Monday via T-Mobile and I think that is pretty good sale if you ask me. T-Mobile spokesperson concluded that Windows 7 is “already receiving strong interest from our customers right out of the gate.” and let’s face it, Windows 7 Phone is just 1 unit compared to 4 from Apple and 20-30 from Android. So I think that selling 40K Windows 7 Phones in one day is pretty good for a start. The Street added that Microsoft will probably going to reduce the prices for Black Friday Sale and Christmas.

Windows 7 Phone might not outrank Android OS, iOS or RIM but I am confident that it will rank up close.

By the way, can you imagine that I actually said something positive for Microsoft, being Linux user at home and 100% Android owner? :)

iPad Gets iOS 4.2 Firmware Update Supports Multitasking and Folders

Nov 082010
 

Updated Article: Well we noticed that a lot of people are still searching for iPad iOS 4.2 but we wanted to just update this article and let you know that there is iOS 4.3.2 which was released today. Basically this iOS 4.3.2 fixes many bugs such as frozen videos or blank videos. In iOS 4.3.2 you also can expect to see some of the new security updates that we wont go too much into detail.

Anyway, we if you are still looking for the information on iOS 4.2 well here is the original article we wrote a while ago, but as we mentioned before, if you have iDevices our advice is to start upgrading to iOS 4.3.2 via iTunes.

Apple “officially” did not released iOS 4.2 firmware update but the release date is expected to be soon. Major update of iOS 4.2 is iPad Multitasking and ability to create folders. Thanks to our friends at RRW they obtained the unofficial copy of iOS 4.2 and installed it on their iPad.

Few notes from their site:

Multitasking: The most important new feature for iPad users in iOS 4.2 is Apple’s interpretation of multitasking

I do agree that Multitasking on iPad is very important just because iPad is being more used for productivity rather than device that will be used only to listen to music and make phone calls.

Folders: This is nothing new for iPhone owners, but iPad users can now finally organize their apps into folders as well. Folders on the iPad can hold up to 20 apps (iPhone folders can hold up to 12 apps).

ipad_folders

This was a nice touch from Apple developers, we did know that multitasking is coming to iPad but as far as creating folders to store up-to 20 apps we did not.

At this point if you are still interested in this topic I would rather have you read it from readwriteweb as they did the whole article on this iOS 4.2 update.

Skyfire Browser ‘Sold Out’, In Demand Due To Flash-Playing Feature

Nov 052010
 

It was an exciting news to hear that Flash video can be now played on my iPhone. It was learned that Skyfire browser supports the Flash content and it was on sale for only $2.99 in the App Store. I was excited, like many iPhone owners, and within five hours the report of the company comes that it has become the “top grossing app.” It also became the third highest paid app overall in the App Store and the top application in the Utilities category. Sad news came the next day. Skyfire pulled back its sales from the store. More sad news was that those who purchased the app could not use it. The app became the victim of its own success.

The process of watching the Flash content is a different one on the Skyfire browser. The flash video is first sent to the servers of Skyfire where it is converted into HTML5 format and then streamed back on our device. When too many people bought the app and almost everyone demanded to view the Flash content, the servers of the company were overloaded and it had to halt.

The main reason of getting Flash compatible browser is to watch porn and that is not available on the existing mobile-friendly services such as YouTube.

Well, whether the purpose was porn watching or cleaner content, the servers of the company has been clogged. The company’s spokesperson said that the service will be back soon as they are working in increasing the capacity of the servers.

One thing is understood with the huge success of Skyfire browser that plyaing Flash content is on great demand on iPhones. Moreover, Flash is the primary technology in the web world for video playing.

iOS is iPhones operating system and Apple had refused continuously of providing native support for Flash content.

SkyFire for iPhone or iPad is Now Sold Out

Nov 042010
 

I am not sure if I ever heard of an app being sold out in iTunes App store? Well SkyFire for iPhone and iPad (iOS) has been sold out, can you believe that?

Just 5 hours later at price of $2.99 Skyfire released this info on their blog post:

Skyfire for iPhone has been received with unbelievable enthusiasm. Despite our best attempts and predictions, the demand far exceeds our initial projections.

The user experience was performing well for the first few hours, but as the surge continued, the peak load on our servers and bandwidth caused the video experience to degrade.

Thus we are effectively ‘sold out’ and will temporarily not accept new purchases from the App Store.  We are working really hard to increase capacity and will be accepting new purchases from the App Store as soon as we can support it.

We are very grateful for the demand. Within 5 hours, Skyfire for iPhone became the top grossing app, the third highest paid app overall and the top application in the Utilities category. Wow!

Please bear with us as we bring our capacity in line with the incredible demand – stay tuned.

image

I can just imagine what IT department is going through right now. All the server upgrades, configurations, hardware purchase etc. I think once they found out what the demand would be like, they either already purchased extra servers, switches, traffic and are in the configuration stage. Or they purchased the hardware yesterday and should be arriving today for configuration. I use to work as Net. Engineer on VOD (Video on Demand) and sometimes you just can’t predict the demand of usage on such servers. You either have to bring in more bandwidth or more servers.

Either way, I am sure that Skype for iOS devices should be released very soon as Robert said via blog post.

Samsung Galaxy Tab vs iPad Size Difference (Video)

Oct 272010
 

About week ago I showed you pictures of Samsung Galaxy Tab etc. Now I finally got to do video as well. Basically in this video you will see Samsung Galaxy Tab and iPad and some testing on how Samsung Galaxy Tab is doing as far as the performance. See on some smartphones with lets say bit over 512mhz they have issues with scrolling the tabs or pages what I call them, but with Samsung Galaxy Tab I did not see not one bit of delay.
Anyway, I still think Samsung Galaxy Tab is awesome tablet and very portable too. iPad is just bigger version but not as portable as SGT is. Reason why I am saying that is because you can’t type on iPad with both hands while standing or walking etc and you can do that with Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Oh snap! The video!

MOBILE OS: Windows Phone 7 Vs Android Vs iOS

Oct 222010
 

The current competition among the popular mobile operating systems is reminding us the gone world war. Today every smartphone is gaining attention through its operating system than the brand. Just look into any mobile phone and strip the hardware and you can see the significant OS along with its standard features. Down the line all the smartphones will take a shape and name as “feature phone”. Currently, we are all more used to the some of the standard features and tools. A single thing is minus from a smartphone can make it quite useless.

Definitely the current popular operating systems such as iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 are definitely making a mark over the customers. Here, individual operating system’s back ground is resulting as a great asset. Keeping this back ground in mind, it is tough to mention a single OS as a winner. Keeping all these woes in mind, recently PC World come up with an article mentioning all the features through detailed comparison. The comparison chart prepared by the PC World can differentiate all the positives and negatives in the popular three operating systems.

There are many things mentioned in the said article and we are here with presenting the tabulated comparison among the three popular operating systems for you.

Via PCWorld

Android Generates more Ad Revenue than iPhone-Millennia Media

Oct 192010
 

Mobile ad company Millennia Media found that Android ad revenue has, for the first time ever, beaten iPhone ad revenue on the company’s network.

According to the Millennia Media’s September “Mobile Mix” report, Android occupied the second-largest device status on its network, and this was continued since July 2010. According to the report, Android started to gain improvements at the rate 2% month-over-month and is currently 29%. Here, Apple’s iOS impressions are very hard to ignore as it accounts for 46% impressions.

The overall figures according to this report is as, Android ad requests improved to 1,283% since January. Rim ad requests are at 143%. Here, the significant change or difference is that the much popular Apple’s iOS ad requests are just grown to a little extent as 18%. This is clearly indicating the Android’s rapid growth this year. Although the OS may not have the raw mobile ad impression numbers of its iOS counterpart on Millennia Media’s network, it has been coming online with the company in increasingly large numbers.

IPhone 3,2 Hits “AP” Field Test Stage

Oct 182010
 

Apple’s latest iPhone 3,2 was assumed to be the Verizon (CDMA-compatible) phone. It is rumored and informed through a reliable source to “boy genius” that the said device hit the “AP: testing stage. Generally this “AP”test stage is the one happens just before to its release. It means the device reached to all its final hardware and final software status and soon will be ready for retail release.

The iPhone 3,2 device contains a SIM card slot. Perhaps the facility is for:

• It is heard that the latest device could accommodate CDMA+GSM+HSPA, that means it would support Verizon, AT&T and some other worldwide iPhone carriers frequencies quite comfortably. This is indicating that the Verizon Wireless subscribers and AT&T subscribers will have the same device.

• There is a possibility that this iPhone 3,2 could be a CDMA-phone along with a capacity to hold another SIM for global roaming.

• Also, there is a possibility that this device is designed in a way that all the earlier antenna issues will not be having any chance to trouble as it did for other models.

If the information is true and sources are reliable, it is indicating that the much hyped device is soon going to see the light. Is there any chance for this holiday season?

New iPad Dock Design Spotted in Trademark

Oct 182010
 

While it remains to be confirmed whether or not Apple is planning such a design (given the company’s ”it’s supposed to be a surprise” approach to its product announcements) a recent European trademark (numbered 001222905-0001) shows a design in which accessories can be docked to iPad with such a design in order to permit the tablet’s use regardless of the current orientation thereof. Coincidentally, the name Steve Jobs is listed in the filing, which certainly makes the possible link to Apple’s tablet product seem obvious at the least for anyone who’s inherently familiar with the Cupertino giant. The original filing date is listed as far back as January 6, 2010 and is officially published as of  October 14.

iPad dual-dock design trademark example

(Source: SlashGear via Patently Apple)

Apple iAds Revealing Their Video Angle

Oct 152010
 

Apple is going to use video advertisement in coming days. Through this approach the new product will be delivered through streaming video ads over the iPhone, iPad and some other potential Apple’s devices. The news has come through some reliable sources and revealed by Gigaom. This idea obviously will improve the scope of revenue as well as offers more mileage for a product too.

In fact, for this kind of video streaming definitely the Flash would be the wise choice due to its capabilities to pre-roll, post-roll or in mid-roll commercial breaks during video playback. Surprisingly this is not possible with other similar products that are available for video streaming. This is the reason earlier many multimedia providers hesitated to migrate their video content to the latest HTML5 standard complaining that it cannot provide sophisticated embed facility the way it got with Adobe Flash.

This kind of ads is mainly dependent on dynamics, which are vital to allow the advertisement to target on specific demography, region, or time period. A plain video delivered through HTML5 will definitely lack some of the needed dynamics for the ads.

Here, Apple is one way blessed with its own Quick Time Media Playback software and this can support the dynamic ad placement to its iOS successfully.
Now, coming to the point, the current Apple’s iAds program is integrated well the support for dynamic ads into video. It is geared up now to enable these video ads on newspapers, magazines and TV broadcasters to add video content on their websites and native iOS apps through the help of standard H.264/HTML5 while still being able to monetize that content as they now do with Flash or similar proprietary video distribution technologies.

Until now, Apple has focused on enabling TV and movie studios to sell their content in iTunes and recently another option added to this facility as “rent” video playback for a limited period along with an expiry time window option. Now, through integrating ad support, iAd should enable the company to expand its offerings to pick up a broader array of multimedia providers who rely upon integrated ads to monetize their content.

Via Gigaom

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