Future of Technology - Webdesignnuke » iPhone

How to hide all ringtones and themes within Cydia [Jailbreak]

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:36:24 +0000

chpwn isn’t just the developer of InfiniBoard, InfiniDock, and InfiniFolder — he’s also a dispenser of sage Cydiatic advice.

One of the most annoying things about perusing Cydia for apps is scrolling past the 10 billion themes, ringtones, and wallpapers, and, before yesterday, I had no idea anything could be done about them. Then I saw one of chpwn’s tweets, which suggested that users head to the Sections tab and tap on the Edit button to selectively hide all of the things you don’t want to see. I then proceeded to hide about 50 sections worth of crap and threw an impromptu five-second dance party where I was standing.

I’m still waiting on chpwn’s tweet about how to hide similar crap in the App Store, though.

A few notes on Notified Pro for iPhone [Jailbreak]

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 19:34:32 +0000

The paid version of Notified App hit the Cydia Store yesterday. It costs a cool $2.99 and nets you all the features of the free version (duh, Thomas!), but also allows you to call upon the app from any screen with a simple Activator gesture (wow, Thomas!).

If you haven’t seen my quick look at the free version of Notified, you may want to do so before you read this piece, since I’ll just be busting out a set of notes about what’s different in Pro.

Notified Everywhere — Since Notified can be summoned through Activator (just like SBSettings), it’s easier than ever to take a look at your logged notifications at any time. I’ve programmed the list to come up with a bottom-left swipe, but I’m still not quite sure about how to make it go away. A press of the home button works, a tap on the bottom of the list works *sometimes*, and using the bottom-left gesture also seems to toggle Notified off. However, I think Notified is significantly less intuitive than SBSettings, when it comes to dismissing it from the screen.

Blocking Alerts from within Notified — Both the free and paid versions of Notified can selectively block different types of notification pop-ups (calendar, push, messages, etc.), but the only way to check for new information then is to look at app badges or load Notified up.
However, blocking pop-ups from within Notified isn’t a very good solution at the moment, since it ends up blocking related sound and vibration alerts, as well.
I’m using a separate jailbreak app called Notifier to display a status icon whenever the Notified badge lights up, but still doesn’t provide any sound or vibration alerts when I receive any type of push notifications.

Blocking Alerts from within Settings.app — The other method I tried to cut down on my pop-ups was to selectively de-activate alerts for apps that are better suited to Notified (Beejive is a good example of this). I did this by going to Settings -> Notifications and then setting Alerts for Beejive to Off.
My hope was that I could still benefit from the sound, vibration, and badge alerts for incoming messages, but get rid of the rather pesky pop-ups. After all, I could always just check the Notified Drawer to see what messages were just sent, right? Wrong, apparently.
It seems that setting an app’s Alerts to Off prevents even Notified from logging the notifications. To make a long story short: you won’t want to turn Alerts off.

Quick Button Fix needed — the actual Notified app that launches from the Springboard icon works perfectly, but Notified Pro’s overlay still needs a quick fix. It’s currently impossible to clean your list of notifications, despite repeated taps on the “Clear” button (although this does reset the Notified app badge correctly). The Notified Twitter account has stated a fix is coming soon, though.

I quite like Notified Pro so far and consider it a $2.99 well spent, but I have yet to be convinced that it’s really a real game changer as far as notifications are concerned. However, I do have hope in the free, open-source plugins that the developer plans to release, which will feature custom pop-ups, among other things.
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Notified Pro is available for $2.99 on the Cydia Store.

Video Edit App hits the App Store

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:34:35 +0000

I have three surprises hidden in this post, and it’s up to you to find them all.

Remember the Video Edit app I reviewed a while back? Well, it’s out now. Surprise!

It’s also a little cheaper than I had initially announced, since the developers decided to lower the price from $4.99 to $2.99. Surprise!

But wait, there’s more: for a limited time, you’ll be able to purchase the app for the sale price of $1.99. Temporary surprise!

Goodness, this excitement is making me dizzy.

Icebird 1.2.1 for iPhone: Retina Display support, improved caching and state saving

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:34:41 +0000

Here is a screenshot of the newer, higher definition-ier version of Icebird ($3.99 – review here) for your updating pleasure. I still really like the app, but I’m afraid I haven’t used it in a while, because I’m just addicted to the Twitterriffic interface.

Unlock your iPhone

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 05:01:13 +0000

Finally the long wait for iOS 4.0 unlock iPhone 3G 4.0 is over as Unlock-iPhone has released ultrasn0w 0.93 to unlock iOS 4.0 Baseband 05.13.04 on unlock iPhone 3G 3.1.3/4.0 & unlock iPhone 3GS 4.0. Though ultrasn0w 0.93 can unlock iOS 4.0 with baseband 05.12 or 05.13 only if you have jailbroken iPhone 3G/3GS 3.1.3/4.0.
Redsn0w 0.9.5 Beta 5 can jailbreak iOS 4.0 GM build but we are not sure whether we can jailbreak iOS 4.0 release today. In case you managed to jailbreak iOS 4.0 on iPhone 3G/3GS then follow below steps to unlock iOS 4.0 Baseband 05.13.04.
Yes the first iOS 4.0 unlock iPhone 3G 3.1.3 /4.0 tool Ultrasn0w 0.93 has been released by Unlock-iPhone team though iOS 4.0 jailbreak tool is yet to be released. This time Unlock iPhone 2G 4.0 team has got Ultrasn0w 0.93 Unlock iPhone 3G/3GS 4.0/3.1.3 tool for iOS 4.0 with any Baseband even 05.12/05.13, meaning those users who upgraded iOS 4.0 preserving baseband can also unlock iOS 4.0 with Ultrasn0w 0.93.
Now those users who don’t know how to Unlock iOS 4.0 can follow below step by step guide on the official website
Please Note: T-Mobile USA users must disable 3G before proceeding to unlock iOS 4.0 on iPhone 3G & 3GS.
iOS 4, released yesterday with much fanfare, brings seven major, new additions to the iPhone fan base, and around 100 extra smaller improvements and tweaks. The major, new benefits iOS 4 brings, dubbed “tent-poles”¬ by Apple’s CEO during one of his recent keynotes, are Multitasking; App Folders; Enhanced Mail app; iBooks for iPhone and iPod touch; Enhanced enterprise features; Game Center; and iAd.
Multitasking, the most prominent feature in iOS 4, employs several methods (services) to allow applications to perform tasks in the background, while preserving battery life and performance. Those include background audio, Voice over IP, background location, push notifications, local notifications, task finishing, and fast app switching.
Apple has posted an iOS 4 Apps section on the iTunes App Store, which is also accessible from the Featured section on the iPhone’s App Store. Currently there are 42 apps in the section, all of which utilize iOS 4’s unique features in one way or another, many taking advantage of iOS 4’s new multitasking and fast app switching capabilities.

Facebook 3.1.3 Update Goes Live, Videos Work

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:35:17 +0000

Anyone who has used the Facebook app for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad knows the frustrations of not being able to watch videos. Not only are videos unavailable, but there are numerous other quirks and annoying bugs that inhibit the functionality of the popular social networking app. Well, the 3.1.3 update for the Facebook App has come out, and fortunately it has fixed the video bug, and added some other tweaks to improve users’ experience with the app.

Facebook for iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad is available for free from the iTunes AppStore.

Twin Blades for iPhone

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:02:24 +0000

Take one lesbian nun, a scythe, six upgradeable weapons, hordes of undead, and some of the smoothest visuals I have ever seen on the iPhone, and you’ve got yourself a solid $2.99 action title in the form of Twin Blades.

If you’re into mindless zombie destruction coupled with incredibly stylish action (and don’t mind a bit, well, a lot of repetition), then Twin Blades will deliver in spades.

Story Mode

There isn’t really a story mode. The story was introduced in the 1.1 update to Twin Blades, but almost no effort was spent actually writing anything interesting. Twin Blades’ story tries to give you a decent reason for wanting to fight the zombies, but once you start swinging your scythe around all, of that other stuff becomes irrelevant (yes, even that brief mention of the fact that this nun is a lesbian). This game is all about killing, upgrading your gun, and then killing some more.

Controls

I think the controls in Twin Blades are alright, but the jump key could use some serious work. I really, really wish that developer Press Start had placed the jump key on the right side, as a separate button, instead of melding it into the functionality of the d-pad. I can’t count the number of times I’ve accidentally jumped into a horde of zombies when all I meant to do was walk to the right.

The other controls to switch weapons, swing your scythe, and fire your gun all work just fine in comparison, but the game would immediately be 10,000 times better if you were allowed you to adjust the ridiculously low placement of the buttons.

Combat

There are nine levels in Twin Blades, but you’d better not mind replaying each and every one of them…multiple times over. You also shouldn’t mind fighting very, very similar enemies for the rest of the game, because the only difference between the various enemies and levels is how they look.

This is forgivable because Twin Blades is really a survival game with a story mode laid over it. Each level will require you to kill a set number of zombies — and this can cause some awkward lulls in the action when you’ve literally out-paced the zombies by killing them faster than newer batches can spawn. Normal levels can also get a little dull when you’re required to kill 140 or more zombies that really only ever limp at you from either side of the screen.

Your expertise with your gun and scythe will really be put to the test in the later stages of the game, especially when you encounter (and re-encounter) the bosses. Boss battles in Twin Blades are good, old-fashioned 2D bosses. They’re all rendered in amazing detail, and they all have some sort of pattern you have to see through and take advantage of. If there is to be another update to Twin Blades, I’d love for it to add more boss battles and lessen the kill limits to pass all the normal stages in between.

Animation

The best thing about Twin Blades is how beautifully all of the action plays out. You may be fighting the same zombies all damn game long, but they’ll all die in spectacular fashion. Combat is delightfully gory, with liberal use of blood and guts (blood will even drip down the screen after it splashes). Heads will roll, bodies will lurch to a stop, and torsos will be severed — and those are just the effects of the scythe.

The nun can also use six different sets of upgradeable ranged weapons, each of which has a different effect, so it’s well worth putting your points (zombie hearts, if you must know) into purchasing every one of them just to see what they’ll do to the undead.

Conclusion

Despite all of the variety in death animations, level backgrounds, and weapon effects, Twin Blades is still a fairly basic game — which is alright, so long as you view it as something similar to titles like Minigore when you buy it. Don’t let the blood and guts fool you either: Twin Blades is a title that was made with a lot of love and care, and it’s ultimately the attention to detail and the awesome manga-styled graphics that this game well worth a recommendation, despite its rather repetitive nature.

iPhone Crushes Space Travel, Loses Out to The Wheel and Light Bulb in Survey on Greatest Inventions

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:47:25 +0000

Despite its upset loss last year in a head-to-head battle with a stone, the iPhone has rebounded this year to easily outpace Space Travel in a UK consumer survey on the 100 most important inventions of all time. The iPhone finished 8th (trailing things like the wheel and the light bulb) while Space Travel was way back in 39th place.

Also trailing well behind the iPhone were: the steam engine, cars, pain killers, and the mobile phone (is there a maybe a chicken and egg situation here?), as well as motorways, chairs, and sliced bread.

I’m wondering if this survey was done with consumers exiting pubs at around 11-ish on a Friday night.

iPhone and iPad App Stores to see paid upgrades soon?

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 20:46:11 +0000

[Edit: Based on new information from reader feedback, this may simply be a dialogue related to pirated apps, though I still find the part about "discounted price" curious.]

All I have is this screenshot from @digeratii (RT’ed by @stroughtonsmith) and although I can’t absolutely guarantee its authenticity, I see no major reason anyone to just make this stuff up. If the above screenshot is real, we might see paid app upgrades very soon (if they haven’t been implemented already).

This seems to me like a fair move for developers (as long as prices aren’t jacked way up) and a welcome change from the recent trend towards in-app purchases (which are both confusing and unwieldy), but I do hope that Apple makes a big deal about announcing this possible change. We’ve had two years of free app upgrades and pulling a switch-a-roo on every iPhone user through a tiny dialogue box just doesn’t seem like the right way to go about announcing a new system.

everythingiCafe Now Has an iPhone App

Sun, 30 May 2010 15:12:21 +0000

Some happy weekend iPhone app news: my favorite (by far) iPhone forum and community site, everythingiCafe, now has an iPhone app. The site has always had a good iPhone web presence, but the native app has been something many forum users have been asking for for some time.

Here’s some app details from its App Store page:

With the everythingiCafe app, you can browse topics, access private messages, upload images and more. It’s the fastest way to access our forums.

Full access to forums
A wealth of information at your fingertips.

- There is no account necessary to use the application and browse through thousands of topics.
- Full pagination support allows you to keep up with hotly debated discussions.
- View who’s online and check forum statistics.

Members Access Offers Enhanced Features
It’s always free to join and you’ll receive immediate access to these enhanced features.

- Use the ‘Favorites’ tab to view your subscribed topics.
- Send and receive private messages for free, just like SMS.
- Create and reply to messages using the iPhone virtual keyboard.
- Upload images directly from your iPhone to the forum.
- Keep track of unread topics.

I only played with it for a short time last night, but I like it a lot so far. It’s easy to browse the forums, find the latest posts, and to create new posts and attach images – for instance of strikingly handsome labradors …

If you’re looking for a great place to find iPhone troubleshooting tips, and discussion of the iPhone, iPad, all things Mac related, and all sorts of off topic fun, head over to everythingiCafe. And now you can do that via their shiny new iPhone app as well.