Apple has seeded developers of their iPhone Developer Program with the fourth beta version of iPhone OS 3.0 which Apple had previewed in March. The new beta version has revealed some more details of iPhone OS 3.0. Apple has also released a developer pre-release version of iTunes 8.2, which is...
Business Week is reporting that two sources "familiar with the matter" have told them that Apple and Verizon are working on two new iPhone-like devices: one device is a smaller, less expensive version of the current iPhone and the other device termed as a media pad, which would let users...
There were early rumors about the World of Warcraft (WOW) coming to iPhone but then nothing happened. This time, we have a video that seems more like a beta version of WOW running on the iPhone. A combination of 11 million WOW gamers and more than 20 million iPhone units...
Apple had put up a webpage couple of weeks back to countdown the 1 billionth iPhone app downloaded from the App Store. Apple crossed the milestone of 1 billion iPhone apps downloaded from the App Store couple of days back and has also announced the winner of the promotion they...
We have seen quite a few iPhone apps removed or banned from the App Store by Apple for reasons such as copyright issues, duplicating functionality, offering tethering functionality, based on limited utility, content or materials found objectionable, just a ridiculous app etc. This time Apple has removed a controversial iPhone...
Folks at PreCentral have got their hands on a leaked internal AT&T memo that compares Apple's iPhone 3G with Palm Pre which is dubbed by many as an iPhone killer. Based on the internal document it looks like Palm Pre which will be offered exclusive by rival Sprint has got...
Couple of patents filed by Apple at US Patent Office had revealed that their research team is working on how to further improve iPhone's user interface based on "User Movements". In addition to user movements to improve iPhone's user interface, it looks like Apple is also working on voice control...
We have already heard rumors that AT&T is rolling out a major upgrade to its 3G mobile data services in anticipation of a spike in network traffic from Apple's new iPhone. An article at Telephony Online confirms that rumor. Its reporting that AT&T is in the process of upgrading its...
RipDev, developers of the Installer app, which simplifies installation of jailbreak apps on the hacked iPhone recently released a native Mac OS X application called InstallerApp.
RipDev claims that InstallerApp will allow you to download jailbreak apps from "Cydia" and "Installer" app onto your computer and install them on your jailbroken iPhone.
One of the biggest problems with jailbreaking is that whenever you update your jailbroken iPhone with the latest firmware update, you end up losing the jailbreak as well as the jailbreak apps installed on your iPhone.
Based on the details provided by RipDev on their website; it looks like they are trying to address one of the problems.
If you ever had to wait on a new iPhone firmware update because you didn’t want to re-install all those “not from the App Store” apps, InstallerApp is exactly what you need. Synchronize all applications between your iPhone and computer, install the new firmware and synchronize all the apps again back to the phone — no more painful downloads and installation directly on the iPhone.
So this means that after you have updated your jailbroken iPhone with the latest firmware update and have jailbroken it again, you won't have to re-install the apps one by one using either Cydia or Installer app as InstallerApp will synchronize the jailbreak apps for you. Though I'm not sure if it also syncs application specific data like iTunes does for iPhone apps from the App Store.
InstallerApp supports only 1st gen iPhone and iPhone 3G and currently works only on Intel based Macs, requires OS X 10.5 or higher, and costs $7 which includes email support for one-year. RipDev have mentioned that they will be releasing a Windows version soon.
I haven't tried it out yet but if it works as advertised, it could solve one of the biggest annoyance while updating a jailbroken iPhone with the latest firmware.
Alex Winston sent us an email to tell us about an iPhone app that they have developed which works as a virtual joystick dubbed "Wolfenstick" to control Wolfenstein 3D Classic running on an iPod Touch (or second iPhone) through the audio port.
In addition to the virtual joystick which is pretty cool (you can checkout the video after the break), they have also demonstrated how it was also possible to pair an external PS2 keyboard with an iPhone using the same technique.
The impressive thing about their achievement is that they have managed to do it without jailbreaking the iPhone.
Alex Winston Ltd is a small company located in Nashville, Tennessee which is into development of iPhone apps.
They have provided the following details about their project on their website:
"Expanding on the development of the iData toolkit which facilitates serial communication from the iPhone through the audio jack using FSK we have developed the ability to communicate bi-directionally entirely in software WITHOUT jailbreaking your phone. The demonstration below illustrates how two programs could be integrated to communicate with one another in real time."
The virtual joystick is essentially an app running on an iPhone that can control iPhone game - Wolfenstein 3D Classic running on an iPod Touch (or second iPhone) through the audio port.
You can checkout the impressive video below:
Though the idea of using an iPhone to play a game on an iPod Touch might not sound like a practical idea, it opens up some interesting possibilities.
One of them is to connect an external keyboard to an iPhone which has been on the wish list of quite a few readers here at iPhone Hacks.
Using the same technique, they have also demonstrated an external PS2 keyboard paired with an iPhone. You can checkout the demo video below:
The impressive thing about their achievement is that they have managed to do it without jailbreaking the iPhone.
We have already seen the gold rush from iPhone apps developers, I expect another gold rush, this time from iPhone accessory manufacturers thanks to the possibilities opened up by iPhone OS 3.0. We have some killer iPhone apps thanks to the gold rush and we'll continue to see many more, lets hope, we see some useful iPhone accessories thanks to this one.
So if you have a great idea for an iPhone accessory and the money (of course), folks at Alex Winston Ltd. might be a good place to start.
Skype released an updated version of their popular VOiP iPhone app with some minor improvements and fixes.
Geogo3r, one of our regular readers here at iPhone Hacks pointed out that after installing the latest version of Skype (v1.0.2) on a jailbroken iPhone, you get the following warning message:
"This version of Skype is only supported on unmodified iPhone OS"
The new version of Skype for iPhone includes:
Improved support for calling phone numbers that don't have a country code
Improved error handling when making calls to landlines and mobiles, which previously may have failed if you had a monthly subscription.
Resolved a problem with new account creation, which caused customers to be redirected to an incorrect web page, when making a purchase.
Fixed a problem, which caused the application to crash, when tapping a contact image (avatar) within a chat.
Skype's VOiP iPhone App released couple of weeks back has become extremely popular on the App Store and has already crossed the 2 million downloads mark.
Unfortunately, users who have jailbroken their iPhone had observed that Skype's iPhone app was very unstable and was crashing very frequently due to a jailbreak package called "Mobile Substrate" which is used by number of jailbreak apps such as such as Winterboard, Clippy, Lockdown, Five Icon Dock etc. The developer of Mobile Substrate, Jay Freeman (aka Saurik) had released an updated version of Mobile Substrate to resolve the issue.
It looks like that fiasco has prompted Skype to show the following warning message to users who install the new version of Skype for iPhone on a jailbroken iPhone:
It doesn't stop users from using Skype and seems to only serve as a warning to inform users who have jailbroken their iPhone that Skype will not be providing support for the stability related issues. The warning message shows up only for the first time after installing the latest version of Skype.
In case Skype is still crashing on your iPhone then check out our post on how to fix the crashing issue including the comments section as it has some useful tips from our readers.
They have also released the updated version of unofficial QuickPwn: QuickPwn 3.0 Beta 3 for Windows users to jailbreak the latest beta version of iPhone OS 3.0.
You might remember that the iPhone Dev Team had warned against using the unofficial QuickPwn tool for the following reason:
The most important thing about the unofficial QuickPwn releases is that if you use them, you will kill yellowsn0w, possibly forever.
If you are new to the iPhone hacking world, yellowsn0w is Dev team's software method to unlock iPhone 3G which currently works only with baseband 02.28.00 which was included in iPhone firmware 2.2, and if you use the unofficial QuickPwn tool; you will end up upgrading your iPhone 3G's baseband with the latest version included in the latest beta version of iPhone OS 3.0.
When iPhone firmware 2.2.1 was released, Dev Team had released PwnageTool which allowed users to upgrade to iPhone firmware 2.2.1 but preserve the baseband. Since Dev Team isn't planning to release the PwnageTool for beta version of iPhone OS 3.0; you won't be able to preserve the baseband of your iPhone 3G. They have given the reasons for not releasing it for beta versions of OS 3.0 here.
We would recommend you to avoid using the unofficial QuickPwn tool to avoid losing the ability to software unlock your iPhone 3G even though a tool was released recently to downgrade baseband from 02.30.03 to 02.28.00.
It is also important to note that the beta version of iPhone OS 3.0 is only available to developers of iPhone Developer Program so avoid downloading some leaked version of the firmware as it needs a developer account to activate it and like any beta software, it will be buggy (though we have heard that the second and third beta versions include many improvements and are a lot snappier).
But if you're the adventure types who doesn't care about unlocking your iPhone 3G, you can checkout unofficial QuickPwn's website to get more details.
As always, don't forget to drop us a line in the comments section below to tell us how it goes.
We have already heard rumors that AT&T is rolling out a major upgrade to its 3G mobile data services in anticipation of a spike in network traffic from Apple's new iPhone.
An article at Telephony Online confirms that rumor. Its reporting that AT&T is in the process of upgrading its 3G wireless network from the current 3.6 Mbps download standard to 7.2 Mbps.
Telephony Online reports:
AT&T is increasing the downlink capacity on its high-speed packet access (HSPA) from 3.6 megabits per second to 7.2 Mb/s through software upgrades at the base station, said Scott McElroy, AT&T Mobility vice president of technology realization. AT&T currently has the enhanced networks running in two test markets but plans to extend those capabilities to its entire network.
The next obvious step would be for AT&T to further upgrade its 3G networks and devices to its full 14.4-Mb/s potential, but McElroy said AT&T will most likely skip the final HSPA iteration for two reasons: There have been technical difficulties implementing the final step, and HSPA+ is now ready for prime time. There's little point in migrating to 14.4 Mb/s if AT&T can go straight to 21 Mb/s, McElroy said.
We have also heard rumors that AT&T is working hard to improve its 3G coverage to address one of the biggest complaints from iPhone users.
One of the most buzzed-about gadgets of the second half of the decade might be Apple's entry into the cell phone industry, the iPhone. The touchscreen/Internet/camera/and-some-other-things phone launched on June 29, 2007. Its second generation, the iPhone 3G, hit the shelves on July 11, 2008.
To use the phone, one did not have a choice of phone networks, it was AT&T or nothing. But mere months after its initial launch, people were looking for ways to hack into the phone and unlock its functionality into any service for any country (back when the iPhone was USA-exclusive). Suffice to say, Apple was not amused.
The iPhone's main competitor is perhaps BlackBerry, with the iPhone 3G and BlackBerry Bold models standing as flagship rivals. But whatever the latest sales numbers may reveal, the iPhone is a trendy accessory for the diligent blogger, as evidenced by one witness at BlogWorld Expo 2008.
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