GV Connect: First Google Voice iPhone App Hits The AppStore

Sweet! All you Google Voice users who wish to have a Google Voice application on your iPhone without having to jailbreak, you’ll be amazingly pleased to know GV Connect is on the AppStore to satisfy your needs.

Apple finally approved a Google voice app, this is something many of us have been eagerly waiting for and now it’s here. So, let’s talk features, GV Connect has quite a few features and I’ll list some now:

• Place calls using your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number – enter number directly, select a contact from your device’s contacts, or call back any number in your history.
• Send and receive text messages (SMS) from your Google Voice number.
• Listen to voicemails and recorded conversations right on your device (allowing you to pause, rewind, or fast forward to any point within the message) – voicemails will also show the transcription of the message when available.
• Mark messages as starred, attach notes to conversations, block/unblock senders, or delete conversations.
• Easily search in your history by contact, message, or note.
• Messages are stored on your device for offline access.
• Composing notes and text messages can be done in landscape mode.
• Quickly change various Google Voice account settings (call forwarding, do-not-disturb, message notifications, …) directly from within the application.

GV Connect [AppStore link] has many more features, head over to the AppStore and buy a copy. GV Connect goes for $2.99USD.

Sn0wbreeze 2.0 To Jailbreak iOS 4.1 Will Be Released Soon

All of you eagerly waiting to jailbreak your iOS 4.1 device because you purposely or accidentally upgraded, you probably won’t be waiting for long. New version of sn0wbreeze will be released imminently to jailbreak iOS 4.1 — DinoD7 has published a video of jailbroken iPhone to prove that is is possible to jailbreak iOS 4.1 using the new version of Sn0wbreeze:

Sn0wbreeze 2.0, will jailbreak iPhone 3G, iPod Touch 2G MC Model, iPhone 3GS with older bootrom in additon to iPhone 3GS/iPod Touch 3G with newer bootrom if it’s still on iPhone OS 3.1.2.

Sadly, sn0wbreeze will not jailbreak iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4G as of now.

Stay tuned!

Video Preview of iOS 4.2 for iPad

Here are two brief videos previewing the upcoming iOS 4.2 version for the iPad. The videos feature demonstrations of multitasking, folders, unified email inbox, and a look into Apple’s Game Center service.

Noted in the video, the iPad allows for users to view seven application in the multitasking tray in landscape mode and six apps in portrait mode. In addition, AirPlay can be activated directly from the Photos application, allowing users to stream their content to the forthcoming Apple TV revision.

From AppAdvice:

From Engadget:

iOS 4.2 for iPad (iPhone and iPod Touch included) is scheduled to release this coming November. Stay tuned!

VyprVPN — Why & How to Use VPN on Your iOS Device

If you’re always on the move but need to stay connected, you best be doing that over a secured VPN connection. Now what in the world is a VPN connection? A VPN or Virtual Private Network is a connection to the Internet that provides you with an extra layer of privacy. Whether it’s your home network or on Starbucks’ WiFi — you are guaranteed a private and secure connection to the outside world. Now you can fearlessly browse whatever it is you browse and do whatever it is you do on the Internet.

So how does it exactly work? Well, you sign up to the VyprVPN service, and you configure your device — Mac OS X, Windows 7, Windows XP, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android — and even more are supported. It’s way easy to configure and once you activate the VPN service, it simply connects and whatever the device, it does the rest. You just continue to browse the web, send IM messages, emails, or even use VoIP. VyprVPN “scrambles” the connection between you and the server you’re accessing to give you an impenetrable layer of security.

I’m sure there are many other VPN services besides Golden Frog’s VyprVPN, but this I’ve found to be a great one. Golden Frog provides a cool web interface for managing previous and current VPN connections too.

VyprVPN PPTP Quick Guide for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch:

1. Launch the Settings application, click General, click Network, click VPN
2. Click Add VPN Configuration…
3. Click PPTP and enter the following information:
   • Description: VyprVPN
   • Server: Enter one of the following names:
     • us1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Los Angeles, CA
     • us2.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Washington, DC
     • eu1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Amsterdam
     • hk1.vpn.goldenfrog.com for Hong Kong
   • Account: Your Golden Frog Login (e-mail address)
   • Password: Your Golden Frog Password
4. Click Save

You have two plans to choose from:
VyprVPN Pro:
$19.99 USD per month. Includes 256-bit OpenVPN SSL encryption and 128-bit PPTP encryption.

VyprVPN (regular)
$14.99 USD per month. Includes 128-bit PPTP encryption.

You get four server locations, unlimited monthly minutes, no limit on IPs, 24x7x365 professional technical support and no transfer limits. Head over to goldenfrog.com to get secured right now.

Amazon Takes On Apple iPad With New Kindle TV Ad

Pretty bold by Amazon to take on Apple’s iPad head-on with a new Kindle TV ad. In case you don’t already know, Amazon Kindle is an eReader, much like what Apple intended for the iPad to be, but a little bit less functional.

The ad, shown here, features a guy sitting poolside in a t-shirt and shorts struggling to read an e-book on a black LCD-screen device that looks an awful lot like an iPad.

Next to him, a gal in a bikini is enjoying reading on her Kindle, featuring an E Ink screen that looks so clear in the sun that she can even read with sunglasses on. She tells iPad guy she’s able to read in the sun because she’s got a Kindle, which cost less than her sunglasses.

While the Amazon Kindle is less functional than that of Apple’s iPad, the TV ad points out one rather major flaw for book reading on the iPad. — Glare — The iPad’s screen is significantly less readable in direct sunlight than Amazon’s Kindle eInk screen.

What do you guys prefer? Amazon’s fabulous eReader, Kindle or Apple’s very functional, iPad? Let us know in the comments below!

Apple Announces ‘AirPrint’ — Wireless Printing for iOS Devices

A much requested feature for the iPad was wireless printing, Apple listened and announced AirPrint — AirPrint allows for wireless printing for iOS devices, yes, including the iPad, iPhone (4 and 3GS) and iPod Touch (2nd Gen and later). Sadly, iPhone 3G users will be left out of this feature.

Apple today announced that it is releasing a beta version of its AirPrint wireless printing for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to members of Apple’s iOS developer program today, and that AirPrint will be included in the free iOS 4.2 software update in November. AirPrint automatically finds printers on local networks and can print text, photos and graphics to them wirelessly over Wi-Fi without the need to install drivers or download software. HP’s existing and upcoming ePrint enabled printers will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices.

Apple Senior Vice President, Phil Schiller, notes AirPrint will require no user configuration, no drivers, and no additional software, allowing users to simply tap to print photos and documents on compatible printers.

iOS 4.2 is scheduled to release this coming November.

Stay tuned!

Greenpois0n with SHAtter Exploit to Begin New Jailbreaking Era

It all started as fun for Hackers but it now has turned into probably the biggest community around the world who hack their iDevices. You are right, we are talking about Jailbreaking Apple’ Devices. It has progressed so far that Electronic Frontier Foundation declared it legal to jailbreak your devices under DMCA.

Apple has known to be possessive about their devices. They desire total control over their devices like iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad from carrier choice to app selection. Hackers have always resisted to Apple’s domineering behavior. It is always a cat and mouse game between Apple and Hackers where Hackers find vulnerabilities in Apple’s security architecture and exploit them to have full control over the device. This control allows Jailbreakers to run apps other than what’s available in iTunes, which is in supervision of Apple. In return, Apple always rushes to fix and patch the bugs being used by jailbreakers.

SHAtter exploit is the recent glorifying achievement by two prominent members of Chronic Dev Team, @p0sixninja and @pod2g. Chronic Dev team has been under criticism because they have not been able to release their announced GreenPois0n Jailbreak tool. It will be their first Jailbreak tool that was announced earlier this year. Finally, they have lived up to the expectations of users who believed them to be real iPhone Hackers. Here is the recent update about Greenpois0n by pod2g.

Hey, @p0sixninja ’s epic greenpois0n works well on iPhone 4G! (need to work on the framebuffer code tho ! ) http://twitpic.com/2nvrfm

SHAtter exploit will be embedded in Greenpois0n and will jailbreak all iDevices to date like iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, 3G, and iPad who couldn’t be jailbroken without a userland jailbreak which has a downside. Apple can easily fix Userland jailbreak in new iOS releases. On the other hand, Greenpois0n equipped with SHAtter exploit will be a long-term jailbreak. SHAtter exploit is a low-level bootrom vulnerability, which can’t be fixed without making changes in Hardware. There is no ETA but it should be only a matter of days now.

TinyUmbrella v4.1.4 Released

Shortly after v4.1.2 being released, the developer released version 4.1.4 — Not much new in this version. The change log states the following:

• Updated default SHSH to 4.1
• Fixed a small DNS caching bug (very minor)

That’s pretty much it.

Downloads:
We’ll have download links shortly, sit tight
TinyUmbrella 4.1.4 for Windows PC
TinyUmbrella 4.1.4 for Mac OS X
TinyUmbrella 4.1.4 for Linux

How To Update from iOS 4.x to iOS 4.1 Without Updating Baseband

With an iPhone 4, you can update to iOS 4.1 from a previous version of iOS 4 and keep the baseband from updating versions. Here’s how to do it:

1. Get the latest TinyUmbrella (4.1.4)
2. READ THE README
3. Run TinyUmbrella.
4. Make sure your SHSH blobs for iOS 4.1 are backed up
5. Start TSS Server on TinyUmbrella
6. Open iTunes
7. Restore 4.1 (NOT UPDATE) Yes this requires you to download 4.1 Here
8. Let iTunes error with 1004 error (baseband update failed – we want this :) )
9. Kick Device Out of Recovery via TinyUmbrella
10. You are now on 4.1 with 1.59.00 baseband!

Easy enough, eh?

Note: Use strictly at your own risk!

Let us know how it works out for you!

iPhone 4.1 Jailbreak Only a Matter of Time

While the iPhone Dev Team is still warning not to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 4.1 yet if you have any Jailbreaking or Unlocking plans, with their humorous It’s a Trap post. Pod2g has confirmed there is a working 4.1 exploit in this tweet. It is only a matter of time before iOS 4.1 get’s jailbroken and unlocked. Until then we have to play the waiting game… The waiting game sucks let’s play Hungry Hungry Hippos!

Back Up iOS 4.1 SHSH Blobs with TinyUmbrella v4.1.2

TinyUmbrella version 4.1.2 has been released to allow you to back up SHSH Blobs for the latest iOS version, 4.1 — This new version includes iOS 4.1 support, baseband protection for iPhone 4, among other features and fixes.

Change log:

• Fixed a naming issue for 4.1 shsh
• 4.1 iOS support
• Baseband Protection for iPhone 4

Baseband protection, prevents the baseband from updating on your iPhone 4 when updating to iOS 4.1 –

Apple iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch Released

Woot, woot! Apple has released iOS 4.1 for iPhone and iPod Touch. So, what’s new on iOS 4.1? Well, many things including:

• High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos
• HD video upload over Wi-Fi
• TV show rentals
• Apple’s Game Center

Along with a few bug fixes:

• Proximity sensor
• Bluetooth
• iPhone 3G performances

With all the new nice features and the bug fixes, you may be tempted to update your iPhone right away. — Don’t if you like your jailbreak/unlock — It’s still unknown whether you’ll be able to jailbreak in the future. We gotta wait for the iPhone Dev Team to once again come to the rescue and provide us with a jailbreak. Use TinyUmbrella to back up your SHSH blobs.

If you still want to update, you can do so by plugging in your iPhone or iPod Touch to iTunes and you should be notified. or you can download the files from our iPhone Downloads section.

iPhone iOS 4.1 ipsw Downloads:
iPhone 4 iOS 4.1 ipsw
iPhone 3GS iOS 4.1 ipsw
iPhone 3G iOS 4.1 ipsw

iPod Touch iOS 4.1 ipsw Downloads:
iPod Touch 3G iOS 4.1 ipsw
iPod Touch 4G iOS 4.1 ipsw

4th Gen iPod Touch Orders Begin Shipping!

Noted by tipb, Apple has begun notifying customers that their orders for the 4th generation iPod Touch has shipped. — According to a screenshot of the shipping information the order should deliver by September 14th, 2010.

The 4th generation iPod Touch was announced September 1st, 2010 at Apple’s media event, along with new iPod shuffles, and nanos.

Some are have received shipping notifications that their order will deliver as early as September 10th, while others are being told Sept 14th.

Orders for the 4th gen iPod Touch in the U.S. and Canada are being quoted to ship in one week, while other countries are being quoted 5-7 business days.

Stay tuned!

Creating Custom Ringtones on iTunes 10

Sure, Apple removed the ‘simple’ way to do ringtones but you’re still able to create custom ringtones for your iPhone, albeit it’s a bit more complicated.

1. Select the song you want
2. Right click on it, and choose Get Info
3. On the Get Info menu, choose the Options tab
4. Choose your start/end time — there’s a 40 second limit — (make sure the boxes are selected) and click OK
5. Select that song again, and right click and choose “Create AAC version”
6. Once it’s done, you’ll have another version of that song…
7. Select the new version of the song, right click and click on “Show in Finder” (On Mac OS X) or “Show in Windows Explorer” (on Windows)
8. Once it shows you the .m4a on Finder or Windows Explorer, go back to iTunes and remove the ringtone-version of the song from iTunes but keep the file when asked
9. Back on Finder/Windows Explorer, change the .m4a extension to .m4r and double click on it
10. The song should now be in the Ringtone section of iTunes

I apologize for not providing screenshots, Mac OS X is not allowing me to screenshot iTunes for some odd reason but I tried to explain it as simple as possible.

Let us know in the comments how it works out for you!

TinyUmbrella 4.02.09 Released With Support for iOS 4.1

A new version of TinyUmbrella has been released to help protect your baseband from being changed during a iPhone 4.1 firmware update. It is still recommended that should you wish to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone do not update to 4.1 yet. Here are the latest features:

• Baseband Protection – Updating to 4.1 using TinyUmbrella will protect your baseband from update. THIS ONLY APPLIES TO IPHONE 4!!!!! If you have a 3G or 3GS and you update to 4.1 your baseband will likely be updated.
• SHSH Retrieval from Cydia – If you don’t have your SHSH locally, TinyUmbrella will request them from Cydia on-demand; allowing the restore to continue
• Automatically point hosts to Cydia – Once you close TinyUmbrella, it points your hosts file to Cydia (for further baseband protection and update/restores without TinyUmbrella)

Click more to read system requirements and download links

System Requirements

• WIndows XP, Windows 7 (32 and 64 bit), Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit), OSX 10.6.X, 10.5.X
• Java: Windows (1.6+ 32 bit ONLY 64bit java will not work on windows!!!) Mac: (1.6+) Snow Leopard ships with this, Leopard users may have to update
• iTunes: Tested on 9.0.x, 9.1.x, 9.2 (32 bit only) I have not tested and don’t support Windows 64 bit iTunes.
• Administrator privileges – you MUST be able to run the application as Administrator for both windows and mac

Download Links:

TinyUmbrella 4.02.09 for Windows PC
TinyUmbrella 4.02.09 for Mac OS X
TinyUmbrella 4.02.09 for Linux

New iPod Touch adds Vibration

‘Bout damn time! Since 2007, the iPhone has been the only device on Apple’s product lineup which sported vibration, now the shiny new iPod Touch has a vibration motor built-in as shown in this FCC tear down photo:

From Apple’s iPod Touch accessibility page:

If somebody wants to start a video call with you, you’ll receive an invitation — along with a vibrating alert — on your iPod touch asking you to join. Simply tap Accept, and the video call begins.

Easy iPhone 4.1 Web based Jailbreak Coming?

If you haven’t been living under a rock or you happen to have broadband access under your rock, you know that Apple will be releasing iOS 4.1 soon (September 8th). The usual warnings are obvious don’t upgrade until a jailbreak has been released!

Luckily if recent rumors end up being true, it may not be a very long wait. Recent twitter chatter and an blogosphere articles have hinted at Comex having already found a userland exploit for an upcoming web based iPhone 4.1 jailbreak, much like the famous JailBreakMe hack.

Apple Removes Custom Ringtone Creation in iTunes 10

For shame… Apple has removed the ability of creating custom ringtones in the latest version of iTunes, that is iTunes 10. — The feature allowed users to create ringtones from iTunes purchased songs, trim the song to their desired length (length limit was 40 seconds as far as I remember) and then purchase that custom ringtone, which then you’d be able to sync to your iPhone.

From MacLife:

After looking around in the application, it seems that ringtone creation has been pulled from iTunes 10. We checked iTunes and were met with only information on how to sync ringtones from iTunes.

Despite the feature no longer being available on iTunes, Apple still has a support document published outlining the process on creating a custom ringtone.

I personally wont be missing the feature as I only used it once, but others may dearly miss it.

Stay tuned!

Apple iTunes 10 Released featuring ‘Ping’

Apple, today at the keynote event announced iTunes 10. iTunes 10 introduces yet another social networking centre to the world called Ping — iTunes 10 also features a streamlined interface and a new more modern icon, whoopie!

Apple today introduced iTunes 10 with Ping, a new music-oriented social network for following your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading. iTunes Ping lets you post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes, plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend. iTunes 10 also features HD TV show rentals for just 99 cents an episode and AirPlay wireless music playback.

iTunes 10 will be available later on today for free at apple.com (source link below).

Apple iPod Touch Gets Retina Display and Dual Cameras

Yup, those rumors were correct. The next generation iPod Touch has gotten a rather major and overdue upgrade.

The iPod Touch has gotten:

• 326ppi Retina display (Same as iPhone 4)
• Apple A4 Processor (Same as iPhone 4 and iPad)
• 3-axis gyroscope (Same as iPhone 4)
• Rear facing camera, which can record HD video (Again, same as iPhone 4)
• Front facing camera, can be used with FaceTime
• FaceTime, obviously

Battery life?

• Up to 40 hours when fully charged of music playback
• Up to 7 hours when fully charged of video playback

Pretty darn nice battery lifes, however, your millage may vary compared to Apple’s.

The iPod touch will cost $229 for the 8 GB model, $299 for 32 GB, and $399 for 64 GB. and ships within 1 Week according to Apple’s shipping time estimate.

I wonder how long till this iPod Touch gets a jailbreak.