The working title for the independent Steve Jobs film featuring Ashton Kutcher is ‘Jobs: Get Inspired’. The film’s producer Mark Hulme of Five Star Institute spoke to Neowin about the project.

The Steve Jobs movie is something we are already thoroughly looking forward to here at Redmond Pie, even after the news that man-child Ashton Kutcher is to play the Apple co-founder. During an interview with the movie’s producer, Mark Hulme, Neowin has managed to uncover a couple of facts which have gone some way to tempering our excitement, though.

As if the Kutcher factor was not enough to set the alarm bells ringing, Hulme shared with our friends at Neowin that the movie will begin filming as soon as next month. Great news indeed, but things get a little more worrying after that. Apparently, and this is straight from the horse’s mouth, the movie is expected to be completed and available for our perusal as soon as the fourth quarter. That’s a pretty quick turnaround for a movie that is set to span thirty years in the life of arguably America’s highest achieving CEOs.

Joshua Michael Stern is known for directing the comedy Swing Vote. Why was he picked to direct Jobs?
We wanted a director who could not only buy into and execute our vision for the film but could also work within our framework as an independent film company. After several meetings with Josh we were confident we had found both a brilliant and collaborative director. As an experienced writer and director Josh has a masterful understanding of the process of film making.

Ashton Kutcher is, obviously, a huge Hollywood actor and he must have his pick of projects to choose from. First, why do you think he is your choice for playing Steve Jobs?
Since our film covers the early years of Apple, when Jobs was in his 20′s, we needed an actor who could carry not only the youthfulness of Jobs at the time but also the psychological complexity. Because of that, and Ashton’s physical similarities to Jobs, he’s perfect for our film.

Second, was it hard to get him to agree to play the role in a relatively small independent film about Jobs’ life?
When Ashton read the script he was immediately attracted to the project. He is a Steve Jobs and Apple fan, and is technologically savvy, as well, so he recognized the historical importance of Steve Jobs and the potential of the project. He is very excited to have the role.

If you are paying attention, you will have noticed we just said that the movie will span thirty years. According to Hulme, we can expect the movie to cover Jobs’ life from 1971 to the year 2000 which just so happens to be the same timespan that Pirates of Silicon Valley covered a few years ago. Anyone hoping for an insight into the arrival of the iPhone, the iPad or even Jobs’ battle with the cancer that eventually killed him, will be sorely disappointed. We count ourselves as being firmly in that camp, and we now find ourselves rather underwhelmed about the whole thing.

Sony is also working on its own biopic of Steve Jobs which is not expected to be ready for another couple of years. Hulme says he is not concerned about the upcoming competition due to the considerable time between the two impending releases. If Sony’s effort is simply better though – and it won’t feature Kutcher, so that is entirely possible – then Hulme would do well to consider the competition when putting his own work together.

iPhone Techie

Stride is a new Cydia app that allows you to create your own custom unlock animation to unlock your iDevice.

No icons are installed on your home screen, but a tab is put into your Cydia apps/tweaks section. The app allows you to enable or disable the app, to disable your iDevice’s unlock code and also allows you to customize your own animation.

The calibration process consists of three entries of your desired animation, which will then be confirmed and then you’re all set to go. No reboot or respiring is required you can just lock your phone, slide to unlock and then enter your animation in the entry pad. Your image should appear on screen and flash green, then your phone will unlock. If an incorrect entry is performed, the image drawn will flash red.

It is advisable that you keep your pin code still enabled when using this app, as there is an image of 9 blocks in the bottom right of the entry screen. Pressing this button will automatically enter you into the iDevice, without the need for an animation if no unlock code is present. This is the one major downside to this app, as you still need to enter your pin code in order to unlock the phone and you’ll also need your pin code to keep your iDevice secure.

Either way, I’m sure that the dev’s will look at this issue and fix it pretty soon.

Stride is available from the Cydia store for .99.

Download it and tell us what you think.

Of course what is the point of paying for something you might not like right? here is the REPO you can add / use on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to get this app for free for testing purposes and then KEEPING it if you like it. 2.99 is not a lot of money but I believe everything in Cydia should be FREE because that was the reason why it was created to begin with…

Anyways, add the xSellize: http://cydia.xsellize.com <—– (Try this, everything is cracked) source/repo in your cydia on your iPhone and search for “Stride”… install it and use it.

Good Luck guys. iPhone Techie is OUT

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UPDATE

Dev has emailed us stating that an update has been released to give you the option to remove the ’9 button’ tab at the bottom right of your device. The update should be available on Cydia within 24 hours.

iPhone Techie

One of the beautiful things about Apple’s addition of the Notification Center section to iOS 5 is the ability to quickly get access to certain information, which as we all know is generally notification based. The beauty of being jailbroken is that Notification Center can be extended way beyond its original scope, allowing for all kinds of wonderful things to be displayed.

I am from the way of thinking that simple is most often better when it comes to mobile devices, and the newly released NCDate tweak that hooks into Notification Center couldn’t really be any simpler. The tweak itself simply makes itself at home in the pull down Notification Center screen like any other NC based offering. No additional Springboard icons or configurable options are added to the device as part of this tweak.

After installation, NCDate is activated by heading over to the Notifications section of the Settings.app and setting the toggle to on. The tweak itself will then be located within Notification Center and does nothing more than reading the current time and date from the device and displaying it in a clear and concise manner within NC in its own dedicated tile. Considering the time and date is already displayed on the device in a number of locations including the status bar and the lock screen, I am a little confused as to why it would be needed again in Notification Center, but for those who use NC consistently it may prove useful.

NCDate is available as a free of charge download from the BigBoss repository and requires a jailbroken device running iOS 5.x.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak.

iPhone Techie

We’ve all been there. You reach to your pocket, expecting to find your smartphone, and are soon overcome by blind panic when, after consulting your remaining pockets, the notion that your device is lost begins to set in.

Fortunately, ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s a false alarm, and the precious device is located safe and sound (often in a place you already thought you’d checked). Every minute of every day, however, others aren’t so lucky, and from restaurants to gas stations, thousands of people are losing their prized devices.

An interesting infographic compiled by BackgroundCheck.org shows the trends of the lost devices worldwide, and specifically among American citizens, based on the research of Lookout Mobile Security. It found the total value of daily lost devices to be in excess of a staggering million, although that number doubled over the new year celebration period.

Special events and festivals – as you might expect – turn up a lot of unrecoverable devices, with 30% more phones lost in Cologne carnival than on a normal day.

The specific locations in which devices are lost certainly makes for interesting reading. In Chicago, for example, coffee shops are the hotspots for losing phones, along with San Francisco. Interestingly, bars and clubs – both places one would presume high cellphone loss – don’t make the charts. It could just be that people don’t lose their devices as much in these areas, but considering even Apple itself has lost prototype devices in San Fran bars, we highly doubt this to be the case.

Those in Seattle are most likely to come away from a fast food joint minus their pocket partner, while those in Philadelphia run a fairly high risk of coming away from Church without their phone. As is the case in Chicago, the place of prayer ranks as the third most common place to lose a phone.

Besides being largely expensive devices to replace, there’s also the implication of private data and information being lost, and privacy invaded by others.

To conclude this sermon, the best thing to do is make sure your device is locked with a secure password / passcode, and make sure you back everything up, covering your back should the unthinkable occur.

(via Mashable)

iPhone Techie

As announced, AT&T has begun unlocking off contract iPhones for customers. TNW details the procedure. If you qualify you can contact the company via phone, chat, or in-store to request the unlock.

Here’s what happens:

The only piece of information required by AT&T is the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, which can be found under Settings>General>About on your device. Once you’ve completed the procedure, Apple pushes the unlock code during the next 72 hours to your email address, so the code comes from the mothership, not from AT&T. Once Apple completes the unlock request, a customer has to back-up and restore and tether the device to iTunes to complete the unlock process.

The maximum amount of unlock codes that can be given to an account is 5/year. You can see a copy of the unlock confirmation below.

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iPhone Techie

Semaphore has released an update to TinyUmbrella that lets you save BBTickets for use ‘later on…’

I’m pushing 5.10.11 for iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, and iPhone 4 CDMA users with functionality to save BBTickets for use later on…

The saving of your Baseband Ticket will presumably be important to those looking to unlock their device. When resaving your 5.1 SHSH blobs make sure you have selected Overwrite existing SHSH files on “Save SHSH” from the Advanced tab.

You can download TinyUmbrella from the link below and find instructions on how to use it here: Instructions How to use TinyUmbrella

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Click on Image Below for FULL screen shot

iPhone Techie

TomTom has updated their navigation app for iOS with updated maps, Facebook integration, destination sharing, and more.

The TomTom Navigation app. World-class TomTom navigation, on your iPhone or iPad New to v1.10: Navigation goes social with Facebook™ & Twitter™

FEATURES:
GET THERE FASTER AND SMARTER
- Latest, updated TomTom Map
- Map Share
- IQ Routes
- TomTom HD Traffic (1)
- Eco Routes

FIND SHOPS AND BUSINESSES
- Millions of pre-installed POIs
- Local search Powered by Google
- Search and navigate to places and events with Facebook

STAY SAFE
- Advanced lane guidance
- Clear voice instructions
- Announces street names (2)
- Help me! emergency menu
- Automatic music fading
- Multi-stop routes

WHAT’S NEW IN THIS VERSION:
- LATEST, UPDATED TOMTOM MAP: Because roads are constantly changing, on average 15% of roads change every year, your TomTom App update comes with the latest and most up-to-date map.

- SEARCH AND NAVIGATE WITH FACEBOOK: Your TomTom App can access Facebook to make navigation more social. Find an event and automatically plan your route to it. You can also search thousands of Facebook places, and navigate to them in a tap.

- SHARE YOUR DESTINATION VIA EMAIL, FACEBOOK, OR TWITTER: Share your destination and arrival time with Twitter, Facebook, email and SMS text – all through the TomTom App. Keep friends, family and ‘followers’ up to date with your plans.

- FIXED SPEED CAMERAS: pre-installed and updated with every App release (US only)

- NEW APP ICON

You can purchase TomTom U.S. & Canada from the App Store for .99.

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iPhone Techie

The U.S. Air Force awarded a .36 million contract for the purchase of up to 18,000 iPad 2s, reports Bloomberg. This marks one of the military’s largest purchase of tablet computers.

Executive Technology Inc was awarded the contract and will use the tablets to replace paper manuals and navigation charts carried by pilots and navigators, announced Air Mobility Command.

“Aircrews fly nonstop worldwide missions and require access to flight publications both on and off the aircraft, throughout all phases of flight,” said Captain Kathleen Ferrero.

The so-called electronic flight bags will help crews operate more effectively and safely, and support the Pentagon’s efficiency goals, she said. Air Mobility Command, based at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, provides transport and refueling services to the U.S. military using C-5, C-17 and C-130 cargo planes and KC-10 and KC-135 tankers.

The command is purchase iPad 2s that retail at 9 (32GB WiFi) for 0 a device. The contract allows for the purchase of up to 18,000 devices within a year; however, the quantity is contingent on funding requests and approval.

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iPhone Techie

As you all know since the Jailbreak 5.0.1 came out all iPhone 4 and iPad users have been able to install “Siri” the awesome Apple assistant onto their devices but now Apple may be taking steps to block Siri on unauthorized devices, according reports circulating online.

This is a big deal and I don’t think Apple will be able to do anything about it but they are trying to make an attempt to stop all Unauthorized users from using Siri.

Wolvy, a moderator on iHackMyi, reports that a new “SetActivationToken” has disabled Siri for most users.

Previously, you only needed Spire, a host and a certificate and you were away. Now Apple have added a “SetActivationToken” which has disabled Siri for almost everyone on illegitimate devices.

A temporary (hopefully) workaround of deleting “com.apple.assistant.plist” from the device appears to resolve the issue for now, but will this become another game of cat and mouse for apple, just like in Jailbreaking?

For those experiencing the issue you can use iFile to delete the /var/mobile/Library/Preferences/com.apple.assistant.plist file.

We’ll let you know if any further information on the issue comes to light.

Read More [via iDB]

iPhone Techie

AssistantExtensions is a new tweak that lets you extend Siri’s functionality. It includes built-in support for additional commands including tweet, launch app, search YouTube, toggle switch, and more.

Using a plug in architecture developers can add custom functionality to Apple’s assistant.

Extensions can very easily react to recognized speech and present a text response. In addition to a simple text response, extensions can also create embedded Apple snippets like Clock, Weather, etc and can also create a brand new, custom snippets with custom graphics. For snippets, the extension loads its resources from a bundle or loads a nib which can be created in XCode’s InterfaceBuilder. No private frameworks are needed. There is no limit to what kind of extension you can develop.

AssistantExtensions includes a few built-in extensions including:

● System commands: tweet ‘text_of_the_tweet’, open ‘application_name’ or launch ‘app_name’, brightness to ‘XX %’, restart springboard, generate a random number, say ‘what_to_say>’, should I ‘do something?’.
● Toggles: turn on ‘toggle_name’, list toggles or list switches to get a list of toggles and their states.
● Chat Bot: You can chat with Siri. To start, just say “Let’s chat” and wait a moment. Loading times will be improved a lot in future releases.
● YouTube – searches YouTube and shows results with thumbnails, example: “Search Lady Gaga on YouTube”

You can download AssistantExtensions from the BigBoss Cydia repository.

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iPhone Techie