The Apple Press

How I Dodged The iBoot Bullet — State of Jailbreak Affairs

Philipp — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:17:44 +0000

I am very careful with updating my iPhone 3GS, since I have become quite accustomed to freeing the device from Apple’s tight grip via jail-breaking.

I use Backgrounder to run apps such as Cyclemeter and Skype in the background. I utilize 3G Unrestrictor to make VOIP calls over the 3G network. I implement various other hacks to enable iPhone tethering for light laptop browsing. And I unlock my iPhone while traveling overseas. Without this freedom, I can’t tell if I’d be able to tolerate Apple’s tight grip on the iPhone with “more open” platforms such as Google’s Android quickly catching up.

Hence, I kept my iPhone’s baseband at it’s original version (04.26.08), while carefully upgrading my firmware to 3.1.2 via DevTeam’s Pwnage tool. Because I purchased my 3GS before October 2009, it also sports the original iBoot 359.3 (more on that later). With this configuration I’d be able to jailbreak and unlock indefinitely.

Unfortunately, this week, my carefully preserved iPhone needed replacement due to a faulty dock connector. Not a big deal—Apple usually replaces broken iPhone’s right on the spot—but what would happen to my jailbreak options?

Since Apple has made it nearly impossible to downgrade the firmware and baseband of the 3GS (unless you’ve put some safeguards in place during the very early 3.0 days) I knew that I’d loose control over what configuration I would receive with my exchange unit.¹

So, let’s have a quick look at the possible options and their (current) ramifications in terms of jail-breaking:

iPhone 3GS | 3.1.3 Firmware | 05.12.01 Baseband | 359.3 or 359.3.2 iBoot
Game over. No jailbreak or unlock possible. Period.

Neither the Dev-Team nor Geohot currently offer a solution to jailbreak or unlock an iPhone 3GS preloaded with the 3.1.3 firmware. Geohot has publicly stated his opposition to support iPhone OS 3.1.3 while the DevTeam tools only allow you to upgrade an already jail-broken device to firmware 3.1.3. This is not to say that new vulnerabilities haven’t already been discovered, but it is highly unlikely that either the DevTeam or Geohot will release new tools until a bigger update such as OS 4.0 is released. For now: You’re stuck.
iPhone 3GS | 3.1 – 3.1.2 Firmware | 05.11.07 Baseband | 359.3.2 iBoot
Tethered Jailbreak via Pwnage (DevTeam) or Blackra1n (Geohot) and unlock via Blacksn0w (Geohot).

Your situation improves slightly if you get a hold of an iPhone 3GS with 359.3.2 iBoot and firmware 3.1.2 preloaded. At least you’ll be able to jailbreak (choice of DevTeam or Gehot) and unlock via Blackra1n. Since Apple has upgraded the iPhone 3GS’ iBoot version to 359.3.2 for all devices manufactured after October 2009, however, a tethered jailbreak will be your only option.

A tethered jailbreak basically works the same as an untethered jailbreak with one obnoxious difference: To reboot your iPhone it must be connected to a computer with your jail-breaking software installed. If you run out of battery, for example, you won’t be able to reboot your phone until you have a chance to connect it to your computer. Same with an unexpected restart. Obnoxious, but your only option at this point.

To find out what iBoot version your 3GS has boot the phone into DFU mode and look for “Apple Mobile Device (DFU Mode)” under the USB header in Apple’s System Profiler.
iPhone 3GS | 3.1 – 3.1.2 Firmware | 05.11.07 Baseband | 359.3 iBoot
Untethered Jailbreak via Pwnage (DevTeam) or Blackra1n (Geohot) and unlock via Blacksn0w (Geohot).

With the original iBoot you’re all clear for an untethered jailbreak via your choice of Pwanage or Blackra1n. No rebooting issues. The only unlock option remains Geohot’s Blacksn0w.
iPhone 3GS | 3.0 Firmware | 04.26.08 Baseband | 359.3 iBoot
Choice of Pwnage/Blackra1n for untethered Jailbreak and UltraSn0w/Blacksn0w for unlock.

The holy grail for jail-breaking and unlocking. If you start off with a 3GS on firmware 3.0 you can keep all your options wide open. Unfortunately, it’s VERY unlikely that you’ll be able to get a hold of this configuration through any official channels at this point in time. Even on a refurbished unit.

With iPhone 3GS jail breaking has become quite a bit more complex. And it is safe to assume, that Apple will continue to further fight the hacking community with the release of their next major hardware upgrade. If jail-breaking is near and dear to your heart, but your iPhone 3GS needs replacement, I can only suggest you look into either getting it fixed through unofficial channels, or cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Fortunately for me, my refurbished exchange unit came pre-loaded with 3.1.2 (05.11.07 baseband) and the original 359.3 iBoot. Hence, I was able to jailbreak and unlock via Gehot’s Blackra1n and Blacksn0w without a hitch.

I dodged the iBoot bullet. Now I’ll be guarding my 3GS by all means necessary. I doubt I’ll be this lucky again next time around.

Don’t forget to wipe your jailbreak by upgrading your 3GS to an official Apple firmware before taking it in to the Apple Store. You may void your warranty otherwise. Remember that you may risk loosing your jailbreak/unlock for a long time to come.

Flash Beta 10.1 — Take The Pill, Ease The Pain?

Philipp — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 08:01:33 +0000

I’ve been obscenely obsessed with the back and forth between John Gruber of Daring Fireball and Adobe’s official bloggers. While John Gruber is publicly cheering on Apple for not including Flash on the iPhone, Adobe is defending their technology, as well as promising improvements.¹

John Gruber:

It’s probably pretty clear to regular DF readers that I don’t care for Flash, and that I’m hoping Apple never includes it in the iPhone OS. Might as well make my biases clear. Why? At the core, because Flash is the only de facto web standard based on a proprietary technology. [...] There are also practical issues. One, Flash’s aforementioned crashiness on Mac OS X. Second, crashiness aside, its performance on Mac OS X is not as good as it is on Windows. And for video playback specifically, Flash’s performance pales compared to H.264 played through QuickTime.

Prompting replies from Adobe’s John Nack:

Adobe isn’t in the Flash business. Seriously. It isn’t in the Photoshop business, or the Acrobat business, or the [take-your-pick product name] business, either. It’s in the helping people communicate business. [...] Flash has stepped in to fill some gaps heretofore left by other technologies. It is, however, just one possible means to an end–always has been. Adobe will of course continue to invest in making Flash better, and it’ll keep investing in other ways to help creative people reach customer eyeballs.

And Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch:

In Flash Player 10.1 we are moving to Core Animation, which will further reduce CPU usage and we believe will get us to the point where Mac will be faster than Windows for graphics rendering. [...] With Flash Player 10.1, we are optimizing video rendering further on the Mac and expect to reduce CPU usage by half, bringing Mac and Windows closer to parity for video.

Fascinating stuff, right?

While I absolutely agree with John Gruber in terms of Flash being a de facto web standard based on a proprietary technology which needs to be replaced (at least for video playback) by HTML5 — I’ll still need to rely on Flash until the transition is complete. Therefore, I find myself in a weird juxtaposition of hoping for Flash’s demise on one hand, while rooting for the Adobe engineering team to make noticeable improvements on the other.

Lucky for me, Adobe has made available a public beta of Flash 10.1 for OSX with Flash engineer Tinic Uro providing some interesting info on Flash & Core Animation, highlighting some of the bottlenecks that the teams are now overcoming.

Flash Player 10.1 implements the Core Animation drawing model [...] Instead of using a CGImageRef + CGContextDrawImage to get the bits to screen we pass a CAOpenGLLayer to Safari and use an OpenGL texture of type GL_TEXTURE_RECTANGLE_ARB to get our bits to the screen. [...] Given the now almost perfect integration of Core Animation plugins into Safari I hope that future versions of the Flash Player will take advantage of more capabilities of OpenGL.

Techie stuff, indeed. Don’t worry, you don’t need to understand the CL_TEXTURE_Jibberish. The gist of it is coming down to this: If you’re running Flash 10.1 on OSX 10.6 with Safari 4 you should notice some distinct performance improvements. And while I’m not claiming to understand all the nitty-gritty developer-talk either, I am able to see some fascinating improvements with my very own eyes thanks to my (completely unscientific) testing methods.

And so can you!

See the video below? You should be able to play this embedded 720p Vimeo video on any recent Mac running Flash 10.0. Now try to blow it up full screen on a 27 or 30inch screen (little icon on the bottom right-hand corner). See the difference? STUTTER-CENTRAL!²

Now upgrade to Flash 10.1 beta for OSX (if you’re into that new-frontier kinda stuff — don’t come yelling at us if it breaks your stuff) and re-run the video above. Still runs fine embedded? Great. Now blow it up full screen. Whoa! Smooth as silk. Even on that 30inch Cinema Display.

Pretty nifty, eh?

So while I’ll still be impatiently waiting for HTML5 to mature to the point of replacing proprietary Flash as the main resource for web-video — I do appreciate and take notice of the improvements Flash 10.1 will offer in the meantime.

Hopefully this will ease the transitional pain. I already took the pill. Will you?

Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch also stated “I can tell you that we don’t ship Flash with any known crash bugs” less than a week before Product Manager Emmy Huang admits to shipping Flash with a known bug since September 2008. Some reassurance.
Tests performed on 2006 MacPro/2x Xeon Woodcrest 2.66GHz Dual-Core / 30inch display & 2009 iMac/3.06GHz quad-core Core i5 / 27inch display.

Biologic Bike Mount for iPhone — Review

Philipp — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:25:50 +0000

As most of the country is still drowning in a blanket of snow, riding your bike is probably a far distant memory for you (unless you live in California of course). But soon enough the first rays of sunshine will break the dark skies and you’ll be joyfully riding down the street, listening to music on your iPhone, until:

*DING*

Text message alert! Should you check? Overcome by curiosity you’ll probably wiggle your iPhone out of that tight jeans pocket, almost losing balance, as a car whooshes right by your side. Even though you know better, this is probably a familiar scenario if you’re an avid bike rider with an iPhone.

What you need is a mount — right in sight — on the handle bar of your bicycle. Surprisingly, however, there aren’t many great choices out there. So, we’ll be taking a look at one of the newest contestants: Dahon’s Biologic Bike Mount for iPhone.

The Dahon bike mount ships with two parts: A snap-on iPhone case and a matching mount that you’ll have to install on your bike’s handle bar. Installation is fairly easy with the included allen wrench, even though the instructions aren’t very well detailed. Once the mount is installed, however, all you have to do is place your iPhone into the case, close the lid, lock the latch, and snap the enclosure in and out of the mount as you get on and off your bike.

The case itself encloses the iPhone entirely in a weatherproof case leaving the touch screen operable through a clear, touch sensitive plastic window. Don’t expect to write a novel with the lid closed, however, as you do loose some precision through the plastic, needing to press substantially harder for the iPhone to recognize your inputs. Basic operations such as unlocking the screen, changing a song, or switching to another application, work just fine, however.

In addition the case provides full (weatherproof) access to the headphone jack, home button, on/off switch, and the camera. You can’t, however, operate the mute switch or volume controls. You’ll need to resort to your headset’s volume control buttons instead.

The designers also allowed a little bit of extra “chin” on the bottom of the case, so you can connect the iPhone via USB cable to a battery pack (such as the ZAGGsparq) for extended rides.

The case exterior is plastic, with the inside lined in a thin blanket of rubber for weather isolation and shock absorption. While the design feels mostly solid, the case latch, as well as the headphone jack cover seem a bit flimsy. And while the latch hasn’t given us any problems yet, the little headphone-cover-stub tore off just a few weeks into testing the unit.

What’s really terrific about this enclosure, however, is that your precious iPhone feels absolutely safe during every ride — even on the toughest of terrains. Unlike our experience with most open-case mounts we weren’t even worried once that the phone might go uncontrollably flying off the handle bar. In addition, you can rotate the phone between vertical and horizontal orientation on the fly.

Unfortunately, the designers overlooked to include a plastic window in place of the iPhone’s ambient light sensor. Because this sensor is blocked with the lid closed, the iPhone will dim the screen brightness as if it were in complete darkness, making the screen hard to read in direct sunlight. As a workaround you can disable “Auto-Brightness” on the iPhone.

All taken into consideration, Dahon’s Biologic Bike Mount is the best solution we’ve come across so far. While it’s definitely got some first generation flaws — with a price too steep for a few inches of plastic — it’s absolutely worth the money if you’re an avid biker in need of quick access to your iPhone. And while $50 is in fact a little more expensive than most bike-mount solutions out there, the Biologic mount is the only one we feel comfortable recommending for your iPhone’s safety.

Combined with an application such as Cyclemeter ($4.99 – iTunes link), the Biologic Bike Mount makes for a powerful and versatile bike computer.

You can order the Biologic Bike Mount on Amazon for $49.99.

Pros:

Solid protection
Weather proof design
Touch screen access
Access to most ports and buttons
Supports charging cable
Camera access

Cons:

Price
Headphone jack cover tears off easily
Limited touch screen precision
Case blocks ambient light sensor

PS: We’re giving away three download codes for Cyclemeter (iTunes link) courtesy of Abvio. Comment below which bicycle you’ll be riding this summer to enter the competition. (US-Store only. Ends 02/25/2010. Be sure to include your email.)

Order Biologic Bike Mount for Iphone

iPad, Magazines, and Newspapers — An Open Letter To Steve Jobs

Philipp — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:51:04 +0000

Dear Mr. Jobs,

First of all: Congratulations to you and your team on the announcement of iPad. It’s exciting to imagine the possibilities this new device will offer us in just a few weeks. As an early adopter of eBooks (Specifically on the Kindle) I am particularly enthusiastic about the iBooks application and the accompanying bookstore. Both look extremely promising. There’s something, however, that seemed oddly amiss in your announcement: An integrated solution for electronic periodicals.

While I understand that iPad is still under development and additional details may still be announced, it concerned me that the New York Times was asked to present a dedicated iPad application during last week’s keynote. Does this suggest that publishers should develop one application each for every newspaper and magazine subscription? While this is certainly a possibility I’d like to take this opportunity to outline a few weaknesses to this approach:

Subscriptions will clutter the home screen.
I already find myself shunning iPhone applications that do little more than displaying the content of one particular blog; dedicated RSS readers can pull all my favorite blogs into one place without cluttering up my home screen.

Hassle to maintain.
Users will need to monitor each application separately for new content. I’m concerned that they might simply forget about the applications; leaving them behind — unchecked for weeks at a time — on page five and six of their home screens. This is neither practical for us (the user) nor profitable for the publisher. Eventually subscriptions will expire or be canceled.

Dilution.
Each magazine/newspaper will create its own user interface, syncing mechanism, and bookmarking system; unnecessarily convoluting the experience.

Steeper (than necessary) learning curve for publishers.
Producing a magazine/newspaper within an application requires a set of complex programming skills that many independent publishers may not wish to acquire or even have the resources for; hence, artificially heightening the barrier of entry.

Noise.
Magazines and newspapers may get lost among the “real” applications in the iTunes store.

On the other hand, an integrated subscription service (or one integrated within iBooks) would offer the following advantages:

Easy access.
All subscriptions will be loaded in one place, at the same time, ready for instant consumption.

Integration.
Articles can be bookmarked, synched, shared, and searched, all within the same application. A unified interface will also help transition users from a physical to an electronic experience.

Exposure.
Periodicals will stand out from the noise of the iTunes ecosystem. This will be especially important for independent and self-publishers.

Since the ePub format seems far too limited for heavily formatted magazines with thoughtful layouts, multimedia content, and a specific set of font choices (and PDF’s seem too “inflexible” to make for a great periodical file format), I would like to suggest that Apple introduces a dedicated — open source — file format for magazines and newspapers.

“eMag” (for the sake of this argument) should support all technological enhancements of a modern day multimedia experience but under the constrains of the publisher’s formatting choices. A plug-in converter or dedicated authoring tool (think iLife) should be made available by Apple to publish content to the new format. (Companies such as Adobe can later extend the format to additional platforms.)

If any company could gather the necessary support to establish a new — modern day — file format it would most certainly be Apple. As a matter of fact, I would deem it borderline negligent if Apple didn’t at least take a chance on this narrow window of opportunity and try to hurtle the cluttered publishing industry into the 21st century.

Even if the big publishing houses were not quite ready for a tightly controlled distribution system via an electronic ecosystem such as iTunes, I argue that Apple should still go ahead and lay the foundations for a periodical subscription system within iBooks. As the established players continue to struggle in the old markets, new players may be ready to experiment with the future. With Apple’s implementation of eMag, easy to use authoring tools, and the iTunes ecosystem, the barrier of entry to become the publisher of a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly (or even daily) newspaper or magazine will vanish right in front of our eyes. A few talented writers with a strong business model, a unique subject matter, and a healthy helping of pioneer-spirit could be all that is required to launch exciting new magazines and newspapers onto the iPad platform for millions to discover.

With just a few success stories from independent publishers I’d be willing to bet that some of the larger publishing houses will quickly follow suit. And while I am not expecting for Apple to change the publishing industry overnight, I would love for you and your teams to at least provide the technological opportunity.

All said and done I truly believe, that the public is still yearning (and perhaps even willing to — gasp — pay) for well-researched content — presented in a visually stunning format. Even — or rather specifically — in the fast paced reality of HTML. The Internet didn’t kill the newspaper industry. Their stagnant business models — which were merely exposed by the Internet — did. And with newspapers going out of business all over the country, Apple now has the exhilarating opportunity to not only revive the existing publishing industry but also (or dare I say: even more so) open the doors for new and exciting players with the introduction of eMag on iPad.

A periodical subscription service could therefore be one of the most exciting opportunities the iPad might yet have to offer. All I can hope for is that Apple will seize this opportunity — with all the vigor of embracing a new frontier — and help re-ignite our love for newspapers and magazines. You’ve done it before; you can do it again!

Thank you for listening.

Sincerely,
Philipp Eierund

Google Street Traffic Inaccuracies

Steve — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:50:06 +0000

The idea of street level traffic overlays in Google Maps is obviously appealing. In theory, it eliminates the guesswork involved in trip planning during heavy traffic times. Where I live in Los Angeles (universally known for its ~~shallowness~~ congested highways), drivers often abandon the freeways in search of a less congested side street. Knowing the status of that side street before taking your exit should be a huge help.

Google announced this feature, available in major cities, in August. It gathers data from a variety of sources, including pulling speed information from smartphones running Google’s Map application. Herein lies the problem. My experience has shown that this traffic data is less than accurate.

I noticed this problem while driving across town and trying to choose between freeways and side streets showing all yellow and red. I was traveling at night, around 9pm, and suspected that the street traffic may not be as bad as the Maps application on my iPhone indicated. None the less I was worried about this large red patch on my route:

When I arrived to the problem area, I was not surprised to find that the traffic was not nearly as bad as the map was showing. In fact, I snapped this picture right after taking the screenshot of the map:

As you can see, I am the only car on the road! Notice also that traffic on the other side of the street shows yellow on the map, and is also extremely light in reality. I suspect that the problem comes from how Google utilizes the data it gets from mobile users of its Maps application. For example, if the application polls the speed of a user while they are sitting at a red light, and the speed is returned as 0, how does google treat this anomaly? What about when someone is parked in the car and looking up directions? I know that the data displayed by Google is close (but not exactly) in real time, but the red block in question existed for 30 minutes before my arrival and continued to be red for ten minutes after I had passed through. The issue did not seem to be a jam that cleared just before I arrived. Further, traffic jams do not clear immediately, they should change from red to yellow to green as the traffic lightens.

As with any crowd-sourced technology, valuable data comes from the collective average of all users, not from any one specific user. I suspect that the way Google is treating the data relies too heavily on individual results, rather than a more accurate average of many users. These issues are likely to become less of a problem as use of the Maps application becomes more widespread, especially if it is integrated in the iPhone’s Map application.

Save Now on Select TomTom GPS

Watch TWIT Live Video on your iPhone

Steve — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:56:11 +0000

Here’s something for fans of Leo Laporte’s podcast network TWIT. Besides the regular podcasts (which include long time favorites like This Week in Tech and Macbreak Weekly) the network also streams live video of the shows 24/7 at live.twit.tv. They also publish this stream on USTREAM and Stickkam. Despite USTREAM having an iPhone client to watch live video, the TWIT stream had not been accessible, until now. Thanks to TWIT sending out some additional iPhone compatible video, you can now grab the USTREAM app from the app store and watch away! Inside the app, popular and featured channels are listed on the front page, and unfortunately there does not seem to be a way to point the app at a specific channel, or add bookmars or favorites. Just enter TWIT into the search bar for a quick way to find the right place. Bonus: if you have 3G Unrestrictor you can even watch the video over 3G (normally, the USTREAM app is restricted to wifi). Even on 3G the video buffers quickly and looks great!

Better iPhone Macro Shots – at No Cost

Steve — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:19:17 +0000

Taken with an iPhone 3GS and a drop of water. Keep reading to learn how, or skip ahead.

Several articles about taking macro shots with an iPhone have been circling the web lately. The first seen here, instructs people to destroy a DVD player and extract the laser’s focusing lens. A second article posed on Make Magazine’s Blog uses the front lens from a disposable camera to achieve a similar result. The results from both methods are impressive. However, I will show you a few much simpler methods which are easier, faster, cheaper, and produce better results!

Magnifying Glass:

Don’t ruin that DVD player! The simplest way to shoot macro on your iPhone is with a humble magnifying glass! The penny seen on the left (click it to see the full rez) was taken using this method. Simply hold any magnifying glass (this one would work just fine) over your camera lens and shoot away, no need to take anything apart! The magnification provides a real boost to the 3GS, which has an autofocus lens that allows you to get relatively close to the subject, and older fixed focus models benefit even more. I’ve used this method since the original iPhone to shoot things like boring barcodes, closeups of parts I need and even dangerous wildlife. See the examples below:

Extreme Close-Ups from an iPhone 3G

Credit Card Magnifier:

If carrying around a full magnifying glass doesn’t suit you, consider getting a credit card sized magnifying reader. You can pick one up at pharmacies and most book stores. I bought mine at Barnes and Noble for less than five dollars. The quality won’t be as high as what you can get from a magnifying glass, but you can’t beat the convenience. Slip it into your wallet or purse and use it any time you want to snap a barcode or get some small text in focus. Amazon sells the one below, an Itoya PL-A Pocketlens for $3.99:

The pictures below were taken using this method. On the left is a dollar bill taken without the lens. The iPhone 3GS simply cannot focus close enough to capture the detail. With the credit card lens (picture taken at the same distance) everything is in (relatively) good focus. It’s the difference between a fuzzy “Huh?” and readable text, and it certainly has it’s uses.

Bare iPhone 3GS vs. 3GS with flat lens

And finally, how to get truly Extreme Close-Ups (for free) with an iPhone-

A Drop of Water:

That’s right folks, get huge magnification from just one drop of water! In this case, we are letting the curved surface of a drop of water suspended on the iPhone lens distort the image. The effect can be seen in the images above: strong enlargement and very close focus. The optical quality of a drop of water is not nearly the same as that of manufactured glass, but it does allow you to get much closer and best of all, it;s free. The round bezel that covers the actual camera inside the iPhone (seen below on the left) makes a perfect place to suspend a droplet.

The picture on the right shows the drop from the side. As you can see, it doesn’t need to be very big. A drop that is big enough to provide a roundish curve is all that is needed. Interestingly, the size of the drop controls both the amount of magnification and the minimum focusing distance. A tiny drop, just enough to wet the lens, will not magnify much but it will allow you to get closer to the subject. A huge, ready to drip off drop, on the other hand, will magnify intensely and require you to hold your iPhone steady just a few millimeters above your subject. It will also exaggerate distortion around the edges, providing sharp focus only at the center of the drop. A nice, “medium” sized drop, like the one pictured above on the right, will allow you to take pictures less than an inch away from the lens with out distorting too heavily around the edges.

The result is similar to photographs from a Holga, sharp in the middle and increasingly soft at the edges, as can be observed in the photograph at the beginning of this post. Like any technique, practice makes perfect. The wobbling water over the lens will exaggerate any shaking movements you make while taking a picture. It helps to take the picture in bright daylight so a high shutter speed minimizes this problem. Also, the center of focus will be in the tip of the drop, so be sure to hold the iPhone at an angle such that the drop is well centered on the lens. For those concerned about getting their iPhone wet, use caution and only apply a tiny drop to the lens. I’ve been doing this for quite some time, to no ill effect.

This may not be the most practical method of macro photography, but anyone with a cellphone and a spare drop of water can give it a try! Have a look below for a few more images produced using this method, and don’t forget to click to see the full resolution.

small tin, small drop

small tin, big drop

tooth-brush bristles

reference for scale

Backgrounder updated, 2.2 features return on 3.0

Steve — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:43:22 +0000

Backgrounder (everyone’s favorite Jailbreak app) has been updated to restore some features lost after the iPhone 3.0 update. These most visible change is icons badges to indicate an app’s status in the background.

While this is useful, I’d love to see a setting to disable badges for Apple native apps like Phone and Mail. Since these apps always run in the background, they are permanently stamped with Backgrounder’s admittedly ugly badge. Also returning is the Always Enabled application list in the Backgrounder preferences.

This gives you a simple way to select which applications should be automatically backgrounded every time you start them. It is great to not have to remember to enable backgrounding every time you launch an app. The process of terminating an app is still the same, hold the home button until you see “Backgrounding Disabled.”

Unrestricting iPhone Data Use – The Moral Conundrum

Steve — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:17:53 +0000

Apple imposes limitations on data use over 3G. No Skype. You cannot download anything over 10MB in iTunes. Can’t get an app over 10mb either. I understand AT&T is concerned about the reliability of their network, afraid of millions of iPhone users streaming movies and pulling down speed. However, no such limitations are imposed on other handsets. Blackberrys and WinMo phones are free to do as they please.

So why the difference? It’s easy to consume lots of data with an iPhone. With nine million on the AT&T network, they fear a complete meltdown if everyone used lots of bandwidth at once. The AT&T phone network, like every network, is designed with a certain “maximum capacity” in mind. It just couldn’t support every user at once. The data network is no different. If all iPhone users consumed every byte of their 5 gigabyte monthly limit, the network would have to pass 43 petabytes each month.

If we make the (erroneous) assumption that all this traffic is spread evenly over all geographic locations and hours of the day, every single tower would have to spit out a constant 16 Mbps stream, 24 hours a day. In the real world we know that towers will experience significantly higher traffic in densely populated areas and especially during peak hours. That’s not even accounting for handling calls at the same time.

Of course, AT&T knows that not everyone will use that much data. In fact, the average iPhone user only consumes 400MB of data per month, or about 1/12th their allotment. Users of other smartphones only use 30-40MB per month, or 1/24th of their 5GB plan.

And now- The Moral Conundrum: If you are paying for 5 gigs of data, shouldn’t you be able to consume all of those 5 gigs any way you want?

I am a heavy data user. I often stream music and radio over 3G in the car (both are allowed by Apple and AT&T). My iPhone is jailbroken and I’ve disabled the download limits imposed on podcasts and app downloads. I can also make Skype calls over 3G and watch YouTube clips at a resolution normally reserved for WiFi. I can also tether, which means I can connect to the internet with my phone’s data plan. I am a very, very bad boy as far as AT&T is concerned. With all of my extracurricular data use, last month I pulled 1.5Gb to my iPhone. Still, my hog-ish habits are consuming only 30% of the available 5GB.

I am using 375% more data than the average iPhone user and 3,750% more than other smartphone users. Further, I am breaking the rules of the network to get it. The 10MB download caps are in place to prevent people like me from degrading the experience for other users. I am essentially stealing bandwidth from users who play by the rules. Yet, I’ve paid for that data. Like your neighbor bittorrenting movies and slowing down the cable internet for the whole neighborhood, my 50MB podcast download over 3G takes away resources for everyone else on the same tower (users who, most likely, just want to check their email and get directions). Yet, I paid for my data just like your neighbor, and just like you. We simply use it more.

The failure is with the data providers, who sell everyone more bandwidth than they could ever possibly deliver. They know that some users will check email once a day, using a no more than few kilobytes, and others will stream video, upload pictures and otherwise max out the capabilities of their device. The light users, paying $30/month and using almost nothing, are subsidizing the cost of the heavy users who pay the same price and take significantly more. Imagine a grocery store that charges $100 to enter the door but every item inside is free. This would be a great bargain for a family of eight, and a horrible rip-off for the single guy who only wants a cup of ramen noodles. The store, meanwhile, continues to make money as long as they can sell $0.05 items for $100.00.

In the real world, of course, the ramen guy would choose to shop elsewhere and the store would quickly go out of business. In the world of cellphone providers, sadly, there just aren’t any other stores. AT&T won’t allow you to pay for only what you use. The problem is the increasing trend in data usage across the board. According to this study, data use is expected to rise at least 2X each year for the next five years.

In other words, all the shoppers are getting hungrier. Today’s hogs are tomorrows normal users. How can AT&T keep up with the exponentially rising data use from increasingly demanding mobile platforms? The one-size-fits-all model will simply fall apart. As people become more sophisticated in their consumption, they demand more and more bits. The shelves in our hypothetical grocery store will be raided by ordinary people with rising needs. This effect can be seen today, as thousands of people descend on sporting events or conferences, all expecting their phones to work as expected, and the network slows to a crawl. The business model doesn’t work for the grocery store because shoppers would either go elsewhere or take as much food as they can carry. It won’t work for AT&T for the exact came reason. There isn’t any competition, but in the very near future everyone will be using as much data as I am, and that demand will continue to grow without limit.

What AT&T needs to do, if they expect to provide all of their customers with a satisfactory experience, is turn that model on it’s head. Heavy users, like me, should be paying much more than ordinary users. In this way, the needs of the heaviest users will subsidize the development of more advanced network technology and bandwidth, which benefits everyone. Instead of ignoring the fact that the network is insufficient and slow for everyone, and cramping the needs of advanced users by trying to limit it’s use, AT&T should simply charge those heavy users more. Enthusiasts, those with the need to consume more data, are the ones willing to pay for the privilege of faster or unrestricted access. In the same way that, for example, photography enthusiasts pay a premium for cameras with cutting edge technolog, the money they spend on fancy cameras pushes the state of the art and those advanced features eventually appear in much cheaper cameras which appeal to average consumers.

Let the hogs bankroll the next generation cell networks so that regular users can reap the benefits of the hog’s addiction to the latest and greatest, the best and the fastest. I would gladly pay more for access to the bleeding edge, while more sensible people can pay less for only what they need.

Until then, I’ll continue to use as much data as I want, data that I have paid for. I don’t want my use of the network to degrade anyone else’s experience, but AT&T shouldn’t sell what they don’t have. Charging more money for more use is the only sensible solution. Not only would that reduce the strain on today’s network by eliminating needless waste and overconsumption, but it would also pay for the development of future technology, a benefit to all.

Jailbreak Central – 3G Unrestrictor

Steve — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:16:56 +0000

In this episode of Jailbreak Central, learn how to remove the 10MB limits and VOIP blocks on 3G.

In prior incarnations, 3G Unrestrictor was known by the less memorable name voipover3G. The purpose of the original app was to enable the use of VOIP applications like Skype or Fring on the 3G network. Apple mandates that VOIP apps only work on a wifi connection, probably to appease the byte mongers at AT&T. Of course, the bandwidth available on a 3G or even EDGE connection is enough to support a VOIP call. Voipover3G, first released for iPhone 2.2 software, tricked applications like Skype, Fring and Truphone into believing they were on a wifi network. There was even a preference file advanced users could edit to trick more applications. The problem was, it barely worked. Few other applications could be tricked successfully and keeping Skype tricked was a moving target.

The release of the iPhone 3.0 Software Update eventually brought with it an updated 3G tricker in the Cydia store called 3G Unrestrictor.
As you can see in the screenshot above, 3G Unrestrictor gives you an easy interface to toggle which apps are tricked. After a simple install from Cydia (and a payment of $2.00) you can simply use the list of apps to check off the ones you want to work on 3G. Skype, which was difficult to force onto 3G in the past, works flawlessly when using 3G Unrestrictor. Combine this technique with Backgrounder (which I talked about in an earlier post) and you have an always-on Skype connection which will ring when your friends can call. Just tap on Skype when you hear the ring and accept the call. It couldn’t be easier.

Even cooler, 3G Unrestrictor allows you to download podcasts and apps of any size. This is perfect for that moment in the airport where you realize you forgot to sync your iPhone and have no new podcasts to listen to on the flight, or when you really need to get that huge Worms update but are nowhere near WiFi.

If all you only want to use Skype on 3G, to make cheap international calls or save some cell minutes, the original voipover3G is still available, and better yet, it’s free. You can find them both in Cydia, but I fully recommend dropping the 2 bucks for 3G Unrestrictor. To read more or check if the app you want to unrestrict is compatible (most are), visit the developer’s site here.

My 13″ Macbook Pro Case

Steve — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:53:34 +0000

Today was a big day.

I committed to buying a laptop sleeve. The battle came down to memory foam vs. neoprene for protection and I finally bought the Isis Dei 13″ Memory Foam MacBook Sleeve. Memory Foam? From the Isis Dei website:

Made from the stuff NASA engineers created in the 90’s, memory foam is a high-tech, super shock-absorbant, polyurethane material. Our memory foam sleeves are covered in a knit, polyester fabric and have zippers ¾ around the sides so you can use your laptop while it is sitting in your Isis Cover. In relationship to its bulk, memory foam provides perhaps the best shock protection for your laptop.

The choice was between the Isis Dei and the Case Logic Reversible Neoprene Sleeve
. While the Case Logic is appealing for its style and snug fit, it has a one major flaw. The top flap is cute, but makes it impossible to slip your laptop in without pulling the sleeve all the way out of your bag. It also prevents you from safely inserting your laptop while, say, sitting at a table or standing. With normal zippered sleeve, you:

Unzip to open the sleeve
Place laptop down inside open sleeve
Zip closed

In this way the laptop never leaves the safety of whatever it is sitting on. The Case Logic sleeve, in contrast, requires a different type of insertion. I found myself holding the sleeve up in the air with one hand, using my fingers to hold the flap open, and bringing my laptop over in my other hand. I would then grab the corner of the laptop with the hand holding the sleeve (sock puppet style) while i transfered my second hand to the other corner, where it stretched out the sleeve and let the laptop drop down.

I have two real worries about this. First, for a period of time my laptop is held by its corner in one hand, through the slippery neoprene cover, where is is liable to tilt over and fall. Second, the sleeve has to be stretched open with two hands and the laptop allowed to fall down into it. I am concerned that once I became used to the sleeve I would have the habit of letting the laptop fall too quickly, such that it my yank the sleeve right out of my hands. Bottom line: I felt like my laptop was in a continual state of almost falling while I handled it with the Case Logic sleeve, and that just didn’t make be feel good about anything.

The Isis Dei sleeve felt great compared to my experience with the Case Logic. It’s sturdy and can stand upright when held empty, rather than flopping over. It is noticeably thicker than the Case Logic, but still doesn’t add much bulk to your machine. It’s also surprisingly light at just 9oz. The zipper cuts a full 3/4 of the way around the laptop, meaning you can unzip and lay the sleeve completely flat on the table. Speaking of zippers, they are elegantly isolated by a thin lip on the inner side of the sleeve, meaning your laptop is safe from scratching at all times. The sleeve is easy to zip up all the way or leave partially open for easy laptop removal from inside a backpack.

The memory foam does more than just feel funny when you squeeze it. Look at this comparison by flickr user retroleum in which he tests the impact resistance of a memory foam sleeve to that of regular neoprene:

His conclusion: memory foam outperformed neoprene in every stab test.

When it comes to style, the Isis Dei model I bought,the Roach Rasta edition, isn’t ugly, per se. It is attractive in an island-y, Tommy Bahama, brown on khaki kind of way. It is covered in 100% natural hemp, which is very desirable so long as you are a pothead. It has dark brown accents and, perhaps most damning, bright gold zipper tabs. Still, I like it. If you are more of a conformist dickweed than me, you might be interested to know that they sell a tasteful plain black version called, painfully, The Original. They also sell a green one with a fat guy on it, just FYI.

Jailbreak Central – Backgrounder

Steve — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:43:41 +0000

Scenario: You are listening to streaming music with an app like Pandora when you get a text message. You click reply and go to the Messaging App. But what happened to the music?

The problem lies in how the iPhone OS handles processes (applications). In the default behavior, pressing the Home button closes an application and exits the process. Hence, Pandora can’t play music while you switch applications. There are only a few exemptions to this rule. The iPod app, for example, can continue to play music in the background while you use other apps.

While Apple stubbornly refuses to allow 3rd party applications to run on the background, developer gaizin blesses us with a solution.

His app Backgrounder allows you to send an application to the background without quitting the process. Background Pandora and stream music while you browse the web, get directions in Maps, send texts, anything. Background your favorite twitter app and get live updates. Better yet, background Skype so your friends can ring you for free at any time!

My favorite use for Backgrounder is to send Fstream, my favorite free audio streaming client, to the background so that i can listen while following directions from Maps in my car.

iPhone Activation: Hope You Didn’t Plan to Use Your Phone Today

Philipp — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 11:19:56 +0000

Well, we hope that all of you happy iPhone owners out there didn’t try to restore your iPhones today, because if you did, you won’t be using it for the next couple of hours.

After restoring my iPhone today (I was advised to do so by a Genius in order to try and fix a faulty battery meter) iTunes was not able to re-activate my phone with AT&T since “iPhone activations are not currently available due to scheduled AT&T system maintenance.”

The text continues to explain: “We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. To activate your iPhone, please connect it again after 3pm EST Sunday.”

Excuse me, but are you kidding me? For years we’ve been making fun of Microsoft and its rigorous activation policies for Windows and now we’ve become a victim of it ourselves?

Activation in itself always presents an annoyance, but the least AT&T and Apple could do is to make sure that customers don’t ever need to spend hours without a working phone. Activation should NEVER be down for maintenance. A backup has to be in place. Alternatively, the iTunes store should maybe check BEFORE restoring your iPhone if activation is available or not. Afterwards it really doesn’t help much any more.

Either way, this sucks. Bad Apple. Bad AT&T. You’ve really screwed this one up.

Thank you for cutting me out from the world.

Congratulation iPhone Owners

Philipp — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:05:30 +0000

I just wanted to congratulate all of you happy iphone owners out there. You did well. We hope you like your little friend as much as we do.

Enjoy!

Ps: of course this entry was written from my iphone. Typing isnt all that bad.

Waiting In Vegas

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:49:45 +0000

Here comes an update from TAP correspondent Armen Katchiguian, who’s holding down the line in Sin City:

According to Armen, his line is one of the heavyweights, with a herd fat sweaty nerds 300-400 strong. The store manager has made an appearance stating “I don’t think the people here will go home disappointed,” indicating a large iPhone shipment waiting inside!

Also of note, Armen reports a man offering up to $2,000 dollars for a spot near the front of the line! Expect a detailed report of this later.

iPhones Arriving in Southern California

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:25:05 +0000

I wonder what could be in those FedEx boxes… iPhones maybe?

iPhone Waiting Line Live Stream Up!

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 04:00:00 +0000

See us and a collection of other streams on our Round-Up Page! And don’t forget to go to our live chat!

Update 11:27pm: We’ve added two more live streams to our page, ZOOOMR TV and SHOOBY on Justin.tv

Got a stream we aren’t covering? Let us know in the comments!

The Great American iPhone Campout

Steve — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:37:17 +0000

As of 6:00pm PST, the entire staff of The Apple Press has taken their place in line for the iPhone.

As long as our batteries and internet connections hold out, keep your eyes glued here for continuous updates throughout the night.

If YOU are currently in line, drop us a note in the comments!

New iPhone Video Posted: Activate From Home!

Steve — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:29:45 +0000

Check it out on the Apple iPhone page for yourself!

According to the video, users will be able to activate their iPhones from home using iTunes. Incredibly, you can do everything you could do at the AT&T right inside of iTunes, including:

Signing up with AT&T
Choosing a plan
Getting a credit check
Number porting!

Even with all the other hype, this seems to be a HUGE deal. I am not aware of any other cellphone provider that allows its users this much independence.

After all, how can a salesman pressure you into buying the insurance when you are sitting on your own couch?

Will this be yet another way that the iPhone changes the way people use cell phones? According to AT&T:

iPhone’s user-driven activation is another example of how AT&T and Apple have partnered to bring innovative new features to our customers,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO, AT&T. “iPhone’s innovative activation and sync is just one example of how this is going to be a real industry game-changer.

One has to wonder how users will be able to take advantage of discounts and other services provided by AT&T during the home activation. Users must be able to activate in-store as well for this very reason, unless there is no plan to honor any existing deals.

With the amount of thought that has gone into this product and its launch, I’m willing to bet that things will go smoothly on Friday, so long as the monkey handling you at the AT&T store can keep the poop on his side of the cage.

iPhone Data Plans Announced

Steve — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:17:13 +0000

Get ‘em while they’re hot folks! Step right up and observe the eighth wonder of the world!

It’s Amazing!
It’s Terrifying!
It’s The Singing Bearded One-Eyed iPhone Pricing Plan!

What? You didn’t think a little showmanship was in order?

After plunking down that fat cashwad for the phone, happy iPhone owners have the privilege of choosing from six different plans, ranging from $59.99 to $219.99.

Every plan includes Visual Voicemail, Unlimited Data and 200 SMS messages. Almost all of the plans include unlimited nights and weekends, with only the cheapest $59.99 plan left out.

See the plans for yourself right here