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Skype App for Windows Phone Undergoing Testing at Microsoft–Release Expected This Month at MWC

Imran — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:58:19 +0000

Skype App for Windows Phone Undergoing Testing at Microsoft–Release Expected This Month at MWC

Microsoft is currently testing the much awaited Skype app for Windows Phone. Ever since Microsoft acquired Skype, users have been anxiously waiting for Skype integration in their beloved mobile OS or even just an app. Seems as if Microsoft has been working on this internally and a stand alone app will be released very soon for Windows Phone 7.5 and full fledged people hub integration will follow in Windows Phone 8.

As per The Verge, Microsoft initially promised to release the Skype app in late 2011 but that never happened. As we all know, Skype can really boost the usage of Windows Phone and I’m sure Microsoft knows that well too.

If the app is cleared after testing, we can hope for a green signal for Microsoft to unveil the Skype app at the upcoming Mobile World Congress this month. The app is rumored to follow the Metro guidelines, and why shouldn’t it? We strongly expect Microsoft to stick to their design language for their own apps.

Skype is a voice and video calling app used by millions around the world. Not only does it allow free video and voice calling across desktop, tablets and phones but it also lets users call landlines and mobiles for extremely cheap rates. Skype was acquired by Microsoft last year for a whopping $8.5 billion and ever since, deep Skype integration across all Microsoft products such as Windows 8, Xbox, Office, Messenger and Windows Phone is being anxiously awaited.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Windows Phone Marketplace Now Available in 5 More Countries

Imran — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:39:43 +0000

Windows Phone Marketplace Now Available in 5 More Countries

The biggest issue that most people have with Windows Phone, including yours truly, is the lack of marketplace availability in many countries. What use is the platform if you can’t buy its apps or games? Apple has had this covered since the beginning, even in places where iPhone isn’t officially available but only iPod Touch is. Android has been following slowly but has covered most countries as well. We’re not sure why Microsoft, a company with global reach, is being so slow at it though.

We’ll still give them the nod of approval for their effort though as they’re slowly expanding in more countries. As per the news coming out today from the Windows Phone blog, Marketplace is now available in five new countries: Argentina, Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru and Philippines. Since this announcement, it might take a few hours for it to be available for all.

Just one note thought: you’ll need to have Windows Phone 7.5 installed to be able to access the Marketplace goodies in these new countries. There’s no reason why one should still be on Windows Phone 7 anymore so don’t complain if you are.

Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7 back in 2010 with a brand new Metro UI and design language. While it wasn’t a breakthrough of a platform to start with, it has had some effects on competitors though such as Apple’s inclusion of Game Center as Windows Phone ships with Xbox Live built in. Similarly, Google has taken many design cues from Metro in their latest Android updates.

Microsoft followed up with an update to Windows Phone 7, dubbed Mango, and bumped up the version number to 7.5 to include features such as multi-tasking, better performance, new features in camera and default apps and much more. Microsoft’s new Windows Phone 8 update, called Apollo, is expected to have support for more screen resolutions, multi-core processors and more. With Windows Phone, Microsoft definitely has a mobile OS that can take the third place in the market.

You can find out more about Windows Phone here.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Quickly Close All Running Apps on iPhone with Weekillbackground Tweak for iOS5

David — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:49 +0000

Quickly Close All Running Apps on iPhone with Weekillbackground Tweak for iOS5

iOS 5 is by far Apple’s greatest OS yet. However, since the release of iOS 4, Apple has began to include multitasking as a feature. As nice as this is, it can sometimes cause your phone to start to slow down or you notice the battery is draining more than normal. Before, you would have to hit your home button twice, hold down on one of the apps, and close each one individually. Now, in iOS 5 we have the Notification Center, which allows us to see our important information with just a swipe down on the top bar. Weekillbackground is a jailbreak tweak that adds a quick way to close all your apps running in the background right from the notification center.

Using wekillbackground, you can close all those apps in just one push of a button. The tweak is available for jailbreakers via Cydia, in the Big Boss repo. The tweak requires that you are running iOS 5 as well.

There are two versions of this tweak available : the regular version is available for free while the pro version includes features such as customization, app exclusion and more. In the pro version, you have the option to exclude apps from being closed in the background and you can also change the appearance options of the app itself. All these settings can be changed in the default Settings app in iOS. Another option you have is setting it to close all apps when you open or close notification center. This can make the process much easier, as you don’t have to press anything to close your apps. A final option is the ability to set a timer to close apps after a certain amount of time. Once the timer runs out, the app will close all running background apps.

The Pro version costs $.99 but may be worth it for those who want the full experience. Either way, another great tweak from Big Boss and a must have for any jailbroken iOS 5 device.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Facebook Could File For IPO Next Week. Could Be The Next $100 Billion Company!

Imran — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:14:06 +0000

Facebook Could File For IPO Next Week. Could Be The Next $100 Billion Company!

If WSJ’s sources are correct, we could all be witnesses for one of the biggest IPO fillings for a US technology company in history. With more than 800 million users, Facebook’s value is estimated at anywhere between $80 to $100 billion and it’s highly expected that the company could raise up to $10 billion in it’s initial public offering.

Since a lot of years, analysts have been waiting for Facebook to file for IPO. Meanwhile, Facebook didn’t do so as Mark Zuckerburg didn’t want employees to care about stocks but about great products. It’s valuation as well as users kept on sky rocketing, leaving behind the competition in dust and becoming one of the most valued and sought after companies on the Internet. Microsoft had bought 1.6% shares on Facebook back in 2007, at a price of $240 million, which boosted the overall estimated value of Facebook to $15 billion. Some rough calculations show that if Facebook is valued at $75 billion after IPO, Microsoft’s shares would be worth around $1.2 billion. Not a bad investment.

Facebook was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerburg and has turned out to be such a dream success that entrepreneurs can’t even imagine it. Aged 27 now, Zuckerburg’s worth over $17.5 billion and is considered the youngest billionaire in the world. As a CEO of Facebook, his shares in the company are %24 as of 2010 so his own worth is bound to increase tremendously if the IPO is to go through.

Keep in mind that this isn’t the first time that rumors are being strongly heard about Facebook going public. But Facebook has also halted trading in secondary markets for a few days which is giving more power to these rumors. Stakes are so high that valuation below $75 billion could be termed as disappointing.

Could Facebook manage to pull off a $10 billion IPO? Sounds difficult but highly likely considering, well, it’s Facebook.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Absinthe for Mac Version 0.2 is Now Available for Download

Imran — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:36:49 +0000

Absinthe for Mac Version 0.2 is Now Available for Download

Quick heads up – Absinthe for Mac version 0.2 is now released. It fixes some issues such as no reboot after activating VPN or launching the Absinthe app. The white icons after jailbreak have also been fixed.

If you’re already jailbroken, no need to do it all over again but if you ran into issues, just re-run this updated version over your current jailbreak on iOS device.

Download links update in original post here.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

How to Jailbreak iPad 2 and iPhone 4S using Absinthe A5 on Windows [Guide]

Imran — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:18:00 +0000

How to Jailbreak iPad 2 and iPhone 4S using Absinthe A5 on Windows [Guide]

Absinthe A5 Jailbreak tool was earlier released for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on iOS 5.0.1 but it was only for OS X. The windows app took at bit more time and it’s finally here. Follow our instructions and download links below to jailbreak your A5 iOS device.

Supported Firmware

iPhone 4S ( iOS 5.0 and iOS 5.0.1)
iPad 2 ( Wi-Fi only, CDMA and GSM supported. iOS 5.0.1 only )

Note: Back-up your data before you proceed. The jailbreak tool is new and could contain bugs. iTD wont be responsible for any issues caused. In case of issues, follow our guide here. Also:

Do NOT have a pass code set when jailbreaking.
Do NOT have your own VPN setup when jailbreaking.

Instructions

Download the Absinthe A5 untethered jailbreak from the links below

Unzip the file and run the tool.

Select your iOS A5 mobile device ( either iPhone 4S or iPad 2) and that’s it!

If you face any issues, check out our handy guide on fixing them here

If you’re on OS X, follow our guide here for instructions and download links to jailbreak your iOS device.

Download links:

Download Absinthe A5 Untethered Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 (Windows)

Alternate Download Link (Faster!)

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Jailbreak iPhone 4S or iPad 2 using CLI on Windows

Imran — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:32:55 +0000

Jailbreak iPhone 4S or iPad 2 using CLI on Windows

As earlier covered by iTD, the iPhone Dev Team released a CLI (command line interface) for Windows and OS X that lets users jailbreak iPhone 4S or iPad 2 with iOS 5.0.1 The purpose of the CLI is to help in debugging and jailbreaking iOS devices. While we would suggest users to go for Absinthe if they are on OS X ( Windows version isn’t available yet ), for those of us who are on Windows, there’s no other option such as redsn0w available yet.

So, for users who want to enjoy the jailbreak goodness on their A5 processor iOS devices, here’s a guide aimed towards Windows users. Make sure you back up all your data before proceeding.

Download CLI from here
Extract the file’s contents.
Fire up the command line by typing in cmd.exe in the search bar in Windows.
Navigate to the folder where you extracted the contents.
Plug in your iPhone 4S or iPad 2 to the computer and type in the following:

cinject.exe -i payloads/jailbreak.mobileconfig

On your device, you’ll see the profile displaying, waiting to be installed. Just tap install, don’t put a VPN password, tap next and you’re done.
Back to the command line again. Type in the following:

cinject.exe -j payloads

Once the back up is complete, type in the below in the command line:

cinject.exe –w

Now go to Settings > General > Network > VPN on your iPhone 4S/iPad 2. Toggle it on. When it shows the error, tap OK and wait for the device to finish rebooting.
Once this is done, your device is finally jailbroken and since it’s an untethered jailbreak, you can restart your device without any worries.

This guide is not for those who require an unlock for their iPhone 4S. This only jailbreaks the device.

If you have any questions, leave a comment on our Facebook page or Google+ page.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

Absinthe Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 Updated with Database Connection Error Fix

Imran — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:20:55 +0000

Absinthe Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iPad 2 Updated with Database Connection Error Fix

Absinthe has been updated to version 0.1.2-2 with a fix for the database connection error that users had been reporting which occurred due to server overload. We’ve updated our guide here with newer download links.

Also check out the CLI tool released by the iPhone Dev team for Windows and OS X.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

iPhone Dev Team Releases CLI To Untethered Jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Windows and OS X

Imran — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:51:28 +0000

iPhone Dev Team Releases CLI To Untethered Jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2 on Windows and OS X

The awesome ‘Dream Team’, comprised of the iPhone Dev Team and the Chronic Dev Team rolled out the public release of Corona A5 jailbreak tool for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. Chronic Dev Team was the first to roll out an app called Absinthe which lets users quickly jailbreak their A5 processor iOS devices. Initially released on OS X only, with the Windows version to follow, this app lets you jailbreak your device without even putting it in DFU mode. We’ve already extensively covered Absinthe with fast download links, guide on how to jailbreak your iOS device with it as well as a trouble shooting guide in case you can’t figure out why something’s going wrong.

The iPhone Dev Team has incorporated Corona A5 jailbreak in a CLI to help advanced users to not only jailbreak their iOS device but help debug specific issues as well. It includes around 20 advanced options so that those who know what they’re doing can tinker around with it. The best thing about this is that it’s available for both Windows and OS X making it the first jailbreak tool for the PC world to untethered jailbreak A5 devices.

Here’s what you can do with this CLI:

  Configuration profiles:
    -l             List current profiles
    -i       Install profile
    -r [] Remove all profiles, or profiles matching pattern

  AFC transfers:
    -a     Alternative afc service to use (2 is available after jailbreak)
    -u  ...  Upload file(s) via afc (add final "dir=dirname" to specify which afc directory)
    -d []     Show list of files in afc directory
    -X       Delete afc directory or file

  ROP assistance:
    -s             Compute slide
    -e             Erase existing crash logs
    -g             Get diagnostics

  Backups and restores:
    -B             Create backup
    -R             Restore from backup
    -L  List contents of an MBDB file
    -M       Modify the ipsec.plist on device
    -p       Modify the preferences.plist (requires -f too)
    -f       File to use with -p
    -H             Hide media files
    -U             Unhide media files

  Chained operations:
    -j        Jailbreak device using given payloads directory (ADVANCED use only!)

  Other:
    -v      Debug verbosity level
    -h             This help message

We would suggest using the CLI only if you’re an advanced user while novice users should wait for the Windows version of Absinthe or redsn0w update. We will have a guide up shortly to help you jailbreak your iOS device with this CLI.

Download cinject 0.4.3 CLI to Untethered Jailbreak iPhone 4S and iPad 2

Release notes here

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.

iPhone Dev Team to Release a CLI version of Corona A5 Untethered Jailbreak–redsn0w Update Coming Soon for iPad and iPhone 4S

Imran — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:13:34 +0000

iPhone Dev Team to Release a CLI version of Corona A5 Untethered Jailbreak–redsn0w Update Coming Soon for iPad and iPhone 4S

Now that the OS X version of Absinthe, untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 on iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, is out in the public, all eyes are set on the Windows release. Not many users would have realized that more apps are in the works namely, the popular redsn0w by the iPhone Dev Team, and a CLI version of the Corona A5 jailbreak for debugging purposes.

What’s the CLI version of Corona A5 jailbreak? Well, according to the iPhone Dev Team, they have incorporated the same user flow as in Absinthe A5 jailbreak in an alternative command line interface. The CLI has over 20 options and would let users go through the individual steps of the jailbreak manually as well as debug the errors that could pop up during the jailbreak process. Seems like the CLI is ready but it hasn’t been released yet but we’re hoping it would be out really soon.

What about redsn0w then?

Here’s what we know so far: Once the bugs are all ironed out after the public release, the jailbreak flow will be incorporated in redsn0w. The redsn0w GUI will use native Apple iTunes libraries unlike how Chronic Dev Team is handling communication with Absinthe A5. Traditionally, we’ve always had to put our iOS devices into DFU mode when we have to use redsn0w but Absinthe has been the one of the simplest jailbreak solutions ever and removes the need to do so. Will redsn0w have the same user flow and will the iPhone Dev Team back port this to A4 devices? We’re not sure yet but we’re hoping that’s the case as an easier jailbreak process would help everyone. Try explaining DFU mode to an average user and you would know what I’m talking about.

iThinkDifferent - All things different about Microsoft, Apple, Google and the Internet.