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Posts tagged iOS
iFile fixed on iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak
31 year ago
in technology
Yesterday I wrote a quick post on the latest untethered jailbreak for ios 5.0.1. I mentioned that despite some fixes for the broken launchctl that had emanated from the latest jailbreak, iFile was still broken and crashing like a drunken night at the dodgems.
Well, thanks to saurik’s diligent work and his recent update to the mobile substrate package, iFile is back up and running. So we can all go back to doing whatever it is we do with iFile.
And to prove it’s working, the image above was extracted from the asoftly theme on my phone using iFile.
untethered jailbreak for ios5.0.1 with a few issues for added spice
31 year ago
in technology
An untethered jailbreak was finally released for ios 5.0.1 on 28 December 2012. Despite the fact that ios 5.x has been jailbroken (albeit tethered) for a number of months now, an untethered jailbreak is a BIG deal. For the uninitiated, a tethered jailbreak means that you need to connect it to a computer to be able to reboot it. This can be an issue if the battery runs out an you’re not near a computer with redsn0w and a copy of ios5.x on it. So a lot of would be jailbreakers held off, waiting for an untethered jailbreak, and now that it is here, the stampede to get it was deafening.
If you haven’t previously jailbroken 5.0.1, then you can use the latest version of redsn0w to jailbreak. This is a pretty simple process. If you haven’t yet moved to 5.0.1, then you’ll have to do so first.
If you are on an untethered jailbreak, then you have two options. Use the latest redsn0w to untether – in effect, rejailbreak; or download an app called Corona Untether – install it from Cydia, reboot and you should be untethered.
This is where things get spicy. Apparently if you’ve done a ‘clean’ jailbreak – ie. used redsn0w to jailbreak an unjailbroken device, there are no issues. However, if you’ve used either of the above methods to untether a tethered device, then there are issues. Initially, both methods broke launchctl, which meant apps like openSSH and intelliscreenX didn’t work. However, the latest release of Corona fixes this – yes that’s right if you untethered using redsn0w, you will have this issue and should install the latest version of Corona to fix it.
However, there are still a few issues out there. iFile on my phone crashes almost immediately on launch. I have read that iBooks is broken as well. That being said, I don’t use iFile that often, never use iBooks, and all my other apps seem to be working, so I’m a happy untethered camper. Hopefully, the remaining bugs will be fixed as quickly as the initial bugs and we’ll all be able to enjoy a rock solid jailbreak. And if the bugs mentioned above are too much for you, you can always do a clean install of 5.0.1 and jailbreak from there.
jailbreak developers outdo apple … again
11 year ago
in technology
… how long will it be until Apple takes this idea and implements it in their OS, and call it “innovation” again? If you have a jailbroken iPhone, then you may have seen an app called kbshortcuts appear in Cydia. This app turns your iPhone/iPad keyboard into something really, really useful. The app allows you to perform common text editing operations with a simple swipe of your finger.
Features include:
- Cut, copy, paste;
- Find and replace;
- Text navigation and selection;
- Dictionary definitions;
- Translate text;
- Undo and redo;
- Text snippets;
- Much more …
To activate a feature, simply swipe your finger from the spacebar up to the relevant key. For example, to copy text, swipe up to “c”. To paste, swipe up to “v”. To undo, swipe up to “z”. Most functions are bound to the key’s you would expect from gui text editors, such as Word or Openoffice.org.
killer feature
But the feature that is killer, is undo and redo. How many times have you deleted text because of clumsy fingers and cried about it like a baby. No more cry baby – just undo your mistake! This app turns the iOS keyboard into a real tool for text editing.
turns iPad useful
This turns the iPad into a useful tool for creating text. Previously, typing text on the iPad keyboard was a complete pain in the arse. With this tool your iPad becomes a better content creator, and no longer just a content consumption device.
so, what about apple?
So how does this relate to iOS? Well, iOS 5 has keyboard shortcuts too! So why all the excitement about this Cydia app when shortcuts are coming to iOS anyway? Well, Apple’s implementation of keyboard shortcuts is … lame. Basically, you can insert text snippets by typing in abbreviations for them – yep, that’s it.
kbshortcuts is another example of why a locked down platform hurts the consumer and hurts innovation. Long live the jailbreak community! kbshortcuts is the definitive jailbreak KILLER APP.
iOS5: innovating like a boss!
52 years ago
in technology
iOS5 is underwhelming, and getting ahead by leaching off the work of others (just like a boss). WWDC2011 this morning brought a number of announcements from Apple. Most of them were pretty unexciting, but the most unexciting, were the announcements about iOS5. Out of the 200 "new features" in iOS5, they picked (presumably) the 10 best to highlight what Apple’s greatest minds have been working on for the last year or so. As far as I can tell, the features are either things they’ve borrowed from other apps available at the app store, or are copies of jailbreak functionality that was only created because it should have been in iOS in the first place.
Let’s take a few of the features:
Notification List
Apple is now going to aggregate notifications in one place, so that they can be accessed as and when you like, and will be available on the lockscreen. So no longer will they randomly appear while you’re doing something else demanding attention, nor will they equally randomly disappear defeating the point of having notifications in the first place. They will always be available, either on the lock screen or on the springboard. Sounds a lot like lockinfo or intelliscreen to me, but without also providing the kind of information that does not come up in a notification – for example calendar and weather information, or a list of your upcoming tasks.
Messaging
This allows iOS devices to message eachother. Exactly like Viber in the app store – or BBM on Blackberry for that matter.
Reminders
Apple has made a todo app. Shall we add it to the thousands already in the app store? It is location aware you say? Yep, so is every other to do app in the app store. Now, if this would allow you to make a to do directly from the email app, I might get a little bit excited. However, that would actually be useful, and I’m not sure Apples in the business of being useful.
PC Free
This is just the ability to sync with iTunes over wifi. You’ve been able to do this on a jailbroken iPhone for a long time using an app called "Wi-Fi Sync", available in Cydia.
Hardware Camera Button
You can now take photos with the volume up button on the side of the phone. If I recall correctly there was an app in the app store that allowed this until Apple removed it on the basis that it was "confusing". Apple must have clarified this now. This functionality is also available for jailbroken phones, along with using hardware buttons for all sorts of other things.
I don’t know about you, but if that’s the best Apple’s got, then my recommendation would be for them to open source iOS, and let some real developers innovate on the technology. Either Apple is out of ideas, or the fact that everyone will buy an iDevice regardless of features means that software innovation is a wasted overhead.
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