2008: Yearly Archive

Forum Review: Lie Detector for iPhone

Lie Detector Forum Review by msbaylor. (Visit the thread for video and more pics. For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

The Lie Detector App claims that it can detect when a person is lying, 100% of the time I was unsuccessful in getting the app to work. When you open the app it tells you to input a few things about the person that is being questioned. And in the last blank, you enter the question you want to see if the person is lying about.

Read the rest of this entry »

Review: Naked Case Touch-Through Acrylic Case

[Ed: Wondering where you may have seen this case before? Look no further than our ongoing Smartphone Expert Round Robin! Yup, one lucky TiPb reader will be winning the Naked Case along with a shiny new iPhone 3G, both courtesy of Case-Mate! Huge thanks to them, and our new sibling store Smartphone Outlet for making all this possible! Now hurry up and read all about what you just might win!]

Need a new case that is light-weight, thin and protects the iPhone screen? Look no further than the Case-Mate Naked Case Touch Through Acrylic Case for iPhone 3G! This case is available for $34.95 from the Phone Different Store. This case totally encompasses your iPhone protecting it from any accidental damage. How does it work? Read on for more information!

Read the rest of this entry »

Apple Announces Black Friday Sale

Apple has begun sending out notices about their annual “Black Friday” sale, so named because it’s theoretically a shopping day so monumental it tips the retail balances out of the red (losing money) and into the black (making profit). Years past have seen $100 off MacBooks, for example, though rumors this year suggest Apple might be more aggressive with their sale.

Cyber Monday, the trendy follow-up where people have mulled over everything they didn’t buy on Black Friday and make use of once-were-faster office internet connections to order stuff online, is typically ignored by Apple, so those wanting even a little savings should definitely not miss out Friday.

Will iPhone’s see any discount love? We don’t expect so, given their already hugely subsidized price, but we remain ever hopeful!

So far we’ve gotten notices in the US (where it follows the Thanksgiving holiday), and Canada (where it follows just another work day). Anyone else get a notice for their country? Please post in the comments!

Economy Now: Apple’s Non-Layoff Cost Cutting

Apple Insider is reporting that, rather than layoffs like Palm or unpaid vacation like Dell’s exploring, which would certainly paint a less-than-rosy glow about the company, Apple:

…plans to scale back the hours worked by its part-time Mac Specialists that greet customers and promote products. This would keep them on the store floors while trimming employment costs, those aware of the changes say. To compensate for the shortfall, Geniuses normally assigned to servicing products and answering questions will be asked to spend four of their weekly hours in the Mac Specialist role. Creatives manning the Studio sections of some stores will be asked to work as many as eight hours selling products.

Less person hours, however, is still less person hours. Here’s wishing all the ever-helpful staff at Apple Retail, the great folks at Palm, and everyone at Dell a speedy return to the work they love (and need!), and everyone a little global confidence, a modicum of collective good fortunte, and a lot of responsible leadership moving forward!

State of the Apps: Mail App Slips Through, Rejection Re-Do’s, Paying for Reviews, and NDA Over for 2.2!

First up, with the previous rejection of Gmail client MailWrangler, Engadget says another app which also dares to “duplicate features” found in a Dock App (Apple’s own MobileMail) has actually been accepted into the App Store. Did BdEmailer slip through the cracks? Or is this a sign of inconsistency on Apple’s part? Hot on the heels of the controversy surrounding Google’s Advance Voice Search using non-public API’s, developer confidence in the approval process might drop even further…

…Though Ars’ own Erica Sadun reveals the story of one developer who, after initially having their App rejected by Apple, tried and tried again, and without making a single change to the app, had it approved the second time around. Embarrassing for Apple, if the policies really are that inconsistent.

Speaking of embarrassing, Wired reveals that one developer actually got Amazon’s mechanical turk involved in paying for reviews. Users who get $4 — $2 to “buy” the app, and $2 in bonus for leaving a 5-star review.

Lastly, Erica Sadun is back to remind us that, with the release of iPhone OS 2.2, the NDA is now lifted regarding that firmware, and the public dumping can begin! Any guesses as to what goodies will be found?

Forum Review: Aurora Feint 1: The Beginning for the iPhone

Aurora Feint Forum Review by cjvitek (For more Forum Reviews, see the TiPb iPhone App Store Forum!

[Ed- Aurora Feint 1: The Beginning, is FREE in the iTunes store. Aurora Feint 2: The Arena is now available for $7.99 and if you head on over to the forum, and ask Chris and Matt, we might just get a review up for that soon too! Meanwhile, here's Chris' review of the original to whet everyone's appetite!]

This is an extremely interesting game that tries to combine elements of a puzzle game with elements of an RPG game.

You start with a map screen. From there, you can go to the mine (the puzzle game), the store (to use your tiles for skills or tools), the smith (to actually obtain the tools), and the tower (to actually learn the skills). You need to start with the puzzle game, and once you start to gain levels and tile,s you can move to the other areas.

Read the rest of this entry »

How To: Jailbreak iPhone 2.2 (Preserving Baseband) - Mac OS X Edition

Disclaimer: This guide is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Neither TiPb nor the author take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this or any software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing. If you’re not sure, don’t do it.

Note to New Macbook Owners - if you have a late 2008 model aluminum MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air and have not previously Pwned your iPhone (under firmware 2.1 or earlier), the issues we blogged about previously mean you will have to use a different computer to Jailbreak 2.2. Sorry folks. If you have already Pwned under 2.1 or previous, then you can simply put your iPhone into recovery mode and restore with the freshly created IPSW. (If you don’t understand what all that means, keep reading, or go to our Jailbreak Central Forum for help)

Is it really that shocking? iPhone firmware 2.2 was released just days ago and now we have a fully illustrated guide to help you along! Today we’re going to take a deeper look at the exact steps you have to take to get your iPhone jailbroken on your Mac.

Let’s get started, after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Want Japanese Emoticons? Hack Enables Them On Any iPhone 2.2

Ok, I will admit I have never heard of Emoji (“Picture Characters”) until it was announced that iPhone firmware 2.2 would support them. As it turns out, however, the only iPhones that were blessed with this feature were on Japan’s SoftBank network. Until now that is…

Important Note: If you are not familiar with editing code we here at TiPb do not recommended that you try this.

No matter what carrier you are with, you can now apply a hack that was found on Gizmodo that will enable Emoji emoticons. Keep in mind any iPhone will be able to display the icons hacked or not, while “other” phones out there need to support Emoji in order to display them.

You need to edit the file /User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preferences.plist on the device -> whether you use a jailbreak to achieve this or merely some iTunes backup editor is up to you. Add the following boolean key as ‘true’: KeyboardEmojiEverywhere. Then merely go to the Keyboards section of the Settings app, hit Japanese, and turn on Emoji. Will work for any text field/view in the OS, including on websites, AND including the titles of items on SpringBoard (e.g. if you save a bookmark to the home screen).

The easiest way to do this would be to Jailbreak and run your iPhone as a SFTP server for editing the config file. Again TiPb does not recommend you try this if you are not familiar with editing code.

[Via Gizmodo]

Why Even the BlackBerry Storm STILL Doesn’t Compare to the iPhone 3G

We’ve covered why the BlackBerry can’t compare the iPhone, why the BlackBerry compares worse than ever to the iPhone 3G, and even what the iPhone could learn from the Blackberry.

So, okay, fair enough. We’ve beaten the BlackBerry horse so far past death even it’s ghost shows bruises. But here’s the thing — the second biggest story of the week (after iPhone OS 2.2, naturally) is the release of the Blackberry Storm, a direct response to Apple’s revolutionary iPhone and its unprecedented sales, business, and reliability success.

How could we ignore that, and how could we ignore iPhone owners who are daring to think different(ly) about jumping to the Storm, or have stuck with Verizon this long hoping the Storm would give them reason not to switch to the iPhone AT&T.

The answer is, we can’t, and we won’t. So after the break, our Top 5 reasons why the BlackBerry Storm STILL doesn’t compare to the iPhone!

Read the rest of this entry »

The 2nd Gen iPod Touch is Faster than Your iPhone 3G

On other mobile platforms (hi Windows Mobile!) we often spend quite a bit of time comparing the processors of different models, seeing which one is faster and seeing what happens when you set the clock speed of a given phone to a higher number. It’s “fun,” see, because not only can clock speed be radically different from phone to phone, but so can performance even on devices with similar clock speeds.

The nice thing about the iPhone: not doing that. Well, until now. MacRumors reports that the 2nd gen iPod Touch, though it sports the same processor as its siblings, actually has a clock speed of 532MHz compared to the rest at 412MHz. The result is that certain apps like TouchSports Tennis run much better on the iPod Touch 2nd Gen. Which ultimately meant that the developer had to optimize their app for the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch 1st Gen. All three actually perform differently with the game, with the original iPod touch falling furthest behind.

It’s a bummer, because as apps become more powerful and get closer to testing the limits of the platform, developers will discover that the ’single target’ advantage of the iPhone/iPod Touch platform may go away. We’re not talking about having to code for as many devices as you do with Windows Mobile or BlackBerry, of course, but it’s still worth noting.

Why not clock up the iPhone 3G. In a couple of words: “battery life.” In a lot of words, well, battery life plus when you have WiFi, bluetooth, Quad-band edge and Tri-band WDCMA (that’s GSM 3G to you) all packed together, they have to be finely tuned. Just changing the clock speed could be enough to ruin a whole raft of things beyond battery life. With smartphones, we live in a world where the choice of paint can radically alter signal strength, so it’s no stretch to say the changes in heat, radiation, etc. associated with a faster clock speed could potentially cause problems. Plus, again, battery life people.

It probably wouldn’t completely screw with everything if Apple upped the clock speed — people change clock speeds all the time on WinMo — but it can happen and it’s a bigger deal as they get packed more tightly together. These radios are packed pretty tightly in the iPhone 3G.