It really is touching the future.. Industry Pundits worldwide are already calling the iPad a big failure. People have gone on to say that the iPhone was one of the last great things we would ever see from the iconic Steve Jobs. The iPad in many ways is something that is radically new than just trying to innovate an existing market that the iPod and iPhone lines have done.

The iPad is Apple’s Computer for the rest of us. By the rest of us, I mean the people who aren’t in the Technology profession. Tech Enthusiasts world over have been crying foul that the iPad is not open and they cannot install apps of their choice. I’d have loved it if Apple allowed open App Development on the iPad without being dependent on the App Store, but the fact remains in doing so they would be jeopardizing the Experience that Apple has built around its platform.

I’m a student of Computer Science and I appreciate the power that my MacBook Pro or my Dell PC offers me, but everytime my Mom wants to send an email to somebody there are just too many steps involved with both of these platforms. But she understands how the iPhone works, it really is that simple. When I showed her the iPad video the only thing she said was I’d love to have this thing.

And it is then that realization struck me that Apple isn’t making the iPad for us Tech Enthusiasts who live by the night trying to code or to fix a bug but for the proverbial Mom who is looking for simple solutions to her problems.

Does she need Photoshop on her iPad? Does she need something like uTorrent running on her iPad? Heck No. I could easily say that atleast 80% of the Internet Connected Population uses the Internet for just EMail, Chat, Social Networking and Blogs. And the iPad solves the problem of the majority and not that of us minority who live by Technology.

Before I proceed further I want you all to watch the iPad Introduction Video. Watch it till the end, and try to gel everything that I’ve said thus far with what you see.

So why is that Tech Bloggers, the Media is calling the iPad a big failure?

First of all the print industry is scared to deaths that iPad will take over the Publishing industry. I can very well see the day when we will be reading magazines in full color and gloss on an iPad flipping through the pages just like what we do in a real magazine or a book.

And Second us the Tech Bloggers, Coders, Programmers, Computer Mechanics or whatever. We are obviously scared that we will loose our God like status in the society. Have you ever seen the pleasure that a Techie derives when he helps the average guy next door send an email or fix whatever the issue with his PC not booting up.

With the iPad, Apple is giving all these average next door neighbors a device so sexy and so easy that they won’t need us Techies anymore. Everything is so obvious and straightforward on the iPad. There are no crashes, no viruses, no weird phenomena that we have to come to associate with computing in general over the past decade.

And this is why the iPad is quite literally touching the future. No more confusing User Interfaces. Apple has taken a big step forward with the iPad. Having read elsewhere that iPad is what Apple set out to build, and the iPhone is actually is its child I can very well predict an exciting future for Apple’s MultiTouch Computing Platform.

But that does not mean iPad is not without issues. Here are some things I’d like Apple to fix before the iPad enters the market or atleast in the next product revision.

• MultiTasking
  Yes MultiTasking is a must on the iPad. It makes more sense on an iPhone to not have Multi Tasking with its limited screen estate, but the iPad a big no no. Multi Tasking is a must on the iPad.

  However there are already rumors that iPhone/iPad OS 4.0 will bring Multi Tasking to the platform. Here’s to hoping that these rumors are true.

• USB Interface
  A USB Interface is again a big request. I’d love to see an easy way to transfer my Photos from my Camera and upload it to Facebook or Flickr just like iPhoto already does on the Mac.

  I’d love to be able to complete my Spreadsheet on Numbers and plug in a USB Printer when I arrive at the office and take a quick printout to show it to my boss. The Applications are endless, so please Apple throw in a USB Connector.

• Video Camera
  This is more of a novelty though but it would be nice to do Video Chats with my friends while on the move. Ofcourse a Camera on the back is pretty much pointless because I don’t see people taking pictures with the iPad, but a front facing Camera will be welcome.

So does Apple have a Winner with the iPad? I’d say, Yes! The fundamental we compute is about to change. And Will I buy an iPad? Probably not the first revision, but definitely later. The iPad will make for an amazing second computer.

Well it goes after the personal data stored on your iPhone which includes email, contacts, SMS, Calendars, Photos etc. So if you have Jailbreak’ed your iPhone, you have to be concerned now.

Also the worm doesn’t need to be running on an infected device, the attacker could instead load it onto a Computer in a public network and scan for iPhone’s connected to the same network that are deemed to be vulnerable.

The attack vector is simply the Jailbroken iPhone, which is what you need to secure if you are running a Jailbroken iPhone. Since the iPhone runs on the trusted Unix Based Filesystem the fix is actually easier than it seems and you lose out on nothing with regards to the Jailbreak functionality.

So how do we do it? We just change the root password of iPhone to prevent hackers from getting access to the precious personal data on your iPhone. It’ll hard take you a couple of minutes but will save you a lot of trouble later.

• First up you need to Install the MobileTerminal application from Cydia.

  

• After it is installed, you’ll need to reboot your iPhone.
• Launch MobileTerminal from the springboard and type in the command: passwd
• When it asks you for the “Old Password,” type in: alpine
• At the new password prompt, type in a new password of your choice, but make sure its strong and secure enough
• Re-enter the password to confirm.
• You’ll now be returned to the Mobile$ prompt which means the change was successful.
• Now you’ll need to change the password for the root account. Type in the command login root.
• Once again, you’re prompted for the old password. Type in alpine.
• Now type in the command passwd
• You’ll then go through the change password routine a second time, entering in alpine as the old password, creating a new password and then re-entering it to confirm.
• Yup, that’s it. Once done, Close MobileTerminal and uninstall it from Cydia if you feel so.

P.S. I’ve personally tested this on my iPhone running iPhone OS. 3.1.2 Jailbroken using BlackRa1n. But I am pretty sure this should work other iPhones as well.

Let us know in the comments to explain how the process went for you. You really have to thank Dev Team and other teams working on the iPhone platform, with the increased power, they also make it relatively easy for us to secure our iPhones.

Perfect gift for the new years from Dev Team Here are the prerequisites before you can proceed with the unlock of the phone..

• You Must Have Jailbroken iPhone 3G Running Firmware 2.2 with the baseband modem firmware as 02.28.00
• To find the version of your baseband firmware, go to Settings->General->About and scroll down to find the version of your modem firmware..
• If you are not on Firmware 2.2 with baseband firmware at 02.28.00 you will need to restore your iPhone to 2.2 and rejailbreak/pwn using QuickPwn.

Alright now that you guys, lets proceed with juicy stuff of unlocking your iPhone..

Okay here we go….

• Fire up Cydia from your SpringBoard.

• Select the Manage Tab at the bottom of Cydia.

• Select the Sources Button.

• Press the Edit Button at the top of the screen.

• Now Press the Add Button at the top of the screen.

• Enter http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/ as the source url and press the Add Source button.

• Return to Cydia once the source has been added, and press the Done button at the top of the screen.

• Tap on the just added repo apt9.yellowsn0w.com .

• Select yellowsn0w from the list of available packages.

• Press the Install button at the top of the screen.

• Press the Confirm button at the top of the screen.

• After the installation has been successfully completed, press the Return to Cydia button.

• Now Restart your iPhone, and pop in your third party SIM into the iPhone.. The Phone should now be unlocked and running on the carrier of your choice..

That was simple ain’t it? The Dev Team has really done brilliant job here, in making the process of unlocking the iPhone so darn easy! If you run into problems during this, read the following suggestions..

• It seems that getting your iPhone to pick up your new carrier can be helped by turning off 3G and perhaps toggling the Airplane Mode switch on and off.
• If you are still having problems try removing and reinserting the SIM or booting with the new SIM already inside.
• If none of these seem to work, wait for a couple of days since yellowsn0w is still beta, so there might be bugs the Dev Team will squash out in the coming few days.

The Beauty of yellowsn0w is that it makes no changes to anything on your iPhone.. Yes you heard it right, yellowsn0w will in no way modify the contents of your iPhone Baseband.. Here’s what MuscleNerd of the Dev Team said :

it doesn’t touch a bit of the baseband NOR…all the patches are injected on the fly in RAM…they go away with poweroff

So you can uninstall yellowsn0w anytime you wish, and still leave your iPhone in a pristine state..

A Big thanks to the Dev Team for the wonderful effort, and I am sure this is the perfect gift for new years for many many iPhone users all over the world…

Please post in your questions in the comments, I’ll try to help you as much as possible.. Happy new year to all of you

Photo credit: bwana

Getting custom ringtones on the iPhone has always been a process that requires some amount of hardwork. Sure there are jailbreak and third party apps that will you help get custom ringtones on the iPhone for free rather than buying from iTunes.

But the catch is that these softwares either cost a bit or require a jailbreak which can be risky for your precious iPhone.

There has to be a easier way right? Thankfully there is a easy, fast and most importantly legal way to get custom ringtones on your iPhone in less than a minute.

Well am referring to a service called Audiko, that allows you to put ringtones on any mobile device and not only the iPhone.

Audiko is a simple service which helps you to make a ringtone of your favorite song! Audiko is an amazing service. It allows you to upload any song, cut up to 40 seconds of it, and put it right into your iTunes Ringtones folder for quick and easy syncing.

Best of all Audiko is a free service and doesn’t require any registration..

Let’s get started with the process..

• To start off visit Audiko.net and search for the song whose ringtone you are looking for.

• And choose an appropriate search result…
• Click "Download Ringtone for iPhone"

• Once you’ve saved the ringtone to a folder on your computer, double click the file to add the file to your iTunes Ringtones library.

• Now whenever you sync your iPhone next you will find the ringtone in your iPhone’s Settings >> Sounds >> Ringtones menu.

What’s more Audiko even allows you to upload a song and cut any part of it (up to 40 seconds).

You can also enter the URL for any YouTube video and Audiko automatically extracts the sound. Just like when uploading a song, you can cut any part of the audio.

Adding custom ringtones on your iPhone could’ve never been easier. No more SSH, no more jailbreaking, and no more useless utilities.

While the Dev Team has released Pwnage tool for Mac OSX, it’ll be some time before we see Pwnage tool for Windows. All those Windows users who can’t wait to jailbreak/unlock their iPhones here’s a guide for you to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone.

While at the moment there is no Installer.app on firmware 2.0, and there aren’t many apps running but that will change with time, and more and more apps for the jailbroken iPhone will appear. Follow this quick 15 min guide to Jailbreak/unlock your iPhone on Windows..

I’m going to divide the guide into two clear and concise sections, one for the iPhone 2G and one for the iPhone 3G.. Pick the section that you have and proceed.. Make sure you have iTunes 7.7 installed and backup your iPhone before continuing..

Disclaimer : I’m not responsible if these hacks end up bricking your iPhone, while the methods have been tested widely but please proceed at your own risk.

For iPhone 2G

iPhone 2G can both be unlocked and jailbroken unlike the iPhone 3G which can only be jaibroken at the moment.. Download the following files before you get started..

• WinPwn 1.0
• Custom Firmware Restore Image (Torrent Link)

Lets get started then..

• Backup your iPhone before you proceed.
• Install WinPwn and Pwn your iPhone 2G running firmware 1.1.4 using it. Please note that it is very important that you have the iPhone Pwned at 1.1.4 before proceeding..
• Install Bootneuter (You should be able to find it in Installer.app)
• Run Bootneuter and have it neuter your iPhone.
• Put your iPhone into DFU Mode.. This can be a bit tricky.Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.
• In iTunes Shift+Click the Restore button and find your custom IPSW Firmware file that you downloaded earlier.
• Wait for it to complete, and enjoy you have a completely Jailbroken, Unlocked iPhone running firmware 2.0.

For iPhone 3G

iPhone 3G can only be Jailbroken at the moment, because no unlock has been found yet. Again download the following files before you get started..

• x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw
• iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Custom_Restore.ipsw

You can download both these files from this torrent.

Now that you have the files downloaded, lets get started then…

• Backup your iPhone before you proceed.
• Click Start and Run, and type in %appdata%Apple ComputeriTunes.
• In the folder that opens, create a Directory called Device Support if it doesn’t exist already and if it is present delete it.
• In the Device Support folder copy x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw that you had downloaded earlier.
• Open up iTunes and now you need to get your iPhone into DFU Mode..Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.
• In iTunes Shift+Click the Restore button and find your custom IPSW Firmware file that you downloaded earlier (iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Custom_Restore.ipsw).
• When the restoring has completed, the iPhone will ask you to connect to iTunes and redo the activation (download carrier settings).
• Restore your backup. This should be automatically done after the carrier settings have been downloaded, but you can also do it by right clicking iPhone on the left and selecting Restore iPhone
• Wait for it to complete, and enjoy you have a completely Jailbroken iPhone 3G.

I hope everything went well for you and you are running iPhone with the latest firmware 2.0.. Big credit to the dev team for developing Pwnage tool and others for the custom firmware images.

Let us know in the comments on how it went for you..

Yay! Finally the Pwnage Tool for iPhone 2.0 has been released.. The Dev Team has released a working jailbreak for iPhone 3G and a working unlock/jailbreak for iPhone 2G..

The most important thing is that firmware 2.0 was just released on 11th July, which meant Dev Team had an jailbroken firmware 2.0 on the iPhone 3G in just a space of 8 days.. Neat achievement I must say..

If you have an older generation of iPhone and you can’t wait to try out the apps from the app store on your unlocked iPhone, download Pwnage tool 2.0 immediately.. At the moment it is Mac only, but a windows version is on its way as I speak.

If you are casual jailbreaker, or if you simply want to unlock your iPhone, you might probably want to hold out for another week or so, so that the dev team can iron out the bugs and Pwnage becomes even more stable. Considering the kind of pressure the dev team has been through the Pwnage tool is a wonderful achievement on their part. It will only get better with time. At the moment though its still not ready for the average guy, atleast not as easy as using ZiPhone.

But since the unlock for iPhone 3G isn’t out yet, its not currently a part of the Pwnage tool. You can unlock the older generation of the iPhone, while jailbreak is supported on both the generations.

Follow this guide to use Pwnage tool to unlock your old iPhone or jailbreak the iPhone 3G..

Please let us know in the comments if you succeeded in jailbreaking/unlocking your iPhone using the Pwnage tool

While a lot of people are awaiting the release of Pwnage tool from iPhone Dev Team, there are equally that many people who accidentally got upgraded to 2.0 leaving their precious iPhone locked and unusable.

If you are one of those, then follow this guide to restore your iPhone 2G from firmware 2.0 to 1.1.4 and completely unlock it. This is of course is the only way you can use your iPhone 2G until the Dev Team releases Pwnage tool 2.0.

Follow the instructions below carefully, and you should be able to achieve the stated goal pretty fast. Trust me, it ain’t that hard….

Warning : This tutorial/guide is for the iPhone 2G only which have been accidentally upgraded to 2.0 needing to restore back to 1.1.4 and unlock the phone. Do not use this guide on your iPhone 3G.

Also this guide is currently only for the Mac OS.. I will add a guide for Windows when it is available and ready.

Alright lets get started then…. Download the following items at the start, you will need them during the course of the tutorial.

• iTunes 7.7 (from Apple)
• iTunes 7.5 (from Apple)
• AppZapper
• iPhone 1.1.4 Firmware
• Pwnage Tool 1.1
• iPhone 3.9 and 4.6 Bootloaders

Download all of them and keep them handy.. Lets get started then with the real deal.. Get ready to free your iPhone

• Install iTunes 7.7 and then uninstall it using AppZapper. This is to make sure you have the correct drivers and files necessary for the iPhone with firmware 2.0.
• Open Terminal and type the following command. Enter the administrator password when prompted for it.
  sudo rm -R /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework
• Now install iTunes 7.5 and reboot your Mac.
• Rename iTunes folder in Music to iTunesOLD. Run iTunes and configure everything to your hearts liking and quit iTunes.
• Plug in your iPhone using the dock connector. iTunes should now recognize the iPhone and prompt you telling that you need a newer version of iTunes. Just don’t bother and click OK.
• Now the tricky part, you now need to put the iPhone in DFU Mode. Note that the iPhone is completely blank in the DFU Mode.

  Here’s how to get into the DFU Mode, hold the home button on the bottom and the power button until the screen turns off and then count to 2 and let go of the power button on the top of the iPhone , but keep pressing home button until iTunes asks you if you want to restore your iPhone.

• Now in iTunes option click Restore in the iPhone tab and choose the iPhone firmware file iphone1,1_1.1.4.4A102_Restore.ipsw you downloaded earlier.
• iTunes will now restore 1.1.4 onto the iPhone. Once it is done you should get an error 1015 which is good sign.
• Now put your iPhone in normal restore mode (not DFU). To go into normal Restore mode turn off iPhone, turn on with a tap on power while holding the home button and hold the home button until iTunes tells that you need to restore your iPhone. Now restore the firmware again just like in the previous step. Don’t bother about the error code.
• Now quit iTunes and start Pwnage tool that you downloaded earlier and hit browse ipsw and select the firmware you downloaded earlier..
• Hit iPwner, and after a while your iPhone will start showing text, loads of it. After a while it should restart and ask you to connect it to iTunes.

  

• Hit Browse ipsw. Choose the file you downloaded earlier. Select ipsw builder and configure the options as shown below in the screenshot.

  

• Hit Ok, and choose the two bootloader files from the rar archive you downloaded earlier. Choose a location to save your restore file.

   

• Quit Pwnage tool, and fire up iTunes one last time.
• Option click on restore in the iPhone tab (the alt key + mouse key) and choose the new custom restore file you created in Pwnage tool.
• Once the restore is complete, your iPhone should be completely unlocked and jailbroken. You should be able to run any apps you wish and use any SIM.
• Sync your iPhone, and enjoy your totally unlocked iPhone.

Well that is it, wasn’t that long isn’t it. Try it out and at the moment it is the best solution until Dev Team gets around to releasing Pwnage tool 2.0 that will unlock Firmware 2.0 on the iPhone 2G.

Meanwhile enjoy your hacked phone!! Special thanks to aRT in the forums for writing this guide.

Please let us know in the comments, as to how it goes for you. This wouldn’t be possible without the work of many hackers from around the world whose sole aim is to free up the iPhone.

Surely the AppStore has a bunch of apps that you can’t live without.. But there are also apps that are nothing short of stinkers. Among the hundreds of apps at the Appstore these are the apps you don’t want to have on your iPhone, except for a good laugh maybe..

Sure enough Apple accepted them into the store for being well coded but again who needs them. Come on Apple get some interesting apps on the board rather than these bad apples which spoil the party…

So here are the 10 iPhone Apps you don’t want to have…

• Alarm Free

I’m completely at loss to explain the need for this app. The developer describes it as “self-defense/emergency alarm with freefall detector”. Confused? Yeah me too… Its even got a cool looking graphic telling you what you are supposed to do.. Yeah right! Imagine this neat conversation that I’m having…

“Hey there Mr. Mugger, one sec let me whip out my iPhone real fast(you knew I had an iPhone right?) and…. ok, unlocked the screen, launched this app, and BEEP BEEP BEEP! HAHA take that! A beeping sound far more quiet than the sound of my own voice! What? You want the iPhone now in addition to my wallet? Weird“

• Cow Toss

Another gem of an app at the App Store.. All you gotta do is move the cow and watch it fly around with space… I guess the guy who wrote this genius was probably practicing how to write real apps for the App Store…

• Crazy Mouth

Don’t take this as just another app. The developer asks you this question “Why waste money on an expensive facelift when you can get your Crazy Mouth on! ” Basically its got a series of 10 animated mouths which you are supposed to select and put the iPhone up to your mouth and give the onlookers a good laugh..

Have a look at this demo.. Surely this is not the reason you brought your iPhone right?

• Flashlight

Caught up in dark alley is it? Oh come on you can always use your iPhone as a flashlight can’t you? Pay 0.99$ for this cool little app and light up the dark streets.. Oh well there are other apps like Light that do the same thing for free. But paid apps are always better right?

• SimStapler

Perhaps you would like to staple the Declaration of Independence to the Magna Carta? Or, your phone bill to the Book of Kells? With SimStapler and your imagination its “no problem”

Meh! Basically a tool you can use to teach your kids how to staple two sheets of paper..

• Looky

All this really useful that costs 3$ does is bring you live search results from Google. I thought Google does it already.. Save those 3 bucks and fire up Safari and search Google..

Trust me it ain’t that hard..

• Banner Free

Getting bored? Display whatever text you like on a cool looking LED Matrix display. Thank god its atleast free..

• Hold On!

Seriously the whole point of this lovely little app seems to be holding that huge “Hold” button for as long as you can… Apparently it’s supposed to increase your productivity by increasing your concentration levels.

God gracious atleast this thing is free. You don’t want to pay a few bucks just to hold a button on your iPhone do you..

Tip: To get the highest possible score hold the button and walk along as though nothing happened..

• Handy Randy

Can’t think of a random number for your latest password? If you didn’t take math all that seriously when you were in school this app is made for you.. This super expensive application that costs you 10$( !! ) draws random numbers..

Also this cool little app gets my vote for the most horribly designed app in the App Store.. I wonder if the developer had ever seen an iPhone?

• Yes|No

Need to take a quick decision? Fire up this lovely little app and hold the question in your mind.. Once you are done with that it will tell you a Yes or a No.. Use this for questions like..

Should I call him?
Should I go to bed?
Should I push this huge red button?

My suggestion is once you have got the answer you needed delete this app to save precious space on your iPhone..

There you go, 10 iPhone apps that you don’t want to have. I keep wondering what the developers of these apps had in mind while developing these gems.. Maybe they were thinking “I guess if you’ve dropped that much money on a phone that looks cool, I guess you could spend a bit more and get some useless programs for it.”

Found some more useful useless apps for the iPhone? Please share with us in the comments..

With the iPhone on sale in over 22 countries today the day will not be complete without some launch day humor. The iPhone is already on sale in the US and some of you have already told us what you wish to do with your existing iPhone or your plans for the iPhone 3G.

Since the iPhone isn’t out here in India, i’ve been left with nothing less than hope to see the iPhone in my hands. Whatever that is, below are some comics courtesy Joy of Tech. After having a look at the comics make sure you visit the site for some geeky laughs. Whatever they meant!!

Rogers Rips of the Canadians!!

Sorry Boss, Don’t have enough $$

iPhone 3G WooHoo

Raiders of my Wallet

The Weekend Before a Keynote

So have you brought the iPhone 3G yet or is this just another gadget you must possess?

With the iPhone 3G all set to go on sale tomorrow morning, there are still some unanswered questions about the iPhone 3G.. Apple seems to have coordinated review spree from Walt Mossberg, Edward Baig, and David Pogue, all out with major hands-on reviews.

All the three of them feel that the iPhone 3G is a good hardware device and a good upgrade over the original iPhone that we saw an year earlier. But just like the original compromises with the iPhone still exist and that make it hardly a must-have device.

But that brings us to the important question.. Will you buy the iPhone 3G when it goes for sale this friday? If you are not planning to buy one what is it that is holding you back from buying one? Is it the cost, or is it the carrier choice or is it the design cues since you are going to have to acquaint yourself to a completely new experience of mobile phones..

Or are you going to rush to the nearest Apple Store first thing tomorrow morning and get the iPhone 3G? Or are you going to stay with your first gen iPhone? We’d love to hear what your plans are…

I for one will surely be lining up to buy the iPhone when it makes an appearance in India. Here’s a chance for all you guys to be a little bit of nostradamus..

Will the iPhone 3G be a hit or miss?