Today when logging into my Apple Developer account I noticed a nice little surprise. A new iPhone OS beta was available for download via Apple Developer connection. I have yet to download the beta considering many people are having issues with the network connectivity and such however I did want to point out some interesting modifications in the new firmware.
After reading the Developer Forums it seems as if apple has re-enabled the MMS feature but currently MMS is not working. I still believe AT&T needs to enable the MMS feature on their end but it does seem that MMS will be enabled when the iPhone OS 3.1 is publicly released.
For all you iPhone 3GS users it seems you get a great new feature to go along with the your excellent video recorder (Can you tell I have not upgraded yet?) Apple has added the ability to copy video clips in the editor. I am still unsure where we can paste the clips but I think it will be used mainly to allow us to “splice” two video clips together.
Smaller changes include:
- Modem firmware upgrade bringing the carrier software version from 4.0 to 4.2.
- Adding feature to when the phone is put into “move mode” (when you can move apps) the device vibrates.
- Fixed issue with Voice Command and Bluetooth.
- Phone Keypad now allows you to copy and paste.
Most issues with the beta seem to be with the network connectivity and the iPod app. Some users are stating that the iPod app will not even open. As of now I am going to stay away from the 3.1 beta OS until said issues are resolved and I strongly suggest anyone considering updating to the beta do the same. I will keep you posted when I get more news.
Got questions or your own comments? Leave them below!
Updated way to enable tethering:
Simple! Just go to this website on your phone. http://help.benm.at/help.php
- Click on mobileconfigs.
- Select your Country.
- Select your carrier.
- It will ask you if you want to install.
- Click install.
- Enjoy your tethering via Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering
Old way to enable tethering:
iPhone 3.0 is live! So I am going to repost the tethering tutorial. Now there is no need to download anything (aside from the carrier file). Seems you can just run a little command in terminal (Make sure you are on OS 3.0 on a 3G iPhone and iTunes 8.2):
So open up terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE
After that, the steps become a lot more simple.
1. Download this file (for AT&T) and mount the disk image (thanks Gizmodo) for other carriers, try here.
2. Option-click on “restore” in your iTunes with your iPhone attached. Browse to the opened disk image file and hit OK. It will update phone settings for a few seconds.
3. You have tethering. Now go into your iPhone/settings/general/network/Internet Tethering and turn it on.
Boom – 3 steps to tethering…
As a side note is highly recommended that you not use this as your primary internet service. Please if anything try to stay under 5GB’s of transfer per month to avoid service termination.
Hi there. I thought I might give you a little background on myself before I wrote this blog entry. My name is Cody “Belthesar” Wilson, and I’m one of the lesser known members of the Geekologist team. Typically, I sit in the background and am here to give guidance and direction on the way this site moves forward, either technical or otherwise. You probably won’t see a lot of blog posts from me, but when you do, it’s because, well, I just gotta share something with everyone.
I was raised for the most part in the Windows world (unless you count when I was mucking around in DOS 5 and 6, and my Apple II years, but we won’t bother with those for now.) 4 years ago, I decided I wanted to give Apple a shot and bought a friends Powerbook G4. I was hooked from there, and became a Mac zealot of sorts. I did my fair share of Microsoft bashing while as a Windows user, but it certainly increased when I saw “the light”. So when I tell you that Windows 7, even in its release candidate stage, is the first Microsoft OS I feel not only comfortable, but welcome and enjoy using since I made the switch to OS X, I want you to know exactly what I mean.
Being the Apple fan I am, not only in OS but in hardware, I decided that I would bite the bullet and nuke my XP Boot Camp partition in favor of installing the Windows 7 release candidate (RC). Given that I have a new Unibody Macbook Pro, I thought I’d give the x64 release aside, as I was tired of not being able to address all of the RAM when I was in the Windows side of things. The install process worked without a hitch. After installing the Boot Camp 2.1 drivers for x64 Vista (which also work without any fuss) I had a fully functional Boot Camp compliant Windows 7 install. This meant it was time to play.
My first impression was the new Taskbar system, which now very much so replicates and expands upon OS X’s Dock. You can pin applications to the Taskbar and launch them from there, as well as access any running application from it. Instead of having a text description, the Taskbar now only has the application icon. It’s important to note that since they have done this, they have removed the “Quick Launch” toolbar for the Taskbar. Not a problem as this would have been redundant anyway, and the new system works great. The Taskbar groups windows by application, and hovering over the application’s icon allows you to select which window you want from a labeled preview icon. All in all, a very comfortable and familiar experience, especially coming from being an OS X user. The Taskbar has two other really nice features, one of which is the movement and expansion on the “Show Desktop” button. Formerly located in the Quick Launch toolbar, the “Show Desktop” button now resides on the far right of the Taskbar. Clicking it has the same functionality as before, but hovering over it fades each visible window into an Aero transparent window pane, allowing you to see your desktop as well as the outline of each open window. I found it interesting to find that at one point there was a dialog box that had gotten buried in my persistent clicking about and was able to address it in this manner. Lastly on the Taskbar, the new System Tray is fantastic. You can now not only choose what icons appear in the tray, but how their notification behavior works. Also, instead of expanding the System Tray, it brings up another small window like when hovering over application icons on the Taskbar which allows you to select the other hidden System Tray icons. All in all, easy to use, easy to manage. Many welcome changes from not only Vista, but from XP, and given that many users are still staunchly avoiding Vista like the plague, I have a feeling this new interface will be different, but welcome to the users that have avoided the switch to Microsoft’s current desktop OS.
Secondly, the modifications to the Vista-introduced “User Account Control” system have made a very annoying and ridiculed feature much less of an annoyance while maintaining the security benefit of user-granted process elevation. UAC now has a slider that controls just how in depth it’s requests for attention are. Its default setting seems to be very sufficient by being present, but not unobtrusive. UAC offers a hyper-paranoid setting for users questioning if they have viruses, or just really like knowing whenever any system change is trying to be made, a little more relaxed setting which still brings up a dialog window whenever a system change is being made but does not lock out or dim the screen (also an added feature for older systems and I’m sure netbooks, who have trouble with the DirectX transparency overlay taking a long time to load), and finally an option to disable UAC completely. Not being unfamiliar with having to elevate to perform certain tasks since my experience with UAC, I have left it at its default setting. UAC also learns what tasks you seem to perform on an elevated level and will learn to automatically elevate certain tasks. These tasks still have the “elevated shield badge” on them in the Taskbar, but have a opposing pattern blue and gold shield coloring versus the Windows patterned shield for elevated processes.
The last feature I’m going to talk about in this article is the Theme system. Present since Windows 95’s PLUS! Pack, Windows Themes allow you to style your computer’s interface to your liking. Sorta. They can change your desktop icons, your border colors, your wallpaper, and your sound set. And they still do now. But making and changing themes to suit your style is easier, more intuitive, and more powerful than ever. Desktop backgrounds no longer require a third-party application to be rotated. I use the same folder I do in OS X for my backgrounds in Windows 7. A nicer set of default sound sets are included, so if for some reason Vista’s sounds make you cringe, then there are several other themes you can choose from. The Aero and Taskbar colors can also be modified. All things that you could do before, but now have a way of doing them simpler and easier.
All in all, the Windows 7 experience is something I’m truly excited about. I finally feel that Microsoft has a true contender in the OS market again, and it’s now Apple’s turn to start looking at what Microsoft is doing and learning on how to improve upon it. While I’m not about to say that Windows 7 is fantastic and I’m a switcher, I now have no problem booting into Windows and feeling like I’m using an alien or antiquated operating system. For basic users, it’s newly simplified and streamlined interface will be a breath of fresh air. For power users, those advanced features and organization systems are easily within your grasp.
So alright, Apple. Microsoft has finally stepped up their game, and they have an OS to rival yours. Time to step up the Apple experience once again and keep this rivalry going. Because there’s finally some competition in the desktop OS market again and it’s time to see where innovation takes us next.
Hosts:
David Ford
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Topics:
Apple previews iPhone OS 3.0, adds copy and paste, Spotlight search, plenty more
It’s Official, Tweetdeck Becomes SocialDeck With Facebook Integration
Corvette-like car gets 100 MPG, Ships Next Year
Hitachi 1TB Internal SATA Hard Drive $87.99 Free Shipping
Hey guys, it’s The App Guru here and here’s an awesome game that is extremely addicting and hard to put down. This game consists of you controlling a very colorful block as you venture across the map through all the corners and traps. You have to reach the end of the level where your block will suddenly turn into a colorful batch of liquid soaring into the air. You control your block by simply moving your finger in the direction you want to the block to go. This is a very simple game that almost anyone can pick up. It also has tons of challenging levels to keep you entertained. Overall I highly recommend this app and you can purchase it in the App Store for $5.99.
Today’s iPhone and iPod Touch App Review is going to be on an application that will challenge your brain! This is a fun game that has many mini-games inside that challenge different parts of your brain. You can play quick play and pick the section you want to try or you could simply pick brain test and it will give you a whole brain test that can be very challenging. Overall I like this game a lot, and it can save you from a base case of boredom. You can purchase this application in the App Store for only, $.99! If you want to watch a video preview of this application just look below.
As some of you might already know this week was Mac World 09′. Most of you may know this because it was Apples last keynote at Mac World. In the video I will go into details about my thoughts on Philip Schillers keynote and the innovations apple brought to the table this year.
Topic:
iLife 09′ – Going into detail about some cool new features in iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and Garage Band. Including some amazing stuff that you can now do in iMovie.
iWork 09′ – Collaboration at it’s best. Some really cool features that make it even easier to manage and collaborate with others.
iTunes - Finally you can get every song on iTunes DRM free. Plus some new pricing points on music.
Mac Book Pro 17′ – This is the most revolutionary notebook on the market. The lightest thinest and longest battery life of any notebook of it’s class for sale today.
Enjoy the video and please leave any question or comments below!
SO AT&T has some really cool phones that are going to make AT&T an even better choice for all the consumers out in the world looking to get a new cell.
One of the more notable devices coming to AT&T’s line up is the HTC Fuze. This is the “replacement” phone for the AT&T Tilt and not only that has features that kick any other smart phone in the rear end.
Bellow are the launch dates for future AT&T devices:
Notice: The date’s above have not been confirmed but we highly suspect that the are close to the actual launch date’s.
This is most defiantly the question I get asked the most, and I am sorry for the delay in the response. This topic will contain all the links to software and the official HTC ROMS for your windows mobile device. First and foremost I want to make it clear that any damages to your device are your responsibility and I do not take any responsibility in data loss or bricked phones. This tutorial was written with that in mind so if you follow the directions word-for-word you should be fine.
First off you will need to download ActiveSync 4.5 if you do not already have it installed on your windows XP or Vista computer. FYI – In vista it is called the mobile device manager and is pre-installed in most vista distributions. You can download ActiveSync 4.5 here >>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/eulas/eula_activesync45_1033.mspx?ProductID=76
Second head on over to the xda-developers wiki. Honestly the easiest way to get to the wiki is to google it. So go to http://google.com and search for xda-developers wiki. Once at the wiki page find your phone. FYI – The HTC name of your phone is different then the AT&T, Cingular, T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint name of the phone. Make sure that you find the HTC name of your phone and select that on the wiki page. For example the HTC name for the AT&T 8525 is the HTC Hermes. The link for the HTC Hermes wiki on xda-developers can be found here >>>http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Hermes. Once on the page that matches your model phone. Scroll down till you see Official Factory Shipped ROM’s, click on the link and you will be directed to a page that will show you all the Factory Shipped ROM’s for your phone. You have many options here because you can choose to install the HTC ROM that will basically only install the O/S and HTC preloaded software or you can choose the ROM for your carrier. The carriers ROM usually includes bloatware that will slow down the phone a.k.a – at&t’s music software. I choose to install the HTC ROM in this tutorial. Once you go to the download page you can then download the ROM from rapidshare.
After you have everything download you will need to install active sync 4.5 and reboot the computer. After the computer has booted back up plug in your phone with the USB cable that it came with and once active sync sees the phone double click on the new ROM for your phone. A box will appear that will tell you a few things that need to be done before you can continue, please read it carefully before click next. After you click next you will be asked if the phone and computer have more that 50% battery life along with a few other questions. Once you click next the ROM flashing program will open and begin flashing your phone. FYI – The phone will reboot and you will see a multi colored screen. DO NOT UNPLUG, POWER OFF, OR REMOVE THE BATTERY. You will see a status indicator on your phone and computer, once again wait till it is finished the phone will reboot again into your new O/S and you are done. Just reconfigure your phone and re-install your favorite programs.
If you have any questions please email me at support@bluephoenix.tv.
Last but not least I have put a tutorial video in the post and I strongly recommend anyone who is serious about upgrading their phone to please watch it.
So many people say that it is impossible to watch youtube videos on a windows mobile phone easily. This is absolutely not true. vTap is a great application that allows you to search and view Youtube videos all in the vTap application. Not only does it give you the ability to watch the videos but if you create a vTap account you can save favorites and come back anytime and see the latest videos from that youtube account.
Some of the things that I can see vTap improving on is the ability to log directly into your youtube account. Allowing a user to do this would give them access to their subscriptions so that they may view and search through the subscriptions just as they would on their computer.
The application is built for windows mobile 5 and 6 touch screen devices and iphones only. So sorry to all you Moto Q fans this is not the application for you. If you would like to download vTap just click the link >>>> http://www.vtap.com/wm.html
Video to be posted soon.