Although not much was promised, some very exciting releases were introduced. Here is a quick summary to see what’s new:

1. Mac OSX Lion
A typical Apple release behavior, this newest release does not really revamp the OS, rather it enhances what it already has. Lion seems to focus mainly on emulating iOS in navigation, multi touch gestures, organization, and UI style. It sports over 250 new features; some of the more prominent ones include fullscreen apps, a multi-tasking feature called Mission Control,and  another organization feature called Launch Pad. But most surprisingly, instead of being priced at $125 dollars, it will only cost $25. And yet, this is not so surprising seeing as it is more of a heavy update rather than a new OS. Either way, it looks like a solid release.

2. iOS 5
The biggest relief here is notifications, they finally added the, very Android like, drop down notification bar and no longer will you be interrupted midgame for a text message. Instead the status bar at the top merely flips to show the notification and allows for continuous concentration on the angry birds game at hand. Apple also introduced News Stand (iBook for magazines and newspapers) as well as a tabbed Safari (as well as offline support). Another new feature called Reminders acts as a nice, calendar integrated to-do list. Photos allow crop and rotate as well as using the volume button for the shutter release. iPhone can now be PC-Free, meaning they work straight out of the box. With software updates via wireless connection and a updated GameCenter as well as wireless data syncing, this update is quite a luxurious one!

3. iCloud
By far the most momentous release of the day, iCloud was introduced by Steve Jobs himself who focused on the “it just works” mantra (potentially ad-nauseum). This new feature is truly awesome and houses a lot of potential for growth. Most all data will be  synced online, completely wireless, encrypted, and extremely fast! The only caveat, a $24 dollar/year price tag. And while this is better than Amazon’s option, we here at iTHs really don’t like paying for our features

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PwnageTool also supports all the other 4.2.1 devices other than iPod touch 2G:

• iPhone3G
• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4
• iPhone4-Verizon
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad
• AppleTV 2G

Other improvements:iBooks has been fixed to work with books protected by DRM.

• The wifi problem on AppleTV 2G was fixed as well.

Thank you Dev Team!

Official Bittorent Releases:

PwnageTool_4.2.dmg -> PwnageTool_4.2.dmg.6176918.TPB.torrent

SHA1 Sum = af365f5de19d7ee19cbe1c67b2f226996a46b3ac

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They say there is no such thing as a sure thing. . . and I believe them.

Although the Wall Street Journal confirms the Bloomberg iPhone Nano rumor, I’m still not buying. I believe the phone is already the perfect size, if anything I could see them offering a larger model to compete with some of the larger Android compatible phones.

Yet, according to WSJ, the “N97″, as it’s codenamed, is rumored to be 1/3 smaller. The price is to be around $200 (pre-carrier packages of course). The supposed source (which does make the rumor a tad more reliable) says that the phone has an edge to edge touchscreen with voice nav and on screen keyboard. How they plan to make a usable keyboard on such a small device escapes me.

If true I could see the model surfacing around the much anticipated iPhone 5 (I’m a verizon customer and held out on the 4) sometime this summer.

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MobileMe is also rumored to be getting a much anticipated update this summer. They plan on releasing a new version of Music sync thats suppose to make the whole process much simpler. More to come.

Happy Hacking

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Here is a little walkthrough on how to install OpenSSH:

1. Open Cydia and scroll down the main page to where it says “OpenSSH Access How-To.” Tap that option.
2. On that page, click the blue linked text “Open SSH” in the first step. You’ll be presented with the OpenSSH package page. Click the install button in the top right corner, confirm when it’s finished, and return to Cydia.
3. Open the Settings app from your home screen and go into your Wi-Fi settings. Click the little blue arrow next to the Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to. Make a note of your IP address in the “IP Address” field (it should start with 10 or 192).
4. To connect to your iOS device from your computer, use an SSH-capable application like Terminal on OS X or puTTy on Windows. Type ssh root@YOUR_IP_ADDRESS(replacing YOUR_IP_ADDRESS with your actual IP address). When prompted, enter your password. It’s alpine by default. Once finished, you’re connected! You can also use an SFTP application like Cyberduck to connect as well, but that’ll limit your interactions to pretty much only file transfers.
5. Lastly, you want to change your password. To do this, type the passwd command. You’ll be asked for a new password. Type it (nothing will show up for privacy reasons) and press enter. Type it in again to confirm it. Assuming you type your password correctly, you will be told it was changed successfully.

That’s it! Enjoy SSH’ing with your iOS device.

IMPORTANT:

Make absolutely certain that you alter the password of the mobile account! As mentioned above, by default it is “alpine”, but until the root and the mobile account passwords are changed, your phone is at high risk!

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With the newest update of Cydia, comes the “Manage Account” feature that lets you keep track of your packages and app purchases via a facebook or google account.

This saves you the hassle from updating repos or re-buying paid for apps!

Great Job Saurik!

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While my previous posts have supposed that date to be near the end of February/beginning of March, all signs now point to the announcement being made TOMORROW with the actual release coming near the END OF THE MONTH!

If so, I will definitely be purchasing my Verizon iPhone in the near future and can’t wait to have both good service as well as an awesome platform on which to operate.

My only fear remains that, since it is about time for the iPhone refresh, that my model will be quickly outdated

Another great thing about the iPhone’s release is that Verizon Wireless plans to continue to offer the “unlimited plan”, one which AT&T removed this past year.

sincerely pumped,

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Kickback will be available sometime in February and was created, not surprisingly, by Hackulous, the same community that cracked Apple’s DRM system in iOS.

Kickback will actually allow you to get any software available on the Mac App Store for free but it’s release is being postponed for these reasons:

We don’t want to release kickback as soon as the [Mac App] Store gets released. I have a few reasons for that.

Most of the applications that go on the Mac App Store [in the first instance] will be decent, they’ll be pretty good. Apple isn’t going to put crap on the App Store as soon as it gets released. It’ll probably take months for the App Store to actually have a bunch of crappy applications and when we feel that it has a lot of crap in it, we’ll probably release Kickback.

So we’re not going to release Kickback until well after the store’s been established, well after developers have gotten their applications up. We don’t want to devalue applications and frustrate developers.

Apparently, other supporters and advocates of Kickback say that it is attempting to promote Apple’s use of demo’s and trial periods (something not currently available) . .  . hahaha

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1.  Mac App Store is here!

However trite you may deem it, I see this launch as a very monumental one. . . especially for all those hackers out there. For the official assembly of all that software can certainly be made into an opportunity for those that seek to hack that software. This release also brings us that much closer to the Cydia App store!

2. New iPad design rumors seem right on the money!

According to a recently released CES iPad 2nd generation case mock-ups, the spec rumors previously posted seem to be very accurate:

• A Facetime Camera for video calls
• Design: Thinner from front to back and supposedly skinnier from side to side as well.
• New High Definition screen
• Much needed, much better speakers.
• The new back is more flat and iPod Touch Like with a reduced size of 239 mm by 186 mm which means a slight decrease in the size of the bezel.
• The sides of the iPad 2 should be flat, like the iPhone 4, making it easier to hold.

3.  Verizon iPhone

Don’t get too excited yet but I think that if it’s going to happen, it will happen sometime very soon. The CES event today went as expected, the Verizon CEO did not mention anything about the iPhone. Although this may sound like bad news, I’m sure that Steve would have wanted to announce the news were it a reality. It was however announced that something big was primed for 1/11/11.

Some additional evidence has been brought to the table (very idealistic). It seems that Apple has limited retail store staff vacations for the coming months . . . for a big launch perhaps??

4. More Social Network stuff

Although personally not excited about more Ping-like experiments, I am social and I do love music and I believe, therefore, that there can be a good combination. It seems Apple is moving towards trying more social networking things this year.

5. The year of the Tablets

Many are calling this the year of the tablets . . . great news I say. As seen in the phone market, competition like the android market has forced Apple to keep moving, I’m hoping the same happens in the tablet arena. What I’m especially excited for is Android Honeycomb (check out a video here)

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Of course, its planned so that everyone has enough time to receive one for Christmas, enjoy it for 2-3 month, and then have that sleek design put to shame by Apple’s next version.

No doubt, Apple’s marketing team knows how to sell.
Well, here are the most recent rumors concerning Apple’s next iPad:

• Release Date: Late February / Early April
• A Facetime Camera for video calls
• A gyroscope for advanced gaming sensitivity
• Design: Thinner from front to back and supposedly skinnier from side to side as well.
• New High Definition screen
• A supposed usb connector . . . but I personally don’t believe it
• Much needed, much better speakers.
• The new back is more flat and iPod Touch Like with a reduced size of 239 mm by 186 mm which means a slight decrease in the size of the bezel.
• The sides of the iPad 2 should be flat, like the iPhone 4, making it easier to hold.

only time will tell

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These mods are based on a framework termed “MobileSubstrate” which enables the easy install and implementation of these mods. Mobile substrate allows for things such as Winterboard, SBSettings, and Commcenter. Saurik brings us CydiaSubstrate which enables these mods on both iOS as well as on OSX.

One handy feature that a desktop version of Cydia brings us is a much more connected Jailbreak process. The new Cydia will bypass updates and help jailbreak users stay safe from all sorts of Apple hazards. The entire tethering and syncing process will be revolutionized and bring ease and probably much more popularity to jailbreaking, yay expansion!