Although Apple has not yet confirmed this date, it is expected that the next “release party” is to be on September 9th. On this day, Apple’s top release will most likely be the iPod 3G . They will mprobably also update the rest of iPod line. Whats more, it is also believed that the Beatles are finally coming to Itunes. Personally, I hope that they remaster this old Band and bring its sub-par quality up to current standards.
Oh, and Facebook 3.0 is finally in the horizon. A much needed update considering the current version does not support much that makes Facebook so cool.
Itunes 9 is rumored to have facebook support as well…. but don’t bet too much on this haha. It seems like a far shot.
Apple also released a software update that fixes the beeping and hard drive freezing issue that has been occurring on many 15in. MacBook Pros with the 7200RPM 500Gb Hard drive.
Snow Leopard is expected to be released August 28th, why…. I don’t know.
Hope this gets you up to speed.
rooster
Just a little update on the 3Gs Jailbreak from the Dev Team.
“We can jailbreak the 3GS right now. But making our jailbreak public at this point in time would benefit relatively few people. It would in fact be detrimental to many more people than it would help. So we feel it’s best to keep our version of the jailbreak out of Apple’s sights for the time being.”
Their intentions are pretty clear and so, for those of you already with the iPhone 3Gs, patience is the game.
We all know how Apple pumped up the gaming updates for the new iPhone 3Gs, but these updates may not be as useful as previously thought. What type of developer would restrict his target audience to just 3Gs owners? The answer: probably very few. So, although the new phone has the ability to handle better games, the market will most likely not see an enormous gaming graphics update until the majority of people have a device that can support them.
As for RedSn0w: Again I am sorry to announce that I’m currently unavailable to help you in great detail and that I only left some general instructions. As for the rate and timing of the updates: Please accept my apology but the times I’m allowed near the Internet are few and sporadic.
rooster
Skype is Here!
Finally. Although it took an unexpected great length of time, Skype is here. And it is available for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. The interface is crisp and simple. It allows for calls and chat.
But there is a small catch.
Although Skype to Skype is still free, there is one tiny issue: Calls on Skype for iPhone work only if your in range of a Wi-Fi Network. So your call quality will depend on the wireless networks nearby. Calls will not work over the cell phone network on the iPhone, while chatting will.
Of course, iPod Touch users will need a mic and speaker if they don’t already have one.
rooster
For those of you who have a jailbreakable iPod Touch (not second generation) then these can still be downloaded in addition to those awesome apps from your Jailbreak. But this is for those poor saps that have an 2g iPod Touch and would just like some apps that I find useful. All apps but the game Enigmo were free when I downloaded them.
Music:
VLC Remote Free – a very useful app for those that have VLC player and would like a remote. Its a bit tricky to set up but well worth the effort.
Last.fm – just a good way to get some music if you have the Internet. Based off of the useful site.
Pandora Radio – works like Last.fm and just another source for some music that you may not own. The only problem with this and the above app is its inability to run in the background, so once you exit out so does the music.
Tools:
a2Z Unit Converter Pro – a handy unit converter that goes as far as currency and blood volume
AP Mobile News Network – A news App that gets you some great and mostly depressing news.
Emerald Time – not that useful, just interesting. Gives you the exact time derived from some complicated sources.
ePokerHelper Lite – a Texas hold’em app that helps you with decisions. Meant for those games were you have a whole bunch of fast players that don’t give you the time (for me, the very long time) that it takes you to do pot odds in you head. This version does not actually give you the pot odds equated with your bet, which makes it not as useful, but rather gives you a percentage based on your hand. Not really for advanced players.
Free Translator – Gives you the translation in the other language. So if you typed in “Hello” for Mandarin it would give you the actual Chinese character and not just the Arabic version , “Ni Hao”.
iTranslate – Picks up where Free Translator left off and gives you the Arabic lettering system.
Google Mobile App – Initially very cool because it houses all the Google Open Source apps. But not as impressive because it just links you to the website.
i. TV – one of the best ones out there. Tells you theatre listings, tv channels, and allows you to watch some trailers
Flixster – I use this with i.TV. It shows you what movies are in Theatres, the Box Office, Upcoming, coming out on DVD. Has nicer visuals than i.TV.
MagicPad – The best To Do pad that I have found. I have tried a number of others and they just seem to compicated and busy. I like this one for its copy and paste ability and simplicity.
Wikipanion – a nice Wikipedia app that gives you a nicer and easier to use user interface than safari.
Discover – One of the coolest apps ever. Lets you transfer stuff onto your ipod via the web. A must have.
Email2SMS – A texting service that seems cool enough but the texts arrive way after they were sent. I’m keeping it hoping for an upgrade.
Shazam – An app that uses the nonexistent microphone on your iPod Touch to identify music playing in the background at a party or something. Really cool app, but as of now vestigial. I’m hoping on getting a sleek microphone to use with this and the next app.
fring – a VoIP app that hooks up to a number of VoIP services for free.
Night Stand – a fancy digital clock when your iPod is on your dock.
RemotePad – allows the user to use the iPod Touch as a mouse for your mac or PC. A bit tricky to setup but well worth it.
TWC – The Weather Channel – a bit more detailed than the one that comes with the iPod.
WiFinder – A app that finds surrounding WiFi that your iPod doesn’t and sees if it is password protected or not. Haven’t used it too much but I think it will come in handy sometime.
KTdict C-E – A Chinese dictionary. The best one I have found. Gives you the character, Pinyin, and translation.
WorldWiki – An app that gives you some useful facts about each country in the world.
Eureka – A Look up engine for words and their meanings.
Trivopaedia – A very cool app that houses tons of facts about anything. From “Apollo missions” to “Best and worst films ever” to “Flower meanings” to “Morse Code” and “Brightest stars”.
Backgrounds – You probably already have this one, its just a useful Background downloader that uses the Internet to house hundreds of them.
Visual stuff:
Dice – a cool but not very useful app that has good visuals of well . . . dice.
Zippo Lighter - a cool concert app.
Cradle – employs both touch and the accelerometer to move newton’s cradle. Fun to play around with.
Games 1:
iChess – I’m not very good at chess and the computer seems to be quit intelligent. It allows you to play against an opponent or computer which is nice.
“Worder” and “Word Wrap” – two apps that are a play off of the online game “Text Twist”.
Sudoku 101 – a nice free app that allows you to play in Chinese Characters and Roman numbers. This free app only allows you to play up to difficulty level “moderate”. This doesn’t seem high but was still challenging.
Sudoku - a visually appealing free Sudoku app that has higher difficulty levels than the above.
Tetsuki – a game I’d like to learn, looks fun.
Games 2:
Enigmo – a cool puzzle app that has very good visuals and doesn’t get old.
TapDefense – a cool line wars app. Very addicting.
Topple – fun and free for now, so get it fast. Was actually kind of difficult.
Lux Touch – a simplified game of Risk. Very fun.
The above are merely apps that I have found useful or fun, you may not. But if you have any other, maybe less known apps that you would like to share with the community just comment on them.
rooster
1. Crow-Mag Ralley
Guide your Caveman (or Women) thru multiple courses found in the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages that wind to and fro, past hazards (lava pits, tornados and such), while you pick up power ups (like bones you can throw as weapons, extra traction for your tires, and oil slicks) you can use against the your opponents.
You Can either:
a. Race – in which you must beat your opponents to the finish line
-or-
b. Gather – in wich you must pick up more items than your opponents.
-or-
c. Multi-player
- 9 different tracks
- 9 different power-ups
- 11 different vehicles
Stone Age:
Desert
Jungle
Glaciers
Bronze Age:
Crete
The Great Wall
Giza
Iron Age:
Medieval
Viking Village
Atlantis
Single Player:
In one-player mode, you can practice on each track or go into tournament mode, in which you must win all the first three races in the Stone Age before going to the other Ages.
Multi-player Mayhem:
With two player, one can race head-to-head on a split screen or try or try any of the following alternate playing methods:
- Keep Away Tag: One character is “it” and has to tag another player within a certain amount of time to avoid elliminaion from play.
- Stampede Tag: One character is “it” and the other characters attempt to tag him. If player “it” avoids getting tagged for 2 minutes he or she wins.
- Survival: In this mode, the goal is to blast and ram all your opponents off the raceway before the players own health diminishes.
- Quest For Fire: This game is played with two teams in which each one hides the six torches of the other team throughout the land. The other team must find the six torches and get them back to home base without being rammed off the course (CTF Crow-Mag Ralley version)
Pros:
- Amazing Visual Perforamance that utilizes the accelerometer for steering and sounds effects from the original.
- You can change the difficulty as well as steering sensitivity, vibration toggel (which drains the battery), and other preferences.
- It’s great Fun!!
Cons:
- On-screen controls are a bit awkward for some people
- Drains Battery like most games
- The “Hot Spot” for the gas pedal can be quit annoying because your finger slips off of it randomly and you suddenly slow down for no reason
- Some say the game gets boring quickly (but obviously the majority of buyers love the game enough to buy it and recommend its use to others.
- Pricey
Overall a good fun App. worth buying if you enjoy racing games and don’t have to tight of a wallet. Tell us what you think
rooster
How cool would it be to play game consoles on your iPod?!? TOTALLY AWESOME DUDE!
If you read my first post named “Emulators and ROMs,” you would understand there is a way to play games on your iPod such as Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and the list goes on. It gets a bit tricky when you add ROMs to these emulators because you have to find the ROMs, SSH into it, add folders, and BLAH BLAH BLAH. People don’t want to do that…we all want the EASIEST way to add ROMs into our emulators. We just want to click on a ROMs packages and VOILA…ROMs in our emulators. Well, a new site just launched that will make your lives easier. The site is called iphoneroms.com and their repo is “http://repo.iphoneroms.com” When you add this source into Installer, you will get some new folders in your Install tab. You will get folders named Emulators, GBA ROMs, Genesis ROMs, NES ROMs, and SNES ROMs. The emulator folder will include all the emulators, just in case if you don’t have them already. Then you would go into the certain emulator’s ROMs folder to get the game. For example, if I install the NES emulator, then I would go into the NES ROMs folder and find games I want. When you find a game you want, all you have to do is install and it’ll be in your emulator. The site is pretty new, so they don’t have tons and tons of games for each emulator, but they do have a handful. You can even add your own ROMs through the site and they add the ROM into the repository. I hope I made your lives a bit easier by sharing this with you. Hope all goes well!
-rAwks
What are the best applications out there for the iPod? What applications do you use? These are questions we are asked by new hackers to get a feel of which applications THEY should install. To be honest, there isn’t an application that is THE BEST, but there are applications that are really great to use. It also depends on your personality because I might like playing puzzle games (which I do), but someone else might not. I have 6 pages on my home screen, but it would be TOO much to write about each one. That’s why I am going to write about my favorite 5 applications and my favorite 5 games. I will write about the 5 in no particular order and I’m not including applications that come with the iPod (Maps, Music, Photo, etc.). This will hopefully help you get a little familiar with who I am and it might also influence you in installing these onto your iPod.
My favorite 5 applications are Light, Touchpad, Flip A Coin, Sketches, and Customize. Lots of people think the light app is pretty dumb, but I seriously use it EVERYDAY. When it’s dark around the house, I turn on the light app and it guides the way. Touchpad is one of my favorite apps because it allows you to control your computer from your iPod. I use this on a daily basis for work. This app works with both PC and MAC computers. Flip A Coin is perfect for those that are indecisive, like ME. I can never choose where to eat and it’s always between two choices, so I use the Flip A Coin to make the choice for me. Sketches is an app where you can draw and scribble, like an Etch A Sketch. I use Sketches on a daily basis to draw or write little notes to my fiancé because you can send your artwork or note through email. Customize lets you customize your iPod and change things like your slider image, battery images, etc. I am currently using a modded Customize because I am not fond of the new Customize.
My favorite 5 games are iZoo, MixUp, Millionaire, Text Twist, and iQuickBlock. If you like the game Bejewled you will love iZoo. It’s pretty much the same game, just different name. You can even install different themes for this, so you can get the Bejewled look or you can even get another theme to make the icons into Simpson’s characters. MixUp is a game where you have scrambled letters and you have to arrange it to create a word. It keeps on going, but after a while the words get repetitive. If you like the show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” you will most definitely want to install Millionaire app. The only downfall for this app is that you can’t use the phone a friend lifeline because it ACTUALLY wants you to call someone on your contact list (This will work if you have the microphone to make calls with your iPod). Text twist is a game where you form words from a set of six scrambled letters and you must find at least one 6-letter word using all the letters to get to the next round.
As I said in the beginning, I have LOTS of applications and games on my device, but these are my favorites. The only way to know which applications or games are best for you…is to try them out yourself. Hope all goes well!
-rAwks
We get tons of questions regarding topics such as emulators and adding games onto those emulators. Getting an emulator for a certain video game system is easy…the hard part is finding the ROMs and/or BIOs for the emulator. Add this source http://iappcat.com/r/6675 into Installer. After your sources refresh, click on your install tab and click on the folder named “rAwks.” This is a repo I created that includes all the emulators out there and some ROM and BIO packages. I can’t guarantee all the ROMs or BIOs will work, but most of them do.
Usually the way you add ROMs into your emulator is by SSHing into your iPod. You would then create a ROMs folder in a specific path way. When you install the ROM packages from my source it will create the folder on its own, if you haven’t created one yet. The first time I installed the packages it created the folder in the correct place, but when I recently did it again it created it in the wrong place. The ROM packages include only a limited amount of games and it might not include a game you really want. Now the only way to add the game of your choice is to find the ROM online and download it. Then when you have it on your computer, you have to SSH into your iPod and place it in the ROMs folder. As mentioned, the emulators require you to place the ROMs folder in a specific section in the iPod. I will give you directions on how to SSH into your iPod to include the ROMs you downloaded into your emulators. First off, make sure to read Lone Stag’s post on “Detailed Instructions on How To SSH” and follow all his steps. (If you have a MAC, download and install Cyberduck…instead of WinSCP) When you’re all logged in using either WinSCP or Cyberduck, now you have to be careful what you do. You don’t want to delete something your not suppose to or move things in the wrong place. Here are the steps:
- Navigate to /var/mobile/Media
- If you don’t have the folder already, create a new folder and name it “ROMs”
- Click on the ROMs folder. Then you would have to create folders for each emulator you want. (Ex. NES, SNES, GENESIS, GBA, etc.)
- Depending on which ROM you’re adding, you would just drag that ROM from your computer into that emulator’s folder.
- Once you are done, on your iPod that game should be in your emulator.
If you run into any problems, just let me know. There are many videos online if you need visual help. Hope all goes well!
PS…here are some sites to find some ROMs or BIOs
http://www.theoldcomputer.com/Libarary%27s/Emulation/NES/ROMs/NES_roms_summary%200-L.htm#-L.htm
http://ndash.eu/en/?lnk=gbn
http://rapidshare.com/files/69551457/gba_bios.bin.html
