The iPhone is more than just a gadget.

This is a sweet video that shows the future features of Qik for the iPhone 3GS. What’s even sweeter are the accessories they are using with the iPhone. Check out the end of the clip for that.

This looks pretty sweet so I had to share it. This app lets you to timelapse photography with your iPhone. The downfall here is going to be battery life. Of course I would turn off all wireless, bluetooth, dim your screen, etc to get the best battery life when running apps like this. Check out the video to see results.

It’s Friday Night Movie Night again so here’s some of the top iPhone videos from YouTube uploaded over the past week. Remember the game Worms? Well it’s coming to the iPhone. Here’s a nice lone 10 minute video of real gameplay:

The first ever iPhone 3GS jailbreak application has finally been released by long-time Apple hacker, George Hotz. It’s currently Windows-only (7 not supported), the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with the 3.0 firmware. The process was amazingly simple.

To get started right now, go to purplera1n.com. Download it. Make sure you have windows (but not 7), the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. Connect your iPhone normally. Click "make it ra1n". Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you'll figure out what to do from there. Best tutorial gets linked to from purplera1n site. This tool is beta. Make sure to have everything backed up before running. Also if Cydia doesn't show up after running Freeze, reboot.

Despite it doesn't unlock the iPhone 3GS, but at least jailbreak it so that unofficial third-party apps can be installed and enjoyed on your new iPhone 3GS.

The jailbreak for Mac is coming soon, George writes.

[via On the iPhone]

Filed under: Gaming, Odds and ends, Freeware, iPhone, App Store, iPod touch

Normally we'd just send out a tweet about this (that's usually what we do with free app deals, so if you're not one of the almost 40,000 people following us yet, you definitely should be), but this is a good one, and it's a holiday, so we wanted to make sure you knew. Sega is feeling particularly generous this weekend, so they're giving away free copies of their Columns Deluxe, a port of the old Genesis game, for the iPhone. The game is a pretty straightforward port -- it doesn't have any extras, and the accelerometer controls are a little tacked on from what we hear, but if you like the puzzler gameplay of Columns, and you should, it's a fun one to pull up for a few minutes at a time.

Plus, it's free -- from July 3rd to Monday, July 6th, Sega says it'll be on sale for the low price of nothing at all. Sounds good to us -- sit back, put a few brats and burgers on the grill, grab a Corona (and lime, of course), and enjoy some old-school dropping block gameplay for no money at all.

TUAWSega giving away Columns on iPhone for free all this weekend originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yesterday we reported on a security vulnerability found in the iPhone OS that could potentially allow an attacker to gain access to your phone via a flaw in the SMS application/protocols. Today, the UK's Telegraph tells us that Apple is in the process of preparing a fix for this security risk.

Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store, Road Tested

Like my colleague Mel Martin, I've had a serious GPS jones for quite a while. When I was in much better shape, I rode the local trails on a mountain bike with a Garmin eTrex Summit. It didn't have any maps, nor did I really need any for what I was doing. My next GPS receiver was a Garmin GPSmap 60cs that I used for geocaching. It had a nice color screen and some limited maps, but really didn't do a very good job of helping me find my way around town.

The third GPS unit was another Garmin, and in this case it was my first real "navigator." I still have it; it's the Garmin nüvi 660, which is an awesome little unit that can help you find your way around the US or Europe (depending on the model you purchase), act as an MP3 player, or even work as a fairly serviceable hands-free unit for Bluetooth phones. I've used mine with my iPhones since way back in 2007, and have enjoyed hearing the amplified voices of callers blasting out of the nüvi.

It's best capability, of course, is as a navigator. In this post, I'm going to compare the AT&T Navigator app [App Store] and service with the nüvi, and give you my take on how this free app works. Mel already filled you in on some of the details in his earlier post; we agreed that I'd give you the road test perspective.

Continue reading Road Tested: AT&T Navigator for iPhone

TUAWRoad Tested: AT&T Navigator for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacRumors has found several new pattent applciations from Apple showing three new technologies for use in future touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPod touch. They include a possible solution for providing haptic tactile feedback, fingerprint identification, and the integration of an RFID reader.

Remember George Hotz? He’s the guy(kid) that unlocked the first iPhone and traded it for a Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones. Well, he’s done it again, but this time it’s a jailbreak, not an unlock. This is for the iPhone 3GS on the 3.0 firmware using Windows. I had to start the app over a few times to get it to work but I got it! If you have troubles, let us know in the comments. Here’s the link to download: purplera1n.com. So far I’ve got Qik to work!

I make it ra1n

Yes, this is what you’ve all been waiting for. A jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS. And it’s awesome. To get started right now, go to purplera1n.com. Download it. Make sure you have windows(but not 7), the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. Connect your iPhone normally. Click “make it ra1n”. Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you’ll figure out what to do from there. Best tutorial gets linked to from purplera1n site. This tool is beta. Make sure to have everything backed up before running. Also if Cydia doesn’t show up after running Freeze, reboot.

If you need help email purplera1n.support at gmail and attach your purplera1n.log file. Or call the purplera1n support hotline @ (650) 265-1210 Mac version is coming shortly.

Normally I don’t make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the “last” hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week. Also your purplera1nyday files ensure that you can always get back to a jailbroken state, so if you have it it’s just a matter of tools.

Props to chronic dev for their help, and to kroo for writing v2 of Freeze. And props to Saurik for making an awesome package set. Note the binary size of purplera1n, it’s smaller than C++ hello world. No 20MB thing that needs to be torrented. And no IPSW to download. This is how jailbreak should be!

Follow me on twitter @geohot

UPDATE: I’ve added a spreadsheet to show what works and what doesn’t with 3.1 right now.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone, App Store

Just in case you haven't yet heard, ngmoco has released Rolando 2 out into the App Store for the premium price of $9.99. The game's subtitled Quest for the Golden Orchid (in this one, you're rescuing a relic rather than a prince), and though it's not cheap by App Store standards, but on the other hand, it's as quality a game as you'll find on the iPhone. We were big fans of the first one, and the second one ups the ante with a brand new 3D look (though still the same great 2D gameplay), and lots more types of Rolandos to roll and jump and fly and drive around the more than 45 new levels. It's fair to say that if you liked the first one, you'll love this one, and if you've never tried rolling a Rolando around, this is a perfect opportunity to start.

There, unfortunately, no lite version of the second game yet, but there is a version of the first one to try, and there are lots of movies to watch over on ngmoco's site, so you can probably get the idea from there. If you're interested in gaming on the iPhone at all, Rolando's on the short list no matter what your tastes are.

TUAWRolando 2 out now on the App Store originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we all know copy & paste finally made its way to the iPhone in 3.0, but it was missing ONE BIG THING. You couldn't copy information from contacts! Honestly Apple, how the heck did you miss that one? Sure, you could hit "Edit" and copy the number out that way, but it was so inconvenient. Thankfully iPhone OS 3.1 beta (seeded to developers earlier this week) has added this oh so important feature. When it drops, you'll be able to copy out phone numbers and addresses and even someone's name, email address, photo, and just about anything else!

And yes, we even have a pretty picture of it in action for you to check out below.

It seems that a white 16GB iPhone 3GS has shown up on Ebay. According to Electricpig apparently the Ebay lister seems to have acquired the iPhone in May (a month before the June 19th release date) from someone who found it in a airport. Yep, that’s right, he says the prototype iPhone was just hang out at the airport. Oddly enough, the lister does have a decent Ebay history.

The iPhone apparently cannot be activated or restored and according the the Apple Genius people it, “is definitely iPhone 3G S, He matched the Serial Number on the SIM Tray with the Serial Number on the LogicBoard - they are the same, but He told me, nothing he can do about it, because He was unable to locate the number in Apple’s Database.”

MacRumors says that “Based on the model numbers inscribed on the case, it seems at best this is a prototype 3G, not 3GS.”

Interesting, we will see if the iPhone stays on Ebay or if it “mysteriously” disappears. Currently it is up to $510 USD.

Below is the product’s description:

“I Got this phone couple weeks ago and was trying to figure out what is it through the Apple Store and through Apple Product Specialists. Nobody never gave me any info on it - they told me it’s an Apple Ptoduct, but they don’t service it, cause it have never been sold. Before the 3G S came out last Friday, iTunes was giving me error “iPhone can not be restored, because software for this iPhone is not available yet”. I tried to restore it on Friday and it took 3G S Firmware with the error after unpacking it “This device is not eligible for the requested build”. All I can see on the screen is the Apple Logo after I start it up and Conncect to iTunes Cable. Last time I was at the Apple store the Genius Guy told me that this is defenitely iPhone 3G S, He matched the Serial Number on the SIM Tray with the Serial Number on the LogicBoard - they are the same, but He told me, nothing he can do about it, because He was unable to locate the number in Apple’s Database.”

Filed under: iPhone, App Store, iPod touch, App Review

When the fireworks stop and the smoke clears, it would be a great weekend to look at our beautiful summer skies. Pocket Universe [App Store] is a US$2.99 app that has been updated to make star finding easier for those that have a new iPhone 3GS.

The app uses the position sensors and the compass to orient your phone to match the real sky. As you turn or tilt the phone, the sky map changes to give you a very accurate picture of where you are pointing, with lots of labels and links to more information. This is one of the first examples of an augmented reality app to hit the platform since the introduction of the 3GS.

If you have an older iPhone or iPod touch running OS 3.0, you can tilt the phone to match where the real sky is, but you'll have to manually set the direction you're facing.

This changes everything for the novice astronomer. I tried the feature and it worked really well, even though I was near a large metal building. As I turned my phone the display of the sky changed very rapidly to keep up with my movement.

Other nice features from the last version are intact. You can tap the 'locate' button to find any object that is above the horizon. Select it and it centers on the map. Tap a pop-up for more info and you get a quick summary of the object. In the new version of the app a further tap gets you a Wikipedia entry.

You also get a list of meteor showers, lunar phases and a very nice 'tonight's sky' feature that tells you right away what's up and worth seeing.

Some things I'd like to see improved: The app could support finger-pointing to an object to identify it in addition to going to the locate menu, and the Virtual Sky feature is buried in an options menu. I'd like to see an onscreen button to turn it on and off.

The 3GS features are similar to a Celestron product called the Sky Scout that is a dedicated astronomical instrument. The Sky Scout has a lot more information, and audio tours of the skies, but it costs $200.00. If you're really serious about the stars and planets I'd give it a look.

Meanwhile, another favorite astronomy app, Distant Suns [App Store] has been updated recently, and is now on sale for US$3.99. It has added features to the wonderful tour guides and now includes more information about the objects displayed, including travel time at light speed to the planets. It also includes some breathtaking images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

This is the International Year of Astronomy, so it's a great time to get outdoors and look up. It's fun to do, and the iPhone apps really make it a more compelling and educational experience.

Here are some screen shots of Pocket Universe in operation:

TUAWPocket Universe ups the astronomy app ante originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In response to the Dev Team's decision to wait until OS 3.1 to release a jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS, George Hotz, aka Geohot, has released his own jailbreaking tool for the iPhone 3GS called purplera1n, as he announced on his site. Right now it's only for Windows, but he says a Mac version is next on his list. It's still in beta, and many of the comments on his website are from people experiencing issues like frozen iPhones and compatibility problems with Vista, but an equal number of comments say it works just fine.

Available In: App Store

Price: $4.99

I was on the bus to work when it occurred to me that I might be able to get my Exchange account back. You see, I have become very attached to Google calendar and more recently Google contacts. When GoogleSync was released, I was very excited to have the push capabilities of Calendar and Contacts. With ease, I set up and was able to push my calendar, along with my wife’s and our joint calendars. Although the initial sync of contacts was a bit frustrating (I relied on MS Outlook for a long time), I was pleased with the overall results. The one downside was the fact that GoogleSync used the Exchange Account, and the iPhone frustratingly only allows you to use one Exchange account. Thus, I was unable to link my work email to my iPhone and instead had to rely on a bookmark and a much more cumbersome web based interface. With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, CalDAV support was included, and after I read a bit more about this, the wheels started rolling.

Step one: I needed to read up on how to set up CalDAV on the iPhone. Google offers a forum post here, and I found a work around for multiple accounts here. Once I felt comfortable with this potential setup, I was ready to start the process of getting my Exchange account back. Honestly, I was willing to give up syncing my contacts for the ability to get my work email back and integrated with the iPhone’s Mail app. However, a quick search in the App Store revealed an application called Sync in a Blink that claimed to sync your Google contacts over the air and without using an Exchange account.

So, off went the Google calendar and contacts from the Exchange account. This was indeed scary as all of my calendar events and contacts were quickly wiped from my iPhone. I’d recommend a backup before you try this just in case, though my backup times have been excessively long so I played with fire here. With the CalDAV accounts set up (see above links), my calendars were now on my iPhone and syncing correctly both ways. A nice bonus was that the colors on Google calendar were showing up correctly on the iPhone. This was often a crapshoot using GoogleSync, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw green, purple, and blue displayed correctly on my native iPhone calendar. Next up was the import of my Google contacts.

Again, deleting all of the contacts from my iPhone was scary, but required. Upon opening Sync in a Blink, I entered my Gmail account info and started the sync. Without interruption, the sync took 7 minutes, but keep in mind, I had over 1,000 contacts (1,332 to be exact), so this was a reasonable amount of time in my opinion. I chose the “merge” option since I wiped all contacts from my phone, so all Gmail contacts would override any conflicts. This resulted in some duplicates, but this was largely the result of my upload from Outlook to Google awhile ago. I don’t blame Sync in a Blink for this slight annoyance. To test the app further, I made some changes on the iPhone and in my Google contacts, synced again, and in less than 1 minute, all changes were correctly reflected in both places.

Each time you start a sync process, Sync in a Blink downloads your Gmail contacts, processes iPhone contacts, adds contacts, makes changes to Google contacts, deletes Gmail contacts, and concludes with a summary report. All of this took less than one minute, and I tested in both WiFi and in 3G environments. I experienced only a handful of hiccups by the app during a week of testing. Other nice features included with the application are a conflicts tab which allows you to manually resolve any changes made to both the iPhone and in Gmail, a history tab that allows you to access your summary reports, and a settings screen that allows you to change options involving groups, accounts, and images.

All in all, Sync in a Blink provided the final piece needed for me to stay in sync with Google and yet also use my Exchange account for my work email and calendar. The application is well organized and its execution is simple and nearly flawless. If you’re in a similar situation to mine, heavily connected to Google apps, but want to access your Exchange account for work, I highly recommend Sync in a Blink in conjunction with CalDAV accounts. My one recommendation for the developers would be to incorporate an scheduled auto sync, but this might be a limitation that has more to do with Apple. Until then, for $4.99, Sync in a Blink is well worth the money and despite not having a free lite version, you can take it from this reviewer that you won’t be disappointed.

ScreenShots

Cute Math is a great educational iPhone app that uses games to teach kids basic addition and subtraction skills on the iPhone. Children play a series of math related games and tap on the correct numbers to win. Thanks its vivid animations and cute voices, children can study easily while having fun. This application is suitable for children of age under 5 years. Games in Cute Math include:

- Apple Harvest : Drag numbered apples in order from the tree to the basket.
- Baby Penguins: Drag baby penguins in sequence into the queue.
- Happy Birds: Add numbers visualized by birds standing on the wires.
- Fruit Fall: Subtraction is taught and visualized using apples falling from a tree.
- Balloon Bounce: Practice addition and subtraction skills using floating balloons.
- Parachute Jump: More practicing with a time limit as parachutes fall from the sky.

Here is a video demo of the Cute Math app on the iPhone

This 3rd Party App is available at the Apple iTunes AppStore. Browse the full list of all AppStore apps filed under the AppStore category.

Fancy tie-tying, Wi-Fi password cracking, Google Voice, and Firefox 3.5 round out this week's most popular posts.

• Dress Up Your Ties with the "Merovingian Knot"
  The realm of dress tie knots is dominated by a handful of traditional tie knots. Check out this rather unique tie knot and be the first on your block to sport it.
• How to Crack a Wi-Fi Network's WEP Password with BackTrack
  You already know that if you want to lock down your Wi-Fi network, you should opt for WPA encryption because WEP is easy to crack. But did you know how easy?
• Google Voice Is Cool, But Do You Need It?
  You've read about the features, you saw the invites going out, but you might be wondering what, exactly, Google Voice could do for you. Here's our guide for the curious and uninvited on whether your phones need some Google juice.
• Firefox 3.5 Officially Available for Download
  Windows/Mac/Linux: The final version of the Firefox is starting to show up on Mozilla's web site, and some readers are reporting update notices. Here are a few links and how-tos you should check out before downloading that browser.
• Top 10 Firefox 3.5 Features
  Firefox 3.5 is a pretty substantial update to the popular open-source browser, and it's just around the corner. See what features, fixes, and clever new tools are worth getting excited about in the next big release.
• Top 10 Productivity Basics Explained
  There's a core set of habits and techniques that filter and color a lot of what we write about at Lifehacker, but we rarely step back to explain them for newcomers.
• Five Best Free System Restore Tools
  Backing up data is a great way to minimize losses after a computing catastrophe. But what about restoring your actual system right away? Here are the five most popular options for our readers.
• Soaking is Key for Perfect Homemade French Fries
  You don't need to install a deep fat fryer in your kitchen or apprentice at a burger stand to get homemade French fries worthy of great praise. The key is soaking your sliced potatoes and using the right oil.
• Best of the Best: Hive Five Winners, March through June 2009
  The year is flying by, and so are our readers' picks for software, hardware, and other tools. Come on in to see the winners of our Hive Five polls for the second quarter of 2009.
• 3G Speeds Tested & Compared, City by City
  As wireless users know all too well, not all 3G networks are created equal. PC World recently put Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T to a multi-city test to determine which best delivers speed and reliability.
• Is The Desktop PC Dead?
  Desktop sales fell by 23 percent last year across the computer industry. In the U.S., 80 percent of sales went to notebooks. Gizmodo declares the desktop dead, but we're wondering if you see a future for non-mobile systems.

Filed under: iPhone

If there's one thing Apple wants you to know about the iPhone 3GS, it's that this is the device to get for mobile video. Witness the latest TV ad for the new phone, "Skateboard": it could hardly look easier to shoot, trim and email your clips from the neigborhood skate park.

The ad is airing now, and continues the feature-focused ad series for the 3GS that started with Copy & Paste and Voice Control. It's a shame they can't do ads for Tethering & MMS, or Cooking An Egg.

Side note: does it seem weird to anyone else that the "Itchy" ad features a compass app (Tommy Westerberg's Compass Go) that came out prior to the release of the 3GS?

Thanks Chris F.

TUAWLatest iPhone TV ad highlights video editing originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Available In: Cydia

Price: Free

LiveClock has been updated to version 0.4. Before the update, the LiveClock mod worked but, it was a little weird…when you first installed it, it would display six hands instead of three and you would have to tap at the very bottom of the Clock icon to open the stock Clock application. Well, the update fixes these problems. I no longer had a problem with the mod displaying six hands and the Clock application opens normally.

The update also says that it fixes the “digital clock digits disappearing at 00.” Overall, the update seems to work great! I am actually going to leave it enabled now! You can get LiveClock via the iSpazio source.

Note: LiveClock is enabled/disabled via WinterBoard.

ScreenShots

Apple has begun airing another iPhone ad for the iPhone 3GS. Titled "Skateboard", it demonstrates the ability to record, trim and email video from the device to anywhere. It's the third ad so far for the iPhone 3GS. You can watch it at Apple's online ad gallery.