Archive for 2011

Greenpeace ranked 15 companies across three areas: energy, greener products and sustainable operations and released its "Guide to Greener Electronics" on Wednesday. This time Apple took fourth place in the rating up five places from the previous report. Nokia (4.9/10), Dell (5.1/10), and HP (5.9/10) were on the third, second and first places respectively. Immediately below Apple were Philips (4.5/10), Sony Ericsson (4.2/10), Samsung (4.1/10) and Lenovo (3.8/10).

The organization criticized Apple for the fact that Apple has not specified any target to reduce emissions. Nevertheless, Greenpeace gave the company credit for use of renewable energy and improved energy efficiency. Apple is also very demanding for product criteria. So all of the company's devices are free of PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame retardants.

But Apple’s relationships with Greenpeace are not limited by positive experience only. "For years now Apple has pushed the environmentally friendly aspects of its products, countering a dispute that began with Greenpeace in August of 2006, when the organization issued a report condemning Apple for the use of toxic chemicals in its devices. Greenpeace also pulled a number of publicity stunts, such as a "Green My Apple" campaign in London in October of 2006, and a "greening" of Apple's flagship Fifth Avenue glass cube in January of 2007."

Aside from pressing the home button to activate Siri, this Siri hack reported by IntoMobile is absolutely thought-controlled. The developers who initiated Project Black Mirror recorded activity of brain waves with ECG sensors,  matched them to pre-saved patterns on a MacBook and then direct the matched commands to a chip that translates them to Siri. The developers linked about 25 brain wave patterns to different functions controlled by Siri, and they hope to bypass the need to press the home button with a completely automated solution. You can see on the video above how a developer initiates a call using Siri without pressing the Home button.

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Soon after Apple proposed a smaller SIM card standard, a German company Giesecke & Devrient made a proposal of its own standard. The German company that developed the first SIM card in the world has proposed a standard for “nano-SIM ” cards that are 15 percent thinner and one-third smaller than the current smallest micro-SIM cards used in the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 and 3G iPad.

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iH8Sn0w has released Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11 with support of recently released iOS 5.0.1 firmware.

As usual the jailbreak is semi-tethered for iPhone 4, iPad, iPhone 3GS with new bootrom, iPad Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G and untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom.

Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11 will create a custom firmware with jailbreak and preserve modem version for unlock. Unlockers will also be able to flash 06.15 iPad modem for unlock.

You can download Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11 here.

Here are our step-by-step tutorials that will guide you through all the process of jailbreaking iOS 5.0.1 with sn0wbreeze 2.8b11:

• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 1
• iPod Touch 3G
• iPod Touch 4G

Other tutorials are available here.

Apple has recently released iOS 5.0.1. It is still tethered jailbreakable. However if you want untethered jailbreak or unlock - you should stay away from 5.0.1

Earlier this week pod2g reported that a code signing bug found in iOS 5.0 will make it easier for hackers to develop a full jailbreak for iOS 5 firmware version. That bug might have been closed in iOS 5.0.1. UPDATE: According to pod2g the bug is still present, but harder to exploit because another exploit found by Charlie Miller is fixed in iOS 5.0.1.

Also, MuscleNerd via twitter has warned iOS users that there is no downgrade from iOS 5.0.1 to iOS 5.0 yet and he recommends to wait until downgrade mechanism is available.

Jailbreakers and unlockers should avoid today's 5.0.1 until a flow for downgrading to 5.0 is developed.

Downgrade flow needs to be modified for AP "nonce" http://is.gd/b3G0io ... saved SHSH blobs are not enough to downgrade to 5.0

Patently Apple posted a new Apple’s patent application that describes integration of a speaker into the clip of the iPod nano or iPod shuffle and how a small domed or dimpled cover over the speaker could be designed to produce specific acoustic effects.

In some embodiments, the cavity size may be shaped to create a particular frequency response or to otherwise influence the sound produced by the acoustical element. In some embodiments, the interior surface of the cavity may be modified to increase the size of the cavity, to control the frequency response of the cavity, modify the amount of air displaceable by movement of the diaphragm of the acoustical element, and/or to direct sound waves within the cavity and/or out of the cavity. The shape of the surface may be configured to resonate at a certain desired frequency or frequency range that is desired based on its shape. For example, one or more indentations in the surface may be provided to increase the size of the cavity and/or control the frequency response of the cavity. Generally, the larger the size of the cavity, the lower the frequency that may be resonant within the cavity. In some embodiments, holes may be provided in the surface to adjust the frequency response.

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Yesterday Apple released the promised update of the iOS 5.0. The iOS 5.0.1 should fix battery life issues found on devices upgraded to the iOS 5, as well as on new iPhone 4S. Apple publicly said the battery life bugs affected a small number of users. In addition to addressing battery life issues, the update also brings new multi-touch gestures for the first-generation iPad.

This update contains improvements and other bug fixes including:

• Fixes bugs affecting battery life
• Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
• Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
• Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation

The update also includes security improvements, as well as a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on a device even in low storage situations.

iOS 5.0.1 is available for iPhone (4S, 4, and 3GS), iPod touch (third- and fourth-generation), and all iPad models. The update is now available to all users through iTunes, and will be soon available as an over-the-air update.

Direct links for downloads:

• iPhone: 4S, 4 GSM, 4 CDMA, 3GS
• iPad: 2 Wi-Fi, 2 GSM, 2 CDMA, Original
• iPod touch: 4th Generation, 3rd Generation

Nuance has dropped a new Dragon dictation app called Dragon Express in Mac App Store. This is a cheaper (introductory price $49), scaled-back version of Nuance’s Dragon Dictate program. The new version can be accessed from the Lion’s menubar and will not require a network connection. You can open the Dragon Express window with a mouse click or keyboard shortcut and instantly begin dictate into the window via USB headset microphone or internal Mac microphone. The transcribed text will immediately appear in the dictate window and from there you can copy, email the text, start a web search with it or share it with your social networking contacts.

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Apple cooperates with an American company which helps Apple to build its forthcoming solar farm in North Carolina. Leaf Solar Power, a renewable energy company that specializes in residential and "small" commercial projects in South Florida is working with Apple on construction of Apple’s $1 billion data center, according to a person familiar with the ongoing project. Apple's massive $1 billion data center was opened this spring. The main purpose of the facility is to support Apple's online services, including iTunes and the newly launched iCloud. And use of sustainable energy is not new for the company. As usual for Apple, details of the project have not yet been revealed. We just know that last month Apple received permit to erosion control in the area.

This is quite unusual that Apple chose U.S.-based solar company, because now the most part of solar panels is produced overseas. In particular, solar panel production has greatly shifted to China over the last two years. That fact has become such an issue that earlier this year, U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law with a "Buy American" provision for the purchase of solar panels. So may be Apple decided to support President’s idea?!

MacBook Air ships with either a moderately fast SSD from Toshiba or a significantly faster drive with an updated controller from Samsung. But some people want to have even faster drives. And SSD from OWC called Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G can provide them with faster speeds.

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Flurry, mobile analytics firm, reports that portable gaming has seen a continuous shift from dedicated gaming devices to smartphones and other multifunctional devices.

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The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was nominated by "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams for Time Magazine "Person of the Year", so he could become the first person to be posthumously awarded the distinction.

"One guy, who changed our world, and I said to Seth Meyers [Saturday Night Live head writer] as we walked across Sixth Avenue, 'Just look with me on this one block walk at how he changed the world around us. Look at how he changed the world,'" Williams said during his nomination speech. "So may he rest in peace, Steve Jobs, and the spirit he represents, are my nominee for Person of the Year."

Nevertheless, it is quite difficult to deny that “the iPhone has changed the world as much as the Bible has.” Jobs was already nominated for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year”, but Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg won last year. Will see who will be a winner this year. The award will be presented in December.

As The Atlantic reports, Amazon’s filings with a Securities and Exchange Commission reveals that the company has acquired speech recognition firm Yap, which may suggests that Amazon is going to compete with Google and Apple on this market.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that despite the injunction prohibiting the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet in Australia, several Australian retailers have ignored Apple's threats and continue to profit from demand for the barred Samsung tablet.

At least one, dMavo, said it had created a separate entity in Europe to place it outside the jurisdiction of Australian courts, with the tablets delivered to customers from Asia.

"We have a new entity established and a separate server - just to deal with the tablet orders - that is undergoing testing as of last Saturday," dMavo managing director Wojtek Czarnocki said.

"Was Apple just bluffing or do they really want to play the cat and mouse game? We're up for it."

Melbourne law firm Watermark's senior associate and patent specialist Mark Summerfield suggests, however, it would be relatively simple to extend Apple's injunction to individual online resellers because it already applies to device maker Samsung. The only thing Apple will have to do is to apply to the Australian Federal Court for further injunctions. But it would be difficult for Apple, because the company is based overseas.

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iPhone 3GS jailbreak can be either tethered or untethered. Tethered jailbreak means that each time you restart your device you will need to connect it to a computer and run redsn0w. If you have iPhone 3GS with an old bootrom version 359.3, the jailbreak is untethered. If your device has bootrom version 359.3.2 and higher, iOS 5/4.3.5 jailbreak will be tethered.

Here's how you can detect if your iPhone 3GS has new or old bootrom version.

Method 1.

Get your iPhone 3GS serial number. Read it on the box or using Settings - General - About.

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