UPDATE: With the release of iOS 5.0.1, you might get troubles restoring to iOS 5.0. Don't worry, new sn0wbreeze is already available. Our tutorial for iOS 5.0.1 is available here.

Using this tutorial you will be able to create a custom firmware, jailbreak and unlock iOS 5 running on iPhone 3GS. This tutorial uses Sn0wBreeze 2.8b10 for Windows.

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, jailbreak will be tethered. You can detect your bootrom version using this tutorial.

Sn0wBreeze will also preserve baseband version if you need carrier unlock. It can also update your modem version to 06.15 if you need unlock and stuck with 05.14 or higher baseband.

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Today Barnes and Noble announced its Nook Tablet, the next-generation version of their current $199 Nook Color. Compared to its main competitor $199 Kindle Fire, a dual core $249 Nook Tablet has 10GB more storage and the capability to add up to 32GB through micro SD card. Also it includes a superior screen and the popular Neflix and Hulu Plus for watching videos. The app library makes up a considerably smaller part of the Android market, but it better controlled so only quality applications are allowed in.

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In July Adobe for the first time entered the Mac App Store, releasing Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor, scaled-down version of its image editing software. When the company pushed out boxed version of Photoshop Elements 10 in September, Adobe noted that the development of the version for Mac App Store is under way but under a different timeline as it is a separate application.

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Until Siri is able to snap pictures with your iPhone on your signal, snapping up perfect group pictures is not an easy task that involves using camera apps with timer capability (such as Camera+). Accessory producer Belkin has addressed this issue and designed an accessory for iPhone that allows you to remotely release the camera shutter on your device.

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Famous hacker Pod2g has recently announced that he discovered a bug that can untether the iOS 5 jailbreak! He posted via twitter:

Hey jailbreaking friends, I've found a bug that can untether iOS 5. Don't expect a release soon, but I'm gonna work hard in it.

Pod2g has found many vulnerabilities in the past including famous SHAtter.

Asian trade publication DigiTimes reports, citing it sources, that Apple is exploring two alternative backlight design for the rumored Retina Display on iPad 3, as the single LED light bar currently used in the iPad 2 doesn’t provide enough brightness for the display.

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iH8Sn0w has released Sn0wBreeze 2.8b10. Here is a changelog:

• Supports iOS 5.0 (9A334)/5.0.1-b2 (9A404)
• Fixed iBooks sandbox crashing issues.
• Fixed location services issues with iPhone 3GS users running the iPad baseband (06.15).
• Re-added iPad baseband (06.15) install option to iPhone 3GS.
• Removes UDID requirement/Beta timer in 5.0.1.
• Tethered devices are booted via iBooty which is extracted to the Desktop after running sn0wbreeze.

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.

You can download Sn0wBreeze 2.8b10 here.

UPDATE: Sn0wBreeze 2.8b10 step-by-step jailbreak and unlock tutorials:

• iPhone 4 - Sn0wBreeze (Windows)
• iPhone 3GS - Sn0wBreeze (Windows)

Earlier we reported that Apple bought 3D mapping company C3 Technologies. Much of the early demo videos showed the ability of C3 to create realistic 3D maps, but the firm had also been creating both interior views and street views prior to its acquisition.

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Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman, admitted to the U.S. Senate antitrust subcommittee that Siri, voice assistant, could threaten his business and could supplant Google's search engine. Schmidt even went so far as to call Siri a "Google killer" and Apple's "entry point" into the search engine business.

On the contrary, Android chief Andy Rubin doesn’t believe that phones should be assistants and doubted whether people should communicate with their phones. But Schmidt denied his opinion, citing a recent study that shows that "Android operates on only 34.1 percent while Apple’s iOS runs on 43.1 percent."

Schmidt also downplayed Google's role in the search engine market, instead attributing it to hard work and luck.

"I would disagree that Google is dominant," he said after senators asserted that Google is approaching a monopoly. "By investing smartly, hiring extremely talented engineers, and working very, very hard (and with some good luck), Google has been blessed with a great deal of success."

Apple demonstrates interest in improving OLED technology for future iPhone and iPad displays that will provide better battery life for such devices.  Earlier this week AppleInsider revealed a new patent application filled by Apple. The title of the patent is "Power Efficient Organic Light Emitting Diode Display" and describes different ways that could improve battery life, for example, displaying the color white.

OLED displays consume less power than traditional displays. This is possible because OLED technology is light emissive rather than light transmissive. But OLED displays, despite all their advantages, are less efficient that it is used for displaying a screen that is largely the color white, because an OLED panel has to utilize a range of color channels for every pixel on the display. Doing this can be power intensive and make the device inefficient.

For example, certain applications, such as word processing, spreadsheet design and use, database design and use, e-mail, and other business or productivity applications, typically utilize dark or black alphanumeric characters on a white background, such as to simulate writing or printing on a sheet of paper. As a result, these applications may cause the display of large expanses of white background with relatively little area devoted to the non-white alphanumeric characters. Such applications, therefore, may make the use of OLED displays unsuitable or undesirably power intensive for battery powered and/or portable electronic devices, such as handheld devices.

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A new survey of 1,000 people working in the gaming industry that was conducted ahead of the London Games Conference 2011, has found that 26 percent of respondents consider  Steve Jobs as the most influential person in the industry, and 46 percent included him in their top five.

Steve Jobs, the iPhone’s driving force, was the ultimate independent developer -- uncompromising in his vision, with unquestionable influence, and hugely artistic and commercial results.

However, Apple’s influence on gaming industry extends beyond Jobs. 17 percent of respondents said that the iPhone is shaping the future of videogames.  53 percent of respondents included the iPhone in their list of top five most influential devices in the gaming industry.

"In just over three years the iPhone and the App Store have transformed what consumers expect of games, and how the industry makes and sells them - today, download games have come to the fore," said Michael French, editor in chief of gaming magazine MCV.

According to legal documents filed by Apple, the European Commission is investigating Samsung's patent litigation to determine if its use of 3G-related patents violates competition laws. Apple has argued that those patents are essential to basic device operation and must therefore be licensed under FRAND (fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms.

Samsung has launched an aggressive, worldwide campaign to enjoin Apple from allegedly practicing Samsung's patents. Samsung has sued Apple for infringement and injunctions in no fewer than eight countries outside the United States. Indeed, Samsung's litigation campaign and other conduct related to its Declared-Essential Patents is so egregious that the European Commission recently has opened an investigation to determine whether Samsung's behavior violates EU competition laws.

Moreover, the European Commission issued a statement related to the investigation, noting that it asked both Apple and Samsung to provide it with information on patents.

The Commission has indeed sent requests for information to Apple and Samsung concerning the enforcement of standards-essential patents in the mobile telephony sector. Such requests for information are standard procedure in antitrust investigations to allow the Commission to establish the relevant facts in a case.

A large number of Apple senior executives have left the company this year. And Apple’s vice president of global security John Theriault is one of them. We’ve heard that the reason for his departure could be the lost iPhone 4S prototype, while the official reason is retirement.

In July, an Apple employee lost a prototype of the new iPhone at the Cava22 bar in San Francisco. Following the loss of the prototype device, Apple security personnel being escorted by San Francisco police visited a home to where the device had been traced. Apple security officials reportedly posed as police officers in their search of this prototype iPhone. Apple and the SFPD may face a lawsuit over the matter, as the resident claims that he was threatened by the police and was not informed that Apple's security officials were not actually officers.

Theriault, a former FBI agent and Pfizer vice president, joined Apple in 2007. Theriault was responsible for all of the Apple’s security operations and led an anti-counterfeit team in 2008 in a fight against China’s growing counterfeit product market.

Today comScore published the results of its latest research of mobile phone usage in the U.S., noting that Apple has surpassed 10% share of mobile phone market in U.S. As before, Apple again outstripped all of the largest phone manufacturers in growth over the third quarter, increasing its share by 1.3% to reach 10.2% of the mobile phone market in U.S.

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Apple awarded 1 million stock shares to its seven executives rewarding them for hard work over the fiscal year when the company for the first time earned more than $100 billion.

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