News from category ‘Software’

A hacker named Chpwn has recently posted a video where he uses his new jailbreak-only app called VoiceActivator. It allows you to fully configure what voice commands you may give to your iPhone/iPod touch and what the device should do after it'll hear it. For example, it can open webpages, make screenshots, and, as it seen from the video above, many other actions from the long list.

Chpwn didn't mention what will be the price for the app, but we may assume it will be cheap enough (and thus not free). We can expect it to be released next week.

The built-in iOS voice control application (which can be activated if you press and hold Home button for some time) allows to dial phone numbers, ask for the time, initiate FaceTime calls and control music playback. It is also known that Apple is going to incorporate the idea of VoiceActivator in future versions of iOS. Maybe, it will be the one of the ways to refuse from using Home button.

Good news everyone. DevTeam recently posted a tweet where they inform us that they will soon release a new version of Redsn0w utility for Windows. It will be an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1 using the Monte iOS 4.1 technique.

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As reported, Skype 5 has recently exited the beta stage that began in November 2010. Company made some improvements in the program, having reduced the size of the application window.

We've reduced the minimum window size, so that those of you who prefer to keep Skype to one side of your screen, for example, can do that more easily. We've also tightened up the contact list, so that you can see 30% more contacts at once. We've reduced the amount of whitespace in the sidebar too.

Other changes include the return of full-screen mode for video calls and easier access to chatting functions during calls. But the most important change is availability of group video calling to Skype's premium package for $4.99 per day or $8.99 per month. Free during the beta testing period the option was free.

You may download Skype 5 from here

Today at the media event in Tokyo Sony unveiled its next-gen PlayStation Portable that will challenge Apple's iOS as a game platform.

The device's codename is NGP (Next Generation Portable) and it was built around five concepts: Revolutionary UI, Location-based Entertainment, Social Connectivity and Converging Real and Virtual Reality. And here are the characteristics of the device according to Engadget:

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Yesterday Apple seeded the second beta of Mac OS X 10.6.7, known as Build 10J846, to developers. Apple has reportedly asked developers to concentrate on AirPort, Bonjour, SMB and Graphics Drivers and added Mac App Store as an area of focus for developers. Mac App Store changes weren’t mentioned in the first developer build seeded last Thursday.  Apple also issued a new beta of Mac OS X 10.6.7 Server, which includes one known issue, in which clients may fail to NetBoot from NetRestore image of 10.6.6 created with Mac OS X Server 10.6.6.

The iPhone 4 was launched more than seven months ago. So it’s time for rumors about the next-generation Apple’s handset. Let’s imagine what we may expect from iPhone 5:

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Apple created an official Twitter account for the App Store, appropriately named @appstore. Apple now owns that domain.  Within just a few hours, the account landed its 50,000th follower and continues to grow rapidly. The new App Store account lets Twitter users subscribe to regular update tweets posted by the company. With help of the new account Apple promises to promote new apps, and exclusive App offers which direct users to the web version of the iTunes App Store, which links to the app within iTunes for further review or to download it.

Last week AppleInsider got a new series of documents that contain discussions on some new features of the next-generation Adobe's Creative Suite.

Typically Adobe releases its software package every 12 to 18 months. Creative Suite 5, which is a latest release,  shipped April, 2010 and included support for Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Photo. Here is what we can expect from the next-gen products according to the unveiled documents:

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Jay Freeman (better known as Saurik) has reported that he added a new feature to Cydia, the jailbreak application store. “Cydia Theme Center” provides easer search of for Retina and non-Retina themes. Right now, you will find a selection of free and paid themes popular in Cydia, as well as themes selected by the employees of MacCiti and ModMyi. Soon Cydia user also will be able to vote their favorites into Theme Center. Freeman has predicted that the feature would be really popular. After release of Theme Center he posted to Twitter: The second feature to use my Whole Package Index, the “Cydia Theme Center”, went up an hour ago, and 15,000 people have already tried it! ;P

The Chronic Dev-Team has announced via twitter an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1. This should work for iPhone 3GS (new bootrom), iPhone 4 and iPad. And it will not require saved iOS 4.2b3 SHSH keys.

The untether is demoed in the video below. It's a result of a collaboration between @0naj, @p0sixninja, and @pod2g. P0sixninja has previously said it will not require iOS 4.2b3 SHSH blobs.

A small bug with wifi still remains. They will release utility as soon as they fix it.

Here is a video proof:

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The latest iOS SDK code for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad revealed evidence that shows that the next-generation iPad will in fact offer both front- and rear-facing cameras. The first one will be a 1 MP rear camera capable of shooting photos and videos, and the second one will be a VGA front-facing camera for FaceTime and other camera functionalities. Such camera is pretty close to the fourth-generation iPod touch’s 0.7 megapixel back camera. That means you’ll be able to take 720P video with your new iPad. A 1-megapixel camera on the iPad 2 would be significantly lower than expected 5-megapixel lens on the iPhone 4.

Recently Apple launched the “10 Billion App Countdown”.  10 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The competition Apple launched to celebrate the new milestone has ended. Someone downloaded the 10 billionth application is going to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card from Apple. As of this moment, we don’t know who won the contest. Apple plans to announce the winner at a later time. Apple is now projected towards the next milestones, 15 billion apps and 20 billion apps.

The iOS 4.3 first beta revealed Multi-touch gestures for iPad but they also fit for the iPhone and iPod touch. Although Apple already announced that Multi-Touch won’t actually be available to the public with the iOS 4.3 release, some rumors claim that the company may be willing to  implement the multitasking gestures both on the iPad and iPhone. Somebody believes that they could even replace a Home button on the next-gen iPhone and iPad. But such four and five-finger gestures on the iPhone’s screen look a little bit troublesome, as your hand easily covers the entire screen. Watch the video proof above!

Apple seems to be working on integrating more social features to iOS. The code (see below) found in the latest iOS 4.3 beta 2 has revealed that Apple is planning to bring Photo and Media Streaming to its devices. There are several files and folders references to two new features related to MobileMe called “Photo Stream” and “Media Stream”.  Apple is likely to be working on a serious MobileMe overhaul to offer social networking functionalities that would appear in iOS 5.

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Yesterday Apple released a second beta version of iOS 4.3 to registered developers. This build is labeled as 8F5153d and available in versions for the iPad, iPhone 4 and 3GS, and third- and fourth-generation iPod touch. It doesn’t seem like Apple added any new features in this release.

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