While still in beta, the Firmware 3.0 includes a new version of Safari that integrates the latest WebKit. It uses SquirrelFish Extreme ("Nitro") as an engine for JavaScript. The benchmarkes shows that the new firmware is 3 to 10 times faster, depending on the type of action.
The data, covering one week and provided by Headlight Software, showed no one on 1.x, less than 2% total on 2.0.x, less than 7% on 2.1.x, 26.61% on 2.2, and a whopping 65.49% on the current firmware, 2.2.1 released January 27.
So two-thirds on the latest/greatest firmware, just over a quarter on the previous release. This meants iPhone users try to keep their firmware up to date.
Tap Tap Revenge developers anounced new version of this popular application:
"The wait’s almost over! The code’s been written, the music’s been added, and our thumbs are numb from all the ‘testing’. Tap Tap Revenge 2 is signed, sealed… and soon to be delivered. Sometime next week if all goes well."
The latest news акщь Mobile World Congress. A new smartphone called the SonyEricsson Idou, equipped with display 3.5 "touchscreen with 640 × 320 pixels with 16:9 ratio, a 12.1 MP camera with xenon flash and the operating system Symbian Open Source! One more iPhone killer? We'll see.
An effective hearing test that measures your threshold of hearing for sounds of different frequencies.
Find out just how far your ears can hear ranging frequencies.
Most of the people should be able to hear up to around 15kHz. From around 17kHz upwards, we get into a range that only the under 20's can hear.
With this version, you will test your frequency threshold, using static volume tones.
Using the iPhone headphones, you will be asked to adjust the iPhone volume, for clear and effective playback tones.
Your left and right ear will be tested alternately with every frequency, from the above frequency ranges.
After the test has been completed, you will get a report of your hearing frequency response.
TUAW reader Paul tells a nice story, how his iPhone helped him to avoid getting the ticket. He was driving on a Midwestern road covered with blowing snow. He slowed down for a car stopped on the side of the road, but the car behind him hit his rear bumper, doing damage to both cars.
The officer who arrived to investigate asked Paul for his insurance card. Of course, that was when Paul realized it had expired the month before, and he didn't have the latest card in his wallet. The officer said it would be $200 for not being able to prove insurance coverage, and since Paul didn't have the cash it meant putting his license up for bond.
While the officer was doing the paperwork, Paul used his iPhone to log into his Geico Insurance account via the web. He was able to request a PDF copy of his card, which was emailed to his iPhone; then he displayed it to the officer. Happily, the deputy accepted the card as proof of insurance and did not issue the citation.
Most police agencies wouldn't be so open to the idea of looking at a downloaded document, but in this case, at least, it is yet another reason to love the iPhone.
- Touch, tap, drag and flick to create a thriving metropolis!
- Zoom in and out of your vibrant cityscapes by pinching
- Eight tool categories give you the ability to plan, zone, build, bulldoze, and manage your city
- Tutorial, starter cities and 3 difficulty modes for fun and challenging gameplay
- Take charge of the city budget and decide where best to spend taxpayers' hard-earned Simoleons
- Public works management including Water, Power, Garbage and Recycling
- Public and private transportation with roads and rail
- Test your city infrastructure with disasters – UFOs, Fires, Tornados, Earthquakes and Toxic Clouds
DevTeam says that 2.2 update SHOULD NOT be applied using iTunes if you want the chance of a soft-unlock in the near future. Use new version of PwnageTool (not avaliable yet, but will be soon).
Some fact:
The 2.2 firmware for 3G contains a baseband update for the 3G iPhone
The 2.2 firmware for 2G (1st gen iPhones) doesn’t contain a baseband update and the baseband is still at 04.05.04
Pwnage technique (and therefore the Jailbreak) isn’t affected, but PwnageTool and QuickPwn do not support this release as yet, so DO NOT install 2.2 using iTunes as you will lose your jailbreak
VoxBot is a retro speech synthesis robot. Type in any text and VoxBot will say it out loud. App is free for a limited time. Normal price is $1.99. Here is AppStore link.
Features:
It talks!
Full screen retro oscilloscope display when VoxBot talks
Easily create, test and edit phrases for VoxBot to say
Store phrases for quick VoxBot wisdom in the phrase list
Cooliris, the popular browser extension that revolutionizes the way you view media. Now it is available as an application for iPhone and iPod Touch. Cooliris makes finding news and search results a breeze by displaying them as an endlessly streaming 3D Wall, complementing the touch screen perfectly.
This application is free, avaliable via AppStore (link).
Features
3D Wall makes finding and viewing content easy, and fun
Discover provides you with news on-the-go: stay on top of the latest current events
Get the full story: Read more inline without having to jump to the web browser
How to use:
1-Finger Swipe - Scroll the wall a screen length
Pinch / Expand Wall - Zoom in/out
Single Tap - Select Media or go full screen
Tilt Wall - Scroll the wall by tilting the device left or right
Press Title Bar Menu Button - Select the item to go one deeper
Press Cooliris Logo - Go home
Finger Swipe Submenu - Slide the sub-menu items to see more
Click the Envelope - Share media via the default Mail Client
Click the Metadata - Opens the containing page web page
Click the 'i' Info icon - Shows/Hides the metadata panel
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.6(pwnagetool for windows, supports untethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad and Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.9.3(pwnagetool for windows, supports tethered jailbreak of iOS 5.1 for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom; untethered for iOS 5.0.1, iOS 4, iOS 3 supports Apple TV 2G)
Sn0wBreeze 2.8b11(pwnagetool for windows, supports iOS 5, iOS 5.0.1, tethered jailbreak for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 3G, iPod Touch 4G, iPad, Apple TV 2G; untethered for iPhone 3GS with old bootrom)
Current version is ultrasn0w 1.2.3, download in Cydia (unlock for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, firmwares 3.0-4.3.3; it supports basebands 01.59.00, 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, 06.15.00)
Firmware version 2.1. It is supposed to display “more accurate” signal strength. Well... it appears that “more accurate” may mean “unreasonably generous.”
Users can actually see the results of iPhones dB meter. Dial *3001#12345#* then press “Call”. A dB reading below 50 generally indicates good strength.
Here's what I've got:
iPhone Atlas reader Michael did some testing, and found that widely varying dB readings resulted in the same five-bar signal indicator on his iPhone. He writes: