The dedicated do-it-yourselfers out there will probably have already slapped together an iPhone tripod using some spare toothpicks and a fork, or two. The rest of us haven’t even considered making a DIY iPhone tripod. For those of you in that second category, iPhone-modder Scott Patrick has posted a DIY video that explains how to make an iPhone tripod using a Contour Case and a few hardware knick-knacks.
Contour Case used for this DIY is the most expensive component you’ll need. It’s $30 and you can grab one here.
One of iPhone OS 3.0s most anticipated features is its support for MMS, sometimes called pictures messages. Unfortunately, the original iPhone crowd was left out of the party. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) only enabled MMS support for iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 3GSs running the latest iPhone 3.0 OS. Today, a new jailbreak application has been released, allowing the original iPhone (2G) to rock the default MMS service!
The newly released ActivateMMS2G has been published on the Cydia jailbreak applications store. To enable native support for MMS on your iPhone 2G, simply jailbreak and install the ActivateMMS2G app. You need to add “http://cydia.alpden.com/” to your Cydia Sources.
Can’t get enough iPhone news? Still? Cool. Here’s a little video walk-through of what to expect with the new iPhone OS 3.0 firmware. There are a lot of features not shown in the video because some are tied to the iPhone 3G S’s new hardware and so I didn’t have to post a 30 minute video.
First off, keep in mind that some of these “new” features in iPhone OS 3.0 have been available to entry-level handsets for a while. The iPhone 3.0 OS’s new-found support for MMS (which isn’t yet enabled by AT&T (NYSE: T)) has been a long time coming. The iPhone community has been asking for more extensive landscape-view support since iPhone OS 1.0. Copy/Paste! But, then again, every other smartphone I’ve owned for the past decade (well, almost) has been able to copy and paste text with no problem.
On a more positive note, email search is finally a reality - and you can even search archived emails on your email server. Spotlight search is fast and intuitive enough to preempt any actual thinking on your brain’s behalf. Find My iPhone will require a MobileMe subscription, but it works surprisingly well - especially for the absent-minded out there. Parental Controls are a nice touch, like icing on the cake.
iPhone OS 3.0 is what iPhone OS 2.2.12.0 1.0 should have been.
That may be true, but that hasn’t stopped the fearless iPhone community from tethering their iPhone 3G’s to AT&T’s data network for free! Thanks to the widely available iPhone 3.0 OS GM (gold master) firmware bearing the “7a341″ designation, iPhone users can get their “tether on” without AT&T’s official blessing. We can’t tell you how or where to get your hands on the iPhone OS 3.0 GM, but a certain search engine (no, not Bing!) will probably do you right. Now that the iPhone OS 3.0 is officially official, tethering your iPhone 3G to your laptop/computer is even easier - as long as you have iPhone OS 3.0 installed on your iPhone 3G.
[Update 2] Here is an even easier, web-based method to enable Internet Tethering on your iPhone 3G (running iPhone OS 3.0). It’s the “ridiculously easy way to enable” iPhone tethering! Of course, the below method is quite simple and works as well.
Five steps to iPhone tethering goodness (make sure you’re upgraded to iPhone OS 3.0!):
Fire up Terminal on your Mac and type: defaults write com.apple (NSDQ: AAPL).iTunes carrier-testing -bool TRUE
Connect your iPhone to your Mac and fire up iTunes
Option-Click the “Restore” button and select the .ipcc file within the .dmg (disk image) file
Once the carrier file is installed, restart your iPhone for good measure
Enjoy the new tethering option under “Settings”
With the iPhone OS 3.0 installed on your legit (using an offical iPhone carrier’s network) iPhone 3G, all it takes is a few button clicks and you’re off surfing AT&T (or your local carrier’s) data network through your iPhone 3G tether. We can confirm that the hack works on the iPhone 3G. Let’s hope it works just as well on the iPhone 3G S!
[Update]
Post updated with an easier tethering method!
[Update 2] Here is an even easier, web-based method to enable Internet Tethering on your iPhone 3G (running iPhone OS 3.0). It’s the “ridiculously easy way to enable” iPhone tethering! Of course, the below method is quite simple and works as well.
The kinds of customers that are apt to buy high-end smartphones like the HTC Touch Pro2 are probably going to want to squeeze every last bit of functionality out of their new handset. For all you HTC Touch Pro2 power-users, TracyandMatt has released their Advanced HTC Touch Pro2 tweaking guide to help guide you through all the steps required to enable your smartphone’s more advanced features.
HTC did a bang up job on the HTC Touch Pro2. HTC doesn’t technically have any flagship smartphones, but the HTC Touch Pro2 qualifies as the Windows Mobile flagship in our eyes. As a flagship model, the Pro2 was outfitted with all kinds of advanced features. Some of those features never made it to commercial market. Things like GPS photo-tagging, assisted GPS and burst-shot mode were left out of the Pro2’s official feature-set, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of them!
Thanks to TracyandMatt’s handy little guide, you can unlock your Touch Pro2’s full potential!
A buddy recently let me in on a little secret. You can use the Skype iPhone application over a 3G connection - and it works damn well! No wonder AT&T (NYSE: T) banned Skype from making calls using its 3G data network.
The release of the Skype iPhone application caused quite a stir as carriers around the world moved to block the application accessing its data networks. AT&T restricted Skype for iPhone to its WiFi HotSpots in the US, as did O2 (NYSE: TEF) in the UK. Meanwhile, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) Germany reportedly blocked Skype from its network entirely - no Skype for iPhone for Germany.
But, it doesn’t have to be like that.
A jailbreak application, called VoIPOver3G, allows jailbroken iPhones to use VoIP applications over 3G wireless networks. You can find it in Cydia, and the install takes all of one minute. VoIPOver3G installs invisibly, much like the yellowsn0w jailbreak utility - once installed, all iPhone VoIP clients simply work over 3G. VoIPOver3G tricks your iPhone into thinking it’s on a WiFi network, allowing VoIP apps like Skype to work on AT&T’s 3G network.
And the kicker - you can use any VoIP application over 3G, not just Skype for iPhone!
Keep in mind, your VoIP over 3G experience is going to depend on a lot of factors - stuff that goes well over my head. Under good conditions, however, you should find 3G VoIP quality to be decent, sometimes great!
You’re going to have to shell out some cold, hard cash to get HTC’s upcoming HTC Touch Diamond2 smartphone in your pocket, but you can get some of the Diamond2’s software goodies without spending a single dime. The updated Diamond-successor sports nothing less than a 5-megapixel camera (with autofocus), GPS, WiFi, and 3G data connectivity. And then there’s the gorgeously high-res 3.2-inch WVGA resistive touchscreen and touch-sensitive zoom bar. For some, the cost to upgrade to a Diamond2 is worth the upgraded feature-set. For others, a nice little software upgrade should suffice.
The HTC Touch Diamond2’s updated TouchFLO 3D UI includes a lot of new applications and a few tweaks that promise to deliver an even better user experience than did the original Diamond. Thankfully, the apps have been ported to the Diamond via a bunch of ripped .cab files.
Diamond owners need simply download and install a few CAB files to inject some of the Diamond2’s TouchFLO-essence into the already-aging Touch Diamond (the mobile world moves fast, don’t it?). The following apps have been ported from the Diamond2 to the Diamond:
Awhile back, my buddy Al did a roundup of some of the most extreme pimping of BlackBerrys you can find - diamonds, gold, leather you name it. A cool novelty, no doubt, but what about Joe Everymanpimp? Is there not something for the common BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Mack Daddy in a cubic zirconia, pleather, or metallic finish? Why yes, there certainly is, and it won’t cost you hundreds of bucks to ship out your gear to get ‘er done - one needs only the sheer testicular fortitude to disassemble your device and replace the housing. (For the less adventurous, there are skins and swanky battery door replacements.) You might have caught those coloured trackballs last week, but lately it seems original equipment manufacturer outlets are featuring a tonne of other slick parts to swap out.
So gather ye all around, my little pimplings - each page will show disassembly and reassembly videos for each major BlackBerry device, as well as a wealth of bling for your consideration. Of course, there are always themes, cases, and other accessories but let’s stick to the body itself for now, then you can add on the other parts. Even if you don’t have a BlackBerry, check these sources - they tend to have plenty of goodies for other phones as well. As ever, if you have any additions, drop a comment, dawg. Read the full article »
The SMS text message is almost as ubiquitous these days as air pollution and high gas prices. But, we’d argue that most of the 2 trillion (with a “T”) SMS text messages sent around the world last year were of the vanilla variety - short text communications between friends, family and co-workers. The overwhelming majority of text message users likely go about their lives never the wiser to the fact that SMS text messages can do so much more than tell your friend how late you will be to their birthday party.
MobileMaven has put together a list of 10 ways you can use the text message as a productivity tool. After all, you’re paying for those text messages, why not make them work for you? Here’s a quick look at how SMS text messages can make your life better… or at least a little easier to manage:
Track your packages with TrackThis.
Yahoo! Alerts will deliver stock quotes to your text message inbox.
Well, there you have it, folks. It took the iPhone Dev Team no more than a few days to crack the new iPhone 2.2.1 OS. Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) went official with their new iPhone 2.2.1 OS firmware update for iPhone and iPhone 3G users just a few days ago, and The Team has already managed to jailbreak the new iPhone 2.2.1 OS!
The iPhone Dev Team has released an updated version of their iPhone jailbreak application, dubbed Pwnage Tool. With PwnageTool 2.2.5, just about any tech-savvy (and even not-so tech-savvy) iPhone owner can break their precious handset out of file-system “jail.” Quick recap for those of you still wondering what the “jailbreak” does - (1) it is NOT an unlock solution, a jailbroken iPhone cannot be used on foreign GSM networks by virtue of the jailbreak alone, (2) it IS a way for you to interact with your iPhone’s filesystem, which allows you to install unofficial software such as the iPhone unlock software called “yellowsn0w.” (more on that here)
iPhone 3G owners looking forward to one day unlocking the handset for use with foreign GSM carriers should take note - the new iPhone 2.2.1 OS bundles with it a new baseband firmware (modem firmware). The new v.02.30.03 baseband firmware is wholly incompatible with the “yellowsn0w” unlock utility that was recently released by the iPhone Dev Team. Updating your iPhone 3G to a non-jailbroken iPhone 2.2.1 OS will flash your iPhone 3G’s baseband with the new firmware, essentially killing any hope of unlocking the GSM radio for use elsewhere.
If you could care less about unlocking your iPhone 3G, you’re more than welcome to update to iPhone 2.2.1 OS anyway you see fit (iTunes, QuickPWN, PwnageTool). But, if you have even the slightest urge to free (unlock) your iPhone 3G’s GSM radio to surf any GSM network in the world, you’ll want to heed the iPhone Dev Team’s warning and update to iPhone 2.2.1 OS using ONLY Pwnage Tool 2.2.5. — (PwnageTool creates a custom iPhone 2.2.1 OS restore file (the .ipsw file) by opening up the firmware package and replacing the newer 02.30.03 baseband code with the older 02.28.00 baseband code that works with the “yellowsn0w” unlock utility)
Head on over to our iPhone and iPhone 3G jailbreak guide with updated instructions on how to break your iPhone out of file-system jail. If you’re looking to unlock your iPhone 3G, you can follow the directions at the end of the jailbreak guide, or simply check out our iPhone 3G unlock guide here.
Grab PwnageTool 2.2.5 (Mac OS X only) here, here, here, or here (torrent).
Grab QuickPWN 2.2.5 (Mac OS X only) here, here, here, or here (torrent). (Remember, since QuickPWN doesn’t create a custom .ipsw payload, using this method to jailbreak iPhone 2.2.1 OS will kill your iPhone 3G unlocking dreams!)
The kinds of customers that are apt to buy high-end smartphones like the HTC Touch Pro2 are probably going to want to squeeze every last bit of functionality out of their new handset. For all you HTC Touch Pro2 power-users, TracyandMatt has released their Advanced HTC Touch Pro2 tweaking guide to help guide you through all the steps required to enable your smartphone’s more advanced features.
A buddy recently let me in on a little secret. You can use the 
The SMS text message is almost as ubiquitous these days as air pollution and high gas prices. But, we’d argue that most of the 2 trillion (with a “T”) SMS text messages 
Well, there you have it, folks. It took the iPhone Dev Team no more than a