Technology Guides

Recently the iPhone Dev Team has created yellowsn0w and this has allowed users to unlock their Apple iPhone very easily. Once your contract is done, you’ll be able to switch it to any carrier or you can do that right now. The process to unlock your 3G iPhone is very easy. First off, make sure you have the correct Modem Firmware which is 02.28.00. To find this, go to Settings–>About and scroll down to the bottom. If it isn’t at this Baseband then go into iTunes and restore it, and update it back to 2.2. Then you’ll use QuickPwn to get it to 02.28.00. Now we are ready to unlock your iPhone.

Steps

1. Click Cydia
2. Click Manage
3. Click Sources
4. Click Edit
5. Type in apt9.yellowsn0w.com
6. Go back to Home screen
7. Take your old SIM card and insert your new SIM card
8. Power off and wait 10 seconds
9. After waiting 10 seconds power it on
10. On the top left, it should have the bars and your carrier
11. If not, repeat steps 8 through 10

Now you should have any unlocked Apple iPhone ready to use with the carrier of your choice. Remember if you are using T-Mobile that you’ll need to turn off 3G.

Do you have an iPhone? If so, share your thoughts on which plan is best to couple with the iPhone as there are many different alternatives as I am totally confused on this issue.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The Apple iPod Touch is a unique device that has many options that are available to its users. Alot of people have no clue what the iPod Touch is capable of. It reminds me of my brothers BMW 3 Series where there are tons of small features that make the car more luxurious such as automatic side view mirrors that reflect down when you reverse so you can better see the parking lines or curbs. The Apple iPod Touch has tons of these such small features.

1. Take a Screenshot

Like your computer, the Apple iPod Touch can take a screenshot. Now there isn’t a print screen function but if you click and hold the Home button (round button at the bottom) and then tap the sleep button at the top left, it will take one for you. You’ll know its worked when the screen flashes. The screenshot will be saved in your Saved Photos section of your Apple iPod Touch. This unique feature is how I got many of my pictures for this post.

2. Save an Image

You can directly save a photo onto your Apple iPod Touch with the touch of your finger. All you have to do is hold down on the image with one of your many fingers and a screen will come up that allows you to save the image directly to your saved photos folder.

How to Save an Image

3. Magnifying Glass

I discovered this tool by accident and some of the best things have been discovered by accident. This is no exception. This tool will let you pick the exact place you want to put your cursor. By holding the text and moving your finger you’ll be able to exactly place your cursor. Sweet!

Magnifying Glass Tool

4. In-Screen Music Player

Hate it when you have to click the Home button to change your music or put it on pause while you are in an application? We’ll Apple has the solution for you. Click the Home button twice and an in-screen music player will pop up giving you control of your music. 

In-Screen Music Player

5. Move Your Apps Around

I discovered this tool by accident as well and it provides another bonus. You can delete your apps with this method. Hold an app for about 2-3 seconds and they will start moving around. They will also have an “X” on the top left so you can delete any of them except the standard ones which come with your Apple iPod Touch. You can also move your apps anywhere you’d like by clicking, holding, and dragging them to there desired place.

6. See the link before you click it

A computer will tell you where a link is pointed to if you hover over it. Likewise with the Apple iPod Touch, if you click and hold any link, it will tell you where it’s pointed to.

With these little tips and tricks, you’ll be utilizing your Apple iPod Touch to its full potential.

Popularity: 13% [?]

For Christmas this year I got an Apple iPod Touch. This device, I have recently realized, is much more capable and versitile than I originally thought. It boggles me my people don’t pay the extra money to upgrade from a Nano to an iTouch. Since it is a 2G Apple iPod Touch, you cannot jailbreak it…yet. So with that, I am forced to download from the App Store and choose from the assortment of free Apps since I don’t usually like paying for things I don’t have to.

Update: After further examination of the applications available at the App Store I’ve decided to add more to the list.

1. MMPG – There are numerous possibilites if you want a Massive MultiPlayer Game such as iMob, iMafai (and its affiliates…New York & Los Angeles), Race Wars and its affiliate San Fransisco, Mafia Wars, iVampire, iNinja and iKnights. These games basically focus on Missions for the mob to get money. That money is used to buy properties which by the way pays rent, and the money is used for weapons so you can fight other users.

2. 2009 Awesome Facts – This application is so amazing. I was lucky to get the Pro version for free for a limited time but what you get there is a bunch of categories with random facts such as “Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could not since the name was copyrighted.”

3. IM+ Lite - This application is essential for people that want to be connected to MSN, GMail, Yahoo or anything like that. It organizes by categories if your in MSN and is really fast. It organizes your conversations all in one place so you can go back and forth. All you need to do is swipe left or right.

4. Howcast – This is a nice little application that focuses on How to videos by users that are big like VideoJug. It differs from Youtube because of the niche it hits, The How-to market. The application is very easy to use, much like YouTube and it has a wide variety of videos to choose from with its massive directory.

Sudoku

I’m a big fan of Sudoku and I hate erasing my notes and it really gets messy. So with this App, you can play Sudoku with “Smart Notes” which automatically get erased when you can no longer put that number there.

It also gives you the option of putting numbers in red when they are wrong. This is the best Sudoku App you can get and it’s free. It’s gotten me interested in Sudoku once again and you usually can’t keep me off of this.

Big Oven

What to cook is always a big question but with over 160 000 recipes located on this database you’ll never go hungry again. Shake your Touch or iPhone and it will give you a random recipe or enter some keywords into the search engine and you will get a bunch of different recipes. Having a huge recipe book in the palm of your hands is great.

Topple

This is one of the largest downloaded games on the AppStore because it is fun, challenging, and has a creative twist on Tetris. I personally haven’t gotten past the 5th level but it still is fun to try. There are challenges and regular levels for you to play and it definitely doesn’t seem like a free app to me.

TapDefense

This game is absolutely amazing. You can play without going online and it is just like the games developed on online sites like Flash Element TD and Canyon Defense on Miniclip. This game is much more challenging than these two and it will provide hours of entertainment. I do believe though it drains a bit more battery than normal but it’s well worth it.

AroundMe/Where

These two apps are very closely related and I just can’t seem to decide which one is better. They both basically as they seem, are apps that tell you what is around you such as gas stations, restaurants, and other things. It can be fully taken advantage of with the iPhone but it definitely has its uses. I find the Where app has more unique things whereas AroundMe is more traditional.

Honourable Mention: OntheGo

This app tells you the gas prices for the places in your area. It uses the database of gasbuddy.com to populate the numbers for gas price. This tool is definitely handy when you are just about to go out. Again, it’s even better with a data plan for the iPhone so you can access it all the time and “on the go”.

Do you have a favourite free iPod Touch application that isn’t on this list? I certainly do as there are just too many applications to list.

Update: I’ve made a new post for the top apps for 2009 located at Top Free iPod/iPhone Apps for 2009

Popularity: 100% [?]

I recently purchased an iPod Touch 2G and I noticed that my battery was draining a little faster than I’d like it to. So I did some tests and tried to figure out the best ways to preserve the battery life and basically, they are pretty common sense. 

1. First things, first, turn off your Wi-Fi when not in use. When I’m at school, I can’t access my Wi-Fi so there is no point, or if I’m at my house most of the time, I have easy access to my laptop. 

2. On a related note, you should also turn off the “Ask to Join Networks” setting. Turning off the push data is also recommended.

3. Having anything customized like wallpaper will be a drag on your battery life. Keep the black screen as it really is traditional and cool.

4. Only every 30 charges or so should you let the battery go down to almost zero and then recharge. Usually you should charge in short bursts. I found this part on the internet and it seemed to work although it goes against my logic of constantly recharging drains the battery.

5. Keep the iPod Touch Auto-Lock feature to less than 3 minutes. It comes pre-set at 1 minute which I currently have. 

6. Keep your brightness setting to a minimum. Personally, I still like to splurge and always have it on automatic but if you want to save more battery, let it sit around 50%.

7. Your iPod Touch should be up to date at all times. In the first generation, an updated firmware provided better battery life so it’s always good to keep your options open.

From using these tips and tricks, I know have noticed a considerable difference in my battery life and can do more on a tank of power. 

iPod Touch Charging

If you any other ideas that worked for you to increase your battery life for your iPod Touch or iPhone then please don’t hesitate to share. I just might add it to this post.

Popularity: 77% [?]

On July 11th, American and Canadian consumers will be able to purchase the 3G versions of the Apple iPhone. Even people who bought the 2.5G iPhone on or after May 27 will be able to switch their phone with the 3G phone for no cost at all except their old, inferior iPhone. In the US, it will cost consumers there $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version and should be north of that, north of the border where I’ve been hearing $299 for the base version. Why should Canadians pay more for the phone though? We already pay more monthly with Rogers APRU (Average Revenue Per User) at $72 compared to AT&T’s current ARPU of just $49. With the new spectrum being auctioned off, it should lower prices but after the iPhone release, analysts are expecting an ARPU rise of $30 or more.

Back to the phone though. The Apple version of 3G technology will blow away the previous generation of that technology, EDGE, and even beat current 3G speeds with 36% faster pageloads than competitors like the Nokia N95. It will be open to 3rd party apps and the phone will be available internationally. Battery power wasn’t forgotten in the development of this version unlike the new Blackberry, which from rumours seems to lack a decent battery life. The 3G iPhone will have 300 hours of standby, 9 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 24 hours of audio, and 7 hours of video.

GPS is going to be standard, using A-GPS, which works in conjunction with regular satellite GPS data and cell towers for much faster location times. On top of that, they’ve thrown Wi-Fi into the mix to lock up your exact location. Apple isn’t fooling around here with so many solid features being rolled into one, at a cheaper and slightly smaller package. Although there isn’t a user interface change or exterior change, Apple still presents a good product to the market.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Rogers has finally put into place a contract with Apple to release its coveted iPhone onto Canadian airwaves. Rogers is hoping to include the iPhone as its star player in a lineup of touch screen phones set to be released this Summer. Rogers is still pushing for many things in the contract that will allow it more flexibility such as wireless plans and it has this power because currently it offers the only GSM network in Canada, pending a decision from Telus whether or not to switch to GSM. They will hopefully roll it out before Blackberry’s new device code named ‘Meteor’ was expected to be unveiled and around the same time Apple will offer an updated version of its iPhone making it compatible with 3G networks. Apple may have lady luck on its side as rumors continue to swirl on Blackberry delays pushing the release date to August instead of June.

We will continue to wait and see if Rogers will shift its ways as well as if Apple will budge at all on changing its way of standardizing the industry.

Popularity: 3% [?]

All the major phone manufacturers are all abuzz about creating an iPhone killer much like the digital music industry was trying to create an iPod killer. Now Microsoft might have finally succeeded at doing that with the new generation Zune as it’s currently hard to find in many US retailers. But that’s not the story for today. Today I am here to report on the Blackberry 9000 which is supposed to be an iPhone killer.

RIM is one of the only big name brands yet to come out with some sort of response to Apple’s iPhone. Now that is all about to change. Jim Balsille, co-CEO of RIM, and the most publicized out of the RIM top shots, has slowly been changing the direction of the company to a more consumerist market rather than the business one. With the huge success of the Blackberry Pearl, it only makes sense that they make this step to produce a product to match and beat the iPhone.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Going forward with technology in the automobile industry usually starts from the more expensive cars like the Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Gallardo, Ford GT, but in this case it starts with a household brand by the name of Volkswagen. Audi is a part of Volkswagen or the other way around (who knows these days) so I’d expect this type of product to start in a high end brand like that. Better for the averge consumer I’d say and so I’m not complaining.
With a 7-inch touchscreen in the midle of your VW Jetta, Golf, New Beetle, or any other VW, you are pimping right there. It would honestly make me look twice at a vehicle that looks good AND comes with a crazy interface. Now the twist to this story is Apple has been recently collaborating with VW and if you look closely at the zoomed in picture of the display, you’ll see some coverflow.
As Autoblog describes it, the concept touchscreen monitor “controls all conceivable functions” and is meant to demonstrate how future human-machine interfaces might look and operate.
-AutoBlog
Since it is developed by Apple you would think there would be multi-touch capabilites but there is no official word yet. Obviously this would increase the possiblity you’d be more focused on scrolling, or doing whatever on Space Up! that you’d completely forget that you’re driving. There are going to be later posts on removing that possibility.

The official word on it though is it will use sensors that react to gestures infront of the screen without touching it but it will also be capable of being touched which will be perfect to some late adapters or just old-fashioned people. The touchscreen is intuitive and makes for a great alternative to a GPS, MyGig, and Sync that are being offered on other cars. The beauty of this all is we won’t have to wait until 2015 or an unannounced date for this to be on our favourite VW model, VW says it will be available on all 2009 models. Some say this is what Apple has in store for us in January at MacWorld but I say they will have another completely new product to blow our mind. Bring in the new year with a new Apple.

Popularity: 1% [?]