Top Cydia tweaks to install after jailbreaking

Coming on the heels of the iPhone 4S / iPad 2 (aka A5 devices) untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1, here's the list of the top Cydia tweaks to install, in my opinion. As with the App Store apps list I made, this is broken down into FREE and PAID categories.

FREE

1. Action Menu
2. Activator *
3. CyDelete
4. FolderIcons
5. KuaiDial
6. Lockscreen Multitasking
7. MultiIconMover
8. NewTabSearch
9. Pull To Dismiss
10. Pull To Refresh Mail
11. Pull To Refresh Safari
12. SBAdBlockToggle (requires SBSettings)
13. SBSettings
14. SiriToggles
15. Unified Ipod for IOS 5
16. Update Hider for iOS 5
17. WeatherIcon
18. Katra-based Weather Icon theme (requires WeatherIcon)
19. WiFiFoFum
20. Winterboard

PAID

1. Action Menu Plus Pack
2. AdBlocker
3. FolderEnhancer
4. iBlacklist
5. My3G
6. Navigate From Maps
7. Springtomize 2 - iOS 5+
8. WiFi Booster

The "Dream Team" for the A5 (4S/iPad 2) has been assembled!

Pod2G, the man who made the iOS 5.0.1 untethered for A4 devices (iPhone 4, 3Gs, first-gen iPad) a reality has announced that the "Dream Team" for the A5 jailbreak has been formed.

After announcing that an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S/iPad 2 should be released in about a week, Pod2G announces that he joined forces with planetbeing, MuscleNerd and p0sixninja and they are all working together now to find a way to release the iPhone 4S/iPad 2 jailbreak.

Yesterday, the hacker issued a FAQ on why the jailbreaking isn’t available yet. The main reason is that right now, we would need a developer account to inject the untethering files into our iPhone 4S/iPad 2. Hopefully that will change, and soon we will be able to jailbreak our A5 devices.

"@planetbeing, the legendary hacker behind iPhone Linux and lot of jailbreaks has joined the A5 research!

The famous @MuscleNerd, the leader of the iPhone Dev Team, who did a lot of tests for Corona and whom integrated it and made it simple in redsn0w is willing to help also.

And last, but not least @p0sixninja, the leader of the Chronic Dev Team, and my partner for years on iPhone security research has started to code and fuzz the Apple sandbox.

We now have a dream team to find a path for a public release of the A5 jailbreak.

Cross your fingers."

Wonder TRIPLET powers...ACTIVATE!

Excessive battery drain on the iPhone 4S / iOS 5

Interesting tip over at LifeHacker: battery drain in iOS 5 (and/or the 4S) could be a bug in the Time Zone settings that causes location services to go nuts and poll way more often than it needs to, draining the battery.

The solution for now seems to be manually switching off the automatic time zone updates located at Settings → Location Services → scroll to bottom to see System Services → Setting Time Zone, switch to OFF.

Most people don't need this on anyway; it's function is to automatically adjust the time zone when the iPhone crosses into a different one (say, if you're flying from Florida - EST - to California - PST.) You can always re-enable this, or just manually change the time zone if you happen to be traveling to a different time zone.

Even if it this setting isn't affecting the excessive battery drain that Apple IS investigating, turning this off will definitely make a difference, probably between 3-7% per day and upwards, and we all kn ow that every bit of battery life counts.

Yes, I know, "old news" for some, but I'm just now catching up on the iPhone 4S / iOS 5.x info, seeing as I got my 64GB 4S yesterday.

iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak is live!

pod2g's untethered iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak has been successfully done and released by both the Chronic Dev team (greenpois0n) and the Dev Team (redsn0w), for all A4 devices (anything besides the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2, both of which use the A5 dual-core processor.) pod2g is hard at work on the A5 jailbreak, and has done it already; he's just waiting on iOS 5.1 to make sure he doesn't burn an exploit that took him months to develop.

edit: Chronic Dev's info on this: http://greenpois0n.com/?p=150

If you're already tethered jailbroken on iOS 5.0.1, all you have to do is install the Cydia package to become untethered jailbroken. Those of you who are doing an upgrade to iOS 5.0.1 (like me, who was waiting to upgrade my iPhone 4 until an untethered jailbreak became available) will have to use redsn0w to do the upgrade (which is normal.)

Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather"

If you haven't seen Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather", from the BBC SkyOne presentation, YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS! Especially this time of year. It's an awesome adaptation of his book, and is sure to become a timeless Christmas holiday tradition. Great for kids, and for adults. Here's the DVD cover of it:

To my knowledge, this only aired in the UK and Japan, not in the USA, and was shown back in 2006 - and got not only rave reviews, but a HUGE airtime following. I love Teatime! (It's pronounced tee-AH-tim-EH, thank you very much.)

Here's the Amazon review for it, which is a pretty good description:

"Based on a fantasy novel by Terry Pratchett, The Hogfather is an extraordinary satire-adventure set in the mythical realm of Discworld, a kind of parallel-universe version of Earth. Discworld’s alternative to Santa Claus is the Hogfather, who also chases around in a sled delivering gifts to children (on a Christmas-like night known as Hogwatch), but who looks like, well, a wild hog and is pulled through the skies not by reindeer but a bunch of grunting porkers with long, dangerous teeth. Just as the Hogfather is about to complete his annual mission to leave toys for kids under their Hogwatch trees, a specter makes a deal with a professional assassin to kill the jolly old fellow. The job is farmed out to a psychotic monster named Teatime (Marc Warren), who sets about trying to get to the Hogfather through, of all things, the Tooth Fairy. While danger stalks these immortal characters, Death (Ian Richardson) himself takes the Hogfather’s place on his magical rounds, with comic consequences. Meanwhile, a governess named Susan (Michelle Dockery), possessor of a strange secret and awesome powers, determines that the Hogfather is in danger. She sets about trying to find him and discovers Teatime’s plot, while a cluster of clumsy wizards (led by Joss Ackland) try to make sense of what has happened and what they can do about it. It’s hard to explain the charm and wit of The Hogfather, which is full of quirky, ironic humor, except to say that it’s easy to fall in love with this British television special and its dark delights. (Some a bit too dark for younger viewers.) The cast includes a very funny Tony Robinson of Black Adder. --Tom Keogh"

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I've uploaded the two parts (from a DVD rip), here are the specs:

Part 1: AVI, 16×9 MPEG-4 XviD MP3 Stereo, 700mb, length: 1:35:25
Part 2: AVI, 16×9 MPEG-4 XviD MP3 Stereo, 700mb, length: 1:35:51

These are on MultiUpload.com, so there should be multiple places to download it from.

I have the 720p HD rips as well (from the SkyONe HD channel; to my knowledge, this was never sold as a BlueRay DVD), but they're considerably larger; if you like the movie, and want to watch it in perfect quality, I'd recommend buying it from Amazon:

Regular DVD
Limited Edition DVD (only available on the UK Amazon site)

(Of course, I might be convinced to upload the files, or burn them to a disc...)

I also have the Colour of Magic, which was really good as well (also only shown in the UK on SkyOne, in 2008.) Definitely worth a watch!

Portable power for your iOS device

I've found two really good products that can recharge your iOS device (iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad) on the go. One is cheaper, but has two major advantages, and the other is, of course, a bit more expensive but has a major advantage. Let's take a a look:

The first one is the cheaper alternative of the two: The Scosche solBAT II - Solar Powered Backup Battery and Charger. Major advantages:

• Price. MSRP is only $29.99; if you search around, you can find it for as little as $15-$17 or so.

• SOLAR POWERED! Yes, that's right, the solBAT II can charge itself by either solar power, or using the miniUSB adapter (included.) So if you're a hiker/camper/outdoor-sy type, this is a great option.

The battery in the solBAT II is a 1500 mAh battery, which is slightly larger than the one included with the iPhone or iPod - but much smaller than the one in the iPad, so this is not a good option for iPad users.

(Geek Notes: the iPhone 3G had an 1150mAh battery; the 3Gs had a 1219mAh battery, the iPhone 4 has a 1420mAh battery, and the 4S has a 1432mAh Li-Polymer battery, while the iPad 2 has a 6930mAh battery, so you can see that this might not be the best option if you have an iPad you want to charge on the go.)

The second one is the ZAGGsparq 2.0 from ZAGG. A bit more expensive at the MSRP of $99.99; however, you can watch their website and Facebook page, and you might be able to catch it on sale for as much as 50% off. Major advantages:

• The battery. The ZAGGsparq 2.0 has a massive 6,000mAh Lithium Polymer battery, which is more than enough to fully recharge any iOS device, and adds 5 to 6 hours of video playback to the iPad® - which is great if you're a frequent traveler, and want to watch movies on a flight or something where there isn't an electrical outlet to plug in to.
• Multiple USB ports. The ZAGGsparq 2.0 has two USB ports, so you can recharge multiple devices at the same time.

I've used both of these, and found them to both be excellent battery backups for my iPhone. I carry the Scosche solBAT II with me in my backpack wherever I go,and it's come in handy on more than one occasion. I've been able to recharge my iPhone 4 from less than 10% battery to over 75% battery life in around an hour or so, giving me almost double the battery life of the iPhone 4 by itself - and the Scosche solBAT II is really small, so it fits in your pocket or bag really easily. The ZAGGsparq 2.0 is larger, obviously, but the bigger battery is a HUGE advantage, especially if you're stuck on an airplane or somewhere else where an electrical outlet isn't handy. I only carry it when I'm traveling, but it's quite useful as well.

There are other portable battery chargers, but these are two that I recommend. Of course, if anyone would like to send me one of theirs for testing, I'll review it as well. ;)

Turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a phone - for free!

Here's an easy way to turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a REAL, fully functional phone, able to make and receive phone calls and texts, WITHOUT having to pay for a phone bill.

As with anything, there's a catch; in this case, it requires you to have a WiFi connection (at home, free WiFi hotspots, etc.) If you don't have a WiFi connection on your iOS device, it won't work. Other than that, it's easy! (Also, Google Voice℠ might not be available in your location, especially if you live outside of North America.)

1. First, sign up for Google Voice℠ -  it's free, and it's an awesome service.
   • Make SURE you use a Gmail address to sign up for Google Voice, NOT a different account! (Create a Gmail account if you don't already have one.)
   • Google Voice℠ has TONS of features; for a full listing, take a look at the Google Voice Account Types on the Google Voice blog. The majority of people need only to concern themselves with the first column, Google Number.
   • You have to have access to a regular phone to setup Google Voice℠. You only need it once, so you can get the phone call and type in the confirmation code. You can then unselect it in the settings for Google Voice℠.
2. Next, download Talkatone in the Apps Store.
   • It's also free, though it does display ads in the interface (easily ignorable, though you can pay a fee to remove them if you so desire.)
3. Follow the steps in Talkatone to setup your Google Voice℠ account in the app.
   • Make SURE you log into your Gmail email account, and LOG OUT of the Chat & SMS (it'll be located on the left-hand side of the screen, about half-way down.)

That's it! As long as you have WiFi, you can use Talkatone and your Google Voice℠ account to make and receive calls and text messages. If you need details, step-by-step instructions on what to do, let me know in the comments, and I'll write up a blog post for it.

There are other Google Voice℠ apps, such as the official Google Voice app from Google (free), and GV Mobile+ (paid); while they work fine, Talkatone is the only one that I've found that will let you both dial out and receive incoming calls without having an actual phone (3G/EDGE) connection on your device. If you've found another app that will do it as easily as Talkatone, let me know in the comments section.

And yes, iPhone users can use this as well, to have multiple phone numbers. I use Google Voice℠ as well as my cellular service, so that I can have a personal phone number, and a business phone, both ringing to the same phone.