iPhone4idiots

Oceanhouse Media’s, Fox in Socks $3.99, is the fun Dr. Seuss story that rhymes almost the entire way through. The two main characters, Fox and Knox, start with simple rhymes and build to some crazy tongue twisters. Like every Oceanhouse Media storybook the art and sounds are top notch. The app contains three modes: Read to Me, Read It Myself and Auto Play and words zoom up and are spoken when tapped. I won’t go into detail as I’ve explained in my other storybook reviews the different modes and this is pretty much standard now. The story entails Mr. Fox’s crazy rhymes which Mr. Knox does not like nor think he can say. Until the end when a frustrated Mr. Knox unleashes quite the rhyme to say goodbye and his game with Mr. Fox along with the book. Personally, I really like this one. It’s silly yet teaches that even Mr. Knox can do what he claims throughout his lame tongue can’t. Now if I can just convince my 4 year old he really can ride the bike if he’ll just try.

Please see update at end of post for 4.2.1 news. Argh Matey, the collective pain of the those waiting for a new jailbreak might be at an all-time high. While a month ago I was hopeful a new jailbreak would be coming any day, I now think it is likely a new jailbreak will not be released until after iOS 4.3. That’s at least two more months. Granted only a few people know for sure and I hope one comes tomorrow, but I doubt it. While not a big deal for those like me who are jailbroken on iOS 4.1 (I mean other than Find My iPhone there is nothing in 4.2.1 that I really want), not all are so lucky. Anyone with a new iPhone 4 that came with 4.2.1 is stuck waiting. Also, those with an iPad that are jailbroken are stuck on 3.2 if they want to keep the jailbreak. Now you can jailbreak 4.2.1 with redsn0w, but that would be a tethered jailbreak and nobody really wants that. It’s also true there is a way to get an untethered jailbreak on 4.2.1 using Jailbreak Monte. However, this involves using saved SHSH blobs (no big deal since you should have them) AND having a copy of a 4.2.3 beta ipsw file that only developers are supposed to have. I haven’t looked for it online and I’m guessing you can find a pirated version of it, but its not worth it. Thus, the waiting continues.
Update 1/29/2011 – Ha, untethered jailbreak via redsn0w coming soon according to tweets from last night. Continue Reading…

About a week ago Cydia made a small change that has made finding new themes for Winterboard much easier. In the top right corner of the Home page is a button which lists themes broken down into HD (iPhone 4 “Retina”) and SD (iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS). Tap either of these buttons and you get a long list of themes with the price (including free ones) clearly displayed. Select any theme and a picture is displayed showing what it looks like and it also list how many icons the theme contains. This is a great feature as I have almost one hundred apps on my iPhone 4. Yes, most are hidden in folders but the ones I use on a daily basis are front and center. It’s very annoying to have a great theme be ruined by one or two icons not being included. Yes you can change these on your own with Photoshop and a simple SSH transfer, but who has the time to do that? OK, I did do that for KillSignCarbonBlue to get the green Messages icon to match, but 99% likely don’t want to mess with it. Thus, just pick a theme like Glasklart HD which has 1581 icons. It likely has you covered. Also, a few weeks ago Cydia added a Manage Account button on the home page. This list all the apps (aka packages) that you have bought through Cydia. If you’ve purchased numerous items through Cydia this quite helpful as well. On a separate note, Cydia seems to be running faster since Jay Freeman (aka saurik) made some upgrades. It’s still not fast, but IMO it loads noticeably faster.

Happy Family, $1.99 Jessica Rosenblum, is an app that simplifies a chart or reward system to help improve your child’s behavior and thus keep the family happy. If you have kids like me you’ve likely either tired or thought about trying some sort of reward system to improve your kids behavior in some area that was driving you crazy. For me it was working on whining for one child and getting another to sleep in his own bed all night. The problem is you need to follow through and be consistent day after day. Making a chart took more effort than I had (where do you buy a large piece of poster board?) and we didn’t have any marbles to fill a glass jar. This app simplifies the process as it just takes minutes to setup and last forever. Continue Reading…

A long time ago I was on Sprint and hated it. Then I tried Vonage at the house for awhile and decided Sprint was just bad, not horrible like Vonage. IMO, ATT falls somewhere around the bad level and my friends on T-Mobile and Verizon typically use the word terrible. The most annoying thing about this industry right now is the lying going on about 4G and whose network is the fastest. I really don’t understand it well and frankly don’t care much. What I do know is you can’t trust any of them. Continue Reading…

Sad news today as a press release from Apple stated that the Board of Directors has granted CEO Steve Jobs a medical leave of absence. This is the second time he has needed leave as he took a six month leave back in 2009. Jobs was diagnosed pancreatic cancer back in 2004. The disease has a 90% mortality rate within five years. He refused medical treatment at first, but finally underwent surgery. He doesn’t look healthy and given a second medical leave one has to wonder if he will ever return as CEO of Apple. Apple’s stock will surely take a big hit (10% is my guess) when the markets open on Tuesday. Would the iPhone, iPad, and iOS exist without Steve Jobs? Probably, but you can’t argue what a major impact he has had on technology. I’m sure the product line will continue with Tom Cook, Apple’s COO, filling in. Here’s wishing Steve a healthy return one day soon.

So the latest firmware update for iOS for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad has been given to developers and there are a few interesting things. One is that there will be the ability to turn your device into a mobile personal hotspot (thank you Verizon). Now just because Apple has added this capability into iOS does not mean ATT will allow you to use. Recall iPhones were capable of tethering for almost a year before ATT added the feature. Nevertheless, with Verizon offering it and iOS having the ability it is only a matter of time before ATT adds this nice feature! Just as interesting is the possible death of the home button? Continue Reading…

It’s official. The forever rumored Verizon iPhone will be available in early February. Existing Verizon customers can preorder on February 3 and anyone can order come February 10. Pricing will be the same as ATT ($199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB with contract). The Verizon version of the iPhone 4 is basically the same with Facetime, the retina display and 5 megapixel camera. To find out the numerous differences between the two iPhones, why your existing iPhone won’t work on Verizon’s network and Verizon’s one huge competitive advantage. Continue Reading…

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is going on in Las Vegas. The theme this year should be iPad envy as there are a ton of new tablets being introduced. There is good reason for this as tablet sales will top PC sales sometime in the next few years. If you didn’t know there is the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Motorola Xoom, Blackberry PlayBook, Sharp Galapagos as well as tablets by HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Fijitsu, IBM, LG Electronics, Toshiba and Panasonic either on the market or about to launch. Most are running some version of Android (likely Honeycomb). With so many choices its really important to think about what are you going to use your tablet for? Continue Reading…

Have you ever taken a great photo on your iPhone or iPod and wish you could zoom in? Well, it only takes a few seconds and is easy as pie. Yes, I know the camera on the iPhone 4 has a decent zoom. Despite this, if you are like me and not a professional photographer you inevitably go through your camera roll and find a picture you like that would be better if you could zoom in on a certain area. The simple solution I saw the other day at TiPb is pinch to zoom the picture to bring it more into focus. Once you have the part you want filling the screen, take a screen shot by hitting the power and home buttons at the same time. Yes, it loses a bit of quality, but not much. This has been great for a few pictures of my kids. Bonus tip – this works for video as well. Ever film some event on your iPhone and wish you had a photo to text or email. Well just play the movie and pause it on a spot that would make a great picture. Take the screen shot and text. You can even zoom in and take another screen shot before you email or text. See the picture here. I filmed my boy sparring at karate. Being male I wanted a photo of him punching the other kid in the face (btw, you aren’t supposed to do that). Now I just need to photoshop the movie timeline off the top. Like this tip or know how to remove the timeline let me know in comments.