iPhone 4 unlock now available with ultrasn0w!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software,

We knew that once the iPhone 4 jailbreak dropped, it would be just a matter of time before the unlock method would be made available. Well, two days later, it’s here. Ultrasn0w, the software unlock we’ve come to know and love over the years, has been updated to version 1.0-1. With that update comes support for the iPhone 4 baseband 01.59 and iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS basebands 04.26.08, 05.12.01, and 05.13.04. If those numbers confuse you, no worries, this basically just means that any iPhone 3G/3GS/4 device that you have in your hand as of today is unlockable. Just download ultrasn0w through Cydia, and you’re all set!

Read More | Dev-Team

How to jailbreak your iOS 4 devices

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks,

We know that ever since iOS 4 hit the scene, many users have been clamoring for a jailbreak release so they can install hacks and apps that Apple won’t approve, or frowns upon. Well, that time has come, as an iOS 4 jailbreak has arrived—and it’s super-simple. To do the deed, just head on over to JailbreakMe.com. You’ll see the image above. All you need to do is swipe, and the jailbreak process will begin, directly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. After a couple of minutes, the process will be complete. Couldn’t be easier!

Mac mini unibody gets the iFixIt teardown treatment

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Mods / Hacks, PC / Laptop,

So, you know that new Mac mini we told you about a couple days ago? Yeah, the one that is even slimmer than the one before it, while packing more power? In case you were curious about how Apple was able to cram all that goodness into such a tiny space, wonder no more. Our pals over at iFixIt have gotten their hands on the new Mac mini, and they’ve posted a bunch of images, along with a tutorial, of the teardown process. It’s nice and detailed, and gives you great appreciation for the organizational skills of the people that build these things.

Read More | iFixIt

Check your ATT iPhone upgrade status the easy way

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks,

With the launch of the iPhone 4 just two weeks away, many are wondering if they are eligible for the upgrade pricing on the handset. If you are on a family plan, it gets especially tricky, because AT&T doesn’t qualify all the phones on a family plan for an upgrade as soon as they do the main line on the account. Or, you just may not have your upgrade date at the top of your head. Fear not—there is a very easy way to find out if you are eligible for an upgrade, and what price you’ll pay for an iPhone 4 at launch, if you choose to buy one.

Simply dial *639# on your AT&T mobile phone (iPhone or otherwise,) and within a few seconds, you will receive a free SMS message from them letting you know your upgrade status. Simple!

Tom Tom geeks out with Star Wars GPS voices

Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: GPS, Mods / Hacks, Movies,

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be guided to your destination via the dulcet-tones of James Earl Jones breathing through a ventilator?  If so, then Tom Tom’s announcement of their release of Star Wars voices for their GPS nav systems should make your day, and if not, then you should probably stop reading this right now because you are dead inside.  Beginning this month Tom Tom is making one new Star Wars voice available for purchase through August.  Following the first available voice, Darth Vader, June will see the release of C-3P0, July will be Yoda, and finally Han Solo will wrap up what will be remembered as The Summer of GPS Nerdyness.  For the sake of entertainment, someone should come up with an R2D2 mod, available in September.  I would buy it just so that I could get in witty, one-sided conversations with my car during my long road-trips to comic conventions and film festivals by myself.  God, I am so alone…

Spirit iPad jailbreak now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software,

Ever since the iPad was announced, one of the many things users had been waiting for was a way to jailbreak the thing. Well, your iPad jailbreak method has arrived in the form of the free Spirit download. It’s an untethered hack, and it works with any activated iPhone OS device, including iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, as long as they are running iPhone OS 3.1.2, 3.1.3, or 3.2. iPad users, listen up—the people behind Spirit say that things are still a little shaky on that end, and any errors or crashes may result in you having to do a factory restore. Now go and download the software, and proceed at your own risk!

Read More | Spirit Jailbreak

iPhone OS 4.0 already jailbroken

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks, Software,

Looks like the jailbreak app developer community can get to work on porting their apps to iPhone OS 4.0, as the current beta has already been jailbroken. However, if you aren’t a developer, don’t go trying to mess around with the redsn0w 0.9.5 beta, as this is purely a dev release. It currently only works on Mac OS X and with an iPhone 3G running iPhone 4.0 beta 1, but that’s good enough to get the devs started on getting everything up to snuff for the official release this summer.

Read More | iphwn

Treat Your Inner Jerk to the TV Poltergeist

Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Accessories, Mods / Hacks, Toys,

Want to piss off your friends with more than just your abrasive personality and obnoxious hygiene habits or complete lack thereof?  Yes, it is rude to clip your toenails in someone else’s living room, genius; what are you, five?  If you feel the need to step up your toxicity—to neutron bomb your friendships, poisoning the landscape for decades to come and leaving behind a barren landscape of people hating the very mention of your name in your wake—then look no further: the TV Poltergeist is the gadget for you.  The TV Poltergeist is a battery-powered and easily hide-able palm-sized piece of hardware with a tiny, flexible LED that you can point towards the TV of your intended victim.  Once you turn it on the TVP will randomly emit a signal via the LED and shut your future ex-friend’s TV off.  Works on just about any TV—CRT, Plasma, LCD—just not your Gramma’s 30 year-old knob-operated Zenith, though if you pull this stunt on your Gramma a) you’re an a$$ and b) expect to get written out of the will and hit with a cane.  That woman lived through 5 wars and walked 40 miles to kindergarten everyday.  Show some respect!

Read More | TV Poltergeist

Fletch Creations Combo-sensing Super-Tips LED Inserts

Posted by Finnian Durkan Categories: Accessories, Design, Mods / Hacks,

While scrolling through tech websites earlier today I came across something pretty cool: a website called Fletch Creations. Fletch Creations is producing Combo-Sensing LED inserts for Super-Tips pens. For the uninitiated, Pen Spinning (or ‘pen mawashi’ in Japan where the pastime has been popular since the 1970’s) is a form of contact juggling involving the deft manipulation/spinning of a pen in various combinations.

What Fletch Creations has done is to create a neat little LED insert that fits into Super-Tips pens—the pens preferred in most Pen Spinning circles—that has 3 lights that can be lit up in succession increasingly complex patterns depending upon the speed and combinations that the spinner is able to achieve.  Whereas I struggle to get more than one blinking LED to light up, highlighting my Lobster Boy-like manual dexterity, my high-school friend Chris is able to produce a better light-show than Timothy Leary ever saw on one of his best hallucinogen benders. Needless to say the color combos he was able to achieve were pretty impressive and emphasized the extent to which you can take pen spinning.  Fletch Creations has come up with an original idea that can add enjoyment to an already entertaining medium.  It may also allow me to appear a lot hipper when conversing with my Vampire Weekend-listening teenage relatives.  “So, you kids dig this internets thing right?  I really enjoy that Friendster…”  Well, there may be no helping me but anyone else should see a definite up-tick in their street-cred.  Check ‘em out.

Read More | Fletch Creations

Don’t wanna wait for iPhone MMS? Enable it right now!

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Mods / Hacks,

Okay, we were all disappointed by AT&T’s decision to delay iPhone MMS to early fall, but that doesn’t stop ambitious folks such as ourselves from finding a way around it. And we have. I can confirm that I was able to get MMS working on my iPhone 3GS with about 3 minutes worth of effort. You wanna do it to? Read on for complete instructions for enabling MMS on iPhone 3.1.

Click to continue reading Don’t wanna wait for iPhone MMS? Enable it right now!