Category Archives: Uncategorized

Feb
12
2013
3
comments
 

Bluelounge Messenger Bag: Perfect Fit for Your Laptop

Posted by at 6:00 am

Photo Feb 06, 1 43 19 PM

It’s that time again, for another one of my casual, unorganized product reviews. This time, I present to you the Messenger Bag from design studio Bluelounge. For review purposes, I was provided with the rust-colored model in the small variation. The bag is available, however, in “Black” and “Rust,” and in “Large” and “Small” sizes.

Bluelounge produces extremely high quality products, and I know I’ve said this before about JAYS’ headphones, but this company is definitely “Apple-esque” as well. If Apple made bags and various other iOS device accessories, this is what they would look like. That’s something that I think Bluelounge should take pride in. (more…)

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Feb
11
2013
12
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Apple Releases iOS 6.1.1 for iPhone 4S

Posted by at 12:48 pm

iOS-6.1.1-prompt

Apple has this morning pushed an update to iOS for iPhone 4S. In this somewhat uncommon move, this update is for iPhone 4S only at this time. Apparently the update was rushed out to to fix 3G connectivity problems, enterprise issues, overheating oddities and probably a few other things. (more…)

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Feb
09
2013
0
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Creator of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines on the ‘iWatch’

Posted by at 9:15 am

Creator of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines on the ‘iWatch’

Apple's previous generation iPod Nano as a watch

Apple’s previous generation iPod Nano as a watch

As smartwatches such as  the Pebble rise in both popularity and usefulness, speculation has taken off in regards to what Apple may do in this space. An “iWatch”, as many have begun to call it, would most likely be a device used in conjunction with the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Bruce Tognazzina, the creator of Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) has this to say:

The iWatch will have a few functions it performs entirely on its own, chief among them being telling you the time.  It’s chief role will be that of office manager, facilitating and coordinating your use of your other iDevices and the Internet by gathering data, delivering messages, storing and forwarding, coordinating tasks, and carrying out functions that extend the capabilities of your other devices. The iPhone or other primary device will be the executive in charge, making the decisions, setting the strategy, and apportioning tasks. The watch will have the least energy resources available, so the watch will be used sparingly.  Still, as time goes on, more uses will be found for it, and it will receive increasing amounts of traffic.

He also has some very interesting thoughts as to how such a watch could completely obsolete the traditional password system that the internet is currently built on. Overall, it’s absolutely worth a read.

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Feb
07
2013
5
comments
 

Stride Brings Pattern Unlocks to iOS 6

Posted by at 5:31 pm

2013-02-07 19_26_11-Stride brings Custom Unlock Gestures on iOS 5 iPhone and iPod touch _ iPhone iOS

There have been many different kinds of lock screen interface tweaks come out over the years. Tweaks that allow you to slide your lock screen any which way to unlock, Android-like patterns, and lock screens that fold away. Today’s featured tweak, however, comes from iOS developer Adam Bell and brings Windows 8-like unlocks.

Stride has been around for a while, but it was only today updated to work with iOS 6 and the now-jailbreakable A5(x) and A6(x) devices. When setting up the tweak, it prompts you to perform a certain gesture (of your choice) three times. This will be what you use to unlock your device, and the tweak is actually excellent at determining if your gesture is at least mostly like the one that was set.

Stride is available on the Cydia store for $2.99.

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Feb
07
2013
2
comments
 

Get a Peek Into Vine’s Design Process

Posted by at 5:14 pm

Get a Peek Into Vine’s Design Process

vine_1_x545

Strive for simplicity. An interface should get out of the way. People should be able to focus on being creative, not on how to use the app. In many ways, interface design is like film editing: if you notice it, it wasn’t done well.

Iterate, again and again. From the start, we wanted to create a new way to capture life in motion. (Admittedly, we didn’t know what that would look like exactly.) We actually redesigned the app three times before going live. While Vine is now live, that spirit of constant iteration remains core to the decisions we make.

Vine is a good example of design excellence that is not quite as common other platforms. The app is also iOS-only at the moment, not unlike Instagram for much of its earlier years. Do you use Vine?

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Feb
07
2013
22
comments
 

Forum Spotlight: Install a Custom Zeppelin Logo

Posted by at 12:41 pm

Zeppelin_Super_SetIt wasn’t long ago that non-jailbreak tweaks were all the rage, and with that fad came CarrierEditor, a tool that allowed you to change your carrier logo by editing the carrier settings file itself. However, before CarrierEditor even existed, Zeppelin was a popular jailbreak tweak that allowed you to do the same.

With evasi0n bringing an untethered iOS 6 jailbreak this week, Zeppelin has come back to life and provides a much easier, streamlined way of getting custom carrier logos. With that, iFans forum member HeadReaper has written a guide walking you through the process. He even opened a thread where he will try and fill requests for custom logos! What a nice guy.

Hit the comments of this story for the full walk-through.

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Feb
07
2013
19
comments
 

iOS 6.1.1 Doesn’t Patch Untethered Jailbreak

Posted by at 10:38 am

Apple just recently seeded iOS 6.1.1 to developers for testing, and many wondered if the minor software update would patch the new evasi0n untethered jailbreak. Fortunately, the answer is no. iOS hacker pod2g recently tweeted that iOS 6.1.1 beta does not fix the jailbreak, although he still recommends that users stay away from the update if they plan on jailbreaking. The evasi0n jailbreaking tool has not yet been updated to support iOS 6.1.1.

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Feb
06
2013
7
comments
 

Go BlackBerry-Style with Octopus Keyboard

Posted by at 1:30 pm

urlBlackBerry 10 and its respective devices were announced last week to mixed reception. If you’re anything like me, you just have way too much invested into Apple’s ecosystem for a switch to be an option, even if you did find the platform compelling. That said, there are a few things that BlackBerry 10 will be bringing that are quite interesting.

Most notably is its new “predictive typing” feature. In a nutshell, the feature allows you to more easily type with one hand as the device predicts what word you’ll be using next. A simple swipe up from the keyboard allows you to select the word, and its apparent that such an ability can drastically speed up typing for those not accustomed to a touch screen keyboard.

Enter “Octopus Keyboard,” available on the Cydia store for a reasonable $4.99. This tweak essentially provides all the functionality of its BlackBerry 10 equivalent  right on your iOS device. Why it’s called “Octopus” keyboard is beyond me, but it’s definitely a unique name. Sadly, there is no “demo” of the tweak at this time, and you’ll have to dive in head first at the price of $4.99 if you want to try it out.

[Octopus Keyboard]

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Feb
06
2013
30
comments
 

Apple Seeds iOS 6.1.1 Beta to Developers

Posted by at 10:44 am

2013-02-06 12_35_08-Mac Rumors_ Apple Mac iOS Rumors and News You Care AboutLast Monday iOS 6.1 arrived, and its jailbreak arrived almost exactly a week later. And it will go down in history that a couple days after the release of evasi0n, Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 6.1.1 to developers.

What this will mean for jailbreakers is yet to be seen, but the update is most likely just bug fixes of some kind. If it is a fix of the holes that evasi0n exploited, now is a good time to remind you that you should probably update to iOS 6.1 soon. When apple releases iOS 6.1.1, they will undoubtedly stop signing iOS 6.1. In that case, you’ll be stuck without the great features in iOS 6.1, (assuming 6.1.1 breaks the jailbreak.)

Stay tuned, we’ll let you know what the ramifications of this update are as soon as we do. (more…)

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Feb
05
2013
16
comments
 

Quick Tip: Boot Into MobileSubstrate Safe Mode

Posted by at 1:55 pm

Sad iPodThe jailbreak has only been out for a little over 24 hours, so there’s undoubtedly a gigantic number of tweaks that have yet to be updated for the latest devices — or even iOS 6 itself, for that matter.

This can be a problem, because Cydia only sometimes tells you if your device is compatible with any given tweak. It’s pretty good about making sure you don’t spend money on a tweak that isn’t going to work, but what exactly happens if you install a free tweak that isn’t yet compatible? (more…)

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