Let’s Rock, Indeed

 

Okay folks. We gave just seen El Jobsco releasing a whole plethora if updates and new product releases. This was perhaps one of the most leaked event in the history of Apple events but hey, even Old Jobs was cool about it! So here is the event wrap up.

 

Firstly, Jobs started the whole Keynote with a simple sentence about reports of him dying. He called them ‘exagerratrd’.

 

iTunes 8.0
The first major announcement for this keynote address was in fact the release of iTunes 8. This was one of the 2 software releases. As rumoutrd and claimed by Digg founder, Kevin Rose, there is in fact a feature known as Fenits. What genius is basically, a Automagic Playlist maker. With one click, a user can crwate an entire playlist of 25, 50, 75, or 100 songs, all that sound perfect together. I used to sit down and do this manually, because that is how I like to listen to my music. They all need to fit right. But with Grnius, we can all take this one step further.

So how exactly does genius work? Well that’s really simple. I was thinking along the lines of BPM, artist locale, genre and such. Well, it’s all if that, plus more. You see, computers, no matter how advanced, will never be able to approviate and let alone understand music the way we do. So, how did Apple pull this off? Simple. They got help from humans. Not just one or two humans, but the entire population of the world that usues iTunes. Genius uses algorithms written specially for this feature. It reads playlist compilations from all over the world and remeners them. It also uses other factors like BPM and Gener to figure out the beat possible listening experience that a user can get. One thing though, the team at Infinitech is not sure if this works with non-iTunes purchased music. It will be a pity if it doesn’t. Seriously. The Infinitech Team discovered that Genius does indeed work with our own music.

Apparently, to turn Genius on, one would require an iTunes Music Store Account. Thus, this new feature would be a bummer for folks living in Places without one. However, Genius is really very easy to activate. The whole process is automatic. However, it does take a while if your Library is really large.

To make sure that Genius appears on your iPods, you have to enable this feature in your Computer. We believe this measure only affects the iPod Touch devices.

Activating Genius is a Simple, 3-Step Process

Other updates that we have seen to the new iTunes include more accessablilty options. These are a Mac related feature and do not seem to be present on the Windows version of the Jukebox. Another great feature is a new colour code for Applications on the Capacity Bar. The Capacity Bar is an indicator at the bottom of any iPod’s Screen in iTunes, that shows a graphical representation of your iPod (or iPhone’s) capacity and its usage. In iTunes 8, Appls a coloured green instead of being lumped with Others as seen previously.

 

Apps now appear Green

 

iPod Galore
This event also saw one of the best line-up of iPods that Apple had ever brought to the table. With new refreshes and upgrades, we think Apple is all set to earn more money in the coming months. Stock holders, get ready for some rise and profits!

The iPod Nano is probably the most purchased iPod due to it’s small and convinent size. However, people were bit really happy with the “fat nano” that Apple released last year. This event brings to us the new Nano. Images of this iPod has been floating on the net for nearly over a week now. And Lo and Behold, we get Steve introducing this iPod to use today. So, what is new? A ton of stuff. This includes many thing borrowed from the iPhone. The new nano brings to us a new interface that has a Now Playing screen similar to that of the iPhone’s. The software for this iPod has integration for the new Genius feature. You can make Genius playlists right on the Nano. Just press and hold the Centre Button to access a new popup menu. We also see an inclusion of the Accelerometer, a first for anything outside of the Multi-touch interface product range. This, together with a whole new range of 9 colors dubbed Nano-chromatic, makes the Nano, the funkiest iPod in town. The structure of the iPod is now made of Aluminum. This makes the iPod free from any scratchable materials resulting in a Very Durable iPod.

4th Generation iPod Nano

 

The next big thing this morning was the iPod touch. Heralded as the next best thing to the iPhone, this baby just got better this morning. The 2nd Generation Touch sees the inclusion of a Volume Control. This has been the most sought after feature on this iPod. Another interesting upgrade is the inclusion of speakers. I believe that this would make the most sense as the iPod can now play games and such that can be downloaded from the straight AppStore. The new iPod Touch also features an in-built receiver for the Nike+iPod module. All you need to do is to get the foot module that you would have to put into the shoe. Apple now seem the Touch as the funnest iPod after all those upgrades. The structural aspect of the iPod seems to be a little iPhone inspired. There is the inclusion of the tapering sides, as well as a change in material. The back of the Touch is now Stainless Steel. Not completely scratch-proof, but less prone than the Chrome that we are used to seeing. Looks like Apple is finally making all of it’s products more durable!

2nd Generation iPod Touch

 

Apple has also discontinued the Fat Classics and increased the capacity on the Thin Classic to 120 GB.

Software and The Environment

The next Software announcement made today would hebrelease of the 2.1 update that everyone has been waiting for. It is free for Both the iPod Touch and the iPhone, but most importantly, Steve has promised us a stable software and all bugs fixed. So, no more crashing Apps! Also, songs are now listed with thier Artist Names and Albums unedr them in grey. A nifty little improvement I must say!

The new update is out for iPod Touch today, and iPhone on Friday (USA), and Saturday (Singapore and Asia).

Apple has also been very environmentally conscious about it’s new products. All of it’s new iPods are Fully Recyclable.

2.0.1 Jailbroken (New Hacks for App Store)

The Dev-Team have proved themselves once again. They have released the new version of Pwnage Tool, Version 2.0.2. You can get the file here and proceed to Jailbreaking your iPhones and iPod Touch running the latest 2.0.1 Firmware from Apple. The drill to Jailbreak stays the same. Get the software and follow what it says. Its written in simple English. Have fun!

The community of iPhone hackers have discovered a newer, more efficient way of getting cracked Apps into your device without the use of SSH. This method allows you to sync the application as if it were the legitimate copy. More information regarding this new method will be up in a later post. Till then, cheers!

MacBook Touch Rumors

Hey Everyone.

Its almost here. The first Mac, to beat the Mac. No, it doesn’t run on Windows. Nope, its not Linux. Its a Mac. 

The MacBook Touch is supposedly slated for release in October, and Infinitech is proud to bring you the first scoops on the Macbook Touch. Macbook Touch, is basically a Mac, that has a special Operating System, that recognizes touch, somewhat mimicking the iPhone’s software. So, we have the mock-ups and designs that are supposed to be for the Touch. 

Keyboard layout, side and back

So basically, the concept of this new device is a slate. That’s pretty much what it is. The device features an onscreen keyboard similar to the iPhone OS. It should also be similar in the way it appears only when needed. The sides of this new product seems to appear thinner Than the other MacBooks, although not as slim as the anorexic MacBook Air.

Apparently, there is a dock for this device to pair with an iMac. This could be useful for sharing of the Optical Drive, extra hard-disk space, charging and Wireless Connectivity.

MacBook Touch with iMac docking capabilities

Furthermore, this feature could expand the meaning of a desktop by the year 2010. Imagine a tablet device that sits snugly inside your iMac. It automatically syncs and makes changes to files stored within itself so that it mirrors the ones on the iMac. All these, in real time! 

Need to rush off to work? No worries. Eject the MacBook Touch, and you are all set to go! The files you were working on would all be updated and ready for your usage. No more external hard-disks. No more clumsy thumb-drives and wires. No more, DVD’s and whatnots. This could start a revolution in the future of personal computing! Heck, this form of syncing would be so useful, it could put Apple’s very own MobileMe out of business.

The realization of the limitless possibilities of such a product has hit many people in the Apple Fanboy Circle. We have seen so many mock-ups that it is possible that the final product could be just like what we are seeing right now. However, it is also possible that all of these speculations are wrong. Remember all those years of iPhone speculations? In the end, Apple pulled off something that we never imagined, but have all come to love (or hate). Speaking of mock-ups, here is one mock-up that has a lot of thought put into it. Heck, if this were to be the new MacBook Touch, I, Ravenizer, am willing to sell my MacBook Air for one of these babies.

 

MacBook Touch Mock-Up

Due to the size of this new device, it is only logical to assume that it will not be on par in terms of performance, to the other MacBooks currently under production from Apple. Even the MacBook Air. Thus, it can only be inferred that the new version of OS X, 10.6, is specially being built for this new device and the MacBook Air. The reduced size of the OS and the reduced system requirements, coupled with the dropping of PowerPC support, OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard would be the fastest operating system in the OS X family.

So, what do you think? Is Touch the future of Apple? Or would this be one Touch too many?

Installer 4.0

Ladies and gentlemen, our friends over at the Russian iPhone (RiP) Dev-Team have been busily working on the latest version of the ever-famous Installer.app. First introduced as an Application to download and install third-party Apps, the new version of Installer is making a comeback with a nicer and sleeker interface. I have mentioned before (in another post of mine) that the Cydia interface was much more sleeker and intuitive as compared to the earlier version of Installer. People, I take back what I have said.

The new version of Installer seems have taken a leaf out of Cydia‘s and the Apple App Store‘s books. The overall appearance is similar to the App Store. The color scheme and the way that the application is laid out is extremely similar. The difference is in how the Download Page is presented. The page is similar to previous versions of Installer, however, it now features reflections of the Application’s icon and on the whole, it just feels sleek. It amazing that the RiP Dev-Team pulled this off in such a short time. A whole revamp of the Installer.app. Congratulations!

So, how does the new application really look like? See for yourselves:

 

1. Here is a recap of what we had before

 

 

The interface of Installer 3

 

2. Package installations…

 

 

Package Uninstallation

 

3. And now… Installer 4

 

 

Installer 4 : Sources

 

 

Installer 4 : Categories > Recent Packages

 

 

Installer 4 : Application Installation (Mobile Enhancer.app)

 

Well folks, there you have it. The highly anticipated Installer 4.0! I am not sure about the method of distribution but here are my guesses:

Scenario 1

The Installer will be distributed via the Cydia Packager application. The application would be available as soon as the Dev-Team releases it.

Scenario 2

Installer fans who want to get their hands on the application would have to first, Pwn their iPhones / iPod Touch, and then proceed to get the OpenSSH tool. They would then download the Application via thier computers and place the application into their device via SSH.

Scenario 3

As cited earlier, Zibri is working hard to bring a new version of ZiPhone to the masses. This new version may come with Installer 4 prepackaged. The application, if included, will be installed onto the device during the Jailbreak.

I Pwned my iPod Touch

Hey everyone, this is Ravenizer writing on behalf of the Infinitech team. Recently, as stated in an earlier post of mine, the iPhone Dev Team pulled of a rraaly huge stunt by releasing what they called a ‘Jailbreak’. Well, as I have said before, this is not exactly Jailbreaking but heck, I tried it out anyways. I was thinking of using WinPwn, but seeing as to how unstable Windows was, and how the Pwnage Tool 2.0 was originally intended for the Mac, I pwned my iPod Touch with my MacBook Air.

What Pwning has done for me

Well, more good than harm definitely. Earlier this week, I was intending on writing an article detailing the many flaws of the 2.0 Software with regards to MobileMe. However, with the new Pwned Firmware, I have experienced much more smoother usage with apps that tie in with MobileMe. Mainly Calendar, Contacts, Mail and Notes. Yes, unknown to many people is the fact that notes from your Mail account are actually synced into the Notes App on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

However, with faster OS comes slower booting time. Although a half-eaten pineapple is more interesting to look at as compared to a half-eaten chrome apple, it can be rather irritating at times. However, the sheer smoothness of the OS after booting is so pleasent that the boot lag is really, not so much of a big deal at all!

With the installation of the new firmware comes CYDIA PACKAGER. This App is kind of a replacement for installer. The problem with installer is that it has not been fully portered over to funtion properly on 2.0 (Update: Installer Ver. 4 is coming soon). Since Cydia is newer and has less things to be ported over, I think the Dev Team thought it was wiser to go with Cydia. And I am not complaining. The interface is cleaner and much more concise. It loads quicker and the new style of installation is a breath of fresh air. A thing to note would be that Apps Intalled via Cydia, would also have to be removed through it – just like it was with Installer.

Cydia comes with OpenSSH. And this allow unlimited expansion to the possibilities of your iPod or iPhone. I have personnaly used SSH to install SEGA’s Super MonkeyBall into my iPod Touch. Stay tuned for my next post about PWNing your iPhones and iPod Touch, as well as getting Super MonkeyBall on your iPods and iPhones for free!

Apple iTunes 7.7

by Ravenizer

 

In this post, I will be covering the basics of the new upgrades that we will be seeing in this new version of iTunes. The most commonly spoken about is the rising of the new App Store. Read on to find out!

 

The App Store

App Store

The App Store was finally opened to the Public on July 11th. On its grand opening, we saw many great Applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Many of these applications actually cost a bit of money before you can actually have them. As such, we are left thinking, was un-jailbreaking and upgrading really the best choice?

Well, we should push that thought to another post. As for this post, I would like to bring you the best of Free Applications on the iTunes App Store.

The Contenders of the Free World

These applications were selected by, firstly, being free of charge, and then, by its usefulness to the public and their daily lives. These apps were also chosen for how fun they were in the case of games.

iTunes Remote

Or simply known as ‘Remote’ in the App Store, this new application has the ability to wirelessly control your iTunes library. The only prerequisite is that you should have Wi-Fi connectitivity on your computer either via an AirPort (Wi-Fi) antennae, or having a wireless router attached to your computer’s modem.

When you attempt to connect a computer, your iPhone or iPod will show you this:

Remote access passcode

Simply enough, your newly detected iPod or iPhone appears as a remote on iTunes 7.7’s Devices list.

The detected iPhone shows up as a remote alongside Apple TVs as well

Your iTunes will now prompt you to enter the shown passcode:

Enter the given passcode

When the linking is complete, the remote will disappear from the source list. You will then be given a confirmation on iTunes. As soon as this happens, your iPhone or iPod touch will display all your playlists in a fashion similar to the iPod software on the device:

The Remote application works just like iPod

Well there you have it! Remote, one of our contenders in the App Store free stuff list!

Tap Tap Revenge

First we had the Mega Hit game Tap Tap Revolution. Inspired by Dance Dance Revolution, this game involved the player to tap to a song in fashion similar to Guitar Hero. The first version was a bit of a turn off as the player needed to be connected to WiFi in order to download the “Tap Sheet” to play a song in his iTunes library. Also, the Create your own Taps function was slightly flawed as well.

However, the makers of the game went back to the drawing board and have now brought us, Tap Tap Revenge. In my opinion, this is an awesome upgrade to what we had before. A cleaner and sleeke interface really made a difference. Now, the game-play also supports “shakes” by making use of the device’s accelerometer. This makes the game even more fun and enjoyable.

Tap Tap Revolution from Installer

Tap Tap Revenge from App Store

As you can see here, the interface has greatly changed. The new App Store version makes the game look more fun and inspiring. The new game is also more responsive and less prone to not detecting a hit.

However, one feature that we are missing from the new Application is the iTunes Library feature. We now have to download predefined track for each difficulty level, as opposed to downloading Taps for the songs already in our libraries.

And that was Tap Tap Revenge for you.

Sho Zu

Sho Zu is yet another free app. One thing good about this app is its versatility. Basically, this application allows you to Blog. Blog your photos, videos or just plainly type, this app can connect to WordPress, Blogger, Facebook and many more. If you are a social networking freak, get this app. Do note that his Application is NOT a replacement for the Facebook app. These apps are independent applications that work differently. Not sure which to get? Don’t worry! Get both and see which one you like better. These things are free after all!

Aurora Feint : The Beginning

This is one of your Action Adventure puzzle games. You have to move around a map and complete challenges in this Story Based puzzle adventure. It has a very mystique feel to it. The makers of this app have promised that this will become a Massively Multiplayer Online game soon. I think this game has much potential and I hope this goes MMO soon!

To Do

The last Application I want to share with you is Erica Sudan’s To Do. This application is just that average To-Do list app. However, it is very easy to use and manage your list. Sporting a look just like the Mail App, you can quicly add a to-do and give it a name. Tap on the blue circle to add notes and more elaborate details regarding the reminder. You can also set a priority for the event and then mark it as Done when you have completed it. Erica Sudan’s To Do. Yet another contender for you to get.

Difference on the new iTunes 7.7

So what else is new on iTunes? Probably a bunch. But here are the obvious. If you have headed over to the iTunes store from your iTunes Application / Program, you would have noticed this:

The App Store is live!

Yes, the App Store is live on iTunes as well. Another thing that I noticed is that all my iPod Games, and the newly added iPhone Apps are all bundled uder this new division on my Library.

Applications group on Library

That is not all, the apps are all neatly arranged in a grid:

Neatly arranged, that's how I like it!

I haven’t got a screenshot of this yet, but there seems to be new icons for all the iPods in the Devices list. They now no longer have blank screens but they vauguely show the homescreen.

It’s a wrap

Well, that is all I have for you now. I will update with the new .Mac Alternatives (2) as soon as I can 🙂

iPod Touch Firmware 1.2.0

Software 2.0

Popularly know as Software 2.0, this new firmware for iPod Touch owners actually costs some money from Apple. US$10 to be exact. This has always been the case for major software upgrades. Apple always charges the iPod people. I guess this is what we have to live with if you do not own an iPhone. However, the good news here is, I have found a way to do this for free. Yes, free. First, download this file (Update: New Source). Make sure you download the file to your computer. Running it is of no use. When running the upgrade, iTunes may appear to have stalled. Ignore this, the process is just taking a bit longer.

Pre-Upgrade

Before you upgrade your iPod, you have to restore it. This is especially important if your iPod Touch has been Jailbroken before. To put the iPod into recovery mode, hold down both the home and sleep/wake button for 20-25 seconds (the shut down screen will appear but keep holding down the buttons). When the Apple Logo appears, let go of the sleep/wake button. It will then ask you to connect your iPod to iTunes. Plug your iPod in and you’re set!

Now, run Apple Updates (on Windows) or Software Update (on Mac OS X). Install all updates. Make sure your system is up to date.

(References to iTunes 7.7 may now refer to a newer updated version of the Software. Check with the iTunes Updater to make sure you have the latest build.)

Basically, you need:

• OS X Update  (Supports the new firmware)
• iTunes 7.7     (for App Store)
• Safari 3.1.2    (for MobileMe support)
• QuickTime    (for the heck of updating)

Actual Upgrade

During the actual process, make sure the device is still in Recovery Mode. Launch iTunes 7.7 and then plug in your iPod. iTunes will automatically detect your iPod’s state and attempt to restore it. Allow iTunes to do its thing while you go around the iTunes store looking for Apps that may interest you.

When iTunes successfully restores your iPod, it will prompt you to back up from a previously Synced iPod. You may choose to do this if you wish. This does not interfere with the upgrade. Wait for iTunes again.

Once iTunes restores your iPod, go to your iPod’s page in iTunes and hold down Shift ( Alt + Click on Mac OS X ) while clicking on the button that says “Check for Update” or “Update”. This will cause a Window to pop up. When this happens, be it Finder or Explorer, go look for the .ipsw you have downloaded. I recommend putting it on the Desktop for easy access. Once again, let iTunes do its thing while you take a break.

Do note that you must have the latest software updates from Apple, regardless of your Operating Systems. These updates contain vital files to facilitate the upgrade. Once you have upgraded to the new Firmware, you will already have the January Software Upgrade included.

Okay, good luck and all the best!

Jailbreaking

If you are eager to still Jailbreak your iPod Touch and iPhones, hold on and wait for it. The iPhone DevTeam have released a video of a very promising brand new Pwnage Tool 2.0. The video shows that the software can support the iPhone / iPod Touch Software 2.0 firmware. You can watch the video here. The steps look extremely easy. After the launch of the Software, all we would need would be the actual jailbroken custome 1.2.0 Firmware.