iOS 5 Untethered Jailbreak Possible

Some encouraging news was revealed this morning via Twitter for all of you dying to have an iOS 5 untethered jailbreak. It appears that Chronic Dev Team member pod2g has found a bug in iOS 5 that will make it possible for an untethered jailbreak.

The team of hackers already confirmed to have found multiple exploits in iOS 5, but this is the first news that we’ve had in a while regarding the progress of an untethered jailbreak…

As you can see from the tweet, pod2g isn’t giving any ETA’s for a successfully packaged untethered jailbreak, so we’re all just going to have to be patient. Finding an exploit is one thing, packaging it into a useful jailbreaking utility that end users can use is a whole different story.

As of now, iOS 5 can be jailbroken, but it’s a tethered jailbreak which requires you to use a computer to successfully boot your device should it reboot. It’s not as horrible as some make it out to be, but it’s certainly an inconvenience should you encounter a reboot while out and about.

[Via: idownloadblog]

10 Things "Siri" Can Do That May Surprise You

Can’t get enough of Siri? We’ve gathered several hidden tips and tricks for you to enjoy and learn from.

There’s been plenty of Siri coverage already, but these are 10 tips that you may have not noticed…

1. What’s on my Calendar for… Siri will tell you what appointments you have scheduled for any date.  Not only that, but specifying a period of time will have Siri determine if you have events set inside that time frame. Say, “What do I have scheduled for the month of June?” and Siri will show you all scheduled appointments between June 1-30.

2. Delete all alarms. Not only will Siri delete certain alarms, but you can also say something along the lines of “delete all my alarms” and Siri will clear everything. A perfect tip for a lazy weekend at home.

3. Look up random stuff with Wolfram Alpha. TUAW has a great roundup of random stuff you can ask Siri with the online search engine Wolfram Alpha. You can say things like, “How many days until Thanksgiving?” or “Create a secure password” or “How many calories are in an apple?” or “What is the time zone in London?” The list goes on and on.

4. Look up color swatches. One particularly cool Siri feature is the ability to look up hex color values. Designers can say “Wolfram pound sign E 9 7 4 5 1″ and the color will be converted to RGB values. A swatch will be displayed showing the color on-screen.

5. Get your math questions answered. Wolfram Alpha is a powerful tool for answering complex mathematical questions. The next time you’re stumped on your calculus homework, ask Siri to help.

6. Speak punctuation. Siri takes dictation to the next level by allowing you to add all kinds of punctuation to your sentences. Some commands include: “new paragraph,”all caps on… all caps off,” “asterisk,”open bracket… close bracket,”em dash,”at sign,”.

7. Speak symbols. While many may know about the punctation feature of Siri, did you know that you can also speak tons of symbols? Here are some symbols that Siri recognizes: percent sign, copyright sign, registered sign, section sign, dollar sign, cent sign, degree sign, caret, at sign, pound sterling sign, and pound sign.

8. Look up sports scores. Now this isn’t an official way of looking up scores, but you can say “Yahoo [insert team name" score" to trigger Yahoo's online sports page in Mobile Safari. Siri will open up Mobile Safari and show you an overview of the team's current scores and news for the season.

9. Find movie showtimes near you. Google has a nifty movie showtimes feature that can be triggered by saying "[insert movie name] showtimes.” Siri will open Google and determine your location. A web-optimzied list of showtimes for theaters near you will be displayed.

10. Have fun! Siri has plenty of personality, and Apple has programmed tons of easter eggsfor you to have fun with. Ask Siri questions like, “Who’s your daddy?” or “What’s the meaning of life?” and see what happens. Things can get really funny when you’re with a group of friends and you just tell Siri what’s going on around you.

Do you have any hidden Siri tips? Share them with everyone in the comments below!

[Via: idownloadblog]

iPhone health and fitness band from Jawbone

Back in September, 9to5mac told you about a cool iPhone bracelet from the Bluetooth headset maker extraordinaire Jawbone. It captured our attention for its unique design and the ability to  track users’ activity and meals 24/7. It’s all-encompassing, really. The Jawbone Up can track your steps, distance traveled, pace and calories burned throughout a day, to name a few.

It uses the proprietary MotionX engine, the result of years of research, and even vibrates when it’s time to get active. Today, the company today formally announced availability of the Up band.

According to the website, the Jawbone Up costs $99 and will be available November 6 in Apple and AT&T online and brick-and-mortar stores, the Jawbone.com online store and Target and Best Buy locations. It will also be available at 24 Hour Fitness and other major global retailers and carriers later this year. The Up by Jawbone app is required, available free from the App Store.

Three sizes will be offered, along with seven different colors: Dark Black, Dark Brown, Dark Red, Bright White, Bright Silver, Bright Red and Bright Blue. The accessory requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad or iPod Touch with iOS 4.1 and greater. Two more promo videos after the break.

[via: 9to5mac]

iPad 3 is coming Q3 2012

Digitimes claims that the next-generation iPad will launch in March with a thinner overall design and improved battery life. The catch is that Digitimes essentially calls this iPad update an upgraded iPad 2 rather than a full “iPad 3.” Interestingly, the publication says a real iPad 3 is coming Q3 2012. We find it highly  unlikely that Apple would launch a thinner iPad then a full “iPad 3″ upgrade only months later. We do think that the thinner, battery better life, and March launch components are strong possibilities, though. Faster processors (A6) and Retina Displays have also been rumored additions for the next-generation iPad.










[Via: 9to5mac]

Google releases native Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch[Updated]

Update: Google has now pulled the app from the App Store following a notifications bug many users have reported experiencing. Apps guy at Google David Giouard sent out the following tweet:“Googla culpa! Sorry but we pushed a bad version of our iOS app for Gmail. More info shortly – we’re working on it.” Google issued the following apology via their Twitter account:

Following reports that Google was about to launch a native iOS Gmail app, they just announced an official app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. More sceenshots below.

We’ve created a new Gmail app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. We’ve combined your favorite features from the Gmail mobile web app and iOS into one app so you can be more productive on the go. It’s designed to be fast, efficient and take full advantage of the touchscreen and notification capabilities of your device. And it’s one more reason to switch to Gmail.

 Features listed on the iTunes page include notifications for new messages, threaded conversation views, the much-needed priority inbox feature, the ability to send and open attachments, and of course, search capabilities. You will also have access to archiving, labeling, starring, deleting, and reporting spam. It looks like we are finally getting the full-fledged, feature-rich native Gmail experience on iOS we’ve been missing. We’ll have to take some time to really dig into the app and see how it stacks up. More screenshots after the break.

[Via: 9to5mac]