If you have ever been faced with that gut wrenching situation where you have either dropped your beloved device in water or gotten it wet then you will be familiar with the age old solution involving a bowl of rice. While this would normally be the ideal solution as it is found in most peoples cupboards and can be readily bought quickly, is it really helping? In a way, yes, but not as much as you have been led to believe. While it is a good place to start, there is another solution you probably haven’t thought of.

First though, let me give you a recent scenario that I was faced with.

So, I am at work and I get several missed calls from an unknown number, followed by frantic tweets and messages from Facebook that turn out to be from my girlfriend asking me to ring home ASAP. Thinking the worst I immediately stop what I am doing and phone home. On the other end is a distraught and very upset voice trying to hold back the tears as she tells me she has just discovered her iPhone 4s rattling around in the washing machine. Damn, game over, right? Well actually, no. She had been changing the sheets on the bed and hadn’t noticed the iPhone as she wrapped them up and bunged them in the machine. After around 5 minutes she noticed a banging noise coming from inside and suddenly realised what had happened. Thankfully she managed to pry the door open, flooding the kitchen floor (not a priority), and found the phone, still functioning.

I instinctively tell her to dry it off and bury it in rice, which she had already done (I taught her well). I ask if she has turned it off, she tried but a short in the dock connector was causing it to come back to life straight away. This is not good as the longer there is power going through the device the more chance there is of a total short, ideally  the battery should be disconnected which as we all know with Apple devices is not for the feint hearted. Amazingly though, the backlight was still functioning, which in my experience, is usually the first thing to short out. As far as I could make out, the sound was the only thing not working and this was again because of the dock connector, which was assuming that the iPhone was docked which cuts off sound through the speakers and earpiece.

Luckily, it seems, the duvet that it got wrapped in had shielded it from the majority of the water as she managed to get it out of there before it had actually finished filling up.

Ok, so when I got home from work I decided to inspect it a little, not wanting to disturb it too much so as not to let the water spread even further. I decided to try and remove the rear panel which is easier said than done when you don’t have the correct tool (5 point penelope). I managed to get the back off and carefully wiped all the water I could see from the inside of the iPhone. I then placed it back in the rice and sealed the box.

Fearing the worst I contacted a local repair shop for some quotes, to which they replied “between £40 and £130 depending on the extent of the damage”. With both of us finding this a last resort option I told her to calm down and leave it be for a few days.

As I had been at work for a few hours before being able to get home that day I had the time to do a little research, and came across some references to desiccants. These are hygroscopic substances used as a drying agents. In some of the same articles I also discovered that rice does very little as it struggles to draw moisture from the air.

I then set about trying to source some desiccants, and found that I actually come into contact with a form of them every day.

You will recognise these little sachets as those you find in shoe boxes, suitcases, handbags, and most boxed electrical devices. Now, as I work for an electrical retailer I set about collecting as many of these sachets as I could lay my hands on. I was ripping through empty laptop boxes, searching laptop bags and anything else I could think of that was already open.

So, that night I emptied the rice from the box and replaced it with the sachets I had collected and basically covered the device as if building a sand bag wall around it. I then put the sealed box above the boiler. I had read that providing moderate heat would help remove moisture from the air quicker, however providing direct heat like that of a radiator would be harmful, so avoided doing this.

Roll on 3 days later, and after having been hen pecked constantly by the girlfriend, I opened the box to see what the residual damage was. I left the back off for the time being in case I needed to gain access again. It was dead, so I carefully plugged it in to my Macbook as if I was removing the core from a nuclear device, expecting it to go bang the moment I inserted the sync cable. To my relief  it started to charge and a few minutes later it powered on. Amazing! Everything seemed to be working perfectly, even the sound as I unlocked it. I then went through testing the sound, making a call, sending a text and opened a few apps. The look on her face and the relief was worth all I had gone through over the last few days.

Nearly 2 weeks on and still no issues, at all, not one! So if you are unfortunate enough to be faced with a situation like this, you will be better prepared.

This follows on from a previous ruling in Motorola’s favour at the end of last year. The licenses at issue are supposedly FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory” patents which are considered to be industry standards. The court order is directed at Apple Sales International in Ireland, which operates the online store of Apple in Europe.

The Mannheim Regional Court found Apple infringed a patent used to synchronise e-mail accounts. The ruling also allows Motorola Mobility to ask Apple for information about past sales and holds Apple liable for damages. Presiding Judge Andreas Voss said in delivering the verdict “The court has come to the conclusion that the wording of the patent does cover functioning that were at issue here,” said Voss, Apple “wasn’t able to convince the court that it isn’t infringing.”

The German courts have also banned a number of Samsung products, including the first Galaxy Tab,  based on previous Apple patent complaints. Soon the only tablet available in Germany will be the Motorola XOOM’s.

Apple’s current flagship device, the iPhone 4[S], remains on sale at the German Online Apple Store. It isn’t certain as to why the 4[S] doesn’t fall into Motorola’s complaint, one possible excuse is that the device simply could be ‘too new’  and wasn’t included as part of the original complaint. Also the iPhone 4[S] and the CMDA versions of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 use Qualcomm chips whilst the banned devices all feature Infineon baseband’s, so this could also be a possible reason.

In an emailed statement from Alan Hely, Apples company spokesman, to BusinessWeek he said “Apple believes this old pager patent is invalid and we’re appealing the courts decision,” and Apple also went on to tell Paid Content “While some iPad and iPhone models are not available through Apple’s online store in Germany right now, customers should have no problem finding them at one of our retail stores or an authorized reseller. Apple is appealing this ruling because Motorola repeatedly refuses to license this patent to Apple on reasonable terms, despite having declared it an industry standard patent seven years ago.”

Those same sources are now stating that, whilst they believe there still will be an Apple media event held later in February, the subject of this even will be ‘unusual’.

The sources said:

“I reported that Apple was going to hold Special Event in early February according to Asian supplier and source from united states, but this report told a half-side of truth. Apple will hold “Strange” event at February instead of Special Event.”

The source also then went on to retract a previous statement that the event would be based on Apple’s upcoming iPad 3, and instead noted that an announcement for the iPad 3 was likely to be made in March.

It is unclear what the source meant by an ‘unusual’ event regarding Apple’s media event in February but rumours are already starting to circulate that this could relate to the imminent introduction of Apple’s long-rumoured appearance in the television set market.

The screen shots reveal that there is 2 versions of the iPad 3 too be released, the first being Wi-Fi only and a second device with Wi-Fi and embedded GSM/CDMA/LTE for all carriers. Also the photo’s reveal which processor the iPad 3 will be using, an A6 Quad-Core processor with the model number S5L8945X. The previous versions of the iPad featured different processor model numbers, the A4 model was S5L8930X and the A5 is S5L8940X.

Also the screen shots reveal that the iPad 3 will apparently be a Quad-Core model, which will make the iPad 3 the fastest iOS device to date.

Take a look at the screen shots below:

There has been rumours flying around about the next iPhone device to include NFC technology and, before the iPhone 4[S] was released, the New York Times was quoted as saying that an upcoming iPhone would have NFC. Whilst it turned out that it wasn’t included with the iPhone 4[S], it could be on the next iPhone.

When the developer was questioned about how confident he was that the upcoming iPhone would include NFC he replied with “Enough to bet the App development on.” It has also been rumoured that Apple will be partnering with MasterCard to provide its payment systems following an interview with Ed McLaughlin, MasterCard head of emerging payments.

When McLaughlin was asked about if 2012 would be the year of NFC or contactless technology, he may have dropped a hint about what the future has in store for Apple.

McLaughlin said:

“The timeline is always as rapid as it makes sense for consumers, that’s a combination of having a critical mass of the merchants, which is what you’re seeing right now, and getting devices into the hands of consumers. I don’t know of a handset manufacturer that isn’t in process of making sure their stuff is PayPass ready.”

When asked if this would include Apple he responded with:

“Um, there are…like I say,  I don’t know of any handset maker out there,” McLaughlin says. “Now, when we have discussions with our partners, and they ask us not to disclose them, we don’t.”

We’ll keep you informed of any more developments of the upcoming iPhone 5 but do you think NFC technology would be a welcome addition?

Now, 2012, instead of Installer.app we had a new king of the hill, Cydia: a native iOS APT client used for finding and installing software for jailbroken iOS devices. The main reason people jailbreak is because doing so allows them to expand the feature set which has been limited by Apple and it’s App Store. Cydia has become very popular over the years with developers working hard to release new stuff into the jailbreak world such as themes, tweaks, and things that you would not imagine your iDevice was capable of otherwise.

Over the years we have had lots of jailbreak tools to grant us root access our iOS devices such as redsn0w, sn0wbreeze, PwnageTool, blacksn0w, purplera1n, and those are only the ‘popular‘ ones. There are two diffident types of jailbreak: 1) a tethered jailbreak, which requires that the device be connected to a computer each time it needs to be booted, and; 2) an untethered jailbreak, which allows the device to be powered on or rebooted without computer assistance.

Above, was a bit of history about jailbreaking your iOS device. Back on July 26th of 2010, the US government made the act of jailbreaking electronic devices legal by federal law.

Over the years we’ve been enjoying this freedom, tweaks, themes, and just putting the device in your hands and not Apple’s. But according to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), we could lose that freedom this year if we don’t act now.

The EFF writes:

“Smartphones, tablets, and video game consoles are powerful computers with lots of untapped potential. Yet many of these devices are set up to run only software that’s been approved by the manufacturer. Modifying a device to run independent software – known as jailbreaking – is important to programmers, enthusiasts, and users. But jailbreaking creates legal uncertainty. Some device manufacturers claim that jailbreaking violates Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which carries stiff penalties.”

The ruling handed down by the Copyright Office in 2010 is due to expire this year and the EFF is looking to convince the Office to renew the exemption. Otherwise jailbreaking falls back into a murky semi-illegal state giving device manufacturers the power to pursue legal action against jailbreakers at will.

The EFF provides this link to the Copyright Office’s comment board. The Office needs to hear why folks think that jailbreaking is so important. The EFF wants to hear you and here are a few thing you can say to let the jailbreaking world keep running as it is:

• Which jailbreaking exemption are you supporting—smartphones/tablets, video game consoles, or both?
• What’s your background (are you a developer, hobbyist, user, independent researcher, etc.)?
• What device do you want to ensure you have the legal authority to jailbreak?
• What limitations would you face if you weren’t able to jailbreak?

Comments should be marked as class “5″ and are due by 5 PM ET on February 10. MyGreatiPhone will keep you notified on the EFF’s progress, so keep checking back. Give us your thoughts below? We’d love to hear.

This is a surprising move from T-Mobile as they currently don’t offer the iPhone on any of their packages so it will be available to users who are using an unlocked device. The new “iPhone scope of support” isn’t comprehensive but it does include help on common procedures, information on handset features and specifications along with “other basic device questions.”

At the moment, the current T-Mobile support for iPhone users is very sparse and it mainly focuses on getting users up and running on their network with unlocked devices. This is because T-Mobile isn’t an official partner and operates in a wireless spectrum that isn’t supported by the iPhone.

T-Mobile’s CEO, Phillip Humm, said that the company’s wireless operating frequency was the key reason as to why is doesn’t sell the iPhone. Also since a proposed agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile fell through, AT&T must pay T-Mobile $3 billion to fulfill the deals pre-negotiated terms.

The iPhone is a massive hit for any network which sells the device and the carriers that don’t offer the device have blamed poor customer sign-up rates due to not having access to the device.

The proposed support is due to come into effect on the 30th of January so this seems like a good move for T-Mobile but let us know what you think.

Microsoft stated this project back in December of last year when it introduced the official Xbox LIVE application for the iPhone and iPad. Microsoft has already started to move one game over called kinectimals, which allows you to visit the island of Lemuria where you can “play with, care for and fall in love with your very own cub.” But according to Forbes reports, that was only the beginning…

Quoting a Microsoft Spokesman, Forbes writes:

“While the Xbox Live experiences and games always work best on the Windows platform, we understand that some Xbox fans may be using other types of devices. To satisfy that need, we are working to extend a few of our Xbox experiences and titles to other platforms.”

Are there any Xbox LIVE games you’d like to see come to iOS? If so leave a comment below.

Source;  Forbes.

Yahoo has decided to do some cleaning with their applications in the market (AppStore and Android market place) and has announced that the company is no longer going to support their lesser apps in the market but they will still be there for users to download.

Yahoo has stated that as the mobile space moves at an insane rate, they too must keep up with what users want and are looking for in today’s market. These are the applications that yahoo will no longer support;

• Yahoo! Meme (iPad and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Mim (iPad)
• Yahoo! Answers (Android)
• Yahoo! AppSpot (Android and iPhone)
• Yahoo! Deals (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Finance (BlackBerry)
• Yahoo! Movies (Android)
• Yahoo! News (Android)
• Yahoo! Shopping (iPhone)
• Yahoo! Sketch-a-Search (iPad and iPhone)
• (Via Yahoo)

According to TechCrunch, Sireet will let you speak your tweet to Siri, where it will then confirm your tweet with you and let you send it using Siri’s characteristic responses. Once the tweet has been sent, your phone will chirp out a notification and Siri will leave you a confirmation. The one downside to this does appear to be that you can not review your tweets before you can send them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This new free Cydia app has been added to the ModMyi repository and is ready to download now.

The newest iPhone model is said to have several different versions which are currently being tested and at the moment there isn’t an obvious choice as to which one is going to be used. The one thing that each model has in common is the 4-inch display with one of them being made by LG.

Each model is reportedly symmetrical in thickness, which means that they are the same width at the top as they are at the bottom which ends rumours of a new ‘tear-drop’ design. Also, interestingly, each model is either longer and/or wider than the current iPhone 4[S] but no models are final in their build.

The source is also said to be the same source which reported that the iPhone 5 would not be released late last summer and that Apple were instead building the iPhone 4[S], a prediction which turned out to be true. Because of the accurate prediction from before, can we expect the same level of accuracy as before which would mean that we could soon expect to see a bigger iPhone which is still as slender as the current device and without a form-fitting back?

We will keep you updated with any more developments on this story but let us know what you think about this story.

Chinee, a Chinese case manufacturer, have already begun selling cases for a device which has been called the iPad 2[S], a name which obviously gets its origins from the iPhone 4[S], where the ‘S’ stands for an internal specification update rather than a redesign. The case designs seem to indicate that the iPad 3 will be identical to its predecessor but will be slightly thicker.

The manufacturer of these new iPad 2[S] cases have said that the device is 1mm thicker than the iPad 2′s form-factor and they also went on to say that their sources are from within Apple’s supply chain.

These iPad 2S/3 cases are notable because it means that the internal schematics for the new iPad are floating around. It also means that rumours that Apple started its production for the latest iPad in January could actually be correct.

Besides the new design, the iPad 2S/3 is rumoured to have a quad core processor, retina display, Siri dictation support and LTE network capabilities.

Keep checking back here for more updates as they come available.

Now a company called True Knowledge has developed an App called Evi which is designed to go toe-to-toe with Siri. The Evi App is designed for all versions of the iPhone and iPad and is available to download from the App Store for £0.69 ($0.99). Evi is based on the same Nuance voice recognition as found in Siri and the licensing of which accounts for the price tag attached to the App. It also features integration with Yelp and other sources to deliver an array of information so it does seem to compare favourably with Siri.

Below is a list of features that Evi is claimed to be able to deliver on:

• Voice or text input – Chat to Evi in plain English and she will understand
• Local information for UK and USA – Shopping, news, dining and more. Evi knows where you are and gives answers based on your location
• One tap words – Allowing you to build your question super-fast
• Built in browser – No need to swap to a different browser, view web links within Evi’s app
• A learning and adapting intelligence – Rate Evi’s answers to help it learn more about the world
• More than a search engine – Evi takes the searching out of search, able to review and compare nearly a billion facts from her database to give you exactly what you need

But is it really that good to call it a rival to Siri?

One of the big things that makes Evi stand out is that it works in the UK, something that Siri users have been struggling with since it’s release so it will appeal to iOS users outside of the US. Another major point is that Evi will deliver all the information you need inside the App, so, whereas before Siri would ask to perform a web search for you, Evi will produce all the information into the App making it easier for you to get the information you want.

True knowledge have claimed that the App contains “Almost a billion facts” so if you ask Evi a question, such as ‘how do you make apple pie’ it will come back with a list of recipes with relevant links to the information you need to make it within the App and not needing to perform a web search, so it does have speed and ease of use firmly on its side and with the ability to “infer trillions more if necessary” it does seem on first impressions that Evi could be a good rival for Siri.

There are, of course, some things which Evi can’t compete with Siri on, such as the calendar integration and reminders so as a personal assistant Siri still claims the top spot but as an intelligent search engine Evi does seem like a good alternative for those of us who have older iPhone’s and iPad’s without the Siri technology.

One other good thing that could come out of the Evi App is it could spur Apple on to make improvements to the Siri App.

Have you used the Evi App? let us know what you think about it by commenting.

Some say that the biggest thing announced yesterday was the textbook innovations that were introduced, along with iBooks 2.0. I personally feel that iTunes U(niversity), which offers free lectures, tutorials, and classes to anyone online, is an equally important announcement. And let’s not forget the fact that now, Apple has unleashed into the world a dirt-simple application (for the Mac only) to create your own eBooks. Not just textbooks, but actual, interactive eBooks. So yes, in a word, yesterday’s announcement was revolutionary.

Let’s start with iBooks 2.0.

Credit to AllThingsD.com for the image.

It seems that Apple has made a choice, and drawn a line in the sand: they no longer believe that physical text books are the way of the future. They are contending that the way to go is now all digital, and unfortunately, as much as it pains me to say this, I must concede that they are correct. As a writer myself, I can say that I personally completely owe just about my entire education to books, and the worlds of knowledge that are contained within them. To me, there is no greater feeling than cracking open a new book, and taking in a whiff of that “new book smell”. And equally, it is just as important as that great feeling you get when you find a rare, old book, and take a peek inside to be met with that “old book smell”. Most nerds out there will agree with me. It’s a magical thing. However, when on the move, it has become incredibly cumbersome to drag along with you 20 or maybe even 30 pounds of books with you at all times, and this to me is exactly here the convenience lies: on your iPad, you can simply bring that with you, buy a case for it (instead of those God forsaken “book covers”) and there you go, you can literally walk around with thousands of books at your beck and call.

However, besides just the ability to carry with you an entire library, these books are different: they are now interactive, in ways that books of my childhood never were. With iBooks 2, gone are the days when you would have to carry around an accompanying dictionary in the event that you stumbled across a word you were unsure of, because with iBooks 2, you can simply double-tap the word to highlight it, and hit “define”, and voila! Up comes the definition!

Further than that, you can now also use the same double-tap-to-highlight method, and actually highlight the text, so that you can be instantly drawn back to it later, as well as have an instant study-guide created: the infamous index card. Once you do that, a new menu will pop up. The options are “Copy/Define/Highlight”, and for these purposes, you would simply hit the “Highlight” option, where even more options would appear, giving you the choices of the color of highlighter (or just a red underline), to cancel the highlight, and the option to turn it into a “Note”, a/k/a an “index card”. It is here that you would obviously create the index card, but further than that, to view these “Notes”, you would go to the “List Menu” button up top, and choose the “Notes” section, where it will display all of the notes you have chosen to take.

Now, since I myself do not have an iPad, I have mainly been using it on my iPhone 4[s], and for such a small display, I have to mention, that Apple just simply “got it right”, again. I personally have not seen what these textbooks are capable of in regards to the further interaction, but I have seen the power of iBook Author. This application is simply stunning, and powerful, especially to the amateur or self-publisher – and it’s free. On top of that, as part of the announcement, Apple has included the fact that it has partnered with three of the most widely recognized textbook publishers in the world, Pearson, McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. These three textbook publishers are responsible for approximately 90% of all textbooks released to educational establishments, period. This could’t have been a more welcomed addition, because what good would all this software be without any actual content? There might not be a stunning amount of content available at the moment, with only about eight (8) books being released, but the content available does give you some insight as to what you can expect in the future.

Below are some photos of the interactivity, but I think that the videos actually do it more justice.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

While those are only some of the videos out there, more and more are popping up every single day, and it is truly mind-blowing. It honestly makes me a bit jealous of today’s youth, as they get to learn up-to-date information in a fun way, while using a device that they will most likely become familiar with for the rest of their lives. And the best part in my opinion is the cost of these textbooks. Ignoring what people have been paying for all these years, they are being sold by Apple for $14.99. And yes, anyone who is familiar with the cost of these books just did a double-take. But, what if you aren’t a student? What if you are an author, or have some other like-minded projects that you’ve been putting on the back burner, like me? What if you want to release your own eBooks? Well, there’s an app for that, literally. We mentioned above that they had something called iBook Author, available for the Mac. And it accomplishes everything that it says it will: it will turn you into an iBook author! If you have ever used a word processing application, such as Microsoft Word, or Apple Pages, then you will instantly feel right at home in this environment. While it may be more in-sync with the Apple iWork apps, it is truly not hard to get the hang of it, and get the hang of it quickly. Just by opening it up, you can see the power of this application. They offer you some simple methods to get complex things done. So, thank you, Apple, for that. It is truly appreciated. You can release/publish your books to the iBookStore, and they are subject to the same review process as all other books. If they are free, they usually seem to get pushed through faster, but if you opt to tack on a fee to them, it can go only as high as $14.99, of which Apple will take a 30% cut from as per their licensing agreement. Something that should be noted though, I have read throughout the internet that books you create in iBooks Author are only available for iPads. If you wish to create your eBook for iPods, and iPhones, then you will have to go about it using all of the previous methods that are already in place. This is kind of a bummer, but ultimately, in my opinion it isn’t a deal-breaker. Plus, for those of you who have an iPad as well, you can literally text out your progress via the iBooks Author app, provided that your iPad is connected via USB. It’s pretty great for instant updates as well, and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Anyway, here are some more screenshots of iBook Author, as well as some videos:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And finally, iTunes U(niversity). I will be honest with you, there is not much that I know about this service. I know that I wrote an article about it once in the past, announcing that they were offering free courses online which would teach you how to develop applications for iOS iDevices, but further than that, I wasn’t really up-to-speed on what it was about, or how it worked. As it seems, it is currently only available for iOS devices, as I cannot seem to install it on my Mac, however, after trying it out on my iPhone 4[s], I can truly recommend that you see this as a legitimate learning tool. Many courses are available free of charge, and as we all know, knowledge is power. Here are some screenshots.

So as you can see, Apple is serious about it’s stance on revolutionizing the world of education. This is not just for the United States, but globally. Now, if you so desire, you can simply go on a textbook purchasing spree, regardless of whether or not you are a student, and literally expand your horizons for a fraction of what it used to cost. And most importantly, you get to do in on your terms, on devices that you are already familiar with, in ways that you’ve already become accustomed to. Gone are the days where you soak up knowledge from a 15 year old textbook with inaccurate or out-of-date information. Gone are the days of developing slipped discs and hernias because of the weight of the books you carry. And gone are the ways of archaic methods used to teach students who were bored out of their minds. As usual, Apple seems to have truly found yet another market to revolutionize. And in the process, at least as far as I am concerned, they have crossed the gap that has ben an age-old hurdle: how to make learning fun. Keep your eyes peeled, people, as I guarantee you, this is just the start.

Apple has also released an update to iTunes 10.5.3 today, to bring a handful of new features. Here is what came in the description;

“iTunes 10.5.3 allows you to sync interactive iBooks textbooks to your iPad. These Multi-Touch textbooks are available for purchase from the iTunes Store on your Mac or from the iBookstore included with iBooks 2 on your iPad.”

It has not yet been confirmed whether this update is safe for current and would-be jailbreakers so you update at your own risk. You can download iTunes 10.5.3 via Apple’s website or via Software Update on your Mac.

Apple today has changed the way we learn in our education by Introducing three new applications, iBooks 2.0 (As an update to the existing one), iTunes U with an all new look, and iBooks Author (which is available in the Mac AppStore) which where all shown off in an educational keynote today.

If your not one of the lucky ones that where waiting in the freezing cold to be let into Apple’s Media event in NYC, then this is this good news for you, because after the event Apple posted the entire one hour video online for you to watch.

To watch the entire media event, just head over to this link and play the keynote. Also you will need a browser that is compatible with Quicktime in order to view it.

What do you think? Please leave a comment below.

Apple’s interest in expanding Siri to help with online shopping has been revealed this week and it was discovered by AppleInsider. The planned invention, which is being called “Intelligent Automated Assistant” provides a detailed look at not only what Siri is capable of doing at the moment, but also what it can do in the future.

As things stand, Siri for the iPhone 4[s] will not allow users to complete online transactions, instead it will simply reply with “Sorry, I can’t purchase that”. But Apple’s latest patent filing lists e-commerce specifically as a key function of its “Intelligent Automated Assistant”. It also notes that Siri could be used for online purchases such as “books, DVD’s and music.”

With the new e-commerce functionality added to Siri, users would be able to make purchases such as films, songs, albums and even TV episodes through Apple’s own iTunes store. It could also mean that purchases from iBookstore and the App Store are also possible. But the filing also mentions the possibility of purchasing physical items such as DVD’s, CD’s and books, which suggests that Siri will allow users to make purchases from other online retailers.

Last month, users gained the ability to check the availability of an item at Best Buy through Siri, thanks to new capability and the Wolfram Alpha engine Siri utilises. But whilst customers are able to see if an item they would like is in stock, they are unable to purchase them through Siri.

The patent Application lists Amazon’s name specifically as a potential partner for such a system. With an example having Siri telling a user “I can help you find music, movies, books, electronics, toys and more–and buy it from Amazon. What are you looking for?” The proposed invention was made public this week by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office and was first filed in January 2011. In the long list of creditors it lists some of the original employees of Siri, the company which Apple acquired, including Dag Kittlaus, the co-founder of Siri, who left Apple last year after the launch of the iPhone 4[s].

As usual we will keep you posted as more information comes available on this but is the possibility of making online purchases through Siri something which appeals to you?

This sounds far too easy to be true, but AppleGordon claims that when he plugged his brand new iPod Touch into his computer and restored it from a previous iPhone 4[s] back up, Siri was installed and ready to go with the dictation feature working fine although Siri couldn’t process any search features.

Wow I almost didn’t get through writing that without chuckling! This simply isn’t true, kudos for blagging all those blogs though.

Backups made through iTunes and iCloud contain things such as contacts, application settings, icon placements etc. To our knowledge, these backups DO NOT contain UI elements, so to suggest that the Siri UI was magically transferred from one device backup to another is ridiculous!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video quite clearly shows an iPod calling up Siri, but it is undoubtedly using one of the many Siri ports found in Cydia.

Even well respected iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith finds this ludicrous.

RT @slashgear Siri on iPod Touch with simple iPhone 4S restore slgr.co/v9n <;- can people stop reporting on this? Doesn't happen

— Steve Troughton-Sm… (@stroughtonsmith) January 18, 2012

Like many the first draft of this article was misinformed but we hope this clears things up for you.

When I first saw this watch I didn’t know whether it would really be a great benefit but after reading some of the plus points one thing stood out to me. I’m quite a forgetful person and quite often I leave the house thinking I’ve forgotten something only to realise later that I’ve left my phone behind. I’ve also done this on wild nights out as well and I’ve had to replace a fair few phones, so after reading that this watch comes with a vibrating alert which lets you know when you get 5 metres away from your phone I thought “fantastic”.

After receiving it and trying it out for a few days though the other features do, actually, come in quite useful. The primary function is that if you get a phone call it will vibrate on your wrist and there is an LCD display which shows you the name and number of the person calling you so you don’t need to keep checking your phone to see if you want to take the call or not. A quick glance at your watch is all it takes.

I know it’s not really a great deal of effort to check your phone’s screen, but the simplicity of just checking your wrist is a nice feature to have, and you can also pretend that you’re James Bond at the same time….awesome! The vibrating alert that it gives out is powerful enough to make you take notice as well, so if you’re dancing in a loud night club you won’t miss a call from your friends asking where you are.

On to the design of the watch, and this is where my main gripe is, being an avid fan of retro clothing (yes I’m an indie boy) the watches futuristic design doesn’t really suit any attire which I decide to throw on. This won’t affect everyone as most will find the futuristic look enticing but for me a simple, old-fashioned watch with this feature would’ve made me look and think “I’ve got to have one of those”. The design is similar to a bangle and is open at one end to make it easier to slip on and the interior rubber grips give it a comfortable feel as well so you won’t keep adjusting it.

This is also a strong plus point for me, again not for everyone, as I have an allergy to certain types of metal so I don’t have to worry about breaking out into a rash which looks rather unsightly so if you’re suffering from a similar allergy to me then you can rest assured that you can wear this in comfort.

To tell the time you need to simply press one of the buttons on the side of the watch and it brings up a digital clock displaying the time in 24 hour format. After a few seconds the time will disappear and it goes back to looking like another wrist band what you’re wearing so it is quite discrete as well (although at roughly 30mm’s wide it’s a rather large wrist band).

To get it to work is relatively simple as well. When you first get the watch it will need charging up, this took me about 30 minutes to give it a charge so it could turn on but to fully charge the battery it can take up to a rather lengthy 3 hours but from this you’ll easily get a day and a half to 2 days of use. The packaging quotes 72 hours of standby time, but once it’s paired and you’re getting a fair few phone calls, you will notice that the battery life will start to drain quicker.

To pair it to your phone you have to hold down the second of the two buttons on the side for around 5 seconds where the display will then show “pairing” and then find it on your phone and enter the password so it’s all pretty simple and easy to set up, it’s just the initial charging that takes the time.

All in all I think the SmartTime is a good idea but not really breath-taking and you can live without one, but for £34.95 I’ve seen watches that are a lot more expensive and they do far less.

Again I’d like to thank Mobile Fun for sending me the SmartTime to sample and review and I’d also like to point out that they do sell a wide range of other accessories, including a nice range of mobile phone covers.

Recently, Apple announced that they will be holding an education based media event in New York for what is rumoured to be an e-Books based event, this Thursday, January 19th, of 2012.

According to sources from Macotakara, the company could be planning/holding another media event to unveil Apple’s third-generation iPad, in early February which ties in with an earlier report from Bloomberg, where they said the iPad 3 will debut in February in time for a March launch.

A new report from Japanese publication Macotakara claimed an iPad 3 launch event would take place in early February. The report cited sources in the U.S. and Asian supply chain and said the new iPad will most likely be released in early March.

The Apple iPad 3 is rumored to have a high-resolution display of 2048×1536, quad-core processor (maybe the A6 chip in it), LTE functionality, improvements with the front camera getting a FaceTime HD camera and the back camera similar to the iPhone 4 or 4[s], as well as a new design with a slight curve to it, and more coming day by day. As usual, keep your eyes peeled here, as we will deliver all breaking news regarding Apple and their iDevices.

(via 9to5Mac)

“Future Shop said scam artists bought Apple’s popular tablet computers with cash, replaced the devices with bags of model clay, resealed the boxes and returned them. The returned fakes were then put back on the shelf and sold to unsuspecting customers. It really saddens Future Shop that people stoop to be this opportunistic and make money is this kind of organized way.”

One customer bought his wife an iPad 2 for Christmas only for her to be shocked when she received a lump of modeling clay inside the box where the iPad 2 should be. To make things worse, when the customer returned the iPad 2 box with the modeling clay inside, he was apparently treated like a criminal by the stores manager.

Thankfully Future Shop has confirmed that it has refunded the customer and given them a free iPad 2 as compensation.

After CES it appears the company that is currently leading the race to land a deal with apple is HzO, who are claiming that their WaterBlock Superhydrophobic coating is better than all of the competitions, and it seems that they have managed to get Apple’s attention.

HzO recently told Pocket-lint:

“We showed the Samsung Chairman the technology with a Samsung Galaxy S that we had coated with HZO and he couldn’t believe his eyes,” a representative of the company told us. “Samsung is really excited by the tech.”

The company has told us that they are also talking to Apple as well, hoping to be able to let Apple make the iPhone 5 waterproof.

“We expect HzO to be in next season’s phones,”

Apple did have over 250 employee’s stationed at CES, possibly looking for new technologies to implement on the Apple bandwagon, and it’s possible that one of their employees stopped at the HzO booth and liked what they saw.

It isn’t known if Apple is currently looking to work out a deal with HzO, but we will keep you posted with any further information as it becomes available.

Grooveshark has made it’s way back on to the iPhone and iPad, thanks to an all new mobile-friendly HTML5 Web App that the company has built from scratch, this means that there will be no Adobe flash required, it is just HTML5 and lets you stream music across various platforms.

The mobile-friendly HTML5 Web App supports these platforms, iOS (both iPad and iPhone including iPod touch as well), Android 2.3+, Blackberry Playbook, and the HP TouchPad.

Grooveshark was released into the Apple AppStore back in August 2010, but it didn’t last long, because a few hours later on the same day the Grooveshark team had received a letter from Apple basically saying that they had received a complaint from the Universal Music Group UK, due to that the company decided to remove the app from the ITunes AppStore.

After that, the Grooveshark team decided to release the free-service app into the Jailbreak world without being under Apple’s command and you could have the app on your iPhone by going in to Cydia and downloading it (and you still can) but if you haven’t got a Jailbroken device there was no way you could get it, until now.

Grooveshark is a music streaming service that allows users to search for, stream, and upload music you like that will be played instantly on your device or you could add it in to a playlist, which brings all the music you want to listen to and puts it in to a group of music for you to listen anytime and anywhere. For unlimited access and no ads on mobile, you can get Grooveshark Anywhere for $9 per month.

Grooveshark is one of the many streaming services, like Spotify and Pandora (US only) that allow you to stream music instantly without the need to download it first.

If you check out MyGreatPhone and MyGreatTablet everyday you know that recently Amazon had launched a HTML5 web app for the iPad that allows customers to purchase Kindle ebooks, Apple didn’t let Amazon offer purchase links for ebooks in its native iOS app because it violated the App Store’s guidelines.

You can have access to the HTML5 web app at http://html5.grooveshark.com/ on your mobile device.

Apple has been offering its Recycling programme in the US for iPads and iPhone since August 2011, and now they have opened it up to other countries including the UK, France and Germany.

The programme works by entering the details about your device such as the make, model and the condition and then Apple gives you a price for it.

 Unlike the US programme though where Apple send you a gift card, in the UK, France and Germany once your device has been inspected to make sure its all good and in the condition you said it was they will deposit the money into your bank account.

The programme has 2 different parts to it the first is one is one to recycle your Computer, iPad to iPhone. This is the one that will get money paid into your account, the other option is for Apple to recycle your old iPod or mobile phone.

Recycling your old mobile or iPod can be done in 2 ways: either post it to Apple for them to sort out, or if your heading to the Apple Store anyhow take them with you. Taking your old device to the Apple store will get you 10% off a new iPod.

Now this is one way to get rid of your old tech to make way for the new stuff.

ZAGG today posted the above image on twitter, which they allegedly received from an attendee at CES 2012. The picture shows a box of what looks to be the iPad 3, yeah, ok.

The picture shows the iPad being insanely thinner than the iPad 2. Maybe because it is just a screenshot from of an original iPad homescreen with no actual device visible. Unfortunately, this picture above of an iPad 3 box is a poorly designed fake and somebody is having a little fun with it.

Still don’t believe us? Well, if you look closely, Apple always updates the box with the latest features available on the device and the operating system, wether it is new applications or a new dock arrangement, they always update the product packaging showing the changes. Unfortunately the PhotoBooth, FaceTime and Camera applications, which are standard with all iPads running iOS 5 are not in the picture and it still sports the wallpaper from the original iPad.

Also, when Apple released the iPad 2, the packaging simply said “iPad”, just like the original as there is only ever one current new version being sold at any one time.

So we say total fakeroony!! Good effort but seriously, try a little harder next time.

This means that Gorilla Glass 2 will allow for better colours and a touch that is more responsive than it’s predecessor, alternatively,  at it could be even stronger if it’s left at the same thickness. There has been a lot of discussions about whether Apple will continue to use Gorilla Glass but it would be surprising if they didn’t, especially on it’s larger devices such as the iPad.

Corning Gorilla Glass 2 allows up to a 20% reduction in glass thickness whilst still maintaining its industry leading damage resistance customers have come to expect from the worlds most widely deployed cover glass. The new Gorilla Glass 2 allows devices to be slimmer, produces brighter images and a greater touch sensitivity. This will give manufacturers superior flexibility with their designs as they address the consumers demands for increasingly high-performing, touch-sensitive and durable mobile devices.

James R Steiner, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Corning Speciality Materials, said this:

“We knew Corning Gorilla Glass could get even better. So, in response to our customers’ drive toward thinner form factors, we designed this new glass to enable meaningful reduction in thickness without sacrificing the outstanding glass performance for which Gorilla Glass has become highly recognized. This glass, along with Windows operating system innovations from Microsoft, will help deliver exceptional beauty, performance, and toughness for new Windows PCs. You will see this early this year with Windows-based PCs which we expect to be the first in-market laptops designed to leverage the performance of our new second-generation glass,” 

Product qualification and design implementation for Corning Gorilla Glass 2 is already underway with Corning’s customers and a number of them are expected to unveil their new devices, using Corning Gorilla Glass 2, in the coming months. It is thought that Apple is likely to do the same with it’s upcoming devices but as usual we will keep you informed as soon as more information is available.

The main new feature is the ability to now initiate a hangout through the “Messages” section of the app. When you start a conversation you will now see a video icon next to the settings icon top right of the screen, this will bring up a similar screen to the one you got when joining a hangout prior to this update.

In addition to the hangout feature there is also a new UI for the Photos section.

Netflix has a huge library of TV and Film available for you to stream to the following devices;

• iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV
• xBox 360, PS3, Wii, PC, Mac
• Smart enabled TV or BluRay player
• plus more

You can sign-up using your Facebook account or without, but you will need to add a credit or debit card. Try it out for 1 month and then decide to keep your subscription or not, simple as that.

If asked “What mobile phone do you use?” the majority of us will almost certainly have a smartphone of some kind. The one thing that sets most smartphones apart from the average phone is the amazing and sometimes very large touch screen.

If, like me, you treasure your device enough to actually look after it properly you will no doubt have explored reasonably priced ways of covering/insuring it. Whether this be through an insurance company, Apple Care or maybe through your bank.

Well, as a friend of mine found out (the hard way…..three times!) gadget cover provided by banks isn’t quite as good as it sounds. Lets take Barclays bank for example. When opening an account, you quickly realise that it is going to cost you £5 per month for them to watch over your money. After calming down, you may ask them what on gods green you actually get for this? They then go on to reel off a fantastic list of perks including extended warranties, price protection and gadget cover.

So you are probably thinking
, damn that is pretty sweet considering you were paying the £5 anyway, why not take advantage of these perks too! To cover your gadgets all you need to do is phone the helpline to register your precious devices. Once done you are pretty much covered for everything.

Well, much like any cover similar to this, you probably expect some sort of excess, right? Ok so here is the scenario, you have gone to the gym and while laying on the bench press lifting dumbbells you drop them, forgetting you have your iPhone 4 neatly tucked under the bench out of harms……CRUNCH!

Ok so with wrecked iPhone 4 in hand, you break out the backup phone gathering dust in your drawer (AAAAHHHHGGG BUTTONS!!!), phone the helpline, post off your iPhone and play the waiting game as you await word of the status of your poor wounded friend.

Weeks pass until you finally hear back from them. They say they can fix it but it will cost £70 to replace the screen, now this seems unreasonable, and frankly it isn’t good but not having read the small print or asked any questions regarding the excess rates you don’t really have a choice. Considering you can get an iPhone fixed locally for £84 (which for some reason you STILL haven’t researched!) within an hour of walking through the door, having to wait weeks to get your iPhone back is not ideal, but you have sent it now and you agree the excess fee. Hell, if you are feeling confident you can pick up a replacement kit for around £30 on Amazon.

Months later, you are walking down the street, chatting to your friend and catching up with Twitter when KAPPOOWWW!! a wild, flailing arm comes from nowhere and you watch in slow motion as your iPhone flies through the air, landing flat on the screen and then slides a few more feet along the ground before coming to a halt. Your heart sinks and you remember the last time you broke it.

Having still not looked into alternative ways to fix your iPhone, you phone the helpline once again, you know the drill. This time when they phone you, the excess has risen to £100, wait WHAT? Angry but desperate (holiday looming) you agree the fee and wait for your war hero to return to you in the mail.

After a great holiday you return to work, glad that you received your phone back in time for your trip so you could take lots of pics, but work is dull and the boss insists that you move some washing machines around. Remembering your training, you use your upper thigh as leverage to lug this thing off a 3 inch platform, but you forgot the golden rule! Don’t enlist the help of your iPhone, sitting in your pocket, located by your upper thigh. CRACK! This time you have had enough! If you have to pay one more excess fee you will have forked out more than half the money that it cost you to buy it in the first place. So now you make the choice to leave your fallen soldier, well, fallen.

Some months pass, and you FINALLY decide to do a little research, well, you phone the Apple store anyway. They say for £119 they will replace it with a new handset………….

It turns out that even if Apple does own the ‘likeness’ of the late Apple founder that many states do not recognise the rights after a persons death.

Infact there are only a handful of states that do and these are the ones that could land Inicons in hot water:

Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Connecticut, Georgia, Florida, California, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, New Jersey, Nevada, Nebraska, Kentucky, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Since that many of these states do not recognise the rights after a persons death Apples claim is in the most a false one.

Shortly after the article was posted the Steve Jobs figure started to hit eBay from various different sellers with a buy it now price of around $135.

The developer of iBiker, Gurminder Marwaha, was awarded a UK Government grant from the Department of Transport in order to develop his idea and make it a reality. iBiker also serves as a support channel to help national campaigns which encourage responsible, safer and fun motorcycle riding. The app runs as a social enterprise with all cash generated invested back into the app and was created by Redefine Convention using Gurminder’s designs.

With the help of the DfT’s ‘Think Bike” Facebook page and their 35,000 fans, the app name, the design and some features where chosen.

Features

Here is a run down of some of the best features of iBiker.

• Plan, plot and save rides/routes
• Highlight points of interest including cafes, cash points, campsites, petrol stations, meeting points and many more
• Rate routes
• Share all that information with the motorbiking community/friends via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other social networking channels
• Check the weather along routes from within the app

Cleverly, the app is based on crowd sourcing and social media using British EuroRAP intelligence provided by the Road Safety Foundation that highlights “the most risky roads and routes in Britain” to bikers in the UK.

Probably one of the best features is the ability to see your route BEFORE you ride it. With the help of the video ride throughs provided by experienced Motorcycle Police with local knowledge, users can see routes around the country and specific collision hotspots, thus enabling them to familiarise themselves with a route before they ride it.

The app also features World Superbike Champion James Toseland on a number of myth busting and bike safety videos.

The app is available globally for iPhone and Android with the current information being far more relevant to UK users, but the developer hopes to have similar information available for other countries in the future.

Here are some screens of the app and some examples of the ride through videos.

Here is an example of one of the ride through videos

Click here to view the embedded video.

iBiker costs just £1.49 which is amazing considering the amount of information it gives to riders. You can download iBiker here for iPhone and find them at the following social links;

Facebook/Twitter/Youtube/Web

According to network firm Arieso, Apple’s new voice recognition software Siri is causing iPhone 4s owners to use almost twice as much data compared to Apple’s 4th iPhone which hasn’t got the new Siri feature.

The firm, based in Arieso, discovered that the data usage of the iPhone 4 was 1.6 times higher then Apple’s 3rd iPhone (iPhone 3Gs), while the Apple iPad 2 tablet consumed 2.5 times more data.

In an interview in London, Arieso Chief Technology Officer Michael Flanagan said, “Voice is the ultimate human interface.” Michael Flanagan also said “I use the iPhone 4 myself and when I first heard of the iPhone 4S features I was not compelled to rush out and get one. However, the data usage numbers I am seeing make me wonder what I am missing,”

Flanagan also noted in the interview, that the tablet usage closely resembled that of high-end smartphones. “A tablet still looks like a big smartphone,” Michael said.

So you have heard one explanation for it with Siri being the culprit, but is this entirely accurate? Popular iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith thinks not;

Siri uses minuscule amounts of data (10s of kb). To suggest it’s the reason that the 4S has double data usage is insane.

— Steve Troughton-Sm… (@stroughtonsmith) January 6, 2012

As we have no doubt that Siri will be a contributing factor, it doesn’t look like it will be the main cause for such an increase.

What do you think? Let us know below.

In an effort to find a distributable exploit that can work with corona, @Musclenerd, @Planetbeing, @p0sixninja and @pod2g are all working together. That’s right, the iPhone-Dev Team and the Chronic-Dev Team have set aside their differences and combined forces to bring us the most anticipated jailbreak on record.

With the eta set by @pod2g closing in, this can only help towards it.

Earlier today, Apple announced that their latest smartphone, the iPhone 4[s], will be available in China and 21 additional countries on Friday, January 13th. After the rollout, the iPhone 4[s] will be available in a total of 90 countries making this Apple’s fastest iPhone rollout ever. For more information, hit us after the jump below.

“Customer response to our products in China has been off the charts,” said Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. “With the launch in China next week, iPhone 4S will be available in over 90 countries making this our fastest iPhone rollout ever.”

Beginning Friday, January 13, iPhone 4[s] will be available in Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bolivia, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, China, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guam, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and Uganda.

It seems as if Apple is having a great run at releasing their newest iDevice in as many possible countries as they can reach. What do you think about the speed of this rollout? Was it as fast as you would have liked, or do you feel as if it is taking too much time? Feel free to leave any comments or questions below, or contact us via Twitter.

The current rights to the premier league matches expires at the end of the current premier league campaign and are willing to consider bids. It’s believed that both Apple and Google are interested in making bids for their respective Apple TV and Google TV services. It is believed that such streaming is considered premium and any sort of deal with the premier league could help to boost sales of Apple TV and the iPad within the UK.

iTunes, within the UK, is secure but Apple TV is struggling in the UK due to a lack of streaming apps available. At the moment Apple TV currently offers subscriptions to NBA basketball, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League so being able to offer premier league fixtures will help Apple TV considerably.

Currently SkySports and ESPN own the rights to show premier league games and ESPN can show the goals through their ‘ESPN Goals’ app but at the moment the BBC only have permission to show highlights through the Match Of The Day program.

It is believed that SkySports, ESPN and Al Jazeera are currently bidding for next seasons premier league rights. Sky bought the previous rights for £1.6billion and apparently ESPN is trying to buy more content.

The premier league has a massive global following and is known as the best league in the world so its only natural that Apple would try and take the opportunity to buy rights to broadcast the games, especially after rumours that Apples rumoured high-definition is due for a 2012 launch.

So if the announcement is not the iPad or HDTV what could it be, well sources are saying that this could be some kind of advertising or publishing event given both that it is held in New York and that SVP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue is said to be involved.

Cue is heading up the majority of Apple’s media units including the iTunes Store, AppStore, iBookstore, iCloud and iAd.

As soon as more details are announced about the event we will let you know.

THIS IS ONLY A NOVELTY APPLICATION, IT WILL NOT GENUINELY TELL YOU IF YOU ARE POSSESSED!

Below, you can see screenshots of the actual app in use, and be guided through the rather simple process of only a few steps. They mention specifically that this application will require you to interact with it by using your headphones (with microphone) so they actually give you a screen to plug everything in so at a point, you can use your voice to answer questions. I myself have an 81% chance that I am diabolically possessed.

The app is functional on all iOS iDevices including the iPhone, the iPod, and the iPad. The premiss is that all you have to do is answer a few simple questions, and then engage in a scan of your eyes (so that the application can look deep inside that dirty, rotten soul of yours) and decide whether or not you are indeed possessed. The exact application description is as follows:

No soul is safe. Is the devil inside you? Find out if you’re possessed. Take a quick test to find out if you’re possessed, answer three questions and then hold still as the app scans your pupils, measures them and then gives you your possession rating.

Share your rating with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Requirements: Compatible with iOS devices with front facing camera, including iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and iPod Touch 4th Generation.

This app is designed for both iPhone and iPad.

You can download the app by simply clicking this link on your iDevice, or using this link to take you to the direct iTunes download link posted at that URL. Feel free to sound off in the comments below, and share your own screenshots or results!*

*MGiP cannot be held responsible for any startles or scares you may experience with this type of application. It may not be for everyone. We are also not 100% familiar with the way the application works, so use at your own discretion.

[Source]

Apple has been listed as the official publisher of ‘GameStore’ and it can be found within the utilities category of the App store. There is a brief description as well which reads:

‘This application allows you to buy different things from within the app’

When you open up the GameStore app there is a products list which appears to be used to test the in-app purchase functionality. Users have the option to buy stuff such as two extra lives for $2.99, awesome sword for $0.99, Ax for $19.99 and big gun for $1.99.

The application also includes a shopping cart, payment options and settings. Although it doesn’t feature any content it is rated for ages 12 and up. This is because it features horror/gore themes, simulated gambling, profanity or crude humour, realistic violence and mature/suggestive themes.

Any purchases made through the GameStore app does go through and the users account will be charged, although, there is no actual game to support the purchased content so they have no functionality.

The mistake was caught by a German language website, iFun.de, which revealed the error on Monday. As things stand the application is still currently available for 99 cents and it was released on the 31st of December.

As some of you may be familiar with, AppTrackr is a copy of Apples app store and it contains a cracked copy of app store applications. AppTrackr is used via the iPhone jailbreak Install0us, which allows users to installed cracked apps on their jailbroken devices.

The AppTrackr crew are now believed to be moving their servers to countries without a copyright law in order to protect AppTrackr from any lawsuits which Apple may start to throw their way.

As usual we will keep you informed as more on this story comes to light.

Usually, when you ask that question the iPhone answers back saying ‘This might answer your question:’ then gives you the result from the internet, but, Charlie asked the phone the same question and Siri replied “Shut the f*** up, you ugly t***.”

His mother Kim was horrified and upon asking the same question again, the phone said the same result “Shut the f*** up, you ugly t***.”

Siri has the ability to call the owner of the device a certain, custom name which is stored in the device’s contact list. We believe that a member of the public had set Siri to address users as the profane sentence, then when asked the above question an error occurred, which I managed to replicate below;

Tesco is investigating the incident and returning the iPhone 4S to Apple.

[Source/Read more]

Lockscreen Weather App displays the current weather and an optional 5 day forecast right on the Lockscreen. Now we know that invasion of the Lockscreen is prohibited by third party apps, so how was this mistaken for anything else?

You can even have a pleasant sound effect running while you check the weather. However, it is important to note that this app must constantly be running all the time, and even displays the play symbol in the status bar as if you were playing a video or song. This will NOT be good for battery life. For me this is not a sacrifice I am willing to make, so I will put this down to taking one for the team and delete it from my homescreen.

As epic as this seems, it is not how this needs to be done so please don’t waste your £0.69/$0.99.

The iPhone Dev-Team has released yet another beta version of redsn0w 0.9.10 beta 3 for both Mac and Windows users. This version was released to specifically fix a problem/error that caused MobileSubstrate to sometimes crash on jailbroken iOS 5.0.1 devices. This error only seemed to point to redsn0w when users would re-run an existing jailbreak.

From the Dev Team blog:

The b3 version of redsn0w fixes a problem where re-running redsn0w over an existing jailbreak would cause MobileSubstrate-based apps to stop running until MS was installed again. Now you can re-run the redsn0w jailbreak step without worrying about that (but still remember to de-select the “Install Cydia” option if it’s already installed).

Remember; you can re-run the latest version of redsn0w in jailbreak mode over your existing iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak, but when you do, please note: make sure you un-check the “Install Cydia” button because it will overwrite the existing Cydia install and you may have to restore your device.

If you run Redsn0w on a Windows PC then make sure you right click on the program exe file and do the following steps;

Step 1: Right click and go to “Properties“.

Step 2: Go to “compatibility” and make sure “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” is checked, and then click the compatibility box and make sure “Windows XP (Service pack 3)” is checked.

Step 3: Click “Apply” and then click “Ok,”. After that, you’re ready to go.

Download the latest redsnow by following any of the links below:

redsn0w 0.9.10b3 for OS X
redsn0w 0.9.10b3 for Windows

This could result in Apple taking as much as $10 for every Android handset which is sold, according to Kevin Rivette, an intellectual property advisor firm, in an interview with Bloomberg . This idea is not as far fetched as it may sound as Microsoft is already raking in $5 for every HTC handset sold after a recent agreement over a patent.

Apple has recently won a patent suit against HTC after taking them to court over a feature that links phone numbers and addresses in texts and takes you to the appropriate application. That could mean that HTC handsets could be banned from being sold in the U.S from April 19th 2012 unless HTC changes this feature before then.

HTC, however, do say that they are working on a work around which will allow them to continue to selling their phones.

We will keep you updated on any other news if you keep checking back here.

Update #2: The b2 version of redsn0w includes the launchctl-related fix by @planetbeing as mentioned by @saurik here and here. As usual, you can just re-run redsn0w in jailbreak mode over your existing 5.0.1 jailbreak (even a PwnageTool one), making sure to de-select “Install Cydia” if you do. Always be sure to do a controlled “slide to power off” shutdown of your device before running redsn0w.

As usual, you can re-run the latest version of redsn0w in jailbreak mode over your existing iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak, but when you do, please note: make sure you un-check the “Install Cydia” button because it will overwrite the existing Cydia install and you may have to restore your device.

Download the latest redSn0w by the following links below:

• redsn0w 0.9.10b2 for OSX
• redsn0w 0.9.10b2 for Windows

Happy Jailbreaking!

According to 9to5mac.com, the latest timeline feature – which allows you to look back at all of your Facebook activity since the day you were born – will hit Apple’s iPad between mid-January and late January of 2012:

The feature works great on the desktop web and mobile version of Facebook’s website, and now Facebook plans to bring Timeline to the iPad’s Facebook application. Timeline was supposed to come to the iPad in December, but the release has been pushed back due to last minute bugs found during advanced testing. Facebook is now planning to launch the update between mid-January and late January.

Because of the iPad’s large multi-touch support, it is said to be “very smooth and intuitive and a fusion of the web and iPhone/iPod touch versions.” Ultimately, with all of the extra pixel real estate, Facebook for the iPad with timeline should be one of the “nicer” iPad apps once it is finally released, satiating the desires of millions. Keep your eyes peeled, as we will update you once it becomes available.

(Source)

After obtaining the network entry permit from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (MIIT), the iPhone 4S received China Compulsory Certification (3C) for electronic products on Dec. 22, meaning that it has met all the requirements for coming into markets of China.

According to latest information from iPhone distributors, the iPhone 4S is expected to hit the market at the beginning of January 2012.

If this rumour is true, the iPhone 4S will be available in the country before Chinese new year.

(Source)

Merry Christmas from the iPhone Devteam and the Chronic devteam it would seem! After Pod2g sent them his jailbreak, they have put it into redsn0w 0.9.10 and PwnageTool, and the chronic devteam put it into a Cydia package (the same set of exploits is in all three).

This is for Non A5 devices only, so you must be on a iPhone3GS, iPhone4, iPhone4-CDMA, iPad1, iPod touch 3G, iPod touch 4G, running iOS 5.0.1.

Download RedSnow 0.9.10b1 on Mac or Windows (run as administrator).

As mentioned earlier, @pod2g has spent months working on all the exploits and tricks in this untether, and many of you may be wondering how you can send donations.  Although the iPhone devteam itself doesn’t take donations, we thought it was appropriate to provide a link at the end of the redsn0w run for you to more easily donate directly to @pod2g if you wish (alternatively, you can go right here).  There’s a link in the Cydia package for donating to the chronic devteam for the Cydia version of @pod2g’s untether.

@pod2g is now looking for a way to extend this to A5 devices.  Because those devices cannot use geohot’s limera1n exploit to inject the untether, they require exploits above and beyond those used for this release.  Keep following pod2g on twitter or his blog for any progress reports!

Well done, Pod2G!

With Apple’s share of the smartphone market rising to a staggering 26% in the United States as of the conclusion of last quarter, a similar rise has also become apparent in the United Kingdom, which saw their shares rise to 31% which is up from it’s previous stronghold of 21% from last year. Similarly, since last year, in the United States, Apple’s market share rose from 25% to the reported 36% above in what could only be described as an expected rise. With the release of each new iPhone, it seems that Apple is trying to bring more and more carriers on board to help them distribute what can be argued as the best smartphone in the world.

However, in other areas, as stated above, their grasp on the smartphone market is dwindling, for example in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Last year in Germany, their marketshare dropped from 27% down to 22%, and France reflecting a drop from 29% to only 20%. Unfortunately, both countries of Italy and Spain are reporting similar drops as well. While there is no specific “reason” for why the iPhone market share is decreasing in certain areas, it is thought that it has to do with the premium pricing of the smartphone and the effect that the declining global economy is having. Many people who would normally opt to purchase the iPhone simply cannot afford it and so they seem to be settling for lesser quality Android-powered devices which cost considerably less to manufacture and distribute.

And to support those claims, Google has released a statement to support that supposition. In a statement, they claimed:

“The fall in Apple’s market share appears to be Google’s gain, with its Android operating system holding shares of between 46% and 61% in all markets that were analyzed. German smartphone buyers prefer the Android platform, increasing its market share of the platform to 61%, with Samsung’s Galaxy S II the most popular handset.”

While speculation cannot be made about the reasons as to why these rises and falls occur, no doubt can be applied that the iPhone is a driving force within the smartphone market. I don’t know of a single person who doesn’t have friends or relatives who don’t own an iPhone, and in general, for the amount of handsets available to the public in comparison to how many handsets are powered by Android, it is amazing that Apple was able to gain a hold on roughly ¼ of the entire US and UK market. That is no small feat, and there is no denying that the iPhone is one “hot” commodity within the smartphone market. Credit goes out to Reuters, as well as iDownloadBlog.com for reporting on this story.

For some very odd reason, known hacker and security guru Stefan Esser (i0n1c) has tweeted that he will do an untethered jailbreak for iOS 4.3.5. Yeah, not iOS 5, but iOS 4.3.5…

The majority of my followers sees no need in an iOS 4.3.5 untether. I guess that leaves me no option: I will do an iOS 4.3.5 untether

— Stefan Esser (@i0n1c) December 23, 2011

It could be that there are still a number of dedicated jailbreakers that haven’t wished to ditch their untethered jailbreaks are likely still on iOS 4.3.3 (it was the last firmware that can be untethered jailbroken, via JailbreakMe). However, as the majority think there is no need, he seems to think thats the perfect reason to make it happen. Eh?!

We are still waiting to see how the Chronic-Dev team gets on with their iOS5 untethered jailbreak, which Pod2G handed over to them.

An iTunes tweak or custom restore tool will be eventually be released to use those blobs for downgrading to iOS 5.0.1. However there is no word on when this will be available.

For now, though, it is recommended that you contine using RedSn0w to save your SHSH blobs so that you’ll have a copy which can be used to stitch a custom ipsw.

Image via iSpazio