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jailbroken posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, iPhone, iPod touch

Lights Off returns to the iPhone


Hey, remember Lights Off? We first posted about it in the relative Stone Age of iPhone development, when the only SDK we had was writing web pages and when you had to actually jailbreak your iPhone to do anything cool with it. Nowadays, of course, we live in storied times, and so Lights Off has returned, this time on the App Store as a $1.99 app. It does look a little different, but the new version has been redone from scratch, and has added in some sound effects (even though you can't hear them in the video above). If you liked the game then, you'll probably like it now, too.

And yes, we have now come full circle -- developers have recreated, with Apple's official SDK, a program that was originally created without an official SDK, so people who jailbroke their iPhone back then to play the game can now do so without jailbreaking their iPhone. Got all that? We know -- it hurts our head, too.

Filed under: Video, Internet, iPhone

Qik launches on Installer.app

A while back, Qik announced that they would be creating a video broadcast client for the iPhone. When they first announced it, Qik was only available in a limited beta to jailbroken phones. However, Qik has announced that all jailbroken 1.1.4 iPhones will be able to get the client through Installer.app. Since Apple hasn't yet allowed streaming video using the iPhone's camera, jailbreaking is the only way to use Qik.

Qik, as you may already know, is a way to broadcast live, streaming video from a mobile device. While they are not offering an App Store version of their client, you can download it via Installer.app by adding "http://qik.com/iphone1" to your sources list. If you are using iPhone 2.0 software, you might be able to downgrade to 1.1.4, however, the risks outweigh any advantages you might get.

There seems to be a growing field of jailbreak applications as Apple continues to disallow some SDK-built apps. Even though we have the official SDK, there are still too many limitations for some apps and their users.

[via TechCrunch]

Filed under: iPod Family, iPhone

Found Footage: Dev Team Posts Video


If you've been thinking the iPhone Dev Team (the team behind the jailbreaking applications) would die out after firmware 2.0, then think again. That's because the dev team has just published a video showing the jailbreaking process for a 2.0 iPhone.

Update: We are currently uploading the video, in the mean time you can view the video on the iPhone Dev's website.

Filed under: Software, Freeware, iPhone

iPhoneBrowser: browse your iPhone's file system



Getting access to your iPhone's file system can be pretty difficult. But if you're a Windows iPhone user, you can take advantage of the free BSD-licensed IPhone file system browser iPhoneBrowser. You can browse your IPhone's files, drag and drop stuff onto it, and copy your MP3s and movies back to your hard drive. iPhoneBrowser also offers a backup system for keeping your iPhone files safe.

It even works with non-jailbroken iPhones, but as the developer says, you won't get very far with one, thanks to Apple's file system "sandbox".

[via Lifehacker]

Filed under: Internet Tools, iPhone

iPhone as backup web server

Using the port of lighttpd on his jailbroken iPhone, Mark Hoekstra of GEEKtechnique offers real-world proof that an iPhone can, indeed, function as a web server. He put up a static page and served 411 unique visitors during the time his server was offline for maintenance. Obviously, that's not battle-testing for a busier server, and the lack of database queries certainly aided the capacity of the tiny server, but it's definitely a fun example of the capabilities of a (hacked) iPhone.

Apache has also been ported, along with Python, vim, curl and other tools web servers can make good use of. There's a good possibility we'll see similar scenarios as time progresses, especially as the hardware capabilities of the iPhone improve. So, is that a backup web server in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

Thanks, Mike!

Filed under: Multimedia, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone

Pocketguitar for the iPhone lets you strum on the multitouch


Engadget found this slick little gem over the weekend for your jailbroken iPhone. It's a virtual guitar (a lot like Jam Sessions if you've ever played that, actually -- reaffirming my thought that the iPhone is the best handheld gaming device ever made), where you can put your fingers over the strings at the top, and then strum on the bottom to play notes and chords. Not only can you play your own songs, but you can even play along with any stored music you have on your iPhone, too. And every song, I tell you, can be improved by throwing in another guitar solo.

Pocketguitar for the iPhone and iPod touch is available on the ModMyiFone.com Community Sources packing in Installer under Toys. Load it up and strum away.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Multimedia, Developer, iPhone

MobileScrobbler hits milestone updates

Scott hasn't found any reason to jailbreak his iPhone yet, but one of the jailbreak apps that readers suggested would make it worth it was MobileScrobbler, and now Sam Steele has dropped us a note that he's updated the iPhone's Last.fm client to a 1.2.0 release. There are a number of neat features, not least of which is the ability to stream Last.fm radio content over EDGE or Wifi ("Wifi strongly recommended," sez Sam). The app will also scrobble tracks as you listen, allow you to tag songs as "love" or "ban" (everything is cached, and then uploaded when a connection returns), and view upcoming events and add them to your calendar. And he's even pulling in lyrics from LyricWiki-- I don't know if that's a MobileScrobbler thing or a Last.fm thing, but it's great.

Pretty amazing. MobileScrobbler can be obtained through Installer.app, and a look at the changelog tells you just how fast Sam is updating it to keep up with all the tickets (the app is free, but he's accepting donations if you do think it's worth jailbreaking your iPhone for). Software like this is terrific-- here's hoping that when Apple does release an SDK, they make sure that dedicated developers like Sam can do this stuff officially.

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