Some useful iPhone apps

TRYING desperately not to jailbreak my phone for the moment, I must say that it is only a bit of a nuisance that some mundane stuff that I wish had been implemented can’t been done.

With that saying, since I’ve been holding off from getting it for a year plus, waiting for the official launch because of lawful reasons, I guess it’s pretty straightforward to remain true to Apple.

Ok, I know this sounds crap, since I’ve jailbroke my iPod. Ha.

Anyways, there’s 2 nifty apps that locals/ Singaporeans would find useful:

1. Fstream:

For listening to radio on the go. The lack of radio has been solved! (though 98.7fm does have problems sometimes)

fstream

2. Local Picks by trip advisor

Tracks your position and introduces food to you =D

localpicks
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Dumb Singtel move

singtel1

singtel2

THEY really had to ridicule themselves, no? First, you’re supposed to fill in your details to reserve the iPhone, then you can only reserve at Hello! store itself.

Plus no encryption for the data, means all your personal data might be stolen.

Oh my goodness. Riding the wind of popularity, albeit ridiculously.

Anyways, the address is http://home.singtel.com/iphone/
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iPhone 3G - when will it be released in Singapore

iPhone3g

I guess everyone who’s interested in the iPhone should have know of the announcement. The question is, when?

Among the 22 countries to be released on July 11th, Singapore isn’t in one of them. A simple guess will be the problem of clearance for wireless products. Normally, any new wireless products would require a period of between 1-2 months (not 2-3 weeks) for the agency to play around with the gadget so as to confirm it’s not interfering with the wireless structure already in place in SIngapore.

That puts the iPhone to be released in August - September period this year. Well folks, you’ve got time to save up Laugh

Some of the features:

1. 3G

No front camera means no 3G conferencing though, I guess the speed is for enterprise means - receive and send emails with big attachments.

2. Enterprise usage

It means nothing if your IT support doesn’t allow push mail capabilities. Of course, there are ways to do it...circumventing the safety means...

3. Camera

Still 2 megapixel. Well, more than enough for most, I guess

4. GPS assistance

Guess you won’t be lost already Laugh

5. No tactile feedback

Big words, I know, it simply means you won’t feel any depress when you type on the screen - one of the major complaints for people who’re used to sms with buttons. It also means you can’t be blind to use this phone.

6.The rest remains the same


Just new design, thinner, and cheaper!

Sounds like a blatent advertisement for iPhone. Any case, the most expensive costline is USD$199 - coverting to slightly lesser than SGD$300. It won’t be long before you see everyone carrying one!

That’s it. The long wait awaits, hope it arrives earlier than August - September!
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The Big Boss and an Intelligent Screen - BossTool and IntelliScreen

For those who are complaining about running out of space on your iPod or iPhone when you ought to have plenty...I guess the reason is simple.

For non-techies, just imagine that the iPod/ iPhone has 2 harddisk. One of it is running out of space. What to do?

Go to installer -> Sources -> Edit -> add and type in this:

thebigboss.org/repo.xml

You'd be able to add BossTool (under Utilities) to fix your headache!

BigBossIntelliScreen

Big Boss and IntelliScreen are the 2 helpful applications for today


BigBoss2

Just tap on freeing space


BigBoss3

and follow instructions. You'd be able to get more space back this way!

Moving on to IntelliScreen, this allows you to view your Calendar items and Mail even in your "Slide to unlock" screen as below:

slideToUnlock

To add this, click on installer -> sources -> edit -> add and type in

intelliborn.com/repo

Install IntelliScreen under IntelliBorn category from installer -> Install

IntelliScreen

Feel free to edit the settings. Be sure to restart your iPod/iPhone for this (I'm sure you know how to do that right? Laugh)
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Time Capsule

WELL this isn't exactly the time capsule that Apple came out with. Similar in naming only. What it does is to let you create a backup of your applications, not like what Time Machine does on the Mac (fully automated as compared to this manual backing up)

Nonetheless, for all who likes to venture on how to experiment with your iPod Touch/iPhone, this is useful, just in case you messed up (like me).

This is another application brought to you by Databinge (I'm in no way related to him though Laugh)

Firstly, of course, you got to install the application.

tc1

You'd be brought to the welcome screen where it prompts you to donate.

tc2

And you'd be brought to a screen where you're free to backup.

tc3

The producer mentioned that you're only allowed one backup per application, and for workabout, please refer to his site. I think this should be easy (though I've yet to try). Just use Cyberduck or any FTP program and pull everything out, and you should be able to backup again.

tc4

Pretty simple and elegant solution, I must say! Of course, you can do this by pulling everything out from the application folder itself, but it's not as fun to have an automated solution, right? Laugh
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Essentials know-hows for your iPod Touch (maybe for your iPhone)

AFTER an excruciating experience, my iPod is now brand new - contents wise. Without knowing why it suddenly changed from 1.1.4 back to 1.1.3, I had a horrible experience trying to get it back to the latest firmware - losing all my transactions in Pocket Money Sad

Anyways, some must knows:

1. If you screw up your jail break or ziphone, press both POWER and HOME button while connecting to the computer, which will force it to go into restore mode.
2. The latest firmware is here. Make sure it is saved as ipsw, and not unzipped.
3. Some of the must have software for me:

essential

You'd need iSpazio source to get Restart. gpSPhone allows you to play GBA games, which erhem you'd be able to google online. Capture, WildEyes, DropCopy are apps which I've reviewed before. MobileChat allows you to do instant messenging when you're out. SummerBoard allows you to tweak your theme, after you installed you'd see SMBPrefs. BossTool allows you to transfer your apps to a new partition as most of your apps are cramped into one partition, hence you always get your "insufficient disk space" warning.

I like PocketMoney most of all for now, very similar to Cha-Ching if you're a fan. Will post some reviews at some point or another.

Hope this is helpful if you stumbled into this page Laugh
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Syncing iTunes Wifi Store

THE previous tutorial on buying songs from iTunes (check out the tags) should be pretty helpful for anyone who is interested in buying.

Now, there are some problems when people buy songs with the WIFI iTunes Store -> the songs bought from either the iPod Touch or iPhone refused to sync back to the main computer!

Actually, this is a known bug, but can be easily solved with some googling.

Of course, I've mentioned it, so I'd briefly guide you through:

1. Right click the iPod Touch/iPhone icon in your iTunes.
2. Select "Transfer Purchases".
3. You'd get your song back Laugh

iTunesStore

Simple right?

Now listening to We Sing, We Dance, Jason Mraz
Picture 4
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Wildeyes and DropCopy

HELPING out a colleague on how to view PDF on his iPhone wasn't easy. However, now this can be easier. This post will focus on Wildeyes and DropCopy, which can be installed from Installer, under Utilities.

Apps1

You do need to cancel everytime if you don't donate, a bit cumbersome, but come on, it's free, right?

wildEyes2

Now, this looks better than the original one shown previously right?

wildEyes3

All pdfs will be placed to the PDF folder. Simple right? Now for dropping the files to the iPod Touch/iPhone

dropCopy0

DropCopy for Mac

dropCopy1
DropCopy for iPod Touch/ iPhone

You can find DragCopy here. Dropping files will require both the iPod Touch/iPhone to have the app, and the desktop to have the application too. To drop files into the gadget, it is as simple as dragging the file to the hole, select the name of the gadget, and drop into it. Simple right?
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Getting PDF, Doc, Xls viewer on your iPod Touch/iPhone (edited)

WELL, ever fancy your iPod Touch or iPhone reading Word documents? PDF files? Just like any other normal PDA?

I just hit on the right spot, so will be pulling in some simple instructions:

Applications you'd need:

1. Cyberduck
cyberduck-icon_textmedium

This cute ducky works wonders Laugh

Ok. For people viewing this, my best bet is that you've got your gadget ziphoned. Credit to ZiPhone, and for Rupert (in previous post) for teaching how to break it. In any case, some of you might be overwhelmed by the immense amount of new things to learn, and you really want your gadget to view the things. Let's get started!

1. You should have the community source of Conceited Software installed with ZiPhone.
2. Click on Installer, then at bottom dock click on Install.
Installer
3. Install PHP (under Development), and lighttpd (under Network). The install button is on the top right corner when you select the package.
step2step3Step4
4. Shut down your iPod/iPhone.
5. Start your iPhone.
6. Go back installer, go to Tweaks -> PDF/DOC/XLS Viewer
7. Install it
8. Repeat steps 4 and 5
9. Select Settings, select WIFI, and the Wireless source
settingswireless1
10. Copy down the IP address.
IP
11. Start up Cyberduck, and select SFTP for protocol, and the IP address of your gadget under Server. User name is root, password is alpine. Allow the unknown hostkey.
cyberduck
12. Throw your stuff into sites.
13. Fire up Safari and the following URL
Picture 6
14. You're done Laugh

Don't throw in 15mb PDF and expect it to read though.

Edited 09.04.08

I realised that only the latest ziphoned iPhone or iPod touch has the necessary installation files in order to SSH into the gadget. For older ones:

1. You need to install both BSD Subsystem and Installer under Systems.
2. Restart your iPod Touch/ iPhone after that and follow the above steps. That should do.

I'm connecting to my iPod Touch using an easier way instead of finding the IP address. For mine, I know the name of the gadget is iPod.local since it appears whenever it is connected with Bonjour (I have Growl installed on my Mac), I'm using that instead.

Hope this helps Laugh
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Repeating a song on the iPod Touch/iPhone

BEING a new user of the iPod Touch, the non-familiarity of the gadget irks me. On the way to work, I was playing the song "Onion" by Aska Yang, and it sort of irritates me that I can't repeat the song.

Not any more.

1. Play the song first, and click on the album art. A rectangular box will appear with the option to scroll through the song.

repeatSong1

2. Tap on the loop icon (now, this is familiar already right?). You can either choose to repeat one song, or repeat the album.

repeatSong2

Enjoy your songs folks!
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Buying songs from iTunes

Have you always wondered how to get songs from iTunes, and at a cheap price? While the method I'm going to teach is not exactly un-dodgy, at least you're not stealing songs anymore!

1. Go to this website: https://www.hogeweg80.com/store/clients/index.php?cPath=74_85

Itunes voucher

2. Select your preferred value.
3. Have your paypal account readied.
4. Pay with paypal.
5. You'd be directed to a website with your redemption code
6. Open up iTunes store
7. Select redeem

redeem

8. Key in details and use any US address (I use vPost USA)
9 You're done! Now you can buy the songs you want!

Purchased 2 vouchers from this site, very prompt replies from hogeweg from problems crop up, and the best thing is...you can finally buy songs!
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