iOS 4.2.1 released today

iOS 4.2 Update iTunes

Finally it has been released for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad alike. You can get it form iTunes. No word yet on jailbreaking, although, it was reported that the Geohot’s exploit was working up to 4.2 beta 3. As of now I am updating my iPhone 4 and will report back if limera1n is working with final release of 4.2.1.

Update: I’m not sure why it says 4.2 on the update, and is actually 4.2.1. Way to confuse people Apple.

Below you can see the changelog, my favorite feature is the ability to find text in safari!

iOS 4.2 changelog

iOS 4.2 changelog 3

iTunes 10.1 released

iTunes 10.1 Software Update

Hot on the heels of 10.6.5 iTunes 10.1 has been released today. It was rumored on the interwebs that this update along with the iOS 4.2 (which has not been released yet) would hit the web shortly after  10.6.5. Soon all iPad owners will be rejoice as they can then multitask!

As described in the picture above, this update to iTunes lets you stream video using Airplay on the new (black) Apple TV, sync with iOS devices running 4.2, and bug fixes. I predict 4.2 will be released this weekend or on Monday maximum since it has already been in Golden Master for a while now.

Apple announces FaceTime for Mac

FaceTime Mac OS X

Today at the Back to the Mac event Apple introduced a couple of new things, one of them being Facetime for Mac OS X. This means you can now use your Mac to make free phone calls to iPhone 4, iPod touch, and other Mac users. I find this really cool, it is a step up from skype, and is free anywhere in the world. You can download the beta today, and start using it.

I just tried it and it’s pretty cool, looks like they just ported it from the iPhone 4/iPod Touch and just made some modifications to the interface. One thing that I found annoying is that you can’t just type in a number or email you want to FaceTime with, it has to be in your address book, or in your recents tab. Other than that it works well! You do have to sign up for an account, if you don’t already have an Apple Id.

Apple introduces Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

Mac OS X Lion

Today Apple also announced the next version of OS X; 10.7 Lion. If you ask me it takes some features from the iOS, however on the sneak peak page on Apple’s website, it does not mention any of the features I was wishing for. I have not watch the full keynote as it is not available yet. Who knows maybe by the time it arrives it will have it. I was hoping for the full GPU acceleration and some other features. Oh well, go to the lion page for more information.

limera1n jailbreaks iOS 4.1

limera1n

Today Geohot released his latest jailbreak which releases most iDevices into freedom land. It will jailbreak iPhone 3GS (Old bootrom only at this point) , iPod Touch 3G, iPad, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 4G on iOS 4.0, 4.1 and claims also to jailbreak future official releases. According to Engadget, this release has angered the Dev team. After reading the story I do understand why, however it’s still funny that there is jailbreak politics. At this point it is windows only, so either fire up Bootcamp/Parallels/vmware fusion/VirtualBox or use a pc. It uses the same way to jailbreak as back in the day by holding the power and home button to enter DFU mode. Anyways I already jailbroke my iphone 4 running 4.1. At this point the only complaints I have were that initially limera1n and Cydia had white icons, but after updating Cydia everything is back to normal. Now I can reinstall my paid applications in Cydia! Below is the link to the limera1n website.

Update: I saw a user that landed on my site from google searching on how to use Cydia on iOS4.1 after installing limera1n. I’m assuming (s)he couldn’t figure out how to install Cydia. To install Cydia after you jailbreak, open up limera1n and tap on Cydia, then tap the Install button on the top right of the screen.

Limera1n

App of the day – Speed Test

We all use a speed test utility from time to time, to diagnose connectivity problems. I always use speedtest.net. They have had an iPhone app for a while now, but today they updated it to 2.0.1. Along with some tweaks to get it to work better with all iDevices including the iPhone 4, They have revamped the entire interface, making it retina display worthy. Actually I think this is the best looking app so far on the retina display. If you have an iPhone 4 and want to see a great graphical interface, and also want to be able to test your internet connection out, the app is free on the app store.

Speedtest Main Screen

Speedtest Test in Progress

iOS 4 Folders are smart!

iOS 4 Folders

After using iOS 4 for a while I decided to make my home screen take up less pages. To do this I had to take advantage of the new Folders feature released in this version of iOS. To make a folder you simply hold your finger over one icon and when they start to wiggle just drop it on top of another icon. Each folder supports 12 icons inside and you can have multiple folders with the same name (I have two games folders). However this is not the clever part that amazed me. When you make a folder the iPhone pre-labels the folder to the applications’ category. I’m assuming it gets this data from the App Store. I kept trying to make it not match all applications in the folder and after four or five tries I succeeded as you can see in the image below. Organization is hard thing, yet Apple trumps at it.

iOS 4 Folders incorrect