Apple has posted iOS 4.2.6 for download, the update is aimed specifically at CDMA iPhone 4 models which are due for a release later in the week. The early availability of the iPhone firmware is likely intended for Verizon iPhone review units that have been sent to journalists.

Download iOS 4.2.6 Firmware

iOS 4.2.6 is Build 8E200 and weighs in at 652MB:

• Download iPhone3,3_4.2.6_8E200_Restore.ipsw Now

This specific build is thus far intended exclusively for CDMA iPhone 4 models, there is no need for other users to download the IPSW file.

The latest batch of iPad 2 rumors claim that the device will have the following hardware specs:

• 1.2 GHz dual core Cortex A9 CPU
• Imagination Technologies SGX 543 dual core GPU, that is reportedly up to 300% more powerful than iPhone 4 GPU
• 512MB RAM running at 1066 Mhz
• Thinner and lighter anti-glare screen for improved readability in sunlight
• Same 1024×768 resolution as existing iPad model
• Dual lower resolution cameras borrowed from iPod touch
• Possibility of included NFC chip, which would turn iPad 2 and iPhone 5 into a digital wallet

Other than the dual core GPU, there’s not much new here. Most of these specs are in line with the past iPad 2 rumor roundup, although a 1.2GHz CPU is slightly faster than the 1GHz dual core chip that was previously speculated. The other things to notice are the improved RAM speed and the dual core GPU, both of which provide significant performance gains to app and graphics performance (maybe even providing for 1080p output?).
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To show off just how light the MacBook Air is, an Apple Store came up with this awesome window display, yes that is a MacBook Air hanging from a balloon. OK so the balloon itself isn’t the only thing holding up the MBA, it’s also held in place by some wires, but who cares? It looks awesome and gets the point across. This is easily the coolest window display the Apple Store has had yet, and some user reports say it is being adopted nationwide.

There’s a video of the floating MacBook Air below:
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Adobe Photoshop was running a bit sluggish on my Mac recently, so I set about to make the app run faster with a few tweaks. While these were done on my MacBook Pro, there’s no reason the tips wouldn’t work the same on a Windows PC running PS too.

1) Quit Other Apps
Before digging around in the Photoshop preferences, quit any other apps that you are not using. This frees up additional system resources to devote to Photoshop instead.

2) Raise the Memory Usage
More memory the better! This gave me a large speed increase:

• From Photoshop Preferences, click on “Performance”
• Adjust the slider upward to use more RAM, the more you can spare the merrier

A quick note regarding RAM: Computers love RAM, and so does Photoshop. If you’re a frequent Photoshop user or you do anything else that involves significant memory consumption, adding more memory to your computer is a good idea. You can read my review of upgrading a MacBook Pro to 8GB RAM if you haven’t already, or find out if you need a RAM upgrade.
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We’ve talked about the iPhone Configuration Utility before, the enterprise iPhone management and setup tool, but there’s another nice feature in the app; the Console.

Console lets you monitor activity on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch in real time without jailbreaking, here’s how:

• Download and install the iPhone Configuration Utility from Apple’s Enterprise page (Mac and Windows versions available)
• Plug your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad into your computer
• Under the “Devices” list in the left sidebar, select your hardware
• Click on the “Console” tab
• Use your iPhone, iPad, etc as usual, the Console updates in real time

Start using your iPhone and you’ll see things pop up in the Console. Here’s my unlocking my iPhone and then launching the Weather app:

Wed Jan 26 11:48:41 Wills-iPhone SpringBoard[29] : MultitouchHID(20fa50) uilock state: 1 - 0
Wed Jan 26 11:48:44 Wills-iPhone kernel[0] [Debug]: AppleKeyStore:cp_key_store_action(1)
Wed Jan 26 11:48:44 Wills-iPhone kernel[0] [Debug]: AppleKeyStore:Sending lock change
Wed Jan 26 11:49:04 Wills-iPhone kernel[0] [Debug]: launchd[1139] Builtin profile: Weather (sandbox)
Wed Jan 26 11:49:05 Wills-iPhone configd[27] [Debug]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:UIAllowedNotifyCallback:70 uiallowed: true
Wed Jan 26 11:49:14 Wills-iPhone configd[27] [Debug]: CaptiveNetworkSupport:UIAllowedNotifyCallback:70 uiallowed: false

This is probably most useful for troubleshooting iOS problems, or for developers debugging their apps, but if you just like to see how things work you’ll have some fun with it as well.

Thanks for for the tip Adam!

DFU stands for Device Firmware Update, and Apple TV 2 has DFU mode like the iPhone does. This allows you to tweak and install firmware and is necessary for some of the hacks available to the device.

How to enter DFU mode on the Apple TV 2

Getting into DFU mode on the ATV2 is slightly different than other iOS hardware and requires the ATV2 remote control and a connection to your computer.

• Launch iTunes
• Connect the Apple TV 2 to your computer
• Using the Apple TV aluminum remote, hold down both the Menu and Down buttons for about 6 seconds until the device reboots
• After reboot, release both of the buttons, and then immediately press and hold the Menu and Play button together
• Continue holding until you see a message in iTunes saying an Apple TV in recovery mode has been detected

You will now be in DFU mode, where you can restore and update firmware.

Want some more Apple TV2 fun? Learn how to jailbreak and install XBMC on the Apple TV 2. If you just want to jailbreak without XBMC, check out Seas0nPass, it is very user friendly and one of the easiest jailbreak tools out there.

If you use Twitter to livestream news and events, this feature in the Twitter for Mac desktop app is a must use. Here’s how to enable the livestream:

• From the Twitter menu, open Preferences
• Click the checkbox next to “When new tweets arrive: Automatically scroll to top”
• Close Preferences

Now if you’re at the top of the twitter feed, updates will automatically appear in the feed and stream in live. It’s smart enough so that if you’re scrolling down in the feed to read older items, the feed will stay put.

This is one of those features that I think should be enabled by default, it’s too useful not to be. Combine this with enabling Growl notifications for the Mac Twitter client and you’ll find it easier than ever to stay on top of Tweets.

iPhone backups contain a surprising amount of personal data, from various account and service logins, to fully readable SMS conversations, anyone can easily dig around in the backups locally if they want to. For this reason, it’s a good idea keep these locally stored iPhone backup files encrypted.

How to Encrypt iPhone Backups

This sets encrypts and password protects your iOS backup files, and works the same in Mac OS X or Windows:

• Connect your iPhone to the computer and launch iTunes
• Select the iPhone in the iTunes sidebar, and under the “Summary” tab scroll down to ‘Options’
• Click the checkbox next to “Encrypt iPhone backup” which will bring up a screen to set an encrypted backup password

Do not forget this password! Without it you will not be able to access backed up data. Likewise, you will need to enter the password anytime you restore your iPhone from the backups.

For further securing your iPhone, don’t forget to set an access passcode. You can also take the passcode a step further by activating the “self-destruct” feature of iOS which will automatically erase all data on the device after multiple failed login attempts.

And yes, all of this applies to iPod touch and iPad as well.

This is starting to look like flashback week, first with the flickering retro Terminal app Cathode and now this absolutely ridiculous iPhone case that is made to resemble the giant block cellphones from the 80′s.

Is this thing hilarious or what? It’s not just photoshop either, here it is next to an Android:
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How about a bit of everything with an Apple logo? Here’s a full range of portable Macs and iProducts; an iPhone, iPad, MacBook 13″ (maybe Pro?), and a MacBook Pro 15″.

Perhaps the coolest thing about this setup is that you can sync the bluetooth keyboard and mouse to any of the devices.

This pictures is from Flickr, and if you browse through the users photostream you’ll see a *gasp* Google Nexus One phone too!