iOS 5.1.1 was just released by Apple and believe it or not has already been jailbroken for some A4 devices. The jailbreak remains tethered, for the uninitiated that means each time the iOS device is rebooted it will need to connect to a computer and boot with the assistance of redsn0w.

Compatibility for this jailbreak includes iOS 5.1.1 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th gen. The iPad 2, iPhone 4S, or iPad 3 are not yet supported.

How to Jailbreak iOS 5.1.1 with Redsn0w

As with any jailbreak, be sure to backup before proceeding.

1. Download Redsn0w 0.9.10b8b (Mac OS X, Windows)
2. Upgrade to iOS 5.1.1 either by OTA update, iTunes, or by manually installing through IPSW
3. Download iOS 5.1 IPSW for the device you are using and save it somewhere easy to find, yes download the older version of iOS despite upgrading to iOS 5.1.1
4. Launch Redsn0w and click on “Extras”
5. Click on “Select IPSW” and locate the iOS 5.1 IPSW you just downloaded
6. Click “Back” and then click on “Jailbreak”
7. Follow on-screen instructions to enter into DFU mode
8. Let Redsn0w run and install the jailbreak, the iOS device will eventually reboot and look for the Cydia icon to confirm the jailbreak has worked

The need to select older IPSW will likely be eliminated in an upcoming release of redsn0w, but for the time being it remains necessary.

Remember to boot tethered every time you the device turns on and off, that is done by launching Redsn0w, selecting “Extras” and choosing “Just Boot” from the options.

iOS 5.1.1 has been released for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, the software update comes as build 9B206 and includes a variety of bug fixes including an HDR photo issue, improved AirPlay, iPad network switching, an iTunes store fix, and improvements to Safari reading list syncing. The official changelog is listed below, and the software update is recommended to install for all iOS users.

Updating to iOS 5.1.1

The two simplest methods to update to iOS 5.1.1 are either through iTunes update or on the iOS device itself through OTA updates. Connect the iOS device to iTunes and install the update when prompted, or on the iOS device tap on “Settings” then “General” and then “Software Update”. For the bandwidth conscious, the OTA update on device is the leanest, with the update weighing in around 45MB.

Download iOS 5.1.1 IPSW Directly

These are direct download links to firmware files hosted by Apple, right-click and “Save As” for best results. The file extension should be .ipsw and nothing else, using IPSW files is easy but for most users it’s recommended to download through iTunes or the iOS device.

• iPad 1
• iPad 2 Wi-Fi
• iPad 2 GSM (ATT)
• iPad 2 CDMA (Verizon)
• iPad 2,4 (New iPad 2)
• iPad 3 Wi-Fi
• iPad 3 GSM
• iPad 3 CDMA
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPhone 4S
• iPod touch 3rd gen
• iPod touch 4th gen

Separately, iOS 5.0.1 for Apple TV has been released:

• Apple TV 3rd gen
• Apple TV 2nd gen

Note the ISPW files are significantly larger than the delta updates available through OTA software update, and are generally best used by advanced users.

iOS 5.1.1 Changelog

Courtesy of Apple:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For those of us who will probably never work at Apple, this little inspirational new-hire note gives some insight into the company culture and philosophy. Apparently this greets all new employees upon their first day with the company, it reads:

There’s work and there’s your life’s work.

The kind of work that has your fingerprints all over it. The kind of work that you’d never compromise on. That you’d sacrifice a weekend for. You can do that kind of work at Apple. People don’t come here to play it safe. They come to swim in the deep end.

They want their work to add up to something.

Something big. Something that couldn’t happen anywhere else.

 Welcome to Apple.

The message is clearly inspiring while also demonstrating the demanding nature of work at Apple, which helps to explain why their products are so refined and ultimately enjoyable for all of us to use.

This was found on HackerNews, which has a mostly negative response to the note. What do you think, good or bad?

If you’re working at the command line and need to quickly empty the contents of a file, throw a greater than symbol and a space in front of the filename like so:

> filename

All content within the target file will be immediately removed without warning, leaving it blank while retaining the files existence, filename, and permissions. This is often preferable and quicker than manually deleting and recreating a file.

A good practical example is for clearing out the contents of log files, for example:

> ~/Library/Logs/updates.log

You can also use this command to create a new 0 byte file at the location, similar to using the touch command.

Safari for iOS includes an optional debug console to help web developers track down and resolve issues with webpages while on the go. While not as in inclusive as the desktop Safari debug and developer tools, it’s still useful and is easy to enable or disable on the iPhone and iPad:

1. Launch “Settings” and tap on “Safari”
2. Tap on “Advanced”
3. Slide “Debug Console” to ON

Once enabled, tap on the Debug Console at the top of any Safari screen to see web page errors. The default list shows all errors, but you can drill down to more specific HTML, JavaScript, and CSS errors by tapping them individually.

Another useful tool for mobile web developers is Firebug Lite for iOS, which utilizes a javascript bookmarklet to load a simpler version of the popular Firebug development tool.

If you’re concerned about the file size of images you should grab ImageOptim, a free image compression tool that is drag & drop simple. Store the app in the Dock and toss a single picture or group of images onto the app and they will immediately be compressed without reducing much image quality by finding optimum compression parameters and stripping color profile information and other metadata from the files.

On average the image size savings are about 15-35%, making it a very useful tool for web designers, developers, publishers, bloggers, app developers, or anyone else that wants to reduce image file size and bandwidth requirements. ImageOptim works great for PNG, JPEG, and even GIF animation.

• Grab ImageOptim from the developer (free)

For command line users, use the “open” command to pass wildcards to ImageOptim for easy scripting and bulk image compression like so:

open -a ImageOptim.app ~/Pictures/SaveToWeb/*.jpg

There is also a separate system service available to download that lets you right-click on images to compress them directly from the OS X Finder.

Great find from @MacGeekPro on Twitter, don’t forget to follow @OSXDaily too!

The OS X task management tool Activity Monitor includes an excellent and little known feature that lets you see precisely what files, ports, and IP’s are being interacted with by any single process or application. Here is how to use it:

1. Launch Activity Monitor, found in /Applications/Utilities/
2. Double-click on the process or application name you want to see open files and ports for
3. Click the “Open Files and Ports” tab

The list is scrollable and shows full paths to all files that are being interacted with by the application/process. Much of the data will be unfamiliar to many users, with obscure system files, caches, and plists being accessed, but you’ll also find paths that are easy to identify which can be helpful in resolving system conflicts and troubleshooting certain problems. Similar filesystem access data can be provided with the command line tool opensnoop, but for most Mac users the GUI Activity Monitor will be more friendly to their needs.

Ports are identified as numbers, and you’ll also be able to see the IP’s of any active internet or network connections that have been opened by the application. The data is presented a little rough, if you want an easier to browse version of open network connections take a look at the free GUI tool PrivateEye. IP and port data can also be uncovered through the command line tool lsof if you’re more technically inclined.

Anytime I schedule anything particularly important I use iCal alerts to remind me of the event. But I really only want to receive the alarm on my iPhone which is the device I have with me all the time, rather than coming home and opening my MacBook screen to an outdated alert from earlier in the day. The solution for this is to disable all iCal alerts in Mac OS X, which will not impact the alarms on other synced iOS devices:

• From iCal, pull down the iCal menu and choose “Preferences”
• Click the “Advanced” tab and check the box next to “Turn off all alerts”

Close out of Preferences and the next time an alarm is scheduled to go off it won’t happen on the Mac. This is also a helpful setting to adjust for auxiliary Macs that have iCloud configured where you want access to the Calendar data but don’t want to be annoyed with the popup alarm.

This awesome Mac setup shot was sent in all on its lonesome with very little information, but as you can see it’s a great looking setup so it’s worth a post anyway. Here’s what I can identify in the picture:

• MacBook Air 13″ running the iTunes Screensaver
• White iPad
• White iPhone 4
• Apple Cinema 27″ display
• Third party (Dell?) 27″ display
• Auxiliary 17″ display
• AudioEngine speakers?
• Magic Mouse and Apple wireless keyboard

It doesn’t look like the MacBook Air is driving all three displays, so presumably there is a Mac Pro or Mac Mini somewhere under the desk, and the screen on the far left looks more like a Linux desktop than Mac OS X so there’s probably a PC somewhere in the mix too. A bit of a mystery, but it’s pleasant to look at so thanks to Michael H for sending this in!

Got some great pictures of your Mac setup? Send them in to osxdailycom@gmail.com, include a brief mention of what you use it for and the hardware shown.

Without using iCloud, the iPhone, iPad, and iPod backups can take up a lot of local disk space on a computer. If you’ve moved the iPhone/iPad to sync with a new computer, sold an iOS device, or just want to potentially free up some disk space, you can easily delete these backups directly from iTunes.

1. Launch iTunes and open iTunes Preferences
2. Click the “Devices” tab to find the backup list
3. Select the backup(s) you wish to delete and click “Delete Backup”

This only removes the backups that are stored locally on the computer and it will not impact iCloud backups, which won’t even show up in the list. It’s generally a good idea to leave the most recent backup intact, in the event you need to restore and don’t have fast internet access.

Only do this if you have a recent backup available somewhere. You can make a quick manual iCloud backup directly on the iOS device itself or sync it with iTunes.