The latest version of iOS 5.1 is already jailbroken thanks to the iPhone Dev Team’s newest release of Redsn0w. The jailbreak is tethered however, meaning that each time the iOS device is rebooted it will need to be connected to a computer running redsn0w for boot assistance. iBooks doesn’t yet work either, but an update is expected to resolve that issue shortly. If neither of these two things bother you, grab the jailbreak and enjoy.

Redsn0w 0.9.10b6 works with the following devices running iOS 5.1: iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 CDMA & GSM, iPod touch 2nd, 3rd, & 4th gen, iPad 1. Not supported are any A5 based hardware, including iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and iPad 3.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.10b6

• Download now (Mac)
• Download now (Windows)

For those jailbreaking from a Windows machine, remember to run Redsn0w in administrator mode in order to work properly.

If you like watching Apple keynotes and you want to see a presentation on the iPad 3, you don’t want to miss the March 7 2012 event video. Because who better to show you the new iPad 3 and Apple TV 3 than Apple themselves?

Read more »

Alongside the new iPad, Apple has started to air a new TV commercial for the device. The ad focuses on the iPads new Retina display, which by all accounts is simply gorgeous in person. Text of the commercial is as follows:

“When a screen becomes this good, colors are more vibrant, words are pin sharp, everything is more brilliant. Because when a screen becomes this good, it’s simply you and the things you care about. The stunning retina display, on the new iPad.”

The resolution of the new iPads display is 2048×1536, twice that of it’s predecessor. The screen is also said to have better color reproduction and improved saturation.

You can pre-order the new iPad right now, the release date is set for March 16.

iTunes 10.6 has been released alongside iOS 5.1. The update includes 1080P support for movies and TV shows downloaded from iTunes Store, but otherwise is fairly minor and includes several bug fixes and improves song matching and how album art is handled.

You can grab the 10.6 update directly from Apple at the link below, through Software Update, or through iTunes itself.

• Download iTunes from Apple

If you intend on performing a manual iOS 5.1 installation through firmware, you’ll want to download iTunes 10.6 beforehand as well.

iOS 5.1 has been released, alongside the new iPad 3 and new Apple TV. The update brings a variety of new features and bug fixes to iOS including the ability to delete images from Photo Stream, camera shortcut visible by default on lock screen, improved camera face detection, Japanese language support for Siri, genius mixes for iTunes Match, updated AT&T network indicator, improved battery life, and more.

You can get the iOS 5.1 software update directly on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch by using OTA Update, otherwise you can update through iTunes or by downloading the IPSW and performing a manual upgrade.

We have included links to the firmware files below, they are hosted by Apple.
Read more »

The all new iPad (iPad 3?) has just been announced, and pre-orders start now March 7!

The actual release date is March 16, and you can expect the traditionally giant lines and sell-outs as usual. because of this, pre-ordering is highly recommended if you don’t want to wait in lines at Apple Stores, or deal with the inevitable supply deficits that have occurred with every major new iOS product launch.

You can now pre-order on Apple’s Online Store, either directly on the website or through the mobile app. If you’re having problems checking out through store.apple.com, download the free Apple Store app from iTunes and check out there instead.

It should be noted that the March 16 release date is for the USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia.

International customers will get the new iPad on March 23, including the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Puertostan, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

Also available for order today is the new Apple TV 3 with 1080p, that device will also ship next week and has the same release date.

Thanks to Engadget live stream for the latter images

The new iPad has been announced by Apple! As expected, it has an amazing retina display, a big performance boost, and a new model with high-speed 4G LTE capabilities alongside the standard Wi-Fi fare. Here are some more details of the latest iPad:

iPad 3 Features & Specs

Here is what we know about the next iPad:

• Retina display, with a resolution of 2048×1536, 3.1 million pixels at 264ppi
• A5X Processor, quad-core graphics
• 1GB of RAM
• 5 megapixel iSight camera
• 1080p video recording
• Voice dictation, similar to Siri without the questions
• 3G & 4G LTE connectivity
• 10 hour battery life, 9 hour battery on 4G
• 9.4mm thick, weighs 1.4lbs
• Pre-orders start TODAY, available on March 16
• iOS 5.1

4G support comes to both Verizon and AT&T. Outside of the USA, 4G LTE will also be offered on Rogers, Bell, and Telus initially, presumably with more carriers to come down the road. The iPad can also be used as a personal hotspot with it’s 4G speeds, although the price of that varies per carrier.

New iPad 3 Prices

Both black & white models will be available, as usual:

New iPad with Wi-Fi Prices

• 16GB Wi-Fi – $499
• 32GB Wi-Fi – $599
• 64GB Wi-Fi – $699

New iPad with 4G LTE Prices

• 16GB 4G LTE – $629
• 32GB 4G LTE – $729
• 64GB 4G LTE – $829

(Officially, the new iPad is called “iPad” and referred to as the “3rd generation” model, but many people will call it iPad 3 anyway.)

Apple announced a new Apple TV today, physically the device looks the same as the old version, but that’s where most of the similarities end. The new Apple TV is more powerful, and boasts 1080p output, and includes a completely redesigned UI with iCloud integration.

Here’s what we know so far:

• All new user interface, looks more like iOS
• 1080p output
• Single Core A5 Processor
• Supports iCloud movies
• Connected to iCloud, including Photo Stream, iTunes, Netflix etc
• $99
• Shipping starts March 7

Read more »

The next time you’re reading a web page that you want to share with someone else through email, just hit Command+Shift+I while viewing that website. A new email draft will open in the default email application, with the web pages title as the message subject, and the URL contained within the message body.

The keyboard shortcut works in Safari and Chrome only, and will open the new email draft in Mail by default. If you have Gmail set as your default email client that will open in a new window instead.

What happens when you merge classic Super Mario Bros with the modern classic Portal? It’s hectic, it’s a ton of fun, it’s Mari0. Basically you get old school Mario re-imagined with a portal gun and a variety of Portal puzzles and mechanics. There’s also an insane four player co-op mode, level editor, and downloadable third party map packs.

Read more »

You probably know by now that you can get album art from iTunes via the Advanced menu. That will fill in most missing album covers, but bands that don’t sell their music through iTunes or music downloaded from Soundcloud and blogs often don’t have any artwork attached. In this case you can manually add artwork yourself to either an album or group of songs:

1. Find the intended artwork using Google Images or Bing Images search, generally adding an ‘album’ suffix to the search will find what you’re looking for instantly, save it somewhere like the desktop so it’s easy to retrieve
2. Launch iTunes and select the album or group of songs you want to add artwork for, right-click on that group and choose “Get Info”



3. Mark the checkbox next to “Artwork” and drag and drop the album artwork image you found earlier onto the box



4. Click “OK” to process the songs album artwork

To add a single piece of artwork to a large group of songs or albums, it’s helpful to use the iTunes search feature and then selecting all. You can always unselect certain songs in a large group by holding down the Command key and clicking on them manually, anything not selected won’t be updated. Remember to check Apple’s album cover art servers before going alone, simply because it’s easier.

Any artwork added will sync to an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch the next time such a device is connected, and will also appear as the Dock icon if you replaced it with DockArt.

The next iPad may be released to the public on Friday, March 16, just 9 days after the products launch. It remains unclear whether pre-orders will be possible before then.

This information comes to us from 9to5mac, who cites a reliable source within Apple Stores who noted that significant preparations are being made for an event on that date. Additionally, two new Apple Stores are expected to open ahead of schedule on the same Friday, providing further evidence of a meaningful Apple event occurring that day.

iPad 3 is anticipated to have a high resolution retina display, much faster processors, improved graphics capabilities, and 4G LTE connectivity. Pricing should be the same as existing iPad models, starting at $499 and going up incrementally from there.

There is some question regarding the actual name of the device, with some rumors surfacing yesterday that the next generation iPad may in fact be called “iPad HD” rather than “iPad 3”, though the naming convention is largely irrelevant beyond marketing of the device and is not expected to have any impact on the feature set.

Stay tuned, we’ll know more tomorrow.

Want to quickly track a shipment from iOS or iPadOS? The iPhone and iPad can automatically detect tracking numbers from shipments and packages that are found in emails, notes, and messages, and the data detection then turns those tracking numbers into clickable links to help you instantly track a package or shipment. This is usable on any iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, and is extremely helpful if you’re keeping an eye on deliveries or shipments.

Read more »

Apple has released a supplemental update to Mac OS X 10.7.3 to address a potential issue with restoring from Time Machine backups.

The update can be found from Software Update via the  Apple menu or downloaded directly from Apple. Installing the update does not require a reboot.

Despite being a minor update, it is good maintenance practice to keep Mac OS X software up to date and it’s recommended to download for all OS X Lion users who rely on Time Machine for backing up their Macs.

Remember the old flip phones? Of course you do, they were huge and ugly and half of them wouldn’t fit in a pocket even when folded up, but oh were they cutting edge in 1998.

Soon you’ll be able to have that same terrible user experience with the iPhone. From the company who brought you the ridiculous 80’s block iPhone case comes a late 1990’s early 2000’s giant flip-phone case for the iPhone. It’s both hideous and hilarious, and it will certainly be popular in that laughably retro stupid way.

Unfortunately it’s not available quite yet, we’ll all have to wait until later in the year to grab the flip case for about $24, so put it on your Christmas list.
Read more »

If you have attempted to partition a drive from Mac OS X and received a “Partition failed” message with the error “Couldn’t modify partition map because file system verification failed.” you can fix the problem with the file system check command line utility.

To issue the file system check and repair function properly, you’ll need to boot into Single User Mode as well. This walkthrough will demonstrate the necessary steps to resolve the partition failed error by running a file system command from Mac Single User mode.

Read more »

The Messages app for Mac keeps track of all chat history through iMessage and SMS, providing you with a lengthy record of conversations in an easily reviewable and scrollable chat log. Unlike iOS, there isn’t an in-app method to delete the chat history in Mac OS X, and though you can close a window it doesn’t necessarily remove all data, logs, caches, or associations with a specific chat, and those caches are still stored on the Mac.

Instead, if you wish to clear out the chat log history in Messages app for Mac OS X, you will have to turn to the Finder or command line if you want to trash your message history on the Mac. This is not difficult, it’s just a matter of removing a few files as detailed below.

Read more »

Macs are notoriously trouble-free and easy to maintain, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore system maintenance entirely. Here are four simple Mac maintenance tips that will help you keep your Mac in tip-top shape, running at its best.

Read more »