A questionable sounding permanent iPhone unlock has appeared on the scene, the service claims to offer a permanent unlock solution for iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 3G, without the need for jailbreaking.

How would this be possible? The $169 service apparently whitelists your iPhone IMEI number by manually adding them to Apple’s databases. How exactly they are doing that is in question, and that is precisely why this sounds like a questionable service. The potentially illicit method of unlocking your phone brings the legality into question, and we don’t recommend using it. Outside of the legal ambiguity, BGR notes that if someone is able to add an IMEI to a database, it would be just as easy to delete it and relock your iPhone. Furthermore, there is the looming question on how the service is accessing and editing Apple’s own databases.

If you’re unfamiliar, an iPhone unlock frees the device from the cellular carrier it was intended to be used on. Unlocking is a bit of a cat and mouse game, with holes being patched by Apple and the unlock community finding new methods around the carrier locks. Recently iOS 4.3.1 was unlocked with ultrasn0w 1.2.1 but it requires a user to jailbreak an iPhone with iOS 4.3.1 while preserving old baseband that remains compatible with prior versions of ultrasn0w. It’s not a particularly complex process, but it can be confusing to users who are less technically savvy.

If all of this sounds too complicated, the other alternative is to just buy an iPhone that comes unlocked to begin with, from a country like Canada. You’ll pay more upfront, but buying an unlocked phone prevents you from having to use software jailbreaks, carrier unlocks, or the (possibly unscrupulous) methods like CutYourSim’s offering. If you’re curious how the iPad fits into all of this, you’ll find the iPad 2 is sold unlocked as long as you purchase the 3G GSM model.

CutYourSim‘s service was verified to work by BGR, but again, we do not recommend using this service at this time. If more information comes available and the service is found to be legal, it may be a viable alternative to the jailbreak/ultrasnow method.

Using the powerful ‘networksetup’ utility, we can connect to wireless networks directly from the command line of Mac OS X. The syntax you’ll want to use to accomplish joining a network is as follows:

networksetup -setairportnetwork [interface] [router SSID] [password]

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This video may provide a good look at how 3D graphics will first make an appearance on the iPad and iPhone. The best part? No funky glasses are required.

When first watching the video, I assumed it was based on the accelerometer like some 3d jailbreak UI tweaks, but instead it’s tracking movement with the iPad 2’s front facing camera. The video and 3D demo was created by the EHCI Research Group at Grenoble Informatics Laboratory, who further describes the technology:
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When I first saw these iPad paintings from UK artist Kyle Lambert, I found it hard to believe they were created entirely on an iPad using the Brushes app (App Store link) and just a finger as the input method. It’s pretty crazy to watch these paintings come together, here’s a video showing the creation of the above Toy Story 3 image:
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If you’d prefer to use a web browser other than Safari as the default on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can do so with a simple utility called BrowserChanger. The tweak lets you set any of the alternate web browsers as the iOS default, allowing any link to launch directly in something like SkyFire rather than copying and pasting the URL manually.

Now before everyone gets too excited, notice that BrowserChanger requires a jailbreak to install. Jailbreaks are easy to perform and just as easy to undo, but it does add an additional layer of complexity for the average user.

BrowserChanger is a free download from Cydia, search for it in the ModMyi repository. You’ll find there are also options to apply the default browser change to Google Maps and YouTube.
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More fun with SSH! We showed you how to setup SSH config files and use tab completion for SSH aliases, but setting up bash aliases is even easier if you are connecting to the same server over and over again.

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PwnageTool 4.3 provides an untethered jailbreak for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPod Touch 4G, iPod touch 3G, iPad, and Apple TV 2, all running iOS 4.3.1.

This guide is geared towards jailbreaking iOS 4.3.1 on iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS because PwnageTool is able to preserve baseband for iPhone carrier unlocks. If you are simply looking for a jailbreak and do not need to use an unlock, you will find jailbreaking iOS 4.3.1 using redsn0w is easier.

How to Jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 using PwnageTool

PwnageTool 4.3 allows you to jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 while preserving unlocked iPhone baseband. This guide assumes you have not upgraded the iPhone to iOS 4.3.1 yet:

1. Download PwnageTool 4.3
2. Download iOS 4.3.1 firmware
3. Launch PwnageTool 4.3
4. Select the “Expert mode” button at the top
5. Select “iPhone” from the PwnageTool menu
6. Click the Next button, then browse and select the iOS 4.3.1 firmware you downloaded earlier, click Next again
7. Click on “General”
8. Important for unlockers: Check “Activate the phone” if you rely on iPhone unlock, this is not necessary for official carrier use
9. For now, ignore the Cydia package installations and click next
10. From “Custom package settings” select to install “Cydia” by checking it, click next, then click “Build” to create a custom IPSW file
11. Save this custom IPSW file to your desktop or another place you can easily find it, this is what you will restore to for jailbreaking your iPhone
12. After the custom IPSW is built, you will be asked to connect your iPhone to the computer to enter into DFU mode
13. Plug in your iPhone and follow the instructions for DFU mode: Hold Power + Home for 10 seconds, release power but continue to hold Home for 10 seconds. PwnageTool will notify you when it has detected your iPhone in DFU mode
14. Now launch iTunes
15. iTunes will notify you that it has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. Option click on the “Restore” button within iTunes to bring up the firmware restoration option
16. Select the custom IPSW file that you created with PwnageTool
17. iTunes will now restore the iPhone to the PwnageTool jailbroken IPSW firmware, this may take a few minutes

When iTunes is finished, the iPhone will boot into a jailbroken iOS 4.3.1. You can verify the jailbreak worked by looking the Cydia icon on your iOS homescreen.

If you completed the jailbreak properly, your baseband will also have been preserved allowing you to unlock iPhone 4 or 3GS running iOS 4.3.1 using ultrasn0w 1.2.1. Installing the ultrasn0w carrier unlock is simple, but you must have iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS on baseband 01.59.00, 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, and 06.15.00 in order to work.

A new version of the Ultrasn0w iPhone carrier unlock utility has been released with iOS 4.3.1 support.

Note ultrasn0w 1.2.1 is not a new unlock and it will not unlock new baseband, but it does allow you to maintain your carrier unlock while upgrading to jailbroken iOS 4.3.1 using PwnageTool or Sn0wbreeze to preserve baseband.

UltraSn0w 1.2.1 will unlock iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 on baseband 01.59.00, 04.26.08, 05.11.07, 05.12.01, 05.13.04, and 06.15.00, you can check your iPhone baseband from Settings > General > About. Any baseband outside of these versions is not currently unlockable.

Download & Install Ultrasn0w Unlock for iOS 4.3.1

Mac users will need to download PwnageTool 4.3.1, iOS 4.3.1 firmware, and jailbreak the iPhone iOS 4.3.1 using PwnageTool to preserve their existing baseband. Windows users can do this with Sn0wbreeze.

After you have upgraded to iOS 4.3.1 with preserved baseband, here’s how to download and install ultrasn0w 1.2.1:

• Launch Cydia
• Tap on “Manage”
• Tap on “Sources”
• Tap “Edit”
• Select “Add”
• Enter the following repository: http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com
• Tap on “Add Source”
• Cydia will add the source repo, now search for “ultrasn0w 1.2.1” and download and install the unlock
• After ultrasn0w 1.2.1 has been installed, restart your iPhone

Your iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS with preserved baseband will now be unlocked with iOS 4.3.1.

You can quickly launch a new styled Terminal window through the apps Mac OS X Dock icon. Just right-click (two-finger click for trackpad users) on the Terminal app, navigate to “New Window” select a preconfigured style.
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Using curl and pbcopy, we can quickly grab and copy HTML and CSS code from any URL via the command line. This should be a helpful tip for the web developers out there, but for anyone looking to check the source of a web page through this can be an invaluable little trick.
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Redsn0w 0.9.6rc12 jailbreak tool has been released for download by the Dev Team. RC12 is a minor release that aims to fix any remaining issues with optional boot animations.

Like the past few releases, Redsnow RC12 jailbreaks iOS 4.3.1 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM, iPad 1, iPod touch 3rd gen, iPod touch 4th gen, and Apple TV 2. For a walkthrough, read how to jailbreak iOS 4.3.1 using redsn0w, the guide remains the same for all redsn0w 4.3.1 jailbreaks.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.6rc12

Click link to start the download:

• Download Now (Mac)
• Download Now (Windows)

You can also download iOS 4.3.1 if you need it.

Users of ultrasn0w carrier unlocks should continue to avoid redsn0w and wait until a new compatible version is released. The iPhone 4 CDMA model and iPad 2 continue to be unsupported by this release, but a jailbreak for those devices is under works.

If you want to change the universal equalizer in iTunes for your entire music library and all songs in it, the incredibly adjustable iTunes Equalizer Settings can be accessed quickly in one of two ways:

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Here’s a nice Mac setup that features a MacBook Pro 15″ with a matte display connected to an Apple Cinema Display. To the left you’ll see an iPhone and a MacBook Air 11″ tucked into a BookArc stand. Personally, I’d have the MacBook Air open too and use the extra real estate while sharing the keyboard and mouse, you can do this with two apps; Teleport or Synergy.

Picture from Flickr

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Developer Previews 1 and 2 currently do not install on older Macs with unsupported Core Duo and Core Solo hardware, but by performing a simple hack you can get these machines to boot Lion.

Apparently the only thing preventing Lion from working on these 32-bit Macs is a single file that is easily removed, located here in a Lion installation:

/System/Library/CoreServices/PlatformSupport.plist

The file is hidden, but you can show hidden files with a defaults write command or just the Terminal with “ls -a” command.

All you have to do is install Mac OS X Lion on a Core 2 Duo machine and move the installation to a Core Duo or Core Solo machine, then delete the PlatformSupport.plist file. This at least works with the first Developer Preview, although some MacRumors forum members note problems booting with Dev Preview 2.
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Last week we posted the newest version of the Fuji Mountain default wallpaper from Lion Developer Preview 2. If you haven’t seen it yet, I described it as a “rather large 3200×2000 pixels” and I didn’t think much of it beyond that.

However, one of our readers noticed 3200×2000 pixels is significantly larger than any existing resolution offered by Apple displays, including the 27″ and 30″ Apple Cinema Displays. Furthermore, the default wallpaper size in Mac OS X 10.6 is 2560×1600, which is exactly the maximum resolution of Apple’s 30″ Cinema Display. Is it just coincidence that Apple is bundling an ultra high resolution image in Lion as the new default wallpaper, or does this suggest that higher resolution Macs, possibly with retina displays, are coming sometime in the future?

To help answer that question, here’s a nice chart that reader Jeff Smith put together that shows what screen size at what viewing distance with that resolution would be considered a retina display:

Jeff Smith elaborates:

Notice that even for the closest viewing distance of 18 inches, a 3200 x 2000 resolution represents a Retina Display for display sizes up to and including 17 inches. And of course, that covers the entire range of Apple laptops on the market today.

And smaller displays wouldn’t need a resolution that high to be considered retina:

A 13.3” MacBook Air, for example, would need a screen providing approximately 2200 x 1375 pixels (191 dpi) to be considered a Retina Display at an 18-inch viewing distance.

Other than providing dramatically improved display clarity on a Mac, the other reason a Mac with a 3200×2000 pixel resolution makes sense is for iOS developers. So what does this have to do with iPad 3? Quoting from a February rumor about iPad 3:

… according to an analyst cited by AppleInsider, the high resolution retina display will come to iPad 3 in the form of a whopping 2048×1536 resolution display. If this happens, you’d expect similar displays to come to the Mac platform so that developers can accurately produce and test apps for the ultrahigh resolution.

Indeed, 3200×2000 would be such an ultrahigh resolution for a Mac, and it would be more than adequate to develop for a 2048×1536 pixel iPad 3 display.

Sure, this is speculation based on a new wallpaper in a developer preview OS, but I think Jeff is onto something here. If you want to learn more about this, check out Jeff’s full post on the matter, it’s a great read.

With the help of the iPad Camera Connection Kit, you can fool your iPad into thinking a connected USB flash drive is a camera or SD card, this lets you pull pictures from the device and onto your iPad. Cool huh?

Here’s how to do this:

• Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac
• Create a folder in the root directory of the Flash Drive called “DCIM”
• Drop the images you want to transfer from the USB key to the iPad into that DCIM directory
• Plug the USB flash drive into your iPad via the Camera Connection Kit
• You can now access the photos from the iPad as usual!

This idea comes from 52Tiger, who notes this is a good way to move images to the iPad from a Mac that the iPad isn’t synced to. Apparently his iPad refused to recognize an 8GB USB flash drive due to insufficient power to operate the usb key, so keep this in mind if you are running into any troubles.

52Tiger is on a roll recently with iPad camera connection kit hacks, like connecting an old ADB keyboard to the iPad for some retro typing awesomeness.

A new patent shows that Apple may be working on a hybrid e-Paper and LCD display for iPad and iPhone that can switch between the two screens as needed. The patent details a multilayered screen where the entire display or just portions of it could change to offer either the incredible detail of e-Ink (a la Kindle) for text, or the LCD display for standard use.

PatentlyApple describes the feature as “a next generation iPhone that would effectively offer us a smart hybrid display that could switch between a standard LCD and an e-Paper display. In fact, it’s so smart that the display could actually subdivide itself into quadrants that could intelligently switch display types depending on the content that the user is running.”

If you have ever seen text on an Amazon Kindle, it looks extremely crisp. You can see the difference between the iPad display and Kindle screen when zoomed in at 26x here:

It’s not hard to imagine why a hybrid e-Ink & LCD display would be a huge win for future iOS devices. Paired with another recent patent that shows Apple may be bringing Thunderbolt to iPhone and iPad, the future of the iOS lineup is looking very impressive.

You can see more pictures and read more about the patent at PatentlyApple.

This may or may not mean anything, but one of our readers sent in a tip that you get an interesting error message when trying to launch an iOS app in Mac OS X Lion:

“You can’t open this application (App name) because it is not supported on this type of Mac”

Does this suggest “this type of Mac” isn’t supported but another might be? Who knows, I found this fascinating in lieu of iMac Touch and similar iOS & Mac OS X hybrid patents, but don’t read too much into it.

I tried this myself in Mac OS X 10.6 and got the same message, as you can see in the screenshot above. You can do this too by accessing iOS apps from Mac OS X, after you extract the .zip file just open Payload and launch the .app file to receive the message.