Update 12/1/2010: iOS 4.2 download has been released and you can now unlock and jailbreak the iPhone on iOS 4.2 by downloading redsn0w 0.9.6b5. This is either a tethered or untethered jailbreak depending on your iPhone.

With the release of iOS 4.2 imminent, the iPhone Dev Team has posted an update regarding the status of jailbreaking and unlocking the new version of iOS.

The message is this: if you want to unlock or jailbreak your iPhone you should avoid the iOS 4.2 update until the Dev Team has sorted through the release.

Here’s the takeaway from the Dev Team blog post:

• All devices on all iOS firmware can be jailbroken
• Jailbreakers should wait to update to iOS 4.2 until there are new releases of Cydia, PwnageTool, etc
• Unlocked iPhone owners should not update initially, stay where you are to preserve unlock
• NOT all iOS firmware on all devices are capable of being unlocked
• There are currently no unlocks for iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2, but it’s being worked on
• iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS will have an unlock available first, but avoid the iOS 4.2 update initially until the Dev Team clears the release.

We do know that redsn0w is capable of jailbreaking iOS 4.2 if the 4.1 IPSW file is used, but unless you are committed to being on the bleeding edge, it’s best to wait for further instructions from the jailbreak community.

In the meantime, iPhone unlockers can save their SHSH blobs to be safe.

You can read the notes from the Dev Team here, scroll down to “Update 2” since it’s just an old post that has been edited.

Do you want to generate a random MAC address? That’s no problem with this neat openssl tip sent in by one of our readers, and you can run the command once or multiple times to generate a randomized MAC address instantly on each execution. This command will work to randomize MAC addresses in in Mac OS X, Linux, and just about anything else with openssl and sed installed.

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Time Machine is a very convenient backup solution for Mac users, but typically requires an external drive to backup to. If you’ve got a network with an extra Windows or Linux PC hanging around with tons of disk space, you can get Time Machine to backup to that computers excess disk space instead of an external drive hooked to your Mac.

The first thing you’ll need to do is enable Time Machine to back up to network drives and unsupported volumes with this defaults command in OS X. After that, if you want to actively back up to a networked Windows drive or Linux computer, you’ll need to mount the remote network volume and choose it as the Time Machine destination.

If you have never done those latter steps before, then our friends at lifehacker have a nice walkthrough detailing this process in full. If you follow the guide to finish, your Mac will automatically look for and mount a Windows or Linux shared drive and then back up to it using Time Machine. Check out the walkthrough on LifeHacker for more details.

This is a great tip for anyone with a few PC’s hanging around.

In case you missed last weeks RAM upgrade deal, here are more great prices for 8GB and 4GB kits. It looks like both of these deals expire on the 10th (tomorrow) so if you’re looking for cheap memory upgrades, this is a good time to buy.

8GB (2×4GB) Kingston Apple Kit for $119.95 with free shipping at Buy.com

The upgrade works for any Mac that allows 8GB of RAM of the following type: PC3-8500 DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM. This includes the new Mac Mini, iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro 13″, MacBook Pro 15″, and MacBook Pro 17″ models.

Update: The price of the 8GB chip went up to $139, it may be cheaper to buy the same kit from Amazon.

If you’re on a machine with 2GB of RAM, you can also grab a great deal on a 4GB upgrade:

4GB (2×2GB) Kingston Apple Kit for $57.95 with free shipping at Buy.com

The 4GB upgrade is the same kind of RAM as the 8GB kit, and should work on the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook, and MacBook Pro.

As always, make sure your Mac can accept the memory upgrades as well as the amount of RAM you’re buying. If you’re not sure if a RAM upgrade would benefit you, learn how to know if your Mac needs more memory.

Verizon is now airing an iPad commercial that features the device paired up with a Verizon MiFi mobile hotspot. The iPad offered through Verizon is not the 3G model, so you have to get a MiFi hotspot instead. Of course this has it’s advantages, considering you can hook up any other device to the MiFi hotspot as well. I don’t think the TV ad is quite as catchy as the Apple crafted iPad commercial with it’s funky song, but it’s a decent start.

You can watch the full commercial below:
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I know you’ve always thought to yourself, wouldn’t it be great if my Mac could see me songs? Or wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could make someone elses Mac sing songs? Well, you’re going to be thrilled to discover that, yes, your Mac can actually sing, thanks to the text-to-speech engine and the intonation of some of the built in voices bundled with Mac OS X.

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Every once in a while you’ll come across a song or video on the web that you just can’t find anywhere else. Maybe it’s a remix, maybe it’s an interview you want to listen to, whatever it is, you can easily convert that web video’s audio track to an MP3 file, which can then go onto your iPod or iPhone. Here’s how to convert any video to an mp3 file for free.

How to Convert Video to MP3

We’re going to download and use a free third party tool to accomplish the conversion.

• Download and launch Evom from here (it’s a free download)
• Allow Evom to download the necessary codec files so conversions can take place
• Once Evom is loaded, drag and drop the URL you want converted into the app
• Select “Save as audio only (mp3)

• Click on “Convert”
• Give Evom a few minutes to download the video and convert it to MP3

When Evom is finished, the newly converted mp3 file will appear in your iTunes playlist.

That’s really all there is to it, it’s very easy. You’ll probably want to edit the files info to make it properly appear within iTunes, by default the track title starts with the URL name. You can also just copy and paste songs into the the app to convert them, but I found a lot of videos were reported as ‘Not found’ when using copy and paste, so I would recommend dragging and dropping the URL into the app instead.

Bluetooth is great since it allows for anyone to wirelessly sync hardware together. It’s typically turned off by default in iOS, so you’ll want to turn it on first if you intend to use the Bluetooth connectivity options.

On the other hand, if you don’t use bluetooth on your iPhone or iPad there’s little reason to keep it turned on, because having it on and discoverable can needlessly reduce your iPhone battery life while it searches out for bluetooth devices that don’t exist or that you just don’t want to connect to at all. In that case, save your battery life and disable it when not in use.
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If you’re interested in iOS development or hacking, you should find this of particular interest. Key parts of the Greenpois0n jailbreak have been made open source under the GNU Public License by the iPhone Dev Team. This means that anyone can download, view, and modify the source code on their own. The released code is called ‘syringe’ and described as follows:

Syringe is the “Injector” module from GreenPois0n. It’s used for sending exploits to the device and booting the device out of recovery mode, and into a jailbroken state, whether to a ramdisk or to the main filesystem.

If you’re interested in poking around the Greenpois0n source, you can access it at github.

Greenpois0n is based on the same exploit used by the limera1n jailbreak.

Update: The update has been released, get the iOS 4.2 download now.

Late last week we heard that the public release of iOS 4.2 was waiting on enough third party applications to be accepted into the App Store, this was to insure that users have immediate access to apps that take advantage of new features in iOS 4.2. Since then, several apps have appeared on the iTunes App Store labeled as ‘iOS 4.2 compatibility’ or “iOS 4.2 ready”, further signifying that the iOS 4.2 release date is any day now. This would fit in line with the November 2010 timeframe that Apple set earlier in the year.

The iOS 4.2 update is hotly anticipated for a variety of new features, from AirPlay to printing, but perhaps most excited for the release are iPad owners, who will gain multitasking and folder support when iOS 4 comes to the device. While the rest of the public waits for a release, developers can get your hands on the iOS 4.2 GM build now. The 4.2 update is said to require iTunes 10.1 to install, and will work with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

With the release of iOS 4.2 imminent, some have shown surprise that the iOS 4.2 update did not arrive on time to prevent the iPhone Daylight Savings Time bug, which has gained a fair amount of attention over the last few weeks as iOS users alarm clocks go off an hour later than intended. iOS 4.2 is said to provide a permanent fix for that bug.

If you’re new to the Mac or Apple platforms, learning the menu keyboard symbols that appear in the menus and on some keyboard keys, can be a little daunting. Nonetheless it’s not too complex, and knowing what the Apple keyboard symbols mean and what keys they stand for to access the function is essential for accessing various shortcuts throughout Mac OS X and iOS. Not only do the Mac menus use the symbol short form as seen in the screenshot, but many websites will refer to the symbol rather than the text printed on the keys (⌥ instead of Option, for instance).

With this in mind, here are the Mac menu symbols, and Apple keyboard symbols as translated to the keys they represent:

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Want to run Windows 3.1 on your iPhone? I sure don’t, but hey just the fact that you can pull it off is neat right?
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Can’t find your iPhone? We’ve all been there, it gets misplaced or falls between the couch cushions. But hey, no problem, if you don’t have Find My iPhone enabled (which you should), you can just try dialing it instead to make it ring.

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This is one of the more creative and amusing iPhone decals I have seen. Called “Default UI”, the decal applies to the backside of your iPhone and replicates the default iOS GUI, home button, and camera. The end result being you’ll look like an idiot who is holding their iPhone backwards and talking into the back of the device. This is definitely creatively funny.

You can buy the decal on Etsy for $10 and shipping is a flat $5 from Hong Kong to anywhere.

Thanks to Jared for sending this in!

Do you rely on your iPhone or iPod touch to wake up in the morning? Unless you want to wake up an hour late this coming Monday morning, listen up.

The iPhone Daylight Savings Time Alarm Clock Bug

You may have heard of the iPhone DST bug by now, but if you haven’t here’s the gist of it: your iPhone alarm clock will be an hour late this coming Monday, November 8th, due to a bug in the alarm clock application.

Basically the alarm clock app doesn’t recognize the DST time change, and will alert an hour later than scheduled. The bug has already affected iPhone owners in Europe and Australia, and now iPhone users in the USA will wake up an hour later than usual if they don’t take the precautions necessary.

Temporary Fix iPhone DST Alarm Clock Bug

Create a new, one time only alarm alert, specifically for Monday morning.

Believe it or not, that’s the fix that Apple has suggested. Apparently the bug only affects repeating alarms, so creating a new one-time only alarm for Monday morning is enough to resolve the issue for that day. After Monday, you can go back to using a repeat alarm as usual.

Permanent Fix in iOS 4.2

Of note is the upcoming iOS 4.2 release resolves the bug completely, but the update has not been made available to the public yet. Rumor is that Apple is waiting for more iOS 4.2 compatible apps to be accepted into the App Store before releasing the update to the public, although developers can download iOS 4.2 GM now. Earlier in the year Apple specified an iOS 4.2 release date of November, and the update is still expected to arrive later in the month.

This iMac sits at a desk overlooking a pretty amazing view of what must be the San Francisco Bay. With all that sunlight pouring in you might need to use sunglasses just sitting at the desk! I think this easily takes the prize for ‘best view’ in our Mac Setups, with the telecommuting MacBook Pro a close second.
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If you like to jailbreak and unlock your iPhone, you’ll want to backup your existing SHSH blobs before you install a new version of iOS. With the release of iOS 4.2 just around the corner, it’s a good idea to do this now if you intend on unlocking your device in the future.
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Installing more RAM in your Mac is one of the best ways to boost system performance. What’s better than just a RAM upgrade? A great deal on a RAM upgrade!

For a limited time, Buy.com has an 8GB memory upgrade for only $119.95 including free shipping, this is the cheapest price I’ve seen on an 8GB RAM upgrade yet.

Kingston Apple 8GB Kit (2x4GB) for $119.95 with free shipping at Buy.com

Update: The Buy.com deal expired, but Amazon has the same Kingston Apple 8GB Kit for sale for about $130, which is also a great deal.

The upgrade should work for any Mac that allows 8GB of RAM and accepts the following type: PC3-8500 DDR3 1066 MHz SDRAM. This would include the new Mac Mini, iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro 13″, 15″, and 17″ models.

For price comparison, Apple offers 8GB upgrades for the MacBook Pro at $400. The next cheapest price was on Amazon at $135, and Crucial.com offers 8GB upgrades for $167.99, which makes the $119.95 price from Buy.com a truly great deal.

If you’re not sure, find out how to tell if your Mac needs a RAM upgrade. Most Mac users see a speed increase from adding additional memory.