Mozilla Bumps Up Security Bug Bounty Program From $500 To $3,000

 

Mozilla has been a company that has had a policy of offering monetary rewards to developers who find security vulnerabilities in the Firefox Web browser. The organization recently upped the bounty from $500 to $3,000, which was a result in a change of policy. The offer was also extended to Firefox Mobile and other new products created by Mozilla.

Finding out about previously unknown security vulnerabilities opens up a lot of opportunities for profit. Security researchers get a ton of press exposure and publicity for publishing an exploit of n unpatched zero-day flaw. It's also pretty common for security researchers to sit on undisclosed vulnerabilities for a long time so that they can quickly whip them out for a quick and easy win during competitions that offer cash prizes. That being said, it's pretty clear that company perceptions about vulnerability disclosure and the value of security bugs are changing in the software industry. Following the Pwn2Own competition at CanSecWest, security researcher Charlie Miller gained much attention for his controversial "No More Free Bugs" campaign. His work contends that vendors should pay for knowledge about previously undocumented vulnerabilities.

Mozilla's decision to offer $3,000 for new legitimate security threats is beneficial to users and the company alike as it will encourage timely and responsible disclosure of new exploitable flaws. Ultimately, users will get more security and the company will end up with a better product.

JavaScript Test Proves MeeGo To Be Better Than Android 2.2

Recently, the folks over at Carrypad put Nokia's new OS, MeeGo, through the same Sunspider JavaScript tests that both iOS 4 and Android 2.2. Nokia's mobile OS of choice turned out to be rather impressive during the test boasting a 4.2 seconds. Compared to iOS 4 which took 10.9 seconds and Android 2.2 which took 5.8 seconds, looks like Nokia is headed in the right direction. To be fair, the Aava phone being used to conduct these tests packs a 1.5 GHz Intel Moorestown processor (the Sunspider JavaScript tests lean heavily on a mobile processor) and is actually not a production phone. Another thing to note though is that the tests used FireFox Mobile and not the MeeGo manufactured browser (giving MeeGo a chance to perform possibly better or worse, depending on how Nokia designed their software). Regardless though, the speed tests are pretty impressive. All we need now is a production MeeGo handset to test that out and compare it to the other mobile OS's more realistically.

YouTube Launches Leanback and Updates Mobile Site To HTML5

YouTube has officially rolled out Leanback, a television-friendly interface first debuted during the Google TV's big unveiling. The whole interface works via a keyboard with arrow keys (no options to use the mouse unfortunately) letting you scroll through your feeds, recommendations, categories, playback options, and search bar. Videos take up the entire browser menu and will crank up the HD when available. Navigation is snappy and the suggestions are pretty accurate. Check out the a video of the Leanback features below:

On the handheld side, YouTube also released a new mobile site which touts more features to tailor to mobile users. The new features include a more touch-friendly UI, further incorporation of the main site's elements such as favorites and ratings and generally a much more responsive load times. The company promises to work at bringing more update parity across its desktop and portable sites. You can check out the promotional video below:

New Parental Controls With McAfee Family Protection App

Making sure to keep an eye on your child's Internet access has always been a difficult task and it is only getting harder with more and more kids owning mobile devices such as iPhones and iPod Touches. Fortunately McAfee's new McAfee Family Protection for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad lets parents control and monitor how their kids access the Internet on their mobile gadgets.The McAfee Family Protection is a $20 Web browser app with a number of parental control features built-in. In order for the app to be effective, parents must disable the Safari app on their children's iPhone by accessing the iPhone's Restrictions settings.

The app offers standard Website and search filtering and it automatically blocks age-inappropriate sites, such as known pornography sites. For the extra-concerned parent, the program includes location-tracking for devices that are GPS equipped, so you can be aware of your child's location whenever he or she is accessing the Internet. Parents can also view statistics such as visited websites and access times, and give or grant access to websites of their liking. They can even go as far as remotely disabling all web browsing if need be. Another popular feature is the ability to block mobile Internet usage only during hours one may consider inappropriate, so you can make sure your child isn't surfing the Internet on sites such as Facebook during school or past bedtime. The app release coincides with the publishing of mcAfee's study on teen online behavior called "The Secret Lives of Teens."

Their study had revealed that nearly half of the teens who participated shared personal information with strangers while online. In addition, 28 percent of the kids updated their status on social networking sites including their physical location (dangerous combination for teens who communicate with strangers.) Furthermore, 65 percent of students revealed that they used their mobile devices while in school. Given these facts, now may be an even better time to make sure that your children are using the Internet safely, whether it is mobile or not.

[How To] Install The Leaked Android 2.2 FRF72 Build for Nexus One

Looks like a new build of the Android 2.2 Froyo FRF72 for the Nexus One was leaked yesterday after being handed out to Google employees earlier this week. We managed to download the file and put it up on our site for you guys in case the official google link gets taken down. Based on the file name, the build is an incremental upgrade from the FRF50, so you have to have the FRF50 build already installed to upgrade to this new build. No one has a clear idea what the update has in store for the phone but rumors are out that Flash support was updated and some improvements were made to make the web browser operate even faster. As we find out more info, we'll update you guys as well so stay tuned by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Download the file by clicking here.

If you know what to do with it already, enjoy! If not, follow the instructions below:

1. Rename the file to update.zip. Note that if you’re using Windows, just rename it to “update” (no quotes, of course) because it’s already a zipped file.


2. Copy the update.zip file onto your microSD card.


3. With your Nexus One off, hold down the trackball and press the power button.


4. You’ll be booted into a white screen with three Android robots on skateboards. Select “Bootloader.”


5. On the next screen, select “Recovery.”


6. Your phone will reboot, giving you a picture of the Android robot and an exclamation point inside a triangle.


7. Now press the power button and volume up button at the same time. It could take a couple of tries.


8. Now (using the trackball this time) choose “Apply sdcard:update.zip” and let things run their course.


9. Scroll to the top and hit "Reboot"

Flash Ported for iPhone; Coming To Jailbroken iDevices Soon

Developer of the Spirit Jailbreak utility, Comex, recently tweeted a video showing Adobe Flash working on the iPhone. He stated in the video description that this is "preliminary" as cab be seen by minor graphical glitches on the scree, but it does open and execute Flash based sites with no problems.

Apple's decision to ditch Flash has led quite a few developers to work on their own workarounds to get Flash content working on the iPhone. Some of the most notable workarounds include iMobileCinema, a Safari plugin that has been around for a while that attempts to play video content embedded in Flash, Gordon and Smokescreen, two Flash interpreters written entirely in Javascript (which iOS and MobileSafari handle just fine), Flash In A Pinch and CloudBrowser, which actually render Flash content on a remote server, then stream down the images and sound of the webpage to your iDevice. However, none of these workarounds could really be considered a "Flash player" considering the limitations that each solution has in place.

No other information has been released yet about the availability. It is also unknown at this point if this project is to be eventually worked into Safari as its own plugin or if it will have to stay as a standalone app. This project, should it come to fruition, would be the first real Flash player for iPhone, and comex has already proven his skill by releasing the first ever untethered 3G S/G3 iTouch jailbreak.

Check out the video below:

[WWDC] Apple Allows iAds and Safari Developer Program Sign-Ups

As announced at the WWDC 2010 earlier this week, Apple has finally opened the doors to those wanting to join the iAd network and the Safari Developer Program, as Apple explains it:

The iAd Network offers you a new, easy-to-implement source of revenue through incorporating iAd rich media ads in your applications. Apple sells and serves the ads, and you receive 60 percent of the advertising revenue. Learn about getting started with the iAd Network, how to prepare your apps for iAd, and how to create iAd rich media ads.”

Apple has also announced the Safari Developer Program. This free program offers developers tools and resources they need to create extensions for Safari. “You can add buttons to the Safari toolbar, create bars of your own, modify the behavior and appearance of webpages, and more — all with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.”

The Safari Developer Program also provides you with the tools to create a digital certificate for your extensions. This certificate allows your extensions to be installed on Safari, protects them from tampering, and ensures that your extension can only be updated by you.

Stay tuned for more jailbreak info by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Microsoft Launches Free Version of Office Web Apps

Microsoft recently launched the free version of Office Web Apps after nine months of allowing select users test the Technical Preview. The service is initially available via Windows Lie SkyDrive (integration with Hotmail is currently not yet ready) at office.live.com to users in the U.S, Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland with support for English, Spanish (USA), and French (Canada) languages. For the users who don't live in those regions, you will still have access, but you won't be able to choose your language. Rest assured though, Microsoft says "more languages and locales will be added over the coming months."

Office Web Apps allow uesrs to view, edit, and share Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and OneNote documents directly in their browsers. OWAs requires Internet Explorer 7+, Chrome on Windows and Mac, Firefox 3.5+ on Windows, Mac, and Linux, or Safari 4+ on Mac. Microsoft has also revealed which mobile browsers are supported for Office Web Apps: "You can view the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files that you save to SkyDrive via Office Web Apps on supported mobile browsers, including Internet Explorer on Windows Mobile 5 or later, Safari 4 on iPhone 3G or 3GS, BlackBerry 4.x and later, Nokia S60, NetFront 3.4, 3.5 and later, Opera Mobile 8.65 and later, and Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and later," mentioned by a Microsoft spokesperson.

The apps work better with Microsoft Office 2003 and later, and when Office 2010 is released to consumers net week, Microsoft will further explain how the two will work together. This could include features such as editing files offline, co-authorizing documents using revision marks, comments, and other rich features in Word and PowerPoint.) You can go ahead and mark your calendars if you are excited about this: June 15 is when a beta of Hotmail Wave4 (with OWA integration) should start rolling out as well as when Office 2010 will hit retail and start getting preloaded on new PCs.

Flash Coming Back To The iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs previously posted an open letter elaborating on the reasons why Apple has chosen not to allow Adobe Flash on their platform. But for those of you who are curious to find out how Flash will look and feel on the iPhone then you can checkout Smokescreen.

Smokescreen is a new open source project aiming to bring Flash to the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch without the need of a plugin.

Here’s how it works, according to Simon Willison:

It runs entirely in the browser, reads in SWF binaries, unzips them (in native JS), extracts images and embedded audio and turns them in to base64 encoded data:uris, then stitches the vector graphics back together as animated SVG.

The beauty of the whole ordeal is that you won’t need to hack your iPhone to make it work. Flash developers will need to manually insert a few lines of Javascript code so that the Flash content is visible on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Smokescreen could allow users to watch videos and other Flash animations on their Mobile Safari web browser without the Adobe Flash plugin. Smokescreen is also equipped to receive input from users for playing Flash based games.

You can checkout the video of Smokescreen in action below:

You can also checkout the live demo of Smokescreen displaying Flash content on your iDevice by following this link.

But its still early days for Smokescreen. Flash based banner ads with basic animations work fine with Smokescreen but is still too slow for smooth video experience.

Smokescreen reminds us of the Gordon project that we had reported about earlier this year. Gordon is a Javascript based application created by German developer Tobias Schneider that enabled Flash developers to make their projects render on the iPhone by inserting a few lines of custom code into their application. However, as we had noted back then, a Javascript based workaround could be quite resource-intensive and may not be an ideal alternative to render Flash content on the iPhone. Since Smokescreen is based on a similar technology, we have our doubts regarding the scalability of the Smokescreen project but it will be interesting to see how it pans out nonetheless.

Safari 5.0 To Debut On Stage At WWDC 2010 Keynote?

According to a report from MacGeneration, a French blog, one of the announcements expected for Monday's WWDC 2010 keynote (which Steve Jobs will be giving himself) is a major update for Safari. If you believe the docs that the site has obtained, there are more than just a few big changes coming. Amongst the changes are Bing alongside Yahoo! and Google search options, a new Safari Reader" for improved RSS reading, 25 percent faster Javascript performance and DNS prefetching, improved HTML5 support, and new developer tools which will be along the liens of Firebug or Chrome's developer helpers. The update will allegedly add hardware acceleration for Windows PCs, and can address fields that auto-predicts URL, along with a handful of other minor tweaks as well. Furthermore, there is also an expected minor upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.6.4) which will resolve some of the nagging issues, but not much more then that. As you already know, as WWDC approaches, the rumors will be flying around, we will try to separate the good from the bad for you, so stay tuned by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Mozilla Sync To Bring “Firefox Home” To The iPhone [Video]

It's not just Firefox for the iPhone, but it's the next best thing.

Mozilla announced it's plans for iPhone on their blog introducing "Firefox Home" - an iPhone app based on Firefox Sync that gives users access to browsing history, bookmarks, and tap sets, from their desktop-based Firefox browser.

According to Mozilla, the free app is "encrypted end-to-end." Mozilla have added sync support across the desktop and mobile versions, which means that you can re-open the desktop tabs on the mobile app. You can also use the same “Awesome Bar” as on the desktop app to pull in auto-complete results on the mobile client; that should alsosave you from tapping in long URLs on an iPhone keyboard, since if you’ve visited the page on the desktop it will pull that in too.

Pages will load in the app itself, but it will be a read-only viewer rather than a complete browser; the mobile version of your desktop, rather than a standalone app in its own right. Mozilla plan to submit Firefox Home for iPhone to Apple for App Store approval in June.

Apple has been very particular about apps that "duplicate existing function," a complaint it has lodged against a number of browsers in the past, given the existence of the proprietary Safari browser for iPhone. Though other browsers like, Opera, did manage to make it into the App Store.

Mozilla has previously rolled out a Firefox web browser for Mac OS X running on more than one Apple system, this application takes the mobile Firefox experience one step further by providing iPhone users with everything from browsing history to the tabs used during their last browser session.

Firefox Home feels like a workaround from Mozilla. It's not quite a full browser, but it's a way to keep Firefox users faithful. The new app will reportedly also work on the iPad, but as per Mozilla, it isn't optimized for that platform yet.

Check out the video below -

Cloud Browser Enables Flash on iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad

We've all heard of the unpleasant situation between Adobe and Apple since Steve Job's explanation of Flash on the iDevices. We knew it was just a matter of time a workaround will be put in place. Apparently, we've found how to get Adobe Flash content on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. Even after we'd heard it was never going to happen, to the extent that the FTC seemed like they might be stepping in.

Developer Lida Tang from Boston has found a solution for flash on Apple devices. It's quite ingenious actually, this app is called Cloud Browse and has been available in the App Store for several weeks now with more than 150,000 downloads. Whenever you browse to a website within the app there is actually a third party server that accesses the site and streams the content back to your iDevice. The frame rate is a bit slow but usable and there's even audio. A premium beta is in the works that will speed up the frame rate but it is reported that it will cost $9.99 monthly. The one site that doesn't work though is Hulu as they actively block access but most sites work well.

Do you think that you will be getting the app or are you making do just fine without Flash on your iDevice? Leave a comment below!

Google TV Coming This Fall - Sony, DISH, Adobe, and Others Join Along

Sony will be the first company out of the gate with a Google TV powered device, with its "Sony Internet TV" devices, which will be int he form of either an HDTV or a set-top box with Blu-ray player, arriving on shelves this fall. The rest of the partners were just as the rumors indicated, with Logitech adding a QWERTY Harmony remote, "companion box" to birdge the gap to existing home theater equipment and eventually video chat capabilities, Intel providing the CE4100 Atom processor at the heart of the devices, and an Android 2.1 OS with Chrome browser brings it all together. DISH Network and Google have admitted to their ongoing trials. DISH announced it will enable "advanced integration" via HDMI on all of its HD DVR receivers this fall while Best Buy is already on board to sell all of this inevitably offer to hook up those IR blasters for a fee, while Adobe is just happy to see another device that runs Flash 10.1. Check out the video form below as well as the press release. You can sign up for updates at Google.com/tv (developers check in here) and stay tuned for more information by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

Press Release:

Google and DISH Network Collaborate to Develop Integrated Multichannel TV and Web Platform

Enhanced Integration with Google TV Available to DISH Network Customers This Fall

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. and ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Google and DISH Network L.L.C., America's fastest-growing pay-TV provider, today unveiled the launch of Google TV, an open platform that seamlessly integrates multichannel television with rich web media content. This technology brings the full power of the Internet to the television viewing experience.

Google TV merges traditional TV programming with the wide amount of content on the web, allowing viewers unprecedented access, control, and flexibility over all forms of digital content. DISH Network subscribers using Google TV can simultaneously search for content across DISH Network, the Internet and their DVRs. They can overlay online content related to television shows, movies, actors and more; and also hyperlink web content back to multichannel TV.

"DISH Network has enjoyed a strong partnership with Google for many years, built on a common foundation of innovative thinking and risk-taking," said Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network. "DISH Network's integration of Google TV marks the next evolution in television, and DISH Network customers will be able to enjoy the best of TV and the web in one platform using their existing HD DVR receivers and a Google TV device."

"We are excited to bring the web to television and enable developers to innovate on the Google TV platform," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Google. "With DISH Network's contributions, Google TV delivers a richer user experience and a compelling product for consumers."

The DISH Network Google TV integration is the outcome of a joint development process between the two companies. The companies began their collaborative trial over a year ago by beta testing the technology with more than 400 DISH Network and Google users. Based on continuous feedback from the trial, Google and DISH Network built the Google TV experience that seamlessly integrates traditional TV programming with rich web content.

Google and DISH Network plan to make the optimized Google TV experience available to customers later this fall. DISH Network will integrate the software to enable this advanced integration on all HD DVR receivers. Users can then simply connect their Google TV devices to their DISH Network receivers via HDMI. For more information, visit www.dish.com/googleTV .

Fastest Browser For iPhone [Review]

The App Store is now loaded with browsers that intend to provide a speedier, richer experience – after all, Mobile Safari leaves ample room for improvement. With the exception of Opera Mini, all the competing browsers are built using the same WebKit code base (the open source browser engine) so any performance gains come from added features like improved tabbing, faster scrolling, image/ad blockers, and page compression. Some of the features do prove to be useful and contribute to faster and more efficient browsing.

That being said, all third-party browsers on iPhone and iPad are inherently handicapped. Since you can’t chose an alternative app as your default web browser, basic activities like opening links from other apps aren’t a matter of click and open. Given their second-class citizen status as non-system apps, third-party browsers can’t run in the background, so there’s no behind-the-scenes rendering or storing pages in RAM. Undoubtedly, third party browsers have issues but they really aren’t the fault of their programmers. Five of the very best browsers amongst a dozen were chosen – Atombic Web Browser v.2.8.0, iCab Mobile 3.2, Mercury Browser v2.3.2, Opera Mini v.5.0.1, Perfect Web Browser v4.0, and Safari.

To make it as fair as possible, the tests were run on the same iPhone 3GS in the same locations (NYC and Miami). Each test ran twice a day (midday and midnight) in two different locations using both AT&T’s 3G network and a private (home) WiFi network.

Speed gains of three to five seconds were apparent in Miami with all the browsers including Safari when using 3G. New York City’s 3G network was less speedy and stable than Miami. WiFi provided speedier browsing in NYC but had no difference in Miami. Time of day had no noticeable impact in either location. The best Miami scores were used as the baseline for all of the tests results.

Browser Bootup

Boot times were calculated with a stopwatch and each boot test was run five times per browser with the final scores being an average of the times recorded. (highest and lowest score eliminated, remaining scores average out and rounded up)

Page Load Times

The same basic process was used, five tests timed with a stop watch, loading six pages (MacLife, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and an iGoogle page). The final scours are an average of the times recorded for each page, with the highest and lowest per browser eliminated and the remaining scores average out and rounded up.

The reason Opera Mini processes web pages through its own company servers, compressing and tweaking the pages for optimum performance before they get to your iPhone. The result is super fast page downloads and occasional oddness in how pages are displayed. Sites you visit often are cached in part on your phone, making downloads even speedier.

Benchmark

Due to the unique way it processes pages in the background (displaying what is essentially a snapshot of a web page with live links) Opera Mini cannot run SunSpider, which tests a browsers core Javascript language.

The other browsers delivered essentially the same results in SunSpider, a few seconds variance in time plus or minus is not statistically valid. This isn’t a surprise as all third-party browsers except Opera Mini are built on WebKit and Apple’s developer agreement bans alternative Javacript engines.

ACID3

Scoring under 100 on this test, which gauges how well a browser meets web standards and you fail. You can even 100 and fail, test results note if there are rendering flaws. Opera Mini’s non-standard way of rendering pages earned it demerits.

Safari/WebKit Browsers: 100

Opera Mini: 74

Browser Reviews

Opera Mini

Opera Mini’s processing feature delivered pages quickly and even enhanced web page compatibility with sites that aren’t iPhone friendly. Speed dialing lets you choose sites to cache, then load them with a tap. New tabs seemed slow compared to simply opening a new page in Safari and there is only one level of zoom and no rubberbanding. Overall: Excellent (4.5/5)

iCab Mobile

Tabs display is nicely optimized for small screen. You can specify how links on pages behave (whether to open them in a new or same tab) which is great for browsing link heavy sites. Page content is loaded in background tabs, so there aren’t annoying delays when you switch to a new tab. Option to disable image downloads and blocking advertising. Opening too many tabs did crash iCab though. Overall: Great (4/5)

Atomic Web Browser

Configurable search options got us to our search sites quickly. The “Search current page” let us look for exactly what we wanted to quickly. Save session lets you replace the startup screen and instead warp directly to the last browsing binge with tabs intact. Atomic provides a slew of configuration options for those who want to tweak things. There weren’t any specific downfalls other than it being constricted to third-party app issues. Also, a note to everyone, make sure you are using the 99 cent version as the free “Lite” version doesn’t include many of the features previously mentioned. Overall: Awesome (5/5)

Mercury Browser

Screen real estate is reserved for browsing (the browser navigation, settings, bookmark buttons live in transparent overlays, URL bar vanishes with a hsake and can be calld back with a tap) which makes it easier to quickly skim through pages. Tabs are supported and content is brought up before hand in the background. Springboard icons let you skim bookmarks quickly, but you can switch to standard style if youw ant. Pages can be saved for later viewing offline. Downsides included full pages being displayed instead of mobile optimized sites sometimes. Overall: Great (4/5)

Perfect Web Browser

The “Find” feature got us to where we wanted to be quickly. The “Hyperscroll” whipped up and down pages with lightning speed. You can turn on web compression if you want to speed page downloads a bit and image blocking also offered a nice speed boost. Nice cross compatibility with Safari makes opening pages in one browser from another one a snap. There weren’t too many downsides other than the standard third-party app issues detailed earlier, but it isn’t as crisp as some of the other browsers. Overall: Great (4/5)

MobileMe Beta Similar to iPad Mail App

The surprise announcement of a beta version of Apple's browser-based MobleMe Mail has users curious about the service's future. If you'd like an invitation, go to me.com, navigate to the mail section, and sign up for the beta.

While we await our invitations, we compared the only beta screenshot we've found to Mail's current appearance:

[gallery]

Apple seems to be slowly moving towards a unified mail UI—which is great. Along with the refresh of the look there are a few UI features announced as well:

Widescreen and compact views. When reading your mail at me.com, the new widescreen view lets you see more of each message with less scrolling. Choose compact view to hide your folders or classic view to see more of your message list.

Rules to keep your email organized everywhere. Mail rules help you reduce inbox clutter by automatically filing messages into folders you select ahead of time. Set them up at me.com, and your rules organize your incoming email on the web and everywhere else - on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC.

Single-click archiving. Click the Archive button and the selected message is quickly filed into the Archive folder where it's always available for future reference.

Formatting toolbar. You can create great-looking email messages using formatting buttons to bold or italicize text, change font color, insert images, and more. You can even create formatted web links to hide long URLs.

Improved performance. Mail at me.com loads your inbox and messages faster. And with interface refinements such as the ability to scroll through your entire inbox without having to manually click to load the next set of messages, you'll be able to work more efficiently.

Increased security with SSL. With the MobileMe Mail beta, accessing your email on the web is more secure than ever. Your inbox is protected to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on your webmail. As always, you receive SSL protection when you use your MobileMe Mail account on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, and PC.

[Apple]

Stay tuned for latest news and info on this developing story by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

New Version of Spirit Jailbreak Released for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch

Comex released the long awaited Spirit jailbreak to jailbreak iPhone OS 3.1.3, iPhone OS 3.1.2 for all iPhones (including iPhone 3GS with updated Boot ROM) and iPod Touches and iPhone OS 3.2 for iPad recently. Many users have been able to successfully jailbreak their iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch devices and have reported that it is one of the easiest jailbreaking tool they’ve ever used. However, some users have reported issues with the initial version of Spirit.

Commonly reported issues:

• Users observed that their photos were deleted after using the jailbreaking tool. (Hopefully, you had followed our advice of taking a backup of your iPhone before using the tool)
• Many users were reporting error code c0000005.

Comex has released a new version of Spirit, which should resolve these issues. Comex writes on his website:

I've updated the jailbreak tool. It no longer deletes photos (sorry!) and should resolve the issue with error code c0000005. (If you still get that error with the new version, try setting compatibility mode toWindows 95.)

To resolve the c0000005 issue Change the “Compatibility mode” to “Windows 98 / Windows Me” by right clicking on “Spirit.exe”, and then click on “Properties”. This can be seen in the screenshot below.

Also check: “Run this program as an administrator” option on the same window.

So if you've hit any of these issues mentioned above then you can try again using the latest version of Spirit jailbreak.

Requirements:

• iPhone, or iPod touch on iPhone OS 3.1.2, 3.1.3 (if you are an older version then you’ll need to update your iPhone to iPhone OS 3.1.3) or iPad on iPhone OS 3.2. It works on all iPhones currently including the new iPhone 3GS models with updated Boot ROM.
• An activated device: one not stuck on the Connect to iTunes or Emergency Call screen.
• iTunes 9 or above (including iTunes 9.1.1 that was released last week)

Important:

• Jailbreaking your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch could void its warranty so please proceed with caution and don’t forget to take a backup of your iPhone before you hack it (refer to this post for more details).
• We would also strongly recommend you to change the root password of your jailbroken iPhone (using this step-by-step guide) for security reasons.
• If you’re having any issue with Wi-Fi or network connectivity on your iPhone after jailbreaking it then try to reset network settings (Settings -> General ->Reset and “Reset Network Settings”) to resolve the issue.
• If you're an iPad user then it is important to note that some packages in Cydia (the App Store for jailbreak apps) are not designed for it so they could end up causing problems, which might require you to restore your iPad so please be very careful.
• Due to very high traffic, Saurik, developer of Cydia has disabled the feature to take SHSH blobs when you connect to Cydia, so it is advisable to take a manual backup using firmware umbrella.
• Spirit jailbreak does not unlock your iPhone and Comex hasn't provided any information on when it will be available.

Download Spirit for Mac and Windows here.

Stay tuned for all jailbreak news and info you might need by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

[How To] Enable Voice Control On The iPad

The following instructions will help you enable “Voice Control” feature which is found in iPhone 3GS and the 3rd-gen iPod touch 3G. You will need a jailbroken iPad prior to following this guide. If you haven't jailbroken your iPad yet, you can follow the guide found here.

Method 1:

Make sure you have afc2add installed from cydia or rock. SSH into your device or use your favorite USB browser.

1. Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app
2. Open K48AP.plist in a text editor or a plist editor
3. Under the capabilities area add the following key:
   
   

   <key>voice-control</key>
   <true/>

4. Reboot your iPad and enjoy Voice Control!

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Method 2:

1. For Windows users, you’ll need a software like WINSCP and for Mac you can use Cyberduck.
2. Install OpenSSH on your iPad using Cydia. Open up Cydia and search for it. You’ll have to restart your iPad after that.
3. Now use the following settings to log into your iPad: IP address of your iPad and user name: root and password: alpine and protocol: SCP
4. Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app
5. Open K48AP.plist in a text editor or a plist editor
6. Under the capabilities area add the following key:
   
   

   <key>voice-control</key>
   <true/>

7. Reboot your iPad and enjoy Voice Control!

Bonus Feature:

1. Navigate to /System/Library/VoiceServices/PlugIns/Base.vsplugin/English.Iproj
2. Open Help.strings
3. Change anything that says iPod into iPad
4. Voice Control will now say iPad instead of iPod

Stay tuned for all jailbreak news and info you might need by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

[How To] Jailbreak iPad 3.2 with Spirit

 Spirit – the untethered userland jailbreak for iPhone 3.1.3 and iPad 3.2 is finally here and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you have your SHSH files saved, follow the instructions posted here to save your SHSH blobs.

Step 1: Download and install the latest version of iTunes
Step 2: You will need to be on the official iPad OS 3.2 (or iPhone 3.2) for iPad.
Step 3: Download Spirit for Windows or Mac
Step4: Connect iPad with your computer, Run “Spirit” and then Click on “Jailbreak”:

Note for Windows 7/Vista Users (OS X users should skip to Step 5): Change the “Compatibility mode” to “Windows 98 / Windows Me” by right clicking on “Spirit.exe”, and then click on “Properties”. This can be seen in the screenshot below.

Also check: “Run this program as an administrator” option on the same window.

Step 5: Let the app do its thing and wait for the app to show “Jailbreak Complete!” message. At this point, wait for the iPad to automatically reboot.

Step 6: You should now have a fully jailbroken iPad on iPad OS 3.2. “Cydia” should be there in the list of applications on your iPad.

To Jailbreak your iPhone 3GS or 3G on OS 3.1.3 Untethered follow the step by step guide posted here.

Disclaimer: This guide is for testing & educational purposes only. We are not responsible for any loss of important data or malfunctioning of your iDevice.

Stay tuned for all jailbreak news and info you might need by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

[How To] Jailbreak iPhone 3G/3GS on OS 3.1.3 with Spirit

 Spirit – the untethered userland jailbreak for iPhone 3.1.3 and iPad 3.2 is finally here and is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that you have your SHSH files saved, follow the instructions posted here to save your SHSH blobs.

Step 1: Download and install the latest version of iTunes
Step 2: You will need to be on the official iPhone 3.1.2, or iPhone 3.1.3 firmware on your iPhone.
Step 3: Download Spirit for Windows or Mac
Step4: Connect iPhone with your computer, Run “Spirit” and then Click on “Jailbreak”:

Note for Windows 7/Vista Users (OS X users should skip to Step 5): Change the “Compatibility mode” to “Windows 98 / Windows Me” by right clicking on “Spirit.exe”, and then click on “Properties”. This can be seen in the screenshot below.

Also check: “Run this program as an administrator” option on the same window.

Step 5: Let the app do its thing and wait for the app to show “Jailbreak Complete!” message. At this point, wait for the iPhone to automatically reboot.

Step 6: You should now have a fully jailbroken iPhone.

To Jailbreak your iPad untethered follow the step by step guide posted here.

Disclaimer: This guide is for testing & educational purposes only. We are not responsible for any loss of important data or malfunctioning of your iDevice.

Stay tuned for all jailbreak news and info you might need by following us on Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feeds.

http://mygadgetnews.com/2010/05/03/how-to-jailbreak-ipad-3-2-with-spirit/

Spirit Jailbreak Released for iPad

Comex has finally released the Spirit Jailbreak for the untethered jailbreak iPhone 3.1.3, iPad 3.2 and iPod Touch 3.1.3. Spirit was expected to be released last Friday but the developer held it back to allow time to save SHSH blobs for iPad 3G, WiFi, iPhone 3GS 3.1.3 and iPod Touch 3G 3.1.3. According to Comex, Spirit is a userland jailbreak, just not Safari based.

What’s Spirit?

• Spirit is an untethered jailbreak for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch on the latest firmwares.
• Spirit is not a carrier unlock.
• If you currently are using a tethered jailbreak, you have to restore to use Spirit. Do not upgrade if you use an unlock on an iPhone 3G or 3GS. (You can, however, restore to 3.1.2 if you have SHSH blobs for that version.)

Requirements

• Spirit Jailbreak supports any iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch on firmware 3.1.2, 3.1.3, or 3.2.
• An activated device: one not stuck on the Connect to iTunes or Emergency Call screen.
• Any version of iTunes 9 (including 9.1.1).
• Syncing with iTunes before trying this highly recommended.

Note: The version of Spirit On iPad is still similar to a beta version. Some packages in Cydia, not designed for iPad, might screw up your system and require you to restore. Be careful. (And no, Cydia’s appearance is not final.)

SHSH blobs are not used in jailbreak, but you do need it to restore or downgrade an older firmware if something goes wrong or you accidentally upgrade. For 3.1.2 (required for blackra1n, etc.), Apple is no longer handing out blobs, but for 3.1.3 and 3.2, you can still get blobs– and should do so ASAP! To do this, if you are currently jailbroken, just open Cydia; if you are not, I recommend using The Firmware Umbrella or you can also use AutoSHSH (Steps are same for all devices). Make sure to select the right firmware version.

Download Spirit Jailbreak

You can download Spirit Jailbreak for Windows and Mac from here.

The steps to jailbreak your iDevice using the Spirit Jailbreak are very easy.

1. Download the package (link above) and unzip the contents of the package.
2. Open the application.
3. Connect your device.
4. Hit "Jailbreak"
5. Wait for the screen to so "Jailbreak Complete"
6. Wait for your iDevice to restart.
7. Profit!

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