Top iPhone Resource

Shriya and I use Gmail and Google Calendar extensively. iPhone’s native Calendar is nice but Google Calendar lets us access our events from our computers as well. Plus, I have tons of contacts already filled out in my Gmail that would be nice to have them in my iPhone.

With Google Calendar, you can also subscribe to other Calendar (CalDAV) compatible services like Remember the Milk, Anyvite, etc.

How to Sync Google Calendar with iPhone?

With this little tip, you can integrate Google Calendar right into your iPhone Calendar using Google Sync. I am going to assume you have upgraded to OS 3.0 and get to 2.2 later.

iPhone OS Version 3.0

1. Open Settings in iPhone
2. Open Mail, Contacts, Calendars
3. Tap on Add Account
4. Select Microsoft Exchange

   

5. In the Email field, enter your full Gmail address
6. You can leave the Domain field empty
7. In Username, enter your full email address
8. In Password, enter your Google password
9. Hit Next and enter m.google.com in Server field

   

10. Press Next
11. Select the Google Services you want to Sync - only Calendar & Contacts supported at the moment
12. Choose ‘Keep on my iPhone‘ to keep your existing contacts and events in your iPhone.
13. And you are done!

Gotchas

• Google Calendar and Contacts will automatically sync if you have Push (Settings -> Mail, Contacts, Calendars -> Fetch New Data) enabled. Push settings can also drain your battery faster so play with it and see how your battery holds up with various intervals.
• You can choose which of your Google Calendars to Sync by going to http://m.google.com/sync in Safari
• You can only create 1 Exchange ActiveSync account. So if you already use one for work you are out of luck. Thanks Apple!
• After the Sync is done, you chose to see All Calendars or just specific Calendars in iPhone

  

• With iPhone OS 2.2, you won’t see the screen where you can chose to Keep your existing Contacts in iPhone. You have to heed the warning that you will lose your iPhone data and hit Sync twice.

Hope you were able to set up your Google Calendar and Contacts in your iPhone with these instructions. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them.

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Hello there! Hope you found a nice app, or a cool hack or the latest iPhone news. Don't miss future updates, grab our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter and get free updates.

Dev Team just passed on the good news for those with a iPhone 3GS or waiting to buy/sell unlocked iPhone 3GS.

In less than a week from iPhone 3GS launch (has it just been a week?), they have been able to verify that an exploit used to jailbreak iPod Touch 2G, dubbed 24kpwn, is still applicable to the bootrom of the iPhone 3GS!

If you are familiar with jailbreaking iPhone 3G with redsn0w, the same technique could be used to jailbreak iPhone 3GS.  The iPhone 3GS bootrom seems to have been cut in August 2008 timeframe so this exploit is still valid which is great news for us.

And another great news is that Ultrasn0w - the iPhone unlocking tool can be used as such to unlock iPhone 3GS without any modifications whatsoever!

That said, Dev Team says there are still challenging aspects of iPhone 3GS that needs to worked into their tools. With this coming in less than a week from launch, I am more than hopeful that we will be seeing Redsn0w for iPhone 3GS very soon.

Stay tuned for more updates on iPhone 3GS jailbreak and unlocking.

Excellent work, Dev Team!

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The Compass has been touted as one of the big additions to the new iPhone 3GS and I was giving it a test drive at lunch today.

Some of you might already know this but I just stumbled across this tip and figured I’d share it if anyone else here is wondering about it.

Turn on Compass View in Google Maps

Compass itself is pretty neat when you hold it and see what direction you are facing. But, it is WAY more useful when turned on in Google Maps so you can see if you are actually facing the right direction while driving or walking with the help of Google Maps.

Initially I couldn’t figure out how to turn on the ‘lighthouse beam’ kind of animation. It turns out to be just a toggle of the same ‘current location’ button we are used to using. Just hit that button again and you will see it change to Compass view.

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Dev Team released their iPhone OS 3.0 jailbreak software this past weekend for both Windows and Mac.

RedSn0w or QuickPwn for so easy to use, we had our iPhone 3G jailbroken within minutes. But, we weren’t able to unlock it as redsn0w only supported unlocking the original iPhone.

UltraSn0w is capable of unlocking iPhone 3G and make it work on any carrier. Here’s how you’d do it

• Upgrade and jailbreak your iPhone OS 3.0 with RedSn0w or PwnageTool
• Run Cydia or Icy
• Add the repo repo666.ultrasn0w.com to Cydia or Icy. Note that ultrasn0w has a number 0 in the name.
• Search for ultrasn0w in cydia and install it
• Reboot your iPhone 3G
• Voila!

Dev Team notes that T-Mobile USA users should disable 3G before using ultrasn0w. If you have already used, share your experience with ultrasn0w here in comments or on Twitter with us.

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iPhone OS 3.0 has a lot of new features. But, I keep discovering little thoughts tweaks here and there. In fact, I had missed this one and came to know from Patrick of my favorite iPhone blog.

You are probably loving the copy, paste functionality much in OS 3.0. But, did you know instead of holding down the backspace button to delete characters, you can undo your whole typing in input fields by just shaking your iPhone.

This feature is definitely nifty but it would be super cool to have some sort of undo history function added to it. But, hey I welcome even this small but thoughtful add-on.

In fact, if you just copied and pasted a blob of text in the wrong place, just shake your iPhone to undo the whole paste.

Hi5 to Patrick for this tip!

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Dev Team has come through again and have released their jailbreak and unlocking (iPhone 2G)  tool for Windows hot on the heels of OS 3.0 PwnageTool for Mac.

The RedSn0w released works on Windows and Mac OS. Redsn0w works just like QuickPwn for Windows and version 0.7.1 has just been released with a bug fix for Windows.

An important thing to note is that,

Redsn0w can jailbreak

• iPhone 2G
• iPhone 3G
• iPod Touch (original) and iPod Touch 2G

Redsn0w cannot jailbreak

• iPhone 3GS

Redsn0w can unlock

• iPhone 2G (both unlocked and original)

Redsnow cannot unlock

• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3G S

If you have a iPhone 3G and rely on unlocking for getting cellular service, you have to wait until Ultrasn0w is released sometime soon via Cydia.

Before you attempt the jailbreak, I strongly recommend reading and re-reading instructions by Dev Team. Also, make a backup of your iPhone via iTunes before you get started.

How to Unlock iPhone OS 3.0 with Redsn0w?

Here are the steps you need to follow word by word. Again check if your device is supported with this version of  Redsn0w.

1. Create a folder in your desktop named Quickpwn
   1. Download RedSn0w and place it in the Quickpwn folder
   2. Extract the RedSn0w.zip into the Quickpwn folder
   3. Download the relevant OS 3.0 firmware
      3.0 (2G):  iPhone1,1_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw
      3.0 (3G): iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw
2. Connect your iPhone to iTunes and select your iPhone.
3. Hold the Shift button and click on Restore
4. Now, select the ipsw file from the Quickpwn folder and hit the Open button
5. Once iTunes has finished updating to the new 3.0 firmware, launch the redsn0w.exe file from your Quickpwn folder.
6. Click Browse and select the firmware ipsw file in Quickpwn folder
7. Once the firmware has been successfully verified by redSn0w, click Next
8. Select Install Cydia in this screen and click Next
9. Now plug your iPhone into the computer and make sure its turned OFF before clicking Next
10. You will be guided by RedSn0w through the DFU mode - its not hard. Just follow the instructions on the screen as follows
    • Hold down the Power button for 2 seconds
    • Without releasing the Power button, hold down the Home button for 6 seconds
    • Without releasing the Home button, release the Power button. Continue holding the Home button for 29 seconds
11. Your iPhone will now reboot
12. RedSn0w will begin uploading the new RAMDISK to your iPhone
13. Once RedSn0w tells you it’s done, click on Finish.
14. Wait till your iPhone reboots again (5 mins) and you will see Cydia app in your Springboard.

Now enjoy your jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch and have fun with stuff like iPhone Winterboard themes!

We will be updaying this post with screenshots for illustration soon. So, please check back if you need further help with that.

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Apple has updated and posted the iPhone OS 3.0 User Guide (pdf link) online.

Get your hands on it now!

Here are a few posts that can help you find some cool iPhone OS 3.0 features that you weren’t aware of

• 100+ Hidden Features in iPhone OS 3.0
• AT&T WiFi auto-authentication on OS 3.0
• iPhone OS 3.0 plus 46 security bugs
• How To: See New Push Notifications Settings in iPhone OS 3.0
• The Push is On: Apple Turns on Push Notifications
• Big Update: Evernote for iPhone 3.0 is Here

Have a good reading time! I am awaiting my iPhone 3G S shipment to be delivered by Fedex today and will post our unboxing pictures later on.

If you got your iPhone 3G S already, post your thoughts in the comments. We wanna hear from you.

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I am definitely impressed at the speed with which DevTeam releases these updates after the firmware release.

If you are a Mac user or have access to a MacBook, read on as you can use PwnageTool 2.2.5.

If you are a Windows user and rely on QuickPwn to jailbreak/unlock your iPhone, we have to wait a little longer for QuickPwn 2.2.5. Do not update to 2.2.1 via iTunes or use the current Quickpwn version to jailbreak.

Things to Remember while Jailbreaking Firmware 2.2.1

Don’t let all these version numbers throw you off. Just read it over and over again until you understand and before starting with the jailbreak.

• If you have a iPhone 3G running 2.2 firmware, only use the custom ipsw using PwnageTool 2.2.5 to update/jailbreak 2.2.1 firmware
• Yellowsn0w - the iPhone unlock Cydia app will not work with firmware 2.2.1’s baseband (02.30.03). You have to use the custom 2.2.1 ipsw which doesn’t update the baseband.
• Yellowsn0w has been upgraded to version 0.9.7 - so remember to use that from Cydia

Also, make sure you read the different issues and how to fix them over at DevTeam blog before you start.

Here are the download mirrors for Pwnage 2.2.5

Mac PwnageTool

• http://iphone-dev.fgv6.net/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://iphone.schwarzmetall.cn/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://rabstalk.bplaced.net/mirrors/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://jmcoon.net/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://downloads2.ipod.backshot.eu/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://www.iphone-storage.de/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg
• http://miphone.ca/iphone-dev/PwnageTool_2.2.5.dmg

Mac QuickPwn

• http://iphone-dev.fgv6.net/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://iphone.schwarzmetall.cn/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://rabstalk.bplaced.net/mirrors/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://jmcoon.net/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://www.iphone-storage.de/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://downloads2.ipod.backshot.eu/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg
• http://miphone.ca/iphone-dev/QuickPwn_2.2.5.dmg

Windows QuickPwn

• Coming soon - Do not update via iTunes or jailbreak yet
  

I hear there are some significant sync speed improvements with firmware 2.2.1 over at Twitter from those who have updated already. Do you see that as well?

You can follow us at @TopiPhone to receive recent updates on the release of QuickPwn 2.2.5 for Windows.

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Gmail has been making great strides these days. We just saw Gmail get offline access.

With so many of us using Gmail primarily as the email provider as well as to store and manage our contacts, it becomes hard to not have those contacts in your iPhone contact list.

Yes, you could open up Gmail and then try to find it but it can’t beat the ability to sync your Gmail contacts with iPhone without a lot of effort.

NuevaSync does just that. Nuevasync allows direct, over-the-air, native synchronization with public PIM and calendaring services including Google.

NuevaSync supports not just Gmail contacts but also

• Google Calendar for calendar events
• Google Contacts/Gmail contacts for contacts
• Plaxo for Contacts

NuevaSync supports the following devices

• Apple iPhone 2.0
• Apple iPhone 3G
• iPod Touch 2.0
• Windows Mobile based PDAs and smartphones

Support for push email is supposedly coming soon. The first time you sync with Nuevasync it could take a little while but after that it should only take a few seconds.

Gotcha’s for iPhone users

• If you can’t edit your calendar events after a sync, check your sync configuration email address and make sure it’s right
• If you found 2 copies of some contacts, it looks like a iPhone firmware issue but a resync should fix the duplicates.
• If your Google Calendars come up with a different color in iPhone, you have to change it in GCal as you can’t change it in the phone.

Also, check out the Apple-specific page at Nuevasync.

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Today was the MacWorld 2009 Keynote day.

Phil Schiller handled the Keynote today as opposed to Steve Jobs who is going through a patch of bad health.

iTunes received a fair bit of attention today at the Keynote. But, not in terms of technology innovation like the announcement of the Genius feature last time.

iTunes music store is going completely DRM Free!

Here are a few more iTunes stats thrown around in the Keynote:

• iTunes has sold 6 billion songs
• iTunes holds over 10 million different tracks
• There are now over 75 million accounts on iTunes with credit cards
• Today, 8 million songs are DRM free and all 10 million will be by the end of March

You can now buy DRM free music from iTunes. You now get a ‘Create MP3 version’ when you right click on the song.

iTunes Plus

You can also get DRM Free upgrades to your existing iTunes collection through a iTunes Plus Apple Program that features songs with high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding.

Upgrading individual songs to DRM Free iTunes Plus tracks will set you back about 30 cents a song, 60 cents for a music video and $3 for most albums.

Also, iTunes Plus has now made it so that you can download songs from both WiFi or cellular network.

Other than this and the announcement of a 17″ Macbook Pro, there wasn’t much news on iPhone 3G or iPod Touch. So we were like meh!

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The much awaited iPhone 3g unlock solution has arrived! A big hi-five to the Dev Team for releasing yellowsn0w on New Year’s eve.

One great news about this iPhone 3g unlock solution - yellowsn0w is that it works on iPhone firmware 2.2’s new baseband. We did pass on the earlier warning that this might not work but Dev Team got it to work on 2.2’s baseband (02.28.0.0) as well.

We successfully unlocked our iPhone 3g yesterday and here’s how we did it. I’ll add some screenshots to this post as soon as I get a chance.

Ingredients

• iTunes 8
• iPhone firmware 2.2
• QuickPwn 2.2
• Jailbroken iPhone 3G

Quick iPhone 3G Jailbreak & Unlock Recipe

Please note that this is what worked for us and it might be a little different for you. I am making this a quick recipe as this is very similar to the steps we followed for quickpwn 2.1 jailbreak.

Jailbreak iPhone 2.2

Skip to next section if you have already updated to 2.2 and jailbroken your iPhone 3G with QuickPwn 2.2 or PwnageTool. If you have updated 2.2 via iTunes but not jailbroken yet, start with step 5.

1. Undo hidden apps via BossPrefs
2. Uninstalled Categories (this proved to be a problem when we updated to 2.1 and may not be needed with this update)
3. Backed up everything via iTunes (consider using AptBackup Cydia app to backup your app settings)
4. Used iTunes to update to 2.2
5. Downloaded Quickpwn 2.2 and launched it
6. Follow the instructions in QuickPwn
7. Once the iPhone is in recover mode (DFU mode)
   • hold your home button for 5 seconds
   • hold down the home and power button for 10 seconds
   • release the power button and continue to hold the home button to see the jailbreak progress and then let go of the home button
8. Once the iPhone restarts, you should see the Cydia and Installer in the Home Screen
9. Now, you have a jailbroken iPhone 2.2!

Unlock iPhone 3G

The beauty of the iPhone unlock solution, yellowsn0w is that it is available as a Cydia/Installer app! Once installed, it runs as an unobtrusive daemon in your iPhone. This means that you can add/remove this app via Cydia anytime.

1. Open Cydia -> Manage -> Sources -> Edit -> Add
   Add this repository URL http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/ and return to Cydia.
2. Now Search in Cydia for ‘yellowsn0w‘ and install it.
3. Reboot your iPhone 3G with a different SIM
4. A few seconds after reboot, you should get a signal with the new carrier!
5. You have unlocked your iPhone 3G!!

Word of caution

Yellowsn0w is in version 0.9.4 and is considered beta software. This means that for some of us it may not work. It could be specific carriers or specific sims. But, do provide feedback to the Dev Team so they can improve this software for all of us.

Also, the above linked post has tons of comments from folks trying to unlock and is a minefield of good information to check out if you had issues doing this.

What a great effort by the Dev Team. You have our congratulations and wish everyone here a Happy New Year!

Update: 01/05/09

Dev-Team has updated yellowsn0w to version 0.9.6 beta. If you have had problems unlocking before, please try again with this new version.

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Dev Team has promised to deliver the iPhone 3G software unlock today - on New Years Eve!

If you have a first generation iPhone, QuickPwn 2.2 & PwnageTool 2.2 would have already worked for you. But, those with iPhone 3g had to hold off from upgrading to firmware 2.2.

Why you shouldn’t have updated your iPhone 3g to 2.2 via iTunes?

iPhone 2.2 firmware contained a baseband update - 02.28.00. Dev Team warned against updating to this firmware using iTunes as this would prevent you from unlocking your iPhone 3G with the software (dubbed yellowsn0w) they are going to release today.

But, there was a workaround. You could have created a custom 2.2 firmware with PwnageTool (Mac only) that contained the older iPhone 3g baseband. This will allow you to unlock your iPhone 3g now with yellowsn0w.

If you have already updated to 2.2 via iTunes, you are out of luck in 2008. Dev Team did warn us butthe team loves hacking and chllenges. I have no doubt that they will be able to hack the new baseband as well and provide an unlocking solution. But, just not yet.

Jailbreaking vs Unlocking

Do these 2 terms confuse you? No worries.

Jailbreaking: Apple intentionally locked you to download apps only from AppStore. Jailbreaking your iPhone lets you install apps from outside AppStore and customize your iPhone to your heart’s content. Two jailbreak apps that let you do this are - Cydia & Installer. Some of the things you can get with jailbreaking are Record video in iPhone, Categories, Backgrounder, Quickgold, Winterboard Themes, Podcaster, etc. Check out our jailbreaking how-to post to get an idea on what’s involved.

Unlocking: This has to do with AT&T. iPhones are locked so it works only with AT&Ts network. Usually carriers including AT&T will unlock your phone after you have been through a certain period in the contract so you can use the same device even if you switch carriers. Or even just travel outside the counrty. But not for iPhones. But, Dev Team is here for our rescue. iPhone 2g was unlocked a long time back but iPhone 3g proved a little bit harder but we are finally going to see that change today. Once you unlock, you can just switch the SIM card in your iPhone and use it on any carrier.

Happy New Year

We’ll come back with a post on how to unlock your iPhone 3g shortly after the software release. Until, then we’d like to wish you a Happy New Year!

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