Apple updated iTunes to version 10.4.1. Apple initially released iTunes 10.4 to bring full screen support in Lion to its media software. Version 10.4.1 of iTunes doesn’t bring much but the usual bug fixes. We have the full change log below… Can confirm that it is safe for jailbroken devices.
Well folks... looks like we're finally getting some meat to all the iPhone 5/4S rumors that have been swirling around for months. We got some interesting news from a vigilant tipster today: beginning August 22nd, Telefonica will begin scaling back its current iPhone stock through September 12th. According to the source, this three week program is a move that "will of course prepare us for the launch of a new smart phone." While the date next month should sound familiar, we've heard recently that the launch will actually take place sometime in October. Either way, a move like this is usually a telling sign that points directly to a new model launch. Keep your eyes pinned here, and prepare yourself, as it appears Mr. Jobs may have something planned for the fall.
Earlier this year, Verizon CEO Dan Mead all but confirmed that an LTE Apple device would be making its way to Verizon. Eventually. And no 2011 Apple rumor spattering would be complete without at least a casual mention of the high-speed 4G network. Now, BGR claims to have received an internal iOS test build from a major carrier, revealing a property list file for LTE. This of course doesn't guarantee that Apple will be shipping an LTE iPhone flavor later this year, but that it at least remains a possibility. Still, an October iPhone launch would fall nicely in line with recent confirmation that AT&T will be releasing an LTE smartphone in "late 2011," and 4G compatibility could definitely explain Cupertino's holdup in announcing the iPhone 4's successor. So, will you be flying through the wireless web at lightning-fast speed later this year? Hopefully we need not wait much longer to find out.
Facebook has quietly changed something! Take a look at your URL address (the top box on your screen.) If you see "http" instead of "https" you DO NOT have a secure session & can be HACKED. Go to Account - Account Settings - Security (top left corner) - Secure Browsing - Check the box (Brows Facebook on a secure connection) - Save Changes. FB has automatically set it on the non-secure setting! Do your friends a huge favor, copy & re-post!
Have anything sitting in your voicemail that you'd prefer the rest of the world didn't hear? When's the last time you went about checking it, anyway? AT&T is now on a mission to save its carefree customers from themselves, and beginning today, all new subscribers will be required to set a voicemail password or affirmatively disable the security measure. Ma Bell's new policy is a reaction to the current unauthorized intrusion hubbub in the media, combined with the very real threat of caller ID spoofing. Shockingly, its current customers won't receive similar treatment until early next year, and only when they upgrade their handsets. Of course, you can easily secure your voicemail within the settings, and if you prefer the convenience of retrieving your messages without hassle, you'll still have that option
It's that time of the month again, over at Apple. You know, iOS 5 beta refresh time. Just over two weeks ago, the old Apple released its latest build, and now iOS 5 beta 5 is ready for devs to download. We've yet to get the dirt on what this version will bring, but we're downloading it now, and will let you know if any juicy bits float to the top. If you've already got it going, let us know what you see in the comments below. Strangely, the beta 5 release notes mention the possibility of multiple iCloud accounts, but we're not entirely certain how that will work, or whether or not it will make it to the final release.
Ok. So let me clear up a few things before I get into any more details so everyone can know what's going on.
If you don't know by now, I'm rockin an iPhone 4. Yes, it's the best phone in the market, hands down. This post is not a debate of that topic. The problem came about a few weeks ago, when I got an email from AT&T saying:
"Did you know tethering your Smartphone to a computer requires a tethering plan? Pls call 866-679-7118 for details or visit att.com/dataplans"
Ok, so tethering is basically giving internet to your laptop, iPod, XBox, PS3 or any other device that can use the internet wirelessly. Thing is, AT&T provides this service for a fee, per phone, and it's limited to 4gig monthly. Being a web developer, I can really benefit from tethering but I could do without the extra bill. Other catch is, being a long time iPhone customer with AT&T, I have been grandfathered into an unlimited data plan for $30 monthly. Thats $30 a month for unlimited data (not available on new plans), compared to $25 monthly for 2 gigs and $15 for 200 mb and if you go over the data limit, they charge you $10 for an extra gig of data.
To me, it seems like those plans are not very friendly and don't give you alot of options. So I will stick with my unlimited plan. And also, it's very unsettling to me how they are able to know that you are tethering your device anyways. Some people say it's cause you use too much data.... well if I have an unlimited data plan, what is too much data? So if I accept that, then I can still argue, all the data is coming from the phone. How do they know otherwise? Well, they can possibly tell the browser you're using as well. Browsers sent their info when sending packets over the network. But still, I can fake the user agent of any browser and that is not a good enough reason.
The one way that I can think of, that they can legally see what I'm doing on my machine and that it is actually tethering, is that the MAC address of the other devices are passed with the packets and with this I think they can determine that other devices were used, tethered through the phone. This is the "fix" that I am suggesting with the instructions below. Beyond the MAC addresses, I would say they have to literally invade my privacy and
Now, by making some changes to your iPhone, you can "jailbreak" it. What this does is allow you to make changes to the phone's system that are not initially allowed by either AT&T or Apple. Maybe you like people to control your belongings even after you paid money to buy it from them, but I don't. I love technology and being able to "play around" with the things in the background of the system are very beneficial. It's the same with others though. Example is Microsoft's XBox... You can't even use the bluetooth devices you may have already paid alot of money for with the system due to the restrictions. However, I think you can "mod your XBox" to get this setup.
Anyways, for the real reason you're here... you want to find a way to get around AT&T punishing you for using your own, paid for internet data. Well below, I show you how by using MyWi and PocketProxy.
Steps
1. Get PocketProxy from the App Store now before they read this post and realize what good it will be used for (they did it with the netshare app - Google it)
2. Jailbreak you phone (if not already) and purchase and install MyWi
3. Once the first two steps are complete, start up MyWi and turn on wireless tethering.
4. Minimize this app (it should run in the background)
5. Open the PocketProxy app and start it
6. On the macnine you want to access the internet on, go to the browser and enter the proxy settings. If possible, change the proxy for the entire machine
PS. If you want to have PocketProxy run in the background, get the Backgrounder app and set it to run as if in the foreground. Then you can minimize the app once it's started and still browse at the same time.
PPS. Of course this can't exactly be verified by an AT&T employee but this should send all packets that are tethered through the proxy, thus any data on the other end should be hidden and only be passed using the iPhone's MAC address.
Thats it.
There's a war on unlimited data being fought as we speak, and Ma Bell is leading the main charge. Just days after AT&T announced it would begin throttling data speeds for the heaviest bandwidth hogs grandfathered into the carrier's no-limit internet service, it's also confirmed it's ready to crack the whip on illegal tethering as well. In attempt to achieve "fairness for all of [its] customers," the carrier has added a bit of force behind its March announcement, sending out notices to anyone using their jailbroken iPhones as a mobile hotspot. The gist? Cut it out or be scaled back to a tiered data plan. In a statement originally given to 9to5mac, an AT&T spokesperson said:
Earlier this year, we began sending letters, emails, and text messages to a small number of smartphone customers who use their devices for tethering but aren't on our required tethering plan. Our goal here is fairness for all of our customers. (This impacts a only small percentage of our smartphone customer base.)
The letters outline three choices:
1. Stop tethering and keep their current plan (including grandfathered unlimited plan)
2. Proactively call AT&T or visit our stores and move to the required tethering plan 3. Do nothing and we'll go ahead and add the tethering plan on their behalf - after the dated noted in their customer notification
AT&T confirmed that this statement is indeed true. Consider this the company's last warning -- your time to enjoy all-you-can-eat tethering is almost at an end. How soon the day of reckoning will come, however, likely depends on when you received the notification originally. And you thought you were being so sneaky...
If you’ve gotten AT&T’s “text of death” relating to your tethering usage, you’re probably utilizing free tethering through jailbreak apps like MyWi. Understandably, AT&T doesn’t want its users to have a free broadband connection through tethering hacks, and the carrier has started moving users over to its DataPro plan for $45 a month.
So, how is AT&T targeting unauthorized tethering on its network?
“Jailbroken iPhones typically use the same tethering technique as a standard iPhone, the one that’s already present in iOS. This method exposes tethering activity quite readily, because the iPhone, when in tethering mode, sends traffic through an alternate APN (AT&T access point/router) for the express purpose of identifying the traffic as tethered data. This makes it extremely easy for AT&T to identify whether or not an iOS device is utilizing tethering, and just how much of their data is consumed via tethering.
Some tethering applications for iOS make use of alternative methods and route tethered traffic through the phone’s normal data APN, but by and large, most jailbreakers stick with the stock application because it’s easy to use and doesn’t require any complicated setup. In fact, many iPhone users jailbreak for the sole purpose of avoiding AT&T’s tethering fees (for why, see next section). These are the people AT&T’s is going after.”
Because MyWi, the most popular tethering alternative for jailbreakers, uses the same APN as the standard tethering system for iOS, AT&T can see a jailbroken iPhone’s tethering activity very easily. AT&T has been contacting its list of unauthorized tethering users in waves, and there are no signs that the warnings from AT&T will stop anytime soon.
The people getting targeted by AT&T are obviously those with a grandfathered unlimited data plan. If you’re fortunate enough to still have an unlimited data for your iPhone, you can tether till your heart’s content through methods like MyWi and never have to worry about going over on your bill. AT&T doesn’t like that jailbreakers are able circumvent their $45 system for tethering.
There are other options for tethering in Cydia. PdaNet is an alternative to MyWi that has anew option to “hide” your tethering usage, assumedly redirecting you to the regular APN that the iPhone uses for data. If PdaNet does indeed mask your data from being sent through AT&T’s tethering APN, then AT&T should have no way of distinguishing unauthorized tethering data from regular data.
TetherMe is another popular tethering solution for jailbreakers that hasn’t gotten much attention in this whole AT&T debacle. From what we’re hearing, TetherMe users are reporting that they haven’t gotten contacted from AT&T about any sort of unauthorized tethering. However, this doesn’t mean that TetherMe users will not be contacted by AT&T soon.
As of right now, it seems that the updated version of PdaNet is your best bet for safe, free tethering on a jailbroken iPhone. Although AT&T does mainly use APNs to distinguish different types of data, your carrier could also be able to sniff data packets to see different types of traffic.
Just wanted to let my readers know that there well be some blog updates and changes. So if you happen to see things come and go thats why it is happening.
Thanks for reading.
About this project
UPDATE: **SHIPPING OUTSIDE THE USA** Please add $10 to your pledge amount for shipping to Canada, or $15 for shipping to other countries. Shipping within the US is included.
UPDATE: FUNDED!! Thanks to everyone who pledged so far, let's keep it going!
Further pledges will allow us to purchase in larger quantities, lower our costs, and ease entry into retail markets. Pledge to get an isostick of your very own!
There has been a lot of misconception about the functionality of isostick. All the optical disk magic takes place in the isostick itself, it doesn't matter if you're in the computer's BIOS, an OS, anything -- whatever you plug it into will see both an optical drive and a flash drive. Absolutely no software is required for this. The software mentioned is a convenience for configuring it, but all settings are ultimately stored in config files on the flash portion, which you can edit however you please. I hope this clears up some confusion about the isostick, and I hope you like it!
Some BIOSes only see the first drive a device presents, so isostick's optical drive comes first so you don't have to worry about not being able to boot from it!
See new warranty info in the FAQ below! 30-day warranty on all units! :)
The isostick is a USB flash memory stick that likes to pretend it is also an optical (CD/DVD) drive. As far as the computer knows, there's two things in that little device: a flash drive and an optical drive.
Any CD/DVD images (also called ISO9660 or "iso" files) that you keep on the flash drive can be "inserted" into the optical drive. The computer will think there is a real optical drive there with a real disc in it! Of course, you can keep whatever you want on the flash drive, not just iso files.
You can boot from the optical drive as well, so you can keep your OS install images on there and use them as needed. Of course, that's not much good without the ability to change which iso is loaded on-the-fly. To solve that problem, we have a little thing we call "isosel," short for "iso selector," developed by our friend Stephen. Briefly, booting from the isostick's optical drive gives you a list of all your disc images, with the last-inserted one selected by default. It works much like any other boot manager: there is a (configurable) timeout, so if you don't do anything it will go ahead and boot the last-inserted image, so unattended installs will work fine.
The isostick also has a read-only switch so you never have to worry about a nasty virus hitching a ride on it. You can feel safe plugging the isostick into any computer with the switch in the Read-Only position, it's implemented fully in the device so there's no way for rogue software to override it.
Sometimes you're waiting around for something to complete and you're not sure if the computer has locked up or if it's just busy doing something. It has been said the "everything is better with blinkenlights." We couldn't agree more, so we put a nice bright LED in the isostick to show drive activity. That way at least you'll know if it's being accessed. But sometimes bright lights can be a problem, maybe you're a vampire and you work in the dark. We've got you covered: the brightness of the LED is completely configurable, you can even turn it off if you wish.
The isostick is targeted at IT people, computer technicians, and geeks in general that are sick and tired of carrying around lots of discs that always get lost, broken, scratched, or just stop working. Often times you'll have to update your discs with the latest patches or virus definitions or what-have-you. With isostick it's a breeze, just drop the new iso on the flash drive and you're ready to go!
Currently isostick supports the FAT32 filesystem. Despite this limitation, the isostick management software will automatically split up ISOs larger than 4GB, or you can do this yourself. You can format and partition it however you please, but for right now it can only make use of iso files on the first partition, which must be FAT32. Support for reading iso files from other partitions (so long as they are FAT32) will be coming soon. Support for other filesystems such as HFS+, ext2/3/4, and NTFS, is planned although that's a low priority so please don't expect it too soon!
On that note, isostick can be updated with new firmware as new features are added and bugs are fixed. There is no limitation on this, whether you're the first person or the 100th person to get one, everyone can always keep their isostick up to date with the latest firmware.
At the time of writing, the production boards are designed and we've tested a small run of them, shown here:
There's still some kinks to be worked out and features to be added before we're ready to get them to the masses. That's where you come in. Your funding will help us finish things up and bring the isostick into production. With your help, we can start making the lives of geeks everywhere a lot easier!
Thank you very much for visiting and we hope you like isostick!
FAQ
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It reads at 12.5MegaBytes/second rarely going above or below that, from both the optical drive and the flash memory.
That's ~continuous~ as there is practically no seek speed, and it equates to 81x in CD-ROM speeds, or 9.46x in DVD-ROM speeds!! Much faster than a real optical drive will attain!
The write speed depends on the Class of the MicroSD card. The Class number is the minimum write speed of the card in MByte/s.
At minimum we will choose Class 4 cards (4MB/s), but we will try our best to obtain Class 6 and higher!* For those who like specificity, all MegaByte figures are actually in MibiBytes, meaning 1024*1024 bytes.
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As many as you can fit on the flash memory!
The isostick is not for just one ISO image, but a whole library of them.
Our intention is to let you carry around your most frequently used installers and utilities on your keychain.Thanks to the bootloader, isosel, you can freely switch between those images even without an OS installed! Keep in mind that even with the bootloader, the optical drive is still being done in hardware, so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues.
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Yes, please add $10 to your pledge for shipping to Canada, or $15 for shipping anywhere else.
Those who have already pledged internationally please adjust your pledge if you are willing; if not, I will cover the shipping. My apologies for not including this initially. -
Probably. We want to keep our options open, but at present the plan is to use MicroSD cards on the production units as well.
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No. Unfortunately the enclosure we have chosen is not wide enough to allow the use of a slot for the MicroSD card, so it is not removable.
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Yes. The isostick's optical drive is agnostic to the contents of the ISO file, and simply presents them to the computer as the contents of the disc.
This is done at the protocol level by implementing the SCSI commands used by optical drives (for those interested, that would be the MultiMedia Command standard, or MMC-5 standard). -
Not at the moment, but we are working on it. Updates will be posted as progress is made.
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Yes! We will continue to update the isostick with new features and bug fixes, and these updates will be freely available to everyone.
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MicroSD cards were chosen because of their high availability, low cost, and ease of use. The barrier to purchasing MicroSD cards in bulk is about 1000 units, and that is considered a very low number in the industry. These are some of the minimum order quantities mentioned in the video.
The benefits of MicroSD are that it handles the bad block checking and all the flash memory control on its own, offloading it from the isostick's CPU so we can dedicate more processor time to pretending to be an optical drive.
While flash memory chips do exist for this purpose, it turns out the pricing for a given size MicroSD card is almost identical to that of a same-size flash IC. Also the minimum order quantities on dedicated flash memory are much higher, as they deal mostly with large vendors such as those making MP3 players, cellphones, etc. -
(If you're unfamiliar, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U3 )
The major differences are:
a) The isostick's bootloader lets you switch between ISOs on the fly.
b) You don't need to copy the ISO contents onto a special area, you simply keep the ISO file on the flash drive as you would any other file. The only restriction is the partition must be readable by isostick (at present this means FAT32, but future updates may add support for other filesystems). -
Yes! You can disable it if, for whatever reason, you do not want or use it. We have tried very hard to design it to be unobtrusive and not cause compatibility issues. If you encounter problems with it, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will get right on it!
The timeout before booting the last-selected ISO will also be configurable.
If you'd like to see some other feature, let us know in the comments!
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Yes, when we stop producing the isostick all designs and source code will be made available under the MIT license.
The choice to protect the firmware was made because the hardware is very simple, so it can be trivially cloned. We realize that no protection mechanism will stop clones, but it will significantly raise the barrier. -
It will depend on demand and retailers, and it's very hard to predict, but we are shooting for around the price point on the Kickstarter. We will make our best effort to lower the retail pricing based on demand and production costs, but there are other costs associated with selling retail.
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Yes! The management software runs on "the big three" without any problems.
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It is currently targeted at PC, but we will test it on several Macs in the coming weeks. When we have a solid answer this will be updated, and we'll post an update for the project.
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Yes! All isosticks, including Early Adopter units, have a 30-day replacement warranty. This covers early failure of the internal storage and failure due to manufacturing defect.
We will test each unit thoroughly before shipment, but we want to cover any failures that slip past us! Note that this does not cover accidental (or intentional!) damage to the unit by the end user. -
As soon as possible after the Kickstarter is funded, but here are some estimates. Please do not take them as hard deadlines, we will work as quickly as we can.
Early Adopter units should ship within 1.5 months of the Kickstarter ending. That is based on: it may take up to 2 weeks to clear all the money, and another 2 weeks to get the enclosures back, plus some overhead for testing, packing, and shipping them.
Others should start to ship a few weeks after that. The interim will be spent fixing bugs with the Early Adopters.
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It's in the plan. We'll release an update to support those later.
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Not yet. This is a feature we plan to add in a future update. This would allow you to "burn" to the isostick, and it would show up as an ISO file on the flash memory, no problem!
We feel this would be especially useful for computers which come with software that lets you burn the recovery disc, but don't come with a physical copy or a download on the website.
Ask a question
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
Backers pledging $10 or more will receive a pack of stickers with fun designs relating to the isostick.
26 BACKERssold out 0 of 12 remaining
Early Adopters may pledge $75 to get an 8GB *BETA* isostick and a sticker pack. If you choose to be an early adopter, please be willing to file bug reports and test on a variety of computers. The cosmetics of these may differ slightly from the final production devices.
12 BACKERsBackers pledging $125 receive one 8GB isostick and one pack of stickers.
83 BACKERsBackers pledging $175 receive one 16GB isostick and one pack of stickers.
49 BACKERsBackers pledging $225 receive one 32GB isostick and one pack of stickers.
71 BACKERsSmall Office Package. Pledging $575 gets you *five* 8GB isosticks. That's $10 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
2 BACKERsSmall Office *16GB* Package. Pledging $825 gets you *five* 16GB isosticks. That's $10 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
0 BACKERsLarge Office Package. Pledging $1000 gets you *ten* 8GB isosticks. That's $25 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
1 BACKERSmall Office *32GB* Package. Pledging $1075 gets you *five* 32GB isosticks. That's $10 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
0 BACKERsLarge Office *16GB* Package. Pledging $1500 gets you *ten* 16GB isosticks. That's $25 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
1 BACKERLarge Office *32GB* Package. Pledging $2000 gets you *ten* 32GB isosticks. That's $25 off per unit! Includes one pack of stickers.
1 BACKERProject By
Elegant Invention
South Bend, IN
Send MessageElegant Invention is a small technology start-up. Our goal is to provide affordable hardware and software to make your life easier.
Apple launches iCloud and iWork betas, confirms pricing for extra capacity
Monday, August 1, 2011
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MobileMe's impending demise just got one step closer, folks. Apple's updated iCloud.com to now sport an official login page with what we're assuming is Cupertino's rendition of a CNC-machined aluminumunibody badge. It looks like those of you rocking iOS 5 or 10.7.2 and who've also created an iCloud account are probably already busy frolicking through email, editing contacts and slinging calendar events all from the comfort of your browser. Those services already existed under its predecessor, but it looks as if Cupertino has spruced 'em up with fresh paint jobs. A screenshot from MacRumors also shows the addition of an iWork section, which we'd surmise means the previously siloed iWork beta now has a new place to call home. We couldn't get past the migration step with our trusty MobileMe account (disappointing proof is after the break), but you're more than welcome to tap the more coverage link and have a go yourself.
Oh, and if you're wondering how much it'll cost you to claim more than those 5GB that Apple's tossing in gratis, the folks over at Electronista have confirmed that an extra 10GB will cost $20 per year, while an extra 20GB runs $40 / year and an extra 50GB will demand $100 per annum.
Want something? Need something? Need to know how to do something that Apple, AT&T, or other companies may not want you to know? If you answered yes to any of these, your in the right spot... I prefer to stay anonymous as this could effect my paying job. So as far as everyone knows.. I am DJRaz55, which is me. Don't see what you need, feel free to email me.
Email DJRaz55