jailbreak

Remember when you could hide the Newsstand icon in a folder on your iOS device as long as you were fast enough? Good times. When Apple fixed the bug that allowed us to hide the folder, it was only a matter of time before a non-jailbreak method made its way to the Internet.

As iDownloadBlog pointed out this morning, the solution is StifleStand, a Mac app (a Windows version is in the works) that creates a magical folder on your iOS device with Newsstand conveniently placed inside it. The best part is you don't have to worry about jailbreaking … Read more

Jailbreaking isn't for everyone. Cydia is quick to overwhelm even the tech-savvy user, and upgrading iOS software on a jailbroken device can be a headache-inducing process.

Whether you've discovered that jailbreaking isn't for you, or you need to take your iDevice to the Genius Bar for repair, you'll need to unjailbreak your device.

There are plenty of forums, blog posts, and YouTube videos that attempt to guide you through this process. Many are outdated, and, in some cases, incorrect.

So, to find the proper way to unjailbreak an iDevice, I went to the source. Nikias Bassen, … Read more

Absinthe 2.0 has been released, bringing with it an untethered jailbreak for iOS devices running iOS 5.1.1. The jailbreak is compatible with almost every iOS device, with the lone exception being the revised $399 iPad 2 with 32nm A5 chip. A solution for the "new" iPad 2 will be released at a later date.

Before you begin, it's my job to remind you that jailbreaking your device is something you do at your own risk. Things are bound to go wrong when you're messing with settings Apple never intended for users to mess … Read more

Following yesterday's discovery that Apple was altering how it displayed apps, music, and other digital content with the name "jailbreak" in the title, the company appears to have relented.

Searching for "jailbreak" now shows the word in full, instead of offering "j*******k."

An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the change, which was spotted by The Next Web.

As mentioned yesterday, the issue was inconsistant. Some digital content that was named jailbreak, or that simply had the word in the title appeared unchanged, while others were not.

Apple's App Store Guidelines … Read more

It's no secret that Apple is not a fan of jailbreaking of its iPhones, but that distaste appears to be extending to the iTunes Store as well.

A search for the term "jailbreak" in the store yields dozens of instances where the titles of songs, apps, TV shows, and even podcasts have been asterisked out. While Apple believes the act of jailbreaking, or bypassing the restriction Apple places on standard iPhones that only allows the installation of applications only from approved sources, is a copyright violation. iBookstore is also affected.

A review of the App Store guidelines … Read more

Third-party gadget warranty service SquareTrade today expanded its coverage, and now supports jailbroken iPhones.

That procedure -- which gives device owners deep system-level access, letting them install third-party software from places other than Apple's App Store -- voids Apple's own warranty, and that from carriers.

A company spokesperson said the change affects both new and existing coverage holders.

According to Vincent Tseng, SquareTrade's VP of strategy, this extends to iPads and iPods, which the company also covers as part of its warranty service. The three gadgets share the same operating system. It's also in effect for … Read more

So far, true multitasking with the ease of use we came to expect on PCs has been hard to come by on most mobile devices, including the iPad. But a little hack called Quasar that's available for 10 bucks in the Cydia store seems to be the first to bring a decent windowed app management experience to jailbroken iPads.

Quasar brings much of the functionality of Windows to the touch screen ahead of the release of Windows 8 -- there's the ability to view multiple apps in windows simultaneously, resize, rearrange, close, or go full-screen. It's never been so easy to get some work done during a FaceTime conversation that's gone on just a bit too long.… Read more

Jailbreaking: it's just for hackers and folks who want cheap tethering, right?

That was certainly my thinking. After all, the arrival of iOS 5 (a mere seven months ago, believe it or not) brought a lot of the features that drove users to jailbreak in the first place, features like folders and a notification screen and wireless syncing.

So it was with some skepticism that I viewed Jailbreak Matrix's 100 reasons to jailbreak your iPhone, a new video that identifies and/or demonstrates a bevy of tweaks, themes, and apps accessible to jailbreakers.

And you know what? It's mighty convincing. Most of the "reasons" fly by too quickly, especially those that appear in 1-2-3 text lists, but there are enough compelling cutscenes that you almost can't help but rethink the idea.… Read more

A report came out last fall suggesting that repeating one number in the iPhone's four-digit security PIN made for better protection than using all unique numbers. However, that little trick doesn't seem to go very far with Micro Systemation, a Swedish security firm that helps police and military around the world crack digital security systems.

The company released a video last week that shows just how easy it is to break into a passcode-protected iPhone or Android device.

The video, "Recovering the Passcode from an iPhone," tapes a demonstration where a company spokesman uses an application … Read more