Apple Now Actively Taking A Stance Against Jailbreakers

For years people have been jailbreaking their iOS devices to run things that Apple won’t allow, whether it be apps or themes. They’ve never actively done a lot against the jailbreaking community, until now.

I’m due to take my iPhone into the Apple Store due to some hardware issues, but of course I was running a jailbroken iOS 4.3.2, so I spent 3 hours trying to restore it. It got stuck in a constant restore cycle. I tried using RecBoot, TinyUmbrella and iRecovery to try and get it out of it but it just wouldn’t work.

Turns out that Apple have now updated iTunes to check the hosts file on the computer and if there is an entry under ‘gs.apple.com’ it will put your device into a constant restore cycle. This is because some of the tools used for jailbreaking will add the ‘gs.apple.com’ entry to the hosts file to stop the local machine talking back to the server. Of course it’s simple to remove the entry and restore but for whose who don’t know about this will be stuck with a very expensive paperweight. It does rise some other issues, some people may have very large host files and therefore it will simply take too long and then iTunes will assume the device is jailbroken and put it into the constant recovery cycle.

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Cycorder Repair Service [Updated]

If you’ve ever used Cycorder and got a call or you’ve ran out of memory during  a video you know how annoying it is when you go to the video and it won’t play. No matter how hard you try it won’t play back. Some people simply give up, others pay quite a lot of money to a repair company.

I’ve done quite a few videos now and my service has been fully tested and worked 100% of the time. So if you have corrupted Cycorder videos you want fixed or know someone who does I will get them fixed and back to you within less than 1 hour after payment in most cases.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Upload the video to WeTransfer (Up to 2GB)
  2. Send the file to sbraidley [at] yahoo.co.uk (include any discount codes at this point).
  3. I will then download and fix the file and email you with a quote of price and a screenshot of the video for proof if requested.
  4. Send the payment via PayPal in your preffered currency, either USD or GBP and make sure that it’s sent as Personal Payment Owed.
  5. Once payment is received I will immediately upload the file back to WeTransfer for you to download.
  6. You now have your fixed video.

At the minute I’m charging a flat fee of $25/£15.60 per GB (The price is determined by the repaired video size and not the corrupt video that is sent). The video can be any length and sound is also processed with the video unlike some other services. I can also promise that you file will never been seen by anyone but you, videos are checked that the process has worked but this does not require the video to be played.

How To: Enable HD Video Recording on The iPhone 3GS

Mike Pan has successfully modified system files on the iPhone 3GS to record HD video at 30fps.
The video is recorded at 1080×800 at up to 20Mbps, this is a big improvement from the default 640×480 at 3Mbps. The unusual size is used to keep the video at the right aspect ratio when recording. You can also change the resolution to 960×720 if you so prefer.

It does take a little longer for the 3GS to focus and the quality won’t be as good as that on the iPhone 4 but it’s a nice improvement especially if you’re not moving the phone a lot.

First of all make sure you have a jailbroken iPhone 3GS on iOS 4.1, then ensure you install OpenSSH and you know your iPhone’s IP Address. Next download the relevant patch files, depending on your resolution prefenrence.

1080×800 Patch
960×720 Patch

Once you have downloaded the relevant patch extract it. In the extracted folder you should have the following files:

Launch your favourite SSH client and connect to your iPhone. Once you’ve connected navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/
Now locate the file N88AP.plist, rename it and add .bak to the end of the filename, this will act as a backup file so that you can revert to the original setting.
Now drag the N88AP.plist that you downloaded and put it in the same folder as the original was in.

Now navigate to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Celestial.framework/N88/
Now locate the files:
– AVCapture.plist
– CameraRollValidator.plist
– MediaValidator.plist

Rename them all and add .bak to the end of the filenames.
Now drag the AVCapture.plist, CameraRollValidator.plist, and MediaValidator.plist files that you downloaded and put it in the same folder as you just navigated to.

Now just restart your iPhone 3GS and your HD video recording will be enabled.

Cycorder Video Repair Service

If you’ve ever used Cycorder and got a call during a video you know how annoying it is when you go to the video and it won’t play. No matter how hard you try it won’t play back. Some people simply give up, others pay quite a lot of money to a repair company.

I’ve done quite a few videos now and my service has been fully tested and worked 100% of the time. So if you have coruppted cycorder videos you want fixed or know someone who does I will get them fixed and back to you within less than 1 hour after payment in most cases.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Upload the video to WeTransfer (Up to 2GB)
  2. Send the file to sbraidley [at] yahoo.co.uk
  3. I will then download and fix the file and email you with a quote of price and a screenshot of the video for proof if requested.
  4. Send the payment via PayPal and once payment is received I will immediately upload the file back to WeTransfer for you to download.
  5. You now have your fixed video.

At the minute I’m charging a flat fee of $25 per GB. The video can be any length and sound is also processed with the video unlike some other services. I can also promise that you file will never been seen by anyone but you, videos are checked that the process has worked but this does not require the video to be played.

If you can spread the word on this service it would be helpful as I haven’t set up a website yet for my projects.

Game Center Now Live On iOS 4.1, Sans iPhone 3G

So today when Apple released iOS 4.1 everyone thought that it’d bring the new social gaming platform, Game Center to all recent devices except the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G. Turns out that Apple is supporting the second generation iPod Touch but still not the iPhone 3G. Not quite sure as to the reasoning, except to make money but I don’t think Game Center requires recent hardware as it’s just a social gaming platform.

iOS 4.1 Live For Download

Apple has pushed out the iOS 4.1 update as promised, if your running a iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 2G, iPod Touch 3G or iPod Touch 4G then the update is available for free to you now. It’s not a huge update but it fixes the iPhone 3G performance issues, Game Center is now activated and proximity sensor and bluetooth issues have been fixed for the iPhone 4.

As usual, if your a jailbreak user, or someone who relys on a hacked unlock then do not update yet until the iPhone Dev-Team give the go ahead. Make sure to backup your SHSH blobs whilst you still have the chance as well.

Apple Announces iOS 4.1

Apple announced iOS 4.1 which fixes many of the issues that were causing major issues, fixing the issues with the proximity sensor, Bluetooth and the iPhone 3G performance along with completely new features such as HDR camera mode. Also HD video uploads over WiFi, Game Center and TV show rentals. Look for the update to hit iTunes sometime next week as a free download for your iPhone or iPod touch.

Surik Creates Fix For PDF Security Issues

Surik, creator of the Cydia store has rolled out a patch that fixes PDF security issues that are fixed by the 4.0.2 update along with ones that Apple hasn’t fixed yet. Seems that if you want to be secure and protected the only thing to do is to jailbreak your device, escpailly if your running a first gen iPhone or iPod Touch. The package can be found in Cydia.

Related Articles:
How To: Change Your iPhone’s SSH Password