After selling a record 7.4 million iPhones last quarter, Apple is setting up to meet high demand during the holiday season. Inventories have been low in many countries as the iPhone 3GS has been flying off the shelves.
Apple will also be selling the iPhone on several new carriers in the coming months which could further reduce supplies. Carriers that will carry the iPhone as early as next month include Orange and Vodafone in the UK, Telus and Bell in Canada, and China Unicom.
The latest version of the blackra1n jailbreak has hit the streets. RC2 will even jailbreak brand new iPhone 3GS models running 3.1.2 from the factory with a "tethered jailbreak."
This means when restarting your jailbroken iPhone the device must remain connected to your computer to properly boot. Apple thwarted the “24kpwn” exploit used by Geohot and iPhone Dev-Team in the latest firmware release on new iPhone 3GS models, making the tethered jailbreak method necessary.
The latest and greatest jailbreak tool has been released and it supports iPhone OS 3.1 on the 3GS hardware. Before you get too excited, keep in mind it will only work if you've already jailbroken your iPhone 3GS when it was running 3.0 or 3.0.1 firmware.
Turns out if you've installed an update directly from Apple using iTunes on your iPhone 3GS or the device came pre-installed with firmware 3.1 then you're out of luck. PwnageTool 3.1.3 is only available on the Mac platform. Dev-Team has stated it has no intention of developing a windows version of this particular tool.
The latest firmware update released by Apple may have improved security and added features, but some iPhone owners are having problems. Reports from users on the Apple support forums indicate a major problem with updating to iPhone OS 3.1 on the iPhone 3G.
Users are ending up with bricked phones, and iPhones that crash several times, requiring a hard reboot. Holding the sleep and home button doesn't always work, however. Some users are finding it necessary to downgrade to iTunes 8 and firmware 3.0.1 to solve the problems.
Surprise! The popular iPhone app Yelp has a secret feature that overlays nearby points of interest on live video of your surroundings. This augmented reality feature is available in Yelp version 3.0.0 on iPhone 3GS.
To turn on the feature, called Monocle, make sure "Location Services" are ON. Launch Yelp and select the "Nearby" screen from the bottom menu. Now gently twist or shake the iPhone a few times until the dialog box stating "The Monocle is activated" appears.
You may be aware that Microsoft's Zune HD will hit shelves on September 15th. The portable device will play HD video and compete with Apple's iPod Touch. What you may not know is that the iPhone 3GS is already capable of playing 720p and 1080p resolution HD video without skipping a beat.
Although the iPhone screen resolution is only 480x320 pixels, the possibility of future Apple devices linking to external displays for HD video playback is real.
Looking for a new, unlocked iPhone that hasn't been hacked? Normally iPhones come locked to a carrier, such as AT&T, and must be modified to allow usage with other networks. This could violate terms of service and Apple's warranty rules.
Two iPhone models that have never been locked can now be found for sale on the website Buy.com. These legally unlocked iPhones should be fully covered by Apple's warranty and make it possible to use the device on many GSM networks with no contract.
The short answer is: nowhere. The iPhone 3GS, introduced in July 2009, is only available in 16GB and 32 GB models. An 8GB iPhone 3G is still available new as of this writing.
Some rumors had appeared of Rogers Wireless offering an 8GB iPhone 3GS in Canada. These reports were based on iPhone comparison charts on the company's website that showed the existence of an 8GB iPhone 3GS.
So Palm has fixed iTunes syncing on the Palm Pre, shortly after Apple disabled it in the latest software update. No harm no foul, right? If only it were so simple.
Turns out Palm may be breaking the rules. According to the USB Implementers Forum, when you apply for a USB vendor ID, you sign a form that explicitly states:
Unauthorized use of assigned or unassigned USB Vendor ID Numbers and associated Product ID Numbers are strictly prohibited.
If you thought your iPhone 3GS was more secure than the original iPhone or the iPhone 3G, think again. iPhone developer and hacker extraordinaire Jonathan Zdziarski says the encryption Apple has implemented on the iPhone 3GS is next to worthless.
With many businesses, higher education institutions, and government agencies starting to use the iPhone, Zdziarski cites poor encryption as cause for concern. In a demonstration to Wired, he pulled live sensitive data from an iPhone 3GS using readily available free software in only two minutes.
