Geek Choice Blog » Software

Upgrade to iOS 5 now?

Joseph Ruthaford — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:54:39 +0000

Well Apple on Monday announced so very great things but one thing that was interesting is that iOS 5 is available to developers. But what would you say if you could get it without being a developer? Well it looks like Mert Erdir has found a backdoor. Anyone can do this and the instructions are extremely simple.

Warning: While this operation should be simple and inconsequential, we are not responsible for what you do to your iPhone. Proceed at your own risk.

Download and install iOS 5
1. Download the iOS 5 IPSW file from the web (it’s easy and readily available. Just Google it and torrent it down).
2. Update your iPhone using iTunes. To do this, connect your iPhone to your computer, click on the Check for Update button with the Option (Mac) or Shift (PC) key pressed. Select the iOS 5 IPSW file from the place you downloaded it to.
3. Wait until it upgrades. A new activation screen will appear.

Activate iOS 5
1. Triple click the home button. This will activate the Voice Over.
2. Triple click the home button and Emergency Call will appear.
3. Click on Emergency Call and, while it’s switching, swipe with your three fingers down.
4. The Notification Center will appear!
5. Click on the Weather widget. The Weather app will load.
6. Click on the home button to exit to the iPhone’s springboard.

That’s it. Your iPhone is activated and fully operative. Enjoy and thank Mert Erdir for this.

Once again this is just information I have found and we are not responsible for anyone who try’s what Mert Erdir has found. I just find it funny that Apple wouldn’t protect the OS better for anyone to really get it.

On the Amazon Cloud

Joseph Ruthaford — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:24:25 +0000

Amazon has finally broken into the streaming music realm. The Amazon Cloud Player is the name and streaming YOUR music is its game! Unlike other streaming music sites like Pandora or Spotify it lets you stream your music library from any PC or Android device. I have read a few things about this Cloud Player and will share some information I feel is interesting. If you have iTunes at the start of using cloud while it uploads your music it will also take playlists that you have already created from iTunes. The layout of Cloud seems easy and organized and it also lets you skip around to different points in your music library obviously something that you can’t do on the streaming music players today. The music quality is about the same as any other streaming music player. The cloud is free for the first 5GB of music but most people will need a bit more. You can spend $20/year which is basically 1GB per $1. All though this is a very interesting idea from Amazon which could possibly be huge if people decide not to put music into own android phone.

IE9 Being Explored

Joseph Ruthaford — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:16:31 +0000

It’s just been 24 hour but IE9 has hit the ground running and taken the internet by storm. Internet Explorer 9 has been downloaded over 2.35 million times in the first 24 hours since it’s release on Monday night. That is over 27 downloads every second or if you really growing. Although even though those numbers are nice to see, Firefox still has IE beat. Firefox version 3.5 was downloaded 5 million times in 24 hours and Firefox 3 in 08 was downloaded a massive 8 million times in one single day. But that number is a bit inflated if you figure that back in 08 there wasn’t many browser choices that were as secure as Firefox. Now with Google Chrome, Safari and of course the newest version of Firefox on the way this new Internet Explorer might actually be comparable to the likes of Chrome and Firefox. Below is a video of the IE9 launch event that can fill you in on what IE9 is all about!

Apple charging for in-app subscriptions: Good idea or bad idea?

Joseph Ruthaford — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:15:57 +0000

Apple has announced a new in-app subscription charge to the companies that have applications on the itunes market that offer subscriptions through the app via your iPad or through your iPhone and iPod touch. So for example say you have an iPad and found the Netflix app while searching on your iPad for new apps but don’t have a subscription set up for this service. Well if you sign up through the application on your iPad, apple wants to take 30% of that application subscription. It’s always been the case that no matter how a person subscribes to a service the company who created the service would keep it.

So is this a good idea? It could be to make apple richer. But what does that mean for the customer? Well hopefully the companies that have apps for the Apple brands find ways to get customers to subscribe for their service outside of the itunes store, like via the web. But if there is still a massive influx of people subscribing on the App store will it force companies to sit there and take the hit or just leave the app store all together. Now you could pose the argument to me that the companies could just charge a bit more on the app store to make up the difference in lost profit. Well I am sorry to shoot you down but Apple has asked that the subscriptions be the same deals as you could get outside of the app store. So if you paying 9.99 a month for Netflix, it won’t be a different charge if you signed up in the app store.

Now the final piece to the puzzle that makes this so grand is competition. The Android marketplace is also going to be releasing a subscription service. Allegedly it will be a 10% charge versus Apple’s 30%. This could mean companies could jump over to Android and leave Apple behind. Apple does still have a strong hold on the market share however Androids being clawing up the ranks. Android is making a smart move by undercutting Apple here. Apple is setting a precedent with these charges and Android is following just a very small rate. With this, Android could see an increase in market share if companies decide that doing subscription services through Apple just isn’t work the money they would have to pay out to them. So what do you think? Is this a good idea or bad idea? I personally am not sure yet.

Netflix to enable instant streaming on Android phones.

Joseph Ruthaford — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 14:35:26 +0000

Ah, it is February 14, 2011 and I wanted to write something that had a bit of technology and love to mix this article up for the fact it is Valentine’s Day. Alas I couldn’t think of anything that mixed both things, so I figured today I would talk about something in the tech world that I think I am in love with. That is streaming Netflix on your Android. Now I personally watch Netflix on almost a daily basis. I do this by streaming movies and TV shows through my XBOX or PS3. Now that down the line I could do it with my phone while I am traveling? Well that just makes it that much more special.

The breakdown is simple. Qualcomm is creating a new snapdragon processor that will allow you to play Netflix on your Android mobile device. This new technology is suppose to give users instant selections unlike on most mobile devices where watching a streamed video on a mobile device has been anything but instant. Now this new technology will be in smartphones and tablets and the new processor can run at 2.5 GHz and has the ability to process data 150% faster than most of the fastest mobile chips to date. The finally bit of information about this hardware will be able to play movies in high quality but also keep your battery life efficient.