Jailbreak

A couple of quick updates for those still waiting on Apple A5 device jailbreaks -- namely iPhone 4S and iPad 2 -- as well as an iOS 5.1 jailbreak.

For iPhone 4S and iPad 2 devices, @pod2g just tweeted the following:

made a step today for the A5. With some luck we could expect a release in a week.

As to iOS 5.1, @i0n1c seems to have something in the pipeline, so 2012 could get off to a strong start for team Jailbreak.

We're now fully into 2012 and already, we've been hearing about some great things to come from Apple. Of course, we'll have to wait and see what turns out to be true and what turns out to just be rumors but that's part of the fun. Looking to discuss all things Apple? We've got a spot just for you in the TiPb forums, you can register now to get started today:

pod2g has updated his blog with more details on how the Corona untether actually works. If the deep inner workings of exploits such as this interest you, it's definitely something you'll want to check out.

Using a fuzzer, I found after some hours of work that there's a format string vulnerability in the racoon configuration parsing code! racoon is the IPsec IKE daemon (http://ipsec-tools.sourceforge.net/). It comes by default with iOS and is started when you setup an IPsec connection.

Now you got it, Corona is an anagram of racoon :-) .

Zephyr by chpwn has been updated to version 1.0.1 to add a few enhancements and fix a few existing bugs. Among the changes are fixes to disable multitasking gestures within apps such as Cut the Rope or Words with Friends where you may not want gestures to be active.

iOS and jailbreak developers Steven Troughton-Smith and Nick, who goes by the Twitter handle @TheMudkip have now managed to get iPad applications running on an Apple TV; in full screen mode running on a 720p HDTV. We told you yesterday how they were working on a way to bring iOS apps to the Apple TV. Well they have now moved a step closer to making this a workable solution.

iOS and jailbreak developers Steven Troughton-Smith and Nick, who goes by the Twitter handle @TheMudkip, have hacked together a working window manager for Apple TV, paving the way for the possibility of iPhone and iPad app compatibility on the non-touchscreen device.

I rewrote SpringBoard from scratch using only QuartzCore. MobileX isn't linked against UIKit.

[The control scheme involves] remote events from an iPad. Or a cursor controlled by an apple remote.

If you've been hanging onto older software on your Apple TV 2 for fear of losing your Jailbreak or simply not wanting a tethered solution, then the day has come where you no longer need to worry about that. The fine folks from Firecore have updated Seas0nPass to make use of @pod2g's latest work and as such -- now have a untethered jailbreak of the latest 4.4.4 (iOS 5.0.1) AppleTV software. As a reminder, here is what's new with the 4.4.4 update:

SwitcherLyrics is a new jailbreak mod in Cydia that offers the ability to view lyrics for any most tracks stored in your iPod music library.

Lock Screen Weather is a clever app that allows you to display live weather on the iPhone Lock screen without requiring a jailbreak.

The way it works is by playing a silent track through the iPod app, then using the album art for the track to display the weather based locations you set within the app. Because of the dynamic abilities of how album art is displayed in the iPod app, and subsequently shown whenever you lock your iPhone or iPod touch, this app essentially tricks the iPhone to display Lock screen weather without breaking any of Apple's strict developer guidelines.

My most-used apps of 2011 consist of some of Rene's favorites, and for good reason. Like Rene and Leanna, I'd also prefer to list some of the great default apps included in iOS like Mail, Reminders, Safari Browser for iPhone and iPad etc., but that would just be boring. Instead, here's a list of some of the most-used iPhone and iPad apps I spent the majority of my time with this year.