Jailbroken iOS 5 and curious how to get custom Notification Center widgets up and running? Right now, Apple has only included weather and stocks widgets and hasn’t shown any signs of extending an API to 3rd party developers for building their own. However, as soon as iOS 5 was jailbroken a few developers started tinkering around and found it was rather easy to build their own custom widgets, and we’re already starting to see some interesting things come out of developers. We’ll show you how to add them to your custom Notification Center… after the jump!

To get started, first check out our iOS 5 jailbreak how to and then fire up Cydia. Note: these widgets are fairly new athere are still some bugs that need to be worked out, but for the most part they’re interesting and useful.

The widgets we’ll go over are developed by @qwertyoruiop, so you’ll have to add his beta repo to get access. Just follow these quick steps to add the correct Cydia repository before getting started.

1. Open Cydia and tap the ‘Manage’ tab.
2. Tap ‘Sources’
3. Tap ‘Edit’ in the top-right corner.
4. Tap ‘Add’ and input http://qwertyoruiop.com/beta/

The first widget is one I’d definitely suggest getting…

UISettings

UISettings is a great widget that offers most of your settings toggles right from within Notification Center. Much akin to SBSettings, UISettings lets you toggle WiFi or Bluetooth, respring, reboot, adjust brightness/volume and more. You swipe to reveal more toggles, and turning your WiFi or Bluetooth radios on/off is very fast.

The developer is actively working on improving UISettings and we’re betting he’ll keep up with Apple’s iOS 5 betas as they roll out. The only issue (if you can even call it an “issue”) is the icons used aren’t the best looking, but they’re currently a big step up from the initial release last week. We’re also looking into the possibility of manually changing the icons via SSH and we’ll have a guide up if we determine it’s possible.

MusicCenter

MusicCenter offers now playing information in the Notification Center with playback options available by swiping to the left. It’s great if you need more track identifier data over what’s shown in the native app switcher when swiping left, and also comes with a Twitter option to tweet what’s playing from the official Twitter for iPhone app.

I found the playback controls to be quite buggy, but I think it was more due to the button design than anything else. The playback control buttons are too small, making it difficult for those with larger thumbs to get the button press exact. Additional bugs were noticed after my iPhone crashed into safe mode when I tried to disable the widget, and in one case I had to completely reboot my iPhone after disabling it.

This one needs a little more work, but the concept is great for quickly getting to track information on what’s currently playing without going into the Music app.

BatteryCenter

BetteryCenter is a very simple widget to display your current battery percentage. BatteryCenter shows a battery icon on the left and the percentage on the right. It will also tell you whether the device is charging or unplugged.

For most, this widget might seem useless since the information it displays is also included in the status bar. But for some, it serves a purpose if you don’t want the percentage displayed on the status bar, as some status bar icons tend to get “pushed” out of the way when too many icons are being displayed (including the percentage indicator). I personally use BatteryCenter for this very reason, and have since disabled the battery percentage in the status bar since it’s no longer needed. I also ran into zero bugs with this widget.

RSSWidget

RSSWidget is a simple RSS reader for Notification Center that displays a single RSS feed, letting you swipe between recent articles with the post’s title and first few lines displayed. Tapping an article takes you straight into Mobile Safari to read the full post.

I noticed a few small bugs with this one as well, in that some RSS feeds with links in the first few lines get displayed as HTML code, making it difficult to read without going into Safari to view the full post. This is very noticeable on blog posts that start with a photo (see above image). I also had occasional crashes to safe mode when enabling or disabling the widget, similar to buggy behavior in MusicCenter.

This is a great widget for getting news at-a-glance or keeping up with your favorite RSS feed, but it also needs a little work. Follow these quick steps in order to change the RSS feed displayed.

1. Download iFile from Cydia (link)
2. Open iFile and navigate to /System/Library/WeeAppPlugins/RSSWidget.bundle/
3. Tap on com.idevhaice.rsswidget.plist and open with the Text Viewer
4. Get into editing mode by tapping ‘Edit’ in the top-right corner
5. Scroll down until you find http://www.9to5mac.com/feed and replace the pre-existing address with your favorite feed. For quick reference, our feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/theiphoneblog

It would be nice if there was a shortcut setting to change the RSS feed a little quicker, but for now you’ll have to do it through iFile or via SSH.

That’s it! These new Notification Center widgets are looking good, and there’s more to come from other great jailbreak developers. If we left anything out, or if you know of other cool Notification Center widgets for iOS 5 then let us know in the comments!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Jailbroken and curious how to get rid of the album art displayed on the lockscreen whenever you’re playing music or listening to a podcasts? Rather look at the wallpaper than album art? If so, we’ll show you how to do just that… after the break!

You need to be Jailbroken to do this. If you’re not sure what that is or means, stop reading this and head on over to Ally’s Jailbreak Starters Guide for more.

We’re going to show you how this is done on a Windows-based machine and from the device itself, but there are similar SSH tools out there for Mac users as well. Before getting started, you’ll need to download WinSCP and also make sure you have OpenSSH installed on your jailbroken iPhone. You’ll also need the device connected to the same WiFi network as your PC for SSH purposes. Once you’re ready to go, just follow these quick steps:

1. Make sure SSH is turned ON from your iDevice before continuing. You can turn SSH on/off via an SBSettings toggle if installed.

2. Start WinSCP. Upon loading WinSCP you’ll be asked to input the IP address, login and password for the device you’re attempting to SSH into. To find the IP address of your iPhone, go into the settings app under WiFi and select the network you’re connected to. The default login/password will be root/alpine unless you’ve changed it manually.

3. Once you’ve successfully SSH’d into the device, navigate to /System/Library/SpringboardPlugins and locate the folder titled ‘NowPlayingArtLockscreen.bundle’. Rename this folder to ‘NowPlayingArtLockscreen.bundle.backup’ or something similar so the system no longer recognizes it

4. Respring your iDevice to see the changes take effect.

That’s it! Now you’ll no longer see album art displayed on the lockscreen when music or podcasts are playing!

Bonus Tip: Cut out the need for a PC or Mac by installing iFile on your iPhone or iPod Touch! iFile will allow you to navigate the iOS file system and make changes to files or folders, among other things. Farbod chose iFile for his App Pick of the Week recently and went over some of the other great functionality of this app, so be sure and check it out! To make the change using iFile, just launch the app and navigate to the path mentioned in step 3 to make the appropriate changes to the required folder. iFile is available in the Cydia Store for $4.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to news@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

IAlready jailbroken your Apple TV 2 and curious how to install the nifty little XBMC add-on that allows you to stream and add even more content from your network? Since we don’t have Cydia for Apple TV (yet), the process of installing jailbreak apps is a bit different. Hit the jump for a quick walkthrough on how to get XBMC working on your jailbroken Apple TV 2.

First you’ll need a jailbroken AppleTV. If you haven’t done that already, check out our guide on jailbreaking the AppleTV 2 with Seas0nPass.

After you’ve done that, follow these steps.

1. Open a terminal app as you’ll need to gain SSH access to your AppleTV.
2. Type ssh root@apple-tv.local – if that doesn’t work for you, instead of typing apple-tv.local, replace it with your AppleTV’s IP address which can be found under Settings then Network on your AppleTV.

3. You’ll be asked for the password to your AppleTV next. By default, it is alpine. If you have changed it, enter the password you chose on your own instead. You may be asked if you’re sure you wish to continue, just type “yes”.

4. Once you are at the root menu, type (or copy/paste) this: echo "deb http://mirrors.xbmc.org/apt/atv2 ./" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xbmc.list and hit “enter”.
5. Next type (or copy/paste) this: apt-get update and hit “enter”.

6. A list of available apps will populate. Type (or copy/paste) this: apt-get install org.xbmc.xbmc-atv2 and hit “enter”.

7. You’ll see the app begin to install and once it reaches 100%, you’re done. Your AppleTV should flash briefly and when the main menu pops back up, XBMC should be added.

As a side note, I had issues getting my MacBook to connect to my AppleTV via SSH. I kept getting connection refused or invalid host errors. There is a file on your Mac you can delete in order to stop these errors (not sure where it would be located on a PC if anyone wants to chime in here). You’ll need to unhide files on your Mac first. You can do that by following the steps below.

1. Open Terminal and type (or copy/paste): defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE and hit “enter”.
2. Type (or copy/paste): killall Finder

That should unhide all of the hidden files on your Mac. Now you should be able to navigate to /Users/username (in my case Ally)/.ssh and delete the file titled “known_hosts”. It should be the only file in that folder. Then try the above steps again. Only some of you may need to do this but I figured I’d throw it in there for anyone who has issues connecting via SSH to their AppleTV.

If you tried this or have installed XBMC, let us know how you like it so far!

If you have any questions or need any extra help, jump on in to our Apple TV Forums.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Just getting into Jailbreak and OpenSSH on iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad and curious how to change the default SSH password? Since Apple sets all iOS devices to “alpine”, If you decide to enable SSH it is important for security reasons to change the password to something unique. Otherwise you risk someone else gaining access to your iPhone or iPad. We’ll show you how after the break!

Here’s what you need to do to change the default SSH password. Note, this method is only for jailbroken iOS devices with OpenSSH installed and MobileTerminal installed.

• Download MobileTerminal from Cydia. (Make sure its version 426 if using iOS 4.x..)
• Open MobileTerminal
• In MobileTerminal, type in: su root
• It’ll ask you for a password, type in: alpine
• To make the screen a bit cleaner, type in: cd
• Now, to change your password, type in: passwd
• Enter the password you desire (You will not see the characters in the screen as you type them for security reasons)
• Enter the password you entered once more
• To change the password for the Mobile user, type in: passwd mobile
• Enter the password you desire (You will not see the characters in the screen as you type them for security reasons)
• Enter the password you entered once more

All done! You are now secure and may close MobileTerminal. If you have any questions ask in the comments or for additional help, check out our Jailbreak Help Forum.

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

HDR photography for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G wasn’t something Apple provided under iOS 4.1, but that doesn’t mean 3GS and 3G users have to be left out of the fun (if you’re jailbroken that is).  Redmond Pie has a great guide up showing how to enable the HDR camera option provided you’ve jailbroken them under iOS 4.1 and aren’t adverse to SSHing and editing some files.  The process really isn’t that difficult, but as always, if you’re not comfortable altering files on your iPhone, we don’t recommend it.  So hit up the source link for a detailed walk-through.  And if you’re not sure if it’s worth it yet, read our take on HDR photography on the iPhone 4 or our full iOS 4.1 guide.

[via RedmondPie, Thanks to Geo Coldz for sending this in!]

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Steve Jobs keynoting WWDC 2010, White iPhone HD faceplates, more on iChat video, iPhone vs. Android, $97 iPhone 3GS, how do you push, iPhone at work, SSH tutorial, AT&T locks and etf, Chirpy, Bix, Groupon, and LinkedIn. Listen in!

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Thanks to the TiPb iPhone accessory store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

One of the most common topics in the jailbreak forums is always theme editing and customization.  To really be able to truly customize a theme, you need to know how to SSH into your iPhone.  Anyone who is already familiar with web development and using an FTP client should be right at home.  For the most part, FTP clients are also capable of SSH.  If you don’t have a client, don’t worry, there’s plenty of free ones.

And now for the typical disclaimer – if you aren’t comfortable messing with your phone’s file system and the possibility of having to completely restore if something goes wrong, don’t proceed any further. As always, we aren’t responsible for any damage you may do to your phone, so proceed at your own risk.  If this all sounds okay to you, read on iPhone ninja!

1.  Download an FTP client. In the video, I’m using CyberDuck, which is a Mac client for FTP. You can also use Fugu or iPhone Explorer.  If you’re a windows user, iPhone Explorer has a Windows version or you can use something like SmartFTP.

2.  Install OpenSSH and SBSettings to your iPhone.  Most of you probably already have SBSettings, but you’ll need OpenSSH to be able to access your iPhone’s file system.

And don’t forget, at some point, change your iPhone’s root and user passwords!  If you need help with this, jump over to the Forums.  OpenSSH and SBSettings can both be downloaded through Cydia or Rock, your preference.  SBSettings isn’t necessary, but it gives you a very easy way to toggle SSH on and off.  Here’s a ninja tip, whenever you aren’t actively using SSH, turn it off. It not only further protects you from unauthorized access, but SSH is a huge battery hog.  So when you’re not using it, just switch it off.

3.  Alright now that we’ve got that taken care of, you’ll need to do one of the following after SSH is enabled on your iPhone:

• iPhone Explorer users – plug in your phone and launch iPhone Explorer and it should automatically populate your iPhone file system, then skip to step 5
• Most other FTP clients – be on a wifi network and find your iPhone’s IP and jot it down, it’s found under Settings –> Wi-Fi –> click the blue arrow next to the network you are connected to, once you have that, launch your FTP client

Click the blue arrow, like in the image below, IP address is what you’re looking for, write it down.

4.  For FTP users, you’ll need to enter your iPhone’s IP address and make sure the port is set to 22.  Your username is root and the default password is ‘alpine’ (without the quotes).  Then click connect or continue.  If you’re successful, you should now have a list of all your iPhone’s files.  (Note: over wi-fi, you don’t have to have your iPhone plugged in, but I’d recommend it so it doesn’t kill your battery)

5.  You’ll now see a list of files you can navigate through, to get to your themes for editing, simply click Library —> Themes and all the themes you’ve downloaded should be in there.  Next jump down to the video for a walk-through of how to alter/change/add files in existing themes as well as create your own custom themes! And one more ninja tip, go into Settings –> Autolock –> Never. Sometimes when you’re SSH’ing and your screen goes off, your SSH client will give you an error, so turn off auto-lock while you’re customizing.

YouTube Link

We’ve said it over and over again, if you Jailbreak your iPhone, install SSH, don’t change the default SSH password, and get on a network with a bad guy, they can hold you hostage, Rickroll you, steal your data, or turn your iPhone into a bot — and according to Apple, you should have known that before you jailbroke.

Okay, sounds straight out of the EFF counter-complaint but fair enough. We’re big believers in personal responsibility and when and if we Jailbreak, we take personal responsibility for it (and we absolutely, positively, don’t install SSH or change our passwords if we do!). Still Apple’s Natalie Harrison pulls no punches with their comments, via the Loop

“The worm affects only a very specific set of iPhone users who have jail broken their iPhones and hacked it with unauthorized software. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones, and for good reason. These hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.”

We’re guessing many don’t even know Jailbreak is an option. They place calls, surf the web, play games, and are perfectly content. For power users, absent power features from Apple, Jailbreaking remains compelling. (Just practice safe hacks! And check the TiPb iPhone Jailbreak Forum if you need advice!)

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Credits

Thanks to the the iPhone Blog Store for sponsoring the podcast, and to everyone who showed up for the live chat!

Our music comes from the following sources:

• I Called You — iPhone Remix by Pete Leidy
via Sneakmove iPhone Ringtone Challenge

So if you’ve jailbroken your iPhone, installed SSH, and still haven’t changed your password from the default despite our previous warnings about Dutch Ransomers and Australian Rickrollers? Maybe you thought those were just funny (as seen in this video from iPhoneMVP) and not worth worrying about? Well now things have gotten more serious — there’s a new attack making the rounds that just plain steals your data.

Same method of attack, the bad guy scans the local network for insecure SSH on Jailbroken iPhones, and when it finds it, begins to copy your contacts, messages, email, events, photos, media, etc. This could, of course, include passwords, financial data, and those pics you never got around to deleting…

If you haven’t already, go change your SSH password now. If you need help, go to the TiPb iPhone Forums and get it. Just secure your iPhone.

[Intego, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

For iPhone Jailbreakers using SSH to access their devices — without changing the default password — getting Rickrolled by a worm may be annoying (no worse than getting held for ransom by a hacker) but it’s a sign that far more insidious and malicious attacks are possible — so change those passwords now!

Back to the Rickroll. TUAW reports:

A hacker, going by the name “ikee,” created a worm that changes the home screen background on jailbroken iPhones whose owners failed to change the default password after installing SSH.

And the new background is, of course, Rick Astley. While removal details are included in an interview with the hacker, it’s better to be safe than sorry. So, check our iMuggle’s tutorial on how to change your SSH password, and change it right away.

Ever wanted to know how to change the icons of a particularly ugly app? Well, if you’re Jailbroken and have SSH access you’re in luck! Resident theming genius, Ally (iMuggle on TiPb Forums and in the Twitter) has begun collecting her excellent tutorials into one easy to browse place. Here’s a sample:

you need to know how to do a few things in order to do this. After jailbreaking, you need to know how to SSH into your phone. If you’re not familiar with SSH, you need to get familiar with that first. *Note: Unless you feel completely comfortable doing this, I don’t recommend it. Point being, SSH’ing will give you access to ALL of your iPhone’s core files, so deleting/editing certain files could be disastrous if you don’t know what you’re doing. If you’re still reading, and you’re okay with all of this, continue on.

So, fair warning, that’s why we call these iPhone Ninja tips. They’re not for the casual user — hard core only.

If you’re interested and eager, however, give Ally’s tutorials a look and let her (and us!) know your results.

There are a ton of jailbreak tools out there from different teams, for different devices, and different purposes. Here are some additional ones you might want to try.

Other software

• Cyberduck (SSH client for Mac and Windows) – Mac, Windows
• TinyUmbrella – Mac, Windows
• TinyCFW – Windows
• Fix Recovery – Mac, Windows
• iExplorer – allows you to browse the files on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch from your Mac or PC
• i-FunBox (Access apps without iTunes) – Mac, PC
• f0recast for Mac
• f0recast for Windows
• iFaith 1.4.1 – Windows only

Spirit jailbreak software

• Spirit for Mac
• Spirit for Windows
• Spirit for Linux

BootLoaders

• 3.9
• 4.6