New Cydia Tweek Makes Your LockScreen Keypad Transparent

If you are looking for the latest tweak for your jailbroken iPhone, check this out. This new Cydia tweak is called ‘Keypad Transparency’, and I’ll give you 3 guesses what it does. Give up? It gives you complete control over the opacity of your lock screen keypad.

The default opacity is set at 40%, which is what it is in the screen shot above. But the nice little feature about this app is, it allows you to customize it from up to 100% and down. Just how light can it get?

KeyPad Transparency lets you dial down the opacity of your lock screen keypad to 2%, and I don’t recommend it. Figuring out where the numbers are is a little more difficult than it would seem. I’m just glad I didn’t have the ‘erase after 10 failed password attempts’ feature on.

But I like the lighter keypad, my transparency level is about 40% and that’s good enough for me. Those concerned with bugs and excessive battery drain need not worry, I’ve found no evidence of either in my usage.

This app is available for download now in Cydia. Just go to the ‘search’ tab, located in the bottom right, and type in ‘Keypad Transparency’. Once downloaded, head on over to your ‘Settings.app’, and you should be able to adjust things from there.

Has anyone downloaded this tweak yet? Do you know any other apps that do this? Tell us below!

The Easiest Way to Get Free iPhone Ringtones Through Cydia

Custom ringtones have always been a popular subject when it comes to wireless phones, and the word free never hurts either. Now I know we’ve shared with you how to make your own iPhone ringtones, and other ways to set them , but they all require 3rd party applications.

For the longest time, I just left my ringtone on my iPhone as the default. I don’t have time to go through multi-step processes, just for some cool ringers. What if I just want a fast, easy way to download free ringtones to my iPhone 4, without the extra steps?

Enter Cydia, the jailbroken app store. What was once the only way to install applications on your iPhone, has evolved into a tinkerer’s dream. From icons and wallpapers, to hundreds of tweaks, Cydia is the place for iPhone customization. But what about ringtones?

You bet. Cydia has a subsection with over 5,000 free ringtones available for download. Now this section has been around for a while, but when I first noticed it a while back, there were only around 1000 songs. But now there are several thousand, and more are added all the time.

Chances are you already know about this area in Cydia, but for those that don’t, let me help you out. Launch the ‘Cydia.app’. Once loaded, navigate to the ‘sections’ tab across the bottom. Scroll all the way to the bottom and select the ‘ringtones’ tab, it’s that easy. Downloading one of these songs, automatically pops the song into your ‘ringtones’ folder inside your ‘Settings.app’, no fuss no muss.

Out of the 100 or so songs I’ve downloaded, they have all been good quality, and have varied in length (check the description in Cydia for info). I can’t recall the last time I searched for a song and they didn’t have it, but obviously with a library just shy of 6,000, that could be a problem for some people.

Have you guys been using this subsection of Cydia? Have an easier way to get free ringtones on your iPhone? Let us know below!

The War Between Verizon and AT&T Gets Petty

It’s no secret that Verizon and AT&T are at war. They are constantly battling over the best network, and ultimately the most customers. Even though Verizon has generally had a larger customer base and better call quality, AT&T has generally had faster 3G speeds (depending on location) and of course the iPhone.

That all changed on February 11th of this year, when Verizon launched their version of the iPhone 4. But it seems snagging Apple’s popular smart phone wasn’t enough for Big Red. They took this wireless war to a tiny little battlefield called predictive text…

BGR‘s Jonathon Geller reported earlier today that he came across a tiny alteration in his Verizon iPhone 4 that he hadn’t noticed before. It appears that unlike the AT&T iPhone 4, Verizon’s version won’t correct ‘att’ to ‘AT&T’ automatically. As microscopic as the change is, it fascinates me. This little detail was obviously talked about at some point by some very important people.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know why AT&T was taken out of the Verizon model, but ‘Verizon’ is still recognized by my AT&T iPhone 4, so go figure. It all seems so silly to me, but I’m sure there are legal reasons behind it.

Has anyone confirmed this on their Verizon iPhone 4′s? Tell us below!

Get Your Point Across Quickly with Doodle Buddy for iPhone

I have been asked now, several times, what the application was I used to write on my iPhone 4 screenshot with in the AirPlay tutorial. So I figured instead of individual replies, I’d share this neat little App Store application with the masses. Definitely don’t let the cuddly name fool you, Doodle Buddy is quite a powerful little tool.

Having used several drawing applications in the past on my iPhone, I believe Doodle Buddy to be one of the best. The application is completely free, and it can be downloaded here, in Apple’s App Store. Well what makes this doodling app better than all the others? Although it has a nice, simple interface, the extra features are really what makes this one shine. These extras allow you to do things like partner doodling over a wireless connection….

With Doodle Buddy’s ‘Pinger’ feature, you are able to connect with a friend via the internet. Obviously they must be using the same version of Doodle Buddy as you, but other than that it’s pretty simple. There are templates for hangman and tic-tac-toe, or you can just draw silly pictures together.

But my favorite feature has to be the ability to load pictures, from your ‘Photos.app’. Now even though other apps are certainly capable of this function, Doodle Buddy makes the process so quick and simple. It literally takes 30 seconds from taking or picking a picture, to saving my doodle. Why would you ever need this? I use it all the time on iPhone screen shots, or in an MMS, to point out something funny to a friend in a photo.

Is this stuff groundbreaking? No. But is this a cool, free app that some people might not have known about? You bet. Whether you’re looking for a pleasant drawing application, or maybe something more productive, Doodle Buddy is worth a look.

Has anyone used Doodle Buddy before? Does anyone have a drawing app of choice? Tell us about it below!

Fix iPhone Error 1013

Yesterday Tina decided it was time to update her iPhone firmware. It was probably the first software update she did since she got her iPhone 4, months ago. Because she doesn’t need or even care about a jailbreak, her iPhone is clean. No jailbreak.

I was watching South Park when I heard her voice from upstairs: “honey, I have a problem, it’s saying something about error 1013“. Damn you, iPhone, for disturbing me while watching disturbing TV shows!

I had had this error 1013 before so I was confident it would be a one-minute fix…

As expected, iTunes was throwing the following error message: The iPhone “Tina’s iPhone” could not be updated. An unknown error occurred (1013). Just to make sure, I go through the restore process one more time, which takes 5-10 minutes and end up with the same error message.

Next step was downloading iReb, which didn’t do anything. Next step was downloadingTinyUmbrealla, which didn’t do anything either. Without anymore ideas, I decided to Google the error, which took me to this thread on Apple’s forums.

After following the simple instructions detailed below, I was able to finally restore Tina’s iPhone.

On Mac:

1. Open Finder
2. Hold down COMMAND + SHIFT keys and press ‘G’
3. Enter “/private/etc/” in the field and press “Go”
4. Find “hosts” file in the directory
5. Drag the file to your desktop
6. Open it in a text editor
7. Remove the line that has gs.apple.com entirely or put a # at the beginning of it to comment it out
8. Save the file
9. Drag it back to the /private/etc/ folder.

On Windows:

Locate the hosts file in one of the following directories:

Windows 95/98/Me c:\windows\hosts
Windows NT/2000/XP Pro c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
Windows XP, Vista, 7 c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

1. Right click and click on “Open With…” and then click on “Notepad” on the list.
2. Remove the line that has gs.apple.com completely and save the file.

This whole operation took me a good 30 minutes, but most importantly, I missed one of my favorite South Park episodes, the one with the Dog Whisperer.

But, the best part of it was that I became the “hero” who once again fixed the iPhone.

iPhone 4 Gets Nearly Double the Battery Life of Some Android Phones

One of the biggest things I’m concerned with on my smart phone is battery life. What good is a wireless phone if it always needs to be plugged in? With some of my older iPhones (iPhone 2G, 3G), it was a major issue. But since I’ve gotten my iPhone 4, it’s never really been a problem.

I’ve had Android and Blackberries for work phones in the past, and I can honestly say the iPhone 4 is the best when it comes to battery life. Well it looks like my experience are in line with most everybody else’s, as cnet test results confirm that the iPhone is top dog…

The iPhone 4 from AT&T was able to playback video for 9.9 hours straight, while the Verizon version topped it with 10.3 hours. The best Android competitor was the Google Nexus S, made by Samsung, which checked in at 8.1 hours. Coming in dead last is the HTC MyTouch 4G, the one you see in the T-mobile commercials bashing the iPhone 4 for lack of wireless video chat, at 6.6 hours of video playback.

The audio playback tests were even more enlightening. The Verizon iPhone 4 topped out at 67 hours of audio playback, while the HTC MyTouch 4G topped Android phones with 21 hours. It was also interesting to see that the AT&T iPhone, while still well above the Android competition, came in at 40 hours of audio playback.

What’s with the 27 hour difference? Unlike the video tests, the audio playback trials were done with airplane mode off, so it’s likely they were in an area with poor AT&T coverage. When a phone constantly searches for service, the battery will drain quicker due to the strain.

Has anyone else seen similar playback times or have their own iPhone 4 battery life opinions? Tell us below!

iPhone 4 Hacked at Pwn2Own

Earlier today we mentioned that the iOS hacker, i0n1c, stated that he was going to wait until iOS 4.3.1 to release his jailbreak. This comes in wake of the events that took place in Canada at this years Pwn2Own contest. Of large interest to hackers and corporations alike, thousands turn out to witness the latest in cyber security fraud.

The name of the game is Pwn2Own, meaning if you are the fastest to hack it, you get it. These devices range from Blackberrys and iPhones, to MacBooks and laptops. Google was even on hand with a $20,000 reward to anyone who could hack their Chrome software. But day 2 was all about the iPhone 4, and was once again exploited by security expert, Charlie Miller…

Done through Safari, the exploit targets the iPhone 4 with a rigged website. Miller’s first attempt at the hack failed, causing the iPhone browser to crash. But once it was relaunched, Charlie was able to hijack the entire address book.

It is important to note that the iPhone 4 was running firmware 4.2.1, since 4.3 just went live this week. Although Miller’s Safari exploit still exists in 4.3, Apple’s new ASLR feature would have to be bypassed to make it work. This new layer of security seems to have hackers a bit baffled.

But the day belongs to Charlie Miller, and wherever he is with his new iPhone 4 and $15,000 prize money, we salute him.