Macgasm

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In this episode, Grant talks about viewing movie trailers in Front Row.

[01.1 MB] [0:02:10] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]

“Thar she blows” comes a tweet from the iPhone_dev teams twitter account. All those of you who have been waiting patiently to either upgrade to 3.0 with the jailbreak, or just jailbreak the 3.0 firmware you already have on your device, that time has arrived.

This is the low down on our tools for use with the 3.0 firmware from Apple, read the whole post in full before attempting anything. Because of some bugs and unexpected changes this will be a multipart release, starting with the release of PwnageTool for Mac OS X. QuickPwn for Mac OS X and Windows will follow sometime soon, please don’t bug us about it, we are working flat out to get everything finished to release them.

No word on the 3G S support yet, but I’m sure after todays release they’ll of got their hands on one and are busy giving it the once over as i type.

Head on over to their blog and read the instructions over and over again, then get cracking.

The dev team have released a series of easter eggs in this version of the PwnageTool as well it seems.
Coming from their twitter account once more we have:

#1 – Hold s + f + click the Pwnapple in “About PwnageTool” box.
#2 Try a demonic value in the custom partition size before making the .ipsw there is a gift from “@stephenfry” if you do this.

Let us know how it all goes in the comments.

Want tethering on your iPhone and live in Canada? You’re in luck–kinda. Roger’s, a company that I both love and love to hate, has decided that we all get tethering for free, if we qualify. To qualify you need to be on a data plan of 1GB or more currently.

For a limited time, if you subscribe to a data plan which includes at least 1GB of data transmission between June 8, 2009 and December 31, 2009, and if you have a compatible device, you may use tethering as part of the volume of data included in your plan at no additional charge.

I decided to call Rogers and get in on the action, but there was a nice little caveat that they told me on the phone, that failed to be mentioned in any fine print on the site. I was told that it’s only for a 6 month period, and that Rogers reserves the right to make changes to the plan and to charge for tethering options in the future. I never really pushed her too hard to re-clarify for me what that exactly meant, but she sure sounded like she was reading off of some policy sheet in front of her.

But, the good news is that tethering is free for now, so long as you meet their requirements. If you do, make sure you make the appropriate phone call to ensure that they both activate it, and that they don’t charge you extra when you use it. Better safe than sorry.

[Rogers Info]

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In this episode, Josh and Grant talks about how they produce a daily podcast.

[05.2 MB] [0:11:20] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]

The iPhone’s official UK carrier O2 have kicked up a fuss at the fact somebody has managed to find a workaround for the iPhone 3.0 firmware’s tether option, enabling users to get the service for free instead of paying their ridiculous prices. They have said that they will disconnect or charge the offenders which choose this route over getting the official bolt on package.

Internet rumours suggest that some customers have modified their iPhone to enable Internet Tethering without the purchase of the Internet Tethering Bolt On. Any use of this particular feature without the purchase of the Bolt on is specifically prohibited under our terms of service.

Under those terms we reserve the right to charge customers making modem use of their iPhone or disconnect them. If customers wish to use the Internet Tethering feature on their iPhone 3G or iPhone 3G S, we recommend taking the Bolt On which is available from Friday 19 June.

I’m not 100% sure how they would manage to distinguish regular iPhone data usage and that which has come via a tethered connection, but I’m sure over time we will find out when somebody tries to download a BluRay movie rip and gets screwed over it.

My iPhone was jailbroken before 3.0, and I had a tether app which I used to use in the car and on the train to check my email and general light browsing around the web. I never really abused the fact that I could do it by downloading massive files this way. Nothing really would have peaked for them in my data usage. I did ‘however’ maybe abuse the fact that I had changed some settings so I wasn’t limited to downloading 10MB files at a maximum from the App store. I have an ‘unlimited’ data allowance after all so I never really saw it as a problem.

How is me downloading some games over the air different to me sitting watching YouTube videos all day, and what is someone with a tethered connection really going to be doing with it that O2 seem to think is going to massively increase data usage across their network? You’re still limited to the same speed you can get on your iPhone right?

O2′s tether prices are still far too high if you do want to take the legal route, but Ofcom wants to hear from you, and if enough people complain they will be forced to do something about it. Read about it on bitterwallet and make that call if you’re in the UK.

Quick note. Adding the tether hack seems to change your data settings to ‘wap.o2.co.uk’ instead of ‘idata.o2.co.uk’. Maybe they can hunt you out this way?

I don’t know what this is like on other supported networks, but be warned.

Mike Giepert says ‘This literally popped up on my desktop and I thought it was too good not to share’, speaking of the ‘Browse’ in icon form you see in the title picture.

To be honest, I have never noticed any of the applications in my dock spelling words out, or even thought about trying to make them, but I know I’m going to be giving it a go now and sending them into him here so he can put them up in his gallery.

Lexic (iTunes, US$2.99) from Kieffer Bros. is a very simple game filled with tons of challenge and fun. Lexic is basically a word circle game like those that you can find in the newspaper on a daily basis only on steroids and with an attitude. And who doesn’t like a game on steroids and with attitude?

Completely redone for version 1.5, the UI is both goregeous and very intuitive. After starting the game you are presented with a circular dial menu with the three game types as options on the top (Stasis, Cascase, and Blackout) and time limits on the bottom. (1, 2, 3, 5 minutes and Infinite)

The application itself is very slick in terms of both graphics and design. I was most impressed with how well thought out and easy to use the application is overall, and the attention to detail. Receving a call, suspending your iPhone or just jumping from the game to the springboard to check your email for example with cause Lexic to pause the current game immediately which you can pick back up when you return. In addition, while Lexic can be quite intuitive, in case it isn’t there is some well written documentation that is available from every menu page.

The coolest part of Lexic, which is also new for version 1.5, are the feats. Feats are essentially unlockable achievements for the game and this really is the killer app part of Lexic in my opinion. Not only is the game itself fun but there is stuff you can unlock? Well done Kieffer Bros. You can unlock different tile sets and frames as well as a couple of new abilities based on how well you perform in game. This definitely adds to the replay factor and extends the amount of time Lexic will spend on my iPhone.

There is also an online leaderboard which is really cool. You can submit your scores online after each game of Lexic you finish and see how you are doing compared to other players.

I’ve been playing with Lexic for the past week or so and I can honestly say that I am a huge fan. I think the blend of simplicity and superb design coupled with the new feats give Lexic a subtle but distinct allure that will bring even the casual gamer back for more on a continual basis.

Bottom line, in case it isn’t clear yet, I’d definitely recommend this game and rate it a buy.

[Header image via Kieffer Bros]

Update: I had a couple questions for the Kieffer Bros. so I emailed them. I received a response in less than an hour from Michael Kieffer himself! Love the support guys! In any event I asked how big the two word databases that Lexic uses are and as a percentage, how many of those words are 6 letters or longer. Here is his response:

Here’s some of the info you asked for. Keep in mind these are fairly rough estimates.

TWL (US) has about 180,000 words and 84% of those are greater than 6 letters

SOWPODS (International) contains about 260,000 words and approximately 86% of the words are greater than six letters.

So keep that in mind when you’re trying to find those longer words that a couple of the feats call for!

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In this episode, Grant talks about Film Redux and Puny Vid.

[01.5 MB] [0:03:00] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]