Cydia 101

I decided to throw together a quick video regarding using Cydia. Since I will be talking about tweaks and apps that are exclusive to jailbreaking for the next little while, I figured it would more sense to start with the basics and go from there.

This video is basically about Cydia. How to navigate Cydia, how to add repose, how to download and remove apps and tweaks. Very basic, but hey, everyone has to start learning this stuff from somewhere. When I started with a jailbroken device I kind of just learned from trial and error, but I realize that not everyone has the time to do that, or the want. So for those of you who are maybe not as technically inclined or not willing to put in the time just to modify your iDevice, maybe this can help you out and get you comfortable with modding your stock iOS install.

iOS 6 Jailbreak

I haven't really updated this in a long time, in large part due to the lack of a Jailbreak. Well, as I'm sure everyone knows, the wait is over. The Evad3rs have released a new Jailbreak for iOS 6 and you can get it here.

I have this running on my iPhone 4S and iPad mini and have had no issues related to the JB. I will probably start posting some more videos in the style of my Reeder review (possibly along with some written reviews) more frequently now.

I've also started a new YouTube channel since my old one is all over the place. The new channel will be strictly for tech related (mostly iOS related) stuff. You can find that here.

I won't bother creating a how to Jailbreak guide since it's very straight forward and there are already a ton of videos showing how to do it. Here's one from iDownloadblog.

Here are some ideas for what to do after Jailbreaking.

Reddit post - Best Jailbreak Apps/Tweaks of 2013?

Sparrow on Sale

Sparrow is both a Mac application and probably the best email application available for the iPhone. It's only downside is that it's usually $2.99, which is a bit pricey for something that replaces a built in iOS app. Well, for the next two days it's selling for a very reasonable $0.99.



Sparrow iPhone from domleca on Vimeo.

Check out the video to see what it's all about. I picked it up last night and my only complaint is that I can't uninstall the iOS's default email application.


Developr: Sparrow
Price: $0.99 - Regular $2.99.
View in iTunes here.

Free Apps

Just a quick post with some apps that are currently free. I just stumbled onto Car Tunes an I'm really enjoying it's interface (or lack thereof).

Car Tunes (was $2.99) - Great minimalist gesture based music player.

Rope'n'Fly 3 (was ($0.99) - Fun building swinging game.

cinemagram (was $0.99) - Allows you to create "cines" basically a combination between video and photo. Sort of like an animated .gif.

iOS Photography (pt. 2)

As I mentioned at in pt. 1, I'm going to look at Camera Awesome and Camera+ next.

Camera Awesome

Developer: Smug Mug.
Price: Free (incremental in app purchases or $9.99 "Everything!" unlock).
View in iTunes here.

Camera Awesome came out around the beginning of March this year. The app was released by the popular image hosting site SmugMug. This kind of came out of nowhere and generated a lot of well deserved buzz upon it's release. Camera Awesome, much like King Camera, is free to try, however, CA features various in app unlocks ranging from $0.99, $3.99 and the $9.99 "Everything!" unlock. Unlike King Camera however, there is no resolution limit or water marking on images taken with the free (or base) version.

Let's take a look at Camera Awesome in more detail shall we?

iOS Photography (pt. 1)

iPhoneography (pt.1)

One of the main reasons I picked up the iPhone 4S was because of its new camera. I am a bit of a photobug and an app addict. As such, I quickly started trying and buying a slew of the apps being offered in the Photo & Video section of the iTunes App Store. This can be more daunting than it may sound as there are literally hundreds, most of which are not worth your time.


There are two main types of photography apps. There are apps that primarily center around filters and having fun with photography, the biggest examples being Instagram and Hipstamatic. Then there are apps that enhance the iOS photo taking experience, the two big examples are Camera+ and a newer entry, Camera Awesome. Those are some of the more well known ones. I've tested quite a few different apps, my personal favorites being Hipstamatic and a relative uknown called King Camera.

I'm going to look at quite a few different iOS photography apps. I won't lie, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this post. It's been sitting in a draft state (in one form or another) for a month or more now. I finally decided to make it a fairly extensive guide to iOS photography. I will note that I've only tested the following apps with the iPhone 4S. I only make that distinction because it does have a better physical lens than the previous iOS devices so keep that in mind if your running an earlier model iOS device.

Another thing I struggled with was where to start.  What App should I get into first? It was kind of daunting until the obvious smacked me in the face so hard it hurt. Camera. Yep, the built in, default camera that almost everyone took their first iOS photo with. That's where I have to start. That's the baseline. Camera is, for better or worse, what all these apps are trying to enhance or improve upon.

I'll start with a few basics then we'll start looking at some different apps.

One last thing, I'm going to add a pros/cons to the bottom of the app articles so if you want a quick idea of what a certain app is about start there.

(more after the jump)

Steam Mobile - iOS (BETA)

About a week after I posted about imo, a multi-protocol chat client that lets you sign into Steam chat (amongst a plethora of other popular IM protocols), Vavle released news that Steam Mobile is coming out for iOS and Android. It is currently in Closed Beta. All you have to do is download the application and try to sign in with your Steam account to request an invite.

My account was activated a few days ago so I figured I might as well give everyone a look at Steam Mobile (BETA).

First of all, yes, this will let you sign into Steam chat, and it works quite well. To be honest, about the only thing you can't do is launch your games. You can browse the store, buy games, modify your wishlist, chat and just about anything else you do with Steams PC client.

The application will launch on your friends list by default. You can modify the default start section, but I think most people will be happy with having it show there friends list. I know that's the main feature for me anyway.

One of the first things I noticed when signing into the app on my iPhone was that I was still signed into the chat on my PC. That is extremely convenient. I can start chatting with someone on my PC and seamlessly pick up my iPhone and continue the chat. The only real caveat is that what I type will only show on either my PC or iPhone, however the replies will show up on both PC and iPhone.

There are two ways to get to a chat from the Friends interface. You can click on your friend and then click on Chat from the profile page, or you can simply tap the chat bubble to the right of the friend you want to chat with.

Loading a friends profile takes a few moments but once its loaded you have all the options and info you would expect: Chat, Remove Friend, About, Screenshots... you get the idea. Some of these features will come up as being a work in progress, and a few will display a 90s style animated "UNDER CONSTURCTION" GIF.

The other option you have form the main Friends list is the Menu in the top left hand corner (three horizontal lines).This allows you to access Community (Friends, Groups and Friend Activity), Store (Catalog, Wishlist, Cart, Search), News Feeds (Steam News, Syndicated News) and Finally -Settings.

Everything basically works the way you would expect them too. Catalog lets you browse Valve's always impressive library of games, you can view game information, screenshots and even add them to your cart. Wishlist, Cart, Search and Steam News and Syndicated News are all self explanatory and function about the same as they would from your PCs Steam client.

Settings will display your user information, it allows you to change Chat Sounds. You can either be alerted every time you receive a message, only on the first chat message or turn sounds off all together. As I mention earlier you can also change the start screen from here so you could have the app launch to either Friends (the default), Groups, Friend Activity, Catalog, Steam News or Syndicated News.

There is a Steam Preferences section but currently it just says that the feature is not available at this time, and finally About Steam.

Here are some screenshots:

*I covered my friends usernames 'cause I'm not a total ass hat.

Linkage:

My screenshots for Steam Mobile (iOS Beta) here.
Available via iTunes here.

Valves site here.