PDANet in Jailbroken iPhone 3.1.2 is faster in Telcel than built in tethering

I just jailbroke my iPhone 3.1.2 and the main reason to do that after months of being using only AppStore apps is for Tethering. In the offices of our current customer we have very limited internet access and I heavily depended on iPhone Tethering until I blindly updated to 3.1.2 and Tethering vanished.

But after installing PDANet I was very impressed not only on how easy was to set it up, using USB and using adhoc WiFi network, but on how fast the connection is. It obviously depends on the location and the strength of the cellular signal but in these days I've measured download speeds above 1MBs on the Telcel network, almost twice the speed using the iPhoneOS 3.0.1 builtin tethering.

Genius Mixes in #iPhone 3.1 + iTunes 9 automatically groups songs that go great together

iPhone Remote App is now an external keyboard and gesture-based control for AppleTV

The most annoying defect of AppleTV is having to use the IR remote to enter text. And for me it's a frequent task since I use it to search for YouTube videos, movie trailers and songs.

But the new AppleTV OS combined with the updated iPhone/iPod Touch Remote App solves this issue elegantly. Now you can use the Remote App as an external easy to use keyboard and it also allows you to control the AppleTV using gestures, with some swipes it's now faster than using the standard remote control.

In fact, I misplaced it and I don't care where it is ;-)

iPhone 3.0 Tethering Test Speed results on Telcel México were: 0.69 Mbps Down and 0.33 Mbps Up

I had configured Leopard to use iPhone 3.0 Tethering but just today I tried it on Windows XP and it was unexpectedly easy.

The only drawback is that it requires iTunes 8.2 and some of our enterprise laptops have software installation restrictions that may make impossible to install it.

But once installed iTunes 8.2, you only need to connect your iPhone, enable Tethering and the new connection is automatically detected and configured on Windows XP.

BeejiveIM (IM client for iPhone 3.0) now supports Push Notifications and 'Meta-Contacts'

BeejiveIM is my favorite IM client. It supports MSN and GTalk, the two networks I use and it sends an email when a message is received and the app is not running. This is very convenient, but not always reliable, sometimes the email is received an hour after sent and then it's useless.

Since the Push Notification was announced some months ago I've been waiting for BeejiveIM to include it. Today they've released an update and Push notifications works as expected. Messages appear almost instantaneously when the app is not running, it looks like the app were running on background.

Additionally, the app has an improved gray UI, and the contacts witho more than an IM account can be grouped in meta-contacts.

Evernote for iPhone 3 has now map view, landscape thumbnails and an improved local list of notes.

Evernote is a simple but powerful online Note system. It allows to organize notes in different 'notebooks' and assign multiple tags to each note.

The notes are always available online using the web version, and there are local versions for different platforms, including Mac, Windows, iPhoneOS and other mobile phones.

The new version for iPhone has improved the graphic interface, my favorite changes are:
• New map view to list and filter notes with geotags.
• A local list including all the online notes titles.
• A beautiful landscape mode showing notes thumbnails.

Omnifocus for iPhone 3.0

I'm a fervient GTD practitioner and once I moved from PalmOS the first thing I missed was the flexible ToDo app.

Fortunately, since day one of AppStore Omnifocus appeared as the best ToDo and GTD management system.

It always had the option to sync with MobileMe allowing to have a single synced list between the Mac and the iPhone. Omnifocus always makes contexts more meaningful using iPhone location, so when you're at home or office only the relevant tasks appear with just pressing the Nearby button.

With the version for iPhone 3.0 Omnifocus has been improved, my favorite new features are:
• Graphic Nearby view using maps,
• Repeat settings on iPhone, repeat tasks were supported in previous versions but they should be configured on the Mac version.
• More flexible tasks configurations, now a task can be converted to a project or moved between projects without needing to use the Mac version,
• Landscape mode,

Now I'm just waiting for the missing feature: Notifications 3.0
;-)

Tethering on iPhone 3.0

Another great feature in the iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability to Tethering, or sharing your unlimited cell data plan with your laptop.

To enable Internet Tethering there is a new option in Settings > General > Network > Internet Tethering.

You can share your connection using Bluetooth (after pairing) or the USB cable. I just tested the USB option, once enabled Leopard displayed a message asking to configure a new Ethernet connection in Network Preferences and after some moments the iPhone changed to Tethering mode, a blue status just like the green one when in a call.

The connection is pretty fast, actually this post is created using the iPhone connection.

TELCEL (Mexico) doesn't enable by default Internet Tethering but it's simple to activate it using Property Editors and iTunes 8.2.23.

Location Services

Location Services was not improved with the latest carrier settings for TELCEL (Mexico). This feature was working since betas of iPhone 3.0, and its accuracy was improved in the last weeks.

At the beginning it showed me a circle of around 500 meters in Mexico City that DID NOT included my iPhone actual location. Now it shows a smaller circle, around 50 meters, and it is almost centered on my iPhone actual position. It's good when you forgot if the iPhone is at home or at the office, but not good enough if you know it's at home and you hoped the map could show you in what room.

What works flawlessly is the location message, it is displayed on the iPhone screen along with an alarm sound (even in mute mode). If you misplaced your iPhone you can sign into your mobileme account and ask the iPhone to sound for some minutes.

I've read that these features should help you to locate your iPhone in case it's stolen. It may be true if it was stolen in USA, but I don't think it could help in anyway if it's stolen in Mexico City. What would you do? Ask police to search your iPhone? And even if you're lucky enough to find a cop eager to help, would a 50 meter diameter circle be good enough in a public place?

Anyway, these are cool features and can be used to impress some friends ;-)

MMS working on Telcel

The iPhone OS 3.0 betas had the MMS functionality but it didn't work on TELCEL (México). Today, with the final version came a 'carrier settings update' that allows MMS sending.

Skype

Skype para iPhone permite hacer llamadas cuando se tiene conexión WiFi. Se escucha bastante bien, de hecho más claro que algunas llamadas por Telcel.

iPhone OS 3.0 Beta 3

La tercera versión Beta del iphoneOS3 es mucho más estable comparado con las versiones anteriores. Mis mejores favoritas son: 1. Tethering

1. Copy & Paste, sin necesidad de ‘jailbreak’
2. Reenvío de SMS y MMS
3. Youtube sincronizado con cuenta en línea
4. Múltiples calendarios

Storing sensitive information on iPhone

I come from a Palm world where I used YAPS to store sensitive information, instead of masking notes as privates because that way you had specific fields depending on the type of note you wanted (Bank info, ATM, SSN, etc). Now with the iPhone I use this webapp: http://passvault.ktomics.net I like it because: - It's easy to use and really fast since it's formatted for the iPhone. - It has templates and categories as YAPS had. - You can add the page as an icon on the iPhone as any app. - You can access your data from any online computer, so you don't need to worry about losing your data if you lose or misplace your iPhone. Anyway, you must consider that all your sensitive data is stored online, so carefully read the conditions of the service and their online FAQ.

Opciones ocultas en Google App

Google App tiene un conjunto de opciones 'ocultas' (Easter Egg) en el menú de Settings que permite cambiar los colores de la aplicación, cambiar la voz al procesar el audio, mostrar en 'vivo' la onda de audio y abrir las ligas en la misma aplicación (sin abrir Safari).
Esta última opción me parece muy útil y yo la pedía desde que instalé la aplicación, es increíble ver que siempre estuvo ahí.

Firmware 2.1

Phone version 2.1 contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following: •  decrease in call set-up failures and call drops •  significantly improved battery life for most users •  dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes •  improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts •  faster installation of 3rd party applications •  fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications •  improved performance in text messaging •  faster loading and searching of contacts •  improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display •  repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages •  option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts •  Genius playlist creation

Mi Telcel 3G está 'jailbroken' en este momento, así que después de la actualización se volverá a bloquear. Tengo aplicaciones de Cydia lo que hace fácil su respaldo: Backup

1. SSH into iPhone
2. Backup folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d
3. Run: dpkg -l > dpkg.txt
4. Backup dpkg.txt
5. Edit dpkg.txt and leave only the package numbers

Restore

1. SSH into iPhone
2. Restore folder /etc/apt/sources.list.d
3. Upload modified dpkg.txt
4. Run

• apt-get update
• apt-get install `cat /tmp/dpkg.txt`
• reboot

SAP para Blackberry

En un intento por mantener la ventaja que tiene en el sector de negocios, RIM busca incluir aplicaciones del ERP más exitoso, SAP, en sus blackberries.

Documentación del iPhone SDK

La documentación del SDK de iPhone está bastante detallada, y aunque son mis primeras experiencias con información de Mac OS, es evidente que está basada en documentación previamente existente de Cocoa y demás tecnologías. Esto no me parece malo, al contrario, creo que ayuda a que a pesar de que se están liberando betas con funcionalidad y características adicionales, siempre se vea como algo estable y confiable.

Texto Escrito

En http://iphonecake.com/src/new hay una aplicación que permite capturar texto usando escritura estilo Grafitti. Bueno, no estilo Grafitti, parece más bien el reconocimiento que hay en Windows Mobile. La aplicación original de Grafitti que hizo popular a las Palm permitían escribir los principales caracteres con un sólo trazo. Después, por cuestiones legales, tuvieron que remplazarlo por una versión que llamaron Grafitti 2 y que para varios caracteres comunes (al menos i, j, t, k, x, 4) requería dos trazos. Eso dificulta la escritura rápida, con el Grafitti original al menos podía escribir a una velocidad comparable con la escritura en papel, y con el simple cambio de agregar trazos múltiples para algunos caracteres comunes la velocidad se reduce por las esperas que tiene que hacer el reconocedor sólo para verificar que no se trata de un caracter de varios trazos. La aplicación para iPhone es aún más lenta que Grafitti 2, espera frases, lo que implica múltiples trazos y las esperas reducen muchísimo la velocidad de captura. Aparte de que no siempre reconoce adecuadamente los caracteres.

Configuración Mac - Hackintosh

La versión Kalyway no reconoce todo el hardware de mi laptop. Lo más necesario de lo no reconocido es la tarjeta wireless y el audio. Pero ambos los pude sustituir fácilmente con dispositivos USB, una tarjeta Belkin y unos audífonos USB me permiten tener una laptop completa. Además conecté mi unidad de disco de respaldo y la impresora a un “Network USB Hub” y ambos dispositivos ahora los puedo compartir de forma inalámbrica en ambos sistemas operativos.

Hackintosh

El pasado fin de semana instalé Leopard en mi laptop Lenovo, por lo que ahora puedo arrancarla como XP o como una flamante Mac. Para hacerlo descargué Kalyway 10.5.1 y la instalación funcionó a la primera, sólo hubo dos dispositivos con problemas: el audio X-( y la red inalámbrica X-(. Ahora ya terminé de descargar el SDK oficial para iPhone, por lo que este fin de semana debo tener mi primera aplicación con el SDK oficial :-)