Quicksilver is a utility beloved of many a Mac power user. It lets you do incremental searches of all your files, bookmarks and contacts, launch applications and lots of other things with just few keystrokes. (Similar apps for Windows include Launchy and Colibri)
Quickgold is an attempt to replicate the Quicksilver magic on the iPhone. With the app running, just start typing and Quickgold will display links to any contacts, web links, apps, etc that it can match.
Sadly, because the app requires access to other apps on your iPhone there is no way it will pass muster on the real App Store, so for now you will need to install it using Cydia on a Jailbroken iPhone. A shame - particularly when this could appeal to so many of Apple’s core desktop users.
Quick off the mark as ever, the Dev Team have matched Apple’s official iPhone/Touch firmware update to 2.1 with a new release of their own.
Both Pwnage Tool and QuickPwn have been updated with support for the new firmware.
Both apps will Jailbreak your iPhone - PwnageTool will allow extremely detailed changes, while QuickPwn is more of a quick fix.
In common with most of the developed world the Chinese are going mental for the iPhone - despite the wondrous widget not having launched there yet.
Wealthy Chinese gadgetoholics are asking friends to bring back unlocked iPhones (presumably 1st-gen ones) so they can get in on the multitouch action, says this AFP article.
“The iPhone has brought back the planned-economy era,” says market researcher James Lei - only without the possibility of having your contraband denims confiscated, presumably.
More than half a million iPhones made their way to China in the last 12 months - some estimates say that 40% of all unlocked iPhones are to be found in the pockets of Chinese owners.
Apple is rumoured to be in talks with China Mobile and is trying to negotiate the iPhones proper launch for later this year.
Anyone wanting to unlock their iPhone 3G and hitch it to another network will have been heartened by the early attempt to crack the new device, announced a few days ago,
Sadly, iPhone hacking outfit The Dev Team have announced that their Pwnage Tool isn’t quite ready to handle networking locking just yet.
The Pwnage Tool is able to Jailbreak iPhone 3G handsets, to allow users to install non-approved applications, but the Dev Team have not been able to Unlock the device in the way they did the original iPhone.
Release of the current version of Pwnage Tool is being delayed slightly to accommodate new firmware updates. Dev Team say they have made some progress with the unlocking code and will release it as soon as it is ready.
On the face of it the iPhone would seem to have a lot going for it as a gaming platform. It’s a decently-specced portable computer, with a high-quality full colour screen and excellent sound hardware.
The one thing it doesn’t have is buttons. As any gamer will tell you, a solid set of controls can mean the difference between Donkey Kong and ‘Pony’ and despite Steve Jobs’ stubborn insistence a touch screen just can’t cut the mustard when it comes to playing DooM.
Enter the iControlpad. A plastic ’sleeve’ for the iPhone that connects to the dock connector, the iControlpad adds a d-pad and four control buttons to either end of the iPhone - making it a dead ringer for the PSP (if you squint a bit)
Although still very much a prototype, the hobbyists behind the pad do have plans to mass produce and distribute it. The pad is already compatible with some of the leading jailbreak-friendly emulators like snes4iphone and psx4iphone.
The prototype just has the d-pad and ‘fire buttons’ but ther finished product shold also include ’start’ and ’select’ controls as well. The developers are planning to release a full SDK once the next-gen iPhone ships.
A lot gets written about people hacking the iPhone to unlock it for all networks and allow unoffical applications to be installed on it, but it’s still unclear how many users are actually doing it. Speaking personally, I still have The Fear of Apple turning my hacked iPhone into a brick at some point in the future, and the benefits offered by ‘jailbreak’ software haven’t tempted me enough yet.
However, for those who do follow these things, the weekend saw some intriguing developments. First, the latest jailbreak software for iPhone’s v 1.1.3 firmware appeared online. However, it’s since been reported that this release was actually a leak, and that the iPhone Dev Team that was working on it hadn’t finished. Apparently, the leaked version includes some of Apple’s copyrighted information, so is properly illegal.
Meanwhile, other reports say the leaked jailbreak may also prevent users from installing official third-party iPhone apps, when they come out later this year. Apparently it breaks the software used by iPhone to install signed software. All of which means, even if you’re a less lily-livered iPhone user than me, you should probably treat this leaked jailbreak with extreme caution.
