Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas present, iOS 7 untethered jailbreak

Update: 12/31/13 4:00 AM

Evasion 7 1.0.2 has been released, fixing the iPad 2 wifi boot loop issue.
Also, Saurik has updated mobile substrate to iOS 7 and ARM64 for A7 devices. Expect your favorite tweak to be updated soon.

Update: 12/25/13 5:22 PM

My iPhone 5 jailbreak went smooth. I backed up, restored to iOS 7, ran Evasi0n, then restored from backup; all good.  Still a little pointless without mobilesubstrate working.  At least I am updated to iOS 7 and jailbroken before Apple closes the exploits. 

iPad 2 still has the infinite boot loop issues, the Evad3rs are working to resolve it.

Update: 12/22/13 4:08 PM

No luck on iPad 2, will wait for bug fixes in a new release before I try this again.  I got stuck in Apple logo reboot loop--restored twice on both a Mac and a PC.  

***ORIGINAL POST:***
Early Christmas for jailbreakers!

(Blogger mobile post)

Unexpectedly to the jailbreak world, @evad3rs releases an iOS 7 untethered jailbreak!!!!

So unexpected that Cydia isn't ready as far as mobile substrate tweaks-so hold off a bit while Saurik gets it all squared away.

Be sure all of your favorite tweaks and apps are compatible before making the jump.

More to come....stay tuned, jailbreaking my lesser used devices while I wait for mobile substrate to get squared away.

Compatibility list here : 





Don't forget to follow @BruceTdoesIT


Sunday, December 15, 2013

A Pebble in the hand of a fool. Pebble Smartwatch that is.

"A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit
and a pebble in the hand of a fool"   -Joseph Roux


I was trying to hold out until Apple launched their own smartwatch but the more I read about the Pebble, the more I wanted it.  Stop at your Local Best Buy or go to GetPebble.com

Why? Because it's simple and affordable at $150, and occasionally offered at $130.00. As I am typing, Best Buy has them today December 15, 2013 for $119.99. 


First impression out of the box, oh, it's a watch.  It's plastic shell and silicone band were less than impressive and perfectly plain.  This watch is also waterproof to 5ATM/50m, or in English, about 165 feet. I dig the uncomplicated design. The 22mm lug silicone band had to go though,  I replaced it immediately with a leather one from my local Walmart.

Second thought was, now what?  

I'll walk you through the setup, some Apps and provide some tips that really make the Pebble shine.  

I put it on charge for a bit while I started to browse the iTunes App Store and Google other options via the Jailbreak community via Cydia. 

If you are on iOS 7, download these apps and you can speed read the next few paragraphs....if you are iOS 6, keep reading before downloading. 

MUST HAVE APPS:

the Pebble App           MyPebbleFaces          SmartWatch+             httpebble
                                                   $2.99
 

If you are Jailbroken on iOS 6, I recommend getting Smartwatch+ from Cydia, this gives a few more advanced features, cost is $4.99 but worth it. 




iOS 6 users will have to download the Pebble and MypebbleFaces apps via iTunes on your PC first before you can download it on your iPhone.  Once downloaded to your iTunes library, you can go back to your iPhone and download the Pebble app from the cloud, allowing you to download the last compatible version for iOS 6.  The current versions of these two apps requires iOS 7.


Once you have downloaded these apps and charged your Pebble for a bit, make sure you have your bluetooth enabled on your iPhone, turn on the Pebble and pair the devices.  

Pairing should go really well, on the iPhone in settings, go to bluetooth and tap the Pebble, on the Pebble press the upper right button next to the check mark. Done.

Once connected, the Pebble app will ask to communicate with the Pebble, allow.  Mine had an update that took a few minutes.  The Pebble app will guide you through the rest of setup and show you how to enable notification in bluetooth setting and how to configure your notifications.  Remember to enable your notifications in lockscreen...



Open the Pebble app on your iPhone and there should be a green pulse icon.  All systems go.


Play around with the Pebble a bit to become familiar with navigating through menus and such.  Now you are ready to make this Pebble awesome.

The Geek stuff:

The SmartWatch+ app is a must have, especially if you are still on iOS 6.  I went with the Jailbroken version via Cydia.


This app really makes the watch for me.  Please note, the SmartWatch+ app needs to be running in the background on your iPhone to work with the Pebble.  I also had to shut down and turn my Pebble back on after installing SmartWatch.

You configure the settings in the SmartWatch+ app, then tap 'Install Watchapps, tap install SmartStatus, this will launch the Pebble app.  The Pebble app will ask you to allow the install.  Do the same to to install Smartwatch+. Done.

                   


iOS 6 Jailbroken users, get the BTNotificationEnabler free in the Cydia app.  Nothing to configure, just install it, respring, done.  The notifications are awesome.  Even had turn by turn directions sent to the pebble using Google maps recently.  Blew me away.  Again, notifications work out of the box for iOS 7.



Want your Facebook and Twitter feed?  Then check out Mybucketz.  

First, make sure you installed httpebble from the App Store.  httpebble needs to be running in the background as well for any apps that need information from the internet.  


From your iPhone, click THIS LINK TO GET STARTED.  Tapping Install will open the Pebble app and install Mybucketz to your Pebble.  You will have to create and configure an account on Mybucktez.com  Don't be intimidated, it's rather easy.  Mybucketz will get you the last ten updates on Twitter and/or Facebook.  

Install tip: once you install and run mybucktez on your Pebble, it will show your Pebble ID needed for your Mybucketz Pebble setup.

Once you have httpebble launched in the background on your iPhone and have configured and installed Mybuckets, press the middle right/select button on your Pebble and press the lower right button to navigate down to highlight 'mybucketz'.  Press the select button and the Mybuckets feed you just configured will load.  It takes about ten seconds to load.  Should look like this:

                                  

The SmartWatch+ app, httpebble, and the Mybucketz apps really bring a lot to the already awesome Pebble smartwatch.  I'm hooked.  Pebble's open platform and SDK development   will surely provide more feature rich applications and tweaks for this in the very near future.  I'm excited to see what the devs come up with.  Click here for more on the Pebble SDK.

.......And as if that wasn't enough, now on to the fun stuff!!

Watchfaces, my latest obsessively time consuming habit. 

If you downloaded the MyPebbleFaces app, just click around and install some cool faces.  The app is self explanatory, so I won't get into details.  I will warn, space is limited on the Pebble, you can simply remove a watchface using the Pebble app once you tired of it and install a new one.














Want to code your own Pebble watchfaces?  Click here to be geek of the week and follow this tutorial.



Final word: Awesome.  Not having to reach for my phone or be overly distracted and having notifications and messages right on my wrist is truly convenient.

I hope this post has helped you set your Pebble up or helped you in your decision making process of choosing a Pebble.

Remember, I'm not monetized, my opinions are just my opinions, free thought and free to you.

One more thing, it's plastic and susceptible to scratches , I ordered a screen protector from Skinomi--reviews sounded good, I'll update once I try it. CLICK HERE


And that's how Bruce T rocks a Pebble!!!

don't forget to follow @bruceTdoesIT on Twitter 






Saturday, November 16, 2013

Still here, Geekin' out.

I'm still here readers, mostly just Tweeting and Re-Tweeting.....

So don't forget to follow @BruceTdoesIT on Twitter!!!

I just noticed I have not posted since May.......wow....it's been that busy.

We had an amazing and action packed summer, the kids are growing up fast and I dedicate as much time as possible to them and their endeavors.

My regular job has had a good year and I've been working 50 hours a week.  That between parenting and attempting to enjoy a bit of this thing we call life has not left much time for much else...

Not only that, there hasn't been much excitement in the tech world other than the CryptoLocker virus.
That's boring stuff......

But have no fear, the Midwest winter is near and there will be plenty of cooped up days to blog..

As far as a tech update, I just scored a new iPad Air, 32GB LTE model...

Expect a review soon as I compare it to my iPad 2.

In the meantime, thanks for poking in from time to time, I'm still getting hits and emails about my posts, the most popular of which is our Xbox 360 RROD Fix  series.

In a nut shell, I have a white board of ideas of upcoming posts, so continue to stay tuned as Bruce T continues to do it!!!

.....updates will immediately follow the Wisconsin Deer Gun season...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

iOS 6.1.3 Kills Evasion Jailbreak

In case you missed it, MuscleNerd sent out the warning to jailbreakers:

Stay away from iOS 6.1.3....Apple killed some of the available exploits.

For newer devices, SHSH Blobs won't get you a downgrade.

Stay tuned....



Sunday, February 10, 2013

EZ4U2NV i5 , complete theme for iPhone 5

This is another awesome theme from @junesiphone.

One of the first and most complete themes to hit Cydia designed around the iPhone 5.

Here's a screen shot, followed by a quick tube.  Directions after the jump.


YOUTUBE



How to get EZ4U2NV i5. (ignore the animated weather iWidget, that's a future post)

You will need to download and install the following apps and tweaks from Cydia:

iFile, iBlank, Winterboard, & Locscreen Clock Hide.

Now purchase and download the theme, EZ4U2NV i5, don't be a cheapskate.

Until the Gridlock tweak is updated for 6.1, you will need to create 12 blank icons using iBlank, then respring.  The twelve blank icons will appear on your homescreen. You will need to move these to the first page of your home screen to duplicate my screen shot.  If you don't already have it, go to cydia and download the tweak MultiIcon Mover, this allows you to move several icons at once.  Just play with your icons until you have them how you want them for this theme.

Now open Winterboard and select the following, as show in the video:



 Instructions on how to configure the weather locations for the
lockscreen and springboard weather are located at:

/var/stash/Themes/EZ4U2NV i5 SB/Wallpaper.html
and 
/var/stash/Themes/EZ4U2NV i5 LS/lockBackground.html

You will need to use iFile to edit your zip code.  This is shown in the video.

This theme is not that hard and I encourage you to try it, you will become addicted to using custom themes on your device and amazing those around you with the individuality of your iPhone.

And that's how Bruce T makes it EZ4U2NV my i5

Don't forget to follow @Brucetdoesit on Twitter and YouTube

Thank's for visiting   
   

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Barrel Tweak on iOS 6.1, Awesome

Now that evasi0n has been released and my iPhone 5 is jailbroken, I am back to tweaking and modding my device.  

The Barrel tweak, by @aaronash , has been out for some time.  I have finally gotten around to playing with it.  This is a gem and well worth the $2.99 it will set you back when you unlock your screen and flip through your phone while someone gazes on in amazement.  Not much to blog about here, this is something you have to see, so we created and uploaded a couple of tubes for your viewing pleasure.

My iPhone 5:

 

My iPad 2:
 


Nothing else I can add to this one, thanks for reading.

Don't forget to follow @brucetdoesit on Twitter and on YouTube for more tweaks, geeks, and freaks.


Monday, February 4, 2013

Video: evasi0n Jailbreak iOS 6.1

This video shows the entire evasi0n jailbreak process. 

This iPhone 4 had the stock weather app crashing issue, so I decided to restore and jailbreak again while recording the process.  Restoring and running evasi0n again fixed the weather app crashing issue, not that anyone uses it anyway. I experienced no issues while jailbreaking my 3GS, iPad 2 or iPhone 5.

Click here to make your iDevice awesome.

Here's the highly unprofessional video, shot with my iPhone 5.  Enjoy.


 
 
That's how Bruce T does a cheesy jailbreak video.
 
 
Don't forget to follow @brucetdoesit for all things intellectually bad ass.