Saturday, January 29, 2011

YouTube Vids to iTunes & iDevice-NO JAILBREAK required.

You have just finished watching the funniest video ever on YouTube.  You wish you could save it and view it over and over again.  The best you can do is add it to your favorites and hope the YouTube user leaves the video up.  You "Share" to your Facebook or Twitter account, and that's it.  That is all you can do.  There is no download button, nothing to preserve the content you just viewed, nothing to download it to your iPhone or iPod.....

By the end of this post, you will be able to download your favorite YouTube video, convert it for iPhone or iPod viewing, get it into to your iTunes Library and sync it to your iPhone or iPod--Jailbroken or NOT.  Best part, once you have the software installed, this only takes a few simple steps.  As always, it's my favorite price, FREE.

Yeah yeah, we all know about MxTube for Jailbroken iDevices available in Cydia.  MxTube is a great Jailbreak App, but myself and others have had issues with MxTube losing videos during updates and upgrades.  Not to mention, your average iPhone or iPod Touch user has no reason to Jailbreak thier iPhone or iPod.  Saving YouTube videos is simply not a good enough argument.

I understand there may be several ways to do this, I just want to keep this simple and free.  Feel free to comment after the post with your own recommendations.

As always, read the entire post BEFORE you do this at home.

Step 1: Click here to download and install "Free YouTube to iPhone Converter" from dvdvideosoft.com to your PC.

A nice tutorial is provided, but I will provide a brief one based on my experience with the program. 

This is free software so it will ask you to install crap you don't need. When you get to this step during installation, uncheck this junk:


Step 2: Once you have installed the program, go ahead and launch it. You can change the default output folder if you wish, or just leave it.  I prefer to change mine.


Step 3: Click the Options" button and ensure there is a check mark in the box in front of both "auto paste URLs from clipboard"and "add output files to new iTunes Playlist".  Click "OK"



Step 4: I am using a 3GS, and I leave the presets "Apple iPhone" & "MP4 (P"iPhone 4) High Quality" My videos play back perfectly.  Tweak this setting if you have any play back issues.




Step 5: Leave the converter program running.  Now jump online and browse to YouTube and find your favorite video.  Below the video image, click on the "SHARE" button.  The web address to the video will be highlighted.

Step 6: Right click the highlighted URL and select "Copy". This will add the video location to the converter program.  You can continue adding files to the program by repeating this step on more videos.

Step 7:  Go back to the converter program, you will now see the URL's you just copied from YouTube listed under "Input Files".  Simply click the "Download" button and the program will do the rest. The  program will now download and convert the file.

If you followed my tutorial properly, once the downloaded, an iTunes window will automatically pop up listing the video or videos you just converted.  They will be added to a playlist named "New Playlist 1/29/2011"[current date].  The video or videos will also be permanently located in the "Movies" section of your iTunes Library.

Step 8:  Connect your iDevice to iTunes, click on and drag the file or files you just created over to your device, iTunes will now add the videos to your iDevice

Step 9: Remember, this is free software, upon exiting you will get the following screen, just uncheck everything, wait a few seconds and then select "Close".  This is the only con I found in this program.



It really is that easy!!!

And that's how Bruce T does it.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Google Cloud Print is LIVE, and it is AWESOME!!

Updated 1/25/2011

Lets move right past the anti Google rhetoric and right to the core of this article.  We can argue about who will take over the world first, Facebook, Google, Apple, or Microsoft another time.

Google has released quite possibly one of the coolest things I have yet to encounter with my beloved iPhone.  Cloud Printing.  Simply put, you can now print from your iPhone (or other mobile device) to your desktop printer from ANYWHERE YOU HAVE A 3G OR WIFI CONNECTION--Provided you have the latest beta version of Google Chrome installed a Windows PC with a printer attached.  Not only will this work with the iPhone, it will work from most mobile devices.  WITHOUT BEING JAILBROKEN!!! 

You read that correctly, no Jailbreaking, no hacks, no tweaks or drivers to deal with.  And it is also the low price of NADA, ZIP, $0.00. 

If you have never had a reason to use the Google Mobile Apps, Docs or Gmail, I think this just sealed the deal.  You will be able to print email messages, PDF's, DOCs, and images.

CLICK HERE for Google's official press release.


Sorry Mac Users, Google left you out on this one.  A Linux and Mac offering is currently under development, according to Google.

Google Cloud Print comes at a time when most of us are put off by the price of HP's AirPrint compatible printers, rendering the AirPrint featuresof iOS 4.2 useless. 

I'm excited about this. I searched the far corners of Internet to find a simple, cost effective way to print from my iPhone. Google Cloud has for now, ended my quest.

Google Cloud Print is a step in the right direction for document printing and how it relates to mobile devices.  I cannot wait to set this up at the office.  Imagine, being able to send reports and documents right to the office from my iPhone, from anywhere.  This will definitely be useful.

By the end of this post you will be able to print from Google Web Apps like Gmail Mobile and Google Docs Mobile.  More on that in a moment.   On to Google Cloud Printing....

Here's how Bruce T does it:

Have a Google account of some sort.  Your Gmail user name and password will work just fine.  If you don't have one, now is a good time to create one.  Remember, your password for Google Voice, Gmail, etc will work for all google Apps. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD and install the latest beta version of Google Chrome on your desktop computer that your printer is connected to. 


CLICK HERE AND FOLLOW THESE FOUR EASY STEPS provided by Google.

If you already have the Gmail Mobile App or Google Docs Mobile App, you are all set.

If you don't have the Gmail Mobile App or Google Docs Mobile, follow these steps to get it:

Go to the iTunes App Store from your iPhone and download Google's "Google Mobile App".

Once installed onto your iPhone, launch the Google Mobile App and click on the icon located at the bottom of the screen labeled "Apps".



Click on Gmail and it will install right to your home screen.  You can do the same for any other app you would like.  I have not verified what Google Mobile Apps this works with yet.  So far I have only tried this using the Gmail Mobile App, printing only emails with attached images, and docs. 

Once you open the Gmail Mobile App, log into your account and you are set.

Once in Gmail, select a message. To print, just click the double down arrow to drop the menu.



For attachments, scroll to the bottom of the message and tap "Print"





Another Mobile Safari window will open showing the list of printers you have enabled.  Tap on the printer you want to send to and it will hi-light.  Tap Print.  Your document will now print.





That's it!!!!! Go get the document from your printer. Your document has arrived from the cloud. 

And that's how Bruce T Does It!!!!

Update 1/25/2011

Last night I remoted into my office desktop and installed Google Chrome.  I enabled Cloud Print using the steps above.  the Gmail App now showed my local printer and network printers.  I sent a document, low and behold, it was in the printer when I arrived this morning.  Way cool!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Nerd vs. Ninja, Upcoming iOS 4.2.1 Untethered JB

At the end of this post, you will find a guide on how to prepare your iDevice for Jailbreaking.


The wait for a complete, untethered iOS 4.2.1 Jailbreak solution for newer bootrom iDevices is almost over.  With the last iOS releases becoming more difficult to break among other issues, it appeared newer bootrom iDevices would be stuck [no pun intended] with only a tethered Jailbreak for iOS 4.2.1

The devs are still working hard, but thanks to a friendly exchange of dev banter, it appears an untethered solution is on the way in the form of imminent releases of  GreenPois0n & RedSn0w.


It all started on January 14th with a friendly barrage of tweets between MuscleNerd of the Iphone-Dev Team and p0sixninja from the Chronic-Dev Team resulting in a challenge, Ninja Vs. Nerd:




On January 21st and only seven days in to the "10 or 20" day time frame, pod2G on the Chronic Dev team side sent this tweet regarding GreenPois0n:

The iPhone-Dev team sent the following tweet regarding Monte via RedSn0w:



Based on recent tweets, here is what we know:

*these releases do not burn an exploit
*RedSn0w is ported to iOS 4.1 SHSH
*GreenPoison & RedsnOw will NOT require SHSH blobs for 4.2b3
*RedSnow will require SHSH blobs for iOS 4.1, meaning you will have to already be Jailbroken on iOS 4.1
*Redsn0w usually follows up the Mac release with a Windows Release
*GreenPois0n is a Windows only Jailbreak

I will keep you posted on the latest developments as soon as I have them.

In the meantime, prepare your iDevice for Jailbreaking.

Here's how Bruce T Does it:

1. Be sure you are jailbroken at iOS 4.1 and your 4.1 SHSH shows up in Cydia.
2. Backup your apps from Cydia using PKGBackup.
3. Create a free DropBox account to use with PKGBackup.
4. Run PKGBack up using both the option to save in contacts and to save in DropBox.
5. Backup your iDevice in iTunes.
6. Sit and wait.

An update to How Bruce T Jailbreaks iPhone page will be available as soon as the Jailbreaks are released.

Thanks for reading& stay tuned.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

How Bruce T Keeps His PC Secure and Clean, For Free.

I have finally gotten around to completing the latest addition to How Bruce T Does It. 


Be sure you click on the page "How Bruce T Keeps His PC Secure and Clean, for Free"


This guide will hopefully help some of you to better understand PC security and how to achieve it, for free.


Stay tuned, I'm adding useful content weekly.


Thank you for reading and I hope this helps at least one person have a more secure PC.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Stay Tuned

Stay Tuned!!!  How Bruce T Does it is working hard to bring you more content.


Today I updated my "How Bruce T Does Jailbreak Apps" page, make sure you check it out.  I added YouTube user videos for my favorite tweaks & apps available via Cydia.


Don't forget to follow me on Twitter.  My tweets and retweets will keep you posted on all of the latest and greatest things happening in the Jailbreak, iPod, iPad, and Geek World!!!!


I'm currently working on the following articles:


How Bruce T keeps his PC's clean.  This article will save you all time, money, and headaches.  This article  will detail how to clean an infected PC or Laptop, and how to keep it clean, for good.  Check back in a week or so.


How Bruce T does App Store Apps.  This page will detail the apps iTunes App Store apps I use.


Also in the  works, I will be adding my own YouTube reviews and tests of Apps & Tweaks...


Stay tuned, that's how Bruce T does it.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Iphone New Year Alarm Bug...

Updated 1/3/2010

Happy New Year Everyone.  New year,  new iPhone bug.


This is not BIG New Year news, but much better than one of the yearly END OF THE WORLD PREDICTIONS being true.


Did you set a one time alarm on your iPhone or iDevice to wake you from your groggy New Year slumber? If so, don't expect to hear it unless you select the "repeat" option for the day you want it to go off. Some media outlets are calling this a HOAX.  I have personally tested the one time alarm function, it did not work.  I tested the work around, it does work.  This applies only to one time alarms, not your reoccurring alarms.  I think that's where the mix up is in calling this a hoax comes from.  It is rumored that this bug will resolve itself on January 3rd, 2011.


Solution:  The work around it to use the "repeat" function for the day you want the alarm to go off. 


Unlike the Daylight Savings Time Bug in iOS 4.1 that struck in November, which set alarms off an hour early around the world, this bug causes your one time alarm to simply not sound at all.


Apple engineers working to confirm which or if all iOS versions are affected. 


Click this LINK to learn more about this current bug.


Click this LINK to learn about the original DST bug. 


Apple is not alone as far as bugs are concerned, Android also starts the New Year dealing with a bug.  The Android bug is far more serious, as it sends SMS messages to the wrong contact or a random number not even in your contacts.  This SMS bug started being reported as early as March of 2010 and is said to affect about 10% of Android based phones, according to a recent reader poll taken by ZDNet.  Google has it's hands full with this one, as Android currently runs on about 170 different models of phones.


Click this LINK to learn more about the Android SMS Bug.


I will update this post when Apple makes a statement or resolves the issue.


And that's how Bruce T does it.

Update 1: Tested the one time alarm function today, 1/3/2011. Works. Strange...Strange bug.