Essay: Why I won’t Jailbreak my iDevice (again)

by Urandrod Posted on April 25, 2012

Shortly before Apple released iOS 5.1 to the public, I made a decision to jailbreak my iPad and iPhone 4s. I followed all of the instructions and quickly entered the “underworld” of the Jailbreak community.

The process was really easy, and painless. Before too long I was exploring Cydia and discovering a number of tweaks and applications. I kept both devices jailbroken for about 60 days or so, enough for me to fully explore the “other” side.

When the new update was released, I jumped back on the update bandwagon and left my jailbreak world behind. It has been about 60 days or so since that decision and I am happy to report that for me, I wont be going back to the jailbreak world anytime soon.

True, the tweaks were amazing. Having the ability to respond to a text message without having to close an app was pretty neat thanks to bitesms and then there were tweaks aplenty that gave me access to my notification screen without having to slide to unlock. My favorite tweak was Infinifolders which allowed me to consolidate more than 12 apps in each folder. I also enjoyed MultiIconMover which bulk moved icons into respective folders.

So if all these tweaks helped me, why not go back?

During my time as a jailbreaker, I was reminded of why I moved toward Apple and away from Microsoft those many years ago. I loved Apple products because of design but I particularly like the “it just works” mentality of the software. The same applies to the iOS software. I don’t want to know what baseband my phone has, or whether I correctly saved my shsh blobs. I don’t want to know whether I need to refresh my springboard or respring (or are they even the same thing?). What I want is a device that turns on, does it’s job, keeps the behind the scenes where they need to be and allows me to go on with my life.

So this Apple pundit is going to throw his support strictly behind the official iOS software and stick with something that just works – and secretly cross my fingers behind my back that there are a few people in Cupertino who are actively working on incorporating the best tweaks into iOS 6.0

 

 

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Google launches Google Drive

by Urandrod Posted on April 25, 2012

Google launches Google Drive The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Google launched Google Drive, an online service that lets you create, share and store your documents online. You can use the desktop client to upload videos, photographs, Google docs and more to Google’s cloud. When you’re on the go, you can access these files using a mobile client.

Google Drive includes 5 GB of free storage, and additional space is available at a rate of US$4 per month for 20 GB of storage (up to 16 TB supported). The service will launch with support for Windows and Mac desktops as well as Android devices. An iOS client is in the works.

Google also increased your free amount of Gmail today, now up to 10 GB. Also, if you update to Google Drive, be aware that docs.google.com will redirect to drive.google.com, which (as The Next Web suggests) indicates somewhat of a rebranding of Docs into Drive.

You can read more about Google Drive and sign up for the service on Google’s website.

Google launches Google Drive originally appeared on TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My Review of Songza – VERY VERY GOOD!

by Urandrod Posted on March 22, 2012

Yesterday I read one of my RSS feeds about a service called Songza. I was expecting another streaming music app along the likes of Jango, Pandora, Slacker, Rdio or the like.

What I got when i downloaded the app was the nicest surprise and that is what prompted me to take action and write this review.

When you launch Songza, you are asked to create an account. I logged in with Facebook because so many of these apps are integrated into that service now. You can manually create an account if you want to bypass the integration with Facebook.

Once logged in, you are presented with a Concierge view. I believe this is new.

The concierge view asks me what kind of mood I am in and presents me with multiple channel options. What is neat is it tailors these moods to the time of day. For example, this morning I was presented with “Singing in the Shower” and “Road Rage” both options very appropriate for the morning.

I have had a chance to explore a vast number of these moods but I have not yet “run out” of moods which means that there is some depth to the player.

What is neat is once you have the station selected it will play a grouping of songs that match that mood.

My drive in this morning was simply awesome because i picked music to match the way I felt and as they say, music makes the world go ’round.

What is even better is that the service has a great buffering component as well as no audio ads like Pandora and Slacker. I loved that feature about Jango but got sick and tired of the repetition.

On my drive in, there is a 2-3 minute gap where AT&T have decided to give up trying to cover with a cellphone tower. Every other service craps out on me there, but Songza sailed right through which was absolutely awesome.

Their is an accompanying website that I have listened to non-stop at work today. Again, matching music to my mood.

Apple tries to do this with their iTunes service – they offer playlists that you can use to buy their music but Songza does this with a streaming effort that to take a word out of the Steve Jobs playbook: just works.

Last night, I cooked on the grill and had music to cook dinner too. Right now I needed an energy boost and Disco Inferno is elegantly matching what i needed.

Way to go Songza, way to go. Now, help us Mac addicts out by creating an iPad app and Mac Store App for OSX and you will be ahead of the curve – but in the meantime, keep plugging away and doing your thing. I have tried them all and right now (knock on wood) Songza is beating them all away handidly.

Songza is free on the App Store and is available for the iPhone.

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