Siri ports - a new free solution

@freemanrepo released tonight a public beta of his Siri proxy server. Here are the instructions:

Get Siri Connection now:

1. Go to cydia install "Spire"

2. go to Safari (From iDevice) install this certificate http://freemanrepo.com/public_beta.crt

3. go to Settings--->Spire---> Proxy host: "https://69.194.139.115:446"

4. Settings-->General--->Off Siri--->On Siri

5. Run Siri

6. Enjoy

7. Please if you found this was useful, please donate to me if you respect my work...
http://freemanrepo.com/donate'

---FreeManRepo---

He also published this fix for people that still can't connect. In my case, it's working flawlessly. Mind you, he ended the night saying "server is full", and that he will get another server tomorrow.

Now, he his using servers on trial (5 days left on the first), so he will need donations to actually buy them and keep this going. However, donations are on halt until he validates his PayPal account.

People with access to iPhone 4S's that want to help him keep this going should look at this guide. there's some interesting stuff in this server, if the we believe in his creator words: it will support plugins (like the one for twitter that should be on tomorrow); it has a script that recovers server from crashes automatically; it can't be blocked by Apple.

I end up returning to my last post...my advice is stay away from payed shady private servers, there is a lot of schemes going on. However, with stuff like siriport.ru or the one from tonight, were the server is free and public and people donate to keep it alive, I have no problems.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Siri ports: the commercial options

Sunday i told you guys about the best free solution available to get Siri working on your iphone4/3GS/etc, Siriport.ru.

Now, it is indeed a great solution to test Siri, and it kinda works everyday...but, if you want something that: 1 - is always working or most of the time; protects the privacy of your data; 3 - doesn't calls you other guys name now and then, you have to look elsewhere, and pay.

So, I did say finding a reliable vendor of this kind of service is not easy, so I'm now testing the one I thought seems to offer the best service.It's #happySiri by @iPh0ne_, and I will post my impressions tomorrow.

Mind you, he asks for a single payment of 20$ (sometimes there are promotions too), and not a monthly payment like others.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Mobilenotifier - another attempt at fixing iOS notifications

"One of these isn´t very good..."

After a search for iOS5 related stuff on twitter, i came across @peterhajas project mobilenotifier. Like GriP, Notified and Lockinfo, it aims at fixing iOS main problem right now, the awfull notification system. At peter´s website, we have access to an youtube video and a presentation in pdf where he details his project. I found the image above specially significative, but the whole presentation explains even better what´s wrong with iOS notifications.

There seems to be a beta available, but still not in deb format. However, there´s a beta repo coming, so it will be easy to install. Here´s a screenshot.




Very similar to GriP, and Notifiedapp´s notifiedGriP plugin. He also talks about a notification pane, so it´s much like notified´s and lockinfo´s.

What can i say, more is better, there´s not perfect solution right now, and this has the advantage of being open source. However, i hope all this solutions get better quickly, because i have a feeling they don´t have much more time to be relevant - i have a feeling iOS 5 will be all about notifications.

p.s: lockinfo 3.0 is also looking wicked

New notification plugin for Notified

Available at http://www.trinitus.info/

Instagram - a truly amazing iOS app

What you see above is a gallery of photos i made with Instagram, my current fav iphone app, that mixes photography with social features and a truly great selection of photo filters. My username is antonioj,feel free to send me an invite.

iPhone 4 with iOS 4.1 - HDR usage example

Without HDR.



With HDR.

iPhone 4 camera rocks

Personal Sunset - iPhone photo gallery

I´m fortunate to be able to watch great sunsets right from my home´s balcony, everyday. What you see above is a collection of photos i made with the iPhone, focused in those wonderfull scenes. The gallery, that i´m regularly updating, is available here.

Note: years ago, i had a similar project, but using a dedicated camera.

Statusbar Notifications for @notifiedapp

The team from @notifiedapp has just released the second notification extension for Notified. The first, if you missed it, was called Notification Bar, and looks very close to GriP's normal notifications, but fixed at the bottom (see above, first GriP´s normal notifications, then Notified´s notification bar).

Not bad, but still an intrusive solution. I was hoping for something akin Double Height Statusbar for GriP

Has you can see, however, it's not double height, but normal statusbar, very close to what is done in rss Reeder app.


I'd prefer the double height bar, but this is still sweet. Proper notifications for iPhone, Yay!

What is still missing from Notified, IMO:

1. Double Height Statusbar extension (still think is the best solution, and the Notified team has got the code of GriP´s from @gauravk92 )
2. All notification extensions should work on landscape
3. Choosing extensions from inside Notified settings, and being able to choose what extension is used for each application
4. Being able to block notifications (via statusbar or bar) in lockscreen
5. Being able to make notifications appear for just a few seconds
6. Stacking of notifications
7. Make notification pane appear gradually like with Qtwitter, or Android´s (really following your finger)
8. Group notifications by application, if you want (now is by time)
9. Email notifications (coming on 1.4)
10. Notifications for appstore updates, iPod music playing, calls, etc
11. Release extension SDK for external developers
12. The "!" statusbar icon should be folowed by number of unread notifications
13. Whenever iOS flags a notifications has "read", they should be automaticaly removed from Notified´s log

Mac OSx 10.6.4 running on a Toshiba NB200

Has promised here is my Toshiba NB200 netbook running the latest Snow Leopard build (10.6.4). It was made using an iPhone 3GS, and edited on the phone with hacked version of iMovie. Song is "Baptism"from the Crystal Castles.

Regarding the hackintosh itself, everything works except sleep mode, and the webcam has problems with Skype (not with iChat - works perfectly). Also, i had to replace wifi card for it to work. The tutorial i used is available here.

Note: i made a mistake writing the twitter client name...it´s "YoruFukurou". I didn´t change it, be cause it does take ALOT of time to generate the final video on iMovie on the 3GS, and i badly needed to sleep :)

Notified finally available on Cydia

With the apparent death of GriP/iNotifyEx projects, Notified turned into the biggest hope to get a proper notification system on iOS. Now, after an AppStore style painfull 3 weeks period of submission process to Cydia Store, the free version has landed on Cydia!

And it's pretty much what to expect from a basic level service, with the bonus of having Activator support (I assigned it to swipe down from statusbar). SMS, Push Notifications, Calendar, Battery, Voicemail and Memory alerts are supported. You can also choose what app to trigger by clicking on each notification.

However, it's not enough for me, because it's lacking some important features:

1. Themes
2. Email and calls support, and maybe also available updates from Appstore.app
3. Popup blocker
4. Popup replacement
5. Swipe down to open, up to close, exactly like Android "drawer" notification pane.
6. Quickreply (at least) for sms

So, it's the pro version that I really want, cause it adresses most of those problems immediately, and also brings pluggin support, that according to the @notifiedapp team will permit popup blocking AND replacement, and, and this is HUGE, the team is currently working on a WebOS style pluggin (WebOS notifications are even better than Android's). That said, I hope they also add the drawer effect and quickreply I mentioned last.

More details at notifiedapp.com and @notifiedapp.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Hardware keyboard? Check! (iPhone)

One of the new features brought by iOS4 is the support for bluetooth keyboards. So far i did not mind much of this, because i hadn´t seen any example of a good bluetooth keyboard that would fit nice together with the iPhone, and that could be with you all the time and be pratical to use. Looks like i found it.

iWork suite working on the iPhone

After showing you the iphone4-exclusive iMovie running on an iPhone 3GS, this time i bring you the entire iWork suite:

Pages



Keynote

Numbers

All have problems due to screen size, but Numbers and Keynote are surprisingly usable, in landscape mode. However, due to difference in the APIs used by the iPad (iOS 3.2) vs the iPhone (iOS 4.0), the applications tend to crash when we try to access the photo library, etc. However, unlike iMovie, i think we can expect Apple themselves to make the entire iWork suite available for at least the 3gs and iPhone 4 in the coming months, with all me mentioned problems solved.

(thanks to @metion)

You know what? iMovie does run on the iPhone 3GS

What you see above is iMovie running on my iPhone 3GS. And it's supposed to work on the 3G too. I guess it will work even better on the iPad. Here's a sample project:



However, there's some problems that do justify the iPhone4 official exclusivity:

Browsing existing videos is fast, but when it comes to a big photo gallery, it does slow a bit.

Export only works in the lowest 320p setting, and for simple projects (have to run more tests to see if it is the duration that causes problems)




That said, a Apple could easily have released a specific 3GS version.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

iPhone - Import Dropbox PDF files to iBooks

Great tip by Ryan Poole in how to make the pdf files you have on your dropbox account readable in the excelent iBooks iPhone app. Check it here.

Multitasking in iOS 4 - not perfect

While i do rave about the way task switching has been implemented in iOS 4, and all the other multitasking APIs, truth is i will still be using Backgrounder to have full on complete multitasking when i need it. And this TUAW post explains why.

Multitasking in iOS 4 - compatible apps start appearing

If you have iOS 4 GM installed (now easily done even for Windows users, with the release of itunes 9.2), now you can see multitasking in action even with 3rd party apps, and not only with Apple´s own stuff (Mail, Photos, Settings, etc). The first great example is Dropbox - install the last update, and see how it works marvelously for fast app switching. Can´t wait for more apps to use this, and the other multitasking APIs available!

iOS notifications - there is hope now

You all know i hate current iOS notifications implementation (aka stupid blue popups) with a passion. However, there is finally reasons to be optimistic, because Apple just hired the guy responsible for WebOS notifications. Let´s just hope it won´t take a whole year.

Strategy gaming on the iPhone at its prime

Last week, two iPhone games caught my attention: Land Air Sea Warfare

and Highborn

I´m a big strategy fan, be it in it RTS (real time strategy) or TBS (turn based strategy), and have played several games of this kind on the iPhone (Command and Conquer, Warfare Inc, Quantum Colapse, Robocalypse, all RTS, Rogue Planet, Uniwar, Mecho Wars, Transformers G1 and Reign of Swords, TBS), and while several were really good (Robocalypse, Transformers), they still lack something to reach perfection. Well, after playing Highborn (TBS) and LASW (RTS), i can tell you, they are it! I´m specially amazed with LASW, because it was made by a single guy (!), and even so manages to kick EA´s Command Conquer - Red Alert in all sorts of ways. So please, if you care about this genre of games, go and buy those games, your money was never so well spent.

iPad - my impressions

Last Monday i visited the Louvre Apple Store while passing by Paris, so i had the opportunity to test the iPad (while it´s out in some European countries, it´s not here in Portugal).



First, i noticed Apple has lots of units available for testing...and i mean LOTS - there were always several with no one using them.



On to the testing. I´ve heard several people saying this, and i had the same impression: the iPad is heavier than what we expect. However, i think i´d quickly get used to it. And it is indeed a beautifull piece of tech.



I tested several aplications, including games like Real Racing HD (impressive, but i think the iPad is too heavy for long driving sessions), productivity apps like Appigo Todo (love the interface!), NY Times (yeah, i see myself using this to read the daily news at breakfast), iBooks (again, great interface), plus Mail, Safari and Calendar, all clearly benefiting from the bigger screen. But Photo.app takes the prize has most awesome iPad feat...see the video above.



And the youtube app is equaly great.

To sum it all, i loved what i saw, loved to have one, but it is still not something i would "die for". The iPhone is still more usefull for me, and i have a netbook for other type of portable stuff. However, it all comes down to price, in the future i may get one.