A new week has started and we’re already well under way here at TiPb. If you happened to miss out on any of today’s or this weekends events make sure you get caught up either here on the blogs or in the TiPb forums — and stay tuned for what the rest of this week will bring.  You can register now to get started today:

• iOS 5 Forum: App store password no longer working, anyone else?
• iPhone 4S Forum: My first 50 days with the iPhone 4S
• iCloud Forum I am in iPhone hell
• iPad 2 Forum If you own an iPad 2, what else do you own?
• Jailbreak and Unlock Forum The grass isn’t always greener…

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Infinity Blade came out with a sequel even more stunning than the original. Real Racing embraced multiplayer and AirPlay at the speed of a supercar.

Modern Combat raised the bar on first-person shooters. Dead Space brought equal parts atmosphere and awesome.

Rage HD showed what Carmak could do on iOS. Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies kept the walking dead and amped up the action.

Zombie Gunship took slaying to the skies. Grand Theft Auto II showed Liberty City hadn’t changed much in 10 years.

Built just for iPad or iPhone, or ported from your favorite consoles, 2011 had a lot of great hardcore games hitting iOS. Your next achievements comes from picking the one you like best. Vote up top and tell us why you voted they way you did in the comments! These are your awards, so get to it!

AT&T has capitulated under Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and Department of Justice (DoJ) opposition and decided to abandon their efforts to merge with Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA.

The actions by the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice to block this transaction do not change the realities of the U.S. wireless industry. It is one of the most fiercely competitive industries in the world, with a mounting need for more spectrum that has not diminished and must be addressed immediately. The AT&T and T-Mobile USA combination would have offered an interim solution to this spectrum shortage. In the absence of such steps, customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled.

AT&T will have to pay DT the $4 billion break-up fee, and press ahead with a roaming agreement.

So, how we feeling about this? Happy? Angry? Did the government just save us from an even smaller oligopoly of telco providers, or did they interfere with the natural course of capitalism. And what if anything does this mean for the chances of an official iPhone on T-Mobile?

Source: Street Insider

According to Nilay Patel at The Verge, Apple has won an International Trade Commission (ITC) ban on some HTC devices. Not much else is known at this point, but if you’re following the patent wars the way normal folks follow the soaps, then stay tuned. It’s getting serious.

Update: Android Central scored a statement from HTC:

We are gratified that the Commission affirmed the judge's initial determination on the '721 and '983 patents, and reversed its decision on the '263 patent and partially on the '647 patent. We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the '647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon.

And Jerry Hildenbrand capped it off perfectly:

While fans on one side will cheer, and fans on the other side will call foul, we all will lose. Justice really is blind, and when it comes to technology and innovation, it also seems pretty damn stupid.

Source: The Verge, Android Central

iPad’s making a list, numbering it twice;
Wants a jailbreak to be naughty, and Siri would be nice;
Santa Cook, please bring it on down!

QuickShot with Dropbox: Simplifies the process of uploading photos and videos to Dropbox. Everything you capture in the app is immediately uploaded without the need for any additional actions.

• $1.99 for iPhone and iPad- App Store link

Blast Aliens!: Battle friends and become a legend in the Outworld Colonies in this action packed, real-time multi-player dueling game in vivid 3D!

• Free for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

Bongiorno – Good Morning!: Helps you to get daily updates. It includes news, weather, tweets, and alarm. The application will display different background images as per your weather and time conditions on home screen.

• Free for iPad – App Store link

IM+ Pro: Introducing Beep: merge your Address Book with instant messaging and save on SMS!

• $1.99 for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

SampleTank: Hundreds of world-class instrument and patterns included – piano, organ, drums, bass, guitar, strings, synths, percussion, vocals and many more!

• Free for iPhone and iPad – App Store link

Any other big app or game releases or updates today?

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

For today only, the TiPb Store has the Case-Mate Vroom Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 on sale for only $4.95!. Get them before they’re gone!

Get the Case-Mate Vroom Case for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4 now!

BiteSMS, one of the best jailbreak apps available for the iPhone and iPod touch, has recently been pushed out of beta to version 6.0 with full support for iOS 5. The update brings along a number of new features as well — here’s the full change log:

Version 6.0

16 December 2011

• iOS 5 compatibility, works on iPhone and iPod devices. Fully integrated with all iOS 5 features including iMessaging and Notification Center.
• NEW Look Quick Compose and Quick Reply.
• NEW Passcode lock feature inside Quick Reply.
• NEW Ability to use the native Messages icon instead of the biteSMS one.

Note: For iOS 4 users, in effect you are installing Release 5.5 of biteSMS and don’t get any new features.

The update is now in the BigBoss repo, which means there’s no longer a need to add a custom Cydia repository in order to get in on the action. Give it a try and let us know how it’s working for you on iOS 5!

As always, If you need more help or run into any problems getting things setup, check out our TiPb jailbreak forums!

• $9.99 – Cydia Link

Source: BiteSMS

A couple of experienced industrial designers have come up with a brilliant new Bluetooth speaker for the iPhone that packs a powerful punch. They’re currently looking for funding on Kickstart to begin mass production.

The HiddenRadio & Bluetooth Speaker is based off minimal, timeless design and user intuition. When asleep it hides all its functions, being silent and unanimated. To turn it on you simply twist and lift the cap; the further you lift the cap the more internal volume is created and will amplify to over 80dB of crystal clear sound. This unique design connects and captivates the user through its intuitive functionality.

The project has a goal of $125,000 in order to begin mass production, which they’ve easily passed with current funding of $382,413 just a few days after introduction.

For $99, you can get a Hidden Radio in metallic silver, however the limit for this funding bracket has already been met. If you want to get in the game at this point, you’ll need to pledge a minimum of $119 for the metallic silver unit. The pledges from there range from $229 for two units in either metallic silver or graphite black, all the way up to $659 for 7 units with individual units retailing at $175 after production completes and hits retail shelves.

Source: Kickstarter

pod2g has updated his blog with the current status of his iPhone 4S jailbreak he’s been working on. The good news is he seems to be working extremely hard on this one. The bad news is he seems to have hit a bit of a snag when it comes to the untethered part.

The untether fails right now because I’m having processor cache issues.

I’m close, but I can’t figure out what happens. It certainly has something to do with the Cortex-A9 cache management.

I could sort it out quick, it’s a matter of chance.

I’ll report you my progress tomorrow.

Considering his quick progress when it came to an untether for all A4 devices, I’m hoping tomorrow will bring with it more good news. Seeing all these fancy new jailbreak apps is just torture for us iPhone 4S users who are left in the dust as of now.

Source: pod2g

If you need to tethered jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 via redsn0w you can now do so without having to manually point to iOS 5.0. The Dev-Team has updated their redsn0w tool to offer native support for iOS 5.0.1. Other notable changes include full support for the newer 8GB iPhone 4, iBooks issue fixed, custom IPSWs for 3GS owners without blobs, and more.

The full list of changes for redsn0w 0.9.9b9b are as follows –

native support for 5.0.1 (no need to point redsn0w at 5.0 IPSW or use command-line args). Support automatically extends to all of redsn0w's various functions: "Jailbreak", "Just boot", "Fetch blobs", "Stitch blobs", "Recovery Fix"

iBooks fixed in 5.0 and 5.0.1. This is a targeted fix that doesn't remove entire sandbox mechanism. 5.x users already using redsn0w "Just Boot" can just use the new version without redoing entire jailbreak again

3GS old-bootrom owners can now create custom IPSWs without blobs

ultrasn0w compatability update (i.e. same baseband requirements) for 5.0.1 will be available on Cydia Monday

support for newer 8GB iPhone4 (which until now had problems with "Fetch blobs"). Thanks to @JKjeepnJeff for loaning us one of these newer i4 units for testing!

allows Windows users (not just OS X users) to use the "Custom" button to create IPSWs without baseband updates. (Update: please wait for 0.9.9b9b for this!)

accommodates APTickets in 5.x (until next Apple countermove). APTickets are crypto-verified before submitting to Cydia, just like the main blobs. Cydia server support for sending back the APTickets is upcoming. For now, use stitched IPSWs for 5.x. Due to APTickets, stitched 5.x IPSWs now require user to start in "Pwned DFU" mode

Support added for stitching 4.x blobs to iPad2-GSM IPSWs. Similar to @notcom's TinyCFW but doesn't require lots of RAM or a TSS-assisted restore. Won't work for iPad2 5.x blobs (or iPhone4S at all) until a bootrom-level exploit is out

top line now shows whether (and where) a redsn0w update is available, or if the version being run is the latest. Uses DNS TXT record to alleviate any concerns about snooping

no 5.1 beta support at this time (major apps like Cydia are not yet compatible)

@pod2g has been doing a great job porting his 5.x untether…check his blog for updates!

Owners of newer 3GS iPhones must not flash the iPad baseband. The iPad baseband will not work on 3GS iPhones built later than 2011 week 35. You have a week 35 or later device if your serial # starts with xx135.

While this is good news and makes the process a lot smoother, I know many of you are still holding out for untethered. Hopefully that’ll be next.

Mobile Nations Podcast Feed Mobile Nations on iTunes Mobile nations YouTube	Verizon Galaxy Nexus hands-on Google starting to push Ice Cream Sandwich for Samsung Nexus S HTC ThunderBolt’s latest update rolling out, brings bugfixes aplenty Android Central Podcast
First BlackBerry 10 Smartphones Won’t Be Available Until Late 2012! Research In Motion Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results Official OS 7.1.0.163 for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 and Torch 9850 now available from Sprint CrackBerry.com Podcast	Pivot out, Featured Apps back in Decoding open source for webOS and beyond webOS Holiday Haiku contest – the finalists! PalmCast Podcast
Vote now for your favorites in the 2011 TiPb Readers Choice Awards Apple launches iTunes Match music locker service internationally (and iTunes TV Shows in the Cloud too!) Top 10 best alternative Twitter apps for iPhone and iPad iPhone Live / iPad Live	T-Mobile-Nokia Lumia 710 launch event in NYC [Video] CNet claims Verizon, AT&T toying with LTE enabled Lumia 800 We’re giving away a Samsung Focus S WPCentral Podcast

 

Hello everyone and welcome to TiPb's weekly celebrity iPhone and iPad sightings roundup! Time to take a little break from your daily routine and relax with some gossip from the world of the rich and famous. What do all of these celebrities have in common? They all were spotted with an iPhone or iPad, of course. Check out a ton of pictures after the break, and if you spot a celebrity rocking an iPhone or iPad, drop us a note at news@tipb.com so we can include them in the next roundup, next week!

Please note: Some pictures may from time-to-time be NSFW (Not Safe For Work) so use discretion when viewing.

Singer/actress Demi Lovato is seen in Miami with her white iPhone.

 

Rocker Gwen Stefani has a cute animal case on her iPhone.

 

You may recognize Jackson Rathbone from the Twilight movies. Here is a picture he took of himself after (successfully) fighting off a guy that tried to steal his guitar after rehearsal with his band.

 

Jessica Alba took Honor to visit Santa and snapped some pics of the little cutie with her iPhone. Santa looks amazed at the whole thing.

 

Actress Kirstie Alley is spotted out shopping with her white iPhone.

 

British model and TV personality Leilani Dowding catches some sun with her iPhone.

 

French-Canadian glamor model and former professional wrestler Maryse Ouellet takes a self-portrait with her iPhone.

 

Actress Mischa Barton poses for the camera.

 

Teen actress/singer Selena Gomez vacationed in Mexico recently. She took her iPhone, of course.

 

Selma Blair smartly tucked her iPhone in her pocket after shopping.

 

I wonder what Will Smith is listening to on his iPhone?

 

Pauley Perrette on the set of NCIS. Thanks for the tip John M!

 

Jess has her iPhone in a cool blue case on a recent episode of New Girl.

Rumors of an Apple Television just won’t quit, and this new one from The Wall Street Journal pegs Apple ramping up for a release in the not-so-distant future with features like Siri voice-control, built-in AirPlay streaming and more.

Apple executives have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies, according to people familiar with the matter. [...] In the recent meetings with media companies, the Apple executives, including Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, have outlined new ways Apple’s technology could recognize users across phones, tablets and TVs, people familiar with the talks said. In at least one meeting, Apple described future television technology that would respond to users’ voices and movements

Details remain extremely vague, of course, with specifics being left off the table to help keep the essence of the future product closely guarded.

Before Steve Jobs passed away in October, he told biography Walter Isaacson that he’d “finally cracked the TV”. From user interface and experience to ditching the mountain of controls many of us now deal with, tons of speculation has followed. Some suggest an Apple Television will bring about new ways of communicating across multiple devices like the iPhone or iPad, where a users’ content can be switched from the television and onto their mobile device for consumption on-the-go. Imagine watching a movie in your living room and deciding you want to take a quick run, but having limited time. With something like an Apple Television using new technology developed internally at Cupertino, you could watch the rest of your movie on-the-go without any hassle; with everything working seamlessly and with very little setup involved.

With Siri voice control, the possibilites of what a future product like this could do seem almost endless.

Source: WSJ

According to the NYT, Apple is rumored to be testing wearable iPod-like devices that fit around your wrist and are controlled not by touch, but with your voice using Siri.

Apple has also experimented with prototype products that could relay information back to the iPhone. These conceptual products could also display information on other Apple devices, like an iPod, which Apple is already encouraging us to wear on our wrists by selling Nanos with watch faces. [...] One idea being discussed is a curved-glass iPod that would wrap around the wrist; people could communicate with the device using Siri, the company's artificial intelligence software.

Apple previously experimented with a nearly buttonless, voice controlled iPod shuffle but quickly returned to physical controls for the tiny device. Siri, which unlike the older VoiceControl system, currently requires a network connection to properly parse voice queries. Since no iPod other than the iPod touch currently has Wi-Fi, let alone cellular data, that raises the same interesting questions about the future of Siri and the iPod line both.

We’ve been asking for an iPod nano watch with Bluetooth connectivity for a while now. Perhaps the iPod will work as a tethered link to your iPhone?

Although it may be some time down the road before we actually start to see something like this materialize in Apple’s product lines, it’s still good to know they’re considering ideas like this.

Source: NYTimes Bits

Concept image credit: Yanko Design

If there’s one thing TiPb loves even more than iPhones and iPads, it’s giving cool iPhone and iPad accessories and apps to our awesome readers. This week we have…

Element Case Vapor COMP Epiphany for iPhone 4, iPhone 4S

• White: Offensive Bias
• Blue: BrindawithanI

Courtesy: Element Case

Om Nom plushie giveaway!

• schmooie – 16″ Om Nom
• jfmorenom – 8″ Om Nom
• stevethomp – 5″ Om Nom

Courtesy of ZeptoLab

iPad 2 Display Dock

• billjohnson
• Dave01568
• Fox1207
• futurecode
• JeremyHD
• KristyLyn
• nsquared
• Shashmundar
• techmom
• thereal_gmo

Courtesy of newMACgadgets

Qmadix Dual Mobile Charging Kit for iPhone and iPad

• Carolyn Hayes

Courtesy: TiPb Accessory Store

Save the Pencil

• Alex  TC
• Jennell Marie Lester
• Mel
• Dreeves76
• Kevin Hsiao

App Store link – Save the Pencil

Batman: Arkham City Lockdown

• TheRealBatman
• Mike Weber
• John Gibboney
• DoubleAron
• Trevor Hirst

App Store link: Batman: Arkham City Lockdown

More chances to win

Didn’t win anything this time? Never win anything? We know how you feel! Luckily, we have tons more chances for you to win, so hurry up and enter everything!

• Win the iOS device of your dreams in the TiPb holiday giveaway! [Week 3]
• App Giveaway: PDF Quick Sign for iPad
• App Giveaway: Kinectimals for iPhone and iPad
• App Giveaway: Twittelator Neue for iPhone

The New York Times has a great piece up on how app developers for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch are in a mad rush to get their apps submitted and approved into the App Store before it goes dark for Apple’s annual holiday break.

Each year around Christmas, Apple stops accepting app submissions and updating its store for a while. This year the shutdown starts on Thursday and runs for eight days. In the weeks leading up to the cutoff, developers often pull all-nighters so they can get their work to Apple in time. [...] "There's a mad scramble for developers," said Marc Edwards, lead designer at Bjango, an Australian app maker. "In terms of money, it can be a really big deal."

Apple’s App Store approval process is mandatory — run more like a carefully curated department store than the almost-anything-goes open air bazaar that is Google’s Android Market — and most iOS developers are highly motivated to get approved before the shutdown because being there on Christmas day means big money.

When millions of people unwrap their shiny new iPhone 4S, iPod touch, or iPad 2, one of the first things they’ll do is jump into the App Store and start downloading apps to play around with. Flurry, a mobile analytics firm that specializes in tracking such app downloads, estimates that the period between December 23rd and December 26th are the biggest days for developers with around 240 million apps purchased in this small window of time.

Bryan Duke, a part-time app developer in Las Vegas, has seen firsthand how much of a difference one day can make. One of his apps is an air hockey game that costs 99 cents and usually averages about 300 downloads a day. But on Christmas Day last year there were 1,834.

Given the numbers involved, if App Store is a gold mine, Christmas day is an Eldorado bonanza… No wonder developers don’t want to take any chances.

Source: NYTimes