Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.
@viticci@macstories.net
@viticci.macstories.net
viticci@macstories.net

iPhone 4 Jailbreakers Get An Activator-based Flashlight

iPhone users always had a thing for Flashlight apps. Way before the iPhone 4 came out with its LED flash, iPhone 3G and 3GS users used to install apps that turned the screen white and allowed them to see in the dark. Of course the iPhone 4 makes things simpler by allowing developers to access the LED Flash APIs and develop real Flashlight apps.

Too bad many of these apps are paid apps. Available for free in Cydia, SpringFlash is the first iPhone 4-only Cydia app that lets you turn the LED flash on / off with a simple Activator gesture. Mine is tap on volume heads up display.

Useful.

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Pulse Updated with Posterous Integration: It’s About News Curation All Over Again

It’s been a while since I first reviewed Pulse for iPad. For those who don’t know, Pulse was one of the first “visual news readers” to come out on the tablet: it allows you to browse news from your favorite sources in an innovative interface that makes it easy to read, check out pictures, share and like posts.

In these past months (and after a pretty controversial removal from the App Store), the developers have focused on fixes (the app is very smooth now), readability, Google Reader integration (nice, Flipboard needs this) and, with the latest update, news curation.

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Reeder for iPad 1.1 Available: Improved Article Layout, Bug Fixes

I love when iTunes asks me to update apps like Reeder by Silvio Rizzi. Reeder for iPad, possibly the best RSS reader app for iPad out there, has just been updated to version 1.1. The new version introduces an improved article layout, image zooming, better video handling and lots of bug fixes and performance improvements. Oh, and the app will now use the apple-touch-icon even if the file is smaller than 120 x 120.

You can find the app here at $4.99. Be sure to check out our review if you missed it. Again, must-have.

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How To Prevent iOS From Automatically Loading PDFs [Vulnerability]

Last night JailbreakMe was released in the wild. As we reported, it’s one of the simplest jailbreak tools ever made, as it requires only one slide in Mobile Safari to install Cydia on your device. You visit a link, slide, and wait. As we also reported, though, the exploit seems to based on a PDF vulnerability in iOS: the iPhone automatically downloads PDF files, and Comex injected the jailbreak code in a PDF file.

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FaceTime Over 3G Is Now Possible

For jailbreakers, at least. My3G, the tweak that makes iOS believe it’s on Wifi when it’s actually using 3G, has been updated to version 4.1 to include support for FaceTime. Simple as that, you just have to check an option.

My3G is available on Rock ($3.99) or through ModMyi’s repo in Cydia at $2.79. I haven’t tested the app yet, but I’ll keep you posted about my results. It’ll also be interesting to hear from American users whether AT&T’s network will be able to undergo the traffic of jailbreakers or not. Please let us know in the comments below.

This is huge, anyway.

UPDATE: ModMyi’s repo seems to be down at the moment. It should be back online in a hour or so.

UPDATE #2: Check out the video of FaceTime with My3G below, courtesy of 9to5mac.

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Safari Extensions Monday: Sessions, KeySearch, Instapaper in Google Reader

I spent a week using the latest Firefox 4 Beta and now I’m back to Safari. I can’t help it, but Safari has the best support for 1Password out there and that, combined with amazing tools such as ClickToFlash, is too valuable to me. If you add stability, speed and elegance to the mix - I guess you know what I mean.

So, Apple launched the official Safari Extensions Gallery last week, and there are more than 100 “officially approved” extensions in there. It’s a good place to discover new stuff, but I’m wondering how often Apple will update it. Anyway, I’ve just installed three new extensions to start the week, and they’re pretty great.

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The iPhone 4 Around the Globe [Spoiler: Don’t Buy One in Italy]

So you want to purchase an unlocked iPhone 4 in some foreign country. Sounds good, I did the same with mine - and I bought it from an Italian seller who bought it in France and sold it for 200 Euros more. Not a great story, but I needed it. Anyway, iFun put together an interesting chart showing the prices of the iPhone 4 around the world.

It turns out, Italian iPhones are the most expensive. Hong Kong ones are the cheapest. Check out the image below (click for full size). But don’t buy one in Italy.

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