This week Apple will release the iOS version 4.1 for the iPhone. If our calculations are correct the newest version of the mobile operating system will be hitting iTunes on Wednesday, September 8th.

The last couple of updates from Apple haven’t been anything to write home about. Version 4.0.1 simply addressed the algorithm while the antenna issue was flooding the news wire. After that, version 4.0.2 basically just patched up a security issue that Apple left exposed. As far as actual tangible features both refreshes were pretty dull at best… Read More

After weeks of self debate and bugging Sebastien about the possibilities of jailbreaking my iPhone 4, I took the leap of faith Wednesday night and cracked opened my device. I must say that the whole process was unbelievably painless and took no more than 5 minutes to perform the hack and update the Cydia packages.

I used JailbreakMe to perform the procedure and I will vouch for the website any day. After 2 or 3 minutes of loading, the device was jailbroken and ready to be used. Perhaps it was the Apple aroma in the air after their event, but nevertheless having jailbroken my iPhone 4 makes it feel like launch day all over again…

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Depending on how you charge your iPhone you may or may not regularly backup your photos. Having to perform a hard reset could erase priceless pictures if you happen to charge your phone the old fashioned way via wall connector.

That problem is now gone thanks to an article by LifeHacker that shows you how to wirelessly sync your photos. The only catch is that you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone, which shouldn’t be an issue for most of you… Read More

As usual Apple has been patent happy. Just as usual is the breakdown of what sometimes may be considered by outsiders as minimal or trivial. This isn’t one of those times. If you’re the paranoid type, you just might want to check your peep-hole twice tonight. Mac Life has the entry and it reads:

A method for identifying an unauthorized user of an electronic device, the method comprising: determining that a current user of the electronic device is an unauthorized user; gathering information related to the unauthorized user’s operation of the electronic device in response to determining, wherein the unauthorized user’s operation comprises operations not related to the authentication; and transmitting an alert notification to a responsible party in response to gathering.

The fun-to-follow conspiracy side of me takes words like “unauthorized user” and replaces it with you and me. However how could I be unauthorized on a device I honestly own? Unless I modified my iPhone in a way that Apple doesn’t necessarily prefer. See where this is headed yet?

Since Uncle Sam has given us the legal go-ahead to jailbreak, perhaps Apple is stepping up the their game when it comes to scrutinizing those who violate their wishes. There has been debate on if there is any internal indicator on your iPhone after you jailbreak that Apple could identify if you brought it to a Genius Bar appointment for instance. As it stands, just restoring as new on iTunes (normally) gets your phone back to square 1 if anything goes array. Apple’s new patent could put a stick in these spokes.

Just when my Big Brother theory starts to get fired up I notice that Ars Technica reports a much more useful and reasonable use of the Apple patent. Imagine the capabilities of remote access and wipe if they were implemented to the already handy Find my iPhone application. What if voice and fingerprint inconsistencies lead to your device being pegged as stolen, and Apple could then remotely wipe and disable your thieved device?

What do you think, iDB readers? Will Apple use its (possibly) new patent power for good, or evil, or both? Do you see this being implemented in cracking down on jailbreaking, or just more security technology from our favorite fruit company? Express yourself in our yet to be patented comment section.

PwnageTool, the famous jailbreak that helps cook custom firmwares, hasn’t been updated by the Dev Team in a few weeks. Some hackers decided it was time to revive PwnageTool and released an unofficial version of it.

Since this is unofficial, I do not endorse or even recommend it. I’m just sharing the news with you. Now if you want to use it, do so at your own risks.

The steps to jailbreak your iPhone using PwnageTool remain the same but keep in mind this will only work for the iPhone 3GS (old bootrom only).

If my words haven’t killed your motivation to use this unofficial version of PwnageTool, you can download it here. Please let us know what your impressions are by leaving a comment should you decide to give it a try.

[RP]