iPod touch 2G v2.2.1 (5H11a) jailbreak

It was indeed disheartening to learn a few of weeks back that the iPod touch 2G could not be jailbroken just yet as per the note on iPhone dev team’s blog. However, to my surprise, I found a video by redsn0w on youtube regarding jailbreaking the iPod touch 2G. The sad part being that it was a little complex in that it took advantage of command line manipulation. I was pleased to learn about a couple of tools a few days back that let you easily jailbreak the ipod touch 2g. Both tools provide a GUI with varying degrees of manual operation in order to successfully exploit the device. These are Voltage and cyw00d’s jailbreak helper. Both tools do the job equally well, even with the most recent release of the firmware (v2.2.1). Do make sure you follow the steps right down to the very last word or else you may not succeed. I found the voltage – booter especially helpful, since both exploits are tethered, which means that they rely on the main machine (PC/Mac) to boot the device, in order to boot the device after installing WinterBoard for theming.

Note: Do not worry about bricking your iPod touch 2G since it can be easily recovered by putting the device in DFU/WTF mode. This is done by pressing both the home button and the power/sleep button simultaneously for 10 seconds (when the device is connected to the computer you’ll hear the USB disconnection sound at the end of it) followed by releasing the power button, yet holding down the home button for another 8 seconds (you’ll hear the usb connection sound on the computer). This will put the device in recovery mode, after which you can recover the original firmware using iTunes. When iTunes detects the iPod in recovery mode, it’ll give you an option to recover it, press Shift key + recover button in iTunes and select the original firmware file to restore it to normal. At the end of this process you’ll have the option of restoring the backed up files and settings. But beware, if you do not have a backup of the original backup and applications installed, they’ll all be lost.

CAUTION: Jailbreaking the iPod touch WILL void your warranty so try this only if you’re a technology enthusiast or want more out of the device in terms of features and customization. The providers of the jailbreak software or I am not responsible for any damage to the device as a result thereof.

Live video streaming from mobile phone: Now possible with Qik.com

Ever wanted to cover an event or a prank using your mobile phone as it unfolded before your eyes and share it with people, LIVE?

Qik answers your wishes with a service to stream near-live audio-video content online. The model itself is based somewhat around the twitter concept of following people. The video content is laid out like you would expect it to be: “hot posts”, “top qik’ers” and tag based sorting. It lends itself very well to the web 2.0 ideology of user generated content, inter-connectivity with other services such as facebook, youtube and stumbleupon and adds the real-time bit to it. The most important aspect of the service is that you no longer have to wait to transfer videos onto the PC and then upload. Qik records it for you as soon as you hit the record button on the phone app. Whats even more impressive is their range of supported handset manufacturers (see image below).

Qik.com caters to a number of handset manufacturers

Moreover, it gives you plenty of choices regarding how you want to acquire the software for the phone. I’ve already put up the most amateur video ever, here (yeah laugh all you want). The service opens the doors to citizen-video-journalism with live coverage of events worldwide. I’m looking forward to seeing some cool n Qik mashups.

Must-have HTC Touch Pro applications for network afficionados!

In the previous post I highlighted some of the day-to-day utility apps to help you use your HTC Touch Pro (or windows mobile) more efectively. I’ve been using some of these networking utilities that make your smartphone just another step closer to a portable PC.

1. HTC Network Folder plugin: Ever felt the need to access files off your PC on a home network? Ever wanted to stream music from a media server? This nifty little plugin is the answer to your needs. It works just like accessing files across a local network on the Desktop PC.
2. WM WiFi Router: Out and about with two computers, one phone with 3G data connection and only one cable. What do you do if both computers need access to critical information? Here’s another scenario, something you might get caught up in yourself, laptop – check, phone with 3G – check, usb cable – doh! forgot. This is where the Wifi Router app comes in real handy. It converts your windows mobile phone into, well, a router ofcourse. It uses your 3G connection to access the internet. Once activated the phone acts only as a wifi access point. It does make some major changes to the internals of the phone so be sure to back up anything sensitive/important before you deploy this. I remember installing a n alpha test release with incomplete features and had to hard rest my phone, an yeah, I didnt back anything up, so it was rather frustrating. The only catch with this app is that it comes with a price tag. Evaluate it and see if it fits your needs first.
3. PocketPuTTY: Ah! the ole trusty terminal services client – now on windows mobile! Its pretty good in terms of the features it exposes, ofcourse it is still a stripped down version of the desktop client but it does support key based authentication. The terminal console looks just like the PC version but scaled down to fit the mobile phone screen. I personally think you’d need atleast a VGA screen like that of the HTC Touch Pro to be able to see something on the console.