Hijinks Inc.

Category: Apple

  • Hijinks Reviews: Kate


    Pros:     Easy to use settings interface, adds a few nice functions.
    Cons: Not worth the price. Or the possibility of bricking of your iPhone.

    Platform: iPhone

    Version reviewed: 1.3

    Developed by: Rip Dev (ripdev.com)

    Pricing: Subscription based. $20 for 6 months, $35 for 1 year, $45 for lifetime subscription.

    The developers of Kate (formerly Caterpillar) describe it as being “a commercial package of tools and toys to extend your iPhone”. While offering an all in one approach and slick settings management, Kate doesn’t really bring much to the table that can’t be gained from using multiple free packages.

    Admittedly though, there is a certain appeal to only having to install one program to do a bunch of things. (more…)

  • It’s alive!

    After countless failed attempts, I finally got my iPhone working last night. I ended up having to restore it to 1.1.3 and then upgrading it to 1.1.4 and jailbreaking it with Liberty+.

    Now comes the time consuming task of reinstalling all those applications.

  • Adventures in Applecare: iPod Touch Dead Spot (Strike one)

    After two days at the factory, Apple has informed me that they could not reproduce my problem. I knew I should have included brightly colored stickers and instructions. Now I’m stuck driving two hours to my nearest Apple store and hopefully having them replace my iPod for me.

  • equinux releases TubeStick hybrid

    On May 1st, equinux released their new TubeStick hybrid for the modest price of $129. The TubeStick hybrid is a new TV receiver for the Mac, designed exclusively for North America. It features two receivers: One to watch digital over-the-air HDTV broadcasts and one for digital HDTV (QAM) cable or regular analog cable TV.

    It’s a pretty sweet piece of hardware, that actually makes me wish I watched TV, just so I could buy one.

    $129 (with free shipping) will get you the following…

    • USB 2.0 Stick for ATSC, Analog and Cable TV
    • TV Software “The Tube 2”
    • Printed quick start guide
    • Extensive PDF manual
    • Antenna with magnetic base
    • External antenna adapter
    • Break-out Cable (S-Video; Composite)
    • USB extension cable

    The TV software “The Tube 2” seems pretty robust, offering a timeshift buffer that allows users to go back and record a show from the moment they started watching it. It also includes automatic synchronization with iTunes, so as soon as you stop a recording it converts it to your preset format and adds it to your iTunes library.

    Another great feature is their free TubeToGo service, it allows you to upload clips to a web gallery and view them on your iPhone, iPod touch, or another computer. It also includes the ability to add, remove and even schedule recordings.

    Turns out the TubeStick also ships with a Windows driver, and works with Windows Media Center. Not bad at all.

  • AT&T pulls the plug on free Wi-Fi

    Last Wednesday AT&T started offering free Wi-Fi for iPhone users at all Starbucks locations, all you needed to do was enter your cell phone number.

    Thursday, intrepid hackers (okay, really just people of average intelligence) started talking about how you could access the free Wi-Fi just by changing your browsers user-agent to Mobile Safari and entering any old phone number, didn’t have to be a AT&T number, or even a cell number. Good times. I even parked outside a local Starbucks long enough to confirm this, it nearly ruined my street cred.

    Today, AT&T flipped the kill switch on the free Wi-Fi. Though no official statement has been made, numerous people are reporting that it is no longer accessible even on the iPhone. Nice one AT&T!

    There’s a good chance we’ll see the service back up and running soon, though likely featuring an upgraded authentication process.