Tag: iPod touch

Why your iPod won’t charge (and what to do about it)

Show of hands if you’ve seen this message on your iPhone or iPod touch:

“Charging is not supported with this accessory”

Why not?  The music and video still works… why wouldn’t charging be supported?  It upset me too.  I tried connecting it to an older Alpine stereo and it flashed me the error.

The short and sweet of it?  Previous to the 3G iPhone and 2G iPod touch, the pin-out configuration of the connection used a FireWire standard for the location of the charging pin.  The newest generation switched to using a USB pin-out standard, and low and behold, the charging pin is different!

Enter the Scosche passPORT charging adapter.  The $20 adapter (Apple actually sells it, as well as many other retailers) switches the charging pin-out, but allows the rest of the data stream to pass-through.  However, there are limitations… this from Scosche’s website:

“The charging adapter is specifically designed to fix the charging error associated with several iPod and iPhone accessories. If the accessory you are intending to use does not initially support the audio or video functionality of the iPod or iPhone , the charging adapter will not enable these features.”

What bothers me is there had to be some poor tech from Scosche who took this call:

Customer: “Hi, I’ve got a problem.”

Tech: “What can I help you with?”

Customer: “Well, I bought your charging adapter for my iPod touch, but I can’t see the video on my TV!”

Tech: “Are you connecting your iPod to your home theater system?”

Customer: “No, I’ve got it connected to a wall-mount charging adapter.”

Tech: “Great, now we need a disclaimer…”

Hijinks Reviews: Pro Zombie Soccer

Publisher: Chillingo Ltd
Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Cost: $0.99 [iTunes Link]
Updated: June 28, 2010 for iOS 4.0
Version Reviewed: 1.1

Pro Zombie Soccer. I gotta admit, I downloaded it because it was about zombies. I don’t know what it is, but something about zombies just makes games better it seems. The problem is that the market is getting flooded with crappy zombie games, making those that are actually worth your money have to work so much harder to get your attention. Whatever the case if you can accept the premise that someone is better fit to kill zombies because he has such amazing soccer skills… then this game just might be for you. Continue reading Hijinks Reviews: Pro Zombie Soccer

Hijinks Reviews: Flight Control

Publisher: Firemint
Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad
Cost: $0.99 [iTunes Link]
Updated: June 22nd, 2010 for iOS 4
Version Reviewed: 1.8

Before I get started, I’d like to point out that Flight Control is by no means a brand new game, I wasn’t able to find an exact release date, but  it’s been out for at least a year. Although some of you may have played this game already, it’s new to me; so there you go.

This game is one of the most simple and challenging games I’ve played on the iPod touch. It’s a simple and obvious premise. There’s planes and helicopters flying around, and you are flight control, you have to find a safe way for them to land, and they must land on the correct landing strip. Continue reading Hijinks Reviews: Flight Control

How To Run Cracked .IPA Files

Yes, this is blatantly illegal, proceed at your own risk.

The App Store is missing one feature which I deem key, and that is the ability to try applications before you buy. While some apps offer “Lite” versions which accomplish the same thing, I’d like something a little more consistent.

Enter the jailbroken iPhone solution.

Requirements: A jailbroken iPhone / iPod touch running 2.0.2 or 2.1

Stage 1:
Open Cydia.
Install Open SSH.
Restart.

Stage 2:
SSH into your device. Default username is root, default password is alpine
Then navigate to the following directory: /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileInstallation.framework
Make a backup of the MobileInstallation file from the directory above.
Download the patched version of the file here for 2.0.2 or here for 2.1 (the 2.0.2 file might come up as a .dylib, if it does make sure and remove the .dylib extension after you copy it to your device)
Copy the patched MobileInstallation file into the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileInstallation.framework
Set the permissions for MobileInstallation to 775
Navigate to /private/var/mobile/
Set permissions for the Applications directory to 777. Make sure reclusive is checked.
Navigate into the /private/var/mobile/applications/ directory.
Create a new folder named Documents in the /private/var/mobile/applications/ directory.
Set permissions to 777.
Navigate to the root level.
Open the Applications folder.
Create a Documents folder here as well. Set permission to 777.

Restart the iPhone/iPod.

Download an application from the app store (one of the free ones will work just fine)

Now you’re free to download and install cracked IPA’s! Obviously for legal reasons I can’t link straight to a source for cracked IPA files, but they’re pretty easy to find, just do some searching.

iSlsk Patch Updated

I’ve received a few emails from people who can’t get the Firewire GUID patch for iSlsk to work. So I’ve rewritten the patch and posted an update to Installer.

In order to fully test it, I restored my iPhone to stock 1.1.4 firmware, jailbroke it and installed both iSlsk and the Firewire GUID patch and it seems to be working. If anyone is still having problems, please contact me and we’ll get things sorted out.

p.s. Remember to refresh your sources to get the update!