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Friday, July 29, 2011

Why You Should Not Jailbreak Your iPod Touch or iDevice

Jailbreakme Application
So we're going to jailbreak iPod touch today and get it out of jail! Hmmmm....
What time are we going to do this? Midnight, 1, 2, 3 in the morning?  No, we're not talking about that kind of jailbreaking. That can get you into trouble....;)

We Like to Tinker

What we're talking about here is every time we get a new device or toy shall we say, we always want to customize it or, beef it up or, modify it to some other better plane or level of operation. At least we think it does anyway.




Inevitably though, theres always problems that you run into when you do these things. Theres an old saying that goes - "why fix it, if it ain't broke"! No its always better to leave well enough alone. But people are people and they will experiment.

It's Not Rescuing

There is a phenomenon going on around the internet about jailbreaking your iPod or iPad or iPhone or iDevice. In this article I will tell you what that is and why you shouldn't do it. The purpose is to make you think before you go through with it.

Well What Is It Then

It will work but there will most likely be problems arise as well. First of all I will tell you what jailbreaking is. To jailbreak your Apple device means to install a small program that removes restrictions in the default software.

RedsnOw Jailbreak
A jailbroken device can run apps and extensions (themes and tweaks) not approved by Apple. But you must be careful not to void your warranty. If you mess up the install of the jailbreak and can't get back to the original format, don't try sending it to Apple!




It will get sent back at your expense and your warranty will be voided because they will know thats what you done to it. There are several apps out there that you can use to do it, if you so choose to do it. Some of them are -
  • RedsnOw
  • and Cydia
I'm an advocate either way because I like to experiment with my devices as well. I think its just wise to know the risks associated with doing that kind of modifying to the device.

I have noticed that for every 10 people that jailbreak their iPod touch, 7 wind up with problems in the software or OS. There are quite a few steps to go through in the process of jailbreaking. Of course some people will undoubtedly miss a step or 2 in the process.

Watch Out!

a shattered jailbreakIf your in the process of jailbreaking and you mess up be prepared to re-format your iPod and start all over with the original OS. Also be prepared to spend a lot of time in doing so. As iPod's are much slower than computers.

You can usually just hook up your iPod to iTunes via your computer and then reinstall the original OS (operating system) from there.

So what does jailbreaking do for your iPod or iDevice? As mentioned earlier it will allow you to run many neat applications and extensions that otherwise you can't because the Apple OS doesn't support them.

It gets you past the Apple limitations where software is concerned. You will not however, gain any speed or smoothness to the hardware. Jailbreaking ipod touch will not improve the hardware at all.

Not Bad Perks, Buuut!

Be aware though that some of the 3rd party apps that you can run after jailbreaking are much more expensive. Although their pretty cool apps though. It is said that jailbreaking the iPod will breach the security of the device.

Make sure you have installed a quality SSH software after you modify the device. A good software for this is OpenSSH. This will help keep hackers out of your device through the internet.

Wrap up

So why do I believe its better not to jailbreak ipod touch? Simply because the Apple iPod is an awesome device in itself. There is so much that you can do with it, and so many cool apps you can get for it, that its not worth the hassle you'd have to go through if you mess up the modification.

greenpoisOn jailbreak ipod touch 4g
Although I enjoy experimenting as well as the next guy, I'd say you stand about a 60%/40% chance of something going wrong by doing the jailbreak. I mean 60% chance that it'll fowl up the iPod OS.

Yeah, your better to stay with the old adage to, leave well enough alone. But if you decide to do the modification be careful and good luck to you! I wish you much fun with your Apple iPod Touch...

Thanks for coming by...


Friday, July 22, 2011

How To Hook Up Your iPod to Your Computer and to iTunes the Correct Way

ipod-not-readable
Here recently I've noticed that there are a lot of people who are asking questions about having problems with their operating system recognizing their iPod when they plug it in to their computer.

Also there is a problem that exists in getting itunes to recognize the iPod as well. Let me say that itunes from Apple is an awesome program for the iPod touch and iPad and even for your computer alone.




There are lots of neat features in itunes, such as syncing your iPod as well as getting music and even getting free podcasts of your favorite categories loaded on your iPod or Apple product.

Problems, Problems, Problems

Since there are so many people having these problems, I want to in this article to tell you the correct way to get it done and why you should do it this way.  First of all just installing i tunes on your computer is not the only thing you have to do and then just plug up your iPod or iPad.

It may work that way a few times but eventually there will be a problem.  Your computer may start to not recognize your peripheral.  Thats because you are doing it all wrong and the computer will begin to rebel or not see the unit.

Hard Lesson Learned

First, I'm going to share with you an experience I had a few years back and how I learned this lesson the expensive way.  Hopefully you'll read this article before you have to go through what I went through.

Now this happened to me because my house got broken into and my computer monitor was stolen.  Of course I had to replace it and that was the expensive part. When the perpetrator took my monitor, the computer was just in sleep mode.

It was still running with full power to it.  (I'm sure your familiar with what that is when you put your computer to sleep.)  Upon the removing of my monitor,  it subsequently fried my motherboard.  Rendering the computer a total loss.




When purchasing new parts for my computer, I asked the technician why just because the thief took my monitor did it fry the motherboard?  He proceeded to teach me that you should never unhook any peripheral while there is power to the system.  That is why your motherboard got fried.

iPod disk FunctionalityThat is equivalent and tantamount to having your arm amputated while still being awake.  To me it was a strange analogy, but I got the point.  That includes unhooking anything from the computer when there is power to it - or plugging anything up to it.

Now, I know today you can plug in a mouse or another USB component fairly safely while there is power to the unit.  But still you take a chance.  Its cheaper and easier to just shutdown the computer and reboot it back up.

The Correct Way

So now you see my point where iPods and iPads are concerned.  This I believe is more than half the problem why people are having a hard time getting their unit to be seen by the computer when they hook it up.

Always shutdown first then hook up the unit and then restart and your operating system should recognize it.

As for getting itunes to recognize the unit, the correct way to do that is to first download itunes and install it first, before hooking up the iPod or iPad.  After doing that then shutdown and hook up your unit.

Then start the computer back up.  Your iPod or other unit should show up in your windows explorer as another drive.  Such as drive F: for example.  If it shows up there then it most likely will be usable to itunes software.

iPod Disabled
If it doesn't show up in explorer, then most likely you are missing a driver file for the unit.  In this case you will have to search the internet for the correct driver. Possibly just go to Apple.com or Microsoft to get these.      

You shouldn't have any problem with Windows 7, however if your running XP this may happen.  Again by not shutting down the computer first not only do you take a chance of ruining hardware but you stand a better chance of corrupting files to do with the system.

Listen to This Wrap Up 

So always shutdown then hook up or unhook, then start back up.  If you do these things the way I've laid them out here you shouldn't ever have a problem with your peripherals getting recognized.

This is the correct way to always hook up an iPod and other components!!

Thanks for coming by...


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

iPad in The News: Apple will Introduce the iPad 2 Plus this Fall 2011

apple could release an ipad 2 plus this year
I love the Apple products, hence my review of the Apple iPod. They continue to lead the world with their high tech devices. One of the reasons they lead is because of their ability to cover all aspects of online technology right from one small device.

They seemingly stepped out of the desktop world of computing to the online mobile computing world with their devices. Of course when they introduced their touch screen technology with the iPhone and iPads their business just skyrocketed.




Then other companies followed suit to the touch screen technology and what you have is heavy competition in the market, with Apple always at the front leading the way.

Rumor Mill

In the ipad rumor here of late, Apple will bring out the next ipad called the iPad 2 Plus. It has been thought originally that Apple would bring out the iPad 3. But, according to industry analysts they will increase the power of the ipad 2.     

Some of the new features of this already incredible device are
  • The new OSX Lion version 5 operating system
  • 250 - 300 pixels per inch (ppi)resolution
The new operating system, as I wrote in an earlier article will have over 200 new features added to it. One of those standout features is the "Facetime" app that will allow users to see and talk to each other no matter where they are in the world.




ipad 2 plus gaming
Along with the OSX Lion operating system will be the increased resolution of the display on the ipad 2 plus. Making an already crisp viewing resolution even more defined.

Staggering Numbers

Some of Apple's stats for this year as far as sales of the device include:
  • 10 million units sold in the second quarter
  • 16.5 million units believed to be sold in the 3rd quarter
  • Total iPad builds of 32.5 million units during the first three quarters of 2011
With stats like those you can see why Apple leads the way in mobile computing devices.

steve jobs and the ipad 2 plusAlthough this is just speculation and rumor at this point, analysts believe this is the way Apple will go with the iPad instead of creating the iPad 3 or next generation ipad.

The Wrap

If your in the market for one of these incredible devices you can get your hands on one for the best price around.  Right here!

I'll keep you posted as time goes by on any new developments where the Apple products are concerned. So come by from time to time to find out any of these.

Thanks for coming by...