Fireworks Tuto For Icons And Slider

I found this little tutorial very useful for taking a picture and putting it into an icon or the slider.  Here are the steps you follow in Fireworks to put a picture into a shape.

1.  Make the shape that you want using the ordinary shape tools found in your toolbar (e.g. circle, rectangle ect.)

2.  Place the photograph or image where you want it (withinthe shape).

3.  Select the image and cut it (cntrl+x)

4.  Then select the shape and click on Edit>Paste Inside (Cntrl+Shift+V)

5.  The picture is now place within the shape.  If you  want to move the picture within the shape click on the white arrow in the toolbar and select the picture.  Now you can move the image within the shape to get the perfect position.  The image and the shape are now an object.  If you select the object with the usual select tool, you can add cool effects like an inner bevel or a drop shadow.  Play around with it and you can get some really professional looking graphics.  You can also paste multiple images with a given shape.

Its that simple now you can take any image you want and paste it directly into the correct dimensions for a slider of an icon for your custom iPhone theme!

How To Set Up iNav Based Themes By KRS

Thanks to Chris themers no longer have to tediously explain how to set up themes based on iNav.  This can be referenced with the release of these themes.

What Is An iNav Based Theme?

An iNav based theme is a theme based on the iNav theme – hahaha

The original iNav theme(pictured below), creted by Reeco, was a very revolutionary theme because it was the first theme to use the SpringJumps app.

What Is SpringJumps?

The column on the side of this theme is what makes this theme unique.  Each icon is actually a SpringJump.  The SpringJumps app was created by Lance Fetters aka ” ashikase”. This app creates up to 8 Springjumps.  Icons that can be used like a short cut you create on your desktop, each springjump acts like a trampoline directing you to a specific springboard page.

For example:

When you press the SpringJump with the number ” 2 ” you will automatically ‘Jump’ to the page #2 of your SpringBoard.  Now, you change the SprinJump #2 to any name or icon you would like, stock, for example lets change it to “Web”,

When you press the “Web” icon you’ll jump to the ” Web” section or “Web” page.

It may sound a little complicated but it is really a very simple concept.  Instead of sliding your finger through 8 different pages of app you can set up pages of same category apps, that you can make a SpringJump for to direct you to what you are looking for easier and keep your iPhone looking nice and clean.

Common issues with SpringJumps:

Legend: P (problem) S (solution)

P: Icons not aligned.

S: Go to SpringJumps app and disable the ” Page titles”

P: I don’t get any SpringJumps.

S: Go to SpringJumps app and enable the SpringJumps you need.

P: SpringJumps are enabled but they are not showing up.

S: Open up SBSettings and press on ‘More’ and make sure SpringJumps are not hidden.

P: I still don’t see any SpringJumps!!!

S: Some apps aren’t compatible with some others… try to delete the one you think is creating the problem.

P: I don’t know how to get more than 8 SrpingJumps

S: You need to read the SHH section.

iBlank

iBlank is an app that lets you create many transparent icons so that you can set up certain themes to look nice and keep the apps from auto aligning in columns and rows.  You’ll usually need to create several blanks to make an iNav based theme look perfect.

Problems Related With iBlank:

Legend: P (problem) S (solution)

P: Each time I hit a blank icon, safari pops up

S: Download “BlankNull” from cydia

Categories

Categories is an awesome app that allows you to clean up your spring board by allowing you to create folder to put your apps into.  You usually use this in iNav based theme to get rid of apps that you don’t have icons for or to keep your SpringJumps pages from being cluttered.  Many iNav themes requires this app ( Many of my themes need this app. Mac os x Mobile, welcome…etc).

SSH

Okay, here is the biggest piece of the puzzle.  In order to get the theme working perfectly you will need to SSH into your iPhone and add and/or edit some files and/or folders.

How to SSH:

First, you need to download a program to your PC.

iPhoneBrowser is a good one.

There are a lot of SHH programs to choose from ( WinSCP, DiskAid, Funbox etc…).

For this tutorial I will use iPhoneBrowser.

1- Download iPhoneBrowser

2- Dowload from Cydia a package called ” OpenSHH “

3- Plug your device to you PC via USB

4- Launch iPhonebrowser

5- You’re in!

6- Now you will see a list of folders.

7- Now just follow the path you need to go.

ex: var/stash/themes/

8- Look for the folder named var then the one named Stash and finally you will click on the one named Themes

To add more SprigJumps:

First of all, you will need to have all the SpringJumps that you need to SSH into your iPhone ready to upload (In my themes there is always a Folder named ” Krs Jumps, Jumps or Srpingjumps” inside the main folder of the theme).

You need to select all folders.

ex: _shortcut00_3.app

Drag them to var/stash/applications (Its always the same path)

To change/add an icon for your theme:

Icons: var/stash/themes/’yourtheme’/icons

SSH on MAC

( Thanks to I*C)

1. First, make sure you have OpenSSH installed on your iPhone (Open ‘Cydia” and search for ‘OpenSSH)

2. Connect your Mac and iPhone to your wireless network

3. Get IP address from your iPhone by choosing ‘Settings -> WiFi (Click on the blue arrow next to the network you are connected to)

4. Open CyberDuck

5. Click on ‘Bookmarks’ to create a bookmark of your connection

6. Click on ‘+’ sign at the bottom left corner

7. In the ‘Nickname’ field type a name for this connection

8. Choose ‘SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) from Protocol drop down menu

9. In the ‘Server’ field type your iPhone’s IP address

10. Type ‘root’ in the ‘Username’ field.

11. Close your bookmark window. You should be able to see your new bookmark in the bookmarks list.

13. Double click on your new bookmark. If CyberDuck asks you to enter a password, type in ‘alpine’ and hit ‘Enter’

14. You are in! Here is how it looks like

Recording Your Song On An iPhone

As an amateur musician, I’m always looking for ways to get a song from my head into my computer. With Sonoma Wire Works FourTrack, it’s easy to compose an entire song, record the basic parts, and then export the audio to your Mac for further editing. Track recording is a way to lay down the basic instrumental parts and to add vocals and other sounds that make up a complete song.

First, grab the app at the App Store—it costs $10 (also check out our review of the app). The iPhone headset works okay for recording, but the cord is a bit short for my taste. I use the Shure SE210 earbuds ($180) and the Shure Music Phone Adapter ($40) because they are good quality and have really long cords.

Here’s how to record your song:

1. Set your iPhone in Airplane mode to prevent any interference.
2. Start FourTrack, and press the Song Tools button. On the Song Tools screen, you can configure a metronome to keep you on the beat. The metronome also allows you to later sync up drum loops at the same beats per minute.
3. Name the song, and press the down arrow (upper right) to close Song Tools.
4. Press the REC ARM button for track one and slide the Slide to Record button to record your audio. Then, you can do the same for three additional tracks: for example, you can add piano, background vocals, or any other sounds you want. The jog dial near the bottom of the screen lets you scan through the song, or just click on the blue timer.
5. You have created your first song! It is saved automatically. Now, you can create additional tracks.
6. To record more tracks, you have to combine (or “bounce”) tracks together. Press the Song Tools button. You can “bounce” all four tracks into a new song with two tracks (just press Bounce, and then To New Song) or from tracks one and two down to just one combined track one (press Bounce, then To This Song). It means you can record multiple tracks beyond just four, with no limits–although the sound quality degrades with each bounce. Press the down arrow to close Song Tools.
7. Once your song is done, you can tweak the audio so it pans to the left or right. Adjust pan settings for each track by moving the jog dial left or right for each track. This helps make your song sound better by isolating the sounds.
8. When your song is finished, go to Song Tools -> Song List -> Wi-Fi Sync at the bottom of the screen. On your Mac, start Safari and go to the IP address shown. On your iPhone, press OK. Now your Mac is synced and you can download audio tracks from Safari and load them into, say, GarageBand. Sonoma Wire Works offers a free RiffWorks program that can import iPhone tracks directly. Once connected over Wi-Fi Sync, just click Import, select the song, and rock on.

This original song, recorded entirely on FourTrack, has main vocals, guitar, background vocals and a drum. Thanks to Jamie Larson who recorded guitar, vocals, and wrote the song for this tutorial.

Source

Mac Style PhotoFlip Gallery

This Photoshop + Flash tutorial will show you how to design a cool photo gallery as seen on AppleTV website and in many Mac application (ie. iTune, iPhone). In fact, this tutorial is very easy to follow, all you need is some basic Photoshop and Flash skills. To complete this tutorial, you need Photoshop CS2+, Flash 8+, and a photoFlow component from Flashloaded.

1. Gradient background

In Photoshop, create a new document, 950 x 620px. Select black foreground color and dark grey (#384b55) background. Use Gradient tool and drag from lower-middle to the bottom of the document.

2. Thumbnail grid

Collect some sample photos and create a thumbnail grid as shown below:

Then duplicate the thumbnail grid and apply flip vertical transform (Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical). We will need this duplicated grid to create the reflection effect.

3. Warp transform

Select the top layer grid and go to Edit > Transform > Warp. Now you should see the Warp transform grid:

Drag the four corner anchor points and the two middle vertical lines slight upward to create the bent effect.

Repeat previous step for the reflected grid. While you are dragging the anchor points, try to keep the reflected grid align to the top layer.

Set the top layer opacity to 30% and bottom layer to 50%. Then apply a gradient layer mask to the bottom layer.

4. Glow

Make a oval selection and fill it with a sky blue color. Apply 50px Gaussian Blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur). Condense it a little so it looks like a spot light.

5. Flash

In Flash, create a new document exact same size as the Photoshop image. Copy & paste entire image in the first layer.

6. Flash component

If you have the photoFlow component installed, simply drag the component onto the stage. If you don’t have the component, get one from Flashloaded or enter our Free photoFlow Component Giveaways contest.

Now open the Component Inspector palette and you will see all available parameters. Here you can customize the component setting such as: XML path, autoflip, image dimensions, reflection, zoom effects… For more information on how to use photoFlow, please read the user guide.

6. Updating the gallery

Since the gallery is loaded from an external XML file, you can simply update the XML file to add or remove photos.

Source

Build Your iPhone a Dock From It’s Own Box

Here’s an uncomplicated do-it-yourself project that recycles any useless iPhone 3GS box into a custom docking station without coughing up $49 over to Apple. Vince Tang employed the dock plate included with his 3GS, along with his docking cable and a fair share of glue. It only took a bit of trimming on the bottom of the plate so the dock connector would sit square.

“Seeing as the iPhone already comes with a dock plate, it was just a simple matter of gluing the dock cable to the plate and mounting it onto a box.” – Vince wrote in his caption.

The result is a perfectly functional design that creates a useful afterlife for Apple’s stellar iPhone packaging. Plus it broadcasts to everyone within eyeshot that you’re rocking the latest and greatest. No one will ever guess that’s the place you hide your weed in. Nicely done broseph!

Source

Design a Shiny Photorealistic Apple Remote

Step 1

First of all, create a new document and fill it with black.

Step 2

Make a new shape like the next image using the Rounded Rectangle Tool with a Radius of 5px or so. You decide. Name it “Remote shape.”

Step 3

Make a selection of this Remote Shape. Create a new layer, and using the Gradient Tool, drag from left to right. Use the settings in the image below, with left color (#ffffff) and right color (#e4e4e4). The gradient is not very strong, but it is needed to stand out a bit.

Step 4

Now we will add some simple shades to the shape to make it look more real. Make a white shape similar to the image below. Make sure it is higher than the remote shape. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and use a small Radius.

Step 5

Now using the same technique, make a darker shape. Make it thinner than the white one. Apply a Gaussian Blur using the settings below.

Step 6

Now get the white and the grey shapes closer. Move them to the left side of the remote shape. Next duplicate them, rotate them, and move them to the right side.

Step 7

Now we need to make the upper part of the remote. To do this, you need to make a new shape using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Fill it with black. Then place it behind the remote shape.

Step 8

We need to mask the white and gray shapes for the remote. Ctrl-click (MAC: Command + Click) on the remote layer to make a selection. Then Ctrl + Shift + Click (MAC: Command + Shift + Click) to add the remote head to the selection. Make sure you have selected one of the shade layers in the Layer Palette. Go to Layer -> Layer Mask -> Reveal Selection. Do this for each shade.

Step 9

Now crank down the opacity of the gray and white shapes till it looks something like this.

Step 10

You can make the background a light gray color because now we can see the product better. The shape of the remote is finished. Now we need to add some buttons to it.

First we will make the MENU button. Start by making a circle using the Ellipse Tool and the settings below.

Step 11

Now we need to make the Play, Pause, Fast-Forward, Fast Backwards, Volume Up, and Volume Down buttons. Start by making a new circle above the first one, making sure it’s bigger.

Next, we need to subtract a circle out of this one. To do this, hold Alt and Minus (MAC: Option and Minus). At this point, a Minus will appear near your cursor. This indicates that you will subtract a piece out of your shape. Click and subtract a circle starting from the middle of this big circle while holding the Alt and Minus (MAC: Option and Minus) and dragging a circle (press shift to make a perfect circle). Look at the images below to see the result.

Step 12

Fill this shape with (#f6f6f8) and add the settings below to the Blending Options.

Step 13

Now make the last button, which will be used as the Play/Pause button. You need to make it exactly where you just subtracted a circle. After you make it, fill it with (#f6f6f8) and use the settings below.

Step 14

We need to add the text that goes on the buttons now. Use Arial Black for the font and this color: (#c4c4c4). For the shapes, use the same color. Make them by using the Rectangle Tool and Custom Shape Tool. Do the same thing for the Volume and Forward/Backwards buttons.

Step 15

Now it’s time to make the buttons a shinier. We do this by simply making a selection of the Play/Pause button by Ctrl + Click on the button. Then subtract from this selection with the Elliptical Marquee Tool. Hold Alt and drag a circle over the selection. Make a new layer. Move it on top of the other layers. Fill the selection with white.

Step 16

Next repeat Step 14, but this time do this shiny effect for the volume button.

Step 17

The remote is finished. Now we need to complete a very important step. The way we present the products is very important, so we need to make a simple and attractive background.

Make a new layer and place it behind the remote. Using the Gradient Tool, set the Radial Gradient from black to white. Make sure that Reverse is selected. Now click and drag from the middle outward. Next, decrease the Opacity of this layer to 33 percent.

Step 18

Now duplicate the remote folder. Merge this copied remote into one single layer. Do this by right-clicking the copied remote folder and then selecting Merge Group. Next, rotate the copied remote upside down. Move the gradient layer you just made over it. Then select the remote layer again. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the Blur to 2 percent. Next move the copied remote lower.

Step 19

Make a selection. Create a new layer. Make a shiny floor for the remote to reflect onto using the Gradient Tool. Click and drag from up to down. Move this layer over the remote copy.

Step 20

Now make the shadow that the remote will reflect onto this floor. Make a shape similar to mine. Move it on top of the gradients. Then go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 8%. Next decrease its Opacity to 7 percent. Well done! You just finished the design.

How To Create Icons for Mac OS X

Ever wondered how to make your own Mac icons? Have you ever created an icon and had trouble making the icons fully transparent? If you answer either of these questions with a yes, then this tutorial is for you.

To complete this tutorial, you will need Adobe Photoshop (or any other image editor that will export transparent TIFF files), Xcode and CandyBar installed on your Mac. Xcode is Apple’s free software development kit. You should be able to install Xcode from your computer’s install disk or download it off Apple’s Website. It’s also important to note that the newest version of Mac OS X, Leopard has moved to a maximum 512 pixel icon sizes. CandyBarallows you to organize your icons.

Designing The Icon

Designing the icon is up to you and your imagination. Here is a list though of things to keep in mind when designing your icon.

• Apple Human Interface Guidelines Apple has there own setguidelines and rules to which they expect icons to be created by.
• Plan Your Icon For Scale Like designing a logo, you need to be able to scale your icon from 16 x 16 pixels all the way now to 512 x 512 pixels with Leopard. For the 16 pixel icon you may want to take out elements. For example, for my RSS icon, I’m eliminating everything but the orange rss button.
• Leave Margins for Your Icon You don’t want one icon tooutwieght the others because of it’s size.

Exporting The Icon

I’ve create an easy to use Photoshop Template just for mapping out each icon size. This way you don’t have to bother creating multiple size documents and what not. Simply drag and drop the icon layer(s) onto the template and the duplicate and resize according to each size on the template. At this time you may want to sharpen icons at smaller sizes to give them more definition. Remember: you can use Fade controls (located under the Edit menu) after using the sharpen filter.

Now that you’ve completely resized your icons and are ready to make them into an icon, hide the back drop layer. Then go to File >> Save As. You want to format the document as a TIFF file with the options, “Layers” unchecked and “As A Copy” checked. A TIFF Options dialogue box should appear after hitting the save button. It’s important to have Compression set to “None” and “Save Transparency” checked. This way, the icon comes out exactly as you intended.

Important TIFF Settings to getting the best looking icon

Now all you have to do is duplicate the TIFF file four / five times (one for each size), and crop the file to elimante all other icons. Knowing where to crop the documents should be simple because the guides still remain from the Photoshop document.

Using Icon Composer & CandyBar

Icon Composer is located in the Applications >> Utilities in the Xcode folder. Once you’ve opened the application, creating the icon is easy as dragging the TIFF files over their appropiate sizes. Agree to Extract Mask when asked. Save a fresh ICNS file. The icon shouldn’t yet appear as the actual icon on the document. This is where CandyBar comes in handy. Just drag the .icns file into CandyBar and then drag out the icon image show in the application.

Icon Composer is as simple as dragging and dropping the TIFF files on to its appropriate spot.

Exporting a TIFF, and not a transparent PNG file from the Export to Web menu proved vital especially when exporting transparent images. This particular icon, when made into an icon using an exported PNG file will cause the smoke coming off the RSS to pixelate. This pixalation is fixed though when exported a TIFF file with tranparency.

Source

How To Create iPhone Or iPod Battery Icon

Final Image Preview

Below is a preview of the final battery image we’re working towards.

Step 1

We’ll start by creating a new document and filling it with a solid black background. You can make yours whatever size you’d like, mine is 600 px by 400 px.

Now that we have our document, we’ll begin with creating the metal cap at the end of the battery. Start by drawing a shape, as shown below. The colors in the gradient from left to right are 90% gray, white, and black. Additionally, give the object a 1px Feather and lower its Opacity to 75%.

Step 2

Copy (Command + C) this object and paste the copy directly in front (Command + F). Then, nudge the copy one pixel to the right using the right arrow key. The colors for the gradient from left to right are 80% Gray, Black, and 80% Gray. Additionally, raise the Opacity of this shape back up to 100%, and remove the feather on it by dragging it from the list in the Appearance palette to the small trash icon below it.

Step 3

To add some highlights to the edges, draw two shapes as shown below with the Pen tool. Fill them both with white. Change the top shape’s Opacity to 75% and the bottom shape to 25%. Also, give both shapes a 2px feather.

Step 4

It may not be evident just yet, but we’re now going to add the reflections to the metal. Draw a shape with the Pen tool and position it as shown below. The left color on the gradient slider is white and the right color is 90% gray. Give the shape a 1px feather as well.

For the bottom reflection, draw another shape as shown. The gradient is white to black and the shape has a 1px Feather. Also, lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 5

Now we’ll start on the transparent section of the battery. Begin by drawing the shape shown below with the Pen tool. Once drawn, fill the shape with white and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Hint: An easy way to draw the shape is to draw one half of it – leaving the path open, then, copy, paste, and reflect the copy of the shape to create the other half. Finally, just connect the points with the Pen tool. This also ensures that the final shape will be symmetrical.

Step 6

Now, we could simply use a black to gray gradient on this shape, but we’re going to use an opacity mask instead. It’s a little more work to create, but it will allow us to change the background behind our battery when we’re done. To create the mask, copy and paste the shape in front of the original. Bring its Opacity back up to 100%, and fill it with a gradient as shown below. The left slider is 50% gray and the right slider is black.

Step 7

Now, select both shapes, then in the drop down menu in the Transparency palette select Make Opacity Mask. When you create the mask, you might not notice a change, but change the color of the document background and you’ll see the advantages of the opacity mask.

Step 8

We’ll now start adding some glare and reflections to make the glass look transparent. Begin by drawing two shapes as shown below. Fill them both with white and lower their Opacities to 75%. Feather the top one by 2px and the bottom one by 3.5px.

Step 9

We’ll also add an Opacity Mask to the top highlight. Paste a copy of the top shape in front of itself, bring its Opacity back up to 100%, and remove its Feather. Fill it with a gradient as shown below, going from 75% gray to black. Finally, create an Opacity Mask as we did before.

Step 10

We’ll add another reflection to the glass to match the one on the metal. Draw a shape as shown below, fill it with white, give it a 2px Feather, and lower its Opacity to 50%.

Step 11

Follow our routine to add the Opacity Mask. Paste a copy of the shape in front of the original and fill it with a gradient, which goes from 15% gray to 85% gray (don’t forget to remove the Feather on the shape).

Step 12

Once again create the Opacity Mask. Also, once you’ve created the mask, change the shape’s blending mode to Screen in the Transparency palette.

Step 13

By now you’re probably getting the idea of how to create our reflections. So, draw another shape for a reflection as shown below, then fill it with white. Lower its Opacity to 40% and Feather it by 2px.

Step 14

For the copy of the shape used for the opacity mask, use a 50% gray to black gradient, as shown below.

Step 15

And now? You guessed it. Create the Opacity Mask.

Step 16

Alright, our last reflection! One more time, draw the shape shown below, fill it with white, lower its Opacity to 50%, and Feather it by 2px.

Step 17

Copy and paste the shape to make the Opacity Mask. Use a white to black gradient for the shape.

Step 18

And for the last time, create the Opacity Mask.

Step 19

We’ll now add the other metal end cap to our battery, which is quite easy, seeing as they’re both identical. Select all of the shapes that make up the end cap, and go to Object > Transform > Reflect. In the dialog window that appears, select the Vertical radio button for the Axis and click Copy. Drag the copied and reflected shapes to the other end of the battery.

Step 20

Creating the positive contact on the battery is fast and easy. Simply select all of the shapes you just used for the metal end cap, then copy and paste them in front. With them all selected, Alt-click and drag on the top or bottom center handle of the group to shrink them vertically. You may also want to shrink them horizontally a bit as well.

Once you’ve got them the right size, send them to the back (Command + Shift + [ ), and then bring them forward one level (Command + ] ). If done correctly, the contact should be directly behind the metal end cap.

Step 21

The last thing we have to do to finish the battery itself is to add some rounded slivers to represent the inside ends of the glass. Draw the two shapes, as shown below (or just draw one and copy and paste it). Fill the one on the right with white and lower its Opacity to 25%, and fill the one on the left with black and lower its Opacity to 50%. Additionally, change the Blend Mode of the one on the left to Overlay. Finally, Feather both shapes by 3.5px.

Step 22

We’ll now work on the final element of the design, the “fuel” (battery energy). Draw a shape with the Pen tool like the one below. You can make the energy level whatever you’d like, as well as whatever color you’d like. I chose about two-thirds full and used a green gradient.

Step 23

Once you have the look you want for the “fuel,” send it to the back. Afterward, bring it forward twice so that it is directly in front of the base transparent layer, but behind the reflections.

Step 24

Finally, copy the black rounded sliver shape at the left edge of the glass and drag it to the edge of the “fuel,” then change its fill color to white.

Step 25

To finish off the design, add some highlights to the metal parts of the battery by drawing ovals and filling them with white. Next, add a Feather to them and lower their Opacities.

Step 26

Additionally, add an Outer Glow to the “fuel” shape (Effect > Stylize > Outer Glow.). Make sure the Blending Mode is set to Screen. You’ll want the highlight color to match the color of the fuel. For my green “fuel,” I used a bright lime green color for the glow (#19FF00). Make the Opacity 75% and the Blur 11px.

Conclusion

That’s it! You’ve now got a battery icon that can be used for whatever design you need it for, and even as a modifiable graphic for an interactive animation or application. I hope you’ve gained some useful techniques and ideas from this tutorial.

iPhone Dev-Team: Tips To Fix Unlock Issues

The iPhone Dev-Team has posted some tips to help those experiencing problems with the UltraSn0w unlock

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It looks like version 0.9 of ultrasn0w fixed up the vast majority of any problems people were seeing with the 3G/3GS carrier unlock. But here’s a brief list of fixes for anyone still seeing problems:

* Unusual battery depletion is almost always caused by people choosing to “Restore from backup” instead of “Setup as new iPhone” when iTunes asks you. This isn’t caused by either the jailbreak or the unlock, but it’s a common 3.0 snafu. The fix is to just re-run the official 3.0 restore and choose “Setup as new” this time. Your music and apps and all that will still be synced, but you’ll get rid of any conflicting wifi, bluetooth, or carrier settings. Then just re-run redsn0w and install ultrasn0w.
* Remember, ultrasn0w works with hacktivated phones too, but don’t outsmart redsn0w into thinking you don’t need hacktivation! If you don’t plan on using an official sim, don’t activate via iTunes with such a sim. Just keep your unofficial sim at all times and let redsn0w and ultrasn0w handle hacktivation
* T-Mobile in the USA doesn’t use the 3G frequencies that the iPhones support, so turn off 3G in Settings->General->Network. (Some T-Mobile territories gracefully hand down to Edge mode, but most do not).
* Certain unofficial plans have limitations on whether you can make calls and use data at the same time. That’s not unlock-related.
* Some people have installed previous versions of ultrasn0w using non-standard techniques. While the ultrasn0w 0.9 update should have removed all previous versions of ultrasn0w, these users may have outsmarted our removal. So make sure you don’t still see /usr/bin/ultrasn0w present if you’re at ultrasn0w 0.9 (which doesn’t have such a binary anymore).
* If you don’t need or plan to update to ultrasn0w 0.9 from a previous version, you can avoid having that red badge over Cydia by removing repo666 as a Cydia source. Don’t worry, you can always add it back later If you follow us on twitter you’ll be advised of any new updates anyway.
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Turn Your iPod Touch Into An iPhone (Almost)

The iPhone has taken America by storm since its much-vaunted release. The rest of the world is slowly working on giving a crap, but to the States the iPhone represents the current holy grail of mobile phones. New handsets with high expectations are relentlessly branded ‘iPhone killers’, though has any phone even come close to knocking the iPhone from its pedestal in the minds of its users? Not even close.

However, during these times of economic uncertainty, a little bit of fiddling you can give your iTouch essentially the same features as the iPhone. Sure, you won’t have an inbuilt camera, but you can’t send MMS messages or record video anyway, so what are you really missing out on? The kink in the plan here is that you need to be in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot to use your iTouch-Phone, but with the ever-increasing number of public hotspots, it’s likely that if you live in an urban area you’re probably not too far away from one most of the time. The only money you’ll need to spend is on a microphone, since sadly the iPod Touch has no built-in mic.

The great news is that besides having to spend a bit of cash on your microphone solution, all the software used in this tutorial to give your snazzy iPod Touch the functionality of the iPhone is totally free. So what are you waiting for?

There’s no need to jailbreak your iTouch or modify it in any way – all you need is an iPod Touch on 2.x.x firmware, a pair of headphones with a microphone, a WiFi network, and access to Apple’s App Store so you can download and use Fring – a free app which supports several different chat protocols.

1. Choose your microphone

Philips iPhone Mic Adapter $9.99 from Target	Apple Earphones with Remote & Mic (MB770) $29.00 from Apple Store	Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote & Mic (MA850) $79.00 from Apple Store

I’d recommend the Philips mic adapter, mainly because it costs under $10 compared with Apple’s habitually expensive alternatives, but also because it allows you to use your own headphones. However, you’ll lose out on having the remote. If you prefer a hands-free approach, SwitchEasy’s ThumbTacks might be more your style. Thanks to Apple’s proprietary chip in the new iPod shuffle remote/mic combo earphones, pickings are a little slim at the time of writing.

For 1st generation iPod Touch users, you’ll have to come up with a solution that uses the iPod’s docking port, since the 1st gen doesn’t support line-in through the earphone connection. Sadly, the new fancy Apple earphones are not backwards compatible with the 1G iPod Touch. However, there are some alternative solutions which use the 30-pin dock connecter, such as the popular iVoice3.

Once you’ve sorted out your mic, you’re ready to start setting up your VoIP application.

The alternative to Fring is downloading the new Skype for iPhone/iPod Touch application, which was released last Tuesday. How do the two compare, though? Well, Skype is a very recent release and I’ve found that it tends to crash occasionally, though it’s still very much useable. Fring’s current release (v1.0.0.2.4) is very stable in comparison. Both allow you to import contacts from your iTouch’s contact list, and support both text and voice chat… but what really sets Fring apart is its ability to support not only the Skype VoIP protocol, but also 3rd party SIP accounts, MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, and Google Talk. It even has plugins for Twitter and last.fm, which make it the winner in my book. However, you can add SkypeOut credit and dial any phone in the world from the Skype application, so if you’d rather stick with a brand you know already, go ahead and download Skype for free and have fun making calls on your iPod!

Personally, I have both, since I prefer the look and feel of the Skype application, but love having the extra functionality of Fring.

2. Install Fring

Step 1: Search for Fring in the App Store with your iPod, and download and install it for free.	Step 2: Once installed, fire up Fring and register a new user account (or sign in if you’re already a Fring member).
Step 3: Now simply pick a User ID, nickname, password and email address (only used to retrieve your password if you forget it).	Step 4: Next, link your Fring account to an active Skype account, and a SIP provider if you have one (I recommendvoipstunt.com – it’s free!)
Step 5: Your contact list should now populate with your Skype contacts. Just click their names to call and chat.	Step 6: Click the Dialer and… hey presto! Dial the number you want (don’t forget the leading 00s) and hit the green “SIP” button to dial over your own VoIP provider, or “Skype Out” to use your outgoing Skype credit.

Congratulations! You can now make as well as Skype-to-Skype and Fring-to-Fring calls with other users, absolutely free. Add some SkypeOut credit and you can use that, but watch out – if you don’t make a call for 180 days, they’ll wipe off any credit on your account.

I’d recommend signing up with VoIPstunt for your free VoIP service – they offer 100% free calls to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries in Europe, South America and Asia (see the full list here). All you need to do is top up your account with a little bit of credit every 120 days to keep it active. Best of all, Fring supports it out of the box – just enter your username and password and you’re away.

3. Get SMS working
Now that we’ve got the microphone and phone sorted, you’re only missing SMS. Well, you’ve got plenty of options here. For a long time there were apps available that granted jailbroken iPod Touch users completely free text messaging, but sadly a lot of these have been banned, obsoleted, or have not been updated in a long time.

Right now, your best options are:

1. http://sms.dynadel.com (Worldwide, free)
   Open this web page in Safari on your iPod (or even better, make a bookmark and put it on your home screen), choose your country/carrier and type in your friend’s number, type your message and press send. Done.
2. Using the AIM client (Worldwide, free)
   Download the AIM client for iPhone from the App Store on your iPod Touch. Once installed and signed in, you can text anybody by creating a new buddy contact, and set their AIM address as their complete mobile phone number, with country and area code, preceded by a plus (+), for example: +12065550559. It might be better to log on AIM using your computer so you can add friends’ cell numbers more easily. Now you can simply tap the buddy number on your iPod Touch, compose your message, and click Send. Any replies you receive will show up in your AIM client as part of the chat! This method may also work on Fring, as it supports AIM chat – but I didn’t get round to testing it yet.
3. http://www.txtdrop.com/iphone/ (US/Canada only, free)
   Open this address in Safari and send a free text to any US or Canada cellphone.
4. http://www.cbfsms.com (UK only, free)
   Another web-based one, open in Safari and send free UK text messages.
5. http://www.jellysms.com (Worldwide, paid)
   You can purchase the JellySMS app from the App Store for around $3.49 (there’s also an ad-assisted version for half the price). Then simply sign up with a one of the many free VoIP providers they give you, and you can send cheap text messages. OK, so it’s not free, but it seems to be more reliable than the free alternatives, it’s contained within its own app (which supports landscape texting!), and you can set your own caller ID so you can direct replies to the number of your choice.
6. Send SMS through email (US/Canada only, free)
   Quite a nice feature of North American providers is that you can actually send an email to a number via a provider, and it will convert it into a text and send it for you. Try using the iPod’s native Mail app and email your messages to the following addresses, replacing {phone#} with the recipient’s phone number. You will have to know which carrier they’re with, however:

T-Mobile: Virgin Mobile: Cingular: Sprint: Verizon: Nextel:

{phone#}@tmomail.net {phone#}@vmobl.com {phone#}@cingularme.com {phone#}@messaging.sprintpcs.com {phone#}@vtext.com {phone#}@messaging.nextel.com

If you’ve got any other working methods for sending and/or receiving SMS on the iPod Touch, let us know! Unfortunately you’ll always need a wi-fi network nearby to use your iPod-come-iPhone mobile phone, but hey! It’s easy to do and it’s a really neat feature.

Many thanks to everybody who helped me out with info for this tutorial! I got most of the info from the iPod Touch Fans forum and Macrumors – check them out if you need even more info on making the most out of your iPod Touch!

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