Want to make your iPhone browsing experience even more awesome? Bring it closer to some of the functions of your desktop browser? Similar to Pastebud’s solution, iPuhelin has introduced a bunch of bookmarklets that allow your mobile Safari to do a lot more things that it could, without any jailbreak. 

The biggest feature in my opinion is the Find function. You can search for a word, and it tells you how many matches along with highlight all those words in your web page. They also have bookmarklets for ‘scroll to bottom’, ‘find similar sites’, ‘display all images’ and a bunch of translation options. I’ve tried most of these bookmarlets and they work just as advertised. Highly recommended for all iPhone or iPod Touch users. 

To add them all you need to do is visit Safari+, bookmark the pages, and then remove some text as specified by the instructions. I’d highly suggest you do this on the desktop and then let MobileMe sync them over, as it will be much quicker that way.

8 hours behind schedule, the iPhone Dev-Team has finally announced the sources for the iPhone 3G unlock. 10 days after the unlock was demoed on Qik, millions of iPhone 3G users around the globe thronged to the team’s blog, waiting for an announcement. To their dismay, it was announced (albeit in a cryptic message), that the unlock would only work on the 02.28.x baseband version, something which the team had originally advised not to update to.

If you’ve been waiting for the gods of unlock to shower some love on your iPhone, here’s what you’ll need.

» An iPhone 3G with 02.28 baseband version (Goto the Settings app » General » About ; then scroll to the very bottom). If it’s not, update your phone to the latest software using iTunes. 
» Your phone should be jailbroken. You can either use Pwnage Tool or QuickPwn for this.
» Launch Cydia or Installer.app and add the following sources:

Cydia source: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/
Installer repo: http://i.yellowsn0w.com/

» Download and install yellowsn0w, return to Cydia and reboot.

As always, the team maintains that this is a beta release, so proceed at your own risk. They are updating the original blog post with new information as they receive it from users who’re trying the unlock. If you’re the over cautious nerd, we’d advice to wait a couple more days before they iron out the tweaks. Of course, we want to hear your story, so irrespective of success or failure, let us know how it goes!

[More details on the Dev-Team’s Blog]

Apple Mail can be a very simple application to get you started, but once you get comfortable using it, you need to bring in the power. I’ve discussed a lot of Mail related tips and plugins here on SA (take a look at the related posts in the post footer), and here’s my latest addition to Mail tips. Add a spiffy HTML/CSS signature to your outgoing emails that will definitely cause some sort of unrest on the receiving end. 

Before I go further, I would like to give full credit to All Forces.com, from where this is based off. Continue Reading »

Smoking Apples would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

May 2009 be a year of peace, and prosperity, and awesome Apple products! We would also like to wish Steve Jobs the best of health, and see him at a lot more Apple keynotes. And of course, if he doesn’t want to do any more keynotes, his choice is fine by us.

Once again, thank you for visiting Smoking Apples this past year, and hope you continue to do so in the new. Now let’s hope for an awesome Macworld 09!

[Image courtesy Drumsnwhistles]

Hold on. It’s just a rumour. But a tasty one at that. 9to5Mac reports that their ‘best source’ has dumped a truckload of information on them. The first bit, iWork takes to the cloud. 

The first big piece of information is that iWork is going into the Cloud.  Not just storage, either. We are talking interface for Numbers, Pages and Keynote (which is going to see some interesting new templates and transition additions). Yes, the iWork applications are now going to be Web Applications.

Imagine having Pages and Keynote icons in your MobileMe web apps! I hope Apple does a good job integrating iWork 09 desktop apps, with iDisk storage and the MobileMe web apps. I’m sure they will.

Of course, questions still remain as to whether these (still rumoured) apps will work on the iPhone and iPod Touch, and whether they will work with any browser on the market (using some of that awesome Google Gears technology). And for the love of all things sane, will Apple release a window viewing app especially for Keynote presentations! Be prepared for a lot more rumours to surface, as we approach D-day. 

Buy iWork ($68) from Macmall | Buy iWork ($70) from Amazon

As it goes Facebook is becoming increasingly popular around the globe. All of my friends are on facebook and everyone seems to have facebook in their bookmarks toolbar. So why not get Facebook down to your desktop? Here are a bunch of Facebook applications that losely tie up to the Facebook API bringing certain features to the desktop.

AddressbookSync 1.1.1 »

You’ve got your address book neatly filled out, but when it comes to pictures it’s either too much trouble or you don’t have the pics at hand. AddressBookSync will not only search through your address book for matches, it will also copy over the birthdays of your contacts.

This is a great way to fill out your address book, as well as keep up to date with the latest pictures. Unfortunately, phone numbers are not synced, as the facebook API does not allow access to it. For copying over contacts, there was an application Facebook Sync that could do this. I say was, because Facebook has since made the developer remove that functionality from his app. If you are determined enough, you can find someone who can send it to you (don’t ask me!). 

Amigo »

The Facebook notification applet resides in your menubar letting you know when someone has ‘poked’, prodded, or kicked you. You also get to see when there’s a new wall post or when you are invited to a party. It also gives you quick access to your friend’s profiles, walls and all that. At $20, the app is terribly overpriced. The trial however has no limitations other than a buggy message every time you launch the app.

PhotoBook »

This is a really slick application for viewing Facebook albums. You get access to all your friend’s photos, which you can search through, or view as a slideshow. The full view shows additional info for each picture and a single click adds any selected photos to your iPhoto library. Unfortunately, the app lacks an upload option, which would have sealed the deal.

Facebook Export for iPhoto »

Made by the Facebook guys themselves, the iPhoto exporter is very similar to the FlickrExport developed by Fraser Speirs. The plugin puts in an extra pane in your iPhoto export window, from where you can tag a picture (it pulls names from your facebook friends list), set albums, comments — and hit upload!

Facebook Dashboard widget »

For those of you who contantly use the Dashboard, the Facebook widget will update you on new pokes, messages, wall posts, events, and other notifications. Very simple to install and use, and uses just a tiny bit of dash real estate.

EventBox »

This is my favourite app, and is the one reason I continue to keep my facebook account alive. It displays facebook status updates, pictures, and also features a photo uploading tool. You can update your status from the EventBox window as well as leave comments on people’s photos. EventBox goes far beyond Facebook and is highly recommended for anyone who interacts with the internet. Use the coupon code in the Smoking Apples magazine to get a 20% discount on the $15 pricetag that EventBox commands.

Any of you active Facebookers know of some other cool apps? Do let us know so we can check them out.

Well it’s been a fun year, Smoking Apples has been a blast to work with and I’ve had quite a year myself too. Preshit and Milind have given their top choices, I too have my own apps. Some have been here for a while and some are brand new. Either way I still love em’!

Mac

Skitch »
I love this app to death. When I had to reinstall my OS, Skitch was one of the first apps I reinstalled. I’m a heavy forum user and this is awesome for taking quick snapshots of something, adding a few drawings/text, and then uploading it to a site with the click of a button.

Cyberduck »
I’ve used this app off and on a few times but never hardcore. Now that I have my own website I’ve been finding it to be insanely useful, and it’s great because it’s also free. The interface is great along with the capability to edit my files with TextWrangler is just great.

Quicksilver »
This is probably the second app that I would have right away after I reinstall my OS. It’s made my “work” efficiency increase exponentially, and I’m not even using all the features! With the quick tap of Ctrl+Space I can quickly type in a few letters and start whatever app I want. Not only that but you can do some of the functions within each app with those triggers. It’s a free download and oh so worth it to check out.

Littlesnapper »
It’s like my backup to Skitch. I’ve used it mostly just to take quick snaps of websites, videos on YouTube and then sharing them through email and the forums. I just love the interface as well and it just screams Mac for me.

1Password »
I’m not very good with passwords and have resorted using the same one for years now (unsafe!!!). With 1Password I can have a randomly generated 12-16 character password for any site I go to without worrying about getting cracked or anything. My only worry now is what will happen if I lose all those passwords (of course I back them up to a physical medium just to be safe). Oh and it’s also got a free iPhone counterpart which is a plus.

iPhone

Fieldrunners »
Yes, I’m addicted. Tower Defense was the perfect time waster and now it’s been brought to the iPhone/iPod. The first version of the app was a little bare, no sound and only one map. It was still fun but later on the developers finally brought sound to the game along with a few other expansions. It’s graphically pretty, polished, challenging, and extremely addicting.

Frenzic »
I learned about this game from the review here on Smoking Apples. After a while of Milind constantly talking up this game I decided to check it out. Man is this game ever fun! I’ve played quite a few games and even had my Mother try (which she did terrible at it). It’s a great thing to do if you have a small amount of time and it’s extremely fast paced.

Things »
There have been few “to do list” apps on the iPhone. I’ve only tried a few of them (and the free ones at that), none have compared to that of Things. It’s got everything you could want from a to do list app. Great organization, easy to use, great at managing deadlines, and it’s got quite a few more things as well. Ten bucks might be a little steep but I think it’s still worth the buck.

Tweetie »
I’ve been using Twinkle for the longest time and I’ve recently tried Tweetie. It might not quite look as good as Twinkle but it’s got more features and I don’t feel quite so limited. Great for iPhone Twitter users.

BibleXpress »
This is the app that I had to do quite a bit of thinking on how to justify the $29.99 price tag. I’ve looked around at getting other Bibles on my iPod but they all are limited to using Wi-Fi. I want a Bible that is stored on my device and that’s exactly what BibleXpress is. It’s got quite a few translations included and the developer has been working hard on getting more. BibleXpress has a full feature set including bookmarks, notes for individual verses, and it’s all easy to navigate. Why does it cost so much though, well it’s gotta pay for the rights to have the different translations. This app is really only for the person who is going to use it consistently though, so it (obviously) isn’t for everyone.

Just as we approach the beginning of a new year, 30GB Zunes around the globe have decided to take a break. Gizmodo reports that around midnight last night, Zunes started becoming unresponsive and practically useless. Okay, we all knew that Zunes were practically useless, but now that they’ve become unresponsive as well, that’s something to talk about. 

Apparently, around 2:00 AM today, the Zune models either reset, or were already off. Upon when turning on, the thing loads up and… freezes with a full loading bar (as pictured above). I thought my brother was the only one with it, but then it happened to my Zune. Then I checked out the forums and it seems everyone with a 30GB HDD model has had this happen to them. - Gizmodo report. 

I must admit this is the weirdest stunt out of Redmond. When I was reading the report, I didn’t know what to think! At least give it a feel-good 31st December date. What’s with the extra day left? The public however is hell bent on calling this the Z2k9 (or more pricisely, Z2k~9). 

This sure sounds like something out of a Sci-Fi movie, but there’s no need to panic. I mean, even if all the Zunes in the world turned into evil robots, that would mean we would have around 23 brown cripples to take care of. Not a problem at all. Anyway, since we are into naming every event that happens, 

Anyone’s iPod Touch also acting up? If you notice anything weird, shoot us an email. Nothing? We thought so.

As the year 2008 nears its end, the Smoking Apples team decided to go back and take a quick look at the apps that made a difference. While Milind has already listed out his choice of five apps that he discovered in 2008, here’s a list of the five apps that are definitely worth a mention. In this profession, you come across a ton of applications that you probably didn’t even know they existed. It’s only when you try them out, you realize what you’ve been missing all this while.

Mac

Mailplane »
As a freelance writer who also has his own business, I need to manage multiple email accounts. Mailplane gives the power to manage those with ease. Gmail + Mailplane combo is the best thing that happenned to me in 2008.

Coda »
Coda is the gem that every developer should possess. Editing files for multiple sites that you manage is pleasantly simple with Coda.

NetNewsWire »
As a freelance writer, you need to keep up with the news. This job had me subscribe to over a 100 feeds and I’m thamkful to NNW for making it so easy. Its syncing capability with newsgator online is a boon and the iPhone app is amazing.

CoverSutra / Boxee »
Coversutra, is without a doubt, the best iTunes extender out there. In fact, it was Milind who enlightened me about it and I’ve been using it ever since. Boxee, even though it is still in alpha, is a remarkable piece of software and I hope the year 2009 proves great to the ream behind Boxee. There are no better music / multimedia managers like these.

Littlesnapper »
Littlesnapper is to screenshots as Aperture is to a photographer. If you take enough of those, you need this brilliant app to manage them. And my job requires me to take multiple shots of every app I review.

iPhone

Mail »
The Mail app, that comes default on the iPhone, is one of my most important and frequently used apps on the phone. I’m really hoping we get email search soon.

Tweetie »
There is a reason I crowned it the Supreme Champion among the twitter clients for the iPhone. It gets better in version 1.2 which is still in beta.

Things »
Task Management couldn’t be any better. Even though it has a desktop counterpart, the iPhone version can well be used to get your things done.

iPhoneModem »
Not available on the App store, but certainly something you’d need if you’re a frequent traveller. (Jailbreak)

Qik »
Who says you cannot record video through your iPhone? (Jailbreak)

Cultured Code has kept their star app Things in a public beta state for a while now. The getting things done application has stolen many a heart, doing the thing it does best. The team has been slowly culturing their code, and we’re finally approaching the final release date, 6th Jan, Macworld 09. 

With just 7 days to go, Cultured Code has also pushed out the Release Candidate for Things 1.0. This is a feature complete version that includes a whole lot of changes including some slick new icons, increased flexibility with moving around items, rearrangement and change of functionality in Areas and Projects, and a whole lot of bug fixes. 

We’ll be doing a full review of Things, including the let’s-not-forget iPhone version, so stay tuned for more updates on that. Things costs $50 for a single user license, but using the coupon code “THINGSPRESALE20” will get you a 20% discount through January 15. In the meantime you can go ahead and download the release candidate to check it out for yourself.