Downgrade iPhone 3G 3.0 back to 2.2.1

Previously we have wrote a bit about upgrading and downgrading your Apple products. Today we wanted to run through the steps of downgrading your iPhone 3.0 firmware to 2.2.1.

Connect your iPhone to your Mac or PC and select your iPhone from the list of devices in iTunes. If iTunes does not detect your iPhone then you will need to put it in DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode.

You can follow these steps to put your iPhone in DFU mode (this is required only if iTunes does not recognize your iPhone):

* Connect your iPhone to your computer.
* Turn iPhone off.
* Hold power and home together for 10 seconds (exactly).
* Release power but keep holding home until the computers beeps (observed on a PC) as a USB device is recognized.
* A few seconds later iTunes should detect your iPhone.

Browse the Summary Tab, For Mac user Hold down Option and press the “Restore” button. For Windows user hold down Shift and press the Restore button. Now you will be able to browse the folder where you have the iPhone firmware.Select the firmware & hit the restore button and cross your fingers for 5 minutes.

If you get error message like 1011, 1013, 1015, just ignore them(Actually the firmware 2.2 is already successfully installed). Fire Quickpwn 2.2.1 and jailbreak your iPhone use this guide

But if you encountered with error message like 1601, 1602, 1600 or anything else then try putting the iPhone into DFU mode and try again.

If you have an Unlocked iPhone then use pwnage tool to make a custom firmware then enter DFU and restore / downgrade to 2.2.1 if not works in first time done it again n again.

FileHippo: How to Maintain All Your Freeware up to Date

21 Free Apps For Mac OS X That Are Useful and Productive

Our friends over at SmashingApps have put together an amazing list of the top 21 free applications for Mac OS X. Enjoy!

Name Mangler

Name Mangler is a batch file renamer that supports all common renaming tasks: Find and Replace (including support for regular expressions); Number Sequentially; Change Case; Set Extension; Add Prefix/Suffix; Remove/Insert Characters.

Backdrop

Backdrop is a simple utility to fill your screen with a giant blank window. Fill the window with a solid color or a custom image, your choice.

Service Scrubber

With Service Scrubber, you can restructure the services menu, change service keyboard shortcuts, disable and re-enable services.

iClockr

iClockr is focused to show you a simple way to track your time.

EverSave

EverSave is a clever tool which allows you to save all of your documents – if possible – in a specific time interval or by changing the frontmost application.

SyncMate

SyncMate FREE Edition is a perfect solution for information management. It is easy-to-use synchronizer for Mac and Pocket PC, that will help you keep all your documents, text messages, contacts, calendar entries and events and other stuff well organized.

Paparazzi

Paparazzi is a small utility for Mac OS X that makes screenshots of webpages. This will help you to temporary access to the WebView for username/password info, so capture of pages behind a required login is now possible.

AppFresh

AppFresh helps you to keep all applications, widgets, preference panes and application plugins installed on your Mac up to date. All from one place, easy to use and fully integrated into Mac OS X.

NetNewsWire

NetNewsWire has a familiar three-paned interface and can fetch and display news from thousands of different websites and weblogs.

Pref Setter

Pref Setter is an application used to edit plist (Property LIST) files, geared towards viewing / editing Mac OS X’s preference files. Very useful for setting those “hidden” preference settings that aren’t available directly in an application.

Skim

Skim is a PDF reader and note-taker for OS X. It is designed to help you read and annotate scientific papers in PDF, but is also great for viewing any PDF file.

OnyX

OnyX allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, run miscellaneous tasks of system maintenance, configure some hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and some of Apple’s own applications.

Witch

Witch lets you access all of your windows by pressing a shortcut and choosing from a clearly arranged list of window titles.

Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV and Amazon S3 browser for the Mac. It features an easy to use interface that allows to toggle between bookmarks and the browser outline view.

Syrinx

Syrinx is a fully customizable twitter client designed for Leopard.  Syrinx is built from two ideals efficient workflow and customization.

Visual NetTools

Visual NetTools is a set of network scanning, security, and administrator tools for Apple Mac useful in diagnosing networks and monitoring your computer’s network connections.

Deeper

Deeper allows you to enable and disable the hidden functions of Finder, Dock, Dashboard, Exposé, Safari, Login window and many Apple’s applications.

Burn

Namely

Namely is possibly the fastest way to open applications. And unlike some other launchers, it doesn’t require any learning.

Punakea

Punakea is a little app trying to help you cope with the day-to-day struggle of managing your files. Designed to complement Spotlight, it allows you to tag your files and bookmarks.

Top 8 Free Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop

Adobe has some of the most expensive and best product solution in the world, but of course they come at a price. Below are the best 8 free solutions that challenge the Adobe Photoshop program.

1. GIMP

GIMP stands for “GNU image manipulation program”, and it is one of the oldest and most well known alternatives to Photoshop in existence. Although it doesn’t quite have all of them, you’ll find most of the features included in Photoshop somewhere in GIMP. GIMP is cross platform and supported by a large community.

If just having the feature set isn’t enough for you, there is an alternative based on GIMP known as GIMPShop. It’s the same as GIMP, except the layout has been structured as close to Photoshop as possible, so anyone making the transition should still feel right at home.

2. Krita

Krita has been lauded for ease of use and won the Akademy Award for Best Application in 2006. Part of the Koffice suite for Linux, Krita is slightly less powerful than both Photoshop and GIMP, but does contain some unique features.

3. Paint.NET

Paint.NET has grown out of a simple replacement for the well known MSPaint into a fully featured open source image editor with a wide support base. You’ll need Windows to run Paint.NET.

4. ChocoFlop

ChocoFlop is a design application designed exclusively for Mac, optimized for Mac architecture. It’s quick and fairly well featured. This program won’t always be free, but until a stable version is released (it’s currently in beta) they are allowing free use. The program works pretty well as is, and if you’re the type who doesn’t mind an occasional bug it’s certainly worth a look.

5. Cinepaint

Cinepaint is designed primarily for video often used to make animated feature films by major studios, but it is also a great image editor capable of high fidelity 32 bit color. Currently there is no stable version for Windows.

6. Pixia

Pixia was originally designed in Japanese but English versions now exist for this rich editor. Although the original focus was on anime/manga, it is a very capable editor in general. Some of the features are a little counter intuitive, but there are plenty of English tutorials available now if you want to give it a shot. The website seems to have changed recently, so be sure to use our link if you don’t want a Japanese error message. Pixia works for Windows.

7. Pixen

Pixen is designed as a pixel artist’s dream, but has expanded into a smooth and well featured overall editor. It’s definitely best at animation though, if that’s your style. Pixen is Mac (10.4x or later) only.

8. Picnik

Picnik is a web based photo editor that has recently taken off due to a partnership with Flickr. It has all the basic features plus a few advanced ones like layers and special effects. It is cross platform since you only need a browser.

Cmune: Great 3D Browser-based Multiplayer 3D Shooter Game

The other day I came across a great new multiplayer 3D shooter game. The site is Cmune and they claim to have the first browser-based multiplayer 3D shooter built to be social.

Cmune allows users to play a 3D paintball shooter game within any web browser. Additionally you can play the game in either Windows, Mac or even within Facebook. The game itself is very simple, a user needs to just download a small plugin and then they can create or join in on a game. Paradise paintball has very simple controls and is easy to use and graphics are ok but nothing out of this world.

When the site first opens you are able to choose which game you want to join or even able to create a game and play against your friends. Cmune is a great time waster!!

Steve Jobs Steps Down from Apple

Breaking News!

Steve Job is taking a leave of abscence from Apple after being plagued by rumors of his serious health issues. To date pundits, blogs, and news agencies have speculated over the mysterious weight loss Steve has suffered over the past two years. His abscence from many of Apple’s major events, and this official stance on pulling out of MacWorld futher fueled the idea that Steve Jobs was on his death bed.

While that is not the case based on the official statement, there is no doubt that Apple stock will take a serious hit due to this announcement, and speculation will continue on regarding the validity of this statement.

I personally wish him well. As fan of Apple Inc., their computers, their consumer product, and their innovation in the market. I truly hope we see this amazing man come back before 2009 closes.

Here is the official word from Steve Jobs himself which can be found HERE on Apple’s website:

Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

BREAKING NEWS: Apple Not Part of MacWorld Expo

My writings, my podcasts, and basically my predictions have come true. Today it was announced that Apple will no longer be a part of MacWorld Expo, the very event that was almost defined by the very company.

“Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show.”

This is monumental ladies and gentleman, MacWorld was defined as the definitive spot where Steve Jobs, Apple, black turtle necks, and Mac fanboys. Whether it’s the economy, or the reason they state in the press release, it’s not surprising that Apple would make this move.

For those of us that have been around long enough to look fondly on this Expo, this is indeed an end of an era. Without the draw of Apple, what will become of this once dominant conference?

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TuneUp Cleans iTunes on Mac

Too often music information is ignored once it’s been put into a player. For casual listeners, information like song title, track number, or even album art seems irrelevant in light of the actual song playing. For those of us that truly love our music, enthusiasts of digital music if you will, ensuring that all of our music is organized, labeled, tagged, and played correctly is like an art form.

In the old days music was catalogued by hand, hours spent finding names, album art, and meta-information that music needs in order to show correctly on the player. Those days are long gone, and many small plugins to iTunes, Winamp, and the other major players have come out to assist users with this tedious but necessary task. For those of us that still hang out onto iTunes, TuneUp has finally made its way to the Mac, and it’s really making an impact.

TuneUp uses the Gracenote database of over 90 million songs to correct the information. The interface is simple and offers a bevy of choices for taking care of your digital music library. With simple drag and drops, your music is referenced against the Gracenote library, but information such as release date and genre is even included for all of your tracks to give you the most depth for your query.

The application also plugs you into other social sites like YouTube. By clicking the “Now Playing” tab you are offered other media that is associated with the track you are playing. If the band has any videos, or fans have done something related to the song your listening to, you will be notified through this feature. To offer even more incentive, the “Now Playing” selection will also provide you concert information for your favorite artists, current, concise, and useful.

Now all of this does come at a small price. Installing the plugin will allow you 500 song corrections and 50 album art updates, but afterwards there is a pay model to keep the application funded. For $12 you can get full access to the application for 1 year, but for $20 you get a lifetime membership that will allow you for correct your entire digital library for life.

Critics will say that paying for this service would be useless especially when most users only adjust their library once or twice in a lifetime. I don’t necessarily agree with that, but nevertheless, even if that were true, the addition of the “Now Playing” features is reason enough to keep this little application handy.

Netflix Offers “Watch Instantly” on Macs

Netflix, an extremely popular online movie renting site, has done what other sites have been unable to do so successfully, bring the end of brick and mortar video renting locations. Not only have physical video rental locations dwindled, but other online competitors simply could not get the following that Netflix was able to acquire with its extensive selection and quick mailing turnaround.

But even with all of its successes, Netflix was still marred by one fact, their streaming option was not supported by Apple computers. Earlier this year Netflix announced that members of their site would be able to directly stream content from their site, making it easier on the user to view as opposed to having to wait for the mail out. This easily accessible option drove streaming use through the roof, but only for Window’s users. Mac owners were left out in this major announcement until now.

Last week it was announced by Netflix, Inc. that testing was being done to ensure that Mac users would be able to stream content by the end of this year. The announcement which many members thought would never come, came with a catch. The streaming technology would only be available for Intel based Macs, and not be supported by older models.

Thanks to Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, Netflix is able to bring it’s streaming library of over 12,000 movies and TV shows to non-windows users. I personally find it ironic that the only way streaming media could have been brought to the Mac was via a windows bridge, ala Silverlight. Nevertheless, those holding onto older Macs have a reason to ditch it for the Intel based models.

Currently there is a Mac media player that is available for beta testing. The product, now available for public beta testing can be downloaded by anyone. The beta as admittedly experienced several bugs that may interfere with the quality of the movie played, but plans from Netflix are to have most if not all of these bugs worked out by the end of the year.

Personally I love Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” choice, and have longed for support on the Mac. Interestingly though, the DRM only allows a certain number of machines that you can watch your streaming media on. This limitation is similar to what iTunes has with its account set up. I’m not necessarily sure this will be much of a problem for most of us, but the limitation seems silly to begin with.

Thus far the player has worked fine on my machine, but even with my limited use I may not come across all of the bugs that are expected to pop up. If you are using the public beta software to stream movies on a mac, I’d like to year about your experiences and whether this was a good move for Netflix, Inc. Make sure to leave your comments and be heard!

Google to Launch Open Source Internet Browser in 100 Countries Today, Called Chrome

Google to launch a web browser today to 100 countries, and it will be named Google Chrome. There is a lot of buzz already about this new product and Im sure you have probably already read about it on Techcrunch, AllthingsD, Sizlopedia and more.All of this was just a rumour until it was confirmed by the Official Google Blog.

For a long time now there have only really been 3 key players in the online browser market, IE, Firefox and Safari (MACs). I’m very interested to use this product today and see how it compares to all these other browsers.

For a long time also Google has been funding Mozilla by paying to have their search engine as default in the browser, so if Google Chrome becomes popular and out grows Firefox, will they still pay top dollar to be the default search in Firefox?

The New Apple iMac Hits The Market

Just when you thought iMac had everything, now there’s even more. More powerful Intel Core 2 Duo processors. And more memory standard. Combine this with Mac OS X Leopard and iLife ’08, and it’s more all-in-one than ever. iMac packs amazing performance into a stunningly slim space.

Im not too sure why I am really posting about this new product offering from Apple, but I thought it looked very sexy and I simple just want one!

Macbook Air: Coming To An Apple Store Near You On Wednesday!

Since the introduction of the Macbook Air at MacWorld a week or so ago, there has been a lot of talk around the blogosphere about this new exciting product. I just thought I would write a very quick article and let everyone know that this revolutionary product will be available in the Apple Stores in the USA on Wednesday.

The guys over at TUAW mentioned that the Air might be cleverly disguised as stacks of interoffice mail, no doubt.