AT&T Android Phones List To Be Doubled in 2011?

According to an internal document from this year’s International CES (Consumers Electronic Show), AT&T will be launching 12 more Androids along with 20 new 4G devices. If the details of this internal document prove to be right, the first quarter of 2011 is going to witness the launch of 2 new 4G smart phones, which by the end of the year will be pushed to 20. As far as the Android phones are concerned, in 2011, AT&T is looking forward to add 12 more of these to the already existing list of 7.

Also, rumored are the availability of Motorola Atrix 4G and the HTC Inspire 4G in the markets from February 14, for which purpose, the employee training is to begin from February 2. The internal documents also indicate that Verizon is also fully prepared to offer simultaneous voice and data, but it has to be seen, to what extent will they be successful.

AT&T customers are sure in for an Android treat this year.

iOS 4.2.1 Untethered Jailbreak In The Making?

With Jailbreakme being prevented by Apple through a software update, the Dev Team is working hard to bring out an untethered jailbreak not only for iOS 4.2.1, but also for all the future iDevices like iPad 2 and the iPhone 5. An untethered jailbreak would help users to hack into iDevices without the need of a PC.

While the iPhone Dev team is working on a RedsnOw untethered jailbreak, the Chronic Dev team is working on a GreenpoisOn jailbreak. A teaser that showed the successful working of the GreenpoisOn hack on an iPad and iPhone 4 was also recently posted. The best part about these untethered hacks is the easy to use interface that is going to be offered to the users.

With the legalization of these jailbreaks, Apple is finding it tough to keep a lid on these hacks.

iOS 4.3 Firmware to Pose A Challenge to Hackers?

Apparently, Apple is strengthening its upcoming iOS 4.3 firmware with the addition of ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization). ASLR is a computer security and a hacker’s nightmare. With the introduction of this security measure, jailbreakers would find it difficult to locate the target addresses as the virtual memory area is increased. While this new move from Apple would pose a stiff challenge to jailbreakers , it has been welcomed by many of them as there have been several tweets about the same saying, “this would be some fun.”

With the untethered iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak yet to be released, the news about a much secured 4.3 could be daunting to all the jailbreakers across the world. The beta version of iOS 4.3 was launched two weeks ago and the firmware version is going to be made available to the public very soon.

Apple iPad 2 Features Include SD Card Slot, Dual GSM/CDMA Chipset?

We have already written quite a bit about the iPad 2 that is likely going to have a release date somewhere around in April this year. Earlier reports have also suggested that the new iPad is going to be thinner and sleeker than its predecessor with a new screen technology similar to the retina display on iPhone 4 – although some sources have speculated that such a move is improbable considering the costs involved.

A fresh report however notes that the new iPad could come with a display similar to the retina display with “super high resolution“.   The source further claims that the screen will stay at 10 inches and will also feature front as well as rear cameras along with a built in SD slot. We also hear that iPad 2 could come with a dual GSM/CDMA chipset manufactured by Qualcomm which will mean both AT&T and Verizon could carry the iPad simultaneously.

This new chipset manufactured by Qualcomm marks Apple’s migration from its existing chipset manufacturer Infineon for all its mobile devices. Reports also suggest that Apple’s new A5 processor which is said to have blazing fast speeds will be making its way to the iPad 2, but there are no confirmations regarding this as yet.

CyanogenMod For Nexus S Released In Alpha Version

Gingerbread users – that’s predominantly Google Nexus S owners as of now – who want to get hold of a more resourceful firmware can now start testing the new CyanogenMod 7 firmware. For the uninitiated, CyanogenMod is a custom firmware that is built over the Android platform that could bring features hitherto not available on the native platform to these smartphones.

The CyanogenMod team had initially reported issues with the camcorder and Wi-Fi that was however later rectified. Koush, one of the lead developers from CyanogenMod has now released an alpha version of the firmware that can now be downloaded from here.

Do note that this is an alpha version that is bound to come with a lot of bugs. That means, unless you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, you are advised to hold off from installing these updates. There is no word on when a public release is due. Nevertheless, keep looking here, we might update you on the same when that happens.

New Sn0wBreeze iPhone Unlock Tool To Restore iPhone Without Baseband Upgrade

Popular iPhone developer and hacker, iH8Sn0w has spilled the beans on his upcoming project – Sn0wBreeze 2.2. The new software application, that is still in development mode will let users unlock their iPhone 4, 3GS or 3G running iOS 4.2.1 with the help of the UltraSn0w unlocking tool. In a tweet posted recently, iH8Sn0w has posted the following teaser image of the upcoming tool.

The new version of Sn0wBreeze is expected to come with a new option called ‘Basedband Preservation Mode’ that will  let users restore their iDevices to iOS 4.2.1 without having to upgrade their baseband. There are also other modes like Simple Mode and Expert mode that the user may employ to create custom firmwares without the need for upgraded baseband.

There is no news on when the new Sn0wbreeze version will release. But we will let you know as and when that happens.

Untethered Jailbreak For iPod Touch 4 & iPhone 4 With RedSn0w Released

So as we had expected, the iPhone Dev Team is out with their ‘back up plan‘ version of the RedSn0w untethered jailbreak solution this Christmas weekend. But before you proceed, the iPhone Dev team have warned that this is a “beta tester” program that could potentially go wrong if you are not careful. The team has come up with some nuggets of advice that you can use to decide whether you really want to go ahead and jailbreak

• This is a beta tester program. It’s not a general release!  Things can go very wrong, so please don’t even consider testing if you have pictures or other media on your device that you haven’t backed up!
• For the same reason, please don’t participate if you rely on the ultrasn0w carrier unlock.  Wait for the final version!
• Until we fix some sandbox issues with bluetooth, the bluetooth functionality is disabled.
• Cydia must have your 4.2b3 SHSH blobs saved on file.  (As we approach a general release, we’ll provide a way to let you use locally saved hashes too).
• You must already have the usbmuxd software installed and running on your Mac (this requirement will eventually go away too). The correct invocation of the relay is just as that page says: “./tcprelay.py -t 22:2222”.  If the relay isn’t installed or running correctly by the time the redsn0w ramdisk has started, you’ll need to restore to stock FW again to try it again. Please test it beforehand to save yourself some time!

This tester program is apparently limited to just the iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 4th generation. You can check out the RedSn0w download link here. Have some trouble or questions? Post them here.

How To Video Stream From Mac To Apple TV

Earlier this month, Erica Sadun – hacker and writer for TUAW had launched an alpha-stage ad supported  tool called AirPlayer that enabled users to stream videos from their iPhone or iPad to a Mac computer using AirPlay. The tool basically hacked a Mac and made it camouflage itself as an Apple TV that subsequently helped her stream her videos from an iDevice using AirPlay.

Now in another nifty development, Sadun has developed another tool called AirFlick that will enable Mac users to stream videos from their computers to an Apple TV. She writes,

“AirFlick works by transforming your Mac into a web browser, the same way AirPlay works on your iPhone or other iOS device. For Mac-based files, AirFlick tells your Apple TV to connect to a local URL and serves the data that the Apple TV plays back. So long as those files are in a supported format such as mp4, m4v, mp3, etc, the Apple TV can read and display the file data.”

AirFlick comes with a number of additional features like transcoding of unsupported file formats in real time as well as the ability to play videos directly from the web.

You can download the alpha-version of the software by clicking here. Also, check out a video demo of AirFlick embedded below.

Gingerbread Android 2.3 For Samsung Galaxy S Ported From Nexus S

Google Nexus S, the latest Android smartphone from Google is the only one in the market to be running the latest Gingerbread OS. While other Android users continue to wait for Android 2.3 to be made available to them officially from their carriers, at least Galaxy S users have something to cheer about. Folks at XDA have managed to port the Android 2.3 Gingerbread platform from Nexus S to Galaxy S.

From what we hear, this is a near-perfect porting with few performance related issues. However do note that some features on the Galaxy S could be disabled after the update. Users have reported issues with accessing Wi-Fi, GPS and Google Voice after porting to the new Gingerbread OS.

That could be a huge deal breaker for many. But if you are one who would rather update to the latest OS than access these features from a FroYo handset, be sure to dive into this thread for instructions on the upgrade. Also, check the videos embedded below for an idea on how this works.

Google Nexus S Rooting Instructions Out

It has hardly been a day since the Google Nexus S arrived in the American stores and the device has already been rooted. XDA hacker Koush has announced that the Gingerbread running Google Android phone can now be rooted and put in recovery.

The instructions for this hack are pretty straightforward – that is if you are already well versed in the rooting procedure. Otherwise, there is no reason why you should risk bricking your day old phone that could also void its warranty.

To get started, you will need to download a few files and then run a few commands on the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) command shell. That should complete the process. Get the complete how-to guide here. As always do let us know how it works in the comments below.