How To Stream Videos From iPhone To Mac Using AirPlay

If you are an Apple TV owner, you may have already checked out the AirPlay feature that lets users to stream videos and other media content from an iOS-based device to your television over Apple TV. Now, Erica Sadun – a hacker and a writer for TUAW has come up with a custom version of AirPlay that brings the nifty wireless streaming service to Macs.

Called AirPlayer, this software basically lets a Mac to camouflage itself as an Apple TV thereby letting you stream videos to your computer. AirPlayer does not require you to jailbreak your device and is currently available only for Macs. Erica says that a variant of AirPlayer can be easily created for Windows and Linux platforms as well though she is unlikely to release one soon.

So, if you are a Mac user, then head over to Erica’s website here to download an alpha-stage ad-supported version of AirPlayer.

Android Hack To Prevent Data Throttling By Carriers

Most people signing up for unlimited data plans often miss out on the fine-print that legitimizes carriers to throttle your data speed when you breach a data cap. Such policies are quite evidently an annoyance given that most of us pay a premium for unlimited data plans just because we need to satisfy our mobile web requirements.

So if you are one of those Android users frustrated with such data throttling from carriers, you can now make use of a hack to ensure you do not have to suffer these slow internet speeds any longer. Folks at XDA Developers have this tutorial to take you through the process. As with any of the tutorials from this site, you must realize that the procedures can be risky and you may end up bricking your phone. Also, the carriers have other ways to ensure you don’t continue your voracious data consumption – they can suspend your contract, for instance.

In any case, should you try the method, don’t forget to tell us how it works in the comments below.

How To Watch Flash Videos On iPhone Safari Browser Without Jailbreak

We had recently written about a new browser app for the iPhone called Skyfire. The browser let users access Adobe Flash content on the iPhone without having to jailbreak the iDevice. As you may know already, Skyfire makes use of a server-side technology to render Flash content in iPhone-supported formats. The popularity of Skyfire has also been its bane since the load on Skyfire’s servers is learned to have slowed down the processing in some cases.

Now if you are one who likes to watch a lot of video content, here is an alternative to look at. iOSFlashVideo is a Javascript bookmarklet that enables iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users to watch Adobe Flash videos from websites like MetaCafe, Vimeo and DailyMotion from the comfort of the native iOS browser without having to jailbreak your device.

To get started, visit  http://iosflashvideo.fw.hu/ from your iPhone browser and hit the + button at the bottom of the screen to bookmark the link. Now, tap on the Bookmarks icon on the Mobile Safari window to edit this link. You may notice a few characters before the javascript code so that the bookmark page looks something like this.

Now hit ‘Done‘ to save. Next time you want to watch a Flash video on your browser, simply tap on the bookmarks button and select iOSFlashVideo to start watching these videos.

Restore iPhone Without iTunes With Upcoming TinyUmbrella Software

If you have been following the jailbreaking space, you will be aware of the software called TinyUmbrella that helps users to take backups of their iDevice’s SHSH blobs thereby preserving the baseband of their iPhone during iOS firmware updates.

Now Semaphore, the developer of TinyUmbrella has revealed that a new version of the popular software is in progress. Among the several things that this new software will achieve, one of the most significant updates shall be the ability to restore iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch without having to connect to iTunes. On his blog, Semaphore writes,

“I’ve been working on a new and improved version of TinyUmbrella that will, among other things, allow you to restore your iDevice without iTunes.”

There is no ETA announced as yet. But let’s hope the new version is out at least by January.

iPhone Unlock GPS Signal Issue – Fix For Downgrading Baseband Coming Soon

If you are one of those iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS users who have been experiencing problems with GPS signal connectivity since unlocking your iDevice with the latest version of RedSn0w or PwnageTool, then some fix to the problem may be coming soon.

Folks at the iPhone Dev Team have indicated that they have been working on a solution that will let these iPhone 3G and 3GS users to downgrade their iPhone baseband from the new 06.15.00 back to 05.15.04. While there is no clear indication on how this works, we do assume that the baseband downgrade will still keep these iPhones unlocked.

You may recall that the latest iPhone unlock solution works by upgrading the baseband of the iPhones to the original iPad firmware that was seen to be vulnerable to an exploit. Now if the baseband is downgraded, there is also a likelihood for the phone to get locked back.

There is no clarity on this as yet. We will get you some more info when we get it.

Hack To Install Android 2.3 Keyboard On Android 2.2

As you should know by know, Google has unveiled the next generation Android platform along with the Nexus S. One of the most conspicuous features about the upcoming Android version is its new-look keyboard. If you are one of those dying to check out this new Android keyboard on your older machines, then follow the instructions below.

First and foremost, remember that you will need a rooted Android device to carry out these instructions. You may know this, but it is our duty to warn you that this is a pretty risky process where you could end up bricking your device. Also, some functionalities like autocorrect may not function properly. Thirdly, this process needs you to have Android 2.2 installed. If it is an older version of OS, sorry this feature may not work on your phone.

If you are already rooted and have taken care of the warnings, then follow these steps below.

Step 1 : Create a backup of your phone

Step 2 : Click here and download the ZIP file

Step 3 : Plug your phone to the computer

Step 4 : Copy the downloaded file on to the root of your SD card and install it in the same way you would install themes

Step 5 : If you are a user of Droid X or Droid 2, then navigate to Clockwork -> Mounts and Storage -> Mount System and then back to install the ZIP file from your SD card

Step 6 : Reboot your Android phone. Under the Input method, select Android Keyboard.

You are done. You can use this new look keyboard on your FroYo device. Check out the video below for a Android 2.3 keyboard demo.

[via Droid Life]

Motorola Defy Rooting Instructions Out

This is one thing Motorola just couldn’t defy – stopping enthusiastic hackers from rooting the Motorola Defy. Folks at XDA Developers have always led the pack when it comes to rooting every new handset that arrives in the market and now a user has posted a complete step-by-step guide for users to root Defy. Continue reading »

Skip Samsung Galaxy Tab Activation Screen With Simple Trick

If you are just back from the Black Friday shopping frenzy and happen to have got hold of a Samsung Galaxy Tab sans a data package, you may be having some trouble getting past the activation screen. This simple trick will help you bypass the activation screen on your new Samsung Galaxy Tab and let you access your tablet using a tethered Wi-Fi network alone.

So this is what you should do :

• Press the volume up button up once.
• Press the volume down button twice
• Press the volume up button thrice
• Press the volume down button four times

That is it. This will let you go past the activation screen on your Galaxy Tab. Did this help? Let us know how it goes in the comments below.

Find My iPhone For iPhone 3G(S) & iPod Touch 2G Available

If you are an iPhone 3G/3GS owner who has just updated to the new iOS 4.2.1 platform, you may have been disappointed to see that the free Find My iPhone feature is not available on your model – by default, that is. Apple has always been known to push the sale of its newer handsets by making certain attractive features unavailable on the older models. This time however, they have simply chosen to make it a much more cumbersome  process.

So technically, it is possible to set up the Find My iPhone feature on your phone provided the service is available in your country. This is how you will do it.

I : Get hold of an iPhone 4, iPad or iPod Touch 4G (from a friend or family member who hasn’t set up a MobileMe account yet). Download the free Find My iPhone app by clicking here.

II : If you don’t have a MobileMe account yet, launch the application and create a new MobileMe account.

III : Now go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add a MobileMe account and enter your MobileMe login credentials

IV : Turn the Find My iPhone on the MobileMe account on

V : Launch the recently downloaded application once again and enter your MobileMe account details

VI : Now get hold of your older iPhone or iPod Touch model and download the Find My iPhone app once again from the App Store

VII : Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add a MobileMe account and enter your MobileMe login credentials

VIII : Launch the downloaded application and enter the MobileMe login account to set up the functionality

IX : If the newer iPhone/iPad model is not yours, disable the MobileMe account from Settings and delete the application.

You are done. You can now track your iPhone or iPod Touch anytime it gets lost.

Jailbroken iPhone 4 Put In Recovery Mode On iOS 4.1 Restore Due To New BaseBand Requirement

If you have been religiously jailbreaking your iPhone over the years, you may have become used to this application called Tiny Umbrella that helps your device kick itself out of the recovery mode during the jailbreak process. This is a nifty application because it helps you to upgrade the device firmware without affecting the baseband.

It now appears that Apple may have introduced, albeit partially, a baseband requirement which means applications such as Tiny Umbrella may no longer be able to get your iPhone out of recovery mode. Semaphore, the developer behind Tiny Umbrella notes,

“It seems that Apple has decided to put a baseband requirement on iOS. So at this point, if you are using Saurik’s server or tiny umbrella and trying to restore 4.2.1 on an iPhone 4, you will end up in recovery mode and tiny umbrella will not be able to pull you out of recovery.”

This is speculated to be partial because other jailbreakers do not seem to have been having a problem themselves. Popular jailbreaker MuscleNerd has written,

“4.2.1 is running fine on my i4 with 01.59 BB. I think they simply killed Umbrella way.”

In any case, should you be affected, this is how you could resolve it – Either restore iOS 4.1 again or restore to iOS 4.2.1 when you are tether jailbroken.