Evasi0n7 1.0.8 is out with support for iOS 7.0 11A466

At some point during the past week or so, the evad3rs released an update forevasi0n7, bringing the jailbreak tool to version 1.0.8. According to the change log, the software now supports build 11A466 of iOS 7.

Apparently 11A466 is a factory build—not available for download—of the iOS 7 firmware that shipped on some of iPhone 5s and 5c units. And up until now, folks with these devices were having issues jailbreaking…

Here’s an applicable post fromJailbreakQA:

“I got my jailbroken iPhone 5s exchanged due to water damage and when I got my new iPhone 5s it came with the IOS 7.0 build (11A66) so I tried to jailbreak it and Evasion “this ios version is not supported” I tried with with vers 1.0.7 and 1.0.0. Whats going on? Was that build never supported? I can’t update because of the new IOS 7.1.”

It looks like some folks were having success jailbreaking via a workaround that involved hex-editing evasi0n7′s executable file, but obviously this update removes the need for all that work. Now you can just click a button.

So if you happen to come across an iPhone with iOS 7.0 11A466 on it, make sure to use evasi0n7 1.0.8 to jailbreak it. As always, you can find it on our Downloads Page, and of course we have tutorials for those needing help.

As for iOS 7.1, there is no public jailbreak available, and there’s no word on when/if that will happen.

Drawnimal goes free as Apple’s latest Free App of the Week

It’s Thursday, and this can only mean one thing: the awesome Darklingsgame goes back up to its regular price as Apple gets to bring another iOS application down to $0, as part of the App Store’s ongoing Free App of the Week promotion.

Today’s free app: Lucas Zanotto’s Drawnimal. If you have children or a very young brother/sister, Drawnimal is the perfect way to teach them the alphabet and at the same time get them excited about art.

Designed to help kids learn to think out of the box, the app ingeniously puts up a fun image of an animal on the screen, requiring your kid to follow the prompts and actually draw around the device that’s sitting on a piece of paper.

Drawnimal will be free until next Thursday so grab it now in the App Store before it slips your mind…

From the developer’s iTunes description:

Drawnimal motivates the children to draw around the device and encourages them to think outside of the box. The app helps them to leave the digital screen with a simple physical interaction. It shows the children how to draw the main features of animals. The funny animations motivate them to learn the alphabet.

Drawnimal contains over thirty different animated animals, each with its own set of interesting sounds, and features the whole alphabet (A to Z), along with narration.  

The app includes English, Spanish, French, German and Italian alphabets and lets you switch between languages at any time, so your youngsters can even hear how animal names are pronounced in different languages.

Grab Drawnimal for free in the App Store.

The app is universal and requires iOS 6.0 or later.

Office for iPhone is now free for home use

Shortly after Microsoft brought the mobile edition of Office to the iPhonelast summer, fans of the Windows giant’s productivity software cried foul as the app came across to them as more of an Office companion for mobile than a full-blown productivity application.

Although available free of charge and with editing functionality for your Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, the app initially required an Office 365 subscription – much like the newly released Office for iPad. But not anymore.

Started today, Microsoft is making both the iPhone edition of Office and the version for Android smartphones free for everyone, like on Windows Phone. And to reflect the updated business model, the app has been rechristened and is now simply called Office Mobile for iPhone – much shorter and easier to remember than ‘Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers’, which used to be its full name before…

The change was announced in a postover at the Office blog earlier today.

“Just like Office Mobile for Windows Phone, we are making Office Mobile for iPhone and Android phones free for everyone,” wrote the team. “With Office Mobile, you have the ability to view and edit your Office content on the go.”

In addition to this change, Office Mobile for iPhone version 1.1 includes a few bug fixes and stability improvements. By the way, the app could use some redesigning: it’s 2014 and it still doesn’t use the new iOS 7 keyboard!   

Lory reviewed Office Mobile for iPhone and came away pretty unimpressed.

The app struck her as “an absolute renaissance masterpiece” and said Microsoft has “miles to go” before Office Mobile can even be uttered in the same breathe as other document apps. Her complaint was not so much about the features as about the Office 365 subscription requirements and the app’s reliance on the cloud.

Now that Microsoft has removed these hurdles, it’s become a whole lot more useful, don’t you think?

Download Office Mobile for iPhone free in the App Store.

iOS 7.0 or later is required.

How to add a rain effect to the iPhone’s Lock screen

Rain Lock is a jailbreak tweak that lets you add custom “rain” effects to the iPhone’s Lock screen. The rain is really just text, which can be custom text or one of the two built-in text effects.

As you may have already figured out, Rain Lock isn’t the type of tweak that adds enhanced functionality to your iPhone, neither does it help you work smarter—it’s a tweak that’s unapologetically centered on visual flair. And that’s okay, because that’s what Rain Lock does well, and it gets it right for the most part.  

As with most tweaks with customizable aspects, you’ll need to go into the stock Settings app to find Rain Lock’s preferences. The preferences for Rain Lock is its weakest point. There’s just too many settings and not enough cohesiveness. I wish developers focused more on polishing the back-end aspects of their releases, as doing this would make for an easier and more pleasurable experience when it comes to configuration.

 

Rain Lock defaults to the typical Matrix-inspired text with the green and white abstract letters, but you can customize it with text of your choosing, and even alter the color of the text. The color customization allows you to select a head and tail color, which, as I quickly realized, works best on longer text strings.   

                Invoking RainLock can be accomplished by using a simple double-tap gesture on the Lock screen or a short press. You can also enable a toggle in the tweak’s preferences to make the rain effects auto start upon locking your device.

Lastly, you’ll find settings for a custom intro message i.e. “wake up Neo,” rain size, rain speed, and rain amount. I think it’s pretty safe to say that with a few minutes of customization, you’ll be able to come up with a look that’s wholly original and unlike anyone else’s Lock screen.

The privilege to use Rain Lock will cost you a bit more than the average tweak, though; it’s priced at $2.50 and it’s available right now on Cydia’s BigBoss repo. The price might be a hard pill to swallow (see what I did there?) due to the fact that the tweak adds no functionality improvements to iOS, but if you’re at all concerned about having an original looking Lock screen, then you’d be hard pressed to come up with something better than this. What do you think?

Nikkei: Apple to launch 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhone as early as September

Japanese news outlet Nikkei threw its weight behind a popular rumor today, reporting that Apple’s next-gen iPhonewill come in both 4.7- and 5.5-inch models. The theory that the company is working on two new larger-sized handsets has been reiterated severaltimes over the past 6 months.

Citing sources within Apple’s supply chain, Nikkei says that manufacturers have already begun making components for the new smartphones, like fingerprint sensors and chips for liquid-crystal drivers, and Sharp, Japan Display and LG will begin mass-producing their panels as early as April…

Here’s more from the Nikkei report:

Manufacturers have apparently begun making such components as fingerprint sensors and chips for liquid-crystal drivers. Mass production of LCD panels will start as early as the April-June quarter at Sharp’s Kameyama factory, Japan Display’s Mobara plant, and at other facilities, according to sources. LG Electronics will supply panels as well. The new handset’s display resolution is expected to be significantly higher than that of current models.

A lot of the information here matches up with previous reports. Macotakara said last fall that LG Display would be making iPhone 6 display panels with a resolution of 1920×1080 and a ppi of 440. And earlier this month we heard a similar account from well-known supply chain insider Sonny Dickson.

We still know very little about Apple’s new handset, as details outside of the display have been fairly scarce and inconsistent. It’s believed to be slimmer than the current-gen model, with a refreshed design and an A8 processor, and other reports have called for an 8MP rear camera, 2GB of RAM and more.

Amazon said to be launching its set-top box next week

Following reports from last week that Amazon is planning to launch its long-awaited Apple TV competitor in next month, Amazon has sent out invites for a media event scheduled for April 2nd. The invitations ask that reporters join the company for an ’update’ on its video business.

And according to a new report from Recode, the e-commerce giant is going to use the event to unveil a new set-top box device. Citing sources familiar with Amazon’s plans, the outlet says the device will be capable of streaming media to TV sets, competing directly with Apple and Roku…

Here’s Recode’s Peter Kafka:

Amazon’s entry into the set-top box world, which has been delayed for months, is coming next week, according to people familiar with the company’s plans.The e-commerce giant has invited reporters to gather for an “update on our video business” in New York next Wednesday, April 2.
The popcorn and couch in the image give you a pretty good idea of what to expect, as does our previous reporting, which explained that Amazon has been preparing a Web-to-TV gadget for many months. 

In a recent report, The Wall Street Journal said that Amazon had distributed a pre-production version of its streaming device to select app developers. The hardware appeared similar to Google’s Chromecast dongle, ran on a special version of Android, and featured Amazon’s ‘Fire’ branding.  

In addition to Amazon’s Instant Video and other streaming services like Netflix, the device is also expected to support apps and games. The company recently acquired ‘Killer Instinct’ developer Double Helix, and photos of an Amazon-branded game controller leaked online earlier this month.

On a related note, Apple is also said to be readying a new device for the living room. But there’s no word on when it will be unveiled to the public.

Tune in next Wednesday, as we’ll be following Amazon’s media event and reporting back with any announcements worth noting.

Theme Thursday: Aromy, RipMe HD, Patience and more

The ninth edition of Theme Thursday, a weekly column that promotes some of the best Winterboard themes, features four releases with noticeably different designs. Aromy has a playful color scheme with drop shadows, RipMe HD has a nature-based design, px.theme is a pixel theme and Patience is just beautiful. Take a look at each ahead and keep your recommendations coming in the comments for next week…  

A few weeks have passed since this theme was released, and I’m surprised I did not come across it sooner. Thanks to the numerous readers that recommended this theme last week, I am pleased to present you withAromy. A beautiful custom icon set with drop shadows and a playful color scheme, Aromy gives your iPhone or iPod touch a breath of fresh air.

User interface designer TimeLoop has been working on this theme for over three months, and the results have been fantastic. Aromy features over 120 custom icons and counting, a custom boot logo, alternative lock sound and custom JellyLock theme. The theme will set you back $2.00 on the Cydia Store, and is only one of a handful of paid themes that I can truly recommend. 

A theme that arose from the /r/iOSthemes community on Reddit, RipMe HD is a new custom icon set that bears close resemblance to M’Flat. Each icon consists of an outdoor-based background overlaid with a white glyph and border. The icons also have a slightly more rounded appearance than the stock iOS 7 ones. The only downside is that non-themed icons do not blend in well.

RipMe HD is the work of Reddit userMauricioFame, while the screenshots from above come from Cris619. This theme is not available on a default Cydia repository, meaning that you’ll have to download this Dropbox fileand install it manually using a program such as iFunBox or iExplorer. Make sure it is placed in the Winterboard directory. RipMe HD is free for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. 

So this theme hasn’t actually been released yet, but I find the concept behind px.theme to be really interesting. This upcoming theme is the work of graphic designer Andreas Larsen, who you should recognize as the creator of Habesha and Circul8 if you have been following this Theme Thursday series. In fact, Larsen is one of the best talents in the iOS theming community.

There is no concrete release date planned for this theme, but Larsen does intend to offer it for free with the option to donate. The Copenhagen-based designer is relying on the community to pitch in with additional icons, based on his GitHub templates. I would assume that the theme will be made available for at least iPhone and iPod touch, but the iPad could be in line too.  

Patience has a slightly different distribution method than most themes, but it still strongly deserves to be mentioned. A collaborative effort between European graphic designerszooropalg and iPixThemesHD, this theme is bundled with a gorgeous set of custom icons, wallpapers, IconOmatic themes, BiteSMS themes, ColorKeyboard themes, iWidgets, HTML Lock screens, fonts, docks, badges, a custom user interface and more.

This really is the complete package, something that you don’t see quite often asides from Elite7 and a few others. To get this theme, which is still in beta testing, you must donate and register the UDID of your device by following instructions outlined at thebottom of this forum post. Hopefully a Cydia release will be made once the beta testing period ends. For now, this is good enough.

Thank you to the numerous graphic designers that continue to share their themes with me on Twitter (@rsgnl) for coverage. It is not always possible for me to cover every theme that comes across my table, but I do look at and appreciate each of them. Remember that paid themes should be gifted to Cydia ID 6107077 if you wish for a chance to be featured in Theme Thursday.

Let’s see your your theme setups in the comments.