Reason #1: The public has moved on to better hardwareThis is likely the number one reason why jailbreaking is waning in popularity. The public has moved on to bigger and better things. Two years ago the iPhone 4 was the device to have, but now the 2-year upgrade cycle has passed, and people have traded up for an iPhone 5, or at minimum the iPhone 4S. The interesting thing about those two pieces of hardware is that neither can be jailbroken with the latest iOS 6 firmware. True, the iPhone 4S could be jailbroken on lesser firmware, but if you recently upgraded, then the opportunity to do so has long passed you by.
The iPhone 4 had, and still has one huge advantage over new hardware — the limera1n exploit. This exploit has makes it possible to jailbreak all firmware, even the latest iOS 6.1 beta 3 release. Even if an exploit is discovered for the iPhone 5, chances are it will be quickly patched by Apple as was the case with the iPhone 4S.
The bottom line is this: Cydia developers have less incentive to develop new and useful apps and tweaks than they did two years ago.
Reason #2: Apple has “listened” to its user baseYou can label it listening, or you can label it stealing. The fact of the matter is this: Apple has taken some of the most wanted features, features that were at one time only available via a jailbreak, and made them standard on iOS.
A while back we ran an article called Jailbreak Killer, which highlighted Apple’s efforts to kill the jailbreak community by simply making it less necessary and less desirable to jailbreak. They did this by “borrowing” many features like Wi-Fi Sync and Notification Center, just to name a few.
Although there are still a few things on the list that make jailbreaking desirable — SMS Quick reply being one of the main draws — the perception has certainly changed over the last few major iOS releases.
Reason #3: Duplicate features, uninspired developers, and costly tweaksIt’s most likely a side-effect of the first two reasons outlined above, but Cydia has become inundated with overpriced tweaks, half baked apps, and development efforts that steal ideas and duplicate functionality. You just don’t see tweaks and apps like WinterBoard, IntelliScreenX, biteSMS, or Zephyr on a regular basis. Instead, we’re constantly bombarded with tweaks that allow you to respring, or change the screenshot flash color. These tweaks have their place, but they’ve been repeated and regurgitated one too many times.
The outlookThere used to be a time when I honestly had trouble keeping up worth all of the great releases hitting Cydia each day. It was like a never-ending surplus of awesome apps and tweaks. Things have changed since then, but it can be fixed. Reasons #1 and #3 are within the control of the community. If brilliant minds similar to Geohot, Comex, or pod2g rise to the occasion, and Cydia developers follow their lead with awesome and innovative tweaks, then jailbreaking can rebound. Innovative events like JailbreakCon go a long way towards doing just that.
The iPhone 4 had, and still has one huge advantage over new hardware — the limera1n exploit. This exploit has makes it possible to jailbreak all firmware, even the latest iOS 6.1 beta 3 release. Even if an exploit is discovered for the iPhone 5, chances are it will be quickly patched by Apple as was the case with the iPhone 4S.
The bottom line is this: Cydia developers have less incentive to develop new and useful apps and tweaks than they did two years ago.
Reason #2: Apple has “listened” to its user baseYou can label it listening, or you can label it stealing. The fact of the matter is this: Apple has taken some of the most wanted features, features that were at one time only available via a jailbreak, and made them standard on iOS.
A while back we ran an article called Jailbreak Killer, which highlighted Apple’s efforts to kill the jailbreak community by simply making it less necessary and less desirable to jailbreak. They did this by “borrowing” many features like Wi-Fi Sync and Notification Center, just to name a few.
Although there are still a few things on the list that make jailbreaking desirable — SMS Quick reply being one of the main draws — the perception has certainly changed over the last few major iOS releases.
Reason #3: Duplicate features, uninspired developers, and costly tweaksIt’s most likely a side-effect of the first two reasons outlined above, but Cydia has become inundated with overpriced tweaks, half baked apps, and development efforts that steal ideas and duplicate functionality. You just don’t see tweaks and apps like WinterBoard, IntelliScreenX, biteSMS, or Zephyr on a regular basis. Instead, we’re constantly bombarded with tweaks that allow you to respring, or change the screenshot flash color. These tweaks have their place, but they’ve been repeated and regurgitated one too many times.
The outlookThere used to be a time when I honestly had trouble keeping up worth all of the great releases hitting Cydia each day. It was like a never-ending surplus of awesome apps and tweaks. Things have changed since then, but it can be fixed. Reasons #1 and #3 are within the control of the community. If brilliant minds similar to Geohot, Comex, or pod2g rise to the occasion, and Cydia developers follow their lead with awesome and innovative tweaks, then jailbreaking can rebound. Innovative events like JailbreakCon go a long way towards doing just that.
Upcoming iTunes 11 update will restore duplicate song detection
By Christian Zibreg on Dec 5, 2012
I hope you’ve grown accustomed to the new, highly visual library views focused on media artwork in iTunes 11 and don’t mind Apple dropping Cover Flow because that feature ain’t coming back. What Apple will add to the redesigned jukebox software is the ability to detect duplicate song, which mysteriously disappeared with the latest iTunes update. That’s what the Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg heard from his own sources within Apple. The company reportedly told him it will restore the duplicate song detection feature“in a minor update of the program”…Previous versions of iTunes had an option called “Display Exact Duplicates” that, as the name suggests, would filter only the songs in your library with multiple copies found.
Mossberg wrote in his iTunes 11 review:
Fans of iTunes will notice some omissions and flaws. The long-touted Cover Flow carousel of album covers has been dumped. The company says it found too few users considered it useful. A feature that finds duplicate entries is missing. Apple says it will soon be restored in a minor update of the program.
Also, if you’re seeing some missing album covers in the album view, don’t worry as “Apple says this is a rare bug”, one it’s already solved and is part of an upcoming minor update.
Another bug the company says will be remedied prevents owners of Apple TVs from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to their TVs.
As for the Cover Flow carousel, it’s not returning as Apple apparently told Mossberg “too few users” deemed the feature useful. The company also has no plans to provide biographical information on an artist in the main library view.
For that, you have to go to the store.
There you have it.
Mossberg wrote in his iTunes 11 review:
Fans of iTunes will notice some omissions and flaws. The long-touted Cover Flow carousel of album covers has been dumped. The company says it found too few users considered it useful. A feature that finds duplicate entries is missing. Apple says it will soon be restored in a minor update of the program.
Also, if you’re seeing some missing album covers in the album view, don’t worry as “Apple says this is a rare bug”, one it’s already solved and is part of an upcoming minor update.
Another bug the company says will be remedied prevents owners of Apple TVs from wirelessly streaming cloud-based movies to their TVs.
As for the Cover Flow carousel, it’s not returning as Apple apparently told Mossberg “too few users” deemed the feature useful. The company also has no plans to provide biographical information on an artist in the main library view.
For that, you have to go to the store.
There you have it.
New in iTunes 11: redeem giftcards with your Mac’s FaceTime camera
By Christian Zibreg on Nov 29, 2012
As we’re sorting through all of the major changes in iTunes 11, the Interwebs is starting to light up with reports of the little things and nice-to-haves that Apple did not include in the full changelog for iTunes 11. One of such features that I know will be hugely popular with parents and people who buy iTunes Gift Cards is the ability to redeem any such card with your Mac’s camera, without typing in a single character, just like that. It’s just one of those little things that make life more easier and enjoyable. Here’s how it works…
Kudos to Buster Heine of Cult of Mac for spotting this feature.
“Users can simply hold their giftcard up to the FaceTime camera on their Mac and iTunes will read the code and redeem the value for it”, he writes.
Simply fire up iTunes 11, go to the iTunes Store and click the “Redeem” link on the right side. The familiar-looking Redeem page will pop up, offerin a new option to use the Mac’s FaceTime camera to redeem the giftcard.
It’s an awesome feature, but Apple could have taken it a little further. For example, why not let me use the camera on my iOS device, in case I have an older Mac without a built-in camera (or perhaps it’s broken or whatever).
At any rate, I’m absolutely loving this feature. Stuff like this stands as a testament to why we love Apple and appreciate its engineers sweating over the little things.
Kudos to Buster Heine of Cult of Mac for spotting this feature.
“Users can simply hold their giftcard up to the FaceTime camera on their Mac and iTunes will read the code and redeem the value for it”, he writes.
Simply fire up iTunes 11, go to the iTunes Store and click the “Redeem” link on the right side. The familiar-looking Redeem page will pop up, offerin a new option to use the Mac’s FaceTime camera to redeem the giftcard.
It’s an awesome feature, but Apple could have taken it a little further. For example, why not let me use the camera on my iOS device, in case I have an older Mac without a built-in camera (or perhaps it’s broken or whatever).
At any rate, I’m absolutely loving this feature. Stuff like this stands as a testament to why we love Apple and appreciate its engineers sweating over the little things.
BTIG Research: iTunes 11 feature could hint at future streaming service
By Cody Lee on Nov 30, 2012
As far back as I can remember, iTunes has always given users access to web radio stations. It comes pre-installed with hundreds of them, from practically every genre, from all around the world.
I’ve never really used the feature, and frankly I’m surprised that it hasn’t been eliminated yet. But according to BTIG Research, its presence in iTunes 11 could be the sign of something bigger…
CNET points to a new blog post on BTIG’s website:
“BTIG Research today wrote a blog post predicting Apple launches a streaming-music service at some point in 2013. The firm, which says that it came to the conclusion after holding interviews with industry executives, said Apple’s iTunes 11 launch yesterday is only further proof the service is coming.
BTIG Research pointed to the addition of a “Radio” option in the horizontal bar in iTunes 11, saying that while the current offering of stations “is unappealing to most consumers today, we believe the radio service can easily be updated…”
Obviously, they’re referring to the Pandora-like internet radio service that Apple is rumored to be working on. The story was first scooped by the WSJ back in September, and it has since been echoed by a number of reports.
The word is that Apple is in upper-level talks with record labels right now, in an effort to acquire the appropriate licenses. And the iAd-supported service could be ready to launch as early as March of next year.
While I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Apple come out with its own streaming internet radio platform, I doubt that the current iTunes Radio feature is related. That just seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
I’ve never really used the feature, and frankly I’m surprised that it hasn’t been eliminated yet. But according to BTIG Research, its presence in iTunes 11 could be the sign of something bigger…
CNET points to a new blog post on BTIG’s website:
“BTIG Research today wrote a blog post predicting Apple launches a streaming-music service at some point in 2013. The firm, which says that it came to the conclusion after holding interviews with industry executives, said Apple’s iTunes 11 launch yesterday is only further proof the service is coming.
BTIG Research pointed to the addition of a “Radio” option in the horizontal bar in iTunes 11, saying that while the current offering of stations “is unappealing to most consumers today, we believe the radio service can easily be updated…”
Obviously, they’re referring to the Pandora-like internet radio service that Apple is rumored to be working on. The story was first scooped by the WSJ back in September, and it has since been echoed by a number of reports.
The word is that Apple is in upper-level talks with record labels right now, in an effort to acquire the appropriate licenses. And the iAd-supported service could be ready to launch as early as March of next year.
While I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Apple come out with its own streaming internet radio platform, I doubt that the current iTunes Radio feature is related. That just seems like a bit of a stretch to me.