Back in December of last year, I reported a web site that offers one free iPhone/iPod Touch game daily for a month. I got some good games during the promotion. A new site goes live this month, which also offers one free app(mostly games) every day. The promotion ends on April 1st, so you get almost 3 months of free games!
During the previous promotion, I forgot to check the site sometimes and missed out some great games. They introduce an email notification service this time. You can even decide what categories of games you want notifications. For me, I’ll just subscribe to ALL categories.
In addition to the daily free games, you can find some more free games on the front page of site. They are in a box on the right side of the page titled Featured Free Apps.
I have been trying to buy an iTunes gift certificate for a few days. Every time I tried it, I got this message saying:
Your credit card was declined.
Please click Billing Info and update your payment information. If you cancel you may not be able to buy until this billing issue has been resolved
After I clicked on Billing Info and entered my credit card info again. Same message. I even tried on different computers, but the same message came up. When I researched this problem, I found that a lot of people have the same problem. There is a speculation that Apple has disabled the iTunes Gift certificate function without notifying the general public. This speculation is simply not true.
I came across this thread and one user claimed that he or she was able to purchase the gift certificate after contacting Apple’s iTunes support through email. With this information in mind, I contacted Apple’s support yesterday and I just got an email reply from them.
Happy Holidays,
Hello, my name is *** and I would be more than happy to help you today. I am sorry that you have experienced difficulties while attempting to purchase a gift certificate. You should be able to complete your purchase with in 24 hrs.
If you are still unable to purchase a gift certificate let me know.
Have a wonderful day!
I got on iTunes and tried to buy again. Finally, I was able to buy my iTunes gift certificate successfully. it’s a hassle to contact Apple support, but it can be done. If you do not know how to contact Apple iTunes support. Here is how:
Each game is free only for one day. You can install the game using the provided AppStore link through iTunes, or simply use your iPhone’s AppStore application to search for the game.
Ever wanted a barcode scanner of your own to scan products? Now you can with the app RedLaser. Originally available only for jailbroken iPhones, and it’s free. You can get it through the App store now, but you have to pay $1.99 for it.
This is a demo video from the official RedLaser web site. I tested on my iPhone 3G and I am quite happy with the results.
When you first run the application, you see this screen.
Tap on the bolt icon on the bottom to enter the scan mode.
Now you have to align the barcode edge with arrows. When RedLaser detects a valid barcode, the arrows turn green. You have to hold your iPhone still for a few seconds.
When the scanning is done, it searches the product through Amazon and Google. One nice feature is that you can email the scanned products list which makes it more useful.
There are a lot of negative reviews about the application. Most negative reviews are about not getting the scanning right. I only had a few bad scanning in my tests. If you have troubles doing this, I suggest you do it in a well-lit environment and make sure the barcode is on a flat surface and there is no glare when you see it through the view finder.
While Dev-Team is waiting for iPhone 3.1 firmware to release its iPhone jailbreaking tool, geohot has released a tool ahead of them. As of this writing, the tool is available for Windows (not Windows 7). A Mac version is coming soon.
You need the latest iTunes installed on your computer. The download web site is purplera1n.com. Click on the Windows logo to download purplera1n.exe . Run purplera1n.exe on your Windows computer to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS. After iPhone reboots, run Freeze on your iPhone.
It has been about a week since Apple began selling iPhone 3GS. The iPhone 3GS is in short supply. The site for checking in-store availability of iPhone 3GS is open now.
One new feature of iPhone OS 3.0 is the ability to do tethering without additional software. Unfortunately, this feature is not enabled in US. For those people whose iPhone carriers that support it, here is a tip. If you want to use tethering via USB, you need to install iTunes 8.2 on the computer. iTunes 8.2 provides necessary driver for your iPhone to act as a Mobile Device Ethernet. Otherwise, the phone will be recognized as a camera.
I really like some of the jailbroken applications like PDANet and Cycorder. When Apple released iPhone 3.0 firmware last week, I thought I was going to wait for a while until the jailbreaking utilities are ready for the new firmware.
It took only a few days for the iPhone Dev team to publish the jailbreaking tools. The new recommended tool is now readsn0w. Note that it works with original iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Touch 2G and iPhone 3G. It can jailbreak the supported devices, but it can only unlock the original iPhone, not iPhone 3G. If you have a locked iPhone 3G and you need to unlock it for other wireless carrier, you have to wait for a while.
Here is the link to the download page for redsn0w. The steps are really easy. You just need to use iTunes to upgrade firmware of your iPhone. Then, you can use redsn0w to jailbreak it. iClarifiled has tutorials for the procedures if you like to see some screenshots and the locations for the firmware download.
I tried it last Saturday and found the steps easy to follow. The only problem I had is to put the iPhone to DFU mode. You have to follow the instructions precisely. I suggest you read the tutorial several time before you attempt it.
After my iPhone was jailbroken, Cydia crashed several time when I tried it. After several tries, Cydia seemed to behave normally.
Apple has just released iTunes 8.2. In this release, Genius bar now does video. It also supports the soon to be released 3.0 firmware.
It might seem compelling to upgrade. However, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, you might want to postpone the upgrade. The iPhone Dev-Team has warned that this release breaks QuickPwn and PwnageTool. The iPhone Dev-Team has also stated that they are not going to release a new versions of jailbreaking tools until the 3.0 firmware is official.
I have been trying to buy an iTunes gift certificate for a few days. Every time I tried it, I got this message saying:
