This release is mainly geared towards developers who wants to get their jailbreak-apps ready just in time for iOS 4.2.1 release.

The instructions to jailbreak iOS 4.2.1 GM with Redsn0w 0.9.6b3 are exactly similar to the last release. Follow our complete step by step guide posted here to jailbreak your iOS device on iOS 4.2.1 firmware.

NOTE: All iPhone unlockers must STAY AWAY from Redsn0w. Redsn0w 0.9.6b3 supports tethered jailbreak only.

UPDATE 1: Follow the instructions posted here to install jailbreak-apps without Cydia using Redsn0w 0.9.6b3.

UPDATE 2: Follow the instructions posted here to install a patched version of Cydia after iOS 4.2.1 Redsn0w jailbreak.

Download Redsn0w 0.9.6b3 for Mac
Download Redsn0w 0.9.6b3 for Windows
Download SSH Bundle

[via redmondpie]

If you recall, the adorably simple, no-nonsense John’s Phone only makes phone calls. There’s no texting, no music, and no color LCD. It’s address book is a pen and paper attached to the back. Here’s a video of it being unboxed.

Is it wrong for me to want something so delightfully useless?

[via gizmodo]

Get ready for a new invasion wave from Facebook: Mail. According to Techcrunch’s sources, a full webmail client integrated with The One and Only Social Network will debut next Monday. This is why it may become your favorite webmail service.

If I were Google, Yahoo or Hotmail, I’d be very nervous. Facebook Mail could be a killer not only because of its potential instant size, but because of its natural advantage at making mail more useful. Actually, it may become the only 100% useful mail service out there, only showing you the email you are actually interested in. To me, that’s enough reason to switch.

Size matters

Facebook has 500 million active users. Gmail is estimated at 170 million registered users, while Yahoo has 303 million and Hotmail is still king of the hill at 364 million. Of course, not every Facebook user will jump on its mail bandwagon, but chances are that a huge percentage of the user base will. In fact, it’s not a crazy assumption that almost everyone will, even if that means having yet another mail account added to your computer, phone or tablet.

First, because Facebook users are already used to its internal messaging system. For many, this could just be a convenient upgrade that will let them add these messages to their mail boxes. Remember that Facebook’s mail is rumored to have external mail client access as well as its dedicated webmail interface. It will be easy to have it in every single gadget you own.

But, most importantly, Facebook’s users would probably jump in because the social nature of Facebook fits perfectly with the social nature of mail. The irony here is that their mail system could be a raging success because of what many people criticize: Facebook tracks all your moves.

Their not-so-secret weapon

Since Facebook knows how you interact with all your contacts, they would be able to perfectly separate what is important from what is not. Having used Gmail’s Priority Inbox for a while, I have the feeling that Facebook could do much better at given all their data and some clever, but not overly complicated logic.

Moreover, it’s not only about separating what is important and what is not. Their tracking data could allow them to do other things, like prioritizing mail from the person who just became your fiance or lowering the priority of that ex who keeps mailing you. They can also let you enable easy filtering options to automatically prioritize your mail and file it into separate boxes. The possibilities of using your social interactions to enhance the mail experience are endless, and I have no doubt that Facebook will exploit all of them to your (and their) advantage.

Ultimately, that’s what people like about Facebook. It’s always prioritized communication, this closed playground where only your friends and contacts get to interact with you. If they can provide a mail system that will allow the controlled entry of external people while keeping the playground fun, clean, and safe, they’ll have a winner.

[via gizmodo]

True nerdlingers probably use the time display on their TI graphics calculators, but one level up from those people would have this microSD card-reading watch strapped on at all times. Even bedtimes. Especially bedtimes. $16. Buy it here

[via gizmodo]

For ages, YouTube-watching posture was essentially this: slumping forward over your computer and squinting your eyes at a clip. But Google’s been trying to make things more comfortable, first with Leanback and now with theYouTube Remote app for Android.

The new app, YouTube Remote, pairs Android devices with any screen playing YouTube Leanback, be it a TV set via Google TV or just a trusty old computer. Then you can search for videos on your phone, beam them to Leanback, and control their playback right from your smartphone. Setting it up’s a snap:

YouTube Remote creates a virtual connection between your phone andYouTube Leanback. To ‘pair’ your phone with your Leanback screen, simply sign into YouTube Remote on your Android phone, and to YouTube Leanback on your Google TV or computer with the same YouTube account.

[via gizmodo]

Cramming 500GB of storage into that molten silver casing, LaCie’s design partnership withPhilippe Starck has gone USB 3.0 for faster data transfers—though of course it also works with USB 2.0 ports, too.

While the internal hard drive looks ever so fragile, it’s actually encased in a 2mm aluminum outer shell, so with any luck users shouldn’t have any horrible mishaps. LaCie is also giving purchases of the external hard drive a 10GB one-year allowance for their Wuala online back-up service.

LONDON, UK (9TH November, 2010) – LaCie announced today the latest addition to itsUSB 3.0 portfolio, bringing the fastest interface on the market to the award-winning design of Philippe Starck – LaCie Starck Mobile USB 3.0.

USB 3.0 Technology
Reaching speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0*, the Starck Mobile USB 3.0 is an ideal gift for technology enthusiasts who demand stylish aesthetics with leading technology.

Ensuring connectivity is never an issue, the LaCie Starck Mobile USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0 – simply connect it into any PC or Mac for a seamless plug-and-play experience.

Strength of Metal
Encased in 2mm of sturdy aluminium, the LaCie Starck Mobile USB 3.0 is one the most resistant choices for consumer hard drives on the market. The aluminium offers resilience from blunders, improved heat dissipation, and is fully recyclable.

User-Friendly Software Suite
The LaCie Starck Mobile USB 3.0 comes with LaCie Setup Assistant software to easily install your drive on PC and Mac. It also includes LaCie Backup Assistant, which helps make automatic backup a snap. In addition, you get 10GB of Wuala Online Storage included for one year to securely store, share and sync your data online.

Availability
The LaCie Starck Mobile USB 3.0 will be available in a 500GB capacity through LaCie Online Store, LaCie Corner, LaCie Reseller+ and LaCie Storage Partner starting at the suggested retail price of £89.90 (Incl.VAT). For more information, visit www.lacie.com/uk.

*Based on theoretical rate given by USB-IF. More information visit www.usb.org.

About Philippe Starck
For more than 30 years, Philippe Starck has been creating objects that have had an impact on the world. Designs such as the revolutionary lemon juicer or the transparent Louis Ghost chair have become cult items. He is also credited with setting the standard for creating classic hotels all over the world. His recent projects have included the artistic direction of a spaceport in the USA, a 120-meter yacht, and a personal windmill. Philippe Starck is a tireless and rebellious citizen of the world, who considers it his duty to share his ethical and subversive vision of a fairer world. He stays tuned in to our dreams, desires and needs- sometimes before we get there ourselves-by making his work a political and civic act, which he accomplishes with love, poetry and humour. For more information visit www.starck.com.

About LaCie
With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is the leading manufacturer of storage devices for PC, Apple, and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com/uk.

Put simply, the Galaxy Tab is the first post-iPad tablet that matters, because it’s the first tablet that’s trying to be legitimate competition. It aims to break a lot of ground. Powered by iOS’s biggest rival, the Tab essentially kicks off the next generation of tablets. And, at the size of a paperback, it’s one of the first to seriously test how well aseven-inch tablet really works. There’s a lot riding on this thing.

Samsung Galaxy Tab (Sprint)
Price: $399 w/ contract, ($599 w/out)
Display: 7 inches @ 1024×600
Processor: 1GHz ARM Cortex A8
Memory and Storage: 512MB RAM, 2GB built-in + 16GB microSD
Cameras: 3.2MP (rear); 1.2MP (front)
Monthly Data Plans: 2GB for $30; 5GB for $60

Here’s the thing about tablets: Size is everything. Size is the whole point. It’s what makes browsing, reading, creating and sharing better on a tablet than on a phone, even if they’re both running the same software.

If you take iPhone apps and simply scale them up for the iPad, most of them don’t feel right. If you take Android apps and scale them up for the Tab, the majority of them—Twitter, Facebook, Angry Birds—work perfectly. (Except for when they don’t, like The Weather Channel.) That’s because the Galaxy Tab is small enough that apps simply blown up a little bit still fundamentally work. Which means, conversely, that there’s almost no added benefit to using the Tab over a phone. It’s not big enough. Web browsing doesn’t have greater fidelity. I don’t get more out of Twitter. A magazine app would be cramped.

Videos do look better than they do on a phone, but a bigger tablet would be even better.

There is no way to not feel like a total dorkface while typing on this thing. In portrait, it’s like tapping on a massive, nerdy phone. In landscape, it’s just dumb. You still have to thumb type, only you’re stretching out further, and text entry swallows up the entire screen. Swype might be dandy on a phone, but on a seven-inch screen it doesn’t work so well—you have to travel a lot further to sketch out words. In other words, you get the worst of a phone’s input problems—amplified.

In the places where Samsung tries to make the Tab feel more like a tablet than a big phone, it’s not afraid to borrow liberally from what Apple’s done on the iPad. The music app (a huge improvement over the standard Android player) bears an uncanny resemblance to the iPad’s iPod app, while the faux-realness of the Calendar, Contacts and Memo apps feel like Chinatown knockoffs of Cupertino software.

The Tab feels like a grab bag of neglect, good intentions and poor execution. Example: Samsung’s built-in task manager, with one-touch kill switches to free up gobs of RAM, is plenty effective at dealing with apps running in the background. But why does it have to be there in the first place. Should you really be actively managing background apps?

Adafruit’s $2,000 bounty for an open source Kinect driver hack was only offered up late last week and already someone has allegedly delivered, said Adafruit’s Phillip Torrone in an email to us just now. This was inevitable.

Microsoft, for its part, offered up the standard boilerplate last week in an email to CNET:

“Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products,” a company spokesperson told CNET. “With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.”

Yeah. If the following video is legit it looks as though those security features and safeguards have been pretty busted:

What? Why? How? Answers to these questions, AND MORE, in Gizmodo’s ultimate jailbreaking guide for iPhones, iPods and iPads.

Jailbreaking is…

…freedom for iOS users, giving them a way to break free from Apple’s restrictive App Store ecosystem, install whatever software they want, and use their phones however they please. Technically, each jailbreak is a hack; an exploitation of some flaw in the devices’ operating systems, used to install unauthorized software. This software generally includes some kind of alternative App Store, called either Cydia or Rock.

Jailbreaking is openly discouraged by Apple, who updates various jailbreak exploits out of existence as fast as hackers can find them, but even after three years of pressure from Jobs and Co., the jailbreak scene is still as lively as ever.

…and worth trying because…

…the jailbreak app stores are packed full of previously forbidden goodness. This ranges from replacement text message apps and device skins to Wi-Fi tethering apps and access to hidden device settings. The best case to be made for jailbreaking is a showcase of the apps it lets you download.

Here are some of the best apps for iPhone and iPod:

…and is easy to install on any iOS device

There are a few different options for jailbreaking iOS devices, some more involved than others, but at this point, and for current software versions LimeRa1n is the best choice. It works the same way on both Windows and Mac, works for nearly all iDevices (though some 2G iPhone owners have problems), and gets the job done quickly.

YOU’LL NEED:
• An iOS device running version 3.2.2 (iPad) or 4.1 (iPhone and iPod Touch)
• A computer with which your iDevice has been paired via sync
• LimeRa1n software from here (an .EXE for Windows users, and a .APP file for Mac users, which must be extracted from a .ZIP)
• A recent iTunes backup of your device, since it will need to be restored after jailbreaking
• About 10 minutes, max

THEN:

1. Connect your iDevice to your computer, and wait until it is recognized by the operating system or iTunes
2. Open the LimeRa1n app
3. Click “make it ra1n”

4. Your device will enter recovery mode. One it’s done, you will be prompted to manually put the device in DFU mode by pressing and holding your home and power buttons.
5. After about 10 or 15 seconds you’ll need to release the power button, but continue holding the home button. You will be prompted by the installer to perform this step, so keep a close eye on it.
6. The device will enter DFU mode, at which point you can let go of the home button. The installer takes care of the rest.

When the phone reboots you will see a new startup screen, and find a limera1n app on your homescreen. Run it to install Cydia—then from there, whatever the hell you want.

[via gizmodo]