Google Voice app on iPod Touch

Today I was pleased to see that Google had released an official Google Voice app, as the GVMobile+ ones from Cydia where somewhat broken.  What I was not happy with was the device not supported message that I got when trying to sync. Apparently this is only for the iPhone... Well that would not last long.  Below are the steps you need to take to get the app working on a jail broken iPod Touch.

1. Download the ipa from the iTunes store.
2. Change the .ipa to .zip and extract the Google Voice folder.
3. Open and find the payload folder and grab the GoogleDialer.app
4. Drop the GoogleDialer.app into the /Applications folder on the ipod via sftp.
5. Respring

Interestingly enough the application works great on an iPod Touch, it just will not install via itunes.  I was looking through the ipa plist, but have not quite figured out what setting causes the restriction. Ideally removing the restriction and repacking the ipa would be best, but as I have it working, I will leave that up to someone with a bit more interest.

EDIT: Now that the official iPod version is out, this is no longer needed, unless you want the iPhone version.

You should have seen it coming! EpicGame on iPhone!

Well, after a few days of learning the ins and outs of UIView and the CGContext classes in Objective C, I went to work porting the classes from the original VB EpicGame to iPhone friendly Objective C classes. This was rather straight forward and other than changing the method formatting almost all the logic was still sound. The big difference that did require some tweaking was that Quartz or CoreImage uses a diffrent orgin point, it is the bottom left, not top left as almost everything else. Oddly enough all the images just needed to be flipped in PhotoShop and all was fine, with little to no code change.

What is different is that there are no keys, you move left and right by holding the left or right edges of the screen. A tap will shoot, and a swipe up makes epic box jump. Pritty niffty I must say.

I quickly found out that the drawing class CGContext was annoying near the end, as you are forced to rely of the Touch OS to draw when it is ready, vs forcing a redraw when needed as I am used to. This takes a huge hit on speed, but I am lazy and do not want to spend an entire extra week of studying just to use OpenGL ES instead. It is large complex and annoying, plus way too much for a simple game like this. Oh, and thanks Apple for not making the iPhone simulator actually match the real speed of an iPhone, for others as a warning, the simulator runs graphic calls around 100 times faster than a real iPod 1G, don't be fooled!

You can grab a copy here, sorry non JailBreakers no portable EpicGame for you, as I am not paying $99 to Apple to distribute a free app, plus the music would most likely prevent it from being approved anyway, as it is used without permission, but without it, it just would not be the same.

Other then the code and the can monster art, I claim no ownership of the rest of the art and music, and as such I am posting the App as free for use as is, enjoy.

Objective C for the iPhone or iPod

I finally decided to sit down and start working with Objective C, namely to expand my development areas into the iPhone and iPod areas. Not that I have any current grand ideas, however I had been meaning to create my own version of lights out and though it might be a good time to get to work. However, who know it may be worth paying the $99 developer fee in the future, but right now I am looking at jail broken device deployment only.

Objective C is similar and at the same time quite different from regular c/c++. One of the biggest differences is that you can use the dot operator, but also have the option of sending messages instead or a mix of the two. For example you could have class.method(input); or you could do [class method:input]; At first this was a little strange, however after a few hours I started to like it a little as it clearly defines what is processing code and what is message code.

Another change for me was using the Interface Builder in xcode. I had played with it briefly before, however I have never actually sat down and used it. It took me a while and some google searching however once I realized that I needed to add a method reference in the .h file as well as the .m file I could then see the links in interface builder. After that I was golden and quickly linked the button in my first game to UIBUttons that could be referenced in the code as well as a single buttonPressed method. HINT: Copy and paste is much faster then doing it individually. This reminded me a little of working in VBStudio as you could design the interface and then do the code second, however unlike VB, C is a little more demanding and requires hand coding instead of a double click on the UI element adding the code for you. Still, minus the some what steeper learning curve it was actually not too bad, and as a bonus I know now how to use Interface Builder in regular OS X development as well.



After ten hours or so of teaching my self objective c, I can now present BlackOut and simple lights out game. You need to have a jail broken device to install this, as I am not paying Apple $99 to give out a free application. Enjoy.

Uninstall and Reinstall Cydia

In an attempt to fix the Cydia POSIX errors, I stupidly removed the cydia.list sources files, then in an attempt to fix that I uninstalled cydia, only to realize that I could not reinstall because I had removed the apt-get sources for it, so I had to figure out how to reinstall cydia. After an hour of looking I finaly found a way!

1. ssh into the ipod touch...
2. grab the package from apt.saurik.com
3. rename to cydia.deb, for easy typing
4. place in the / directory "aka root directory" on the ipod
5. type and run "dpkg -i /cydia.deb"
6. respring
7. [click the advertising on the bottom of the page if this was helpful!]

Then it is back, but still POSIX errors... Still working on that.

Update: Fixed the broken link...

POSIX Cydia Error Fix

For a few days now, Cydia on my 2.0 FW iPod Touch has been having problems downloading things from the apt.sauric.com repository, aka the source for all unix system items. It just keeps giving POSIX errors, however it does download a little bit each attempt. So for now I just keep retrying, 30 or 40 times till I download all of each update. This is rather annoying, hopefully this will be fixed, or I will be going back to installer when it comes out.

iPod Touch 2.0 & Jailbreak

Well the 2.0 firmware has been out for a while now, however I was holding off getting it till the iPhone Dev Team finished their new Jail break tool. As of last night that is finaly available, and I quickly grabed it after seeing comments of not too many people with trouble. Sadly this was not the case for me, I finaly got it working, but it took a bit (aka 3hours) of poking.

UPDATE* There is a newer version out, that hopefully has fixed the problems I had.

NOTE: As with all hack, you assume responsibly if something goes wrong and bricks your touch!

First off grab the 2.0 firmware from apple, yes there are other less costly ways, but I can't help you with that. Then grab the pwnage tool (link above). The firmware will take a while to download, so go get a snack... Ok when that is finished run the tool, it will ask you to click the device, then it will find the firmware you downloaded from apple, other wise it will complain and require you to find it. Then it will build a custom firmware for you to install, yes you will need to restore it again later when it is finished. This also take a few minutes, but has a cool pagkaging animation. Please note that you can stop it from putting the pineapple logo through the expert options, which I did because I like the apple logo better.

Here is where i started to have problems, had my touch pluged in, and the next screen finaly shows up with a failed DFU restore, I go back to the site and low and behold...
"Update 3: If you get Error 1600 from iTunes (or if you see in your log a failure to prepare x12220000_4_Recovery.ipsw), try: mkdir ~/Library/iTunes/”Device Support” ; if that directory already exists, remove any files in it. Then re-run PwnageTool. "
So I add that directory, but still no luck, finaly I figured out that I was in restore mode, not DFU mode, the diffrence being that you hold down the home button on restart to go into restore, but for DFU you hold both power and home till it shut off, then keep holding home till the screen goes black, but iTunes will still pop up a message saying you have done restore, that is the key piece of infommation that was missing. Finaly I ran the tool again and this time instead of saying failed it led me through the DFU steps, though I was already in that mode, then told me to used the custom firmware, that was placed on the desktop, to restore the iPod through itunes. You [option] click restore and locate the custom firmware on the desktop, and let it take its time restoring the jailbroken firmware.

Also as a hint, if you are getting a 1600 error with the custom firmware, try redoing the pwnage tool, but this time use expert mode and actualy click the firmware located in ~/Library/iTunes/iPod Software Updates.

Finaly I had it all up and running however there are still a few things I am missing from the pre 2.0 days.
Update... Everything I wanted is now back and available in 2.0!


Things Fixed or Updated...

• Winterboard gives you themes again... Avoid Customize 2.0 it has too many issues right now


• BossPrefs has fixed the Mobile Safari download plugin.


• More apps are avalable between the App Store and Cydia now.


• I have grown to like Cydia now that it has had some tme to grow, will not be switching to installer 4


• The 5 icon dock is back, and works with icon dragging!

The root password is still alpine, so it is a good idea to change it. Terminal or ssh...

login root
password: alpine
passwd root
new password: *****
confirm new password: *****

So my oppinion, the app store is worth updating for, especially as more and more is added. I was happy that I no longer need to install email, maps...etc seprate, which saves me time and iTunes now syncs email and bookmarks, (Is this new? It is to me! Maybe I missed it in the last itunes update). Terminal, makeitmine and OpenSSH are already ported and ready to go, and AIM and VNC now are in the app store so I am all set with that. The remote app is also very cool! Even Cydia has grown on me as they have updated it, I don't think I can live without the changes list now, so I do not plan on updating to Installer 4, unless there is something I can only get on it. Also WInterboard is final out, and blows away Customize 2.0 in simpliciy and ease of use when applying themes on the 2.0 fw. I have my theme back now so I am very happy. If you have not updated yor iPod Touch or iPhone yet, now is the perfect time to do so.

Download files on iPod Touch

One of the big drawbacks with mobile safari is the fact that you can not download regular files to the ipod. However that has already been fixed by an interesting plugin for mobile safari. Interested? I know I was...

First off grab this file http://www.badongo.com/file/5544413 created by hachu. Then sftp into the iPod Touch, you will need to get a ftp client, I use Cyberduck. Then connect to the iPod Touch, and navigate to /System/Library/Internet Plug-Ins. This is the mobile safari plugins folder. Drop the plugin file you downloaded into this folder and then reboot the Touch by holding down the power button and sliding the red slider. After turing back on the Touch, try going and downloading something, you will see a new screen. This will give you the option to download the file, all downloaded files are placed in a download folder in the root user's media folder. One thing you will also want with this, is the finder for the iPod Touch, it will let you move/manage the downloaded files.

The author of this plugin states "No warranty or liability of any kind, of course. Don't blame me if it somehow messes up your data, though it isn't supposed to affect anything outside the Downloads folder it created." So you are on your own if it does not work, or breaks something. For more information check out the original post here... Enjoy

Remove iPod Touch App Space limit

As requested by a friend here are the steps to negate the space limit for apps on a jalbroken iPod Touch. The problem is that the iPod Touch has only a small space alloted for the root folder, where the root users folder does not have such limits. A un-jailbroken touch does not need a lot of space, however after installing even just a few third party apps you will quickly run out. Symptoms of such is installed apps do not work, even though they installed with out a problem, Or you will be prompted with a message saying you are out of space. Ether way you can follow the steps below on a jailbroken touch to get more space.

*UPDATED*
Although this still works under the 1.1.2 firmware, I have recently found the BigBoss Application which is a far safer and easier way to simply move your applications, and free up space on the /dev/disk0s1 partition where perl and other things are installed.


1. SSH into your iPod Touch
You should already know how to do this, if not, you should not be playing with the contents of your iPod!

2. cd /
This will get you to the root directory of the iPod.

3. cp -pr Applications /var/root
This makes a copy of the applications folder in the root and places in the root users folder in the iPod.

4. mv Applications Applications.old
Rename the applications folder in root to .old

5. ln -s private/var/root/Applications /Applications
This makes a symbolic link to the newly copied Applications folder. The iPod will think this is a folder.

6. Power down the Ipod Touch. Hold the black power button till a red slider appears and slide it. Then press it again to reboot. Check to see that everything is working before following the final steps!!!!

7. cd /
Return to the root directory of the iPod.

8. rm -rf Applications.old
This final step removes the old application folder.

Originally figured out with help from Here.

Wood iPod Touch Case

My first iPod was a 500Mb shuffle, and after getting it I quickly went to work making a wood case, which was rather big but still worked out well. Now that I have a new iPod it was time to get to work on a new wood case.

I started off looking for two good pieces of wood that where about the right size. After selecting two pieces I had the dilemma of how I would carve them out to fit my touch inside. In a previous woodworking project I made a scabbard for a sword, the task was long and tedious in which I carved out an indent with a chisel. This was a little different because I was not working with hard woods and this had to be cut thin. I pondered this for a while until I remembered how my Dad had cut a grove out of plywood for me before. I could drill out the area I needed. Using a 25mm Forstner bit I very carefully remove from the two piece of wood the space that was required, and then drilled through the thinner of the two in a few places to make my window. Later I also removed the spaces for the charging cable and for some headphones.

Then all that was left was a lot of filing smoothing with sandpaper. The two pieces of wood where not the same size to start so I used a rasp and carefully brought the two pieces to the same dimensions. Then using a course sandpaper I smoothed out all of the differences in the edges. Finally finishing with a fine grit to smooth everything. Now that everything matched up I glued the two halves together and let it dry over night.

For finishing I used a rich early american stain. I wanted it to be dark to match the touch's black color. Then gave it three coats of finish to protect the wood from the handling it will be receiving. The last step was to glue to the insides a few thin strips of fabric. This is to protect the iPod Touch from ware when sliding in and out. The fabric also helps put a little pressure on everything so my iPod stays inside the case, even when pushing the headphone plug in.

The best part of this case is that it is thin, about the size of the touch itself not including the space in between. The big complaint that people had with my original wood case was that it was too thick. Now with this wood case that is not a problem, in fact the little extra width is better because it is easier to hold in my hand. All in all I am very happy with the outcome.

iPhone apps on iPod touch

After jailbreaking I realized that the iPhone apps where not included in the installer app. There are many ways to get them, one way I have found so far is to download iJailBreak, it has an option when it starts up to install iPhone apps. Follow the instructions, and you must have the bsdSubsystem and OpenSSH installed. However the eMail and Maps do not always work...

After that I found that you need a prep file for use with Maill.app and Mapps.app on the touch. The easiest way to get them is to go to installer -> sources, and click on edit. Then click on add and enter this url: “http://repo.us.to”. It has the iPhone apps and the file needed to run them.

After you have this new source go to install and browse to “iPhone 1.1.2 Apps for iTouch” from there Install “Mobile Mail Prep” as well as any other iPhone apps you might want. This is a safer way to get the iPhone applications, and it lets you chose and uninstall if need be later. After finding this, a friend of mine that had trouble with iJailBreak had no problems with getting the apps he was looking for.

The only problem I have found is that repo.us.to is slow, so after getting what you need remove it from your sources and the installer app will return to normal speeds.

Update: You should only add these apps after updating to 1.1.2, there is a good risk of partial bricking and needing to restore your touch if you do not. (aka You will have to start over from the beginning... )

iPod touch jailbreaking

I had recently gotten an iPod touch. I did not need the phone so it was the best choice for me, especially with the sdk coming out in February. So after having much fun playing with the basic thing that come on it, I quickly decided to jailbreak it. My iPod touch had the 1.1.2 firmware, so I had to go through some hoops to get it to work, if you still have the 1.1.1 it is a lot simpler.

First I had to go to Here to get the 1.1.1 revert firmware. Then in iTunes you option click restore and it lets you select the file. This took forever because the download was ~150mb. Then the restore took a while as well.

After it was all set and working with the 1.1.1 firmware, it was time to jailbreak. Go to jailbreakme.com on your touch(1.1.1 only) or Manual Install from conceitedsoftware.com and follow the instructions. After the touch is jail-broken you need to launch the installer.app and scroll down to tweaks 1.1.1. Install the OKtoPrep file. This will ready your touch for the 1.1.2 jailbreak.

Now in iTunes click update and let it update your touch to 1.1.2. After that is finished you must jailbreak your touch again. This is done by downloading the latest jailbreak from conceitedsoftware.com. It will jailbreak the touch that is updated to 1.1.2.

There you go you now have the latest firmware and once again can install apps.