Yesterday the iPhone Dev-Team only released Pwnage tool for Mac OS X which left many PC users begging for them to release QuickPwn for Windows.  They have now released the Windows version of their jailbreak software code named Redsnow.  Redsnow previously was the name of their iPod Touch 2nd Gen jailbreak, but this morning they have re-released it to also include the OG iPhone, 3G iPhone, and both versions of the iPod Touch; this will not jailbreak the new iPhone 3G S.  Redsnow provides similar function as QuickPwn and is available for Mac or PC.  If you want to build a custom firmware, use Pwnage tool, but that is only available for Mac at the moment.  If you have a 3G using Yellowsnow to unlock and want to stay unlocked, do not use Redsnow, you want to wait for the release of Ultrasnow that will be available through Cydia soon.

Check back soon for a full walk-through on how to jailbreak your iPhone using Redsnow.

As always, use this software at your own risk.  Make sure you read all instructions and warnings.

The iPhone Dev-Team has been working hard to bring us jailbreak software for the iPhone and iPod Touch and their latest versions of Pwnage Tool and QuickPwn are on the verge of being released.  There are still a few bugs they are trying to work out before they release, but it should not take them that long.  In the meantime, they may release a version that still has a bug that disables the YouTube app on devices that are not legally activated with AT&T, seeing that it will only affect iPhones that are unlocked.

Update 1 (Wednesday morning):

• Only ultrasn0w is going to take til Friday to get pushed out.  All of our other tools should be out pretty soon after the official Apple release.
• If you apply our jailbreak when it comes out, you can install ultrasn0w anytime after that.  You obviously won’t have cell service in the meantime, though.
• This may in fact be directly applicable to the iPhone 3GS if it can be jailbroken, because it runs the same baseband version.  Whether or not it can be jailbroken is a big question right now!
• If you’re on Twitter, please give @Oranav a pat on the back.  He could have revealed the crash he found to Apple and maybe gotten quite an incentive in return. Instead, he told us about it so that we could work it into an injection vector for the soft unlock.

Update 2 (Thursday morning):

• We have two issues that we’ve been trying to resolve:

1. There are new 3.0 complications with YouTube.app if you’re on a hacktivated (unofficially activated) device
2. There’s a bug in Apple’s new version of asr that our custom IPSW’s are tickling and causing crashes on, on some devices.  (For the nerdy or curious among us, the details of that bug were tweeted by planetbeing a month ago.)

• As of Thursday morning we now have a workaround for #2.  For #1, we’ll try our best to get it fixed but we may end up releasing a preliminary jailbreak in which YouTube doesn’t work for hacktivated devices, and then follow that up with a more complete jailbreak when we can.

iPhone Dev-Team

Apple has just released the latest and greatest iPhone firmware upgrade 3.0  Connect your iPhone to iTunes and get your update on!  If you are running a jailbroken iPhone I suggest restoring to a factory fresh 2.2.1 then perform the upgrade to 3.0, just to be safe.  Keep in mind, if you are currently jailbroken, you will lose all of your jailbroken apps.  If you do not want to lose all of your unofficial apps then I would wait for the official QuickPwn release for 3.0 before upgrading.  If you are unlocked with Yellowsnow then I would also wait for the upcoming Ultrasnow release due Friday.

If you follow a lot of people on Twitter, it can be overwhelming to try and keep up with everyone.  TweetDeck for PC and Mac desktop has functions to create filters for your tweets.  If you have more than a couple hundred people you follow, most likely you don’t read each and every tweet.  With TweetDeck you can create a filter for specific people that you absolutely want to see all the time.  You can create a number of filters (columns) so that you can break down the people you follow into groups such as friends, business, development, funny, etc.  I have been using a similar product, Seesmic, that has slight differences but functions in much the same way.  Both TweetDeck and Seesmic also connect to your Facebook account so you can “totally social out”.

TweetDeck has announced that they will be releasing an iPhone app version of their product tonight at midnight EST.  Whether it actually comes out on the App Store at that time is up to Apple and their approval department.  Pete Cashmore with Mashable has reported that they have had a chance to demo the product and is quite impressed.  They are reporting that the iPhone app also syncs with the desktop client so you have one seamless experience whether you are on your iPhone or computer.  In my experience with the TweetDeck desktop client I find that it is a major memory hog; I wonder if they have been able to slim it down so that it doesn’t crash the iPhone all the time.  A list of the apps features are:

- Column based friend groups (like TweetDeck desktop)
- TweetDeck desktop syncing (make a change on the iPhone and it’s reflected back on the PC)
- Facebook toolbar like status updates
- Multiple account support
- Flicking to move between columns
- Shake to refresh

TweetDeck
Mashable

Sifting through all the rumors and fake blurry pics can be overwhelming.  In the months leading up to WWDC it seems as though every obscure website somehow has access to an early release iPhone that they take pics of with the worst camera known to man (current iPhone camera?) that apparently doesn’t have auto focus.  Most of these pics can be easily debunked as a halfway decent photoshop experiments but some are pretty convincing.  Here I will lay out what rumors we have heard and seen so far and give my insight as to weather we will actually see this come to fruition or not.

1. A new iPhone will be unveiled at WWDC. Put simply, Apple has never confirmed a release of updated hardware.  Apple led by Mr. Jobs has a history of being very tight lipped on new hardware until they can stage a big media event such as WWDC to say “And one more thing!”  Many sources have all but bet the farm that a new iPhone is coming including Walt Mossberg who typically has great insight into Apple workings.  In a WSJ article addressing the Palm Pre Walt hints at the new iPhone.
   

   Whether the Pre is better than the iPhone depends on your personal preferences, though I’d note that the new iPhone to be unveiled next week will have lots of added features that could alter those calculations.

   I firmly believe an updated version of the iPhone will be unveiled not only because they released the 3G a year after the original iPhone but I believe they have to in order to overshadow the Palm Pre latest releases in the smart phone world.

2. New external design. Images of design concepts have surfaced depicting everything from slide out qwerty keyboards to a “Nano” sized phone.  The most believable images hint to a change in the back plate from the glossy plastic to a matte finish.  Apple’s history of hardware design points towards a slight overhaul in the form of  color or materials but not a shape change.  Many rumor mongers think we will see an array of colors as Apple has done in the past with some of the iPod lines.  I don’t think they will go this route because the iPhone has become an elegant icon that doesn’t warrant a fashion move as of yet, maybe at the 10th anniversary.
3. Updated camera, processor, ram, and storage. Talks of an update from a 2 MP camera to 3.2 MP are highly likely.  Users have been screaming for an updated camera since the original iPhone.  While the iPhone camera is not the best, it was on par with most other camera phones on the market.  Camera phones have been making the jump to large mega pixels while the iPhone has stayed stagnant in this category.  That being said, I believe this is the time that Apple must jump on board.  The most interesting rumor that has also been depicted in images are of an autofocus camera.  Rumors of an upgrade to a 600 MHz processor and 256 MB of ram will come true.  Processor and ram updates are most likely a necessity due to more intense apps.  If Apple wants to keep pushing the app store and more useful apps the phone must be able to keep up with the strain.  Even now the 3G iPhone gets sluggish and even crashes due to low memory.  There is no way the iPhone will be able to keep up with the next generation of mobile games and apps without an update here.  Many sites have hinted at a bump in storage to 16 and 32 GB models.  I do not doubt this at all.  History shows apple likes to double up their storage and dump the smaller of the bunch each upgrade.
   
4. The new iPhone will include a compass. Lately there have been some images of this in action that look quite real.  This has many impacts on the function of the iPhone.  Turn by turn navigation has already been revealed as a feature going to be available to developers.  The compass will work together with GPS to precisely pinpoint your directions, making turn by turn that much better.  The compass could also be used to add info to picture meta data and give information about what you took pictures of.
5. Video capture and editing. I think this most likely will come true based on findings inside the OS 3.0 code.  There have been images surfacing of it in action but again most likey someones photoshop skills in action.  I believe that this option will be Apple’s biggest marketing tactic for this release.  I would like to add another rumor to the mill claiming that Apple will name the new device the iPhone 3V.
6. Video conferencing. In the last week or so images have surfaced of a front facing camera and video conferencing ability.  Most of the photos have big inconsistantcies that point to fakery.  This would be a really cool feature but I don’t think it will come this time.  Apple tends to hold features back so they have something to update and market later.  Also, I think AT&T might want them to wait until they can beef up their network to handle the hammering it would take given this function.

All in all, I believe we will see the 3rd iteration of the iPhone in the next couple hours but really the only people that know what we will be waiting in line for is Steve Jobs and his minions.  Keep your fingers crossed for the best but don’t be surprised if some of the features that you know are coming because you saw it with your own eyes in a blurry picture, don’t come to pass.  I’ll be updating this post as the news rolls in.