The developers behind Snapture, a new camera enhancement add-on for the iPhone, don’t pull any punches on the product site:

While the iPhone itself is a slick package, the fact of the matter is most of the Apple built apps are mediocre and overly simplistic - to point where features are sacrificed. It’s like buying a new sports car and driving it at the speed limit.

That’s a valid point, and the five authors of the software didn’t just complain: they did something about it. Snapture adds many new features that should have been built in. There’s burst mode which captures three frames in a row, a 3X digital zoom, a grayscale setting, proper 360º auto-rotation (for snapping pictures upside down), a level (which appears to use the iPhone’s accelerometers) and support for different image sizes.

Camera Pro, another iPhone app, has offered these features for a while, but it costs $20. Snapture is free, and also has a much slicker looking website. You’ll need to have a jailbroken iPhone to run it. If you do, you’ll find Snapture in the Utilities section of the Installer application.

Product page [Snapture]

Corsair, the memory manufacturer which sounds like a 1970s airline, claims that its new Mac-tuned RAM will make the MacBook and MacBook Pro run up to 28% faster. How does it perform this seemingly impossible trick? Low latency, the explanation for which is so dense we find it easier to just think of it as magical fairy dust:

Corsair’s Mac Memory features special Serial Presence Detect (SPD) profile characteristics, so that Macs can self-configure for optimal performance for critical applications.

The graphs look impressive. According to the one above, Corsair’s memory shaves almost 30 seconds from a fairly demanding Photoshop task (it’s also one of the only times you will read the words “shorter is better”). You can see the rest of the tests in the linked PDF below. Four gigs (2×2GB) will cost you around $160. Not crazy expensive, but more than the competition. Maybe Corsair is relying on the Mac owner’s reputation as a hardware spendthrift?

Press release [PR Newswire]
Low Latency Memory Performance on Apple MacBook Pro [PDF – Corsair]

Belkin’s latest power-strip adds a very smart feature for travelers: USB ports. The strip has a couple of charge-only sockets along with the three-way mains AC extenders and even comes with a mini-USB cable, obviating the need to carry chargers for most gadgets. The $25 box also squeezes in a surge-protector for those untrustworthy hotel power outlets.

Product page [Belkin]

ZiPhone, the iPhone cracking application, has been updated into a new and even easier to use package. It will work on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch, and aside from just Jailbreaking, it will also allow you to unlock the iPhone from the official carrier and spoof the IMEI number.

I took one for the team. First, I updated my already hacked iPod Touch to firmware version 1.1.4 using iTunes. I quit iTunes, fired up ZiPhone and chose my option; Jailbreak only.

After hitting start, the whole thing took less than a minute, much quicker and easier than any other method I have used. The only thing missing is a way to add the application pack for the Touch.

Product page [ZiPhone]

Apple has released the 1.1.4 software update for the iPhone, listing “bug fixes” in the change notes. Surprisingly, one bug it neglected to fix is the ability to Jailbreak the iPhone. Jailbreaking is the name of a hack to allow access to the iPhone and iPod Touch file systems, essential for installing third party applications.

Reports across the net say that, unlike previous software updates, 1.1.4 doesn’t require any extra hacking: The methods for the previous 1.1.3 software will still work, including ZiPhone, a command line back end for the Mac application iJailBreak. The iPhone cannot be unlocked to run on unofficial networks though, so if you are happy Canadian running an iPhone on Rogers, for example, don’t update.

The update also fixes some Bluetooth compatibility problems introduced by 1.1.3, an ongoing problem with SMS messages arriving out of order, and some users report a boost in cell signal strength.

iPhone 1.1.4 can still be jailbroken; cannot be unofficially activated [iPhone Atlas]

IJailbreak has been updated and will now jailbreak (allow read and write access) and unlock any iPhone, including the 16GB one you can buy today. Previous solutions required downgrading the iPhone software to 1.1.1, then stepping back up through 1.1.2 to get to the latest version. A few days a go, a Mac and Windows command line utility, called ZiPhone, was released, but that meant futzing around in the terminal.

The Mac only iJailbreak uses ZiPhone behind the scenes, but does everything for you, with step-by-step instructions. It should work on any Mac running Tiger or Leopard, although iPod Touch support has not yet been implemented.

Product page [Google Code via iPhone Atlas]

Call it what you will – Jailbroked, Jailbreakened, Jailbricked – it’s been done to the latest revisions of both iPhone and iPod Touch. There are a few ways to do it, all of which seems to use a similar method and/or the same set of code. One is from developer Nate True, one from the iPhone Dev team, and one from Ben, co-13-year-old developer. There are methods to jailbreak the firmware on both OS X and Windows.

Over the weekend, I tried out the iPod touch hack from Ben, called iJailBreak. It got scary at times, but in the end it worked fine. I even have the $20 application bundle on there, including the new jiggly icons and the WiFi psuedo-GPS thingy for Google Maps (note: it works great, but you’ll need to actually be connected to a WiFi network for the maps to actually load).

IJailBreak is an application. Fire it up and plug in the iPod Touch, then follow the instructions. Mostly you’ll be clicking a few buttons in dialog boxes and waiting (the application downloads the 1.1.3 firmware from Apple’s servers, which can take a while).

The install hung for me, but following the instructions, I left it alone for 15 minutes and then forced a reboot. Everything works fine, although you’ll need to reinstall any third party applications you had before. Good luck!

Project page [iJailBreak]

Guide: How to use the 1.1.3 jailbreak on any iPhone (Mac/Windows) [iPhone Atlas]

iPhone Dev Team Release Instructions to JailBreak iPhone Firmware v1.1.3 [iPhone Hacks]

The video says it all. PocketGuitar is an electric guitar emulator for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Fret the strings and strum across the bottom of the screen to play a chord. It even has vibrato via a virtual tremelo at the top.

Real? Fake? Who cares? We predict a guitar shaped iPhone dock any day now.

UPDATE: It does work! I tried it on the iPod Touch and aside from being a little quiet, it rocks. You get the choice of three guitar sounds: Distorted Guitar, Acoustic-Electric Guitar and Electric Bass. The settings button is too easy to hit while playing: It’s right where the nut would be on a real guitar, so fat fingered players beware. Otherwise, it’s really smart use of the multi touch input method.

Project page [Google Code]

The Roly-Poly Pot tips over when the plant needs water. The agua inside is off center and balances a counterweight in the base. The design, by Samgmin Bae, is meant to indicate when the plant is thirsty, but with the automatic movement, it shouldn’t be too hard to rig up a self watering version.

The best part, though, is the introduction to this concept at Yanko Design:

Just like people, plants fall over when they begin to die from thirst.

Product page [Yanko Design via Make]

Man. This looks so dodgy we want to try it just for kicks. The X-Sim II is claimed to be an unlocking solution for iPhones running firmware v1.1.2. Pop in a SIM from any of the listed carriers and then slide both into the iPhone. It doesn't actually unlock the phone: instead it bypasses the SIM check performed by the iPhone and tricks it into thinking you have the correct card installed. The site claims compatibility with AT&T, T-Mobile, Vodaphone, Orange, O2, Tesco, Cosmote, Tim, Virgin and Rogers.

Now the caveats (and there are a lot of ‘em): It won’t work in the UK, Germany or Australia; there is no warrantee; you’ll need to Jailbreak the iPhone first (twice, according to the instructions) and there is no chance of a refund. There are contradictions, too: If it won’t work in the UK, how the hell does it work on Tesco’s network?

To find out, the price is $45. We remain heavily skeptical, though we do want to believe.

Product page [One Stop China via Boy Genius]