Get A True And Accurate Visual Representation Of Your iPhone Signal Strength Using Bars For iOS

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The iPhone is a bit of an all rounder, that it handles its core purpose extremely well, while managing to carry out a whole host of other tasks. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have its fair share of issues.

In the past we have seen Apple push out point releases of their iOS operating system in order to fix slight issues such as battery life, Wi-Fi connectivity problems and also signal issues. Back in July of 2010, Apple released iOS 4.0.1, with the only change mentioned being an improvement to the algorithm used to display the signal bars on the device which was welcomed with fury over the so-called antennagate scandal.

The company announced that the issues that some users were experiencing with the drop of signals was largely exaggerated due to the fact that the calculations used to display the signal strength in iOS 4.0 was erroneous, leading users to see a larger drop in visual indication than what was actually happening.

The signal bars issue is something that has pretty much been put to bed over the last twelve months, but for those who wish to have an accurate visualization of just what is happening with network strength, then iOS developer Paul Griffin has released a little side project he has had lying around for quite some time called Bars. The purpose of the Bars tweak is to give a better, and more accurate understanding of the iPhone signal strength by using stepped indicators that accurately portray what is happening. Signals are still represented by the familiar five vertical bars in the top left hand corner of the device, but Bars make a slight adjustment by making the last bar full or half depending on the strength. As an example, if a particular iPhone had 3.5 bars of real world signal, the last vertical bar would be displayed as a half bar to reflect that.

Bars is free of charge tweak, available to download from the BigBoss repository and requires iOS 5.0 or higher.

Of course, you will need to jailbreak your device to install this tweak. For jailbreaking the latest iOS 5.1 (tethered), follow the instructions posted here to jailbreak using Redsn0w, or here for Sn0wbreeze. For jailbreaking iPhone 4S and iPad 2, you can simply follow our step by step tutorial posted here to jailbreak iOS 5.0.1 using Absinthe on Windows or Mac. Those of you with an iPhone 4, 3GS, iPad 1, and iPod touches can use Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze to untether jailbreak on iOS 5.0.1.

Be sure to check out our iPhone Apps Gallery and iPad Apps Gallery to explore more apps for your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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Using Windows 8 With A Mouse And Keyboard

Thanks to the new Metro UI, Windows 8 is certainly heavily geared towards tablets and other touchscreen devices. The Metro UI may seem a little daunting at first because of the lack of visible controls and settings, but once you figure out the different swipes and gestures it becomes second nature to you. Suddenly it makes sense to swipe in from the left when you want to switch to a different app or pinch to zoom out.

Now this is all well and good for touchscreen users, but what about those of us who are still using a mouse and keyboard? The vast majority of Windows machines are all using this traditional set up. Many have criticised Microsoft’s implementation of the mouse and keyboard controls for the Metro UI, but I’ve actually got used to them fairly quick.

I do like the immersive full screen experience that you get with the Metro UI, and this can only be achieved by hiding the controls and settings that we’re used to seeing on screen.

So for those of you who are struggling to get to grips with the Metro UI using your mouse and keyboard, here’s how you can access the different menus and options.

Charm Bar

The Charm Bar in Windows 8 is pretty essential, in fact you can’t even shut down your computer without it! So you’ll have to find this at some stage. It’s also where you’ll find most of the important settings for your PC as well as different sharing options.

To access the Charm bar simply move your cursor to the top right of your screen and then down. Alternatively you can use the keyboard shortcut.

Windows + C

Don’t forget to check out our list of Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

Start Button

People have been panicking at the lack of the start button in Windows 8. But don’t worry, it’s actually still there, and chances are you’ll discover it when you instinctively go to move your cursor down to where it used to be. All you have to do is move your mouse to the bottom left of the screen and you’ll find it. Alternatively just press the Windows key on your keyboard.

App Settings

Since the Metro Apps are all full screen, it’s not entirely obvious where you go to find the settings for them. However it’s quite simple. All you have to do is right click within the app and you’ll see the settings bar pop up from either the bottom or top of the screen.

Update: As correctly pointed out by the commentators, there is also more app settings if you go to the charm bar while within the app.

Switching Apps

Since there’s no taskbar in the Metro UI, it’s hard to tell which apps you actually have open at the moment. If you move your mouse to the top left of the screen however you’ll see the most recent app you used (Step 1 in the screenshot) and then if you move your cursor down the screen, you’ll see the other apps that you’ve opened (Step 2).

Clicking on one of these thumbnails will bring you to that app.

Semantic Zoom

Semantic Zoom is a cool little feature which allows you to zoom out and see all the apps on your start menu as normally you have to scroll across. To do this all you have to do is hold Ctrl and Scroll out at the same time.

Closing Apps

In theory, with Windows 8 you don’t actually have to close apps because it automatically pauses the apps in the background when you’re not using them to save on battery life and performance. However sometimes you may still want to close them, possibly to free up a bit of RAM. To do that, simply click and drag the app you want to close to the bottom of the screen.

Internet Explorer Tabs

You’ve probably noticed by now that Microsoft have a special version of Internet Explorer for the Metro UI. I was quite confused at first as to how I switch tabs and the likes, but it turns out it’s actually quite simple. Just right click towards the top of the browser window and you’ll find all the options and tabs.

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iOS 5.1 For iPhone, iPad, iPod touch (A4 Devices) Can Now Be Jailbroken Using Redsn0w 0.9.10b6 [How-To Tutorial]

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The iPhone Dev-Team – reliably as per usual – have updated its Redsn0w jailbreak tool, allowing those using the latest iOS 5.1 to set their devices free. It works for all iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices except, of course, the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2.

Additionally, as you may already be aware, the jailbreak is tethered, meaning you will need to connect your device to a computer to boot tethered each time it is switched off for whatever reason. The ‘SemiTether’ patch eases the tethered scenario by allowing devices to boot without connecting to a PC or Mac, although features are extremely limited, thus it will have to be booted tethered in order to function at optimum level once more.

Of course, it’s not as exciting as the fully-untethered jailbreak with all the bells and whistles; but we reckon that it’s better than no jailbreak at all!

As usual, we’ve got the tutorial to help you in your quest to jailbreak your iOS 5.1 device.

NOTE:

• As already mentioned, this jailbreak does not work on the iPad 2 or iPhone 4S.
• If you unlock with GEVEY or Ultrasn0w, DO NOT update to the stock iOS 5.1 firmware. Skip to the latter part of this guide for more info.
• You will be booting tethered quite a bit, so if you don’t think you can deal with constantly connecting and rebooting, wait for an untethered or downgrade to iOS 5.0.1/4.x.

With the formalities complete, let’s start the show!

How to jailbreak iOS 5.1 using Redsn0w

Step 1: Download the latest version of iTunes (10.6)

Step 2: Open up iTunes, and back up your device.

Step 3: Upgrade your firmware to iOS 5.1. [download links]

Step 4: Download the latest version of Redsn0w (Windows/Mac)

Step 5: Start Redsn0w, select "Jailbreak" then "Install Cydia". Follow the steps to place your device into DFU mode.

Step 6: Now we move on to the process where you will need to repeat every time your device is switched off. This is called tethered boot. Launch Redsn0w, select "Extras", then"Just Boot" in order to boot your device tethered.

Booting Semi-Tethered (Optional)

The "SemiTether" patch may work through to 5.1. It’s a cross between tethered and untethered – allowing you to boot your device without a computer, but the available features are somewhat limited, so you’ll need to boot tethered through Redsn0w in order to enjoy a fully-functional break. It’s free, and available over at the BigBoss repo: http://thebigboss.org/semitether.

Note To Unlockers:

If you use the GEVEY SIM interposer or Ultrasn0w to unlock your iPhone, you will need to create a custom .iPSW, in order to preserve your baseband.

In Redsn0w, select "Extras", then "Custom IPSW", locate your iOS 5.1 file, and let Redsn0w work its magic.

Then enter pwned DFU mode (Extras > Pwned DFU) and restore to your custom firmware via iTunes. After that, you’ll be able to unlock with GEVEY or Ultrasn0w (when it is available).

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Using Libraries to Add Media in Windows 8

After going through the reviews in the Windows Store for the music and videos apps for Windows 8, I noticed that many users were complaining that it was either too difficult or not possible to pull their music and video files into the separate media apps. It is, however, very possible and even simple to bring your current media files over to Windows 8 without a ton of copying and file manipulation. Simply use the Windows 8 Libraries.

As a bit of a background, Libraries were introduced in Windows 7 as a way to aggregate similar media from different drives and locations into one place, making it easier to access all of your content without having to navigate from folder to folder on different hard drives. We simply tell the library folder where to look for the media type and viola, it appears. Windows 8 works the same way and by default, the pictures, video and music apps are set to look to your libraries for their content, making it a simple and quick task.

My Windows 8 Consumer Preview installation is installed on a separate disk from my main Windows 7 install. This means that all of my media is stored in my user profile on the Windows 7 hard disk (drive F:). I wouldn’t want or need to copy all of my music, pictures and video over to the local Windows 8 disk (drive C:), so I will simply pull up the Windows 8 classic desktop and navigate to my Windows Explorer icon.

The next step is to find where my media is stored on the current drive. This step will vary depending on where you have your media currently being stored. Mine is in my profile on the F: drive.

To add the folder containing your media to the Windows 8 library, simply right-click on the folder and select Add to Library and select the destination library for your media type.

You can check to make sure the media is now being targeted by the different media apps in the Metro desktop by navigating to the app and checking to see if your collection has been updated.

If you were successful, then you should begin to see your videos, music and pictures populate within each Metro app.

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