The Tethering Crackdown

MyWi users beware – your bill may be larger than usual next month.

If you recall back in March, Planet-iPhones released an article about the how AT&T was sending emails to customers that had been tethering without paying for the appropriate plan. The email stated that to continue tethering they would need to sign up for a tethering plan voluntarily or they would be automatically switched to that plan. 

This week AT&T has started to make good on their threats however, and customers have started to receive notices that they will finally be switched to a plan with tethering. Customers that are grandfathered into the unlimited data plan will lose that option, and they will go to the 2GB cap. The AT&T website has been updated to read “DataPro 4GB is required for use of Internet Tethering or Personal Hotspot.” The plan of course carries a larger monthly cost at $45.

Jailbreak Specialist Discovers Two iOS Hacks, Try Them Out

Turns out that you don’t need to jailbreak or href="http://www.iphonealley.com/application_reviews/make-your-iphone-play-dead-to-keep-the-battery-alive-longer">download an application to get a good laugh out of your friends, thanks to Apple ignorantly leaving in a few, otherwise “jailbreak-tweaks” accessible through mobile Safari. Jailbreak expert, Comex has been digging around and has found two hacks that could act as a good prank, if used properly. Check them out below.

As Comex onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/twitter.com/#!/comex/status/99953289508044800');" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/99953289508044800">tweeted: From your iOS device, you can visit the following URL to fake a FaceTime call: (target="_blank" href="facetime-accept://Mom">facetime-accept://Mom). This will show up as “Mom” being the caller. The end can be substituted for anything of your choice, which can in turn be used to prank friends. Try navigating to this link from your iPhone, iPod Touch or onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.ipadngravy.com');" target="_blank" title="iPad" href="http://www.ipadngravy.com">iPad’s Safari browser: target="_blank" href="facetime-accept://iPhoneAlley">facetime-accept://iPhoneAlley.

Additionally, the second hack discovered was the ability to lock your iOS device without use of the sleep button, and in a different way. By navigating to onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/');" target="_blank" href="tellock://">tellock:// from mobile Safari, your device should lock in an odd way. The only ways to get out are to lock using your sleep button and then unlock or to press the home button. If you get this one to work, please let us know; I was not able to, and instead of experiencing the lock, I got the URL invalid message.

Though the aforementioned hacks don’t really have a purpose currently or any significance related to iOS, we may see some sort of implementation of them later on in iOS’ future; it’s not really known what Apple will and can do with them. Any ideas? Also, let us know how you tricked your friends – I’m waiting for someone to come along and say he/she got someone to drop their jaws in awe when Justin Bieber FaceTimed them.

[Via onclick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/twitter.com/#!/comex/status/99953289508044800');" target="_blank" href="http://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/99953289508044800">Comex]

The week in iPad, August 7, 2011

Missed a compelling piece of iPad news, a great review, or a killer how-to? We’re not collecting absolutely everything in iPad here — you can hit up TiPb.com/iPad for that! — but we’re carefully picking what we think is the best of the last 7 days and presenting it here for your review.

And hey! — these double as show notes for our iPad Live! podcast tonight at 9pm Eastern. So join us and follow along!

App for That: How to track your travels

There are hundreds of thousands of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps for just about everything — so how come the one you need, the one you know just has to be there, is so hard to find? Enter TiPb’s new weekly feature where staff and readers alike sort through the App Store and help you find just the right App for That. This week, Gary asks:

I’m looking for an app for tracking travel to foreign cities or other countries so that I can track where you have been and when, etc – sort of a travel journal with a country or city checklist. Is there an app for that?

To see what we found, follow along after the break!

It’s funny that Gary asks for a trip journal, because Trip Journal [$2.99 - iTunes link] may be just what he’s looking for!

Trip Journal is an iPhone app designed to document your travels. Using your iPhone’s GPS, Trip Journal will keep a log of where you go and you can create waypoints along the way. You can also add notes, photos, and video – truly creating a journal. At the end of your trip, you can export it to Google Earth and share with family and friends.

Anyone else have any App for That suggestions for Gary? Let him — and all of us — know in the comments.

Having trouble finding what you need in the app store? Send us an email to news@tipb.com and let us know what you’re looking for, and we’ll do our best to find you just the right App for That!

Daily Tip: How to transfer your MobileMe account to iCloud [Developers]

Developer trying to figure out how to transfer your old MobileMe account to a hot new iCloud account? Luckily Apple has just opened up the transfer procedure and we’ll walk you through it, after the break!

To transfer your MobileMe account to iCloud:

If you take the plunge and make the transfer, let us know how it works for you. Personally, I’m staying away as long as possible — I need that Mac to Mac sync functionality and can’t believe it’s not included (yet?!).

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you’d like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it’s especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we’ll even give ya a reward…)

Screenshot of speech-to-text activation key found in iOS 5 beta 5 hidden keyboard

A screenshot has been found in the latest iOS 5 beta 5 release which again reveals that text to speech may be coming in the final version of iOS 5. Last month we saw some screenshots of a settings screen which allowed you to turn the voice assistant on and off. Now we have another screenshot showing how to activate the speech-to-text from within an app.

Looking at the screenshot, it couldn’t be much simpler. On the keyboard is a microphone icon, click on that and a second screen appears. This allows you to talk into the phone; the voice is then translated to written text and inserted into the text field. According to the same source, this speech to text will only be available for the iPhone and iPod touch. Of course this is a beta we are talking about and things change all the time prior to final release.

This could be a really killer feature of iOS 5; when it is launched in the fall. I would like to see a way of talking to your iPhone without the need to press any buttons. It has been done before by the use of a magic word. You set up one specific word to wake up the phone. The downside is battery life; the iPhone would need to be in a listening state all the time, which would suck up your battery.

[9to5 Mac]