Apple released the second beta of iOS 6.1.3 to developers late last week to address a passcode lock bug that plagued many user’s iOS devices. Now, the issue is once again surfacing after a second lock screen bypass bug was discovered in iOS 6.1. The bug gives access to basic information such as contacts and photos, however, gives more information when connected to a computer.

It is likely that Apple will address the newly discovered bug, as well as the old one with the same 6.1.3 update, which is still in beta phase. Security news site, Threatpost, posted on the second lock screen bypass bug and even posted a video of the bug in action and how to manipulate the iPhone into unlocking and revealing personal information.

Similar to the iPhone’s passcode vulnerability, the exploit involves manipulating the phone’s screenshot function, its emergency call function and its power button. Users can make an emergency call (911 for example) on the phone and then cancel it while toggling the power on and off to get temporary access to the phone. A video posted by the group shows a user flipping through the phone’s voicemail list and contacts list while holding down the power button. From there an attacker could get the phone’s screen to turn black before it can be connected to a computer via a USB cord. The device’s photos, contacts and more “will be available directly from the device hard drive without the pin to access,” according to the advisory.

The second lockscreen vulnerability was originally posted on the Full Disclosure mailing list. Apple’s iOS 6 has been plagued with issues since its release last September, including problems with the company’s new Google-less Maps application and Siri. Issues with iOS has led to the ousting of Scott Forstall from Apple, and has put the company’s mobile OS under the criticism of many.

{Via MacRumors}

According to German site, iPhone-Ticker, Apple is planning to release iOS 6.1.2 as early as next week. This comes only a few days after the Cupertino, California based company released iOS 6.1.1 to the public, which addressed 3G issues on the iPhone 4S. iOS 6.1.1 only addressed the 3G issue, so it is likely that the other features noted on the beta version of iOS 6.1.1 which was released to developers will arrive in 6.1.3, as this update also addresses specific issues.

Some of these features include updates to the Maps application for Japanese users such as updated freeway color to green and updated icons for some location categories including fire. The iOS 6.1.2 update is expected to address an Exchange bug and a lock screen passcode issue affecting iOS 6.1 users.

By releasing updates in increments, it allows Apple to quickly push out updates to the public while working on bigger issues with iOS at the same time. Apple is now being very thorough with its iOS updates, after experiencing major issues with Siri and Maps, which partly led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall.

iPhone-Ticker has a proven track record with reporting on iOS updates, having accurately reported on the iOS 6.1.1 update. The site’s report notes that the iOS 6.1.2 update will likely release before Wednesday, February 20th.

{Via MacRumors}

On Monday, Apple released iOS 5.1.1, the latest iOS update since 5.1 which brought a number of bug fixes and battery life fix for the iPhone 4S. The latest free software update is only an incremental upgrade and as expected, brings a number of bug fixes and performance enhancements for the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod touch. The exact details of the update from the Apple website are as follows:

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

Perhaps one of the biggest bugs in iOS that was fixed by this update was the bug that prevented the iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks, which could cause either the user to experience very slow data speeds or would force them to shut off 3G and turn it back on in order to bring the network back up.

It’s interesting to note that Apple picks up on minor bugs in iOS and pushes out fixes as quickly as they do. This is likely why iOS is one of more stable mobile operating systems out on the market, tightly controlled by Apple’s ecosystem and managed very well. iOS 5.1.1 is now available and can be downloaded via iTunes or the OTA (Over The Air) feature on all iOS devices running iOS 5 or later.

{via iMore}

Wake Smarter puts that fancy bedside alarm clock to shame. It has an amazing variety of choices on how you would like your alarm to behave. There are options for the usual alarm sounds, repeats, snooze-ability, and custom labels. But Wake Smarter goes WAY beyond that.

As an alarm clock it has a daytime display with gorgeous background photos or textures to choose from, and it has a much simpler nighttime display with a black background a red numerals that are easy on the eyes in the dark. The fun begins once you set an alarm. You have the ability to set the alarm to the minute and choose which days of the week it applies to. But then you get to add actions to that alarm. Actions such as having a custom message read to you, or the weather, or the news headlines, or your day’s calendar events, or your Facebook or Twitter news. Even the alarm audio allows you to choose from some unique sounds or a radio station or one of your iTunes playlists. And you can have more that one action on your alarm, so if you can’t choose you can focus on which action you want to have first. You can even control the length of the snooze feature and set it between 1-60 minutes.

There is a sleep timer too that is just as customizable. You can control the length, up to two hours, and set the audio mode to radio, playlist, or choose from about a dozen sleep sounds. The sleep timer needs to be set manually, but the audio will stop as scheduled and not interfere with any of the alarms that are set.

Another great feature of Wake Smarter is the voice control. On the main clock face screen, there is a microphone icon. When tapped, Wake Smarter understands a limited number of voice commands such as “time,” “date,” “weather,” or “Facebook.” Wake Smarter will then read out what you’ve asked for. The text-to-speech function does quite well with difficult words and it’s quite understandable. There is even some level of customization of volume, pitch, and speed for the voice to make it suit your ear.

With all these options and features, navigating has the potential to be a problem, but not so with Wake Smarter. The main clock screen has just three icons to interact with. And even the full-featured Settings screen has only four main icons to find what you’re looking for. They are clearly marked and easily understood as to what they control. You shouldn’t find yourself getting lost in complex menu structures here.

Wake Smarter is a fantastic alarm clock app. It comes with it’s own set of sounds and backgrounds. The features and options include something for everyone. But the voice control and text-to-speech feature sets this clock app apart and make it worth the $2.99 price tag.

What we like:

• Handles both falling asleep and waking up functions
• Completely customizable
• Variety of audio sources including radio, playlists, and included sounds
• Brings Siri-like functions to non-Siri-enabled devices with voice control and text-to-speech

What to know:

• Have to keep the app open

Gallery

According to a report from Chronic Wire, Apple’s developer seed of iOS 5.1 has passed quality assurance tests conducted by the company. The company issued a number of seeds to developer for iOS 5.1 to ensure that the final public release would be as stable as possible, especially after a number of users complained of battery life issues on iPhone 4S and other issues with iOS 5.

iOS 5.1 may now be ready to be released to the public, likely during the iPad 3 release date announcement event on Wednesday, or perhaps following the event during Apple’s initial sales of the iPad 3. The report mentions that iOS 5.1 is now in Golden Master stage with build 9B176 being the final build to be issued for public release.

The build number of iOS 5.1 Gold Master is 9B176 according to a very solid source, although three different partners who are testing the Gold Master claim to have slightly (by single digits) higher builds numbers on their copies, I’m assuming that’s because right now it’d make sense for those people to be testing what will soon be released as 5.1.1, so I’ve disregarded the claims.

Quality assurance appears to have been conducted over the past three weeks, since Apple issued the last beta version. Apple worked with carriers to ensure that the OS was entirely bug free and worked on all aspects of the iPhone. iOS 5.1 has been reported to include Japanese  support for Siri and a new camera slider from the lock screen among other improvements.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple has been busy getting iOS 5.1 software update ready for release as the company has been seeding beta to developers since November. As new beta updates were released details about future products, features and changes were revealed.

iOS 5.1 beta code had references to an unreleased iPad 2 model and then another beta release revealed that Apple will finally include ability to delete photos from Photo Stream from your iOS device.

In early January, details about the beta code pointing to quad-core A6 (A5X SoC) iPad 3 were widely reported and suggested that iPhone 5 and next gen iPad would support new processors. Now, according to a new leak iOS 5.1 software update will include a new camera button on the lock screen.

Among more than 200 new features which were introduced in iOS 5 Apple enabled a lock screen camera button to enable users to capture important moments quickly. When you double-tap the home button to reveal the quick camera access button instead of the regular button iOS 5.1 will now have a slider. When you slide the camera icon upwards it will launch the camera app so that you take photos with your iPhone / iPod touch camera.

BlogdoiPhone who gained access to “pre-GM” version of iOS 5.1 also claim that the upcoming update will finally include support for Japanese Siri.

We recently highlighted another rumor which suggested that code in operator profiles mentioned iOS 5.1 release date as March 9th. iPad 3 launch event is expected to be held on March 7th and it will be interesting to see if Apple mentions the release date for iOS 5.1 during the event.

{via MacRumors}

Why Jailbreak iPhone – Winterboard

As well as adding new features and tweaks to your jailbroken iPhone one of the more popular reasons to jailbreak is to apply themes to your device to change it’s look.

There a a couple of tools to do this but the most popular one is Winterboard and once you have downloaded this from Cydia you will open up a wide variety of themes that can be easily downloaded and enabled from within the Winterboard interface.

In fact the process of downloading, installing and enabling themes via Winterboard you can have a different theme everyday if you so wish. Having said that there will probably come a time when you come across a theme that just looks so good that it will stay on your device for good.

Jaku Review

Jaku is a theme by William Szilveszter a beautifully crafted masterpiece that will make your iPhone stand out from all the stock devices of your friends and family.

The polish and attention given to the redesign of the application icons is incredible, they pop off the screen and both the stock apps and many others have been given the full Jaku treatment. In fact, there are so many Jaku icons that when the designer asked me to use a screenshot that only included Jaku icons I ended up have to move one icon from my home screen. In total there are 180 icons in the Jaku theme and more being added all the time.

This theme doesn’t just end there though. The package includes a custom wallpaper and themes for the phone dial, notification center, music player, lock screen and more.

If you haven’t themed your iPhone before now’s a great time to start as your retina display can look even more stunning than it already does especially if you choose the Jaku theme by William Szilveszter. Jaku is available for for just $2.99 in the Cydia store while Winterboard is available for free.

Which is your favorite iPhone theme? Let us know in the comments below or tweet me @4forkssake about jailbreak tweaks and themes.

Gelaskins for iPhone 4S Review: If you like changing your iPhone 4S cases on a regular basis but find that too expensive, or you want protection without the bulk of a case then a skin from Gelaskins for iPhone and iPad may be just the solution for you.

Gelaskins offer hundreds of adhessive covers for all your devices but on this occasion I was looking for something to protect the iPhone 4S of my wife and I. The buying process was easy and seamless via www.gelaskins.com, you can either browse through the 100’s of designs or design you own. While I messed around with the design tools I ended up choosing a couple of pre-designed covers and quickly went through the check-out process.

As I’m pretty impatient I paid a little extra for for fast delivery and a few days later the package was delivered in a flat cardboard envelope with my Gelaskins safe and undamaged inside. Needless to say I didn’t wait too long to get them adhered to the two devices.

The brief documentation that comes in the package recommends that you watch a video showing how to apply the skin and so that’s what I did. I watched the video on my iPhone 4S and 3 mins later I was ready to go. The video confirms most things that you probably already know, especially if you have applied something like this before but the 3 minutes is not wasted.

As recommended I gave my iPhone 4S a thorough cleaning before I started to ensure a strong fix to my device and then went about peeling the back piece from it’s backing paper. The skin has raised ridges across its sticky side to allow any trapped air to escape and to allow for repositioning. Only limited repositioning was needed on both the back and side pieces and I was able to firmly push them down and lock them in place pretty quickly. There are cut outs for the camera and side buttons and the all matched up perfectly.

Moving to the front of the iPhone 4S I was a little surprised, and dissapointed, to find that there were just pieces for the top and bottom of the screen instead of one whole piece including pieces down each side of the screen as I don’t feel this gives 100% protection and depending on the design leaves two blank areas.

The two pieces provide cut outs for the Home Button, Camera, Light Sensor and Speaker and while some of the pieces can seem tricky to pull out a trick that is shown on the video is to push down onto the iPhone the piece that you are try to remove and let it stick to the phone and then pick it off afterwards.

Getting the front pieces lined up was a little trickier but it wasn’t difficult and the whole process from beginning to end took no longer that 5 minutes and I was really happy with the results. The final piece of the process was to download the Gelaskins iPhone App from the App Store and get the wallpaper to accompany the given skin. This was easily done and also enabled you to customize the brightness of the wallpaper so that you could have different wallpapers for both your Home and Lock Screens.

The overall appearance is very nice especially with the matching wallpaper and with a few days of heavy use already there is no noticeable wear or tear on the skin. The skin provides a little more grip than the iPhone without a case but not as much as some cases can provide and doesn’t include a screen protector either.

At around just $15 per skin Gelaskins provide a great way to spice up you iPhone and any electronic device that you may have.

What we like:

• Easy to apply
• 100’s of designs
• Design your own skin

What to know:

• No front side pieces

The home button and the sleep/wake button remain unusable once you bypass the lock screen with this method however, you can browse the contacts, access visual voicemail or make a call using the keypad.

Apple will most probably fix this bug with the final release of iOS 4.2. Check out the video below to see the software glitch.

(via engadget)