I had a few decals on my computer, making it trying to look like it was “different”, but it started to just look unauthentic, at best. Then, a friend mentioned that I should check out iCarbons.

I thought it was cool to get a carbon fiber skin for my computer, but never expected it to be as awesome as it really is.

Thanks for iCarbons for sending this out for review, because this skin is indescribably amazing.

Once, I got the skin, nothing left me short of extreme excitement. I got the black carbon fiber for my 13″ Macbook Air.

Installation, as most think is extremely difficult, is actually very easy. I was expecting the installation to my computer, to be perplexing, but once you line up everything with the certain objects on the device, it becomes easier than ever. It took me around 10-15 minutes to put on the Keyboard, Bottom, and Back stickers on the computer. Awesome.

The carbon fiber makes it look so elegant, and different, I’m so ecstatic I have a black Macbook Air!

I can take it out of my backpack, and see people stare, and the others question it’s awesomeness. Yes, awesomeness.

Well, let’s break it down. It’ll help you decide if you think getting the iCarbons skin is worth it.

Pros:

• Converts the whole look of the device, into the style you choose.
• The texture. The feel of the iCarbons skins feel amazing.
• It’s different. Pulling out a Macbook back in the day, made you look so awesome, with the illuminating Apple logo. But today, everyone has a Mac! If you’re super duper hipster, iCarbons is for you.
• All ports stay fully accessible. It’s as if you don’t even have it on.
• No residue. Self-explanatory. Everyone hates stickers with that problem, but these skins don’t carry that problem with them.
• Doesn’t add bulk. My Macbook Air stays the same weight, and still looks amazing.

Alright, I’m gonna end the advantages of the iCarbons skin, I don’t want people calling me an iCarbons fanboy.

Cons:

• Skin tight! No pun intended. Alright, I had to think of a disadvantage, but this one came apparent to me. I had a decal on the Macbook Air, and thought I would keep it on there, in case I ever took off the iCarbons skin. That didn’t work out well because, when I put it on, I could see my decal through the skin! I took the skin off, then took the decal off, and then put the skin back on, and it looks perfect. Just be weary of it being extremely tight.
• Not all parts are covered. I’m happy with all the coverage the iCarbons skin takes up, but some people may not like that there’s no cover for the trackpad, or the bezel of the screen, or even the width of the computer. That might be foolish to some, but some people actually want the whole computer to have black carbon fiber on it. If you’re the latter, the skin might not be perfect for you. It still takes up most of it, though.

Those are pretty much the only things I can possibly see wrong with this product. If there are more, that I missed, leave  comment below! We want to hear your thoughts on this product; we’re all ears.

Bottom Line:

• This product is a true eye-catcher, so if you want to transform the look (and feel) of your device, this is definitely what you want. On the other hand, if you want your Macbook Air to be completely carbon fiber, then you might want to reconsider. If this skin is for you, then you won’t be disappointed. It blew away every expectation of mine, and I’m sure it’ll blow your expectations away, as well. Also, another thing to mention, the skin will always feel like it’s not there. You take it off, no residue, no stains. You keep it on, ports are fully accessible, nothing is in the way. That’s something I truly respect, because we all have encountered an accessory that completely destroys the design of the device itself. Beautiful.

I may sound biased, but you will be too, if you get the skin. It’s that great. So what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below!

If you want to pick your own iCarbons skin(s), click this link, and find your device!

In brass text, it’s Dropbox, with Google’s logo on it. Not much more, but definitely not less. Dropbox is awesome because of it’s utter simplicity, just drag-and-drop, and view from everywhere. Simple.

But Google Drive is a bit more. In a good way. Google Drive has all the features Dropbox has, but a better web-app, and some integration with its other Google products.

Dropbox is primarily an app on your Android/iOS device, or a little folder on your PC/MAC. All in all, it’s a simple file system, with a ton of storage, of free.

Google Drive, on the other hand, is the same thing Dropbox is, but now, it has taken over Google Docs (so now, it’s one giant folder, capable of holding those files and more), and also, it’s Google friendly. When I say that, I mean, it’s heavily integrated into GMail, so now sharing files is easier than ever.

Drive also has amazing space. First off, your GMail account is pushed to 10GB immediately. Whoa. 10GB. Free. Make a Google Drive account, and enjoy that free space. And also, the pricing for Drive expansion, is off the chart! Literally, look at this chart:

What do you make out of the chart? What I think is, Google Drive is starting off on top. Everything is better, cheaper, and easily accessible.

Google knew what would be perfect in the cloud storage market, and they made Google Drive. Also, another staggering thing in the Google Drive phenomenon, is the pricing. The pricing for extra storage is extremely peculiar. They’re giving away a fair amount of storage, for an even more fair value.

• Extra Storage – Cost
• 25 GB – $2.49
• 100 GB – $4.99
• 200 GB – $9.99
• 400 GB – $19.99
• 1 TB – $49.99
• 2 TB – $99.99
• 4 TB – 199.00
• 8 TB – $399.99
• 16 TB – $799.99

When I say “Extra Storage”, I mean it’s on top of the free 5GB they give you, already. So, when you look at the storages, it’s what is added onto your already-5GB account. For $2.49 a month, you’re going to have a Google Drive account, 30GB heavy.

What do you think of Google Drive? Great? Useless? Leave a comment below!

Step 1: Install SAM via Cydia. Repo address: http://repo.bingner.com

Step 2: Insert your unofficial SIM card.

Step 3: Open SAMprefs, Go to Utilities:

• and click Deactivate
• then Attempt Activation

Step 4: Your device will respring, and it should recognize your unofficial SIM card. Check the troubleshooting below or check the tutorial video below. 

Troubleshooting:

If you receive a message that says: You must select the original carrier cSIMID of your iPhone, invalid sim, or anything else, try a reboot first then try the steps below.

Step 1: Remove your SIM card

Step 2: Open iFile and go to /var/root/Library. Tap edit in the upper right-hand corner, and select Lockdown, and tap the zip button to create a backup of Lockdown. Scroll to the bottom to ensure that a backup zip was created. Now delete the Lockdown folder.

Step 3: Navigate to /User/Library/Preferences and search for SAM. Delete the com.bingner.sam.plist file.

Step 4: Power down your iPhone and turn it back on.

Step 5: Insert your unofficial SIM card.

Step 6: Open SAMprefs go to Utilities and tap Attempt Activation. You will receive a dialogue stating that it may take a while. Your iPhone will respring.

Step 7: You should now be on your unofficial network. i.e. T-Mobile, etc.

WWDC will be in June from the 11th to the 15th. We should see an update to mountain lion and maybe an update to iOS. Only time will tell what this event should behold.

Sales summary:

iTunes and App Store:

-$1.9 billion in iTunes revenue (a 35 percent YOY increase)

-600,000 apps (200,000 iPad specific apps)

iOS devices:

-365 million iOS device sales

-$22.7 billion in revenue from iPhone and accessories

-6.6 billion in revenue from iPad and accessories.

-7.7 million iPod sales

iCloud:

-125 million iCloud users—up 25 million from February

Retail Stores:

-$4.4 billion in retail store revenue, up 8 percent

-363 Apple Stores

-826,000 Macs sold in store—half to new customers

-$12.2 million average revenue per-store (up from $9.9 million)

-85 million visitors to retail—18,000 per store, per week.

Whoa. Record-breaking sales for Apple. Recently a statistic came in, that 51% of US Households have at least one Apple device. 51! The majority of America is forking up money for Apple, year by year, and this is why they released one of the craziest statistics in their Q2 Earnings.

Apple Inc. now has over $110B in cash.

Stocks is one thing, and cash is another. They have $110 BILLION in cash. That is more than remarkable, that’s an outrageous amount for only one company to have.

Also, their net profit increases 94% YOY (Year-over-year).

“Our record March quarter results drove $14 billion in cash flow from operations,” added Apple’s CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, we expect revenue of about $34 billion and diluted earnings per share of about $8.68.”

Apple’s stocks have been booming today, as well, rising around 36 points after their announcement. Tim Cook also mentioned the sales on the products in the March quarter, and his excitement towards it.

35.1 million iPhones (up 88 percent YOY)
11.8 million iPads (up 151 percent YOY)
4 million Macs (up 7 percent YOY)
7.7 million iPods (down 15 percent YOY)

“We’re thrilled with sales of over 35 million iPhones and almost 12 million iPads in the March quarter,” said Apple’s CEO Tim Cook. “The new iPad is off to a great start, and across the year you’re going to see a lot more of the kind of innovation that only Apple can deliver.”

Who wouldn’t be excited with such awesome sales?

The only thing that really stood out to me, is the decrease in sales of the iPods. Primarily the people that bought iPods were teenagers, so a decrease could be for many reasons. It could be because most already have one, or it could also because most teenagers want iPads now. Another logical reason could be, a new iPod wasn’t released this year, so most might be waiting until Winter for the new refresh.

Summarizing, Apple is huge, and it’s only getting bigger. They’re making sales left and right, and it’s helping them get to where they are now; Extravagantly rich.

Other than that, you can see Apple’s full report, along with a PDF showing the sales that they’ve made, all on this page.

Marudai is hitting the iPhone market, by making a case that is shaking peoples’ heads everywhere. They point out that the case itself weighs 4.6 pounds (73.6 ounces). The iPhone 4S is 4.9 ounces! That’s a little more than 15 times the weight of the iPhone.

This case is meant to be heavy, so that it can block bullets. You read that correctly. Bullets! Doesn’t stop there. The case carries around a $650 price tag. You could just get a new iPhone for that price! Yet Marudai still decided to make a case like this.

The company even warns the buyers, “Serious injury and will certainly drop on top of the foot”. Whoa, how tough is this thing?

Don't let this happen to your iPhone!

Well, let’s just say if you “accidentally” pointed your gun at the iPhone (with the case on), your phone will be fine. In fact, the huge case needs to be screwed together, so if you want to ever take this case off, carry around a screwdriver. In fact, the one-inch steel plate on the rear bolts onto an aluminum front panel, and comes with a free dummy cartridge.

There is still a camera hole, protected with acrylic, and obscuring the view of the camera so that it appears to be peering through a tunnel. Cool, right?

Only problem is, it’s useless. The reasons not to get this case outweigh the reasons to get it, by so much. It’s bulky (obviously), cost as much as a new iPhone, and plus, when in the world will you possibly shoot your phone … with a 50-cal bullet? Never! So this case may be something to look at and laugh, but whoever buys this, must really need it.

I guess this case was just made to make Otterbox look like it was a Prius in front of this tank.

Oh you think you might need this case? Grab it here, and let’s just hope you’re safe!

According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, a 17-year-old boy last April had his kidney removed so he could buy an iPhone and iPad. The defendant who arranged the transplant allegedly received 220,000 yen (about $35,000) for bringing the boy to a surgeon, who was also charged, along with the person’s cohorts. The boy, who now suffers from renal deficiency, received 22,000 yen.

Xinhua said that the crime was discovered after the boy’s mother found him using Apple’s products. After she asked him how he earned the money for the devices, he admitted to selling his kidney, to afford the various Apple devices.

According to Chinese news agency, the boy is from Anhui, one of China’s poorest areas, who was trying to buy the iPhone, which starts at 3,988 yen ($633) and the iPad, which starts at 2,988 yen ($474), impossible for him, by himself, to afford on his own.

Now think about it twice before you go out to go buy an Apple product, there are kids selling their kidneys to get the same product you are getting too!

Aero is a great new cydia tweak by SBCoders that allows for an all new way to experience multitasking on an iPhone. The tweak contains several 3D animations to browse through the app queue. There is also plenty of ways to configure it and it can also be invoked by other methods besides double tapping the home button. This tweak is available in Cydia for $1.99

Pros – iMac

• All-in one. This is definitely an advantage, because there is nothing extra to worry about. No extra costs, nothing else. For an iMac, there is literally a giant monitor, with all the computer essentials within it. This is the computer I use, and to me, it’s like a thicker thunderbolt display, with the computer within it. Less room, amazing specs, only one wire. Great computer, all in one place.
• Every model is quad-core. 4 cores to split up the work. Not every iMac is a quad-core. This is the first year that every iMac, even the baseline 21.5″ iMac, is a quad-core based system.
• Cheap.$1,199 will now buy you an awesome computer, with an LED display, and it’s also quad-core. For Apple products, this isn’t much. Compared to the Mac Pro’s prices, especially, it’s really cheap.

Pros – Mac Pro

• Easy modifications. Unlike the iMac, the Mac Pro was meant to be modified. Meant to be opened up and fiddled around with.
• Up to 12-cores. 12 cores! Do exactly what you want on the computer, without it lagging, or even freezing. Multi-core processing done, immediately.
• Slots and bays. The Mac Pro hold 6 RAM slots, along with 4 hard drive bays. Capable of so much compared to the iMac holding 4 RAM slots, with the main, only 1 hard drive bay.

Conclusion

Honestly, the disadvantages, or cons, are the advantages of the opposite device. The Mac Pro’s advantages are the iMac’s disadvantages, and vice versa. The Mac Pro is a tower meant for rigorous use, while the iMac can still match most of the Mac Pro’s capability, but falls short the prosumer.

Hint: If from this passage, you think Mac Pro is the way to go: Don’t. Not yet. The Mac Pro, hopefully, is looking to be refreshed soon since even the newest model isn’t using thunderbolt. Sad thing is, Mac Pro’s take up less than 5% of Apple’s revenue. Most probably, there will be an update soon, there needs to be at least one Mac Pro with thunderbolt capability. So if Mac Pro is your choice, wait for a little. You’ll get your aluminum treasure soon enough.

For you, whoever you are behind that monitor, you probably can do just fine with the iMac. A Mac Pro is meant for extremely-high level applications, meant for high-cored device such as the Mac Pro. Unless you professionally, or primarily use, softwares such as After Effects, or run a dual booted system, requiring you to have a computer capable of such power, I believe the iMac is far more sufficient for your needs.

Back on topic, Apple seems to be building it’s own flagship, around popular Chinese tourist city, Dalian. It’s unclear to on which stage they are on, to completion of the Apple Flagship Store, but it’s definitely on it’s initial steps.

Ubiquitous signs of a black Apple sign, reading Apple’s Chinese online store were read under the logo. 2 sentences in Chinese under the website domain, and under everything, few pictures of the best-selling Apple products.

There seem to be conflicts with competitors with other stores/malls nearby, but that’s beyond the point, why do you think Apple is making their largest store, in a different country? I understand, the company gets sales faster there than in America, but this seems to be something that confuses me. Apple has always been in America, California furthermore. It might be obvious to make their largest store in a country that never failed to impress their statistics, but to me, Apple always served other countries, just because word spills. What I mean by that is, people in other countries start to want their products, so making Apple Stores there was to satisfy those Apple-hungry consumers. I guess China seems to be helping Apple’s growth more than we thought. Dalian, consider yourself lucky.

http://www.Itweak.tv
http://www.twitter.com/theipodrookie

Webspot is a free tweak in Cydia. A simple tweak that allows you to replace your spotlight page (the one before your first icon page that no one uses) to an interactive web page. In the video I demo YouTube, and Google. There may be some bugs but it was just released (video playback).

For all you viewers who just downloaded I4Siri and want a different look to your siri microphone check out P1neMic. A custom pineapple logo for your Siri microphone. This theme is applied through Winterboard and replaces your default Siri microphone with a pineapple microphone.

Tweak: Imperium
Price: $0.99
Repo: BigBoss Repo

SpotPod is a free Cydia Tweak that will allow you to control your music library just by typing simple commands. It’s a really cool tweak for all you music lovers, and gives spotlight a purpose.

Tweak: Springround

Price: $1.00

Repo: BigBoss

Autho: Iolate & Andrea Oliva

Deck is a Paid Cydia tweak that isn’t available yet, it will be released this month. It has loads, of custom functions, toggles, and shortcuts. All the way from a Siri shortcut to a Flashlight toggle. Deck is accessed from your springboard using an Acivator method. Deck slides out from the right side of the screen to a menu of your liking, either the main panel, custom functions panel, or toggles panel. For a full preview of Deck check out the video.

via JailbreakNation

This is a free, simple tweak that adds a circle/dot to track your fingers movement anywhere on your idevice. Its pretty cool and a really fun tweak.

Preliminary Necessities: Jailbroken on 5.0 or 5.0.1, 5.1

Devices:

iPad 2, iPad 1, iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs, iPod Touch 4G

1. Add the repo http://i4siri.com/repo

2. Install i4Siri (will install spire if not already)

3. Open Settings and navigate to i4Siri.

4. Click install certificate.

Troubleshoot:

Make sure http://i4sirifree.mooo.com is entered in the Spire proxy address.

Please post your feedback on twitter in response to:

@i4SiriProject

As always follow our Dev. Team:

@MrAjsTech
@leftyfl1p
@ericlewis

You can pick this up for $2.20 in the ModMyi Repo and this is by RDGV