Shoparoo promises a fun iPhone-alternative to box top school fundraising + MORE iPhone News 09/22/2012

You might think since customers were lining up around the block on Friday to buy the iPhone 5 that Apple wouldn’t need to bother with a new ad campaign for the device, but you’d be wrong.
The tech giant rolled out four ads for the device Friday that tout various new features including a larger screen size, the ability to take panoramic photos and the new EarPod.
“Thumb,” above muses on the fact that the iPhone 5 is the shape and size of your hand, a “dazzling display of common sense.” The three other ads are below…

Apple’s new baby in the iPhone 5 and iOS 6 has been getting plenty of attention, and with good reason. Aside from a few hiccups with Maps, iOS 6 has been doing extremely well across the board. When it started rolling out as an over the air update earlier this week, Apple users were excited and updating by the millions.

Earlier this week we reported that over 15% of devices had been updated within the first 24 hours, which may sound like a small number, but compared to updates on Android — is actually quite high…

The iPhone 5 is out, but it’ll cost you. The iPhone 4 is free with a contract, but that’s so 2010. What if you could spend $99 and turn your old iPod touch into a new iPhone? With no contract to  enslave you to the telecom companies? Well, there is.
 
Meet the FreedomPop. The $99 iPhone sleeve case turns your iPod Touch (generation 4) into an iPhone with all the connection speed of the latest model plus 1GB of free data every month, enough for basic email and iMessage texting…

If you’re a parent like I am, you may be collecting box tops for your school. Box tops are great — they help schools raise funds in a really effective way. For those who don’t know, select merchandise in grocery stores contain a redemption value for school fundraising, usually a few pennies per item bought.

Due to the labor of dealing with these box tops, they can also be a big pain. Someone has to collect them, bundle them, count them and track them.

Now there’s a new entry in the school fundraising arena…

I refuse to upgrade my iPhone to iOS 6. My iPad, sure, but the pocket-sized device I carry with me everywhere is going to have to wait. My iPhone is jailbroken and I’m not going to give up the freedom and customizations. Using Chrome as my default browser is one of them. 
Android users like to make fun of Apple devotees because so much of what you can do with a jailbroken iPhone is just normal on Google’s mobile OS. And they’re right, to an extent. You should be able to do simple things like rename apps, customize the look of the home screen and choose default applications for email and Web browsing, just as you’ve done on your desktop for decades…

If Windows 8 succeeds, it will be because its users come to embrace three of its exclusive elements as critical to the way they work and the things they do. Here we address the first of those elements:   Windows 8’s approach to sharing media.
Unlike almost any other mass-produced product, the success of technology gadgets today is gauged by the eagerness of consumers to get rid of them and replace them with the newest version.  Witness the early reviews of iPhone 5.  Technology thrives on our innate ability to be simultaneously enthusiastic and transient…

Today was finally it. iPhone 5 day. Customers who had been waiting in lines outside of Apple stores were finally able to enter and receive their new most-prized possession. But, wait – isn’t that deja vu we’re all feeling? Hasn’t this all happened before? Indeed, it has, but if you think the hype for the iPhone 5 compares to that of the iPhone 4S, think again.
Apple today told the Wall Street Journal that the iPhone 5 has far surpassed any previous models in terms of pre-orders…

This was a special treat for me, being a huge fan of anyone who hacks a closed system to make it better. In this Origin Stories we learn how Jay Freeman (saurik) got started in programming and how he came to create Cydia.

Cydia is the premiere “alternative” apps venue outside Apple’s own App Store. Jailbreak fans know it well, and yes, you must jailbreak your iPhone to use it.

But as jailbreakers know, using Cydia means having access to a plethora of useful tweaks and enhancements in iOS…

Photos of people standing in line have a funny way of summing up the human condition. Today it was the pictures of people waiting for the iPhone 5 that pointed to the power of Apple and the draw of its devices. But throughout history we’ve been able to consistently turn to photos of people queued up as a way to see what’s important.

As the newest iPhones begin appearing in the palms of first adopters, its easy to forget that the devices traveled half-way across the globe so users could Instagram their food.