How To Alter The Pitch Of Your Voice During A Live Call On iPhone

The Cydia Store is a cauldron of weird and wonderful tweaks, apps and themes all designed to make the iOS experience just that little bit more enjoyable. While plenty profess to enhance the software’s rather lackluster functionality, others are simply there to make iOS a bit more fun to use, and VoiceChanger, a new tweak that allows you to alter your own voice when in-call, perhaps falls under this category. With a lot of well-known character voices to choose from, you can fool your friends into thinking they are conversing with a Smurf, Dark Lord, or even Rumpelstiltskin, and if that isn’t your idea of a good joke, then, well.. you don’t have a sense of humor!

The App Store features plenty of apps allowing you to change the sound of your voice into just about whatever you like, but where VoiceChanger is interesting is in the fact that it offers the ability to process audio as you speak. This means you can be in-call and talking to one of your friends or family members, and the app will relay whatever you say in one of a number of different voices.

Those looking to enjoy the tweak will need to be rocking an iPhone 4/4s/5, since it doesn’t work with the iPhone 3GS or older, and it also requires iOS 5 or higher in order to work its voice-morphing magic.

At $2.99, it’s quite pricey for a tweak that is only to be used for fun (we wouldn’t recommend calling anybody important and offering them your best Smurf impression), but nevertheless, is still a lot of fun.

We tried it out for ourselves here at Redmond Pie, and it actually works a lot better than we’d initially thought. With more voices to be added by the developer in the future, it has the potential to be even better, so if you want to get involved, it’s available to purchase right now from the BigBoss repository.

If you’re a fan of prank calls, and more so if you know somebody who isn’t, we’d highly recommend giving this tweak a try, and if you happen to do so, be sure to leave your thoughts and comments below!

PS Vita TV Is A Powerful Companion For PS4 And Vita, First Real Competitor To Apple TV [VIDEO]

OK, it’s been a pretty big day for Sony already, what with the announcement of the newly announced PS Vita 2013, but the Japanese firm isn’t done there. Also announced today, the PS Vita TV is much more than it may first seem, and it’s going to cost around $100 to buy, too.

As the name suggests, the new box ties in with Sony’s PS Vita console. In fact, when we say that what we actually mean to say is it kind of replaces it. See, if you’ve ever wanted to play a Vita game on your TV, then this is the box for you. Featuring slots for both Vita games and memory cards, the Vita TV takes previously handheld games and displays them on a TV screen, with controls taken care of by a Dual Shock controller. Interesting, no?

It’s not just games, either. Sony’s new diminutive box hooks into its own music and video services, putting it squarely in competition with the Apple TV, too. Twitter and Hulu are also supported, and we can only assume it’s a matter of time before Netflix is in attendance – it’s on everything else, after all!

But wait, there’s more!

As if being able to play Vita games on the big screen using a proper controller wasn’t enough, Sony says that its new Vita TV will also be able to remote play games that run on its unreleased PlayStation 4 console. That means, folks, that a PS4 and a Vita TV give you multi-room gaming without the need to buy multiple consoles. Things just got interesting, right?

The PS Vita TV takes up next to no room, either, thanks to its 60mm x 100mm footprint. It even looks the part, so you won’t mind having it out on display alongside the rest of your A/V equipment.

The complete set of specs of the PS Vita TV are as follows:

Sony says that the PS Vita TV will go on sale in Japan on November 14th for 9,954 yen – which equates to about $100 in the US – but has not yet confirmed when it will see the light of day in other territories. Another model which will cost around $150 will come bundled with a Dual Shock controller, this is something which you might want to get instead if you’re a diehard gamer. So long as it’s released before or alongside the PS4, we don’t know if we really care. What we do know though is that one of these will be getting added to our PS4 orders ASAP!

PS Vita (2013) Announced: Slimmer Design, Bigger Battery, Six Color Options [VIDEO]

With its PlayStation 4 due for release in a couple of months, Sony could be forgiven for being a little preoccupied. In fact, we’d even forgive the Japanese firm from almost forgetting all about its portable games console, at least in the short term. At a press conference today though, Sony showed that it’s not just well aware of its portable machine, but is also working to make it as popular as possible.

Officially announced just now, Sony’s new update to its existing PlayStation Vita is pretty much more of the same, but with some aesthetic changes. The first thing people will notice is that the new, improved Vita is 15% lighter and 20% thinner than the original model. We wouldn’t have called the old Vita big and heavy, but any slimming down is always welcome in a mobile device of this ilk.

This iteration of Sony’s portable console also now features a micro-USB port for charging, which means that the cable you got with your smartphone will likely charge the Vita just fine, assuming you didn’t get an iPhone of course! The change to micro-USB is a welcome one, seeing as we’ve got so many of the cables knocking around our homes already. It also means that we don’t need to get one of Sony’s proprietary charging cables just to get juice into our Vitas. Yay!

And for those who like color options, the new PS Vita comes in a variety of different color options, six to be exact. The colors include black, white, yellow, olive green, blue and pink.

Perhaps the most controversial change is the decision to dump the original OLED screen in favor of an LCD solution. The OLED screen was one of the selling points for the Vita when it was first announced, so the decision to move to the cheaper LCD is an interesting one indeed. We’ll have to see the new Vita in action before we decide whether the change makes too much of a difference or not.

The new Vita goes on sale in Japan on October 10th with a price equating to around $190 and is WiFi-only but does pack 1GB of internal memory

No word yet on when this refreshed Vita will be on sale outside Japan, but we’ll keep our ears to the ground for an update.

Xbox Music App For iPhone And Android Released, Free Streaming Now Available On Web Version

Microsoft has finally launched iPhone and Android apps for Xbox Music, a service that lets users stream unlimited music for a monthly subscription.

Today’s release also adds free streaming option to the web version of Xbox Music which was first launched in July this year.

Now available on Xbox, Windows 8, Windows Phone, iOS (iPhone only, native iPad version not available as yet), Android and web (for OS X and other platforms), Xbox Music is now shaping up into a compelling offering with 30 million music tracks on offer for streaming, cross platform compatibility, and free access to anyone with a desktop web browser.

Some of the basic features of the iPhone and Android app includes: streaming ad-free music, adding songs, music, albums and playlists to Collection and access them on other devices, create and sync music playlists across multiple platforms, radio stations and more.

While the Xbox, Windows Phone and Windows 8 version offers the ability to download tracks for offline playing, the just released iOS and Android versions doesn’t. But Microsoft is promising the support for offline playing coming soon in a future update to the said apps.

The subscription to Xbox Music Pass costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year and is required to use the apps. Free 30 days trial is available for first timers. You can navigate tomusic.xbox.com to subscribe to the service. Those of you who already have the subscription to Xbox Music Pass can download the iPhone and Android apps from the links given below to start streaming music.

(Download: Xbox Music for iPhone, Xbox Music for Android)

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

Leaked Photos Of iPhone 5C Logic Board Shows Only Minor Changes [IMAGES]

It may be unadulterated chaos at times, but there’s little doubt that iPhone announcement weeks are some of the most exciting and interesting that we face. A culmination of weeks and often months of guessing, calculating and wishing always comes down to one glorious moment when we get to see a new iPhone for the first time.

This year is unique in that we will see two new iPhones be announced on the same day. With Apple set to unveil the flagship iPhone 5S at the September 10th event, it’s perhaps the lower end iPhone 5C that will be of most interest to us. It may technically be last year’s sheep in this year’s wolf’s clothing, but it’s going to be quite the striking package when it’s assembled. Assuming the rumors and leaks are accurate, of course.

Speaking of leaks, new photos have appeared online showing what appears to be a logic board from the unannounced iPhone 5C. Looking rather similar to the iPhone 5S parts that have leaked before, the new shots show a board with shielding that prevents prying eyes from seeing just what markings the chips are adorned with underneath. All the mounting holes seem to be in the same place as those iPhone 5S leaks, too, so fitting in with leaked cases and shells that have suggested the same thing already.

Apple is set to announce both the flagship iPhone 5S and the cheaper iPhone 5C on this coming Tuesday. With the iPhone 5C coming in a range of striking colors and essentially being an iPhone 5 in a new body, buyers of the budget-conscious device will not only get a very good smartphone on the inside, but also one that will grab attention on the outside.

We’ll find out in a couple of days just what the folks in Cupertino have been working on for the last twelve months, and we’ve got a sneaky suspicion that whatever it is, it’ll sell in the millions.

(via Nowhereelse.fr)

iOS 6.1.4 Jailbreak With Cydia Running Successfully On iPhone 5 [IMAGE]

Evasi0n jailbreak which brought forward the first ever untethered jailbreak solution on devices running iOS 6.x was patched by Apple in iOS 6.1.3/6.1.4 firmware releases. Last week we reported that an untethered 6.1.3 jailbreak was indeed possible, but was not publicly available since it needed some work. Today, we have even more good news, this time for those running iOS 6.1.4 on the iPhone 5.

iOS 6.1.4 was released back in May for iPhone 5 users only and it brought forward a minor bug fix. The small update, which weighs in at 11.5MB, was unjailbreakable, until now.

Developer Winocm, who achieved the untethered jailbreak on iOS 6.1.3 last week, tweeted out an image today of iOS 6.1.4 running Cydia on an iPhone 5. Details as usual are scarce at this very moment. We can only assume that progress is being made and Winocm’s exploit is indeed capable of jailbreaking iPhone 5 on the aforementioned firmware.

Cydia on iOS 6.1.4 (GSM iPhone 5)

For those who are eagerly waiting for an untethered jailbreak, and are completely uninterested in Apple’s new flat icons in iOS 7, it is highly recommended that you ignore any software update at this point for your iOS device and wait for further confirmation on the progress being made on the untethered iOS 6.1.3 / 6.1.4 jailbreak.

Cydia on iOS 6.1.4 (CDMA iPhone 5)

If you’re already running iOS 6, all the way up to iOS 6.1.2, you’re on the greener side of the fence. You can jailbreak iOS 6 using Evasi0n on all iOS devices capable of running the said firmware.

We will keep you updated as soon as we hear more regarding this, so stay tuned.

Update x1: Published to a Ghostbin share, Winocm has now offered up some of the code required to make the jailbreak work for iOS 6.1.4, and we’ve heard reports of people managing to do just that. The downside here is a rather large one though – it’s not like most public jailbreaks.

Cydia on iPhone 4S, iOS 6.1.3

Anyone wanting to download an executable and have their iPhone jailbroken in seconds is out of luck we’re afraid. Instead, Winocm’s code is just part of the magic required to get Cydia installed on an iPhone, and users will have to use their own kernel exploits in order to get the ball rolling. That’s obviously no mean feat, so we don’t think that this is going to be the start of a jailbreaking phase where everyone rushes out to get their iOS 6.1.4 devices jailbroken. Still, it’s a start.

Even with iOS 7 just around the corner, many people would be happy to stick with the last 6.x release if it meant that they could keep their beloved jailbreak, and Winocm seemed to have all the answers. Today, he shared those answers, but they’re not quite all you’ll need.

Former Nokia Employees Create Newkia With The Aim To Build Android Phones

Nokia has been one of the leaders in smartphone innovation for a long time, before the Finnish giant lost out to iPhone and Android, so much so that the whole hardware division of Nokia was acquired by Microsoft just a few days ago. I have personally always strongly believed that Nokia would’ve done well to keep up with the changing market trend and combined their remarkable hardware with Google’s open source Android to make the perfect smartphone. While that never happened owing to the company’s partnership with Microsoft, it might come true now, as Nokia’s Asia Pacific (former) CEO, Thomas Zilliacus, has spun off a new company from Nokia with the aim to do just that.

The new company, named Newkia (pun might be intended), comprises a slew of other former Nokia employees who have one goal in mind – build better Android phones. Zilliacus claims that he’d been aiming to buy out Nokia for a while now, but had never been able to raise the required funds on his own, and certainly never enough to outbid the Redmond giant. However, now, with the start of his own Newkia, he believes they’ll be easily able to raise enough capital, owing largely to the fact that a lot of potential investors see a lot of future for a combination of Nokia-standard hardware with Android’s open source nature.

Newkia’s plans aim towards making the company functional and productive by 2014, which can potentially imply a Newkia device out and about in the market as early as summer next year. Wishful thinking? Maybe, but it doesn’t hurt to speculate.

The interesting aspect to the whole story is the fact that technically, Microsoft’s acquisition remains restricted to Nokia’s hardware manufacture division, exclusive of Nokia’s patent portfolio. The Redmond company holds licensing to use Nokia’s patents, sure, but at the same time, with the current conditions of the deal, cannot prevent other companies from licensing those as well. This could mean that we would one day see an Android phone touting Nokia’s PureView technology, which is unarguably the best camera on a smartphone to date.

Historically, it has always been the case for even manufacturers like Samsung and HTC, who have, at some point, tried their luck with Windows Phone, to gain more success with Android over WP. What remains to be seen is whether Nokia would license such high-end patents to a potential direct competitor of Microsoft past the deal that has already taken place. We’ve seen weirder things happen in the past, so who knows. Time will tell.

(via: Cnet)