Edit (Aug 10): Added v0.99 into the beta repository as a 1.0 release candidate. I fixed a couple issues:

• Large camera roll images are too zoomed to see them
• Added solid color option (by request)
• Fixed broken longer time durations (like in hours) so that the image would change even though you lock the device and load apps in that time frame.

I have done some testing on 2.2.1 with BossPaper. It *mostly* works but there are a few problems: 1) The image doesn’t stop rotating because the springboard API to detect when an app is loaded changed. 2) Some settings app gui problems 3) My routine to copy dock is broken. I am not sure how much effort I am going to take to fix these things.

As it stands, I plan to release v1.0 as 3.0 only sometime later tonight baring any major issues with 0.99 reported. So far all issues seem minor.

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I have released a new BossPaper to the beta repository tonight. If there are no major issues, I will open this up by adding it to the main repository later this week. There are still a few things to be done, but the major feature is added: allowing to select individual images. Here are the changes for v0.95:

• Used better randomization algorithm. The images seemed to be repeating too often.
• When locked, image was switching one more time. Fixed this so that the image did not switch on lock.
• Added sequential ordering option to show images in order rather than randomize.
• Added Wallpapers folder to images to select folders.
• Added some explanation on dock replacement screen when winterboard is installed that winterboard will be used to replace the dock.
• Added single image(s) selection. You can select images by browsing the folders on the flash disk. If both images and folders are selected, all will be rotated. If you have folders selected, you must delete them if you wish to show only images. You can also preview the images.
• Made the prefs app switch paper when closed if a preference reload is required so the user “feels” like something is happening.
• Took some extra steps to make sure no timer is running if only 1 image is selected.
• Added a “delete all” button for image mode. (Note this button is intentionally difficult to press).

Here is the current status:

Bug Reports:

1) Icon labels are grey – Status: Investigating.This is default color of icons. Winterboard themes make this white. I have not yet decided if I want to touch this.

2) Lag introduced on springboard when not using fade transition – Status: Investigating. I cannot reproduce this at this point.

Feature Requests:

1) White icon label switch – Status: Investigating. Theoretically this could get into “let me choose the icon label color” which was out of scope for the project since it focuses on wallpapers, but I may do it anyway.

2) Lockscreen wallpaper – Status: Investigating.

3) Release for 2.2 – Status: Investigating.

4) Cube Transition – Status: Investigating. (I do not want to use any opengles in springboard).

5) Lock Screen Wallpaper With home button to change – Status Investigating. I like this idea and will probably get to it.

Issues reported closed out:
1) Cydia issue after installing BossPaper – Status: Closed. This is an unrelated issue. See other Cydia bug reports. The comments in this post (not the post itself) offer suggestions for resolving these issues.

2) Theme Icons – Status Closed. Icon theming is out of scope and makes bosspaper become a full winterboard replacement. I may, however, create something that allows for a pick-and-choose for various winterboard themes (this is on my todo list).

3) Image swaps while on lock screen – Status: Closed. This was not a battery issue. The image just changed one more time. I fixed it in the latest 0.95 anyway (mainly to avoid emails by concerned users). If this is a battery issue, I will consider it urgent for a fix.

4) Dock swap is confusing – Status: Closed. Added some text to the new version explaining that if winterboard is installed, winterboard handles the dock swap with a theme added by BossPaper.

5) Allow for sequential display not just random – Status: Closed. Implemented in v0.95.

6) Allow single image select – Status: Closed. Implemented in v0.95. In addition, you can pick and choose any number of images not just one. (Or just one if you want).

7) Import from stock wallpaper folder - Status: Closed. Implemented in v0.95.

Safari Download Manager (SDM), a $2.00 (USD) extension to Mobile Safari, was released in the Cydia Store today. UPDATE: Make sure you have the latest version! We’ve fixed some particularly annoying bugs. As always, the changelog is here. This extension brings a full download manager to Safari, complete with running and controlling multiple downloads, accessible [...]

iPhone OS v3.0.1 is out. So far jailbreaking works if you use dev team tools redsn0w and even ultrasn0w. Purplera1n fails. I would recommend holding off the update though. It will not offer you much, if anything, and the current jailbreak state will most likely result in a 3.0 kernel on 3.0.1. In a few days a real jailbreak tool will be released. For those of you that can’t resist, you can update and jailbreak using the guides on this site. Just point redsn0w to your 30 firmware. This works for 2g, 3g, and 3gs.

Not recommended at this time. Good news that Apple hasn’t cracked down on the 3gs hole yet.

I have decided to open a post specifically for BossPaper Beta tracking. I may periodically clear the comments as I integrate them into the main post to keep it clean looking. Here is the current list of reports and their current status. I will update the list as I take comments from this post and move them into the lists below:

Bug Reports:

1) Icon labels are grey – Status: Investigating. I think that the light grey is standard icon color and winterboard themes make the icon labels white. I added a feature request below.

2) Lag introduced on springboard when not using fade transition – Status: Investigating. I cannot reproduce this at this point.

3) Image swaps while on lock screen – Status: Investigating. Still researching if this is a battery issue or if it transitions just one more time after locking. If this is a battery issue, I will consider it urgent for a fix.

4) Dock swap is confusing – Status: Accepted. The dock change feature when winterboard is installed can generate some confusion. The dock is inserted as a winterboard theme and moved to the top. There is no way inside bosspaper to resolve this without opening Winterboard Prefs. But there is nothing that tells the user to do this. I will work something out to solve.

Feature Requests:

1) Allow for sequential display not just random – Status: Accepted. Will be implemented in future version.

2) White icon label switch – Status: Investigating. Theoretically this could get into “let me choose the icon label color” which was out of scope for the project since it focuses on wallpapers, but I may do it anyway.

3) Lockscreen wallpaper – Status: Investigating.

4) Allow single image select – Status: Accepted. Will be implemented in future version.

5) Release for 2.2 – Status: Investigating.

6) Cube Transition – Status: Investigating. (I do not want to use any opengles in springboard).

7) Import from stock wallpaper folder - Status: Accepted. This is obvious. I cant believe I missed it. You can still import wallpapers using “Browse Folders” and get to /Library/Wallpapers, but this should be a default option.

8) Lock Screen Wallpaper With home button to change – Status Investigating. I like this idea and will probably get to it.

Issues reported closed out:
1) Cydia issue after installing BossPaper – Status: Closed. This is an unrelated issue. See other Cydia bug reports. The comments in this post (not the post itself) offer suggestions for resolving these issues.

2) Theme Icons – Status Closed. Icon theming is out of scope and makes bosspaper become a full winterboard replacement. I may, however, create something that allows for a pick-and-choose for various winterboard themes (this is on my todo list).

31 July 2009 You can now display your contact pictures in the conversation list – Cool! You can now configure a signature that will get appended when composing a message, just like in an email – Nice! New feature, in settings called “Int’l use biteSMS”. If set, then the send button will automatically switch to [...]

I am releasing BossPaper v0.91 BossPaper v0.93 beta tonight for testing (if you grabbed anything < 0.93, please update). There are still a few features that I plan to implement that are not in this version, but I think it is a good idea to start getting feedback.

In order to test it, you must install the bigboss beta repository, which I have also released into Cydia for those of you that said you are a “hacker” or “developer” when you loaded Cydia the first time. BossPaper will automatically install logmailer because if you have any problems, I would like a logmailer output of your syslog. If you don’t plan to send syslogs to me when having problems, well then you should not try to beta test this. Of course the first non-beta repo version will not require logmailer. If you hate having logmailer icon, you can hide it for now using SBSettings.

Based on the success / failure of this release, I may move it into a public repository before adding the remaining features.

Currently, the app requires 3.0. I am not sure if I plan to support 2.x or not. Every day there are less 2.x users and more 3.x users. It makes little sense to focus on 2.x for a new app.

Features missing are:

1) Ability to select a single image. If you want a single image make a folder with that image for now.

2) Ability to exclude a single image or images. For now you have to delete it off the folder. In future you will have a way to tell it to not load that image again.

3) Photos – Camera roll is working because these are photos. If you sync pictures using iTunes, these are actually no longer images but an sqllite database of images. Therefore, you cannot use these images. (I haven’t tested this very much. So it could be in accurate).

4) I may examine lock background as well, although I am worried about performance. The lock background should be stationary so that you dont drain your battery while locked. I will think about this more.

5) Other things I didnt list here.

I am also releasing some BossPaper paper packs to go along with it.

Other developers: I have a beta repository so if you want to use this service you can submit beta level apps for the beta repository to get early feedback before going “live”.

Edit: Results based on comments:

1) Some people find disabling EDGE as is in SBSettings works fine. (These folks probably have push disabled and are not using any apps that have notifications / push services.)

2) Some people find this method did work for them.

3) Some people find that a fake APN works for them without battery drain. Others experience massive battery drain.

Unfortunately, we still don’t have a solution that can be implemented yet.

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Disabling EDGE on iPhone v3.0 has been very hard. It’s still not certain, but after some testing and user reported success (a big thank you to Jorge Rendon!). The main reason the EDGE toggle in SBSettings and BossPrefs hasnt been updated is because I have not known what it takes exactly to disable EDGE on 3.0. The problem is that the OS reenables it. If you “mess up” your APN, the OS goes crazy trying to enable it draining your battery in about 90 minutes from full charge. So that’s not the way either. These steps do seem to work, however. Give them a try. If the reports are mostly positive, I will integrate this into the EDGE toggle.

1) Open settings app and disable Notifications. These appear directly under carrier, if you have them. They only appear if you have installed an appstore app that requires push. If you don’t have these, skip this step.

2) Disable push mail fetch.

3) Disable EDGE using SBSettings

4) Load settings app, enable airplane mode. Wait at least 10 seconds.

5) Load settings app and disable airplane mode. Wait for you to get service again.

6) Load SBSettings. You should have no Data IP (IP N/A).

7) Try using safari on Data. It should fail. Wait a bit, Load SBSettings your data IP should remain N/A.

Feel free to test this. If you get a Data IP address, you have indication that your Data may be getting reenabled. I am interested in the results of this.

Most likely a reboot of iPhone will retain the state.

Hey Guys, here is pH. I’ve been developing since May a cool Twitter Client called pHeety (I am pH, Twitter is Twitter, so, pH + Twitter = pHeety, :P ). pHeety is a semi-open-source project (who wants the source, talk with me and I will give or not the source) that can be ported for any [...]

Edit: v3.0.3 alert. It seems 1/2 the people loved my status bar sensitivity change and 1/2 the people hated it. I have made it an option in v3.0.3. It defaults to “off” which is like it is in 3.0.2. If you want to re-enable the sensitive swipe allowing for downward motion and all, hit the more app, extras, and the bottom option for “More Sensitive Swipe”. Set that to ON for the more sensitive version like 3.0.1 and older. This 3.0.3 release will be out tonight before I sign off.

Anyone having a hard time opening the window, it opens very easily if you use two fingers and tap one on the carrier logo and the other on the battery then let both go at same time.

SBSettings 3.0.2 comes with a very minor code change and a packaging fix.

The processes button “Free Memory” apparently has never done anything for anyone at all! I had one user report this and no one else. I found this today while installing SBSettings on a friend’s iPhone and noticing that there was no free memory after hitting the button. So none of you have ever seen how awesome this is! It is fixed now. Turns out I packaged the 3.0.1 toggle pack up poorly and the file was copied to the wrong folder.

v3.0.2 of the app changes the way the window opens slightly. It now requires at least 50 pixels of swiping before the window opens. This is to help prevent accidental opens. You can swipe left to right or right to left, it doesn’t matter. You cannot swipe down. (Let’s see if this one generates me any mail).

I have been working on a new FREE app called “BossPaper”. This is a very configurable advanced wallpaper app that lets you control what wallpaper shows up on your SpringBoard. You may be saying, “But Winterboard does that!” Sort of, but not like this. BossPaper can work with Winterboard (or without). Read on for details.

Last year, Saurik released Winterboard. This enabled some new features none of us have ever seen before such as rotating desktop wallpapers via Javascript HTML pages. While this was revolutionary for us iPhone owners, it also came at a cost. Performance running these themes sucks. There are a few ways the Javascript based images can be implemented and all of them have problems. If you load them all into memory, Springboard uses a signficant amount of memory. If you fade them, Springboard uses a lot of CPU. Javascript is very memory / CPU heavy. In addition, the Javascript runs behind all applications and while applications run. This impacts performance heavily and causes apps to lag even while you’re using them and not on SpringBoard. In addition, the script continues to run even while the iPhone is locked draining battery.

I have had it on my list to solve this for a while. The result is BossPaper. BossPaper is an advanced wallpaper manager that puts total control of wallpapers into your hands. BossPaper has these features:

• You control which images are displayed. You can use camera roll, installed themes, or a combination of! With Winterboard, you could only install a theme and use what came with it. Now you can use images from many themes or other sources such as BossPaper packs.
• BossPaper stops rotating images as soon as an app launches. This prevents battery and CPU drain.
• BossPaper stops rotating images as soon as the iPhone is locked. This prevents battery drain.
• BossPaper uses very little memory and CPU! It does not inject into apps only SpringBoard so you should not notice any application lag running it.
• BossPaper can use one of many transitions such as fade, water drop, page curl – you configure which one(s) you want. Configure how long the transitions last.
• BossPaper lets you control when to rotate images. You can rotate it on a timer you configure or you can rotate when an app closes, or both!
• BossPaper lets you hide icon labels so those that do not want to install Winterboard can use it without.
• BossPaper lets you dim the wallpaper.

Here are some screenshots of the “in progress” configuration app:

I plan to release a beta of this app in the next couple days in Cydia. Keep on the lookout.

iTypeFastR has been updated and is now 3.0 ready. We also made many improvements in our landscape keyboard. We expected that to be used much more often now that 3.0 supports it in more apps. We also streamlined the graphics a bit, getting rid of some animations, and making the keyboard a bit nicer with [...]

I met with the major repository owners today and we all think SwagBucks apps are a scam against the user. Basically, it’s an app that you use to do some shopping. The guy that wrote the app then accumulates swag buck points or such to buy products.  It wasn’t so bad, but it seems that [...]

RedLaser is the most advanced realtime barcode scanner for common barcodes (UPC/EAN) that works across all iPhones with no autofocus camera necessary. RedLaser scans in realtime straight from the camera feed – no photo necessary, and returns prices from Google product search and links to Amazon.  We’ve also released an SDK that developers can use [...]

For 10 minutes on July 18th a corrupted packages file was posted. If you loaded Cydia during that 10 minute period, your packages file became corrupted. This subsequently causes Cydia to crash each time you use it.

Here are ways to fix it for Windows and Mac users:

**Update 1: crash-x has made a small update to the PDF. Please follow instructions carefully. We have confirmed reports that one or more source-repos besides TheBigBoss may be causing your problems. Removing all the lists may help.