Of course, users of jailbroken iPhones and iPads aren’t restricted to just one location to obtain software for their devices. Cydia, the alternative independent software store, has far fewer restrictions than Apple and for file-sharing fans that can only be good news.

According to a new report, the stalled development of the iTransmission BitTorrent client has now been given a kickstart by a dev known as iOSHomebrew. The tweak has reportedly undergone significant updates, is compatible with iOS 5.x, and is available for download from Cydia now.

“After installation, iTransmission 2 comes with a decent set of configurable options offering a lot of the functionality that you would see from a desktop client of a similar nature,” Redmond Pie reports.

“The ability to toggle a web interface on or off as well as being able to set the app up to download over Wi-Fi network, cellular data connection or both if required, which is obviously a feature to save high data costs.

“Users have the option to add downloads through a number of different methods meaning the tweak is extremely versatile and comes all packed into a very native, but attractive and simple to use user interface,” RP concludes.

iTransmission 2 is available from Cydia now and it costs absolutely nothing.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

A project started by a coder named ‘SaladFork’, Crackulous was officially only available to a limited number of individuals, but it quickly gained notoriety as it makes the process of cracking software ridiculously easy. The successor to the more fiddly xCrack script, Crackulous is now being developed by ‘Angel’ and has a full GUI. All people have to do is buy an app from Apple and click a button, it’s that easy.

Although the software package was publicly released just hours ago, the source for this version (0.9) isn’t yet available. Crackulous is set to be released as open source software so that many people can contribute to its development, with original dev SaladFork commenting, “I’ve filled the source code heavily with comments explaining exactly what it’s doing and how it’s doing it. My hope is that Crackulous can be a learning resource for all the prospective iPhone developers out there, and will be able to revolutionize the cracking scene by producing a standard for application quality and functionality that can easily be reproduced to great effect.”

Currently a few people are reporting that they are experiencing difficulty getting the release to run, while others have no problems. There are also a couple of minor acknowleged bugs, but these are expected to be fixed shortly.

There was a hint of irony during November 2008 as the future of Crackulous was put in doubt. An early version of the software leaked out and SaladFork retaliated by threatening to cancel the entire project saying, “I personally think this leak is absolutely disgusting, and downright insulting.”

The latest version of Crackulous is now officially available from the Hackulous Cydia Repo. Expect it to become one of the most downloaded iPhone apps ever and, of course, Crackulous is free of charge. Let the app-avalanche begin – it could be a difficult one to stop.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

James told TorrentFreak “We decided to develop a game for the iPhone while driving one evening and over the next couple of months put Whack ‘em All together in our spare time. Altogether, its taken us about 250 hours to develop the game with about 100 hours worth of graphics work and 150 hours worth of development, bug testing and submitting the app to Apple.”

The game is available for purchase via the iTunes App Store and has steadily been achieving around 10 sales a day. It’s pretty cheap, at just 99 cents.

On January 4th, Fairlady Media got all excited. Suddenly they discovered they had over 400 brand new users in a day, but after checking with iTunes, disappointment set in. Only 12 people had actually purchased the game. It turned out that the surge was down to pirates – someone had cracked the game and offered it for free on the web. While mildly encouraged that there is demand for the game, James told us he decided to confront the person responsible to “try and figure out why there was such a strong market for pirated apps.”

“I’m the developer for Whack ‘em All. I noticed you’re being given credit for cracking Whack ‘em All and making it generally available for free,” he said in his opening email to the cracker. “We (just my wife and I) haven’t even made enough money off of this to pay for the iPhone we had to buy to develop it on. Just yesterday 40 times more people got your version of the app than bought it off the app store!” James told the cracker he was curious about his motives. Surprisingly, the cracker responded:

“As many iPhone and iPod touch owners have discovered, Apple’s iTunes App Store has many flaws which render it useless to the common user,” he replied. “Apple has chosen to allow a multitude of ridiculous, worthless, poorly-represented applications through its ‘strict’ screening process, nearly all written by mediocre programmers with a dream of getting rich quick. Many of these programmers game the reviews system, misrepresent their application in the description, and generally try to swindle the honest buyer.”

The cracker, known as most_uniQue, went on to say that people are fed up with wasting money on these type of applications, so they simply stopped buying them. He then went on to offer a solution. “Apple could quite easily solve this problem by implementing a sort of trial period for each application, but they do not. The user is forced to buy blindly without ever getting to try the application first.”

most_uniQue told James that he became motivated to crack iPhone games after he bought a few that didn’t live up to their marketing hype, feeling he could help others ‘try before they buy’. “To solve this problem either talk to Apple to allow trials,” he said, “or you can release your game on Cydia with ads.”

James told TorrentFreak that he was happy with the extra exposure generated by the cracked copy of the game, while hoping this would translate into cash to be invested in the development of future projects.

The outcome of this exchange? “My goal would be to get a response from Apple about this,” he told us, while going on to reveal that a free, ad-supported version of the game (and future games) is in the planning.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.