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> ...a beer glass that poured out beer when you tipped the phone, and a lightsaber app... Oh I remember those two. I think they were installed via Cydia[1] no?

> ...a beer glass that poured out beer when you tipped the phone, and a lightsaber app... Oh I remember those two. I think they were installed via Cydia[1] no? Or maybe it was right after, when the official AppStore was launched. Silly, but great wow factor in those early days. [1] for the youngsters here: Cydia was the only way to install apps in your iPhone before the AppStore was created (circa 2008). You had to jailbreak your phone, install Cydia, and then we had a handful of apps that demonstrated iPhone's capabilities. I remember my first app was some marble labyrinth game, that served as a fantastic demonstration of iPhone's accelerometers. Pretty surreal at the time. Saurik, Cydia's main developer, is frequently seen around on HN threads.

jaywalk 4y ago
The beer glass app definitely didn't require a jailbreak, because I used it well before I even jailbroke my iPhone. It was a legit App Store app.
- tinus_hn 4y ago
  When the beer glass app got started every app required a jailbreak because officially there were only Apple apps, the App Store did not exist.
wlesieutre 4y ago
They were on the app store for sure https://www.techeblog.com/ibeer/ https://www.techeblog.com/ibeer/ https://www.macworld.com/article/191906/phonesaber.html https://www.macworld.com/article/191906/phonesaber.html
- speedyapoc 4y ago
  Thanks for linking these. What a fun read. The first few years of the App Store always seemed like the golden age. Users had no idea what these devices could do and were so eager to download and try new things, which fuelled some awesome indie creations.
- opless 4y ago
  They certainly were. I had both :)
gnicholas 4y ago
Wasn't there also a lightsaber sound effect application for Mac laptops, back when they had spinning hard drives with accelerometer sensors that triggered the head to disengage?
- stephenhuey 4y ago
  Yes, I loved it! https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-a-lightsaber/ https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-... I read somewhere that for the past decade this app concept won't work on Macbooks because with the SSDs they no longer have the sudden motion sensor which was used to shut down the hard drive to protect it in case of an accidental drop.

jaywalk 4y ago

The beer glass app definitely didn't require a jailbreak, because I used it well before I even jailbroke my iPhone. It was a legit App Store app.

tinus_hn 4y ago
When the beer glass app got started every app required a jailbreak because officially there were only Apple apps, the App Store did not exist.

wlesieutre 4y ago

They were on the app store for sure https://www.techeblog.com/ibeer/ https://www.techeblog.com/ibeer/ https://www.macworld.com/article/191906/phonesaber.html https://www.macworld.com/article/191906/phonesaber.html

speedyapoc 4y ago
Thanks for linking these. What a fun read. The first few years of the App Store always seemed like the golden age. Users had no idea what these devices could do and were so eager to download and try new things, which fuelled some awesome indie creations.
opless 4y ago
They certainly were. I had both :)

gnicholas 4y ago

Wasn't there also a lightsaber sound effect application for Mac laptops, back when they had spinning hard drives with accelerometer sensors that triggered the head to disengage?

stephenhuey 4y ago
Yes, I loved it! https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-a-lightsaber/ https://osxdaily.com/2006/12/06/macsaber-turn-your-mac-into-... I read somewhere that for the past decade this app concept won't work on Macbooks because with the SSDs they no longer have the sudden motion sensor which was used to shut down the hard drive to protect it in case of an accidental drop.