Someone should check on Steve Jobs right away. He is obviously not acting like his usual self. In fact, Jobs – or someone else very high up at Apple – has either lost their mind completely or flip-flopped entirely on Apple’s longstanding vice grip on TV commercials promoting Apple products. It’s a reality that came to light this week as Verizon – yes, Verizon – has introduced its very own TV spot for the iPad.

Promoting the tablet and Verizon’s MiFi for wireless Internet connection, the new commercial represents such a dramatic change of pace for Apple that it’s almost difficult to fathom. AT&T, for example, which carries the iPhone exclusively in the United States, still is not permitted by Apple to independently produce original commercial advertisements for the smartphone. Somehow, Verizon isn’t being held to the same rule, and now the rival carrier finds itself free to produce an original iPad commercial.

Although rumors have swirled about carrier expansion since AT&T was first announced as Apple’s exclusive partner on the iPhone, Verizon and Apple have arguably worked closer this year than almost anyone first thought possible. Yet it should be noted that Apple’s coziness with Verizon is just one small aspect of an entire outreach policy for Apple that has the Cupertino based tech giant similarly working with more retail outlets than ever before to carry Apple products. So while Verizon may feel special, Apple is simply making the smart business choice to expand its product availability and exposure to as many consumers in the mass market as possible. If nothing else, this commercial may just reflect that policy.

Verizon

If you enjoyed Black’UPS for the iPhone 4 and iPod, then you’ll be sure to love this version designed specifically for the iPad.

Jackietran has a very clean, polished, and remarkably slick designing style, and this theme is sure to impress. The theme is available in Cydia for FREE for via his website: Black’UPS HD icons

Discuss ‘Black’UPS for iPad’ in our forum.

iFusion HD for iPhone 4

iFusion comes from TCCentex, and is designed for the iPhone 4′s Retina Display. If you like iCATALYST HD, or AfterHours, your sure to like this one as well. Almost every part of your UI is themed with this design.

iFusion HD should be available for purchase from Cydia sometime this weekend. Feel free to follow the discussion in our forums.

Here are some new apps and updates to check out in Cydia this week.

MyOS

MyOS is an unified, all-in-one, package tweak, that enables further settings to be adjusted in the Settings App, rather than having to edit a plist file.

Such settings you can enable or disable are: Multitasking, Homescreen WallPapers, Unified iPod (merged video and ipod apps into the Music App), AppStore Access, Contacts, Enable HDR photos, GameCenter (3G only), Camera and Voice Control. Simply choose to enable or disable the options you want, and then respring.

MyOS is available in cydia for $0.99.

Quake 3 Arena HD (for iPad)

If you missed the news earlier, Alexander Pick and Controlsystem have managed to port the Quake 3 app to the iPad to enjoy the wonder HD goodness we have all come to love.

Coming in at 1024×768, you can play online or offline, and features onscreen controls. There is some setup required, as per usual. If you need help setting things up, then you can follow the information provided in the package on cydia.

iControl

iControl will automatically manage the usage of your WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth, and 2G radios on your device, in order to maximize the battery life of your iPhone. iControl allows you to set App-Specific rules, keeping it customized to your liking.

Once you have configured your preferences, iControl will manage things when your phone is locked.

You can find iControl in Cydia for $4.99

Also in Cydia…

Direct Control – Free
Get Access to your iPod music controls first, rather than having the current multi-tasked apps, which show first.

dlssid – $3.99
Recover your Dlink wireless router internet password.

FWSSID – $3.99
Recover Your FastWeb wireless router internet password.

MarkThatMessage – $0.99
Timestamp your MMS/SMS Messages

Plex media streaming software was recently demonstrated running on a 2nd generation jailbroken Apple TV. It’s really just a proof-of-concept demo at the moment, but it does show promise for future development on the Apple TV. Jailbreakers are quickly discovering what this little black box is capable of, and because Apple TV is based on the same hardware architecture as the rest of the iOS family, I’m sure the best is yet to come.

To use Plex on an Apple TV, you must have the Plex client-side software running on your computer. Plex then streams content from your computer to the Apple TV. As this is just a tech demo for now, Plex can only stream video content, not music or photos. The fact that developers have managed to get Plex running at all is quite an impressive feat. Officially, Apple does not allow any third party software on the device. This could all change, however, if and when Steve thinks the time is right to open an Apple TV App Store for the device.

It only makes sense that Plex would eventually come to the Apple TV. After all, Plex is already available for both the iPhone and iPad. It would seem to be only a matter of time before Plex is up and running smoothly on Apple TV. At this point, however, the tech demo hasn’t even been tested.

The future looks bright for Apple’s little hobby. I’d love to see someone get Hulu up and running in the not too distant future as well.

Source: TUAW