How to Trick Your iPhone Into Activation-Hot News iPhone Hack

I DID IT. Were you like me and STUCK with your phone not being activated. Here is the trick into getting your phone activated IMMEDIATELY. Follow these steps EXACTLY:



Notice you WILL NOT KEEP YOUR NUMBER! DON'T DO THIS IF YOU WANT YOUR # STILL
1. Call up AT&T: 1-877-800-3701
2. Tell them to CANCLE your phone number migration. Tell them you want a new number.
3. Once they do this you will receive an email in minutes telling you your activation was cancelled.
4. Reactivate.
5. Your iRock turns into an iPhone!

Just to prove it is true. My activated phone. Be jealous!

Via blog.noahgift.com.

iPhone 2.0, iPhone 3.0 or iPhone Nano - a clamshell/flip phone?

When talking about how Apple is gonna take over mobile phone industry, one of the things that is very rarely talked about, is iPhone form factor.

There’s a reason we have mobile phones in tens of shapes and sizes, and a number of form factors. Some people prefer to have a clamshell or slider in their pocket.

And iPhone is just one pretty wide candybar, the phone factor that can appeal to many, but may not be suitable to even more.

So can Apple come up with something as appealing as iPhone, in another form factor, e.g. - clamshell.

Yes. It does:

The drawings above, are Photoshop renderings, based on a device described in a recent Apple’s patent application, called “Dual sided trackpad“.

It shows that Apple may indeed be working on a clamshell iPhone device. But with a twist.

iPhone 2.0 clamshell patent

The main idea with this device is to separate capacitive touch sensor array and the phone display into two separate units. Then put the touch sensor array on a translucent (transparent) panel, make this panel touch sensitive on both sides - top and bottom and connect them with a hinge.

That’s it. You’ve got you flip iPhone.

When device is closed, transparent touch sensitive panel is covering the whole display area and you’ve got your ordinary full multi-touchscreen iPhone.

When you flip iPhone open, you have a normal phone display and another side of the trackpad becomes multi-touch-active. Through it you control the phone:

• If you want to dial a number, you can just draw it on a trackpad.


• Or the rotational dial may appear on display, and you rotate it by sliding finger on a track pad.


• In the open mode, the transparent trackpad can easily be made to display the standard T9 keypad and other symbols. That can be accomplished by making polarized number and symbol markings that can only be seen when the trackpad is open. Or they can be implemented as tiny LED’s.


• When needed, you can keep both sides of the cover/trackpad touch-active at the same time. Thus having “six degrees of freedom” for control, and enabling 3D gestures on the device. Standard multi-touch gestures along “XY” axis on one side of trackpad, adding “Z” axis for the touch events on the other.

This dual sided trackpad approach can be applied to media player functionality as well. When media player mode is selected and cover is closed, it works just like iPod Touch does - media controls on the screen and you control it via touch/gestures.

Flip it open, and another side of the trackpad acts as a scroll wheel on a standard iPod and more.

So what’s the point of all these shenanigans?

Well, for one, you can make the overall device much smaller, when closed. It will be much more convenient to carry around and will fit well in your pocket.

And it’s also about this clamshell form factor thing. I know quite a few people that won’t even consider any other form of device for a mobile phone.

Also notice how all the pictures in here are pretty similar in shape to the latest generation of iPod Nano?

Well, this might be yet another way Apple may take to create iPhone Nano device.

And a stand alone iPod Nano may also benefit from such setup. Same size, with two times bigger display. iPod Touch Nano or iPod Nano Touch, anyone?

iTablet, Macbook with dual sided trackpads too? Why not

While dual sided trackpad on a new phones is interesting, Apple sees much wider applications for the whole idea.

One of them is Apple Tablet.

Just take the standard laptop form factor, put all the electronics behind the display panel, and make all the bottom part into a transparent dual sided trackpad. And you’ve got yourself an iTab:

• In a closed position, it becomes a standard slate tablet computer, with a multi-touch touchscreen.


• Open it to up-to 160 degree angle, and it becomes a normal laptop computer. The bottom side becomes the control device, with multi-touch trackpad and/or keyboard functions. Add polarized light symbols and/or that multi-touch keyboard technologies, that Apple has been developing for a while now, and overall experience might be richer then on today’s Macbook.


• Then, if the tablet is open form more then 160 degrees, sharing mode can be enabled. The picture on display rotates 180 degrees, towards the person(s) you are making the presentation for, and you control the process via trackpad on your side. Or split screen mode can be enabled, so both you and the presentee see the same picture.

And, of course, the same dual sided transparent trackpad technology can be applied to your standard Macbook computer. Why? Think Sideshow, just simpler to make and use, cheaper and more capable.

When your computer is open, it’s just another multi-touch trackpad. Close it, and the trackpad becomes a small external display (just like Vista Sideshow), with full multi-touch capabilities.

You can check your e-mails, control iTunes music player, receive weather alerts and quite a few other things.

And, as patent application says, when OLED displays become mainstream, they will allow only a small part of the display that is visible through the trackpad to be active.

Now think about wide trackpads that are on Macbook Pro’s already. Make the dual sided transparent trackpads a little bigger in size - something like current iPod Touch. Think about laptop battery. Touchscreen. MacbookAir…

Currently both your iPod and Macbook gives you several hours of music, video playback and net browsing on one charge.

But put a dual-sided transparent trackpad on a Macbook Air, and you got yourself an ultimate travel device. Thin, light and, with only part of the OLED display beneath trackpad active, it can work for days, when needed, on one charge.

And in case you are wondering how far these drawings are from the real product, take a look at this picture:

The drawing on the right is the picture from the original iPhone patent, which was filed on March 03, 2006. The “Dual sided trackpad” patent was filed on Sept. 06 that same year.

So, while no promises here, and there are quite a few Apple’s patents that never became something more, we also might be in for some interesting surprises this sumer/fall.

You can download full patent application here (1.8MB *.pdf).

iPhone Getting Multitouch Games, Including Spore, Super Monkey Ball

I've got good news and better news. The good news is that the iPhone is getting multitouch games that use the accelerometer and every bell and whistle of the iPhone for controls. The better news? Developers such as EA and Sega are on board. EA is bringing the insanely anticipated game Spore to it. All 18 levels. Yes, this is real, and it'll be released in September. Also, Sega is bringing Super Monkey Ball, and the App Store looks like it'll have a bunch of casual games available as well. Does this bring the iPhone up to DS and PSP levels? We'll have to see just how these games look and play, but it's pretty exciting stuff. UPDATE: iPhone Spore coming in September, says Kotaku.







Via gizmodo.com.

Rumor: iPhones, iPod to be $100 cheaper very soon?

Are you one who’s been wanting that iPhone or iPod Touch but on a budget? You might be in luck within the next two months, there are rumors (of course) swirling that Apple is planning a $100 price drop across the board. That would make for a $300 16GB iPod Touch, or $400 for a 32GB Touch or 16GB iPhone.

Coupled with the pending SDK, that makes the iPhone almost appealing to even the most hardened anti-iPhone cynic. Even me.

$100 price drop on iPhones and iPods coming in the next two months [9-to-5 Mac]

Google Sees Surge in iPhone Traffic

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Of all the iPhone’s features, none had reviewers gushing more than its Internet browser. It was the first cellphone browser that promised something resembling the experience of surfing the Internet on a PC. Santa helped deliver on that promise.

On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to internal Google data made available to The New York Times. A few days later, iPhone traffic to Google fell below that of devices powered by the Nokia-backed Symbian operating system but remained higher than traffic from any other type of cellphone.

The data is striking because the iPhone, an Apple product, accounts for just 2 percent of smartphones worldwide, according to IDC, a market research firm. Phones powered by Symbian make up 63 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, while those powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile have 11 percent and those running the BlackBerry system have 10 percent.

The iPhone has taken the frustration out of browsing on a mobile phone, said Charles Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company.

Other companies confirmed the trends, if not the specific data, observed by Google. Yahoo, for instance, said iPhones accounted for a disproportionate amount of its mobile traffic. And AdMob, a firm that shows billions of ads on mobile Web sites every month, said it saw traffic from iPhones surge drastically around Christmas.

“Consumers are going to demand Internet browsers” as good as Apple’s, said Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president who oversees mobile products.

Mr. Gundotra said Web browsers as capable as the iPhone’s could also prove a boon for developers of mobile software, who have long struggled to adapt their programs to different types of phones. As it does on the PC, he said, the browser could provide a more homogeneous “layer” for programmers.

“The reason no one considered this seriously is that the Web layer on mobile devices was terrible,” he said. Google has taken advantage of the capabilities of the iPhone browser to create a product, internally called Grand Prix, that it says provides easy access to many of the company’s services, including search, Gmail, Reader and Picasa.

Google, which developed the first version of Grand Prix in six weeks, is introducing a new version on Monday, just six weeks after the first one. That is a speed of development not previously possible on mobile phones, he said.

John Markoff contributed reporting from San Francisco.

First iPhone Trojan Seen in the World

Apple's going to have a field day with this. "See, if you hadn't hacked or jailbroken your iPhone, this wouldn't have happened," and "look what could happen."

This malware, more of a prank than anything else, targets those who have modified their iPhone so they can install 3rd-party utilities. In this case, the trojan masquerades as an update to Erica's Utilities.

The package is called "iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep" and doesn't do much; it just displays "shoes." However, because of the way it installs, when you try to remove it, it will remove Erica's Utilities and other apps like OpenSSH as well.

So the big hassle is having to re-install them. But it does show what could be done if someone wanted to.

Both Symantec and F-Secure have advisories on the malware. The hosting websites have been taken down, so both feel that the risk is now minimal. Notably, the malware was apparently written by an 11-year-old.

Best "iPhone Killer". Who?

So, there are many iPhone competitors at the market of mobile phones. Thus, we wish to ask the Internet users " iPhone Killer " in your opinion, can make a real competition at the market of mobile phones? Express your opinion!

# Samsung F700

First iPhone Killer - Samsung F700 is an ultra smart HSDPA capable 3.5G mobile phone. The Samsung F700 phone is an elegantly designed mobile phone which includes best range of multimedia features with download speeds of up to 7.2Mbps. The handset supports GPRS, UMTS (3G) and EDGE minus WiFi. The Samsung F700 mobile phone is built with a touch screen with Drag and drop facility and QWERTY key pad. Samsung F700 handset comes with a 5 MP digital camera with auto focus and flash. It also includes a secondary camera to make video calls. You can watch videos, listen to songs, share your photographs and send and receive email with a Samsung F700 handset.

Samsung F700 Hands-On Video:

# LG PRADA

Second iPhone Killer - LG Prada. LG teams up with the fashion house Prada to bring you a beautiful mobile gizmo, the LG Prada KE850. The LG KE850 Prada is a glamorous creation meant to carve a niche for itself with its sensuous black looks. You will be enamored with the exclusive Prada- style 3 inch touch screen display of the LG KE850. The LG Prada is a luxuriously designed handset with a smooth and glossy leather casing. The LG Prada is a perfect gizmo for the music-lovers with its multi-formatted audio player and a decent memory size. The LG Prada KE 850 also packs up different features like a 2 megapixel camera, an MPEG4 video recorder and a document viewer.

LG Prada Phone Video Test:

# Nokia Aeon

Third iPhone Killer - Nokia Aeon. The concept phone will feature a full surface touch screen display that replaces the traditional keypad. Its unique design gives this concept phone an extremely sleek and sexy look. Nokia should use some perfected material that doesn't leave fingerprints on Aeon's touch screen display; otherwise, you will probably spend half your time wiping it.

Nokia Aeon Video:

# Neonode N2

Fourth iPhone Killer - Neonode N2. It's the patented screen technology that enables the unique design of Neonode N2 and makes it so easy to use. You do everything on-screen simple and convenient. Neonode N2 is also an open platform, which means that you can download all the additional applications and features you want your device to have. With Neonode WRR you can also record and fill your Neonode N2 with music from radio channels on the web. It's the patented screen technology that enables the unique design of Neonode N2 and makes it so easy to use. You do everything on-screen simple and convenient. Neonode N2 is also an open platform, which means that you can download all the additional applications and features you want your device to have. With Neonode WRR you can also record and fill your Neonode N2 with music from radio channels on the web.

Neonode N2 Hands-On Video:

# Neo1973

Fifth iPhone Killer - Neo1973. The device, getting thrown together courtesy of the OpenMoko project with the goal of open-sourcing both the phone and the platform, will drop first in $200 "Hacker's Lunchbox" trim (for the aforementioned hackers) late this month featuring a seemingly bombproof plastic box to hold your GPLed bundle of joy and its dev tools.

Neo1973 Video:

# Asus Aura

Sixth iPhone Killer - Asus Aura. The Asus Aura phone will be featured a sliding QWERTY keyboard, a movable navigation module with navigation buttons, a 3.9 touchscreen display, a 2MP camera, GSM, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth connectivity. It has some things that the Apple iPhone doesn't, such as HSDPA and UMTS. Sadly, the Asus Aura is just a concept.

# FIC-GTA001

Seventh iPhone Killer - FIC-GTA001. Linux-based, GPS-equipped, quad-band GSM/GPRS phone direct, worldwide, for 350USD or less, in Q1, 2007. First International Computing's (FIC's) "Neo1973" or FIC-GTA001, is the first phone based on the open-source "OpenMoKo" platform.

# BenQ-Siemens Black Box

Eighth iPhone Killer - BenQ-Siemens Black Box. The interesting concept phone from BenQ Siemens. Similar to a concept phone call BenQ Siemens Ruby , the Black Box uses a touch screen as its keypad. Depends on the functions you are using, the touch screen change the control layout immediately.

# Meizu M8

Ninth iPhone Killer - Meizu M8. In terms of raw specs, the M8 is said to sport standard GSM, TD-SCDMA for 3G data, a 3.3-inch widescreen (720x480) display, Bluetooth, and an ARM11 CPU. What's more, they've upped the ante in the camera department, beating Apple's picture-taker by one whole megapixel. The 3MP cam on board is also capable of recording video at 30fps (at the device's full 720 x 480 resolution).

Meizu M8 Video from CeBit 2007:

What your choice?

read more | digg story

Exclusive: Apple to adopt Intel's ultra-mobile PC platform

Kasper Jade

Published: 10:00 AM EST

Apple Inc. will form a closer bond with once-rival Intel Corp. early next year when it begins building a new breed of ultra-mobile processors from the chipmaker into a fresh generation of handheld devices, AppleInsider has learned.

The two firms have been rubbing the sticks ever since the Spring of 2005, when Apple agreed to use Intel's desktop and mobile class processors to further the development of its Mac product line, leaving behind an ailing relationship with PowerPC chip supplier IBM.

In the months that followed, Intel went on to form an internal 'Apple Group' comprised of engineering and sales staff who serve to aid Apple's engineers in Intel-related product development, while pitching to the computer maker new technologies from its own internal skunkwork operations. 

By last March, the two industry heavyweights were admittedly on to something when Deborah Conrad, vice president and director of Team Apple at Intel, told a group of CNet reporters that Apple's way of looking at the world was making Intel "think different" about its own business.

"That's really what's interesting about Apple, is they look at our technology in a very Apple way," she said, adding that when it came to the prospect of future gadgets other than the iPod, her team got "very, very excited."

The pair's first foray into this extended venture appears to have been the Apple TV wireless set-top-box, which employed a down clocked Intel Pentium M "Crofton" chip at its core. But what's on tap next promises to push the envelope in a completely different direction -- ultra-mobile PCs.

People familiar with the matter tell AppleInsider that Apple will soon emerge as one of the largest supporters of Intel's "Menlow" Mobile Internet Device (MID) platform -- the same platform the Santa Clara-based chipmaker has been harping about for the past several months.

More specifically, those same people say, Apple has taken a liking to the upcoming 45-nanometer (nm) "Silverthorne" chip, agreeing to use it in not one but multiple products currently situated on its 2008 calendar year product roadmap. 

Introduced at this year's Spring Intel Developer Forum (IDF) with availability slated for early 2008, Silverthorne is aimed specifically at cell phones, ultra-mobile PCs and other MIDs. The chip is expected to be as fast as the second-generation of Pentium M processors, but use only between half a watt and 2 watts of electrical power -- about one tenth as much as a typical notebook chip.

For his part, Intel chief executive Paul Otellini has gone on record in placing the advancements due with Silverthorne in the same light as those delivered by the original Pentium microprocessor way back when.

"The importance of the new Silverthorne chip is only comparable with the 8088 processor or Pentium,” he told the German-language Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in a June interview. Otellini added that his firm plans to deploy a whole "product family" of 45 nm Silverthorne chips in the near future aimed at capturing the "top 10 to 20 percent of the cellphone market.”

While those people familiar with Apple's product roadmap did not specify in which products the company planned to utilize the Silverthorne processors, two seemingly apparent contenders appear to be the second-generation 3G iPhone and the much rumored Newton successor / ultra-portable slate computer.



That's because, in addition to its extremely favorable power envelope, Silverthorne can fit onto a scant 74mm by 143mm motherboard -- paving the way for lighter, sleeker industrial designs. What's more, Intel in September announced plans to offer ultra-mobile PC builders such as Apple the option to build WiFi, 3G, and WiMAX technologies into their Menlow-based chip packages, such as Silverthorne.

While embedded support for these features threatens Apple's ongoing relationship with several component makers like South Korea-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) supplier Samsung -- whose chips power both the iPhone and new iPod touch -- it presents several cost- and space-saving opportunities for iPhone-like gadgets going forward.

Speaking at the Spring IDF, Otellini said Silverthorne focuses more on cost-efficiency than any of his company's recent designs, which should help Intel boost margins while simultaneously making ultra-mobile computing more affordable worldwide.



"Silverthorne is the most cost efficient processor since the 286," he said, wielding a 300mm wafer containing a whopping of 2500 of the 45nm processors. "But it is about 100 times faster."

Otellini promised that the average price of a Silverthorne-based product would be approximately $100, which in itself suggests numerous inexpensive devices for Apple. However, several pricier products are also expected to sport the technology alongside added features.

It remains unclear whether Apple will be ready to divulge details of its own Silverthrone-based products at next month's Macworld Expo, or if those announcements will be reserved until a later date to coincide with general availability of the Intel chip.

Nevertheless, Apple's decision to adopt the Menlow platform further suggests a longer-term strategy that would indeed see the electronics maker step up to that platform's successor, Moorestown, in 2009 or 2010.


Intel shows off iPhone-like concept device running on Moorestown platform | Image courtesy of DailyTech.

At the most recent Fall IDF, Intel executives flaunted an unnamed Moorestown processor, describing it as the 'chip the iPhone would have wanted.' Similar to Silverthorne, the 45nm design bundles an integrated memory controller, video encode/decode engine and graphics processor all on a single SoC.

During an ensuing demonstration, executives whipped out an iPhone-like ultra-mobile PC in apparent homage to Apple, explaining that the Moorestown-based device could run constantly for 24 hours between charges.

read more | digg story

Orange iPhone data plans revealed

MacScoop has found the iPhone subscription plans for France by searching Orange’s iPhone website, and found unlinked pages that showed the pricing plans.

49€/mo Plan:
- 2 hours + 2 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 50 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and data

59€/mo Plan:
- 3 hours + 3 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 100 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

79€/mo Plan:
- 5 hours + 5 (late evening or week-end) hours of voice calls:
- 150 SMS
- 10 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

119€/mo Plan:
- 8 hours + 8 hours of voice calls:
- 1000 SMS
- 100 hours of Orange Wifi
- Unlimited VoiceMail, E-Mail and EDGE data

Although all the plans advertise Unlimited EDGE data, Orange warns that their will be an unofficial fair use limit of 500MB. Also, it should be noted that the low end iPhone plans all include only 10 hours of Orange’s international Wifi and only the top plan for 119€/mo includes 100 hours of their Wifi. All of these limitations, and time restrictions limit this plan, an don’t make it as desirable as it could be.

read more | digg story

IPhone Must Be Offered Without Contract Restrictions, German Court Rules

PARIS, Nov. 20 — Last month, French law forced Apple to promise that consumers could buy a version of its iPhone in this country without having to be locked into a long-term contract with Orange, the only mobile phone operator offering the new device.

Now, the same issue is tripping up Apple’s plans to sell the music-playing cellphone in Germany, the largest European telephone market. Last week, the Vodafone Group won the first round of a legal case against T-Mobile over its exclusive deal to sell the iPhone there.

A German court ruled that T-Mobile must offer the iPhone to everyone, even without the 24-month contract that it had required for buyers of the phone, which went on sale in Germany for 399 euros ($591) on Nov. 9. T-Mobile is appealing the ruling.

Vodafone of Britain had tried to secure its own pan-European exclusive deal with Apple for the iPhone. A spokesman, Simon Gordon, said the company was not trying to block the sale of the device but rather trying to level the playing field in Germany. Vodafone operates Vodafone Germany, the No. 2 German carrier. T-Mobile, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is the industry leader there, with 34 million customers.

Various European countries have laws that protect consumers from being forced to buy something else as a condition of buying a product. Britain does not have the same kind of restrictions, allowing O2, a mobile network operator owned by Telefónica of Spain, to sell the iPhone there with an 18-month exclusive contract.

Although Apple has announced sales plans for only the three largest European markets, restrictions on whether carriers can tie or subsidize phones also exist in several other Continental countries, including Belgium, Italy and Finland.

T-Mobile’s position is that tying a mobile phone to a contract with one provider is rare but not new in Germany, while Vodafone argues that all mobile phones sold there should be available for use with any provider. T-Mobile insisted that iPhone sales would continue uninterrupted, but warned that it reserved the right to seek damages from Vodafone.

The iPhone is scheduled to go on sale next week in France. The exclusive French carrier, Orange, a subsidiary of France Télécom, has not disclosed any details of the purchase, like the minimum length of the contract for locked models, or the cost of the unlocked model. An Orange spokeswoman, Béatrice Mandine, did not return phone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

The iPhone competes directly with models from Nokia and Sony Ericsson, which have the widest offerings in phones that combine digital music players and cellphones, according to an analysis released this month by the consulting firm M:Metrics. The consultancy also said that the demand for premium phones and features was stronger in Europe than in the United States.

A year ago, a French court ruled against Sony’s requirement that songs sold in its online music store be played only on Sony devices. Apple faces a similar court challenge in France over its iTunes songs, which are tied to the iPod. The iPod’s music- and video-playing features are built into the iPhone.

read more | digg story

Apple vs. Google in open source mobility

So the battle is joined (sort of).

In this corner we have Google, the challenger, with its open source hardware specification for a mobile platform.

And in this corner we have Apple, the champion, with real hardware, and a software development kit, but an iffy record in supporting open source.

Who will win? Will either?

Open Handset Alliance logoAt this point my money is on Apple. Real hardware beats imaginary hardware every time in my book. (I can’t use that thing to the left.)

Google, and its partners, need to get their orders into China or, preferably, Taiwan (the turnaround is faster there) right now. Only upon delivery can the competition really start.

What history tells me is to bet on Google. In many ways it is replicating the strategy Microsoft used over 20 years ago to take the PC market from Apple’s Macintosh.

This was not due to some genius on Bill Gates’ part, as some Microsoft acolytes may claim. It was due to the fact he let anyone sell DOS, and promised everyone they would get Windows, while Apple kept its secrets proprietary.

I was younger then, and time moved more slowly for me, so I remember it well. Comdexes came and went, Apple’s coterie of fans grew as fast as Apple could make Macs and they could find cash to buy them, while Microsoft spread promises.

I was there when Microsoft finally delivered Windows 1.0, at a 1986 Comdex roast hosted by John Dvorak himself. Gates hand-signed a copy for me. I keep it on a shelf here at home.

But that software did not do the job, and neither did its successor. It was not until several years later, with Windows 3.0, that Microsoft finally had something that met some of its promises.

Yet despite being behind by over a half-decade, Microsoft kept its market share. Why? Because it had what might later be called an open source strategy. It let anyone license its software, on easy terms, and everyone did. While Apple kept its Macintosh technology strictly proprietary.

There are indications, with the release of the SDK, that Steve Jobs may have learned this lesson. Besides, China can now supply whatever quantities of iPhones the market demands, and cheap. He doesn’t have to make them all himself. He doesn’t really have to charge a premium price for them.

So will Google Microsoft Apple, or will Apple bite back?

Who will win the open source mobility wars?

read more | digg story

iPhone 1.1.2 downloaded!

Looks like Apple just published firmware v1.1.2 for the iPhone; hit the download link to grab it yourself because iTunes hasn't yet gotten wise to the fact that it's out. Details to follow, but don't expect jailbreak or the unactivated Safari workaround hack to still be functional, ok? (... aaaand we're watching our download speed drop as our readers are grabbing the file. Rockin'.) Update: TIFF jailbreak exploit is dead. Sorry people. More below.



Update: Ok, We're "sacrificing" an iPhone for you people. We'll let you know what we find.

* Extracting software... restarting... iTunes successfully upgraded to 1.1.2.
* The "slide for emergency" slider flashed through different languages while it was waiting to be plugged in again.
* It's activated, pulled the backup data, and restarted -- success! Officially on 1.1.2.
* Testing jailbreakme.com... looks like they broke jailbreak! Yep, it's broken alright.
* Not really finding any new features -- certainly no new icons, no voice memos, nothing obvious about disk mode. Anyone else finding anything?
* Looks like international keyboards are finally enabled! Score one for everyone overseas who can't use their now-relocked iPhone.
* A few reports are coming in that their iPhone is "much faster now" (not that we remember ours being slow at all before). Maybe Apple made some performance tweaks this update.
* Can anyone confirm whether TurboSIM is working with this update?

To those scouring the internets searching for a changelog or support sheet on Apple's site, don't keep it to yourself, ok?


Tired of spyware and viruses? Get this TrustedAntivirus



read more | digg story

Apple Tablet PC is real, says Asus

Crave hangs with people in high places -- that's how we get exclusives and free food. A few weeks ago we were having a civilised dinner with our friends at Asus and angling for cool stories when we were told in a very hushed manner: "Asus is helping Apple build a Tablet PC."

We're tempted to ignore all Apple rumours because there's just so many of them, but this rings true because Asus is Apple's contract manufacturer. It's one of the companies responsible for building the iBooks, PowerBooks and MacBooks of this world, so when their guys tell us they're building an Apple Tablet, we believe them.

We checked back with our source at Asus on a different day and they confirmed that the Apple Tablet will not be based on existing Asus designs such as the R1. It will come from a completely new blueprint, possibly based on the patent Apple filed back in May 2005. We're guessing it'll be based on Intel Core architecture, a tweaked version of Leopard, and have all the multi-touch, CoverFlow goodness we've seen in the iPhone and iPod touch.

So, can Apple turn the Tablet PC into a success when previous attempts have failed? The short answer is 'yes'. Any company that can make a mobile phone with no buttons, no picture messaging, slow Web access and no video capture into the most desirable phone on the planet can easily make tablets popular.

Sadly, we've no word on when we can expect the Apple Tablet PC, nor what the final specs will be, but you can bet your bottom dollar it's being built as you read this. Mac fanboys rejoice. -Rory Reid

read more | digg story

Apple Store Sales Guy Nearing Meltdown. [Overheard + Story Description]

Overheard Conversation--about the iPhone. Arrogant Apple Store sales guy vs. confused seemingly meek customer. Turns into mini-drama. (Overheard text, plus description of front & back stories.) Not for everybody. But amusing, different. Guy seems to go through a mini-story arc in a few minutes.

[Apple Store - North NJ]

Woman 1: (Late 60s) I'm looking for a J-Phone. My grandson wants me...
Guy Clerk: (Early 20s, black clothes, designer glasses.) (Sneers.) We don't carry J-phones.
Woman 1: This is the Apple store? Yes, J-phones.
Guy Clerk: Sorry. No Js. Any other letters?
Woman 1: (Confused) Uh...
Other Woman: (Good samaritan) She means "I". What's wrong with you?
Guy Clerk: Oh. "I." Of course. iPhones. We carry them.
Woman 1: (Places her outdated phone on counter next to iPhone) Isn't a phone a phone? What's the difference between these?
Guy Clerk: You mean other than yours was made before the Industrial Revolution, before dinosaurs roamed the earth...and no one living in this century would be caught...
Woman 1: You're not happy are you? You think you're better than being a sales person at the mall.
Guy Clerk: (surprised, pauses.) No. Yes. I guess...
Woman 1: You're not. You're a sales clerk and you're rude and small. I'd like to speak with your supervisor.
Guy Clerk: (contrite) Look, I'm...
Woman 1: Now. (Sales guy still hesitates.) Not tomorrow. Now.

B-Take
[Back & Front Story]

We watched this interaction unfold kind of like a slow motion car wreck. You see the soon-to-collide elements, you know what's going to happen (or you think you do), you'd like to try to stop it but you can't; so you just pause and watch. (And in our case, try to scribble down as quickly and unobtrusively as possible the dialogue. There were 2 of us, so we think we got it; but - full disclosure -- a few of the words had to be re-interpreted from our barely legible notes.)

The dynamics were there. Angry miserable sales guy, a meltdown waiting to happen. (Minutes earlier he had told a customer basically to shut the f**k up when she insisted her iPod wasn't working. In fact, it wasn't.) And hapless customer - an older woman, apparently weak, confused, the perfect target.

Only this woman wasn't what she appeared to be. When she turned on the guy - suddenly, telling him off - it was like he heard a gun shot detonate. His head snapped back, then to the side, his eyes literally bugged out for a second or two like they do in cartoons. That's how unexpected the woman's transformation was - from clueless pathetic grandma to don't-give-me-s**t-you-a-hole tough senior babe.

The manager did quickly come out, as the woman requested. He was in the same black outfit as the sales guy. The "hip" uniform. Just like Steve Jobs. (Don't they know all black is not hip anymore; it's stupid, cliché, tacky, posing?) He apologized profusely. He then took the sales guy to the side and (not quietly) spoke to him. (We could hear sporadic words. Crazy, get help, apologize, sick, apologize or...) The woman continued standing by the counter talking to some other customers who were now laughing and congratulating her for her "heroism," the new shopping mall senior-babe super hero.

Then the sales guy came back. He looked like he'd gotten some very bad news. Or maybe he'd already gotten very bad news and it was finally hitting him. His body looked slack, he appeared exhausted. He apologized, saying (incongruously, inappropriately) to the effect, he just split up with his wife, he hasn't seen his kids in a week (he looks 20 years old, how could he have kids! - our thought), he hasn't slept, he's had unexplained digestive problems (no joke, he said this), etc., etc. Then he handed the woman a gift certificate of some kind. She looked at her new customer friends, who were nodding, then at the guy. She said (really): "Sounds like a tragedy, hon. If I wanted tragedy I'd have lunch with my ex-husband."

The sales guy nodded. He then smiled a little; then a little more, almost a laugh. He handed the woman her iPhone package. She looked at him a second or two, reached out and patted him on the shoulder. Then she left. The manager was walking across an aisle and started approaching the sales guy. The sales guy waved at him; then he gave the manager the finger, then walked out the store.

We were now in soap opera territory. Not a car wreck -- a melodrama, the middle of a story arc. Some of the customers laughed. The Manager shook his head and walked past us and he laughed.

Us? We ran out after the guy. We caught him near an ornate marble fountain. We asked him whether all his personal problems were true. He told us (after a lot of hesitating and our talking about other stuff): Yea, the problems were true, all except the kids (there he got carried away, he said); he had no kids. (We knew it!) He said he was working at the store while going to grad school. And, yes, he hated the job, it was a bore -- he hated the attitude, like selling Apple stuff was an honor; but really it was no different than selling shoes, except selling shoes paid more. He knew he was taking out his frustration on customers; he felt bad about it, but he assumed he would be fired weeks ago and that would be it. What does it take to be fired, he asked. Apple's supposed to be about customer service, yet they seemed to like he was acting like an a-hole, he said. That pissed him off even more. The hypocrisy. They wanted him to act cool, kind of above it all, it was part of the image. But not crossing the line (whevever it was that week), to the point of terrorizing the customers.

He sat on the edge of the fountain and stared at the pennies at the bottom. There were 1000s of them. (We thought, who comes to the mall with pennies?)

He asked us who we were. We told him, nobody, we had a website, part of a small media company, etc. He wouldn't tell us where he went to grad school or what he was studying. But he said that lady, just now, got to him. What he wanted right now more than anything, he said, was a big hot fudge ice cream sundae, with marshmellow. Sounded good to us.

We headed back to the Apple store - because, in fact, we were there to buy something. There was a new person - a woman, also in black - behind the counter where "our" sales guy had been. She seemed enthusiastic and was talking happily to a customer. No meltdown for her, at least for now. But maybe she was new, maybe in a few weeks; we had time, we'd be back. There was always something in the store we wanted, even if we couldn't afford it.
...overhear more

--Overheard in: Apple Store, North NJ--


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Undercover video: Why Apple only takes credit cards for iPhones

Earlier this week, in a post headlined Apple, hackenomics, and the waning anonymity (and obsoletion) of cash, I warned of how Apple’s practice of requiring credit cards to purchase iPhones wreaks of a future where our cash is no good and our privacy is sacrificed as a result of dealing in the far more trackable (and far less anonymous than cash) currency of plastic (credit cards, debit cards).

As I reported in that first piece, Apple hasn’t been very forthcoming about its reasons for requiring a credit card to purchase an iPhone. So, I came up with a list of my own possibilities, all but one of which were big brother-esque in nature. After all, why else would Apple require a credit card if it wasn’t going to retain that information which includes your identity for some reason? There is no information for a merchant to retain when you buy something with cash. Apple must want that information for something. Perhaps even more worthy of scrutiny, according to some members of the credit card industry that reached out to me, is whether Apple’s practice violates any legal agreements, standards, or laws when it comes to credit card processing.

That post drew a flood of Talkbacks; privacy is clearly a topic that people are passionate about and there’s nothing that outrages consumers more than an attempt to track them. But is it true? Is Apple not accepting cash for iPhones? And if so, are Apple Store personnel offering any explanations to customers? To find out, I paid an visit to a nearby Apple Store and we captured most of the conversation on video tape (show in the attached video). [Editor’s Note: The video is not currently available. We apologize for the inconvenience.]

So, what did I learn. First, it is true that if you walk up to a cash register at an Apple Store with $399 in cash, you will be told that you need a credit or debit card. You can see this happening to me at the cash register in the Apple Store. As I’m taking four $100 bills out of my pocket, the clerk informs me that I must pay with a credit card.

Just as interesting however is the fact that you don’t need a credit/debit card for the entire purchase. When it became clear that my $399 in cash was no good at the Apple Store (for an iPhone), the clerk that I spoke with suggested that I pay $1 of the purchase price with my credit card and the rest in cash. This of course makes it clear that Apple needs the information on your credit card for something important. But what?

As you can see in the video, I asked the clerk as well as a manager for some explanation of the policy and all they would tell me is that it’s just the company’s policy. There was no explanation. Apple stores even have a small sign at the cash register that mentions the credit card requirement when it comes to iPhones. But this is where it got very interesting. When I pushed a little harder, the manager went over to a terminal near the cash register and said that there might be something he could do for me. He had to look something up. The line behind me was growing and it was at this point that I said I’d come back.

When I went back (we don’t have this part on video), I asked for the same manager. But this time, a woman came out and I told her that the first manager I was dealing with had offered to look something up. Before I could finish, she said “Your name.” She went on to explain that I was only allowed to buy a maximum of two iPhones and that, if they could determine with some confidence that I had not already reached that quota, that they could sell me one for cash. She did not however comment on the credit card requirement or explain the point of that policy. But Apple apparently is in a bind right now. It’s in a cat and mouse game with hackers who have made it possible to divorce (”unlock”) Apple’s iPhones from the AT&T wireless service that Apple is contractually bound to keep the phones married to. Why would hackers do this? One reason is that there’s a healthy gray market for unlocked iPhones in Europe where the handsets are fetching some steep prices that are very profitable to anyone who has a supply.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots. Apple has relationships that its contractually bound to protect and must do whatever it can to eliminate the gray market. As far as unique indentifiers go, credit cards are a pretty good token for authenticating someone’s identity. At the very least, Apple is probably retrieving (from the credit card) and keeping the name of every person who buys an iPhone. This way, when you go to buy another one, they can see if an iPhone has already been purchased by someone with the same name. But then comes the question of whether they are retaining your credit card number as well. How could they not?

After all, there are lots of people with the same name and the odds are pretty good that certain names have already exceeded their quotas. But certain names coupled with certain credit card numbers. No way. The credit card number is quite unique and if Apple’s database shows that two iPhones have already been purchased by someone who’s identity was authenticated with the same credit card, that would be a red flag against selling them a third phone. Are there ways to beat the system? Probably. All you need is another credit card. What isn’t clear though is the extent to which Apple’s system tries to determine a match. For example, if it does a credit card lookup and there’s no match on credit card, will it fall back to your name and geographic area (somewhat reliable, but not totally)? But then, there are more questions about the legality of what Apple is doing.

After publishing that first blog post, I heard from the credit card industry (in that post, I wondered aloud what Visa’s policies were with respect to Apple’s practice). Although nobody has yet to go on record, as it turns out, there’s a security and privacy standard called PCI DSS that practically every participant in the credit card ecosystem is required to adhere to. As far as I can tell, the standard policy potentially yields two important results. First, it protects the privacy of cardholders. Second, it helps merchants and card issuers manage risk. It does this by spelling out in fairly detailed terms what can and can’t be done with the information that’s retrieved off a credit card’s magnetic stripe and the lengths to which IT systems must go to protect data (eg: it talks about firewalls, encyrption, etc.).

While the PCI DSS documentation is vague about what data can be retained by a merchant and for how long, the explanation I got made it clear that if Apple is using credit card numbers for reasons other than completing monetary transactions — in other words, if Apple is using credit card numbers for the purpose of tracking (as seems to be the case here) — that Apple might not only be in violation of PCI DSS, it could also be breaking some laws (some of which are based on PCI DSS) as well as breaching the terms of its agreements with card issuers and credit card companies such as Visa, MasterCard, and American express (who, as you can see by the fines that Visa levied against TJX for the “worst data breach in the payment industry’s history,” guard the privacy of cardholders with relatively bloodthirsty lawyers).

Although my contacts at Visa say they’re working on it, several days have passed since that conversation began: more than enough time to answer the question of whether Apple has violated the company’s policies or credit card industry cardholder privacy standards. My educated guess is that Apple’s practices have kicked off a shitstorm of an inquisition in the credit card industry that has lawyers on both sides poring through the PCI DSS documentation, merchant contracts, and state/federal laws and that this isn’t the last we will hear of this.

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Apple updates iPhones to 1.1.2

It's official: iPhone 1.1.2

We get some hands-on time with version 1.1.2 of the Apple iPhone firmware, courtesy of our UK iPhone.

In the UK, November 9th is D-day for everything iPhone. One detail about this date strikes the fear of god into iPhone hackers, however: with the UK phone launching on firmware 1.1.2, it's a question of time before the rest of the world's jesus phones will follow.

As part of our iPhone review, we've been having a play around with the new firmware this week, and there are plenty of cool new changes that will make Apple's cell a truly global affair.

First off, there's support for dozens of languages, so if you happen to be a fluent Cantonese speaker, the phone has all the relevant character sets so you can display your language properly.

There's full support for French and German, with special keyboard lay-outs on the ready to tackle accented characters - perfectly understandable, of course, what with the phone heading for launch across the channel this month too.

And then there's access to The Cloud WiFi hotspots, which is already available to iPod Touch customers. This exclusive iPhone deal will let UK punters get onto the web, and use wi-fi to download tunes using the iTunes WiFi store, or just zip around the web at broadband pace, all for free!

Undoubtedly, 1.1.2 will send the hacking community into frenzy - the previous update certainly did. We're not advocating hacking your iPod in any way, of course, but some gentle experimentation shows that the TIFF exploit (described over at MacNN) which could be used to jailbreak and hack the 1.1.1 iPhone has been closed, rendering the latest attempts to jailbreak the phone obsolete.

It'll all become clear this Friday when the iPhone finally launches here in Britain - and when the 1.1.2 update starts being seeded out to iPhone users all over the place.

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An Open Letter to Apple: Podcasts in the Wi-Fi Store, Please!

Dear Apple, Inc.:

Slackershot: No podcasts in the iTunes Wi-Fi StoreI love my new iPod Touch. I love that it has Wi-Fi and can do all sorts of neat things, and I even appreciate the ability to impulse buy music from the iTunes Wi-Fi Store. I have one request: please add podcasting support to the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, as you’ve done in the main iTunes Store. As you know, podcasts are a great way to extend the power and usefulness of an iPod, and a great way to upsell buyers to larger hard drives, particularly video podcasts.

I’d love to go into the iTunes Wi-Fi Store, use the same natural interface to search for podcasts on the topics I like, play them wirelessly right then and there like a radio, and subscribe to them with one touch, then sync back to my iTunes on my MacBook Pro when I get home.

Below you’ll find fellow podcasters and listeners in support of this petition. Please add robust podcast support to the iTunes Wi-Fi Store!

Best regards,

Christopher Penn
Producer, the Financial Aid Podcast
Co-Founder, PodCamp

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Apple not just refusing cash, also refusing Apple Gift Cards for iPhones

You can chalk this one up to our bad in assuming best intentions, but when Apple said no cash for iPhones, they damn well meant it -- enough to extend the policy out to no cash for anything that could in turn purchase an iPhone. Turns out you can't even use your Apple bucks to buy an iPhone anymore, not even if someone bought you an Apple Gift Card with their credit card. Ok, for a lot of you this isn't a big deal, but who gets hit hardest? Try all those teenage Apple fanboys begging various family members for small denomination gift cards that will add up to the iPhone they've been after. We've never heard any company being so adamant about keeping non-paper trail for every single damned purchase, but now we're just left wondering how long until someone (or some state) sour from this bitter pill decides to challenge Apple on that whole US dollar bills being "legal tender for all debts, public and private" thing.



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Worst iPhone Accessory Evar!

Seriously outrageous.



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Apple releases iPhone/iTouch WebApp Directory

Apple tries to make up for the lack of 3rd party development by giving us a list of all the web applications out there for the iPhone and iPod Touch.



Here is the list of all available web applications for iPhone on Apple's official site.

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