Posted 11/06/09 at 10:45:10 AM by Paul Lilly

It's all fun and games, until that game you downloaded from the iTunes App Store turns out to be harvesting your cell phone number. That's what gaming developer Storm8 has been accused of doing.

"The wireless telephone numbers of users' phones are not used or necessary to play any of Storm8's games, yet Storm8 has written the software for all its games in such a way that it automatically accesses, collects, and transmits the wireless telephone number of each iPhone user who downloads any Storm8 game," states a lawsuit filed on behalf of Lynwood, Washington resident Michael Turner.

Storm8 first came under fire in late August when news reports pointed out that Storm8's apps appeared to be phoning home. Addressing the reports, the company said the system had a "bug" and that it has since been fixed. But Storm8's explanation isn't enough for Turner's lawyer, who says his goal is to ensure the company is no longer allowed to collect private data in the future.

"A public admission is not the same as a legal representation or legal injunction," Turner's lawyer said.

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Posted 11/04/09 at 09:30:27 AM by Paul Lilly

Apple has announced that its App Store now holds over 100,000 apps, highlighting the company's dominance over the also-rans. That includes Google's Android Market and its comparatively paltry 10,000 apps, although Android has had less time on the market.

"The App Store, now with over 100,000 applications available, is clearly a major differentiator for millions of iPhone and iPod touch customers around the world," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all of the amazing apps our developers are creating."

What makes the feat even more impressive is that Apple was able to accumulate all these apps in just 16 months. There's definitely something to be said for being the first major player.

Of course, quality is just as important as quantity, and here too Apple has been making strides to improve its App Store. Features like Genius recommendations, App Store Essentials, and sub-category listings are all efforts to give quality apps their due.

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Posted 11/04/09 at 09:02:40 AM by Paul Lilly

There's a lot you can do with a jailbroken iPhone, and apparently, there's a lot others can do with your hacked smartphone as well. A hacker from the Netherlands made it his mission to alert modified iPhone owners via SMS that their security wasn't up to snuff.

The SMS contained a link to http://doiop.com/Hacked, which has since been eradicated from the Web. But before it was taken down, the site asked victims to send 5 euros (about $7.56 USD) to a Paypal account and then sit tight for email instructions on how to secure the hacked phone.

"If you don't pay, it's fine by me," the hacker's page said. "But remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others -- they can send text messages from your number (like I did), use it to call or record your calls, and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intentions of harming you or whatever, but some hackers do! It's just my advice to secure your phone."

According to ArsTechnica, the hacker used port scanning to identify jailbroken iPhones on the T-Mobile network in the Netherlands with SSH running. The hack also relied on unchanged root passwords to gain access, which is where the real security risk came from.

So what can you do to secure your phone? The same hacker who tried to make a quick buck has apologized for his actions, promised to return what money he's made, and posted steps to secure your jailbroken iPhone, which you can find here.

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Posted 11/02/09 at 04:10:12 PM by Bart Salisbury

The relationship between things Apple and Windows 7 has hit a small snag. It appears that version 9 of iTunes, when run under the 64-bit version of Windows 7, is having problems synchronizing with iPhones. Given the popularity of iPhones, and the necessity of iTunes for keeping it populated with music, apps, and video, this could be a bit of a problem.

Postings in the Apple discussions, which go on for six pages, report pretty much the same thing--no iTunes-iPhone syncing, with iTunes reporting an error code of 0xE8000065, which like many Microsoft error codes, doesn’t reveal a great deal. In a few other cases users are told MTB USB drivers can’t be installed. As MTB drivers are needed to move media back-and-forth, this makes sense, but it’s not clear what prevents their installation.

Some users have reported turning off Apple’s Bonjour software helps, but others have reported back that either the fix didn’t work, or was only temporary. Other users say they have resolved the problem by taking the drastic step of completely restoring the iPhone, deleting the iPodDevices.xml file, turning on C-State functionality in the BIOS, removing Bonjour from the system, and closing all programs before plugging in the iPhone. Given the scope of this fix let’s hope that Apple gets the problem resolved quickly.

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Posted 10/27/09 at 11:00:54 AM by Paul Lilly

Make no mistake - just because Verizon's new Droid handset takes aim at competing against Apple's iPhone, Verizon would rather have the two smartphones fighting the mobile market side by side, not face to face.

"We obviously would be interested at any point in the future that they would be interested in having us as a partner," said Ivan Seidenbert, Verizon's chief executive. "This is a decision that is exclusively in Apple's court."

Obviously nailing down an iPhone contract would be a huge win for Verizon, but even more so when you consider the upcoming Motorola Droid is built on Google's Android platform. And in Verizon's favor, the wireless telco added 1.2 million wireless subscribers during the quarter, which is less than the 2 million AT&T added, but more than analysts were expecting.

Whether or not Apple opens up to Verizon remains to be seen. In the meantime, Verizon has gone on the offensive with an ad campaign targeting AT&T's comparatively sparse network coverage.

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Posted 10/23/09 at 06:15:52 PM by Bart Salisbury

AT&T's breaking up with the iPhone? That seems to be the implication from a conference call with AT&T Mobility's CEO Ralph de la Vega. ComputerWorld is reporting that de la Vega downplayed the importance of the iPhone to AT&T’s overall smartphone strategy, and suggested that life for the mobile carrier would be just fine once the exclusive deal with Apple came to an end.

"We have a legacy of having a great portfolio...that will continue after the iPhone is no longer exclusive to us,” ComputerWorld quotes de la Vega as saying, adding “we feel really good about our non-iPhone [subscriber] adds and net adds.... We feel really strong about our portfolio in quick messaging devices, including BlackBerry and all the smartphones.” AT&T’s hold on the iPhone is expected to end mid-2010.

The possible sigh of relief coming from de la Vega may be due to the headaches the iPhone brought along with it. Broadband hungry iPhone users have overwhelmed AT&T’s network, bringing it at times to crawl. While the all those new subscribers are a good thing--3.2 million new iPhone activations in the 3rd quarter of 2009--the impact they are having isn’t. Time to let others, like Verizon, share in the pain.

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Posted 10/23/09 at 05:46:20 PM by Jason Barry

Nokia has lost significant mobile domination due to new smartphone players, namely Apple. Well, Nokia isn’t sitting idly by; it is suing Apple for the infringement of 10 patents “fundamental for devices using GSM, UMTS and/or local area network standards” according to Nokia. The patents all pertain to wireless data, speech coding, security, and encryption inherent in all iPhone models.

Without a doubt, this will be a long drawn out battle. Both companies have enormous legal teams and huge amounts of cash. It is also extremely unlikely to affect either bottom-line. According to Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton, “we have a hard time seeing a material risk to either company.”

The frivolous lawsuits are getting a touch out of hand. At the same time, if you stand on the shoulders of technological giants, the least you can do is offer them a cold lemonade. What other choice do these companies have?

Image Credit: Wired

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Posted 10/13/09 at 05:49:40 PM by Bart Salisbury

 Sonos has expanded the breadth of its multi-room music system offerings with the introduction of the ZonePlayer S5. The S5 works in combination with the Sonos ZoneBridge or ZonePlayer to provide streaming music through your house. New to the Sonos system is an iPhone/iPod Touch app that allows control of each S5, individually or in unison.

The Sonos system is based on a SonosNet wireless system, which uses mesh network technology, where each device or player serves as a repeater. Because the system is standalone initial set-up and expansion is relatively effortless. Set-up and control of the system is through a free iPhone/iPod touch app or with the Sonos Controller application (for Mac or PC), included with the S5.

The $399 S5 contains 5 speakers: two tweeters, two 3-inch mid-ranges, and one 3.5-inch woofer. Each speaker is driven by its own Class D digital amplifier.

The Sonos system allows access to your personal music collection, through your home network; more than 25,000 internet radio stations, and online music services; such as Napster, Pandora, Rhapsody and SIRIUS.

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