It seems to be an agreed-upon point of view within the Digirati crowd that AT&T is killing the iPhone. If “killing” is not your bowl of soup, then we can substitute “is highly detrimental,” “the Achilles heel,” or “the main reason I switched to another smartphone.” But aside from the few high-profile and outspoken members of the Digirati community, what real reasons exist to prove that AT&T is really the “dark side” in the relationship? In this article, I dissect the great plethora of FUD, bogus, and unfounded claims about AT&T wireless as it relates to the Apple iPhone. Read more »
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As a member of the geek community, I tend to get asked a lot of tech questions. As soon as people see the screen on my iPhone, the first question I get is “Wow! How did you do that?” I have non-standard icons, an awesome unlock screen, and the ability to answer texts without unlocking the phone. Should you jailbreak? What is jailbreaking? Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of each. Read more »
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Jailbreak,
iPhone
Apple has aired two new iPhone ads: “Share” and “Travel.” The two commercials are in the familiar “There’s an app for that” format, featuring iPhone apps for file sharing and navigation. Videos and our take after the break! Read more »
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iTunes
Eight months ago, I speculated that Apple would release a Mac version of its ever-popular App Store before 2009. The main benefit of having such a store is that it would provide a unified place for Mac users to browse and purchase Mac applications. The success of the App Store for the iPhone/iPod Touch has proven that this concept has great value potential. When do we think this store will launch and what, if any, barriers will need to be overcome? Read more »
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Hello Captain! Have a seat and welcome to command! Flight Control was developed by Firemint, which is also the company that brings you Real Racing. This fun and addictive game will only put you back 99 cents, but let me tell you why it is worth every penny. If you’ve ever wished for a simple yet entertaining game which you can spend hours playing and not get bored, then this is the app for you.
To start, you are air traffic control and the goal is to land each aircraft on its designated landing strip. There are three different types of aircraft: passenger plane, helicopter, and small-cabin/crop plane. For greater emphasis, each type of aircraft has its own specific landing strip. To land a plane, you just tap the craft with your finger, then draw a path for it to land. Sounds easy, right? Not so fast: as time goes on, more and more aircraft will need to be landed at one time, so it’s important to be as efficient and as quick as possible about the paths you draw and what aircraft you land first. All aircraft have different sizes, speeds, shapes, and turning agilities. Strategy becomes important with an increased amount of planes on the map. 
Read more »
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Apple is by no means a newcomer to the education market. Graduating high school seniors wait for the start of the annual Apple summer sale, at which point they can get a free iPod along with the purchase of a Mac. With the iPod Touch occupying the top rung in the iPod lineup, the device is well worth the wait (of the end of the school year). But Apple does much more than give away free iPods to entice students and the education market at large! Apple has abundant resources that offer both faculty as well as school administrators the means to publish content online. This points business back in the direction of the iTunes Store as well as the company’s hardware products.
TUAW reported earlier this month that the University of Florida College of Pharmacy has made it a requirement that students own an iPhone or an iPod Touch. A college requiring a specific kind of cell phone or music player? Isn’t that a bit much? Isn’t college already expensive enough? The Alligator, an independent school news publication, reported on the story back on July 9th. In the story, the Dean of the College of Pharmacy said, “These are the instruments at the forefront that are developing applications for medical uses by the hundreds. We want our students to become adept at using these mobile devices early on because we see this as the future in pharmacy practice.” Quite a tall order to fill. But this wasn’t the first university-wide application of the popular Apple cell phone or music player. Earlier in the year, the University of Missouri implemented the use of an iPod Touch in order to help students retain information. Brian Brooks, associate dean of the Missouri School of Journalism told the campus newspaper about his decision to make the device a requirement for incoming freshmen: “Lectures are the worst possible learning format,” Brooks said. “There’s been some research done that shows if a student can hear that lecture a second time, they retain three times as much of that lecture.”
Can the requirements for iPod Touch/iPhone on college campuses be considered a trend that’s sweeping the nation? It’s hard to tell. The iPod has been around since 2001 and from the day it was born, Apple has yet to see significant market competition. Apple’s most recent quarterly earnings yielded a 7 percent decrease in iPod sales from the same quarter last year, but a 626 percent unit growth for the iPhone. Here’s what the numbers could tell us: Read more »
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Touch,
Trends,
iPhone
Earlier in May, word got out that Apple is planning to invest $1 billion in a server farm. The facility, to be located in the State of North Carolina, will follow a similar (albeit smaller) $600 million undertaking by Google. As could be expected, analysts, bloggers, and the Twitterverse the world over speculated about the possible uses for the investment, but I don’t think anyone hit the nail squarely on the head. I think Apple will use its new server farm to completely cut the cord between its iPhone product line and the desktop. And it will do so in a big way. Read more »
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MobileMe,
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iPhone,
iTunes
Late Friday evening, Apple issued an update to the iPhone operating system in a response to a well-known security vulnerability. iPhone OS 3.0.1 fixes a potential exploit which could allow a remote user to hijack any iPhone by sending a simple series of SMS (text messages).
This update was expected to be released before the BlackHat 2009 security conference last week, where a pair of security researchers who have discovered the flaw presented their findings. Back in 2007, Charlie Miller, security researcher and co-author of The Mac Hacker’s Handbook, demonstrated a WebKit security hole that allowed the hacker to obtain an iPhone user’s personal information. Apple patched the exploit a few days before the demonstration. By contrast, the SMS exploit was patched after Mr. Miller presented details about it. In the days leading up to the patch, I have expressed my frustration with the way Apple and AT&T handled the entire situation from a customer communication and customer service perspective. Read more »
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Celluar,
Hacks,
Software Update,
iPhone
Ever since its initial release in 2007, the iPhone – along with its sibling, the iPod Touch – have shipped with a YouTube app. The sole reason for this app’s existence is because the iPhone isn’t capable of displaying Flash content. That much we already know. Yet with such prominent support for YouTube, I’m surprised that competing video sharing sites aren’t protesting with the words “monopoly, monopoly, monopoly.” Yes, I believe that Apple and YouTube‘s parent company, Google, are behaving in a monopolistic fashion when it comes to video on the iPhone.
Flash – the background
Lets set some facts straight first: Flash is the format used to stream video content and display hyper-dynamic websites, among other things. Used by YouTube, Vimeo, Mevio, Hulu, Cnet, Ustream, Justin.TV, and countless other video websites, Flash is the most prevalent video delivery method on the web by a far cry. The only exception to the previous examples is Apple: it uses the beloved H.264 standard to deliver videos on its own website. But what’s important to note here is that Adobe has been trying, time in time again, to get Flash on the iPhone, all to no avail: Apple has had multiple excuses as to why Flash on the iPhone can’t be a reality. The company has cited battery life and a lack in processing power as the two major items that prevent Flash from being available on the device.
Competing mobile operating systems such as Nokia’s Symbian OS, Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and Palm’s WebOS, have all either announced support for, or have already delivered devices that are capable of running the Flash Player. Today, the only Flash hold-outs are the Apple’s iPhone/iPod Touch and RIM’s Blackberry line. Given these facts, the effects of not being able to play back Flash on the iPhone are quite surprising, and even scary!
Streaming Video on the iPhone Read more »
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This is a perfect example of what not to do during a time of confusion: stay silent. After news broke yesterday evening that iPhone users are at risk of having their device taken control of by a hacker, the web, radio, newspapers, TV, and the rest of the mainstream media have picked up on the story. iPhone users that aren’t privy to the details of the situation are scared. Being the go-to tech guy for friends, relatives, and clients, I’ve been receiving questions all day asking for advice. I don’t mind answering questions or helping people out; quite the opposite in fact. But what I do find deplorable is that Apple and AT&T are staying completely mum on the situation: there are no official blog posts, email updates, or – ironically – text messages to iPhone owners regarding the current status of the affairs. And that is poor communication, plain and simple.
Let’s get the basics out of the way: two security researchers – Collin Mulliner and Charlie Miller – have found a serious exploit in the way the iPhone handles SMS messages. If a hacker plays his cards right, he would be able to take complete control of an iPhone by means of sending a text message to the device. Complete control means making phone calls, stealing data, sending text messages without the owner’s consent… you get the idea.
But it gets worse: Apple was notified about the exploit six weeks ago. And in that time, the company has not issued an update to the iPhone OS. By comparison, the Android OS was also vulnerable to a similar attack. Google fixed the problem within a day or two of being notified of the problem. And all that brings us to the present: this evening, the two researchers who found this bug are presenting their exploit at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. Yet the most interesting part of all this is that neither Apple nor AT&T have made any official statements regarding the situation: Read more »
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