Archive for: ios
It looks like Apple iPhone users can breathe a sigh of relief — the company has just released a public statement regarding Carrier IQ and the collection habits, or more accurately, the lack thereof of any collection habits of the now universally panned software.
By Apple’s account, Carrier IQ support had essentially been dropped in iOS 5. And while hooks for the tracking software still remain, Apple plans on removing Carrier IQ altogether in a later (near future) update.
We stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.
Android users still have plenty I worry about, for it was an Android device after all that was demonstrated recording and storing encrypted information in plain text format.
iPhone 4S users dying for an updated version of ultrasn0w that supports their device of choice were slipped a bone a few hours ago. iOS hacker @MuscleNerd tweeted a screenshot of a small snippet of code from an iPhone 4S baseband dump, and adding that the Dev-Team is hard at work on bringing official unlock support to Apple’s latest phone.
While there is still a bit of waiting to do on our part, the acknowledgement by MuscleNerd is a key point signaling the iPhone 4S unlock is progressing nicely.
- November 29, 2011 2:05 pm
Not more than an hour ~1 hour ago iTether, the app that let you circumnavigate cellular carrier’s ridiculous restrictions on mobile device tethering, was pulled. The fact that it was pulled wasn’t shocking in the least. What was shocking, however, was that Apple approved iTether in the first place.
Apple hasn’t publicly commented on the approval/removal snafu yet (and likely never will). Meanwhile, Tether, the company behind iTether, claims Apple called them up shortly before the app was pulled and stated that “network burden” was the official reason for the removal. Tether’s response:
Around 12PM EST, Apple called our head office to let us know they were going to go ahead and pull our app iTether from the App Store. They stated it was because the app itself burdens the carrier network, however they offered us no way to remedy the solution… We were very clear when listing the app what the primary function was and they even followed up with several questions and requested a video demo then they approved the application.
We strongly disagree that it burdens a carrier’s network, as from our own data history on more than 500,000 users we know the average user consumes less than 200 MBs of data per month on Tether. In comparison, one TV show streamed from Netflix, an approved Apple App, could easily be in the 300-400 MBs range. Sure, there are some users that will consume way more than the average however that’s the case with any of these types of products.
Our team is very disappointed in Apple’s decision; as we strongly believe we help carriers better monetize their data stream by pushing customers into new data tiers further increasing their bottom-line. It is very anti-competitive to not allow any Tethering application to enter into this space to innovate. Our team has created a lot of innovative solutions for the BlackBerry product, which we were hoping to port over to the iPhone like end-to-end encryption, compression, website filtering and port filtering.
According to Apple, users who purchase iTether before it was pulled will continue to be able to use the product.
Our team is evaluating all of our options… Stay tuned.
Tether’s statement echoes a message that many of you probably share: It doesn’t make sense that streaming apps can operate over cellular networks but tethering apps can’t.
With that said, we don’t buy Tether’s claim that most users use less than 200 MB/month. We do that in 20 minutes more days just using the internet.
- November 29, 2011 9:38 am
Still have a backdoor tethering hack on your iPhone and skirting around your carrier’s ridiculous tethering fee? Get this app before it gets yanked.
Tethering apps which force tethering (for free) on iOS aren’t new. What is shocking in this case is that iTether isn’t a Cydia special — you can get this in the App Store!
The only downside to iTether that we can see is that it requires an app to be installed on your Mac/Windows computer and for the phone to be plugged into said computer.
Like we said. We don’t see this sticking around too terribly long.
iTether: Download ($14.99 - iTunes Link)
Update
Surprise, surprise. iTether has been yanked from the App Store.
- November 29, 2011 8:42 am
Image Credit: Slashgear
RIM’s bread & butter enterprise market is slipping out from underneath them due to a consumerization of their core business base. Where BlackBerries once reigned supreme has since been invaded by Android and iOS devices. On the corporate front, RIM still has the best environment in terms of security, though outside of that there’s nothing unique left. On the flip-side, corporate users want more consumer-like features on their work phones, or to even use their personal phones for work instead. While it’s great for consumers to have choice, it’s a headache for IT departments.
RIM’s current roadmap to re-take the consumer world isn’t looking all that great in the near-term. But there’s a potential life line RIM can skate on by way of their newly announced Mobile Fusion software for Android and iOS…
- November 27, 2011 4:22 am
With all the buzz on Twitter about what might be released tonight, we finally know what it is. About 10 minutes ago p0sixninja finished and released the post on the Chronic Dev Team blog. No, it isn’t an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iOS 5.x. What it is is a cry for help. A need for iPhone users’ crash reports from their iPhones to find new and un-patched exploits.
Instead of allowing this vicious cycle to continue, we decided to write a new program to turn Apple’s own beast against its master, per se. All this program requires from you is to attach your iOS device to your computer and click a single button!
It is really that simple. After reading the blog post, and then downloading the application, I had submitted my crash reports before WordPress had enough time to open so I could write this post. The process is simple. The idea is great. Let’s forget about the lost exploits that Apple has patched and move on to bigger and better things. Hopefully we’ll see great things come from these reports!
Jump on in for a download link to the application…
- November 17, 2011 10:03 am
Ever since Apple relaxed iOS developer restrictions on “copying functionality of core Apple apps”, we’ve seen some great additions. In the browser realm there have been several 3rd party browsers such as Opera and Dolphin that while not perfect, bring their own unique features to the table.
As far as music apps go, iOS is full of them. But one particular app that caught our eye over at Beautiful Pixels is a new Music.app replacement by the name of Audium (AudiumApp.com) that is simply…gorgeous. A big focus is put on full-album listening and album art, with controls being relegated to touch/gesture based.
Album Navigation:
- Swipe left or right to scroll your albums | Swipe down to reveal the album name | Double-tap an album to begin playback
Song Navigation:
- Double-tap to toggle between play & pause | Swipe right for the next track | Swipe left for the previous track | Swipe up or down to adjust the volume
We’ve only been using Audium for ~15 minutes but are already in love with how it looks and operates. Our only grip is that there isn’t any shuffle function. And if we’re to be really honest, we love having a couple of social sharing buttons included in-app. But again, those features would go against the app’s main goal — to bring people back to listening to full albums and ultimately, simplicity.
At $0.99 we’d say it’s worth a shot.
Update
We’ve just gotten a handy tip from the devs over at Audium about the first big update — Shuffle, Twitter integration and…Last.fm — shout out to all the srcobblers!
- November 16, 2011 3:47 pm
Want all the Minecraft action on the go? Keep looking, then. The newly released (New Zealand today, U.S. tomorrow) Minecraft iOS game is but a small piece of the desktop juggernaut. Some of the things you miss out on using the mobile app include zombie creeper guys, lack of any health bar, no vast wondering/survival mode, and you’re limited to 36 blocks.
Despite all the negatives, it shows that Minecraft can make the move to mobile — the space many would say is the next frontier of gaming, especially since iOS blew the doors open on “casual gameplay”.
Minecraft for iOS is available now in the New Zealand App Store for $9.99 NZ. By the time the Minecraft for iOS makes its way across the pond to U.S. residents tomorrow, expect the price to get rounded down to $6.99 USD.
Minecraft for iOS joins a previously released Android app and will soon be joined by an official Windows/Mac app on November 18th.
Diehard Minecraft fanatics: Are the various missing aspects and limitations of the mobile so great that it’s not worth playing on the go?
- November 16, 2011 1:35 pm
“If you already have the Gmail app 1.0.1 released on 2 Nov, you will need to uninstall or log out of the old app prior to installing the new app.”
Let’s hope that version 1.0.2 is a tad more stable, or at the very least, doesn’t throw up a nasty error as soon as you launch the app.
