The Apple Core

August 29th, 2008

iPhone tethering rumored

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:36 am

Categories: Rumor, iPhone, App Store

Tags: Apple iPhone, Phone, Apple Inc., 3G, Wireless LANs, Wireless, Wi-Fi, Cellular Phones, Telecom & Utilities, Consumer Electronics

When I travel I carry a second phone alongside my iPhone – for one reason. Tethering.

I need to be able to get online wherever I am and Wi-Fi isn’t exactly ubiquitous and free Wi-Fi seems to be getting scarcer with each passing day. To make matters worse, Apple removed NullRiver’s NetShare tethering software from the App Store.

My second phone of choice is the LG Dare running on Verizon. It’s a very capable 3G touchscreen phone that runs on Verizon’s CDMA network, and unlike the iPhone, it allows tethering. (CNet reviewed the Dare in June 2008).

A Gimodo reader sent a squawk to Steve Jobs complaining that AT&T offers tethering for their 3G Blackberry handsets (granted, at a spendy US$30 premium per month) but yet it’s not available on Apple’s “advanced” device.

“Steve” (likely, one of his minions) replied:

We agree, and are discussing it with ATT.

Steve

If anything, this new iPhone tethering rumor confirms that Apple pulled NetShare from the App Store at the behest of AT&T who is trying to protect a huge potential revenue stream.

One request Steve: Don’t insult us by requiring the stupid, proprietary and expensive dock cable to tether. Tethering should be available via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

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August 28th, 2008

Steve Jobs death has been greatly exaggerated

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:29 am

Categories: Steve Jobs

Tags: Steve Jobs, Apple Inc., Corporate Governance, Venture Capital, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Finance, Financing Startups, Jason D. O'Grady

News outlet Bloomberg gave Apple fans and investors a huge scare late yesterday when it accidentally published an incomplete version of Steve Jobs obituary over its wire service.

Although the service quickly retracted the release, it’s an eerily-fascinating read complete with XXXX marks for the cause and date of his death.

What’s even more interesting is Blolomberg’s internal notes to reporters as to who to call for comment. On the list are:

• Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak
• Jon Rubinstein, former head of Apple’s iPod division
• Heidi Roizen: venture capitalist who once dated Jobs
• A.C. Mike Markkula, the first VC to back Apple
• Larry Ellison of Oracle (one of his best friends)
• Jerry Brown California Attorney General
• Al Gore: member of Apple’s board of directors
• Bill Gates
• Bob Iger at Disney
• Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and member of Apple’s board
• Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel Corp.
• Scott McNealy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems
• John Lassiter and Ed Catmull: Pixar-nee-Disney executives
• Guy Kawasaki, one of the first Apple evangelists
• Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari

So, the question begging to be asked is why is Bloomberg working on Jobs’ obit, anyway? Is this standard operating protocol for the company or do they know something that we don’t?

(Picture: Gawker)

August 27th, 2008

Major security hole found in iPhone

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:24 am

Categories: Software, Security, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Text Messaging/SMS/MMS, Telephony, Security, Viruses And Worms, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Online Communications, Networking

Gizmodo has unearthed a security flaw in the iPhone OS and boy is it a doozy. According to the post it’s simple to access a locked iPhone’s address book, Mail, SMS, Contacts, and Safari.

The vulnerability works like this on a password protected and locked iPhone:

• Then slide to unlock
• Tap emergency call
• Double tap the home button

This give you access to the iPhone’s favorites, the Address Book, the dial keypad and your voice mail. And it gets worse.

Tapping on the blue arrows next to the names gives you full access to the information in a favorite. Tapping an email address gives you access to the Mail application. Tapping a URL in a contact provides full access to Safari. Tapping send text message gives access to all your SMS’.

Um, this is bad. Especially when the phone is supposed to be locked. Apple, let’s get iPhone 2.0.3 out the door ASAP, m’kay?

August 27th, 2008

Tapulous developer fired

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 7:08 am

Categories: Software, iPhone, App Store

Tags: Developer, Team, Photograph, Team Management, Management, Jason D. O'Grady

Mike Lee, founder of Tapulous and developer of Twinkle was fired recently after a disagreement with management. According to Daring Fireball he was forced out.

Lee blogged his side of the story in an appropriately titled post.

So it came to pass that when my Engineering and Design team had irreconcilable differences with where the company seemed to be headed, I was asked to make good on those promises. Serving as the team’s reluctant spokesman was not in my best interests, but honor dictated my actions. I delivered the team’s message, and was invited to resign.

The rest of Lee’s farewell post is an interesting read – to say the least.

It’s a shame too because I really like Twinkle. It’s my preferred Twitter client these days because it automatically grabs my location and makes it easy to add photos to tweets. Currently it’s crashing when I add photos, so it’s extra sad that Lee is gone.

August 27th, 2008

Apple bans murderous comic

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:38 am

Categories: App Store

Tags: Comic, Apple Inc., Blogging, Digital Music, Digital Media, Internet, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Jason D. O'Grady

Apple has banned an R-rated comic from the App Store called Murderdome for violating a term in their SDK that prohibits offensive content in “Apple’s reasonable opinion.”

In a blog post the InfuriousComics says “we would love to work with Apple to ensure a content rating system can be put in place to allow material that is no more offensive than many of the R rated films available to download on iTunes.”

They’ve also posted the first episode of Murderdome for free.

August 27th, 2008

Psystar countersues Apple for anticompetitive business practices

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 6:11 am

Categories: Hardware, Legal, Clone, Psystar

Tags: Apple Inc., Psystar, Apple Mac OS, Operating Systems, Desktops, Software, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

Those following the Psystar saga will be interested to know that the Miami-based clone maker has fired a salvo in their legal battle with Apple. Psystar has been selling Apple clones with Mac OS Leopard pre-installed since April 2008.

At a press conference yesterday Psystar CEO Rudy Pedraza said that his company is answering Apple’s copyright infringement lawsuit Tuesday with a countersuit alleging that Apple engages in anticompetitive business practices.

According to a CNet piece by Erica Ogg Pedraza will sue Apple…

…under two federal laws designed to discourage monopolies and cartels, the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act, saying Apple’s tying of the Mac OS to Apple-labeled hardware is “an anticompetitive restrain of trade,”

Psystar’s attorney’s are asking that the court invalidate Apple’s EULA and for unspecified damages. Apple has 30 days to respond to Psystar’s countersuit.

Read my previous Psystar coverage here.

August 26th, 2008

Loopt: iPhone app keeps track of friends

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 1:33 pm

Categories: Software, iPhone, 3G, App Store, 2G

Tags: Apple iPhone, Friend, Loopt, 3G, GPS, Wireless LANs, Cellular Phones, Web Site Development, Wireless, Consumer Electronics

I’ve been playing with a free iPhone application called Loopt (Web site, App Store). It allows you to stay connected to your friends, colleagues and relatives who are also members of the service. Loopt uses the GPS chip in the iPhone 3G and Wi-Fi triangulation in the iPhone 2G to pinpoint your exact location.

When you invite friends to join Loopt they get access to your location and can ping you when they’re in the area. If this scares you remember that a) it’s by invitation only, and b) you can turn off the location feature at any time.

If you travel to a different city or even one of your old haunts you can fire up Loopt to see if any of your friends are in the area. You can also use Loopt to find local places and events recommended by friends and services such as Yelp.

It also works across multiple carriers and devices so you can also share location with friends even if they don’t have an iPhone. I’m currently using Loopt to track my trip on the Amtrak AutoTrain and it’s pretty cool. Think of it as a location-based version of Twitter.

August 25th, 2008

2008 MacBook Pro concept

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 5:00 am

Categories: Hardware, Rumor, MacBook Pro

Tags: Apple MacBook, Apple Inc., Apple MacBook Pro, Blu-Ray, Notebooks, Personal Technology, DVD, Home Entertainment, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets

The MacBook Pro is due for a re-design, this much we know. But is this the new professional notebook from Apple?

The picture above surfaced in an a Digg submission purportedly of a “new ad” (a version also appeared on NeoWin) and is hosted on an anonymous pictures hosting site, so I wouldn’t hold my breath. But it does resemble some pics that were posted on MacRumors forums thread earlier this month.

Some people find the more rounded MBP design to look cheap, but I like it. I’d like it more if it shipped with a Blu-Ray drive though.

The conventional wisdom is that the MBP update will be released on 16 September 2008. The logic is that it’s the Tuesday right after Apple’s current Back-to-School promotion ends and it falls within the third quarter when Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer alluded to a “product transition.”

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Update: As clindhartsen noted in the TalkBack the “ad” is actually a concept created by halfwayglad on DeviantArt…

August 25th, 2008

Vertical line issue also plagues some iMacs

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 4:00 am

Categories: Hardware, Display, Bug

Tags: Apple PowerBook, Apple iMac, Notebooks, Desktops, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Jason D. O'Grady

On Friday I posted a piece about a problem with vertical lines appearing on PowerBook G4 17-inch screens just as they got outside of their three-year AppleCare warranty.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that there may be a similar problem with some third generation 17-inch Intel iMacs with serial numbers in the W860****U2N range as reported by MacNN in November 2007.

The same situation exists as with the PowerBook G4s. Apple won’t acknowledge the problem in iMacs and has a track record of deleting and/or locking posts on its message boards. A petition on the issue has over 1,000 signatures and states:

The defect causes vertical lines (cyan/yellow/pink) to appear cutting through the screen and multiplying as time goes by. Unfortunately, the problem starts to appear right after the end of the one year warranty.

One French user was succesful in taking Apple to court in France over vertical line defects in two iMacs and was able to receive a full refund on his machines.

The vertical line defect has been compared to the PowerBook lower memory slot failure (also here) from February 2007 and the PowerMac G5 coolant leaks first reported in June 2006.

August 24th, 2008

Video recording comes to (jailbroken) iPhones

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:12 pm

Categories: Software, Video, iPhone, Jailbreak

Tags: Apple iPhone, Video, Corporate Communications, Marketing, Jason D. O'Grady

One feature that ranks up there on most people’s iPhone wishlist (somewhere between Copy and Paste and MMS) is video recording. Now there are two options for recording video on the iPhone – the only caveat is that you have to jailbreak your iPhone to use them.

iSmashphone posted a review of the two video recording apps, Cycorder (free) and Video Recorder (US$20).

Cycorder features real-time compression but doesn’t have audio recording. Video Recorder features audio, portrait mode and YouTube sharing but no real-time compression (”it took over 2 minutes to encode a 30-second video.”)

Screen shots and video samples are at iSmashphone.com.