iPhone injects juice into Apple's profits

Apple's colourful, multi-functional iPhone has proven an instant hit with gadget-loving American consumers and has reawakened demand for the technology company's laptop computers and iPods.

The Silicon Valley company's shares jumped by 6% in after-hours trading tonight as Apple smashed expectations with a 76% leap in year-end profits to $3.49bn.

Customers slept outside Apple stores to get their hands on the prized iPhone when it was launched in the US in June. The company sold 1.12m of the handsets within 74 days, making them the fourth highest selling phones in America.

Read the whole article @ Guardian Unlimited

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

The Fallout From Greenpeace iPhone Report

Last week it was covered by DailyTech that Greenpeace had taken a swing at Apple, citing them for what they felt was a number of environmental violations in the iPhone's design.

The report and Greenpeace's vocal support of it is drawing criticism from some, though Apple is strangely silent on the issue, simply saying that it is working to reduce the use of certain chemicals and is constantly trying to stay environment friendly.

It appears the key gripe back and forth between Greenpeace and its detractors seems not to be the body of the report, but a specific point in it.

The argument centers on the use of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the phone. BFRs are thought to be capable of reacting, either under highly acidic conditions such as the human stomach via ingestion or under high heat if scorched (such as in an iFire). Also, exposing them to water is suspected of leading to possible water supply contamination.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Microsoft expected to spark iPhone fightback

Microsoft is expected to mark its fightback against Apple’s fast-selling iPhone with the unveiling later today of a new version of its operating system for mobile phones.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, is to make an announcement relating to Windows Mobile at the CITA technology show in the U.S.

Analysts believe the group will unveil a new. more consumer-friendly version - 6.1 - of Windows for Mobile, the operating system that powers many mobile phone enabling subscribers to use popular Microsoft applications on the move.

The Microsoft system. which launched in 2001, has proved a success in North America. However it has done less well elsewhere.

Read the whole article @ Times Online

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple profits up on iPod, iPhone sales

Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter profits jumped 67 percent and easily beat Wall Street expectations, capping a record-breaking year that saw unprecedented momentum in its Mac business, ceaseless consumer interest in its iPod players and a successful introduction of its newest endeavor, the iPhone.

For the three months that ended Sept. 30, Apple said Monday it earned $904 million, or $1.01 per share, compared with $542 million, or 62 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue totaled $6.22 billion, compared with $4.84 billion in the same quarter last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 86 cents per share on sales of $6.07 billion.

Apple said it shipped a record 2.16 million Macs in the quarter, an increase of 34 percent, while it sold 10.2 million iPods, up 17 percent. In the first full quarter of iPhone sales, Apple said it sold 1.12 million units, bringing the cumulative total to 1.39 million since the product debuted on June 29.

Read the whole article @ Daily Herald

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

As Apple Gains PC Market Share, Jobs Talks of a Decade of Upgrades

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

It may have dropped the word “computer” from its name, but Apple is certainly selling plenty of Macs.

Driven in part by what analysts call a halo effect from the iPod and the iPhone, the market share of the company’s personal computers is surging.

Two research firms that track the computer market said last week that Apple would move into third place in the United States behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell on Monday, when it reports product shipments in the fiscal fourth quarter as part of its earnings announcement.

“The Macintosh has a lot of momentum now,” said Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, in a telephone interview last week. “It is outpacing the industry.”

Read the whole article @ NY Times

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Dumb iPhone Commercial Of The Week

So now the iPhone helps a pilot bust his plane out of a 3-hour tarmac delay by enabling him to surf to Weather.com? That's the preposterous story line of Apple's latest commercial, which was inescapable on Sunday whether you were watching football during the day on FOX and CBS, or game seven of the American League Championship Season in the evening.

At least for new "fatty" iPod Nanos, Apple took the soft sell approach, enlisting the charming Feist ditty 1234 in a meta-music-video.

No such luck with the latest iPhone commercial. This one has some guy who's supposed to be a pilot, telling us his iPhone got him to a weather report which said the storm was breaking, so he "called the tower," and within a half hour, he was on his way.

Read the whole article @ Information Week

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple faces iPhone legal challenge

An environmental group is planning to sue Apple over hazardous materials used in the iPhone unless the company changes the design.

The Center for Environmental Health (CEH) has warned Apple to stop using brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and PVCs in the iPhone within 60 days or face legal action.

The group is not seeking a product recall, but wants warning stickers put on all iPhones to alert users to the alleged risks.

BFRs are used internally in the iPhone to deal with heating issues but their use has been discontinued by most mobile phone manufacturers.

PVCs, which Apple uses in the iPhone headphones, have been shown to cause birth defects in animals and are banned in children's toys in Europe.

"If a pregnant woman is winding and unwinding that cord a number of times each day, like we all would, she is getting exposed to this chemical," said CEH chief executive Michael Green. "That is a big piece of our concern."

Read the whole article @ PC Authority

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

With this Apple iPhone, I can go on a web Safari

The Safari internet link application has made up my mind, says Claudine Beaumont - I'm getting an iPhone come November

I was in New York last week, and couldn't resist paying a visit to the Apple store on Fifth Avenue, hoping to bag myself some cut-price gadgets thanks to the weak dollar.

	Hot item: the iPhone will put the web in easy reach

Descending down the spiralling staircase, beneath the shop's Louvre-like entrance, I found myself not so much in technology heaven as in a sort of giant, free internet café. You see, all of the computers in Apple shops are hooked up to the internet, so if you want to try one before you buy, you have to compete against dozens of tourists and overseas students checking their emails and instant-messaging friends.

Things got even worse over by the iPhone displays, where people clustered around the handsets, making free long-distance calls abroad. However, I did manage to get a little bit more time on both the iPod touch and the iPhone to see which I wanted to buy, and I've finally stopped dithering and made my decision: I'm opting for the iPhone, which arrives in UK shops on November 9.

For me, the killer application on both of Apple's touchscreen devices is the full Safari web browser, which allows you to surf the internet exactly as you would on a computer, without the need to visit websites that have been optimised for the tiny screens of mobile handsets. The problem is, the iPod touch can access the internet only when you're in a wi-fi hotspot, whereas the iPhone can surf the web (albeit rather sluggishly) over the mobile phone network when not in a wireless internet zone.

This decided it for me: now that I've sampled the delights of web browsing on both devices, I don't want to be restricted to accessing the internet in cafés and airports, particularly as every hotspot seems to be run by a different operator, which means I will need to sign up to multiple, expensive wireless internet accounts to get online. Besides, most of the time all I want to do is check the news headlines or sports gossip.

Read the whole article @ Telegraph

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple cans 800 employees for cashing in on iPhone rebates

If you had been an Apple employee for more than a year prior to the launch of the iPhone, you were doing pretty good. There’s not much better than getting a free iPhone. Then came that nice $100 rebate for early adopters, which you may have found out you could get away with redeeming. Seems like a great deal, a free iPhone and $100 worth of credit, just for showing up to work.. Well, if you took advantage of that rebate, you won’t have to worry about showing up for work anymore.

According to sources, around 800 Apple employees took advantage of the $100 for the iPhone that they received for free. These workers are now looking for new jobs, as Apple doesn’t take kindly to thieves.

Read the whole article @ Slash Gear

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple Reverses on Third-Party iPhone Apps

Apple is making an abrupt about-face on its policy regarding iPhone applications, announcing yesterday that it will release a software developer's kit for the device early next year.

The SDK, which will also support the iPod Touch, will allow third-party software developers to develop and deploy their own applications for the devices.

"Let me just say it: We want native third-party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February," Jobs said in a statement on Apple's Web site. "We are excited about creating a vibrant third-party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users."

An Apple spokesperson said that the company was sharing no further details of the plans for the SDK at this time. But even the limited news was welcomed by application developers, whose access to the iPhone platform thus far has been limited to developing browser-based applications.

Read the whole article @ Internet News

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Shocker: The iPhone Is AT&T's Top-Selling Handset

I don't know about you, but I am stunned. Strategy Analytics put together some statistics to show that the iPhone (you know, the sort-of revolutionary device no one can shut up about) is AT&T (NYSE: T)'s best seller and the fourth-best selling mobile phone in the U.S. You'll never guess what is number one.

Apple and carrier partner AT&T have sold approximately 1.325 million iPhones since it debuted on June 29. It scored 13 percent of AT&T's sales, making it numero uno. Not too shabby. Those sales figures place it in the number four spot in the overall market.

VP of the Strategy Analytics' BuyerTRAX programs Barry Gilbert said, "Although the iPhone hasn't had an expansionary impact in the market, the iPhone has quickly assumed a leading market share position and raised the ante for smart devices."

Read the whole article @ Information Week

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

What the iPhone SDK means for open source

In a purely technical sense, news that Apple will offer an iPhone software development kit and allow third-party applications is not an open source story.

This is still a proprietary platform.

But with this move Jobs is admitting that the iPhone is a computer platform, thus subject to computer rules, and that is an important move.

It means the absolute device control AT&T and the other U.S. carriers have exercised must give way. It means that the iPhone is not a phone, and that’s what its competitors, such as the coming GPhone, will be as well.

So what we have is a tipping point, from mobile voice to mobile data. One that will change public attitudes. While people can accept “it’s the network” as an excuse for maintaining voice reliability, they know better when it comes to data.

They have the Internet, the “network of networks,” not (supposedly) under any one carrier’s control, offering fixed monthly service pricing, a comparative gob of bandwidth, with voice as just one of many low-bandwidth applications.

Read the whole article @ ZD Net

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Tired Of Smudges On Your iPhone? Get Phone Fingers

If there was an award for the strangest iPhone accessory ever invented, it would go to the makers of Phone Fingers, hands down (no pun intended). The latex fingers were created specifically for the iPhone's touch screen to prevent smudges and fingerprints. And no, this is not a joke.

Any iPhone owner will tell you that a major disadvantage of having a touch screen-only phone is the smudge factor. Naturally the screen will reflect everything you touched before navigating through the phone's icons. But I wonder how many people would actually resort to wearing black latex finger shields to keep their iPhone screens clean?

Phone Fingers are sold in a bag that contains 25 pieces, guaranteed to last a long time with multiple usage. They cost 9.90 euros, which translates to about $14. What's even more comical is the fact that they come in different sizes: medium for an average sized index finger and large or extra large for a thumb.

Read the whole article @ Information Week

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Security Researcher Posts iPhone Exploit Code Online

A security researcher on Tuesday published exploit code for a security vulnerability in Apple's iPhone that can allow a hacker to gain complete control over the popular mobile device.

HD Moore, creator of the open-source Metasploit vulnerability testing tool, posted the code online and said it exploits a buffer overflow flaw in libtiff, the image rendering library that's used by the MobileMail, MobileSafari, and iTunes iPhone applications.

Moore first began to outline the security shortcomings of the iPhone in late September, when he wrote that any security flaw in any iPhone application can lead to a complete system compromise. Last week, Moore noted that only iPhones that had been unlocked were susceptible to the exploit code he'd been developing.

After Apple issued the 1.1.1 iPhone firmware update the next day, which re-locked unlocked iPhones by stripping away third party packages, Moore said the process of writing exploits for the device actually became much simpler.

Read the whole article @ CRN

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Does RIM have right tone to stall iPhone?

Survey supports BlackBerry maker's position rival device not major threat

Jim Balsillie, co-CEO of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., now has evidence to support his contention that Apple Inc.'s much-hyped iPhone is not the threat it was initially made out to be.

However, at least one analyst is warning that Apple's wireless ambitions are not to be underestimated over the long term.

A recent survey conducted by the NPD Group found U.S. buyers of the iPhone – essentially a cellphone, iPod and Web browser rolled into a touch-screen device – were 10 times more likely than other phone buyers to have previously owned a Palm Treo, and three times more likely to have owned a T-mobile-branded device such as the Sidekick, which also offers a full keyboard and large screen.

By contrast, the survey of more than 13,000 mobile-phone customers found that iPhone buyers were no more likely than the average buyer to have previously owned a BlackBerry, suggesting that the iPhone's snazzy interface and "lifestyle"-focused features have so far held less appeal for the business-oriented BlackBerry crowd.

Read the whole article @ Toronto Star

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple Promises Third-Party SDK for iPhone, iPod Touch

After silence on the subject, Apple promises a path for third-party applications on the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Apple on Oct. 17 announced that it will provide a software development kit for third parties to create applications for the company's popular iPhone and iPod Touch.

"We want native third-party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers' hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third-party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users," read a posting signed by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on company's Web site.

Previously, Apple has limited non-Apple iPhone development to "Web 2.0" implementations for use only online, and in the iPhone's Safari Web browser.

That brought criticism that has caused some pushback from developers. Safari-encased Web applications cannot be used without a live Internet connection, and do not share prime application icon space in the iPhone's main window.

Read the whole article @ eWeek

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Viva la Unlocking! French Law Dictates Apple Must Allow Unlocking

Apple agrees to sell iPhones in France unlocked

On a previous blog at DailyTech, it was revealed that iPhones were invading France for the holiday season, after French carrier Orange struck a deal with Apple for distribution rights.

Now in a surprising twist, Apple and Orange will team up in France, and only in France, to offer the iPhone unlocked.

The move comes after Apple met a roadblock when its international policy of banning unlocking was challenged by French law. A French telecommunications law, passed in 1998 states that manufacturers must offer to unlock consumers phones for a small fee for the first sixth months after release, and for free after that, as reported via French news site Les Echoes.

The locked version of the phone will cost €399, but the unlocked version's price has not yet been announced by Apple. It may cost significantly more, though as French law mandates, Apple must agree to sell the phones unlocked at no premium after six months.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

3 months late: Apple to unleash iPhone SDK at Macworld?

It's only a rumor for now, but it appears Apple is prepping an official iPhone SDK to be announced in early 2008. Unfortunately, Apple's a bit late to it's own game as hackers cracked the iPhone and iPod Touch up, down, left, and right.

Apple better bring something great to the table with the SDK because, as of right now, developers really don't need it. The theory, according to some analysts, is that Leopard's new capabilities will enable "more robust" features on the iPhone.

This makes sense as hackers have criticized the iPhone/Touch mobile OSX as being cheap and, in some cases, put together very shoddily. If true, it would have to do with the iPhone being rushed to the market in order to meet, however late, the release date.

Read the whole article @ Blorge

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Greenpeace blasts iPhone toxins, but notes they comply with rules

International protest group Greenpeace fired a shot across Apple Inc.'s bow by publishing a report that said the iPhone might be made with some toxic chemicals.

In the report, titled "Missed call: iPhone's hazardous chemicals," Greenpeace described a preliminary study of a disassembled iPhone that found polyvinyl chloride (a plastic banned from children's toys) in the headphones as well as bromine in some components, which is typically used in flame retardants.

However, in its report, Greenpeace said, "All components tested appear to be compliant" with European Union safety regulations used as the baseline for the study. The bits of the phone contained neither cadmium nor mercury, and low concentrations of lead. Though chromium was found, Greenpeace could find no evidence of chromium VI, the most toxic type.

Greenpeace pointed also to its discovery of antimony (though it could not quantify how much) in some of the parts it tested. Though antimony, also used in flame retardants, can be toxic, it isn't banned by the regulations under which Greenpeace conducted the tests.

Read the whole article @ Business Times

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Security Researcher Unleashes Exploit

H.D. Moore's exploit will gain control of a modified iPhone and promises instructions to crack an unmodified phone soon.

H.D. Moore has released instructions on writing a critical exploit that leverages a bug in how Apple's iPhone handles TIFF image files and, to enable the writing of exploits, has put out a new version of his Weasel debugger that can handle the peculiarities of the phone's ARM processors.

At this point, the exploit can only take over phones that have been tinkered with, but Moore is promising to post instructions on how to exploit unmodified iPhones soon.

The vulnerability in question is in libtiff, the iPhone's library for reading and writing TIFF files. From the get-go, Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., shipped the iPhone with a vulnerable version of libtiff and didn't bother to fix it in the recent 1.1.1 update—"fortunately for the iPhone development community," Moore noted in an Oct. 11 posting that was the first of his two-part series on cracking the iPhone.

The vulnerability can be exploited through the phone's MobileSafari Web browser.

Read the whole article @ eWeek

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Hackers continue cycle, unlock iPhone after 1.1.1

For those who have iPhones unlocked by third party software hacks and were foiled by Apple’s 1.1.1 firmware release, it looks like the game is back on. SimFree version 1.6, from the same company that created the original hack to unlock Apple’s iPhone outside of the exclusive and required AT&T service plan, is a new countermeasure hack that gets around the new firmware update and will once again unlock those iPhones “bricked” by the 1.1.1 update.

According to iphoneSimFree, this new iPhone “jailbreak” will let anyone who has rightly been a little leery to update after Apple’s warning to safely go ahead and apply the 1.1.1 update and SimFree will keep the phone usable, at least until Apple comes out with another update.

Read the whole article @ Slippery Brick

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

How To Unbrick an iPhone For Free

Hackers have published a 19-step recovery method for those who applied Apple's 1.1.1 firmware update to their unlocked iPhones.

Free of charge (unlike the recently-issued fix for those who paid $100 for iPhoneSimFree), the plan rolls an iBrick back to the old 1.0.2 firmware in its pristine, unlocked state. There is, however, one problem: as can be seen at the linked instructions below, it's a complicated and technical procedure.

I'd offer the standard "At Your Own Risk" disclaimer, but screw it: you've already wrecked your iPhone ten ways from Sunday fooling around with this stuff, so what more can another run through the wringer do?

UNBRICKING 1.1.1 UPGRADE [iPhone Elite]

Read the whole article @ Wired

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Delayed in Canada Due To Existing Canadian iPhone

In the U.S., the iPhone trademark is owned by Cisco. Apple chose to damn the legal torpedoes here, but knew it would ultimately get a deal out of the Routermakers General. Apple did manage to get the trademark elsewhere, with filings in Singapore and Australia bearing fruit. In Canada, however, the mark has long been owned by Comwave, a telecoms company in Ontario. Apple tried and failed to register the name there—but Comwave, unlike Cisco, won't play ball on sharing the name.

“The force they put into marketing would quickly make the brand Apple’s and not ours,” Comwave president Yuval Barzakay told the CBC, adding that it would effectively be hijacked by any such agreement. "Co-existence is not possible."

What he's saying, of course, is that is that everything has its price, but only if you want to buy it. And he's right: can you see Apple renaming the iPhone, or missing out on a market the size of California?

Read the whole article @ Wired

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

'Bricked' iPhone users get their happy ending while Nokia's N82 gets closer to reality

It's been a mixed week over on Pocket Picks, with no obvious trends helpfully emerging for us to apply our typical journo spin on. So, for a change, we thought we'd do something different and bring you a blow by blow, day by day account of what went down on our sister site over the last working week.

Apologies in advance if at any time we slip into the default tone of a weather presenter.

Monday was a very busy day, kicking off with yet more murmurs regarding what is being described as the longest rumoured phone in Nokia's history, the N82. If the countdown on Nokia's Play site is anything to go by, we should know for sure by November 2nd.

Later in the day, Sony Ericsson was the subject of some rumour rumbling of its own, with various forum dwellers stating that the manufacturer is set to launch a DVB-H mobile TV phone in 2008.

There was also the happy news that McDonald's is set to offer free Wi-Fi in most of its 1,200 outlets up and down the country by the end of the year. Looks like the Wi-Fi access explosion is set to be accompanied by and explosion in waste lines.

Read the whole article @ Pocket Gamer

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple Near To Opening iPhone To Third-Party Apps

Apple is near release of a toolset that would allow third-party developers to develop native applications for the iPhone, according to reports on Apple blogs. However, PC and Mac users accustomed to downloading any ol' app they can find on the Internet will be in for an unpleasant surprise with their iPhones -- they'll only be able to download and run apps that are sanctioned by Apple, and only through iTunes.

Currently, the iPhone only runs the standard application set that Apple puts on it at manufacture. Hackers developed workarounds to allow users to install third-party applications. Apple doesn't like those workarounds, and has shut them down with later version of the iPhone software, resulting in the usual game of hacker-vendor leapfrog.

But Apple has been "furiously working" with partners on games and apps for the iPod and iPhone, the Apple news site 9 to 5 Mac reported. For example, EA is porting its line of iPod games to the OS X-based iPhone and new generation of OS X-based iPods. "Other big developers with strict confidentiality agreements are also working with Apple," 9 to 5 Mac said.

Read the whole article @ Information Week

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

AT&T prepping new iPhone color? Deep Red?

What’s this? AT&T is planning on pushing a new iPhone color? Well, if Engadget Mobile’s anonymous tip (the best kind of tip) pans out, AT&T has indeed started to stock “Deep Red” colored iPhones.

In what is purported to be an internal inventory sheet from AT&T, we can clearly see AT&T’s new “Deep Red” iPhones. What’s interesting, though, is the 4GB variant of the Deep Red iPhone. Considering that the 4GB iPhone went the way of the the floppy-disk (remember those?) with Apple’s infamous iPhone price-cut, we’re not sure what to make of the 4GB iPhone popping up in “Deep Red” guise.

Read the whole article @ Into Mobile

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Google 'ready to take on Apple iPhone next year'

Google's share price last week broke through the $600 (£300) ceiling and looks set to rise even higher, with a strong set of results expected this week and the company poised to enter lucrative new markets.

Not content with dominating the internet, the search giant is now believed to be planning to take the mobile communications market by storm. Analysts at Lehman Brothers predict that when it unveils its third-quarter results on Thursday, Google's revenues will rise 8.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $2.98bn with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of $1.8bn. For the full year 2007, Lehman predicts a 58 per cent year-on-year increase in turnover to $11.56bn with Ebitda of $7.03bn, representing a year-on-year rise of over 52 per cent. The investment bank has raised its target price for Google shares to $714.

Read the whole article @ The Independent

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Free iPhone un-bricking solution released

Those of you that decided to find out if Apple was bluffing when they said that unlocked iPhones would be bricked by the iPhone v1.1.1 firmware have undoubtedly found out (the hard way) that Apple was for real. If you’re staring at a “Connect to iTunes” screen on your iBrick, and you just don’t feel like shelling out a C-note for iPhoneSIMfree’s premium un-bricking service, the iPhone Dev Team has come to your rescue.

Well, actually, it’s a subset of the iPhone Dev Team that’s released the new unbricking solution - the iPhone “Elite” Team. The “Elite” guys have released a downgrade solution that will take your bricked iPhone from v1.1.1 to a fully functioning v1.0.2. This solution basically restores your iPhone’s phone functions, but reverts your firmware back to v1.0.2 in the process. But, be warned, the 18-step process requires a bit of familiarity with the hacking tools described on the iPhone Dev Wiki.

Read the whole article @ Into Mobile

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Airplane passenger detained for playing movie on iPhone

My colleague Tom Krazit notes a Consumerist report that an ATA Airlines flight attendant tried to get a passengerto turn off his iPhone because, well, cell phones are not allowed to be used in flight and he was watching a movie on his iPhone.

The passenger, who we know as Casey, tried to explain to the flight attendant that the iPhone was in airplane mode, really truly.

If you’ve flown at all, you know that as a general rule, airplane mode use is generally allowed above 10,000 feet. And hey guess what, the plane was above the Pacific Ocean.

The passenger was briefly detained in Hawaii but was allowed to go.

There are two aspects of this story that strike me as at least somewhat relevant.

As Tom writes:

First of all, “airplane mode” doesn’t appear to be a universally defined state of being by the FCC, FAA, the airlines or the mobile phone industry, and perhaps it should. Apple’s Web page on the iPhone’s airplane mode clearly states, “If you turn on airplane mode, the wireless features of iPhone are disabled, and if allowed by the aircraft operator and applicable laws and regulations (emphasis mine), you can continue to use the non-wireless features after takeoff.

Probably this is a good juncture to note how Apple explains iPhone’s airplane mode:

Turn on airplane mode to disable the wireless features of iPhone on a plane.

Read the whole article @ ZD Net

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

"iPhone Elite" team posts free iPhone unbricking instructions

Something we haven't really covered much here on Infinite Loop is the recent drama going down within the prolific iPhone Dev Team (the team of hackers chopping away at the iPhone's software, not the iPhone team within Apple). Not long after the 1.1.1 iPhone firmware came down, conflicts that may have otherwise sat dormant arose within the group over how to handle future hacking efforts. A smaller group broke off from the main team and formed the "iPhone Elite" team, which staunchly disagrees with some of the directives of the greater iPhone Dev Team. Then iPhone Elite egged the iPhone Dev Team's house, wrote nasty things about them on the bathroom wall, and pulled their hair.

Drama aside, one of the things that the iPhone Elite team disagreed with was how the iPhone Dev Team was handling (or not handling, as the case may be) the unbricking/relocking procedure that it had promised and haven't quite followed through on. Apparently tired of waiting, the iPhone Elite team has now posted its own instructions on how to downgrade the baseband firmware on the iPhone, so that those who had previously unlocked their iPhones can upgrade to 1.1.1 without worrying about bricking.

Read the whole article @ ARS Technica

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhoneSimFree Team Releases iPhone 1.1.1 Unlocker, Unbricker

New version of SimFree not only unlocks 1.1.1 hardware, but can unbrick iUnlock or anySIM units damaged by the upgrade

Apple's 1.1.1 firmware and its associated "iBrick" feature have generated a fair amount of press coverage, web site articles and angry blog postings. Some consumers have even gone so far as to file a lawsuit against the company for monopolistic practices and the official company response of "buy a new one" left a bad taste in many customers’ mouth.

However, as with many electronic devices in the past, the game of cat-and-mouse between vendor and hacker continues. The iphoneSimFree team released version 1.6 of its SimFree application, which not only unlocks the new 1.1.1 firmware, but claims to be able to "unbrick" phones rendered inoperable by the upgrade. On the iphoneSimFree website, the proud claim is made that "iphoneSimFree can FIX all phones that anySim and iUnlock bricked with the 1.1.1 update."

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Web surfing blocks iPhone calls -- sorta

I'm thinking about buying an iPhone and I heard something about them that might be a deal breaker for me. My friend told me that if I'm surfing the Internet on the phone I won't be able to receive calls.

Is that true?

C.M., Dallas

Technically it is true, but in reality it's not that big a deal.

The iPhone uses AT&T's Edge network for its communications.

Edge data uses what's called 2.5G technology. The "G" number, which indicates the generation of the technology, has to do with how much data the phone can upload or download at one time.

Most people were surprised Apple didn't introduce the iPhone on AT&T's 3G network.

The 3G network doesn't have the coverage area of AT&T's Edge network, but it does allow for simultaneous voice and data traffic because it moves data at speeds up to 2 megabits per second. Think of a 3G connection being about as fast as basic DSL service.

Read the whole article @ Dallas News

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Hackers unlock iPhone (again)

Hackers have struck back against an iPhone software update from Apple that disabled unlocked phones. The iPhone Development Project has developed a method to install third-party apps and use upgraded iPhones on GSM networks other than AT&Ts, The Unofficial Apple Weblog reports.

The latest hack allows users who've already applied the 1.1.1 firmware upgrade to revert to the previous 1.0.2 update, "jailbreak" the device, and update to the 1.1.1 software while leaving the mobile phone functions still operational.

iPhone Atlas has successfully applied the hack, which it warns is not for novice users since it requires a modicum of familiarity with the iPhone's command line interface.

Help is also on hand for those left with expensive paperweights after upgrading to firmware version 1.1.1 on unlocked devices. A commercially available unlocking tool offers a chance to unlock the iPhone and restore it to working order.

The iPhoneSIMFree utility makes use of a TIFF image buffer overflow flaw in Safari to run code on the device, a bug Apple is sure to address in future software upgrades.

Read the whole article @ The Register

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

iPhone Lawsuit Seeks Over $1 Billion in Damages

Lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and AT&T seeking $1.2 billion in damages because the iPhone is locked to AT&T's wireless network. The suit also notes that Apple will not allow unauthorized applications on the iPhone.

Filed on behalf of Paul Holman in the State of Washington and Lucy Rivello in California, the lawsuit explains that in the United States the SIM chip is locked to the wireless carrier, not the hardware device.

When Apple released the iPhone it tied the device to AT&T. Switching out the SIM with one from another carrier simply caused an error when the phone was rebooted. However, the cellular community quickly tackled the iPhone and found several ways to unlock the phone, allowing users to activate it using another carrier.

On September 24 Apple warned customers that unlocking the phone could render it inoperable when future software updates were applied. Three days later, an iPhone update was released that effectively bricked unlocked iPhones.

"Apple expressly designed its software release 1.1.1 expressly to disable Third Party Apps and to disable any unlocked SIM cards, and to create technical barriers to install new Third Party Apps or to unlock the SIM cards," the lawsuit reads.

Read the whole article @ PC World

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Lawyer Sues Over IPhone’s Little White List

Move over hackers, here come the lawyers. A suit claiming that Apple’s restrictions on the iPhone constitute unlawful competition has been filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California. The suit, which is seeking class action status, is the second iBrick-related case. On Friday, a California resident, Timothy Smith, filed a similar case in state court. (AppleInsider has coverage of both the federal and state suits.)

Max Folkenflik, the lawyer in the federal suit, said it turns on the idea that Apple is illegally bundling AT&T wireless service and Apple’s own software with the iPhone. Other phones, he argued, are available unlocked for one price, and linked to a particular carrier for a lower price. But iPhone users don’t have that choice.

This aspect of the suit, however, turns on establishing that Apple dominates its market and that its bundling actions impede competition. Since Apple is still a tiny force in the vast cellphone business, this may be a difficult hurdle, but Mr. Folkenflik says he intends to argue that the iPhone market is separate from that for other phones.

Read the whole article @ NY Times

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple, AT&T Sued for iBricking, Monopolistic Behavior

The consumers are bringing the fight to Apple Inc.

Cupertino-based Apple Inc. has been busy writing firmware to lock the iPhones and iPod Touches from third party applications and unlocking. Now after trying to put out one literal iFire, as predicted in a previous DailyTech article, Apple Inc. has found itself the target of not one, but two separate lawsuits seeking class action status.

Apparently Apple's answer to owners of frozen iPhones that they should “buy a new phone” did not go over well.

One lawsuit was filed at the state level by Saratoga attorney Damian Fernandez, who is representing California resident Timothy Smith.

The federal suit was filed by the offices of Hoffman & Lazear in Oakland and Folkenflik & McGerity in New York, on behalf of two individuals Paul Holman and Lucy Rivello; both iPhone owners.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Apple prepares iPhone WebApp catalogue

Apple is about to launch a consolidation portal hosting WebApps for its glorified slates, the iPhone and iTouch, whilst developing proper applications with Electronic Arts and others.

WebApps are web pages using AJAX as an application environment: for the moment they have to be re-downloaded each time you want to use them, but the catalogue about to be launched by Apple will include Remote Buddy (for remote controlling your Mac), Solitaire and a Nutrition Database as well as a WebApp launcher called iHome.

These applications are already turning up in Apple's "recent downloads" RSS feed, though the web page they link to isn't there yet.

Meanwhile 9to5 Mac reports that Apple is working with Electronic Arts, among others, to develop native applications for the iPhone and iTouch, to be sold through the iTunes store.

When the iPhone was launched Apple proudly announced there was no reason to have a native SDK, as WebApps could do anything, but the popularity of the few applications which can be installed on unlocked iPhones may have driven them to change their approach.

Read the whole article @ The Register

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Hackers Break iPhone, iPod touch Out Of Jail

Its a good old fashion prison break--the iPhone and iPod Touch are freed from the confines of a locked file system.

The release of Apple's firmware v1.1.1 update was supposed to be an exciting event, which heralded the arrival of mobile iTunes and special promotions with Starbucks. It turned out to be chiefly a dragnet by Apple to catch rogue unlocked iPhones and "brick" them.

Of course, despite Apple's best efforts, it was only a matter of time before someone cracked the new firmware's protection -- they did unlock the phone's protection in the first place after all.

One of the most dreaded parts of Apple's update was the fact that it locked iPhones and iPod touches from using any third party applications by locking the file system. Some saw this as a death knell for the burgeoning iPhone homebrew community.

Read the whole article @ Daily Tech

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

Non-Apple iPhone applications re-emerge after being crippled by update

While most of the US celebrated the discovery of the new world by Columbus, the the iPhone hacking community was busy discovering how to make non-Apple iPhone applications work in spite of the enhanced safeguards that Apple put in place with the iPhone 1.1.1 firmware update. The update had disabled all native applications installed on an iPhone, as well as any non-iTunes ringtones, and disabled hacks that allowed the iPhone to be unlocked and used on other GSM networks (in the process completely disabling many of the devices).

At noon on Monday, the first report of a preliminary jail break (the process of opening the iPhone for installation of files and applications) was posted by Erica Sadun at The Unofficial Apple Weblog. By the end of the day, not only was there news of a way around Apple's update, but there was also word that whole applications were being updated to run under the iPhone 1.1.1. The iPhone Dev Team, an unofficial group of programmers who developed the first jail breaking tools for earlier revisions of the iPhone software, has not yet released a tool for general use, but iPhone application makers are already updating 
their creations in preparation for an updated tool. Also, a hack has been developed to ensure that the home screen can be expanded to support more applications than the few empty spaces for icons. In a related story, TUAW also reported the first signs of success in jail breaking the iPod touch. So far, there has been no news about updates to the tools used to unlock an iPhone for use with other networks.

Read the whole article @ Computer World

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

22 top iPhone tips

You can do a lot with the iPhone—surf the Web, send e-mail, listen to music, and (yes) make phone calls—with just a touch of a virtual button. But dig a little deeper, and you can do even more. Now that we’ve had some time to live with the iPhone, we’ve found a few tricks that help us get the most out of it.

Web Surfing

Get a Bigger Keyboard As with any other iPhone function requiring data entry, tapping on Safari’s address bar summons an on-screen keyboard. If you rotate the iPhone horizontally before tapping on the address bar, the Safari window will switch to horizontal mode; then, when you tap on the address bar, the on-screen keyboard will also appear horizontally. More important, it will also be much larger than the standard, vertical keyboard, making data entry a little easier. Unfortunately, Safari is currently the only iPhone application in which this horizontal keyboard appears. (If you want to use the keyboard in its standard vertical orientation, summon it before rotating your iPhone.)

Read the whole article @ Mac World

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!

1Passwd 2.5b adds iPhone export

The browser password manager 1Passwd has just been updated to version 2.5b and adds an interesting new feature: iPhone export. You're now able to export your secure passwords and notes to the iPhone from your Mac. The clever thing is that they accomplish this without hacking the iPhone in any way.

Basically what it does is create a special Safari secured bookmarket from your 1Passwrd data "using 448 bit Blowfish encryption." This special bookmarklet is then synced to the iPhone in the normal way through iTunes. When you access the bookmarklet in mobile Safari on the iPhone it prompts you for your password and then gives you access to your passwords, secure notes, etc. Since it's just a bookmarklet in mobile Safari this should not be affected by any future firmware changes, etc.

The latest 1passwd beta can be downloaded from the Agile Web Solutions Forum.


Read the whole article @ TUAW

Get a Free iPhone! Yes, that is correct! Stay away from the hassles of earning enough to pay for it for you can get it the simple way .... straight to your doorstep! Free! Interested? Then find out how to get a Free iPhone!