Weblogs Inc : Tag iphone

Worm rickrolls unsecured jailbroken iPhones via SSH

For the last few days, some jailbroken iPhone users have found their home screen background a little different than they remembered. A hacker, going by the name "ikee," created a worm that changes the home screen background on jailbroken iPhones whose owners failed to change the default password after installing SSH. Simply jailbreaking your iPhone will not make you vulnerable to this sort of hack. The iPhone OS, in general, is also immune to this hack. Still confused? Let's back up a bit.

On jailbroken iPhones, SSH is installable with a package from Cydia that allows you to connect to your phone and make changes to the filesystem. It does this by logging into the root user with the password "alpine." After installing SSH, it is always recommended that you change "alpine" to the password of your choosing. This hack can only affect people who chose not to change that password -- no one else.

This hack originated in Australia, the home country of ikee, and has possibly spread to other iPhones in other countries, but we've been unable to verify that. A gentleman by the name of JD held an interview with the hacker over IRC and posted it to his blog. In ikee's own words, here's how the worm has spread:

...The code itself is set to firstly scan the 3G IP range the phone is on, then Optus/Vodafone/Telstra's IP Ranges (I think the reason Optus got hit so hard is because the other 2 are NAT'd) then a random 20 IP ranges. I'm guessing a few phones hit a range that another vulnerable phone was on.

Basically, once your phone is infected, the worm starts looking for other iPhones on the cellular network that use the root:alpine combination. Once it finds another vulnerable iPhone, it installs itself and begins the process again... and again... and again.

Luckily for the jailbreakers in the audience who may have been affected, there's really no harm done -- at least not with this version of the worm. According to the hacker, this was more of an experiment than anything else. The worm changes your background and then disables inbound SSH, which is a good thing. If SSH was left turned on, a similar worm could follow along but conceivably do much more damage. For instructions on how to delete this worm, read JD's interview with ikee. I would recommend reading the interview just for the information it presents; I found it pretty interesting. If you've got a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch and you've never changed the default device password, now's the time. Here's how, if you are using terminal:

Type: ssh root@(iPhone IP address)
When prompted for the password type: alpine
Now you're connected the phone...
type: passwd
It should then prompt your for a new password -- type one that you'll remember. There's no easy way to reset it if you forget it.

That's it. Please remember to be responsibly secure with your devices. Hackers like ikee are troublesome, but this could have been much worse. While I don't personally condone his actions, he's prevented a lot of people from being vulnerable to more malicious attacks later down the road.

Thanks, James!

iPhone Safari 的附加功能：帳單加倍！

採用『有限封包』下載資費方案的 iPhone 使用者請注意，沒事不要亂逛含有 Motion JPEG 檔案的網站（以提供線上視訊服務的網站居多），不然收到下個月帳單就要哭哭了！

這聽起來頗諷刺的漏洞，是愛沙尼亞的一位部落客所發現的，主要出的狀況，是說當他逛完有 Motion JPEG 的網站後，雖然按了 Home 按鍵跳出了 Safari，但是 Motion JPEG 的檔案資料仍持續在『背景中』下載，而且不過短短的一個小時內，下載量就達到 740MB，可以說是兵不血刃呀！

而採用『無限封包』方案的朋友，可別偷笑的太早，因為既然是在『背景中』執行，自然會對電力造成一定的消耗；至於解決的方法，就是在離開 Safari 之前，記得把該網站（含 Motion JPEG）的分頁關掉，不然至少也該跳到其他網頁底下。

目前蘋果尚未對此問題做出回應。

參考閱讀
Y! 新聞 - iPhone Safari有bug　可能導致電信費爆增與電力耗損
The Register - Data-gobbling, dollar-munching iPhone bug unearthed
Wired (UK) - iPhone Safari bug secretly gobbles up data

Gokivo updates navigation app for iPhone, lowers the price

Several readers have urged me to try the Gokivo Navigator for the iPhone [iTunes link], so today is the day. The app is U.S. $4.99, but that only provides you with GPS navigation for 30 days. After that, the app costs $4.99 monthly or you can purchase a year of service for $39.99. That's quite a bit less that the AT&T nav solution [iTunes link], and makes the Gokivo app quite competitive. The app includes a Traffic Tracking Center, text to speech so street names are announced as you drive, and it has iPod controls so you don't have to leave the app to change your music.

Like the AT&T app, if you are out of range of the data network, you won't get maps. And like most of the competition, Gokivo gives you an estimated time of arrival, distance to your destination, and your current speed.

The map doesn't work in landscape view, which I consider a strong negative. It's easy to navigate to your addresses in your Contacts app, and the feature is nicely integrated.

Apple patent application details simple "Grab and Go" sync

Apple, being the innovative corporation that it is, applies for patents many times per year. While many of these items may never make it to market, the company is proactive in making sure that possible patents are filed as soon as possible in order to protect the intellectual property that's been developed.

One such filing from last year describes a fascinating cloud-based, cross-platform sync service referred to as "Grab & Go." The filing showed up earlier this week and demonstrates how synchronization of data over multiple devices could be simplified. Grab & Go creates pre-defined data sets with categories like family, entertainment, or business that a user could literally "grab" and move to a device. The patent document shows how sharing files between devices (whether the device is a smartphone, computer, tablet, or even a game console) could be made easier.

The software is flexible enough to adapt to different connection types (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, to name a few) and can provide different levels of encryption and security. The filing even discusses a possible requirement of having two or more devices within a certain distance of each other in order for synchronization to begin.

If you're up for a long, but interesting read over the weekend, head on over to the US Patent & Trademark Office and check out the details of Grab & Go. It could be a foretaste of things to come, or just another long legal document.

[via AppleInsider and Engadget]

PhoneBook czyli iPhone dla najmłodszych (film)

Słowa "książka telefoniczna" mogą wkrótce nabrać nowego, bardziej dosłownego znaczenia. Grupa japońskich artystów postanowiła bowiem połączyć możliwości iPhone'a z tradycyjną książką i stworzyć PhoneBook, czyli interaktywną czytankę dla najmłodszych. Na swojej stronie twórcy projektu piszą, że do tej pory aplikacje na iPhone'a skierowane były głównie do starszych użytkowników, a dzieci przecież też mogą skorzystać. Równocześnie podkreślają, że przyszłość nie ogranicza się do rozrywki dla sześciolatków -- podobne rozwiązania można stosować do tworzenia broszur, katalogów i książek dla dorosłych.

Rzućcie okiem na filmik w dalszej części posta -- PhoneBook wygląda na świetną zabawkę.

[Za: Mobile Art Lab]

Video: Hybridkinderbuch für den Zappelphilipp

Das japanische Verlagshaus Dentsu hat ein Hybrid-Konzept vorgestellt, welches Kinderbuch und iPhone verbindet und sich ganz simpel PhoneBook nennt. Warum auch nicht, die Zeit der mordsschweren Telefonbuchwälzer ist schliesslich so gut wie vorbei. Das iPhone wird ins Bilderbuch gesteckt, und das Kind "steuert" dann über den Touchscreen die Geschichte, Geräuschkulisse inklusive. Eine hektische Angelegenheit, wie im Video nach dem Break zu sehen ist. Vielleicht wäre es am besten, das Ding gleich als Bundle mit einer Packung Ritalin zu verkaufen?

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[Via CNET Japan]

Apple introduces reserve and pick-up

As a guy who likes shopping online, but who still appreciates the act of going into a retail store for big purchases, I love this news. Apple has introduced a "Reserve and Pick-up" service for the holiday season.

The name is a little unwieldy, but it gets the point across. You go onto the Apple web site to find what you want, click to reserve the product at a nearby Apple Store, and then go to the store and pick up the goods while you're doing your holiday shopping between December 15 to 24.

For many folks, this might seem awkward -- why not just buy the product online and get it shipped, or just go to the store and buy it? For guys like me, it's perfect -- all of the convenience of choosing a product online, with the added bonus of being able to check out the retail store during the holidays.

iLounge notes that there's no AppleTV on the list, so if you were planning to pick one up as a gift, you'll have to go a more traditional route. There's also no way to actually reserve an iPhone. Instead, you're told to get an iPhone gift card to give to some lucky recipient. Nevertheless, I like the idea of reserve and pick-up, an interesting mix of online shopping and in-store purchasing for the holiday season. It's Apple take-out.

For sale on eBay: One iPhone development business, batteries not included

Want an iPhone app business without all the boring hassle of actually programming and releasing iPhone apps? Boy, does Brice Milliorn have a deal for you! He's auctioning off his iPhone app business, which he says has 87 different apps for sale, over on eBay.

Milliorn says he started out developing apps on his own, but the business is just too big for him to keep up so he's selling all of the apps and their rights, all of the source code, and technical support for two months to transition everything over to the new owner. He doesn't specifically say that he'll transfer the developer account on Apple's App Store to your name (he says he'll send over a DVD with the source code and transfer "the whole kit and caboodle" to you), but we presume that's what will happen -- of course if you go for it, you're doing this at your own risk.

What will a burgeoning App Store business, complete with apps like iSexyRef and Swine Flu cost you? Just a cool $100 grand. That's the starting bid in the eBay auction, which has just over a week left and no bids as of this writing. There are certainly less expensive ways to get started selling apps on the store. It only costs $100 to register in Apple's Developer Program for a year, and then you just need to find a developer you can pay -- or even do it yourself with a helper service).

If you'd rather start off with a bunch of marginal to silly 99-cent apps and happen to have an extra $100,000 lying around to spend (maybe for a nice holiday gift?), here's your opportunity.

iPhone Safari 的附加功能：账单加倍！

采用『有限封包』下载资费方案的 iPhone 使用者请注意，没事不要乱逛含有 Motion JPEG 档案的网站（以提供在线视频服务的网站居多），不然收到下个月账单就要哭哭了！

这听起来颇讽刺的漏洞，是爱沙尼亚的一位部落客所发现的，主要出的状况，是说当他逛完有 Motion JPEG 的网站后，虽然按了 Home 按键跳出了 Safari，但是 Motion JPEG 的档案资料仍持续在『背景中』下载，而且不过短短的一个小时内，下载量就达到 740MB，可以说是兵不血刃呀！

而采用『无限封包』方案的朋友，可别偷笑的太早，因为既然是在『背景中』执行，自然会对电力造成一定的消耗；至于解决的方法，就是在离开 Safari 之前，记得把该网站（含 Motion JPEG）的分页关掉，不然至少也该跳到其它网页底下。

目前苹果尚未对此问题做出响应。

参考阅读
Y! 新闻 - iPhone Safari有bug　可能导致电信费爆增与电力耗损
The Register - Data-gobbling, dollar-munching iPhone bug unearthed
Wired (UK) - iPhone Safari bug secretly gobbles up data

Rumor: Smaller iPhone on tap for Verizon in Q3 2010?

If you're tired of dropped calls and dead zones, and pondering the merits of turning in your iPhone for a DROID... hold on there, champ. AppleInsider says it's received a copy of a report by OTR Global, claiming that Apple has signed contracts to produce a UMTS / CDMA hybrid iPhone to be released in the third quarter of 2010.

The hybrid handset, built around a dual-system chip from Qualcomm, would allow the iPhone to run on virtually any GSM/UTMS cellular network worldwide -- and also on the CDMA2000 networks of US carriers like Verizon and Sprint. In particular, Verizon is cited in the report as the target carrier for the new devices.

The report states that Foxconn, the Taiwan-based sole-source provider of iPhone hardware at this time, will not build the new device. Instead, a subsidiary of Asustek known as Pegatron has been selected to kick off manufacturing. It's also rumored that the hybrid device uses a 2.8" screen, making the handset smaller than the current model which uses a 3.5" display.

Photos of the smaller display were first featured on iLounge in June of 2008 (see photo at right), sparking widespread rumors at the time that an "iPhone nano" was on the way. Over a year later, neither the smaller iPhone nor a Verizon model are available. However, if the leaked report is any indication, 2010 could be yet another year of incredible growth for the iPhone economy.

Squarespace hosting/CMS service launches iPhone app

After a long wait, Squarespace customers finally have an iPhone app of their own. Squarespace is a hosted blogging/CMS service that competes with the likes of WordPress.com and Typepad. Having used all three, I can say that interacting with Squarespace (posting, changing your site's look and feel, etc.) is unlike the others. Instead of a separate control panel/dashboard, Squarespace previews changes in real time on the same screen. It's really nice.

The iPhone app [iTunes link] seems to be an extension of its browser-based sibling. For example, check out the live preview mode pictured at right. You can also manage multiple accounts, post, upload multiple images at once (awesome) view stats and more. The UI looks nice as well.

While bloggers on other platforms have had compatible apps in the App Store for a while now, this is Squarespace's first solution. We're eager to play around with it. Squarespace for iPhone is free and requires a paid Squarespace account.

iPhone coming to The Shack: Dallas and NYC this month, nationwide in 2010?

So we knew a select number of authorized resellers would start stocking iPhones soon, and thanks to a tipster, it looks like we might be getting a glimpse at a none-too-surprising recipient of the new order. As these pics from an anonymous tipster show, "big hug for your mobile life" retailer The Shack will be getting AT&T's flagship device soon, with a letter supposedly from EVP of store operations Bryan Bevin (found after the break) adding that the 3G and 3GS rollout will begin this month at some company-owned locations in the Dallas Forth Worth and New York City areas, with a nationwide rollout in 2010. Not that you necessarily needed more places to tempt you with the device, but it's always fun to have options.

iPhone coming to The Shack: Dallas and NYC this month, nationwide in 2010?

CoPilot Live for iPhone updates features and maps

We're seeing a lot of updates to navigation applications, and the latest is for the CoPilot Live app [iTunes link] for the iPhone. As promised, the company has updated the map data to fix mistakes or omissions that were reported by users. The latest update also adds iPod controls within the app, which many users were requesting.

The update fixes a reported address search issue, improves GPS reception and makes some improvements to the user interface.

The previous version of the U.S. $34.99 app added text to speech and a better method of text entry.

As we've mentioned before, the competition in nav apps is going to get very interesting if Apple allows the Google nav app into the app store. It will be free, and has a host of features that are not currently available in the paid apps that are shipping for the iPhone now.

With the FCC watching the relationship between Google and Apple, I'm thinking Apple will have to let the app in, but Apple has surprised me before, and not always in a positive way.

Mobile Airbrushing - Photoshop App Expands to Google Phones

Picture Perfect Photo: Courtesy of Photoshop

Want to hide that spot or blur those wrinkles, all from your Smartphone?

Now, the coveted ability to Photoshop pictures from your phone is no longer reserved for iPhone aficionados only.

Adobe announced today that its uber popular Photoshop.com Mobile Application is available for Android, the Google Mobile operating system, found on smartphones such as T-Mobile's MyTouch and Motorola's brand new Droid.

Not only can you browse for images online and on your phone -- directly from the app -- but you can also use advanced editing tools like crop, rotate and flip, to create better looking photos on-the-go.

With a swipe of your finger, check out special effects like Soft Focus for a subtle blur effect and Sketch, which makes photos look like drawings. Colors can also be adjusted by correcting saturation and tint, enhancing exposure and vibrancy and even converting images to black and white.

The app is free and Android users get special features, like automatically uploading pictures to Photoshop.com albums in the background, even if the app isn't running.

Now that's what we call pretty smart.

Balloons: launch a balloon from your iPhone, see who finds it

If you ever let a helium balloon float away when you were a kid and wondered where it eventually ended up, you already know what Balloons for the iPhone is all about. This cute little app lets you launch a virtual balloon with a message and a photo attached. Anyone with the app installed call pull down balloons near them -- Balloons uses the iPhone's location services -- and read messages.

I grabbed a few balloons to see what it was all about, and it was more addictive than I expected. My first balloon was an ad, launched by some marketer near my city (Boo! Hiss!), but then things started getting interesting. I caught a balloon that had drifted from London to Texas to Arizona, picking up new notes along the way. Balloons reminds me of the message-in-a-bottle feeling of the early days of the Internet -- "Hey, who else is out there?"

I tested the Lite version of Balloons, which is free. There's also a $2.99 version that adds the ability to track your balloons, in case you get really serious. TUAW interviewed the developer at this year's WWDC.

RFID coming to iPhones?

Photo courtesy of flickr: Thijs Jacobs

Back in April 2009, TUAW's Dave Caolo posted a video showing off the potential (and some of the potential annoyances as well) and possibilities of an RFID-enabled iPhone world via an iPhone RFID prototype by Near Field. And, according to a Near Field Communications blog posting, Apple is said to have equipped prototypes of the next-generation iPhone with RFID readers.

How awesome would it be if, instead of using my Mobil Speedpass, I could turn to my iPhone and swipe that against the gas pumping station to pay for gas? And, because there may eventually be "an app for that," I may also be able to view my current balance and fuel economy statistics. Or, instead of needing to put a FasTrak transponder atop my windshield (which is annoying), I could simply put my iPhone on the dashboard as I cross the toll road. I could then view my balance, as well as fill up my credits on the fly. These are just some examples of RFID applications in use today.

Verizon Droid unleashed on NYC: 'We're gonna need more phones'

After weeks of build-up, Verizon Communications's (VZ) Verizon Wireless unleashed its new Google (GOOG)-powered Droid smartphone on Friday, and New York City retailers were selling out of the device -- billed as the first legitimate challenger to Apple's (AAPL) iPhone's first legitimate challenger -- on the first day.

"We're gonna need more phones," Amanda Leavelle, a Verizon Wireless store manager in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood, said around 2 p.m. "I just checked, and our inventory is running low, so I've got to call for some more."

Facebook Hit 'Bejeweled Blitz' Goes Mobile With iPhone App

Fans of the Facebook game 'Bejeweled Blitz' will be able to hone their gem-matching skills on the move when the free 'Bejeweled 2' iPhone add-on hits the App Store next week.

As with previous 'Bejeweled' games, the goal is to swap gems vertically and horizontally to match three or more. (A satisfying cacophony of explosions concludes the round if you've done your job.) But this streamlined edition gives you only one minute to do it, a boon for mobile users with some time, though not too much time, to kill. Best of all, 'Blitz' syncs automatically to Facebook, uploading high scores to a leaderboard in real time.

If users really feel the need to brag, they can post their scores to their Facebook profiles, reminding their family and friends who's the boss -- at least where puzzle games are concerned. [From: Games.com]

Adobe Photoshop Mobile jetzt auch für Android

Vor kurzem erst gab es Adobe Photoshop Mobile für das iPhone (zumindest in den USA, im deutschen App Store ist es immer noch nicht zu finden) und schon zieht die Android Version nach. Hoffen wir mal das die Android Version ihren Weg über den Atlantik etwas schneller schafft. (Mangels Android Telefon konnten wir das jetzt nicht testen). Wie Photoshop auf Android funktioniert zeigt das Video nach dem Klick.

[Via Mashable]