Category Archives: Apple
Workaround for iTunes Home Sharing Nonsense
Some time ago, I complained in “Review: iTunes Home Sharing Disappoints” where I listed some downers about the whole iTunes sharing of playlists. For example, I thought it was annoying that iTunes literally had to be running on both PCs for it to work. However, that was minor in comparison to not marking items as being played as it went along. So, I wound up listening to some podcasts three times before I figured out nothing was being marked as played. This isn’t such a big deal for playlists that don’t change often, but when I am on the road, I like to catch up on news sometimes.
Well, I got clued in on an iTunes feature that I’ve never seen documented anywhere (not a big surprise, as so few features seem to be). If I double-click on iTunes while holding down the [Shift] key, it will prompt for which library you want to open. So, that got me to thinking about accessing the iTunes library remotely. Would it get around these issues?
‘Black Friday’ iTunes Scam
The Telegraph reports on a “‘Black Friday’ iTunes credit scam” being sent via a zip attachment in an email claiming to be a gift.
New iPhone Bug Is Security Risk
Recently, CNN.com posted that a "Researcher: iPhone bug could let hackers steal photos, contacts and send texts". Until this is addressed, I would be very careful about what apps you put on your iPhone.
Apple’s Greed not Dead in Trademark Dispute
The Telegraph posted an article yesterday about how “Apple takes on German café over logo”. A small café in Germany called Apfelkind (child of apple) has a red apple shaped logo with the silhouette of a child inside of it (go to link to see picture). It looks next to nothing like the Apple computer logo, but that hasn’t stopped them from pursuing a trademark “infringement” complaint against the café.
IOW, it is another example of stupid marketing and stupid legal maneuvers gone haywire.
One of the comments on The Telegraph’s site mentions that it doesn’t have to be confusing in order to be a trademark case. Balderdash! Almost all trademarks center around whether or not the consumer is confused. Not only are the logos very distinguishable, but I really doubt anyone is going to confuse a café with an Apple Store.
You know, my iPhone can be replaced in a few months. Perhaps I will look at other options?
iOS 5 First Impressions
I jailbroke my iPhone 3GS originally because of my frustration with the push notifications doing stupid things like covering up the controls on a phone call to prevent me from hanging up (imagine trying to make a phone call on the thing, after all!). However, there were problems with doing it that way, not the least of which was Apple plugging up the security hole that allowed an untethered jailbreak in the first place. Downgrading the iOS seemed to make it more unstable (for reasons I never figured out). The last straw, though, was the inability to answer Skype calls while the phone was locked and Notified was running.
So, improved notifications was the major feature I desired when I learned iOS 5 was finally released. And, it turns out to be a major improvement in this area. Alerts happen up in the status area unless the phone is locked, and even then they aren’t modal dialogs. The one strange exception seemed to be the location service which wanted me to turn on wi-fi after I had turned it off because I was going to be on the road. I don’t understand why it would want wi-fi turned on, as IP addresses have very little to do with location (a proxy or VPN server would mangle it even if it were).
Another Apple Computer Security Flaw Revealed; This Time It’s In the Batteries
The myth that Macs don’t get viruses was blown away recently by a significant outbreak of a Mac version of a ransomware program that has plagued Windows users for a few years now. Recently, Apple patched the iOS software that runs iPhones and iPads which had an exploit that not only allowed jailbreaking but could allow malware exploits on mobile devices. Apple computers are now facing even more significant challenges, though, as the Huffpost Tech article "Apple Laptop Security Flaw Found In Computer Batteries" reports.
This is more dangerous than your normal run of the mill malware trojan, as the battery could be caused to overheat and catch fire programmatically. Installed malware would be in the chip controlling the battery, and thus antivirus software would not notice it because the malware is not on the hard drive.
Charlie Miller, the researcher at Accuvant Labs, has reported the flaw to Apple and intends to present a proposed solution at an upcoming Black Hat security conference.
Jailbreakers, DO NOT Upgrade to iOS 4.3.4, Plus Review of Jailbreakme.com and AptBackup
I guess I wasn’t paying attention. I upgraded to iOS 4.3.4 when iTunes prompted me. Silly me. It patches the previous exploits that allow jailbreaking! Worse, word is that it will be some time before an untethered jailbreak will be available.
So, I got a chance to attempt a downgrade. The bad news was that I had never saved an shsh blob on 4.3.3, but I did have the presence of mind to do so for 4.3.2. So, the worst part of it was redownloading 4.3.2. So, for future notes, be sure to keep the correct restore IPSW file that you have backed up the shsh for.
Semi-Geek Friday: Delete All SMS Messages on iPhone
This article isn’t as geeky as some of the other Geek Friday posts, but this is something I honestly did not know until recently. If you get a lot of SMS messages, it can be a real drag deleting them one by one. Almost every other smartphone in the world can delete them all in one fell swoop, so you’d think you could on the iPhone as well.
It turns out that you actually can, but it takes a third party utility. The iBackupBot for iTunes can do this for a small cost, but at least it doesn’t require a jailbreak.
If you have a jailbroken iPhone, UtterNerd has a Clear all SMS iPhone Application available via Cydia. You will need to go to Cydia on your iPhone and do a search for “Clear All SMS”. I installed this last one without difficulty, but I have to warn you that it can be a bit unnerving. It locks the phone afterwards, and for a moment I thought it was frozen.
This is just another example of how Apple can get it so wrong. To have to pay for this functionality is ludicrous, and to have to jailbreak your iPhone for it is even more so.
Stupid Apple iPhone Notifications & Why I Finally Jailbroke My 3GS
iPhone users can surely relate to the stupid design of push notifications on the iPhone. Your options are basically to either turn notifications on or off. I used a BlackBerry for quite some time, and it seemed to make so much sense to me that you give different sounds to different notifications. I was unprepared for the push popup notifications on the iPhone iOS4.
One gripe I’ve always had about Windows is its propensity to pop up dialogs and such right in front of whatever you are working on. I’ve even deleted stuff or not saved it because I was typing away on something and a box popped up in front of me while typing, gaining focus and accepting the keystroke intended for an entirely different program. While X-windows might seem kludgey to some, it does shine in that wherever the mouse hovers is what has focus at a given time. Dialog boxes can appear to the side of the work area, but they won’t steal focus. The chances of a dialog stealing your keystrokes and misinterpreting them on X is very small indeed.
While seeing a preview of a text message initially had its appeal, it soon became a pain to have to dismiss a dialog in the middle of typing an email or text message. However, the scenario that really pushed me over the edge is getting notifications in the middle of a call. You cannot even hang up until you dismiss all those notifications! Much of the time, by the time I dismiss two or three dialogs, the other party has already hung up. However, I’ve noticed that some people rarely hang up, but they rather wait for you to do so. One time, I waited ten seconds, and the other party didn’t hang up. I then proceeded to dismiss four dialogs, just so I could hang up the phone.
What about the times you are trying to do this in your car? Yes, I do try to find somewhere to pull over, even with a hands-free kit (a story in and of itself), but even parked, it’s a pain. When not, it’s nearly impossible.
Tomorrow, I’ll give an update on the jailbreaking experience itself for Geek Friday.
Better Check That iTunes Account
Something is going on with iTunes for some users. It isn’t clear that it is tied to any particular platform, but there is a long running “not answered” thread in the iTunes for Mac support forum under topic “iTunes store account hacked”.
What is bizarre is that some users are reporting fake transactions on their account in spite of not using the Apple iTunes Store recently. Others are reporting altered details about billing information with no charges. A few are reporting either Texas Hold ‘Em charges or charges for an Asian language app. While most are reporting small amounts (probably hoping it wouldn’t be noticed), some are reporting larger values.
