Category Archives: iOS
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?
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.
