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Monday 23 August 2010

Apple Filiing Patent to Snoop On Jailbreakers [ 23-08-2010 13:54 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Source: Pocket-lint Translation by: Paul Smith

Apple are well known for the locked down nature of their eco-system and their distaste for doing things in ways not officially approved by the company. The jailbreaking community would be one such 'acitivity', but all the same it's been something that Apple hasn't made any serious efforts to go after other than updating iOS periodically. Well a new patent being filed by Apple might be about to change that, suggesting, as it does, that Apple would be able to check whether a device has been jailbroken and if so take action.

The patent is called 'Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device". Ostensibly the patent would allow Apple to protect customers from thieves by such means as remotely activating the iPhone's camera, taking pictures and then transmitting those pictures to server. Great stuff if your phone is stolen, but what if someone at Apple just fancies finding out what people are doing and decides to take some pictures?

Where Jailbreaking comes into all of this are the sections of the patent that state:

An activity that can detect an unauthorized user can be any action that may indicate the electronic device is being tampered with by being, for example, hacked, jailbroken, or unlocked.

Unlocking of a cellular phone can generally refer to removing a restriction that 'locks' a cellular phone so it may only be used in specific countries or with specific network providers. Thus, in some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected if it is determined that the electronic device is being jailbroken or unlocked.

None of that looks very rosey for the Jailbreaking community. Of course just because Apple could detect and block jailbroken iPhones doesn't necessarily mean they would, but their laizzez faire policy so far is no guarantee they woldn't either. It's also worth asking the following: Is any of this genuinely needed in today's world to respond to mobile phone crime or is this an over the top Orwellian reaction that has little or no jsutification?

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World Texting Record Smashed By British Woman [ 23-08-2010 13:47 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Source: TechRadar Translation by: Paul Smith

There's a new fastest texter in town after the previous record for texting was smashed by almost 10 seconds. Melissa Thompson, a British woman, was using Samsung's Swype technology on a Galaxy S and managed to bash out the following sentence in 25.94 seconds:

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human

She typed it almost 10 seconds faster than the previous record holder who was an American. Thompson was pretty clear about what had helped her beat the previous time "It's a real shock to find out that I'm the fastest texter in the world. But using Swype helped. Everyone should give it a go and see how easy it is." Presumably a shiny new Samsung of some description will be winding its way to her after that. The record has still to be verified by the Guiness Book of World Records.

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Concept UI for MeeGo: Nokia Might Like To Take Note [ 23-08-2010 13:00 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: Engadget Translation by: Paul Smith

When it comes to mobile operating systems functionality is of course important, but increasingly the look of the platform is being seeing as just as important in terms of what customers look for in their devices. Some vendors have this down to a tee i.e. Apple with their iOS, whilst others have had less success i.e. Nokia with just about every smartphone OS they touch. Step forth the boffins at The Astonishing Tribe. Yes the same The Astonishing Tribe that developed the UI for Android.

They've come up with a pretty impressive concept for MeeGo that lends the platform some eye candy, as you can see in the video below. Take the map widget, for example, just pull the widget out and a 'sheet' displaying the map unfurls and casually blows with a virtual wind. Granted it's not actually adding anything new in terms of pure functionality, but we all like something nice to look at right? The interface was built using a custom UI framework so this isn't something that is likely to make an appearance any time soon, but it's just the sort of thing that a manufacturer a little short in the looks department might want to invest in.

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Video: LG E900 Win Phone 7 Handset Caught On Camera [ 23-08-2010 12:42 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: BGR Translation by: Paul Smith

LG are one of the manufacturers known to be releasing a Windows Phone 7 handset when the platform first launches later this year. The C900, a horizontal slider phone, is known to be their introduction to the platform for the North American amrket, but a similar, albeit all touchscreen, device has been spotted doing the rounds. The new device, the E900, could perhaps be LG's launch product for the European market. Either way make sure you check it out in the video below.