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+-   First malicious iphone worm in the wild-> on Saturday November 21, @06:26AM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 21, @06:26AM
security
An anonymous reader writes "After the ikee worm that displayed a picture of rick astley on jailbroken iphones, the first malicious iphone worm has now been discovered in the wild. Internetprovider XS4ALL in the Netherlands encountered several of such devices on the wireless networks of their customers and put out a warning: http://www.xs4all.nl/veiligheid/security.php.

After obtaining a copy of the malware it was discovered that the jailbroken phones, which are exploited through openSSH with a default password, scan IP ranges of mobile internet providers for other vulnerable iphones, phone home to a C&C botnet server, are able to update themselves with additional malware and have the ability to dump the SMS database as well. Owners of a jailbroken iphone with a default root password are advised to flash to the latest Apple firmware in order to ensure no malware is present."
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Comments: 4 +-   Apple Voids Smokers' Warranties-> on Friday November 20, @10:23PM Mr2001

Submitted by Mr2001 on Friday November 20, @10:23PM
apple
Mr2001 writes "Consumerist reports that Apple is refusing to work on computers that have been used in smoking households. "The Apple store called and informed me that due to the computer having been used in a house where there was smoking, that has voided the warranty and they refuse to work on the machine, due to 'health risks of second hand smoke'," wrote one customer. Another said, "When I asked for an explanation, she said [the owner of the iMac is] a smoker and it's contaminated with cigarette smoke which they consider a bio-hazard! I checked my Applecare warranty and it says nothing about not honoring warranties if the owner is a smoker."

Apple claims that honoring the warranty would be an OSHA violation. (Remember when they claimed enabling 802.11n for free would be a Sarbanes-Oxley violation?)"
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+-   iPhone owners demand to see Apple source code-> on Friday November 20, @02:13PM CWmike

Submitted by CWmike on Friday November 20, @02:13PM
cellphones
CWmike writes "iPhone owners charging Apple and AT&T with breaking antitrust laws asked a federal judge this week to force Apple to hand over the iPhone source code, court documents show. The lawsuit, which was filed in October 2007, accuses Apple and AT&T of violating antitrust laws, including the Sherman Act, by agreeing to a multi-year deal that locks U.S. iPhone owners into using the mobile carrier. On Wednesday, the plaintiffs asked U.S. District Court Judge James Ware to compel Apple to produce the source code for the iPhone 1.1.1 software, an update that Apple issued in September 2007. The update crippled iPhones that had been unlocked, or "jailbroken," so that they could be used with mobile providers other than AT&T. The iPhone 1.1.1 "bricked" those first-generation iPhones that had been hacked, rendering them useless and wiping all personal data from the device."
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Comments: 1 +-   Respected developers begin fleeing from App Store on Wednesday November 18, @04:31PM wiedzmin

Submitted by wiedzmin on Wednesday November 18, @04:31PM
apple
wiedzmin writes "Facebook's Joe Hewitt, Second Gear's Justin Williams, long-time Mac software developer known as "Rogue Amoeba" and other respected App Store developers have recently decided to discontinue their work on the platform, citing their frustration with Apple's opaque approval processes. Continued issues with erroneous and snap application and API rejections are prompting more and more developers to shun the platform entirely. Though there are tens of thousands of other developers pumping out over 100,000 iPhone apps, continued migration away from iPhone development will most likely result in less quality software for the platform."
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+-   Mac laptops less reliable than major PC notebooks on Wednesday November 18, @11:19AM wiedzmin

Submitted by wiedzmin on Wednesday November 18, @11:19AM
apple
wiedzmin writes "Apple's line of laptops ranked fourth behind ASUS, Sony and Toshiba in a multi-year reliability survey of nine notebook makers, with an average 3-year failure rate of 17.4%. According to a study of 30,000 portable computers published today by SquareTrade, company that provides after-sale warranties, Apple finished in the middle of the pack with ASUS (15.6% failure rate) and HP (25.6%) taking the first and last places respectively."
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+-   Apple Patent Could Embed Ads in OS on Tuesday November 17, @02:19PM adeelarshad82

Submitted by adeelarshad82 on Tuesday November 17, @02:19PM
patents
adeelarshad82 writes "An Apple patent that was disclosed last month (the same day as the Windows 7 launch, incidentally) that would embed ads within the Apple OS, possibly as a way of subsidizing its hardware. What this means is that an Apple device could be configured to lock down at least a portion of it until the ad itself was acknowledged, most likely through a button click. And the ads, not surprisingly, could be used to help defer the cost of the product. NY Times raises the question that Apple could lose its "cool" reputation by embedding ads in the OS. It's not clear that it will; Apple doesn't have to act on its patents, although a significant number of them (such as multitouch gestures and the Magic Mouse) seem to end up as products of some form or another."
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+-   GPU-Accelerated Flash for Smartphones and Windows-> on Tuesday November 17, @05:01AM N!NJA

Submitted by N!NJA on Tuesday November 17, @05:01AM
apple
N!NJA writes "from ArsTechnica:

[...] the update to the rather ubiquitous browser plugin will finally synchronize the Flash experience on all platforms with the exception of arguably one of the most successful smartphones: Apple's iPhone. [...] The company announced today that RIM is joining the project and will collaborate with Adobe to bring Flash Player 10.1 to its BlackBerry operating system. Adobe said that betas of Flash Player 10.1 will available for Windows Mobile and Palm's webOS later this year, and expects betas for Google Android and SymbianOS to be ready in early 2010. It will be optimized for netbooks and so-called "smartbooks" in addition to smartphone platforms, and will utilize GPU acceleration whenever possible.

-----------------------

from The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/17/flash_mobile_10_point_one_air_2_betas

Today, Adobe made Flash Player 10.1 and AIR 2.0 available for beta, but only for use on familiar old PCs, laptops and notebooks running Windows, Linux, or Mac. [...] Tom Barclay, Adobe Flash platform senior product marketing manager, said a lot of the work done tuning the player for mobile will also benefit developers and users of desktops. [...] A subset of Flash is already on mobile devices, but Flash Player 10.1 will bring the full player to Symbian S60, Google Android, Palm Web OS, and Windows Mobile 6.5. Apple's iPhone browser will not be supported, although developers will be able to build content using Creative Suite 5 and post applications to Apple's AppStore for download. [...] In lieu of mobile-operating support today, Barclay instead called out features in the Flash 10.1 and AIR 2.0 beta built for mobile but suited to PCs, notebooks and nethooks. These included H.264 hardware acceleration for video on chipsets that Barclay said is significant for netbooks, because it delivers smooth-quality video on relatively inexpensive machines without soaking up the battery life or CPU.

---------------------

from Adobe
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/fplayer10.1_hardware_acceleration.html

Hardware-accelerated H.264 decoding is supported on some video cards and drivers running on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Linux and Mac OS X hardware-accelerated decoding is not supported in this version. See the Flash Player 10.1 public beta release notes (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/flashplayer10/releasenotes.pdf) for supported hardware and links to download supported drivers."
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+-   Apple patent forces ads on Mac users-> on Tuesday November 17, @03:59AM Barence

Submitted by Barence on Tuesday November 17, @03:59AM
privacy
Barence writes "Apple has filed a patent for an operating system that effectively freezes a computer and forces the user to watch adverts. The patent, which could apply to devices such as the iPhone as well as laptop and desktop computers, describes a system where the "advertisement presentation can in effect 'take over the system' in relevant aspects for a limited time". Apple is investigating various methods of presenting the ads, including as a pane on top of any other pane in the user interface, in a "designated area of a background", or even through the device's speakers. And don't think you can ignore the ads either, because Apple plans to check if you've been watching. "The method can further include determining whether a user pays attention to the advertisement," the patent states."
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Comments: 1 +-   Bill Gates praises "inspirational" Steve Jobs-> on Monday November 16, @07:09AM Barence

Submitted by Barence on Monday November 16, @07:09AM
microsoft
Barence writes "Bill Gates has showered former nemesis Steve Jobs in praise for his role in rebuilding Apple in the nineties. In a program called "Keeping America Great" shown on CNBC, Gates was asked by a university student how he felt about the Apple chief executive. "He brought in a team and he brought in inspiration in great products and design that's made Apple into an incredible force, and doing good things," Gates gushed. "Of all the leaders in the industry that I've worked with he's showed more inspiration and he saved the company.""
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+-   Apple patents 'enforceable' ad viewing on devices-> on Monday November 16, @03:03AM Rexdude

Submitted by Rexdude on Monday November 16, @03:03AM
apple
Rexdude writes "Apple has filed a patent that forces users to interact with an ad. FTFA: "Its distinctive feature is a design that doesn’t simply invite a user to pay attention to an ad — it also compels attention. The technology can freeze the device until the user clicks a button or answers a test question to demonstrate that he or she has dutifully noticed the commercial message. Because this technology would be embedded in the innermost core of the device, the ads could appear on the screen at any time, no matter what one is doing.""
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+-   Apple Seeking Game Engineer-> on Saturday November 14, @06:37AM smitty777

Submitted by smitty777 on Saturday November 14, @06:37AM
apple
smitty777 writes "Apple has released an ad seeking to hire an in-house full time gaming engineer this week. Since apple has only created four in-house games in the past, this is sure to gain the attention of those in the iPhone game development community."
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+-   Apple Beats Nokia To Become The Most Profitable Mo-> on Wednesday November 11, @03:34PM ksantani

Submitted by ksantani on Wednesday November 11, @03:34PM
apple
ksantani writes "I have a few really amazing stats to share with you. When I saw this I was amazed beyond doubt because this gives a totally new prospective into the way we related market share with the revenue a company posts and vice versa.

Nokia’s Handset Market Share – 37.9%

Apple’s Hadset Market Share – 2.5%"
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+-   Apple's Mini DisplayPort officially adopted by VES-> on Tuesday November 10, @11:35AM DJRumpy

Submitted by DJRumpy on Tuesday November 10, @11:35AM
apple
DJRumpy writes "The Video Electronics Standard Association officially issued its Mini DisplayPort standard Tuesday, based on the technology licensed from Apple.

VESA said that all devices using the Mini DisplayPort connector must meet the specifications required by the DisplayPort 1.1a standard, and cables that support the standard must also meet specific electrical specifications. It's a formal confirmation of the news from earlier this year, when VESA announced the Mini DisplayPort connector would be included in the forthcoming DisplayPort 1.2 specification."
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Comments: 1 +-   First Apple iPhone worm discovered on Sunday November 08, @08:45AM Unexpof

Submitted by Unexpof on Sunday November 08, @08:45AM
security
Unexpof writes "Users of jailbroken iPhones in Australia are reporting that their wallpapers have been changed by a worm to an image of 80s pop icon Rick Astley. This is the first time a worm has been reported in the wild for the Apple iPhone.

According to a report by Sophos The worm, which exploits users who have installed SSH and not changed the default password, hunts for other vulnerable iPhones and infects them.

Users are advised to properly secure their jailbroken iPhones with a non-default password, and Sophos says the worm is not harmless, despite its graffiti-like payload:

"Accessing someone else's computing device and changing their data without permission is an offence in many countries — and just as with graffiti there is a cost involved in cleaning-up affected iPhones... Other inquisitive hackers may also be tempted to experiment once they read about the world's first iPhone worm. Furthermore, a more malicious hacker could take the code written by ikee and adapt it to have a more sinister payload."

Images of the Rick Astley wallpaper displayed on infected phones, complete with the message "ikee is never going to give you up" are published here."

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+-   Lawsuit claims top iPhone games stole user data-> on Saturday November 07, @07:43PM pdclarry

Submitted by pdclarry on Saturday November 07, @07:43PM
apple
pdclarry writes "Storm8, a maker of some top iPhone games, stole user's mobile phone numbers according to a suit filed on November 4. The story was reported in this story in The Register. The complaint claims best-selling games made by Storm8 contained secret code that bypassed safeguards built into the iPhone to prevent the unauthorized snooping of user information. This is not new; there have been other reports of applications copying personally identifiable customer information."
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+-   Going Head To Head With Genius on Playlists-> on Thursday November 05, @02:39AM brownerthanu

Submitted by brownerthanu on Thursday November 05, @02:39AM
music
brownerthanu writes "(This is a re-submit with the second paragraph revised to include an important part of the story.)

Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are developing a system to include an ignored sector of music, deemed the 'long tail', in music recommendations. It's well known that radio suffers from a popularity bias where the most popular songs receive an inordinate amount of exposure. In Apple's music recommender system, iTunes' Genius, this bias is magnified. An underground artist will never be recommended in a playlist due to insufficient data. It's an artifact of the popular collaborative filtering recommender algorithm, which Genius is based on.

In order to establish a more holistic model of the music world, Luke Barrington and researchers at the Computer Audition Laboratory have created a machine learning system which classifies songs in an automated, Pandora-like, fashion. Instead of using humans to explicitly categorize individual songs, they capture the wisdom of the crowds via a Facebook game, Herd It, and use the data to train statistical models. The machine can then "listen to", describe and recommend any song, popular or not. As more people play the game, the machines get smarter. Their experiments show that automatic recommendations work at least as well as Genius for recommending undiscovered music."
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+-   Apple Not Disabling OS X Atom Support After All-> on Wednesday November 04, @05:03PM bonch

Submitted by bonch on Wednesday November 04, @05:03PM
intel
bonch writes "Contrary to previous reports, Atom chip support is working fine in the latest 10C535 build of OS X 10.6.2. Apple's EULA still states that OS X is licensed to run only on Apple hardware, but it looks like OSX86 hackers can breathe easy...for now."
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Comments: 3 +-   Mac Trojan is has a GUI and is Fun-> on Wednesday November 04, @04:43PM ProfessionalCookie

Submitted by ProfessionalCookie on Wednesday November 04, @04:43PM
mac
ProfessionalCookie writes "A retro computer game/art project released for Mac this September has been labeled a trojan by Symantec. The project was unique enough to warrant a video showing it deleting files during gameplay. The twist is that the game plainly states what will happen if you play, as noted in their writeup. While the declaration pulls it out of trojan territory for the likes of slashdot, Appleinsider notes that the game has also been declared a threat by the anti-virus companies Sophos and Intego. Who wants to play?"
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+-   Is Apple building the ultimate computer factory?-> on Wednesday November 04, @10:30AM Anonymous Coward

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 04, @10:30AM
apple
An anonymous reader writes "Digital Daily notes that Apple’s recent 10-K filing with the SEC makes mention of some new capital expenditures, specifically “product tooling and manufacturing process equipment.” More interesting still, Apple has budgeted $1.9 billion in capital expenditures for fiscal 2010. That’s 70 percent more than the $1.1 billion it spent in 2009. Could the company be gearing up to recreate the Ultimate Computer Factory Steve Jobs built at NeXT?"
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Comments: 2 +-   Adobe Blames Apple For Lack Of Flash On iPhone-> on Wednesday November 04, @06:17AM MojoKid

Submitted by MojoKid on Wednesday November 04, @06:17AM
apple
MojoKid writes "Adobe has tried a number of things in its attempt to get Apple to take down enough barriers so the company can get Flash ported on to the iPhone and so far, nothing has worked. It's obviously a frustrating situation because a large wealth of video content being offered on the internet is drive by flash video players that are currently not supported on the device. In Adobe's latest attempt to get Apple to wake up and smell the coffee, the company is spelling it out to you, the end user, as to why you can't get Flash on one of the world's most popular handsets. Last month, Adobe did announce that the forthcoming Flash CS5 Professional would allow developers to write applications in Flash that can be compiled to run on the iPhone. Whether Apple will respond to this is anyone's guess"
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