The iPhone Fever

Apple using patents to delay adoption of WWW open standards again

2011-12-20T07:18:00.000-08:00

An initiative to standardize the way touch enabled devices interact with web content has had a wrench thrown into the works, at least temporarily, by Apple.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Events Working Group was created last year and tasked with standardizing the way touch devices, from smartphones and tablets to drawing pads and spatial sensors, interact with web applications. One of the specifications they have been working on is called 'Touch Events.'

As part of the standard development process, the working group sent out multiple requests for patent exclusions. In layman's terms, these are requests for disclosure of any existing or pending patents which might be required to implement a standard.

Responding to the third of three calls for exclusions this year, Apple provided the group with a list of four patents, one of which has already been approved, two which are pending approval, and a fourth which is in the early stage of application, which they say are related to the Touch Events specification.

A developer for the Opera browser who blogs under the name Haavard is crying foul on Apple's move, and says they are simply trying to impede the creation of the Touch Events spec. He points to similar occurences in 2009 and 2010, when Apple made exclusion claims with respect to the W3C Widgets specification.

Of the three patents listed in those claims, two were found to be nonessential, while the third was deemed both nonessential and invalid due to prior art.

When a patent exclusion claim is made to a W3C working group, the organization must appoint a team to examine the patents in question to determine whether they are, in fact, necessary to the spec in its current state. This means delaying finalization until the determination is reached.

Perhaps the key technology which Apple has used as a cornerstone for their multitude of patent lawsuits against handset and tablet makers around the world are is the touch screen. Simply put, Apple wants to use patents to restrict other companies' touch implementations.

Of course that's despite the fact their touch screen technology isn't necessarily as revolutionary or original as their patents suggest. In some cases they cover technology which was in production by other companies before the Apple patent application was even filed.

It's also notable that Apple decided not to participate in the Touch Events working group. One possible reason was that they don't really want standardization in that area. But according to Haavard, the additional benefit was it allowed them to wait until the last minute to disclose the patents they say are required for the specification.

The advantage in this would be delaying the adoption of any kind of standard by at least a few months. Work on the standard will essentially grind to a halt while Apple's claims are examined. Given the ever increasing number of devices on the market with touch screen interfaces, that's not really good for anyone - not even Apple.

VIA: Techdrift.com, Opera.com

Apple tries to reboot it's lost lawsuits

2011-12-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

In keeping with its strategy for world domination in consumer electronics, Apple has inconspicuously transferred a dozen patents that it previously "owned" to a non-existent corporate entity called Cliff Island LLC.

Tech crunch have done a little digging and it appears that Cliff Island is a shell company, sharing a physical address with Altitude Capital, the main investor behind patent trolling company Digitude Innovations (ironic name, n'est pas?).

Cliff Island then "transferred" those same patents to Digitude who have now filed a suit with the ITC (International Trade Commission) in the US against basically all the smartphone and tablet makers selling in America (RIM, HTC, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Amazon, and Nokia (note that Apple is not on this list). How mysterious.

Digitude was founded in 2010 and raised $50 million from Altitude Capital Partners, with aims to “acquire, aggregate, and license key technology areas within the consumer electronics and related technology fields in a patent consortium” — in other words, it buys up patents and then sues other companies until they settle and agree to pay licensing fees, because it’s generally less expensive than actually going to court.

So what we're seeing here is Apple suing its competitors out of the market, yet again, for patent law suites it already lost, but this time by proxy. And it's interesting that the patent transfers have taken place under some sneaky back-room sleight of hand. For new readers this might seem unethical even for Apple - what we know, is only the tip of the ice berg, unfortunately.

The USPTO Apple exhibit - shows just how biased an

Unided States institution can be

Meanwhile, let me remind you this is all made possible thanks to a jerk with a very high function in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You have probably heard of the web site PatentlyApple.com which publishes all Apple patents as soon as they are submitted to the USPTO.It is no wonder that Apple can get approved patents for products like the SmartCover which in fact steal InCase's design. It doesn't matter if somebody else made it first or if the patent already exists, Apple will get their's approved without a sweat.

The whole article and its links to a Forbes piece on Digitude can be read at the Tech Crunch site. It's worth a look at just how out of control Apple has become, and the folks at TC deserve the clicks for their excellent effort in bringing this to light.

This seems to be a case where the US DOJ may yet be involved. Interesting times.

VIA: AndroidNZ, Tech Crunch

Burning iPhone endangers Australian flight, hundreds of passengers

2011-11-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

Australian airline reports case of burning iPhone on flight. Regional Express, Australia's largest independent regional airline, issued a press release on an incident shortly after a flight landed late last week. Flight ZL319 had just landed when a passenger's mobile phone started emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, and started glowing red.

A flight attendant extinguished the burning phone immediately and no passengers or crew were harmed. Regional Express reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

The mobile phone in question is identified as an Apple iPhone, which shows a significant amount of damage to the rear of the phone. Reports online indicate that the iPhone shows evidence that the burning came from the battery, which would explain the red glow and the release of smoke.

Below are some of the few samples that made the news of incinerated cars, burnt people, molten connectors or even exploding devices. This is not an isolated incident among iPhones or iPhone 4 devices!

Perhaps issues like these wouldn't happen so often if Apple wouldn't pay people to "shut it" or sites like Gizmodo to turn a serious threat into a joke. It's all fun and games and we all enjoy Apple's hefty profits, made by exploiting the user and picking the cheapest possible components. I suggest you see what an exploding Li-Po can do before taking an apologetic attitude and preferably before somebody gets seriously injured.

[UPDATE]

Not 24 hours have passed and due to an amazing coinci a shorted Galaxy device has appeared on XDA. A user with almost no activity on XDA suddenly droped such a post out of the blue. The amazing thing is that there's no damage to the battery body, only to the contacts. Would you as a fanboy be desperate enough to damage a new device or is it an Apple rep? Check the pics yourself to see the difference between foul play and the above (or how actual li-po damage looks like).

VIA: Afterdawn.com

iOS fragmentation - Is it worse than Android's?

2011-11-28T02:19:00.000-08:00

How do we define fragmentation?

This is what fragmentation (frgmn-tshn) actually means:

The scattering of parts of a computer file across different regions of a disk. Fragmentation occurs when the operating system breaks up the file and stores it in locations left vacant by previously deleted files. The more fragmented the file, the slower it is to retrieve, since each piece of the file must be identified and located on the disk.

Below we will try to explain the FUD term propagated by Steve Jobs and spread by Apple fans that also have a very vague idea of it's meaning.

the inability to update the OS because of the manufacturer?

the user's choice not to update?

the coexistence of multiple app stores?

exclusive apps?

different hardware configurations?

So let's start with updates

If we are to consider updates as the sole factor in fragmentation, we would certainly be wrong. Both Android and iOS can run the same Apps. Forcing partial updates like iOS 4 on iPhone 3G and 3GS has lowered the device performance considerably while still not bringing the same features iPhone 4 had. Apple might have reduced fragmentation in statistics, but it has decreased user experience by making 3G and 3GS laggy devices.

So how are iPhone updates doing in 2011?

According to statistics, not too well. So far iOS 5 is only on 38% of all iPhones:

"According to Chitika Insights, one month after release, the new OS is on 38 percent of iPhones, 30 percent of iPads and 12 percent of iPod Touch.

iOS5 distribution in 2011

The firm uses mobile ad network impressions to analyze traffic."

In comparison, Android's latest major distribution for Phones 2.x.x is spread across 95% of the devices, and the latest subversion, Gingerbread or 2.3.x is spread across 38.2% of the devices.

We should also mention that Android has a market share or 52.5% while Apple has a market of ~15%. Given the fact that there are 443 unique Android devices released and only 7 iPhones, I'd say Apple's closed eco-system idea is doing a lot worse in the real world than it did on paper.

Apps and AppStores

In a recent discussion, with a fellow blogger, Prasad, on GSMArena, we tackled the fragmentation issue by app availability and app stores. He wasn't pleased about the existence of multiple stores for Android and the fact that, specifically Amazon, is holding up exclusive offers on a lot of countries where it isn't yet available.

Well how is the Apple Appstore doing, in this type of "fragmentation" compared to android?

Apple's AppStore was only accessible to US and a few European countries at launch

Apple's AppStore just got accessible to 33 new countries this year.

Cydia - a user made AppStore with no guaranteed security, made for apps rejected by Apple - only available for those who jailbreak

Carriers. Vodafone has their own 360 People Sync and navigation app - only available to Vodafone users

So is there such a big difference in App availability on iOS and Android? Should we even note the fact that Cydia will never make it's way onto iPhones that aren't jail broken? Let's give Amazon a chance, I'm sure it will make it's way in all countries as did Apple's App store and the Google Market.

For me, on iOS, it's certainly a big deal if jailbreaks are late. I have to chose between updating and losing access to Cydia and possibly some of my favorite apps. Apple's own strict policy seems to be one of the very reasons for fragmentation.

How about exclusive updates? iPhone 3G will never get multi-tasking, GameCenter, iPhone 3GS and 4 will never get SIRI. Besides questioning the status of the update (how can you call it iOS4 or 5 when it doesn't have the same features?), what happens to apps that depend on GameCenter or multi-tasking? What happens to Apps that depend on SIRI?

Devices and configurations

Some users think fragmentation means different hardware. I think different hardware means variety, and variety is a good thing.

Windows 7 PC runs right now on few billion different configurations. Variety doesn't mean fragmentation.

Out of 400 Android configurations at least a few dozen are identical.

Out of 7 iPhone models I can't find 2 devices with the same hardware.

And then there’s the display. Making a universal binary of a game that we want to work on the iPad, the iPhone 3GS, and of course the iPhone 4. All three devices have different resolutions. The same thing happens on Android with the mini devices (240 x 320), the regular smartphones (800x480) and tablets. There's very little code necessary to make apps compatible on both platforms, but as there's a lower number for iPad apps than iPhone, that code is still necessary.

Apps should be the same on both device types. Having two app types means fragmentation to start with. Android has actually taken a step forward in this regard, as since 3.2 it's possibly to dynamically scale an app, particularly useful for tablets 7"-10".

Then there's users that complain that their Android device is slow and laggy. Can you expect the same user-experience for a $100 device as you can from a $700 one? If you believe that, please try an iPhone 2G, 3G or 3GS.

As a conclusion I'd like to reinforce my first statement. Fragmentation is indeed a FUD term spread by Apple that had no idea it would backfire on them even in the tightly controlled "OS developer/manufacturer -> user" ecosystem. The truth is, that as bad as it sounds, even with iOS's partial updates and different markets it's still not a thing to worry about. Even so the device experience is mainly the same on all devices.

Who is least affected by fragmentation? Android or iOS? I'll let you be the judge of that. In my opinion, Windows Phone 7 is the least affected, but with more devices and OS versions their turn will come ;)

Sources: MattMaroon.com, Business Insider, Afterdawn.com, Phonedog.com

iPhone 4S packs Bluetooth 4.0 - no, you still can't beam anything over

2011-10-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

After a selective benchmark that only displayed the results where iPhone 4S excelled, Apple now tries to claim the title for "the first Bluetooth 4.0" phone. The FUD spread by Apple pretty much consists of obscure features such as collecting data from various sensors or connecting headsets, features that are available for everybody since bluetooth 1.0. Of course as with any bluetooth iteration there's lower power consumption and higher transfer rates - of course useful for phones that can actually beam data; so far the best bet is a jailbroken phone. It's unknown if Apple may allow sending files via iMessages to iOS only devices so Bluetooth is actually in the same status quo it's always been in on iOS.

Unfortunately for Apple, the file transfer and the remote SIM access protocols are parts of the Bluetooth standard and with those missing it simply "ain't got no standard", just the same way iPhone doesn't really have USB but that is another story.

Kudos Apple for making the news and deceiving your fans all over again!

Apple Siri-ous about copying Android, innovation nowhere to be found

2011-10-11T20:38:00.000-07:00

Samsung HTC iOS5

After succesfully replicating the Android notification system, Apple has made the next step to the voice control feature.

The next "real hip" thing on every mobile gadgetry website you'll find will be Apple's "Siri", a voice recognition app that can make calls, record messages, play music, launch another application or google something up for you, nothing more than Vilingo could do since 2010 when it was released. I say nothing more because nothing less certainly doesn't apply. But as the process of copying the iPhone 2G from Samsung didn't really go too well, Siri too has a few shortcomings:

The voice quality on Siri is not quite there yet

It's harder to activate than the the double tap on Galaxy S2

It still seems to lack voice activation compared to Samsung's Galaxy series

It's only available in English and it can't recognize accents

You can check the ripoff after the break:

"Looks like Apple is about to get SIRI-ous with voice recognition."

[iPhone jokes] Apple innovates again, are you SIRI-ous?

2011-10-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

iPhone 4S benchmarks out: mixed results for the A5 CPU

2011-10-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

So the iPhone 4S benchmarks are out and it would seem they are nothing less than amazing. Unfortunately the graphics benchmark that was released by Anandtech earlier today is as synthetic as it gets; the tests used were "offscreen", in other words no image was rendered during the test. Offscreen means that the would-be-rendered image is HD but unfortunately none of the tests used an actual 720p output and monitor to verify the results.

Should you want to play games on an external monitor iPhone 4S is expected to perform better thanks to the fact that the image is mirrored as the iPhone real HDMI output does not consist of a real HD 720p image as Apple kindly informs us:

Apple Digital AV Adapter mirrors exactly what you see on iPad 2 or iPhone 4S so that everyone in the room can enjoy it on your widescreen TV[...]

Mirrored means that the screen image is actually cloned and scaled to 720p instead of having to be rendered as a second HD output. In this case most android devices suffer a larger performance drop while displaying a better quality output.

If you check GLBenchmark's site you can see how the two devices have a matched performance, despite the iPhone 4S being somewhat newer than the SGS2. We can say with approximation that out of 40 tests iPhone 4S bests Samsung's flagship in only ~5 while other ~5 haven't been performed yet.

The fact that the new iPhone doesn't manage to rise above an older model in real world performance - check the real rendering tests Egypt and Pro yourself - is somewhat disappointing, as is the lack of RAM, still only 512 MB.

    On the browser/CPU side of the benchmark Apple did much better, managing to finally catch up with the Honeycomb platform.

    This must really be a cornerstone for Apple after being known for having "the slowest browser on the market with the least features". With flash still unavailable, the bump in processing power really shows.

   Maybe Anandtech "didn't know" about mirroring or maybe Apple made them forget about it, but in the end, the browser, java script and even the synthetic video benchmarks can confirm that for the first time iPhone and iOS are at least par, with their Android counterparts. Make no mistake, the A5 is strong, but not as strong as Apple would like you to believe. Unfortunately on the software side widgets are still unavailable and the notification system is a little less than original while multitasking and closing apps still takes a lot more steps than it should. With the new nexus around the corner, these will prove to be exciting times indeed ;)

VIA: Anandtech

Sprint confirms our woes, won't take chances for iPhone 4S cheap plastic

2011-10-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

Not even a bumper makes it 100% safe

Sprint is voting thumbs-down on having its Total Equipment Protection plans available to the iPhone 4S, probably following the bad experience with iPhone 4. According to SprintFeed, the only choice is to purchase the AppleCare+ Protection Plan or go through a third party to have any protection from accidental damage. Hopefully this setup isn’t permanent, but we’re not going to hold our breath. Just as a reminder, that $99 AppleCare+ can only be added at the time of purchase. But ask yourself, what’s worse? Paying $99 (the price of an iPhone 4) upfront, or paying an extra $649.99 for a new 16GB iPhone 4S after dropping your phone?

Meanwhile you could go for a device with gorilla glass, it's incredibly hard to scratch, almost impossible to break, it doesn't shatter like cheap plastic, it doesn't bend like aluminum. Wouldn't it be awesome if the most beautiful and important part on your phone would also be the most resistant one?

Via: Sprintfeed

iPhone 4S: Antennagate, check! Brain damage, check!

2011-10-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

iFixed nothing

Apple claims that the iPhone 4S features a new antenna design, intended to prevent any risk of 'Antennagate' reoccurring. But did they really fix or innovate anything? Let's start with fixing things. In the mockup on the right you can see that by "not holding it right" you are shorting 3 of iPhone 4S's antennas and you will be jamming the forth one once the phone touches your ear.

The 4S's new dual antennas can automatically switch when sending and receiving information, a trick Apple claims is "a first" for a mobile phone.

We won't go into explaining the dangers of SAR and why most manufacturers place the antenna on the bottom of the phone, away from your brain. You should know though that at any given time the best working antenna on iPhone 4S will be the one on top since it's the only one not shorted, it's the one the device will choose for best signal. It's right there next to your gray matter where most of the SAR radiation will dissipate.

Frølund Pedersen, professor at Aalborg University's Institute for Electronic Systems in Denmark and one of the big names involved in the events of Antennagate last time around, feels that Apple's latest iPhone might be treading on toes stems from patents he and his associates apparently sold to Samsung some years earlier.

At the iPhone 4S launch, CEO Tim C(r)ook and co were quoted as saying,

“Improving on the innovative stainless steel external, dual-antenna design of iPhone 4, iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to send and receive.”

Pedersen disagrees, primarily with the fact that Apple dubbed this an 'innovation',

"When Apple says that it is new, it’s not true. It has been in use for very long. For example in the DECT cordless phones. Both in these and in some other phones“

The patents Pedersen has in mind were sold to Samsung back in 2007 and address both power and communication methods. The possible infringments are with respect to the Apparatus and method for stabilizing terminal power in a communication system and Apparatus and method for selecting an antenna in a communication system patents.

Samsung haven't yet acted on the new ammunition in their ongoing patent war with the Cupertino based company, but they have already tried to have the iPhone 4S witheld from sale in both France and Italy with regard to a different set of patents that Samsung apparently own.

Congratulations Tim, for kicking off your new career with a big fat lie and several patents stolen from Samsung.

Via: Comon.dk

eight plus two dot com

2011-10-03T21:00:00.001-07:00

eight plus two dot com

Two iOS security breaches and how the hackers got those pictures of you

2011-09-25T04:08:00.000-07:00

Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security discovered a serious security vulnerability in Apple's iOS platform. The security hole allows a malicious user access to the root files of the phone, where they could see personal user information like passwords, call logs, messages, and and your location date if he hasn't done so already. Apple has acknowledged the problem and promises to issue a fix.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Apple spokesperson Bethan Lloyd said Apple is "aware of this reported issue and developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update." She did not provide a date as to when the fix would be available.

In other news, multiple frustrated iPhone 4 owners have complained this week that their device's front-side camera is taking pictures of them when it is supposed to be inactive.

Those photos then show up on the iPhone screen when the user tries to start a FaceTime video call. One angry owner said her FaceTime picture showed her in her office, despite never using the app while at work.

The glitch also freezes FaceTime, forcing owners to keep trying until it loads correctly. Both vulnerabilities were present in all devices that are running iOS 4.3.3 and earlier.

Quickly doing the math, it's doubtful that there ever was a greater security risk for your both private life and safety than iPhone: Your location + your pictures + your data available to anybody who targets you.

What tha? Are you in a dressing room?

No, I'm at home why?

"It's kind of creepy," says one user who claims that when she

FaceTime chats her boyfriend, weird photos she's never taken

of herself sitting in the office suddenly pop up on her

boyfriend's screen.

How was the Pap?

It was fine... wait, how did you know??????????????

So if you have an iPhone 4 and you happen to use FaceTime... BEWARE! Your phone could randomly snap photos of you... in the bathroom, at the doctors office... in your most private of moments... and then send them to your friends!

I guess the good news is that she has a job and isn't leading some kind of secret double life.

Via: Afterdawn, funny pics - courtesy of Smoosh

[iPhone jokes] Exclusive Steve Ballmer iPad Review

2011-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

iPhone 5 and 4S spot defective displays, Apple regrets giving up on Samsung

2011-09-23T08:28:00.000-07:00

The iPhone 4 launch fiasco is about to repeat itself. A defect has presented in some iPhone 5 touch panels produced by Wintek which may affect the ability to meet initial shipment targets for the launch which is expected in October, according to iPhone supply chain makers.

In response, Wintek simply indicated that all of its products are being delivered on schedule.

Wintek, is the company where n-hexane poisoning took place this time last year. N-hexane, a poisonous chemical was used to quicker manufacture iPhone4 screens. Wintek still accounts for 20-25% (while Taiwan TPK Holding accounts for the rest) as Apple has no problem in putting their worker's health behind profits.

"The defect, "delayed bubble", is difficult to avoid during panel production, particularly when the defect is not detected during the process of laminating touch panels, and only later found during assembly, the sources said."

More advanced smartphones use AMOLED or SuperAMOLED screens that are thinner, use less power and to not require the old "lamination" procedure as the display and the touch screen are one and the same panel.

If you thought it's a good idea to preorder iPhone 5, think again, the "delayed bubble" defect was present in Apple's 2008 iPhones and as with the iPhone 4 the defective units, there was no issue in selling and marketing the product. Among cheap hair dryers and iPhones Foxconn is also known for really bad quality check, as the workers have to live in detention camp-like conditions for below minimum wage.

Samsung's SAMOLED screens could have been a "life saver" for Apple but unfortunately iPhone 5 is likely to also come with cheap TFT screens dubbed as "Retina", thanks to the increased resolution.

Meanwhile Apple has forfeited the privilege of having Samsung built memory chips and CPUs, so the only area that was never an issue on iPhones and iPads might have a rough start.

It is very likely that Apple's products will not see neither SAMOLED nor top-of-the-line 20nm chipsets from Samsung's new largest and most advanced memory fabrication facility for at least the next 5 years as Samsung continues to dominate the flash memory and display market.

New link for iPhone Fever feeds!

2011-09-21T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome! You might have noticed the recent changes around TheiPhoneFever. We have tried to make the blog a lot lighter and more user friendly, be that user an Android, Symbian, Windows or even an iPhone user. And with all the new stuff around, the Feeds link is also changing:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/TheiPhoneFever

Make sure to visit it soon for the latest news Apple doesn't want you to hear!

iOS vulnerability leaves Skype users open to address book theft

2011-09-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

    If you are using Skype for iPhone or iPod Touch, the Address Book on your device can easily be stolen via a simple chat message.

    How does it work?: Javascript commands are entered into the user names Skype account, a chat message is sent to the user who is using the newest version of Skype for iPhone, and a program is loaded onto a web server to receive the Address Book content.

    The report claims there is two oversights that are allowing this to happen so easily:

iOS allows address book contents accessible to every app installed

Failure by Skype to sanitize potentially dangerous JavaScript commands from the text that gets sent in chat messages

Of course it will be Skype's responsibility to patch the hole as iOS security is currently a complete mess as apple still tries to figure out the hole that made them lose the US Army defense contract.

Meanwhile any skilled hacker/developer can collect your and your friend's addresses with the simplest app or game imaginable.

Detailed instructions of the hack after the break.

Via: superevr.com

Apple's iPad, iPhone design, "borrowed" from Samsung, LG

2011-09-19T01:51:00.000-07:00

Today we're starting a new trend, the one of pamphlets. It's unjust that Apple steals the credit of so many brilliant people - because it's people, not companies who made them - and claims it "invented" the modern smarphone or the tablet, be it Newton or iPad.

There's solid proof for those willing to hear it on how Apple infringed other's designs; others like Samsung and LG that didn't think for a second that a touch screen phone with one button, a thin white bezel or simply put, the wheel, are things that someone would actually patent.

So head over to the new design section of our blog, "Other designs", and check it out for yourself!

Don't forget to Share 'em and spread 'em!

OS X Lion disappoints again - it's just like having no password at all

2011-09-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

OS X from apple has not seen a great deal of interest during development (if any) and one million downloads on launch day, reported by Apple, so you can expect that number was rounded. For an $30 OS this is certainly a disappointment.

Not only has one of the sites endorsed by Apple, Gizmodo, called it a failure but the cuts in manufacturing quality at Foxconn and security holes haven't certainly brought more popularity:

Security blog Defense in Depth has found a glaring security flaw in OS X Lion that enables hackers to change the password of any user on a machine running Lion. “[While] non-root users are unable to access the shadow files directly, Lion actually provides non-root users the ability to still view password hash data,” Patrick Dunstan from Defense in Depth explained in a recent blog post. The result is that anyone could use a simple Python script, created by Dunstan himself, to discover a user’s password. It gets worse. Reportedly, OS X Lion does not require its users to enter a password to change the login credentials of the current user. That means typing the command: “dscl localhost -passwd /Search/Users/Roger” will actually prompt you to set a new password for Roger. Hackers could easily take advantage of the known bug if they have local access to the computer and Directory Service access. Disabling automatic log-in, enabling sleep and screensaver passwords and disabling guest accounts are as efficient to keeping your Mac secure as duck-taping the lid. We recommend upgrading to a Linux based OS or Windows.

Via: Deference in Depth

Apple's iPhone before the leaked Samsung F700

2011-09-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

Many smartphone blogs and websites have taken the Apple version of the F700, that one that the F700 was showcased one month after the first iPhone. Even if that was true, Samsung engineers must have been freaking geniuses or robots (androids if you will) to build a working phone within less than 30 days.

The actual, real and only truth is that the F700 leaked at least four months ahead of iPhone. You might not know him (and if iPhone was your firs't "smart"phone, don't even bother), but at that time Eldar Murtazin was famous for his inside info on Nokia and Samsung. His blog contained info and pictures of devices even 12 months before the devices were released and he knew every single move the companies made (such as Nokia being "bought" by Microsoft), month before the news hit the papers.

I can't 100% claim that the pictures below are his leak, but they are 100% proof of F700 being out there months before the iPhone 2G. If you know Russian and are "that desperate" (faking evidence, pictures, device performance, or release dates is nothing new for Apple employees/lawyers/fanboys, than you are my guest to look up Russian sites and blogs until iPhone 6 is released ;)

[edit] And for those of you doubt the time interval I have this to say: Apple will soon have released in 2011 3 new iPhones spring to autumn and 3 new Macs (one pro, two Airs). Both Samsung and Sony released around twice as many devices, so give Foxconn some credit. "iOS" was as barren as a feature phone firmware, it wasn't even called an OS; so put your mind at ease knowing that developers usually use various boards for development and matching the right hardware before they decide on the much more expensive combination that will go into a compact shape. Was the firmware for iPhone 2G developed in more than 6 months? Sure, nobody commissions a device for manufacture before experimenting with hundreds of CPU/RAM/Screen/Battery/OS configurations.

Original date of the unedited picture samples of F700 along with the CGI edit date(above)

[iPhone jokes] Think outside the bumper

2011-09-17T14:16:00.000-07:00

‘Other designs are possible’

2011-09-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

Apple and Samsung are at odds over patents. In numerous courts, in numerous states, in numerous countries on numerous continents, the pair continue to file complaint after complaint. Apple says Samsung builds copycat devices that steal design elements from its iPad tablet and iPhone smartphone. Samsung says Apple’s mobile devices violate multiple Samsung patents covering communications standards. And round and round we go.

In the most recent development of note, a German judge on Friday upheld a ruling that will block Samsung’s local unit from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Germany. In her decision, Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffman stated, “The court is of the opinion that Apple’s minimalistic design isn’t the only technical solution to make a tablet computer, other designs are possible.” Other designs are possible. The judge continued, “For the informed customer there remains the predominant overall impression that the device looks [like the iPad].”

Well that’s just a tough break for Samsung.

There is little question that the physical design of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 closely resembles that of Apple’s iPad. Much like the physical design of any given flat panel television resembles that of any other model. Much like the physical design of any given laptop computer resembles that of any other model. Much like the physical design of any given Blu-ray player resembles that of any other model. Much like the physical design of any given ballpoint pen resembles that of any other model.

Designs should be protected, though. Pilot and Bic should clearly be at war over the design of the modern toss-away pen. Samsung, Sharp, Panasonic and every other consumer electronics company that builds televisions should be suing the pants off each other, and of course Apple should get in on the action if it enters the space next year with an “iTV” of its own. In fact, Charmin should be paying the descendants of a sixth-century Chinese man for every roll of toilet paper it sells. And, of course, Apple should pay IBM each time it sells a Mac Pro in a sleek tower.

Speaking of Apple’s decision to forgo the investigation of other possible designs, I wonder how LG feels about the court’s ruling.

Fake evidence provided by Apple

I’m no German judge, but the iPhone 4 certainly seems to borrow from the “smooth, simple areas” and “minimal design” seen on the Prada smartphone LG unveiled in 2006. Come to think of it, the current iPod touch is a Prada clone too, and the iPad looks just like an oversized version of LG’s design. And I would wager that the forthcoming iPhone 5 will copy the Prada, too.

Of course physical design is just one aspect of Apple’s numerous complaints against Samsung and other competitors. Apple’s copycat claims extend past physical design to technical patents, and even to overall user experience. But this particular complaint focused on a protected Community design — or, “a design-related intellectual property right registered with an EU agency” according to patent expert Florian Mueller — and Judge Brueckner-Hoffman clearly believed that the physical similarity between these devices was grounds on which to ban the sale of Samsung’s tablet.

Again, designs and innovations need to be protected, but to what extent and at what cost? The current system is not sustainable. As end user pricing is forced downward and margins get tighter, companies like HTC, ViewSonic and Acer will not be able to turn a profit when they have to pay companies like Microsoft every time they sell a phone. Apple and Microsoft might see this as a good thing since less competition means sales of their products will balloon. But Apple’s products copy designs and infringe on patents too, as do Microsoft’s, and every victory these two patent bullies enjoy will open new doors for complaints their competitors will file.

Fake evidence provided by Apple

The simple truth is that a system shaped by lawyers may not be the best system for corporations. And it is certainly not the best system for consumers. Things need to change.

In the meantime, sales of the iPhone 4, iPad and iPod touch should be banned immediately the world over. Apple obviously puts a tremendous amount of weight on physical design. So much so that it allegedly tampered with evidence by manipulating photos of Samsung products to make them look more like Apple products. Twice.

The LG Prada set a precedent, and it is quite clear that “other designs are possible.”

Fortunately not even patents last forever and if the patents we pay for are already 5-6 or even 10 years old (depending on the patent), open source might be soon open again, for everybody.

Via: BGR

Apple continues to contribute to world wide pollution, causes discord within Greenpeace

2011-08-31T14:35:00.000-07:00

In a report released on Wednesday, five Chinese non-governmental organisations said the US technology company was using suppliers with public records of environmental violations and taking “advantage of the loopholes in developing countries’ environmental management systems”.

The accusations escalate a standoff between Apple and Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a co-author of the report, which is threatening to damage Apple’s image. The groups have sought to persuade 29 big electronics brands over the past year to work with them on containing pollution in their supply chain, but singled out Apple as unresponsive.

Hours before the report was even published, Mr Ma was invited to start a dialogue on his allegations. Mr Ma said Apple told him some of the factories on his list were not the US company’s suppliers but gave him no details.

Although Apple does not directly manufacture anything itself it does not disclose, the names of its suppliers either. The Chinese environmental groups say they used public information and court documents to form a list of more than 20 Apple suppliers with environmental violations to their name.

Global electronics brands outsource all or part of their manufacturing and components, and activists say that, because of the intense competition between suppliers and lax government regulation, global brands are the most able to influence the behaviour of their suppliers.

China’s breakneck economic growth has been accompanied by widespread environmental degradation, and historically lax pollution rules have given Chinese manufacturers a cost advantage. However, tightening regulation by Beijing and growing environmental awareness – most recently on display in a 12,000-strong protest in Dalian earlier this month – are slowly changing the trend.

Apple, whose chief executive Steve Jobs resigned last week due to alleged ill health, has faced controversy over its suppliers in China before. In May, an explosion at a Foxconn factory in Chengdu producing the iPad 2 and all other Apple products killed three workers and injured more than a dozen more. In February, Apple said that 137 workers had been poisoned in 2009 by a chemical used to clean iPhone screens in a Wintek factory in Suzhou.

A number of other technology companies, including LG, SingTel, and Ericsson are also cited for being unresponsive and not taking action to correct the problems, but none fares as badly as Apple, which is criticised for being evasive and not responding to the NGOs’ concerns.

One of the health hazard cases the groups say Apple did not respond to was the poisoning of workers at Lianjian Technology, a subsidiary of Taiwan-based Wintek, which produces touchscreen modules for Apple mobile devices.

According to the report, in the eastern Chinese city of Kunshan, air pollution from two electronics factories prompted villagers to send their children to faraway schools. Villagers also say they have noticed increased cancer rates since the two factories, Kaedar Electronics (Kunshan) and Unimicron Electronics, were established, according to the report. Analysts said that Unimicron and Pegatron, the parent company of Kaedar, were suppliers to Apple, but could not confirm whether Kaedar was.

Apple did not respond to questions seeking to confirm whether individual companies mentioned in the report were its suppliers or not.

Carolyn Wu, an Apple spokeswoman, replied with the classical Apple phrase whenever the environment is brought into question:

“Apple is committed to driving the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply base, we require that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made.”

In its latest supplier responsibility report, the company said 2010 audits had found that 80 facilities were not storing or handling hazardous chemicals properly. Apple’s report said the company required the non-compliant facilities to correct their hazardous waste handling, storage and disposal practices and to maintain documentation of these operations.

Kaedar declined to comment and Unimicron could not be reached.

Meanwhile, an undisclosed source has told us that Apple "invests" heavily behind closed doors in people with deep pockets working at Greenpeace, to gain favorable attention from the public and positive advertising. This news, dating back to 2007 still randomly appears among Greenpeace's top news although another branch of Greenpeace seems to be aware of Apples ecological irresponsibility, the article is buried down deep at the organization's servers and is not among the things you'd come across unless you knew exactly what to look for. Unfortunately it would appear the only "green" Apple was interested to in the past decade was the US dollar and how it could be moved to silence the right people or make them advertise the brand.

Via: BGR, Greenpeace

What was first, the tree or the apples? -LG

2011-08-20T03:16:00.000-07:00

MAC: Security so bad, even your battery can get hacked

2011-07-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

There's your problem, it's a virus!

Charlie Miller's managed yet again to render several Macbooks, Macbook Pros and Airs useless after gaining total access to their battery's micro-controllers' firmware via a security hole. Evidently, the Li-ion packs for the line of laptops are accessible with passwords he dug up from an 2009 software update. He mentions that someone could "use them to do something really bad," including faulting charge-levels and thermal read-outs to possibly even making them explode. He also thinks hard-to-spot malware could be installed directly within the battery, repeatedly infecting a computer unless removed.

“You could put a whole hard drive in, reinstall the software, flash the BIOS, and every time it would reattack and screw you over. There would be no way to eradicate or detect it other than removing the battery.”

Have there been two years already?

Miller has worked to fix the problems he’s exposing since Apple is likely to do nothing. At Black Hat he plans to release a tool for Apple users called “Caulkgun” that changes their battery firmware’s passwords to a random string, preventing the default password attack he used. Miller also sent Apple and Texas Instruments his research to make them aware of the vulnerability. I contacted Apple for comment but haven’t yet heard back from the company.

Implementing Miller’s “Caulkgun” prevents any other hacker from using the vulnerabilities he’s found. But it would also prevent Apple from using the battery’s default passwords to implement their own upgrades and fixes. Those who fear the possibilities of a hijacked chunk of charged chemicals in their laps might want to consider the alternative, especially since Apple's products are engineered not to last more than 2 years, the updates you might get "might" not be the best ones.

Via: Forbes

[iPhone jokes] Oldies but goodies: Make calls, just hold it right

2011-07-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

Tutorials for Blogger

2011-07-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

If you visited The iPhone Fever, you might have noticed a bunch of somewhat unique customizations such as the changing subtitles. the scrolling adsense ad that is following you down the page, the modified tabs that display tags, making them look like secondary blogs or the newly installed search in tabs. As a fellow blogger you might want to add these yourself.

So brace yourselves for the Blogger tutorial shorts, coming soon in a tab near you*!

*Actually near the Jokes tab

What was first, the tree or the apples? -Samsung

2011-07-20T03:14:00.000-07:00

The CrApple Store

2011-06-30T01:03:00.000-07:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know most Apple and non-Apple sites forums and blogs twitted this week about the blog of a former Apple employee. Unfortunately for legal reasons and the danger of putting the jobs of those who have no choice of still working there at risk, our fellow blogger has shut down the site, it is not certain who the current owner is and there's yet no activity.

But, no need to worry, The iPhone Fever indexed all the funny, sad, vulgar posts and hillarious videos and has restored them to their former "glory"! (btw, did you know Apple forbids the word "the"?).

So check this tab out for old and new (that's right, I said new!) stories about The CrApple Store and see how the employees at Foxconn in China aren't the only ones suffering. If you plan to work for Apple, or know somebody that might, share these posts with them before it's too late.

The story of the original CrAppleStore.blogspot.com blogger:

"Chances are you've found your way here because you've googled something like 'working in Apple retail is fucking shit'. I hope so anyway. For those about to leave their soul at home and start work in an Apple Store, read this blog before seriously considering staying more than a month. For those already trapped, enjoy.

It began with a list of reasons why working for Apple Retail is fucking shit, and just spiraled out of control. I couldn't keep it inside anymore, and so have decided to share the hate with the rest of the world."

There are 3 categories of posts:

Standard posts - day-to-day with Apple, rants

NetPromoaner - real stories of other employees

Apple Retail Stories - a little about jerk customers

Apple Time Capsule, KIRF

2011-06-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

KIRF, or keepin' it real fake, perfectly describes Apple's own new Time Capsule backup device.

A teardown of last week's refreshed Time Capsule has revealed a regular, cheap-ass, non-enterprise drive lurking within. Curious, as Cupertino's website lists a "Serial ATA server-grade hard disk" as standard equipment on the device's official spec sheet. It's generally assumed that for a drive model to be qualified as "enterprise," it must sustain a mean time between failure- MTBF for short - in excess of one million hours. So what's the MTBF for the Western Digital's WD20EARS (Caviar Green) in Apple's Time Capsule? Conveniently, the hard drive maker wouldn't say.

Of course, we guess the definition here is up for interpretation, but given past experiences with the wireless backup gizmo, we'd certainly hope this improved revision fares better; the last generation of Time Capsules had a random working time of ~1 year before "just dying".

   Below is the hrdware you can expect in the next generation of Time Capsules. This is acutally a fake ebay HDD, but it comes close to what you get when you pay premium for "premium" Apple hardware:

   Instead of proper hard drive platters, the USB hard drive in question had a 128MB flash drive inside that works in loop mode. It writes data until it’s out of memory and then it starts from the beginning replacing the previous records. Add two nuts for proper weight and reprogram the drive’s firmware to report to the computer OS there are actually 500GB on it and you have yourself a fake disk drive.

    It fools the user that the files in there are OK. You can see your files on the drive (because the controller writes a false file system), but actually there are just a few bytes of each file.

    Do take note, next time you think you'll get premium quality for an Apple product, that all their products are Manufactured by Foxconn China, a company trusted by most of the world's electronics vendors to manufacture no more that power bricks and hair dryers.

Via: Engadget

What was first, the tree or the apples? -Nokia

2011-06-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

Apple loses US Army contract, Russian govermnent wants to ban iProducts due to security concerns

2011-05-08T02:40:00.000-07:00

Apple has lost the U.S. Army defense contract in favor of Android for upcoming Army-approved smartphones and tablets, as well as for apps that will be necessary for missions.

There have been concerns about security for Android as compared to other mobile OS but most officials deemed Android the most secure, as the Army will be able to use the open source software as they choose, likely beefing up security even more. In terms of stability and connectivity, the OS is leaps and bounds above the competition.

During combat, the devices will likely have to have satellite phone-capabilities, meaning round-the-clock data and voice with no lapses. The Army wants every soldier to have one of the future Android devices, to ensure they are connected during missions. A prototype dubbed the Joint Battle Command-Platform is already being tested. Apps will include "critical messaging" for exchanging medevac requests and other emergencies, and A Blue Force Tracker program to make sure soldiers know where friendlies are. Finally, the phones will be able to withstand extreme wear-and-tear and will likely be similar to the rugged "ToughBooks" created by Panasonic.

RIM announced last week that its PlayBook tablet received FIPS 140-2 certification, thus allowing it to be used by U.S. government officials. No other tablet has received FIPS certification to date.

The Russian government is considering disallowing the use of Apple’s iPad tablet within government agencies due to security concerns, Russian-language business news site RBC Daily reports. Instead, it is investigating various alternative tablet options including RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, Android-powered tablets or even a new device created by a Russian agency. Government security experts are reportedly looking for more “cryptographically secure tablet PCs” than Apple’s iPad tablet, and if the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology’s recent certification is any indication, the BlackBerry PlayBook could fit the bill.

Via: Financial Post, Afterdawn

[iPhone jokes] and tornadoes

2011-05-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Apple embareses itself at Computex 2011 without even showing up

2011-05-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

There are two reasons why Apple is always missing at world wide conventions and technology expositions; first, Foxconn makes all Apple products and apple doesn't want a Foxconn booth and second, Apple software is always behind, behind schedule, behind the competition and behind in all benchmarks that aren't ordered by Apple.

During Computex 2011 Tweakers.net did some benchmarks on a prototype Android Honeycomb tablet, which ran on Intel x86-based version of the OS and compared the results with the current generation of ARM tablets.

The tablet was made by Compal Electronics with Intel's new prototype and Oak Trail platform on board. The used CPU has two cores, both at 1.5 GHz do their work, assisted by 1GB of RAM. The Intel GMA600 GPU is based on the PowerVR SGX535.

Lower is better

The benchmarks show the combination of ARM hardware versus the Intel's Oak Trail x86 platform.

Using the SunSpider benchmark the speed of the Safari iOS JavaScript engine clearly scores last even though it has roughly the same processing power as the Tegra 2 and is based on ARM Cortex A8 just as the Playbook CPU.

Finally Linpack benchmark, Quadrant and CaffeineMark 3 were run. The results of both benchmarks are less significant as iOS didn't even qualify for further tests, in spite of the ARM CPU.

Intel managed to score 9.4 MFLOPS in Linpack, far behind the Tegra 2 (36 MFLOPS), which is present in many (if not all) modern tablets. That chip in the same test scores about 36 MFLOPS.

The Quadrant benchmark is a sum of different sub-benchmarks for both the CPU and the GPU of the tablet test. The score of 1978 brings the tablet in the current ARM range as most tablets score 2000-2500 in Quadrant.

Intel took the greatest hit in CaffeineMark 3 scoring ~1500 where the Tegra 2 Platform scores 6000 to 7500.

Why does it take an hour to put an album on an iPhone?

2011-04-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

Why does Apple force users into an experience that almost inevitably ends in sadness, if not outright disaster? There's a straight answer to that question and it's what pushed me away from my iPhone 3G and onto a Nexus One in the summer of 2010.

The whole point of selling an iPhone/iPod touch isn't to sell a piece of hardware, it's to loop an end-user into a system that continually drains their credit card.

But here's the thing: what if you don't want to go all-in with that ecosystem? What if you enjoy casually using an app here or there on the iPhone, and what if you just want to throw a record on your device five minutes prior to heading out on a ten-day road trip? What if you want to make quick and subtle changes to your iPod, iPad or iPhone, without iTunes selfishly consuming what's left of your day? That, friends, is apparently an impossible task, especially if you've got a handful of devices or - gasp! - more than one computer that your device talks to.

Here's an example: I download a new record from Amazon's MP3 store. That was fun and easy. Now, what I'd love to do is plug my iPod touch in and have it show up on my desktop as an external storage device - you know, one of the hundreds of features missing in iOS that you get on any other device. If that were to occur, I could drag those files over to a "Music" folder, and in the time it'd take me to yell "Hallelujah," I'd be ejecting the device and heading on my merry way - the iTunes connection mode is up to 30x times slower than mass storage mode!.

Is that really too much ask, Apple? I'm guessing it's not, given that said scenario is exactly what plays out each time I port over an album to my Nexus One.

Instead, a simple ten song transfer ends up taking between ten minutes and ten hours, depending on how long it has been since you last synced your device with iTunes. Apple should borrow yet another concept from Google: opt out. And by that, I mean avoid iTunes altogether and let us drag music over as if it's an external storage device. But with Apple, there is no opt out, not even from getting tracked by Cupertino.

While we're on the topic, let's briefly discuss apps. Once you start a sync, you best carve out enough time to allow your device and computer to level with one another. And if your app arrangement on your computer is any different than what's on your iPhone or iPod, get ready for yet another round of rearranging. Oh, and see that "Don't Sync Apps" button over there? Careful - clicking it lets iTunes wipe all of your apps rather than simply opting out of a sync and leaving them the way they currently are on your device.

Then there would be the issue of using multiple iDevices on a single computer - which deserves a segment of its own - and instead, will present a fairly simple solution that should unquestionably be included in the next point release of iTunes. Apple, stop forcing people to backup their devices every single time. Let us manage our devices as if they're simple USB HDDs.

I'll stop short of tackling the issue of the 10-year old "dock connector", it's humongous size compared to today's micro-USB or MHL (micro-usb + HDMI, see Galaxy S2), it's incompatibility with non-Apple devices and the supposed transition to Thunderbolt. Dear Steve, nobody wants/needs a gigabit server grade connection on a phone, we need compatibility, USB.

iPhone manufacturer reports $218 million full-year net loss

2011-04-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

Foxconn, the mega-manufacturer behind all Apple products (more than 1/3 of Foxconn is dedicated to Apple products), posted a $218.3 million net loss for 2010. While the company had previously predicted lower earnings amid suicide-related wage increases and welfare costs, the reported figure is still worse than analysts' estimation of around $202 million, which also far outweighs the prior year's $38.6 million profit. Foxconn puts the blame on higher consolidated income tax and increased competition, as well as "cost streamlining actions" -- a reference to the ongoing relocation and expansion plans, which are also the outcome of the Chinese suicides -- that took longer than expected and led to increased spending along with higher manufacturing overhead. As for 2011, Foxconn said it'll "take decisive actions to conclude our capacity relocation, optimize our cost structure and return to profitability." Of course, further losses could accelerate plans to increase prices, which could ultimately put everyone in a lose-lose situation if Foxconn can't compete.

Foxconn plans to develop a robotized product line and mechanize the workforce to slowly replace the slave-like labor in hope to compete with giants like Nokia, Samsung or HTC.

Of course Apple hasn't done anything regarding worker well-fare, nor have the manufacturing costs increased. Have you ever wondered how come Apple icon products aren't made in good ol' America?

Via: Foxconn International Holdings (PDF)

Why the iPhone 4S is coming out

2011-04-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

Well the white iPhone is finally out and it seems it's nothing like the original iPhone. You still get the antennagate signal strength drop, but the meter has been rigged to show full bars and with an added rubber condom you might even get enough signal to call 911 after an avalanche, or you know, when your private jet crashes on a remote island.

But leaving signal aside because "people don't buy iPhones to make calls" (fanboy quote over) the iPhone 4 white does have a few aces up it's sleeve:

It's thicker so it doesn't crack as easy as the cheap plastic on the original iPhone 4

A more recessed camera lens, to get rid of those nasty flash leaks

A better end improved proximity sensor, see release hardware flaws

Unfortunately the thicker white plastic is as cheap and as crappy as the original, so it does tend to get grungy on the sides (if used without a rubber condom) and yellow discoloration, fading and the same kind of material suckening the white iPhone 4s over time.

      In the meantime Apple is busy dismissing the thickness "issue" which can also be the fault of those poor Foxconn rascals. In communist China you make iPhone! In USA, iPhone makes you, because you have to be trendy, right?

    In a Steve Jobs-like manner, Apple's Senior Vice President of Product Marketing Phil Schiller responded: "It is not thicker, don’t believe all the junk that you read". Bravo Phil, you showed them!... that the white iPhone is still as cheap and cracks just as easy as the original.(Read about ConsumerReports and MacBook air subtle changes below)

    Consumer reports, after their "not recommending - recommending iPhone 4" bonus also jumped to help, providing a nice photo with a nice lady, squeezing the two iPhones into the same thickness.

Via: 9to5 Mac, macotakara.jp, MSNBC

"New" MacBook air with fixed display isues at cost of SSD performance

2011-04-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

It appears today that no two Apple products are the same. You know the sayng, if at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Apple is moving away from Toshiba's X-Gale SSDs to faster Samsung models for MacBook Air.

    Over the last month, Air models have been shipping with two different SSD, the "SM128C" and Toshiba's "TS128C." The SM implies Samsung is the manufacturer, says MSNBC.

    The Samsung drive, when benchmarked, shows off 260MB/s read and 210MB/s write speeds compared to the Toshiba which has 210MB/s read and 185MB/s write.

     The speed difference is minor and it's best to wait for the new new MacBook Air that will come mid 2011 to fix the hardware flaws introduced with the new MacBook Air series.

Via: 9to5 Mac, macotakara.jp, MSNBC

[iPhone jokes] The only friend you will ever have

2011-04-08T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Apple/iOS user tracking & privacy breaking roundup

2011-04-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

You’ve probably heard by now about the detailed log your iOS device keeps of your movements, but it's about time a roundup o the whole story was made. Now there’s a tool to prevent that plus some more clarity on the issue, which like all freedom on Apple products, requires jailbreaking.

Apple's location services pinpoint your location using GPS, Cell-ID and Wi-Fi hotspots. Early devices used Google and Skyhook databases to do that, but since iOS 3.2 Apple has been building up their own database - you become their Guinea Pig (read: lab rat).

A file kept unencrypted on your iProduct holds a record of all your movements from about an year ago and that file is copied to any computer you’ve synced it to and any backups you might have made.

As usual with Apple software, there's no security between anyone and your private data (called consolidated.db), either by copying it from a computer that contains a copy of the file or simply stealing the device itself, can easily extract a log of your whereabouts over the last year.(red more about Steve Jobs's opinion and Android below)

The Wall Street Journal has revealed that Apple’s iPhone continues to collect and store users’ locations even when location services are disabled. WSJ believes that the data is collected using data from cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots as the iPhone communicates with them. Additional reports reveal that government bodies in several countries including South Korea, France and Germany are investigating Apple’s location-tracking practices, and some law-suits have been filed in USA and South Korea.

Asked about the above by MacRumors, The Great Dictator had this to say:

"Oh yes they [our competitors] do. We don’t track anyone. The info circulating around is false. Sent from my iPhone"

What’s not clear is whether or not Jobs was indicating that stored location data isn’t actually being sent back to Apple, and is instead only stored locally on the device and in iOS backup files created by iTunes. What is clear according to Jobs, however, is that Android is tracking customer’s location (and more) right out of the box. There are reports that the location recording issue in iOS 4 will be fixed in a software update and Apple conveniently claims was a "bug" as opposed to a deliberate attempt to collect data.

Of course Android is prompting the users 2 or 3 times at the first run about location data and you don't have to read 3 pages of EULA and fineprint to know about it, neither are there any "bugs" that don't allow you to properly tracking.

Via: WSJ, MacRumours, BGR, mercurynews

Midnight repairs

2011-04-01T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here's probably what the Specialists are up to...

For a start, someone needs to tell some dickhead at Apple that 'same day' repairs and 'within 24 hours' ARE NOT THE SAME FUCKING THING. If you dropped your computer off at lunchtime on a Thursday to be told it will be ready and repaired on the same day, too fucking right you're gonna expect it to be ready on Thursday evening. If Apple can get it ready for you Friday morning, they consider that 'same day'!! It's fucking laughable! What fucking planet are they on. Friday is not Thursday, thus not SAME DAY. Stupid. Cunts.

In order to get these topcases switched over by the next morning, you may find that as a Genius, you need to be repairing until midnight. After a long day of swapping phones, I can say they last thing I wanted to do was start repairing computers. I'd probably spend 2 hours replacing a screen on a unibody white MacBook and give the manager some bullshit story about how "the DFI ribbon-micro cable is really difficult to fit on this model", whist thinking "I'm secretly lolling in your face right now"

Seriously though, who wants to spend their life repairing shit computers until midnight? You're not gonna get in until 1, asleep 'til 2, and if you're on a clopen, then you're fucked mate.

iOS and MACos destroyed (again) at Pwn2Own security conference

2011-03-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

The Pwn2Own event, held at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, allows companies to challenge hackers to exploit their software, i.e. operating systems or web browsers.

iOS

    Charlie Miller and Dion Blazakis have managed to yet again hack iOS thanks to a security hole in the mobile version of Safari. They managed to access the contacts and inbox of an iPhone 4 (iOS 4.2.1) by simply loading a web page.

    The vulnerability isn't patched in iOS 4.3 and it looks like ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) won't be able to protect you from this one.

MACos

    This year French pen-testing firm VUPEN has hacked Apple’s Safari web browser using a zero-day flaw to win the coveted Pwn2Own hacker challenge.

    The exploited computer was a fully patched MacBook running Mac OS X (64-bit). Co-founder of VUPEN, Chaouki Beckar, lured the Mac to a fake website and managed to bypass the ASLR (Address Space Layout Randomization) and DEP (Data Execution Prevention) execution procedures that were built into the OS. He then launched a calculator app successfully and wrote files to the machine.

It's a known fact that MAC is the most insecure operating system, manly thanks to Apple's only MACos selling point, the "security" but also due to the fact that the users are just too stupid to see past Apple's decietful advertising. If that particlular MAC had an antivirus with heuristics installed, VUPEN would never have been able to write anything to the system without being detected. So do yourself a favor, pick an antivirus and buy it!

Via: Pwn2Own

2011 MacBook Pros can't stop freezing and crashing

2011-03-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

Just when we were about to think MACos is on the right track - since it's the last OS to finally get TRIM support to properly use SSD drives - it looks like the shabby build quality(1)(2) and software issues, just won't give it a break!

Starting with the launch of Apple's new flagship MacBook Pros in late February, there have been hundred of reports of "hard freezes", the device locking up when users are running multiple programs - yes, don't be afraid to lol, multitasking seems to be quite an intense issue for Apple. Despite Apple's attempt to cure the problem with an update to OS X 10.6.7, users are reporting the issue still occurring.

The issue is stemming from the 15 and 17-inch models, each of which feature Sandy Bridge Core i7 quad-core CPUs and AMD Radeo HD graphics processors.

A thread entitled "MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze" on the Apple discussion forum is nearing 70 pages, with most users complaining about the crashes whenever using multiple apps, especially video intensive ones like iMovie or gaming.

One user, dT explains, was able to pinpoint the problem:

The issue occurred when running CPU-heavy processes along with programs that caused graphics processing to shift from the new Sandy Bridge processor to the discrete AMD Radeon graphics processor.

Hopefully the community will also provide a fix for this issue since Apple seems unable to do so - most likely they will remove the support topic like they did when the iPhone 4 issues were first reported. The days when you could take a Mac and just surf the web and use those few features and programs it has to offer are long gone. If you want to be a hipster, go get one, but don't forget you might have to get your hands dirty. Or you can simply install Windows 7 and enjoy the great stability and features it has to offer.

Via: Apple support

Net Promoaner Part 18

2011-03-20T08:10:00.000-07:00

Check out how dread this one is:

"3 years ago, I had been late twice within a 90 day period - which you know means if you're late or call off FOR ANY REASON within the 90 day period for two more times, you're fired. No considerations. I had a miscarriage, and guess what? It counted against me. Even with me bringing in the paperwork. It was humiliating to deal with management and HR not caring, while dealing with the emotional trauma of losing a child. A week later, I was fired as Genius Admin, and given a job as "Phone Concierge." The Admin position was given to a strapping young lad who, obviously, wasn't planning on getting pregnant any time soon.

3 months later, I became pregnant again, and was very ill during my first trimester. Some mornings, I could not get out of bed. They began counting this against me, and had me do FMLA through Matrix, so they legally couldn't fire me. I continued to get comments from the managers about me "dealing with it" and "not letting it get to me." The managers even denied my maternity leave for my last month of pregnancy - until I called HR on them.

Luckily, I was smart enough to let them pay my maternity leave for 5 months after I had my daughter, and I quit and never looked back. Coming from pre-iPhone Apple Retail, I am incredibly disappointed on where the company has gone. Thank you for your blog."

Thanks Jill, and thanks for sharing.

iPhone: the worst browsing experience out there

2011-03-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

How does the tasteless, Flashless iPhone browsing compare to a full web experience? Well, after 45,000 page loads the answer was clear, Android wins by a huge margin even with Flash support.

For the tests the company Blaze used iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3 and Google Nexus S running Android 2.3 Gingerbread along with custom apps that automatically load pages and measure the speed.

The chosen websites were the thousand homepages of the Fortune 1000 companies. Each page was loaded multiple times on different days. Tests were run over Wi-Fi.

The two charts below summarize the results:

Android’s browser managed to load 84% of the websites faster than Safari, with whopping 52% faster load times on average.

Lower load times represent faster performance

To test the importance of JavaScript performance, Android 2.2 Froyo (on a Samsung Galaxy S) and iOS 4.2 were used – both of which lack the latest JavaScript performance-improving tricks.

Android 2.2 Froyo was 10% slower than 2.3 Gingerbread, despite the 40% JavaScript performance boost in the latter. iOS 4.2 and iOS 4.3 are pretty much 50/50 when it comes to which version loaded the website faster, but the newer OS was actually 2% slower on average.

Another interesting result showed up for mobile websites – Android and iOS both managed about the same load times for the mobile sites, but while on Android showed almost no difference on full web sites, iOS showed a huge lag versus the mobile versions of the sites.

iOS loads full web pages much slower

Given the fact that the iPhone A4 CPU is "a cheap replica" of what can be found in it's Android counterparts, the result hardly comes as a surprise. However considering that iOS lacks Flash, the the poorly designed iOS joins the crappy hardware in a slow-mo duo.

If still unsure, why not give it a try yourself? Kindly check Blaze's flawless testing methodology below.

Via: Blaze

Core Training

2011-03-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

As if you'd get that much literature nowdays

The lies start at Core Training. I should have known when strangers cheered and whooped me as I walked in. They'll tell you things that you will find to be not true, and they'll also miss out things that will quickly rear their prospective ugly heads. Let's start with what you'll be told:

Apple is an amazing place to work.

There are tremendous growth opportunities.

You will be first to touch the products.

---

Here's some things that they won't say:

In order to make the job permanent, you will need to hit 2 out of 3 attaches. Otherwise you can fuck off. We don't want people that won't help me get my fat bonus.

If you are here wanting to be a Family Room Specialist, you will be a bitch and do all the jobs instore, including being shouted out and called a liar on the Genius Bar, and also teach people who paid to learn from a trainer on subjects you know nothing about.

We will treat you like shit.

iFixit tears appart new MacBook Pro, isn't impressed

2011-03-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

The new MacBook Pro left the teardown team completely unimpressed.They found that the subwoofer enclosure was being held in place by a stripped screw and that there was an unlocked ZIF socket connecting the IR sensor, which the team described as "not fitting for an $1,800 machine." Additionally, iFixit discovered "gobs" and "absurd amounts" of thermal paste on the CPU and GPU upon removing the heat sink. "The excess paste may cause overheating issues down the road, but only time will tell," said iFixit.

Oh you Foxconn rascals you, if this would be all it wouldn't even be so bad. Unfortunately if you look at the picture to the right you can see how small the heat spreaders are compared to the heatpads. We appreciate the nice symmetry, but this is in no case thermal efficient. For $1,800 you should probably get a PC that admits it's a PC and doesn't sacrifice cooling efficiency and build quality for aesthetics and probably has a dedicated and much more powerful graphics card as well.

Via: iFixit

[iPhone jokes] The truth about the iPad 2

2011-03-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Apple Retail Stories: The most ridiculous cases of life enrichment

2011-03-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

Jenny has her little story to tell:

"This guy comes (obviously with no appointment, and on a Saturday) with a broken first gen iPod touch. The Concierge/LOF/AQM/bar-bitch points out the HUGE queue of people waiting and explains that unfortunately he cannot be seen today, as all these people have appointments and are waiting ahead of him. Causing a massive scene, the manager skips over to see what all the fuss is about. He complains that the screen has cracked on his 3/4 year old iPod, (the iPod is battered), the battery is terrible, and he can't use Skype to call people. So yep, you've guessed it, manager gives him an iPhone 4. I swear I nearly walked out."

That truly is a disgusting story. But it's OK 'cos he'll go and tell all his friends what a fabulous life enriching time he had at the Apple store! Or will he go home laughing tell other scum that he knows that you can go in and be a prick and walk out with a free iPhone? I just can't decide...

Goodbye my dear uncompetitive, insecure iTunes

2011-03-13T01:55:00.000-08:00

Confession: I still buy my music online instead of torrenting it. And after years of enduring an unfulfilling relationship with iTunes, last month I finally broke things off. I headed over to Amazon. I haven't looked back yet.

It all started when I was browsing for some holiday gifts a few weeks back. Somewhere down the Amazon rabbit hole was this: Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy for five bucks. Five! One-click purchase, please. And even though that deal has passed by, it's still selling for $9 on Amazon, compared to $12 on iTunes. And these type of deals have been going on for months?

Sure, that's just one album. And here are 1,306 others that are all priced at $5.00 now through January. And these aren't B-sides. These are Cee-lo, Pink Floyd, CCR, The Black Keys, Prince, Phoenix. It's a bonanza.

And that's just full-length albums. Singles fare pretty well, too, with most titles hitting the $0.99 mark (compared to the $1.29 iTunes standard). You can find some goodies, though, listed at just $0.69. It's also easy, easy, easy. Amazon's got its own MP3 Downloader that'll automagically shuttle your songs straight on over to iTunes (or whatever media player you prefer) without your having to drag and drop. Not to mention you can load it onto your Android device, or your Zune. My goodness, you can even play it on a Sansa. Swoon.

I kind of wish this were a philosophical point, or a principled one. Then I'd be saying something important, or maybe even controversial. But! My heart and mind couldn't care less about where I get my music from. It's my wallet that's calling the shots.

Here's the deal. Two out of every three digital downloads in this country go through iTunes, according to the NPD Group. Apple's the king of a very tall hill. So to make up ground quickly, Amazon's doing what it's always done better than anyone else: undercutting. Using its massive scale and bargaining power to offer songs and (especially) albums at absurdly low prices. Even, as the WSJ pointed out recently, at a loss to them. Which becomes your gain.

Okay, it's not all roses and pancakes. The selection supposedly isn't quite as robust as iTunes, although I haven't yet looked for an album I wanted and not found it. iTunes are formatted in AAC instead of MP3, which may mean slightly better sound quality and also less compatibility. And you'll have to live without 90-second previews. And honestly a subscription service like Rdio, or Spotify (if it ever gets here) might pull me away from Amazon someday. But for now, for those monthly $5 and daily $4 album deals? Worth it.

Sorry, iTunes. It's both my bank account and the leaking of my personal information.

Net Promoaner Part 17

2011-03-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

This one comes in from another human:

"I have to say, the part that is worst about working in an Apple Store is the lies. I am very happy to work in an environment that is all about numbers and sales figures as long as the company is honest about it. Before joining Apple, we were told that this wasn't a company that cared about sales figures or targets and yet all we hear about in downloads is the targets and sales figures we didn't meet and how it was entirely our fault (and not remotely circumstantial) that we didn't meet them on a day-to-day basis."

True, it's aaaalllll about the figures.

Another fine sample of cheap build quality: iPad 2

2011-03-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

Now that many of you have collected and used your second generation iPad tablets for a few hours, we're starting to see the inevitable reports of defects. Thus far, two issues have bubbled to the surface. The first issue -- yellow spots beneath the LCD glass -- is reminiscent of the same fresh-from-the-factory iPhone 4 issue that resolved itself just as soon as the bonding agent used for the LCD glass had time to evaporate. The second issue, which is being conflated with the first, is characterized by light bleeding through from the outer edges of the LCD panel. The bleeding is most noticeable when watching a dark scene in a movie or using an app with a black background as demonstrated in the picture below.

This does not come as a surprise after the iPhone launch fiasco and Apple is already taking steps to distract the public by releasing overrated performance benchmarks. Keep in mind the iPad has the lowest resolution compared to most of the tablets released so far, hence a lesser strain on the GPU. Also keep in mind the CPU/GPU frequency will be lowered in the future firmware updates, similar to the iPhone 4, to preserve the battery.

Since most of the tablets use the same hardware and even have more ram then a the 512 of the iPad 2, you should base your purchase on build quality since other devices get performance boosts with updates rather than the routine underclocking Apple products get. USB support should also be of concern since it seems to be completley broken even on Apple's expensive adapters while on most competitor's tablets full USB support can be enabled by editing a text like and a 1$ cable.

Video After the break:

A poll was also available on Engadget but as Engadget is heavily endorsed by Apple and under their careful scrutiny it was quickly removed. However out of ~6000 users, roughly 4000 were experiencing the issue.

engadget.com/2011/03/12/poll-is-your-ipad-2-backlight-bleeding-video

Via: Engadget

Save A Genius!!

2011-03-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

Why not do your bit to help out a random Genius, by making their Saturday go a little easier? But how can you do this from the comfort of your own home? Book some fake appointments!!

Geniuses all over the world have been doing this for a long time to try and stretch out their day, so I've decided to help out some of our soldiers by seeing if the readers will step up and help a random store.

The lucky store in question is.......

As it stands, the appointment availability for Saturday 12th February is as follows, with Mac appointments on the left, and iPhone on the right.

Right then, let's get started! I'm pretty sure Immanuel Goldberg has a problem with his topcase....

Here's the all important link:

Crabtree Valley Concierge

Apple completley breaks iPad and iPad 2 USB compatibility

2011-03-11T03:05:00.000-08:00

Apple has reduced the amount of power that the iPad’s 30-pin connector can emit from 100mA to 20mA. The good part about this is that your iPad’s battery will probably last longer but the downside is that Apple’s iPad Camera Connection Kit is crippled for many people. The Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit includes two adapters: 1 USB connector and 1 SD card reader.

The core issue is that connected devices that require power of more than 20mA will no longer work. That means that many USB keyboards (Apple’s included) as well as USB flash drives will no longer work with the iPad. When the user connects a device that is not self-powered and requires more than 20mA of power from the iPad they get the following alert: “The connected USB device requires too much power.”

This problem not only pertains to camera-related devices but also is an issue for microphones. USB microphones were compatible with the iPad running iOS 3.2.2 but now some of them apparently use more than 20mA of the iPad’s power. Although many users are unhappy that they cannot use many of their USB flash drives, USB keyboards, or USB microphones anymore, users are even angrier that many of their USB cameras no longer work with the iPad.

The Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit’s USB adapter was built so users with USB cameras could plug their cameras in via USB on the go. Now they cannot anymore as most USB cameras require too much power from the iPad. This issue is unpleasant for photographers relying on the iPad to import and upload their photos on the fly.

So far the issue seems to persist in firmware 4.3 and in iPad 2.

Net Promoaner Part 16

2011-03-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

Whoa, someone who wishes to remain anonymous shares a story with us, regarding the midnight Genius repair shifts.

"It started last June 2010 when all of the Genii where pulled into the managers office one by one. Everyone else was outraged and stated that they would quit before working until midnight. It was kind of ironic though, I had the least reaction compared to the other Genii. I don't have a problem with change and said that I would give it a try. This change was supposed to give us more time during the day to help customers at the bar. Possibly even extending our time per appointments beyond the 15 minute mark. It was promised that we would even have the opportunity to do "while you wait" repairs for the easier fixes. This midnight shift was also focused on giving the Genius team an uninterrupted 4 hours each night to do repairs. It was mandatory that each one of us worked at least 3 midnight shifts per each work week.

I was lucky compared to most of the others. I didn't have any of the "cl-open" shifts (close one night, open the next day). These "cl-open" shifts resulted in about 8 hours between shifts. I couldn't believe that this was possible let alone legal. They weren't even flexible if we had kids to drop off at school early the next morning, and had complete disregard to our personal life.

I remember that I started to condition myself a week prior to my first midnight shift. I had to force myself to stay up late which was very difficult. My whole family was involved in attempting to keep me up until the stroke of midnight. After about 3 months of these midnight shifts I started to realize that I couldn't fall asleep when I returned home after my shift. I would find myself falling asleep later and later each following week, sometimes as late as 5 AM. I had gone to the manager with my concerns and they said that if it was a problem to go find a different job. Seriously, they told me to quit and get a different job, with no compassion whatsoever.

This sleep deprivation really started becoming a health concern as I was urged by my wife to see the doctor to discuss my poor sleep habits. The Dr. was outraged that a big company like Apple, is mandating that I change my lifestyle, creating such an unhealthy work environment. As all American Drs do, she prescribed medication to correct it. The only other option I had, was to quit and I couldn't afford that option. The new medication was supposed to help me fall asleep better. The new med worked, but with some side effects. I feel like I'm only awake to work and I can't even enjoy my time off with my wife and family.

In October I had contacted Matrix to see what they could do. After about 2 months I was turned over to HR and there has been no change. According to HR part of the Genius requirements are to work 3 midnight shifts a week. They asked if I could at least do 2 as an exception, but they are completely missing the point.

Currently I wake up, eat, work, sleep repeat. I have no energy to do anything before or after my shift. The quality of life has diminished. I spend my days off napping and lazy. My wife cries on a monthly basis as she is frustrated that I am unable spend any time with her. I've asked to be on all late shifts or all early shifts just have some consistent sleep patterns. They said it's not an option.

The worst part of the whole deal is that I don't see any improvement with our abilities to help people at the bar or repairs. Their studies showed that we are better off doing repairs later in our shifts rather than first thing in the morning. I can't see how that is possible when I and the rest of the team are completely exhausted. They said that we would be able to do "while you wait" repairs. That can't happen due to the lack of personnel working during the daytime to accommodate the night shifts. They said that the late shifts would result in uninterrupted repair time. We are still being interrupted between the 8 to 9 o'clock hour. The studies also showed that there was no need for the Genius Bar to be open between eight and nine o'clock. That doesn't make any sense either.

I hope that this doesn't get me fired. I'm a little worried about retaliation from Apple so please make this post anonymous. I'm just curious to know if this is normal amongst all stores and if there are others that feel as I do.

Thanks for hearing me out."

Boom. We all felt, and in many cases/stores still feel exactly the same. It's unhealthy, fucking boring, no better for the customers, moral is much lower, tiring... I could go on. Why don't Apple actually ask the Genius Teams for their input? Surely being on the bar all day everyday they have a good idea of when the bar works best? Apple would rather leave the decisions to some corporate idiot who has never worked a day on the shop floor in their entire life, let alone the bar, who sits their looking at figures, stats, and probably the value or their shares. They'd rather make the change, then ask for 'feedback' only to ignore any negative comments. It's like talking to a fucking brick wall.

Apple, are you reading this?? I think that you are, so take it on board and actually go and 'enrich the lives' of the people who are, remember, 'the most important resource, the soul' of the company, as these are the people that worked their asses off so you could drive home tonight in that fancy car.

Tens of thousands of hacked iTunes accounts are now for sale

2011-02-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

Hacked iTunes accounts are available for sale across China at prices starting as low as a few dollars. These hacked account details, include credit card details, were being made available for sale via China's largest retail website, Taobao. An original report in the Global Times claimed around 50.000 hacked accounts were being peddled on Taobao at prices ranging from one to 200 yuan. Thousands of accounts have been sold over the past several months, it said. AFP has confirmed the claims.

The retailer claimed it takes all reasonable and necessary steps to protect consumers. Hacked iTunes accounts are sold with the admonition to use them for just 24-hours.

“At this time, we have not received any information from Apple or any other principal related to the iTunes accounts indicating that these products either violate our listing rules or infringe on the IP of others,” the company said, as reported by AFP.

Well we're probably going to see a lot more Vietnamese books being sold/bought in record numbers but the question at hand is, what really makes iTunes such a good target; what happened to Amazon, Paypal, Ebay?

Safari and Mac are easy to hack - under 10 seconds!

Mac users are unaware of Malware - thanks to Apple's own advertising

Safari is a fat hog that spies on you - you can't be sure that anything you ever type into Safari will stay secure

iPhone apps that steal email and password are already quite common

iTunes that gives away your personal info for free

iTunes policy - even if no one spends more than 5$/month, spending 1000$ at once will cause no alert

Apple that is always reluctant to cooperate with your bank when frauds are reported

How does the hacking go from here on?

If they got your email from an app, most likely brute force will be used (a program/script that tries random combinations on your account - can take from a few hours to week but it can be run in background so it will only disturb you to alert you when the job is done.

If you were detected as using Safari on a Malware website, be sure that if you're not infected instantly, they will hack you via your logged IP and either get all your details from Safari or use your own Mac to do the fraud.

You could say that the culprit here are the careless users (and you will if you're a fanboy), but let's face it, no one uses the same password for e-banking and for pr0n sites. The real culprit here, is the Mac OS X platform itself.

OS X is has nothing to do with previous versions of Mac OS. When Motorola failed as a CPU manufacturer, Apple hand no choice but switching to an X86 Platform. What they did was buying An ancient OS from the 90's that had mainly and industrial and accountability role and turn it into OS X.

NeXTstep had the advantage of being a multiplatform OS (could run both on Motorola and X86 CPUs) and allowed apple to quickly port the modest amount of Mac software that was available.

As it seems bringing an OS from the 90's, that was either not consumer intended or a great failure, to the web 2.0 age with a redesigned UI doesn't provide much security, but instead does provide an explanation of why everything OS X based (Macs, Servers, iTunes, AppStore, iPhones) is so easy to hack. However most Apple devs deny

Via: Global Times, BBC, MacWorld

Apps by employees

2011-02-06T00:21:00.000-08:00

You know what sucks? Apple will tell you all the time to enrich lives, and that you are a very talented and creative individual and our products are here for people to enjoy blah blah blah, but if you have a great idea idea for an app, then you better quit right now. I can't remember the finer details, but it's either '"we fucking own everything you do" or "don't you dare even think about it". Thanks. I don't understand what they're so scared about, even if your app is totally unrelated to anything to do with Apple or the stores, they won't allow it. Bullshit.

[iPhone jokes] Saturday Night Live - the long lost and censored iPhone parody!

2011-02-06T00:17:00.000-08:00

Movies you should watch: Waiting

2011-02-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

"God I can't wait to quit this job!"

My favorite movie parallel has to be Waiting. This film has everything. Take Monty, Serena and Raddimus first. They work there, they think it's bullshit and don't care in the slightest about the customer or the brand. They all get on well with each other and are just looking forward to a few drinks with some good people at the weekend. These are your classic 'sound' specialists- probably at uni or maybe don't have a degree and are just earning a few bills to pay the rent and spend on beer.

Then you've got Dean. Although only slightly educated, he knows that he's too good for this place. Like everyone else he realizes that this is not a career and is just a job, but thinks bigger and knows he needs to leave.

Calvin is your classic LOF, suck-up clipboard wannabe manager weener who does see this as a career and would do anything to sit in the office and conduct Daily Brownload.

Look at the hate on that face.

And then there's Dan- a manager who loves telling people what to do but who wanders around and does NO work whatsoever. He is also very weak and folds like origami when a customer kicks off and demands some free shit.

There's bitchy customers, Naomi has been there 'waahaahaay too long', and Mitch has to sit through some core training bullshit videos in which you'll be introduced to Apple-esque Shennanigans slogans like "the difference between ordinary and extraordinary... is that little extra!"

Brilliant.

Apple: Hey! Your bank account just got drained

2011-02-04T06:28:00.000-08:00

An unsuspecting reader of The Register, named Peter, woke up one morning to discover an email informing him of a "£10 Monthly Gift for wqfaqapk445@hotmail.com", an account he'd never heard of.

The vouchers, sent to a recipient's email address, can be used to purchase music and audio books from the iTunes Music Store. Peter checked his iTunes purchase history, where to his horror he discovered scores of these "Monthly Gift" purchases, all of which had been generated within a short space of time on 19 January, but only one of which generated an email - because Apple really doesn't want to bother you while "you're" spending. He was informed of the theft by an e-mail from Apple, saying his £1,000 gift purchase had been confirmed, sum which didn't alert any of the iTunes security policies (if there are any) for an user that didn't spend more than 5£ a month. Ever.

Apple describes iTunes Monthly Gifts as a "great way to give a gift that keeps on giving".

"How is it even possible for iTunes to be used as some type of glorified bank account? Why the hell would I want to use iTunes to transfer money to people?

"It is completely unacceptable that Apple has turned iTunes into some type of pseudo-PayPal without the security measures, monitoring and care being taken to run something so important,"

"iTunes isn't just a system for buying a bit of music; it's turned into a banking system that can wipe out your finances and put whole families into financial limbo." Peter concluded.

[UPDATE]

It's been over a week since the story appeared, but accounts continue to pour into an Apple customer support forum, echoing the accusations made to The Register - and, boy are people mad. Apparently, customers seeking Apple's help have received a pat response that sounds awfully familiar: cancel your credit card and report the charges to your bank.

Is it possible somebody at Apple really bought the advertisement "Macs don't need anti-virus software"? 'ere you go you Apple "geniuses", go get some protection!

Via: The Register, Engadget

Sales Fails: Rhonda

2011-02-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

This dreadful technique lasted about 6 months, if that. The basic premise was if the customer wanted help from one of the Specialists, they would press a button in the centre of the screen and the desktop picture would change slightly from blue, to a kind of greeny blue. No buzzer or anything would go off, the Red Zone team were supposed to be vigilant of all machines on the shop floor, despite the fact they face in all directions and customer would have Safari over the top of the green screen. When they realised it wasn't working, they changed to to red, which freaked out the customers so much they would just walk away from the machine. Bollocks.

The Apple A4 CPU - a cheap replica

2011-02-02T06:24:00.000-08:00

What is it and what devices use it?

The Apple A4 is a package on package system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple and manufactured by Samsung. It combines an ARM Cortex-A8 CPU architecture with a PowerVR GPU. The chip commercially debuted with the release of Apple's iPad tablet; followed shortly by the iPhone 4 smartphone, the 4th generation iPod Touch and the 2nd generation Apple TV.

Why is it a "replica"?

The A4 is based on Samsung's S5PC110A01 SoC "Hummingbird" used in the Galaxy S, however it's missing features such as the FM module and others that are subtle and so far undisclosed, compared to the original. Check below to see the performance degradation.

Why is it cheap?

Some recent tests have proven it's not only missing some features, but the modifications brought to the original design, by Apple, also degrade performance. Apple has so far avoided any benchmarking tools, but one of the most commonly spread can be neither hidden nor denied: Javascript


The "next" generation Apple CPU is up to 40% weaker than the original Hummingbird CPU.

If you invested in a Galaxy S you can lay back as it will surely take you to 2012 blazing fast. However the 60% performance degradation seen in iPhone 4 makes it an outdated device in less than 7 months of it's release.

[EDIT]

To make things clearer I also added the SunSpider benchmarks that only rely on the CPU. However iOS has the advantage of also using the GPU for processing, thus having an advantage.

Most games may look better on iPhone 4 thanks to the Pixel and Vertex Shaders that the 3GS GPU doesn't have, but the degraded CPU performace is obvious when comparing 3GS with iPhone 4.

But what better way can t be, to make this point undeniable, than simply comparing the performance in iPhone 4 with the one in iPad? A4 vs. underclocked A4:

The performance loss in iPhone 4 over the iPad exceeds 25%

Source: GSM Arena, Apple Insider

Apple Store Marriages

2011-02-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

He couldn't get it in white, as this model only comes in black.

What??? Jokes.

Oh god I hope this doesn't offend anyone.

No HTML5 for you! (No Flash either)

2011-01-22T04:38:00.000-08:00

Bad news for Steve "no Flash" Jobs and iPhone power users (hipsters, close your browser now!). With all the hype surrounding HTML5, the latest web standard has become a bit self-conscious of its designation. Therefore, it demands that you just refer to it—and all future iterations—as HTML. Got it?

WHATWG and W3C, the main organizations leading the charge to create a final HTML5 spec, realized that updates and new standards are moving at such rapid speeds that they won't be able to deliver a final standard by 2022 as they promised previously (there, I've said it!). Instead, HTML will simply be a living, ever-evolving specification, the way it's been for years.

But what does this mean for iPhone users? It means that you will be continuously milked by Apple and other corporations for media that is available for free on a PC or any other Smartphone because HTML won't replace Flash in the next decade. Apple's app-ification of the web stops at the point where you can see your favorite shows for free. Sure there's HULU and other streaming apps that all require a paid subscription and most likely won't work if you're not in the US.

So today I'm going to share a secret. You don't need apps to view the web. All you need is a browser that supports Flash and a bookmark to Quicksilverscreen and you can watch every episode of any show ever released. What? you still have an iPhone - then you can't.

Source: WHATWG

Fearless Feedback

2011-01-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

At Apple they have this way of talking to each other called 'Fearless Feedback'. I was told 'never be afraid to ask any questions to anyone at Apple, we're all ears' but that was a long time ago. I once went above the manager's head and asked a big dog a question via email, then my manager was CC'd in to the reply. And then my manager had a go at me for asking someone in the company a question.

Basically you are supposed to put a positive spin on anything, so take these examples. This is the real life, slightly childish way that we would all like to handle it:

But this is how it is supposed to go on Apple's watch:

Although I've never seen it in action. How would the manager react to the end of this:

"I appreciate that celebrity gossip is important, we all have our interests outside of work, and that Heat magazine is a superb publication, but right now there are 20 people queueing at the genius bar trying to buy iPhone cases. Do you think you could spare 5 minutes to lead by example and demonstrate how fantastic the EasyPay devices are by taking payment, bagging and emailing the receipt to customers that don't care for email receipts? Some of them might need onetoone to show them how to use the case too. Thanks."

Source

Apple mocks open source community, pulls VLC from the AppStore

2011-01-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

Looks like VLC's role as champion of open-source legal rights is no more. Rather than lawyer up, Apple's taken the easy way out, and simply removing the VLC media player from the App Store. Rémi Denis-Courmont, the VideoLAN developer who originally sued to have it removed, reports that an Apple attorney informed him that the company had complied with his takedown request, and pulled the app accordingly which likely puts the kibosh on other potential VLC ports as well. If you think about it, the open-source community may have just planted the first brick in a walled garden of its own.

If you wonder why it was so important to have VLC removed, it's easy. As the much hated iDon't list says Apple locks all apps with DRM protection, free or not, open source or not. Thus with Apple's mockery over the open-source community, goes the only decent video player in the App Store. Yet again iPhone users are left with a poor choice of video formats or painful conversion of their videos to the extremely poor choice of codecs available on the iPhone.

VLC is available on Nokia's N900 since late 2009 when the device was released (SMplayer as well) and is coming to Android although it is not to much awaited due to the fact that almost every format/codec is directly playable.

It's quite a shame that major software vendors such as Mozilla (Firefox), Opera (only mini version available for iPhone), Swype and now VLC are not considering iOS as a serious platform due to the twisted policies that seem to bring no benefit for anyone but Apple's corporate schemes of having complete control over the end user.

Via: Engadget

Net Promoaner Part 11-15

2011-01-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Booby let us know

"I worked at one in Arizona, USA. It sucked. All the employees are brainwashed hippies that think they have the best job in the world. They’re all mindless zombies who want the satisfaction of making a couple bucks over minimum wage without any incentives."

Cheers Bobby, glad you saw the light.

Another worthy goal for this year, D-man tells us

"At  our  last store meeting we watched Ron Johnson (on tape of course) talk  non  stop about how much money the company was making and how that was  all  thanks to us and that Apple had a special treat for us. We figured   iPads, or iPods, a bonus, or something. Wrong. Instead of giving   anything useful to us they had the mangers cook us breakfast. Fucking   breakfast at our 8 am meeting. Would be nice if anyone knew about it,   but seeing as our meetings go on for fucking hours everyone had already   eaten. Thanks Apple. And at the next review they told everyone that it   had been a hard season for retail, so they couldn't justify   "extravagant" raises. Everyone got 1% or 2%. Our two store managers both   bought new cars in the next 3 weeks. Assholes. My resolution for 2011   is to leave Apple."

Go for it!

Sian asked a personal story be posted:

"On the iPad launch day, I started work at 6am (without choice), only to receive a phone call at 10am to tell me that my girlfriend had been rushed to hospital. I didn’t know why, all I knew is that she had been rushed in with severe stomach pains and had collapsed. She only had her phone and her pyjamas. No shoes, no coat, no money, nothing.

I obviously went to my manager and asked to leave as she had no one else in the city, all of her friends had gone home for a uni break and her parents lived 3 hours away.

My managers response was this:

“This is the iPad launch. This is the most important product launch in ‘Apple History’. You are required at the store and you can’t go, especially since we don’t know what’s wrong with her, it might be nothing. Wait until you hear from the hospital.”

All I had done – being that I was the admin and my job was to book in parts, I had no experience using the fucking easy pays and didn’t know how to sell an iPhone. The only thing I could do was a ‘personal set up’ which involved me sitting next to someone and watching them open the box like a 5 year old and then, I shit you not, I had to CONGRATULATE them on their new iPhone 4, and show them how to put their fucking email on their phone for them because they have more money than brain cells. All of this was more important than my girlfriend being in hospital, despite the fact that there were like 45 people working that day.

He also said: “can’t she get a bus/taxi home herself?” He has missed the part about her having no money/clothes/shoes etc, and clearly not understood the fact that she had COLLAPSED in a great deal of pain.

One thing I might point out is that the store had absolutely no reception, and can you imagine a poor hospital nurse trying to phone a fucking Apple store on a day like the iPhone 4 launch?? The phone gets ignored on the best of days.

I eventually walked out at 1pm. Only to be reprimanded the next day for my rudeness.

I could send you many emails like this one, but I am at work, at my new, and wonderful job where I am treated like a human being and the people here are absolutely amazing, so I don’t want to take the piss.

If you could post this I’d be very grateful."

A long one, but worth a read! Thanks Sian

Ian says

"Can I just say, I work at a retail store in the Genius team and I think it is great to see someone take lead in voicing the horrid environment we work in at Apple Retail."

It's a pleasure.

The ComboBreaker says

"About   time that somebody dug past the brainwashed assweeds that work here  and  the fake smiles. The managers are complete fucktards with ZERO  product  knowledge that will bend over backwards and take it in all  holes to  avoid a detractor. It's about time that somebody said "fuck  the whiny  cuntbags that are customers, fuck the lazy potheads at BOH,  and fuck it  to the smug pricks that are the geniuses and creatives (not  all, I've  seen some good ones)"

Ah huh. Now get back to work and rob some old people of an extra $99! Onetoone, ONETOONE!!!

[iPhone jokes] Geek jokes: Steve Jobs's new year resolution

2011-01-05T08:19:00.000-08:00

iPhone alarm not working in 2011

2011-01-03T11:23:00.001-08:00

Although it sounds very similar to recent Daylight Savings Time trouble we witnessed back in November, this is much worse, we saw both repeating alarm and single alarm failures. The issue seems to be affecting iOS 4.1 and 4.0.2 as well.

Following the standard reply all of us annoyed custommers got, 9to5 Mac sayd that the bug will get fixed all by itself once the calendar hits January 3rd:

We're aware of an issue related to non repeating alarms set for January 1 or 2. Customers can set recurring alarms for those dates and all alarms will work properly beginning January 3.

What now? It's January 3rd. You know, the day you're supposed to return to work / school / life. And the day you're supposed to catch a flight you've had booked for three months and probably a day that you're supposed to accomplish lots of other tasks. Unfortunately you actually believed that your iPhone alarm would fix itself when today rolled around, but based on hordes of complaints seen on Twitter and Facebook, said fix is still hibernating. And thus, you're still sleeping. Who knows when Apple's code-apes will step up to the plate and address the issue; maybe it will be a new feature in iOS 5, alarms & DST!. In the meantime, go get a more reliable Symbian or Android device that probably won't replace your PSP and send your private data to 3rd parties, but hey, at least it will make a good smartphone!

New Store Openings (or 'NSO' for those in the know)

2011-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

The first thing you'll fucking hate is the opening a new store. You'd think from the cheering something major is happening, but really it just another fucking shop surrounded by other shit shops. Everyone whoops, cheers and delivers high fives all round, especially to the biggest loser of them all - the virgin at the front of the queue. Even old people get the cool young hip treatment, look at this poor bastard:

"Congratulations of leaving your piss sack at home and raise that liver spotted hand and gimme some skin bro!!"

It's all worth it for that free t-shirt tho, comes in handy when cleaning the wheels on your car.

Apple Sued For Sending User Data To Advertisers

2011-01-03T11:08:00.001-08:00

Apple has been sued this week over "allegedly transmitting user information to advertising networks without the consent of owners" of its iOS devices.

Jonathan Lalo, of Los Angeles, says Apple and a group of mobile app developers sold his personal data (age, sex, location) to ad networks:

"[Lalo] did not expect, receive notice of, or consent to Defendants' tracking of his iPhone app use and did not want Defendants to engage in such activity."

The user agreement policies state that apps are not allowed to transmit data without a user's consent. The suit comes at a time when the WSJ has broken news that many mobile applications transmit personal data to third party advertisers without user content.

About time for somebody to gather evidence and file a case as the risks have been there ever since the first iPhone and as apple never took a any action to cover the holes, it became obvious they didn't take any action for their own interest: iOS 4 - as insecure as ever, Apple personal information free give-away, October is the iOS security flaw month at the iPhone Fever!

Unfortunately solvng the issue requires rewriting of a major part of the iOS kernel that unlike Symbian or Linux (Android, MeeGo) doesn't have any embedded security features like firewalls (hint: iptables).

One of the most high-profile apps named is Pandora, the popular Internet radio app.

Via: WSJ

Steps of service

2011-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

When you first start work at Apple, you are taught how to interact with another human being. You'll take it with a pinch of salt, but after you realise any brain-dead zombie will stammer into your store, you'll quickly abide by your own steps of service, which in no doubt will be similar to the steps listed here.

Approach customer with your bog standard "hi there", and don't try to personalize it otherwise you'll accidentally come out with "Nice haircut dickhead. What the fuck are you looking at a Mac mini for?"

Probe politely to try to find out how much money the customer has, as it looks like not much and you may well have to explain that unfortunately we don't give cash discounts to the tax evading working class.

Present a solution that the customer cannot afford to take home today, including the likes of various crap like MobileMe.

Listen for any regional accents, grammar mistakes or any other signs that signal this finance will not go through.

End with an apology from the bank, a smug look on your face and an invitation to return on your day off.

News Flash: iPhone 4 camera worse than the one in 3G or 3GS!

2011-01-03T07:36:00.001-08:00

This may or may not be old news, still The iPhone Fever has to serve it's role as an index of how much FAIL you, my dear iPhone user, are willing to pay for.

Some iPhone 4 owners have reported color oddities with photos they’ve taken with the camera on the back of the newly released phone. The iPhone’s 5-megapixel camera will take mediocre images in low light with, or without, the LED flash.

Images shot in warm, indoor lighting without the flash, have an obvious yellow and sometimes green cast to them. Sure, get a real camera for photography you'll say, but unfortunately the exact same photo taken with an iPhone 3GS or 3G will not (so just like signal GSM is somewhat a downgrade from 3GS) . You can see for yourself in the image below—the photo shot by the iPhone 4 (original file here) appears in the upper right corner, while the 3G and 3GS images (original 3GS file here) are on the left. I also included a photo shot by a Canon 5D digital camera for the sake of comparison, check below.

Apple hasn’t confirmed what’s causing the issue—in fact, the company has, as usual, yet to respond to our e-mail asking about the issue.

Many of the iPhone 4 users who are experiencing this yellowing problem are also seeing yellow-green flesh tones when using the LED flash in similar low-light situations (while others, in the characteristic iTurd style completely deny the issue). The combination of the LED’s cool blue light with the warm interior lights gives skin a sickly green appearance—one that could be also be fixed with proper white balance.

Unfortunately, fixing these JPEGs with iPhoto, Lightroom or even Photoshop is hardly possible. Hopefully, this isn't a hardware issue involving the camera's lens, and Apple can fix the problem with an update to the iPhone 4's firmware. Currently, Apple’s Website doesn't offer any help document for the yellow images; Apple customer service has no official recommendation other than to let you exchange your iPhone 4 for a new one. There is no guarantee that the replacement iPhone wouldn’t experience the same issues.

[update 01.03.2011] The issue is still not fixed by the latest iOS update.

Via: MacWorld

Via: MacWorld

The Business Team

2011-01-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

Black t-shirts with a collar. That's well business.

   Someone needs to tell the business team in my store that getting the VAT back on your purchases is not a discount, and to stop being so smug that they can offer such bullshit and actually work out what they can do for the customer.

    "I've got this guy, he's spent loads of money here, is there any chance you can..."

   Is there any chance you can tell him to shit off and get back to work?

Steven "Grinch" Jobs wants his share from starving children's meals

2011-01-01T03:00:00.001-08:00

In August, PayPal added a donation feature that allowed users to make charitable contributions from within the services's iPhone app. In late October, Apple made them pull the plug with no warning and little explanation.

Anuj Nayar, on behalf of PayPal, would only say, "I can confirm that we added the donations feature to our iPhone app in version 2.5 in mid August. We removed the feature in version 3.0 of our PayPal Mobile iPhone app. This was done at Apple's request."

A little background: to implement its donation feature, PayPal partnered with MissionFish, whose mandate is to help non-profits raise funds through online donations. In PayPal's case, users of the app would be given an option to donate to either a featured charity or one of nearly 18,000 organizations in the MissionFish database. Choose the non-profit, choose the amount, hit submit, and you were done. Because PayPal already has a payment method on file for the user, it was essentially a two-click operation. And in the few months that the feature was operational, it had raised more than $10,000 at an average donation amount of $12.

Much of the feature's success came from its being an in-app transaction. That also turned out to be its downfall. Prior to the Oct. 26th release of PayPal 3.0, Apple decided that they wanted a share of all donations, a sudden and unexpected move that would have result in a significant drop-off in participation. There hasn't been any further explication from Cupertino since then. MissionFish's Clam Lorenz say:

"Nonprofits are really stymied by the iPhone and this policy approach,"
"They're not sure what the policy is, because it seems vague or arbitrary."

PayPal's not the only charity app to experience a seemingly capricious App Store regulatory process. Givabit is a free app that features a different charity every day, encouraging users to make micro-donations. Getting the app approved was, according to co-founder Justin Kazmark, quite an ordeal:

"Apple was clear that any in-app transaction via iTunes would entitle Apple to 30% of that transaction — presumably charity donations included. Given the fact that we thought 30% was way too much to take from a $1 donation to charity, we had to come up with a different solution than to go through iTunes."

To avoid sending nearly a third of their donors' contributions to Apple, Givabit settled on the less-effective method of sending payments to the browser. Although that wasn't the end of it.

Apple's review team first sent back direction that Givabit couldn't specify what percentage of donations went to the non-profits (96.25%) and what went towards operational costs (the rest). The reason for that request, and others, was never made clear:

"We called up and asked for additional information about why we couldn't include that language. The person we spoke to was very unclear about what the policy was. We were also told that we couldn't use the term "Phonelanthropy," which we made up to describe what we were doing or the tagline we had on the app: "Microdonations. Macrobenefit." They said we would have to get rid of that, too. Basically, anything that alluded to charity/philanthropy they felt uncomfortable with but wouldn't articulate clearly what their policy was."

Later, Apple told Givabit to remove specific dollar amount buttons within the app. While Apple avoids to give any answers to either Givabit or MissionFish, it's likely that they want 30% of ALL your iPhone transactions even if that money actually belongs to starving children in Africa.

For its part, Lorenz says PayPal will introduce in-app donations to its Android app before the end of the year, while still waiting for Apple to further clarify why it reversed its position. And other charitable apps are left navigating the murky waters of App Store policy, hoping for clarity in time for the next season of giving.

The 5 Year plaque

2011-01-01T03:00:00.000-08:00

I'm ashamed I own one of these.

Hard to believe, but some people on the planet have actually been getting to yes for over 5 years. To confirm that the company then owns the employee's soul, they get given a little something for roughly ten thousand hours of work. Something cool right? Well get ready, it's a piece of paper in a cheap frame!

Oh well, it's got Steve's signature on it, maybe it will be worth something on eBay. Oh hold on a sec, what was I thinking? It's just a printout. He can't take 60 seconds out of his month to say thanks to a dying breed of employees by scribbling on a piece of paper, he's too busy emailing customers back telling them how to hold a fucking mobile phone.

[iPhone jokes] The new iHand

2010-12-05T03:33:00.001-08:00

i (r) Hand (iCapped for having one)

The Beatles

2010-12-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

We get it, you like The Beatles, so do I but for fuck's sake hearing the same fucking 10 songs all fucking day... I'm gonna lose my fucking mind.

Can we please, please, PLEASE change the fucking record instore? Promo over, Beatles on iTunes, great.

P.S. I've forgotten the day already.

iPad: recommended age 12 and below

2010-11-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

With Black Friday rapidly approaching, parents may want to get up early Friday morning to find deals, as a recent survey shows their kids are eyeing some wallet-stretching electronics this holiday season.

Across a multitude of electronic offerings, the Apple iPad leads all devices (31% interest in future purchase) among American kids ages 6-12. Apple’s iPod Touch is also popular choice among kids, generating similar levels of interest as computers.

However kids above 13 and teenagers are far less interested in Apple devices, as the PC and smartphone are ranked in the top.

The emerging technologies offered by Blu-Ray players and E-Readers also have good traction with teens and adults.

Beyond these products, gaming devices appear to be ready for another solid holiday showing. Console interest among ages 13+ is led by the Nintendo Wii (15%) and Sony PlayStation 3 (13%), which both maintain an edge over the Microsoft Xbox 360 (9%). Much has been made of new motion peripherals from Sony (Move for PlayStation 3) and Microsoft (Kinect for Xbox 360), and these gadgets garner sizeable interest (9% and 8%, respectively) – though of note, interest was gathered prior to Microsoft’s recent large-scale media campaign for Kinect, which launched in the U.S. on November 4.

If you read the not-so-recent article about Apple marketing strategies, you'll see how the statistics from this study and the one made at iPad's launch are perfectly adding up. Given the continued pressure on consumer spending, it is difficult to know how robust a holiday season this will be for tech devices, but this survey suggests the electronics aisle will be heavily traveled this season.

Source: The Nielsen Company

Yet another story on unreliable Apple software: Fixing MobileMe

2010-11-18T02:53:00.000-08:00

Apple's never been so great with sync. Nonetheless, the idea of MobileMe is great. In practice, unfortunately like most Apple products and services, it just doesn't work.

The way to fix MobileMe can basically be summarized in three words: reset, reset, reset. When you're syncing with a bunch of devices, MobileMe will often have trouble deciding what data to delete and what to keep. It will err on the side of either deleting or keeping everything and no matter how many times you delete address book contacts, calendars, or whatever, you find them popping back up again. This is extremely frustrating as you will have to sync all those 20GB of whatever is on your iPhone all over again - it takes ages...

So, to make use of those 99$ you paid for this lousy service, let's start resetting your data. First, the MobileMe preference pane in System Preferences is where you want to start, but you also have to reset syncing data in iSync as well.

If you're syncing to an iOS device, you should also reset sync data on the phone (in Setting-> General-> Reset).

Now you need to designate one computer to make the first sync. (If you only have one computer, congratulations! This is easy!) Once your primary computer has synced up its data, you can start syncing everything else. Be sure, when asked, to "Replace Data on This Computer" so you're pulling in all the data you just pushed to MobileMe and not contributing to a new mess that you'll just have to reset again.

Not using MobileMe is probably the best cure for frustration, it is nice in theory but sync is not exactly an easy thing to accomplish. For now, a lot of resetting can help you out when MobileMe doesn't feel like working properly.

iPhone users want Flash desperately!

2010-11-18T02:27:00.000-08:00

iPhone users don't need Flash, Flash is no longer necessary.

Steve Jobs

Yet the recently launched Skyfire with flash video support for iPhone has been "sold out".

The pseudo-Flash-capable browser has just disappeared from iTunes App Stores around the globe, mere hours after its splashy debut. Trying to download it in the United States yields a "request could not be completed" message, and RazorianFly readers are chiming in with reports that the app is no longer available in Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Spain and the UK.

Skyfire said that the demand for a Flash video workaround is apparently so high that the company's having server issues and decided to pull the app rather than introduce new users to a sub-par experience. Skyfire assures us that it's adding servers as quickly as it can, but didn't provide an ETA on when we might see the app once more.

Full flash experience is something you won't get on the iPhone and using servers to transcode it certainly doesn't provide the best user experience out there. However the Skyfire event is proof that iPhone users need and want Flash desperately, even if most of them would never admit that. It's the right price to pay when choosing *bling* over usability and features.

VIA: RazorianFly

Apple: Screw GNU/GPL, we just don't care about your Copyright License!

2010-11-17T23:36:00.000-08:00

After four long years of wait the AppsStore is starting to get more than joke programs called "apps". One of the first real software programs available on the AppStore is the VLC media player (VLC and MPlayer were available for Nokia's Maemo/MeeGo platform a few weeks after the launch!).

Even though there are no decent any codec/any format players on the Appstore and the iPhone has a very limited multimedia support to say the least, the developer wants to yank it, because Apple's "violating GNU public license under which VLC is released by applying DRM to it".

VLC's lead developer, Rémi Denis-Courmont, said that "it is to be expected that Apple will cease distribution soon," due to the "intransigently tight control Apple maintains over its mobile applications platform."

Basically, Apple's used of DRM when it distributes the app, where it must be downloaded separately for each individual iOS device (rather than being able to be copied from device to device), doesn't sit happy with the VLC developers, who support the GNU General Public License, or GPL for short—which describes itself as "a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works."

It's slightly bizarre, considering the app is free, but you've got to give Denis-Courmont respect for sticking to his guns. He told iLounge that:

"Some people have commented that this will damage the project's reputation. Maybe so. Blame those who published and/or advertized VLC for iPad. The fact of the GPL incompatibility was already well known. JB himself described it as a "grey area". They decided to take the risk anyway, and they bear full responsibility for any consequences. Personally, I don't blame them because I know very well how a geek feels when writing cool code for a cool new gadget."

Apple has a habit of bending rules when it comes to PR and their best interest however user freedom was never one of their priorities, so we'd suggest you do it now before it is removed from the store (Denis-Courmont has already sent Apple a formal notification of copyright infringement), otherwise the only way to be able to play the most popular and widespread file formats (AVI, WMV, MPEG + DivX, XviD etc) in the future is if you jailbreak the iOS device and use Cydia instead.

Via iLounge

[iPhone jokes] At long last!

2010-11-17T23:35:00.000-08:00

HTML5 & Flash on the iPad vs. Nexus One & BlackBerry Playbook

2010-11-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

iPad put to the test. What follows is the magical experience Apple provides no Flash support at all and shabby HTML5 rendering:

Looks like the iPad barely renders 2D.

Here we can see a 3D game running extremely smooth on the much slower Snapdragon CPU.

Playbook coming next:

You can see the Playbook outperforming the iPad on standard web pages and even on Flash web pages where there's almost no content for the iPad to provide. Also right at the end you can see the HTML 5 "canvas" element and yet again Apple's broken promise to compensate the lack of Flash with support for HTML5.

Sound off below ;)

iOS 4.2 postponed indefinitley because of iPad WiFi bug

2010-11-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

It looks like Apple's incompetence in designing hardware can only be matched by their inability to code reliable software and the poor build quality of the products made in The Far East (read: Shenzhen, China, new MacBook Air).

After weeks of slumbering, Apple's iOS update has today gone from "gold" to cancelled as the severe iPad Wi-Fi *leak* has *spilled* over the dev team yet again. How something that was fixed in the first place can break with an "update" is beyond me but, hey!, so is the way they managed to patch a hardware flaw with software.

Many users of the Golden Master version of 4.2 reported that a WiFi connection could be established by their devices but, once made, they were unable to actually do anything on the 'net, and not being able to do anything on the 'net is what we like to call a Very Bad Thing. No word on exactly when a new version will be available, but it should still drop within the next few weeks. [Edit]It looks like a new beta of the beta version has shown up that is supposed to fix the WiFi flaw; if it doesn't a long wait for iOS 4.3 awaits...

Please don't come asking how Google manages to roll full OS updates on dozens of feature packed devices with different CPUs at once and Apple can't even manage a few wimpy wannabe smart devices that can't even send a picture through bluetooth, connect to a PC or anything else for that matter...

Will you trade WiFi connectivity for multitasking?

New MacBook Air falls victim to cheap build quality

2010-11-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

It looks like every new Apple gadget is doomed to failure because of the cheap "Made in China" (Foxconn to be specific) labor, and owners of the new MacBook Air models are no exception. Even if the day of its release started with a software bug, locking up while in iMovie, this wasn't the end of the woes.

Thanks to a YouTube video, we've seen for ourselves evidence of a display flickering in a most unappealing manner, and we're hearing tales of other display issues, kernel errors that occur when the machines are trying to come out of sleep mode, and more.

There's not been an official response from Apple yet, we're not sure how widespread the problems are, and we haven't experienced these issues first hand, but we'll let you know as soon as we hear something. Promise. In the meantime, it looks like some of you might have a date with the Genius Bar.

Video after the break.

Via Engadget

[iPhone jokes] Truth hurts

2010-11-12T07:20:00.000-08:00

October is the iOS security flaw month at the iPhone Fever!

2010-10-26T07:32:00.001-07:00

No, you're not reading an old story. There really is yet another serious iOS security flaw which allows someone to access information on your supposedly password-protected iPhone.

As the Brazilian fellow in the video above shows, all that you need to do is grab a password-protected iPhone running iOS 4.1, pretend to make an emergency call but dial ### or some other nonsensical number instead, tap the lock button real quick, and tada! You'll have access to the device's contacts, voicemail, call history, voice control and phone features.

I replicated this trick successfully on iOS 4.1. When trying this on an iPhone iOS 4.2 Beta 3 I couldn't replicate the security hole. This could mean that Apple is already aware of the flaw and has the fix ready although this is very similar to the security flaw discovered on the iPhone in 2008 allowed people to easily bypass the lock screen to access mail, contacts and bookmarks. Apple later acknowledged the bug and issued a software update patching the issue.

If you own an iPhone it's always good to get hold of the latest firmware and find some home-brew methods to flash it as iOS proves to be one of the most vulnerable systems ever built.

Via: Wired.com

Sales Fails: The 2 minute ride

2010-10-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Sales Fails will take a look back at some of the stupid ill-fated techniques Apple adopted in order to get customers out the door with a product, and today is the turn of the 2 minute ride.

You see, before the iPhone, the store was actually a good place to shop. There was no over-crowding, no dumb fucking Specialists and absolutely no box-pushing. So much so some customers would be really surprised when you'd talk them down from a MacBook Pro to an entry level MacBook, and you could pretty much spend as long as you needed without rushing or being forced to sell them a product they didn't need and would never use.

Maybe the 2 minute was the beginning of the end. We were told that you could now demo all the features of a Mac in 2 minutes, then move on. You had to open PhotoBooth, take a picture and drag it into Mail and Word. It never worked because, in our store at the time, there were no other customers to move along too. Specialists were confused after being told 'spend as long as the customer needs' to 'just give them 2 minutes'. Now you'll probably be lucky to get even a minute with someone that doesn't have a trendy haircut and knows what an eMac is.

Apple personal information free give-away. Snoop it while it's hot!

2010-10-24T08:32:00.001-07:00

Hidden in music files gotten from iTunes is all the information needed to identify you. You won’t find it disclosed in their published terms of use. It’s nowhere in the support documentation. There’s no mention in the digital receipt. Consumers are largely oblivious to this, but it could have future ramifications as the music industry takes another stab at locking down music files.

Here’s how it works: Apple knows your private data; before making the song available for download their software embeds into the file either an account name or a transaction number or both. Once downloaded, the file has squirreled away this personal information in a manner where you can’t easily see it, but if someone knows where to look they can. This information doesn’t affect the audio fidelity, but it does permanently attach to the file data which can be used to trace back to the original purchaser which could be used at a later date.

As usual Apple refused comment on the matter, but there’s ample proof of what’s transpiring. Using simple file comparison tools it’s possible to verify this behavior by purchasing identical songs using different accounts and see if they match. This unfortunately applies to both purchased and free music you might have gotten from the iStore - even if it's DRM free!

When personal libraries are stored online, it becomes possible to retrieve this personal data and match it to a user identity. From here on two possibilities arise: your data is sent to the record label where it is indexed and collected or it can be blocked through a network DRM system such as the one Lala patented (which is now owned by Apple).

Getting sued by the record label is less likely and it really means you have to be statistically signifying, eg. share thousands of tracks online, but what is likely to happen is your personal data and transaction details being snooped out by online bots if you shared your iTunes collection or it can even be stolen directly from your hard drive. This is especially dangerous if you use MacOS.

For the scheme to work record labels need all retailers to support this and so far some notable names are resisting. Napster, Amazon and UK based 7digital are selling clean MP3 files. Files purchased from these stores do not have any user information whatsoever embedded into them. Other retailers such as Apple not only watermark the tracks you buy but if you parse them through iTunes (move them to your iPhone) they seem to be randomly watermaked again with the user's data taken from the Apple ID. What you have now is a track that contains info on who purchased it and who illegally owns it.

You as a consumer don't have any information so that you can make an informed buying decision about whether to support dirty or clean MP3 vendors. If Barnes and Noble printed your name on pages of books you purchase that would be important information to know because it would affect the value of your book.

These clandestine actions are even more worrisome because it could lead to a future lockdown of purchases or even worse, legal action if you are found to have given away or to own tracks that belong to someone else. If the labels have plans to require cloud vendors to use this information in the future, they should disclose that as well.

So have your iPhone/iPod tracks been around lately?

The new AppleTV

2010-10-24T08:32:00.000-07:00

Apple again arrive behind the curve with this crock of shit. I'm sick of uneducated people buying any shit with an Apple logo on it, and AppleTV is the best example of a piece of shit that we sell.

Here's a poster I made for overcoming possible customer objections, I might see if they'll let me put it up in the staff area:

iOS4 - Jailbreaking fiasco

2010-10-24T07:41:00.001-07:00

Now that all the jailbreaking tools use the same exploit

greenpois0n Mac, Windows and Linux,

Limera1n, redsn0w Mac and Windows

PwnageTool Mac

it looks like finding the right one that won't break your device is no longer an issue - they all break your device!

The reasons why most hackers only use know security holes are either trying to be one step ahead of Apple, so the hole doesn't get patched on the next iOS release or simply keep the secret that gets them your credit card number.

So with the new jailbreak out everybody should be happy right? With all the unlocked features like working bluetooth transfers, mass storage mode, Symbian/MeeGo visual style (real) multitasking, even a half backed Flash version taken from Android and hundreds of other tricks they should be!

But unfortunately for most of the users the cellular data connection. and FaceTime are broken. There have been reports that jailbreaking your iOS 4.1 device with one of the latest jailbreaks (Greenpois0n, Limera1n, or PwnageTool) can result in breaking FaceTime and getting no cellular data connection. Not exactly what you expected when you wanted those common sense features any other manufacturer offers, now is it?

Thankfully, there is already a fix that well, seems to work for most users. Apparently the issue has to do with some low-level SMS communication and a reset of the phone's carrier bundle, things that can only be fixed by downloading yet another app from Cydia and tinkering into the phone's settings.

However if you somehow wanted to skip the whole Steve Jobs & the carrier that you got the device from, knowing all your dirty little secrets, the iTunes installing & Aple ID/iTunes account debacle and "hacktivated" your device, you're out of luck; the fix for the broken jailbreak (that's umm... a fix itself) won't work. You have to genuinely activate and offer all your private data on a silver platter to Apple.

Even so it is sometimes better to jailbreak as "sometimes" jailbreaking manages to patch security holes like the recent .PDF exploit and safeguard you from various malware apps that have made their way into the App Store.

You can look here for the fix or you can tell us below how the Jailbreaking experience was for you. Was it worth the wait or did the long wait make it disappointing?

Sound off below ;)

Sales Fails: Personal Shopping

2010-10-24T07:41:00.000-07:00

I suppose the idea was good, you could book in to have some time with a Specialist rather than just come in walk around trying to find somebody, but ultimately it was pointless. Managers would never check to see if anybody was actually booked in, so it would be a scramble to find somebody anyway. And when you book in, you probably expect it to be planned and have someone who knows what they're talking about- maybe in the beginning, but that soon faded when they started hiring fucktards.

The original Personal Shopping cards (either pictured here to a darker blue, I can't remember and don't really care) had a specific code on the back that you had to type in!! Imagine that, so you've been in, realized it was rammed, got one of these cards, gone home to book in, to come back. Pointless. They then realized that the code was a shit idea and have made it so any fucker can book in. They bullshitted about how successful it was, and that a huge percentage of people that have a PS will end up buying (as opposed to someone who comes in and says 'Can I buy a MacBook?'), so you have to book them in. My managers were so interested in bonuses and figures that they made us book fake PS appointments for walk-ins that bought computers so that the PS buying percentage was very high.

Bollocks.

iOS 4 - as insecure as ever

2010-10-24T07:24:00.001-07:00

Nicolas Seriot, Security Analyst, created a proof-of-concept

"SpyPhone" app to show how easy it is to snoop on iPhone users.

Lax security screening at Apple's App Store and a design flaw are putting iPhone users at risk of downloading malicious applications that could steal data and spy on them, a Swiss researcher warns.

Apple's iPhone app review process is inadequate to stop malicious apps from getting distributed to millions of users, according to Nicolas Seriot, a software engineer and scientific collaborator at the Swiss University of Applied Sciences (HEIG-VD). Once they are downloaded, iPhone apps have unfettered access to a wide range of privacy-invasive information about the user's device, location, activities, interests, and friends, he said in an interview Tuesday.

In a talk scheduled at the Black Hat DC security conference, Seriot will explain how an innocent-looking app could be designed to harvest personal data and send it to a remote server without the user knowing it.

The rogue app could be hidden within an innocent-looking app, such as a game. Low-hanging fruit for rogue apps includes the mobile-phone number, address book data, and a notes section of the address book, where some people store bank account and other sensitive information, he said.

"It turns out that the full Address Book is readable without the user's knowledge or consent," Seriot wrote in a white paper (PDF) on the subject.

In addition, a sandboxing technique limits access to other applications' data but leaves exposed data in the iPhone file system, including some personal information, he said.

To make his point, Seriot has created open-source proof-of-concept spyware dubbed "SpyPhone" that can access the 20 most recent Safari searches, YouTube history, and e-mail account parameters like username, e-mail address, host, and login, as well as detailed information on the phone itself that can be used to track users, even when they change devices.

SpyPhone can be used to track the user's whereabouts and activities. It offers access to the keyboard cache, which contains all the words ever typed on the keyboard, except for words entered in password fields, effectively acting as a keylogger, he said. It accesses photos, which can be tagged with the date and location via the GPS coordinates. And a log showing the device's Wi-Fi connections also is accessible.

"Safari recent searches, YouTube history, and your keyboard cache give clues about your current interests," he writes. "These interests are linked with your name and your e-mail addresses, your phone number, and your area. Harvested from large numbers of users, such data have a huge value in the underground market of personal data, and it must be assumed that Trojans are exploiting this on the App Store."

The screen shots show a list of the date and location of geotagged photos (left) and the coordinates displayed on a map (right), types of information that his SpyPhone proof-of-concept spyware was able to access from an iPhone.

It's not difficult to get iPhone apps approved, Seriot said. To get an app distributed through Apple's App Store, developers need to be enrolled in the iPhone Developer Program and provide an executable file, but not the source code, to Apple for vetting. The approval process mainly looks for user interface inconsistencies because iPhone apps always have to look their best, for objectionable content, because the iStore is all about censorship and less for undocumented functions that could give malware apps away.

But with Apple having to scrutinize hundreds of binaries that are submitted each week, some malware is bound to sneak in. Seriot acknowledged that he doesn't know exactly what process Apple uses to review apps but said it likely uses common static and dynamic analysis, both of which can be circumvented with the right programming tricks, he said.

The threat is not theoretical. Several iPhone apps have been pulled from the App Store after being found to be harvesting user data, intentionally or unintentionally. A game called Aurora Feint was uploading all the user contacts to the developer's server, and salespeople from Swiss road traffic information app MogoRoad were calling customers who downloaded the app. Game app Storm8 was sued last fall for allegedly harvesting customer phone numbers without permission, but it later stopped that practice. And users also complained that Pinch Media, an analytics framework used by developers, was collecting data about customer phones.

The most unpleasant result Apple's own policies was the hacking that took place two months ago. Thuat Nguyen, a Vietnamese hacker (company "mycompany", website "www.home.com") had 42 of his books (Vietnamese only, although the description claimed English and Japanese) topping the sales charts. This of course coincided with people reporting up to hundreds of dollars being spent unwillingly from their account to these specific books.

Apple's only mention about the issue was a ranking error and nothing concerning the hacked accounts.

So how did those accounts get hacked? Well, directly from the iPhone is the most likely explanation, through a malicious app or simply via iTunes that is like all Apple software, a fairly insecure product.

"Consumers should be aware that iPhone security is far from perfect and that a piece of software downloaded from the App Store may still be harmful," Seriot wrote. "As a basic precaution, users should regularly clean the browser's recent searches and the keyboard cache in Settings. They should also change or delete the declared phone number, also in Settings."

Meanwhile, professional users should avoid running untrusted applications, especially if they are required by law to protect data confidentiality," he wrote. This includes groups such as bankers, attorneys, medical staffers, law enforcement officers, and so on. Also, legal departments should be aware that confidential data may already have leaked."

Seriot said he thought Apple might address the issue in its latest security update, released on Tuesday, but that it didn't.

"This is one more piece of evidence that the issues are more like a design flaw than simple bugs which could be fixed in a minor security update," he said.

Seriot said he contacted Apple about the issues more than a year ago, and it subsequently issued a partial fix.

Apple representatives did neither respond to e-mails nor comment the security related issues.

Will you?

Racist sales

2010-10-24T07:24:00.000-07:00

From more than one source it seems that Apple holds iPhones for sale out the back for white people, or as they call them 'promoters'. So if you look like you might be sending the iPhone abroad, to regions where the wealthy people there can't walk into a store and buy an iPhone 4, you may struggle to pick one up from an Apple Store. That seems pretty racist to me.

Not that it's a fact obviously and I'm not saying it's true, it's just that it has been said more than once. Hmmm.

iPhone, not only a bad phone but an awful alarm clock too! [new iOS bug]

2010-10-12T06:49:00.001-07:00

Australian iPhone users have found out the hard way how unreliable iPhone is, as their handsets have failed to adjust repeated alarms to allow for daylight saving - if they've gone off at all.

We're indebted to the Sydney Morning Herald, and reader Adrian Esdaile, for alerting us to this latest iOS bug, which isn't limited to the iPhone. Anyone depending on an iOS device to wake them is suffering from the same problem, which persists in sounding repeating alarms without regard for daylight saving, despite updating the system time correctly.

It'a not the first time Apple has struggled with the shift of an hour. Earlier this year iPhone users found their handsets unable to cope with the start of the summer. One could set an alarm each night and expect to be woken at the right time, and one can always set a repeating alarm with a one-hour offset to allow for the peculiarities of the operating system - but it's not ideal.

Australia isn't the only country running an hour out thanks to Apple - it seems that New Zealand Apple fans have been waking up an hour early for a week now, and learnt to cope with it while expecting a fix before the US switches off daylight saving on 7 November.

Once Americans start getting inconvenienced Apple will no doubt take action, as support for the device is somewhere between none and nonexistent for the rest of the world

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Product launches

2010-10-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

When Apple launch a new product, you will remember how much you hated NSO. It will also remind you of your hatred for the fuckers queuing outside. But on the inside, it's just as painful. When Apple launched Leopard, they closed the stores during the day for a few hours and blacked out the windows because of all the super-secret goings on instore, before the OS went on sale at 6p.m. The dumb thing was, we had to image all the machines overnight, so the not-so-geeky customers that walked in in the morning got to play with it all day. But the losers outside didn't realize that.

Anyway, when a new product comes along, if you're Red Zone (followed closely by BOH) you'll be the first person that's asked if they'd like to over work and burn-out by working an amount of hours that probably breaks employment law. When the doors open, you will know practically nothing about the product as you either will not have even touched one, or there is one in the safe that you've seen for 10 minutes. The pathetic thing is, sometimes it's already out in the States but we'll still have no training on it. Current employees that imported an iPad were strictly told NOT to bring it in, and customers would come in and smuggly present their gold while the Specialists gather round and slither all over it. Then you won't be able to buy a discounted one for ages.

The indoor cheering as well. The congratulations. Agh fucking hell.

This image sums it up perfectly. God it makes me weep.

[iPhone Jokes] The other iPhone lawsuit

2010-10-12T06:48:00.001-07:00

The other iPhone lawsuit

A quick thank you

2010-10-12T06:48:00.000-07:00

Three cheers to Martin Bergesen for giving us an interview in a Norweigen newspaper. The Google translate link is here.

Steve Jobs: philantrope or hypocrite?

2010-10-12T06:30:00.001-07:00

     It seems that the iPhone contractor, Foxconn cannot keep itself out of the news and for all of the wrong reasons. After several highly-publicized suicides by Foxconn workers, a new leaked report shows that not much has actually changed at Foxconn. The Beijing-based Global Times reported on a study conducted by 60 teachers and students from 20 Universities in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

     Fourteen investigators were able to enter the company and experience life inside Foxconn for themselves. According to the report, at least 16.4 percent of Foxconn employees have been subject to "some kind of corporal violence," like that seen in a recently released video of employees being assaulted by Foxconn security.

     More than 38 percent claimed that their privacy has been invaded and 54.6 percent felt indignant toward management. Foxconn had announced a 30 percent pay rise for its employees following a number of suicides, but the report states that raises only amounted to 9.1 percent and that workers were also deprived of, "many of their welfare terms like subsidies, bonuses and so on."

The report focuses a lot on interns working for Foxconn. While interns are only allowed to work eight hours per day, some plants had them on ten hour shifts and night shifts. By having no contracts with interns, Foxconn doesn't have to pay "social welfare" costs for them, which means if they are injured at work due to a lack of supervision, the interns will have to pay their own medical expenses. This should come as a shock as the main Foxconn contractor, Apple chooses to use various volatile compounds and seems to be more worried about the iPhone's screen getting cleaned faster than the health of the workers.

"Foxconn's labor system is characterized with highly-intensified workload, low payment, violent training, all at the cost of the workers' dignity," the unreleased report states.

Apple "seemed" committed earlier this year to help solve the problems at Focxonn but as the news wave about the suicides passed so did their interest. In fact it is Apple the one who makes the demand for a too large amount of devices in too little time. While the iPhone keeps getting manufactured with blood, sweat and tears Steve Jobs has no problem attending to various philanthropic events, such as the ceremonial signing of the bill that creates a live donor registry for kidney transplants at Packard Children's Hospital near Stanford.

Nothing more than a pathetic and hypocritical gesture made only for the cameras while he continues to suck the life right out of the mistreated and underpaid workers at Foxconn with iPhone being the most expensive mobile gadget on the market.

Source: Global Times

Movies you should watch: Office Space

2010-10-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Lumbergh fucked her.

If you're considering a job with Apple Retail (and if you've read even half the posts on this blog, then fuck you'll work anywhere), then there are a few movies that you should see first.

A few people have said to me, "have you seen Office Space?" because of the similarities between Initech, Chotchkie's and Apple. The managers at Apple bear a striking resemblance to the managerial characters in the movie, in-particular the smug-prick streak apparent in both Lumbergh and Stan. You will be told the Apple equivalent of "not wearing enough flair" or that "you're gonna need to come in on Sunday too" often enough to remind you of this movie.

Also worth noting is the hate, the sheer depression Peter feels towards his job. Unfortunately at Apple you don't get the opportunity to 'space-out', but, like Peter, you will no doubt have more than one manager come and undermine you if you've not been selling enough one to one or if you have upset a member of the holy Genius team.

Also note-worthy is the way in which Aniston's character leaves her waitressing job. This moment is executed in such a fashion it will inspire you to prepare something for the day you finally snap.

And of course the printers. Fucking printers. PC load letter.