Oct 28
So now that it's out that Apple is spying on you, people have been clamoring for a way to hide your IMEI from the all-seeing eye of Apple's Stocks and Weather applications. These apps send your IMEI as well as your iPhone firmware version to Apple for their nefarious usage statistic processing.

This is a big deal, because the IMEI is sent in plaintext, over any Wi-fi network you may currently be connected to. So anyone listening on that network will be able to grab your IMEI and do stuff with it, like, um, yeah, I'm not sure they can do anything with it.

Until now you just had to avoid the Stocks and Weather apps and/or wrap your phone in tin foil to prevent them from reading your thoughts.

Concomitantly, I have produced a simple command-line utility to patch out the nefarious code from Stocks and Weather allowing you to check your portfolio and the weather without worrying about...

Read the rest of this post


Tagi: tin foil, imei, iphone, seeing eye, phe, wi fi, apps, stocks, weather, apple, command line utility

Oct 28

iPhone manifesto

The iPhone has cost me a lot of money and a lot of time spent at the Apple Store getting it fixed.

So why do I stick with it?

Since I first bought my iPhone last June, I’ve owned six iPhones mostly because I’ve had to get mine replaced due to some problem or other.

Is it worth the trouble to be an iPhone owner?

My six iPhones:

  1. My original iPhone had a flimsy connector port, and I replaced it right away.
  2. My second iPhone had its glass cracked after I dropped it on the floor. I paid $250 to get it replaced.
  3. The chrome on my third iPhone had a stain on it, which I considered unacceptable after paying $250 to get my old cracked iPhone replaced, so the Apple Store gave me a new one after I complained.
  4. I sold my fourth iPhone to buy a 16GB iPhone (my fifth), which I practically got for free.
  5. My 16GB iPhone released an echo in my voice that callers complained about, so I got another 16GB replacement.
  6. I now possess my sixth iPhone as I wait for the new 3G iPhone to be released soon.

Despite the problems, I stand behind the iPhone because it gives me one thing no other phone does: a blank slate.

The iPhone’s full-body touchscreen lets me create my own experience. With an (almost) fully-functional web browser, and soon-to-come third-party app support, the iPhone will one day be a canvas, to do with as I please.

Will iPhone 2.0 fudge it up?

iPhone 2.0 will be my seventh iPhone. It will likely add 3G, perhaps true GPS, and it will address some of iPhone’s many problems.

The new iPhone will be different, but what I have no doubt will remain central to the iPhone is its physical knack for constant evolution and adaptation to human desires; namely, its ‘blank slate’ quality.

The iPhone is a computer on a phone.

Why do you think there is a community of thousands of people Jailbreaking their iPhones and constantly demanding new apps and features?

The explosion of Jailbreak suggests to me that people will not let their technologies be restrained.

Apple responded to our demands with the third-party App Store (coming this month), but will that be enough?

As long as there is an empty canvas, people will want to fill it. As long as people have imaginations, they will envision new ways to use the iPhone. It is, as I said, a computer, full of unlimited potential.

That’s why, eventually, even past the upcoming App Store, Apple must step out of the way and let the people have their way with their blank slates.

That or be killed by Google’s Android, which with its open source framework will let us do exactly that.

An open source iPhone?

I’m not suggesting Apple reveal its source code and close up shop. It’s just that the human drive for change cannot be subdued, so Apple will eventually have to make the iPhone malleable enough to be molded by people’s individual tastes and preferences. If they don’t do that, someone else will.

Apple’s task should be to make the hardware work with our software, and to maintain a certain design consistency so that all our tools may work together.

We are sick of demanding new features for iPhone. There are plenty of people willing to work to make the iPhone a better platform, so let us!

Conclusion

The iPhone changed our culture. iPhone owners now expect to have a certain freedom on their mobile devices.

The challenge for Apple is this: Now that they have given us a sip of that freedom, we will only demand more.

If the iPhone is to continue to thrive, Apple must continue to quench our ever-growing thirst for mobile freedom by focusing on hardware and putting the iPhone’s software in the hands of the people. We are, after all, the ones who use it.

Step out of the way, Apple, cause we won’t be held back.


Tagi: iphe, blank slate, human desires, secd, no doubt, worth the trouble, phe, mey, touchscreen, knack, peoe, apps, canvas, web browser, third party, gps

Oct 28
Master iPhone hacker Zibri has released ZiPhone, a utility that can jailbreak and unlock any new iPhone (as of firmware 1.1.3) directly, without any complicated upgrading or downgrading steps. Way easier than my crap.

Hats off to Zibri for this one.

Check out Zibri's blog for all the instructions.

Tagi: iphe, e check, iphone, hats, crap, hacker, blog

Oct 28

iPhone manifesto

The iPhone has cost me a lot of money and a lot of time spent at the Apple Store getting it fixed.

So why do I stick with it?

Since I first bought my iPhone last June, I’ve owned six iPhones mostly because I’ve had to get mine replaced due to some problem or other.

Is it worth the trouble to be an iPhone owner?

My six iPhones:

  1. My original iPhone had a flimsy connector port, and I replaced it right away.
  2. My second iPhone had its glass cracked after I dropped it on the floor. I paid $250 to get it replaced.
  3. The chrome on my third iPhone had a stain on it, which I considered unacceptable after paying $250 to get my old cracked iPhone replaced, so the Apple Store gave me a new one after I complained.
  4. I sold my fourth iPhone to buy a 16GB iPhone (my fifth), which I practically got for free.
  5. My 16GB iPhone released an echo in my voice that callers complained about, so I got another 16GB replacement.
  6. I now possess my sixth iPhone as I wait for the new 3G iPhone to be released soon.

Despite the problems, I stand behind the iPhone because it gives me one thing no other phone does: a blank slate.

The iPhone’s full-body touchscreen lets me create my own experience. With an (almost) fully-functional web browser, and soon-to-come third-party app support, the iPhone will one day be a canvas, to do with as I please.

Will iPhone 2.0 fudge it up?

iPhone 2.0 will be my seventh iPhone. It will likely add 3G, perhaps true GPS, and it will address some of iPhone’s many problems.

The new iPhone will be different, but what I have no doubt will remain central to the iPhone is its physical knack for constant evolution and adaptation to human desires; namely, its ‘blank slate’ quality.

The iPhone is a computer on a phone.

Why do you think there is a community of thousands of people Jailbreaking their iPhones and constantly demanding new apps and features?

The explosion of Jailbreak suggests to me that people will not let their technologies be restrained.

Apple responded to our demands with the third-party App Store (coming this month), but will that be enough?

As long as there is an empty canvas, people will want to fill it. As long as people have imaginations, they will envision new ways to use the iPhone. It is, as I said, a computer, full of unlimited potential.

That’s why, eventually, even past the upcoming App Store, Apple must step out of the way and let the people have their way with their blank slates.

That or be killed by Google’s Android, which with its open source framework will let us do exactly that.

An open source iPhone?

I’m not suggesting Apple reveal its source code and close up shop. It’s just that the human drive for change cannot be subdued, so Apple will eventually have to make the iPhone malleable enough to be molded by people’s individual tastes and preferences. If they don’t do that, someone else will.

Apple’s task should be to make the hardware work with our software, and to maintain a certain design consistency so that all our tools may work together.

We are sick of demanding new features for iPhone. There are plenty of people willing to work to make the iPhone a better platform, so let us!

Conclusion

The iPhone changed our culture. iPhone owners now expect to have a certain freedom on their mobile devices.

The challenge for Apple is this: Now that they have given us a sip of that freedom, we will only demand more.

If the iPhone is to continue to thrive, Apple must continue to quench our ever-growing thirst for mobile freedom by focusing on hardware and putting the iPhone’s software in the hands of the people. We are, after all, the ones who use it.

Step out of the way, Apple, cause we won’t be held back.


Tagi: iphe, blank slate, human desires, secd, no doubt, worth the trouble, phe, mey, touchscreen, knack, peoe, apps, canvas, web browser, third party, gps

Oct 28
Gangsa
Posted by in touch interface, favorite instruments, apps, destiny, ipod, doubt on 10 28th, 2008| icon3
The ipod, without a doubt, was built as a way to listen to music, but many say its destiny is to make music. Many 3rd party iphone/ ipod touch apps are appearing that allow the user to play their favorite instruments on the unique touch interface. All easy ones have been thought of already; there [...]

Tagi: touch interface, favorite instruments, apps, destiny, ipod, doubt

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