webOS update re-enables iTunes sync on Palm Pre

Palm’s cat-and-mouse game with Apple continues and the webOS 1.1 reestablishes its ties with iTunes 8.2.1.

Microsoft Alters “Laptop Hunters” Ads in Wake of Apple Price Cuts

Advertising Age reports that Microsoft has quietly altered at least one of its "Laptop Hunters" television commercials to remove reference to the price of a MacBook Pro after recent price cuts to Apple's notebook line rendered the reference inaccurat...

Google Latitude for iPhone Released but as an iPhone Web App

The Competition: Palm webOS 1.1 Goes Live, Updates Over-the-Air

While the re-hacking of iTunes sync hogged a lot of attention yesterday, the bigger story is Palm updating the Pre to webOS 1.1.

And what were the major updates?

• IT-initiated remote wipe
• Required PIN with complexity
• Device wipe after a certain number of failed PIN attempts
• Auto-lock
• Improved digital certificates

Our sibling site, PreCentral.net is also keeping an updated list of webOS 1.1: Tons of Undocumented Features

May not sound like much compared to some iPhone updates, but here’s the key thing we’re taking away — Palm is doing the update over the air (OTA). Unlike the iPhone, where 250ish MB firmware files need to be downloaded via iTunes and installed over USB tether, webOS sticks to its cloud-centric focus and calmly sips down 85MB or so during down time then installs when it’s ready to go. If memory serves, Android did this as well with their 1.5 Cupcake release. Sounds like the future to us.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

The Competition: Palm webOS 1.1 Goes Live, Updates Over-the-Air

iPhone 3GS Hardware Encryption “Useless”?

Wired.com talks to Jonathan Zdziarski, iPhone developer, hacker, forensics teacher, finder of the iPhone kill switch, creator of the AMBER alert app, about the iPhone 3GS‘ new hardware encryption, recently touted as giving consumers “enterprise-class” security. His take? It’s implemented so poorly it can be cracked in two minutes, “like storing all your secret messages right next to the secret decoder ring”.

To steal an iPhone’s disk image, hackers can use popular jailbreaking tools such as Red Sn0w and Purple Ra1n to install a custom kernel on the phone. Then, the thief can install an Secure Shell (SSH) client to port the iPhone’s raw disk image across SSH onto a computer.

We’ve heard before that Jailbreaking strips away security layers on the iPhone, though that’s been in the context of the users own device. This is using the Jailbreak process to actively get at another device’s data.

Is Apple going to change the way they implement their hardware-based iPhone 3GS encryption in light of this? Can the current model be made more robust? And what, if any, changes made to keep bad guys out of the iPhone will effect users who simply want to gain access to their own iPhones?

[Thanks to Antony for the tip!]

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

iPhone 3GS Hardware Encryption “Useless”?

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Apologizes to Kindle (and iPhone Kindle App) Users

In reference to last week’s news that Amazon pulled copies unlicensed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm off users’ Kindles and iPhone Kindle apps, Jeff Bezos proves that sometimes the buck still stops at the top:

This is an apology for the way we previously handled illegally sold copies of 1984 and other novels on Kindle. Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our mission.

With deep apology to our customers,

Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com

Nice.

This is a story by the iPhone Blog. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Apologizes to Kindle (and iPhone Kindle App) Users

Review: Cool fx for iPhone

If you have the need to add a huge range of effects to an image while on the iPhone, Cool fx provides tons of options -- perhaps too many for some users.