Mobile phone shipments drop 11 percent in Q2, IDC says

Worldwide mobile phone shipments dropped 11 percent in the second quarter despite continued strong sales of smartphones.

O2: SMS security flaw on iPhone to be patched Saturday

Filed under: Apple, Security, iPhone

Yesterday's news from the Black Hat Technical Security Conference in Las Vegas about the SMS security flaw affecting iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile smartphones was a bit unnerving. Through skillful manipulation of SMS messages, an attacker could gain control of a smartphone.

BBC News reports that UK mobile provider O2 has received word from Apple about a patch for the security flaw on the iPhone. The patch, in the form of a software update, will be available Saturday, August 1, 2009. As with all updates to the iPhone, the security patch will appear in iTunes.

Considering the potential for mischief on the part of hackers, it is entirely possible that AT&T, O2, and other carriers will notify their customers of the availability of the update. Whether or not that message will come through SMS remains to be seen.

Be sure to keep an eye on TUAW or our Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/tuaw) tomorrow and we'll notify you as soon as the patch makes an appearance.

UPDATE: iPhone OS 3.0.1 is now available for download from iTunes. 297.9MB in size.

O2: SMS security flaw on iPhone to be patched Saturday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

O2: SMS security flaw on iPhone to be patched Saturday originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple Officially Warns Against Jailbreaking

Apple has finally gotten around to posting a support article based upon the dangers of hacking your iPhone via the process of jailbreaking. The list of possible side effects are indeed accurate, lets take a look at what is listed:

• Device and application instability
• Unreliable voice and data
• Disruption of services
• Compromised security
• Shortened battery life
• Inability to apply future software updates

The article is then ended with the warning that if you do jailbreak you run the risk of Apple denying you any type of service to your device if needed.

It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of the iPhone OS is a violation of the iPhone end-user license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.

So everything mentioned here is 100% legitimate. In the end, if you are thinking of jailbreaking your device or already have - you should be well aware of the possible negative side effects this process may cause.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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

Apple Officially Warns Against Jailbreaking

Classic cyberpunk adventure game is iPhone-bound

Beneath a Steel Sky, a classic adventure game first released 15 years ago, will be one of the first offerings from Revolution Pocket, the new mobile game-focused division of Revolution Software.

China iPhone pictures posted on news site

A Chinese news Web site Friday posted pictures that it claimed showed the iPhone model being tested for release in China.

Images of Chinese iPhone Surface, Regulatory Approval Granted

Engadget reports that a China-specific iPhone carrying model number A1324 received a five-year approval from China's State Radio Regulatory Commission on May 7th, opening the door for the company to launch the iPhone there. Separately, PC World note...

David Pogue and his ‘Take Back the Beep’ campaign

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, iPhone

David Pogue, who writes on tech for the New York Times had an interesting and thoughtful column yesterday. He's been complaining about the ridiculously long messages the cellular carriers stick on to the end of your voicemail message. He's right, too. But what I hadn't realized was that these incessant and long messages add to your air time and are bringing in millions of dollars of extra, and unearned revenue to the cellphone providers.

Here's a sample from the column of how, instead of a simple beep, the phone companies game the system to add to your minutes:

* Sprint: "[Phone number] is not available right now. Please leave a detailed message after the tone. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press pound for more options."

* Verizon: "At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)"

* AT&T: "To page this person, press five now. At the tone, please record your message. When you are finished, you may hang up, or press one for more options."

* T-Mobile: "Record your message after the tone. To send a numeric page, press five. When you are finished recording, hang up, or for delivery options, press pound."

It would be nice to be able to turn this stuff off, but it really isn't possible. There is one nice surprise in all this bad news. When Apple made the deal with AT&T, Apple insisted these messages not be on iPhone voice mail. When you call me you get MY message, and a beep. Just like that. No "dial 2 for the temperature in Des Moines" or "touch the pound key three times quickly, pause and one more click to get customer service if you are north of latitude 40 degrees." This is an example of something Apple and AT&T did that actually benefited iPhone owners, especially given all the latest circus with Skype, SlingPlayer, and Google.

Pogue has this exactly right. Cellphone users should complain to high heaven about these rather egregious violations of common sense and just plain smart customer relations. iPhone owners got off easy with voice mail. But we're bearing a heavy load as Apple and AT&T try to outdo each other in alienating their customers.

There oughta be a law.

David Pogue and his 'Take Back the Beep' campaign originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

David Pogue and his 'Take Back the Beep' campaign originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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O2 claims iPhone security patch will hit iTunes on Saturday, Apple stays silent

According to UK carrier O2, the SMS-based iPhone security hole that Charlie Miller unveiled on Black Hat this week should be patched by this weekend. An O2 spokesperson claimed the update would be pushed through iTunes this Saturday, says BBC. Apple hasn't made a comment yet, and it's not perfectly clear that this will be an update for iPhones worldwide, but hopefully that's the case -- the security flaw certainly isn't geographically limited.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

O2 claims iPhone security patch will hit iTunes on Saturday, Apple stays silent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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O2 says iPhone SMS patch imminent

Apple's U.K. wireless partner, O2, says that a patch to fix a security hole in the iPhone's SMS software is due shortly.

Crash Bandicoot Nitro Kart 3D for iPhone

It's been a year since Crash Bandicoot raced on to our iPhones at the App Store's launch. How does the game hold up, given all the other racing titles now available for download? Pretty well, Chris Barylick says.

Apple to Release Fix for iPhone SMS Vulnerability on Saturday?

According to BBC News, an O2 spokesperson has revealed that Apple will be delivering an update on Saturday to address an iPhone SMS security vulnerability disclosed yesterday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas.

An ...

Wound magazine goes iPhone

Art magazine Wound is introducing an iPhone version of its summer issue to complement the print and online versions. The iWound app [iTunes link], which costs you $4.99, contains 402 pages of original content, 15 minutes of audio and video and several features. The central theme of wound for summer 2009 ...

Appsto.re, iPhone app URL shortener

Despite many other URL shortening services out there, here is another new service on this field: appsto.re. It focuses specifically on iTunes links. Why use appsto.re URL's? According to them: They contain the name of your app, making people more likely to click. They take people straight to iTunes, increasing the chance people ...

AT&T offers steals on refurb iPhone 3G

With the iPhone 3GS hitting the market last month the prices on the iPhone 3G tumbled to $99 for a brand new device with a new 2-year contract. Before the 3GS hit the market you could only get a refurb phone for $99. Now that a brand new 3G sells for ...

Stan Lee offers Stripperella comic for iPhone

Any fan of comic books or super heroes like Super Man or Spider Man knows the name Stan Lee. Lee created some of the coolest heroes to ever hit the big screen or TV. I spent many a day as a child watching cartoons of Lee's creations and live action ...

Apple rejects Google Voice iPhone app

Apple had removed all Google Voice-enabled applications and also rejected Google’s official Google Voice application from the App Store "due to duplicating features that the iPhone comes with", according to various bloggers and news organizations. Developer Sean Kovacs writes: Richard Chipman from Apple just called - he told me they're removing GV ...

iPhone gets solar charger

One of the big problems that many iPhone users complain about is that the battery life on the various iPhone models just isn’t that great. One of the ways that I get more use out of my iPhone is with a Mophie JuicePack, but that still needs to be plugged ...

AAA iPhone app hits milestone

People are always looking to save money when they can and saving cash is even more important in the current economic climate. AAA released its own iPhone app a while back and has announced that the app has now hit a milestone. AAA reports that the app has now been downloaded ...

iLuv Debuts iEA15 iPod Remote Adapter for Any 3rd-Party Earphones & Headphones

The new iLuv iEA15 iPod Remote Adapter is exactly what I’ve been waiting for!  I have very expensive customs headset from Sleek Audio that I can’t use with the iPod shuffle 3rd gen and it bugs me to death.  Those days of frustrations are over (once I get one in ...

Yahoo revamps its iPhone homepage, adds sync

Yahoo unveiled a new homepage for the iPhone's Safari browser and invites you to sync the modules ("My Favorites") between the PC and your iPhone. It allows user to sync changes on the iPhone's newly design site, and vice versa. iPhone users can view the new home page at m.yahoo.com, which ...