September 2007: Monthly Archive

Bob Brewin, distinguished engineer at Sun, had this to say about the omission of Java on the iPhone:

“I think it’s a mistake. I think it would provide a lot more flexibility in applications being developed.”

figure 1: the “Grand Theft Auto” font is a nice, subtle touch

There’s a story floating around about the iPhone being added to metasploit, which is a system used for making shellcode. Shellcode is code that takes advantage of bugs to run otherwise unauthorized code. Incidentally, the more stories I read about it, the more they all seem strangely familiar.

So what is the eventual impact? Well, it means that the iPhone is going to get hacked, likely by some of the best. If there are crippling bugs in the iPhone (and there are always crippling bugs), expect hackers to find them eventually. It could also lead to better unlocks (the official unlock, even), more secure software, and security software suites (unofficial, of course) for the iPhone. Granted, the other edge of the sword brings identity theft and spying, but like Nietzsche said, you can’t have good without bad. If you think Nietzsche was godless swine, pretend the quote comes from The Facts of Life’s opening song instead.

There’s now a challenger to Splashdata’s popular SplashID application for the iPhone. The developer, Selznick Software, has put their PasswordWallet PalmOS application into bookmarklet form on the iPhone. What does that mean? Well, for one, it means no 448-bit blowfish encryption to keep your passwords safe. But it does mean that you have something as a replacement for SplashID on the iPhone. That’s important for any PalmOS Treo folks that are holding out for the applications they need. The software for the Mac is $20, the iPhone bookmarklet upgrade is another $10.

Oh Steve, when will you learn? Your tight fisted control over iPhone’s software platform continues to effuse dissent among users. Now even your very own partners are lining up outside your door with torches and pitchforks. This time you’ve managed to piss off the folks at Sun Microsystems for excluding Java support in iPhone.

Java, for those of you who don’t know, is an application development environment that runs compatibly (in theory) across any platform. It’s creator, Sun, once boasted the platform’s promise of “Write once, run anywhere” applications that can be made to run on any runtime environment capable of supporting Java Virtual Machines. Though it never quite took off on the desktop, Java has come into its own in recent years on Mobile devices. Cell phones in particular.

The really insulting part is that Java runs on even the lowest common denominator phones on the market today. Even the Motorola RAZR can run Java apps. So it’s somewhat embarrassing, and damaging, that iPhone can’t.

Maybe I should refer Sun to my new “Feature Wish List” page? No, I don’t want to get myself in hot water. Ha! Get it, hot water? Coffee…water…hot? Ah forget it.

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figures 1 and 2: Sir Richard Branson of Virgin and Edgar Bronfman Jr.

In a brief article at sibling WMExperts.com site, I wrote yesterday that I was unsure how Amazon got EMI and UMG to provide media in a no-DRM format. Well, apparently Chairman Walter Bronfman of Warner Music Group informed investors that they were reconsidering DRM on their music; they might remove it. And lo and behold, here it shows up on Amazon.com with no DRM. I think they did more than just reconsider by then, they probably had it all done. The cause for his change of heart is telling:

“We need some online competition” for Apple’s iTunes Music Store, Bronfman said. He conceded the iPod is “the default device” and iTunes the “download model.”

I liked this quote so much I just kept on reading it over and over again:

Warner’s Bronfman told investors that one problem for his industry is that consumers are more loyal to the iPod than to any particular artist. That means the industry’s content must play on an Apple device.

Translation: “I wanted to start another format war but every analyst I asked told me I’d lose it.” Let’s all hope that those same executives bring more of their DRM-free music to iTunes as well.

Lastly, Richard Branson’s Virgin Digital music store is kaput. I do pity the companies that bought into Microsoft’s Windows Media Plays-For-Sure license, especially now. The margins have to be so seriously thin, I’m not sure how any of those companies could differentiate on anything within the service except for price per month.

figure 1: ‘Something went wrong !’ and ‘EVERYTHING OK !’ are both indicators of success.

A UK voice-over-IP company by the name of Truphone has figured out how to use the iPhone’s own software to make VOIP calls. The entire thing was witnessed by Oliver Starr:

Currently requires the use of terminal on the iPhone to tell the iPhone to use its on-board SIP stack to place the call over WiFi instead of via the SIM card. To use the terminal application, in turn requires that you first Jailbreak the phone using an application like iBrickr or iFuntastic. This is not an application for the inexperienced or the faint of heart.Instantitating the SIP Stack for TruPhone.

In other words, it’s not ready to use yet. Though I can think of a worse fate for usability than dialing calls through the command line, I won’t. There’s no need for it anyway, as they reportedly have a GUI application in the works. They’ll be beta-testing their software in perhaps a month.

I have setup a petition page to record every feature request made by my readers. This is your chance to speak out and be heard. What features do you want added to iPhone? Visit this link, and post your request in the comments section. I will then add your request to the list. I expect this page to grow long over time, so I placed a permalink in the left sidebar so you’ll always know right where it’s at.

Click here, and post.

iPhone Dev Team has released a second version of its free GUI unlock software, anySIM, now available for download. This version (1.0.2) promises a stress free (and Kent free) unlock process that for many users (including yours truly) didn’t work with the last version.

Ever the sucker for punishment, I downloaded the software and ran the unlock process, which ended in failure just as last time. Fortunately this time around it didn’t have the adverse effect of bricking my iPhone.

If you’re made of tougher stuff, here is the link.

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As some of you early risers noticed, Apple’s online store was down in the wee morning hours, receiving a slight make over and badly needed paint job. When it went back online one product was conspicuously absent; the 4GB iPhone model. It seems Apple has quietly but publicly executed the iPhone that nobody seemed to want.

This was expected since Jobs slashed the price of the popular 8GB to $399, and made no mention of the 4GB model. So no surprise here. Move along, nothing to see here.

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Amazon has started a public beta of their music store. It looks like they have about 2 million MP3s available. Since the songs are MP3s, there’s no digital rights management (DRM) on the file, so you could copy the files from Amazon’s store as many times to as many people on as many computers as you’d like. Amazon got Universal Music Group and EMI and about 20,000 indie labels to sign on, notably absent are Warner and Sony BMG.

The MP3s are 256kbps, which puts them more or less on par with Apple’s $1.29 256kbps iTunes Plus AAC files; standard iTunes purchases are at 128kbps ($.99). The bummer of the service is that albums are $11.99.

Amazon has managed some key wins in terms of the top 100s of things, however. The top 100 songs are $.89 apiece; top 100 albums are $8.99 or less. The labels they’ve managed to grab are EMI and Universal, plus some 20,000 independent labels.

Speaking personally, I’m glad to see some competition in the download music space. Hopefully it’ll bring some good changes to the iTunes store instead of extinguishing it. [via]