All Articles Tagged Apple

Apple is currently hiring and is in search of an iPhone OS platform security manager. What does the particular job consist of? Here is the low down:

The team is responsible for secure booting and installation of the OS, partitioning and hardening of security domains within the OS, cryptographic services, and risk analysis of security threats. The team is made up of a variety of security experts with backgrounds in system security and reverse engineering.

The more secure Apple makes the OS the harder it will become to find and use a particular exploit — for good, like our beloved jailbreak, or for evil, like we’ve seen with computer viruses, malware, etc.

Now don’t get us wrong, we are pretty sure that one person will not do away with our beloved jailbreak but this does raise some questions. Is Apple really concerned popular mobile devices will get attacked the way PCs do today? Or are they just done putting the practice of preventing jailbreaking (and the unlocking and app piracy that sometimes goes with it) on the back burner?

What do you think this may mean for the future of the jailbreak if anything? Sound off in the comments below!

[Job listing via Ars]

Apple has come to an agreement with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in which they will spend 4 million dollars to renovate the run-down Red Line subway station on North and Clybourn in the city. This particular site just so happens to be across the street from the future Apple retail store on Halsted Street.

In return for the renovations, Apple is receiving first dibs on naming rights, first crack at advertising rights within the station, and a free long-term lease on an unused bus lane that is between the subway station and the Apple store that will be turned into a landscaped public park. All of this should be taking place no later than September 30th of 2010.

That being said, those of us here in the Chicago area should have a beautiful new Apple store in the area a little less than a year from now.

[Via Chicago Business]

Lee Williams, executive director at Symbian, sits down with GigaOM’s Om Malik, and gets candid — really candid — about Apple and Google:

“Android is building a perfect storm of fragmentation. I don’t view Apple as evil, just greedy. Google … Come on.”

He claims his opinion is informed by his conversations with large carriers who complain that they have to provide Apple App Store apps to iPhone users yet derive no income from them (we’d point out they made money off the data plans — dumb pipes!), and that Google is taking away their customer interface, “cookie-ing” them (tracking their online activities) via proprietary apps obscured in lip service to “openness” and using that to feed their advertising business.

When asked why companies like HTC, if they know Google is “evil”, aren’t investing in Symbian instead, Williams advises Om to “wait and see”, and thinks those manufacturers might be interested in “very open systems.”

While offering no advice to Apple, he does invite Google to join the Symbian foundation so they can have a voice in that open system. Somehow we doubt he’ll see them take up that offer any time soon.

Harsh words for competitors, but also strangely refreshing to see on camera. As to the iPhone, is the carrier beef legitimate? Should they be getting a cut of App Store profits, or should they be happy with the huge increase in data revenue the iPhone is already bringing them?

Big news round Twitter-way, with Apple adding a few more official Twitter accounts, and Microsoft Bing and Google paying for unrestricted access to real-time search Twitter’s firehose of user status posts.

First up, while Apple’s never been accused of “getting” social media, and it may come as a surprise they’re using Twitter at all, it’s not so surprising that — rather than customer feedback, support, or insight into the iron curtain that shrouds Cupertino — these accounts are just news/marketing updates on when the latest music and media hits the world’s most popular download service. (And some seem less than active at the moment). Baby steps?

You can follow them via: iTunesTrailers, iTunesMusic, iTunesMovies, iTunesTV, and iTunesPodcasts.

Also both Microsoft’s Bing and Google have now announced partnerships with Twitter. Bing says:

Were you as fascinated by the 6-year-old boy floating away in a balloon as we were? Was it a hoax? We know that people are going to twitter more and more for information surrounding all the latest chatter. You can now search for what people are saying all over the web about breaking news topics, your favorite celebrity, hometown sports team, and anything else you use Twitter to stay on top of today.

Google says:

We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.

Does this hybrid search model appeal to you? Let us know!

[Ballmer photoshop re-used in honor of Windows 7 launch day]

iClarified is reporting some very unsettling news for those of you looking to pick up a new iPhone 3GS as they say Apple is now shipping iPhone 3GS devices with a new bootrom blocking the 24kpwn exploit. Devices with the iBoot-359.3.2 bootrom began shipping last week and are now being sold in Apple and AT&T stores. This means if you are unfortunate enough to land one of these new devices you will not be able to jailbreak until the Dev Team or George Hotz can come up with a solution.

For those of you who can’t wait to jailbreak your new iPhone 3GS, we suggest you listen to iClarified and try to pick up a refurbished unit or try to locate some older stock. The race is now on, who will be the first to find a new exploit to take advantage of – George Hotz or the Dev Team?

The cat and mouse game has just got a bit more interesting…

[Thanks for the tip mysterio!]

What does AT&T’s announcement today, regarding a change of policy to allow VoIP applications like Skype to operate over the 3G network mean for Google Voice in the App Store and SlingPlayer over 3G?

Nothing.

Not to rain on our many commenters and emailers parades, but AT&T’s VoIP policy has nothing to do with either of those apps because:

1. Google Voice was rejected/is still under review by Apple, not by AT&T. All parties have clearly stated AT&T has played and is playing absolutely no role in keeping Google Voice out of the App Store. That ball is still firmly in Apple’s court, and it will take movement from them, and them alone, to bring it to the App Store when — and if — they decide to pull the trigger.

2. SlingPlayer sends your home TV video over 3G, and clearly has nothing to do with VoIP. AT&T has a distinct and separate policy forbidding the use of apps like SlingPlayer on their 3G network. Unless and until AT&T changes that second, specific policy as well, no SlingPlayer over 3G for you. (And seriously, given AT&T is dropping 30% of calls in NYC as well, does anyone think their network could survive even more traffic at this point?)

So there you go. You’re getting VoIP from AT&T and Apple, no more, no less. Scratch that off the list, and if they’ve given an inch, and you hunger for a mile, keep the armor on and re-focus your battle on the next two (or more) targets.

Apple has applied for a patent for “provisioning” services on a mobile device based on a custom carrier profile:

Carrier provisioning profiles are distributed to computing devices via an activation service during the provisioning process. The carrier provisioning profiles specify access limitations to certain device resources which may otherwise be available to users of the device.

What this all means for the carriers is that Apple could essentially give them control of approved and unapproved features and applications that come on the iPhone at the point of purchase. So if Verizon (or China) were to carry the iPhone and they see fit to remove Wi-Fi, it can be done. Or say AT&T wants you to use their AT&T Navigation application and no other GPS applications — that too can be done. For Apple this means they free themselves from having to create various versions of firmware for each individual carrier.

Sadly for all of us, this could be a very bad sign of things to come. One of the main reasons we love the iPhone is the fact that Apple does not allow carriers to junk up the device with their own bloatware, common on other devices. Unfortunately that may all be coming to an end.

[Thanks for the tip Jeremiah! Via Arstechnica]

The Woolworths department store chain in Australia is being taken to court by Apple due to their new logo… looking too much like Apple’s. Apple is required by law to defend their trademarks, lest they lose them, and they’re concerned Woolworth may sell computers (or smartphones?) under the new, Apple-esque logo.

If the stylized W in Woolworths’ logo didn’t have that little leaf on top, we’d think Apple was a little over-litigious. As it is, we’re not sure why the W needs a leaf, or if it looks more like an Apple than the “Great Pumpkin” from Charlie Brown (maybe Peanuts can sue as well?)

Take a look at the comparisons above and let us know how close you think the logos are.

[via AppleInsider]

According to an Engadget exclusive, Apple brought a new specification for optical port connection to Intel who, after some heated back and forth, has produced Light Peak:

Based on what we’ve learned, Apple will introduce the new standard for its systems around Fall 2010 in a line of Macs destined for back-to-school shoppers — a follow-up to the “Spotlight turns to notebooks” event, perhaps. Following the initial launch, there are plans to roll out a low-power variation in 2011, which could lead to more widespread adoption in handhelds and cellphones. The plans from October 2007 show a roadmap that includes Light Peak being introduced to the iPhone / iPod platform to serve as a gateway for multimedia and networking outputs. While the timing doesn’t line up, a low-powered Light Peak sounds like the kind of technology that would be perfect for a device with a need for broad connectivity but limited real estate for ports… like a tablet.

Can one port rule — and replace — them all? Do we want to kiss our USB/FireWire, VGA/DVI/DisplayPort, Ethernet, and all other connectors goodbye and replace them with a single, standardized optical cable? Check out Engadget’s full post for more, then let us know what you think.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris has sent TiPb a response to the now fully public Google FCC disclosure, which Dieter posted earlier today.

“We do not agree with all of the statements made by Google in their FCC letter. Apple has not rejected the Google Voice application and we continue to discuss it with Google.”

So it’s either Apple-said/Google-said, some broken-telephone (the irony!) between the two companies, or a mix of both?

Regardless of the “was it rejected or is it still being studied” tempest, Google Voice and Google Latitude remain absent from Apple’s App Store, and all companies seem to agree on the reason: they duplicate what Apple considers to be core functionality of the iPhone, and that’s something Apple currently doesn’t want to see duplicated.

Since it’s Apple’s product, that’s their prerogative (especially if they consider Google competitive in this space), though if Google Voice and Google Latitude are features a user needs, they’re not going to consider an iPhone. When/if that becomes a huge portion of the user base, Apple may have to reconsider. Either way, Google is still going ahead with WebApp versions for now and everyone else is just going to have to wait and see..