Mobile Tech Today

Teen Releases First Jailbreak App for iPhone 3GS

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:34:49 -0500

The first jailbreak application for Apple's new iPhone 3GS has been made available just two weeks after the iPhone debuted. George Hotz, a 19-year-old Google employee originally from New Jersey, created the application.

Jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS allows a user to install any programs directly onto the iPhone, including applications that are not from Apple.

Hotz, at the age of 16, was credited with being part of the team that unlocked the first-generation iPhone. The unlock, announced in a blog post, allowed users to operate the first-generation iPhone with any SIM card. Hotz traded his unlocked iPhone for three regular iPhones and a Nissan 350Z.

"Normally I don't make tools for the general public, and would rather wait for the development team to do it. But guys, what's up with waiting until 3.1? That isn't how the game is played," Hotz wrote in his blog Friday. "We release, Apple fixes, and we find new holes."

In his blog post, Hotz provides a step-by-step explanation of what users need to do to jailbreak the iPhone 3GS and teases that a jailbreak for the Mac OS is coming soon.

Jailbreak Preparation

Before jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS, Hotz warns users to be prepared by having Windows (not Windows 7) installed on a PC, the latest iTunes installed, and an iPhone 3GS with 3.0 firmware. He also warns potential jailbreakers to first back up all their files and programs.

Once the preparations are complete, Hotz urges those interested in completing the break to go to purplera1n.com.

Once at the Web site, Hotz instructs users to click "make it ra1n" and wait. On bootup users need to run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app.

"Hopefully you'll figure out what to do from there," Hotz wrote. If not, users are instructed to e-mail purplera1n support or call a support hotline.

Purplera1n is small enough, Hotz wrote,...

Another Porn App Gets Booted From Apple's App Store

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:40:38 -0500

Week after week, Apple sees controversy swirl around its App Store like no other smartphone maker. Yet again, the controversy has focused on pornographic content.

The latest application to attempt to make its way into the App Store is called BeautyMeter. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users view user-submitted images of men and women, then rate them based on anatomy and clothing. One image up for rating was of a topless 15-year-old girl. Apple booted the application on Thursday.

But that wasn't the first time a pornographic application made its way through Apple's approval process. The App Store has a policy that prohibits pornography or explicit content of any kind.

Last week, Apple removed an application called Hottest Girl because it published photos of topless women. In both cases, the applications got by the approval process because the developers slipped in the nude pictures after the program was vetted.

Controversial Apps

The list of applications Apple has rejected continues to grow. In some cases, Apple initially approved an application, only to ban it later. In others, Apple originally banned the application and then accepted it after a firestorm of negative publicity. Still others were rejected for good.

In May, Apple rejected the Me So Holy App for having "objectionable" content. The application let iPhone users choose their religion, take a picture of themselves, and insert their face in a messianic image, among other religious scenes. Users could also add a message and e-mail their personalized Jesus to friends or upload it to Facebook. Hindu figures, priests and nuns were also available.

Apple initially approved and later removed the controversial Baby Shaker application in April. Sikalosoft developed Baby Shaker, which featured a drawing of a crying baby, and the object of the game was to get the baby to stop crying. This was accomplished by...

Hybrid Cellular Satellite Will Boost Rural Coverage

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:07:11 -0500

European space transportation provider Arianespace launched its largest satellite ever on Wednesday on behalf of TerreStar Networks -- a Virginia-based company that intends to inaugurate a hybrid satellite/cellular service in the United States and Canada later this year.

TerreStar Networks has already developed a Windows Mobile smartphone with QWERTY keyboard and touchscreen capabilities for its new hybrid service. The handset will automatically switch from AT&T's terrestrial cellular network to a satellite link at any location within the 50 U.S. states where AT&T's local coverage is unavailable.

"We believe there are tremendous opportunities ahead -- in both the commercial and government sectors," said TerreStar President Jeff Epstein. "And we remain focused on our promise to help solve the critical communications and business-continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprises and rural communities."

Creating a New Paradigm

The new TerreStar-1 satellite is equipped with an 18-meter reflector capable of sending and receiving signals via about 500 spot beams, each of which will function as a cellular tower in the sky for a specific localized area. Moreover, each individual spot beam can be custom controlled to increase the available capacity for emergency personnel responding to a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina, which decimated a large part of southern Louisiana's communications infrastructure.

"TerreStar-1 has the capability to increase both power and capacity dynamically across spot beams with advanced ground-based beam-forming technology," a company spokesperson said. "This feature will be especially important to emergency responders and other critical users."

TerreStar's $300 million satellite also has the potential to fulfill one of the priority objectives of the national broadband plan currently under development at the FCC. Later this year, the fledgling network operator intends to begin providing core voice, data and video services to rural businesses and consumers in areas where cellular coverage is spotty or even nonexistent.

"We are creating...

Creating Order from Chaos with Evernote

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:59:20 -0500

When he parks his car, author Timothy Ferriss snaps a photo of the nearest cross streets with his camera phone. In business meetings, he'll often take pictures of sketches and notes made on a whiteboard. When he's out for dinner, he'll whip out the phone again to capture an image of the label on the wine he's drinking. He never knows when he'll want to recall the data later.

Ferriss, a productivity expert, blogger, and author of the best-selling book The 4-Hour Workweek, then ships those photos to what he calls his "augmented brain," which exists not in his head, but on the Web.

He is one of a growing number of people using a Web-based service and software application running on smartphones and PCs called Evernote that is quickly becoming a receptacle for much of the ephemera that otherwise gets cluttered and sometimes lost in a person's busy life.

At first, Ferriss resisted the suggestion from readers of his blog that he try the application. "I have this philosophical stance where I tend to avoid accumulating new gadgets and software because usually they create more work than they are meant to prevent," Ferriss says. But when a few reader suggestions turned into dozens, he decided to try it. "At first it wasn't clear what the appeal was. But the more I used it, it became really clear why they liked it."

Word Recognition in Photos

Founded by Stepan Pachikov, who co-founded handwriting recognition software company Parascript and is a former vice-president of Silicon Graphics, Evernote is designed for people struggling to become more organized. A February survey by the National Association of Professional Organizers, a trade group, found that 96 percent of some 400 adults said they could save time every day if they were better organized. "No one remembers everything as well as...

EU Slashes Mobile-Phone Roaming Rates

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:40:58 -0500

The European Union has dramatically slashed the rates that wireless carriers can charge consumers roaming across the EU's member states.

Previous rate reductions introduced in 2007 cut the cost of voice roaming calls within the EU by 70 percent. Under the new rules that went into effect Wednesday, noted EU Telecommunications Commissioner Viviane Reding, EU roaming charges have been reduced by a further 60 percent.

"The roaming rip-off is now coming to an end, thanks to the determined action of the European Commission, the European Parliament, and all 27 EU member states," Reding said. "From today, all Europeans making calls or sending texts with their mobiles can experience the EU's single market without borders."

The Downside for Carriers

Though the new EU rules are limited to reducing the rates that wireless operators charge each other, Reding expects the changes will make it much cheaper for roaming consumers to place and receive calls, send text messages, and surf the Web on mobile phones.

"I call on the mobile industry to pass these savings on to data roaming customers swiftly," Reding said. "The commission and national regulators will monitor data roaming charges very carefully and assess next year whether the roaming market is finally becoming competitive."

The new rules come at an inopportune time for the region's wireless carriers. The EU's earlier roaming cuts have already had a negative impact on the carriers, which previously had "made margins on inter-country calls, and particularly on data roaming," said Jessica Ekholm, a Gartner principal research analyst. T-Mobile said earlier this year that "lower roaming revenues and newly introduced regulation on roaming and termination charges had a negative impact on revenues."

Due to foreign-exchange fluctuations, the recession, and higher unemployment, there has been a decrease in the number of people traveling, which has led to lower roaming...

The Latest App: Smartphone Interpreters

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:27:33 -0500

Uncle Sam may soon get a little diplomatic help from the iPhone and BlackBerry. On June 30, an Egyptian company specializing in translation software released a tool designed to translate quickly between English and Arabic by way of a wireless device.

Cairo-based Sakhr Software introduced an application -- downloadable to Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry -- that in seconds transmits an audio translation of a spoken phrase.

At the outset, Sakhr is pitching the software toward the U.S. intelligence community and the Defense Dept., which have lacked adequate Arabic language capabilities, particularly since the September 11 terrorist attacks. "What we are solving is a real-world problem," says Sakhr spokeswoman Tuyen Ho. "This product will help men and women in the armed forces and intelligence community bridge the communications gap. It will help keep them safer." The company declined to name customers but said it is talking with the Defense and Justice departments and various intelligence agencies.

Aiming at Businesses, Too

In recent months, U.S. government agencies have stepped up their reliance on cutting-edge tech tools for diplomatic means. The State Dept. in April arranged a delegation of executives from Google, AT&T, Twitter, and other tech startups to journey to Iraq to meet with government officials, business leaders, and students to discuss ways to use tech across that country.

The software Sakhr released June 30 is also designed for use by businesses. Its debut coincides with Sakhr's acquisition of software maker Dial Directions for an undisclosed amount. The two companies collaborated on the app for a year, with Sakhr developing the language software and Dial Directions designing the mobile architecture. Sakhr plans to release a version for consumers in August.

Sakhr designed its software so that users concerned about the security of their transmissions can host conversations on their own servers and monitor and mine...

Sony Struggling as Walkman Hits 30th Anniversary

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:31:14 -0500

When the Sony Walkman went on sale 30 years ago, it was shown off by a skateboarder to illustrate how the portable cassette-tape player delivered music on-the-go -- a totally innovative idea back in 1979.

Today, Sony Corp. is struggling to reinvent itself and win back its reputation as a pioneer of razzle-dazzle gadgetry once exemplified in the Walkman, which Wednesday had its 30th anniversary marked with a special display at Sony's corporate archives.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company lost 98.9 billion yen ($1.02 billion) in the fiscal year ended March -- its first annual loss in 14 years -- and is expecting more red ink this year.

The manufacturer, which also makes Vaio personal computers and Cyber-shot cameras, hasn't had a decisive hit like the Walkman for years, and has taken a battering in the portable music player market to Apple Inc.'s iPod.

Sony has sold 385 million Walkman machines worldwide in 30 years as it evolved from playing cassettes to compact disks then minidisks -- a smaller version of the CD -- and finally digital files. Apple has sold more than 210 million iPod machines worldwide in eight years.

There is even some speculation in the Japanese media that Sony should drop the Walkman brand -- a name associated with Sony's rise from its humble beginnings in 1946 with just 20 employees to one of the first Japanese companies to successfully go global.

"The Walkman's gap with the iPod has grown so definitive, it would be extremely difficult for Sony to catch up, even if it were to start from scratch to try to boost market share," said Kazuharu Miura, analyst with Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo.

Miura believes Sony can hope to be unique with its PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable video game consoles, but it has yet to offer outstanding electronics...

Cisco's WebEx Changes Aimed at Microsoft's Market

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:04:36 -0500

Cisco Systems on Tuesday discussed its Web-based software strategy at a press conference that outlined new features and functions for its WebEx conferencing service. By adding more software, including voice integration, into WebEx, Cisco is moving into Microsoft's territory.

Microsoft is both a Cisco partner and a rival in the Web-conferencing space. Recent Cisco acquisitions suggest the company is going to become more aggressive about competing with Microsoft in cloud-based services that make up its unified communications suite.

Cisco hinted at the ability for business users to create documents and share them through the WebEx platform. That would be a direct threat to Microsoft Office, which generated $60 billion last year. Cisco also said it plans to introduce a telepresence product for homes in coming years. But the WebEx changes are the key focus for Cisco's services business.

Competing with Microsoft

"This does compete with Microsoft more than some may think," said Zeus Kerravala, a vice president at The Yankee Group. "Besides WebEx, Cisco has quietly made a couple of other acquisitions. One is PostPath, which is a hosted e-mail product, and the other is Jabber, which is a presence technology."

Cisco's acquisitions make it possible for the company to integrate hosted e-mail and instant messaging into WebEx. That could shake up the market. Microsoft has traditionally had the competitive advantage by virtue of its stronghold on desktop applications. But Cisco is strong in networking and VoIP and is finding ways to gain an edge in e-mail and desktop software.

"If Cisco is going to take market share from Microsoft in areas where Microsoft is strong, it's not going to be by out-Microsofting Microsoft," Kerravala said. "What I mean by that is that if Cisco tried to build its own version of Exchange, it would fail. So Cisco is going to create this movement to the...

Veracode To Assess Mobile-App Security Risks

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:42:22 -0500

Burlington, Mass., June 30th, 2009 -� Veracode Inc., provider of the world's leading Application Risk Management Platform, today announced expansion of its SecurityReview� cloud-based subscription service to support mobile applications. With more than 100,000 mobile applications already in the market and millions of mobile users accessing critical business data, the security risk posed by these applications is staggering. Veracode announced immediate availability for Windows Mobile with near term support for other platforms such as RIM BlackBerry, Google Android and Apple iPhone. Veracode's SecurityReview is the first solution to enable enterprises and software vendors to assess the security risk of mobile applications before they are shipped or deployed to combat the growing number of data breaches and compliance failures.

Enterprises are increasingly transacting critical data with customers and remote workers through mobile applications, yet the security of these applications goes largely untested. Source code for mobile applications is rarely available, as most software is written by third parties and is insufficient in finding vulnerabilities such as backdoors, malicious code or flaws introduced by third party libraries and components. Veracode provides the only solution to assess binary code � the way attackers see it � enabling organizations to apply a common, holistic approach to secure both their mobile and server applications regardless of whether they are internally developed, purchased from a commercial vendor, outsourced or open source.

"Mobile applications are one of the fastest growing segments of the software market," said Diana Kelley, principal analyst, Security-Curve. "Insecure software which processes sensitive data poses a risk to enterprises, regardless of the platform it is run on. Enterprises need to apply the same risk assessment and security analysis to mobile applications as they do to those housed in data centers."

"Today, there isn't a major financial institution, software vendor or healthcare provider...

Motorola's New Smartphones: Sales, Not 'Dazzle'

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:02:01 -0500

Motorola has yet to unveil its new lineup of phones based on the Android operating system, but already analysts are placing bets on its likely success. While the new devices are likely to fetch higher prices than Motorola's current phones -- and could give the ailing handset division a much-needed boost -- they probably won't approach the popularity of the Razr, the best-seller that earlier in the decade set handset design standards, say industry analysts.

Nor are Motorola's new handsets likely to vie directly with today's most popular smartphones, including Apple's iPhone, Palm's Pre, and Research In Motion's BlackBerry, these experts say. Most of Motorola's new models appear to target the mid-to-low end of the market and "won't be competing with today's best-selling smartphones," says Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities.

Motorola Co-CEO Sanjay Jha has a lot riding on the success of the new crop of phones; a failure to release attractive devices has fueled market-share losses to competitors, including Apple. In the first quarter alone, the handset unit's operating loss widened to $509 million as sales tumbled 45 percent, to $1.8 billion. The worsening financial performance and tightening credit markets last year forced Motorola to scrap plans to spin off the division until at least 2010.

High hopes for the lineup have begun to fizzle as prototypes surface in the U.S. and Europe and images and first impressions of the devices circulate. Many analysts doubt any of the new models will pack the Razr's punch. Some features are expected to be similar to those already introduced by rivals like HTC. "I don't expect these phones to be razzle-dazzle," says Michael Mahoney, senior managing director at investment manager Falcon Point Capital. Motorola wouldn't comment on its Android plans.

The Smartphone Market's Lower End

Motorola's chief differentiation will lie not so much in distinctive...