An exploit of Microsoftian proportions…

New Malware Allows Hackers to Access Personal Information on Jailbroken iPhones – Mac Rumors

So the iPhone’s security situation worsens. This time it’s a really bad one. You can have your data stolen from your iPhone without even realising it.

You could walk past a coffee shop and someone with the right software could scan your phone and get at all your data. You wouldn’t even know it. Wow.

Of course this doesn’t affect me. Or just about anybody else who owns an iPhone.

Just those morons who took the advice from certain Mac-gurus and jailbroke their iPhones to ‘free them from the tyranny of Apple’s closed system’.

I think it’s time to admit that maybe Apple ‘knows best’.

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iTunes Extra (& LP) answered, but keep it to yourself…

The ever-excellent Roughly Drafted goes into great detail here, about how iTunes Extra & LP work.

From what I can tell, the whole iTunes Extra experience is done inside iTunes 9, using Javascript, CSS & HTML. The media file, is actually a bundle, a mini website if you will, all under a framework called “TuneKit”.

So that’s my question answered, however Roughly Drafted also goes on to postulate that the real benefactor for this approach is Apple TV, or whatever it’s successor is to be called.

The real kicker though is the fact that all this is done using open standards – no proprietary Flash or Silverlight required.

It would be really nice if certain people, who have lambasted Apple in the past for their horrible, closed proprietary systems, to maybe just admit, just for once, that Apple just might have the user’s interests at heart.

And of course, as RD points out, their own hardware sales. Once Apple’s users have enough iTunes LP & Extra content on their Mac/PC, Apple will release Apple TV 3.0 and all that content now plays on that device, effectively replacing DVD players in one fell swoop.

As always, there’s far more info in Roughly Drafted’s article, it’s highly recommended, but sometimes I wish RD would keep these plans to himself – we don’t want the enemy knowing all our plans do we?

iPod software development…

I love my iPod. Well actually I love my iPods, because I have 4 of them, but there’s one thing that’s been troubling me.

The hardware changes, the design changes, but the underlying software features don’t seem to change.

Things have moved on from version 1, and I know that Apple like to keep things simple, but there’s one thing I wish they would add, or I could add myself.

More often than not, I’m listening to my music on shuffle, and I come across a song by an artist I really like, and by extension I like other songs by this artist.

Why can I not simply skip to a list that says:

1) Shuffle to other songs by this artist

2) Shuffle to other songs in this genre

3) Shuffle to other songs in this year

Maybe this could be a special section that you could programme from iTunes, so you would have an Applescript that does this, but it executes also on the iPod.

I know that the ‘KISS’ principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), is behind a lot of reasoning at Apple, but time and time again I come across a situation like this in the car.

The only way around it is to navigate back to the top level,  select ‘Artist’ and shuffle from their entry – it’s not very easy and probably quite dangerous and distracting if you’re driving.

Maybe now that the AppStore is open we’ll see this, but what with Apple restricting certain apps when they duplicate in-built features, it’s not likely.

I didn’t buy an iPhone…

Well not quite. In the end I bought, in my opinion, the next best thing – the iPod Touch.

AND I CANT PUT THE THING DOWN!

Seriously, it’s glued to my hand and I can not stop surfing the net, looking at photos, reading ebooks (using the excellent application, Stanza, checking my email and last, but not least, posting on WordPress.

Most, if not all, Apple products are a joy to use, but this device is incredible.

I cannot understand what problem people have with the keyboard, as I’ve picked it up fine. I’m typing pretty quicky and making few mistakes, certainly no more than I would on a normal keyboard.

It’s not often that using a piece of technology actually makes you smile, and indeed, I actually laughed a couple of times because the GUI is so smooth, so refined, so perfect that you cannot believe that technology could be this good, this cool, this wonderful to use.

Surfing the net is a revelation. The clicking, zooming in, the speed is great. I’ve found myself not even using my main Mac for surfing or email, it’s just so simple to just pluck it out your pocket and quickly surf and go.

And I haven’t even played any games yet.

It has really surprised me what a game changer the touch platform is, and it is a platform, make no mistake.

The touch has become my platform of choice for surfing, email, viewing photos and reading, with my 30gb iPod being primarily for music and podcasts and my little shuffle for the gym.

I cannot wait to see what Apple do next with this, an iPod tablet device, an iPod camera with iPhoto touch, the possibilities are endless.

Are there any negatives? Not really, even copy and paste doesn’t seem necessary, but Steve’s onto a winner here.

My god, these people still exist..?

Live with it: Mac is not the greatest

Oh dear, I thought we’d already discussed this a million times on every forum in the known universe.

The public has spoken, and they want Mac’s, not PC’s – live with it.

I thought that people like this would just, y’know, go back to their server rooms or something, but it seems that every now and again, between chocolate bars, squeezing spots and the hosing down and reinstallation of Windows, they post flame-bait like this.

They can say anything they like, because they are journalists with a PC-bias, and we are just Mac-users who just want to tell everyone that there’s a better way.

We can’t say anything in retaliation because if we dare to speak up, we’re pigeonholed as blind cult followers.

All those stories you hear about Windows users switching to Mac and then wondering why they didn’t do it years ago, well that’s just lies put about by these ‘weird’ Mac people.

But you can’t win with situations like this, so I suggest to everyone that please, please, please when the next Windows-spod pokes his head from around the server-room door, and tries to convince you that all these Macs are a waste of time and you ought to be on Windows, just ignore him.

Please don’t reply to his article, even if it’s well meaning – he’ll just use it as ammunition against us.

If you want to post a retort, then start your own blog if you have to so you don’t give him the traffic that he most sorely needs.

In another few years these people will quieten down, after the people they work for/with start bringing in iPhones, and telling everyone they’ve just bought a Mac as well, and that they’d wished they’d done it years ago.

OK, now I’m interested…

A while back I posted a piece that talked about the things that would have to happen in order for me to part with my hard earned cash and buy an iPhone.

Y’see I’ve used Mac’s for years. I’ve also used PC’s for years but, like any sane person who has to use both, side-by-side, day-by-day, I will always choose the Mac.

Apple’s products just have that certain something, the fit, the finish, the attention to detail, the tight integration – Apple products really do ‘just work’.

However I couldn’t bring myself to buy an iPhone.

Now, I’d like to I think it’s more to do with my aversion to smartphones, but even I could not bring myself to be wowed with iPhone version 1.0.

Too expensive, missing features, too restrictive (1 carrier), the list is a long one, and my god, I almost sound like a Windows apologist.

But, unless you’ve vacationed on Mars, you’ll notice that WWDC has just occured and Apple have released iPhone 2.0 – has my opinion of the iPhone changed? Kind of…

In my last article, I put forward a number of desires, that if satisfied, would result in me buying the GodPhone.

 

1) It’s not a smartphone. I don’t want or need to carry my life in my pocket, I have a brain for that. 
It’s still a smartphone, so not a good start. However I’m seeing that Apple are making the iPhone a platform (along with the Mac & Music), so I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet on this one.

2) Touchscreen? I think it would have to have this. 
Along with the above – it’s a platform with the touchscreen at its centre.

3)  Camera? Not really important, but OK let’s include it (2-3MP is fine), with the ability to download these pics to iPhoto as well.
An increase in MP’s would have been nice, but with MobileMe, iPhoto integration is a given.

4) Address book, contacts and notes that sync up (via Bluetooth) with Address Book, iCal & Stickies. This syncing is 2-way, so the phone must have the ability to input simple info. (Should be fun on the small screen, but that’s why I said simple).
MobileMe is the future here.

5) Email? Not interested. Life is stressful enough.
It’s still here – I’ll live with the stress.

6) Internet? Not practical on such a small screen, don’t want it anyway.
Not really applicable, but it’s nice to have, and at 3G speeds too.

7) Unbelievable, incredible, game-changing battery life – we’re talking weeks here, not days.
A pipe dream, but battery life has been increased. Gotta love the state-of-the-art OS at the iPhone’s heart here.

8) It must look exactly like the old iPod Nano, black, with a black screen.
A shame. I don’t think I’ll ever see this.

9) I am morally and spiritually against contract phones – it must be pay as you go.
And here we have our answer. Pay-as-you-go is now an option.

O2 have yet to release the pricing (pricing is announced tomorrow), but this is the reason I will be purchasing the iPhone on July 11th (or some time soon thereafter).

I’d expect about £269, I’m hoping for £199. Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

 

Microsoft innovate at last!

Link from Mac Daily News…

Here’s a interesting quote from Microsoft to their ‘mobile partners’.

“It’s now my honor and privilege to announce a milestone that our partnership HAS ACCOMPLISHED. This fiscal year we WILL SELL nearly 20 million Windows Mobile smartphone licenses, making Windows Mobile one of the most widely used smartphone software platforms in the world.”

Emphasis is mine.

Is this now Microsoft’s approach? Instead of celebrating when they have reached a target, they celebrate in the past, BEFORE that target is reached (demonstrating breathtaking arrogance and taking their customer for a ride granted)?

Their innovation now knows no bounds – apparently as well as a ‘big ass table’, they’ve also developed a ‘big ass time machine’.

Humour aside, the hidden meaning of this missive, shows, unglazed how frightened Microsoft actually are.

Their ‘partners’ will survive, as Apple does not want to completely, unfairly dominate industries (like Microsoft do), but Microsoft is another matter – it has suddenly realised how vulnerable it really is.

Apparently, we’re weird because we like computers to look nice…

 

Apparently, we’re weird because we like computers to look nice…

Link: I’m going to write about people who I completely misunderstand.

This recent posting postulates the question, “Mac users don’t like others touching their stuff.”

The reasoning behind it is that because we pay so much (apparently) for our kit, we don’t like other people using it and supposedly breaking it.

But, as usual PC pundits fail to see the wider issue.

It’s because I don’t want ignorant PC users who see technology as a useless commodity, covered in stickers, touching my pristine Mac’s/iPod’s/iPhone.

It’s got nothing to do with how much I paid for it, it’s to do with the way in which Windows users treat their technology.

If I get another PC user coming up to my flawlessly clean LCD screen and smudge it with his or her greasy finger, I’ll scream.

I walk through our Windows IT department daily and see ugly tin boxes, covered in dust, stickers, pen marks, yesterday’s lunch wrappers and worse.

When the electrician’s come to my company and test all the electrical equipment, they have to put an ugly ‘tested’ sticker on everything. PC users are quite happy to have this sticker anywhere on their PC, I have almost punched said electrician for considering to stick it on the ‘front’ of my G5 Tower.

I had to loan a little iBook to a PC user once, I received it back a month later and it was filthy, and had what looked like jam on the LCD screen. I actually felt sorry for the poor thing and spent over an hour giving it a good clean.

PC users don’t care. PC users pay next to nothing for basement-spec PC’s. PC users think nothing of the hardware.

Am I weird? Probably, but I have to work with these computers all day, and I also have to be creatively active at a moments notice.

I, like most creative people realise that ideas best surface in a clean, ordered environment, where the equipment I use has had time spent on it’s look and feel (both hardware and software).

This is why we don’t like PC users, ‘using’ our equipment – they just don’t think that this is important.

 

OK, I might buy an iPhone, if…

I firmly stand in the, ‘I’d rather have several devices each doing tasks well, rather than 1 device that does several tasks badly’ camp. This is the main reason why I’ve never bought an iPhone and never will. 

I’m also, a ‘pay as you go’ guy as well, but that’s another reason and another argument. 

I once owned (for my sins) a Palm M130. I have vivid memories of trying, time and time again to fit this device into my life, until, just like Steve Jobs said, I left it in a drawer and forgot about it.

I have an iPod however (3 in fact). I don’t need to say, that it’s a perfect MP3 player, it has no equal. But I don’t use it to read text documents, look up contacts or appointments. It just doesn’t do these things well.

But I do have a mobile phone. A cheap, pay as you go, Motorola L6. And, of course, it’s awful, the interface is illogical to the point of inducing anger, the shortcut keys take so long to get to it’s quicker to actually USE YOUR BRAIN AND TYPE THE FECKING NUMBER, and the battery life stinks.

Considering all this however, I would be willing to buy an Apple branded mobile phone to replace the L6 if it had these specs:

1) It’s not a smartphone. I don’t want or need to carry my life in my pocket, I have a brain for that.

2) Touchscreen? I think it would have to have this. 

3)  Camera? Not really important, but OK let’s include it (2-3MP is fine), with the ability to download these pics to iPhoto as well.

4) Address book, contacts and notes that sync up (via Bluetooth) with Address Book, iCal & Stickies. This syncing is 2-way, so the phone must have the ability to input simple info. (Should be fun on the small screen, but that’s why I said simple).

5) Email? Not interested. Life is stressful enough.

6) Internet? Not practical on such a small screen, don’t want it anyway.

7) Unbelievable, incredible, game-changing battery life – we’re talking weeks here, not days.

8) It must look exactly like the old iPod Nano, black, with a black screen.

9) I am morally and spiritually against contract phones – it must be pay as you go.

Basically I’m after a standard, mid range Apple branded mobile. Do I think Apple will ever make one? I hope so. This entry-level iPhone Nano would be a good gateway drug to the more expensive iPhone.

Except in my case of course, because I would never buy one.

Now, the iPod touch with a 3rd party VOIP client (once the SDK is released), THAT’S a different matter entirely. 

Nice to see my predictions coming true…

I while back I wrote an article called, “Where is Steve Jobs going with this?” which outlined the directions Apple may/will to take over the next couple of years, specifically, why the moved to Intel and whether they were moving to Windows.

The conclusion I wrote for this article was as follows…

6) Apple then encourages them to switch by offering incentives that mean they must boot into the Mac, such as movie store that is tied into .Mac. (You would stream the movies from your account, to your Mac, but only if you run OS X), and by pushing the benefits of iLife, buy releasing new hardware, iPod related devices that leverage iLife, such as the iPhone. More controversially, they would either cancel iTunes for Windows, or make an enhanced version for Mac users. BootCamp users would not have a problem here, it would encourage them to boot more into the Mac.

With this in mind, I read recently of a rumour from LoopRumors, that states the following…

iPhone integration is also a major feature that was left out of Jobs’ presentation. When he showcased Leopard, the iPhone was not yet announced. We now learn that the iPhone runs a scaled down version of Leopard. And because Apple expects the iPhone to be more popular than the iPod, we can expect several enhancements in Leopard that tie in to the iPhone. We reported that Apple is still developing a mystery application for the iPhone that won’t be released until the phone’s release. This application could run independently from the computer, or have a direct tie in to Leopard. Although Apple offers the iPhone for both PC and Macs, some Leopard specific features are said to be installed in the iPhone, to help ’switch’ users to the Macintosh platform.

Note the central premise that Apple would release hardware that would switch users to the platform. This is made easier for those users that have Intel Mac’s, but who’ve installed Windows on them. This is another reason for them to switch to the Mac platform.

Let’s hope that my predictions continue, the bit about Xcode being able to, at the touch of a tick box, be able to compile for Windows would be very interesting indeed.