news

The best iPhone IM client yet debuts

So far we've covered a number of Web-based IM clients built for the iPhone. There's the lightweight Heysan, TinyBuddy (which uses the iUi guidelines to mimic the iPhone's sliding style interface and adds an extra layer of security by requiring users to login via AOL's own Web-based authentication), and JiveTalk, which mimics the Mac OS X iChat interface to some extent.

These Web apps have done the job so far, but they all have some flaws: TinyBuddy and JiveTalk are both somewhat sluggish given the iPhone's relatively poor JavaScript performance. Heysan uses simple HTML to … Read more

How the iPhone was hacked

Rixstep has a nice write-up of a presentation given at this week's Black Hat security conference detailing an iPhone vulnerability that was announced on July 23rd and patched by Apple on July 31st.

Some salient points about the iPhone's security pitfalls:

As previously noted, the iPhone runs most (all?) of its applications/processes as root (superuser, UID 0). Safari has the capability launch over a dozen applications, making it a potential attack vector. The crash reports are perhaps overly detailed, revealing significant chunks of code. Crucial parts of memory are both writable and executable Code addresses are, in … Read more

Newser takes a shot at news aggregation, forgets blogs

Today I'm checking out the new news aggregator, Newser. Wow, that's a mouthful.

When I first loaded the site up, I really liked what I saw. It has a very slick design, and the news is presented really well. The concept for content selection is pretty good too.

Newser's editors hand-pick the top stories of the moment and write their own summaries of them, also pulling in images relevant to the story. This style of presenting news is going back a little bit to Slashdot's style and moving away from the more hands-off approach of Digg … Read more

iTunes 7.3.2 appears to include iPhone-related bug fixes

Though we're not sure yet exactly what they are yet, iTunes 7.3.2 (recently released in Mac and Windows editions) appears to include bug fixes and improvements related to iPhone interaction and synchronization.

Apple's cagey release notes state only that the update provides "bug fixes to improve stability and performance." However, an analysis of the Mac OS X iTunes 7.3.2 update package reveals modification to several iPhone-related files including:

/System/Library/AppleMobileDevice.kext /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/DeviceLink.framework /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MobileDevice.framework /… Read more

iPhone logic boards, displays, batteries, other parts for sale

iFixIt (not to be confused with our sister site, MacFixIt) is now selling a bevy of iPhone components, including:

iPhone 4 GB Logic Board: $199.95 iPhone Display Assembly: $199.95 iPhone Communications Board: $149.95 iPhone Headphone Jack: $99.95 iPhone Camera: $69.95 iPhone Original Battery: $49.95 iPhone 4 GB Rear Panel: $39.95 iPhone Front Bezel: $29.95 iPhone Antenna Cover: $14.95 iPhone SIM Card Tray: $9.95

The company has also posted a series of guides on installation for these parts, though performing any of the procedures will surely void your Apple warranty.

Exchange in the iPhone's native e-mail client, sort of

The iPhone can't get mail through Microsoft Exchange servers unless those servers are set up to deliver messages through IMAP. This means two things: first, some organizations choose not to enable IMAP delivery due to "security concerns" meaning that users can't get their mail at all with the iPhone's native mail client; second, the "push" capabilities of Exchange servers don't work with the iPhone -- the client must manually check the server for new messages (up to once every 15 minutes) rather than immediately being notified when a new message arrives. You … Read more

Facebook and journalism

First it was Friendster, then it was MySpace; now Facebook seems to be the center of every other conversation on the Internet. Several of the writers at Poynter Online (a resource that puports to be "Everything you need to be a better journalist") have recently been focusing on the possibilities for Facebook in terms of the news business.

In one article Pat Walters reports on how he created the Facebook group, Journalists and Facebook as a sort of experiment. What better way to report on Facebook, than to use Facebook? We invited about 25 journalists to join the group, posted a few questions to the discussion board and waited.

Seemed to make perfect sense.

By the time we posted this story on Poynter Online, the group had mushroomed to more than 800 members, journalists and non-journalists from all over the world. At this moment there are almost 1,800 members, but only 57 wall posts, and 22 discussion threads. In his article, Walters points out that this limited participation in the group isn't unusual and he references an article by Jakob Nielsen to illustrate this phenomena. In his article, Nielsen predicts that only one percent of any given group will create most of the content, and after a cursory glance at the Journalists and Facebook group that estimate appears to be roughly on target.

A new blog for car fanatics

Welcome to Girl on Cars, a new destination for tech-savvy motoring enthusiasts. Here you'll find information (and lots of opinion) on a variety of automotive-related topics, including new car models, aftermarket accessories, design trends, fuel efficiency, and racing.

Beyond news and product reviews, this blog celebrates the lifestyle of cars and car culture. Sneak a peek into exclusive industry events, from new product launches to the making of Hollywood chase scenes.

Readers are encouraged to join in and leave feedback. Half the fun of cars is being able to talk about them!

iPhone Update 1.0.1: Undocumented fixes, improvements galore: volume, stability, VPN, battery, more

[See release notes and initial troubleshooting coverage. Again, this update is only available through iTunes. Click the "Check for Updates" button with the iPhone selected from the left-hand pane, or the same-named menu item under the "iTunes" menu to get it.]

Note: update takes several minutes Once iTunes has downloaded the iPhone 1.0.1 update, the installation process can take several minutes. Do not disconnect or turn of your iPhone during this time. You may notice that the startus bar stops moving -- still, don't interrupt the process. Firmware updating is tricky business, and … Read more

iPhone update 1.0.1 released: security fixes

iPhone update 1.0.1 is now available through iTunes. The new release patches several security flaws related to Safari, WebKit and WebCore.

You can obtain the update via the "Check for Updates" button or menu item in iTunes To check that the iPhone has been properly updated, tap "Settings" then "General" then "About." The version after applying this update will be "1.0.1 (1C25)".

Problems after updating? PleaseÂ let us know

Specific security enhancements include:

Safari Visiting a malicious website may allow cross-site scripting Safari's … Read more