MMS

For at least the third time this month, Apple and AT&T are being sued by a consumer complaining of being duped into believing that multimedia messaging, or MMS, was already available on the iPhone.

Filed in the Northern District of Ohio on Wednesday (PDF hosted by Wired), plaintiff Deborah Carr says Apple and AT&T misled the public into believing that the iPhone 3GS was capable of sending and receiving MMS messages on the device. The lawsuit claims that Apple's "print and video advertisements...on television, the Internet, the radio, newspapers, and direct mailers" … Read more

Another lawsuit has been filed in an Illinois district court against Apple and AT&T under the Unfair Trade Practices Act and other laws in that state.

This second lawsuit, which is aiming for class-action status, accuses both companies of misrepresenting the availability of MMS on the iPhone. According to a report by AppleInsider, the suit uses the same language as last week's similar suit in the state of Louisiana, suggesting that both companies aggressively promoted the not-yet-availalbe MMS features of iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS using advertising on TV, radio, newspapers, direct mailers, and … Read more

We learn that not only is a botnet using Twitter to store some of its data but that botnet follow Veronica. Who is a bot herself. We also ponder why leaked pictures of the Dell smartphone are so blurry. And bad news folks. Looks like no tablet for the Apple announcement, but it sounds like it will be in September.

Dell’s first phone spied on web http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/08/14/dell_smartphone_pictures/

Apple planning September event? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10309110-37.html… Read more

A new class-action lawsuit has been filed in a Louisiana district court against Apple and AT&T under the Unfair Trade Practices Act and other laws in that state.

The lawsuit accuses both companies of misrepresenting the availability of MMS on the iPhone. According to a report by TG Daily, the suit points out that both companies aggressively promoted the MMS features of iPhone OS 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS using advertising on TV, radio, newspapers, direct mailers, and on the Internet. The suit is expected to represent at least 10,000 people for the class action.

The … Read more

Though AT&T customers are still waiting for multimedia messaging to arrive on the iPhone, I got a surprise last week that made me think that the feature is on its way. After upgrading to OS 3.0.1, I noticed that my MMS commands had reappeared. I originally had them when testing the beta version of OS 3.0, but they vanished after upgrading to the full release.

I still can't actually send a multimedia message, but the fact that the commands are there is noteworthy enough. At first I thought it was a direct result of … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Researchers at the Black Hat security conference on Thursday showed how an attacker could spoof a type of SMS message that appears to be sent from the carrier or some other trusted source.

This attack on MMS (multimedia messaging service) messages, a type of SMS message, could allow an attacker to trick the recipient into visiting a malicious Web site or ultimately do something else to harm the phone or steal data.

The attacks work potentially on any type of phone that is MMS-enabled and operating on Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) networks, said Zane Lackey, a senior … Read more

Natali got a little flustered when we learned that AT&T is changing the subsidy so that folks who thought they would have to pay more might not have to. But it's OK: if you preordered, the company will refund the difference. So she calmed down eventually. We also discuss China backpedaling on the filter software, and the need to encrypt.

iPhone OS 3.0 wide release coming Wednesday http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10265918-37.html http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/stop-hitting-f5-iphone-os-3-0-release-still-hours-away/… Read more

Chinese filtering software has been criticized for having holes. The solution? Fix it. How communist. We also give you a hack for getting free tethering on the iPhone and we bemoan the fate of MySpace.

Opera Unite aims to reinvent the Web http://blogs.siliconvalley.com/gmsv/2009/06/hi-my-name-is-opera-and-ill-be-your-server-today.html

AT&T won’t charge extra for MMS on iPhone http://www.applethoughts.com/news/show/94126/at-t-not-planning-on-charging-for-mms.html

…And here’s how … Read more

According to AT&T's latest iPhone 3G S FAQ (PDF), the company will offer MMS messages free with a text-messaging plan at some point later this summer. Until now, some current customers have feared having to pay an additional fee for texting. Considering all the negative feedback about iPhone 3G to 3G S upgrades, this is probably a strategic decision on AT&T's part.

Why all the fuss about MMS, especially given that you can replicate the functionality of MMS using e-mail much more easily on a smartphone? Even if e-mail is easy for you, your … Read more