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Good things happen to software publishers that listen to their users.

Fring, an aggressively growing company that builds a chat and cheap calling application for Symbian, iPhone, and Windows Mobile platforms, heeded a swell of feedback from iPod Touch users who had been using the pre-release iPhone version for jailbroken iPhones on the voiceless iPod Touch (review). On Friday, Fring announced a new pre-release version for the iPhone that also fixes a bug found when using the application on the iPod Touch.

Both sides were pleased that the initial experiment had worked, Fring reports, but not quite satisfied with the results.

(Credit: Fring)

It turns out that when applied to the iPod Touch, whose specifications were never considered when designing the iPhone version, Fring IM was a little rocky. Users who had tried it out couldn't see the text they'd punched in until after the message was already sent. The update, available through the application called Installer, should rectify the surprise oversight.

In a video tutorial on the Fring blog, iPod Touch users are reminded that the iPhone cousin is a silent device. Since there is no built-in microphone, Fring's international VoIP service is suspended on iPod Touches, leaving Fring for iPod Touch as a cross-platform IM service. There has been forum chatter about forging a workaround with the Touchmods microphone application, but forum contributors have attempted it with no luck.

As one contributor, blueridgebruce puts it, if Fring were to succeed to give the iPod Touch a voice, "iPhone users will love you...BUT...Touch users will worship you!"

Apple on Monday released a patch for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The TIFF vulnerabilities associated with the patch are serious. However, in fixing the security flaws, users will no longer be able to apply Jailbreak, software that allows for third-party applications on the iPhone. Further, Apple says the update is only available through iTunes, and will not appear in the Mac OS software update application, or on the Apple downloads site, and requires the latest version of iTunes to receive this update.

Image IO
This patch affects users of iPhone v1.0 through v1.1.1, iPod Touch v1.1, and v1.1.1 and does not not affect Mac OS X v10.3.9 systems with Security Update 2006-004, Mac OS X v10.4.7 systems with Security Update 2006-004, or systems running Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later. The patch addresses vulnerabilities found in CVE-2006-3459, CVE-2006-3461, CVE-2006-3462, and CVE-2006-3465. According to Apple, "Image IO contains a version of libtiff that is vulnerable to multiple buffer overflows. By enticing a user to view a maliciously crafted TIFF image, an attacker may cause an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issues by performing additional validation of TIFF images."

Apple credits Tavis Ormandy of Google's security team for reporting this vulnerability.

As reported in ComputerWorld, security researcher H.D. Moore has included several iPhone and iPod Touch exploits in the latest Metasploit tool. The free tool is used by professional pen-testers and criminal hackers alike. The new exploits take advantage of a flaw in the TIFF image-rendering library and are similar to flaws used by the iPhone Dev Team.

"This exploit is rock solid. It's very reliable, as reliable as the WMF [Windows Metafile] exploits in Windows. You can send it in an e-mail; you can embed it in a Web page," Moore told ComputerWorld.

Even if Apple fixes the flaw, which it is expected to do soon, Moore says that criminals can still exploit it by rolling the firmware back to a prepatched version. A Trojan in 2005 used a similar firmware rollback on the Sony PlayStation Portable.

Moore has previously written in his blog how any successful hack on a iPhone will give the attacker root access to the entire phone. In the past, adding exploits to Metaploit has been a shortcut to the wild attacks.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET Networks)

Apple's iPod Touch has made it into the wild and folks are finding lots of little details to note about Cupertino's latest addition to the iPod lineup.

First off, the hacks that work on the iPhone to add additional software don't appear to be working on the iPod Touch, though many in the macosphere expressed hope that it's just a temporary setback.

Second, a few people say that, rather than running Mac OS X, they got a device that only runs diagnostics. That's no fun when it comes to music playing, but folks are playing up the fact there is a "bluetooth" control panel, even if it does say "nothing to see here."

Finally, the iPod Touch doesn't appear to be showing up as a drive within the Mac OS, something that many had hoped for and appears to be a feature on Apple's technical spec sheet for the device. "Stores data via USB flash drive," is Apple's exact wording on that point.

Some folks are also saying the screen isn't as easy to view as the iPhones and that the virtual keyboard is less responsive. And, there's still grumbling over the fact that one can't add calendar items on the fly--a feature originally expected for the device.

The gadget did arrive a little earlier than expected. Folks reported getting the devices starting Thursday. The Apple store in downtown San Francisco was sold out by mid-day Friday, however.

My online order, placed the day Steve Jobs introduced the device, has had its status changed to "prepared for shipping." Hey, I've been prepared for it to ship since Sept. 5. As Veruca Salt would say. "I want it now."

Update 9 p.m.: I originally said Violet Beauregarde, when, as a reader pointed out, I clearly should have said Veruca Salt. Straight to bed and no candy for me.

"It is another good day for Microsoft."

Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray famously used that line seven years ago, briefing reporters at the company's landmark antitrust trial, right after the software giant took a beating in court.

The Zune folks didn't use that specific wording, but they did try to shrug off the latest crop of iPods.

"This may come as a shock to folks, but today's Apple Computer announcement doesn't actually change any of our plans," Zune unit blogger Cesar Menendez said in a blog posting on Wednesday. "Of course we watched with some degree of interest but our plans have been in motion for some time now."

It's not entirely clear what those plans are, however. The software maker came out with the original 30GB Zune last November. The company is widely expected to come out with follow-up devices for this holiday season, with the consensus expectations calling for a flash player and an update to its existing hard drive-based product.

Microsoft offered no new details Wednesday, with Menendez saying simply, "No announcements to make other than the fact that the Zune team remains committed to building a solid experience for users."

One thing is for sure. It's going to take a lot more than a $50 price cut or this for Microsoft to catch up to Apple.

Apple significantly raised the bar yesterday. While Microsoft already had Wi-Fi in its device, the usefulness of that has been severely limited. The only thing the technology could be used for was to send songs to a nearby Zune, an intriguing idea, but far less powerful than what Steve Jobs showed off on Wednesday.

Microsoft has been careful all along to say it expected a long, expensive, uphill climb in this market. The thing that makes it so tough for competitors is that Apple has shown itself willing and capable of taking its market-leading products, turning them on their head, and making them even better.

The company did so a couple years back when it introduced the iPod Nano to replace the iPod Mini, its best-selling product at the time. And it appears to have done so again, replacing the Nano with a video version and the video iPod with the iPod Touch.

That said, students of Microsoft history know it's a bad idea to count Redmond out. Once it enters a market, the software giant rarely retreats. It tries and tries again.

Would you rather have this iPod Touch or something better?

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET News.com)

Today Apple refreshed its iPod lineup, introducing four iPod options in the process. For roughly $400 you can buy a 16GB iPod Touch with Internet capability, a 160GB iPod Classic or a combo of iPod Shuffles and Nanos.

But you could also splurge on something else entirely.

Overheard here at CNET, ideas include:

• 100 dozen doughnuts.

• One-way plane ticket to Paris.

• Hire a dog walker.

• The Beatles albums on vinyl.

• Garmin eTrex Vista HCx GPS receiver, plus a high-capacity microSD card.

• A newly cheaper iPhone.

• An external hard drive with more space to store music so I could switch out songs on my smaller, cheaper music player.

Of course, as a friend points out, all those doughnuts would require a lot of exercise. For your exercising, you might want an iPod. And the long trip to the City of Light might also be boring without an iPod to use on the plane.

So, what would you do with $400? Would you buy an iPod or something else entirely? And if so, what?

We'll update our list from CNET staff here, as you add to the talkbacks.

When I saw Steve Jobs showing off the new mobile iTunes music store, my first thought was, wow, as if the device wasn't attractive enough to thieves, now they can steal the device and buy more songs off the owner's credit card.

Luckily, Apple thought of that too. I caught up with iPod executive Greg Joswiak after the keynote and he said that the device actually requires users to enter their password before buying anything unless they've entered their password in the last 15 minutes.

It would still suck to have your iPod and all your tunes nabbed, but at least one won't have to bear the thought (and cost) of having a thief expand the music collection on your dime.

Still, like the iPhone, this device can easily have a lot of your personal information on it. Like the other drawbacks, it won't make me not get one, but it probably will keep me from storing as much information as I might otherwise.

(Credit: Ina Fried/CNET Networks)

The new iPod Touch is like an iPhone for commitment-phobes.

You get nearly all the features of the iPhone, but no need to change cell carriers or fork over money to AT&T each month. The new iPod Touch had nearly everything I was hoping for (Wi-Fi, Web browsing and the touch screen).

To my immense embarrassment, I actually found myself cheering when the browser was announced. I was already planning on buying the thing, but was really hoping to augment my Treo's stellar e-mail with a device that can do real Web browsing.

Still, it's worth pointing out that there are a few things found only on the iPhone.

In addition to the obvious phone part, the iPod Touch also lacks the iPhone's dedicated e-mail program or its Google Maps application. Of course, you can get e-mail and maps over the web (either the full version or lite mobile varieties). I checked Gmail briefly on the iPod Touch and it appeared to work fine, though it's not nearly as convenient as the approach on the iPhone.

For those who also think they can make voice calls using VoIP, hold the phone--the Touch doesn't have the speaker and microphone of the iPhone. Of course, one could use the headphones to hear and, if Apple permits, add a microphone via the dock connector port at the bottom.

Still, this is basically what all the fan sites were clamoring for. Now we'll see if they all put their money where their photoshopped images are. I'm planning to.

That's just my take from a very brief trial. Check back to CNET later today for reviewer Donald Bell's First Take on the iPod Nano and the rest of the new crop.

Update: I missed a big thing that the iPhone has that the iPod Touch lacks. It also lacks the iPhone's the built-in camera.