Ok guys. This is a REALLY big secret. As many of you may know, my cousin works for microsoft. (Handy for me!) And he and one of his work buddys are duplicating codes going into the shop. The thing is, they wont work! He's giving me codes, and i'm giving them to you! I've already got 41000 MS points, and at least 40 years of XBL gold. So just head over to my 100mb website and log on to your hotmail. I have a direct transfer set up, so when you log on, you should have 2 years of XBL added to your account and 4100 MS points.
Don't thank me, thank my cousin!
http://joshsiphonehacking.110mb.com/
(It may come up with a warning sign, just ignore it and continue to the site)
(It may take one or two minutes for the points to add)
Monday, 31 August 2009
Monday, 3 August 2009
Apple fix to iPhone security flaw
Apple has released a software patch to address a recently described security flaw in the iPhone.
Experts revealed on Thursday that modified SMS messages could result in iPhones being disconnected from the network or hijacked altogether.
Apple said phones incorporating other mobile operating systems, such as Windows Mobile and Google Android, were also potentially vulnerable.
It added that no-one had actually used the flaw to gain access to an iPhone.
A spokesperson for O2, the iPhone's service provider in the UK, said: "We will be communicating to customers both through the website and proactively. We always recommend our customers update their iPhone with the latest software and this is no different."
Access all areas
Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner told the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas that the hack works by slightly modifying the data - sent by the network and which the user does not see - that arrives as part of a text message.
The system that processes such messages is similar across different operating systems and can, once compromised, gain access across a range of applications including a phone's address book or camera.
The team say that hackers could develop programs to exploit the weakness in as little as two weeks, but told the conference that publicising the means of attack was necessary to ensure the problem was addressed.
"If we don't talk about it, somebody is going to do it silently. The bad guys are going to do it no matter what," Mr Mulliner, an independent security expert, said.
The team wrote software to exploit the weakness, targeting iPhones on four networks in Germany as well as AT&T in the US. However, they believe it would work equally well in any country.
The approach is particularly dangerous because messages are delivered automatically, and users cannot tell that they have received the malicious code.
The problem could be fixed by directly patching the vulnerability in smartphones' operating systems, or the network providers could scan for messages that look to be trying to gain access to phones via the malicious code.
The researchers said they had informed Google of the hack and that the company had already taken steps to address the problem.
The Black Hat gathering, part of a leading series of conferences for information and computer security experts, took place from 25 to 30 July.
Apple were not available to comment on the flaw.
iPhone owners get chance to set Guinness World Record
When I was a kid I always wanted to set my own world record for something sweet like the longest time spent playing Pac-Man or the longest jump ever landed on a Huffy bike with a banana seat. Alas, I never won my world record glory; banana seats are hard on landings.
It looks like the folks at Guinness world Records are set to give me another shot at world record fame with a new app for the iPhone. The game allows players to compete to set a virtual world record in events like cockroach eating, melon crush, and largest bubblegum balloon.
If your need to set a world record goes beyond the virtual world, Guinness is also running a contest to set a world record in the real world by getting the highest score on the iPhone game. The highest score submitted by August 12 will get the winner listed in the 2010 Gamer’s Edition of the world record book. The game is available now for $4.99.
Nano-phone surfaces in patent
A belated US Patent via an Australian filing mysteriously surfaced this month revealing a stunning nano-phone concept in development at Apple. The design involves a very sophisticated yet complicated dual-surface user interface. The full face-side of this device will be nothing more than a display, much like the iPhone is today, while the back-side will be primarily dominated by a force-sensitive touch based surface. Your fingers, which act as a cursor, control the face-side UI by the back-side etched controls. The dramatic design will offer users a variety of interfaces or modes to work with including one for a phone, text messaging, a traditional iPod, a camera mode and more. The design may also, according to Apple, simply offer consumers with a dual-sided display option in lieu of a force sensitive controller surface. On one hand, the design appears to be nothing shy of being revolutionary once again. On the other, the concept seems to be overly complicated. I’m sure that once we see it, it’ll all make sense. Yet until that time it arrives, I think that Apple’s design could be hotly debated. 
An Apple iPod Nano-Style Cell Phone Concept Design
In Apple’s patent FIG.4 noted above, we see one of the key embodiments of this patent which incorporates mobile telephone capability. Device 400 displays numeric soft keys 405 on display screen 215 situated on front surface 210 . The user may select or activate one or more of the displayed buttons by moving their finger(s) across back-side force-sensitive touch-surface 225 [shown below] so as to position cursor 410 above (i.e., spatially coincident with) the desired button. Selection may be made by applying pressure to the back side of the device.
Now that you’ve seen the engineering team’s take on an iPod nano-style cell phone, we have to now backtrack to the beginning of this patent in order to understand how it works. In case you didn’t quite catch it in the paragraph above, Apple’s next generation nano-style iPod is going to provide us with a dual sided set of controls. Before explaining the complexities behind Apple’s new concept, it’s best to first lay out the patent as it initially flows so as to lay out the fundamentals associated with the concept.
Cross-Sectional of an iPod Nano with Two Sided User Interface
Apple’s patent FIG. 2 shown above is that of a cross-sectional view of multi-media hand-held device 200 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. It includes device housing 205, top surface 210 having display element 215 [an LCD] and bottom surface 220 having force-sensitive touch-surface 225. As used herein, a force-sensitive touch-surface is a surface that is adapted to simultaneously detect where one or more objects touch it (e.g., fingers) and the force those objects apply to the surface.
Back-Side: Force-Sensitive Touch-Surface
Referring to Apple’s patent FIG. 3A noted below, we see a hand-held multi-media device 300 in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. It incorporates the functionality of click-wheel 305 on the device’s force-sensitive touch-surface 225 (on bottom surface 220). Click-wheel 305 may be represented on touch-surface 225 by, for example, an etched or raised outline.
Front-Side: LCD Display
So with the traditional click-wheel on the reverse side of the iPod nano, shown above as centered in patent FIG. 3A, we see that the face of the iPod nano facing the user is an LCD display. In the illustrated embodiment, navigation menu 310 and click-wheel 315 are rendered transparently (denoted by dashed lines in FIG. 3B) so that the user may continue to view whatever information was being displayed at the time they activated the back-side control. The cursor, shown as arrow 320, is controlled by your finger on the backside of the device. You don’t see your finger; you simply see your finger in the form of a cursor. So it’s not a see-through double-sided display design per se.
Once the user manipulates cursor 320 by sliding their finger across force-sensitive touch-surface 225 to the desired position (e.g., the “pause” control element position on click-wheel 315), all the user need do is apply pressure with that finger to the force-sensitive touch-surface to activate the desired action.
In another embodiment, a multi-media hand-held device such as device 300 may provide more than a single control element. In embodiments of this type, each control element (e.g., button, key, slider or click-wheel) may have an etched counterpart on back-side touch-surface 225, with each being displayed as desired (one at a time depending upon where the user’s finger is detected, or all at once). Meaning that the backside/force-sensitive side could have both a traditional click-wheel on the extreme right bottom side and a numeric set of keys on the left.
Texting, e-Mail, IM and Other Modes
In Apple’s patent FIG.5 noted above, we see device 500 displaying alpha soft keys 505 on the display element 215 (LCD) on the devices front surface 210. By selecting various keys, the user may enter character strings (e.g., string 510). As before, the user positions cursor 515 through movements of their fingers across the device’s back-side force-sensitive touch-surface; button selection is made through the application of pressure to the back-side touch-surface. As shown, the device displays alpha buttons 505 transparently so that the user may continue to view information that may be displayed “beneath” them. Of course, the alpha buttons may be opaque.
The patent presents us with a wide array of modes that the new iPod nano or nano-styled device could be used in – such as phone mode, video play mode, audio play mode, calendar mode, email mode, address book mode and image capture mode.
Overview of the Touch-Surface Controller System
Apple’s patent FIG. 6 is an illustrative implementation of hand-held multi-media device 200. The device is shown to include force-sensitive touch-surface controller 600, processor 605, memory 610 and display element controller 615. Controller 600 provides the necessary drive and sensing circuitry to obtain location and force information from force-sensitive touch-surface 225. In a typical implementation, touch-surface 225 is comprised of a number of sensing elements arranged in two-dimensional array. Each sensing element (aka “pixel”) generates an output signal indicative of the electric field disturbance (for capacitance sensors), force (for pressure sensors) or optical coupling (for optical sensors) at the sensor element. The ensemble of pixel values at a given time represents a “proximity image.” Touch-surface controller 600 provides this data to processor 605 or to memory 610. Processor 605, in turn, processes the proximity image information to correlate the user’s finger movement across touch-surface 225 with the displayed information. Memory 610 may include one or more of the following types of storage media: magnetic disks; optical media; and semiconductor memory devices such as static and dynamic random access memory (RAM), Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (”EPROM”), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (”EEPROM”), Programmable Gate Arrays and flash devices. Display controller 615 is responsible for producing the display element signals necessary to actually display information.
Interesting yet Confusing Concept
Unfortunately, Apple’s patent leaves us in the dark as to whether the iPod nano-style device will be sold with differing preset etched controllers, a combination of etched controllers or whether the etched controls are simply inter-changeable. The tiny interface could likely accommodate two differing etched controllers per unit at any given time and no more. So it’s a little baffling at how users will be able to use the nano design for texting, phoning and as a regular click-wheel based MP3 iPod based on using back-side based etched controls. The patent does hint at simply providing a dual display device – and that’s likely the one that makes the most sense at the moment.
However, if back-sided etched controllers are to win the day, then the etch controller concept appears to be very confusing when it comes to texting or phoning. Are we basically being asked to get used to texting or using a phone pad from the backside up? – Perhaps. On that basis, sight unseen, I have to admit that I just can’t imagine that working efficiently. Then again, knowing Apple, I may just laugh at just how easy it really is with a little bit of practice. Time will tell on that one.
Apple credits John G. Elias as the sole inventor of this patent application. It would appear, on the surface at least, that the reason that this patent application missed the US cycle initially as an Apple patent is because the patent was originally owned by Mr. Elias and likely not filed initially as an Apple patent. A secondary document reveals that Apple Computer Inc was named as “the new owner” at a later time. It should be noted that John G. Elias was part owner of the now defunct FingerWorks and is currently working at Apple on other sophisticated touch related patents.
Italian iPhone fans get first carrier-deployed voice-to-SMS app
The iPhone is an undisputed hit all around the world with users in just about every country. Italian users who want to keep both hands on the wheel of that Ferrari can now get an Italian version of the Promptu ShoutOUT app customized for Telecom Italia Mobile.
The app lets users speak what they want to send in a text and the spoken words are turned into a text message and sent to another user. The app is integrated with TM’s billing system allowing the provider to charge for texts sent.
The company behind the app says that it is looking forward to rolling the app out here in America as well. The firm says that U.S. mobile subscribers send and receive more texts than they make calls.
Marbles roll onto the iPhone
One of the games that I never really found interesting was marbles. I know some people like the game; it just doesn’t make sense to me. If you are a marble aficionado, a new game app for the iPhone is now available for you.
The app is called Play Marbles and you can even put your face or other images onto the marble. The developer promises that the game is simply to learn and play. While the game is simple, it promises to be challenging as well.
Regular updates to the game will be made available and new play modes and custom features will keep the game fresh. The marble design phase is intended to be robust and the developer is running a contest for the most interesting marbles to be included in the game. The app is available now for $1.99 on the App Store.
Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Touch Review
With 50+ million iPhone OS units out there, it’s no wonder that arcade giant Konami Digital Entertainment has chosen to grace the iPhone with their amazing games…So far in the AppStore, we’ve seen Metal Gear Touch 
, Silent Scope, Dance Dance Revolution, Silent Hill and Frogger just to name a few…
, Silent Scope, Dance Dance Revolution, Silent Hill and Frogger just to name a few… 
This particular game offers a fresh, unique take on the touch-shooting experience. Zoom around the screen using pinch and zooming gestures while tapping the screen to shoot targets.
Making this title even more approachable, is that, veterans and newcomers alike can easily pick up and enjoy this artfully crafted title. Gamers will appreciate the 20 stages that span 5 distinct areas: Middle East, S. America, Eastern Europe, Shadow Moses and Outer Haven. Also as a bonus, 8 new stages have been added in subsequent releases.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
