Interesting (but not surprising) iPhone usage stats.

Courtesy of iSuppli.

I wonder is it's user or application driven....

Touchy, feely cellphones...

Researchers at the Glasgow University have developed an interface for cellphones that lets you tell when their handset is running low on juice or laden with new messages simply by reaching into their bag or pocket and giving it a quick shake. The project is called "Shoogle" after a Scots-English word meaning to shake – being demonstrated.
Quote: "the new system uses a phone's speaker and vibrator to make a device feel and sound like it contains liquid when it is running out of power. The same technique can be used to indicate when new messages have arrived, by simulating the sense of balls rattling around inside a box."
This interface combined with the touch interface such as used on the iPhone or the HTC Touch would make a really interesting and user friendly device..

Pardon my French...

Apple seems to desperately want to hold on to their grip on the iPhone and their deals with the various providers (obviously to monetize the hell out of it) and while they are playing catch-up with the hacker and reverse engineering community they were dealt another blow in France.
Apparently (and I'm quoting Muniwireless here): "French law prohibits operators from bundling phones exclusively with their service so they can subsidize a phone and offer it at a lower price to a customer, but they must sell it (even at a higher price) to a customer if he or she wants."
I would have to research it but suspect that a number of other countries have similar laws and if anybody with knowledge of EU law reads this I would be interested to hear if there is any EU legislation in this area.

I sincerely hope that Apple see the light and stop this ridiculous behaviour. While I agree that buying a locked phone and hacking it is a grey area they should make an unlocked version of the phone available to the general public.

Apple iPhone: The ultimate hacking device.

Forget about hacking your own iPhone, how about hacking someone elses?!
Apparently every process on the iPhone runs as root giving them full privileges. That means that a vunerability in an application could result in a fully compromised system.
H.D. Moore describes the whole issue very detailed on the Metasploit blog.
A few quotes: "Every process runs as root. MobileSafari, MobileMail, even the Calculator, all run with full root privileges. Any security flaw in any iPhone application can lead to a complete system compromise. A rootkit takes on a whole new meaning when the attacker has access to the camera, microphone, contact list, and phone hardware. Couple this with "always-on" internet access over EDGE and you have a perfect spying device."

Lisa Vaas on eWeek.com also discussed the issue:

"The shellcode combined with the number of bugs present in the iPhone finally make mobile attacks a real threat," wrote Errata Chief Technology Officer David Maynor in a blog posting."

Charlie Miller—a researcher with Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators, and one of a trio who were first to unveil security issues with the iPhone and release iPhone "vibrate" shellcode at Black Hat 2007—told eWEEK in an interview that he wishes he'd been able to use Metasploit when he was writing exploits for the gadget back in July.

Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff and Joshua Mason created an exploit for the iPhone's Safari Web browser wherein they used an unmodified device to surf to a maliciously crafted drive-by download site. The site downloaded exploit code that forced the iPhone to make an outbound connection to a server controlled by the security firm. The researchers showed that a compromised device then could be forced to send out personal data, including SMS text messages, contact information, call history, voice mail information, passwords, e-mail messages and browsing history.

No news on whether Apple is aware of these issues and what their actions will be. Maybe they are too busy preventing people from unlocking their iPhones.....

Thinking abut buying an iPhone? Think again.

Besides the lack of UMTS/3G, video and low-res camera here’s another few reasons not to buy an iPhone.

iPhone does Germany.

T-Mobile announces expansion of EDGE network.

The iPhone will be available in Germany from November 9th according to this article.In order to overcome the iPhone's glaring lack of 3G/UMTS compatibility T-Mobile has announced that it will expand it EDGE network.I am quite honesty shocked bit this last announcement.
Why not insist that Apple get of their high horse and make the iPhone 3G/UMTS compatible?!

Locked iPhone caused huge roaming bills.

iPhone: $399, roaming: $800 - $3000

The iPhone Mark 1 will not be an international success, period.

Not only is it not compatible with 3G/UMTS networks, the fact that it's locked to one provider can lead to huge bills when roaming.

Consider yourself warned!