apple

Return to perspective: The iPhone, privacy and parenting

Wow! I come back home after attending some 4th of July parties in Chapel Hill, and I find there are more flames on my recent blog posting than in any fireworks show I've seen. How did this happen? And what does it mean? And what am I going to do about it?

How did this happen?

The answer is pretty simple. I wrote a long and convoluted blog posting about identity theft, its epidemic proportions, and the challenges of raising children in such a hostile environment. I then explained how the unthinking act of supplying one's Social Security number (SSN) to any agency not directly connected with Social Security is a violation of the original design of the SSN, a violation of instructions printed on the card (until 1972), a violation of consumer protection and privacy laws passed as recently as 1974, a violation of expert testimony presented to Congress in 1992, 2000, and as recently as last month. Based on these facts, I argued that the reason identity theft is epidemic in this country is precisely because people have either ignored these facts or have been simply unaware of them. I then finished with a twist, noting that the iPhone activation procedure asks customers to do precisely what the security experts agree you should never do, which is to supply a Social Security number as personal identification information. And if you have been following the blog, you know that my wife Amy is going to be getting an iPhone, so I was using the blog to share with her (and all the other parents reading along) some friendly family advice informed from my 20+ years as a computer scientist.

Well, when she picked her jaw back up, she said "You buried the lead!" I turned my article upside down, putting the most important stuff up front; CNET then (re)published the blog in their big news section, and the fireworks began!

That is how it happened.… Read more

Apple exchanging some iPhones?

Apple forums are buzzing with reports from several iPhone users that their shiny new gadgets are suffering from poor call volume and dismal battery life. Indeed, CNET's own photo production manager said his iPhone, which he purchased last Friday, was plagued with such issues. Though we felt the call volume on our review iPhone was somewhat low, we haven't experienced any battery issues. In fact, we've experienced impressive battery life times in our CNET Labs tests.

So we want to know, is this happening to you? Are you experiencing dismal battery life and unacceptable call volume? We'… Read more

Apple logo--a real buzz kill

I found myself at a friend's birthday party July 4 eve with a bunch of San Francisco hipsters celebrating the fact that the next day was a holiday.

Downstairs, DJs were spinning techno and break beats; upstairs was a mellower scene. The attic of this historic home in the Presidio had been turned into the ultimate chill pad, the floors covered in futons and faux-fur throws, lamps throwing colored light on the ceiling; a carefully chosen ambient selection drifting from iTunes. On a big screen, the interactive iTunes Visualizer was warping the music into beautiful swirls of color and … Read more

Touch-sensitivity for a Mightier Mouse?

Is Apple bringing some semblance of the iPhone's touch screen to a new mouse? Could be, if the mouse described in this patent application spotted by Hrmpf.com ever goes from diagram to final product. In lieu of any mouse buttons--Apple's never been a big fan--the surface of the mouse would be one continuous surface made of an "optically transmissive material" and would feature a "multipoint touch-detection mechanism" that could detect one or more of your fingers.

You'd be able to program certain movements of your fingers--swiping, tapping, rotating--to perform certain actions such … Read more

Images done well on your Mac

Yesterday was Independence Day here in the U.S., and if you're like many (me included) you probably spent the day with friends and family, and maybe watched some fireworks when the summer sun finally went down. Chances are you dusted off the barbecue for chicken, hot dogs, and burgers, and maybe even had potato salad or other picnic foods. Another common practice with these types of gatherings, of course, is getting out your digital camera and taking a bunch of fun pictures.

Now that the fun is over, you might be thinking about editing and transferring those pictures to your blog or some other photo site. If you're looking for an easy way to get those pictures ready for prime time, I found a little program that offers a lot of useful tools you can download for the Mac.… Read more

iPhone hack enables wireless without AT&T

Norwegian researcher Jon Lech Johansen, aka DVD Jon, has found a way to activate the iPhone via Windows without subscribing to an AT&T wireless plan. After using the hack, some Internet features, such as YouTube, may still not work. What you do get is use of the wide-screen iPod and Internet access through the Safari browser.

Details can be found on Johansen's So sue me blog. There, Johansen lists several values and offsets that he says must be entered in the itunes.exe file. This requires the use of a hex editor. A new host entry must … Read more

Two new lawsuits for Apple: a photograph and an Avril Lavigne song

Apple may soon be facing some courtroom issues related to a snapshot by an accomplished photographer and a sugary song by pop singer Avril Lavigne, according to two recent sets of court documents that were reported by AppleInsider.

Both cases have yet to go to court.

The first suit, filed on May 25 in a San Francisco court, names Apple only peripherally. James Gangwer and Tommy Dunbar, the members of a 1970s band called the Rubinoos, allege that Canadian singer Lavigne's recent single "Girlfriend" borrowed a bit too liberally from their 1979 song "I Wanna Be … Read more

Meebo now works on the iPhone (kinda)

We got word earlier today the team behind Meebo has feverishly been working since last Friday to get it working on Apple's iPhone. One of the handset's shortcomings is its lack of an instant messaging client. Meebo, which has been providing a Web-based IM client that mimics desktop chatting software, did not work come iPhone launch due to the mobile version of Safari using its double-tap navigation. Meebo requires double clicking to start up an IM conversation, and many of the buttons and window functionality were simply not working.

The result is what the Meebo team claims to … Read more

Apple rolls out web development guide for iPhone apps

Just in time for the iPhoneDevCamp this weekend (where Web developers will gather for a no-holds-barred effort to develop iPhone apps), Apple has released a Web development guide for the iPhone. The guide provides useful hints about the iPhone's abilities, how to integrate your app with the iPhone's phone, mail, and maps, the kinds of media types that the Safari browser supports, and more. Of course, there's also a link to the Safari for Windows beta, plus additional information about the Safari Webkit. If you're a potential iPhone developer, the guide is worth checking out. As … Read more

iPhone battery test results

Immediately after we posted our Apple iPhone review, Senior Editor Donald Bell and I handed our iPhone off to CNET Labs for battery drain tests. And now we can report that our first results are in. Just to remind you, the iPhone has a rated battery life of 8 hours talk time, 24 hours of music playback, 7 hours of video playback, and 6 hours of Internet use.

Talk time: When we tested the iPhone with the Wi-Fi function turned off, we got about 7 hours, 20 minutes of talk time. When we tested it with the Wi-Fi activated, we … Read more