News

Apple Special Event on September 5th

Late today Apple sent out invitations to "special" members of the media (aka not us) to attend a special event at Moscone West in San Francisco on September 5th at 10am. iPods and other music related announcements are expected.

Television Shows now available on iTunes UK

Apple's UK iTunes store is now offering television shows to customers. Individual episodes are available for £1.89 per episode and offer television shows from ABC, Disney Channel, Nikelodeon, MTV, Paramound Comedy and Playhouse Disney.

The Great iPhone Unlocking

This past week, there have been three separate hacks that have successfully unlocked the iPhone from AT&T.

George Holtz, 17 - Hacked his iPhone by opening up the phone and physically re-soddering the circuit board connections. The teenager has since traded the phone for the Nissan 350Z and 3 more iPhones to replace his hacked phone.

www.cnn.com—index.html

Next, a group called iPhone SIM free claim that they have cracked the iPhone Sim Lock and has proved the SiM unlock to Engadget. According to Engadget, the hack only took a few minutes and worked flawlessly on T-mobile.

www.engadget.com—iphone-unlocked-atandt-loses-iphone-exclusivity-august-24-2007

Third, UniquePhones has also claimed to unlock the iPhone. They claim that they will soon sell their software for $25-50 in the near future.

www.engadget.com—uniquephones-releases-iphone-unlock-video-in-attempt-to-prove-ha

According to a statement appearing on iPhoneunlocking.com, the group, which planned commercial release of its iPhone unlocking software, has put the sale of the software on hold following contact from a law firm representing AT&T. A subsidiary of UniquePhones, iPhoneunlocking claims they “received a telephone call from a Menlo Park, California, law firm at approximately 2:54 a.m.” on Saturday morning, and that the firm “presented issues such as copyright infringement and illegal software dissemination

The Legalaties:

DMCA Loophole? "Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network"

Problem with reverse engineering or hacking the firmware?

Probably a violation of Terms of Service

Will Apple Stop This?

Real World Applicability?

Orange says "in talks" with Apple for France iPhone Contract

www.appleinsider.com—orange_says_iphone_talks_underway_but_no_deal_signed_report.html

Last show we talked about the Financial Times reporting that T-Mobile of Germany, O2 in the UK and Orange of France had been awarded the iPhone contract in Europe. Reuters now reports that France's Orange has told members of the media that several wireless operators are in talks with Apple over the iPhone but that no deal has yet to be signed.

iResQ Now Offers iPhone Repairs

www.iresq.com—iphone

Services offered include a new battery ($79), new screen ($249), having the camera removed ($99)

EA Relases Tiger Woods PGA, but Not On The Mac

EA announced Tuesday the release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08, a new version of the popular golf game for multiple platforms. While a Mac version is anticipated, it’s not arriving simultaneously with other platform releases as first promised. A press release published by EA notes that game has been made for the Mac along with Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Windows and PSP platforms, although the Mac is curiously absent from any mention on the game’s official Web site.

www.macworld.com—index.php

Does iPhone Update 1.0.2 reduce battery life?

A surprisingly high number of iPhone owners are reporting shorter-than-previous battery life after applying the iPhone 1.0.2 firmware/software update.

www.iphoneatlas.com—battery-life-shorter-after-iphone-102-update

iPhoto 7.0.2

www.apple.com—iphoto702.html

This update to iPhoto addresses issues associated with publishing to .Mac Web Gallery, rebuilding thumbnails, and editing books. It also addresses a number of other minor issues.

Airport Extreme 802.11n Firmware 7.2.1

www.apple.com—airportextremebasestationwith80211nfirmware721.html

The AirPort Extreme Base Station with 802.11n and Firmware 7.2.1 is Wi-Fi certified for 802.11n draft 2.0,” noted Apple. “This update also includes bug fixes and security updates.”

Apple reports that the software fixes a security problem that could enable remote attackers to “adversely affect network performance.” The exploit involved the IPv6 protocol’s handling of type 0 routing headers; the update addresses the issue by disabling support for such headers.