Jailbreak, app piracy, and the true cost of theft

 

Now that the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is available for the iPhone 4S, new iPad, and older devices, the subject of jailbreak in general is getting a lot of attention again, and with it, the dark side of jailbreaking. It seems whenever someone wants to attack the very concept of jailbreak, one of the first salvos unleashed is app piracy. The sad, ugly truth is that those attacks are made possible because some people who jailbreak do so mainly or entirely to get "free" apps. And the sadder, uglier truth is that there's no such thing as "free". Everything has a cost. Even and especially theft.

We're going to use the words "theft" and "steal" here instead of piracy because that's what we're talking about. Steve Jobs once raised a pirate flag at Apple as a symbol of their counterculture and ideals, and the jailbreak community has embraced that spirit.

By no means has the jailbreak community embraced theft.

Both iMore and Mobile Nations have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to even the discussion of piracy. We place an incredibly high value on developers and the apps they make, and don't want to play any part, directly or indirectly, in disseminating information that hurts developers, the iOS platform, and the legitimate jailbreak community.

Likewise, prominent jailbreak developers have gone out of their way, numerous times, to distance themselves from app theft and ask those using their software not to steal apps.

There's a reason for that. App theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts the iOS platform, it hurts iOS developers, and because of that, it ultimately hurts iOS users.

Stealing apps isn't free. It comes with a very real cost.

 

[VIA] iMORE

New iPad overtakes original iPad in the US after only 2 months: Report

A new report from app analytics company Localytics claims Apple's latest iPad model is now more widely used in the United States than the first-generation iPad, a mere two months after the former hit the market.

We already reported usage was off to a very strong start, but Localytics says the new iPad is now up nearly 50 percent compared to its launch-week share.

The report will be published on Localytics' blog later today but was shared with The Next Web in advance. The company's app analytics solutions are used by companies like Fox, AT&T, Rhapsody, Qualcomm and The New York Times.

According to Localytics, its stats show that the iPad 2 remains the most used of all three generations of iPads by a margin (60 percent vs. 20 percent for both the other tablets) but that the new iPad has overtaken the original one in a hurry.

Indeed, the third-gen tablet keeps selling like hotcakes as Apple makes it increasingly available in stores worldwide.

The device sports a new dual-core A5X processor with quad-core graphics, and a Retina Display with a resolution of 2048 by 1536 pixels.

Gartner, meanwhile, says iOS continues to be the dominant tablet OS and is projected to account for 61.4 percent of worldwide media tablet sales to end users in 2012. In other words, the iPad's strongest rival remains the iPad.

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Oliver Yatco

Article: Apple 'plans 7-inch iPad for October'

Apple 'plans 7-inch iPad for October' - Telegraph Tech

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Hackers break into 55,000 Twitter accounts, leaving passwords bare

In a massive leak, some 55,000 Twitter accounts have been compromised, leaving them open for abuse. According to AirDemon, accounts belonging to celebrities were attacked in the process.

The leak is large enough that 5 PasteBin pages were required to host the list. I'm going to link to them, only so that you can see if you are among the hacked: one, two, three, four, five. The pages have racked up thousands of views, implying that the accounts could have already been compromised. If you see any funny tweets in your stream, this might be why.

According to initial reports, a 'Twitter insider' said the following [TNW has not verified this remark, so treat it appropriately]: "The micro blogging platform is aware of this hack and was taking necessary actions to save those people's account from malicious activity." I'm leery of the statement as I can't imagine that anyone close to Twitter would call it a 'micro blogging platform,' but for now that also conjecture.

TNW has reached out to Twitter for comment or confirmation.

TNW, after a glance through the lists, can state that many accounts present appear to be bot accounts, or at least have that look. Some however, are not, containing passwords that are perfectly reasonable (connected to the name in the email address, and very breakable).

What can you do to protect yourself? Change your passwords regularly, and ensure that they are strong, employing capital letters, and both alpha and numeric characters. Still, so long as there are groups that get their jollies by creating a bit of mayhem, this sort of thing won't stop happening.

Check if you are on the lists, and then go think up a new passwords. You haven't done so recently, have you?

Update: Twitter got back to TNW and informed us that they are actively looking into the situation. In the interim they have sent password resets to affected accounts. The company also stated, as we noted, that the list conatins many spammy accounts. When we hear more, we'll put it here.

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Article: Google Makes Its Google+ Notifications In Gmail More Interactive

Google Makes Its Google+ Notifications In Gmail More Interactive - TechCrunch

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Article: Amtrak Enlists iPhone as a Service Tool

Amtrak Enlists iPhone as a Service Tool - Apple Hot News

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Samsung Galaxy S III Finally Official, Packs A 4.8-Inch 720p Super AMOLED HD Display With Eye Tracking Technology

The day we've all been waiting for has finally arrived, and Samsung just unveiled its third-generation Galaxy smartphone. As expected, it's going by the moniker Galaxy S III, and it's stuffed to the gullet with cutting-edge hardware and software tweaks:

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Titanium Backup updated, addition of Google Drive sync for Pro users

Titanium Backup Pro has long been a favourite in the Android toolbox for root users. Its feature list and relative ease of use have seen it become a must have, including the ability to sync your backups with your Dropbox account. With the recent launch of Google Drive, Titanium now offers sync to your Drive account with this latest update to the application should you be using the paid, Pro version. 

Google Drive sync isn't the only new feature to be heading our way though. The full changelog reads a little something like this:

• [PRO] Supports Google Drive!
• [PRO] Can use a Filter for Dropbox/Box/Google Drive sync. All features from the Filters screen are supported.
• Can backup & restore system apps on stock ROMs, for backups made with TB 5.1.0+.
• Fixed infamous "Android Market query failed" error when viewing Market info on an app.
• Fixed frozen system apps getting defrosted when integrating their updates into ROM.
• Fixed TB launch failure on some ROMs (for LG Optimus 2X & SGS2).
• Misc improvements & bugfixes.

As always, we've got download links to the Google Play store for you after the break. 

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Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy S III review

So, the Samsung Galaxy S III (with roman numerals) is finally here, and Pocket-lint is one of the first in the world to actually get its hands on one of the Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich-touting devices.

And, although we haven't had time to review it fully - including a more in-depth play with TouchWiz and the user interface other than specific new features - it's looking good. Very good indeed.

The handset itself is massive, measuring 136.6mm tall, 70.6mm wide and boasting a waistline of 8.6mm - which is basically as thin as its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S II, but much bigger.

It's heavier, at 133g, although that's really because of the extra glass needed to front the gorgeous 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED touchscreen, which is eye-searingly vibrant. And that extra weight doesn't matter much in the hand, you'd barely notice (too busy looking at the tasty display).

Its resolution is HD at 1280 x 720 with a 306 PPI, so much sharper and clearer than on the previous model and, if pushed, we'd say it is better when looked at in direct comparison to an iPhone 4S Retina display, certainly with colour representation, anyway.

Our initial thoughts are that off-angle it performs better than the Samsung Galaxy Note, which can introduce a green tinge when looked at it acutely, but we'd have to spend more time with it to find out for sure. It can definitely shine brightly though, with the maximum brightness setting being dazzling.

The other thing you notice immediately is that - contrary to much of the rumoured nonsense that has littered the internet of late - there is a home button, which is solid and very tangible, and Menu/Recent Apps and Back icons either side on the fascia itself - they glow when in use, fade away when not.

On the rear there's an 8-megapixel camera and LED flash, while the front houses a 1.9-megapixel webcam that is also employed for face recognition purposes. This is one of the SGSIII's stand-out new features, which Samsung has called Smart Stay. The phone intelligently sees when you're looking at it and ensures that the screen never dims when it has eye contact.

 

Continue [VIA] pocket-lint

This apps turnds "slide to unlock” into an addictive game for apple fans

If you use an iDevice, you’re aware of the slide to unlock functionality that Apple brought to the world. Sure, it’s a feature that you’ll find on most smartphones, but it’s something very unique and iconic to Apple.

Folks at a company called The Falco Initiative have come up with the ultimate, and addictive, iOS-friendly game that I’ve ever played. It’s called Slide and it tests your ability to slide quickly and accurately.

Yes, the thing that we all have to do every single time we need to check our tweets or email, has been turned into a game. And I love it.

Slide has a few gameplay options, with the “classic” version allowing you to slide to unlock as quickly as you can for points and achievements. If you thought that this action would get boring after a while, it totally doesn’t.

When you try the other modes of gameplay you’ll find that it gets increasingly harder, asking you to swipe both ways:

The game uses the OpenFeint and Game Center platforms to make the game more social, allowing you to share your high scores with your friends.

Vibhu Norby, co-founder of Everyme, says that one of his friends created the app and that it was originally called “Slide to Unlock”, but guess who had a problem with that name? Correct.

I highly recommending grabbing this free game, but get ready to lose a few hours of your productivity in the process.

[Via] thenextweb.com