iPhone SMS Hack Patched

One day after security experts announced their iPhone SMS hack research at the Black Hat Security Conference, Apple released a patch to address the flaw.

Experts revealed on Thursday that malformed SMS messages could be used to hijack an iPhone. Originally, an O2 spokesperson was the first to reveal the upcoming fix, noting that the patch would be available Saturday through iTunes.

"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."

Apple delivered the fix sooner than expected, however, with the new OS version, 3.0.1 becoming available by mid-day in the U.S.

Security researchers Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner released their findings the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas on Thursday. Further reports indicate that the flaw exists in most, if not all, GSM devices based on the way they handle SMS messages.

Miller and Mulliner also found a hole in the iPhone's Safari browser way back in 2007 when it was first launched.

Private Beta Testers to Get a Free Windows 7 Copy After All

I've beta-tested OSes for Microsoft before, and not as a public beta tester, but as a private beta tester. In those cases, testers would always get a free copy of the OS when it shipped. Thus, it was a surprise when Microsoft told Windows 7 private beta testers they would not get a free copy. My, what bad PR (and probably, a poor response from beta testers) can do.

Microsoft has relented and will now give Technical Beta Testers (i.e. private beta invitees) a free copy of Windows 7 Ultimate.

Beta testers will get a copy on August 6, the same day MSDN and TechNet subscribers gain access to the RTM build. Note: this is not an offer to public beta testers, but for those people who were invited to the private bate program.

Here's the message Microsoft posted to the beta test newsgroup:

Thank you for doing your part in making Windows 7 great! As a member of the technical beta program you took the time to download, install and give us your feedback on Windows 7 during development. Over the last 7 months you have participated in chats, live meetings and newsgroups as well as reported bugs to help us find and fix many issues. To recognize your outstanding contribution to the product we are pleased to offer you a complimentary copy of Windows 7 for your personal use.

Details:

• All current members of our English technical and international mini-beta programs are eligible.
• We are offering you a full (non-upgrade) copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition for your own personal use, not to be resold.
• You will be able to get access to your copy one of two ways:

A) To get up and running quickly you will be able to download your copy and get your product key via Microsoft Connect. English downloads will be available August 6th and other languages will follow as they become available.

B) Members of our English beta program have an alternative. We have reserved a limited amount of boxed retail copies that you can choose to receive instead. These are 'first come, first served'. If you opt to have us ship you the boxed copy you should be aware that it will take much longer until you will be up and running on the final version. We will need time to manufacture and ship the copies to you. This means that you may not receive them until they are available on shelves October 22nd or later. Also, for people outside the United States you may be required to pay duties or other local taxes upon receipt.

Instructions and forms for choosing one of the above options will be available on Microsoft Connect on Monday August 3rd.

On behalf of the entire Windows product team, THANK YOU!

Paul

A happy ending for beta testers, and a way to make sure people are willing to take the time and spend the effort in the future as well. A wise decision.

iPhone Jailbreaking Threatens the World as We Know It: Apple

Apple continues to give end users reasons to jailbreak their iPhones, by rejecting applications that are pretty darn useful, for various reasons (in this case, because it might affect AT&T revenue). Of course, jailbroken iPhones might destroy the world as we know it, if Apple is to be believed.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is using the Copyright Office's triennial exemption process to try to get an exemption for iPhone jailbreaking. The process is moving along, and with the Copyright Office asking for clarification and both the EFF (.PDF) and Apple (.PDF) responding.

Apple has, in the past, held that jailbreaking is illegal. But Apple goes further, using scare tactics as well as legal arguments to try to persuade the copyright office.

Did you know that jailbroken iPhones can bring down cell towers? Here's what Apple said (emphasis mine):

For example, each iPhone contains a unique Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number that identifies the phone to the cell tower. With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided. If changing the ECID results in multiple phones having the same ECID being connected to a given tower simultaneously, the tower software might react in an unknown manner, including possibly kicking those phones off the network, making their users unable to make phone calls or send/receive data. By hacking the BBP software through a jailbroken phone and taking control of the BBP software, a hacker can initiate commands to the cell tower software that may skirt the carrier’s rules limiting the packet size or the amount of data that can be transmitted, or avoid charges for sending data. More pernicious forms of activity may also be enabled. For example, a local or international hacker could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial of service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data. In short, taking control of the BBP software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer – to potentially catastrophic result. The technological protection measures were designed into the iPhone precisely to prevent these kinds of pernicious activities, and if granted, the jailbreaking exemption would open the door to them.

Finally, like Apple, AT&T’s support organization is burdened by users of jailbroken phones who encounter functional problems with the phone that result from jailbreaking. Such users often call AT&T to report such problems, believing that they may be the result of problems on AT&T’s network. AT&T is then forced to spend significant resources investigating and diagnosing the problems to determine whether, in fact, there is a problem with AT&T’s network or service.

In short, all those dropped calls and poor service that occurred last year when the iPhone 3G was introduced were because of jailbroken iPhones. Shame, shame.

As far as the claims about the BBP, that would only occur if someone wanted to unlock an iPhone. Jailbreaking is a requirement in order to unlock the iPhone, but jailbreaking itself does not "equal" unlocking.

Wanting to make sure it added more fuel (fright?) to the fire, Apple on Thursday added a support article to its site warning about jailbreaking. The article is titled "Unauthorized modification of iPhone OS has been a major source of instability, disruption of services, and other issues."

Ouch, watch out.

What the article goes on to state is a number of instability issues:

Device and application instability: Frequent and unexpected crashes of the device, crashes and freezes of built-in apps and third-party apps, and loss of data.

Unreliable voice and data: Dropped calls, slow or unreliable data connections, and delayed or inaccurate location data.

Disruption of services: Services such as Visual Voicemail, YouTube, Weather, and Stocks have been disrupted or no longer work on the device. Additionally, third-party apps that use the Apple Push Notification Service have had difficulty receiving notifications or received notifications that were intended for a different hacked device. Other push-based services such as MobileMe and Exchange have experienced problems synchronizing data with their respective servers.

Compromised security: Security compromises have been introduced by these modifications that could allow hackers to steal personal information, damage the device, attack the wireless network, or introduce malware or viruses.

Shortened battery life: The hacked software has caused an accelerated battery drain that shortens the operation of an iPhone or iPod touch on a single battery charge.

Inability to apply future software updates: Some unauthorized modifications have caused damage to the iPhone OS that is not repairable. This can result in the hacked iPhone or iPod touch becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone OS update is installed.

Jailbreaking is just a software modification that can be undone by restoring the iPhone. Similarly, a ROM update will "jail" the iPhone again. While most users don't see a performance hit when running a jailbroken iPhone, they do see an whole new universe of applications they can install on the iPhone.

These are all generalities, of course. It is possible that badly coded application could indeed cause an issue on your iPhone. In general, however, these are all scare tactics by Apple.

Are you scared yet?

Senate Seeks a Ban on Text Messaging While Driving

As studies continue to be conducted that point out the dangers of text messaging while driving, the Senate is pushing for a ban on that activity. Just this week, a new study asserted that text messaging while driving raises accident or near-accident risk by 23 times.

Under the proposed bill, states would have two years to ban the sending of text and e-mail messages by drivers or (else) lose 25% of their federal highway funds each year.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, one of four Democratic senators to introduce the proposal, said the following:

“Studies show this is far more dangerous than talking on a phone while driving or driving while drunk, which is astounding."

The other sponsors of the bill are Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Kay R. Hagan of North Carolina.

Currently only 14 states have bans on text messaging while driving. Meanwhile, the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety agencies in every state, opposes texting while driving also opposes the legislation. As association spokesman said:

“We oppose sanctioning states since there is not yet a proven effective method for enforcing a texting or cellphone ban."

The problem, quite naturally, is enforcement. As an example, in California, where a hands-free law went into affect, I see plenty of drivers still using the phone without a headset. Texting (or emailing) is a lot harder to catch, because people can text in their laps, out of sight.

On the other hand, police could, if an accident occurs, check with carriers to find out if the driver(s) was texting at the time of an accident. That seems simple enough. At any rate, seatbelt enforcement was similarly thought to be impossible, way back in the day, so that accuse, used a blocker to setting up such a ban, seems on the lame side.

What do you readers think? I'm surprised this is even in the process of moving forward in the Senate; we can expect the wireless industry (lobbyists) to be fully against this.

Researchers: SMS Hack Can Hijack "Every iPhone In The World"

The Black Hat conference is an annual security get-together that frequently demos newly exposed security holes. And boy, this iPhone SMS hack is a doozy.

Cybersecurity researcher Charlie Miller and his fellow researcher Collin Mulliner plan to present research on a huge iPhone security hole. Thursday at the Black Hat cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas. Not an iPhone virus, but rather an SMS hack, the issue can allow a hacker complete control over an iPhone.

According to the researchers, they will demonstrate how to send a series of mostly invisible SMS "bursts" that can give a hacker complete control of the iPhone. That control will include dialing the phone, visiting Web sites, turning on the device's camera and microphone, and more. The hacker will also be able to send more text messages to facilitate spreading the iPhone SMS hack to other iPhones.

To an end user, the evidence that someone is trying to use the iPhone's SMS hack on your device will be a text message on your iPhone containing only a single square character. The only way to avoid being hacked would be to quickly turn off the device. In terms of the amount of control, this hack sounds, quite honestly, very similar to how certain Trojans can turn a PC into a bot, and similarly control it remotely.

Charlie Miller told Forbes:

"This is serious. The only thing you can do to prevent it is turn off your phone. Someone could pretty quickly take over every iPhone in the world with this."

That's a bit of hyperbole, as first a hacker would have to know the appropriate phone numbers to use to hack an iPhone (and there are plenty of phone numbers assigned to other devices). It is obviously very serious, and despite the researchers sharing their results with Apple over a month ago, there has been no movement on a fix as of yet.

Interestingly, the researchers also found a similar "remote control" texting bug in Windows Mobile, and other bugs in Android and the iPhone that can let hackers boot the phones off the network. The Android bug has been closed, but the second iPhone bug has not.

Miller and Mulliner also found a hole in the iPhone's Safari browser way back in 2007 when it was first launched.

Windows 7 Activation Already Hacked

With the help of some Chinese hackers, Windows 7 has already been cracked, and this crack won't be easy to seal. On the other hand, it won't be the sort of crack that is easy for the typical user, either.

The leak started with a leaked Lenovo DVD .ISO, which yielded an OEM-SLP product key and OEM certificate for Windows 7 Ultimate. Which means what?

SLP is System-Locked Pre-installation, a procedure that is used to pre-activate Windows OSes for mass distribution by OEMs. You don't think OEMs have to enter a key for each and every PC they sell, do you? Essentially, this information could be used to activate Windows Ultimate, and since it doesn't rely on an activation key like you get on your retail copy of Windows, the key couldn't be blacklisted.

However, SLP also relies on SLIC (Software Licensing Description Table), which is part of the BIOS and is used to determine if the OS can be pre-activated as noted above. SLIC 2.1 is used for Windows 7; SLIC 2.0 for Windows Vista.

Newer PCs that are shipping now should have SLIC 2.1 built-into their BIOS. If you have an older BIOS you can mod the BIOS or run a bootloader to emulate SLIC 2.1.

With that, and the even uglier fact that the key is a master one, which can be used to activate other OEM brands, an enterprising person can permanently activate Windows 7 Ultimate and have it pass WGA. Additionally, Microsoft uses the same digitally signed OEM certificate, which has an .xrm-ms extension, as that in Windows Vista. Whoops.

There's little likelihood that Microsoft will change things up and invalidate this key as a similar leak occurred for Windows Vista, and they never closed that hole. It would be a major issue for them.

What they really need to do is figure out a way to keep these leaks from happening. Considering this one came from China, (which is no surprise), the obvious implication is: stopping leaks in the future, probably not possible.

Microhoo! at Last as Microsoft - Yahoo Search Deal Confirmed

After 1 1/2 years of negotiations, which all began with a $44.6 billion bid by Microsoft for Yahoo!, the two companies have come to a more limited agreement, one involving their search businesses only.

That first deal was flatly turned down by Yahoo! and then-CEO Jerry Yang, but since Carol Bartz took over as CEO, talks restarted in earnest (though it is likely that the discussions never completely stopped).

The deal is expected to finalize in early 2010, assuming approval by regulators. Even then the combined search market share of the companies will be only approximately 30%, while Google has more than twice that share.

Besides regulators, Microsoft and Yahoo can expect opposition from Google, as they mentioned in their early Wednesday morning press conference. They noted that the deal will likely face opposition from "the competitor." Interestingly, they managed to avoid using the name Google in said conference.

The deal is all about scale and efficiencies, and that can be seen without even being told that information by the companies. There will be redundancies, and those employees will be let go, obviously.

The deal involves only search ads, not display ads. Here are the details we have been given so far:

• The term of the agreement is 10 years;

• Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;

• Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.

• Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.

• Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.

• Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.

• Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.

• Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.

• Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.

• Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.

• At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.

• The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.

• The agreement does not cover each company’s web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies’ businesses. In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously.

There is no upfront payment, by the way. In terms of regulators, you might recall that last year Google and Yahoo! tried to launch a similar alliance, but Google backed out when it became clear that regulators weren't too crazy about the idea. This time? We'll have to wait and see.

Seem comments by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer:



See comments by Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz:

Foxconn Compensates Family of Worker Who Suicided Over Missing iPhone

Foxconn will compensate the family of a worker who committed suicide after an iPhone prototype he was responsible went missing, it was announced Tuesday.

Sun Danyong, 25, jumped from his high-rise apartment last week after officials of Foxconn, which makes iPhones and iPods, questioned him about the whereabouts of the missing prototype. He accused the Foxconn officials of beating him, which they denied.

However, Hon Hai, Foxconn's parent company, suspended a security official over the incident. Gu Qinming, the suspended security chief, admitted he grabbed Sun once by the shoulder, but denied beating him.

A Foxconn official in Taipei, speaking on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said Tuesday that the company would pay Sun's parents a lump sum of 360,000 yuan ($52,600), plus 30,000 yuan ($4,385) every year as long as either of them lives.

The real issue here is the level of secrecy and pressure put on employees at any country that works with Apple. Apple commented earlier on the matter, with a spokesperson saying:

“We are saddened by the tragic loss of this employee. We require that our suppliers treat all workers with dignity and respect.”

Barnes & Noble Announces Free Wi-Fi

On Tuesday, Barnes & Noble announced an agreement with AT&T that would provide complimentary wi-fi to visitors to any Barnes & Noble store. B&N has had AT&T service since 2005, but of course it had the normal restrictions of any AT&T hotspot --- now it is gratis.

Why the change? No sense letting you think it was out of the goodness of B&N's heart. The press release announcing the change makes it all clear:

All customers shopping in Barnes & Noble stores can now freely download and preview any of the over 700,000 eBook titles with hundreds of thousands of public domain titles available from Google. The company said its number of eBook titles is expanding everyday and expects to hit the one million mark soon.

Barnes & Noble recently announced they were (again) selling e-books, and would be exclusively supporting the Plastic Logic eReader when it launches in 2010.

That prior announcement also included the launch of e-book reading apps for iPod touches and iPhones, along with BlackBerrys, PCs and Macs.

Text Messaging While Driving Raises Accident Risk 23 Times: Study

While theories about the effects of text messaging on driving ability abound, large-scale, real-life studies have not. However, a new real-life study, released Tuesday by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), shows that things are worse than we thought: text messaging results in a risk of accident or near-accident that is 23.2 times as high as non‐distracted driving.

Incidents like the Metrolink train disaster from last year and a recent Boston trolley crash highlight the dangers of operating any vehicle while text messaging. However, the attention drawn to these incidents occurs becuase of the sheer number of people involved; that same concern is lost when people think of SMS and driving.

This study did not using driving simulators. Instead, the report studied what it called "naturalistic driving behavior," in real-life situations (in other words, real drivings hooked up with cameras and sensors in actual vehicles).

The results, as noted in a press release, study both light vehicles / cars and heavy vehicles / trucks. In both cases, tasks such as dialing or talking increased the risk of an accident, though generally more with heavy vehicles, possibly due increased stopping distance and reduced maneuverability.

The VTTI's study made the following recommendations:

• Driving is a visual task and non‐driving activities that draw the driver’s eyes away from the roadway, such as texting and dialing, should always be avoided.

• Texting should be banned in moving vehicles for all drivers ... this cell phone task has the potential to create a true crash epidemic if texting‐type tasks continue to grow in popularity and the generation of frequent text message senders reach driving age in large numbers.

• “Headset” cell phone use is not substantially safer than “hand‐held” use because the primary risk is associated with both tasks is answering, dialing, and other tasks that require your eyes to be off the road. In contrast, “true hands‐free” phone use, such as voice activated systems, are less risky if they are designed well enough so the driver does not have to take their eyes off the road often or for long periods.

• All cell phone use should be banned for newly licensed teen drivers. Our research has shown that teens tend to engage in cell phone tasks much more frequently, and in much more risky situations, than adults. Thus, our studies indicate that teens are four times more likely to get into a related crash or near crash event than their adult counterparts.

There have been other studies in the past using simulators. A prior University of Utah study showed driving degraded on a level on par with a BAC of 0.08, which is the legal limit in many states.

Thirty-six states have no text messaging while driving ban. Those that do frequently have "slap on the wrist" fines such as California's, which is $20 for the first offense, and $50 for the subsequent offenses.

Bottom line, according to Tom Dingus, director of the VTTI:

“You should never do this (text while driving). It should be illegal.”

Apple Blocks Google Voice-Enabled Apps (Incl. Google's!) From the App Store

I wrote earlier about the new BlackBerry and Android Google Voice apps that Google had released. They offer great functionality, allowing you to dial directly from your phone with your Google Voice number, but there was no iPhone version. Well, we'll never see it, unless Apple relents.

Word comes that Apple has rejected the official Google version of the app. Not only that, it is removing all Google Voice-enabled applications from the App Store. For example, GV Mobile, while currently still listed at AppShopper, is gone, if you try to click through to iTunes.

So is VoiceCentral, which was just updated and re-approved on June 27th. Here's what the developer of GV Mobile said:

Richard Chipman from Apple just called - he told me they’re removing GV Mobile from the App Store due to it duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc). He didn’t actually specify which features, although I assume the whole app in general. He wouldn’t send a confirmation email either - too scared I would post it.

As I said, they even blocked the official Google version. Not even Google's influence could get the app into the App Store. Here's what they told TechCrunch:

We work hard to bring Google applications to a number of mobile platforms, including the iPhone. Apple did not approve the Google Voice application we submitted six weeks ago to the Apple App Store. We will continue to work to bring our services to iPhone users — for example, by taking advantage of advances in mobile browsers.

Speculation is that the reason for the removal and blockage of all these apps is a revenue threat against AT&T. With a Google Voice number, even without the rumored number portability Google is working on, you could move from carrier to carrier with no pain.

Of course, you can still make a call using your Google Voice number on an iPhone, just not conveniently. Call your Google Voice number, logg in, and press 2. Then enter the number you want to call.

That doesn't solve being able to send SMS messages from the phone (well, I suppose you could use the site via the iPhone's Safari browser).

My guess is that Google will figure out a way to mobilize the Google Voice site for the iPhone in such a way that it's relatively convenient. Until then: Apple wins, so does AT&T, and users lose.

$99 Palm Pre Promotion a Glitch: Best Buy

All those who were angry on Sunday, please calm down. Despite the fact that the sales force and the computers seemed to think it was a one-week promotion, that price drop to $99 for the Palm Pre on Sunday was nothing more than a glitch.

The confusion began when a picture of an in-store banner promoting a week long special of a $99 Pre with a 2-year contract was posted online. While it turns out it was a mistake, and announced as such via Twitter by Best Buy marketing manager John Bernier on Sunday afternoon, the deal somehow got programmed into vendor systems and people were able to walk into retail stores and get the price, or even a price match, if they had purchased the Pre recently enough.

The error was also announced on Best Buy's centralized Twitter feed, TwelpForce. For some reason none of the followers of either feed reported this news to the sales force (heh).

Those who got the deals are the recipients of bargains, apparently. When speaking to a sales rep, the WSJ received this info:

So if the price gets changed back to $199 tomorrow, I asked him, what would happen if I bought it for $99 today? “You’re good,” he said. “You bought it for $99. Enjoy your phone.”

He added, “I would recommend coming in today to buy it.”

Apple, Music Industry, Working on Competing Interactive Digital Album Functionality

Apple is reportedly working with the big 4 music labels, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, Univesal Music Group, and EMI, on a project designed to stimulate digital sales of record albums. The Financial Times cites four sources who state that the project, codenamed "Cocktail," is slated for a September release.

The project will bundle an interactive booklet, sleeve notes and video clips with downloaded albums. Those would aren't downloading via P2P are buying plenty of digital music, but mostly single tracks; record labels want to stimulate higher-profit album sales.

At the same time, however, while cooperating with Apple on its own format (what else could they do, frankly?), the record labels are working on their own format. Why? Because, quite obviously, Apple's format would be proprietary.

While FT reports on cooperation between the labels and Apple, C|NET notes that the labels are ticked by Apple taking credit for something they themselves pitched to the company 18 months ago, and that the labels will have their own format, with more features than Apple.

Even as the music industry cooperates with Apple's efforts, what has some insiders upset is that Apple rejected the labels' plan. By seizing credit, Apple is being "disingenuous," said the source. He added that Apple's attempt to develop a proprietary technology around the new interactive album is an example of the company once again falling back on "the walled garden approach." [...]

But Apple's refusal to participate in the labels' plan didn't mean they gave up. The largest recording companies have continued to develop software that will help them release their own version of a new interactive album. Apple will have Cocktail, but Amazon and all the other competing services will get access to the labels' version, which will offer more content than Apple's, said the music industry source.

Apple plans to have Cocktail ready to launch by September, according to the Financial Times, and that's when the labels hope to have their version ready as well, said the source.

Based on this, Amazon.com and other music sites will get the industry's version of this interactive album content. It's clear that all involved want to boost album sales, vs. single-track sales, but since (and everyone knows this) it's a lot more efficient (as well as cheaper) to buy only those songs you want as opposed to getting unwanted songs in an album, these new features will have to be really darn compelling to make an impact.

Scientists Invent Baseball-Playing Robots

Ironic to write about this right after Major League Baseball inducted Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but scientists in robot-crazy Japan have created a set of baseball-playing robots. It makes one think about "Futurama" and Blernsball, but it's for real.

Real, kinda, sorta. It's not like the pitching version of the robots will outpitch the San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum. There's not too much movement on its fastball, either.

The three-fingered "pitcher" can throw 25 MPH polystyrene balls at a one-meter by 0.8 meter strike zone 3.5 meters away. Of course, that's hardly major league material, but it does so with nearly 100% accuracy. The "batter" can hit balls in the strike zone with more than 90% accuracy.

The two robots are the creations of University of Tokyo professor Masatoshi Ishikawa. He said:

"The demand level of the robotics technology of each robot is very high. What was difficult was to create a mechanism to satisfy such a high level of demand."

Ishikawa believes he can get the pitcher to throw up to 93 MPH, as well as curves and sliders. What, no screwballs or knuckleballs?

He also believes that the hitter will eventually be able to hit to all fields. Still, Japan may be advanced in terms of robotics, but it's unlikely that the robots will be hitting like Barry Bonds or thowing like Cy Young anytime soon.

Best Buy Running $99 Palm Pre Promotion

It appears it's sales day. Best Buy is running a one-week promotion on the Palm Pre. This follows AT&T's earlier announcement that refurbished iPhone 3Gs are $49 while supplies last.

It appears the sale is retail-store only. A quick check of Best Buy's website shows the price is still $199.

There are no rebates involved; the savings is all instant. Best Buy has been giving instant rebates on the normal pricing of the Palm Pre as well; other outlets reduce the price of the Palm Pre from $299 to $199 with a mail-in rebate.

Before people explode, if you bought the Pre and are still within the exchange and return period, Best Buy will price match, even themselves. So, if you still have your receipt (you do, don't you?) you can get the $100 + any sales tax refunded.

AT&T Selling iPhone 3G Refurbs for $49

Pricing for the still-available 8GB iPhone 3G is $99, which is already a pretty attractive price. However, if you're willing to buy a refurbished iPhone 3G, you can get it for a bargain basement $49.

AT&T announced via Twitter on Friday night that while supplies last, refurbs can be purchased at the AT&T site for $49.

At the same time, while the 8GB model is still being actively sold, the 16GB model is not, but you can get a 16GB refurb for $99. Both of the models are benefiting from a $50 refurb discount.

iPhone 3GS availability is, well, pretty available, if you check out Apple's availability tool. While I don't believe AT&T is dumping the iPhone 3Gs, it's still a pretty hard-to-pass up price. Given they say it's only while supplies last, if you are thinking about it, jump on it.

Naturally, you will have to sign a 2-year service agreement. Note that just because it's a refurbished phone doesn't necessarily mean it was a problem device. AT&T states such devices were unused or lightly used and returned during the 30-day trial period, though they may have minor scratches.

Sex Offender Registries Invade the App Store

As morbid as it might seem, with a less than one-year-old baby in our household, my wife has already taken a look at the online sex offender databases for our area. What I didn't realize was the number of iPhone apps that duplicated that functionality.

I first found out about one such app, StaySafe, while taking a look at the first site that comes up in a Google Search, Family Watchdog. The site itself is free, but they also advertised an iPhone app, StaySafe, on their home page. What confused me is the fact that they have three different versions, StaySafe, StaySafe Personal, and StaySafe Lite.

Still more confusing is the fact that I can find no discernible differences between the apps, and nothing on the developer's website to indicate what the differences are. However, the apps were launched at different times, and the Personal and regular versions are $14.99, while the Lite version is free. Additionally, the regular version has gone through a pretty large number of pricing changes, from $14.99 -> $7.99 -> $14.99 -> $4.99 -> $14.99. Sigh.

There are a couple of other apps I found while perusing the listing for the StaySafe app (in the "also bought" section). There is WatchOut! for Offenders, for one, priced at $0.99. Uh, does anyone think that StaySafe needs to adjust its pricing?

More interesting than that, however, is Offender Locator. But it's most interesting not because of the app itself, but because it's in the top 10 paid apps. Yep, it's number 7, which is impressive on many counts. (Note: there is also a Lite version that is free).

It's also strange. All this information is available online, for free, and not just at a single site, either. While it's convenient that these apps allow you to enter a location, or use the GPS capability of the iPhone, and then map sex offenders nearby, I just don't see the use.

I mean, you can easily just start up Safari and check sex offender databases on your iPhone sans an app, and for free. Can someone explain why anyone would want to pay for any of these apps?

Update: Offender Locator was dropped from the App Store on August 6th. According to reports, it's because the state of California prohibits the sale of criminal information for profit.

Microsoft Alters "Laptop Hunter" Ad After Apple Complains

At the Worldwide Partner Conference in mid-July, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner noted that the Laptop Hunters ads are working, saying that Apple demanded Microsoft pull the ads because it (Apple) had lowered its prices:

And you know why I know they're working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey -- this is a true story -- saying, "Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices." They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I've ever taken in business.

The Laptop Hunters series of ads have been Microsoft's most successful ad campaign in years. It's clearly made an impact on the public's perception of Windows PCs in terms of value.

That said, Microsoft has not pulled, but at least edited one of the Laptop Hunters ads, the one titled "Lauren and Sue." In the ad, law student Lauren shops for a laptop priced below $1,700.

In the original version, Lauren at one point comes upon a MacBook and says "This Mac is $2,000, and that's before adding anything."

Sue, Lauren's mom chimes in with "Why would you pay twice the price?" to which Lauren replies "I wouldn't." Lauren eventually ends up with a $972 Dell laptop.

Watch the original video below:

The tweaked ad removed that portion of the video, replacing it with Lauren only saying "It seems like you're paying a lot for the brand."

In reality, Microsoft no longer needs to name the price. It's made its point, that Wintel PCs are definitely cheaper than Macs. However, Apple perhaps doesn't care all that much. It's managed to claim 91% of the "premium" PC market, above $1,000. Note: that's only for retail sales, but it's still an interesting statistic.

Watch the tweaked ad:

AP to Add DRM to Articles, Photos, Videos

The AP has had a contentious relationship with bloggers and other sites which make fair use of AP articles since an incident last year, in which the AP demanded the Drudge Retort take down content that seemed to fall under the Fair Use guideline. It seems that AP has just ratcheted up things.

"Fair Use" is generally thought of as using only a few lines of a story with a link / attribution. However, on Thursday AP announced that it was going to begin "wrapping" stories, articles, and video in a "wrapper" of DRM, so it can track what is calls "unlicensed use of its content."

One comment, I might have for AP: at least in terms of video, if you don't want your content linked then don't allow embedding on sites like YouTube and ClipSyndicate.

Anyway, back to the main topic: is the AP going to start cracking down on bloggers and small-time websites? CRJ thinks not. According to Jane Seagrave, senior vice president of global product development for AP:

“We want to stop wholesale misappropriation of our content which does occur right now—people who are copying and pasting or taking by RSS feeds dozens or hundreds of our stories. Are we going to worry about individuals using our stories here and there? That isn’t our intent. That’s being fueled by people who want to make us look silly. But we’re not silly.”

All right, that sounds more like they are only going after news aggregators. Thing, is, according to the New York Times (emphasis mine):

Tom Curley, The A.P.’s president and chief executive, said the company’s position was that even minimal use of a news article online required a licensing agreement with the news organization that produced it. In an interview, he specifically cited references that include a headline and a link to an article, a standard practice of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo, news aggregators and blogs.

Additionally, the NYT said:

Newspaper executives have said that by taking the lead, The A.P. ensures a unified approach, saves publishers from having to design their own software and circumvents possible charges of collusion against the papers.

Sounds like wholesale use of this technology might eventually take place, and that might indeed shut the door on "fair use." Newspapers are under severe pressure just to survive. Personally, the "fair use" doctrine is pretty clear, and I don't think that AP can pull this off. On the other hand, Reuters and AFP might get a boost from this.

Point two, and probably the one that will give AP the most trouble: privacy. Obviously, something like this means people's use of the Web is being tracked. Once that sinks in, end users will be upset (to put it mildly).

Of course, AP will state that it won't track individual users, but people may or may not necessarily take their word as rote. AP says this initiative will being in November; that gives those of us end users, bloggers, and mainstream media to chime in on whether we believe this is a good idea, or not.

Apple Tablet PC Really Coming (This Time): Report

Artist's Conception, via AppleInsider

Apple's long-rumored tablet PC appears to be a reality, rather than a pipe dream, if new reports are true. The report says the tablet PC is on schedule for launch early in 2010.

Tablet PCs haven't really succeeded, at least as Windows-based computers. An Apple product might re-invent the category.

In March, I reported that numerous media outlets were reporting that Apple was working on a product with a 10" touchscreen. At the time, some were theorizing it would be a netbook, but I was leaning more towards a tablet PC.

In this case, the report notes the tablet PC would have a 10" screen and be 3G-enabled. Typical of Apple products since CEO Steve Jobs returned to the company, the product is under the watchful eye of Jobs.

The current schedule aims for a launch sometime between January and March 2010. AppleInsider says its source is well respected "for their striking accuracy in Apple's internal affairs."

Speculation now is that such an Apple tablet would be essentially an oversize iPod touch, and would cost somewhere between the $299 iPhone and the $999 entry-level MacBook.

Why Apple's 91% Market Share in $1,000+ PCs Isn't "All That"

According to market research firm NPD (via BetaNews), Apple claimed 91% of the retail revenue market share for computers costing $1,000 or more in June. That's a great accomplishment, and actually just continues a trend. In May Apple had 88% of that total.

But while it's a great feat, don't get too, too excited. The numbers reflect revenue, not unit sales. The numbers are also based on retail sales, meaning only from brick-and-mortar stores. So while the numbers might be cautionary for a retailer like Best Buy, it doesn't reflect numbers from Alienware, Dell, or other companies, or even sales of computers done through major e-tailers such as Amazon.com.

In reality, Apple probably has a much smaller market share, likely less than 50%, and many consumers wouldn't spend more than $1K for a PC no matter what. Still, the numbers are good, no matter what.

Interesting June data, according to NPD:

• Average selling price (ASP) for all PCs sold at US retail was $701, or $690 for desktops and $703 for notebooks.
• Windows PCs: $515.
• Macs: $1,400.
• Desktop Windows PCs: $489.
• Mac desktops: $1,398.
• Windows notebooks: $520 (incl. netbooks)
• Mac laptops: $1,400.

Palm Pre 1.1 ROM Upgrade Released, Restores iTunes Sync

On Friday, Palm released an update to the ROM for the Palm Pre, bringing it to version 1.1, adding some missing ActiveSync functionality, to better align the Palm Pre with business. More importantly for some, it also restored the ability of the Palm Pre to sync with iTunes.

Earlier, Apple released iTunes 8.2.1 which blocked the Palm Pre from being recognized by the software. As I noted then, this is likely to turn into a back-and-forth battle between the two companies.

Last month, Apple warned that future updates to iTunes might affect the ability of third-party MP3 players to use the software. They didn't specifically mention the Pre, but what else could they have been talking about?

"Apple designs the hardware and software to provide seamless integration of the iPhone and iPod with iTunes, the iTunes Store, and tens of thousands of apps on the App Store. Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players."

Palm has emphasized sync with iTunes as one of the selling points of the Pre.

At the same time, Palm added some missing ActiveSync functionality to their implementation of Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), including:

• remote wipe
• PIN/password requirements
• inactivity timeout
• improved certificate handling

These were all missing from their initial implementation of EAS, and actually caused issues with people trying to provision their Pres with EAS.

They also added support for emoticons in the messaging app, and something called "person reminders." You add these in the contacts app, and the next time you get a message or phone call from that person, a message box pops up showing you a reminder of some sort. They also added NFL Mobile Live (from Sprint).

You can see the full list of changes here.

Tweet Your Prayers to the Western Wall

A new service allows people to pray at the Western Wall (AKAk, the Wailing Wall or The Kotel) remotely, via Twitter. The service's website can be found at Tweet Your Prayers, and its Twitter feed can be found at http://twitter.com/TheKotel. The service itself is free, but the site does accept donations.

Tweet Your Prayers explains how it works as follows:

You tweet your prayers, we take a bunch of tweets together and use a word-processor to turn them into printable notes. The notes are then carried to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where they are stashed by hand between the stones. That’s all the handling done to your prayers by humans; The Wall takes it from there.

You can also send a prayer to thekotel@ymail.com if you have a message longer than 140 characters or if you want the message to be private (you can also send a direct Twitter message, as well).

This site has garnered a lot of attention because if its use of Twitter, but for some time the Western Wall Heritage Foundation has offered a similar way to send a prayer to The Kotel.

Facebook Relents: One-Time Username Change Now Possible

When Facebook allowed users to choose their own usernames, which could be then used to produce URLs for your profile and pages associated with it that made sense (the so-called Facebook Vanity URL Landrush), they warned users to "choose carefully," as it was a one-time choice. They now appear to have backtracked slightly on that issue.

Slightly is the correct term, I think, because while you can now go into your settings and change your username, you can only do it one time. While this allows people who chose goofy names to change their username, it also (and I think this is the real reason behind the change) allows those who marry or otherwise change their names to make a one-time modification.

There's been no official announcement from Facebook on the matter, however. And realistically, since the land rush is long over, the number of usernames you can choose from is significantly less. Still, here's how to do it:

• Click on "Settings" at the top-right corner of your Facebook home page.
• In the drop-down menu, click "Account Settings."
• Next to "Username," click on "Change" to type in a new username
• Confirm