Wish to peep into the photos of a locked iOS 5 device? All you have to do is know a user who sets the date of his device a couple of days or even weeks late, or find a way to enter the settings page and change the date and voila! you can have access to the pictures on the device.
Someone recently discovered that Apple sets the security of images in an iOS device based only on the date. This means that if you’ve taken some photos today and the date of your device has been changed to say, yesterday, you can have access to all those images taken today without having to unlock your device. That said, it means that if the photo was taken before the actual date (and time, otherwise you would be able to see all the photos taken today), the photos will not be accessible via that method.
Alright, with this bug discovered, all we need is for someone to find a way to the settings page to change the date of the device without unlocking it, just saying.
Of course, that’s not the point of the discovery, according to the founder of the flaw, Ade Barkah, he says that Apple should not rely on such a simple method to protect images on a device.
“The point to all this is that Apple should not rely on a simple timestamp to restrict image access. Changing the iPhone’s clock—forwards or backwards—should not affect its security. We can’t guarantee the clock will always monotonically more forward, and when it doesn’t, the system should fail-secure.”
A few months of work by iOS hackers Grant Paul (aka chpwn), Steven Troughton-Smith and Ryan Petrich has culminated in the release of Spire, a new installer that will easily set up Siri on your jailbroken iOS 5 device. While Apple has kept its little helper exclusively constrained to the iPhone 4S, it now runs on iPads, iPhone 4, iPod touches and the iPhone 3GS, and while that’s been done before they claim the other new trick is that it’s legal, avoiding the copyright infringement inherent in previous hacks. When installed it will initiate a 100MB download of Siri directly from Apple so watch your bandwidth limits, and also be prepared to set up your own proxy server with donated info from an iPhone 4S to hold the line between Apple’s backend and yourself. It’s available on Cydia now so if you’ve been waiting for a way to get this feature for yourself it’s not far away, however Troughton-Smith tells 9to5 Mac that the next major step may not come until the iPhone 4S is jailbroken and they can avoid the proxy server issues altogether.
One of the biggest problems when owning an iOS device is the phenomenon of the detrimental performance of the home button. Out of the box, every iPhone or iPad’s home button will perform perfectly, but after the months go by, you find yourself pressing it harder and harder, eventually resulting in a fit of swearing and eventually end in tears.
According to the Cult of Mac, there is a subtle trick for recalibrating your Home button and its easier than you think! After performing this trick on your iOS device, you’ll most definitely see the difference.
First thing you do is open one of the stock iOS apps like Weather, Stocks or Clock and once it’s open, hold the power button until the “slide to power off” screen appears. From that screen, press and hold the Home button until iOS force quits the stock app that you’ve opened and then you’re done!
Such a simple solution for a widespread problem! Do let us know if it worked for you and if you can feel the difference!
In the market for a new case for the brand new iPhone 4S that you just pick up today? A fan of all things Jack White? If so, Griffin and Third Man records have teamed up to put a vinyl spin on your next Apple-friendly smartphone case. The pair has introduced a set of accessories that make use of a legit 7-inch record die-cut to protect the back of your mobile device, blending analog and digital without making a sound. Each case is comprised of a two-part frame that wraps those precious edges — with openings for controls and jacks, of course — and a piece of genuine vinyl, pressed right in Nashville. You’ll have your choice of three color variants that come with a Third Man-branded vinyl. If that’s not enough, you can spring for a set of three inserts, one from each of Mr. White’s musical projects. Protip: If you happen to opt for the extras and snag The Racounteur’s insert, this collaboration marks the first pressing of “Steady, As She Goes.” Each case is $30 and the set of extra inserts will set you back another Jackson.
While Apple fans around the globe have had the iPhone 4S for a while now, many of our friends in the Far East haven’t gotten to enjoy the fruits of their countrymen’s labor due to a lack of governmental approval. You see, before a handset makes it onto Chinese networks, it’s got to be approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The good news is, the 4S has finally been blessed by Beijing and will be brought to the masses by Chinese Unicom sometime soon. That means that China’s home-grown superphone, the Meizu MX, is going to have some Siri-ous competition for Chinese hearts and yuan in 2012.
Love to jailbreak but hate to tether every time you reboot? Then help could soon be at hand courtesy of hacker Pod2g. He just put out a video showing off a new exploit that continues to work on an iPod Touch even after it has been switched off and on. We don’t know when it’ll be released to the masses, or how long it’ll last once Apple catches wind, but in the meantime there are of course various alternatives if you can stomach the risks and don’t mind a bit of USB tomfoolery. Read more…
Apple’s Broken Promise aka Siri aka The iPhone 4S’ Gimmicky Party App has a lot of problems and Apple is trying to fix them. There are two new job openings for iOS software engineers to work with Siri’s user interface team:
We are looking for an engineer to join the team that implements the UI for Siri. You will primarily be responsible for implementing the conversation view and its many different actions. This includes defining a system that enables a dialog to appear intuitive, a task that involves many subtle UI behaviors in a dynamic, complex system. You will have several clients of your code, so the ability to formulate and support a clear API is needed.
It’s good to know that they are actively searching to fix Siri. It’s still not good that they released this incomplete piece of software as a major feature in a final product, even with the “Beta” tag.
With all the proof of concepts out there, it was only a matter of time before Siri was successfully ported to jailbroken devices – and available to the public. On Sunday, In-tech BB posted a guide on how to install Siri on the iPhone 4 and iPod touch 4G.
Demo videos posted on the Internet show that it does indeed work, but there are two rather major issues that all users should be warned against proceeding with this “free” Siri.
First of all, the files required for Siri are unique to each iPhone 4S device. So, as is the case with software licenses, using a hacked Siri in this manner is piracy. While that’s just a moral issue for some, another compelling reason against using this hack is that Siri has access to your iPhone’s information. In legit use, this is great as Siri can send and read received text messages—but this also means it has access to your data. Siri has access to your email, SMS, calendar, contacts and location—which means that an unauthorized Siri can do unauthorized things to your information.
Still, very cool. If only Apple were willing to sell Siri as paid software upgrade.
Sure, we’ve seen Siri used to do a host of things, including controlling the temperature in a hacker’s home. But the folks over at Autoblog were curious to know just how well the virtual assistant would work with Bluetooth-enabled car stereos. Yes, talking to Siri in your car! Once your iPhone 4S is properly tethered, holding down the handset’s home button will activate Siri. Treating her as an incoming call, your Notorious B.I.G. playlist will pause before the ready-for-command chime sounds. The in-car assistant was tested on two Mercedes-Benz automobiles, a Chrysler 300, a Dodge Charger and a Nissan Maxima, with the Maxima showcasing the best results. It comes as no surprise that mic placement on each stereo and in-cabin background noise provided a noticeable difference in Siri’s listening abilities during the test. For a glimpse of the action before trying it out yourself, hit the video just past the break.
It looks like Malaysians can finally get their hands on the long awaited iPhone 4S, behind many countries such as our neighbor Singapore and even India. According to SoyaCincau, they received the news from their regular tipster that 16 December 2011 is the launch date and although Celcom may have gotten the iPhone 4 late, it is said that it will alsp be among the first to offer the device. Finally, all those who have been waiting for the phone can sigh in relief that you’ll be spending Christmas with Siri. What a wonderful Christmas we will have this year.
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