Seth Weintraub

Apple has informed CNET that they have developed a complete fix for the PDF-based security flaw in iOS. The security vulnerability has been a topic of discussion since Jailbreakme.com was released to the public last weekend. The quick and easy jailbreak uses a flaw in iOS’s handling of PDFs to install the jailbreak files. The Apple spokeswomen said this, but declined to comment on a release date: 

“We’re aware of this reported issue, we have already developed a fix and it will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.”

Steve Jobs is known to skip security updates, but hopefully he chooses to update to this one. It also seems plausible that the fix will be coming in iOS 4.1 as the jailbreak does not work on that software version.   On the other hand, this fix will break the jailbreak as well as prevent it from being installed on devices rocking the new iOS update. If you still want the jailbreak you know what to do (or not to). 

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Thankfully he speaks slow enough for us to comprehend. via

Here’s iLounges new sourced info with some additions from us:

• They think that new 1.7 inch screen is coming to the iPod Shuffle (probably eliminating the ‘shuffle’ brand – good?)
• New iPods coming at some point between Tuesday and September (shocker – there wil be an event in September like the last 5 years).
• The big deal is that there will be a 7-inch iPad released at that point.  We’ve also heard this and can add that there will be a much higher density screen which will be labeled “Retina Display” and have something like an insane 1500×1920 type pixel display (think four iPhone 4 screens). We’re hearing front facing camera on this one too.
• They say the new iPhone 5 has been pushed up to a January release – seems sketchy however.
• Something about bumpers being updated or something.

iLounge has a pretty good record on these types of leaks and we’ve been hearing the same type of talk on the iPad so we’re putting it out there.  Thoughts?

The PayWall St. Journal has the story, Tech Gadgets Steal Sales From Appliances, Clothes, here.  Gist: Technology is getting more of our dollar than it ever has.  Where does that money come from?  All the other useless crap we used to buy.

Americans are spending more on electronics like iPads and flat-screen televisions and less on durable goods like furniture, washing machines and lawn mowers, according to government data released Tuesday…

Since September 2009, the 27-year-old has spent about $8,000 on new electronics. Among his buys are Apple’s iPhone 4, MacBook Pro, iPad and iPod. He also bought a Blu-ray video player and a $2,000 stereo system.

Apparel executives say the iPhone in particular has become an ornament in its own right. “It’s a new fashion accessory, there’s no doubt about it,” said Richard Dickson, CEO of branded businesses at Jones Apparel Group Inc., which includes Jones New York, Nine West and Anne Klein.

Besides, electronics, the other area gaining ground by 6.4% in June?  Savings.

U.S. savings rate ticked up to 6.4% in June from the previous month, its highest point in a year and far above its pre-recession level.

Best news I’ve heard all week.

Apple wants to get bumpers to iPhone 4 users as quickly as possible.  That’s perhaps one reason why bumpers are now showing up at customer doorsteps without retail packaging.

As an added bonus, free bumpers delivered in this fashion won’t fetch much of a premium on eBay. Bumpers with retail packaging when sold on eBay may interfere with the legitimate bumper marketplace (yeah, first one is free but what happens if you want another color or style?!)

Oh, and it is much greener.

Jailbreaking iPhones has been around for awhile but Comex’s 4.0 Jailbreakme.com is different in one huge way that shouldn’t sit well with you if you are on an iOS device.  The jailbreak happens without any user intervention because of a security hole in iOS that allows a website to write data to your iPhone.  Obviously if you can jailbreak an iPhone remotely, you can do just about anything else you want to it.

Your iOS device is insecure in such a big and obvious way right now.  You should be extremely careful of what sites you visit.

MacStories details how a FlateDecode vulnerability is used as a PDF File embedded within a Web page (believe us, hackers already know this and are working on this as quickly as Apple is readying a fix).  Basically iOS tries to parse the PDF file from the Web but, in doing so, it executes some code, that in this case allows you to jailbreak your device.  It isn’t rocket science to have it do something completely different and much much worse.  And there won’t be a slider that asks if it is OK.

Apple has to fix this almost immediately in an update.  I imagine this is one of those “no one sleeps until an update is ready” type of moments in the iOS security team.  Maybe not, but this is rather dangerous in the wild as it is.

Unfortunately, the reality is that not everyone updates their iPhone for every security risk.  Even Steve Jobs was shown to be months behind security vulnerabilities on his iPhone.  If Steve Jobs doesn’t keep his iPhone current, there are going to be lots of people out there who are susceptible for a long time. Corporate IT managers are going to have a great time rounding up mobile workforces and force updates.  That sales guy in Europe?  That’s just the beginning.

This has happened before without major incident:

The original iPhone jailbreak was a similar situation where a TIFF file format was exploited to gain control of the iPhone.  However, that was a long time ago and a lot of iPhones have been sold since then.  And iPods and iPads.  The iOS is a much bigger target now and the rewards are much greater for hackers.

Ironically, one of the only ways to make sure your device is immune from such an attack is to jailbreak it and install a little code that will bring up a pop-up window before allowing the PDF to run on your computer.  Pasted again from MacStories below.

Tweeted by @cdevwill earlier today, all you have to do is download this .deb file and open it on your device using either Terminal from your Mac, or iFile on the iPhone. Just download it and place it in /var/mobile.

– Using Terminal:

ssh root@your IP address

alpine

dpkg -i file.deb

Where

Anyone else out there remember iPhone marketing exec Bob Borchers? Well, he’s left Apple now and has just jumped aboard the mobile payments bandwagon.

Pretty clear we’re looking at some fast-paced developments in mobile payments, iPhones and more, as Visa and Mastercard face renewed competition.

Borchers will join the board of Payfone following the NewYork firm’s $11 million investment round. Borchers, now at Opius Capital, is to join the board, along with RIM’s Kevin Talbot.

What Borchers brings is wide experiene within Apple’s iPhone team, and experience setting up the iPod-auto-integration ecosystem.

Payfone works with carriers to provide a mobile payment system that lets you buy something by giving a merchant your phone number, and having the transaction billed to your phone account.

This is interesting, but constitutes a crowded market, with AT&T and Verizon planning a venture to replace credit and debit cards with smartphones, taking on Visa and MasterCard.
http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt.swf

(Yeah, that’s Seth at 1:10)

Meanwhile Apple’s iPhone also has potential as an iWallet, some reports claim.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmUEFk_TSqg&w=700&h=415]

Microsoft has coughed-up its Office for Mac 2011 pricing, promising the next generation of MacBU-made productivity tools will hit the shelves in October.

The release of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 will be simultaneous across 100 countries at the end of October. Two versions will be available, Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 and Office for Mac Home and Business 2011.

Starting today, if customers purchase Office 2008 for Mac, they will be able to upgrade to Office 2011 when it is available at no additional cost through the Microsoft Office for Mac Technology Guarantee Program.

Eric Wilfrid, general manager, Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) at Microsoft Corp. said, “More than ever before, Office 2011 brings the familiar productivity tools and features of Microsoft Office to a suite of applications that work great on the Mac.”

The following editions will be available.
 
Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student 2011 includes Word for Mac, PowerPoint for Mac, Excel for Mac and Messenger for Mac, and it will retail starting at $119.

Available in two editions

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The Line for a New Apple Store from John Gruber on Vimeo.

Philadelphia Apple Store opening (via: John Gruber) “A sensation,” he wrote.

We wondered what would happen when Apple added video and audio support to its iBooks app, now we’re beginning to see first fruits of the future of publishing, as it melds with other media to create all-new experiences — Scribner and Simon & Schuster Digital have released their first ever enhanced eBook, Rick Perlstein

Some good news from the folks at NetApplications for Apple.  It turns out that the iPhone gained significant market share in July.

• iPhone posted its largest single-month usage gain ever in July. “What antenna problems?!”
• Global usage share jumped from .59% to June to .7% in July. (In comparison, the May to June share was essentially flat)  
• The iPhone grew usage share at over twice the pace of Android. 

Yeah… not really much to say, except that Apple’s videos about their competitors antenna performance have seemed to pull a Criss Angel, and disappear from the company’s website. It probably has to do with their unhappy rivals or maybe they want to pull Antennagate back into the spotlight for another round of press.

You can still try to find a glimpse of the videos at their official YouTube channel here. 

via Tech Crunch

Speck PixelSkin for iPad:

The Speck PixelSkin for iPad is an excellent case for those who enjoy the silicon slip-on case styles. It offers good protection for the sides of the device, as well as all the buttons. The case is nice as it comes in multiple colors and it fully covers the back and sides. The screen is always something for you to worry about and this case is no exception. — There’re always screen protectors!

There are cutouts for the bottom dock connection port, the three speaker grills, headphone jack and noise suppression microphone, and for the ambient light sensor. Additionally, the volume rocker and orientation lock are easily accessibly as well as the sleep/wake control.

The case was engineered to wrap around your device precisely and it doesn

Great news for you Fortune readers: The Time Inc. magazine is now available for the iPad. 

Little known fact: The inaugural issue’s cover story, “Google: The Search Party is over” has my fingerprints all over it.

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This morning, the iPhone 4 is landing in a whole slew of additional countries. Here’s a video from the Hong Kong launch. (for the sansFlash) via MicGadget

Looks like Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer has woken up to smell the same coffee I’m smelling — that Apple is chasing HP to become the world’s biggest PC maker, and now the MSFT top man has said he’s gunning for the tablet market.

As the world waits for Ballmer’s words to materialize as something with somewhat more than Zune’s 1 percent marketshare, and iMac maker Quanta confirms it will make twice as many iMacs as it will make all-in-on PCs for HP, let’s look at Ballmers wordage…

On Apple’s storming uber-succesful iPad, Ballmer said, with great grace, “Apple has done an interesting job of putting together a product — they’ve certainly sold more than I’d like them to sell.”

Enchantee. Also enchanting is Microsoft’s determination that Windows 7 tablets will become relevant once the company delivers a credible machine (assuming it can get hold of the components).

“They’ll be shipping as soon as they are ready,” Ballmer said. “It is job one urgency. No one is sleeping at the switch.”

“We have got to make things happen. Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we have to with Windows 7 on slates. We’re in the process of doing that as we speak.”

Translation: Now Apple’s shown us how, we’re firing up the photocopiers. Or is that unfair?

This one might hurt El Jobso more than Antennagate!  According to the AP, 

When Apple Inc. launched the iPhone 4 and its FaceTime videoconference feature, it didn’t take long for adult-entertainment companies to develop video-sex chat services and start hiring workers through Craigslist.

With more than 3 million of the phones already sold, the adult industry stands to make big money on this new way to reach out and touch someone