It’s another great innovation for the iPhone that every other phone has had for about 8 years — an “at a glance” home screen.
Right now, it’s just a patent application, but it looks pretty nice. As an iPhone user, I can certainly see how this kind of screen could be useful.
On the other hand, they’ll need to be very careful about the privacy implications. It was less than a month ago that they had the big issue with people being able to bypass the security code, and this appears to have a similar issue. Based on the sketch, you can see recent information (calls, texts, voicemail, etc) without unlocking the phone.
That being said, I’m sure Apple is keeping that in mind and will find a way to make it work that pleases (almost) everyone.
admin Apple, Software Apple, iphone, Security
What’s with all of the blogs killing Apple about this latest iPhone bug? Granted, it’s certainly an embarrassing situation to have another bug on their hands, but is it that big of a deal?
For example, here are some of the headlines:
Wow, this must be a major bug! Is my data at risk!?! Yeah, probably not.
This bug allows people to bypass the passcode lock on the phone. That’s certainly a problem for some people, but how many people do you know that set the passcode on the phone and then leave it unattended very often? I personally know eight people with iPhones, and none of them use the passcode — they just keep the phone on their body.
In addition, there is a very simple workaround. If you set your “home button double-click preference” to either “Home” or “iPod” instead of the default “iPhone favorites”, the problem is fixed. Also, MacRumors has been told that this problem has already been fixed for a future firmware update.
I guess any story with “apple” and “security” in it must be major news, even when it’s not.
admin Apple, Software 2.0.2, Apple, bug, iphone, passcode, Security
The Symbian Blog has a great review of Guardian, software written to help protect your phone from unauthorized usage. For most of us, that means trying to get it back if it’s been stolen. Once configured, you can send an SMS to the phone and it will silently send back a wide variety of information.
Among other things, it can:
- Password protect various applications in the phone.
- Auto-send an SMS to another phone if the SIM card is replaced. The message includes the new phone number of the device.
- GPS. It can access the GPS device in the unit, and send an SMS with the latitude, longitude an a Google Map of the current location of the phone.
- Alarm. You can send a message to the phone that will force a very loud alarm to go off, regardless of what profile is active.
- Logs. It can send you the call/sms/contact logs.
- Fake SMS. You can send an SMS to the device, but pretend that it’s from someone else. The example shown is an SMS from “the Police”.
The only catch is that the thief can’t flash the phone, which any smart thief would do. However, if they fail to flash it, then you’ve got some great tools on your hands to try to track it back down!
Read the full review for more details and a bunch of screenshots.
admin Security gps, guardian, passwords, s60, Security, symbian
It’s another great innovation for the iPhone that every other phone has had for about 8 years — an “at a glance” home screen.