Category: Software

OnLive made a lot of noise when it first appeared on the scene way back in March at the Game Developer’s Conference of 2009. It’s a service that’s said to be able to make a gaming machine out of any computer that can run the latest browsers, which would effectively end the madness that is PC gaming hardware upgrades. And now, it looks like it might be able to work on the iPhone, too.

What OnLive does is bypass the normal hardware barriers involved in PC gaming by streaming the game live to a user’s browser window from a server farm located nearby. The server farm deals with the game’s performance demands, and all the end user needs is a good enough connection to stream the content smoothly.

It’s a setup that sounds too good to be true, and many remain skeptical about whether or not OnLive will be able to deliver what it has promised. There was supposed to be an external beta this past summer, but that’s been delayed, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.

Still, if the service works, it will revolutionize the way gaming is done. The system has strong support from game publishers, which makes sense because without the hardware barriers, they stand to broaden their audience considerably. If that audience were to also include iPhone users, you can imagine that even more game companies would fall in line behind OnLive.

The company recently demoed an iPhone app that allows users to play full games alongside users of the PC OnLive service, or players using the company’s MicroConsole, a standalone device which connects to a display or TV — yes, even without the modern convenience of buttons, joysticks and bumpers. Presumably, onscreen controls allow you to manipulate the in-game action, although a report at Engadget Mobile doesn’t go into detail about how exactly it works, nor does a blog post at OnLive. Needless to say, your PC gaming friend will probably be able to school you at Modern Warfare 2 unless you’re some kind of touch control prodigy.

When the app does see release, which won’t be for a while, OnLive CEO Steve Perlman says it won’t allow you to game right away. Initial versions will allow you to monitor gaming stats and spectate, so you can watch live gameplay without taking part. Interactivity is planned down the road, but control kinks and other issues have to be addressed before it goes live to the masses.

What do you think? Would you take advantage of full-version gaming on your iPhone if you had the ability to? I foresee a very limited catalog of titles that this sort of thing would work with, but if it does become a reality, and it becomes popular, developers might design custom gaming experiences for people who access games via OnLive on their iPhones.

This past Friday, your future ability to upgrade your Mac may have been significantly restricted. Psystar, the company that tried to create “open” Macs by running OS X on non-Apple hardware, suffered a quick defeat in its effort against Apple’s OS license restrictions.

No question this was a long shot and Psystar was going for the Hail Mary. Nonetheless, Apple’s arguments and victory in the case could have a chilling effect on any modification of Apple hardware and software. Will your next Mac be as locked down as the iPhone?

We euphemistically call gaining the ability to install any software on a iPhone “jailbreaking.” This allows you full administrative access to your iPhone to modify the software as necessary for your own use. You already purchased the iPhone hardware and a license for the Apple software necessary to run your iPhone–but are restricted in its use? Apple locks you out of making certain changes to your iPhone; every aspect of iPhone usage is controlled by Apple, yet Apple’s fickle and inconsistent App Store policies further complicate matters and virtually beg people to jailbreak their iPhone.

Unlike with the iPhone, we can pretty much do want we want on our Macintosh computers. Installation of hardware and software is unrestricted and Apple exercises no control over how we use our Macs. We can circumvent functions in the operating system and enhance it without a problem. We are virtually unrestricted in upgrading or enhancing our Macs. Manufacturers can write kernel extensions to modify the operating system so their hardware can work. Don’t like the Apple monitor? No problem, go out and buy your own. Apple charging too much for RAM? Go out and buy third-party RAM. Want to add new functionality to your Mac? Buy and install third-party software that enhances the operating system.

The Psystar ruling reminds us that we use our Macs only with the consent of, and the pleasure of, Apple. Even though you “own” your Mac, your ability to use it can be modified, restricted or revoked by Apple without recourse. As Macs grow in market share and more third-party developers come to the table, we’ll be presented with options for our Macs that Apple’s own team can hardly imagine. If Apple starts losing revenue due to such enhancements, Apple can simply disable it. Any attempt to circumvent Apple’s restrictions could be seen as a violation of the DMCA. For example, to increase sales on iTunes, could Hulu be disabled by a future Apple OS? Legally, yes. We are one Automatic Software Update away from an Apple Kill Switch for our Mac.

Conspiracy Theory? Think Again

Before you blow this off as a conspiracy theory, note that similar actions have happened other times in Mac history. The most memorable was back in March 2001, when Apple issued a firmware update that disabled most third-party RAM. Apple RAM worked just fine, but other RAM was suddenly considered “out of spec.” Historians will debate whether this was deliberate or accidental. Eventually it all worked out when manufacturers swapped out RAM and other users avoided the update. In 1999, Apple disabled G4 upgrade cards in Blue and White G3s via another firmware updates. The original iMac had the ability to support a floppy drive, but later Apple purposefully disabled that function. Previous versions of iLife only worked with Apple-supported optical media.

Obviously, Apple is going to vehemently fight to prevent non-licensed Apple clones, and while it may be in the right here, the arguments used could be applied to any modification to the Macintosh OS, especially those used to enable non-Apple hardware to work with OS X. While I agree that the odds are low of waking up one morning and finding your Mac unable to boot due to a “DMCA violation,” Apple consistently argues it is its right to do so and it has exercised that right in the past. How very Microsoft of Apple. Just ask XBox 360 owners.

The iPhone is proof of its desire to lock the consumer out of any unapproved modifications. What’s stopping Apple from doing this with our Macs? Financial interest? Goodwill? You tell me.

I’m not sure how many of you are playing Eliminate Pro on your iPhones, but I’m guessing it has to be a fairly high number, considering the app’s success since its recent launch. ngmoco’s ambitious first-person shooter for Apple’s mobile platform is third overall in the App Store’s Top Free list, but what’s more impressive is the number 22 spot it currently occupies in the Top Grossing list of apps.

That’s a huge step for the micropayments business model made possible by the introduction of in-app purchasing in iPhone OS 3.0. It marks the first real evidence that developers can make good money offering a “freemium” model on the iPhone platform, with users getting the initial product for free, but paying for in-game rewards and additional content.

ngmoco appears to have found the sweet spot in add-on content where users don’t feel like they’re being extorted by a game’s in-app purchasing system. Eliminate Pro uses a system in which players earn rewards for in-game achievements that can be used to purchase armor and weapon upgrades. The catch is that you only get a certain amount of time during which game play earns you points. You can keep playing for free, but in order to get more rewards, you have to pay for more usable time.

Users can buy blocks of active time using the in-app purchasing system, in $1, $10 and $30 dollar increments. Players seem to have taken a shine to the system, since in-app purchases alone account for all of Eliminate Pro’s gross revenue. ngmoco also has a strong community and social media promotions effort in place behind the new title.

The company’s other title that depends heavily on in-app commerce, Touch Pets Dogs, hasn’t yet mirrored the success of Eliminate Pro. It hasn’t been available in the U.S. store for quite as long as Eliminate Pro, but I suspect the fact that its target audience skews much younger has more to do with its weaker performance. Eliminate players are far more likely to be in a position to have access to a pay-capable iTunes account.

No doubt ngmoco and other developers will try to repeat the success of Eliminate with other apps based on the same model. Personally, I’d be happy to see more games along the same lines, so long as developers remember that “freemium” does not mean “artificially handicapped.” Eliminate Pro works so well because it’s fun even if you don’t make use of the in-app purchases. As a result, users feel that ngmoco is operating in good faith and are willing to spend money on enhancing their experience.

iPhone devs are a rebellious bunch, and they don’t like to be bullied by anyone other than their Apple, which both frustrates and affirms their existence. Now, in light of what some might call a campaign being waged against the App Store by a well-known trademark troll, many iPhone devs are protesting what they see as Apple’s cowardice in the face of unjust threats.

According to TUAW, the trademark troll in question is none other than Tim Langdell, founder of the “gaming company” Edge Games. In reality, Edge Games produces very little beyond copyright infringement suits, which it launches against any and all games that feature the word “edge” in their title. EA’s Mirror’s Edge recently fell between Langdell’s crosshairs, for example, despite the fact that the game itself bears no similarity to any of Edge Games’ roster of “planned” titles.

Apparently the App Store has been a prime target for Tim Langdell and Edge Games. Reports claim that all he has to do is contact Apple and let them know that a game is in violation of his trademarks — which again, basically means it has “edge” somewhere in the title — and Apple pulls the game without much fuss. No doubt Apple just doesn’t want to deal with yet another legal battle that could ensue if Langdell gets the opportunity to take things beyond the cease-and-desist phase, but this really seems unfair to honest game devs who actually work for their money.

In protest, a group of iPhone devs are changing the names of their games to include “edge” in the titles, with the desired outcome being that Apple will realize that to continue just disallowing the word completely will significantly affect the App Store’s catalog of offerings. So, for example, Canabalt becomes “Canabedge,” the Eliss sequel becomes “Edgeliss” and Critter Crunch becomes “Critter Credge.” All of the changes mentioned haven’t actually been made to the apps in the store, but on developer web sites as a show of solidarity.

Even though this particular protest limits itself to the area beyond Apple’s sphere of control, it does demonstrate a promising solution to App Store bully tactics. If developers could organize in a similar manner, but with bigger numbers and with the support of some of the pillars of the App Store, they could more effectively combat unfair policies. Apple will be less likely to anger content producers if it has potential ramifications across its catalog. Let’s see a developers rights advocacy group come to pass, so articles about the injustices of the App Store can become a more infrequent occurrence.

Facebook for the iPhone is one of my most used applications, and I’m not alone as it’s amongst the most popular iPhone applications ever. This success is due to the size of Facebook itself, that the application is free, and that it is very well done. That last is due mainly to Joe Hewitt, who has been the main developer for Facebook’s iPhone application. Unfortunately that’s about to change, as Hewitt tweeted that he is moving “…onto a new project.”

At face value this may not be of any importance beyond a certain sadness to see a great developer leave a platform and an application so many love. In a conversation with TechCrunch, however, Hewitt made clear that the principal reason behind his departure from this project is his unhappiness with Apple’s management of the iPhone app store. Hewitt specifically mentions his philosophical opposition to the review process, indicating that it puts an unnecessary middleman between developers and users. He also fears that it sets a dangerous precedent for other platforms. Hewitt will be moving onto a web project at Facebook, which offers the opportunity to work on an open platform.

Hewitt is not the first developer to abandon the iPhone due to Apple’s perceived mismanagement of the app store, but he may be the highest profile. His departure from iPhone development highlights a critical danger that Apple faces with the app store. For a variety of reasons, ranging from an inability to get your application noticed, the danger of having your application rejected for unforeseen reasons and the very low prices charged on the app store, many developers are growing disillusioned with the iPhone as a platform.

If this trend reaches a critical level it could deal a blow to the iPhone, which has touted the wide variety of high quality applications in its marketing. Even more dangerous is the possibility that developers will move in large numbers to other platforms, with Android being the most likely option. Of course Android has its own problems related to app development, and there are still plenty of developers who are focusing on the iPhone as their principal mobile platform.

It may be, however, that Apple is offering its competitors an opening to create a much more developer-friendly environment and steal one of its key advantages: the quality, not the quantity, of applications available. If Android, BlackBerry or Symbian can attract top developers to produce 1,000 high quality applications for its platform, that will probably be enough to erase the huge lead Apple has today. Who cares if you can’t choose between 500 tip calculators, or 30 different versions of the same public domain book as long as you can get high quality versions of the apps you actually want?

It’s clear that Apple realizes there are problems with the way it is currently managing the app store. The question is whether it can make the necessary adjustments to attract and keep the best developers for the iPhone, or if the Joe Hewitt’s of the world decide it’s just not worth their time.

Earlier this week, we reported that the first iPhone worm had been created. It was called “ikee,” and all it did was change the default wallpaper on devices to an image of Rick Astley with “ikee is never going to give you up” printed across the top. It was relatively harmless, if annoying, and the hacker responsible claimed that it was more of a warning than anything else.

Hopefully many heeded that warning, since now a new virus has surfaced that uses the same M.O. as ikee, but that has a much more malicious intent and effect. Specifically, the new malware mines personal data from your device, using the very same exploit ikee revealed earlier in the week.

The new worm, dubbed “iPhone/Privacy.A” by digital security firm Intego, affects only jailbroken iPhones, and grabs things from your device like address book contacts, text messages, photos, music, video, calendar entries and email messages. Basically, almost anywhere it can look for sensitive data, it will. The virus doesn’t seem to be able to access information stored by other applications on your iPhone, like password managers, but if you’re affected, the only safe course of action is a full wipe and restore.

Theoretically, according to iPhone security researcher Charlie Miller speaking to Computerworld, attacks based on the same exploit could do more than just mine data. Running up your phone bill, sending out bulk text messages and spamming your contacts are all well within the realm of possibility. Miller goes on to describe how easy it would be for a hacker to infect a device:

This could easily be installed on a computer on display in a retail store, which could then scan all iPhones that pass within the reach of its network. Or a hacker could sit in an Internet café and let his computer scan all iPhones that come within the range of the Wi-Fi network in search of data.

In order to secure your device against this kind of attack, there are a few options. First, change the default SSH password if you haven’t already. So far, that appears to be the easiest way to foil attempts to infiltrate your jailbroken device. The best way to prevent this and any kind of future attack along the same lines, however, is to not jailbreak your device in the first place, or to restore it to factory settings if you’ve already jailbroken. Of course, for many who use their devices with carriers who don’t officially offer the iPhone, that isn’t an option.

Miller suggested that Apple may want to consider re-engineering its security measures to account for jailbroken devices, but as that would mean tacitly acknowledging and even accepting a practice it stridently disapproves of, I think the best bet for jailbreakers is just to shut down all SSH access, if possible.

Safari version 4.0.4 is now available, the 30MB update promising improvements to “performance, stability, and security.”

Regarding security, the update addresses several potential “maliciously crafted” attacks–are there such things as benevolently crafted attacks? One uses a color profile, which is inventive, if evil. Others use XML, shortcut menus, or the user’s desire to visit web pages or FTP sites of questionable virtue.

Sadly, as the Mac gains greater popularity, the mantra of “security through obscurity” becomes less and less reassuring. This is one area where Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer may end up having an actual advantage over OS X and Safari, Windows having been forced to exist in a state of siege for so long.

As for improvements to stability and performance, it’s not just the usual boilerplate text included with the update this time. Besides supposed stability improvements for third-party plug-ins, the search field, and Yahoo! Mail, Safari 4.0.4  has “improved full history search performance for users with a large number of history items.” I’m one of those users, and I would cringe when going to “Show All History” and using the realtime search box. The first few letters would stall Safari every time, not so much now.

Safari 4.0.4 also improves JavaScript performance. Running the SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark, Safari 4.0.4 is 1.08 times as fast version 4.0.3 overall, with “significant” increases in many tests.

Finally and most importantly, Safari 4.0.4 does not break ClickToFlash. Upgrade (and restart) away.

Universal Media announced awhile ago that it would be introducing iPhone control into some of its Blu-ray titles, starting with “Fast & Furious,” the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker romp that saw the lucrative car racing series return to its humble origins. Now, Universal is extending the iPhone/Blu-ray connection to a much wider swath of its library thanks to “pocket BLU,” a new app for Apple’s handheld devices.

pocket BLU is a free download from the App Store that allows your iPhone to become a remote control for operating Blu-ray discs from Universal. It won’t work with just any movie, of course. Blu-ray discs need to be played using a Wi-Fi connected player, for one, and the title has to be specifically enabled to work with pocket BLU, something which will be indicated by a conspicuously placed logo.

The app will allow you to control playback of the film, and jump backwards and forwards to any point in the movie using a visual time line. You’ll also have access to a pop-up keyboard for entering data, which will definitely make any typing you need to do with your Blu-ray movie much easier. Finally, some titles will offer the ability to stream special content from the disc to your iPhone, which can then be stored for later viewing.

The app has promise, but limited as it is to one major distributor’s titles, it feels a little like yet another extraneous feature designed to add value to a format that’s failing to catch on with most consumers. Chances are, I’m never going to watch or care about the additional features included for pocket BLU users anyway, so why not just stick to playing back digital content on my Mac and using Rowmote or VLC Remote to control it? Take it from me, Universal, you’ll be far better off if you focus on delivering content to the iPhone platform, instead of just control mechanisms.

Microsoft issued updates for Office 2004 and 2008 covering security issues for both versions, as well as an XML conversion tool. The Office 2008 update also includes a number of minor fixes to enhance stability.

Regarding security, both updates address vulnerabilities “that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer’s memory with malicious code.” Opening a “specially crafted” Word or Excel file could grant the attacker the same user rights as the local user, including administrative rights if applicable. The XML Conversion Tool was also updated to address this issue.

The 12.2.3 update for Mac Office 2008 update also focuses on stability. In Word, general crashing issues have been addressed. The update also fixes the annoying text-spacing bug when opening some Windows Office documents. For Excel, crashing issues when using PivotTables has been addressed. PowerPoint also addresses stability. Apparently, Entourage is stable enough, though there is a new junk mail definition file. Finally, Microsoft Document Connection for the Mac gets several minor upgrades and fixes.

While this minor update is welcome, many Mac Office users are waiting for information about, if not an actual release of, Outlook for the Mac. In August, we learned Mac Outlook will be out by Christmas 2010, will be built from the ground up using Cocoa, and will have many features we desire, but since then nothing. How about an update on that?

The second minor incremental update for OS X Snow Leopard was released today, and it contains the usual expected bug fixes. It is also is said to contain built-in support for Apple’s new Magic Mouse, and may or may not remove support for Intel Atom processors. If you happen to be using a hackintosh and can confirm or deny whether or not the latest update breaks your system, please comment below and let us know.

You can download the update via Software Update now, or get it directly from the Apple Support site. Here’s Apple’s rather lengthy description of the update, including major bug fixes:

The 10.6.2 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes for:

• an issue that might cause your system to logout unexpectedly
• a graphics distortion in Safari Top Sites
• Spotlight search results not showing Exchange contacts
• a problem that prevented authenticating as an administrative user
• issues when using NTFS and WebDAV file servers
• the reliability of menu extras
• an issue with the 4-finger swipe gesture
• an issue that causes Mail to quit unexpectedly when setting up an Exchange server
• Address Book becoming unresponsive when editing
• a problem adding images to contacts in Address Book
• an issue that prevented opening files downloaded from the Internet
• Safari plug-in reliability
• general reliability improvements for iWork, iLife, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, MobileMe, and iDisk
• an issue that caused data to be deleted when using a guest account

For detailed information on this update, please visit this website: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3874.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

The first iPhone worm has been discovered. It comes to us via Australia, and appears to be limited to that country for now, although it has the potential to spread. It also stars Rick Astley, so to speak. The work changes the iPhone’s wallpaper to an image of the 1980s pop singer, who’s enjoyed a recent resurgence thanks to the Rick-rolling Internet phenomenon.

The worm has the ability to break into jailbroken iPhones only. Even if you’ve jailbroken, you still aren’t vulnerable unless you’ve also installed SSH, and not changed the default password after doing so. As a result, only a small fraction of the larger iPhone community is probably susceptible to the “ikee virus,” as it is called in its own source code.

Still, it shows that as the platform matures and becomes more widespread, it also becomes the target of more malicious attacks. Most hackers, like any businesspeople, are interested in the bottom line, and part of that involves targeting the largest group of people possible. With millions of users worldwide, the iPhone is definitely an appealing mark. ikee’s creator, a hacker calling himself “ikex,” cites a different explanation for this particular worm’s creation:

Why?: Boredom, because i found it so stupid the fact that on my initial scan of my 3G optus range i found 27 hosts running SSH daemons, i could access 26 of them with root:alpine. Doesn’t anyone RTFM anymore?

In the case of this worm, which only changes the background wallpaper to the Astley photo with the slogan, “ikee is never going to give you up” across the top, Graham Cluley of SophosLabs suggests it’s really only an experiment:

The source code is littered with comments from the author suggesting the worm has been written as an experiment. One of the comments berates affected users for not following instructions when installing SSH, because if they had changed the default password the worm would not have been able to infect them.

While not dangerous in and of itself (it actually sort of provides a service by reminding users to take precautions), it could open the door for similar programs with less innocuous payloads. Hopefully, jailbreak users will learn from the experience and be prepared if someone more sinister tries to do the same thing again.

It’ll be interesting to see whether Apple latches onto this as a means to further decry the evils of jailbreak. If it leads to more serious exploits, it definitely would constitute a good reason to stay on the straight and narrow. In either case, expect to see more security concerns surrounding the iPhone as it continues its commercial success.