Maccast 2009.07.29

Written by: Adam Christianson

Categories: Podcast

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/maccast/MC20090729.mp3]
Download today’s show here! podcast-mini2.gif
MC20090729.mp3 [29.7MB 01:04:50 64kbps]

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 273. Apple looking good in Q3. Details of Microsoft’s retail plans emerge. Apple’s own retail store news. Netbook, iPad/big phone, tablety thingy watch. Apple brewing “Cocktail” to spur album sales. Apple updates it’s Studio suites. Ping Pong Palm battle. New iPhone Beta and SDK released. Apple (AT&T) voice block Google. BlackHat to reveal serious SMS iPhone bug. Apple says Jailbreaking could destroy the cellular networks. Apple asking App developers to keyword their apps. Apple finally releases Mobile Me iDisk App. Getting jealous of unlocked iPhones. Review: Kensington SlimBlade Mouse with Nano Receiver. Sleep, restart, and shutdown from the keyboard. Why no iPod up-to date program?

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Circus Ponies Smile on My Mac

Circus Ponies NoteBook – The Easy Way to Get Organized on the Mac. Try it FREE for 30 Days.

Smile on My Mac, check out PDFpen and their blog.

New music, Hurricane by Town Crier

EOL: Apple Homepage gone Retro. (via Cult of Mac)

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop. — Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC)

Shownotes in: HTML or OPML

Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3 or Enhanced AAC

There are 2 comments on Maccast 2009.07.29:

RSS Feed for these comments
  1. Chris M | Aug 01 2009 - 01:18

    OH DEAR !

    Looks like you have got sucked into a world of fear this week.

    Point 1. The SMS exploit could only ‘potentially’ allow a hacker to control your iPhone and it would have required a team of complete coding geniuses to do this. Of course, this has since been patched by Apple. I guess Apple didn’t need to rush an update out weeks ago as the only thing the SMS exploit could achieve on the iPhone was a 10 second freeze.

    Of course once the exploit was published this may have tuned into a serious issue if super hackers teamed together for 2 weeks to write a virus/worm. This is the opposite of the action taken by Google who released a patch very quickly. Of course the exploit did actually enable the hacker to completely ‘kill’ the android handset which is far more serious.

    Point 2. It looks like Apple’s fears regarding jailbroken iPhones being used for nefarious means are well founded. An app named TAFT running on a jailbroken iPhone was demonstrated at Blackhat which allows the user to ‘hack’ or ‘attack’ many types of GSM smartphones. Taking this as an example Apple looks to be in the right by wanting to lock down application control.

    Now, the message regarding Orange in the UK. There is no £20 unlimited text and data plan and even if there were you would still be on at least an 18 month contract.

    O2 do offer plans like this which are on a month to month contract basis for £20. Hmm, you need to check this prior to making your shows. Normally you are on the ball with this stuff.

  2. Alan | Aug 06 2009 - 08:34

    Point 2: I disagree, not with the fact it can be done, but that someone that is going to have an intent for hacking a cell (or any) network will find a way to do this regardless. I think that was the point Adam was making, he wasn’t going that deep into the tech aspects. You can’t “criminalize” everything.

    The genie is out of the bottle, jailbreaking is everywhere, and as long as they make iPhones, they’ll be people to hack them. Besides, I don’t think the cell providers are exactly hurting for cash – they need to tighten up their network. Or Apple may a foolproof device… good luck for anyone doing that. ;)