Untethered jailbreak for iPhone, iPad running iOS 4.3 in beta

If you are a jailbreak fan, there's finally some good news coming from the untethered jailbreak camp, led by the hackers at the Dev Team--an untethered jailbreak is running iOS 4.3 in beta.

According to iPhone Download blog, hacker Stefan Esser (@iOn1c) has come up with a solution, posting a tweet saying: "The iphone-dev-team is already beta-testing the untether. So it is up to them to give you your tool of choice."

Certainly if the Dev Team is running an untethered jailbreak solution for iOS 4.3, we can expect something soon. In the three weeks since the iOS 4.3 (and iPad 2) release, there hasn't been much exciting news coming from the jailbreak community. Until now, that is.

To back it up, renowned hacker MuscleNerd tweeted: "well @iOn1c's untether is solid! Just working out overall 4.3.x JB issues and Cydia :)"

There's still no official word on when the untethered jailbreak might be available, but signs are pointing to soon.

Resources: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-31747_7-20048833-243.html#ixzz1I8XtAv6b

Fake Android app steals date, takes shot at pirates

A malicious Android app that masquerades as a free version of a legitimate app steals data and sends spam text messages and a warning that chastise the user for trying to get around paying for the actual app, Symantec said today.
The app, available on several file-sharing sites in North America and Asia that are known as clearinghouses for pirated software, is called Walk and Text. That's also the name of a legitimate app--available on the Android Market for $1.53--that uses a device's camera to let people see what's in front of them as they text while walking. However, the bogus app is labeled as version 1.3.7, which doesn't exist yet, according to a Symantec blog post.
Once the fake software--which Symantec has dubbed "Android.Walkinwat"--is downloaded and running, it displays a dialog box that indicates that the app is in the process of being compromised or cracked, ostensibly to scare the person who thinks they're getting the legitimate app for free. Behind the scenes, the software is gathering sensitive data--including username, phone number, and unique device identifier--and trying to send it to an external server, Symantec says.
The app also sends out a text message (rife with misspellings and errors) to all the numbers listed in the user's contact list: "Hey, just downloaded a pirated App off the Internet, Walk and Text for Android. Im stupid and cheap, it costed only 1 buck.Don't steal like I did!"
The app also displays a message that says "Application Not Licensed" and warns: "We really hope you learned something from this. Check your phone bill;) Oh and don't forget to buy the App from the Market." It includes buttons for buying the app or exiting.


Resources: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27080_3-20049004-245.html#ixzz1I8XR4TmN

Skype in the Classroom graduates from beta

Skype in the Classroom, a video networking service for educators worldwide, is officially out of beta, the company said today.

The service, which has been in beta since December, allows educators to collaborate with others around the world over video. The VoIP provider said it developed the service "in response to, and in consultation with, the growing number of teachers using Skype to help their students learn."

Skype's service can help educators find one another by location, among other criteria.

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

To set Skype In the Classroom apart from the company's basic service, teachers can use the tool to find fellow educators who may be teaching on the same topic. It can also be used to expose kids to guest speakers or collaborate on projects with other classes. Teachers can search through the service using age groups, location, and subjects of interest, Skype said.

In some ways, Skype is trying to be the next generation's "pen pal" service. For decades now, students have had pen pals around the world with whom they would communicate during a school year. It was effective at helping them learn more about the world, but it was rather impersonal. Skype, it seems, wants to change that.

The company cited one project under way between two classrooms--one in France and the other in Canada--that used Skype to enhance the pen pal relationship students previously had.

"Before arranging the first video call, our students exchanged letters and e-mails but we decided to bring the two classes together face-to-face over Skype video to enrich their relationship," Christophe Fetat, one of the teachers involved in the project, said in a statement. "The result was amazing. Students were really engaged to discuss different topics."

That project is one of more than 40 started via the service. More than 4,700 teachers are already checking it out. The figures were growing by the minute today.

Skype isn't alone in trying help teachers enrich their classrooms through technology. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, for example, launched a social network for educators last year. The program, called EDge, helps teachers collaborate on best practices, create lesson plans, and upload multimedia content for others to use in their classrooms. It's free to join.

Resources: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20048751-17.html#ixzz1I8Wm55T9

Facebook takes down Palestinian intifada page

A Facebook page called the Third Palestinian Intifada has been removed from the site following a request from the Israeli government.

Yuli Edelstein, Israel's minister of public diplomacy and diaspora affairs, sent a letter directly to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on March 23. In the letter, which has been posted on the Web site The Jerusalem Gift Shop, Edelstein asked the company to take down the page calling for a third intifada, translated by some as violent uprising, to begin against Israel on May 15.

Pointing to remarks and movie clips on the page calling for the killing of Israelis and Jews and the liberation of Palestine through violence, Edelstein expressed concern over the "wild incitement" that could be caused by the page, which had collected more than 230,000 friends at the time he wrote the letter.

On Friday, the Anti-Defamation League also asked Facebook to remove the page, labeling it "an appalling abuse of technology to promote terrorist violence" with "inflammatory anti-Israel language calling for supporters to build on the previous two intifadas."

From its initial response, Facebook appeared reluctant to take action.

"We strongly believe that Facebook users have the ability to express their opinions, and we don't typically take down content, groups, or Pages that speak out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas," Facebook spokeswoman Debbie Frost said in a statement e-mailed to Bloomberg.

But as of today Facebook had removed the Third Palestinian Intifada page. Explaining its decision, a Facebook spokesman e-mailed CNET the following statement:

The Page, The Third Palestinian Intifada, began as a call for peaceful protest, even though it used a term that has been associated with violence in the past. In addition, the administrators initially removed comments that promoted violence. However, after the publicity of the Page, more comments deteriorated to direct calls for violence. Eventually, the administrators also participated in these calls. After administrators of the page received repeated warnings about posts that violated our policies, we removed the Page.

Facebook added that it continues to "believe that people on Facebook should be able to express their opinions, and we don't typically take down content that speaks out against countries, religions, political entities, or ideas. However, we monitor Pages that are reported to us and when they degrade to direct calls for violence or expressions of hate--as occurred in this case--we have and will continue to take them down."

Saying that it welcomed the decision to take down the page, the Anti-Defamation League asked Facebook to "vigilantly monitor their pages for other groups that call for violence or terrorism against Jews and Israel."

Since the removal of the page, new ones have been created to replace it. Though the number of friends is small so far compared with the original, the new pages appear to mimic the first one with further calls in both English and Arabic for a new intifada.

Literally translated as "shaking off," the word intifada is more commonly translated as "revolution" or "uprising." Palestinians have staged two intifadas, according to CNN, one that began in 1987 and another that started in 2000. During the second intifada, thousands of Israelis and Palestinians died, CNN said.

Resources: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20048363-93.html#ixzz1I8W9RP58

Another Google service facing uncertainty in China

Google is facing potential trouble with the Chinese government over yet another one of its services.

The future of Google Maps, the company's online mapping service, may be in jeopardy as the company reportedly has yet to file the required application with the Chinese government to keep the service running, and the deadline is tomorrow.

China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping confirmed that it has not received an application from Google for a license for Google Maps, according to Bloomberg and other sources. If tomorrow's deadline passes, and a license application still has not been received, the bureau said that the service would face "administrative actions" by July 1.

Google has not responded to a request for comment. Bloomberg, however, had the following statement from the company: "We are examining the regulations to understand their impact on our maps products in China."

China's potential actions against Google Maps are part of the country's overall effort to crack down on "illegal" online mapping services in light of their ability to reveal "sensitive and confidential" information, according to China's state-run news agency Xinhua. Such a crackdown would extend to unapproved online mapping sites, potentially leading to their shutdown.

China announced last spring that it would start requiring license for online mapping services, already putting the future of Google Maps in question. As of the middle of February, China has given licenses to 105 Web sites that provide online mapping in the country, including Baidu, Sina, Nokia, and China Mobile, Xinhua said.

Always tenuous, Google's relationship with China took another bad turn last week when the search giant accused Beijing of interfering with the operations of Gmail. The company also just suffered a blow to its overall market in China as Sina, the country's biggest Internet portal, said yesterday that it has replaced Google's search engine on its various Web sites with its own, according to AFP.

Resources: 

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20048759-38.html#ixzz1I8UXVDGC

iPad 2 cost only a few dollars more to build than original iPad

An analysis of iPad 2 finds that Apple's total cost to produce the tablet is almost identical to that of the original iPad introduced a year ago.

Apple was able to keep costs down despite the fact that a number of iPad 2 components, including the display subsystem and battery, are considerably more expensive than those of the original tablet.

The analysis breaks down the components of the iPad 2, assigns a price tag for each, and estimates the actual manufacturing costs to come up with a total. There's only a $3 difference between the GSM- and CDMA-equipped 32GB iPad 2 models: $336.60 for the former, $333.25, according to IHS iSuppli.

TEARDOWNS: iFixit looks inside the iPad 2 and its Smart Cover

Most of that total is a tally of the bill of materials (BOM) -- all the chips, memory, the display components, and so on -- totaling $326.60 for the GSM model, and $323.25 for the CDMA model. iSuppli estimates the cost to manufacture each tablet is $10.

The most expensive components: display, at $127; memory (for the 32GB model) at $65.70; mechanical/electrical (enclosure, connectors, etc.), at $35; and the battery, at $25.

The total BOM for the iPad 2 is only just a few dollars more than the total for the original iPad, which iSuppli put at $320 when it the tablet was released in April 2010.

Among other things, Apple may have been able to leverage its supply chain relationships in light of the much higher anticipated unit sales of iPad 2. The original iPad sold about 15 million units in the nine months it was available in 2010. Estimates of iPad 2 sales typically start at about twice that and go up.

iSuppli's analysis shows that the components and vendors for iPad 2 are little changed from the original tablet. "The iPad 1 and iPad 2 use the same components and suppliers for the NAND flash, the multi-touch controllers and touch screen drivers, as well as the same core chip in the wireless section as was found in the iPhone 4," says Andrew Rassweiler, senior director and principal analyst and teardown services manager for IHS, in a statement. "Many of the other components -- including the apps processor and the Bluetooth/frequency/global positioning system/wireless local-area network chips -- have the same suppliers and are essentially new revisions of the chips found in the previous iPad and other iPhones."

Holding the iPad 2 cost flat is all the more remarkable considering that the new tablet's screen is quite a bit more expensive than the original's, by about one-third, according to iSuppli. The firm estimates the iPad 2 display/touch screen subsystem carries a price tag of $127, compared to the its estimate of $95 for the first iPad.

There are a number of reasons for the jump in costs, most traceable to the manufacturing challenges faced by suppliers. iSuppli: "Production yields, though they have been improving, have been very low throughout 2010, and drove prices to be much higher than initially expected. Furthermore, refinements in the touch screen specifications have driven the price point even higher for the iPad 2. Contributing factors to that cost increases include more expensive glue to improve the efficiency/performance in the bonding, thinner Gorilla cover glass and a more detailed inspection process requiring additional equipment for optical and panel examination."

The new tablet's battery is more expensive, at $25 versus $21 in iPad 1. For the new tablet, the battery is much thinner and uses three cells instead of two. The associated power management circuitry for these batteries is a key reason why Apple can maximize battery life while holding down battery size and weight, according to iSuppli.

The other notably more expensive component is the A5 processor, the first dual-core version of Apple's custom-designed, and Samsung-built, CPU. According to iSuppli, the A5's estimated price of $14 is 75% higher than that of the A4 used in the original iPad. The firm notes that this cost will drop over time as chip production volume increases.

Those components alone add $39.50 to the cost of the original iPad. Yet, somehow, Apple was able to hold down the total cost of the iPad 2 components list plus manufacturing, perhaps by squeezing out other costs from its supply chain. This may explain why one analyst's predicted price cut for the iPad 2 didn't materialize: (See "Will the hottest thing about iPad 2 be the price?")

Former equities analyst Anton Wahlman noted that with iPad 2, Apple "is probably looking to sell 60 million units worldwide starting this March" compared to about 15 million for iPad 1. The much higher volume gives Apple supply chain leverage. Wahlman wrote: "When you go from planning under 10 million units to 60 million, you can negotiate much better manufacturing prices. Components can also be optimized for cost, to a different degree. Apple is pre-paying for critical parts, such as memory and displays, taking risk out of the contract manufacturers, which pressures the price down."

Squeezing out those extra costs let Apple absorb the higher-priced iPad 2 components, keep the total iPad cost almost level, and keep the consumer price tag unchanged, giving it a price advantage compared to rival Android-based tablets, perhaps for many months.

Resources : itnews.com

Twitter clamps down on client applications!

Twitter is discouraging development of new client applications and warning existing ones will be held to stringent standards
by Juan Carlos Perez

Developers working on client applications that replicate Twitter.com's basic user functionality should turn their efforts elsewhere, because the company doesn't want any more such apps on the market.

Moreover, developers of existing client applications should brace for stricter enforcement of terms and conditions, as Twitter strives to make the overall user experience more uniform and of higher quality.

That was the message Ryan Sarver, from Twitter's application development team, relayed over the weekend on an official Twitter discussion forum for developers.

"Developers have told us that they'd like more guidance from us about the best opportunities to build on Twitter. More specifically, developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no," Sarver wrote in a post titled "Consistency and ecosystem opportunities."

"If you are an existing developer of client apps, you can continue to serve your user base, but we will be holding you to high standards to ensure you do not violate users' privacy, that you provide consistency in the user experience, and that you rigorously adhere to all areas of our Terms of Service," he added.

Twitter has also modified its developer terms accordingly and provided more details about this topic in that document.

Responses to Sarver's post have so far been mostly negative.

"All third party Twitter developers, no matter what they make, are now walking on eggshells, constantly at risk of

offending Twitter's ideas of how users should interact with Twitter," wrote one developer, echoing similar sentiments from others commenting on the discussion thread.

Tensions between Twitter and its community of third-party developers have been worsening over the past 12 to 15 months, when Twitter started taking a more active role in building out its previously sparse menu of native features.

For the first four years or so of its existence, Twitter relied heavily on -- and encouraged -- external developers to provide extra functionality around its bare-bones microblogging service.

During that time, Twitter, founded in 2006, had its hands full keeping up with the basics of running the company, such as maintaining the site up and available, a notorious struggle for years.

Thus, developers have created hundreds of thousands of applications for Twitter, including desktop clients, mobile interfaces, search engines, photo sharing tools, monitoring and analytics software and profile customization tools.

Many of these developers, which range from individual freelancers to large outfits, have built businesses of various sizes around their Twitter applications.

But starting in late 2009 and very clearly ahead of its Chirp developer conference a year ago, Twitter, having grown its staff and business significantly, has made it clear that it intends to provide by itself or in exclusive partnerships whatever functionality it considers of core importance to the Twitter user experience.

That now includes official Twitter applications for the iPhone, BlackBerry, iPad, Windows Phone and Android devices, for example. "As a result, the top five ways that people access Twitter are official Twitter apps. Still, our user research shows that consumers continue to be confused by the different ways that a fractured landscape of third-party Twitter clients display tweets and let users interact with core Twitter functions," Sarver wrote in his post.

So over the past year, Twitter has become a competitor for some of its external developers.

Now, Twitter is setting its sights on client applications, citing user confusion and security concerns. "If there are too many ways to use Twitter that are inconsistent with one another, we risk diffusing the user experience. In addition, a number of client applications have repeatedly violated Twitter's Terms of Service, including our user privacy policy. This demonstrates the risks associated with outsourcing the Twitter user experience to third parties," Sarver wrote.

As examples of developers who are taking advantage of existing opportunities, Sarver cited SocialFlow's publisher tools, Klout's application which crunches Twitter data to generate individual reputation scores and HootSuite and Seesmic, which let businesses monitor their brand mentions on Twitter and act accordingly.

Recources: itnews.com