Goodnight iPad

Steve Jobs

There's been a lot of talk since Jobs died about his passion for thinking differently, and how the "crazy ones" are actually the ones who move things forward and change the world. 

I wish my life had been been filled with such enthusiasm for following the beat of my own drum, for ignoring status quo, all the while finding endless fascination in what each day might bring. 

To aspire to boundless creativity and to throw off the shackles of corporate convention, and in the process improve the lives and experiences of hundreds of millions around the globe - truly a life well lived. 

How many of us can say the same?

100 Year Old Virginia Gets An iPad

This is absolutely wonderful. Virginia is 100 years old and has vision limitations. She's never used a computer before.

Her family gives her an iPad, and within minutes Virginia is using a computer for the first time. Image her joy and sense of triumph.



Make fun of Apple all you want, but there's nobody better at crafting technology with the user in mind than the folks in Cupertino. Just ask Virginia.

Via Neatorama

Flowchart: Should I Buy An iPad?

Click the image for a larger view.

Linky

Hitler Hates the iPad

Via 5 Blogs Before Lunch

Apple Patching Serious iPhone Vulnerability

Well, you knew that the iPhone 3.0 software introduced some interesting new features, but while developers were cranking out compass code, they overlooked a flaw that could allow an attacker to remotely run malicious code on your device, granting them root access.

The flaw is within how the software handles SMS (Short Message System) text messages. A security researcher was able to remotely crash an iPhone via specially crafted SMS messages, and that usually means that other attacks, such as installing their own software, creating denial of service conditions, or spreading additional malicious code are possible.

Look for Apple to patch this one quickly, given the fact that details of the vulnerability are rapidly becoming public. The normal result is an uptick in activity among malcode writers who look to begin exploiting the vulnerability.

Once Apple issues the fix, make sure you update your iPhone's software immediately, as the bad guys who haven't figured out the flaw will reverse-engineer the fix in order to build and scatter exploits in the wild.

iPhone Security Benchmarks

The Center for Internet Security has released some iPhone security benchmark recommendations that will accomplish two goals:

• Make corporate use of the iPhone a tad more secure
• Suck out any of the inherent joy of owning and using an iPhone

Most of the recommendations are no-brainers, like updating the iPhone firmware to the latest version when you bring it onboard and turning off Bluetooth, location services, and other risky components, while adding a password so that it becomes virtually impossible to pull the phone from your pocket, swipe the main screen to open it, and punch in your password before the call flops over to voicemail. Good times!

As always, using an iPhone on the enterprise level will require compromising features and benefits in the interest of security. It will be interesting to watch how major companies implement these recommendations.

Security Benchmarks for Apple iPhone Released , via InformationWeek

Apple's Starting to Piss Me Off

I've been a fan of Apple products for awhile. Not one of those drink-the-KoolAid, Steve Jobs-can-do-no-wrong kind of fanboys, but I appreciate the style and functionality of their products more than I do, say, Dell and Microsoft. By a wide margin.

It took me a little while to get used to the draconian DRM that came with my first iPod, the old click-wheel 80 GB clunker that seems positively Middle Ages now.

The proprietary media format, restrictions on copying to devices, and the scourge of trying to back up your iTunes library are but a few of the annoyances that I endured in order to have this cool, new toy.

I then bought an iPod Touch when I decided to move from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution, and soon after, I ditched my Nokia Clumsy-Scroller 2000 for an iPhone 2G soon after they were released.

That's when I discovered the whole "damn, my headphones don't fit" realization with thousands of other users, and was faced with the choice of buying new ones that were "iPhone compatible", or buying one of those little adapter thingies. I went with the adapter. Two of them. One I keep on my favorite set of phones, and the other I keep in my bag so if I lose my headphones, I can pick up a cheap set at the airport and be able to listen to tunes on the plane without needing to pray that the airport shop has the adapter on sale for less than $40.

So when I read about the new iPod Dinky ( believe the actual name is Shuffle 3rd Generation), and how the controls are all located on the earbug cord, I thought, "Cool!", followed by, "Ooooooo, that's not good."

Turns out there's an "authentication" chip in these newfangled buds, which means you either need to buy the official Apple phones, or Apple-certified models that contain this chip, which does nothing to improve the quality or listening experience.

What it does is allow Apple to control the peripherals that will work with the new Shuffle, and I'm guessing that it will also add some coins to the price of "authentication-chipped" devices. That sucks.

Imagine if Microsoft decided to do the same thing, installing some sort of component that would require Microsoft certification in order to work with genuine Windows products. Or if Chrysler decided to something similar, forcing me to use more expensive, authenticated parts for my Jeep. Not only would I be pissed about that, but think of how parts suppliers would react if they were similarly held over the barrel.

Apple, I dig your stuff. Not your computers so much - I'm a Linux guy - plus Safari really blows as a browser in so many ways. But the rest of your products make me happy.

You're messing that up. Stop it. Sooner or later, Android and everything else will close the gap, you won't own the innovation market anymore, and you'll need product differentiation.

If you keep implementing components to ensure vendor lock-in, I'll be on the other side of the door, locked out, on principle.

Don't mess with me, Apple. You know how I can get.

Apple Security Updates

Hey, all you QuickTime users. Apple has a little present for you. For QuickTime 7.6, Apple brings you APPLE-SA-2009-01-21 QuickTime 7.6 that closes many, many vulnerabilities that reference "arbitrary code execution". Yikes.

Make sure you upgrade to the latest version of QT, because patching the older versions just doesn't seem to buy you much benefit anymore.

Don't waste much time rolling out this new update. Since users typically have feet of clay when upgrading or patching some software peripherals like QuickTime, Flash, Adobe Reader, and so on, evildoers have taken to using them as fertile attack vectors. Just viewing a specially-crafted streaming video or movie file. And we all know how tempted you are to see that free video of Paris Hilton or Megan Fox that gets delivered to your inbox.

If I haven't convinced you yet, let me try again: Secunia PSI is a good, free offering that keeps track of all your software that needs updating or is end of life, meaning no support is available. If you're running a Windows laptop or desktop, PSI is a good investment, if for no other reason than it streamlines notification of problems you need to fix.