Broz News

Apple patching critical SMS vulnerability in iPhone OS

Security researcher Charlie Miller has revealed that Apple is working on a patch for a security flaw he identified in the iPhone's SMS implementation. The flaw can actually lead to arbitrary code execution, as he explained to Ars last month. Miller hasn't yet detailed the flaw, citing an agreement with Apple, though he and partner Vincenzo Iozzo plan to detail their discovery later this month at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas.

During a presentation at the SyScan security conference in Singapore, Miller explained that a vulnerability in the iPhone's handling of SMS messages makes it possible to send code instead of strictly text. Despite SMS's 140 byte size limitation, the iPhone can reassemble larger messages that are broken up to fit the limitation, which allows larger programs to be sent. The iPhone can be instructed to execute SMS data as code instead of text, and when it executes the code it does so with root privileges and without any interaction from the user.

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Apple Stores now fixing cracked iPhone screens in-house (Updated)

An iPhone falls to the ground in slow motion and makes its first impact on a corner. You watch as the cracks branch out over the screen like a spiderweb. If it hasn't happened to you, it has happened to someone you know—and now, Apple can fix it on the spot at one of its retail locations.

Jim Dalrymple at The Loop has confirmed that Apple retail stores have begun performing this in-house repair with what amounts to a big suction cup in the back. The machine separates the broken glass from the rest of your precious iPhone, letting the technician install a shiny new one.

This is one of the only in-house repairs being done on iPhones. Not only that, but in the past, owners with broken screens either got a full phone replacement or nothing at all. Still, knowing all the people we know who have shattered their screens, this is certainly welcome news for clumsy and not-so-clumsy iPhone owners alike.

Update: We have been infused with many more details that were not available at the time of writing. The cost of the repairs will be $199 and is not covered under warranty or AppleCare. We are told that the service is not available for original iPhones.

Apple may be dumping NVIDIA graphics for next-gen Macs (Updated)

Apple has nearly turned its entire line of computers over to NVIDIA-based GPUs, thanks mainly to the vastly improved graphics performance of its GeForce 9400M chipset over comparable chipsets from Intel. However, rumors suggest that recent negotiations between the two companies over next-gen hardware have soured to the point that Apple may give NVIDIA a complete cold shoulder.

According to SemiAccurate (the irony of the site's name isn't lost on us), Apple is supposedly done with the "arrogance and bluster" that NVIDIA showed in its proposals concerning chipsets for Apple's next-gen hardware, which should include Nehalem-based Intel CPUs. According to the site's sources, the language used in Apple's rebuke was forceful and unfriendly, and amounted to Apple telling NVIDIA to "get lost" for three or four years.

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'Naughty' dice app quietly denied by Apple?
Trichotomy Media is complaining that its Naughty Loaded Dice iPhone app has, possibly, been quietly rejected by Apple. The app has yet to receive an approval or a rejection after a month, and should therefore still be sitting in Apple's queue. The company notes that although the app does focus on bedroom activity, it still stays clear of any profanity or explicit images....

iPhone dominates Japanese smartphone market
The iPhone is currently the best-selling smartphone in Japan, at least at retail, according to a recent survey. Gathered by research firm BCN, data from 2,300 stores shows the 8GB iPhone 3G as the most popular smartphone, followed by its 16GB sibling. Ranking third in the survey is the NTT DoCoMo Aquos SH-04A, designed by Sharp; RIM's BlackBerry Bold ranks sixth, and a full four slots in the lis...

Clarendon Apple Store shooting sees one wounded
A shooting incident at the Clarendon Apple Store in Arlington, Virginia has left one wounded, news networks report. The shot was fired shortly after 10AM local time, and the victim has since been sent to a local hospital. Police have formed a perimeter around the area, hunting for a suspect still at large....

Amazon Update
Amazon has the best price on MacBook Air: just $1699. Or save $55-$105 off Apple's latest iMacs, or $150-$380 off the Mac Pro Quad and new Quad-Core models. Amazon discounts iPods and a huge selection of digital cameras and HDTV's, too. Save on AppleCare, ".Mac", "Leopard", iLife, iWork, Aperture 2, VMware, Photoshop Elements 6 and Office 2008, as well. And the Kindle wireless book/reader is now in stock at $359. While you're saving yourself money, you're also providing critical MacInTouch support just by clicking through our links to purchase!

Report: Leopard
[Updated 14:30] a 10.5.3 problem affects web browsers; other 10.5.3 issues, compatibility notes and more

Report: Applications
Adobe CS3 issues, Print to PDF tips

Create Events-based iPhoto albums featuring specific people
Learn how to create an album in iPhoto to show all photos from all events that contain at least one photo of a selected person.

Repair incorrect icon associations
Are the icons for certain file types incorrect on your machine -- zip files appearing as disk image files, for instance? If so, this hint will help you quickly fix the problem.

Change color of BBEdit and TextWrangler 'invisibles' characters
Learn how to change the color of the special characters that BBEdit and TextWrangler use to display invisible characters, such as tabs and line breaks.

UK Bank pushes iPhone e-commerce forward
Owners of the iPhone or iPod touch in the U.K. will be able to use their phone to both buy and pay for goods using a new application from MoBank.

Review: Read It Later for iPhone
Both the paid and free versions of this app do an adequate job of letting you save Web articles for offline reading. But a few flaws keep Read It Later from being a superlative experience.

iPhone 3GS gets jailbroken, hack available online
The first jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3GS -- purplera1n -- is now available.

Blogging live from Spiral Jetty
Never say never, but this may be the first blog ever posted live from the monumental earthwork on the edge of the Great Salt Lake called Spiral Jetty.

Employee shot, wounded at Virginia Apple store
The victim, a 26-year-old woman, is in serious but stable condition with a wound to the shoulder. Some media outlets are reporting robbery as the motive, but police say it's too early to tell.

Seattle fire knocks out service to Bing Travel, other sites
At least two dozen sites experience protracted outage following Thursday night electrical fire at Fisher Plaza data center. Verizon's Seattle-area DSL service also gets temporarily disrupted.

Peak Oil: Bugatti Makes a Car for the Ages
Bugatti's convertible is the pinnacle of internal-combustion car tech -- one that will probably never be surpassed with the auto industry's focus shifting to electric vehicles. Here's what it's like to drive it.

Keeping It Reel — Five Pieces for Your Must-Have Angling Kit
Fly fishers dread the question: "Catch anything today?" Dazzling your interrogators with cool gear might let you dodge the question. No gadget can improve your cast, but tech can surely enhance life on the water.

July 4, 1776: Preserving the Declaration
It's one thing to declare independence, but quite another to preserve the aging document from the ravages of time.

iPhone 3GS Jailbreak [Apple]

Warning: We haven't tested this because we're playing with fireworks. [Make It Rain via BBG]

The Pegasus Open 50 Sailing Log: Weather [Summer Funnology]

Philippe Kahn describes the weather before the race.I took a serious look at the weather. What a mess! In 11 crossings I have never seen such messy weather patterns in the usually very predictable Pacific.

July 1st, 2009

The weather chart says it all. Instead of one beautiful strong, stable high pressure centered somewhere 800 nautical miles from San Francisco, there are now 10 different weather systems playing with each other. Yes, climate is changing! This makes it all the more interesting for the Transpac. We start Sunday the 5th at 1 PM out of Long Beach, California. I'd love to celebrate the 14th of July or Bastille Day in Honolulu watching the sunset by Diamond Head. But a lot has to happen before that!

The Pacific has been highly unusual over the last 30 days. In particular, sea level pressure has averaged below normal off the California coast and much below normal over the central Pacific, northwest of Hawaii. This pattern has resulted in a weak Pacific high, ridged in a north-south orientation.

That means that the wind has been a right-shifter along the California coast and weakened the strong North Westerlies that are typical of the first two days of Transpac. But, things may be changing fast.

My bet is that by the end of the week we will see consolidation of the high given the trends on the 500mb chart and as a consequence a more typical, fairly windy race. But it could go either way!

The Boat will make it to Long Beach this evening. The delivery team is making good progress.

Our goal for this race is the double-handed Transpac record. Last year we established a new double handed record from San Francisco to Hawaii. This year we start from Los Angeles.

Just two of us: Mark Christensen, VP of Engineering and myself, Chief tinkerer at Fullpower and 2250 nautical miles of open ocean between the start and Diamond Head!

Sailing Team:
Philippe Kahn
Mark "Crusty" Christensen

Boat Project management:
David Giles, Zan Drejes, Bruce Mahoney,

Onshore Pegasus Racing team:
Zan Dredjes, David Gilles, Bruce Mahoney, Mark Golsh, Jana Madrigali, Seth Larkin

Online Presence:
Caleb Dolister, Peter Spaulding, Arthur Kinsolving, Joe Dolister

Sailor's food:
Bonnie Willis

July 2nd,2009

Now we are running routes and the different forecasting models are very different as you can see from the chart. Wildly different. In fact I don't believe any of them. The great news is that the weather on the Pacific is settling. The upper level blockages are dissipating and we may be in for a more classic July North-East Pacific weather pattern.

I have to confess that I have been arguing with myself as to the playlists for the soundtrack during the next 8 days. Lots of deBussy, ravel, Faure and of course Iz!

The boat will make it to Long Beach today and I will post some pictures soon.

Philippe Kahn founded Borland, invented the Camphone, and decodes human motion. He's also a fellow outdoorsman, splitting time skiing Tahoe and sailing in Santa Cruz. He'll share his Transpac 2009 sailing race with us live from the Pegasus Open 50.
[Pegasus on Gizmodo, Pegasus]

Giz Service Announcement: Aim Fireworks Into the Air, Not At Your Mom [July 4th]

Here's another clip from the Consumer Product Safety Commission that proves, once and for all, that it is not okay to point fireworks at family members. Happy July 4th everybody! [CPSC]

WEEK IN PHOTOS: Ugliest Dog, "Miracle" Birth, and More

Filipino inmates dance to "Thriller," a girl rests 1,400 feet in the air, and an elderly ape has a baby in this week's best news photos.

"Diamond Dust" Snow Falls Nightly on Mars

Ice crystals drifting from Martian clouds resemble the glittering precipitation that falls in Earth's Arctic regions during winter, new data show.

Tunguksa Blast Mystery Solved by Space Shuttle?

Rare "night shining" clouds linked to the 1908 Russian event and plumes from shuttle launches suggest that the blast was caused by an icy comet, a new study says.

Moon probe returns first images
The US space agency's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft sends back its first images since reaching the Moon.

No safe haven for rarest antelope
Hopes are dashed that some of the few remaining hirola antelope have managed to colonise new, safer territory.

New dinosaurs found in Australia
Three new dinosaur species are found in Queensland, Australia, and named after the Outback song Waltzing Matilda.

Robot helicopter takes flight navigation to a new low
While other uncrewed planes fly high to stay safe, this autonomous chopper can plan its way around obstacles close to the ground

Pimped up T-cells seek out and destroy HIV
Researchers have used evolution to create immune cells able to destroy HIV far more effectively than the regular cells our body produces

The odd drink in pregnancy won't harm baby
Lots of expecting mums now say they avoid even light drinking, but the latest study indicates that this may be an unnecessary precaution (full text available to subscribers)