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Just in case you missed it, here’s the keynote from MWSF 2008 in 60 seconds – with Steve Jobs. If only all keynotes were this short. Also, I wished they could have left out R. Newman.

Click here to watch the vid

You might have heard already here but just in case you haven’t, a security company has spotted iPhone’s first trojan.

The Trojan specifically targets users that have modded their iPhone so they can install third-party applications.

Makes me wonder who JUST WHO is behind this trojan. Hint: WHO doesn’t want the iPhone open to third-party applications????????

See and read more about it at gizmodo

From Fortune:

Wondering why your corporate Information Technology department won’t buy you an Apple (AAPL) iPhone or support the one you bought yourself? Here’s your answer.

Or, rather, 10 answers. Channeling the thought processes of IT managers who don’t need many excuses not to support yet another platform, Forrester Research(FORR) has put together the definitive top 10 reasons not to support this one — fully documented, complete with footnotes. Why now, just when the device seems to be making back-door inroads into the workplace? That’s why.

Forrester predicts that the iPhone will find its way into many enterprise environments — if it hasn’t already — because C-level executives are buying them and expecting support from IT. It’s only a matter of time before the iPhone filters down the corporate pyramid, and IT should have a strategy to handle these requests. … You’ll get complaints from your most enthusiastic Apple fans — and let’s be honest, what Apple fans aren’t enthusiastic? Be ready with a business case as to why your mobile operations team made this strategic business decision.

What follows is a window into the world of the IT manager. Alternatively, you can think of it as a checklist of the issues Apple must address if it wants the iPhone to be accepted as an enterprise-worthy device.

Without further ado, excerpts from the top 10 reasons Forrester recommends that IT not support the iPhone:

1. Doesn’t natively support push business email or over-the-air calendar sync. … The iPhone can sync with Microsoft’s Exchange and IBM’s Lotus Notes over IMAP and SMTP ports, but your server and security admins have to configure their infrastructure to do so or purchase a mobile gateway from Synchronica or Azaleos….

2. Doesn’t accommodate third-party applications, including those internally developed. … This is a showstopper for companies with enterprise mobility initiatives that require line-of-business applications like mobile sales force automation or an industry-specific application like mobile claims…

3. Doesn’t support securing data on the device through encryption. There is no way for a company to natively secure the data on an iPhone with file or disk encryption…

4. Can’t be remotely locked or wiped in the event of a lost or stolen device. …there is no way for IT to lock a device if — scratch that, when — users call the help desk and explain that they left their non-password-protected iPhone behind in a taxi…

5. Lacks a hard keypad that provides feedback, which isn’t ideal for rapid and accurate input. … Many respected journalists have come to the conclusion that ultimately the keyboard “is a nonissue,”
but only after five days of use. In speaking with enterprise-class mobile device users on a daily basis, the vast majority have found that they need some form of tactile feedback from their QWERTY or numeric keyboards. …

6. Has limited service provider support and its carrier lock-in inhibits flexibility. …To date, Apple has officially announced four exclusive carriers for France (Orange), Germany (T- Mobile), the UK (O2), and the United States (AT&T). Outside of these countries, the iPhone isn’t available yet…

7. Comes with a premium…

Continue reading

Pretty neat, huh? Just don’t use it WHILE driving. I HATE people who talk on the phone while driving. They suck.

Read about the Land Rover

From net security:

Security predictions released by Arbor Networks reveal that the iPhone will be a major target for cybercriminals in 2008. The forecast also highlights Chinese specific crime as a major issue for the New Year. Arbor’s Security and Engineering Response Team (ASERT), who have put together the forecasts, believe that the iPhone will become the victim of a serious attack in 2008.

These assaults are likely to be in the form of drive by attacks – malware embedded into seemingly harmless information, images or other media that actually perform dangerous actions when rendered on the iPhone’s Web browser.

With the scrutiny the iPhone has received since its launch earlier this year over network lock-in, ASERT believes that hackers will be enticed by the possibility of attacking Apple users and the opportunity to “be the first” to hack a new platform.

ASERT has also predicted…..

continue reading

From gizmodo:

“The iPhone just went platinum, literally. From the precious metal enthusiasts at Goldstriker International, you can now buy a platinum-coated iPhone for about $2,230. And while most of us aren’t interested in purchasing or carrying around a platinum iPhone (that will scratch to hell, btw), it’s still the best way to shut up that a’hole talking on his gold iPhone. Well, that, or watching him get mugged while your friends hold him down.”

From dmiessler.com:

As most already know, the second generation of the iPhone will be released next year — possibly around April. For most people the major feature, which has already been confirmed, will be the network speed improvement, i.e. the move from EDGE to 3G.

While I think this will be a great improvement (assuming I don’t lose too much battery life) I think there are other features that are even more important. Here’s my short “it better have…” list:

1. GPS / Geolocation
I don’t care how they do it (a hybrid would be ideal) but putting in a source location is unacceptable. First gen, I forgive you. Second gen, give me my current location.

2. MMS
What modern phone can’t do multimedia messages? Come on guys, we need this. And please let us send to more than one recipient at a time.

3. Video Capture
You’ll see a trend here: if it’s pretty standard on phones that cost a third of the price, I want it on my iPhone. Besides, it’s just wrong to have a device that displays video so well but can’t capture any.

4. continue reading

Join the red movement without having to purchase a whole ‘nother gadget. This red GadgetSkin iPhone Silicone Case is designed to perfectly fit your precious iPhone, this silicone case will cover and protect it from scratches and bumps. And it’s on sale for only $5.99!

GadgetSkin iPhone Skin

From iLounge:

Wizzard Media has launched a new podcatching web application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The new app acts as a podcatcher for any show with a RSS feed, and offers an email-like inbox for keeping track of subscribed shows. In addition, the app can import your subscription lists from iTunes, can export an OPML feed of your subscription list, and will soon offer the ability to subscribe to dynamic OPML feeds. The new Wizzard podcatching application can be accessed by visiting iphone.wizzard.tv from an iPhone or iPod touch.

From Gizmodo:

Here’s a funny Steve Jobs Bobblehead app by Spiffy Tech’s Sean Haber. Every couple of moments, Jobs spits out a “Boom!” giving fanboys the comforting feeling of new Apple producs dropping at keynotes. Use jailbreakme.com to get this on your iPhone, but note some caveats…[Here]

Link

From USA Today:

The electronics maker is no longer selling iPhones for cash in its stores. It now only accepts credit or debit cards.

It’s the latest example of Apple keeping a tight rein on the iPhone, says tech analyst Chris Hazelton at researcher IDC. Apple closely manages many aspects of the popular phone, including carriers it works with and what programs it runs.

The credit-only policy announced last week is designed to discourage people from buying iPhones in hopes of quickly reselling them for profit, Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris says. Credit sales may make it easier for Apple to track bulk buyers.

Resellers are doing brisk business on eBay, where about 1,000 iPhones are often up for auction. Prices vary but are often higher than the $399 Apple charges.

Apple controls iPhone usage by warning that altering the phone usually violates its warranty. Even so, owners are overriding restrictions by:

Using a cell carrier other than AT&T (T). An iPhone is designed to work only with AT&T’s network in the USA. Customers can change that by downloading widely available software from the Web to an iPhone via Wi-Fi.

Modified iPhones can usually connect to any carrier using the same underlying technology as AT&T’s, including T-Mobile and many international carriers.

Apple this month estimated that about 250,000 iPhones have been “unlocked” in this way, even though some features may not work. That might cause Apple to lose money, because the company is widely believed to have a revenue-sharing deal with AT&T. The companies have not released details.

Hazelton says some modified phones are probably being used in other countries, where the iPhone has not yet been released. (It will go on sale in the United Kingdom, France and Germany this month.)

Adding unapproved software. An iPhone is essentially a computer, but Apple makes it tough to add outside programs. That should change this spring, when Apple releases new developer tools.

But some customers aren’t willing to wait. They’re using a software override to download whatever they want. Several recent eBay auctions for unlocked phones also featured “bonus” add-on software, including video games and instant-messaging programs.

“There’s a pull from consumers,” says equity analyst Ashok Kumar at CRT Capital Holdings. IPhones with fewer restrictions “are much more appealing,” he says.

Andres Sanchez, a digital media designer in Orlando, modified his iPhone because he wanted to play games on it. He later switched to T-Mobile cellphone service because he prefers it to AT&T.

Watch it

Ja and Ja wohl! Deutschland gets the iPhone on November 9th. Lucky them. Maybe the French will be next. On verra.

Germans will pay €399 ($575) for the 8GB iPhone, along with a €25 ($36) activation fee, and these prices are in effect with a two-year contract. Calling plans will start at €49 ($71) per month, and except for that higher pricing, are similar to those in the U.S. via gizmodo

Do you have an iPhone story? It could be good, bad, even ugly; Apple wants to hear them! Really, go on and recount all of the stuff you’ve been needing to get out of your system…

Go tell your story to Apple now.

From Time:

The thing is hard to type on. It’s too slow. It’s too big. It doesn’t have instant messaging. It’s too expensive. (Or, no, wait, it’s too cheap!) It doesn’t support my work e-mail. It’s locked to AT&T. Steve Jobs secretly hates puppies. And—all together now—we’re sick of hearing about it! Yes, there’s been a lot of hype written about the iPhone, and a lot of guff too. So much so that it seems weird to add more, after Danny Fanboy and Bobby McBlogger have had their day. But when that day is over, Apple’s iPhone is still the best thing invented this year. Why? Five reasons:

1. The iPhone is pretty
Most high-tech companies don’t take design seriously. They treat it as an afterthought. Window-dressing. But one of Jobs’ basic insights about technology is that good design is actually as important as good technology. All the cool features in the world won’t do you any good unless you can figure out how to use said features, and feel smart and attractive while doing it.

An example: look at what happens when you put the iPhone into “airplane” mode (i.e., no cell service, WiFi, etc.). A tiny little orange airplane zooms into the menu bar! Cute, you might say. But cute little touches like that are part of what makes the iPhone usable in a world of useless gadgets. It speaks your language. In the world of technology, surface really is depth.

2. It’s touchy-feely
Apple didn’t invent the touchscreen. Apple didn’t even reinvent it (Apple probably acquired its much hyped multitouch technology when it snapped up a company called Fingerworks in 2005). But Apple knew what to do with it. Apple’s engineers used the touchscreen to innovate past the graphical user interface (which Apple helped pioneer with the Macintosh in the 1980s) to create a whole new kind of interface, a tactile one that gives users the illusion of actually physically manipulating data with their hands—flipping through album covers, clicking links, stretching and shrinking photographs with their fingers.

This is, as engineers say, nontrivial. It’s part of a new way of relating to computers. Look at the success of the Nintendo Wii…

Read the rest at Time

Watch the video here.

From the NYT:

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 26 (AP) — Apple no longer accepts cash for iPhone purchases and now limits sales of the cellphone to two per person in a move to stop people from reselling them.

The new policy started Thursday, said Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman. Before then, there was no cash restriction and the purchase limit was five per person.

“Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift,” Ms. Kerris said. “We’re requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.”

More than 1.4 million units of the hybrid cellphone-iPod have been sold since it was introduced June 29, according to Apple. It is expected to be a popular gift for the holidays.

Apple says it thinks some people…

Read the whole article here

That’s a LOT of ka-ching for Apple. Read the article

I was going to write about the ridiculousness of Apple selling unlocked iPhones in France for the silly, exorbitant price of $1,350, but there’s not much to say except that it’s ridiculous. How’s that for a short post? Click here to see: the listing on France’s Amazon. You really gotta see it to believe it.