Exploding iPhone investigated

Australian aviation authorities have launched an investigation after an iPhone caught fire aboard a flight to Sydney. 

Domestic airline Regional Express Airlines said the iPhone glowed red and emitted 'thick smoke' after the plane landed in Sydney

 

The domestic airline Regional Express Airlines said the phone glowed red and emitted "thick smoke" after the plane landed in Sydney.

The case is being investigated by the aviation watchdog, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which described it as an incident involving "fumes, smoke, fire". The authority is examining the phone after it was delivered by the airline.

"We are investigating – it is quite early on in the investigation," said a spokesman for the authority.

"We do have the phone. It is in our custody and we will be undertaking a technical examination of it. We will be interviewing directly involved parties and also in our technical examination of the phone we are going to be consulting with the manufacturer as well."

The airline released a photo of the phone, saying the "combustion" incident occurred last Friday during a flight to Sydney from the New South Wales town of Lismore.

"The flight attendant carried out recovery actions immediately and the red glow was extinguished successfully," said a statement issued by the airline. "All passengers and crew on board were unharmed." Though the aviation authority did not identify the model of phone, a photo released by the airline suggests it was an iPhone 4.


An Apple spokesman said the company looked "forward to working with officials".


Though aviation officials said it was the first known incident involving an iPhone, Apple has previously had problems with the first generation of iPod nanos. A batch of the devices, sold between 2005 and 2006, were recalled amid concerns a defect with the battery was causing overheating.

‘Black Friday’ iTunes credit scam

Criminals have been infecting computers with malware disguised as an iTunes gift. 

  By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor

 

An email claiming to be from Apple’s iTunes store contains a compressed ZIP file, which security experts say could allow hackers to gain access to computers.

The German Eleven security blog suggests that the attack is timed to coincide with the start of the American holiday shopping season, called Black Friday.

The email offers credit for iTunes music, games and video, and is just one of a huge number of scams that try to lure people in with offers that seem plausible in the context of other Black Friday discounts.

The email apparently offers recipients $50 (£32) and claims they need to open an attached file to access their certificate code. In fact the attachment is a file called Mal/BredoZp-B. It opens a security loophole on Windows PCs and allows hackers to remotely capture passwords and other information. It also slows down the computer and hides some files.

Although such malware can be removed with the use of widely available anti-malware tools, damage can be done in the meantime.

The attack comes at a time of burgeoning cyber threats on a number of fronts. Security firm Sophos has warned that Facebook users have been subjected to fake emails claiming they have violated the site’s terms and asking for credit card details, while other vendors claim to have seen a rise in attacks aimed at Android mobile phones. 

Apple iTunes flaw 'allowed government spying for 3 years'

An unpatched security flaw in Apple’s iTunes software allowed intelligence agencies and police to hack into users’ computers for more than three years, it’s claimed. 

 

Apple's iTunes software is installed on more than a quarter of a billion computers

 

A British company called Gamma International marketed hacking software to governments that exploited the vulnerability via a bogus update to iTunes, Apple's media player, which is installed on more than 250 million machines worldwide.

The hacking software, FinFisher, is used to spy on intelligence targets’ computers. It is known to be used by British agencies and earlier this year records were discovered in abandoned offices of that showed it had been offered to Egypt’s feared secret police.

Apple was informed about the relevant flaw in iTunes in 2008, according to Brian Krebs, a security writer, but did not patch the software until earlier this month, a delay of more than three years.

“A prominent security researcher warned Apple about this dangerous vulnerability in mid-2008, yet the company waited more than 1,200 days to fix the flaw,” he said in a blog post.

"The disclosure raises questions about whether and when Apple knew about the Trojan offering, and its timing in choosing to sew up the security hole in this ubiquitous software title."

On average Apple takes just 91 days to fix security flaws after they are disclosed, Mr Krebs wrote.


Francisco Amato, the Argentinian security researcher who warned Apple about the problem suggested that "maybe they forgot about it, or it was just on the bottom of their to-do list".
In response to reports that FinFisher targeted iTunes, Apple has said that it works "to find and fix any issues that could compromise systems".


"The security and privacy of our users is extremely important,” a spokeswoman said.
This month's iTunes update 10.5.1 explained that "a man-in-the-middle attacker may offer software that appears to originate from Apple", adding that the "issue has been mitigated".


Gamma International has not commented on the matter. Registered in Winchester, the firm is one of several companies that sell computer hacking services to governments. They offer "zero day" security flaws, which have not been publicly disclosed, so attempts to exploit them are unlikely to be detected by anti-virus programs.

Apple’s Siri hacked to control thermostat

Siri, Apple’s iPhone ‘personal assistant’, has been hacked so that it can now be used to control a domestic thermostat. 

 

By Matt Warman, Consumer Technology Editor

The development comes after the release of an instruction manual that software developers can use to get inside Apple’s Siri technology and modify it for their own purposes.

Web developer Pete Lamonica spent five days getting the artificially intelligent personal assistant to interact with the software that controls his heating system’s thermostat. Now he can control the temperature remotely simply by using his iPhone 4S to lower or raise it.

Lamonica, a member of St Louis-based hacker group Arch Reactor, told Wired “I’ve done some stuff with the thermostat before, such as having it log temperatures. It has a developer API which makes it very easy to work with.”

Lamonica said that the main reason he developed this Siri proxy was to increase the number of objects Siri can handle. Currently the technology is limited to sending text messages and searching the web, while in America it can also handle maps and directions.

Voice control is becoming increasingly important, with Google adding an enhanced version to its new iPad search app as well as embedding it further into its Android phones. While Google is encouraging developers to use its voice technology, Apple is currently keeping its version closed to third parties.

The original hack was discovered by Applidium, a French mobile software company that reverse-engineered the protocol Siri uses to communicate with its servers. The firm found a way to intercept and decrypt the data by forging security certificates, allowing a detailed examination of the data format.


However, the requests include a unique "key" for each iPhone 4S. To exploit the flaw, each device would have to find a way to impersonate Apple's new smartphone, Applidium said.


Any third party app offering unauthorised access to the Siri server could be quite easily blocked by Apple because all its users would probably have to use the same key. Lamonica said he wanted to improve the technology so that it works when a user says "I'm cold" rather than issues an instruction to change the temperatuire.

Kindle Fire 2 and iPad 3 'to go head-to-head'

Amazon and Apple are preparing new versions of the Kindle fire and iPad tablets for a showdown in the first half of next year, according to the technology rumour mill. 

 

 

The updated Kindle Fire is said to have an 8.9-inch touch screen, compared to the current version's 7-inch display.\

According to the Taiwanese technology blog Digitimes the electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn will begin production of the new Kindle Fire in the first quarter of 2012, in time for launch in the second quarter.

Apple’s third-generation iPad will reportedly debut around the same time. It will be thicker than the iPad by 0.77mm, said iLounge, citing anonymous sources. The extra space will reportedly accommodate bulkier screen lights, required by a higher-resolution “Retina” screen, as first used in the iPhone 4.

The updated device is on track for a March release, iLounge said.

It would set up an intriguing head-to-head clash next spring between Amazon and Apple; the iPad has so far dominated the tablet computing market.

 

The Android-based Kindle Fire, introduced in the United States this month, is widely seen as the most credible challenger yet. It costs half the price of an iPad 2, but has received mixed reviews that said it lacks polish. A quick update with improved specifications could mark the start of the real contest with Apple.


The iPad 3 is expected to keep the technological pressure up on rivals with an upgraded processor for increasingly demanding tablet apps. The Apple A6 is thought to be based on the British firm ARM’s new four-core architecture. The iPad 2’s A5 processor has only two cores.

 

Samsung tweaks Galaxy Tab to beat Apple ban

Samsung has redesigned the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for sale in Germany to beat a court order obtained by Apple on grounds that the original device copied the iPad. 

Apple's iPad 2 (left) and Samsung's Galaxy tablet

 

The new version will be called the Galaxy Tab 10.1N and features cosmetic tweaks including speakers on the front, rather than the sides, and a visible silver bezel.

"We modified the model to reflect Apple's claims," a Samsung spokesman said.

Samsung and Apple have been engaged in some of the most bitter battles of the technolgoy industry's patent wars. Apple has alleged that Samsung's Galaxy-branded tablets and smartphones "slavishly" copy the iPad and iPhone, and has launched legal action in several jurisdictions.

"It's no coincidence that Samsung's latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging," Apple said in April.

"This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple's intellectual property when companies steal our idea."

The German courts granted Apple an injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, which runs Google's Android operating system, in August, blocking sales in Europe's largest market. The judge said there was a "clear impression of similarity" between it and the iPad.

Samsung has countered Apple's legal attack with attempts to ban sales of the iPhone 4S in Australia, France, Italy and Germany.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 was launched in Britain on August and received broadly positive reviews. The iPad still dominates tablet computing market, however, accounting for 67 per cent of sales in the third quarter, according to Strategy Analytics.

 

Apple's Siri 'hacked'

Apple's new voice-controlled personal assistant software, Siri, could be adapted to run on Android handsets after developers discovered a way around restrictions designed to limit it to iPhone 4S users. 

 

 

The hack means that the servers that process the questions users ask Siri could be accessed by devices other than the iPhone 4S.

It was discovered by Applidium, a French mobile software company that reverse-engineered the protocol Siri uses to communicate with its servers. The firm found a way to intercept and decrypt the data by forging security certificates, allowing a detailed examination of the data format.

However, the requests include a unique "key" for each iPhone 4S. To exploit the flaw, each Android device would have to find a way to to impersonate Apple's new smartphone, Applidium said.

So any third party app offering unauthorised access to the Siri server could be quite easily blocked by Apple because all its users would probably have to use the same key.

Apple has restricted Siri to the iPhone 4S. Technical analysis has indicated that older versions are equally capable of running the service, since the hardest computing is carried out by the servers, but it seems Siri is being used to differentiate the latest iPhone.

Applidium has published the software code for its hack online, which for now allows anyone to use Siri from their computer, as long as they have an iPhone 4S key.

"So if you want to use Siri on another device, you still need the identfier of at least one iPhone 4S," Applidium said. "Of course we’re not publishing ours, but it’s very easy to retrieve one using the tools we’ve written."

 

Apple appoints Arthur Levinson to replace Steve Jobs as chairman

Apple has picked biotechnology executive Arthur Levinson to replace Steve Jobs as chairman, as the iPhone maker also added the head of Disney to its board. 

 

Mr Levinson pictured with Tony Blair in 2006. A scientist by training and chairman of biotechnology company Genentech, Mr Levinson has remained out of the public eye during a decade on a board dominated by Mr Jobs.

 

 

Mr Levinson, who has been on Apple's board since 2000 and is currently co-lead director, will become non-executive chairman.

The recuitment of Mr Iger, who has led Disney for almost a decade, strengthens longstanding ties between the two companies. Mr Jobs was on Disney's board and one of its largest shareholders following the company's 2006 acqusition of Pixar, the film animation company that Mr Jobs helped found.

The changes signal that Tim Cook, Apple's new chief executive, is wasting little time in stamping his mark on a company that Mr Jobs grew to be the world's most valuable technology company.

Mr Iger will be an "extraordinary addition to our already very strong board," Mr Cook said.

Apple's new chief executive has taken the helm facing questions over whether he can sustain the success delivered by Mr Jobs, who died last month after a long battle against cancer.

Apple shares, which have more than doubled over the last two years, have dropped 7.5pc over the last month.

 

Mr Levinson, a scientist by training and chairman of biotechnology company Genentech, has remained out of the public eye during a decade on a board dominated by Mr Jobs.

Apple's co-founder was made chairman after he stepped down as chief executive in August.