iPhone

March 14, 2016

Richard Clarke Talks Encryption

Wikipedia

Richard Clarke, former National Security Council leader and security advisor to Clinton, Bush and Obama, in an [interview with NPR][1]

If I were in the job now, I would have simply told the FBI to call Fort Meade, the headquarters of the National Security Agency, and NSA would have solved this problem for them. They’re not as interested in solving the problem as they are in getting a legal precedent.

and later…

Every expert I know believes that NSA could crack this phone. They want the precedent that the government can compel a computer device manufacturer to allow the government in.

According to the guy who would know, the NSA has the ability to unlock the San Bernardino phone. I’ve always had a suspicion that was the case, but now it’s confirmed.

NPR has the whole transcript on the page, but I encourage listening to it to get some of the nuance.

[1]: http://www.npr.org/2016/03/14/470347719/encryption-and-privacy-are-larger-issues-than-fighting-terrorism-clarke-says title=“interview with NPR”

February 16, 2016

Tim Cook: A Dangerous Precedent

In an open letter on the Apple Web site, Tim Cook lays out his case against helping the government unlock an iPhone:

The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that’s simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices. In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable.

“No reasonable person would find that acceptable." bears repeating. The thought that any government would have a powerful surveillance tool and never use it is ludicrous. I’m sure the FBI said “just this once, AT&T” when they did the first wire tap also.

The fact is, Apple can’t decrypt the phone. They stopped storing encryption keys on their servers years ago, just for this reason. If they don’t have the key, they can’t unlock the door. The FBI is requesting Apple build an all-new version of iOS that removes the limit on incorrect passcodes so the government can brute-force the phone by trying millions of passcode combinations. Currently, if an incorrect passcode is entered ten times in a row, the data is erased.

Apple is challenging the order, and here’s hoping they win.

We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.

September 8, 2014

Apple September Event

Regarding tomorrow’s Apple event at the Flint Center in Cupertino…

Well, I’ve put it off yet again. In about 12 hours, all will be revealed.

The Short Version:

What We Know

Nothing.

What We Expect

New iPhone(s) 6 revealed.
iOS 8 ship date
OSX Yosemite ship date
HealthKit demos
HomeKit demos

What We Kinda Suspect

2 iPhone sizes, 4.7" and 5.5"
iOS will ship tomorrow, Yosemite will ship next month
Some sort of wearable “iWatch” will be announced, but not released until much later.
A new NFC-based payment system using the wearable as the second-factor authenticator.

My Abbreviated Thoughts

I’d like to go on for a few thousand words about what I think, but there are a few reasons why I don’t.

I have a real jobby-job now and can’t spend hours blogging.
Most of what I think, other people have already written about. (see links below)
I’m regularly wrong about a lot of this stuff because I predict what I want, not what people want.
Now that I live on the west coast, when I blog after work, most of the country is already in bed, so they won’t see this anyway.

So, here is the long version of the short version.

iPhone 6

All signs point to two phones being released. There will apparently be a 4.7″ and a 5.5″. Recent talks have predicted that the 5.5″ will have a landscape split-screen view. If a 5.5″ iPhone with iPad-like app behavior happens, I may have bought my last iPad mini.

iOS 8

The beta has been very stable. I see no reason not to release it this week. The new phones will obviously ship with iOS 8, so we’re within 10 days anyway.

HomeKit

This is what I’m most excited about. I have a terrible addiction to home automation, and would love to get it all in one place under one app. I believe that giant white building Apple built outside the Flint Center is a “home” they set up as part of their demo area. If his iWatch thing is a thing, I would love to control things like that. I already control my Hue lights through my Pebble watch. It’s a little hacky, but it works and makes me smile every time I turn the living room lights off from bed.

Mobile Payments

I know what you’re thinking. “iCloud was just hacked, putting hundreds of celebrity nudie-pics online!”. Let’s get this straight. THAT’S NOT TRUE. Dozens of celebrities use shitty passwords and someone guessed the passwords. Nothing was hacked, people were stupid.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk payments. Apple has 800 MILLION credit cards on file. That’s a lot. If rumors pan out, Apple has made deals with credit card companies and big retailers for tap-to-pay systems using iTunes payment accounts and tokenized security.

Tokenized security means each transaction transmits a unique code. Basically, every time you make a purchase, you use a different account number. This way, even if a hacker gets your account number in transit, it won’t matter. That account number is only good for one transaction, it’s already been used.

With an iWearable, a modern iPhone, or both, there is built in security. You will be able to set it up so that tapping your wearable on the payment pad only works if your phone is there. If using your phone, you can hook it into TouchID, so it will only work with your fingerprint. Security is built in to iOS, despite the publicity that certain breaches get.

Hopes and Dreams

Pretty simple, really. Give me a big iPhone, and a wearable that works with it. Give the iPhone an iPad-like 2 pane view. Not two apps, but a two pane view of a single app, a sidebar and a main view. I don’t care about NFC, as long as there is some sort of payment system. The wearable should have the typical activity trackers, tell me what time it is, show me notifications, and have basic control over basic functions of the phone.

I really hope there is some really earth-shattering news. I want to be blown away by something nobody ever predicted.

We’ll find out in a few hours.

Smarter People’s Thoughts

June 22, 2010

The White iPhone Conspiracy

OK, it may be a little out there, but here’s my take on the situation…

First, Apple says the phone will be available in white or black, just like the 3G and 3GS. Then, when pre-ordering, everyone sees the “not available” caption under the white phone (pictured).

I have always been a fan of the white iPhone, because I think it shows fewer fingerprints and is more Appleish. (Yes, I believe Appleish is a word.) The new square, flat iPhone 4 even looks a little like the original iPod. But I won’t be getting the white one.

Not because it’s not available, but because I work in places that are not clean. I am a carpenter, a stagehand, and an animal lover. None of those three things are particularly sanitary occupations or hobbies. My iPhone 3GS shows signs of wear and discoloration on the back from the abuse it takes. The glass back and front of iPhone 4 will eliminate a lot of the discoloring, but the white home button on the front scares me. I don’t want a pristine white glass phone with a dirty button. I know what my Apple keyboard looks like, and it ain’t pretty. That button is still plastic and can discolor. I’ll go black this time.

Oh, about that conspiracy? Try this on for size: What if the white iPhone 4 is not going to be on AT&T?

There have been rumors of an iPhone on T-Mobile for a while, and now it’s not as far fetched. Did you know the iPhone 4 has a penta-band cell radio? That’s right PENTA. It’s one of two 5-band cell antennas available (Nokia N8 is also penta-band). That means it works on 850, 900, 1700, 1900, and 2100 mHz. T-Mobile uses 1900. T-Mobile also has a love of white

Apple also has a couple dates reserved at Moscone Center days after the iPhone 4

Here’s my crazy theory:

Apple releases the black iPhone 4 tomorrow, lets it sell a couple million to AT&T subscribers, then announces that the white iPhone is a T-Mobile exclusive a few days later. T-Mobile would move from the #4 carrier to #3, surpassing Sprint. AT&T would have all those customers already locked in to a 2 year contract, which would mean they effectively get their 2012 exclusivity promise, and Apple can sell more phones to a totally new market. And Apple gets 2 carrier competition in the U.S. without manufacturing a CDMA phone.

A few (thousand) customers may get pissed that they were hoodwinked into buying into AT&T AGAIN, but that will pass. Given the choice, I’d stay with AT&T anyway. T-Mobile doesn’t have the coverage I need. And the lack of color choice? Who cares… 5 years ago, every phone was dark grey. My iPhone lives in a case anyway.

March 5, 2008

Happy Birthday iPhone

Happy Birthday iPhone - In June. Why the early celebration? On March 6th (a week late, I might add), Steve Jobs from Apple had another event. This time, he introduced a roadmap for the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). I’m a little disappointed, I must say. Last fall, he promised the SDK would be out in February, and now he comes out the 6th day of March and says the third party apps won’t be ready until June.

December 27, 2007

Jimmy Little