iPhone Cruncher

Citibank said its U.S. iPhone app accidentally saves personal information which includes account numbers.
The company publicly acknowledged the security flaw Monday, explaining that it had already released an updated iPhone app that patches the leak.
“During a recent review, we discovered that our U.S. Citi Mobile iPhone banking app was accidentally saving information related to customer accounts in a hidden file on their iPhones,” said Citibank spokeswoman Natalie Riper. “This information may also have been saved on their computer if they had been synchronizing their iPhone with their computer via iTunes.”
Citibank clarified that the flaw affected only users of the mobile banking app; credit card customers access Citibank’s services through a separate iPhone application, which the company considered was not cooperated. Citibank stated that it had endeavoured to converse with customers who have downloaded the app to recommend them of the update, and stresses that the error was initiated and fixed before any customer data was compromised.
“We have no reason to believe that our customers’ personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone, i.e., there has been no data breach,” said Riper.
Citi launched the iPhone app in March 2009 in combination with mobile financial services provider MFoundry, reported the Wall Street Journal. The bank said it performed security tests before and after the release of the application but failed to detect the problem. Citi said it is conducting an internal analysis to determine why it didn’t find the vulnerability.
“Most consumers and app developers don’t know what is happening in their apps, because it is moving so fast,” Mr. Hering said. “Apps are proliferating so quickly. We will see more and more of this.”

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Apple has announced that its popular iPhone4 model will go on sale in an additional 17 countries on Friday, July 30.
At a press conference last week, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs noted that the handset is not rolling out on time in South Korea, home turf for two of Apple top rivals, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and LG Electronics Inc
The latest edition of iPhone went on sale in France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. in late June. The sale created a carnival-like atmosphere and drawing tens of thousands of eager fans to Apple stores and retail partners.
The iPhone is Apple’s main growth driver and is expected to soon become its biggest source of revenue. The latest version will be in 88 countries by September — the company’s fastest-ever global product roll-out.
“It’s going to take us a little longer to get government approval there,” he said.
The iPhone 4 is now offering different applications which can be bought in any local apple store. Sales and promotions such as these will create so much attention since it is one of the most craved gadgets in today’s time.
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FaceTime, the video calling application for the iPhone 4, intend to transfigure the way we communicate on our cell phones. The application is  exceptionally difficult to use. The obstacle is not a technical one. It’s a social one.
“How do you know whether or not someone is available to speak with you on FaceTime?” asked  Sol Lipman, an entrepreneur in Santa Cruz, Calif. “That’s a big barrier to using it. We want to remove that barrier.”
Mr. Lipman created an application called FacePlant that shows users which of their contacts can receive video calls — those who have an iPhone 4 and are on a Wi-Fi network. (FaceTime does not yet work over cellular networks.)
The application, which will be available for free once it is approved by Apple, monitors the Wi-Fi status of contacts with iPhone 4s and also using FacePlant, and flashes a green light next to their names when they are available to video chat. Users can then call available friends from within the application. FacePlant propose a privacy mode to specify when a user is linked to Wi-Fi but, say, watching a screening of “Inception” and unable to chat. It also permit people to leave each other video voice mail. Ultimately, Apple is likely to allow FaceTime to sprint over cellular networks. Mr. Lipman doesn’t see that as removing the need for his application.
“Just like on I.M., status is really important,” he said. “Only whether or not you are available to take a video call is more important than starting an instant messaging chat.”
Mr. Lipman, who previously co-founded two other start-ups, a mobile social network called RallyUp and 12seconds, which lets users send brief video tweets, said he thought FacePlant could be useful beyond the iPhone 4.
In addition to the rumors that the next versions of the iPad and iPod Touch will come equipped with front-facing cameras to facilitate video chatting, Apple has outlined plans to make FaceTime an open standard, allowing it to work on other devices.
“We’re expecting it to appear elsewhere, on Android devices and PCs,” Mr. Lipman said. “As soon as those releases are available, we will build applications for it.”
“Our goal is to become the main application for FaceTime,” he said.

A San Francisco officer has tracked down a man accused of swiping an Apple iPhone out of a woman’s hands and has been shocked when police found him only nine minutes later.

HOW? It turns out the phone had been tracking his every move.

The iPhone was being used to test a new, real-time GPS tracking application, and the woman holding it was an intern for the software’s maker, Mountain View-based Covia Labs.

Covia CEO David Kahn had sent the intern into the street to demonstrate the software. Police say Horatio Toure snatched it and sped away on a bicycle.Khan was watching a live map of the phone’s location on a computer and says he was immediately struck by how quickly the image began moving down the street. Police arrested Toure nine minutes later, and the intern identified him as the thief.

So for those who are so keen on getting an iPhone especially those who do it by force or cheating, you might as well think twice as to not embarrass yourself. The apple iPhone is very useful in terms of tracking and keeping tabs of peole who are exposed to violence and crime. Thieves are now being tracked through GPS which is very convenient for the users and totally inconvenient for the criminals.

With the iPad being all the rave, Flipboard plans to get into the act with the announcement of the World’s First Social Magazine through its iPad app called the Flipboard App.

This new app is a new social magazine that aims to bring life to stories, photos and news as shared by most social networking addicts today.

Flipboard will create a magazine from a user’s social content. All users have to do is launch the app and flip open the cover and then readers can view sections and also personalize the magazine.

The Facebook and Twitter sections allow the readers to quickly go through the latest stories, photos and updates from their network where they no longer have to scan long lists of posts and then click on links.

Rather, they will immediately see the stories, comments and images, making it faster and more entertaining to discover, view and share social content.

This is a free app and can be downloaded at the Flipboard site or from the iTunes apps tore.

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Apple opened its second store in China on Saturday which drawled crowds of all ages as early as 5 am. Some people drove several hours or flew in from different provinces in china for a chance to be there on the opening of the Apple store. Many hoped to catch a glimpse of the iPhone 4 or of Steve Jobs, but were disappointed.

Bystanders were interview and said:

“I didn’t come to see a specific product. I just see it as a chance for us Apple fans to party,” said Penguin, owns a Macbook and an iPhone.

Apple’s retail stores are known to create buzz and serve as successful a marketing tool for the brand in its home market, which has left many wondering why it took so long for Apple to open more of the stores in China, the world’s second largest PC market after the U.S. According to IDC, Apple computers still make up less than 1% of PC unit shipments, and iPhones make up less than 1% of handset sales in China.

Those dints stop a total of 150fans from waiting overnight to be among the first to go into the Apple store. One 20-year-old customer from Zhejiang province took ka buss to Shanghai last night with his friends, hoping to see the iPhone 4. “I guess it may not be available in the store, but it was still worth coming. I came to experience the atmosphere and the culture!” he said.

The building is made entirely of glass, similar to Apple’s flagship New York City store on Fifth Avenue. It has a glass cube entrance that leads customers underground to a space covering some 1,500 square meters, bigger than Apple’s first store in Beijing, which opened two years ago.

Apple said it expects to open a second store in Shanghai, but an opening time has not yet been released. The company has said it plans to open 25 new Apple stores in China by the end of 2011, but gave no additional details on those stores at the opening.

Imagine going to a party and forgetting to bring a mirror. Or on a busy day and you forgot to fix yourself.  You’re such in a hurry that you don’t get to get a second look at yourself. It’s really annoying actually. Well not anymore! iPhone has created an application for you to enjoy. With iLookGood, you too can look good! This is a true mirror built especially for iPhone 4.iLookGood is sure to help you look good. The front camera of your iPhonr 4 can now be taken advantage since you can download it from the App store. iLookGood uses the new front camera of iPhone 4 to become a true pocket mirror. Finally allowing iPhone users to be just a quick glance away from seeing how good they look. In addition to supporting the front camera, iLookGood is optimized for iPhone 4’s Retina display. It’s packed with high res frame imagery perfect for showing off your best side.

“We wanted to take advantage of the new iPhone

4 features and create something that people could really use on a daily basis,” said Mike Montgomery Creative Director at Riptide Games and graphic designer for iLookGood. “We believe this provides a great combination of form and beauty and we hope people enjoy it.”

For iPhone and iPod touch users that haven’t upgraded to an iPhone 4, iLookGood automatically uses a legacy mode black screen background which is still very functional as a mirror. The initial release includes 12 frame options and future expansion is planned based on the success of the initial release. iLookGood was developed by Riptide Games, creators of Gravity Sling and Rehearsal.

So you can have a worry free and a good looking day to look forward to.

The innovative gadgets this year are getting cooler and are creating more efficient way to enjoy our precious gadgets. Your iPad which undoubtedly needs a camera for a bit of edge may be possible. It may not the fancy 5-megapixel, hi-def-shooting camera in the iPhone 4 but something for grabbing basic images would make Apple’s tablet way more useful.

Unless you want to wait for v2.0 next year, a case would be the only way to add a camera, and that’s just how Chet Rosales has managed it with his iPad Cam-Case. The concept case has an ugly fat strip up the side which has a camera at its top. This camera flips in its mount to fire forward or back, depending on whether you are videoconferencing or just snapping pictures.

The casing is very useful and allows you to enjoy skype and the usual quick snapshots. Although still a concept, the Cam-Case is a solution to those of you who were disappointed by the lack of a camera in Apple’s iPad. Not only does it protect your ipad from damages, but it also sports a webcam that rotates for taking photos and participating in video calls via Skype App. The camera is located in the corner which works well for landscape or portrait viewing and the rubber-plastic case provides a better grip when handling the device. The bottom half of the durable case slides into place and connects with the dock connector supplying the camera case with power. A built-in port is built-in on the bottom of the case for docking and charging purposes.

It’s still worth enjoying if this whole concept will be in the shelves and more iPad users will get the opportunity of this new innovation.

Apple has been recently facing a lot of complains for their newly launched iPhone 4. Other people are even calling it as a death grip. Apple said last Friday that it was stunned to find its iPhones have for years been using a “totally wrong” formula to determine how many bars of signal strength they are getting. Apple also mentioned the reason behind the complaints from users that the latest iPhone 4 can show a sudden plunge a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users have jokingly called this the “death grip” for the phone.

“Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place,” the company said in a statement to users.

AT&T, the iPhone’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., has borne much of the users’ blame for dropped calls and poor wireless performance. In saying that the phones have been showing too many bars, Apple is putting the spotlight on the network’s performance. AT&T declined comment Friday.

Also it was later said that users may need to find a location with a better signal, to place a call or that they’re holding the phone wrong. Apple also apologizes to customers for giving them anxiety.

“We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see,” the company said in the statement.

Despite the complaints, iPhone is iPhone is a standout success, with each model selling faster than the previous one. Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in its first three days, essentially running out of stock. Complaints include dropped calls and slow data service, particularly in the U.S.

Apple was bound to find itself in trouble after the whole iPhone 4 reception issues that have been spreading all throughout the world and now one law firm has taken a stance to address the situation.

While rumors that a particular law firm was contemplating on suing Apple for the said antenna defect, another law firm as actually filed a lawsuit against them and AT&T.

The lawsuit filed alleges that Apple and AT&T issued a device that actually had a defect in the design and have been practicing deceptive trade practices. The claims are actually plenty and you can see them enumerated below.

• General Negligence (APPLE and AT&T)
• Defect in Design, Manufacture, and Assembly (APPLE)
• Breach of Express Warranty (APPLE)
• Breach of Implied Warranty for Merchantability (APPLE and AT&T)
• Breach of Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose (APPLE and AT&T)
• Deceptive Trade Practices (APPLE and AT&T)
• Intentional Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
• Negligent Misrepresentation (APPLE and AT&T)
• Fraud by Concealment (APPLE and AT&T)

The listed claims you see are no laughing matter. For sure Apple is taking note and on what steps to undergo are surely within their main agenda. Either a software fix or a “recall” may be forthcoming. Either that or they can expect more lawsuits coming their way, especially now that someone came up with the balls to do so.

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