Just for you, iPhone nuthuggers.

Frogman

Frogman

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I promise to nicer if you promise to be smarter.
A Pinch too much
Last week, Joey Hess revealed that the Palm Pre running on WebOS uploads very specific information about your location and application usage to Palm on a daily basis. Although it’s allowed by the EULA that you must accept to use the Palm Pre, it still seems a little…creepy, especially if used for the wrong reasons. The only “bright” side to this story is that it was for the Palm Pre, not for the iPhone. Apple has been in the news a lot lately for its AppStore shenanigans, but at least they don’t go so far as to track your location. Right?

Well, sort of. Although we have yet to find an application by Apple that tracks your location, there are certainly a number of “free” applications in the official AppStore that are designed to do just that. Case in point: there’s this rather cute/gimicky app that lets you determine the tip for your waiter or waitress by tilting your phone as you pass it around the restaurant table. But if you dig a little deeper (like bushing did) you’ll find it uses a library by Pinch Media that is specifically designed to track your geographical location through time, then upload that data to Pinch Media. (Oh and it also show you an ad, as an extra bonus).

Being an approved app, it must first ask you for permission to use your location. If you tap “Don’t Allow”, it will ask you again in about a minute, the next time its ad changes. So you either stop using this app (because it pesters you so much about the location question), or you finally submit and tap “OK”. From that point on, your location and path info (your actual physical path through your area each time you launch the app) belongs to Pinch Media, Inc. We think that’s a Pinch too much.

Update: A commenter named fusen pointed out this post by 0th3lo. who details Pinch Media’s SQL info (it includes your gender and birthday, when possible) and goes so far as to say “no doubt, ANY pinchmedia iPhone application is spyware”. Maybe it’s time to pressure Apple to boot Pinch Media apps from the AppStore?
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http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/164789333/a-pinch-too-much



Same goes for the Fart, Twitterfon, Camera Zoom, all approved apps from the app store.
 
The iPhone sucks, everyone should have a BlackBerry Storm. (damn I want an iPhone)
 
If I were the tin-foil-hat-wearing kind of guy I might be concerned.
But then again once you set foot outside of your house you can be photographed by countless individuals, institutions, businesses without your knowledge or express concent and it is all legal in the name of "safety" "seccurity" and "technology". Think Google maps, outdoor security cameras, traffic cameras, etc. (not to mention satelites with high resolution lenses). There is no way around it, other than to live like a hermit and who really wants that.
Pretty soon (if not already) facial recognition and other software will help track your daily activities and may even lead to advertising specialized just for you.
Here's a thought Don't download spyware apps for your iphone.




I think I may need a tin-foil hat after all.
 
I dont understand the iPhone. Is it really necessary to pay upwards of 30$ just to have the web at slow as hell speeds on a phone when for 30$ flat I get a killer deal from Comcast with over 6 Mbps at home? Speedtest.net tells me its 17+.

I wanted a touch phone just cause I started feeling left out and novel and the phone ( samsung behold ) is pretty bad ass with out the web.

From what I gather with certain consumer guides its holds its own against it no problem. Just isn't wifi, oh no!
 
Hehe, I don't have that problem b/c I use this
6015i_312x312.jpg
 
lincolnx2 said:
The iPhone sucks, everyone should have a BlackBerry Storm. (damn I want an iPhone)
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Storm with .151 is much better than original. I am waiting for the Storm 2. Did I mention that Flash and Silverlight are going to be added to Blackberries in the not so distant future?
 
Frogman said:
A 6012? (6105 in some markets) Welcome to what... 2004? LOL
Click to expand...

I know but it's almost indestructable :D ...how many newer phones can survive a 3.5 foot drop on pavement and the screen not be taken out. I think I got it around '02-'03
 
marked8 said:
Did I mention that Flash and Silverlight are going to be added to Blackberries in the not so distant future?
Click to expand...

I like Blackberries, I really do.

But I've done enough BES installs to know that their server software probably could not have been worse if they'd tried.

ActiveSync comes out of the box with Exchange 2007, and any other smartphone on the market will link up via ActiveSynce and do everything BES can do. Yet for Blackberry, you have to spend a couple extra grand on the software, spend several hours on the server install/configuration, and end up having bogged down the mail server with something that is far more resource intensive than it should be. WTF were they thinking?
 
yep. looks like just another HTC to me.

My girl has an iphone, it's ok. I rock an oldschool razor gophone, bbry 8800, and a16gb 1st gen ipod touch. Full pockets for sure...
One day I'll replace the razor with some sort of windows mobile. But even then, full pockets.
 
I wound up getting the E71x from AT&T. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the purchase, it's very thin and seems to be built quite soundly. The all black look ain't so bad either.
 
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