Daily Bits

noemi

Jailbreak Away with DCMA Revision

by

Jailbreaking, unlocking mobile phones, and ripping DVDs/CDs – these are activities that common decent people do on a regular basis. Yes, even if they are technically illegal. With the recent developments in American law, however, you can now engage in these activities with impunity – with certain qualifications, of course.

The Library of Congress has just announced a ruling paving way for unlocking cell phones so that they can be used with other networks for one. The Copyright Office of the Library of Congress reviewed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), which is supposed to be reviewed every three years. The result is something that is making the general public happy. [Read more…] about Jailbreak Away with DCMA Revision

Antenn-aid: The Band-Aid for Your iPhone

by

It all started out as a joke. You know how some people respond to an irritatingly serious problem with humor? Well, these guys did just that.

We’ve all been hearing about the antenna problems of the iPhone 4, and even the press conference that Apple held has not really given concrete solutions. Instead of banging their heads against the wall (like some people you may know), Szymon Weglarski and Jon Dorfman decided to have some fun.

The two designers designed and created Band-Aid looking things that fit exactly onto the bottom left part of the iPhone 4. Dubbed, Antenn-aid, the product is being sold on Etsy, where the designers opened a store about a week ago. Little did they know how much of hit their product would be!

Since they opened the Etsy store, they have been swamped with orders. Indeed, if you check the store now, you will see that they have announcement to the effect that they are behind 4 to 5 days in delivering orders. It’s but understandable as they are not following a mass production set up.

So what is the Antenn-aid for, aside from an intended joke? The colorful bandages can actually improve the signal performance of your iPhone. In spite of its being the coolest most magical phone out there today, it seems that the only solution for now is to put the Antenn-aid at the bottom left. At least you have several color choices. 😉

Buy the Antenn-aid for $4.99 (6-pack).

15 Things You Didn’t Know About Steve Jobs Infographic

by

I have been spending a lot of my time discovering infographics, courtesy of a co-writer whose posts on Forever Geek opened up this world to me. When I ran across an infographic on Steve Jobs, I knew I had to post it.

We all know who Steve Jobs is, of course. Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock or in a cave in the past 5 or so years would know all about Apple, iPods, the iPhone, and the iPad. The messianic character behind the company – Steve Jobs. [Read more…] about 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Steve Jobs Infographic

WoW Players Target of New Phishing Scam

by

World of Warcraft players, beware! You are now the target of a group (or groups) of cyber criminals. The scam’s premise is nothing new – the cyber criminals send e-mails to WoW gamers, asking them to verify their Battle.net account. In order to do so, the gamer has to enter his password. Of course, the web site to which the gamer is directed to is a fake one, and once the details are inputted – poor gamer!

Discovered and made public by F-Secure, a Finnish antivirus vendor, the scam is only one of the tactics that various cyber criminals are using. Another on going thing is someone sends you a chat message on WoW. This is in relation to the new Cataclysm beta. Spam Fighter shares the details:

Tom Kelchner, Security Researcher at Sunbelt, states that his friend Douglas got one message in a chat session from a person who employed the handle “BlizzalCOL” during the WoW game. He told him about the availability of the beta so the Cataclysm on the World of Warcraft map could expand, as reported by Sunbeltblog on July 13, 2010.

Kelchner further wrote that the message spread via an URL that took to Cataclysmtest.net looking like the login page of WoW.

He added that to determine the destination of the Cataclysmtest.net, he fed an unreal username and password to the site. Surprisingly, they were accepted, implying that the site was possibly stealing login information. Hence, it was a phishing site.

With WoW accounts being in high demand – especially those who have well-established characters – these developments are not surprising at all, are they? Needless to say, WoW players ought to be even more careful about using their login details.

A Note of Caution to Safari Users

by

Everyone knows that Apple’s computers outperform Windows-based computer practically in all levels. However, don’t just sit back and think that, since you’re using a Mac, you shouldn’t be concerned about security issues.

Recently, a flaw in Apple’s web browser Safari was discovered by a security researcher. The flaw involves Safari’s auto-fill feature. Because of a bug, malicious web sites can harvest information that the user inputs on the browser. This information can be anything from name, e-mail, phone numbers, address, and more.

Jeremiah Grossman is the guy who discovered the flaw. He is the chief technology officer of WhiteHat Security, a computer security company. He says that he had contacted Apple prior to publishing his findings in his blog. This was back in June. However, he merely got an auto-reply from the company, and no follow up communication ensued.

If you’re thinking that this might just be part of a smear campaign against Apple, think again. The technology giant has acknowledged that the flaw does exist. They gave a statement saying that they are taking the issue seriously and are working towards fixing it at the soonest possible time. Other than that, however, they did not give any information.

What should you do in the meantime? I suggest switching to another web browser till Apple gets things together. Alternatively, if you feel disloyal doing that (I don’t see why, though), disable the auto-fill feature of your Safari. Seth Weintraub provides more information on this.

Graphic Novels Specifically Designed for the iPad

by

Hardcore graphic novel lovers just might be shaking their heads. I know a number of people who will not even consider reading their graphic novels in digital format, and I totally respect that. However, there are also people who get quite excited about the idea of graphic novels being available in digital format.

With the prevalence of e-book readers (e-book reader wars, remember?), it is not a surprise that graphic novels are soon going to be staple content. This is actually not a new idea since there are graphic novels that have been converted to digital format. Two groups are looking to change that now.

Cognito Comics and Tall Chair, two start ups based in San Francisco are working on creating comics specially designed for the iPad. The New York Times recently covered this development, and shared how David Burwen (Executive Producer of Cognito) showed his graphic novel Operation Ajax. This is based on the nonfiction book All the Shah’s Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror by Stephen Kinzer.

Their verdict?

“Animated transitions give the comic a cinematic feel, and also give the artist more control over how the page unfolds. The format provides an opportunity to make supplementary material such as photos and documents available within the relevant comics panel.

It’s different from anything I’ve seen in digital comics. Technologies like ComiXology’s “guided view” create a smooth experience by moving the reader from panel to panel, but you’re still reading your basic, old-fashioned comics page.”

I believe that this will introduce a new age in graphic novels. Pretty soon, I think we will be seeing more titles available for download.