Hasta La Gadget!

What use could science possibly have for your iPhone location data? Well, you won’t be curing cancer, but you could theoretically be contributing to epidemiology, land use surveys, or a study proving that people move around just as quickly on foot in New York as they do inching down the 405 in LA. At least that’s the idea behind OpenPaths, a web-based tool that lets you securely and anonymously “donate” your cache. If you’ve upgraded to iOS 4.3.3, your iPhone will no longer store your location, but there should be plenty of coordinates spinning around on your hard drive to play with. After downloading the OpenPaths Uploader, you’ll be able to visualize your own location information, and even if you’ve somehow deleted the data from your computer, the tool will search Time Machine backups (for Mac users) — a little scary, no? Of course, there’s always potential for misuse with any such service, but a researcher probably won’t care that those late nights at the office were actually spent in Cindy’s home office, unless that researcher also happens to be your wife.

Continue reading OpenPaths lets you visualize your iPhone location data, donate it to science (video)

OpenPaths lets you visualize your iPhone location data, donate it to science (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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OS X Lion is coming to the Mac App Store, ushering in a new era of digital distribution for their desktop operating system. And rumors are flying that iOS devices will soon receive over-the-air updates. If we had to smash these two pieces of information together and speculate about the future a little bit, we’d say Apple is heading down a path to automatic background updates for all of their operating systems. Hardcore nerds would hate this to be sure, but for the average user, it’s a good thing. More »

Apple promised last week that it would address the iPhone tracking issue in a software update in the “next few weeks,” and BGR is now reporting that the update is coming within the next two weeks, or “possibly sooner.” What’s more, the site says that it’s actually been sent an early version of the iOS update, and that it does indeed no longer back up the location database to iTunes — the size of the database is also said to be reduced, and it’s apparently deleted altogether when Location Services are turned off. Somewhat notably, BGR says that the update includes some further battery life improvements as well, although it also notes that it hasn’t actually tried it out just yet — it is promising additional details, though.

iOS 4.3.3 rumored to be coming within next two weeks with fix for location tracking issue originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By now you’ve probably seen the latest spectacle to consume the white iPhone 4: it’s thicker than the black model. The image above illustrates the point using a piece of lead from a mechanical pencil. So what, you say, in righteous indignation to a device that shipped ten months late. Well, the size difference creates a potential consumer issue since cases (at least the good ones) are manufactured against the tight tolerances supplied by Apple. We’ve confirmed ourselves, that an Incase slider that fits a black iPhone 4 just fine has to be forced into place on the new white model. Unfortunately, Apple’s own spec page doesn’t highlight the change in thickness (measured at 9.5mm by TiPb). Instead it still shows a 9.3mm depth with a tiny disclaimer stating, “Actual size and weight vary by configuration and manufacturing process.” The result is confusion — will this case fit or won’t it? — which is never a good thing for consumers.

But why is the white iPhone 4 thicker? Phil Schiller mentioned that Apple needed to add extra UV protection among other tweaks, in an attempt to reduce the “unexpected interactions” between the white cover and the internal components. As such, Apple apparently needed to sacrifice some slimness for a better functioning white phone. In the end, we have what looks to be four different size / button configurations that must be considered when purchasing a shrink-wrapped case for your white iPhone 4, black iPhone 4, white Verizon iPhone 4, or black Verizon iPhone 4. Good luck with that.

Additional reporting by Sam Sheffer

[Thanks, Jon]

Filed under: Cellphones

White iPhone 4 thickness creates issue for case makers, owners originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?
Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.

The big hubbub that arose last week around location tracking within the iPhone has now received its due response from Apple itself. Firstly, the Cupertino company claims it does not, and has no plans to, track users’ iPhones. What it’s actually doing is “maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location,” which are then used to provide speedier calculation of your position when you want to use the device’s maps or other location-based services. The data collection that was recently brought to the public attention represents, according to Apple, the location of WiFi hotspots and cell towers around you, not your actual iPhone. Still, the fact iPhones have been shown to store as much as a year’s worth of data is considered a bug by Apple, who plans to limit that period to a week in a future software update. The additional issue of data being collected after users turned off Location Services is also a bug, also to be fixed by Apple in that upcoming update. Left unanswered, however, are the questions of when Apple “uncovered” these bugs, as it claims, and why the fix for them is only coming now. Specialists have known about this behavior since at least September of last year. Either way, the software remedy is promised over the next few weeks, while the next major iteration of iOS should encrypt the cache file that’s been the subject of all the scrutiny. You’ll find the full Q&A after the break.

P.S. — One of Apple’s answers seems to disclose an extra bit of new information: “Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.”

Continue reading Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it

Apple officially answers questions on location tracking, says it doesn’t do it originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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