Hasta La Gadget!

Denial of Service, or DDoS, attacks have been used for decades now, but they’ve become more popular in recent years that were aimed at popular software companies, video game networks, and a number of government agencies to name a few. Up until now, these DDoS attacks have been aimed at organizations, but now they seem to be aimed at individuals.

A DDoS attacker has taken aim at Apple’s iMessage program as a way of completely messing with an individual. iMessages can be sent to either a person’s iOS device or Apple computer as long as the attacker knows the person’s email address or phone number associated with the account. The string of characters are sent at such a high rate that it forces iMessages to crash, which makes it nearly impossible to use the service while the attacks are ongoing.

Unfortunately, there’s currently no way of blocking an iMessage user nor is there a setting to change the frequency the user receives messages. At this point in time, the only solution would be to not use iMessage, although we’re sure a number of you probably won’t find that as an acceptable option. Hopefully Apple catches wind of this method of DDoS attacks and will issue something to block it.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: ITC rules that Apple did not violate Motorola’s patent, remands case back to judge, Messages to be exclusive to OS X Mountain Lion,

We’ve been expecting Final Fantasy V to be made available onto iOS some time this month, and seeing how this is the final week of March, there’s no better time for the game to be released than this week. Considering the game just made itself available in the New Zealand App Store, that pretty much guarantees the game will be made available in the U.S. App Store later this evening.

Square Enix originally announced Final Fantasy V would be made available only in Japan, but seeing how many fans of the series, as well as this specific title, in the U.S., we had a feeling they’d bring it to the U.S. as well. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iOS 6.1.3 Users Report Battery Drain, Wi-Fi Connectivity Issues, Flipboard Updated To Version 2.0, Adds Pinterest-like Features,

Being a smartphone owner these days means you’ll most likely have to keep your device connected to its charger when you’re home, in your car and sometimes, when you visit someone else’s home. Keeping your battery charged at an acceptable level is something we all constantly worry about, but a new device will hopefully have you worrying a little bit less, that is, as long as you have friends around with charged devices.

The ChargeBite is a charger that doesn’t have you relying on an electrical outlet in order to get your charging needs. Instead, it features three 30-pin docks to suck the power out of other iOS devices in order to help keep yours charged. Think of it as the modern day version of walking over to a neighbor’s house to ask for a cup of sugar. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Adds ‘Offers In-App Purchases’ Warning To App Store Descriptions, XCOM: Enemy Unknown Coming To iOS This Summer,

Do you have an iPhone? You wanna know how you can get your friends to gift you an external battery pack? Support the ChargeBite’s fundraiser. The ChargeBite is a charger for 30-pin iOS devices, but it doesn’t have its own battery. What it does is draw power from other 30-pin iOS devices to transfer to your own. See where I’m going with this?

Inventors Liran Elihay and Asaf Gaber call their invention “a social charger.” The advantage of course is that you don’t have to carry an external battery pack and the ChargeBite never needs to be charged. I guess I don’t know have to tell you the obvious drawbacks of the ChargeBite, but I will make this clear – as far as I can tell you need two donor iOS devices to charge one iOS device.

I don’t think the ChargeBite is utterly useless, but overall I cannot in good conscience recommend that you support its fundraiser. We can’t fit two friends and their iPhones into our pockets. But years of reading about the likes of Brando have given me a soft spot for crazy gadgets and doodads. Just the fact that this actually exists should be enough for us.

[via Geeky Gadgets]

Schmidt is waiting, Apple

We caught a glimpse of Google Now for the iPhone and iPad after a YouTube video was leaked last week, although it was pulled from the service once Google was made aware of the leak. Considering the leak, we know an app will soon be made available on iOS, but what exactly is holding it up from being released.

According to Google’s Eric Schmidt, the ball is completely in Apple’s court as he was asked directly if Google Now would arrive on the iPhone. Schmidt responded by saying “you’ll need to discuss that with Apple. Apple has a policy of approving or disapproving apps that are submitted into its store, and some of the apps we make they approve and some of them they don’t.” He also took a small shot at their review process as “they recently did approve Google Maps, thank goodness.” When asked to give specifics regarding the Google Now situation, Schmidt declined to comment. (more…)

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