Hasta La Gadget!

It wasn’t the main thrust of its “Q&A on Location Data” this morning, but Apple did also make a bit of news while it tried to ease those privacy concerns about how it’s handling your data. The company says it “is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database,” and that it’s hoping to provide iPhone users with an “improved traffic service in the next couple of years.” It didn’t divulge much more than that, unfortunately, but that little detail lines up with some other navigation-related developments out of the company as of late. It acquired web mapping firm Poly9 last July (in addition to Google Maps rival Placebase in late 2009), and just last month a couple of job postings revealed that it was looking for folks to “radically improve” the iOS Maps experience. Add all those together and it’s starting to look an awful lot like a shift away from Google Maps in favor of an all-Apple solution — much like how the company relied on Skyhook until it could roll its own WiFi geolocation service.

Apple confirms it’s working on a traffic service, moving away from Google Maps? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:45:00 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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IFixit’s clear case shows off your iPhone’s internal organs

For $30 iFixit will sell you an x-ray vision-like glimpse into the guts of your iPhone 4. The plastic panel is a direct replacement for the shatter-happy glass panel that ships with the iPhone, and contains all the necessary extras: camera lens, flash diffuser and black bezel.

Gaze through the transparent window and you’ll see the big battery, the camera and flash and a sweet warning sticker that reads “Authorized Service Provider Only.” Whatevs, Apple. We don’t care about your warranties.

Frivolous? Sure, but with one rather practical advantage. The iFixit panel costs less than half the $80 you’ll need for the fragile, boring, non-see-through OEM panel.

iPhone 4 Transparent Rear Panel [iFixit]

See Also:

• Sleek Metal Cover Replaces Glass iPhone 4 Backplate
• Sugru Keeps Your iPhone Safe From a Fatal Fall
• Cases Might Break iPhone 4 Glass Due to Design Flaw

This article was written on August 01, 2007 by CyberNet.

The iPhone has been out for over a month now, and on Tuesday we saw Apple release the first security update for it. I’m sure a team of people over at Apple had been working around the clock to push out that update because they were working under pressure. Just a week ago we wrote about a group of researchers at Independent Security Evaluators who found a way to make an iPhone vulnerable to hackers.  They of course reported the exploit to Apple, but gave them until August 2nd to fix it before they discussed it at the Black Hat conference (computer security) taking place on Thursday. Phew, Apple made it with a little time to spare!

iPhone owners will receive the update via iTunes. Computer World explains that “iPhone users can wait out the update interval — iTunes automatically checks Apple’s update servers once a week — or retrieve the patches manually by selecting “Check for Update” under the iTunes Help Menu and then docking the iPhone to the PC or Mac.”

Also in the news, buzz around the web is that a new 20” and 24” iMac computer will debut next week on Tuesday at a press event held at Apple headquarters. AppleInsider reports that a slimmed down keyboard will debut as well as demo’s of iLife ‘08 and iWork ‘08. Apparently Apple is refocusing back to the Mac computers? They seem to have been pushed out of the spotlight ever since the iPhone came around.

Thanks for the tip Cory!

Copyright © 2011 CyberNetNews.com

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