40Tech

As some of you have no doubt heard, Apple has recently applied for a patent entitled: Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device. This technology is, ostensibly, supposed to give Apple the power to help you protect yourself in the event someone else has gotten a hold of your iPhone. It also gives Apple the power to remotely wipe your iPhone if you have Jailbroken your device — the legality of Jailbreaking notwithstanding.

Just that last detail is enough to get many people up in arms, but it is the method in which Apple wants to implement its new Big Brother feature that has people truly freaked out. After taking a bit of time to think about it and consider the implications, I have decided that I am one of those people.

Everybody knows that the folks over at Apple are flighty, at best, when it comes to what is allowed or rejected from their App Store. They have their, reasons, of course, but those reasons are often unclear to the public, or even to the developers of iPhone and iPad apps. Apple’s rejection of, or sudden pulling or neutering of apps has been the subject of much contention and even a few blog posts here at 40Tech. There may be a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, though, with OpenAppMkt.

Jailbreaking is the process of reconfiguring the restrictions Apple places on the iPod Touch and iPhone firmware to allow you to gain access to any code on your device. One familiar case is with Apple’s App Store. We all know that all apps must undergo an approval process before it is available to download at the App Store. The applications that are not approved, however, sometimes end up at third-party application installers like Cydia. Here is a look at how to avail yourself of those apps through jailbreaking, along with a look at the pros and cons of jailbreaking.

“Open” is the new buzzword du jour, with a few of the major tech companies claiming to support open standards. Two of those companies are Google and Apple. As Wikipedia notes, there is no single definition of an “open standard,” and interpretations vary with usage. Even the companies themselves seem to have differing definitions of open, depending on the setting. Let’s take a quick look at Apple and Google, and at how “open” they are.

So far, we’ve been avoiding all of the iPad chatter here at 40Tech, choosing not to get involved in the sweeping web-wide hype that it’s generated. Admittedly, some of that avoidance is fuelled by the fact that we don’t own a single iPad between us – but we hear good things. Personally, the slowly withering anti-Apple in me is inclined to wait until version two of the iPad is released, hoping for an even better experience (and a self-facing camera for video chats), but this new piece of tech/giant iPod Touch (or iPhone) has taken the worlds of techies and reg’lar folk by storm. I know this because both my mother and my wife (mother of my child) have expressed an interest in getting one. So this begs the question: Did you get your mom an iPad for Mother’s Day?

When I heard, yesterday, that Apple had approved the Opera Mini browser for iPhone, I was a bit more than surprised — I was shocked. Apple’s track record in rejecting any app that might interfere with their business plans or control over their userbase seemed to scream that there was absolutely no way they would [...]

Today, 40Tech is pleased to present a guest post by Kosmo from The Casual Observer. The game of Oregon Trail is a major reason why I have been an avid user of Apple products for a quarter of a century. When I was in elementary, the school received its very first computers.  The computers were [...]

Update: As of today, February 24, 2010, I’m seeing an update in the App store that restores 3G functionality.  This is about 2 weeks after Apple allowed Sling to include 3G functionality in the SlingPlayer app. We’ve previously written about Apple’s capricious App Store review process, which has caused great frustration for users of Google [...]

Apple’s App Store has been a smashing success.  Last week, Apple announced that more than three billion apps had been downloaded from the App Store since its inception 18 months ago.  It’s almost hard to imagine the time when there were no third-party apps.  But have Apples’ actions, coupled with web technologies, threatened the future [...]

Tech geeks get overly excited by new tech releases.  I count myself in that group.  Also, it is easy for tech geeks to forget the past (or at least view that past with a fond chuckle), since technology by its very nature tends to constantly grow and evolve.  For example, now that I have an [...]