Apple Removes WikiLeaks App From App Store
Looks like Apple has joined the club of not wanting to touch WikiLeaks with a ten-foot pole. Alexia Tsotsis writes on TechCrunch:
Looks like an unofficial iPhone and iPad app that let you view WikiLeaks site content and follow the WikiLeaks Twitter account on the go has been removed from the App app store earlier today. The app used to be available here (here’s the Google cache).
From the WikiLeaks App’s description: “The Wikileaks app gives instant access to the world’s most documented leakage of top secret memos and other confidential government documents.”
Basically the paid app was selling WikiLeaks content (available for free) for $1.99. Its entry into the app store on December 17th was actually surprising, as Apple is usually quite strict and somewhat vague about its app approval standards. WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange are quite controversial, to put it lightly but I’m not sure if the app directly violated anything in Apple’s TOS.
In the…
Will Apple End Sexting As We Know It?
In more sad news for the youth of today, Apple has been awarded a patent for technology that alters text messages to remove objectionable content, i.e., an anti-sexting device. Our friends at TechCrunch report:
Today the US Patent and Trademark Office approved a patent Apple filed in 2008, which, get this, prevents users from sending or receiving “objectionable” text messages. The patent’s official title? “Text-based communication control for personal communication device.”
Ladies and gentlemen this means that Jobs and company have just sealed the deal on a solution to the number one fear of parents across America, kids sending “unauthorized texts.” As it looks like whatever algorithm or control the system is comprised of will basically censor the transmission of R-rated content on iPhones, is this the first sign of the end of “Sexting” as we know it?
Yes and no, as those interesting in “Sexting” will probably find some clever workaround to express…
“Take Me Out” by Atomic Tom, Performed Live with iPhones on NYC Subway
Via YouTube: “I saw Atomic Tom perform on the B train today… at first i thought they were going to bomb the train, but then they started playing and i was like ‘i love new york!’ liked them so much, i asked a stranger for the band name.” – Brittany Tucker
This video was filmed unannounced on Friday, October 8, 2010 aboard the New York City B Train, over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn and edited from 3 iPhone cameras. All footage is performed 100% live and executed in one take.
A Handy iPhone App For Climate Change Skeptics
For all you climate change skeptics (who also happen to have an iPhone), The Hill reports that a new app will allow you to post stinging responses to any posts on disinfo.com that even hint of a belief in man-made global warming or other climate change:
Recent weeks have been up-and-down for climate skeptics: The “climate-gate” scandal fizzled as several probes cleared prominent scientists of faking warming data, but the big climate bill also died on Capitol Hill.
As the battle continues, climate skeptics now have a new tool: a recently launched iPhone app called “Our Climate.”
“You have all the information at your fingertips, wherever you go, to help you get a more complete picture on what is happening to our climate!” states the app’s website.
The app notes that, “In the current debate on our climate, you often hear that the ‘debate is over’ or that the consensus of scientists is that global warming…
Apple Deleting Mentions of Consumer Reports’ Negative iPhone 4 Review on its Support Forums
Since when did Apple get in the Thought Police business? What happened to this company? Paull Miller writes on EndGadget:
In case Apple has somehow managed to perfect the art of selective disremembrance across a wide population, here’s a refresher: Consumer Reports has thrown down the gauntlet, stating that it “can’t recommend” the iPhone 4 until the antenna issues are fixed, issues that its labs and ours have verified quite substantially. Apple apparently isn’t happy about that, and has taken to deleting threads about the Consumer Reports article from its support forums.
Now, Apple deleting threads from its support forums is nothing new; outside of “regular” moderation, the company routinely deletes discussion of hardware flaws that it’s not ready to ‘fess up to, or just generally negative lines of thought about its products. Good thing the internet’s a big place, and if Apple’s not going to admit the antenna issue, there are plenty…
EyePhone (iPhone Parody) “Mysteriously” Disappears From Online Clips of ‘Futurama’
The Wrath of Steve Jobs! Laura June writes on Endgadget:
Remember how awesome and clever Futurama was? Well, if you missed it, your chances to see it in its original form might be slowly dwindling. It seems that Comedy Central has wiped out the reference in the dialogue to the “EyePhone 2.0.”
So, while we don’t have any conspiracy theories brewing about what happened, it’s a pretty odd thing to scrub, and we figure there are two possibilities: either Comedy Central is trying to cover their on this one, or they got a late night email from … someone.
Mass. Police Using Biometric Facial Recognition iPhone App
The unstoppable iPhone: I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that even the cops are taking advantage of it’s amazing array of apps. Story from the Daily Mail:
Police in the US are using an iPhone app to take photos of suspects and instantly compares them with a criminal database.
The app employs biometric information such as facial recognition software to help police identify suspects within seconds.
Known as MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), the system lets police officers take a photo of a suspect, upload it into a secure network where it is then analysed.
The system itself has been around for a number of years but this is the first time the iPhone’s unique combination of easy interface and high-end capability have been used by the police in this way.
If a biometric match is made, the identity, photo and background information about the suspect is transmitted back to the police officer’s…
Invalid Warrant Used in Raid on Gizmodo ‘Missing iPhone’ Reporter Jason Chen
The plot thickens. This isn’t looking like a publicity stunt by Apple anymore unless Steve Jobs has cops on his payroll. Beware the Power of Jobs! Kim Zetter writes on WIRED’s Threat Level:
Police raided the house of an editor for Gizmodo on Friday and seized computers and other equipment. The raid was part of an investigation into the leak of a prototype iPhone that the site obtained for a blockbuster story last week. Now, a legal expert has raised questions about the legality of the warrant used in the raid.
On Friday, officers from California’s Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team in San Mateo, California, appeared at the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen while he was not there and broke open the front door.
Chen and his wife discovered the officers when they returned from dinner around 9:45 that evening. According to an account he posted online, Chen noticed his garage door was…
Telepathy? There’s An App For That
The “Neuophone” app allows iPhone commands through telepathy! An EEG headset wirelessly sends signals to an iPhone, making it possible to “think dial” friends when their photo appears on your iPhone.
EEG electrodes monitor brainwaves (with a gyroscope to detect the head’s position) using Emotiv’s EPOC headset, interpreting brain signals with algorithms developed from MRI brain scans…
