AT&T activated 146,000 iPhones at launch

While Apple is planning to release its quarterly financial results tomorrow, AT&T has dropped its own numbers today, which includes some information on the iPhone. Though AT&T’s financial results were higher than many had anticipated, due in no small amount to the iPhone, the wireless provider said that it had activated about 146,000 iPhones in the first two days of availability. That number, although not insubstantial, is lower than many analysts and industry watchers had predicted.

The accuracy of these numbers is somewhat questionable, however, as AT&T clearly had some problems keeping up with the demands placed on their activation system during that first weekend. Many iPhone customers ended up having to wait several days for their activation to go through, so the number of iPhones sold will undoubtedly be higher.

So eyes and ears have turned to Apple itself, in the hopes that tomorrow’s conference call will fill in the details a bit.

Karstadt stores to sell iPhone in Germany

Karstadt stores to sell iPhone in Germany (news/iphone-hardware/karstadt-stores-to-sell-iphone-in-germany-20070724284)
July 25, 2007
German department store Karstadt will sell the iPhone when it becomes available later this year.

Significant Decline in iPhone Demand

Significant Decline in iPhone Demand (news/iphone-hardware/significant-decline-in-iphone-demand-20070724283)
July 25, 2007
Activations from AT T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone, are a disappointment, Piper Jaffray Co. analyst Gene Munster said today.

iPhone Vulnerable To Hackers

iPhone Vulnerable To Hackers (news/iphone-hardware/iphone-vulnerable-to-hackers-20070724282)
July 25, 2007
According to a report released yesterday from security firm Independent Security Evaluators, the iPhone along with Apple desktop computers may be vulnerable to hackers due to a flaw in the Safari web browser.

Free TrafficGauge For iPhone

TrafficGauge for iPhone allows you to view real-time traffic on your Apple iPhone. The TrafficGauge for iPhone pages have been created to make the most of the iPhone’s unique display and touch screen by increasing control and font sizes. This is a FREE service that gives you access to the detailed traffic conditions that you need for your commute.

If you do not have an iPhone, but have mobile web enabled for your cell phone, try TrafficGauge for Mobile Web. Or try TrafficGauge for SMS/MMS to make use of text and picture messaging to receive live traffic updates.

Entering your cell phone number above, including area code and without any symbols, will result in a text message containing a link to TrafficGauge for iPhone being sent to your phone. Follow the link to view the traffic map.
Or to view the TrafficGauge for iPhone map, navigate to http://www.trafficgauge.com/iphone.asp on your iPhone.
Don’t forget to bookmark the page for future use.

Cost
TrafficGauge for iPhone is currently provided by TrafficGauge for FREE. However, you are subject to the data plan costs as outlined by your carrier. Contact your cellular provider for data plan details and pricing. After the beta test period completes, a fee may apply to this service.

Requirements
You must have an iPhone with Javascript enabled. If you have any problems using this service, please e-mail us at support@trafficgauge.com; since this is a free service we are unable to provide technical support by phone, but we will return your e-mail as soon as possible.

Safety
Use TrafficGauge for iPhone sensibly. Make sure to check traffic conditions before you pull into traffic or when you are not moving. Immediately stop using TrafficGauge for iPhone if your situation, or driving conditions in general, become hazardous. Learn more about a device designed with safety in mind, the TrafficGauge Mobile Traffic Map handheld.

Source: trafficgauge.com

German Department Store Will Offer iPhone

So we can’t tell you quite yet who’ll be official carrier for the iPhone in Germany, but we can say where you’ll be able to buy it from. A major department store chain, Karstadt, has announced that they’re hoping to get the handset in by Christmas, in a report that as yet we’ve neither had confirmation of from Apple nor word that the disclosure was officially sanctioned.

Keeping the air of mystery, Karstadt said it was “too early to say” whether the iPhone would be sold in Germany with or without a contract, leaving open the possibility for a pay-as-you-go model either for those with poor credit records or those unwilling to sign a contract.

Source: myitablet.com

Guide to setting up Secure SSH between iPhone and your Mac

Working SSH Instructions by NerveGas

Previous instructions on the net have required the use of restore mode to set
binary permissions. Unfortunately, restore mode doesn’t work with all public
versions of iPhoneInterface I’ve tried. The instructions below work by
overwriting an existing binary on the system with chmod, and then calling it
with the appropriate arguments to set permissions. The result is a fully
functional SSH setup. You can then proceed to uploading your own world builds,
or other programs to execute via commandline.

Step 1: Key Creation

On your Mac or PC, download dropbear from here:

http://matt.ucc.asn.au/dropbear/dropbear.html

Run: ./configure && make

You don’t need to install the software, just run:

./dropbearkey -t rsa -f dropbear_rsa_host_key
./dropbearkey -t dss -f dropbear_dss_host_key

And copy the two new key files into your iPhoneInterface directory.

Step 2: Uploading dropbear and friends

Download the iphone-ssh kit and the iphone binaries kit:

http://www.abigato.com/iphone-ssh-kit-vr1.tar.bz2
http://netkas.freeflux.net/blog/

Rename sh6 from the kit to sh.

Use the jailbreak application to break out of jail, and then open
iPhoneInterface to connect.

mkdir /etc/dropbear
cd /etc/dropbear
putfile dropbear_rsa_host_key
putfile dropbear_dss_host_key
cd /bin
putfile chmod
putfile sh
cd /usr/bin
putfile dropbear

Step 3: Overwriting ‘update’ with ‘chmod’

While still connected to iPhoneInterface, make a backup copy of
/usr/sbin/update:

cd /usr/sbin
getfile update

Rename this to update.original on your local filesystem

Now copy the ‘chmod’ binary to ‘update’ and upload it back to the
iPhone:

cd /usr/sbin
putfile update

Step 4: Overwriting the update configuration

Now the ‘update’ binary is really ‘chmod’, and has execute permissions! We
just need to tell the iPhone to chmod next time it boots. To do this, we
download /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.update.plist and add our
own arguments to ProgramArguments:

0 /usr/sbin/update
1 555
2 /bin/chmod
3 /bin/sh
4 /usr/bin/dropbear

Save the new plist and upload it back to the iPhone:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
putfile com.apple.update.plist

While we’re here, lets also:

putfile au.asn.ucc.matt.dropbear.plist

Step 5: Reboot the iPhone twice.

The first reboot should set the permissions on the dropbear and related
binaries. The second reboot should start dropbear, so you can ssh to it:

ssh -l root [IP ADDRESS]
The root password is ‘dottie’.

Step 6: Replace the original update and com.apple.update.plist files

Don’t forget to put the old update files back. Rename update.original back
to update, and delete the extra ProgramArguments you added to
com.apple.update.plist. Now put them back:

cd /System/Library/LaunchDaemons
putfile com.apple.update.plist

cd /usr/sbin
putfile update

Step 7: Change the root password

If you don’t like ‘dottie’, you can generate a new encrypted password
by running:

perl -e ‘print crypt(”MYPASSWORD”, “XU”);’

Where MYPASSWORD is the new password you want, and XU is a random two-letter
salt. Copy the encrypted output and replace the existing one in
/etc/master.passwd on the phone.

Source: Pastebin.com

Hands-on with Shure Music Phone Adapter

I spent the weekend testing out a pre-production prototype of Shure’s $40 Music Phone Adapter, which provides hope for all of us iPhone-usin’ types who don’t particularly like Apple’s stock earbuds.

I’m an in-ear headphone guy, and quite honestly, I will never, ever, ever go back to little earbuds of the style Apple provides. Not that I’m an audiophile, not hardly, but I can sure tell the difference in sound quality between a transistor radio and a big speaker system, and for me the difference between in-ear headphones and earbuds is similar. Also, earbuds make my tiny ears hurt.

So here comes the Shure MPA-3c, with its svelte iPhone-compatible mini jack at one end and, at the other, a nub with a microphone on one side, a clicker on the other side, and a standard headphone jack (to fit any sort of headphones you like) at the top. Plug it in to your iPhone, plug in your favorite headphones (I’m sure Shure hopes they’re from Shure, but my Ultimate Ears worked just as well) and you’re set — the MPA-3c’s clicker works just like the clicker on the iPhone’s included earbuds, letting you answer or hang up on calls, pause and play music, and double-click to go to the next audio track.

One of the side-effects of wearing in-ear headphones is that they tend to block off all sound coming from your surroundings. This can have some interesting side-effects when you’re listening to music — say, the distinct possibility you could get hit by a bus while crossing the streeet if you’re not paying attention. But when you’re talking on the phone, it’s worse. If you’ve ever tried to listen to your voice while plugging your ears, you get the idea — the person on the other end of the line sounds great through those snazzy headphones, but your own voice sounds like a troll on tranquilizers.

Not so with the MPA-3c, which channels some of your own voice (from its own microphone port) into your own headphones. It didn’t entirely eliminate the sleepy-troll echo inside my noggin, but it definitely dialed it back to an acceptable level.

As the first product of its kind for the iPhone, the MPA-3c does have some issues. Cable clutter is a major problem, because the MPA-3c tacks a couple of feet of cable onto your existing headphone cords. And you can’t just tuck the MPA-3c’s extra length away somewhere, because you’ve got to make sure your fingers can reach the clicker and that the microphone is relatively close to your head. As a result, I had a zig-zag of cables dangling in front of my shirt when I used the adapter.

This is a problem that’s somewhat solved by having headphones with extremely short cords. As with all of Shure’s recent models, the sample SE210 headphones Shure sent along with the adapter come with an extremely short cord and an optional extension, and using the short-corded headphones worked a lot better. (However, it wasn’t short enough to obviate the need for a clip, since the short Shure cord still dropped the microphone and clicker to down around my belly button.)

The MPA-3c does come with a small clip, so that you can attach it to a better place on your clothing. Unfortunately, it’s a tiny clip that clips on itself, and is prone to sliding around on the adapter’s cord. Since it can’t be attached to the microphone-and-clicker portion of the adapter itself, when you do use the clip the top of the adapter inevitably flops over unattractively. It works, but a better solution might have been to integrate a clip onto the microphone section of the adapter.

We’ll have a complete rated review when the final version of the MPA-3c ships. For now, what I can say is that it works as advertised, and for iPhone owners who aren’t fans of Apple’s earbuds some device like this will be a must-buy. Shure deserves full credit for being first out of the gate. I have no doubt they’ll have a lot of competition, but if the MPA-3c was shipping today (it’s due next August) I’d buy one. I have no desire to go back to those Apple earbuds ever again.

Woz on his iPhone: “some positives and some negatives”

The wonderful wizard of Woz is a lot like the rest of us. Even though Steve Jobs reputedly promised him an iPhone the day after it was released, that wasn’t enough for Woz: he got in line with the plebes at the San Jose Apple Store on June 29th and ponied up his own hard-earned cash for the must-have gadget.

Now that he’s had it for a while, Woz is ready to share some opinions about the device. He talked to USA Today tech writer Ed Baig:

[Woz] loves the appearance, human touch, Safari Web browser, and messaging on iPhone — plus the fact that the device is “more like my computer and less like other smartphones I’ve used.”

But he’s still not relying on iPhone for voice, leaving that to his Motorola Razr cellphone for now.

Woz is compiling a list of peeves he plans to share with his former partner Steve Jobs; the two haven’t spoken about iPhone since the phone launched. On the Woz wish list: voice dialing and a 3G — or third generation — data network that is “more reliable” than AT&T’s Edge. He’d also like to display the temperature, in Celsius, on the home screen.

We’re with you Woz: voice dialing’s on our list too. Hopefully, Woz’s input has a better chance of swaying The Jobs than ours. And hey, while you’re at it, see if you can get him to add iChat too. Kthxbye!

Another headphone-jack adapter option

We’ve reviewed two headphone-jack adapters, one from Belkin and one from RadTech, that let you use third-party headphones with the iPhone’s recessed headphone jack. But as reader Chuck recently pointed out in a comment, if you’ve got an original iPod shuffle and happened to purchase Apple’s iPod shuffle Sport Case for it, you’ve already got just such an adapter.

You see, the Sport Case protected the original iPod shuffle in a clear-plastic, water-resistant shell; the downside to this all-over protection was that once the Sport Case was on the shuffle, the shuffle’s headphone jack was recessed into the case. (See our original review.) Although the shuffle’s stock earbuds would work with this recessed jack, most third-party headphones would not; the opening was too narrow.

To get around this limitation, Apple included with the Sport Case a 4.5-inch cable adapter (shown in the image above); you plugged the adapter into the shuffle and then plugged your headphones into the adapter. As it turns out, this adapter works perfectly with the iPhone, as well.

Now, given that Apple currently sells the Sport Case for $29, and most third-party headphone-jack adapters for the iPhone sell for $7 to $15, I don’t recommend rushing out and buying the Sport Case just to get the adapter. But some judicious eBay or CraigsList shopping may find you a used Sports Case, or even just the adapter, for a few bucks. And if you’ve already got a Sport Case from back in the first-generation-shuffle day, you’re already set.