Apple’s motivation behind requiring sandboxing is all about security: “Sandboxing your app is a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to [...]]]>

Claiming to be in the best interest of users, Apples impending sandboxing requirement “ruffles some feathers:”

Apple’s motivation behind requiring sandboxing is all about security: “Sandboxing your app is a great way to protect systems and users by limiting the resources apps can access and making it more difficult for malicious software to compromise users’ systems.” But the company’s all-or-nothing approach is potentially problematic; “As of March 1, 2012 all apps submitted to the Mac App Store must implement sandboxing,” Apple says.

via Apple to require sandboxing in Mac App Store apps as of March 2012 | TUAW – The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Steve Troughton-Smith @stroughtonsmith and Grant Paul @chpwn publicized the hack via Twitter late Saturday. The tweak requires that devices first undergo a jailbreak, the procedure for hacking an iPhone to run [...]]]>

Though not ready for public release, hackers have reportedly been able to bring Siri onto jailbroken iPhone 4′s and 4th-generation iPod touches.

Steve Troughton-Smith @stroughtonsmith and Grant Paul @chpwn publicized the hack via Twitter late Saturday. The tweak requires that devices first undergo a jailbreak, the procedure for hacking an iPhone to run unauthorized code and applications.

The two hackers provided screenshots and a video… of their success, while reporting that the service was “literally just as fast” on the iPhone 4 as the iPhone 4S. According to Paul, UI on the iPod touch felt “slightly slower,” though the actual Siri was “pretty much identical.”

via AppleInsider | Jailbreak hack enables Siri on iPhone 4, 4th-gen iPod touch.

Sony and Telefon AB LM Ericsson have been talking for weeks about the future of the 50:50 joint venture because the companies must decide this month whether to [...]]]>

In a move that could help Sony compete with Apple, Sony is reportedly in talks to buy out Ericsson, which handles the smart phone division.

Sony and Telefon AB LM Ericsson have been talking for weeks about the future of the 50:50 joint venture because the companies must decide this month whether to renew their 10-year-old pact, two industry sources told Reuters.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Friday Sony was discussing a buyout. The source did not want to identified because the talks were not public.

Yoshiharu Izumi, an analyst at J.P. Morgan in Tokyo, said the deal could be worth upwards of $1.3 billion, depending on what agreement the two reach about the continuing use of Ericsson’s telecoms patents.

via Sony in talks to buy Ericsson out of phone venture: source | Reuters.

Rumors have circulated for months that Amazon is developing a tablet, and recently [...]]]>

Amazon already has brand recognition, a loyal customer following, and a strong e-commerce platform. All this will help it’s rumored Kindle Tablet to give Apple and other tablets a run for their money. The buzz is an announcement could come Wednesday.

Rumors have circulated for months that Amazon is developing a tablet, and recently one reporter confirmed its existence and wrote of his hands-on experience working with a preproduction test unit.

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler says he has seen and touched a prototype of the Amazon Kindle tablet. He says the tablet is Android at heart, but distinctively Amazon in its implementation. Amazon has taken the open source Android OS and developed its own custom skin for the OS — creating a user interface that mimics the ubiquitous Kindle motif with its dark blue, black, and orange color scheme.

Amazon Kindle Tablet Could Shake Up Tablet Wars, And Here’s HowSiegler claims the Kindle tablet unit he worked with has a 7-inch display. Multiple sources — including Siegler — report that Amazon will also offer a 10-inch model of the Kindle tablet, but not until after the 2011 holiday season. Siegler also confirms that Amazon will offer the Kindle tablet for $250 — half of the entry level cost for an iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Motorola Xoom. Even among its 7-inch cousins, the Kindle tablet will be competitively priced at $250.

If the $250 price tag includes membership in Amazon Prime, as rumored, that price becomes a bargain. Membership in the service is a $79 value — effectively bringing the cost of the tablet itself to only $171, and providing additional value unique to the Kindle tablet. Amazon Prime provides free two-day shipping on eligible Amazon purchases, and has its own Netflix-like movie streaming service. For example, there are also rumors that Amazon is preparing a subscription model for e-books, similar to what Netflix offers for movies; the book subscription would also be included as part of Amazon Prime.

via Amazon Kindle Tablet Could Shake Up Tablet Wars: Here’s How

Out of the various options, McAdam said he sees Samsung’s Bada, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5, or RIM’s forthcoming QNX-based BlackBerry platform to fill the spot. “The carriers are beginning to coalesce [...]]]>

Secondary platforms compete for a spot alongside Google and Apple. Messaging capabilities alone won’t be enough when compared with Android’s many features.

Out of the various options, McAdam said he sees Samsung’s Bada, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5, or RIM’s forthcoming QNX-based BlackBerry platform to fill the spot. “The carriers are beginning to coalesce around the need for a third ecosystem,” said McAdam. “Over the next 12 months I think it will coalesce and you will start to see one emerge as a legitimate third ecosystem.” In my opinion, it’ll be between RIM and Microsoft, and I expect Microsoft to come out victorious.

As far as QNX is concerned, RIM will have to bring something other than messaging to the table. Messaging, whether it be through email or BBM or text, is the BlackBerry’s stand-out feature. Any BlackBerry owner I’ve ever grilled says messaging can’t be beat, but it only takes a couple minutes perusing through Android devices with a physical keyboard to realize that BlackBerry messaging isn’t worth everything you’re missing out on.

via Verizon CEO: A Third Mobile Platform Will Emerge In The Next 12 Months

The debugger revealed by researcher Stefan Esser at the Black Hat conference last week was a dormant iOS function in Apple iPhones and iPads, carried over from Apple OS.

Esser told The [...]]]>

An Aussie network engineer has developed a serial cable connector that can give access to a secret kernel debugger hidden within Apple iOS.

The debugger revealed by researcher Stefan Esser at the Black Hat conference last week was a dormant iOS function in Apple iPhones and iPads, carried over from Apple OS.

Esser told The Register that the debugger slashed exploit development time because it gave control over the operating system when it crashes, including read/write access to memory and the registeries.

via DIY cable to build better iOS exploits

I have to say, things are a bit bleak when you put it that way. There will always be vulnerabilities and there will always be criminals, so it’s hard to figure the way out. Especially as end users there is [...]]]>

Charlie Miller of Accuvant Labs responds to a question on the Defenders Dilemma:

I have to say, things are a bit bleak when you put it that way. There will always be vulnerabilities and there will always be criminals, so it’s hard to figure the way out. Especially as end users there is almost nothing you can do; you have to rely on the security of the software you run and have little control over how secure it is. As a society, we cannot eliminate computer attacks. However, what we can do (and this is the approach the industry is sort of taking) is make it so hard and expensive to pull off attacks that it becomes economically infeasible for most attackers. And even for those with the expertise to still pull off the attack, it minimizes the number of attacks they can perform. The way we make it more difficult is to reduce the number of vulnerabilities and ensure users’ software is up to date and “secure by default”. Also, make the OS resilient to attack with things like stack canaries, ASLR, DEP, and sandbox applications so that multiple exploits are needed. We also need to better control the software loaded on our devices (i.e. Apple’s App Store model). So, instead of having to write a single exploit, it takes three or four in order to perform an attack. This means most attackers won’t be able to pull it off, and those who can will have to spend much more time working it out.

via Charlie Miller On Hacked Batteries, Cloud Security, And The iPad