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Security research specialist Nitesh Dhanjani has demonstrated how mobile Safari’s ability to hide a web page’s URL can be used to trick users. Specifically, his proof-of-concept site shows a “fake” URL filed once the real one has been hidden, preventing users from realizing that they’re not looking at the site they intended to see.

Dhanjani goes on to note that, in situations where a URL filed should be visible, a hacker could simply present the fake one, tricking most users. He offers more detail on his blog, and says that he’s been in communication with Apple about the issue. You can check out a brief video of how the trick works after the break.

[Via MacObserver]

Continue reading iPhone URL display poses potential security threat

iPhone URL display poses potential security threat originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Major League Baseball star Carl Crawford is shopping for a new team, and has sent iPads packed with video highlights of his career to prospective coaches and managers. Specifically, Crawford’s agent Greg Genske is distributing the iPads, according to Business Insider.

If artists can share their portfolios with an iPad, why not pro athletes? The move was a stunt for sure, and a costly one at that. But not to worry, Business Insider reports that if Crawford attracts the US$100 million deal he’s expected to, those 30 iPads will be paid off by his second at-bat (four at-bats per game works out to $33,333 per at-bat). Not bad for a day’s work.

Carl Crawford distributes iPads with “highlight reel” to prospective teams originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to our mighty list of daily deals, courtesy the fine folks at Dealnews. Each of these deals are time-sensitive — in other words, get ’em while you can.

• iPhone App Store Freebies: Orient, Road Hog, ARSoccer, more
• iPhone App Price Drops: Perfect Photo, Cabela’s Hunts, LoTR Defense, more
• ZAGG: iPhone Accessories Cyber Monday Sale: 50% off sitewide no minimum
• Buy.com: ZyXEL 2-Bay NAS / Media Server for $90 + free shipping
• HandHeldItems: Up to 70% off select iPad cases + 20% off coupon
  
• Buy.com: OtterBox Commuter Case for iPad for $28 + $7 s&h (our review of the Commuter is here)
• ExperCom: Apple iMac Core i7 Quad 2.8GHz 27″ Desktop w/ AppleCare for $1,849 + $29 s&h
• Buy.com: EyeClops Portable Mini Projector for $35 + free shipping
• TigerDirect: Refurbished Netgear 802.11n Wireless 4-Port Router for $15 + $3 s&h
• iGoneMobile: Mini DVI to HDMI Adapter with 6-foot HDMI cable for $7 + free shipping
• MacUpdate Promo: LightFrame 2 for Mac downloads for $15

Daily Deals for November 30, 2010 originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Easy come, easy go. Apple has reportedly asked (politely, we assume) PhotoFast not to sell the 256GB MacBook Air SSD upgrade kit we were so eager to get our hands on. In fact, the product page is throwing a 404 this morning.

The kit looked great, and included the 256GB upgrade chip as well as a USB 3.0 housing for the 64GB chip currently in the 11.6-inch Air. Plus, it could read and write at 250MB/s while Apple’s SSD clocks in between 150MB/s and 160MB/s.

PhotoFast is currently licensed with Apple to make Apple accessories through the MFi Program, a privilege that would be a bummer to lose, to say the least. Cheer up, MacBook Air users, and imagine what could have been.

[Hat tip to 9to5 Mac and Engadget]

Apple kills PhotoFast 256GB MacBook Air upgrade kit originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the most asked-for features for the second generation of the iPad is for a front-facing camera that can be used with Apple’s FaceTime video chat app. After all, with FaceTime available on every iPhone 4 and downloadable in beta form for Mac OS X, the ability to engage in video-enhanced conversations with friends and family on future iPads is a foregone conclusion.

Now Digitimes is reporting that a supplier for the lens module (optics and CCD sensor) for the iPad 2 has been selected by Apple. Largan Precision, the Taiwanese supplier for the 5-megapixel lens module used in the iPhone 4, filed documents with the Taiwan Stock Exchange noting that the company has been selected as the sole lens module supplier for the iPad 2 with shipments beginning in the first quarter of 2011.

Not surprisingly, Largan is staying quiet about the deal. The web of secrecy that surrounds announcements of new Apple products extends to suppliers, so we’re sure that no confirmation from the company will be forthcoming… not that it’s needed.

The front-facing camera for the iPhone 4 is only VGA quality to allow for higher video refresh rates over Wi-Fi for FaceTime, so we could speculate that this VGA webcam module might be used in the iPad 2. By the way, the 5-megapixel lens module that is used in the primary iPhone 4 camera isn’t shown on Largan’s product page, but an 8-megapixel unit is. Is it too early to start speculating that the next generation iPhone will sport an 8-megapixel camera?

iPad 2 camera supplier selected, remains mum originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The iPad is launching in several countries today, including Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan. In Taiwan, the device will be carried by several Apple Premium Resellers, including Tsann Kuen, Fnac, Studio A and DataExpress 3C retail chains.

The iPad began its assault on the tablet market in the U.S., then moved over to Europe and Asia. Today, less than a year later, the little tablet is disrupting the long-standing PC market. Its relative low cost and sleek appeal have reeled in shoppers who typically avoid Apple products.

Please send us your stories and pictures of launch day via the comments. We’d love to share in the fun.

[Via 9to5Mac]

Update: Czech Republic pricing can be found here.

International iPad launches today originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the latest sign of a trend that has been ongoing in the tech industry for more than a decade, Apple has gobbled up another big chunk of land in Cupertino, CA that is being vacated by Hewlett-Packard. Apple recently closed on a deal to buy HP’s 98 acre Cupertino campus for an undisclosed price. The former HP property is north of a 50 acre site that Apple bought in 2006 and east of the main Infinite Loop campus that has been home to Apple since the early 1990s.

Apple has been on a steady growth path, with a stream of new products, since the return of Steve Jobs in the late 1990s; HP has been heading in the opposite direction, having shed numerous traditional businesses in that same time. Apple had $65 billion in sales in its last fiscal year and added 12,300 employees, bringing its total headcount to 46,600. The 57 buildings currently occupied by Apple are reportedly “bursting at the seams,” but the company has not yet provided a timetable or plan for revamping its new campus. Several thousand HP employees that currently work in Cupertino will be consolidated in Palo Alto over the next two years.

This latest move brings the Apple-HP relationship full circle. When Apple was founded in 1976, Steve Wozniak was an engineer working in HP’s calculator division. As with most large companies, HP had a policy that anything invented by employees belonged to the company, even if it was created on personal time. Wozniak offered the Apple I and Apple II designs to HP, but the company didn’t want to get into the personal computer business at the time, which paved the way for Woz to eventually leave and join his partner Jobs at their startup on a full-time basis. If HP had made different choices in the late 1970s, the many innovative products created by Apple over the years might never have been built, and today’s technology landscape would probably be a very different place.

[via Mac.Blorge]

Apple buys former HP campus in Cupertino originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Flickr HD (or flickr hd, as it’s styled in the App Store) just got a nice update recently to version 6.0, and it’s quite an excellent way to browse and view the popular photo-sharing site Flickr on an iOS device. The latest version brings a feature called “Instaswitch,” which will automatically change the picture shown on the app every single minute, right on the minute (I guess it loads up in the background). The app can also display a clock and the photo information on the screen, so you can use your iOS device as a digital photo frame and bring shots in directly from your Flickr account, public photos from someone you know or even Flickr’s own favorites feed.

An update early next month is set to bring even more options into the app, including being able to adjust the time that each picture changes. If you spend a lot of time looking at your iPhone or iPad’s battery charging screen and would rather give it a little something better to do while sitting in a dock or a stand, Flickr HD is a nice app, and it’s on sale right now for just US$1.99.

TUAW’s Daily App: Flickr HD originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Japan’s Softbank Mobile is subsidizing the entire cost of a 16GB iPad 3G (translated link) for those willing to sign a contract for two years of monthly data plan payments. By agreeing to pay Softbank $56 (¥4,725) a month at least 24 times, customers get the iPad for free — sort of. The way the plan is structured, the monthly payments are actually split evenly between the unlimited data plan and payments on the device.

One of the many upsides to buying an iPad is that, even if you opt for the 3G version, you don’t have to get locked into another two-year AT&T contract. On the other hand, that means you’ll have to pay Apple’s full list price to get one. Japanese customers now have an option to get a 16GB iPad 3G for no up front cost, but they’ll give up a lot of freedom by doing so.

[via Engadget]

iPad 3G available for free in Japan with two-year Softbank contract originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Over the holiday weekend, we noted that the Glif is now available for ordering (although it’s not shipping quite yet). The iPhone 4 stand / tripod mount gadget is a triple threat: functional, attractively designed and the owner of a great backstory.

The Glif guys wanted to share the experience of producing their product, so they released a short video covering the injection molding process out in South Dakota. If you’re a fan of the Science Channel’s hypnotic How It’s Made show, you’ll dig this clip. It’s embedded in the second half of this post.

Again, congratulations to team Glif on taking their idea from the napkin stage to physical realization.

Thanks to Dustin for the heads-up.

Continue reading Found Footage: Injection molding process for the Glif

Found Footage: Injection molding process for the Glif originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just over a month ago, we told you about a new content and website creation app called Project ROME that Adobe had released for a public trial. We just got a note from Adobe and a link to a forum post saying, in essence, … never mind. Based on feedback from users, Adobe has decided to abandon development of the product after just a few weeks of public availability.

Adobe has not given any specific reasons for canceling ROME, but our own brief trial showed its capabilities to be pretty limited. With all of the content creation software already available and the ease of building sites with content management systems like WordPress or Squarespace, ROME didn’t seem to offer much that was novel. The education version of Project ROME is completely canceled, but the “commercial” version will remain available on Adobe labs for anyone who wants to use it.

Continue reading Adobe gives the sack to Project ROME design app

Adobe gives the sack to Project ROME design app originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oski is a word game for the slow thinker. Not for the dimwitted, that’s not what I mean, but for the word game player who likes to think – a lot – about her options and to and really plan out the next move. With no randomness and no hidden information, this is a game that invites analysis paralysis. With only 16 moves in each game (8 per player) it’s the player who makes the most of each move who will win.

Let’s get one thing out of the way right at the start: Oski can be played with a pen and paper. Also, the app is not anything close to the most polished program on the App Store. Still, it’s a fun little game – especially when played against another person and not the iPad – and so I think it’s worth the US$0.99 download (Version 1.4 reviewed here). Read on for my reasons why.

Continue reading Oski for iPad is the thoughtful person’s word game, with a lot of twists

Oski for iPad is the thoughtful person’s word game, with a lot of twists originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chair and Epic Games’ extremely impressive Infinity Blade title has gotten a final release date and price: you’ll be able to hack and slash your way around the medieval RPG on December 9 for a purchase price of $5.99. The app will be universal and will run on iPhone 3GS and above, up to and including the iPad and the latest iPhone and iPod touch. Players will be able to level up and gear up their characters as they fight through the world towards the game’s big boss, a character called “the God-King.”

According to Chair’s release, multiplayer won’t be enabled right away, but free updates will be coming to the app soon after release, one of which will allow players to “battle online via Game Center.” Sounds exciting. Epic Citadel, the Unreal Engine 3 demo, is of course, available for free on the App Store right now, but Infinity Blade will be a full-featured RPG game using the same technology. We can’t wait!

[via Joystiq]

Infinity Blade hits App Store December 9 for $5.99 originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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No doubt about it: Microsoft Office is the 800-pound gorilla of productivity suites, both on the Mac and on Windows. In the latest version, Office 2011, the product teams have added lots of zing both in performance and features.

Question is, can you go with alternatives? In particular, what about iWork? The answer is, it depends on the apps that you’ll be using, the level of functionality you want from them, how you work and who you collaborate with. As there are great deals to be had today on Office ($80 for Home/Student, which only lacks Outlook vs. the Business edition), it’s worth thinking about the match-up.

[There are other commercial options, like Mariner Write/Calc, open-source alternatives like KOffice, NeoOffice and Open Office.org, and of course, cloud apps like ThinkFree, SlideRocket and Google Docs. Today we’re talking iWork. -Ed.]

For basic word processing, Pages is up to the task against Microsoft Word. Sure, things are in different places and the lingo may not be as familiar, and that may take some time getting used to. However, if the end goal is to get your thoughts on paper and to have the flexibility to format these words the way you want to, Pages will do the job. And if you need page layout flexibility, Pages’ page layout tools makes for a more elegant and easy-to-use solution for documents that require you to position things around.

Continue reading Microsoft Office or iWork, that is the question

Microsoft Office or iWork, that is the question originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve been following the Mongoliad project by author Neal Stephenson ever since it was announced last May, and the iOS apps for the project have finally been released on the iOS App Store. The apps are free, but you’ll remember that the project is actually a subscription-based universe of fiction, so while there are some free things to read in there, you’ll have to buy a membership or a subscription if you want access to everything. You can do so from directly within the app — it’s about seven bucks for more than a novel’s worth of material, so it’s not a bad price at all.

If you already have a subscription, the app will let you access the content you’ve got from anywhere, and/or download them so you can read offline. Even if you’re not a fan of Neal Stephenson (and you probably should be — read Snow Crash, and then read The Diamond Age, because they’re both terrific), the model itself is quite interesting. We’ve seen a few other publications decide to publish subscription content on iOS devices, but this is the first time we’ve seen a fiction author publish a novel as a subscription app. It’s the kind of model that should really appeal to authors with the right audience — we’ll have to see what the response to The Mongoliad turns out to be.

Mongoliad apps out now on iPhone and iPad originally appeared on TUAW on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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