Apple: (Alert) Secret Button Sequence Bypasses iPhone Security

There is no doubt that the iPhone is one of the most successful phones of all time, but with success also comes a bigger target for people to want to find flaws with the product. The recent issues with antenna gate, among others, have shown a flaw in the Apple armor.

Now we have a new issue for iPhone users, today a Brazilian iPhone user has discovered how to bypass any security code on any iPhone. So if you trust that the keypad lock will keep others out of your phone, listen up……here is how to bypass the lock screen on your iPhone.

To bypass any lock screen simply hit “emergency call”, then enter three pound signs, hit the green call button and immediately press the lock button and you will have bypassed the security feature on the iPhone. “That simple procedure gives a snoop full access to the Phone app on the iPhone, which contains the address book, voicemail and call history.” In addition, it seems that you also get access to the phones photo album.

Bug no iOS 4.1 (http://vimeo NULL.com/16179929) from Salomão Filho (http://vimeo NULL.com/salomao) on Vimeo (http://vimeo NULL.com).

And More: Kids Eat For…..Great site for finding out local restaurants with “Kids Eat Free” promotions.

As a person who works 10+ hours a day (sometimes even 7 days a week), you don’t always want to come home to cook. At the same time, with the economic conditions, and needing to make every dollar last as much as possible, being able to find deals for restaurants always comes in handy. That’s where “Kids Eat For” comes in.

“Kids Eat For” is a simple site that allows you to find local area restaurants that are offering Kids Eat Free promotions. Simply go to (LINK) http://www.kidseatfor.com/ (http://www NULL.kidseatfor NULL.com/) and punch in your zip code…..

- At which point you will get a list, that is sorted by day, of the local restaurants offering Kids Eat Free specials

- You can then click on the name of any of any of the listed restaurants and get a breakout of what the offer is and what requirements it has. (**Note TGM is NOT endorsing the restaurant listed below – as we have never been there – only being used as an example)

- Kids Eat For also has apps for iPhone and Android, which you can find in their respective marketplaces.

Apple: (From Gizmodo) Apple Security Breach Gives Complete Access to Your iPhone (ALERT)

Gizmodo is reporting that a new vulnerability has been found that affects iPhone, iPod, and iPads

From Gizmodo -

Right now, if you visit a web page and load a simple PDF file, you may give total control of your iPhone, iPod touch (http://gizmodo NULL.com/tag/ipodtouch/), or iPad to a hacker. The security bug affects all devices running iOS 3.1.2 and higher.

Update: Initially we thought that this exploit only effected iOS4 devices, but it turns out all iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads running 3.1.2 and higher are susceptible.

The vulnerability is easily exploitable. In fact, the latest one-click, no-computer-required Jailbreak solution for iOS 4 devices (http://gizmodo NULL.com/5601874/jailbreakme-20-jailbreaks-all-apple-ios-40-401-and-321-devices) uses this same method to break Apple’s own security (although in a completely benign way for the user).

The result is that, without any user intervention whatsoever, that program can do whatever it wants inside your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Anything you can imagine: Delete files, transmit files, install programs running on the background that can monitor your actions… anything can be done.

The short answer to this issue is that you need to be careful and not click on any links to PDFs on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad until Apple releases an update to this issue.

The complete post can be found on the Gizmodo site (LINK:) http://gizmodo.com/5603319/ (http://gizmodo NULL.com/5603319/)

Apple: Possible fix for iPhone 3G(S) that run slow or have issues after upgrading the phone to iOS4

Virtually everyone is aware of the “Antennagate” issues with the iPhone 4, however there have also been reported issues for those using iPhone 3G/3GS models that upgrade to the iOS4 software. The issues appear to be everything from shortened battery life, to very slow performance of the phone (making it unusable, to random reboots of the phone. With all the attention to the antenna issues, these other issues haven’t gotten as much attention until now. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple is now conducting a probe concerning complaints about these issues (LINK: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/07/28/apple-investigates-reports-of-problems-with-ios4-on-iphone-3g/ (http://blogs NULL.wsj NULL.com/digits/2010/07/28/apple-investigates-reports-of-problems-with-ios4-on-iphone-3g/) )

With all that being said, it now seems that a member of the tech site Neowin (http://www.Neowin.net (http://www NULL.Neowin NULL.net)) by the name of NathanMillson (http://www NULL.neowin NULL.net/forum/?showuser=327910) may have just figured out the cause (At least one of them) and a simple solution that many have reported fixes the issues.

From Nathan’s Neowin post:

From my experience, I find if you go into Settings->General->Home Button->Spotlight Search-> Deselect every option. No more background indexing on iPhone 3G.

I haven’t had much performance issues after this…

If you find this solution works for you, post a response and TGM will make sure to let Nathan and Neowin know.

Apple: iPhone 4 FREE Case Program

With all the talk since the release of the iPhone 4 about the signal issues, Apple announced a few days ago that the solution will be a FREE Case for all iPhone users who purchase an iPhone before Sep. 30th, 2010. Apple has now set up a page on the Apple site with information for getting your FREE case if you are an iPhone 4 user.

By visiting (LINK) http://www.apple.com/iphone/case-program/ (http://www NULL.apple NULL.com/iphone/case-program/) , you will see the steps required to get your free case.

Keep in mind that you can expect to wait 3 to 5 weeks once you place your order. In addition, note the bottom of the page that the rules for those who purchased before July 23rd, must apply by Aug. 22nd.

Apple: iTunes – How to backup and restore playlists

For some reason I’ve recently began getting numerous calls about iTunes playlists either disappearing or completely being messed up. As of now I don’t have a cause for all of these calls (as I haven’t seen a patter), however, I think its time to point out a simple way to protect your playlists.

BACK THEM UP ! Simple isn’t it

The following are the steps needed to both back up and restore your playlist. Even though this info is just for the playlists themselves, you should also keep in mind that many things need backing up.

Backup is an important step for anything you use regularly or anything that “REALLY” matters to you on a computer. You don’t know when your computer could have a hard drive fail, when things could get accidentally deleted, when you could get a virus (I know viruses are Windows users, but there are a few floating out there on the Mac side as well), or have your house broken into and your equipment stolen, (Should I keep going or are you getting the picture) etc. TechGeekandMore does recommend iDrive** (LINK: https://www.idrive.com/?p=techgeekandmore (https://www NULL.idrive NULL.com/?p=techgeekandmore)) where you can get 2 gigs of space for FREE and great rates including monthly or yearly billing for additional space (So you have no excuse to not have a backup). For those who called with this issue and had backed up their information (Good Job!) it was a few minutes and they were back to normal. For those who didn’t, it was time to redo and recreate their lists again from scratch. At least this time it was only the lists.

Backing up playlists

Follow these steps:

Open iTunes.
Select one of your playlists from the Source list.
From the File menu, choose Export Song List. A Save dialog appears.
From the Format pop-up menu, choose XML.
From the Where pop-up menu, choose Desktop.
Click Save.
Repeat steps 2 through 6 for each of the playlists that you have created in iTunes.

Note: These smart playlists are created automatically by iTunes, so you do not need to back them up:

60′s Music
My Top Rated
Recently Played
Top 25 Most Played.

Restoring playlists

Follow these steps:

From the File menu, choose Import.
Navigate to and select one of the exported playlist files on your Desktop.
Click Choose.
Repeat steps 1 through 3 for each of the playlist files that you have exported to the Desktop.

Important: Some playlist information, such as Play Count and Last Played date, is not preserved.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

**Disclaimer: iDrive is not an Apple or Mac product, even though it has the i in the front of the name. iDrive is from “Pro Softnet Corporation” a leader in the field of online backup solutions (LINK: http://www.pro-softnet.com/prosoftnet_new/contact.htm (http://www NULL.pro-softnet NULL.com/prosoftnet_new/contact NULL.htm)). In addition, TGM is an iDrive partner, and does get a commission from prosoftnet for referrals. However, please note that TGM would still recommend iDrive as the preferred method of online (off-site) backup even if it did not get commissions, TGM values its reputation and would not recommend anything unless they had used and been satisfied with the product.

TGM Q&A: Software: iTunes says its running in compatibility mode when started fix

In the past couple of days, I have received may requests for help concerning another iTunes issue. It seems that on some iTunes installs, that when you start iTunes you get a message

“iTunes.exe has been set to run in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.
For best result, turn off compatibility mode of iTunes before you open it.”

If you click ok on the message then iTunes opens just fine and works, but seeing that message every time is just an annoyance that just shouldn’t be there. The solution offered by Apple (LINK: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1489 (http://support NULL.apple NULL.com/kb/TS1489)) is

Resolution

Try these steps to turn Windows compatibility mode off:

Quit iTunes.
Windows XP and Windows 2000: On the Start menu, click My Computer (or double-click My Computer on the Desktop).
Windows Vista and Windows 7: On the Start menu, click Computer.
In My Computer, open the C:\ drive (or whichever disk your Windows is installed on).
Open the Program Files folder or “Program Files (x86)” if you are using a 64-bit version of Windows Vista or Windows 7).
Open the iTunes folder.
Right-click on the iTunes application (iTunes or iTunes.exe) and from the shortcut menu, click Properties.
Click the Compatibility tab.
Deselect the checkbox under Compatibility mode if it’s selected.
Click OK.
Open iTunes and play a song.

However, as many of the requests for help have said the Apple solution does NOT work for everyone. For those, who still have issues after following the Apple solution, the I have a fix for you.

NOTE: THE SOLUTION WILL INVOLVE A CHANGE TO THE WINDOWS REGISTRY. FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS EXACTLY AND DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES TO YOUR REGISTRY UNLESS YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THOSE CHANGES WILL DO. THE REGISTRY CONTROLS WHAT YOUR PC DOES. ANY UNNESSESARY CHANGES COULD BREAK YOUR MACHINE. THIS IS YOUR WARNING. Now with that said on to the solution.

Go to start –> run –> regedit
When the registry opens go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\AppCompatFlags\Layers

***Note that there are also sections for Windows, WindowsNT, Windows Mail, etc, so make sure you are looking under Windows NT (You can also verify at the bottom).

Once you are on the Layers section, look at the Window on the right and you will see a software key that says iTunes.exe. Delete that key by right clicking on it and then selecting delete. (Your key may look a little different depending on where you installed iTunes).

Once that is done, close the registry editor and start iTunes, and you should no longer see that message.

Apple: Using 1 iPod with iTunes on multiple computers

The 1st post of 2010, comes courtesy of my brother-in-law, and his need to be able to use his iPod. When you have your iPod set to Automatic Mode (which I understand is the default mode for iPod’s) and you plug in your into a pc with iTunes that isn’t the pc that you initially did the sync with you will see the following error message

If you click on “Erase and Sync”, you will reset your iPod, delete everything that is on it, and load whatever songs/videos you have on the computer that the iPod is currently connected.

The following information comes from the Apple support page (LINK:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1202 (http://support NULL.apple NULL.com/kb/HT1202)), and explains how to move your iPod from Automatic mode to Manual mode.

Use iPod with multiple computers

You can manage your iPod with different computers as long as the computers are running the same operating system (Mac OS X or Windows) and you have set the iPod to “Manually manage music.” If you’re not using iTunes 7 or later, click here (http://docs NULL.info NULL.apple NULL.com/article NULL.html?artnum=304271).
Using an iPod formatted for Macintosh on a Windows computer is not supported. Using an iPod formatted for Windows on a Macintosh computer is not supported. To determine your iPod’s hard disk format see “iPod: How to determine iPod’s hard disk format (http://www NULL.info NULL.apple NULL.com/kbnum/n61672).” To change the iPod format you will need to restore iPod using iTunes. For more information on the how to restore iPod with iTunes see “Restoring iPod to factory settings (http://www NULL.info NULL.apple NULL.com/kbnum/n60983).”
Modes
By default iPod is set to “Automatically sync songs to my iPod” sometimes called automatic mode. In order to transfer music from multiple computers iPod must be set to “Manually manage music” sometimes referred to as manual mode.
Automatic Mode

When iPod is set to automatic mode iTunes automatically updates iPod’s music library whenever you connect iPod to your computer. iTunes transfers new songs you’ve added, and erases songs you’ve removed. However, the first computer you connect iPod to is its “home” computer, and the music library from that computer is copied to iPod. When you connect iPod to another computer, an alert box appears with this message:

“The iPod “iPod” is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPod and sync with this iTunes library?”

“An iPod can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of this iTunes library.”

If you want to delete the music library on iPod and make the second computer iPod’s “home” computer, click Erase and Sync. iTunes will delete all songs and playlists on the iPod, and then will copy the music library and playlists from the new home computer to iPod.
Manual Mode
If you want to keep the music library on iPod, but copy songs or playlists from the music library on the second computer, click Cancel to this dialog box, and then set iPod to manual mode.
You change the iPod synchronization mode to manual mode in iTunes:

Open iTunes, if necessary.
Select iPod in the Source pane.
Click the Summary tab.
Click “Manually manage music and videos” to enable that option.
Click OK in the resulting dialog box.
Click Apply.

It is normal for iPod to take a few seconds to change from automatic mode to manual mode.
When in manual mode, to add songs or playlists drag them from iTunes to the iPod icon in the sidebar. To remove songs or playlists select them on the iPod in iTunes and hit the delete key. You can also create playlists directly on the iPod.

And More! Crash Different – When a Mac doesn’t like you

I had a run in with a Mac that didn’t like me this weekend. I guess the Mac knew I was a Windows 7 fan. An issue that I figured would take a few minutes ended being an all day problem. Who said Mac’s were easy.

I happen to discover this little Mac Video (It isn’t me or anyone else here at TGM) this evening, and with the issues that I had to go thru with the Mac that didn’t like me. I figured I would share this video for anyone else who had a bad day with a Mac.

Apple: How to Get into your Mac when You’re Locked Out!pple

The following post comes from The Tech Advisors (http://thetechadvisors.wordpress.com/ (http://thetechadvisors NULL.wordpress NULL.com/)), which is a great Mac resource. TGM reposts this for the benefit of those TGM readers who use Mac’s. With a special Thanks to Alex Hwang at The Tech Advisors for letting me share.

************************************************************

From the Tech Advisors Post (http://thetechadvisors.wordpress.com/2009/08/05/how-to-get-into-your-mac-when-youre-locked-out/ (http://thetechadvisors NULL.wordpress NULL.com/2009/08/05/how-to-get-into-your-mac-when-youre-locked-out/))

I’m sure we’ve all been the situation when we’ve forgotten a password. No biggie, just press the “Oh! I forgot my password” link below the sign-in box, right? Well, yes, if it’s just a web page. Now, if you’re locked out of you’re Mac, that’s a toughie to get out of. Either you bring it to apple or hack your way in. I’m going to show you how to hack your way in.

I’m using the term “hack” loosely, as I’m just going to detail how to reset your password on your Mac; I will show another way after this which involves creating another user account.

Concerning Resetting Password on 10.5 Leopard

If you have been unfortunately locked out of your wonderful new Mac running 10.5 Leopard, here’s how to reset your password on it.

“

Power on or restart your Mac.

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off (http://www NULL.macyourself NULL.com/2008/10/17/keep-your-macs-volume-settings-and-startup-chime-under-control/)), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode. [After this you should see black and white letters running down through your screen like you're a hacker]

This step is optional, but it’s a good idea because it checks the consistency of the hard disk before moving on. At the prompt, type fsck -fy and press Enter/Return. Wait for the checks to complete before going to the next step.

Type mount -uw / and press Enter. [Mounts the startup disk]

Type launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.DirectoryServices.plistand press Enter.

Type ls /Users and press Enter. This lists all of the usernames on the computer – helpful if you don’t know or remember what these are.

Type dscl . -passwd /Users/username password and replace “username” with one of the users displayed in the previous step. Replace “password” with a new password of your choice. Press Enter.

Type reboot and press Enter.

“

[Macyourself tutorial (http://www NULL.macyourself NULL.com/2009/08/03/how-to-reset-your-mac-os-x-password-without-an-installer-disc/)]

Concerning Resetting Password on 10.4 Tiger

Be careful to remember that resetting the passwords on these two different operating systems have different instructions, so don’t mix them up. [unless you want to potentially destroy your system]

“

Power on or restart your Mac.

At the chime (or grey screen if your chime is turned off), hold down Command+S on your keyboard to enter single-user mode.

Type sh /etc/rc and press Enter/Return.

Type passwd username and replace “username” with the short name of the user account for which you’d like to reset the password.

Type your desired password and press Enter. It won’t show itself on the screen, so be careful what you type. You will most likely have to enter it again to confirm.

Type reboot and press Enter.

[Macyourself tutoria (http://www NULL.macyourself NULL.com/2009/08/03/how-to-reset-your-mac-os-x-password-without-an-installer-disc/)l]

“

If you don’t want to mess around with command-line password resetting,

don’t. The ways detailed above are much faster than creating a whole new account and registering a new account. Anyways, you still must use the command line to delete the systems files Mac OS reads during startup, and that could be catastrophic, even resulting in your computer not being able to start up. But, if you want to, just read the article I’ve hyperlinked twice above. [Macyourself tutoria (http://www NULL.macyourself NULL.com/2009/08/03/how-to-reset-your-mac-os-x-password-without-an-installer-disc/)l].

If you want all this stuff good and printed so it’s ready in your desk whenever you need it, (ahh)

I’ve created a pdf with this info. It’s located here: [Click Here (http://dl NULL.getdropbox NULL.com/u/529804/Macresetpassword NULL.pdf)]

Well, that’s it! Just remember to use your new-found power wisely and not on a computer that’s not your own because that’s… hacking! Thanks for reading and please rate this post!

Tech Geek and More

Technology Explained for All

Category Archives: Apple