Wall Street Noticing That The Math On iPhones Doesn't Add Up

from the 2-+-2-only-equals-3? dept

While Wall Street has had something of a love affair with Apple's stock until very recently, it appears that they're finally catching on that not everything may be as rosy as stated. With Apple and AT&T announcing numbers on iPhone sales and iPhone activations, respectively, there's a 1.7 million phone gap between those numbers. Taking into account the recent launches of iPhones in other countries (estimated at 350,000 to 400,000 iPhones so far) and a 20% estimate on people buying iPhones solely for unlocking, there are still nearly 700,000 iPhones unaccounted for... suggesting that they're sitting on store shelves, piling up as unsold inventory. That number suggests at least some gap between perceived demand and actual demand -- while also raising questions about how much effort it will take to eat through that inventory.

Filed Under: inventory, iphones, wall street
Companies: apple

Police Officers Can Search Your iPhone Following Arrest For A Traffic Violation

from the fourth-amendment dept

Adam Gershowitz writes "I am a criminal law professor from Houston, Texas and I have recently finished an article about the ability of police officers to search the contents of a person's iPhone at a traffic stop. In brief, under what is referred to as the "search incident to arrest doctrine," police can search through any container found on the body of a person who has been arrested. It does not matter that the arrest was for running a stop sign, or speeding, or some other seemingly minor traffic infraction. Regardless of the reason for the arrest, police can search through every container on the person's body, even if the police have no suspicion that there is anything illegal in it. A few courts have concluded that this doctrine permits police to search text messages found on cell phones. My article explores the circumstances under which police can now search not only text messages, but also the email, pictures, movies, calendar entries, and internet browsing history found on iPhones and similar devices -- even if the police have no suspicion that there is anything illegal on the iPhone. In short, the article explores ways in which the police can search through the thousands of pages of data on individuals' wireless technology even if there is no probable cause or other suspicion of illegal activity."

Filed Under: fourth amendment, iphone, police, privacy, traffic stop

Hands-Free Cellular In Cars: Patented

from the sarcasm-the-whole-post-through dept

Johnson Controls, a leading provider of automotive sub-systems, has been granted a patent for a "Wireless Communication System That Enables 'Hands-free' Cellular Phone Use in Automobiles." Laws requiring hands-free driving are already enforced in a few jurisdictions, and are set to hit California in July of this year. With these laws, it's nice to know that a method for using Bluetooth as a hands-free conduit to the car's embedded radio and speakers is a patented idea. This way, we can be assured that the quality of implemented solutions is maintained, and that the inventors of this innovative idea are duly rewarded (in perpetuity) for their toil. With this legalized monopoly on Hands-Free car integration, Johnson Controls will now have the financial incentive to focus on the important inventions of tomorrow. Some may argue that a Bluetooth hands-free link is obvious, and doesn't merit a patent. Others will ask silly questions like "Isn't that what Bluetooth was supposed to do from its inception (prior to this patent filing) and later standardization?" But these oppositionazis are mistaken: this patent is "based on a patent application originally filed in the United States in 1999," back when nobody else could have ever conceived of using the car stereo and speakers for hands-free phone calls. The only reason we find this idea obvious today is because we have been exposed to the 1999 patent application, which fully revealed the brilliant invention to us... well, not entirely since the 1999 application was more vague and general, and this patent was actually just based on it and modified from 2000-2002. Wow. Hands-free through the car speakers. What will they think of next?

Filed Under: bluetooth, hands-free, patents
Companies: johnson controls

Canadian Doctors: Let Us Drive While Talking On Mobile Phones!

from the it-saves-patients dept

Bans on using mobile phones while driving are pretty common these days, so there's not much to talk about in hearing about another such ban. However, up in Calgary, some folks are fighting back against such a ban. The Calgary Health Region has banned staff from driving while talking on a phone, but doctors are arguing against the ban, saying they rely on pagers and mobile phones to respond to emergencies -- and that banning the use of mobile devices while driving could put patients at risk. Of course, that leaves out the potential of putting other drivers on the road at risk -- but at least a doctor would be present following any such accident (for the sarcasm impaired, that's a joke). Still, given all the calls for banning driving-while-yakking for safety's sake, it's amusing to see doctors claim safety reasons for allowing the practice.

Filed Under: calgary, canada, doctors, driving while yakking, mobile phones

Latest Fear Mongering Report: Parents! Pedophile Teachers Are Text Messaging Your Kids! Be Afraid!

from the fear-fear-fear-fear dept

Every few months someone has to put up some scary news article about something horrible that's putting our children at risk. Sometimes it's video games. Sometimes it's the internet. Sometimes it's social networks. CNN is the latest to join the pack with an article going a bit overboard on how mobile phones are providing a "secret path" for teachers to prey on your kids. It's based on some recent stories of teachers who had affairs with students, which they covered up via messages on their mobile phones. Is this happening that widely? Who knows? Are there any stats to show that this is a major problem? Stats? Who needs stats when we have a few scary anecdotes! Instead, you just tell the story, and then say, matter-of-factly: "Now, teachers have weeks, months and years to secretly undermine a child's parents and get a student to go along with sexual contact." Actually, that doesn't sound like it's mobile phones that are the problem, but teachers! I say we ban them all.

Filed Under: fear mongering, mobile phones
Companies: cnn

Bruce Schneier Has An Open Wi-Fi Network

from the share-and-share-alike dept

Bruce Schneier, one of the sharpest people in the computer security world, has a great piece about why he leaves his home wireless network open for anyone to use. When I wrote something similar a couple of years ago, I caught a lot of flack from people who said that I was opening myself up to security risks, either from people downloading child pornography with my connection or from people hacking into my home computers and stealing my data. But as Schneier points out, neither of these risks is unique to your home wireless network. Like Schneier, I've got several restaurants and coffee shops within walking distance of my apartment that offer free wi-fi access. While it's not impossible that somebody would park their car out in front of my street and use my Internet connection to do something illegal, it seems more likely that they'd do so over a cup of coffee in one of the nearby coffee shops, where they wouldn't evoke suspicion. Moreover, I have a laptop and I visit coffee shops and other locations with open wi-fi connections all the time. If my laptop has security vulnerabilities, I should be a lot more worried about getting cracked on those networks (which make it easy to target a bunch of people at once) than that I'll have the bad luck of living next to a cracker. I need to keep my laptop properly locked down in any event. Once I've done that, an open wi-fi network is a fairly minor risk. Finally, Schneier closes by pointing out that security is a trade-off. If perfect security is your standard, you shouldn't connect to the Internet at all, because there's always a risk of a security breach. Given that we're willing to accept some level of risk if we have a good reason, the question we should be asking is about the relative risks of different activities. The risk of leaving your wireless network open isn't zero, but it's probably small.

Now, I should point out that all of this assumes that you're a reasonably technically savvy individual with an understanding of basic security concepts: that you know how to update your operating system on a regular basis and that you've set the administrative password on your access point to a non-default value. If you're a complete networking neophyte (not that many of those probably read Techdirt), you should probably get some advice from someone more technically savvy about good Internet security practices. Actually, you should do that whether or not you choose to open your wireless network. But on the list of potential network security threats, an open wi-fi network is probably pretty low on the list.

Filed Under: bruce schneier, freeloaders, open wifi, risk, security, wifi

Frontline Shuts Down; Spectrum Buying No Place For Startups Apparently

from the can't-upset-the-world-without-some-money dept

There was tremendous hype and a number of big names behind the wireless startup Frontline, who was talked up as a possible upstart bidder (and potential winner) for a segment of the spectrum that the FCC is auctioning off later this month. However, if one thing has become clear over the years, spectrum auctions are not a game for startups to play -- as unfortunate as that may be. On Tuesday, the news came out that Frontline had shut down after it was unable to find financial backers to pony up all the money it needed. There are some questions about this, as some of the company's early supporters represent a ton of money, but some are noting that this could actually cause something of a domino effect impacting all of the spectrum being auctioned off. There are a variety of rules and hurdles that various bidders need to meet, and if those hurdles aren't cleared, then the FCC can cancel the auction and try again -- with different rules that could toss out the open access requirements the FCC put in place. It's not clear if that will actually happen, but it appears to increase the likelihood significantly.

Filed Under: auction, spectrum
Companies: frontline

Is The iPhone Damaging The Mobile Gaming Market?

from the not-really dept

It's amazing how much stuff gets blamed on the iPhone on a regular basis. The latest is that some "industry experts" (which, in this case, actually means very biased people) are claiming that the iPhone is hurting the mobile gaming market, by not letting users download games to their phones. Of course, that's about to change as Apple finally opens up its SDK, and more importantly it's actually a more fundamental problem than one that is just about the iPhone. It is rather difficult to move games from one phone to another, and at the rate that many people (especially the early adopters who are more likely to buy games for their phones) changes phones, it can be a pain to have to constantly rebuy mobile games that people want. Of course, that goes beyond mobile games to just about any mobile application. Right now there are so many different devices, operating systems, platforms and network operators, it's nearly impossible to feel comfortable that a single app will work anywhere but where you first set it up. It's a problem that the industry is going to face more and more as they push for people to use their phones as more than just phones.

Filed Under: iphone, mobile gaming
Companies: apple, ea

Hacking The Friendly Skies In Boeing's New 787

from the someone-deserves-to-be-fired dept

Wired is running an article about FAA concerns about the computer networks on Boeing's new 787. Apparently, the airplanes have been designed with a computer network in the passenger area that can give fliers internet access. That seems reasonable enough. However, somewhere along the way, someone at Boeing decided to connect that network to the plane's control, navigation and communication systems. It's hard to fathom how anyone would ever consider connecting a general passenger network on an airplane to critical systems that actually deal with issues related to keeping the airplane in the sky. Boeing's response is less than satisfactory as well. While it claims it's fixing some of the issues raised, it also says the report is overblown, noting: "There are places where the networks are not touching, and there are places where they are." That really doesn't matter. If the network is touching anywhere it should be seen as a fairly serious problem. There's simply no good reason to connect the two in any way, no matter how "secure." Glenn Fleishman is saying that this report is Wired making a mountain out of a molehill, and insists that the story is probably not a big deal at all. Yet, I'm still wondering why the two systems would ever touch each other.

Filed Under: airplanes, faa, internet, security, wireless
Companies: boeing

Verizon Wireless's Outrage Over Alltel Ad A Bit Misplaced

from the bad-timing-is-all dept

Having just run into its own problems with false advertising, Verizon Wireless is now suing competitor Alltel, claiming false advertising in its commercials. The ads, such as the one here, make fun of Verizon Wireless and other mobile operators for forcing people to extend their contracts whenever they make changes, and claim that one of Alltel's advantage is the lack of such requirements. Verizon Wireless doesn't just claim that this is wrong, its spokesperson states: "Whatever merit this comparison may have to other carriers, in the case of Verizon Wireless, the supposed 'advantage' is pure fiction." "Pure fiction" is a pretty strong claim, and it would be a lot stronger if it hadn't been absolutely true until just a couple months ago. Verizon Wireless did, in fact, force people to extend contracts, and only stopped the practice back in October when Sprint got sued over doing the same thing. And, of course, the Alltel ads began running well before Verizon was pressured into making this change. So, while it's technically accurate that these ads are false advertising now, it seems a bit excessive to describe them as "pure fiction," when they were absolutely true until just a few months ago.

Filed Under: contracts, early termination fees, mobile operators
Companies: alltel, verizon