According to reports AT&T is currently offering free wireless access to iPhone users at many of its public hot spots. These spots include many Starbucks across the nation which currently boasts more than 7,000 stores in the United States. iPhone users are given a specially formatted page when they launch the Safari browser. They are then presented with a form that will ask them to enter the iPhone phone number and once this number is verified users can browse using AT&T’s hot spot rather than the slower EDGE based data network that AT&T typically uses. Details about this access are still mostly unreported and when last confronted AT&T refused to comment on the service. It is still undetermined whether the WI-FI access is unlimited or is available at all of AT&T’s hot spots which totals more than 70,000 including Barnes & Noble stores and the highly popular McDonald’s fast food chain.
It has been reported that Apple is agreeing to allow Telecom Italia Mobile sell unlocked iPhones without the typically mandatory two-year contract. This move is expected to be much more appreciated by Italian iPhone users who are among the largest number of prepaid service plan users. The unlocked iPhone will also be usable with other carriers besides Telecom Italia. TIM will however still retain the right to sell the iPhone exclusively for the first six months after its release. This is expected to catapult the iPhone in Italy but the cost will be much more expensive due to the agreement.
Walt Mossberg, Wall Street Journal gadget reviewer reported last week at the Bleep.TV Executive Summit in Washington that Apple will definitely release the much anticipated 3G iPhone in just sixty more days. This makes the launch date for this already highly popular iPhone to be set in June, which has already previously been noted as the expected launch date. The WWDC 08 begins on June 9 and the anticipated iPhone 2.0 software as well as the SDK launch is expected in June as well. With the expected launch of the new 3G iPhone also planned to take place in June, consumers can expect quite a splash of activity from Apple over the next few weeks.
There may be another potentially dangerous iPhone/iPod Touch exploit ready to affect both the iPhone and iPod Touch – many units may be affected running firmware versions between 1.0.2 up to 1.1.3. This means that if this is confirmed, owners of the newly launched 16GB iPhone and 32GB iPod Touch will also be affected.
At the moment, it is difficult to say if this is some exaggerated bug or if there is a real cause for concern and it is also debateable whether this exploit is simply a nuisance or whether it will cause any real damage.
The exploit is said to be similar to the TIFF (Image) exploit which Apple was prompt to patch up. When the iPhone/iPod user browses onto a site containing the malicious code, a memory-intensive process is triggered and this causes the device to crash.
Apple is yet to issue a fix which raises doubts as to how severe the exploit is likely to be. However, concerned users can, for the time being, disable JavaScript in Safari which should keep their devices safe although by doing so, they will have to compromise on their browsing experience.
Filed under: CellphonesIt’s difficult to tell if this is just a little fear-mongering, or cause for real concern, but it looks like there’s another iPhone / touch exploit out there lurking on the unseen horizons of those device’s browsers. According to reports, a memory exploit — similar to the previously-patched …