Hackers jailbreak PlayBook

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Reuters:

Three hackers say they have exploited a vulnerability in Research In Motion’s PlayBook tablet to gain root access to the device, a claim that could damage the BlackBerry maker’s hard-won reputation for security.

Why bother?

iTether hits the App Store

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Tether is an application that allows your Mac and PC to take advantage of your smartphone’s data plan, providing you access to the Internet on your laptop anywhere there is cellular coverage from your smartphone. Can’t imagine this will be … Continued

RIM to offer security software for iPhone, Android

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Alastair Sharp for Reuters: The company said on Tuesday that it will launch its new Mobile Fusion device management software in the first quarter, allowing corporate IT staff to set and monitor rules for passwords, apps and software on a … Continued

Apple’s spot-the-shopper app

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Brian X. Chen: A store employee, Diego Aguirre, demonstrated an internal application running on iPod Touches that, for the last few weeks, has had the ability to show the in-store location of a shopper who has come to pick up … Continued

Another test

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This one should have no infinity symbol, but larger text in the headline.

Apple leading vendor

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Here’s a link to The Loop. Infinity symbol should show up after the headline, but not before.

∞ More tablets than PCs for schools

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Neil Hughes for AppleInsider: IT directors who spoke with Piper Jaffray indicated that within the next five years, they expect to have more tablets per student than they currently have computers. And since the iPad represents 100 percent of tablets … Continued

∞ MIDI guitar controllers

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Toby Pitman for macProVideo.com: I’m a good example of a guitarist who is really into synths but finds triggering these sounds from the piano interface very frustrating as technically I’m just not good enough on the piano. As soon as … Continued

∞ Siri and 911

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John S. Wilson, a health policy analyst, talking about how Siri could revolutionize our 911 system.

Once the word “emergency” is spoken to Siri, a range of beneficial activity could commence. First, the phone could video call 911 utilizing Skype or a similar VoIP video service. This would allow first responders to have a much better context of the emergency at hand. Armed with a live video and audio feed of the event, visual cues could assist the first responders as they deconstruct the problem. Second, Siri could send the GPS location of the caller.

I’m not sure how far off in the future something like this would be or how practical it would be. What if you spoke “emergency” by mistake? Interesting thoughts though.

∞ Paying for digital publications

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A well thought out piece from Shadoe Huard on what he would like to see from digital publications and what would make him part with his money to pay for them.

∞ Apps as TV channels

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John Gruber: Imagine watching a baseball game on a TV where ESPN is a smart app, not a dumb channel. When you’re watching a game, you could tell the TV to show you the career statistics for the current batter. … Continued

∞ HP TouchPad stock depleted

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An email sent to The Loop reader Michael today: Dear Michael, Making sure customers have a positive experience when they purchase our products is a priority for us. In some cases, limited inventory makes it challenging to fulfill all customer … Continued

∞ Tumult Hype

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I’d like to thank Tumult Hype for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed on The Loop.

Tumult Hype lets you create animated HTML5 content that will wow your website’s visitors. Its output works on all modern browsers and mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. No coding necessary.

Tumult Hype has a trial available, and can be purchased on the Mac App Store or its own Tumult Store for $29.99.

∞ Talking to Siri ebook released

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Talking to Siri introduces you to Siri. This short, focused book teaches you how to use Siri from the ground up. You’ll learn how to achieve the the highest recognition rate as you talk. You’ll discover which categories Siri responds … Continued

∞ More stupid advice for Apple

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Apple has been incredibly successful over the last decade, but yet there are people out there that always think they know better.

Jason Perlow for ZDNet talking about what Apple must do:

If we have learned anything at all from the company’s most recent 3rd quarter sales figures, we must ultimately recognize that Apple’s revenue is highly based on an annuity or semi-annuity model of repeat customers. Repeat customers are bread and butter, but it does not create growth.

Clearly Apple has not grown at all over the last 10 years. They don’t rule the smartphone market, iTunes doesn’t sell any songs or movies, and the App Store is sure to fail any day now.

∞ Trick or Treat at the iTunes store

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It’s Halloween weekend and the fun is about to begin. You don’t need to go out to enjoy yourself, you can visit Apple’s iTunes store and pick up movies, apps, music and other media to help you celebrate. 99 cent … Continued

∞ The bullshit Samsung smartphone numbers

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The Internet is buzzing this morning with news that Samsung has overtaken Apple as the worlds leading smartphone vendor. The problem is, there are no numbers to actually back up the claim.

Here’s an example of how it’s being reported. From GigaOM:

Samsung had a very strong quarter, according to numbers it revealed on Friday to investors. Its shipments (which it doesn’t provide specific numbers for) jumped more than 40 percent during the third quarter. Strategy Analytics estimates that amounts to total sales of nearly 28 million devices, while Apple moved 17 million during the same period.

Wait a minute. Samsung doesn’t provide specific numbers, so we are going to take their word that shipments jumped 40 percent? To make matters worse, Strategy Analytics “estimates” sales of 28 million devices.

∞ An informal e-book study

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Marco Arment:

In the past, I’ve always recommended the Kindle over other e-ink readers, and buying Kindle books instead of iBooks on iOS, because Amazon had the biggest library of relevant titles and strongest content ecosystem.But Amazon’s advantage is no longer as clear in my casual searching.

I just buy from iTunes. Apps, music, books, movies, videos, TV shows. Everything. Convenience rules.

∞ Bill Gates: Billionaire, millionaire 'it's the same hamburger'

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Bill Gates on being a billionaire:

“I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger. Dick’s has not raised their prices enough,” he said, referring to the Seattle-area fast-food chain. “But being ambitious is good. You just have to pick what you enjoy doing.”

Anytime you want to throw a few billion my way Bill…

∞ Purdue University gives BlackBerry the boot

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Purdue University has continued to see a decline in BlackBerry devices using its BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) since Jan. 1, 2011, and, after Dec. 31, 2012, will no longer support Exchange synchronization with BlackBerry devices.The combination of a 33-percent decrease in BES use, a subsequent increase in per-unit cost and a proliferation of the use of non-BlackBerry devices influenced the decision.

∞ Avid cuts jobs

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Air Users Blog: So, whilst some users were hoping for a price cut, it is sobering to think that some very good people have lost their job, some of whom are people I know personally. One in particular is a … Continued