July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The iOS 6.1 lockscreen hack from earlier this month isn’t the only security vulnerability in Apple’s latest mobile OS.

Benjamin Kunz Mejri, the chief executive of the security firm Vulnerability Lab, detailed yet another iOS 6.1 hack last week in the Full Disclosure mailing list. The hack enables attackers bypass your iPhone’s lockscreen password, giving them access to your phone’s contacts, photos, voicemails, and more.

Judging from Mejri’s description, the new hack seems related to the earlier iOS 6.1 lockscreen exploit. Both involve using the iPhone’s emergency call function, cancelling it immediately, and then trying to make a screenshot. But the newer attack takes advantage of a slightly different method to make the iPhone vulnerable (basically, pressing the power, home, and emergency call buttons all at once).

Apple acknowledged the previous iOS 6.1 security flaw and quickly issued a fix to developers with the second iOS 6.1.3 beta. That update hasn’t yet trickled down to iPhone owners, and it’s unclear if it also fixes Mejri’s exploit.

Here’s how Mejri describes the exploit in his e-mail to Full Disclosure:

The vulnerability is located in the main login module of the mobile iOS device (iphone or ipad) when processing to use the screenshot function in combination with the emegerncy call and power (standby) button. The vulnerability allows the local attacker to bypass the code lock in iTunes and via USB when a black screen bug occurs.

The vulnerability can be exploited by local attackers with physical device access without privileged iOS account or required user interaction. Successful exploitation of the vulnerability results in unauthorized device access and information disclosure.

Check out a video of the exploit below:

via Wired, ThreatPost; Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

European carriers Vodafone UK and 3 Austria are now warning iPhone 4S owners to avoid Apple’s latest iOS update due to reported issues with 3G connectivity.

On Friday Vodafone issued a forum post to warn iPhone 4S owners from updating to iOS 6.1, while 3 Austria took to Facebook for its warning, reports GigaOm.

The iOS 6.1 update was issued in late January and offered new features like the ability to buy movie tickets from within Siri. But many iPhone owners also noted that it has led to excessive battery usage, in addition to the networking issues Vodafone UK and 3 Austria pointed out. Apple will likely fix the issues in its next update, iOS 6.1.1, which is currently in beta testing with developers.

It’s not unusual for carriers to warn their customers about specific upgrades if they have issues with their cellular networks. I haven’t seen as many reports about iOS 6.1 causing issues on U.S. carriers — for the most part, iPhone owners in the U.S. have been complaining about the battery hit from the update.

We’ve contacted Apple for further comment about the carrier warnings, and will report if we hear back.

Below, check out Vodafone UK’s statement to its customers:

We’re aware of an issue caused by Apple iPhone 4S handsets that have been upgraded to iOS 6.1 which impacts performance on 3G. Some customers may occasionally experience difficulty in connecting to the network to make or receive calls or texts or to connect to the internet.

Apple is working on a solution to their software issue. These connection problems are intermittent. While Apple’s investigations continue, we would recommend that anyone who has not yet installed iOS 6.1 on their iPhone 4S should delay doing so until Apple has confirmed that the problem has been fixed.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Siri is starting to become what it was always meant to be thanks to Apple’s iOS 6.1 update that it released today.

In the latest update, Apple is enabling the purchase of movie tickets via Fandango. In other words, your “Siri, what movies are playing tonight” question can finish with “Siri, buy me two tickets to Anna Karenina.”

Additionally, the 6.1 update includes LTE support for new carriers — 36 for iPhone and 23 for iPad — and a small update to iTunes match.

“With nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,” Apple VP of marketing Philip Schiller said in a statement.

The new consummation of the movie-ticket buying process is exactly what has been the promise of Siri all along: a personal assistant who doesn’t just find information for you but actually does things for you. Buying tickets through Siri, which is a feature only available in the U.S., could be a huge time-saver: Rather than going to a website, checking local listings, selecting a movie and showtime, and then purchasing tickets by entering your credit card information, Siri could complete the entire action in just seconds, once you’re set up with Fandango.

(More on that later, when I’ve tried it: I have not yet completed the update. Hopefully, the experience is better than Apple’s OpenTable integration for automatically getting restaurant reservations, which has some serious shortcomings.)

Other countries will presumably come later, as Apple signs agreements with appropriate services.

One other update that didn’t hit the press release but is visible in the release notes: Apple has included a new button to reset the Advertising Identifier.

Apple has taken some heat about the current user privacy settings vis-a-vis advertisers, as the on-off switch for advertising tracking was previously buried near the bottom of Settings -> General -> About on an iPhone, just below Modem Firmware and above Diagnostics & Usage. In other words, where people are least likely to find it accidentally — or even if they’re trying. To add insult to injury, even then is not a true on-off switch, as it only “limits” ad tracking.

A reset button will at least enable you to severely limit tracking by giving you the ability to constantly change their device’s advertiser ID. I’m asking Apple for more information this change, however.

Apple also noted that so far, iOS users have uploaded over nine billion photos to photo stream, sent over 450 billion iMessages, and received over four trillion notifications.

The update is free and is compatible with iPhone 3GS and up, iPad 2 and up, and fourth and fifth generation iPods.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple’s virtual assistant Siri became a bit of a movie buff in iOS 6, thanks to some helpful Rotten Tomatoes integration to display showtime information. And Siri’s getting even better in iOS 6.1 — soon it will be able to purchase your movie tickets, reports 9to5Mac.

Developers currently testing out iOS 6.1 tell the site that Siri accepts commands for buying movie tickets, like “Buy four tickets to Cloud Atlas nearby tonight.” (Seriously, if you like movies, go see Cloud Atlas.) Once Siri pulls up the relevant showing information, you can click a button to buy the tickets, after which you’ll be sent to the Fandango app to complete the purchase. If you don’t have the Fandango app, you’ll be directed to install it.

Currently, Siri is only accepting ticket purchases via Fandango, which leaves out plenty of movie theaters that handle ticketing through Flixster’s app (which also owns Rotten Tomatoes). Since Apple already has a deal with Rotten Tomatoes for movie times though, I suspect Flixster integration is coming along as well.

If Apple does manage to land both online ticketing services, then it could end up being more convenient than going through their respective apps. Currently, you often have to open both the Flixster and Fandango apps to figure out which movie theaters are supported.

Apple says Siri’s movie ticket capabilities will only be available in the U.S. for now.

Top photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat; Bottom photo: 9to5Mac