A text message can cripple your iPhone.

A critical security flaw has been found in the SMS system for the iPhone. According to IDG, Mac OS X security experts Charlie Miller and Colin Mulliner revealed that a specially coded text message could remotely crash an iPhone.

It's possible that the security hole could pave the way for an attacker to run malicious code on the iPhone that would allow it to access the GPS, microphone or internet connection.

Miller did admit that he hadn't found a way to access those functions, but doesn't ruled it out. "I don't have a working exploit for it, just a suspicious looking crash," he said.

The stripped down version of OS X that powers the iPhone is still relatively secure, according to Miller. Applications on the phone run inside their own sandboxes, which should restrict them from tapping into portions of the device that it shouldn't be available. But for one reason or another, the SMS function isn't as protected and could give an attacker root access.

The security experts have already shared their findings with Apple, which hopefully means the hole will be patched up in an upcoming software update – preferably before someone takes advantage of the security flaw with nefarious intentions.

Chalk another one up for the Apple App scientists, as they have now rejected President Obama's HOPE poster for no apparent reason.

Out of all the garbage the Apple App scientists have approved this year alone--child porn, shaking babies--it stands to question why the company would even consider rejecting artwork--and decent artwork at that--depicting President Barack Obama. Start Mobile, the company inserting an iPhone version of the Obama "Hope" artwork into its latest app, is probably wondering the same thing after a long run of approvals (18) from Apple. The App that contains the artwork, Start Mobile's Wallpaper Gallery (v1.0), also contains additional images, however the App and the other images aren't the problem, just Obama's face.

Supporters of Barack Obama are already aware of the "Hope" poster, created by Shepard Fairey, which depicts the hopeful democratic presidential candidate in red, white, and blue. It's awesome, it's inspiring, and entirely all-American. So what's the deal? Why did Apple reject the artwork? That's a good question, and here's the answer Apple provided the company:

"It contains content that ridicules public figures and is in violation of Section 3.3.12 from the iPhone SDK Agreement which states: 'Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgment may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.'"

With that said Apple thus requested that Start Mobile make the necessary changes and resubmit the application.

After receiving Apple's rejection letter, John Doffing of Start Mobile fired back an email along with the image in question, asking rather nicely just what the company was talking about. There's nothing in the image that ridicules a public figure, nor is it obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory in any way. Readers who have kept up with Apple's App blunders over the years certainly know Obama's poster is unlike many of the obscene images that have slipped through Apple's finely-tunes senses. In fact, Shepard Fairey's depiction has been included in the National Portrait Gallery.

As Tech Crunch points out, Start Mobile has three other apps featuring the works of Shepherd Fairey already available in the App Store. Additionally, other approved applications are using the image and variations thereof. One application even uses an altered version of the Hope image as an icon, yet Apple won't approve the version Star Mobile submitted. Doffing said that Start Mobile has another app waiting for approval, it too containing a different piece of artwork depicting the president, and it's put on hold for the same reason.

Of course, Start Mobile could remove the images in question and resubmit the apps, but honestly, why should they? It's President Barack Obama! Doffing told Tech Crunch that the whole Obama image debate is just another case of the App Store approval process "gone off the tracks." Is it surprising? After the boobs, the child porn, and the shaking baby app infiltrating the Store, we believe it wholeheartedly.

Infuriated, Doffing contact Apple directly a few weeks ago where he was told that apps containing images of Obama were being rejected automatically thanks to the election back in February. Apparently, there was a lot of "incendiary political content" coming through the Apple App Store approval process, and according to Doffing, sometimes "the baby is thrown out with the bathwater." With that said, the rejection of the Obama image may not have anything to do with the actual depiction, but the amount of Obama material coming into the approval gates during the last five months.

Still, the rejection letter dates back to May, so we're not buying the excuse. As shown throughout this article, this latest rejection is just another example that Apple's approval process is broken and seriously needs an overhaul. Developers aren't making money when Apple rejects the apps for no reason, and consumers will lose faith if the company continues to allow questionable content filter into the Store, and reject the ones that actually inspire Americans during troubling economic conditions.

Hybrids could be making some noise soon.

Hybrid electric cars are great not only for cutting down on carbon emissions, but also on reducing noise pollution. When a hybrid car such as the Toyota Prius is running on its electric motor, the operation is near silent when compared to the traditional sounds of a petrol or diesel engine.

While most people find a quieter car a good thing, those who are visually impaired – and rely on sounds to inform them of their environment – see the silent cars as a hazard.

As a result, the Japanese transport ministry is now reviewing on whether or not to add noise-making devices onto otherwise quiet hybrids so that visually impaired pedestrians will know of their presence.

"We have received opinions from automobile users and vision-impaired people that they feel hybrid vehicles are dangerous," a transport ministry official said in an AFP story.

The transport ministry put together a panel of scholars, vision-impaired groups, consumers, police and the automobile industry to consider the issue and decided this week that a "sound making function" could be the solution.

"On the other hand, we should pay attention to residents (along roads) as hybrids are excellent in reducing noise," the official added.

The panel has yet to discuss what sort of noise would be added to the car, but I wouldn't be opposed to hybrids that go "quack quack."

iPhone 3GS jailbroken and unlocked, but it's far from perfect.

The iPhone 3GS, being as new as it is, wasn't included in the last round of jailbreaking utilities released by the iPhone-modding Dev-Team.

As we reported earlier, iPhone hacker George Hotz (AKA GeoHot) discovered a security hole in the iPhone 3GS that would allow for the jailbreaking of the device. The Dev-Team claimed on its blog to have created a jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS based on the exploit, but at this point have refused to release it due to fears that Apple would patch the hole before the new iPhone was released all over the world.

GeoHot wasn't content to sit on the exploit, however, and this morning released his own jailbreaking software to allow for the installation of custom software on the iPhone 3GS.

Reports from those who have installed the software say that the phone does indeed allow for non-App Store applications to be installed. In fact, the ultrasn0w unlocking software also works as well, though some report that unlocking the phone somehow affects the performance of Wi-Fi.

Jay Freeman of Cydia fame also warns on his Twitter account that the jailbreaking method released today is missing critical patches related to custom iPhone software.

Those who aren't in dire need of a jailbreaking or unlocking solution might want to hold off on modding your iPhone 3GS, but as with any sort of software mod, there is always an element of risk involved.

A man fired his weapon at a Virginia Apple Store, however its unknown if he was looking for cash, looking for merchandise, or was pissed off that the new iPhone 3GS burned his hands.

The Washington Post is reporting that a man shot an Apple Store employee in Arlington, Virginia earlier this morning around 10:15 am (EST). According to police reports, the alleged robber rang the doorbell at the back door entrance, and then shot the 26-year-old female employee answering the door. The report said that an additional employee was also on duty, located in the main showroom, and called the police once he heard the gunshot.

Detective Crystal Nosal, a police spokeswoman for the Arlington police, said it was unclear if words were exchanged between the suspect and the female employee, nor has the police determined if the suspect was actually after money, merchandise, or was ticked off over recent issues with the new iPhone 3GS. Recently Apple has come under fire in regards to its just-released iPhone, an upgraded version that sports improved hardware, additional features, and the new OS 3.0.

Although AT&T claims record numbers with its release, end-users have discovered that the highly anticipated device overheats to a great extent. Apple suggests that users operate the iPhone when temperatures are between 32 degrees and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. "Low or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly," the company said in its revised heat advisory. Apple also stressed that users should not leave the device in parked cars.

As for the suspect, the U.S. Park Police and Arlington police K-9 units searched for the armed man but came up empty handed (or empty pawed). The suspect was last seen fleeing the scene on foot, wearing a light-colored, short sleeve shirt, light-colored long pants, and a dark baseball cap. The suspect was also carrying a handgun, although the reports did not indicate if he had burn marks on his palms resulting from an overheated iPhone 3GS.

"I think it's a sign of the times, the economy, when you have someone desperate enough to rob an Apple store in an area like this," said Joe Punaro, a customer who showed up at 11 a.m. to find crime-scene tape and police cars littering the parking lot.

The unnamed female employee victim received a bullet in the shoulder, however her injury is not considered life threatening.

The Department of Justice has confirmed that it is investigating a deal made by search giant Google.

Last October, Google, the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers announced that the three had come to a $125 million agreement with regard to pre-scanned copyright protected books, and laid out prospective plans for future revenues. Google's $125 million would be used to cover legal fees as well as establish the Book Rights Registry, aimed at resolving existing claims by authors and publishers.

Over the last month or so there's been rumblings that the Department of Justice was looking into Google's Book Search settlement with the Authors Guild last October. Critics said the settlement would give Google an exclusive license to profit from millions of books and in April of this year, rumors did the rounds about a possible antitrust investigation.

The Department of Justice Thursday confirmed that it is conducting a formal antitrust investigation into a settlement between Google and the Authors Guild of America.

"At this preliminary stage, the United States has reached no conclusions as to the merit of those concerns or more broadly what impact this settlement may have on competition," Deputy Assistant Attorney General William Cavanaugh said in a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Denny Chin. "However, we have determined that the issues raised by the proposed settlement warrant further inquiry."

For the full story click here.

Epic's Cliff Bleszinski said that id Software's acquisition blew his mind.

Ten years ago, PC gamers felt the heat between three rival developers: id Software, 3D Realms, and Epic Games. The competition was great: id's Quake 3 Arena and Epic's Unreal Tournament took the multiplayer aspects from the Unreal and Quake franchises and offered an amazing stand-alone product that is still played today. 3D Realms' Duke Nukem 3D was showing its age, but still remained one of the most-played PC games during that time period. With DirectX and OpenGL taking the infant hardware-accelerated graphics technology into a new era, it was an awesome time to be a PC gamer.

But things have changed since those golden days. 3D Realms' highly anticipated and long-awaited Duke Nukem 3D sequel has taken (literally) forever to develop, and currently there's no solid street date of when--or if--the game will ever be completed. To make matters worse, the company has shut its doors, with the last game the company actually released as a developer being the cool first-person shooter, Shadow Warrior, back in 1997. Currently Take-Two Interactive and Apogee Software are "duking it out" in court over the failure to complete the game.

As for id Software, the company recently announced that it was acquired by ZeniMax Media, the parent company of non-rival developer/publisher, Bethesda Softworks. The news shocked the gaming community, but both parties assured its fans that the marriage would be a benefit, and allow id Software to handle the IPs currently in-house. Although not quite as successful as Epic Games in regards to licensing its game engine, id Software has benefited from continued success as a developer with its high-profile IPs such as Quake and Doom. The same success holds true as a producer and publisher, with hits such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein (Gray Matters, Nerve), Doom RPG (Fountainhead), and the upcoming Wolfenstein title (Raven).

With all these changes with rival companies, what will become of Epic Games? Like id Software, Epic has bathed in its success over the years, however mostly due to licensing its in-house Unreal Engine. The engine's popularity has been "unreal" to say the least, used in titles such as Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, BioShock, Army of Two, America's Army... the list goes on and on, spanning three version of Epic's engine. As a developer, Epic has released a small number of titles that include the Unreal and Gears of War franchises. The company also admitted to shifting its focus to console-based games, citing piracy and a decline in PC game sales. Perhaps the focus--along with its methods to push the Unreal Engine onto developers--is what keeps the company as a single unit.

When asked about id Software's acquisition, Epic's hotdog design director Cliff "I'm going to rub my testicles all over the PSP" Bleszinski said that the news blew his mind. "id was always the studio I had my eyes on in the early days as far as wondering if we could be as good as them if not better," he told Develop Online in an interview. "When we had Unreal Tournament they had Quake 3 [Arena] which is one of those legendary showdowns between two games. To see this happen to the id guys just blows my mind. To see the old standbys go through these kinds of changes--like with 3D Realms closing up Duke Nukem--it’s really shocking. We all came from the same mould from the shareware days; these studios have been around forever, and to see them acquired like that is a surprise."

He also added that id Software's acquisition will be a good thing for the company in the long term, adding stability that will help leverage the id properties even more. But when he was asked if Epic Games had a pricetag, he chose downplay the idea with an example. "Well, we always make the joke that someone tries to buy us once a year and that every time they ask the price goes up," he said. "There was once a Mark Rein quote that went around with him saying that Epic is worth $1 billion dollars and Mark was like 'bullshit! I want $2 billion!'" He also reassured Develop Online that Epic is doing extremely well, that the Unreal Engine is "extremely prolific."

But how long will that attitude last? With both rivals shutting down or selling out, it seems that Epic Games should be quaking in its boots. But with the success of the Unreal Engine and its focus on consoles, perhaps the avenue Epic Games ultimately chose to take--despite the grumblings from dedicated Epic PC gamers--will be what keeps the company standing on its own. Granted the economy may change all of that it the incline doesn't take place towards the end of the year, until then, Epic and id Software will continue on as the are, and hopefully gamers will benefit from the results of their choices.

Sony's Naoya Matsu said that the PSPgo was planned from the beginning, but we're betting Sony felt the heat from Nintendo's DSi

A recent interview with the head of SCEA's product planning division, Naoya Matsui, revealed that the platform holder planned to ship a UMD-free PlayStation Portable since the very beginning. In fact, the company set its sights to release this 'network centric' model when the digital market eventually matured. But many disgruntled PSP owners may think otherwise: the UMD access times lacked, the format failed commercially, and now the company seems to be covering up those facts by saying "oh we meant to eventually discontinue UMD."

Convenient.

'We'd planned to release a PSP model without a UMD drive since the very beginning,' Matsui told GameBusiness. 'But if we'd simply released the hardware, there wouldn't have been much for everyone to enjoy. We needed to prepare the right environment for it first-- things like the transferral of content with the PS3 and PSN, and PC software to manage content like music and movies such as 'Media Go'.

Of course, taking a sarcastic note, let's forget the fact that Sony could have designed the PSP to read games from cartridges or DS-style game cards. Let's also forget the millions invested in developing, promoting and distributing UMD games and movies since the PSP-1000's debut. But hey, Sony planned this all along, right? The thing to consider is that UMDs (Universal Media Disks) hold 900 MB on a single-layer disc, 1.8 GB on a dual-layer disc. The question to ask is if technology was available in 2004 to hold that kind of data in a cartridge or game card format. To find that answer, just take a look at the specs for the Nintendo DS game card: they can hold up to 256 MB of data. With that said, the technology just wasn't there, and if it was, it was just too expensive.

'We wanted to release it when the delivery of digital content was on par with the delivery of physical media,' Matsu continued. 'That's what we've been working on these past two years. We'll be selling the PSPgo alongside the existing PSP models, because it's a product targeted at those people who are more accustomed to digital content.' That actually makes sense: the industry is moving towards digital distribution, and this is Sony's way of adapting to the times.

Recently Nintendo showed signs of adapting to the times by releasing the DSi, the lastest DS portable model featuring a single DS game card slot; the previous DS and DS Lite models featured an additional Game Boy Advance cartridge slot. However, Nintendo too is embracing digital distribution through its online store via the DSi's embedded browser. With that said, the Nintendo DSi serves as Sony's biggest handheld contender, and with the upcoming PSPgo, the company can better compete with Nintendo's new handheld console over the UMD-laden PSP-3000.

Was the PSPgo always in the works? Looking back to 2004, it was probably conceived to be an eventual migration. Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony... every multimedia hardware manufacturer across the globe has probably imagined products that will eventually cross over into the completely digital realm--that fact in itself should be a given.

But we're really not buying the whole "we're waiting for a mature market" story. Current PSP models can access content via the PlayStation 3 and a PC; the digital access has been there for a long while. It hasnt been until recently that Sony kicked up the digital content on its network, taking cues from Apple and Microsoft that consumers actually do want to download digital content outside old-school games and gaming clips. Perhaps the digital market has indeed matured after all as Matsui stated.

Still, we're betting that the PSPgo's existence is solely based on the UMD's failure, and the threat of Nintendo's DSi. Actually, we're more inclined with the latter, as it doesn't seem like a coincidence that the PSPgo is hitting the market months after the DSi. With the current PSP-3000 model ranked fifth as of May 2009, Sony has a lot of catching up to do if it wants to regain footing with developers and consumers. That means dumping a lot of digital content onto the PlayStation Network before the device goes retail in October.

A U.S. district court is forcing a spam group to cough up $3.7 million they collected through fake weight-loss products and human growth hormone pills

An alleged international spam ring--with key players located in Canada and St. Kitts--was ordered by a U.S. district court to give up a whopping $3.7 million racked in by spam emails. According to the Federal Trade Commission, the illegal email drove traffic to websites that offered hoodia gordonii plant extract that claimed to cause significant weight loss, and a "natural human growth hormone enhancer" that supposedly reversed the aging process.

The FTC originally filed the complaint with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, back in October 2007. The complaint included eight defendants--Spear Systems, three corporate defendants, and four individuals. Spear Systems, an individual located in the U.S., and an individual located in Australia settled in May 2008. However, the FTC was unable to reach a settlement with the remaining five defendants who must now answer to the court order.

The FTC's original complaint said that the claims made by the emails were false and unsubstantiated, thus violated the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM Act. The U.S. Safe Web Act also came into play, a law that enables the FTC to trade information with foreign counterparts, and to protect consumers from internet fraud and cross-border spam; Congress gave the green light to the law back in 2006.

A list of the remaining defendants ordered to pay the $3.7 million can be accessed here.

AT&T broke a number of records on June 19.

When the iPhone 3GS launched, it was a very 'meh' affair. Nothing could compare to the launch of the original iPhone back in 2007, but the 3GS launch couldn't even hold a candle to last year's release of the iPhone 3G. That said, AT&T has reported that it achieved record sales the day the iPhone 3GS hit the streets.

In an internal memo leaked to All Things Digital, MacDailyNews and the Wall Street Journal, the carrier claims to have seen its "best-ever sales day" in the company's retail stores on June 19. Not only that, but also its second-largest traffic day in the stores. AT&T went on to say that the iPhone 3GS was also responsible for the most transactions processed by its IT systems in a single day and the largest ever order day on att.com.

Unfortunately this conveniently leaked memo about how AT&T is the best thing since sliced bread is devoid of numbers. Check out the full memo below (via All Things Digital)

iLaunch day 2009 was one for the record books, as AT&T customers scrambled to get their hands on the fastest, most powerful iPhone yet.

    "Here’s a look at some of the milestones we achieved:

        * Best-ever sales day in our retail stores
        * Second-largest traffic day in our retail stores
        * Most transactions processed via our IT systems in a single day
        * Most upgrade eligibility checks in a single day
        * Largest order day in att.com history
        * Largest features sales day in att.com history

On this year’s launch day, iPhone sales exceeded sales recorded on 2008’s iPhone launch day, Black Friday 2008 and Dec. 26, 2008–all heavy-volume sales days. In fact, this year we surpassed 2008’s launch day sales at about noon Central time, and sustained our previous peak hour record, also set in 2008, for 11 straight hours."

Hands up who contributed to AT&T's record breaking day of sales?

Microsoft, Yahoo and RealNetworks are facing legal actions from small music companies who claim they are making certain songs available to users of their respective music streaming services without first getting permission.

According to the Seattle Times, MCS Music America, Conexion Media Group, Cram Renraff, Songs In Black Ink, Hello Darlin' Music, Forest Farm Music, From D's Pen, Happy Sack Music, Joe Hill Music, Rhinestone Cowboy Music, Appalsongs and Appalseed Productions, and Seven Centers Publishing are suing the three tech companies and seeking $150,000 for each copyright infringement in relation to songs by artists like Aretha Franklin and the Carpenters.

Several publications report that all three companies refused to comment or failed to return phone calls requesting comment, which suggests that the record companies actually have a leg to stand on. That said, they could just be hiding under their desks until their legal teams are finished trawling through the 108-page complaint, which ST reports was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tennessee.

Microsoft has begun to incorporate Tweets into search results returned by Bing, the company's new 'decision making engine.'

For a time, there were rumors that said Google was considering buying Twitter. Similarly, there is always plenty of press attempting to put a value on Twitter's real-time search, and apparently Microsoft thinks the first step toward adding real time data to Bing is adding the ramblings of celebrities using the service to search results.

The company yesterday announced that searching for prominent Twitter users on Bing will now return tweets as well as actual search results. Search Guru Sean Suchter announced the development via the Bing community blog.

"Today we’re unveiling an initial foray into integrating more real time data into our search results, starting with some of the more prominent and prolific Twitterers from a variety of spheres. This includes Tweets from folks from our own search technology and business sphere like Danny Sullivan or Kara Swisher as well as those from spheres of more general consumer appeal like Al Gore or Ryan Seacrest."

This new is kind of confusing to us. Despite the fact that we tweet (yeah, and we like it), if this 'initial foray' is going to evolve into adding more and more tweets to search results, it's going to put us off using Bing big time. 

A federal judge has overturned three guilty verdicts against Lori Drew, the woman who created a fake MySpace account which she then used to bully 13-year-old Megan Meier, a former friend of her own daughter.

The L.A. Times reports that a federal jury convicted Drew in November of three misdemeanor computer crimes, but deadlocked on a felony conspiracy charge that would have carried a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. The prosecutors were essentially relying on the fact that Drew had intentionally set up a fake account, and in doing so, intentionally violated the site’s terms of service. U.S. District Judge George H. Wu threw out the verdict yesterday, claiming that if the convictions stood, anyone who violated MySpace’s terms of of service could be convicted.

The case dates back to October 2006, when 13-year-old Megan Meier hung herself with a belt in her bedroom closet after a friend on MySpace began to send her negative messages.

Megan began speaking to a 16-year-old boy by the name of Josh Evans through the social networking site. The boy claimed he was new to the area, was home-schooled and did not yet have a phone number. After a couple of weeks, the messages to Megan turned nasty, with the last allegedly telling the girl, "the world would be a better place without you." Meier was found later that day hanging in her bedroom closet.

It then emerged that "Josh" was a fictional character apparently made up by a neighbor living four doors down the street. Lori Drew allegedly made up the account to see if Megan would gossip about her own daughter (a former friend of Megan's) to her new friend on MySpace.

A former employee of Drew's, 18-year-old Ashley Grills admitted to setting up the account and sending some of the messages to the young girl. Grills admitted to sending the final message but only in an attempt to cut contact with the girl, as she felt the hoax had gone too far.

Read more about Drew's acquittal on the L.A. Times.