Get off the phone, CEO guy. (flickr.com/perspective)

Attendees at the EuSecWest-sponsored World Security Professional Summit in Amsterdam are participating in a contest called Mobile Pwn2Own. Contestants are, yes, basically revealing that our mobile devices can be easily pwned by someone with the know-how. Quell your bubbling phone fanboy or fangirl rage right now: it looks like both Androids and iPhones are vulnerable. The Next Web describes the Android pwnage, which was partially done, by the way, via near-field communication, or NFC:

The 0day exploit was developed by four MWR Labs employees (two in South Africa and two in the UK) for a Samsung Galaxy S 3 phone running Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Two separate security holes were leveraged to completely takeover the device, and download all the data from it.

The first, a memory corruption flaw, was exploited via NFC (by holding two Galaxy S 3s next to each other) to upload a malicious file, which in turn allowed the team to gain code execution on the device. The attack isn’t limited to NFC though; it can also be abused via other attack vectors, such as malicious websites or email attachments.

A second malware infiltration gave attackers complete control over the Galaxy S 3. They gained the ability to transfer whatever data they wanted--emails, texts, photos--to wherever they wanted. The Next Web reports MWR Labs will publish a detailed blog post about the hacks only after the vulnerabilities have been eliminated.

The Dutch researchers who found a vulnerability in the iPhone 4S pursued the exploit because they felt the Apple product was a hard target. ZDNet reports on their exploit:

The hack, which netted a $30,000 cash prize at the mobile Pwn2Own contest here, exploited a WebKit vulnerability to launch a drive-by download when the target device simply surfs to a booby-trapped web site.

"It took about three weeks, starting from scratch, and we were only working on our private time," says Joost Pol [...], CEO of Certified Secure, a nine-person research outfit based in The Hague. Pol and his colleague Daan Keuper used code auditing techniques to ferret out the WebKit bug and then spent most of the three weeks chaining multiple clever techniques to get a "clean, working exploit."

The researchers couldn't get everything a real hacker might be after. They managed to snag contacts, photos and videos and web-surfing data, but SMS and email records were too deeply encrypted to reach.

Mr. Pol and Mr. Keuper say the WebKit bug can be found in iOS 6 as well.

Mr. Pol also noted that if someone wanted to use the exploit "in the wild," they could perhaps embed it in ad networks, which would be dangerous to all unwitting mobile web surfers.

Mr. Pol also sounded a warning every mobile user should hear, regardless of brand affiliation, telling ZDNet that CEOs "should never be doing email or anything of value on an iPhone or a BlackBerry."

(Photo: YouTube)

Was it really only yesterday that we watched with muted glee as Apple fanboys everywhere lost their shit over a phone that is only mildly different from its now much cheaper predecessor? My, how time flies.

The iPhone 5 is slightly lighter and slightly longer than the iPhone 4s, but apparently even Apple fans can't really discern the difference. Jimmy Kimmel brought an iPhone 4s out on the streets of Los Angeles and told everyone he encountered that it was an iPhone 5.

"Oh, it's way better!" proclaimed a man in a Dave Matthews Band hat. "I only have the 4s," he admitted, not realizing that it's the same damn phone. You can't make this shit up, people.

(Image: apple.com)

Flickr just released its quarterly stats report, which reveals a few fun facts. Did you know that there are now 7.2 billion photos on Flickr, with users uploading 2,500 new photos a minute? Did you know that there are 228,207,499 Creative Commons-licensed photos on Flickr?

Most interesting, though, were the stats about camera choices among Flickr's community. The most popular camera is the iPhone 4, followed by the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, followed by the iPhone 4S, followed by the Canon EOS Rebel T2I and Nikon D90.

That's a lot of play for the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera and the iPhone 4S's 8-megapixel camera on a site that attracts a lot of professional photographers as well as amateurs who take themselves pretty seriously.

Most popular cameras in the Flickr community over the last year.

Usage this year: iPhone 4.

Usage this year: iPhone 4S.

Usage this year: Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Flickr users spent the last three months shooting the solar eclipse on May 20, baseball games, and festivals—all complicated subjects. (They also shot flowers and the Golden Gate Bridge, which are better at holding still for the camera.)

Is the iPhone's quality up there with digital single-lens reflex cameras made by Nikon and Canon? Or is the iPhone's popularity with Flickr users simply because it's mobile, and the best camera is always the camera you have on you? Flickr notes that cameraphones are actually underrepresented on Flickr, which sometimes cannot automatically detect which model was used.

I can has indie cred?

Zooey Deschanel's girlish wiles have been used to hawk everything from cotton to cosmetics in the past. But now Apple is employing the hipster darling to sell you on the notion of upgrading to a robotic assistant on that computer in your pocket. So what if the iPhone 4S doesn't have 4G, did you see those lashes??

While we refuse to believe Ms. Deschanel's apartment is anything but the paragon of DIY domesticity (she uses Siri to remind her to clean), rest of the spot goes for the obvious signifiers of the star's retrograde appeal (i.e. Elvis and all-American comfort food).

If the pink pajamas are a little too precious for you, try the Samuel L. Jackson version. But be warned, rather than asking Siri how get some motherfucking snakes off some motherfucking planes, the commercial opts for depicting the action star in his quest to find organic mushrooms for date night.

It gets better. And it will.

On Tuesday, we noted that while iPhone voice-activated assistant Siri can't help you find an abortion clinic in New York City—once called The Abortion Capital of America by New York magazine—it can help you find a gun store downtown, in a city with some of the most restrictive gun controls in the country. Apple didn't respond to our query of why this was, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has finally spoken on the matter.

Mr. Cook responded to the president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (or: NARAL Pro-Choice America, for short), Nancy Keenan, who wrote into Apple regarding the coverage of Siri's latent pro-life activism. He wrote:

Nancy,

Thanks for your note.

Our customers use Siri to find out all types of information and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks.

I appreciate you pointing this out.

Best Regards,
Tim

They also told the New York Times the same thing.

For the record, the last Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, didn't donate to charity, wanted to give the world "freedom from porn," and denied paternity of a daughter he claimed he couldn't have for almost a decade. Tim Cook is openly gay and recently instituted a policy of matching Apple employees' donations to charity.

Also, for the record, a sampling of comments from our original post on the matter:

• "I love Siri!! And Siri loves babies!!!"
• "Good. Apple actually did something right for a change."
• "This, more than anything else, makes me want to buy an iphone."

 
Damn. Looks like Apple just lost a few fans.

Something tells us they'll be okay.

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Meet Siri, Apple's Pro-Life data assistant.

Megan Carpentier of Raw Story recently noted that Siri is having trouble telling users where to find abortion clinics, and not about abortion clinics in the middle of the Bible Belt, or in the frozen tundra of Alaska. We're talking about places like New York City and Washington D.C. which, as you can imagine, might have a few of these places. We wanted to test this theory out. Maybe Siri just isn't a fan of Megan's? Or maybe Siri is being moody.

Know what we found?

What you're looking at is a totally real, not-at-all-doctored screengrab we just took moments ago off of Ben's* iPhone.

This is despite the simple facts that:

(A) New York City is "The Abortion Capital of America"

and

(B) There are no shortages of abortion clinics in New York City.

You know what Siri could tell us?

This is despite the simple facts that:

(A) New York City has some of the most strict gun laws and gun control policy in America

and

(B) Back to back, these two queries are—when not being exploited for editorial purposes—likely those of a psychopath possibly hellbent on inflicting violence, which—you may have heard—is a problem in America with a deep history. Not that Siri can pair queries...just like Siri can't find an abortion clinic in a city full of them.

But maybe this is just a tech flub, one could reasonably suggest. Or maybe it has less to do with Apple and more with the original creators of Siri's technology—named, of course, Siri—whom Apple acquired in April, 2010.

Why would anyone be conspiratorial of Apple?

(A) "Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom." - Steve Jobs

(B) "It's not about freedom, it's about Apple trying to do the right thing for their users." - Steve Jobs.

(C) "He even swore in court documents that he could not be Lisa's father because he was 'sterile and infertile, and as a result thereof, did not have the physical capacity to procreate a child.'" - Steve Jobs, father of Lisa Brennan-Jobs, a title he denied as they lived on welfare payments for part of the eight years the Apple chairman denied paternity until finally giving in.

It's not that Steve Jobs—who Siri was acquired under while he was still CEO, not on medical leave, and very much in charge of Apple—had any kind of hellbent anti-abortion agenda. But it's clear—by his own words, and actions, without much interpretation—that the man was never comfortable with frank discussions about things like, say, sex and paternity.

So, yeah: We'd say it's okay to have a slightly conspiratorial bent, here. And we're not the only ones concerned, here, either. From the personal Tumblr of Jenna Wortham, New York Times technology reporter:

If true, this is extremely important. Not just because of the subject matter but because its important to understand that our access to news and INFORMATION may increasingly be funneled through large companies like Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon, who may have hidden agendas, policies or biases we don’t know about.

Betabeat wrote in to Apple's media contacts:

Hey There –

We’re doing a story regarding Megan Carpentier’s recent Raw Story posting on the fact that Siri won’t locate abortion clinics in New York City, once referred to as “The Abortion Capital of America.” We tested it out, and it’s true: Siri won’t find any. But she will help you find a gun store in New York City—in Little Italy, no less!— a municipality with some of the strictest gun control laws in America.

Why is this?

Thanks!

- Foster.

Apple has yet to respond to the aforementioned request for comment.

[*....Which he can now write off.]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

Another dissatisfied customer.

Ed Oswald at BetaNews reports that after conducting several tests, they've learned that the speakers aren't playing stereo audio—which really, is simply sound equally divided out of two speakers—so much as they're playing STEreo AUdio. They're messed up, yo:

Tests conducted by BetaNews on several phones -- including several on display at a local Apple Store -- show that the device plays sounds intended for the right speaker at a volume two to three times higher than those playing on the left, resulting in distorted audio. It is not known whether this is an problem with the actual speaker itself or a software issue in how the 4S processes stereo signals. A stereo track played correctly in tests on an in-house 3GS with iOS 4.3.5 installed, whereas on the 4S the unbalanced audio was obvious. BetaNews has sent a request to Apple for comment on the matter, however, the company was not immediately available as of press time.

HOW WILL WE LISTEN TO DRAKE OUT LOUD ON THE SUBWAY CORRECTLY? AGHGHGHGHHHHH EVERYTHING MUST BE PERFECT!!!!!!!! Also, there's apparently another problem with your new phones?

Apple is not only fighting this stereo bug, but another that affects audio when in a call. A discussion thread on Apple's support forums details an issue where the person cannot hear the other caller.

Mashable also took note of the audio problems popping up all over Apple's support message boards as well. And wow, great timing, right? Especially considering Consumer Reports just reccomended an iPhone for the first time in two years.

Erm, David Pogue, time to get out your Ouija Board.

Eliza chatbot, flying solo

Jordan Mechner, creator of the wildly-popular Prince of Persia video game, had a rather genius idea this week.

"Since I got my iPhone 4S, I’ve been intrigued, fascinated and alarmed by Siri’s fast-growing capabilities. I thought it would make sense to introduce her to my psychotherapist, Eliza," Mr. Mechner blogged.

AI historians know Eliza better as a computer program, written by MIT's  Joseph Weizenbaum in the mid-60's, that was one of the first examples of natural language processing. True obsessives would also note that Eliza failed the Turing Test, which means it isn't actually artificially intelligent. Rather it uses pattern-recognition to processes users responses to scripts, most famously DOCTOR, which simulates a Rogerian pyschotherapist. (Guess Freud fell out of favor in the 60s?)

Eliza often surprised users with its shockingly human, therapist-like responses. In fact, the same technology has been downloaded into an iPhone app. Mr. Mechner, who says Eliza was "one of the (and longest) BASIC programs I typed into my then brand-new 16K Apple II in 1979" introduced the two. "Despite their 45-year age difference and two-million-fold disparity in RAM," he wrote, "I thought they understood each other remarkably well."

Here's how the conversation started:

ELIZA

Hello, I am Eliza.

SIRI

Hi.

ELIZA

How are you today? What would you like to discuss?

SIRI

I’m fine. Thanks for asking.

ELIZA

How long have you been fine. Thanks for asking?

SIRI

Hmm... Let me think...

ELIZA

Do you doubt you?

SIRI

I found three hotels matching “W” fairly close to you.

ELIZA

Oh...?

SIRI

With whom would you like to speak?

ELIZA

You’re not really talking about me, are you?

SIRI

Should I look for businesses by that name?

ELIZA

I don’t care about names. Please go on.

You can read the full transcript on Mr. Mechner's blog. But what about getting Watson in on the game: world's first AI threesome?

Natural mystic.

Business Insider put up a post today introducing folks to Wolfram Alpha, the "mind-blowing intelligence service that powers Siri." How quickly the kids forget!

Wolfram Alpha actually went live back in 2009, and roughly oh about 98.7 percent of the press at the time had some version of WOLFRAM ALPHA: GOOGLE KILLER WHA??!!!. That's because Wolfram Alpha bypassed scanning keywords for natural language search.This was before Ashton Kutcher invested in Blekko, before Steve Ballmer even previewed Bing online.

It was created by British scientist and Mathematica designer Stephen Wolfram, who sought to make information "computable."

As Next Web's Courtney Boyd Meyers points out, BI's post almost makes it seem as though Wolfram Alpha is powering the entire artificial intelligence app, when Apple actually integrated the engine with Siri to help with problem-solving tools (for example, Siri also incorporates Wikipedia). Natural language is obviously a natural (forgive us) fit for an app designed to talk to you like a human-ish being. It returns detailed answers from a database that includes information on all things factual.

We're interested in seeing whether the integration with Siri will give Wolfram Alpha the same boost, as say, the iPhone's use of Skyhook Wireless data did for Skyhook. Although hopefully not to the same litigious ends.

via 9to5 Mac

Isn't it bittersweet when technology meant to bring us closer together just ends up as grounds for a better settlement?

First divorce lawyers were friending Facebook for all the evidence it turned up and now the new Find My Friends app on the iPhone 4S has helped one man find his wife ... on the Upper East Side when she said she was in the Meatpacking District.

The unfortunate app user, who posted these screenshots on the MacRumors Forums, under the thread, "Divorcing wife. Thanks iPhone 4s and Find My Friend," uploaded the app on his wife's phone without her knowing. Although he "had suspicions about her meeting this guy who lived uptown," the app only really discovered she was in a different location, not necessarily cheating.

But that didn't stop him from adding, "These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks."

Uh, you're welcome, says no one at Apple.

9to5 Mac points out that although an Android user submitted GPS data to get himself out of a speeding ticket earlier this year, it's unclear whether this kind of data can or should be used in civil court.

As for the possible cuckhold, along with the screenshots, he noted: "She said she is in the meatpacking district which is on 12th street. I DONT THINK SO. Appreicate [sic] the support. Not my finest hour here but going to get better soon."

In times of marital strife, perhaps it's best to stick to Angry Birds.