Chronic Dev Promises iPad 2 Jailbreak ‘in a Few Weeks’

When it comes to jailbreak solutions for iOS devices, nearly everyone has been turning to the Chronic Dev team for their solutions. These are the guys that came up with the Greenpois0n tool, for example, and now they’re promising a jailbreak for the Apple iPad 2 in a few weeks.

This promise comes by way of team member p0sixninja, who is otherwise known as Josh. He says that the iPad 2 jailbreak will be ready in “weeks” and while the Chronic Dev team isn’t normally one to promise set deadlines, they are “all going to hold him to that” promise.

Do you have an iPad 2? Are you going to jailbreak it the moment Chronic Dev releases the tool? Or are you too concerned about some of the possible issues related to jailbreaking iDevices?

Apple's Online Music Locker: A Great Idea (That's 10+ Years Old)

In case you hadn't noticed, this whole online music thing is heating up. First Amazon rolled out its Cloud Player, then Google Music came along, and now Apple is expected to announce its own online music service—the big money's on something called "iCloud" that'll be unveiled on June 6th.

The difference between Apple's offering and offerings from both Amazon and Google is that Apple has apparently gotten the blessing of three of the four major record labels, with the fourth said to be right around the corner. But why should Apple care about playing nice with the record labels when Google and Amazon have already thumbed their noses at the music industry?

If what Businessweek is reporting turns out to be accurate, Apple's service will behave differently than Google's and Amazon's in that you won't have to actually upload your entire music collection to Apple's servers.

A MacBook with Apple inside? Intel begs to differ

Rumors about Apple developing a MacBook with one of its own chips--not Intel's--were advanced on Friday, based on a post at a Japanese-language Web site. An Intel executive had some thoughts on the subject
.Let's get right to the post on the Japanese Web site Macotakara Kanteidan about the rumored MacBook Air test vehicle packing a Thunderbolt port. In a Japanese-language post entitled "Is an A5-equipped MacBook Air being tested?" the site claims that "according to someone who has seen a model running with [Apple's] A5 processor, the performance is better than had been thought."

Assuming the report is credible, that's a pretty big leap from a frantic rumor about Apple "dumping Intel" to a real system running on the A5, the Apple-branded chip--based on an ARM design--that's used in the iPad 2.

To date, Apple's ultrathin MacBook Air has run exclusively on Intel processors. And that's expected to continue when Apple announces new Airs based on Intel's "Sandy Bridge" processors this summer, based on my own sources who are familiar with Apple's plans.

iOS 5 will not be available for iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS has been released two years ago, so would it be able to work with the upcoming iOS from Apple?
Mobile phone blogger Eldar Murtazin stated on a tweet that that Apple won't update iPhone 3GS for the new iOS instead Apple will update iPhone 4 for it. The true question is, what would you do with your iPhone 3GS after iOS 5 comes to the market?. If you are addicted to Apple products like me, you probably won't stand not buying the newest version of iPhone.
I agree with Murtazin, i think iOS 5 won't be available for other versions than iPhone 4.  It is likely that iOS 5 will include many advanced features that require heavy lifting from the graphics department, and the iPhone 3GS simply won't cut it. Rather than going through a performance-based customer service debacle like Apple did when it released iOS 3 for the original iPhone or iOS 4 for the iPhone 3G, I think Apple will just leave the 3GS off the list of compatible iPhones for iOS 5.

Russians Crack iOS Encryption

A Russian software company has broken the encryption used to secure data on Apple iOS 4 devices, meaning that personal information can in some cases be accessed without a passcode.

The company now offers software to law enforcement and intelligence agency customers that can read all the data stored on an iOS device.

"Let's make it very clear: no privacy purist should ever use an iPhone," wrote Vladimir Katalov, ElcomSoft chief executive, on the company's web site. "IPhone devices store or cache humongous amounts of information about how, when, and where the device has been used."

What this means practically for users is that any privacy protection they might enjoy will have to be guaranteed by the law of the land, because at $128 for the software, even a cash-strapped police department can afford to read what's on an iPhone.

Although ElcomSoft says it will only sell their software to security agencies, it's not clear how the company would verify the identity of purchasers. As more personal data, including payment information, moves onto handsets, thieves may eventually find what's in the phone as valuable as the hardware itself.

Apple devices since the iPhone 3GS use 256-bit AES encryption to protect their data. Although this is generally considered strong enough to thwart even adversaries armed with supercomputers, ElcomSoft found weaknesses in Apple's implementation that allow it to break the encryption.

ElcomSoft's exploit apparently depends on users opting for "simple" four-digit passcodes (or none at all). Using an eight-digit passcode should thwart the attack and keep the data safe.

Until the most recent iOS update, a bug in Apple code stored location-related information in an unencrypted database on devices. Those databases were an open secret in the digital forensics worlds, and law enforcement agencies had reportedly been using it in investigations.

Two researchers then publicized the data, igniting a controversy about location-based privacy that saw representatives of Apple and other tech companies called before Congress.