KDBDallas

Most of the following was in response to the blog article by Layton Duncan of Polar Bear Farm.

iPhone developers were happy to see the AppStore come to life as it gave us a official way to release our app to the world. Little did we know that people would freak out about having to pay even $1 for apps, when before the App Store we were selling to the Jailbrake community for $10 or so, without complaint.

The $1 app issue is unfortunately not one that I think Apple can fix, as it’s not them causing it. It’s the consumers. Consumers seem to have it in their head that it is ok to pay $5, $10, $20 and up, for desktop applications, but that an iPhone app for some reason shouldn’t cost more then $1. Maybe they are stuck in the mind frame of old school cellphone apps/games that were absolute crap and not worth more then $1 (if even that), or if they just don’t understand what it really takes to make a beautiful, stable iPhone application.

Personally I think it is a combination of those 2 and that when the app store opened people were not sure what to charge, and some of the bigger name companies came to the AppStore with free and low price apps, and this set the consumers in a mind frame that free or almost free is what is expected. Who knows, maybe they are just cheap. The only way around this that I can see is for all or at least a large amount of developers to “ban together” and start charging a fair (to both sides) price.

No doubt it will hurt sells at first but perhaps we can get passed the misguided mentality.

With the latest iPhone firmware update (2.2), Apple fixed several “security holes”, one of which broke KillExchangeLocks version 2.0.

The fix that broke things was CVE-ID: CVE-2008-4229

Impact: Restoring a device from backup may not re-enable the Passcode Lock

Description: The Passcode Lock feature is designed to prevent applications from being launched unless the correct passcode is entered. A race condition in the handling of device settings may cause the Passcode Lock to be removed when the device is restored from backup. This may allow a person with physical access to the device to launch applications without the passcode. This update addresses the issue by improving the system’s ability to recognize missing preferences. This issue does not affect systems prior to iPhone OS 2.0 or iPhone OS for iPod touch 2.0. Credit to Nolen Scaife for reporting this issue.

http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2008/Nov/msg00002.html

The key parts here is the resoultion, “This update addresses the issue by improving the system’s ability to recognize missing preferences”, and the person to blame is Nolen Scaife for reporting this issue.

KillExchangeLocks version 3 does not implement the ideal solution as Apple has done a pretty good job on their fix. Instead of removing the passcode automatically like before, instead you now force the settings app to alow you to remove the passcode, as if you had setup a passcode without using Exchange.

This still times out every 24 hours like before, as Apple is actively querying the Exchange server every 24 hours to update and/or validate the security settings.

The up side is you should only have to run this part once, and you will always be able to remove the passcode.

Version 3 gives you the option if you want to modify your Auto Lock timeout.

The problem here is that the iPhone will over write any change if you go into the Settings app and click on the General tab (which shows your timeout setting).

Therefore this could need to be reset often, if you go into Settings -> General a lot.

I added some extra Time out levels for your convience.

You can now choose between: Never, 1 min, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min, 25 min, 30 min, 35 min, 40 min, 45 min, 50 min, 55 min, and 1 hour time out levels.

As I said before, this is by no means the ideal fix, but it is the only way I have found so far, and I figure this is better then having nothing.

If you really want a better fix in place, I would ask you to think about donating to this project as that would make it easier for me to work on this project then other paying projects. It is in no way required, but welcomed. If you wish to donate you can do so using PayPal.

KillExchangeLocks is available in Cydia under Utilities.

Desktop Remind is currently a featured download AND a staff pick on Apple.com’s downloads page!

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/

I am happy to announce a new Mac product called, Desktop Remind!

Desktop Remind embeds your calendar on your desktop, above your wallpaper but below your desktop items.

With Desktop Remind you can quickly and effortlessly now exactly what is on your calendar for the current day, and beyond.

Desktop Remind is user configurable, so you can place it exactly where you want on your desktop, and configure the font and font color to match your taste and/or wallpaper.

Desktop Remind also works with multi-monitor setups.

Feel free to give it a try for 14 days before a registration is required. A registration can be purchased for $4.99. Purchase here

I finished up RemindYou 2.0 for iPhone 2.0 Jailbrake this morning (like 2am)!

It will be going out to testers in the next couple of days and should be out for the world very soon.

If you just can’t wait and wan’t to help beta test, email me and we will see what we can do.

I just released and sent off to BigBoss KillExchangeLocks version 2.0!

This version features a VERY basic UI so users know the program has actually started.
It also removes the restrictions on the auto-lock feature, so users can use the normal settings section to choose their preferred auto-lock time.

The big news of 1.1 is that for *some* users, they should only have to run the app 1 time, as we trick the iPhone into thinking a passcode is not needed, and therefore it will not ask you every day. I say *some* because from testing, this currently only works for certain exchange setups.

KillExchangeLocks is a simple free iPhone application that helps the fact that with the new 2.0 Exchange support you can get locked into having a passcode and auto-lock setting on your phone. Even manually changing the plist you will then be asked to set a passcode again at least once a day. Instead of updating your plist everyday, just simply click on KillExchangeLock and your plist will be set to not require a passcode and never auto-lock.

http://codegenocide.com/KillExchangeLocks.zip

They always say that admitting there is a problem is the first step.

I entered this relationship with my iPhone 3G after Steve Jobs introduced us. Steve promised me that it was the right idea to breakup with iPhone 2G and join the big boys with iPhone 3G.

At first it was all good. That sexy body, 3G, GPS, double the disk space, a flush headphone jack, and that new 2.0 firmware, and Steve had assured me that the SDK would fulfill all my “needs”.

If only our relationship had stayed that way.

Instead, iPhone 3G started to change.

We will be talking and she will just go blank and leave me there alone.

She teased me into Exchange support for my work email, but then behind my back turned off my never-auto-lock, and put a key code on the front door and wont let me remove it.

And as for keeping me fulfilled… It’s more like unfulfilled….

Steve told me I would have the same API’s that they have, but that was a bold faced lie. Instead iPhone 3G’s SDK is a tease. She shows off all the things that she can do when you hang out with her, but then when you try and get some of that sweet loving she yells at you and tells you, “That’s only for Apple.”

I feel so betrayed and hurt…

Then I heard Pwnage was being released and I thought I would at least get to see a little of my old iPhone in Miss 3G….

Once again she turned out to be a big tease!

This time she is playing the give a little, but withhold the real goods.

She gave me back my SSH access, but changed around all her frameworks so none of my old code will work.

Then she teases me into working with the new toolchain, by saying that with just some little changes I can still use that code. So I gave into my geek needs and started making those “small changes”. She forgot to tell me that a lot of those small changes would be small if we had documentation but instead I get to play a searching game to try and figure out all the unknown changes that cause my code not break.

So after a night of fighting, we had just about made up and decided we needed some sleep. Then today she decided to leave me. She locked up and refused to boot.

I finally talked her into unlocking, but then she told me she needed to “sync”. Funny how she forgot to mention that this sync would take 2 hours.

Then after work she “we” decided it was time to try and finish making those “small” changes. Well this just lead to ANOTHER all night fight. Finally I thought we had made up and she compiled my code without errors. I was so happy, but I guess its fun to watch me suffer, so when I tried and run the code, she left me again and locked up.

We are trying to make up again, but once again she needed her “sync” time. She has been gone for about a half hour, and I am thinking I shouldn’t expect her until morning.

I am sure you can agree that this is a pretty abusive relationship I am in. (usually it is the guy that is abusive, but not in this relationship)

I am thinking we need couples counseling.

I think it might be best if we get Steve to come to a couple of the sessions.

Only problem is I don’t see a section on Apple’s site for counseling sessions at the Apple stores.

Maybe I am forced to be abused…

Hopefully Steve will have a talk with her and give her some relationships tips in firmware 2.1. However I don’t think Steve is willing to talk to her about putting out in the SDK bed, so I might be forced to keep working with her in that area. Hopefully someone can come out with a relationship documentation or something….

If you are in the Phoenix area and want to put together a support group, let me know.

PCWorld put together a list of 20 cool iPhone apps today, and my program RemindYou made the cut!

http://www.pcworld.com/article/148296/20_cool_iphone_apps.html

“The concept behind RemindYou is remarkably simple — essentially, its goal is to make sure you never miss another appointment ever again. And how does it do this, you ask? Well, by syncing up with iCal, Outlook, or Entourage and then overlaying a graphic of all your appointments over the iPhone start-up picture. Thus, instead of seeing a picture of the Earth from space as your default start-up screen each time you unlock your iPhone, you’ll see a list of all your appointments. RemindYou can be purchased from the iPhone 2.0 App Store for $19.95 for a lifetime license.”

The only thing is that they are saying RemindYou is in the AppStore, but it is actually only for Jailbroken devices, and is available within Installer.app. (I wish Apple would let us in the AppStore, but no luck since it needs a background process that runs every 15 minutes to keep the info up-to-date)

Even with that typo, I love the press and I am glad others enjoy this tool as much as I do.