Tag Archives: iphone






Dear iPhone 6 users: Welcome to 2012!



Finally, everyone thinks the iWatch is stupid:


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Quite Possibly The First Good Review Apple Maps Has Ever Gotten


Apple Maps icon

Apple Maps icon



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From PC Magazine, via iMore

You Probably Don’t Need A Case For Your iPhone 5

Rarely do people dare take their phones into the wild concrete jungle without a case. Mostly because we fear that dropping it will shatter the screen, which means either replacing the whole phone, or the screen, or just putting up with it — none being good options. So instead, they deal with the case, just in case (ahem) the phone gets out of hand. However, what most people don’t realize is how sturdy iPhones have become.

You can see for yourself in the videos below: you would have to really try or be really reckless to break the screen on the iPhone 5. So if, like most people, you’re just afraid of dropping it once in a while, all that’s likely to happen is some minor damage to the sides. Adding a bulky plastic case over the great-looking phone to protect against that is like wearing bulletproof vests everywhere you go. Use cases for special occasions, like skiing or paddleboarding — but there’s probably no need for one at the office. Plus, this is the perfect point on which to pivot your superior taste: “No, I don’t have a case! Unlike you, I’m not a poor 1950s Italian family making ends meet in Queens.”

In this first video, a guy drops a Samsung Galaxy S3 and an iPhone 5 from various heights. The S3 is not as lucky well-made, and its screen breaks from a decent-height drop. The iPhone, on the other hand, gets a few dings on the bezel, but nothing major.


In this one, the guys at iFixYourI try scratching the screen with keys (to no avail) and then dropping it from increasing heights (still to no avail), until finally the guy throws it at the ground, face down, and the screen finally breaks in the corner. This, of course, is terrible news to the iFixYourI guys, who are probably used to making a lot of money by fixing iPhone screens.

From YouTube (first and second videos), via iMore

The iPhone 5 Will Be Optimized For Pictures Of Food

Because let’s face it: food is not only the thing you love most and the only thing that makes you happy, but eating is also somehow the most exciting thing you do. And Apple cares about your happiness.

From YouTube

That iPhone Is Probably The Most Secure Thing You Own

Ever since the 3GS model, iPhones have had built-in, automatic hardware encryption. That, coupled with a robust operating system with very few security flaws, makes it simple to keep anyone from getting to your data: just turn on password protection for the lock screen (Settings –> General –> Passcode Lock) and pick a strong password, which has more than 10 characters that aren’t words in the dictionary. Once the phone is powered off, it would take even the NSA 25 years to crack its security.


This is because Apple uses 256-bit AES encryption keys that are stored in the phone’s hardware — the same technology used by the government to store top-secret data. Each iPhone has its own key that is randomly generated and stored nowhere else in the world but on that phone. All the data stored on it is always encrypted using that key, meaning that if someone took its memory out manually and tried to read it, it would look like gibberish, unless they had the key with which to decrypt it. The only way to get that key is from the phone itself, while it’s running.

If the phone has no PIN set, getting the key is fairly trivial — but if it does have one, then the intruder would have to guess it first. Using software, PINs can be entered about 12x per second, so what makes breaking in take longer is how many passwords the intruder has to enter before guessing correctly. The longer the password, the more possible combinations of letters and numbers there are to try, and they grow exponentially: a 4-digit PIN takes 13 minutes to guess, a 6-digit one takes a day, and a 10-digit PIN takes 2.5 years.

The strong encryption key and PIN lock — combined with the option to wipe the phone’s data after 10 incorrect PIN entries and the Find My iPhone feature — most likely makes it the hardest consumer good from which to steal information, including safes. The only other smartphone with similar data protection is the once-mighty Blackberry. There are, however, two gotchas to watch out for, both related to data duplication:

  1. The cloud: almost all the information on the iPhone can and usually is pulled from or duplicated on a computer on the Internet. If someone breaks into that computer, they have access to it without going through your phone.
  2. Your home computer: when you sync the iPhones with iTunes, a popular option is to backup the phone’s contents on that computer. Someone could easily hack into that backup file and get all the data on your iPhone, without ever touching it. It might be a little out of date, but still a major treasure trove.

From Technology Review, via Slashdot

The iPhone 5 and iPad Mini Will Probably Be Announced September 12th


iPad mini concept drawing


via iMore

Prepaid iPhone Saves You 1000$ Over Two Years


From Cult of Mac




From Cult of Mac, via Lifehacker

iPanties: Slide To Unlock


Like the iPhone, they come in black or white.


From iPanties

Argument Via Siri

College Humor made this hilariously awkward video of how to use Siri to fight with your spouse:

From College Humor

Fun With Siri

Joshua Topolsky figured out that Siri is more than moderately helpful:




From This Is My Next