:: INDISPENSABLE
Unfortunately, you will need to be a subscriber to Apple’s MobileMe service in order to use the application which immediately rules it out to most who are unlikely to want to pay $99 a year for the privilege. A sixty-day trial is available here.
If you happen to be a subscriber it’s worth turning the Find My iPhone service on, however, as this app could help you track down your iPhone or iPad by locating it on a map or sending a message and alarm to the device with your contact details so a kindly stranger can return it. In the worst-case scenario you can also lock or wipe your device to secure your data (and those blackmail-friendly photos).
While the app could be useful, it’s not essential. The Find My iPhone service can be accessed via the web and, therefore, if you have a web connection to download the app, you might as well simply browse to the site instead. On the other hand, with Find My iPhone installed on all of your devices, it may come in handy if you simply mislay your iPhone or iPad somewhere in your home, office or at a friend’s house.
Mac Rumors has been provided with a link to a Vietnamese forum, Taoviet.vn, where more pictures of the new iPhone have been posted. According to a Mac Rumors' source, the device was purchased in the USA along with an iPad. The device is shown from a number of new angles and a teardown of the product is also shown.
A video of the device has been posted to YouTube (see below).
Little new information has been provided by these pictures, however the iPhone's casing shows that it's a 16GB model, whereas Gizmodo's featured XXXGB on the back.
The casing appears more polished on this version with no screws found near the dock connector, suggesting that this is a near finished product. However, in the photos and video, the phone appears to be running some kind of diagnostic firmware and doesn't look like it responds to presses on the home button. In the teardown images, what looks like a processor with Apple branding can also bee seen.
This new information is set against the sad backdrop of yet another suicide at Hon Hai Group in China where Apple's iPhones are manufactured. This is the sixth death at Hon Hai this year and follows Hon Hai's suspension of a member of its security team after a worker killed himself when an iPhone prototype was lost.
After Jason Chen, Gizmodo's editor, had his home raided by police and his computers and other items taken as part of an ongoing investigation, this Vietnamese poster is playing a risky game. It also brings into question whether or not the "found it in a bar" story from Gizmodo (and its mystery iPhone seller) is likely to hold up now that two iPhone 4G models have surfaced.
Either people are being extremely careless with these valuable prototypes and two have been "lost" by Apple employees in the US or a more serious crime has been committed. This might also explain the shock and awe of the raid on Jason Chen's house should the police have reason to believe that the Gizmodo iPhone was part of a wider theft.
Either way, our advice to the Vietnamese man in the video above - don't include your face in footage of you holding a potentially stolen product, it never ends well.
[ via Mac Rumors ]
If there's one persistent problem with the iPhone, it's its desirability as a device. That shiny black and glass fascia, and user intuitive software really does appeal to us. Unfortunately, most of the time it also appeals to a different group of people. A group of people with the sole intention to steal. With the introduction of Mobile Me, we saw Apple try to combat this age-old situation, introducing for every one of it's users the ability to track their devices, directly from their online account from anywhere on the globe.
Before Apple showed it's hand though, there was one prolific company who were set on making tracking stolen devices - specifically iPhone's and Macintosh computers - their sole business. That company was of course Belgium-based software developers, Obicule. When their security software, Undercover, came to the iPhone, it hit the mainstream. But there were also the usual critics. See, the problem was that the software would only work as intended if the actual application was open on the stolen device. Today, Obicule are announcing what they deem to be a major update to Undercover for iPhone, version 1.5, and sees this exact launch-to-function issue, resolved. In a stark move, this update now adds adding the ability to remotely open the app on the stolen device.
So, How does it work? Well, Obicule have revealed that harnessing a clever use of push notifications, the user can remotely send the stolen device a push notification alert, (rather similar to 'Find My iPhone' on Mobile Me), therefore been able to ensure that the owner of the device can remotely open the application, allowing the tracking of the device. Upon registration at the Undercover Center, you'll be able to access your 'Undercover' account online, from anywhere, and once the app is activated, this account will store the devices location and IP information, allowing you to track it under the radar.
To me, this update from the company really proves the true potential of and how powerful Apple's Push Notification Service can be; and that if more developers put their mind to it, the service could in fact be used for more than just status updates and alerts. It seems the update is already live on the App Store, so if you are an Undercover user, I say go and grab it!
