XM, iPod can't touch that dial
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Good old 'terrestrial radio' still reaches more than 90 percent of Americans age 12 and older, year after year.
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(InfoWorld) - A company that unlocks cell phones in Europe said it is close to having an application that will allow customers to unlock their Apple iPhones so they can use SIM cards from carriers other than AT&T to activate the phones. In an interview this week in New York, John McLaughlin, founder of Belfast, U.K.-based Uniquephones, said he has engineers working around the clock in several countries who are close to cracking the complex security system Apple has set up to ensure customers can only use iPhones with AT&T Wireless service. The race by hackers to unlock iPhones has been on since the phone was released last Friday. Currently, AT&T Wireless has an exclusive deal with Apple to provide service for iPhones, and customers must agree to a two-year service plan with the company. However, customers have complained that the carrier's wireless service is slow, and according to McLaughlin, there has been tremendous interest in the ability to unlock the phone. By Sunday night, he said, more than 150,000 inquires had come in through the Web site he set up to request IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) numbers from customer iPhones. While not everyone would volunteer their IMEI numbers, they still expressed interest in learning how to unlock their iPhones, McLaughlin said. When the site was set up, he thought it would be an easy case of supplying unlock codes from AT&T to unlock iPhones. But sometime over the weekend after iPhones went on sale, unlock codes from AT&T for about 6,000 iPhones disappeared from the carrier's database, and McLaughlin's team also realized it would be a more complex matter than simply providing an unlock code to release iPhones from AT&T's grip. There is at least a two-step process to unlocking an iPhone, McLaughlin said. His team has been able to unlock the activation process to the AT&T SIM card specific to an iPhone so another AT&T SIM card can work with the phone and be activated through iTunes. However, any attempt to change the firmware of an iPhone so it can support another carrier's SIM card breaks the phone, he said. The key to unlocking the phone is breaking the encryption process that protects the token sent through the iTunes activation process to an iPhone's firmware, McLaughlin believes. Norwegian hacker Jon Lech Johansen, also known as "DVD John" because he cracked the DVD encryption scheme, claims he's been able to unlock the iPhone beyond the activation process that requires an AT&T account but said the device can't be used as a phone when that happens. Even after an iPhone were unlocked, it still could only work on carrier networks that support the GSM network, which is what AT&T's service is based on. In the U.S., T-Mobile is the only major carrier on a GSM network. And there is no guarantee Apple will not lock down the phones again in a future firmware update through the iPhone synchronization process or create a new way to unlock the next wave of iPhones they put on the market. That is, in fact, exactly what one analyst said will happen. "I assume that someone will succeed in unlocking the iPhone," said Avi Greengart, principal analyst, mobile devices at Current Analysis. "I also assume Apple will close whatever loophole is open the next time they synchronize [the software]." It's also likely there will be complications with special features of the phone that are designed to work only on AT&T's network, such as the visual voicemail feature, he said. Greengart said that he sympathizes with those that might want to use an iPhone with another carrier but "that's not the way the product was designed." "Exclusive agreements are not that unusual in this industry at all," he said. Aaron Santell, an iPhone user in New York, said that he would have preferred to use the service provider he has for his Blackberry device, Verizon Wireless, when he purchased an iPhone. But using AT&T's service is "a small price to pay" to use a device that provides such a rich user experience as the iPhone does, he said. As one might imagine, unlocking phones is a thorny issue with carriers, which certainly don't condone it. Carriers will give users unlock codes upon request for a fee, but they don't encourage the practice. In the U.K. and Europe, third parties have been unlocking handsets for several years, although there is no law that specifically protects them, McLaughlin said. However, in the U.S., it is legal to unlock mobile handsets under an amendment to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that was passed in November 2006. McLaughlin said that even though it's legal in the U.S. to unlock phones, he anticipates that if his team is successful, Apple may take legal action against them based on their tinkering with the firmware. "They'll probably come after us for copyright infringement," he said. Apple did not reply to requests for comment Thursday. McLaughlin plans to charge customers about $49.99 for software to unlock iPhones. Even if Uniquephones is not the first to offer unlocking capability, it won't be hard for them to replicate what others have done once the encryption is cracked, he added.
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According to insider sources, Apple and Cingular are teaming up to offer some sort of iPod/phone hybrid device near the beginning of 2007 that will be available exclusively on the Cingular network for the first six months. In Listening Post.
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Motorola unveils the top of its new phone line. Also: IBM organizes a public effort to help us all & hellip;.  Microsoft takes hold of GarageBand.com to give unknown artists a chance & hellip;. and more.
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Intermec Technologies will not seek payments for patents in the radio tracking technology for 60 days. Why?
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Ups and downs with a music and messaging phone
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A hacker group has released what it says is a one-click way to install unauthorized third-party applications on an iPhone or iPod Touch. You still can't switch the iPhone to another wireless carrier.
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Sure, the soon-to-hit-the-shelves iPod Touch plays music and offers users a cool multitouch interface like its cousin, the iPhone. But it's the inclusion of Wi-Fi and Safari that makes it revolutionary, says Computerworld's Seth Weintraub.
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Earlier this year RealNetworks came up with a workaround allowing music downloaded from its store to work on iPods. This was achieved by reverse-engineering Apple&#39;s FairPlay technology, and Real named it Harmony (see our previous coverage).
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The vast majority of consumers are unaware that an Apple iPod digital music player only plays proprietary iTunes files, while a smaller majority agree that it is within RealNetworks&#39; rights to develop a program that will make its music files compatible
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MacCentral - Apple Computer Inc. has updated the software for some of its iPod music players so that songs bought from RealNetworks Inc. won't play. RealNetworks says they're not sure why it's happened, but they're working on a fix. Apple suggests that it's what to expect if you use music that isn't officially supported on the iPod.
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The much-anticipated merger between Sirius and XM brings up some important issues. Plus: 10 gadgets for writers. In Gadget Lab.
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Apple has been very quiet on the topic of unlocking the iPhone, which allows it to work with other wireless carriers. However, the company, on Monday, issued a stern warning to users that their iPhone may be permanently inoperable if they use the various unlocking software available on the Internet.
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This just in: iPhone won't be able to do everything when it launches on June 29.
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XtremeMac's Luna X2 lets users set dual alarms that include iPod tracks, radio station, and buzzers.
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Minor update? Apple has posted the anticipated iPhone 1.1.1 update. The release, which adds support for the Wi-Fi connect iTunes Music Store, does indeed, as expected, returns unlocked handsets back to their AT&amp;T-only status.â¦
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The Mac Observer has confirmed through testing that the recently recently announced iTunes 4.7 release disables iPod Download, a plug-in to iTunes that allowed