Technology Musings by John Spade

New Film to Catch Rays

Saturday, 21 August 2010 16:46 Last Updated on Saturday, 21 August 2010 17:06 Written by John Spade

Via ecogeek.org I read this article with something that actually deserves a patent. Rather than the cost and maintenance required moving solar panels to track the sun, it appears SolOptics is trying the 'ah ha' method of applying a prism like film to the top of a solar panel. It also reduces the amount of light reflected and can give a 10-12% boost to an existing panel.

For more info, visit their site at http://www.soloptics.com/fusion/technology_overview or wait for the film at 11 ( must be certain age to get joke ).

Boosts opportunity for electron replacement due to increased distance of light ray within photovoltaic material.

iPad Weight

Sunday, 15 August 2010 15:26 Written by John Spade

Apple made a big deal about the battery life on the iPad but I find I could easily live with 1/3 to 1/2 the battery life in exchange for weight. I thought about replacing the battery with a smaller one, but it looks like it would not make a whole lot of difference as posted by Kyle Wiens on ifixit.com.

-snip- in case link changes

Here's our summary:

Aluminum back 138 grams
Battery 148 grams
LCD 153 grams
Glass (and frame) 193 grams
Speaker: 17 grams
Main board: 21 grams
Everything else: 27 grams

Car Charger Review

Wednesday, 11 August 2010 08:20 Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 August 2010 09:35 Written by John Spade

If you have an iPad or iPhone 3GS+ then this is the car charger for you. The Griffin PowerJolt and PowerJolt Plus allow for full 2.1 amp charging via a 12 volt source. Also, the passthrough socket will allow you to plug another charger or device in through it's passthrough port.

My favorite thing ( besides rapid charging) is that it seems to run cooler than any of the OEM chargers. power jolt plus car charger Charge rate was most noticable on my iPhone 3GS where the charge level increased around 2% per minute during the phase 1 charging. The ability to fully charge my phone in about in hour means I don't have to top off every time I think about it which is detrimental to long term battery life.

iPad charging was good and it was able to charge the iPad while it was awake and busy. Some chargers or cables don't have enough juice or throughput to charge the iPad while in use. This one is 'a-ok'.

pre-storm

Saturday, 14 August 2010 11:55 Last Updated on Saturday, 21 August 2010 15:43 Written by John Spade

My OCD Hurricane Prep List

This is my list of things I have written down over the years to think about before a storm. Having a disaster preparedness checklist or kit is handy to have. This one came from experience. Coffee was the thing that no one has on any list and is worth more than gold after a day or two with no power in the neighborhood. People need their morning fix.

global iPhone / iPad code PDF code exploit

Monday, 02 August 2010 12:20 Last Updated on Thursday, 12 August 2010 08:54 Written by John Spade

UPDATE: iOS releases 4.0.2 and 3.2.2 close this hole as of Aug 11 2010. No fix for 2G models still in service ( serveral million? ).

Yikes!

New jailbreak via jailbreakme.com ( not a link because it opens directly to jailbreak site ) exploits what appears to be a global hole in PDF viewer on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. While the jailbreak itself may be safe to run, the exploit could be used to execute malicious code. A quick test showed that when emailing myself a PDF file of this style, it was executed just upon viewing the email ( see link below ). Apple will have to issue a fast patch on this and in the mean time, setting the preview to none may help. This could be a disaster if it is the top email in your inbox, in which case it executed when the email is previewed upon opening. Please let me know if you find a way to disable PDF preview or opening.

To be clear, in order to execute the code, it does not require a phone to be jailbroken. It also appears to work in almost every common version of Apple iOS, not simply the newest one. The only good news is that it does not automatically execute in every version, some have to be clicked. Unfortunately, if a user thinks they are just opening a PDF document, this does not seem to be much of a barrier.

How the jailbreak triggers behind the scenes : <a href="/iPhone1,x_4.0.1.pdf">iPhone1,x_4.0.1.pdf</a>

If I was more creative, I could probably do somethign nefarious to my iDevices. What is scary is that it works via Safari or email. In email it apparently only has to preview the PDF to execute the code. Here is a quick video showing an example. It seems to be in the PDF viewing itself and not something new that was added via iBooks. More info as I discover it.

Update:

Ok so found it documented here from the people who released the jailbreak. They show a way to close the exploit until Apple releases a patch or workaround. Here's the irony, you can only apply the fix if you jailbreak your device ( recent favorable opinion on jailbreaking ). Also, when Apple releases the update, it will likely require you to update the software, so you may be forced to go to a version you are not keen on. Alternatively, you could just not open any emails or click any links. Good luck with that.

Corporate IT administrators may want to think about quarantine on all PDF attachments and blocking direct PDF links to iPhones via centralized web proxy. This does not, however, prevent a user's phone from being compromised via 3G or another network as they roam about.