Charlie Miller, the hacker who discovered a hole in the new Apple Safari in ten seconds in the Pwn2Own contest, can now take complete control of an iPhone by merely sending a text message. And no, you don’t even have to open it!

Once taken control, the hacker can exploit the hole to make calls, steal data, send text messages, and do basically anything that the user can do with his iPhone. Miller and his partner Colin Mulliner demonstrated this scary scenario to CNET writer Elinor Mills at the Black Hat Security Conference on July 29, 2009. The two are professional researchers with a security firm and are just showing Apple the many security loopholes in their device.

CNET’s Elinor Mills described how it happened: “While I was talking on the phone to Charlie Miller, his partner, Collin Mulliner, sent me a text message from his phone. One minute I’m talking to Miller and the next minute my phone is dead, and this time it’s not AT&T’s fault. After a few seconds it came back to life, but I was not able to make or receive calls until I rebooted.”

The attack is enabled by a serious memory corruption bug in the way the iPhone handles SMS messages, said Miller, a senior security researcher at ISE – Independent Security Evaluators. There is no patch, despite the fact that Apple was notified of the problem about six weeks ago, he said. All current versions of the iPhone operating system are affected.

Asked what an iPhone user can do when attacked, Miller replied: “Rebooting wouldn’t be a bad idea. It would stop all but the most sophisticated attacker. However, it doesn’t take but a second to grab all your personal info from the device, and as soon as you turn it back on, the bad guy could attack you again. That’s why I think this is so serious.“

So if you have an iPhone in your pocket.. be alert!

Source : Article by Elinor Mills at CNET News

Apple introduced its new iPhone as ‘iPhone 3G [S]‘, it’ll be available in the market from tomorrow (19/06/2009). With the revolutionary iPhone, Apple combined innovative hardware features with the world’s most advanced mobile operating system to redefine what a mobile phone can do. Applications work together seamlessly and they sync with your computer — whether you’re on a Mac or a PC. From its revolutionary Multi-Touch display to its intelligent keyboard to its smart sensors, iPhone is years ahead of any other mobile phone.

Some of the features listed on the Apple’s website are listed here:

The Fastest iPhone Ever!

The first thing you’ll notice about iPhone 3G S is how quickly you can launch applications. Web pages render in a fraction of the time, and you can view email attachments faster. Improved performance and updated 3D graphics deliver an incredible gaming experience, too. In fact, everything you do on iPhone 3G S is up to 2x faster and more responsive than iPhone 3G.

Video
Now you can shoot video, edit it, and share it — all on your iPhone 3G S. Shoot high-quality VGA video in portrait or landscape. Trim your footage by adjusting start and end points. Then share your video in an email, post it to your MobileMe gallery, publish it on YouTube, or sync it back to your Mac or PC using iTunes.

3-Megapixel Camera
The new 3-megapixel camera takes great still photos, too, thanks to built-in autofocus and a handy new feature that lets you tap the display to focus on anything (or anyone) you want.

Voice Control
Voice Control recognizes the names in your Contacts and knows the music on your iPod. So if you want to place a call or play a song, all you have to do is ask.

Compass!!??
With a built-in digital compass, iPhone 3G S can point the way. Use the new Compass app, or watch as it automatically reorients maps to match the direction you’re facing.

Cut, Copy & Paste
Cut, copy, and paste words and photos, even between applications. Copy and paste images and content from the web, too.

Landscape Keyboard
Want more room to type on the intelligent software keyboard? Rotate iPhone to landscape to use a larger keyboard in Mail, Messages, Notes, and Safari.

Messages
Send messages with text, video, photos, audio, locations, and contact information. You can even forward one or more messages to others.

Search
Find what you’re looking for across your iPhone, all from one convenient place. Spotlight searches all your contacts, email, calendars, and notes, as well as everything in your iPod.

Accessibility
iPhone 3G S offers accessibility features to assist users who are visually or hearing impaired. These features include the VoiceOver screen reader, a Zoom feature, White on Black display options, Mono Audio, and more.

Internet Tethering
Surf the web from practically anywhere. Now you can share the 3G connection on your iPhone with your Mac notebook or PC laptop.

Voice Memos
Capture and share a thought, a memo, a meeting, or any audio recording on the go with the new Voice Memos application.

Nike + iPod
iPhone includes built-inNike + iPod support. Just slip the Nike + iPod Sensor (available separately) into your Nike+ shoe and start your workout.

Stocks
Stocks on iPhone shows you charts, financial details, and headline news for any stock you choose. Rotate iPhone to see even more detailed information.

YouTube
Watch YouTube videos wherever you are. Log in to your YouTube account to save and sync bookmarks and rate your favorites.

What are you waiting for?? Click here to buy one! In India it is available through Vodafone and AirTel

The Nokia 6600i has been launched in India and it establishes itself as the smallest 5-megapixel phone in the market. The 6600i has a slider form factor with an extremely impressive design and style. It is surely an update to the good old 6600.

The camera being the phones USP promises to deliver crystal clear imaging with its 8x zoom and auto focus functionality. It also comes with a dual LED flash for enhancing image quality.

Other features include FM radio, playback for all kinds of media files/formats, stereo headsets and bluetooth v2.0. A microSD card slot capable of holding a 16GB card fits perfect for this phone.

Anyway we have to wait and see whether 6600-’i’ beats the popularity of old 6600, well it is meant to beat.

Well I think BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limitted – The leading ISP in India) needs to learn alot in the ISP field. You know what they used OpenDNS – A internet based DNS server, in the Wireless Land Line (WLL) service, to block different categorized sites. They included proxy, hacking too.. even a slight use any matter related to it will get yourself blocked from it!. Its good to use them to block Adult sites, but they block every server where any of the restricted items are used. Consider if I have a free hosting server, in that server all type of people will be there. Some may use proxy scripts or even their on inventions on hacking, and its more than enough for OpenDNS to block that server including all the good sites comes under their hosting!! And my free site hosted @ x10hosting – A really good free hosting provider if you ask me, got blocked too!! I didn’t used anything they listed as “BAD”.

And I tried a bit of my favorite web spots.. hurayy they all are blocked too!! I waited for them to change DNS system as I thought they might be testing it, but days passed nothing happened. I got angry on the Administrator of the ISP and mailed him the following :

Dear administrator,
Am happy that you took actions to block unwanted sites in this network. But you were wrong in this. Because almost every of my freedom to surf the net is now blocked. I don’t think people will like this policy. I have a website hosted at a well known free web hosting server. But it is included in the blocked list as someone who have an account there used proxy / anonymizer, now I can’t access my personal web page!!?? This is not right thing to do to a public network, please leave this DNS system to your private network if possible. There are lots of way to block unwanted sites(they are freewares too), the users of this network can use them if they want. May be you can conduct an awareness programme to let users know of it, but please leave this network open. I hope you get the seriousness of what I said. Please.. please atleast change the settings in the OpenDNS to allow more site categories. Thanking you for your “wonderful help”, JOSE.

I dont know whether they changed their stratagies because of my letter, from the next day all the DNS system was back to normal!!