In an embarrassing incident for Apple, a 15-year-old boy managed to get his app which contained a hidden feature onto iTunes.

On the face of it, the lad had created Handy Light, a torch app which could change the colour of the screen, so you could turn it all white for a kind of makeshift torch. Or all red, or green for… well, holding up to your face and pretending you’re turning into the Hulk?

Of course, this was all just a cover, as what the app really did was execute code in the background which enabled tethering.

In other words, using the iPhone as a 3G modem so you can get your laptop online via your smartphone.

Apple doesn’t allow such apps on the store, as tethering is a service which a substantial fee is exacted for (AT&T charge $20 per month on top of the user’s plan for tethering). The Handy Light app was priced at just $1.

While the app has now been pulled, anyone who has already downloaded Handy Light will be able to keep the app and its tethering abilities on their mobile, thus ducking out of any subscription.

Lucky for them, but embarrassing for Apple, particularly given the age of the chap who managed to get this past the company’s app sniffer dogs.

How long will it be before the next app comes along with a hidden tethering (or otherwise) payload?

iPhone app facilitating tethering made it onto iTunes

ShoreTel, the leading provider of brilliantly simple IP phone systems with fully integrated unified communications (UC), today released ShoreTel 11, the latest versions of its award-winning UC software.

With features such as a client for the iPhone and a distributed database, ShoreTel 11 helps large businesses simplify system management, improve reliability, and lower communications costs, and gives on-the-go workers more choice of mobile devices.

As with all previous ShoreTel releases, ShoreTel 11 is available as a free upgrade for current customers with a ShoreTel support contract as part of ShoreTel’s standard support service.

SHORETEL 11: SUMMARY OF NEW FEATURES

• The ShoreTel Communicator client is now available for the Web and for the iPhone, allowing users to manage communications from Macintosh computers and iPhones, along with BlackBerry and other popular devices. ShoreTel Communicator for iPhone is available from the iTunes App Store as a free download.

• ShoreTel has enhanced the already highly reliable distributed architecture of ShoreTel with distributed database capabilities. Additional instances of the ShoreTel 11 database can be installed at remote sites, helping to alleviate potential performance bottlenecks and eliminate single points of failure.

• ShoreTel 11 offers extended legacy PBX integration capabilities with expanded QSIG support, making it easier for customers to leverage existing investments and migrate to ShoreTel’s all IP-based UC capabilities over time.

• With the release of ShoreTel 11, ShoreTel has changed the name of its award-winning desktop application from ShoreTel Call Manager to ShoreTel Communicator to reflect the expansion of capabilities that extend well beyond traditional “calls” to include unified communications.

Andrew Holowka, Senior IT, Centre for Applied Research said: “Our clients range from Fortune 500 companies to social service agencies, so ensuring highly responsive and flexible service is vital to the success of our business.

“ShoreTel 11 enables our Mac users to effectively communicate with our servers, providing our consultants with even more collaboration options and powerful communication tools.

“As we continue to deploy more features, we’re looking forward to taking advantage of the mobile support for the iPhone, which is something our users are already very excited about.

“ShoreTel’s brilliantly simple solutions are helping us meet the ever-changing, on-the-go demands of both our clients and our consultants.”

Kevin Gavin, Vice President of Marketing, ShoreTel said: “With this latest system software release, ShoreTel takes another giant leap forward in delivering on the promise of unified communications for organisations of every size.

“ShoreTel 11’s enhanced distributed architecture, new iPhone client, and extended support for legacy PBX systems all drive down deployment costs and TCO, while increasing reliability and flexibility.”

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ShoreTel 11 announced

Some of the more remote areas of Scotland are currently being switched over to digital television including households within the region covered by the Eitshal transmitter.

This is a vast open and rural area covering parts of Harris, Lewis, North West Sutherland, Skye and Western Ross.

These areas are now unable to receive the analogue signal carrying BBC One, STV, Channel Four and Five, as these signals have been permanently shut down at the Eitshal transmitter.

It is estimated that around twelve thousand homes are affected by the switchover.

This means that they are now able to receive many more channels than before, but only if they have switched over to digital TV by purchasing a Freeview set top box or by choosing a pay TV option.

See the rest here:
Highlands switch to digital TV

It seems that the threat of strike action is never far away these days and even though there are genuine issues, the threat of strike action is a real problem for the BBC.

The issue is over the BBC’s plans to cap pensionable pay at one per cent starting next year and then revalue the pensions at a lower level.

However according to the five unions, Bectu, Equity, Musicians Union, NUJ and Unite, this will leave their combined twenty thousand membership out of pocket.

If strike action were to go ahead, this could mean parts of the BBC being unable to broadcast and the viewers could be left with a blank screen where the BBC used to be!    

Read more here:
BBC staff in strike action move

The initial shortlist of nominations for the T3 Gadget of the Year Awards 2010 was compiled before the iPhone 4 was launched, but T3 found they were being inundated by requests from the consumer to allow the iPhone 4 into the final shortlist.

It seems that to run an award with no Apple product in the category of Gadget of the Year was too much for the shortlist to handle.

According to Chris Smith of T3, even though the iPhone 4 was released after the shortlist was compiled and despite the reception problems, the iPhone 4 is a late entry onto the list.

But this is not a deal that has been signed and sealed as Apple is up against some serious competition, such as the BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC HD Mini, iPhone 32GS, Motorola Milestone, Nexus One, Nokia N900, HTC Legend, Samsung Wave and the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. 

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