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Lightning Adapter Security Chip Updates

Lightning Adapter Security Chip Updates

Now that Apple has started shipping the Lightning adapters, ChipWorks has torn it down to find out why those cheap knock offs will not work!

Their finding did conclude that the Lightning cable does have four chips embedded in it. Two of these chips are very simple with just a couple transistors, and the third is an NXP NX20P3.  The fourth and most interesting of their findings is the Texas Instruments chip, that is not documented anywhere by TI (a big secret!).

Chipworks claims:

It is actually very interesting that we may have found a security device in this cable. Previously, we have analyzed security devices regarding medical printer media (armbands), printer cartridges, flash drive memory, batteries, and smart cards, but this is the first secure cable we have seen. The security does not come close to the herculean approaches that are used in (for example) today’s printer cartridges, but resembles the level of effort that cartridge manufacturers used to implement in the olden days. This is likely a calculated decision by Apple to keep costs to a minimum knowing that their core customer base prefers to shop in Apple stores or for brand name peripherals. In these places, piracy is not a concern. In other words, at this time the security is “just enough.” With future generations of Apple and non-Apple products, we may begin to see even stronger security and control if the market forces merit it.

For the time being, it seems like a win for Apple.  If you are looking to save money on the Lightning Dock connector, you’re going to have to wait.  This will only slow down the 3rd party vendors from figuring it out, and being able to implement a chip in their designs.

If you are looking for a solution to use the new iPhone Lightning adapter in a Bose dock, please check out the previous article on that topic.

Bose, Fixes
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Alternatives to the New iOS6 Maps Application

Alternatives to the New iOS6 Maps Application

If you are like myself, who was very much looking forward to the new Maps application, and was deeply disappointed by the Maps app, there is alternatives.  Not only is there an alternative, but it is FREE!

Apple advertised the turn by turn navigation, which is a standard on all android devices.  What actually turned out happening, was that Apple only pushed the turn by turn feature to the iPhone 4s, and the new iPhone 5.  I didn’t learn of this until after already upgrading (drag).  However, MapQuest offers a FREE turn-by-turn Application with voice navigation, and it works Great.

Bing also has an application where you can use their Maps within the app that have the birds eye view, which is very similar to Apple’s 3D maps.

Don’t be incredibly disappointed about iOS6 maps, there is a solution!  Let me know if you have heard of anything else, or if you are using another app that you recommend!

 

Tutorials
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New iOS

New iOS

This is coming from Apple when you are prompted to download and install the new iOS6.

iOS 6 Software Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

•  Maps
◦  Apple designed vector based maps
◦  Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions on  iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (2nd and 3rd generation)
◦  Real-time traffic information
◦  Flyover for photo-realistic, interactive 3D views of major metro areas on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation)
◦  Local search results with Yelp photos, ratings, reviews, and available deals
◦  Siri integration for requesting directions and finding places along a route
•  Siri improvements
◦  Sports: scores, player stats, game schedules, team rosters, and league standings for baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey
◦  Movies: trailers, showtimes, reviews and facts
◦  Restaurants: reservations, reviews, photos and information
◦  Send a Tweet
◦  Post on Facebook
◦  App launch
◦  Eyes Free in supported automobiles
◦  Local search available in Siri supported countries (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
◦  Additional country and language support for Canada (English and Canadian French), China (Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese), Italy (Italian), Korea (Korean), Mexico (Spanish), Spain (Spanish), Switzerland (Italian, French, German), Taiwan (Mandarin), US (Spanish)
◦  Supported on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation) and iPod touch (5th generation)
•  Facebook integration
◦  Single sign-on from Settings
◦  Post from Photos, Safari, Maps, App Store, iTunes, Game Center, Notification Center and Siri
◦  Add location and choose audience for any post
◦  View up-to-date Facebook profile photos and contact information in Contacts
◦  View Facebook events and birthdays in Calendar
◦  Like content and see your friends’ Likes in App Store and iTunes Store
•  Shared Photo Streams
◦  Share selected photos with the people you choose
◦  Friends can view shared photos in Photos app, iPhoto and Apple TV
◦  Friends can like and make comments on individual photos
•  Passbook
◦  One place for boarding passes, store cards, movie tickets and other passes
◦  Barcode display for boarding flights, buying coffee, getting into movies and other actions
◦  Passes displayed on Lock Screen based on time or location
◦  Passes can be automatically updated
◦  Supported on iPhone and iPod touch
•  FaceTime improvements
◦  FaceTime over cellular support for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation)
◦  Receive FaceTime calls, sent to your iPhone number, on your iPad and iPod touch
•  Phone improvements
◦  Do Not Disturb to suppress incoming calls and notifications
◦  ‘Reply with message’ option when declining a call
◦  ‘Remind me later’ option based on time or location when declining a call
•  Mail improvements
◦  VIP mailbox to quickly access mail from important people
◦  Flagged email mailbox
◦  Insert photos and videos when composing email
◦  Open password protected Office docs
◦  Pull down to refresh mailboxes
◦  Per account signatures
•  Safari improvements
◦  iCloud tabs to see open pages on all your devices
◦  Offline Reading List
◦  Photo upload support
◦  Full screen landscape view on iPhone and iPod touch
◦  Smart app banners
◦  JavaScript performance improvements
•  App Store and iTunes Store improvements
◦  Updated store design
◦  iTunes Preview history
◦  Complete my season
◦  Complete my album
•  Game Center improvements
◦  Challenge friends to beat high scores and achievements
◦  Post high-scores and achievements to Facebook and Twitter
◦  Friend recommendations based on your Facebook friends
•  Accessibility improvements
◦  Guided Access to limit device to one app or restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen
◦  VoiceOver integration with Maps, AssistiveTouch and Zoom
◦  Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S
•  Improved privacy controls for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos and data shared over Bluetooth
•  Reminders can be reordered in the Reminders app
•  Custom vibrations for alerts on iPhone
•  Clock app for iPad
•  Clock alarm with song
•  Search all fields in Contacts
•  Automatic movie mode for improved video sound quality
•  Definitions of a selected word for Chinese, French, German and Spanish
•  New keyboard layouts for French, German, Turkish, Catalan, Arabic and Icelandic
•  Keyboard shortcuts shared across devices via iCloud
•  Bluetooth MAP support
•  Global network proxy for HTTP
•  Features for China
◦  Baidu web search
◦  Sina Weibo integration
◦  Share videos to Tudou
◦  Share videos to Youku
◦  Improved text input for handwriting and Pinyin
•  Bug fixes

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas.  Please visit this website for more details:
http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

How to use your iPhone 5 & iPhone 5S/5C with older Bose Sounddock’s

How to use your iPhone 5 & iPhone 5S/5C with older Bose Sounddock’s

Update January-12-2017

The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 plus can use the following adapters also.
I have also wrote about how you can charge and listen to music at the same time on the iPhone 7.

With the new release of the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus, there are many people asking them selves “How do I make my Bose Sounddock work with my new iPhone?”

Update November 17th, 2014,

All of the links below are still applicable to make your iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus work with your older Bose Sound Docks.  It is also a great way to make it work with any iHome Alarm Clock, or Stereo.

Apple’s Lightning to 30 pin adapter– Apples official cord will work, but DOES NOT provide Bluetooth capability.

CableJive dockBoss Smart Audio Input Adapter for iPod/iPhone Docks – Good for turning your Bose Dock to accept a 2.5mm headphone input. (will not work for iPhone 7)

TekuOne Wireless Bluetooth Music Receiver Adapter for Bose Sounddock – Works great for all model iPhones, as well as linking your Bose dock to your laptop, or other Bluetooth enabled devices.

Update December 2, 2013:

Given that Apple has released the iPhone 5S, and iPhone 5C, I have been asked many times lately about how to accommodate them into use for older model Bose Sounddock’s without the lightening adapter.

To make your iPhone 5, 5S, 5C, and iPad Mini work in your older model Sounddock’s, you need to use one the following options:

Apple’s Lightning to 30 pin adapter – You can use the adapter with the longer cable for the iPad
CableJive dockBoss Smart Audio Input Adapter for iPod/iPhone Docks
Wireless Bluetooth Music Receiver Adapter for Bose Sounddock

 

UPDATE 11/29: New Bose SoundDock 3 will be coming out any day now, to be here for the holidays.  Also, I have evaluated and can confirm the functionality of Apple’s Lightning to 30 pin adapters with the SoundDock speaker products. I recommend using the 0.2 meter “cable” style adapter to prevent potential IR remote control issues.

UPDATE 10/22: I have heard reports from many people that the Lightning adapter is only charging and not playing music.  At the moment, the only confirmed way for music to play through your Bose Sounddock on the iPhone 5 is with a CableJive dockBoss Smart Audio Input Adapter for iPod/iPhone Docks.  If you want to spend the extra few bucks, you can also pick up a Wireless Bluetooth Music Receiver Adapter for Bose Sounddock for less than $40.  Both of those adapters will work with all types of docks, not just the Bose Sounddock (iHome and others).

If you have never purchased a Bose Sounddock, and are looking for something immediately, you can pick up a SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II. This Bluetooth Bose speaker allows you to play music through your iPhone, Computer, and any other device that has Bluetooth capabilities.

In theory, to make this work, you are going to need the Apple Lightning to 30-pin Adapter.  Apple has them for sale for $29.00.  Simply take the adapter, place it into your dock, and put your iPhone 5 into the adapter.  There is no confirmation from Apple or Bose as to there being Audio out, though it will most likely be good to charge your iPhone 5 if nothing else.  They have noted on their website

*Some 30-pin accessories are not supported.

There is somewhat conflicting information going around whether or not there the Bose Sounddock will play music from the iPhone 5.  Apple also noted on their website that there is “Support for analog audio output, USB audio, as well as syncing and charging. Video output not supported.”

The net-net: No one really knows for sure, but as soon as Apple starts shipping the 30-pin to Lightning Adapters, I will keep you updated.

Apple is not shipping until October due to supply problems, so for the time being, you are going to have to make due without bumping your music from the iPhone 5.

It has been noted that the knock-off models of this adapter will not work due to Apple requiring an authentication chip.  Be leery of the adapters that are selling on Amazon and eBay not made by Apple as they most likely do not have the authentication chip required by Apple.

 

Bose, Fixes, Tutorials
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DLNA Media Center Setup

DLNA Media Center Setup

It all started for me back in high school.  I had a huge movie and music collection (20GB of music, 300+ movies) stored on an external hard drive.  Anytime I wanted to watch one of my movies, or listen to music, I’d have to hook up the external hard drive to my computer, copy over the movie or music, and put it on a USB drive.  I’d then have to take said USB drive and plug it into my PS3 or XBOX 360 to be able to watch or listen to my media.

While in college, I had built myself a machine that used my TV as a monitor so that I could watch my movies that way.  That solution will not work now that I don’t want my computer sitting in my living room next to my TV.

I had researched many different DLNA media servers that I could use; many were free, few had a price tag.  My requirements were that it needed to stream to my Sony PlayStation 3 in my bed room, my Microsoft Xbox 360 in the family room, and my iPhone for where ever I wanted to be in my house – price didn’t matter.

I found a program called Mezzmo that offered these solutions.  Mezzmo automatically finds and organizes all your music, movies and photos on your computer and imports music, movies, photos and playlists from your iTunes, and anywhere else that you specify in the program.  Media format support includes all popular video file formats, music file formats and image file formats.  You can even connect and stream to multiple devices at the same time- which was a huge plus to me because I have more than one device in my house. Mezzmo transcodes music, movies and photos on-the-fly so they play perfectly on your DLNA-enabled device such as the PS3 or XBOX 360.  I personally chose the option within Mezzmo to pre-transcode all your files before you stream them, preventing any buffering or synchronization issues that can associated with transcoding files on-the-fly.

Not only does Mezzmo organize your media files, it has the ability to provide each of your devices with thumbnails of the movies and pictures.

Mezzmo is ready to run and start being your media center with just installing, adding and processing media, and starting the server.  Once the server is started and it has processed all your files, fire up your PS3 or XBOX360 and you will see your Server as a video source in the menu of your device.

Check out Mezzmo here – the cost is $29.95, but worth every single penny!

Projects, Tutorials

Error 3004 when updating to iOS6

Error 3004 when updating to iOS6

I’m sure I am not the only one having this issue, but have yet to find anyone reporting it online.  I was receiving Error 3004 when upgrading to iOS6.

This can mean a few things:

  • Apple’s servers are swamped due to the rush of people looking to upgrade; try it again in a few minutes.
  • You are using an outdated version of iTunes.  This was my issue.  Although iTunes prompted me to upgrade my phone and let me download iOS6, when the progress got all the way to the end, it failed the upgrade.  As soon as I updated iTunes to version 10.7, I was able to successfully upgrade to iOS6.

Another error I received: “( ERROR ) An unknown error occurred (6)”

  • This one actually stumped me, and got me stuck in recovery mode.  I made sure my hosts file wasn’t blocking Apple’s servers (through TinyUmbrella; sometimes the Hosts file is set to use cydia’s host)
    • That wasn’t it
  • I was upgrading from a jailbroken iOS 5.1.1 – Every time a New OS comes out, it is always in your best interest to do a full restore.
    • As soon as I did the full restore, I was able to get it working.

 

Fixes, Tutorials
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Updates on iOS 6 Jailbreak

Updates on iOS 6 Jailbreak

With iOS6 launching just says away, there is much anticipation for a jailbreak for iOS6. As of right now, iOS6 GM is able to be jailbroken via a tethered jailbreak. It is a good sign for the device down the road as far as a fully untethered jailbreak, but it certainly won’t be available for when the device launches.

A couple of things I recommend prior to the iOS6 launch:

  1. Backup your SHSH for your phone, using TinyUmbrella
    • If you decide to upgrade to iOS to see all of the new features, but you decide you want to downgrade to iOS 5.1.1, having your SHSH keys backed up is the only way you will be able to accomplish this.
  2. Decide whether or not the features of iOS6 are worth giving up those from your jailbroken iOS5.
    • Those new features in iOS 6 include: Passbook, Facetime over 3G, Updated Phone App, Updated Mail App, Updated Safari App, New Apple Maps, Facebook Integration and much more.
Tutorials
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The iPhone 5 is coming soon

The iPhone 5 is coming soon

With rumors swirling of a September or Octotober 2012 release of the iPhone 5, Sprint has announced it’s slashing prices on the iPhone 4s by $50.  They are also waiving their $36 activation fee.  Making it the cheapest iPhone 4s to date.  I may be leery of Sprint’s service, but it’s hard to beat an iPhone 4s for less than $200.

Although the iPhone 4s is soon to be outdated, it is still a great phone.  If you are eligible for an upgrade or if you have a broken iPhone, it may not be a bad idea to take advantage of this offer (if you can’t wait until September).  It is only one of two apple devices that offer Siri, and an 8MP digital camera.  Besides, it has been rumored that Apple is replacing the charging port on the new iPhone, going away from the standard port it has used since the first iPod back in 2001.


Source

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