tapping
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NSA can reportedly tap smartphones, access BlackBerry email
Roaming confusion has already caused the NSA to "accidentally" listen in on domestic calls, but according to a report from Spiegel, the organization is capable of a lot more. The German news magazine says it has seen evidence that the NSA can tap smartphones for SMS traffic, location data, contact list information and more. The claims, reportedly outlined in internal NSA documents, specifically call out iOS and BlackBerry devices as targets, describing the ability to access iPhone data by hacking a recently synced PC. BlackBerry access seems a bit more direct, Spiegel reports, suggesting that the NSA can tap into the BlackBerry email system. BlackBerry officials told Spiegel it wouldn't comment on the allegations, but assured the news source that it hasn't provided the NSA with a "'back door' pipeline to our platform." Regardless, it's a haunting claim -- particularly for folks that use BlackBerry devices for their heavily touted security, but considering everything the NSA has been up to recently, we can't say we're entirely surprised.
Rock Band out for $9.99 on the iPhone... but fails to thrill
The good news is that EA has released Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod touch, and you can pick it up from the App Store right now. The bad news is that it seems like a pretty tough sell -- despite the relatively high price tag (Tap Tap Revenge 3, a similar music game, is currently 99 cents and headed for free), there's not much new here. Sure, there is four-device Bluetooth multiplayer, and that's something that Tapulous' game has never had. But other than that, it seems like this is basically EA's cash in on the tapping concept -- the draw of Rock Band has been getting together with your friends and jamming out the hits on those fake instruments, and touching a button-less screen by yourself doesn't have the same effect. Singing is included, but you're still just tapping out notes for that -- it seems like they missed a lot of potential fun there. And even some of the fun things from the console version like the drum fills for overdrive and the character avatars are missing here. If you don't like the 20 songs included with the game, you can download others at 50 cents (in two-song packs for a buck each), but most people probably shouldn't even bother at that price -- just stick with Tapulous' game unless you really love Rock Band and its aesthetics (even then, I haven't seen my much-beloved Harmonix mentioned anywhere with this port, so I doubt they're even involved. Update: They are listed on the game's splash screen, however, according to our readers). Even if you want to try this one, wait for the inevitable price drop -- if the game really lived up to its name as the premiere music experience you'll find on the consoles, it might be worth it, but all indications are, unfortunately, that it doesn't. Gallery: Rock Band iPhone / iPod Touch
Rootkit hack taps Greek prime minister's phone
In 2005, Greek authorities discovered a plot hatched and executed by unknown sources which allowed the tapping of wireless phones on the Vodafone network belonging to the country's Prime Minister and other top officials, making it one of the furthest reaching covert infiltrations of a government in history. A recent report from IEEE Spectrum shows that the tap was made possible by a 6,500 line piece of code called a rootkit, the first-ever to be embedded in a phone switch's OS. The complex hack took advantage of aging phone systems by disabling transaction logs on calls and allowing call monitoring on four switches within the teleco's computers, thus sending the call to another phone for monitoring (similar to a legal wiretap). The spies covered their tracks by creating patches on the system which routed the calls around logging software which would have alerted admins, and were only discovered when they tried to update their software. The case clearly exposes holes in call security amongst providers (due largely in part to outdated systems), and suggests the possibility that this kind of thing could easily happen again... to you![Via textually]
TUAW Tip: Tapping on the capacity bar in iTunes
Many iTunes users are unaware that the capacity presentation for iPods and iPhones actually is interactive. Tap on the bar to switch from between views. These views include the default view (space occupied), an item-count view (number of items for each category) and a duration view (the length of playback for the items loaded onto the device). It's just one more sweet little Apple feature.
