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We keep hearing rumors about iPhone on Verizon but at the same time Verizon is doing gangbusters with their Android-powered Droid line, and running roughshod over Google to do it in a way they’d never be able to with Apple. So what if they took the next illogical step and just forked Android and made their own Verizon (or Droid) OS?

Not to rehash too much, but Verizon, Motorola, and Samsung have mutated Google’s “openy” Android platform into a bootloader-locked, Bing-locked, hacker-hostile bloatware-crusted bag of hurt.

Right now Google still has some control — they can deny Google apps like Gmail and Market to handsets that don’t meet their nebulous criteria for a “with Google” phone. (That they’re not already doing that to protect customers from Verizon is disheartening to say the least). But Verizon could take even that little leverage away from them.

Verizon will soon be offering their own app store and API’s, maybe to replace Android Market. (Lest we forget, they also deny Palm Pre on Verizon access to aGPS, forcing anything outside the official Verizon Navigation app to use the slower, unassisted GPS option). And what if they don’t stop there? What if they go full tilt into a fork of the Android OS all their own. A fragmented, totally independent, wholly proprietary Verizon Droid OS with it’s own set of API and Market that would only work on Verizon. And it could have Bing. And it could have Hotmail. Locked down. (Or it could have whatever the highest bidder gives Verizon, customers be damned.)

Right now if you have an unlocked iPhone on one GSM carrier (something increasingly common outside the US) and you move to another carrier, all your apps come with you (and they come to your iPad or iPod touch as well). And you have Google Search, Gmail, and Google Maps working great on them, with easy access to Bing or Hotmail or Yahoo! or MobileMe or Exchange or whatever you want. If you have a future Moto or Samsung Droid OS device on Verizon, using Verizon API, could you move to a more openy T-Mobile or Sprint “Google Experience” device? Would you lose all your apps? You V-services?

Once again, Apple almost totally disintermediated the carriers with the iPhone. Given past and present history, what seems more likely — for Verizon to cave to Apple and offer a pristine iPhone experience on their network, or for them to tell Apple to get lost and stick with Android, an incredibly powerful, modern OS that’s been given to them on a silver platter?

There’s a chance an iPhone on Verizon would make great gobs of money enough they’d release it anyway, but I’m thinking the nightmare scenario above is becoming increasingly more likely.

Redsn0w — the lightweight, multi-platform jailbreaking, unlocking and customizing tool for the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 1G, iPod touch 2G, and iPod touch 3G — has been updated to 0.9.6 Beta2, which allows Custom IPSW installation with Windows. Missing from this update is iPad and AppleTV support, which is currently supported by pwnagetool for OSX, but word is that chpwn is working on a windows version of pwnagetool.

Redsn0w can be used to install custom IPSWs that will keep your baseband firmware from updating and allowing you to unlock with ultrasn0w. Redsn0w works by putting your device into a special DFU mode which is required for installation of custom IPSWs.

The iPhone Dev-Team has also posted an update on redsn0w+limera1n fun:

It looks like geohot’s recent limera1n exploit for iPhone3GS/iPhone4/iPad/ipt3g/ipt4g/atv2g will be very beneficial to jailbreakers and unlockers for the next few months (at least). geohot’s limera1n program and the alternative greenpois1on program both use his same exploit (although greenpois0n refuses to tell you that, FWIW), and hopefully SHAtter can be saved for some later device.

Were you waiting for a Windows version of custom IPSW installation or are you waiting for iOS 4.2? Let us know…

[Redsn0w, Dev-Team Blog]

Like our sibling site, Android Central, TiPb has been invited to a mobile event at Facebook HQ this Wednesday, November 3. If it had just been AC, I’d have started wondering about that Facebook phone. Just TiPb and I might have thought iPad app. Both Android and iOS at the same bash and maybe Facebook is ready to make some bigger cross-platform waves. With former Android lead Eric Tseng and former iOS developer Joe Hewitt busy in the mobile division, who knows what they have up their social little sleeves?

Speculate in the comments!

It turns out that the iPod touch is a kidnapper deterrent. In Stanton, Delaware, a 12-year-old girl was waiting for a ride outside Stanton Middle School when a man driving a white van pulled up next to her and yelled at her to “get in the van”. Instead of panicking, the girl pulled out her iPod touch, held it to her ear, and told the man that she was calling 9-1-1. Believing that she was using an iPhone, the driver immediately sped off. What a smart girl.

An iPod touch may have just saved this girl’s life. Now, don’t be surprised when your preteen argues that if you had his/her safety in mind, you’d buy him/her an iPod touch.

[ABC via Cult of Mac]

Apple has shown an increasing interest as of late in creating stainless steel devices that are more durable to everyday wear and tear, and have been experimenting with an external coating of nitride to make this possible.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has published information relating to Apple’s latest invention of a new application which they call “Nitriding Stainless Steel for Consumer Electronic Products.” This describes a cost-effective system that would include placing a layer of nitride on top of the stainless steel exterior to help it wear better over time. The application reads:

In addition to providing a durable, hard surface that is both scratch and impact resistant, the nitride layer allows for the natural surface color and texture of the underlying stainless steel to remain visible to the user. It is this natural surface color and texture of the stainless steel that adds to the aesthetically pleasing appearance of the consumer electronic product, thereby enhancing the user’s overall experience.

This concept would allow the look and feel of the stainless stell to be maintained while at the same time providing greater protection against scratches and other wear and tear that devices face on a day to day basis. It’s also desireable because it is non-magnetic and would be less likely to inhibit 3G wireless signals as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. We all know this is rather important after the infamous antennagate Apple faced with the release of the iPhone 4.

[ Apple Insider ]

by Brian Tufo

iPhone users living in southern Australia were supposed to get an extra hour of sleep with the change to daylight savings on October 3, but didn’t because the alarms on their iPhones went off an hour early. Apple knows about the bug and it should be fixed in the next update.

This is a very strange glitch because the iPhone’s clock correctly updated with daylight savings, but the recurring alarm clock does not recognize the new time. However, a one-time alarm works just fine.

A representative from Apple Australia said that Apple is “aware of this issue and already developed a fix which will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.” I expect this update will arrive before daylight savings goes into effect in the US in a few weeks.

In the meantime, users report that the best solution at the moment is to either set a new alarm every day or set your recurring alarm for an hour later than you want it to go off.

Any of our Australian readers experience this annoying bug?

[AppleInsider]

CultofMac has received a tip from an anonymous source that claims Apple might be getting ready to go all in on near-field communication (NFC), with next June’s iPhone 5 potentially leading the way:

“The Mac authenticates with the iPhone, which contains a lot of the information the computer needs, such as bookmarks, passwords and other data,” said our source, who asked to remain anonymous. “The system would essentially turn any Apple computer into your own — like you’re actually working on your own computer. Same settings, look, bookmarks, preferences. It would all be invisible. Your iPhone would be all you needed to unlock your Mac….Address book would show their contacts, and the user would have full access to their information in the same manner they would if they were working from home. This same behavior extends to even showing the same desktop picture, mouse and keyboard settings, and would eventually extend to software licenses and passwords for websites such as Facebook….When a person walks away with their iPhone and away from the communication link with the Mac, the original settings of the Mac would be restored. All communications and storage of passwords stays on the user’s iPhone, leaving nothing stored on the computer….This functionality is extended to access a user’s home folder, which will be stored and accessed either through storage on MobileMe or by using the Back to My Mac feature to connect to the user’s home folder.”

The source also states that this technology has been toyed with by Apple for quite a while and it may never see the light of day. They also note that transfer speeds are not that great, and may depend on wifi or bluetooth after the initial handshake with the device.

NFC technology has been picking up speed in Asia but has yet to really see the light of day in the US. Lenovo offers this option in a few of their ThinkPads but NFC has yet to gain a foothold. If Apple adopts it, that may change.

NFC basically allows users to utilize their device as an electronic passport. Your iPhone would store your personal settings, bookmarks, keychain passwords, and desktop settings. When you’re in range of an NFC compatible Mac or other device, it could essentially turn that Mac into your desktop. Similar to remote desktop. The difference is that you don’t have to initiate a login or store local data. If you walk out of range of the Mac or NFC compatible device, your information would no longer be accessible. The device would simply go back to its previous state and no traces of your information would be stores locally on the Mac or device.

Is this a feature you guys think would be useful to you?

[via CultofMac]

When in November will Apple release iOS 4.2?customer surveys

It’s now officially November, the month when Apple and Steve Jobs said iOS 4.2 for iPad and iPhone would arrive. But just exactly when in November will they get here? This week? Next week? Week after? November 30, 11:59pm Cupertino Time?

Should the take their time to get it right, or should they get it our right now? Vote in the poll above and give us your thoughts in the comments below!

In the past Cydia has given the option to “Make my life easier” which automatically saved SHSH blobs on the Cydia server, but since the release of limera1n and greenpois0n, this option has disappeared and your saved SHSH blobs are not shown on the Cydia front page. The Cydia server is still up and running, and any SHSH blob that you saved previously is still saved. Also TinyUmbrella, which uses the Cydia server, still works perfectly and should be used to make sure your 4.1 SHSH blobs have been saved.

My guess is that with the huge flood of jailbreaks and Cydia downloads during the past couple weeks, Saurik decided to turn this feature off for the time being in order to save bandwidth. Fear not, your blobs are still safe and this feature should return soon…

[TinyUmbrella, image via ipodtouchfans]

by Farbod

Remember that annoying DST bug that was affecting Australian iPhone users’ alarm clocks? Well, now it’s Europe’s turn. The switch from Daylight Saving Time to Standard time happened last night and now many European iPhone users woke up late this morning.

Even though the iPhones are correctly changing the clock time, recurring alarms are not recognizing it. What’s even stranger, is that not all alarms are affected. If the alarm is set for “every day” or “never”, then the alarm will go off at the correct time.

What disappoints me is that Apple knew about this bug and promised a software update to fix it. Why hasn’t it been released yet? Do they plan to fix it before the switch hits North America next week?

To our European readers, did you wake up late this morning because of this bug?

[Engadget]