The growing popularity of the app store has made Apple ID’s a target for scammers, hackers, phishers and every other digital scoundrel. With that ID, they have access to your library of music, movies, books, and apps as well as personally identifiable information and financial information. The stories of people having their Apple ID hacked have not happened frequently, but as with the new Mac virus (flashback trojan), the ever increasing popularity of Apple means an increased vulnerability.

To combat this issue, Apple has added security to your account, effective today. It is a series of three security questions and a rescue email that will help you prove your identity in the event your account is compromised or you forget your password. The integration of the new settings is caused by using the app store on your phone. It is important to note that updating existing apps will not trigger the change. If you don’t have any new apps to download, but want to up the ante on security, just choose the first free app you can find and subsequently delete it.

The attached photo shows the popup notification as well as the screen to choose/answer the questions. After it is complete and recovery email is entered (hidden from view in screen shot), a confirmation email will be sent from Apple, alerting you to click and verify the email address used. Even while updating security, they are sure to avoid scams.

Some skepticism has appeared around the web and the legitimacy has been questions. This is, in fact, from Apple. It is only triggered when an app is downloaded and the email appears to be genuinely from Apple as well. This is being seen by too many people with different apps and varying configurations to be a unified scam anyway.

The received email reads:

Thank you.

You’ve taken the added security step and provided a rescue email address. Now all you need to do is verify that it belongs to you.

The rescue address you have given us is ???@???.com. Just click the link below to verify, sign in using your Apple ID and password, then follow the prompts.

The rescue email address is dedicated your security and allows Apple to get in touch if any account questions come up, such as the need to reset or change your security questions. As promised, Apple will never send you any announcements or marketing messages to this address.

- South by Southwest is happening
- The Thank You Economy book came out
- iPad 2 released and apps are on sale

First video of 2011. What happened so far and predictions for the year.

The proliferation of smart phones has created a new business model in the world of technology. That business model is the app store. This idea was pioneered by Apple and the iPhone and had been adopted by the Android community. Apple has incorporated this into the iPad as well. Even the update from OS X 10.5 Leopard to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard incurred a $30 fee, which is well below the price of any operating system upgrade ever before. The Android community has a Google Marketplace and individual carriers and phone manufacturers have their own repositories as well, such as Verizon’s or Motorola’s stores. 

Yesterday, Apple made another unprecedented move by incorporating an app store into the desktop. The update to their Snow Leopard operating system from 10.6.5 to 10.6.6 brought the inclusion of this new feature. Now,  users can download full scale desktop applications and pay for them using their iTunes credentials and payment information without the need for physical media. The overhead is lower which brings prices down. One such example is Apple’s photo editing application, Aperture, which retails for $199 and is now on sale in the app store for $80. Developers have learned a quick lesson that by dropping the price you will more than make up for it in sales volume. 

People will, for example, by 10 apps at 99 cents, but rarely buy 1 app at $10. And the logical deployment of applications via the cloud means that developers can afford to charges this prices and keep profits and profit margins up. 

The update to the operating system is, of course, free. When completed you will notice a new icon in your dock that is the app store. When entering, apps are broken up by free apps, paid apps, popular apps and more. You can browse by genre or search for something specifically. 

This is a bold move for Apple but will likely be very popular. If the success of app stores for smart phones and tablets is any indication, it is almost a sure bet that this model will be copied on other desktop platforms before long as well. 

A brand new iPhone app was released and people are claiming that it encourages cheating. I don’t want to get too in depth on the moral or ethical debate about whether a non-cheater will be a cheater given the proper tools. Let’s just say that I believe that a person will do what a person will do whether you make it easy or hard. If someone is designed to cheat, then they will regardless of the proliferation of technology that helps them along. That being said, I’m not sure that I support the attempts to aid and abet. I do, however, support any individual’s creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. I’m a capitalist.

So what is the big news all about? We’ve all heard about Ashley Madison’s website for married affairs. It was a big deal last summer when the mobile version of AshleyMadison.com went public which gave users a streamlined, iPhone version of the site which made surfing a breeze even in low bandwidth places. I attempted to look at this interface but you must be a paying member who has also paid for the new interface; so I just saw screenshots.

The iPhone and the increased ability to cheat have had their own relationship for a while so why is it back in the news today? TigerText is the newest app for would-be cheaters, extra marital flirters or the generally sneaky iPhone owners. I’ll answer your question before you ask it - It is not directly named for Tiger’s recent exploits but the timing is impeccable. TigetText doesn’t claim the app is for cheating but, let’s inject some reality here.

The purpose of the app is to hide text messages. The official description in the iTunes store reads:

• “Send texts that don’t live forever. Messages are deleted from both users’ phones. Be in control of the record you leave. Try TigerText for free.”

Conversations sent through TigerText are automatically deleted from both users’ phones after a pre-determined length of time. The example in iTunes offers an exchange between friends. The first asks “How did the job interview go?” with a response along the lines of “I told you not to send this to me while I’m at work.” The initiator sends back “Don’t worry. I set it to delete on read.” Before you know it, the conversation is gone as if it never happened in the first place. You can alter the amount of time it takes to delete and when that is reached; it disappears on both sides.

Here’s the rub. This only works on iPhones and they both have to have TigerText installed. If you send a message through the app and the recipient doesn’t have it, they will get a messages suggesting they download the free reader and then they will be able to read any messages sent through it.

So the end result is that the application enables auto-deleting of messages for both parties based on time. It keeps the messages within the app. If one user doesn’t have it they are recommended to get it. If they do, the messages get deleted. If they don’t, the message never goes through.

Could this be used for legitimate purposes based around privacy? Yes. Will it be used for more than secretive romantic endeavors? Probably not. Will it cause huge amounts of controversy? Absolutely. What will that do in the end? Cause more people to get it and enable them to act out on their already existing tendencies toward infidelity.

Now, ask me if I think it’s wrong… absolutely not. I think it’s genius. We don’t ban beer because of alcoholics. We don’t remove all cars because someone speeds. Let the developer worry about the ethical ramifications and the users be concerned with their sins. Everyone should be held personally accountable for their use.

Maybe this will help someone vent about their boss or plan a surprise party for a spouse. Maybe it will just be a simple way to manage your text messages and keep them free from clutter. Either way, the concept is fantastic. Your usage of it is up to you.

Edit: Blackberry and Android versions of this app are on the way. TigerText is free for 30 days. After that, it is free to read messages. $0.99 for 250 messages per month or $1.99 for unlimited message. Additionally, if you have limited monthly texts, this does not count against them. They are not traditional SMS messages as they filter through TigerText’s servers.

By the way, the company answers the question about the TigerText name. They say:

• “Tigers are notoriously difficult animals to track. TigerTexts are difficult to track as well. Fortuitously, we have also chosen to launch TigerText at the start of the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese Zodiac calendar which goes in 12 year cycles. The Year of the Tiger is auspicious for new technologies (or so we’ve been told by our Chinese Shaman!).”

28 Feb 2010 - Sunday Weekly Wrap-Up #4

- Apple deletes sexy apps
- Mahalo
- My giveaway to say thanks

People were not happy about Apple capriciously deleting the 5,000 apps that it deemed too racy for the app store. In response to the developer outrage over having all of their apps pulled, Apple has tried to make good.

Developers are seeing a new category when submitting to the app store today. The “Explicit” category just appeared without warning, much like how the apps disappeared the first time. There is no talk of whether or not the deleted apps will be put back or if the creators will be forced to resubmit.

The controversy was not in the deletion of the apps in and of itself. The biggest issue stemmed from Apple’s sudden and sweeping nature. One day they were there, one day they were gone. Sure it’s the app store owned by Apple. It’s their product and they can do what they want. Once again, it was never what they did, as much as it was how they did it. So they had a few complaints from women and parents.

Women, if you don’t like the apps with nudity, don’t download them. Theaters won’t pull movies with scenes you find demeaning. HBO won’t cancel it’s late night lineup. Your choice is to watch or not watch and the same thing applies here.

Parents, if you buy your child a $500 phone and do not monitor their behavior; it is not up to the manufacturer to change the content of the store to let you off the hook in parenting your child. Tell the local video rental store that you’re sending your child in to get whatever he/she wants so they have to make sure the have no adult section and see how far that gets you.

To add insult to injury the sweep included every app that depicted women in a sexy pose or outfit to include bikinis and lingerie. However, Sports Illustrated famous swimsuit issue didn’t have its app deleted. Neither did Playboy. What is the difference between those and the small developer apps? Nothing except the name. Does it make it less objectionable because it came from long standing source? Are women not depicted scantily clad? Are children not going to see the same either way?

At the end of the day, it seems that this was a knee jerk reaction over the weekend and quick fix-action for overreacting just a little bit.

The biggest news over the last couple of days has not been the advancement of new technology or the proliferation of new social media. It has not been a new product or must have gadget. It has been the removal of something. Apple began to quietly remove and apps with “objectionable content.” It all began with an app called - Wobble iBoobs and grew from there. At last check the count was over 5,000 apps removed but not from all sexy app developers. While smaller companies and developers like those responsible for Wobbly iBoobs see their app magically erased from the store; Sports Illustrated and even Playboy remain in the store. The reasoning for this is, “The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format,” as told to us by Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of worldwide product marketing.

What started this? Apple was getting an increasing number of complaints from women who found the contest offensive and objectionable as well as parents concerned about what their children might be seeing. What was failed to be mentioned here was that every app with questionable material has a warning that it should only be downloaded by someone 17 years of age or older. Anyone under that age that still downloads has violated Apple’s terms of service so there should be no children downloading. Any child young enough to be maladjusted from an app like that shouldn’t have an iPhone or at least not without parental supervision. Women offended by these apps should simple make a choice not to download them. I don’t have a single app like that on my phone but I believe in the freedom of other people to have them if they so choose.

The end result is that the Apple brand is as squeaky clean and G-Rated as Mickey Mouse and they want to keep it that way, even if that means continue to censor the apps the way China censors its Internet usage and pulling these Gestapo-like tactics of sweeping through the app store and eradicating all apps Schiller deems unfit. This is reminiscent of Apple’s decision to deny Google Voice.

Their management over the hardware and software with an app approval process is brilliant in terms of moderating memory usage and keeping the device stable. However the dictatorship of content goes beyond ensuring developers keep clean code and is getting into a realm of censorship. They are not the MPAA, FCC, etc and should put the onus on the user or the parent to choose what is sensible for them. If a parent doesn’t watch their child, the app gets removed and all the legitimate adults lose out. That is like saying that HBO will take off late night racy shows because children are waking up and turning on the TV.

Bottom line - Police the behavior of your children and yourselves so the company doesn’t have to. Apple; stop being overly sensitive and allow creativity and innovation to flourish in your closed-platform or people will leave for open source projects that will allow it.