The founder of Equinux, Till Schadde, recently discovered an interesting problem with the AIM app and Push Notifications. According to Schadde and reported by Crunchgear, AIM on jailbroken and unlocked iPhones was sending messages to random recipients without the sender's knowledge. In other words, that sexy sweet nothing you sent your sweetheart might have reached a stranger instead.
(Credit:
Simonblog)
The problem, which apparently effects only the iPhone 2G and 3G is directly caused by an app called Pushfix, which is available via Cydia.
The iPhone Dev Team created the app, which attempts to fix the Push feature on jailbroken iPhones. Unfortunately, it employed the use of only one Unique Device ID (UDID) to fix every jailbroken iPhone, when each device should have a separate UDID. Since all the affected handsets had the same UDID, the AIM messages were sent to multiple iPhones. Talk about a major misfire.
I've reconsidered the necessity of jailbreaking iPhones in the past and again am questioning the value of hacking the iPhone. The iPhone and iTunes App Store aren't completely perfect, but they've matured and have a promising future. The iPhone SDK has had some major restrictions removed such as video recording and using the GPS for turn-by-turn directions.
The decision, of course, is yours, but if you continue to perform these actions and find unexpected results as described above, then you can only blame yourself. So before you jailbreak you should ask yourself if it is worth the risk. In this case it's loss of privacy, but it could be worse.
Let me know what you think about jailbreaking in the comments.
The new version of AIM notifies you when a new instant message arrives.
Good news on the IM front: AIM (Free Edition) and BeejiveIM 3.0 are among the first instant-messaging apps to support push notification, meaning you'll get alerted to new messages even when the apps aren't running.
If that sounds a bit familiar, it's because we reported on AIM's use in push-notification stress-testing about a week ago.
It also follows the news that uberpopular texting app TextFree was first out of the SMS gate with push support, allowing users to get new-message notifications while the iPhone is off or doing other things.
AIM offers a fairly robust feature set for a free app. It supports multiple screen names and works with AOL, ICQ, .Mac, and MobileMe accounts. It keeps you logged in for 24 hours and gives you the option of receiving notifications via SMS for those times when you're logged out.
I particularly like how you can finger-swipe between different chats. Of course, those features have been around for a while. The big news here is push, and in my tests it worked flawlessly.
I haven't been able to test BeejiveIM 3.0 yet, which is notable for its cross-platform support of AIM/MobileMe, Facebook, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, and just about every other chat service known to man.
Thankfully, the developer lowered the $15.99 price tag, though it's still on the pricey side at $9.99.
Of course, when you take into account the money you stand to save on SMS charges, that might just be the deal of the century.
Are you geeked about push-enabled IM? If so, what's your favorite app? (Feel free to list those that haven't received the push treatment just yet.)
Apple recently sent out an e-mail to developers testing the latest iPhone OS 3.0 software. Apple wants to put the Push Notification system through one last stress test before releasing OS 3.0 to consumers on June 17. The app picked for this second test was the AOL AIM $2.99 instant messaging application. (Previously, Apple tested the Associated Press application, AP Mobile Free.) We assume that Apple chose news and instant messaging apps because these applications will be using Push Notification the most.
Push Notification is a system Apple developed to work around the fact that Apple does not allow third-party apps to run in the background on the iPhone. (We first wrote about Push Notification last year when it was announced at WWDC. You can see a video about Push Notification here.)
Multitasking--or running apps in the background--caused security problems, according to Apple, and negatively impacts battery life. Although there are rumors that Apple may in the future be a little bit more flexible with background tasks--perhaps in answer to the Palm Pre, which does pull off multitasking--currently only Apple's native apps (such as Mobile Mail) can run in the background.
You can see Push Notification and AIM in action below in a YouTube video. We are told that with Push, receipt of the messages is practically instantaneous.
Push Notification was missing-in-action since last year and we had expected to see it last fall, but it was a no show. It appeared then that with all the new things Apple was bringing to market, the company may have bitten off more than it could chew. (Witness MobileMe's disastrous first days.) Now, fast forward to WWDC 2009 and all of this has changed. MobileMe has matured, and Push Notification appears to be working well according to our testing sources.
Tell us what you think about Push Notification versus true multitasking in the comments.
In an attempt to capitalize on the success of the iTunes App Store AOL has decided to split its iPhone chat client AIM into a free, ad-supported download version called AIM Free (iTunes Link) and a paid version called AIM Paid.
Both versions of AIM have some new features, including the ability to use SMS notifications, multiple account support and access to the GPS for location services. Contacts from your iPhone address book can be accessed inside of AIM and then reached via IM or SMS text message. Login time for an account can last up to 24 hours, persisting even with the app is not running.
Interestingly, an SMS feature is in place due to the lack of push services for apps. Push Services were promised to by Apple last September, as we've discussed here and here. The SMS feature allows users to receive messages when the AIM app is not running, in lieu of push services.
The location services feature lets you share your location with your buddies, everyone or no one at all. The the first time I launched this feature, the app located me approximately five to eight miles north of my current location in a completely different town.
The paid version of this application is currently not available as it is still being reviewed by Apple, but its release is expected soon.
Palringo's the first multi-chat protocol app for the iPhone.
(Credit: Palringo)The new iPhone app from Palringo brings an official multi-instant messaging client to the Apple device. It supports eight chat protocols and includes some useful iPhone-specific features, but also suffers from several irritating limitations.
Palringo can handle Apple iChat, AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber, and Windows Live Messenger. Assuming you've got no problems with the iPhone keyboard, creating a profile for one of these accounts is as simple as selecting the proper icon and typing in your username and password. First, though, you must set up a Palringo account. Not to worry: when you open the Palringo app for the first time, it will redirect you to their Web site for registration.
When you receive a message, it gets dumped into the universal in-box at the bottom left corner of the screen. This may sounds chaotic, but I was surprised at how well it worked. The camera feature worked flawlessly, too. When you select a contact to chat with, tap the camera icon in the lower right corner and you can either take a fresh photo that will be instantly sent, or send an already-saved photo from your album.
However, do note that the photo gets uploaded to Palringo's servers and stored there for 10 days. Users must then download images to keep them. Click here to see the image that Jason Parker sent me from his iPhone.
Palringo offers a variety of status options, but no clear way to log out of one client.
(Credit: Palringo)The big hang-up, if you'll forgive the pun, is that the app doesn't offer a way to sign out of an account once it's been created. You can change the status of an account to Invisible, Busy, or Away, with the default status being Online, but there's no way to be logged in to your AIM but not your ICQ.
Also, since the iPhone can currently use only one app at a time, you must be running the app to receive new messages. The phone vibrates when it does, but that won't do you much good without having the app always on. The promised voice-chat feature has yet to be implemented, too.
Even with these drawbacks, for people who don't have a jailbroken phone Palringo offers a solid and Apple-approved way to get access to all your IMs at once.
Who's Online on AIM
(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Fulfilling a feature available previously with jailbreak applications, AOL is offering a free instant-messaging client, available through the AppStore, for the iPhone. In our brief testing, the client was a snap to configure, and worked well, but exhibited a few freezes.
When the AIM application is first launched, you are presented with options to use either the AOL instant messaging service or MobileMe. Once you've made your selection, however, we couldn't find an easy way to go back and configure another account.
AIM chat screen
(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Buddy lists are displayed with icons, status messages, and the typical blue iPhone interface arrow, which allows you to initiate a chat with a buddy or add a buddy to your favorites. The blue icon doesn't, however, allow you to access an active chat with said buddy. For that, you'll need to tap on the "IMs" button at the bottom of the screen.
The AIM application adds a preference pane to the "Settings" application, allowing you to change your screen name and password and control whether or not your account signs off when the AIM program is exited. If the option to sign off is turned off, IMs will continue to stream in while you work in other applications, and be displayed in the "Active IMs" window.
AIM My Info screen
(Credit: iPhone Atlas)Tapping the "My Info" button allows you to set your Avaialble/Away status, as well as establish a status message. There's also a neat feature embedded here: you can tap on your buddy icon to bring up an option to either take a photo with the iPhone's built-in camera and use it as your buddy icon, or choose an existing photo from your iPhone's library and use it similarly.
As aforementioned, we experienced a few freezes in perfunctory use of AIM. If you experience such a freeze, hold the iPhone's Home button down for several seconds to force-quit the app.
(Cross-posted from iPhone Atlas)
Amid the growing group of instant-messaging solutions for the IM-less iPhone, Mundu (a Webware 100 winner) has just released a new contender that handles four of the most popular chatting protocols with a fantastic interface. If you're an iPhone user, just navigate your Safari browser to http://iphone.mundu.com, which takes you to a log-in screen with access to your AIM, Yahoo, MSN, .Mac, and Google Talk accounts. You can log into all of them simultaneously, although there's no master password system like you get with Meebo.
Each client gets its own buddy list, and any additional conversations get their own tabs. To start a conversation, just tap a user name of one of your friends who is logged in. There's a simple form that pulls up the iPhone's keyboard when clicked. Similar to the iPhone's built-in SMS app and iChat, conversations show up as color-coded speech bubbles that can be scrolled back and forth with your finger. The refresh rate is also instantaneous, so you don't have to keep reloading the page to see new comments from your friends.
The whole app has a very organic feel that's just right. It's one of the few IM apps I've used on the iPhone where it doesn't feel like you're fighting an interface to make it feel like a desktop app. I also have to give Mundu credit for creating a neat bubbly effect on the chat tab when you've got an unread message. Sometimes it's just the little things that make Web apps more fun to use. In this case, the function is just as good as the form.
Mundu's IM client for the iPhone is slick and fun to use.
(Credit: Mundu.com)
eBuddy is a strange mix of a typical Web company. While the lowercase "e" in front of the name might suggest it's a survivor of the early 1990s dot-com boom, it actually started out in 2003 and resides not in the Silicon Valley, but Amsterdam. It's also one of the few companies I've seen that has put almost its entire press kit on Flickr. eBuddy specializes in Web-based IM, which might sound familiar if you've ever used Meebo or the Web version of your favorite chat client. eBuddy works with three of the major clients, including AIM, MSN, and Yahoo. The latest release, which came earlier this month, runs all three at once.
IM on your iPhone, with eBuddy.
(Credit: CNET Networks)Besides running on your browser, in the last two months eBuddy has been moving into the mobile space. It has a handy Java-based client that will run in nearly every phone, along with a version you can point to with your mobile browser. Just a few days ago this mobile version was optimized for the iPhone in order to get it to work with the Safari browser.
I spent a few minutes with it this morning, and came away impressed. iPhone users get a scrollable buddy list and tabbed chat windows. The buddy text is easy to read, and if you need to come in closer you can simply pinch. Instead of relying on a scroll bar to browse through your contacts, you just hold two fingers to drag it up or down. This worked some of the time, but more often it would simply scroll the entire page instead. You can also use this two-fingered scroll to read the contents of an IM conversation.
The chat interface itself is really simple, including the input box, which gives you a rather large selection of emoticons in case you feel like skipping the typing. If you need to jump back to the buddy list, you can do it from any window, which is helpful. All in all, it's a very simple solution for IMing on the go, and one of the better ones I've seen thus far.
Related: iPhone IM arms race ramping up; Trillian coming soon
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