Archive for May, 2009

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has identified a potential vulnerability in Adobe’s PDF format which could result in the execution of malicious code via a PDF attachment.  This is not the first time in 2009 that RIM has picked up on such an issue, and as before they have written a patch for the BES platform to prevent any unwelcome code entering the network.

These sorts of security holes in popular document formats underlines the threat these application suites pose, and fortunately RIM have been quick to react, ensuing their product won’t be the vessel through which another manufacturers product could cause devastation.

Patches are available for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1.x and BlackBerry Professional Software, and we are recommending customers install these patches as soon as possible, regardless of the remote chances they would be targeted.  Any Adam Phones/airtime manager customer who has not received this morning’s bulletin is encouraged to contact us ASAP for further information.

According to a report published by Maribel Lopez, formerly of Forrester Research, BlackBerry smartphones provide consumers with the highest level of security available. The report analyzed the device itself as well as the network it uses and how it connects to that network. The ratings system was divided into 4 sections with a top score of 4. RIM BlackBerry devices scored 4/4 in all sections, beating Apple’s iPhone and competitors Windows Mobile powered devices.

continue

Andy Rubin, Google’s Director of Mobile Platforms, claims there could be up to 18 new handsets released in 2009 sporting the Android operating system.   Seeing that we’re almost half way through 2009 and only two handsets have been launched globally (the G1 and HTC Magic) this appears a tall order, unless Google and its manufacturing partners intend to focus their efforts on the holiday season.

Rubin confirmed up to 9 manufacturers will be responsible for the release of these additional handsets, with the primary focus surprisingly being the European market.

Speaking at the Google I/O web developer conference in San Francisco, Rubin also confirmed that the three variants of the Android mobile platform will break down as follows:

• Google-free: This is a free to download version of the platform containing no Google applications such as Gmail or Google Calendar.
• Strings attached: Similar to Google-free, but manufacturers sign a distribution agreement with Google and pre-install the Google applications.
• The Google Experience: These will be Google branded handsets with all Google applications installed and will include unrestricted access to the Android market (with no carrier or manufacturer intervention or blacklist of applications they disapprove of).

Apple this week warned its iPhone and iPod users that they might experience a “small and quick” shock via their earbuds due to a buildup of static electricity.

“This condition is not limited to Apple hardware and static can potentially build up on almost any hardware and could be discharged using any brand of earbuds,” Apple said. continue

A reputable Sony Ericsson Blog has confirmed that Sony Ericcson are planning on releasing a new firmware for the X1, which will include support for a BlackBerry connection in June 09.  continue

US based bespoke holster manufacturer case-mate have designed a new holster for the BlackBerry Bold 9000. 

The new holster, called the “BlackBerry Bold Fuel” contains a lithium polymer battery and can be used to charge your BlackBerry by the flip of a switch.  The lithium cell can provide the Bold with an additional 7 hours of talktime and can be recharged with the same standard miniUSB port used to recharge the device.  When the BlackBerry is clipped in to the case the terminal connectors on the case charge the device when switched on.  The case also comes complete with an LED showing the status of the onboard lithium cell.

While Google has improved Android several times since it came out in 2008, “Cupcake” bumps the software’s version to 1.5 and marks the platform’s first significant upgrade.

continue

This morning there was a brief outage on the RIM EU relay.  Our servers detected a loss of service shortly after 08:00 GMT and the network was offline for around 30 minutes.  Both BES and BIS users will have been impacted, but there will have been no loss of data as mail will have been sat pending at the BES (in the case of BlackBerry Enterprise Servers) awaiting a reconnection to RIM’s infrastructure before pushing that data out to devices.

Shortly after noticing the issue, we received confirmation of the RIM failure from our partners at O2.

Any users experiencing issues beyond 09:00 GMT should not attribute their loss of service to this morning’s outage and should therefore investigate accordingly.

Finnish company Nokia has introduced a service that allows users to send and receive emails on their mobile using virtually any email service.

Nokia Messaging is “push email” which means that new messages digitally compressed in order to speed up delivery to a user’s mobile and are immediately sent to the recipient. Users can access their email from almost any service provider including Microsoft Exchange, Hotmail, Google Mail and Lotus Notes. continue

Speculation regarding the next generation iPhone has been enhanced this week with the release of a leaked screenshot online showing the device to have 32GB of memory.

The 2009 flavour of the iPhone is expected to be announced soon, along with some enhanced specifications (a far cry from the recurring iPod analogy of the same old product in a shiny new colour).   Apparently the device may have 600MHz CPU to replace the current 400MHz power plant, double the RAM to 256MB, an enhanced 3.2 megapixel camera, FM radio, and of course the aforementioned expansion of the hard drive capacity.

What appears unchanged is the screen, embedded battery (which cannot be removed unless sent to Apple), and there still appears to be no external storage option planned via the popular microSD format or otherwise.