Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

In the recent post on the app store comparisons from distimos http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/20/distimos-year-end-report-shows-why-developers-love-ios-iphone-4x-android-revenue-ipad-2x/

It states that the apple app store is the place to be for your applications if you are looking to make some money. The report claims that apple’s store produced near 4 times the revenue than google’s app market.

The report goes on to discuss the use of the freemium model for apps. It is interesting that the apple store shows the iPad and iPhone as separate areas.

I can’t wait to see what this report will look like next year. Overall, it seems that if you are looking to make some money you should build apps for iOS devices.

If you have developed a mobile application you know the hassle it is to create icons. I have recently used the Quirco icon generator : www.quirco.com/iPhoneIcon

Give it a try. A very easy way to generate a nice looking logo for an iOS device.

I am a fan of using my iPad for note taking. I noticed today that Microsoft Onenote is now available for the iPad and iPhone.

Head on over to iTunes and download
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/onenote/id478105721?mt=8

After trying out the application is works great. However, it does not sync with my work OneNote. It syncs with your skydrive. I am going to have to see if I can sync with my corporate onenote through skydrive.

Let me know what you think of this application.

I recently took a trip to Las Vegas for a conference. I took my ipad for both note taking and also to do work. It performed perfectly. I have to say that the majority of people at this conference had tablets and the clear winner in shear numbers was the iPad.

To prepare for the trip I loaded a few magazines, books, and movies on my iPad. To do this here are the top apps that I used:

1. Zinio – A e-magazine application (read my previous post on this) Great application to purchase magazines for the airplane trip.

2. VLC- Video Lan Client. I used this to watch a movie. Since I use windows media center at home. I just moved an .AVI to the VLC application and watched a movie while in the flight. (I would recommend better headphones or noise canceling)

3. Built in iBook reader : I read the last chapters of the recent james bond novel
(Close second is Kindle)

4. Business week : if you have a subscription

5. iSSH - Remote access to any of my servers while traveling

6. PPTP – Built in vpn. If you are traveling and not using a vpn be warned. You will have your packets watched or stolen. I suggest using a personal vpn if you don’t have access to one from work. Try wifi-vpn.com only $4 per week (or $9 a month)

7. Remote Desktop lite – Remote access to your desktop.

I am a huge fan of the iPad, as you can see by my recent posts.  I find myself reading more and more on my iPad and iPhone.  One of the best things about the iPad is you can get magazine subscriptions using Zinio.

I can’t say enough good words about the software.  I love to get a magazine quickly and before trips it can’t be beat.    However, recently I noticed that if you purchase a magazine while on the iPad it is a bit more expensive.    I am heading out for a trip and wanted to pick up a few items for reading.  Note the price for the in app purchase of FourFourTwo ($5.99).  But if you purchase through their web site it’s only $3.99.  I did not realize the price difference.  It is interesting that in application purchases are more expensive.  I don’t mind for the convenience but I would rather know the difference between the two prices.

I’ve been involved in some mobile application development and have had the need to test a site and application with many mobile devices. During this process I have found two good iOS emulators.

http://www.electricplum.com/dlsim.html

and

http://code.google.com/p/ibbdemo2/

I just recently learned that the ibbdemo2 was replaced by the electric plum version above.   I found these to be great emulators and tools to use while testing mobile optimized sites.

You can see that I pulled up my blog and it displays in the mobile version and not the full site.

I decided to upgrade iTunes and also my iOS version to 5.   The install of iTunes version 10.5 took about 20 min to download and install.  The install of iOS 5 is taking a bit of time to install – 8 hours.  Eight hours, that is one heck of a long time.

I did a quick speed test just to validate that I had a good connection speed.    I had close to 17MB download speeds and it still shows about 8 hours to download.  How many people are downloading the iOS 5 version with me as well.  It would be great to see what kind of traffic that Apple is generating today.

If you are in the Grand Rapids area and have some friends you owe a cold beverage.  You should check out www.conpoto.com.

It is a local site for the Traverse City, Holland, or Grand Rapids area.   There are some great establishments setup to purchase a beer for your buddy.  Feel free to send me one. Founder or Hopcat will work.

I love it when I come across a new thing on the iPad that I did not know.  I was reading a tip’s and tricks blog post on the ipad and I learned about how to pause an app from being installed.

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/14529/the-complete-list-of-ipad-tips-tricks-and-tutorials/

You basically hit the icon of the app that is in the (waiting or loading) state and it will turn to paused.  What a great feature when you start to update all apps and then want to surf the web or get a large attachment

If you use google apps and an iPhone or iPad you have probably tried to add other calendars to your in app calendar application.  A very simple way to do this is to use iphoneselect.   Iphone select allows you to select the calendars from a webpage and then configure your iPad or iPhone app to sync with them

Google APPS: https://www.google.com/calendar/hosted/YOURDOMAINNAME/iphoneselect

Change YOURDOMAINName to the appropriate url mine is “jimiz.net”.

Gmail: https://www.google.com/calendar/iphoneselect

You will then see your available calendars to sync with, the same selection you have in the gmail web application.  This great little url can quickly configure your calendar.

I recently configured my cousins google apps account and allowed him to sync the other team members.

I am not one to have a belt clip for my phone.  One of the main elements of having a phone for me is to be able to fit without being seen in a pocket.   I currently have an iPhone 4 and like the size and function it has (don’t like the weight – remember I keep it in my pocket).

Since my first smart phone I have never kept a case for any of them.  I have tried many cases and covers for both my iPhone 3 and my iPhone4 but they all caused more hassle than it was worth.  Some were too bulky, others would catch on my pocket, and some would just gather pocket lint.

So for the past few years I have used a naked phone (phone with out a case).  That is until recently when I was in a meeting and scratched the crap out of the back of my iphone.  I thought it would be nice to have a simple just back to the phone to stop that from happening and cushion it.

I happened to see a google add and also a quick mention of  Gelaskins on some site.  It may have been hak5.   Gelaskins make iphone, iPad, and laptop covers or skins.  The iPhone skin was just what I was looking for.   A very thin back overlay.  It also comes with sides and front, but I don’t intent on using those.    You can also choose from many styles or create your own.  I decided to make my own.

If you are looking for a iPad or iPhone case, give these a quick try.  the iPod case is really cool, you could get custom ones made for your business.

GelaSkins are removable covers for protecting and customizing your portable devices. They feature stunning, photo-quality graphics ranging from fine art prints to contemporary urban images designed by our growing family of artists from around the globe. Stand out in the crowd with personalized protection from GelaSkins.

Give them a try, so far I am happy with the design process.  I uploaded the image and customized the rest.  I made the purchase on Sunday Night and it was shipped Monday.

The site was easy to use and the communication was great.  They use 3m adhesive and help stop scratches.  They make covers for most portable devices.

I am currently at microsoft techEd in Atlanta. Microsoft has some great things going on.

Any time you put 10000 geeks together you see a lot of tech. The main take away I found was that the iPad has won.

I see as many iPads as I do laptops. That is interesting especially at a Microsoft conference. This simple observation tells me that either Microsoft users like apple better than android or that the iPad is a better tablet.

You could argue that the iPad has been out longer, but is seems that most iPads l see are ipad2.

I am always interested in how secure my devices are? Is my data safe, can people get to my info, am I at risk of giving out any private information. The iPhone /iPad has proven to be pretty secure if you take precautions. Lock your screen and keep sensitive data out of the clear. The one interesting item you can hack is the backup. There is a lot of information to be gathered and searched in your simple backup.  Many people don’t think twice about the sync that happens with your computer and iTunes. I’ll go into a little discussion on what can be seen.

Before I go too far into this  information, it should be noted that this can be corrected by encrypting your backups.   The process to encrypt your backup is a simple check box in iTunes.  You can do this by connecting your iphone / ipad and selecting summary -> options -> encrypt iPhone backup.

Now that you have secured any future information let’s look at the wealth of informaiton that is now residing on your computer from your previous backups.  To find your backups on a windows machine navigate to :

(Windows 7 or vista) - C:\Users\{your username}\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

(Windows XP) - C:\Documents and Settings\{your username}\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Once in the directory you will see your backup sets.  Select one to look at.    First we will start with the info.plist file.  You can open this file with any text editor (xml formated file).  This file contains the overall information regarding the ios device:

• Device Phone number
• Device name
• Device GUID
• ICC-ID: Integrated Circuit Card ID serial number of the SIM card
• Serial number of the device
• and Much more

You can see in the screen capture above that this device name is “jimizphone”.

I know at this point you are thinking why is this stuff important.  Well after some research and some reading I was able to find out what some of those files contained.  Thanks to team over at hrgeeks in their great post here is some definitions of the files.  These files are all .mddata files that can be viewed using a SQLite browser.:

• Call Log: ff1324e6b949111b2fb449ecddb50c89c3699a78
• SMS (TEXT) Log: 3d0d7e5fb2ce288813306e4d4636395e047a3d28
• Notes Application : 740b7eaf93d6ea5d305e88bb349c8e9643f48c3b
• Contact List: 31bb7ba8914766d4ba40d6dfb6113c8b614be442
• Voice Mail List: 992df473bbb9e132f4b3b6e4d33f72171e97bc7a
• Calendar: 2041457d5fe04d39d0ab481178355df6781e6858

Let’s review one of the files.  I choose to look at the SMS log.  This would be the most damaging file if someone could review what I have said.   It could also be the target file for people looking for information (ex-wife, girlfriend, or business competitor).  Using SQLite browser I did a select statement on the file “select * from messages”  it returns records of text messages from the phone.

You can see from the image, that a record of all text messages was saved.  I have not verified if the deleted items are saved but the information is clear enough.  Your iPhone  backup file contains in clear text your SMS text messages.  It has the date, phone, message, and time stamp that can be searched.

Opening the contact list quickly allowed me to look at names and numbers that were stored on the phone.  This could be dangerous for people who don’t want that information shared.   A person would not need physical access to their phone, only access to their computer.

Armed with file name information you can also get other non-phone related information that may be stored by applications.

Facebook friend list – 6639cb6a02f32e0203851f25465ffb89ca8ae3fa

I did a quick check, and I was able to see all my facebook friends information (cell phone, email are hashed) but names and contact are available.  This is interesting in that you can gather information outside of the phone that could be used against you.

So with a little information and a simple tool you can get a lot of information from an iPhone / iPad backup.

To view the email accounts accessed or setup on the phone you can view this file in a text view application:

• Email Account: 5fd03a33c2a31106503589573045150c740721dd
• Safari History: 1d6740792a2b845f4c1e6220c43906d7f0afe8ab
• Safari Searches: bd38afa30b5a43c146db02a46ee11d82cdc817fe

I have a lot of apps loaded on the iPad. Many of these apps are games, productivity, social media, and just entertainment. However, there are a few that are really tech and work related. Since I am in the IT field I found a few apps that I would recommend.

Remote Desktop

1. winadmin – $8.99 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/winadmin-ipad-edition/id364898965?mt=8

This is the most simple tool to use for remote desktop, it is easy to use and just works. It is a great tool for the price

2. desktop connect – $14.99 http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desktop-connect/id364907570?mt=8

This app does both VNC and RDP. It has a lot of potential.

3. iTeleport – $24.99 install soft on the PC – http://www.iteleportmobile.com/

4. iTap – $11.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itap-rdp-remote-desktop-for/id317062064?mt=8

LogMeIn #29.99 – https://secure.logmein.com/products/ignition/iphone/

Well done app. This app allows you to remotely use LogMeIn and access to PC. This cost is worth it if you use LogMeIn.

jump – $19.99 – www.jumpdesktop.com

This app does both VNC and RDP.

Remote control – VNC

VNC is a great remote control software. It is free and open source, supports windows, linux and Mac.

screens – $19.99 http://edovia.com/screens

Screens is probably the best VNC iPad app. The cost is not cheap but it always works. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/screens/id400012962?mt=8

realvnc – $9.99 – ok http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vnc-viewer/id352019548?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

Is the 2nd best I can recommend. The cost is attractive.

Mocha VNC Lite – free – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mocha-vnc-lite/id284984448?mt=8 just that unattractive / good for ocasional users. I used this prior to getting screen.

Here is another link discussing VNC

http://lifehacker.com/5713455/the-best-vnc-apps-for-your-ipad

SSH

iSSH – $9.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/issh-ssh-vnc-console/id287765826?mt=8

I love iSSH. It is simple and always seems to amaze me. From the quick control key send to the Xviewer that has a keyboard overlay.

SSH Terminal – $.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ssh-terminal/id369875227?mt=8

A basic SSH client. Not many features, but it works.

Network tools

IT Tools – $4.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/it-tools/id324054954?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

What a great tool. This allows you to ping, traceroute, DNS and arp tables.

iNetwork-utility -$2.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/inetwork-utility/id378676317?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

The price of this app is fantastic. Ping, portscan, dns, whois, and Alexia info

zScan – $2.99 – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zscan/id381019397?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

A great network scanner. It will scan ports, udp, tcp, look for sql, banners. Overall a great tool to have.

I love technology. I love how the process of doing tedious tasks can be simplified. I can remember when creating an favicon was a true task. You had to download some type of app that would transform your image to a PNG then do some maniuplation to make it the right size.

Today there are some great sites that take your image (almost any size) and generate a favicon.

• http://www.favicon.cc/
• http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/
• http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

If you are creating an iphone or ipad app you can also create an image online. Here is a pretty good site for doing so. http://www.midnightmobility.com/iphone-icon/

I thank those who run the above sites and how they have made my life easier. Happy icon generating.