It’s here, IMP Live 12³, our longest show yet, we broadcasted and recorded for over 12 hours in the end, and we ended up with 12 episodes for you to enjoy!

Hour 6 : iPhone & App Store
2100-2230 GMT 12/12/2009
(Show Notes)

Host : Stu Helm
Panel : Bart Busschots, Nick Balaz and special guests Micheal Johnston & Andy Ihnatko

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix.

We hope you enjoy the show, thanks for your continued support of IMP Live.

Don’t forget you can support us by using the code impodcast when you sign up for a new SquareSpace account, you’ll get 10% off the life of your account too! Also, make sure you check out ScreenCasts Online, become an Extra member for a fresh Mac tutorial every week.

Air Mouse Pro is an app which essentially turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a trackpad-style mouse for your Mac, or PC. The app uses WiFi to connect to your desktop. I had success connecting to my MacBook both through the existing wireless network, and through an AdHoc network, so even if there is no WiFi where you happened to be, you can still use the app. Air Mouse Pro turns the screen of your device into a full function Multi-Touch trackpad. If you are hooking to a Mac then it assumes the same functionality as your portable would have, or limited multi touch with a desktop machine. After you install the menu bar application on the desktop, which is required to use this app, you can fully control your Mac.

Besides giving you remote control of the mouse cursor you have FULL keyboard functionality. Beyond the QWERTY style standard keyboard, you get much of the functionality of the Mac’s keyboard, including the Command, Option, and Control keys. If you flip it into “Function key” mode then you get a list of the “F” keys: F1, F2, F3, Etc, as well as arrow keys. It has a “web” mode that when you tap it opens your default web browser, and you get basic functionality like Home, Search, Forward, Backward, Stop, Refresh, Etc. You can also flip it into “Media” mode and it will bring up your default media browser (usually iTunes or Front Row on the Mac). From there you have access to Play/Pause, Next, Previous and volume.

Air Mouse Pro uses the accelerometer in your device to switch between portrait and landscape mode for both the trackpad and the keyboard. If you rotate it into landscape mode it most closely resembles the built in trackpad that Apple ships, and is the most natural for me to use. However if you have it in portrait mode you get a neat little scroll “wheel” you can use to scroll through web pages and the like. In both portrait and landscape you get two virtual mouse buttons, for left and right click, similar to on a notebook computer. However I was able to set up the multi touch, so for example the two-finger scrolling, two finger tap, double tap, and tap to click.

From anywhere within the app you can shake the device to hide/show the keyboard and controls. When the keyboard is there you still get about the top half of the screen to use as a track pad. Then when you shake it again to hide the keyboard the entire screen is a functional tracking surface. From within the desktop app that is required you get preferences such as: tracking speed, scrolling speed, as well as control over how the special keyboards function.

Air Mouse Pro normally runs $5.99 in the App Store, but is currently discounted for $2.99. It can be found at http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289616509&mt=8.

Before you can use Air Mouse Pro to control you computer you need to download and instal the menu bar based app. That half of it is free and can be found at: http://mobileairmouse.com.

I hope you take the time to check out Air Mouse Pro, and most importantly I hope you get joy and functionality out of it, I know I do!

This week’s panel : Bart Busschots, Stu Helm, Jason Martin, Connor Jackson and Paul Shadwell

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix.

Sorry for the late show this week, a few things delayed the release. We hope you enjoy the show, and thanks for your continued support of IMP Live.

Don’t forget you can support us by using the code ‘impodcast’ when you sign up for a new SquareSpace account, you’ll get 10% off the life of your account too! Also, make sure you check out ScreenCasts Online, b

This week’s panel : Bart Busschots, Stu Helm, Jason Martin, Michael King and David Allen

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix.

This week’s show notes, now with start times for each of the main segments can be found here

This week’s panel : Stu Helm, Bart Busscots, Phelim Brady and special guests David Shortle and Justin Byrne from the MacCraic Podcast

This episode is a little bit special, first of all it’s another long show (sorry about that, but we think you’ll enjoy it) and also it’s an all Irish or part Irish show!

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix

This week’s show notes, now with start times for each of the main segments can be found here

The panel : Stu Helm, Jason Martin and special guest Steve Stanger

This show is a bit special, we recorded this live at B&H Photo in the heart of Manhatten, it was great to see everyone there, thanks to Jason and Steve for being there on the panel. Because of the nature of the show I haven’t included any chapters or time markers this time, sorry about that.

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix

This week’s show notes can be found here

Oh and by the way, this episode of IMP was published onto the feed than no other than Will himself, yes Stu is at Will’s house for a few days in LA.

This week’s panel : Stu Helm, Bart Busschots, Keaton Brant, Rob Hanson and Will

Apologies for Keaton’s audio quality this week, his router clearly was having an off day!

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix

This week’s show notes, now with start times for each of the main segments can be found here

Telekinesis is an app of two parts,  Thing 1 and Thing 2 (to quote Dr. Seuss). Thing 1 is the server side application that you run on your Mac, then you have an iPhone web-app.

To install Telekinesis you just open it. You won’t notice anything different except that it opens in your dock. You will be asked to create a user name and password. This is what you will have to type on your iPhone so don’t make it too hard to type.

The desktop application doesn’t really let to to anything on the Mac. It is only the server. When you want to control your Mac just make sure that it’s open. If you use mail, you might want to set up a rule that automatically opens Telekinesis when you send it a special message (I have it setup so that if I send myself a message with the subject of “MacMote” it opens Telekinisis).

To control your Mac go into MobileSafari and type https://[Your Mac's name].local:5010 . You will be prompted to accept a security certificate (do so) and then enter your username and password (from the previous paragraph).

You will then be presented with a screen of “tapps”. From here you can open applications, doccuments and more – both on your iPhone and on your Mac. Also, you can open the Screen tapp. This allows you to control your Mac’s screen from your iPhone!

Another great  tapp us the camera tapp. This allows you to see what’s happening from the perspective of your Mac’s iSight camera. I use this in conjunction with the terminal app (yes there is terminal). The way I use it is I look through the camera and if I see anyone in my room, I go into terminal and make my Mac say “can I help you?” – that usually gives then a fright.

The development of Telekinesis seems to have slowed down a bit but it still works perfectly. If this is made into an app store app it would be fantastic – but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

There are many tapps built in to Telekinesis and you can download extras, but the best thing is the price, FREE!

Telekinesis is a great application and there’s so much that you can do with it. http://code.google.com/p/telekinesis/

This week’s panel : Bart Busschots, Stu Helm, Michael King, Will and returning guest Allison Sheridan

Special thanks to Allison for joining us this week and to all of you for listening and subscribing.

We’d like to hear from you so send your email / audio clips to haveyoursay [at] impodcast [dot] tv and we’ll get them into the mix

This week’s show notes as well as details of the Mac Roundtable live show at MacWorld can be found here

Since I started iPhone development, I wanted a physical device to test my software on. So I started saving money for an iPod Touch. Once I had about 180 USD, the choice between getting a new 2nd Gen Touch, or a refurbished 1st gen model came into play.

After comparing the two models, and despite the newer model’s hardware updates (a new case, volume controls on the side, and built in speakers), I decided to go with a refurbished model. I haven’t regretted that decision.

For me, the deciding factor was price. I could get a 1st gen 8 GB model for 50 USD cheaper than the new 8 GB version. I could have gotten a 1st gen 16 GB model for 10 USD cheaper than the new 8 GB model, if I wanted to. But the 8 GB model was good enough for me.

Capacity wasn’t an issue for me, even though it might be for some people. Before I ordered my Touch, I did a test with my existing iPod Video to see how much I could compress my library when syncing without sacrificing my music. I was actually able to compress it down to under 3 GB, so the 8 GB model would work.

Once those factors had been worked out, I ordered my device. It took a week to be delivered, which, whenever you get a new toy, is torture. Once I did get it, though, I proceeded to do some hacking to it, and then eventually upgraded to the 2.1 firmware.

The App Store is a beautiful thing for the iPod Touch, not only are there some nice paid apps, but there are some really high quality free apps, including the WordPress app (which I’m writing this blog post with), a great platform game called Trace, and Stanza, an ebook reader, to name just a few.

So, all in all, the 1st gen iPod Touch is a great device. You get all the great software features that the newer model has and I haven’t ever wished for any of the hardware features that the new model has. This is a great buy if you want to save money and still get a quality multi-touch iPod.

(Image credit Joy of Tech)

On the iPhone front the most obvious fix is the resolution of key code bypass vulnerability. This was easy enough to work around by changing the meaning of double-tapping the home button to anything other than “go to favourites”, but since most people wouldn’t be aware of that workaround it’s important that this was fixed. However, there are some less obvious but more scary vulnerabilities patched too, I want to mention two of them. The first is a flaw in WebKit that allows an attacker to execute arbitrary code on an iPhone or iPod Touch simply by getting you to visit their web page, and the second is a flaw on the networking implementation that allows attackers to spoof network connections. This second one is the most interesting because the error here is so fundamental that it implies to me that the networking code for the iPhone did not come from OS X, or at the very least that some core parts of it were re-written from scratch for the iPhone. This is worrying. It’s very important to have a stable networking stack and it takes years to get one. OS X inherited it’s stack from FreeBSD, so it got a well tested stack from the off, the iPhone does not appear to have been so lucky. Granted, I’m extrapolating quite a bit here, but to see so fundamental an error in such a core system is very disconcerting. If this is a new stack expect many more security problems with it before it gets stable.

Bottom line, if you use your iPhone or iPod Touch on the network at all, particularly if you use Mobile Safari, you’d be wise to update ASAP.

Moving on to OS X we get a much bigger list of issues that have been patched. It’s mostly just the usual stuff, but a few do stand out. Firstly, the DNS flaw has finally been properly patched. This took Apple far too long, but at least it’s done now. They also patched the same problem in their custom DNS system which is technically referred to as mDNS, but which most users know as Bonjour. OS X has now been properly secured against the DNS flaw with updated BIND, LibResolver, and mDNS packages.

The second thing I noticed is a cluster of image library flaws, particularly in the code for processing and rendering TIFF images. These flaws include ones that allow arbitrary code execution. This is worrying for two reasons, firstly, attackers can place image files in web pages, and secondly, Safari considers image files “safe” so it will automatically open them after download unless you go into your settings and un-check the open "safe" files after downloading option in the General tab. When you combine this default behaviour with the so-called carpet bombing attack you end up with a really scary situation. Security experts have been urging Apple to remove that feature, or at the very least turn it off by default, for years now, but Apple are just not listening. There have been critical flaws in just about every file type Apple considers “safe” within the last few years. Just off the top of my head the list includes PNGs, JPEGs, TIFFs PIC files, DMGs, PDFs, and QuickTime Videos. So, while there are no known vulnerabilities in the safe file types if you apply this update the fact remains that there have been many in the past and that there is no reason for there to be any fewer in the future! Hence, if you haven’t disabled this option yet, I’d urge you to do so right now this minute, before you forget!

Just like with the iPhone update, I’d strongly recommend updating OS X as soon as possible. Now that the bugs are public it’s much easier for the bad guys to start using them to attack you!

Super Monkey Ball was actually the first iPhone app that I actually payed for, as well as the first app that I downloaded from the App Store on my iPod touch. I simply going to start off by saying that this game is well worth the 10 dollars.

When I first saw the demoes of this game, I have to admit that I was a little skeptical. This was mainly because I had played the jailbrake game Neverball just before this game was demoed. Neverball did not give me high hopes. The controls weren’t sensitive enough, and the physics were way off. But I digress. Super Monkey Ball happen to be the exact opposite of that. The game sported incredible graphics, superior control sensitivity, and an insanely great set of levels.

For those of you who haven’t played it , the basic premise of the game is guiding your sphere-encased monkey around a floating platform, collecting bananas a completing the stage by rolling through a glowing hoop.the game has give worlds for you to play through, each of which has ten levels. At the time of writing, I have indeed completed the game. I found the gameplay challenging, while incredibly enjoyable at the same time. The graphics are beautifully designed, and the levels are highly addictive.

The only downfall to the game is that it does not allow you to save your progress through the current level when you exit the game.

Overall, a great game, and a great first effort by SEGA and Other Ocean.

This week’s panel : Stu Helm, Michael King, Ben Grubb, Lewis King, Victor Cajiao and Scott Nicol

After Apple’s ‘Let’s Rock’ event the IMP team and very special guest Victor Cajiao from the Typical Mac User Podcast, found at www.typicalmacuser.com, discuss the updates to iTunes and the iPods.
We let Lewis King lose on his rant about the iPod Nano and iPod Touch software, Victor reveals his longings to buy an iPod Nano right now, and Michael King tells us he has bought yet another iPod Touch!

Thanks to everyone who joined us in the chat room, which you can join to by visiting www.ustream.tv/channel/imp-live when we’re recording, remember to follow impodcast on Twitter (www.twitter.com/impodcast) for show updates etc.

Finally just a word about our iTunes / RSS feeds, we’re not 100% sure why this happens, but the ‘All Shows’ feed doesn’t give correct show information wherease the ‘IMP Live’ feed does. We’re trying to get this fixed, we’re really hoping it’s not a bug with the BTPodShow API and Ubercaster, but we’d ask you to please keep subscribed to ‘All Shows’ as this is the place where any IMP show will appear, not just IMP Live.

Thanks once again,