At the moment there is no patch from Apple to fix the problem despite Apple being notified over six weeks ago regarding the problem.

For you Windows mobile users you are not immune as the the attack can work against your devices as well.

I asked a few questions like what inspired him to create StreetMavens, how does it make itself unique among social media sites and where does he see it developing in the future.  I was very please to hear what he had to say.  Feel free to connect with me on StreetMavens: http://streetmavens.com/user/feed/493

Matt Swezey’s responses:
The idea behind StreetMavens was simple.  We observed all of this real-time user generated information streaming in from various social networking sites, but found non of it particularly useful in its raw form.  We thought the best way to organize it was on a local level, allowing people to see what others around them are doing in real-time.  StreetMavens is focused on small / local business and is all about spreading a message on a city wide level.  Unlike other social media sites, you are not required to have a large “following” to get your message out to massive amounts of people.  You may post information in any city that is available on our site.  

Our main goal is to be the go to source for live information about what is happening in your city!  We are continually developing new features and functionality to improve the usefulness of our service.  We just added the Ping.fm service which gives the ability to update multiple social networking site at the same time.  Some recent features for Twitter users include the ability to “ReTweet” or Reply to other people on Twitter.  Also, with your Twitter account connected, you can view your own Twitter timeline and @replies directly through our site.  Another great feature is the ability to upload and share photos.  You can even share photos on the go with a camera phone by emailing them in.  

Plans for the future include developing mobile and desktop applications, adding support for common interest groups, and continuing to make StreetMavens a great marketing tool for local businesses and a fun way to stay in touch with friends and family.

For the general public this will mean less duplication during searches.
Web publishers will like this as Canonical Links will condense all incoming traffic to a single site URL. 

How this works:
A link similar to:
<link rel=”canonical” href=”http://example.com/page.html”/>
is inserted into the head section of web pages. Regardless of the URL a search engine uses to visit a web page the one indicated in the canonical link is the URL that will be indexed.

Concerns:
Pages may use the Canonical Link to direct traffic to another page or site in hopes of increasing page rank or other standing.

You can read more about it on Matt Cutts Blog, Google Software Engineer.

You can also find implementations for popular blogging and content management tools here.

What changed my mind?  Running into e-paper out in the wild (Esquire 75th Anniversary issue).  Epaper is electronic paper that is as easy on your eyes to read as newspaper. Although the contrast of epaper is not quite as good as newsprint it is significantly better than try ing to read an active display, be it LCD or CRT.

So what makes the new Kindle 2 better than the original version? Amazon has this to say about their new Kindle:

• Slim & Lightweight: Just over 1/3 inch and 10.2 ounces
• Books in under 60 seconds: Get books delivered in less than 60 seconds; no PC required
• Improved Display: Reads like real paper; now boasts 16 shades of gray for crisp images and text; even reads well in bright sunlight
• Longer Battery Life: 25% longer battery life; read for days without recharging
• More Storage: Take your library with you; holds over 1,500 books
• Faster Page Turns: 20% faster page turns
• Read-to-Me: Text-to-Speech feature means Kindle can read every book, blog, magazine, and newspaper out loud.
• No Wireless Bills: No monthly wireless bills, data plans, or commitments. Amazon pays for Kindle’s wireless connectivity so you won’t see a monthly wireless bill.
• Large Selection: Over 230,000 books, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines and blogs available
• Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise 

In addition to books it can also access over 1000 blogs and all that WikiPedia has to offer. One of the exciting parts is the extra warranty which runs for two years and covers: 

1. Two years of coverage for failures due to normal operation of device
2. Two years of coverage for damage attributed to lightning or power surges
3. Two years of coverage (limited to a single claim) for accidental drops or damage

That’s right if you drop it you are covered!

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one… let me know if you get your Kindle  before I do!

The Obama Inauguration app displays the days remaining until the inauguration of the new president. Aside from that it is  an advertising application, displaying random iTunes artist advertisements or advertisements for other applications created by the same company

Well Tipjoy has finally expanded into Twitter.  After you link your Tipjoy and Twitter accounts, tweeting the following:

p @kestrachern $1 because Tipjoy will match payments for Charity! 

would send $1 from your tipjoy account to @kestrachern.  Best part is that Tipjoy and Betaworks (their investors) will match up to $10K of donations to Charity:Water through Twitter payments. 

Tipjoy was started by Abby & Ivan Kirigin as a way to make it easy for people to leave tips for things they love online, and easy for content owners to be rewarded for making the stuff people love. And now it can be easily done via Twitter!

If you don’t yet have a Twitter account (Srsly?), you can also try the original non-Twitter enhanced version:

The first time you run the app you will need to add your blogs.  A very straight-forward process needing only URL, username, and password.
 

One caveat is that for self hosted blogs XML-RPC remote publishing is enabled.  That is a simple as checking a box in the “Writing” section of the Settings tab on your blog.

Once all your blogs are set up you then choose the one you want to explore from a list on the app’s home screen

From there you get the choice to view or edit existing posts or create a new post.

 When creating a new post keep in mind that you are working in an HTML format not WYSIWYG editor.  You do have the option to preview the post and in your blogs theme, which does help make up for the present lack of a  WYSIWYG editor.  You can add photos either from your iPhone’s photo library or taking a new one.  The photos already included are displayed via thumbnail at the top of the screen.
 

I really like the app overall and it does help me when I get an idea and want to start a blog.  I expect it the iPhone WordPress app to become even handier as I increase the amount that I post online.

Urbanspoon works with the GPS location feature on your iPhone to give you a list of restaurants nearby your location.  To find a restaurant you can either shake the iPhone, browse though a list of local eateries, or review a list of places you have already visited Urbanspoon brings up location, phone number, and any user added information.  You can even add the restaurant to a wishlist to hit at a later time. You can add reviews and other information like photos and menus about the places where you’ve eaten.  

I like the fun amusing way that the Urbanspoon iPhone app takes the drudgery out of finding a place for dinner.  Now all I need are more people to join me on culinary explorations, when your ready  find me as kestrachern on Urbanspoon.

And it came back, as Lightsaber Unleashed. More options more sounds more fun, more advertising. Well yeah.
Lucasfilms did a beautiful job in remaking the application. You now have choices in the color and type of lightsaber.  You choose from preconstructed models by clicking on Darth Vader portrait to bring up the menu of options with a click on the empty portrait to design your own.

Music can be turned on and off and there are two different “activation modes” for the lightsaber, one with the full lightsaber started by clicking almost anywhere on the screen and the other a zoomed in cross section of a lightsaber.  Sounds and light flashes are activated by the accelerometers in your iPhone.

Lightsaber Unleashed is probably the most fun app I have for my iPhone. As you never know when you will need to defend or accost the Old Republic.

Although an app is available for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Nokia N series, I have only experimented with the iPhone version of the app. You are also able to send Zhiing’s to any mobile device as long as it accepts SMS messages.

What is a Zhiing? When you open the application your top choice is to send a Zhiing to another person. Clicking on that link reads in your location from the GPS and gets it ready to send to your choice of recipients. Click on the address book, make your selection, then add a brief message and hit send. Off it goes. The recipient gets the message in their Zhiing inbox as well as an SMS notifying them of the incoming Zhiing. Clicking on the incoming Zhiing automatically maps from your location to the location where the Zhiing was created. Instant directions… and each recipient receives personalized directions at that.

Now there is also the SMS direction function, but I have not been able to test that out as of yet..   people I know either have the app installed or are too far away to want to check the given directions.

Zhiing is a nice app providing a feature that once you experience it is lacking from mobile map applications, easily sending directions to a location using your phone.  I wonder if we’ll see this a feature in iPhone OS 2.3 or in the next version of Brightkite or Shizzow.

Lastly there is a toolbar and plugin that you can install for your web browser… the function of which is the subject of a later post.

If you want so see where I am in between my Brightkite updates or can help me check out the SMS version DM me your number and I’ll Zhiing’ya