Monday, September 29, 2014

VoWiFi has come a long way

After having had some time to work with VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) on an iPhone5S running iOS8.0 on the T-Mobile network I can say that it works as advertised. No setup required, no UI issues since you just use the regular App and no new phone numbers involved. It just works. Finally!

Back in 2006 when I was involved with a startup that was mainly focused on VoIP, but did some experimenting with VoIP over WiFi, that was far from the case. The company mainly used Nokia handsets, such as the E61, to test the use-case for VoIP over WiFi. While basic functionality such as voice quality performed well, the service ended up being virtually unusable because of several issues.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

FBI may be mad at Apple because of iOS8 encryption, but it was most likely just the first step

FBI director James B. Comey today sharply criticized Apple for locking the government out of even legal snooping by encrypting iOS8 devices. The move by Apple has been seen as a reaction to information about massive government privacy intrusions through NSA programs revealed by Edward Snowden.

However damaging the iOS8 encryption is to law enforcement, it is most likely just one part  of a long-term effort to restore customer confidence in smart products, the cloud and the transport networks that bind it all together.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Apple fixes two-step verification


 
Yesterday, Apple sent an email to all two-factor verification users, explaining that the service now also covers their content on iCloud, not just the account management features. This update brings the service closer to what Google, Facebook and Twitter already offers.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Apple two-step verification offers false sense of security

Over the past days compromising photos of celebrities have been posted on the Internet. While it is still unclear if any of these photos were stolen from iCloud accounts and even less certain if the users had in fact activated the Apple ID two-step verification solution, it is still worth mentioning the inherent weakness in the two-step verification solution for Apple ID.

It does not protect your content.