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Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

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Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#31

Post by glhaynes »

alextgordon wrote: post #24
wallflower wrote: post #4

I wonder why this guy thought sacrificing his iPhone developer status was a good idea. If it gets 'remote killed', it was all for naught. Maybe he's going Droid. EDIT: He's just a kid > Hi, I'm Nick Lee, an aspiring 15-year-old web designer and programmer. I consider ...

His app just hit the front pages of multiple high-traffic websites. It could well have been an excellent idea.

Why? Does he have something else to sell? Assuming he doesn't, he's just put his effort into learning what could be a valuable skill, but now can't work on the platform (ever again?).

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#32

Post by lsc »

glhaynes wrote: post #31
alextgordon wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His app just hit the front pages of multiple high-traffic websites. It could well have been an excellent idea.

Why? Does he have something else to sell? Assuming he doesn't, he's just put his effort into learning what could be a valuable skill, but now can't work on the platform (ever again?).

> Does he have something else to sell?

himself.

If he wants to get a regular job later /or/ if he wants to launch a product later, having his name in the headlines helps quite a lot.

i don't want to say "there is no such thing as bad publicity" because there is, but in this case, enough people, I think, will feel that a tethering application is 'not evil' and that this was overall a good thing to make it a net win for the programmer.

Even if apple blocks him forever (I don't know their history... would they really say "no, f-ck you" five years from now?) and even if the apple platform remains dominant (I will be very surprised if apple continues its dominance after Jobs runs out of spare parts.) there are plenty of companies that make iphone apps that I'm sure would be happy to hire the kid.

And there are plenty of other platforms out there to work on, too.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#33

Post by wallflower »

brainsik wrote: post #18
Legion wrote: post #14

SOCKS proxy isn't really "tethering".

True, but if you are on OS X, most of the apps will use the System Preferences proxy settings, so most of your apps will Just Work. Of course, you'll have to get tricky to use SSH via the SOCKS proxy, but it can be done.

SSH through a SOCKS 4/5 proxy:

1. Download and compile connect.c (http://www.taiyo.co.jp/~gotoh/ssh/connect.c or http://www.meadowy.org/~gotoh/ssh/connect.c).

gcc connect.c -o connect -lresolv

2. sudo cp connect /usr/local/bin/connect-proxy

3. cd ~/.ssh Add new config file as shown below (if existing, then be careful - backup/modify)

File: ~/.ssh/config

Host *

ProxyCommand connect-proxy -R both -4 -S proxy: %h %p

4. Test ssh to one of your hosts

Note: If you're not using the proxy, you need to disable the global config with a script or something to nuke it on demand.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#34

Post by gojomo »

wallflower wrote: post #29
gojomo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not directly, but -- if Pandora can make a fresh HTTP request out for each song-reload, could a not-quite-SOCKS proxy app make two outbound requests and relay traffic between them? Then, with some additional support on your laptop -- maybe just netcat in a loop -- things might work well enough for browsing. Or could some novel proxy otherwise keep alive a tunnel to another machine in the background? The latest iSSH a…

Looks like iSSH is using beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler. So, yes, it's possible it would run for up to 10 min. in the background but my guess is the watchdog would kill the SOCKS app for taking up too much CPU time for a bg process and/or network access would be killed intermittently. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/uiki... "This method lets your application continue to run for a per…

What method(s) do you think Pandora is using to stay alive more than 10 minutes, intermittently fetching additional megabytes of music?

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#35

Post by X-Istence »

fraXis wrote: post #20

I was able to get this app before it was removed. I followed the directions and it works perfectly on my Macbook Pro. However, it only works with Safari. It does not work with Chrome, Firefox, or any mail protocols (POP / IMAP / SMTP).

That is because Chrome and Firefox don't follow the system PROXY settings you will have to change those individually.

Mail.app works over the global systems SOCKS proxy as such it works without any issues what so ever.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#36

Post by sirn »

gojomo wrote: post #34
wallflower wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like iSSH is using beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler. So, yes, it's possible it would run for up to 10 min. in the background but my guess is the watchdog would kill the SOCKS app for taking up too much CPU time for a bg process and/or network access would be killed intermittently. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/uiki... "This method lets your application continue to run for a per…

What method(s) do you think Pandora is using to stay alive more than 10 minutes, intermittently fetching additional megabytes of music?

Pandora is using Background Audio API, isn't it? If so, the app is able to stay alive as long as it still play music. Background Task API, on the other hand, has 10 minutes time limit.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#37

Post by wallflower »

gojomo wrote: post #34
wallflower wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looks like iSSH is using beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler. So, yes, it's possible it would run for up to 10 min. in the background but my guess is the watchdog would kill the SOCKS app for taking up too much CPU time for a bg process and/or network access would be killed intermittently. http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/uiki... "This method lets your application continue to run for a per…

What method(s) do you think Pandora is using to stay alive more than 10 minutes, intermittently fetching additional megabytes of music?

http://cocoawithlove.com/2010/03/streaming-mp3aac-audio-agai...

My guess is Pandora has some fairly sophisticated server-side streaming that responds to ACK/FIN-type feedback from the iPhone client.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#38

Post by jsz0 »

jrockway wrote: post #2

I wonder how many other apps on Apple's "guaranteed-safe" App Store have hidden behavior like this? Since I can't actually audit the app code that runs on my device (like by compiling it myself), nor can I audit the OS, I guess I now have to assume that any application on my iPhone is compromised. (+) Apple should include a warning on the box to that effect. (+) I don't actually own an iPhone.

Apple has never guaranteed the App Store is safe. They've pushed the idea that the App Store is safer than alternatives though. The iPhone EULA covers this.

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#39

Post by gojomo »

sirn wrote: post #36
gojomo wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What method(s) do you think Pandora is using to stay alive more than 10 minutes, intermittently fetching additional megabytes of music?

Pandora is using Background Audio API, isn't it? If so, the app is able to stay alive as long as it still play music. Background Task API, on the other hand, has 10 minutes time limit.

That appears to fit the bill. From reading here...

http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/iPho...

...it sounds like a background audio app could do arbitrary other things while remaining unsuspended, and receiving audio callbacks, as long as it also keeps playing audio. (I'm sure Apple would frown on such behavior, and ultimately thwart it, but it seems like the framework gives enough discretion to the app to do other things.)

Re: Handy Light: Tethering App Camouflaged as Flashlight

#40

Post by DLWormwood »

jmatt wrote: post #6
donohoe wrote: post #3

If true, I guarantee that Apple will use their “kill switch” to remove this app from any iPhones that have it installed.

I bought NetShare when it was briefly on the app store and it still works. Or at least it did last time I was at my cabin a few months ago with my 3G. If they were going to kill an app, I'd assume they would have killed that. And they didn't. Or if they claimed to have killed it then they failed. I bought this app. I'm more than willing to support the the Rebellion. I haven't actually verified that this app works as…

> I bought this app. I'm more than willing to support the the Rebellion. I haven't actually verified that this app works as demonstrated but for a dollar it's worth the risk. I have no intentions of paying another $20 a month to AT&T.

As a current iOS developer, I’ve always wondered what the financial repercussions of getting pulled from the App Store would be. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple refused to pay the kid his post-commission cut from what he was able to sell due to this kind of hidden behavior.

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