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The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

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Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#31

Post by trotsky »

lukifer wrote: post #21
gcb wrote: post #18

Anything wireless that doesn't require some sort of pairing is crap. Maybe fine for tv remote if you still want to be vulnerable to tv-be-gone. But since even tvs now have powerful cpus, not even it is worth

What about audio? I'm incredibly frustrated that I have 4 different devices capable of exporting Bluetooth audio, but I have to go through a bug-ridden and annoying pairing process to hook one up to my car or home stereo, so I don't even bother.

If you had non paired audio anyone walking by could hijack your audio stream

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#32

Post by ja27 »

pak wrote: post #7

Is it just me, or did the 5 use cases proposed in the article immediately give you the reaction "Yuck, I'm kind of glad that none of those things actually broadcast that crap (yet)."

But you wouldn't even see those broadcasts without something listening for them, right? Not too many years ago a lot of these same use cases were talked about for irDA and didn't really go anywhere.

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#33

Post by frankus »

I highly doubt that Bluetooth 4.0 is going to remove the biggest obstacle to these sorts of applications on the iPhone, which is Apple's review process.

Right now if your Bluetooth device corresponds to one of the handful of profiles with blanket approval from Apple (headsets, keyboards, certain accessibility hardware) you're fine, but if you're trying to do anything as exotic as serial communication with a third-party device you're shit out of luck unless you join Apple's MFI program.

And the MFI program won't even talk to you until you've lawyered up, so it's pretty alienating to anyone who wants to build something as a side project.

The same goes for serial communication. You can buy a nicely-built RedPark cable and make a stunningly beautiful app to talk to whatever device is on the other end, but your app won't make it into the store unless Apple has put the MFI stamp of approval on your device.

Since Apple controls what goes into their App Store, it would require a major shift in their approval policy before we see any significant expansion of apps that talk to arbitrary Bluetooth-enabled widgets.

(If anyone has heard of examples of approved apps using serial or bluetooth communication to talk to unapproved devices, I'd love to know!)

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#34

Post by robspychala »

frankus wrote: post #33

I highly doubt that Bluetooth 4.0 is going to remove the biggest obstacle to these sorts of applications on the iPhone, which is Apple's review process. Right now if your Bluetooth device corresponds to one of the handful of profiles with blanket approval from Apple (headsets, keyboards, certain accessibility hardware) you're fine, but if you're trying to do anything as exotic as serial communication with a third-par…

this API is it. no approval process as far as is known. the CB api treats devices no differently than web sites as far as Apple is concerned.

the reason that there are no apps yet is that only iPhone 4S has the heardware for CB and no CB chipsets out there yet in devices. chicken and egg problem which hopefully will be solved with the iPhone 4S adoption.

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#35

Post by kainosnoema »

frankus wrote: post #33

I highly doubt that Bluetooth 4.0 is going to remove the biggest obstacle to these sorts of applications on the iPhone, which is Apple's review process. Right now if your Bluetooth device corresponds to one of the handful of profiles with blanket approval from Apple (headsets, keyboards, certain accessibility hardware) you're fine, but if you're trying to do anything as exotic as serial communication with a third-par…

I can't say much since I'm still under NDA, but I can tell you that my co-founder and I got all the way through the MFI approval process, without any kind of "lawyering up". Apple was great through the entire process—very eager to help us get our small project started.

The MFI program isn't the easiest process in the world, but it isn't impossible. Definitely doable as a side project if you're motivated.

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#36

Post by lukifer »

trotsky wrote: post #31
lukifer wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about audio? I'm incredibly frustrated that I have 4 different devices capable of exporting Bluetooth audio, but I have to go through a bug-ridden and annoying pairing process to hook one up to my car or home stereo, so I don't even bother.

If you had non paired audio anyone walking by could hijack your audio stream

First, as security breaches go, that's pretty minor. Someone could also shit on my front doorstep too, but somehow it doesn't happen that often. Second, there are better ways to link devices than pairing; for instance, hit a button on the receiver to see the closest device by signal strength, while also remembering all previous devices. Or, a UI for booting out the device ID of an accidental linkage or ne'er-do-well.

Pairing makes sense for sensitive data usage, such as tethering. But it's a broken pattern for consumer purposes like multimedia and gaming.

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#37

Post by MrMuslin »

robspychala wrote: post #23
MrMuslin wrote: post #19

Ironically this article looks terrible on an iPhone 4S http://i.imgur.com/H4FXD.jpg

oh man. can you retry? i think it's cause not all the assets loaded (ran out of free quota on GAE) fixing now.

Ah! Much much better now.

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#38

Post by frankus »

kainosnoema wrote: post #35
frankus wrote: post #33

I highly doubt that Bluetooth 4.0 is going to remove the biggest obstacle to these sorts of applications on the iPhone, which is Apple's review process. Right now if your Bluetooth device corresponds to one of the handful of profiles with blanket approval from Apple (headsets, keyboards, certain accessibility hardware) you're fine, but if you're trying to do anything as exotic as serial communication with a third-par…

I can't say much since I'm still under NDA, but I can tell you that my co-founder and I got all the way through the MFI approval process, without any kind of "lawyering up". Apple was great through the entire process—very eager to help us get our small project started. The MFI program isn't the easiest process in the world, but it isn't impossible. Definitely doable as a side project if you're motivated.

That's good to hear. I remember starting to go through the signup process about a year and a half ago and by the third screen they wanted to know the contact information for my legal counsel.

I may have to revisit my project in light of your comment :)

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#39

Post by trotsky »

lukifer wrote: post #36
trotsky wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you had non paired audio anyone walking by could hijack your audio stream

First, as security breaches go, that's pretty minor. Someone could also shit on my front doorstep too, but somehow it doesn't happen that often. Second, there are better ways to link devices than pairing; for instance, hit a button on the receiver to see the closest device by signal strength, while also remembering all previous devices. Or, a UI for booting out the device ID of an accidental linkage or ne'er-do-well.…

It's not that big of a security breach but it'd absolutely be annoying is anyone could do it on the train. People don't steal your mail but as soon a firesheep came out a dozen jokers a block were logging in to people's facebook.

Make it so it doesn't interrupt your headphones and then all of a sudden it's trivial for anyone to listen to at least half of your telephone calls.

Most BT headsets already pose a serious everyday security risk to people who might be targets of surveillance by as minor players as private detectives or journalists due to both protocol and chipset weaknesses. BT security has been improving since then, but the last thing it needs to do is go backwards because you can't be bothered to pair a device with your car once(!)

Re: The amazing iOS 5 API and iPhone 4S hardware nobody talks about

#40

Post by davidcann »

frankus wrote: post #33

I highly doubt that Bluetooth 4.0 is going to remove the biggest obstacle to these sorts of applications on the iPhone, which is Apple's review process. Right now if your Bluetooth device corresponds to one of the handful of profiles with blanket approval from Apple (headsets, keyboards, certain accessibility hardware) you're fine, but if you're trying to do anything as exotic as serial communication with a third-par…

Core Bluetooth, which is Bluetooth 4.0-only, doesn't require MFi approval from Apple, meaning it does remove the biggest obstacle.
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