Kentucky-based The M.H.A. released their Mac-based security program Airlock on Tuesday. Airlock unlocks your Mac when you approach it, based on the proximity of the Bluetooth transceiver on youriPhone (or later-gen iPod touch). The Mac will lock when your device leaves the preset range, but Airlock also accepts your account password as backup, in case the device is unavailable or its battery dies: since you’ll be leaving Bluetooth turned on all the time, the battery will drain even faster than normal.
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Two guards at a Washington, DC jail were arrested on federal bribery charges for suspicion of accepting cash to smuggle contraband to inmates: specifically iPods, cell phones and chargers. The devices are prohibited, in part, because they can be used to hack security equipment in the jail.

According to a story in the Washington Post, an inmate went to the FBI in October 2008 to report that guards were taking bribes to smuggle personal electronics into the US capital city’sjail . An FBI agent posed as the brother of an inmate, and met with Braxton and Ford. Read more…

One fun thing about being a tech research firm is that sometimes you can state the obvious and everybody still gets excited. That’s what will happen today when technology research company IDC releases their forecast for the next year, and in anticipation of the big news, the New York Times recently had a chat with Frank Gens, IDC’s chief analyst.
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Ever since Apple rolled out their iPod touch based EasyPay POS to some of it’s retail stores they have been flooded with inquires from other retailers looking to get in on the Apple goodness. It was just a a few short weeks ago that certain Apple retail stores ditched their crash prone Windows CE + stylus based EasyPay point-of-sale devices and since then it has raised the curiosity of other retailers. Read more…

Steve Jobs has intervened to approve Knocking Live Video, an iPhone-to-iPhone video streaming application.

Knocking Live Video creates an instant, device-to-device connection allowing one iPhone user to broadcast live streaming video to another iPhone handset.

“We are focused on phone-to-phone, not uploading to the Web,” Pointy Head developer Brian Meehan explained to Ars. “Who really cares about fleeting moments other than friends and family seeing it as it happens? With Knocking people share what they are doing right now. Our testers have referred to knocking as a ‘visual tweet,’” he said.
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A survey of users of the four major cell phone providers in the U.S. has ranked AT&T, the exclusive carrier of Apple’s iPhone, last in terms of customer satisfaction.

Consumer Reports surveyed more than 50,000 readers in 26 U.S. cities, asking about carriers in a number of different categories related to service and customer support. In 19 of those cities, AT&T ranked worst.

Overall, AT&T came in fourth place with a total score of 66. It ranked worst in voice service, and average for messaging and Web/e-mail. Customer service on the phone and via Web ranked poorly, as did staff knowledge and whether the customer’s issue was resolved.
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Fring has announced the world’s first mobile video calls over Internet. Currently video calls only work using Nokia handsets and a Skype account; however, Fring has promised the feature will come to other “popular” platforms soon.

Only a week after releasing our Android version, we’re very excited to announce the healthy arrival of….the world’s first mobile video calls over internet! (with fring and Skype video calls )
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