Get Better Gear!

Premier Sponsors

TechRestore

Other World Computing

Top 5 Free Apps

Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: May 22, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: August 29, 2009
Genre: Games
Release Date: March 27, 2009
Release Date: August 07, 2009

iTunes New Music Releases

Release Date: September 29, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: September 20, 2009
Release Date: September 15, 2009
Release Date: August 25, 2009
Genre: Rock
Release Date: August 25, 2009

Top 5 Paid Apps

Release Date: April 22, 2009
StickWars $0.99
Release Date: March 31, 2009
Genre: Games
Bloons $0.99
Release Date: April 05, 2009
Genre: Games

Discover New Music

  • Pretty Hate Machine

    • 8 out of 10
    • Nine Inch Nails
    • For years I wanted to make music that sounded like something between Love and Rockets and Ministry. In 1989, Trent Reznor beat me to it with this genre-defining album, and it smacked me upside the hea
  • Gimme Fiction

    • 10 out of 10
    • Spoon
    • Gimme Fiction by Spoon is a terrific album by an Austin band that I was lucky enough to catch on an Austin radio station during a Christmas visit.

  • The Last 5 Years (2002 Off-Broadway Cast)

    • 10 out of 10
    • Jason Robert Brown
    • The soundtrack to this moving off-broadway musical is heart moving. The lyrics follow a couple in a relationship for five years, one point of view going forward in time, and the other tracing time fr
  • Priest = Aura

    • 10 out of 10
    • The Church
    • Another of my all-time favorites, Priest = Aura is one of those rare albums where every song is simply fantastic, and a testament to how good pop-rock can be.

      Each song immediatel

  • Guero

    • 10 out of 10
    • Beck
    • Beck is the modern master of the groove, and Guero is merely the latest example of this. From the opening power chords of "E-Pro," to the Pac-Man cuteness of "Girl," to the dirge-like lullab

Reader Specials

Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!

News

iPhone Apps Hide Code for Tracking Users

The iPhone may be great at helping users track down information on the go, but they may also be tracking information about their users, and reporting back to Apple. It appears that both the Weather and Stock applications on the combination iPod and smart phone contain a piece of code that collects the handheld’s IMEI number and transmits it to Apple.

An IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, number is a unique code that identifies individual cell phones. It does not identify the cell phone user directly, but since Apple maintains records on activated iPhones, it is possible that the company is linking users to their handheld’s IMEI number.

The information surfaced on the Hackint0sh Web forums where one poster stumbled on the code snippets while trying to make modifications to the iPhone’s Stock application. The piece of code apparently transmits an iPhone’s IMEI number to Apple whenever a stock quote update is initiated.

The iPhone’s Stock application gets information through the Yahoo! stock service, so it is possible that the information is being used to verify that an iPhone is accessing the data and isn’t being used to track user activity. The fact that the code is there, however, has many iPhone users concerned over what information Apple could be collecting without their knowledge.

Post Your Comments

  Remember Me  Forgot your password?

Not a member? Register now. You can post comments without logging in, but they'll show up as a "guest" post.

Commenting is not available in this section entry.