Digg for the iPhone

What are iPhone applications going to look and feel like? We saw yesterday a simple shopping list application, and here's another one bound to be a big hit: Digg for the iPhone.

This "app," like others to come, is really just a Web site designed for the JavaScript in Safari, and for the iPhone's small screen. (It works in Firefox and IE, too). The interface employs the "fling" feature that Steve Jobs and the iPhone commercials show off: When you drag down a list with your fingertip (or mouse), and let go, it feels like the list has inertia. It keeps going for a little bit. It also "bounces" off the stops if you try to fling past the end of the list. It's very intuitive.

Wired's Cult of Mac blog says this interface is even better than the full Digg site. I think it's a little small for that, but it is a lot more fun to fling Digg than it is to just click.

The fact that iPhone apps sites can be built so fast is going to make it a great computing platform. In fact, what we thought was the product's great liability--a closed development environment that would keep the cellular network overloads happy--may turn out to be its greatest asset. By forcing development onto the browser, a million more products will bloom than if developers had to code new iPhone apps for the operating system beneath it.

Via CNET Crave

USB Paper Shredder

Ooooh, another lovely USB device to add to the growing pile on your desktop, right next to the USB pole dancer and USB Turntable. This lightweight paper shredder probably works better mincing up those receipts and bills rather than fat stacks of confidential documents, as this device takes on only A6 (or folded A4) sizes. The problem we see is finding enough ports for all your UBS toys. But, hey, that only gives you the opportunity to start collecting USB hubs, ranging the gamut from gold bricks to Hello Kitty ones.

More images here

Via Ubergizmo

Price: N.A.
Availability: Check it out here
Device: USB accessory
Specs: Forward/reverse switch, USB, AD/DC adapter or batteries , 25 x 7 x 5cm, 351g

The camera behind Google's Street View

If you've been playing with Google's new Street View feature--that US$25 billion time suck--you may well have wondered how the heck it took those 360-degree images while driving down the street.

Well, wonder no more. Thanks to our good friend Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing, we now know that many of the images, at least those shot outside the San Francisco Bay Area--were shot using this fairly disco-ball-esque device by the outside contractor, Immersive Media.

What's not clear just yet is if Google used the same kind of camera in the Bay Area, where the company shot its own, higher-resolution images. But it must have been something similar, though we know from this image that Google used a van, while Immersive Media seems to have used a Volkswagen New Beetle.

Enjoy. Oh, and did I say $25 billion time suck? By now, it's up to $26 billion. And counting.

Via CNET Crave

Nikon spins 360

Designer Ye Chen's hypothetical digital camera optimized for shooting 360-degree panoramas has the advantage of being small and cool-looking. The camera concept, posted on the Yanko Design site, incorporates a rotating camera lens, essentially turning the entire camera body into a tripod. It's a simple, relatively elegant design.

Ironically, though, the camera itself isn't the most interesting aspect of the story. What is? For one, the designer dubs the camera the "Nikon 360." Given all the attention it's getting on the Web, can you think of a better way to draw the attention (hopefully non-legal) of a potential client?

The other thing that intrigued me was the response of the blog sites that covered it. Gizmodo says: "If this were to actually be manufactured I highly doubt it could sell enough to stay afloat, but it could be a good schtick camera.". And Tech Digest comments: "I wonder how much of a selling point panoramic shots are outside people who hike up and down hills for fun". With all the Web sites and businesses reliant on practical tools for visualizing an environment--applications such as Hopstop and Google Streets, not to mention the huge potential for real estate and travel sites--relegating panoramic imaging tools to a niche market seems surprisingly short sighted.

Via CNET Crave

Security researchers: Safari for Windows not so secure

Within hours of Apple's public release of the beta for Safari 3.0 for Windows, three security researchers independently found holes within the new browser. Researcher Aviv Raff highlighted in a blog post the company's product statement, that reads: "Apple's engineers designed Safari to be secure from day one." Raff found a vulnerability, a memory corruption error that could allow an attacker to insert malicious code on a Windows machine, within three minutes using publicly available fuzzing tools.

		Related links Apple WWDC roundup here Steve Job's keynote in full Apple invites Windows users on Safari Apple takes Safari to Windows and iPhone

Security researcher David Maynor, posting on his Errata security blog, said he was also able to generate a memory corruption error "in no time." By the end of the day, he was able to generate a total of six bugs--four producing a denial of service (crash), and two capable of executing remote code.

Veteran security researcher Thor Larholm wrote in his blog that he found a "0day" vulnerability in Safari within two hours. The flaw exists in how Safari handles URL protocols within Windows, causing a denial of service (crash). Larholm has published an exploit to demonstrate the flaw.

All of the vulnerabilities were found on Windows machines; none of the researchers could say whether these flaws also existed on the Mac OS.

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