WebProNews

Tag: Find My iPhone

  • Find My iPhone Saves Crash Victim’s Life

    The “Find My iPhone” feature built into Apple devices is very handy for locating misplaced phones and iPads. It can be used to find the device by GPS, to send an audible tone to the device even if it is on silent, and even to erase the device remotely if it has been stolen. All you need to do is log in to iCloud with your Apple ID and you can do that and many other things.

    But for Melissa Vasquez, the feature was a literal lifesaver.

    Vasquez’ car flipped down a 500-foot ravine in the mountains near San Jose. Her car had an OnStar system in it, and police were notified of the crash. But OnStar’s system was having trouble pinpointing the location of the crash with enough accuracy to help police locate it.

    OnStar representatives were even able to sound the car horn repeatedly in an attempt to help police zero in on Vasquez’ location, but to no avail.

    Then one of the California Highway Patrol officers had an idea. Officer David Cameron tried to log in to iCloud using Vasquez’ known email address. The issue was guessing the password. Cameron used some common password combinations and managed to guess his way in. The service showed that Vasquez did, indeed, have her iPhone with her. He located the map coordinates where she was.

    Police found Vasquez face-down in the ravine, where she had been ejected from her car. She was rescued and treated in the hospital.

    David Cameron still feels like luck played a role in what he was able to do.

    “I made an educated guess based on a series of common numbers people use for passwords and on the third attempt I was able to get in,” Cameron said. “I think somebody was looking out for her. Things fell in place and had those things not fallen in place, it could have been a totally different story.”

    OnStar worked tirelessly to help police, but still caught some criticism over why their own service could not locate the vehicle. Perhaps their equipment was damaged in the crash. They did issue a statement:

    “We are saddened by this incident involving one of our subscribers. Our subscribers’ safety and security is OnStar’s utmost concern. We are currently conducting a complete investigation, including information we have received from our call centers, our cellular network provider, our engineering team and the local authorities to better understand what occurred.”

  • McKayla Maroney: Stolen Nude Photos Were Taken When She Was a Minor

    Hacked nude photos of Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney were taken when she was a minor, according to TMZ.

    Several porn sites reposted the photos of the now 18-year-old gymnast after her photos were initially posted on chan4 by the anonymous hackers.

    TMZ reports that an attorney representing Maroney sent a letter to Porn.com demanding the site remove the photos immediately because several of them were taken when she was underage.

    A different attorney reportedly sent a separate letter to multiple websites stating Maroney owns the copyright on the stolen photos.

    Maroney has claimed the photos are fake in Twitter posts, but the legal action by her attorneys may indicate that at least parts of the photos are authentic.

    A rep for Porn.com reportedly told TMZ that they removed the pics upon receipt of the letter from Maroney’s attorney.

    Several other A-list celebrities have taken legal action following the massive breach, including Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton.

    Meanwhile, Apple denied that the photos were hacked through a breach in Apple’s systems, including iCloud or Find my iPhone.

    “When we learned of the theft, we were outraged and immediately mobilized Apple’s engineers to discover the source,” the company said in a statement.

    “We have discovered that certain celebrity accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the Internet.

    “None of the cases we have investigated has resulted from any breach in any of Apple’s systems,” the statement said.

  • Americans Lost $30 Billion In Cell Phones Last Year

    You read it right, Americans lost enough cell phones in 2011 to account for $30 billion. That’s outrageous and if you’ve ever lost your phone you know it is a completely aggravating experience. I’ll tell you, I lost my phone once. No clue where it went, but I was really upset. First I wanted to call my friends and bitch to them about the whole thing, but guess what? I didn’t know any of their phone numbers. How could I have been so stupid?

    I haven’t memorized anybodies number since I got a cellphone years ago. To make matters worse, I had to call the insurance company to have them send me a new one. How am I supposed to call those folks, I don’t have a phone? I had to find a pay phone, which as you know isn’t as easy as it used to be. So do yourself a favor, keep a hard copy of those numbers in a deferent place. Also back-up the other information you store on there.

    Anyway, back to the study that delivered us this interesting bit of information. Lookout Mobile Security conducted the study and they broke the loses down by city, and included colorful fact like when the devices were lost and how. One interesting stat is most users misplaced their phones between the hours of 9pm and 2am. I wonder what was happening there?

    Regardless, most things are lost in the dark despite our dispositions at the time. It’s also interesting to note that Philadelphia and Seattle, along with Oakland are the top three losers of cell phones. I am sure there’s no causal relationship here, but just in case I would leave your cell phone at home when visiting these cities. Actually, you better keep them on you in case you get mugged.

    To be honest, the cities that were the biggest losers of cell phones were the ones with the largest concentrations of people, so others who made the list include Boston, New York, Cleveland, and Detroit. All that money we spend on phone insurance might be worth it. Statistically speaking, it is very likely to happen.

    What can you do? Many companies, including Lookout, who published the study, offer recovery services for your phone. In fact, I bet almost all of us have heard of Apple’s ‘Find My iPhone‘ app. For Droid users there’s the ‘Where’s My Droid‘ app. If you haven’t considered some of these solutions, they could save a you a lot of aggravation for something that will inevitably happen.

    I’m still waiting for Apple to come out with the ‘Find My Wallet’ app., but in the meantime I can only hope that it’s with my phone once I track that thing down. Keep an eye on your phones after 9pm and stay out of Philadelphia. Thanks for reading.

  • Police Break Down Wrong Door Hunting iPhone

    A recent burglary victim near Sherwood, Nottingham attempted to track his stolen iPhone with Apple’s Find My iPhone app on his iPad, only to have police bust into the wrong apartment. Maybe Robin Hood took it.

    According to The Telegraph, after the owner of the stolen phone tracked it via GPS, police were sent to the wrong vacant apartment, leaving landlord Robert Kerr with a broken door. Kerr states, “how accurate are these trackers? I’m unsure whether they can pinpoint a phone to a specific house,” adding “the victim of the burglary has almost made me a victim by saying the phone was in my house when it was not.” Kerr is pissed. But Nottingham police have stated that they are not responsible for the cost of the door, as they’d “reasonably believed” that the iPhone and suspect were in the apartment they were directed to, adding that residents had tipped them off that someone appeared to have been inside the typically abandoned building.

    The Telegraph also mentioned that some sort of phone tracking expert claims that while lost phone apps are impressive, they cannot pinpoint a single room in a densely built-up locale. In a review of some of the more popular phone-tracking apps, it was found that the Find My iPhone app was able to track a phone to a specific parking space in the lot at a Home Depot. Still, in the same review, the app wasn’t able to track a phone in a dense suburban neighborhood, putting the blue dot on the tracking map half a block away from the phone’s actual location.

    Basically, phone-tracking apps can be useful in certain situations and environments, but are not a definitive fix for finding lost devices. Kerr has written to the Independent Police Complaints Commission in his country, in an attempt to recover the nearly £500 he’d paid for a new door. There is no mention of whether or not the phone in question has ever been recovered.

    In related news, last December the Find My iPhone app was able to assist porn actress Jesse Jane in successfully tracking her stolen iPhone.

  • 5 Essential iPhone Apps for Black Friday

    5 Essential iPhone Apps for Black Friday

    Black Friday is almost upon us. Widely recognized as the busiest shopping day of the year, it’s the day when shoppers brave the crowds and the cold to save a few bucks on Christmas gifts.

    Sure it may be called “Black Friday” but this year some sales are actually starting on Thanksgiving Day. For instance, the Black Friday sale at Walmart actually begins at 10PM on Thursday. This year 152 million shoppers plan to brave the crowds this Holiday weekend, and will spend an estimated $465.5 billion at various stores. That’s up almost 3% from 2010.

    To help you on your quest to save money this season, we’ve put together a list of 5 essential apps for black friday, along with their official app description. One of the featured apps could prove quite handy if you were to lose your iPhone while out shopping. Check them out below and leave us a comment with your favorite Black Friday / shopping apps.

    BFADS iPhone App1. BFAds.net Black Friday (Free)

    The BFAds.net Black Friday app lets you plan your Black Friday (Day after Thanksgiving) shopping trip weeks in advance! Brought to you by the largest Black Friday site, the BFAds.net app provides you with early access to the season’s best sale advertisements and deals from major retailers. Browse the ads by store or category, read the latest sale news and even create your own shopping list to take with you to the store on the big day!

    Black Friday App2.) Black Friday (Free)

    The Black Friday Deal Finder 2011 is the best on-the-go resource for reviewing and organizing Black Friday deals. Powered by FatWallet.com’s innovative Black Friday Deal Finder (online), this mobile version displays ALL major retailers’ Black Friday ads (pre-released) so you can quickly search, save customized lists and never miss a deal. User friendly features include: sort deals by store and category, filter stores by cateogry, search by product name, reference individual deals for quick comparisons… among other great features.

    Price Checker App from Amazon3.) Price Check by Amazon (Free)

    Ever wondered if you were getting the best price on a product when you were out shopping? With Price Check by Amazon, you can use your iPhone to instantly compare prices with Amazon.com and its merchants while on-the-go. Price Check enables you to search Amazon products quickly using barcode, picture, voice, and text search. All prices are in US Dollars and search the Amazon US catalog. Compatible with iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 devices with auto-focus cameras and iOS 4 or greater.

    Red Laser app4.) RedLaser – Barcode and QR Code Scan (Free)

    The ALL-NEW RedLaser is the fastest and easiest to use RedLaser yet! It has everything you loved in RL Classic and more of the functionality you have told us you are looking for! RedLaser is still free to download! Shop smarter. RedLaser searches thousands of ONLINE and LOCAL retailers for the best prices and features product results from Google, TheFind, eBay, Milo, and many more.

    Find My iPhone app5.) Find My iPhone (Free)

    If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID. Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map.You can then choose to display a message or play a sound, remotely lock your device, or erase your data on it.

    Black Friday is one crazy day of shopping, but possibly armed with the right app you can make it a huge success for your budget.

    [Lead image courtesy: pinoytutorial.com]