Apple's MobileMe service has thrown up yet another mess - this time creating an easily accessible database of names for spammers to abuse....because there's an easy way for such miscreants to get hold of service member's email addresses.
Well, that's the latest claim to emerge from TechCrunch, which reports that MobileMe user's public iDisk file sharing pages can easily be used to determine a member's email address..."There is no way as a user to hide or delete your public folder. If you are a MobileMe customer, you have one."
"Gathering the entire MobileMe username list, and therefore email list, via a simple dictionary attack is trivial," the report explains.
Pity the MobileMe team though, as they try to get the service right they have ignored this problem, claiming to have had no complaints. Though we suspect quite a few customers of the service have received a little spam with their online iLife. And when Apple's done fixing that, perhaps the company could airlift in its crack engineering strike forces to fix the widespread iPhone bug that's causing AppStore applications to fail to launch and causing iPhone user's iTunes libraries to report themselves to be empty, even when they're full.
We aren't entirely sure the relatively small 36 per cent of satisfied iPhone users constitute the kind of market message Apple needs as competitors prepare to compete and the device goes on sale in additional countries.
Oh, and rabid fanboys...before you fire up that vitriol, remember that every news item about Apple can't be glowingly positive. MobileMe so far has been a bust for many users. iPhone 3G has had some glitches. You are still going to be OK and people still love you. Breath deep.
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Comments
overly negative article with
overly negative article with little information? Just try to have a catchy headline to get attention?
Re: Overly negative..
Hardly
1. Links to article with explanation of problem 1
2. Explains the well-known problem and provides link to more information for problem 2.
In both cases, particularly 2, it is up to Apple to sort these problems out - and fast - not to rely on the church of Mac to bail it out. It's not longer entirely catering to its hardcore audience, to brush criticism under the carpet is to disrespect writing, the company and - most of all - Apple's customers, our readers.
My iPhone 3G and MobileME
My iPhone 3G and MobileME works just fine.. great reception... no connection problems. I never upgraded to 2.0.2 though...
I sure am glad to be part of
I sure am glad to be part of that 36%. No problems here. Everything works like a charm.
This really isn't a problem.
Spammers have lists of usernames and just send spam to: username@hotmail.com, username@mac.com, username@yahoo.com - they don't waste time checking them first - especially when they're using bots on other people's PCs. It's quicker to just send them than check them first.
Actually, it is a problem
Actually, it is a problem because the anti-spam filters rely on bots that are guessing to figure out which servers are sending spam.
Poor article looking for
Poor article looking for headlines.
And claiming 36% satisfaction rate is stretching the truth to the point of lying for effect.
You site your own poll which is a poll asking if 2.0.2 fixed peoples problems. How you twist that to be a satisfaction poll on the iPhone in general is beyond me.
Very poor writing. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
Why not report the story from engadget where some Swedes did a test showing that the iPhone 3G reception is as good as Nokia and Sony Ericsson? http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/25/iphone-3g-reception-just-fine-say-cur...
Oh, so you mean??
...only ever report the good news, even when we know many iPhone users are currently without access to their apps or tunes?
Come on... your 36%... So you
Come on... your 36%... So you count folks who say, "see it in the comments" and using a cracked edition as dissatisfied with their iPhone?! There's 14% right there. Besides the whole asking a different question thing. Even folks who complain about 3G reception may still be happy with their iPhone. You don't know because you didn't ask. You can't make up a number.
What is your agenda?
Excellent!
Thank you for that comment. That was excellent. I noticed that he did not reply...
Speechless I guess! :-)
Great Concept - Dismal Execution
I have had .mac for three years (this will likely be my last). The product reliability was fine and in fact my "goto" email address when I wanted to be sure to get mail. Additionally, I often used the iDisk and the Public folder in my business dealings.
HOWEVER, with MobileMe that all changed. Two examples speak volumes; 1) a auto copy email (i.e., email to myself) from my iPhone came back after 13 hours saying that it could not find me on the server and this was just 6 days ago (i.e., post fix era). Yet the mail want to the addressee. 2) iDisk, which was touted to be the start of "Cloud Computing" fails and locks up regularly.
We do not have the same functionality we had with .mac. It make the joy of having two Macs seem like the old PC days!
There is no excuse for this type of execution from a major player - period! Plus, to promise updates at a regular interval and then not provide them is beneath Apple.
Apple has a lot of work to do in the next 4 months for me to consider renewing. I just hope this is not a sign of things to come from Apple as Steve seems to start his personal extraction from the company (why - medical or personal - I am not sure which).
Mark
ZERO SPAM in .mac or .me
Hmmm...I've never had a single piece of spam in my .MAC account in two years of service. Maybe MobileMe will change that, but if the spammers hadn't tried that harvesting method in the past with .Mac, maybe they hadn't thought of it...until you just posted it as an idea. ;-)
Nothing sells like bad news
Nothing sells like bad news or get more attention.
So you reckon Apple and the iPhone is doomed?
are doomed...not is doomed
are doomed...not is doomed
Spam?
Spam doesn't concern many users of online services. We know it's going to be there but we find ways to deal with it like whitelists, filters, junk accounts, etc. If you want to be in the online, "cloud" world then you quickly learn how to deal with things like this.
I hardly ever used .mac so I don't have much in way of comparison to MobileMe but I just set up someones home laptop to sync with their travel laptop using MobileMe and both of us couldn't be happier. This was the easiest way to set up multiple computers. Apple Mail, iCal, Address book sync like they are supposed to. He'll be getting an iPhone 3G in a few weeks so we'll see how that goes.
As for your comment that only 36% of iPhone users are satisfied...maybe so, but my educated guess is I doubt it. Almost all my friends and relatives have them and every one of them is satisfied. That's not a big sample but it tells me something is very good with this product.
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