It appears that Clearwire Corporation is giving iSpot customers less than 72 hours to sign up for new service.

The carrier quietly let customers who have iSpot accounts in suspended animation (or inactive status) know that they have until February 10th to reactivate their service, otherwise their accounts will be terminated. The more shocking news in the email to customers is that after the 10th, any lapse in service will make it impossible to reactivate the iSpot in the future.

The Clear iSpot was Clearwire’s attempt to draw in Apple iOS customers, many of whom were facing metered data on carriers such as AT&T. The device was a firmware-modified version of the original Clear Spot, which featured an unlimited $25 per month 4G WiMAX plan, running at 6 mbps down, and 1 mbps up.

However, Clearwire faced several challenges that ultimately forced them to pull the product from the market. Apple, not having certified the device, began randomizing the MAC (network serial number) address ranges of iOS devices, and used ranges previously reserved for Macintosh computers. This left Clearwire in a bind, many iOS customers could not use iSpot.

For Clearwire to have allowed all iOS devices under the new MAC addresses, would have also required Clearwire to let Mac users have unlimited data for $25/month. Worse, some Mac models were already able to access the iSpot’s data plans, having MAC addresses close enough to the original iOS range, and were hampering the Clearwire network excessively.

To add to Clearwire’s woes, hackers quickly rooted the Linux-based iSpot, and removed the MAC address restrictions. Web sites even rolled out one-click rooting processes. Even if Clearwire were able to patch these firmware loopholes, it would not fully fix the problem. Jailbreakers had figured out how to use an $80 first-generation iPod touch as a relay router, feeding iSpot’s Internet to any computer, which could in-turn power a whole household with Internet for $25 per month.

The company did make clear though that anyone who keeps a Clear iSpot active going forward will be grandfathered into the $25/month plan, provided they maintain continuous service going forward. This will likely remain until Clearwire shuts down the Clear WiMAX network, expected by outsiders sometime within the next 12 to 72 months. Clearwire has not yet given any timeframe for when they plan to roll out their LTE network fully, and when they plan to dismantle their WiMAX network.

Clearwire is clearly trying to close the door on iSpot. We have emergency calls into Clearwire as to if fully-deactivated iSpots can be reactivated at this late time, or if only those on hibernation plans can reactivate. We’ll update this report when we hear back from Clear.

Update: Clearwire has confirmed our initial report, which we have expanded on in a follow-up article.

Apple has created a PR nightmare for itself after threatening bloggers with legal action. The situation stems from Apple’s communication with a customer, where they are attempting to enforce a non-legally-binding email footer, demanding confidentiality to the email’s communication.

The problem lies in the fact that in one of the email messages sent from Apple’s support team, the legal disclaimer usually reserved for PR communication is appended to the message spelling out the steps to resolve the customer’s issue which has to do with the transfer of AppleCare from one device to another after repairs, a usually trivial affair that hit a snag and resulted in the customer posting about the experience on another blog in order to inform others and to try and see if any other Apple customers had gone through a similar situation.

While the original situation was ultimately resolved with AppleCare and subsequent follow up emails detail the resolution, the customer was sent another email from Apple’s legal department demanding that the customer delete the original post containing text from the email detailing AppleCare’s response to the original AppleCare transfer situation on the grounds that the text in the email was not meant for public consumption. The threatening email in question follows below:

Hello,

I am one of the policy representatives here at Apple. It came to our concern that our policy was broken. It is illegal to transmit information from voicemails, e-mails, transactions, etc, into public or private blogs and forums, vlogs, as well as documentation onto the internet, except for the proper authorities.
We have been informed that a conversation with a member of our Agreement Administration team has been posted on a blogging website.
We do view all e-mails that are sent to our departments for security reasons. “This transmission may be privileged and may contain confidential information intended only for the person(s) named above.
Any other distribution, retransmission, copying, or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If you have received this transmission in error, please delete this message from your system.” This is a very strict policy that we enforce, and that the government is under watch of. We do ask that you take down the posting of the conversation that you had which was posted on
“http://goinside.com/2012/01/26/warning-check-your-applecare-support-profile/” . If no compliance is made, further action will have to be forced upon.
You will have 24 hours to take the post down.

Typically, such legal disclaimers regarding dissemination of company information are applied to PR in order to pressure journalists into going along with the companies’ particular wishes concerning information on new products, services and events meant for press.

As the communication from Apple’s support was posted on the blog in order to add context to the situation and not meant to slander or libel the company, Apple has no legal standing to issue the takedown notice, especially as all other correspondence did not feature the legal disclaimer, making the initial communique an anomaly. Legal experts also agree that such legal boilerplate isn’t binding due to the fact that only one side set terms regarding the nature of the information presented and does not allow for negotiation.

With Apple attempting to intimidate bloggers into silence, this only adds to the bad PR the company has received in recent weeks stemming from factory audits and its responsibility as a corporate citizen coming into question after statements made regarding its position on American jobs.

It’s been a busy week for T-Mobile. After refusing to comment to PhoneNews.com on T-Mobile testing 1900 MHz UMTS service in select markets, a direct effort to support unlocked iPhones, the carrier has made more depressing internal moves.

It appears that the carrier has aborted plans to offer 3G on 1900 MHz, as the carrier earlier this month began instructing customer service to suggest iPhone users on the network upgrade to a 4G Android smartphone, compatible with their network frequencies. T-Mobile offered customer support representatives a series of talking points on why iPhone is limited to 2G, or EDGE speeds on the T-Mobile network.

While it is possible that these are simply two different hands of a company not talking to one another, the timeline does indicate that T-Mobile wants iPhone off its network, rather than embrace the 1900 MHz band for UMTS. With no possibility of an AT&T merger, the carrier has to decide to use 1900 MHz for UMTS, or save it for LTE.

The carrier also has to decide when to wind down its GSM/EDGE services, which would leave iPhone customers in the dark. Other handsets that are GSM-only could be upgraded for free with UMTS handsets at marginal cost to T-Mobile. AT&T had to undergo the same effort when it wound down its TDMA and AMPS networks, and will likely have to do the same with GSM in order to re-use the spectrum.

Following criticism from many, T-Mobile does now appear to be pulling at least a temporary about-face with the public. The carrier has published memos internally, confirmed by PhoneNews.com, that they will begin to provide basic technical support for iPhone on the T-Mobile network.

Support will be limited to basic compatibility configuration, the T-Mobile APN (needed to enable data services), as well as T-Mobile’s email and MMS gateways.

In addition, T-Mobile will also provide support for iPhone usage and navigation, but only at a basic level. Services like the App Store and iTunes or iPod will not be supported, T-Mobile representatives are directed to tell customers to contact Apple for further technical support.

T-Mobile is the only of the major four carriers to not carry an iPhone currently. This partially stemmed from AT&T’s intention to purchase/merge with T-Mobile, and T-Mobile refusing to pay Apple’s higher device subsidies. T-Mobile executives have commented that the next iPhone will support T-Mobile’s network, prompting T-Mobile public relations to perform damage control, having announced an Apple product prior to Apple confirming it.

Following tests conducted by PhoneNews.com, Toshiba has acknowledged an issue affecting their Canvio USB 3.0 hard drives. The issue prevents current-generation MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models from properly connecting and powering up the drives.

Read more to see our findings, and the resulting (ongoing) investigation by Toshiba.

We began our tests based on tips from readers like you, and went out and purchased five (yes, five) Canvio USB 3.0 drives, along with a brand new 2011 MacBook Air.

Drive problems happened immediately, and were relatively isolated to the MacBook Air. Of all the systems we tested on, we were only able to reproduce issues on a Sony VAIO laptop late in our testing, as well as a current-gen MacBook Pro.

Essentially, the drives failed to mount, and in most tests never even spun up on these systems.

The Canvio USB 3.0 hard drives have sat under many people’s Christmas trees, as they were hot sellers during Black Friday. Retailers like Office Depot slashed prices on the slim, 2.5-inch drives down to $79 for a 1TB hard drive. With coupons, Radio Shack was selling the 500GB model for a mere $39.

Canvio USB 3.0 drives tout on the box compatibility with USB 2.0 systems, including both Mac and PC. The advantage of a Canvio USB 3.0 hard drive for a MacBook owner lies in Thunderbolt. Purchasing such a drive today can achieve USB 3.0 speeds with upcoming Thunderbolt-to-USB 3.0 adapters. USB 3.0 mass storage was designed to be fully backwards compatible with USB 2.0.

To get to the bottom of the problem, we probed the five Canvio drives purchased, in an effort to better understand the issue. And, we were able to isolate the problem; the Canvio USB 3.0 drives draw more power than the USB standard permits. The drives were drawing, upon connection, slightly more than the five watts that the spec allows. And, the new MacBooks appear to promptly shut the device down because of this.

Why? Well, Apple can assert that this is to protect the MacBook Air/Pro from a malfunctioning USB device. However, the answer really lies in tablets. Apple allows iPad and MacBook to perform a hardware handshake, which then allows Apple devices to draw 10 watts from the USB port. This is why you can charge an iPad directly on a Mac, but not on a PC.

Apple does not want to allow rival tablet manufacturers (Android) to have the same access to Apple’s USB port. Hence, any device (like a tablet) that wants to draw even slightly more than five watts, is shut off from communicating with the Mac. We affirmed this by testing a powered USB hub. With a powered hub connected to the hard drive, and the hub connected to the MacBook, the drive instantly came to life, and worked without issue.

This creates a bit of an odd situation; Toshiba is technically in the wrong for making drives that technically breach USB specifications… but Apple seems to be the only manufacturer to enforce this aspect (as well as breach it with their own devices).

Toshiba, to its credit, has owned up to our issue, right down to our suggestion to them that a powered hub works around the issue. Quoting an official statement in response to our research:

Toshiba DPD has identified an isolated USB connectivity issue between the Canvio USB 3.0 drive and currently shipping MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops. The issue involves the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air being unable to recognize the Canvio USB 3.0 drive when connected directly to the laptop USB 2.0 port. Toshiba is actively working to remedy this USB connectivity issue. In the interim, Toshiba recommends MacBook Pro and MacBook Air users employ a powered USB hub to connect their Canvio USB 3.0 drives.

We have asked Toshiba if they intend to inform retailers to accept returns for affected drives, or if they will offer some form of refund program in the interim. Retailers such as Office Depot do not permit refunds on opened technology items, including Canvio drives. Toshiba has said are looking into that aspect of this problem, and will get back to us shortly.

In all, we spent a few hundred on hard drives, and confirmed the issue. Unfortunately, because it is a power drain concern, Toshiba will likely have to offer an exchange program to fix it. We seriously doubt that this can be fixed at the firmware level. Theoretically, it’s possible a USB cable replacement might be able to mitigate this issue however, so there is hope that Toshiba won’t have to recall a bazillion hard drives.

Prolific iOS hacker pod2G has released to jail breakers a new exploit, which for the first time brings a homogenous and simple jailbreak for iOS 5 devices.

The jailbreak has been incorporated into redsn0w, the most popular jailbreak tool, and supports all devices with the exception of Apple A5-toting iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. This is due to the exploit depending on an ARM exploit in both the Samsung CPUs powering iPod touch 3G and iPhone 3GS, as well as Apple’s A4 processor.

pod2G believes that the same exploit could be carried over to Apple’s A5 processor, but will require additional work, as it is a very low-level exploit. Also significant is that this untethered jailbreak functions on both GSM and CDMA variants of the iPhone 4.

iOS 5 marked additional efforts to thwart jailbreakers by Apple. The devices now require two-way activation, meaning the firmware update bundles must both “phone home” to Apple for approval codes, and then “phone back” with confirmation codes that the update bundle was not tampered with. Previously users could downgrade iOS versions by spoofing Apple’s activation server, and backing up the “phone home” codes (commonly referred to as SHSH or ECID numbers).

The jailbreaking community has been largely fractured at this point, with the number of apps and working jailbreak programs drying up. Apple’s efforts have been effective in creating jailbreak fragmentation; some users are still using iOS 4.2.1 (jailbroken), some are running iOS 5 (in a tethered jailbreak), and a significant number have simply moved on and no longer jailbreak.

With the release of the iOS 5.0.1 untethered jailbreak, the jailbreaking community will finally be unified on a single version, albeit with a smaller community pool. It remains to be seen how vibrant the jailbreaking community will thrive, as Apple appears to remain committed to a walled garden approach, despite jailbreakers presenting many valid and functional applications that justify the practice.

iPhone Dev Team
Download: redsn0w 0.9.10b1 for Mac
Download: redsn0w 0.9.10b1 for Windows (to use, right click on app and chose Run as Administrator)

Best Buy email sent to customers this morning…

Today only, Best Buy is offering buy-one-get-one free pricing on the 32GB version of iPhone 4S. The retailer is offering the pricing on both AT&T and Verizon Wireless versions of the iPhone 4S, but not on the Sprint variant.

The offer is only valid for new two-year agreements, and both iPhones must be purchased at the same time. It is not clear if Best Buy will price match prior purchases, theoretically one could threaten to cancel and return the iPhones today.

Best Buy is operating on special Christmas Eve hours today, open from 7 AM to 5 PM. You must visit a store to purchase the iPhones, Best Buy is not offering the BOGO deal online.

At half-off the purchase of two iPhone 4S’s, it’s by far the lowest price we’ve seen for iPhone 4S to-date. The maximum discount we have seen for iPhone 4S previously was $169 at Radio Shack.

Update: We can confirm that this was intended to be only for the iPhone 4. Best Buy created chaos this morning by issuing this nation-wide offer, despite many/most stores being depleted of 32GB original iPhone 4 units. Some stores began honoring the deal for the 4S, as droves of customers began filling the Best Buy Mobile kiosks, fearing a bait-and-switch complaint.

Best Buy has begun to alert stores, and we are now seeing this curtailed to just the original iPhone 4 at a national level. In Best Buy’s defense, the retailer was caught off-guard with a large supply of original 32GB units that became obsolete when all original iPhone 4 units were discontinued, and an 8GB iPhone 4 replaced them alongside the iPhone 4S.

This follows the confusion and woes for Best Buy, which earlier this week admitted many orders dating back to Black Friday simply would not be fulfilled or delivered by Christmas. PhoneNews.com can also confirm that Best Buy decided to not expedite orders to overnight shipping, instead shipping them via ground shipping… thus missing what would have otherwise been a successful Christmas delivery.

We were all set to close out the lights on PhoneNews.com to celebrate Christmas, but we got one piece of information that we had to push out to readers.

Many in the mobile media had been covering that T-Mobile customers had suddenly noticed UMTS/HSPA receptivity on the unlocked iPhone models. This appears to be coming from the 1900 MHz signal, indicating that T-Mobile has begun, in the wake of the failed merger with AT&T, to begin rolling out 3G coverage for AT&T-banded devices.

Unfortunately, T-Mobile formally declined to comment to PhoneNews.com after we asked what the official status of this situation is. The carrier’s media relations team was unaware of the situation until we brought it to their attention, indicating that this offering was not intentional on T-Mobile’s part.

In fact, this may have been little more than a pilot program, we have only confirmed signal receptivity in one single market (Northern CA and Reno, NV, which is a single market by T-Mobile territories).

By using 1900 MHz for UMTS/HSPA, the carrier is using bandwidth that previously had to remain open for GSM/EDGE network traffic. Much as AT&T and Verizon had to move customers off older network standards, T-Mobile may see fit to begin pushing customers away from GSM, and toward a UMTS-only network.

As part of T-Mobile’s termination agreement with AT&T regarding their merger, the two agreed to a network-wide UMTS roaming agreement. These kinds of agreements were long sought after by consumer groups, and smaller carriers alike, noting that the carriers could not find any reasons in principle to not have such pacts.

Armed with a UMTS roaming agreement with AT&T, T-Mobile simply does not need to continue operating a GSM network. While millions of customers still have GSM devices, the per-device cost for a basic UMTS feature phone is low enough now that a trade-off would be to T-Mobile’s advantage; start welcoming iPhone customers immediately by reducing GSM spectrum immediately.

T-Mobile is now offering unlimited plans at the $50/month price-point, including data. At those rates, T-Mobile could argue that customers purchasing an unlocked iPhone would save money over AT&T, even factoring in the nearly $400 device subsidy that AT&T pays for each iPhone customer.

After all, there’s nothing stopping T-Mobile from offering bill credits and subsidies on service in lieu of a contract phone purchase…

A new version of the redSn0w iPhone unlock tool has been released on the Cydia repository with increased compatibility with iOS 5.0.1. The new unlock tool is compatible with the iPhone 3GS as long as the baseband version is set at 04.26.08 – 05.11.07 – 05.12.01 – 05.13.04 – 06.15.00 with the iPhone 4 now compatible if the baseband is set at 01.59.00. As the unlock tool requires a backup and jailbreak in order to preserve basebands, this is not recommended for novices.

The latest update to Google Voice for the iPhone centers on the addition of multiple number entries for sending a text message to and a further update that allows it to support Google Voice on the native dialer if being used on the Sprint iPhone. Such updates were long requested and should make it easier to use Google Voice in place of the native functionality along with a multi line text entry field. The update is now available in the App Store.

It should be noted that the latest update is causing some users issues as many are reporting that the phone’s actual mobile number will display on the caller id of the recipient on outgoing calls instead of the Google Voice number even if the settings are configured to display the Google Voice number only.

Over the past couple of days, first-generation iPhone and iPod touch owners have been unable to purchase or download apps from Apple’s App Store.

Attempts to download apps fail with errors, however, the problem can be worked around by downloading applications from iTunes on a Mac or PC, and then synchronizing over-the-wire to the affected device.

Many have questioned how Apple will maintain discontinued versions of iOS. PhoneNews.com does not suggest anyone use first-generation iPhone or iPod touch devices in a production environment, due to gaping security holes that could allow a standard website to take over a device. The first of these security holes, a PDF exploit, was disclosed within weeks of Apple abandoning support for these devices.

Apple has refused to implement a software lifecycle policy for its devices, preventing users from having assurance about the long-term security support and viability for their hardware purchases. This has allowed Apple to thrive in the consumer world, where consumers are more inclined to embrace new technology over support contracts. However, it has stifled Apple in the corporate world, where rivals Microsoft and Research In Motion both offer security support and lifecycle policies that are publicly available.

Additionally, it remains difficult at an architectural level to support old iOS versions. Apple makes it easy for developers to support the current, and recently-discontinued major versions of iOS, but does not offer clear framework support for older branches beyond iOS 5 and iOS 4.2.1. iOS 4.2.1 is the last version supported on iPhone 3G and the second-generation iPod touch, as well as the 8GB variant of the third-generation iPod touch.

It is still possible to build an iOS 3.1.3-compatible app, but users must vet their application to only support old implementations of APIs, and only use APIs as they were developed in iOS 3.1.3. Xcode does not provide any form of validation check or analysis to aide developers in supporting old iOS devices.

Worse, Apple prevents sideloading, maintaing a walled garden on all iOS devices. This makes it impossible for developers to create supported IDE environments for aging devices, which would enable old iOS devices to thrive in secondary markets, such as the developing world.

There are two potential paths that may develop for these devices. One path is that developers may begin to support old versions of MobileSafari, and create HTML5 development tools that embrace the limitations of older iOS devices. This path would be in-line with the WebApp model that Apple originally offered, prior to the App Store.

Another is with middleware solutions such as Adobe AIR. Companies like Adobe could offer API subset support for older iOS versions, allowing variants of apps to be maintained long after they are no longer sold, and the vendors refuse to offer firmware updates.

Affected users of these iOS devices have not received a response from Apple, the company has not responded to requests for comment on the status of the App Store for these devices.

Update: Within hours of this post, Apple has restored on-device App Store access to first-generation devices without an explanation on why it was non-functional for the past couple of days. The issue may have rested at the feet of Apple from the beginning of the situation, though the sudden restoration is still cause for concern.