We have an update on the AIM push problem we wrote about this morning. The problem only affects jailbroken iPhones 2 and 3G running the homebrew app Pushfix. If you are in this sad number please restore to the original firmware or risk seeing your IMs spread far and wide. Pushfix is a homebrew app that "repairs" push functionality on Jailbroken apps. The iPhone Dev Team, the same folks who unlocked the iPhone in the first place, created it to help us lowly users but they left a fatal flaw in the program. It seems they used a single UDID - Unique Device ID - for the fix. This in turn creates a sort of broadcast network of multiple jailbroken phones running Pushfix that report back to the push servers with the same UDID. The result? When you push to one, you push to all.

Till Schadde, founder of development house Equinux, has discovered an exploit - a broadcast error, really - that sends your AIM messages to random recipients without your knowledge or consent. The problem seems to happen in unlocked/jailbroken iPhones and results in a alert appearing on a recipients home screen bearing your message. Till tested the service by sending an AIM from the OS X desktop using iChat to his iPhone. He then received a reply back from a random recipient. It is clear that this is a Push problem in the message addressing - each iPhone is assigned its own identifier and receives messages from a central server operated by Apple - although this may change.

Deloitte is out with its latest annual Global Powers of Retailing report. No surprises at the top of the list ( Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco).  A number of discount retailers were big movers on the Top 250 list as consumers cut back to deal with the economic downturn. Schwarz Unternehmens Treuhand KG (Schwarz) climbed three places [...]

Savvy investing is tough. Success requires solid due diligence and constant observation of the economy. However, many investors like to oversimplify a thesis and then buy-and-hold with total confidence. [More...]