microsoft

...and the Marketplace news just keeps on rolling today. Quite a bit considering the darn thing hasn't officially launched yet!

Looks like XDA member Chainfire has already "cracked" the security protection of distribution of paid-for-apps in the Marketplace.

Long story short, when you "buy" a program, you download the .cab file, which automatically installs to main memory.  After the installation, the (registered) .cab file gets deleted from your system immediately.

Chainfire has figured a way to circumvent this system, thereby saving the .cab file. One can then simply and illegally re-distribute this file to friends, warez groups etc.  Ouch.

Now the good news is Chainfire did not release how he did this (and has no plans to), but considering it took him only "five minutes", it doesn't bode well for long term security. The question is, how else could this have been done while not breaking the OS and keeping things uniform? Could they not pre-register the .cab files with your user ID, like Kinoma offers?

[XDA via Fuzemobility]

For those who want to use Windows Marketplace for Mobile now and have an older device (Windows Mobile 6.0/6.1) or Windows Mobile 6.5 with the store not already on the in ROM, drellisdee over at PPC Geeks has managed to pull out the .CAB for the rest of us:

I made it from 23053 skymarket. Its for WWE only and only for devices that have a bootlauncher (IE no apache.) Let me know if it doesn't work on stock roms as its not signed as I'm not sure if signature is required but it will run on cooked roms with full kernel trust enabled.

Luckily my cooked WM6.5 ROM for the Snap did not have the store built in and so far it seems to be running just fine, as can be seen above. Basically the .CAB installs the link, which then hops to the store via your browser to download the latest store software.

So how's it working for you? Take the poll and let us know in comments! And remember that we're not officially expecting the Marketplace for older devices until next month.  Grab the file here at PPC Geeks.

Hope you guys didn't get too used to using Microsoft Recite, as it's not long for this world. The preview (see our initial hands-on here) will be discontinued on Dec. 31, 2009, according to the project blog.

Microsoft is providing a guide to help transfer files from phone to your computer, as they won't be available after that date. Sorry, folks.

Ars Technica via JK On the Run

Today's the day our iPhone brethren finally ... FINALLY! ... get MMS. Now they can finally ... FINALLY! ... send pictures over text messaging. Congrats, guys and gals. You certainly have had to wait longer than deserved. (And if you allow a friend or family member to use an iPhone, have them read TiPB's MMS walkthrough.)

As for the rest of us, a big fear is that AT&T's oft-struggling network will come to a screeching halt as thousands of pictures of cats and dinner choices are sent flying through the ether. And, so, we get our troll on and ask: How's it holding up for you?

Here are a bunch more rumors about Microsoft's Project Pink, courtesy of Paul at MoDaCo, most making total sense and overlapping what we've already heard.

• Running the show has been Microsoft's "PMX" team -- Premium Mobile Experience -- which includes the assets gained from the purchase of Sidekick-maker Danger.
• Verizon's the main carrier on board, though other agreements are in place.
• The "Turtle" sports a 3.5mm headphone jack and a 5-megapixel camera. The "Pure" camera is 8 megapixels.
• Both devices are dual branded with Microsoft and Sharp.
• The OS has the same kernel as Windows Mobile 7, but won't look or feel like WM7. The UI is written in Silverlight and uses Seadragon. Looks kinda familiar.
• Zune HD software and Xbox integration are on board.
• As these are targeted toward the mass market, parental controls are on board.
• There is a unified messaging experience. (Should be interesting to see how it matches up against the Palm Pre.)
• Turtle and Pure will get their own launch party, not at CES.

Keep an eye on the MoDaCo thread, as Paul promises more details.

Attention Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader, Apple Phantom Tablet, iPhone, iPod Touch, netbooks, laptops, Newtons, Palm Pilots, calculators, spiral-bound notebooks, loose-leaf paper, pen, pencil and life as we know it:

This. Is. The. Future.

By now you've probably seen Gizmodo's leak of Microsoft's Courier project. If not, take two 7-inch multitouch tablets, sandwich them together like a book, throw in a camera and amaze the heck out of technophiles everywhere.

We wanted to sleep on things and try to digest exactly what we'd seen. And, like everyone else, we're blown away. Surprised it's from Microsoft? Don't be. These are the guys (and gals) who brought us Microsoft Surface. And apologies for beating this drum yet again, but add the Zune HD to that list. Microsoft can do UI. It can do hardware. And it can marry the two.

That said, remember that this is far from a production run. Far, far from it, we imagine, though Giz says it's in the "late prototype" stage. And there's practically no way this couldn't be completely out of the price range of 99 percent of those who'd love to use one. (Right?) Please, please, Microsoft, prove us wrong.

Says Giz:

Until recently, it was a skunkworks project deep inside Microsoft, only known to the few engineers and executives working on it—Microsoft's brightest, like Entertainment & Devices tech chief and user-experience wizard J. Allard, who's spearheading the project. Currently, Courier appears to be at a stage where Microsoft is developing the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies.

Says us:

Wow.

Head on over to Giz and check out more pics and a stunning video, then head back here and let us know what you think.

Oh, Apple ... Sure you make the trains run on time, but are the peasants truly happy? It seems that there's a bit more unrest being spawned from Cupertino.

First comes word that Microsoft is poaching wooing retail store managers away from Apple in preparation for its own line of retail stores. [Ars via TiPB] Nothing too strange there. These things happen. But for Apple, it's hardly a new trend.

But top that with new of a possible employee walkout on Oct. 3 at the Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, Wash., and this could turn out to be a full-on to-do. Losing the managers is bad enough. But if you can't keep the worker bees happy, they'll go elsewhere. And not even Fake Steve Jobs can stop that.

And with a couple of exciting new products already in the wild (Exhibits A and B), and presumably more on the way, Microsoft couldn't come calling at a better time.

First things first: This rumor is sourced back to a Mac fan site, so we're going to take everything with a grain of salt, and for good reason. (Even if we're talking two sites here.)

That said, 9to5mac is reporting [via Engadget] that Microsoft is prepping a couple of slider phones as part of the infamous Project Pink, all of which spawned from the acquisition of Sidekick-maker Danger. Said phones could make an appearance at CES in January.

The codenames: Turtle and Pure.

Says 9to5mac:

One device is "squircle" in shape like the past Zune's buttons. The slide out keyboard houses the mic at the bottom and it is meant to be open when being used as a phone. This device is code-named "Turtle" and looks like a dressed up Motorola QA1.

The other device is more traditionally-shaped candybar slider and is code-named "Pure". The devices had previously been rumored to be carried on Verizon but we haven't heard anything more in this area.

They will continue to use the App Store model that the Sidekick has employed with over-the-air applications appearing on your phone bill. Danger's phone App Store predated Apple's by two years.

The site also says it's been given "pretty detailed pictures and could possibly post them" later ... Or put them up on Twitter. Those are two things that scream linkbait to us, but stranger things have happened.

Obvious questions remain: Would this be separate from other Windows Mobile 7 devices? Separate from Windows Marketplace for Mobile?

Either way, here's where we stand: It's time for Microsoft to make a phone. Apologies for further Zune HD gushing, but they've got the operating system. They're prepping the app store. It's time to put two and two together, folks. I don't care what Microsoft's said in the past.

Mr. Ballmer: Tear. Down. That. Wall.