Like all our other tablet accessories we review, we always ensure we use the actual items for several weeks before writing a review so you can rest assured that this is not just some marketing blurb we’re regurgitating here but it does mean the item won’t look pristine in the photos, so any marks and scratches you see are from using it in the real world for a fortnight, lets begin.

The Notier is a completely different style of stylus, it doesn’t have the typical big round conductive rubber tip found on almost all other styli (or styluses, both are gramatically correct), instead the Musemee Notier has a clear, round perspex disc which appears to have an additional clear sticker over the end that is slightly softer than perspex and very slippy which helps it slide along a glass surface. The clear disc is connected to the aluminium stylus body via what appears to be a thin rubber cylinder which looks identical to a 0.5mm technical pencil lead, only it’s made of flexible rubber.

This rubber cylinder sits mostly hidden in the body of the sylus nib with 0.5mm to 1mm actually exposed and it couples the stylus body to the stylus tip in such a way that you can articulate the tip in any direction you like. This allows you to hold the stylus at any angle you like, seriously, any angle that feels comfortable the stylus nib will remain in contact with the screen and still work. This multi-angle use is nothing new though, you could use the Just|Mobile Alupen at pretty much any angle too because it had such a big bulbous tip.

What sets the Musemee Notier apart is that the stylus tip (or nib) is transparent and this makes a world of difference when it comes to drawing accuracy. You can now see exactly where the stylus tip is touching the screen and the touch is registered slap bang in the middle of the transparent disc. This means you can draw two parallel lines right next to each other, just a few pixels apart without any problem, or pick up the end of a line you’ve already drawn and continue the line  with pixel accuracy or actually write words on the screen and have them look like your real handwriting for a change. For artists, sketchers, not takers and doodlers this is a must have stylus….almost.

The stylus does have a few pitfalls, first and foremost is robustness. The nib is fantastic but you do get the impression the stylus is much more fragile than the tonka truck Alupen. The thin rubber lead connecting the stylus to the nib flexes well but feels like it could wear out after only a few months use. We’ve not had the stylus long enough to prove that though so we’ll update in a few months to let you know how it fares. The nib is replaceable though and that’s a good thing because if you scratch of damage the clear disc nib you can just buy a replacement. To replace it you simply pull the old nib out and push the new one in whilst twisting the barrel of the stylus. This leads to one of the biggest problems with the pen….other people….they like to fiddle. Whenever we used the stylus people asked us about it and wanted to try it, one of the first things they all do is grab the nib and pull it, twist it and bend it and inevitably they pull the damn thing out. It’s not a huge problem to reinsert it but it is annoying and we wish the manufacturer and put some sort of clip or locking mechanism on to lock the nib in place semi-permanently.

The body of the stylus is nicely weighted though and screws in half so you can place the end of the body over the nib like a pen cap to protect it when not in use. This is a nice simple feature that is definitely needed with a delicate nib like this. If you were to just throw the stylus into your bag (like we do with the alupen) do not expect to find it with a nib on it when you pull it out of your bag.

Is the Notier better than the Alupen? Not really, they’re on a par and serve different purposes. If you just want to draw quick basic shapes on a screen, maybe you are wearing gloves on site perhaps or your kids want to doodle on your iPad then forget the Notier and get the Alupen. However, if you want fine pixel perfect precision with drawings and sketches on your iPad or want to improve your hand written notes on the iPad then definitely get the Notier.

Recent queries:

• musemee notier review
• musemee review

My Dad called me up and asked me to “sort the situation out so he can have his iPad back” so I strolled out and bought my Mum a basic Kindle (4th Gen). I toyed with the idea of getting a Kindle Touch, then realised she’d probably hate it, forget to turn it off and have it turn pages randomly in her bag so I opted for the entry level £89 one and spent the savings on a Kindle cover instead.

Unlike the iPad case with built in keyboard, there’s not much to choose between all the Kindle cases other than faux leather or real leather and colour. I went for a nice simple Purple Faux leather SD Tabletware Book case since I had nothing but good things to say about their Motorola Xoom case.

What can I say, it’s exactly as I expected. Small, well made and purple. The Kindle slots in very easily (even my Mum figured out how to take it in/out of the case which is saying something. Notice my confidence that my Mum is that tech-tarded she won’t even know how to get onto my blog yet alone read a post) and is removed just as easily.

I linked her Kindle to my Wifi and registered her Amazon account with the Kindle and then bought the stupid Fifty shades trilogy for her (using my Amazon affiliate link of course) and pre-loaded them onto her Kindle.

I made her read a whole chapter with the Kindle naked (and that’s the KINDLE that’s naked not my mother!) and then gave her the case. I wanted to make sure she was aware the extra bulk the case added and whether she preferred reading with no case on the Kindle at all. Since the Kindle’s are fairly robust it wouldn’t have been too much of an issue if she didn’t want a case. However, she seems to like the case and feels more relaxed throwing the Kindle in her handbag with the case on rather than case-less.

Not much of a review really since I’m not using the case myself. I can tell you that the magnet clasp is VERY strong, perhaps strong enough to cause damage to magnetic strips on bank cards or hotel room keys (which my iPad magnets keep destroying).

[UPDATE: Since writing this post I have now upgraded my Mum to the all the new Kindle Paperwhite and I'll put up a review of a Kindle Paperwhite case soon.]

Here’s some photos of the case and the Kindle, enjoy.

I can understand why Fuji opted for a neck strap rather than a wrist strap as the default supplied item, but they could have put a little more thought into the strap. It’s thin so it digs into the shoulder lots, it feels cheap, it looks cheap, it’s not long enough to be a neck strap, it’s too long to use as a wrist strap, I just don’t get along with it.

For a while I took the strap off completely but I felt I still needed a little something for extra security especially when taking it abroad. I toyed with the idea of getting a better neck strap but all the good ones are tailored towards SLRs and hence quite big and chunky as are most dslr camera bags. I decided I needed a camera wrist strap, I thought about maybe getting a Gordy’s strap but they seemed to be quite expensive and not quite what I was after comfort wise.

Eventually I stumbled upon a new company, one that I’d never heard of before, called Toma and they looked to be entering the market with a fancy genuine brown leather wrist strap aimed at the bridge cameras and with the promise of a full leather half case for the X10 on the horizon I thought I’d test the water with the wrist strap and I’m glad I did.

When it arrived I cringed at the poor Korean translation on the back of the box (image above) but soon forgot about that when I took the strap out. Finally, a manufacturer who uses real leather and not just cheap leather, they’ve used high quality leather. The padding is perfectly placed and just the right softness.

The only downside is that it didn’t come with a nice triangular metal loop like the Fuji strap did to attached it to the camera. In fact the one thing I loved about the Fuji neck strap was the attention to detail with the trainagular connector, connector tool they provided and the little piece of leatherette to stop the metal on metal scratching. I decided to reuse the Fuji traingular clip for the Toma wrist strap and also realised I was going to have to keep the little Fuji leatherette patch to stop potential camera scratches. Not a big deal but the fact the little Fuji piece I’ve kept is black and the strap is brown bugs me a little, it would be nice if Toma used some of the leather off-cuts and pressed a small flap of beautiful brown leather out…in fact I’m going to email them and suggest they do that in the future.

The strap is excceptionally well made, stitched together with ncie thick thread and for added security it’s also revietted in two places.

The strap was straight out of the box, on the camera and within 24hours it was thrown in at the deep end with a 3 day stag party in Marbella, Spain. It had pool water, sweat, suncream, alcohol and all sorts splashed, sprayed, thrown on it and the leather didn’t discolour at all. In bars and clubs I quite often let the camera swing freely from my wrist whilst “throwing some shapes” to the music.

The strap gave that extra bit of peace of mind that nobody was going to be able to snatch my camera and run, nor would I drop it in thewhilst taking photos in the port. We also chartered a yacth for a day and I was happy to be walking around on the deck in choppy waters with the camera safely attached to my wrist.

The strap performs well, looks great and helps keep my camera close at hand so that I don’t miss any spur of the moment shots. I’m so impressed with this Toma product that I’ve just ordered the half leather case so keep an eye out for a review of that soon.

I arrived into the office on Friday 21st Sept (launch day) to find a 64GB Black iPhone 5 waiting for me. I was still using an iPhone 4, I skipped the 4S, so after 2 years of iPhone 4 use I thought I would treat myself to a new one.

This isn’t a review of the iPhone 5, there are plenty of those around so I’m not going to rehash what everybody else has said although I will add one criticism and that’s about the battery life. It sucks. Yes the iPhone 5 has 225hrs standby, so that’s 25 hours more than the iPhone 4S but remember I’m coming from an iPhone 4 which had 300hrs standy so I’ve effectively lost 75hrs standby. Other than that, the build quality and design of the new iPhone 5 are fantastic, it feels great in the hand, it’s disturbingly thin and light yes feels much more rugged than the glass backed iPhone 4 and 4S.

The last thing I wanted to do with my ultra thin iPhone 5 was plonk it into an ugly and bulky iPhone 5 case and lose the benefit of the slimmer design. If you’ve read my previous review of the super slim Elago S4 Breath iPhone 4 case you’ll know that I hate iPhone cases and if I do need to use one I’ll use the thinnest one I can possibly find.

I decided to use the iPhone 5 with no case for a few weeks to see how I got on. After 3 weeks, half of which was spent on holiday in Florida on theme park rides, air-boats  skydiving, segwaying, on beaches, etc I’m still happy using the phone without a case but I felt I needed just a little something on the rear for extra grip. I don’t drop my tech, I take good care of it and as such I’ve never felt the need to buy an iPhone case for drop protection reasons. With the iPhone 4 I needed a case because of the well documented antenna issues but with the iPhone 5, Apple have resolved those issues and you no longer need a bumper or to hold your phone a certain way in order to get a signal.

I thought I’d give the gorgeous BOOKback from DODOCASE a try on the iPhone 5. A friend (@alexblackburn) recently showed me his iPad with a DODOCASE BOOKback stuck on the rear and I fell in love with the simplicity and tactile feel but my God the DODOCASE brand is near impossible to source in the UK. So when my local Apple reseller (MCC Chester) told me they were becoming a UK stockist of DODOCASEs I raced down there and picked up a BOOKback for my iPhone 5.

The BOOKback for the iPhone 5 only costs £10 which I personally think is quite cheap even though you don’t get much actual hardware for your money. Effectively this is just a sticker for the rear of your iPhone 5 but it’s perfectly cut, and I mean perfectly, to the exact size of the rear of the iPhone so when it’s fitted correctly it’s like it came out the factory with it on. However, the fact that it’s perfectly cut to the exact size of the iphone back means that there is no room for error or mis-alignment when fitting it. Even if you are 0.5mm out with your alignment when fitting it you’re going to end up disappointed.

The BOOKback texture is kind of leatherette meets luxurious textured paper but it doesn’t mark or scratch easily and offers much more grip than the aluminium back of the iPhone 5 but only adds about 0.1mm thickness to the phone if that.

Fitting shouldn’t be rushed but is fairly trivial if done correctly. First you need to clean the rear of your iPhone to remove any greasy finger marks and dust that would reduce the adhesion of the BOOKback.

Peel back about 3cm of the backing from the bottom of the BOOKback then simply place the it on the rear and line up the edges and the top accurately being careful not to let the exposed glue at the bottom touch the phone yet. Now press hard at the top near the camera to keep the BOOKback precisely lined up, get a friend to help if necessary, whilst you gently press the bottom edge against the phone.

Once you are happy that it is all still lined up you can released the pressure at the top and continue to peel the backing off whilst pressing the sticky back onto the iPhone. See, that was easy wasn’t it.

Having seen how well the BOOKback has weathered on the back of my friend’s iPad I’m hoping this iPhone BOOKback is still going to look good 6 months down the road but I’ll update this post with photos in a few months so you can see for yourself. It has to be remembered that an iPhone is subject to much more day to day use, slipped in and out of pockets 10′s or 100′s of times a day, thrown onto tables and bars, sometimes placed onto damp table tops where drink condensation has pooled, etc so there is potential for the BOOKback to look awful in just a few weeks but we’ll have to wait and see.

If you are clumsy and drop your phone do not get a BOOKback, instead look at some more conventional iPhone 5 hard cases. If you are careful with your tech and want a sleek, impossibly thin backing on your iPhone 5 that gives you a nice tactile grippy surface then invest £10 in a DODOCASE BOOKback, I guarantee* you’ll love it!

* if you don’t then leave a comment below chastising me. It won’t get your £10 back but it will make you feel better.

We save emails to network server in specific job folders as .msg files to preserve all header info and attachments.

Recently found that I could only open the saved attachments once if I tried a second time it would give the following error:

Can’t open file: <file path>. The file may not exist, you may not have permission to open it, or it may be open in another program.

Permissions were fine for the files and if I closed outlook and reopened outlook, I would be able to open each message once but once closed and reopened I would get the same error message. If I closed outlook and left it closed, then I would be able to open and close the saved .msg file as many times as I wanted – i.e. normal file behaviour. The minute I opened my Outlook 2003 and then opened the .msg file it seemed to place some kind of lock on the file and never clear that lock until I closed outlook. If I looked at a list of all open files on the server, the .msg files in question were indeed locked out to my username even though I had closed the email viewing window.

Some suggestions were rogue Outlook plugins or add-ons. I had a look in Tools->Other->Advanced and only had a few basic ones in there that I no longer used so deleted all them, closed outlook and still got the same error message trying to open the messages for a 2nd time.

Eventually I found it was due to Outlook Junk Mail filtering, or a bug with the Junk Mail Filtering shall we say. Since all my junk is filtered by the IMF filter on the Exchange server I don’t think I’ve rolled out any Junk Mail updates to the Outlook installations on my system. I went to Microsoft and downloaded a more recent (but still 2006 and hence old) Junk Mail patch “Update for Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB925254)” and this resolved the issue and I can now open .msg files saved on our server without it locking the file out for myself and others.

see also

Disabling addons http://blog.techhit.com/5527-how-to-find-and-disable-outlook-2003-add-ins-and-plugins

I signed up for the sensor replacement with Fuji a few weeks ago by calling Fuji UK Customer services on 08445532322 and giving them my name, address and serial number. They told me to sit tight and wait until I receive a pre-paid packaging to return my camera for the new sensor and also to clean the dust from the inside of my lens at the same time. Make sure you read more about the dust inside X10 lens problems and if you are suffering from the same with your X10 ask them to clean it when it has the sensor swap.

This morning I received the following email

Mr Cooper,

Thank you for registering your camera for a sensor replacement and also for your patience in waiting for the sensors to become available. I am very happy to announce that we now have these parts in stock and we can upgrade your camera as soon as you are able to do without it for a short while.

You will shortly receive some pre-paid packaging with instructions on how to send your camera to our service centre securely and free of charge.

If you have any questions about this service or anything else to do with your Fujifilm camera, please call our helpline team on 08445532322 or email the address below:

Xseries@fuji.co.uk

Kind regards

Ben Barker
Customer Service Manager
FUJIFILM UK

So far I’ve not received my pre-paid packaging but I will update this post when that arrives and also update to let you know how long it took them to replace the sensor.

UPDATE 6th June 2012: This morning I received a sizable (10″ x 6″ x 7″), but light, brown box from Fuji. Inside is a letter from Fuji with further instructions about the sensor replacement (see scan below) along with a plain white cardboard box with foam inserts and a prepaid Royal Mail Special Delivery bag to return the camera to Fuji. The letter suggests I should have my X10 back in around 1 week so I shall be sending mine off tomorrow and will once again update this post upon it’s return. Whilst using the X10 at the weekend I also noticed that the rubber thumb grip on the rear has come lose and you can see the glue underneath it and the clear plastic focus assist lamp lens is loose too, I will be asking Fuji to address these problems along with fitting the new sensor and cleaning the dust from my lens. I’ve also just taken some repeatable sample orb photos with the X10 before it goes in for a sensor swap so keep an eye out for a post in a week or two showing before and after sensor swap photos.

UPDATE 7th June 2012: I shipped my X10 today so let’s see how long it takes to come back. I added a few post it notes to the camera to highlight additional repairs that are needed.

1. Dust inside the lens (read more)
2. Rear rubber thumb grip peeling/falling off
3. Clear lens covering AF assist lamp very wobbly

UPDATE 12th June 2012: This morning I received an automatic email from Fuji:

Your camera has now been received at our service centre. It will be repaired and returned to you as soon as possible.

They should have actually received my camera the day after it shipped, 8th June but that was a Friday so perhaps it’s just been sat around waiting for the next available technician and once he started working on my unit that triggered the auto-email? Anyway, at least it’s now in their capable hands and hopefully I’ll get it back towards the tail end of this week or early next week before an upcoming holiday to Spain.

UPDATE 18th June 2012: I just gave Fuji a call to get an ETA on the return of my camera as I was starting to panic that I wouldn’t have it back in time for my holiday. I was told that the work had just been finished on my X10 today and it was waiting to ship back to me so I should have it before the end of this week.

UPDATE 19th June 2012: I had an email from Fujifilm UK which quite simply said

Your camera is on its way back to you.

Many Thanks

FujiFilm Camera Repair Team.

UPDATE 20th June 2012: My X10 was delivered back to the office today with a work order stating “CMOS sensor replaced”. Things to note:

1. From start to finish I was without my camera for 14 days.
2. It’s a bright sunny day here in the UK (makes a change) so I’m not able to test if the new sensor has made any difference to the orbs. I shall test this evening under the same conditions as the test photos before the sensor replacement and post the results on my site.
3. It is not a new camera it is my original unit. It still has my screen protection film on, some slight marks I recognise and the same serial number.
4. Fuji don’t appear to have taken any notice of my request to have the dust cleaned from inside the lens. There is still a lot of dust inside the lens.
5. Fuji don’t appear to have taken any notice of my request to fix the rubber thumb grip which is starting to peel away from the glue…it is still peeling away from the glue.
6. One of the screws in the bottom plate of the camera seems different to the others and protrudes from the main body whilst the rest are all flush with the base. This is only a small niggle but a niggle nonetheless.

Recent queries:

• fuji x10 neuer sensor
• fuji x10 sensor replacement uk
• fuji x10 neuer sensor seriennummer
• fuji x10 orb
• fujifilm x10 new sensor review

I checked the camera thoroughly when I received it and there were definitely no dust traces inside the lens when it was new. The other day I was cleaning it with my trusty Lens Pen 2 and noticed there were some stubborn spots of dirt I couldn’t shift. On closer inspection I was shocked to find there is what I consider to be a large number of dust particles clinging to the inside of the front lens element and also to one of the inner lens elements.

It seems that this is quite a common problem with many other Fuji X10 users reporting the same. It is, however, reassuring to know that Fuji have been cleaning dust from inside the lens for other users free of charge under warranty. I will be getting this done but since Fuji have announced there is a new sensor replacement program on the horizon this month (May 2012) to combat the white orb sensor issue, I think I’ll wait until I send it off for the sensor swap and ask them to clean inside the lens at the same time.

Having always been a Canon shooter, my main workhorse is my 5D Mark II with a variety of L-series lenses and have never had any issues with dust inside them, but I guess they are nicely weather sealed against moisture and dust ingress. The Fuji X10 has replaced my Canon S90 and G10 as my main out-and-about carry everywhere camera though, but having just taken a long look my my G10, after nearly 3 years use it has absolutely no dust inside the lens. It probably helps that I always keep my 5D MkII in a clean DSLR camera bag and keep all my L-series lenses in a proper lens case, if I go to a dusty environment with them they get a thorough hoovering or even a wash afterwards.

It looks like the X10′s greatest feature, the manual lens zoom, might also be it’s achilles heel. Since you are able to manually zoom the lens so quickly it causes the lens to suck in or expel large volumes of air when you zoom in and out. If the lens is weather sealed too tightly, rapidly changing the internal lens volume (by zooming and extending the lens) would create a lower pressure inside the lens and cause it to be rebound back to it’s original position. Not exactly ideal. This issue doesn’t really affect the G10 or S90 or any other compact with a motorised zoom lens since the zooming action is motorised it is inherantly slow, meaning they can get away with some very tight air and weather seals. It seems Fuji have had to compromise with the X10 and reduce the sealing around the lens barrel to allow the lens to “breathe” easily as you zoom in and out.

There’s not much Fuji can do about this other than offer to keep cleaning dust from inside lenses under warranty and perhaps offer an extended lens cleaning program outside of warranty?

It is important to note that so far I have not noticed the dust particles inside the lens affecting any of my photos and lets face it, at the end of the day the quality of the photos is what matters most as a photographer. I’ve even used L-series lenses before which what I’d class as severe and deep scratches on the front element and not been able to notice it in the photos. My main concern is whether dust that is getting sucked into the lens barrel will eventually find its way onto the sensor, that’s when it becomes a real problem because that will be noticeable on photos.

There is a way to reduce the amount of dust that your Fuji X10 sucks into the lens and that is to quite simply zoom slowly. By zooming slowly you give the lens more time to expand it’s internal volume which in turn means air is sucked into the lens more slowly and dust is less likely to be ingested.

I’d also suggest giving your camera bags and camera cases a quick wash and hoover out if they are particularly dusty. Putting the X10 in and out of a dusty camera bag is more likely to get dust on the lens exterior which will increase the liklihood of dust getting sucked into the lens when zooming.

UPDATE: I called Fuji UK earlier today and was told they will clean the inside of the lens when they replace my sensor and since they are sending out pre-paid postage parcels to send the cameras in for the sensor replacement I wouldn’t even have to pay to ship it to them. Normally they would clean it FOC under warranty but I’d be liable for the cost of postage to the repair center.

I didn’t have my camera to hand at the time to give him the serial number, but they are taking details from those who want the replacement sensor now in preparation for the new sensor at the end of the month but they will want you to install the latest firmware first to see if that has reduced your “blooming” issues.

[Click images to see full size]

Recent queries:

• fuji x10
• fuji x10 new sensor
• fuji x10 sensor replacement
• fujifilm x10 new sensor
• fujifilm x10 sensor replacement
• fuji x10 sensor

Summary

This post details the step-by-step method required to extract a plist/OAuth token from a standard (non encrypted) iTunes backup of any iOS device (iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad) and then copy this onto another device to automatically log in using those creditials.

NOTE: The process outlined below will not work if you have iTunes set to encrypt your iOS backups. This method was confirmed as working as of 10th April 2012 using the latest iOS xxx and current Facebook (v.4110.0), Dropbox (v1.4.6) and LinkedIn (v35) iOS apps. You do not need to have a jailbroken iPhone or iPad for this to work. I do not condone using the methods below to gain access to anybody’s accounts without their prior permission, I hold no responsibility if using the information in this post lands you in trouble with your ex partner,  current partner, your boss, the police, your kids, etc.

Background

In case you weren’t aware a security flaw was found by Gareth Wright earlier this week that allows your Facebook login key to be copied form one iOS device to another and essentially allow a 3rd party access to your account without needing to know your account email address or password. The same vulnerability has also been found in Dropbox, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Vimeo and 1Password. At the time of writing this post, Dropbox have said they are going to address the problem and 1Password have gone one step further and rewritten the way the user details are stored so this exploit cannot be used anymore and have submitted the update to Apple for approval before it’s released. Facebook appear to dismiss the security vulnerability saying it is only really an issue if your device is jailbroken or you use a 3rd party app to access the files on your iOS device. WRONG! If you have ever connected your iOS device to iTunes via USB and iTunes has taken a backup of your device then you are at risk (unless you tick the box to encrypt your backups, in which case rest easy and don’t worry about anything written below). The plist file that is the centre of this whole security flaw is copied to your computer via iTunes backup, no third party app here extracting files as Facebook suggests. Granted you need a third party app to access the file and place it onto another iOS device but crucially, the insecure file is copied to your computer during a normal iTunes backup.

What does this mean to most end users then? Probably not a lot to be honest. If you only ever connect your iPhone or iPad to your own personal computer then there’s nothing to worry about since the insecure file, locked away in the backup of your device, resides on your personal machine and nobody else can get to it easily. But in today’s modern and social society, the likelihood is that you have a computer you share with your wife, girlfriend, housemates, family or you have been at a friends house with a low battery and connected your iPhone to give it a little extra juice. This is where things become a little more vulnerable, if the computer you connected your device to made a backup of your device (remember a backup is always made when you are updating the iOS via iTunes) then the crucial plist file with your OAuth key in for apps such as Facebook, Dropbox, LinkedIn and more now reside on that computer in that backup.

So if you currently share a computer with your partner and want to log into Facebook as them, you can if you follow the steps below. Likewise, if your ex-partner used to connect their iPhone or iPad to your computer but left you several months ago for somebody hotter, then you too can dip into their old backup on your computer and log into Facebook and other apps as them. [Again I re-iterate the moral/legal implications of such actions]

Step by Step Guide

Ok so how can you hack into somebody else’s Facebook using a file from their iOS backup? You’ll need two pieces of sofware:
1 – to read the backup files an extract the plist file
2 – to allow you to drag and drop plist files onto your current iOS device

Let us pretend you want to gain access to your ex-girlfriend’s Facebook account and you know that she used to connect her iPhone or iPad to your computer. The first thing to do is open up iTunes and go to Preferences and select the Devices icon along the top which lists all device names that are backed up on your machine along with date of the backup.

Hopefully your ex-girlfriend changed the name of her device to make identification in the list easier, but if you just have several just named iPhone 4 or iPad then you may have to try with all of them one at a time. In my case I’ll be demonstrating it with my girlfriend’s backup (she’s not an ex and I have her permission), her name is Kim and you can see a backup of her iPhone and iPad from April 2012 but these could be considerably older depending on when the device was last connected.

Right so now you know you’ve got a backup from your exes phone what next? You need to install an app to be able to extract files from inside the backup files created by iTunes, there’s a lot of software around that can do this but the ones listed below are not only FREE they are easy to use:

• If you are on Windows you will need to download iPhone Backup Browser – http://code.google.com/p/iphonebackupbrowser/
• If you are on Apple OS X you will need to download iPhone Backup Extractor – http://supercrazyawesome.com/

I don’t have access to a Windows machine to get screen shots for the next step but I’m sure it’s pretty similar to the OS X method. Open up either iPhone Backup Browser or iPhone Backup Extract. When you open up iPhone Backup Extractor on OS X it automatically finds the default folder that iTunes backs the iOS devices into which is nice but in case you are using a different app or iPhone Backup Browser doesn’t find the folder automatically here is where you can normally find the backup files:

Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

Windows Vista& Windows 7
C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup

OS X
your_users_home_folder/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Select the backup you want to extract files from, in this case Kim iPhone and then hit choose.

Now you will see a list of applications that were present on that device at the time the backup took place. Look for the one that belongs to the app you want to “hack”, in this case lets try Kim’s FaceBook app so I scroll down until I see com.facebook.Facebook and hot Extract.

You will now be prompted for somewhere to extract the data to. I just created a temporary folder called Test in my Documents and pointed it at that.

This then extracts the com.facebook.Facebook plist file to your local computer. Now go and open the folder where you just extract the com.facebook.Facebook file to.

If you look in com.facebook.Facebook/Library/Preferences you should hopefully see a com.facebook.Facebook.plist. This is the file that has the key to get into their Facebook profile on any iOS device.

You are now done with the iPhone Backup Explorer/Extractor application and can close it.

Important step: You need to completely exit Facebook app on your iOS device before proceeding, logging out of Facebook via the app is not enough. You actually need to properly quit the app. Simple way? Restart your iOS device. Method two, press the home button to show the home screen. Now double tap the home button to launch the recent apps bar and tap and hold on the Facebook icon in the bottom bar until they all wobble, click the delete icon on the top left to quit Facebook background app.

The next step is to copy the extracted plist file onto your current device. The following steps are the same whether you are using Windows or OS X.

Download iExplorer for Windows, Linux and OS X here http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/ it’s FREE and a very handy app to have on your computer.

Once you have downloaded iExplorer connect your current iPhone/iPad to your computer via USB and quit iTunes if it automatically pops up and launch iExplorer. Your iPhone/iPad should show up in iExplorer and allow you to browse the contents of your device.

Navigate to the same folder on your device that you just extracted the plist file from. In the case of Facebook this is Apps/Facebook/Library/Preferences and you should see your plist file in there. For good measure you want to take a backup of your plist just so you can replace it when you are done. I copied my plist to my downloads folder temporarily.

Next open up the folder where you saved the extracted plist from (Documents/Test in my example) and drag and drop the plist file onto the iExplorer window so it drops into the Preferences folder right on top of your existing com.facebook.Facebook.plist.

You should be prompted to replace an existing file. Click OK.

That’s it, done! Now go to your iPhone or iPad and relaunch Facebook and basque in your evilness as you are automatically logged in as your ex girlfriend, wife, brother, sister, boss etc  to do as you please.

Disclaimer: This post is purely for informational purposes for those who want to see how the process works and how vulnerable apps such as Facebook are due to sloppy programming. If you want to protect yourself from having this happen to you then make sure you tick the option in iTunes to encrypt your iOS backups and avoid connecting your iOS device to any computers other than your own until the app developers re-write their apps to use keychain stores.

Notes:

• You might be able to remove the access token via Facebook web page but the easiest way to ensure that your account cannot be accessed using this method is to simply change your facebook password. This will instantly render all old plist files useless.
• Normally when you install Facebook iOS app and log in for the first time from a new device you get sent an email saying somebody has accessed your account which would obviously alert the person who you are logging in as to your actions, however, this alert is not sent when you access an account using a copied plist file so nothing to worry about there then. Here is an email I get if I log into my Facebook account on a new iOS device I’ve not logged in from before
• Once again note that the unsuspecting person who’s plist file you are extracting from the backup knew nothing about this. They did not have a jailbroken iOS device nor did they use a 3rd party app they simply connected their iOS devices to a computer and iTunes made a backup of that device.

Thanks to  Gareth Wright for finding the plist vulnerabilities and Satish B for his guide outlining how to extract files from iTunes iOS backups.

Recent queries:

• hack facebook with iphone
• how to hack facebook
• extract facebook password from iphone backup
• hack facebook using iphone
• hack facebook iphone
• facebook plist

It’s pretty simple, all you do is unwrap the vibration head from the main battery unit and stick it to a large surface. The other end goes into the headphone socket on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, or any other generic MP3 player or device with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

If you turn the PocketBoom on without it being attached to any surface you will still hear your music being played but it will sound very quiet and tinny. If you touch the white sticky pad on the vibration head you’ll feel it moving up and down much like any normal speaker cone would do. The fun begins when you stick it to a random surface like a cardboard box or plastic tub….suddenly the music is massively amplified and you effectively turn the random item into a speaker!

It doesn’t matter how old you are, you’ll run around the house like a little girl with her first Barbie frantically sticking the PocketBoom to every and any surface you can trying to find out what is the loudest, what is the crispest, what gives the best bass etc

From my experiments it seems that anything too large or with too thick a surface doesn’t work well as the vibrations are simply dissipated over the massive area of the thick surface resists the vibrations. So a 50″ flat screen TV doesn’t work too well, the front glass is too ridged and the overall surface area too large and things with surfaces that a material/leather like iPad 3 cases don’t work very well either.

An empty tissue box works very well, thin cardboard that can vibrate easily coupled with the opening (where the tissues used to come out of) to allow sound to come out. The following are also quite good (note all empty):

• plastic milk bottle
• the box the PocketBoom came in
• beer can
• baked bean tin
• plastic Tupperware container
• mess tin (the type you take camping)
• cereal box

and the best of all

• a Pringles tube

The Pringles tube is the outright winner, placing the PocketBoom on the metal base and removing the plastic lid makes an excellent portable speaker. You might wonder why anybody would find this useful, but I for one will be taking my PocketBoom on all future camping trips and holidays. Small, light and compact but with the simple addition of a Pringles tube, beer can or any other item you’ve probably already got to hand it gives you some great portable speakers.

And the following were not so good:

• TV screen
• iPad 3 covers
• fridge door
• cupboard door
• my cheek
• iPad screen
• my cat
• Canon S90 camera screen

Recent queries:

• best vibration speaker

Using a free app (in this case iExplorer) to browse the contents of your iPhone if you navigate to Apps/LinkedIn/Library/Preferences you will find a file named com.linkedin.LinkedIn.plist and this is the file in question.

Simply copying the com.linkedin.LinkedIn.plist file from one device to another and then relaunching the LinkedIn app will automatically log the user is using the account details from the cloned plist file.

I “nabbed” a copy of Gareth Wright’s LinkedIn plist (he emailed it to me) and dropped it onto my own non-jailbroken iPhone and relaunched LinkedIn.

I was instantly into Gareth’s LinkedIn Profile, I could browse all his personal messages, invitations, contacts, edit his profile and even sent myself an invite to join his network!

Here was my LinkedIn screen prior to copying the plist file over

and here it was after copying the plist and relaunching the app. At no point did it prompt me to re-enter my password or authenticate

I was able to navigate his LinkedIn profile without any issues, view all his messages, invitations, connections and even created an invitation and sent it to myself.

and here is the invitation I received