USB Spy Stick Allows Access to Deleted Content From Your iPhone

by Guest Author on Aug 18, 2010

Well this sucks. Yesterday iDB reported on comments from the Chicago Police about the usefulness of recovering data from seized iPhones. Now Gizmodo says that a product eerily called the iPhone Spy Stick can access deleted data from your iPhone via USB.

For those asking how on earth a USB device could plug itself into your device, the stick comes with the necessary adapter. Nice eh?

Directly from the Spy Stick’s website is the indicated abilities attached to the $199 priced accessory:

Features:

  • Get access to deleted information
  • Download text messages and view calls made
  • Recover deleted contacts and calendar items
  • View pictures and other multimedia
  • Get access to map history to see locations searched on the iPhone’s map with exact GPS coordinates
  • Get access to notes, voice memos, multimedia files, and dynamic text data
  • Downloading data is as simple as attaching the iPhone and iPhone Data Recovery Stick to a computer and pressing start
  • iPhone information is saved on any computer and can be moved to other drives as a regular file
  • Looks like an ordinary USB flash drive

Popular Uses:

  • Catch a cheating spouse
  • Monitor your kids iPhone text messaging and Internet use
  • Check on employees using company issues iPhones
  • Restore deleted files

Before you freak out about your iPhone’s security, it is worth mentioning that the not-so-friendly USB stick is currently only usable on iPhone iOS 3.2.1 and earlier. I’d venture to say this mostly targets those still using the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. However the October version is said be coming for iOS 4 devices.

Will this stop users from selling their old iPhone when it comes time to upgrade? Please tell us your thoughts in our totally secure comment section.

 

Your Charging It Wrong! iPhone 4 Catches On Fire Because Of Defective USB Port

by Sebastien on Jul 9, 2010

BGR reports that an AT&T customer brought this fried iPhone 4 back to the store for obvious reasons. Apparently, the iPhone caught on fire because of a defective USB port. BGR’s source at AT&T said the bezel got so hot it actually burned the hand of the iPhone’s owner.

After telling us that we’re holding it wrong, maybe Apple is now going to tell us that we’re charging it wrong! More seriously, there is nothing to worry about as this is just an isolated case.

 

How to Mount a USB Stick on the iPad and Access it With GoodReader

by Sebastien on Jun 4, 2010

A few weeks ago we saw how to mount an external hard drive on the iPad. Today I’ll show you how to mount a USB stick on your iPad and access its content with GoodReader for iPad, all this compliments of French iPhone.

By default, a USB stick is automatically mounted in /var/mnt/mount1, which is a hidden directory of GoodReader. With the following hack, you’ll be able to bypass this issue once and for all.

This is what you need:

Step 1: Connect to your iPad via SSH.

Step 2: Execute the following command lines.

mkdir /Volumes
mkdir /Volumes/USB
cd /var
mv mnt mnt_old
ln -s /Volumes/USB mnt
cd `find / -name GoodReaderIPad.app`/../Documents
ln -s /Volumes/USB/mount1 USB

Step 3: Plug your USB stick in the camera kit. Wait for the error message and launch GoodReader.

Now you can navigate the USB directory directly from your iPad within GoodReader. By using “Manafe Files” in GoodReader you can get the “open with” option which allows you to choose what application to use to open a file. You will for example be able to open a .doc file with Pages and edit it.

Nice hack, isn’t it?

 

How to Use Your iPhone as a USB Drive

by Sebastien on Nov 18, 2009

Sure there are many applications in the App Store that allow you to use your iPhone as a mass storage device, but all of them require an internet connection to allow the data transfer to happen over wifi.

To this date, there is no application approved by Apple that lets you use your iPhone as a USB flash drive, and that’s a shame because I’d like to be able to access my iPhone’s drive without having to be connected to the internet.

Developer Dmytro came up with an interesting solution to this problem by creating the USB Drive application:

USB Drive let you create one or more virtual disks for use as USB Mass Storage volume, thus you can allocate some of your iPhone space to carry desktop files with you.

How to use your iPhone as a USB stick / USB flash drive:

Step 1. Add the following repo to Cydia sources: http://apt.dmytro.me

Step 2. After installing the repo, look for the USB Drive application in Cydia and install it.

Step 3. Launch USB Drive and “Create Disk”.

Step 4. Select your USB Mode (default is suggested).

Step 5. Reboot your iPhone and plug it in you computer USB port.

Done! You should now be able to access the drive you just created.

To delete a virtual disk, simply swipe your finger from left to right, just as you would do to delete an email.

The USB Drive app is still in beta so be careful…

Let us know what you think about this app in the comments.

 
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