In the past, police officers in San Francisco have primarily targeted the sellers of stolen iPhones, now they are changing things up a bit. Now officers are going after just the buyers in order to discourage people from buying the devices.

Of course this tactic is much easier than going after experienced crooks. Undercover cops are going around selling iPhones, which are presented as stolen, in areas (such as the corner of 7th and Market Streets) they know are famous for selling of stolen stuff.

But according to the law, the arrest can only be made if the would-be customer names a price rather than the police officer naming one. Huffington Post says that buyers are suggesting prices ranging from $25 to $200.

Their plan is to reduce the market for stolen iPhones by scaring buyers away, in turn reducing iPhone theft. According to the police, fifty percent of all thefts in San Francisco are that of smartphones, and women are targeted most of the time. It’s uncertain whether their new iDea will work, as the bad guys will still be around finding new places and ways to sell their goods.

What do you think of the plan, should the police target the sellers or the buyers if they wish to stop the spread of stolen smartphone sells?

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The post Why You Shouldn’t Buy Stolen iPhones, Especially in San Francisco appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Black SMS is a new App Store app which encrypts texts and emails so that they are unreadable without installing the said app and a password. This means that, those who have sexting as a serious hobby or are in an illicit relationship via SMS will love the new app more, although anyone with an iPhone or iPad can use it.

It’s simple to use and no jailbreak is required. It works with iMessage and it will allow you to send black chat bubbles between iPhones.  All you have to do is open the Black SMS app and type your secret text message after entering your password in the top line. You just tap the ‘lock’ icon and the app will prompt you to go to iMessage and paste the black chat bubble into a new message. Then you simply send it and wait for the reply.

But your secret lover has to have the app installed in his/her iPhone, and also has to know the password. The person will have to copy your black chat bubble into the iPhone’s clipboard, and then open the app to paste it into the large box after the password is entered. Then tap the ‘unlock’ icon to read the message. Sending and receiving an encrypted email link involves the same process. And since the message is sent with AES encryption, decryption is almost impossible.

But the app is not that perfect. You should know that the black chat bubble will be sent as an MMS, since it is encoded as a rainbow-like image. That won’t be good if you did not sign up for a good MMS plan and also sending an MMS will take a few more seconds. Another inconvenience is that you have to switch between the Black SMS app and Apple’s Messages app manually.

But getting the $1 app will always be better than suffering the embarrassment after someone sees your sexy messages. Head her e to get the Black SMS app for the iPhone and iPad.

The post Black SMS: The iPhone App Any Sexter Would Love appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Oh The Nerve!

Apple appears to be deeply concerned about losing ownership of the iPad trademark in China and might be thinking about a Plan B. The company reportedly is eyeing the EPAD trademark which is currently being used by a Chinese vendor on their products.

As you already know, Apple has been busy for the past few months facing numerous lawsuits regarding their trademark names and patents. They are currently having a tough time with the legal battle against Proview over the iPad name. Earlier, Proview issued a press release which detailed about Apple’s spy games.

There is a big possibility that Apple might lose the name of their greatest device and appears to have started thinking about new names for it. According to a report on Computerworld, the tech giant has filed a complaint against EBox Digital Technology Product over their use of “EPAD”. EBox received a copy of the complaint, which was filed through China’s trademark office, last month.

EBox sells a line of laptop luggage cases under the EPAD name. Apple says that the brand name closely resembles their iPad, so EBox should give it up.

EBox, which applied for the EPAD trademark back in 2010, has this to say on the matter: “The iPad trademark is not Apple’s, so now they want to take ours. Apple has been a bully“. The company reportedly is not planning to use the name on any electronic devices.

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