If you jailbreak your iPhone then you'll be part of the movement that Apple considers could bring down mobile networks as well as the "facilitation of drug dealers" reports Ars Technica. Rather than, you know, just letting you install anything you want to on your phone.
The report details the slightly wild accusation from Apple, which noted down its bizarre claims in a response to a proposed DMCA exemption for jailbreaking the iPhone. It says that drug dealers could be helped by the ability to make anonymous calls.
It also alleges that jailbroken iPhones could have issues for mobile networks including crashing cell towers themselves. "A local or international hacker could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial of service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data." Or maybe people just want to tether their phones without it costing them a fortune, Apple?
Speedy super-submarine
In other Weird Tech news, DARPA's new Underwater Express submarine is set to shatter underwater speed records, if an up-coming test phase goes to plan. If successful, the high-tech vessel will hurtle through the seas in it's own bubble of air at an impressive 100 knots (115mph) – that's significantly faster than the 30 knots today's speediest subs can achieve.
It's all down to supercavitation – a hydrodynamic effect that, once a certain speed has been reached, causes a gas bubble to envelope the vessel and reduce drag. It's not a new idea – the Soviets created a high-speed torpedo using the tech after World War II – but it's the first time the effect has been successfully scaled-up to submarine size.
If next year's tests work out, assembly will begin on a full-sized, 100-foot-long Underwater Express. Deep-sea travel may never be the same again.
[Image courtesy of TheDay]
Also this week
Unmanned aircraft with "blazing artificial intelligence systems" could, by 2047, be capable of deciding whether to launch an attack - without human input. According to the US Air Force, programming of the autonomous aircraft will be based on human intent (uh-oh), although commanders will retain the ability to override the system.
Don't panic just yet: there are a number of legal and moral issues that need to be resolved before the system is deployed.
[Image Credit: U.S. Dept. of Commerce Website]
Meanwhile, fear not: a pioneering space cheese lost during its quest to the edge of space has been recovered. The cheddar was found 74 miles from its launch point, after the GPS tracking equipment on the weather balloon it was travelling in failed.
Gadgets
As usual, all manner of unusual devices surfaced this week. First up, the Wink Glasses: a USB peripheral that clips onto your specs, it's designed to keep you awake by fogging the glass if you don't blink every five seconds.
When partaking in a spot of DIY, forget casual estimation: now you can fork out for a digital monkey wrench that'll tell you when your bolts are tight. For the princely sum of $323 you might expect a little extra – for it to tighten the bolt for you perhaps – but a buzz to alert you to "excess torque" is as far as it goes.
And finally…
If you've pondered the all-important issue of toilet breaks during the epic eight-hour World of Warcraft movie, ponder no more. Director Sam Raimi has confirmed that the film has adapted many familiar elements from the game, including cross-continental flights, to allow fans to visit the bathroom.
"Warcraft addicts… will know what to do at this point," he says. "We won't have to tell them."
