Mike Vitoroulis's dashboard

Elisa, chances are that you were trying out the feature after we disabled it from our web servers, but sincere apologies in any case. – bart decrem, on July 20, 2008 06:31

Hardyman, I am mortified that this happened to you and your girlfriend. We have removed Friend Book from the AppStore and have disabled the handshake feature from our web servers. See the announcement at http://getsatisfaction.com/tapulous/topics/important_friend_book_and_handshake_announcement. Please contact me at bart AT tapulous DOT com if you would like to discuss with me directly. – bart decrem, on July 20, 2008 06:30

Mike, I am terribly sorry this happened to you. Friend Book has been removed from the AppStore and we have disabled the handshake feature from our web servers. Please see my comments to Zach above and my post at http://getsatisfaction.com/tapulous/topics/important_friend_book_and_handshake_announcement My email is bart AT tapulous DOT com. Please do not hesitate to contact me if there's anything further I can do to make things right. – bart decrem, on July 20, 2008 06:29

Zach, I am horrified that his happened to you, and that a similar thing happened to several other people.

As soon as we saw your post, we went into crisis mode. Within an hour or so we removed Friend Book from the AppStore and we quickly disabled the handshake feature on our web servers.

Please see my full account and announcement of what happened at http://getsatisfaction.com/tapulous/t...

My sincerest apologies. I'm not sure what we can do to make things right by you, but please contact me at bart AT tapulous DOT com so we can discuss.

I downloaded the app as well last night, but it didn't seem to work at all for me when I tried sending my card to my husband's phone last night. Now I'm worried and scared about who got my info. And I tried it quite a few times last night. Hopefully the people were kind enough to delete my info.

I think you've got it right but the steps are a little amiss, here's how it would probably work: 1) Each person gets a code to give to the other to allow the other to see the exchanged card. 2) Enter code, review exchanged cards and save. 3) Place two iPhones together. 4) Perform a gentle handshake gesture. 5) Exchange cards through the cloud. The other way you'd still be getting random requests to enter codes for cards you never wanted in the first place. – Craig Keller, on July 19, 2008 17:42

I haven't used the Handshake feature yet, but I'm thinking about the Apple Remote app and wondering it that might present a possible solution. For those who haven't downloaded and used Remote yet (you should, it's free!), it allows your iPhone or iPod Touch to control a iTunes or Apple TV in your local Wi-Fi network.

Before it can do this, you connect Remote to the library by putting Remote in a "Add Library" discovery mode. In this mode, the iPhone will present a four digit passcode, which you then enter on the iTunes / AppleTV library you wish to control.

Perhaps when Friend Book finishes the exchange of cards, rather than presenting the card, it instead prompts for a code. The receiver then asks the giver for the code on the phone, and once entered, allows the received card to be displayed. Without the code, no information is retained.

So the steps would be as followed, mostly the same as now:

1) Place two iPhones together.
2) Perform a gentle handshake gesture.
3) Exchange cards through the cloud. Each person gets a code to give to the other to allow the other to see the exchanged card.
4) Enter code, review exchanged cards and save.

Does this sound possible and would it prevent the problems that have been mentioned in this thread?

I think I was the person who emailed you, Zach, if your name is Zach Rosing. Yes, this is quite a problem, it would be a cool feature if there was more security.

Don't worry, I deleted all your info from my iPod. =)

My girlfriend and I loaded Friend Book on our iPhones. When we tried the shake feature, she would get my card. I, however, was getting random people throughout the country. The next morning one of the contact I received contacted my girlfriend. I'm thinking this program is still flawed. I will be very interested when I know what is happening to my contact info.

I proposed this problem but Tapulous said it's not possible. I guess that's why it was pulled.

I've received someone elses contact info as well. Scary stuff. I think the current algorithm for sending/receiving using handshake needs to be tweaked. Although it's a bit of a hassle I wouldn't mind having to "link" to another iPhone if it ensures some type of security

It uses data (3G/EDGE/WiFi), no need to worry.