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You've probably never asked the question, "What is an Apple UDID?" This acronym stands for Unique Device IDentifier, and every iOS device has one. The UDID itself is a 40-character string including numbers and letters that is unique to your iPhone hardware. Apple sets standards for how the UDID should be used by application developers to protect user privacy.

A new study by Bucknell University security researcher Eric Smith has found that third-party app developers may not be following the rules. Some apps send private data such as name and location data from your iPhone in plain text along with the UDID. Some secure the transmissions with SSL, however this also means that the data being sent to external servers is unknown.

We know that MuscleNerd was showing off his brand new jailbroken iPod touch 4G the other day. Looks like the same iOS vulnerability has just been used to jailbreak a second-generation Apple TV. After successfully using the SHAtter exploit MuscleNerd posted video of the Apple TV being accessed with ssh.

SHAtter tricks the Apple TV into restoring with a pre-jailbroken IPSW from PwnageTool. The same exploit should work across all iOS devices including the iPhone 4. Chronic Dev Team members are developing jailbreak tools for public release based on the SHAtter bootrom vulnerability. This method will be much more difficult for Apple to contend with, as a firmware update can't prevent the issue.

Your iPhone has plenty of storage space, only thing is every time you connect it to your computer iTunes runs the show. Wouldn't it be great to carry your files around with you and not have to worry about a separate USB drive? iPhone Explorer is free software for Mac and Windows that makes this possible.

The application opens up the flash memory of your iPhone into simple-to-use drag and drop folders. Files can be transferred to and from your computer hard drive right over the USB connection. iPhone Explorer is compatible with all iPhone models and works with OR without a jailbreak.

The PayPal iPhone app already makes it convenient to access your account and transfer money on-the-go. Two people can even bump iPhones to exchange currency between two accounts. Now PayPal will add check depositing capabilities to an impending app update.

By simply taking a photo of your check with the iPhone camera, you'll be able to deposit the money directly to your PayPal account. Of course PayPal isn't the first to launch this technology in an iPhone app. USAA Bank and Chase have both integrated check scanning into their mobile apps.

Apple as usual has made a business decision that could lead to exciting new features on the next generation iPhone and beyond. The company has acquired Swedish company Polar Rose, known for its mobile face recognition technology FaceLib among other similar products.

With full face detection and tracking of faces in video, the solutions Polar Rose delivers could change how you interact with your iPhone. Now that the iPhone 4 has a front-facing camera, passcode lock could end up going the way of the dinosaurs.