Turn Your iPhone Into a Web Server

miller60 writes "A Japanese company called Freebit has released ServersMan, an app that turns the iPhone into a web server. It debuted in Japan in February, has now been launched in the US, and is being touted as a 'Personal Data Center.' Freebit also has a video with additional information on server-enabling your iPhone. 'Once the app is installed, PCs on the internet can access the iPhone to upload or download files through a browser or they can use the webDAV protocol. If the PC and the iPhone are on the same network, the PC can connect directly. If they are on separate networks, then FreeBit's VPN software will engage the connection.'"

Comments

Hah, you wish

[Anonymous Coward]

Banned from the app store in 3, 2, 1...

Re:Hah, you wish

[BrokenHalo]

... and probably a good thing too. Given how much mobile phone providers like to slug their customers for traffic, what possible advantage is there to using such a device as a server?

Re:Hah, you wish

[xp]

What is the benefit of this?
--
Do not click

Re:Hah, you wish

[sopssa]

I dont know about you, but atleast here in scandinavia unlimited 5mbit 3g costs 30euros/month.

Now, power usage might be a different thing, but it doesnt matter either if you have it wired (like I did when I used it for normal web browsing and gaming etc)

Re:Hah, you wish

[Ethanol-fueled]

here in scandinavia unlimited 5mbit 3g costs 30euros/month.

Define "unlimited". Problems would quickly arise if as the Scandinavian telcos' definition of "unlimited" is similar to that of the U.S. telcos.

A better way to phrase it would be "unlimited*" Also, first post. Sometimes AC means the difference between +5 insightful and -1 flamebait.

Re:Hah, you wish

[sopssa]

I used it for normal internet stuff for a month and phone bill noted my total traffic being around 200GB for that time, and no extra or hidden costs.

Here its actually mandatory to note it as unlimited* traffic if it does contain some limits, like they say unlimited* phone calls and sms (* max 3000 mins per month).

Re:Hah, you wish

[Anonymous Coward]

Not "Banned" in Apple's view... Simply "Not allowed, in the BEST interest of the customer." How would you like it if you bought this app and realize it does EXACTLY what it's supposed to do??

Re:Hah, you wish

[Mister Whirly]

A gigantic phone bill?

Re:Hah, you wish

[Anonymous Coward]

It's like that pretty much everywhere except in the US.
Or they (US citizens) just don't read what they sign when they sign for their "unlimited" contract.

Re:Hah, you wish

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Given how much mobile phone providers like to slug their customers for traffic...

Wi-fi.

what possible advantage is there to using such a device as a server?

Less functionality is preferable?

Re:Hah, you wish

[Nathrael]

A handheld e-mail server, maybe?

Re:Hah, you wish

[MBGMorden]

if it does contain some limits, like they say unlimited* phone calls and sms (* max 3000 mins per month).

That just seems so deceptive it's terrible that it's allowed to go on. Basically: "Unlimited* internet and phone service! (*Not really, we lied.)"

I can understand that they don't REALLY want to sell unlimited, but in that case it should instead be listed as:

3000 Minutes per month and 10,000 SMS messages per month - $45

Or whatever, rather than stating it as unlimited and then "defining" unlimited as something clearly NOT unlimited. It's like telling your buddy that you just "hung out" with his girlfriend last weekend and nothing more, but then trying to hide somewhere you're redefining "hung out" to really mean "banged like bunnies". In all other walks of life that's just called a lie.

Re:Hah, you wish

[SBrach]

Many providers charge for data over wi-fi just like it is over 3g.

Re:Hah, you wish

[aurasdoom]

Um.. how? Do they have special traffic tracking software on your phone? Rewriting the firmware (at a proper phone manufacturer approved service) doesn't help?

Re:Hah, you wish

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Many providers charge for data over wi-fi just like it is over 3g.

How's that supposed to work? My phone remembers how much data it has transferred over wifi and tattles on me to AT&T?

Re:Hah, you wish

[recharged95]

let's say it's ok in the appstore.

battery life reduced to 60min, 30, 10, 5, 1...

Therefore, pretty much a niche app.

Re:Hah, you wish

[Natetheinfamous]

Awesome... that's the benefit, pure, unadulterated awesome.

Re:Hah, you wish

[rts008]

iSpam in your pocket?

You need never worry about what to do for lunch again!

Re:Hah, you wish

[HermMunster]

There are other web server type apps in the Apple store and have been there for some time. They provide a way, mostly, of moving data on and off the device, but nonetheless they still act as a web server.

This one would be more objectionable to the ISP than any other as they hate having consumers operate servers out of their homes. That's the primary reason they capped the upload speed of cable internet.

Re:Hah, you wish

[SBrach]

I don't know and I haven't bothered to investigate it, I do know however that my HTC touch pro on sprint warned me when setting up wi-fi that data rates still apply.

Re:Hah, you wish

[jonbryce]

O2's definition of "unlimited" for cellphone plans is 300MB per month. They are the iPhone network in the UK.

Re:Hah, you wish

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Sprint can only charge for for data that they provide. If you're using WiFi on your own router, you won't get charged for that. They may mean that not all wi-fi is free.

Re:Hah, you wish

[samkass]

My iPhone stays plugged in at my desk most of the day at work. Not that my current company allows anything like it on the company internet, but my previous companies would have and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a little test server in your pocket sometimes.

Re:Hah, you wish

[Jeremy Visser]

What? Letting some company dictate what you can and cannot do with a device you legitimately bought is a "good thing"? A "good thing" because you can't see "what possible advantage is there to using such a device as a server"?

As long as you are not breaking the law, Apple has no right to block you using such applications. (And even if you are breaking the law, it's law enforcement's problem, not Apple's.)

I myself do see an advantage in having a web server on an iPhone, if only over WiFi, and not 3G. It could be an interface for, say, transferring files, or maybe some diagnostics.

I do realise that Apple doesn't have any obligation to endorse apps in its app store. But because of the DRM, isn't it impossible to install apps from any other source? (Correct me if I'm wrong. My whole post depends on that flimsy piece of memory.)

Re:Hah, you wish

[TheViciousOverWind]

Or whatever, rather than stating it as unlimited and then "defining" unlimited as something clearly NOT unlimited. It's like telling your buddy that you just "hung out" with his girlfriend last weekend and nothing more, but then trying to hide somewhere you're redefining "hung out" to really mean "banged like bunnies". In all other walks of life that's just called a lie.

I KNEW you were still holding a grudge!

Re:Hah, you wish

[Anonymous Coward]

>As long as you are not breaking the law, Apple has no right to block you using such
>applications. (And even if you are breaking the law, it's law enforcement's
>problem, not Apple's.)

True, Apples interference with how you use your own machines is as if car makers would prevent you from driving faster than whatever is legal.

I really start to dislike all this allowing/licensing stuff.

Re:Hah, you wish

[Anonymous Coward]

O2 actually dropped the cap before the iPhone was ever launched.

Re:Hah, you wish

[socsoc]

That's as likely as your water utility billing you for water that you drank at a restaurant.

apache?

[pak9rabid]

So...how is this any different than installing Apache through Cydia (aside from the fact that it requires being jailbroken).

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well...

Once the app is installed, PCs on the internet can access the iPhone to upload or download files through a browser or they can use the webDAV protocol. If the PC and the iPhone are on the same network, the PC can connect directly. If they are on separate networks, then FreeBit's VPN software will engage the connection

From the summary... That is something apache does not do out of the box.

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

and that many web servers are available on smartphones which are not locked like the iPhone.

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great! We get another random company's software and security vulnerabilities in the way. What, pray tell, is insufficient about https? Apache has vulnerabilities, but they are found and patched. Who is Freebit, and why should they be trusted over Apache?

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

So.... how is this different than installing IIs on a rolex?

Re:apache?

[tepples]

What, pray tell, is insufficient about https?

Difficulty of obtaining a certificate for each server from a commercial CA, for one.

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Great! We get another random company's software and security vulnerabilities in the way. What, pray tell, is insufficient about https? Apache has vulnerabilities, but they are found and patched. Who is Freebit, and why should they be trusted over Apache?

I apologies. I see the point you are trying to make: homogeneous computing environments are better than heterogeneous ones because we all have the same vulnerabilities. The world would be a more secure place if we all ran one set of software, one operating system, and one computing architecture.

Right...

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Touche, my friend. Touche.

Re:apache?

[sopssa]

Just use a self-signed certificate. Its better than plain http anyways.

And if I remember correctly such certifices cost like $5-$10 and can be automatically purchased too, atleast from some issuers.

Re:apache?

[2names]

You misspelled "Douche" :)

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that Apple's exact business model? And security model as well?

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

Informative? INFORMATIVE? Are you fucking kidding me?!? MODS ON CRACK!

Re:apache?

[profplump]

Because it would take a good 2-4 minutes and $0 to setup your own CA, which is a totally unreasonable time commitment to ask from someone setting up a web server.

Re:apache?

[richtaur]

Srsly. Been there, done that. What's next?

Re:apache?

[RiotingPacifist]

A homogenous network of secure computers is better than a mix of secure&insecure, you only need to break the weakest computers. If you run 30 pcs with 30 different operating systems then only one needs to get exploited for there to breach of security. The advantage of heterogeneous systems only applies when
1) Your dealing with two systems that are roughly as safe
2) You are dealing with a layered secured system. attacker -> A -> B -> C (important stuff)
As this is a web server your looking simply at attacker -> A.

Re:apache?

[Anonymous Coward]

No. GP is saying that he wants everyone else using the insecure server. That way more lucrative, easier targets distract from the nonmorons. Security through obscurity.

Re:apache?

[mdwh2]

Because it's on the IpHoNe!

It's rather like how you can get a patent by taking an existing idea, and doing it "On the Internet" - in this case, you take something that's been done on other phones for years, do it "On the Iphone (after jailbraking it - Apple "Just Works", don't you know)", and suddenly you have a media-worthy story.

How long until...

[orkybash]

...apple/AT&T decides that running web servers from iPhones is taking up too much of the network's bandwidth and they flip the kill switch on this app though? I guess as long as people are just using it for personal file storage...

Re:How long until...

[jez9999]

Exactly. I'm surprised Apple are letting this fly as it is. They don't even want you running Flash on your iPhone, let alone using it as a web server.

Re:How long until...

[rm999]

Yeah, I don't see why they are referring to this as a "server", it's bad PR. No ISP technically lets you run a server, so why would a provider let you run one through their cell towers?

Instead, they should call it a personal data syncing app or something.

Re:How long until...

[TooMuchToDo]

"iPhone Storage Vault"

*Homer Simpson Voice*: PATENT PENDING! =)

Re:How long until...

[fm6]

Nobody's going to use a phone-based web server to serve pages to other nodes. How would you even discover the address? Or get through the AT&T firewall?

It's for web applications where both client and server are on the same device. This is actually a very common use case. Google desktop is a good example.

Re:How long until...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I can easily imagine AT&T flipping out about it, and I'm a bit surprised that Apple's app sandboxing will let it access much of the filesystem. That said, Flash is a direct threat to the position of the app store as the single source of applications in a way that a webserver isn't.

Re:How long until...

[Anonymous Coward]

No price gouging, monopolist, cheapskate, massively overselling, American or eastern Canadian, residential ISP technically lets you run a server

FTFY.

Re:How long until...

[Un pobre guey]

I can easily imagine AT&T jumping for joy over anything that will produce more billable traffic. Why host a web server on an iPhone, BTW? Why not occasionally update a typical El Cheapo web host from your iPhone, if you are so hot to report things from it.

Re:How long until...

[neoform]

3G kills your iphone's battery in less than two hours. There's no way someone could actually "run a webserver" off their iphone..

Re:How long until...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do (task)? Why not just do (alternative)?
 
Just because you don't see the utility in this doesn't mean there isn't any.

Re:How long until...

[Mister Whirly]

Well, to be technical, it didn't say "allows you to run a webserver off the battery indefinitely". It just said you could run a server. Even if it was only running for a second it was technically "running".

Re:How long until...

[johnw]

No ISP technically lets you run a server

Huh?! How do all the servers get connected then?

Re:How long until...

[Mister Whirly]

Just because you think there is doesn't mean there is. ("Because I can" isn't a valid reason, I'm sorry.)
I notice you sidestepped the issue. If you can see a valid use for this, please, enlighten us.

Re:How long until...

[NeoSkandranon]

"I can easily imagine AT&T jumping for joy over anything that will produce more billable traffic"

I think the iPhone only comes with "unlimited" data, so I don't know that ATT will be that thrilled...

Re:How long until...

[Sandbags]

http://worldnet.att.net/general-info/terms-dsl-data.html#useserv

AT&T's DSL service agreement, section 10; be Fair subsction b.: You may not use your Service connection to host a DEDICATED INTERNET server site. (emphasis mine).

The AT&T iPhone agreement however states: "Examples of prohibited uses include, without limitation . . .downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers, web broadcasting, and/or for the OPERATION OF SERVERS, telemetry devices.... " (emphasis mine).

In the case of DSL, you CAN run a server, just not a dedicated internet server site. A Remote access server, personal FTP server, even a web or file server you run occasionally, even "most of the time" can not be considered a dedicated server. Knowing that, on Wifi, within your home, you could run a server on the iPhone, which by sheer definition can not be "dedicated" as any call, or the use of another app would cause the server to go down. You can use the iPhone as a server since it is behind your personal DSL service.

However, being a server you can not use it on AT&Ts open 3G network without violating the iPhone TOS. It will be interesting to see if this app will be enough of a drain on AT&T for them to target its use, or to see if they'll persue Apple to pull if from the store.

I usa a nifty program called Dicenomicon. One of it's features is to run a web server so you can program dice algorithms through your PC and upload new programs, images, and more to the phone's app. I noted it not only presents a WiFi IP address, but also a blueTooth and 3G address as well. I can not connect to the 3G address in any way I have tried. i don't know if this app also behaves the same.

Re:How long until...

[Pollardito]

At this point I think we've heard enough examples to know that Apple is using a Magic 8-Ball to decide which apps make it to the store or not

Re:How long until...

[Ilgaz]

Apple's issue with Flash has something to do with the potential of Flash, in hands of a real Developer. It can render App Store useless. Control is gone.

I speak about things like these

http://g.ho.st/
https://buzzword.acrobat.com/

Flash Lite 3 is already distributed free (to developers) if you want to code an application for Symbian using Flash. Of course, Symbian has nothing to say about it.

Imagine entering a website which will stream music to you and offer mp3 downloads for a fee, all in web browser. That is the worst nightmare of Apple.

Re:How long until...

[value_added]

In the case of DSL, you CAN run a server, just not a dedicated internet server site. A Remote access server, personal FTP server, even a web or file server you run occasionally, even "most of the time" can not be considered a dedicated server.

Sorry, but that's not correct.

I'm not going to trawl through the link you provided, but I will point out that there are countless businesses using DSL lines to connect to the internet and I'll guarantee that many are running dedicated servers. If you doubt my words, talk to a Microsoft guy who specialises in SBS setups. Better yet, pick up the phone and give ATT's provisioning department a call.

Me, I have a residential line. I've been using it for years to host my own DNS and mail along with whatever else I need at any given time. ATT happily provides backup DNS. That would indicate they're complicit in my abusing their AUP, or that my setup is nothing other than ordinary.

Re:How long until...

[Anonymous Coward]

Or they could call it what it is...a pointless waste of time and bandwidth.

Re:How long until...

[Anonymous Coward]

The issue here is that this doesn't produce more "billable" traffic as every iPhone has an unlimited data plan.

Re:How long until...

[dreamchaser]

But...but it runs on an iPhone, it MUST be good!

You must be new here.

Re:How long until...

[jez9999]

And, if that's the case, also why I'm perplexed at why people like the iPhone. This level of obsessive control by Apple pisses me off.

Re:How long until...

[socsoc]

Through colos and datacenters, not consumer plans.

Re:How long until...

[ntrainride]

"Imagine entering a website which will stream music to you and offer mp3 downloads for a fee, all in web browser. That is the worst nightmare of Apple." Geez, what universe is Apple living in? I do that all the time on my Sprint Touch Pro using YouTubePlay app. Go to You Tube. Search, select video, play and/or save. woot, right to the micro sd card. nd I can keep going and going and going (pull one 16 GB micro sd card out, slip another 16 GB micro sd card in...device storage limit my azz...) Then, heh, extract mp3 file from downloaded video. Movies, videos, music...fee? NOT. All using teh factory fresh standard rom, no device-"breaking" (yipes) necessary. wtf man? Oh, yeah...gotta have clunkety kludgety ol' Win Mobile ta play. Awww....

Re:How long until...

[Sandbags]

A business account TOS and a residential accoutn TOS agreement are 2 very completely different things... and also the bill you get for that 6MB business DSL is about 3 times the price.

AT&T may be fine with your current use, but likely that's because they have NO IDEA what you're doing... They're not interested in blanket scanning their network for people who host a simple server for personal use. Your internet load is minor by comparrison even to a casual torrent user. ...but, as soon as they decide otherwise, as soon as they confirm you're running a server (if they ever do), and if they DO care to collect, 1) your service will be cut, 2) you'll be back billed for their equivalent, undiscounted, business tier service connection, plus late penalties, interest, and additional charges.

I've seen 3 people I know personally get nailed by their ISPs. Time Warner came after one guy i knew who had been a customer for 6 years. He was not a heavy user, BUT, he pissed off the wrong guy in support one day and inadvertantly mentioned he was calling because his service quality was causing his server to miss e-amils. He was paying $30 a month over those 6 years. They back billed him for close to $15,000 in service fees ($240 a month for business connection at his bandwidth tier), then tacked on interest and panalties. The final bill was over $30,000. By the time their lawyer (and his) were done, he settled for $6,000 and was banned as a Time Warner customer for 10 years. in the meantime, DSL was not available in his area, so he had to move in order to keep his job with his company as internet access at home by IT staff is clearly a requirement.

2 others i know did better, only paying 2 or 3K in back service fees and loosing their connections.

ESPECIALLY in this bad economy, and ESPECIALLY with AT&T who is HEMORAGIN money from their home phone unit and can really use the cash from DSL to make it up, I would not challenge them.

A simple home server is one thing. Portal access, RDP, these things are not generally considdered "servers" Your personal e-mail server in essense can be considdered a "dedicated client" and realistically is no different from using outlook to download e-mail from a push server, as long as you;'re only hosting your own e-mail accounts. Even a personal file share server is no different than hosting a local file share and opening the port in your firewall, again, as long as noone other than the people in your house access it.

but, as soon as you start providing a "service" to anyone else, even for free, and even if those people are also AT&T custoemrs, you;re crossing a line that they bill lots of money for... and they may come to collect.

Again, Residential does not equal business. if you have a business line (I did for a while) then you can do whatever you want with it, including profit from it.

Re:How long until...

[sonamchauhan]

Not quite true here in Australia - my ISP - Exetel - lets me run servers on my home plan. The one exception is servers sending spam mail.

My plan provides a fixed IP, ADSL 2+, uncounted uploads, and a reasonable flat rate (AU$3 /GB) for traffic over the limits (8 GB peak, 50 GB offpeak) for AU $46 a month.

Terms of service:
http://www.exetel.com.au/a_acceptable_use_adsl2.php

In their forums Exetel management have said they have no problems with businesses using their residential services, or vice versa - they just have different support policies for each one.

Vulnerable.

[Ouchie]

I love to hear things like this. The more of these apps out there the better. Gives me more credability when my wife looks at my Iphone and asks who's Cherry and why is she sending you neked pics. I can just blame it on the script kiddies.

Re:Vulnerable.

[Anonymous Coward]

at least i'm not the only one ....

Re:Vulnerable.

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you are right. This has the potential to be a spam server or botnet server.

What, no link?

[raddan]

Seriously, if they think this stuff is any good, they should send it to all us good-natured Slashdot people to try it out. Wimps.

Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[saudadelinux]

So what happens when you've got several thousand people trying to get on your phone's server?

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[geekmux]

So what happens when you've got several thousand people trying to get on your phone's server?

Hrm, lets take a guess...

A) You find out rather quickly at the end of the month when reviewing page 32,725 if your hardcopy AT&T itemized bill that arrived on a pallet that you went over your "unlimited" data plan.

B) You find out rather quickly that more than ten TCP streams to your phone prohibits voice sending and receiving.

C) AT&T takes about 37 more seconds to realize that they need to block port 80 after this story was slashdotted.

D) All the above.

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[Krneki]

.. and a charge for terrorism. So they don't need a court decision to cut you off.

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[Anonymous Coward]

That line is busy. Please hold and your call will be answered in the order it was received.

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[SpaceLifeForm]

You've been cored.

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[Anonymous Coward]

So what happens when you've got several thousand people trying to get on your phone's server?

Load balancing ... that is if you have a family plan.

Re:Slashdotting Your iPhone?

[RockWolf]

E) Your battery explodes.

.....why?

[ndnspongebob]

O snap! iPhone Web Server! Woot! 25% uptime! seriously though, the iphone is notorious for shitty battery life, who would put a web server on there?

Re:.....why?

[Spazztastic]

who would put a web server on there?

Does the word "Epeen" mean anything to you?

Re:.....why?

[Krneki]

Apparently mobile servers are the next hype.

Re:.....why?

[argent]

It's ZuneLink for geeks. Your eyes meet over a darkened server room, you whip out your iPhone, she pulls out her G1, you whisper seductively "http://192.168.0.1/somewhere_in_time.mp3"...

And suddenly you hear "Never gonna give you up!" You totally rickrolled her!

Re:.....why?

[Anonymous Coward]

you had me at colon slash slash

Re:.....why?

[rts008]

No.
Why? Is it some kind of hammer, like a ballpeen?

Is that a volcano in your pocket?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or did someone just slashdot your iPhone?

just because you can

[Anonymous Coward]

doesn't mean you should.

Re:just because you can

[Anonymous Coward]

How is that insightful, on a website where people try to run Linux on their toaster?

Re:just because you can

[EkriirkE]

Geek card. Now.

Re:just because you can

[sopssa]

You must be new here.

Re:just because you can

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are using an iPhone, you are not a geek.
Unless you also think that using Windows XP makes you a geek.

Re:just because you can

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

just because you can (Score:2, Insightful)
doesn't mean you should.

...unless it's on Android, then it's okay.

Re:just because you can

[Dragonslicer]

run Linux on their toaster?

Linux? Linux? To repeat a post below: Geek card. Now.

Re:just because you can

[geekboy642]

I have an iPhone. I also have an OpenBSD firewall, a Debian FTP/NFS/SMB server, a LAMP server running on a toaster, a Hackintosh, and a spare system with Windows 7 on it. I guess now I'll have to get a social life or something. This not being a geek thing is going to screw up my schedule.

Slashdotting some hipster to death

[linzeal]

Bring on the websites running on iPhones so when I look out my window here in Portland I can start watching hipsters reaching into their pockets looking at their iPhones than combusting in flames.

what iphone needs

[think_nix]

why is it that they dont have a central repository ? correct if Im wrong I dont have a iphone but why do others have to wait when something comes out ?

Re:what iphone needs

[socsoc]

What are you talking about? Jailbroken ones have a central repository and the App Store is basically a repository for legit apps. I just downloaded the freebit app for free, it's available.

These have been around for a while

[jtdennis]

I've used an app that does this for a while now. It's called Data Case and provides WebDAV and FTP access. There's a bunch of other ones on the app store as well. I fail to see how this is news.

Re:These have been around for a while

[sootman]

I fail to see how this is news.

Because you were trying to hard to get an early, highly-rated comment and didn't RTFA, WatchTFVideo, or even RTFSummary. Besides running a basic webdav server (which I, also, already have, with Air Sharing), "If the PC and the iPhone... are on separate networks, then FreeBit's VPN software will engage the connection." That is, you sign up for an account with them and you can access your iPhone from anywhere on the Internet by going through their server.

Re:These have been around for a while

[AndrewNeo]

Oh my god, you can access a device on the internet from any other device on the internet?! Stop the presses!
Seriously, though, it's not like the networks are 'different'. You can probably get the WWAN IP of your iPhone and connect to it just fine, normally.

Re:These have been around for a while

[Anonymous Coward]

At least on AT&T, the WWAN interface is behind a NAT. Good luck getting them to forward a port for you.

Re:These have been around for a while

[keytoe]

This is correct. Since you can't move data to or from the phone without using a network, and there is no means to do P2P direct sharing (until 3.0) a lot of developers ended up rolling their own servers. It's not uncommon to see embedded web servers in apps in order to facilitate sharing.

Honestly, it drives you nuts to have your users asking things like "Why can't I just drop documents on iTunes and sync them?" and have to answer with "I don't know - ask Apple". Moving data to and from the phone is currently a nightmare - which is really strange considering how many different connection mechanisms it has built into it.

Re:These have been around for a while

[mobby_6kl]

Not only that, but all kinds of servers have been available for other smartphones/PDAs for ages now, including web, ftp, and even sql and probably a few more obscure ones as well. This reminds me of Fark's tagline: "It's not news, it's iphone!".

Re:These have been around for a while

[socsoc]

I shudder to think needing to access my iPhone from anywhere on the Internet .

Shouldn't it be in my pocket?

Re:These have been around for a while

[lcalcote]

I guess I won't need to dock my iPhone anymore.

This article it's dumb

[Lord Juan]

I fail to see how is this news and how is this interesting.

Any jailbroken iPhone has been able to do this ages ago, in fact I was doing some AJAX experiments on the iPhone using vim (which was the only decent editor the iPhone had as I had copy/paste and search/replace) when I was bored.

Btw, I did not buy an iPhone, it was given to me and the truth it's I dislike it, if only it were more open...

Re:This article it's dumb

[Lord Juan]

Ok, before I get corrected:

"I fail to see how this is news and how this is interesting."

Not so much free as "unavailable".

[Yvan256]

It's not available from the Canadian iTunes Store.

So either someone messed up when they submitted the application, there's a delay before it shows up in the Canadian store, or Rogers is screwing everybody including iPod touch owners.

Which one of the three is it, I don't know.

On a side note...

[Anonymous Coward]

From the website:

You are the ServersMan!

I heart Japanesse-to-English websites.

my iphone into a webserver?

[nimbius]

who cares. show me a web server that doubles as a IPhone however and you've got my attention!

Re:my iphone into a webserver?

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe they've been working on just such a thing in soviet Russia

And...?

[Facegarden]

Jailbreakers have been able to do this for a while, and I haven't seen much come from it.

Seems pointless. It would hurt battery life, would have a poor uptime, and would be slow to interact with.

So why is this even on here?
-Taylor

iPhone App Saturation...

[__aaclcg7560]

I have friends who been encouraging me to get into iPhone apps to make a million dollars. That would've make sense if I was into developing for the iPhone before there was an apps store. Now, a gazillion apps later, the market is getting saturated with useless apps. I got better things to do than put a web server on an iPhone.

their sign up is either retarded or broken

[v1]

log on my mailserver says:

May 15 13:37:00 mydomain postfix/smtp[384]: E91D1242E9AA: to=, relay=shrike.dti.ad.jp[202.216.228.218], delay=2, status=bounced (host shrike.dti.ad.jp[202.216.228.218] said: 550 5.1.1 ... User unknown (in reply to RCPT TO command))
May 15 13:37:01 mydomain postfix/qmgr[27465]: E91D1242E9AA: removed

hmmm... to=

I wonder how they expect THAT to work. (yes I did put in my email address on the ipod) I'm sure that's supposed to be in the FROM.

Re:their sign up is either retarded or broken

[v1]

apparently slashdot convulses if you put a greater than in your text...

May 15 13:37:00 vftp postfix/smtp[384]: E91D1242E9AA: to=(GREATERTHAN)signup-noreply@serversman.com>, relay=shrike.dti.ad.jp[202.216.228.218], delay=2, status=bounced (host shrike.dti.ad.jp[202.216.228.218] said: 550 5.1.1 (GREATERTHAN)signup-noreply@serversman.com>... User unknown (in reply to RCPT TO command))
May 15 13:37:01 vftp postfix/qmgr[27465]: E91D1242E9AA: removed

Re:their sign up is either retarded or broken

[idontgno]

This is marginally off-topic, but I'll consider this public service.

apparently slashdot convulses if you put a greater than in your text...

No, it silently ignores your bad HTML markup. After all, "<" and ">" are tag markers. If you post a comment in "HTML Formatted" mode (and most do, 'cuz it's the default), you don't own less-than and greater-than; markup does.

And there's a hint: it's HTML, so use HTML character entities. like, "&lt;" and "&gt;".

BTW, that was painful, cuz I had to escape the ampersand to quote the escape. Ick.

YW. H2H.

Re:their sign up is either retarded or broken

[Anonymous Coward]

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;

Yeah, that does look painful.

This already exists, and it's called Air Sharing

[alexburke]

It's called "Air Sharing", and its new big brother, "Air Sharing Pro".

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312686749&mt=8

Highly recommended; well worth the $5.

Been there, done that, didn't get a T-shirt.

Stupid iPhone Apps from the Future

[Un pobre guey]

24/7 colonoscopy webcam (includes supply of flexible, waterproof enclosures plus lubricant).

Automobile Oil Temperature Monitor (includes supply of flexible, heat-resistant oil-tight enclosures)

App for monitoring money under matress (includes jumbo external battery pack)

Tire pressure monitoring and reporting app (you'll need at least 4 iPhones + contracts; includes generous supply of foam rubber padding; includes plug-in pressure transducer)

I thought japan hated the iphone

[SpeedyG5]

In a previous slashdot article http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/27/144256 Well maybe theres one guy that likes it

Very common, not noteworthy at all

[Paul Carver]

There are lots of web servers for the iPhone. Lots of audio recording applications use a web server to allow you to transfer recordings off the iPhone. I'd suspect there are other categories of applications that also provide a web server.

Not sure you'd want to us the iPhone as a general purpose web server though. That seems dumb.

Nokia has it for ages

[Ilgaz]

While people arguing if it will be banned today or tomorrow, Nokia offers such web server for Symbian phones for years now with features making sense.

http://mymobilesite.net/screenshots/

It is Apache/Phyton and several other technologies combined. In fact, it is also a great multi platform phone remote same time for local usage. They solved the NAT/Web robots problem very interesting way too, a real server routes and filters the calls to the phone subdomain so Google doesn't come to your phone as a robot.

The features of it (check screenshots) makes sense, it is not something like 'my toaster runs web server'.

Re:Nokia has it for ages

[operator_error]

You are correct, and that's a Nokia hosted site you linked to. Nokia has also released the source code for the site you linked to, here:

http://wiki.opensource.nokia.com/projects/Mobile_Web_Server

From what I understand, the nicer setup made-possible would essentially make the nokia Phone a 1st replicating server, and what the public visits/sees is a conventional www-mirrored replica of the 1st (phone) server. (And the PAMP is something else, more like a regular Apace server)

The hidden beauty of this, is this is probably the fastest way to conventionally publish (or make available to editors) any photos/videos shot from the phone itself.

Re:Nokia has it for ages

[dwater]

...and it's a real server too, ie you can put it into the background and leave it running all the time, and have it start automatically when the phone boots.

Try that sort of thing on the iPhone. I don't know why people put up with Apple. I borrowed an iPhone with the intention of trying it out. I opened the box, popped in my sim card (needs a special tool!), and then switched it on...then became very confused because it seemed to be suggesting I couldn't use it without iTunes. They're not seriously suggesting I have to connect it to iTunes in order to even use the phone, are they? I only use Linux, so, if it needs to somehow see iTunes, it's useless to me.

I put the iPhone back in the box and went back to using S60. My experience with the iPhone lasted only 5 minutes. The iPhone may be nicer to use (so far), but Nokia have the right attitude, IMO.

Re:Nokia has it for ages

[Ilgaz]

Yes, I posted that message specifically for that reason. To show how different Nokia (or any Symbian vendor) and Apple takes things. Of course, iPhone served too, Nokia wasn't that kind of company before iPhone.

It also shows the Nokia has a horrible PR problem, in USA. Imagine iPhone had this kind of a real apache working with Python scripts that can even remotely take photo of place. I mean, all in official way and free.

Are you all stupid?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously? Are you all morons. This is slashdot and not a single one of you get that this isn't meant as a web server, but to serve files in a home network. Your criticisms are completely ridiculous.

done

[Anonymous Coward]

Android has Apache and Ipv6 right?

AT&T's Mobile IP addresses are all internal...

[Anonymous Coward]

Uhhh last time I checked on AT&T's network all mobile devices are issued private IP's on AT&T's network and all internet access is provided via proxy servers. Unless something has changed in the last few weeks, I can't see how this program will impact mobile networks in even the slightest way.

yeah great

[djfuq]

Now every time someone connects to your popular iblogserver you hear the nice loud ba bzzt ba bzzzt ba ba bzzzzzzzt noise come through your speakers in every home audio device you have at a frequency of every 2 seconds or less -- look out FCC, here comes the interference you warned about!

That's easy!

[Anyd]

Go buy an Android!

turn your iphone into a web server

[luigi517]

umm...no?

No, it's called Mobile Web Server

[upside]

It's been done before and it's $0.

My mobile webserver

My mobile site

Go ahead and turn your iPhone into a web server

[al0ha]

If you are completely unconcerned with security of the data on your iPhone.
Just because it can be done does not mean it should be done.
Dang, and we'd finally gotten companies to isolate web servers from sensitive data systems and now this stupid idea.

Re:mo3 down

[VinB]

What, no offer to make my package larger? Useless post.

Re:yawnnnn

[Anonymous Coward]

No there's not.

Prohibited by ToS

[midtoad]

Most cellular providers have a clause in their terms of service that prohibits running a webserver on your cellphone. You might want to check the consequences before you fire that thing up.

it's been done

[commodoresloat]

Here ya go.

Re:it's been done

[nimbius]

its an iphone too? ive had it working as a combination blender/toaster/violin/chapstick holder for years now with no complaints.

hm, says it edits text files too...when did it start doing that?

I'm surprised this passed Apple's approval

[PJ1216]

Not because it may use bandwidth, but because the quality is so low. Yes, it seems the program works alright, but the flow of the program is terrible. The translations are awful and changing settings is annoying. A note at the bottom says that any changes requires a program restart, but after EVERY change, a message pops up saying you need to restart it. There are help windows within the program, but all the screenshots are in japanese.

http://www.mobilewikiserver.com also?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee that's like the folks at http://www.mobilewikiserver.com except they are focused around web page construction and more complex tasks.

Re:http://www.mobilewikiserver.com also?

[68882]

Yes Wiki support, copy/edit/delete, unlimited file sizes. raw html, style sheets, twitter support. Blogs? A blog on an iPhone? Guess you want to impress the folks in the espresso bar?

Oh and in English.

Re:yawnnnn

[mdwh2]

Apple today announced a revolutionary new upgrade for the IpHoNe. For years, people have only used phones for accessing the Internet, listening to music, taking photographs and playing games. Now Apple bring a new development to the market: the ability to communicate via voice with someone who is not even in the same room, as if by magic.

The initial version will only allow communication with other Iphone users, though rumours suggest users can get around this limitation by jail-breaking the phone, in line with Apple's "Works, Just" tradition.

Some have pointed out that a few phones have already allowed such a feature, but Apple fans have dismissed this. "Other phones may have done this before, but how many people used it?" commented such fan. "Apple were the first to integrate it properly. Thanks to this innovation, I no longer have to lug my landline around with me as well as my Iphone."

Re:http://www.mobilewikiserver.com also?

[kneb139]

I've used WikiServer beta, amazing what can be done on the iPhone... A new mailing list for WikiServer ( http://www.mobilewikiserver.com/ ) just went up at ( http://eight.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mobilewiki-list )

yawnnnn indeed

[Phil Urich]

And, another case of the truth being flamebait (much like reality's well-known liberal bias).

Cherokee was running on iPhone/iPod time ago

[Anonymous Coward]

This is quite old. Here you have how Free Software developers did the same thing time ago:

http://www.alobbs.com/1372/Running_Cherokee_on_an_iPod_iPhone.html

About that company logo..

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it me or does the company logo really say...

Servers Mall?

You're accurately describing next month's happenin

[Herve5]

Indeed. VoIP by Apple.
Why do you think they are reworking the iPod touch?
Apple has the way to relay from one market to another like noone else.
While all others still are working to duplicate iTune store they already switched to micro-application sales (iApps); similarly, they are preparing for a world where internet connections via GSM phones (call it 3G or what) will be more complex than via Wifi.
You can bet they'll be running their supersimple, proprietary VoIP solution for months when the others just begin to understand.
And at the beginning people will just tell, well, what you just told...

Blogging setting up ServersMan's CyberDuck

[slapphappe]

Afetr successfully installing, configuring and testing the CyberDuck server I've started blogging about it here: http://slapphappe.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/turn-your-iphone-into-a-webserver-with-serversman/ You're welcome to leap-frog off my efforts and help figure out some of the remaining mysteries.

Re:http://www.mobilewikiserver.com also?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, it's for sale on the App Store now
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312622071&mt=8