OpenClip.org Offers Copy and Paste for iPhone Across Apps

[Cleverboy]

It occured to me that Apple already supports client-side databases in Safari, and that Google Translate puts this feature to good use. For instance, put a few translations through Google Translate for the iPhone, and then go to your "Settings" for Safari. You'll see Google has created a database capable of holding up to 5MB of data.

The only limitation to using this is presumeably a "domain" restriction, like the one used with "cookies" in Javascript. If however, the domain is the localhost/nothing (or the client's machine itself, however referenced), theoretically all apps could create a temporary HTML page, and run some Javascript to get access to a common database. This not only opens the door to a CLIPBOARD, but to a MULTI-CLIPBOARD (if one wanted, although I HATE multi-clipboard systems with a vengeance).

The reason why this seems very doable, is that there is already a "bookmarklet" that allows Safari to have a "clipboard" feature, simply by running the bookmark. That someone is able to post clippings of text between different websites speaks to there being NO security restriction in this area.

Without looking into the OpenClip code, I'd imagine its based off of this concept, or something potentially similar. In anycase, good job. Someone's been thinkin'.

~ CB

 

[martijn.s]

Unlike some of the doubters here, I can readily see Apple hiring this developer or purchasing their software from them to integrate it into their own software. They've been trying to figure out a good way to make it work: this is it. And we've seen from previous examples that Apple's not afraid to buy up something and integrate it into their own products or build it up to a whole new product (SoundJam, anyone?)

jW

they don't need him.

this isn't a lot of code at all.

 

[martijn.s]

Are you suggesting that Apple designed the iPhone's UI without having support for copy&paste in mind, and thus need to "figure out" how to retrofit it into the UI? That's hilarious.

no, i'm saying that a hand held device that u use with a finger just can't have a good copy paste.

it's not something they forgot to implement, it's just impossible to do in an intuitive/mode-less way if u also want to allow scrolling, inserting with a finger.

i'm also saying that the excuse of "not being a priority" is BS, they are probably still looking for a way to do it without making any compromises.

what's hilarious exactly ?

 

[martijn.s]

Wow, I can't believe an outside developer is providing copy and paste. Beats Apple to the punch. Good job dev, bad job Apple.

i doubt that Openclip is good enough for a mainstream product.

 

[Cleverboy]

they don't need him.
this isn't a lot of code at all.

Agreed. The credit is in taking the initiative and in seeing a possibility. If the implementation of the framework is of sufficient sophistication however, I can't imagine they wouldn't considering evaluating the hire however.

Regarding the idea above... if this has nothing to do with the implementation, OpenClip should consider it as a bridge to PASTING to and COPYING from Safari. Worth a thought.

~ CB

 

[Mal]

they don't need him.

this isn't a lot of code at all.

Doesn't have anything to do with the amount of code, it's about who owns the technology (in this case, the implementation of copy and paste) and gaining the rights to use it.

jW

 

[Cleverboy]

Doesn't have anything to do with the amount of code, it's about who owns the technology (in this case, the implementation of copy and paste) and gaining the rights to use it.
jW

So... you're thinking that Zac White "owns" the OpenClip framework, and that it is his technology that Apple would need to pay him for, if the solution they've been working on turns out to be similar when finally implemented? Yeah, I disagree completely. With due respect to Zac, I believe what he's done, is more akin to the HTML specification as an open standard. People "support" open standards. They don't need to license them. That said, people certainly pay for talent.

~ CB

 

[Mal]

So... you're thinking that Zac White "owns" the OpenClip framework, and that it is his technology that Apple would need to pay him for, if the solution they've been working on turns out to be similar when finally implemented? Yeah, I disagree completely. With due respect to Zac, I believe what he's done, is more akin to the HTML specification as an open standard. People "support" open standards. They don't need to license them. That said, people certainly pay for talent.

~ CB

I didn't necessarily say he owns it. If he chooses to patent his method, however, he would have full rights to it and could then license it as he chooses.

At this point, since that's not the case so far as we know, it would be more about paying for the talent, and Apple doing the right thing in crediting him for his work.

jW

 

[dejo]

How is "OpenClip" not breaking the Apple SDK NDA? I thought developers were not allowed to discuss the SDK. Hmmm... I smell something bad here.

I, too, think that this OpenClip framework violates the SDK, but in my opinion, a specific section of the SDK Agreement. But because I am also bound by the NDA, I cannot reveal the specific section I have in mind.

 

[macdot]

Hope this lights a fire under Apple's bottom.

 

[TheSpaz]

Everybody wants, wants, wants, wants new features and then when we get the new features we're like: It lagggsss! I hope the next update fixes it. Why is Safari crashing when I try to paste? I keep on getting the magnifying glass. I need a video walkthrough on how to copy and paste. Blah blah blah. Let's have Apple FIX what we have now and let them sneak copy and paste when we're not all expecting it (like saving images in Safari).

 

[Cleverboy]

I didn't necessarily say he owns it. If he chooses to patent his method, however, he would have full rights to it and could then license it as he chooses.

At this point, since that's not the case so far as we know, it would be more about paying for the talent, and Apple doing the right thing in crediting him for his work.

jW

By calling it "openclip", labelling it "open source" and omitting any form of licensing documentation with the package, patent rights could more than plausibly be seen as the antithesis of what he has in mind. So, I get what you're saying, but I'm thinking its a moot point.

As an open-source, non-profit project, OpenClip is completely free.

~ CB

 

[RedTomato]

I can see a possible security hole in this.

Suppose:

1. Evil app (which is a free download from the Apple store) contains some specially crafted code in its default clipboard storage location.

2. Second app polls the default clipboard location in the evil app, and loads the contents into its own clipboard location.

3. Code is somehow run (maybe through buffer overflow) and creates some unintended consequences (screen corruption, password grabbing or something else).

Does this make sense?

 

[Stewie]

...And this is reason #193 why I like owning Apple products—Developer initiative. If Apple doesn't do it, but people want it, it will happen!

I just hope that either (A) Apple supports this in Safari and Mail, or (B) Apple finally gets on the ball and adds Copy/Paste on their own!

Are you saying that Developers for other platforms don't step up and provide missing functionality? I am a little confused as I thought that was the sole purpose of developers.

 

[squeller]

no, i'm saying that a hand held device that u use with a finger just can't have a good copy paste.

it's not something they forgot to implement, it's just impossible to do in an intuitive/mode-less way if u also want to allow scrolling, inserting with a finger.

i'm also saying that the excuse of "not being a priority" is BS, they are probably still looking for a way to do it without making any compromises.

what's hilarious exactly ?

What's hilarious? The thought that they still need to figure out a proper way to do it. You can't be serious.

You're basically saying that Apple thought "Gee, that's hard to implement in an intuitive way, let's work on that later". Do you really think something like that would happen on a project like the iPhone?

Or to put it differently: the touch interaction on the iPhone surely was one of the biggest design obstacles they had. They'd be nuts to have no up-front design on basic features that they might want to implement later.

 

[johnlandis]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_0_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5C1 Safari/525.20)

I wonder how much this will cost?

 

[Dudeman486]

I can see a possible security hole in this.

Suppose an evil app puts some specially crafted code into its default clipboard storage location, then when that clipboard is loaded by another app, somehow it may have unintended consequences (buffer overflow, screen corruption, or something else).

that is a very good observation. and it appears that apple is not going over apps too thoroughly before launching them in the app store, so they might not catch a malicious intent in an app. and if this happens, it's only a matter of time until people's iphones start bricking/malfunctioning, and the pundits rejoice with headlines such as "iPhone Hacked!" "Apple fails at security!" and then all the blame will go on apple INSTEAD of the openclip founders, because that's just how media works.

I'd be wary of openclip.

 

[overcast]

This isn't rocket science.

Use the existing magnifying glass positioning system, except when you slide over text it highlights and automatically copies. Just like from within a shell in Unix. To paste, simply use the magnify bubble to position and either tap a new "paste" key, or simply have a persistent bubble that asks you if you wish to paste or clear clipboard. DONE.

 

[Trajectory]

This isn't rocket science.

Use the existing magnifying glass positioning system, except when you slide over text it highlights and automatically copies.

Then how will you just move the cursor without highlighting the text and copying it?

They'll need a new gesture to do this. A double tap where you keep your finger down on the second tap might work. Then you just drag your finger to highlight the text you want. When you remove your finger, a clipboard app pops up giving you the option to copy or cut the selected text. A tiny clipboard icon can appear in the system bar next to the battery indicator. When you tap on it, it will pop open the clipboard asking to paste the contents at the cursor location.

 

[jbernie]

i doubt that Openclip is good enough for a mainstream product.

Given every single post of yours in this thread is very negative about the product and/or the developers is there something you need to share with us? Like a conflict of interest in relation to a different product that isn't available?

 

[Cleverboy]

I can see a possible security hole in this.

Suppose:

1. Evil app (which is a free download from the Apple store) contains some specially crafted code in its default clipboard storage location.

2. Second app polls the default clipboard location in the evil app, and loads the contents into its own clipboard location.

3. Code is somehow run (maybe through buffer overflow) and creates some unintended consequences (screen corruption, password grabbing or something else).

Does this make sense?

One somewhat obvious problem with your "security flaw". Once the "evil app" as you say, has been installed on the machine, it can generate this "buffer overrun" on its own.

The only possible advantage, is the narrow possibility that an inter-app copy/paste flaw might unintentionally expose the private data of an app with sensitive information in it to a malicious app looking to exploit it. The steps needed to even arrive at the "exposure" point of an attack would be so unlikely, even in the event that the mythical "buffer overrun" flaw even existed in the code in question.

Just saying.

~ CB

 

[bj3949]

Just be patient.....

No matter what any developers try, they won't be able to do a REAL Copy and Paste like Apple will introduce shortly. That's the truth RUTH!!

Simply because Apple won't allow it to happen

 

[overcast]

Then how will you just move the cursor without highlighting the text and copying it?

They'll need a new gesture to do this. A double tap where you keep your finger down on the second tap might work. Then you just drag your finger to highlight the text you want. When you remove your finger, a clipboard app pops up giving you the option to copy or cut the selected text. A tiny clipboard icon can appear in the system bar next to the battery indicator. When you tap on it, it will pop open the clipboard asking to paste the contents at the cursor location.

Keep it even easier. Double tap drag and highlight, double tap paste.

 

[sushi]

Everybody wants, wants, wants, wants new features and then when we get the new features we're like: It lagggsss! I hope the next update fixes it. Why is Safari crashing when I try to paste? I keep on getting the magnifying glass. I need a video walkthrough on how to copy and paste. Blah blah blah. Let's have Apple FIX what we have now and let them sneak copy and paste when we're not all expecting it (like saving images in Safari).

Well said.

Nothing would be worse than for Apple to implement a flawed copy and paste feature.

What's hilarious? The thought that they still need to figure out a proper way to do it. You can't be serious.

This may not be as easy as one would think considering the variety of applications and data will be able to be copied and pasted.

I can see a possible security hole in this.
<snip>

Plausible perhaps.

Depends on how the data is shared.

The only possible advantage, is the narrow possibility that an inter-app copy/paste flaw might unintentionally expose the private data of an app with sensitive information in it to a malicious app looking to exploit it. The steps needed to even arrive at the "exposure" point of an attack would be so unlikely, even in the event that the mythical "buffer overrun" flaw even existed in the code in question.

No so quick.

How will the app store and protect the data?

If it is a specific location in memory, that is protected from being moved, deleted, overwritten, then it would be possible for another app to find this location.

Getting back to the copy and paste feature. Comparing adding this feature verses fixing updating the OS, it's obvious which one Apple is going to focus on. I understand completely why Apple does not want app generated background tasks and won't allow apps to do this -- at least for now.

 

[RedTomato]

The only possible advantage, is the narrow possibility that an inter-app copy/paste flaw might unintentionally expose the private data of an app with sensitive information in it to a malicious app looking to exploit it.

Thanks for giving this some consideration. That's an interesting point. What kind of data is likely to be cut and pasted?

I would suggest strong passwords or credit card numbers as example of things that are hard to remember and might be cut and pasted from one place into another.

An evil app that is often run, e.g. a screensaver (I don't know if the iPhone even *has* screensavers) could then regularly poll the clipboard locations of other apps and store any info it finds.