Archive for the ‘hacks’ Category

Hey, you got Bluetooth in my Nintendo DS

A cartridge that supplies Bluetooth functionality to the DS? Why, you ask? Well, I asked the same question when I saw this, and there is no certain answer. But the fact is that the DS is a versatile, well-documented device that is used for more than just playing games. Putting Bluetooth functionality in there just makes it that much more useful.

How about a wireless headset for your DS? Or maybe streaming homebrew ROMs from your computer? The implications of this device are staggering. Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. It might be handy for some, let’s just leave it at that.

[via Hack a Day]

Encrypt Your Flash Drive With The Konami Code

By Chris Scott Barr

When you’re a geek, you tend to be creative about the things you do. You like to pay homage to the nostalgic geekdom of your youth when you can. Take this awesome NES controller hack. Sure, we’ve all seen someone put a flash drive into a game controller, but this guy takes it to a whole new level.  After all, what’s more nostalgic than the Konami Code?

Unlike ordinary flash drives, when you plug this one in, it won’t actually show up on your computer. That’s because the flash drive won’t actually get power until you enter the correct sequence of buttons on the controller. If you don’t know what that sequence is, then don’t even bother watching the video above. This hack is definitely one of the harder ones out there, but totally worth it.

[ Protodojo ] VIA [ Crunchgear ]

MMS for iPhone 2G and tethering on OS 3.1.2 explained, not for the faint of heart

Let’s be clear upfront that this isn’t for the casual iPhone jailbreaker, but if you feeling like living on the edge, you can give your original model an added boost of MMS capability, or any device with OS 3.1.2 the power to tether. Highlighted in a series of tweets today by iPhone dev team lead MuscleNerd, whiterat (for MMS) and two-bit (for tethering) will get the job done, but both require tinkering with the baseband, which is exponentially more advanced and brick-inducing than, say, installing Cydia. Venture forth with the instructions beyond the read links below.

[Via 9 to 5 Mac]

Read – iPhone 2G MMS
Read – OS 3.1.2 tethering

Filed under: Cellphones

MMS for iPhone 2G and tethering on OS 3.1.2 explained, not for the faint of heart originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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False Alarm: New iPhone 3GS Not Jailbreak-Proof

Apple has reportedly begun shipping iPhone 3GS units with a new bootrom, which might help combat hacks enabling installation of unauthorized software. However, iPhone hackers say Apple’s new firmware only causes a temporary inconvenience for jailbroken devices, and the handset is still hackable.

“It’s not going to be impossible to jailbreak even if the exploit we used is gone,” said Eric McDonald, a member of the iPhone Dev-Team, which publishes tools to jailbreak the iPhone, in a phone interview with Wired.com.

McDonald explained that current tools will still work with the latest batch of iPhone 3GS units. The “24kpwn” exploit used to help jailbreak previous iPhones and iPod Touch devices only made it easier to boot up the hacked devices.

The newly shipping iPhone 3GS’s bootrom interferes 24kpwn, but that will only make the handset difficult to start up after it shuts down. Booting up will require being “tethered” to a computer. That means if you shut down a jailbroken iPhone 3GS, or if it runs out of power, you can only turn it back on by plugging it into a computer.

In short, changing the bootrom makes owning a jailbroken iPhone even more of a hassle than it already is. However, McDonald said the Dev-Team will just have to find a new exploit to enable untethered booting once again.

Several publications on Wednesday reported Apple’s latest iPhone 3GS units came with presumably jailbreak-proof firmware. The reports were half correct: The phones do indeed ship with different firmware with a new bootrom, but they are still hackable.

McDonald compared this situation with the newest iPhone 3GS devices to the second-generation iPod Touch. Apple shipped this iPod Touch with a different bootrom from the previous version, and for a while, owners who jailbroke the device needed to tether their devices in order to boot up. Later, the iPhone Dev-Team released another exploit to enable untethered booting.

The iPhone jailbreak community emerged soon after the original iPhone launched in June 2007. Hackers discovered methods to install unauthorized third-party software on the device, as well as unlock the iPhone to work with carriers that otherwise did not serve the iPhone.

Apple wasn’t pleased. At the launch of the British iPhone in September 2007, Steve Jobs said Apple would work to suppress unlock hacks.

Apple has even suggested to the U.S. Copyright Office that jailbreaking is illegal — to no avail, as the Dev-Team has been careful to only provide patches hacking the iPhone, as opposed to copying the software, according to McDonald.

“It’s a cat-and-mouse game,” Jobs said in September 2007. “We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it’s our job to stop them breaking in.”

With the latest upgrade, it appears Apple has not stopped the Dev-Team from breaking in. But for the time being, the company has made hacking new iPhones very inconvenient and perhaps impractical.

See Also:

• 6 Reasons to Jailbreak Your iPhone
• Rejected By Apple, iPhone Developers Go Underground
• iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims …
• Apple Says iPhone Jailbreaking is Illegal

Photo: Slickmeister/Flickr

Video: iPhone Exposé Hack

This iPhone Exposé hack is a little pointless now that the iPhone has a Spotlight search for quickly launching applications, but it is undeniably fun in a heavy-on-the-eye-candy way. It is also a little slow and jerky, but that could be because the hack is in its alpha stage right now.

Yes, an alpha hack for the jailbroken iPhone. It’s hard to live more on the edge than that when it comes to gadgets. The developer, Steve Troughton-Smith, will likely include this in his much more polished iPhone app, Stacks, which brings OS X Dock-style pop-up stacks to the iPhone’s measly four-icon dock.

iPhone 3GS gets Exposé hack [Slashgear]

Product page [Stacks]

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