Apple’s Hidden Agenda

A patent filing by Apple in February 2009 was made public last week. This patent is related to the “Systems and methods for identifying unauthorized users of an electronic device”.

In the patent it details how Apple’s technology is capable of identifying unauthorized users of an electronic device. This unauthorized user of the electronic device can be detected by identifying particular activities that may indicate suspicious behavior. It is rumored that this technology may appear on the iPad to allow for the feature of sharing a single iPad among different family members or in a classroom situation.

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Why You May Not Want to Jailbreak iPhone or iPad?

After the release of iOS 4 users of the iPhone had been waiting for the iPhone Dev Team to release their jailbreak software.

This morning @comex (who is not on the iPhone Dev Team) released a jailbreak for the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad right from within MobileSafari without using a computer (Windows or OS X computer). This jailbreak is for all bootrom and iOS versions accept for iOS 4.1 Beta.

Continue reading “Why You May Not Want to Jailbreak iPhone or iPad?”

Downgrading iPhone 3GS from 3.1 to 3.0

A few days ago I mentioned in my post, Things to do Before Upgrading iPhone to 3.1.x, if you do not do what described then you will not be able to jailbreak or unlock ever again, or until the hacking community figure out a way.

Well there is now a way. If you had stored your 3.0 iBSS and iBEC files on the Cydia server. If that is not the case, you will want to follow the instructions at Jay Freeman’s web site.

Now that the iPhone Dev Team has released Pwnage Tool 3.1 for iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 1G. The version for the iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch 2G and 3G will be coming soon.

As always I do not see a need for jailbreaking at the moment, and if you do not have to, I do recommend you seek someone who has the technical background to understand that process for assistance, especially if you do not have the skills yourself.

OS 10.5.7 is Safe for iPhone 3G

Pwnage Tool logoApple released the new OS X update 10.5.7 on Tuesday evening (US PST). When it was released most users with unlocked iPhone 3G were worry that the latest OS X update will further hamper their Mac’s ability to place the iPhone into DFU mode.

Now the iPhone Dev Team has tweeted yesterday that OS 10.5.7 is even more compatible to the jailbreak process than OS 10.5.6, which disabled the DFU mode.

The new 10.5.7 Leopard update is safe. In fact it’s more jailbreak-friendly than 10.5.6, since the DFU-mode bug is gone.

So I now recommend everyone to upgrade your Mac OS 10.5 as soon as possible, as there are many security fixes in OS 10.5.7, including a Safari 4 Beta security update that you only see after upgrading to OS 10.5.7.

10 Things a Layman Should Know About Hong Kong iPhone 3G [Updated]

iPhone 3G imageRecently a friend of mine commented that my articles (posts) on the iPhone and its usage in Hong Kong are very helpful, but they are a bit technical for layman user like himself. So, for the sake of helping as many potential iPhone users understand what’s involved before committing to a purchase of an iPhone in Hong Kong, I decided  to summarize some key points here.

  1. All iPhone sold in Hong Kong are “carrier unlocked”. That means you can take the iPhone purchased through legitimate channels1 straight out of the box, place a carrier SIM2 card in the phone and the it will work. Continue reading “10 Things a Layman Should Know About Hong Kong iPhone 3G [Updated]”

iPhone Firmware 2.2.1

Pwnage Tool logoApple released a new firmware for the iPhone (v2.2.1).

Again for anyone who had or plan to jailbreak or unlock your iPhone (2G or 3G) please be patience and DO NOT upgrade to the latest iPhone firmware.

This is especially important for all those who are currently using unlocked iPhones (2G).

The iPhone Dev Team had already posted a note saying that they will investigate the new firmware. Most likely update versions of the Pwnage Tool and QuickPwn applications for both Macintosh and Windows OS will be coming to address changes in this latest iPhone firmware from Apple.

Along with the update announcement within iTunes, Apple included notes to say there are Safari improvements. Hopefully this will finally eliminate all those Safari crashes on the iPhone.

How-to: Enable Emoji On iPhone WITHOUT Jailbreaking

There is a new way to enable the Emoji icons on your iPhone with firmware 2.2.

The trick is to purchase the USD0.99 iPhone App 老地方冰果室 (aka “FrostyPlace”). This is an application that allows you to view the latest posts from an Apple discussion forum in Taipei, Taiwan. Therefore if you read Chinese it may be useful and if you live in Taipei it may also be relevant.

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7 Things You Love to Ask About iPhone Unlocking

Pwnage Tool logoOver the past year and a half I had assisted many people with the unlocking of their iPhones. Many more people ask me about unlocking.

So instead of answering each of these people over and over again, I thought I post an article in my blog, which I can refer them to for more details.

  1. What Does iPhone Unlock mean?
    Many carriers around the world will “carrier lock” a cell phone that they had subsidized for their customers. To ensure the purchaser of the cell phone stays as a customer of the carrier after the purchase, the carrier will normally do two things:

    • Make the purchaser commit to a contract that bounds them to the carrier for a number of years (2 years is common). Of course the purchaser can break the contract, but there is usually a penalty to compensate the carrier for the subsidizing the cell phone.
    • Carrier Lock the cell phone to the carrier’s network, meaning the cell phone cannot be used on any other cellular network in the world.
    • Continue reading “7 Things You Love to Ask About iPhone Unlocking”

QuickPwn for Macintosh Released

Yesterday the iPhone Dev Team released QuickPwn (the Torrent link) for Macintosh. This is the Macintosh OS X version of the same tool they released for Windows users several weeks ago.

The different between this tool and the Pwnage Tool the iPhone Dev Team has also released for the Macintosh is that the QuickPwn will not require a restore using iTunes, therefore a bit friendlier to layman iPhone users (junior hackers) who need to unlock and jailbreak their iPhone (1st generation) or jailbreak their iPhone 3G. iPhone Dev Team says the Pwnage Tool will still be enhanced and supported as it will be the tool for iPhone users who like to customize their .IPSW package for the iPhone.

I personally have not yet use this tool as my iPhone has already been upgraded to iPhone firmware 2.0.2 using the Pwnage Tool for Macintosh.

Please feel free to share your experiences; either good or bad, here via comments.

Upgrading My iPhone (1st gen) to 2.0.2

After Apple released the iPhone firmware 2.0.2 over a week ago and the rumored fixes it contains, which suppose to resolve many of the issues introduced by the iPhone firmware 2.0. I was eager to be able to upgrade my iPhone (1st generation). Unfortunately, my iPhone was jailbroken and unlocked, so I had to wait for the hacking community; mainly iPhone Dev Team, to release a tool that will allow me to upgrade my pwned iPhone.

The iPhone Dev Team did introduce such a tool (Pwnage Tool 2.0.3) several days ago, but quickly pulled it off its server after several hours. Dispointed but happy that iPhone Dev Team reacted quickly on a bug that they found to be serious.

Yesterday, they finally released a new version of the Pwnage Tool 2.0.3.1 that resolved all know issues. I quickly downloaded it and after giving it 24 hours began to upgrade my iPhone.

I was happy to report that my iPhone upgraded successfully and all the issues I’ve had in the past with my iPhone running pre-2.0.2 firmware had all disappeared. Particularly the slowness when typing a message.