SISAREA

Two weeks ago you’d have to pay an Australian importer for a specialized USB key. Four days ago open-source software let you roll your own. Today, there’s no need for any of that — you can hack your PS3 with a tethered smartphone. Working closely with the PSGroove team, hacker Kakaroto adapted the same jailbreak to the Nokia N900, and the open-source community lost no time porting it to the Palm Pre as well. If the videos after the break are any indication, both versions work just as well as the original, and you too can get your game on with downloads and detailed instructions at the source links below.

Sadly, the aforementioned Australian importer OzModChips is a casualty of this little story, with all its shipments of the PS Jailbreak dongle seized (and the item subject to injunction) by an Australian court, but we suppose knowing its product has enabled the hardware hacking community thus might somewhat soften the blow.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading PS3 jailbreak adapted to Nokia N900, Palm Pre in wake of Australian ban (video)

PS3 jailbreak adapted to Nokia N900, Palm Pre in wake of Australian ban (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Maemo.org, Exophase, BBC News  |  KaKaRoTo’s Blog, PSX-Scene  | Email this | Comments

Okay, Sera-Apps, we’re happy you cracked the Milestone, but now you’re showing off — rooting the Samsung Galaxy Tab probably a full month before launch. Do you really want Samsung to have time to patch those holes? That’s what we thought. Now, go enjoy your Superuser status, and please save some exploits for the rest of us.

Samsung Galaxy Tab rooted, just for bragging rights originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, the Samsung Vibrant’s a T-Mobile device and the Samsung Captivate belongs to AT&T, but there’s no longer any reason you can’t swap them around — all you need is a simple script and a USB cable to completely unlock your phone. A cracker-jack team at XDA-Developers discovered that Galaxy S unlock codes aren’t kept in a secure remote server, but merely stored in a .BAK file on the device itself, which you find with a hex editor and key right in when inserting a new SIM card of your choice. We tested it out on both Vibrant and Captivate and were up and running in less than five minutes each time, and wonder of wonders, the Vibrant gave us a 3G data connection (with 2Mbps down) using an AT&T SIM. Sadly, we can’t say the inverse for the Captivate, which pulled down standard EDGE speeds on T-Mobile, but this is already far more than the hacking community could have hoped for. The best part? None of this requires you to actually root the phone, and if you’re worried about warranty you can re-lock the handset with the very same code.

[Thanks, Brad]

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Confirmed: Galaxy S unlock codes are stored in your phone, Vibrant capable of AT&T 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Inspecting power lines isn’t the safest job we can imagine having, so we’re pretty happy to see that robots — which don’t have the same… feelings we do about getting injured — can be hacked to do the job. Hydro-Quebec’s LineScout can get past most power line obstacles by partially detaching itself from the line and then grabbing a hold of it again once said obstacle has been cleared. It can also easily get from one section of the line to the next relatively quickly, and of course, the best part of this bot’s ability is that it can pull all this off while the lines are powered. Check out the video below to see the bot in action.

Continue reading Power line inspecting robot isn’t afraid of getting juiced

Power line inspecting robot isn’t afraid of getting juiced originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re looking for video proof of the latest and greatest Xbox 360 firmware mod, you won’t find it in the video after the break, but we’re almost willing to take it on Team Xecuter’s word and long-standing reputation that they’ve hacked the new Xbox 360. Banding together with Team Jungle and commodore4eva — the hacker who brought backups to the original console in 2006 — the group says they’ve successfully patched the DVD drive to play burned discs. Better still, they’re promising that a public release of said patch “will be available shortly” to help you unlock a Stealthbox by your lonesome. Just remember, kids, circumventing DRM isn’t always legal, even if you’re copying games that you bought right off the shelf.

[Thanks, Tito]

Continue reading New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video)

New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Flash_ported_to_iPhone_4_available_for_download_video’; Cydia is a great place to hang out, and we’re sure unlocking is pretty swell, but it’s quite possible you and your freshly-rooted iPhone 4 have already run out of fun things to do. In that case, might we suggest giving Frash a try? That’s right, Comex’s Strong Bad-inspired port of Adobe Flash 10.1 has been compiled once again, and though it’s still an alpha build there’s nothing keeping you from experiencing the joys of animated advertising on your iOS 4 device. Instructions are exactly the same as in our Flash how-to for iPad — jailbreak, download the .deb, upload it to a folder deep inside your phone via SSH, restart and you’re done — but if that sounds like too much work or you’re worried about your phone asploding prematurely, you can watch from a safe distance as Homestar Runner struts his stuff. You’ll find that and more in a video after the break, and a pre-compiled alpha build is available at our source link.

Continue reading Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video)

Flash ported to iPhone 4, available for download (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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JailbreakMe brought root to the iPhone 4-wielding masses, but also unearthed a nasty exploit in a PDF font. Thankfully for the rooted and those who never intended to root, Cupertino claims it has already patched the hole. “We’re aware of the reported issue, we have already developed a fix and it will be available to customers in an upcoming software update,” an Apple spokeswoman told CNET. We’re not sure exactly when it will arrive, but we’d lay odds on soon — in the meantime, don’t open any PDFs you don’t trust, don’t do anything illegal or immoral, and hit up Comex’s hack ASAP if your heart’s still set on that shiny new unlock.

[Image Source: F-Secure]

Apple: PDF security hole fix is already ready to go originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’d actually already hacked up a 3G FaceTime video call using an iPhone 4 and a MiFi, but now that Apple’s latest handset has been jailbroken, you can toss the extra hardware — you just need a little Cydia app called My3G, which lets you run WiFi apps over 3G. FaceTime video quality appears to be unaffected, but from what we’ve seen the framerates suffer depending on your connection — pretty much what you’d expect to get when running a video stream optimized for high-bandwidth connections on a smaller pipe. Still, it’s instantly the best reason to jailbreak your phone — check a video after the break.

P.S.- If you’re averse to jailbreaking, remember that Fring lets you make video calls over 3G without any shenanigans — and unlike FaceTime, you can also video call non-iPhone users. Just sayin’!

Continue reading iPhone 4 jailbreak enables FaceTime video calling over 3G

iPhone 4 jailbreak enables FaceTime video calling over 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Official_iPhone_4_jailbreak_hits_from_iPhone_Dev_Team’; The Library of Congress made it legal, MuscleNerd showed us it was a go, and now Comex and company have delivered the long-awaited jailbreak to the fourth rendition of iPhone. According to their new page JailbreakMe, the hack works right on the iPhone 4 (or 3GS, or 3G, or iPad, or…) itself, using via the handset’s Safari browser to reportedly break into most any iOS device. The servers are getting slammed pretty badly, and only a few Engadget editors have so much as seen the page pictured above so far, but rest assured we’re testing this as we speak and will have more details up soon.

Update: Sorry folks, we’ve tried repeatedly, but apparently the servers just can’t handle the load — Comex tweets that the purple screens we’re seeing are evidence of server fail. Here’s hoping for a Cydia celebration when the stampede is over.

Update 2: Comex says you might want to reboot if you got stuck staring at that purple screen, and you could also try their backup server (click our second source link) to help the Dev Team divide the load.

Update 3: We successfully got the jailbreak to start working, but it crashed Safari. Upon reboot of our phone we’ve got… nothing but the Apple logo. Take note, this can brick your phone, so proceed with caution! Video of the experience after the break. After a reset, our phone is giving us nothing but the Apple logo. (Update to the update, the phone has been restored).

Update 4: Our intern Sam has successfully jailbroken his iPhone 4 according to this pic, so it can be done!

Update 5: Comex reports that iPads running iOS 3.2.1 aren’t presently working properly, and that MMS problems after jailbreak are a known issue.

Update 6: Good news? Saurik (of Cydia fame) has pitched in to secure JailbreakMe some better hosting. Bad news? Reports indicate that FaceTime doesn’t work after jailbreak, either.

Update 7: Seven updates? You bet, because it’s looking like there’s already a fix for the missing FaceTime and MMS features. Head on over to Redmond Pie (in more coverage below) for instructions to install the Cydia package that brought video chat back to two of our iPhone 4 handsets. If you’re just downloading JailbreakMe for the first time though, you shouldn’t need to do a thing, as Comex claims both have been fixed in a new version of the hack that just went live.

Continue reading Official: iPhone 4 jailbreak hits from iPhone Dev Team (updated with video)

Official: iPhone 4 jailbreak hits from iPhone Dev Team (updated with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink 9 To 5 Mac, @comex (Twitter), @MuscleNerd (Twitter)  |  JailbreakMe (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

In 2009, Chris Paget showed the world the vulnerabilities of RFID by downloading the contents of US passports from the safety of his automobile. This year, he’s doing the same for mobile phones. Demonstrating at DefCon 2010, the white hat hacker fooled 17 nearby GSM phones into believing his $1,500 kit (including a laptop and two RF antennas) was a legitimate cell phone base station, and proceeded to intercept and record audience calls. “As far as your cell phones are concerned, I’m now indistinguishable from AT&T,” he told the crowd. The purpose of the demonstration was highlight a major flaw in the 2G GSM system, which directs phones to connect to the tower with the strongest signal regardless of origin — in this case, Paget’s phony tower.

The hacker did caveat that his system could only intercept outbound calls, and that caller ID could tip off the owner of a handset to what’s what, but he says professional IMSI catchers used by law enforcement don’t suffer from such flaws and amateur parity would only be a matter of time. “GSM is broken,” Paget said, “The primary solution is to turn it off altogether.” That’s a tall order for a world still very dependent on the technology for mobile connectivity, but we suppose AT&T and T-Mobile could show the way. Then again, we imagine much of that same world is still using WEP and WPA1 to “secure” their WiFi.

Hacker intercepts phone calls with homebuilt $1,500 IMSI catcher, claims GSM is beyond repair originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 22:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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