iPhone 3GS Finally Hacked 376
Well, the inevitable hacking of Apple's latest flavor of iPhone has happened. Named "purplera1n," the tool will only allow installation of unauthorized applications instead of a full unlock. "The purplera1n jailbreak will free your iPhone from the limitations imposed on it by AT&T and Apple. After jailbreaking, a user will be able to customize the iPhone with home-screen wallpapers and third-party ringtones. But the biggest advantage of jailbreaking is the support of unapproved apps such as iBlackList (blacklists and whitelists for contacts) and many others."
Re:"Finally"! (Score:2, Insightful)
Did you try reading the fucking article?
The tool does not perform a carrier unlock, which would allow users to use sim cards from other wireless providers than the one they bought the device from.
Nevermind, you probably won't read that either.
err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would anyone buy a device where someone *else* decides what apps you can run and what you cannot run? You don't own such a device - someone else owns it, and is letting you use it only under conditions they decide.
I'm sure this will get modded down by iPhone fanboys, but I don't mean it as an anti-iPhone thing, more like an anti-any-device-where-the-mfg-regains-control-after-you-buy-it thing.
"Running unapproved apps" (Score:4, Insightful)
Why would you run an app that would organize the contacts on your phone, if you're the least bit worried about who the heck they are? Now, the iBlacklist may be just as legit as any app in the App Store, but there's a rather large chance that a version is floating around that actually sends your contacts' names, emails, and phone numbers to an Asiatic hacker or something. Or that the crack itself sends your data to said Asiatic hacker.
I'd say "there's a reason they're unapproved", but the examples of apps rejected by Apple are, to be honest, rather ridiculous sometimes - and they don't inspect the traffic that comes out of their test machines, I'd presume - so I can't say that "there's a reason they're unapproved"... although it does seem like an apt comeback (cue the apt-get comeback joke) to this sort of cracking.
Point? Don't put your data on a machine you can't lock down yourself, I suppose.
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:err, why? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because even with that restriction, the iphone is still a zillion times more useful than my old phone.
Sure, I can only choose from Apple-authorized apps, but seeing as there's tens of thousands of those apps, chances are I can find at least one app (or more likely a few to choose from) for pretty much anything I want to do. For most practical purposes, it really doesn't make a difference to me, seeing as I don't really care from any philosophical or ideological angle.
And if I ever have the need, jail-breaking my phone will always be an option.
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because most of us iPhone users are willing to trade "device freedom" for "device just works."
Re:err, why? (Score:4, Insightful)
In any case, there are no widely available phones that are truly open. The G1 is controlled by T-mobile, and t-mobile can change features as it wishes. The same is true for the pre. Any freedom has one has is an illusion. The only open platfor I have seen is something like the Open Moko, which, apparently, no one wanted.
I also might suggest that matter of openess has taken a change in times of the script kiddie. Now, a phoneis open if it can be hacked using script kiddie tools, or if one can download a program that will let one do something that generally cannot be done. This is not useful, and are really just indicative of children having temper trantrums because they can't have another piece of candy.
In a more traditional sense, open means that almost anyone can write software. This is where Apple has always been better than some other companies. Apple comes from the tradition where hardware is just a platform for software. Therefore the hardware is controlled while the software is extremely well documented and most tools very cheap or freely available. The G1 and pre are of the same ilk. However, as Apple is commercial enterprise, it does charge $100 a year for the developer. My understanding is that this allow the developer to not only test on the personal iPhone or iPod Touch, but on up to 100 phones. Far from controlling software that can be run, Apples is provided, for $100, the tools one needs to write and deploy code. Android is very competitive here, with the Eclipse IDE plugin. I don't know if the Pre is competitive.
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't want me to use software of my choice to allow two pieces of hardware I own to interact with each other (PC to iPhone)? That's pretty evil.
Let me get this straight, you're pissed at Apple because they don't create a seamless environment for you to use a THIRD PARTY application with their hardware?
Did Apple tell you you were buying a PC, or did they tell you you were buying an iPhone?
It's not evil, it's Apple creating an eco-system that is dead simple to use, and avoiding -- at all costs -- the nightmare that exists in the Windows/Linux world for "here are 50 ways to do what you want."
I'm tired of these stories! (Score:5, Insightful)
People buy the iPhone, or the kindle, or some other device that requires everything to be signed, then they either "jailbreak" them or whine about the restrictions.
If you want these restrictions to go away stop buying the devices, and educate everyone who'll listen about why YOU won't touch them, then let them make up their own minds.
You wouldn't buy a car that required you to call the manufacturer and get authorisation every time you wanted to put petrol in it or attach those sickly fluffy dice to the rear vision mirror, would you? And if you did buy it despite such a ridiculous restriction, would you then be complaining to everyone about the restriction?
We don't need 2 slashdot stories per week about this. We're just chasing our own tails here.
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Why isn't apple getting into deep shit with the DOJ for antitrust practices?
It doesn't command sufficient market share.
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Because MS had a monopoly on its OS, and used that monopoly to leverage acceptance of the browser. Apple has no monopoly on cell phones or media players, and thus isn't leveraging a monopoly on one to increase adoption of the other. A buyer who wishes to opt out of iTunes can buy a different phone.
Look at it this way: Apple would only get into that kind of trouble with the DoJ if you were forced to use iTunes to sync any phone with your computer, not just an iPhone. Since that doesn't seem very likely to happen, I doubt you'd see Apple slapped with an anti-trust suit for this. iTMS/iPod is more likely, but since Amazon entered the market, I wouldn't hold my breath for that one either.
Simply pairing a software product and a hardware product together is in itself not worthy of attention from the DoJ.
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
In this case, Apple's doing the latter, and that's pretty evil.
Only in apple world... (Score:5, Insightful)
Kudos to you and apple.
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple comes from the tradition where hardware is just a platform for software.
That's totally why Apple allows you to install OSX on any platform, and why no one cares about the shiny brushed aluminum cases or paying extra for getting a black MacBook instead of a white one -- because dammit, no one cares about the hardware! Seriously, though, my bad attempt at snark aside, isn't the Apple philosophy high-quality hardware that you never have to muck around with? Isn't that their justification for the somewhat higher prices?
Re:err, why? (Score:3, Insightful)
The only open platfor I have seen is something like the Open Moko, which, apparently, no one wanted.
Open Moko wasn't a platform. It was an experiment in crowdsourcing software for a phone. Go figure, no one wants to pay $400 to have to fix bugs to receive a phone call.
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:1, Insightful)
I don't care about having a seamless environment ... I just want to be able to use what I want to use how I want to use it.
Re:err, why? (Score:3, Insightful)
I will say that it's foolish of Apple to place such restrictions on what apps you can run, but that's a bad business decision, not legalized tyranny. A better option might be to only offer approved apps in the store, but allow you to install apps from alternate sources at your own risk, but they didn't make that decision, and it's their decision to make. And when a company makes a stupid product design decision, you have every right to voice your opinion regarding such a decision, and every right to refrain from purchasing it, if you feel that restriction outweighs the benefits of owning the product. So, let's call this what it is: bad business, but not a tyrannical grab for legal power.
why doing this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Jailbreaking is counterproductive. Apple and AT&T will never learn this way. I opted for N97 instead, sure it has some drawbacks, but I am simply not prepared to give any kind of money to companies as evil as Apple and AT&T.
Re:And the fanboy appears... (Score:0, Insightful)
The trolls give Slashdot character.
This place's sterile humor and overdone references to sharks with lasers would make this place unbrearable if people with balls didn't occasionally step the fuck up, especially if their comments are informative or insightful rebukes. Hey geeks: you suck at dancing and you suck at humor. Tell us trolls about programming sockets or something that you're good at. Expand our minds and let us expand yours with the most offensive humor you've ever read.
Does seeing a curse word or racial slur online offend you? If so, I believe mommy has a teet with your name on it.
Re:err, why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Advertisement is a powerful drug, and never moreso than when addressed to the "individualist" in us all.
The surefire way to get everyone to conform is to appeal to their sense of individuality. Especially if everyone of their cohort group is doing the same thing.
Re:err, why? (Score:3, Insightful)
My co-worker bought a phone online that allows data transfer via a cable. The provider locked that feature so he'd have to email photos to get them off the phone. He called to complain, and 30 minutes later they pushed an unlock to his phone.
So it's not the iPhone, nor any other phone. It's the features that your carrier arbitrarily decides to lock.
Re:err, why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't you people ever read contracts and EULA's anymore? So... well, I think that sums it up. Let me know if you still have questions.
Read EULAs? Crap, I've tried. I usually glaze over long before the midpoint. I've gone through days where I have 4 or 5 updates that each demand I read a new EULA before installing - I don't have the time, the legal skills, or the money to hire a lawyer with the time and legal skills necessary to understand all that. It's a farce. We need a UCC for software and services. I would love to do a social experiment at a Walmart (or similar) store, where every time a product was swiped across the UPC scanner, it would ask the purchaser to read a 15 page legal document before letting them proceed. It'd be interesting. I wonder how many people would read them before clicking "OK". Then I'd like to detain a few of them as they left the store, and inform them that the EULA they agreed to at the register limited them to using one or two of the products they paid for only inside the store, and by removing the product from the store they were stealing. That'd be a hoot.
Re:iTunes The Real Problem (Score:1, Insightful)
I can't play Playstation games on my XBOX
I can't play Wii games on my XBOX
I can't use a Wii controller on my XBOX
I can't put a Honda water pump on my Ford
When will companies stop "renting" me their hardware and let me use it with whatever I want? There is a fine line and Apple skirts it. I feel they haven't crossed it. You do. Difference of opinion.
Re:The 3GS Unlock is available (Score:3, Insightful)
You guys (you and a child post) have a VERY incomplete understanding of what the dev team did or did not do, and their reasons for such.
They had a jailbreak for the 3GS almost immediately, but apple was already preparing their 3.1 update (beta is already out).
If they released the jailbreak right away, apple would patch it in 3.1 and every new phone sold would be 3.1 without the ability to downgrade due to the fact that apple has new signing protections in the 3GS.
If they waited the short time until the 3.1 release, then every 3.1 and 3.0 phone sold would be jailbreakable forever. Now that geohot has released his jailbreak it is possible that if another flaw is not found, the vast majority of all phones sold by the end of this year will never be jailbreakable.
I can see the merits to each one, but George (geohot) is betting fairly heavily on that he will find another exploit in the new 3.1 software.
I do know that privately some of the team has expressed privately that they are somewhat happy that someone else has released a userland tool and to let him support it for a while.
Re:I'm tired of these stories! (Score:5, Insightful)
You wouldn't buy a car that required you to call the manufacturer and get authorisation every time you wanted to put petrol in it or attach those sickly fluffy dice to the rear vision mirror, would you?
Why frame this debate with one of the worst car analogies I've ever heard? The equivalent of petrol in a phone is battery charge... last I checked, I didn't need to get apple authorization when I plug my phone into an outlet. I don't even need an Apple-certified outlet. The fluffy dice is the iPhone equivalent of an iPhone case. The last case I bought wasn't one from Apple but from a third party case manufacturer. This debate is more equivalent to changing your Ford engine for a VW engine and then trying to get it serviced at a Ford dealer. I haven't tried it but I doubt Ford will really honor your warranty if you do make such a change.
Re:err, why? (Score:3, Insightful)
As nearly as I can see, we are in agreement. Those people who actually want Apple to assure them that they have a secure machine have the choice of allowing Apple to administer their little boxes.
However - Apple has no right to deny people like you and I choice of unlocking. To be perfectly honest, I'd probably wreck the thing repeatedly, til I figured it out. But, being just as honest, I wouldn't be asking Apple to fix the thing for me - when I break it, I fix it.
Given a few rounds with the worst things that can happen with an unlocked gizmo, I would know which parts of Apple's security I really need and/or want, then everyone would be happy. But, the whole point of the article is, Apple will not permit people to use their phones as they see fit, so someone had to hack it. That is a real shame. At most, Apple should say, "If you unlock the thing, we won't support it - warranty will be void."
Finally? (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I'm being a dick here, but saying the 3Gs has Finally been hacked is a bit of an insult to the crackers that made it happen. I mean, the thing has been out a couple weeks and the fact that it took Only 2 weeks to accomplish is a pretty great thing.
When Apple released the 3.0 firmware, there was a lull in the QuickPwn software where they had not worked out some bugs and several people had to go without an unlocked/unjailbroken iPhone for a couple days. Reading the posts on the forums, I was very disappointed in the people that were demanding that the DevTeam hurry the hell up and make their phones work again. Instead of basking in the glory of iPhone freedom, they wanted to bitch and complain that things were moving too slowly and that they couldn't use their precious iPhones to Facebook or Tweet or whatever they needed to do. I can remember back in the day, sitting on BitchX and waiting for a crack-team to post the newest keygen for whatever the latest release of (game/software, etc...) and being patient about it because those guys were doing something I couldn't. They were providing a service that was completely free and that I had no right bitching at them about taking too long to add it to their servbots.
I'm too young to know if kids in past generations were this disrespectful to people that were doing favors for the community for free, but I'm too old to know if this is something that all young people do nowadays. Is this what happens when we make so many things quickly and easily accessible? I think kids today would do well to learn a little patience and develop an appreciation for how difficult some things in life can be, even if to them it's just a click away.
Now get off my lawn!
Re:Don't need to jailbreak for wallpaper/ring tone (Score:2, Insightful)
Any other phone?
On my G1, I just drag the music I like to anywhere on the SD card. Then I can use the app Ringdroid to cut it down to the length I want and set it as the active ringtone, or if I just want it to ring from the beginning I can select it right from the music app while listening to it (Menu button > Use as ringtone).
That hardly seems as much of a hassle as importing, transcoding, and renaming. Maybe I'm just too dumb to see Apple's brilliance on this matter.
Re:And the fanboy appears... (Score:2, Insightful)
I am of a differing opinion.
I prefer the old Slashdot, just after karma was implemented but before all of the anti-trolling/anti-crapflooding countermeasures. It certainly was more entertaining and it was eaiser to use, even for non-trolls.
Here I am a user who has never done any actual trolling, yet I have to wait XX number of seconds between posts. If I want to comment anonymously I have to wait who knows how long between each. Hours? I can't make short posts no matter how useful. Can't use all caps even when appropriate. Can't make the same post twice.
Back in the day I could do all those things. Sure we had penis birds everywhere if you browsed a -1 and Shoeboy got a +5 Funny FP on every article, but that was a small price to pay for freedom. Another ancilliary benefit was that people usually recognized actual trolls rather than got trolled by them. If you were in doubt you could crosscheck a post at inchfan.
Page widening and goatse links did more to wreck the place than any actual trolls [slashdot.org].