Category: News

The End Of Unlocking Coming Soon?

After today’s announcement from Telefonica Europe that O2 will unlock their iPhones to every network once the Apple iPhone 3G WWDC 2009iPhone is released on other networks means that perhaps other countries will have to follow suit and therefore perhaps the end of hacking to unlock the iPhone. Blacksn0w is the latest unlocking tool from GeoHot which unlocks the latest baseband, however I’m wondering as if to how they will roll out the unlock, either by a carrier update or software update I assume. But if so it won’t take a hacker too long to work out how it’s being unlocked and simply apply it to other phones making it harder for Apple to play the cat and mouse game.

The CEO stated that iPhones will be unlocked once the contract is up, but on Pay As You Go there is no contract so surly they should be sold unlocked, however the way it was started it seems that you have to go to get it unlocked and it won’t just be rolled out. And although I’m going to keep using O2 if they roll this out I’m going to unlock my 8GB iPhone 3G before I sell it to upgrade to a 3GS. Hopefully the rest of the world follows suit and the iPhone becomes a network free device.

O2 Will Allow Unlock For UK iPhone’s

O2 the current exclusive retailer of the iPhone and iPhone 3GS, although not for long; will be allowed to unlock their O2iPhones to other carriers as long as it’s the end of their contract period according to the CEO of O2’s parent company, Telefonica Europe. “Once the iPhone becomes available on other UK networks,” says Matthew Key, “we will allow O2 customers to unlock their iPhones, although of course they will still need to honour any outstanding contract period they have. At the end of their contract period, they are entirely free to move to another operator — though naturally we hope they won’t want to!”

Orange is starting to sell the iPhone from November 10th and Vodafone will be joining in on the iPhone in early 2010. O2 have had exclusivity on the iPhone since 2007 but once released on Orange and Vodafone an unlock will be allowed.

Mac OS X 10.6.2 Developer Build Fixes Atom Support

The latest developer build of Mac OS X 10.6.2 fixes support for the Intel Atom chip which was previously disbaled as anIntel Atom attempt to stop people loading their operating system onto hardware which it wasn’t intended for.

The update reportedly contains fixes for AirPort performance issues on newly released iMacs and “resolves a problem with plugging and unplugging to an Apple TV,” whatever that might mean. There’s fixes for VMWare, USB, Apple Filing Protocol, and tweaks to nearly 150 OS X components, including AppleBacklight, Battery Menu, Dictionary, Expose, FileSync, Family Controls, Fonts, Front Row, HFS, Inkwell, iPhoto, MobileMe, OpenCL, Parental Controls, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, Spell Checker, Spotlight, and Time Machine.

The final release is expected to be rolled out sometime in November.

Hopefully this will mean that Apple have changed their mind and will be allowing Intel Atom support again or that someone will manage to work out how to apply this to the final release if need be, so that the hackintosh community can continue.

Apple Killing Off Intel Atom Support

The latest build of Snow Leopard (10.6.2),  no longer supports the Intel Atom chip which is widely used in netbooks.Intel Atom

In the current developer build of 10.6.2, Apple appears to have changed around a lot of CPU related information. One of the effects of this is Apple killing off Intel’s Atom chip.
Among other things, Sleepenabler.KEXT is now ineffective and will need a new version. It is now suggested to run CPUPM with a proper DSDT.
Although Apple has long engadged in a hack-and-mouse game with with users who use Mac OS X onto third-party hardware, some people see it as a shot against low-cost netbooks, maybe meaning a low-cost MacBook soon? Others believes its another sign of the Apple Tablet as it’s rumoured to have a price point a lot higher than netbooks and so Apple is trying to get rid of the competition.

Stellarola also notes that similar restrictions in Leopard 10.5.9 may disable the Atom, and so advises any pre-Snow Leopard hackintoshed Atom netbooks to stick with 10.5.8.

Who know’s how this will be implemented or how long it will take them to figure away round it. But hopefully this won’t end the use of Mac OS X on third-party hardware.

 

Dutch Hacker Hack’s Into Jailbroken iPhone’s

A Dutch hacker used a port scanning to identify jailbroken iPhones on T-Mobile Netherlands with SSH running.Jailbroken iPhone HackedJailbroken user’s commonly use SSH to run standard UNIX commands on their iPhone. However, due to the way it’s set up all iPhones have the same default root password that most people don’t change. This means if a user knows a iPhone is close running SSH they can access all of the files on the device.

The Dutch hacker used the unchanged root passwords to hack into the phones, he then sent a SMS alert to the phones that read, ” You iPhone’s been hacked because it’s really insecure! Please visit doiop.com/iHacked and secure your iPhone right now! Right now, I can access all your files.” Once going to the website it directs the user to send €5 to a PayPal account, after which the hacker will e-mail instructions to remove the hack—which most likely involve restoring the iPhone to factory settings.

The hacker doesn’t appear to have malicious intent, other than to glean some extra cash. “If you don’t pay, it’s fine by me,” reads the page mentioned in the message to the hacked iPhone owners. “But remember, the way I got access to your iPhone can be used by thousands of others—they can send text messages from your number (like I did), use it to call or record your calls, and actually whatever they want, even use it for their hacking activities! I can assure you, I have no intention of harming you or whatever, but, some hackers do! It’s just my advice to secure your phone.”

To stop this from happening to you read the article on How To: Change Your iPhone’s SSH Password.

Orange Release UK iPhone Details

With the release of the iPhone on UK network Orange about a week away, Orange have released the pricing details for the Pay Monthly and Pay As You Go plans. One thing to remember that Orange wasn’t planning on challenging O2 on prices but this gives people who don’t like O2 or who are already on Orange a chance to get an iPhone.

Orange iPhone Prices

The only big difference between what O2 offers and what Orange offers is that for £122.34 per month you can get unlimited minutes and texts. For Pay As You Go, an 8GB iPhone 3G will cost £343, the 16GB iPhone 3GS is £440 and the 32GB iPhone 3GS is £539. The prices are slightly cheaper than O2 but what I still wonder about is does that now mean iPhone’s sold in the UK should work on both O2 and Orange?
If so, in the first quarter of next year UK iPhone’s will work on O2, Orange (Soon to be merged with T-Mobile) and Vodafone.

Update: So it’s been pointed out that now Orange’s ‘unlimited’ plan there is only 750MB.

R5 Release Dates (Nov 3rd – April 2010)

Check the R5 Release Dates page for the latest release dates.

November 2009
Bring It On: Fight to the Finish – November 3rd
Playmobil: The Secret of Pirate Island – November 5th
Zombieland – November 5th
The Prince & Me 3: A Royal Honeymoon – November 5th
Hardwired – November 5th
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure – November 5th
Banlieue 13 Ultimatum – November 12th
Julie & Julia – November 12th
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee  – November 12th
OSS 117: Rio ne répond plus – November 19th
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – November 19th
Little Hercules in 3-D – November 19th
Driven to Kill – November 19th
Hachiko: A Dog’s Story – November 19th
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations – November 19th
Saw VI – November 26th (with DD5.1 ENG planned)

December
My Sister’s Keeper – December 1st
Astro Boy – December 3rd
Jennifer’s Body – December 3rd (2nd Date)
American Pie: Book of Love – December 8th
Inglourious Basterds – December 8th
2012 – December 10th
Love Happens – December 11th
Funny People – December 15th
Zombieland – December 17th (2nd Date)
This Is It – December 17th
The Stepfather  – December 17th
Planet 51 – December 17th

January 2010
The Final Destination – January 26th 2010
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – January 28th 2010

February 2010
500 Days of Summer – February 4th 2010
Amelia – February 18th 2010
Into the Blue 2: The Reef – February 18th 2010
Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead – February 18th 2010
Tooth Fairy – February 25th 2010
The Informant!  – February 2010
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant – February 2010

March 2010
Fantastic Mr. Fox – March 4th 2010
The Marine 2 – March 4th 2010
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief – March 11th 2010
Surviving Evil – March 25th 2010
The Cabin in the Woods  – March 25th 2010
The Wolfman – March 2010

April 2010
The Time Traveler’s Wife – April 2010

Updated: 1st November 2009

Note: not all dates are 100% accurate and are likely to vary, please keep checking back for updated release dates.

Blog News

Due to problems with my laptop it’s being sent into repair tommorow so the number of updates to the blog will be minimal and I will catch up once I get my laptop back.

Thanks for your understanding.
Sam