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 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.

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.

iPhone Dev-Team Release PwnageTool for 3.1

The iPhone Dev-Team has just released there latest jailbreaking tool, PwnageTool for iPhone OS 3.1. At the minute the jailbreak is for Mac only but hopefully a Windows version will be released soon.

Download (Torrent)

This release starts with PwnageTool 3.1 for Mac OS X – this application supports the iPhone 1st Generation (2G), the iPhone 3G and the iPod touch 1G. NB: THIS DOES NOT SUPPORT THE 3GS OR 2G/3G IPOD TOUCH. redsn0w for Mac OS X and Windows will follow sometime in the near future, please don’t bug us about it – we’ll release when we have something ready.

GOLDEN RULE: If you are using a 3G iPhone with ultrasn0w and rely on ultrasn0w to obtain cellular service, then you should only upgrade to 3.1 with a PwnageTool created .ipsw. – Stay away from Apple’s direct updates as described here and here please get up to speed on the whole subject by reading the information contained in these posts.

If you have an original iPhone (1st generation) then 3.1 unlock works with this PwnageTool release. iPhone 3G users upgrading to 3.1 will need to continue using ultrasn0w with a PwnageTool created 3.1 .ipsw

Please read all parts of this post before downloading and using these tools.

Read items 1, 2 and 3 again and again.

At the bottom of this post are the bittorrent files for the 3.1 capable version of PwnageTool.

This app is suitable for the recent 3.1 release.

This version of PwnageTool will NOT work for the iPhone 3GS.

PwnageTool WILL work for Original iPhone (1st Generation), Original iPod touch (1st Generation) and the iPhone 3G.

iPhone 3G & iPod Touch Can Now Edit Video

Due to the recent 3.1 iPhone OS update, the iPhone 3G and iPod Touch are now able to edit video just like the iPhone 3GS. Both devices still can’t record video, unless jailbroken, so this may not come as a big tool for most people.

To get it to work, first you must get someone to email you a video file. Once you have it, you can open the email and select the arrow on the lower menu bar. This will give you five options: Reply, Reply All, Forward, Save Video and Cancel. Once you select Save Video, the video will get saved to your Camera Roll.

Go to the Camera Roll and select the video, you are then able to watch the video and edit it. To edit a video, tap on the timeline at the top of the page, you can then drag your finger to the start and end points on the video. When you select trim, you then have the option to trim the original video or save the trimmed potion as a new clip.

iPod Updates At September Apple Event

Steve Jobs made his return today on stage, to announce an update on all iPod models. However the rumors did not all turn out to be true, as there was no iPAD and no camera for the iPod Classic or iPod Touch, however the news about the delay in manufacturing the new iPod Touch device seems like they might announce a camera model later.

iPod Touch

The iPod Touch got a minimal update, however there is still maybe hope for the camera model. But all Apple announced was a size increase, up to 64GB; and a price drop which will be a good thing for the iPod market.

8GB – £149 / $199
32GB – £229 / $299
64GB – £299 / $399

iPod Classic

The iPod Classic was also rumored to get a camera, however it didn’t happen but they have made the device slimmer and also bumped up the memory but kept the price.

160GB – £189 / $249

iPod Nano

iPod Nano now has a VGA camera capable of shooting H.264 video at 30fps, just like the iPhone 3GS. It’s still comes in 8GB and 16GB models and in the usual array of colours. It has a larger 2.2 inch screen and comes with a microphone and speaker. And now has the VoiceOver feature like the shuffle does. It has a FM radio tuner now also built in and a voice recording app, exactly like the iPhone’s.

8GB – £115 / $149
16GB – £135 / $179

iPod Shuffle

The iPod shuffle has now got new colours: pink, green, blue, black and silver. And a special edition model.

2GB – £45 / $59
4GB – £59 / $79

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Coming To iPhone

Rockstar Games have announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, from Rockstar Leeds, is coming to iPhone and iPod Touch later this year. The award winning game is making it’s way from the Nintendo DS to the PSP platform and now the iPhone & iPod Touch.

“Chinatown Wars is a perfect match for the iPhone and iPod touch,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “We are very excited to bring this incredibly ambitious version of Liberty City, with this level of detail and immersive gameplay on Apple’s new gaming platforms.”

The game follows the story of Huang Lee, a young Triad who travels to Liberty City after the mysterious death of his father. Players will navigate their way through the streets as they uncover the truth behind an epic tale of crime and corruption within the Triad crime syndicate, delivering the unprecedented amount of depth that has become a true trademark of the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Custom Home Screens Based Upon User Location

A recent patent filing made by Apple suggests that the iPhone could provide a customized home screen depending on the current user location.

The filing was revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office this week. The filing was dated February 21st 2008 for “Transitional Data Set”, it describes an invention that would display specific applications populated based on dynamic factors such as location.

“The user can create a set of location-aware applications that can be populated by transitional data sets,” the filing reads. “A transitional data set is a data set that can change based on the current location of the mobile device… as determined by a positioning technology (e.g., GPS, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi).”

“If the user’s home is in New York, then the user may configure a “weather” widget to display the weather in New York as a default,” the filing reads, “and such default information can be persistent. If the user travels to San Francisco, the user can touch the “Here” button… and the “weather” widget will automatically display the weather for San Francisco… Thus each time the user travels to San Francisco, the location-aware mobile device… can automatically populate the “weather widget with transitional data associated with San Francisco.”

iPod Classic (7th Generation) To Get Camera?

As the rumors of the upcoming camera equipped model continue to appear, a recent report by Digitimes claims that Omnivision, one of the suppliers for the CMOS sensors in the iPhone 3GS, will be supplying new 3.2 megapixel CMOS image sensors for the new iPod line-up as well.

This seems to validate prior rumors of the a camera equipped iPod Touch and iPod Nano.

Quote:

OmniVision will be the sole supplier of 3.2-megapixel CIS products for new iPod nano, iPod classic and iPod Touch models which will be launched in September, the sources indicated.

This rumor seems quite legitimate as we’ve seen photos and even video of the iPod Touch with a camera.

iPhone 3GS Capable Of HD (720p/1080i) Video

In April it was rumoured that the iPhone 3GS would be able to play 720p and 1080i HD video via the Apple AV Cables. When the device was finally released it was found that the video still played like its predecessors only supporting SD 2.5Mbps MPEG 4 or H264 video. But this turned out to a set limit by Apple, possibly to save the battery life of the device or to keep the old iPhone videos working on the new 3GS model.

A user of the Chinese website WeiPhone did a lot of testing with the iPhone 3GS and they discovered that it can in fact smoothly play HD video at 30Mbps at a 1080i (1980×1080) resolution. This was achieved by uploading various HD movies to the iPhone 3GS using the program FileAid and then running them via the iPhones built-in video player.

Playing back HD video on a iPhone is very useful on the small screen and the battery usage would drain a lot quicker. However is you used Apple’s Component AV Cables and it would be possible to run HD video from the iPhone.

Apple Patent Details File-Transfer in Call

Apple has a new patent titled “Auto Messaging to Currently Connected Caller.” This patent focuses around the idea of sending documents, emails, text messagess, files, etc. to the person who you are calling.

Quote:

While a user of a mobile device is using telephony services, the user may want to send a message or a file to another part . . . To send this information, the user may have to disconnect the call, and then perform a lookup of the caller’s contact information prior to being able to send the message or file. This multi-step process can be tedious for the user.

The data could be sent through various network types like GSM, GPRS, Edge, Wi-Fi, WiMax and Bluetooth. Apple’s interface would provide users with a way to access all the file sharing features while on call the system would be capable to directing the various types of data correctly all at once.

Apple is doing a lot of looking into file sharing technology for it mobiles. A similar patent that AppleInsider discovered in June details how an iPhone could share media like music, video, podcasts, images, voice mails with other iPhone users.