If you've been around the iPhone scene for a while, you've no doubt already heard the story of how George "Geohot" Hotz unlocked the original iPhone for the first time, back in the summer of 2007. If not, The New Yorker, in a far broader profile, tells it again:

In the summer of 2007, Apple released the iPhone, in an exclusive partnership with A.T. & T. George Hotz, a seventeen-year-old from Glen Rock, New Jersey, was a T-Mobile subscriber. He wanted an iPhone, but he also wanted to make calls using his existing network, so he decided to hack the phone.

Every hack poses the same basic challenge: how to make something function in a way for which it wasn’t designed. In one respect, hacking is an act of hypnosis. As Hotz describes it, the secret is to figure out how to speak to the device, then persuade it to obey your wishes. After weeks of research with other hackers online, Hotz realized that, if he could make a chip inside the phone think it had been erased, it was “like talking to a baby, and it’s really easy to persuade a baby.”

He used a Phillips-head eyeglass screwdriver to undo the two screws in the back of the phone. Then he slid a guitar pick around the tiny groove, and twisted free the shell with a snap. Eventually, he found his target: a square sliver of black plastic called a baseband processor, the chip that limited the carriers with which it could work. To get the baseband to listen to him, he had to override the commands it was getting from another part of the phone. He soldered a wire to the chip, held some voltage on it, and scrambled its code. The iPhone was now at his command. On his PC, he wrote a program that enabled the iPhone to work on any wireless carrier.

The next morning, Hotz stood in his parents’ kitchen and hit “Record” on a video camera set up to face him. He had unruly curls and wispy chin stubble, and spoke with a Jersey accent. “Hi, everyone, I’m geohot,” he said, referring to his online handle, then whisked an iPhone from his pocket. “This is the world’s first unlocked iPhone.”

Hotz went on to sell that first unlocked iPhone to the CEO of Certicell for a 2007 Nissan 350Z and 3 new iPhones, and the rest, as they say, is history.

From later iOS Jailbreaks to cracking the PS3, from the Sony lawsuit to the Anonymous attacks, from working at Google and Facebook to going back to talk with Sony, The New York roughs out an interesting, entertaining sketch of one of the most famous characters in the iPhone community.

Give it a read, and then give us your take.

Source: The New Yorker

Iconic iPhone hacker George Hotz has quit Facebook and joined a new startup named Backplane. The folks over at BusinessInsider met up with Geohot recently and it looks like Backplane, funded by Lady Gaga and Google Ventures, is keeping him busy with hacking and coding.

Backplane empowers social community. We are a canvas for self-expression. We unite people around interests, affinities and movements. We are just getting started.

During a recent hackathon, Hotz was working on coding a program that would find all your friends on Facebook and put them on a map. Even though their project didn't win, it's good to see Hotz back to doing what he appears to be best at. Anyone besides me hoping he'll become involved in the iOS jailbreak community again?

Source: BusinessInsider

For those who haven't been following it, iPhone Jailbreaker George Hotz (Geohot) is being sued by Sony for hacking their PS3. It's not new for companies to take action against hackers. Every time Apple updates iOS they try to close Jailbreak exploits and they even lobbied the US government to try and make sure Jailbreaking wasn't granted a DMCA exception (Apple didn't get their way and jailbreaking was given an exception.

While Apple went after the entire process and asked it be ruled illegal, Sony is going after one person in particular, George Hotz. After recently releasing his 3.55 jailbreak for Playstation 3 users, Sony rewarded his efforts by applying for a TRO (temporary restraining order), which was recently granted. As they continue to go back and forth, Geohot has issued a statement to Sony on his own webpage.

Note to Sony:

It's apparent you don't care about your reputation with consumers, and I can almost understand your point there. Few people consider buying a TV or laptop a moral choice, and the consumer base is quite large. But talented developers are in much shorter supply, and take it from one personally, who you choose to code for is much more of a moral choice. The programmers you will one day be looking to hire are the ones reading the tech news sites right now.

And they will remember.

I'm not sure what this means for iOS users at this point. If Sony succeeds in their case against Geohot, it's unclear what if any precedents will be set in terms of other companies suing Jailbreakers. Also, whether or not Geohot will remain an active part of the jailbreak community is uncertain. Seeing as jailbreaking iOS is not illegal, I can't image he would abandon both communities. One thing is clear, the case will definitely be interesting to follow. If Sony gets their way, will that lead to Apple starting a fire with our very own jailbreak community again? Or has Apple mellowed and Sony taken the lead in anti-community action? Sound off in the comments!

[Geohot]

First there was blackra1n and who would have thought the next rain would bring limes? That's right, limera1n.com is now live - sort of as you will only see a green rain drop when visiting the page. And if this could come as a surprise the site is registered to one George Hotz. Those of you who follow iPhone hacker on Twitter may have noticed a few hints that he has been working on a major breakthrough on the jailbreak front.

While we can not say for certain what limera1n will bring, we do have our educated guesses - mainly a untethered jailbreak for 3.1.2, a iPhone OS 4 jailbreak, or the best of both worlds with a all in one jailbreak tool.

We will keep you updated as we learn more about this mysterious new ra1n. Until then, stop by our forums and speculate to your hearts content!

[TiPb forums]

For those of you who have been patiently waiting to unlock your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS currently on the 3.1.2 software, today is your lucky sn0w day as blacksn0w has been released one day ahead of schedule. It was just 3 days ago that iPhone hacker, George Hotz, announced via his Twitter account that he had found an exploit to unlock any iPhone with the 5.11.77 radio baseband.

blacksn0w is the unlock for the latest 05.11.07 baseband, and will also enable official tethering. blackra1n, a jailbreak for 3.1.2, has been updated to RC3, with hacktivation support, 15 second speed improvement, Tiger+PPC support, and installation of the latest blackra1n.app.

For the full details and on how to gain access to blacksn0w be sure to check out GeoHot's blog. Need more help? Visit our Jailbreak and Unlock forums.

If you are looking to unlock your iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS and use blacksn0w, let us know how it goes!

George Hotz, aka geohot, posted on his Twitter account that he has found an exploit to unlock any iPhone that contains the 05.11.77 radio baseband found in the 3.1.2 iPhone software. This new unlock tool, blacksn0w, will be released to the public on November 4th and yes, it does contain hackivation!

Something else that everyone should take a look at is a post that Hotz wrote up on his blog regarding all of the websites out there that sell unlocks and jailbreaks to people who don't know any better. These tools that jailbreak and unlock are a simple google search away and don't cost a penny. These people who run these sites truly are scum that are simply ripping a lot of iPhone owners off.

All we can do to help shut these sites down is to just spread the word. The more of us who are aware the better.

UPDATED: According to @geohot on Twitter, blackra1n for Mac is now live.

ORIGINAL: When George Hotz released his all iPhone/iPod 3.1.2 jailbreak application for Windows, blackra1n, he was unsure whether or not he would write a Mac OS X version. According to a recent post on Twitter it seems as if he's had a change of heart.

blackra1n for mac coming soon...actually reuses code...NSRunAlertPanel causing crashes...and can anyone blackify the purplera1n mac icon?

It would be nice if this upcoming Mac version includes an exploit for the new bootrom but the probability of that happening is highly unlikely. For the latest news and tips for jailbreaking/unlocking your iPhone, visit our iPhone Jailbreak/Unlock forums.

George Hotz has taken it upon himself to create a new iPhone 3GS unlocking solution which he calls purplesn0w. It seems the original iPhone hacker and creator of the jailbreak software purplera1n, was once again not happy with the Dev Teams software, this time it was their unlocking tool, ultrasn0w.

First off, what is purplesn0w? It's a soft unlock for your 3GS that I'd actually use day to day. It's not a daemon that takes any resources, and it doesn't add a task to your baseband. It's very close to a true unlock. All it does is patch three files, CommCenter, lockdownd, and your wildcard activation plist (which you need, activate w at&t sim first, no hacktivation support yet). That's it, no other files are installed.

So as you can see Hotz needs to do some more tweaking to get purplesn0w in pristine full working condition. If you do choose to use this software now be prepared to jump thru a few hoops such as having a legitimately activated AT&T sim card. On the bright side - Hotz claims that all of the issues people have had with ultrasn0w, such as Wi-Fi loss, battery fails, unlock fails, etc... are now gone if you use his unlock. If you can hold off for a day or two, do so as Hotz will release an update according to his twitter account.

For the full details on purplesn0w be sure to check out his blog. In the meantime, the competition is heating up between the Dev Team and Mr. Hotz. It's time to sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show!