Foxconn, the Chinese company that manufactures iPhones, iPads, and Macs for Apple, and electronics for many others in the industry, has recently been hacked by a group called Swagg Security. They're currently sharing the fruits of their labour on The Pirate Bay. In a statement accompanying the leaked files, Swagg Security laid out their intentions (or lack thereof).

"We switched on BBC Radio, the leading source of unbiased material. A short segment on the manufacturer giant Foxconn, came up reporting on the inhuman conditions the workers experience. A few days later an almost viral rumor about an Iphone 5 with a 4-inch screen being manufactured, as claimed by an employee from the infamous Foxconn. Now as a first impression Swagg Security would rather not deceive the public of our intentions. Although we are considerably disappointed of the conditions of Foxconn, we are not hacking a corporation for such a reason and although we are slightly interested in the existence of an Iphone 5, we are not hacking for this reason."

So Swagg is doing it all "for the lulz", or just for the fun of it, in typical anonymous hacker fashion. According to their anarchist philosophy, screwing things up for big companies and corporations is a reward in and of itself. After flipping through the files, I didn't see anything much beyond a few hundred username/password combos which will likely be useless information once Foxconn resets everybody's credentials. CEO Terry Gou's e-mail address is in the files, which may have been used among other addresses to place fake orders through services.foxconn.com, but the site has for now been taken down. Beyond that, the only lasting effect I could imagine from the whole affair is improved attention to security on Foxconn's part.

Despite bruised pride, I see hacking that points out security holes without doing permanent damage to the company as fairly productive, once the victim patches up its system. If those behind the hacking get a good laugh out of it too, all the better. What do you think? Is anarchist hacking good to keep tech companies on their toes, or do these attacks need to be political in nature to be justified? Or is disrupting the operations of companies in any way ethically wrong, no matter how much of a philosophical spin you put on it?

Source: Swagg Security statement via Electronista

iOS and jailbreak developers Steven Troughton-Smith and Nick, who goes by the Twitter handle @TheMudkip have now managed to get iPad applications running on an Apple TV; in full screen mode running on a 720p HDTV. We told you yesterday how they were working on a way to bring iOS apps to the Apple TV. Well they have now moved a step closer to making this a workable solution.

The first Apple TV port enabled iOS applications to run in a windowed mode on the Apple TV; this allowed multiple applications to run side by side. Now however they have discovered a way to run iPad applications in full screen mode with a resolution of 720p.

The port is far from being ready for primetime however it doesn’t stop you dreaming about the possibilities of running iPad apps natively on your Apple TV. Apple has long been rumored to be bringing an App Store to the Apple TV platform. Maybe something like this will force its hand to get it done.

Source: 9to5Mac

System wide voice-to-text dictation, once exclusive to iPhone 4S, has now been replicated on other iOS devices thanks to a Jailbreak hack called Siri0us. In order to use the dictation hack, you will need to have a jailbroken iOS 5 device. A point to note, the hack does not use Apple's servers, it solely uses the Nuance speech recognition system on device, and it does not provide any of the Siri voice control features.

Currently it has been confirmed to work on an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch 4 generation. As we mentioned, the hack uses Nuance Speech Recognition however it is not officially licensed. The developer is hoping that Nuance will offer him the ability to purchase licenses to make the hack legal.

If you want to give it a try, add http://apt.if0rce.com to your list of Cydia sources, you should then be able to search for and install Siri0us. There appears to be a huge demand for the hack as the repository holding the app is getting hit with a lot of traffic and keeps going down.

Source: iForce via iDB

A developer has managed to get Siri to control his home thermostat. The hack does not involve any jailbreaking but does involve setting up a proxy server which intercepts the Siri commands. This proxy server can then be used to add additional command functionality to Siri.

Siri Proxy is a proxy server for Apple's Siri "assistant." The idea is to allow for the creation of custom handlers for different actions. This can allow developers to easily add functionality to Siri. The main example I provide is a plugin to control my thermostat with Siri. It responds to commands such as, "What's the status of the thermostat?", or "Set the thermostat to 68 degrees", or even "What's the inside temperature?"

The demo is very impressive and does open up Siri to a whole host of possible uses. Home automation is the obvious area for it to expand into.

Source: @plamoni via Engadget

The guys from Applidium claim to have cracked Siri’s security protocol and it could open the floodgates to third party developers and of course other hardware too. There is a downside, in order to use Siri on one of these other devices; you still need to have a UDID of an iPhone 4S device. A UDID is a Unique Device Identifier and is a 40 character unique number assigned to every iPhone.

The iPhone 4S sends identifiers everywhere. So if you want to use Siri on another device, you still need the identfier of at least one iPhone 4S. Of course we’re not publishing ours, but it’s very easy to retrieve one using the tools we’ve written. Of course Apple could blacklist an identifier, but as long as you’re keeping it for personal use, that should be allright!

Source: Applidium

An iOS security exploit, unveiled by security researcher Charlie Miller, allows an app to download and execute unsigned code from a remote unknown server. What’s even more astonishing, to prove the exact details of this hack, Charlie Miller developed and submitted an app containing the exploit to Apple. The app was approved and available in the App Store. (It has since been removed, and Charlie Miller has also now been removed from the iOS developer program.)

Miller became suspicious of a possible flaw in the code signing of Apple’s mobile devices with the release of iOS 4.3 early last year. To increase the speed of the phone’s browser, Miller noticed, Apple allowed javascript code from the Web to run on a much deeper level in the device’s memory than it had in previous versions of the operating system. In fact, he realized, the browser’s speed increase had forced Apple to create an exception for the browser to run unapproved code in a region of the device’s memory, which until then had been impossible. (Apple uses other security restrictions to prevent untrusted websites from using that exception to take control of the phone.) The researcher soon dug up a bug that allowed him to expand that code-running exception to any application he’d like. “Apple runs all these checks to make sure only the browser can use the exception,” he says. “But in this one weird little corner case, it’s possible. And then you don’t have to worry about code-signing any more at all.”

Miller plans on demonstrating the exploit at the SysCan conference in Taiwan next week. In the mean time, take a look at the video below which shows the exploit in action. Using the app he can take a copy of a users address book, direct them to a YouTube video or steal photos from the device running the app.

We are sure Apple will be releasing a fix very soon to plug this exploit, now that it is out in the open!

Source: Forbes via Daring Fireball

iPhone hacker @conradev has found a way to enable the "secret" panorama mode within the iOS 5 camera app. At the moment, you can only enable it on a jailbroken iPhone by tweaking a plist file, com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist, and setting 'EnableFirebreak' to YES, but an easy-to-use hack should appear on Cydia at some point tomorrow.

Don't worry, if you're not on #ATeamJailbreak -- hopefully Apple will officially enable Panorama Mode in an iOS 5.1 or iOS 5.2 update at some point in the not-so-distant future.

Source: Twitter

Siri has now been fully hacked onto an iPhone 4 and iPod touch and it now communicates with Apple’s servers to provide a 100% working solution. We told you a few weeks back that developer Steve Troughton-Smith was working on hacking Siri onto an iPhone 4 but had run into one or two hurdles. Well the main hurdle involved getting the hacked iPhone 4 to talk to Apple’s servers. That has now been overcome and it is now looking like a real possibility.

Talking to 9to5Mac, Steve Troughton-Smith revealed that the hack works across devices but requires files from an iPhone 4S that are not legally available to distribute. It also requires a validation token from a live jailbroken iPhone 4S. The whole hack involves around 20 steps to complete. Because of this, Steve Troughton-Smith doesn’t want to be involved in distributing the Siri port and has only done it to prove it can be done.

We don’t know at this point if others will take on the distribution and risk the wrath of Apple’s legal team, we will have to wait and see. In the mean time take a look at the two videos below. The first one shows the iPhone 4 running Siri side by side with an iPhone 4S and the second video shows Siri running on an iPod touch.

Source: 9to5Mac

A potential security flaw involving the iPad 2 on iOS 5 and Apple's Smart Cover's ability to bypass the Passcode Lock is making the rounds this week.

a Smart Cover can essentially unlock an iPad 2. The person who unlocks your iPad 2 will not have complete access to your iPad, but will be able to gain entrance to whatever you locked your iPad 2 on. If your iPad 2 went to sleep in Mail, Safari, Messages, Contacts, or Maps, you can imagine the sorts of personal information that can be viewed on your iPad.

A temporary solution here would be to simply disable Smart Cover unlocking from within the Settings app on your iPad 2. This is the latest in a series of Siri, Camera and Photo Stream related security issues with iOS 5. Here's hoping Apple directly addresses them with an update soon.

Source: apfeltalk.de via 9to5Mac

Still have a working original iPhone 2G or iPhone 3G (or an iPod touch 1 or 2) and wondering how to get iOS4 features like Multitasking, Folders or Tethering? If you're willing to Jailbreak with WhiteD00r, you can enable most of these new features with a simple install. We'll show you how after the break!

Steps

1. Head over to whited00r.com and select your device from the “firmware download” page.

2. Extract the .zip file (make sure that your unarchiver/unzip utility doesn’t extract the contents of the .ipsw as well!)

3. Plug your iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, or iPod touch 1 or 2 into iTunes

4. Once detected, hold down the ALT (Mac OS X) or SHIFT (Windows) key, and then browse to unzipped .ipsw on your computer.

5. Be patient! It can take between 10 and 15 minutes for your iPhone or iPod to to activate.

6. That's it! You'll now be able to enjoy such features as Multitasking, Folders, custom wallpapers and more.

Additionally, your phone is now jailbroken, so you can install the vast library of Jailbreak apps.

Unfortunately, there are some things missing in WhiteD00r, like access to Game Center, the auto naming of Folders, your video camera comes in a separate app, and doesn’t save to the camera roll without some minor post-installation tweaks. However, for a unofficial hack, it works very well.

It certainly gave my old iPhone a new lease of life, and if you have any additional suggestions for getting more out of your old devices, let us know!

Tips of the day will range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

It seems a security hole in Paypal's iPhone app has been discovered that would allow hackers to access user's Paypal username and passwords over Wi-Fi. The "man-in-the-middle attack" let's the hacker come between the user input information and Paypal's servers. Although this is dangerous, it does require the hacker to be on the same Wi-Fi connection as the user in order to steal their information.

Airports, train stations, coffee shops, and other public Wi-Fi locations are the most susceptible. Paypal has issued a statement assuring if anyone does fall victim to this exploit, Paypal will cover 100% of all fraudulent charges. Paypal spokeswoman Amanda Pires had this to say -

"To my knowledge it has not affected anybody," Ms. Pires said. "We've never had an issue with our app until now."

Isn't that how it typically works, though? You don't have problems, until you do. And this is a large one. I'd highly suggest updating ASAP, the update is available via the App Store now.

via WSJ

Are you an iPhone 3GS user who's wondered how-to enable HD video recording without having to upgrade to an iPhone 4? Well, if you're not afraid of Jailbreak and are comfortable with SSH, there is a new hack available to let you get your HD on. Now the iPhone 3GS simply doesn't have the same quality camera as the iPhone 4, but this tweak will take your video recording from a measly 640x480 to 1080x800.

To install this tweak, ensure you are jailbroken and follow the steps below:

• Download the HD Video files to your computer.
• Go to Cydia and install OpenSSH on your iPhone 3GS.
• Connect your 3GS to your computer and make sure iTunes is NOT running.
• Download and install Cyberduck for Mac or WinSCP for Windows.
• Cyberduck Settings

• • Server: The IP address of your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. Settings –> WiFi –> <Your Network Name>
  • Username: root
  • Password: (your SSH password, because you remembered to change it from the default "alpine", right?)
  • Protocol: SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)
• WinSCP Settings

• • Hostname: The IP address of your iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. Setting –> WiFi –> <Your Network Name>
  • User name: root
  • Password: alpine
  • Protocol: SCP

• Navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/ directory and copy the N88AP.plist file from the HD Video files you downloaded earlier and paste it into the folder you navigated to.
• Now navigate to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Celestial.framework/N88/ directory and copy AVCapture.plist, CameraRollValidator.plist and MediaValidator.plist from the HD Video files you downloaded earlier and paste them into the folder you just navigated to.
• Reboot your 3GS and you now have HD video recording.

A word of caution, if you are not an experienced user who has SSH'ed into your phone before be very careful as this can cause issues and require a restore if done incorrectly. As always do this tweak at your own risk. If you have an iPhone 3GS and you do this mod let us know how it worked for you and how the install process went for you.

[Redmond Pie]

Tips of the day range from beginner-level 101 to advanced-level ninjary. If you already know this tip, keep the link handy as a quick way to help a friend. If you have a tip of your own you'd like to suggest, add them to the comments or send them in to dailytips@tipb.com. (If it's especially awesome and previously unknown to us, we'll even give ya a reward...)

Since Apple made the Apple TV iOS 4.1 firmware available on their website, developers and hackers alike have been scouring through with a fine toothed comb. What they have found so far is quite interesting - Facetime may be coming to Apple TV via your iPhone 4 using AirPlay, there could be DVD remote support, and the device does contain bluetooth code.

Perhaps the most exciting find has been what we touched on earlier today, Apple TV is capable of being jailbroken via the Shatter exploit.

Check out the source links below for more, including Erica Sadun's comprehensive article at TUAW. Should be pretty exciting to see what this little device will be capable of in the upcoming weeks.

[TUAW, forums.mactalk.com.au via 9to5Mac]

If you were looking for an excuse to jailbreak your iPhone 4 using FaceTime over your carriers 3G network may just sway some of you to bite the bullet and go through the process. This can be done by installing a application located in Cydia called My3G [$3.99]. The app allows you to run any Wi-Fi only app over your carriers 3G network. While the FaceTime video calling quality suffers a bit compared to using Wi-Fi it still looks more than decent.

Update: If you're curious, 9to5Mac says a 5 min FaceTime call used almost 15 MB of data. Something to keep in mind if you have a data cap.

To those of you who have not tried to jailbreak, is using FaceTime over 3G worth giving it a shot? Sound off in the comments below and be sure to check out the video after the break!

[9 to 5 Mac x2 and TiPb forums]

Hackers found a way in to AT&T's iPad 3G registry and, using a brute-force attack based on unique ICC-ID numbers, managed to pull down corresponding email addresses for those users -- who include members of the US military, executive branch, and media companies.

AT&T has since closed the vulnerability and issued the following statement:

"AT&T was informed by a business customer on Monday of the potential exposure of their iPad ICC IDS. The only information that can be derived from the ICC IDS is the e-mail address attached to that device.

This issue was escalated to the highest levels of the company and was corrected by Tuesday; and we have essentially turned off the feature that provided the e-mail addresses.

The person or group who discovered this gap did not contact AT&T.

We are continuing to investigate and will inform all customers whose e-mail addresses and ICC IDS may have been obtained.

We take customer privacy very seriously and while we have fixed this problem, we apologize to our customers who were impacted."

So once again it's the convenience of the cloud vs. the security of customer information. Increasingly we're trusting online accounts and services with our personal and financial information, and high-profile incidents like this, if nothing else, force everyone to re-examine what we trust and with whom.

How serious is this loss of data to you? Does it make you hesitant to signup online or on-device?

[Gawker, who curiously call it an Apple security breach in the headline.]

We've said it over and over again, if you Jailbreak your iPhone, install SSH, don't change the default SSH password, and get on a network with a bad guy, they can hold you hostage, Rickroll you, steal your data, or turn your iPhone into a bot -- and according to Apple, you should have known that before you jailbroke.

Okay, sounds straight out of the EFF counter-complaint but fair enough. We're big believers in personal responsibility and when and if we Jailbreak, we take personal responsibility for it (and we absolutely, positively, don't install SSH or change our passwords if we do!). Still Apple's Natalie Harrison pulls no punches with their comments, via the Loop

“The worm affects only a very specific set of iPhone users who have jail broken their iPhones and hacked it with unauthorized software. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones, and for good reason. These hacks not only violate the warranty, they will also cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably."

We're guessing many don't even know Jailbreak is an option. They place calls, surf the web, play games, and are perfectly content. For power users, absent power features from Apple, Jailbreaking remains compelling. (Just practice safe hacks! And check the TiPb iPhone Jailbreak Forum if you need advice!)

Take on OWLE team, add a hack into the iPhone dock connector, and what do you get? According to TechCrunch:

The latest prototype that OWLE has developed, which is different than what they start shipping tomorrow, allows you to use lenses with depth of field and telephoto effects, XLR microphones (both wired and wireless microphones), stereo microphones and more. Basically, it allows you to plug in any professional audio equipment that filmmakers use, on your iPhone. The mics are plugged in through the 30 pin, and the telephoto lens was cobbled together.

RED likely need not be fearful... yet!

UPDATE 2: Apple comments to Digital Daily:

“As we’ve said before, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with unsupported digital media players.”

UPDATE 1: PreCentral.net is back with the low-down on how Palm re-enabled iTunes sync in webOS 1.2.1:

by setting its Manufacturer to Apple and also perhaps by changing the USB Product ID to the iPod Video's (they even changing the serial number that appears when you plug it in with Media Sync).

ORIGINAL: Palm has just updated their software to webOS 1.2.1, and according to PreCentral.net, the changelog reads "Resolves an issue preventing media sync from working with latest version of iTunes (9.0.1)"

Congrats Palm, just after we went and praised you for finally putting users ahead of your own ego, for spending your limited resources on solidifying your own software rather than hacking someone elses, after the USB-IF slapped the hand you yourself raised, you went ahead and showed your desire for blog press and whatever "daddy issues" exist between you and Apple, Rubinstein and Jobs, are what's most important to you. Kudos. Golf clap.

Bored now.

Wired.com talks to Jonathan Zdziarski, iPhone developer, hacker, forensics teacher, finder of the iPhone kill switch, creator of the AMBER alert app, about the iPhone 3GS' new hardware encryption, recently touted as giving consumers "enterprise-class" security. His take? It's implemented so poorly it can be cracked in two minutes, “like storing all your secret messages right next to the secret decoder ring”.

To steal an iPhone’s disk image, hackers can use popular jailbreaking tools such as Red Sn0w and Purple Ra1n to install a custom kernel on the phone. Then, the thief can install an Secure Shell (SSH) client to port the iPhone’s raw disk image across SSH onto a computer.

We've heard before that Jailbreaking strips away security layers on the iPhone, though that's been in the context of the users own device. This is using the Jailbreak process to actively get at another device's data.

Is Apple going to change the way they implement their hardware-based iPhone 3GS encryption in light of this? Can the current model be made more robust? And what, if any, changes made to keep bad guys out of the iPhone will effect users who simply want to gain access to their own iPhones?

[Thanks to Antony for the tip!]

Palm Pre got webOS 1.1 today and the surprise feature was that it re-hacks iTunes sync, once and for all proving Palm's new management -- in this area -- cares more about thumbing their nose at Apple and strutting in front of the press than they do about Palm and the Pre user base.

Yeah, this will be an editorial of the scathing variety. You've been warned...

Palm got an astounding and impressive number of things right with webOS. The multitasking is great, the notifications sublime, the SDK a stroke of genius, and the Classic emulator smart, smart, smart. Palm's done so much so right, it's flabbergasting that they've handled iTunes sync so boneheadedly wrong.

What's so wrong about it? It doesn't serve the webOS/Palm Pre user. Bottom line, no company should ever base a user experience on something they don't own or license. Regardless of caveats like version numbers, Palm telling Pre users they can sync with iTunes when Palm can't guarantee it will work going forward is irresponsible.

RIM/BlackBerry and Nokia, by contrast, sync with the iTunes XML file which won't break if iTunes updates. Sure, it's not the way an iPod syncs, but then they aren't -- and the Palm Pre isn't -- and iPod.

We've spoken before about user confusion. Stick a Palm Pre into iTunes and it pretends to be an iPod, but it can't sync iTunes movies, can't sync App Store apps. That breaks the user experience (my mother has no idea what DRM is, but she sure knows what "not working" is). And if iTunes is updated and, even if purely by accident, Palm Pre can no longer sync, it shatters the user experience. ("No, see mom, Apple and Palm are like rivals and-- yes, I know you can't get your ABBA to play. Sigh. Again--")

See, we're not talking about pro level users here. This isn't DVD Jon hacking iTunes DRM and experts going in to set up the sync themselves. That's closer to Jailbreak, you roll your own dice and takes your own chances.

We're talking about average users who go in thinking they can sync with iTunes just like an iPod. That's incredibly unfair to them.

So why is Palm doing it? First, it's important to remember current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein was formerly head of the iPod division at Apple, and brought a lot of iPod and iPhone engineers (and PR people) with him to work on webOS and the Pre. That's reportedly caused some animosity between Palm and Apple. Second, look at all the press it generates for them.

Even putting aside whether Palm, with all that iPod brain trust, could prove reverse-engineering in a clean room, it comes off as looking like they did it to show they could, and to get the required action from Apple to generate buzz and attention.

The original hack was just a USB masquerade and was easy for Apple to stop. This hack, while currently unidentified, is likely deeper and perhaps not as trivial. That makes the first hack look like a sacrificial pawn in a chess gambit, with the second (and third, fourth?) more like Bishops and Queens lined up, ready and waiting.

But Palm isn't playing with game pieces, they're playing with that average user who just wants a reliable sync solution for his or her (or moms!) media. Palm is putting that user behind their own ego -- to show up former big boss Apple -- and attention seeking -- to hook the blogsphere in riveting rounds of cat and mouse posts.

And that's not right. It's not right for Apple, who'll get blamed for Palm's manipulations. It's not right for Palm who is better than this, and has created an otherwise exemplary new platform. It's not right for the engineers on both sides who waste time hacking and patching unlicensed sync rather than working on great new features. And it's absolutely not right for Palm Pre users who deserve that BlackBerry or Nokia quality sync experience, legitimately for their very own.

How about it Palm, how about we re-task those engineers into making a great iTunes Library XML sync for all the users who stuck by the original Palm, through the years in the desert, and into the clouds?

Turns out all you need is an old PDA keyboard, the iPhone 2.0 SDK, and a dream. Okay, that, plus tons of smarts and hackery. Hey, at least this one isn't as hard as the previous workaround we saw. Says Ars Technica:

The work is built on a 1200 baud modem that connects to the iPhone via the headphone port. This allows two-way transmission of data using frequency shift keying, the same method used in early modems. This modem was modified to accept input from infrared and USB connected devices, allowing the use of a keyboard. Further, a 2.0 SDK-compliant terminal app enables text input.

Will Apple ever open up the iPhone to real Bluetooth keyboard support? They did just announce A2DP Stereo, P2P, and SDK access for peripherals at the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Peek event, but not keyboards... Are we waiting on a special Apple designed iPhone keyboard to make an appearance at WWDC perhaps? Or will hacking continue to be the only game in town?

As our forums keep gaining more and more members the threads just keep getting better. Here are some of the latest and greatest Jailbreak-related threads from the forums today!

The first thread is a pretty straight forward poll, are you Jailbroken or not? As of right now the amount of members Jailbroken are way ahead of those who choose not to. So what about you?

Next thread comes to us from BKSinAZ, and he asked the following question. If he is using AT&T, is there any reason to jailbreak? I'm sure all of our readers who are currently Jailbroken can give BKSinAZ some reasons on why he should.

A lot has been said recently about the legality of Jailbreaking your iPhone. So is it a surprise that there are a few threads revolving around that topic? Be sure to check these two threads out: Jailbreak Illegal - What now? Restore? and Apple Says Jailbreaking is Illegal.

For everything that is Jailbreaking Apps... be sure to check out the forums iPhone Jailbreak Apps section. You will just begin to scratch the surface of what is exactly available to you.

In order to discuss these topics on TiPb forums you must be registered, which you can do right here, and it will only take a minute of your time.

See you on the forums!

The inimitable iJustine has tastily blog snacked about an App Store goodie named frostyplace (iTunes / $0.99), a Japanese RSS reader that by-the-way works around the iPhone's limitation of only allowing Emoji (the massive emoticon collection used in Japan that adds to smiley face things like panda bear, train station, and mountain) on it's official Japanese carrier.

Basically, you download and install the app, use it to browse some Japanese RSS feeds (i had to do it for a couple minutes, exiting and re-doing it 3 times), and then the Emoji option will miraculously appear in your settings and you're golden.

Check out her site for the details and instructions, but I tried it and it worked for me. Let us know how you do!

Ok, I will admit I have never heard of Emoji (“Picture Characters”) until it was announced that iPhone firmware 2.2 would support them. As it turns out, however, the only iPhones that were blessed with this feature were on Japan's SoftBank network. Until now that is...

Important Note: If you are not familiar with editing code we here at TiPb do not recommended that you try this.

No matter what carrier you are with, you can now apply a hack that was found on Gizmodo that will enable Emoji emoticons. Keep in mind any iPhone will be able to display the icons hacked or not, while "other" phones out there need to support Emoji in order to display them.

You need to edit the file /User/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Preferences.plist on the device -> whether you use a jailbreak to achieve this or merely some iTunes backup editor is up to you. Add the following boolean key as ‘true’: KeyboardEmojiEverywhere. Then merely go to the Keyboards section of the Settings app, hit Japanese, and turn on Emoji. Will work for any text field/view in the OS, including on websites, AND including the titles of items on SpringBoard (e.g. if you save a bookmark to the home screen).

The easiest way to do this would be to Jailbreak and run your iPhone as a SFTP server for editing the config file. Again TiPb does not recommend you try this if you are not familiar with editing code.

[Via Gizmodo]

While most of us have installed the 2.0.1 update (or, ahem, are still waiting for a backup we started last night to finish so we can install it), there's a key group of folks that should stay away: Jailbreakers and unlockers. As is always the case when a new update comes out, our advice to these users is to wait and see how the iPhone hacking community responds. Right now, according to iphone-dev [via Engadget Mobile], they appear to be responding with a teensy bit of bravado:

We don’t see any major problems with the release that Apple made, but we have not released an update for PwnageTool for it as yet and therefore PwnageTool 2.0.1 will currently not work!

Their advice is pretty sound and mirrors ours: if you never intend on leaving your carrier, feel free to update away whenever if you don't mind losing jailbroken apps. If you do (or already have), stay the heck away from updates until things clear up.

What about you? Are you law-abiding and currently enjoying a bug-free existence? Jailbreaker glancing longingly at 2.0.1's reportedly better keyboard response? Unlocker living on the periphery of the cell phone 'Verse, staring into the black and in danger of becoming a Reaver? Let us know!

So a new employment opportunity popped up at Apple's job listings the other day and Apple is looking for an experienced iPhone Security Engineer to create "proof of concept" attacks on current security mechanisms and provide risk analysis of potential security threats. Basically, Apple needs an iPhone Hacker to prevent future jailbreaks, unlocks, and security breaches.

So if any of you are good at what you do and want to work for the "good guys", go give it a try. Apple is trying to ramp up security to protect enterprises who are adopting iPhone 2.0 and more selfishly, protect their own App Store from competition ahem Cydia & Installer. Either way, Apple is getting serious about security and the iPhone.

What do you think?

ReadVia

We haven't covered the latest in the hacking front here at Phone different for a few reasons:

1. Dieter was busy this week
2. Rene dare not fiddle with his unlocked iPhone let it get bricked and he not be able to use it up there in Canadaland
3. Chad, Brian, and Casey are not madmen, they like their iPhones just they way they are, thank you very much.

Anyhow, here's the deal. If you're on a Mac, you can now go download the iPhone Pwnage Tool¹. What does it do? Well, it's a full-on way to load any firmware (i.e. version of the iPhone OS) you want, including versions not even made by Apple (should some such version arise). Supposedly this will be remarkably difficult for Apple to lock down in the future. Naturally, the firmware we all are interested in is the current Beta of the 2.0 firmware. I'll be making this my weekend project, so stay tuned to see if I have a new 2.0 Hands-On or a new Paperweight Hands-On.

Engadget brings us this video (embedded below) of the action as well:

¹ That's pronounced "Ownage," if you're wondering, as in "Hey n00b, I'm totally like, gonna like, pwn joo n00b."

Two fun little hacks for your iPhone this morning. The first comes from Nate True (aka iPhone genius), it's a neat little way to get speed dial icons on your Home Screen. The trick? 1.1.3 allows you to add web shortcuts to the home screen and Safari allows web pages to initiate calls (with your permisison). Two great tastes that taste great together. True tells you how:

So the new iPhone 1.1.3 firmware allows you to put icons on your home screen for websites, but I know many of us want to put phone numbers on there for a Speed Dial screen.

I've put a little hack together that lets you have a (somewhat) speedy speed dial icon. There's no jailbreaking required for this one - it can all be done using Apple-approved Web Clip creation. -

The next dialing hack is for those of you with jailbroken iPhones. This is actually one of the better apps I've seen for this gray market - real Voice Dialing on your iPhone. It's done up by Makayama and it's $27.95. You'll need to add them as a source yourself:

To get a free tryout, start Installer on your iPhone, press Sources, then Edit, then Add. Next, type http://tinyurl.com/2t8cax

...It might seem a little crazy to be paying for an iPhone app when the SDK is just around the corner, though. Nate True himself makes it clear that 1.1.3 takes more steps toward safely-installed apps by reducing the number of programs that run as "root." But if you're jonesing for voice dial and have money to burn, you have that option now.

One of the biggest gripes about the iPhone is that its speaker isn't nearly loud enough for many people. This problem was exacerbated early on because the iPhone's alerts were originally too quiet to begin with. Apple themselves have fixed this problem by allowing you to change, say, the SMS alert volume. There's also rumblings that Apple has quietly introduced louder speaker on iPhones manufactured more recently.

But if you're one of those crazy early adopters, not only are you stuck with less money in your pocket (because of that unprecedented price drop), you're also stuck with a quiet iPhone in your pocket as well. What to do? well, according to skorpiond at modmyifone,

I grabbed a needle and sticked it into every single tiny hold on the bottom left corner of the iPhone. I think it was dirty in there or something because now this *** is EXACTLY how I wanted it since day one... LOUD!!! I really hope I didn't mess up the speaker though.*

...So basically you engage in some warranty-voiding dangerfun with your iPhone -- presumably popping the protective cover over the speaker. Anybody brave enough to try this? We at Phone different already absolutely destroyed our first iPhone in the Video takeapart, so we're a little gunshy about voiding more warranties.

via engadget mobile

Well, in iTunes 7.5, free ringtones are back. It turns out that you can do the old trick of renaming an AAC music file to turn it into a ringtone. To get it to work, take any 30 second m4a file in finder, rename the extension to be m4r, and drag it in to iTunes. Voila!

For the iPhone, folks figured out how to downgrade the iPhone firmware to the older 1.1.1 firmware to get all the fun goodies if you decide that 1.1.2 isn't all that great, or you miss the ease of the jailbreakme.com installer.

It seems that the iPhone modem firmware has been unlocked as well, meaning that they've figured out how to unlock 1.1.2 iPhones once the jailbreak is easy enough. A simpler GUI app will probably show up in the next few days.

Hackers have figured out how to re-flash the radio in 1.1.2 so it is now safe to unlock the iPhone, as you can "revirginize" the iPhone after unlocking it to avoid any bricking with the next update.

The 1.1.2 iPhone software has already been jailbroken. The software isn't quite out of beta yet, it works only with Intel machines, and you'll have to read a readme.txt file to figure it out, but it's available for download if you need it. If you want to jailbreak 1.1.2, you'll have to do most of the work from 1.1.1, so keep that downgrade link handy.

And for the last little tidbits, if you have an iPhone with 1.1.2 firmware connected to iTunes 7.5, it gives you the battery status in a little icon next to the eject button in iTunes. And, if you put your computer with iTunes 7.5 to sleep, it will still charge the iPhone. Oh, and you can sync entire events from iPhoto '07 to the iPhone instead of just photo albums.

This guy Core of wickedpsyched.net coded a version of AFP, the Apple Filesharing Protocol, for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This means that you could enable filesharing on your iPhone and copy some files over directly from your desktop over wi-fi. If you ask me, this is better than disk mode, where you can plug in your iPhone and it shows up as a removable disk. It apparently doesn't show up in Installer.app yet, but give it a few days and I'm sure it will be there.

There's also great news if you're more of a windows person. Say you just prefer the Samba/SMB/Windows Filesharing so you can share with windows and mac, well he's got you covered there too.

There's now an instant method to get third party apps on your iPhone (firmware 1.1.1 only). The same methond works on iPod Touch. I have to say, this is by far the easiest method of hacking the iPhone that I've ever seen. This method, which relies on the iPhone TIFF vulnerability, is also incredibly simple to use; much more so than the previous AppTapp installer method for iPhone 1.0. Since it relies on a buffer overflow, I expect this method to stop working as soon as Firmware 1.1.2 is released, which could be any day now.

All you have to do is point your iPhone browser at jailbreakme.com, confirm the wish to jailbreak, read some stuff, scroll down, select 'Install AppSnapp', wait for Safari to quit, and wait. Your iPhone or iPod Touch should restart automatically, and when it's all done, you'll have Installer.app ready and willing for you to install 3rd party apps!

This method of installing 3rd party apps doesn't require any computer software, you just have to go to the website on your iPhone browser and follow the instructions. Again, the site makes efficacious use of the TIFF exploit that's been talked about before, so if using a security vulnerability to install software freaks you out, don't go to the site I've posted after the cut.

Conversely, f you think that using a buffer overflow to install software is awesome, 31337, or k-rad, there's a link for you and your iPhone after the break.

Here is the site: jailbreakme.com.

If you've been hacking your iPhone to get 3rd party apps with firmware 1.1.1, there's now a big reward. Installer.app has been updated, and some long-needed changes have been made. First, instead of browsing the entire collection in one huge list, you now select a category, and then browse a smaller list. Under the previous system, as the list of 3rd party apps got longer and longer, the interface for finding and installing a program became more cumbersome. With the new system, the category splitting should make finding and installing apps a lot simpler to use. Also, it should do a great job of hiding dictionaries, theme packs, etc. into their own subcategories. If you've hacked your iPhone, this should appear as an update.

If you haven't hacked your 1.1.1 iPhone, there's still no easy way to do it on a mac. There are, however, rumors of an AppTapp-type installer to make everything nice and simple coming very shortly. If you're using windows, there's a program called iDemocracy that promises to make everything fairly simple.

Erica Sadun, iPhone hacker extraordinaire and writer at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, has documented the entire set of Cocoa function calls required to program for the iPhone. These header files are used for programmers to properly create user interfaces, network code, and, well, pretty much everything. And the documentation effort is a massive job, usually not something to be done by just one person. I know that this site can get kind of wonky here and there, so I'll do my best to explain why this is important, but for everybody.

All of the applications available from Installer.app have been written without any formal set of documentation. So, there may be some bugs, since there's no single place to go for programming information. Usually, Apple would provide the documentation for programming on the iPhone. But, as they've recently announced, they're not going to be doing that until February. So, now anyone that is planning or writing a native Cocoa app for the iPhone or iPod touch now has the means to research how to do it.

That includes both the folks that are hacking iPhones to install and write 3rd party apps, and any larger software companies that want to get a leg up on their software development. With this set of header files, it should be perfectly possible for any large development group to prototype their program well in advance of the official Apple release.

Of course, these header files may yet change. There's no guarantee that Apple's set of documentation will stay the same; Apple will definitely be adding to this, and they may not allow some of the function calls documented by Sadun to be accessible for other programmers. No one can tell. But, it's a huge step for programming native applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch

There's an easy new program you can use to jailbreak the iPod Touch, called iJailBreak. You can download the installer (which now includes both PowerPC and Intel mac support) at code.google.com. Sorry, no Windows love yet. iJailbreak makes "heavy use" of the iPod Touch / iPhone TIFF vulnerability, and its use requires that you only restart your iPod Touch. Simple enough, right? Way simpler than this, anyway. iJailbreak is programmed by a 13-year-old, and judging from the broken tabs at the top right of their website, they have an unbricker application planned.

AnySIM, the free software unlock by the iPhone Dev Wiki crowd, now works with iPhones that are running firmware version 1.1.1. The first version of AnySIM, released for 1.0 versions of the iPhone firmware, didn't unlock the iPhone correctly. So, when folks that unlocked their iPhones with AnySIM updated to 1.1.1, it bricked their iPhones. This version of AnySIM doesn't fix that issue. They claim that this version won't cause the same problems as the earlier versions, but it might be a good idea to hold off on unlocking with AnySIM for a while anyway, caveat emptor. You have been warned. Speaking personally, I went crawling back to iPhoneSimFree to fix the broken AnySIM unlock. But, if all of those warnings are of no use to you, you can get the new version of Anysim here.

First, iNdependence has been updated to perform the jailbreak for iPhones running firmware 1.1.1. So if you've got a Mac around, there's now a GUI tool to run your iPhone through the hoops to get it jailbroken. I'll post up a tool for Windows as soon as I see one, but for now it seems Windows users are stuck with the tough method; iBrickr hasn't been updated yet but remains the best hope for you.

Second, if you've got an iPod Touch, there's an automatic jailbreak tool that's available from iPod Touch Hacks that will do it all for you on both mac and windows. Both use the recent TIFF vulnerability.

Just a small update - if you want to downgrade your iPhone from 1.1.1 back to 1.0.2, iBrickr will guide you through it. No button holding either, it's easy!

There hasn't been a lot of noteworthy progress on opening up 1.1.1 like there was on version 1.0 of the firmware, and that's to be expected. However, there were some valiant pushes forward last week, by prominent iPhone hacker Erica Sadun who mapped out the filesystem of the 1.1.1 update. This is notable as it pre-empts the requirement to decrypt the filesystem before inspecting files and whatnot.

The other notable incidence is a TIFF image buffer overflow, which essentially means that interesting things could be launched on an iPhone by viewing a malformed image in Safari. It's within the realm of possibility that a custom-crafted TIFF picture could, for example, install a running copy of ssh on an iPhone. Or download and install a ringtone. Or any other payload a creative hacker could stuff in there, really. It's altogether possible that the next wave of users hacking their iPhone's software could be through browsing to a web page and viewing large malformed TIFF files in a particular order.

My guess is that it's safe to say that it will still probably be at least a week or two before it's possible for your average user to hack the new firmware; there's no guarantee that either method will bear fruit. The malformed TIFF will likely require a less-straightforward heap overflow, as the stack on the iPhone is set to no-execute. To rephrase that last sentence in English, it will probably take the hackers a while to get the corrupt TIFF image with code inside to do exactly what they want it to do.

1. pair your Bluetooth, if you haven't done so already
2. open Visual voicemail
3. select 'Audio' at top right. If it doesn't say 'Audio,' reconsider step 1.
4. It will bring up a dialogue box to choose sound output. Select your Bluetooth headset
5. Presto! Enjoy your audio through both the speaker and your Bluetooth headset.

figure 1: the "Grand Theft Auto" font is a nice, subtle touch

There's a story floating around about the iPhone being added to metasploit, which is a system used for making shellcode. Shellcode is code that takes advantage of bugs to run otherwise unauthorized code. Incidentally, the more stories I read about it, the more they all seem strangely familiar.

So what is the eventual impact? Well, it means that the iPhone is going to get hacked, likely by some of the best. If there are crippling bugs in the iPhone (and there are always crippling bugs), expect hackers to find them eventually. It could also lead to better unlocks (the official unlock, even), more secure software, and security software suites (unofficial, of course) for the iPhone. Granted, the other edge of the sword brings identity theft and spying, but like Nietzsche said, you can't have good without bad. If you think Nietzsche was godless swine, pretend the quote comes from The Facts of Life's opening song instead.

A UK voice-over-IP company by the name of Truphone has figured out how to use the iPhone's own software to make VOIP calls. The entire thing was witnessed by Oliver Starr:

Currently requires the use of terminal on the iPhone to tell the iPhone to use its on-board SIP stack to place the call over WiFi instead of via the SIM card. To use the terminal application, in turn requires that you first Jailbreak the phone using an application like iBrickr or iFuntastic. This is not an application for the inexperienced or the faint of heart.Instantitating the SIP Stack for TruPhone.

In other words, it's not ready to use yet. Though I can think of a worse fate for usability than dialing calls through the command line, I won't. There's no need for it anyway, as they reportedly have a GUI application in the works. They'll be beta-testing their software in perhaps a month.

The iPhone Dev Team, the same folks that have set the stage for 3rd party applications and more recently, the free iPhone unlock methods, released a statement via Erica Sadun of TUAW about Apple's positioning on the iPhone unlock and the possible bricking of iPhones. Their statement is to wait to install the patch if you've unlocked your iPhone; if you really need the update, they have a tool in the works that will restore your iPhone to its factory condition. The 'restore-to-factory-condition' tool would be useful for anyone that wanted to sell their iPhone and be assured that there's no personal information on the iPhone. The text of their statement is reproduced below:

9/25 Statement from the iPhone unlockers

Based on download numbers, the iPhone Dev Team believes that, worldwide, several hundred thousand people have unlocked their iPhones. That number continues growing every day. The removal of the lock, a bug, was a major step forward in the iPhone development. It made the iPhone free and useful to anyone, not only to those in certain countries.

Apple now announces that the next firmware update, expected later this week, will possibly break the handset of all of us free users in the World. It speaks of "damage" done to the firmware and "unauthorized access" to our own property, The removal of those firmware problems, which were built in in favor for AT&T, does not cause "damage" as they want to make us believe.

We will provide you with a tool in the next week which will be able to recover your nck counter and seczones and even enables you to restore your phone to a Factory-like state.

In the meantime we advise you not to update your free iPhone with the upcoming firmware. Wait for the next version to be fixed to work properly with your carrier and not break your phone.

figure 1: dirty hippie 3rd-party-developing AppTapp Installer.app-installing AnySIM-unlockers Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak

Though Jobs' Apple Support crew would void your warranty for installing them, Steve went as far to say that some of the 3rd party apps were being looked at very closely by Apple:

"Meanwhile, Jobs acknowledged that third-party developers have started to produce several intriguing, yet unofficial iPhone applications. He said Apple is looking at some of them closely, especially those that don't require a connection to the Internet. It's likely that those applications would be the first of any to receive an official endorsement from Apple, according to Jobs' comments, as those that require Internet access could threaten the 'high standard' of experience customers have come to expect with the iPhone."

If you hate the Marker Felt font in the iPhone and are willing to go the extra mile to remove it, then John Gruber is your man. Just so we're clear, this does void your warranty. But it goes without saying that if you really hate marker felt, you won't care.

A bit of friendly advice -- if you've unlocked your iPhone, you should be careful with the next firmware update -- don't apply it immediately. Check with news sites and forums to see if the update works fine with unlocks first. Apple released a press release that noted that the current methods of unlock can cause "irreparable damage to the iPhone's software." And as such, they're going to void the warranty of anyone that unlocks their phone, and they'll mark your phone as ineligible for warranty service. There are some reports of people that have been "blacklisted." There's a full rundown of this story after the cut.

Phil Schiller went on the record today, saying that some of the software unlocks can cause damage to the iPhone software. Quoth Schiller, #2 Executive at Apple, in an interview with the New York Times:

"This has nothing to do with proactively disabling a phone that is unlocked or hacked. It's unfortunate that some of these programs have caused damage to the iPhone software, but Apple cannot be responsible for ... those consequences"

Apple's own press release warns of doom and gloom as well, noting that updates could render an unlocked phone "permanently inoperable." Their press release is small, so here it is in all of its glory.

Monday September 24, 4:40 pm ET

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty.

And it goes without saying that anyone that has applied 3rd party tools (including Installer.app and unlocking tools) will have rendered their warranty null and void. Thankfully, avoiding this issue shouldn't be difficult. If all you've done is 3rd party tools, all you need to do for Apple to not find about your dirty little hacking habit is to restore your Phone.

And, as John McLaughlin of UniquePhones.com notes, reversing the unlock is not out of the realm of possibility; indeed, it's fairly simple.

"We have reviewed the source code of a number of these applications and to the best of our knowledge any changes made to the software can easily be reversed. After unlocking the iPhone, minimal effort is required to get it in to its previously locked state."

As noted in this article by Ars Technica, your iPhone could be bricked by an update. Why would you have to worry about that? Well, it turns out that there are two firmwares for your iPhone.

The first firmware is for the computer side of the iPhone. This part is for the computer portion of your iPhone; it's responsible for putting pictures on the screen, running Safari, or Mail, or the iPod, and a bunch of other stuff. Apple has said that they encourage 3rd party development on this firmware. They're happy to have apps here, and they don't have any intention to destroy this happy ecosystem. They acknowledged that they might break it in the future, but it would be out of necessity instead of malice.

The other firmware is for the modem or radio chip. This radio firmware is responsible for doing the heavy lifting on the phone side; it does stuff like contacting cell towers, determining which cell tower gives the best reception, keeping your iPhone connected to the EDGE network, and the like. This firmware is also responsible for determining if the iPhone has been unlocked or not. Apple's comments with regards to folks playing with this firmware are chilling:

"This is constant cat-and-mouse game. We try to stay ahead. People will try to break in, and it’s our job to stop them breaking in."

Jobs' quote indicates to me that Apple is either protecting the revenue stream they get from AT&T subscribers, or that they have a contractual obligation with AT&T to keep the iPhone locked (or both). While we have a legal right to unlock our phones, there's no law that says Apple can't re-lock phones with an update. Still, re-locking a phone that someone has unlocked within their legal rights could bring down the wrath of regulators.

It's true that one way to stop folks from mucking around with their radio firmware is to brick their phone. That would be very heavy-handed (ham-fisted, even); it probably befits Apple much more to simply re-upload locked firmware on unlocked iPhones, or to just let unlocked iPhones slide for the current update, but the method of their response may depend on their contractual obligations with other parties, like AT&T.

Here is our guide for using AppTapp Installer.app. Yesterday, we covered how to install it (Mac / Windows); today, we'll cover how to use it.

If you'd prefer to skip the explanation of what Installer.app is and just start using it, just click here.

Meet Installer.app

Unless Apple owns up to the fact that for many smartphone purposes web apps won't cut it, Installer.app is the main method that you'll be using to install 3rd party applications on your iPhone. Native apps have significant advantages to other programming platforms like favelets, data URL bookmarks, and web apps. Native apps can produce sound, superior graphics, are usable in flight mode (sometimes referred to here as boonies mode), and best yet, the best native applications are free. But first, what exactly is Installer.app?

What does Installer.app do?

Installer.app is a program manager. It keeps track of what third party programs you've installed on an iPhone, what programs are available for the iPhone, and can notify you if you need to update programs. You can also remove programs if you no longer use them, or if you just need to free up space. Many of the programs in Installer.app have web pages to explain the program's function, and sometimes you can tell what those functions are just by looking at them or reading their short description.

In terms of keeping applications up to date, it's a lot like 'Software Update' on a Macintosh. For PC users, it's a lot like Windows Update service. The big way that Installer.app is different from Software Update or Windows Update is that Installer.app works for all of your installed applications.

Is it safe to use?

For having no support from Apple, Installer.app is quite a robust application. I've never had any issues with bricking any iPhones, and I've installed Installer.app many times. Application development has been quite fast on it, and Installer.app has been brought to a level of polish that some applications (*cough* iFuntastic *cough*) might never see. The user interface is simple, straightforward, easy to understand, and easy to use. It's worth noting that Installer.app is also built on open source, which means that it would be very hard for someone to hide something malicious inside the software. With so many eyes looking at how Installer.app is built, you can be very confident that the software that makes up Installer.app is robust and safe to use.

As always, you'll probably want to make backups before you install the application, in the rare event that anything does go wrong. The actual installation process is very easy. We have easy installation instructions available for both Macintoshes and Windows computers.

Using Installer.app

First, notice the four tabs across the top: Install, Update, Uninstall, and Sources.

• Install: If you click on the Install tab, you can flick the screen vertically. This page lists all of the applications that are available to install.
• Update: This section becomes useful once you've already installed something. From here, you can update programs that you've installed if new versions come out.
• Uninstall: From here, you can uninstall most of the programs. It's worth noting that some applications can't be uninstalled.
• Sources: Installer.app has a notion of sources -- the folks working with Nullriver maintain their fair share of applications, but they don't maintain all of the applications. There are a few other software-handy people that maintain lots of programs, and if you want access to their programs, simply install the 'Community Sources' package from the 'Install' tab. If you later decide that you don't want to use one of the community sources, you can remove it via the 'Sources' tab.

Now, at the bottom of the page, there are two buttons as well as a 'space remaining' section:

• About: This tells you the version of software that you're using, and who the copyright for the program belongs to. As of this writing, it is version 2.63 and copyright Nullriver software, though both of those could change without notice.
• Refresh: The 'Refresh' button will make Installer.app check the internet to see if there are new versions of software programs out there.

In the middle section, Installer.app shows you how much space is left on your iPhone for Programs. The iPhone reserves a certain amount of disk space for the operating system and the like; Installer.app installs most of its content in this disk space. If your iPhone is giving you trouble, it might be worth it to verify that there is still space remaining on the iPhone.

Various Program Categories

Here is a list of all the sections, and the programs that are bundled as of this writing (10 September 2007). Your application database will include many other sections and applications that are available if 'Community Sources' has been installed, but here's what Installer.app comes with out-of-the-box:

• Community

  • Community Sources
    Community Sources gives you access to many more applications. I would recommend that everyone install this.

• Games

  • iPhoneDoom
    That's right, this is Doom from id. This program is unfortunately not really useful yet, you'll want to wait for a while, perhaps a long while, before this game is able to run effectively.
  • iPong
    Pong is one of the earliest video games made. It's basically 2D table tennis from the top with no spin and barriers on the side. Needless to say, it's a very simple game.

• Network

  • OpenLLDP
    OpenLLDP is Link Layer Discovery Protocol, useful for finding network gear. It is only of use to someone that has a lot of computer network experience.

• Productivity

  • IPHCalc
    IPHCalc is a replacement for the iPhone's native calculator.
  • Sketches
    Sketches is a place to jot things down, or just doodle. You can erase sketches just like an etch-a-sketch, by shaking the iPhone.

• Ringtones

  • Nullriver Ringtone Pack
    This package installs more ringtones to your iPhone. It includes several techno beats.

• System

  • BSD Subsystem
    The BSD subsystem is a requirement for many packages. Some hacker web pages also call it the bin kit, or binkit. It has many programs that you need to use the iPhone with a command-line interface.
  • Launcher
    The Installer.app icon takes up one of the four slots available on the iPhone. When the iTunes Wi-Fi Music store becomes available, that will take up another of the 3 remaining slots. You can use a program like Launcher to install more applications than will fit into those two slots.
  • MobileTerminal
    MobileTerminal provides a command-line interface to the iPhone.
  • SummerBoard
    SummerBoard, like Launcher, provides a way to install more than 3 applications, and allows scrolling on the main screen. You can also use it to manage wallpapers.

• Wallpaper

  • OS X Wallpaper Pack
    Perhaps unsurprisingly, this package installs a new set of wallpapers for your use.

Visual Walkthrough

Now, I'd like to guide you quickly through installing your first app. I'll start with Community Sources, since the rest of our guides will assume that you have it installed.

figure 1: Click the 'home screen' button to go to the home screen. Then, click on 'Installer.app'.


figure 2: Installer.app will update every time that you start the application; let it update itself. When it's done updating, your screen will probably look something like this. Feel free to scroll up and down the screen. If you select a package by mistake, you can click the 'Packages' button in the top left to go back to the main screen.


figure 3: Click on the 'Update' tab, which is 2nd from left along the very top. It should be blank. Once you have a lot of packages (or if Installer.app needs an update), it's worth your time to check in every once in a while to see if newer versions of your programs are available so you get new features and bug fixes.


figure 4: Since we don't have any of the community sources installed, we're missing out on the best apps. Click on the 'Sources' tab, on the far top-right. Your screen should look something like this, showing 'Nullriver' as the only source.


figure 5: Go back to the 'Install' tab in the top left. Community Sources should be the very first application package listed. If it's not, scroll up. Click on 'Community Sources' and then click 'install' in the top right.


figure 6: Installer.app will prompt you, to see if you really want to install the application. Click 'Yes'.


figure 7: Once it's done installing (it shouldn't take long at all, perhaps a few seconds), it will show you this screen. Click 'OK' to dismiss it. That's essentially all it takes to install a package.


figure 8: Once you have a few programs installed, you might find that uninstallation uses the exact same concepts as installation. If you know how to install a package with installer.app, you know how to uninstall.


figure 9: If you ever decide that you don't trust one of the community sources, you can remove them on the 'Sources' tab in the top right. Of course, you can always just look around and see who is providing all of these packages.

Ever since the iPhone was announced, people have been clamoring to write native applications for it. Sadly, Apple has not yet released the tools necessary to develop those apps. However, if you've been following the iPhone news you realize that the iPhone has been "hacked." What does this mean to you, the nonhacker? Well it means that thanks to the mighty efforts of many dedicated people, you can install applications directly onto your iPhone. The best part, it's easy. Read on for our full How-To on how to hack your iPhone so you can install applications.

Step One: Update and Backup

First up: update iTunes. Just open up iTunes, go to the 'Help' menu, and select 'Update iTunes'. You can also click on 'Apple Software Update' from the 'All Programs' section of your Start Menu. If iTunes informs you that it needs to reboot, do it. As of this writing, you can use the simple hacking method described in this article with any recent version of iTunes. I write that because it's theoretically possible Apple will prevent it from working in the future. On the bright side, the fact that they haven't stopped it yet is a good sign. If this first step ever changes, we will update this article to let you know.

Updating iTunes: Open up iTunes, select the 'Help' menu, then click on 'Check for Updates'. OR...

Click your Start menu, select 'All Programs', and click on 'Apple Software Update'. Either one should be fine.

What you're about to embark on isn't supported by Apple, but nevertheless it's been proven safe and easy by thousands of users. Still, it's always a good idea to do a backup before you do anything major with any computing device, including your iPhone. Backing up your iPhone is simple - just sync it to iTunes. Done.

(If you want to be extra-careful, it may be worthwhile to create a System Restore point before you proceed, so you don't mess up any of your mail, contacts, or bookmarks.)

Step Two: Download AppTappInstaller

Head on over to http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/, where you'll find the download for the Windows version of AppTappInstaller. Click the download link in the big orange box (and feel free to ignore the copious amounts of technical jargon on that page). They do have a direct download link for the Windows version, it's available at http://www.nullriver.com/~adam/AppTappInstaller.exe

...Believe it or not, you're halfway done!

Step Three: Hack Your iPhone!

Now open up AppTappInstaller.exe - you can put it in your start menu if you like, but I just ran it directly from my Desktop. It almost makes more sense to do it that way, because:

1. You probably won't have to go through this process again anytime soon
2. If you do ever need to redo it, you'll want to download the latest version of the installer anyway.

So now we're greeted with the opening window, which has a warning in RED, so you should read it:

You already updated iTunes in step one, so the only thing you need to do here is quit iTunes. If you haven't done so already, place your iPhone in the dock, let it sync, and then quit iTunes. Some parts of iTunes still run even if you quit, so you should also hold down the CONTROL, ALT, and DELETE keys to bring up Windows' Task Manager. Highlight 'iTunes Helper App' and then click 'End Task'. Now, go back to AppTappInstaller.exe, and click 'Continue'. Next up is a screen asking you to pick your Firmware version:

You almost surely have the 1.0.2 (as of this writing) version of the firmware. But as the window says, you should double-check. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you don't have version 1.0.2 installed, I'd actually recommend you install it. (To do so, go into iTunes, click your iPhone, click the "Summary" tab, and then click the "Check for Update" button.)

Double check that iTunes isn't open and then select 'Firmware 1.0.2'. Click 'Continue'. What happens now is that AppTapp is going to grab the firmware, then it will "hack it" behind the scenes, and finally install the "hacked firmware" onto your iPhone. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

During this process, do not disconnect your iPhone. Moreover, you'll see the yellow "Please connect to iTunes" icon a couple of times - do not fret and do not open iTunes. Just let the installer do its thing.

When it's all said and done your iPhone will be identical to what it was before with one important difference, you now have an icon on your home screen called "Installer." Congratulations, you've hacked your iPhone!

In the unlikely event something went wrong, see the appendix below on resetting your iPhone.

Step Four: Getting started with Installer.app

We'll start with two points before we jump into Installer.app. The first point is that Installer.app is sweet. I've been using smartphones for many years now, and this application put together by Null River is the best experience I've ever had installing applications. The second point is that we will have a full run-down on Installer.app tomorrow, stay tuned.

Until then, here's some information to tide you over.

Every time you open Installer.app, it will want to get online to check to see if there have been any updates to your installed programs and to download the latest list of programs. So don't fret if it pauses for a moment. You will really want to be on WiFi when using this app, too, although it's not the end of the world if you're using it on EDGE.

Your first step should be to tap on the "Install" tab on the top and then install "Community Sources." This will make Installer.app check a few different places for applications, giving you a wider selection to choose from. Simply tap the "Install" button in the upper-right.

Your second step: install some apps! I'd recommend starting with some games and perhaps ApolloIM or MobileChat for Instant Messaging.

Here's the thing, as soon as you install your 4th app, you'll find that they have scrolled off your main screen. Bummer. There are several applications that fix that issue, but my favorite by far is an application called "SummerBoard" (Under System). Summerboard makes your home screen (aka your "SpringBoard") scrollable like any other iPhone screen. Note that you'll have to reset your iPhone after you install this app. The best way to do that? That would be number 2 in the appendix below.

Welcome to the World of Native Applications!

Officially sanctioned by Apple or not, the native applications for the iPhone are really great and getting better every day. So far Apple has released several updates to both the iPhone and to iTunes without breaking any of the functionality of these native applications, so it's reasonable to expect that they'll continue to work for the foreseeable future.

Appendix: Resetting your iPhone

Like most smartphones, the iPhone has a few curious button combinations you will want to have in your bag of tricks in case anything ever goes wrong. Here they are in escalating order - which is to say you should try #1 before #2, #2 before #3, and so on.

1. Force-quit an application. You know you can hit the home button to return to your home screen, but your home button has another function. Hold it down when you're in a frozen application to force-quit that application. This is especially useful in Safari and Mail (the buggiest of the iPhones apps in my experience). Just keep holding it until you're back at the home screen.
2. Turn off your iPhone. This is the easiest way to reset the iPhone (and the safest). Just hold down the sleep/wake button until a red slider appears on your screen. Slide your finger across it and your iPhone will shut down. Hold the sleep/wake button down again to turn it back on.
3. Reset your iPhone. If holding down the sleep/wake button doesn't work, you can also try to just force a reset of your iPhone. To do that, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button until the apple logo appears. That's your iPhone booting up.
4. Reset your Settings. If your iPhone is still acting buggy, there's still one last step you can try before resorting to a full restore. Head on into your iPhone's Settings, choose General, then choose Reset. Inside you'll find a few reset options. Start with "Reset All Settings," which will do what it says but not actually delete anything. "Reset All Content and Settings" will delete all of your data (but not the Installer.app!), so you'll have to resync it over if you use that option.
5. Restore Mode. It's very rare, but sometimes you'll just need to start from scratch. Note that you're going to want to have your computer on hand when you do this option, as you will not only lose all of your data right away, but you will also be unable to use your iPhone at all until you've connected it to your computer. To do it, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button for a long time - around 30 seconds or so. Eventually a yellow triangle will pop up commanding you to connect the iPhone to iTunes. Do that and then you'll need to do a full restore. Note that this option absolutely wipes everything from your iPhone: contacts, data, and applications, and returns it to a "factory state."

figure 1: for Macs

Ever since the iPhone was announced, people have been clamoring to write native applications for it. Sadly, Apple has not yet released the tools necessary to develop those apps. However, if you've been following the iPhone news you realize that the iPhone has been "hacked." What does this mean to you, the nonhacker? Well it means that thanks to the mighty efforts of many dedicated people, you can install applications directly onto your iPhone. The best part, it's easy. Read on for our full How To on how to hack your iPhone so you can install applications.

Step One: Update and Backup

First up: update iTunes. Just open your System Preferences and then Software Update to do it. As of this writing, you can use the simple hacking method described in this article with any recent version of iTunes. I write that because it's theoretically possible Apple will prevent it from working in the future. On the bright side, the fact that they haven't stopped it yet is a good sign. If this first step ever changes, we will update this article to let you know.

What you're about to embark on isn't supported by Apple, but nevertheless it's been proven safe and easy by thousands of users. Still, it's always a good idea to do a backup before you do anything major with any computing device, including your iPhone. Backing up your iPhone is simple - just sync it to iTunes. Done.

(If you want to be extra-careful, you can even back up your Address Book and iCal files, but that's a separate issue. In both of those applications, there are backup options under the "File" menu.)

Step Two: Download AppTappInstaller

Head on over to http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/, where you'll find the download for the AppTappInstaller. Click the download link in the big orange box (and feel free to ignore the copious amounts of technical jargon on that page). That will give you a file called AppTappInstaller.zip in your downloads folder. Open that up to get yourself the real file we're looking for here: AppTappInstaller.app:

..Believe it or not, you're halfway done!

Step Three: Hack Your iPhone!

Now open up AppTappInstaller.app - you can copy it to your /Applications directory if you like, but I just ran it directly from my Desktop. It almost makes more sense to do it that way, because:

1. You probably won't have to go through this process again anytime soon
2. If you do ever need to redo it, you'll want to download the latest version of the installer anyway.

So now we're greeted with the opening window, which has a warning in RED, so you should read it:

You already updated iTunes in step one, so the only thing you need to do here is quit iTunes. If you haven't done so already, place you iPhone in the dock, let it sync, and then quit iTunes. Next up is a screen asking you to pick your Firmware version:

You almost surely have the 1.0.2 (as of this writing) version of the firmware. But as the window says, you should double-check. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> General -> About -> Version. If you don't have version 1.0.2 installed, I'd actually recommend you install it. (To do so, go into iTunes, click your iPhone, click the "Summary" tab, and then click the "Check for Update" button.)

Double check that iTunes isn't open and then to select Firmware 1.0.2. Click Continue. What happens now is that AppTapp is going to grab the firmware, then it will "hack it" behind the scenes, and finally install the "hacked firmware" onto your iPhone. The whole process should take no more than 5 minutes.

During this process, do not disconnect your iPhone. Moreover, you'll see the yellow "Please connect to iTunes" icon a couple of times - do not fret and do not open iTunes. Just let the installer do its thing.

When it's all said and done your iPhone will be identical to what it was before with one important difference, you now have an icon on your home screen called "Installer." Congratulations, you've hacked your iPhone!

In the unlikely event something went wrong, see the appendix below on resetting your iPhone.

Step Four: Getting started with Installer.app

We'll start with two points before we jump into Installer.app. The first point is that Installer.app is sweet. I've been using smartphones for many years now, and this application put together by Null River is the best experience I've ever had installing applications. The second point is that we will have a full run-down on Installer.app tomorrow, stay tuned.

Until then, here's some information to tide you over.

Every time you open Installer.app it will want to get online to check to see if there have been any updates to your installed programs and to download the latest list of programs. So don't fret if it pauses for a moment. You will really want to be on WiFi when using this app, too, although it's not the end of the world using it on EDGE.

Your first step should be to tap on the "Install" tab on the top and then install "Community Sources." This will make Installer.app check a few different places for applications, giving you a wider selection to choose from. Simply tap the "Install" button in the upper-right.

Your second step: install some apps! I'd recommend starting with some games and perhaps ApolloIM for Instant Messaging.

Here's the thing, as soon as you install your 4th app, you'll find that they have scrolled off your main screen. Bummer. There are several applications that fix that issue, but my favorite by far is an application called "SummerBoard" (Under System). Summerboard makes your home screen (aka your "SpringBoard") scrollable like any other iPhone screen. Note that you'll have to reset your iPhone after you install this app. The best way to do that? That would be number 2 in the appendix below.

Welcome to the World of Native Applications!

Officially sanctioned by Apple or not, the native applications for the iPhone are really great and getting better every day. So far Apple has released several updates to both the iPhone and to iTunes without breaking any of the functionality of these native applications, so it's reasonable to expect that they'll continue to work for the foreseeable future.

Appendix: Resetting your iPhone

Like most smartphones, the iPhone has a few curious button combinations you will want to have in your bag of tricks in case anything ever goes wrong. Here they are in escalating order - which is to say you should try #1 before #2, #2 before #3, and so on.

1. Force-quit an application. You know you can hit the home button to return to your home screen, but your home button has another function. Hold it down when you're in a frozen application to force-quit that application. This is especially useful in Safari and Mail (the buggiest of the iPhones apps in my experience). Just keep holding it until you're back at the home screen.
2. Turn off your iPhone. This is the easiest way to reset the iPhone (and the safest). Just hold down the sleep/wake button until a red slider appears on your screen. Slide your finger across it and your iPhone will shut down. Hold the sleep/wake button down again to turn it back on.
3. Reset your iPhone. If holding down the sleep/wake button doesn't work, you can also try to just force a reset of your iPhone. To do that, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button until the apple logo appears. That's your iPhone booting up.
4. Reset your Settings. If your iPhone is still acting buggy, there's still one last step you can try before resorting to a full restore. Head on into your iPhone's Settings, choose General, then choose Reset. Inside you'll find a few reset options. Start with "Reset All Settings," which will do what it says but not actually delete anything. "Reset All Content and Settings" will delete all of your data (but not the Installer.app!), so you'll have to resync it over if you use that option.
5. Restore Mode. It's very rare, but sometimes you'll just need to start from scratch. Note that you're going to want to have your computer on hand when you do this option, as you will not only lose all of your data right away, but you will also be unable to use your iPhone at all until you've connected it to your computer. To do it, hold down both the sleep/wake button and the home button for a long time - around 30 seconds or so. Eventually a yellow triangle will pop up commanding you to connect the iPhone to iTunes. Do that and then you'll need to do a full restore. Note that this option absolutely wipes everything from your iPhone: contacts, data, and applications, and returns it to a "factory state."

figure 1: this is the soldering you'd need to do

The full ten steps to unlocking an iPhone have been posted at iPhoneJTAG by George Hotz, aka Geohot. It's a ten step process, beginning with step 1. It's not as difficult a process as I expected it to be, except the precise scratching and soldering process. You have to scratch away at one of those tiny wires on the iPhone, and solder other wires to it directly. I imagine that the folks at the iPhone dev wiki will still be hard at work on unlocking the iPhone via a software method; not everyone has got a steady soldering hand.

According to Ars Technica, an iPhone hacking group has claimed to unlock the phone with the aid of some sophisticated soldering. This, of course, goes well beyond the ken of the average user, but it should give hope to anyone that wants their iPhone unlocked: the hackers hope to have a software unlock within the week. Even if they don't, they'll post full instructions on how they did it in a week, so anyone that wants to go through the arduous microsoldering process can do so.

So in one week exactly from this blog post(thats less than the time it takes to ship a turbosim) we will release simple step by step instructions for unlocking, probably not even involving hardware. Sorry about the wait, but I assure you it will be worth it.

It seriously kills me. They unlock the iPhone, some damn fine hacking work, and then they apologize about the wait for it. No apology should be expected.

It looks like the 'Nintendo vs Apple' stories are heating up. There are a few more stories today about the "war" that will be going on between the two.

It goes without saying that the results of this "war" will be interesting. Because to even have this war, Apple will need actual games on the iPhone. Besides LighgtsOut, now the 3rd game to claim the honor of '1st game on the iPhone' (there's also iPhoneDoom and the NES emulator) which showed up in the hacked iPhone's Installer.app last night.

Gizmodo is reporting that the iPhone can be 100% unlocked with the use of a Turbo SIM card. This SIM card unlock doesn't use SIM card readers or any other fancy equipment, besides the $80 blank Turbo card that an unlocker would need to buy. The actual unlocking process seems to need information only from the iPhone. You'll need to have ssh or iPhoneInterface on your iPhone, in the very least, so you can modify some key iPhone files. After the process is done, any SIM card can be used in the iPhone, and apparently on any network. [image: Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo]

The hacking community continues to delight and amaze. Hacker stepwhite has ported the InfoNES core over to the iPhone. It's not ready for general consumption; the controls apparently suck (as quoted by stepwhite), and it runs too slow to be playable... yet. Other important emulator functions like saving states and cheating outright also not supported, but at the rate that the hacking developer community has been moving, we'll be playing Xbox 360 games on it by next week. The code is available at Google Code. [via]

Forum members of Hackint0sh have figured out how to unlock an iPhone using a SIM card reader/writer and a blank SIM card. The Phone has reportedly been tested in Europe. The equipment to do so apparently cost $96 US, and we can apparently expect a Gizmodo post later today once they verify that this method works.

In other unlocking news, other hackers have figured out how to dump the full content of NOR memory; this memory dump should ostensibly hold all the information an enterprising hacker would need to unlock the iPhone in software. You know, without $96.

And lastly, I just want to call attention to the neat Star Wars themed photoshops Jesus Diaz of Gizmodo has been posting.

It's like a real breaking news story. There's now an unofficial Terminal client for the iPhone. It's important to note that this Mobile Terminal is not a web app; it's a real GUI meat-on-the-bones fire-on-the-grill application. The project is hosted at Google code, which is interesting; it could mean an unofficial nod of approval from Apple, as the above gizmodo post details. The Terminal app will be an important development for further hacking at the iPhone, and it's incredible that it was done without any kind of official SDK from Apple. My hat is off to you, good sirs and ma'ams.

In terms of getting to a place where they can unlock an iPhone and host applications, this is a big step; it means that hackers can interface directly with the iPhone instead of having to reload firmwares, reset the iPhone, test, etc: they can test changes on the fly now. A video is after the break, and you can visit the MobileTerminal.app page directly.

There's some posts at hackint0sh that indicate the iPhone might have a hardware unlock code, and some entries at iPhone JTAG that might corroborate that. Might, you have to take this with a big grain of salt. A BIG grain; iPhoneDevWiki lists nothing new. Except for their new jailbreak app. Oooh, new jailbreak app! [via]

So, yeah. Favelets and bookmarklets. In the podcast, I promised a review article about useful bookmarklets and favelets, for the iPhone. And here it is.

I've written a few simple bookmarklets as well; it seems a lot of the bookmarklets are designed for web editors, and not always so much for the average web user. I'm guessing that not many regular folks need to edit CSS from the iPhone, and those that do already have those bookmarklets synched over. But still, there's a void for popular sites. It seemed that all I found were eBay, Amazon, and Google sites. So I set out to make a few of my own, and edit a few others so that they'd work on iPhone Safari (henceforth, iSafari).

If you have any requests for a custom bookmarklet, put them in the comments. It has to be said that I make no guarantees that I can make the resulting request as I'm not an expert with javascript by any means, but the worst that can happen is that I say no. Okay, that's not the worst that can happen. The worst is that I say no VERY IMPOLITELY.

As always, the best way to install these bookmarklets to your iPhone is to drag them to the bookmarks bar in Desktop Safari and give them a name you can remember them by. Then, it may be a prudent idea to organize them into a folder. I've organized my bookmarklets in the last bookmark folder in my menu bar, so it's always the last folder I see.

General Searches

• Find in Page
  From the I-Don't-Understand-Why-It-Wasn't-Built-In Department. This updated version highlights searched-for text as bold with a yellow background it stands out a bit more. It is no help if the background is already yellow. There's not much helping a site with a full-on yellow background, though. At any rate, for those rare occasions, here's one that changes the background to orange.
  [via]

Entertainment Searches

• Yahoo! Movie Times by Zip code
  This one is pretty self-explanatory. I wrote this one quick to see if Yahoo! results are easier to read on an iPhone than Google results.

Writing & Blogging Related Bookmarklets

These are some of the tools that I use to blog and write, though they could be used for many other purposes.

• Post to Del.icio.us
  Of course, it's always handy to have a bookmark to your del.icio.us bookmarks nearby. [via]

Math Tools

These are quick bookmarklets for math. Not something that I use every day, but every once in a while stuff like this is useful to have.

• Random Number
  This favelet asks you to enter a maximum integer, and generate a random number from 1 to that integer. [via]

Passwords

• Find Login with BugMeNot
  BugMeNot is a useful site where people can share logins for sites that require compulsory registration. I wrote this one for quick queries on the iPhone.

The iPhone Dev wiki team ran the first 3rd party application on the iPhone. The program is a simple one, it spits out "Hello, World" when run; 'Hello, World' is typically one of the simpler things to program on most platforms and that it was chosen as the 1st app is unsurprising. Here's the notice they posted on their site:

After many, many hours of intense work from "Nightwatch", the first independent "Hello World"* application has been compiled and launched on the iPhone. This was made possible using the "ARM/Mach-O Toolchain", Nightwatch's "special project", that he has been working on so carefully over the past few weeks. Certain parts of the toolchain (such as the assembler) are being refined and tested and these will be released as soon as possible.

It should be noted that Nightwatch has been instrumental in creating these tools, working in near isolation to get them finished. Nightwatch was also responsible for the "jail exploit" that he developed from information he and other members of the the dev team discovered.

Please join us to thank Nightwatch, Tmiw, Darkten and Daeken for making this happen.

This is really big news; outside of Apple, there wasn't any known linker or assembler or ABI for Apple's Mach-O on the ARM processor platform (and a compiler is pretty useless without them). The toolchain that they built provides those missing tools, and now that it's confirmed to work, they can refine those tools and begin 3rd party development in earnest. W00tding, the iPhone goes up a level.

UPDATED: messed up Matthew Privanek's name. Sorry Matthew!

Development

iPhone Style Development

If there's a 3rd party rockstar developer for the iPhone, it's probably Joe Hewitt. He's been interviewed by Wired.com. He's posted some files that turn normal html lists into iPhone-like sliding lists. This code was used to make digg.com/iphone. Here's link for the main page, the CSS file, and the JavaScript file. Also useful is the code necessary to hide the URL toolbar.

If your web site code is causing endless resets or crashes, he's figured out how to have error messages piped to a python server on your desktop.

He's also working on a iUI, the iPhone User Interface kit. If you're a RSS-loving developer, here's his RSS feed.

Fixed bug

There's an issue with how iPhone Safari deals with fixed navigational elements. The details of it are found at furbo.org. If you want the short view, the problem is that you can't copy the interface of the built-in iPhone apps. For example, you couldn't have a fixed top banner for your site's logo, a fixed bottom banner for your sites toolbar, and scrollable content in the middle. I believe that furbo.org is saying "Boo-urns" about this issue, though with stronger language.

Developer Wants Real SDK

Blogging Developer Wil Shipley of Delicious Monster programs using Cocoa, and he's saying "boo-urns" about the AJAX SDK situation as well, with stronger language and more frequency than Furbo.org. It's worth checking out some of the comments here.

Sensors: Accelerometers and Infrared

MIT's Technology Review is made curious by all of those extra sensors in the iPhone, and they're excited by the interface methods allowable by those sensors if Apple were to release a full SDK that included access to those sensors. The article goes in depth as to possible uses for all of those infrared sensors, microphones, and accelerometers on a mass user scale.

Webkit Style Buttons

If you've been trying to get webkit style buttons, Matthew Privanek of LaunchPad Blog posted a tutorial on how to do dynamically sized buttons with one png image. The advantage of this would be that you could do all of your buttons with this one resizable image, which results in less bandwidth used in a web app. What's good for the goose is good for the gander here.

Hacking

Field Test Mode and SMS / voicemail syncing

You can bring up the iPhone's field test mode by calling 3001#12345# from the iPhone keypad. It will bring up a neat app that shows many different kinds of network information. Also, it appears that visual voicemail alerts are sent via SMS, and there's a special handler in the SMS app that passes them to phone alerts in the Phone app.

The SMS alert comes from the number 1000000000, its composition is below. Note that I've replaced the relevant mobile number with 8005551212:

smpp-vip.allntxacds12.attwireless.net:5400?f=0&v=300&m=8005551212&p=&t=8005551212:A:AMS_NB_VIP6:ms01::5065

If you attempt to reply in SMS to this number, you get an error message:

Error Invalid Number. Please re-send using a valid 10 digit mobile number or valid short code.

In checking out the iPhone with the Field Test guide, I believe that the iPhone downloads the visual voicemail message using a 2nd virtual EDGE interface in the "PDP Information" section (note that you may need to have a voicemail for it to be active). The 1st virtual interface just connects via wap.cingular.com. From our best guess, the SMS message just tells the iPhone to sync up its messages via that 2nd PDP virtual interface.

Unlocking Predictions

In spite of the fact that no one has the 1024 bit RSA key needed to enter the bootloader, teen hacker "geohot," the first person outside of Apple to hack their way into the iPhone guts, predicts the iPhone will be running 3rd party apps within two weeks. The interview that Builder AU has with the teen is pretty interesting, well worth checking out. [via]

Ringtones

It looks like ringtone support is here. It's not a simple affair; it's a 23-step process. But it seems to work, if you trust fuzzy YouTube videos. If you want to try it for yourself, here are the instructions. [via]

CPU Pictures

If you like to look at pictures of other people hacking, the folks at Hacked Gadgets posted their microscopic photos of the iPhone CPU. It's an unbranded job, meaning there's no brand associated with it, nor is there any custom artwork on the chip -- sometimes chip engineers will try to sneak some art on there. [via]