Articles by Jeremy Sikora

Dev Team Demos iPhone 3GS ultrasn0w Unlock, Hacker Releases iPhone 3GS purplera1n Jailbreak

There has been so much jailbreak/unlock news as of late, it’s enough to make your head spin. So let’s end this week with two more tidbits of news from the community.

The Dev Team has released yet another demo video. This time they are showing off their iPhone 3GS 3.0 ultrasn0w unlock. Please keep in mind for the unlock to work you cannot update to 3.1 — and yes, this includes the 3.1 beta.

It’s pretty well known in the jailbreak community that the Dev Team delayed releasing their iPhone 3GS jailbreak for their own reasons. Well someone else has stepped up to the plate to bring you a iPhone 3GS jailbreak alternative. iPhone original hacker, George Hotz, has released purplera1n which is currently only available to Windows users (not Windows 7 though). Mac users don’t panic, your version is coming soon!

In his latest blog post, not only does George explain the steps you must take to jailbreak your iPhone 3GS, he is pretty vocal on why he has decided to release purplera1n to the public.

Normally I don’t make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the “last” hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week. Also your purplera1nyday files ensure that you can always get back to a jailbroken state, so if you have it it’s just a matter of tools.

Has this brought back to life a heated rivalry? It’s time to sit back, relax, and jailbreak!

And as always, TiPb and staff take no responsibility for any bricking, failures, security risks, etc… that may occur during the jailbreak process. Proceed at your own risk!

[Not iPhone-friendly video -- we know -- please encourage them to post video to YouTube in the future. Thanks to everyone who sent these in!]

Jailbroken iPhones - Security Risk?

sadpirate

Turns out that if you jailbreak your iPhone you remove most of the Apple’s security protections — 80% to be exact — and are vulnerable to attacks. At least according to Charlie Miller:

“If you care about security, don’t use a jailbroken iPhone,”

Miller, speaking at SyScan in Singapore, believes that by jailbreaking you open your device some major risks. The operating system on an iPhone is basically a watered down version of Mac OS X. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Macs, Mac OS X is the latest OS that Apple computers run. Macs are generally known for pretty risk-free machines with a few exceptions. Those exceptions being Java, Adobe Flash, and PDF files. The major risk on the iPhone is opening your device up to any application available on Cydia/Icy. iPhones will generally only run applications that are digitally signed by Apple, this is not the case when jailbroken. So if you don’t know what you are installing, there is a possibility you can be in for a world of hurt.

Of course just a few hours ago Rene told you about the huge vulnerability within the iPhone’s SMS application that Charlie found, so nothing is completely safe.

Does this scare you away from jailbreaking your iPhone? Perhaps you are thinking about doing a restore and going legit from now on? Let us know if this warning from Charlie sways you to avoid the jailbreaking life!

[Via Macworld]

iPhone 3GS #1 in Consumer Reports New Smartphone Ratings

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The latest piece of hardware to come out of Cupertino, Apple’s iPhone 3GS, has claimed the honor of being ranked number 1 in Consumer Reports new smartphone ratings. Now does this come as a surprise to anyone? In all actuality, it was pretty close within the top 8 devices: (Device/Overall Score):

  • iPhone 3GS (16 GB) 73
  • iPhone 3G (8 GB) 70
  • Samsung Omnia 69
  • BlackBerry Storm 69
  • HTC G1 69
  • BlackBerry Bold 69
  • Samsung Epix 69
  • Palm Pre 67

While the race to top honors was anything but a blow-out, the iPhone shined when it came to it’s 3.5-inch widescreen display, top of the line multimedia, ease of navigation, web browsing, and battery life. Devices like the Palm Pre, among others, beat out Apple’s gem when it came to messaging along with superior multitasking capabilities.

So the iPhone ranked number 1 this year as it did almost two years ago, congratulations goes out to Apple for a continuing job well done!

Update - We love our friends over at PreCentral.net so to be fair we wanted to let it be known the Palm Pre did not come in last place, we simply just cut the list off after the Pre. For the full list please visit the Consumer Reports site.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

From the Forums: 3.1 Software, iPhone 3GS Issues, Next Generation Hardware, iPhone 3GS Battery Life

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It’s that time again — time for us to pick out some of the hot topics on TiPb’s forums. In order for you to reply to any of the following threads please be sure to register. It’s a painless process that will only take a moment of your time.

Todays first thread in the spotlight was started by Ivoryplum, what would you like to see in the iPhone 3.1 software? We already got word two days ago that the 3.1 beta has been made available to developers and along with some of the new features that are included in the release. What else would you like to see added and/or corrected in the 3.1 software?

By now, chances are you already own a iPhone 3GS - how is it holding up? Do you have any hardware related issues similar to those good folks over at PreCentral.net? If so, stop by the following thread and share your troubles with us: iPhone 3GS Bugs/Issues. Luckily for all of us here at TiPb, we have zero issues.

This next thread was started by rrrl17, while a new iPhone has just been released it’s never too early to start discussing the next generation! What do you expect from the next generation of iPhone? Will Rene’s dream of an iPhone HD finally come true?!

Our last thread of the day comes to us from Joey Neat and he wants to know about battery life on the iPhone 3GS? So far TiPb can’t complain too much, it pretty much appears to be what we expected. And for those of you really think it is lacking in battery power, hopefully the 3.1 software will give you a little bit of a boost.

See you on the forums!

A Farewell to iPhone Bob

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Some of you on the TiPb Forums have shown some concern over Nelson and the iPhone 3GS tour video. Our question is — what ever happened to iPhone Bob?

Bob Borchers, if you weren’t familiar with the name, starred in the original iPhone and iPhone 3G tour videos on the Apple website.

Well it pains me to say this but according to the WSJ Bob has left Apple to join venture-capital firm, Opus Capital.

Bob, a former executive at Nokia, Nike, and Apple (since 2004, working on the iPod and iPhone) said he enjoyed his time with Apple but the venture capitalists at Opus have given him an opportunity he simply could not pass up.

TiPb and many of your fans will miss you greatly! (It’s really a shame you can’t take Nelson with you…)

Good luck Bob!

iPhone 3GS Jailbreak Software Delayed by Dev Team

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Sad day it is for all of you jailbreak fiends out there. The Dev Team has come out to let you all know not to expect a iPhone 3GS jailbreak solution any time soon. While they do have the software ready for prime time they are holding off on pulling the trigger to release it - for a few good reasons. The biggest reason being - Apple.

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w. They need to fix some UI issues. 3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming. We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

They also seem to be a bit worried about their exploit this time around and think Apple will definitely “fix” it rendering their software useless to people who purchase an iPhone after a fix is released.

Once the jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it. They will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones. If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.

So there you have it folks, all of you who are anxious for a iPhone 3GS jailbreak solution will have to exercise a bit of patience. For the full scoop head of to the Dev Teams blog.

How to: Jailbreak/Unlock iPhone 3.0 - Windows PC redsn0w Edition

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Disclaimer - Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing. This will NOT work with iPhone 3GS.

There has been a lot of buzz going on in the forums regarding jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 software lately, and a lot of questions to go along with it!. Today we’re going to take a deeper look at the exact steps you have to take to get your iPhone 3G with the 3.0 software, jailbroken on your Windows PC machine.

Let’s get started, after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Review: Case-Mate Fuel Case for iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS

case_mate_fuel

One of the biggest gripes a lot of iPhone 3G/3GS readers have is battery life. Now this is mainly due to not being able to put the iPhone down to give it a rest, but we now have another solution to your iPhone addiction. Enter Case-Mate’s Fuel Case for iPhone 3G/3GS, which is available in TiPb’s store for $74.95. For a full review, follow us after the break! Read the rest of this entry »

How to: Jailbreak/Unlock iPhone 3.0 - Mac OS X redsn0w Edition

redsn0w

Disclaimer - Neither TiPb nor I take any responsibility for any problems/issues/bricking/etc. that may occur while using this software to modify your iPhone. Please be aware of what you are doing. This will NOT work with iPhone 3GS.

There has been a lot of buzz going on in the forums regarding jailbreaking the iPhone 3.0 software lately, and a lot of questions to go along with it!. Today we’re going to take a deeper look at the exact steps you have to take to get your iPhone 3G with 3.0 jailbroken on your Mac.

Let’s get started, after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »

Dev-Team Releases Ultrasn0w for iPhone 3G

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The wait is over ladies and gentleman. The Dev-Team has released their latest software to unlock iPhone 3G’s running the 3.0 software. Again, it is important to remember when a 3G S jailbreak application is released do not use Ultrasn0w with the iPhone 3G S.

To unlock your iPhone 3G 3.0 is as simple as jailbreaking your device, downloading Ultrasn0w via Cydia, and running the software. For full detailed directions be sure to check out the Dev-Teams blog.

Before you decide to jailbreak and unlock there are a few things you should know. If you do not know what you are doing - please do not attempt this as there is a possibility you can permanently damage your device. Regarding jailbreaking, remember most of the apps available will not work on 3.0 due to the developers not updating their apps yet. So be careful on what you install.

Want to learn more? Visit Jailbreak Central in TiPb forums.