Aug 22

Confirmed: Galaxy S unlock codes are stored in your phone, Vibrant capable of AT&T 3G

Posted in: att, GalaxyS, hack, hacked, Hacks, samsung, t-mobile, Today's Chili

Sure, the Samsung Vibrant’s a T-Mobile device and the Samsung Captivate belongs to AT&T, but there’s no longer any reason you can’t swap them around — all you need is a simple script and a USB cable to completely unlock your phone. A cracker-jack team at XDA-Developers discovered that Galaxy S unlock codes aren’t kept in a secure remote server, but merely stored in a .BAK file on the device itself, which you find with a hex editor and key right in when inserting a new SIM card of your choice. We tested it out on both Vibrant and Captivate and were up and running in less than five minutes each time, and wonder of wonders, the Vibrant gave us a 3G data connection (with 2Mbps down) using an AT&T SIM. Sadly, we can’t say the inverse for the Captivate, which pulled down standard EDGE speeds on T-Mobile, but this is already far more than the hacking community could have hoped for. The best part? None of this requires you to actually root the phone, and if you’re worried about warranty you can re-lock the handset with the very same code.

[Thanks, Brad]

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Confirmed: Galaxy S unlock codes are stored in your phone, Vibrant capable of AT&T 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceXDA-Developers  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 20

Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair

Posted in: Apple, hack, mod, Today's Chili

While many hacks we feature on these virtual pages are terrifyingly complex, this one is anything but. Even more surprising, it’s actually useful. Mark Bog decided to tether his Magic Trackpad to the sweet, endless power supply of his computer over USB, instead of swapping out AAs endlessly. To do this he merely pulled out the black and red power wires of a USB cable and attached them to a battery-shaped dowel, which slots easily into the Trackpad. The best part is that this seems basically non-destructive to the trackpad (if the 5 volts coming from the USB cable isn’t too much for its precious internals), so Mark shouldn’t have much trouble switching back if he suddenly misses the wireless freedom for a stationary desktop object that so far seems lost on him.

Simple hack turns the Magic Trackpad into a USB-powered affair originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TUAW  |  sourceMac Rumors Forums  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 19

Koush’s Droid X Recovery paves the way for ROMs to come

Posted in: hack, hacked, motorola, rom, Today's Chili
Koush's Droid X Recovery paves the way for ROMs to come

The Droid X got rooted just about a month ago, but still users are unable to run their own custom ROMs — something seen as a basic right amongst the Android community. Now those chaps are a good bit closer to getting there thanks to a new recovery mechanism posted by Koush. What’s taking so long? The security mechanisms on the Droid X are said to be “a real bitch” and, to circumvent them, Koush had to hijack a logging process that runs at boot-up. This process runs in place of that, allowing a user to restore their phone to a previous backup generated before trying to do something wild and crazy. What does this mean? ROM runners now have a means of safely retreating if they find themselves cornered (or bricked), allowing them to try more daring assaults more often, and meaning we could be only days away from Droid X users being allowed to fully express themselves.

Koush’s Droid X Recovery paves the way for ROMs to come originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Police  |  sourceMy Brain Hurts  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 19

PS3 modchip claims to finally allow backing up games without invasive console surgery (video)

Posted in: console, hack, hacked, hacking, jailbreak, ps3, sony, Today's Chili, usb, video

Who needs George Hotz anyway? A USB modchip for the PS3 has emerged from the mists this morning, purporting to allow the dumping of games onto nearby storage — the console’s internal HDD and external drives are both a-ok — as well as the subsequent playing of said games without the need for the original disc. Could it be the backup/piracy nirvana Sony loyalists have been awaiting for so long? Well, there’s a video showing the little USB device apparently working, and the PSX-Scene team say they have personally verified that it does what it claims to do, but skepticism remains advisable here. The PS3 has been a fortress of hacker unfriendliness, so we’d rather kick back, relax, and wait for some braver souls than us to do the testing. For now, the video awaits after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading PS3 modchip claims to finally allow backing up games without invasive console surgery (video)

PS3 modchip claims to finally allow backing up games without invasive console surgery (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePSX-Scene, PS Jailbreak  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 16

Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide

Posted in: hack, mod, palm, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, Sprint, Today's Chili, webos
WebOS device hacking has reach some considerable heights recently with a mod to bring WiFi to a Sprint Palm Pixi, but it looks like even that’s now been topped by this hack that finally brings the Pre Plus to Sprint. As you can probably guess, that involves a Sprint Palm Pre, a Pre Plus (from either AT&T or Verizon), a slew of software tweaking, and plenty of tricky hardware modding to get the Sprint Pre coms board into the Pre Plus. Will it actually work? We can’t say we’ve gone so far as to try the mod ourselves, but PreCentral forum member livinofframen says his modded phone behaves perfectly, right down to the stock Sprint applications. Hit up the link below for the complete details to try it yourself — at your own risk, of course.

[Thanks, Ken M.]

Sprint Pre Plus hack detailed in step-by-step guide originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePreCentral Forums  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 16

GPUs democratize brute force password hacking

Posted in: hack, hacking, security, Today's Chili
It seems that the availability of increasingly powerful GPUs, when combined with brute-force password cracking tools, is making it increasingly easy to crack passwords — even if they’re extremely well thought out, with symbols and quirky capitalization and all that. How short is too short? According to computer scientists at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, “a seven-character password is hopelessly inadequate, and as GPU power continues to go up every year, the threat will increase.” A better alternative, he suggested, would be a 12-character combination of upper and lower case letters, symbols and digits. Of course, processors are only getting more powerful and hardware less expensive — soon even seven-plus character passwords may become the digital equivalent of unlocked doors. And if that weren’t bad enough, a recent study by an Internet security company called BitDefender has determined that some 250,000 user names, email addresses, and passwords used for social networking sites are freely available online — and seventy-five percent of these folks use the same password for their email and social networking. So, when dreaming up fancy new twelve character passwords, make sure you’re creating unique passwords for all your various accounts. It would be a shame if your Starsky & Hutch FanFicForum account left you vulnerable to identity theft.

GPUs democratize brute force password hacking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Register  |  sourceBBC News, Security Week  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 16

Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online

Posted in: diy, hack, mod, portable, Today's Chili, video
A portable game console mod is like a still life: sure, it’s been done before, but it’s very satisfying when it’s done well. Or, to take the analogy further: where a still life lets the artist arrange the design elements with in a composition any way he wants, the modder works with elements necessary for game play, but is free to arrange them in the manner of his choosing. Our man Techknott, who once thrilled us with his Wireless Visual Interface for the PS3, is back on the scene with the third iteration of his very own Dreamcast Portable — and it just might be a work of art in its own right. This bad boy features: a PSone LCD display, both a built in VMU and a removable VMU slot, CD drive, SD card slot, A/V out, and original Dreamcast controls — all in a custom CNC acrylic case. You want one, right? Peep the video after the break to see it in action. And be sure to check back next week, when we’ll trace the origin of the Bomblympics back to the worship of Zeus in Ancient Greece.

Continue reading Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online

Techknott’s Dreamcast Portable inspires musings on art, life, and Bomberman Online originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Technabob  |  sourceBen Heck Forums  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 15

New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video)

Posted in: hack, hacked, Hacks, mod, mods, rom, Today's Chili, video, xbox, xbox 360, Xbox360

If you’re looking for video proof of the latest and greatest Xbox 360 firmware mod, you won’t find it in the video after the break, but we’re almost willing to take it on Team Xecuter’s word and long-standing reputation that they’ve hacked the new Xbox 360. Banding together with Team Jungle and commodore4eva — the hacker who brought backups to the original console in 2006 — the group says they’ve successfully patched the DVD drive to play burned discs. Better still, they’re promising that a public release of said patch “will be available shortly” to help you unlock a Stealthbox by your lonesome. Just remember, kids, circumventing DRM isn’t always legal, even if you’re copying games that you bought right off the shelf.

[Thanks, Tito]

Continue reading New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video)

New Xbox 360 hacked to play ‘backup’ discs, public release underway? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Aug 2010 17:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Examiner  |  sourceTeam-Xecuter  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 13

Older Apple iOS devices must jailbreak to be secure — oh the irony

Posted in: Apple, firmware, hack, ios, iPhone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, jailbreak, software update, SoftwareUpdate, Today's Chili

Remember that nasty PDF bug that allowed potentially malicious code to be executed on your iOS device? Right, the one that Apple recently patched with the iOS 4.0.2 software update, slamming the door on jailbreakme.com. Well, if you own the original iPhone or iPod touch you’re still at risk since Apple’s update isn’t compatible with those devices. Hell, many iPhone 3G owners are also at risk after rolling back their handsets to iOS 3.1.3 due to sluggish (to put it mildly) performance running iOS 4. So what can you do to protect yourselves? Jailbreak. As counterintuitive as that sounds, Jay Freeman (aka @saurik) just released a patch onto Cydia (search for “PDF Patch”) for all iOS devices, no need to update to 4.0.2. Of course, jailbreaking presents its own set of risks, so be careful — and for crissake be sure to change the root password if you install SSH.

Older Apple iOS devices must jailbreak to be secure — oh the irony originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 02:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceDev-Team Blog  | Email this | Comments

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Aug 12

Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

Posted in: controller, diy, gaming, hack, mod, nintendo, prototype, Today's Chili, video

It’s not that we haven’t seen a one-handed controller before — we most certainly have — but the only significant one on record was done by one Benjamin Heckendorn, the greatest modder of the modern era. In other words, whipping something like this up takes more than a strong will and a boatload of vacation days, making Hasse’s hack all the more impressive. As the story goes, his brother is incapable of playing video games due to needing two hands to work the controls; rather than chalking it up to tough luck, this guy completely re-engineered a GameCube controller for single-handed operation. After cracking it open and relocating a few bits and pieces, he then shoved an ATtiny44A, an accelerometer and a digital-to-analog converter within. Crazier still, he even included a toggle switch to select the analog stick or D-pad, depending on preference. Head on past the break to see this thing in action, and tap that source link to leave a handful of kudos.

Continue reading Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video)

Modder, brother-of-the-year candidate crafts one-handed GameCube controller (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack A Day  |  sourceHasse’s Hacks  | Email this | Comments

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