Hasta La Gadget!

We knew Sony would be non-plussed about the PlayStation 3 jailbreak, and now we have a better idea as to the full extent of its anger. The company has filed suit (not yet, see below) asked for a restraining order against George “Geohot” Hotz, the “hacking group” fail0verflow (Hector Cantero, Sven Peter, “Bushing,” and “Segher”), and numerous John / Jane Does over the exploit and its release. To be more specific, the company cites violations of Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, various copyright infringements, and other acts of binary malfeasance. A temporary restraining order has also been sought, asking that all “circumvention tools” be taken offline and his computers and related media (i.e. anything storing said tools) be impounded. It looks like Geohot’s servers are being slammed at the moment, so we’ve gone ahead and hosted the relevant PDFs ourselves below. We’re still sifting through ourselves and will let you know what we unearth.

Update: Nilay here — let’s take a look at what’s going on. This isn’t a “lawsuit” in the traditional sense, since Sony hasn’t filed a complaint for copyright infringement or whatever against Geohot and friends. Instead, the company appears to be trying to shove the genie back in the bottle and have the jailbreak and any information about the jailbreak removed from the web by filing a temporary restraining order. That might work in the short term — Geohot’s already pulled his pages down — but history suggests that the forces of paperwork rarely triumph over the righteous anger of nerds, and that this code is out there for good. That said, we’ll see what the court says tomorrow; although we very much doubt Sony’s melodramatic proposed motion and order will be granted as written, we wouldn’t be surprised if some sort of order is eventually granted — and then from there a formal lawsuit is likely just a few days away.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Sony asks for restraining order against Geohot, fail0verflow over PS3 exploits originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 21:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember when George “Geohot” Hotz demoed homebrew on the PlayStation 3? Yeah, we know, it was a whole day of CES ago. Well, it looks like that video wasn’t a random crack, but full custom firmware, and not just for show — he just released it to the world. Believe it or not, we didn’t bring our PS3s with us to CES 2011, so we can’t actually test it for ourselves, but if you have faith or enjoy living on the edge, you’re two clicks, one USB stick and a manual System Update away from potential freedom. Now, let’s see him keep his original promise.

[Thanks, Omar]

Geohot releases PS3 jailbreak for firmware 3.55, world ceases to have any meaning originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Jan 2011 21:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, that didn’t take long! Just one week after hacking collective (and chr0nic misspellers) fail0verflow revealed a hack that delivered the PS3’s private cryptography key on a platter, another hacker going by the MoNiKeR “KaKaRoToKS” has taken the next step, delivering tools that will convert your plain ol’ vanilla PS3 firmware (yup, even the latest security-minded 3.55 patch) into a fancy new custom firmware. One capable of running signed and encrypted executable .PKG files … not unlike the ones that Sony itself uses to distribute PSN games. But this custom firmware isn’t all about piracy. KaKaRoToKS writes, “Since the kernel is left unmodified, this means that this custom firmware is really meant for future homebrew installation, and it will not allow piracy. I plan on keeping it that way.” We suspect that myriad other, less scrupulous hackers don’t share that sentiment. If you want an “Install Package Files” option the Game section of your XMB, PS3-hacks.com has a guide just for you. Peep a video of a custom firmware installation after the break.

Continue reading PS3 custom firmware lets you ‘Install Package Files,’ piracy not allowed

PS3 custom firmware lets you ‘Install Package Files,’ piracy not allowed originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 11:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First the tease, now the payoff. Thrustmaster has officially announced the full specs and price for its T500RS steering wheel and pedal set, otherwise known as the official driving simulator for Gran Turismo 5. The T500RS purportedly lets “users truly feel the emotions experienced by drivers on real racing circuits,” though whether this includes feelings of unquenchable anger from being put into the wall at Daytona is unclear. A contactless magnetic sensor system known as HallEffect AccuRate Technology gives gamers sixteen-bit precision input that represents a significant upgrade over the twelve-bit version in the Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition. Additionally, 1080 degree wheel rotation gives drivers a half-turn more than Logitech’s Driving Force GT, and the system comes with fully adjustable pedals configurable for floor mounted (F1-style) and suspended (GT-style) positions. Slated for a late December or mid January release, depending on your location, the T500RS has a hefty list price of $599.99 MSRP, but how else will you find out what a Bugatti Veyron really handles like on the ‘ring?

Continue reading Thrustmaster T500RS steering wheel unveiled: $599 of Gran Turismo perfection

Thrustmaster T500RS steering wheel unveiled: $599 of Gran Turismo perfection originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Dec 2010 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looks like Toshiba’s Cell processor ambitions didn’t quite pan out — Japanese news sources are reporting that the company’s selling its Nagasaki manufacturing plant back to Sony for 50 billion yen, or roughly $597 million in US money. Considering that Toshiba originally purchased the semiconductor facility for 100 90 billion yen (then $835 million) back in 2008, it seems like Sony’s making out like a bandit here — and it may have just found the perfect place to build more CMOS chips for its high-end camera lineup, too. Sony reportedly told the Nikkei Business Daily that it may repurpose the facility to produce HD image sensors for cameras and smartphones. What will happen to the chip that launched 40 million PS3s and a graphics co-processor or two? With any luck, we’ll find out at CES 2011 quite soon.

Sony buys back Toshiba’s Cell plant for 50 billion yen, makes a killing and plans a CMOS fab originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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