iPhone owners have been foaming at the mouth for an iP3G unlocking solution since its release and it seems that hack is right around the corner. The Dev-Team has announced that they have successfully done the seemingly impossible and will make the hack available via PwnageTool and QuickPwn sometime around the New Year. Which is just in time for Steve Jobs to announce something new at Macworld and make the iPhone irrelevant. I kid, I kid.

Speaking about PwnageTool, the Internet is swirling with reports that the 10.5.6 Leopard update breaks the DFU mode needed for the jailbreak. The Dev-Team seems to think that stopping iPhone hacking wasn’t Apple’s intent, and has suggested some workarounds. Chiefly, use the Windows version for now. Blasphemy!

A cabal of tinkers have managed to get root access on the G1 using telnetd. Now, whether or not that constitutes “jailbreaking” (which is an awkward word to use considering Android is supposed to be an open source operating system from the get-go) or something a little less dramatic is another matter.

Or, to quote a Gizmodo commenter:

This reminds me of the Spongebob episode where they steal a balloon on free balloon day.

I think that says it all.

via Slashdot

We already know how Apple feels about tethering, which is sometimes Apple-legal and sometimes not. However, for jailbroken phones you now have what is promised as a quick and easy way (10 second-easy, that is) to tether your laptop to your iPhone.

On Saturday, Addition released iPhoneModem for iPhones using the Cydia package manager. Apple has been dragging their feet in responding to their application request, so now you can get it as shareware for only 10 bucks.

Ten bucks for ten second ease. Consider this your PSA for the day. Check out the forums over at ModMyiPhone for a quick rundown of how it’s working. (Hint: Very good)

via Gizmodo

Instructions for Use:

iPod Touch firmware comes out. It is jailbroken immediately. Rinse. Repeat.

via Eng

Bam! Just 3 days after its release, the 2.0.2 firmware update has been made safe for jailbreak lovers by the always prompt iPhone dev team.

Find out more at MobileCrunch >>

Image courtesy of Kottke
Enjoy Now!

Ron and Fez, noon to 3pm

This is pretty cool, and I hate damn near everything. It’s an application for jailbroken iPhones (and iPod touches) called uXM that lets you listen to XM Satellite Radio. Yes, XM is reportedly working on a proper application to launch with the App Store, but that’ll cost you money. This uXM is free, provided you already subscribe to XM.

You can find it in the iSpazio repository, or add this line to your Installer.app: http://www.millardsoftware.com/iphone.xml I have no idea what the previous two sentences mean, having used the iPhone for, maybe, two minutes in total, but I sure as hell like the idea.

There’s also a Sirius version, uSirius, if you swing that way.

via Orbitcast

With O2 and AT&T reporting contract signings at their respective sales points, I think the idea of an unlocked iPhone 3G will soon become moot. If you can’t get one without signing on the dotted line, what’s the value in pulling it off your local network? And why was the original iPhone cracked wide open weeks after launch?

I’m no conspiracy theorist, but I honestly believe that Apple, behind the scenes, offered solace and comfort to the iPhone hackers. While no one has come out to admit it, the fact that the iPhone SDK has been essentially a known quantity for almost a year I think official hands have been leaking – and cracking – iPhones in order to prepare the world for the idea of the App Store. Why else would Steve basically say “Let them eat web apps” last year? Why else would every version of the firmware open up like a tasty clam hours after launch? And why would the iPhone come unattached to service and the onus be on the user to activate it at home?
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All of you with a jailbroken iPhone should check out iSlsk (it’s on Big Boss), an application that connects your little wonderdevice to the SoulSeek file-sharing network. SoulSeek, for the uninitiated, has plenty of rare music files from which to choose; all types of files can be found on there, but music is definitely its forté.

While you can’t upload files using the application yet, it can download files—to /var/mobile/Media/Downloads—just fine. Not having an iPhone, jailbroken or otherwise, I can’t try it, but the above video looks just great. Just great!

[On a completely unrelated and off-topic note, comedian Bill Burr turns 40 on June 10 and he needs our help. His podcast, he says, only has 15 listeners. If the number of listeners cracks 20, he'll be much the happier. Do him a favor and subscribe. The man isn't too bright; he moved out to Los Angeles looking to "make it" in the midst of the writers strike. The language isn't SFW, obvs, but he's pretty good, I think.]

via TorrentFreak

I’ve been keeping up with jailbreaking the iPod Touch here on the Help-Keys, and I know its helped a lot of people to open up their hardware. Make no mistake, the iPod Touch is one of the most outstanding pieces of hardware I’ve ever seen, and the work the various hackers developers have been doing with it is amazing.

I also feel the iPhone is overrated and over-exposed, so I’ve sort of left it out. But when a friend of mine brought me an iPhone last night and wanted help activating it, AIM unlocking it, and jailbreaking it, I thought that would be a fantastic Help-Key.

I figured I’d do each part, step-by-step, like Bobby Brown. I thought it would be a hassle but with a reward at the end. I was wrong.

As our own John Biggs famously said, Apple might as well just start including the jailbreaking apps with the iPhone.

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