I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/06/15/ipad-hacked-to-include-a-verizon-mifi/
Finally, some hardware hacking on an iPad. Finding the 3G connection that came with the iPad lacking, this industrious hacker yanked it out and replaced it with the guts from a MiFi. At the cost of his GPS, he’s gained a better connection and is now a wifi hotspot. It wasn’t horribly complex, but he did have to do a tiny bit more than just plug and play.
[thanks Smilr]
June 15 2010, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/05/03/virtualbox-beta-runs-mac-os-x/
A new beta build of VirtualBox, Sun’s Oracle’s free x86 virtualization software, makes it possible to run Mac OS X as a guest operating system…no shenanigans or flaming hoops to jump through, just pop in the $30 retail Snow Leopard upgrade disc and go. This had previously only been possible with some awkward Hackintosh-style maneuvering, or using recent editions of commercial virtualization products.
At this early stage, performance is fairly sluggish, the screen size is fixed and there’s no sound support, but the OS otherwise appears to run feature-complete (including networking and USB). Hopefully future builds will ramp up to the level of functionality and performance that VirtualBox provides for other guest operating systems.
Installation tip: when you come to the step prompting for a target disk for installation (which will likely show no available volumes), run Disk Utility from the “Utilities” menu, format the virtual disk image you created when setting up the VM (Mac OS Extended, Journaled), then exit Disk Utility to return to the OS X installer. You can then select the newly-formatted virtual disk and proceed with installation.
May 3 2010, 12:42pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/04/07/23073/
Project J.A.R.V.I.S. is an attempt to create a digital life assistant, or DLA. The name comes from the version in the movie Iron Man. While the details of the build are pretty slim, you can see that he’s using a mac mini for the base with an Arduino controlled RFID reader at his door. What is really interesting is how functional he has actually made it. Watch the video on the site to see a pretty good explanation of features.
[via Gizmodo]
April 7 2010, 2:02pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/15/eat-your-heart-out-ipad/
We don’t remember where we read it, but our favorite criticism of the iPad is that is does the same things a lot of other Apple devices do. So why wait until April to get your hands on that functionality? [Alexbates] built his own iPad clone using existing hardware and software. This started with an MSI wind that he used as a hackintosh. A touchscreen was added to the display, the keyboard removed, and the LCD flipped around. Boom, a tablet running OS X was born. This is different from others because [Alexbates] took the time to alter the UI to look like the iPad. Sure, it doesn’t automatically flip the display when rotated and there’s no pinch-zooming. But it does have more processing power and storage space.
We’re more likely to hack our own like this rather than purchase a device we’re not all that enthusiastic about.
[Thanks Jadon via Engadget]
March 15 2010, 12:04pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/03/08/give-1984-mac-a-leopard-makeover/
[Jake Howe] brought his 1984 Mac up-to-date by cramming new guts inside of the classic case. The goal from the start was to run OS X Snow Leopard on the machine without altering the externals. He heated and formed acrylic around the original CRT screen to make a bezel for the replacement LCD screen. The floppy drive slot was used to hide an SD card slot and USB port. The original serial port openings were even outfitted with their own USB ports. In the end he did a brilliant job of hiding the Hackintosh mini-ITX board and components inside this iconic enclosure.
March 8 2010, 12:33pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2010/01/29/our-thoughts-on-the-ipad/
The iPad, announced earlier this week, has been a massive media extravaganza. Some people were elated, and some let down. We’ve been asked over and over what our thoughts on the device are. Join us after the break to find out.
[Caleb]–My grandma would love this. I really think that she is their target. It is easy to use, portable, and has a custom interface that removes all of the windows style interface cruft. Personally, I don’t need one. I have an iPhone (yes, I know most of you hate them). The iPad offers me nothing that my iPhone doesn’t, except a larger screen.
I am excited though. I’m excited at the prospect of a mid level touch screen tablet with an appliance style interface becoming common. I can’t wait to see the knockoffs that can run Linux with a custom interface. The knockoffs that will actually have USB ports, and a non wobbly back. Those same knockoffs that will most likely have a front facing camera. I want one of those.
As far as hackability goes, this might actually be fairly hackable. The processor isn’t actually as proprietary as some would think. It is ARM based, and not too different from some other devices we’ve seen. It appears as though they planned for a camera. There might even be a spot on the motherboard for it. I fully expect to see it “jailbroken”, but what I WANT to see is the guts modified. I want to see home hackers add external storage (card slot), load a different operating system, up the storage. Then again, I thought the same thing about the iPhones and iPod touches, but haven’t seen hardware hacks at all really.
[Mike]–This is the first I’ve heard of the iPad. I got soooooo tired of all the apple tablet rumors that I quit paying attention. I run Linux only and unless this device will sync out of the box with my Linux systems I’m not interested. I also don’t usually do hardware hacks on anything that cost me more than $250 but buy so I’m not going to be cracking the case open on this thing anytime soon.
[James] — The iPad has the opportunity to be a great product, but probably not for me, and probably not for most of our readers. It markets itself to the casual internet user who wants to listen to music, browse Facebook, or watch Youtube on the couch rather than the hardcore photo editor, writer, or programmer. I am excited to see someone like Apple really push the market, and cant wait to see the responses, especially from people like MSI and Asus. Personally, I’m waiting for someone to make a really great convertible tablet netbook with native support for Linux.
[Jakob] — I hate Apple products, I mean almost with a passion. But I actually do own an iPhone – and I admit, it is one slick nice device. Small, powerful, convenient – all things the iPad is not. Its like Apple couldnt decide on making yet another iPhone revision or a full tablet PC and decided to give us a semi nerfed iPad instead. From what I’ve heard, there is no multitasking and several other features that – if can be included on the iPhone – why did they remove it from the iPad? Final note: being an apple product, its about $500 more then it should be.
(And it doesn’t even come with wings for extra absorption)
[Devlin] — Meh, I don’t think there is going to be much to do with hacking the iPad, I won’t buy one because I don’t see a reason for having it. If others have the same thought, not many people are going to be buying the iPad and therefore not many people are going to be hacking the iPad.
January 29 2010, 4:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/12/18/make-an-apple-tablet-before-apple-does/
[Andrew] wanted a tablet computer but is tired of waiting for Apple to come up with one. eBay and Craig’s list to the rescue, he picked up some parts and built his own tablet. You can take a look at the video tour of it after the break, or peruse parts one, two, three, and four of his work log.
The unit is assembled from a 500 MHz iBook. [Andrew] picked up a touchscreen from ebay and canibalized a USB joystick in order to add some buttons to the keyboard-less design. The end product is quite nice. We’ve wanted a tablet computer to hang on the wall for a long time and this may be the inspiration that gets us there.
Do you find this didn’t satisfy your Apple tablet fix? There’s more to be seen in our mac tablets roundup.
December 18 2009, 5:35pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/29/xbox-intosh-an-atom-based-cube/
Though [Will] is more of a PC guy, he needed a Mac to run the software he needed for his line of work (Final Cut). Making the best of an unfortunate situation, he constructed this hackintosh inside the case of Microsoft’s original gaming console – the Xbox. [Will] did a good job at documenting the build.
[Paul], who seems a bit more fond of Apple’s technology, still felt as though his hardware could use an overhaul. So he gutted his G4 Cube and dropped in an Intel Atom 330 based system to get his ultimate HTPC. To make controlling the 1 TB beast more fun, he hooked up a Wiimote through DarwiinRemote.
November 29 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/04/mac-mini-getting-a-little-more-useful/
We’re pretty sure Apple decided to implement an IR sensor in their Mac Mini line simply to mock the user. For those who are unaware, the built in sensor only works with the standard Apple Remote; unless you happen to have a programmable PDA or similar you’re SOL. An alternative solution would be to install a USB IR receiver. But then your beautiful Mac Mini is forced to sit alongside an ugly black box. Why not have the best of both worlds? [SqueeZe] wrote an (almost) entirely non invasive tutorial for placing a USB IR receiver inside his Mac Mini. Reminds us of a certain hack a while back, but the objective was to get the IR receiver outside of the unit rather than inside. Different people, different worlds.
[Thanks Kiran]
November 4 2009, 6:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/apple-remote-arduino-shield/
[Computergeek] made an Arduino Shield in order to use it as an Apple remote. We like the construction technique that he used; taking perf-board and soldering the circuit and using stripped wire to interface with the pin sockets on the Arduino. He’s written the code needed to function as an Apple Remote but this shield has a lot more potential. This is an excellent opportunity to delve into the different IR protocols out there and create a universal remote for all of your random devices. We’d also want to give it a try as a TV-B-Gone.
The parts are easy to find or salvage without putting in an order. We’re not certain about his design, he should probably have invited a resistor to the party the two IR LEDs are having.
November 3 2009, 5:13pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/11/03/ssd-upgrade-for-24-imac/
The hard drive in [Jason's] 24″ iMac was on the blink. He decided that instead of just swapping out the bad drive for a traditional unit he would upgrade to a solid state drive. Tearing apart high-end hardware like this can be a bit nerve-racking but luckily the drive is mounted right behind the screen so he didn’t have to take everything apart.
The SSD he picked up was 2.5″ but the mounting hardware in the iMac is only setup for 3.5″ form factors. We would have used a bit of hackery to make it work but [Jason] went with an adapter kit. Uh-oh, once installed there was no problem with the mounting but the SATA cable didn’t reach far enough to plug it in. The cable snaked around under the motherboard and would have been a lot of work to swap for a longer one. He ended up removing all of the mounting screws except for one coercing the drive close enough for the connection.
It worked for him and it can for you as well. If you do this make sure to devise your own mounting scheme so that you don’t hit the same snag.
[Photo: AppleInsider iMac teardown]
[via TUAW]
November 3 2009, 2:27pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/23/psystar-taunts-apple-a-second-time/
As if bankruptcy shenanigans and an unresolved exchange of lawsuits with Apple weren’t enough, Mac clone maker Psystar is really swatting the beehive now with the release of Rebel EFI, a $50 software package that promises a straightforward installation of Mac OS X on a variety of commodity x86 systems.
Setting up one’s own “Hackintosh” system has traditionally been a painstaking process of duplicating the OS install disc and fiddling around with various kernel extensions. Rebel EFI claims to do away with all this, bringing click-and-drool simplicity to the Hackintosh experience. The package can be downloaded free of charge in order to test compatibility with one’s hardware before committing to buy; in this trial mode, the system is limited to two hours run time. Minimum requirements include an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Core i7, or Xeon Nehalem CPU.
Normally we’re all for voiding warranties, challenging EULAs, and sticking it to The Man, but some have been calling Psystar’s underdog image a charade, claiming the commercial Rebel EFI software is simply an uncredited derivative of open source efforts such as the Chameleon bootloader. Whether or not this proves true, it will be interesting to see how this whole surreal skit plays out between Apple, Psystar and the open source Hackintosh community.
October 23 2009, 8:05am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/10/22/magic-mouse-and-macbook-teardowns/
The refreshed MacBook holds few surprises, resembling a Star Trek teleportation mix-up between the prior 13″ white MacBook and the current 13″ MacBook Pro. It retains a white polycarbonate case much like its predecessor while adopting a subset of the Pro’s components — CPU and GPU, glass trackpad, Mini DisplayPort, and the long-lived but sealed battery. Internally the system is still a maze of different-sized Torx, Phillips and tri-wing screws, but they do report this latest revision to be easier to dismantle for repair.
More novel inside and out is the new Magic Mouse, which early reports suggest may finally redeem Apple’s eleven year train wreck of mice. There’s not much to see on the bottom half — it’s a typical wireless mouse consisting of batteries, laser tracker and a Bluetooth chip. The top is something to behold though, with nearly the entire surface encrusted in capacitive sensors capable of gestural input. It resembles a miniature version of this electrostatic interface we saw in April.
No teardowns of the new iMacs, Mac mini or Time Capsule have taken place yet, but it’s surely just a matter of time. Even Velociraptors need to eat and sleep.
Update: 27″ iMac teardown added. Rawr!
October 22 2009, 10:00am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/25/tear-your-imacs-insides-out/
Saying that [Ian] had some overheating issues with his iMac G5 would be an understatement. After losing three hard drives due to heat he decided to do something about it. The first step was replacing the thermal paste with Arctic Silver. The solution for the hard drive was a little more unorthodox.
[Ian] picked up a 320GB Western Digital Caviar Blue drive because of its very low noise rating. He used rubber grommets to mount it outside the case and ran SATA data and power extension cables through a quarter inch hole to the motherboard. He mentioned to us that the cutout seen above the drive is from a previous mod.
This certainly will fix an overheating problem but it doesn’t do much for the sexy style we’re accustomed to with Apple hardware.
September 25 2009, 9:02am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/09/apple-gives-c64-emulator-the-boot/
After making it to the top 20 in most regions, Apple has removed the c64 emulator for the iPhone from the App Store. Apparently the thorough app review process didn’t discover that the BASIC system had not been removed from the app, but was instead merely hidden.
Another revision of the emulator has been submitted for review but how long will that take? What is the review process for if they’re not looking deep enough to find specific functions they don’t want an app to have? Approving apps and pulling them a few days later is another Hot Coffee waiting to happen.
[POCKET GAMER via Slashdot]
September 9 2009, 2:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/09/01/snow-leopard-ditches-real-math-for-fake/
We’ve always felt that hard drive manufacturers were dirty crooks because of their use of fake math to make drives sound bigger than they actually are. Here’s a quick refresher for those who need it: Because digital information consists of 1’s and 0’s (two possible settings), digital architecture revolves around powers of 2. Long ago, when nomenclature was setup for measuring data the term kilobyte was adopted to represent 2 to the 10th power bytes (base 2, aka real math). The problem here is that 2^10= 1024 and when laymen hear the root “kilo” they think 1000 which is 24 byes less (base 10, aka fake math). So, if you have a 500,000,000 byte drive, base 10 math would call that a 500GB drive, but base 2 math would call that 476.8GB.
We understand why hard drive manufacturers use the base 10 system; larger sounding drives sell better. Now we find out that OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard is using base 10 math to calculate storage space. While base 2 math is the standard storage measurement for operating systems it may at first be difficult to understand why Apple would change to a base 10 system. But think about it once more, doesn’t Apple have a lot to gain if all the storage-containing-hardware they sell sounds bigger than it actually is?
[via Gizmodo]
September 1 2009, 1:42pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/08/28/apple-tv-with-boxee-and-more-update/
In November, we covered installing Boxee on AppleTV using atv-usb-creator. [Danny] has written a tutorial on installing Boxee, XBMC, NitoTV, SSH access, and external USB hard drive support. His method installs most of the software via the USB patch stick, then uses the SSH support to enable the external drive and install NitoTV. The tutorial lists a Mac running OSX 10.4 or newer as a prerequisite but there is now a Windows version of atv-usb-creator. According to their Google Code page Linux support for this package is on the way.
[via AppleTV Hacks]
August 28 2009, 6:15pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/08/23/second-hard-drive-in-a-macbook-pro/
[Reid] wrote in to show us how to add a second hard drive to his Macbook Pro. He found that he hardly ever used his DVD drive, so sacrificed it in favor of added storage. What he found was that it had a proprietary adapter that he was unable to find for sale anywhere. Making an adapter may seem like a pretty simple hack, but this could save some people considerable time. Its also worth noting that upgrading the firmware got him an 18% speed increase, so don’t ignore those updates. We don’t see too many mac hacks around here, you may recall the mac tablet hacks and the logo monitor.
August 23 2009, 10:27am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/08/17/ipod-shuffle-remote/
[Dennis] points out that the iPod shuffle and the iPod remote are almost identical visually. He decided to combine the two so he always had his remote with him. He pulled the guts out of a remote and mounted them in a shuffle. The remote functions all of the time, while the shuffle only turns on when you insert headphones. We wonder if he accidentally does stuff on his computer while he’s changing songs.
August 17 2009, 3:11pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/08/14/building-an-apple-1/
With all the recent talk of hackintoshes going around, we thought we should post this oldie. It is a writeup on how to build your own Apple 1 called Replica 1. If you’ve got the $149 laying around and think you can handle the construction of a mere 88 components, you can make one yourself. Not only can you order kits or complete units, they even have a download page with applications and games. It might be fun to have one of these sitting on the desk right next to our minimac. If you really don’t want to buy one, but maybe want to just play a little bit, there’s always virtual apple.
[via DVICE]
August 14 2009, 2:25pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/06/23/iphone-3g-ultrasn0w-unlock-released/
The iPhone dev-team has released Ultrasn0w to SIM unlock the iPhone 3G running the 3.0 firmware. It’s available via Cydia, which installs when you use the recently released PwnageTool to unlock the 3.0 firmware. There doesn’t seem to be any caveats besides advising T-Mobile US users to turn off 3G before install.
June 23 2009, 2:25pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/06/17/iphone-3-0-tethering-is-easy/
Did you upgrade your iPhone to 3.0 yet? 9 to 5 Mac has posted a very good reason to upgrade: enabling tethering is almost stupidly simple. Just run a simple command and then go through a restore procedure. All thats left is to sit back and enjoy your other new features you could find on a four year old Nokia.
[Related: ultrasn0w announced]
[via @waxpancake]
June 17 2009, 7:05pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/06/16/dell-vostro-a90-hackintosh/
A friend recently commissioned us to install OSX on a netbook. We advised him to purchase the Dell Vostro A90. It’s essentially a rebadged Dell Mini 9, a model that has been discontinued, but is well suited for OSX. It’s only available with a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM, and 16GB SSD. Depending on what deals are available, it’s $250-$300. We also had him purchase a 2GB stick of RAM which is the upper limit supported by the BIOS.
Having read Gizmodo’s guide earlier, we knew that process would not be too difficult. The install has actually gotten even easier in the last few months. We followed the DellEFI guide hosted on mechdrew without many problems. The only equipment we needed was a retail Leopard disk, a Mac, and our trusty USB/SATA adapter attached to an old 120GB laptop drive. We copied our image of a legitimate 10.5.6 retail disk to the harddrive and then used DellEFIBootMaker to make it bootable. We copied the DellEFI 1.2a5 program and the 10.5.7 cumulative update to the drive as well. With this, the drive had everything we needed to complete the install.
Plugging the drive into the Vostro A90 we dropped into the BIOS setup to turn on USB legacy support so we could boot the drive. We found that we’d often have to go to BIOS first, then exit in order to give the drive time to spin up and appear in the boot menu. After partitioning the laptop drive, the installation is identical to any other Leopard install. The process froze on us on two separate occasions before we got a complete install. It was just a matter of try, try again to get it to work. We think it may have been the fault of the drive we were using. After that completed, we were able to boot our brand new OSX machine and install the 10.5.7 update. We used DellEFI to install the permanent bootloader.
Everything seems to work fine and it’s a lovely little machine. We highly recommend the DellEFI single USB drive method which was Version 3.02 at time of writing.
[Bonus: Hack a Day wallpaper design by John Keppel]
June 16 2009, 12:44pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/04/27/ipod-spinning-vinyl/
Here’s a quick demo that FAT’s [Theo Watson] put together. It uses the iPod’s accelerometer to measure how fast it’s spinning and plays the sound file accordingly. This only works on the iPod touch 2nd gen because of its curved case. He says scratching is coming next, but currently the app doesn’t know which direction it’s spinning since it’s measuring outward force. This project was done in response to [vanderlin]’s AR scratching that used fiducials on records.
April 27 2009, 6:48pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/04/22/tuio-multitouch-on-iphone-via-browser-hack/
When the MSAFluids Remote multitouch App was rejected, a developer found a way to get virtually the same effect using a safari App. They’re using the TUIO protocol to get the desired remote control. This opens up the door to extending Applications through the browser as well. While this probably wouldn’t allow you to utilize the other sensor inputs from your device, like accelerometer data, it will allow for fast prototyping of applications that don’t need that.
April 22 2009, 5:25pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/04/02/mac-lcd-logo-tutorial/
[Eddie], who made the Mac Logo LCD Mod, had posted a step by step tutorial on how to do it yourself. He basically just fully disassembled his MacBook, popped out the logo, put one from an iBook or Powerbook, then mounted a small LCD back there and routed it into a USB port internally. He says the extra electronics cause a tiny bulge in the monitor casing. We wonder if this couldn’t lead to stress damage on the main LCD in the long run.
[thanks Koray]
April 2 2009, 12:25pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/18/hacking-the-magsafe/
This is a simple hack that could come in handy one day. [Mooner] wanted to use a Kensington universial power supply with his Macbook Pro, but found the adapters and peripherals involved “hideous”. His solution was to wire directly to the Kensington power supply. It’s pretty simple really, only a couple resistors are needed. It’s nice to have someone else do the research for you sometimes. While his final picture does look neat and tidy, we just don’t know how much of an improvement he’s made to the aesthetics. What do you think?
March 18 2009, 4:19pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/17/iphone-30-adds-custom-protocol-support-for-addons/
In middle of all the adding features that should have been available day-one, Apple announced something really interesting for the hardware hacking community. The new iPhone 3.0 OS will support application communication over bluetooth or through the dock connector using standard or custom protocols. From Engadget’s coverage:
10:19AM “They talk over the dock, and wirelessly over Bluetooth. Things like playing and pausing music, getting artwork — or you can build your own custom protocols.”
10:19AM “Now here’s a class that we think will be really interesting — medical devices.” Scott’s showing off a blood pressure reader that interfaces with the iPhone — wild.
10:18AM “Here’s an example — an FM transmitter. With 3.0, the dev can build a custom app that pairs up with it, and automatically finds the right station and tunes it in.”
10:18AM “With 3.0, we’re going to enable accessory developers to build custom apps that talk directly to that hardware.”
No solid connection specification has been published yet. We’re excited about the prospect of developing our own accessory hardware, but we wonder what sort of hoops you’ll have to jump through. Apple doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to approvals. Just this week they denied MSA Remote client App Store entry; it’s a multitouch client that uses the standard TUIO protocol. Prepare for similar roadblocks in the future.
[via adafruit]
March 17 2009, 3:00pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/13/apple-logo-secondary-monitor/
MacMod member [EdsJunk] has modified the Apple logo on his MacBook to act as a second video display (cache). There’s a video embedded below showing it playing Quicktime videos and the iTunes visualizer. Unfortunately there aren’t any details of the hardware used. From the display settings, it looks to have a resolution of at least 640×480. We hope to see more details soon.
[Thanks Astera]
March 13 2009, 3:14pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/10/ipod-touch-2g-jailbreak-released/
The iPod Touch 2G jailbreak was first shown in January. It had to be applied every time the iPod was booted. The iphone-dev team just released the 24kpwn LLB patch to allow for a persistent jailbreak. The team had been hanging on to this patch because there was the possibility the exploit could be used on future iPhone versions. Unfortunately, a group started selling the code, so the team was forced to release it for free. iPod owners are certainly happy though. There is a tutorial available for updating a factory reset iPod (backup link). The team will include the patch in future official tools.
UPDATE: [cptfalcon] pointed out a post that covers the technical details of the exploit.
[photo: Joits]
March 11 2009, 1:20am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/03/02/restoring-yellowed-computer-plastics/
Many of our cherished computers and consoles from the past have not stood up well over time. It’s not the hardware as much as the color. From Commodores, Apples, to Super Nintendos, the machines have slowly drifted towards a sickly yellow and even brown. The culprit appears to be the fire retardant chemicals used in the plastics. Amiga enthusiasts have spent the last year perfecting a technique that restores the plastic of these machines to its original splendor. Dubbed ‘Retr0brite‘ it’s a gel made from hydrogen peroxide, xanthan gum, glycerine, and ‘Oxy’ style laundry booster. The results are really impressive. If you do start restoring your own machines, caution should be used since it requires strong concentrations of hydrogen peroxide typically employed in bleaching hair.
[via Waxy]
March 2 2009, 2:19pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/02/21/dell-mini-9-osx-install/
Installing OSX on commodity PC hardware has advanced a lot since the early days of OSx86 when Apple switched to Intel. With the advent of netbooks, a new target platform has emerged; one that doesn’t have an official Apple equivalent. The small subset of models means that it’s easy to find someone else that has the same machine as you, but it still takes some forum walking to bring all the pieces together. Gizmodo has done this and compiled a comprehensive guide for the Dell Mini 9. The Mini 9 is a very nice machine and according to Boing Boing Gadgets’ chart, one of the most compatible with OSX. Earlier this week you could purchase a new one for just $200.
For Gizmodo’s install, they used a Leopard retail DVD with [Type11]’s bootloader. They’re breaking the EULA, but at least it’s not piracy. They had to use both a DVD drive and a USB hard drive because device recognition was flakey. Despite this, the actual install process doesn’t appear to be too difficult. They say all the hardware works, “The Mini 9 is a beautiful OS X machine.” Check out this Hackit to learn about netbook OSX experiences from other Hack a Day readers.
February 21 2009, 4:40pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/02/03/hackit-are-you-running-osx-on-your-netbook/
AppleDifferent decided to run some benchmarks on their MSI Wind hackintosh to see how it stacked up to real Apple hardware. It comes in under the MacBook Air in most cases and they conclude that it performs about as well as a four year old G4. Being so small and inexpensive, you can’t really expect much better. As a counterpoint, Obsessable posted a video demoing just how slow a first generation Eee PC can be (embedded below). Boing Boing Gadgets is maintaining an OSX netbook compatibility chart. It shows that the MSI Wind is probably the best case for OSX usability. If we were buying today, we’d probably pick up a Dell Mini 9 even though it requires an SSD upgrade before it will sleep properly.
Are any of you running OSX as the primary OS on your netbooks? What has your experience been?
February 3 2009, 9:01pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/29/boxee-and-apple-tv/
We’ve been following Boxee (not Boxxy) since its public alpha debut last Summer. We were captivated by it. Who expected a project built off of code originally intended for hacked Xboxes would be shown on NBC’s Today Show? We’ve been promised internet connected set top boxes for years, but it seems like Boxee is here to stay for two solid reasons: 1. It’s free. 2. Major content providers have finally figured out how to publish online and Boxee supports them. You can replace your network television with on demand content from Hulu, ABC, and the like.
One of the most affordable platforms currently supported by Boxee is the Apple TV. Lifehacker has a guide for installing Boxee on an Apple TV. You prepare a USB flash drive that is then used to patch the stock firmware. Once installed you can take advantage fun features like downloading torrents directly to the box.
January 29 2009, 8:16pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/23/adding-right-click-to-a-macbook-pro/
Surprisingly, one of the most common complaints we hear from people trying out macs are the fact that there isn’t a right click. The latest version, the unibody, has an option that remedies this, but older versions are stuck without. While you could always plug a USB mouse in, that is hardly a hacker’s solution. [spiritplumber] sent us this mod he did, adding right click functionality to his Macbook Pro. It is worth noting that this is meant for the 2006 to 2008 version of the Macbook Pro. You’re on your own for different ones.
[spiritplumber] points out that there are test points on the back of the track pad that emulate certain events. One of wich, just happens to be a right click. He shows us how to wire this, to a home made contact button under the right corner of the track pad. This can be potentially hazardous to your macbook, so be careful and follow his tips for soldering. If you want, you can do the same to the opposite side for your left click, or just leave it the way it is. You can see a video of it in action after the break.
January 23 2009, 10:17am | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/17/ipod-touch-2g-jailbreak-demoed/
Now that the iphone-dev team has unlocked the iPhone 3G they’re moving onto jailbreaking the iPod Touch 2G. While they have a fully working jailbreak, it’s not yet in a user friendly format. [MuscleNerd] did a live video demo this afternoon to show what progress they had made. It starts with him showing the iPod on but not booting. He’s already patched the kernel, but it’s failing the signature check in iboot. He then uses the team’s recoverytool to exploit a hole in iboot and patch out the signature check. The iPod then boots normally and he shows non-App Store software like Mobile Terminal, Cydia, and an NES Emulator (which makes use of the iPod’s internal speaker).
The redsn0w jailbreak works, but it has to be applied via tether every time the iPod boots. The team won’t release anything until they’ve found a way around this problem. For more insight into the boot process, check out our coverage of their Hacking the iPhone talk at 25C3.
January 17 2009, 8:35pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/14/apple-forces-wired-to-take-down-netbook-osx86-video/
Wired Gadget Lab has taken down a video made by [Brian X. Chen] in which he gives a brief overview and demonstration of how to install OSX on an MSI Wind netbook. This apparently didn’t sit well with Apple, who contacted Wired and complained; Wired agreed and removed the video. Frankly, we’re disappointed with Wired’s response. While they were technically posting content which is questionable at best—in the video, Brian mentions that this is illegal and that it would be a good idea to have a retail copy of OSX on hand, but then goes on to point out that you can also download the hacked operating system off The Pirate Bay, Isohunt, etc—the video in and of itself wasn’t illegal, and thus Wired comes off as susceptible to what amounts to bullying by Apple. We’re all about creativity and innovation, and stifling that innovative spirit has never worked well in the long run.
Fortunately, if you’re feeling like you’ve missed out on the video, don’t despair: Gizmodo has posted the video on their website for you to view and enjoy.
[photo: Brian X. Chen]
January 14 2009, 4:21pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2009/01/01/iphone-3g-unlock-released/
As promised, the iphone-dev team has released yellowsn0w. You can install/uninstall via Cydia. It works fine with the latest firmware too. This sentence is filler.
January 1 2009, 2:31pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2008/12/28/25c3-hacking-the-iphone/
As promised in their yellowsnow demo, [pytey], [MuscleNerd], and [planetbeing] from the iphone-dev team presented at 25C3 on their work Hacking the iPhone. The team originally formed in 2007 and this is the most comprehensive presentation on how the iPhone was compromised to date. You can find the full talk embedded above.
They opened with a few stats about how popular their software is. Our favorite by far is that at least 180 people with Apple corporate IPs update their phones using the dev-team’s software on a regular basis. From there the talk was split into two sections: jailbreaking the S5L application processor and unlocking the S-Gold baseband processor.
The phone relies on a chain of trust to guarantee that only Apple’s code is being run on it. All of userland is signature checked by the kernel. The kernel is checked when loaded by iboot. The iboot image is checked when loaded by LLB. LLB is loaded from the NOR by the lowest piece of code, the bootrom. That’s where things fall apart; the bootrom does not check the signature of the LLB. To take advantage of this, the team found what they describe as a classic stack buffer overflow in DFU mode. DFU is Device Firmware Upgrade mode, a state that the phone can be forced into after the bootrom loads. Their exploit forces the certificate check to return ‘true’. They are then able to patch all of the subsequent signature checks out of the phone’s system.
The baseband processor proved to be much more difficult simply because it doesn’t have any sort of recovery mode; bricking a phone was always a possibility. The S-Gold is a complete system-on-chip and has a unique ID on each phone. The NOR also has a unique ID on each phone. These two IDs are used to sign the secpack, which in turn enforces the SIM carrier lock. These unique IDs are why you can’t just take an officially unlocked phone and copy the secpack off of it to unlock another phone. Everything else is identical: the firmware, the baseband, the bootroom are all the same. On the second generation iPhone, the bootrom checks the bootloader. The bootloader then verifies the bootrom before checking and then loading the firmware. The firmware enforces the carrier lock. The team decided that it wasn’t worth attempting to break the chain of trust. The SIM unlock code they developed is divided into two sections. The first part is the actual software unlock. They patch the firmware while it’s running in RAM. Their patch modifies the firmware’s decision tree about whether to enforce the carrier lock. The second half is the exploit that allows them to inject the code. The team knows that Apple can and probably will patch the exploit hole, but their RAM patching code will always work, so it’s just a matter of finding another hole to apply it through. In order to do a permanent unlock solution (like on the first generation iPhone), they’d need to analyze the actual bootrom code.
The team mentioned several things Apple did that actually helped them in their efforts. Security was gradually rolled out, so they were able to look at things that would eventually be hidden. The firmware was initially unencrypted. Earlier versions trusted iTunes, something they could easily modify. All userland apps originally ran as root meaning any application exploit gave root level access.
The iphone-dev team has truly put in a tremendous amount of effort and we look forward to the yellowsn0w release on New Year’s Eve.
December 28 2008, 3:59pm | More »
I posted to hackaday.com
http://hackaday.com/2008/12/22/wiimote-driven-motion-effects/
Check out the video above by [Adrien Mondot] for a extensive demonstration of eMotion being used with a Wiimote. eMotion is a physics based visual tool for the Mac. It’s designed to enhance performances by reacting to real world motion. Its grounding in physics makes the resultant motion appear more natural than if they were arbitrarily generated. The video above combines eMotion with the output of Wiimote Whiteboard, a low-cost interactive white board that uses the Wiimote camera plus IR light pens. While the video takes place in a small area, we can see how this could be scaled to a much larger space with IR lights mounted to performers.
[via CDM]
December 22 2008, 6:00pm | More »
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