Those crazy MacHeisters are at it again, and this time the deal is even harder to resist.
The first ever MacHeist Nano won’t cost you a penny. You can download, without charge, fully licensed copies of ShoveBox, WriteRoom, Twitterific, TinyGrab, and Hordes of Orcs. If 500,000 people take part (which I think is a pretty safe [...]
A couple of weeks back, I wrote Temporarily Get More iPhone Home Screens Via Cunning Bug Exploit, but had heard staying away from the iTunes Applications tab within my iPhone was probably a Very Good Idea. Reader Larry Pressnell noted that since the most recent iTunes update, his extra screens have been accessible in iTunes.
Since [...]
I really like Stacks on my Mac. Stacks makes it fast and easy to find files, folders and apps right from the Dock. It makes managing a Mac pretty slick with all sorts of little UI tricks. That’s why I recently gave MobileStack a go on my jailbroken iPhone.
I must say that it lives up to the [...]
Is this Steve Jobs driving a tank in a classic Apple TV spot from the late 1990s? That was the rumor at the time: Jobs was making cameos in Apple commercials.
Ken Segall, the TBWA ad man responsible for naming the iMac and Think Different, reveals the truth after the jump. He also shares some rare [...]
Full category list for displayed posts: Apple, Hardware Hacks
3:52 pm, November 6th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Serious craft from Japan’s Mobile Art Lab in transforming the iPhone into an amazing interactive image in a children’s story book from the future. I love it. All kids should get one for Christmas.
You can read what it’s all about in this Google Translation of their page.
Via dsonz
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Apple, Hardware Hacks | 10 Comments »
4:24 pm, November 4th, 2009, Leander Kahney
Last week’s bombshell that Apple’s upcoming OS 10.6.2 update dropped support for Atom processors seems to be unfounded.
The Atom is the chip of choice in netbook hackintoshes, and many speculated that Apple was trying to kill the hackintosh market.
But Stell, the hacker who first sounded the alarm, now says support for Atom is mysteriously back.
“… in the latest development build Atom appears to have resurrected itself zombie style in 10C535. The Atom lives another day, but nothing is concrete until the final version of 10.6.2 is out.”
Posted by Leander Kahney in Hardware Hacks, News, OS X | 2 Comments »
2:19 am, November 3rd, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Kara Johnson, a material scientist at design and engineering firm IDEO, has just posted up a fun behind-the-scenes look at how some of her colleagues created the above shot of a 12″ PowerBook for dinner as part of her book I Miss My Pencil.
It’s actually surprisingly hard to wreak such meticulous havoc, and it’s fun to see the process of great engineers up close — especially since IDEO and its predecessor David Kelley Design engineered a huge number of Apple products from the late ’70s into the mid-’90s.
Hit the link to see the full process, if you’re not traumatized by the sight of violence against a Mac.
“Taking a Bite Out of Apple” [IDEO Labs]
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Apple, Hardware Hacks | No Comments »
10:56 am, September 23rd, 2009, Leander Kahney
In an embarrassing turn of events, Palm has gotten the smackdown from a USB industry group over a software hack that enables Palm’s Pre smartphone to sync with iTunes.
When Palm released the Pre earlier this year, the company cleverly spoofed Apple’s unique USB identifier to fool iTunes into thinking the Pre was an Apple device, allowing it to sync songs and playlists. It was a sneaky but daring move for Palm, ensuring the Pre was compatible with the market-leading music software.
But Apple repeatedly disabled the hack with a series of iTunes updates, so Palm sent a letter to the USB Implementers Forum, an industry group that oversees the USB standard, claiming Apple is “hampering competition.”
But in a response to Apple and Palm on Tuesday, the group sided with Apple, saying Palm’s spoofing of Apple’s ID likely violates USB-IF policy.
“Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm’s usage,” “the group said in a letter obtained by Digital Daily.
“Usage of any other company’s Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm’s expressed intent to use Apple’s VID appears to violate the attached policy,” the letter continued.
Embarrassing. Clearly not the response Palm was hoping for.
The USB Forum asked Palm to clarify its position and respond within seven days. Palm told Digital Daily it is reviewing the Forum’s letter and will “respond as appropriate.”
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, Hardware Hacks, News, iTunes | 7 Comments »
6:59 am, September 21st, 2009, Giles Turnbull
It rotates and everything
This fantastic rotating iPhone dock is made entirely of Lego. It’s the work of Steven Combs, a long time Lego and Mac enthusiast who runs web sites for adult fans of Lego and fans of technology generally.
Here’s a video showing the rotating mechanism in action:
I wanted to know a little more about hacking Macs with Lego add-ons, so I bombarded Steven with a few questions. And here’s what he said.
Posted by Giles Turnbull in Hardware Hacks, How tos, Interviews, News, Top stories, iPhone, iPod | 2 Comments »
1:43 am, September 21st, 2009, Pete Mortensen
I’ll admit to it — I used and loved Internet Tethering on my iPhone with the help of the ridiculously simple hack found at Benm.at. But I also love to keep current, so I updated to iPhone OS 3.1 on day one (though I’m now wondering why, a topic for another day). Unlike some reports, my tethering menu survived the transition, but my Visual Voicemail went down in the process.
And after two weeks of living with this situation, I ultimately decided I was happier with the VVM than I was with tethering. In the same boat? It’s really easy to get things back to normal. Just go into your iPhone’s Settings, then General, Network, Profile, and remove the AT&T profile that enabled tethering. Voila! You’ll have any missing visual voicemail back on your phone in a second.
The one downside — and it is a big downside — is that tethering is a goner as soon as you sync your phone. Sure would be nice if AT&T would go ahead and release an official solution, huh?
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Hardware Hacks, iPhone | 15 Comments »
11:14 am, August 25th, 2009, Leander Kahney
For just $35, a professional hardware called Reid will swap out your MacBook Pro’s optical drive for a super-speedy SSD drive.
Why would you want to do this? Because the SSD drive is an unbelievable 7x faster than a traditional hard drive, even a fast one. Use it as your boot disk, and the OS will fly. Store your movies and pron on the regular hard drive, which remains intact.
Reid already has this two-drive setup running on his new MacBook Pro. Reid took out the optical drive, which opened up a spare SATA interface. Apple doesn’t use standard SATA connectors, so Reid had to make his own by chaining together a couple of adapters from Fry’s and Amazon. It’s not pretty, but it works.
Reid is using the SSD as his boot disk and discovered that it runs an incredible 7x faster than his already fast 7200 rpm hard drive (which he’d upgraded also).
It cost about $300. “So, FOR LESS THAN APPLE CHARGES for the single 128GB SSD upgrade (which really is a POS, if you ask me), I got 280GB of reliable hard disk space. FmyWarranty!” he writes on his blog.
He’s now offering to sell the adapter for $30 apiece (plus free shipping). Or he will perform the upgrade himself for $35 (he’s a pr0). The customer supplies the parts. An 80GB SSD runs about $200.
“Just send me a heads up, a check, a second sata drive*, and your MacBook Pro (with a tracking #, PLEASE) and I’ll return the computer to you a day after it arrives (UPS $14.00).”
Email Reid at: reid.ttmmgwtf@installstuff.com
Posted by Leander Kahney in Customer Services, Hardware, Hardware Hacks, News | 13 Comments »
4:03 am, August 21st, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Lovely DIY iPhone stand from Geeky Gadgets reader Frederick Weller. I’d gladly put on on my bedside table if I weren’t too lazy to make my own.
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Hardware Hacks | 5 Comments »
8:16 am, July 31st, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
Apple plans to release a security patch on Saturday to address a security issue for iPhone users that had some worried third party criminals could gain control over their phones remotely, the BBC reported on Friday.
Noted security experts Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner revealed a major security exploit in SMS technology Thursday at the 2009 Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas. The exploit sent shockwaves through the wireless world and caused owners of mobile phones no end of terror over the prospect that bad guys might gain control over their devices by sending a series of simple SMS messages, including one containing a single square character, which would be the only indication of the hack.
Miller and Mulliner reportedly chose to reveal the exploit, which is applicable to all mobile platforms including iPhone OS, Android and Windows Mobile, at Black Hat after Apple had been unresponsive in the wake of their showing it to company officials earlier in July.
It was not immediately clear whether the patch reported by the BBC would be available to all iPhone users or just to those in the UK. Calls to Apple PR were unreturned at press time, but we’ll update the story as more information becomes available.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Hardware Hacks, News, iPhone | No Comments »
9:54 pm, July 7th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Having now lived with an iPhone 3GS for the better part of three weeks, I remain incredibly impressed with the device. It’s powerful, fast, and running extremely mature software that’s delightfully quirk-free.
That said, it’s also become apparent that if you’re actually interested in using the phone for its intended use (web browsing, e-mail and video), battery life is ridiculously inadequate. In spite of assurances at WWDC, the 3GS only lasts marginally longer than the 3G, and I often need to charge up mid-afternoon to make sure i have decent battery for my train ride home.
Yesterday, things really went out of wack, and I could literally watch my charge diminish by 2 percent per minute when I was doing nothing so much as leaving it on my desk. A restart fixed it, but it was an extreme case of a persistent problem.
I started thinking about all of this thanks to Joel Johnson’s review of the Mophie Juice Pack Air over at BB Gadgets today. I still think having any case would be a downer, but the extra battery power is becoming increasingly necessary to enjoy my long-awaited iPhone in the manner I choose. That said, I can’t really bring myself to by one of those big battery packs that hold four times the charge, or what have you — afraid of losing it.
What’s been your experience? Do you moderate your Flight Control play to preserve your talk time? Or do you sport a bonus battery pack?
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Hardware Hacks, iPhone 3G S | 15 Comments »
7:48 am, July 3rd, 2009, Leander Kahney
A screenshot of the purplra1n website, which offeres the first jailbreak app for the iPhone 3GS.
The first jailbreak application for the iPhone 3GS has been released by premier iPhone hacker George Hotz.
Named “purplera1n,” the unlocking software is Windows-only. Hotz says a jailbreak for Mac is “coming shortly.”
Hotz’s application requires an iPhone 3GS running the 3.0 OS, and the latest version of iTunes — 8.2. Hotz warns that the unlock s beat and to back up the iPhone before running it.
The unlocking process seems straightforward. Writes Hotz on his blog: “Connect your iPhone normally. Click ‘make it ra1n.’ Wait. On bootup, run Freeze, the purplera1n installer app. Hopefully you’ll figure out what to do from there.”
There is another jailbreaking application for the iPhone 3.0 from the iPhone Dev Team (The 19-year old Hotz was associated with the group, but split with it). The Dev Team’s app will not work on the iPhone 3GS.
Jailbreaking allows an iPhone and iPod touch to to run unapproved apps through unofficial installers like Cydia and Icy.
Jailbreaking is not unlocking, a different, distinct process that frees the iPhone from the current carrier and makes it available for use with other wireless networks.
Needless to say, Apple sanctions neither process. Both have their risks and have been known to “brick” devices.
Hotz gained fame in 2007 when he became the first person to unlock the original iPhone. Using a combination of software and hardware hacks, the then 17-year-old tried to sell the hacked iPhone on eBay, but pulled the auction when jokers raised the bid price to more than $100 million.
He shortly traded the unlocked iPhone for three locked iPhones and a Nissan 350Z with Terry Daidone, founder of Certicell, a phone repair company in Louisville, KY.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Hardware Hacks, News, Software, iPhone 3G S | 3 Comments »
10:23 pm, June 29th, 2009, Pete Mortensen
Remember when Lonnie told you about an easy, fool-proof way to turn on iPhone tethering in the US? Well, there’s a way, way easier method, and it’s much, much more foolproof.
Simply point Mobile Safari to http://help.benm.at, select your country, download the profile for your carrier, and install. The settings menu will add an Internet Tethering toggle in the Network section. Then just pair with your computer over Bluetooth or plug in via USB  and go. No restart required. It’s really that easy.
Performance has been rock-solid in my experience, both for tethering Mac and Windows machines. Performance is terrible on EDGE and very nice on 3G, with battery life not noticeably worse than just browsing on Safari. And maybe a little bitter once the display goes to sleep. But I’m not running BitTorrent through the thing, either.
AT&T should have a killer offering on their hands once this actually ships. It would also be nice if AT&T tweaks the interface so you can turn on tethering without pulling your phone out of your pocket. Honestly, the only complaint I have. Anyone tried it outside the US? Really seems like something that should fly under the radar so long as you’re not downloading the whole Internet over it…
And, it goes without saying, this is use at your own risk and Apple will laugh at you if you brick your phone.
(And yes, I know we’re late, but I never recommend running something risky on your hardware if I haven’t done it myself. This is as close to safe as it gets.)
Richard Lai via Engadget
Posted by Pete Mortensen in Hardware Hacks, Top stories, iPhone | 24 Comments »
6:40 am, June 29th, 2009, Lonnie Lazar
iPhone 3G S jailbroken just weeks after release
The iPhone Dev Team, the tireless hackers who provide software to jailbreak iPhones, know how to unlock the iPhone 3G S, but have decided to hold off releasing the software publicly pending Apple’s next move in the two year-old cat and mouse game between the company and the rogue user community.
“We can jailbreak the 3GS right now,” said a statement at the Dev-Team Blog, “but making our jailbreak public at this point … would in fact be detrimental to many more people than it would help. So we feel it’s best to keep our version of the jailbreak out of Apple’s sights for the time being.”
The crux of the problem seems to be a Dev Team concern that Apple will soon release an update to 3.0 software that will close the ultrasn0w exploit released last week that jailbreaks iPhone 3G running 3.0 software, and that many people who want to get an iPhone 3G S don’t have one yet.
“Once the [3G S] jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it,” the blog post explains. “[Apple] 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.”
For now the team has decided to work on 3.0 software issues such as push notification and will wait and see what Apple does next.
Posted by Lonnie Lazar in Apple, Hardware Hacks, News, Software, iPhone | 6 Comments »
10:59 am, June 23rd, 2009, Leander Kahney
George Hotz is one of the leading iPhone hackers.
Hacker George Hotz appears to have found a way to jailbreak and unlock the iPhone 3GS.
The 19-year-old Hotz, better known as GeoHot, may have found a hole in the iPhone 3GS boot sequence, which will allow hackers to unlock the device.
The crack comes just days after the release of the new iPhone. Previous jailbreaking hacks have sometimes taken weeks.
Details are hazy, however. Hotz has posted a screenshot that appears to show a custom command inserted into the iPhone’s iBoot, implying that signature checks had been bypassed, according to one explanation in the comments of the post. If so, it’s the first step in jailbreaking the device.
In addition, the just-released UltraSn0w unlock should also be compatible with the iPhone 3GS.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Hardware Hacks, News, iPhone 3G S | 8 Comments »
8:59 am, June 23rd, 2009, Leander Kahney
The Dev-Team, an iPhone hacking group, has released a free jailbreaking and unlocking tool for the iPhone 3.0 OS.
Called UltraSn0w, the easy to use unlocking tool jailbreaks the 3.0 iPhone to allow unauthorized apps and unlocks it for use with other carriers.
Posted by Leander Kahney in Hardware Hacks, News, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch | 3 Comments »
Sure, I could write a whole How-To on rolling your own “Back To My Mac.” It involves port forwarding, obtaining a Dynamic DNS, blah blah blah.
Or you could use the iPhone app LogMeIn Ignition [iTunes Link] to remotely access to your Mac or PC in three steps.
This is a great idea, and bound to go down very well with your kids.
Balloons is simple: you launch a virtual balloon into the air from your phone. You add a photo and a text message to the label that dangles below the balloon, and send it off.
Anyone with the Balloons app can catch [...]
The San Francisco based company Waterfield presents the Muzetto laptop bag. This “urban man bag” will make the geekiest nerd feel hip. Don’t be surprised when your fashion-forward girlfriend tries to steal it.
Designed as a lightweight laptop tote, this bag is high quality; it’s made from distressed dark brown leather and [...]
Seems like a no-brainer: Take two different concepts that work great separately, Frankenstein them together and — viola! Instant more amazingness!
Except we all know how the Frankenstein story ended. The LiquidAUX story isn’t as ugly as that. But it isn’t pretty either.
Bash the jump for the full review.
Some readers might remember the fuss a few weeks ago, when Snow Leopard came out and people noticed that it did something screwy to the way files behave.
George Hotz a.k.a GeoHot has released blackra1n RC3, which is an update to a 1-click jailbreak that adds activation options and an add-on blacksn0w, which unlocks latest iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS baseband version 05.11.07. To use blacksn0w, make sure you have this new baseband (check under Settings –> General –> About –> Modem Firmware) [...]
As I noted a couple of weeks ago, I want a way to view all my iPhone apps on my iPhone, not just through iTunes. I review lots of iPhone apps and am a keen iPhone gamer. When apps vanish into the void, I forget they’re there (and so Spotlight isn’t much use), and it’s [...]
Our recent preview of Lightroom 3 – Beta has generated a lot of buzz about the future of digital processing. One of the questions that keeps coming up is: how do I migrate from Aperture to Lightroom?
Well, it’s not has hard as you think, as long as you’re willing to invest a bit of time [...]
