Developer xxDriveNxx has recently released an application iPod video owners here may want to take a look at. It's a modified firmware that will enable your iPod Video to handle like Apple's iPod Classic series of players. There are two version of this file for download: One is for the iPod 5.0Gs, the other is for the iPod 5.5Gs. The 5G version is currently at 1.0, while the release 5.5 is now at version 1.0.2, and carries these tweaks since 1.0:

• Photos menu and some pictures fixed
• Resource/image only versions have just been uploaded!
• Search is fully fixed, and BG image updated again!
  

Before you get started uploading this custom fw to your iPod, however, we advise the users to follow xxDriveNxx's several reminders:

• Make sure you have the correct firmware for your ipod. If you have a 5g get the 5g firmware. If you have a 5.5g get the 5.5g firmware.
• Make sure your using the latest version of IpodWizard (1.3.7).
• Make sure no other programs are accessing your ipod at the time of writing the firmware. Including Itunes.
• Make sure you give IpodWizard time to write the firmware, it will alert you when the writing is complete.
• Safely eject your ipod with the "Eject" button in IpodWizard.
  

Aside from xxDriveNxx, full credits for this firmware also go to developers H3X, bounci.rabbit.123, vettefan, saXas, matthew98, and supernatural. We advise users to view their bundle's readme for further details.

Download: iPod Classic to iPod Video 5G (v1.0)
Download: iPod Classic to iPod Video 5.5G (v1.0.2)

The first release of iJailbreak for the iPod Touch is here. For those who are new with the "jailbreaking" scene, it was first started by Niacin, Dre, Martyn, NerveGas, and the rest of their team. They had created a preliminary jailbreak for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The release today is of iJailbreak v0.2.1 - a jailbreaking application built on the preliminary hack from last week.

iJailbreak is a program that you run on your Mac OS X Tiger - yeah, as for now, the Power PC users would have to sit and wait a bit -  so that you can basically "free up" you iPod Touch to allow third party applications. What's interesting here is that it was coded by AriX, a 13 year old!

You can download the app below and install it on your Mac. Just be careful with working on this as there have already been reports of freeze ups. If anything happens, you can still always restore your iPod back to factory default settings using iTunes.

Download: iJailbreak v0.2.1

We'll be announcing the release of another iPhone hack today, created by a dev team consisting of Nicholas "Drudge" Penree, NerveGas (the developer behind NES.app), and Pumpkin. This patch will enable you to add 3rd-party apps to your phone's Springboard.

Before you decide to decide to upload this patch, however, be reminded that you will need to jailbreak your iPhone's fw 1.1.1. While such a jailbreak already exists, it's still in the early stages of development and hosts several bugs. If you think you're really up to this new patch, you'll find it available via the dev team's beta repository over at their site.

We further warn the readers that the applications in the said repository are all beta releases - even the dev team warns users that they may risk corrupting the data on their phone.

In a previous post, we reported that iPhone hacker Niacin found a TIFF exploit for both the iPhone and iPod Touch. He has recently announced that they have released the code to perform the hack granting users full root level access even without upgrading to v1.0.2.

Before reading on, be advised that this hack could potentially brick your unit, so run it at your own risk.

To run this exploit, you should access http://jailbreak.toc2rta.com from your iPhone or iPod Touch's browser. This will crash the browser but will give you full read/write access to the system. To edit or move some of the files, you will need to have IPHUC (iPHoneUtilityClient) installed as well as some knowledge on using both the put file and get file commands.

Since this is the first release of the hack, it is still in its early phases and may be a bit intimidating for less tech savvy iPhone and iPod Touch users. Niacin has given word that a tutorial will be posted soon as well as the full details on how the TIFF exploit works.

It looks like another crack has been found in the Apple iPhone's constant security updates. We have just received word that a developer team has successfully executed what appears to be a preliminary jailbreak of the iPhone's firmware 1.1.1. For the guys asking about this terminology, "jailbreak" is a term used for an action that enables files on the phone to be accessed from the outside.

And by preliminary, we mean that this attempt is far from a public release due to its numerous bugs and problems. Here reads the dev team's notes:

• Third Party apps run. Kind of. We probably have to recompile many of them for the new frameworks because many of them crash.
• Springboard no longer recognizes DisplayOrder.plist. And the list of "whitelisted" apps (that is, the official Applications including Safari, Photos, Calendar, etc) seems to be hard-coded into Springboard.app
• The iPhone has been activated via third-party workarounds.
• The 1.1.1 binaries barely work with 1.0.2 -- at least not well enough to run the music store without major hacking.
• The Mobile Terminal App works on 1.1.1.
• The entire bsd suite still works -- as do standard command-line utilities compiled for ARM.
• 1.1.1 references both com.apple.mobile.radio and com.apple.mobile.nike.
• The jailbreak method is nowhere near ready for prime time. So please be patient.

The devs will have quite a handful to work with in the upcoming weeks, although we imagine the readers will find this to be very good news. Keep on the lookout in case the team manages to make any more progress in the near future.

We thank Lostlogic for informing us of this news!

Despite Apple's constant reminders regarding the irreparable damage that can be caused by iPhone hacks, the underground community remains adamant and keeps on finding ways to pass through the security features of the mobile phone.

Just like now, we got word that third-party programs were already ported to iPhone running on firmware 1.1.1. The hacker responsible for this latest development goes by the user name asap18 and the picture on the right is the proof of his work.

The home screen can now reportedly hold up to 15 icons with the last one reserved for iTunes. Both the official and third-party programs have been tested and are working fine. Furthermore, reports added that sap18 was able to access an option that will allow users International capabilities in Springboard.

When developed to the fullest, this may lead to foreign language application support for the phone in countries like Germany and France.

Locked of the Hackintosh forums announced that a TIFF exploit on iPhone's 1.1.1 firmware has been discovered and could potentially be the key hackers have been looking for to crack the system. The method was discovered by Niacin and is essentially the same method that was used to "open up" the PSP firmware.

The iPhone hackers got it to work by opening a specific TIFF image which in turn crashed Mobile Safari thereby creating a buffer overflow. Once they got to this stage, it allowed them to launch unsigned code on Apple's newest baby. Later posts from Locked further confirmed that code execution was indeed possible using the hack and a proof of concept code will be released very soon.

While this is in no means a complete crack of the unit, this newly found backdoor into the system could lead into the development of custom firmware and potentially homebrew for iPhone.

iPhoneSIMfree, the pay-per-unit-license solution to satisfy iPhone unlocking needs, appears to resolve the bricking of iPhones resulting after Apple's official software update. Gizmodo reports that the software solution could be used alone and not even need the TurboSIM card to call, send SMS, and mail over your non-AT&T service.

How's that for a keeper? iPhoneSIMfree creators previously made it known to the iPhone community, especially their customers, that their solution would still work despite the obvious concern over Apple's recent update announcement and talks of possible bricking.

Confirming all fears, the solution also can run without the need for the TurboSIM solution, simply by re-activating your iPhone coupled with your favorite service SIM and softwares Independence or iBrick.

In addition, it appears people behind the software unlocker claim that if you decide to downgrade your iPhone software, it will proceed to do so without locking out your non-AT&T SIM. So backing down to Apple software version 1.0.2 should be easy. The creators also have announced new changes to their software, such as:

• A free unlock that will work with version 1.1.1 for those who have successfully upgraded (or successfully re-locked and upgraded) yet cannot unlock. The solution is currently in testing phase.
• Downgrading the baseband, so that users may unlock their v1.0.2 iPhones when previously restored from v1.1.1 to v1.0.2.

Apparently, Apple is anything but unforgiving to the many people who are happily unlocking their iPhones all over the world. Ever since the release of the 1.1.1 firmware, countless reports of bricked iPhones have been popping up.

No worries, though. Some ingenious people at the Hakintosh forums have detailed a few steps on how to unbrick those unfortunate victim's phones. It basically runs around the concept of downgrading the firmware back to the previous 1.0.2.

However, don't expect your iPhone to be totally up and running despite the fix - while WiFi and third party apps will be restored once again, there's still no way to dial outside calls. As always, take care when trying to unbrick your iPhones.

The full steps after the jump!

Steve Jobs has recently stated that Apple will be cracking down on unlocked iPhones. Apparently, the method they have chosen to do so is through firmware updates they plan on releasing for iPhones.

The group of hackers (iPhone Dev Team) who developed the unlocker have responded to this statement through a representative saying that they will be releasing a tool that will restore the unit's nck counter, seczones, and even restore the phone to factory settings.

In the meantime, they told the rest of the community that they shouldn't upgrade their firmware when the update comes out. Instead they ask unlocked iPhone owners to patiently wait for the next version of the crack to avoid breaking their mobiles. In the same statement, they also spoke about how Apple is allegedly misinforming their customers:

Apple now announces that the next firmware update, expected later this week, will possibly break the handset of all of us free users in the World. It speaks of "damage" done to the firmware and "unauthorized access" to our own property, The removal of those firmware problems, which were built in in favor for AT&T, does not cause "damage" as they want to make us believe.

So the battle between the corporations and hackers continue. The community has already been polarized with some siding with Apple and others with the iPhone Dev Team. We'll keep you guys updated on this as more news comes out.