According to gadget news site Gizmodo, the iPhone Dev Team is making steady progress towards their goal of freeing the Apple iPhone from its AT&T network lock.

The team has announced that the software that controls the phone's radio communications has finally been reverse-engineered. Gizmodo noted, however, that total unlocking is still quite a ways away.

Apparently, the work done on reverse-engineering the software has revealed that the iPhone has two layers that need to be explored further to fully unlock it. The first layer is the phone's main operating system, Mac OS X.

The second layer is the Nucleus Real Time Operating System which runs on a secondary chip and controls access to the baseband's memory. According to the iPhone Dev Team, the latter is one of the fronts that they could possibly use to "access or disable the lock from within the system."

A few months ago, there was a video in circulation of what appeared to be a successful hack for Apple TV. The video in question detailed what appeared to be Apple TV booting up from an external hard drive.

We'll be following up on that hack with this similarly reported attempt done by AppleTVHacks.net and FatWallet. This newly released patch will enable Apple TV to boot up from its internal hard drive, while using an external USB (hard) drive as its main storage unit.

We imagine owners trying to get more space out of their Apple TV will find this patch most useful. For the guys wondering how to pull this off, here's what you'll need:

• An ssh-enabled Apple TV.
• An Intel-Mac or Intel-based *nix.
• An installed version of Mac OS X 10.4 Intel. Or a full copy of the contents of the Â?/System/Library/ExtensionsÂ? folder from one.
• An original, unmodified copy of the Â?mach_kernel.prelinkÂ? file from the Apple TV.
• An external USB drive formatted using Â?Journaled HFS+Â?.
  

Full installation details are available at the read link. As a further backgrounder for this patch, the original creator was actually Patrick Walton of the University of Chicago. Patrick wrote the original patch, while AppleTVHacks further fine-tuned it after they encountered a syncing problem. Just be reminded that thus patch has been designed to work on Apple TV software v1.0 - it might not work on v1.1.

With StrmnNrmn's most recent Nintendo 64 Daedalus R12 emulator released just a little over a month ago, everything's been pretty quite lately - well, excluding the whole misinformation and identity theft issue, at least. Wondering what's been up with the homebrew developer? QJ readers Tyler Dickinson and blackrave tipped us off (a million thanks, guys!), saying that StrmnNrmn's updated his blog.

Seems like StrmnNrmn's had a break since the release of R12, wanting to sit back a while and recharge his batteries. You can't blame him; R12 was quite a burden with all the dynarec bugs and fragment simulation going on. So, to summarize the things StrmnNrmn's been up to for the previous few weeks:

• a trip to Spain
• his Xbox 360 getting hit by the Red Ring of Death
• moving into a new flat in Guilford
• getting a 17" MacBook Pro

Interesting. For one, I wonder what he's been playing on his 360 for it to have gotten RROD'ed. But on a more Daedalus-related note, that MacBook Pro of his just might save everyone's lives. StrmnNrmn said that he's now compiling Daedalus with it, instead of his year old desktop PC. The switch to Mac OS X, he says, allows him to compile Daedalus much faster. Not a big surprise - that MacBook Pro's quite a beast with its tech specs.

This imposes a couple of good things for all parties concerned:

1. StrmnNrmn has an easier and faster time working on Daedalus,
2. We can hear more about his Daedalus progress via his blog, and
   
3. You could find Daedalus R13 on your lap as soon as tomorrow (a bit of a stretch, but hey!, we can dream too)

Well, StrmnNrmn did mention that he can now start working on Daedalus R13 - what with being able to recharge and level up to MacBook Pro status (for the Mac Junkies, StrmnNrmn will "have some details and tutorials about compiling Daedalus PSP under OS X in the near future"). He leaves us with what we can expect on R13 though. Here's what' he's looking at for the next couple of weeks:

I'd like to continue working on speeding up the emulator to try and improve the framerate for titles that are already working. [...] There are a number of different areas I can investigate to help improve performance. The two main possibilities I want to investigate are working on further dynarec improvements, and looking at making use the Media Engine.

He says that, based on your comments, these are what you guys are most interested in seeing for R13. So, to get the ball rolling, StrmnNrmn's going to investigate these areas to tweak and will soon have details to update us with soon enough.

More bug news about Apple, and this time it's about Mac OS X. It seems that a recent addition of an exploit to the infamous Metasploit hacking framework has upped the level of threat that an unpatched bug in Samba currently poses to the system it's installed on, as well as on its user. This warning came directly from Symantec Corp., the company expressing concern over what appears to be apathy on Apple's part.

Of course, the people behind Samba had already done their homework on the bug itself. In fact, the patch that resolved the vulnerability in the open-source file and print-sharing program was produced and distributed by the Samba community exactly the day it was announced. That fixes things for Samba, but not for the Mac OS X itself.

So what's the unpatched bug, really? When turning on the Mac OS X's Windows Sharing feature, it also activates Samba. Keep in mind, Samba is not just a Mac OS X exclusive file-sharing software, as it's also used by PC and Linux users. This in itself is already a very wide opening in terms of security for the Mac OS X, as users can easily take advantage of the exploit and gain root access. Of course, this "opening" is very easily closed, as users only need to disable Windows Sharing - but it's more of a temporary stopgap rather than an actual remedy.

Apple's products may have few bugs and exploits, but by no means is it an excuse to not stay on your toes when root access security is concerned. That aside, let's hope for some timely measures coming from Apple itself. Updates as we get them.

Apple's getting a large bite out of the second quarter of this year's fiscal year (April to June,) having sold 960,000 units of Macs in the US. This makes them the fourth largest vendor of computers in the US.

The big three that stands in Apple's way are Gateway, who only sold around 5,000 more units than Apple, HP and Dell. HP and Dell are by far the unbeatable two both having sold more than 4,000 units, with Dell close to 5,000.

Although this is good news for Apple, it did not appear in the top 5 worldwide computer vendors, but it does bode well for the Macintosh systems as they are making headway into a large market share with the US, getting 5.6%. This may not seem like a huge number but bear in mind that HP and Dell each have more than 20% of the market in the palm of their hands and the rest that didn't make it to the top 5 vendors will all split what's left: 31.5% of the market.

What the numbers boils down to is that Apple sold 960,000 units out of the 17,000,000 computers sold in the US. That's a huge number. Also, it's a large step from last quarter where they only had 4.8% of the market. Bottomline, Apple's progressing steadily, especially as it has also grabbed fourth place in leading vendors in computer notebooks last March.

For more info, check out the Read link after the jump:

An independent researcher only known as Information Security Sellout (InfoSec Sellout) has claimed to have developed a worm that attacks Mac OS X.

Apparently s/he has discovered a vulnerability in OS X's mDNSResponder which Apple has patched before. Sellout claims that the worm, named "Rape.osx," is benign for now. The hacker says that the worm only takes advantage of the vulnerability by leaving a text file in the Mac to prove that the worm has been there. This worm has already been successfully tested on 1,500 OS X computers.

Sellout also claims that with further study, the worm can be geared up to wreak mayhem on the Mac. However, Sellout says that s/he will release the results of the "experiment" after the "research is complete" and after getting satisfactory compensation.

A recent lead received by Cutaway Security rats out the hacker LMH as the identity of Sellout, the same LMH who was responsible for the "Month of Apple Bugs" last January although there wasn't sufficient proof. One thing that may prove the leak is correct is that the original Information Security Sellout site has been purged of all its contents after the news was received.

It's a bittersweet realization to think that Apple becomes a bigger target as it gains more popularity.

Just because global warming is an inconvenient truth doesn't mean learning about it has to be an inconvenient bore. French independent game and software developer Midori has just announced the release of its new game, titled Global Warming.

This game will put players behind the control of one of several characters, as a landfill is about to be set up beside their home.

Players must find a way to save their home from the dump by choosing an action card, which will affect their character's various stats (finances, morale, and health) in the next few rounds. These action cards will further have an effect on the character's surroundings (C02 emissions, waste, chemicals, etc). Further adding to unpredictability are the appearance of "accident cards,"  which randomly occur to add a degree of complexity to gameplay.

Global Warming runs under the Phelios game engine (PTK), and is compatible with both Mac OS X (10.3.9 or higher), and Windows (95/98/ME/2000/XP/Vista) OS. Here are the technical requirements:

• 512 MB of RAM
• 450 Mhz Processor
• 3D openGL video card

A free game demo should be available for download over at the Midori site (read link). Or if you're interested, the game's full version can also be purchased and downloaded for US$ 9.95.

Rumors have it that the new version of iLife has reached the Golden Master phase in terms of development and is ready for public release before Leopard's launch this coming October.

Actually, the release window is quite vague as sources mentioned that the company could release it by summer or even earlier. It was also said that the new version of iLife will both support Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and Leopard (10.5) operating system.

Despite that, it is still unclear what improvements and additions have been added to the software. Another valid point of discussion is whether Apple will release it under the name "iLife 07" or "iLife 08" since it's already the middle of the year.

More importantly, we have to remember that the final version of Leopard is still not yet finished. If Apple will indeed release iLife earlier than October, then there is a high possibility that consumers will need to perform an upgrade to make the operating system compatible with the application.

As always, we will be watching this one closely and inform you on any further developments.

Apple has finally released a new update that brings Mac OS X version 10.4.9 up to version 10.4.10. This delta update is for both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macs. The update includes the following fixes and features:

• Bluetooth
• Addresses an issue in which a Bluetooth headset may show up as an available device for sound output in the Sound preference pane after it had been removed from Bluetooth preferences.
• Third-party
• Adds RAW image decoding support for the following cameras: Panasonic DMC-LX1, Panasonic DMC-LX2, Leica M8, Leica D-LUX 2, Leica D-LUX 3, Fuji S5 Pro, Nikon D40x, and Canon EOS 1D Mk III.
• Resolves an issue in which some DNG images may appear tinted or distorted.
• Improves compatibility of Mathematica 6 with 64-bit Macs.
• USB
• Improves reliability when using the IR remote control after waking from sleep.
• Improves reliability when mounting external USB hard drives.
• Resolves an issue in which a TomTom GO 910 may not be recognized when connected via USB to an Intel-based Mac.
• Other
• Improves responsiveness when using the Control-Eject key combination to display a shutdown dialog.
• Addresses a specific issue in which users importing video from a DV camera may experience dropped frames.
• Includes recent Apple security updates.
• Addresses issues with calendar calculations in certain applications.
• Addresses issues when rounding decimal numbers for display in certain applications.
• For Motion, addresses an issue in which some texture corruption could appear in Motion if VRAM is full.

You can get the update via Software Update or by clicking on the "Read" link below and downloading the standalone installer. Installation instructions as well as more information can also be accessed via the "Read" link.

Come this July to August, frequent purveyors of Apple's product line may want to keep posted for a couple of possible info snippets regarding the company's line of iMac desktop computers.

First up is the possibility of a radically redesigned iMac line, which will come in a slimmer and sleeker package, and is further expected to come with 20 to 24-inch screens.

In line with this news, there was also the speculation that Apple would release iMacs featuring the "brushed metal" look. This new product line was expected to release shortly after the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC), although speculation suggested that the event was instead used to cover matters on Apple's Mac OS X Leopard, third-party iPhone development, and software strategy.