Posted by on under shutter speed, iphe, iphone, videocamera, ipod touch, hey guys, trusty, firmware, hd, insight, images | 
Hey guys,
This won't mean jack squat to most of you but I've managed (with the help of the iPod Touch dev team) to boot the iPhone in restore verbose mode which will hopefully give us some insight into what we can do to crack the new firmware.
I trained my trusty Canon XH A1 HD videocamera at it with a high shutter speed to make sense of the quickly passing images. Check out the video and stills below.
I'll go through and translate it by hand to make things clearer.
Read the rest of this post
Tagi: shutter speed, iphe, iphone, videocamera, ipod touch, hey guys, trusty, firmware, hd, insight, images
Posted by on under new ipod touch, mc hammer, hammertime, t touch, wafer, 2g, insight, jobs |
â??U Canâ??t Touch Thisâ?? were the words of the great MC Hammer in 1990, but we just couldnâ??t wait to â??touch itâ?? as soon as the new slinky wafer-thin iPod was unveiled by Father Jobs a week ago.
We are especially eager to experiment with this device because the n72ap in the new iPod Touch 2G may give us insight into upcoming iPhones.
So a few hours ago the large truck backed into the DevTeam warehouse where the crate of iPod touch?ŠÂ devices were dropped off and we started the very earliest stages of investigation (which means fun!) ;-)
We wonâ??t have more to say unless thereâ??s more to say. Hammertime!
Tagi: new ipod touch, mc hammer, hammertime, t touch, wafer, 2g, insight, jobs
Posted by planetbeing on under large data structures, iphe, ftl, comex, iboot, redundancies, dev team, underbrush, pumpkin, pointers, insight, job |
I don't know how I was talked into reversing a FTL, but we're actually on our way. I've managed to enlist the aid of CPICH (who has been helping with the lower layers as well, he's our human HexRays) and just recently, pumpkin, who you will know from the Dev Team. pumpkin will be the heavy support that's necessary to take down _FTLRestore, which is the most complex function I've seen in 1.1.4 iBoot (and I've pretty much have seen all of it). pumpkin is very good, so this task should be now be cut down to "fairly difficult" from "completely impossible".
The strategy so far has been me methodically hacking through the functions in the order that they are called, completely decompiling them, understanding them, and assimilating them into openiboot. Toward this end, I've been working on FTL_Open, which is a fairly large (but as it turns out, boring) function, but has been useful in enlightening us on several of the large data structures FTL uses.
Meanwhile, CPICH works on functions ahead of me, so that when I reach them, a lot of the thorny underbrush has been cleared out and my job becomes much easier and faster. Toward this end, he has been working on FTL_Read, which uses the data structures that the now-completed FTL_Open should populate.
_FTLRestore is sort of a "bonus", since it's not normally called if the iPhone was shut down normally and everything is cleaned up. However, since recovering faulty data structures require all redundancies to be exploited, reversing this would let us gain a lot of insight into how the FTL works. It's also, naturally, an enormously complex function, and hence I wisely delegated it to pumpkin. =P (We will probably end up working on it together)
The one thing that troubled me was that the code we were reversing is for 1.1.4 whereas we primarily need it to work on 2.0. However, due to the fact that I had it better mapped out than the 2.0 iBoot, and the fact that the equivalent 2.0 code was much more complex (lots of function pointers flying around, and a weird switch idiom I haven't quite figured out yet), We decided to stick to the 1.1.4 iBoot.
After completing FTL_Open, I had a bit of a panic when I discovered it did not work at all on my 2.1 phone, and I could not find any obvious bugs with it. This might've meant that all our work on 1.1.4's FTL was for naught. Forgoing sleep, I tore through the 2.1 iBoot, locating the analogues to my already reversed 1.1.4 functions (I had given up trying to trace through the function pointers the first time around), and called them directly with my special version of iBoot (patched so that one of the commands was able to call arbitrary iBoot functions with arbitrary arguments). I managed to find a couple of bugs with my VFL code, and after having fixed them, FTL_Open appears to have worked. I think. It just finds and reads several data structures from NAND. It remains to be seen if I'm even reading the right thing.
Now for some sleep.
Tagi: large data structures, iphe, ftl, comex, iboot, redundancies, dev team, underbrush, pumpkin, pointers, insight, job
Posted by on under steve ballmer, delicious cup, macro levels, cup of coffee, holiday sales, mths, author michael, passi, mass market, wit, insight, desire, entelligence, developers, microsoft |
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
This was a big week for Microsoft, as Steve Ballmer took the stage in New York and formally introduced Windows 7 to the world. It was almost a little anti-climactic: the OS has been finished and shipped to OEMs for months, while developers and pretty much any enthusiast who wanted a copy has one by now. Still, this is the week that Microsoft takes the message and OS to the mass market and the PC holiday sales system formally kicks off. I've held back from writing about the OS for the most part, but here's seven things about Windows 7 -- three features that I think are over-hyped and four things that make 7 something worth purchasing, either as an upgrade or as part of a new PC.
Continue reading Entelligence: Seven on 7
Filed under: Software
Entelligence: Seven on 7 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Oct 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tagi: steve ballmer, delicious cup, macro levels, cup of coffee, holiday sales, mths, author michael, passi, mass market, wit, insight, desire, entelligence, developers, microsoft
Posted by Chris on under iphe, facebook, google, approval time, record voice, status updates, deci, caricatures, good taste, apps, text messages, weather, politicians, peoe, developers, insight, army |
Mashable reports that Apple is fixing the App Store approval process by adding “the ability to track the status of apps submitted to Apple’s store.”
It’s good to know Apple is giving developers some insight into the App Store approval process by providing status updates, but Apple needs to do more to embrace developers, who have been a crucial part of the iPhone’s success.
Here are 4 changes we need to see in the App Store approval process:
- Shorten the approval time for trusted developers. I remember waiting weeks between when Facebook submitted their Facebook 3.0 app to the App Store and its actual arrival to the App Store. Must Apple continue to make trusted companies wait weeks before their apps are approved (or rejected) in the App Store? If anything, Apple could appoint more employees to the approval committee to make it a more pleasant process for the people who keep the App Store afloat, developers. Update: Facebook’s iPhone app developer has quit, citing his discomfort over the App Store approval process.
- Stop rejecting apps that criticize public figures. Apple recently rejected Bobble Tap because it contained caricatures of politicians that were not even objectionable. The developer said the app was in good taste, just an informational database. Judging by the screenshots of the app, I agree. Apple, lighten up and let people express themselves however they want. If apps are threatening or illegal, we have the government to deal with that. We don’t need you to police the App Store. Update: Apple has reversed its decision about the Bobble Tap app.
- Don’t diss Google. Apple rejected the Google Voice app, claiming that the app “duplicates features that come with the iPhone.” But plenty of apps duplicate native iPhone features. Look at how many apps in the App Store record voice, display weather and even send text messages. Apple, if you continue to ignore Google they are going to ignore you, and you don’t want that, especially considering the Android army that is about to be unleashed. Play nice, boys.
- Allow adult content. It’s called “Parental Controls,” Apple. It changed television by allowing parents to block objectionable content from children. It could change the iPhone, too. Just add an “18+” Restriction to the Settings and we’re all set. Apple, stop trying to play Mom and Pop and let adults be adults.
These solutions are good for Apple, these solutions are good for developers. As far as I’m concerned, if it places Apple in a good light with iPhone developers, it’s a smart business decision. You don’t want all your App Store developers flocking to Android, do you Apple?
Tagi: iphe, facebook, google, approval time, record voice, status updates, deci, caricatures, good taste, apps, text messages, weather, politicians, peoe, developers, insight, army
