I’ve had my AppleTV for awhile now and it’s great at doing a few things: playing back anything I have in my iTunes libraries on any Mac in my house (I have 4), renting and downloading movies from iTunes, viewing photos off Flickr and playing Youtube videos.
The only thing really missing from it, that I’m able to do with my Xbox 360 is play back divx video, ideally over my network as I have a large media server - I could even do this on my original Xbox using the Xbox Media Center. So close yet so far….until now.
There has been a number of ways to hack the AppleTV to make it more useful. Some are free and others cost money.
One friend tried the free way….but there is a lot of reading and gathering of files to do it. He was never able to get it working properly so he gave up and just restored the Apple TV to it’s factory state and went on his divx-less way.
Then one company got a lot of press because they were selling a usb thumb drive with all the files needed to just plug-in and go. While reading up on this company, I was directed to a site that had a members only forum ($15/year) where all the same software could be found as well as installation guides. Both of these for-pay options have been criticized for charging for work created by others and offered freely. I’ll let you decide what’s right or wrong in this case, after all you are hacking something. It was just easier for me to get a packaged download that was tested than to wade through endless forum/wiki posts trying to track down all that was needed.
Watching this video is what finally sold me (it’s long):
Needless to say if you watched the whole video, I am now able to easily watch nearly any format of video on my AppleTV while still being able to revert it back to factory should I need to. I’m able to stream anything over my local network and so far the playback has been pretty much flawless. I have run into a couple of bad videos but they are flaky on other machines as well so I’m not too concerned about it. The software is a little on the beta side but there are updates available from within the tools installed which will hopefully stabilize things even more.
There are a number of other plugins available for installation on the AppleTV once this hack is up and running and I’m just starting to explore them - like the Couch Surfer web browser (webkit) shown above. You have full ftp/ssh access to the AppleTV. It reminds me of the early days of hacking the iPhone and is just as fun.
I can’t help but think how many more AppleTV’s would be sold if Apple at least offered divx playback natively on it. After all, Microsoft and Sony both allow it on their game consoles (for free), but of course this would crash head-on into their digital media strategy with the iTunes store.
Even though the iPhone SDK has been out for awhile now, there are still lots of people cranking out some cool apps for jailbroken iPhones. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in June when things get a lot more official from Apple with the availability of the SDK-developed apps. But until then, here are a couple of ones that I’ve been playing around with lately.
While you could FTP these into your iPhone, the easiest way to get these apps is via the Installer app. If you have a jailbroken iPhone, you probably already have it.
Customize 2.0
Very recently updated and released, Customize is one of my favorite apps. It lets you, um, customize a lot of aspects of the iPhone. Everything from the color of the buttons to the text of “slide to unlock” can be changed via this app. I did have a problem getting it running on my 1.1.3 version iPhone (it would crash on loading) but there is a patch on Installer (under Tweaks for 1.1.3) called SUID Lib Fix that made it work. There is now a theme preview option built in to Customize that lets you view screenshots and individual images for the various themes and filesets before you install them. There are over 800 themes to browse and tons of individual images, sounds and sets to tweak your iPhone with.
Snapture
There has been a couple of different apps that extend the iPhone’s camera but Snapture is my favorite (and it’s freeware). Packed with features, some highlights include a digital zoom slider, color or B&W photos, up to 3 pictures can be taken in a row in multishot mode - perfect for those self portraits where you can’t see the screen and one of my favorite features is that the whole screen becomes a shutter button instead of having to try to hold the iPhone in one hand while you’ve got a finger on the Home button - an accident waiting to happen.
It’s a little buggy but a new version just came out today so it continues to get better.
Twinkle
A location aware Twitter client. It features a slick presentation not unlike the web version of PocketTweats but also locates you and enables you to see who else is using Twinkle near you. Kind cool and kinda creepy….but could be useful to use at a conference like SXSW. You can also add a photo (which doesn’t show in the actual Twitter timeline - just to other users of Twinkle).
It’s also a pretty nice Twitter client but is still subject to the API issues that Twitter is prone to have.
Okay, not really at all but I couldn’t think of a better title.
While I was lounging on the beach in Hawaii recently, two separate articles in which I was interviewed for appeared online (and possibly in dead tree form too - I actually don’t know).
The first one was for the UBC Thunderbird Newspaper and was about the environmental impacts of all the technology being consumed by folks like yours truly. I guess I come across as a big Apple fanboy (big surprise) that recycles my gadgets but I’m not 42 (37 as of this moment) and I don’t claim to be the first in Canada with an iPhone - just one of the first to bring one into Canada (within days of it’s release in the US) as well as one of the first to unlock it to use as a phone in Canada on Rogers. UPDATE: Allison updated the article.
The second one was about waiting for the iPhone in Canada and hacking it written by fellow geek and iPhone hacker, Warren Frey that appeared in Mac|Life.
I’ll leave it to you decide how I come across in these kinds of things but they are fun to do and I’m honored people are interested in my thoughts on stuff.
Today Apple released the latest firmware for the iPhone taking it up to 1.1.4. Unfortunately, as usual, their details on what was updated is beyond sparse with ‘bug fixes’ being the only description at this time. Hopefully this also means the SDK is imminent.
It didn’t take long before people upgraded and tried the ZiPhone app (for PC or Mac) and it *appears* to work….it’s too early to say if anything is broken so give it a couple of days before you go and upgrade. Keep an eye on Zibri’s site for updates straight from the source.
Oh and yeah, I like my new wallpaper too. Punch it, Chewie!
Just upgraded successfully from 1.1.1 to 1.1.3 using this tutorial.
Modified steps I used:
- sync to backup your stuff
- download and restore to 1.1.3 using the Option Restore method in the tutorial
- after about 10 minutes or so, you are at iTunes saying your SIM isn’t valid. Tutorial says to start the command line steps, I skipped them and just used the GUI version (see #2 post in the tutorial)
- check all options (jailbreak, activate and unlock) in the GUI app and wait 2.5 minutes for it to complete
- you should have a working iPhone but possibly no cell service - just reboot the iPhone and it should ‘just work’
Note this will UNLOCK any phone. If you walk into an Apple Store today, the method above will unlock it so you can use it on any network without having to buy some kind of SIM hack (ala Turbo/StealthSIM).
Small warning: We tried this method on a Vista machine (obviously using the PC version of the software) and the unlock portion didn’t work but it did activate and jailbreak the phone at 1.1.3. Tried the same iPhone on a Mac with the GUI tool and it worked so if you can, use a Mac (or possibly XP). It could have just been my friend’s Vista install causing the problems so YMMV.
Update: If you already have an older firmware installed (and activated), you can simply upgrade to 1.1.3 via iTunes then run the ZiPhone app. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
It’s not for the faint of heart, but there is now a method to take a new, 1.1.3 out of the box iPhone (including the new 16gb models) and unlock it via software.
Technically you have to jailbreak, downgrade, unlock, upgrade, and jailbreak but it appears to now be possible. The credit goes to George Hotz, who was originally responsible for figuring out the original hardware unlock last summer.
Be careful out there as there is currently no ‘easy’ tutorial (yet) and the usual caveats apply.
Via MacWorld and TUAW and just about every other iPhone related site on the internet.
UPDATE: Well, that didn’t take long.
UPDATE 2: Looks like ZiPhone is sweeping the internets. PC or Mac tutorials for you! Also check out iphone.unlock.no for a different GUI version. I don’t even care anymore who the original content is on this stuff….so many leech blogs hoover up my posts as well as the tutorials I can’t keep track.
UPDATE: This post is now obsolete - see this one for the simple, easy method.
I haven’t tried it yet but the iPhone forums seem to be abuzz with people successfully upgrading their iPhones to the latest firmware (1.1.3) and software unlocks still working. Thanks to Nate True, there is a software jailbreak method now available for 1.1.3.
Detailed instructions for Mac users (the title tag is wrong) and for PC users.
Nate’s site has the instructions but this one has screenshots of the entire process so that should be more reassuring….although don’t blame me if you’re left with a nice Apple branded paper weight when you’re done - make sure you READ EVERYTHING before you do it as there are some issues with certain versions of iPhones (baseband and unlock method) - you’ve been warned!
I’ll probably try it out this weekend and will post back here when I’m done.
UPDATE: Nate has posted a FAQ for helping those that have attempted the jailbreak and run into problems. You should avoid this method if you have a PowerPC Mac as well.
The internets are all abuzz with news (and video proof) that the latest firmware for the iPhone (and Touch as seen in the video) has been jailbroken…but the method hasn’t been released yet. Nor will it until after the forthcoming software developers kit (SDK for those in the know) is released in late February from Apple. Currently, it also appears to be a hardware modification to perform the jailbreak (ah, just like the old days) but a software version is sure to follow.
As far as I can tell, this new firmware is also not compatible with all the Turbo/Stealth SIM unlock methods too. I’m not sure if that’s just because you can’t jailbreak the new firmware (yet) or if Apple’s actually done something to lock out (heh) those SIM tricks.
So if you want an iPhone, you’d better be on your way to Seattle, Buffalo, or the closest Apple store to you and grab one before the stock gets updated with the new firmware in box or be prepared to sign up with AT&T or have a nice pretty box that you can’t even use as an iPod until sometime in February. Otherwise you will have to hit up Craigslist or ebay for one.
A friend sent word that you can now put a full linux desktop (KDE) on the Nokia N810 tablet. This was in an effort to convince me to buy an N810.
Check out the video and screenshots and the how to.
This is already a pretty sweet little device and this just makes it even more interesting.
I’ve dabbled with Linux for a long time and only recently started using it semi-full time on my eeePC.
Now while this IS pretty cool, I think I’ve spent my gadget money for awhile. Maybe Nokia’s Blogger Relations can hook me as I’d love to check one out.
…using a StealthSIM:
A friend purchased an iPhone as a Christmas present for someone but since it was the 1.1.2 version firmware (purchased from an Apple store in early December), it couldn’t be unlocked via (currently available) software methods.
So that someone got a really nice iPod under the tree. It was decided shortly after opening it that they wanted to get it unlocked to use as a phone so based on my recommendation, they ordered the StealthSIM which I mentioned previously. Order was placed after boxing day and it was delivered (or at least was attempted) on New Year’s Eve so that seems to be pretty good for speed.
The whole operation only for a few seconds and simply involved cutting a corner of the Roger’s SIM card to make it mesh with the StealthSIM. It then ‘just worked’ on the Rogers network with no further hassle.
The number of friends with these SIM based solutions keep rising. I’m even considering getting one since it appears to make it very easy to be able to upgrade your firmware without a lot of fussing with down/upgrading. A more details leak out (if you believe them that is) about the next firmware (version 1.1.3), the more I’m going to want to upgrade. Time will tell if my friends with the StealthSIM or TurboSIM solutions have any issues or whether Apple has found a way to block those devices in future firmware releases.
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