Okay, before you get too excited I should warn you; This is more so just a documentation of my experience doing this rather than an actual tutorial like I usually post. Before you jump in to a project like this you can save yourself a lot of headache (and avoid ruining your phone!) by doing your homework and watching videos on disassembling your model of iPhone. There are a lot more videos that just show you how to change the glass/digitizer than there are full disassembly vids (which is required to change the back), so take care of your due diligence before trying this at home kids! :)

My iPhone’s screen shattered one evening while it was changing on my desk and I received a phone call… unfortunately I wasn’t nearby and it vibrated off the table…

The good news; I ordered both the replacement glass / digitizer part and a slick new orange iPhone back for around 35 dolars on eBay. There are lots of sellers on there with these parts, so just find a reputable one with good feedback & positive comments for their iPhone parts. I had to wait two weeks to get the back part from Hong Kong, but it went smoothly and shipping was free! [FYI, the glass and touch sensor, which is called a digitizer, are one part, so you must replace them together]

Here, documented via somewhat blurry photos, is my attempt to do this without destroying my phone completely… luckily it was a success! The first thing you hear in the how-to videos for disassembling your iPhone is the importance of removing the internal connection in the proper sequence. So I carefully lifted up my digitizer panel and peaked in… yeah, the connectors just popped off all at once! haha. Thankfully the phone still worked in the end!

I apologize that I didn’t video this or put more time in to a proper tutorial, but this turned out to be more involved and time consuming than I had imagined… and to be honest I just don’t want people trying this solely on account that they saw my successful attempt here, as you will have many opportunities to ruin your while iPhone doing this!

Sorry for the burred images, the lighting I was working in sucked!

At one point later in the disassembly process I did get a bit overwhelmed trying to remember where screws went and how parts were oriented, so I did miss what probably would have been some interesting photos of lots of little parts lying around on my desk!

You’ll notice in the second to last picture that my case did not completely close evenly at the top! It looks worse here than in real life and so far no one has noticed it until I pointed it out. I am not certain if this is due to a part defect or if I did not seat the battery perfectly or something.

If you’re an iPhone owner, particularly if you’ve jailbroken your phone, you probably saw the news this morning of the first ever iPhone worm to appear in the wild. The good news is that it’s just a proof-of-concept virus written by white-hat hacker Ashley Towns to spread awareness about the default password vulnerability that we’ve all known was a potential security hole for ages now. This only effects iPhone users who have jailbroken their phone and have installed SSH (and keep it running on their device, as it does by default). While the worm does ‘infect’ your iPhone with with an annoying wallpaper change, that is about the extent of it.


For more info on protecting yourself from this and future woms/virii that exploit this vulnerability check out this great YouTube video by D7 [below]. If you don’t know who he is you will probably want to subscribe. He has a plethora of helpful iPhone videos on YouTube! In addition to changing the default password I’d also suggest you get the SBSettings module ‘SSH Toggle’, this way you only have to run SSH when you actually need to use it (which isn’t very often for most users).

Thanks for the video D7!

Just a few weeks ago, Snow Leopard started shipping. Those with a new Mac who was promised to have the “upgrade package at $9.95″, it came a few days later (You can’t blame them, they said it’ll only be available in September). Just before that even happened, though, developers and hackers alike found a glaring mistake by Apple: the Flash Player included in Snow Leopard was an obsolete version. While mayhem and hell hasn’t exactly broken out, Apple has swiftly provided OS X Update 10.6.1, now available through Software Update. My update is at a tiny size of 9.8MB, but if you’re going to install it on multiple computers, or Software Update doesn’t give you that option yet, you can always download the package here (DIRECT LINK) at a whopping 71.47MB.

According to Apple’s site, the updates are as follows:

• Improves compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
• Addresses an issue in which some printer compatibility drivers might not appear properly in the Add Printer browser
• Addresses an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
• Addresses an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
• Resolves an issue in which the Command-Option-T keyboard shortcut would sometimes bring up the special characters menu in applications such as Mail and TextEdit
• Addresses instances in which auto account setup in Mail might not work
• Resolves issues when sending mail with certain SMTP servers
• Addresses an issue in which Motion 4 could become unresponsive
• Includes an update to Adobe Flash Player plug-in version 10.0.32.18

All Snow Leopard users are advised to update as soon as possible to fix the gaping hole Apple has left. But for iPhone 3GS users, that’s another thing.

As you guys might have known, the iPhone OS 3.1 is out. The iPhone Dev Team has reminded us that the iPhones might never be unlocked again if you update it, because the baseband might not be jailbreakable. And reports around the Internet have confirmed that the iPhone cannot be restored to 3.0 anymore. So while iPhone 2G and 3G users have to wait patiently, here’s something to do for your iPhone 3GS if you haven’t done it yet. Get the iBSS and iBEC files now before you update to 3.1.

It’s important because this is a security procedure. It was mentioned in one of the earlier posts, and if you still haven’t done it yet, the wonderful guys at Modmyi.com have come up with a very useful guide:

3G[S] Users Capture Your iBSS and iBEC BEFORE 3.1 [Reminder]

For the rest of the iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch users, why not grab yourself a cup of coffee and wait? Jailbreak should be on the way, and so is the unlock. Go, Dev Team!

It’s D-Day! Well, not exactly, but Apple’s gotten creative this year by making the event coincide with the 090909 mark of the century. And boy, Steve Jobs is back! He’s the keynote speaker of the event. I’m sure some of you might have missed what has happened in the past hour, so why not make a summary?

Photo courtesy of gdgt

• iPhone and iPod touch OS 3.1. (duh)
  • Genius function in iTunes now applied to App Store: It suggests what apps you might like based on your current inventory.
  • Ringtones will be sold at $1.29.
  • Free for iPhone users. Only iPod touch users who have OS 3.0 will get to download OS 3.1 for free.

• iTunes
  • iTunes 9 released.
  • Genius mixes (something like your iTunes DJ, but Genius technology incorporated)
  • Home sharing. Songs, movies and shows can be copied to 5 different authorized computers.
  • Redesigned iTunes Store.
  • iTunes LP for music, Extras for movies.
  • Sharing to Facebook & Twitter now possible.
  • Apps can be managed through iTunes.
• iPods
  • iPod touch pricings: $199 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB, $399 for 64GB
  • 32GB and 64GB versions will have OpenGL.
  • iPod classic will be bumped up to 160GB for the same old price: $249.
  • iPod shuffle will not be kicked! In fact, there’s now the “nanochromatic” version of the shuffle for 2GB at $59, and a stainless steel version (4GB) at $99.
  • iPod nano will have 2.2″ display, camera, mic and speaker built-in. FM player built-in as well. Voice recorder app and pedometer is also in that small little thing. Amazing.
  • iPod nano will be draining your wallet of $149 for 8GB, or $179 for 16GB.

That’s all the announcements. I’m sure many of you guys out there have been expecting much more things from Apple, including a camera for the iPod touch. But cheer up, at least there were other improvements! And oh, jailbreakers: 3.1 is not jailbreakable yet. ;)

It’s been very long since Gadget Cracker has updated anything at all. We’re very sorry for this. In any case, if you haven’t heard about it in other sites, the Apple Rock n’ Roll event is coming up! You can count on Engadget updating frequently here. There are plenty of rumors flying around this time, with none confirmed yet. Here’s a few that we’ve gathered over the course of the last few weeks. Again, nothing is actually confirmed, so please do not shoot us if we’re incorrect!

• This event will solely revolve around a music theme, i.e. there will not be any updates on Mac or the Apple TV, as speculated earlier.
• The iPod touch and iPod nano will be getting built-in cameras. So far, photos seem to show only that of the iPod touch, and the camera is located just beside the WiFi patch on the top-left corner of the back of the device. (this is further supported by some of Belkin’s casings for the iPod touch leaked out early)
• The iPod touch will have a 64GB model.
• The iPod classic range will be discontinued, effectively killing off Apple’s HDD-based music players.
• The App Store will be getting an upgrade in view of the 65000+ applications the App Store has.
• The new iPod range will not be available so soon, in view of some defects. (aww.)

Whatever it is, the event will start at 9am PDT, so check the Engadget link above! The event will start at GMT 1700hrs. Remember to count in the DST hour if you’re affected by the areas. (UPDATE2: You could always refer here, though.) Let’s hope this will be interesting…

EDIT: I almost forgot about this, but the iPhone OS 3.1 will be coming out soon, and it doesn’t seem that far-fetched to say that it might coincide with the event. Needless to say, the iPhone Dev Team has posted here that jailbreakers who have jailbroken their iPhones should NOT update to 3.1, or you will risk losing your unlock forever. Heads up!

"I knew that!", says the navigator.

Let’s face it: we’re all waiting for the day when our iPhones and iPod touches start identifying the hunk beside that bar or that chick walking on the street by just taking her photo with a camera. While that won’t be possible in the near future (though the Twitter app above allows a bit of room for that), there’s of course the augmented reality (AR) apps in the up-and-coming iPhone OS 3.1, slated to arrive this September.

To put it simply in the context of the iPhone, it combines the usage of the camera, the all-new magnetometer (a.k.a compass), GPS and an Internet connection to give you real-time information on what you see. For instance, you can point at one location and that will give you the nearest road. There are many uses for it, and the possibility is endless.

According to the LA Times post here:

Apple told Acrossair, developer of the Nearest Tube train finder, that the app will be approved for distribution after Apple releases version 3.1 of the iPhone software, which the developer expects will land in early September.

Augmented reality apps can only be used by iPhone 3GS users, though. Boo.

Revenge, indeed.

Thanks to the guys at iPod touch Fans and their post here!

People out there who have a Tapulous account, beware. If you don’t know what a Tapulous account is, basically it’s the profile generated from the UDID (unique device identifier) of your iPhone/iPod touch. Tapulous’ authorization system is COMPLETELY dependent on your UDID, as practically speaking, you’re the only one with the number. It’s called UNIQUE for a reason, right?

Apparently that can be abused, with the UDID Changer app from Cydia. What’s detrimental is that your Facebook and Twitter information is stored on Tapulous’ servers as well. Of course it’s encoded, but when a malicious user changes their UDID to yours, Facebook and Twitter account data is immediately stored into their iPod touches/iPhones.

So what does this mean? It means that people can now access your Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as anything else they store in their servers. Applications produced by Tapulous are: Tap Tap Revenge (and all its variants), Twinkle, Fortune, Collage and FriendBook.

Your next question that comes into mind must be: “But how the *insert profanity here* can they get my UDID?” There are PLENTY of ways noted by iPod touch Fans, including, but not limited to:

• The malicious user may just ask you, and you may give it to them.
• The malicious user may give you screenshots for a fantastic application they are making and offer you a beta. Of course, they need your UDID for you to beta test.
• The malicious user may be someone you know that actually has access to your device.
• Installer applications, such as Installer and Cydia send requests to the server with the UDID in the request. The maicious user may set up a repo to collect UDIDs.
• Etc. There are so many ways, it’s ridiculous.

Tapulous is aware of the exploit and are working on a fix to it, but meanwhile, unless you want someone posting the unthinkable on whatever accounts compromised, delete your Tapulous account. Change your Facebook and Twitter password as well, if you’re the “better safe than sorry” type of person.

And the iPhone Dev Team has answered: redsn0w 0.8 now officially supports jailbreaking of the iPhone 3GS. saurik has also updated the MobileSubstrate and WinterBoard packages for use with the 3GS, according to the iPhone Dev Team’s post here. However, the same old warning applies to all 3GS users to obtain the iBEC and iBSS files. They are now looking for more holes to exploit considering 3.1 would probably have a fix, and that would mean (temporarily) bad news for soon-to-be owners of the 3GS. To quote the Dev Team, “For those of you without 3GS phones, it’s a race against the clock to use this particular hole. There’s nothing we can do about that, but we will always be looking for new holes.”

ultrasn0w 0.8 has also been released which will support the iPhone 3GS. However, it is crucial that you do not upgrade to anything beyond 3.0, including the 3.1 beta software. Quoth the Dev Team: “Apple has gotten very serious with the latest baseband — they’ve removed 180 (!) commands in an effort to cut down their exposure to holes. So please always stay away from stock Apple IPSWs and instead use our tools as we release them. These tools let you update your firmware without updating your baseband.”

And good news for those using Linux: redsn0w has also been released for you guys as well. (: Get your redsn0w while it’s, er, cold! And obtain ultrasn0w by adding repo666.ultrasnow.com to the list of repositories in Cydia.

It was bound to happen… Apple users have long enjoyed a relatively smooth ride with regard to virus’ and malicious attacks, but this morning xaminer.com posted info on this serious iPhone expoit, discovered Charlie Miller:

It’s well-known that binary code can be sent to mobile devices using SMS. Normally the sent code isn’t executed, but Miller found that the iPhone operating system automatically processes the code without any user intervention. Not good. Knowing this, Miller developed code using the principle of Sulley Fuzzing, a method of injecting random data into program after first forcing the operating system to trust the new code.

And they go on to confirm the worst:

Another vulnerability that Miller found was the ability to use the SMS function to gain root access to the iPhone, more or less giving an attacker the “keys to the kingdom”.

On a positive note, Apple appears to already be working on a patch for this serious security vulnerability. We all know Apple’s history with timely updates though, so don’t hold your breath.

Get the full scoop here: http://www.examiner.com/x-14651-Minneapolis-Information-Technology-Examiner~y2009m7d3-Apple-iPhone-SMS-exploit-allows-attacker-to-control-phone

So… who’s gonna beat Apple to the punch with a security patch that jail broken iPhone users can apply? :)

After the long and grueling wait, iPhone 3GS users can finally rejoice: the jailbreak for the iPhone 3GS has been released first by geohot with his software, purplera1n, which only runs on Windows for now (with the Mac version coming later). He was originally in the Dev Team before he got kicked out. According to his blog post dated today,

Normally I don’t make tools for the general public, and rather wait for the dev team to do it. But guys, whats up with waiting until 3.1? That isn’t how the game is played. We release, Apple fixes, we find new holes. It isn’t worth waiting because you might have the “last” hole in the iPhone. What last hole…this isn’t golf. I’ll find a new one next week. Also your purplera1nyday files ensure that you can always get back to a jailbroken state, so if you have it it’s just a matter of tools.

The iPhone Dev Team is still keeping mum on this issue. Whatever it is, the jailbreak program is posted here. Either that, or you can get the file from the official site. Apparently, it is “it’s smaller than C++ hello world” and there will be no need for the IPSW files. Kudos to you, geohot!

[UPDATE] According to saurik (one of the iPhone Dev Team members) in his few tweets, “The PurpleRa1n 3GS jailbreak (like the unofficial 3.0 beta QuickPwn jailbreaks) is missing critical patches required for WinterBoard (etc.)” He continued: “ADDITIONALLY, WinterBoard /will/ need work on the 3GS (new instructions), but I can’t even begin looking at that until we get fixed patches.”

So hold your horses folks! It’s better if the iPhone Dev Team makes an official release and we wait until 3.1 comes out. That’s when other developers will start developing and modifying code for the 3GS for several programs that might have compatibility issues with the 3GS.