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.

UPDATE: Still awaiting a QuickPWN release? Maybe you got punked! Did QuickPWN.com Rip Off The Dev Team’s iPhone Jailbreak? Just some food for thought. On with the show…

Like many of you, I counted the days until Apple released OS 3.0. I knew the Dev Team had been churning out the jailbreaks for the beta versions of OS 3.0, so I was pretty confident it would be released quickly, but just to be safe I went and glanced at the QuickPWN blog. Yep. It’s out. All set.

Oops… Yeah, so I went ahead with the OS 3.0 update only to realize that in my excitement and haste I had misread the blog and there was no QuickPWN for OS 3.0 yet!!! This was disheartening, but I was sure it would be available any day. Well, to make a long story short, it isn’t out and it isn’t coming, atleast not from the Dev Team. Although QuickPWN’s blog says they will have something out soon, I can’t wait any longer… I’m going in to deep jailbreak withdrawals and need a fix ASAP! So, here’s the result of my digging around to figure out a solution…

Here’s the usual disclaimer… you could turn your iPhone inside out and upside down and maybe make it poop on itself. That said, you’ll probably be just fine if you follow these instructions. And if not, it’s highly probably that a restore in iTunes will fix your problem and get you back to normal. What fun would gadget cracking be if you couldn’t potentially brick you expensive high tech toys? THIS IS NOT FOR IPHONE 3GS! Only 3G. I will verify this on my girlfriends iPod Touch 2G later and let you know if I had to buy her a new one or not :P I don’t mean to make this sound so risky, it really isn’t, but I don’t want angry iPhone users pissed at me because something went awry.

Step 1 – Preliminary Work (read: boring stuff):

Go to this entry on the Dev Team’s blog and READ the entire post. Make sure you understand what they’re saying (okay, this basically more disclaimer). While your there download RedSn0w for your OS of choice (I am jailbreaking mine on a PC). As of right now I think everyone running OS 3.0 is using revision 7A341, but to make this article future proof I need to tell you how to check this on your iPhone to be sure. It is very important to use the correct firmware for the jailbreak! Don’t worry, it’s easy and doesn’t merit a sub-totorial. Just go to Settings > General > About. You will see the firmware version at the bottom of your screen, like so:

See it downthere at the bottom? That was simple enough.

Step 2 – Select the right firmware:

Run redsn0w. The first thing it does is ask you to locate the iPhone firmware. This must be the same version that you are running on your phone! It will have the file extension .ipsw and on my Windows XP system it resides in:

C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_WINDOWS_USERNAME\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates\

Notice the full path and filename of the appropriate file!

Take care to make sure you select the proper .ipsw file! If in doubt run a search for *.ipsw. or download it directly from Apple here [this file is for 3G only!]. If your using OS 3.0 (Which I presume you are) make sure to select the file ‘iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw’!
It is important to note the 7A341 part of the file name, this is the revision of the OS 3.0 firmware and it must match the version we looked at on your iPhone during Step 1!

Okay, so you’ve selected the proper firmware file for RedSn0w, and you should be able to hit the ‘Next’ button now!

Step 3 -The fun and scary stuff:

If all went well in Step 2 you should see a screen like this now:

Okay? Good. Hit ‘Next’!

Oooh, sounds important! Better make sure you ‘Click next ONLY when your device is BOTH off and plugged in’! But wait! Don’t click ‘Next’ just yet! It makes this next step easier if you know whats about to happen. If you’ve used QuickPWN before this is the stage where you have to hold down buttons for the right amount of time and in the right sequence. If you haven’t used QuickPWN before, well… this is the stage where you have to hold down buttons for the right amount of time and in the right sequence.

It all happens kind of quick, but if you mess up you only have to try again. You can’t brick your iPhone just yet, so be patient :P

Don’t do this yet, I’m just priming you!

1. Hold down the Power (corner) button for 3 seconds
2. Without releasing the Power button, also hold down the Home (bottom center) button for 10 seconds
3. Without releasing the Home button, release the power button BUT KEEP holding the Home button for 30 seconds

Again, this is just a procedure to get the phone in a sort of debug mode, same as they would do at the Apple store, so just relax. If you do it wrong just hit back and try again! Here is what it looks like in RedSn0w:

Whew, you made it through that, right? Now you can release your clutch on the Home button and sit back & enjoy the pineapple show!

I apologize for the crap picture... I ran frantically looking for the camera, snapped a quick pic, and it finished! So it is what it is...

This is the part where your precious iPhone could brick in the very unlikely chance something goes wrong here! That said, I’ve gone as far as accidentally unplugging the USB cable in this step and seemingly bricked my phone, but it was an easy fix! I just put it back in DFU mode and let iTunes restore it to health (Google is your friend!). No problem!

I'm also using a cable that looks like this... I ain't scared! :P

Okay, so its probably done by now, huh? You can breath a sigh of relief and pat yourself on the back, because now your iPhone is  way more kick ass than most anyone else you know! At least for the moment… Wow, you know, that really was just as easy as QuickPWN, wasn’t it? Who needs QuickPWN…

Here are a few screen shots to prove I’m not just playing with your hopes and emotions here:

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please share Gadget Cracker with your friends and follow @gadgetcracker on Twitter!

Notes and sources:

1) Relavent Dev Team Blog & RedSn0w download – http://blog.iphone-dev.org/post/126908912/redsn0w-in-june

2) iPhone 3G OS 3.0 firmware – http://content.info.apple.com/iPhone/061-6578.20090617.VfgtU/iPhone1,2_3.0_7A341_Restore.ipsw

You can also read this title as ‘Top 5 Excuses to Jailbreak Your iPhone’! :-)

This is the Quickpwn mascott. I guess it is a ninja pineapple... get it? pineAPPLE :P

Now, I have to do an obligatory disclaimer… you could damage your phone, void your warranty, and maybe even increase your risk of cancer if you jailbreak your iPhone! But as promised, here’s my top 5 list for all you crazy bastards that like living on the edge of life and death enough to jail-break! Haha. I hope you detect the sarcasm there. Jail-breaking has become very simple and fairly safe. I have jail broken my iPhone 4 or 5 times now using Quickpwn on two different PCs and once on a laptop with absolutely no problems at all. And if your wondering, all but one of those times I redid my iPhone it was simply to get a fresh start after accumulating a ton of junk. The one other time was because out of the blue one day I could not get Cydia* to download anything new. I racked my brain and finally just restored my phone and redid the jailbreak.

[*Cydia is the app you get most all of your jailbroken apps from. It's kind of like the iTunes store, but for jailbroken apps]

If you think it is worthwhile for me to do a jail-breaking / getting started tutorial let me know, if I have enough interest I’ll make one.

Anyhoo… on to the Top 5 list! Just remember, these are in no particular order… I only count down to trick your brain into creating a feeling of suspense for your reading pleasure :-P

#5 – Cycorder – FREE

This was my original motivation to jailbreak. When I got my iPhone I didn’t research it much. I was so sure this cool like peice of modern engineering magic had to have a video recording application… saddly I was dissappointed. This app is the answer. As far as cell phones go the quality is pretty nice. it wont replace your camcorder, but it definately does the job when you need to capture video in a pinch! This alone is a great reason to jailbreak! Here’s a sample video:

Note: This sample is done in ideal lighting conditions, you may notice bluring and noise to greater degree if the enviroment is dim or it is dark. But overall this surpasses most cell phone video quality that I’ve seen.

#4 – Intelliscreen – $10.00

Paying for jail-broken apps just seemed wrong to me at first, because jail-breaking feels like your doing something subversive… hell, it’s called JAIL-BREAKING! haha. But I’ve come to realize that its not wrong at all! In fact these guys work as hard as any programmer with an app store release, sometimes harder, so they deserve your cash sometimes too. That said, $10 bucks is a bit pricey compared to most apps, but once you try Intelliscreen your hooked!

These are the three main screens from Intelliscreen on my iPhone. I have blurred out personal info in places.

Okay, so basically this app gives you interactive access to your SMS/text messages, e-mail messages, calendar, news, weather and more all from your lock screen! Thats right, you just hit the home button and blammo, you see all your useful info right there! Whats more is that you can press the home button again at this point and a speed dial screen appears where you can call anyone on your favorite caller list! At first I was worried about accidental dialing happening in my pocket if I used this app, but it is designed very well and I have never had an accidental call or anything wacky.

Here is a folder I created for all of my utility type apps.

#3 – Categories – FREE

If you happen to be an app junkie like me, and you probably are if your reading this blog, you know how overwhelming all those icons spanning across five, ten or even more springboard pages can be. This app, which is simply and appropriately called ‘Categories’, allows you to fix just that… it lets you categorize all your apps into nice tidy folders. You can even select from quite a few differnt folder icons. This app is indispensable, I don’t know how I’d know whats what on my iPhone without it!
One word of caution, sometimes this app is a bit buggy and crashes on you. I recommend organizing one folder at a time, then exiting and allowing it to re-spring, and then doing the next folder. Occasionally it is reported that Categories can crash and mess up your folder organization. If this happens this link may prove helpful: http://www.modmyi.com/forums/native-iphone-ipod-touch-app-discussion/24785-categories-app-bug-reports.html. For what it’s worth I have not had any problems since the last update of Categories, so I think most of the bugs have been ironed out.

This is my springboard 'look', warts and all! :P

#2 – Winterboard / Themes / Visual Customizations – FREE (almost always)

Lots of slashes on this title. That’s because theming and general customization is a big part of the fun of jailbreaking and I didn’t feel any one theme or customization app deserved all the credit. Out of the box there is very limited room to customize your experience on the iPhone, and this was another thing that disappointed me when I bought mine (in addition to the inability to record video). Winterboard is a popular theme engine, and most of the themes I’ve encountered work with / rely on this app. What is cool about Winterboard is that you can mix different theme elements. For example, say you install a certain complete theme, and maybe it looks cool overall but the keyboard and dialer skins both look like crap. You can then find and install a skin you like better for those two specific things, and within Winterboard you can ’stack’, or ‘order’, the new keyboard and dialer skins above your main theme, so they will override those items in your theme. Also you can get custom lock screens, sounds, video wallpaper (which kind of slows down your phone, but looks neat), and of course all sorts of great looking complete themes!

I prefer to keep things pretty basic these days, as themes can add overhead to your iPhone’s already scarce memory, affecting performance slightly. Right now I have my iPhone ‘themed’ as you see in the image to the right. Now, this isn’t actually a single complete theme, it is really just one app that combines the ‘Five Icon Dock’ with a custom ‘flow’ style skin (I beleive it’s called Dock Flow) [bottom of the above pic], and then a custom background I downloaded using the ‘Backgrounds’ app (‘Backgrounds’ is a free Appstore app). Other than that I am just using Categories from #3 of this list and some randomly colored folder icons. This is an example of how you can make a fairly complete looking theme that is actually pretty basic and not much of a resource hog.

You wont be in the dark with this app! Lame... I know... But I'm a Dead fan! ha

#1 – Flashlight – FREE

I know what your thinking… “What?!?! I know this mofo did not just put a flashlight app as a top jail-break app, there are countless FREE flashlight apps in the Appstore”! Yes, I did, and I know. What sucks about the Appstore flashlight apps is that none of them can change your iPhone’s display brightness. Apple does not approve any flashlight apps that do this. This one, however, will automatically set your display to maximum brightness (and return it to normal when your done), which results in a flashlight app that is actually useful! I don’t know if it’s possible for me to really drive home

Just give it a try and put it right on your first page of springboard where you’ll quickly and easily find it in a jam. After you use it a few times and get used to going to your iPhone for a quick light source you will find yourself using this app all the time! Here’s some handy uses for this app:

• Lay it in the bottom of a PC case while your working inside (just don’t drop that heatsink on it)
• Sneak to bed at 4AM with minimal disturbance to your lady friend (or guy friend, whatever the case)
• Signal friends as to your location at a dark concert
• Find something you just dropped under your desk

You get the idea… it’s a flashlight :-)

———————————————

There you have it, these are some of the apps that make me very appreciative of all the guys and gals that spent countless hours and probably bricked a few iPhones figuring this stuff out and making it so relatively safe and easy for the rest of us. You really do need to understand that all this is possible only because of people who have a passion for doing this stuff, for hacking around with hardware/software and figuring out how to do what didn’t seem possible. So please, if you have questions or problems, just be friendly and people in the community will help you. This is very safe in my opinion, but at the same time I want to make sure I scare you just enough that you don’t assume that there is no risk at all and jump into this haphazardly, as there are some basic instructions you must be capable of following properly for both the jail-breaking process and for using some of the apps properly. It may also confort you to know that a jail-break can be undone at any time simply by restoring your iPhone in iTunes.

And again, for more info on jail-breaking your iPhone, and the tools needed, visit these guys: http://www.quickpwn.com/

Happy jail-breaking!