The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office revealed a patent application from Apple entitled "Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device." The invention describes methods to identify users through a picture, the sound of their voice, or even their heartbeat.
"The photograph, recording, or heartbeat can be compared to a photograph, recording or heartbeat of authorized users of the electronic device to determine whether they match," the application reads. "If they do not match, the current user can be detected as an unauthorized user."
If an unauthorized user were to attempt to access an iPhone or another device, the owner of the handset could be notified via a phone call, text message or e-mail. It could send the owner - or the police - a picture of the unauthorized user, or other information specific to the potential thief.
The handset could recognize an unauthorized user if they do certain uncharacteristic activities with the phone, such as hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removing a SIM card.
Have you already updated your device to the version iOS4 and want to unlock your 3GS? Firstly there was Redsn0w, now PwnageTool is available, which can easily help you. Here is a simple and easy tutorial for jailbreaking iPhone 3GS (old bootrom). Warning: this is not an official release and therefore may be some bugs that can destroy your device or delete some important information. So be careful while using it!
Social Bicycles - a bike sharing system with a twist – plans to start using an iPhone application, the system allows users to drop off, locate, and borrow a bike nearly anywhere. The bikes are equipped with a GPS device which is locked to one of the wheels, and when the bike is locked, it's locatable using the application, so that someone can borrow it; when it's in use and unlocked, it doesn't appear in the app. The real upside to Social Bicycles is that the regular infrastructure required for bike lending systems are unnecessary, which can make lending much cheaper.
As you might know iPhone 4 is available unlocked in many different countries around the globe. The prices vary a lot.
Filip Chudzinski from Germany put together a comparative chart with iPhone 4 prices. As you can see below it can often be well worth it to order your iPhone 4 in a different country (you’ll need an intermediary), or even just going across the border.
Update: some users report that this chart contains errors, so do not forget to check everything before traveling around the globe.
Update 2: the data is not valid at least in Finland and Sweden.
MuscleNerd tweeted today that the recent redsn0w utility is able to jailbreak the iOS 4.1 beta2 on iPhone 3G and iPod Touch 2G. This is useful for developers only, however good news for everyone.
Apple’s iPhone 4 handset is scheduled to hit Canadian stores this Friday. According to a recent report by CBC, Canadian customers will have the option of buying the phone unlocked, directly from Apple:
MuscleNerd, hacker from DevTeam, commented via twitter on recent rumors that universal jailbreak (all iPhones and all firmwares, including iPhone 4 and iOS 4.0.1) will be released today. The basic answer is no, there will be no jailbreak today.
Not to make it a daily thing, but since somehow people thought it would be today: the new JB+unlock won't be out today
(there are issues with important apps like Facetime that need to be figured out...no sense releasing a half-broken JB)
Jay Freeman, better known as Saurik, the creator of Cydia, was interviewed by the home radio Make It Work. He speaks about the history and the future of the iPhone jailbreak.
Saurik describes the origins of Jailbreak and Unlock for the very first model of the iPhone. Jay explains that initially there were two important things to do with the iPhone 2G - to use other carrier than AT&T and to install any application.
He continues discussing the main applications from Cydia. Cycorder was the first to allow video recording, and Winterboard was the only one that allowed users to change the graphical interface of the iPhone. He also speaks about Comex, the hacker who is currently working with the Dev Team for releasing and Unlock for the iPhone 4. According to Saurik the tool is still not ready to be released to the public due to severe bugs in the code. Here the second part:
Run RedSn0w and point it at the 4.0 IPSW. (Yes – point it at the 4.0 IPSW even though you're at 4.0.1). This will also hacktivate your iPhone3G at 4.0.1 if you haven't already been activated by iTunes.
Install ultrasn0w in Cydia (add repository http://repo666.ultrasn0w.com) if you need a carrier unlock (and in the USA, remember to turn off 3G mode in Settings→General→Network).
DevTeam hacker Planetbeing has just announced that the iPhone 4 has been successfully unlocked.
Looks like I now have an unlocked iPhone 4.
My soft-unlocked iPhone 4 (in Canada). I'll have video in a couple of hours once I can top-up the SIM. http://twitpic.com/24ycdv
DevTeam congratulated planetbeing in team's official twitter:
Congrats to @planetbeing for first ever soft-unlocked iPhone4 http://is.gd/dqwvv (now to streamline it!)
Musclenerd also mentioned one interesting fact:
We think we have 3 different ways to unlock once inside BB (the 3rd way was first to fully work for @planetbeing !)
Congratulations for accomplishing this in such a short time. The unlock will be publicly available shortly after comex releases his jailbreak utility for iOS 4.
Geohot closed the iPhone blog that he used to announce and release jailbreaks and unlocks over the past few years. The site now says "This blog is open to invited readers only". Yesterday he posted his last public blog entry.
Geohot has also now shut down his Twitter account which has 113,761 followers. Visiting the account now says "This person has protected their tweets".