It used to be that jailbreaking your iPhone was a long, involved process , but worth it for the freedom . We’ve reached a new age, though, where emancipating your phone is as simple as plugging in an iDongle. Liberty! More

If you needed any more proof that Apple’s lame cat-and-mouse game with the iPhone jailbreak community has only served to increase its resourcefulness and creativity, look no further than the iDongle, a slick piece of hacker-made hardware that can jailbreak and activate an iPhone 3GS or iPod touch running OS 3.1.2 just by plugging it into the dock connector. What’s more, it allows a jailbroken iPhone to be rebooted away from a computer, which is currently a problem for on-the-go hackers — just stick this guy in your bag and you’ll be good to go. There’s only a dozen prototypes right now, but pre-orders are being accepted to raise funds for production — we’ve got a feeling quite a few people are going to be interested. Video after the break. Continue reading iDongle hardware iPhone jailbreak tool makes hacker life a little simpler iDongle hardware iPhone jailbreak tool makes hacker life a little simpler originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:02:00 EST

People rarely talk about iPhone app piracy, but when they do, it sounds devastating: 90% piracy rates, $450 million in lost sales, etc. Here’s the truth: App Store piracy isn’t a big deal—and it never will be. With these shockingly high reports comes the general air that developers are being marauded and pillaged by Viking hordes and that Apple isn’t doing enough to stop it. This resonates! Developers don’t control much about the App Store, so if the entire app protection system has been cracked— which it has —you’d expect the looting to be wholesale; the impact on developers to be immediate and devastating; and the problem to be grave indeed. And yet the piracy issue seems to be dying. The story behind the lack of a story, it turns out, is that iPhone piracy is nowhere near as serious as many people say it is, and that before long, it may not be a problem at all

At least two of them sure seem to think so! Jailbreak scenesters Sherif Hashim and iH8sn0w are both reporting bannings —by Apple ID , strangely—following their latest hacks. Is Apple attacking jailbreak from the bottom up? Maybe . Both Sherif Hashim and iH8sn0w were behind the discovery of recent iPhone exploits, and both are currently receiving a “This Apple ID has been banned for security purposes” notification whenever they try to log into the (actual) App Store to download an app. But.

The iPhone Dev Team has put the latest redsn0w jailbreaking tool up for your downloading pleasure, for use with iPhones and iPod Touches running OS versions 3.0 and 3.1.2. [ Redsn0w via SlashGear ]

At this particular point, 50-something days away from the earliest iPad deliveries, we doubt too many people are up in arms about the iPad’s ability to act as a jumbo iPhone . On the other hand, if we told you you can take pretty much the entire iPad experience and distill it down to your iPhone OS device, well you’d probably care a lot more, wouldn’t you? To get that extra 3D flavor to your UI, including the fetching iBooks shelf and other iPad-specific touches, you’ll need a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch, access to the Cydia app store, and the manpower to click past the break for the full instructional video. Come on, you know you want to.

GV Mobile is now available for jailbroken iPhone devices for free, but there’s something better coming up… GV Mobile 2.0 . Here’s a first look at the app. It’s pretty simple: Apple’s iPhone OS is basically the only major smartphone operating system without an official or unofficial Google Voice client. We used to have GV Mobile and VoiceCentral, but as we all know, those were abruptly removed from the App Store and even Google’s official client was turned away. Well, at least Apple didn’t Amazon your iPhone and take away the Google Voice applications you already bought/downloaded, right?

The wait has been long, but now there’s finally a means by which to connect your dear, yet almost buttonless, iPhone or iPod touch to a Bluetooth keyboard for some more intense finger tapping action. The project that delivered us this teasing video back in February has at long last reached the application stage, where simple commoners like us can use it to synergize our gear — provided we’ve had the wherewithal to free it from Cupertino’s overbearing clutches first. The BTstack Keyboard app is now available in exchange for $5 at the Cydia store, so if you want to be the first to write a bestseller on his or her iDevice, there’s no time like the present. Update: We’ve done the inevitable and had a quick play with the app ourselves. Pairing our iPhone and keyboard was a veritable cinch, and we were met by delightfully rapid responsiveness throughout, whether using it in Safari, composing text missives, or jotting those novella notes down. You should note that command, cut, copy, paste, and highlighting functions are not yet active, and then hurry along past the break to see a video demo.

The wait has been long, but now there’s finally a means by which to connect your dear, yet almost buttonless, iPhone or iPod touch to a Bluetooth keyboard for some more intense finger tapping action. The project that delivered us this teasing video back in February has at long last reached the application stage, where simple commoners like us can use it to synergize our gear — provided we’ve had the wherewithal to free it from Cupertino’s overbearing clutches first. The BTstack Keyboard app is now available in exchange for $5 at the Cydia store, so if you want to be the first to write a bestseller on his or her iDevice, there’s no time like the present. Update: We’ve done the inevitable and had a quick play with the app ourselves. Pairing our iPhone and keyboard was a veritable cinch, and we were met by delightfully rapid responsiveness throughout, whether using it in Safari, composing text missives, or jotting those novella notes down. You should note that command, cut, copy, paste, and highlighting functions are not yet active, and then hurry along past the break to see a video demo

Last month, ZodTTD, the guy who basically pioneered game emulation on the iPhone, promised us an N64 emulator. Today, that’s exactly what he’s delivered, with a bonus: Wiimote support, via Bluetooth. Early reports—and this video—peg the app as slow and tough to control, even with the Wii attachment, which, if you’ve been following jailbreak game emulation on the iPhone at all, should sound familiar. What should also sound familiar are stories of how said emulators, after a few months of development, almost invariably become something completely different, subject to description by such exclusive adjectives as “playable” and even “OK.” That n64iphone will get better one day is a matter of faith, but goddamnit, have hope! n64iphone is available to jailbreakers in Cydia for $2.50—ROMs not included, obviously—which would be a fair price for a full-fledged N64 emulator, but feels a little high for what currently amounts to a very neat party trick.