iPod touch Latest Hacking progress (no progress...)

[Arisian]

Yes I did mean not only AT&T people would work on it and now I see the flaw in my logic. Still I hope more than just 4 or 5 people are trying to hack this baby. It might even be smart for the iphone peeps to start hacking the touch because like TUAW said the new Iphone update might have very similar protections as the touch does now.

iphone took 3 months to get a purely software hack. itouch has been out 2 weeks... give it some time!

hmm... I think it took a month to jailbreak it and 2 more to get it on other carriers... i could be wrong. Is that correct actually? Link?

 

[TonyHoyle]

IIRC the first hacks required hardware mods?

For the touch it's *slightly* easier - we have the iphone as a reference and we're not trying to break a simlock, only find a way to get it to execute a binary (once we can get it to do one - however simple - the rest follows rather quickly).

It seems the current hacking efforts have been successful in reading the data on the touch, but not actually modifying it. That's going to take time (reverse engineering a binary protocol like the itunes one is damned hard.. I've done it once or twice and without some prior knowledge it can take weeks of false starts).

 

[Arisian]

IIRC the first hacks required hardware mods?

For the touch it's *slightly* easier - we have the iphone as a reference and we're not trying to break a simlock, only find a way to get it to execute a binary (once we can get it to do one - however simple - the rest follows rather quickly).

It seems the current hacking efforts have been successful in reading the data on the touch, but not actually modifying it. That's going to take time (reverse engineering a binary protocol like the itunes one is damned hard.. I've done it once or twice and without some prior knowledge it can take weeks of false starts).

figures... no problems there :-D

 

[clevin]

Gizmodo just mentioned a piece bashing apple's greed.
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/so...e-for-cashing-in-on-closed-systems-302276.php

Its getting more and more frustrated, didn't apple realize they lost the battle in computer just because of this "closed system model" back in 1990s?

There might be people out there who will always fall into the trap by apple's elegant design ( I might be one of them). But for majority of users, functionality still prevails.

now look at Touch. It can't replace a PDA, its sure not a smartphone, it can't even fully replace people's old iPod due to capacity. Developing a new market? not gonna happen by limiting its potential.

 

[s57]

Now look at Touch. It can't replace a PDA, its sure not a smartphone, it can't even fully replace people's old iPod due to capacity. Developing a new market? not gonna happen by limiting its potential.

Exactly. But wait a few minutes and there will be lots of posts of people saying "...but it not SUPPOSED to replace a PDA or a smartphone or an iPod, its not SUPPOSED to capture any new markets or bring about a revolution in hand-held computing..."

This platform and the interface have the potential to change handheld computing and maybe even the entire computing industry by introducing an entirely new, innovating, intuitive user interface.

Locking it and stripping it down to be an iPod, just a little more fun than previous iPods, is not going to let that happen, that's for sure. People who really only want an iPod will not mind, but people who need mobile productivity in a way that is actually intuitive and usable are pulling their hair out over this.

Hacking is fine and much appreciated, but it's still not going to create an environment where companies feel that they securly invest into developing for this platform for the long term, with reliability and accountability to the professional user.

 

[madmaxmedia]

As far as a 'personal digital assistant' goes, Apple is really almost there in terms of what is useful to 95 to 98% of the user base-

1. Editable Address Book
2. Editable Calendar
3. Editable Task list
4. Some sort of journal or memo app
5. Music
6. Movies
7. Photos
8. General text/document/ebook viewing
9. Internet goodies- web, email, chat, Youtube, etc.

It's actually quite amazing in retrospect that the IPOD is pretty much there, all it takes is a last little push from Apple (or hackers.) I understand that power users want more, but I think that list is good enough for even most people that own a Palm PDA.

Yet that also makes it frustrating, considering that absolutely every item on that list could have easily been in the Touch from Day 1.

 

[Arisian]

i think a valid point that is being made is that they did cripple the ipt based on removing functionality that the iphone has. Hwoever, i can understand them tryong to rotect the iphone and its market before the peak season. Thats fine with me. O think we will all agree that the ipod touch is still an amazing device... Even with out extra apps. I have a hard time believing that apple would be so nearsited as to actually just add wifk w/ safari only for the ipod itunes store. Its so much more than that.



Thoughts?

 

[madmaxmedia]

I have a hard time believing that apple would be so nearsited as to actually just add wifk w/ safari only for the ipod itunes store. Its so much more than that.

Yes, I am happy with the Touch as is, but am hoping (but not counting on) new features will come from Apple or hackers.

The Safari/wifi thing was interesting. Obviously Jobs felt the need to offer some sort of 'excuse' for putting Safari on the Touch, in order to make the impression that Apple was placing priority on the iPhone.

I'm not too worried. That list I wrote is all I would ever expect or hope for, and the Touch already does much of it out of the box. I want more, but don't need more than the Touch already does.

 

[Arisian]

want more but you dont need more... I agree

 

[s57]

I'm not too worried. That list I wrote is all I would ever expect or hope for, and the Touch already does much of it out of the box. I want more, but don't need more than the Touch already does.

If they implemented your list, that would certainly be huge step forward in terms of productivity (only a tiny step for Apple, though, since it all exists, basically).

And you're right: for most that would be plenty. The beauty is that they could easily add even much more - and really change the way we work.

For example, they could add keynote-presentation capabilities, which allow you to hook up your touch to a projector. For me, that would be incredibly useful, especiall since Apple is no longer selling a small, lightweight notebook. Let's hope that they do both: come out with a super-compact notebook and put all this stuff on the iPod touch...