How they hacked the un-hackable PS3….

What Is a PS3 Jailbreak:

It was only till the 2^nd week of August when we could say the Sony PlayStation 3 device just cannot be hacked. But the modders at OzModChips are certainly ahead of all the 7-step security Sony has installed on the PS3. They have recently released a jailbreak which hacks your PS3 device to help you run custom code, backup games from the dump, and actually a whole lot of pirated content. The jailbreak is a small USB plug-and-play modchip which you plug into any model of PS3 and hack the highest security on a console ever.

The news of PS3 jailbreak is all over the internet, but very few know actually HOW it works. This article takes a hacker’s scoop on how the PS3 USB modchip jailbreak takes apart the top security I’ve already described in another of my articles. Some assumptions are from my own thinking, though.

How They Made It Possible:

1) The Modchip: The USB device is not just a pen drive or storage device, but it has a microcontroller chip which exploits the loophole in the security. Just like Sherlock Homes says, “a criminal always invariably leaves some clue” in this case, its not the criminal but the security itself which still had a loophole. The guys at OzModChips were quoted saying “It makes your PS3 feel it’s a developer device”. Now what does that mean? Its simple: the developers of PS3, that is the wise guys at Sony who made the security possible, also need their own way to run the code on the console while testing it. For that purpose, they used an external device via USB to convert a PS3 console into a developer console. The creators of the jailbreak released now, found the chip on the developer’s testing device, got it on a PCB, did some research and finally came up with a small, light, easy and plug-n-play device which looks like a pen drive. They make the console to appear as a developer console and then you can run any custom code on it.

2) Backup Manager: Having a way to run the code isn’t enough. Even though you can run any code, be it right or wrong on a dev device, there should be a code which runs a backup manager. At the moment, backup manager is the only homebrew code that they have released. What backup manager does is to dump the games from a blu-ray drive to PS3’s own hard-disk. Being a dev console, all security and encryption from the HDD as well as the blu-ray drive is broken already, hence its very easy to dump the game on the HDD. You can alternatively dump them on external Hard-disk as well. Dumping actually means copying the whole game from the disk. After dumping, you can leave any one of the original game disks inside the drive of PS3, and use the backup manager to “load” the dumped backup to play that particular game. But how does one put the backup manager on the PS3? As soon as you jailbreak your PS3 using the modchip, a dev version of the OS can be accessed, which can let you install the backup manager. Hence you can just insert another general mass-storage USB device, having the backup manager software on it, and install it directly in the XMB menu bar itself!

3) Free alternative: At the moment, even though many are claiming to have a free alternative which can install the jailbreak on any pen drive and use it, this is NOT true and actually installs a Trojan on your pen drive. Remember, the jailbreak is a ModChip and NOT a pen drive. It has the distinguished microcontroller in it which makes everything possible. Even if there will be free alternatives in the future, they will consist of using an already jailbroken PS3 to hack a clean one or maybe use LAN or Wi-Fi to install the code on the PS3 using your own laptop or PC. But its not too close, although it looks that way.

What might make a free alternative possible is to create a virtual microcontroller on your computer which has been done using Linux already, and use a USB cord to jailbreak the PS3. That is a difficult thing to do, but certainly possible. Only limitation would be to keep running your PC and the virtual porting software ON all the time.

What Sony Might Have In Store For The Hackers….

Sony would soon be busy making arrangements and ways to patch the loophole in their next firmware version. That won’t be enough, so they would ban those jailbroken PlayStation 3 consoles from PSN. Its also possible that they could identify the hack over the internet and just send a file remotely to disable the hack or PS3 itself, forever.

Also, if one wants to jailbreak sooner or later, he must make sure he doesn’t install ANY of the further firmware updates. But that does mean you lose out on some of the features Sony would be rolling out in the near future.

In my opinion, someone who would want a jailbreak won’t bother about having Sony’s features on their device. Because, anyhow in some days there would be lots of homebrew content on the PS3 to do things you might have never even imagined. Maybe one could enable a Microsoft Kinect device to use on their PlayStation! Finally, whatever Sony can release hereafter, can be run via homebrew content, and I’m sure the modders and freelance developers are capable of doing that.

To sum it up, Sony will have PSN bans, firmware updates and lot more in store to curb the piracy, but that can stop only the itty-bitty modders from doing so. Its very difficult now to stop the hardcore hackers from hacking the PS3 to the maximum, they now have got the one spark they needed to create the fire.

Beware of the hack fire, though. It may damage your console.

Why Hack? Stay legal, enjoy the paid game.

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Samsung Wave – The real BADA smartphone

Introduction

In the already overcrowded market of mobile phones and mobile phone operating systems, Samsung recently entered with it’s own OS called the “Bada” OS, and the first smartphone on this operating system – Samsung Wave.

The name “Bada” comes from a Corean word, which means Ocean or Sea. Incidentially, Bada in Hindi refers to BIG, and indeed, it seems this operating system will prove itself big in the market having huge competition in terms of mobile smartphones. The name SamsungWave signifies how flawless the phone is, just like a wave in an ocean! It also rhymes with the meaning of the operating system which runs it, that is, Bada OS.

Look and Feel

The overall design is slim and rounded edged which makes it easy to hold and use. Sleekness, curviness and enhanced polished body gives it the outstanding looks. The phone antenna is placed inside the main frame of the device, which makes sure that you get perfect signal quality irrespective of the way you hold it or keep it. This completely makes Wave a winner over some of its competitor phones, which recently became more popular for those issues rather than features… But be assured, its Samsung, and hence it has to have perfect design. Asthetically, Wave looks like the traditional Samsung smartphones look, with 3 buttons at the bottom of the large touch screen display. This phone is powered with Super AmoLED display which boasts to be much brighter, clearer and less reflective than any other display. It just means it has the best ever viewing quality on a mobile smartphone device!
The touch screen is a legend. Mobile smartphones rarely have such a responsive and touch-sensitive display like Wave has. The interface is designed in such a way that the look of the phone goes in tune with the feel of the phone. That backs the name of the device – Wave the flawless.

Performance and Style

Today smartphones are not just phones. They are not even mere pocket computing devices. Today’s smartphones are Consoles. Samsung wave points in the right direction when you say it’s a Console! To make sure the phone keeps getting the support it should, they’ve packed in a powerful 1 GHz application processor. That means a fast, smooth and responsive user interface, multitasking up to certain extent, HD video playing and recording and Flash video compatibility.
Recently many devices support the HTML5 technology, but not flash video which is widely supported on even the basic computers and gadgets. But even being a smartphone, the power of a great GPU and the awesome OS brings flash on the Wave. Just a perfect edge over its competition phones. The best advanced graphic processor brings all the power a smartphone can get right in your hands. HD videos play really smooth, and browser works without even a single second of lag. All those photos, videos and animations on the web pages are processed in a matter of a few nanoseconds, to bring you the ultimate user experience on this smartphone.

Browser and User Interface

Samsung Wave also has the best ever Dolfin internet browser, designed specifically for this beautiful operating system. The internet browser syncs perfectly with the advanced Touch Wiz 3.0 user interface, which is the best user interface ever seen on a smartphone. The customizability of Touch Wiz is so great that you can actually decide where you see what. That makes sure what you want is what you have on your screen.
On-screen widgets are the perfect way to stay informed, and stay connected. For example, the clock, weather and stocks widget keeps you informed of the real-time information and content right from the internet to your device. Buddies Now widget provides access to SNS services such as Facebook and Orkut, right from the home screen of your Wave phone.

Multitasking is implied in the user interface in a limited sense. All default native apps work in the background. That means you can answer a call or SMS while you are browsing, and come back to the same page you were browsing earlier. All in just a few taps! You may want to put that new song on while you use the calculator, you can do that very well, without losing what you were calculating. The multitasking feature, however, is limited to default apps and one Bada app. That means you cannot have two bada apps running at a time. But that doesn’t become a problem at all, as all you need is given in the phone by default.

Social Networking and IM

Don’t you just love to open up Google Talk or MSN on your PC every few minutes and instant message your friends and loved ones? How about having the same in a touch of the screen on the beautiful Samsung Wave phone… Email, IM, Social networks integration, Calendar, sync… What not… That means you can just make a few taps and get typing that status update you want to post on Facebook or Orkut whenever you want to. Twitter integration makes it even more connected to the world since tweeting has become the way to interact with others now-a-days. Mind sending that tweet right from a home screen gadget? Samsung Wave and Bada brings to you that power.

Samsung App Store

The perfect way to use applications on your phone is downloading them right from a store of applications specifically designed for that phone. Samsung takes care of just the same, to bring to you latest applications designed for Wave’s user interface and native integration. The app never faces compatibility issues or bugs, because it is offered to you only after testing and vigorous testing of the apps in the Samsung store by expert app developers.

In the view of developers, Bada platform is the easiest way ever to create applications. From the viewpoint of the end user, it’s the way applications should be. The touch screen controls, various phone-specific features are really very useful in creating the perfect app for your phone. You have the option to download the applications to your PC or the phone itself. Got no wi-fi around? No worries. Download the app on the PC and simply transfer it to the phone.

Multimedia and

Connectivity

The fun doesn’t end there. It just starts right there. Along with the 3G, GPRS, GSM and HSPDA connectivity modes, Wave has Bluetooth 3.0 – the fastest Bluetooth yet, built-in Wi-fi, and GPS technology to keep the fun going. Accelerometer, proximity sensor and the G-sensor makes it technically the best device yet having such amazing sensors built right inside the gadget.
5 megapixel AF camera with power LED flash with smile shutter, panorama shot facility along with a native photo editor makes the clicking experience a must have. HD video recording at 1280x720 resolution and playback makes sure you don’t miss out on the videography fun. DivX and XviD codecs are supported on Wave, which is a major plus from the other phones comparable to it. FM radio, expandable memory with MicroSD slot and a native music player are some of the more features to name. This is a multimedia console. For real. Voice and motion-sensor UI is one of the best ways to interact with your device, and Wave has all this and much more.

Physical Characteristics

Not only the multimedia features are important, but so are the physical aspects of a gadget. A device may have all the features in it, but what if its of a huge size? Imagine a feature-packed phone having too much weight. Would you buy it? Samsung Wave makes it a point to keep it a light, perfect sized and durable device to use. The full touch bar type design of 118x56x10.9 mm is the right size for a smartphone like Wave. The battery is 1500mAh, a little lesser than expected, but gives a good amount of standby time. Though battery backup won’t be too long if you record or play HD videos all the time. But that’s pretty much what you need.

Pricing

A mobile phone should not lighten your pockets, it should lighten your tension to purchase it instead. Samsung Wave is priced at a perfect amount of money which is affordable for such a great smartphone. The phone really is worth the price you pay.
Samsung Wave is priced at around 19,000 INR according to sources. That’s really a less amount compared to other phones of its genre, and worth paying.

Author’s comments

Personally I found this phone very useful to everyone out there, including the tech-freaks as well as multimedia enthusiasts. It’s the perfect gadget to have for professionals as well as students. Every aspect of this phone makes sure its usable to all the people. I’d say Go for it! Get yourself one of those beautiful touch bars and create a style statement.

Samsung Wave on Samsung Bada OS… FTW!

For specifications and experience of this phone please visit Samsung Wave Website

For discussing this phone on Facebook, you can visit the Samsung Mobile India official FB page!

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