Downed Websites.

Every once in a while people will call or e-mail me with general computer questions. There are a few that tend to pop up more than others so I tend to have a quick fix handy. There are even more that just need a simple diagnostic tool and usually people can figure out the issue on their own. In the spirit of having more people aware of valuable tools on the internet I bring to your attention:

Redsn0w.

UPDATE: THE SHIT’S OUT FOOLS!

From iPodTouchFans: “

Exploit

The address that the bootrom loads LLB into is 0x22000000, and for some reason, it stores it’s global variables dangerously close, at 0x22024000. Now, when loading LLB from NOR, it does not have any sort of maximum size limit, unlike if it was receiving a file via USB. You just can gracefully overwrite, and for some parts, will need to reconstruct, the beginning of the data (_bss) section. There are a few different ways you could exploit this to actually run unsigned code at this level, but so far the easiest one found is based on another fail decision that Apple made. For some reason, they and put the SHA1 hardware address array smack dab in our way, so at this point, you can change anything there that you want. By changing the pointer to SHA1 Data Input Register 1 into a pointer to where the current LR is on the stack, it will put whatever is at 0x20 of the image in LR, which is all that is important. By putting your payload somewhere in the padding (you need padding, since LLB is less than 0x24000 bytes obviously), you can just put the address of it at 0x20 of the image! If you actually don’t want to run unsigned code but instead just want to run the LLB, then you will first need to have it put the original bytes back at 0x20 in the file before you do anything else, as well as put the original SHA1 hardware address back in the array. Another important thing to remember is that you must 1. add 0x22000000 to whatever the offset of your payload is in the file, since that is where it loads LLB in memory, and 2. reverse it for endianess.”

Untethered Jailbreak Tutorial (no custom boot logo)
Un0fficialSn0w

Vista Task Manager.

I’ve gotten an easy computer question at least 5 times since Friday so I’ll just splurt the answer here. If you’re used to Ctrl+Alt+Del linking to task manager in XP but are annoyed that in Vista it links to a blue screen and have to click to Task Manager. Just switch over to the new shortcut sequence.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc

Problem Solved.

Jamcast Beta.

If you’ve got an Xbox running Xbox Media Center or an Xbox 360 you may want to look into JamCast Beta. It’s a convenient way to network home audio. It’s an easy way to set up Pandora, DRM protected music, or satellite radio streaming from your computer to your device. The feature I’m trying to get up and going is what they call “Virtual PC Audio Streaming”. From what I’ve gathered it might be a way to route any audio coming from your PC to a device on your home network, I’m going to try to use it to tap into the surround sound set up on the TV for PC gaming. I’ll update with a review if anyone requests it.

iPod Touch Fails.

I recently inherited a second generation iPod Touch and was trying to use it to both overcome my extreme hatred of Apple and see why it has garnered such positive reviews. After completely changing my media centers around so that the iPod could actually connect to them I realized, I hate the damn thing. The simple fact that there is no plug and play support but instead has let-apple-penetrate-everything support was enough to send me reeling about how much I hate the device. I have a need to see things through to the end though, so I pushed on.

After letting the devil iTunes past my barricades it was then apparent that half the reason people jizz in their pants over this piece of junk is the App Store. So I set about connecting to it over the wifi. Special note on that, you NEED to link a credit card to your account. When I found out I had to actually make an account at all I was already pissed off and disappointed. I love keeping anonymity over the Internet, I don’t leave actual info anywhere I register and I avoid registering if possible. If your forum doesn’t have a guest pass system, you’re a dick or at least led by dicks (to be gender-neutral I implicitly mean cunt(s) as well). Here then is a system that not only needs you register but has effectively done away with a check-box that says “I’ll never buy anything from you bunch of retarded knob ends on principle alone”. If I’m ever out of my full state of mind, I just might accidentally spend loads of money. You know who else follows that model? Filthy pimps who run strip clubs.

After getting all this done and fully realizing that anyone who made it past this point either has enough disposable income that they tend to just leak cash, or really were blindsided by a screen they can touch. Imagine that! I actually get to use the thing, well with music that is in the proper format, videos that have been compressed and converted, and of course nothing else. No PDF support, no bluetooth syncing, no wireless file transfer. You know this piece of dog shit isn’t a portable hard drive? There’s just too much that this thing is lacking to make it worth even keeping. I challenge anyone to come to the defense of this but I will state the following conditions. If you know of an app that will add the functionality to make this shit worthwhile, shut up unless it’s free (no demo/lite/trial/register shit). If you are going to say I don’t know how to use technology, you must be an idiot. Apple proudly brags about how you can be a retard in a coma with a feeding tube between here and dead with your local sect of catholics praying to keep you alive but still be able to use a mac, so I assure you I know how to use stuff. As for people who even want to begin to speak about jail-breaking, shut up as well. The 2G has been designed specifically to defeat previous jail-breaking efforts. Also the community of people dedicated to getting Linux working on the iPhone are just a really lame bunch. I was looking forward to jumping in the effort but was just let down by everyone I bumped into along the way. Enough of that then.

Anyone want to buy an iPod Touch?

Speaker Hack.

Another addition to the laptop workspace. I had gotten these cheap Philips speakers from woot a while back, but the damn things took 6 AAA batteries to run. This was good because with a good set of batteries they were pretty loud for being so portable, but it was annoying to have to recharge 6 batteries in my 4 battery capacity charger. All I did was crack it open and splice in an adapter that had a DC 9V output. Quick and easy and reduces portability, but I could shove this in my bag. Decent bass response for what I paid.

What do you think?