Anyone who keeps their jailbroken firmware up to date knows the pain of having to continously reinstall all the unauthorized third party apps on your iPhone. BigBoss has now made AptBackup available via the Cydia applications installer. This app sneaks a list of your installed Cydia application into iTunes backup files so anytime you use iTunes to backup your iPhone’s data you will also be backing up a list of programs you’ve installed.

The next time you update your iPhone’s firmware (jailbroken firmware assumed), then restore your phone’s backup data it will upload the list of previously installed applications. This allows for an easy one button reinstall of all your old applications in Cydia.

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ZodTTD has done it again, this time releasing MAME4iPhone, the Multi Arcade Machine Emulator for jailbroken iPhones via the Cydia installer application. This emulator will allow you play thousands of your favourite arcade classics, anything from Pong to Mortal Kombat. I can’t wait to start enjoying Golden Axe on the road! To install MAME you can find it in the Games section of Cydia.

• Based on MAME v0.37 Beta 5
• Supports thousands of MAME ROMs
• Sounds is supported but off by default. Go to “Now Playing” and slide the sound slider to turn sound on
• To press OK. Use RIGHT then LEFT then RIGHT then LEFT to press OK.
• Save states not supported
• Upon installing a folder /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/MAME/ is already made for you. Place your MAME-titled zipped ROMs in the /var/mobile/Media/ROMs/MAME/roms/ folder

Which Arcade Classic are you going to play on the iPhone? Leave a comment letting us know.

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The iPhone Dev Team have updated their blog to let us know the free software iPhone 3G unlock is still being worked on. They’ve also linked their troubles with unlocking the iPhone 3G to the same problem of jailbreaking the new iPod Touch 2G. They mention the timeline of the original iPhone’s free software unlock and they aren’t too far behind, if they can manage to get an unlock out soon. The original iPhone was released in July and software unlocked by mid September.

Regarding the two current challenges: the 3G iPhone soft unlock and iPod Touch 2G jailbreak are still relatively new challenges (compare them with the timeframe of the iPhone challenges last year). We’re making slow advances on both fronts, but it’s not the sort of thing that can be easily described in a blog like this.

But, to maybe show how interlinked these challenges are, this weekend we’ll be trying some hardware based ideas on the iPod Touch 2G jailbreak :)

Apple has released their latest iPhone 2.2 beta firmware coupled with a pre-release of the iPhone SDK to developers. Copy and Paste isn’t there (WTF?!?) and push notification the feature that was pulled last minute from iPhone 2.1 is still absent. Rumors are flying about push notification being added in an upcoming build of iPhone 2.2, the following quote from Steve Jobs is fueling the fire;

We’re running a bit late,” Jobs allegedly told a MacRumors member. “We want to get it 100% right the first time.

So far the only confirmed changes are in the iPhone’s Safari 2.2 with the Google search bar being accessible without having to tap the URL bar and the reload button is on it’s own now too.

Good news on the iPhone 2.2 hacking front, the iPhone Dev Team have already confirmed this new firmware can be jailbroken by both QuickPwn and PwnageTool. Below are the note’s from their blog;

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These are step by step instructions on how to use QuickPwn 2.1 for Microsoft Windows to jailbreak your second generation iPhone 3G 2.1

REQUIRED:

• iTunes 8 installed (make sure to reboot). – Download iTunes

Note: If you have already upgraded your iPhone to firmware 2.1 skip step 2.

Step One

Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage.

Download the following files and place them in this Pwnage folder you just created on your desktop:

• QuickPwn 2.1
• iPhone 3G 2.1 ipsw Download

Unzip the QuickPwn21-1.zip file inside the Pwnage folder.

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iPhone hacking expert Jonathan Zdziarski, author of iPhone Forensics reported recently about his discovery that the iPhone actually stores a screenshot every time you press the Home button. These screenshots are used to create the zooming effect while returning to your Home screen and may seem innocent enough, but they can be retrieved by prying eyes should your device fall in to the wrong hands.

Now Zdziarski has published a very simple workaround to halt the creation and storage of these images. The workaround requires a jailbroken iPhone or iPhone 3G because you will need to make some small changes to the file system.

…screenshots themselves actually get written to /var/mobile/Library/Caches/Snapshots. If you delete this folder and symlink it to /dev/null, the screenshots don’t get written to disk. The side effect to this is that when resuming an application, you’ll get the default screen in the zoom-in effect. Once the application resumes, however, you’ll have your application screen back…

To accomplish this workaround you simply have to execute the following commands on your jailbroken unit via SSH or a Native Terminal App:

# rm -rf /var/mobile/Library/Caches/Snapshots
# ln -s /dev/null /var/mobile/Library/Caches/Snapshots

To revert back to your default factory settings, erase the newly created symlink with the following command and the iPhone will recreate the proper files:

#rm /var/mobile/Library/Caches/Snapshots

These are step by step instructions on how to use QuickPwn 2.1 for Microsoft Windows to unlock & jailbreak your first generation iPhone 2.1 2G/EDGE.

REQUIRED:

• iTunes 8 installed (make sure to reboot). – Download iTunes

Note: If you have already upgraded your iPhone to firmware 2.1 skip step 2.

Step One
Create a folder on your desktop called Pwnage.

Download the following files and place them in this Pwnage folder you just created on your desktop:

• QuickPwn 2.1
• iPhone 2.1 ipsw Download
• bl39.bin 3.9 BootLoader Download
• bl46.bin 4.6 BootLoader Download

Unzip the QuickPwn21-1.zip file inside the Pwnage folder.

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Windows users your wait is finally over. The iPhone Dev Team have release QuckPwn 2.1 for Windows.
Supports 2.1 firmware with the unlocking and jailbreaking of iPhone 1st generation (2G) device. Supports the jailbreaking of iPod Touch 1st generation device and iPhone 3G. Your device will need to be upgraded to 2.1 (using iTunes 8) before running this application.

* It does NOT support the unlocking of iPhone 3G
* It does NOT support the jailbreaking of second generation iPod Touch introduced last week

You can grab it form our iPhone Downloads section under iPhone Utilities::Windows or follow this direct link: Download QuickPwn 2.1

Other files you may need:

• bl39.bin 3.9 BootLoader Download
• bl46.bin 4.6 BootLoader Download
• iPhone 2.1 ipsw Download
• iPhone 3G 2.1 ipsw Download

Today, Apple has issued a recall on the ultracompact USB power adapter that ships along every iPhone 3G, it’s also sold as a standalone accessory. Apple has received reports of the metal prongs breaking off of the adapter and remaining lodged in power outlets, creating the risk of electric shock.

From Apple’s support article:

Apple has determined that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock. We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.

Users with ultracompact power adapters should immediately stop using them until they exchange them for a new, redesigned ultracompact adapter.

According to Apple, the adapter was included with every iPhone 3G sold in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. The adapter was also available as a standalone accessory in those countries, as well as Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Panama.

These replacement adapters will ship within three weeks of your order, starting on Friday, October 10, 2008

You can exchange the power adapter via the web (links below) or you can exchange it to your local Apple Retail Store starting October 10, 2008.
Apple’s Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange Program

Apple’s Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange Program (Direct link to exchange form)

Apple Retail Store listings

With the recent events of Engadget’s writer Thomas Ricker questioning the iPhone Dev Team’s relevance with the following sentence;

…the growing list of useful applications in the AppStore coupled with the global retail availability of the iPhone (and lack of a 3G unlock) makes PwnageTool less and less relevant with each passing day.”

One of our users put together this humorous video, it shows just how truly relevant the iPhone Dev Team is and why jailbreaking still matters.

I’m going to go install some third party apps and drink some Hacker Bombs!