Seems Apple is Snatching Hackers/Jailbreakers and Putting Them To Good Work.

Nick Allegra a.k.a. Comex is the 19-year-old guy behind JailbreakMe

     Apple has hired another developer, but not just any developer, pretty much the greatest iOS hacker/jailbreaker anyone could know, I'm talking about Comex of course. Comex who? If you happen not to know, Comex created a ton of tweaks and hacks that can be downloaded through the official cydia store on found on loads of jailbroken iPhones/iPod Touches/iPads. But he is known more by the jailbreak community as the guy behind JailbreakMe jailbreak methods, one of which jailbroke the iPad 2 through a security hole found in Mobile Safari that is included with the device.

     Don't believe that he got hired? His tweet straight from his official twitter account says otherwise.

@comex
So, the week after next I will be starting an internship with Apple.
-- https://twitter.com/#!/comex/status/106863873952448512

     So does this mean the end to his hacking days, yes. In a Q & A on Reddit (made clearer by TechCrunch) here is some of what was asked and what he said.

After your internship with Apple and after iOS 5 is officially released, will you continue to support the jailbreak community by providing exploits? (nishnasty)
Comex: No. (But I’ll want to jailbreak my phone, so I hope someone finds them :p)
(Of course, it’s worth noting that he probably can’t continue, even once the internship is over. Once you’ve signed up for an official tour on the mothership and have potentially mucked with source code [though Apple interns are generally kept at a distance from the source], activities like this are a no-go.)

Why an intern position though? It seems like you could carry a regular position at apple. (AstroZombie138)
Comex: I don’t know if I’d want to do that- I’ve never had a job before and I don’t know what it’s like- and I intend to go back to college soon.

How has the core jailbreak dev teams responded to you going to work for apple? (AstroZombie138)
Comex: Mostly with congratulations.

Have you made any money from the [jailbreak] scene? (jamesvdm)
Comex: I’ve made a good amount of money through donations, which is mostly being used to help pay for college. JailbreakMe 2.0 was like $40,000; 3.0 was $15,000 (not quite sure why it decreased).

The jailbreak community took a huge hit when you left. Do you think the active players can outsmart you now that you’re playing for the other team, or are you Apple’s final solution to their jailbreak problem? (bitterorca)
Comex: There are a lot of smart people working for Apple already; maybe I can help, but I doubt I can stop people from finding exploits.

Paraphased – On Apple “stealing” ideas from the jailbreak community (as many concepts that have found their way into iOS, such as multitasking, improved notifications, and even the App Store were implemented by jailbreakers first):
Comex: I certainly don’t mind. Jailbreak community puts an idea in front of people with a crappy implementation; Apple polishes it to the point where it can be an OS feature. I don’t know whether Apple actually pays attention to jailbreak apps, but see App Store, copy and paste, multitasking, etc…

Why did you choose to get involved in specifically the iPhone jailbreaking scene, what was it attracted you to the iPhone? (Colonel_Ham_Sandwich)
Comex: I had one… and it was a device that (a) had a lot of functionality, (b) had a nice and flexible UNIX OS, (c) already had an active homebrew community, and (d) was really cool. :p

Did you always set out to be a hacker or was it just something that interested you and found you had a [knack] for? (Colonel_Ham_Sandwich)
Comex: I never wanted to be a black hat hacker, but I did enjoy hacking (originally SQL injection and crap) as a natural extension of programming.

Finally, in regards to the PDF bug used for the JailbreakMe.com jailbreak, where on earth did you get the brilliant idea for it? (Colonel_Ham_Sandwich)
Comex: FreeType was one of the less studied open source components of iOS.

Are you optimistic about the future of the iOS platform? What features are you looking forward to next? (iconoclaus)
Comex: My personal opinion: it will probably continue to beat the pants off its competitors in performance for a while yet, and Apple’s “take your time but do it right” policy on features will probably continue to make it a pleasure to use. But I’m impatient: other platforms (WebOS) have a lot of fun stuff with no real equivalent in iOS.

Do you have any regrets? (bitterorca)
Comex: I should have worked on these jailbreaks more consistently, and released them more quickly; I’ve had several exploits fixed on me that could have been used in a jailbreak if I was quicker at packaging.

Will the current jailbreaks and/or the site disappear? (UntilWeLand)
Comex: No, I’ll hand them over to MuscleNerd or chpwn or whoever will take care of them.

Your thoughts on Steve Jobs’ departure? (MDevonL)
Comex: Really a shame; I was hoping to meet him some day, and, company direction aside, keynotes won’t be as entertaining without him.

What, besides money, made you flip to the other side? (Clavis_Apocalypticae)
Comex: It’s not about money. A large part of my motivation to jailbreak was always the challenge; the internship will be a new sort of challenge.

      Comex is joining Peter Hajas, the developer of MobileNotifier, a notification system tweak that is available for jailbroken Apple devices, he was hired by Apple two months ago. Hajas' hack seems to be implemented into iOS 5 betas so looks like Apple read his project loud and clear by hiring him to add it into iOS officially.

     I applaud Apple for these kind of moves, helping people who hack for a living get somewhere. Not like other companies **COUGH** sony **COUGH** who sue and punish people for these kinds of acts. Even if they are for good like adding functionally to devices that should have always been there from the start.

     Even though the Jailbreaking community lost another great hacker like Comex there people right  behind him trying to do what he did, keeping jailbreaking alive. Godspeed to you Comex, hope the road ahead you takes you places you want to go to and many people only hope for. Feels like its the end of something, but at the same time the beginning of something as well.

Another Apple blunder or a marking tactic in disguise?

Yep another Apple employee left another iPhone prototype at another Bay Area bar. WAIT.. AGAIN?! Yep. This has happened before? Yep. Last time it was a prototype iPhone 4 lost in Redwood City, CA at a German beer garden called Gourmet Haus Staudt Now this time a employee left a supposed iPhone 5 prototype at a bar in San Francisco, CA called Cava 22. The device has been missing since July and no one can find it, not the SF Police nor Apple investigators. I don't know about you but I think it maybe a marking tactic. Having a potential prototype next generation iPhone out in the open and Apple sending people to find it gives people all around instant gratification knowing there is a new iPhone (and most likely iPod Touch too) going to be released soon. What do you think? Anyone out there with pictures? Email DS Radio at DSRadioSac@gmail.com or comment below with any good info about this new prototype.

Photo from the Gizmodo post about this

Steve Jobs has stepped down. Could this be the end?

    It is true, Steve Jobs has stepped down from his CEO position to Chairman at Apple Inc. Its expected though that Apple will pull through. But I can't help think of all the Apple fan boys (and girls) crying over this news. Seve Jobs published the following letter himself.

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve

What does this mean for the future of Apple? What will happen when Steve Jobs has gone completely? No one knows for sure. Steve Jobs wont completely be away from Apple as Chairman he will still make some decisions for Apple products. Tim Cook will be Steve Jobs' successor.


Source from Engadget

Jonathan's Card: A social and electronic experiment that includes free coffee!

**EDIT** It appears the Jonathan's Card has been taken down by Starbucks due to reports of card hacking. Starbucks themselves didn't want to take it down. But someone claimed they hacked to move money to their card from Jonathan's. Its sad too because it turned out to be fake. The guy later posted that he did what everyone else did, wait in line at a Starbucks, but instead of buying anything he asked to transfer some money to his card instead. **

     Yea you read right, free coffee... Ok maybe not that free but still. What is Jonathan's Card? Well its just that, a card in a wallet of someone named Jonathan Stark, but this isn't no ordinary card. Its a Starbucks card used and donated to by hundreds of people across the United States and some folks up in Canada. Why you may ask? For a experiment of course.  It maybe a crazy idea, but its a nice one especially for those who are in need of a cup of joe but are broke at the moment.

     To use Jonathan's Card you download the snapshot of his card's barcode from his website,  http://jonathanstark.com/card/ , to your mobile device and bring it to a Starbucks to scan. Be sure to checkout his card's own twitter account, http://twitter.com/#!/jonathanscard , it tweets out the card balance whenever it changes. Then just dontate what you can (min of $10 using the Starbucks site) later. All instructions on what to do can be found at the site.

     Jonathan Stark is a programmer and writer, who is taking the ideas of "take a penny, leave a penny" and "Caffe Pagato" to a whole new level. This all started when Jonathan found out you couldn't have your Starbucks card registered on more then one phone using the Starbucks mobile payment application. He decied to try to take a screenshot of the barcode of the card in the app and send it to his other phone. When he tried it, it worked, he realized he just had payed with a mere photo, the app wasn't open. Jonathan started a experiment by posting on his blog, he got followers to try the same thing using his barcode snapshot, it worked again. It really got rolling when one of the few that tested it donated back some money to his card, thus truly starting the "pay it forward" Starbucks card known as Jonathan's Card. 

Ok so no podcast.... yet

Ya so until I get things working and stuff there will be no podcast yet. However this will be a tech and more blog while I get the podcasts setup.

DS RADIO FIRST PODCAST POSTPONED

First DS Radio Podcast postponed till I can put together a cool intro and stuff.

REALLY GOING TO DO IT AND ONE ONE CAN STOP ME!!!

Yep, is offical, come by NEXT MONTH (AT LEAST MAY 6th, 2011) I will show my FIRST DS RADIO PODCAST. WOOT!!   What will be in it, not sure, but it will happen.

FIRST POST YAY

Hi fellow bloggers, readers, and internet wanderers. I'm starting a blog that will eventually have a podcast as well. This blog is for everyone, and on nearly every topic, but mostly will be geared to technology and stuff.