Skip to main content

“It feels like editing an English paper” – 19 Year Old iPhone Hacker

This 19 year old chap who always keeps low profile and a prominent member of the iOS jailbreak community agreed to be interviewed by Forbes where he told about his real life and interests.

 

image

 

Until now, we have seen this Apple hacker as Comex (@comex on Twitter) is the author of JailbreakMe, an awesome easy web only jail breaking tool for the iPhone, iPod, iPad devices. JailbreakMe, unlike other tools, doesn’t require a computer connection or major knowledge on how iOS operates since it relies on a PDF exploit found in Mobile Safari - just by pointing the browser to JailbreakMe’s website and following the easy on-screen instructions. It merely lets users install any application they want on their devices. But jail breaking, as the  practice is called, violates Apple’s obsessive control of its gadgets and demonstrates software holes that could be exploited later by less benevolent hackers.

Nicholas Allegra, his real name, mostly spends his days finding vulnerabilities in Apple’s code and releasing exploits in the form of tools. This tall shaggy haired and bespectacled 19 year has been on leave from Brown University since winter and looking for an internship.

He simply says -

“It feels like editing an English paper,”…“You just go through and look for errors. I don’t know why I seem to be so effective at it.”

Comex isn’t after profit: his site is free, though it does accept donations. Nor does he criticize Apple for wanting to control what users can install on their devices. He calls himself an Apple “fanboy,” and describes Android’s more open platform as “the enemy.” “I guess it’s just about the challenge, more than anything else,” he says.

[via]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Your Google Apps Account is Changing

Google is about to make more of its services available to organizations with Google Apps accounts. This is an early adopter phase, and all domains may not get this option to move to the new infrastructure. What this means for you: In addition to the core suite of messaging and collaboration applications, Google Apps users may now access many more Google services with their Google Apps accounts.     Those who are eligible for this early adoption, Google Apps administrator will be presented with the above banner to start with the migration. In your organization, you can transition selected pilot users and admins, or you can start the transition now for all your users. The transition for pilot users can be reverted if necessary. After successful transition, your users will now be able to use other Google popular products like AdSense, AdWords, Alerts, Analytics, Android, Blogger, Finance, Google Desktop, News, Orkut, Reader, Voice, YouTube (Full list here ). Als...

How to Turn Your Android Phone into a Fully-Automated Superphone

What if your phone automatically went silent when you step into the movie theatre? Texted your significant other when you finished your long commute? Or automatically turned down the volume when a particularly loud friend called? It can; here's how. Android application Tasker gives you total rules-based automation for your Android phone. It's not free, but it offers a free 14-day trial download. Tasker can do nearly anything on your phone. It's mostly limited by your imagination. Here are some up-front ideas about neat automations that come to mind: • Set preferences for each application: Give the Kindle app a longer screen time-out. Make Maps or Foursquare automatically turn on GPS, and have a file browser launch when you trade out SD cards. Have your music and other audio apps lower the volume to 50 percent when you plug in headphones, so you never get a way-too-loud moment. • Time of day automation: Make your phone go into airplane mode overnight, but re-conne...

Google Wallet: The Future Innovative Mobile Payments

Earlier few months, Google unveiled future innovative way of payment technology – Google Wallet. Today, Google released its first version of the Android app with Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over the air update. Google Wallet is an app that lets you pay for things using your phone, either by tying your credit card or gift or pre-paid cards. It works using an near field communication (NFC) embedded chip and there is no swiping required.   According to Techcrunch , Google Wallet will not work everywhere your credit card will. It won’t work everywhere there’s an NFC-friendly card reader, either. Wallet requires an NFC reader based on a new-ish specification, and only a select bunch of retailers have gotten around to updating. The post also had some great review and walkthrough in real life. This app is now available to Samsung Nexus S owners on Sprint, through PayPass sensors at Radio Shack, Foot Locker, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Sunoco, CVS/pharmacy, etc. retailers. ...