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Member Since: 2/2007

Hackers Get their iPhones (Back)

Read ArticleArticle Source: The New York Times
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Annie Oakley (played by Steve Jobs): Anything you can hack, I can lock better. I can code anything better than you.

Frank Butler (played by a chorus of anonymous hackers): No you can't!

Oakley: Yes I can!….

So it stretches the brain to think of Ethel Merman wearing a black turtleneck and jeans. Then again, "There's No Business Like Show Business" could just as well have been written for Mr. Jobs.

In any case, there is certainly a battle of the egos between Apple and the hacking community over the iPhone. And this weekend, some sharpshooting coders have been able to restore at least some of the modifications to their iPhones that Apple had wiped away.

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{"commentId":1065541,"authorDomain":"emix"}

Steve Jobs as Annie Oakley - what an odd image.

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  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 9:16 AM EDT
{"commentId":1065652,"authorDomain":"mattsinopoli-1"}

I can understand locking up non-AT&T phones but I don't see what Apple has against 3rd party apps.

{"commentId":1065652,"threadId":"156568","contentId":"995853","authorDomain":"mattsinopoli-1"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#2 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 10:10 AM EDT
{"commentId":1065667,"authorDomain":"emix"}

It really just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot, doesn't it?

{"commentId":1065667,"threadId":"156568","contentId":"995853","authorDomain":"emix"}
  • 2 votes
#2.1 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 10:19 AM EDT
{"commentId":1065697,"authorDomain":"whyren"}

They aren't necessarily against them, they might just not be actively working to assist them. If Adobe released an updated Illustrator and some third-party plug-ins stopped working, who should fix their software: Adobe on their parent program, or the third-party modifying their plug-in?

{"commentId":1065697,"threadId":"156568","contentId":"995853","authorDomain":"whyren"}
  • 5 votes
#2.2 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 10:33 AM EDT
{"commentId":1065907,"authorDomain":"emix"}

You have a point, but I'd sort of expect them to be working on endorsing some of these apps, and working with the developers to keep them up and running. I don't have an iPhone, nor am I likely to get one anytime soon, so I don't know firsthand, but it sounds like some of them are very useful and worth legitimating.

{"commentId":1065907,"threadId":"156568","contentId":"995853","authorDomain":"emix"}
  • 2 votes
#2.3 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 12:10 PM EDT
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{"commentId":1066247,"authorDomain":"frank-oracheski"}

Third party means just that. Apple doesn't support them directly because its simply too hard to track down good apps and ensure they will work with an update. I doubt that Apple made the update with the sole intention of breaking apps people have created, its more likely that it was a byproduct of new software architechture that they wanted to implement. The hackers aren't "beating" Apple, they're simply adapting to a new structure rapidly, which is a good thing.
But maybe that's just me.

{"commentId":1066247,"threadId":"156568","contentId":"995853","authorDomain":"frank-oracheski"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#3 - Mon Oct 1, 2007 2:42 PM EDT
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