Hacker catches Apple's Lightning in a jailbroken bottle

Apple's Lightning connector protocols have been pried open in what could be a boon for the jailbreaking community. The hack opens access to Apple's serial kernel debugger, previously available on older iDevices, and reportedly gives jailbreak engineers an improved ability to debug kernel issues and iBoot exploits. Apple …

[Christian Berger]

I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

I mean when you buy something, it's your right to use it in any way you want. The things you do with it may be illegal, but just because you install an alternative firmware it doesn't mean you are going to do illegal things.

Particularly in times like these where mobile phones track you and TV-sets track you and play adds to you, it is important to take your right to "integrity and secrecy of information processing equipment" and demand free (as in speech) firmware.

Apple consumers sue or petition Apple for such much, like their favourite app not making it, or the antenna being badly designed, why don't they do it for the important stuff?

[John Tserkezis]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

"why don't they do it for the important stuff?"

Because the bulk of their users value "easy" over "flexible" any day.

[Christian Berger]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

"Because the bulk of their users value "easy" over "flexible" any day."

No they don't. When the "bendy" iPhone came out, lots of people complained.

[nematoad]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

Well done that hacker.

What all this effort goes to show is that you never really "own" an iThing, you just pay for the privilege of borrowing it.

That suits a lot of Apple's customers and they are happy to go along with all the nannying but infuriates those with the skills and interest to want to take control of something that they have paid a lot of money for.

I know that people in the US have a reputation for being litigious but can't see why anyone would throw money into a law suit that has very little chance of success.

To misquote a former British prime Minister what Apple is really about is: "Control, control, control." Oh, apart from grabbing as much money as they can from their fans.

[Destroy All Monsters]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

Most people only care about looking cool on the bus while being totally retarded inside playing casino crap or browsing myfacebook. They might even check the stock ticker for added stupidity.

"Debugging" == "Get out of my face geek".

[JamesTQuirk]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

Yeah, they find it easier to que @ Apple Shop. I have seen them waiting to see 1 to 30-50 people in same coloured shirt to serve them, about their issue, what gets me sometimes, as they "weed" the que, with people buying one, being moved inside, and people waiting for help, left to wait ...

I run PC shops for some, had my own, never seen anything like it, what Apple Owners will put up in the name of "easy", I sometimes think they are possessed ....

[nematoad]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

"Yeah, they find it easier to que @ Apple Shop."

It might be that you could get your point across better if you were to spell words properly.

The word you seem to be hinting at with "que" is actually spelt "queue".

See also the misspelling of grammar in another post:

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2015/02/16/virgin_media_to_spend_billions_on_network_infrastructure_extension/

That sir, is trolling

[JamesTQuirk]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things @ nematoad

"That sir, is trolling"

YES, I agree you are a troll .......

[Jan 0]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

@nematoad

It's probably someone who thinks they can cook on a barbeque.*

Mind you, some of us wonder about the spelling of your name. Since nemato- is the prefix, what does the -ad signify?

*Why don't the spelling simpletons just use 'cue' everywhere?

[JamesTQuirk]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

Perhaps like me, they find it annoys dweebs, that have a "anal-retentive" problem with spelling & Grammer, but not dealing with the facts, so Like me, they throw spelling mistakes in, just to annoy them ... & que gets them everytime !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

@Christian Berger

No, they didn't. Lots of people wrote about it, which is somewhat different.

[Steve I]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

"I mean when you buy something, it's your right to use it in any way you want.". The trouble is, you don't buy software - you licence it. And the licence says what you can and can't do with it. If you don't like the term of the licence, you return it and if you don't return it, your agreement to the terms is implicit.

Also - sue over what? Go ahead and do whatever you like with your iDevice - if you want to wipe it and install Linux on it, go ahead. It might be difficult but you can't sue for that. It'd be difficult to fly to the Moon on it too, but that's another thing you can't sue them over because you think they should have provided that option

You're getting confused over between Apple making it hard to modify the software on their iPhone (which is the reality and which they are entitled to do) and your fantasy of Apple having to provide an easy option for users to do/install whatever they like.

I'm not defending Apple here - I'm just clarifying your thoughts :-). Try it with an Samsung device - you bought it, so it's yours to do what you like with. And if you can't reverse engineer & customise their proprietary additions to Android and install them on your Nokia or sell them on the Google Play store then is that something you can sue them for too?

You can't sue someone because something you bought won't do something it wasn't advertised to do.

[Steve I]

Re: I wonder why Apple customers don't sue for such things

Can I sue Sony because I can't play Xbox One games on my PS4? It's mine so I should be able to do what I like with it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would someone who wants to hack their device buy an iPhone?

It is well known that Apple tries to make this difficult, whether you believe that it is about offering more security for it or more revenue for Apple is irrelevant, this is what they do.

You can buy Android devices that make rooting it and replacing the ROM simple, and when you get down to it the underlying hardware in most modern smartphones is pretty much the same. Buying an iPhone with the intent to hack it is like buying a Chevy with the intention to stick a Ford engine in it. Sure, it can be done, but you're knowingly making things difficult on yourself without a good reason to do so.

[gerryg]

Through the looking glass

If I recall correctly, the lightning connector was designed to lock out third party otherwise honest, gadgets.

As with all these measures, it turns out that it only punishes the honest.

Including the honest purchaser of Apple products.

[The Vociferous Time Waster]

Shhh

when you buy an Idevice you waive those rights voluntarily as you have purchased a license to use it in a very specific way

Crowley had been extremely impressed with the warranties offered by the computer industry, and had in fact sent a bundle Below to the department that drew up the Immortal Soul agreements, with a yellow memo form attached just saying: 'Learn, guys...

[Anonymous Coward]

So what if all he did was tack together a bunch of cheap bought Chinese modules?

It doesn't appear to have been done before, is probably much cheaper than esoteric custom hardware and is also arguably closer to the riginal ethos of hacking as a way of using hardware in an unexpected or different way to the designer's intention.

It also makes it much easier to replicate in your back bedroom for cheap.

(Oh, and lightening/lightning, please....)

[JimmyPage]

"If the cables *eventuate* - ffs !

eventuate !!!!!

[Arbee]

Re: "If the cables *eventuate* - ffs !

I saw that too and had to Google it to check. My new word of the day :)

[Jan 0]

Re: "If the cables *eventuate* - ffs !

Re: "my new word of the day": AH, so you want to be a manager?

Oh, you don't? You think you're human being? Then 'appear' or 'happen' will do nicely.

[Sarah Balfour]

There's one TEENSY problem…

Apple seemingly alter something that prevents 3rd party cables working with each new itineration of iOS. I've got some 3rd party cables from a company called Twisted Envy (sounds more like the name of a nu-metal band) and, whilst they worked perfectly with iOS 7, try to use 'em with 8 and you'll get the 'this cable is not certified…" message and your iThing won't charge. If I stick one in my Air 2, I don't even get the popup, just a blunt 'not charging', where the battery life percentage should be.

The only 3rd party manufacturer which HAS cracked it is Belkin, as I'm using 2 of their UltraFast chargers as I type this, one on a Touch still running 7, and on this 'ere Pad running 8. I wish I knew how they worked coz it's cut charging on the Air 2 from <20hrs for a full charge with Apple's brick, to between 2 and 3 (2.5 is typical). It's 12W vs 10, so it's not as though it's that much more powerful.

Yeah, I know Belkin don't count, but I'm still in awe of this thing.

If anyone's interested, it's an UltraFast 2.4, cost £25 from Amazon. If you need help, tweet @BelkinCares, otherwise you're calling India. But you probably knew that…

[Paul]

Re: There's one TEENSY problem…

I imagine Belkin have paid Apple to buy chips to go in their Lightning adaptors.

[Paw Bokenfohr]

Re: There's one TEENSY problem…

There are dozens if not hundreds of cable manufacturers who have MFI certified Lightning cables. Friendly Swede, Anker, Belkin (as you mention), TekNet, Syncwire, and Amazon Basics are just the ones off the first couple of pages on Amazon. Even BelayCords are MFI certified and they're a Kickstarter and have reversible USB plugs too.

[The Vociferous Time Waster]

Juice

i bought a juice cable because John Lewis do not sell the official Apple ones. John Lewis do a warranty on all their products so clearly can't afford to sell the shitty Apple cables that last weeks

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Juice

I really wonder what people do to cables and earpods to make them appear so fragile; give it sharp yank out of the socket perhaps?. I've got two lightning cables and a set of earpods that have spent two years stuffed roughly in an overcrowded compartment of my camera bag and shoved in and dragged out a couple of times a day, and I've never had any trouble with them. Or for that matter any other charger cable for a phone, and only one blackberry headset went on me.

[Geoffrey Thomas]

"I wish I knew how they worked"

Small ic in the mini connector that plugs into the m/c which has different s/w for each iteration. Be interesting to see how long your Belkin cable survives, unless they're paying Apple under some sort of licence.

[Oneman2Many]

Re: "I wish I knew how they worked"

The Belkin cable is MFi certified which explains the price and it will have the chip so will be future proofed.