Japanese retailer Enterking has announced that it will not accept Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles that have been used with a hacked memory card for trade-in. So how will the retailer will know? Simple. Because the portable gaming console logs all activity, which can then be retrieved by those in the industry who know how. It is an attempt by Nintendo to deter pirates.

The most common card used is the R4 and some Japanese hackers can already install illegal DS ROMS but not games. Since the system keeps track of any and all hacks and has a Wi-Fi connection, it could also let Nintendo block pirated devices from accessing online services and games.

Check out this guy with a little too much time and money on his hands with a customized Segway. The personal transport device is outfitted with what looks like 6 small car tires, three on each side, making it the widest and possibly the most impractical Segway we’ve seen yet. The tires stretch it out two feet on either side and sound like they add as much noise as they do traction. Check out the video after the jump.

Within just 4 days of Apple releasing a beta version of the software development kit (SDK) for the iPhone, the company claims they’ve already had an incredibly positive response with over 100,000 downloads. This is good news for iPhone owners since there will likely be more useful and fun applications available for the iPhone soon from third party developers.

Multiple development shops have already announced plans to offer applications for the iPhone with Gameloft being one of the most hyped with 15 games planned for the iPhone yet this year. Unfortunately, even though the SDK is out and Gameloft can get these games ready quickly, they won’t be available for download until the App Store opens in June.

A group at Princeton University has found an exploit in common computer hardware that allows them to break codes and retrieve the encrypted data stored on the computers hard disks. The process at its most extreme involves direct access to the computer using a can of compressed air held upside down to freeze the DRAM chip(s) to access the encryption key stored in memory.

When stored data is encrypted, the software usually will use a key to encode and decode the data. That key is most often created and stored into a computer’s memory after a user logs into the computer with a password. According to the researchers, a common misconception is that once the computer is turned off, the DRAM memory disappears and so does the encryption key. In their studies, partially funded by the Dept. of Homeland Security, they found that data is actually retained in the computers memory for many seconds or sometimes even minutes after the computer is turned off. They also found that by freezing the memory chips with liquid nitrogen found in a common can of air for removing dust, they could get the data to remain in memory easily for as long as ten minutes, and often longer.

For those who have iPhones unlocked by third party software hacks and were foiled by Apple’s 1.1.1 firmware release, it looks like the game is back on. SimFree version 1.6, from the same company that created the original hack to unlock Apple’s iPhone outside of the exclusive and required AT&T service plan, is a new countermeasure hack that gets around the new firmware update and will once again unlock those iPhones “bricked” by the 1.1.1 update.

According to iphoneSimFree, this new iPhone “jailbreak” will let anyone who has rightly been a little leery to update after Apple’s warning to safely go ahead and apply the 1.1.1 update and SimFree will keep the phone usable, at least until Apple comes out with another update.

Apple released the expected version 1.1.1 update to the iPhone firmware today with fixes for some critical bugs and the additions to support the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store. But what makes this release such big news are the less-known things in the update that threaten to brick unauthorized, unlocked iPhones.

Prior to the update Apple put out a warning to those with unlocked iPhones which basically stated that the next firmware update may render these unlocked phones useless, and the result is not covered by the warranty. With the new firmware update iPhone owners were presented on screen with the same message before installing the update:

Yesterday Apple sent out a short and to-the-point message about using software hacks to unlock the iPhone, in which they basically warn not to do it. Apple has a new software update coming out for the iPhone in a couple weeks that among other things will contain the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and could very possibly have something that will “take care” of hacked iPhones, intentional or not.

According to the statement issued by Apple, hacks that unlock the iPhone could cause the phone to be irreparably damaged after installing the update that Apple is planning on sending out, and these unlocking hacks are not covered under the iPhone warranty. Press release after the jump:

The guys over at HackTheiPhone have come out with another one, with this hack changing the iPhone so that you can use it with your old AT&T/Cingular SIM card from a different phone. This allows you to use the voice services of the iPhone without having to start a new contract.

So, to take advantage of this hack you’ll need an iPhone, another phone with an AT&T SIM card that you can use and enough time to follow the 19 step process to make your old SIM card work with your new iPhone. Note that this process does look a little easier than the iPhone ringtone hack as there appears to be about four fewer steps involved.

via CellPhoneBeat

FairUse4WM has been fairly well known for its ability to the Windows Media DRM and with its latest version 1.3 it boasts to be able to completely remove the digital rights management restrictions from songs purchased from the Zune Marketplace; a feat to which it was previously unsuccessful.

This, like most of these situations, will likely be short lived. Microsoft is undoubtedly already well on there way with a new version of software for the Zune to combat the latest FairUse4WM version. But, until then you can use this to release your songs from the DRM clutches. If you’re too late for this version you’ll likely get another chance, that is until Microsoft figures out who the heck “viodentia”, (the FairUse4WM author) is.

via Electronista

It looks like some folks have found a way to add custom ringtones to your iPhone by following some steps and using a couple programs called jailbreak and iPhoneInterface. Currently the steps only work for those that are using Intel Mac’s but from the description it probably won’t be long until someone makes an interface to broaden the reach.

The instructions are listed over at HackiPhone and involves a lengthy 23 step process. The steps involve backing up and restoring your iPhone from iTunes and they have a few warnings before you start that stating that this process could totally brick your iPhone if it doesn’t work out. (They are considerate hackers.) Once your done you must also be sure you added all the ringtones you wanted or you’ll need to follow all the steps again to add more.

If you want custom ringtones for …

Jon Johanson has been a fairly well known hacker of consumer electronics gadgets for years, and has now claimed that he has found a way to activate a new Apple iPhone without signing up through AT&T’s service. Using the iPhone without AT&T’s two year plan is not allowed by the agreement made with Apple and AT&T since the company is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone.

According to Johanson’s blog post entitled “iPhone Independence Day”, the hack will activate the phone to enable the iPod functionality and WiFi, but it doesn’t have any phone capabilities. This is good for someone that uses the iPhone outside the U.S. where the voice service wouldn’t be available anyway.

In response, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said “Any other use of the device is not authorized and we can’t …

Making good use of bricked drives, Etsy has desk clocks created from real computer hard drives that are obsolete. They combined a real working Quartz clock and made a desk clock for the uber-geek. Remove the base and you can even hang it on the wall.

via TechEBlog

A couple of weeks ago Microsoft started banning mod’d Xbox 360 game consoles from Xbox Live (just the consoles, not the user accounts). The modified consoles were able to play copies of games which Microsoft felt was not fair to everyone. Due to this Microsoft started detecting the game consoles when users would log on, and banning them from Xbox Live when found.

Now, in just a matter of days the hacker community has volleyed back to Microsoft with firmware called called iXtreme Firmware 1.0 which when installed will prevent Microsoft from detecting the modified game console and hence avoid any potential banning. I’m sure it’ll now just be just a matter of time until Microsoft retaliates. Game on!

Source: Xbox360FanBoy

Whoa… In the midst of Apple dropping their DRM with some labels and DVD codes being cracked, from out of nowhere comes a crack for the DRM on downloaded music from iTunes.

The creators of QTFairUse6 have made a way to rid your iTunes downloaded music of that pesky DRM and do with it as you wish, but of course this only works for the current version of iTunes (7.1.1), and unfortunately it only works for Windows.

No doubt by now Apple is working on the next version of iTunes to plug this hole so you’ll have to take advantage before the next upgrade, and Mac users will have to wait a little longer to see if something comes their way soon. Check it out:

hymn via Cruchgear

Yesterday Sony released a version 3.10 firmware upgrade to the Playstation Portable system with some increased security among other new features. By the end of the same day, hackers had already decrypted the 3.10 firmware to allow third party applications to run on the PSP.

The party claiming responsibility for the PSP hack, “C + D”, was boastful about the day 0 hack of the new firmware stating, “$ony has lost another batle and will loose the war…”. Obviously they are better at hacking than they are spelling.

The new firmware updates for Sony’s PSP include support for an expansion of Playstation titles, support of MPEG-4 AVC format video files, a Conserve Memory feature and a dynamic sound normalizer. In addition, and more interesting in this upgrade is the ability to download demos directly to the PSP or transfer …