The diligent ppl from PreCentral.net report, what this automn will come from Palm:
Read all of the news in detail at PreCentral.net…
According to Rixstep.com Apple plans to set up an App Store starting with the introduction of Mac OS X 10.7.
Developers planning on marketing software for 10.7 will submit their products to the App Store as iPhone and now iPad developers have already done. 10.7 will have kernel support for (‘insistence on’) binaries signed with Apple’s root certificate.
No software will be able to run on Mac OS X 10.7 without being approved and signed by Apple, Inc.
According to MacStories.net allegedly Steve Jobs has answered a direct request send to him by Fernando Valente of Chiaro Software. Valente asked him:
There’s a rumor saying there will be a Mac App Store and no software without authorization from Apple will run on Mac OS X. Is that true)
According to the mail Steve Jobs (or someone managing his email account) simply answered:
Nope.
Anyway: you cannot be sure what his answer specifically means. Probably we’re gonna need jailbreaks for Mac OS X in the near future anyhow…
What happened so far?
GeoHot has had a reverse-engineerer’s look into Sony’s high tech gadget and Sony immediately declared war.
Obviously in panic, Sony announced to deactivate Linux (Other-OS) support with their latest firmware 3.21. This was the time when people were wondering how long it would take until GeoHot would reenable it.
The magic PUP files
So it did not take too long. That notorious hacking genious did it. He says he’s using a custom PUP file. A PUP file basically is an update file for the PS3. The interesting point is usually PUP files are signed by Sony.
Speculations
Could that mean there is a major flaw in Sony’s implementation of checking the authenticity of update files (at least until firmware 3.15, which GeoHot mentions is the latest that allows to install his custom PUP).
Anyway, the next weeks will be very interesting.
According to Sony’s Blog, the upcoming Playstation 3 firmware update 3.21 will cease to support the “Other OS” option. It will be released on April 1st, 2010.
Sony says disabling Linux comes from security concerns. This is an immediate result from the efforts of GeoHot’s attack on Sony’s hypervisor protection and the release of XorLoser’s PS3 Exploit Toolkit.
Consumers and organizations that currently use the “Other OS” feature can choose not to upgrade their PS3 systems, although the following features will no longer be available;
- Ability to sign in to PlayStation Network and use network features that require signing in to PlayStation Network, such as online features of PS3 games and chat
- Playback of PS3 software titles or Blu-ray Disc videos that require PS3 system software version 3.21 or later
- Playback of copyright-protected videos that are stored on a media server (when DTCP-IP is enabled under Settings)
- Use of new features and improvements that are available on PS3 system software 3.21 or later
For those PS3 users who are currently using the “Other OS” feature but choose to install the system software update, to avoid data loss they first need to back-up any data stored within the hard drive partition used by the “Other OS,” as they will not be able to access that data following the update.
Find Sony’s blog entry here…
We recently reported that the developers unixpsycho and caj2008 released an overclocked kernel for webOS 1.3.5. allowing to run webOS between 720MHz and 800MHz. Now the testing phase is over and they released their patches for webOS 1.4. Check the vid to get an overview how amazing fast webOS is at those clockcycles.
Anyway there is warning: overclocking may result in cut down lifetime and reduced battery runtime. It may also void your warranty. Unixpsycho and caj2008 had a team of 40 betatesters.
PreCentral reports:
unixpsycho and caj2008 have determined that they believe this overclocking method doesn’t result in excess heat. Caj tells us that heat problems actually can happen at any CPU frequency and that one especially hot time is when a Pre downloads massive 3D games after a wipe.
Links:
» PreCentral.net: Overclocking: 720 & 800 MHz Custom Kernels for webOS 1.4…
» PreCentral Forums: Optimized WebOS 1.4 Kernel / Easy Install for Pre phones…
It seems Palm has eventually understood that Germany might be an important market for their Pre. The Pre is the most sold smartphone on the carrier O2 Germany. O2 Germany yesterday started to distribute webOS 1.4. The update we’ve all been waiting for desperately.
Free commercial Games for german customers
Sadly Electronic Arts’ free download offer for:
is for german customers only. Sorry guys from whereever you are.
New features
WebOS comes with some minor ;-) feature additions:
Find a lot more about the Pre’s latest update in this article on Golem.de (click here for autotranslated version).
Telefonica (O2/MoviStar) has approved Palm’s latest update. We expect they found some bugs that are on the american 1.3.5.1. The update will be installed automatically over the air. The 15 MB update brings Tethering via Bluetooth and 3D graphics acceleration to European Palm Pre’s, thus allowing us eventually to play Doom, Quake and Need For Speed.
The update features:
We are still waiting for a full changelog from Palm for this update.
Warning
Before updating: don’t forget to use the “Emergency Patch Recovery” (EPR) tool, if you installed patches via PreWare. The EPR tool can be found in PreWare under Available Packages -> Linux Applications -> All -> Emergency Patch Recovery
European customers are still waiting for webOS 1.3.5 update. The European carrier Telefonica (o2 and MoviStar) seems not to have approved it yet.
Meanwhile it seems versions 1.3.5 had issues. According to PreCentral.net, Palm Pre customers on Sprint (USA) and Bell (Canada) are able to update to version 1.3.5.1 since Januar 5th, 2010. Version 1.3.5 has been released in the US and Canada on December 29th, 2009.
Issues with homebrew apps on 1.3.5 and 1.3.5.1
It is known, that webOS 1.3.5 breaks homebrew installer PreWare. Known workaround is using WebOS Quick Install to remove and then reinstall PreWare. It should be working well again.
There are also issues with homebrew apps that don’t contain an appinfo.json file. Apps not properly prepared would not be getting moved from /var to /media/cryptofs/apps. Package Manager Service 0.9.24.3 has fixes for this problem.
And the latest 1.3.5.1 also breaks myTether. This seems not resolved yet.
Amazing news
In the meantime people from the WebOS Internal forums have discovered, that webOS 1.3.5 includes Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL). SDL allows hardware accelerated graphics and sound and is available on different platforms for free and open source. Via homebrew installer PreWare a playable alpha version of Doom using SDL has already been released.
Europeans still waiting
Although Palm is said to be unveiling something big on the CES 2010 tomorrow, we don’t expect Telefonica to approve 1.3.5 until then for Europe.
It is rumored, on the CES Verizon Wireless will be officially named the new partner for a device called Palm Pre Plus (Palm Pre 3).
Links
» PreCentral: webOS 1.3.5.1 Available for OTA Download…
» PreCentral: webOS 1.3.5.1 goes live for Pre users on Bell…
» PreCentral Forums: Status of Preware and 1.3.5…
» PreCentral Forums: Preware + mytether unavailable after 1.3.5.1…
» WebOS Internals Wiki: Doom on Palm Pre…
» Wikipedia: Simple DirectMedia Layer (SDL)…
» WebOS Blog: Was kommt zur CES 2010 von Palm? (Google translated link)…
» PhoneArea: Verizon to get Palm Pre Plus…
Video
The European Update 1.3.1
On Monday European Palm Pre users were just happy to eventually have the 1.3.1 update that has already been provided to U.S. customers two weeks earlier.
Sadly the smiling in our faces didn’t last long. European customers rapidly found out that their App Catalog had been crippled. PreCentral explains why this technically happened, but they cannot explain the marketing logic behind this move.
Luckily there is a strong European community of developers, that Palm should be listening to more carefully, since many of us are iPhone switchers.
The workaround for Europeans
A guy going by the nick Dleira from Switzerland found a way to re-enable many more (all?) applications for European Palm Pre friends aswell. It has been confirmed to be working, but anyway: do this at your own risk. We did not test it yet. This workaround requires root access to your Pre.
Link
» PreCentral Forums: Re-Enable App Catalog in Europe by Dleira…
It is well known, that there are commercial thieves who use freely available programs and ideas by the iPhone Dev Team, GeoHot, Chronic Dev Team and others.
We highly recommend not to buy any unlocking or jailbreaking solution. They are available for free.
We prepped a list of current scammers making a business modell out of other people’s efforts. The links don’t work as we don’t want you to go there.
iPhone unlocking seems to be a large market. Say any of these companies sold 5,000 unlocks (which is a quite conservative estimation). For an average price of 25US$. This makes 125,000US$ for setting up a stupid internet page with stolen and repackaged content.