Digital Devices for the Digital Student

sorry for the space between posts, things are heating up with class. I will look into this more, but I tried my work.psu.edu workaround and saw that the site has changed. I was able to log in with my userid and I am back blogging during class. Still no access outside of the psu domain, will post if this is working around campus. this certainly has the potential to be used as a web based solution for iphone/itouch users.

So the hack has come out to Jailbreak the iPod Touch.  That's all good and great (really, it is fantastic) but the problem is that this method is truly not for beginners.  Many have reported that it can take hours to effectively apply the hack, and that it can take multiple attempts before every facet of the hack is working properly.  Last night I was browsing the Macrumors iTouch Forum and I came across this interesting thread from a user who was working on an automated jailbreak for the Touch. I have heard about a few automated jailbreaks for Windows users, but I neither trust them to work currently, nor do I care to explore them because I don't even run Windows any longer. 

User AriX has promised us a working Beta of his automated jailbreak by tonight which is just what I have been waiting for.  I cannot thank AriX enough for his work and I hope that he isn't getting too much pressure from users to produce the jailbreak. As soon as I find out an update to this situation I will post here.

After a few mistakes (probably due to my own incompetence) I have successfully used AriX's jailbreak method to install installer.app on my iPod Touch.  To those of you who may be trying this, if you make a mistake, do not panic!  As long as you restore your iPod and are able to call up the "Sync me to iTunes" Screen on the Touch you will be ok.  You can always restore via iTunes after you get this working. support.apple.com will give you the information you need.  I also recommend holding the Home and Sleep buttons (the only two on the iTouch) past the first silver apple screen, inducing a second. 

As for using AriX's jailbreak simply follow the on screen instructions and you will be all set.  The hack took about 15 minutes for me but some users are reporting a sub 10 minute jailbreak over at macrumors.  A little information on AriX, apparently this kid is only 13 years old and the only reason why we have not seen the third update to ijailbreak (currently version .2) is because he has homework to do.  That's pretty amazing, and kudos to the guy for doing such a fantastic job.  I will post more information about my Jailbreak experience, but for now I'm off to Penn State's Philharmonic Orchestra concert.

Over the last few nights I have been moding and hacking my iPod Touch constantly.  I will be posting the most useful tools that I have come across here in a later entry.  Yesterday evening, I gained root access to my Touch over SFTP via cyberduck with the intention of installing Summerboard.

Let's jump forward in time to this morning in my 8 AM INART 50 class.  Why Wirless works in one half of the Wartik building and not in the other is something I will never understand (on the North side you can gain access with the VPN, across the hall the VPN wont even fire into login).  Being bored, I set my Airport to "Penn State" and navigated my iPod to "Penn State" as well.  I then loaded Cyberduck and tried logging into the Touch via SFTP.  Low and behold, Penn State allowed SFTP transfers without the VPN client AND over a reportedly "dead" connection.

If you don't know me, chances are that you probably don't know about a bitter situation that occurred now 3 years ago between myself and the University of Maryland School of Music.  Back in 2004-2005 I applied for the UMD School of Music thinking that I was a sure fire acceptance for the program.  My real targets were Penn State and Oklahoma, but I decided that being in state I would give UMD a chance too.  Long story short, Penn State and Oklahoma fought over me while UMD decided that I was not good enough for their music program. Thankfully, I ended up where I wanted to be at PSU, but the thought of the rejection still stings from time to time.

Up until now, I have neglected to give UMD any credit whatsoever, but this weekend I visited College Park for Homecoming and I was able to use a friend's UserID on my iPod Touch to get on to a Maryland Wireless Network.  UMD uses a 2 tier wireless system, one that requires a secure VPN connection, and another that utilizes browser based authentication.  Maybe this could be a solution to getting iPhone/iTouch devices working on the Penn State Network. 

I never thought I would say this, but well done UMD.  Keep up the good work.