Microsoft finally took its jab back at Apple.

Word on the street is that the read/write access has been gained for the iPhone and iPod Touch v1.1.1. This means that 3rd party applications are now available. Thanks Niacin! They are now inviting beta testers, but not yet releasing open to public.

The jailbreak was discovered through a TIFF exploit that was used to hack previous firmware on the PSP. Loading a certain TIFF file will cause a buffer overflow on the mobile Safari, allowing hackers to run their own code.

Details:

==Terminal==
iphuc 0.6.1 with tab completion.
>> By The iPhoneDev Team: nightwatch geohot ixtli warren nall mjc operator
CFRunLoop: Waiting for iPhone.
notification: iPhone attached.
AMDeviceStartService ‘com.apple.afc’: 0
(iPHUC) /: ls
.
..
Applications
Library
System
bin
cores
dev
etc
mach
private
sbin
tmp
usr
var
(iPHUC) /: putfile ./fstab /etc/fstab [That's the money line! No errors.]
(iPHUC) /: exit
==/Terminal==

I’m always impressed at how hard programmers work to get their dreams out. Similar to starting up, the iPhone Dev Team was just out to solve problems and add value to the community. Despite knowing that Apple could again patch up the bugs, they went ahead nevertheless. I’m sure there will be more disappointments in the future, but hopefully also more successes for an open iPhone.
I think I just might buy myself one now. Oh yea, and here’s to the iPhone Hackers.

I’ve always been big on UI. The video above easily demonstrates why.

Competition on the internet is intense like always. There are so many website applications that do the same thing. If your user gets it within a few seconds; your app is a keeper. Any longer and the back button will the lose your user forever.If you need a long paragraph on your homepage describing the product, your app is toast. A smart website should show the user how to use the site by simply displaying content.

However, I’m not here to answer the Apple vs. Microsoft question, but to answer WHEN you should buy a Mac if you have already decided to. According to Appletell, a new iMac is coming soon, but may be delayed a bit:

You might have heard the recent rumors surrounding the new iMacs: they’ll be released on August 7th. Hold it right there because Appletell’s highly trusted source who works close to the iMac development team claims that this rumor is slightly untrue.

The team is apparently experiencing last minute issues with the new keyboard. We can reveal that this keyboard will be very similar to Logitech’s diNovo Edge; however our source says: “it’s got a feature or two that the diNovo does not have”.

When further questioned regarding what these features would be, he responded with “you’ll love it”. Our source also mentioned that Apple would debut new displays for the iMac, although we’re unsure whether that means LED displays, different sizes, or something entirely different.

Update: After pestering and poking a bit more, our source let slip that the new keyboard will feature a built-in Apple Remote and snazzy backlighting.

Picture of Logitech’s diNovo:

Students who are interested in the “buy a mac, get a free ipod nano” student discount might want to wait a bit longer if you don’t care much for another nano. Apple always releases or upgrades products at the end of the free nano campaigns. It seems like a good way to clear their inventory though.

New Macbook Pro’s rumored to arrive Q1 2008. A bit long for that.

As mentioned on Network World, iPhone’s WiFi capability is flooding Duke networks. What caught my attention is that it’s summer! No one is on campus during the summer. That is hilarious.

“Because of the time of year for us, it’s not a severe problem,” says Kevin Miller, assistant director, communications infrastructure, with Duke’s Office of Information Technology. “But from late August through May, our wireless net is critical. My concern is how many students will be coming back in August with iPhones? It’s a pretty big annoyance, right now, with 20-30 access points signaling they’re down, and then coming back up a few minutes later. But in late August, this would be devastating.”

The iPhone does not have a standard SDK, so I expect the internet usuage to become much more intense as new apps are released.

Haven’t seen too many iPhones around on the Berkeley Campus yet. But hey, I guess it’s different at those rich east coast schools. I remember when the iPod’s first became popular, practically every student was listening to one between classes. It was pretty anti-social. I wouldn’t be surprised Apple invades the campus again.

By the way, I really want an iPhone.

Also, mentioned here and here

That was easy