The unlocked smartphone is about to become an endangered species in the U.S.

Starting Sunday, it will be illegal to jailbreak your phone without the permission of your carrier. While this doesn’t extend to phones like Verizon’s iPhone 5 — which ships unlocked — it does show how laws like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) can be stretched far beyond their original scope.

Every three years the Library of Congress, working with the U.S. Copyright Office, hands out exemptions to the DCMA, which controls how copyright applies to digital content. The latest round of exemptions came last October, when the Library of Congress decided that sanctioned unlocking methods were strong and extensive enough that it didn’t make much sense to allow for unsanctioned methods.

“The record clearly demonstrates that there is a wide range of alternatives from which consumers may choose in order to obtain an unlocked wireless phone,” the Library of Congress wrote in its decision.

As a result, unlocking your new smartphone is now a big no-no unless you have the permission of the carrier that you bought it from. Say hello to the dark side of the smartphone subsidy.

For carriers, the measure is a major win because it makes it that much harder for consumers to take their devices (and business) elsewhere. As for consumers … well, it should be pretty obvious why the move is bad for them.

Tinker-happy companies like iFixit aren’t crazy about the whole deal. “The Copyright Office’s decision to outlaw this right of ownership hurts users and further empowers carriers to trap consumers,” iFixit wrote on its blog today.

While all of that’s true, the measure is also proof of something that’s become increasingly obvious to me in recent months: The smartphone subsidization model is simply a bad deal for consumers. Not only does it lock people into lengthy contracts, but it also results in a grossly asymmetrical balance of power. Consumers just don’t win, even if they are playing a bit less for their smartphones.

Perhaps the silver lining here is that we’re finally realizing that.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Although it might pain some Apple fanboys, a clever new theme for jailbroken iPhones shows what would happen if the Metro design of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system landed on the iPhone.

Jailbreaking your iPhone opens the door to loading unapproved applications, crazy themes, and using the phone on other carriers. The “Metroon” theme for Dreamboard can be downloaded from the Cydia Store and allows a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch to look and feel like Windows 8, which Microsoft will release in late October. The Metroon package costs $1.50, a small price to pay to freak out your Apple-obsessed friends.

Check out the clever app in the video below:

Via Jailbreak Nation

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible — visually and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, taking place July 10-11 in San Francisco, is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

You just can’t stop those wily jailbreak hackers. Today new software has been released that will fully jailbreak almost any iOS device running the latest iOS update, including the iPhone 4S and new iPad.

Hackers from the Chronic Dev Team have released Greenpis0n Absinthe 2.0, which offers a completely untethered jailbreak — meaning the hack will stick with your device even if you have to reboot it. There have been tethered jailbreaks around for some time, which are more cumbersome since you have to jailbreak every time your iOS device restarts.

Jailbreaking your iPhone allows you to run unauthorized apps and customize your phone in an assortment of ways. It’s a direct affront to Apple’s heavily locked-down app ecosystem, so the company has made each new hardware and software release more difficult for hackers to jailbreak.

The tool is compatible with just about every iOS device, except for iPad 2 models running Apple’s new 32-nanometer chipset.

As always, tread carefully when jailbreaking your device: backup first, and be vigilant when installing unauthorized apps. Though jailbreaking allows for more flexibility with your iOS device, it also opens you up to all sorts security vulnerabilities.

Via BGR, Jailbreak Untethered

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you’ve got a jailbroken iOS 5-running iPhone or iPad, get ready to unleash some serious majesty: We’re going to show you how to enable panorama mode on your phone’s camera.

While Apple has made jailbreaking difficult with iOS 5, but it can be done.

In addition to a jailbroken iOS 5 device with a built-in gyroscope, you’ll need iFile, a file manager and viewer app.

The device’s camera has a hidden panorama mode that you can enable with FireBreak, a jailbreak tweak specifically for enabling panorama mode.

Both iFile and FireBreak are available from Cydia, a directory of applications for jailbroken devices. iFile will set you back $4, and you’ll find FireBreak in Cydia’s BigBoss repository.

If any of this sounds confusing to you and you’re overwhelmed with anxiety at the thought of hacking on your beautiful, shiny iPad2 or iPhone 4S, just sit tight and wait for Apple to roll out panorama mode for general availability. We don’t yet know if or when that’s going to happen, though.

If you’re still enthusiastic about forging ahead, here’s a video tutorial to walk you through the steps of getting panorama mode up and running and then taking panoramic images with your iOS 5 device:

Your results might be sketchy the first time around, but keep tinkering to get better images out of your device. We’re guessing Apple is holding off on a general release until panoramic images are more consistently high in quality.

[via iDownloadBlog]

Image courtesy of sicoactiva.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple has added extra security features in iOS 5 that will make it much harder for hackers to safely jailbreak their iPhones, according to the high-profile jailbreakers at Dev-Team Blog. Apple’s changes will make it harder to roll back to an older version of iOS if jailbreaking goes bad.

Apple has been attempting to stop jailbreakers from altering its iOS software for years, but the U.S. copyright office came down on the side of jailbreakers last July. Users can jailbreak their iPhones and iPads to add new features, run unapproved apps or make the devices work on unofficial carriers. Earlier this month, hackers claimed to have already figured out how to jailbreak iOS 5.

The process of jailbreaking has always been a little tricky. When a jailbreak goes wrong or a hacker simply wants to revert to an older version of iOS, they could do this by saving what are known as “SHSH blobs” and use those blobs to downgrade the software without iTunes noticing. But iOS 5 makes this process nearly impossible.

The jailbreakers at Dev-Team Blog have been hacking their way though the iOS 5 beta and noticed Apple has added a feature called “APTicket” that resets the SHSH blobs each time the phone is rebooted. This will make it essentially pointless to save old blobs and try to use them to roll back the software.

The Dev-Team Blog notes that this is just for iOS 5, so restoring to builds before 5 should be fine to roll back to. But anyone that makes the leap to iOS 5 should be warned that once they upgrade, it may be a heck of a lot harder to go back.

The lawsuit was controversial because it pitted Sony against hackers, who felt it should be more open with its hardware, and it exposed Sony to denial-of-service attacks against its web sites.

Hotz hacked the security of the PS 3 and distributed “jailbreaking” software in January that enabled users to run unauthorized software on the console. He posted an encryption key and other software tools on his web site.

As part of the settlement, Hotz has agreed to a permanent injunction. Both parties said they were happy to settle.

“Sony is glad to put this litigation behind us,” said Riley Russell, general counsel for Sony’s game division. “Our motivation for bringing this litigation was to protect our intellectual property and our consumers. We believe this settlement and the permanent injunction achieve this goal.”

“It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier,” said Hotz, “I’m happy to have the litigation behind me.” In a joint statement, both parties said Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony’s internet services and websites.

Sony’s tactics in the case angered a broader community because the company sought to discover how many people had downloaded Hotz’s software. The community interpreted that request as an attempt to discover the identities of users who had downloaded the software in order to take legal action against them. Sony said it was trying to discover the extent of the damage caused by Hotz’s software.

The attacks were initiated by Anonymous, an anonymous internet hacking group that has marshaled its computing resources numerous times to attack company web sites. The hacking group started attacking Sony sites last week and even started digging up details on Sony executives. Then it halted its attacks and scheduled a new assault for April 16. Now it seems likely that those attacks will likely be called off.

Sony had accused Hotz of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by posting information about the PS3′s security. Hotz denied any wrongdoing.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Previously, only people with developer accounts on the Marketplace were able to do this. Now anyone with a Windows Phone 7 device, Windows XP SP2 or higher, and a USB cable connecting the phone to a PC can do it.

According to the men behind the software, the idea is to help developers install “experimental”, or “homebrew” applications that would never be published on the Marketplace, such as software that makes use of private or native APIs (application programming interfaces), further encouraging development on the platform. The creators of ChevronWP7 claim they do not condone piracy and that their application is not an enabler for piracy. The jailbreaking of a device using this tool is also completely reversible, they say.

We reported previously that Windows Phone 7 is picking up interest from developers, as Microsoft announced there are 15,000 developers creating apps for the OS. In a way, the release of a jailbreak tool also testifies to an interest in the operating system. Jailbreaking operating systems became popular with Apple‘s iPhone OS and is still a major activity among hackers, keeping up with the release of new versions of the software: Apple’s iOS 4 was jailbroken within hours after its June 21 launch this year.

And interest is something that Microsoft sorely needs. Right now, there are only about 3,000 apps available for Windows Phone 7, but the number should be on a pretty steep rise, as the operating system is just beginning to pick up steam. Still, compare that with Apple’s 300,000 applications available in the App Store and roughly 100,000 apps available for Android devices, and you’ll see Microsoft has its work cut out for it.

The ChevronWP7 tool was first reported by engadget.

The group used its new “SHAtter” exploit to jailbreak the Apple TV. As we previously reported, the exploit targets a low-level portion of the iPhone operating system (iOS), which makes it impossible for Apple to patch the exploit with a simple software upgrade. This means that all existing iOS devices will be able to rely on the exploit forever, and Apple won’t be able to fix it until it rolls out new hardware.

Why would you want to jailbreak your Apple TV? For one thing, hackers will quickly find ways to bring applications to the device — making up for Apple’s complete lack of official apps. So now instead of being locked into the service Apple provides for the device, you’ll be able to find other sources of content. Apps are a big reason why I believe Google TV will ultimately be more valuable to consumers, as I’ve argued in the past.

There’s currently no release date for an actual tool using the exploit, which would let anyone jailbreak their new Apple TV. Given the group’s past timing though, we can probably expect a jailbreaking tool within the next few weeks.

As proof of the jailbreak, the iPhone Dev Team released the following video:

via Redmond Pie

Getting content noticed is a challenge for everyone making apps. Join us at DiscoveryBeat 2010 and hear secrets from top industry executives about how to break through and profit in the new cross-platform app ecosystem. From metrics to monetization, we’ll take an in depth look at the best discovery strategies and why they’re working. The conference takes place on October 18th at the Mission Bay Conference Center in San Francisco. Sponsors can contact us at sponsors@venturebeat.com. To buy tickets, click here.

The problem with Dry Erase Girl: There’s no business in hoaxes — The men who fooled the Internet with their hoax about a woman who quit her job via a dry erase board say it made some money for their site, TheChive.com — but that attention-grabbing stunts don’t make for a reliable business model for their company, Rober Media.

Lifting the veil on the hybrid processor-graphics chip in the new Xbox 360 — Microsoft and IBM described the two-headed chip that enables the new black version of the Xbox 360 to operate on less power and more quietly than past models of the video game console.

Google tests search that delivers results as you type — Google is developing a new kind of search capability that delivers the results instantly as you type the letters.

Apple applies for patent to kill jailbroken iPhones — Apple evidently wants to have a killswitch to disable “jailbroken” iPhones.

Gmail users place 1M calls in 24 hours — Gmail users are already taking advantage of the cheap calling that Google launched on Wednesday.

And here are five more posts we think are important, thought-provoking, or fun:

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen sharking everyone from Apple to Facebook on down — Paul Allen, the cofounder of Microsoft from long, long ago, is now trying his hand at suing the entire Internet over decade-old patents owned by his former company, Interval Research.

Dell’s Aero Android smartphone hits AT&T today — for some reason — Dell’s Aero Android phone has been a long time coming — but unfortunately for the company, the longer it has waited to release the device, the less appealing it has become.

Five new Y Combinator startups to watch — Incubator Y Combinator just held its latest Demo Day, where the current class of startups gave rapid-fire demonstrations to investors and journalists. Here are my choices for companies that deserve a closer look.

Chomp’s iPhone app brings mobile search into modern age — Finally, it looks like searching for apps on your smartphone will go from a terrible experience to a pretty good one.

VentureBeat declares war! Why “Google Beat” is a brand extension too far — Larry, Sergey, Eric: VentureBeat is putting you on notice. This “Google Beat” thing is going too far.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple evidently wants to have a killswitch to disable “jailbroken” iPhones. That could piss off users of the popular method for running unauthorized software on an iPhone.

The company has applied for a patent that covers a variety of security measures to automatically protect iPhone users from thieves and other unauthorized users. But one of the uses of the patent would be to protect Apple’s interests, which may be in conflict with those of users.

The patent appears to cover technologies that would detect and circumvent “jailbreaking,” which refers to running software that lets a user gain access to wider capabilities than Apple allows. With jailbroken phones, users can unlock their phones so they can use carriers that are not authorized by Apple. Jailbreaking is often the only resort for users who want to use iPhones in countries where Apple doesn’t have an authorized carrier. Jailbreaking was recently deemed permissible in the U.S. as a fair use right for users.

The application was published Thursday. Apple filed it in February. It describes the identification of “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking or removal of a SIM card” so that measures can be taken to counter the user. Responses to such actions could be to activate the iPhone’s camera, geotag the image, and then uploading it to a server. Or it could transmit sensitive data to a server and then wipe it from the device. This is effectively a kill switch, but Apple describes it as a way to protect users from unauthorized users.

The patent application suggests that Apple could detect unauthorized users by voice-printing the owner and activating an accelerometer to see if a phone thief is in transit. Essentially, the system allows Apple to wipe out the memory of a phone from afar if it deems a user is under attack. But the system may not be able to distinguish thefts from cases when a user is simply trying to escape from Apple’s rules about jailbreaking.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

A lot of people complained about the iPad’s closed-off software. But no one did anything about it — until now, apparently.

A well-known hacker of the iPhone, who previously defeated Apple’s restrictions on developers, has claimed in a video to have hacked the iPad. Just a day after release, the hacker, who goes by “MuscleNerd” online, said that he has gained root access to the iPad, a process known as “jailbreaking.”

“Jailbreaking” is a technical term which refers literally to limits on software placed on an operating system and more figuratively to the feelings developers have about such restrictions. An Apple device that’s been “jailbroken” can run any code, not just company-approved software available through its online stores. But such jailbreaking is a violation of Apple’s terms of service, which may mean Apple Stores will refuse to fix broken devices.

The iPad jailbreak technique is similar to an exploit of the iPhone operating system known as “Spirit.” Hackers have shown time after time that they can break into Apple’s security software for new iPhones, often within a day of release. One motivation: getting access to pirated software. It’s not known how much piracy happens as a result of jailbreaking, but it’s believed to be considerable.

Here’s MuscleNerd’s account: