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US Teen Trades Hacked iPhone for Nissan 350Z
PieGuy107 writes to mention that seventeen-year-old George Hotz of Glen Rock, NJ has made the trade of the summer. Hotz traded his hacked iPhone for a new set of wheels (Nissan 350Z to be exact) and 3 more 8GB iPhones. "[Terry] Daidone, who's the co-founder of Louisville, Kentucky-based CertiCell, has apparently also offered the young man a paid consulting job, but stresses the company doesn't have 'any plans on the table right now to commercialize Mr. Hotz' discovery'."
they want their story back.
I like many Apple products, but I can't afford an iPhone (I don't YET consider it a value when it doesn't offer 3G support, etc, and I can't afford to pay just for the style factor). Despite its shortcomings, however, I have been fairly impressed with its hackability (and the efforts those who've modified it for interesting new uses, including unlocking it). I haven't heard any peep out of Apple about discouraging this sort of thing (short of the obvious warnings warranties being voided). I think this approach with the iPhone, and also the highly hacked AppleTV, is enhancing the value of these products, which out of the box, aren't necessarily top of the line in many categories.
The poor kid is absolutely boned come tax time.
b) If that's the dorkiest guy you've ever seen? Man, you haven't met many real dorks, have you?
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
Well, first by selling this knowledge, but not actually selling the service of unlocking phones, the kid is sidestepping legal issues. I can imagine that when the kid sold it for much much more, he would have apple's lawyers on him much quicker. Also, how long do you think he can hold out before someone else makes the same breakthrough. I don't know if you ever noticed, but breakthroughs always seem to happen at the same time. So, why not get a free car. Plus, if you read about it you would know that he was not hired as a consultant just for the iPhone, but rather to teach his techs to unlock all manner of cells. This is of course worth more money to that company then unlocking the extremely limited number of iphones.
He was given the car by a guy who owns a mid-sized cell phone repair shop in the midwest. This guy (Certicell)'s getting massive publicity out of the hoopla surrounding the unlock. The unlocked iPhone isn't worth a 350Z. Getting mentioned on every news-outlet and riding the coattails of Hotz's fifteen minutes of fame is worth a 350z.
1.) DVD Jon was actualy a pretty knowledgeable hardcore geek way before he did the CSS crack.
2.) He actually DID get sued. By big companies. On several occasions.
- Jesper
My security clearance is so high I have to kill myself if I remember I have it...
It wants its pop culture reference back.
It likely does now.
Everyone in the US over age 0 has to pay taxes, if their income warrants.
The gift tax rules don't apply - he's clearly being compensated for his skills. Strictly speaking, he increased the phone's value himself and then accepted compensation for it. Only his accountant knows for sure.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
The IRS will likely consider this taxable event, so young Mr. Hotz is going to be out some serious cash to cover his tax bill. I read somewhere that most game show winners of "free cars" end up selling them to cover the taxes.
Too bad it doesn't come with car insurance. There's no way the guy will be able to afford the premium on a 350Z.
Have you seen this guy? Hello? Mom's basement? Holy Cow!
:-)
When a 17 year old receives a 350Z they are no longer spending much time in Mom's basement. Hopefully not all of that time outside the basement is spent earning money for gas, insurance, and taxes. That prize/gift is taxable, many a game show winner has been screwed by that. Fortunately, or sadly, I've never won anything over $1,000.
To go to a darker topic, I hope he doesn't move from Mom's basement to the basement at the morgue. Giving a high performance car to a 17 year old can be a dangerous thing to do. My Dad and his friends had muscle cars at a young age, he was wise enough to make sure I only had underpowered 4-cylinder Toyota when I was under his roof. By the time I graduated college, got a job, and could afford that 5.7L Trans Am(*) I had enough experience behind the wheel and enough common sense to do little damage. I swear I saw a half dozen cars like mine in the paper, all wrapped around telephone poles by teenage drivers.
(*) That first job didn't pay well enough for a Corvette, and by now I've turned into a cheap bastard.
I mentioned the exact same thing but that this was a big group project, he was just the guy (who rather badly) soldered the wire into the iPhone. The way to solder that kind of equipment is with tweezer soldering irons, very small amounts of solder, and either a chemical or 400 grit sand paper to get the solder mask off. You use a smaller 26-28 AWG wire instead of the rather large one he used in the photo to get the best results.
This was a huge team effort, it was not pulled off by this guy alone. The software reverse-engineering alone would take more time than figuring out how to hack the hardware. I don't know if he's a member of the North American Marl0n Brando Look-a-like Association, but come on.
Another thing- I know this post and the parent is going to hit the Trolling trigger for some people, but honestly we have a right to voice our opinion. As a moderator, you can choose three ways: reward the good posts, mod down the truely bad posts, or mod down anything you disagree with. Yes there are trolls out there who need to be dealt with and they are, but seriously our standards for posting and moderation have been slipping and it makes me wonder where /. is headed.
Next step: Hack the 350Z and trade it for a jet
Uh the point is to make the iphone work on another network. the jersey kid did this by pulling apart the iphone soldering something, doing some magic, then putting the phone back together without damaging it, and it will work with a t-mobile SIM. What the australians did was buy a programable sim ($10 on ebay), then use a Telstra SIM, the AT&T SIM, a SIM programmer ($50), and make the programable SIM work on the iPhone, and the Telstra Network. The results are the same (the phone works on a network other than AT&T), just one is much easier and less likely to mess up your iPhone, and likely will not effect your warranty, the other got a load of press.
So the whole deal is about a 17 year old's steady hand work. :-) We all remember the result of that .....
Browsers shouldn't have a back button!! It's all about going forward...