Reboot your tethered iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Easy Peazy

Is your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 stuck on the Apple logo with the spinning wheel? Does it just keep rebooting?  Well let me tell you something...  DO NOT UPDATE IT IN iTUNES! If you plug your iPhone into iTunes and update your device you may loose your jailbreak and unlock abilities PERMANENTLY (and possibly brick your phone) Follow this simple steps and you can have your iPhone (and your data) all back to normal.   

Maybe you were playing around in Cydia alittle too much...

Maybe your battery died after a long road trip...

Maybe you flat out forgot and just turned the dang thing off...

Regardless, if you are here right now we are assuming that you need some help getting your phone turned back on.  This particular tutorial will cover instructions on how to reboot your iDevice on a Windows Computer.  Dont worry your data is still safe (as long as you haven't tried to do any restoring in iTunes) all we need to do is download ONE program and ONE file.  The program is called RedSn0w and the  file you need is known as an IPSW and it is basically the entire operating system for your device.  Currently these files are alittle over half a gig in size.  Links provided below.

RedSnow 0.9.8b3

iOS Device IPSW's (download iOS 4.3.4 even if you are on 4.3.5)

Extract RedSn0w into a file on your desktop named "iPhone Tether Fix" and make sure that the IPSW file that you download has a file extension of .ipsw NOT .zip.  If you continue to get a .zip file while trying to download the IPSW or you do not see the Apple Building Block insignia try switching browsers

(firefox works well)

Make sure iTunes, Winamp, iFunbox, Media Monkey or any other program you may have running in the background is closed and open your "iPhone Tether Fix" folder. 

Run Redsn0w.exe by double clicking on it

Select the iOS 4.3.4 IPSW that corresponds to your device (even if you are on 4.3.5)

Select "Just Boot Tethered" and nothing else

Follow the on screen DFU instructions 

*its really easy, just plug in your device and hold down on the home button and the power button for 10 seconds then release the power button (the top one) while still holding down the home button for another 30 seconds.

Once Redsn0w picks up the device your computer will do the rest of the work

Sit back and wait for your phone to come back to life

Hope this helps! Check out our other essential iPhone tips and tricks on our website

http://www.HookupCellular.com

iOS 4.3.5 and Why Apple Love/Hates Your Jailbreak

Do you wonder why it is that Apple continues to fight the jailbreak process?  I mean they are a business and they do have shareholders to continually impress.  If they wanted to sell more iPhones it would make sense to shelter some form of compassion for the Jailbreak community.  Last I heard Tmobile was sporting over 1 million unauthorized iPhone 2G, 3G, 3GS and 4G working on their network.  That is one million more than they would have sold if they took jailbreak software security more seriously.  It seems like they plan to do exactly that with the latest update to iOS 5.

So why do they continue to play this game of cat and mouse?  The answer to that question is that the carriers (AT&T and Verizon) also have shareholders to answer to.  These security protocols are certainly required by the big guys in the initial contract signings so they can justify a $110 cellphone bill each month you use the device on their network.  This incentive to the carriers lasts far longer then the average life of an iPhone.  One drop and your screen is shattered, one spill and your warranty is void but not your cellphone bill.  That two year agreement you signed suddenly looks like a bad marriage you just cant seem to get out of.  Either way you gotta pay...

AT&T / T-Mobile Merger and why its a BAD IDEA! (unless your AT&T)

The lull of my lazy, rainy weekend was broken by the news that AT&T plans to aquire T-Mobile USA for a whopping $39 billion in cash and stock. Who wins and who loses in this deal? It’s hard to find winners, apart from AT&T and T-Mobile shareholders. Here is a list of who loses, in my opinion, in this deal:

Consumers. The biggest losers of this deal are going to be the consumers. While AT&T and T-Mobile are going to try to spin it as a good deal to combine wireless spectrum assets, the fact is, T-Mobile USA is now out of the market.

T-Mobile USA has been fairly aggressive in offering cheaper voice and data plans as it has tried to compete with its larger brethren. The competition has kept the prices in the market low enough. This has worked well for U.S. consumers. With the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, the market is now reduced to three national players: AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.  Net-net, U.S. consumers are going to lose.

Phone Handset Makers. Before the merger was announced, the handset makers such as HTC and Motorola had two major carriers who could buy their GSM-based phones. They just lost any ability to control price and profits on handsets because now there is a single buyer that can dictate what GSM phones come to market. Even with LTE becoming the standard for the 4G world, it would essentially be a market dominated by three buyers (should Sprint go with LTE), which would place handset makers at the mercy of the giants.

Sprint. The nation’s third-largest carrier was in talks to buy T-Mobile according to Bloomberg, but AT&T’s offer has now pushed Sprint to the bottom of the pile in terms of size and potentially spectrum assets if it goes through. If it doesn’t go through, then Sprint now has a price it has to match in order to get its hands on T-Mobile. Plus, Sprint and T-Mobile often stood against AT&T and Verizon on a variety of regulatory issues, so if AT&T succeeds, Sprint will stand alone on special access and other issues.

Network Equipment Suppliers. The carrier consolidation has proved to be a living hell for companies that make infrastructure network equipment. Alcatel-Lucent, along with Ericsson and Nokia Siemens, are suppliers of gears to both AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With a single customer, they will lost ability to control their own fate and are going to see their profits suffer as a result.

Google. I think the biggest loser in this could be Google. In T-Mobile, it has a great partner for its Android OS-based devices. Now the company will be beholden to two massive phone companies — Verizon and AT&T — who are going to try to hijack Android to serve their own ends.

Don’t be surprised if you see AT&T impose its own will on what apps and service are put on its Android smartphones. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the worst phone company in the U.S. (according to Consumer Reports) tries to create its own app store and force everyone to buy apps through it.

It doesn’t matter how you look at it; this is just bad for wireless innovation, which means bad news for consumers. T-Mobile has been pretty experimental and innovative: It has experimented with newer technologies such as UMA, built its own handsets and has generally been a more consumer-centric company. AT&T, on the other hand, has the innovation of a lead pencil and has the mentality more suited to a monopoly: a position it wants to regain.

Consider SIMple Mobile for your cellular signal.  It is a nationwide network with unlimited talk text and 4G data!

Backtrack for Android (Linux on your HD2)

---------------------------------------
Backtrack5 for HD2 - v0.2
Customized by z3n
My goal: the perfect stealth
tool in your pocket
just one tap away
---------------------------------------

========================
Codename 
Squeaky Wheel
========================



Updated, check second post for changelog


========================
DOWNLOAD
========================

Please use the scripts attached at the bottom of this post instead of the packaged ones, and i havent had a change to update the full image zip with it (uploads take a while :P)
V 0.2

Part 1 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=D0MQVAS4

Part 2 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M2MRYLAH


MD5 - 06225e18cdbfee6f88daf7e9ee3a1163
SHA1 - eeba19e53565a1643703cf8938be2f8cfc12db9a

V 0.1

Part 1 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=83B22Y00

Part 2 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SB98AA19

mirror - (NOT interchangeable)

Part 1 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HU320Z81

Part 2 - http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QN9C560Z

Checksums of bt5.img
MD5 = 863e6db99e5207a81ad0df7d13998235
SHA1 = c84d8f27df8b9b51059e5a6b09e65853f11de970



7zip required to extract.

Just over 1gb packed, unpacked is 4.9gb.


========================
INFO
========================
This is my first release of a customized, working, mostly stable BT5.

Many things have been added, taken out, and configured to be used within the Android system. For a full list, please see the bottom of this post.

Mounting is different than most other linux .img installations, allowing for a full (and expandable) image.

V 0.2 Now has a swap file created when you run the mkdirectory script. This swap file is necessary, as with all my tests, When you run VNC with most of the major tools, there's a high chance of the phone running out of memory (im running no extra apps, completely stock Hyperdroid)

(if you have a swapfile already, you can say no to creating another, just make sure that the file is located at /data/bt and named btswap.)

**This image is in ext4, make sure your kernel supports it!**
**Everything tested on Hyperdroid-CM7 by pongster**

==============
INSTALLATION
==============
You need:
-Full Nandroid Backup in case something goes batty
-16gb HD2
-ext4 support on your ROM/kernel (lost my ext2 image due to my own stupidity, will create another matching one later)
-Linux on PC (to create the ext4 partition)
-Busybox (from market)
-VNC Viewer (from market) (optional)

FAT32/EXT4 Split card
---------------------

1.
Back up your HD2 and SDCard to safe places (off of the phone and sdcard)

2.
Boot your linux installation and open partition manager. erase all the partitions on yor SDcard. Then create them in this order.

1. FAT32 - size of this is total sdcard size minus 6.5g (for bt image) minus 100mb for aps2sd
2. ext2 - 100mb
3. ext4 - 6.5 gb

3.
Copy the bt5.img to the root of your third partition.
copy the bts folder to the root of your FAT32 partition.

4.
if this is your first time using this script/image, run the mkdirectory script first

Load up your android terminal and type

Code:

su
cd /path/to/scripts
sh go

5.
Now it asks you if you want to log in to the console or start vnc automatically. (check log for port, usually 5901 or 5902)

DEFAULT VNC PASSWORD IS: toortoor



DEDICATED SDCARD
----------------
Same as everything above, minus the FAT32 partition.

"sh ded"
starts for dedicated SDcard instead of
"sh go"


Proper Shutdown Procedure
=====================

Stop script has been modified to shutdown backtrack and all of the (usual) programs that stop things from unmounting properly.

Exit any VNC connection you currently have.

1. Run sh stop (from your scripts location)
2. Reboot phone as a precaution.

One thing i did personally to make this easier was load the scripts onto /data/bt, so switching SDcards or locations doesnt matter.
(I also changed the terminal start directory to my scripts folder :P easy quick access)

=======================
Main Features I've gotten to work
=========================-Clean mount/umount, as long as VNC and MySQL are killed BEFORE exiting the chroot - stop script kills these now
-Apps no longer disappear for good with sdcard removed, only disappear until SDcard is reinserted :P (apps2SD/loop device problem, any ideas?)
-MySQL for metasploit
-Metasploit working
-Armitage working, missing some "Attack" options (looking into it)
-Zenmap installed
-OpenVPN installed
-Traffic analysis possible with tcpdump (local only)
-Enables possibility for FakeAP attacks
-macchanger works (kinda, phone needs a reboot for original MAC to return)
-Armitage Launcher placed on Desktop (takes a while to load, be patient)
-Terminal Launchers in various places (updating may randomly remove your terminal, synaptic placed on desktop as standby to redownload terminals
-guake installed (drop down Terminal, makes commands easier to see while working) (not configured to a key yet)

This probably works with other Android phones too. If you change the scripts, and as long as it has a external SDcard you can partition.

if your using a different phone, this is untested unless specified otherwise.

-boot and shutdown scripts run clean as long as VNC and MySQL are shut off(in almost all cases)


@ XDA
http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1152994

PASSWORDS
------------
MySQL - user: root pass: toor
VNC - User: root pass:toortoor
sys pass - user:root pass:toor(I know, standard ones, but this should answer a few questions)


===============================
Thanks
===============================
anantshri - for the original scripts and BT5 img for android
BT dev team - (of course :P)
and all of you 

===============================
Information, bugs, and oddities
===============================
One important thing, While performing heavy operations, its normal for your screen to not turn on for a while if it turns off. Dont panic, just give it some time to finish whatever you were running and your phone will be back to normal again. DO NOT PULL THE BATTERY UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

To avoid this, get wakelock (known to cause problems) or set your screen timeout to some large number.

Swap file will help with alot of this.

These are the features I've tested out so far.
No major changes to anything, (except new packages) just configuring everything i see.

If you find anything you want added in or that is acting odd, please let me know. Same goes for if you fix something!!

Overall
-------
-Repo's activated, most things work (upstart processes fail, for now)
-startvnc and stopvnc no longer give that pesky USER error
-startvnc starts mysql database for metasploit
-stopvnc stops mysql (mostly, invoke ps -A and look for mysqld. Kill it with fire(-9) if need be)
-network traffic is capture-able with tcpdump, with wifi hotspot activated
-working on adding in a swap partition on sdcard (if possible)
-openoffice installed
-openVPN installed (the quieter you become...)
-Removed Zoho Web services

MySQL
-----
default user - root
default pass - toor
-Starts automatically with startvnc
-stops automatically with stopvnc
-start manually by invoking "mysqld"
-Only runs as root (for now)
-Console hangs when it is manually loaded or shutdown, service continues running though. killall --signal 9 mysqld if needed.

Metasploit
----------
-Loads up alright (45-90 seconds)
-MySQL already set as default DB
-Must manually connect to MySQL DB each instance of metasploit by invoking (from msf) db_connect root:toor@127.0.0.1
-working on a possible way to limit cpu consumption to prevent system hangs(cpulimit does some nasty things)
-So far, this is the only connection string ive been able to get to work: root:toor@127.0.0.1

Armitage
--------
-Takes forever to load (30 seconds for connect screen, 4 minutes or so for main client)
-Causes system hangs frequently (to minimize this, leave the vnc server on your screen, and set the display timeout to 10 minutes-switch it back when done to conserve battery life)
-So far, this is the only connection string ive been able to get to work: root:toor@127.0.0.1
-Can Crash phone if running too big of an operation (Max Phone memory problem, fixed in v.2 with swapfile added)

Zenmap
------
-Slows phone down (incredibly bad with more complex scans, of course)
-Some Complex scanning options can crash phone (Nothing damaging has happened)
-will attempt to throttle cpu usage in the future
-Can Crash phone if running too big of an operation (Max Phone memory problem, fixed in v.2 with swapfile added)


Aircrack-ng suite
-----------------
-Aircrack-ng works
-Airodump-ng doesnt work (needs monitor)
-Airdecap-ng untested
-Airdecloak-ng untested
-Airbase-ng doesnt work (needs monitor)
-Airmon-ng doesnt work (needs monitor)
-Aireplay-ng doesnt work (needs monitor)
-Airdriver-ng doesnt work (yet)
-Airolib-ng works (doesnt do anything yet)
-Airserv-ng doesnt work (needs monitor)
-Airtun-ng doesnt work(needs monitor)



Plus lots of stuff for the future, stay tuned!!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1152994

In the future
=========
-nessus
-Booting via HD2 Toolbox by d4n14l (sp?)
-Custom kernel (WAYYYY down the road, but working on it)
and more 
--Copyrighted by z3n, 2011
(just kidding, but it looks good :P)

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Why there is no real "iPad Killer"

Motorola Mobility (MMI) dropped the price of its poor-selling Xoom tablet device by $100 today. The Wi-Fi model is now $499. The price drop will not only eat into profit margins, but is unlikely to boost unit sales.

Why?
For Motorola, the second generation release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will prove to be a more compelling alternative and the Asus Transformer with removable keyboard will attract consumers looking for an in-between laptop-tablet device. When compared to the Apple (AAPL) iPad 2, the Xoom device is less compelling at similar prices, is not as easy to use and has fewer desired apps available.


This begs the question: why do all android-based tablets touted as an Apple “iPad killer” fail? There are at least 5 reasons...


1) Apps
It’s all about having the choice for many apps. Apple cemented the app mantra for the smart phone. Most recently, Apple’s App store hit 15 billion downloads, while rewarding $2.5B in payments (70% of revenue) to developers. There are now 425,000 apps available on the iPhone.
Apple’s early entrance in the tablet space enabled the company to gain developer support. The aggressive price point for the apps and for the device continues to resonate at the sweet spot for consumers.


2) Android User Demographics
Android is popular because it is a cheap smart phone alternative to any other offering. BOGO (buy one get one free), 99 cent and free (with contract) offerings are popular. The same user base is unlikely to spend an additional $400, let alone $499 for Motorola Xoom tablet.
The demand side for android-based tablets is not there.
To compete effectively with Apple, Android tablet manufacturers would need to offer free, smart phone/tablet combo deals, or offer heavily subsidized deals to entice the Android smart phone consumer to buy an Android tablet.


3) Specifications Matter Little, Ease of Use Matters Most
The average consumer does not care about processor speed, memory size, HDMI or an SD reader (the SD card reader on the Xoom is not yet functional in North America, even though a patch was released in Europe).
The consumer cares about ease of use, a smooth experience and many apps. The iPad 2 is elegantly designed. Motorola’s Xoom is heavy and bulky.
Research in Motion (RIMM) released a lighter, 7-inch Playbook tablet that at least gave the company a form-factor advantage over Apple. The Playbook is also very responsive and fluid.


4) Android not Truly Open Source
Android fans tout that its operating system is open source, but an open source is defined by freely available code to the public that may be redistributed with or without modification. Manufacturers have access to the source code because it is needed for building the device.


5)Motorola Mobility Is Not a Buy
Until Android evolves to be more user friendly, less buggy and offers a more fluid experience for consumers for tablets, the next Android “iPad killer” will be yet another mirage. Motorola Mobility, down nearly 18% since spinning off from Motorola (MSI), will continue to perform poorly as an Android play.