George Hotz, better known as "GeoHot", has made a name for himself over the years beginning with his impressive unlocking of the iPhone to allow for jailbreaking. This led to the public having the ability to use the once exclusive AT&T device with other carriers. After years of hacking and modifying the iPhone, GeoHot moved onto the console that everyone had believed to be unhackable, until GeoHot put his brains behind it. Near the end of 2009, GeoHot publicly announced that he would transfer his efforts from hacking the iPhone to Sony's PlayStation 3 console. Within a short five weeks, GeoHot gained access to the PS3's system memory providing him with read and write access. Read more for more details on GeoHot's joyride with the PS3 and where he is taking his talents to after years of driving companies nuts!
On January 26, 2010, GeoHot brought his project to the public with the ability to install custom firmware on PS3's original firmware at the time, 3.15. This was executed using the platform's "OtherOS" function which was later removed from all PS3 units on March 28, 2010 via a firmware update issued by Sony. GeoHot continued to examine the PS3 platform and eventually jailbreaked the PS3 allowing for homebrew applications to run without the need for a jailbreaking USB Dongle. Sony then filed a restraining order against George Francis Hotz and took the infamous hacker to court. They developed an agreement in which GeoHot would never hack any Sony product ever again.
All of this leads to GeoHot's next move and this time it does not involved pissing a corporation off. Earlier today, George Hotz announced on his official Facebook page that he is now a software engineer for the top social network in existence, Facebook. While no concrete information has been made public as to what GeoHot is working on for Facebook, rumors are flying that he is heavily involved in the development of the iPad's Facebook app. It will be very interesting to see what GeoHot has to offer Facebook and we will see if the hacking career GeoHot made ever so popular has come to an end. I am still clueless as to why Apple nor Sony made an attempt to acquire their worst enemy. If you can't beat em', recruit em!
What do you guys think? Do you feel Sony and/or Apple made a mistake by not recruiting GeoHot, or do you feel Facebook is where the infamous hacker who made a name for himself will fit in best?
No comments:
Post a Comment