Video: 15 year old spends summer hacking iPhones
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jul 8th 2009 12:31PM
posted Jul 8th 2009 12:31PM
When we were fifteen we were too busy smoking Winstons behind the Country Fair on Pennsylvania state route 99 to do anything of real value for society, so perhaps that's why whenever we cover one of these "teenager does good" stories it's with a slight tinge of regret. Ari Weinstein, the precocious spawn of a real-estate developer and a social worker, says he began his career as a "hacker" at the age of 7 when he figured out how to get around AOL's parental controls. Since then its only been onward and upward for the lad, who has since made short work of the iPod mini, the iPod touch (which led to the development of iJailbreak) and, with as a member of the Chronic Dev Team, the iPhone 3GS. Now, according to the Wall Street Journal, "he's going legit, as he spends his summer tooling up a new app." Sure. As we know, once the hacking bug bites, there's no going back to the straight world. That is, until AriX (as he's known on the street) discovers girls. Jailbreaking fans, please enjoy a rather confused (and wildly conflated) video after the break.
First? yay
Yeah, First to FAIL!
At 15, I was playing Sega Megadrive!
Congrat to you Dr House, well done sir.
This guy suppose to be a hacker? cause when he was 7 he figured out how to get around AOL's parental controls and at 15 he can hack a phone? we are getting low standards here on planet earth
parental control is good for one thing if your kids couldn't get around it they are mentally ill, my 3 years old brother knows how to get around that /face palm
i hacked my father's TV when i was 10 to watch porn and he had like 3 passwords (yes we grow up fast and losing virginity at 11-12 is common here)
@DR House
You can't lose your virginity to your right hand. Sorry, your definition of "losing your virginity" is totally wrong.
Lando, replace that with lefty ;( I'm left handed
Anyone else find the fact that, someone with the screen name of Lando Calrissian is knocking someone else about virginity, ironic?
@Dr House
pretty low standards? So you have pretty high standards for what can be considered a hacker but extremely low standards for your life? I assume you have low life standards cause you try to be the first poster on Engadget a lot. If something so meaningless makes you so happy, you have some real low standards.
Shenagans ever heard of RRS feed service? its ok you are too dumb to get it so google it
Thanks for giving us a little insight into the lives of people who comment "FIRST!" on internet blogs, Dr. House. I always figured people who do that would have perverse lives and do things like watch porn at 10 and live in a town where everyone loses their virginity before they've gone through puberty yet as well as bash 15-year-old boys for not being as nerdy as them because all they can do is jailbreak an iPhone.
WTF!? How is this news? I had my first computer at age 4, I was doing way more advanced stuff than this. When did people start considering getting around AOLs parental controls hacking? First of all that isn't even hard, I think every single one of my friends who had AOL figured out how to do it pretty quickly and none of them where very good with computers because it was annoying and blocked almost everything. AOL in general was the absolute easiest piece of software to exploit. I was accessing hard drives and personal account information in no time. This kid sounds like a literal script kiddie. I actually got in trouble at school for encrypting a bunch of stuff on a school server and then not telling them the password. I don't remember exactly why I didn't tell them what it was eventually, I guess I wanted to see if they could figure it out. Now that I think about it every time I got in trouble at school except for once in elementary school for throwing rocks at a kid and once in high school for fighting it had something to do with computers. The only reason I ever got caught was if I did something really obvious they started automatically coming to me. I was usually pretty cool about it and would just admit to it and tell them how to fix whatever I did. (often even carried backup discs I could just hand to them once they found me) They actually wanted me to help them catch who did it when the school website got hacked and someone put porn all over it. I did find out who did it because it was one of my friends (although I had to trick this information out of him because he was afraid of getting caught so bad he wouldn't tell anyone) I never did rat him out though :P To this day I'm still afraid to type any kind of admission to some of the stuff I did because it was pretty bad and illegal so sorry if the above examples aren't that great but it's still better than this kid!
"Shenagans ever heard of RRS feed service? its ok you are too dumb to get it so google it"
1. It is spelt Shenanigans and the spelling is less than 8 inches from your 'Reply' button.
2. "its" should have a capitalized "I" and an apostrophe between the "t" and the "s", as IT'S an abbreviation of two words: "it" and "is".
3. For correct grammatical flow of the sentence, a comma should be included after the 'word' "Shenagans".
4. "ok" should be all-caps ("OK").
5. For correct grammatical flow of the sentence, a comma should be included after the 'word' "OK".
6. "google" is a proper noun and should therefore be capitalized ("Google").
7. A full stop (known in the US as a period) should be used at the end of the sentence to mark that it is complete.
8. It is called an RSS feed, and not an RRS feed. Google it.
Alesiader...... . GraMmar policia?
This thread proves that 90% of hacking is bragging about your "mad hacking skillz."
My first computer was so crappy and slow, I could only run power point successfully.
I created animations by drawing pictures on each slide and then had it play through them like a flipbook.
The end of my worthless computer came when I opened the case to check out the internals and such for upgrading. I hadn't turned off the computer, because I was just going to be looking and not touching.At least I don't remember touching anything. The computer flicked off and a small whisp of smoke rose from the depths of the case just like you see in cartoons. T'was a sad day...
aww Dr House got skool'd. Literally!!
^^ Nice use or a Napoleon Dynamite quote.
Hey it's cool stuff he's doing! Some isn't hard but it benefits people. Oh and some of you probably couldn't pass school now. Just sayig isn't not the same as it was in 1980...
Personally Im jealous of his abilities and that his school has a lab of iMacs and some are running leopard server! I want my high school to use macs
@ DR House
10/10 - Perfect trolling, would read again (already have)!
@Alasdair,
The SS called, they're recruiting grammar nazis
Thanks Engadget..don't know how I ever could have went on with my life without knowing this...
for starters you could have just read the headline and moved on since it was of no interest to you. instead you go and read then comment on the article, giving engadget the page view they set out to get by posting it. No one forces you to look at and read every article nor like them. don't like one? move on to the next and quit complaining, or better yet leave all together.
I could, but it's more much fun to see what comments people like you waste your time leaving in response to comments like that
There's also something to be said for letting them know you don't like a specific article in hopes of not seeing its like again in the future. If all the comments were rainbows and sunshine, Engadget might wrongly assume everyone loved the story and continue to post about it. I'm indifferent to this specific story, but not everyone is going to be. I don't see why everyone thinks you shouldn't post if you didn't like a story. There are legitimate reasons to post dislike for a story. In fact, I'd say posting that you didn't like a story is much more valuable than posting about how much you liked it.
I dont get the point... he was on a "team" and the other members of the team hacked the phone so what exactly did he do?
and wow the article says he "learned how to make websites at age 7" but his website for iJailbreak is a free template.
Did the other members who actually unlocked and jailbroke the ipod touch and 3GS even know he was on their team?
You wasted your time posting it.
Should I say something mean about his potential future luck with girls, or let it go?
I was going to say something but I will play nice this morning.
he'll probably be rich so he can have any girl he wants..
Why would Ari need girls, when he has computers?
:-)
@Dontchaknow
Zzzzzzzzzzzing!!
Ahhh yeah, he will make so much money girls will be all over him.
Or he will just make a girl.
Bravo little buddy.
*Waiting until the schooling system combined with Apple's lawyers ruin his life.*
Lol, I laughed when i read about the Country Fair on PA Rt 99. I can almost see it from where I'm sitting.
Dudes! I totally grew up there, just south, actually. ahhh... Country Fair: memories.
I'm 15 and have jailbroken my iPod Touch, wheres my Engadget story?
I know, seriously... I've done all that except create a fully functioning jailbreak utility and ffs, I'm pretty sure I've done a lot more in less time. I started with computers when I was nine and this kid thinks that it's more impressive to have been using computers for longer? It just means he's slower than some of us *sigh*. What a disappointment.
There is a large difference between being on the team that writes the code and apps to jailbreak an iPhone/ iPod Touch and using the app to jailbreak an iphone/ iPod Touch.
Exactly, what is with this nonsense? So he wrote a little app to do a bunch of things in sequence...I don't see any hacking going on.
I wonder how long it's gonna take for him to jailbreak his first girlfriend? What special abilities will he unlock within her???? Or will he need to jailbreak her in order to keep her around?
He wouldn't know,...since um, he has two dads.
Damn it... when I was 15, all I did was going to school, playing warcraft and smoking pot....
so the only thing thats changed is going to school
He was probably addicted to W3, not WoW
at 15, i was busy trying to get drunk, stoned & laid ....
what happened to our planet?
You don't promote yourself as a hacker unless your getting paid for it. Ari's app would be turned down by Apple anyways, because it violates the use of iTunes as the medium for the device. You're not allowed to put files on the device like a Flash drive.
If Ari wants full programming and use a device to the full extent, he should get an android phone and program on that than the iCrap. It's more challenging to program for android than the iPhone one (mainly due to the limitles possibilies and functionality of the device), but you receive more satisfaction from creating the app and seeing something that actually useful rather than another "toy".
Oh is that why the iPhone is so popular? Because it doesn't do anything useful? I knew there had to be some reason, thanks for clearing that up for us.
Oh, hey Zak. Thanks for reminding us that you're still a condescending jackass. You hadn't posted in a while and I was beginning to forget; thanks for clearing that up.
the iphone is a fad. The app store only has a few useful apps which are on all other mobile OSs anyways.
Reasons why the iCrap sucks.
* iTunes.
* you have to "jailbreak" the phone to get more use out of it.
* you can only install useful apps after jailbreaking it.
* you cannot change the battery or memory of the phone.
* it took how long for copy / paste?
* you still can't MMS yet
* using your phone with exchange screws up your exchange account and you have to reload your email on the phone to get it working again.
...shall I keep going?
* easily breaks since the screen is glass and not a hard plastic
* no voice dialing
* no FLASH (ever)
* resolution is only 320x480 where the FUZE is 480x640
* no document editing, no word or excel
* no real GPS in google maps (only cell area)
Oh, hey, Casey. Thanks for telling us what a condescending jackass Zak is and always has been. I didn't know that and don't really remember having seen him here before, so thanks for clearing that up.
Your statement is invalid. Your an idiot go sit in the corner.
what's a statement without proof. You say someone's an idiot, but the only idiot here is the initial person making that statement.
Can you MMS on the iPhone? NO!!
Why not? Apple says NO...
Can I install flash support or a flash player on the iPhone? NO... infact NEVER. SJ said that never wants flash on the phone since it'll disrupt the connection to iTunes.
Now, when I want a feature, something that the device is suppose to do, not an application, and the company says "no". Than why bother with that piece of garbage?
No voice dialing? No "real" GPS? You still using a 1st gen iPhone on the original OS? Haha.
maarek7, did Steve Jobs shit in your shoe or something? I think iTunes is great software, at least on the Mac. There are plenty of really useful apps in the App Store. It has Copy/Paste & MMS now, give it up already. Breaks easily? Do you even have an iPhone, let alone seen one before?
... Uh oh, did I just fall for the oldest trick in the book and feed the Troll?
straw man argument is a straw man
Damn maarek, as soon as people read your post I expect Apple stock to plummet! I didn't even know Apple said "NO" to MMS. That's crazy. I thought it was because ATT pushed support back to later this summer. I'm glad you posted so you could correct my thinking!
i was in little league baseball getting strike out in that age... this is just sad
When I was 15, I hacked my schools N0vell:P
Hahahaha Novell!
Those were the days
nice, my friends and I got caught making pop-ups appear on teachers computers with "winpopup" remember that fun program?
I almost got expelled after one of my dumbass friends got us caught
In College - we had a loose group that laughed at good fun and we'd hack the network throwing up messages.
Also - in High School (for whatever reason - probably 'cause the Administration didn't know any better - but) witha few tweaks - rewrites and passwords logging in from a random computer lab me and abuddy were able to access full student records Ferris Bueller style (sans the Baud Modem hand-set rig - a little more advanced than that - but we were already on the internal network and didn't need to log in). We could access absences - grades - we could have probably gotten into HR and payroll as well - had access to everything.
The downside (and not sure how teachers handle things these days) was that the teachers kept written records of everything as well as the computer stored data. The only thing I ever had the balls to alter were Tardies 'cause if those added up we could get in trouble.
from the captions:
"the modifications violate the warrantee"
do these dumbasses know that the word is "warranty?"
“Warrantee” is a rare legal term that means “the person to whom a warrant is made.”
the correct term is "warranty," which is a written guarantee from the manufacturer to the purchaser promising repair or replacement if necessary within a specified amount of time.
Thank you Wall Street for this pointless waste of my time.
oh man with his skills in computer sciences, he'll be swatting away all da bitches.
big f*cking deal. I built a P4 system when I was 12, and built my friend an X2 system at 14. its not exactly hard to do these things.
delta force.
BFD.
I hacked free dial up internet accounts when I was younger than that to work on my Sega Dreamcast ;)
Steve Jobs...
IS.NOT.AMUSED.
pretty sure the article states HE WROTE a piece of software called ijailbreak, which allowed people to jailbreak from his OWN program, hes not a 15 yr old that plugged in his touch and jailbroke with pwnagle tool. u guys are idiots and all u " i was busy getting laid at 15" posters, kids who were getting laid at 15 dont hang out on techie forums dissing little kids who are on a more productive path than you, wat can u possibly know about pleasing a woman at 15? not much, cuz if you did, this is the last place ud be wasting your time
just a thought
i dont think he wrote ijailbreak he just screwed around with an ipod touch and ssh and commented on a forum a couple of times.
all ijailbreak does is run the unlocking commands from the Iphone Dev team.
I too could write .bat and apple scrips when i was 15
why didn't i get a WSJ article.
I really don't want to start a flame war or anything - but iJailBreak was two years ago. I'd like to think I've gotten better at programming since then. Last week, I worked with westbaer and geohot to write purplera1n, the original iPhone 3Gs jailbreak.
As I said on Twitter, I didn't get interviewed because I know how to use QuickPwn.
HEY EVERYONE LOOK! The WhizKID has blessed us with his presence! Let's bow down before him. Seriously... I checked his comment's on TUAW and all he does is gloat about his "work" it truly is annoying.
@MrSayao:
I only found one comment that promoted his software, and it was relevant to the situation.
My friend (Kraize from XDA-developers) who was 14 hacked his AT&T Blackjack two years ago and did the exact same thing, and "jailbroke" it. Although "jailbreaking" or flashing Windows Mobile devices isn't necessary to unlock all of its features. and it's perfectly legal with Microsoft, he doesn't need a lawyer like this smart-ass kid. It's funny because I know kids EXACTLY like him who talk like him at my school and are arrogant over stupid points, even on camera. This kid needs to move to Android of Windows Mobile, at least if he hacks them, he'll make money, rather than lawsuits.
lost my virginity @ 15 and i hack phones today....who has the upper hand? muah-ha-ha-ha-ha (mad scientist laugh)
lol
Okay Mr. Smartypants hack the iPod Classic so I can run Rockbox and/or install a 240 GB drive...
Who went to the time and trouble to put the leopard sever wallpaper on every second computer.
Now that would be an article worthy of engadget.
Please no more articles like this Engadget I beg of you.
OMEN !!!!!! )))))))))))))))))))))))
Looking at this, then looking back at the campers for the 3GS posted on Engadget.
I'm wondering where Apple got this idea that Macs and iPhones are for the "Cool" people.
When I was 15 I was sitting in the libary selling people the info how to get around the schools filters and play GBC games on the computers, this kid brings back memorys :)
da sieht man das hacker programme schreiben die auch ein dummer 10jähriger benutzen kann ...
I had switched from Winstons to Camels by 15.
mmm camels got that smooth flavor
All i got for my Bar Mitzvah was a pamphlet on Jewish Sports Heroes
I can't believe you are giving this child credit for this. All he did was create a wrapper. whoop de doo.
I smell so much envy in here lol@the bad comments
and you go kid! i wish i could be like you >.>
He's only 15? GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!
From what I can tell, he just wrote a macro to make the install process faster (he didn't contribute to the actual Jailbreak itself) - nothing special.
What a waste of a summer. His parents should throw his ass outside once in a while.
fuck. I'm 15 and I'm sitting here reading this.
Thenget off your ass and go meet some chicks
These comments are priceless...
We all have our talents. Some people choose to use them, others don't.
did anyone else notice the mis-subtitled part? when they where having him raddle off "crazy tech things" he recited the way to get videos off an iphone with cycorder installed via ssh, its supposed to be var, and they quoted it as bar... EPIC something of small importance.
regardless i dont get why this kid is so special, iv done everything that he's done short of writing my own software for jailbreaking, but i have written drivers for windows vista 64... and i mean, im 15 now. i really dont consider myself a crazy tech geek, in fact most of my time is taken up by track and tennis. just a little bit of jealous rant tho.
This kid it out of control. What the hell? Does it matter how old you were when you first started using a computer? It doesn't make you look any cooler to sit there and argue with your mom on camera about when you first used a computer.
who gives a shit? i'm 13 and i can do it too! and i'm running snow leopard on my mac so that dude can suck it!
Your an idiot. Their talking about scripting and backend coding not running pwnage tool or Redsn0w. Noob.
i finally got an engadget account!