Just a few hours after we brought you the exclusive hands-on video with the DevTeam's PwnageTool... it's out! Mac only for now, Windows on the way shortly.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[Thanks Andrew, Erica]

Update: Yep, it's an April Fool's joke. We're just going to go offline until April 2nd, peace.

Those crafty kids on the iPhone Dev Team have already hacked the 2.0 firmware, but now they're getting ready to release the oh-so-creatively-named PWNED tool, which takes iPhone hacking to the next level by patching the bootloader to let you load any firmware image you want -- even images not signed by Apple. That means custom patched firmware can now be loaded directly from iTunes, which simplifies the jailbreaking / unlocking process tremendously, and also means that a patched version of the 2.0 firmware is coming soon. We're putting the tool through its paces right now and we'll have a hands-on with it (and the Dev Team's patched 2.0 firmware) as soon as we get it all working, but check out some highlights after the break, and hit the read link for more info.

Update: Looks like PWNED / Pwned Tool / Pwnage Tool / Pwnage / whatever they're calling it is being delayed for a week. Bummer. Thanks, Neophytos.

This is just getting silly, don't you think? The iPhone Dev Team has once again proven their totally gnarly talents by freeing up the latest firmware before it's even the latest firmware. Apple, here's our suggestion -- just let people do what they want with your devices, since they're clearly going to do it anyway. That way, instead of making enemies, you're making lifelong buddies. Reasonable, right? Steve, give us a call, we're more than happy to riff on some ideas for playing nice with the end-user.

Update: Dev chat room chatter claims that the 2.0 is now fully unlocked as well.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

If you've got a certain brand loyalty to the official iPhone Dev Team then take note, they just released their own special flavor of the 1.1.3 jailbreak for iPhone / iPod touch. We guess that with the splitter version already outed (and its secrets revealed to Apple) there was no sense in keeping it under wraps any longer. The hack requires a v1.1.2 jailbroken device with the BSD Subsystem v1.5 or greater installed -- it does NOT upgrade your baseband. All the usual cautions apply hacker-boy so be careful out there, we haven't tested... yet.

[Thanks, Ben]

Download -- official 1.1.3 Dev Team jailbreak

For all you fanatics on the edge of your seat over the iPhone v1.1.1 hacking situation, there's some good news on the horizon. According to Erica Sadun -- one of the soldiers heading up the fight to break Apple's stranglehold -- the iPhone / iPod touch dev team have indeed managed to Jailbreak the new update. Apparently, the general-use tool hasn't made a showing yet, but baby steps have been taken, and the goods are sure to follow. So what can you expect? Third party apps are working, but will probably need to be recompiled due to the new frameworks, Springboard won't recognize DisplayOrder.plist (included apps now seem to be hard-coded into the Springboard app), you can activate the phone with third-party workarounds, and the Mobile Terminal and BSD suite work, as well as ARM-compiled command-line utilities. Of very interesting note: Erica says that the new firmware references both Nike and a radio, and that the devs are taking up a fund to buy a cake and deliver it to Apple, courtesy of "the Crazy Ones." She says the Jailbreak isn't "ready for prime time," and based on this info we tend to agree, but if you really want the full scoop, truck over to TUAW and check out the info for yourself.

With the European and Asian iPhone rollouts still months away, is it any wonder to find the little guy venturing out on the mean, GSM streets all on his own? According to that list above compiled by the iPhone Dev Team, the freebie iPhone software unlock has now been tested to work in 32 countries and 69 national carriers -- a list which is changing by the minute. Testing is based on calls in/out, SMS in/out, EDGE/GPRS access, and voicemail access. Not Visual Voicemail, naturally, but the ability to receive notifications alerts and check voicemail messages. As usual, we won't link you directly to the iPhoneDev community in accordance to their request for uh, anonymity.

Update: Make that 42 countries and 90 local carriers according to our readers! They've unlocked their own phones on the additional country/carrier combos: New Zealand/Vodafone, Spain/Movistar, Poland/Orange, Czech Republic/Vodafone, Bahrain/Batelcom/MTC Vodafone, Israel/Cellcom, Hungary/T-Mobile, Belgium/Proximus/Base/Mobistar, Kuwait/Wataniya, and Ireland/Meteor. Note: the iPhoneDev list included Telus (with a note that it won't work) and double-counted India. Any more dear readers?