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PS3 'jailbreak code' retweeted by Sony's Kevin Butler, no punchline needed
Oh, honey. Sony PlayStation's (entirely fictional) Kevin Butler holds many (also fictional) positions within the company, but apparently none of them require him to keep up with (very real) news events. Travis La Marr (aka @exiva) tweeted the now-infamous PS3 METLDR root key towards Butler with the challenge to "Come at me." What's a spokesperson to do but confuse it for a Battleship reference and retweet the entire code? Obviously someone let him in on the joke, as the tweet's since been removed (original URL can be found as More Coverage below). At least Sony won't have to subpoena for his info here. Geohot, we hope you're laughing. Update: As Digital Foundry points out, this sequence actually refers to the USB dongle ID generator key, also used for PS3 security circumvention. [Thanks, Scott M]
PS3 homebrew caught on video, Sony promises 'fix'
The PS3 root key saga continues, with hacker Geohot posting a video demonstrating homemade software running on a PS3 using firmware 3.55. There's not much to the software, essentially a reworked "Hello World" that says "sup dawg, it's geohot," but it's more than enough to prove viability of homebrew software on the PS3. Sony, for its part, has stated to Edge that it will "fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details." However, fail0verflow hacking group member pytey recently told the BBC, "The complete console is compromised - there is no recovery from this." He added that the only possible way to correct the hack would be for Sony to "issue new hardware."
Geohot demos homebrew on 'jailbroken' PS3, Sony vows to 'fix' via software update (video)
We just saw how you can now add an Install Package Files option to the PS3 using some custom firmware, but that darn hacker George "Geohot" Hotz has taken it a step further by demonstrating homebrew in a quick, Mr. Blurrycam-approved video. It's a barebones app that only says "sup dawg, it's geohot," but in reality it's a pretty huge step. Geohot's provided the file on his website along with a copy of the METLDR root key that enables the homebrew. Sony, meanwhile, has issued a statement saying it'll "fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details." This runs counter to what pytey from fail0verflow (the famed group that kickstarted this new round of hacking) just told the BBC, "the only way to fix this is to issue new hardware... Sony will have to accept this." Hey, at least you'll be in good company, eh Sony? Check out geohot's proof of concept video after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
