Code Retard » Sony

Early PSP-4000 News Leaked?

adm_snackbar — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:05:17 +0000

According to psp-4000-chatter”>Eurogamer, the PSP-4000, Sony’s next generation PSP handheld gaming console, will be unlike any of the previous three generations. The PSP-4000 will include a sliding screen that will cover the buttons when closed and will do away with the (pretty useful) UMD drive. The screen will have the same specs as the one on the PSP-3000 except that it will slide. The decision to make the PSP slide like a T-Mobile Sidekick is for space savings, since the unit will be “significantly smaller in width” when closed. This won’t stop gamers from playing certain games though, as the shoulder buttons will still be accessible. Games like Loco Roco will continue to work while the PSP-4000 is in this state. That is, if all this ballyhoo is to be believed anyways…

How to Download Killzone 2 Demo

MindysGrandson — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Guerrilla striked a deal with gamespot that gave them exclusive Killzone 2 demos to give out to those who preordered the game. The rest of the people who did not preorder the game will have to wait until release date (2/26). The only way for those in the America to play the demo early is to make a PSN account that belongs to a different region. Simply go to the UK PSN page and make an UK account. Log into your UK account on the PS3, and the Killzone 2 demo should be on the download list. Enjoy!

iPhone 2.2.1 QuickPwn 2.2.5 Upgrade Guide

adm_snackbar — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:37:57 +0000

The latest iPhone 2.2.1 firmware was recently unleashed to the world by Apple and just mere days later, the iPhone Dev Team provides the PwnageTool unlocking software. We’ve covered the PwnageTool upgrade steps before, but since QuickPwn 2.2.5 does the same job a lot easier, this guide will show you how to upgrade, jailbreak, and perhaps unlock your beloved Apple iPhone to run on the latest and greatest 2.2.1 firmware.

Connect your iPhone and start iTunes and you should get a prompt to upgrade your iPhone firmware to 2.2.1.
Allow iTunes to upgrade your iPhone to the latest 2.2.1 firmware. Don’t worry about the implications (losing jailbreak, unlock) as QuickPwn will take care of this for you. This step is necessary because QuickPwn doesn’t actually upgrade your iPhone. Instead, QuickPwn expects to be pwning the same firmware that your iPhone is on.
Download QuickPwn 2.2.5 for Windows or Mac. Extract the file and launch the QuickPwn 2.2.5 application. Then follow the prompt and connect your iPhone to your computer via the USB cable. When the blue arrow button lights up, click it.
QuickPwn is smart enough to detect the firmware ipsw file you downloaded via iTunes (something like C:\Documents and Settings\coderetard\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPhone Software Updates\ on Windows XP). If it can’t find it for whatever reason, download the 2.2 restore firmware ipsw file for 2G iPhone1,1_2.2.1_5H11_Restore.ipsw or 3G iPhone1,2_2.2.1_5H11_Restore.ipsw directly from Apple’s servers. Then browse to the or restore firmware ipsw file you downloaded. After the green checkmark appears, click the blue arrow button.
On the next page, make sure you select the “Cydia” checkbox. You can check “Installer” and replace logo as desired. If you have a 2G iPhone and wish to unlock it, also make sure to check the “Unlock phone” option as well. Click the arrow button after making your selections.
If you opted to unlock, you’ll need to download the 3.9 and 4.6 bootloader binaries. Browse to these in QuickPwn to load them. If you didn’t, you won’t get this screen so you can skip to the next step.
Now click on the Go button which will bring up a screen with some instructions. Follow them exactly to a tee. Just to prepare, here are the directions: 1) Hold Home for 5 seconds, 2) Hold Home and Power together for 10 seconds, 3) Release Power but continue to hold Home for 30 seconds. Throughout the process these three steps, you DO NOT LET GO OF THE HOME BUTTON until after the third step. I didn’t have to hold it anymore after it counted down to 18 seconds left.
Then sit back and relax while QuickPwn does all the hard work for you, you’ll see some activity on your iPhone screen and hear your computer beep a few times, but when it restarts finally, it’s ready to use.

Image/Apple
Screenshots/Code Retard

iPhone 3G 2.2.1 Custom Restore Firmware (Windows and Mac)

adm_snackbar — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 10:34:20 +0000

The newest iPhone 3G 2.2.1 firmware update from Apple was released earlier this week and iPhone Dev Team’s Pwnage Tool has just been released yesterday. With PwnageTool, you can create your own custom iPhone 3G firmware from Apple’s official IPSW file so that you can continue to run the yellowsn0w software unlock. The 2.2.1 firmware update contains a baseband firmware update (02.30.03) which is not compatible with yellowsn0w. This is a major problem for iPhone 3G users who wish to update to 2.2.1 firmware but still want to keep their iPhones unlocked to use outside of AT&T. This is only possible with a custom firmware created with Pwnage Tool that strips out the baseband update from the upgrade. This is great… if you have a Mac. Windows users are left in the dark for now, at least until QuickPwn for Windows gets released.

But if you don’t want to wait, we’re actually providing the custom IPSW firmware as a free direct download created with Pwnage Tool for you to update your firmware without needing to wait for QuickPwn for Windows to come out. This only works, however, if you’ve previously pwned your iPhone before. With this firmware update, you simply need to put your iPhone in DFU recovery mode, launch iTunes and shift-click (Mac users option-click) on restore and browse to this custom firmware and use it to update your iPhone’s firmware. And that’s it. Since you’ve previously pwned your iPhone before, QuickPwn isn’t necessary for you and you won’t need to wait for QuickPwn Windows to be release. If it hasn’t been pwned before, then you’re out of luck and you’ll need to wait.

Download the iPhone 3G iPhone1,2_2.2.1_5H11_Custom_Restore.ipsw from us (MD5 sum = 93c379cb80b573c41580bfb56619ff34). This excludes the baseband upgrade so you can be sure 2.2.1 will be compatible with yellowsn0w unlock. It also contains Cydia and Installer. The custom boot logos were excluded.
Connect your iPhone via USB cable and put it in DFU mode. To put it in DFU mode, turn the phone off. Hold power and home together for precisely 10 seconds. Release power but keep holding home until the pc beeps as a USB device is recognized. At no point will the display come on. If this doesn’t work, try to press and hold power only. Keep holding power. As soon as you see any display on the screen of any sort press and hold the home button. Hold power and home together for precisely 10 seconds. Release power but keep holding home until the pc beeps as a USB device is recognized.
Launch iTunes and shift-click on the Restore button (option click for Mac users). Then browse to the custom restore 2.2.1 firmware you downloaded from us and let iTunes do the rest.
Once your iPhone has been jailbroken to 2.2.1 firmware, follow our yellowsn0w soft unlock guide to unlock your 3G iPhone if so desired, starting from step 9.

Remember, this shortcut is for previously pwned iPhones only. You don’t need QuickPwn to upgrade to 2.2.1 if you can get your hands on a custom restore firmware like ours.

Image/Apple

PSP Media Manager 3.0 Free Download

adm_snackbar — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:46:20 +0000

Great news for all of you PSP lovers. Sony is now letting you download the PSP Media Manager 3.0 for free. Here are some of the details about this product:

Upgrade to PSP Media Manager 3.0 PRO Media Manager PRO for PSP includes all of the features you get with the standard version (available via PlayStation Network), plus extended video format support including MPEG, AVC MB, and Video RSS Feeds.

Maximize the Power of your PSP System
Media Manager for PSP software lets you experience the full capabilities of your PSP system (PlayStation Portable). Much more than a game console, the PSP system is a multifunctional entertainment device—use it to view and share movies and photos, listen to music, and enjoy your favourite podcasts on the go. Media Manager for PSP software is easy to use—just drag and drop to move files to or from your PSP system or to back up game saves to your computer.

Video walkthrough of accessing the PlayStation Store via Media Manager on the PC

With Media Manager for PSP software you can:

Transfer videos, photos, and music to or from your PSP™ system
Subscribe to feeds such as podcasts and video blogs, and automatically get new episodes on your PSP system
Extract songs from your own CDs and transfer them to your PSP system
Transfer video from DVD home movies or DVD camcorders to your PSP system

Media Manager for PSP Features

Extensive video, audio, and image support
Automated file conversion
Easy drag-and-drop transfer to the PSP system
Status bar indicator displays available space on Memory Stick Duo media
Extract songs from your own CDs
New! Added support for the PlayStation Store
Backup of games downloaded from PLAYSTATION Store
FLAC format support
Audio shuffle and search
Gracenote MusicID CD album identification
Transfer home movies on DVD or video from DVD camcorders to the PSP system
Windows Media Center (.dvr-ms) support
High-quality Sony AVC/AAC video encoding
Subscribe to podcasts and video blogs
Built-in directory of popular feeds
Transfer Internet Explorer favourites to your PSP™ system
Easy game save management and backup

Here is the link for PSP Media Manager 3.0.

Direct Download.

Fix PS3 TVersity "Data Type Is Not Supported" Error on MPEG-4 Files

adm_snackbar — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:12:42 +0000

TVersity is a powerful free media server software that supports a huge variety of video streaming platforms like the Sony PS3. However, with some MPEG-4 videos, the PS3 outputs a "The data type is not supported" error and refuses the play the video file. The reason for this is because for PS3, TVersity is configured to let its target platform to natively try to play the MPEG4 video file. But not all MPEG4 files are the same, as the MPEG-4 Part 2 files will not play natively on the PS3 and will cause the data type not supported error to appear. As a workaround that will not affect other MPEG-4 formats that can be played natively, you can make this simple modification to your TVersity configuration so that only MPEG-4 Part 2 files will be transcoded by TVersity and not affect other video formats.

Open up Windows Explorer and browse to the TVersity installation on C:\Program Files\TVersity\Media Server.
Open the profiles.xml file with a text editor to modify it.
Search for "Playstation 3" to get to the PS3 profile. In my file, it was around line #857.
Search for the exact text:

and delete it. Careful, it may appear in other hardware profiles, so make sure you delete it from the Playstation 3 profile only. For me, it was about 90 lines down. Make sure you are deleting from the "video/mp4" mimetype and not the "video/avi" mimetype a little bit further below which is a similar line but isn’t exactly the same.
Once this line has been deleted, TVersity will transcode the MPEG-4 Part 2 video files but continue to allow the PS3 to natively play supported MPEG-4 formats, as well as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2.

PSP 3000 Exploit Found!

Son Riku — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:05:30 +0000

GripShift has a buffer overflow vulnerability when loading savegames. The savegame contains the profile name which can be easily used to overwrite $ra. The savegame file is pretty big (25kB) so you have lots of space to put your code there. I wrote a simple blob of code to paint the framebuffer completely white (to just indicate that arbitrary code is running). The return address is located at offset 0xA9 in the file. In this poc it points to 0×08E4CD50 (which is only a few bytes after the return address), and the code starts at 0xCC in the file.

It was tested on 4.01M33-2 with US version of GripShift (ULUS10040), and psplink.prx, usbhostfs.prx and deemerh.prx loaded (also without psplink and usbhostfs). The decrypted savegame (sorry, couldn’t [be bothered to] get Shine’s savegame tool working so it’s in plaintext form) is in the SDDATA.BIN form which Hellcat’s Savegame-Deemer produces (thanks to him, if the program didn’t exist I wouldn’t have bothered with this). Just copy the ULUS10040SAVE00 directory to /PSP/SAVEPLAIN/ and run the game. EDIT: yeah, don’t forget to have Savegame-Deemer working, duh.

PSP-3000 Inside & Out

Son Riku — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:23:24 +0000

PSP-3000 Inside & Out

Sony PRS-700 Reader Preview

Son Riku — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:50:31 +0000

The new Sony PRS-700 will be hitting stores on November 14th. Current price for this item is @399.99 which is 100 dollars more than the retail on the Sony PRS-505. The 700 isn’t intended to be a replacement for the 505, but a higher end product.

FAQ’s for the Sony Reader – PRS-500 and PRS-505

Son Riku — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:39:15 +0000

Sony PRS 505 Reader

FAQ’s for the Sony Reader – PRS-500 and PRS-505

File Formats
What File formats are supported natively and can be put directly on a Memory Stick or SD memory card?
A) With the Sony Reader you can take a file from your PC to an SD or Memory Stick™ media card and read on the Sony Reader the following file types:

TXT
RTF
PDF (Unencrypted)
BBeB (Encrypted and Unencrypted)
JPEG
GIF
BMP
PNG
MP3 (Unencrypted)
AAC (Unencrypted)

We recommend using the CONNECT™ Reader Software to import and transfer files to the Reader, as it will enable faster page turns and re-sizing on the Reader itself. We have also included the ability to import Microsoft Word files to the device. The CONNECT Reader will convert the Word document to RTF during the import process as long as the user has Microsoft® Word on the PC (this happens behind the scenes).

Q) How do these files show font sizes? Will we have the ability to increase or decrease the fonts? Is this limited only to DRM content or will it apply to the others as well?

A) Text files on the Reader (both unencrypted and encrypted) have the ability to have their font sizes changed from standard (100%) to medium (125%) to large (150%). PDF documents may not always have three font size changes due to their sometimes complex nature. Please see below to understand how we deal with PDFs.
PDF Files

Q) If the Reader supports PDF natively, can it handle PDF files with lots of graphics? Can it zoom or rotate the page?

A) Remember that most PDFs in the US are created with the intention of printing on a standard 81/2 x 11-inch piece of paper. Since the Reader’s screen is smaller than 8 1/2×11inches, the page will be scaled to fit on the screen and that will in most cases compromise readability. That is just a fact of life when using a page layout format with an on screen display. We hope to create some FAQs for how to optimize PDFs for the Reader. Anyone want to suggest how best to do this?

We do have the ability, by holding down the “size” button for five seconds to rotate the screen. This will allow you to see the top half of the PDF on one page and the bottom half on another and will allow you to view the document with an effectively increased page width.

As far as images go, if they are in the PDF they should show on the Sony Reader.

RSS Feeds
Will Readers be able to view RSS feeds and can users save feeds or is it all overwritten automatically?

You will be able to go to the CONNECT e-book store and get your feeds manually and save them to your PC and Reader. Files will not be overwritten so you can save what you want.

Audio capabilities

Q) Can I listen to audio while Reading?

A) Audio can be played while reading a book as long as the audio is in MP3 or AAC unencrypted formats. You simply have to start the audio playback and then switch to the book that you wish to read. Please note that audio playback decreases the battery life faster than just reading.

Q) Why do you support MP3 and AAC unsecured files but not audio tracks that were purchased?

A) The Sony Reader is designed primarily as a reading device, not a full-featured music player. We consider MP3 playback a “bonus feature.”
DRM

Q) How does the DRM content work, can I share books?

A) The DRM rules allow any purchased eBook to be read on up to six devices (at least one of those 6 must be a PC). Although you cannot share purchased eBooks on other people’s devices and accounts, you will have the opportunity to register five Readers to your account and share your books accordingly.

Q) If the Sony Reader breaks, what will it take to move DRM-protected content to a replacement machine?

A) If the Sony Reader or your PC breaks, you can always log-in to your CONNECT account and “re-download” your purchased eBooks to a new PC, and transfer them again to a new device, as long as the six device rule still holds true. Customer support will be able to clear broken devices and PCs from your list of six if you cannot access the older Reader or PC.

Why does Sony sell books?

A) We want to offer our customers an integrated and easy-to-use experience. Developing a Sony-managed download service accessed from within the desktop PC application was a key aspect of offering this integrated experience.

Q) Will there be time-expiring DRM/protected content on the new reader?

A) At this time there are no plans to introduce time-expiring books in the U.S.

Q) How will the Sony Reader support files with no DRM?

A) As long as the file is in one of the formats that we can support natively and are unencrypted they will work on the Reader.
Power

Q) What type of batteries does the Reader use?

A) The Reader uses an internal Lithium Ion battery

Q) What is the Reader’s battery life?

A) The Reader, on a full charge, will allow up to 7500 “page turns” on a single charge. We measure the battery endurance in page turns due to the bistable nature of the E Ink display. This battery life does depend on usage patterns and auxiliary functions like audio playback will drain the battery faster.

Q) How does the Reader charge?

A) The Reader can be charged by either the AC Charger that can be plugged directly into the Reader (or through the cradle), or it can be charged through the USB port.
Operating Systems and Browsers

Q) Will Sony provide software and support for customers using Macs or Linux?

A) Currently our application has been designed for Microsoft® Windows XP®. External media such as Memory Stick and SD cards provide content transfer functionality from non-Windows based PCs, but you will not have the ability to buy books or enjoy the benefits of managing your content and Reader through the application. We are aware of the desire of non XP customers to have support and are considering how and when we can support them.

Q) If I use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer can I buy books?

A) The bookstore is not based on Internet Explorer and in fact is accessed through the Connect Reader desktop application. As such, you do not need to worry about which Internet browser you have installed on your PC.

Content
Is Sony aware of the hacking/modding community? What does Sony think of it? Will it have its API opened up for third party developers?

Sony’s Librie eBook which launched in Japan enjoyed a great global fan base who worked together to provide translated menus and other offerings. We enjoyed watching the evolution of Librie applications, and the community’s feedback helped us define what the U.S. product should be. We are currently studying how we might support third party content developers. Please stay tuned.

Can authors create and sell books on CONNECT? Can different blogs or websites sell or distribute their content there?

We are currently signing publishers big and small to offer their eBooks for sale. Please contact publisher_sign-up@sonyconnect.com” for more information.