But what if you could get a warranty on a jailbroken device from someone who isn’t Apple?

Turns out you can. SquareTrade, the third-party warranty provider, is a company that has no problem replacing or fixing an iPhone, iPad, or really any smartphone whose software has been modified. The company’s new warranty policy, which starts at $60 for an iPhone, will fix or replace a device regardless of what’s been done to the software.

The technical expertise necessary to jailbreak an iPhone is itself a natural limiter of how many devices are jailbroken. But the warranty threat was another big deterrent. SquareTrade’s new offer does change the risk factor involved.

Apple’s attitude toward jailbreaking is laid out in a Knowledge Base article posted to its site:

Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks the iOS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of the iOS is a violation of the iPhone end-user license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.

From Apple’s perspective, the reasoning is related to the company’s goal of ensuring a uniform user experience. The entire philosophy behind the App Store — besides Apple getting a cut of every paid app that goes on a device and generally controlling all aspects of the device — is that Apple employees vet the apps for buggy code and security problems. Loading software onto an iOS device that hasn’t been vetted in theory could create a user experience with which Apple doesn’t want to be associated.

SquareTrade’s VP of Strategy Vince Tseng told me it makes no difference to SquareTrade what users do with the software.  “We are here to help the Apple community, and if they want something Apple doesn’t provide we are here for them,” he said.

The warranty policy covers any software modification, but hardware mods are off limits. “Our general philosophy is that if a device hasn’t been played around with on the inside we don’t have a problem with that,” said Tseng.

Included in the company’s definition of hardware modifications? Filed-off serial numbers, meaning that SquareTrade is (wisely) shying away from offering warranties for potentially stolen devices.

Tseng acknowledges this policy isn’t targeting a huge group — jailbreakers aren’t a very large segment of the Apple community, he says —  but those that do modify their iOS software are an important demographic when it comes to the future of the platform, believes.

“Is it the majority of iPhone owners? It’s not. But they are the community that is out there expanding the possibility of what the iPhone can do,” said Tseng. “Apple has already had a touchy relationship with those kinds of people. Unofficially, they get some benefit out of it, but at an official level they want nothing to do with people modifying their devices.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Allegra is responsible for JailbreakMe 3.0, a web-based jailbreak tool released in July and designed to be used on iPhones, iPad and iPod touches running iOS 4.3.3. Before that, he created Spirit, which was an untethered jailbreak for iOS devices running iOS 3.1.2 to 3.2, and he was also a Nintendo Wii homebrew software developer.

Allegra has been described by other iPhone hackers and Forbes as somewhat of a prodigy, and he’s been compared to some of the most advanced computer systems security experts in the world.

Apple probably thinks it’s better to have Allegra working with it rather than against it. In theory, his ability to quickly and easily locate exploits in iOS code will give Apple advance notice of problems before they arise, so that it can patch holes before software updates hit the public. In practice, it’s unlikely to stop the cat-and-mouse game of jailbreaking altogether, but kudos to Apple for trying a solution that doesn’t involve civil suits and generally draconian behavior.

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Developer Peter Franceschi’s iUsers solution for jailbroken iPads, by way of Engadget, shows promise for single iPad households: IUsers brings support for multiple iPad profiles, allowing each user to customize her own experience on the device.

Franceschi explains how he’s managed to create iUsers but says it’s still a work in progress and that he’s working on advanced features:

The system works by making copies of files Filesystem iOS, and some internal modifications of the system to maintain internal data and native applications downloaded from the App Store. What is maintained for each user is the application data and preferences of the iPad. What files are not maintained and synchronized music and videos from iTunes, but I’m working on a update for this to be supported.

Although rough around the edges at times, Franceschi’s effort shows polish too. There’s a lock-screen button to switch user accounts. A settings pane allows for editing the account information for each person or adding new user accounts, plus there’s a small switch to enable administrator access. Unfortunately, iUsers or any other multiuser solutions similar to it are likely to be unofficial modifications found in the Cydia application store. Apple has no incentive to bake in this type of functionality into iOS, and instead it would prefer that folks who want an iPad simply purchase their own.

The simplicity of one iPad per user or iTunes account is certainly something I appreciate. It makes the tablet a highly personal device, much like a smartphone. But I see the other side of the coin as well. As my kids pick up the iPad every now and again, I see my Game Center achievements slowly climb, for example. (Not that I don’t appreciate the help, but I’d rather earn them myself!) The App Store Genius has been faked out and is now recommending apps targeted for the younger crowd due to the apps installed by the kids. And I’ve lost count of how many times I went to Facebook in Safari on my iPad and started a status update, realizing only in the nick in time that I was signed in to my son’s Facebook account.

Again, I can appreciate why Apple isn’t likely to enable multiple user support on the iPad, but digital worlds are colliding on my tablet. For now, it looks like jailbreaking and a solution like iUsers might be the only recourse. Or do you think Apple should reconsider its stance on the lack of user accounts for the iPad?

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The 31-year-old is in court today in Spain, accused of breaking the law by selling memory cards that jailbreak the Nintendo DS handheld.

The “M3 DS Real” cards, which are widely available in China and online in other countries, allow users to run unofficial software on their Nintendo handhelds. So far there’s a lot of homebrewed code for the system, such as emulator software and PDA programs, and users can also use it to port their movies, TV shows and music onto their device. Users simply connect the card into their PC, transfer the chosen programs or files to it and then plug it into their DS.

But the crucial issue, argue Nintendo’s lawyers, is whether the cards can also be used to pirate games. They say that these cards deliberately break proprietary Nintendo systems in order to run stolen code — and that’s why Fernandez faces six counts in criminal court, including theft of intellectual property, theft of industrial property and disclosure of industrial secrets.

Although the charges carry a potential 23 years of jail time and fines of up to €840,000 ($1.24 million), the public prosecutor is arguing that — if found guilty — Fernandez should only receive up to three and a half in prison and be ordered to pay fines of €12,960 ($19,100).

Fernandez, for his part, has argued that he is not responsible for what his customers do with their cards, and that hardware hacking — not piracy — is the objective for buyers.

“What the company is doing in this case is to assume what my clients are going to do,” he told Spanish daily Le Nueva España. “I assume that people are responsible.”

“The device itself does nothing, it is hardware. We sell it completely empty. It’s a kind of memory where the user gets what he wants and the user has the choice to do what he wants. There are plenty of free applications… People have it in their heads that everything that you get off the Internet is pirated, and it is not.”

To win his fight Fernandez is doing more than employing rhetoric. Along with a number of other store owners in Spain, he is filing a countersuit against Nintendo, arguing that the design of its cartridges violates European law.

Specifically, they say that Nintendo’s argument that the only reason to copy its cartridge design would be to copy the software inside — the core of their accusations against him — is actually in breach of European trade harmonization laws. Those laws, used to ensure interoperability and prevent anti-competitive behavior, state that it’s illegal to use a physical design (such as a proprietary CD design or disk) to “gain a monopoly on technical solutions”.

It’s a bold gambit from the small guy. But the truth is that however you look at it, the legal status Fernandez’s case is tricky.

Spanish courts have previously ruled that non-commercial file sharing is legal, but modchips, the bits of hardware used to modify a games console, currently exist in a gray area. They are illegal in some countries, such as in the U.S., but legal in others (such as in Canada). Some countries ban modification in general, but allow specific instances: Australia, for example, allows modding to circumvent region encoding. Nintendo has won similar cases in the UK and the Netherlands.

But even where such actions are illegal, it’s proven incredibly hard for courts to actually find modders guilty. Last year Matthew Crippen, a student and hotel worker from southern California, stood trial for Xbox modding — but the case collapsed when it emerged there was no evidence of Crippen actually using pirated games.

Fernandez is taking a far more aggressive stance than most of those who have found themselves in a similar position, even accusing Nintendo of “blackmail”, in an interview with Spain’s El Pais newspaper. Certainly, if the lawsuit filed against Nintendo succeeds, then it could have ramifications across the continent — but in the meantime, his future is in the lap of the court — and right now, it could go either way.

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The theme itself is actually kind of garish, as you might expect from something completely focused on selling you a single product. It’s all about the Scion brand, and I suppose it might appeal to a few new Scion owners, but I can’t imagine many others lining up to download the theme. But of course, the theme itself isn’t really what’s interesting here. It’s the fact that Toyota has decided to treat the jailbreak community as a legitimate entity worthy of some marketing spend.

In a blog post on the Toyota campaign, Modmyi.com addresses many of the reasons behind Toyota’s decision to embrace jailbreakers. According to the site, roughly 8 or 9 percent of all iDevices worldwide are jailbroken, which translates into around 10 to 15 million. That’s a very sizeable group of potential customers essentially being ignored by the corporate world. That reach, combined with the ability to do things you could never do with a vanilla iPhone, like completely reskin every aspect of the system’s user interface or even get around limitations such as the absence of Flash, makes a jailbroken iDevice more attractive to advertisers, in many ways, than one that isn’t hacked.

But it’s precisely because this strategy circumvents Apple entirely that Cupertino isn’t likely to take this new development in stride. It’s true that jailbreaking has become a little more legitimate recently, as the DMCA ruled that the process of jailbreaking isn’t illegal — even if it isn’t definitely “legal,” either. But Apple still doesn’t condone or approve of jailbreaking in any way, takes steps to prevent it from happening, and continues to warn that it may void your device’s warranty. And since major companies funneling advertising dollars into the jailbreak economy potentially prevents Apple from collecting some of those revenues itself, I’d be surprised if the company allowed this sort of thing to become commonplace without a challenge. Apple could also levy punishments against companies that take this route, maybe by barring Toyota from legitimate App Store access, for instance.

In fact, this partnership between Toyota and Cydia (there is a financial agreement between the two entities) could become a lightning rod for the jailbreak community. Apple has been content to play a relatively tame game of cat and mouse with jailbreakers until now (unlike Sony, which immediately went after jailbreaker Geohot for attempting to open the platform in court), but the more jailbreaking is able to circumvent its ability to generate revenue for iOS, the more likely it becomes that Apple will devote more resources to stopping the practice altogether.

Calls to Toyota and attempts to contact Apple regarding this issue haven’t yet produced a response. We’ll update if and when any official comment is forthcoming.

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Firecore is also working on adding access to media stored on network-attached storage (NAS) drives and support for additional video formats. The company is offering the jailbreak tool as a free download, but sells the apps for $20.

Apple TV hackers previously released more complicated proof-of-concept jailbreaks for the second-gen Apple TV, but Seas0npass is the first tool that seems ready for the average, if sightly more adventurous consumer. However, there’s still one downside to the current method: Seas0npass is a so-called tethered jailbreak, which means that users have to connect the device to their computer every time it boots up. Firecore said that it’s working on an untethered jailbreak that would enable a persistent modification of the device, but it hasn’t said when this is going to be available.

Also, don’t get your hopes about accessing Hulu on the Apple TV anytime soon: The browser doesn’t support any Flash playback, which means that videos from Hulu and many other sites won’t play. Apple TV hackers previously found a way to enable Flash playback on the first-generation Apple TV, but the fact that the current device generation is based on Apple’s iOS means that Flash can’t be easily ported from other platforms.

Apple TV isn’t the only set top-box platform that’s currently targeted by hackers in search of a better media center solution. Google TV hackers published a jailbreak of that platform just last week. However, jailbreaking Google TV is still far more complicated than doing the same thing to an Apple TV, as it requires, amongst other things, solid soldering skills.

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The U.S. Copyright Office today clarified how it plans to enforce the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, making new exemptions for things like jailbreaking iPhones and ripping DVDs.

It might be exciting to think that it’s now legal to jailbreak iPhones for the purpose of installing software not approved by Apple or switching wireless carriers. But “jailbreaking is legal” is not what the ruling said. It simply said that jailbreaking is not a violation of copyright law.

The Copyright Office rejected Apple’s arguments that purchasers of its iPhone software cannot copy and modify it because of the DMCA’s rules against circumventing DRM. The recommendation found that jailbreaking is indeed fair use, and further said Apple is trying to co-opt fair use for the purposes of competitive advantage.

Here are a couple of key quotes from the 250-page recommendation:

Ultimately, Apple’s position with respect to harm to the market for and value of its
firmware boils down to Apple’s conclusion that “the value of the iPhone, and hence the software
embedded in it, is substantially diminished when the integrity and functionality of that software is
compromised by jailbreaking, when Apple is left to deal with the problems that ensue, and when
the positive feedback loops enabled by the App Store and the iPhone Developer Program are
compromised.” The Register [Copyright Register Marybeth Peters] concludes that these concerns are not what the fourth fair use factor is intended to address.

Apple’s objections to the installation and use of “unapproved” applications appears to have nothing to do with its interests as the owner of copyrights in the computer programs embodied in the iPhone, and running the unapproved applications has no adverse effect on those interests. Rather, its objections relate to its interests as a manufacturer and distributor of a device, the iPhone.

But just because the Copyright Office didn’t believe Apple’s arguments about the DMCA doesn’t mean there aren’t other legal issues with jailbreaking. Here are some highlighted in the recommendation:

• The Copyright Office wouldn’t rule on whether the purchaser of an iPhone owns the copy of the software on the device, recommending instead that this be addressed by new laws, not regulations. This distinction could have further implications on who has the right to modify an individual phone’s software.
• It also said Apple’s ability to legally restrict what applications can run on its computers is not a copyright law, recommending that this criticism should be referred to elsewhere, perhaps to antitrust investigators.
• And further, iPhone purchasers may be bound by state contract laws between purchasers of smartphones, manufacturers and service providers. Copyright law is not the only way Apple can keep its users in check; it can still void warranties and take other measures to enforce contracts.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was Apple’s main opponent in the Copyright Office’s deliberations, said that more than 1 million iPhone owners have already jailbroken their handsets. Many more will probably do so now that it’s thought to be legal. But the problem is it’s not necessarily legal — yet.

Update: Apple has officially commented on the news, noting that jailbreaking still voids your warranty, but it has not prosecuted jailbreakers in the past.

Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.

Feature image courtesy Flickr user subcircle.

Maybe it’s a shot across the bow of AT&T, sort of like all the buzz about Verizon-specific Apple devices, but if so, it’s not a very subtle one, and it contradicts all Apple policy on the matter to date.

I’m talking about a brief appearance (caught by Gizmodo, among others) on Apple’s own web site of a promotional reference to QuickPWN, which iPhone and iPod Touch owners will recognize as the hacking software that allows users to jailbreak their Apple handheld devices quickly and easily, without having to get very deep into the programming or code side of things. Apple, of course, disapproves, and generally tries to counter jailbreaking with each new firmware release.

Funny then that for a brief time yesterday, the screenshot above was what a page in their web application directory looked like. True, “QuickPWN” in this case referred to a website name and not the hacking software, but it’s clear where the web site took its name. In fact, a quick visit to the web site shows that its tagline is “Download QuickPWN, jailbreak iPhone and iPod Touch, games and more!”, so Apple’s own description of the site’s contents doesn’t seem to have quite gotten the point.

Obviously, this could not last. The page has since been removed by Apple, which must’ve somehow been asleep at the switch when it went through the first time. Maybe the web app listing is largely automated at this point, although I hardly think Apple would relinquish that much control over the process. According to Gizmodo, the QuickPWN web site folks seem to think that the only reason the listing has come down is because it was listed in the “Games” category, instead of the “News” section. If you believe that, I’ve got a bridge I can sell you in San Francisco.

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