The Pirate Bay (TPB) has been acquired by Global Gaming Factory X, a gaming company that provides cyber cafe management software that targets advertising to its users, for a reported $8 million.  Their plan for TPB is to monetize the site with advertising and pay content providers.

This move seems similar to the purchase of Napster, the original file sharing site. Napster had its moment in the sun with the highly publicized feud with Metallica. Napster has since been bought and sold and its customer usage can only be described as dismal at best.

TPB being bought, by basically an advertising agency, has users worried of what is to become of the site. Charging users would negate the premise behind why the site started, freedom of information and openness of the net, essentially changing The Pirate Bay to The Banker Bay.

From TPB blog:

A lot of people are worried. We’re not and you shouldn’t be either!

If the new owners will screw around with the site, nobody will keep using it. That’s the biggest insurance one can have that the site will be run in the way that we all want to. And – you can now not only share files but shares with people. Everybody can indeed be the owner of The Pirate Bay now. That’s awesome and will take the heat of us.

The recent lawsuits and court trials have taken a toll on TPB. Perhaps TPB, run by Gottfrid Svartholm (anakata) and Fredrik Neij (TiAMO), believe they cannot take the site any further and believe they can fight their cause in a better way.

The profits from the sale will go into a foundation that is going to help with projects about freedom of speech, freedom of information and the openess of the nets. I hope everybody will help out in that and realize that this is the best option for all. Don’t worry – be happy!

If The Pirate Bay turns into the now Napster I will be sad to see it go. I have never downloaded any illegal torrents myself *wink wink*, but I feel for all the people out there that do use the site.

TPB blog
Press Release

Here is a video of my dog taking me for a ride around the block on my longboard skateboard.  This video was taken with the iPhone 3G not the 3G[s].  The video quality is pretty good.  YouTube kills the quality with their compression but you can get an idea.  If you would like to be able to record video with your OG iPhone or iPhone 3G check out the instructions here:
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The iPhone 3G[s], with it’s upgraded 3 MP camera, includes video recording but Apple decided to keep that ability exclusive to the new device.  The OG iPhone and iPhone 3G get the step child treatment because Apple says the camera is not good enough to record video.  I am here to tell you that both older model iPhones are quite capable of recording video and I will show you how to get it for yourself.
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The iPhone Dev-Team has just stated on their blog that the iPhone 3G[s] jailbreak is ready, BUT they will not release it until Apple releases OS 3.0.1.

They explain a bit how the jailbreak works and why they have decided to make everyone wait for its release.  They do not want to release the jailbreak only to have Apple patch the holes in the firmware.  They believe Apple could easy stop everyone from being able to jailbreak.  This seems like the ongoing cat and mouse game the Dev-Team and Apple play.  I support the Dev-Team 100% because of all the hard work they have provided for free, but this makes me wonder if they are just trying to prevent more work for themselves.  Even if Apple did patch the hole, they would find another one; software is never infallable.

Keep up the good work, we will all have to be patient if that is possible.  Thank you

From the iPhone Dev-Team blog:

Here’s the critical point, the reason why we’re delaying our version of the jailbreak: Once the jailbreak is out, Apple will fix the iBoot-family bug we use to accomplish it.  They will simply stop signing the old iBoots and only sign the fixed ones.  If you bought your phone after Apple has done this, there’s nothing you can do…the jailbreak isn’t going to work for you.

It is possible that Apple will find the bug we use without our handing it to them on a silver platter (via a public jailbreak).  In that case, we will have delayed our jailbreak for “nothing”.  But we’d rather be safe than sorry!

Apple is surely coming out with a 3.0.1 firmware release shortly. They need to fix ultrasn0w.  They need to fix some UI issues.  3.0 is buggy and 3.0.1 is coming.  We’re going to wait and see what 3.0.1 brings before figuring out the release date for our version of the jailbreak.

In the meantime, we have some remaining 3.0 jailbreak issues to investigate, including push notification.  Thanks for being patient with us while we took a 3GS “timeout”!

Geohot and the Dev-Team

Geohot and the iPhone Dev-Team have helped each other with their hacks but the relationship has been rocky.  After Geohot showed that he had successfully jailbroke the iPhone 3G[s] he was asked about releasing it to the Dev-Team; his reply on Twitter, “I don’t expect credit from the dev team. Remember when I gave them the yellowsn0w vector?”

I wonder if this sudden statement by the iPhone Dev-Team will change Geohot’s mind about releasing his own jailbreak tool, or will he take the same path.

George Hotz, aka Geohot, has done it again. Famed for creating the first hardware unlock for the OG iPhone, Geohot has just released the first official pics of a jailbroken iPhone 3G[s]. Geohot has mentioned on Twitter that it is as simple as a 10 line change to the current release of Redsn0w.

Geohot also says that he will be sharing this with the iPhone Dev-Team rather than packaging his own tool for public release. He explains that they have the back-end work already taken care of for a mass public release. This is great because this means that the jailbreak for the iPhone 3G[s] is just around the corner. I’m sure the Dev-Team will want to do testing, but if it is as simple as changing 10 lines of code like Geohot says, it won’t be long.

via Geohot on Twitter and On the iPhone

Facebook recently allowed users and page owners to register their own URL addresses such as http://www.facebook.com/rotilda to make it easier for people to share and find profiles and pages.  All normal user profiles were able to switch their URL addresses immediately but fan pages had restrictions.  Pages had to have at least 1000 fans in order to pick their unique URLs.  Facebook has significantly lowered the restriction to a minimum of 25 fans starting tonight at 11.59pm EDT.

The Facebook help section reads:

Your Facebook Page must meet two requirements: it must have been live on Facebook prior to the May 31, 2009 cut-off date and have had a minimum 1,000 fans at that time.

This limitation is temporary. All Pages created after May 31, 2009 or that had less than 1,000 fans on that day will be eligible to claim usernames on Sunday, June 28, 2009 if they have more than 25 fans.

Famed TV pitchman, Billy Mays, has been found dead in his Tampa, FL home early Sunday morning, June 28th.  Mays was found unresponsive by his wife and was pronounced dead by Tampa Fire and Rescue at 7.45 a.m. local time. “There are no signs of forced entry to the residence and no foul play is suspected,” Lt. Brian Dugan of the Tampa Police Department said. The Medical Examiner’s Office is expected to complete the autopsy on Mays’s body by Monday afternoon.

“Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days,” Billy Mays’s wife, Deborah, said. “Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times,” she added.

UPDATE: On Saturday, Mays was on board the U.S. Airways passenger plane which made a hard landing at Tampa International Airport. No one was injured in the accident, according to airport officials, but Mays told a local television station that an item fell on his head. “All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head,” Mays joked. Lt. Brian Dugan called it “pure speculation” to say his death could be related to the plane incident.

Billy Mays pitched OxiClean, Orange Glo,Kaboom, Engrave It, Handy Switch, iCan, Mighty Mendit, Mighty Putty (regular) & Mighty Putty Wood, Hercules Hook, AwesomeAuger, Steam Buddy, Zorbeez, Big City Slider Station, The Ding King, ESPN 360, Energize, Impact Gel Insoles, Omni DualSaw, Jupiter Jack, What Odor?, Tool Bandit, SIMONIZ Instant Shine, SIMONIZ fix it! (regular) & fix it! PRO, Gopher, Samurai Shark, Grater Plater, Ragazzi’s Pizza, and Green Now!

Today is a sad day whether you liked Billy Mays or the sound of his voice sent shivers up your spine.  Billy, along with his friend and business partner Anthony “Sully” Sullivan, have been pitching gadgets and gizmos for the last couple decades.  I think it would be quite hard to find anybody in the US that hasn’t heard Billy shout his line, “Hi, Billy Mays here!”

RIP Billy Mays, you will be missed.

The Palm Pre software developer kit (SDK) has made its way to the public via torrent.  Palm had announced that the SDK w0uld be released in late summer but has provided it to a select group of developers.  Fortunately, someone has leaked it to the public, allowing budding WebOS developers to start working.  This release is being called a beta version, so if you download the SDK, use it as a guide because it is just a beta.

Creating an app with the leaked SDK does not guarantee your app gets in the Palm app catalog but it won’t hurt to get a head start.  Palm is not approving all developers and their apps, but they have announced that they have added new developers to the “early access program” with many more to come.

Palm has made no statement whether they disapprove of the leak like they did regarding the tethering workaround.  I don’t see how they could disapprove of developers getting their feet wet.  Although, I don’t understand why they didn’t have plans to release the SDK sooner then “late summer” either.  If they are to challenge Apple and the iPhone on the developer and app front then they need to make it as easy as possible for developers to do their job.