George Hotz
Encyclopedia
George Francis Hotz alias geohot, million75 or simply mil, is an American hacker known for unlocking the iPhone
, allowing the phone to be used with other wireless carriers, contrary to AT&T
and Apple's intent. He is also noted for hacking the PlayStation 3
and subsequently being sued by Sony.
, New Jersey
, the son of Marie Minichiello and George Hotz. He attended the Bergen County Academies
, a magnet
public high school. He was in AEDT (Academy for Engineering and Design Technology). Hotz is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
program.
Additionally, George Hotz attended the Rochester Institute of Technology for a short period of time. He started his major as a Biotechnology - Bioinformatics option major in August 2007, but withdrew from the institution soon after.
and three 8 GB iPhones. Hotz said he wanted to give the iPhones to the other members of the team who created the hack with him. Hotz's hardware based unlocking technique has largely been replaced by software unlocking that does not require dis-assembly of the iPhone. On February 8, 2008, Hotz developed the software unlock for the iPhone's new Bootloader Version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock". On July 3, 2009, Hotz announced purplera1n, the first public software exploit for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS. Details were posted on his blog.
On October 13, 2009, at 3:20AM Hotz released blackra1n
, a jailbreak for all iPhones and iPod Touches. The only caveat was that the iPod touch third generation would need a "tethered jailbreak" to work. On October 30, 2009, Hotz released Blackra1n RC2, an update to his previous blackra1n utility. This version allows MC Model iPod Touch 2G (8 GB iPod Touch, third generation) and new-bootrom iPhone 3GS users to jailbreak their iPod touches as well. (tethered jailbreak only) On October 31, 2009, Hotz announced the impending release of Blackra1n RC3, this version to include blacksn0w which would allow SIM unlock of all iPhones using Blacksn0w RC1. Blacksn0w was originally scheduled for release on November 4, 2009, but due to positive test results it was moved to the 3rd. Blacksn0w was the #1 trending topic on Twitter as requested by GeoHot only moments after its release.
On March 27, 2010, Hotz established a website for his newest jailbreak software, limera1n. Limera1n was rumored to be his newest jailbreaking tool and was released, however, it was later found that Hotz registered another domain at the same time, rubyra1n.com. It is still unknown if rubyra1n will ever be released. On June 24, 2010, Hotz wrote on Twitter that he had no plans to release a new jailbreak. He has told people looking for a jailbreak release to 'keep an eye on Spirit
, the currently used program for 3.1.x jailbreaking, which led to the belief there are plans to update the software to allow iOS 4.0 jailbreaking. This however has not had a release date confirmed. On July 10, 2010, Hotz published that he had been able to jailbreak an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0. As evidence, he provided a picture of the device executing Cydia. This post has since been edited and blocked from public view, in which Hotz stated that the picture was "quite obviously fake", addressing himself to "the haters". On July 13, 2010, Hotz announced his retirement from iDevices hacking, saying that it's not fun as it used to be, and people were taking too serious something he used to do just as a distraction.
On October 8, 2010, Hotz confirmed he was releasing a Jailbreak on 10/11/10; one day after the release of GreenPois0n. He also posted a picture of limera1n running on an iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch fourth generation, iPhone 4 and on the iPad. On October 9, 2010, Hotz released limera1n Beta 1 – without support for the 3GS (due to a problem with the bootrom). Additionally, the exploit has been found to be moderately buggy, even on supported devices. This suspended the release of the SHAtter exploit in the form of greenpois0n, due for release the next day. On the limera1n website, he claims this was to make the Chronic Dev team "do the right thing" – presumably implying that they should save their jailbreak exploit for fifth generation devices. He later went on to release three more betas, containing support for iPhone 3GS models, along with various bug fixes and other stability enhancements. On October 11, 2010, Hotz released what appears to be the final version of his jailbreak (RC1b). Hotz also put on his website that the Mac version of this jailbreak is "coming in 7 years", but was released about 2 weeks later.
PlayStation 3
, a console widely regarded as being the only fully locked and secure system of the seventh generation era
. Hotz opened a blog to document his progress, and five weeks later, on January 22, 2010, he announced that he had successfully hacked the machine by enabling himself read and write access to the machine's system memory and having hypervisor
level access to the machine's processor. Hotz detailed functions that his work could allow, such as homebrew
and PlayStation 2
emulation
(a feature removed by Sony in newer revisions of the console to tackle production costs). On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit
to the public. It was done on the original firmware (OFW) 3.15, then using his codes he made it into a 3.15 CFW, or Custom Firmware. It requires the OtherOS function of the machine, and consists of a Linux kernel
module and gaining control of the machine's hypervisor
via bus glitching. Hotz wrote that "Sony may have difficulty patch
ing the exploit". On March 28, 2010, Sony responded by announcing their intention to release a PlayStation 3 firmware update
that would remove the OtherOS feature from all models, a feature that was already absent on the newer Slim revisions of the machine. Hotz then announced plans of a custom firmware, similar to the custom firmware for the PlayStation Portable
, to enable Linux and OtherOS support, while still retaining the features of newer firmwares.
On April 7, 2010, Hotz posted a video on the internet detailing his claimed progress with custom firmware on the machine, and showing a PlayStation 3 running with the OtherOS feature enabled on firmware 3.21. He named his custom firmware as 3.21OO, and suggested that it may also work on newer Slim models of the console. However, he didn't announce a release date for the custom firmware or mention whether he was working on the same hack for the latest firmware version of 3.41. It was never released. On July 13, 2010, Hotz posted a message on his Twitter account stating that he was giving up trying to crack the PS3 any further. However, on January 2, 2011, he posted the root keys of the PlayStation 3 on his website. These keys were later removed from his website as a result of legal action by Sony (see below). On January 6, 2011, he showed a demo of running homebrew applications on PS3 firmware 3.55 without using any jailbreak USB dongles, based on the discovery of the security exploit by the fail0verflow team. On January 7, 2011, he showed off a demo video running homebrew applications on PlayStation 3 custom firmware 3.55. On January 11, 2011, Sony filed an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Hotz in the US District Court of Northern California. The timeline of the lawsuit is continued below. On January 14, 2011, Hotz appeared in an interview on G4′s The Loop, where he explained why he jailbroke the Sony PlayStation 3.
PayPal
has granted Sony access to Geohot's PayPal account, and the judge of the case granted Sony permission to view the IP addresses of everyone who visited geohot.com. In April 2011, it was revealed that Sony and Hotz had settled the lawsuit out of court, on the condition that Hotz would never again resume any hacking work on Sony products.
At the end of April 2011, hackers broke into the PlayStation Network and stole personal information of some 77 million users
. Hotz denied any responsibility for the attack, and said "Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool; hacking into someone else's server and stealing databases of user info is not cool".
competition in Portland OR with his project "The Mapping Robot". Recognition included interviews on the Today Show and Larry King. Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler". Continuing with robots, Hotz competed in his school's highly successful Titanium Knights battlebots team. George also worked on his project, "Neuropilot," in which he was able to read EEG
signals off his head with hardware from the OpenEEG project.
Hotz competed in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a science competition for high school students, where his project, entitled "I want a Holodeck
", received awards and prizes in several categories. Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the Today Show, Fox
, CNN
, NBC
, CBS
, G4
, ABC
, CNBC
, and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Forbes
, and BBC
.
The Forbes article said Hotz hopes to go into Neuroscience: "hacking the brain," he called it. In March 2008, PC World magazine listed George as one of the top 10 Overachievers under 21. He entered the Rochester Institute of Technology
in 2007, quickly after gaining notoriety for hacking the iPhone, but withdrew from the school after 1 quarter. In December 2007, Hotz travelled to Sweden to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
and talk about his 3D imaging invention (called Project Holodeck) that netted him a $20,000 Intel scholarship earlier that year. In 2008 he worked at Google
as an intern, on the Google Street View
project.
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, allowing the phone to be used with other wireless carriers, contrary to AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
and Apple's intent. He is also noted for hacking the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and subsequently being sued by Sony.
Personal life
Hotz grew up in Glen RockGlen Rock, New Jersey
Glen Rock is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 11,601.-History:...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, the son of Marie Minichiello and George Hotz. He attended the Bergen County Academies
Bergen County Academies
The Bergen County Academies is a magnet public high school located in Hackensack that serves the high school population of Bergen County, New Jersey. The school was conceived by the late Dr. John Grieco. The current principal is Russell Davis; Raymond Bath is the vice principal; Dr...
, a magnet
Magnet school
In education in the United States, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities as school zones that feed into certain schools.There are magnet schools at the...
public high school. He was in AEDT (Academy for Engineering and Design Technology). Hotz is an alumnus of the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
Center for Talented Youth
The Center for Talented Youth is a gifted education program for school-age children, founded in 1979 by Dr. Julian Stanley at Johns Hopkins University. It was initially a research study of the rate at which gifted children can learn new material and became the first program of its kind to identify...
program.
Additionally, George Hotz attended the Rochester Institute of Technology for a short period of time. He started his major as a Biotechnology - Bioinformatics option major in August 2007, but withdrew from the institution soon after.
Hacking Apple iOS devices
According to Hotz's blog, he traded his unlocked 8 GB iPhone to Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell, for a Nissan 350ZNissan 350Z
The Nissan 350Z is a two seat sports car that was manufactured by Nissan from 2002 to 2009 and marks the fifth generation of Nissan's Z-car line. The 350Z entered production in late 2002 and was sold and marketed as a 2003 model. The first year there was only a coupe, as the roadster did not debut...
and three 8 GB iPhones. Hotz said he wanted to give the iPhones to the other members of the team who created the hack with him. Hotz's hardware based unlocking technique has largely been replaced by software unlocking that does not require dis-assembly of the iPhone. On February 8, 2008, Hotz developed the software unlock for the iPhone's new Bootloader Version 4.6 that was previously only achievable with a "testpoint based hardware unlock". On July 3, 2009, Hotz announced purplera1n, the first public software exploit for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS. Details were posted on his blog.
On October 13, 2009, at 3:20AM Hotz released blackra1n
Blackra1n
blackra1n is a program that jailbreaks versions 3.1, 3.1.1 and 3.1.2 of Apple's operating system for iDevices, known as iOS.The program uses a bug in the USB code of the firmware for iDevices, allowing unsigned code to be executed. Blackra1n uses this exploit to patch the firmware of the iDevice...
, a jailbreak for all iPhones and iPod Touches. The only caveat was that the iPod touch third generation would need a "tethered jailbreak" to work. On October 30, 2009, Hotz released Blackra1n RC2, an update to his previous blackra1n utility. This version allows MC Model iPod Touch 2G (8 GB iPod Touch, third generation) and new-bootrom iPhone 3GS users to jailbreak their iPod touches as well. (tethered jailbreak only) On October 31, 2009, Hotz announced the impending release of Blackra1n RC3, this version to include blacksn0w which would allow SIM unlock of all iPhones using Blacksn0w RC1. Blacksn0w was originally scheduled for release on November 4, 2009, but due to positive test results it was moved to the 3rd. Blacksn0w was the #1 trending topic on Twitter as requested by GeoHot only moments after its release.
On March 27, 2010, Hotz established a website for his newest jailbreak software, limera1n. Limera1n was rumored to be his newest jailbreaking tool and was released, however, it was later found that Hotz registered another domain at the same time, rubyra1n.com. It is still unknown if rubyra1n will ever be released. On June 24, 2010, Hotz wrote on Twitter that he had no plans to release a new jailbreak. He has told people looking for a jailbreak release to 'keep an eye on Spirit
Spirit (iOS jailbreak)
Spirit is an untethered jailbreak for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad running iOS 3.1.2 through 3.2. It was developed by Wii homebrew developer comex. Spirit allows users to install software not approved by Apple on their iDevices. It is available for the Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms...
, the currently used program for 3.1.x jailbreaking, which led to the belief there are plans to update the software to allow iOS 4.0 jailbreaking. This however has not had a release date confirmed. On July 10, 2010, Hotz published that he had been able to jailbreak an iPhone 4 running iOS 4.0. As evidence, he provided a picture of the device executing Cydia. This post has since been edited and blocked from public view, in which Hotz stated that the picture was "quite obviously fake", addressing himself to "the haters". On July 13, 2010, Hotz announced his retirement from iDevices hacking, saying that it's not fun as it used to be, and people were taking too serious something he used to do just as a distraction.
On October 8, 2010, Hotz confirmed he was releasing a Jailbreak on 10/11/10; one day after the release of GreenPois0n. He also posted a picture of limera1n running on an iPhone 3G S, iPod Touch fourth generation, iPhone 4 and on the iPad. On October 9, 2010, Hotz released limera1n Beta 1 – without support for the 3GS (due to a problem with the bootrom). Additionally, the exploit has been found to be moderately buggy, even on supported devices. This suspended the release of the SHAtter exploit in the form of greenpois0n, due for release the next day. On the limera1n website, he claims this was to make the Chronic Dev team "do the right thing" – presumably implying that they should save their jailbreak exploit for fifth generation devices. He later went on to release three more betas, containing support for iPhone 3GS models, along with various bug fixes and other stability enhancements. On October 11, 2010, Hotz released what appears to be the final version of his jailbreak (RC1b). Hotz also put on his website that the Mac version of this jailbreak is "coming in 7 years", but was released about 2 weeks later.
Hacking the PlayStation 3
Towards the end of 2009, Hotz announced his efforts to hack the SonySony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, a console widely regarded as being the only fully locked and secure system of the seventh generation era
History of video game consoles (seventh generation)
In the history of video games, the seventh generation of consoles is the current generation , and includes consoles released since late by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony...
. Hotz opened a blog to document his progress, and five weeks later, on January 22, 2010, he announced that he had successfully hacked the machine by enabling himself read and write access to the machine's system memory and having hypervisor
Hypervisor
In computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
level access to the machine's processor. Hotz detailed functions that his work could allow, such as homebrew
Homebrew (video games)
Homebrew is a term frequently applied to video games or other software produced by consumers to target proprietary hardware platforms not typically user-programmable or that use proprietary storage methods...
and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
emulation
Video game console emulator
A video game console emulator is a program that allows a computer or modern console to emulate a different video game console's behavior. Emulators are most often used to play older video games on personal computers and modern video game consoles, but they are also used to play games translated...
(a feature removed by Sony in newer revisions of the console to tackle production costs). On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit
Exploit (computer security)
An exploit is a piece of software, a chunk of data, or sequence of commands that takes advantage of a bug, glitch or vulnerability in order to cause unintended or unanticipated behavior to occur on computer software, hardware, or something electronic...
to the public. It was done on the original firmware (OFW) 3.15, then using his codes he made it into a 3.15 CFW, or Custom Firmware. It requires the OtherOS function of the machine, and consists of a Linux kernel
Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is an operating system kernel used by the Linux family of Unix-like operating systems. It is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software....
module and gaining control of the machine's hypervisor
Hypervisor
In computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
via bus glitching. Hotz wrote that "Sony may have difficulty patch
Patch (computing)
A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
ing the exploit". On March 28, 2010, Sony responded by announcing their intention to release a PlayStation 3 firmware update
PlayStation 3 system software
The PlayStation 3 system software is the updateable software and operating system of the PlayStation 3. The process of updating is almost identical to that of the PSP...
that would remove the OtherOS feature from all models, a feature that was already absent on the newer Slim revisions of the machine. Hotz then announced plans of a custom firmware, similar to the custom firmware for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
, to enable Linux and OtherOS support, while still retaining the features of newer firmwares.
On April 7, 2010, Hotz posted a video on the internet detailing his claimed progress with custom firmware on the machine, and showing a PlayStation 3 running with the OtherOS feature enabled on firmware 3.21. He named his custom firmware as 3.21OO, and suggested that it may also work on newer Slim models of the console. However, he didn't announce a release date for the custom firmware or mention whether he was working on the same hack for the latest firmware version of 3.41. It was never released. On July 13, 2010, Hotz posted a message on his Twitter account stating that he was giving up trying to crack the PS3 any further. However, on January 2, 2011, he posted the root keys of the PlayStation 3 on his website. These keys were later removed from his website as a result of legal action by Sony (see below). On January 6, 2011, he showed a demo of running homebrew applications on PS3 firmware 3.55 without using any jailbreak USB dongles, based on the discovery of the security exploit by the fail0verflow team. On January 7, 2011, he showed off a demo video running homebrew applications on PlayStation 3 custom firmware 3.55. On January 11, 2011, Sony filed an application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Hotz in the US District Court of Northern California. The timeline of the lawsuit is continued below. On January 14, 2011, Hotz appeared in an interview on G4′s The Loop, where he explained why he jailbroke the Sony PlayStation 3.
Sony lawsuit
After the hack of Sony, Sony took George Hotz to court. George Hotz made a video on YouTube singing a song about the "disaster" of Sony. The Sony PS3 console was hacked, or more appropriately "jailbroken", by iPhone hacker Geohot. He managed to reverse engineer his own PlayStation 3 to run homebrew applications on it. He then later released the method to the public through his site, geohot.com. Sony responded with a lawsuit and demanded social media sites, including YouTube, to hand over IP addresses of people who visited Geohot's social pages and videos; the latter being the case only for those who "watched the video and 'documents reproducing all records or usernames and IP addresses that have posted or published comments in response to the video'".PayPal
PayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
has granted Sony access to Geohot's PayPal account, and the judge of the case granted Sony permission to view the IP addresses of everyone who visited geohot.com. In April 2011, it was revealed that Sony and Hotz had settled the lawsuit out of court, on the condition that Hotz would never again resume any hacking work on Sony products.
At the end of April 2011, hackers broke into the PlayStation Network and stole personal information of some 77 million users
PlayStation Network outage
The PlayStation Network outage was the result of an "external intrusion" on Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, in which personal details from approximately 77 million accounts were stolen and prevented users of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable consoles from playing online...
. Hotz denied any responsibility for the attack, and said "Running homebrew and exploring security on your devices is cool; hacking into someone else's server and stealing databases of user info is not cool".
Employment by Facebook
On June 27, 2011, it was reported that Hotz had been hired by Facebook. However, according to a CNet article, he had actually been employed since May, which was confirmed by Facebook. It is unknown what his role at the company is.Other accomplishments and recognition
He was a finalist at the 2005 ISEFIntel International Science and Engineering Fair
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...
competition in Portland OR with his project "The Mapping Robot". Recognition included interviews on the Today Show and Larry King. Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler". Continuing with robots, Hotz competed in his school's highly successful Titanium Knights battlebots team. George also worked on his project, "Neuropilot," in which he was able to read EEG
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
signals off his head with hardware from the OpenEEG project.
Hotz competed in the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, a science competition for high school students, where his project, entitled "I want a Holodeck
Holodeck
A holodeck, in the fictional Star Trek universe, is a simulated reality facility located on starships and starbases. The first use of a "holodeck" by that name in the Star Trek universe was in the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", although a conceptually...
", received awards and prizes in several categories. Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the Today Show, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
, G4
G4 (TV channel)
G4, also known as G4 TV, is an American cable- and satellite-television channel originally geared primarily toward young adult viewers, originally based on the world of video games...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
, and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, and BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
The Forbes article said Hotz hopes to go into Neuroscience: "hacking the brain," he called it. In March 2008, PC World magazine listed George as one of the top 10 Overachievers under 21. He entered the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology is a private university, located within the town of Henrietta in metropolitan Rochester, New York, United States...
in 2007, quickly after gaining notoriety for hacking the iPhone, but withdrew from the school after 1 quarter. In December 2007, Hotz travelled to Sweden to attend the Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar
Stockholm International Youth Science Seminar is an annual science event organised in connection with the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm...
and talk about his 3D imaging invention (called Project Holodeck) that netted him a $20,000 Intel scholarship earlier that year. In 2008 he worked at Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
as an intern, on the Google Street View
Google Street View
Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from various positions along many streets in the world...
project.
External links
- Settlement in George Hotz Case (Playstation Blog)
- GeoHot Released PS3 Exploit – By TheTechJournal.com
- The New Video of Unlock (blacksn0w)
- YouTube Video of Hotz's Unlocked iPhone
- YouTube Video demo of PlayStation 3 CWF 3.21OO
- Hotz's Website (through Internet Archive)
- NJ teen unlocks iPhone + YouTube Video
- GeoHot's guide to iPhone unlocking
- Apple ios4 jailbreak video