Hacking has expanded from applying strictly to computers to consumer electronics in general. Hacking provides users with the ability to customize and modify their devices. The most notable case of the hacking of consumer electronics is the jailbreaking of Apple iOS devices, although many other electronics such as videogame consoles are regularly hacked as well.

Smart phone operating systems

• Apple iOS (jailbreaking)
• Google Android (rooting
  Rooting (Android OS)
  Rooting is a process that allows users of mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control within Android's Linux subsystem with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on some devices...
  
  )
• Symbian OS (executing unsigned code)
• Palm webOS (dev mode)

Multimedia Devices and Videogame Systems

• Microsoft
  • Xbox
    Xbox
    The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
    
    
  • Xbox 360
    Xbox 360
    The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
    
    
• Nintendo
  • Game Boy Advance
    Game Boy Advance
    The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...
    
    
  • Nintendo DS
    Nintendo DS
    The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
    
    
  • Wii
    Wii
    The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
    
    
• Sony
  • 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...
    
    
  • 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...
    
    
  • 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...
    
    
• Apple
  • iPhone
    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...
    
    
  • iPod Touch
    IPod Touch
    The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
    
    
  • iPad
    IPad
    The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
    
    
  • Apple TV
• Others
  • TiVo
    TiVo
    TiVo is a digital video recorder developed and marketed by TiVo, Inc. and introduced in 1999. TiVo provides an on-screen guide of scheduled broadcast programming television programs, whose features include "Season Pass" schedules which record every new episode of a series, and "WishList"...
    
    

Devices Meant for Hacking

Some devices—most commonly open source—are built for homebrew purposes, and encourage hacking as an integral part of their existence.

• Pandora (console)
  Pandora (console)
  The Pandora is a handheld game console designed to take advantage of existing open source software and to be a target for homebrew development...
  
  
• Chumby
  Chumby
  The Chumby is a consumer electronics product made by Chumby Industries, Inc.. It is an embedded computer which provides Internet and LAN access via a Wi-Fi connection. Through this connection, the Chumby runs various software widgets....
  
  
• Android Dev Phone 1

Legality

iOS jailbreaking was often considered illegal in the United States until a recent ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office declaring that jailbreaking an iPhone or other mobile device would no longer violate copyright law. However, simultaneously, there is ongoing prosecution against hackers of videogame consoles under anti-circumvention

Anti-circumvention

Anti-circumvention refers to laws which prohibit the circumvention of technological barriers for using a digital good in certain ways which the rightsholders do not wish to allow...

 violations of the DMCA. A main complication in many cases is the profiting from selling jailbroken or rooted equipment as a value-added service. At least some accused deny these charges and claim only to be making back-ups of legally purchased games.

Recently, the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection

High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections...

 encryption system, which encrypts data running between cable boxes, Blu-ray players, and other similar devices and displays was cracked, and a copy of the master key needed to decrypt HDCP protected streams was posted on the internet. Intel, which created and now licenses HDCP technology has stated that HDCP protection is sufficient to keep most users from circumventing it, but indicated that it may threaten legal action against more determined users under the DMCA.

On the issue of the hacking of its new interactive game controller the Kinect, Microsoft initially condemned and threatened legal action against those who hacked it, but soon after it reversed this position and instead stated that it had intentionally left the device open, and would in fact not prosecute those who modified it.

See also

• iOS jailbreaking
• Rooting (Android OS)
  Rooting (Android OS)
  Rooting is a process that allows users of mobile phones and other devices running the Android operating system to attain privileged control within Android's Linux subsystem with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and manufacturers put on some devices...
  
  
• Symbian OS#Bypassing platform security
• XBOX Modchips
  XBOX Modchips
  Xbox modchips are electronic devices that modify or disable the built-in restrictions of the XBOX.The Xbox has gone through several generations of modchips each using different methods to disable built-in restrictions. A majority of the modchips developed connect to the LPC bus pads that are...
  
  
• List of open source hardware projects
• Privilege escalation
  Privilege escalation
  Privilege escalation is the act of exploiting a bug, design flaw or configuration oversight in an operating system or software application to gain elevated access to resources that are normally protected from an application or user...
  
  
• Unsigned code
  Unsigned code
  Unsigned code refers to an application which has not been signed with the secret key required for it to load on a console.In the video game console business, most console games have to be signed with a secret key designed by the console maker or the game will not load on the console...