Author Archives: rosariosas
Internet – How it affects us.
In the past 20 years, the internet has changed the common man’s life in more ways than previously imagined. Earlier restricted only for communications between Military Agencies and Research Organisations, today we see avid internet-users of all age-groups throughout the world. This exponential growth is in itself a testament to the success and popularity of the internet.
Recent years have seen a huge jump in terms of the amount of services accessible on the internet. We are also seeing a majority of companies reaching out to their customers through the internet. The internet has helped us achieve feats in many sectors which were earlier thought to be impossible. Who would have thought that you could talk to a friend sitting in another country at the touch of a button? Or packaging companies could deliver international parcels within the accuracy of the hour? Or socialize with our friends even without leaving the house? The list is endless. The internet is a tool for development – both personal and industrial.
The internet’s impact on a person’s life is not superficial. It affects the lifestyle and behavior of individuals to their very core. This can have both – a positive as well as negative impact on the users of the internet. I have tried my best to explain these impacts under the following points:
- Kids and Teenagers
- Internet access in every household has led to a surge in the number of kids and teenagers who use the internet. No longer do kids need their grandma to help them learn the alphabet or the numbers – they can do it on their own, at the touch of a button – not only do they see the alphabet, but pre-recorded voice even pronounces it for them. No longer do children need books with sketches on them – the internet is filled with interactive websites which respond to each touch of the user. I think that soon the internet would be a more popular way of teaching kids as it preserves the spirit of the book and combines it with interactivity of the web – animations, videos, links, etc.
- Internet is now an in-separable part of many teenager’s lives. Not only does it eliminate the need of encyclopedias or dictionaries, it enhances the education experience. Since we are looking at the impact of internet as a whole, it would be foolish not to talk about non-educational experiences. The internet acts as a socializing hub – sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, GMail, Hotmail are the new rage among teens. Emails have obliterated the letters. Waiting for a friend’s reply for a week is only heard in bedtime stories of our parents. Virtual “Walls” have replaced verbal communication. Instead of sitting with friends and marveling at old photographs, we now upload it on “FaceBook” and wait for the critics to comment on it, wait for the number of “likes” to increase. Not that this a bad thing – infact, throughout history many people have either opposed development or favored it. I fall in the latter category. But in trying to keep up with all the status updates, notifications, comments, tweets, emails and what-not, most children are wasting their constructive time on not-so-important-in-the-long-run activities.
What do you think? How has the internet affected you? Has it changed you in some way or the other? Tell me about it. Comment 🙂
PS. I’ll be adding more categories in different posts about how I think the internet has affected other sections of the population. This post marks my comeback to the Underground. *The Original iPhone Exploiter – Soon coming up with OS 4.0 unlock jailbreak for 2G (old/new), 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4*
The New iPhone 3.0. Update – Unlock and Jailbreak…Windows…2G/3G/3GS
Its been a really long time since I last posted here. But I feel it’s my duty to keep the ‘Underground Community’ informed about the information I have access to. Personally, I feel that the ‘Underground’ has lost its true meaning, its sense of presence – after 3 WordPress bans and removing of ‘Objectionable’ Content on the blog. I still believe that V1 i.e. this blog is a better way to communicate with the community rather than V2 as this blog is better known. Also, I feel that this ‘ban’ has limited my potential in terms of a writer here.
iPhone 3.0 Explained
Now to move on to the topic for which this post was actually written. I’m sure that most of you have heard of the new 3.0 update from Apple to the iPhone; and the subsequent release 3.0.1. If you have not, then let me give you a brief expansion:
The iPhone 3.0 update came out with the iPhone 3GS on June 17, 2009. It can be compared to the Windows 7 release: much awaited features were added which increased stability and enchanced user experiece. Apple finally incorporated many of the features we asked for 🙂 Among them, some are:
- Copy and Paste Text
- Copy and Paste Photos
- Search Spotlight – Search your iPhone for anything
- Search in mail, Calendar and iPod
- Landscape Keyboard in SMS, Mail and Notes
- Multimedia Messaging or MMS
- Support for new Calendar types
- Improved Stocks Application
- Connect iPhones/iTouches with bluetooth
- Notes syncing with iTunes
iPhone 2.2.1 Upgrade for 2G in 3 Steps!
Here are the 3 steps:
1. Plug your iPhone to the Computer or Laptop. Wait for iTunes to pop up. If it doesn’t, then open it. iTunes will tell you that a new version is available (2.2.1) . Click “Download“! And NOT “Download and Install”. Wait for it to install. Now open your iPhone Tab and look for an “Update Button”, it should be above the “Restore” Button.
2. Download QuickPwn 2.2.5-2 for Windwos (Official Torrent) and unzip it, then download Bootloader 3.9 and Bootloader 4.6 and save them somewhere you can remember. Connect you iPhone to the Computer/Laptop (if it isn’t already), then continue. QuickPwn will search for the 2.2.1 IPSW file(which is the upgrade) on your laptop/computer. Since you have already downloaded it from iTunes in Step1, let it continue. In the Checkbox, select “Cydia”, “Installer” and “Unlock my iPhone”
3. Next choose the Bootloader Files (you will get a browse option). Now is the main part, don’t worry is you get it wrong, you will get several tries for this. Follow the on-screen instructions and Voila!! Your iPhone is unlocked! (and jailbroken)
PS. All you have to do now, is wait, it will take about 1 hour for the iPhone to set up itself.
Messing with the Nature Caused Global Warming. Messing with it more might fix it
I am going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t: we may not be able to stop global warming. The Arctic Ocean, which experienced record melting last year, could be ice-free in summer as soon as 2013, decades ahead of what earlier models told us. We need to begin curbing global greenhouse emissions right now, but more than a decade after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the world has utterly failed to do so.
For most environmentalists, the answer to depressing litany is to keep pushing the same message harder: cut carbon and cut it now. But a few scientists are beginning to quietly raise the possibility of cooling the planet’s fever by geoengineering. The principle is straightforward – compensate for an intensified greenhouse effect by reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth – but the technique seems like pure science fiction. Just a few: using orbiting satellite mirrors to bounce sunlight back into space, fertilizing the oceans with iron to amplify their ability to absorb carbon and even painting roofs white to increase solar radiation.
Geoengineering has long been the province of kooks, but as the difficulty of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions has become harder to ignore, it is slowly emerging as an option of last resort. The tipping point came in 2006, when Nobel Prize – winning atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen published an editorial examining the possibility of releasing vast amounts of sulfurous debris into the atmosphere to create haze that would keep the planet cool. The price tag is even more amazing: somewhere between, a few hundred million dollars and a couple of billion dollars a year. Over the past couple of years, Global Warming has gone from being an outsider thing to something that is increasingly discussed.
The truth is, we’re already performing an unauthorized experiment on our climate by adding billions of tons of manmade carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Unless the geopolitics of global warmi9ng change soon, the Hail Mary pass of geoengineering might become our best shot.
What do you think? Comment please =) Thanks!!!
Computer Literacy Tests

CAPTCHA - Pause when you see it; it's one of the rare moments when the invisible war between spammers and programmers becomes visible to you, the prey.
Every Web surfer in the course of his or her browsing, has been forced to stop and perform this weird little task: look at a picture of some wavy, ghostly, distorted letters and type them into a box. Sometimes you flub it and have to re-type the letters, but otherwise, you don’t think about it much. That string of letters has a name; it’s called CAPTCHA. And it’s a test. By correctly transcribing it, you have proved to the computer that you are a human being.
This electronic hoop you have to jump through was invented in 2000 by a team of programmers at Carnegie Mellon University. Somebody at Yahoo! had gone to them, complaining that criminals were taking advantage of Yahoo! Mail-they were using software to automatically create thousands of e-mail accounts, then using those accounts to send out spam. The Carnegie Mellon team came back with the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart; no the acronym doesn’t really fit) The point of CAPTCHA is that reading those swirly letters is something that computers aren’t very good at. If you can read them, you are probably not a piece of software run by a spammer. Congratulations – you have an e-mail account!!
The CAPTCHA caught on, and now it’s all over the we. Luis von Ahn, as assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon who was part of the original CAPTCHA team, estimates that people fill out close to 200 million CAPTCHAs a day But you should pause when you see one – it’s one the rare moments when the invisible war being waged between spammers and programmers becomes visible to you, the prey. “Of Ciurse,” says Von Ahn, “this has been a little bit of an arms race with spammers, because now there’s a huge incentive for spammers to try to get around CAPTCHAs.” You can bypass them, using brute force, for example, though it will cost you. Go to a website like http://www.getafreelancer.com, you’ll see dozens of ads placed by lots of spammers and other bad actors., who hire whole teams of people to read out and type CAPTCHAs, all day, by hand, by thousands. (How the hell can they manage profit margin?!)
You can also get around CAPTCHAs by being clever. They work only because there are things computers cant do, and there are fewer and fewer of those things all the time. Headlines on tech blogs regularly announce the cracking of CAPTCHAs – Gmail’s, Hotmail’s, Yahoo!’s. Von Ahn doubts the headlines are true – and companies aren’t eager to confirm this kind of rumor – but it’s possible for an amateur, poorly conceived CAPTCHA to be hacked. (A CAPTCHA in which each letter was always formed out of the same number of pixels in a letter to figure out which letter it was looking at)
The faster that software evolves, the harder it gets to distinguish between software and people., the faster CAPTCHAs have to change. They might soon evolve identifying animals or listening to a sound file – anything computers aren’t good at (What’s next?? Tasting Wine? Composing a sonnet?) Von Ahn is confident that the good guys are still ahead for now, but the point at which software can reliably read CAPTCHA in probably as few as three to five years away.
Now what do you think: Will the mail providers be able to survive in this era of spam and malware?? Comment =)
What the V1 and the V2 mean to me…
Hey! I have been relatively new to the underground compared to V1, Voltaire, TV, GN, Music and other guys. I applied as a writer here on June 2, and have tried to be as regular as I can be. According to the rules, I should have written 16 posts but I have written only 7 posts, this being my 8th one. Some of my posts have generated over 5.8k views, some have not been appreciated and some are lame and written in a hurry. I have 79 comments on all my posts. I don’t mean to show off, but the reason why Versatile and Voltaire cant do this is, because they have so many comments, and posts that it will take a hell lot of time to add them up! =) Some of my top posts are:
1. iPhone Unlock
I had an iPhone, I was an author on this blog and I knew how to unlock it so, up came this post which has been my most popular post. These were perfect ingredients for a nice post. =)
2. …Don’t want to make you sad, but I don’t have any other top posts. You can expect some great stuff in V2 which I have planned. V1 and Voltaire also liked my idea… and I hope you will too! Stay tuned!
Google Chrome – The New Browser from Google!
Guess what? – Google has released its own Web Browser!!! It is called the Google Chrome: logo to the left. GChorme is still in its beta development stage (v 0.2) but google is offering it for free download at their website. Here is the original link: http://www.google.com/chrome
The main aim of this browser is to improve security, speed and stability compared to existing browsers. There were also extensive changes in the user interface.
Its just 475 KB, so it will take around 3 seconds or so to install. Try it: it worked like a charm for me and with no errors, it even warns you if you visit porn or malware or phishing website. It’s API list contains these websites. It has tabs (which are a common feature in new browsers) and also a lot of plugins like JavaScript and Adobe Flash Player.
Popup windows “are scoped to the tab they came from” and will not appear outside the tab unless the user explicitly drags them out. It is not clear whether they also run in their own process.
One flaw which was found is that: “Aviv Raff located a flaw in Google Chrome that can “trick users into launching executables direct from the new browser.” The flaw involves bugs in WebKit and Java, the latter bug having been discussed at the 2008 Black Hat conference. Apple’s Safari is unaffected by this flaw, as it uses a version of WebKit that has patched the flaw; Google Chrome uses an older version that does not contain the patch.
Download it here: http://www.google.com/chrome
iPhone and iPod Touch 2.0/2.0.1/2.0.2 unlock!
Ok, here is the much awaited iPhone unlock for Windows! This time, its not with the famous Pwnage Tool, developed by the iPhone dev Team, but we will use WinPwn. You can get WinPwn Here (Its a Rapidshare file from the official website, so no question of invalid or expiring links), the WinPwn has got a totally new GUI makeover, just like the Pwnage Tool and its easier than ever to use. Somethings which have have to keep in mind while updating are:
*UPDATE 6: Hey guys! I just wanted to tell you all that for unlocking your iPhone with 2.1 update, you will have to wait till Sunday, because I will add it to the V2!! And now for the sad part… I have decided to colse this post, i.e. there wont be any other updates here. Although, you can ask me for help down in the comments or mail me at: jvalintejpal@gmail.com
*UPDATE 5: Here is the list of all IPSW files available for online download for iPod Touch and iPhone:
iPhone
1.0.0: iPhone1,1_1.0_1A543a_Restore.ipsw
1.0.1: iPhone1,1_1.0.1_1C25_Restore.ipsw
1.0.2: iPhone1,1_1.0.2_1C28_Restore.ipsw
1.1.1: iPhone1,1_1.1.1_3A109a_Restore.ipsw
1.1.2: iPhone1,1_1.1.2_3B48b_Restore.ipsw
1.1.3: iPhone1,1_1.1.3_4A93_Restore.ipsw
1.1.4: iPhone1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw
2.0.0 (2G): iPhone1,1_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw
2.0.0 (3G): iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw
2.0.1 (2G): iPhone1,1_2.0.1_5B108_Restore.ipsw
2.0.1 (3G): iPhone1,2_2.0.1_5B108_Restore.ipsw
2.0.2 (2G): iPhone1,1_2.0.2_5C1_Restore.ipsw
2.0.2 (3G): iPhone1,2_2.0.2_5C1_Restore.ipsw
2.1 (2G): iPhone1,1_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw
2.1(3G): iPhone1,2_2.1_5F136_Restore.ipsw
iPod Touch
1.1: iPod1,1_1.1_3A101a_Restore.ipsw
1.1.1: iPod1,1_1.1.1_3A110a_Restore.ipsw
1.1.2: iPod1,1_1.1.2_3B48b_Restore.ipsw
1.1.3: iPod1,1_1.1.3_4A93_Restore.ipsw
1.1.4: iPod1,1_1.1.4_4A102_Restore.ipsw
1.1.5: iPod1,1_1.1.5_4B1_Restore.ipsw
2.0.0: iPod1,1_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw (Must purchase through iTunes)
2.0.1: iPod1,1_2.0.1_5B108_Restore.ipsw
2.0.2: iPod Restore 2.0.2 (torrent) mirror: iPod Restore 2.0.2 (Torrent)
NOTE*: I will update this as new firmware versions come out of course 🙂
NOTE2*: All iPod Touch Software upgrades from iTunes are stored in: C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes\iPod Software Updates
*UPDATE 4: THE MUCH AWAITED QUICKPWN GUIDE IS COMING UP IN A 1 – 2 DAYS!!! KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR THE UPDATE!!!!
*UPDATE3: WinPwn 2.5 Beta 2 has been released, which provides the IPSW custom crash bug fixes, check out the completed guide below.
*UPDATE2: My WinPwn 2.5 is crashing each time I try to create an IPSW. So… please wait for sometime. Sorry for the inconvenience!
*UPDATE: iTouch Users: Right now, there is NO way to update to 2.0.1, as no SOFTWARE is available. The DEV Team has come up with a solution, but have not released it. CMW WinPwn is releasing WinPwn 2.5 on 2 PM EST on 29th August, i.e. Today. New Guide for iTouch users will come up by tomorrow or day after tomorrow, thanks for the patience!! Here is a pic of WinPwn 2.5:
– YOU MUST DO A FULL UNINSTALL OF WINPWN BEFORE INSTALLING THE NEW VERSION.
– MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST VERSION OF iTunes.
– GET THE BOOTLOADER IMAGES: 3.9 and 4.6.
-GET THE PROPER IPSW RESTORE FILES HERE: 2G Restore Image(IPSW 2.0.1) and 3G Restore Image(IPSW 2.0.1).
– WinPwn 2.0.0.4 uses 300MB of RAM at peak due to IPSW being extracted in memory.
– You must first click browse and load an IPSW to use WinPwn (for newbies)
– If you see Failed to Load Image catalogue/payload catalogue, this is fine and wont cuase problems.
– If you already have service with AT&T do not activate or install the Youtube Fix.
OK, Lets get started!
Step 1: Install winpwn, iTunes, and extract your restore images and bootloaders to your desktop. Note: if you have a previous copy of winpwn installed, uninstall it before installing the new one.
Step 2: Connect your iPhone to your PC and load up winpwn. You will see this screen:
Step 3: Click “Browse .ipsw” button and select your firmware image(IPSW file) from your desktop. Note: winpwn will determine if you have an iPod, an iPhone 3g, or an iPhone 2g based off the firmware image you select and downloaded. So make sure you got the correct image(file). 2g and 3g iPhones have different firmwares!
Step 4: Now, click on “IPSW Builder”. You will get a screen with many tabs. First is the ‘Applications’ screen. Here you have three options: Cydia, Installer 2.0 and Youtube Activation click. Select Cydia (IT IS COMPULSORY!), then select the Youtube activation Fix ONLY IF YOU DONT HAVE A CONTRACT WITH A CARRIER CERTIFIED BY APPLE (LIKE AT&T IN THE USA, VODAFONE AND AIRTEL IN INDIA, ETC!!). Installer 2.0 is optional, I recommend right now that you don’t download it, because it has almost no apps. Here is how your screen will look like (almost):
Step 5: Click Advanced tab. This is a critical tab. If you have a contract carrier such as AT&T you do not need to unlock. So you must make sure everything is unchecked here. Again, if you have a contract carrier, select nothing here! If you do not have a contract carrier, you will need to use this to configure activation and unlocking. Check activate phone, Enable Baseband Update, Unlock Baseband, Autodelete Bootneuter.app. Click the two bootloader file buttons and browse for your 3.9 and 4.6 firmware we downloaded at the start of this guide. Your finished screen needs to look something like this:
Step 6: Now all you have to do is to click the “Build .ipsw” at the bottom of the window. Note: save your file to some place where you can find it (I saved it on the desktop). The default location is going to be hard to find. Winpwn will start the stuff and finally you will see the success box:
Step 7: Now, go to the main WinPwn screen and click on the “iPwner”. This will open a new dialog box, where you have to choose the ‘Custom IPSW’ which we last created in Step 5. Note: If you saved the Custom IPSW, (i.e. the one which we created in Step 5) in the same location in which you originally downloaded the 2.0.1 IPSW from the internet, then choose the ‘Custom IPSW’ and not the original IPSW:
Step 8: Good, you have reached this far, only a few more things. Now you will get a successful message that your iTunes has been Pwned!
Step 9: Get your phone into DFU mode. You cannot use any tools to do this. It must be hardware DFU mode only done by pressing the buttons on your device. Use this guide here for the steps. This works on every device so keep trying if you are having problems.
Step 10: While in DFU mode, open iTunes 7.7 (if already not opened), iTunes will recognize your iPhone in DFU mode (this may take a few mins (1-2) and then will prompt you to restore your iPhone. Press Shift and click on the Restore button. Choose the custom firmware IPSW we made. This will take about 10-15 minutes. You can either choose a new iPhone in restore or restore from a previously backed-up version.
Step 11: Congrats! You just upgraded!
If you need any help, just post in the comments, happy to help!!!!
****************************************************************************
UPGRADE TO 2.0.2
What all you will need:
1. IPSW files (242 MB each): 2G and 3G (choose 1 depending on which phone you have)
2. iTunes 7.7
3. Bootloaders 3.9 and 4.6 (Only for 2G Users)
4. Note that you have the latest .Net Framework!
5. Make sure that you have uninstalled all other versions of WinPwn and Downloaded WinPwn 2.5 here.
Step 1: Install WinPwn, get all the IPSW file, bootloader 3.9, bootloader 4.6 on the desktop. Attach your iPhone to the computer. Now load WinPwn. Choose the Default Mode and then select the device you have:
Step 2: After choosing your phone, you will be shown a new screen, which will have 3 options: 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2. As this guide is for 2.0.2, choose 2.0.2:
Step 3: Now you will be asked to answer some questions. First will be if you are with an official carrier (like AT&T in America, Vodafone and Airtel in India, etc.) If Yes, then click the thumbs up, if no, then click the Thumbs down:
Step 4: Next it will ask if you want to unlock the iPhone or not. Click Yes, i.e. Thumbs Up. Next it will ask if you want a custom restore/boot image. Say no, i.e. Thumbs Down. Then, WinPwn will automatically Start Searching for the IPSW file on your computer, and if it finds it, It will automatically start building the custom IPSW file, otherwise it will prompt you to browse for the file manually:
Step 5: Now you will be asked if you need help getting into DFU mode. There will be a helper in the app to get you there. Use this DFU guide here.
Step 5a: Turn off your phone. Hold power, slide to power off, and wait. When it is done, give the green thumbs up on this dialog:
Step 5c) Restore your phone in iTunes using the custom firmware you just made. Note, this firmware file is most likely in the “my documents” folder.
Step 6) Open iTunes, it will tell you that the iPhone is in DFU mode, and then Shift+Click on restore button. And go to my documents and select the Custom Firmware File. There you go, done 2.0.2 is on your iPhone!!!!
iPhone 2.0 update unlocked (even 3G!)
Hello guys! I just wanted to confess how busy I have been and how I have not been able to complete my Monday’s on the underground blog. I have a request for Versatile and Volatire. Can I please post updates about things which I can keep track of like Games, Phones, hacks and movies? Can I publish those posts at the time of their release? Please consider this and mail me. Thanks.
Well the main reason of me writing this post is that the iPhone 3G hack is here! The DEV team as always, have provided this hack for free. I took 2 weeks but it was worth the wait (all other softwares brick your phone!) Well for now, this software is only for MAC users (bad for us windows users 😦 ) but nevertheless, we can use a friends comp! Here is a picture of the Software, nice GUI huh??:
Now, for all those have MAC’s here’s a tip: The Mail 2.0 in the iPhone 2.0 update isn’t working, so dont upgrade your iPhone now… let the Dev Team make some fixes and I will notify you when this program is glitch free. But if you still want to risk your iPhone, here is the guide:
1. Get The Pwnage Tool Here (The Better v2.0.1)
2. Get the BootLoader Files Here
3.Follow this Guide:
Step 1: If you are at 1.1.4 or lower, restore a fresh 2.0. If you are already at 2.0 this is not necessary. You can follow the restore guide for help on restoring in iTunes.
Note: you may see “Preparing iPhone software for restore” for a very long time. Could be 10 minutes. This is normal. Don’t panic and stick with it.
Note 2: If you get error 1600 you may try restore mode instead of DFU mode. It can be finicky. Try going back and forth from restore to DFU mode.
Step 2: Extract the zip file. Extract the rar file for the bootloaders and put that in your Documents folder. Load up the pwnage tool. You will see this screen so click away the warning. Note: some folks having problems loading the pwnage tool and the icon just sits there bouncing. You may try clearing your cache by deleting the {your name}/Library/Caches folder and/or /Library/Caches and reboot. You may also try booting into safe mode.
Step 3: At the top, select “Simple Mode” and click the phone or iPod that matches your device.
Step 4: Select the 2.0 firmware you used to restore your phone in step 1 and click the blue next arrow.
Step 5: Select your bootloaders that you downloaded from step #1. You will be presented a screen asking you if you wish to search the web for the bootloaders. Select NO.