According to Hotz's blog, he traded his unlocked 8GB iPhone to Terry Daidone, the founder of Certicell, for a Nissan 350Z and 3 8GB iPhones.[4] Hotz said he wanted to give the iPhones to the other members of the team who created the hack with him.[5] Hotz's hardware based unlocking technique has largely been replaced by software unlocking that does not require dis-assembly of the iPhone.[6]
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".[7]
On July 3, 2009, Hotz announced purplera1n, the first public software exploit for jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS. Details were posted on his blog.[8]
On October 11, 2009, at 3:33AM 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 25, 2009, Hotz released Blackra1n RC2, an update to his previous blackra1n utility. This version allows MC Model iPod Touch 2G (8GB iPod Touch third generation) and new-bootrom iPhone 3GS users to jailbreak their iPod touches as well. (tethered jailbreak only)[9]
On October 31, 2009, Hotz announced the impending release of Blackra1n RC3, this version will include blacksn0w which will allow SIM unlock of all iPhones using Blacksn0w RC1.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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,[13] the currently used program for 3.1.x jailbreaking, which lead 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.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16] 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.[17] 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 [16] jailbreak (RC1b). Hotz also put on his website that the Mac version of this jailbreak is "coming in 7 years".
Hacking the PlayStation 3
In the end of 2009, Hotz announced his efforts to hack the Sony PlayStation 3,[18] 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.[19][20] Hotz also detailed the many things 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).[21]
On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit to the public. 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.[22] Hotz wrote that "Sony may have difficulty patching the exploit". On March 28, 2010, Sony has responded by announcing to release a PlayStation 3 firmware update that removes the OtherOS feature,[23] a feature that was already absent on the newer Slim revisions of the machine. This generated an uproar by the PlayStation 3 community. Hotz had 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.
As of April 7, 2010, Hotz had posted a video on the internet detailing his supposed progress with custom firmware on the machine, and showing a PlayStation 3 running and having the OtherOS feature enabled on firmware 3.21. He had named his custom firmware as 3.21OO, and said it may work on newer Slim models of the console, as the feature was removed altogether with the launch of the newer revision. However, he had never announced a release date for the alleged firmware nor had he mentioned whether he was working on the same hack for the latest firmware version of 3.41.[24]
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.[25]
On January 6, 2011, he shows 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.[26]
On January 7, 2011, he showed off a demo video running homebrew applications on PlayStation 3 custom firmware 3.55.[27]
On January 11, 2011, Sony filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Mr. Hotz in the US District Court of Northern California.[28]
Sony lawsuit
On January 12 , 2011, Sony sued Mr. Hotz on 8 counts for violation of the DMCA.[29] In response, Carnegie Mellon University professor David S. Touretzky mirrored Hotz' writings and issued a statement confirming that Hotz' publication is within his right to free speech.[30]
Other accomplishments and recognition
Hotz was a finalist at the 2004 ISEF competition in Portland OR with his project "Mapping Robot". Recognition included interviews on the Today Show and Larry King.[31] Hotz was a finalist at the 2005 ISEF competition, with his project "The Googler".[32] 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.[33] Hotz has received considerable attention in mainstream media, including interviews on the Today Show, Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS, G4, ABC[34] CNBC,[35] and articles in several magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Forbes,[36] and BBC.[37]
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.[38]
He entered the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2007, quickly after gaining notoriety for hacking the iPhone, but quickly flunked out and withdrew from the school. 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 prize earlier that year.[39]
Personal life
Hotz grew up in Glen Rock, New Jersey, where he attended the Bergen County Academies, a magnet public high school. He was in AEDT (Academy for Engineering and Design Technology). [40]