Unless you’ve been disconnected from the internet for the past month, you’ve probably heard of Carrier IQ, the software that carriers use to track usage and diagnose issues on smartphones. Carrier IQ is currently in the hot seat due to privacy concerns drawing several class-action lawsuits and even a US Senator probing questions about the software.

There are currently some detector apps you can use to find out if Carrier IQ is installed on your phone. Since the software is hidden, it’s invisible during normal usage. These detector apps may not be 100% reliable, as several owners of the following devices reported negative results.

• HTC Amaze 4G
• Samsung Galaxy S II
• Samsung Exhibit II 4G
• T-Mobile myTouch by LG
• T-Mobile myTouch Q by LG
• LG DoublePlay

In addition to listing the phones that have Carrier IQ installed, the screenshot above also details the ways that T-Mobile uses Carrier IQ.

• Battery performance: If a customer’s device battery appears not to be holding a charge, T-Mobile can determine if the issue is the battery, charger or device
• Dropped calls: If a customer attempts to make a call and the call fails, T-Mobile can determine whether the cause was the handset or the network
• Application failures: If a customer uses an application, preinstalled or downloaded from a third-party marketplace, and the app fails, T-Mobile will be able to troubleshoot that app failure, which may be perceived by the customer to be the device freezing/crashing

Unfortunately, there’s no opting out via T-Mobile, since once you sign that contract they essentially own you. Getting rid of Carrier IQ isn’t an easy task outside of rooting your phone and installing a clean ROM such as CyanogenMod. But if you’re not comfortable with being tracked or hacking your phone, at least you know which devices to avoid.

[via TmoNews]

For those with the GSM/HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus that like to play around with system files, you just got a safety net. Google has released a complete set of factory images for the Galaxy Nexus including bootloader, baseband and all the system images. So when things happen to go south when hacking some custom firmware, you can safely return to a factory state.

[Download]

Currently the images are only available for the Galaxy Nexus, but we’re pretty sure the same images will be available for the LTE version once it’s released on Verizon. Hit up the source link for more details about using the system images.

[Google Groups via Droid Life]

While the actual hardware is close to becoming available, the next best thing is now free for the taking. Paul from MoDaCo has made available the full system dump for the Galaxy Nexus, which was running development build ICL23D. The system dump, along with the bootloader and recovery image runs about 170MB in size and can all be downloaded from MoDaCo. Inside you’ll find all the apps, wallpapers, ringtones, icon and other goodies that have been previously leaked from Ice Cream Sandwich. And developers will surely be interested in the recovery and bootloader images. Now all we need is for Google to release the source code and we’ll be satisfied, right? Here’s Paul’s full statement about the release:

The Android world is funny you know.
 
Often I come across releases, beta tests, development builds and suchlike that I can’t share at all, sometimes I am given builds that I can share with some changes, and sometimes I have files that my sources allow me to share in their entirety. It’s a sad fact of some of the community today that this concept seems to difficult for some to understand. Their thinking is simply that if you have something, you should share it, forget the responsibilities towards your sources etc., they just want what they want. It’s a shame, but today i’m pleased to have something that I CAN share…
 
Below are links to a ICL23D Ice Cream Sandwich development build for the Galaxy Nexus!
 
Some points to note about the files…

• All 3 files are completely stock and unedited
• This build is a dev build, not a release build
• This build is from a test Galaxy Nexus
• This build is not odexed!

I know a lot of people are hacking up ports for other devices, so hopefully the non-odexed nature of this release together with the fact it includes the boot and recovery images will help make that happen.

 
[Source: MoDaCo]

Samsung has been on a roll lately with releasing kernel source code. The Epic 4G Touch kernel source was released the same day as the phone. And now that AT&T has announced the October 2nd release of their Galaxy S II, Samsung has already put up the source code at their Open Source Release Center. A full two weeks before the release of the phone.

This is certainly good news for those developers that like to dive right into the code and start making modifications. Although we’ll likely have to wait till the phone is actually released to start hacking it. To download the kernel source code, hit the download link below.

[Download via Android Police]

At the Defcon hacker conference in Las Vegas Israeli security firm Zimperium revealed a new Android application that puts an experienced computer hacker in the palm of your hand. The Android Network Toolkit, or Anti for short, can be used for penetration testing on networks using known exploits to gain access to machines.

While the application is meant to be used by White Hats for testing network vulnerabilities, it’s still a powerful tool if used by the wrong person. The company states when the application is released, their terms of service will require users to agree to only use it for good. All the more reason to keep your machines up to date with the latest software patches.

Anti will be available for free in the Android Market this week, or $10 for a corporate upgrade. It features WiFi scanning, network sniffing to eavesdrop on networked computers, and even Attack mode for taking screenshots or ejecting a remote machine’s CD-ROM drive. Scary indeed. Better make sure you run all the latest security updates on your Windows laptop before hitting up the local Starbucks wireless.

[Forbes]

Tired of the stock software on your Archos Android tablet? Thanks to some clever hacking and special firmware, you can now boot your tablet on Froyo, Debian, Gingerbread, ChromeOS or any number of possibilities.

The multi-boot menu is currently working for Archos Gen 8 devices, and is confirmed to work on the Archos 101 and 70 tablets. The same team that developed it previously released multi-boot solutions for Gen 7 devices. Hit the source link for downloads and instructions for how to do it. Or just enjoy the video of it in action.

[via ArchosFans]

Good news for Dell Streak 7 owners, your tablet just got a little more useful. When SIM unlocked, the Streak works on both T-Mobile’s 1700/2100MHz (AWS) and AT&T’s 850/1900MHz. And HSPA+ works on both frequencies.

The process is fairly straight forward, with no hacking or rooting involved. You just have to obtain an unlock code from a place like UnlockStreak, and they can do it through email with just your IMEI in about 1-3 days. Insert an AT&T SIM card, enter the unlock code and you’re good to go.

[via StreakSmart]

George Hotz, better known by his online handle Geohot said in an interview on The Alyona Show that he bought a Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 and he’s already looking into the security of it. Although it’s already been rooted with custom ROMs, he may be looking to take it a step further. Also he stated his intent to hack the Xperia Play. With the pending lawsuit that Sony has against him for his Playstation 3 hacks, these stated intentions are probably just serving to piss off Sony. For the man that first jailbroke the iPhone and the iPad, then the PS3, he certainly has the technological experience to hack pretty much any product. We’ll keep an eye out for what he does once he gets his hands on the Xperia Play, as it’s certain to be big news.

You can read more on his personal blog here.

Requirements:
Windows PC
ADB installed and working
 
Download The Following
http://www.mediafire.com/?fcjnvrmae6ccm9k flash_image.zip
http://www.multiupload.com/YLP39EICOP recovery-RA-GNM-thunderc-s-1.1.0.img.zip
http://www.multiupload.com/WGF93RR90X SuperOneClick
http://www.multiupload.com/7KCGPF6RBF Virgin Drivers
http://www.multiupload.com/SL4MFB928T Stock Rom Rooted and De Odexed minus Bloat
 
1. Extract the Drivers Zip to a folder on the desktop
Click on the installation file and install the Optimus drivers
 
2. On your phone (must be activated), Go to settings, then to Applications, then Development and enable USB debugging.
 

3. Unzip Super One Click to the same folder and run it. Click shell root.
 

4. Unzip the flash_image.zip and recovery-RA-GNM-thunderc-s-1.1.0.img.zip to the root of your phone’s SD Card. Also Place Stock Rooted and Optimized.zip at the root (KEEP IN ZIP).
 

5. a. Open CMD.exe and navigate to the folder adb.exe exists in.
b. Type:

adb shell
mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /system
cat /sdcard/flash_image > /system/bin/flash_image
chmod 755 /system/bin/flash_image
mv /system/etc/install-recovery.sh /system/etc/install-recovery.sh.bak
mount -o remount,ro -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock5 /system
flash_image recovery /sdcard/recovery-RA-GNM-thunderc-s-1.1.0.img
reboot recovery

 

Your phone will now reboot into the custom recovery
 

6. Go to “Backup” (navigate with volume rocker and click with Home) , and click “backup nand” .
 

7. When It is finished, click back until you are at the main menu again. Click Flash zip from sdcard and flash Stock Rooted and Optimized.zip
 

8. IMPORTANT, return to main menu, navigate to Wipe. Click Wipe data/factory reset.
ONLY WIPE/FACTORY RESET IN RECOVERY. DO NOT USE THE PHONE WIPE
 

Note: Re-flash required as I could not maintain root after reboot.
Button Combo for recovery is Home+Down Vol.+Power. Hold these until recovery loads.

“I notice you’ve got a HD2 there, we’ve got some nice ANDROID and Iphone phones in stock if you are thinking of upgrading”

I won’t share too much of the story, but here’s what happens when you learn about hacking your phone and know more about it than the people that actually make a living selling Android phones. It really is a testament to how great the hard working developers of xda and the Android community are. Go ahead, read the story, it’s totally worth it.

[via xda-developers blog]