Hacking the PSP Blog

Team C+D Releases 2.80 Kernel Access Exploit Proof Of Concept

Team C+D recently announced that they have found a vulnerability in 2.80 allowing kernel access. As some of you may know, this has been the reason behind no being able to downgrade a 2.80 PSP. As the title indicates, this is just a proof of concept so there isn't a downgrader or the ability to run kernel mode applications, yet. The proof of concept application runs using eLoadr after compiling the EBOOT. After some initial testing, some believe that this vulneability has not been patched in the most recent version of the of the PSP system software (3.03). This should be great news for those of you running 2.80 (or maybe higher) that haven't been able to downgrade your firmware. So keep your eyes and ears out for kernel mode applications running on 2.80!

Download 2.80 Kernel Access POC

Via PSPUpdates

Firmware 3.0 OE-A Coming Soon

Dark_Alex will soon be releasing a modified version of the 2.71 SE firmware that runs the 3.02 VSH. He's calling it 3.0 OE-A for "Open Edition." I will post the firmware as soon as I hear about it's release but below is a rundown of the features provided by Mathieulh.

Unchanged since 2.71SE-C:

• Can run homebrews using 1.50 kernel (same compatibility as 2.71 SE-C)
• Recovery menu
• Built-in iso/cso support (appears in the vsh under the GAME menu)

Changed since 2.71SE-C:

• Runs 3.02 vsh
• Can run homebrews using 3.02 kernel

Removed since 2.71SE-C:

• Location Free player
• Korean fonts

Added since 2.71SE-C:

• UMD-VIDEO Region free
• PSP kernel Region selector
• O/X button selector
• WMA enabeling option
• Flash player Enableing option
• Pops (SCE psone emulator) single psp protection hacked

Via DCEmu

What Japan thinks of the PSP and DS battle

Not even a Sony fanboy can avoid admitting that the Nintendo DS is selling at a much brisker pace than the PSP. Regardless of our second place position, I still find it interesting to see what Japan thinks of our favorite handheld machine. "What Japan Thinks" has a report from over 7000 Japanese individuals on their gaming habits. Here are some of the highlights:

• Only 10.7% of people surveyed have a PSP, compared to Nintendo DS's 32.3%.
• 14.7% of PSP owners use it every day. (Do you?)
• Although both the PSP and DS are portable, the number one place the system is played is at home: 94.2%. Personally, the subway is where I get most of my PSP playing done.
• Brain training games are easily the most popular kinds of handheld games, coming in at 54.6%
• A shocking number of people have not used any of PSP's non-gaming features: 43.1%
• 25.2% of surveyed individuals want a PSP in the future, versus the DS's 59.4%.
• Only 20.3% of people want a PS3. Only 15% want a Wii. (But 17% want both.)

Make with these numbers what you will. While it may be easy to say that "PSP is t3h d00m3d!!1" I think that a 25% desirability rate is still very high. It's certainly higher than the number of people that wanted Gamecubes or Xboxes, both of which have lived fairly great console lives. Can Sony increase the PSP's desirability by focusing solely on games? Are you like the Japanese: do you not find value in PSP's non-gaming functionality?

Andrew Yoon
December 21, 2006

Source: PSP Fanboy

Chotto Shot Review

From Gamebrink:

Then comes the biggest drawback of the whole package. The camera is only 1.3MP. Yep thats right, it worse than most camera phones on the market today which you can get for free just by signing up. It does have digital zoom and a small selection of picture resolutions you can capture to, but really whats the point at freaking 1.3 Mega Pixels. I suppose if the Edit software was incredibly awesome and a huge step ahead for mobile picture and video editing this package might be worth it but as it stands you should probably just stick with your cellphone unless youre a gadget freak like myself.

Chotto Shot is import friendly to a point. The main menu is in English and its pretty easy to capture media but the editing options are all in Japanese and somewhat hard to figure out. Though, if you go through some lengthy trial and error, youre sure to figure everything out.

Pros

• Its a camera and its for the PSP

Cons

• 1.3 Mega Pixel
• 15 second video length
• Worthless editing options
• Worse than most free camera phones

Read the full review here...

Pixer Fixer: save yourself from pixel death

The problem with calling crait without using the capital "C" is that we can't start any sentences with his name. It's a small price, however, for the nifty app he's told us about, which is now available to PSP users everywhere.

The app we're talking about is called the Pixer Fixer. Instead of downloading large videos to help dislodge those stuck pixels on your display, you can use the 150kb app to do it for you. It does its job by randomly printing thick lines on your Sony handheld to keep pixels from getting caught. For people with small memory cards, an app like this is going to be a very welcome addition to their utilities.

According to crait, it will work on 1.0 and 2.00+ PSPs, and will also work on 1.5 with custom firmware installed. It's an eboot, so you shouldn't have any problems with installing it. In any case, here are his instructions for using the app:

• Go to the Game icon on your PSP's XMB.
• Click X then find the icon that has the title "PixerFixer By crait." And once again, press X.
• Run this program for about 1 minute, changing the brightness setting of your PSP system every 2-4 seconds.

Simple, right? Enjoy!

Download Pixer Fixer

Source: PSPUpdates

Video rundown of MAPLUS Portable Navi

PSP-Vault management consultant sar7501 was kind enough to put together a short video that demonstrates Edia's "MAPLUS Portable Navi" software for us.

MAPLUS Portable Navi is navigation software that takes advantage of the recently released PSP GPS receiver. Unfortunately, neither product has been released here in the USA. We're yet to see a GPS receiver, and we're yet to see navigation software to go with it. The closest we can get here in the US is Deniska's MapThis homebrew.

But just to give you an idea of what such software might be like when/if it's released in the US, we'll take a closer look at MAPLUS Portable Navi. Click on for details.

Read the full text here...

Check out the video here...

Source: PSP-Vault