Tom's Hardware reports that the PSP 1.5 firmware has been cracked. The Japanese 1.0 firmware allowed for third-party applications to be installed, but with the US release of firmware 1.5 and up, this hasn't been possible. Reportedly, PSPs with 1.5 firmware installed are open to installing your own apps (e.g., browsers, emulators, etc), but those with higher firmwares, 1.5.1 and up, still lock their owners out of their device.
Nice to see Sony's engineers devoting so much time to subtracting value from their products, and Sony's customers devoting so much time to taking it back.
The Tom's Hardware coverage of this is remarkably hysterical and one-sided, focusing on some far-flung possibility of hackers figuring out how to reduce 1.6GB games so that they'll fit on Memory Sticks which can then be reproduced without payment. There's nothing substantial about the incredible creativity of the 1.0 firmware hacker community, who have turned the open Japanese PSPs into amazing machines, sporting many novel networking utilities, better media players, ebook readers, and homebrew game emulators for older handheld consoles. How disappointing.
(via Wonderland)
