George Hotz, known to most as serial exploiter Geohot, has been
keeping something of a fairly low profile of late. Then again, when
you’re used to jailbreaking consoles and smartphones
What started out as unlocking an original iPhone
for use on other networks soon snowballed into bigger fish, and within a
couple of years of making a name for himself, he was at the center of a
media frenzy concerning the PlayStation jailbreaks, the legal issues,
and the subsequent downtime of the entire PlayStation Network.
The New Yorker has a lengthy featurette on Hotz, which is certainly
makes for an interesting read. From the congratulatory e-mail from Steve
Wozniak upon unlocking the iPhone, he became the web’s most popular
face, and while he hasn’t been the center of attention just recently,
his zest and enthusiasm for the trade which made him famous is as potent
as ever.
He explains how his whole life is essentially "one big hack",
and unlike many other seemingly like-minded individuals, he doesn’t
have any agenda or reason for doing what he does other than for
stimulation.
I don’t hack because of some ideology . . I hack because I’m bored.
The mind is a wonderful thing, but in Geohot’s case, it’s something
quite phenomenal. He wrote his first computer program when he was just
five, and by fifth grade, he was piecing together his own games console
using an electronic-projects kit from Radio Shack. He gutted most of the
electric appliances around the house in search of inspiration, and when
he turned fourteen, he fended off competition from thousands of
students to reach the finals of the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair.
Later, he would make an appearance on the Today Show with a small,
wheeled robot he created, which was capable of plotting the dimensions
of a confined space by utilizing infrared sensors.
After dropping out of college, he spent most of his time back at home, exploring and exploiting gadgets.
He would regularly receive devices from those within the community, and
he made an even bigger name for himself when somebody sent him a
PlayStation 3 in December 2009, and on Boxing Day, he blogged:
The PS3 has been on the market for over three years now, and it is yet to be hacked . . It’s time for that to change.
Indeed, he was spectacularly successful, and the rap video he aimed
at Sony lawyers, while entertaining, also perhaps pointed to a backup
career he could call upon should he ever become disillusioned with the
gadgets!
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