Posts by Puppeteer

Maybe they aren't really trying to get it unbreakable?

Locking down an embedded device properly is hard but not impossible - take a look at ADI's LockBox technology for the BlackFin.

Maybe they aren't really trying to get it unbreakable?

Make it hard enough to prevent 90% of the customers from churning, but leave a big enough hole so the other 10% buy and jailbreak the iPhone instead of going elsewhere.

I suspect that plenty of useful iPhone apps are written by propeller heads who would have refused a buy one if it was unbreakable.

If this was not intentional I really feel sorry for the guy who wrote the bootrom.

An assignment like that can only ever end badly. If someone finds a hole you are toast, but even if it does not happen quickly you never know that it won't eventually. And the longer it takes to be broken the more prestigious it becomes and as a result you have an army of hackers attacking a few K of code written by a handful of developers working to a deadline they did not set.

Almost a brilliant idea

It is a great idea, but in the way it is shown it requires much tighter tolerances than batteries are made to.

There is a reason why most battery holders have a spring on one end that allows for several percent variation in battery length.

It will also be hard to prove that it will not short circuit any type of battery.

Of course there are ways around both these problems, but either the mechanics will become fiddly or it will only work with some battery brands.

There surely has to be prior art though.