Nook Torn Open, Hacked, and Rooted

wired.com

26 points·Freebytes··4 comments

The Nook is now a computer running a full Android operating system, with a built-in, free cellular connection to the internet.

I think you'll find this is not true.

In particular, in the Nook FAQ:

Your nook can connect to B&N Fast & Free Wireless networks in the United States. These networks are cellular data networks that are widely available. In areas without B&N Fast & Free Wireless coverage, you can rely on Wi-Fi to access network services. … Your nook CANNOT connect to other cellular data networks in the United States. It cannot connect to any international cellular data networks, including those in Canada and Mexico. …

I'd say they have created their own private cellular enclave and are in control of what comes and goes.

Regardless of their technical filtering, you should read your license carefully. I don't have a copy, but phrases like there is no charge for you nook's wireless capabilities do not imply that you can implement your own features and use their cellular service free of charge.

They should have a firewall rule up soon unless they want to bait some free loaders first.

That looks very nice and easy to hack on. As long as all the drivers are open-source. The lack of open drivers for the eInk displays used to be a serious problem. Not sure what the current status is.

A brief summary of the /.'d http://www.nookdevs.com/Rooting :

take off the plastic casing, remove the embedded microSD card, mount it as ext3 fs, `sed -i -e 's/^$.\+$adbd$.\+$disabled$.\+$$/\1adbd\2enabled\3/g' init.rc`, umount, put sd card back into nook, use android dev toolkit to connect to port 5555 and start a shell

This is kind of amazing to me. An open android device with free cellular internet access? If it has a mic this could replace my phone...

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