iPod Nano Hacks: Custom Firmware Files, DFU Mode

Following James Whelton’s discovery of the possibility to bypass the iPod Nano 6G cache comparison to install blank spaces on the device and remove apps from its Springboard, well-known developer Steven Troughton-Smith has figured out a way to put the Nano in DFU mode (which, in iTunes, will return the device to its default factory settings) and send custom firmware files to it. This is the same method of installing custom firmware on jailbroken iPhones and iPads and make those devices recognize the files as signed and valid, although the Nano method is still a concept and needs some more hacking and work before it becomes a real “jailbreak”.

Troughton-Smith, however, managed to get two encrypted files, send them to the device and have them executed on the unit’s reboot. Using a modified version of popular jailbreak utility iRecovery and the extract2g tool to get the files from Nano’s OS, he believes this will certainly inspire other devs to start tinkering with the Nano 6G and start creating proof-of-concept apps.

Check out the demo video below. I don’t know what kind of “apps” it’d be cool to have on the Nano, but a mini Instapaper would be great. I think. Or Angry Birds. [9to5 via Steven Troughton-Smith]