Moving forward at Sony-sonic speed is Dark_AleX who has now successfully decrypted those modules specific to the PSP-3000.

Do note: this program is NOT for the PSP-3000 itself; it’s intended to run on the PSP Fat (1000) or Slim (2000). The decrypted modules are for research and educational purposes.

Download:
PSARDumper (w/ 5.01 support & PSP-3000 module decryption)
Official PSP Firmware Updates

- source: dark-alex

Hrm… Well, as far as I know, there’s no official confirmation from anyone just yet… But according to *cough* Datel, they’ve created what would seem to be a Pandora-like battery for both the PSP-2000 and the thought to be unhacked 3000 — alas, Datel’s Lite Blue Tool Service Mode Battery.

It’s said the battery will offer the ability to toggle between normal and service mode; as well, the Lite Blue Tool features a LED power gauge indicator for your convenience. Of course in service mode you’re given access to the PSP’s flash leaving the device fully hackable — downgrade, install a custom firmware, do whatever desired… Or so you’d think.

The Lite Blue Tool will be available November 28th retailing for $29.99 across North America and $19.99 in the UK.

Now the question is: speculation or realer than Real Deal Holyfield? I’d say it’s likely but we’ll know for sure in the coming days…

Quoting Datel — *cough* –

(more…)

Earlier emailed was this informative stop-motion video showcasing the PSP-3000 being disassembled: straight from its boxed state to its bare-ass outer shell, then back together again.

It actually reminded me of Acidmods’ time lapse video — only no hands and no gangsta beat. Don’t get me wrong; you can still grove to this…

- source: techrestore

According to Alek the new PSP-3000, well at least the first round of manufactured units, is actually equipped with a TA-090 motherboard — not the TA-88v3 you’ve read about. So if you have recently purchased the PSP-3000, there is still hope for complete hackability.

But wait a minute… Doesn’t the PSP-2000 (Slim) use the TA-090 motherboard? Yes, it does. Unfortunately Sony has introduced new protection for the PSP-3000. The good news: developers are taking a crack at it. We’ll keep you posted.

- source: sceners

Dark_AleX has released a simple tool to determine whether or not you’re a sucker with a [new] non-hackable hand-held. Copy each firmware EBOOT, both 3.90 and 4.05, to the root of your memory stick. Launch the TA-088v3 Identifier (GETIPL) from a homebrew-enabled PSP and it will extract and create the IPLs; if you’re good to go, the app should auto-exit in 10 seconds. This leaves you with an “ipl390.bin” and “ipl405.bin” file in the memory stick’s root.

Next, do this –

• Connect the PSP via USB.
• Format a memory stick with the included “mspformat” tool.
• Use “msinst” to install the 3.90 IPL onto the freshly formatted memory stick.
• Insert the memory stick into the PSP to be TA-088v3 tested.
• Turn it on with a Pandora Battery. Two (2) possible results:
  1. PSP immediately turns off — your PSP is NOT equipped with a TA-088v3 motherboard.
  2. PSP stays on with the green light — your PSP is a TA-088v3, or perhaps you’ve done something wrong. Continue…
• Connect the PSP via USB again.
• Repeat the above steps with the 4.05 IPL. Again, two (2) possible results:
  1. If the PSP turns off immediately with this IPL and it previously remained on with the green light — this indicates a TA-088v3 board.
  2. PSP and the green light remain on — you’ve likely done something wrong. Try again.

Whatever the indicator — the TA-088v3 ain’t hacked yet.

Download:
TA-088v3 Identifier
PSP 3.90 FW EBOOT (rename to 390.PBP)
PSP 4.05 FW EBOOT (rename to 405.PBP)

- source: dark-alex.org

Straight from the source — Dark_AleX verbatim…

When the PSP boots, the boot code (aka pre-ipl or ipl loader) loads the ipl from either the nand or memory stick. The IPL is splitted into pieces of 0×1000 bytes.

First 0xA0 bytes of each block is a header for the kirk hardware command 1. It contains keys, the size of the cipher data, and two hashes, one for part the header itself, and another one for the body. The 0xF60 remaining bytes are the ciphered body, which will decrypt to 0xF60 plain bytes… if the hashes, which are checked by kirk hardware itself, are OK. (Note: ciphered body can actually be less than 0xF60, in this case, remaining bytes are ignored… before TA88v3)

What has Sony added to fix this?

The answer can be found in 4.00+ slim ipl’s. They decreased the size of the ciphered body to 0xF40 to leave 0×20 bytes at the end of each block (at offset 0xFE0). In newest pre-ipl’s, these 0×20 bytes have a meaning.

…

…

This protection also destroys any possibility of downgrading below 4.00, as these new cpu’s won’t be able to boot previous firmwares ipl’s.

Summary: basically, all security of newest psp cpu’s rely on the secrecy of the calculation of those 0×20 bytes. If pre-ipl were dumped somehow, the security would go down TOTALLY.

And you know the real kicker? The yet-to-be released PSP-3000 will likely sport the new TA88v3 board.

- source / full article: dark-alex.org

According to the fine folks over at pspgen, Sony has issued firmware version 5.0 beta to legitimate PSP developers. This will of course allow commercial developers to adapt and ready their games for the next major firmware revision. Per the moment, the details are somewhat scarce…

For starters, pspgen reports firmware 5.0 will include these three updates:

1. Direct access to the PlayStation Store
2. A new RSS reader
3. An integrated “snapshot” tool; similar to FuSa screenShoot (?)

And that’s all we know for now… With respect to a release date, that also remains unknown. It’s speculated to hit around October with the release of the PSP-3000. Whatever the case, I certainly hope 5.0 sports a little more bang than those 3 specifics.

- source: pspgen (translated)

Sony’s revamped beauty, the soon to be released PSP-3000, packs a new set of configurable options in the firmware. Yup, we have it verbatim — over at IGN, via Famitsu.com — they’ve detailed the discovered changes. But first — the visual comparison…

(click to enlarge)

The PSP-3000 has a setting for “Color Space” under the system settings section of the XMB. This can be switched between Wide and Normal. Wide exploits the full color depth of the revised hardware, while Normal returns you back to PSP-2000 level color.

The 3000 firmware has an option for Automatic USB Connection. When this is switched on, the PSP switches to USB mode automatically when a USB device is connected.

Finally, the 3000 firmware offers a noise reduction feature for video out. This is used to cut the noise when outputting the PSP’s video signal to a television.

And while we’re on the subject of firmware changes; Sony Japan announced come fall we’ll be able to download games/demos, amongst other goodies, direct from the PSN store. That means no need for a PC or PS3. This update will be available for all PSP models.

Now return to the premiere of 90210.

- source: ign

…And its got the built-in mic and the PS button.

Quoting John Koller –

• The LCD screen will have a wider color gamut and higher contrast ratio to deliver deeper, more vibrant colors, as well as anti-reflection technology so you can see the screen more clearly when playing outdoors. As you all know, the PSP’s screen is a key strength of the hardware, and this update adds an absolutely dazzling LCD screen to the handheld.
• A built-in microphone allows for Skype calls and multi-player gaming communication directly from the hardware - eliminating the need for attaching a separate headset.

- source: blog.us.playstation.com

Throw your Slim in the garbage, looks like the rumoured PSP-3000 has some truth behind it after all…

While most FCC details remain confidential, Engadget shares their investigative insight on what’s what — “…the FCC’s tests were all focused on the 2.4GHz spectrum for the PSP-3001’s stated use of 802.11b WiFi (nothing new there) — no GPS, no 802.11 Draft-n, no Bluetooth.”

Sony is likely to formalize an announcement soon; perhaps we’ll know more at that time. Stay tuned.

- source: engadget