Google may not have opened up software development tools for its Google TV platform yet, but that doesn’t mean that others haven’t decided to take the matter into their own hands. A group calling itself GTVHacker Dev Team has already cracked the code – in part through physically cracking the TV itself and soldering wires together – in response to a $1000 bounty being offered to the first person to jailbreak the system.
The bounty was offered by Android developer Howard Harte back in November last year, but it took until last Wednesday for the team to successfully hack the system and provide video proof.
The jailbreak gives developers a headstart on working on software for the platform, as well as giving Google some food for thought about how secure their systems should be in future. Sadly, for all their hard work, GTVHacker Dev Team didn’t win $1000, as Harte explained:
The actual bounty paid was $500, since the rooting process involved a hardware hack. The $1000 bounty was for a software-only hack, which unfortunately did not happen. The original terms of the bounty stated that ‘a partial consideration of $500 will be given for a hardware hack’ and that a hardware hack is defined as any hack which involves opening the Google TV device.
The remaining $500 couldn’t have been given for showing initiative?
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