Kids Making Money: Hacking iPhones and Catching Baseballs

Tenacity and Determination

This is an interview that George Hotz did about how he unlocked the iPhone. (A fact which he announced on his blog on August 21st.) Determined to use his iPhone on his T-mobile service, he reverse engineered it (over 500 hours of time) and made it so he can use it with his Tmobile service. He shared it on his blog and youtube (and has his own wikipedia entry!)

He asks for a one on one talk with Steve Jobs! I love it! What I love, this student is seventeen and look at how eloquent he is! (He attended Bergen County Academies, a magnet public high school in New Jersey.)

Being at the Right Place at the Right Time

Oh, and by the way, the twenty one year old kid who caught Barry Bond's homerun setting ball, is set to begin the auction at http://www.scpauctions.com/.

Although the path to riches and albeit perhaps temporary fame can be achieved by either luck or hard work. Those who stay there (if that is something to be pursued) stay there via hard work.

We've discussed this extensively in my classes and comparing these two cases makes for interesting conversation with teenagers.

tag: George Hotz, iphone, innovation, education, teaching