Here's another homebrew shell program for the PlayStation Portable brought to us by developer mov. Entitled "Flux - Beta 1", it packs a lot of standard features found in similar applications and features a very clean cut look for an initial release. For more details regarding this neat app, check out our full article after the jump.

Download: Flux - Beta 1
Visit: QJ.NET's PSP Development forum

Homebrew developer Phosphorous just updated his homebrew application, The Good Bookr for the Sony PlayStation Portable, to add a very convenient search feature for all your Bible reading needs. Check out the full article for more details.


Download: The Good Bookr v1.1

Ever wanted to read the Bible on your Sony PlayStation Portable? One of those homebrew applications that let you do that has been released by homebrew developer phosphorous. The Good Bookr is based on the Bookr e-book reader, which is a standalone program that uses SQLite to get the Bible text you want.

More details at the full article!



Download: The Good Bookr v1.0

If you remember and loved the PSP homebrew PDF reader Bookr from Carlos Carrasco Martinez (ccm304) and Edward Choh (edwardchoh), then you'll probably like this new release of the nifty app. PlayStation Portable homebrew developer Mr305 has released a version that is mainly for the PSPs running on FWs 3.xx and 1.50.

More info at the readme and at the full article.


Download: Bookr v0.7.1

You gotta give snaps to people who never quit improving their work. And by people, we mean Ben and Dave, makers of this uber cool email client for the PSP called PSPoste.

If you guys were able to catch PSPoste Beta 1, you'll see that this nifty app has indeed gone a long way. After fixing some issues and cleverly updating the homebrew app to include Gmail and Yahoo support, they're now back to bring us another bumped up version.

So, curious as to what nifty new things have been added in Beta 4? I'll give you guys a clue: why sizzle, when you can swizzle? Hahaha. Never mind, just check out the changelog.

Changelog:

• Interface and email text now rendered with TrueType Fonts. Thanks to FreeType and the Bookr project for the code.
• Skin and font textures are now swizzled.
• Rendered fonts and skin pngs are now cached in their swizzled state. That means rendering of the .ttf and .png files will only happen the first time the app is launched, subsequent launches/quits will be much quicker.
• We no longer ship with "default" settings and contacts xml files. They will be automatically generated at runtime if they don't exist. This means users no longer need to backup their settings.xml and contacts.xml files when upgrading.
• Fix a crash and some rendering bugs in CText.

INSTALL/UPGRADE NOTES: unzip the PSPoste_Beta4_FW15.zip file to your PSP/GAME directory. Existing settings, contacts and mail will be preserved.

Naturally, we here at QJ would host the files ourselves to make it easier for you guys but Ben and Dave have requested for us to just link to their download site, so that's what we'll do. Just note though that we wave the disclaimer flag on this one as we cannot be held responsible for any files that we don't host, but not to worry, it's all legit, people. So with that, we'll just leave you with the "Read" link, which will lead you directly to the devs' site. Enjoy!

Legendary shell coder Ahman has released 2 new plugins for all of those iR Shell users out there today, the first being PMP Mod v2.02 and the second BookR v0.7.1. iR shell is probably the best shell program for the PSP out there at the moment, supporting a variety of plugins, skins and features a very nice menu system since the last update to iR Shell v2.0. These plugins further increase the functionality of iR Shell, allowing you to play PMP movies and read txt, HTML or PDF files directly from the iR shell file browser.

Ahman's BookR v0.7.1 plugin allows you to view txt, HTML or PDF files from the iR shell file browser using the latest version of the Bookr document reader which adds the ability to read Chinese, Japanese and Korean text amongst other updates.

Ahman's PMP Mod v2.02 is a plugin for the latest version of Jonny's PMP Mod Which allows you to watch full resolution video files on your PSP, generally outputting a smaller file than PMP MP4 converted media. This plugin allows you to play PMP movies directly from the iR Shell file browser.

Download: [BookR v0.7.1 iR Shell plugin]
Download: [PMP Mod v2.02 iR Shell plugin]

Carlos and Edward have updated their popular homebrew PDF and text file reader to version 0.7.1, adding bug fixes and a new feature that Korean and Japanese readers will be pleased to hear about whilst increasing stability and fixing a few notorious memory leaks. Bookr is a document reader for the PSP that currently supports plan text (.txt) PDF, and new for this release, text-only basic HTML files. Here's a rundown of all the improvements you can find in this release:

• Added support for PDF files with Chinese, Japanese and Korean text
• Added a memory usage counter
• Added single line scroll for the analog pad in the text viewer
• Bookr will now try to block images from loading in PDF files when it is running low on memory
• Fixed many memory leaks in the image loader for PDF files. Bookr can load and display PDF files with more images than before.
• Fixed memory leaks releasing the PDF viewer singleton Restored full page scroll with cursor buttons
• Fixed font corruption for large font sizes in the text viewer
• Fixed page positions in the text viewer after changing the font size and/or font rotation. Bookmarks for text files are not compatible with older releases.

Thanks for the tip Humbertox!

Download: [Bookr v0.7.1]
Download: [Bookr v0.7.1 source code]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Passengers riding on first class 'green car' seats in Japan's Hyate trains are going to be offered PSPs on a rental basis. This is after the deal between Sony Computer Entertainment Japan and the East Japan Railway Company has been signed, making the said service applicable from October 1st 2006 to March 31st 2007. Only customers who buy a travel package through View, Japan Railways East's official travel agency will be eligible for the PSP rental service.

This campaign is an effort by SCEJ to bring the PSP to a wider market, and open the eyes of Japanese businessmen to the power of the PSP on their journeys. Obviously, this allows Sony to reach more age groups, instead of the traditional casual gamer, attracting businessmen/women who have free time every day just commuting to work.

The rental package consists of the PSP, headphones with in-line remote, and software titles selected by Sony Japan. Of course, if Sony provided 1.5 PSPs with a homebrew application that allows you to read ebooks such as Bookr, I'm sure they'd be more pleased with the package - until they heard that newer PSP firmwares don't run homebrew that is.

After a couple of quick and timely bug fixes to v0.42, Booster has now released version 0.43 of his very popular and useful device hook. Now this version allows you to launch another firmware version, up to 2.60, and use almost all of its features, including use of the web browser and LocationFree player, and the ability to run UMDs that require firmware version 2.60. The firmware remains loaded in the PSP's RAM, so after a simple reboot of your PSP, it will return to firmware version 1.5 like magic.

With that, we come to what this post is really all about, the V0.42b -> V0.43 changelog (courtesy of QJ.Net's trusty Jeff C.):

- FW2.60 reboot supported (A part of the installer is not supported yet).
- It is now possible for users to specify the load address for rebooting.
- UMD read callback changed from 1 sector to multiple sectors.
- The return value of dhGetVersion() changed from 0x00420002 to 0x00430000.
- Now DevHook will be started when starting the launcher.
- Launcher modified, 0.42b/0.43 new settings, menu construction, display layout.
- Plain20.prx and plain25.prx now unified into plain2x.prx.
- Append to stack when performing flashEMU.
- Added a shortcut key for exiting DevHook when rebooted.
- Fixed a bug in v0.42b that you cannot set the clock.

Of course, Devhook, like every homebrew projects around, is a work in progress. The evolution of this awesome piece of work can be seen by clicking here. Here's a list of issues Booster is looking into fixing come Devhook's next release:

- NO-UMD for FW2.00
- NAND driver emulation

I don't think I really need to reiterate the importance of this post, a quick look will give you that. But for the sake of the new owners of FW 1.50 (those who just downgraded their 2.50/2.60 PSPs), this version will now give you the full enjoyment of playing UMDs that require 2.60, browse the web, and run homebrew applications, games, and emulators on your PSP!

Update: There indeed was a fix for Devhook 0.43 released. This update provides WiFi in 333mhz mode. the features of the web browser AND RSS. Let's not forget the addition of a working home button. We have updated the download provided below. Thanks to CoBrA2168 and others for the tip. ;)

Download: [Devhook v0.43 Source Code] (fix)

Note: For those of you who were quick enough to catch a brief glimpse of an update (not the fix), the file was indeed fake and a copy of BookR - check out the on going thread in our forums for more details.


Update 2: There has been some concerns from various users that the latest devhook version damages some files loaded on the memory stick; well as always, Booster has a quick fix to that. In this latest release, a countermeasure was created to prevent that from happening. (Thanks to TrueCrisis for the heads up.) There are other changes which are:

- Carried out a countermeasure to prevent damaging the files on memory stick.
- Return value of dhGetVersion() changed from 0x00430000 to 0x00430100.
- Source code cleanup.

Download: [Devhook v04.31]

UPDATE 3: Booster is once again releasing a quick update to his devhook app, this time he aims to fix the browser freeze experienced by quite a good number of people who tried the previous releases. Here's the list of the changes for this version:

- Increase stack number when accessing files > The countermeasure for browser freeze under FW2.60-333MHz.
- Clock changes will take effect after 5 seconds > The countermeasure for the problem that cannot return to XMB at 333MHz.
* Version code will be omitted from the future versions.

Download: [Devhook V0.43.0101]

Dagowatt from the iR Shell forums has released a couple of applications for users of iR Shell that use the Mac operating system on their PC. These applications are USBhostfs and nethostfs, the two applications that allow iR Shell to interface with your PC and load files from it. Both of these were included with the latest release of AhMan's iR shell v1.6, but until now were only compatible with Windows and Linux. USBhostfs allows you to view and execute applications using files from your PC via USB cable, with nethostfs doing the same but via WiFi. It's like having your PC hard drive in your memory stick slot!

nethostfs for Mac OSX v0.5B

Features:
- Copy files or directories from MS0:
- Launch Homebrew Applications from server (your PC)
- Bookr Plugin works

Bugs:
- Zip/RAR plugin currently not working

USBhostfs for Mac OSX v0.02B

Features:
- iR Shell plugin Compatible (Open Zip, Rar, JPG, TXT etc.)
- DevHook USB mod compatible
- Progress indicator to show data sending

Bugs:
- No MP3 Playback as of yet
- Copying .jpg images to MS0: currently corrupts the file

As you can see, not all of the features are currently working on Mac OSX, but this is a great start! Dagowatt is continuing to work on this so expect more updates in the future!

Download: [nethostfs for Mac OSX v0.5B]
Downlaod: [USBhostfs for Mac OSX v0.02B]