As everybody knows by now, both Nintendo DS and Sony PSP let you surf the web. The PSP got browser-power early on, but thanks to the Opera browser, the DS can surf the web, too.

But are they equal?

On the one hand:
To surf with the DS you need to buy the Opera cartridge for the DS cartridge slot and a RAM pack in the GBA slot (the RAM pack is for cache storage). We haven't heard any official word if Opera has an update in the works, but if there was an update...well, think about it: the Opera browser is lurking within the DS cartridge slot, so you'd probably have to take out that cartridge and buy a new cartridge with the update in it (maybe by trading in your old one?).

But on the other hand:
To surf with PSP, you only need a firmware update (as reader j commented in a previous article, "the psp is betta because its free"). If Sony has an update for your browser software, all you need to do is get it from Sony. Of course, for a number of you PSP users here at QJ, being forced to update firmware threatens your homebrew games and apps.

But on the other hand (assume I have four hands, OK?):
Surfing with the DS touchscreen is a magical, uplifting, and healing experience that paints rainbows in the skies. OK, that's an exaggeration, but the point is not only can you surf with the touchscreen, you can see the whole web page on one screen and a zoomed-in part of that page on the other. The only people who can experience that kind of two-screen surfing here at QJ are those whose PCs have two monitors. To use NonPartisanCon's words from a previous article, "it might push the mobile internet envelope as far as the handheld market is concerned" (that's a bit out of context; NonPartisanCon was just talking about DS browsing in general, but the words apply here).

But on the other hand (I'll have to start using my feet next):
Surfing with the DS is a slow process. Some pages don't load completely (maybe because they're timing out?). Or so they say (I haven't gotten a chance at it yet).

Finally (since I've run out of hands):
To end this PSP-versus-DS comparison, there's NonPartisanCon's very good point: "The real question, I suppose, is do you really need a browser built in to everything? This isn't a necessity but a luxury; so why even bother making comparisons?"

Our PSP forums have been abuzz lately with the talk of a possible new exploit centered around a libtiff vulnerability. Discussion started in our Developer's Dungeon when a message was relayed from NOPx86 stating that he'd managed to crash the PSP using this method. As those of you who follow these things know, a crash doesn't always mean an open door to an exploit.

But after a cumulative 60 hours of work and research put in by Skylark and psp250 (with a little help from Fanjita), they can confirm that NOPx86's method is indeed valid and opens the door for a new exploit. They have confirmed that it will work on 2.0 and 2.01 PSP's, and could potentially work on firmware as high as 2.80 - although at this moment, this is unconfirmed.

But even if this only works on lower firmwares, it will usher in the age of GTA-less homebrew for 2.01+ PSP's, which will be a welcome change for homebrew enthusiasts.

Work and research on applying this exploit into a publicly usable form will take some time, and it will take even more time to put this to use on PSP's with higher firmware, but there definitely are possibilities. As always, we'll keep you up to date on this developing story as soon as more information becomes available.

Feel free to check out the two topics on our forums discussing this latest breakthrough - please note that while the Developer Dungeon can be read by all registered users, only developers may post there so they can work without user interruption.

Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - Developer's Dungeon]
Read: [libtiff Exploit Discussion - PSP Hacks Forum]

[Digg it!]

Allow us to use a little simile here; weltall's homebrew application, CWCheat, could be likened to a bottle of good wine - it just gets better with age. In case you just have no idea what this app is, CWCheat is the first general purpose cheat device for devhook. weltall claims that it can cheat every devhook-compatible game under firmware emulation.

According to him, this works through raw-relative cheat codes like action replay, codebreaker, gameshark, xploder, etc. Other than those mentioned, it has support for other function which are useful for cheat finder and normal users.

Before using this app, it wouldn't hurt if you would read first the readme.txt (which comes in English and Italian) and the provided manuals, although the manuals weren't updated, it still is a big help. If you have suggestions, opinions and other what-nots, please do share them in the comments section. For now, here is the changelog.

[CORE PRX]

-now cheats are applied every 1/10000 sec (before was second*cheat delay)
-cheat delay is now control delay which mean how much seconds to wait  before checking the keys combinations
-now priority is 0x64, before was 0x1 (this means less priority)
-now when entering the cheat selection it waits for the X buttons to be released (this caused the always Y first cheat when entering the menu)
-now the buttons which are keep pressed will be repeated also in the main menu
-now usb autostart is correctly handled and usb is enabled when the prx is loaded
-corrected some graphic glitchs on the bottom of the screen of the main menu
-cheat DB format update: now the db can store also the enabled/disabled status of every cheat so it will automatically enable the cheats you choose. Now the old database format is deprecated: it still works but the support for it will be dropped on the next version. The new format changes only the _C (Cheat) entry now it's _C# where # is a 1 (enabled) or a 0 (disabled). If another number is found the cheat
will be disabled, if a space is found (only this version) the cheat will  be read as an old format cheat. To update your DB just replace the _C with _C0 (or _C1)
-now it's possible to edit on the go directly from the cwcheat menu the value field of a code.
-now the 32bit multi write code works correctly also if the adress isn't a power of 4. So condensed codes which didn't work before will work fine
-Now it's available a cheat search function from the game
-The cheat search function supports 8/16/32bit fixed value search
-Found adresses in the cheat search function are written to progressive file (pass0.txt, pass1.txt, etc.)
-You can return to game and then continue your search for codes.
-The resume fixed value search function shows the first 10 adresses found in the precedent search with the value of these adresses in hexadecimal and decimal format (usefull to avoid another search when  you have only a little number of adresses)
-some optimizations here and there

[INSTALLER]

-changed the restore icon to a restore/update icon to avoid mistakes

Download: [CWcheat v0.12]

If you head over to Sony's official playstation forums, you'll find the poll towards the top of the page asking what your firmware is.

This has got some people wondering.

• One popular question: "Is this poll a sign that Sony wants to know our versions?" One popular answer to that question: "Yes! Sony wants to know how many homebrew users there are so they can add better homebrew support to boost falling sales." That's a creative answer, and it might be true, but we're not entirely sure if that's likely.
• Another opinion: Sony doesn't want to know. The poll was probably started by some moderator or somebody else.
  

Regardless of what the motives for the poll might be, we were curious about the results: 67% use version 2.80 while 14% use versions 1.00 to 1.50.

Wait! Before you faint over those results, remember, they are based on those who answered that poll at the official site. It's not like it's a poll of QJ readers. After all, things are different over here at QJ. A lot of you are homebrew fans. Some of you have DevHook. So we're wondering...

What's your firmware version?

Feel free to click on "comments" below and share with us what your version is and any thoughts you have on it. Both gamers and homebrew developers form the core of our QJ community, and maybe it's time to know which version is most popular (who knows, Sony might really want to know).

Here's what we saw when we headed over to see the results:

DickyDick1969, has again updated his homebrew application PiMPStreamer, this time to v0.7. PiMPStreamer allows you to stream videos (AVI, MPG, MP3 etc) wirelessly from your PC to your PSP in real-time, without rescaling or muxing.

Here is what is new in v0.7:

• Addition of the latest ffmpeg svn dll's
• Addition of network selection and host selection
• Addition of other codecs
• Pre-work for images (not working fully as yet)

According to DickyDick196, more features will follow - he is just busy with the list! Also note that the latest PiMPStreamer has a changed ini (PSP), and so DickyDick1969 urges us all to check it out. PiMPStreamer has only been tested to work on firmware v1.5 PSPs.

Download: [PiMPStreamer v0.7]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]

Last November, we reported on a PSP website that offers downloadable trailers, wallpapers and new content for games. Now, the official PSP website is out in Europe for tons of downloads that will keep you happy all the time.

So what exactly can you find here? Lets see, they got tons of short films (currently 95 and counting), animation, wallpapers, pictures, animation, celebrity features, fashion stuff (which includes Paris Hilton on the catwalk), music, game trailers, software updates and bonus items. There are also specific categories such as cars and bikes, culture, events and travel for your various interests.

Whew. That was quite a mouthful. The best part of it? They're free! The not-so-good part? We're betting that you have to update your PSP all the time for you to get your hands on these lovely downloads (Remember our previous article on the v2.80 firmware?). An example would be the LocoRoco game demo which is available for PSPs that have system software 2.71 only, or the World Tour Soccer 2 game demo which requires v2.80 firmware.

Paranoia aside, maybe you'd like to check out the site to see what they have in store for PSP users.

Art from our forums has released yet another monster version of his X-Flash homebrew flashing/firmware modification program for the PSP, updating it to version 14. It's hard to believe that an application that started out so simple was released so long ago; and now look what it has evolved into! The feature list for this version is massive - Art has been very busy on this one. Not only has he released X-Flash v14, but also opened some X-Flash forums on his own website. Well done Art!

Now lets get back to business. Here's a list of what you can and can't do in X-Flash v14 according to Art:

Things you Can't do:
- Detection of iR Shell.
  No possibility of launching X-Flash from within iR Shell.
  Sorry, this is required. You can currently (Kerrang Build 5)  
  play mp3s which access the memory stick all the time.
- Signature check on data section of the X-Flash program file
  to prevent replacing/tampering of the program's built in files.
- Slightly relaxed free RAM rule implemented in the last version.
  (detect free RAM function by MPH).

Things you can do:
- Centered "Hello Nickname" welcome screen for everybody.
  nickupto25characterslongifthepspsuppor (Yes it does).
- Added "Memory Stick" string to the XMB menu editor.
  This can now be changed to anything like the other labels.
- Added five new X-Flash menu colour themes.
- Added a few more ASCII GUI effects and fixes.
- Detection of stuck down HOME, SELECT, and START buttons
  at startup. For people who have broken front buttons on their
  PSP, those buttons will be disabled independently, for everyone
  else, their operation is faster than the current version.
- Fixed message that says "Apply Custom XMB Labels"
  when using Auto Restore. it now says "Restore Default Labels".

Art has also given us a sneak preview of what you can expect in X-Flash v14a, and it involves more XMB customization! The ability to save custom XMB label sets as a file, and read from the file into the XMB label editor as well as an encryption routine making it possible to share your custom label file while keeping the content secret until opened with X-Flash.

Download: [X-Flash v14]
Visit: [X-Flash Website]
View: [Forum release thread]

Don't you just hate it when you thing you're all hooked up (excuse the pun) and DevHook suddenly decides to freeze when you try running Firmware 2.71 at 333mhz? Just a few days back, IndianCheese has shared a nifty trick with us to solve this issue. Today, another good Samaritan is sharing an alternative trick you may want to try; it even has WiFi working.

But before proceeding with the instructions, make sure that you have Harleyg's Custom Firmware Patch v0.2, as it is an essential part of this trick. Much thanks to ando2k6 for the tip!

Intructions:

• Cold boot your psp then flick the hold button down to go to recovery menu
• In recovery menu go to change clockspeed select 333
• Select back then click exit (should take you back to 1.5)
• Start devhook go to CPU clock select 333mhz then start it without UMD in drive
• Once loaded try your web browser it should work
• Then reboot psp fully (coldboot) select devhook again now select cpu clock select no change then start devhook
• Now have a fully overclocked psp with wifi working
• To prove it works press home and select to change cpu speed should change to 133 so it was stuck at 333 to change it back repeat the process

Download: [Harleyg's Custom Firmware Patch v0.2]

Okay, this may seem like a very stupid question, especially on a website that specialises on PSP gaming, homebrew and news. The thing is, it's true: Sony wouldn't like anybody calling the PSP just a gaming machine as this does make it seem like an updated version of the GBA. After all, Sony's PSP website does say that with the launch of the PSP, "The Portable Entertainment Revolution has arrived". Ever since its launch, the PSP has been described as an entertainment machine for use anyway, not just your simple gaming machine.

With the drastic failure of Sony's UMD format designed specifically for the PSP, is the PSP still an entertainment machine - or is it just a gaming machine? Sure you can still watch movies or listen to music from your memory stick, but it isn't the same as having off-the-shelf media in the form of films and music videos to just put in and play. Surely something that you have to spend ages converting can't be considered as a portable entertainment machine as you can't just access it straight away! You need the aid of a computer in order to pretty much do anything decent on the PSP.

Although this won't apply to most of the readers of this website, a large proportion of PSP owners wouldn't be able to get a movie in the correct format to play on their PSP. Call me stubborn for not reading a readme or/and FAQ, but I still remember the first time I tried to get my PSP to play an MP4 video, it took me hours to figure it out, and then more hours for it to convert.

The only way Sony can redefine their portable console as a portable entertainment gateway is through the release of digital media available directly to download on your PSP. In response to DRM'd media being available on the PSP, John Koller, Senior marketing manager for the PSP said “That’s still something we are debating here. We need to see how the Connect site works out.”

The Sony Connect website has supported the PSPs web browser for a while now, and once DRM has been secured for the PSP, I'm sure music and more copyrighted entertainment media will be available through this website. Maybe after better media hits the Sony Connect website we can call the PSP a portable entertainment revolution. Until then, we still have homebrew.

Visit: [Sony Connect PSP website]

Access_Denied from the forums is hard at work today as we can see from this latest release; Unit Converter v0.4 for PSPs using the 1.0 or 1.5 firmware. As of now, his program can convert weight, length, temperature, volume, area and the newly added data (Kilobytes and Megabytes).

Plenty of bugs have been fixed since his previous releases, and a few visual aspects have been tweaked. In the future we can hope to see even more improvements in the graphics department, support for more units, and possibly a new number input method. For now, be sure to download the release appropriate for your PSP.

Download: [Unit Converter v0.4 for 1.0 PSPs]
Download: [Unit Converter v0.4 for 1.5 PSPs]
Discuss: [Forum Release Thread]