So last week Apple Inc. released its expected iPhone re-locker, a bit of firmware that turned previously hacked open iPhones into expensive pocket-sized bricks. Take that, you anti-corporate scamps. It took the unauthorized Apple development community all of 48 hours to figure out how to re-un-lock their phones by downgrading the firmware to its original state. The trick, as detailed by KMAC1985 on the Hackint0s So last week Apple Inc. released its expected iPhone re-locker, a bit of firmware that turned previously hacked open iPhones into expensive pocket-sized bricks. Take that, you anti-corporate scamps. It took the unauthorized Apple development community all of 48 hours to figure out how to re-un-lock their phones by downgrading the firmware to its original state. The trick, as detailed by KMAC1985 on the Hackint0sh forum: holding down the power and home buttons for 10 seconds, then releasing the power button and restoring the old firmware. This apparently works for at least some iPhones.The score as we head into the third inning: Hackers 2, Apple 1. Meanwhile, as some users grumble about a class action suit against the Apple/AT&T Axis, comes news that the Apple Newton may be making a comeback. No, I have not been huffing oven cleaner again. According to AppleInsider, developers inside Apple have been working for the last 18 months to re-animate the long lost equally beloved and belittled Newton, last seen in the wild sometime in 1995. The New-Newt, allegedly on track to appear next year, will look like the iPhone on the Karen Carpenter diet — almost painfully thin, with a stylus and a ‘slate’ you can write on. Think ultra-mobile PC, only without the hopeless geek factor. (Thanks to Cringester S. C. for alerting me to this tidbit.) True or not, it’s pretty clear that a pocket friendly ultra mobile always connected device is inevitable. And given who is vying to control this market, Apple has both the engineering and marketing savvy to pull it off, as well as a substantial lead with the iPhone. (Like who else is going to do it — Microsoft?) And if they come out with another proprietary our-way-or-the-highway device you can be sure that somebody will find a way to hack it (and hack it, and hack it again). That’s something to take comfort in.Has your iPhone been brought back from the dead? Post your thoughts below or email them here. Top tipsters will receive some cool and frosty swag. Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business