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Super Tuesday iPod touch Easter Egg

by Erica Sadun Feb 5th 2008 at 11:00AM

You have so got to love Apple. If you own a jailbroken iPod touch and have bought the January Software Upgrade, navigate yourself over to /private/var/mobile/Applications. There, you'll find your nikita_receipt.plist. Open it in your favorite property list editor, copy the payload (from <data> to </data>) and use your favorite online base64 converter to decode.

Perhaps Apple engineers wish they could vote for Lincoln this time around.

Thanks to the amazing DRP Team and pumpkin, and Francis who gave us the heads up on this

A sample of the Easter Egg...

RmVsbG93LUNvdW50cnltZW46IEF0IHRoaXMgc2Vjb25kIGFwcGVhcmluZyB0byB0YWtl
	IHRoZSBvYXRoIG9mIHRoZSBQcmVzaWRlbnRpYWwgb2ZmaWNlIHRoZXJlIGlzIGxlc3Mg
	b2NjYXNpb24gZm9yIGFuIGV4dGVuZGVkIGFkZHJlc3MgdGhhbiB0aGVyZSB3YXMgYXQg
	dGhlIGZpcnN0LiBUaGVuIGEgc3RhdGVtZW50IHNvbWV3aGF0IGluIGRldGFpbCBvZiBh
	IGNvdXJzZSB0byBiZSBwdXJzdWVkIHNlZW1lZCBmaXR0aW5nIGFuZCBwcm9wZXIuIE5v
	dywgYXQgdGhlIGV4cGlyYXRpb24gb2YgZm91ciB5ZWFycywgZHVyaW5nIHdoaWNoIHB1
	YmxpYyBkZWNsYXJhdGlvbnMgaGF2ZSBiZWVuIGNvbnN0YW50bHkgY2FsbGVkIGZvcnRo
	IG9uIGV2ZXJ5IHBvaW50IGFuZCBwaGFzZSBvZiB0aGUgZ3JlYXQgY29udGVzdCB3aGlj
	aCBzdGlsbCBhYnNvcmJzIHRoZSBhdHRlbnRpb24gYW5kIGVuZ3Jvc3NlcyB0aGUgZW5l
	cmdpZXMgb2YgdGhlIG5hdGlvbiwgbGl0dGxlIHRoYXQgaXMgbmV3IGNvdWxkIGJlIHBy

Fellow-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured...



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You have so got to love Apple. If you own a jailbroken iPod touch and have bought the January Software Upgrade, navigate yourself over to...
 

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22 Comments

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Marcello

Now, if instead of wasting time putting easter eggs in their software someone worked on getting the damn macbook pro airport working in 10.5...

M

February 06 2008 at 3:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Allan Marcus

I think it's there for copyright purposes. They put in commented text, or stuff like this so that if someone copies the code, they can point to this text (and other text like) and say "See, they are using our stuff."

February 05 2008 at 11:03 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Allen

Whatever. Where's album shuffle?

February 05 2008 at 2:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Luigi193

I love easter eggs...

February 05 2008 at 1:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bram de Beijer

it is just proof of the Infinite monkey theorem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem

Nice going apple chimps ;-)

February 05 2008 at 1:52 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joey

What's this? Emancipation Proclamation for the iPhone from the evil monopolist named Apple? Hurray.

February 05 2008 at 1:00 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff Harrell

I don't think this is an Easter egg. The text has been hex-encoded. I think it's a cryptographic string of some kind. Not a secret key or anything, obviously, since it's just sitting in a property list file. But maybe it's a seed used for a random-number generator or something?

What would you need a long hexadecimal number for on the iPod Touch?

February 05 2008 at 12:16 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Jeff Harrell's comment
Mo

It's only in hex because that's how binary data's encoded in property list files; you'll get the actual ASCII text (though encapsulated in a binary data object) if you read it as intended.

I'd hazard a guess that the data block gets crytographically signed by iTunes when you buy the upgrade pack, and the block and signature together tell the iPod to enable the additional features.

The “easter egg” would therefore be the fact they picked *that* text, rather than a random string.

February 05 2008 at 12:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ian

It's not hex - it's base64.
;^)

February 05 2008 at 4:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mo

Presumably, you'll also find it if you unzip ~/Library/iTunes/Mobile Applications/iPod touch App Pack 4A93.ipa

February 05 2008 at 12:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Don Incognito

I remember the days of System 7 when Apple and Mac software was full of easter eggs. "About the Finder", anyone? Or Breakout? Or how about clicking on the version number of some control panel and getting a little treat?

It's really a shame that Jobs nixed the easter eggs after he returned. They were fun!

February 05 2008 at 12:04 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Don Incognito's comment
nosidam

The US government will not buy software that has "undocumented features" which is why easter eggs have disappeared.

February 05 2008 at 8:34 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
norman Ferguson

This is a quotation from Abraham Lincoln's 2nd inaugural address (for those who are not familiar with the minutia of American history).

February 05 2008 at 12:02 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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