Read more: Irish hacker cracks iPod nano code - SEE VIDEO

Irish student James Whelton recently addressed a web summit in Dublin speaking about how he became the first person in the world to hack the iPod Nano.

During his speech the 17-year-old described himself as an entrepreneur, a social media “connoisseur,” and in his spare time a Leaving Certificate student.

He told the crowd how after his hacked the sixth generation iPod Nano he gained massive public exposure in Ireland and around the world.

When the Cork student won an iPod Nano in December 2010 he immediately started to hack his new device, as a result of boredom more than anything else.

He started experimenting with the Nano and soon familiarized himself with the new system.
Whelton set himself a goal: “I basically figured out with some bash scripting that I could force the Nano to boot up a modified file,” he said.

The student documented his findings on his blog, “Hello Nano.”  He also used Twitter and YouTube to as a platform for his findings.

Soon after he sent details of his hacking achievements over the Internet, the news spread like wildfire.

“I sat back and watched in amazement that something that I had done purely out of boredom was now becoming so popular on the web.  I started gaining twitter followers at a rapid rate.

“The next day I woke up and saw my name on some of the biggest online blogs … it felt awesome,” he said.

Whelton has now set up a computer club in his school, and he teaches his fellow students on a weekly basis.

He is hoping to start his first business later this year after he finishes school. He plans on studying computer science in University College Cork.

Read more: Irish hacker cracks iPod nano code - SEE VIDEO