Ok a few notes about QuickPwn.  Compared to Pwnage Tool, it makes it much easier for the novice to jailbreak an iPhone or iPhone 3g or ipod touch.  I did not test this on a “clean” iPhone as mine was already jailbroken the first time.  But, iphone dev doesn’t have any notes that say you can’t do it on clean iphones.  So here is the tutorial on how to do this on an already jailbroken iphone 3g, as always backup first, do at your own risk, yada yada, most likely doing it on a clean iPhone works exactly the same way.

Also you have to be at 2.02 in order for this to work.  I’ll walk you through that update if you haven’t already.

1.

Browse out to http://blog.iphone-dev.org and pull down the QuickPwn file from there site or through bit-torrent.  Remember to use the native archive utility and not “unarchiver”.  Once you have this downloaded and extracted chill out a moment and fire up iTunes.

2. Ask yourself this question: “Do I feel lucky?”  Then decide that you haven’t and backup your iPhone.  You should have already but I wanted to remind you again.

Once you have iTunes started and your iPhone plugged in you should get this message, choose to download and install.

3. Click on Next for the update, as you can see it says “bug fixes”.  Can we get any more generic?

4. Agree to sell your soul to Steve and click next.

5. Now when you do this, you may think, what the hell, the screen disapeared.  Steve’s come to collect my soul early! No like all iTunes downloads it just put it in the download section.

6. Soon as it finishes you’ll get this screen

7. And then this one…

8. And then…

9. Boom done, you’re at 2.02 Apple legit software and if you had any jailbroken apps they are gone.  Your iphone should reboot and you’ll get the old favorite apple logo.

10. Now you can fire up QuickPwn. Double click to launch the goodness.

11. Click Ok that you have been warned. You should know the drill you can’t hold them, or me or anyone else but yourself responsible for bricking your iphone.

12. Keep following ye’ old onscreen instructions, your device should already be connected so just click ok, or it may have just jumped right to detecting your device.  Mine was rebooting when I took this so it popped up right after this.

13. Next it should popup with this screen. Basically it is going to go out and look for the 2.02 firmware on iTunes.  You don’t need to re-download or do anything, I had to close iTunes after a minute, but clicking Yes makes QuickPwn do the work and it worked so I didn’t run into any thing too out of the ordinary aside from not expecting it to fire up iTunes. If you didn’t get this or its finished or you’ve done this before just click the device and it should continue.

14. As mentioned before here and on the dev site you don’t get the option to choose how your custom firmware package is built, this puts it all in.  So put in your username/pass and click “ok.”

15. Ok so I didn’t get the immediate next screenshot, but basically we’re repeating the same steps as you should already know to get your phone into DFU mode.  Follow the steps on screen.  In case you have never done this before, look at your screen you’ll just follow the on screen prompts and if you have problems still check the bottom of this post for a tip on DFU mode.

16. And we’re holding…

17. And we’re holding… and boom, you’ll see it automatically sends the firmware as opposed to the crazy stuff you had to do with Pwnage Tool.

18. And here is where it gets tricky.   It took 2-5 minutes aproximately but it rebooted.  Then my phone just hung there.  I went out and checked online others were saying that they just re-did everything and freaked out.  Some say they waited 20 minutes, or they rebooted and it would continue to just hang at the pinapple.   See below.

19.  For me, I watched it reboot after 5 minutes the first time.  Then it hung there for about 10 minutes.  I started to get pissed, but I held down the home button and power button to turn it off.  I then powered it back on again, let the pinapple sit for a couple minutes and boom.  It came up fine, jailbroken, nothing wrong.   Cydia, Installer, all came back, I didn’t have to restore my music from iTunes after the fact or do anything else wonkey which made the experience much less painful.

If you had problem getting the phone into DFU mode follow DJ Felix’s method:

* Turn off the iPhone
* Hold the home button
* Plug it into USB
* Watch for DFU mode

Anyway Comment below, if you saw something else or experienced something else please share as it could help others.

First things first, the tutorials for the PC seem to actually be easier.  Also a lot of the Mac tutorials left off a key step - holding down the option key when clicking the restore function.  For someone who has never done this before the other tutorials mostly assume that you know what you are doing.  This tutorial will cover how to jailbreak your recently updated 2.01 version iPhone or iPhone 3g. 

Note: This tutorial is for iPhone running 2.01 version software, and for Pwnage Tool 2.0.2 on an Apple Mac.  While it may work for future releases the screens may not look the same.  A PC version of this tutorial will follow.  Make sure you have a backup of everything you have on your iPhone, and make sure that iTunes does a backup prior to starting this.

Why should I jailbreak?

I mean, with the App store, the main reason people did it before was because you couldn’t install other applications, now there are lots of applications and all developers can now get their software on it right?

Wrong.  Apple has strict, slow, approval process and quite often they remove apps without telling the developers - just look at the box office fiasco. Also, with jailbreaking you can customize what your iphone looks like, all the menus, icons, battery indicators you can individualize your iPhone which is a big factor for me. See screenshot below of how you can customize your iPhone.

Winterboad Theme program

How do I get applications on the iPhone?

There are two applications that install when you use the PwnageTool 2.0.2. Cydia and Installer.  Cydia is open source and Installer is not, Installer also has very few programs as opposed to Cydia.  Basically these two are like the app store, they connect to multiple sources and categorize applications and themes.  They also let you know when an update is made.  These two programs are the simplest tools to use.  I suggest installing Winterboard and Customize as well these are installed through Cydia and allow you to start your theming fun.

Ok so how do I do this?

1. You need to head out to the location of the Pwnage tool and download it.  Go here and download the latest tool.  (Also note you’re iPhone should be plugged in and on and iTunes should be ready to rock.)

2. Extract the PwnageTool to your desktop and double click it.

3. Say yes that you want to open the application.

4. Click “OK” to continue.

5. Choose your poison of iPhone and click the arrow for next.

6. Select your firmware (it should show up and just click on it) then click the arrow for next.

7. Click on yes to continue to create your image

8. The tool will need your login/pass so enter them and click continue.

9. Choose if you have Pwn’d your iPhone before.  If your first time just choose no.

10.  Now we get to the interesting part.  Basically you’re putting your phone into DFU mode.  This basically sets the iPhone to be ready to accept the new image you just made.  The phone will appear to be off when you’re done but your system will still see that it is turned on.  Follow the directions by clicking on both the home button and the top button. 

11. Next you choose to hold just the home button down.

12. If you held the buttons down correctly you should have put your phone in DFU mode at this point you’re done with the PwnageTool. 

13. Fire up iTunes (as noted above you should already have it running.  So just bring it back up.

14.  Here is where you need to hold down alt/option button and click on the restore button. 

15. Choose to open the image that was saved to the desktop by PwnageTool.

16. It takes a good amount of time - some tutorials say it could take 30 minutes or so.  Course if you miss a step like I did, you’ll restore incorrectly and 30 minutes turn into 2 hours.  But anyway.   So baring any unforseen circumstances you should see this screen.

17. Now you want to sync up your phone, restore your previous settings and sync your music, photos, etc etc.  You should have two apps installed now on your iPhone; Installer and Cydia.  

Postscript: You can do the expert mode on PwnageTool but this tutorial is more for people doing it the first time as simple as possible.  Once you know what you’re doing - then go back and fiddle with it if you need to.

In my previous post about cleaning the iPhone I mentioned a glare/protective cover.  Forget that product.  Think about Tim the Tool Man saying “Ohhh Hooo Ho… more power.”

I came across a company that does military grade stuff - the stuff they coat military helicopter blades with. Zagg. No the price is not like a government contract price its reasonable and this stuff covers your entire iPhone.  Apparently these guys have also been talked about on Fox News and CNN. Here is their marketing blurb:

The invisibleSHIELD is made from a unique material originally created for the military to protect the leading edges of helicopter blades, the invisibleSHIELD™ offers protection that other screen protectors, covers, skins, or cases just can’t match. With over 2,000 copyrighted, precision-cut designs for a variety of gadgets, including iPods, smartphones, and cell phones, you can protect all your devices from scratches.

The invisibleSHIELD isn’t just another screen protector. Custom-cut Full Body Shields, available for many devices, offer protection for your entire device. With this patent-pending full-body contour wrap, your device will always look like it did the day you bought it.

Can’t find an invisibleSHIELD for your device? No problem - we’ll custom design one for you.

If you aren’t completely satisfied with the coverage of the invisibleSHIELD, you can return it within 30 days for a full refund. And if the invisibleSHIELD ever scratches, we will replace it for free, for life. So what do you have to lose other than those unsightly scratches?

Pretty damn cool eh?  A scratch proof protective cover.  Now what sold me was actually watching the video on youtube.  Check it out:

If I think about my old cell phone and how scratched up it got after a year of being in my pocket with my keys.  I wish I had this stuff 2 years ago.  But now, I’m going to pick up one of these.  I’ll follow up with another post when I get one on how to apply them, good points/bad points.  Anyway, check it out here if your interested.

Can I use Skype on my iPhone or iPhone 3g to make free phone calls?

Yes and no.  Skype already offers several mobile applications that you can download on other phones, just not an iPhone.

There is another company that uses Skype-out that has a program called IM+ for Skype.  Basically you either pay them 5 bucks a month or just buy it for 30 bucks.  The program allows you to chat with your Skype buddies or call out but it is not using VOIP (Voice over IP). It is using the Skype out feature to call the person, and then call your iPhone so its like calling a conference call center where you are both connected.  It uses your incoming minutes on your cell phone so you’re not really saving any money by doing it unless you’re trying to do international calling from your cell phone, then the rates make sense.

But what if you want to do voice over ip and not use your minutes?  First things first, you may ask, “Can 3g support VOIP?”.

Yes it can, but you also have to understand that using VOIP over the 3g network violates your terms of service with AT&T… beacuse you know, they want you to use your minutes and not use the unlimited data plan.  Now it is not a violation to use VOIP over wireless network.  So if you’re in your house or a place with free wifi and want to make calls out using VOIP portion of Skype then bamn! You’re all good.  Except you need to wait.

Fring has already come out with a working solution for the first iteration of the iPhone; pre 2.0 update.  They have not finalized code or even come up with a beta offering for the new version, but they did sucessfully test the functionality on the first iPhone and it works good enough to use.  If you have not updated to the 2.0 software and have an original iPhone well you’re missing out on all the cool stuff, but you also don’t have to wait you can download the beta right now - after you jailbreak your iPhone.

If you are interested in seeing how Frig works with cell phones, check out this video. While he’s not using the iPhone, the concept is the same.

Austin 3g Coverage

I’ve marked the areas that so far I’ve found to be the “suck zone”.  It appears AT&T’s coverage in the Austin surrounding areas is less than lacking.  I’m hoping that they improve it, you would think that being a fairly large iPhone market here that they would beef up.  What bad zones have you run across here?

In my previous tutorial I covered how to create ringtones using a Mac. Today I’ll cover creating ringtones using a PC and only free applications such as audacity. Download and install audacity and iTunes on your PC prior to doing this. I’m also using Vista but the same or similar screens exist for XP.

1. Open the piece of music or sound that you want to be your ring tone in Audacity and edit it down to under 40 seconds.

2. Go to File>Export and export the song as MP3. Audacity does not have the ability to export to AAC.

3. Give the file a unique name and save as .MP3

4. Once you have saved it you’ll next need to open the file in iTunes. Right click on the file and choose Open With>iTunes

5. Now that it is in iTunes you can convert it to iTunes native mp4 or AAC. Right click the file and choose Convert Selection to AAC

6. Now we need to rename this file to a ringtone format so browse to your iTunes music folder - in most cases its your default windows music folder.

7. By default windows Vista does not show file extensions. You’ll need to turn this off. Go to Tools>Folder Options. Un-check Hide extensions for known file types.

8. Once you have done this you should be able to change the file name to .m4r

9. Choose Yes that you are aware your computer will explode if you change the file extension.

10. Right click on the file and choose to open with> and choose iTunes.

11. Once you open it up in iTunes you should see it is now in its ringtone category. And you’re good.

Update: some of you have commented that you can’t move the song over to the iPod after it is created. You get a message like “unable to find file” others have had no problems.

First off when you get a message like that it is telling you something important. Try finding the location of where the file is supposed to be. Reimport it. Also you might verify that you renamed the file correctly by opening a command prompt and look at it in dos.

This is an article about how to create custom ringtones for the iPhone or iPhone 3g for capturing movie quotes or music from a DVD using a Mac. I’ll follow up later with one specifically for PC. This article assumes that you know a few things about how to setup itunes, audio hijack, and the built in DVD software. I also use Sound Studio Pro but Audacity will work too.  *disclaimer I am not suggesting creating copyrighted ring tones - that would be wrong…

1. Launch Audio Hijack Pro and select your DVD player then click the Hijack button.  Play your movie, click on record during the part of the movie that you wish to sample.

Audio Hijack

2. Open the sampled audio that you have recorded in Sound Studio Pro, or Audacity and edit it to get the amount of spoken word or music to under 40 seconds.

Sound Studio Pro

3. In sound Studio you’ll next go to File>Save As>  give the file a unique name

Choose File Format of AAC (m4a)
Choose a Bit Rate, I usually go with 112 or 96kpbs.
Click Save

Saving in Sound Studio Pro

4. Now that you have saved the file you need to change it to an iTunes recognizable format for ringtones. To do this, simply right click the file and choose Get Info.

Get info of file

5. Where it says Name & Extension you want to change the extension from .m4a to .m4r

Change File Extension

6. You’ll receive a warning that says “Are you sure…” Click the Use .m4r because yes, you are sure.

Use .m4r

7. The last step, right click again on your file and choose to open with iTunes.  This should put the file (if you have itunes auto-copying) in your ring tones section.

Open with iTunes

8. As you can see in my ringtones is my new sample.  When I sync up my iPhone it will automatically be transferred as long as I have ringtones selected to transfer.

Voila

If you have questions post a comment.