Since writing this post, it appears that AT&T has disabled the USSD service reminder messages for Medianet prepaid data packages. Icing on the cake: they also opened the 3G faucet. Considering these significant improvements to the value proposition of GoPhone, we’re down to 3 reasons.

One can only surmise that executives schemed these crippling aspects to AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid offerings to exploit every inducement towards a “postpaid” (ie. 2 year contract) plan.

I’ve been trying to equip unlocked Nokia devices with prepaid data accounts for benevolent design research purposes integral to my work at Parsons on mobile media design work for grant funded projects.

1. Relentless balance reminders. Even with a $20 100MB package for a month’s worth of data access, you are barraged with irritating and intrusive balance reminder service messages, after every single use. You’ll need to click to dismiss the message after every text message and every data connection, and certainly when data intensive apps are running in the background, such as Google Maps with Latitude. These USSD messages, apparently, cannot be disabled by a customer service representative. Clearly, they are an intentional annoyance disguised as a customer service to coerce you into a 2 year contract, or flee to a competitor.
   Update ISSUE RESOLVED

   

2. No 3G data support. Online chatter can be found espousing the merits of enjoying pre-paid 3G data, but the phone company was listening. These comments remain mythical and historical musings, as GoPhone data only supports 2G (EDGE GPRS only), as of this writing, no matter how much you’d be willing to pay. Again, they’ll be happy to convert your account to a “postpaid” commitment in order to subscribe to 3G data.
   Update ISSUE RESOLVED
3. No unlimited data offering. The same online whispers that spoiled the party on 3G prepaid data probably cued AT&T to cap its data offering to 1MB and 100MB denominations. Of course, this never implied tethering, although many forumistas falsely claim that prepay is the ultimate loophole.
4. No visual voicemail on iPhone. At least without doing naughty things like jailbreaking, it is reported that visual voicemail is not supported on a pre-pay GoPhone plan and SIM in an iPhone. To not have visual voicemail on an iPhone is like having a PBJ without the first ingredient. Apparently, the executives responsible for upholding the 2 year contract conspiracy agree.
5. No international roaming (beyond Mexico). Although the prepaid target market is clearly revealed by this sales policy, it dissolves the possibility of being able to keep a prepaid globetrotter number and bounce around the Earth’s sublime GSM network based on the à la carte reality of travel — it’s occasional and ad-hoc, not a feature to add to a monthly plan.

Research suggests that T-Mobile is the better choice for prepaid services in the United States. At the minimum, they do not employ the dealbreaker balance reminders, which is enough reason for me to expend my remaining balance and get a new number from the local German provider of mobile telephony. Those Europeans sure know a thing or two about running a mobile phone infrastructure. But there are so many reasons why telecom (and law enforcement, for that matter) will always keep prepaid mobile telephony a stinky deal.

See the Instant One-Touch Jailbreak Method as a simple alternative to what’s described in detail below. It takes advantage of the TIFF Exploit in Mobile Safari to jailbreak simply by visiting a site. It then patches this scary loophole after installing the Nullriver AppTapp into your Springboard.

Original Post

We threatened to write this tutorial, and our own experimentation with AppTapp 3 beta on the latest firmware and the ensuing customizations like SummerBoard and Customize on iPhone 1.1.1 forced us to become very familiar with all the nuances of compatibility and the absurd downgrade-to-upgrade process. We’ve published our meticulous notes as a PDF guide where you too can install native third-party apps and customizations without using the command-line, as long as you comply with the following requirements:

• AT&T customer. No SIM unlocks.
• Mac. Intel or PowerPC. No Windows, but the iNdependence tool can be substituted for the PC equivalent.
• OS X 10.4.10 — Leopard support untested.
• iTunes 7.4.2
• iPhone 1.1.1 and 1.0.2 firmwares
• Novices, beginners, newbies welcome — patience required
• Experience modders may adapt this guide for other platforms, scenarios

Download the PDF guide which includes download links to the required tools, including iNdependence 1.2.4 (.dmg), the iPhone 1.0.2 firmware files (.ipsw) and the Nullriver AppTapp installer (.zip). Folks may groan about the PDF document as opposed to universal HTML formatting, but be assured that the PDF contains screen shots of crucial dialogs and is as detail-oriented as they come. It’s probably the best step-by-step tutorial out there at the moment. In the spirit of full disclosure though, it’s fifty steps long, but does not require any command-line. We’re not sure if this is step forward or backward, but it’s a reliable, well-tested method, either way.

Important notes that deserve republishing outside of the PDF guide:

1. Do not install both Trip1PogoStick and SummerBoard on 1.1.1 — you’ll get startup freeze (stuck on Apple logo), especially if you’ve used previous 1.1.1. upgrade methods, including iNdepenence 1.2.2. and/or Trip1Prepz. We made this mistake and that’s what inspired us to start fresh and document every step for you. Use iTunes to restore to a fresh 1.1.1 state if this occurs.
2. Do not install the 1.1.1 tweaks with SummerBoard. They are not compatible SummerBoard and Customize and will screw up your Springboard forcing to to restore to 1.1.1 and then start the 50 step process all over again. We attempted this and ended up with a blank Springboard, no icons, and no phone functionality. This is the closest we’ve come to a brick, yet, in all our of hacking tests.
3. Do not follow any of these steps and discard this document immediately if you are not prepared to void your warranty and any obligation of Apple or AT&T to support you in these endeavors. They have clearly stated that these modifications are in violation of their use agreements. In fact, it is not yet easy to even truly make a factory fresh iPhone, without any trace of third-party modifications, in the event that you might want to return your device. Although using third-party applications is far less risky than unlocking your firmware to run on other networks beyond AT&T, it’s still considered an unauthorized activity. No warranties are implied by these instructions. You follow these steps at your own risk as assume all liabilities herein. If you have any reservations about these activities, delete this document and forget about iPhone modding. We have no responsibility for your actions and provide this information for academic research purposes only.

Once installed, you’ll enjoy SummerBoard and its themes and customizations as well as the Customize program, albeit buggy on 1.1.1, does allow icon ordering. Anal Retentive iPhone Hackers rejoice! Note that the vertical flicking of SummerBoard on 1.0.2 is replaced with the horizontal paging that you may have already experienced on early versions of 1.1.1 exploits.

For those who cannot wait for an AppTapp 1.1.1 Update

See our Install AppTapp 3.0 beta in iPhone 1.1.1 without Command Line tutorial←

Certainly, at this moment, we can only assume that Nullriver is busy updating their AppTapp installer to integrate the revised jailbreak and install procedure required with the iPhone 1.1.1 software update. Only in the past few days have the new symlink technique tools been released in beta. Ironically, you use AppTapp in the process of preparing your iPhone 1.0.2 to update to 1.1.1 and then apply another third-party hack to get around the recent lockdown of the SpringBoard, which no longer uses the DisplayOrder.plist file to determine the visibility and ordering of icons on the main menu, rendering SummerBoard obsolete in favor of another hack which allows horizontal-style scrolling to add more icons.

What you’ll lose with 1.1.1

By gaining the 1.1.1 features such as the WiFi Music Store, Home button double-click shortcuts, and space-bar double-tap for a period feature, among other minor tweaks, you will lose certain things you might have enjoyed under 1.0.2 and under, with the third-party applications and enhancements. This includes losing the ability to order the icons in the SpringBoard with rSBT, applying SummerBoard themes, and perhaps most critically for some, the ability to create custom ringtones. iPhone 1.1.1 requires a strange ring tone file format (.m4r) and tools to create these files don’t seem to be available, yet. This is especially disappointing as it effectively eliminates your ability to create sound effect ringtones, or install the brilliant Cellphone sound that’s found deep the iLife sound library. Why does Apple think we only want musical ringtones? What if customers find them dreadfully annoying, and would prefer a simple ring that sounds like a cellphone, such as the one featured on the original iPhone TV commercials!

Update requirements

Once a step-by-step procedure was published by iPhoneAlley, we decided we would take the plunge and see if it works, rather than wait it out for Nullriver to release their elegant “next-next” wizard that handles the process easily and command-line free in a single fool-proof method that minimizes opportunities for error. We can confirm with amusement that, indeed, the 1.1.1 software update does allow third-party programs to be installed. Although the process is different, it’s not really any more or less scary than the original manual method we used before AppTapp was released with its novice-ready installation. In fact, the tools and methods have actually evolved since, and someone who fits the following profile could consider doing this also:

1. Have a Macintel (no PowerPC or Windows support at this time)
2. Have an AT&T account (no unlocked SIMs; free/open source unlocking tools aren’t ready yet)
3. Have about 30 minutes of patience to follow directions very carefully
4. Have some experience with AppTapp, Terminal, SSH and SFTP
5. Don’t mind potentially voiding your Apple warranty

Disclaimer, Warning, Caution

If you don’t qualify with all of the above conditions, you should definitely either wait for Nullriver to update AppTapp for 1.1.x, or think again about your inclinations to modify your iPhone.

Otherwise, all the usual warnings and disclaimers apply: Do this at your own risk. We assume no liability. Future updates from Apple are almost certain to close whatever loopholes were discovered at this point. Third-party applications make modifications to your iPhone, such as write preference files, that an Apple support technician might be able to detect, even after performing a Restore.

Further clarification

We followed iPhoneAlley’s step-by-step instructions, which are adequate for those of us that fit somewhere between a command-line hacker and a novice. The process takes about 30 minutes and seems to be reversible with the described downgrade feature. It’s important to make the clear distinction between “unlocking” and “jailbreaking,” the former is a far more risky endeavor where you modify the deep innards of the device to allow SIM cards and service providers other than AT&T. Inoperable bricked phones have been reported with the 1.1.1 in this case. Jailbreaking is simply opening up the iPhone’s file system to allow read and write access to allow the installation of third-party software and other customizations. Unlocking and 1.1.1 upgrades is probably still too risky at this point, while jailbreaking seems to be fairly safe.

Lean Machine

It’s worth noting that there are only two third-party applications that we ended up installing on our newly upgraded 1.1.1 system: NES and Chat. All the other programs are basically proof-of-concepts, raw experimentations, non-essential and easily forgettable. However, retrogaming and a genuine IM client, two things that might never be officialized by Apple (via AT&T) are considered indispensable additions to sorely lacking features of the factory feature set: games and IM.

UPDATE October 20, 2007

It turns out that the release of iNdepenence 1.2.2 was probably premature, as a later, greater version (1.2.4) emerged on October 18 that resolves some key issues with 1.2.2, that include how the Springboard is handled. Anyone who used 1.2.2 (us!) could have either used some patches released to resolve issues, or end up starting the whole restore, downgrade, exploit, upgrade, re-install process all over again. We’re compiling a tutorial and notes as we go through it. Stay tune for a posting on the subject.

UPDATE October 15, 2007

A new version of iNdependence was release today (v1.2.2) on Google code which supports Jailbreak on 1.1.1 firmware. It includes a special UI to perform and prepare for the 1.1.1 update which is not indicated in the iPhoneAlley step-by-step guide that we followed. Any users that have not yet updated form 1.0.2 to 1.1.1 should read the included Help documentation to learn the best method of preparing for 1.1.1 and then using their post 1.1.1 upgrade procedures available in the Firmware tab of this program. If you updated to 1.1.1 from 1.0.2 before this was released, you may need to downgrade with it, and then re-update to allow the ability to perform jailbreaks in the future. In the procedure outlined by iPhoneAlley, you really only get a one-shot-deal to jailbreak, so this new method is clearly preferred. We’ll comment on our experience preforming the downgrade and then re-upgrade using the new version of iNdependence.

UPDATE October 16, 2007

Some experiences in using iNdependence 1.2.2 to manage the migration to iPhone 1.1.1 while preserving AppTapp and jailbreak access (not SIM unlocking) follow. The built-in Help provides the step-by-step directions, however, it still needs some work, as it confusingly refers to itself in a circular fashion. We would still recommend waiting for Nullriver to release AppTapp for 1.1.1 if you’re at all weary of needing to carefully follow an arcane set of instructions or avoid using the command-line altogether. This update to iNependence achieves jailbreaking capabilities on the new firmware, but that’s about it.

Helpful Hints

Things to watch out for, not well documented in the built-in Help, when working with iNdependence 1.2.2 and the 1.0.2 to 1.1.1 upgrade process with jailbreak:

• The built-in Help documentation does not cover how to install AppTapp. However, you can use iNdependence or an SFTP client like CyberDuck to copy the Installer.app file found within the AppTapp installer package. Once copied, you can SSH into your 1.1.1 iPhone and trigger launching it via the command-line. Then you can enter the conceited software beta installer link into your MobileSafari, adding the required Trip1PogoStick hack, to allow the 1.1.1. SpringBoard to display programs, including Installer. Refer to the iPhoneAlley tutorial steps that cover these aspects, and ignore the steps that are covered by the new iNdependence method, which precludes the need to preform the installation of the Trip1Prep step. That seems to be the symlink trick that allows the 1.1.1 upgrade, but iNdependence handles that during its Pre-1.1.1 and Post-1.1.1 steps. On the iPhoneAlley tutorial, they say not to use iNdependence or use the traditional AppTapp installation. Although true in the case of the AppTapp installation, this tutorial needs to be updated to account for the reality that iNdependence has since been updated, and can be used to update to 1.1.1, in fact, offers a preferred method which retains the jailbreak. By following the iPhoneAlley method, you lose the jailbreak after completing the upgrade. It’s gotten very confusing, indeed. Apple is doing an excellent job of altering the infrastructure just enough to disrupt our efforts significantly.
• Be sure to kill the iTunes Helper process using Activity Monitor. Otherwise, iTunes will launch during many of the required reboots, and could interfere with the crucial timing of the re-activation.
• Temporarily deactivate your media syncing in iTunes, especially if you have downgrade. This will save you lots of time as the iPhone gets “erases” and re-built. Re-check the boxes for your songs, photos, videos, etc. after the process has been completed and sync up.
• We discovered the hard way, that you really want to let iTunes perform the Activation, rather than use iNdependence. It appears that if you use iNdependence to activate the phone and then deactivate it, iTunes does not appear to successfully re-activate, and thus you become dependent on iNdepedence. Yikes!
• Although the built-in Help claims that your YouTube will be fine during this process, we found that it did not work after the process. Fortunately, we easily found this reference, where you can download the appropriate security key files and upload them to the correct place on your iPhone file system (/var/root/Library/Lockdown/), and this seems to restore YouTube functionality.
• You’ll need to re-sync one additional time after the process is complete to get your Apple iTunes Music Store account properly associated with your WiFi Music Store in order to purchase music on the iPhone.
• Don’t forget to change your SSH passwords from the defaults, to help prevent getting truly hacked by a malicious user on some WiFi network. iNdependence does make it easy to change these passwords in the SSH tab.

Indeed, we could work on a write-up that combines the best of what’s offered on iPhoneAlley and the iNdepenence built-in Help, but by the time we finish that, Nullriver might have their brilliant AppTapp Installer updated, and then, like before, it’ll be a waste of time, thankfully. It’s very likely that some other passionate modder has beat us to the punch, by now.

Article to be published on Adobe Developer Center

Packing Lite: Getting Started Designing Interfaces for Mobile Media

I wrote an article/tutorial for Adobe’s Developer Center to be published at the end of August covering how to get started designing interfaces in Flash Lite on Nokia Series 60 devices. It details how to get equipped for mobile media design using Flash and the Flash Lite platform, install Flash Lite content on Nokia S60 phones with Bluetooth or Nokia’s PC Suite, discusses the unique interface design challenges, and looks at an example, highlighting the issues.

Stay tuned, as I’ll be sure to post the link to the article when it goes live. Article pushed live at 5 PM PST, August 17, 2007←

• Introduction↓
• Getting Started↓
• How to install NES Game ROMs↓
• How to get sound working in NES↓
• How to get PICO working in iPhone Remote Terminal↓
• How to change the SSH root password↓
• How to Remove (Uninstall) applications↓
• How to Find your iPhone’s IP Address↓

Introduction

This guide is written for Mac users who are not familiar with using UNIX, but are very interested in getting third-party applications installed into the Springboard home screen of their iPhone (not Safari web apps). There are several guides and wiki sites out there at the moment that detail this process. This guide has not yet been updated for firmware 1.1.1 and only applies to 1.0.2 and under until it is updated. In the meantime, iPhoneAlley offers one of the first step-by-step guides for the recently announced 1.1.1  third-party application installation technique. It is not meant for novices, but could  be what you’re looking for.

Since the original posting, installing native iPhone applications has become easier than ever, thanks to the amazing Nullriver software Installer. → It gives you a beautiful iPhone style multi-touch interface to install emerging 3rd party applications handling all the tricky stuff for you. Furthermore, it automatically checks for updates and makes sure you can keep up with the rapid pace of development. It is already clear that the Nullriver Installer is going to fuel the growth of this exploding scene.Nullriver has created AppTapp, a Mac and Windows graphical wizard← to get you started automated script that allows you to bypass all the instructions on this guide! You will need to issue a single command in Terminal, and so the gentle primer to using that below may no longer be required since this installer installer (I know, unfortunately, redundant, but true) handles everything and gets you started. An open source alternative to Nullriver Installer has emerged called Breezy that I’ll be testing a reviewing. Clearly, Nullriver is bound to be one of the first commercial (shareware) programs available for the native iPhone application market, eventually. Apparently, Nullriver and the PXL package development group are joining forces to bring aspects of open source to AppTapp.

This guide also addresses some of the most frequently asked questions that I’ve been seeing in the comments and threads. Most of them, I’ve also had myself at some point during this process. This guide is the result of working through these challenges, doing the research, trial-and-error. It may try your patience, but be reassured that it’s all very possible, and the hardest part is just getting set up. This guide relies on some of the excellent guides that have emerged at ModMyiPhone.com, but attempts to update, augment and clean up things.

Contributions

It is my hope that this helps out the iPhoneDevTeam by fulfilling the overwhelming need to teach so many new users basic UNIX and other tricks to get these mods working. Instead of wasting time teaching newbies the basics, these amazing folks can stay focused on delivering us amazing new tools to make the most of our beloved devices. Consider this my donation to the cause.

Disclaimer and Warning

If you run into problems during modding, such as losing sync capabilities with iTunes, you will need to go through the Restore process through iTunes, which should make your phone factory fresh, but you will lose your customizations. Hopefully, this guide will help you quickly rebuild your mods, in case that happens.Set aside several hours to go through everything in this guide. However, when you’re done, you will have a nice setup for enjoying third-party iPhone applications.

Of course, this guide is provided AS IS, and use it at your own risk. I do not condone, endorse or warrant any of the actions suggested here. You are advised that altering the software on your iPhone is consideration a violation of the legal agreement you enact with Apple, and hence, they will no longer be obligated to support you. This means that you will likely void your warranty.

Modding from iPhone 1.0.1 to 1.0.2

If you have made modifications prior to the iPhone 1.0.2 software update, it is strongly recommended that you:

1. Sync to iTunes to backup your settings
2. Choose “Download” instead of “Download and Install” when prompted to update your iPhone to 1.0.2
3. Run a restore process, which will reset your phone to factory settings. Then only things you should lose are your voicemail password and WiFi access point passwords. Everything else, including SMS and Notes should be restored and you’ll have iPhone 1.0.2
4. Re-sync to iTunes. Quit iTunes and then run the Nullriver Installer script (the included README file gets you going)
5. Install Launcher, through Installer on the iPhone
6. Proceed to install items such as BSD Subsystem and OpenSSH, and then you’ll be in good shape to get NES, Lights Off and many of the other great tools and programs emerging.

Getting Started

Refer to this handy Glossary by Erica Sadun to have some of the common terms of iPhone modding translated into plain language.

1. Get comfortable with Terminal

Open what’s called a UNIX shell by finding /Applications/Utilites/Terminal on your hard drive and practice using some basic commands. If you’ve used Terminal before, you can skip this step.You’ll need to issue lots of these commands during the process, so it’s worth understanding the relationship between the command-line actions and the equivalent familiar actions that is second nature when clicking around in the Finder.Try out these commands, hitting enter after each line. See if you can figure out what’s going on.

lscd /lscd /var/root/lscd ../../cd /usr/ls -lacd ~

cd means change directory. ls means list the files in the directory, with -la you get all the file information and show hidden files also. This is what’s happening behind the scenes when you click on icons and folders in the Finder. Note that ~ means your user’s home directory.Tip: If you’re ever lost in the Terminal file paths, you can always drag-and-drop a file from the Finder into the Terminal and it will convert the path for you.

2. Get started with iActivator

http://www.modmyiphone.com/wiki/index.php/Getting_Started_iPhone_ModdingFollow the detailed guide on this page, which includes download links. In this step, you’ll create a local “phonedmg” directory on your Mac’s user account, download the restore files from Apple, and go through the “jailbreak” process, which makes your iPhone writable. You’ll always need to go back to jail to make it work with iTunes. If you have any trouble with iActivator, or it suddenly becomes unavailable for download, you can perform a jailbreak in Terminal on the command-line.

3. Install iPHUC

http://www.modmyiphone.com/wiki/index.php/Installing_iPHUC_iPhoneThis process is complicated, requiring several programmer’s tools and libraries including XCode from Apple, the MacPorts open source kit and others. All of it is free and open source, and this tutorial does take you through each step very carefully. iPHUC is required to install SSH, which will allow you to copy and manage files on your iPhone much more elegantly. Luckily, you only have to go through this and the next step once. Seriously, this is the most elaborate step, but you’ll only have to go through it once.

4. Install SSH

http://www.modmyiphone.com/wiki/index.php/Installing_ssh_on_iPhone_using_iPHUC_in_OS_XFortunately, after completing this next step, you’ll be able to easily install a more robust version of SSH, with a better security setup, as you’ll create unique security keys for your device. In addition, it is strongly recommended that you change your root password after you’ve gotten things in order. This may help prevent an attack on your phone by a malicious program that looks for iPhones with SSH enabled on public WiFi networks. Be aware that by enabling SSH, you are making your device prone to malicious attacks by downloading software that may contain malware or worse. In other words, by enabling SSH, you open the possibility of allowing software to connect to servers behind the scenes. This could involve allowing your private data being sent to servers without your explicit knowledge, or worse. There were many reasons why Apple removed SSH from the iPhone’s UNIX system in the first place. But keep things in perspective — you probably have SSH enabled on your Mac right now and so you’ve been living with these risks all along. When you realize you can wirelessly connect to your iPhone from anywhere and transfer files and do other powerful things, you’ll appreciate the potential that you’ve unlocked.

5. Install Installer.app (aka AppTapp)

http://iphone.nullriver.com/beta/Note: Nullriver’s AppTapp no longer requires the manual command-line installation detailed below, instead offering a GUI wizard style installer for Mac and Windows. This installation occurs over the USB dock cable, so if would like to install over wireless.Once you install this, adding and updating software becomes very elegant and easy. However, the documentation for this is very poor, assuming you are already familiar installing programs manually. Unfortunately, this is probably the best app to install first if you’re a newbie! Here are detailed steps, assuming you have already completed the installation of iPHUC and SSH, above.

1. Download Installer.app ZIP file from Nullriver, unzip, and move into your local “phonedmg” folder with your usual drag-and-drop Finder interactions. Make this folder, if necessary: ~/phonedmg/Applications/
2. Shut down iTunes, and use Activity Monitor to quit iTunesHelper. (see iActivator guide for details, it should be familiar from step #2 above)
3. Open iActivator, and do a Jailbreak
4. Open Terminal on your Mac
5. Find your iPhone’s IP address↓: iPhone > Settings > WiFi > blue-arrow on current network > 10.0.1.4 (sample address)We’ll use the IP address 10.0.1.4 in this guide. Your IP will probably vary, so remember to replace it with yours each time you see in the code examples.
6. Type (replacing with your iPhone’s IP address)

ssh -l root 10.0.1.4

7. When prompted, enter default password (unless you’ve already changed it)

dottie

8. Type (hitting return after each line):

       cd /Applications    mkdir Installer.app    cd Installer.app    exit

9. Type:

       cd ~/phonedmg/Applications/Installer.app

10. Type: (replacing your IP address)

    scp * root@10.0.1.4:/Applications/Installer.app[password "dottie"]

11. Type: (replacing with your IP address)

        ssh -l root 10.0.1.4    [password "dottie"]    cd /Applications/Installer.app    chmod +x Installer    chmod +x ditto    exit

12. Hold down Sleep button and slide power off. Restart iPhone
13. The Installer widget icon should appear in the Springboard. Use it to install the available packages, especially, Launcher, BSD Subsystem and Open SSH. You’ll probably find dozens of interesting native applications to try, all of them constantly being updated and easily maintained with Installer.
14. You’ll always need to be jailbroken to allow Installer to write to the iPhone file system. Keep this in mind if you get any installation errors when using Installer.

How to install NES Game ROMs

Game ROMs are .nes files. Note: No one is going to tell you how to obtain these files. Learn about what ROMs are on NerveGas’s NES project page.

1. Make sure iPhone is jailbroken
2. Copy ROMs to ~/phonedmg/var/root/Media/ROMs/NES on your local drive. (Create directories if necessary)
3. Open Terminal and type (as always, replacing with your IP address):

        ssh -l root 10.0.1.4        [password "dottie"]        cd /var/root/Media        mkdir ROMs        cd ROMS        mkdir NES        exit        cd ~/phonedmg/var/root/Media/ROMs/NES        scp * root@10.0.1.4:/var/root/Media/ROMs/NES        [password "dottie"]

1. Restart iPhone, games should appear in NES

How to get sound working on NES

UPDATE September 1, 2007

Nervegas’ NES app no longer requires further hacking to get the sound to work as of its version 1.0 release, so you can disregard the tutorial below, as it is now obsolete.

Erica Utility Method — UPDATE August 26, 2007

If you install the Erica Utilities package with apptapp Installer from Nullriver, you already should have the command to disable and en-enabled the system sound, which allows the NES sound to work. You can also manually install the Erica command-line utilities if you don’t use apptapp. Use Mobile Terminal and type:

sound no

When you’re done playing NES, return to Mobile Terminal and re-enable the system sounds, so important things like calls will work:

sound yes

The program gives you textual confirmation of sound status. This new method is much easier than the old method

Manual Method

At the time of this writing, sound support was very glitchy, but may be improving with the rapid updates of NES.app thanks to the hard work of NerveGas. Although having sound is very appealing, if you have difficulties with this step, realize that it may not be worth the trouble.

1. Make sure iPhone is jailbroken
2. Create a text file in your local drive here: ~/phonedmg/var/root/.profileDon’t use TextEdit. Download TextWrangler or TextMate if you don’t have a true plain text editor.
3. Contents of .profile text file should be:

    # Aliases    alias pico='pico -w'    alias rm='rm -i'    alias ssh='ssh2'    alias nosound="launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/coreaudiod.plist"    alias sound="launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/coreaudiod.plist"    # User specific environment    PATH=$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin

4. In Terminal:

       cd ~/phonedmg/var/root    scp .profile root@10.0.1.4:/var/root/.profile

5. Make sure ‘login’ is present in ‘/bin’

   cd /bincurl http://iphone.natetrue.com/login

6. Make sure you installed MobileTerminal with Installer by Nullriver
7. Restart iPhone, as needed. Unplug earbuds.
8. Open Terminal on iPhone and type:

   nosound

9. Go Home, and Launch NES. Sound should work.
10. When you’re done playing, dont’ forget to return to Terminal on iPhone and type:

sound

11. Regular sound functions should be restored

How to get pico (text editor) working on iPhone Remote Terminal:

pico is a very basic text editor that works in the Unix command line. Although it would be cool to be able to edit files in Mobile Terminal, this is actually more useful for the occasions when you have connected into your iPhone via SSH on your Mac Terminal and want to make an edit to a configuration file directly.I haven’t been able to get pico working on the Mobile Terminal, on the iPhone itself, but through an SSH session on your Mac it works well. It appears that it’s a problem with the Mobile Terminal application, rather than with the UNIX configurations. Recent updates to the Mobile Terminal native application suggest that we are very close to being able to enable pico on the iPhone directly. However, there will be tricky interface issues to contend with because the iPhone keyboard lacks essential things like arrow keys. Running on your Mac Terminal, however, is useful to cut out the step of editing the text file on your computer and then needing to copy it to the phone.

1. Make sure you’ve installed the BSD Subsystem, either with Installer.app, or manually. Using Nullriver’s Installer is by far the easiest way to get the BSD Subsystem, which in turn, help makes your iPhone work like a full-on computer.
2. Open Terminal, and type (replace with your iPhone’s IP address):

       ssh -l root 10.0.1.4    [password "dottie"]    mkdir /usr/share/terminfo    mkdir /usr/share/terminfo/76    exit    cd /usr/share/terminfo/76    scp vt100 root@10.0.1.4:/usr/share/terminfo/76/vt100    [password "dottie"]    ssh -l root 10.0.1.4    [password "dottie"]    csh    set term=vt100

How to change the SSH root password:

Since the root password “dottie” is now very public knowledge, it’s a security hazard to be walking around with SSH enabled on your iPhone, roaming around on public WiFi networks. You should change your root password once you’ve got the basics installed.

1. Visit this site to get your new root password encryptedhttp://iphone.simbunch.com/crypt.php
2. Make a backup of your original master password. In Mac Terminal, type:

   ssh -l root 10.0.1.4[password "dottie"]cp /etc/master.passwd /etc/master.passwd.bakexit

3. Optional: While you’re in there, consider changing your default shell to ‘bash’ from ’sh’ which will do a better job of honoring the changes to your .profile and other nice things. See this tutorial on the iPhoneDevWiki to change your default shell.
4. Copy the contents of the result of the password form on the above page into a new blank text file. Save it to your local drive at ~/phonedmg/etc/master.passwd
5. Upload it your iPhone. In Mac Terminal type:

       cd ~/phonedmg/etc    scp master.passwd root@10.0.1.4:/etc/master.passwd    [password "dottie"]

6. Restart your iPhone
7. In Mac Terminal, test the new password:

   ssh -l root 10.0.1.4

8. Enter your new password at prompt

How to Remove, (Uninstall) applications:

If you’ve installed a 3rd party application with Nullriver’s Installer, just use its Uninstall feature.If you need to uninstall by the command-line, follow this example where we’ll delete an installed application called Tetris.appThe trick is to go into the .app directory, and delete the files first, then go up, and delete the enclosing .app directory.

1. In Mac Terminal, SSH into your iPhone

       ssh -l root 10.0.1.4    [password]    cd /Applications/Tetris.app    rm *.*    cd ../    rmdir Tetris.app    exit

2. Restart iPhone. Application widget should be gone, no longer appearing on the Springboard.

How to Find your iPhone’s IP Address:

You need to be connected to a WiFi network.

1. At the Home screen…
2. Click Settings
3. Click WiFi
4. Click the blue arrow of the network you’re connected to
5. IP address is displayed

5 tips and tricks for living with iPhone 1.0

Instead of pointing out the obvious flaws of a 1.0 release software, we offer 5 simple tips to workaround them while we wait for a software update from Apple. In addition, we’ve compiled a list of the Top 5 iPhone Safari Applications↓ that you simply must bookmark.

1. Slide-to-period tapping

   Instead of switching between letter and punctuation modes, slide your finger to the @123 button, but don’t release it until after sliding and releasing over the period key. The keyboard will switch back to letter input automatically. This makes a big difference. Be sure to measure the improvement of the slide method on your typing speed [iPhoneTypingTest.com]→ This is also known as the McCallum method via [Pogue→]. An otherwise, well documented shortcut, but addresses a very common complaint about the iPhone keyboard.

2. Contraction shortcuts. Itsp or Itsa = It’s

   You can intentionally spell it’s incorrectly as “itsp” or “itsa” and “it’s” will be suggested. The A and P keys are ideally positioned for this kind of a shortcut.

3. Top Button Wakes from Sleep Quicker Than the Home Button.

   You might be in the habit of pressing the Home key to wake iPhone out of its standby sleep mode. However, the top button seems to be more responsive. This could also reduce wear-and-tear on your Home key. Am I worried about mine wearing out before the battery?

4. Dock makes a useful headphone jack adapter.

   If your old headphones don’t fit into iPhones more durable jack port, try the Dock. Its Line Out fits all mini jacks and works without a dock connector cord attached. Works in a pinch.

5. Make an ‘iPhone’ bookmark toolbar folder in your desktop Safari to sync with your iPhone Safari.

   This just helps consolidate really useful iPhone Safari tool in one easy-to-reach location. Start with our ‘5 Essential Bookmarks for iPhone 1.0’ ↓below.

5 essential bookmarks for iPhone 1.0

Links approved by mercurious®

These features will likely make their way into the Home screen as full widgets, so these Safari applications are good stop-gap measures while we wait for iPhone 1.1 and beyond:

1. IM Client

   → JiveTalk (alpha) by BeeJive→ Looks like iChat. Smells like iChat. This is no iChat, however. Being trapped in the Safari iPhone interface, it cannot truly act as a full-fledged IM client. But BeeJive has the best offering currently, this is true.

2. Feed Reader

   → Digg Reader: The official version by Digg is a good specimen, a step in the right direction, but still needs better iPhone style paging as demonstrated by Joe Hewitt→ and his amazing iUI toolkit→.

3. Photo Sharing

   → iPhlicker by Chandler Kent. This is a good example of what the iPhone Flickr interface needs to be.

4. Fuel Pricing

   → Gas.app by Jeffery903@aol. Cheap gas, easy to find, what else is there to say?

5. Grocery Shopping

   → OneTrip Shopping List by Nevin Mrgan [sic]. A “why didn’t they think that sooner” kind of tool.

Adobe Integrated Runtime demonstrated by Big Spaceship.

This afternoon, Joshua Hirsch and Jamie Kosoy from Big Spaceship, here in Brooklyn, presented Building Adobe AIR Applications with Flash CS3 on the Adobe Connect presentation service. They did an excellent job of introducing the new capabilities of Adobe’s new desktop application delivery platform. In particular, they focused on how Flash CS3 can be used to compile AIR programs. Although still in Beta, AIR remains un-implemented in Flash CS3. The online seminar walked us through the tricky process of configuring for AIR development and introduce us to the command-line tools required to build and test AIR projects. However, Grant Skinner apparently has an extension set for Flash CS3 that assists with this process as we await Adobe’s full integration into the Publish Settings of Flash CS3. The links and notes of the presentation are posted here for reference. This post is likely to be updated and fleshed out as I process and try things out myself.

What is AIR?

AIR brings Flash and other web formats to desktop standalone applications. We should start to see more ‘downloadables’ once this catches on. Probably the best way to figure out AIR is to look at some examples on Adobe Labs→I’ve been a fan of kuler→ ever since I started following the Adobe Labs, and discovered Apollo, the codename for AIR. This is a great example of how being able to break out of the browser will encourage creative technology to engage with us more deeply.

Presentation Links

How to get started with AIR and Flash CS3

• Presentation Event Details
• About Adobe AIR
• AIR Developer FAQ
• Download AIR SDK
• Download FLEX Builder
• ActionScript 3.0 Language Reference
• Get the Flash Debug Player
• Get FlashTracer extension for Firefox
• Get Grant Skinner’s AIR Panel for CS3
• Big Spaceship’s Lab

Raw Notes from the Presentation

Here are the raw notes from the presentation. I’ll try to decipher them into more sense once I get my head around it all myself.

 airglobal.swc locations: MAC:    /Applications/Adobe Flex Builder 3/sdks/moxie/frameworks/libs/air/airglobal.swc PC:      Program Files/Adobe Flex Builder 3/sdks/moxie/frameworks/libs/air/airglobal.swc move and rename to MAC:    /Applications/Adobe Flash CS3/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/Classes/playerglobal.swc PC:      Program Files/Adobe Flash CS3/Configuration/ActionScript 3.0/Classes/playerglobal.swc (you should make a backup of your old playerglobal.swc) AIR SDK: MAC:    Place all files in /Users/[you]/ PC:      Place files whereever you want. (I use c:AIR_SDK) Set environment variables: Right click "My Computer" Hit Properties. Go to the "Advanced" tab Click "Environment Variables" In "System Variables", under Path add path you put the sdk. If there is no Path var, you can add it. ADL syntax: adl myApp.xml Flash Tracer: After installing extension, Tools --> FlashTracer Click "Options" in the bottom right of the AddOn. PC Path MUST be: C:Documents and Settings[YOU]Application DataMacromediaFlash PlayerLogsflashlog.txt Mac Path MUST be: Hard Drive:Users:[YOU]:Library:Preferences:Macromedia:Flash Player:Logs:flashlog.txt If no Logs directory or flashlog.txt file is missing, you need to add them. ADT syntax: adt -package myAirFile.air myApp.xml foo.swf bar.swf icons videos etc