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Flipping through the iPhone manual, I happened upon this nugget of info.

“For optimal mobile device performance and to be sure that human exposure to RF energy does
not exceed the FCC guidelines, always follow these instructions and precautions: When on a
call using the built-in audio receiver in iPhone, hold iPhone with the 30-pin connector
pointed down toward your shoulder to increase separation from the antenna.”

Translation: Keep you hand off of the plastic antenna cover.

I wondered if anyone had measured changes in signal strength when “holding the iPhone properly” and sure enough Nate True posts “iPhone tip - want better EDGE speeds? Take your hand off the antenna”  He claims that he sees a 50% speed increase.  It seems a bit faster to me, but who knows.

I’ve been wondering why the little “E” on my iPhone sometimes was filled in, appearing as a solid block.  Apple illuminated me today.

At long last, Sam Steele’s MobileScrobbler iPhone app has been released via Installer.app.  This is the first AudioScrobbler / Last.FM social music client.  As you listen to music on your iPhone or iPod Touch, MobileScrobbler sends the title, artist, and album to the Last.fm website. Last.fm uses this information to suggest new music, new friends, concerts, and events based on the music you listen to.

* Automatically submits songs as you listen to them
* Works over EDGE or Wifi
* Queues songs when you’re in an area with no signal
* Runs as a native application, not inside Safari
* Source code available under GNU General Public License version 2

I know I’ve seen mobiletorrent mentioned before, but a BitTorrent Client for iPhone is just crazy.

From the Google Code page:

Warning

The use of BitTorrent is heavily network intensive and may breach the terms of your cellphone contract if used over EDGE, not to mention possibly incurring phenomenal cost if not on an unlimited data plan. Thus, this application (when complete) will not permit Torrents to download if the iPhone is not connected to the internet over Wifi.

So the iPhone 1.1.2 jailbreak indeed works.  Make sure you have 45 minutes or so to complete the current hack. Steps include:

1. Installing the Octohack from Installer.app
2. Updating to 1.1.2 in iTunes
3. Downloading the 1.1.2 jailbreak
4. Installing the readline library
5. Running jailbreak.jar
6. Rebooting!

The only tricky part was installing the readline library.  It isn’t mentioned in any of the instructions and if you don’t do this, the hack fails without any worthwhile error.

Download the zip here.  You need to copy:

libreadline.5.2.dylib

to:

/opt/local/lib

Then, proceed with launching jailbreak.jar.  After some waiting, you will be ready to reboot, reboot and run with it.

It seems odd to me that there has been such a flurry of activity in jailbreaking iPhone 1.1.2 (available since Friday).  I’ve been patiently awaiting a simple jailbreak and once it was released yesterday, I took a look.  The thing is.. Apple hasn’t really released 1.1.2 as far as I can tell.

iTunes doesn’t know about it yet and all the download links posted online presuppose that this is the final software.  I think I’ll wait.

Sean Heber has justed announced 31 days of fresh iPhone apps.  His new package source in Installer.app promises a new downloadable app every day for the month of November.

They’re all going to be free and I now have something definite to look forward to each morning when I check for new apps.  Thanks, Sean.

Woke up this morning to find that iTunes had “forgotten” about my my iPhone’s music.  This is a pain because it means you have to restore the device.  Easy to do, but it meant that I had to re-apply the lengthy hack process for the 1.1.1 firmware. 

As I was waiting for my first iTunes sync to complete, I saw that a new process “AppSnapp Installer for 1.1.1” had been released to hack the phone.  This worked perfectly and took about 2 minutes.  Too bad it won’t continue to work after the next Apple update. 

jailbreakme.com

I finally took the plunge and hacked my iPhone 1.1.1 firmware.  What an ordeal!  The proceedure took close to an hour using iFuntastic 4.6.1.  Another hour later and I’ve perused the latest releases in Installer.app and installed a couple dozen packages.

There are quite a few new packages to be explored.  Some of my favorites are:

Nikotalkie- voice messaging over EDGE & WiFi

Labyrinth- an awesome iPhone rendition of the classic marble game

CrossWalk- NYC cross street calculator & subway map viewr

All in all, not a bad way to spend an evening.

Apparently this is the complete list of the songs to be given away by Starbucks in conjunction with their Apple / iPhone deal.  I sure hope that I don’t re-read this in November and compare my final collection… 

10/02 Bob Dylan - Jokerman
10/03 TK Tunstall - One Day
10/04 Joni Mitchell - Night of the Iguana
10/05 Keith Urban - I Told You So
10/06 Emily King - Moon
10/07 Mavis Staples, We Shall Not Be Moved
10/08 Ceu, Roda (Bomba Dub Orchestra Grateful Dub Radio Mix)
10/09 Band of Horses, No One’s Gonna Love You
10/10 Gloria Estefan, 90 Millas
10/11 Fine Frenzy, You Picked Me
10/12 John Legend, Show Me
10/13 John Fogerty, Gunslinger
10/14 Patti Scialfa, Looking for Elvis
10/15 Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage
10/16 Angie Stone, Happy Being Me
10/17 Annie Lennox, Dark Road
10/18 Brandi Carlile, Turpentine
10/19 Alice Smith, New Religion
10/20 Rogue Wave, Lake Michigan
10/21 Alice Russell, Hurry On Now (Featuring TM Juke)
10/22 Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Grace is Gone
10/23 Sonya Kitchell, I’m In Love With You
10/24 bitter:sweet, Heaven (Nicola Conte Remix)
10/25 Greyboy w/ Sharon Jones, Got To Be A Love
10/26 Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Sacala Bailar
10/27 Rissi Palmer, Country Girl
10/28 Raul Midon, Pick Somebody Up
10/29 Joss Stone, Tell Me ‘Bout It (Live from the Bowery Ballroom)
10/30 Federico Aubele, Maria Jose
10/31 Sara Bareilles, Love Song
11/01 Hilary McRae, Consider Me Gone
11/02 John Mayer, Dreaming With A Broken Heart
11/03 Galactic, I Got It (What You Need)
11/04 Bebel Gilberto, Um Segundo
11/05 Suzanne Vega, Frank & Ava
11/06 Sia, Day Too Soon
11/07 Paul McCartney, Only Mama Knows