iPhone Hacks: Pushing the iPhone
and iPod touch Beyond Their Limits
by Damien Stolarz
Just What The Doctor Ordered
With iPhone Hacks, you can make your iPhone do all youd expect of a
mobile smartphone -- and more. Learn tips and techniques to unleash
little-known features, find and create innovative applications for both the
iPhone and iPod touch, and unshackle these devices to run everything
from network utilities to video game emulators.
This book will teach you how to: Import your entire movie collection, sync
with multiple computers, and save YouTube videos Remotely access your
home network, audio, and video, and even control your desktop Develop
native applications for the iPhone and iPod touch on Linux, Windows, or
Mac Check email, receive MMS messages, use IRC, and record full-
motion video Run any application in the iPhones background, and mirror
its display on a TV Make your iPhone emulate old-school video game
platforms, and play classic console and arcade games Integrate your
iPhone with your car stereo Build your own electronic bridges to connect

keyboards, serial devices, and more to your iPhone without jailbreaking
iPhone Hacks explains how to set up your iPhone the way you want it, and
helps you give it capabilities that will rival your desktop computer. This
cunning little handbook is exactly what you need to make the most of your
iPhone.
Personal Review: iPhone Hacks: Pushing the iPhone and iPod
touch Beyond Their Limits by Damien Stolarz
The iPhone is an amazing portable computer. It features capabilities that
twenty years ago would have been something out of the pages of science
fiction. Instant communications access with anyone in the world, the ability
to seamlessly access the corpus of human knowledge that is the Internet,
and of course, an ability to be entertained by music, video and games
limited only by your imagination.
Almost.
The iPhone, as shipped by Apple, is a wonderful device for 95% of its
users. But Apple locks iPhone users into a gilded cage. The cage is
sumptuously decorated, but it is still a jail cell. You are limited to using your
iPhone in ways Apple approves of. "The man" (or Steve Jobs) decides
what applications you can run and what capabilities your phone has. Like a
bridled horse, the iPhone is docile, but unleashed, it could do so much
more!
To really set the iPhone free, you need to "hack" it. Once you do this, your
phone becomes the powerful computer it is meant to be, and you can run
much more diverse software, giving your phone new abilities, like being
able to record videos, customize the user interface, emulate popular video
game consoles, and send and receive multimedia messages. You can
even give your phone the ability to act as a wi-fi "access point" to the
internet for your laptop, and unlock the phone to use on other carriers.
"iPhone Hacks" by David Jurick and Adam and Damien Stolarz is your
guide into this brave new world. The authors act as friendly guide into the
world of iPhone customization. This book is not meant for beginners; the
authors assume both some technical computer knowledge and a curious
nature. Some of the software-based "hacks" can be done by any
experienced user, but other hacks require programming and even
hardware "breadboard" skills, such as handiness with a soldering iron.
The authors first explains some of the basics of the iPhone operating
system, including its history, the phone's boot process, and how the file
system is put together, which is an excellent overview, before they head
into the basics of "jailbreaking," which is the process where you use some
simple software tools to open your phone's operating system up to
customization.

I should note that many of the hacks in this book require the jailbreaking
process, which, contrary to its name, is neither illegal nor very difficult.
There are several hacks which do not require jailbreaking, however, these
are more in the vein of "power user tips" rather then true hacks. It is worth
noting that Apple will not provide warranty services to jailbroken phones -
luckily, if anything goes wrong, it is very easy to "restore" your phone to
pristine condition before seeking warranty service.
The actual hacks are divided into various sections by theme. The first two
thirds of the book is all software-focused, and as such accessible to those
without programming or hardware hacking skills. For example, there are
sections on using the phone as a multimedia devices, sections on
enhancing the camera and video recording functions, as well as sections
on topics such as SMS messaging, gaming, and user interface
customization. Any of these sections can be accessed in an ad-hoc
manner; there is no need to go in order after the initial chapter on the
jailbreak process itself. Simple pick the topic you are interested in and dive
in. It is easy to browse the book to get an idea of what the iPhone can do,
and all of the chapters are very clearly explained, with excellent use of
screenshots and supplementary information to guide you in the process.
The final third of the book covers both application programming, and actual
hardware hacking, including how to disassemble and reassemble your
phone. Many of the hacks in this section are very entertaining to read
about (and fairly useless in a practical sense), especially since it would
take someone way braver then me to actually crack open my phone's
case! The programming section is a useful introduction to both the official
Apple-provided way to program for the iPhone as well as the unofficial
ways to get access to private APIs and methods which can be used to
program applications that could never make it into the App Store.
More controversially, "iPhone Hacks" also describes the process to
"unlock" your iPhone (this is different then "jailbreaking") so you can use it
on a carrier other then AT&T. This information is presented fairly and
accurately, with both the risks and rewards clearly outlined for those users
who may need to use an iPhone on another carrier. The book also
describes how to activate tethering, where you can use your iPhone as an
internet access point for your laptop. This may violate your contract with
your carrier, but the book doesn't moralize here; it simply describes the
"hack" and leaves the decision as to how to use the information up to you,
the reader, which is as it should be.
Overall, this is an amazing book, clearly and thoroughly describing the
dozens of ways you can truly make your iPhone your own. It manages to
cover challenging information fairly and accurately in a manner that will
appeal to any adventurous, curious and technically-minded reader. Even if
you never plan to do anything other then the tamest "hacks" to your
iPhone, browsing this book will teach you a lot about your phone as a
computer, and leave you stimulated and fascinated.

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