Ok, this is neat.

With every update of the iPhone firmware, the hacker community has stepped up and created a way to install third-party apps on the iPhone. This is known as a “Jailbreak.”

The approach taken with the latest version of the iPhone and iPod Touch firmware, 1.1.3, is a little different.

Since the iPhone and iPod touch are running a version of Mac OS X, they have a nice BSD Unix layer underneath. So some hackers (including a 13-year old kid) have figured out a way for the jailbreak operation to take place right on the iPhone itself. No need for a computer. It downloads the firmware from Apple using “curl” then decrypts it and jailbreaks it.

All without any intervention. Check it out: iJailBreakMobile 1.0.

[Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R50TbwJ5-fM]

I did this today and it took about 45 minutes. It worked flawlessly.

Screenshots inside.

I’ve tried a few different cases for the iPhone, but in the end rejected them because they were bulky and unnecessary. The whole point of the iPhone is that you just slip it into your pocket. If you have to use a big rubber case around it, it becomes bulky and annoying. And I’m not going to be one of those guys who wears a cellphone holster. Dorks.

Besides, the iPhone screen is pretty hardy. It doesn’t seem to scratch, even in a pocket with keys. So the phone itself doesn’t need much protection.

However, Miguel Version 2.0 has figured out that the iPhone is fun to slide around on the floor like a weird crawling hand-rollerskate. So I figure it’s time to get some protection on it. I slapped a screen-protector on (the invisible kind) just in case. And I ordered a Gelaskin.

Gelaskins are artistic covers for iPods & iPhones, as well as for various laptops. There are a wide range of artists represented. I chose the Exploding Dog skin for my iPhone. I first saw Gelaskins on the Macbreak video podcast coverage of the recent Macworld show. Pam thinks I ordered a Gelaskin because one of the podcast girls looks like an ex-girlfriend of mine, but it’s not true. I wouldn’t be swayed by that kind of marketing.

The Gelaskin arrived today, and I put it on my iPhone. The procedure took about 20 seconds. The skin itself is made of some kind of awesome 3M vinyl and adhesive. It’s sort of a grid pattern on the skin, so that there are no bubbles. I got it right the first time (the trick is to line up the camera hole first), but if you screw up, the skin is reseatable.

Once you have the Gelaskin on the back of the iPhone, you can download a matching wallpaper for the front.

Here are some photos. I took one photo with the light right on the iPhone just to show the grid pattern.