iPhone Hacks Author, David Jurick, A Hardcore iPhonespaz

I came across the newly published iPhone Hacks (Amazon) and immediately went looking for my soldering iron... Ok, maybe I didn't do that, but I was intrigued with the depth and coverage in this book.

Some of you know that I've been working on developing iPhone apps myself, so I'm really into anything that goes under the hood of the iPhone.

In any case, after my initial perusal I checked in with author David Jurick to get the skinny on his iPhone obsession. David graciously agreed to answer my questions.

The David Jurick iPhonespaz Interview

[JG] Thanks for agreeing to the interview. I know you have to be crazy busy with the launch of the book. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

[DJ] No problem. I’ve always been attracted to anything technical, especially computers. An insatiable curiosity fills me with the desire to learn everything I can about the inner-workings of complicated devices. I strive to use this new-found knowledge to push the capabilities of technology even further.

[JG] So, you've been into computers for a long time?

[DJ] Despite having majored in Pharmacology, I ended up entering a career in the IT world as a System Administrator. Since I’ve always enjoyed working with computers, being able to geek-out with them all day is incredible!

[JG] It's awesome to be able to work in you dream field! OK, we'd better get this iPhone thing going. First thing's first... How many apps do you have on your personal iPhone and what got you hooked on the platform?

[DJ] According to iTunes, I’ve only installed 2 apps. However, as any iPhone hacker will know, the iTunes App Store is not the only way to get apps. My iPhone currently has ~20 apps installed! The way I got most of these apps was with Cydia Installer, which is full of all kinds of useful apps that are capable of things such as tethering your 3G connection to your computer, remotely accessing your iPhone’s files and operating system, customizing the U.I. theme, or even turning your iPhone into a mobile webcam.

[JG] Do you find the apps in the App Store limited?

[DJ] The App Store will probably never have much of anything that will appeal to a nerd like me because they are structured around one thing – Sales. As a result, they’ll only offer apps that can in no way harm the sales of Apple or their affiliates. For example, offering a tethering app would eliminate someone’s need to pay for one of the 3G USB adapters from AT&T. Furthermore, to maximize sales, the iTunes apps need to appeal to the masses. Your grandma would much rather have a TV Guide app (for all her Matlock episodes) than an VNC server for her iPhone. And your 6 year old brother would rather have an app that makes fart sounds than a network file sharing protocol for his iPhone. If I somehow suffer massive brain damage in the near future, then I may consider using iTunes to fill my iPhone with 10 different flashlights, and other useless apps.

[JG] LOL! What about the forbidden fruit aspect of non-approved apps?

[DJ] I suppose this “forbidden fruit” aspect of the cool, nerdy apps being frowned upon by Apple is one of the main reasons that I became hooked on the iPhone. (The cookie jar on the top-most, out-of-reach shelf of the cabinet is far more enticing to a child than the can of creamed corn on the bottom shelf.) I like the challenge of finding clever ways to get around all the little security features that Apple implemented to prevent hackers like me from accomplishing their goals. To me, it feels like a far greater reward to succeed with some new hack as opposed to just clicking the mouse a couple times to install some superficial app from the iTunes App Store.

[JG] Switching over to the new book, did you run into any hurdles while writing the book? What one thing did you want to do that you just could NOT get to work?

[DJ] The biggest hurdle of the book was trying to keep up with the frequent firmware updates from Apple. While the main reason was to improve the iPhone by fixing bugs and adding features, Apple would often (and purposely!) change the software in such a way that it busted many of the current hacking procedures floating around internet forums and blogs. One of the most notable examples of this was the fall ’07 release of 1.1.1 firmware that temporarily bricked unlocked iPhones.

Prior to 1.1.1, the most popular unlocking technique was anySIM, which was incredibly easy to use, but applied a relatively weak and unstable software patch to the firmware. Regardless of its sketchy method, it still yielded an unlocked iPhone that would accept nearly any GSM carrier’s SIM card, which caused countless hackers and would-be-hackers to use anySIM. With so many users unlocking their iPhones, Apple became incredibly worried about the impact that this would have on their partner AT&T. To combat this threat, Apple designed 1.1.1 firmware to have a major incompatibility with anySIM’s unlock patch. On 1.1.1’s release day, thousands of unlocked iPhone users unknowingly plugged their phones into iTunes, and ran the update. Once the updated finished they were left a brick that would barely turn on. At first, everyone was terrified that their prized possession would forever remain in this sad state. Fortunately, a few weeks later, the iPhone hacking community managed to develop a way to reverse the damage. However, Apple achieve its goal because the whole ordeal managed to frighten the general public away from unlocking their iPhones, even though it has quietly evolved into a pretty safe procedure. To this day, Joe the Plumber still believes that trying to unlock an iPhone will ruin it beyond repair . The only people who dare unlock their iPhones are the die-hard hackers and their friends.

While, not as drastic as unlocking, the updates would often render many of the current hacks obsolete forcing hackers to rethink the strategies, and develop a new technique. The impact that these updates would have on my book is that I’d find myself constantly rewriting chapters to include a valid procedure for the newly released firmware version. This would explain why the release date of our book was delayed so many times. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that we were just about ready to release the book, and a new revolutionary update like 3.0 comes out, requiring us to go back and revise the hacks in our book to address the new software changes.

One thing that I really wanted to get working, was mounting a network file system (SMB, AFP, WebDAV, etc) on my iPhone. On a computer, you can mount the shared folder of another computer on your local network, and access all of the files and media within. This ability would be immensely useful on an iPhone with its low storage capacity. Imagine walking within the range of your Wi-Fi network, and having your computer’s 100GB Mp3 library automatically mount in your iPhone’s filesystem so you could playback any music you like without having to go near your computer.

[JG] Mmmmm. I can hear it now. So, What is your favorite iPhone app and why do you love it? I got a feeling this isn't going to be one of the two your downloaded from the App Store.

[DJ] My favorite app is any one of the Terminal emulators that have been released over the years. Having command line capabilities on my iPhone is a powerful tool for many of my hacking needs. Furthermore, this gives me the ability to make remote SSH connections to servers. As a System Administrator, I have to manage over 15 web servers, and being able to SSH into to them from my iPhone is a priceless ability, should a problem with one of them arise when I’m not in the vicinity of a computer.

[JG] You touched a bit on 3.0. If you could add one feature what would it be?

[DJ] One feature that I really want is the ability to connect an external USB storage device to your iPhone’s dock connection via a dongle. Once connected, you’d be able to playback any of the media on it, without having to first copy it over to your iPhone. It would pretty much work in the same manner as an external hard drive attached to your computer.

[JG] I'd use that. Ok, so it's time for our patented spaz question: Because we're iPhonespaz, we've got to ask this... What's the geekiest thing you've done with your iPhone? The thing that made people go, "Uh... right. Note to self: Restraining order."

[DJ] One of my geekier accomplishments was installing a Playstation emulator on my iPhone. I knew that the gameplay would be unbearably hindered because of the tiny screen and slow processor, but I had to do it to just see with my own eyes that it was possible to port such an advanced gaming platform to the iPhone. I’ve got a lot of respect for the hacker who created this emulator.

[JG] Rock on!!! That's enough to make me want to jailbreak my phone! Thanks again for doing the interview, David. Best of luck with the new book!

The bio below comes from O'Reilly's site. I just loved it so I had to include it.

David Jurick was tragically born a siamese twin. His twin happened to be a PC computer with a 1394a umbilical cord linking the two. Thus, he's been around computers for a considerable amount of time. He has extensive experience in such topics as networking, hardware, software, and HTML programming. He graduated high school in 2001, and then went on to pursue a degree at U.C. Santa Barbara. While in school he helped found the Kappa Sigma fraternity at U.C.S.B. In 2006 he graduated with a B.S. degree in pharmacology. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

David Jurick's Website: davidjurick.com
Buy iPhone Hacks: iPhone Hacks @ Amazon