Turn Your iPod Touch into an iPhone

The iPhone and iPod touch are almost indistinguishable devices except for one major difference—you can make calls from your iPhone, and you can't from your iPod touch. For the privilege of making phone calls with your iPhone, you have to pay $100 more upfront to Apple for the device itself, plus a minimum of $60/month to AT&T for the next two years. Let's say you didn't need that kind of firepower from your iPod touch, but that you would like to use it make a phone call every now and then. You can, and today I'm going to show you how to make VoIP phone calls from your iPod touch or iPhone using a freeware application called SIP-VoIP.

What You'll Need

1.) A jailbroken iPod touch or iPhone. If you haven't already jailbroken your device, don't worry—it'll just take 45 seconds.

2.) iPhone headphones with mics don't work with the iPod touch, so if you're using an iPod touch you'll need a Touchmod mic. The Touchmod mics come in a variety of flavors, from the simple dongle that plugs into the syncing port to the headphone-and-mic combo that works much like the iPhone headphones. The hardware will set you back somewhere between $50 and $60.

3.) The freeware SIP-VoIP application. Read on for details for installing SIP-VoIP below.

UPDATE: Just today (4/15) it looks like another VoIP app for the iPhone has emerged called Fring. Fring promises to work with both Skype and SIP accounts, but like SIP-VoIP it's still young and not entirely perfect. I haven't tried it yet, but it might be a viable alternative to SIP-VoIP, and can be installed just as easily.

Install SIP-VoIP

I'm going to cover two different ways of installing SIP-VoIP. The first and easiest method is with Installer.app, the program that is automatically installed when you jailbreak your iPod. The second method is more difficult, but it's good to have around in case you run into errors (which I did).

Method 1 - Install SIP-VoIP with Installer.app: First, since SIP-VoIP isn't found in Installer.app by default, you need to add the Touchmods repository to Installer. To do so, launch Installer and head to the Sources tab. Now tap Edit -> Add, and type http://touchmods.net/rep.xml into the Add Source dialog. Hit OK, and Installer will refresh your sources, this time including your new Touchmods repository.

Now go to the Install tab and find the entry labeled Touchmods. Inside you'll see an app called Touchmods SIP-VoIP. Go ahead and install SIP-VoIP by tapping the entry, tapping the install button, and then verifying that you want to install this application from an "untrusted" source.

This is by far the easiest method for installing SIP-VoIP, but I had trouble with the latest version of SIP-VoIP (version 1.2) on my iPod touch, so I had to install a previous version (1.1). Since you can only install the latest with Installer, I'll also demonstrate how to install older versions of SIP-VoIP. I'd recommend trying it the easy way first, then moving to the following method if you have trouble. If you're taking the easy route the first time around, skip to the Set Up an SIP Account section below.

Method 2 - Install SIP-VoIP over SSH: To install previous versions of SIP-VoIP, you'll need to first install OpenSSH through Installer.app (you can find it under Install -> System). Now you'll need to connect to your iPod using a desktop FTP client that supports SFTP connections (like FileZilla for Windows or Cyberduck for OS X). This will allow you to browse and copy files to your iPod like you would if you could access the disk as an external hard drive on your computer.

To connect to your device from your computer, you'll need to know your iPod touch's or iPhone's IP address. You can find this by opening the Settings app, tapping Wi-Fi, and then tapping the blue arrow next to the network you're connected to.

Now that you've got that, start up your FTP client of choice, enter the IP address as you server, and use root for your username and alpine as your password. Once connected, navigate to the Applications folder (just above the root folder). That's where your iPhone and iPod touch keep all of their applications. From here it's a simple matter of dragging and dropping the appropriate SIP-VoIP app to the applications folder.

For this article, I'm using the 1.1 version of SIP-VoIP, which you can download here. Once downloaded, unzip the file and then drag and drop the SIP-VoIP.app file to your Applications folder. Finally, restart your iPod or iPhone and the new app should show up on your home screen.

Set Up an SIP Account

If you want to follow along exactly with my settings, head to the FreeCall signup page and register for an account. After you register, you'll need to buy some minutes for your call time. FreeCall is an international service, so when it asks for your cell phone (to which it sends an SMS confirmation), you'll need to include your country code; for example, it would look something like 0015555551234 if you're in the US. The minimum purchase with FreeCall is 10 euros, which amounts to around $16. Once you've purchased some calling time with FreeCall, it's time to enter your setup configuration in SIP-VoIP and start making calls.

NOTE: If you don't want to spend money off the bat, you might want to try signing up with a service like Gizmo5 (formerly Gizmo Project), which offers a small amount of trial credit.

Set Up SIP-VoIP to Make Calls

If you used FreeCall like I did, enter your FreeCall username and password in the first two fields (other services will use the number they've assigned you as the username), then sip.voiparound.com in the field labeled SIP-Server (see screenshot). There are more fields, but for FreeCall that should be all you need. Hit Save to save your settings—you may have to hit return on the iPod's keyboard to dismiss it and see the Save button—and then tap the dial tab to head to the dialpad.

Before you make your first call, you have to connect the application to the SIP server, so click the button labeled "connect to sip server" in the lower left. If all goes well, it'll connect without a hitch. (This is where I ran into some problems with version 1.2 on the iPod touch. 1.2 connected without issue from my iPhone, but I kept getting connection error messages with 1.2 on my iPod touch. If you're having similar problems, installing version 1.1 may help.) If it connected successfully, all you've got to do is dial your number (country code included, depending on which service you go with) and hit the call button.

I actually stumbled onto a video on YouTube of a precocious kid using a Touchmods mic with SIP-VoIP and FreeCall. There are several of these videos on YouTube—I particularly like this speaker phone setup. Check out his video below to get a better look at what the final result is.

Set up Inbound number

The SIP-VoIP app has been in development for a while, and though it's still not much to look at, it seems to be improving over time. The iPhone and iPod touch 2.0 firmware will officially hit the streets sometime in June with support for third party apps through Apple, so who knows what kind of VoIP apps we'll see when that time comes.

Whether or not we'll ever see Skype or another VoIP app officially supported for the iPhone (Apple says they'll allow VoIP over Wi-Fi), SIP-VoIP is already there. My experience with it has been hit-or-miss, and it's got miles to go before it's the friendliest app around, but whether you'd like to make international calls for cheap or you just want to want to reach out and touch someone from your iPod touch, the folks at Touchmods and SIP-VoIP are already providing the tools to do just that.

No, you don't get visual voicemail, text messaging, or a built-in camera, but you do get to make and receive phone calls from your iPod touch—which in itself shows a lot of promise.

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Tennis Ball Cannon is a Dog's Best Robotic Friend

Now, a beer launching fridge I can understand, but a tennis ball cannon? I find it amusing when someone spends a tremendous amount of time and effort building something that can automate basic functions—like throwing a tennis ball to a wiener dog. But the results speak for themselves. It is an inspiration for lazy people everywhere. [BoingBoing Gadgets]

• CANNON,
• DOGS,
• GUN,
• HACK,
• LAZY,
• ROBOTS,
• TENNIS BALL

Keep an eye on your iPhone's location using Twitter

By Justin Berka | Published: February 22, 2008 - 08:39AM CT

You can get locater service LoJack for a number of different products, including cars and laptops, but there's no such service for iPhones. We've already heard a number of reports of stolen iPhones, though, so there's certainly a need for some type of iPhone tracking technology. In response to requests for such an application, TUAW's Erica Sadun has put together findme, an application (and system) for keeping track of the location of your iPhone.

Erica's findme command-line tool returns the identifier, longitude, and latitude of the cell phone tower closest to your iPhone, but the locater system relies on an unusual component to keep you notified: Twitter. By creating a Twitter account and then making the updates protected, only people you allow can see the information that findme sends to Twitter. You can even use the system to let friends or family keep track of your travels, by changing your Twitter preferences to give them access.

You'll need to install the findme application on your iPhone, so you'll need to have a jailbroken device. You'll also need the curl utility. After that, Erica has provided a handy shell script that you can use to send a tweet via curl. All that's left then is to create a daemon to run the script every so often, and reboot your iPhone. Sure, it may not stop savvy thieves from pilfering your advice, but it is a pretty cool script to have around anyway, so give findme a look.

Teenager George Hotz, aka GeoHot, the original iPhone unlocker is back. In a post to his personal blog he states that he has successfully unlocked a 1.1.2 firmware and bootloader 4.6 iPhone. Better yet, he posts the not-for-dummies version of the instructions to downgrade the bootloader to version 3.9 in preparation for running AnySim. We haven't tried this ourselves so remember, as GeoHot himself states, this hardware method "could brick your iPhone." You haven't upgraded to 1.1.3 already have you? If so, you're stuck with AT&T.

Update: We're now hearing that a software unlock for 1.1.2 / 4.6 iPhones is right around the corner. So don't crack that case just yet kids.

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/18/1-1-2-iphones-now-unlocked-3-days-too-late/

How to Get an IPSF-Unlocked iPhone to Work Correctly with Firmware 1.1.2

Use Your iPhone's Internet Connection On Your Laptop

It's great that your iPhone has a data plan and a killer mobile browser, but when you're sitting at the airport waiting to catch a plane with your laptop right next to you, wouldn't it be nice to use your full-on desktop browser? Out of the box your iPhone won't allow you to tether your EDGE data connection to another computer wirelessly, but with a little ingenuity on your part you'll be browsing the net on your laptop through your iPhone's data service in no time.

NOTE: You're probably asking yourself: "Isn't the EDGE data network that the iPhone uses SLOW?" Well, yes it is. But if you're at all like me, sometimes a slow full-screen browsing session is better than slow browsing on the small screen.

I've only tested this method on my MacBook Pro, but since SSH is platform independent, this should be a workable solution on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

What You'll Need

For this guide, you'll need:

• A computer with Wi-Fi capable of creating an ad-hoc computer-to-computer connection (yours is)
• A jailbroken iPhone (If you don't know how to jailbreak your iPhone, the easiest way is to make sure you're running 1.1.1 firmware and then start here.
• The OpenSSH iPhone application (I'll show you how to get this below)
• An SSH client on the computer you're using. If you're on a Mac or *nix machine, you should be fine. Windows users should check out how to install OpenSHH with Cygwin.

Prepare Your iPhone

Assuming you've already got Installer.app installed on your iPhone (which you will have installed if you've gone through the jailbreak mentioned above), the first thing you need to do is install OpenSSH. So head to your iPhone's home screen and fire up Installer.app. Now go to the Install tab and tap on System -> OpenSSH and tap the Install button. Once it installs, exit Installer.app.

Start Up Your Ad-Hoc Network

This process differs depending on what operating system you're using. As I said above, I've only tested this on a Mac, but I'll point to instructions on how to do the same on Windows as well.

If you are using a Mac, just click the Airport icon in your menu bar and click on Create Network. Then just give your network a name and—if you like—a password.

On a Windows PC you'll need to set up Internet Connection Sharing. You can find instructions for doing so here. Good luck!

Once you create your network, your computer won't be able to connect wirelessly to any Wi-Fi hotspot, just other devices.

Connect Your iPhone to Your Computer

To get your computer and iPhone talking, you'll need to connect your iPhone to the ad-hoc network we created above. To do so, go to the Settings application, tap Wi-Fi, and select your ad-hoc network from the list of available networks.

Once you're connected, tap the blue arrow next to your new network to get info on your connections—namely your IP address. Write that puppy down because you'll need it in a second.

Connect Your Computer to Your iPhone's Internet

Now it's time to make use of the SSH server we installed on our iPhone. From this point on, we're basically following our previous guide to encrypting your web browsing with an SSH SOCKS proxy. Open up your command line application of choice and enter the following:

ssh -ND 9999 root@YourIPAddress

...where YourIPAddress is replaced with whatever you wrote down above.

If this is the first time you're SSHing into your iPhone, it may take a bit for your secure key to be generating, so give it at least 30 seconds. You'll be asked if you're sure you want to continue connecting (answer "yes") and then you'll be prompted for a password. At the time of this writing, the default password for OpenSSH on your iPhone is alpine, though you should change the root password when you get a chance.

After you've entered the correct password, the prompt will appear to hang. That's actually what should be happening, so you're on the right track.

Set Your Browser to Use SOCKS Proxy

At this point you just need to set your browser or operating system to use the SOCKS Proxy we've just set up to route our internet connection through the iPhone's EDGE connection. Gina's post shows how to do this with Firefox, though I'll admit I had some trouble getting the proxy to play properly with Firefox on my Mac. Your mileage may vary, but as an alternative I'll show you how to set it up in Safari, which worked well for me.

First, open the Safari Preferences, go to the Advanced tab, and click the Proxies "Change Settings" button. Make sure you're looking at your Airport advanced settings and are viewing the Proxies tab. Tick the SOCKS Proxy checkbox, enter localhost in the section labeled SOCKS Proxy Server and 9999 in the port next to it. Hit OK and Apply your settings. Then just head back to Safari and you're ready to browse.

Couldn't This Work Better?

I'll admit that my SSH/SOCKS chops are slim, so it's very likely this method could be built on to work even better than what I've set up above. That said, I can now browse from my laptop for free anywhere I've got my iPhone, so it could be worse. There are other methods available for tethering your iPhone, particularly this one, but I like the comparatively easy setup and cross-platform-ness of my setup. Alternatively, if you're feeling particularly adventurous/bored, you can boost your iPhone connection to 3G speeds by tethering the iPhone to a 3G mobile phone (which would be absurdly cumbersome). Tethering your iPhone to your laptop may be against AT&T's terms of service, so keep that in mind if you decide to go forward with this. If you've tried this or a similar method and have your own tips, let's hear them in the comments. Thanks to Lifehacker reader Vinod Panicker for the great idea.

If you're looking for more cool ways to put that iPhone to use, check out my iPhone book.

Adam Pash is a senior editor for Lifehacker who enjoys a good iPhone hack—hell, he wrote the book on it. His special feature Hack Attack appears every Tuesday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Hack Attack RSS feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

Exploit makes iPhone a Spyphone*

November 16 Matt Hickey

Now this is scary. That iPhone in your pocket just might be your worst enemy. Ultranerd Rik Farrow, at the behest of Fast Company, has discovered a way to trick iPhone users into downloading malware to the handset. The application then allows the owner of the app to own the phone, and allows them to also intercept any text, email, or voice conversation you have.

Thus your iPhone becomes a Spyphone. Those who’ve downloaded the 1.1.2 patch are OK, but those buying new phones are susceptible and should upgrade as soon as they get the chance.

The exploit can be downloaded via a phishing link in Safari, or via a “middle man” attack, tricking the iPhone user into thinking they’re using a safe Wi-Fi access point, when really it’s an ad-hoc connection pushing the software. Look out, friends.

Hacking the iPhone [Fast Company, via TechCrunch]