Why and How to Jailbreak an iPhone

OK, although this is a little off the topic of Web Marketing, I felt it was an important article in the realm of general business efficiency, plus I just spent several hours figuring it out and wanted to provide a resource for other users that would hopefully save them time and frustration (as is the purpose of this blog).

First off, what exactly does it mean to "jailbreak" an iPhone? Basically Apple distributes its phones in a manner where you as the owner of the phone have very little control on how it works. Many of the settings cannot be modified and the only applications you can add are "approved" applications within the App store of Apple. Over three million iPhones have been broken out of jail because users wanted more control over their phones and/or were having an issue with their phone that Apple could not or would not resolve (such as the infamous "dead strip" at the top or bottom of the screen).

What do I mean when I talk about having more control over your phone? OK, what if you are browsing the Web with Safari on your iPhone and a text message comes in, with a standard iPhone your only option is to close out of the browser to then open up the text message to reply to it. With a jailbreak iPhone, you can download an application that lets you have processes running in the background, so then you could reply to your text while you still have your browser open. By the way, any jailbreak phone can easily be reset to factory settings and this has nothing to do with unlocking a phone to use with other carriers.

I personally just spent five hours figuring out how to jailbreak my first generation iPhone because of the "dead strip" that Apple would not help me with. I now have a control in my General Settings that lets me choose how sensitive the touchscreen is; by making it more sensitive than the factory setting, it fixed my screen so that I can now actually use my phone again.

So how do you jailbreak an iPhone? Well, here is a tutorial for a 2G, 3G and 3GS iPhone (please understand that you would be doing this at your own risk and I provide the following as only a helpful guide to the process):

First off, you need to find and download three pieces of software to your computer. The first one is the latest firmware for your particular iPhone. At writing, the latest version I downloaded was 3.1.3. You can do a Google search for this and once you find it, download it to your desktop. This is a "just in case" step; so if you screw something up, you can restore your phone from this file. The second software is also going to be an iPhone firmware, but this will be the custom version that you want to use to restore your iPhone; the version that will give you the freedom to control you phone. There are several options for this, so again, use Google to search for 'custom iPhone firmware' and when you find one that seems to have the features you like the most, download it to your desktop. The final software to aquire is called iREB and this is the actual tool that allows you to jailbreak your phone so that you can restore it from that custom firmware you just downloaded. Again, using Google or any search engine, find where you can get ahold of this iREB software and download it to your desktop. A note, you may need to unzip any or all of the above files after you download them.

OK, now you have all of the software you need, so begins the process. First, sync your iPhone so it will do a back-up to your iTunes. After that is completed, detach the phone from your computer and remove your SIM card. Do this by taking something like a safety pin and poking it down into that little hole on the top of your phone, this will release the SIM card. Take it out and then plug your phone back into your computer. iTunes will give you message that your phone is missing its SIM card, just OK out of that message.

Now, start your iREB software, it will immediately ask you what phone you have, pick which version of the iPhone you have; in my case it was the 2G. It will install to the phone (it will walk you through a process of some things to do to your phone and you must follow this exactly) and then you'll see a message on your iPhone screen that says "waiting for custom firmware".

Now bring up your iTunes, click on your iPhone in the left column to bring up your main iPhone screen, and then while holding down the 'shift' key on the left side of your keyboard, click on the 'Restore' button on the iTunes screen. It will bring up a window asking you which file to restore from, to which you then choose the custom firmware file that you downloaded to your desktop (not the Apple version that you downloaded for just in case). Now the iPhone will go through the restore process that will take a few minutes.

Once your phone starts up again, you'll probaly get a message in iTunes asking if you want to restore from a back-up of the phone or set it up as a new phone. You need to choose the set it up as a new phone. You'll need to update some of your settings to get the phone back like it was, but then once you sync the phone again, you'll be good to go and you'll notice new controls and applications on your phone that will open up a whole new world. Now put your SIM card back in and your phone is ready to go.

If you have questions, please contact Ken Sabey by phone (303.506.3406) or email (Ken@WebptOh.com).

What is Google Places and Why does it Matter?

If you are a local business, or have local offices, that is trying to attract local clientele, then you should have a Google Places page.

Google Places is what is used for both Google Maps searches and regular Google searches that contain a local trigger in the keywords, such as a state or city name. It's a profile page for a business that not only shows it's exact physical location on a map, but also provides contact information, services provided, photos and even customer reviews.

Google Places Page Example

Almost any company that does business locally should have a Google Places page, especially if it's a store, restaurant, health center, etc...

OK, how do you get one? First go to Google Maps and do a search on your own business name. If your company name with a map comes up and you can click on it to get more information, you already have a Places page. If so, look above your listing to see if there is a link that says "Business owner?" if so, click on that.link which will take you through a process to claim your company. Basically you'll need to setup a Google account if you don't already have one,then Google will either call you, mail you a letter, or send you an email that you have to respond to to finish the process.

If instead of seeing the "Business owner?" link, you see a "Owner-verified listing", then you or someone else has already setup your page; you can just review to make sure it's correct.

Once you have your Google account and have been verified with Google, you can now edit your information, such as picking the exact location on the map for your business, your contact information and short summary, your services and even some photos. You can also choose whether end users can input reviews of your business.

So now when someone is looking for your business, or the services you provide, in your local area, your new Google Places should come up as one of the first links. Be aware, it takes awhile for a new Places page to start appearing in search results though.

If you have questions, please contact Ken Sabey by phone (303.506.3406) or email (Ken@WebptOh.com).