Jailbreaking the iPhone used to be a hairy and scary thing to do … if you believe all the horror stories about prior versions of the jailbreak programs causing serious problems with your phone.

But today, it’s pretty simple and quick, and there are some really cool benefits and very little downside.

In case you are in a hurry, I’ll show you how first, and then tell you why.

How To Jailbreak iPhone 3.0

I had 3.12 on an iPhone 3G, so this is the result I got from that setup.

First you download the program, use Blackra1n since it’s so easy and quick. Get it here.

Once you have the program on your computer, you simply plugin the iPhone and hit a button that shows up that says “Make It Rain”. About 3 minutes later, you have a jailbroken iPhone with a few different app stores available, including the most popular, called Cydia.

Why I Jailbroke My iPhone 3.0? Benefits!

Ok, first of all, it’s not everything to jailbreak your iPhone.

Yes there are some cool additions to what you can do on your iPhone, and some customization that makes it a good deal. But is it going to make you a lot more productive? I’m not sure I can really say that. Will it make your iPhone experience a little more fun? Definitely on that one …

The first thing when I jailbroke my iPhone is I had a few new apps showing up. One was blackra1n, and there was also Cydia, and Winterboard. Winterboard is used to activate and deactivate a lot of themes and tweaks. And it runs on something called Springboard. Springboard crashes occasionally and you have to reboot. But I’ve had other apps that crashed me before, so it does not seem like a big deal to me.

Going into Cydia, there are loads of apps to browse. The immediate difference is that it’s not as pretty as the Apple App store on the phone. The icons don’t show you anything about the program, and you have to wait for it to load before getting a screenshot or two. Most Apple app store apps have several screenshots, but the Cydia ones usually have only one screenshot. This might not seem like a big deal, but if you like to see how the theme or tweak is going to look first, it’s a bit annoying.

However, I’ve found a few Cydia apps that are total deal makers for me …

One is qTweeter. If you use twitter or Facebook, this is a really awesome app. It costs $5, but it’s a totally cool way to update both twitter and facebook at the same time. You get 15 free status updates before you have to pay for the app. So plenty of time to test it out before you have to pay. Very nice touch. I never would buy an app for $5 without being able to try it first unless I was really confident. The app uses twitpic and twitvid to automatically generate short links and show your pic or video in your status update. This rocks … Another cool thing about qTweeter is that you can update your status, from anywhere. Just touch the status bar on the top of the screen and qTweeter drops a window down, over any app or the homescreen. This is something that is unheard of on an iPhone that isn’t jailbroken. You just can’t do stuff like that.

Another app that is totally cool is Cycorder. If you already have an iPhone 3GS, you don’t need this app. But I have a 3G. So no video recorder preloaded. Cycorder turns your 3G into a video recorded, just like a 3GS. And the really cool thing is that qTweeter can automatically generate a video and load it on twitvid. WAY cool. So these two programs together make it easy to update the Twitter status.

There are other apps that some friends of mine keep saying I have to try, like a scrabble-type of game that you can play online. But I have yet to try it.

Themes are maybe the #1 reason to jailbreak your iPhone. If making your phone look and feel unique, then jailbreak and get your theme. There are hundreds to choose from and many of them come in parts, so you can use the battery from one theme and the background from another, for example. During my first week I changed the theme nonstop. Now I have the one I like. Screenshot coming soon … my wife has my phone today and she’s out and about …

Then, there’s the Backgrounder. From any app just hold the home button for about 2 seconds and the app minimizes into the background. That way, if you want to start it up again, no waiting for the splash screen and load. It’s right there for a quick load. It’s good if you are working on something and need to switch between apps a lot. But since it does not persist after you turn your iPhone off and back on again, I don’t use it too much.

The Big Warranty Question

A lot of people are afraid of voiding their warranty on the iPhone. But if you just restore the phone from iTunes, it wipes out the programs. That’s right, a restore makes the iPhone new again, no sign of jailbreak. So the warranty is really a non-issue in my opinion. But make your own decision on that one …

Syncing With iTunes After A Jailbreak

After a jailbreak, I was curious to see how a sync would work: just like it does before the jailbreak.

I had some apps purchase on my iTunes, and some purchased on the phone. And everything synced fine.

I think some older versions of jailbreak programs used to mess around with your ability to sync, but not Blackra1n.

That’s just about it for me. If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear it!

It’s happening …

Whenever I hear about something late and breaking I still sometimes try googling it. Oops …

Better start with twitter. Maybe google will have a few stories tomorrow. But for now, Twitter has the latest news.

I even admit that I’ve followed games by using Twitter searches. Someone is always tweeting the score. So I know how the celtics are doing …

A lot of my friends and colleagues are holding out saying Twitter is a passing fad. Ok, you go ahead and wait.

I’m going to see what’s going on right now.

There’s a funny video making the rounds that is about Twitter. There are two main characters, a young guy and another guy in his 30′s. The younger guy isn’t on Twitter and the other takes him and shows him the Twitter world (“into the Twittersphere!!”). They end up getting eaten by the fail whale and the older character ends up lying on the floor dying and trying to tweet about it. OK somewhat macabre, but funny nonetheless.

In one exchange the younger guy asks “Why is everyone such an exhibitionist all of the sudden?”.

It’s an interesting question and I think it captures something of Twitter’s appeal as well as the reason for it’s success.

We are living in a media age, and more than perhaps ever before people are looking for entertainment in almost everything. We don’t just read news, we get it from the sources that are funny, diverse, and appealing. And the more entertaining it is, the more credible. Just look at Jon Stewart. Even Jim Cramer. It’s all about entertainment.

So in this media age, we are fans of others. Fans in a loose way maybe, but as bloggers and website owners and social media users the more entertaining we can be the more people follow us. They become our fans.

Back to exhibitionism. Why should we be showing off what we are doing this morning or afternoon? Who should care if I’m a little tired or ate a hamburger for lunch? Really nobody should. But what it I can make my Twitter stream entertainment … and say those things or other things like them, in an entertaining way. Don’t we have a bit of a desire for others to follow us? To want to be around us? Making our Twitter updates interesting and entertaining satisfies our desire to gather fans. And in this age of entertainment and media, it’s all about fans.

So is exhibitionism bad? Not really. I suppose it can have it’s excess. But it satisfies our desire to be entertaining and gives others another place to be a fan. Sounds like meeting a need in society …

Here’s a laptop case to satisfy your creative instinct. Definitely not your average laptop case, this is designed by Steven Harrington and created by Incase.

Hey you won’t see me toting it, not really my style

MindMorsel has a new face and a new mission. Instead of being a viral ‘Think and Grow Rich’ machine, it’s now a blog to inspire your creativity whenever you need it.

Each link at the very top of the page are about a different area of design. It’s not comprehensive, and I might eventually add more. So if you have an area of interest, then you can always stay on top of it using one of those links. Each blog will feature posts about that subject, with really cool images that I find and link to.

The RSS feeds are also individual, and I have a comprehensive one if you want to subscribe to the entire website feed, in all categories.

I hope you enjoy it. I have not added a contact form so for now if you want to get in touch, just click the comment link and add your comment. I’ll be watching!