Accessories the more the better, Weekly tech blog: week 3

As a smart phone hacker i have picked up a lot of accessories and explain what they are for i will start with the top left first you will see a smart phone Micro Sd card and a card adapter, this is very basic i use a 16gb class 4 micro sd card for my phone. Just under the micro sd card is micro USB flash drive 16gb this little guy holds all my ROM, and other Hacking software,  Just under the flash drive is a micro sd card to usb converter. this converter is a must if you are a hacker there are many times you need to move ROM to a sd card this really saves me when a ROM fails to flash and i have to try a different ROM. Next to the Micro sd card is my head phones nothing special about these but they are the rap around ear style which works great. next to the head phones is a male to male head phone cable. My phone is my only portable music device i use it everywhere next to that is a mono to stereo head phone cable once again used for music both in my truck and for my home stereo system. just be low the mono to stereo cable is my cell phone ear piece and its charger I use a Jaw Bone Aliph Prime in ear bud. just below that is a solar charger and its cables. I don't know what model it is i got it on ebay but it does not work well and i have not really used it. When buying a solar charger be sure to spend more then 10$ because i got what i paid for. when i upgrade i will be sure to update this blog under the solar charger is spare batteries. I own 3 batteries for my phone they come in handy when if you use a smart phone as much as i do and they were only about 6$ a piece on Ebay. to the right of the batteries is charger for just the batteries. To the left of the batteries are a is my main USB cable its a gold tipped 18" cable I also have a retractable usb cable that i often use in my car. last is the wall usb adapter and the double usb car adapter what i love about this is i can charge my cell and my headset at the same time always good to have lots of usb ports. the last item are my smart gloves. They are maid to use with a smart phone by carrying the electrical current from hand to the touch screen.    
 

learning while hacking , Weekly tech bolg: week 2

I often get asked why how I learned how to Hack cellphones. The answer is I'm still learning while I'm hacking. Almost 4 years ago I upgraded to my first smart phone. It was a windows mobile phone because Android was not out yet and I didn't want an Iphone. There a few problems with the UI of the old Windows Mobile 6 it was really built for a stylus and but it had a touch screen. However what I really hated was that Verizon had decide to lock down the GPS navigation radio and if you paid a monthly fee they would unlock it. Now the idea that I have to pay extra for an tool built into my phone is unreasoning so I stared looking into how I could unlock it myself and I after a lot of research I found a few howto's and just went for it. It took a few tries and but it worked and i have been learning ever sense. I have rooted more phones then i can remember, I have installed custom, kernels, radios, and recoveries, I have beta tested for both apps and ROMs, I have walked friends through their first Roots, ROM, etc. I have be come the go to for all my friends on all smart phones issues. I have fixed broken phones replaced parts in my own phone, and even bricked a few phones thankfully only my own. All this and I still have a lot to learn.
These are some of the things i still plan to learn.
1. How to use Linux
2. How to build my own custom ROMs 

I would would advice anyone that wants to to try rooting an android phone to just go for it you will not regret learning something new and pushing yourself.

I be Hacking, they be hate'n: Weekly tech bolg: week 1

I have been supper busy with college but sense my semester is just a few days from being over i need to something to fill my free time. So i have deiced to write a weekly blog about the daily life of a self proclaimed hacker. This weeks might me more of a rant then anything informative.

When I post online about my phone having issues its more of a psa in case someone is trying to call me. I don't care if haters want to tell me i should not mess with my phone because it might brick it. im sad that you are afraid of the the little computer in your pocket, however Im not. Telling me to stop hacking is like tell a mechanic to stop working on cars because his own car might break down. its points less. I have been modding phones for over 3 years now and its a game where you never stop learning. It is common for hacked roms to have a few issues its part of testing software. On top of that i have taking things apart and learning about how they work, modding them, and fixing them sense i was a kid. Modding is in my blood its why im an engineer by trade. there is no other way for me to live its that simple. so go a head and hate i will be over here modding and hacking away.

Tetris Monkey

reset to stock

For every phone that i mod there are always tricks to set it back to stock. today that is just what i had to do, and i learned a lot from it. Remember that smart phones are more computers than they are phones and if your speaker goes out or you charging port goes bad, or what ever issues you have u can back up all your apps, all your contacts, your text messages and ring tones. Even for a phone that has never been moded, don't worry about asking my for help.

i don't have to mod your phone to teach everything you need to know about it.

The basic lesson from this post is never give a moded phone back to your phone carrier, let me set it back to stock and they will never know.

will mod your phone for FREE

When i stated Moding cell phones it was only my own phone that i worked on. However in the last few months i have worked on lots of different phones for my friends. And in doing so i have been asked what i charge for my services.
so here is the simple answer i do this work for free.
the reason being that all the software i use for moding is created but others and given to the moding community for free under the ideals of open source, therefor it would be against the ethics of open source for me to charge money for what i do. also i get help from moders and developers that are more knowledgeable then i am and they don't charge ether. However most developers do will take donations and i have donated from time to time.
If you feel the need to donate to me for the time it takes for me to find the mod you want and run it on your phone, know that i will not take money. however if you would like to buy me lunch while i work i will gladly take that
Hope this helps to answer your questions

standing on a pile of bricks

So its been a few weeks sense i have made a blog post and in the last month i have had a number of problems with both soft bricking and Hard bricking of my cell phone and i also soft bricked my friends droid X. when it comes to customizing cell phones soft bricking (the phone is stuck in a low level mode and cannot boot into normal operating mode) is a part of life and something that happens to all cell phone moders from time to time, there are countless guides for each and every cell phone model to bring the phone back from a soft brick. and i was able to fix both my phone and my friends phone after a soft brick. However Hard bricking (the phone becomes nothing more than a paper wight) means its time for a new phone. thankfully the 2 times i have hard bricked my phone Verizon has replaced it for free and did not ask to many questions. Hard Bricking is not something that happens often and i have found that bad USB ports can cause all kinds of problems. also using out dated system like windows xp when the steps for the mod you want are made for windows 7 even if the mod has been tested on xp.

when it comes to moding cell phones there is a lot of risk involved but i love doing it and have no plans of stopping. For those that i have helped you know about the advantages to having an unlocked phone. as for everyone else if you like your stock phone, and it works for you that is great, keep it. i am not about to force you into letting me mod your phone.

smart phones are not so much phones as they are pocket size computers and their is a lot to learn about them so if you have questions on Android even just question on everyday things like changing your ring tones fell free to as me i do know a lot.

Some pointers on how to avoid the brickyard
1 read. Read as much as you can about the mod you want to do to your phone and understand what can go wrong and how to fix it if it does go wrong
2. Ask. if you are unsure of what you are about to mod ask lots of questions
3. Make sure you have the right connection. Use only oem usb cables with no damage, use good usb ports, and make sure you have the right drivers for your phone
4. Battery life, make sure you have full battery on your phone before any mod is run because most will use a lot of power and if your battery die while a mod is in progress your phone will be at least soft bricked
5. Good files. Sometime files are no good just download the file again or for another link
6. Back up. Always have a back up ur apps and roms just encase things go dad you can get your phone back to where it was before you started

Terms to know when hacking phones

Android- My operating system of choices build by Google to compete with Apples IOS

android is an open sources Linux basic system use by lots of phone carries, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-mobile and phone manufacturer, Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, etc (basically any smart phone that is not a blackberry, Palm, Microsoft or Apple)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

Root- a process that allows for access to privileged system controls, needed as a first step for all phone hacking and also used by many apps found in the android market, examples: wifi tether, app backup programs, etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooting_(Android_OS)

Super user- all apps that need Root access have to be granted the right by the app know as Super user this way you know when an app needs root and you have more control.

Android Kernel- based on the Linux open source Kernel it is a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_(computing)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel

Stock Rom - is the version of the phone’s operating system that comes with your phone when you buy it.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.noshufou.android.su&feature=search_result

Custom Rom - is a fully standalone version of the OS, including the kernel (which makes everything run), apps, services, etc – everything you need to operate the device, except it’s customized by someone in some way.

http://www.androidpolice.com/2010/05/01/custom-roms-for-android-explained-and-why-you-want-them/

Radio/ modems - GPS, 3g data, etc there is both a hardware and software side to the many Radios and modems that all phones use and there is often custom software for these Radios

stock Recovery - a text based system menu used to reset the phone to stock, meaning it can delete all apps and set the phone back to the way you bought it

Custom Recovery- used to load custom Roms, Kernels, Radios, and has a lot more opposition then stock recovery

Theme- custom Icons and, and menus text colors used to change the UI of the phone