My iPhone rarely leaves my hand. I can say, with just a trace of hesitation, that it's my favorite device ever, in part because it completely transformed my communication/computing mobility. (The other part why it's my fave: it's sleek and cool.)

That being said, it's been harder and harder for me to maintain my love for Apple products without feeling like a complete hypocrite. The Apple iPhone OS is a closed system; the app store heavily regulated. In an email exchange with a blogger from Gawker last night, Steve Jobs suggests that "closed" is "free" -- and that Apple's policies grant users "freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn." Apple promises to keep us "free" by controlling what we can do with the devices we purchase from them.

Apple wants curate the Internet for us.

No, thanks, Steve. I am pretty sure I can curate it myself.

And so in that spirit, I've jailbroken my iPhone and my iPad.

Jailbreaking is a hack that allows you to make changes to these devices' operating systems and install third-party applications that are not approved by Apple. And I confess, as much as I like to think of myself as a geek, I've been nervous about jailbreaking my iPhone, worried that if I bricked the thing my heart might break.

But jailbreaking was actually extremely simple to do. You can read Sarah Perez's great guide here, but here's the basic walkthrough:

Step 1: Make sure your iPhone/iPad is backed up and has the latest OS. Step 2: Download the Spirit jailbreak (for Mac or PC). Step 3: Connect your device to your computer. Step 4: Run the Spirit program. Step 5: The device will reboot, and you're done. You'll have access to a new, separate app store.

You will still be able to sync your device. But when Apple releases an update to the OS (and they're planning to do so this summer), you'll lose the jailbreak if you upgrade.

For the iPhone, I opted to jailbreak for one simple thing (well, other than to prove a goddamn point) -- the MyWi application, available from Rock. For $9.99 the MyWi application turns your 3G into a wireless hotspot. Do note, that when you do this, you burn through battery incredibly quickly. You'll have to have your phone plugged in if you want to run WiFi this way for any length of time.

Backgrounder is another great app to get, particularly for if you want to make the iPad a useful productivity tool. It allows you to multi-task (which granted will be part of OS4, but why wait?)

WiFiSync, recently rejected from the app store, is now available for $9.99. As the name suggests, this app allows you to sync your iPhone, iPod, and iPad wirelessly. I haven't bought this yet, but it does seem like a great (and sorta a no-brainer) idea.

Both Backgrounder and WiFiSync are available from Cydia, the "official" "unofficial" app store.

I don't want to be too soapbox-y about this. God know I've been that way enough as of late in regards to Facebook. And I suppose it's not terribly wise to blog and encourage people to break what Apple considers the law. But if you're feeling at all brave and subversive, then you should really think differenter and jailbreak your iPhone.