This article is for iPhone OS 2.x. Please refer to this older post for iPhone OS 1.x.
Unknown to many iPhone (and iPod touch) owners is you can mount your device as a thumbdrive! All you need is a Mac (or Linux) and install the Netatalk (an open source implementation of Apple’s AFP protocol) package via Cydia. After that, you can manipulate your device’s content in a Finder window, such as copying files to it for transport/archive, installing themes, etc.
I restore my iPod touch very often. That’s primarily because I love to fiddle inside it and often mess it up. I dare to do that because I know this little toy simply won’t break. I read people “bricking” their iPod touch and wonder if they know what they are talking about. They simply don’t know how to break out of the mess they created and restore the device.
In any case, one thing I hate doing is to painfully re-arranged apps after restoration. My iPod touch is filled to the brim with App Store and Third-party apps, so re-arranging them is really tough.
Today I look into this matter. Sheesh. The solution is so simple! The iPod touch keeps track of an app’s Springboard location in the “~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.springboard.plist” file. Just back up this file and restore it afterwards! It’s as simple as that! 
I was very excited when blog reader Joshua tipped me off that the Firefly Media Server for iPhone/iPod touch firmware 2.x is now available in the Cydia installer. I have been waiting for it.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out-of-the-box. I have no idea why the current Cydia release (version 0.2.4.2-1) doesn’t include the necessary configuration files nor properly set up the server for us. But I figured it out, and here’s the how-to:
Firstly, please set your firmware 2.x device (refer to this post for instructions for firmware 1.1.x) to “Never” Auto-Lock. This is necessary because on first-run, the server will index and create a database of your music files and the process takes a long time. Interrupting the process may result in strange behaviour.
Veency is a dream come true for me. I’ve always wished I could get in and control my iPod touch on my Mac!
Unfortunately, the current beta release (0.9.2591-1) doesn’t work with Leopard’s build-in Screen Sharing. What a bummer! Fortunately the author, Jay Freeman (aka “saurik”) is aware of this issue and, I’m sure he’s working hard to resolve it.
One of the many reasons I jailbreak my iPod touch is so I can install and enjoy PocketTouch. PocketTouch was one of the most anticipated 2.0 apps, and thankfully the wait wasn’t long. It’s been out and available in Cydia and the Installer.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but by chance I noted it now supports “Wallpaper”. I tried some of them, and thought I should make one that doesn’t look like a wallpaper! The result is the new Gee Theme for PocketTouch. I see it as an extension of the Gee Theme, a handsome interface for the otherwise faceless PocketTouch. I hope you like it.
