If you want to make your iPhone 3G close-focus and are brave enough to do it yourself, then you're in good luck. defor has posted a step-by-step how-to, and you'll just need a good sense to follow directions accurately and some stable hands.

The more the merrier, we say (unless it's dinner guests). For the readers who've been keeping up on the matter of iPhone hacks, we'll be reporting on two recently found methods of unlocking your mobile:

The first way is a Do-It-Yourself hardware hack by George Hotz, and will have iPhone owners opening up their mobile. Before you get cracking, remember to have these items handy before heading over to George's blog (here) for the full instructions:

• An iPhone
• Some trusty case opener tools
• A soldering iron
• Fine pitch wire
• An unlock switch

You will also need to download several programming binaries to go along with the hardware hack - we've provided for them here. The tools below include certain software that you might need from Steps 5-8 of the hack (again, check Hotz's site for specific instructions). Now, before you get all gung-ho about this, keep in mind that this hack involves plenty of soldering, and will most likely brick your iPhone if you're not absolutely careful. You have been warned. George is hoping to have a simplified hack method ready by next week - hopefully, it won't be hardware-based.

Download: iPhone Hack Binaries (George Hotz)

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The software-based hack is available for reading in the Full Article

One valid concern consumers have about Apple's iPhone is its battery life. According to the experiment done by PC Mag, the battery will die out after around 675 days and that's a pretty much generous estimate, if we may add. Apple, on the other hand, released some good ol' reminders on how to expand the batteries overall lifespan.

Supposing the day your iPhone's battery dies finally comes, what are you planning to do? Contact Apple and sign up for its battery replacement program? You could but if you want to save some money, you can opt for another solution courtesy of some unknown Chinese company which released a DIY iPhone battery replacement kit.

We don't have the kit ourselves but it should contain the rechargeable battery, a set of assembly tools, and an instruction menu. While this may only cost you US$ 20, take note that it requires opening your mobile phone as well as de-soldering the old battery and soldering the new one.

In case you are interested and want to know more, our Read link below should take you to retail chain Brando's online product page where you can order the replacement kit.

Chad Ohman posted something pretty useful for those Apple fans who want to get the most our of their tech. In this case, it's a quick guide to opening up and cleaning your Mighty Mouse.

Doing so is rather inexpensive, compared to buying a new fifty-buck mouse for your Mac. All you'll need are some cotton buds, some rubbing alcohol, a ball-point pen, a thin knife, a Phillips screwdriver and some super glue. Total cost: mostly free, if your family's the sort that owns a lot of common household items.

While cleaning Apple's special mouse does seem a bit more difficult than your standard ball-scrolling low-tech mouse, the commenters have said that it makes it almost brand new. You'll have to remember that doing so will void your warranty, but if you're cleaning it anyway, it's probably a last-ditch effort to make it usable again, right? So just head over to Ohman's blog for some step by step instructions. Happy tinkering.

If you still haven't gotten your hands on those sleek new aluminum-sheathed nanos to try them, out, well, at least you can try it with your eyes. The iFixit DIY Mac/iPod repairs site features a new 2nd-gen iPod nano inside and out, from packaging box to logic-board innards, as they take apart the music player.

Even the packaging art is new: transparent, flexible hard plastic encases your new nano. Perhaps Apple went with the transparencies to show off the new aluminum casing, huh? iFixit, being a DIY fix-it site, doesn't stop there, as they work on carefully prying the electronics out of its new, scratch-resistant shell. As advertised, the new Nano can trace its design lineage to the old Mini, although its center button is concave as opposed to convex (and the flat button on the old Nano). Aside from that, the aluminum casing, and the new 8GB model, it's still the same Nano we've come to love.

  
 

Have you been having problems with your MacBook suddenly shutting down by itself? Well thanks to a certain German engineer who took it upon himself to break down and snoop around his MacBook, we now have a simple DIY solution to this predicament.

According to the German engineer, the cause for these shutdowns is the heat sensor cable found next to the CPU's heat sink. What happens is that when the heat sink expands as you use your laptop, the heat sensor cable touches the sink and melts its insulation. The result? Cable is shortened and MacBook is turned off. And after the heat sink cools down and shrinks, your MacBook can now be turned back on.

What to do: bust open your case and cover the affected areas of the sensor cable with some insulation tape. Now unless the tape also melts, you shouldn't have any problems with sudden shutdowns anymore. A little warning though, doing so may (or may not) void your warranty. Our "Germengineer" isn't sure about this so it's still best to get Apple to fix it for you. But if the sudden shutdown is majorly pissing you off, you can try this simple solution and see if it works.

If you really, really had to party with your iPod like it was 19... er, 89, and you're on a budget, you could try packing together your iPod and a couple of speakers into a Tupperware container and turn it into a makeshift boombox, just like what leevonk out at instructibles.com did. You'll need your iPod, those couple of speakers (that will run off a battery), some Styrofoam or soft-foam packing material, and a see-through Tupperware container that'll fit your iPod and those two PC speakers. Raiding neighborhood Tupperware parties is optional.

Instructions and more after the jump!

Don't want to spend your money on all the nice-looking iPod peripherals/Docking Stations that cost an arm and a leg? Here's a nice project to do just to prove that you're "hardcore" when it comes to tech. If you've got some free time, and some spare CDR cases, this "custom" iPod amp can truly emphasize your "1337"(elite)-ness.

   

Read on, and see how to make it.

If you can spare 2 hours of your busy day, you can make a simple yet eye-catching functional iPod dock. No kidding! All you have to do is find a decent-sized block of wood (chopping off your wooden desk might work too). Therrol Jezierski's (aka Bokfresh) was able to get one with dimensions of 4.75 x 2.5 x 2.

Once the wood is secured, arm yourself with a bandsaw, a chisel, a drill press and a hot glue gun. Cut the wood to size and decide where to put the iPod's plastic dock insert. It's safe to put in the center and towards the back. Trace the dock outline and chisel in about 2-3mm so that the lip of the dock connecter fits inside. Chisel out the outline and use the drill press on the rest.

Here's Therrol's finishing touches:

I drew the design for the arc on the front of the iPod and cut it out on the bandsaw. When I was finished I could see the hole I cut for the dock connector exposed on the bottom. Now that the dock connector fit snugly inside and I made sure that I could still get the cable in there, I glued it in. Once that was all fine nÂ? good, I sanded the arc I had just cut until it was even. The next step was to take a tiny circular chisel and file the slot in the bottom of the dock insert and widen it so the cable could fit inside. After that I did the finishing touches. I got some wood filler to fill in the cracks around the plastic dock insert and sanded the whole thing down. Then I put some masking tape over the plastic part and cut around the edges to remove any excess tape. Then all that was left to do was laqueur the whole thing so it was nice and shiny.

 

You might not be overly ecstatic about the supposed "iPod Phone", but curiosity will always get the better of you, so you wait in line for the coming of Apple's mysterious device. Not to burst your iPod Phone bubbles, but you'd be surprised to know how phone-savvy your iPod is already.  Don't worry, that makes the two of us.

Brian of MacMerc.com has a tutorial on how to get phone messages on your iPod. So, how do you turn your iPod into a phone message hound? Well, you'll need an iPod with iTunes on a Mac, and a phone service that supports message-to-email, such as Vonage or Gizmo Project.

Step 1: Build a Scripted Message Folder

After you've set-up your phone messages to go to your inbox as attachments, you'd have to write an AppleScript (use Script Editor) and attach it to a folder where you'll save your messages. Don't worry, it's just a simple script, like this one:

Take it from here, Brian: Hit compile and save this as a script in your /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/ folder. Create a Messages playlist in iTunes (be sure this playlist is set to sync with your iPod) and a folder just for messages anywhere on your drive. The above script will try to add anything that falls into that folder to iTunes, so make a folder you won't be tempted to use for anything else.

Now, right-click the folder and select Enable Folder Actions, then Configure Folder Actions. Hit the plus on the left side and browse to your folder. Then hit the plus on the right side and select your script. Now we're ready to test.

Step 2: Download your Message Straight to your Pod

Here comes the best part. To test if what you've configured in Step 1 is actually working, call yourself and leave a message. Once the message comes in, right click and save the file to your scripted folder. If all went well, iTunes will fire up and you will find your message on your playlist (and iPod after the next sync). Great job!

Now, listening to your messages is just a sync away!