So I’m in a quandry.  Remember the Frosted Mini-Wheats commercial from the 80’s? Well much like those people had to stifle their inner child,  I’m in a battle with my inner hacker.  You see, it’s in my nature to peak and tweak pretty much everything I own.  If it’s electronic, and it’s got hidden potential, I’m going to open the hood and sup it up.  So here’s the problem:  the rational adult in me admires my iPhone’s shininess, and its “it-just-works” technology.  This has me second guessing my usual penchant for cracking and hacking.

Up until now, I’ve decided to leave my iPhone in its virgin state, but I have to admit, I’m tempted to push the magic button that allows me to add a whole bunch of functionality that isn’t able to run through Apple’s native interface… and shit, it’s just cool!  So, I’ve pragmatically weighed the pros and cons… and as much as I want to hack it, my iPhone is too important to me to risk turning it into a brick.  Ok, so this is an open and shut case, right?  Not so fast…

If there’s one thing Apple should have learned by now, it’s that it’s the little things that matter most – the small touches and attention to detail that make someone fall in love with (or out of love with) a device. And while you certainly can’t second guess what everyone on the planet will deem an important feature, there are some that should be obvious.

To me, one such obvious feature is the ability to create my own SMS alert sound effects. Apple originally tried to stop people from creating their own custom ringtones for the iPhone but eventually gave up after a while, and now, while Apple does not try to encourage it (ie, build the “make ringtone from your own files” functionality into iTunes) you can now find tutorials on how to easily get your own files to play as ringtones if your do a little Googleing.

But the same cannot be said for SMS alerts. Unfortunately, Apple has decided that only 6 “magical” sounds can be allowed to signal an incoming text message, and out of those 6, only 1 is usable, unless you work in the circus.

So what’s the deal? Why can’t we use our own music/sound effects to signal a text message? I personally have always enjoyed the classic Super Mario Brothers 1-Up sound.  I’ve used it with other phones, and it’s PERFECT for incoming texts, but alas, my iPhone does not recognize it.

To rub some salt in my open sores, I’ve learned that I can do exactly what I want if I’m willing to jailbreak my phone and install a simple program to enable SSH.  It’s right there, and it’s tempting me…  I know some folks think I’m making a big deal out of nothing, but it’s these little things that make me the hit at parties.  Ok — so I haven’t been to a party since college — but I really like my gadgets to be all they can be!  What’s a geek to do?