The iPhone continues to impress in terms of gaming possibility. Raging Thunder isn't actually done yet on the iPhone (obviously -- judging by this video there are more glitches on this thing than a Matrix full of black cats), but once it gets rolling, the award-winning game, put together by Polarbit, looks like a pretty sweet racing experience. The accelerometer actually serves as a nice wheel (with a little help from the Wii wheel), and the graphics aren't too shabby, either.

We've already seen a few different games like this floating around at TUAW (including one from a big developer that we can't tell you about), but with a little bug fixing and optimization, the right tuning, and a horizontal mode, the iPhone could easily have a great accelerometer-controlled racing game available at launch. And that's just launch -- we can't wait to see what happens when a game like the Wii's latest Boom Blox (which lets you push and pull Jenga-type block structures around -- multitouch, anyone?) makes its way over to our little Apple handheld.

Racing Thunder is available right now on Installer.app, but this kind of stuff is what we're really looking for in the SDK when it comes out in June.

A while ago, the nice people at ModMyiFone put together their own installer source. This source usually has up-to-date hacks in installable forms shortly after they become public. I've been besieged by kind commenters reminding me to put up a general post to let everyone know about this. If you'd like to add the MMI source to Installer, here's how.

In Installer.app, select Sources then tap Edit (top-right corner) and then Add (top-left corner), type in http://modmyifone.com/installer.xml. Tap OK, wait, and then tap Done. MMI gets added as a listed but "untrusted" source. Oh well, you can't have everything.

You've run the TIFF exploit jailbreak and your iPhone or iPod touch now has Installer.app on your main page. So now what? Here are some tips and ideas for you.

Add Community Sources. Most third party applications are found under Community Sources in Installer.app. Until you add this feature, you won't see most of the dozens and dozens of available applications from repositories like SMXY and Conceited Software.

Try out some great apps. My personal favorites include my own Voice Notes recorder (for iPhone only), Apollo IM instant messaging client, and Mobile Colloquy for irc. There are productivity apps, games, and utilities, all available for your mobile device.

Add direct file access. Install the BSD subsystem and (in Community Sources) Open SSH (both from NerveGas). Once you've installed ssh, you can use any sftp client to transfer files onto and off of your unit. On the Mac, you can also install MacFuse and sshfs to gain Finder access to your units. Remember that the new iPhone and iPod touch 1.1.1 password is "alpine", not "dottie". Many GUI sftp clients may not see the entire directory tree. In this case, you may want to enable afc2.

Know when things go wrong. The latest Installer.app has been hammered by new users. If you get a "package" error when trying to install, just do a re-install. You may need to uninstall first, depending on the progress when things failed. If you touch an app icon and it launches, pauses and quits, make sure you've installed the BSD subsystem. Failing to install BSD is the number one reason most app launches fail.

Know about restoring. If you ever change your mind about a jailbreak, just restore your iPhone or iPod touch using iTunes. Assuming you haven't unlocked, your iPhone or touch will be identical to one shipped from a factory.

When things slow down A number of people have reported system slow-downs after jailbreaking. Unfortunately, a roughly equal number have reported the same problem without jailbreaking. If this happens to you, just restore your iPhone or touch and re-jailbreak.

OMG, OMG, OMG restore failed This isn't that uncommon. Try restoring again once or twice. If iTunes fails to see the iPod or iPhone, google for iphuc dfu mode.

A crew of hackers (including hdm/metasploit, rezn, dinopio, drudge, kroo, pumpkin, davidc, dunham, and NerveGas) have introduced a one-touch instant jailbreak for both iPhone and iPod touch. The jailbreak opens your iPhone for full disk access and installs Installer.app so you can add pretty much any third party application you like.

To use it, open Safari and point your browser to jailbreakme.com (which we aren't linking to so folks won't install this by accident, but you are prompted to confirm). Once there, read the directions, scroll to the bottom, and tap Install AppSnapp. If Safari disappears and you return to the main Home screen, you're good. Just wait a minute more for your unit to restart--don't touch anything until you see the slide to unlock screen. If Safari hangs, just quit out (press and hold Home for 4-8 seconds) and try again.

Once you get to slide-to-unlock, go ahead and unlock your iPhone or iPod touch. You'll return to your home screen which will contain a new Installer.app icon. If you'll want to ssh into your unit, install the BSD subsystem, Community Sources, and then install Open SSH--you may need to upgrade Installer.app (thanks Ste). With Open SSH and sshfs (part of Mac Fuse), you can open Finder windows that offer direct drag and drop access to your phone or touch.

The jailbreak really is as easy as it sounds. I restored my iPod touch and jailbroke it just a few minutes ago and it worked great.

UPDATE: Please try to do this using WiFi rather than EDGE. Success rates are much higher!

Shaun Erickson at psmxy.org has posted that Nullriver looks set to release the next major update of Installer.app. Installer.app is a program that runs on your iPhone or iPod touch and allows you to download software directly to your unit. He writes that version 3.0 should be released soon, perhaps as early as today. The updated features will include a redesigned interface, collapsed groupings (for less scrolling), new categories including "Recent" and local "More Info" pages--so you don't have to keep switching between Installer and Safari.

Update: It's out. Click "Update" in Installer.app. It is, be aware, slow as molasses trying to get through along with the thousands of others doing the same. You must run Installer.app from /Applications--my first attempt using it from /Widgets linked to ~/Applications failed.

Mac | Life has a huge roundup of "25 iPhone Power Tips"-- just in case you've been living under a rock since late June, here's everything you missed about the iPhone, from how to unstick a stuck slider, to using aluminum foil to insulate an audio cable from the iPhone's signal, to where to go for iPhone 411. Of course you're here already, baby, and if you haven't noticed, that we have a page completely dedicated to iPhone itself, then look no further.

Some of the tips are a little obvious (like #6: surprise, surprise, if you can't see the camera button while the phone's turned away from you, place your finger before you turn it-- brilliant!). And there are plenty of omissions-- I know for sure that Battlefleet, the best game I've seen on the non-jailbroken iPhone, is missing, and there's nothing at all about Installer.app or any of the craziness you can pull off with that. That's a big deal, even though it may be a little more underground than Mac | Life wants to go.

But there's some good info here, especially if you've just recently plunked down the cash to AT&T and want your tips all in one place. Just make sure to come back here and pay attention when you're done.

Good news everybody! Have you wanted to try out all those great-sounding third-party iPhone applications? Did the hacking part of it put you off? NullRiver has released a simple iPhone GUI installer for Mac OS X.

Download the latest version of AppTapp installer to your Mac and then dock your iPhone, quit iTunes, and launch the program. The software downloads a copy of the latest Apple Firmware; you choose whether you're using Firmware 1.0.0, 1.0.1 or 1.0.2. It takes a few minutes to download the files from Apple using a good connection and then the software copies some files to your iPhone. When finished, your iPhone restarts and the Installer app appears on your iPhone home screen. The Installer application gives you access to nearly every third party application that has thus far been released by iPhone developers. I tested the entire install procedure on my G4 Mac and it worked flawlessly.

Oh, and if you're looking to try out those software packages I posted about earlier today, open Installer App, and install "Community Sources".

AppTapp is a Universal Binary, in Beta, and free.

Update: Readers ask: "Will this mess up my firmware updates?" Answer: Possibly--I'll try to get a firmer answer out of the developers. Use at your own risk, of course.

Today developers Nicholas "Drudge" Penree and Shaun "Ste" Erickson have announced unlimited free Installer.app packaging for iPhone application developers. If Installer.app sounds familiar, you might recall that a few weeks back we posted about the Installer.app utility. Installer.app is an iPhone-based package manager from NullRiver.com. It allows you to download and update iPhone application packages over EDGE and WiFi connections directly from your iPhone home screen.

The problem with Installer.app packaging is that it's fussy and requires a lot of dotted-i's and crossed-t's and for many programmers who are busy improving their software, it's an extra step that can easily get overlooked. Enter Penree and Erickson. They are offering to bundle up your application and host it on either Penree's Conceited Software or Erickson's smxy.org.

These services are a big win for both the iPhone user base and the iPhone application developer community. They allow programmers to focus on their applications and the users to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Donations are welcome at both sites.

Both Penree and Erickson are considering expanding this service to include the new PXL/Breezy package management tool in the near future.

Update: Want to put Installer.app on your iPhone the easy way? Read our post about TappApp, the Universal Binary Installer.app-installer. It's very simple to use.

All sorts of interesting iPhone apps have sprouted up these past few weeks, but unless you're checking out our own Erica Sadun's excellent work with iPhone apps, they can sometimes be hard to find or install. While Apple wants us to keep twiddling our thumbs in anticipation for true apps to come to the iPhone (perhaps they are just waiting for Leopard), a new Installer.app (of course, a beta) could help simplify things by acting as an iPhone app management hub. Installer.app can install and update a good handful of iPhone apps (with more to come, I'm sure) over Wi-Fi, and uninstall them as well.

Of course, you'll need to use iFuntastic command line tools like iPHUC or something similar to get Installer.app onto your phone in the first place, but after that it seems like this is a good solution for endowing your iPhone with new apps until Apple opens things up.

Thanks Abdul