The world is going Siri crazy. Well, maybe not the whole world, but it seems that Apple's personal assistant software has caused a storm with the iPhone 4S flying off shelves, television commercials popping up all over the place, the Cydia store being infiltrated by Siri based enhancements and even developers pushing out Siri clones onto other mobile operating systems. In the last few weeks alone we have seen the introduction of the 'Evi' iPhone application, as well as 'Sara' making her way onto the Cydia store.
We love us some patents here at RedmondPie, and Apple is one company that just likes to apply for patents as if the fate of the world depended on it. Of course, this being Apple, their patent applications tend to get picked up by the technology press and then picked apart in the hope we find a future product or service hidden in there somewhere!
There is no doubt about the fact that the current trend for Cydia tweaks is all about modifying the new Notification Center and giving additional functionality to the Siri digital assistant software. Since the release of iOS 5 in October of last year, the Cydia store has been inundated with modifications and tweaks which add widgets, settings and even an animated Nyan cat to the Notification Center screen, but in all honesty there are only a handful which are any good.
We love our Macs here at Redmond Pie, and we love the way OS X works. The ease of use blended with subtle power should you desire it makes OS X the best choice in our minds, though that's another argument for a different day.
One of the things we often take for granted from our mobile devices is the ability to quickly transfer files between any Bluetooth-capable devices. iOS doesn't really play ball, though, leaving iPhone users to look for other means to share audio, video, and image files.
Although rumors and tip-offs about new devices don't necessarily tell us much, a sure-sign that we are about to see a new product - particularly in the case of Apple - is when supplies of said device's would-be predecessor become somewhat scarce.
In May of last year we brought you some news about a truly fantastic piece of development work by a developer known as Chris Simpson, also known as Apocolipse if we are to give him his online moniker. We covered the initial release of a tweak known as 'RecognizeMe' which used the front facing camera on a jailbroken iOS device to provide an extra layer of security before access could be granted to the passcode protected gadget.
If you are a long term, regular user of the Cydia store then you might be familiar with the MultiIconMover tweak which was created and submitted by Lance Fetters quite some time ago. One of the most annoying thing about a stock installation of iOS in my opinion, is the fact that when in editing mode. you can only select and move one icon at a time. I am sure Apple has some deep underlying reason why it is so, and always has been the case, but the bottom line is; from a user experience point of view it just seems pointless.
We all know the smartphone camp is split heavily between the users of Apple's iOS, and the more open Android OS from Google. It's a matter of opinion as to which is the way to go for many, but of you're actually a fan of iOS and have an Android phone, or you just like to play around, then this new Android app may just be the thing for you. 'Fake iPhone 4S' does exactly what it says on the tin, and by making itself appear just like the iOS some of us have come to love, the app certainly makes for interesting viewing.
The good people at Google have been getting their heads down, with their Director and Managing Counsel of Telecoms and Media, Richard Whitt filing a 'special temporary authority' application to the Federal Communications Commission which will let them test their new next-generation personal communication device outside of a laboratory environment. It all sounds very technical, but just what is a 'next generation personal communication device'?
