Sara Is The Latest Siri Clone That Works On All iOS Devices

Siri has always been of interest to developers and this escalated with the release of an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 in December 2011 and the release of the A5 Absinthe jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 in January. Up until now the best way to install Siri on an unsupported device has been Spire which was released in December 2011. That is all about to change with the introduction of Sara.

Spire is easy to set up and requires users to connect to a proxy server in order for the various commands to be answered by Apple's pocket slave. It was only a matter of time before more Siri alternatives became available and a Vietnamese Dev Team has produced a more advanced tool which goes by the name of Sara. This free voice recognition utility takes things a little further than merely setting reminders or driving users crazy with nonsensical conversation and it also appears to be much more versatile.

It has been described by its creators as having an open brain allowing those in the know to create plugins for special commands. Right now the feature set is still impressive and you can scan barcodes or QR codes. The most encouraging thing about Sara is that is works in a variety of countries and it has 37 languages. If you want to get your hands on Sara you will need to have a jailbroken iPhone and you will find it in Cydia.

Sara - A Clone Of Siri:

Mozilla Boot2Gecko Mobile OS Gaia UI Unveiled

Last year Mozilla announced it’s new mobile operating system Boot2Gecko (B2G), it was developing. The new Boot2Gecko OS has been built by Mozilla using just standards-based Web technologies and has been designed to run on top of Gecko. Which is the HTML rendering engine that is used in Mozilla’s popular Firefox Internet browser.

Since is announcement last year Mozilla has wasted no time constructing the new Boot2Gecko mobile operating system, which its going to showcase at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) starting at the end of the month. Mozilla hopes to roll out a finished product for its new Boot2Gecko sometime in the second quarter of 2012, according to the development roadmap that was recently unveiled.

In and interview with Ars Technica Mozilla’s Brendan Eich explained that Boot2Gecko mobile operating system had already attracted partners, including one that is developing its own custom home screen. Which suggests that multiple parties could be interested in developing and adopting the platform. For more information on the new Boot2Gecko mobile operating system jump over to the Ars Technica website for details.

Update - Mozilla to Release Own OS known as Boot2Gecko:

All New iOS 5.1 Wallpapers For iPhone, iPad And iPod Touch Now Available

Apple have introduced some brand new iOS 5.1 wallpapers for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch which is going to get a lot of people excited. Whenever Apple releases a new version of its mobile operating system there are usually plenty of new features, changes to existing ones and more. In the beta release of iOS 5.1 Apple included some new wallpapers.

Apple has included four new wallpapers in iOS 5.1 but they are only showing in the iPad version and not the iPhone one. This has led to some speculation that they will be available to the iPad 3 at launch and that iPhone users will not get these new wallpapers.

The four new wallpapers look very similar to what you might expect to see on a Mac desktop but they have been scaled to fit the iPad screen. The four wallpapers are water on a sand covered beach, blades of grass and two new ocean wallpapers. 9to5Mac have made these wallpapers available for download for those people who don’t want to wait for iOS 5.1 to be released. They have even scaled down some of them to fit the iPhone too which is an added bonus.

9to5Mac also stated that the last time new wallpapers were made available was when the iPhone 4 was released and this was also the first time that Apple changed the screen resolution on an iOS device. This could suggest that a retina display iPad is indeed in the works. If you want to get your hands on these new wallpapers all you have to do is head over to 9to5Mac and download them.

New Wallpapers in iOS 5.1 Beta and How to Get Them Now:

Fix Sim Errors On iPhone 4S With iOS 5.0.1 Build 9A406

iOS 5.0.1 was launched specifically to fix battery issues occurring on the iPhone 4S. Apple has however managed to deliver a couple more surprises with this release including the fact that invalid SIM or No SIM card installed errors. Security issues have been scarce since the initial release of iOS 5.0 back in October. Apple has however managed to allow modders and developers some promise in their quest to port Siri through to devices other than the latest iPhone 4S.

MacRumors has reported that iOS 5.0.1 also fixes another problem with the iPhone 4S and that is the No SIM card installed error that some people are having problems with. According to a new supporting document that has been released by the Cupertino based outfit it has become clear that the build 9A406 has been issued to those users that have experienced these SIM related errors. This update comes ahead of the next update which is expected to be iOS 5.1.

The battery drainage issue has gained a lot of attention on Apple’s discussion forums and it has also been revealed here that a number of users are having problems with SIM card errors too. Here is what Apples new support document has to say:
In certain situations, iPhone 4S may have difficulty recognizing a micro-SIM card, resulting in the following behaviors:
- "Invalid SIM" or "No SIM Card installed" alert appears intermittently.
- Status bar displays "No Service" or "Searching" in a location with good network coverage.

The document then goes on to describe the recommended solution to these issues and this includes backing up and then restoring the device. This involves iTunes pulling down the new Build 9A406 of iOS 5.0.1 and installing it on your device. Once you restore your iPhone 4S you can then restore your content and settings from the backup.

Some users have reported that this does fix the SIM card errors whilst others have stated that there has been no improvement. It’s not sure what the problem is and if there are other issues that need to be addressed but for the moment we have to wait to see what more users have to say before specific conclusions can be made.

iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1 Update (9A406) Details! Should Fix No Sim Card Installed Problem:

Display Your Now Playing Song’s Album Art In iOS 5 App Switcher

There is another great new jailbreak tweak called AlbumArt which allows you to display your now playing song’s album art in your App Switcher. This is a great tweak for music lovers so let’s see what all the fuss is about.

AlbumArt has been developed by deVbug on AppSwitcher and it looks to be one of the simplest tweaks we have seen in a long time. It is a one trick tweak and it does this very well. All you have to do is install it and it will replace the Music.app icon on your iOS 5 App Switcher with album art for the current song being played. Here’s is what it says on Cydia:

Requires iOS 5 or higher Show album art on app switcher. support iPod app and other music app (it should be show album art on lockscreen). No icons added to home screen. No options to configure. This new tweak has been tested on the iPhone 4 on iOS 5 and it works just as advertised. It is coupled with the back/play/forward button which means you basically get a full Android like widget for the Music app under the app switcher. This really is a great tweak and if you have album art associated with your songs you will love it. If you don’t have album art associated with your music all you will see is a black and which music icon. Thanks to the amazing retina display featured on the iPhone 4 this tweak looks really great.

In order to use this tweak you will need to have a jailbroken device and you can jailbreak iOS 5 using Redsn0w or Sn0wbreeze. AlbumArt on AppSwitcher can be downloaded for free from the BigBoss repository under Cydia.

Get iTunes Album Art Free Without Credit Card - T3ch H3lp Byte:

iOS 5 Beta 3 Includes More iPad 3 And Facebook Integration References

No matter when Apple releases a new beta version of their iOS some clever people go snooping to see what they can find hidden inside. The latest beta version iOS 5.1 beta 3 seems to be no different and this time two new iPad references have been discovered again. Two new code names, J1AP and J2AP have been discovered in the latest beta release which appear to link with recent reports that suggest the iPad 3 is being developed under the J1 and J2 names. It is presumed that one of these is the Wi-Fi only version and the other will also have a 3G radio.

Apple has always been known to test new hardware using the latest betas of the newest iOS whilst adding new features that are due to debut with the hardware. The betas that were released for iOS 5 has reference to Siri and voice dictation which are two new features that came with the iPhone 4S release.

Apple is working on an iPad 3 we all know that very well and if they follow their existing release cycle then we should expect to hear about a possible announcement within the next three months. Another new feature to be spotted in the latest beta release of iOS 5.1 is an old one that never made it into the shipping version of iOS 5 and this is the Facebook integration which is similar to the Twitter integration that we have today. This was supposed to be part of the iOS 5 release but apparently Apple and Facebook couldn't reach an agreement. It looks as though this feature could be back but whether it comes with the shipped version of iOS 5.1 still remains a mystery.

iOS 5 Hands-on: Major Features:

Apple OLED TV set to launch in April or May, Siri and iOS on-board

Apple TV rumors have been flying around the Internet for some time now, but most of them were based either on wishlists or on blind speculations.

This one, however, seems more on terms with reality, as Technobuffalo claims it has spoken with a “high-ranking source with a major electronics retailer”. He says that we should expect to see to see an Apple TV in flesh around April or May “at the latest”.

According to the source of the rumor, they’ve seen “gorgeous, very thin” pre-production TV units up to 42-inches in diameter with OLED panels. It’s all good and dandy, but I feel quite skeptical about the size of the rumored future Apple TV set.

As you might remember, LG and Samsung announced a 55-inch Smart TV sets at the last CES and I don’t think Apple will let it’s first TV be that much behind the competition. Remember, this is TVs we are talking and not smartphones, so the bigger the screen size, the better. At least in my opinion that is.

And, actually, according to Technobuffalo’s source, that’s why Apple has been delaying the purported Apple TV. The company wants to jam-pack the product with killer features in order to compensate the smaller screen. Another possible benefit of the 42″ OLED panel is that it is cheaper to manufacture than the 55″ ones. This will keep the price down, compared to the LG and Samsung alternatives.

Naturally, the expected Apple TV will run some variation of Apple’s iOS, with Siri obliging your every wish. Not only that, but there’s also going to be a face recognition feature, which will put the TV into power-sleep mode if you’re not in the same room.

So here’s what Apple has been (Tim) Cook-ing up – an iPad 3 in late February / early March, an Apple TV in late April / early May and an iPhone 5 in early October. It’s sure going to be an interesting year for Apple.