Siri

Nuance Communications, makers Dragon Dictation and the voice recognition technology behind Siri in the iPhone 4S, have agreed to purchase competitor Vlingo.

Nuance Communications Inc. agreed to buy Vlingo Inc. in a deal that gives the developer of voice- command technology a system that can respond to spoken words with actions such as Internet searches.

An untethered jailbreak for Apple A5 chipset powered iOS devices (namely iPhone 4S and iPad 2) has finally been achieved according to pod2g's most recent blog entry. He updated his blog yesterday stating he had hit a stumbling block but would update us today again. He's kept true to his word and let us know today that he's overcome the cache issue and achieved an untether.

OK, figured it out, the A5 cache is not a problem anymore. I sorted it out by doing the untether in a single thread and by flushing all the dcache then all the icache in a row at a strategical point of the process.

Rumors of an Apple Television just won't quit, and this new one from The Wall Street Journal pegs Apple ramping up for a release in the not-so-distant future with features like Siri voice-control, built-in AirPlay streaming and more.

Apple is rumored to be testing wearable iPod-like devices that fit around your wrist and controlled not by touch, but with your voice using Siri. The concept may be difficult to understand for some, but if you think of devices like the new Jawbone UP -- or even Apple's own iPod Nano paired with wrist watch bands -- the idea starts to become a bit more clear.

Apple has released a new iPhone 4S commercial outlining how Santa uses Siri on the new iPhone 4S to help make his rounds on Christmas.

While Siri is still in beta, and still has plenty of rough edges, Apple continues to make it the staple feature in its advertising campaigns. Whether that troubles anyone or not, the ad itself is very well done. My favorite part is near the end when Santa asks Siri how how the rest of his day looks, to which Siri responds with... Well, watch it and find out!

Apple's revised iOS 5.0.1 update seems to have come with decrypted ramdisks, something which could make the port of Siri to other iOS devices legally possible. Before today’s firmware update, important files to get Siri working on other devices were encrypted in Apple’s file system. Decrypting them would be illegal and infringe on copyright and that is the main reason for it not being made available.

Indeed.

iOS 5 is one of the biggest software updates Apple has ever released for their mobile operating system, with changes almost too many to enumerate (we've tried!).

Siri is the first step in taking the digital assistant out of sci-fi and into reality. iMessage bypasses the exorbitant carrier text charges and brings iOS users, all over the world, one step closer to BBM-like instant messaging. Notification Center finally brings iOS alerts out of the dark ages. Newsstand put most of our newspapers and magazines all in one place. PC-free along with Wi-Fi sync cuts the cord to iTunes and takes us to the iCloud, where all our data gets stored and pushed and backed up. Reminders brings task management to iOS. The camera app is now fast to access and faster to take shots with.

While there will always be features we wish for next time, from message previews to fast text response to themes to a whole lot more, this year, these are your choices.

• iOS 5 and iCloud walkthrough

Vote up top and tell us why you voted they way you did in the comments! These are your awards, so get to it!

The iPhone 4S has been on the market for two months now so it's time for us -- your TiPb and Mobile Nations editors, writers, and podcasters -- to take a second look at it. Has it lived up to our expectations? Has our appreciation for the iPhone 4S grown deeper with time, or is the honeymoon over and the initial sheen long since worn off? Apple typically only releases one new iPhone a year, so how it holds up over time -- especially when competing devices seem to drop daily by the dozen -- is an especially important consideration.

If you're still the considering the iPhone 4S, if you're still on the fence, check out the material below and then read on for our re-review, 2 months later.

• iPhone 4S review
• iPhone 4S buyers guide
• iPhone 4S forum
• Top 10 iPhone 4S tips and tricks
• Top 10 iPhone 4S apps
• iPhone 4S accessories at the TiPb store
• iPhone 4S accessories at Amazon.com

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• Show notes

Rene, Georgia and Michael Rose of TUAW discuss a media gone mad -- including ridiculous Siri allegations, crazy Carrier IQ coverage -- and how to protect our privacy, and the privacy of our families, in the digital age. This is Phone Live!

• Rainbow apple mod backplate courtesy of unyusual.net