Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has hacked Siri, the artificially intelligent voice control system on iPhone 4S to run on last year’s iPhone 4. An initial hiccup, GPU support, has already been overcome. Another hiccup, Apple’s servers not responding to queries from Siri running on iPhone 4, is still and issue.

Troughton-Smith also suggests it could theoretically be possible to hook the Siri front end into Microsoft’s TellMe, or Google’s servers instead.

If Troughton-Smith could get Siri running on an iPhone 4′s single core Apple A4 processor, it probably makes you wonder why Apple didn’t include it in iOS 5 for iPhone 4. Apple, of course, famously didn’t bring video recording to iPhone 3G when Jailbreakers had it running. It’s either a feature they want to keep exclusive to iPhone 4S for now, or something Apple’s perfectionistic nature won’t allow them to do if it’ s not 100% smooth and performant. Or both.

Stellar work by Troughton-Smith, check out his Twitter feed, below, for more.

Source: @stroughtonsmith

YouTube user antoninygaard seems to have been able to go into iOS 4.3 beta and manually enable the multitasking gestures meant for iPad developer testing (as well as the mute/orientation lock toggle!) We heard Apple was testing them internally but he’s got both running on his iPhone 3GS.

We already know Apple won’t be giving them to end users for iPad much less iPhone any time soon but check out the video below and let us know what you think. Are the multitasking gestures usable on a screen that small?

[Engadget]

Erica Sadun from TUAW is relentlessly prosecuting her AirPlay and Apple TV hacks with a whole series of posts that include turning your Mac into an AirPlay server via the AirFlick app, transcoding AVI and other non-Apple supported videos for use with Airplay, running AirPlay on an XBMC Linux box, playing DVDs on Apple TV via AirPlay, playing iTunes FairPlay DRM protected videos, and sending Mac screencasts to Apple TV. Yeah. Phew.

A lot of this is strictly alpha and proofs of concept at this point and requires a good amount of ninja level skill to implement, but if that’s the way you like your hacks, head on over and try them out:

• AirFlick turns Macintosh into an AirPlay data server
• AirPlay running on XBMC Linux box
• Apple TV plays live-converted AVI files using Air Video Server, AirPlayer, and AirFlick
• DVDs are playing back on my Apple TV using AirFlick and AirPlay!
• Screencast your Mac to Apple TV over AirPlay

Video after the break!

TUAW’s Erica Sadun, if ever a wiz there was, has once again hacked away at Apple’s iOS 4.2 AirPlay feature and created an app called AirPlayer that gets it to stream video from iPhone or iPad to the Mac.

What AirPlayer does is create and advertise a custom Bonjour AirPlay service that pretends to be an Apple TV. Bonjour is Apple’s zero configuration networking solution for allowing devices and applications to communicate with each other over local area networks. When Apple created AirPlay, it basically set up a new way for Apple TV to interact with iOS using Bonjour communications.

She’s not a Windows dev but says in theory the same thing should be possible on that platform and perhaps Linux as well.

You don’t need to Jailbreak to try this out (the app runs on your Mac, not your iPhone or iPad) but if you’re not Jailbroken and running AirVideoEnabler you’ll be limited to YouTube and iPod/Videos for your streaming (AirVideoEnabler lets 3rd party apps stream AirPlay video as well).

If you want to try it out, you can get AirPlayer from Erica’s website, below. Video after the break!

[AirPlayer, TUAW]

This is for hacks NOT APPS. SBSettings came out before 2010 so it didn’t qualify. READ CAREFULLY:

The 2010 TiPb Awards are underway and right now it’s time to vote on your favorite Jailbreak hack of the year. This isn’t about Jailbreak apps, this is strictly for those little extensions, enhancers, and otherwise awesome tweaks that make existing functionality just that much better.

With iOS 4, iPhone 4, iPod touch 4, and iPad this year Jailbreak devs had an entirely new software and hardware playground at their disposal and boy did they not disappoint. But there can only be one 2010 TiPb Award winner! Choose your favorite in the pole above and then let us know why you chose the favorite you did in comments below. (And if you don’t see your favorite here, add it as a write-in as well!)

• Bytafont
• Facebreak
• Gridlock
• Infifolders
• WeatherIcon

Ready, set, vote!

The guys behind the iPhone-powered 58-inch multitouch table (think Microsoft Surface) have released a video demonstrating how the system works. Essentially, all you do is hook up your iPhone 4 to the table-top display and away you go. The iPhone 4 display is replicated on the 58-inch screen, and behaves the same way a normal iPhone would (save for the 17x size amplification, of course).

The two guys in the video seem to access the Springboard just fine, they swipe between pages and launch the Photos app. It doesn’t look like a fake, as many readers claimed. The iPhone also seems to be able to output UI elements on that bigger screen just fine.

Check out the video above to get a better impression of how it’s working so far. Although this is just a couple of dudes putting a good idea into effect, it would be awesome if we actually see this hit the market sometime down the road.

Video after the break. Would you be willing to slap down your hard-earned cash for something like this if it’s ever released? Let us know what you think in the comments!

[Mac Stories via Table.Connect]

Gridlock is an iPhone Jailbreak hack that will allow you to setup app icons on your home screen in a manner that doesn’t interfere with your wallpaper or just let you create an awesome pattern — the choice is yours. It is easy to use, all you have to do is hold down on an icon to make your apps jiggle like you always do and then move them around anywhere you want.

That’s it, no app, no settings, just click and drag your icons anywhere! Best of all it’s just $0.99 in Cydia, thanks Chronic Dev-Team member chpwn!

by Brian

Apple has responded to that bizarre incident over the weekend involving a glut of Vietnamese, copyright-infringing book apps rocking to best-seller status on the backs of hacked iTunes accounts.

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns.

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded.

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

Good advice for this incident, great advice in general. Also remember to never, not ever, click a link in an email and log into an account. That’s how social engineering attacks like Phishing scams work. Use a strong password (long, with numbers and symbols), keep it unique, and change it once and a while. Treat it as securely as you treat your credit card and cash — because that’s what it is.

UPDATE: According to Clayton Morris who followed up with Apple, about 400 users were impacted. iTunes’s servers were not hacked. In response Apple will be increasing the frequency they require you to enter your credit card verification number going forward.

[Engadget, Clayton Morris]

It looks like there’s been a sharp rise in iTunes accounts being hacked. We don’t have any solid information on this yet, but when it comes to security TiPb believes in warning first, worrying about the details later. Engadget points to a link between the hacks and the rise in popularity of some Vietnamese book apps. Sounds crazy, but it’s absolutely not funny:

As of this writing, 42 of the top 50 books by revenue are from the seller Thuat Nguyen, whose company website (“mycompany”) leads to parked site www.home.com. [...] a number of people [are] reporting up to hundreds of dollars being spent unwillingly from their account to these specific books. Coincidence? Let’s not mince words here, something is definitely amiss, and it’s not looking good. Just to be safe, might wanna check your purchase history under Apple Account information. We’ve reached out to Apple and will let you know as soon as we hear back.

Checking your account info for fraudulent charges is great advice. Using a long, strong password with numbers, symbols, and letters, and changing it regularly is also good advice.

If you’ve seen anything suspicious, report the problem to iTunes, and let us know in the comments.

UPDATE: 9to5Mac says the “mycompany” apps have been pulled from the iTunes App Store.

[Engadget, 9to5Mac]

It seems one sharp reader over at AppleInsider has noticed that the iPhone 3GS does indeed recognize FaceTime URLs under iOS 4. 

Now most people familiar with how these URLs work will understand how this is possible.  Ever noticed if you’re in a regular web browser and there’s a link to e-mail someone, you’ll see in the bottom progress bar a path that contains a URL that will say something to the effect of:  mailto://user@emailaddress.com?  Well, Apple uses a similar interface.

A reader by the name of Felipe Baez started to look a little deeper into how FaceTime was actually working and figured out the scheme is quite similar to the typical schemes Apple uses for apps such as the phone, e-mail, and SMS apps.  If you try and use one of these links on a 3GS running iOS4, it will recognize it as a FaceTime link but won’t currently do anything.

Could this potentially lead to hacks for FaceTime to work on a 3GS? Obviously a 3GS does not have a front facing camera, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be opened up to where 3GS users can view and converse with iPhone 4 users.  As of now, the audio on the 3GS won’t even work, but I’d guess it’d only be a matter of time before another sharp reader or developer finds a way around that.  Whether or not it would require a jailbreak is anyone’s guess.  Hey maybe a way to use the regular camera in the 3GS could become an option.  The jailbreak community is strong and I don’t doubt this is something that could potentially interest a lot of them. Thoughts?

[Apple Insider]

iMovie has been modified to run on iPhone 3GS, making the previously iPhone 4 exclusive app just a tad less exclusive:

David Romhan Torres: I just make iMovie for iphone 4 run on an iphone 3GS, it’s very simple just download it from iTunes, modify info.plist file and change the Minimum system version to 3.0.0 and front-facing-camera to false

If iMovie can run on an iPhone 3GS, why did Apple make it iPhone 4 exclusive? Probably for the same reason there’s no video recording or wallpaper on an iPhone 3G. Apple is very quick to cut off older hardware when they think it will have any impact at all on user experience. iPhone 4 has double the RAM and a faster processor and that’s what Apple decided to make the cut off point.

And just like 3rd parties came up with video recorders for the 3G, iPhone 3GS has had video editors for a while already (ReelDirector, obviously), and will obviously continue to do so. Just not Apple’s. It’s how they roll.

Taimur over at Redmond Pie gave the iMovie for iPhone 3GS port a whirl and you can check out the results in the video below.

[Redmond Pie]

Looks like our iPhone didn’t put up much of a fight at the latest Pwn20own contest in Vancouver, falling on the first day to hacking duo Ralf Philipp Weinmann of the University of Luxembourg, and Vincenzo Iozzo of Zynamics according to CNET.

The team wins $15,000 for their efforts, which took them about 2 weeks to write. The exploit involved getting a user to go to a malicious website whose payload downloads and executes, stealing the contents of the iPhone’s SMS database. (Though they said the same attack could be used to get contacts, photos, or any other data).

The exploit was written to bypass the digital code signatures used on the iPhone to verify that the code in memory is from Apple, he said. The exploit then looked for chunks in Apple’s code that could be pieced together to accomplish the attack, according to Weinmann.

Bypassing Apple’s security was “major issue” and used a process known since 1997 but not exploited on an ARM-based device like the iPhone until now.

The details of how the exploit was done are being kept confidential but will be shared with Apple.

Hacking the iPhone is nothing new, of course, as getting around Apple’s security is how Jailbreak is achieved (and original iPhone 2G owners may remember one of the earliest Jailbreak techniques involved simply going to a website with Mobile Safari). Apple has been beefing up their security team so while it’s not good news for Jailbreakers, future iPhone hardware and software should be harder targets.

Oh, and yes, Charlie Miller won $10,000 for exploiting Mac Safari. Again.

Unlike the recently redeemed VoIP, streaming TV over 3G to an iPhone is still a no-no according to AT&T’s terms of service, but has an error (or “error”) on the part of EyeTV [$4.99 - iTunes link] developer Elgato allowed them to go where SlingPlayer is still forbidden to tread?

Apparently so, if instead of tapping okay to dismiss the warning, you tap the message text instead. Then it’s 3G away you go.

Of course, AT&T lets other devices use SlingPlayer over 3G, and of course Apple’s YouTube app, and apps from Ustream and Stickam stream non-TV over 3G, so who while the whole policy makes the kind of sense that doesn’t, it will be interesting to what reaction, if any, AT&T and Apple have to this little workaround…

UPDATE: Apple has pulled EyeTV off the App Store. Elgato has issued the following statement to TotalApps:

“Some test code that enabled live TV streaming over the cellular network was accidentally left in the the EyeTV App. Apple requested that we remove the code since their agreement with AT&T does not allow redirecting TV signals over the cellular network. The code was removed and a 1.0.1 version of the EyeTV app was submitted.”

[Via AppAdvice - Thanks Tyler!]

Not only has the iPhone 3G finally been unlocked, it’s now also been hacked to work with a Blue Tooth keyboard. Sure, it’s not the elegant, Apple, “it just works” solution the world at large has been waiting for, but a “it’s hard work” solution for those desperate and ingenious enough to tackle it. Ars Technica‘s Erica Sadun breaks down the solution:

For the external approach, Ackermann modified a Robotech Bluetooth module, which he placed in an iPhone battery sleeve and connected to the iPhone (serial) connector port at the bottom of the unit. This allowed the the phone to communicate directly with the the module using the Bluetooth serial port profile.

And you can find out more at Ackermann’s blog, if you want to try it yourself. Do you? Or are you waiting (and waiting…) on Apple?

Remember that story about the iPhone almost having run Linux as its OS? Well, some enterprising young hackers have now gotten it doing just that — the Linux Kernel at least, via tether.

No touch control yet, no writing to the actual device, but first steps are first steps, and no doubt other hackers everywhere are already drooling at the possibility…

Or shaking their heads and wondering about Linux’s near obsessive need to notch its bedpost with every device on the planet.

Dying for an external keyboard on your iPhone? Well, you’re in luck! This proof of concept shows that if you’re an electrical engineering genius — or more likely a teenager — you can hack together one of your very own! Engadget says this solution involves Ruby code on a jailbroken iPhone, so it’s definitely not plug n’play (or better yet, Blue Tooth!) so for now only the hardcore need apply.

Anyone want to try it?

Catch-up time: QuickPWN for Mac was released a few short days ago. This go-around is for all of the Mac peeps out there looking to jailbreak the 2.0.2 firmware.  Still no software solution for unlocking, though…  sorry folks.  

It is important to note:

“QuickPwn is not a replacement for PwnageTool, they are different tools and provide different features, QuickPwn is for quickly pwning a device, whereas PwnageTool is designed to custom build and tailor the ipsw (Apple’s iPhone firmware files) production process, both tools will be actively developed in the future.”

“To use QuickPwn 1.0 Mac OS X your device should be running 2.0.2, if it isn’t then you can upgrade it to 2.0.2 using iTunes and then use the QuickPwn tool, we repeat, it’ll only work on version 2.0.2 of the iPhone or iPod touch firmware.”

Now I am not going to leave all of the Windows loyalists left out in the cold.  Also recently released is WinPwn 2.5-Beta 2. Which is available here.  Keep in mind that this is indeed a finished version but “beta” is used to simply say “Use at your own risk”.  

Join us in the TiPb’s Jailbreaking, Hackery, and Jailbroken Apps forum for a more detailed look into the dark side.  Be careful and have fun!

It might not seem very intuitive, but iPhone Atlas is reporting that if you’re experiencing bad signal strength on your iPhone, you might want to consider checking that the SIM card is properly seated. They even go so far as to say putting a small piece of scotch tape on the back can help with the connection. I’ve personally experienced the benefits of using scotch tape on a SIM card on lesser phones, but I’ve never had a problem with the iPhone.

Other options for boosting signal strength via uncomfortable hacker include: Resetting your phone and even attaching the USB cable as an ad-hoc antenna (ugh).

My favorite innovation on the Treo 700w was touchscreen photo speed dial. Instead of a list of names, you have a grid of faces you can tap to call. The iPhone, mysteriously, doesn’t take advantage of its gigantic and gorgeous screen to do the same. That’s a pity, too, because I can recognize the face of the person I want to call much more quickly than I can their name.

No More!

Step 1: Make a bunch of thumbnails of the faces of your favorite contacts. Upload them to a server (or Flickr, or wherever) and copy their image addresses.

Step 2: Go grab use the little hack here to add speed dial links to your home screen, but as the “Advanced” instructions suggest, paste the URL of your favorites’ face thumbnails (from step one) onto the end. (No Jailbreak required)

Step 3: Move all your cute photo speed dial faces onto their very own Home Screen page. Voila, you can now hit the home button, swipe over to your speed dial screen, and there are up to 16 faces per page you can dial by tapping.

(Thanks to rener for the inspiration!)