Apple hasn’t opened up Siri officially to developers but as usual, the jailbreak community is there to provide more value out of iOS device features before Apple does it. We see such new tweaks every week and the latest one is AssistantLove. This Cydia tweak integrates Spotify, GPS navigation, settings toggles and app launching with Siri.

Here’s how it works:

Spotify Integration

You must have the Spotify app installed to be able to use this functionality. All you have to do is enable it in settings. Launch Siri and tell it to play any song by name or by any artist. Instead of launching the Music app to play it, it will launch Spotify and start playing the song. Pretty sweet eh?

GPS Navigation

GPS integration works only if you have compatible apps installed which are either of the following: TomTom, Waze, MotionX-GPS and Navigon. Just ask Siri for directions and instead of launching the built-in Maps application in iOS, it’ll launch the navigation app of your choice and load up the directions.

App Launching

Just ask Siri to open any app and it’ll do just that. You can even set up aliases for applications so if have any application with a long or weird name, just set up a simple alias for it.

Settings Toggle

This is one of the most common features offered by Siri Tweaks on Cydia. This is really self explanatory and just lets you turn on/off Wi-Fi, adjust brightness and so on through Siri.

AssistantLove is a really useful and must have app if you require GPS navigation and Spotify integration with Siri. We would rather have the default Maps and Music integration intact along with this expanded capability. You can turn GPS navigation and Spotify off in AssistantLove settings, but that can be annoying. AssistantLove should detect when you want a song opened in Spotify through voice.

Still for those who deem these things useful, AssistantLove is available for $1.99 in Cydia under the Big Boss repository. You would need to jailbreak your iPhone 4S to be able to use it.

iPhone doesn’t have support for a Unicode keyboard by default but this new Cydia tweak called PictoKeyboard fills this gap. Using this keyboard, you can insert Unicode characters in your notes, email, messages, apps, tweets, Facebook status updates and much more. Basically, where ever you can use a keyboard in iOS.

PictoKeyboard just adds a new keyboard type in your iOS settings. To activate it, just go to your keyboard settings and add it as an international keyboard. PictoKeyboard replaces either of the following language keyboards: Catalan, Croatian, Icelandic, Latvian or Lithuanian. You can chose this in the PictoKeyboard settings. Then you can just use it anywhere you have your keyboard open by tapping the globe button at the bottom of your keyboard and switching to the Unicode PictoKeyboard.

Unicode characters are really colorless and appear in black and white only so don’t complain if you find these ugly. One advantage of using these is that they would show on a wide range of platforms ( wider range than the platforms that support Emoji ) so you can be sure that your smiley would get more eye balls.

PictoKeyboard is available for free in the BigBoss repository in Cydia so you would need to have a jailbroken iOS device to use it. It works only on iOS 5 on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. If you’re a heavy messages user or status updater, this tweak is a must have for you.

P.S. it also has the Apple logo

For those who already have access to a developers account and have updated to iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1, here is what you need to do in order to subscribe to iTunes match and enable it on your iOS device:

Important: Before you get started, it is recommended you make a backup of your complete iTunes library. You can find your iTunes library inside /Music/iTunes in your Home folder.

How to: Subscribe to iTunes Match:

1. Download & iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 on your Mac.

2. Open iTunes and choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store menu.

3. Click the Subscribe for $24.99 button and follow the onscreen instructions. Once
complete, your Music library will include songs on your computer and in iCloud.

How to: Enable & Access iTunes Match library from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad:

1. Tap Settings > Music > and turn iTunes Match to ON. This will disable syncing music with iTunes.

2. Press the Home button and tap Music.

Apple has also published a list of known issues with iTunes Match beta:

• Songs in unsupported formats will not be uploaded to iCloud at this time.

• Some songs that are available in the iTunes store may not be matched correctly.

• Some songs may match to a different version of the same song on the iTunes Store.

• You will not be able to add music to iCloud from more than one computer at a time.

• You may experience playback issues on iOS, such as slow performance, incorrect track
playing, or songs being shown as unavailable when they are available.

• Playback over cellular data connection will occur when Wi-Fi is not available, despite
this option being turned off in Settings > Store

Should you run into any problems, don’t hesitate to notify us in the following comments section!

According to Apple, here’s how it works:

iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

The technology was first announced back in June at WWDC 2011 and today the beta version of iTunes Match has just gone live, exclusively to the developers. Apple officially sent an email to all developers to subscribe to there service and start beta testing the new iTunes Match technology. Meanwhile, Apple also gave a heads up to anyone uploading content to iCloud not to delete anything yet from their computers since the iCloud accounts may be reset at the end of free beta service.

Download iTunes 10.5 Beta 6.1 for Mac OS X [Direct Link]

Download iTunes 10.5 Beta 6.1 for Windows [N/A yet]

In a recent interview with Business Insider he claimed that people clearly use the iOS App Store more frequently than the Mac App Store. To reach success he will need to have an iOS application too.

BI: Isn’t one of Apple’s rules for the mobile App Store that you can’t “duplicate functionality”?
DL: Yes, but on the Mac, they can’t really apply it, so you’ve got a way out. You can license your software without being considered a rogue developer, like you might on Cydia [the jailbreak app store for iPhone].
Developers have been selling Mac apps long before the MAS was introduced, whereas for most people, the only want to get content on an iPhone is through the App Store. It was a walled garden from the very beginning.
We’ll see what happens with Sparrow for iPhone. We’re just starting on this, but it’s still far far away. But we’ll give it a try, Apple be with us.
BI: So do you think they’ll approve it?
DL: I think they will. They’re accepting third party browsers, so why not mail? This would be really inconsistent. Opera has a browser out there, and I think Mozilla has one coming too.

The developer, Dominique Leca released the application first for $24.99, but later decided to cut the price to $9.99, which would reach more people.

You can download Sparrow for Mac here. (iTunes link)

You can also use the lite version to try the app out. (iTunes link)

In an interview with Reuters, the company’s Chief Executive (and chairman) Mike McCue said the company is trying to add television shows and films in addition to the online articles. After this, he also hopes to sell electronic books through the application. The chairman refused to say which studios and publishers they have spoken to.

Flipboard is available for download, exclusively on the App Store for the iPad. The company also stated they are expecting to launch a version for the iPhone and iPod touch.

In the last few months, Flipboard has had a huge amount of traffic, due to the popularity of the iPad. Analysts estimate that the iPad’s sales will continue to grow, which McCue hopes will make the company even bigger.

You can download Flipboard for the iPad here. (iTunes link)

The release as expected is only meant for developers, the downloads can be accessed in the Apple Developer Center.

This is not the first time Apple has released 10.7.2, they have previously released this update to developers for testing. To install this new version of 10.7.2, you will have to first revert back to 10.7 (a tool is supplied with the update, that will allow you to do this).

Included with the seed, Apple has posted some notes:

OS X Lion 10.7.2 build 11C43 Seed Note

OS X Lion Update 10.7.2 is an update to OS X Lion 10.7.

Installation Instructions

The OS X Lion 10.7.2 Update (Combo) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7 or 10.7.1 GM builds.

- Any earlier seed of Mac OS X v10.7.2 ONLY AFTER installing the included reversioner.

IMPT: If you installed a previous seed of Mac OS X v10.7.2, please run the enclosed Reversioner.pkg, do not restart but install the update immediately after.

The OS X Lion 10.7.2 Update (Delta) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7.1 GM builds.

- Any earlier seed of Mac OS X v10.7.2 ONLY AFTER installing the included reversioner.

IMPT: If you installed a previous seed of Mac OS X v10.7.2, please run the enclosed Reversioner.pkg, do not restart but install the update immediately after.

Please be aware that you will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating. Please install this update on a system you are prepared to erase if necessary.

As this is a pre-release build, it is not advisable to use this software on a production system with information on it that you depend on for your business.

Known Issues

- None

Focus Areas

- AirPort

- AppKit

- GraphicsDrivers

- iCal

- iChat

- Mac App Store

- Mail

- Spotlight

- Time Machine

Apple announced iCloud at WWDC earlier this year. During the event, they showed off nine ways iCloud will be implemented in various devices. These range from, document synchronization to app data in the air, from online backups to online mail. One of the greatest things about iCloud is the tight integration with iOS.

iPhoto is also being updated to take advantage of the new features of iCloud.

With SMSPlus, you can:

• enable quick compose/quick reply
• add an activation method
• set it to read the whole message or just the sender’s name
• add single timestamps
• lock SMS app

So what are you waiting for? Open up cydia on your iPhones and download SMSPlus via the BigBoss repo for $1.99.

Here is the list of devices supported by Redsn0w 0.9.8b6 ”Jetblue edition”:

• iPhone 4
• iPhone 3GS (Old bootrom)
• iPhone 3GS (New bootrom)
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad

Here are the official release notes:

We’ve released redsn0w 0.9.8b6 to jailbreak iOS5 beta6 (point it directly at the beta6 IPSW). 

Two important notes about this version:

(1) Please let your device boot normally to IOS5b6 and do a clean shutdown (slide to power off) before jailbreaking.
(2) Boot logos have intentionally been disabled for now, so you’ll see a black screen on tethered boots (you can re-enable logos or verbose boot with command-line options if you really want them back).

Due increased sensitivity to abrupt filesystem shutdowns in IOS5b6, it’s very important that you do a clean shutdown before running redsn0w.

Below are the official Redsn0w 0.9.8b6 download links:

• Download Redsn0w 0.9.8b6 for Mac
• Download Redsn0w 0.9.8b6 for Windows

If you don’t know how to perform a jailbreak using Redsn0w 0.9.8b6, simply follow the guide posted here and use the latest Redsn0w build instead of the old one. Also point to iOS 5 beta 6 .IPSW during the process which you can download from here (direct .IPSW links). Remaining steps are exactly the same!

If you do not have a UDID registered device and have access to a Windows computer, you may alternatively try Sn0wbreeze 2.8b6 tool via the following link to jailbreak iOS 5 beta 6 on your iDevice:

• How To Jailbreak & Activate iOS 5 Beta 6 With Sn0wbreeze v2.8 b6[Guide]

So what are you waiting for guys? Go ahead and download Sn0wbreeze v2.8 beta 6 (direct link at the end) and jailbreak iOS 5 beta 6 on any of the following devices:

• iPhone 3GS (Old Bootrom)
• iPhone 3GS (New Bootrom)
• iPhone 4 GSM / CDMA
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad 1G

Remember, the jailbreak is currently “tethered” for all devices except iPhone 3GS with old bootrom which can be jailbroken untethered on iOS 5 beta 6 using latest sn0wbreeze. All other devices need to be plugged in to your computer on every reboot and iBooty is required to boot into jailbroken state. iPad 2 once again is currently not supported.

If you need help, read our complete step-by-step tutorial on how to jailbreak iOS 5 beta 6 with Snowbreeze 2.8b6. Simply replace iOs 5 beta 5 .IPSW with iOS 5 beta 6 while remaining steps are exactly the same. You can download iOS 5 beta 6 firmware files (.IPSW) from here.

Download Sn0wbreeze v2.8 Beta 6