Jailbreak Tweak Enables System Wide Facebook Chat Heads for iPhone

Adam Bell, a 21 year old iOS developer, has successfully enabled system wide Facebook Chat Heads via a tweak for jailbroken iPhones, reports The Verge.

Developer Adam Bell has created a tweak for jailbroken iPhones that lets Chat Heads run "on top" of iOS just as they do on Android. "I just got jealous," Bell says. "I wanted them on iOS." It took the 21-year-old Computer Science major mere hours to create a working version of the hack, which manipulates the way iOS handles different views to keep your friends' faces always on top. The Verge has confirmed the hack's functionality on a jailbroken iPhone 5.

"The hardest part was getting this all to render on top of everything else," Bell said. "It doesn't seem very resource intensive. Only when you move the Chat Head is it actually doing anything."

Bell is still ironing out a few bugs but he hopes to have the tweak released free on Cydia and Github within a few days.

Take a look at a video demo below!

Apple Stores Your Siri Data for Two Years But Anonymizes It After Six Months

Apple stores your Siri data for up to two years but anonymizes it after six months, according to information provided to Wired by spokeswoman Trudy Muller.

Here’s what happens. Whenever you speak into Apple’s voice activated personal digital assistant, it ships it off to Apple’s data farm for analysis. Apple generates a random numbers to represent the user and it associates the voice files with that number. This number — not your Apple user ID or email address — represents you as far as Siri’s back-end voice analysis system is concerned. Once the voice recording is six months old, Apple “disassociates” your user number from the clip, deleting the number from the voice file. But it keeps these disassociated files for up to 18 more months for testing and product improvement purposes.

“Our customers’ privacy is very important to us,” said Muller.

You can find the full Siri Privacy policy within the Siri Settings section on your iOS device.

Gameloft Posts New Iron Man 3 Game Trailer

Gameloft has posted a new trailer for the upcoming Iron Man 3 game.

Control Stark Industries in Iron Man 3 - The Official Game!
Develop up to 18 amazing suits from the movies and comics, upgrade them and unleash your powers to defeat your enemies.

The Iron Man 3 game will be available on April 25th for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Cut the Rope: Time Travel Released for iOS

ZeptoLab has released 'Cut the Rope: Time Travel', a new game for iOS, on the App Store.

Join Om Nom as he travels back in time to feed his ancestors with candy. Cut the Rope: Time Travel is a completely new adventure filled with time-traveling, candy-crunching, physics-based action! With two cute monsters to feed in each level, Cut the Rope: Time Travel is twice the fun but familiar to play. If you like Cut the Rope, you’ll love Cut the Rope: Time Travel!

There’s no time to waste! Visit six exciting locations including the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, a Pirate Ship, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Stone Age. Om Nom’s ancestors are waiting – and they’re getting really hungry for candy! 

You can purchase Cut the Rope: Time Travel from the App Store for $0.99.

Pre-launch Demand for iWatch May Be Stronger Than iPad's

A new ChangeWave survey suggests that pre-launch demand for the iWatch may be stronger than pre-launch demand was for the iPad.

According to the survey, 5% of consumers said they were 'very likely' to purchase an Apple smart watch and another 14% said they were 'somewhat likely' to purchase the device. That's even higher than the company's pre-iPad survey that found 4% very likely and 14% somewhat likely to purchase the unannounced tablet.

"Apple's track record of delivering ultra-convenient, easy to use products with a perceived ‘cool factor’ is driving pre-release demand for the rumored Apple 'iWatch,'" said Andy Golub of 451 Research's ChangeWave service. "While an 'iWatch' doesn't yet exist – and if it ever does it will have to live up to super high expectations – it has the potential to be another huge success for the Cupertino, Calif., manufacturer."

Check out this link to see what an iWatch might look like.

AMD Hires Former Director of Graphics Architecture at Apple

AMD has hired Raja Koduri, former Director of Graphics Architecture at Apple, reports CNET. Koduri left Apple in March but had apparently been courted by AMD for some time.

Koduri joined Apple from AMD in April 2009 as part of the electronics giant's push to build up its own chip operations. Instead of relying on partners like Intel to design processors for smartphones and tablets, Apple started creating its own chips for mobile devices. Koduri served as director of advanced technology development at ATI Technologies before AMD acquired the company. At the time he left AMD in April 2009, Koduri was serving as chief technology officer of AMD's graphics product group, according to his LinkedIn page. 

The hire is said to be a big scoop for AMD and CEO Rory Read. The company has been struggling of late and Read is trying to get it back on track.

New iPhone Concept With Wrap Around Display

T3, a popular gadget magazine, has created a new iPhone concept featuring a wrap around display.

Curved Wrap Around AMOLED display & features, ideas & design 3D Render video. Could this be the next generation iphone? Last month, Apple filed a patent for a wraparound style display for what could be the next iPhone. We turned on our 3D rendering machine to come up with what we think the next gen iPhone could look like.

Notably, this is not the first concept based on the wrap around display patent. Check out this one as well that more closely resembles the patent diagrams.