iPhone News Updated

Google pulls “Siri for Android” app from Android Market

A number of wannabe apps that try to mimic the capabilities of Apple’s Siri on the iPhone 4S have shown up in the Android Market over the past few months, but none went so far as to appropriate the Siri name and app icon - except for one.

Thankfully, Google has caught on to the infringing app, the so-called “Siri for Android,” and has pulled it from the Market.

The Siri for Android app not only took Apple’s copyrighted name, but it also used the same microphone over a metal coin design for its icon as Apple uses for Siri on the iPhone 4S. While it had the appearance of offering a new service to the Android platform, all it actually did was open the Voice Actions service that is built into every Android phone. Apparently, about 1,000 people downloaded the app before Google was able to remove it from the market. Google went ahead and banned the developer from the Market as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

How to quickly access direct messages in Twitter for iPhone

With the latest update to the official Twitter for iPhone app, direct messages seemingly disappeared from the app.

You are now forced to tap on the “Me” tab, and then select direct messages. Three screens and two taps later, you can then view your DMs. Not very user friendly, right?

There’s a quicker way to access direct messages, at least in the iPhone app. (Trying the same shortcut on the Android version won’t provide the same results.)

Read the rest of this entry »