Belfry Lets You Install Stock iPhone Apps on Your iPad

Back when the iPad launched in 2010, many people complained that it didn’t have any of the native apps found on the iPhone and iPod touch. However, a new jailbreak tweak by Ryan Petrich called Belfry is about to change that.

Belfry is a simple tweak that will install 6 stock apps on your iPad: Clock, Calculator, Compass, Voice Vemos, Stocks, and Weather…
Stocks and Clock apps work in native resolution, while the rest are stuck in the infamous “2x” mode.
This tweak was released with great timing, especially now since the untethered jailbreak for iPad 2 was released last week. If you’re interested in installing Belfry on your iPad, you can get it from the Big Boss repo for free.

Upcoming Jailbreak Tweak Lets You Tweet With Siri

It was only a matter of time, but the inevitable has finally happened. You can now tweet with Siri courtesy of an upcoming jailbreak tweak.

The yet to be named tweak is making its way around the blogosphere, and should be released to the public in the very near future.

We’re pretty impressed by how accurate tweeting with Siri actually is, but that should be expected since Siri is very precise when it comes to dictation.

Although the text response still needs some ironing out — Siri clearly contradicts herself by saying “Sorry Jeff, I can’t help you with Twitter” — tweets are still sent out immediately, and she verbally acknowledges the fact shortly thereafter.

I think it’s obvious that Apple eventually plans to incorporate things like verbal status updates and verbal tweets into iOS, but the future is now if you have a jailbroken iPhone 4S, or another jailbroken device running Spire for that matter.

I for one can’t wait until the final product is released, I can see myself using this quite often. What about you?

Microsoft Releases MSN UK iPad App That Looks Just Like Pulse

Microsoft’s latest iPad app comes in the form of the new MSN UK app, which was made available today.

The app allows UK users to keep up to date on MSN UK news articles, as well as watch video and even stream them to an AirPlay-enabled device such as an Apple TV.

If the whole thing looks eerily familiar then there’s a very good reason – the MSN UK iPad app bears a striking resemblance to the Pulse news reader app which has been around for some time now…
By using the same horizontal tile interface as Pulse, Microsoft has potentially left itself open to cries of foul play, but the question should perhaps be whether there really are that many different ways to present news items on a tablet device. Will all news apps look similar just because their layout happens to be the most intuitive?

“The MSN experience is now enhanced on iPad – easily swipe to find your favourite news, sport and entertainment articles and videos. Excited about something you read on MSN for iPad? Just tap and share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter (or e-mail a link to the article).”

Microsoft says it does not yet have any announcement to make about bringing the MSN app to other territories, with the UK version currently the only one available for download. We can’t see any real reason why the app wouldn’t eventually make an appearance internationally, though.


Apple Has an Actual Unboxing Room to Test Product Packaging

Apple’s engineers and designers are world-renowned for their attention to details, but to what extent? Well according to Adam Lashinsky’s new Inside Apple book, the iPhone-makers have their own unboxing room — yeah, unboxing room.

Bits and pieces of Lashinksy’s book have been surfacing on the web over the past two weeks. The leaks have provided some interesting insight into the Cupertino company, and this next excerpt continues that trend…
Per the book, Apple is said to have its own secrete packaging room. And inside this room is a packaging designer that tests hundreds of different packaging variations for each of Apple’s products. Lashinksy writes:

“One after another, the designer created and tested an endless series of arrows, colors, and tapes for a tiny tab designed to show the consumer where to pull back the invisible, full-bleed sticker adhered to the top of the clear iPod box. Getting it just right was this particular desinger’s obsession. What’s more, it wasn’t just about one box. The tabs were placed so that when Apple’s factory packed multiple boxes for shipping to retail stores, there was a natural negative space between the boxes that protected and preserved the tab.”

Of course, none of this should surprise anyone who’s ever opened an iPhone box, or other Apple product. It’s no coincidence that the search term “iPhone unboxing” yields nearly 90,000 hits on YouTube.

As Steve Jobs used to say, “it’s all in the details.”