iPhone 5 rumored to have smaller connector, currently in production

According to Reuters' anonymous sources, the next iPhone to hit shelvesmay have a smaller cable interface with just 19 pins instead of the 30 found in traditional cables. The shrunken connector would be a significant change for the company as Apple has relied on its proprietary 30-pin design since 2003. This rumor falls in line with purported design leaks of the iPhone 5 and iPad mini earlier this month which illustrate the move to a smaller connector.

It's worth noting that while 30-pin dock connectors have been standard-issue since the third-gen iPod, some minor electrical changes have affected compatibility along the way. But the real reason for the redesign, according to Reuters, is due to Apple's relocation of the 3.5mm audio jack from the top to the bottom of the device. 

The existing dock connector design has been criticized for being bulky and overly complicated. With portable devices becoming thinner and smaller, the timing might be right to ditch it all together and start from scratch. Unfortunately, doing so will almost certainly break compatibility with nearly a decade of genuine and third-party peripherals -- including car stereos -- so the redesign does not come lightly. There is currently no information regarding backwards compatibility with the use of adapters or converters.

In addition to shrinking iPad and iPod connectors, Digitimes reports that industry sources in Taiwan claim that production of the iPhone 5 is already underway. The timing seems right for a timely fall launch. For reference, the iPhone 4S was available for pre-order on October 7, 2011.

With the addition of the dock connector shrink, the next iPhone is conjectured to feature a larger 4-inch display with a movie-friendly 16:9 aspect ratio (previous models are 3:2) and may mark the return of an aluminum back -- a design element not seen since the original iPhone.

Legal Siri port for iOS 5 devices released, proxy still needed

Following weeks of efforts reverse-engineering Apple's Siri personal assistant feature, a trio of developers have come up with a solution that's said to work on any jailbroken device running iOS 5 and avoids the copyright infringement inherent in previous hacks.Dubbed Spire, the new Siri port is available for free on Cydia and was tested to work on the iPhone 4 and 3GS, third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, and first generation iPad.

Spire is the work of well-know iOS hacker chpwn (aka Grant Paul) along with developer Steven Troughton-Smith and Ryan Petrich.

Unlike previous Siri ports, Spire obtains the files necessary for Siri from Apple's own servers, so technically this is a "legal" hack since the files are not being widely distributed by a third party. However, because Apple only officially supports Siri requests coming from the iPhone 4S, you'll still need access to a 4S' authorization token and must route that information through a proxy server.

Chpwn explains the limitation in the Spire Proxy FAQ, "Apple has made it very likely impossible to defeat the authorization requirement. I reverse engineered it, and it does not appear possible to connect Siri to the cloud without information from an iPhone 4S." He goes on to suggest you could ask and iPhone 4S-owning friend for their authentication tokens, or perhaps someone will come up with a for-pay service where you can rent some space on a Siri proxy attached to one of their iPhone 4S devices -- though if you really want Siri that bad maybe you should consider getting an iPhone 4S and avoid jumping though hoops.

At least until the iPhone 4S is jailbroken and hackers find a way around the proxy server issue, this is the best Siri port so far. That said, if you already own an iPhone 4S and just want Siri on another device of yours you can download the 100MB app and give this a hack try.

Remember you'll need a jailbroken device to install Spire. Conveniently enough, the iPhone Dev Team just released an untethered jailbreak for devices running iOS 5.0.1 (not including the iPhone 4S and iPad 2).

Jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 is out: iPhone 4S, iPad 2 need not apply

Another version of iOS, another jailbreak. The iHacking community has been on a roll lately, releasing jailbreaks in record time for virtually all iterations of iOS 5, even throughout its months in beta. The latest jailbreak for iOS 5.0.1 is not without caveats however, so please read carefully before continuing.

The latest versions of redsn0w and sn0wbreeze can be used to perform a tethered jailbreak for all models except the 4S and iPad 2. iPhone 3GS users may still enjoy being untethered, provided they have an older boot rom installed.

A tethered jailbreak means if your iPhone or iPad are restarted, the user must reconnect the device to a computer running a jailbreak utility. If the device is not plugged in at boot time, it will not boot into iOS successfully. This is opposed to an untethered jailbreak, where your phone or tablet can be freely restarted without any ill effects.

Despite the obvious shortcomings, BigBoss' semi-tethered jailbreak patch partially solves this problem. Verified to work with 5.0.1, SemiTether allows your device to reboot without being plugged in albeit with limited functionality. Users of this method can make calls, text and run third-party web browsers from the App Store. However, this somewhat liberating method also breaks certain features like the native Mail app, mobile Safari, jailbreak tweaks, most apps and Cydia. If this happens, the device must be taken home, plugged into a computer with redsn0w and restarted the old-fashioned, tethered way.

Another limitation are compatible models. Any iPhone or iPad running Apple's new dual-core A5 chip have been immune thus far to known jailbreaking methods. That includes the 4S and iPad 2. The iOS hacking community has admitted that working around the A5's on-die boot rom poses an enormous hurdle, but we can be sure there are people currently hard at work trying to solve this conundrum.

Well known iOS hacker, MuscleNerd, recommends, "Jailbreakers and unlockers should avoid today's 5.0.1 until a flow for downgrading to 5.0 is developed.". His concern stems from Apple's recent ability to "flip a switch" at any given time which could render existing, untethered jailbreaks useless. The old practice of saving your SSH blobs alone is not enough to guarantee you can restore your phone once this happens. 

Dev-Team Blog had this to say about Apple's new trick:

This will only affect restores starting at iOS5 and onward, and Apple will be able to flip that switch off and on at will (by opening or closing the APTicket signing window for that firmware, like they do for the BBTicket).  geohot’s limera1n exploit occurs before any of this new checking is done, so tethered jailbreaks will still always be possible for devices where limera1n applies.  Also, restoring to pre-5.0 firmwares with saved blobs will still be possible (but you’ll soon start to need to use older iTunes versions for that). Note that iTunes ultimately is *not* the component that matters here..it’s the boot sequence on the device starting with the LLB.

Instructions for jailbreaking can be found here.