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Siri Gets a Sex Change and New Look

I decided to cut Siri out of my life a long time ago by installing Google Search on my iPhone instead. Using Google's voice search or the Google search bar is a lot easier than asking Siri three times for an answer she's just going to Google anyway. But no matter how much iOS users ignore her, the Apple voice assistant refuses to go away. Siri has decided to get a makeover, learn a few new tricks, and become a man. If that's not a cry for attention, I don't know what is.

Siri iOS 7

Apple announced at its keynote that Siri will feature a new female and male voice and promised it will deliver faster results and check more sources like Bing, Wikipedia, and Twitter. Not very exciting news if you ask me, however, Siri will also be able to return calls, playback your voicemail, and control iTunes Radio.

Case-Mate Launches iPhone 5 and Galaxy S 4 Acetates Collection

Case-Mate has rolled out another line of high-end cases for both the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S 4. The Case-Mate Acetates Collection features three new elegantly designed iPhone cases. The new designs include White Horn, Tortoise (w/ gold brushed aluminum), and Pewter. Each case features a two-piece design to protect the back and front of your device, and an interior patterned inlay for extra protection. The Galaxy S 4 cases only come in White Horn and Pewter. The Acetates Collection cases are $80 with free shipping.

Case-Mate Acetates Collection

If an $80 iPhone case is out of your price range, Case-Mate also offers more affordable designer and basic cases. Case-Mate's colorful line of Olo cases range from around $10 to $25, and feature sizes for all types of smartphones including the iPhone 4/4S.

WiFi HotSpot 2.0 Spotted at iOS 7 Keynote

One of the many iOS 7 features not mentioned but spotted at Apple's WWDC keynote was WiFi HotSpot 2.0. The Wi-Fi Alliance's Passpoint certification program made a quick cameo with several other new iOS 7 features towards the end of the event. You can see it listed on the right hand side under "Notification sync" in the image posted below.

iOS 7 Features

Apple's new operating system will support HotSpot 2.0 which aims to make roaming public Wi-Fi networks easier. The new authentication system allows users to switch between Passpoint-supported hotspots without having to enter a password each time. This only works with Passpoint-enabled hotspots, but several large companies like AT&T, Boingo, CableVision, Comcast and TimeWarner are already conducting trials, according to ArsTechnica.

iOS 7 Brings Dynamic and Panoramic Wallpapers to the iPhone

It's no secret that Apple heavily borrowed a few ideas from the jailbreaking community for iOS 7, and it looks like they also took a few notes from Google's playbook. iOS 7 will allow users to choose between motion or still wallpaper for their device's background image. iDownloadblog discovered several basic wallpapers, and two Apple created animated wallpapers in the iOS 7 beta. You can see from the video posted below, that the two bubble wallpapers gives your iPhone a lava lamp kind of look.

iOS 7 New Look

iPhone 5 users will also be able to use their favorite panoramic images from their Photo app as their Lock or Home screen wallpapers. The panoramic wallpaper effect is a lot like the Android option that allows you to pan your phone's background image left and right. It is unknown if Apple will allow third party animated backgrounds to be used, or if they will somehow make more of their self-created wallpapers available in the future.

Here's What Your iPhone Will Look Like in a Few Months

Monday was a huge day for the tech world. Most eyes were glued to the console wars, where Sony ultimately made the Xbox One look like an overpriced glorified cable box. Apple was also busy showing off its new redesigned OS, which is going to give your iPhone and iPad a whole new look and feel. Apple unveiled iOS 7 at the WWDC keynote on Monday, and it was a huge announcement, even if it was overshadowed by the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This is an advanced warning, your iPhone is going to drastically change, so you better start getting used to it now.

iOS 7 New Look

iOS 7 is going to completely change your iPhone. Your app icons, phone keypad, email and everything else are getting complete makeovers. Here are two charts that compare the new iOS 7 icons to the old iOS 6 icons. The only way you can avoid these new icons is by not upgrading to iOS 7 when it's released.

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