Tips

Google Search is getting rave reviews, and side-by-side comparisons have shown Google's voice assistant is much faster and sometimes more accurate than Apple's Siri. Jalbreakers who would like to kick Siri to the curb can do so by downloading the NowNow jailbreak utility from the BigBoss repo in Cydia. NowNow allows you to replace Siri by launching the Google Search app with an Activator function. To do so, just download the utility, locate the NowNow option under Settings and tap Activation Methods. You can then select the function you would like to use to activate the Google Search app. To replace Siri select "Short Hold" under the Home Button options. Holding the Home Button will now bring up the Google Search app instead of the Siri screen.

Need to find out if an iPhone is officially unlocked for use on multiple cellular carriers? Now you can find the answer to this question and more using a simple website. All you need is the unique IMEI number assigned to your device.

To get your IMEI number navigate to Settings -> General -> About and scroll down to IMEI. The IMEI is a unique 15-digit number. Now go to the website IMEI.info, enter this number and click the CHECK button.

One of the more interesting features that came along with the iPhone 5 launch is the built-in Panorama option in iOS 6. Consisting of high quality photos stitched together on the fly, Apple's panoramic images come in at around 17 MB (with a resolution of 10,800 x 2332 pixels). Accessing panoramic mode is simple, just open the Camera and tap Options. Touch the grey Panorama button in the middle of the screen and a white arrow appears.

One useful tip comes into play before you start recording the panorama. Tapping the white arrow will change its direction, which allows the panorama to be recorded from either left to right, or right to left. Depending on how the scene is laid out, what the ambient lighting looks like, and your position, sometimes switching directions can result in a better image.

One of the things about iOS 5 and iOS 6 that drives some iPhone owners crazy is the fact that the Newsstand icon will not go inside a folder. There's a timing trick that moves Newsstand into a folder but this can be difficult. Jailbreak solutions also exist that consolidate iBooks and Newsstand into one app. Now there's another way to hide Newsstand without jailbreaking.

Renowned app developer Filippo Bigarella has released StifleStand, a free software package for Mac and Windows that does just that. Once the software is downloaded to your computer and unzipped the procedure to hide Newsstand on any iOS device is simple.

HiddenHelper, the new jailbreak tweak for the iPhone, allows you to use Siri without the Siri interface popping up on your Home screen. This can be helpful when you want to set your alarm or dictate a note on your iPhone while you are using the device for something else, and you don't want Siri to interrupt. For example, Siri will not interrupt your Angry Birds game by displaying the note you just dictated to her. It's a great multitasking tool.

HiddenHelper also allows you to decide which Siri snippets you want displayed, and which snippets you want disabled. Asking Siri to tell you about the weather is useless without the UI because Siri displays the temperature instead of reading it to you. Wolfram Alpha queries are also pointless without Siri displaying the results.