The hack was made possible by app developers Grant Paul (aka chpwn), Steven Troughton-Smith and Ryan Petrich. Paul recently talked about the hack on his blog, saying in deliberately vague terms how the hack was done and why, sadly, they can’t distribute the port or share how they did it. TL;DR version: It’s illegal. There is hope though, as Paul also mentions that he’s not willing to share the details “to try and ensure that you all will be able to use it in the future.”

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

So if we can’t have it, what use is this hack? As I said, it conclusively proves that Siri can run on hardware older and less powerful than the one inside the iPhone 4S. I’m no software or marketing expert but the way I see it there are three reasons why Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S for now. First of all, it’s one of the draws to buy the latest phone. More money for Apple. Second of all, as good as Siri is Apple made it clear that the software is still in beta. It’s safer and easier this way. Finally, I think making Siri available on even just one or two other devices will tax Apple’s servers. Just adding the iPhone 3GS alone will add millions of Siris making requests, including yours truly. I guess I’ll have to upgrade before I can pretend to be a Seleção.

[via Gadget Venue]

Well, it actually only uses mirrors. It is a small clip that has a mirror that shoots the users reflection to the rear-facing camera so you can have video chats. The downside is the thing looks really geeky.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

This reminds me of those mirror periscopes I used to build when I was a kid. It’s not exactly cheap considering it’s a plastic clip and some mirrors for $24.95. It was supposed to launch early this month, which has come and gone now.

Measuring a mere 2.8 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches, the Icon provides enough power for 3 hours of talk time on 3G (7 hours on 2G) or 18 hours of audio.  The remaining charge of the Li-ion battery is indicated on the outside of the pack using EL technology.

The Icon is a real product and is very much for sale, but for some reason its manufacturer, Essential TPE, failed to list the price on the product page. Want one? If you’re in Asia, you can check out Essential TPE’s list of partner stores. Citizens of the rest of the world, you can contact Essential TPE via email and then pay via Paypal.

[via Essential TPE via Yanko Design]

So shiny! I wonder if they’ll get smudged by fingerprints and stuff. The cases are made of hardshell plastic and have rubber guardrails for shock absorption, and impact and scratch protection.

The cases also have “fluorescent pop lining”, which you obviously won’t see when your iPhone is in the case, but it’s still nice to look at, a refreshing difference from all the bling on the outside.

The case comes in black, silver, gold and copper and is compatible with the iPhone 3G & 3GS only. You can get a Chrome Slider Case for $35 (USD) at Incase. Each purchase comes with an S-Stand (shown above). Pimp cup not included.

[via Acquire]

This Emergency iPhone Solar Charger from Senyx (appx. $22 USD) snaps neatly onto the bottom of your 3G or 3GS and lets you recharge using sunlight. While I’ve seen many multi-gadget solar chargers before, the thing that’s unique about this one is that it’s so compact and designed specifically for the iPhone. So there’s no extra cables or wires required for use. It just connects right into the dock connector and you’re ready to go. And for those of you who have a white iPhone, there’s a version for you guys too.

The snap-on solar panel also has a small 800mAh battery pack built in to give you a little extra emergency power if you pre-charge it with your USB cable. While I certainly wouldn’t rely on this thing as my primary source of iPhone power, it looks like it would be great in a pinch, or if you’re ever stuck out in the woods with no other way to recharge.

The head-to-head serves as a reminder of just how much technology has changed over the years, as well as a rough idea of how freakin’ rich Apple must be: while the old breadbox has a colossal lead in terms of total units sold at 32 million (it was first released in 1982),  a head esploding 1 million iPhone 3GS units were sold on its first 3 days on sale alone. That’s just insane.

That’s the start of the list. Funny how the C64 is almost all keyboard while the iPhone has no real keyboard at all. Other interesting facts: there are a total of 50,000 apps for the iPhone. McCracken(!) goes by the official number of C64 apps which is more or less 10,000, but several commenters are claiming that there are up to 100,000 programs for the C64. That seems like a huge advantage, until you realize that the iPhone is only less than 3 years old while the C64 is 27.

Of course the iPhone sweeps the tech specs trophies, but the C64 won lots of love because it offered… FREEDOM! The William Wallace of gadgets had neither carrier tie-ins nor app approval jujitsu. As one commenter said, if there was an iPhone emulator for the C64 it would’ve been warmly welcomed and immediately approved, no questions asked, except maybe “Would you like some cookies?”

Head on to Technologizer for the full list and the flame war. The C64 fanboys (fangrandfathers?) are winning. McCracken! Sorry.

[via Download Squad]

Even though the 3GS looks virtually the same as the iPhone 3G, the 3GS ups the ante on the prior generation by increasing application speed, battery life, camera resolution, memory and more. According to Apple’s WWDC keynote announcement today, the faster processor in the 3GS increases launch times of popular apps from 2.1x (launching messaging), to 3.6x (opening an Excel spreadsheet). Of course, performance improvements will vary from application to application.

There’s also support for OpenGL|ES, which should improve graphical performance. And processing speed isn’t the only boost – the iPhone 3GS also supports 7.2Mbps HSDPA wireless connections. In addition to the speed hikes, the 3GS adds several new features not supported on the 3G. Battery life is also improved. Here’s a handy battery comparison chart from the guys over at Gizmodo:

There’s a brand new 3-megapixel camera, complete with auto-focus, auto-exposure, auto-white balance, low light and an auto-macro mode that can capture still images as close as 10cm away.

The camera can also capture video at VGA resolution (yawn) at up to 30fps. There was no mention of digital image stabilization, but the video does take advantage of all the auto adjustment modes that the still camera supports. You can even trim your video shots using a slick on-screen timeline interface.

There’s also a new voice control mode, which lets you not only voice-dial, but select tracks to play in iTunes, open web pages, and control other applications. Hopefully, they’ll open this up to app developers to leverage in their own applications. Also along for the ride is a digital compass, which at first doesn’t sound very exciting, but the addition of a magnetometer to the hardware will enable much greater accuracy in terms of understanding your bearing when in GPS mode – especially on foot.

Of course, the iPhone 3GS takes advantage of all of the features of the iPhone 3.0 OS, including cut-copy-paste, landscape keyboard, app store microtransactions, MMS messaging, stereo Bluetooth and much more.

The iPhone 3GS will be available June 19th in North America and Europe. The 16GB version retails for $199, and the 32GB version is $299, both with a new AT&T 2-year agreement. And if you’re looking for a cheap phone, you can now buy last years iPhone 3G for just $99 bucks. All models are available for pre-order now over on the Apple Store.