Big Boss

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=e54gK0UpAxs#!]

The Google Now-like voice recognition features introduced to the Google Search for iOS app last month have been getting a lot of attention. Maps might not be the only area Apple cannot compete with Google. As highlighted in a video comparison we posted earlier this week, Google’s voice search feature has Siri beat. And many users are taking note. Today, AppAdvice pointed us to a new Jailbreak tweak called “NowNow” that allows you to call up Google voice search (from within the Google Search iOS app) by holding down the Home button—just like Siri. It appears you can also select alternate methods to invoke the feature, so you should be able to continue to use both if want. The tweak is available via the BigBoss repository now for free.

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The app development world went into a frenzy when social network app Path was caught uploading users’ address book information without asking for permission last week. We already gave our view on the matter, but Forbes reported on a study by University of California at Santa Barbara yesterday that found Cydia apps leaked private data less than apps available on the iTunes App Store.

The group built a tool called PiOS that analyzes iOS apps for private data leaks. It looked at 1,407 free apps: 825 apps from the App Store; and, 526 apps from Cydia’s repository the BigBoss.

The findings indicated 21 percent of the App Store apps tested uploaded a users’ iOS device’s UDID, 4 percent uploaded location information, and .5-percent uploaded users’ address book—like Path did. When it came to the 526 apps tested on the BigBoss repo, only 4 percent leaked users’ UDID, and only one app leaked location and address book data.

Many people are under the impression that third-party apps do the majority of the uploading, but that might not be the case. Perhaps Apple’s new restriction on uploading address book information without permission will help remedy the situation.

You can view the study’s full graph after the break:

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