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Siri Hacked to Control Home Thermostat

Posted in iPhone, News on 21/11/2011 by J. Glenn Künzler

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Following Applidium’s recent cracking of Siri’s security protocol, a developer called Plamoni has devised the first real-world hacks – a Siri plugin to control his thermostat!

Siri Proxy is a proxy server for Apple’s Siri “assistant.” The idea is to allow for the creation of custom handlers for different actions. This can allow developers to easily add functionality to Siri. The main example I provide is a plugin to control my thermostat with Siri. It responds to commands such as, “What’s the status of the thermostat?”, or “Set the thermostat to 68 degrees”, or even “What’s the inside temperature?”

According to Engadget’s report, the hack doesn’t require jailbreaking of any kind. Instead, the hack relies on a custom proxy server that intercepts Siri commands, bypassing Apple’s servers to use Siri commands to control local services. This allows developers to control WiFi and Bluetooth connected devices with the service.

These sorts of hacks open up an exciting new world of possibilities for Siri – using Siri to unlock a door, set your thermostat, turn your lights on and off, and maybe even start your car – count me in!

Plamoni has put together a video showing how the hack works, and showing off how awesome his Siri-enabled home thermostat is. Check out the full clip embedded below.



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J. Glenn Künzler

Glenn is Managing Editor at MacTrast, and has been using a Mac since he bought his first MacBook Pro in 2006. Now he's up to his neck in Apple, and owns an old iBook, a 2011 MacBook Pro, a MacBook Air, a third-generation iPad, 2 iPhones, and a Mac Mini that lives at the neighbor's house. He lives in a small town in Utah, enjoys bacon more than you can possibly imagine, and is severely addicted to pie.