AllThingsD is reporting that Apple has hired A9.com co-founder and CEO Bill Stasior to head the group responsible for Siri, the iOS “personal assistant.” Stasior, who earned a PhD from MIT for his work on automated analysis of video content, headed up advanced development at AltaVista before founding and later leading Amazon’s independent A9 search service. The acquisition of someone with a background so steeped in search suggests Apple may be preparing to further reduce its reliance on Google. Read the full story at ARS Technica.