Siri

Apple has published a fascinating new entry in its Machine Learning Journal this month that explains how the voice-activated ‘Hey Siri’ detector works in detail. While many of these entries tend to be too in depth for the average reader (i.e. me), October’s entry from the Siri team includes several interesting (and understandable!) tidbits about what happens behind-the-scenes when you use ‘Hey Siri’ on your iPhone and Apple Watch.

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It looks like Siri and Google are friends again and Bing is in the rear view mirror. In a major shift, Apple is changing its search results provider for Siri and Spotlight on iOS and macOS from Microsoft’s Bing to the vastly more popular Google.

The change has started to roll out today and should be in effect for all users by the end of the day. For users, this means Siri and Spotlight will now provide the same search results as Safari by default (and in a lot of cases show better search results).

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Things by Cultured Code has long been my go-to task management app of choice, and today the app suite is getting a big update thanks to iOS 11 and watchOS 4. Things 3.2 works with Siri for the first time (no more Reminders workaround!) and there’s powerful drag and drop support on the iPad.

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An Apple job ad notes that some people treat Siri as a therapist or counsellor, and it wants to help the intelligent assistant do a better job of helping people.

People have serious conversations with Siri. People talk to Siri about all kinds of things, including when they’re having a stressful day or have something serious on their mind. They turn to Siri in emergencies or when they want guidance on living a healthier life. Does improving Siri in these areas pique your interest? Come work as part of the Siri Domains team and make a difference.

If you’re thinking of applying, you’ll need an unusual combination of skills …

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A new analyst note today from Barclays covers Apple’s efforts and potential in the connected home market. While the firm expects Apple will be a major connected home player, it believes Apple will struggle to create more revenue from this part of its business.

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[Update: A discovery by iHelp BR earlier this month also suggests that the sleep/wake button may have custom functions in native iOS apps. The line of code found was “lockButtonAppropriateForShutter”. With the larger sleep/wake button we’ve seen in many iPhone 8/Edition renders, it’s possible we could see two buttons housed within the new sleep/wake button.]

The latest discovery by developer Guilherme Rambo indicates the iPhone 8/Edition could use the sleep/wake button to invoke Siri in place of the Home button.

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Apple is among a handful of companies who have just been honored with Emmy awards. Yes, you read that right. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announced the awards in a press release today, highlighting the “Sciences” aspect of its name. TechCrunch was first to note the inclusion of companies like Apple, DJI, Microsoft, and others.

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Apple’s AI expert, Tom Gruber, delivered a TED talk back in April extolling the benefits that AI may provide for us in the years to come. The video of the onstage presentation has now been released and gives us a better glimpse into the future Gruber imagines. His presentation focuses on what he calls “humanistic AI”, the belief that when machines get smarter, so will we.

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If you have a Barclays bank account, you can now make payments simply by instructing Siri to do it.

The feature, added to the latest version of the company’s iOS app, uses the Siri integration for payment apps Apple introduced with iOS 10. PayPal took advantage of this last November, but banks have been slow to do so …

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Update: Here is Apple’s The Rock x Siri Dominate the Day full commercial:

https://youtu.be/ufBLI6bB9sg

Update: Despite initially touting it as a “movie, ‘Johnson now says his partnership with Apple is a “crazy fun” commercial.

Haha it's a crazy fun commercial we'll drop tomorrow. Dominate your day brother 👊🏾

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 23, 2017

Seemingly out of nowhere, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has announced on his personal Twitter account that he will soon be starring in a movie created in partnership with Apple. Co-starring alongside The Rock is none other than Siri, Apple’s artificial intelligent assistant.

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Apple today has been granted a handful of new patents, some of which are more notable than others. Such patents include one for an iPhone “smart dock” with Siri built-in, a new 911 calling method, and more.

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App analytics company Verto reports that while Siri remains the most popular intelligent assistant, fewer people are using it.

The company measures usage and popularity of voice-based IAs based on six different criteria, and says that five out of the six numbers are down year-on-year …

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Apple’s HomePod is scheduled to arrive this December for $349 in the US, Australia and the UK. Are you planning to pick one up? And will you switch from an Amazon Echo or Google Home in the process?

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Apple is looking to hire a “Siri Event Maven” that will serve as Siri’s own personal assistant on events and pop culture happenings trending among humans.

The role will be to make sure that Siri is up to date on all the non-traditional holidays, trending cultural happenings, and events that people might ask about. Apple says the Siri Event Maven will work with the engineers and designers working on Siri “to provide strategic awareness of cultural happenings in the collective zeitgeist.”

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Siri has come under fresh attack today, with former members of Apple’s intelligent assistant team stating that it still lags behind its rivals despite the announcement of HomePod and improvements introduced in iOS 11.

Independent tests of the main IA systems also tend to bear this out, especially when it comes to personalization. Both Google Home and Amazon Echo have a better understanding than Siri of who we are and what we are likely to want.

The thing is, this isn’t coincidence – and doesn’t come without a cost …

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Siri is still lagging behind rival intelligent assistants, say former Apple employees who worked on the project, despite the latest enhancements announced at WWDC. Software developers attending the conference have also reportedly expressed disappointment at the limited nature of the access by third-parties.

Apple announced a number of enhancements to Siri’s intelligence in iOS 11, including translation between languages, the ability to learn about your interests and greater contextual understanding of queries. The company also followed Amazon and Google’s lead in launching a voice-activated speaker, HomePod. But neither is enough to rival the features available from competitors, say former team members …

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I wrote a feature request back in 2015 calling on Apple to give Siri access to third-party apps. Six months later, Apple gave me part of what I’d asked for in the form of limited Siri support for six app categories.

For iOS 10.0, the Siri API will only work with six kinds of application: ride booking (think Uber), messaging, Photo Search (find photos and videos in a particular app), payments (‘Send $100 to John with SquareCash’), VoIP Calling (e.g: Skype) and Workouts (for starting health and fitness activities).

We’re now hearing that Apple plans to announce that it is expanding Siri support to more app categories, and there’s one of these that’s right at the top of my wish-list …

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A new report from Reuters today offers some information on planned Siri updates for iOS 11, part of an expansion expected to come alongside a much anticipated standalone Siri device during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week. The move, according to the report, will see Apple expand the categories for third-party apps that can integrate with Siri in order to help it compete with Amazon’s Alexa.

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Ahead of next-generation iPhones expected to include augmented reality features and updates for Siri, Bloomberg is out with a new report today detailing Apple’s work on a dedicated processor that it says will be devoted entirely to artificial intelligence tech.

Dubbed “Apple Neural Engine” internally, the report says the chip will allow for much improved facial and speech recognition applications as well as improved battery life:

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Siri may have been a pioneer in the field of voice-based intelligent assistants, but competition in the field is now fierce. Google Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana and Amazon’s Alexa are all aiming to take Siri’s crown.

The problem, however, is that many Apple owners are so deeply embedded in the ecosystem that there’s little risk of them switching platforms – especially not from an iPhone to an Android phone. So while Google Assistant in theory put Apple under pressure to improve Siri, in practice, not so much.

But if Google Assistant does indeed make it onto the iPhone this week as reported, that’s a new ballgame …

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