Siri

Pandora co-creator Tom Conrad discovered that Siri won’t open the pod door answer questions about the music charts if you don’t subscribe to Apple Music. When Conrad asked Siri for the most popular song in the US today, she remained tight-lipped.

Sorry, Tom, I can’t look up the music charts for you. You don’t seem to be subscribed to Apple Music …

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From 9to5Toys.com:

Update (1/11 2:00pm): With the release of tvOS 9.2, Apple has officially added support for Bluetooth Keyboards on Apple TV. You’ll find our top-picks below.

The new Apple TV is now available for pre-orders with the first units set to ship on Friday. Apple has introduced a number of features to its new streaming device, including an App Store, a fresh remote with Siri built-in, universal search and support for MFi gaming controllers. However, the fourth generation Apple TV is pretty light on included accessories. It doesn’t even come with an HDMI cable.

Head below for all the must-have controllers, add-ons and accessories to take full advantage of Apple’s latest release.

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Apple today has shared three new advertisements for iPhone 6s to its YouTube channel. These new ads come just days after the company debuted seven new ads for Apple Watch. Today’s new iPhone 6s ads are called “The Camera,” “Crush,” and “Flip a Coin,” each highlighting a specific feature of the device.

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Apple’s HomeKit platform for connected accessories around the house has been steadily expanding over the last few months, and today August is adding to it with a new version of its Smart Lock. Revealed today, the new HomeKit-enabled August Smart Lock is an upgraded version of the Bluetooth-connected door lock that first launched last year. HomeKit compatibility means you can use the Siri virtual assistant on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch to lock or unlock August Smart Lock using voice commands. Working with Apple’s smart home platform also means Smart Lock can be a part of commands like “Goodnight” that turn off connected lights, lock the front door, and lower the temperature.
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Bloomberg reports that Apple has acquired Perceptio, a startup that focuses on developing technology that allows companies to run artificial intelligence systems on smartphones, but without the need for sharing as much user data in the cloud.

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Siri voice control is finally coming to Philips Hue connected light bulbs thanks to promised HomeKit support and a new bridge product. Details have been surfacing over the last month with product listings going up a day early, and today Philips is ready to officially reveal how it’s bringing HomeKit support to Hue bulbs and lamps. As expected, Hue bulb owners will be able to upgrade to the new Philips Hue Bridge 2.0 to enable using Siri to control Hue lights. The new, square-shaped bridge works similar to the old, round bridge — connecting to up to 50 bulbs  only with HomeKit support included even for existing bulbs and plans to support future home platforms as well.
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In an effort to strengthen Siri’s natural language conversation abilities, Apple has acquired a UK-based firm called VocalIQ. Business Weekly was first to report the acquisition today and Apple confirmed the purchase to The Financial Times with the usual boilerplate statement: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
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Apple has updated its Privacy website with details about how the company uses your data to serve the newest iOS 9 and iPhone 6s features, like Apple Pay, Apple News and Hey Siri. Consistent with Apple’s messaging, they reiterate how everything they make is designed to store as little personal information as possible with anonymity wherever possible. Contrary to other reports, the Tim Cook cover letter fronting the Apple Privacy page is not new and has been posted on the website for some time.

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After announcing new iPhones and iPads plus an updated Apple TV in San Francisco last week, Tim Cook is taking a slight victory lap in New York City with a media blitz that leads to an interview with Stephen Colbert tonight on CBS’s The Late Show. Before a surprise visit yesterday at NYC’s iconic Fifth Ave store with Eddy Cue, the Apple CEO gave a quick interview with Buzzfeed. In it he told John Paczkowski that his Apple Store visit really is a surprise to everyone.

“I almost always go in unannounced,” he says. “It’s rare that I tell anyone that I’m going. But I do try to go to stores every time I’m traveling to a new city. It’s important.”

Cook also discussed the privacy implications of an always-listening Siri, what he likes best about the iPhone 6s, and even the possibility of being able to delete system apps in the future…

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Apple today officially announced its long anticipated revamped Apple TV set top box, marking one of the biggest jumps forward for a product category the company previously classified as a hobby project. Prior to today’s event we reported extensively on Apple’s development of the new Apple TV and the features it planned for the device and developers.

While proclaiming that “The future of TV is apps,” Tim Cook and team highlighted the key areas of the updated hardware and software: new powerful hardware, a modern OS, an all-new user experience, developer tools, and an App Store.

Head below for all the details…
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Keeping to the ‘Hey Siri’ theme of the event, the day before the big show, Apple has added a new set of reply phrases to Siri teasing the event tomorrow. There’s about a half-dozen new witty responses in addition to those added last week. To hear them, hold-down the Home Button activate Siri and say ‘Hey Siri, give me a hint’.

Obviously, these hints are little more than funny jokes (the binary one spells the word ‘Gotcha’ if decoded) and don’t give away secret product information. If you want details about what Apple is announcing tomorrow, read 9to5Mac’s exclusive roundup of the event, which will feature the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, iPad Pro, new Apple Watch bands and the unveiling of the long-awaited brand new Apple TV.

Check out the full gallery of new hints below and let us know in the comments if you find Siri saying any more hints we haven’t discovered …

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Reuters reports that Apple is working on significantly increasing the number of artificial intelligence specialists it employs as it works to make Siri smarter, but that the company’s commitment to user privacy imposes constraints.

As part of its push, the company is currently trying to hire at least 86 more employees with expertise in the branch of artificial intelligence known as machine learning, according to a recent analysis of Apple job postings. The company has also stepped up its courtship of machine-learning PhD’s, joining Google, Amazon, Facebook and others in a fierce contest, leading academics say.

Machine learning relies heavily on large-scale data-crunching to figure out what users are likely to want to know. But while Google analyses the data of Android users en-masse, Apple’s approach to privacy means that far less data is sent from the iPhone to its servers, making it more challenging to increase Siri’s intelligence … 
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Apple is making its App Store a bit more social. The company today opened up a new Twitter account dedicated to the App Store’s gaming section. The account, @AppStoreGames, is yet to be officially verified by Twitter, but it was retweeted this morning by the official and verified @AppStore account, which launched a few years ago.

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Over the weekend 9to5Mac reported that the long-awaited Apple TV 4 hardware will be priced under $200 with executives deciding between a “starting price point of either $149 or $199”, and today Buzzfeed’s
John Paczkowski has corroborated that information. Apple is said to have settled on the $149 price point for Apple TV 4, which is higher than Apple TV 2 and 3’s original $99 price point but lower than Apple TV 1’s original $299 price. Apple TV 3, which we reported will remain in the lineup, was lowered to $69 (with an even lower street price) earlier this year.
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New Apple TV will look similar, but thicker (image via Michael Steeber)

Although iOS devices and the App Store have transformed the handheld gaming market, the first three Apple TV generations did not attempt to challenge Microsoft’s Xbox, Nintendo’s Wii, or Sony’s PlayStation game consoles for complete control of living room TVs. According to sources with knowledge of the product, the fourth-generation Apple TV will actively compete for TV gamers with updated hardware, software, and peripherals that will debut at Apple’s September 9 event in San Francisco.

One of the next Apple TV’s tentpole features will be near-universal Siri control, a feature hinted at in Apple’s invitation to the event. But the other will be deep support for gaming, representing Apple’s largest-ever effort to lure players from traditional consoles. In addition to the convenience of downloading games directly from the Apple TV’s built-in App Store, and controlling many of them via a new bundled remote control, Apple will also support more complex, console-style Bluetooth game controllers with the pressure-sensitive buttons and joysticks previously introduced for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches…

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