Siri

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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An Apple patent published today describes using iMessages instead of voice to interact with Siri in environments when speaking wouldn’t be practical.

This could span both ends of the spectrum, from very noisy environments like construction sites, where your voice cannot be heard, to very quiet ones like libraries, where you would disturb people by speaking. It would also be useful for people who don’t feel comfortable talking to their phone in public …

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As someone who enjoys testing new gadgets, I’ve been very tempted at times to purchase and try both the Amazon Echo and Google Home voice assistant speakers. Rumors of an Apple version have convinced me to hold off, however, and it’s possible once again that we may soon see Apple’s take on the category.

Amazon Echo and Google Home both offer features that I’d like, but there are things I do with Siri on my iPhone and Apple Watch that only a Siri Speaker would offer. Here’s my Siri Speaker wishlist:

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As Apple is believed to be working on its own ‘Siri speaker‘ product, research firm eMarketer has predicted that the U.S. market for voice-controlled speakers will double this year.

The number of active U.S. users will more than double for the devices this year, to 35.6 million, eMarketer said.

Reuters reports that in the market currently dominated by Amazon and Google, there is currently a clear leader …

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Indian news network NDTV caught up with Apple’s SVP Marketing Phil Schiller for an interview after his visit to the new App Accelerator in Bengaluru.

The discussion touches on Schiller’s management of App Store and Apple’s developer ecosystem, Swift adoption and his thoughts on voice-only assistants like the Google Home or Amazon Echo. Whilst Schiller would not gave any praise to its competitor’s products, he did say that these kind of devices are convenient in some situations …

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KGI’s Ming-Chi Kuo has published an industry report today claiming that Apple will likely announce a Siri Speaker product (branding unknown, Kuo calls it ‘Apple’s first home AI product’) at WWDC in June. The device will compete with the Amazon Echo and go on sale in the second half of the year.

Kuo says Apple’s product will feature ‘excellent’ sound with seven tweeters and a subwoofer, and will be positioned as a more premium product than the Echo … with a higher price tag to match.

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Taking to Twitter, leaker Sonny Dickson has shared more alleged details on the rumored upcoming Siri speaker. Introducing some new concepts not previously shared, Dickson believes that the speaker could see its debut at this year’s WWDC.

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There are many ways to add HomeKit-connected lights to your home, allowing you to turn them on and off from your phone at a tap or with your voice using Siri. You can buy special Philips Hue bulbs, change wall switches with Lutron or Elgato, or plug in lamps to a smart plug socket.

The Koogeek Smart Socket is a different approach to the same problem. It puts an adaptor between your existing light fitting and bulb. All you have to do is screw it in. Keep reading after the jump for my full hands-on …

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