Siri

707 'Siri' stories July 2011 - November 2014

Siri does more than ever. Even before you ask.

Siri is Apple’s personal assistant technology that debuted in 2011 with the iPhone 4S. Apple purchased Siri in 2010. At the time, it was a dedicated app on the iPhone. When it became built into the iPhone, it could do basic things like play music and make phone calls.

Now, it can do things like integrate with third-party messaging apps. payments, ride-sharing service, calling app, set timers, get directions, add reminders, start TV shows on the Apple TV, make language translations, search for photos, open documents, interact with your smart home though HomeKit, and a lot more.

In iOS 12, it became integrated into more third-party apps through Shortcuts. Companies can build their own interactions for the service to work with.

Compatible Devices

iPhone

iPad

Siri Remote for Apple TV

Amazon announces Echo, a dedicated, Siri-like speaker system for quick information

Mark Gurman Nov 6 2014 - 9:09 am PT

22 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkOCeAtKHIc

Amazon today announced a new hardware product called Echo. It’s essentially a speaker unit dedicated to being a voice-control system. It kind of sounds like Siri but in a speaker for a single room instead of in your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.

You can set alarms, control music, ask about the weather, search the web, ask questions, and access local news. It streams content via Bluetooth and WiFi, and connects to the Fire Phone (if you have one, lol), iOS via the browser, Android, and desktop computers via the web. Instead of “Hey Siri,” you say “Alexa” to start speaking the device. You’ll need a Fire OS/Android device to take full advantage, but music should work fine via iOS.

The whole concept is very futuristic, and it’s unclear how beneficial this will be to people with voice-controlled phones. But, hey, this comes from the developers of a faux-3D phone and delivery drones, so this is not completely out of left field. The Echo is $99 for Amazon Prime users, $199 for everyone else, and (for some reason) you need an invitation to receive the honor to buy one of these untested things.

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Internal Panera Bread memo claims Apple Pay will launch on October 20

Mike Beasley Oct 15 2014 - 2:51 pm PT

4 Comments

An internal memo sent to Panera Bread employees and acquired by 9to5Mac has revealed that Apple will launch its mobile payment platform on Monday, October 20th. Panera Bread was listed as one of the initial launch partners for Apple Pay during its introduction last month.

An online training course for employees has been published that includes instructions for the VeriFone readers, including the Apple Pay functions. Stores that don’t have the appropriate hardware to support the technology will receive further information on the 20th about how the company plans to handle payments those locations.
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Review: CarPlay has promise, but the road to perfection is long

Zac Hall Oct 7 2014 - 11:37 am PT

38 Comments

With Pioneer now offering aftermarket CarPlay support through their existing NEX displays, I got the chance to finally test drive CarPlay (without having to buy a new car) and see how Apple’s driving-optimized iPhone experience performs on the road.

Apple describes CarPlay as “a smarter, safer way to use your iPhone in the car” because tasks like making phone calls, sending messages, finding directions, and playing music from your iPhone are completed using Siri and the car’s touch screen rather than fiddling with your phone in your hand.

In short, CarPlay has a lot of promise and already makes a few things easier, but it’s not without its hiccups just yet. I’ll share my hands-on experience with upgrading to CarPlay with an aftermarket Pioneer display including a few interesting tidbits and lots of photos below.
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Nokia continues the Siri bashing w/ new Lumia ads showing off Cortana

Jordan Kahn Sep 24 2014 - 9:45 am PT

3 Comments

[youtube=http://youtu.be/DIdf99noLJk]

Nokia, like the rest of the smartphone industry, is no stranger to mocking its biggest competitor in ads. Today we get two new spots posted to the company’s YouTube account that highlight the Windows Phone Cortana assistant feature while mocking Apple’s Siri feature in the process.

The first ad called “Lost” highlights Cortana’s ability to automatically remind users when to leave for appointments based of calendar and traffic data. The second spot, titled “Remind Me”, shows Cortana sending reminder notifications associated with texts and calls they are receiving.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/vfozrCjKHus]

Nokia isn’t the only company iPhone bashing today, BlackBerry just wrapped up its Passport launch event where it took time to compare the device directly to the iPhone 6 on stage.

‘Siri, what song is this?’ The iOS 8 GM doesn’t have a clue, but it’s coming back next week

Mike Beasley Sep 10 2014 - 2:56 pm PT

25 Comments

Remember when Apple announced during WWDC that Siri in iOS 8 would be getting several cool new features, including the ability to figure out what song is playing with a music recognition engine powered by Shazam? In the recent GM build of iOS 8, the feature has been removed completely. Apple notes that it should be back in time for the general public release of the OS, however.

In earlier betas, Siri would automatically start listening for music when invoked, and identify anything playing. This approach proved to be a bit counterproductive, as the software would often misinterpret air conditioners, wind, or a sneeze in the background as music and keep trying to identify it even after the user had finished issuing a command.

[tweet https://twitter.com/ChristopoulosZ/status/509817977538379776 align=’center’]

To resolve that, later betas removed the automatic listening mode and required the use of a command such as “what song is this?” However, in the GM build (which by definition is identical to the one that will ship to all users next week), the feature is totally non-functional. Asking “what song is playing” or similar will attempt to ID the song playing from the user’s library, which often results in a response of “You’re not listening to anything right now.”

[tweet https://twitter.com/Jamie367p/status/509819859589685248 align=’center’]

Why the feature was removed in the GM build is a bit of a mystery when it seemed to work perfectly fine when triggered by a voice command. Other new Siri features, like “Hey Siri” mode, are still available in this version. It’s possible this could just be due to some sort of bug that went undetected or a server-side issue that will be resolved before the official release.

Beats Music “Listen Now” feature starts rolling out to Shazam iOS app

Mark Gurman Aug 13 2014 - 10:42 am PT

2 Comments

Users of the Shazam iOS application have begun noticing that Shazam is testing a new “Listen Now” feature with the Apple-owned Beats Music streaming service. Like it does with iTunes Radio, Spotify, and Rdio, this feature allows a user to tag a song with Shazam and then instantly play it in Beats Music. We tested the feature this morning and it works as advertised. You’ll need a Beats Music subscription or a 14-day free trial in order to make use of the feature. With Beats now under Apple’s wing and Shazam a key partner for Siri in iOS 8, it makes sense that the trio would integrate in a fashion such as the new Listen Now button in the Shazam app. You’ll need the latest Shazam update to make use of the feature.

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As Siri gets more powers in iOS 8, we ask: Do you use it to its fullest or is it still a party trick?

Ben Lovejoy Aug 13 2014 - 8:18 am PT

81 Comments

When Siri lost its beta tag almost a year ago, I suggested it might be a good time for those who’d been frustrated with its early performance to give it another chance. What I discovered through your comments was that Siri seems to be one of those things that polarizes views: people either loving it and using it every day, or dismissing it as a useless gimmick. Not too many people seem to fall between the two.

But Apple has continued to work hard on improving the service, adding new capabilities as well as refining its ability to handle existing ones. It might not yet be as sophisticated as its creators envisage for the future, but a year on seemed a good point to revisit the topic and find just how many of its capabilities people are using …
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Murder suspect really did ask Siri for advice on hiding a body

Ben Lovejoy Aug 13 2014 - 4:31 am PT

21 Comments

One of the best-known Siri easter eggs is its response to the question “Where’s a good place to hide a body?” Siri’s usual response was to ask “What kind of place are you looking for? Swamps. Reservoirs. Metal foundries. Dumps.”

In a story you really couldn’t make up, Kirotv reports that ‘a Florida man’ on trial for a 2012 murder seriously did ask Siri for this advice, according to evidence presented in court yesterday.

New evidence presented Tuesday in the trial of a man accused of killing his roommate showed he apparently asked Siri on his iPhone, “I need to hide my roommate.”

Pedro Bravo is accused of killing University of Florida student Christian Aguilar in 2012.

The Huffington Post reports that the query no longer works, but trying it myself today, the response I got from Siri was “What, again?”.

It was reported in June that Apple is looking to replace Siri’s Nuance-powered back-end, while the former Siri team are working on a next-generation virtual personal assistant.

Update: Bravo’s lawyer argued in court that while the query was made out on the defendant’s phone, it was not done on the night of the murder and is ‘not evidence’ that Bravo was the one who made it. The detective in the case agreed.

Former Siri team working on radically new virtual personal assistant with true artificial intelligence

Ben Lovejoy Aug 12 2014 - 6:36 am PT

33 Comments

“Siri is chapter one of a much longer, bigger story,” says Dag Kittlaus, one of three of the original creators of Apple’s virtual personal assistant. The team, originally acquired by Apple as part of its $200M purchase of Siri, has now left the company to form a new startup, Viv Labs, to work on the rest of that story.

The vision described by the team in a lengthy piece in Wired is certainly ambitious. The problem with Siri, they say, is that it can only do things it has been explicitly programmed to do.

Though Apple has since extended Siri’s powers—to make an OpenTable restaurant reservation, for example—she still can’t do something as simple as booking a table on the next available night in your schedule. She knows how to check your calendar and she knows how to use OpenTable. But putting those things together is, at the moment, beyond her.

What Kittlaus and his team want to do is create a personal assistant which can learn to do new things for itself …
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Apple & Beats use Siri and Pills to promote Dr. Dre’s celebratory party in new video ad

Mark Gurman Aug 1 2014 - 6:28 pm PT

17 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK4MYERlCS0&feature=youtu.be

Continuing today’s celebration of Beats officially becoming an Apple subsidiary, Beats’ official Twitter account has posted a fun video advertisement that uses Siri and the Beats Pill to promote the deal. The video pokes fun at a private Dr. Dre party, and perhaps this is some joke tied to Dre spilling the beans about the Apple deal in the weeks before the official announcement in May. The end of the video also appears to poke fun at Siri not always working properly.

https://twitter.com/beatsbydre/status/495363203740618752

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Wikipedia app re-launches on App Store ahead of iOS 8 integration

Mark Gurman Jul 31 2014 - 12:44 pm PT

2 Comments

The popular online service Wikipedia has re-launched its iOS app with a new native version that features editing and an offline mode. The free app has some unique features other than browsing through Wikipedia entires, as Wikipedia tells us:

Fastest way to get into the content. Other highly-rated unofficial free iOS apps have hurdles to access the content. Either downloading some content, or just simply not being able to dive right in to it. That doesn’t happen with the official app.
You can edit with this app, unlike other unofficial apps. And you can do it logged out, if you choose.
Wikipedia Zero for developing and emerging countries. If you’re on one of the participating operators, you can use Wikipedia free of data charges.

Wikipedia also shared some other important features:

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Apple TV overhaul not expected to debut until 2015

Zac Hall Jul 30 2014 - 11:49 am PT

11 Comments

A new report from The Information published today discussing the next generation of Apple TV says the new set-top box won’t be ready for prime time until at least 2015. This expectancy timeline aligns with previous 9to5Mac reporting on the Apple TV development progress.

According to the report, Apple employees managing the project have informed Apple TV engineers working on the next generation set-top box that it is currently not expected to reach completion in time to debut in 2014.
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Microsoft releases Siri-bashing ad first seen at its developer’s conference

Ben Lovejoy Jul 28 2014 - 3:54 am PT

24 Comments

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0pjD4qpIpg]

Microsoft ads seem to make a habit of bashing Apple, even using Siri’s voice to do so – and without the company concerning itself too much about accuracy. Microsoft has now released the 30-second commercial it first showed at its developer’s conference back in April …
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Shazam’s iOS app becomes a bit more useful with new Rdio integration

Mark Gurman Jul 14 2014 - 1:38 pm PT

4 Comments

Shazam, the popular music identifier service that will be integrated into Siri this fall with iOS 8, has received an update today for iOS that brings a major new feature. Shazam has essentially turned its app into a streaming music service of sort by integrating deeply with Rdio. Now, if you tag a song using Shazam, you can listen to the complete song via Rdio right within the Shazam app. In our brief testing today, the functionality seems to work well. You do need the Rdio app installed and an Rdio account.

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Court rejects Apple’s attempt to dismiss claim that Siri infringes Chinese patent

Ben Lovejoy Jul 9 2014 - 6:46 am PT

2 Comments

Reuters reports that a Chinese court has rejected Apple’s attempt to dismiss a claim by local company Zhizhen Internet Technology that Siri infringed its speech-recognition patent.

Zhizhen Internet Technology first alleged in 2012 that Apple’s Siri technology copied parts of its Xiao i Robot software, with pre-trial proceedings taking place last year. Apple said that it had not been aware of the patent when work began on Siri, and asked China’s State Intellectual Property Office to declare the patent invalid.

The Chinese patent office declined Apple’s request, leading Apple to file suit against it. It is this suit that has been rejected, leaving Zhizhen free to pursue its case against Apple.

Apple has said it intends to appeal to the Beijing Higher People’s Court, but suggested that a settlement might be reached by adding that “we remain open to reasonable discussions with Zhizhen.”

The backend for Siri was originally developed by Nuance, the company behind Dragon Dictate, though there have been persistent rumors that Apple plans to replace this with its own technology.

Image credit: forbes.com

Why is Apple hiring Nuance engineers? Apparently to replace Siri’s Nuance-powered backend

Mike Beasley Jun 30 2014 - 10:49 pm PT

10 Comments

Nuance, the company that originally created the backend for the Siri mobile app that would later become the built-in virtual assistant in the iPhone 4S, has powered the speech recognition for the service ever since it launched. However, a new report suggests Apple may be looking to replace the company’s technology with a newer, faster system that could provide more accurate results.

A new Wired report cites several recent Siri-related Apple hires as evidence that the company is working on something big for the system’s next update. This isn’t really a new idea: rumors have been swirling since 2011 that Apple was investigating its own speech-to-text solution. That same year, Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky (not to be confused with current Siri Speech Manager David Winarsky) told 9to5Mac:

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Creators of Siri launch next-gen Kasisto personal assistant technology for businesses

Jordan Kahn Jun 27 2014 - 10:46 am PT

0 Comments

SRI International, the team behind the technology that later became Apple’s Siri voice assistant feature in iOS, today announced a new product that it says “aims to improve the consumer experience on mobile devices through intelligent conversation.” Kasisto will be a similar intelligent voice assistant but the company will open it up to business customers to integrate into their own apps:

“Virtual personal assistant technology has revolutionized consumer interaction with mobile devices,” said Norman Winarsky, Ph.D., vice president, SRI Ventures. “Now consumers expect a more human-like experience when interacting online. Kasisto represents a new user experience—one that is context aware, personalized, and more effective.”

The company says Kasisto will allow businesses to integrate the virtual personal assistant features into mobile apps in days or weeks intend of months while greatly decreasing the costs currently associated with similar technologies. “It is context-aware and provides text, touch, and speech modalities, and natural language understanding and reasoning. The platform also includes a powerful software development kit (SDK) for easy customization and integration into existing mobile applications.

You can learn more about Kasisto at the company’s website.

Add Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, & Thai to the list of Siri languages Apple is working on

Jordan Kahn Jun 23 2014 - 3:43 pm PT

7 Comments

Back in 2012 we noted that Apple was hiring engineers to help localize Siri into a number of languages the feature does not yet support. Those included Arabic, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish, and recently Apple has added job listings for three more languages: Russian, Brazilian Portuguese and Thai. Apple also posted more recent job listings for the languages it first started hiring for back in 2012.

While Apple didn’t announce any new languages for Siri coming in iOS 8 when it previewed the new operating system earlier this month, it’s always a possibility languages could be added in time for its release this fall.

Apple is yet to add support for the languages mentioned above that it started hiring for a couple years back. Currently, Apple lists the following languages and localizations as supported by Siri:
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iOS 8 code shows iPad split-screen, Maps transit in the works; Health interface changed late in development

Mark Gurman Jun 9 2014 - 2:53 pm PT

65 Comments

In the several months leading up to Apple’s 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference, we reported on several features on tap for iOS 8, the new iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch operating system, and OS X Yosemite. Many of the features we reported on were announced last week: improved messaging, revamped notifications, various user-interface enhancements, indoor mapping, iCloud improvements for end-users and developers, Shazam in Siri, Voice Memos improvements, the redesigned Mac interface, multi-resolution mode for Xcode app testing, and of course, health-tracking integration. But some of the reporting did not become official last week. Namely, the Healthbook name, various improvements to Apple’s controversial mapping software, and a split-screen iPad multitasking mode.

Let’s go through each feature one-by-one.

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Tado confirms smart air-conditioning controller funded, aiming now for Apple HomeKit support

Ben Lovejoy Jun 5 2014 - 4:27 am PT

4 Comments

Tado, the location-aware alternative to the Nest smart thermostat, has confirmed that it has achieved its Kickstarter goal to launch a device to control existing air-conditioners, turning them into smart cooling systems.

We talked about the GE-backed Quirky Aros in March which can now be purchased at Amazon.

Tado is now aiming to raise an additional $50k to allow Tado Cooling to integrate with Apple’s HomeKit, enabling Siri control.

If HomeKit is integrated, our customers will be able to use the tado° app together with some key iOS features such as Siri or TouchID.

Imagine setting your tado° to sleep mode or adjusting the desired temperature with a simple voice command.

Imagine giving your AC a little boost just by placing your finger on the home button.

Imagine combined scenarios with other connected devices …

Tado says that its system will be compatible with 82 percent of existing air-conditioning units, with a control unit working in the same way as its smart thermostat: using an app to track the location of those in the household, automatically turning off air-conditioners when the last person leaves the home and pre-cooling the home when it detects that someone is on their way back.

Low-energy Bluetooth is also used to track the position of people within the home, automatically adjusting air-conditioners within different rooms.

Tado Cooling will retail for $149, but Kickstarter backers can pre-order for $99, with units expected to ship in August. The existing product is fully funded, but currently needs an additional $47,000 in the next six days to add HomeKit support.

Other iOS controlled home cooling systems on the market and in the news include Big Ass Fans.

Coming in iOS 8: WiFi calling, Tips app, FaceTime call waiting, iBooks preinstalled, much more

Jordan Kahn Jun 2 2014 - 1:18 pm PT

33 Comments

There’s a lot of new features coming in iOS 8 that you might have missed during Apple’s presentation today. Apple briefly flashed the slide pictured above and in it listed a bunch of new features that it didn’t talk about in length or at all during its keynote. Some of them include a “Tips app”, panorama on iPad, WiFi calling, FaceTime call waiting, rich text editing in Notes, iBooks preinstalled, and accessibility improvements like multi-device support for MFi hearing aids and the ability to exit Guided Access mode using TouchID.
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Apple announces new Siri features, including Shazam integration and “hey, Siri” always-on mode

Mike Beasley Jun 2 2014 - 11:28 am PT

11 Comments

As expected, Apple has announced new Siri features for its iOS 8 mobile operating system, including the ability to analyze and identify songs automatically with recognition powered by Shazam. You can also purchase iTunes content directly from Siri, and dictate text in 22 new languages.

Also included is a feature that recently hit the iPhone through a jailbreak tweak that allows you to summon the iPhone’s assistant by saying “Hey, Siri.”

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iPhone ringtones and Siri mix it up into dance track

Ben Lovejoy May 26 2014 - 4:00 am PT

3 Comments

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3h00M9dcj4]

There are a bunch of ringtone remixes around, but Siri gets in on the action too in YouTube musician MetroGnome’s dance track. The ringtone mix includes Marimba, Opening and Xylophone.

You can download the track from MetroGnome’s YouTube page.

Via TechCrunch

iOS 7.1 code indicates Apple working on Siri for Apple TV

Benjamin Mayo Apr 23 2014 - 7:49 am PT

28 Comments

Code found within the iOS 7.1 SDK suggests that Siri is headed to the Apple TV in future. Pierre Blazquez first found the reference on Friday. 9to5Mac has since confirmed that the code does exist in both iOS 7.1 and iOS 7.1.1’s files. The reference does not exist in 7.0.6.

The file is a supporting property-list resource for Assistant (Apple’s internal name for Siri), containing information about the feature. The UIDeviceFamily array declares what platforms are compatible with the feature.

As shown by Apple’s documentation, ‘1’ and ‘2’ represent the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad families. The ‘3’ represents the Apple TV family.

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