Siri

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A new laser-based hack discovered for devices with MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical systems) microphones makes iPhone, HomePod, Google Home, Amazon Echo, and more vulnerable to line of sight attacks from up to several hundred feet away.

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The ‘Announce Messages with Siri’ feature was originally promised for iOS 13 but was delayed to ‘later this year’ as Apple hurried to ship iOS 13 in time for the iPhone 11 release. It did not make it in iOS 13.1 either, but it has returned in the just-released iOS 13.2 developer beta.

You need to be an iPhone and AirPods user to take advantage of the feature. With the AirPods in your ears, you will be able to listen and respond to incoming text messages. Siri transcribes the message so you can hear the text without looking at your phone or watch. You can then ignore or immediately reply without having to say ‘Hey Siri’.

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Siri will no longer default to using Apple messaging and phone apps after an iOS update later in the year, revealed the company.

Instead, Siri will intelligently choose the appropriate text or voice messaging app based on your past communication with each contact…

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Spotify is currently beta testing integration with the new SiriKit audio APIs introduced in iOS 13. As demonstrated by The Verge’s Tom Warren, the current Spotify beta build lets you ask Siri to play music on Spotify.

This OS-level support has not been possible until iOS 13, a point which Spotify previously brought up to the European Union. It’s nice to see that Spotify is moving relatively quickly to adopt the new functionality.

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Nike has unveiled the latest edition of its Huarache sneakers, marking the most futuristic version yet of the shoes the originally debuted in 1991. Nike Adapt Huarache uses the company’s FitAdapt lacing system — this is the future we were promised — only this time there’s a Siri and Apple Watch connection…

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Following the announcement that the Siri grading program will return, Apple today has published a new FAQ document further outlining its privacy policies around Siri. The support document offers more detail on the Siri grading program, as well as other steps Apple is taking to protect user privacy.

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Apple today announced that it will be reinstating the Siri audio program later in the year with some new policy changes. Apple apologized for how it previously handled user data.

The company says it will no longer retain audio recordings by default. Users will have to opt in if they want Apple to use voice samples, and Apple will aim to delete any recordings that are inadvertent activations.

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Apple is testing a new type of search result format for some questions. As spotted on Reddit, Spotlight Search can now answer some typed-in questions with direct answers, rather than a generic list of web results.

The listing highlights the extract, which should hopefully answer the question, along with the source website and a button to report a concern if the result is inappropriate.

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Apple and Siri hit headlines at the start of the month as a report highlighted how Apple hired teams of contractors to listen and review audio clips from customer’s Siri interactions.

Apple responded by halting the Siri grading process. Ultimately, this put a whole host of people out of work. The Irish Examiner spoke to contractors in Cork who were impacted by the decision.

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There was something of a mystery report this week.

Apple and Spotify are reportedly in talks over potentially allowing Spotify users to control music playback with Siri […]

According to The Information, Spotify and Apple are discussing a “plan” that would “let iPhone users tell Siri to play songs, playlists, and albums with voice commands.” These conversations reportedly stem from new APIs in iOS 13 that make it possible for developers of audio apps to integrate with Siri.

As we noted, it’s unclear why that would require talks, as the SiriKit APIs will allow Spotify or anyone else to take advantage of Siri for music requests. However, there is one rather more radical possibility…

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Microsoft contractors are still listening to some requests made to its Cortana intelligent assistant, as well as some Skype calls.

The revelation follows decisions by Apple, Google, and Facebook to suspend their human review processes for now, and Amazon giving Alexa users the ability to opt-out…

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A report last month revealed that Apple had contractors listening to and grading Siri responses, which in turn meant that those contractors heard private conversations from users. Now, Apple has been hit with its first class-action over this practice.

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Home control system integration with Apple TV and Siri is one of the few features introduced in tvOS 12, and this week Crestron is releasing an update to its programmable touch screen remote to support the new feature.

Apple announced home control system integration last year at WWDC 2018 alongside Dolby Atmos support and new screen savers designed for Apple TV, although adoption of the smart home feature has been rather slow.

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Apple has announced in a statement that it is suspending the program which entailed human Apple contractors listening and grading a sample of Siri responses for quality control.

The company is conducting a thorough internal review of its Siri policies, and it will reinstate (a presumably different form of) Siri grading when it is finished. When Siri grading returns, users will be able to choose to opt-out of grading.

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