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Siri

Siri does more than ever. Even before you ask.

572 'Siri' stories July 2011 - June 2018
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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

AirPods

HomePod

Apple Watch

Car Play

iOS 12: How to create custom Siri Shortcuts

Avatar for Greg Barbosa Jun 5 2018 - 4:55 pm PT
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iOS 12 Siri Shortcuts with Workflow

Siri Shortcuts is Apple’s answer to a more robust personal assistant across their product line. A near visual clone to its predecessor Workflow, the new Shortcuts app brings deeper automation to iOS devices. Developers will be able to create “donations“, specific actions within their apps, that can then be controlled by Siri. By chaining these donations together, users will be able to personalize Siri requests to fit their personal use cases.

During the WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple demoed just how much Shortcuts is able to accomplish. Kim Beverett from the Siri Shortcuts team created a custom shortcut that allowed her to: send someone a message on her ETA, navigate to her home, set her HomeKit thermostat to 70 degrees, turn on her fan, and then play her favorite NPR station.

Although Siri Shortcuts isn’t officially out yet, even on the iOS 12 developer beta, we can surface a lot of this functionality with the currently available Workflow app. Let’s dive in.


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CMV: Techies will love Siri Shortcuts, but most normal people will never use

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Jun 5 2018 - 5:28 am PT
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Apple was the first company to bring a voice-driven intelligent assistant to the masses. Since then, however, it’s been overtaken in capabilities by both Google and Amazon.

As I’ve written before, that’s not coincidence. Google collects and analyzes huge volumes of personal data to help make its intelligent assistant as powerful as possible. Amazon lets anyone create a ‘recipe’ which any Echo owner can use. Apple, in contrast, chooses to limit the amount of personal data it collects and uses, and tightly controls access to Siri by third-party companies.

That approach has arguably become a strong selling-point at a time when the privacy of user data has become headline news in the mainstream press. All the same, many Siri users do find it frustrating that Apple’s AI – the one that once led the market – is now the dumbest kid on the block …


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Blind people say technology like Siri and VoiceOver is life-changing

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 29 2018 - 4:43 am PT
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The WSJ has an interesting piece looking at how AI and other forms of technology are transforming the lives of blind people.

Microsoft’s Seeing AI app is one particularly dramatic example – able to do things like identify faces, recognize bank notes, read handwriting and so on – but Apple’s tech is also said to be incredibly valuable …


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PSA: Asking Siri about WWDC does not reveal a new HomePod or anything else

Avatar for Chance Miller May 21 2018 - 3:46 pm PT
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Over the last few days, a story has been making the rounds claiming that Siri itself is teasing a major overhaul coming at WWDC next month, as well as a new HomePod. Essentially, if you say to Siri, “Tell me about WWDC,” it teases that it’ll be getting “a lot smarter” and getting a new “home.”

In actuality, these are the same responses Siri offered up after last year’s WWDC when the HomePod was introduced…


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Comment: Hey Apple, why can’t Siri do these (mostly) basic things?

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy May 4 2018 - 7:41 am PT
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I’ve written on a couple of occasions about how Apple’s approach to Siri differs from the intelligent assistants offered by Amazon and Google.

The tl;dr version is that Apple has gone all-in on privacy, while Google takes the ‘hoover up as much data as possible’ approach, and Amazon has opened up Alexa to, well, anyone who wants to make it do something.

But while Apple’s privacy focus explains some of Siri’s limited abilities, it doesn’t excuse them all. HomePod brought Siri’s limitations into sharp focus, and the upcoming introduction of Siri to two new products will further increase the pressure for a smarter Siri …


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Apple details personalized ‘Hey Siri’ voice recognition in latest Machine Learning Journal entry

Avatar for Zac Hall Apr 16 2018 - 8:23 am PT
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Apple’s Siri team has published a new Machine Learning Journal entry that details some of the process behind making voice-activated ‘Hey Siri’ work with just our voice. Apple previously documented part of the process behind pulling off voice-activated Siri in general last fall, and the first Machine Learning Journal entry of this year focuses on the challenge of speaker recognition.


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Senior Wikipedia exec implies that Apple ‘exploits’ the service without giving back

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Mar 26 2018 - 6:15 am PT
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Wikipedia’s Chief Revenue Officer, Lisa Gruwell, has said that companies which pull data from the service without donating could be considered guilty of exploitation.

She said that smart assistants relied heavily on information sourced by Wikipedia, but while Google has made substantial donations, Apple and Amazon haven’t …


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Report: Siri team didn’t learn about HomePod until 2015, after Amazon Echo debuted

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Mar 14 2018 - 8:29 am PT
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siri privacy

The Information has published a lengthy report today covering the development of Siri. The article documents Siri’s tumultuous changes in leadership and management over the last few years, indicating that Siri 1.0’s infrastructure was very creaky, which held back the service.

One of the most interesting anecdotes is the claim that Apple’s HomePod team didn’t meet with the Siri group until 2015 (Amazon Echo first debuted in late 2014). The story says Apple had originally considered launching the speaker without Siri.


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Feature Request: Add Hey iPhone/iPad/Watch/HomePod commands to direct Siri responses

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Mar 6 2018 - 7:28 am PT
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My experience with HomePod has so far been a very positive one, with its responsiveness to Siri requests something that’s really impressed me.

A key HomePod feature is its use of noise-cancelling microphones so that it can hear Hey Siri requests no matter how loudly the music is playing, but I’ve also been really amazed by the sheer distance at which Siri can hear me – often from one end of our apartment to the other.

But there is a downside to this …


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20+ must-know HomePod tips [Video]

Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Feb 15 2018 - 8:07 pm PT
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If you’re an Apple Music subscriber who’s all in on the Apple ecosystem, then the HomePod is a compelling smart speaker. Not only does it sound excellent, but it has Siri built in, which can do things like control your music and control smart home accessories.

HomePod isn’t yet as “smart” as Google Home products with Google Assistant, or Amazon products with Alexa, but it has loads of potential, and already features many built in conveniences. Did you recently purchase a HomePod? In this hands-on video, we’ll walk through some of our top must-know tips for new HomePod users.


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Apple expands Siri’s ‘Give me the news’ feature to non-beta users & the U.K.

Avatar for Chance Miller Jan 16 2018 - 5:29 pm PT
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Update: The feature is also rolling out in Australia, with ABC, SBS, and Seven Network as sources.

Earlier this month, Apple started testing a new capability for Siri that would play daily podcasts when asked about the news. At first, the feature was limited to users running the iOS 11.2.5 beta in the United States, but Apple today has expanded it to non-beta users and users in the UK…


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You can now ask Siri about tennis and golf tournament results, as well as player stats

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Jan 10 2018 - 3:01 pm PT
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Apple has taught Siri more about sport ahead of the Australian Open starting this weekend. iPhone, iPad , Apple Watch and Mac users can now ask questions to Siri like ‘Hey Siri, how is Roger Federer doing’ or ‘Hey Siri, who is ahead in the Pebble Beach tournament’.

You can also ask for player biographies and more information relating to the sporting events coming up and historical records. Details below on exactly what Siri knows about in golf and tennis …


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