Posts tagged with "siri"

Apple’s Hire of William Stasior May Be for More than Just Search→

Earlier this afternoon, AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher reported that Apple has hired Amazon executive William Stasior, who was in charge of Amazon’s A9, which focuses on product and visual search technologies. Swisher reports that Stasior will be working with the Siri team in his new position at Apple.

What’s more intriguing is what else Stasior might find himself working on — presumably, strengthening Apple’s search and search advertising technology in the wake of its increasing competition with Google.

“Apple’s search and search advertising technology” covers a broad swath of search that could be… well anything. If I was to take a stab at what Apple might specifically want Stasior for, I’d look at one of the products A9 ended up introducing on the App Store. Flow Powered by Amazon is a visual search app that attempts to visually recognize and display relevant information about books, music, video games, and more by simply pointing your smartphone’s camera at the cover or UPC barcode. The app allows people to bring up product details and customer ratings by identifying the product’s packaging (it’s in the same vein as Google Goggles).

Siri would be well suited as not just a voice assistant, but as a visual assistant. Given Apple’s recent foray into books, magazines, and textbooks, using Siri to scan and subscribe to a magazine through your iPhone, get more information on a paperback, or find more novels by an author could be a possibility. I could see Apple offering album ratings for music from iTunes, or displaying rental fees when you scan the cover of a Blu-ray boxset. A9 also powers CloudSearch and Product Search at Amazon — I don’t see the hire being related to search advertising, but rather for product search as it applies to Apple’s digital ecosystems.

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Apple Details iOS 6 Feature Availability By Country

As noted by Horace Dediu, Apple has published an official list of iOS 6 feature availability on its website. While iOS 6 is officially coming out next week, on September 19th, not every feature will be available in every country.

The list focuses mainly on Siri, Maps, and Dictation. Availability of iTunes Store and App Store content is mentioned as well, but that’s not really new if you’ve been following the expansion of Apple’s digital storefronts in the past months. What’s interesting ahead of iOS 6’s launch is the list of features that, due to content limitations or the “beta” nature of Siri, won’t be available in some parts of the world.

For instance, Maps’ “standard” operation will be available from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe for a total of 181 supported countries. This should include the “standard” view of Maps – the new tiles that Apple is using after removing Google’s ones from iOS 6 entirely. Similarly, the Satellite view of Maps will be available in the same 181 countries worldwide. However, things start getting different with Maps’ Directions and and Turn-by-Turn navigation: the former will be available in 96 countries, the latter in 56. 3D buildings, another feature of Maps, will only be available in the United States at launch, whereas Traffic information will be available in 23 countries. Last, Maps Local Search will be available in 49 countries, and Business Reviews and Photos in 15.

Siri is even more limited. In spite of the voice assistant gaining support for more languages in iOS 6, several functionalities and integrations will be limited by the user’s location. So, for instance, while everyone will be able to set Siri to a supported language and issue commands, Sports data will be limited to 15 countries; Twitter and Facebook integration to 14; Local Search and Restaurant Information to 10, but Restaurant Reviews will only be available through Siri in 9 countries and Reservations in 3 (USA, Canada, Mexico). Another Siri integration, Movies, will be limited to 13 countries for Movie Information, 4 for Reviews, and only 3 for showtimes.

As Apple embraces more third-party services in its operating systems, it’s no surprise that some features will be restricted to only the countries where those services are fully operational. The same happened with the first version of Siri last year – some commands were only supported in the United States initially.

Check out the full list of iOS 6 feature availability here.

The Rise Of Third Party Services And Fall Of Google In iOS

When Apple introduced iOS 6 to the world at this year’s WWDC, one of the most talked about moves was Apple’s decision to step away from their partnership with Google Maps and create their own maps app. In many respects, it wasn’t too surprising given the increasingly strenuous relationship between Apple and Google in the years since the iPhone launched and Google became a competitor with Android, but in recent weeks it was also revealed that YouTube will also no longer be included as a pre-installed app from iOS 6. That leaves Google Search as the only remaining Google service to be integrated into iOS. Yet whilst Apple has been severing its relationship with Google, it has been courting numerous other service providers and integrating them into iOS over the past few years.

Curious to visualise this information, I made a list of every notable service that has been integrated with iOS (and when) and then created the above graphic (click on it to view a larger version). When I had compiled the list, it was pretty compelling (and longer than I had realised), but I think the graphic takes it to the next level and really tells a story about iOS and Apple’s relationship with other services.

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The Siri API→

The Siri API

Samuel Iglesias has written an excellent post detailing the (possible) challenges developers will have to cope with if Apple decides to release a Siri API.

The second half of Siri integration, Semantics, is the tricky part: something that most iOS developers have never dealt with. Semantics will attempt to capture the various ways a user can ask for something, and, more importantly, the ways Siri, in turn, can ask for more information should that be required. This means that developers will need to imagine and provide “hints” about the numerous ways a user can ask for something. Sure, machine learning can cover some of that, but at this early stage Siri will need human supervision to work seamlessly.

This is exactly what I have been wondering since speculation on the Siri API started last year. How will an app be capable of telling Siri the kinds of input (read: natural language) it accepts? Will developers have to do it manually? Will Apple provide a series of automated tools to associate specific features (say, creating a task in OmniFocus) with common expressions and words? And how is Apple going to look into the natural language processing developers will implement in their apps?

Of course, the Siri API is still at the speculation stage, but it does make sense to greatly expand upon Siri’s capabilities as an assistant capable of working with any app. The TBA sessions at WWDC are intriguing, and Tim Cook said we’ll be pleased with the direction they’re taking with Siri. Right now, I’d say integrating with third-party software would be a fantastic direction.

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Apple Posts New Siri Ads Featuring John Malkovich

Following a series of “celebrity ads” for the iPhone 4S’ voice-based assistant released last month, Apple today posted two new Siri TV commercials featuring actor John Malkovich. The ads, titled “Joke” and “Life” show Malkovich casually talking to Siri with short sentences and a series of single words such as “weather” or “evening”, perhaps in an effort to showcase both Malkovich’s particular attitude and Siri’s capability of handling short commands with seemingly no context (“evening” returns a series of calendar appointments, “linguica” displays local restaurants).

According to a recent study, the previous commercials featuring Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson fared well with viewers, who, reportedly, were highly receptive to familiar faces of celebrities illustrating the latest features of the iPhone in a familiar, almost casual setting. MacRumors has put together a number of possible responses Siri can give to Malkovich’s query – tests performed with the question asked by Samuel L. Jackson showed that, in practice, Siri was a little less accurate than its primetime counterpart.

The new Siri ads are available on Apple’s website, YouTube channel, and we have embedded the official versions below.
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iTranslate Voice: A Siri-like Translator Powered by Nuance

According to Apple, Siri, the iPhone 4S’ virtual voice-based assistant, will gain support for additional languages in 2012. While international users are still waiting for Siri to support the creation of reminders, events, and messages in their preferred language – not to mention all the other functionalities that Apple enabled in the first “beta” of the assistant – it is still unclear if Siri will ever officially support a feature that has always seemed perfect for voice input and interactions: translations. iTranslate Voice, a new utility by Sonico Mobile, wants to fill this void with a Siri-like interface for an iPhone app powered by the same tech behind Apple’s solution: Nuance.

If Siri could do voice translations, I imagine they would look exactly like iTranslate Voice, as Sonico’s app borrows heavily from Siri in terms of overall interface design and style. Like Siri, iTranslate Voice displays ongoing voice interactions as conversations between you and the software; like Apple’s assistant, conversations are initiated by tapping on a circular, glowing microphone button that, however, in this app has been styled with flags. Conversations can be scrolled vertically, and tapping on single “bubbles” will you give you options to copy, share, or “speak” the words you dictated again. By tapping and holding the latest entry in a conversation, you can directly modify the words you said using the iPhone’s keyboard – this can be particularly useful to refine text input in case the app didn’t get some details right.

iTranslate uses Nuance’s speech recognition software to recognize and translate voices. iTranslate supports 31 languages, but only some of them support both voice recognition and text-to-speech. A complete list of supported languages (which also includes dictionary definitions, automatically displayed inline when available) is available on the developers’ website. Like Siri, iTranslate Voice requires an Internet connection to operate – something that, I presume, is related to some heavy server-side processing and sampling the app does in order to deliver high-quality and timely results without wasting the iPhone’s local storage.

In my tests, iTranslate Voice has been extremely accurate and reliable. I was surprised at first, but on second thought I realized that the fact that Nuance is delivering good translations in seconds as you talk to your phone shouldn’t really be a surprise at this point. I have tested the app with Italian-to-English translations (and vice versa), and the results have been more than decent – I actually think they are the best ones I have found on iOS to date, and this speaks clearly of Nuance’s strong position in the market. I don’t know if the developers are also enhancing Nuance’s results with their own engine of sorts, but the end result is what matters, and iTranslate Voice doesn’t disappoint here. The app recognized first names and terms like “ATM”, handled common expressions well, and it even understood spoken punctuation in Italian (“virgola” for comma, “punto interrogativo” for question mark, and so forth), adjusting the sentences and tone of software accordingly. Results are delivered in seconds both on WiFi and 3G, and the app also does a good job at detecting end of speech if you enable the option in the Settings.

I won’t judge Sonico’s decision to make iTranslate Voice look like Siri, but I will say that the system undoubtedly works, and makes it easy to speak to your phone to get instant, spoken translations. I can’t shake the feeling that this, like Siri, feels like the future of human-to-computer interactions being built right now, and regardless of whether Apple and Nuance will eventually bring this feature to Siri, iTranslate Voice is impressive and you can get it today.

iTranslate Voice is available on the App Store at $0.99.

Samuel L. Jackson and Siri Star in New iPhone 4S Commercial (Update: Zooey Deschanel Too)

As noted by The Next Web, U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless aired a new iPhone 4S commercial featuring actor Samuel L. Jackson and Siri, the company’s virtual assistant for the iPhone 4S. Remarkably similar to Apple’s own ads in terms of style and message, the ad places Siri front and center, showcasing various functionalities of the software. Samuel L. Jackson asks his assistant to cancel appointments, create reminders, look up locations, and convert units to prepare for his “date night”. At the end of the commercial, the actor ironically asks Siri to take the night off, to which Siri replies “if you say so”.

Even more ironically, as depicted in the screenshots above, Siri really does reply to that command with a series of different answers.

Verizon Wireless’ official YouTube channel hasn’t been updated yet with the new commercial, and it’s not clear whether Apple’s official ad agency Chiat\Day may have been involved in the creation of the ad. You can check out an official embed after the break.

Update: It appears a full “Siri and celebrities” ad campaign is going live today. Another ad featuring actress Zooey Deschanel just aired as well, for carrier Sprint. It also seems like the same ads are airing with different carriers logo at the end, confirming the Samuel L. Jackson ad wasn’t simply a Verizon Wireless commercial, as initially suggested.

Update 17/4: Apple just posted the official versions of the ads on its website and YouTube channel. Find them below, or on Apple’s website (Date Night, Rainy Day).
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“Okay, I’ll Remind You”

A few minutes ago Apple uploaded two new iPhone 4S commercials on its website and official YouTube channel. The ads, as with previous iPhone 4S promotional videos, focus on Siri, and they might just be the best ones about the voice-based assistant yet.

The ads, called “Rock God” and “Road Trip”, share a common theme: people talking to their assistant using natural language and a friendly tone, not simply asking a piece of software to execute commands.

In Road Trip, a guy and his girlfriend are organizing a road trip to California. Look at the initial setting: it’s cold outside, they’re about the get in the car, and they want to get from the cold of East Coast in February to the sunny Santa Cruz in California. The guy asks Siri, and they’re on the road. Camera cuts to the guy’s face in the car. He’s looking for a barbecue in Kansas City. Camera cuts to girl’s face in the car. She’s looking for a rodeo. Camera changes again, this time the couple doesn’t know where they are, and the girl asks “Where are we?”, with the look of someone who knows Siri will have an answer. They’re in Santa Rosa. Change again. How big is the Grand Canyon? Sure enough, Siri can look that up on Wolfram Alpha or Wikipedia. But then the gas runs out: how about finding a station the guys can walk to? Finally, the ad reaches its climax when our two characters have seemingly reached their destination, or are fairly close, and are looking at the stars. She asks: “What does Orion look like?”. Siri displays sky data inline. The video closes with the opposite setting of how it began: sunny California, he’s wearing a t-shirt, looking at the horizon, and she’s telling Siri like you would do with an old friend – Remind me to do this again. Siri, with its human-like voice, replies: Okay, I’ll remind you.

The second commercial, Rock God, has a more “fun” approach. There’s this kid that “has to get a guitar”, and he’s so excited about it he needs to ask Siri now. Why is he so excited about getting a guitar? What’s the story here? Perhaps, I imagine, he has just decided with his friends that it’s time to put a band together and start playing. So, Siri gives him location info about stores selling musical instruments, and in the next scene our kid is learning how to play. How do I play London Calling? Whole Lotta Love? How about that chord? Siri displays information on screen. Fairly regular stuff for now. Then the ad changes – our character is sending a message to Julie and Kate about playing at the garage tonight. Apple’s music stops. The kids are playing – they’re doing rock ‘n’ roll! – and finish their song. “Call me Rock God”, the kid tells Siri, softly.

You see, these aren’t just ads. In 30 seconds, we’re told stories. In 30 seconds, we are not shown technical features and RAM specifications, we’re given real examples of real people we can relate to. We’re shown two young people in love with each other that just want to get to California and see the sunset together. We’re shown a young boy with a simple dream, playing guitar, yet a dream that’s important to him – something that makes his life worth living and enjoying even for those 30 minutes when he gets his band mates together and nothing else matters. Just music. Call me Rock God.

In 30 seconds, we’re shown how technology can make people’s lives better. We’re reminded, once again, that this industry, this love for the latest gadget, doesn’t necessarily have to be about tech specs – it’s the technology married with the liberal arts. It’s about playing London Calling with your friends. It’s about driving to California with the woman you love and watch the stars just for one night.

He would be proud.

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Siri Accounts for 25% Of Wolfram Alpha Queries→

Siri Accounts for 25% Of Wolfram Alpha Queries

Following last night’s announcement of Wolfram Alpha Pro, coming tomorrow at $4.99 per month, The New York Times’ Steve Lohr reported in his piece about Siri’s integration with the service. Apple’s voice-based assistant accounts for 25% of all Wolfram Alpha searches four months after the launch of the iPhone 4S, which embeds Wolfram-powered results directly into the Siri interface.

The subjects in the Wolfram Alpha database are now more useful to the average person. Type in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy showtimes,” and Wolfram Alpha delivers the schedule for local theaters. The movie times, Dr. Wolfram notes, come not from scouring the Web, but from a specialized information service.

Siri accounts for about a quarter of the queries fielded by Wolfram Alpha, whose staff has grown to 200. Several large companies in health care, financial services and oil and gas recently hired Dr. Wolfram’s private company, Wolfram Research, to do tailored corporate versions of Wolfram Alpha for them. Microsoft also licenses Wolfram Alpha technology.

With 37 million iPhones sold in the last quarter and the iPhone 4S being the most popular model among them, I assume a good percentage of new 4S owners are using Siri regularly to file requests through Wolfram’s knowledge engine. The question is, how regularly? Whilst some have already dismissed Siri as a “passing fad”, I’m hearing of people using it on a daily basis for things like quick reminders, alarms, and data lookups (queries like “how many people live in France?” are perfect for Wolfram Alpha). Saying Siri is not a fad because we heard our friends are using it is just as tricky as claiming the opposite, so it’s nice to finally have some actual insight (in the form of user adoption) by Wolfram.

Apple says that support for more languages will come in 2012 to Siri, and it will be interesting to see whether Wolfram will be supported internationally by then.

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