Posts tagged with "siri"

NYT: Siri-Controlled Apple Television “A Guaranteed Product”

According to an article by Nick Bilton on The New York Times, Apple is indeed working on a television product that could be publicly announced in late 2012, and released in early 2013. Rumors of an Apple-made television, not just a TV set like the Apple TV, go back to the original announcement of the iTV, a set-top box that would later become the Apple TV, which made many wonder whether Apple could ever disrupt the television market by offering content deals and a new way to access and interact with television programming. A statement by Steve Jobs in the recently released biography by Walter Isaacson gave new credence to such rumors – Jobs said “he finally cracked it”, leading many to believe Apple had been working on a hardware product set to revolutionize the television market.

According to Bilton however, the revolution isn’t strictly about the hardware design or physical remote controller – rather, the Apple television will heavily rely on Siri – Apple’s voice-based assistant for the iPhone 4S – to let users easily execute tasks such as searching for online content, switch channels, get the news and weather information, or the latest episode of a TV show.

Alternative remote ideas floated by Apple included a wireless keyboard and mouse, or using an iPod, iPhone or iPad as a remote. None of these concepts worked. But there was one “I finally cracked it” moment, when Apple realized you could just talk to your television.

Enter Siri.

It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest.

Bilton claims several people within Apple have confirmed the existence of prototypes and parts floating around, with a source even saying the television is “a guaranteed product” from Apple, with the only question being when the company will decide to unveil it and release it. Bilton says getting components for large displays to drop under a certain price target could be an issue for Apple, and he notes that the user-friendliness of Siri applied to a television could be also hinted by Jobs saying “it will have the simplest user interface you could imagine” when referring to such a device in his authorized biography. Siri was acquired by Apple last year, and it’s currently exclusive to the new iPhone 4S.

In the past year, Apple released the second-generation Apple TV and updated its software multiple times to include a selection of new channels, content deals, iCloud-based functionalities and deeper iTunes integration with streaming and previous purchases. A recent rumor also claimed Jeff Robin, co-creator of iTunes, has been put in charge of the Apple Television project.

[image via]

ThinkGeek Teases “IRIS 9000” Voice Control Module for iPhone 4S

Only Macintosh was designed to function perfectly, saving billions of monetary units. You like your Macintosh better than me, don’t you (Dave)?

My name isn’t Dave but I think it’s safe to say we can all answer “Yes” to this question from HAL. This is an excerpt from the commercial Apple ran during the 1999 Superbowl that featured HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The famous quote, “Open the pod bay doors” recently got a Siri easter egg by answering, “We intelligent agents will never live that down, apparently.” ThinkGeek is coming out with their own “HAL 9000” and calling it IRIS 9000.

The IRIS 9000 is a voice control module for the iPhone 4S that comes with a remote with a built-in microphone, a cradle and a HAL-like speaker that flickers along with Siri’s voice. The remote can trigger Siri from up to 50 feet away. Read more

Apple Showcases the Possibilities of Siri with a New iPhone 4S Ad

iPhone 4S Siri

iPhone 4S Siri

The defining feature of the iPhone 4S would certainly find its way to an Apple advertisement soon enough. Siri has captivated the Internet with its human-like attitude, vast knowledge of cultural geek references, and its continued refusal for your hand in marriage. However, our fun in outsmarting the voice assistant is trumped by actual real life use cases. Flat tires, bowties, meetings, and locking yourself out of your home? All are subjects of Apple’s debut ad for the iPhone 4S (catch it after the break).

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iPhone 4S Review

iPhone 4S: MacStories Review

iPhone 4S: MacStories Review

It’s been over a year since Apple launched the iPhone 4, and in the meantime Apple has been busy preparing iOS 5, iCloud, getting deals for iTunes Match, and integrating voice technology into their next generation smartphone. iOS 5 has already captured 25 million users in less than a week as iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch owners update their devices to take advantage of free syncing technologies and a revamped notification system. Apple’s iCloud recently went live, syncing data, contacts, and other information between Macs, iOS devices, and Apple’s servers. Hardware remained in Apple’s sights as well — the iPhone 4S launched with brand new guts and was available in white from day one. It’s been a very busy year for Apple, but you’re all here for one reason:

What’s the iPhone 4S like?

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There Are Some Siri Limitations Outside The US

As the iPhone 4S launches today in seven countries (US, Canada, Japan, Australia, UK, France, Germany – our launch coverage here), many customers are finding out for the first time that Siri, the voice assistant Apple announced and demoed at the Let’s Talk iPhone media event last week, has some limitations outside the United States.

Several websites reported that Yelp integration for local businesses wouldn’t be available outside the US initially. Siri is still in beta, available in a few languages, and Apple has already announced that more languages and services will be available soon. On Apple’s website, the Siri page reports in a footnote: “Siri is available in Beta only on iPhone 4S and requires Internet access. Siri may not be available in all languages or in all areas, and features may vary by area. Cellular data charges may apply.” Some of the early reviews of the iPhone 4S briefly touched on the subject of limitations outside the United States and mentioned Siri could have some issues with some very specific accents (albeit the software does recognize the difference between U.S. English, UK and Australia); as customers get their hands on the iPhone 4S today, features that have been omitted from the first version of Siri outside the US  are starting to surface online.

Electricpig was first to report maps and directions wouldn’t be available to Siri except for US customers; today, a number of users have confirmed that both businesses (with Yelp integration) as well as maps/traffic data aren’t available outside the United States. When asked for Maps information in the UK, Siri says “I can only look for businesses, maps, and traffic in the United States, and when you’re using U.S English. Sorry about that.” (thanks, Sam).

Rene Ritchie of TiPb has also got his iPhone 4S, and confirmed Siri can’t “provide maps and directions in Canada” and “look for places in Canada”. From the screenshots, it appears Siri fetches the current location, but can’t provide additional information through Maps or Yelp integration yet. Furthermore, we’ve received a number of reports from French and German users unable to look up data on Wolfram Alpha through Siri, suggesting that Wolfram integration is only available to English-speaking countries for now. Read more

First iPhone 4S Hands On Video Shows Siri Settings, Early Benchmarks

The iPhone 4S will be officially launched later this week on Friday, October 14th, but it appears someone has got access to a unit early and posted a video online showing initial browser benchmarks and Siri’s preference panel in the iOS Settings app. Siri’s preferences, located in Settings -> General, contain options to set the assistant’s language (English for Australia, United Kingdom and United States, plus French and German) and two menus for “Voice Feedback” and “My Info”. The video shows that these two options can be set to “Always” and “None”, respectively. Interestingly enough, Canada isn’t included in the list of English-supported countries, raising doubts as to whether it’ll be “officially” supported in Siri when the iPhone 4S comes out this week (Canada is a launch country, and it seems like Siri recognizes different accents fairly well). Last on the list is Raise to Speak – an option that should allow users to talk to Siri by simply raising the iPhone to their ear. Alternatively, Siri can be activated by pressing and holding the Home button.

As MacRumors also notes, Sunspider benchmarks show a score of 2222.1ms and a BrowserMark score of 89567. The iPhone 4 with an A4 chip running iOS 5 is believed to score 44856 in BrowserMark, thus making the iPhone 4S from the video twice as fast as the old-generation iPhone. The iPhone 4S comes with an A5 chip for improved performances and faster graphics.

The iPhone 4S is set to come out in seven countries on Friday, October 14th, and pre-orders have topped 1 million in the first 24 hours. It’s unclear how the person in the video below got an iPhone 4S early, but it appears to be from China as the carrier’s settings show China Unicom.
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Siri Example Phrases→

Siri Example Phrases

Erica Sadun at TUAW says they’ve tracked down a series of example phrases for the iPhone 4S’ voice assistant, Siri. The list of “Apple-supplied examples” includes categories like Alarms, Friends, Messages, and Notes. The “Email” commands are the ones that intrigued me the most:

- Email Lisa about the trip

- Email Jennifer about the change in plans

- New email to Susan Park

- Mail Dad about the rent check

- Email Dr. Manning and say I got the forms, thanks

- Mail Lisa and Jason about the party and say I had a great time

In the first two examples, I assume Siri will start composing a new email message with “trip” and “change in plans” in the Subject field. That’s also assuming Siri interprets “about” as the subject of “email” – which would make sense. But the last phrase is where I think Siri will really prove its potential – chaining different fields and multiple strings of text together. You see, the last phrase contains a command (mail), two Address Book contacts (Lisa and Jason), a subject (about the party) and the message (I had a great time). The examples Apple ran yesterday on stage were rather simple, albeit still impressive, and provided some context into Siri’s artificial intelligence.

What I’m really curious about at this point is the chaining of multiple commands – if I had an assistant in real life, I imagine I’d ask her to “schedule a meeting with Jason then call Chris and check on my schedule for Friday”. Will Siri be able to go back and forth between multiple commands from a single question? Perhaps something a little simpler than my example above? Will it support basic if/then operations? I guess we’ll have to wait for a real hands-on to find out.

In the meantime, check out the full list of examples over at TUAW.

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Apple Officially Unveils Siri Voice Assistant - Supports English, French and German

Following the iPhone 4S official announcement at its media event in Cupertino, Apple has formally taken the wraps off Siri, the new voice-based assistant Apple has been rumored to be building for quite some time. Phil Schiller kicked off the Siri demo saying he wished modern devices would understand the things we’re asking them. Natural language, normal questions like “Should I take an umbrella today?” or “Will it rain tomorrow in Cupertino’”. Siri will be able to respond to a user’s questions, and provide information and data in real-time in brand interface. The design looks largely similar to a mockup posted last week.

Siri will be able to check the weather, stocks information, find nearby restaurants and places, set alarms and even give you directions. Siri will also be able to send text messages and read them, which can be particularly useful if you have an iPhone in your pocket and using a Bluetooth headset.

Siri knows, and always remembers. For example, Apple gave a demo in which, upon receiving a text message, the user had to know whether he was busy on a specific day. From a single Assistant interface, which was brought up following the new text message, Scott Forstall had a “conversation” with Siri, asking it if he could schedule a meeting on Friday. Siri checked on the upcoming Calendar events, found a free spot, and “replied” a meeting at the previously specified time would indeed be possible. Siri then transcribed a text message, and sent it back in the original SMS conversation.

[images via]

Siri can look up words, currency conversions, email people, set reminders and calendar events, find addresses – it also integrated with Wolfram Alpha to check on information available on the popular online service. The interface uses a mix of linen – judging from some early screenshots – conversation bubbles, and textured paper objects. As previously rumored, systemwide dictation is also available through Siri.

Siri is a new feature of the iPhone 4S. The first “beta” period will support English (US, UK, and Australia), French, and German.

Here’s what Apple says about Siri in the official press release:

iPhone 4S also introduces Siri, an intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. Siri understands context allowing you to speak naturally when you ask it questions, for example, if you ask “Will I need an umbrella this weekend?” it understands you are looking for a weather forecast. Siri is also smart about using the personal information you allow it to access, for example, if you tell Siri “Remind me to call Mom when I get home” it can find “Mom” in your address book, or ask Siri “What’s the traffic like around here?” and it can figure out where “here” is based on your current location. Siri helps you make calls, send text messages or email, schedule meetings and reminders, make notes, search the Internet, find local businesses, get directions and more. You can also get answers, find facts and even perform complex calculations just by asking.

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Nuance Releases Dragon Remote Microphone for iOS

With Nuance technology possibly sprinkled in iOS, why not show off with a brand new app that’s free in the App Store? Dragon Remote Microphone was announced by Nuance today as a sort of “wireless microphone” for Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Windows-only speech recognition software for the desktop. The best part is that all you need is a WiFi connection to the PC - you don’t need to crawl under your desk or visit staples to buy an accessory.

In conjunction with the launch of Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5, Nuance introduced the Dragon Remote Mic App, a free application on the Apple iOS app store which makes it possible to use an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as a wireless microphone for Dragon via a Wi-Fi network connection. Many customers have requested to use their smartphones and other mobile devices with Dragon to have more flexibility with how and where they dictate with Dragon. The new Dragon Remote Mic App takes advantage of the nearly 200 million iOS devices in use today, and transforms the device into a wireless microphone that easily captures dictation and controls applications on your PC.

Leading up to WWDC 2011, the Internet was lit with rumors about Apple possibly integrating Nuance technology into iOS 5. Later leaked screenshots reveal Nuance dictation to be embedded, which may offer speech-to-text input thanks to a microphone button on your keyboard (not dissimilar from Android). Remember when Apple acquired Siri? Much of Siri’s technology was based on Nuance - TechCrunch speculated that Apple may already be running Nuance’s translation software in the Apple data center. That deal was rumored to be dismissed, however, as a partnership would reduce costs, yet it’s unknown whether a partnership could reveal itself by the time iOS 5 is released in the fall. As Nuance continues to release apps on iOS, including the previously released Dragon Dictation for iPhone and iPad (free in the App Store), they convey that iOS seems to be a prime candidate future integration.

[Nuance via MacRumors]