Apple is working to expand Siri's third-party app integration with the iWatch in mind, a new report says. Siri already interacts with some third-party apps, like OpenTable or Wolfram Alpha, but in every case so far the companies have had to forge deals with Apple. The new scheme would allow third-party integration without an expressly signed agreement.
Apple has filed a lawsuit against China's State Intellectual Property Office, as well as Shanghai company Zhizhen Network Technology, according to news agencies Xinhua and Agence France-Presse. Zhizhen owns a voice recognition patent which Apple previously asked the SIPO to invalidate. The lawsuit is due to reach the Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.
A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Claudia Wilken, has dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Apple ads for the iPhone 4S were deceptive about the capabilities of Siri. In her ruling Wilken writes that the plaintiffs' claims depended on "non-actionable puffery," and failed to show evidence of fraud. A "reasonable consumer," she says, would not expect Siri to work perfectly all the time; the plaintiffs charged that Apple gave the impression Siri could handle any request instantly.
(Updated with evasi0n hack break, samples of new voices) Apple is now seeding a fifth beta of iOS 7.1 to developers. Changes appear relatively minor, but release notes mention "new natural-sounding Siri voices" for Japanese, the UK and Australian English dialects, and Mandarin Chinese. Apple also appears to be continuing visual tweaks to the OS, for instance by adding new Shift and Caps Lock buttons (below).
Intel's wearable computing efforts will attempt to trump other voice recognition systems from Apple and Google by using offline processing, it has revealed. Rather than taking advantage of the cloud infrastructure, Intel plans to include voice recognition software from a third-party company on the Intel mobile processor itself, in order to quickly understand a verbal request without connecting to the Internet.
Yahoo is working on its own voice-controlled digital assistant to rival that of Google Now and Apple's Siri, according to a new report. Android Police revealed on Wednesday a video that appears to show a Yahoo-branded personal assistant app running on an Android device. Sources familiar with Yahoo's plans say that the web giant will leverage its massive existing user base and various services to push out a service comparable to Apple and Google's offerings.
An annual shootout between Google's Google Now and Apple's Siri voice-assisted virtual assitants conducted by Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray has resulted in a virtual tie, with both services receiving the same overall grade. Siri barely edged out Google Now by virtual of its better integration with OS commands -- an advantage that comes with the program's deep OS integration -- but both programs got the same overall grade (C+) and percentage of questions correct (79 percent).
The 2014 Civic and the 2015 Fit will each get two forms of iOS integration, Honda has announced. The most significant is Display Audio, which will let users control functions like music, calling, and navigation through gesture controls on a built-in capacitive touchscreen. Connecting will require an iPhone 5, 5s, or 5c, and one or more of four new HondaLink apps: Connect, Navigation, Aha, and Launcher. Aha provides access to Internet audio including radio, podcasts, and audiobooks, plus Twitter and Facebook updates, and listings for nearby points of interest. Launcher is used to find and launch HondaLink-compatible apps. The official Honda apps are all free except for Navigation, which costs $60.
Honda has officially launched Siri Eyes Free integration for a handful of vehicles. These include 2013 and 2014 models of the Honda Accord, and 2013 models of the Acura RDX and ILX. Eyes Free lets people trigger Siri through a button on their steering wheel, instead of having to reach for their iPhone to control functions like texting, music playback, or turn-by-turn navigation; it also shuts off the phone's screen to reduce distractions. To get the feature, car owners must pay for a dealer installation.
The 2014 Civic Coupe will support iOS mirroring when it becomes available on December 4th, Honda has announced. The car has a 7-inch multi-touch display built into the dash, which people will be able to use to control an iOS device without having to use a mount or reach down. Honda adds that promised Siri Eyes Free updates for its vehicles will also be available in early December.
Wealthy investor Carl Icahn says he has no plans to push for Apple to buy out Nuance, according to a new Reuters report. Icahn spoke on the topic Monday, at the Reuters Global Investment Outlook Summit. "That is something I would never micromanage and never even think of telling [Apple CEO] Tim Cook," he said. "It has zero to do with the fact that I'm involved with Apple."
While automobile Siri integration is surging, late model cars with only basic smartphone compatibility are left in the lurch. Chargers are often inside a dash, making the phone's microphone inaccessible or other inconveniences. Additionally, many states have outright banned holding and using mobile phones without a hands-free device, making tapping the home button to access Siri illegal. Beanco's Mobile Home device is a simple Bluetooth peripheral for the iPhone which purports to enable Siri's use with any car's hands-free system. Does the device really enhance the Siri experience for older hands-free systems? Read our review and find out.
Siri's "Eyes Free" mode will be supported in several 2014 Chevrolet cars, GM has announced. These include the Camaro, Volt, Malibu, SS, Cruze, and Equinox. The technology will be integrated via Chevy's MyLink service. Earlier in 2013, the company's Spark and Sonic models were among the first vehicles to get Eyes Free support.
The original US voice for Apple's Siri has been identified as an Atlanta woman, Susan Bennett, according to CNN. Bennett says that she only discovered her voice was being used by Apple when a friend emailed her and asked if it was her voice in an iPhone commercial; not owning the latest iPhone at the time, she had to visit the Apple website to confirm the fact. She explains that the samples used were actually recorded in July 2005, over six years before Apple would announce its first incarnation of Siri, for the iPhone 4S. A different version of Siri existed earlier as an independent app, before Apple bought out its developer.
The developers of Cue -- a personal assistant app -- have shut down the app's service, according to an official announcement. In a manner similar to Google Now, the app was able to scan a person's email, contacts, and files and pull out important details for a daily agenda. Cue is promising refunds for Premium subscribers, and says it has already deleted any personal data stored on its servers.
A newly-documented technique lets people bypass the lockscreen in iOS 7.0.2 and dial any phone number, not just emergency numbers. The method involves waiting for a notification, or forcing one by sending a text message or ejecting the SIM card. Once the notification pops up, a hacker has to swipe right on it while simultaneously swiping up on the Camera icon. While keeping a finger on the Camera icon, a person must then slide to unlock and tap the Emergency Call button. After dialing, hitting the Call button quickly two or three times should crash Springboard, but allow the call to go through once Springboard restarts.
iOS' native voice command system, Siri, no longer has a "beta" tag, a look at related pages on Apple's website reveals. All references to beta status appear to have been dropped both graphically and in text. Until now, Siri has carried the beta label since its arrival on iOS in October 2011.
Apple is currently seeking patent protection for technology that is designed to improve speech recognition through location awareness. A Thursday filing titled "Automatic input signal recognition using location based language modeling." describes a system that automatically associates voice input with location-specific language models and geographic information such as nearby businesses and street names.
Apple has updated Siri with a number of jabs at Google Glass, users note. Most commands for the Glass headset are issued through voice, and prefaced by saying "Okay Glass." Using that phrase in Siri, though, will now trigger one of several jokes about the device.
Although Apple is almost finished with the iPhone and iPod version of iOS 7, the iPad release is running behind schedule, sources claim. iPad support only arrived two weeks after the first beta, and developers continue to complain that it's more unreliable than when the firmware is running on an iPhone. "Chatter inside Apple" allegedly points to the possibility of holding back iPad support from the public until a v7.0.1 update sometime in late September or October, possibly in tandem with new iPad models.
An Apple office near the MIT campus in Boston is focusing on speech technology for Siri, word from industry sources suggests. The sources tell Xconomy that Apple has assembled a small group of significant people in involved in speech technology, and is working to expand that effort in the Boston area. Online job profiles for the speech team are said to point to the Siri connection.
Apple has changed the way Siri responds to suicide references, users have discovered. Until this week, the system would simply display the locations of nearby mental health facilities. In the US Siri will now ask people if they want to talk to someone at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. On an iPhone, Siri can also ask to dial directly.
As expected, Siri will be given an upgrade in the forthcoming version set for iOS -- incorporating new services including Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing among other new sources. The interface will be reshaped to fit into the iOS 7 design aesthetic, with a "waveform" look that fades into view on a layer over the current content on the screen. The program will also now feature a new choice of voices -- a new female voice, or a male one if preferred -- with new voices for French and German users as well (and more languages in the works).
All 2014-model BMW cars will support the Siri "Eyes Free" technology included in iOS, the luxury automaker has announced. The technology is being delivered through an update to BMW's iDrive platform. By pressing and/or holding a voice command button on the steering wheel, people will be able to trigger Siri without reaching for their iPhone. The same button will also be able to trigger S Voice on Samsung phones.
Speaking earlier today at the ongoing D11 conference, Nuance CEO Paul Ricci confirmed that his company's technology is integral to Apple's Siri voice command system. "We are the fundamental provider of voice recognition for Apple," Ricci said in response to a question of whether Nuance was to blame for misheard Siri commands. The Nuance tech only handles voice recognition however, not any artificial intelligence demands.
Microsoft is airing a new TV ad for Windows 8 tablets targeting their main competition, the Apple iPad. The spot points out that the iPad is missing equivalents to Windows 8 features like Live Tiles and true multitasking, and that at $449, a 64GB ASUS VivoTab Smart tablet is far cheaper than a comparable 64GB iPad, which is $699. Narrating everything is a Siri-like voice trying to defend Apple.
Apple has run a server-side update to Siri, changing how the service responds to long commands, notes iLounge. If Siri judges that a request is too long, it will now reply with a quote from either William Strunk or Thomas Jefferson, in either case praising brevity of language. It's not clear exactly when the update was made, but it appears to have happened during the last week and a half.
With iOS 7, Apple wants to deepen in-car integration options for iOS devices, sources claim. Currently such integration is limited mostly to things like iPod input or Siri Eyes Free, which makes it possible to issue Siri commands with a quick-access button. Sources tell 9to5Mac, however, that Apple is working with car companies on new center consoles that could dock an iPhone and output an optimized, car-oriented version of Maps to a dashboard display.
All the requests people have made through Siri are being stored on Apple servers for a period of up to two years, says Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller. The statement comes in response to Wired inquiries about ambiguity in Siri's privacy policies, initially pointed out by American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Nicole Ozer. Muller insists that Apple is anonymizing the request data, and only collecting voice clips in order to improve Siri.
Amazon has reportedly acquired voice-assistant app developer Evi Technologies, unnamed sources have told TechCrunch. The deal, which is said to be worth $26 million, is said to be focused on Evi's mobile apps for Android and iOS, which provide functionality similar to that of Apple's own Siri technology, though both parties have yet to make an official announcement.
An iPhone 5S expected this year will use a quad-core 1.2GHz A7 processor paired with PowerVR's quad-core SGX554MP4 graphics, and 2GB of LPDDR-800 RAM, says a DroidGator source allegedly working for Apple. The person has also supplied a photo of the device's motherboard, and claims that improving Siri will be a major focus of iOS 7. Every iPhone upgrade has been accompanied by a major iOS release.
Apple and Yahoo are discussing ways to bring more of Yahoo's best features to Apple's iOS platform, the Wall Street Journal reports. While the two companies are already working together on various projects -- the default Stock and Weather apps on iOS devices are powered by Yahoo, its search engine is an option in Safari, and its sports stats are incorporated into Siri -- the idea may be to continue Apple's move away from Google services wherever possible. This may include expanded service offerings and more cooperation.
Lawyers for Apple appeared in a Shanghai court earlier today at the start of a lawsuit over the company's Siri voice command system, according to Agence France-Presse. Zhizhen Network Technology alleges that Siri violates a patent on voice recognition, used in the company's Xiao i Robot software, that dates back to 2004. Siri is said to have been first developed in 2007. After buying out Siri's creator, Apple folded the technology into iOS in October 2011.
Chevrolet, the first automaker to bring Apple's Siri Eyes-Free feature to market, has debuted a new TV commercial that showcases the feature as an integral selling point for the forthcoming 2014 Chevy Sonic. The Sonic, the second production model with the feature behind the Spark, has an integrated steering-wheel button that activates Siri to allow voice control of several functions of iOS devices without ever activating the screen or relying on visual feedback. Nine other automakers will also be bringing out models that feature Siri Eyes-Free.
Judge Lucy Koh, who has been overseeing the primary US court battles between Apple and Samsung, ruled Friday to allow a second lawsuit against the Korean electronics giant to proceed -- despite expressing reservations on the idea while the appeal of the first Apple-Samsung trial is still being heard. Koh was apparently persuaded by filings from Apple's lawyers that the second case should go forward because of "ongoing" infringement and harm to Apple. The new case involves patents related to Apple's Siri voice assistant.
As promised, Chevrolet's 2013 Sonic and Spark cars have been updated to support Siri Eyes Free. The bridge is handled through MyLink, a touchscreen interface built into the vehicles. To use the function a person has to connect a cellular-equipped iOS device via Bluetooth; commands are issued by pressing a voice activation button on the steering wheel.
Lending further weight to Apple’s rumored plans for an ‘iWatch’, the company is said to have assigned up to 100 people to the project. An earlier rumors suggested that Apple might be experimenting with smartwatch-like device running the company’s iOS mobile operating system and using a new type of curved glass. The fresh rumor reported by Bloomberg would have Apple much closer to a potential product launch than previously thought.
A new opening for a UI engineer at Apple indicates that the company has major plans for Siri, says AppleInsider. The person will be expected to work on the presentation of results in Siri's conversation view, integrating new apps and services into the voice command system. Apple describes Siri as "an entire miniature OS within the OS."
Honda has announced a slate of 2013 cars that will support Apple's Eyes Free feature for Siri. The technology will come as a dealer-installed option for the new Honda Accord, as well as for the Acura RDX and ILX. On the Accord it may be integrated with the company's new HondaLink console, whereas the Acuras will likely rely on AcuraLink. No prices have been revealed so far.
(Updated with security, Apple TV info) Apple has officially released iOS 6.1 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. The update is available through iTunes or as an over-the-air download, and makes several important tweaks. For instance, it enables LTE on the extended number of carriers Apple announced last week; an official list has been posted on the company's website.
Siri -- the voice command technology in Apple's iOS -- was at one point set to become an exclusive to Verizon, a new report reveals. The Huffington Post says that in fall of 2009, Verizon signed a deal with Siri's then-independent developer for the project, with the goal of putting the technology on all of Verizon's Android phones launched during 2010. The deal was so far advanced that commercials were produced, but never aired.
Korea's Hyundai is joining the list of car makers supporting Apple's Siri Eyes-Free technology, according to a CES announcement. The company hasn't identified specific car models yet, but says that upcoming vehicles with dashboard consoles will get the technology. Using Eyes-Free requires a mobile device running iOS 6.
The US Patent and Trademark Office has awarded Apple a pair of new patents. Of the two, the most significant may be Desktop widgets for presentation in a layer, essentially documenting the widgets dashboard users can pop up in OS X. The feature dates back to OS X Tiger, and grants quick access to a collection of simple but custom-picked apps like a calculator or sticky notes. The patent also mentions that widgets can be installed from an online repository, and/or fetch their source data from the Internet, such as in the case of a weather widget.
General Motors has announced that it will be the first car maker to integrate Apple’s Siri into its vehicles. The Chevorlet Spark and the Sonic LTZ and RS models will be the first to integrate Siri’s voice control capabilities via their built-in MyLink infotainment systems. The capability is dependent on owners having a compatible iPhone running iOS 6 or higher.
Apple is working on adding another six international translations of Siri, a job listing reveals. An opening for cloud services engineering interns became available on November 13th; candidates are expected to "join the team responsible for delivering Siri in different parts of the world for an exciting 6 month internship in Cupertino, California." Candidates must be "native or fluent" in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Korean, Norwegian, and/or Swedish, and fluent in English. The requirement is telling since Siri still isn't available in Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian or Swedish.
Apple has pulled prostitutes from Siri search results in China, according to the Times of India. In response to user queries in the region, Siri will now reportedly answer with "I couldn't find any escort services." An Apple customer service representative tells the Times that that the censorship comes in response to "reports from our users."
District Court Judge Gary Sharpe has recused himself from a lawsuit involving Apple's Siri technology because of his potential conflict of interest involving Apple. In removing himself, he cited the law that said "any conduct that would lead a reasonable [person] knowing all the circumstances to the conclusion that the judge's 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned' is a basis for the judge's disqualification." The judge's Apple connection to the case outside the courtroom hasn't been made clear.
Apple has reportedly brought on William Stasior, an executive at Amazon who runs A9, Amazon's search and search advertising unit. Stasior will now take over the unit within Apple dedicated to its Siri digital assistant. The hire is thought to be aimed at improving Siri's search capabilities, and observers note that it could signal a stronger move into Internet search for Apple, a company that has typically relied on third-party services to power search in its devices.
The iPhone 5 has been approved for sale by Brazil's telecommunications regulatory, Anatel, MacRumors reports. A notice is said to have been posted yesterday, and lists Foxconn plants in Brazil and China as assembly facilities. Still left out of the document, though, is when Apple might plan to launch the 5 in the region. Apple is aiming at having the phone in 100 countries by December.
A newly-published Apple patent application seeks the US rights to Siri, notes AppleInsider. The 51-page filing is simply titled Intelligent Automated Assistant, but illustrates software that "engages with the user in an integrated, conversational manner using natural dialog, and invokes external services when appropriate to obtain information or perform various actions." In explaining the purpose of the technology, Apple states that smartphones have numerous apps each with their own interface, which can allegedly be "burdensome to learn or overwhelming for users." A conversational voice command system is said to alleviate the problem.
MacNN Sponsor
MacNN Newsletter
Most Popular
MacNN Sponsor
Recent Reviews
Anker TC930 Bluetooth Keyboard Cover for iPad
When Logitech's Ultrathin Keyboard Cover first came out, it caused something of a minor stir in the iPad world. It was the very firs ...
Akitio Thunder dock
Akitio has expanded its line of Thunderbolt accessories with its new Thunder dock. With eSATA, FireWire 800, USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt p ...
Pioneer AppRadio 3 with CD/DVD
Lots of cars come with robust stereo systems full of evolving technologies to give people the convenience of a smartphone on their das ...
Most Commented
Popular News
