Apple amends Siri’s response to suicide with more direct approach
Apple’s made some changes to Siri’s programming if the mention of suicide comes up — she’s now much more proactive in getting the user help. Read more »
BMW says Siri will be on board all of its 2014 cars
photo: BMW
BMW’s not totally picking sides in the mobile platform wars, however: Samsung’s S-Voice software will be right alongside Apple’s Siri EyesFree in the automaker’s iDrive software package. Read more »
iOS quick tip: Turn on spoken notifications
While not exactly part of Siri, it is her voice that speaks to you. Spoken notifications come in handy for hands-free situations where you can’t pick up your phone, like driving, riding a bicycle or working out at the gym. Read more »
Apple looking for deeper iOS integration into cars
A report on Tuesday indicates Apple has bigger plans for the car beyond a hands-free assistant app: teaming up with carmakers to offer Apple Maps and Siri on a car’s in-dash system. Read more »
Wikipedia is now drawing facts from the Wikidata repository, and so can you
The Wikimedia Foundation’s first major new project in 7 years is now feeding the biggest project in that stable, Wikipedia itself. But anyone can take structured data from Wikidata, due to its open license. Read more »
Ever wonder what Apple does with your Siri data?
Apple confirms the anonymized information may be kept “for up to two years.” But when Siri is turned off all the user data is deleted. Read more »
Web discovery engine Trapit launches publisher tools, with Here Media as first client
Web discovery engine Trapit is launching a set of tools for publishers. Publishing clients can use the tools to create their own white-label iPad and web apps that surface content around given topics. Here Media is the first client. Read more at paidContent »
Apple ensnared in Chinese patent fight over Siri
Shanghai Zhi Zhen makes a product called Xiaoi, which the company calls a “chat robot system.” It says Siri violates a patent it holds on man-machine interaction. Read more »
6 months with the iPhone 5: expectations vs reality
I’ve owned every iPhone model to date. Here’s my experience going from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5, including what I’ve liked, what has not met my expectations and what I’d like to see in a new version. Read more »
A future iWatch could test Apple’s cloud chops
Like MobileMe and Apple Maps did, a future iWatch could reinforce the notion that Apple isn’t good at web-based services. But — if done right — it could push Apple to get its web-based act together. Read more »
Apple’s Siri coming to 2013 Honda Accord & 2 Acura models
After Chevy, Honda is the second car company to announce new car models coming with Siri this year. Read more »
Maluuba lets you shop by voice from your smartphone
photo: Maluuba
Maluuba, a Siri for Android app, is now offering users a way to shop by just asking Maluuba questions. The app has integrated with Walmart and Best Buy and pulls up data from Google as well. Read more »
Apple’s Siri assistant coming to 2 Chevy cars in 2013
photo: Steve Fecht for Chevrolet
The automaker isn’t adding Apple’s service to any high-end models just yet, but two smaller cars aimed at buyers on a budget. To use it, owners will need an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 running iOS 6 that can connect to the car’s infotainment system. Read more »
Is Apple bringing Maps, Siri to OS X? It’s testing the idea
One of the hallmarks of 2011′s OS X upgrade was how many iOS features showed up: iMessage, Notes, Reminders, Notifications, Game Center, Twitter integration, AirPlay mirroring. In that light, why wouldn’t Siri and Maps be next on the list? Read more »
Siri will now take you shopping with Apple Store app
Apple has integrated its assistant with the Apple Store app. Users can ask for details about Apple products and the results will be brought up on screen via the app. It shows us Apple is thinking about using Siri to better connect users with its products. Read more »
When is iCloud going to be more reliable?
The scope of the task before Apple’s internet services division is especially obvious this week. In the midst of news that SVP Eddy Cue would be assuming responsibility for Siri and Maps, the iCloud service he oversees experienced its third outage in a week. Read more »
Google muscles in on Siri with voice-enabled iOS Search app
photo: Google
Google is releasing an updated search app for iOS devices that allows users to ask their questions by voice and get quick responses, many of them spoken back to users. It doesn’t replicate everything Siri does but it also provides more answers. Read more »
My Siri wish list: 5 things I want to see
Movies and restaurants are a good start, but I wish Siri could tell me what concerts are happening in my area, or give me information about my device, have more specific voice control actions, and even help translate conversations into foreign languages. Read more »
Siri, why did Apple hire Amazon’s William Stasior to run you?
Siri, and possibly Apple’s overall search functionality, is likely to get smarter: Apple has hired William Stasior away from Amazon. Stasior led Amazon’s A9 search unit and was Amazon’s director of search and navigation. With the move, Apple can rely less on others for search. Read more »
First impressions of Apple’s new iPod touch: Superb
My iPod touch arrived today and after a few hours of use, I’m impressed. Apple has taken nearly all of the iPhone 5 features and functions and put them in this super thin and light iPod. I may use Android phones, but this is my PMP. Read more »
Mobile voice interaction: all-seeing butlers will usurp virtual assistants
Imagine the day when your mobile is constantly suggesting new things, based on what it knows about you. Voice interaction may not be there today, but an epic shift is coming soon, Mobilize 2012 panelists say. Read more »
Personal assistant Android app Maluuba tries to out do Siri
photo: Maluuba
Maluuba, a new voice-activated personal assistant app, is trying to give Siri and Google Now a run for their money by combining slick natural language processing with a wide array of services. The startup has raised $2 million from Samsung Ventures. Read more »
iOS 6 hands-on: Siri has learned a lot in the last year
Siri had some major weaknesses in its first iteration released last year. In iOS 6, there are some great new additions to Siri’s capabilities. However, the software is still not perfect. Here are my experiences with the new Siri. Read more »
10 new iOS 6 features iPad users should know
iOS 6 isn’t just for the iPhone. Apple included some fun new features in its new mobile operating system, available today, for iPad users. Here’s a look at the new stuff you’ll get: Siri, a clock app, FaceTime everywhere, Facebook integration and more. Read more »
The Mobile 15: Our picks for the most innovative companies
These are the companies, startups and giants alike, that are changing or could potentially change the mobile landscape in the most profound ways. Read more »
Another Siri cofounder says goodbye to Apple
Adam Cheyer is reportedly the second cofounder to split from Apple in the last year. The news of his departure comes on the eve of the introduction of a new iPhone and the rollout of updated iOS software, which will include major improvements to Siri’s software. Read more »
Martian watch brings Siri and voice calls to your wrist
A number of connected watches have hit — and been funded on — Kickstarter lately, but the newest doesn’t just show information from a smartphone; it works as a hands-free speaker phone. The watch also supports voice commands so you can use it directly with Siri. Read more »
Lexee gives devs a new Siri-like tool for apps
Developers are getting another Siri-like tool to embed speech-enabled virtual assistants in their apps. Lexee, a new product from interactive voice response provider Angel, offers an SDK for iOS and Android users. Lexee has a point and click system for building conversation flows and user analytics. Read more »
Siri’s speech-to-text makes Apple target of yet another patent suit
Apple’s Siri voice commands for iPhone have made it the target of a patent lawsuit from a university in Taiwan. The school’s lawyers say they are also looking into whether to target similar technology from Microsoft and Google next. Read more »
Web discovery engine Trapit launches iPad app — but it’s not another Flipboard
Trapit, an AI-based discovery engine for Web content from the group behind Siri, is releasing its iPad app Thursday after launching a Web version last November. Trapit wants to compete against news reading apps like Flipboard by offering better content. It’s planning publisher partnerships, too. Read more at paidContent »
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Takeaways from mobile’s second quarter
Apple and Google still dominate the smartphone space, but look out for Microsoft, which finally has some muscle behind its mobile strategy. Meanwhile mobile-browser developers went head-to-head with native apps, and Facebook continued to buy mobile expertise via acquisition. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The awful mobile software patent mess plus 4 other Apple stories to read today
Here’s our daily pick of stories about Apple from around the web that you shouldn’t miss. Today’s installment: Apple/Motorola judge questions the need for software patents, how the Windows PC advantage dwindled before the iPad, yet another patent suit in Apple’s second-most important market. Read more »
Is Ford facing off against Apple over the connected car?
A lot of automakers are lining up to support Apple’s new Siri Eyes Free technology, but Ford, the most aggressive company in the connected-car space, isn’t joining the queue. A platform war over the connected-car interface might be in the making. Read more »
What to look for at WWDC 2012: Macs, Mountain Lion, iOS 6, maps and iCloud
The banners now decorating Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference venue indicate the event’s tagline is “Where great ideas go on to do great things.” It’s vague, as usual, making it’s hard to pinpoint what this year’s theme will be. Here’s what we’ll be watching for on Monday. Read more »
Will iPad’s voice dictation feature be replaced by Siri?
It seemed a bit strange that following Siri’s debut in fall 2011 the iPad introduced five months later wasn’t equally equipped with the voice-assistant technology. But there are whispers that will change later this year, and Siri will debut on the new iPad. Read more »
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Who and what to watch in the new era of the living room
The adoption of tablets, social media and new interfaces and the changing nature of the TV itself mean the digital living room will continue on its path of rapid change, thanks to new ways of creating, viewing, bundling, distributing and selling content. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Move over Knight Rider: Nuance debuts a Siri for cars
Nuance wants you to converse with your car via the cloud. The speech recognition company already powers many of the voice technologies embedded into today’s automobiles, but today it unveiled Dragon Drive, which moves beyond simple voice commands into the realm of natural language understanding. Read more »
If you want to build the next Siri, ai-one wants to help
Artificial intelligence has to be a siren’s song for application developers that want to strike it rich. It enables revolutionary apps suchs Siri, but it’s also very difficult to do well. A San Diego-based startup called ai-one wants to change that by giving apps brains. Read more »
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Controversy, courtrooms and the cloud in Q1
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
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A look back at mobile in Q1
Smartphone sales surged both in the U.S. and worldwide, carriers struggled to cope with the ever-increasing consumption of mobile data, and the fight for spectrum remained front and center in the first quarter. Our latest quarterly wrap-up analyzes these trends and more. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
