Siri is hot, but the software is exclusive to the iPhone 4S; iPads, iPod touches and older iPhones need not apply. The situation provides an opportunity for developers on non-Siri devices, and SpeakToIt Assistant, a $1.99 app, is one of these. How does it stack up? Read more »
This year’s CES was the biggest in the show’s 44-year history. It boasted 15 miles of exhibit hall aisles, 3,100 booths and 153,000 attendees. It is easy to be jaded by the endlessly repetitive products, but the thousands of innovations point toward a future of connectivity. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple CEO Tim Cook said iCloud “is not just a product, it’s a strategy for the next decade.” What will that mean for a company trying to lead us all into the post-PC world? We look at possible future applications of cloud-based services from Apple. Read more »
The sky is falling again in cellular land, and this time Siri is to blame. At least that’s the assessment form this opinion article in the Washington Post this morning claiming Siri’s piggy ways will destroy our cellular networks. But this assessment is wrong. Read more »
Patently Apple has dug up a detailed patent for Siri, which goes into a lot of depth about potential future uses, including for online shopping, as a travel service, and as part of a car navigation system or the car’s entertainment system. Read more »
The fourth quarter may have lacked a dominating big-event product announcement like Q3’s Facebook platform extension or Q2’s unveiling of Google+, but the NewNet world continued to buzz along. In the battle for mind share, everyone wanted to be a platform. Meanwhile, consumer and social technologies continued to gain momentum, and new vehicles for content and service discovery presented both challenges and opportunities for NewNet companies. And it is hard to ignore the overcrowded but growing world of daily deals. This quarterly report analyzes these trends and others, and it also provides a near-term outlook of trends, technologies and companies to watch in 2012. Companies mentioned in the report include Amazon, Facebook and Socialcast. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
There are a lot of bad Siri imitators in the Android Market, but Monday night a pretty close approximation to Apple’s now-iconic personal assistant will be available. Nuance Communications is launching an Android version of Dragon Go, it’s voice-powered semantic search app. Read more »
A recent report on the outsized increase in data usage among iPhone 4S users blamed the bandwidth drain squarely on Siri. But while Siri may be used as the mechanism for more Internet searches and smartphone services, the application itself uses very little data. Read more »
Best Buy has a good deal on iPhones this weekend: It is offering buy-one-get-one-free pricing on the 32 GB iPhone 4, on either Sprint or AT&T with new 2-year contracts. Basically, it means you get a 32 GB iPhone 4 for the price of the 8 GB version. Read more »
The past year in mobile has been even more eventful than most of us would have predicted. Our appetite for mobile data grew dramatically; Google’s Android continued its march to worldwide dominance; Amazon joined the tablet bandwagon; and AT&T tried and failed to acquire T-Mobile USA, among many other things. All of that activity lays the groundwork for a very promising — and very challenging — 2012. This research note serves both as a review of the major trends and events of 2011 as well as a forecast for the coming year. Companies mentioned in this report include Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full research note, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
As the year winds down, here’s a look back at the biggest, most significant things that happened in the apps we use on our smartphones and tablets this year, as well as the most important themes to watch out for come 2012. Read more »
Apple’s Siri ad featuring the jolly old elf was 2011′s most effective holiday advertisement according to viewer reaction as measured by Ace Metrix, a TV ad analysis firm. The Apple spot featuring Santa Claus using Siri also exemplified a trend this year: specifically, “Santa sells.” Read more »
Are Google, Yelp and Facebook scared of Siri? If they aren’t they should be, as should any mobile website, service or app that depends on advertising. Siri is the first user interface that shifts our attention away from our phones’ screens, but it won’t be the last. Read more »
What kind of amazing new things are going to happen in tech over the next 365 days? Digital design agency Fjord got out its crystal ball and let us have a preview of its annual prediction of the most important themes in tech next year. Read more »
Mainstream mobile users have been slow to embrace location-based services. But location apps could really see a boost through the smart use of voice activated AI systems like Siri, which can help users more easily unlock the world around them. Read more »
Siri isn’t on the Mac (yet), but that doesn’t mean you can’t use it there, and in a way that should prove a considerable time saver. In combination with Mac launcher software Alfred and iOS app TouchPad, you can easily issue voice commands to your Mac. Read more »
How much do you love your iPhone 4S? Chances are the answer is “a lot.” New ChangeWave research data shows owner satisfaction with the iPhone 4S is much higher than that of the iPhone 4, with 96 percent approval ratings and only 2 percent reporting dissatisfaction. Read more »
Apple addressed criticism on Wednesday night that Siri, the virtual assistant built in to every iPhone 4S, couldn’t retrieve information about abortion clinics when asked. Apple’s response is basically that Siri is a beta product, but that won’t be enough to sidestep the service’s political ramifications. Read more »
Welcome to another installment of Tips and Tricks, the series that aims to teach you something new about your Apple stuff. This time, we’ll be taking a look at Siri and how changing one or two words in your query can produce completely different results. Read more »
Apps such as InstantMeeting, Expensify and yes, Siri are taking mundane tasks that top managers might have hired an assistant to handle and makes delegating them affordable for all. This is a welcome break for time-strapped workers called on to do more. Read more »
The iOS 5.1 beta software from Apple was released Monday afternoon for developers, and while at first it didn’t appear to add much, investigations by users have produced a few interesting tidbits about what’s new. Most interesting of all could be references to the next iPad. Read more »
Call it M2M, the Internet of Things, or a web that talks back, but once we start connecting devices and sensors we’re adding complexity to a system that’s already highly complex. Axeda wants to deliver a cloud with the intelligence capable of managing the connected world. Read more »
The man sits down in front of the computer and says, affably: “Computer!” Nothing happens. In a now-hear-this tone, the man repeats: “Comput… Read more at paidContent »
The GigaOM RoadMap conference on Nov. 10 gathered leaders and visionaries to discuss how, thanks to technological and generational shifts, society as a whole is becoming more connected — not only in the media we consume and the social networks we use but also in the way we interact with devices and manage our resources. This research note takes a look back on the event in order to analyze this new era of connectivity across various industries, from Jack Dorsey’s idea of becoming “more human,” not less, to the concept of “invisible technology” and data, the fuel of the new century. Companies mentioned in this report include Airbnb, Netflix and Twitter. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Last night I was schooled at playing Jeopardy by Watson in an exhibition match and discovered that despite our fear of the robot overlords, humans are much smarter than we think. Case in point: Watson could never use Apple’s personal assistant Siri. Read more »
Trapit, a discovery engine for Web content from the group behind Siri, launches to the public today. The company describes itself as “Pandor… Read more at paidContent »
Computers — the boxes that we consult — are wonderful, but they take away from what it is to be human and to really connect with one another, so the challenge and opportunity that lies ahead is how to get the computers out of computing. Read more »
Nuance, the maker of industry-leading voice-recognition tech, released Dragon Express via the Mac App Store on Thursday. The app is basically a streamlined version of Nuance’s powerful Dragon Dictate software, and it brings some features that Siri fans might appreciate to OS X computers. Read more »
Apple’s use of the Siri voice assistant in the iPhone 4S has been one of the most-talked about features on the new device, but Apple (NSDQ:… Read more at paidContent »
It’s no secret now that Apple is working hard on getting a fix for iOS 5 battery issues out the door. But battery life isn’t the only problem new iPhone 4S owners are having with their devices. Here are three other common complaints. Read more »
Many have been hoping that Apple plans to bring Siri to other existing iOS devices besides the iPhone 4S, and recent rumors suggested that could indeed be in the works. But a new report indicates that probably isn’t the case, at least not right now. Read more »
Apple is apparently trying out Siri on iOS 5 devices, according to reports circulating this past weekend. But how likely is it that those of us who aren’t Apple engineers will ever get to use the personal assistant on anything other than an iPhone 4S? Read more »
Siri went down on Thursday for its first extended outage — around five hours, according to most counts. Five hours is hardly three days (like another noteworthy recent mobile service blackout), but the reaction of media and users show Apple’s personal assistant is making its presence felt. Read more »
I’ve written about robots powered by smartphones and the web, so you’d think I’d be comfortable seeing a new robot video. I saw one today showing the PETMAN, and I’m actually torn between amazement and fright. Then again, he might make for a good personal assistant. Read more »
Blazing fast networks, cheap silicon, always-on devices and a torrent of data will fundamentally change everything — how we consume media, how we work, and even who we are. We examined 10 areas that show how connectivity is profoundly changing the present and future of technology. Read more »
Health care policy analyst John S. Wilson believes that Apple’s recently released voice technology can revolutionize the 911 system. With its natural language processing, contextual search and ability to carry out tasks, Siri has the potential to better equip first responders to save lives. Read more »
Science fiction writers and futurists have long imagined a world in which we control everyday devices with our voice. That future seems a little bit closer to reality with the news that Apple’s Siri voice control technology will likely power its long-rumored iTV device. Read more »
The Apple television is the latest, hottest subject of the rumor mill that surrounds the company. On Thursday, a new report revealed many more tantalizing details about why Apple might be a creating a television and what will set it apart from the competition. Read more »
Siri isn’t available to developers, and there’s no guarantee it will be. But it hasn’t stopped developers from tapping its power. Appsfire, an app discovery service, has created a little hack that allows iPhone 4S users to find apps with their voice. Read more »
Normally, if you ask Siri to tweet for you, it’ll say it can’t help with Twitter. If you ask about Facebook, you’ll get even less of a response. However, using both these social networks’ SMS features, you can get Siri to update Twitter and Facebook indirectly. Read more »
