The good thing about being a parent is that it’s okay to be an old fart. Your kids will keep up with tech, and they’re already exploring it in fundamentally different ways. Observe them closely, and you’ll learn quite a bit about the future of technology. Read more »
After I wrote my recent article about Bluetooth integration with car audio, Ford contacted me about the Microsoft SYNC system. I took it for a test drive (literally). A new Ford may just be about the best (and probably most expensive) iPhone accessory out there. Read more »
I’ve never been great at keeping tabs on scheduling. Siri has been a great help for setting appointments, but a new app called TouchBase aims to make staying in touch with those you’re meeting with, and keeping track of where you’re headed even easier still. Read more »
Amid the updated hardware specifications of Apple’s iPhone 4S, a beta application is poised to be the breakout star. Siri is helpful now, but imagine what it, or a similar solution, could do for interfacing with many connected devices in the coming “Internet of things” age. Read more »
Now that Siri is baked into an iPhone, Dag Kittlaus seems to have decided that his work at Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) was complete. The co-founder o… Read more at paidContent »
In addition to the apparent acquisition of Yahoo’s former head of Global Data Center Infrastructure, Apple’s recent staff shifts apparently also include the departure of one of Siri’s co-founders. Don’t worry, though, the iPhone 4S’s personal assistant remains in good hands. Read more »
Siri may be the hottest personal assistant since I Dream of Jeannie, but Apple’s artificial intelligence is only the tip of the iceberg as we combine ubiquitous connectivity, sensor networks, big data, new AI and programming into a truly connected network. Read more »
Media reports are making a big deal about Siri being accessible from a locked device. It’s true that by default Siri works on a code-locked iPhone, but don’t fret, there’s a simple — albeit somewhat oddly placed — setting to make sure Siri doesn’t give up your info. Read more »
For iPhone 4S users out there, you probably know that Siri can search the web for keywords of your choosing. But did you also know that you can tell it on the fly which specific search engine to use to find your results? Read more »
On Wednesday, I wrote about how Siri had finally convinced me to use voice commands with a phone, despite an inherent reluctance to do so. According to Google’s SVP of Mobile, Andy Rubin, however, I’m hanging out with the wrong crowd. Here’s why he’s wrong. Read more »
I’ve had voice-powered features on my phone for nearly a decade now, but I seldom if ever used them until Siri on the iPhone 4S. Now, I can’t stop. What is it about Apple’s new “personal assistant” that makes doing what seemed wrong feel so right? Read more »
New hardware helped Apple sell 4 million iPhone 4S handsets over the weekend, but Siri, the personal assistant software, may be the most groundbreaking aspect. Here’s a closer look at the difference in voice command and intelligence between the two largest mobile platforms: iOS and Android. Read more »
During the three-day outage last week that affected data services for millions of BlackBerry users, RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) executives were focused… Read more at paidContent »
Vlingo, a voice recognition start-up, isn’t sweating the introduction of Apple’s Siri voice action and AI system. In fact, the start-up saw its best week last week with five consecutive days of record usage with voice actions up 50 percent daily over the previous high. Read more »
Siri is a big draw for customers interested in the iPhone 4S. Apple’s promo material about Siri make it look absolutely amazing, and by most accounts, it is. But if you’re not in the U.S., you might experience a little disappointment when you fire Siri up. Read more »
Siri, watch out: Apple’s personal assistant is getting competition from a Russian startup, whose founder is currently touring the Valley as part of a roadshow for Russia’s Skolkovo IT park. I met with him and three other of the Skolkovo startups this week, and left impressed. Read more »
Early iPhone 4S reviews are easy to sum up (people like it) but it’s worth zooming in on some of the individual takes from the better appraisals popping up around the web to get a sense of what exactly is and isn’t pleasing about Apple’s latest. Read more »
Did you hear the iPhone 4S saw pre-bookings of a million devices on day one? That’s not only good news for Apple, but also for its carrier partners: AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. And they aren’t the only ones cashing in on the iPhone 4S bonanza. Read more »
Steve Jobs was a visionary, instigator, leader, motivator, marketer, pitchman and showman. Gary Morgenthaler of Morgenthaler Ventures recalls Steve’s many contributions that have changed the world as we know it. Read more »
Though Steve Jobs said he didn’t consider Siri a search company, but instead an artificial intelligence company, the rollout of Siri on the iPhone 4S can serve to divert some search traffic away from Google, which could eat into Google’s mobile revenues. Read more »
So there was no iPhone 5. But there will be a new iPhone 4S, which Apple announced Tuesday. It looks just like the iPhone 4, but while there were no huge changes, it’s important to remember that these incremental upgrades could add up to a lot. Read more »
As soon as Apple announced the new Siri feature in the iPhone 4S, Twitter went crazy with people making jokes about the new personal assistant feature. A simple search for Siri on Twitter will show up an almost endless list of tweets. We’ve picked out a few of our favourite gags below. Read more »
Apple unveiled its latest handset, the iPhone 4S, at the company’s Cupertino headquarters on Tuesday, showing off new software and updated hardware features. Although I’ve been a full-time Android user for the past 22 months, there’s much to like about Apple’s new hardware and software. Read more »
So will Apple’s Siri be like Facetime, widely praised and less widely used? Or will it be like touch screens that ushered in new ways of interacting with handsets? Folks in the speech recognition and virtual assistant market are hoping it’s the latter. Read more »
The next iPhone’s biggest difference, according to an extensive profile by 9to5Mac, may not be any hardware feature. Instead, the Siri-based “Assistant” system-wide software coud steal the show. Assistant could make talking to your phone as natural as touchscreen based controls are now. Read more »
As our demand for data increases, so too do the number of mobile devices and services. Add to that the infrastructure needed to support such connectivity, and a wide, complex picture of the mobile industry emerges. This report examines the various sectors of the mobile landscape and what the future holds for each. Hardware, cloud services, mobile search, advertising, location-based services and the growing ubiquity of the Internet of Things will all play an important role in the concept of mobility as it shifts and evolves over the next several years. With the help of more than a dozen contributors, GigaOM Pro presents a comprehensive analysis of the companies and trends that will lead us into the next era of mobile. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Apple and Google have both picked up multiple smaller companies in recent years, and even some larger ones like Motorola, and both can afford to grab more. It can be hard to keep straight who bought what when, but this graphic should set things straight. Read more »
The tech industry has a new favorite sport: guessing who Apple will buy with its $50 billion-plus cash hoard. Since October 18, when Steve Jobs mentioned the company was keeping its powder dry for possible deals, speculation over potential Apple acquisitions has run rampant and even ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
If there was any doubt that mobile and the cloud will eventually converge, Google is putting it to rest. The company today showed off two applications that leverage Google’s back-end infrastructure and its Android OS to bring a powerful new mobile user experience. Read more »
Apple has apparently bought Siri, as documented in a FTC file flagged by Robert Scoble. Siri makes a really cool, almost magical tool that could easily be core to the iPhone experience. Read more »
