siri

Siri headed to iPad with iOS 6, report claims

Apple's Siri voice assistant is headed to iPad users with iOS 6, according to a new report.

Citing "trusted sources," Apple-centric blog 9to5Mac says the voice assistant will land on the tablet this fall with nearly all the features currently found on the iPhone 4S, short of making phone calls.

"Music playback, iMessaging, Calendar managing, Reminders, Weather, Maps integration, E-mailing, Notes, Contacts searching, Safari integration, Wolfram-Alpha searching, and more are all present," the report claims.

As for the timing on all this, the report offers nothing concrete, saying that Apple could either take the wraps … Read more

Google fills search with Zagat ratings

It's time to rate your world on Google+ Local, double down on secrets and lose the hashbang:

Google+ has teamed up with Zagat to add a new feature encouraging users to review local establishments. It's called Google+ Local, and even if you don't use Google+, you'll start to see these ratings pop up around Google search and maps.

Apple CEO Tim Cook shared some interesting comments at the D10 conference Tuesday. To summarize, Cook didn't say if Apple was working on a television set, he vowed that the company will "double down" on … Read more

Cook hints at additional Siri features coming soon

Siri as we know her (or him in some places) is due for an upgrade in the coming months, Apple's chief executive teased tonight.

During a live interview at the D10 conference tonight in Palos Verdes, Calif., Cook was asked whether the company's voice assistant was up to the company's standards.

Cook replied by saying that customers "love it," but that there was more to be done, and that the company had "a lot of people working on this." He added that people will be "really pleased with some of the things … Read more

Apple gets Siri and John Malkovich to have a meeting of minds

John Malkovich is one of the world's more prominent Croats. Oh, alright, he was born in Illinois. But he performs regularly in Dubrovnik and his Croatian blood oozes through his personality like the finest Dalmatian wine oozes through my blood whenever I'm there.

So who better, in the midst of the deep sadness of Siri allegedly being banned by IBM, to defend her honor?

In two new Apple ads, Malkovich teaches Siri just what it is to be John Malkovich.

In the first, he jokes with Siri about Portuguese sausage. At least that's what I think he … Read more

IBM shows Siri the door, locks it behind her

She's always seemed like a caring, friendly woman to me -- one with a little steel, to be sure, but who doesn't like that? Yet it seems that the bosses at IBM think Siri just can't be trusted.

Indeed, Wired reports that Apple's digital butlerette has been banned from IBM's firmament.

Surely, this must be some exaggeration, you might think. Surely there's no way of preventing an IBMer from whispering to his digital factotum in the restroom.

Well, Wired is relying on the words of Big Blue's CIO, Jeanette Horan. For she told MIT's Technology Review … Read more

From Nuance, Siri in your next car

If you find yourself with Siri envy but don't want to pony up the $600 for a phone, you may be able to get that same level of convenience and computerized companionship in your car.

Nuance's technology powers Apple's voice-recognition system, and the company is making its natural language command platform available to automotive manufacturers with Dragon Drive. Vehicles equipped with Dragon Drive will enable drivers to use spoken commands to get the system to perform a range of tasks, including open-ended conversational text messaging, getting directions to restaurants, or finding traffic information.

The benefit of Dragon … Read more

Why Lumia, Siri? The perils of sorting a 27-way smartphone tie

There has been a disturbance of late in the Appledome.

For Siri has been accused of believing that the Nokia Lumia 900 is better than the iPhone 4S in which she resides.

Even though she changed her mind -- some might say mysteriously -- the stain on her character would not go away.

Well, now the vast and objective brains at Wolfram Alpha have churned their cogs in order to put a stop to this nonsense.

I am grateful to Search Engine Land for having the patience and fortitude to listen to Wolfram Alpha's deep and complex analysis.

However, … Read more

Apple on Siri lawsuits: Throw them out and be done with it

Apple has been smacked with a host of Siri lawsuits charging the company with overstating the abilities of its virtual personal assistant. And now, in a recent court filing, it has fired back.

In a motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple asked the court to dismiss the consolidation class-action complaint against its Siri offering, saying that the plaintiffs used "only general descriptions of Apple's advertisements, incomplete summaries of Apple's Web site materials, and vague descriptions of their alleged -- and highly individualized -- disappointment with Siri."

"… Read more

Stunning Apple news: Men love Zooey Deschanel

I am going to whisper this very quietly, but there are some people who are sick of Zooey Deschanel's "self-consciously cute ways."

I use the quotation marks because I don't want the person who said it to have his house broken into by rabid men ages 18 to 34.

It would be men in that age range because, according to YouGov's indispensable and highly objective Brand Index, these men love the fact that Deschanel is starring in Apple's Siri ads.

Indeed, the very minute Apple launched its ads (which also featured the rather bossy … Read more

Nokia: Apple rigged Siri to name iPhone best phone

Is Apple purposely tweaking Siri to stack the deck in favor of the iPhone? Nokia certainly thinks so.

Siri stirred up some controversy late last week in voicing its view on smartphones. When asked its recommendation of the best smartphone, Apple's voice assistant named Nokia's Lumia 900 the top dog.

However, it didn't take long for Siri to change its mind. As of yesterday, the voice assistant is firmly back in Apple's camp. When asked the same question, Siri now responds: "The one you're holding," or "You're kidding, right?"

Apple … Read more