Apple officially announced today that it's replacing Microsoft's Bing with the Google search engine for Siri web searches and within Spotlight for iOS (now called Search) and Spotlight on Mac. Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac already uses Google search as the default provider.
Siri
Apple TV 4K may ship with a redesigned Siri Remote featuring haptic feedback
The irresponsibly leaked iOS 11 Gold Master build is a gift that keeps on giving, but tvOS 11 has its own secrets as well, with latest discoveries pointing to a refreshed Siri Remote in tow for a fifth-generation Apple TV model to be called “Apple TV 4K”.
Hide specific apps from the Siri Suggestions widget with HideSiriSuggestions
Siri Suggestions is an iOS widget that keeps track of your app usage and recommends the apps you use the most. While the concept is useful for some, the implementation is a hassle for others because it shows a history of your most frequently-launched apps.
Jailbreakers now have a decent solution to the quarrel without losing out on somewhat useful functionality. A new free jailbreak tweak called HideSiriSuggestions by iOS developer Andreas Henriksson lets you hide individual apps of your choosing from the widget.
iPhone 8 could let you invoke Siri by holding the Power button
iPhone 8 will allegedly have an elongated Power button that could double as a Siri shortcut, based on a discovery in the iOS 11 source code by iOS developer Guilherme Rambo.
Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi takes over Siri development from Eddy Cue
Apple has officially moved Siri development leadership from Eddy Cue, its Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, to Craig Federighi, who is the company's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering.
Hear how Siri’s voice has changed over the years
iOS 11 includes more natural and expressive male and female synthetic voices for Siri that use the latest advancements in machine learning and artificial intelligence to adjust intonation, pitch, emphasis and tempo while speaking.
Samsung steps up challenge to Siri, expands Bixby’s voice capabilities to 200+ countries
Earlier this week, Samsung announced that customers across more than 200 countries around the world—including folks who live in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada or South Africa—can now use Bixby's voice capabilities in Korean or US English.
Apple’s latest machine learning articles detail Siri’s new synthetic voices
Apple on Wednesday published three new articles detailing the deep learning techniques used for the creation of Siri's new synthetic voices. The write-ups also cover other machine learning topics it'll be sharing later this week at the Interspeech 2017 conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Barclays unveils Siri support for its mobile banking app
British multinational bank and financial services company Barclays today announced that its mobile banking app for iPhone has picked up Siri integration, allowing customers to ask the personal assistant to make hands-free payments on their behalf.