After perusing a massive 238-slide deck that is Mary Meeker's new 2016 Internet Trends Report this morning, a slide has captured my attention that summarizes the trend toward voice searches and digital assistants. It says that in five years time at least half of all searches will be either through images or speech, which is fascinating.
What I find even more remarkable is the fact that Siri alone handled more than one billion requests per week through speech as of June 2015.
Siri is an amazing piece of software and Apple has tried so hard to make it capable of pronouncing everyone's names right, but there are just too many names in the world for Siri to be perfect and pronouncing all of them.
On the other hand, if you're sick of Siri not being able to pronounce your name correctly, there is a way to train her so she will pronounce it right going forward.
We'll show you how this is done in this quick tutorial.
The assistant wars are in full swing, with Google Assistant and Viv entering the fray and existing players such as Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, Hound and Google's Now all stepping up fight for consumers' hearts and minds.
Apple's rumored Amazon Echo competitor, which VentureBeat believes is a next-gen Apple TV, could blow all the assistants out of the water when it comes to deciphering complex natural language queries.
And powering it—VocalIQ, a sophisticate technology Apple acquired back in October 2015. Tech Insider provided an in-depth overview of how VocalIQ could make Siri a lot smarter than it is today.
Apple's rumored Amazon Echo rival, which we learned yesterday could actually be an upgraded Apple TV, will have a built-in camera and use facial recognition to detect users as they enter the room, said the people briefed on Apple's plans who spoke to CNET on condition of anonymity.
Upon recognizing a user, the device would pull up their preferences, such as the music and lighting they like, the sources said.
Siri is one of these features that feels like a broken promise. Not only it hasn't evolved that much over the years, but it's also not that much more reliable than it was when it was first introduced back in 2011.
If the rumor mill is any indication of what's to come, it appears that Siri might make its way to the Mac, and maybe get even smarter with the introduction of an SDK for developers.
So I sat down and started thinking about what specifically I would want Siri to be able to do on my Mac, beyond the smart assistant's existing capabilities. This is my wish-list.
Apple's rumored Amazon Echo competitor may come in the form of a new set-top box, reports VentureBeat. Citing a source familiar with the matter, the outlet says the iPhone maker is working on a new Apple TV with an improved version of Siri.
“They want Apple TV to be just the hub of everything,” the source told VentureBeat. Earlier this week, The Information reported that Apple is building a new device with a speaker and always-on microphone to rival products from Amazon and Google.
Apple has big plans to step up its game in the field of intelligent assistants, reports The Information. Citing sources familiar with the plans, the outlet claims the company is preparing to introduce a Siri SDK for third party app developers at WWDC next month.
Additionally, the report says that Apple is also working on an Amazon Echo-like device with a speaker and always-on microphone that people can use to do things like turn on music, get news headlines or set a timer. Google unveiled a similar device last week.
9to5Mac claimed back in January that Siri would be finally coming to the Mac via the forthcoming OS X 10.12 software update this fall. Today, MacRumors published a genuine looking image that purportedly shows a colorful Siri icon sitting in OS X's Dock, adding fuel to the Siri for Mac rumors.
Another screenshot appears to show a Siri icon sitting in the Mac's menu bar at the top. The publication says that these screenshots were sent to them by a source “who has provided us with reliable information about Apple's software plans in the past”.
Try these troubleshooting solutions to fix “Hey Siri” or “Siri” invocation not working on your iPhone or iPad, thus preventing Apple’s voice assistant from springing into action when you say the wake word.
Yet another member of the original Siri team, Darren Haas, has left Apple. The Information reports that Haas, one of the last remaining team members that came over to Apple in the Siri acquisition, has left the company for General Electric. He'll join Steve D'Aurora, another Siri team member who also left Apple for GE a few weeks ago.
Apple on Monday aired a new television commercial for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, titled 'Thank You Speech' and starring “How I Met Your Mother” star Patrick Neil Harris (he had a cameo on Apple's recent 'Onions' ad).
The 30-second clip shows off a tetherless Siri feature that users can optionally enable on their iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus in order to converse with the personal digital assistant using the 'Hey Siri' keyword even when their device is not connected to power.
The creators of Siri are preparing to introduce a new AI assistant on Monday, reports The Washington Post. It's called 'Viv,' and it's far more advanced than Siri, capable of handling complex tasks like purchasing movie tickets or ordering pizza, without the need to switch between apps or other human interaction.
Unlike most virtual assistants today, which can understand precise queries and issue scripted responses, Viv can imitate "the spontaneity and knowledge base of a human assistant." So with this technology, and third-party app integration from the likes of Uber and Grubhub, Viv is expected to impress next week.