Less than two weeks following its iPhone 6s commercial that focused on 3D Touch, Apple's begun rolling some new ads for the handset.
Adopting the dynamic and to-the-point format inaugurated by the previous ad, a trio of new commercials—titled “Crush,” “The Camera” and “Flip a Coin” and all starring actor and singer Jamie Foxx—showcase other iPhone 6s capabilities, like hands-free 'Hey Siri' and a variety of camera features.
Apple's iPhone 6s has introduced an untethered 'Hey Siri' feature which allows for always-listening functionality even when the device isn't charging, by utilizing the power-efficient M9 motion coprocessor to always listen for voice commands.
But as AppleInsider finds out, the handset automatically switches off untethered 'Hey Siri' when it's in your pocket or face down on a table.
This is another trick in Apple's arsenal of technologies to extend battery life.
Following news last week that Apple acquired UK-based voice technology startup VocalIQ, Bloomberg reports that the company has also recently picked up AI startup Perceptio. A spokesman for Apple has confirmed the buyout with the usual boilerplate statement of “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
When the new Apple TV launches toward the end of this month, it will allow viewers to use their voice to search movies and television shows across iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, Showtime and HBO. Fans of the device were initially concerned that the new box would offer preferential treatment to the aforesaid services. Thankfully, that won't be the case.
As CEO Tim Cook noted in an interview this weekend with BuzzFeed News's John Paczkowski, the new box will allow apps beyond launch partners to expose and make their content discoverable and searchable via iOS 9's universal search feature.
It's a crucial confirmation: content from other broadcasters and studios such as NBC, Disney and CNN must be exposed through the Apple TV's Siri-based search if the device is to streamline the user experience.
Apple has acquired UK-based voice technology startup VocalIQ, according to a report from the Financial Times. A spokesman for the Cupertino company has confirmed the buyout with the usual boilerplate statement of "Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans."
Siri's Proactive features let you do so much more, and in a more intelligent fashion than ever before. In addition to suggesting apps, people, locations and more when you use Spotlight Search, iOS also lets you ask Siri to actually create context-aware reminders for what you’re looking at on the screen of your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.
Asking to be reminded about things you’re looking at in apps like Safari, Mail and Notes that you want to follow up on later can be a tremendous productivity boost.
The feature is a great time-saver when you cannot currently deal with what you're doing right now, and would like to get reminded about it at a later stage, but are too lazy to create a reminder yourself. Here's how it works.
Starting with iOS 9, you are able to shut Siri up as easily as turning the mute switch to silent. Prior to iOS 9, Siri would not respond to the state of the ringer switch.
Indeed, how many times did you wish you could chat with Siri in the middle of the night but didn't out of fear her loud voice might wake up your significant other?
As it turns out, a quick trip to the Settings app and a couple of taps is all it takes to tell Siri to honor the state of your ringer switch.
If you have an iPhone running iOS 9, you should be aware that it may be possible to access your photos and contacts on a locked device, even with a passcode and/or Touch ID enabled. I've always ignored reports on this sort of security flaw, because they always seem to pop up with every iOS iteration, and almost always require a user to jump through what seems like a million hoops.
But for some reason—call it boredom, or call it poor judgement—I got curious, and decided to try this out for myself. As it turns out, it's not that hard to do, and it certainly seems like a security flaw in iOS to me.
I debated on whether to post this, because obviously it's going to bring attention to a security flaw that might let people access information that they shouldn't be accessing.
For starters, please don't get bent out of shape over this. This does not expose any other contents of your iPhone outside of Contacts and Photos. People still can't unlock your device, read your messages, watch videos, etc. This only allows users to view your contacts, and look at your photos (not videos) through a limited interface. Photos cannot be forwarded or shared from your iPhone.
My hope is that a). this informs users that a passcode or Touch ID security isn't necessarily enough to keep unwanted eyes off your photos and contacts, and b). Apple will see this and provide a fix. c). show you how to prevent the issue.
The thing is, this information is already out there, and the people who will use it for the bad probably already know about it. Consider this post an attempt to educate those who do not know about this iOS 9 security hiccup. Hopefully, it'll allow users to make smarter decisions about their iPhone's security.
One of the best features of the new Apple TV, in my personal opinion, is its redesigned remote with Bluetooth 4.0 and built-in dual microphones for Siri functionality. Too bad not all buyers will be allowed to enjoy the new Siri Remote, as Apple is calling it.
According to the company's official documentation for developers, the new Siri Remote is available in just eight key markets like the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, to name a few. Apple TVs in all other countries will be packaged with the standard remote.
Remember the invitation that Apple sent out to invitees for tomorrow's iPhone 6s event? The invitation contained the phrase "Hey Siri, give us a hint."
According to the Apple Insider's Mikey Campbell, this phrase alludes to a brand new feature shipping with the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus—always-on "Hey Siri" functionality.
"Hey Siri" is a function that first debuted in iOS 8, which allows you to invoke Siri hands-free using only your voice. The only catch is that your device has to be plugged in and charging to take advantage of the feature. If Apple Insider's report is true, then the iPhone 6s will be able to use Hey Siri functionality in an untethered fashion.
When Apple sent out invitations for its upcoming iPhone and Apple TV event, it included the tagline: "Hey Siri, give us a hint." Asking Siri to lend a hint encourages the personal assistant to troll users with comedic "answers" about the big event.
Well, apparently Apple isn't done having fun, as it's updated Siri's responses with some new answers just ahead of its event on Wednesday. Some of the answers are quite clever, and in one of them, Siri even responds with message in binary.
Apple's massive hiring effort in artificial intelligence and machine learning has hit roadblocks as the company is increasingly finding it tough to recruit top data scientists and AI experts due to its own strict privacy policies that prevent those engineers from retrieving valuable user data.
In other words, according to a Reuters report Monday, some of the brightest minds in artificial intelligence are increasingly not interested in working for a company that values and respects privacy of its users.