Siri

Chevy’s new Equinox ad stars Siri Eyes Free and it’s funny

General Motors a few days ago started airing a new television commercial for its brand now 2014 vehicle, the Chevrolet Equinox. The car features integration with Siri Eyes Free, an Apple-made voice-activated system which debuted in 2012 allowing drivers to interact with Siri on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using their voice, without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Watch now how a perfectly normal conversation between a husband and wife goes wrong thanks to Siri...

‘Unique’ Istanbul Apple Store opening in April, Siri, R&D and more from Cook’s Turkey tour

Yesterday, Turkish government officially confirmed that Apple CEO Tim Cook was meeting President Abdullah Gül at the Çankaya Presidential Compound in Ankara to discuss a potential $4.5 billion iPad deal and other major initiatives and incentives in the 74 million people country.

The official website of the Turkish government on Tuesday published details of the meeting. The two leaders have covered a wide range of topics, including the possibility of an Apple research and development center in Turkey and how iPads could help improve education in the country.

President Gül wanted to know whether Apple could add Turkish support to Siri and Cook was interested in a possibility of Turkey dropping its special luxury taxes that are being applied to iPhone and iPad sales in the country...

How to invoke Siri from the Pebble Smartwatch

Great news for all of your Pebble Smartwatch owners: PebbleSiri and the Smartwatch+ jailbreak app has been updated to work with iOS 7. This means that you can now invoke Siri from your Pebble Smartwatch without touching your iPhone.

iPhone plugged into an outlet across the room, but want to set an alarm? No problem, just press the Siri button on your Pebble Smartwatch to invoke Siri and start dictating your commands. PebbleSiri is an absolute must have jailbreak tweak for Pebble Smartwatch owners, because it lessens the friction between the end user and Siri.

iOS 7.1 to bring Siri gender option for UK, Australian English, possibly other languages

As Apple gears up to unleash the fourth beta of the upcoming iOS 7.1 firmware update, possibly as early as tomorrow (carriers are already testing it), we've been tipped off about a nice improvement in the current iOS 7.1 Beta 3 release which has apparently escaped our and pretty much everyone else's attention.

Courtesy of the latest iOS 7.1 beta, male and female Siri voice with British English accent are now available on iOS 7.1 Beta 3 device. As the currently available non betas don't offer updated voices for Siri in the UK, this signals Apple is looking to enable Siri's gender option in more languages as the company continues to fine-tune its digital personal assistant...

Jawbone soups up Era headset with HD Voice, Siri and Google Now integration and more

If you thought Bluetooth headsets were dead, think again. Jawbone makes some of the finest portable audio devices and wireless headsets and was among the first to release a Bluetooth headset for Apple's iPhone. On Thursday, the San Francisco-based company has streamlined its headset offering by announcing a second-generation Era.

It's 42 percent smaller, comes with its own charging case and looks good enough to be worn in public while offering interesting new voice features aimed at Apple's Siri and Google's Google Now voice assistants. Read on for more info and some nice press shots...

Assistant Unrestrictor: use Voice Control when Siri is unavailable

I don't use Siri nearly as much as I used to, so maybe I'm in the minority when I state that I rarely have problems with Siri not working; I simply don't use it enough to encounter any problems. But for those of you who use Siri day in and day out, you're more likely to experience the issues that Assistant Unrestrictor—a new jailbreak tweak available on Cydia's BigBoss repo—tries to solve.

Assistant Unrestrictor is a tweak that forces the old-school Voice Control to come into play in the instances where Siri is unavailable. For example, when Siri is down due to the lack of a network connection, Voice Control can step in and handle some of the light load. Obviously, Voice Control is nowhere near as robust as Siri, but for light duty, it's adequate in a pinch. Have a look at our full video walkthrough inside to see how it works.

Siri may soon sort through your photos, new Apple invention reveals

With the ever-improving capabilities of smartphone cameras and so many great moments to capture on the go and share with your Instagram followers, browsing the hundreds - often times even thousands - of photographs in your iOS Camera Roll just to find that great shot of your significant other you've taken some time last year is starting to increasingly feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Sure, you can import iPhoto or Aperture albums or create your own ones right on your device. And yes, Apple's improved the photo management capabilities of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices by introducing new features in iOS 7, such as the ability to automatically group your photographs based on time taken and location.

A new patent now reveals that Apple could tap Siri to let you sort through your photos - and even tag them - just by using your voice...

Report finds that Siri’s accuracy continues to improve under iOS 7

Gene Munster—yes the iTV guy—is out with a new report today looking at the state of Siri's ability to accurately answer and respond to queries. The Piper Jaffray analyst regularly assesses the accuracy of Apple's digital assistant.

In his latest look, Munster found that Siri has continued to improve with the release of iOS 7, particularly in its ability to properly interpret questions being asked and its overall performance when accessed in noisier situations...

If Siri drove a car…

Forget Apple's iOS in the Car initiative, or Siri Eyes Free, or even big name car makers rolling out support for iOS mirroring and other hands-free features that tap Apple's iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices - here comes the ultimate Siri-driven feature (yeah, pun intended).

Introducing Steeri, the world's first driverless car app.

Put together by the Smart Department sketch comedy group, the video humorously depicts what Siri-powered driving might be like. The video is right after the jump so have a look and join us in comments...

Apple patents smart iDevice dock with always-listening Siri capability

An interesting Apple patent application has surfaced in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database on Thursday. Titled 'Smart dock for activating a voice recognition mode of a portable electronic device,' the filing basically describes a smart dock of sorts for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices with a unique feature giving Apple's Siri digital personal assistant a permanent place in your home, with a cool always-on functionality.

Unlike Motorola's Moto X handset with on-device Google Now feature always in the listening mode and responding to the 'OK Google' phrase, Apple's patent relies on a hardware dock providing the listening functionality, with users being able to set a custom audio prompt that will trigger Siri...

Honda details Siri Eyes Free integration for 2013-2014 Accord and Acura models

Along with many fellow car vendors, Honda back in January 2013 promised to roll out certain Accord and Acura models with integrated support for Apple’s Eyes Free.

In a blog post today, the Japanese car maker announced that Siri Eyes Free integration is available on the 2013-2014 Honda Accord and 2013 Acura RDX and ILX vehicles as a dealer-installed accessory.

As you know, Siri Eyes Free is a voice-activated system which allows drivers to interact with Siri on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using their voice, without ever taking their hands off the steering wheel. It also helps minimize distractions by keeping an iOS device's screen from lighting up.

With Siri Eyes Free, you can send, receive and read messages, set reminders and alarms, check the weather, stock quotes, sports scores, showtimes and other info and even use turn-by-turn navigation, all through the power of Siri's spoken commands...

GM announces Siri ‘Eyes Free’ coming to 2014 Camaro, Malibu and more

General Motors has issued a press release this week, announcing that Siri 'Eyes Free' mode will be coming to several new vehicles in 2014, including the Chevy Camaro, Volt, Malibu, SS, Cruze and Equinox.

The feature, which in GM models works via the Chevrolet MyLink service, connects to compatible iPhones to give users one-touch, in-car access to Siri, allowing them to perform various tasks hands-free...