Voice Control

10+ new features in iOS 10.2 beta 1

Apple yesterday issued beta 1 of the forthcoming iOS 10.2 software update for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. For starters, iOS 10.2 beta 1 includes three new wallpapers, provides a bunch of new emoji as part of the Unicode 9.0 standard and gives Camera the optional ability to remember filter, Live Photo and mode settings.

Star ratings are back in the Music app and Videos has its own widget. Oh, and you can now annoy friends with a brand new animation in Messages.

Without further ado, here’s our video hands-on with iOS 10.2 beta 1 accompanied by a detailed description of all the new features and enhancements.

This tweak makes Siri less impatient so you can take your time speaking

A lot of times while using Siri, you might have to repeat yourself or start over while you’re talking because if you speak too slowly, or pause while you’re talking, you’ll get the “I didn’t quite get that” message.

As frustrating as this can be, especially in louder environments, a new free jailbreak tweak called SiriKeepListening now available in Cydia helps remedy this problem.

What to do when Siri doesn’t pronounce your name right

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.

Voice messaging could be an integral iWatch feature

As it becomes more clear that Apple is actually planning to release its highly-anticipated iWatch, the rumor mill has shifted towards what kinds of features the smart watch could have. It appears that voice messaging could be at the top of the list, at least according to a recent talk that UBS analyst Steven Milunovich had with Apple CEO Tim Cook in China… 

Siri-like voice assistant turns up in latest BlackBerry 10 alpha update

No matter what your opinion of Siri is, you have to admit that it has really sparked an interest in digital assistants. Voice commands and recognition obviously existed long before the feature, but not like this.

And you don’t have to look any further than the competition for proof. Shortly after Apple unveiled its Assistant last fall, other manufacturers started beefing up their voice technology. Samsung, for example, now has its S-Voice, LG has Quick Voice, and there are several others bubbling up…

Nuance launches ‘Siri for cars’

Nuance, which provides world-class voice recognition technology behind Apple’s Siri personal assistant, today announced its entrance into the fast-growing connected cars market.

Their new automotive platform combines Nuance’s Dragon software and natural language understanding technologies to allow drivers to dictate messages, search for content, control music playback, navigation and more.

Was this an iCar solution Steve Jobs was dreaming about in his final days?

Nuance exec: Siri set “a new bar”, could get “more personalized”

Digital secretary Siri was, and still is, the headline feature of the iPhone 4S. It owes some of its allure to the vast processing power of Apple’s servers that run a remarkably sophisticated voice recognition software licensed from Nuance, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider of arguably the best voice technology money can buy.

According to Nuance’s marketing honcho, you can bet on Siri to improve over time. Upcoming developments in personal assistants will enable new stuff, such as more accurate voice recognition and personalization. So yeah, eventually you’ll be able to ask Siri “Is my favourite movie on tonight?”