The Siri digital assistant that ships with all mobile compatible devices running iOS has been known to put its foot in its mouth on more than one occasion. Barely a day could pass in the early days of the digital assistant without someone using Twitter, Facebook or Reddit to post screenshots of Siri replying to a seemingly innocent question with a ridiculous, controversial or opinionated answer. Long periods of silence on the Siri front seemed to suggest that we had passed that stage but the existence of Samantha in the movie Her seems to have ruffled a few electronic feathers.
Siri caused more than a stir when it first hit the scene along with the iPhone 4s back in 2011, but even though consumers and commentators alike were fascinated by this feature that could answer back (if you had the right accent), the novelty did seem to wear off, and apart from the Eyes Free in-car integration, it's been a while since Apple's much-loved voice assistant really made the headlines.
If you've got an iPhone, iPod touch or an iPad that has Siri built-in and happen to own the right Honda or Acura car, then you can now drive into a dealer and have Siri Eyes Free installed after Honda announced its immediate availability via a press release.
Apple’s hardware is undoubtedly one of the defining characteristics of iOS devices, but it's the underlying power of Apple's proprietary software that really makes the difference. With that said, there are still certain parts of iOS that users don't seem to want to embrace - and it seems the makers of The Simpsons are keen to exploit that.
Every time Apple releases a new smartphone, there's always that feature thrown in to get chins wagging and kick up a little frenzy otherwise known as Apple Fever. This time around, it was the bright colors of the iPhone 5c; the fingerprint sensor of the iPhone 5s. Last year, it was the larger display of the iPhone 5, which finally broke the mold, but before that, the iPhone 4S got Siri.
Apple's Siri, which made its debut alongside the launch on the iPhone 4s, has been a mainstay of iOS ever since, and although it isn't as widely used as the Cupertino company might have predicted when it was first implemented, the sheer number of automobile manufacturers alone currently integrating it into new cars speaks volumes for its potential.
Microsoft has set about spending its huge advertising budget by launching a new TV ad that uses Apple's Siri to compare Windows 8 on tablets with Apple's iOS on an iPad. The ad, which also feels oddly like one of Apple's own, even features the Siri voice we've all come to know over the last couple of years.
It's fair to say, given the courtroom history and market face-offs between the two, that a certain amount of friction, animosity and contempt exists between Apple and Samsung. The two companies were at loggerheads last year in a court hearing which saw Apple reign supreme over its bitter rival, but with a new trial taking place this year in the same San Jose location, issues have by no means been resolved. As a very relevant subplot, Apple has never been shy of dragging Google into proceedings, and following on from the Cupertino's recent demands to see the Android source code as part of the hearing, Tim Cook's legal bureaucrats have now dragged both the newly-released Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now into the equation.
When Siri launched way back when, we all got super excited about the possibilities of talking to our phones and having them go off and find the information we need. Then we got our hands on it and realized that perhaps it wasn't all we had hoped.
It's no secret that Apple and Samsung are far from the best of friends. In fact, it's fair to say that they don't like each other at all, one bit, which is probably why Samsung's entire advertising campaign for any new smartphone seems to revolve around bashing the iPhone more than bigging up the latest and greatest from South Korea, see the latest Galaxy S4 TV ads, for example.
