It's one of the reasons that Google's Android is often preferred over Apple's iOS, but Google Now is no longer an Android-only affair, with the personal assistant now available for the competition's iPhone and iPad devices.
Following on from a Wired report yesterday concerning the ambiguity and confusion on how long Siri keeps hold of your private data when you speak to it, Apple has stepped out today to clarify that in actual fact, the voice recognition software will store that information for a two year period. Wired's report prompted Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller to call up the tech publication to clarify a few points pertaining to Siri's policies. Therein, she explained that “Apple may keep Siri data for up to two years,” but also noted that this data is anonymized, and thus would not associate with yourself or any of the products you may use.
Apple's range of iPhone, iPad and Mac hardware generates significant interest and revenue for the company, but there is also an extremely healthy interest in the software that leaves through the company's Cupertino doors and ends up on our digital shelves. The company's iOS firmware has been top of the discussion agenda over the last few weeks for various reasons, but we mustn't forget the recent speculation and interest surrounding the next-generation of Mac OS X. We are under no illusion that Apple will manage to blindside us with certain aspects of OS X 10.9, but it seems that the current recruitment drive for interface engineers is suggesting that Apple's next desktop OS could come bundled with the Siri digital assistant, as mentioned before as well.
The power of voice recognition technology is being utilized by many companies across the globe, as it has been for quite some time. Siri (along with similar implementations of other platforms) has helped bring such technology to the forefront, and although the initial hype surrounding Apple's voice assistant has petered out somewhat, Honda has just announced its intention to bring Siri support to a fleet of its automobiles in the coming months.
Regardless of you opinions on Apple's Siri voice-guided digital assistant that comes with a number of iOS devices, you have to admit that it has been used to perform some extremely interesting tasks since it was first created. After undergoing recent changes as part of iOS 6, Siri has also become a lot more useful to the average user now that it can provide information to worldwide users about businesses, sports scores and points of interests like local restaurants. But what if we could somehow hook Siri up on a date with a Raspberry Pi and make them work together to open our garage door at will? Step forward SiriProxy.
The fact that the Google Maps app is sitting at the top of the iOS download charts, it shows that iOS users definitely have a need for a fully-functional maps app that is built on top of extensive and accurate location data. Despite its somewhat insane popularity, iOS still uses the stock Apple Maps app for all direction requirements that are passed through to it via Siri.
We have seen instances in the past of resourceful developers throwing together various pieces of work and technologies to create clever ways of controlling lighting levels at home or office as well as creating make-shift home automation systems that may not have the same power as a premium system, but still gets the job done. The SiriProxy-Hue project is yet another example of how community driven projects can interact with Apple's own software and hardware to create a usable system for the average user.
Siri has been around for longer than a year now, and while some consumers - particularly those residing in North America - have found the voice-recognition software to be of some use, many other nations and continents haven't had such enjoyable experiences. Here in the UK, I still have to "put-on" an American accent in order for Siri to understand me first time, every time, but considering how little support there is in other places across the world, I count myself among the lucky few that can still have a little fun with the relatively new implementation.
The much anticipated update to the official Apple Store app for iOS is out! The new version 2.4 lets you buy gift cards directly from the app which you can then send to your family and friends. These gift cards are said to be compatible with Passbook feature in iOS 6, in U.S. only for now.
It should be common news by now that Apple has taken the decision to have an executive shake-up in Cupertino, with a number of notable faces set to leave the company in 2013. One of the most well-known casualties of the internal restructure is Scott Forstall who has held the role of Senior Vice President of iOS over the last few years. Forstall has been in charge of developing and handling the direction of iOS and has reportedly been shown the door due to his inability to play nice with other executives, as well as the publicly perceived shortcomings in the new Apple mapping system and the Siri digital assistant.
