Samsung's announcement of the Galaxy S III today has come after weeks, nay, months of speculation about what the hardware will look like from top to bottom. What size screen will it use, how big will the body be, and what cameras will it pack? Now all those questions have been answered, we are left with something possibly even more interesting than all of that - the software.
One of the great things about the Apple's iOS mobile operating system is the native ability to be able to set certain restrictions on the device that prevent users from performing certain tasks. The restrictions options, which are accessible through the General menu of the Settings app on the device, are similar to parental controls that allows the owner of the device to restrict certain actions from being performed on the device, such as launching the App Store, Camera or Safari.
All those iPhone 4S and Siri fans who can't put the intelligent assistant down due to their love of her dulcet tones will be more than happy to find out that you can give your Mac Siri’s voice, yes, make your Mac sound just like Siri! When Apple launched OS X Lion; they introduced a large array of new features, with one of the main ones being the inclusion of Nuance powered speech technology.
While question marks still remain regarding Siri's ability to properly recognize spoken word, judging by the amount of parody videos going viral, Apple's voice assistant software certainly has a pretty enviable career to fall back on in the entertainment industry.
When Siri was added to the iPhone 4S late last year, some would argue that the face of interactive computing technology was changed forever. Some would argue that Apple unleashed a gimmick that nobody in their right minds would use past the initial week of the novelty factor.
Sometimes we need to take a little step back from reality, take a look at the world through the eyes of a child and apply a little humor to our lives. It seems like a very rare occurrence that people actually stop and take the time to have a little fun these days, which is why the guys over at Scoopertino have taken the time to produce some light hearted entertainment for us by turning Apple's Siri assistant into a musical genius, belting out some all time classics.
When Apple launched the iPhone 4S in October of 2011, one of the most talked about and probably its headline feature was the inclusion of the Siri intelligent assistant software which attempted to make life easier by being able to accomplish tasks given to it through a simple voice command. When invoked by the user, Siri is ready and able to take spoken orders which can range from setting meetings up in the calendar, checking the location of friends and family or even pulling up a weather forecast for most locations in the world.
During the course of the last year, there has been much speculation circulating Apple's future plans to delve into the fiercely competitive connected TV market, implementing features of its current products to create a purportedly new experience, unofficially dubbed "iTV".
Siri was introduced as one of iPhone 4S’ three major features late last year. As many of you will already know, it is a personal assistant living inside your iPhone that lets you do things like sending texts/emails, setting up reminders/appointments, starting timers, getting directions to local restaurants, shopping malls etc. etc. using the power of your voice. Now, while Microsoft is satisfied with its “TellMe” system on Windows Phone 7, Google is reportedly looking into a personal assistant for Android 5.0 Jelly Bean.
I imagined that when Apple first started developing the Siri software to be distributed with the iPhone 4S handset, they would have hoped that the intelligent voice assistant would be taken to the hearts of users and quickly become an integral part of their mobile lives. After all, this isn't just some bonus feature or application which offers a small amount of entertainment before being discarded in the never-to-be-used-again pile. Siri is deeply integrated into the operating system, meaning that going forward; we are likely to see enhanced abilities as well as inclusion on all new devices brining Siri to a much wider audience.
