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What can you say to Siri in iOS 6?

Last year, Steve Sande and I put together a "What can you say to Siri" post that proved to be hugely popular. We'd been working on "Talking to Siri: Learning the Language of Apple's Intelligent Assistant", which we initially self-pubbed as an e-book, and then later moved to QUE publishing.

We're now working on the second edition of "Talking to Siri" and thought we'd update our original post for iOS 6. A lot of people are now using Siri and Siri-related features.

Siri is available on the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 5, the new third generation iPad, and the fifth generation iPod touch. Dictation-only support also appears in OS X Mountain Lion. There's a lot of Siri going around.

As we work on our update, we thought we'd share the following Apple-supplied examples for using Siri. It's only a partial list, but it gives a great flavor of what Siri can do.

Standout new features include the sports, movies and restaurant categories recently announced by Apple. But there's a lot more too.

Siri now supports arbitrary relationships. You can say "Megan Lavey-Heaton is my favorite comics author" and Siri will add that relationship. You can launch applications by saying "Launch Angry Birds" and post to Twitter and Facebook by voice. Siri also now lets you dismiss her (or him) by voice. Say "Goodbye Siri" and Siri will close the interaction window.

The examples that follow below only scratch the surface of what you can do with Siri. We're having a ton of fun discovering all Siri's new improved capabilities. Keep your eyes peeled over the next few months as Steve and I share new favorite tricks and tips as we work on our update.

Have you found some great new Siri features? Share them in the comments!

ASKING ABOUT CONTACTS

  • What's Emily's address?

  • What is Susan Park's phone number?

  • When is my wife's birthday?

  • Show Lindsey's home email address

  • What's my brother's work address?


FINDING CONTACTS

  • Show Brian Conway

  • Find people named Park

  • Who is Jimmy Patrick?


ESTABLISHING RELATIONSHIPS

  • My mom is Susan Park

  • Jimmy Patrick is my brother

  • Call my brother at work

APP LAUNCHING

  • Open Photos

  • Play Infinity Blade II


ADDING EVENTS

  • Set up a meeting at 9

  • Set up a meeting with Jimmy at 9

  • Meet with Emily at noon

  • Set up a meeting about hiring tomorrow at 9am

  • New appointment with Susan Park Friday at 3

  • Schedule a planning meeting at 8:30 today in the boardroom


CHANGING EVENTS

  • Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30

  • Reschedule my appointment with Dr. Patrick to next Monday at 9am

  • Add Emily to my meeting with Brian

  • Cancel the budget review meeting


ASKING ABOUT EVENTS

  • What does the rest of my day look like?

  • What's on my calendar for Friday?

  • When is my next appointment?

  • When am I meeting with Jimmy?

  • Where is my next meeting?


USING ALARMS

  • Wake me up tomorrow at 7am

  • Set an alarm for 6:30am

  • Wake me up in 8 hours

  • Change my 6:30 alarm to 6:45

  • Turn off my 6:30 alarm

  • Delete my 7:30 alarm


CLOCK

  • What time is it in Berlin?

  • What is today's date?

  • What's the date this Saturday?


TIMER

  • Set the timer for ten minutes

  • Show the timer

  • Pause the timer

  • Resume

  • Reset the timer

  • Stop it


SENDING EMAIL

  • Email Emily about the trip

  • Email Lindsey about the change in plans

  • New email to Susan Park

  • Mail Dad about the rent check

  • Email Dr. Patrick and say I got the forms, thanks

  • Mail Emily and Brian about the party and say I had a great time


CHECKING EMAIL

  • Check email

  • Any new email from Jimmy today?

  • Show new mail about the lease

  • Show the email from Emily yesterday


RESPONDING TO EMAIL

  • Reply Dear Susan sorry about the late payment

  • Call him at work


FACETIME

  • FaceTime Brian

  • Make a FaceTime call to Susan Park

FACEBOOK

  • Post to Facebook headed to the new Pixar movie

  • Write on my wall just landed in San Jose!


FIND MY FRIENDS

  • Where's Brian?

  • Where is my sister?

  • Is my wife at home?

  • Where are all my friends?

  • Who is here?

  • Who is near me?

  • Let me know when Jimmy leaves home

  • Let Susan know when I leave work


LOCKSCREEN READING

  • Read my notifications

  • Do I have any new messages?


MAPS

  • Show me the Golden Gate Bridge

  • Show me a map of 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California

LOCAL BUSINESSES

  • Find coffee near me

  • Where's the nearest coffee shop?

  • Find a gas station near work


NAVIGATION

  • How do I get home?

  • Directions to my dad's work

  • Get me directions from San Francisco to Santa Barbara

  • What's my next turn?

  • Are we there yet?

  • What's my ETA?

  • Find a florist along my current route


MAPS

  • Show me the Golden Gate Bridge

  • Show me a map of 1 Infinite Loop Cupertino California

LOCAL BUSINESSES

  • Find coffee near me

  • Where's the nearest coffee shop?

  • Find a gas station near work


NAVIGATION

  • How do I get home?

  • Directions to my dad's work

  • Get me directions from San Francisco to Santa Barbara


SENDING MESSAGES

  • Tell Susan I'll be right there

  • Send a message to Brian Conway

  • Send a message to Emily saying how about tomorrow

  • Tell Lindsey the show was great

  • Send a message to Susan on her mobile saying I'll be late

  • Send a message to 408 555 1212

  • Text Brian and Emily where are you?


READING MESSAGE ALERTS

  • Read my new messages

  • Read it again


RESPONDING TO MESSAGES

  • Reply that's great news

  • Tell him I'll be there in 10 minutes

  • Call her


SEARCHING FOR MOVIE INFORMATION

  • Find Disney movies

  • What comedies are playing?

  • Who starred in Tron Legacy?

  • Who directed Finding Nemo?

  • What is Toy Story 3 rated?


FINDING MOVIE SHOWTIMES

  • I want to see the new Pixar movie

  • What's playing at the movies tomorrow?

  • What's playing at Main Street Cinema


FINDING MOVIE THEATERS

  • Find some movie theaters near my office


READING MOVIE REVIEWS

  • Show me the reviews for Toy Story 3


MAJOR MOVIE AWARDS

  • Which movie won Best Picture in 1983?


MUSIC

  • Play Walk by Foo Fighters

  • Play Little Broken Hearts shuffled

  • Play Norah Jones

  • Play some blues

  • Play my party mix

  • Shuffle my roadtrip playlist

  • Play

  • Pause

  • Skip

NOTES

  • Note that I spent $12 on lunch

  • Note to self: check out that new Norah Jones album

  • Find my meeting notes

  • Show me my notes from June 25


PHONE

  • Call Brian

  • Call Emily's mobile

  • Call Susan on her work phone

  • Call 408 555 1212

  • Call home

  • FaceTime Emily


REMINDERS

  • Add artichokes to my grocery list

  • Add skydiving to my bucket list

  • Remind me to call mom

  • Remind me to call my mom when I get home

  • Remember to take an umbrella

  • Remind me take my medicine at 6am tomorrow

  • Remind me to pick up flowers when I leave here

  • Remind me when I leave to call Brian

  • Remind me to finish the report by 6

  • Victor Agreda is my hairdresser

  • Kelly Guimont is my colleague


SEARCHING FOR RESTAURANTS

  • Find some burger joints in Baltimore

  • Good Mexican restaurants around here


RESERVATIONS

  • Table for four in Palo Alto tonight

  • Make a reservation at a romantic Italian restaurant tonight at 7pm

RESTAURANT REVIEWS

  • Show me the reviews for Seven Hills in San Francisco


SCORES

  • Did the Giants win?

  • How did Kansas City do?

  • What was the score the last time the Tigers played the Red Sox?

  • Show me the football scores from last night


GAME SCHEDULES

  • When do the Giants play next?

  • When is the Boston Red Sox's first game of the season?

  • Show me the schedule for baseball


PLAYER INFORMATION

  • Who has the highest slugging percentage?

  • Who has the most home runs on the Giants?

  • Who has the most goals in soccer?

  • Which quarterback has the most passing yards


TEAM INFORMATION

  • Show me the roster for the Dodgers

  • Who is pitching for the Miami Marlins this season?

  • Is anyone on the Red Sox injured?


STOCKS

  • What's Apple's stock price?

  • What is Apple's PE ratio?

  • What did Yahoo close at today?

  • How is the Nikkei doing?

  • How are the markets doing?

  • What is the Dow at?


TWITTER

  • Post to Twitter another beautiful day in Cupertino

  • Tweet with my location great concert

  • Tweet meeting up with Brian Conway for lunch today

  • Tweet the new iPad looks insanely great! hashtag Apple Keynote

WEATHER

  • What's the weather for today?

  • What's the weather for tomorrow?

  • Will it rain in Cupertino this week?

  • Check next week's forecast for Burlington

  • What's the forecast for this evening?

  • How's the weather in Tampa right now?

  • How hot will it be in Palm Springs this weekend?

  • What's the high for Anchorage on Thursday?

  • What's the temperature outside?

  • How windy is it out there?

  • When is sunrise in Paris?


WEB SEARCH

  • Search the web for polar bears

  • Search for vegetarian pasta recipes

  • Search the web for best cable plans

  • Search Wikipedia for Abraham Lincoln

  • Bing Foo Fighters (We know, we know. Sorry.)


WOLFRAM ALPHA

  • What does repartee mean?

  • How many calories in a bagel?

  • What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people?

  • Who's buried in Grant's tomb?

  • How long do dogs live?

  • What is the Gossamer Condor?

  • What's the square root of 128?

  • How many dollars is €45?

  • How many days until Christmas?

  • How far away is the Sun?

  • When is the next solar eclipse?

  • Show me the Orion constellation

  • What's the population of Jamaica?

  • How high is Mt. Everest?

  • How deep is the Atlantic ocean?

  • What's the price of gasoline in Chicago?