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iPhone Assistant called a "world-changing event" by Siri co-founder
One of the expected announcements in tomorrow's "Let's Talk iPhone" event revolves around the iPhone Assistant, a powerful voice recognition and artificial intelligence tool that will enable real-time searching and control of iPhones. The tool, based on technology acquired in Apple's 2010 purchase of Siri, is so powerful that Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky is referring to its release as a "world-changing event." Winarsky is no longer with Siri, so he's offering pure speculation based on his prior knowledge of the company's technology. He believes that inclusion of the Siri artificial intelligence capability might explain why an iPhone announcement wasn't made until October (rather than the usual summer timeframe), noting that "AI takes a lot of computing power." Rumors floating around the web note that Assistant may only run on a next-generation iPhone due to the need for more RAM and a faster processor. In an interview with iPodNN News, Winarsky waxed enthusiastic about the capabilities of Assistant, noting that "If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language ... We're talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift."
Daily Update for September 29, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Daily Update for September 26, 2011
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes, which is perfect for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Rumor: Next iPhone to feature powerful Assistant, 1 GB of RAM (Updated)
Last week a reliable source (who asked not to be named) approached TUAW with information about upcoming iPhone features that sounded incredible. We didn't run the post at that time, however, both out of concern for the source and because we couldn't corroborate the details. This morning, 9to5 Mac posted pretty much exactly what we heard from our source -- that the next iPhone is going to feature an amazing voice control and device navigation system called Assistant. That's not all -- the source (who may or may not be the same person who talked with 9to5) told us that the iPhone will come packed with 1 GB of RAM and the Apple A5 dual-core processor, as well as a vastly improved 8 MP camera. 9to5 reported some details TUAW didn't get, including that the new phone will contain Qualcomm's Gobi Baseband chipset for use as a true world phone (GSM and CDMA). The Assistant, however, is a game-changer. Assistant is an outgrowth of Voice Control, which was introduced with the iPhone 3GS in 2009. It is based on technology from Siri, a company that was purchased by Apple last year. The Assistant requires the power of the A5 CPU as well as the 1 GB of RAM, which is why existing iPhones will not be able to take advantage of the new feature. The speech interface is launched by holding the home button for several seconds, after which a microphone interface slides up from the bottom of the screen, covering only about a quarter of the display. In contrast to the existing iPhone Voice Control capabilities, Assistant can help you with just about anything. Want to send an iMessage without typing? I could just say "send a text to Barb saying I'm going to the bank" and the message is created and sent. You can also use Assistant with the location-based reminder feature in the iOS Reminders app, by using commands like "Remind me to buy Vitamin D when I'm at Whole Foods Market." Voice requests for directions are also a feature -- asking "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" won't result in the expected response ("practice, practice, practice") but directions from your current location to 881 7th Avenue in New York City. Assistant also has a conversation view, in which the system literally converses with the user in order to provide the best results. Let's say set up a meeting with Tim Cook on October 4th. You'd say "Set up a meeting with Tim Cook," and the iPhone would respond by asking "Which email address should Tim Cook be notified at, home or work?" When you'd respond "Work,", the iPhone would ask the time and date you want to schedule the meeting for. At the end of the conversation, you'd be shown the details of the calendar event for confirmation. We're told that you can speak to the Assistant in your normal tone and speed of voice; it's that accurate. Assistant is also integrated with Wolfram Alpha, so you could also ask your iPhone questions like "Convert 10.2 acres to hectares" or "What's the cube root of 924?" and get an immediate answer. One more fascinating feature that is likely to be packed with privacy settings is "Find my Friends." With this feature, you could ask your phone "Where's Erica Sadun?" and (provided she's made her location information available to me) the iPhone would display her location. This could be very useful for finding TUAW teammates at Macworld Expo 2012. As with any leaked information, this could all be a ploy by Apple to a) figure out who is leaking to the Apple press or b) get all of us excited about an upcoming announcement. Well, we're already quivering with anticipation about the announcement, and if the new device(s) are anything remotely like what we've heard about, Apple will have another winner on its hands. Update: A slightly less reputable source adds that the upcoming iPhone also features AirPlay mirroring, which is found on the iPad 2 but not on the iPhone 4. This feature allows any app to be viewed via AirPlay video streaming to be mirrored full-screen to an Apple TV -- as though the device were connected with an HDMI cable straight to the TV.
Pioneer solicits Whodoo guinea pigs for speech-based Android assistant (video)
Ever wish you could have a personal attendant living inside your Android smartphone? You know... one you can boss around without incurring human rights or labor law violations? Apparently Pioneer shares your vision, because its voice-controlled social assistant named Whodoo is seemingly ready to "hop to" at a moment's notice -- willing to locate a restaurant and send it to friends, route the appropriate directions, and announce your intentions to Facebook or Twitter -- all based on your verbal commands (and ostensibly perfect for in-dash navigation). The company is seeking bossy applicants for its closed beta experiment, which involves completing a lengthy application, providing considerable feedback, and submitting audio samples that are gathered by Whodoo. Think you've got the chops? Just follow the source, where you're free to convince Pioneer of the same.
Voice-controlled Japanese robot assists with eating, makes veggies more fun (video)
Isao Wakabayashi, a student at Chukyo University in Japan, seems to have made the arduous chore of eating easier. Using a customized version of a Robix robot kit, Wakabayashi coded a program that makes the feeder recognize individual food items and feed them to you. The meal-assistant features two arms, dexterous enough to handle utensils, and can be controlled using your voice. In theory, this system would be ideal for the elderly, folks that currently have trouble eating by themselves, or you know -- for those that may or may not be too lazy to bring food to their face.
Kompott 'robotic agent' helps the elderly stay connected, enjoys a nap
Full-fledged humanoid robots helping the elderly are certainly well and good, but what about somebody that just needs a little help staying in touch with their family? They might one day be using something like this so-called Kompott "robotic agent" designed by some students at the Zurich University of the Arts Interaction Design lab. As you can see, it's actually just a robot head, which has a touchscreen for a face and a couple of sensors that let you tap it on top to wake it up, and on each side to scroll through items. To simplify things even further, the bot also boasts both voice recognition and text-to-speech, and a single button on its chest that lets you access a list of contacts. Of course, it's still just a prototype, but it does appear to be fully functional -- head on past the break to check it out in action.
Pioneer's Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video)
Before you dismiss this as just another crazy idea out of Japan, hear us out. The newly developed, crab-simulating Navi Robo is designed to give drivers visual navigating assistance as a supplement to their GPS device. Its primary benefit, aside from helping the hearing impaired, will be in conveying instructions without requiring the driver to focus on it, as its eyes light up for attention and its "claws" vibrate urgently when an upcoming turn is imminent. Frankly, it looks both cute and functional, and we think kudos are in order for both Pioneer and iXs Research for coming up with the idea. They'll be taking their usual good time (read: a couple of years) to refine and develop the idea, but we've got video of the robot doing its thing right now -- you know where to find it.
Robovie R3 all set to assist, freak out elderly and handicapped shoppers this November (video)
The Robovie R3 is the latest in a distinguished line of humanoid bots developed for the purposes of research, discovery, and (a tiny bit of) geeky fun. Following its predecessor's footsteps -- the R2 secured employment as a guide to lost shoppers -- the R3 will be making its mall debut in November of this year, where it'll assist people by carrying their shopping, providing information about nearby products, and holding their hand as it guides them through the crowds. Intended as a way to get elderly and handicapped people back out into the community, this is part of a viability study for the robot's usefulness, and if it finds success maybe its anime eyes and dalek form factor will find their way outside Japan as well. Video of the R3 after the break.
Final Fantasy XI players get a little help from their iPhone
There's a lot of information to keep track of in Final Fantasy XI, much of it not covered by the in-game interface. There's no easy way to access the all-important airship schedules or the often-loathed Race Specific Equipment quest eligibility. Since the game has been out for several years, there are naturally more than a few applications to track these events... but due to the game's issues with alt-tabbing, they require a bit of a workaround for the player. Now there's another option available to anyone with an iPhone or an iPod Touch -- a new app from Duodyne Studios. Although not officially affiliated with Square-Enix, the application is aimed at giving players easy access to the most commonly needed timers. That includes a recast timer feature that allows players to simply tap the ability when they use it, followed by an alert on the phone when it becomes ready again. It's not as useful as simple macro checks for short abilities like Provoke, but longer abilities will benefit from having the timer feature. At $0.99 for players in the US and comparable prices for other markets, Final Fantasy XI players might want to take a look.
Robosoft Kompai takes care of your elderly so you don't have to (video)
This one has been quite a long time in coming, but Robosoft's service drone has finally made it off the drawing board, collected a catchy name, and headed off to the big world to seek its fortune as an R&D platform. Kompai is a personal assistance bot built around speech -- it understands basic instructions and requests and offers appropriate responses with its own monotonic style. It'll serve as a note and shopping list recorder, a calendar, a music player, or a video conferencing tool for when old grandpappy needs to call his doctor. If you think having a programmable hunk of mobile metal that's permanently connected to the net in your house is a good idea, look out for OEMs picking up the design during the Intercompany Long Term Care Insurance Conference taking place next week. And if you just wanna see a bug-eyed bot talk to an old dude, click past the break for the video. [Thanks, Erico]
MIT's Affective Intelligent Driving Agent is KITT and Clippy's lovechild (video)
If we've said it once, we've said it a thousand times, stop trying to make robots into "friendly companions!" MIT must have some hubris stuck in its ears, as its labs are back at it with what looks like Clippy gone 3D, with an extra dash of Knight Rider-inspired personality. What we're talking about here is a dashboard-mounted AI system that collects environmental data, such as local events, traffic and gas stations, and combines it with a careful analysis of your driving habits and style to make helpful suggestions and note points of interest. By careful analysis we mean it snoops on your every move, and by helpful suggestions we mean it probably nags you to death (its own death). Then again, the thing's been designed to communicate with those big Audi eyes, making even our hardened hearts warm just a little. Video after the break. %Gallery-76874%
European robots assist children in forming relationships
We've seen robots that help humans diagnose autism, but a team of researchers at the University of Hertfordshire have developed a number of robots and humanoids that can help autistic children cope and form relationships. The €3.22 million ($4.33 million) Interactive Robotic Social Mediators as Companions (IROMEC) project is being funded by the European Sixth Framework, and seeks to "investigate the use of robotic toys to enable children with disabilities to develop social skills." A number of creations have been concocted in order to help youngsters with learning disabilities interact more normally, and KASPAR (Kinesics and Synchronisation in Personal Assistant Robotics) has emerged as the latest android to come to the rescue. The team isn't satisfied just yet, however, as it purportedly plans to further "investigate how robotic toys can become social mediators" within the next three years.[Via Physorg]
InterRobot's tissue-dispensing robot smiles while you sneeze
Let's face it, not everyone has the technical abilities to convert their Xbox 360 into a tissue dispenser, and moreover, it's not the most portable method of carrying around sniffle rags. Never fear, however, as the nation so well known for kicking out robotic servants is at it yet again, and this time around InterRobot Inc. is offering up a mechanical being to serve up handy tissue packs to the ill public that it runs into. The Mospeng-kun robot sports a human-esque design, the ability to wheel around and meet sickly individuals, and a continually smiling face that greets folks before personally handing them a pack of nose napkins. No word on what else the company plans on dispensing care of robotic employees, but considering they'll run you (or your business) around $835 for a five day rental, we'd probably reserve this option solely for the flu season.[Via CNET]
iPhoto Keyword Assistant and Manager plugins updated
The two major keyword plugins for iPhoto have both been updated recently. First up is everyone's favorite free alternative, Ken Ferry's Keyword Assistant which we've covered in the past. This new 1.9.4 version adds a panel with tag keyword auto-completion, and it can also alphabetize the keyword list.Next is Keyword Manager, a shareware plugin for iPhoto that brings some more robust features to the table for seriously serious iPhoto keyword junkies. New in version 1.2 is: Copy and paste keywords between photos Jump directly to next untagged photo Fixed crash bug in Dutch version Minor stability bugs fixed Japanse localization German localization Chinese localization A demo is of course available, while a single license to Keyword Manager is $19 from Bullstorm Software.
Japanese Hardware Sales: 29 Jan - 4 Feb: Executive assistant edition
Don't lie, faithful readers. Each and every one of you, upon reading this article, indulged in at least four seconds of consideration on applying for the position of Reggie Fils-Aime's personal assistant. The list of technical requirements was steep, but when you consider the amount of people willing to take this job is approximately 6.5 billion, there are certainly a few out there who fit the bill.Reggie personally kicks all those asses that are so frequently mentioned. But those names he's taken? He merely dictates them to that special person, whose job it is to transcribe the taken names for future reference. Truly, a job of monumental importance.A little known fact, friends, is that Reggie has a direct impact on the Japanese hardware sales numbers every week. Here is an example conversation, heard behind the closed doors of his secret penthouse office...Reggie Fils-Aime: We need to come up with some interesting numbers this week.Assistant: Sir, they have the actual data available in Japan, if we just--Reggie: Silence!Assistant: ...Reggie: ...Assistant: If you wan--Reggie then rips out the assistant's spine in retribution.- DS Lite: 146,073 48,453 (24.91%)- Wii: 65,740 18,014 (21.51%) - PSP: 31,216 4,484 (12.56%) - PS2: 18,727 1,269 (6.35%) - PS3: 17,540 3,455 (16.46%) - Xbox 360: 6,130 1,235 (16.77%) - Game Boy Micro: 1,050 127 (10.79%) - GBA SP: 724 299 (29.23%) - Gamecube: 306 41 (11.82%) - DS Phat: 119 37 (45.12%) - GBA: 28 6 (17.65%)[Source: Media Create]
Nintendo's Reggie needs an assistant
The ultimate seat of power is currently available for Nintendo fanboys and fangirls everywhere: Assistant to the president at Nintendo of America. Unless there's been a major shift over at Nintendo HQ in Redmond, that means working directly for Reggie Fils-Aime. Imagine the power, which any office worker will tell you lies with the assistant. You'd be the hand of Reggie, unleashing Nintendo of Americas salvation or wrath. You'd never want for Wii again, product would flow for you like the Nile.Only problem is the job description is the stuff high-powered positions that own the ear of a company president are made of. Eight years of related experience, ability to relay information with tact and diplomacy and a preference to someone bilingual in Japanese and English. The full job description can be found after the break. Wonder how Reggie takes his coffee?[Via GoNintendo]
Bosch unveils parking space measurement system
While Toyota already has its self-parking Prius on the streets, and Volkswagen (not to mention BMW and Honda) isn't too far behind, Citroën is joining the fold thanks to a newly-unveiled system developed by Bosch. Citing the C4 Picasso as the "world's first car to feature integrated parking space measurement," Bosch apparently hopes to get its own snazzy parking assistant on more rides in the future. The system utilizes six total sensors on the front / rear of the vehicle to gauge parking space dimesntions (and alert you of obstacles) while cruising by at up to 12.5-miles per hour, and can inform the driver if the space he / she is eying is too small, "a tight squeeze," or just right. The system initiates the measuring process when the motorist tags a button on their steering wheel, and looks to the right or left depending on which turn signal is in use. While not quite as advanced as Toyota's gig, Bosch hopes to upgrade its system to allow the vehicle itself to control the maneuvering sometime in 2008, but those not able to hold out can pick up the current rendition real soon.[Via Gizmag]
Keyword Assistant updated for iPhoto 6.0.5
Apple updated their apps for Aperture 1.5's arrival, and Ken Ferry stayed right in step and updated his fantastic Keyword Assistant plugin for iPhoto, which we've mentioned before. Version 1.9.3 also brings a Russian localization to the table, meaning it now works in English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish.Ken offers Keyword Assistant for free from his .Mac homepage.
