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Eight cool ways to dine with Siri
Steve Sande and I have been collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that just recently hit the Kindle store. It's a how-to that helps you get the most done with your Siri intelligent assistant. We're sharing some of our favorite tips with TUAW readers. Today, we're looking at Siri's ability to help you pick a place to eat, meet up with friends, and calculate your total at the end. Without further ado, here are eight ways Siri can help you dine. Find restaurants. Tell Siri, "I'm in the mood for Ethiopian food," or ask "What is the best Ethiopian food in Denver?" If you ask more generally, as in the first statement, Siri looks for business near you, sorted by distance: "I found 15 Ethiopian restaurants. 10 of them are fairly close to you." If you search the city as a whole, Siri sorts by Yelp rating: "I've found 15 Ethiopian restaurants. I've sorted them by rating." Get directions. Once you've decided on a restaurant, tell Siri, "How do I get to 'Queen of Sheba.'" Siri replies, "Here are directions to Queen of Sheba," transferring you to the Google Maps application, with suggested routes laid out. Meet up with friends. Ask Siri, "Where is Steve Sande?" Siri uses Find My Friends to see where Steve is -- hopefully on the way to meet up with you and not too far away. Remember, you must log into your Find My Friends account to use this query. Your authenticated session will last for a good long time once you do so. Understand the menu. Curious about something on the menu? Want to learn more before you order? Say, "Search for Ethiopian Injeera on the Web." Siri doesn't handle foreign phrases as well as you might hope, but Google does very good "Did you mean?" analysis, and can help you move from Siri's interpretation to a solid web search about oddball food items. Calculate sales tax. Once you've eaten, say, "How much is $18.95 plus Denver sales tax?" Siri uses the local city rate to add it to your tab. Add a tip. A simple Siri request returns a list of tip amounts including 10%, 15%, 18%, 20% and 25% of a given total. Say, "What is tip on $20.41?" You can also say "What is an 18% tip on $86.74 for four people?" in case you want to split the bill. Find a dessert place nearby. Say, "Where can we go for dessert?" Siri searches through Yelp reviews to find mentions of desserts and lists them (along with their reviews) sorted by proximity. "I've found a number of restaurants whose reviews mention desserts fairly close to you." Get home safely. Once you're done with your evening, tell Siri, "Take me home." Siri provides directions to your home address. If you say, "I'm drunk," Siri will find you taxi cab listings to help you travel in a safe and responsible manner.
iOS 5.0.1 beta seeded to developers, battery life fixes and multitasking gestures in tow
Well that didn't take long. After officially commenting on iOS 5's battery woes, Apple's gone and issued a beta of iOS 5.0.1 for developers to help fix the flaw. Per the changelog, build 9A402 fixes bugs relating to battery life and iCloud document syncing, improves voice recognition for Aussies and re-enables multitasking gestures on the original iPad. That last item is of particular interest to iPad devs, who had their ability to enable four-finger gestures unceremoniously yanked by Apple in iOS 5's final release. We welcome these goodies with open arms, but here's hoping universal Siri support comes in iOS 5.0.2. Update: According to 9to5Mac, the iPad 2's Smart Cover passcode vulnerability has also been fixed. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Apple confirms iOS 5 bugs causing battery drain, promises a fix 'in a few weeks'
Anecdotal reports have been pouring in since iOS 5 landed that battery life had suddenly dropped off on some people's iPhones. A full 15-percent of you who responded to our poll reported suffering from the issue. Now Apple has officially confirmed that several bugs are negatively affecting battery life. In a statement given to All Things D the Cupertino company acknowledged the problem and said it would "release a software update to address those [bugs] in a few weeks." In recent days the complaints in both the Apple forums and our own tips box have reached a deafening volume but, sadly, Apple isn't offering any temporary work arounds or advice for those constantly attached to a charger. So there you go folks -- Apple is working on it. You're the patient type, right? Update: Well, iOS 5.0.1 Beta, which includes the aforementioned bug fixes, just landed for devs. So Apple isn't just working on it, they've fixed it... theoretically. Lets hope this test run is a bit shorter than expected.
Apple promises fix for iOS 5 battery issues, releases iOS 5.0.1 beta
Apple has just confirmed with All Things Digital that it is aware of the battery issues some iPhone owners have noticed under iOS 5 and is working on a fix. "A small number of customers have reported lower than expected battery life on iOS 5 devices. We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks." According to MacStories, Aapple has also just released a beta of iOS 5.0.1 to developers. We haven't had a chance to check this out yet to see if this update fixes the battery life issues that some iPhone users have reported, but the timing of the beta release seems a bit too coincidental for this not to be the case. If you've been experiencing unusual battery drain in iOS 5 and the 5.0.1 beta fixes it for you, let us know in the comments.
Siri driving iPhone 4S sales
One compelling feature of the iPhone 4S is Siri, the new voice control assistant that has taken iOS by storm. The technology powering Siri was acquired by Apple in early 2010 and lets users interact with their phone using voice control and natural language commands. According to analysts, customers are so interested in Siri. So much so that they are passing on the $99 iPhone 4, which does not offer Siri, and upgrading to the $199 iPhone 4S just to get the voice assistant. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu says, "Talking to industry sources, what's driving the 4S is better than expected reception of its new Siri software." Wu is so optimistic about the iPhone 4S that he predicts Apple will sell a record-breaking 26 million iPhones in this holiday quarter. It's not surprising that people are enthralled by Siri. The voice assistant can help owners send text messages, schedule appointments and set alarms merely by talking to their phones. Siri is also programmed with a sense of humor and can be as amusing as it is helpful. And though it's not perfect, the voice assistant represents a jump in technology and is better than the voice control systems found on competing mobile platforms.
Soundfreaq's Sound Stack Bluetooth speaker sports dual subwoofers, $400 pricetag
Soundfreaq doesn't release speaker systems often, but it's safe to expect something spectacularly sexy when it does. Such is exactly the case with its latest audiophile-aimed creation, the Sound Stack wireless speaker. The company is toting this $400 Bluetooth-enabled HiFi rig as a "2.2" speaker system, thanks to its DubSub design -- a duo of active subwoofers pump out lowend in an effort to complement its two other "full-range" drivers. Soundfreaq's also packed this puppy with its UQ3 processing to keep the soundstage wide despite the unit's size. Better yet, downloading a free Remote App (available on Android and iOS) unlocks the system's FM radio -- perfect for when you're feeling nostalgic. If that wasn't enough, the Sound Stack's also loaded with an iThing dock and a USB input, both of which can be used to re-juice your devices while streaming. If your Gadget Acquisition Syndrome is already kicking in, fret not, the Sound Stack is available for purchase now. You'll find more details past the break.
iPhone 4S gets official date and blessing by C-Spire, all yours on November 11th
Oh, heck yeah. We've already been delighted by the news that C-Spire (the hip carrier formerly known as Cellular South) is the lucky recipient of the iPhone 4S, but we now have a date -- and it's coming up pretty fast. Both the 4S and the 4 will be ready for your purchase on November 11th, unsurprisingly for the same exact cost as the big three national carriers: $99 for the 8GB iPhone 4 and $199-399 for the iPhone 4S, but the deal's sweetened by the offering of unlimited data (though the two lowest plans exclude streaming). If you're down with that, it's a good idea to head over to the site and get pre-registered as soon as possible. Now that the little guys officially have the iconic device, who's next? Full press release after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
iPhone 4S arriving in Hong Kong, South Korea and a number of other locales on November 11th
Apple is getting ready to add a whole slew of new locations to its iPhone 4S world domination plan. Starting November 11th, the company's latest smartphone will be available in Hong Kong, South Korea and 13 additional countries, including Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, and Romania. Pre-orders for those locations (save for Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro and Panama) will begin on the 4th. The handset is currently available in 29 countries -- that number will increase to more than 70 by year's end. Press info can be found after the break.
Apple reportedly acquires C3 Technologies, iOS Maps overhaul on the horizon?
Last we saw of C3 Technologies' 3D mapping software it was making an appearance on Sony Ericsson's X10, but if 9to5Mac turns out to be right, its next stop could be the iPhone. According to the publication, Cupertino recently scooped up the Saab spin-off and C3 execs have since been working closely with the iOS division. Earlier this year, Apple posted job listings, looking for developers to "radically improve how people interact with maps and location-based services." On a related note, the outfit previously acquired Poly9, a web-based mapping company. So is the fruity one looking to up its street (navigation) cred? Is it finally ready to give Google Maps the boot? We'll just have to wait and see.
Poll: What's broken (or working) for you in iOS 5?
If you haven't updated to iOS 5 by now, let's face it: you never will. It's cool. We get it. Some of us are still using Netscape, too. For the rest of the iOS universe, though, iOS 5 has almost certainly been installed, and now that you've had a few weeks to tinker with it, we're interested in seeing what quirks are being found. We've received a number of reports surrounding call connection issues (on both Verizon Wireless and AT&T), "invalid SIM" warnings, a bug that shows an inbox as being full (when it clearly isn't) and iCloud refusing to load email altogether. Oh, and then there's that pesky Siri pincode bypass -- tsk, tsk! Toss your vote in below, and converse amongst yourselves in comments. Sharing is caring! %Poll-70290%
iPhone 4S battery concerns and tips for better performance
Since the iPhone 4S was released, several customers have reported sub-optimal battery performance. Not only in standby time (Apple's iPhone specs comparison chart notes that the 4S offers 200 hours of standby time, while previous models offered 300), but in daily use as well. The UK's Guardian newspaper reports that some users have been directly contacted by Apple engineers (!) who are trying to suss out the issue. Today, Erick Schonfeld reports his experience at Tech Crunch. Despite moderate use during an 8-hour work day -- about two-and-a-half hours of Internet and email and roughly 30 minutes of calls -- his iPhone's battery had died. If the iPhone saw hands-on activity for about three hours, according to Erick's anecdotal observation, it spent about 5 hours sitting idle. As Erick notes, the phone was "...constantly bleeping with notifications and emails. And that may very well be the problem." Often a "resting" iPhone is in fact doing something, and it's possible that very frequent notification alerts can contribute to battery drain. Per the Guardian story, problematic contacts may also be to blame (see Chris Breen story below). While we wait and see if anything official will come from Apple on this apparently widespread problem, here are a few general tips you can use for preserving battery life on an iOS device. You won't suddenly run 12-hour days after trying these things out, but every bit helps, right? Lower screen brightness. A blazing screen equals a blazing battery. Move that slider a bit to the left. Reduce alerts you don't need. Yes, push notifications are wonderful as are their corresponding beeps. Just look at how many you've got enabled and whittle it down to the essential. Enable quick screen locking. You can typically let the display go to sleep when you aren't actively using your iPhone. Enable Airplane mode when offline. It kills Wi-Fi and data dead. Plus it's polite to whomever you happen to be talking with. Reduce email checking. Do you really need to see a new message every five minutes? Make sure you're not synchronizing massive mail folders you don't actually need on the go, like Sent, Drafts or Junk. Try de-synchronizing your Exchange, iCloud or Google contacts and seeing if that improves matters -- you may have a corrupt contact record in there. Admittedly these tips are common sense stuff and probably won't address more specific issues others are reporting. For example, the folks at iDownloadBlog suggest that the Time Zone setting could be a problem and describe a way to test your own device (note that they tested the iPhone 4 and 3GS, not just the 4S), while Christopher Breen discovered that an errant contact was causing a battery-draining crash loop while trying to sync to iCloud. If you've found any helpful tricks, please share in the comments.
10 cool things you can do with Wolfram Alpha and Siri
Steve Sande and I have been collaborating on "Talking to Siri," an ebook that just recently hit the Kindle store. It's a how-to that will help you get the most done with your Siri intelligent assistant. We're sharing some of our favorite tips with TUAW readers. Today, we're looking at Siri's Wolfram Alpha integration. You can force Siri to use Wolfram by prefixing your request with "Wolfram." For example, you might say, "Wolfram, what is the square root of 2?" or "Wolfram, graph x-squared plus three." But there's a lot more that you can do with Wolfram than just math. Here are ten of our favorite Wolfram searches. These highlight the flexibility of this amazing information resource. Roll a Random Number. Say "Wolfram, random integer." Wolfram returns a random value between 0 and 1000. "Wolfram, random number" provides a 0 to 1 floating point value. Look up nature facts. Say, "Wolfram, what is the scientific name of a mountain lion?" It's Puma concolor. Rabbits are Leporidae, and Peacocks, Galliformes. Check upcoming holidays. Say, "How many days until Thanksgiving?" This returns both the number of days as well as a helpful calendar so you can chart out the time until then. Create a secure password. Say "Wolfram, password." Wolfram generates a difficult-to-crack 8-character password. Scroll down for alternates. If you need a longer password, you can append these together. Convert text to Morse code. Say, "What is Morse code for horsefeathers?" You'll see the entire sequence laid out for your tapping pleasure. Check your diet. Say, "How many calories in a small apple?" Wolfram will tell you that there are 75. Ask out about time zones. Say, "Wolfram, what is the local time in Jakarta?" Query about your chances. Say, "Wolfram, what is the probability of a full house?" For a random five-card hand, it's apparently 1 in 694. Have fun with pop culture. Say, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" or "Wolfram, who shot the sheriff?" Visualize colors. Okay, I've saved the best for last. If you work with colors, this can save you a lot of time. Say, "Wolfram pound sign E 9 7 4 5 1" (for Burnt Sienna / Tangerine) or "Wolfram pound sign 2 9 A B 8 7" (for Jungle Green). This will also convert the colors to RGB values and look up closely-matching brand colors from Benjamin Moore. Make sure to scroll down to catch all the helpful information.
Apogee Jam guitar adapter review
Musicians have long needed ways to catalog ideas and capture rough recordings of new material without the anchor that is a full-fledged recording setup. Apogee offers just that with its Jam guitar adapter for the iPad, iPhone and Mac, which allows you to strum your way to a record deal via an iOS device. Whether you're on the road or in your living room, the ability to connect a Les Paul to a mobile device and crank out the demo for your next hit is super helpful. But, is it worth the $100 investment to have recording-on-the-go at your fingertips? Read on to see what we discovered. %Gallery-137053%
Samsung claims top spot in global smartphone shipments for Q3 2011, Apple slips to number two
On this edition of As The Smartphone World Turns..., we've got Samsung violently snatching victory from the jaws of Apple, claiming its spot at the top of global smartphone vendors once more. Dramatics aside, the latest shipment figures tallied up by Strategy Analytics are showing that worldwide smartphone shipments are up 44 percent year-over-year, reaching a staggering 117 million units in Q3 2011. Digging into that a bit, we're told that Samsung has overtaken Apple from a units-shipped standpoint, with Sammy moving 28 million smartphones and claiming 24 percent of the market share. If you'll recall, Apple briefly grabbed hold of numero uno last quarter, but has now fallen a rung with 15 percent of the global pie. Of course, things could be dramatically different when we see Q4 2011 figures roll out -- remember, Q3 2011 was the last quarter in a long string with the aging iPhone 4 as Apple's "newest" device. Stranger still, Nokia is slotted third with just 14 percent of the global share, representing a precipitous drop from 33 percent a year ago. Similarly, Nokia's fortunes are apt to change with both the N9 finally out and its spate of Windows Phone devices heading out in short order. Hop on past the break for the full breakdown.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Why am I in Atlanta?
Dear Aunt TUAW, I recently upgraded to iOS 5 on my 3GS. Oddest thing happened yesterday. I am sitting on board a jet in NH waiting to take off for Atllanta. I pull up Find My Friends to see where a few people are at and it shows me on the tarmac at the Atlanta airport. Thinking it might be an app error, I pull up Google Earth and it showed the same thing. I was on a Delta flight with wifi but had not connected to the network. I felt like I was in a Star Trek time warp. Any thoughts? Your loving nephew, Chad Dear Chad, Auntie thought this might have to do with the plane's onboard WiFi system, so she turned to Uncle Steve to explain the situation. Steve replies, "Just because your iPhone wasn't connected to the network doesn't mean it wasn't using the airplane's Wi-Fi for geolocation. I had the same thing happen on a cruise last year. The ship had a home base of Port Canaveral, Florida, so all of the onboard networks were set so that any device locally thought they were sitting at port in Florida -- even when we were in St. Petersburg, Russia! "Chances are that all of Delta's aircraft Wi-Fi systems are set to show Atlanta as their "home base" location and that's what you were seeing. Bizarre, isn't it?!" Auntie hopes this helps explain what may have happened. Hugs, Auntie T.
Boxee updates iPad app to version 1.2, adds global Spotify support
It's only been a couple of months since Boxee unleashed its much anticipated iPad app, but the company has already come out with that much needed update to version 1.2. With the upgrade, users will be able to navigate across content sent to their Boxee Boxes using a remote control interface that's now located at the bottom right corner of the app. iPad owners can also pause video sent to their Box and pick up later where they left off, using the Boxee Media Manager. And, as expected, AirPlay sessions can now run in the background, giving you one less thing to worry about while lazing on the couch. On a related note, Spotify users can now use Boxee to access their accounts from anywhere in the world (previously, access was only granted in countries where Spotify is available). To get your app up to speed, check out the coverage link, below.
iOS 5 Safari speed gains demonstrated in New Relic infographic
Web application performance company New Relic released the results of a study comparing the mobile browsing speeds of iOS 4 and iOS 5 on the same model of iPhone. What did they find? That iOS 5 / Safari 5.1 is much faster than iOS 4 / Safari 5.0. New Relic complied their test results into the nifty infographic seen below. I love their conclusion: "Time to upgrade!" What has been your personal experience with web browsing or web app response times under iOS 5 and Safari 5.1? Leave your comments below.
Siri co-founder Kittlaus leaves Apple
According to a report from AllThingsD, Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus has left Apple to pursue his own interests. The departure was supposedly amicable and Kittlaus will use his newly-found free time to spend time with his family in Chicago and explore new entrepreneurial ideas. He reportedly left Apple right after the launch of the iPhone 4S and the debut of new and improved Siri speech recognition assistant. His departure won't affect the future development of Siri as other members of the Siri executive team are expected to stay at Apple. Once a stand-alone iOS application, Siri was acquired by Apple in early 2010. The voice assistant is now integrated into the version of iOS 5 that ships on the iPhone 4S. It offers a conversational voice interface that lets you send and receive text messages, search the web, add reminders and appointments, navigate using Apple Maps, get the weather forecast and more.
Siri ported to iPad, still getting silent treatment from Apple servers
Developers wasted no time bringing Siri to the iPhone 4, and nine days later, it's been brought to the iPad as well. This version, running on a first-generation jailbroken Apple tablet, suffers from a similar problem as past non-iPhone 4S ports: it's still not talking to Apple's data servers. This means that until devs manage to get voice commands recognized and initiated, the iPad's unofficial virtual assistant will remain effectively gagged.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Can I disable those battery alerts?
Dear Aunt TUAW, Maybe I'm the only one this bothers, but Apple made a big deal about their whole new notifications in iOS 5. Then one day I was playing Canabalt, and I'm up to over 15,000! My high score is 17, so my heart really starts beating as I draw in. Suddenly I got a big pop-up on my phone alerting me that I have 20% Battery remaining. Maybe there was a glitch or something but my game kept going for about a second (maybe even a second and a half) before pausing. Obviously long enough for my poor little man to plummet to his death. I looked but couldn't find a way to set that type of notification to "banner." Maybe even go away completely? Please help if you know. If not, let's all complain and maybe Apple will add that in a future update! Your loving nephew, Adam Dear Adam, Oof. That must have hurt! Unfortunately, power level notifications are not controllable through user settings, the way that reminders, appointments, and messages are. You can always try submitting a feature request to Apple. Unfortunately, those tend to be popularity contests -- Apple tends to pay attention to the most requested items, and this is a wee bit, shall we say, niche. Unfortunately, Auntie doesn't really have any advice other than play games on a fuller charge where possible so you don't run into low-battery warnings. And yes, she knows how lame that advice is. Got other suggestions for Adam? Add them to the comments. Hugs, Auntie T.