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Developer builds Siri proxy server
Last week, a bunch of hackers cracked open the Siri protocol and explained how the service sends information back and forth to Apple's server. Now, another developer, known only by his twitter handle @plamoni, created a proxy server to extend the functionality of Siri on your phone. The proxy server contains custom commands that Siri on the iPhone 4S can use. In his demo video, he shows how Siri can communicate with his indoor wireless thermostat. He is able to grab status information and turn the heat on and off. The server works with Siri on a stock iPhone 4S handset and doesn't require any jailbreak. It only works with the iPhone 4S right now and is not ported to earlier iPhone models or the iPod touch. He has released the proxy server to the open source community so they can experiment with it. You can grab the source code from github and check out a demo video from the developer below. [Vis Engadget, ijailbreak.com and iPhone Hacks]
Developer creates proxy server for Siri, controls thermostat with his voice (video)
Now that Siri's protocol has been freshly dissected and laid bare for the world to behold, hackers have been busy finding ways to move Apple's personal assistant beyond the realm of the iPhone 4S. That task may be getting easier, however, now that a developer has created his very own third-party proxy server, designed specifically for Siri. The dev, known by his Twitter handle @plamoni, demonstrated his brainchild in a recent video clip, using a plug-in to control a WiFi thermostat with only voice commands. As @plamoni explains, the hack won't require users to jailbreak their iPhone 4S, but it won't let them port Siri over to earlier iPhones or iPod Touch models, either -- not yet, at least. The idea, according to the developer, is to make it easier for other hackers to experiment with and build upon Siri's functionality. Head past the break to see the demo video for yourself, or if you're up for it, grab the source code and instructions on how to create your own server, at the source link below. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
How to use Siri for voice dictation on a Mac with Mobile Mouse
By now just about everyone knows that you can use Siri to take dictation on an iPhone 4S, but what you may not know is that you can also use it on a Mac. If you have an app on your iPhone that allows you to access your Mac's keyboard functions remotely, you can use Siri's dictation feature on the iPhone 4S to dictate text to your Mac. One example of an iPhone app that you can use to dictate to your Mac is Mobile Mouse. The app already allows you to control your keyboard and mouse from your iPhone, but using the new dictation button on the keyboard, you can also dictate text to your Mac. (Reader Amalesh Panse pointed out, via Twitter, that Magic Mouse works fine with Windows too.) So long as you have a cursor inserted into a text field, you can use the dictation button on your iPhone's keyboard to use Siri to dictate texts directly to your Mac using Mobile Mouse or a similar app. Conversion into text happens rather quickly, almost as quickly as it does on the iPhone's native interface. In practice the dictation is actually quite accurate; it does make mistakes, but I managed to dictate almost all of this post using Siri via Mobile Mouse with only a few adjustments. Apart from being an extremely cool trick, this feature could also allow you to bypass paying upwards of $50 for a product like Dragon Express, which does essentially the same thing (perhaps better). The best part is, there are no settings that you need to tweak in order to get this to work. If you already have Mobile Mouse installed on your iPhone (and Mobile Mouse Server on your Mac), you're already able to use Siri to dictate text to your computer. Seeing words I've spoken into my phone appear on my Mac's screen as if by magic is one of those whiz-bang things that totally reminds me we're living in the future. Thanks for the tip Rohan!
Rumor: iOS updates to address remaining battery issues, add new Siri commands
German blog Macerkopf claims it's heard directly from an Apple software engineer that iOS 5.0.2 "should arrive before the end of next week" and will address remaining battery issues that have affected some iPhone 4S units even after the recent 5.0.1 update. Macerkopf also claims that a larger update (which the blog assumes will be iOS 5.1) will come with updated commands for Siri that will allow users to access hardware functions via voice commands. Currently Siri gets apologetic when you ask it to do things like take a picture or turn Bluetooth on/off, but Macerkopf claims these commands will be added to Siri in the 5.1 update. Although Macerkopf hasn't supplied any direct evidence for its claims, this rumor still sounds plausible. Apple obviously wants to address any remaining battery issues as quickly as it can before the media decides to spin another "-gate" controversy out of it, and adding basic hardware commands to Siri just makes good sense.
iPhone 4S sashays its way to India, up for pre-order this week
They're pumped. You're pumped. Everyone's pumped. Why? Because the iPhone 4S is coming to India, that's why. According to the Times of India, Apple's latest handset will be available on November 25th from Bharti Airtel, the country's leading carrier. The Times' report comes just a few days after rival domestic provider Aircel confirmed its own 4S launch (also slated for the 25th), with a post on its Facebook page. Neither company has announced a price yet, though Aircel will start taking pre-orders on the 18th, at the source link below. [Image courtesy of Bollysite.com]
DreamWorks CEO envisions an internet with more animation, fewer words
Is the internet on the cusp of a post-text era? Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg certainly thinks so. Speaking at the Techonomy conference in Tucson yesterday, Katzenberg confirmed that his company is already working on expanding 3D animation to the realm of social media, as part of a collaboration with Intel. As Technology Review reports, the two companies have been working on the project for the better part of four years, developing 12-core chips and software capable of delivering real-time photographic animation. Katzenberg didn't offer many details beyond that, but seemed confident that his company's new technology could radically alter the way users share and engage with online content by transcending the boundaries of traditional text. "Text is a learned process but what we do [at Dreamworks] is intuitive and instinctual and you do it from the moment you are born," he said, "We're trying to see if we can move many of these things we can do today in text but moving up to video and audio... with sight and sound." The exec went on to cite Apple's Siri personal assistant as proof that this transition is already underway: "Whether we do it or somebody else does it, we will move from a text world into a audio visual one." Intriguing claims, to be sure, but we'll know more next year, when Dreamworks' new campaign gets underway.
Exploit discovered in Siri servers, promises cross-platform access to the foolhardy
A few clever folk have had some fun with Siri lately, first by making it do the time warp with the Fat Mac and then by shoehorning it into an iPhone 3GS. Neither development is quite so intriguing, however, as a purported exploit that enables any device to access to Siri's remote server. While this certainly holds great potential for Siri apps on numerous platforms, the mystical floodgates to the masses are unlikely to open any time soon. You see, the hackers have since learned that for seamless communication to take place, a unique identifier from an iPhone 4S must be provided to the mothership in Cupertino. While it's certainly feasible to spoof these bits from an existing device, it's also likely that Apple would simply blacklist any "unique" identifiers submitted en masse. In other words, unless you have a very trusting friend who's willing to risk her handset join the naughty list, your best bet is to purchase an iPhone 4S -- simply for the identifier alone. At any rate, it seems like a steep price to find a locksmith.
Mind-controlled Siri likely a hoax
Remember last week's TUAW post about the Project Black Mirror guys who were doing the research into a mind-controlled iPhone 4S using an Arduino microcontroller, some ECG pads to pick up the brain waves, and voice synthesis software? Well, it appears that despite the impressive video, the entire thing may be a hoax. The Verge is reporting that a company that does real research into thought control of devices has posted a blog entry debunking the setup. For the first thing, the researchers at InteraXon were concerned about something that I questioned while writing up the TUAW post -- why were these guys using electrocardiogram (ECG) pads instead of electroencephalogram (EEG) pads to pick up the brain waves? The second concern that the company picked up on was the claim by the Project Black Mirror team that they were measuring brain activity on a scale of 0 to 5 volts. InteraXon notes that brain wave activity is measure in microvolts. InteraXon's COO Trevor Coleman says that there's "no way they could detect any meaningful brainwave signals through that setup." To top it all off, Coleman says that the Project Black Mirror guys are making false claims about being able to decode such complex thoughts as "Call" or "John", noting that the ability to do so is about 15 years off. Emotiv, another company working full-time on thought control of devices, is able to get a small amount of control from a far more complex setup using 14 EEG inputs. Several eagle-eyed TUAW readers also pointed out that the circuit board was flawed, as the speech synthesizer circuitry was shorted to the Arduino. Until the Project Black Mirror team 'fesses up to a hoax or tells the world just how they're allegedly achieving such amazing results, I'd guess that their Kickstarter fundraising days are on hold.
Apple iPhone 4S now available for $99... in Puerto Rico
Sure, you can now purchase an unlocked iPhone 4S within the US officially, but folks in the outlying territory of Puerto Rico have some tempting options if they'll go the long-term contractual route. The region's division of carrier, Claro, is now selling the Siri-packed device starting at the low, low price of $99 for the 16GB model on-contract -- those scared of commitment can also snag it unlocked, albeit for a slightly pricey $670 (which as 9to5Mac points out, is up $20 from Apple). The carrier also lists the 32 and 64GB variants as "expected soon," marked to sell at $199 / $299 with a two-year commitment and $770 / $870 unlocked. Notably, you'll have a choice of four monthly plans featuring unlimited talk and text ranging from about 65 to 85 bucks, with data allotments starting at 250MB and peaking at "unlimited." Apparently, Claro isn't offering the 4S for purchase online, but it does list a number of retail locations you can grab one from if you're interested. You'll find more details at the source link below.
Control Siri with your mind and lots of hardware
What's better than controlling your iPhone 4S with Siri? How about just thinking about something and having it happen? That's what a group of hackers have accomplished with Project Black Mirror. They've connected an iPhone 4S up to a setup that uses a MacBook Pro and an Arduino open-source microcontroller along with electrocardiogram pads that are attached to the head of the "test subject." The Arduino is set up with a program that recognizes Siri commands from the ECG pads and sends them to a voice synthesizer, which then feeds the commands into the iPhone's microphone jack. The guys who came up with Project Black Mirror want to create a product out of this; perhaps a hat that you could wear and a sleeve that would provide the necessary input to Siri. As such, they're attempting a Kickstarter campaign to polish up the project and bring it to fruition. Check out their Kickstarter pitch below. By the way, the guys are in need of help starting up a business in the US (and I'm busy and can't help them), so if you want to volunteer to give them a hand, be sure to visit their website (link above) and let them know.
An interview with Dag Kittlaus, the man who sold Siri to Apple
It only took one phone call to turn Siri's Dag Kittlaus's life around. Before the call, he was the head of a Silicon Valley startup and afterwards, he was a multimillionaire working with Apple. In an interview with Norwegian publication E24, Dag Kittlaus talks about his time working at Siri, the sale of his company to Apple and his life as an entrepreneur now that Siri has officially launched in iOS 5. In the interview, Kittlaus recalls the sacrifices he and his family made during the early years of Siri. It entailed a risky move to Silicon Valley, little money, long hours at work and lots of time away from his family. He also talks about his brief time at Apple after the acquisition. Unlike most companies which are driven by the bottom line, Apple, he says, is driven by the desire to create the best products in the world. His conversation with reporter Eirik Mosveen is a refreshing, personal look at a Silicon Valley success story. You can read the whole interview on E24's website. [Via 9to5mac]
Poll: Have you noticed battery improvements after updating to iOS 5.0.1?
Yesterday, Apple pushed out iOS 5.0.1, just about four weeks after releasing iOS 5 to the masses. Among the reported fixes: battery life improvements, following a confirmed bug in the initial release. We're hearing reports that battery life remains an issue for some iPhone 4S owners, however, and that it's been reduced even further for others. We want to hear about your experience, though, so let us know what's up in the poll below, and jump past the break to join other iPhone owners in the comments.%Poll-70860%
Siri's UK voice answers questions about his journey to the iPhone 4S
The first rule of being Siri is do not talk about being Siri -- but Jon Briggs, the voice of the iPhone helper's British version, has, fittingly, has bucked that trend. Apple's preference for mystery surrounding the matter hasn't silenced the one-time tech journalist turned voice over actor who discovered that he was the voice of the 4S's assistant upon hearing his "flat and even" readings played back on a commercial for the handset. Briggs told The Telegraph that he recorded the basis for the British Siri five or six years ago, speaking some 5,000 sentences over the course of three weeks for "a decent sum."
The man who provided Siri's voice in the UK
Despite Apple's request that he remain anonymous, British voiceover artist Jon Briggs revealed to The Telegraph that he is the voice of Siri in the UK. Briggs received a call from an Apple PR representative last month after the iPhone 4S was launched, and was told that he should not talk publicly about Siri. Briggs was told by the PR rep that Apple employees were not authorized to discuss products. He responded by noting that he had recorded over 5,000 sentences over three weeks for a company called Scansoft. That company merged with Nuance, which provides the voices for Siri. As a result, Briggs had never had a contract with Apple, which is why he's gone public. When Briggs was doing the recordings, he was told to speak a very specific way, reading "flat and even." The recordings were then ripped apart to grab specific phonics to build the voice file that is used in Siri in the UK. Those phonics allow Siri to speak just about any word, even if Briggs hasn't recorded a specific word. Briggs's Siri persona is also used to create announcements at the Kings Cross railway station in London, and is heard in other applications as well. UK readers may also recognize him as the voice in the BBC quiz show The Weakest Link.
Your iPhone 4S's proximity sensor's working overtime -- thank Siri (video)
As far as assistants go, Siri can be rather demanding. In fact, she apparently requires that your iPhone 4S's proximity sensor be on whenever the handset's screen is activated. That's the conclusion iFixit arrived at, upon discovering that, unlike previous generations which flip on the sensor upon firing up a phone call or Skype conversation, the 4S kicks on the infrared detectors whenever the screen turns on. The change would allow Siri to detect just how close your face is as you speak to her without the handset pressed up against your face. More details in the video after the break.
iPhone 4S has a Siri-specific proximity sensor
During iFixit's teardown of the iPhone 4S, the site came across a component that it couldn't immediately identify. After subsequent testing, iFixit has determined that the iPhone 4S has an infrared LED that acts as a secondary proximity sensor, and its functions appear to be tied directly to Siri. All earlier models of iPhones have had a proximity sensor designed to shut the handset's touchscreen off when you raise it to your ear. This is designed to prevent your face from dialing numbers while you're on a phone call. The sensor is normally only active during phone calls or when using a VoIP app like Skype. In contrast, this new infrared LED is constantly active if you have enabled "Raise to Speak" in Siri's settings. The whole purpose of the sensor is essentially the same as the iPhone's traditional proximity sensor, just with a different function; instead of deactivating something, this sensor instead activates Siri when you raise it to your ear. Although the LED is constantly active if you have "Raise to Speak" enabled, it's most likely drawing a minuscule amount of power and thus not the cause of widely-reported battery issues in the iPhone 4S (which a forthcoming iOS 5 update hopes to address). It's also worth noting, as iFixit rather humorously does, that although the iPhone 4S will constantly be emitting an infrared beam in your direction as you use it, the beam is completely harmless.
Siri apparently won't come to older iPhones
Everyone's saying Siri won't come to older iPhones, but this report may be premature. It's based on an email Michael Steeber received from Apple support about a bug in Siri. The customer service rep was told by Apple's engineering team that "Siri only works on iPhone 4S and we currently have no plans to support older devices." Most people are focusing on the "have no plans" part of the response and overlooking the key word "currently". Yes, right now, Apple doesn't have plans to expand Siri, but these plans could change next month. It's not like Apple hasn't said one thing and done another before - remember the iPod, which was deemed to have a screen too small for video? Looking beyond words, there are other signs that suggest Siri won't be exclusive to the iPhone 4S. First and foremost, there's no technological reason why Siri won't work on older handsets. The iOS hacking community has managed to get Siri running, as a proof of concept, on the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and both iPad models. The major hurdle these developers had to overcome was Apple limiting Siri requests to the iPhone 4S. Siri can and does run on older hardware. Apple's just not allowing it, at least not yet. Apple may be proceeding slowly with Siri. It's a beta product and still undergoing refinement. Just look at Apple's Siri FAQ page and all the new languages that are being added. Apple's smart enough not to swamp their system by rolling out Siri to millions of iPhone 4 handsets at the same time they are still adding features. Apple customers just need to be patient and wait. Wait for Apple to flesh out the service and get it firmly established on the iPhone 4S. By that time, Apple will be done using the voice assistant to sell their flagship handset and will be ready to bring Siri to the iPhone 4 and possibly other older iOS devices.
Why is Siri female (in the US at least)?
Have you ever wondered why most of the default voices for computers are female? Although Siri is male in the UK and France, it's female in the U.S., Australia, and Germany. CNN's Brandon Griggs pondered this question in a post last month, and found that -- among other things -- people find women's voices more pleasing than men's. Griggs quoted Stanford University Professor Clifford Nass, author of a book about human-machine relationships, as saying "It's much easier to find a female voice that everyone likes than a male voice that everyone likes. It's a well-established phenomenon that the human brain is developed to like female voices." According to Nass, this preference starts in the womb, as fetuses react to the sound of their mother's voice but not to other female voices or their father's voices. Another reason could be that telephone operators have traditionally been female, so people are used to getting assistance from a woman's voice -- realizing that certain age iPhone users and younger may have never heard a real, live telephone operator. There are other theories. Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. believes that tech companies try to stay away from the sound of male computer voices due to the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. HAL's soothing male voice didn't cover the fact that he was insane and intent on killing his human crew mates. The post goes on to state that many experts expect that Siri will come with a choice of voices, accents and genders someday, so that if you're a little peeved with "her" voice right now, you can replace it with a voice more to your liking. Speech technology firm Nuance's director of advanced speech design thinks that in the future there's a "huge opportunity for personalization. I could have an approximation of my wife's voice read me a text message in my car."
Siri ported to iPhone 3GS, likes to kick it old school
Still clutching that 3GS in a jealous rage over your iPhone 4 and 4S toting mates who've been hooking up with Siri? Qwell your anger, friends, as iOS 5's favorite sidekick has been successfully ported to a 3GS by the same hacking pros (Steven Troughton-Smith included) that got her going on the 4 and iPod touch. Not only does Siri work on the older model iPhone, but the device also is able to connect to Apple servers. Take look at the video to see the action for yourself as we wait for our 3G to help us find the best waffle in Kansas. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Dear Aunt TUAW: Could Siri appear on Macs?
Dear Aunt TUAW, Why can't I have Siri on my computer? My laptop has a mic and while its not as new as a 4S its still gotta have more horsepower and bandwidth, yes? Seriously, more opportunities to use it can only help Apple. Your loving nephew, Andrew Dear Andrew, As for Siri on computers, yes, there's no technological limitations as to why the service could not be deployed to Macs and PCs. After all, Dragon Dictation / Nuance does. The reason is more likely limited to the following factors. First, Siri currently defines Apple's flagship product, the iPhone 4S. It's exclusive to that platform and is rolling out slowly to additional languages and countries. Second, Siri is already encountering occasional service interruptions. That might be due to load (which would require scaling) or initial rollout quirks. Either way, Apple is unlikely to extend the service to desktops until those issues have been resolved. Finally, Siri's strength lies less in its voice interpretation (which is superb, but so is a lot of the Dragon technology), but in its OS integration. Siri ties in directly to the address book, to the reminders app, to your calendar, and so forth. To move to the desktop, Apple would have to re-engineer major portions of its operating system to support this kind of tight Siri integration. So will we see Siri on your computer? Auntie thinks "yes." Will we see it soon? Unlikely. Hugs, Auntie T.
