Siri
Latest
Apple (re)introduces Siri as iPhone voice control assistant for iPhone 4S
Apple picked up mobile assistant app Siri quite a while ago, but only at today's event did we finally see why. The company is relaunching the app as official, though it will keep the name Siri. To access it, all you'll have to do is hold down the home button, and then a little purple mic will pop up, listening in to whatever question you ask. From your question, Siri will then find any and all pertinent information, including data about the weather, stock and clock information, and even searches for local restaurants and businesses. You can ask for directions and get them right away, or even get messages read off to you via Bluetooth, and create calendar appointments and replies right inside the Siri system. The whole thing is very impressive, and if it works as well as Siri did, Apple's phone has yet another killer feature on it. Unfortunately, Apple said that Siri is "the coolest feature of the new iPhone 4S," so presumably you'll need the new handset to make use of the feature. We'll double-check on that going forward, but all indications are that Siri will be 4S-only.
Apple brings Siri voice control to the iPhone 4S
You've heard the rumors, and Apple has now confirmed that it will be bringing Siri voice control to its new iPhone 4S -- and, yes, it will still be called Siri. That will let you use natural language to perform tasks like asking for a weather forecast or getting directions, setting an alarm or making a calendar appointment, and searching Wikipedia or Wolfram Alpha for information (among many other possibilities). Described as a "humble personal assistant," Siri will work in English (including the UK and Australia), French and German for now, and it'll work with all built-in apps and over both 3G and WiFi. It'll also be a beta to start with, and Apple promises that it "gets better" as it learns your voice. Unfortunately for current iPhone owners, however, it looks like Siri will only be available on the iPhone 4S (at least initially). Update: Perhaps not surprisingly, Apple appears to have pulled the existing Siri Assistant app from the App Store. There's also somewhat curiously no mention of Siri at all on Apple's Canadian website, although the Siri app itself was never available in Canada to begin with. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in] Update 2: Already enjoying the fruits of a voice navigated lifestyle with Siri on your iPhone? Don't get used to it, as users are receiving messages like this one indicating it will shut down for the non-iPhone 4S owning plebeians as of October 15th. [Thanks Shawn & Lloyd] %Gallery-135726%
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."
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.
Leak: future iOS update to introduce Siri-based voice control
When Apple snatched up Siri back in April, we had to wonder exactly what Cupertino was planning for the voice controlled virtual assistant. The answer, according to a new leak, is unsurprisingly obvious: iOS integration. A screenshot leaked to 9to5Mac flaunts an "Assistant" feature presumably built into a firmware update. To back up the screenshot, the aforesaid site dove into the iOS SDK and uncovered code describing Siri-like use of the iPhone's location, contact list, and song metadata. The code also outlined a "speaker" feature, opening a door for further Nuance integration in Apple products. Sound awesome? Sure it does, but keep it salty: 9to5's source says the assistant feature only just went into testing, and may not be ready in time for Apple's next big handset upgrade. Hit the source link to see the code and conjecture for yourself.
iOS 5's final release may include "Assistant" speech-to-text feature
Apple has included limited voice control functionality in the iPhone since the debut of the iPhone 3GS, but the company's plans for voice control in iOS 5 are reportedly far broader in application according to 9to5 Mac. While no such feature was announced at WWDC and it has yet to show up in the iOS 5 betas, 9to5's sources claim Apple's test units are already testing out an "Assistant" feature meant to introduce widespread speech-to-text functionality in iOS 5. Those of you who have used Siri or the recently-launched Dragon Go! know how powerful third parties have been able to leverage speech-to-text in iOS already. Apple purchased Siri outright in 2010 and has reportedly been working with Dragon's parent company, Nuance, in further expanding the speech-to-text functions of iOS 5. Apple's partnership with Nuance has even extended to OS X, with several of Lion's optional text-to-speech voices coming directly from Nuance's stable of high-quality voices (and we'll provide you with an overview of those new voices in an upcoming post -- spoiler alert, they are awesome). 9to5 notes that since these new features have been missing from developer betas of iOS 5, it may imply that the new voice navigation "Assistant" feature may be an iPhone 5 exclusive. However, it's equally probable that since the feature has only just entered testing within Apple, Apple is not yet ready for developers to begin prodding at it in the betas. Given how well Siri and Dragon Search function already, there doesn't appear to be any technical reason why the iPhone 4 or iPad 2 wouldn't be able to run the "Assistant" feature as it's been described. According to 9to5's additional findings, a "start" button on the systemwide keyboard will initiate the speech-to-text function with a popover microphone screen. Similarly to how Dragon Dictation works, the system may then translate that speech into text at the user's option. The implications for systemwide speech-to-text functions in iOS 5 are fairly extraordinary. Siri and Dragon Go! have already shown how naturally spoken language can be leveraged in web searches, and if the same function can be expanded to the rest of the iPhone's functions, it may be possible to navigate the iPhone's functions entirely by voice. Apple has already filed a patent including such features, so this is far more than pie-in-the-sky musing on our part. This obviously wouldn't be an out-and-out replacement for the traditional touchscreen interface, but as a supplement to the touchscreen, a voice nav system would be a very powerful tool. I'm already picturing a day when I can ask my iPhone for directions to the nearest petrol station without having to pull off to the side of the road and fiddle with the screen first. Hopefully the "Assistant" feature will be a bit smarter than VoiceOver when navigating my music library by voice, so I'll have less instances of my iPhone translating "Play album: Kid A" into "Calling 555-8888." Although 9to5 has found some powerful evidence that Apple's working on integrating this feature, there's no telling when it will actually debut. If it's ready in time, I wouldn't be surprised to see it as one of the marquee features of the rumored September iPhone event.
Why didn't we see a Nuance announcement during WWDC?
One major rumor missing from the WWDC keynote yesterday was voice control. It was just last year that Apple purchased Siri, a popular voice companion app for iOS. Apple was also rumored to be working with Nuance to offer some form of voice control in its software. References to Nuance were recently spotted in a developer version of Mac OS X Lion, and sources claim Nuance software is running at Apple's North Carolina data center. Even the Chief Mobile Technology Architect at Nuance was spotted in the WWDC audience yesterday. Despite this mounting evidence, voice control was a no-show at WWDC. Both TechCrunch and Robert Scoble heard from sources that Apple's voice technology was not ready for a WWDC demonstration. It's there, and Apple is still working on it, but it's not quite ready for prime time. Perhaps Apple will wait to roll out this feature and use it to drum up added excitement when iOS 5 finally arrives this fall.
Apple-Nuance deal may take root in NC datacenter
The stars appear to have aligned for the rumored Apple-Nuance deal, according to TechCrunch. The suggested strategic partnership between the Cupertino tech giant and the Burlington, MA speech-savvy software firm may find its first expression in Apple's new North Carolina data center, per the latest report. TechCrunch's sources say that Apple may already be running Nuance code (and possibly some Nuance-supplied hardware) in the Malden datacenter, either to support the existing Siri product (acquired by Apple, powered by Nuance) or to begin building out speech functions for the rumored reboot of MobileMe as iCloud. While Apple could afford to buy Nuance outright (the publicly-traded company was worth about $6 billion before the latest news shoved the stock price up), TC points out that it would be an expensive buy that would effectively kill the golden goose: Nuance's partnership deals, which make up a lot of the company's value, would get knocked out by the acquisition and would have to be renegotiated. The partnership approach gives Apple the core technology it needs without the overhead. Apparently, there were other players in the speech bake-off; Microsoft is rumored to have pushed Apple to include its speech recognition tech in iOS, but Apple didn't bite.
Is a Nuance and Apple deal in the works?
TechCrunch is reporting that Apple is in the process of some sort of deal with Nuance Communications, one of the leading companies in the field of speech recognition. Many readers may be familiar with Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking software, however the Dragon speech engine is also licensed and used in a number of apps for Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android. What could the deal be? The most obvious choice is an acquisition, but as TC points out, it would cost Apple at least US$6 billion to buy the company. Apple's got the cash, but even for them that would be quite a purchase. TechCrunch thinks it's most likely the two companies are entering into some sort of partnership "that will be vital to both companies and could shape the future of iOS." Speech recognition has been rumored to be a big part of the future of iOS. Last year, Apple bought another speech recognition company, Siri, which itself is powered by Nuance technology. Perhaps with the release of iOS 5 we'll be talking to our phones more than using them to talk to people.
Will iOS 5 get integrated voice tech?
TechCrunch is reporting the rumor today, and some sources I have close to the Siri product think it is likely happening. Siri is that very cool personal assistant app. It allows you to ask questions that the app sends (as your voice data) to a server where it is recognized. The query is then sent off to a series of search engines to find an answer, which is finally returned to the user. You can ask for things like the best area pizza shop, the status of an arriving flight or the weather in Omaha. The speech recognition in the app comes from Nuance, the company that developed Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search. Last year, Apple bought Siri, and it seems likely that the tech will find its way into Apple products, especially iDevices. Siri is a very clever app, and it has always made a great demo on my iPhone. To have it built into iOS would be great. It appears Apple is trying to wean itself off Google services, like Search and Maps, and Siri would be a step in that direction. If you don't have it already and want to play with Siri, you can get it free at the App Store. Prepare to be impressed.
Was the Siri purchase about search?
Here's an interesting take from Searchblog's John Battelle about the Siri purchase by Apple yesterday: he believes that it's the first step towards the eventual Apple goal of conquering search for the app world. Google is, of course, the king of search on the Internet, but as the iPad 3G releases today, we're spending less and less of our time on these devices actually browsing the web, and more and more of it inside of apps. That's where search needs to go, says Battelle, and Siri could help exactly that happen for Apple. In other words, he gives the example of searching for a phrase like "Chicago rental car" in Siri, and properly configured, Apple's Siri could say back to the user, says Battelle, "Hey, you know what? You don't need to rent a car. You can use the Chicago Transit. Here's an app for it. You can get from the airport to everywhere you want to go without having to rent a car. Plus, you'll save $150 which we know is a goal of yours because you've been interacting with the Mint application," and so on. Siri would become a voice-activated search assistant, not for the Internet at large necessarily, but for all of the apps and functionality on your iPhone or iPad. It's certainly possible, although Apple has so much cash saved up right now that they don't really need good, focused reasons like that to pick up a strong piece of tech like Siri. But yes, Battelle's guess makes sense, especially considering the increased amount of time that people are spending in apps versus the browser on the iPad.
Apple acquires virtual assistant search app maker Siri
Apple has acquired Siri, a company that makes a virtual assistant app. Siri was inspired by DARPA's CALO -- the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes -- project. Originally designed to help streamline military personnel's activities, the consumer app focuses on helping you find things like restaurants, making use of speech recognition to boot. Essentially a smart search, there's plenty of speculation of course as to what this means about the direction that Apple might be taking... and that direction seems to lead towards Google-y territory. Now we don't want to speculate too much, but we'll be watching to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. The terms of the acquisition aren't known, meaning we have no idea how much Apple paid for the small startup, but Business Insider guesses the deal could be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 to $200 million.
Apple has purchased mobile assistant app Siri
Siri, the so-called mobile assistant for iPhone, has been purchased by Apple, according to Business Insider (we first looked at Siri in February). Siri reps did not comment on the deal's details, but Business Insider suggests that "a $200 million to $250 million ballpark" is within reason. Siri is a terrifically useful app. Basically, you ask it a question like "nearest cheeseburger" with your voice or by typing. It then notes your location, scours the web and returns the best results. I've used it out here in the middle of nowhere with much success. The speech recognition is quite good. It comes from Nuance, the company who's software powers both Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search. What will Apple do with it? Essentially, it's a mobile, location-based search engine. Steve Jobs recently criticized Google for "...getting in the phone business." Does that mean Apple is getting into the (mobile) search business? Perhaps the technology behind the application will appear in a future iPhone update, perhaps as a standalone app. We imagine it could be a part of the next-generation maps application. Congratulations to the Siri team. [Via Robert Scoble]
Siri updated for iPod touch and gets some new features
Siri for the iPhone was quite a hit when it came out earlier this year. You could ask it questions like, "where is the best pizza nearby?" and Siri would find the answer. My favorite response was when I asked if there was a God, and Siri gave me directions to the nearest churches. As much as people loved the app, iPod touch owners were left out in the cold. Not now. The app has been updated to run on the iPod touch with OS version 3.0 or above. And if you've already been using it, the app has been improved with more data, a larger vocabulary and some improvements to its reasoning algorithms. You can also give it integer math problems and you'll get an answer. The app uses Microsoft Instant Answers from Bing for the heavy lifting. Siri uses the speech recognition from Nuance Communications, which also powers the Dragon Dictatation and Dragon Search apps for the iPhone and iPod touch. It is uncannily accurate in my daily use, so Siri has gotten a bit smarter and learned a few new tricks. For free, it's a must have.
Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle
We're getting closer and closer to some of the stuff we see it science fiction literature and films. Siri [iTunes link] is a small Silicon Valley startup with a really breakthrough product that for now only works on the iPhone. Here's the deal. You download the free app, start it up, and tell it what you want. It could be "Will it snow in Des Moines today?" or "Where can I find the nearest burger" or it could be "Find the nearest parks". It parses your comments, runs out to the web for a few seconds and comes back with a lot of suggestions. It gives you buttons to call the places you've found, or to show them on Google Maps and get you directions. I tried to get a bit fancier saying "Make me a reservation for 2 at the nearest Olive Garden tonight at 7." The app figured out Olive Garden didn't take reservations through their service, but it provided me a number for the nearest Olive Garden and offered to map it.
DARPA-based Siri virtual assistant hits the App Store, smartphone sentience can't be far behind (video)
It's been well over six months since we first got wind of Siri, the DARPA-inspired smartphone app that pledged to take all the hassle out of... well... life. It's a virtual assistant that can take care of menial tasks, things like finding restaurants, hearing reviews, and even booking tables -- all with your voice. Siri asks simple questions and reacts to your answers, and while it sadly seems to have lost some of its military feel since its DARPA days (bummer), it's a lovely companion to your happening lifestyle. Plus it's free, and free is good! Check out a demonstration video after the break, and hit up the App Store to make with the download. Meanwhile, if you're on some other smartphone platform you'll have to wait. We fully expect Siri will break free of its current monotasking abode sometime in the future, but we don't know when. We just don't know when. %Gallery-84723%
DARPA's CALO project, the militaristic Clippy, set to invade iPhones this year
Microsoft's little Clippy, the uppity paperclip who just wanted to help, never got a lick of respect in the ten years he graced the Office suite. He's long-since gone, but his legacy lives on through a DARPA project called CALO: the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes. It's intended for use to streamline tedious activities by military personnel, like scheduling meetings and prioritizing e-mails, but there are a few non-com spin-offs intended as well, like an iPhone app called Siri due to hit the App Store sometime this year. Siri will have more of a consumer angle, helping to find product reviews and make reservations, but we're hoping a taste of its military upbringing shines through. [Via Slashdot]
