Tag: siri

Apple Music Voice Plan to go live in iOS 15.2
Designed exclusively for Siri, Apple Music’s Voice Plan is likely to be available for users in the United States this month, after being officially unveiled back in October. The new subscription service for Apple Music offers access to a catalog of 90 million songs, thousands of playlists, and Apple Music Radio via Siri for $4.99.

The Voice Plan is so integrated with Siri that even the subscribing process must can be done through Apple’s voice assistant. Those who wish to subscribe to the Apple Music Voice Plan must say “Hey Siri, start my Apple Music Voice trial.” Of course, another option would be to simply sign up through the Apple Music app.

The service allows users to request music be played across all Siri-enable devices, including HomePod mini, AirPods, iPhone, or any other Apple device, and even when using CarPlay.

The new tier subscription service was mentioned in release notes for the upcoming iOS 15.2 software update and seeing that Apple has just released the fifth iOS 15.2 beta software update, it’s very likely that the stable version will be made available in December.

Unlike the standard Apple Music subscription tier that cost $9.99 per month, the Siri-controlled tier doesn’t allow subscribers to manage the service with the Music app. Also, Spatial Audio, lyrics, and the ability to save music offline aren’t supported by the Voice Plan. However, Apple Music subscribers have all the features offered by the Siri-oriented plan included.
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December 8, 2021
Siri’s Konami Code Easter Egg has three different responses to tell you

A new Easter Egg has been discovered for iOS and the iPhone that is based on the Konami Code. The latter is a sequence of controller button presses that was created as a cheat by games developer Kazuhisa Hashimoto, who used to work for Konami. Hashimoto died last year at the age of 79 and one of the games he worked on was Gradius.

The sequence of the Konami Code, Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A, was used by video game players to power up their characters in Gradius and other games. Now, that sequence is an Easter Egg for iOS users. Simply activate Siri by saying, “Hey, Siri” and read the directions of the cheat to the Virtual Assistant.

Siri will respond by calling you a “cheater,” or a “nerd. Or Siri might say, “I’m getting dizzy.” The Konami Code also works on other platforms. Try it with Alexa and Amazon’s voice assistant will say, “Super Alexa mode: Activated. Starting reactors: Online. Enabling advanced systems: Online. Raising dongers. Error: Dongers missing. Aborting…”

Back in 2003, Hashimoto said that he created the code to make it easier for him to play-test the game. Another game called Contra gave 30 extra lives to those who used the Konami Code on their controller when the title screen appeared. Keep in mind that the code also worked with non-NES games. On the PlayStation, the code would be Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, O, X.

November 3, 2021

Siri loses the ability to help the blind use their iPhones after the release of iOS 15

The accessibility menu is where you’ll find features that Apple added to iOS to help those with hearing and vision problems use an iPhone. From that menu, you can add hearing aid compatibility, toggle on the Sound Recognition feature that sends an alert when certain sounds like a fire or smoke alarm go off. Other sounds that will trigger a notification include the sound of glass breaking, the sound of a baby crying, and more.

Other features found in accessibility include Subtitles & Captioning and there is a listing for Siri. However, some of the things that Siri used to do to help those who have poor vision or are blind have been removed following the iOS 15 update. Apple’s digital assistant will no longer send emails. It also won’t respond to the following commands:

Do I have any voicemails?
Play my voicemail messages
Check my call history
Check my recent calls
Who called me?
Send an email
Send an email to [person]

AppleVis, an online forum for iPhone users who are blind or have poor vision, recently posted a comment from a user named Brian Negus who wrote: “I tried on my iPhone SE with iOS 15.0 and the response from Siri was “sorry, I can’t help with that”. Subsequently, I’ve had the same response on a phone running iOS 12. If this is a deliberate feature removal, it’s certainly a loss to some users with sight loss who find it a convenient way to send a brief email.”

Negus later revealed that he had heard from Apple Support and they told him that “we are aware of this issue and it is currently under review.” This could indicate that Apple will be sending a software update to exterminate the bug. That certainly makes more sense than Apple haphazardly deciding not to allow Siri to help those with vision problems.

Interestingly enough, while the first thought is that the issue started with the recent iOS 15 updates, the same accessibility features no longer working with Siri in iOS 15 are also not working when using Siri in iOS 14. Siri will play the latest voicemail that a user has received or read a voicemail from a specific person. But again, the digital assistant will no longer read the list of all available voicemails.

Siri received something of an overhaul in iOS 15, with speech processing is now done on-device instead of via an Apple server. That’s because the Neural Engine will process speech as well as the off-device server does. The digital assistant will handle some requests offline including setting alarms and timers, messaging, launching an app, controlling the playback of audio, and opening the Settings app.

Siri will now share content on the screen including photos, web pages, content from Apple Music or Apple Podcasts, Maps locations, stories from Apple News, and more. All you have to say is “Send this to Giancarlo.” If the content on the screen can’t be shared, Siri will offer to send a screenshot instead. And while Google Assistant already does this, Siri will now maintain context when you have a follow-up question to make the interaction with the digital helper more of a conversation.

Is it possible that somehow, in the midst of making these changes to Siri in iOS 15, some of the accessibility features were accidentally disabled? It doesn’t matter what caused this as the most important thing is for Apple to bring back Siri’s lost capabilities so that those less fortunate can still use their iPhone even if their vision is poor.

Apple already has a backlog of fixes it needs to send out so we could see all of these bundled together in iOS 15.01, or added to the iOS 15.1 update that Apple is currently testing with the release of its second developer beta.

September 30, 2021

Microsoft could announce purchase of key Siri supplier as soon as tomorrow

Microsoft is in “advanced” talks to purchase speech technology and AI company Nuance for a price reported as “about $16 billion.” The deal could be announced as soon as Monday although Bloomberg News says that the discussions are continuing and a deal could still fall apart. Nuance’s voice technology helped Apple launch its Siri voice assistant on the iPhone 4s in 2011 and later that year Nuance acquired QWERTY swiping app Swype.

The price as currently rumored works out to about $56 for each Nuance share. The company’s stock closed Friday at $45.64 in after-hours trading and at $56 the deal would represent a premium of 22.7%. If done at $16 billion, a purchase of Nuance would be Microsoft’s second-largest deal of all time after the software giant’s $27 billion acquisition of networking app LinkedIn in 2016.

Nuance software including the Dragon line of speech recognition software is used in a variety of industries from automotive to health care and is used to transcribe voice mails, Doctor’s visits, and customer service calls. For the fourth quarter, the company earned $7 million on revenue of $346 million. For the fiscal year ended last September, Nuance had a net income of $91 million on revenue of $1.48 billion after losing $2.17 billion over the previous fiscal year.

Anurag Rana, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst, said, “This can really help Microsoft accelerate the digitization of the health-care industry, which has lagged other sectors such as retail and banking. The biggest near-term benefit that I can see is in the area of telehealth, where Nuance transcription product is currently being used with Microsoft Teams.”

s far as Siri’s connection with Nuance is concerned, the latter provided Apple’s digital assistant with its speech recognition engine. Microsoft recently dropped the iOS and Android apps for Cortana, its digital assistant, and Siri rival. Not enough iOS and Android users were using the Cortana app for Microsoft to keep it active.

Nuance helped provide Siri with the technology needed for the assistant to hear tasks requested by users and understand what was being asked. It is unclear what the current relationship is between Apple and Nuance.

April 13, 2021

How Apple’s iOS 14 privacy-friendly update is helping Twitter out

We have all learned to question our privacy in this day and age of constant online activity, Alexa and Siri always listening, and advertisers spewing ads at us about things we hadn’t even yet realized we wanted. The whole Facebook fiasco over data privacy violation didn’t help our sense of security much, either.

However, Apple seems to be taking a step in the right direction with its next update to give us a little more peace of mind. Apple’s iOS 14.5 (to be released in the very near future) is including a significant and commendable change in its privacy policy. As of the update’s release, all apps will be required to ask for explicit permission before using IDFA (a unique identifier all iPhones and iPads have to allow device tracking) for advertising (or other) purposes.

According to Apple, users will have complete control over who is able to track their activity and data. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee we’ll always have full use of an app before consenting to data collection, but it does provide a significantly better sense of security.

Twitter CEO Ned Segal voiced his approval for the coming update as well yesterday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference, claiming it will provide a more even playing field between social media companies. Segal acknowledged Twitter has not been as streamlined in leveraging its use of users’ data as other platforms (e.g. Facebook and Instagram), putting it at a disadvantage. However, this update will put all media companies back at the same starting point, requiring user permission to begin collecting data which most have been freely gathering left and right until now.

“IDFA in a way is going to level the playing field. We’re in an industry where many were much better than Twitter historically at leveraging all of the data that was available to them, from the device ID to what people were doing on other websites. When we all have the same set of new challenges that we have to face, leveling the playing field will be a really interesting impact on the broader industry.”

Segal promises that Twitter will not begin asking users for access to their devices right away, a restraint which other companies are unlikely to show. Instead, he plans to scope out and “learn from the industry and the broader ecosystem” before making such a move.

March 5, 2021

Americans should be glad that Google Assistant’s “Do Nothing” mode is not available in the states

We’ve often pointed out how Google Assistant is the best of the virtual digital helpers. Unlike Siri, which often refers users to a webpage to get the answer to a question, Google Assistant will many times directly post the answer to a query. Ironically, you’ll see this in action often when asking a question about an Apple device. In addition, Siri seems to have a big problem trying to understand some of the questions it is being asked.

There is a new “Do Nothing” mode that does, well, nothing. Unfortunately, though, most of you will not be able to see Google Assistant “Do Nothing” because the feature was developed in conjunction with Cadbury’s 5 Star, a chocolate bar offered in limited markets including India. To activate the “Do Nothing” mode, you can say “Eat a 5 Star” in one of the markets that support the feature. Once the “Do Nothing” mode is activated, Google Assistant says, “I feel like doing nothing now. And I’m going to help you chill too. Ask me anything.”

The responses that come forth from Google Assistant in “Do Nothing” mode are equal parts funny and equal parts useless. For example, in this mode, if you ask Google Assistant “Egg-first or Chicken?,” the response will be “Depends on which one you ordered first.” Not exactly an answer that will elicit a chuckle or two, but that is kind of the point. Ask for the nearest salon and you might get a response from Google Assistant that says, “You’re in luck. Bushy eyebrows, hairy armpits, and no makeup selfies are in fashion.” Ask about the weather, and Google Assistant will say, “HaHa…as if you’re going to step out.”

After perusing some of these jokes, perhaps it is just as well that the Google Assistant “Do Nothing” mode cannot be activated in the states.

January 7, 2021

Did Siri affected Biden or Trump with some votes?

Over the years we have knocked Apple for its failure to make Siri as good and accurate a digital helper as Google Assistant is. Siri has been known to make the occasional blunder. For example, let’s say that last weekend you had forgotten when Election Day was. So you turned to Siri. iPhone users were told by their virtual assistant that Election Day was scheduled for November 8th. The problem with that answer is that it is wrong. Very wrong. Election Day was November 3rd so if you were relying on Siri’s response to remind you when to visit your polling place, you would have arrived five days too late missing your opportunity to vote for president.

This is not the first time that the iPhone told users the wrong information about time and date. For years, the idea of Daylight Saving Time continued to elude the grasp of iOS. One year, instead of moving iPhone clocks ahead an hour, it moved the clocks back an hour instead which really helped iPhone users get their day off to a very poor start.

The interesting part of Siri’s most recent screw up is that November 8th was the date of the last U.S. presidential election back in 2016. On the other hand, November 8th 2022 will be when the U.S. holds its next major election, the mid-terms. Either way, Siri’s response was wrong and we wouldn’t vote for either one.

While only the most clueless would have ended up missing election day because of Siri’s response, well, such clueless people do exist. Luckily, the number of those who listened to Siri was probably not large enough for its faux pas to impact the election results.

So here’s a word to the wise. If you ask Siri for the date of an upcoming event that you must attend, it might behoove you to confirm the answer with another source even if that goes against the reason for Siri’s existence in the first place. Like any digital assistant, Siri is only as good as the data bank it gets its information from.

November 6, 2020

Apple set to add Vietnamese to Siri

Apple has placed an advertisement for a Vietnamese language specialist for its virtual assistant Siri team.

According to the LinkedIn job post, the person will be based at Ang Mo Kio in Singapore. The 15 key qualifications applicants require include reading, writing, and comprehension skills in both English and Vietnamese, understanding verbal nuances in Vietnamese, and having an understanding of the Asia-Pacific region and cultural variations where the language is spoken.

Analysts said the company might be seeking to develop Siri in the Vietnamese market. It currently supports 37 languages, but not Vietnamese.

According to MacRumors forum, an aggregator of Apple-related rumors and reports on the web, Apple is also looking for Ukrainian, Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Croatian, Greek, Flemish, Romanian, Polish, and Indonesian language specialists.

If successful, it is possible these languages will be added to Siri in the iOS 15 update. Apple has gone on a hiring spree in Vietnam since the beginning of this year including from senior roles like regional operations.

October 5, 2020

Apple’s patent application could fix a major problem with Siri

Some Apple iPhone users find themselves struggling with Siri. Besides some of the usual things that we’ve brought up in the past, such as Siri’s inability to understand the questions we’ve asked her, or the incorrect answers that she comes up with (especially when they are related to an inquiry about Apple devices-a category that she should know about), Siri also has a habit of activating accidentally. Last year, we told you that these accidental activations were more likely to occur on the Apple Watch and the HomePod smart speaker.

According to a new patent application that Apple filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the company is working on technology that will keep accidental Siri activations to a minimum. The patent application, titled “Attention Aware Virtual Assistant Dismissal,” uses criteria to determine how interested you are in receiving a response from the digital assistant. To do this, Siri could use cameras to check your gaze when calling out for the digital assistant.

For example, if you’re looking exactly at your iPhone when calling out for Siri, the iPhone will realize that you did indeed mean to activate the digital assistant by using the “Hey Siri” hotword. At the same time, it increases the odds that you did mean to say “Hey Siri” and not “Tom and Jerry,” or “Very Hairy.” Some claim that the sound of a zipper opening causes Siri to accidentally open, but we’re not sure that the technology expressed in the patent application can determine the motive of a zipper.

Besides staring at the phone when activating Siri, the length of the stare also plays a part in determining whether an iPhone user really wants help from Siri. For example, let’s say that you’re staring at your phone, execute the “Hey Siri” hotword, and then get distracted by someone before you give Siri a question or task to do. If the iPhone can determine that your intention was indeed to give your digital assistant a task, Siri could be told by the system not to deactivate so that you can give the assistant the task you want her to handle.

Besides being annoying, accidental Siri activations can also negatively affect the battery running an iPhone. Siri will be more efficient if it deactivates when the user is not engaged with it, if it doesn’t deactivate while being used, or if a task has to be repeated because Siri was accidentally deactivated. Apple notes that by using Siri more quickly and efficiently, power usage is reduced and battery life is improved.

Apple expressed this in the patent by saying, “Determining, based on data obtained using one or more sensors of the electronic device, whether one or more criteria representing expressed user disinterest are satisfied (and/or whether one or more criteria representing expressed user engagement are satisfied) allows determination of whether a user is engaged with a virtual assistant session. Knowing whether a user is engaged allows intelligent decision making about whether to deactivate the virtual assistant session.

For example, if the user is not engaged, a device can deactivate the virtual assistant session to save battery and processing power. As another example, if the user is engaged, the device can forgo deactivating the virtual assistant session so the user can continue interacting with the virtual assistant session (and so the virtual assistant session does not deactivate while the user is still interacting with it). In this manner, the user-device interface is made more efficient which additionally, reduces power usage and improves the battery life of the device by enabling the user to use the device more quickly and efficiently.”

Some will say that Siri has many more issues to work on. In iOS 14, Siri will take up much less of the screen when employed by a user and the assistant will be able to send voice messages. If the patent is approved, at least one annoying and inefficient tendency of Safari could be ended.

September 14, 2020

New feature for Google Assistant borrows heavily from Siri

Siri Shortcuts is a feature that allows you to create a shortcut to activate certain actions with specific apps.. Here’s a good example. Let’s say that you are totally frustrated with Siri. What you can do is download the Google Assistant app for iOS, found in the App Store. However, if you’ve moved from an Android phone to an iPhone, you might be appalled to discover that you can’t activate Google Assistant by saying a hotword unless you use Siri Shortcut.

For example, you can set up Siri Shortcut to activate Google Assistant by stating “Hey Siri, O.K. Google.” Sure, it sounds crazy and someone overhearing the command might try to have you committed to Bellevue. But when you break it down, you’re simply activating Siri and then giving Siri the “O.K. Google” verbal shortcut that opens up Google Assistant. Now, Google is said to be working on its own shortcuts feature for Google Assistant that is very similar to Siri Shortcuts.

For example, if you have Twitter installed on your Android phone you can go into Shortcuts and create a shortcut. When you’re ready to create a new Tweet, say “O.K. Google, new tweet” to start composing. Similarly, you’ll be able to say, “O.K. Google, new Gmail” to create a new email in the Gmail app. Shortcuts also appear in your Assistant Routines menu where you can edit them using a different UI.

For Android users to take advantage of Assistant Shortcuts, developers will have to improve the functionality of their apps. For example, Shortcuts currently cannot be chained together and they can only get you to a specific screen on an app. Neowin points out that while you can’t open a specific keyword on Instagram, you can open the Explore Tab on the app.

The new Assistant Shortcuts is rolling out as a server-side update. You can see if you have it on your phone by going to Assistant Settings. There, you can find the aforementioned Assistant Routines menu where Shortcuts can also be found.

September 7, 2020

Apple could be fined up to $26 billion as EU investigates Siri

Children are told often that when they fall off their bikes, the best thing to do is to get right back on them and ride again. And the same advice is apparently taught to adults. Take European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Just yesterday Vestager had a ruling go against her as a lower European Union court in Luxembourg found in favor of Apple in a case involving $14.9 billion in back taxes that the EU claimed that Apple owed Ireland. From 1991-to 2005, Apple paid little to no taxes on profits it made doing business in the country.

But Vestager has climbed back on the horse and is looking for information from 400 companies to see if there are any issues with voice assistants such as Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant, and Amazon’s Alexa that could result in the filing of antitrust charges. Such inquiries have to lead to cases and hefty fines imposed against other industries including energy, financial, and pharmaceutical firms.

Vestager told a news conference that by seeking information from 400 companies, it gives Apple, Amazon, and Google the message that the EU is watching them closely to make sure that they toe the line. The commissioner said that the UK became interested in investigating the voice assistants because of the large amount of consumer data used in “Internet of Things” devices. the EU wants to make sure that the leading players in the voice assistants game don’t use their control of this data to break rules, prevent competition, and harm rivals. Vestager said, “Interoperability is of the essence if we want to make this market accessible.”

If the EU finds that one of the companies’ voice assistants broke rules regarding competition, it can be fined up to 10% of its global revenue. For example, Apple had revenue of approximately $260 billion for its latest fiscal year. That means that it could be fined as much as $26 billion if found to have broken EU rules.

There is no guarantee that Vestager and her team will find any issues that require the EU courts to get involved. And it will probably take some time to complete the investigation. So with this in mind, all we can add at this juncture is “stay tuned.”

July 20, 2020

Updated Siri will screen you for the coronavirus

Apple has updated Siri so that she can perform a quick- and dirty screening to see if you need to contact your doctor in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The update seems to have been disseminated today as iPhone users started to notice this new feature on Saturday. To get started, all you have to do is say, “Hey Siri, do I have coronavirus?” While it is not a pleasant question to ask, it does tell Siri that you want her to screen you

If you tell Siri that you want to be screened by her, she will then ask whether you have a dry cough, a fever or shortness of breath. You can answer “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Sure.” If you answer “No,” you will be then asked whether you have been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the disease. Once again, the three options are “Yes,” “No,” or “Not Sure.” Depending on your response, you might be told that you’re at lower risk to be infected but need to remain vigilant for symptoms such as a fever, dry cough, or shortness of breath.

Siri will also remind you to wash your hands for 20 seconds (sing the Happy Birthday song to yourself two times), and avoid close contact with people outside your household. Siri also wants you to know that you might not feel sick but you could still be carrying COVID-19 and spreading it to others. If your answers give Siri a reason to feel alarmed, she will ask whether your symptoms are extreme or life-threatening. If you answer in the positive, Siri will be ready to call emergency services (911) for you. If you answer with a negative response, Siri will tell you to stay home, avoid contact with others, and contact a doctor if the symptoms get more severe. At the end of the screening, Siri offers a link to the website for the Center for Disease Control (CDC.gov).

Earlier today, we told you about the new Google Maps feature that shows a reminder every time you search for a doctor or hospital using the app. A box appears near the bottom of the screen that reminds you to call your doctor before driving to the hospital if you think you have COVID-19. And if you go to Google Search and tap in coronavirus, special tabs appear that will keep you up to date on the latest news, information, and more from reputable organizations. All major social media companies are trying to prevent fake news from being spread all over their platforms. Phony cures can do plenty of damage, and misinformation can lead to fear and panic. And the last thing we need to do right now is panic.

The Siri screening is available only in the U.S. and it isn’t known whether Apple has plans to expand it overseas. According to Apple, the answers that Siri gives out for the screening come from the U.S. Public Health Service (a division of the Department of Health and Human Services), as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Ironically, the same government that has been investigating Big Tech for possible antitrust violations and for growing too big and unwieldy, is now relying on the same companies to help get the country through this crisis. It seems that while conditions in China are slowly improving, the rest of the world has yet to see a peak in the number of cases. This can be seen easily through Apple’s decision to reopen all 42 Apple Stores in China while closing its brick and mortar stores everywhere else.

March 24, 2020

Microsoft approaches former Siri chief from Apple

Bill Stasior, longtime head of Apple’s Siri team, has left the company to join Microsoft’s AI division. After nearly a decade at Apple, Stasior will step into the shoes of a corporate vice president at Microsoft later this month. At his new job, the former Siri chief will lead an artificial intelligence group.

Last year, Apple poached Google’s former head of search and AI, John Giannandrea. The served as further indication of Apple’s woes with Siri, which beat the competition to the AI assistant race, but was relegated to a firm third place behind Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.

Stasior’s reasons for leaving Apple aren’t clear at this point, but Giannandrea’s hiring is a likely guess. Since his hiring last summer, Giannandrea became very involved with the development of Siri and was eventually promoted to a senior vice president, reporting directly to Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Although Stasior was in charge of Apple’s Siri team since the assistant’s initial launch, he won’t be working on Cortana at Microsoft. The company behind Windows is lagging far behind the competition, as far as AI assistants are concerned, with Cortana being a distant fourth to Google’s, Amazon’s, and Apple’s offerings. However, Stasior’s talents apparently won’t be used to better Cortana, but rather in Microsoft’s broader AI efforts. The Information reports that people familiar with the matter have said that the former Siri chief will head a special AI group at Microsoft

September 3, 2019

Alexa allies with Cortana to take on Google Assistant, Siri

Apple debuts HomePod speaker to bring Siri into the living room