A new front has opened in the smartphone war, and for the first time in many years, Apple is both outnumbered and outgunned.
I’m not talking about the phones themselves. iOS is still better than Android, although the gap has narrowed. The next iPhone will doubtless be the best phone in the world when it’s released, as ever. It won’t be as customizable – no Swype, no Facebook Home – but those… → Read More
Apple’s Siri voice assistant on iOS devices retains information to help the company generate better and more accurate results in the analysis process that takes place at its remote servers. The company has never previously revealed exactly how long it keeps that data or how exactly it works, but now Wired has learned from an Apple spokesperson exactly how Siri IDs and store data, as well as for… → Read More
Apple is in court again in China, defending another of its products from attack based on pre-existing claims from a Chinese company. This time around it’s Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, that has landed it in Chinese legal trouble, after last year another company took issue with the iPad trademark resulting in a $60 million settlement deal. → Read More
With all the time, money, and embarrassment Apple has offered up on the altar of Siri, it’s only a logical next step to see the virtual personal assistant migrate over to Mac OS X.
The question is not if, but when? → Read More
A few days ago, I read Nilay Patel’s review of the Pebble smartwatch for The Verge. Like many others, I bought a Pebble on Kickstarter, and I can’t wait to try it out myself. But one part of Patel’s review stuck out at me in particular:
Any incoming notification will quietly buzz the Pebble and light up the screen. Frankly, it’s great — being able to see who’s texting, emailing, or… → Read More
Amazon today announced that it is acquiring Ivona Software, a Polish-based specialist in voice technologies that competes with Nuance and is already used in the Kindle Fire for services covering text-to-speech, voice commands and “Explore by Touch.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed. → Read More
A new job description spotted by 9to5Mac’s Jordan Kahn this morning suggests Apple wants to do something with Siri that makes the digital personal assistant a more fleshed out, relatable character. The posting is seeking someone with creative skills to help “evolve” Siri. Do you have what it takes to make Siri into the terrifying AI with an uncanny human semblance we all know it was meant to be? → Read More
Apple has introduced a new feature for existing Apple TV second and third generation hardware in its latest beta software for those devices. Specifically, the beta for Apple TV being tested by developers right now adds Bluetooth support to Apple’s set top streamer, making it possible to pair keyboards to the device for much easier text entry and streamlined navigation. But it could open the doors… → Read More
An Apple patent filing published by the USPTO on Thursday describes a task manager that goes well beyond the standard Reminders app that is now built in to iOS and Mac devices. The patent describes a smart to-do list that combines natural language processing for easy text entry, with contextual information sourced from your device to fill in all the little details that you might omit in making a… → Read More
Norman Winarsky, vice president of SRI Ventures, offered his thoughts today on how Apple has handled the acquisition and subsequent relaunch of Siri as an integrated service in iOS. He was diplomatic about some of the criticism Siri has received, while also acknowledging the service has some real shortcomings.
For those of you not familiar with Siri’s history, the startup actually spun out of… → Read More
A new report from 9t05Mac this morning claims that Apple will be delivering a couple of very interesting features to the desktop, in a move that continues its trend of making its traditional computers more closely resemble its iOS-based devices withe every release of OS X. “Reliable sources” told the blog that early builds of OS X 10.9 include Siri voice commands, and hints that Maps could arrive… → Read More
Maluuba, the TC Disrupt finalist and Android-based Siri competitor today has unveiled a major new platform play, via its natural language processing (NLP) API for app developers. The Maluuba team believes that NLP is the next logical interface for use across any category of app, just like keyboards, buttons and touch points have been before it, and this API is designed to help them take an early… → Read More
Siri got nice little boost a few weeks ago when she (or he, depending on your locale) was updated to handle sports information, restaurant reservations and movie listings, but it seems the virtual assistant’s faculty with films will soon extend beyond just rattling off showtimes. According to a handful of images obtained by 9to5Mac, Siri will be able to help users buy movie tickets once iOS 6.1… → Read More
Maluuba, the Android-based Siri competitor and TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco finalist, just announced that it has partnered with OpenTable and the menu and restaurant hours database Locu. Maluuba is also launching a full version of its app in India, allowing users there to access local information about movies, businesses, restaurants and events. → Read More
Apple’s looking into some intriguing things in a couple of new patent applications spotted oday, including sonar-style echolocation for passive proximity detection, and a text-to-speech engine that takes contextual cues about what it’s reading and adds personality to the computer-generated voices it employs. Both of these could result in big changes in the daily use of mobile devices. → Read More
Maluuba, the Siri-like personal assistant that launched at TechCrunch Disrupt SF earlier this year, just announced the launch of its Maluuba International Edition. Until now, the service was only available in the U.S., Australia, UK and Ireland, but the International Edition is now available worldwide in the Google Play store. As part of this launch, Maluuba is also now featured in the… → Read More
Document management provider OfficeDrop has a new capability for voice-activated search that represents just the start in how mobile apps are changing with the advent of natural-language, speech-recognition technology. The service is built on Nuance, the Boston-based company that has developed a speech-recognition service called Nina, which debuted in August. → Read More
Lots of third-party alternatives to Apple’s Siri exist, and the promise of an AI-assisted ‘personal assistant’ has been the talk of futurists for what seems like an eternity (the tardy time keeping is in the job description). But one such offering — Maluuba — caught our eye when it launched at TechCrunch Disrupt last month. And today the Android app, which was initially only available in the… → Read More
Apple has filed a sizeable 51-page patent application continuation with the USPTO according to AppleInsider, which covers Siri in general terms, described broadly as an “Intelligent Automated Assistant.” The filing includes screenshots of Siri pre-Apple acquisition, and generally describes in detail the system however many hundreds of millions of iOS device users are already using. But it also… → Read More
Ever since Apple launched its voice-driven personal assistant Siri, a slew of clones have appeared on the scene. Most of these, however, clearly show that Siri was the result of a massive research project that isn’t easy to replicate. Maluuba, which is launching at TechCrunch Disrupt today, is the closest thing I’ve seen to a viable Siri competitor on Android. In many ways, Maluuba is actually… → Read More
It would appear that Siri is down. We’ve tested five iPhone 4S models, all of which are running iOS 5.1. One of the iPhones in the TechCrunch office is running iOS 6, and Siri seems to be working fine on the newer OS.
Twitter confirms, and there are some pretty funny tweets coming out of this very serious crisis.
To be fair, Siri doesn’t work that well anyway, even when she’s not down. → Read More
Chinese companies don’t view Siri in a favorable light, hence the creation of the Speech Industry Alliance of China (SIAC). They are willing to offer an alternative that is supposed to work better with Mandarin and Cantonese. In fact, iOS 6 will include a new version of Siri that understands and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. It is a threat for Chinese mobile phone manufacturers, carriers and… → Read More
Nuance, the company that powers a large number of tools that use voice recognition (including Apple’s Siri) launched its own Siri-like voice-powered “virtual assistant” today that developers can add to their mobile apps. The Nuance Interactive Natural Assistant (Nina) uses the company’s speech recognition technologies and combines them with voice biometrics and an understanding of natural… → Read More
The future of customer service is less about the people than it is the sound of a person or even the virtual image of an individual.
Humans are just so inefficient. But they can be improved, too, through interfaces that provide them more automated capabilities.
Salefsorce.com is on the edge of this trend. It continues to acquire companies that makes it easier for agents to become more… → Read More
It’s understandable why you might have been confused. Apple made Siri’s expansion about as clear as mud yesterday at Apple’s WWDC keynote.
She learns more, moves to the iPad, gets all kinds of new integrations in iOS 6 (which most certainly will come to your iPhone 4/3GS), but does she actually hop on over to the new hardware and chat at you like the condescending connectivity-challenged… → Read More
Siri is getting a whole mess of new updates, and she looks to be a whole lot smarter than she used to be. Beyond her ability to open apps and arrival on the iPad, soon Siri will also be your co-pilot while you’re riding in your whip. “We want to integrate Siri even better in the car,” Scott Forstall said on stage at WWDC today.
To that point, an important tidbit that was buried in the keynote… → Read More
Just moments after Apple officially pulled back the curtains on iOS 6, Apple’s Scott Forstall announced a slew of compelling new updates to Siri, their mobile intelligent assistant.
First up, Siri is much smarter than she used to be — she can now easily cull information from multiple new sources to provide (among other things) detailed sports, restaurant, and movie information.
That’s all… → Read More
Apple is continuing its “famous person uses Siri” commercials by bringing in famous person John Malkovich to add a soupçon of Old World weltschmerz and philosophizing to what is, in short, a way to schedule a wake-up call without unlocking your phone. The commercials feature Malkovich in what appears to be the house above the nasty places in Hostel where he muses on fine meats and the meaning of… → Read More
For Google Maps, winter is coming. Potentially.
As you’ve undoubtedly seen by now, with the upcoming iOS 6 software, Apple intends to replace the Google Maps aspect of their default Maps application with their own, in-house version. Mark Gurman of 9to5 Mac was the first to report this news, and dives into more of the detail behind it, including the 3D aspect. John Paczkowski of AllThingsD … → Read More
Looks like Apple might be loosening its grip even more on voice recognition apps? Or, it simply just feels that the competition is not as good as its own native Siri. We’ve just gotten word from Netherlands-based developer Sparkling Apps that its voice-response app, Voice Answer — rejected by Apple for nearly three months — has been approved by Apple and is now live in the App Store, and usable… → Read More
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