Siri Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Stitcher Radio announces a Car Mode, but it's not quite what I want

by Mike Schramm (May 17th, 2013)

I use my iPhone a lot to listen to music and podcasts in my car -- I connect it right up to my car stereo, and it's my main listening source while driving around LA. As a result, I really wish there were more options to control my music while driving around. Music- and podcast-streaming app ...

Belkin WeMo rolls out IFTTT multi-device control

by Steven Sande (May 15th, 2013)

TUAW readers know of my affinity for Belkin WeMo home automation tools, whether I'm using them to get Siri to turn on the Christmas tree or keep my cat cool in the summer. Today Belkin announced IFTTT multi-device control for WeMo switches. What does that mean? It means that you can now control ...

Daily Update for May 14, 2013

by Steven Sande (May 14th, 2013)

It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires ...

Siri update prompts users to be brief

by Mike Schramm (May 14th, 2013)

Apple's voice interaction system Siri has been updated, this time specifically to ask users to keep it short. Siri's system doesn't deal well with longer user queries, so if you happen to ask something that's just too long for Siri to deal with, she'll interrupt you, giving you a quote from a ...

Auto manufacturers slow to adopt Siri Eyes Free

by Steven Sande (Apr 22nd, 2013)

Remember the hoopla at last year's WWDC when Apple announced Siri Eyes Free? The feature was designed to use a car's onboard voice-recognition hardware to process voice input and pass it along to Apple's Siri. At this point in time, according to an article on Wired, only GM has actually ...

Apple headed to court in China over Siri patent infringement claim

by Michael Grothaus (Apr 1st, 2013)

Apple is scheduled to appear in court in China this July to defend allegations by Zhizhen Technology Co that its Siri software infringes on patents owned by ZTC. At issue is ZTC's "Xiao i Robot" voice recognition software that the company patented back in 2004. As TechCrunch notes, "Xiao i ...

Talking to Siri: Remote-controlling your Mac by voice with Siri Listener

by Steven Sande (Mar 27th, 2013)

In this episode of "Stupid Siri Tricks," I make my iOS devices control a remote Mac. How remote? Well, it should work anywhere on the planet (or off, if you happen to be on the International Space Station) with Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection. If you can take a note with Siri, you can make ...

Siri trick turns iBooks into audiobooks

by Steven Sande (Mar 18th, 2013)

Have you ever purchased an iBook and then wished that you had an audiobook version of it? Macworld UK's Mark Hattersley wrote a wonderful post today on how to use Siri Dictation to speak either a portion or all of the text from an iBook. To begin setting up Siri to read your books aloud to ...

Watch a vintage Mac 512K talk to an iMac via Siri

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 11th, 2013)

Niles Mitchell has a variety of Apple devices, including an iPhone with Siri, an iMac and a vintage Mac 512K. Using a combination of the old Speak program, AppleScript and iCloud Notes, Mitchell was able to send files from his iMac to his Mac 512K via Siri. It's a clever mix of old and new ...

Chevrolet Sonic, Spark first cars to get Siri Eyes Free integration

by Michael Grothaus (Feb 14th, 2013)

GM has announced that the Chevrolet Sonic and Spark will offer Siri Eyes Free integration in March of 2013. This makes good on a promise GM made in June 2012 to deliver the service to the cars within "the next 12 months." Eyes Free will be distributed via an upgrade to existing MyLink radios in ...

Smart calendar app Tempo speeds up your day

by Michael Rose (Feb 13th, 2013)

Not to bother you with a study from the University of the Obvious, but if you think about the history of technologically facilitated intelligent agents, the goal always seems to be to sub in for a clever, always-on human personal assistant. There's a reason that hyper-busy, well-compensated folk ...

New iOS app Winston is your Siri personal assistant for news

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 12th, 2013)

Winston is a new and ambitious product from Colorado-based startup, Reactor Labs. It's a take on the Siri personal assistant idea that focuses on news instead of sending messages. At the heart of the app is Winston, a personable British butler that compiles a daily brief from your selected news ...

Talking to Siri: Creating reminders without times

by Erica Sadun (Feb 7th, 2013)

This morning, beloved leader Victor wondered how he could create reminders using Siri without having those reminders tied to a specific time. He loves Siri's easy voice integration but didn't want to schedule these items. He just wanted to add them to his to-do list. Possible? You bet. The ...

2013 Honda Accord, Acura RDX and ILX getting Siri Eyes Free option

by Randy Nelson (Jan 30th, 2013)

More automobile manufacturers are hopping on the Siri Eyes Free bandwagon -- or should that be car carrier? Although announced as a partner in the endeavor last summer, Honda has finally confirmed which models will be the first to utilize the feature: the 2013 Honda Accord, Acura RDX and Acura ...

Inside Siri's military origins and how it almost came pre-installed on Android

by Randy Nelson (Jan 23rd, 2013)

Since the debut of the iPhone 4S in 2011, we've become accustomed to asking our devices for assistance with various tasks thanks to the iOS-exclusive Siri. But there was a time when owners of Android devices nearly had the A.I. helper at their fingertips. In a truly excellent look at Siri's ...