Apple has today announced its long-rumored Siri assistant feature for iOS 5, a voice-activated tool that will allow you to control many aspects of your iPhone and can perform tasks automatically.
For decades technologists have teased us with this dream that we can talk to our technology,” said Apple’s Phil Schiller, “But it’s never come true! It’s such a let-down! What we really want to do is just talk to our device!”
Apple specifically calls it “Siri: the intelligent assistant to get things done just by asking.” This technology was built out of Siri, an assistant app that Apple purchased last year.
The feature is activated using a long-press on the home button and a command spoken to the iPhone.
Many different commands were demonstrated including getting the weather, directions on maps, recommendations for restaurants and more.
A typical exchange goes something like this:
- Scott Forstall: “Find me a great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto.”
- Siri on iPhone: “I’ve found five Greek restaurants, and I’ve sorted them by rating.”
Scott Forstall said that “I’ve been in the AI field a long time. This blows me away.”
Siri also features integration with Wikipedia and popular data engine Wolfram Alpha to provide definitions and more.
“Compose and dictate email right to Siri,” said Forstall, demonstrating the new feautre. “Set timers. Look up contacts, create notes, search the web, search Wikipedia. It’s absolutely blow-away. Well, who is Siri? Just ask!”
Siri: “I am a humble personal assistant.”
The announcement was made at Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event held at One Infinite Loop in Cupertino.
The iOS 5 update will arrive on October 12th as a free upgrade to users alongside the iCloud products like iTunes Match and iWork.
iOS 5 is the next major revision to Apple’s software for iPhone, iPod, Apple TV and iPad devices. You can see our complete rundown of the iOS announcements back at WWDC here. We’ve also got a closer look at some of the features of iOS like iMessages, Twitter, Setup and Notification Center, iCloud and alerts.
We will continue to bring you the latest news on the features of iOS 5 in our Apple coverage today, so stay tuned here.
Apple's new "Siri" feature is in reality an imitation of one feature of Kinect launched back in 2010:
http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/iphone/apples-tv-plans-copy-kinect-141111
If you weren't aware, perhaps that's because Microsoft products and services rarely receive the same attention from websites like this one as Apple's and Google's, thus leaving many readers with a slanted view of the tech industry.
Believe it or not, Kinect was the fastest-selling gadget of any kind of all time, and held the official World Record as such. With all the hype that inflates anything that Apple does, you could be forgiven for believing that Apple is innovating.
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LikeDude that makes a lot of sense when you think about iut. Wow.
www.web-privacy.edu.tc
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LikeAre you 100% sure that Siri is an iOS 5 feature and not an iPhone 4S feature? Are older iPhones powerful enough to do the work?
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LikeI don't think the actual iPhone is doing all the work, instead, the audio is interpreted by Apple's servers and they tell your phone what to do, so really the phone doesn't have to be very fast. Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if older iPhones don't have this feature.
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