Previously, several reports had surfaced that accused both Apple and Google of listening to users’ private conversations. Both companies explained through their official channels that the recordings were transcribed to improve their respective voice assistants. Now, Apple and Google are reportedly shutting down the program which had contractors listen in on private conversations.
Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri are both voice assistants that occasionally sent voice recordings of their surroundings to their parent companies. The companies claimed that they had started the program of hiring contractors, who listened to the recordings, for the purpose of [...]
Although the highlight of the Apple Special event last night was the lineup of new iPhones, Apple did manage to slip in a little bit extra. The Apple HomePod is going to be receiving a few new features. These will probably bring it up to speed with its competition in the smart speaker segment.
The update involves increasing the capability of Siri with respect to the HomePod. Other than these features, Apple has also added support for a few languages in the HomePod. The device now supports Spanish in the US, Spain and Mexico and expands support in Canada with Canadian French.
With Siri on HomePod, you can also access these new features:
Search by lyrics: [...]
The Apple iPhone X, even before its launch, garnered a lot of attention for its possible design. On 12th September, Apple confirmed those rumours and unveiled the iPhone X with a notch and nearly bezel-less design. Face ID, introduced with the iPhone X as a replacement for Touch ID was met with scepticism at first but, has since been praised for accuracy and ease of use. This was further reaffirmed by a recent survey conducted by Creative Strategies which concluded that 97% of early adopters of iPhone X are satisfied by their new iPhone.
[amazon_link asins=’B072LPF91D’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’igyaan-21′ marketplace=’IN’ [...]
It is no secret that a lot of companies believe that machine learning and AI is future of smartphones. Big tech companies like Apple, Google and Samsung have already invested big in Artificial Intelligence and have their own AI assistant in their smartphones. One such assistant is Apple’s own Siri. Siri, just like many other assistants can play music, set reminders and make a shopping list according to your text or voice commands.
But, it can get a bit embarrassing if you’re in a public transport talking to your phone and this robot is responding to you in full volume. And no matter how much you whisper, [...]
The holiday season is a time when companies try to push their marquee products into the market to take advantage of an average consumer’s spending spree. Apple Inc however, has decided to evade this season and wait till early next year to launch its much awaited foray into the smart speaker industry. HomePod, the Siri powered smart speaker which was unveiled back in June will start shipping to the US, UK and Australia in only early 2018.
The smart speaker industry has become more competitive this year and launching a first smart speaker at the end of 2017 was already a but late from Apple. Amazon’s Echo lineup and Alphabet Inc’s Google Home speakers have been [...]
Apple is dropping Microsoft’s Bing as the default search platform for Siri, Search inside iOS, and Spotlight on Macs in favour of Google search.
According Apple. this move is to create a more “consistent web search experience” for its users, since Google is currently the default search engine on its Safari browser thanks to a reported $3 billion annual deal between the two companies. Bing, however, will continue to search for images for queries through Siri. A statement by Apple about the decision read:
Switching to Google as the web search provider for Siri, Search within iOS and Spotlight on Mac will allow these services to have a consistent web [...]
Remember last year’s Taylor swift and Apple music collaboration, well Apple is back at it.
Rumours about the Siri integrated wireless charging have barely subsided and now Siri has been reported to star in a movie along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
While most of us are busy bossing Siri around, the voice assistant has managed to get its own movie titled, The Rock x Siri: Dominate The Day. Dominating the day or not, Siri is definitely dominating Hollywood now.
Despite initially describing it as a “Movie”, Johnson now says that his partnership with Apple is a commercial.
Haha it’s a crazy fun commercial [...]
The rumours about Apple bringing wireless charging to its iPhone 8 lineup have been innumerous. Given its membership in the wireless power consortium, Apple is likely to depend upon the Qi inductive standard for its rumoured new feature. For a feature like wireless charging, the company will most likely have to come up with a pad- like device, may be like a -Siri powered wireless charging dock. And considering that Apple has recently been granted a new patent which states, “Smart dock for activating a voice recognition mode of a portable electronic device,” the company might just roll out a Siri powered dock sometime in the future.
The patent describes a device that could [...]
Apple has updated iOS to iOS 10, and now it focuses big on user experience.
Lock ScreenApple has improved the look of the lock screen, with the support for 3D Touch, you can now swipe right to access the camera and swipe left to get to the today screen.
Apps will now be able to showcase their live content in widgets including images and video streams on the today screen.
You can 3D touch to reply and have conversations from lock screen which will include media responses.
SiriSiri gets a big update and gets open to developers, now allowing you to book rides, and respond to messages on WhatsApp or book tickets using your favorite app. You can also [...]
It has always been clear that Apple’s main focus has been towards its iPhones. Yes, the Cupertino giant has a bunch of other products as well that sometimes tend to get pushed into the background, like its Macs. But that won’t be the case four months from now when Apple launches the OS X 10.12 that will introduce Siri for Mac.
Siri, the personal voice assistant for the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch will now come to the Mac as well. Apple has been busy testing versions of OS X with Siri for the past 3 years. After working out and polishing the interface, Apple will be ready to launch the feature publicly. Over the years, Apple has improved Siri’s functionality [...]
Microsoft revealed in an official announcement that Cortana is now available on select iOS, Android and Cyanogen OS powered devices. It is available in the US and China for iPhones running iOS 8 and above and Android 4.1.2 and above. For OnePlus One powered by Cyanogen OS in the US, it will be made available later this month with the 12.1.1 over-the-air update.
“…as a result of our close partnership with Cyanogen, we created a more integrated experience to enable Cortana’s voice activation ‘Hey Cortana’ on Cyanogen devices so you can call on her while on any screen or when you’re immersed in an app,” says Microsoft.
The Android and the iOS version of [...]
Ever wondered who will take the cake in a face-off between Siri, Cortana and Google Now? You are not the only one if you have because a company called Experts-Exchange in the US thinks just like you. The three virtual voice activated personal assistants were put to a test where they were asked four questions each and given three tasks to complete. The participants had to keep a record of the follow-up question each assistant required and closely watch for accuracy.
The following questions were made part of the test:
Who won the Super Bowl in 1978? How many calories in a muffin? Where can I buy tires? When is “Kung Fu Panda 3” coming out?The three tasks [...]
