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Siri - page 10

Apple plans to hire 2,000 workers in Seattle by 2024

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333dexter
Apple is moving into these two buildings in Seattle.
Photo: Kilroy Realty

The mayor of Seattle confirmed today that Apple is making a major play to move into Amazon and Microsoft’s backyard.

During a press conference today, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan revealed that Apple plans to increase its expansion into Seattle by hiring an additional 2,000 employees in the next five years.

iOS 13 and iPadOS betas are now available to everyone

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iPadOS gets a new home screen design.
They’re just not ready for everyone.
Photo: Apple

The first public beta of iOS 13 is finally available to public testers.

Apple launched iOS 13 public beta 1 and iPadOS public beta 1 this morning. The software gives everyone the opportunity to try out all the new features, like the system-wide Dark Mode that looks absolutely beautiful. However, you might not want to take the jump quite yet.

Google Assistant is a better virtual pharmacist than Siri

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Apple debuts HomePod in India at its cheapest price yet
Would you ask Siri about your medication?
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

If you have a query about your prescription drugs, you’re better off asking Google Assistant than Siri or Amazon’s Alexa. That’s the conclusion of a new piece of research, published in the journal Nature Digital Medicine.

While you’re best off asking a human doctor, of course, the research was intended to see how accurate Google, Amazon and Apple’s AI assistants are at explaining the 50 most commonly prescribed medicines.

Apple allegedly leases huge new office building in Seattle

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333 Dexter Avenue
This is the building Apple might move into.
Photo: Kilroy Realty

Watch out Amazon. Apple is moving into your neighborhood.

The iPhone-maker reportedly is set to lease a large office complex building in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood that is also the home Amazon’s HQ.

Siri could be less disruptive in future iPadOS

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Spanish Siri labels Bolivian president a ‘dictator’
Craig Federighi suggested that Apple will consider making change in the future.
Photo: Apple/Cult of Mac

Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of software, has suggested to a customer that Apple could correct an irritating UI element for Siri on iPad.

Apple user Juliano Rossi wrote Federighi about the way that the Siri interface takes up the entire iPad screen. This contrasts with Siri on the Mac, where Siri appears in a small popup window.

While Federighi doesn’t confirm that things will change, he does say that Apple will take the point into consideration.

iOS 13 opens door for Spotify to use Siri

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Spotify Premium update October 2018
Jamming out on Spotify using Siri is finally possible.
Photo: Spotify

One of the best features on Apple Music could soon make its way onto Spotify thanks to iOS 13.

Apple is finally making it possible for Spotify and other music, podcast and audio apps to use Siri. Not being able to integrate with HomePod or Siri were two of Spotify’s many complaints in a recent open letter slamming Apple. When iOS 13 comes out that will finally be possible.

What to expect from WWDC 2019

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WWDC 2019
It’s going to be big!
Photo: Apple

Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is just days away and it’s shaping up to be one of the most software-packed events in the company’s history.

New software for the iPhone, iPad, Mac and more will be shown off for the first time when Tim Cook takes the stage on June 3rd. Most of the event will be focused solely on Apple’s biggest software updates of the year, but there’s a chance we could see some new hardware too.

How to remove Siri from MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar

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Free your Touch Bar from Siri's evil grasp.
Free your Touch Bar from Siri's evil grasp.
Photo: Aaron Yoo/Flickr CC

Maybe you’re one of the non-vocal majority that doesn’t mind the Touch Bar. Perhaps you even like it. And maybe, at the same time, you can’t see the point of Siri on the Mac.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could tailor your MacBook Pro just for you? A lovely, handy, beautiful Touch Bar, only without that dumbo Siri? Well, yes it would. Here’s how to remove Siri from the Macbook’s Touch Bar.

Rumor roundup: What to expect in iOS 13 and macOS 10.15 [Video]

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holding iPhone with
iOS 13 could offer tons of huge improvements to Apple's mobile operating system.
Photo: Ian Fuchs/Cult of Mac

The last few weeks have been packed with rumors and leaks about what Apple may have in store for us with iOS 13 and macOS 10.15. With so much information coming out day after day, it’s hard to keep track of all the possible rumors.

Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled the full list of expected features coming this year to iOS and macOS. From dark mode to iPad updates, and new Mac apps to Siri improvements, here’s everything we are expecting (so far) in iOS 13 and macOS 10.15.

How to create and delete alarms and timers with Siri

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Even Siri can manage to set alarms and timers without screwing it up.
Even Siri can manage to set alarms and timers without screwing it up.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Siri may still be hopeless, but one thing it’s always been good at is setting alarms. In fact, I don’t use Siri much at all any more1, but for alarms and timers, I use it exclusively. Even with iOS 12’s great 3-D Touch timer widget, Siri is quicker.

Today we’ll see how to tell Siri to create an alarm, set a timer, how to edit an alarm, and how to delete one.

Transferring iOS apps to macOS 10.15 could soon be a snap

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Project Marzipan brings UIKit to the Mac
Making an iOS app into a Mac one could some be as easy as pressing a button, thanks to the “Marzipan” project.
Photo: Apple

The days of laboriously converting an iPhone or iPad application to run on a Mac are almost over. Soon, preparing an iOS app to run on macOS will reportedly be as simple as the developer checking a checkbox.

This is part of a trove of good news for developers — and users — leaking out today.

Google AI expert jumps ship for Apple

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Siri
Siri needs all the help it can get.
Photo: Apple

One of Google’s top AI experts has left the company to join Apple’s special projects group.

Ian Goodfellow, who created an AI approach called general adversarial networks (GANs), was hired by Apple as a director of machine learning, adding another prominent Google AI expert to its growing team.

Laserlike acquisition boosts Apple’s AI capabilities

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The Laserlike app used machine learning to find relevant news articles.
The Laserlike app used machine learning to find relevant news articles.
Photo: Laserlike

Apple bought a small startup that created an app that used machine learning to auotomically find news articles users would be interested in.

The acquisition of Laserlike is expected to  bolster Apple’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Siri sounds better in Britain after voice improvements

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Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Sorry, Alexa: Siri still the most widespread AI assistant
Photo: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac

Apple has quietly updated the female British voice for Siri. The improvements can be heard today on HomePod and iOS devices.

The update comes just a few weeks after Apple updated the male British voice. It is believed the company could be working on improvements for many of Siri’s international voices.

Can a social media guru extinguish Siri’s tire fire of complaints?

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Siri Alexa in voice report
Apple is hiring someone to track what everyone says about Siri.
Photo: Apple

Corporation ISO very patient person to listen to endless complaints about its digital assistant. No phonies.

Apple really did post a job opening for someone to monitor what people are saying about Siri, with an eye to turning complaints into improvements to this beleaguered voice-driven assistant.

6 ways Samsung just leapfrogged Apple

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Samsung
Samsung's Unpacked event was actually pretty impressive.
Photo: Samsung

Samsung put Apple and the rest of the tech industry on notice today during its massive Unpacked event.

During the biggest tech event of 2019 so far, Samsung unveiled a slew of new smartphones, wearables, earbuds and more. Even though Samsung has a rep for copying Apple — and there was certainly a lot of that at Unpacked — the company is setting the tone for the rest of the industry. Samsung even leapfrogged Apple’s products in some ways.

Here are six things Apple should take note of.

Apple’s latest acquisition could give Siri a crucial boost

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Apple
The company that made Barbie a conversationalist has been bought by Apple.
Photo: ToyTalk

Apple’s latest acquisition could give Siri a better chance at competing against Amazon’s popular voice-power assistant, Alexa.

Pullstring, a San Francisco-based startup that specializes in helping developers design, prototype and deploy voice apps has reportedly been purchased by Apple. The company’s platform helps create voice apps for Alexa and Google Assistant, and will likely help Apple make more tools for Siri.

Apple seeds second beta of iOS 12.2 to devs

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iOS12
iOS 12.2 is bringing a bunch of new features to iPhone and iPad.
Photo: Apple

Apple is starting off February by serving up a fresh new beta for developers with the release of iOS 12.2 beta 2.

The new beta comes just over a week after Apple seeded the first build of iOS 12.2. That update brought Apple News support to testers in Canada, as well as new Downtime feature that lets you schedules periodically limit the number of apps you can access.

How to make Shortcuts give you a weather forecast on iPad

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iPad weather
Life’s a beach — without this iPad weather shortcut.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The iPad infamously still lacks a built-in weather app. There are plenty of ways around this — you can ask Siri, you can use the Maps app to see the weather anywhere, or you can wait for your iPhone to give you a lock-screen forecast every morning.

Today we add a new method. We’ll make a quick shortcut that gets the weather at your current location, and displays it as a notification.

HomePod in China turns Siri into a storyteller

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HomePod in China
Siri and HomePod will oblige children in China when they ask for a story.
Photo: Apple

HomePod has a feature that is only available in China and could prove popular with busy parents and the kid who just wants to hear a story.

Apple’s version of a smart speaker made its debut in China and Hong Kong on Jan. 18 with the ability to command “Siri, tell me a story.”

How to search for songs by lyrics in Apple Music

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Just look at that rick(shaw) roll!
Just look at that rick(shaw) roll!
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Do you have a snippet of a song in your head, and it’s driving you crazy? Did you forget to Shazam it when you heard it playing in that hipster boutique vegan-boots-and-artisanal-ramen store? Then you need Apple Music’s search by lyrics feature, which lets you find a song based on a few vaguely remembered snatches of verse.

Sonos will add Google Assistant to its speakers this year

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Sonos supports AirPlay2
Sonos speakers connect to over 80 streaming services.
Photo: Sonos

CES 2019 bug Sonos is about to add a new weapon to its smart speakers that will help make it even more competitive against Apple’s HomePod.

The company revealed today that it plans to bring Google Assistant to its smart speakers later this year. Beta testing for the new feature has already begun, allowing Google’s Siri-competitor to be the main voice input on some Sonos speaker models.

Siri’s Hebrew voice is suing Apple

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HomePod siri
Apple has another lawsuit on its hands.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

The female broadcaster and voice artist whose voice is used for the Hebrew version of Siri is reportedly suing Apple. Galit Gura-Eini, who has also provided the local voice for Waze, claims that Apple used her voice without permission.

Her lawsuit also claims that people have used the Siri voice to make her voice say various sexual, racist, or violent things.