The HomePod won’t ship until later this year, but two posts on social media show that people working on the device are already testing them in their homes.
One Twitter user has shared an image taken in Menlo Park, CA, depicting a Control Center screen, complete with HomePod icon. Another user, this time on Instagram, posted a black and white photo of a HomePod in what looks like his or her kitchen in Shanghai, China.
For its next act with Siri, Apple is taking some cues from one of the tech world’s biggest sources of inspiration: Hollywood.
With the release of iOS 11 later this month, Siri is set to get some big upgrades. The most notable will be the AI helper’s silky-smooth voice. And according to one Apple exec, the movie Her played a big role in helping the company figure out the changes they should make.
The development of iOS 11 seems to be nearly complete ahead of Apple’s big iPhone keynote next week.
Developers received the 10th beta build of iOS 11 this morning, coming just one week after Apple surprised developers by making the ninth beta build available for testing.
Siri is being credited as helping save the life of a critically-ill teenager in Texas, who was trapped on a roof with her family due to flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
After calls to 911 and pleas on Facebook and Instagram failed to yield results, the 14-year-old — who suffers from sickle cell anemia — asked Siri for help. Siri proceeded to place calls with the U.S. Coast Guard, which resulted in the family being rescued.
We might have a brand new way to activate Siri on Apple’s next-generation iPhones, according to one iOS developer.
References in Apple’s source code hint at a new gesture using the physical sleep/wake button, which will enable us to access the virtual assistant in situations where using the “Hey Siri” command isn’t ideal.
Apple’s digital assistant is under new management.
Along with updating its corporate leadership page to include its two newest VPs, Apple also revealed that it has replaced Eddy Cue as Siri’s boss and given the task over to software VP Craig Federighi.
Apple’s original TV show efforts haven’t exactly set the world on fire, but that didn’t stop the company from being honored with an Emmy award this week.
Apple was among the tech companies who received technical Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, alongside Microsoft, YouTube, and others.
The smart speaker market is suddenly starting to look a lot more crowded.
Sonos has been making some of our favorite wireless speakers for years but it appears that the company is planning to challenge Apple, Amazon, Google and Samsung with its own smart speaker that will also be powered via voice.
Developers received a big batch of beta updates from Apple today, bringing iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra one step closer to public launch ahead of Apple’s huge keynote next month.
The seventh beta builds for iOS 11, macOS High Sierra, watchOS 4 and tvOS 11 were all seeded to developers. While previous betas have added a host of changes, the new builds focus mostly on bug fixes and under-the-hood improvements which could mean Apple’s nearly done fine-tuning the new software updates.
The next great Apple data center powered by renewable energy is coming soon to Iowa.
Apple revealed today that it plans to invest $1.3 billion into a new data center in Waukee, Iowa, that will help create more than 550 construction and operations jobs in the city near Des Moines. Along with splurging on the data center, the company will also create a $100 million Public Improvement Fund to boost infrastructure in the Des Moines area.
Apple has updated its recently-launched machine learning blog to include three new papers, describing Apple’s use of artificial intelligence to improve Siri.
Check out the details below.
References to a new Apple TV device have been discovered in the latest beta for tvOS 11, which could indicate that the new set top box is close to a possible launch.
Developers have been combing through the files in tvOS 11 beta 7 after Apple released it this morning it alongside new iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra betas. While the beta doesn’t come with any major new features, one developer discovered it contains some hints about the long-rumored 4K Apple TV.
Development of iOS 11 appears to be nearing the finish line, as Apple seeded a fresh new beta for its big update of the software that powers iPhones and iPads.
iOS 11 beta 7, along with new betas for macOS High Sierra and tvOS 11, are now available to registered developers. They bring a bunch of new bug fixes and performance improvements to the operating systems, which are expected to be released to the public later this fall.
Barclays is making it even easier for its customers to spend their hard-earned cash.
The latest update to its Mobile Banking app on iOS lets you use Siri to send money to any existing payee, but there is a limit to how much you can send with your voice.
Apple and The Rock’s rampage of crazy ads continued today with two new commercials that pair the movie superstar with digital assistant Siri.
In the latest short ads, The Rock taps into his ability to speak Mandarin in order to showcase Siri’s support for more than 20 languages. The funny ads are a sequel of sorts to the short film Apple released last month starring the unlikely duo.
Check out both new ads below.
Apple’s partnership with the Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) has spawned three new ads for the iPhone 7 that showcase Siri’s talents at performing everyday tasks.
The Rock cooks up something smelly and takes his selfie talents to space in the colossal ads that are a follow up to the short film Apple released last month starring Johnson and Siri.
Check out all three sequel ads:
Apple’s early software for the HomePod continues to reveal new features of the smart speaker, as developers dive deeper into files. After details on the speaker’s screen got discovered, another developer unearthed the UI sounds that will be used on HomePod.
Listen for yourself:
There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the HomePod speaker Apple announced at WWDC last month. But thanks to the firmware that was released to developers on Friday, we now know a little bit more about its internal hardware.
The launch of Apple’s new HomePod speaker isn’t slated until the very end of 2017, but after digging into the software that powers the new device, one developer has revealed a number of features fans can expect.
Notorious iOS sleuth Steve Troughton Smith has done some serious research into HomePod and discovered that it’s basically like another iOS device only it doesn’t have a big screen. That could open HomePod up to some exciting capabilities in the future.
Apple has confirmed that it won’t store or sell any data collected by its HomePod smart speaker.
HomePod won’t send anything to Apple’s servers until a user activates it with the “Hey Siri” command. Apple encrypts any information received after that point. The data gets encrypted and sent using an anonymous ID.
Members of Apple’s public beta software program can now test the latest builds of iOS 11, tvOS 11, and macOS High Sierra just one day after Apple dropped the last big batch of beta updates on developers.
The third public beta of iOS 11 contains all of the changes Apple seeded to developers yesterday with iOS 11 beta 4. Along with a number of new bug fixes, the new iOS 11 update brings some new UI improvements like new icons for some stock apps and some changes to the notification center.
Ever since Apple released the first iOS 11 beta to developers, I’ve run each version on my primary iPhone 7 and my 9.7-inch iPad Pro. While iOS 11 doesn’t bring a radical redesign, it’s been great, with several extremely useful new features (especially for iPad).
To get the full rundown on what I like, what I don’t like, and my general thoughts on iOS 11 after a month’s use, watch the video below.
Apple has again expanded the reach of Apple TV’s universal search feature, adding a handful of new content providers, including Discovery Communications and Filmstruck.
Apple has teamed up with Dwayne Johnson, better known as The Rock, to make its first Siri “movie.”
It’s called The Rock x Siri: Dominate the Day, and it’s pretty hilarious. Johnson plays an exaggerated version of himself who uses Siri to fulfill crazy dreams. But it’s certainly not a movie.
Is it too late on a Saturday night to hit the hardware store for that essential dingus you need for Sunday’s DIY project? Has the local supermarket closed already, or do you still have time to buy some more beer? Does the Kanaan restaurant (“Best Humos in Berlin”) even open today? Just ask Siri.
You may be used to firing up Google Maps, searching for the store or restaurant you’re interested in, then tapping around in the app to get to the opening times. But did you know that Siri can also tell you if a local business is open, or when it will be?