siri

Apple has no current plans to make the Siri voice assistant available on older iOS devices, according to a tip reported to developer Michael Steeber.

Siri, which was released as an exclusive beta to the iPhone 4S, uses the built-in microphone to take user commands and turn them into actions on the phone. That includes actions that make use of a network connection, like searching the Web, setting reminders, and checking stock prices.

A tipster told Steeber that when he contacted Apple with a bug report, he also suggested Apple make available an optional build of iOS with Siri included … Read more

Karyne may be up a point on the Rumor board, but I'm winning where it actually counts: on Twitter.

As of this writing, I have 232 followers and Karyne has 223.

OK, you can stop laughing now.

We realize, of course, that those numbers are embarrassingly low. So follow us, guys! (@EmilyDreyfuss, @karynelevy, @RumorShow.) Our new high-stakes side bet is who can get to 500 first. Maybe the lucky 500th follower of the winner will get a prize!

The rumors on today's show are of the spiciest variety: sightings of the first quad-core phone (which some people really don't want); two new iPads in 2012; all-new Apple products next year (huzzah); and Siri may ruin my life by coming to old iOS devices. … Read more

A follow-up to 9to5Mac's report on developer Steven Troughton-Smith's porting of Siri to an iPhone 4 reveals that another developer, Ryan Petrich, has created a scenario for Siri to function on an iPhone 3GS, though performance is not very good.

Last week Siri was hacked to run on an iPhone 4 by jailbreaking an iPhone 4S to recover the files necessary to run Siri on the iPhone 4. 9to5Mac provided a great interview and video showing the iPhone 4 running Siri next to an iPhone 4S.

Now, according to developer Ryan Petrich, Siri can run on the iPhone … Read more

Would Apple give up one of the big reasons to pull out your wallet on its latest iPhone by offering its hottest feature to users with older models?

iOS hacking blog Jailbreak Nation says that may be in the cards, in report claiming that Apple is testing Siri, its voice assistant feature that is exclusive to the iPhone 4S, on older iOS devices including the iPhone 4.

The rumor comes on the heels of efforts to get the feature to work on the iPhone 4 without Apple's permission, requiring the use of a device that's been jailbroken. That … Read more

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt sees Apple's voice assistant Siri as a "significant development" that could threaten the Web search giant's business.

"Apple's Siri is a significant development--a voice-activated means of accessing answers through iPhones that demonstrates the innovations in search," Schmidt said during an appearance before a Senate antitrust subcommittee in September. "Google has many strong competitors and we sometimes fail to anticipate the competitive threat posed by new methods of accessing information."

Siri uses the iPhone 4S' built-in microphone to take user commands and turn them into actions on the phone. That includes things that make use of a network connection, like searching the Web, setting reminders, and checking stock prices.

Schmidt and some Google rivals appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee as that panel looked to determine whether Google abuses its power in online search. Some of Google's competitors told senators during the hearing that Google "doesn't play fair" and "rigs" search results.

… Read more

Don't forget to update your Facebook status update for the last time before Anonymous nukes the whole site tomorrow. Remember, remember the fifth of November. Leaked from today's 404 Podcast episode: Siri goes down, Google does a barrel roll, Kevin Rose goes Oink, and who are the 35 million people still using AOL dial-up?… Read more

commentary Siri, we have to talk.

It's not me, it's you.

This just isn't working, and I think it's your fault.

The problem is, I can't really tell, because you're being kind of sketchy about it. You go away and come back without telling me. Your parents aren't letting on to any of your recent absent behavior, but I'm reading all about it on Twitter and on the news.

I thought things were going pretty well when we first met. You lived to serve, you told me. You helped me remember meetings, … Read more

Update at 1:40 p.m. PT: Siri's working again on multiple devices here, and users reporting the feature as functional following the earlier outage.

Apple's Siri service, the voice assistant feature that's an exclusive to the recently launched iPhone 4S, is experiencing downtime once again, according to numerous users.

At approximately 11 a.m. PT, users began posting to Twitter that they were experiencing problems getting Siri to respond to voice commands. Affected users reported that the feature activated correctly, but was not connecting to process voice commands. Tests on several iPhone 4S devices owned by … Read more

Siri may gobble up some of your iPhone 4S' data plan, but fortunately she's not an overeater--just a bit peckish.

Ars Technica conducted a pretty thorough investigation into just how big a dent Siri users can expect the digital dame to make in their monthly data usage. See, whenever you talk to Siri, an audio file of your command is sent to Apple's servers for processing and then the requested data and vocal response is sent back over the network to your phone, even if the question is something that should be able to be gleaned from your phone's local data.

The results are pretty clear--unless you're attempting to have an intimate relationship with Siri and you're on the emotionally needy side, she's not going to blow out your monthly bill. Ars found that each Siri query ate up about 63KB of data on average, although naturally that figure will vary for different users and uses. Here's what Ars found when it extrapolated that rough amount out under different monthly usage scenarios:… Read more