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Siri, originally created as a stand-alone App Store app by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer, and Tom Gruber, was bought by Apple and integrated into iOS 5 for the iPhone 4s launch in 2011.
A digital assistant with sequential inference and context awareness, Siri answers questions and executes commands not in a vacuum but in relation to whatever questions and commands came before. As Siri to find you a Starbucks and it will pull up a list of locations close to where you are. Ask for directions and it knows Starbucks is where you want to go and brings up the best route to get you there.
Apple has been steadily increasing Siri's abilities as well. The company has added partnerships with OpenTable and Fandango so you can plan dinner and a movie. It's also been tied into sports results, entertainment information, Wikipedia, Wolfram Alpha, and more. Most recently, Apple added "Hey Siri" for hands-free voice activation when your device is plugged in, streaming voice-to-text so dictation happens while you're talking, and integration with CarPlay and HomeKit so you can not only drive safer but control your house with a word.
Siri also boasts industry-leading language accuracy in English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian, Korean, and Spanish, and has additional languages now in beta, including Russian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish.
There are still a lot of things Siri doesn't do, however, including "Google Now"-style predictive assistance — sifting through your data and crunching it on the cloud to try and anticipate your needs and present reminders and help in advance. It's hard to see that part changing in the near term, since Apple currently believes they shouldn't be aggregating and manipulating your personal data on their servers.
What else would you want to see from Siri in iOS 9?
The Apple Watch is going to have Siri as well. Increasingly, it will be an interface through which we control and communicate with all the technology in our daily lives. So, if Apple asked you what you'd like to see in Siri for iOS 9, what would you say?
Apple CEO Tim Cook once again reiterates his and the company's views on privacy.
In the second of a two-part interview, Cook stated that everyone should have the right to keep their personal data private, no matter what others might believe. From Telegraph:
None of us should accept that the government or a company or anybody should have access to all of our private information. This is a basic human right. We all have a right to privacy. We shouldn't give it up. We shouldn't give in to scare-mongering or to people who fundamentally don't understand the details.
Cook doesn't believe that governments need access to private information to combat terrorists.:
"Terrorists will encrypt. They know what to do. If we don't encrypt, the people we affect [by cracking down on privacy] are the good people. They are the 99.999pc of people who are good."
Even with the rise of paying for goods and services digitally, as with the company's own Apple Pay system, Cook says that we don't have to give up our privacy. That's why the company doesn't collect data from any Apple Pay transaction.
"Could we make money from knowing about this? Of course. Do you want us to do that that? No. Would it be in our value system to do that? No. We've designed [our system] to be private and for it to be secure."
Cook has previously said that if you're not paying for something, you're what's being sold. It appears Apple is going to keep hammering this point home, and making it part of their competitive strategy.
British band Hot Chip is giving you an incentive to buy their new album, rather than stream it.
I was already looking forward to British electronic music band Hot Chip's new album Why Make Sense?, which comes out in May. I won't download it from iTunes, though. I plan to buy it in physical form, because they're doing something really cool with the LP and CD.
The Verge reports that the Wallzo-designed cover of the album has been hacked by visual artist Nick Relph. Domino Records, the music label publishing the album, will use what they call "a unique and bespoke printing technique" to offer 501 different color variations of the cover art.
Combined with subtle variations of the design, this means every copy of the album, on both CD and LP, will feature completely unique artwork.
Obviously not everyone's cup of tea. For a band I'm already invested in thanks to a catalog on iTunes, it makes sense for me to take it to the next step.
You can view it for yourself on the Domino Records web site
The iMore show brings you everything you need to know about the week in iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple! On this episode Priority podcast intercept! Apple has sent out invitations to a 'Spring Forward' event in March. We'll be there, but before we go we got Serenity Caldwell, Peter Cohen, Georgia Dow, and Rene Ritchie together to share their expectations!
If you can't join us live but still want to be part of the show, simply send in your comments, questions, corrections, or feedback in advance!
Sprint announced today that it has partnered with Best Buy to offer an exclusive unlimited plan, fittingly called the "Best Buy One Plan," through the retailer starting at $60 per month with a leased 16GB iPhone 6.
The Best Buy One Plan allows customers to lease a 16GB iPhone 6 starting for $60 per month with unlimited talk, text and data. While Sprint specifically names the 16GB flavor of the iPhone 6 in the press release, it notes that other devices are available for lease at different price points. The cost is for a two-year contract, but customers also have the option to choose a 12-month lease option for an extra $10 per month. Additionally, anyone who starts a new line of service before March 28 will snag a $200 Best Buy gift card to sweeten the deal. Finally, Sprint says that certain, well-qualified customers will be able to take advantage of the deal with no money down and no sales tax at the time of purchase.
This Best Buy exclusive plan follows up on recent offers by Sprint to cut AT&T and Verizon customers' bills in half, as well as a $200 guarantee on smartphone trade-ins for customers switch from T-Mobile.
Source: Sprint
Press Release:
Sprint Launches "Best Buy One Plan" – Unlimited Talk, Text and Data, Plus Your Phone – for One Low Price; Available Only at Best Buy
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Sprint (NYSE:S) today introduced a simple way to get a wireless phone, simplifying the wireless selection process for customers. The Best Buy One Plan (SM), an industry-first, all inclusive plan, gives customers unlimited talk, text and data, plus the hottest Sprint smartphones, for one low monthly price (excluding taxes and fees )1. This plan is available exclusively at Best Buy locations nationwide beginning March 1.
"Customers told us they wanted an easier, more simplified way to get a phone. With the Best Buy One Plan, that's exactly what we're offering," said Jaime Jones, president, Postpaid Consumer and General Business Sales, Sprint. "Best Buy One is the industry's first all-inclusive plan, offering one price for unlimited talk, text and data and the phone. It's that easy."
Details of the Offer
Well-qualified customers can walk out of a Best Buy store with no money down and no sales tax at the time of purchase, and the option to:
"This is the least expensive option for consumers to get the latest smartphone and an all-inclusive plan to go with it," said Scott Anderson, vice president of mobile phones at Best Buy.
New customers and existing customers upgrading into a lease at Best Buy can take advantage of the Best Buy One Plan at all Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile specialty stores.
ABOUT SPRINT
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served nearly 56 million connections as of Dec. 31, 2014, and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
We're talking Apple's Spring Forward event with Georgia, Serenity, Peter, and yours truly! Join us now!
