siri

Whew! Today was an extralong episode, and we start things off speculating about the mysterious location of Grand Theft Auto V. The teaser Web site from Rockstar Games hints at a financial theme, so we're definitely thinking an American city known for its financial institutions...Washington, maybe? Or maybe it's Billings, Mont.? Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, perhaps? We'll know for sure on November 2.

Bringing up GTA inevitably devolves into a discussion on the negative effects of video game violence on children (Godwin's law, too), but luckily the ophthalmologists over at the Micro Surgical Eye Clinic in Kolkata, India, are using games for good.

This team has found that a modified version of the first-person shooting game Unreal Tournament can be used to strengthen the eyesight of teenagers suffering from amblyopia, or "lazy eye syndrome." Still no progress being made on the cure for "lazy everything else" syndrome.… Read more

Siri has been the subject of Apple's ad campaigns for the iPhone 4S. It's been discussed in terms of its one-liners and its Easter eggs, its cloud-based accomplishments and its similarity to services Android already offers.

That's all fine, but it's ignoring the obvious question: what are you really, truly going to use Siri for?

My iPhone 4S arrived on October 14, 10 days ago. I upgraded from my iPhone 4 mainly because my wife's iPhone introduced itself to an open toilet, and I passed my iPhone on to her. After a few days of use, I could see why Siri was being so heralded; honestly, it's hard to observe improvements on the iPhone 4S versus the 4 otherwise, unless you're using the camera.

After a good week or so, this is what's impressed me the most:… Read more

The official Steve Jobs biography commissioned by The Man himself dropped online and in stores today, and apparently the guy was kind of a jerk.

Today we dive into some minibytes from the 656-page book that you may not have heard yet--details about Jobs' upbringing and relationship with his father, his obsession with Yo Yo Ma's cello, and how a Cuisinart inspired the first design of the Apple II.

We'll also cover the stories you'll find below in the first half of the show, and talk about Jeff's controversial article about the death of portable gaming consoles like the Nintendo 3DS and the Sony PlayStation Vita.… Read more

I talk to my iPad 2 all the time, but it never answers me back. Still, there is a small kernel of hope that Siri may one day start chatting me up via my Apple tablet.

Developer Jackoplane posted Twitter screenshots of a successful port of Siri to a jailbroken first-generation iPad. That's exciting news for jailbroken-iPad users, but there is a wrench here.

Apple's servers have their ears plugged and they're saying, "La, la, la, I can't hear you!" every time Siri tries to talk to them. The servers, you see, only recognize Siri when it's coming from an iPhone 4S.… Read more

Siri is a by-the-book type of app; if a word is spelled a certain way, but is pronounced completely different, Siri doesn't care. Similar to how it handles punctuation, Siri will read or write using the exact information available to it.

… Read more

Siri is turning out to be a great assistant for iPhone 4S owners.

Using Siri to compose e-mails or messages for you while on the go is fairly easy and straightforward. One thing that can be a bit of a pain, though, is the lack of punctuation used by Siri while composing those messages for you.

While Siri may not be able to insert punctuation automatically, you can tell Siri where and what type of punctuation you want to use in your messages.

To get Siri to use punctuation, you only need to speak the punctuation during the composition of … Read more

Now that the iPhone 4S is on store shelves, Siri co-founder Dag Kittlaus, who headed up Apple's development of the service, has left the Cupertino, Calif.-based company, a new report claims.

Citing sources, All Things Digital is reporting that Kittlaus decided to leave Apple to spend time with his family in Chicago, take time off, and establish new start-ups. According to All Things Digital, Kittlaus left Apple just after the iPhone 4S launched earlier this month.

Kittlaus co-founded Siri in 2007. The company quickly gained notoriety and was acquired by Apple in 2010 for a rumored $121 million. … Read more

Of all the features introduced in the iPhone 4S, Siri is the one that has people really talking. Literally.

The concept of using a smartphone as a personal assistant is certainly appealing, but it's not necessarily new. Take for instance Voice Actions, a Google feature introduced for 2.2 devices, that lets users call contacts, send messages, complete common tasks, and more.

There are also many applications already in the market that let users ask questions or use commands, although none is quite as well-rounded as Siri. However, a new app recently landed on the scene that looks to … Read more

You have a new roommate. She's 4.5 inches tall and wears aluminosilicate glass and stainless steel.

She's incredibly helpful, but you suspect she's been going through your underwear drawer and gossiping behind your back.

Siri is one of the iPhone 4S' big selling points, but the spunky and snarky virtual voice assistant may have a bit of a dark side to her personality.… Read more