Improvements on Siri as Reported in WWDC 2015 Aligned with Apple’s Vision of Proactive iOS

Users can expect a number of improvements on the upcoming iOS 9 which is aligned with Apple’s vision to a more proactive iOS. Siri, as one example, will receive a complete user interface redesign and the result will be 40% more accurate than last year with error rate of just 5% which is according to Apple, is the industry best. On top of that, Siri will be 40% faster while handling more than 1 billion requests per week.

Siri will also have capabilities to set your calendar based on your email automatically. For example, if there is incoming email reminding you your dentist appointment is due in a few days time, Siri will add it to your calendar and set a reminder for it automatically. Therefore, when the day come, Siri will alert you and let you know when is the best time to leave the house based on the traffic at that point of time.

iOS 9, on the other hand, will have capabilities to learn your habit and use it to recommend apps which is able to make your day easier according to your context. For example, if you normally read newspaper at around 9am in the morning, it will display a few apps for you around this timing on daily basis or if you like to play music, then as soon as you plug in the earphones, then the smartphone will display your favorite music player on your lock screen so that you can immediately play it.  This is Apple’s definition of proactive vision.

 

Improvements on Siri as Reported in WWDC 2015 Aligned with Apple’s Vision of Proactive iOS

Reuters: Microsoft Cortana to arrive as a standalone app on iOS and Android

Based on the recent reports published by Reuters, Microsoft seems to be planning to bring its digital private virtual assistance Cortana on iOS and Android platforms. For the moment, this is available only as a beta version of Windows Phone 8.1 devices in few selected regions and a global roll-out can be expected later in 2015. The reason behind this rumor that Cortana could feature on Apple and Google platforms is basically due to the fact that Microsoft seems to be planning to expand the user base for its software products.

In this field of digital personal assistance, three big tech giant namely Apple, Google and Microsoft have tried their hands with their own Siri, Google Now and Cortana. However, Cortana seems to be having an edge over its other two rivals and is surely ahead of the pack. Once Cortana would find its way to Apple and Google platforms the competition is going to get even more stronger and Apple and Google will really have to work-out to put in line its Siri and Google Now respectively to be equally competent enough with Cortana.

source: Reuters

Reuters: Microsoft Cortana to arrive as a standalone app on iOS and Android

A Story of An Autistic Kid Who Become Best Friends with Siri

It is a very heartwarming story about an autistic boy who becomes best friends with Siri. Siri is a virtual assistant which built into iPhone and iPads. Siri can basically answer every question that you ask her. From how is the weather today to where be the best place to dine out today?

Gus is the name of the autistic boy mentioned in this story and Judith Newman is his mother. There a few nice stories from Gus about Siri. It is not that Gus does not know that Siri is not human but like many other autistic people, Gus feels that even though inanimate objects does not possessed souls, however, they are still worthy of our attention.

Siri also is helping Judith in case if Gus asked a lot of question which she had difficulty in answering them, she can just ask Gus to ask Siri and Siri will gives him the answer that he needs.

Some of cute conversations between Gus and Siri:

Gus: “You’re a really nice computer”.

Siri: “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

Gus: “You are always asking if you can help me. Is there anything you want?”

Siri: “Thank you, but I have very few wants.”

Gus: “O.K.! Well, good night!”

Siri: “Ah, it’s 5:06 p.m.”

Gus: “Oh sorry, I mean, goodbye.”

Siri: “See you later!”

 

Siri answer is not always predictable but they are always nice!

A Story of An Autistic Kid Who Become Best Friends with Siri

Siri beats Google Now and Cortana in multiple language test

Apple’s Siri started the trend for voice-activated personal assistant and now has two major competitors – Microsoft’s Cortana for Windows Phone and Google Now for Android. There are many reviews comparing the three services trying to judge which among them is the best.

Venturebeat tested Siri, Cortana and Google Now for 5 languages to check which multilingual voice-activated personal assistant is the best. Their team asked 18 questions to each of the three assistants in 5 languages – English, Italian, Mandarin, French and German. A quick and correct response was awarded the score of 1.0, answers that were not straightforward but the correct answer appeared somewhere in the clutter of a list of search results got a score of 0.5. Responses that didn’t understand the question or gave irrelevant answers or admitted that they couldn’t complete the job were given 0.0.

In case of English, all the three voice-enabled assistants were highly accurate with only a little difference in their scores. Siri topped with 15.5 out of 18, Cortana got 12.5 while Google Now scored 11.5. For Italian, Siri was undoubtedly the leader scoring the same as in English – 14.5 out of 18. Results for others were quite unimpressive with 8.5/18 for Google Now and 6/18 for Cortana.

The results for French and German were quite similar to those of Italian, although Siri dropped marginally while Cortana and Google Now fared slightly better. The last language tested was Mandarin. In this Siri again topped with 13.5/18, Cortana scored only 5/18 while Google Now got a meager 1.5/18.

Google Now offers more than 50 languages and dialects, a lot many compared to Siri and Cortana but most languages seem to be set up only for voice search and not as a full fledged voice assistant. Cortana was found to respond to a query most likely with a web search.

All in all, Siri won the contest hands down, scoring 76% for accuracy in all languages followed by Google Now with 46% and Cortana with 42%.

Check out the infographic below:

 

Source VentureBeat

Via PhoneArena

Siri beats Google Now and Cortana in multiple language test

Google’s short film explains about Talking with Computers

Computers have come a long way since the first basic computer was developed in the 19th century. Now computers play and win games such as Chess or Jeopardy against humans. Intelligent personal assistants like Google Now, Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana have been developed that are capable of voice recognition and can answer questions which would have seemed quite impossible a few decades ago.

The day is not far when we can talk to computers like we do with other human beings. Google’s short film ‘Behind the Mic: The Science of Talking with Computers’ explores man’s dream of talking with machines and the challenges involved in developing algorithms for this. It traces the history of development of speech recognition systems. We have made a lot of progress till date and speech recognition can now transcribe what we have said, but we need to improve it still further if we want it to understand  a spoken sentence.

We are still a long way off from making computers understand language as we speak it. We need to exactly replicate the language algorithms of the human brain and to make computers understand language and speech. Researchers are trying to develop a neuron net that is very similar to the neurons in the human brain and hope that it will help the computers to recognize speech and understand the language.

You can have a look at the said Google’s short film about Talking with Computers:

 

Google’s short film explains about Talking with Computers

You can Circumvent iOS 7.1.1 screen using Siri !!!

With the introduction of the iPhone 5s in the market, came along the feature of fingerprint scanner for extra security purposes. But apparently, it turns out that Siri, Apple’s trademark software, can be a turncoat of sorts. Bypassing the iOS 7.1.1’s system’s pass code or even the TouchID secured screen is as easy as requesting Siri to politely do it.

The so called fingerprint scanner is also not entirely trustworthy. A group of hackers who go by the name of Chaos Computer Club claim to have cracked the TouchID fingerprint scanner using ‘easy everyday means’. It was done by using a high resolution photo of the user’s fingerprints from any suitable surface, and then printed on a sheet of latex, which is used as a fake. The TouchID of ios 7.1.1 method works perfectly as advertised, and it is not likely that thieves hang around with fingerprint photographs. So this glitch can be overlooked for now.

The catch here is, Siri can be activated even in a locked phone. Just activate Siri and ask for contacts. Siri will request you to unlock the phone first. But if Siri is requested to make a call, she doesn’t stop you and the list is all yours. It lets you browse the contacts stored on the phone and allows you to make a call out to any one of them.

Sherif Hashim, who found out this glitch in Apple’s virtual assistant, claims that there are ways where you can edit, copy, paste, or even share contacts,. You could message or mail them too through this exploit. He provides a video showing these features.

You can Circumvent iOS 7.1.1 screen using Siri !!!