Siri won’t be so sneaky about snooping anymore. That’s the gist of a new policy announcement and accompanying apology from Apple this morning. It’s a move that could pressure its… Read More
Amazon became the latest tech giant to let users of its voice assistant opt out of human review of their voice recordings, after similar announcements from Apple and Google. The… Read More
Apple’s new campus in Seattle, unveiled this week, will accommodate as many as 2,000 workers, doubling the company’s previous commitment to expand its engineering operations in the city. But beyond… Read More
For years, fixtures in the Bay Area tech industry have been migrating to Seattle in search of comparable jobs with a lower cost of living. But as far as we… Read More
Apple has cancelled the long-awaited AirPower wireless charging mat. For our newest Geared Up podcast, I go over what went wrong and why it was an uphill battle from the… Read More
To win the bonus game in Cookie Monster’s Challenge, a player must say “quack” to a small, white cartoon duck as it paces across the tablet screen, holding a wing… Read More
One of Alexa’s biggest competitive advantages is its catalog of more than 40,000 skills, leveraging third-party services to provide additional capabilities to users of Amazon’s voice assistant. One of Apple’s… Read More
You know Siri and Alexa. Maybe even Cortana. But have you met Sara? She’s pretty amazing. Sure, she can do basic tasks, like help you find a movie that you… Read More
Apple is ditching Bing and will now use Google to power the default search engine for Siri, Search within iOS (iOS search bar), and Spotlight on Mac. TechCrunch reported Monday… Read More
The smart home is all the rage these days, with companies churning out intelligent gadgets and voice-controlled doo-dads like there’s no tomorrow. This week on Geared Up, we break down… Read More
While you’re asking your virtual assistant some banal question — “Siri, what time is it?” “Alexa, what’s the name of this song?” — the evolution of voice-activated and accessible technology… Read More
When Apple announced plans earlier this year to expand its engineering operation in Seattle, the company said it would be looking for “the best people who are excited about AI… Read More
Apple today unveiled its own voice-activated smart home speaker, the HomePod. Set to begin shipping in December, the speaker is designed to be spatially aware, meaning that it understands the… Read More
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference starts Monday in San Jose. Here are a few of the areas we’ll be watching closely. Siri Speaker: Will Apple challenge Amazon’s Echo? The possibility of a “Siri… Read More
Hotels are quickly becoming the latest front in the battle for dominance of the nascent voice assistant market. Last year the Wynn Las Vegas resort became the first hotel to install… Read More
Samsung says it will release its own voice assistant, rivaling the Alexas and Siris of the world, with the Galaxy S8 smartphone. The new digital assistant, known as Bixby, will… Read More
Alexa is the brain behind the Amazon Echo, and has helped Amazon become a leader in the voice assistant market, and now she is making her way to smartphones. Starting today, and… Read More
This week on Geared Up, the consumer technology and gadget show from GeekWire and Andru Edwards, we go hands on with Apple’s new $159 AirPods, the wireless earbuds that were released… Read More
Turn down the “Yentl” soundtrack, we’ve got fresh Barbra Streisand news you need to hear. On a promotional swing for her new album “Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway,” Streisand made a… Read More
Nobody likes to be misunderstood, especially by a machine. We’ve all become pointlessly exasperated with the virtual assistants that power our devices when they just can’t seem to grasp what… Read More
After nearly five years, Apple will finally give developers access to Siri, its iOS (and now macOS) virtual assistant, thus potentially expanding the number and type of functions the disembodied female… Read More
The rumor mill is still churning as we’re less than 24 hours from Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), which kicks off in San Francisco at 10 a.m. PT Monday. A number… Read More
Consider the artificially intelligent voices you hear on a regular basis. Are any of them men? Whether it’s Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, or virtually any GPS system, chances are… Read More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbWyYr82BM Cookie Monster may not have a lot of patience as he waits for a batch of chocolate chip cookies to bake, but he does have the convenience of hands-free… Read More
Apple may be replacing their PR team with Siri. An invitation sent out today for the company’s September 9 event includes the text “Hey Siri, give us a hint.” If you ask… Read More
Dang, Siri, that’s some cold s%*t. If you ask Apple’s usually chipper helper anything — closest Thai restaurant, next rest stop, where to get a coffee — she’s usually quite… Read More
I’ve never spent more than $200 on a watch, Over the course of my life, most of my timepieces have been made by Timex, with an emphasis on function over… Read More
Amazon’s Echo team is having lots of fun with the ability to regularly update the intelligent, talking home speaker. Just in time for tonight’s Oscars ceremony, the device’s digital persona, Alexa,… Read More
Apparently, Siri can’t hold a conversation and has gained a bit of weight. That’s according to Microsoft’s new video advertisement lambasting Apple’s virtual assistant. The 30-second spot, which has garnered… Read More
Siri may seem like the safest way to interact with information while driving, but according to a new report from AAA, Apple’s virtual assistant is a menace when it comes… Read More