Sociolatte

Apple have just announced their new music streaming service - iTunes Radio . The announcement was made by Tim Cook at the WWDC 2013. iTunes Radio is essentially a music streaming service which takes your likes and dislikes into account. The music that gets streamed to your device will take into account the genre of music you like and is customized accordingly. iTunes Radio can access the entire iTunes catalog, which means you have a choice of over 26 million songs to be streamed to your device. Companies like Sony, Universal and Warner have all joined the bandwagon. The service will be free for all U.S users and will be ad supported if you have not subscribed to iTunes Match . You also have the ability to skip a track if it does not appeal to you. Once you have iTunes Radio you can start streaming radio stations to your device. You can add radio stations or share them - the app will also provide 100's of pre-built radio stations. You also have the ability to create your own radio ...

Siri is the voiced based personal assistant available on almost all Apple products. If you get yourself an iPhone 5 you would need to turn on, activate or enable Siri -- before you can start asking questions. Once Siri is activated on your device, you can then have a lot of fun with this your one voiced-based-personal-assistant. You can ask Siri about the weather, which movies to watch over the weekend, driving directions and the possibility is limitless. Siri does not come turned on in auto mode, you would need to follow the below steps to set it up. On your iPhone 5 you can turn Siri on and off as you choose. One very handy time to have Siri is when you're driving. This way you can just speak your search request and Siri will answer you. How to activate Siri on iPhone 5. How to activate, setup or configure Siri on the iPhone 5 All you need to do is to go to Settings > General > Siri . Repeat the process to turn Siri on or off . Now that you have Siri setup, how to ask or ...

Google Now is a smart, intelligent personal assistant available on Android based devices running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and higher. Google not is not Siri's competitor as it is not a voice based search like Siri. With Siri you need to ans a question and you get an audible voice response. With Google Now you can also get an audible voice response to a search query but it is more than that. Google Now will work quietly on your phone and try to predict what information you need as you go through your day. Like when you start you day a weather card will let you know the weather outside and the shortest route to work based on traffic conditions. When you enter a restaurant it will tell you the best dish available based on popularity of the dish and the restaurant.These are known as 'Cards' and they will show up randomly to help you throughout your day. How to access Google now on my Android device. Google now is available only on devices based on Jelly Bean 4.1 or higher. To a...

So you've got your new iPad Mini and now wondering how to have Siri . Siri is the voice based personal assistant from Apple. Who can learn all your needs and help you in finding new places. Sharing photos on Facebook and also send out Tweets. Siri is very useful and can be used for a host of things. The iPad 2 did not get Siri but the iPad Mini did -- bringing the voice based assistant with full Facebook and Twitter integration to iPad Mini users. So this is how to activate Siri on the iPad Mini. How to activate Siri on the iPad Mini All you need to do is to go to Settings > General > Siri . Repeat the process to turn Siri on or off. How to ask Siri something? Once Siri has been activated, hold down the home button and you should hear two quick beeps and see -- 'What can I help you with? The microphone icon will light up and you can then ask Siri anything. Whenever you want to talk to it tap the microphone icon and begin talking. With headphones press and hold the cente...

Apple's latest iOS - iOS 6 has some fantastic features and one of them is the ability to share your iOS 6 photos on Facebook. You can also sync and share your Facebook photos on your iPhone or iPad from within iOS 6. To get started you will need to setup Facebook in iOS 6. Once that is done you can then begin to share photos with your Facebook, iPhone and iPad pals. You can also do all this sharing using Siri - the virtual voice assistant. So with a simple voice command you can begin photo sharing on Facebook and on your devices. [caption id="attachment_2739" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Source: Apple[/caption] How to allow Facebook to access my iOS photos 1. On your iPhone or iPad you will need to open settings 2. Choose privacy 3. Choose photos 4. The Facebook icon should appear here. You need to ensure that the blue 'On' button is active. Change to on if in the off mode. Once in the 'On' mode share all your iOS photos and photo...

When Apple's iOS 6 gets launched later this year. Siri will be getting a huge upgrade. Siri is the virtual assistant that comes along with the iPad, iPhone and the iPod - Siri answers your questions and has given users countless number of hours of entertainment with the various fun answers provided. Siri up until now needs to be used by tapping the icon. With the release of the new iOS 6 there will be no tapping required and you can just speak directly and get answers from Siri. Android users already have this feature available with Nina . Siri however will now support more countries with new languages added.  Features part of the new Siri for iOS 6 1. Sports - for sports fan Siri knows baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer and hockey. Ask for game schedules, live sports updates and keep track of scores from live games.  2. Movies - Siri can help you decide which movie to watch. You can ask Siri for a movie trailer or a review from rotten tomatoes. You can also use Siri to find o...

Nuance have announced the new virtual assistant for mobile customer service experience. Nina unlike Siri can also interact within Apps. Which means that instead of pushing buttons to pay you bills you can speak into your iPhone, iPad or Android phone and get all your work done. Siri has a fatal flow in that she cannot work within non-Apple applications, Nina can be used in any mobile computing background. Nina can also be used by organizations to build their own voice-based platforms to conduct business. This will work well for companies into Telecommunications, Financial Services, travel and more. Nina will also be good at understanding what is said and who said it. This is done by using something called Nuance voice print and the use of voice-ID biometric technology. You can use Nina as a virtual assistant for voice, typing and tap. All this powerful tech will lead to Nina asking questions and filling out answers from within apps. Processing requests and completing transactions. For...

Image Credit: Cult of Mac Apple has fixed an issue with Siri, when Siri was asked which is the best SmartPhone ever. The reply was Nokia Lumia 900 - seems that Apple was not happy with the answer.The problem stemmed from Siri's heavy reliance on Wolfram Alpha, 25 percent of all queries returned by Siri are based on Wolfram Alpha. Apple has since fixed the issue and now Siri has a different answer. If you did search Wolfram Alpha independently you will find that Nokia Lumia 900 is recommended as the best. Apple has rushed to fix the issue as the Nokia Lumia is a decent handset but definitely not the best Smartphone ever. There is also a video doing the rounds showing Siri's answer to the best smartphone ever. After the fix by Apple is you ask Siri the same question, You'll now be told that the answer is the iPhone 4S, with responses like "the one you're holding" and "you're kidding, right?" Source: TheVerge An original post by Sociolatte

The new iPad is out but does not come with one feature many iOS users would have wanted. The personal assistant of the iPhone 4S is missing. Siri unfortunately did not make it on the new iPad and there might be a couple of reasons why that happened, we have written about the reasons in a previous  post . What is available on the new iPad is a Siri style dictation app that can be used. How does dictation work on the new iPad It is not a sophisticated app in the sense it's functionality is quiet simple, all you need to do is to turn it on and talk into the iPad and everything gets recorded and transcribed into words. This is a voice-to-text solution that works by entering words into a text field as you speak. You are given a chance to enable voice dictation during initial setup. You can however turn-on or off, enable or disable whenever you wish. How to enable, start or turn-on dictation on the new iPad Start by visiting Settings > General > Keyboard > Dictation. What happen...

The new iPad ships on Friday sans Siri - The virtual assistant that was a major hit with the iPhone 4S. Siri now seems to also be in a bit of trouble with one man in New York suing Apple over Siri. The case has to do with the misrepresentation if Siri with the man claiming that Siri does not work as performed. Siri also does not have the amazing capability as portrayed by Apple ads. Siri apparently has gotten weaker over time and answers from Siri are clearly off the mark. This has been admitted by Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, in an interview with the Daily Beast in January he said " I used to ask Siri, "What are the five biggest lakes in California?" and it would come back with the answer. Now it just misses. It gives me real estate listings. I used to ask, "What are the prime numbers greater than 87?" and it would answer. Now instead of getting prime numbers, I get listings for prime rib, or prime real estate. I have a lower success rate with Siri than I ...

Apple's stock has continued to sore high above the earth and into deep space, closing on Monday at $552.00 a share. Apple's market cap now exceeds that of Exxon the no.2 company by more than a 100 billion. Apple's market cap over $514 billion,  Exxon's market cap - $403 billion. Apple products have always created waves and with the announcement of the new iPad last Wednesday things have started to look even more upwards. Everything about Apple seems to lead the company up up and away, the superman among all earth-bound companies. Check out these stats for the Decemeber quarter, Apple sold 37 million iPhone, 15.4 million iPads and 5.2 million Macs. All these numbers are really impressive and goes to show Apple's domination in markets it specializes in.  Many competitors have emerged in the tablet market and many of them have successfully disappeared. Apple have always found a way to dominate the SmartPhone and Tablet market. The new iPad expected out on the 16th com...

Hong Kong created a record when pre-orders of the iPhone 4S sold out in ten minutes. In the United States it took a whole day to run out but in Hong Kong just 10 minutes. Look at the long line of people waiting for the release of the phone tomorrow. In fact security official 'pen in' line sitters. Keep in mind that the iPhone 4S is only available only tomorrow which is almost 24 hours away and the crowds have been building. Hong Kong is going to create a record when it comes to interest in buying and owning an iPhone 4S. Could it be that one of the key features 'Siri' the voiced based personal assistant has been instrumental in sparking interest. Please leave your comments below on what you think.  An original post by Sociolatte

In Australia and the US Siri has a female voice but in the UK Siri has a male voice. Now which male would want that, well there might be a few but not most males. This post will help you fix that problem and ensure that your Siri has a female voice and not a male voice. If you want to go the other way around and give Siri a male voice follow the procedure mentioned below in reverse. How to change British Siri's voice from male to female. 1. Tap on settings 2. Tap general 3. Clicking on Siri will give you a language menu 4. Change it to Australia or the US 5. Siri will now have a female voice An original post by Sociolatte

Siri of iPhone 4S fame is a very powerful and useful personal voice-based assistant that comes along with the iPhone 4S. Unfortunately Siri will not be able to send a Tweet or updated your Facebook status by default. You will need a workaround to get things going. Once you set it up Siri will be able to update your Twitter and Facebook.  How to send a Tweet and update Twitter using Siri 1. Login to Twitter 2. Click on Settings 3. Click on mobile 4. Add your mobile number to your Twitter account 5. Authenticate you iPhone 4S with the verification code that's sent 6. Once the process is complete add the short code (40404) and name it 'Twitter' (You can name it anything else if you choose). 7. Now you can activate Siri by long-pressing the home button and then say 'Send text to Twitter' followed by your Tweet 8. You're done How to update your Facebook status using Siri 1. Login to Facebook 2. Connect your phone number to your Facebook account using this page .  3. ...

Apple has been reaching out to iPhone 4S users admitting that there is a problem with the battery life of the new phone and asking owners to install a program and give feedback. There have been many reports as to what the problem could be and how to improve the longevity of the battery life. Previous models of the iPhone like the iPhone 4 had a standby time of 300 hours. iPhone 4S has a standby time of 200 hours as reported by Apple. Which does not explain the mystery of the standby dropping time on the iPhone 4S battery.  The Guardian notes that "In some cases the short life has been blamed on corrupted contacts imported from Apple's MobileMe or iCloud services, or from Google's Contacts list; deleting and then reinstalling them sometimes seems to fix the problem". this could be a problem but nothing is clear at the moment. One thing is becoming clear though Siri the personal voice-based iPhone 4S assistant does not seem to be draining the battery power. Siri is not...

Here is a fun video inspired by the  Arnold Schwarzenegger Soundboard 4 , which is a collection of sentences from  Arnold Schwarzenegger. Stuff he says in the movie. You can use this soundboard and have fun with it. You can use his voice and create stuff. The video below shows Arni in his role as the voice-based personal assistant on the iPhone 4S. Cool and funny video especially how it tries to do a Siri with Arni. Siri is fast becoming an internet meme and her fame is spreading far and wide.  An original post by Sociolatte

How to turn on, enable or activate siri on the iPhone 4S. When you first start-up the new iPhone 4S you will notice that it starts up with the old voice recognition pops up when you press down the home button. This is because Siri is turned off by default. So, to turn on the new service which has made the iPhone 4S so famous you will need to do the following. Settings>>General>>Siri   Once Siri has been enabled you have further options like 'Raise to speak', which works well if you are not on a call and simple raising your iPhone to you ears will activate Siri. If you ask Siri for directions which is currently available only in the US, you will be asked to turn on 'Location Service' first. Location service is found under Settings>>Locations Service>>Siri. You can also use your headset by plugging it in and hold the down button to activate Siri. So to use the service it would need to be turned on, as Siri is not activated by default.   

Siri the iPhone 4S assistant will use Google as the default engine. So when you ask Siri to search for anything it will automatically search Google. But what if you want to search Yahoo or Bing. There are two ways to get Siri to search Yahoo or Bing. 1. If it is temporary in the sense you want Siri to search only this one time. Then you can simple Tell Siri to search Bing or Yahoo. An example would be 'Search Yahoo for my daily horoscope', Siri will then search Yahoo. You can do the same thing with Bing. Simply tell Siri which search engine to sue and it will follow.  2. If you want to make Yahoo or Bing you default search engine for Siri to use. You would need to go to Settings > Safari and under 'General' choose your default search engine. You can then choose Yahoo or Bing.  This is quiet helpful if you want to shift between search engine. The temporary option is good, you can use different search engines and compare results. Especially if you prefer one service ov...

Even if you iPhone is locked Siri is till accessible and can be activated by someone other then you. Once activated Siri can be asked to call any of your contacts, send a text message to your contacts, change your calendar, find out where someone is on your calendar or lockup and find anyone of your contacts. Siri can be asked to also change stored information. The problem is that once you lock your phone, all apps on your phone are supposed to be locked by default. This is one of the problems with Siri, you will need to use this easy fix to set things right. How to disable Siri on a locked phone or locked screen 1. Start up your settings App 2. Tap on general 3. Tap on password lock 4. Enter your passcode 5. You will see  'Siri, next to the on/off slider. 6. Set it to Off This will ensure that Siri is off and not usable when your phone is locked.  An original post by Sociolatte

Siri the voiced based personal assistant that comes pre-loaded with the iPhone 4S gotten really funny. This is fast spreading as an Internet Meme and has to do with funny things Siri says. You can ask Siri anything and some of the replies are really funny and users are recording screencaps and screenshots of their interactions and uploading it to the web. Somethings are really funny and Siri is really catching on. There are many websites you cna now go to upload your Siri screenshots to.  This is all happening real quick and the funny Siri interactions and spreading like wildfire. Here are a few Siri funnies.  An original post by Sociolatte