With all the attention Apple Watch is getting even Siri didn’t want to feel left behind. Apple has updated Siri’s quirky responses to show that even Siri is involved with Apple Watch preparations.

If you ask Siri “what are you doing right now?” you’ll get various responses related to Apple Watch. Some of the responses we got:

I was just chatting with the Apple metallurgists about Apple Watch. Those guys get the gist of metals.

Oh, you know, just helping to gather Zn-Mg “eta prime” precipitates for the 7000 series aluminium Apple Watch. The usual.

I’m helping to round up jellyfish for the Apple Watch. Ouch!

Since the introduction of Siri as a personal assistant in iOS, it has always been projected as an assistant with a certain “personality”. Sometimes you get moody responses and at other times Siri doesn’t hesitate to show disapproval of something negative you might say.

It’s always fun to discover new responses Siri comes up as it continues to make itself appear as a very intelligent personal assistant who is well aware of what is happening around you.

Siri even poked fun at Google Glass which used the catch phrase “Ok Glass” to get tasks done. If you said “OK Glass” to Siri it would respond with:

Glass? I think you’ve got the wrong assistant,

Siri is certainly excited about Apple Watch pre-orders going live today. Did you pre-order your watch? Let us know if you encountered any other unique Siri responses in the comments section below.

Here are some of the top iOS 8.3 enhancements / fixes you need to know:

1. Emoji

Apple has revamped the UI for emoji keyboard and also added more than 300 new emojis. The new additions also bring diversity options such as changing the skin tone of the people emojis. To access the skin tone variations tap and hold the emoji to change the default colour.

Tip: Don’t know what some of the emojis mean? Type them in the Notes app and have Siri speak.

2. Password Settings for App Store

In iOS 8.3 Apple allows you to change how frequently should the App Store prompt you for your Apple ID password. You can set it to always require password or require after 15 minutes of having entered the password.

The next setting is something that I had always wanted to exist in iOS. You can now “finally” turn off the requirement for password for free downloads. Yes, finally!

3. New Siri Languages

Siri can now understand even more languages. The new update adds support for: English (India, New Zealand), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian (Russia), Swedish (Sweden), Thai (Thailand), Turkish (Turkey).

4. Tell Siri to call a contact on speakerphone

Ever since I started using Siri while driving I never understood why Apple wouldn’t include support for Siri command, “call on speakerphone”. Well now with iOS 8.3 you do just that. This is another step to keeping all eyes on road and operating your phone hands and eyes free.

5. Fixes. Lots of Fixes.

iOS 8.3 brings many bug fixes so if you ever tried to do something and it failed or did not work reliably you should try doing that again. From issues like iOS 8 preventing autocorrecting “FYI” to WiFi, bluetooth issues and much more. Apple has fixed a lot of issues and even claims to improve performance for app launch, responsiveness and more.

Overall, iOS 8.3 is a highly recommended update for anyone who wants a reliable and stable experience on their iOS device.

Have you upgraded your iPhone or iPad yet? Did you notice any other significant changes? Let us know in the comments section below.

Apple’s iOS 7 features a completely redesigned look and introduces many new user features. Siri in iOS 7 also got a few notable enhancements which include new commands to switch bluetooth on or off and even control the brightness settings.

Siri’s voice has been the same since its introduction in iPhone 4S. With iOS 7 this is set to change with high quality voice in male and female variations. Apple has also added new languages in it’s “speak selection” settings under accessibility settings.

One notable new addition is Hindi for Indians. With iOS 7 users who prefer to have their iPhone speak selection in Hindi can do so. The voice for Hindi is a female voice and the accent is very natural which was a pleasant surprise.

India is a growing market for Apple where the company has increased its marketing efforts by announcing attractive deals like 0% EMI finance schemes and even smartphone trade ins, where users can trade in their old smartphone can get a price reduction on their new iPhone purchase.

Siri in iOS 7 still doesn’t support Hindi however, addition of speak selection in Hindi could be seen as a move which could soon result in addition of Hindi language to Siri.

Apple’s iOS 7 is slated for a public release sometime around September. The company released the first beta during the WWDC keynote event.

Apple introduced Siri with the iPhone 4S and later released it onto several other iOS devices, including the iPod touch and the iPad. The personal assistant helped users to voice dictate text and also search the device locally as well as the other queries on the web. However, Apple failed to mention to users that it would store some of their searches.

On Friday, Apple revealed to Wired that it stores anonymous Siri data from its users for up to 2 years before removing them from the servers. This means that sensitive data may be stored in the cloud, in a place that may not always be secure. After being questioned about privacy, Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller noted that Apple only keeps this data to to improve the service, adding that it takes customer privacy very seriously.

Even with these guarantees, some users may still be skeptical about the information being stored, especially with Apple’s iOS 6 having serious bugs, including one with the passcode lock that allowed for a hack to bypass the screen. Siri operates entirely in the cloud, even local song searches on the device itself requires a data connection. This allows Apple to record and save certain voice clips of a user’s searches.

Each clip is assigned to a user through a random number, and is not associated with any Apple ID, device number, or email address. On the user’s end, the only way to stop Apple from collecting the data is to turn off Siri which then prompts Apple to delete the random number assigned to that user. Siri’s strict reliance on a data connection concerns many users and privacy advocates who fear that the personal data in Apple’s servers may somehow be leaked or used wrongfully.

{Via AppleInsider}

Only a day after releasing the iOS 6.1.3 software update to the public, Apple appears to have yet another issue with its mobile OS. iOS 6.1.3 patched an passcode lock bug on the iPhone, and also delivered a number of Maps enhancements for Japanese users. However, on Wednesday, a YouTube user “videosdebarraquito” discovered yet another bug on the iPhone 4, similar to the one addressed in the update.

The bug allows for access to a locked iPhone’s photos and address book by ejecting the SIM card, with voice control activated to make a call. While Voice Control is activated, quickly removing the SIM card unlocks the phone for access to a user’s contacts and photos. The bug only appears to be replicated on devices without Siri but does raise security concerns over Apple’s popular iOS, which has been ridden with bugs since the release of iOS 6. Issues with iOS 6, in part, also led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall from Apple late last year.

With the previous passcode lock bug, it took Apple about a month to isolate, test the issue, and release iOS 6.1.3 to address it. However, it is unclear if Apple will quickly push out a iOS 6.1.4 update to address this latest bug discovery. Until then, iPhone 4 users can avoid the flaw and protect their iPhone from unauthorized users by disabling Voice Control in Settings.

{Via AppleInsider}

According to German site, iPhone-Ticker, Apple is planning to release iOS 6.1.2 as early as next week. This comes only a few days after the Cupertino, California based company released iOS 6.1.1 to the public, which addressed 3G issues on the iPhone 4S. iOS 6.1.1 only addressed the 3G issue, so it is likely that the other features noted on the beta version of iOS 6.1.1 which was released to developers will arrive in 6.1.3, as this update also addresses specific issues.

Some of these features include updates to the Maps application for Japanese users such as updated freeway color to green and updated icons for some location categories including fire. The iOS 6.1.2 update is expected to address an Exchange bug and a lock screen passcode issue affecting iOS 6.1 users.

By releasing updates in increments, it allows Apple to quickly push out updates to the public while working on bigger issues with iOS at the same time. Apple is now being very thorough with its iOS updates, after experiencing major issues with Siri and Maps, which partly led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall.

iPhone-Ticker has a proven track record with reporting on iOS updates, having accurately reported on the iOS 6.1.1 update. The site’s report notes that the iOS 6.1.2 update will likely release before Wednesday, February 20th.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple’s Siri Eyes Free feature is now beginning to make its way into car brands all over the US. Chevy’s Spark and Sonic models will be the first cars to get Siri Eyes Free integration after the company promised late last year that it would be included. The feature is also slated to be included in other car brands such as Hyundai, which added support for the feature earlier this year.

The Siri Eyes Free feature was introduced alongside iOS 6 and is slowly becoming standard with car manufacturers. Other companies to include the feature are BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda.

With Siri Eyes Free, Chevy’s Spark and Sonic will allow drivers to perform a number of tasks via Siri, including make calls directly through their phones, listen to texts, and play music without having to go through a layer of software from the car manufacturer.

In the 2013 Spark and Sonic vehicles equipped with MyLink, owners can use Siri in Eyes Free mode to:

– Make voice-activated, hands-free calls to Contacts on their iPhone
– Play songs in their iTunes libraries, and even switch music sources automatically from AM/FM/XM radio to iPod mode
– Listen to, and compose and send an iMessage or text message to a phone number or anyone in saved Contacts
– Access Calendar and add appointments
– Minimize distraction even more by keeping the screen of the iPhone from lighting up even when Siri answers simple questions such as game scores or the dates of national holidays

The feature, which will be available to drivers of the 2013 Chevy models requires an iPad, iPhone or iPod running iOS 6. Owners of a 2013 Spark and Sonic that do not currently have the feature will be allowed to upgrade their MyLink radios for Siri integration in March. Honda’s Accord, Acura RDX and ILX cars will also receive Siri Eyes Free integration later this year.

Apple’s Siri Eyes Free feature will likely become standard in all cars in the next several years as the company continues to make improvements to the voice assistant. If Apple’s Maps application gets more stabilized in the future, car manufacturers could look into tuning that into their systems alongside Siri Eyes Free.

{Via MacRumors}

Last week, Apple officially released iOS 6.1 to the public with new LTE carriers and the ability to buy Fandango movie tickets through Siri. Since then, the company has continued to work on the mobile software, seeding the first beta of iOS 6.1.1 to developers on Wednesday.

The beta is labeled with a build number of 10B31 and addresses a number of issues with Maps in Japan, including improved pronunciation of roads during turn-by-turn navigation and an updated freeway color to green. The full list of features, as reported by 9to5Mac is listed as follows:

iOS 6.1.1 beta 1 includes the following improvements to Maps for Japan:

– Improved pronunciation of roads during turn-by-turn navigation
– Optimized directions to more strongly prefer highways over narrower roads
– Now indicates upcoming toll roads during turn-by-turn navigation
– Added labels for junctions, interchanges, on-ramps, off-ramps, and intersections
– Added indicators for transit station buildings, subway lines, and traffic lights
– Updated freeway color to green
– Updated icons for some location categories including fire stations, hospitals, and post offices Added 3D buildings including Tokyo Station, Japan Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Tower

It is unclear when Apple plans to release the update or if it will include other bug fixes, however, it is clear that the company is clearly dedicated to fixing issues in iOS 6. This comes after the software was released to intense criticism of the company’s Siri voice assistant, and Maps which also led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall.

{Via MacRumors}

Apple is looking to improve Siri, its digital voice assistant for iOS devices. The Cupertino, California company posted a job listing on social networking site, LinkedIn and is specifically looking for writers that can help to improve the personality of Siri.

We’re looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri’s known for ‘her’ wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways. The ideal candidate is someone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment.

Siri is currently included in Apple’s newest iPad, iPhone lineup, as well the fifth generation iPod touch. Siri, despite initially launching to popularity has become a secondary feature for some users, who would rather do searches and scheduling themselves instead of relying on the digital assistant.

Apple is looking to improve the usability of the service, which has been somewhat of a failure and has partially contributed to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall from the company. Apple appears to be molding Siri in order for it to become as similar to a human conversation as possible. During the introductory keynote, Forstall noted that Siri truly understands what a user is saying and responds as such. With this position fulfilled, Siri will continue to gain far more responses to prompts than it currently has.

{Via iMore}

Apple has posted a new iPhone 5 TV ad, highlighting the new “Do Not Disturb” feature in iOS 6. The feature allows users to decide whether they want to schedule silent hours at different times of the day. The feature also allows calls from a certain group of people to come through, while rejecting calls and messages from all others.

Repeat calls from one person will come through on the second attempt despite them not being on one of the selected lists. Apple’s ad for the feature, called ‘Dream’ stars professional tennis players Serena and Venus Williams. The ad is from the point of view of the narrator who is having a dream where he is winning a ping pong match against the two sisters.

Ever had a really cool dream? I’m having one right now. I don’t want to be disturbed. And I won’t because before I went to sleep, I set this. Now my iPhone knows not to ring unless its important. Cause disturbing this would just be… Wrong.

This is the first time that Apple has promoted an iOS 6 feature, other than Siri, with celebrities. Apple’s iOS 6 has been plagued with issues since its release, mainly with Siri and the company’s new Maps application, which also led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall. In a strange twist, ‘Dream’ was posted on the same day ‘Do Not Disturb’ failed to turn off for thousands of users. It is unclear whether this glitch was because of the New Year and when it will return to normal.

Even so, Apple is beginning to focus on some of the other features in iOS 6 as it works to fix Maps, Siri and other bugs that are affecting the latest version of the software.

{Via MacRumors}

According to a filing with the SEC, Apple Inc. (AAPL) Senior Vice President of Technologies, Bob Mansfield has sold off 35,000 shares of AAPL stock for the price of $582.21 per share, which equates to about $20.4 million. Mansfield reportedly has 29,548 shares remaining with the company, and will be offered another stock option of 150,000 shares. These shares will be offered on June 2013 and also in March 2016.

Bob Mansfield announced retirement earlier this year when he held the position, SVP of Hardware Engineering. He later decided to stay as SVP of Technologies and now runs Apple’s wireless and semiconductor teams. This new position was given to Mansfield after SVP of iOS software, Scott Forstall was removed from the company following a string of issues with iOS Maps and Siri as well as Forstall’s strained relationship with other executives at the company.

Mansfield is receiving $2 million a month to stay at Apple and run these teams, which are still working through the management shakeup and fixing previous issues. With Mansfield still working at Apple, the company is retaining one of the original executives that is familiar with both the leadership of Steve Jobs and Tim Cook. Apple has had a major turnover with its retail chief, with the departure of Ron Johnson and John Browett and with the removal of Scott Forstall as iOS chief.

{Via AppleInsider}

Apple is looking to continue adding to Siri’s features with 9 more languages reportedly coming to the personal voice assistant, currently operating on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. Belgian site Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen noticed earlier this week that Apple had posted a job listing for Cloud Services Engineering Interns for those who can speak Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Korean, Norwegian, and Swedish.

On the listing, Apple noted this was for “delivering Siri in different parts of the world.” Currently, only Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish are not supported on Siri, however, may be in the next several months if Apple hires interns an improves Siri. Apple currently supports the following languages and will continue to expand to include more

• United States (English, Spanish)
• United Kingdom (English)
• Australia (English)
• France (French)
• Germany (German)
• Japan (Japanese)
• Canada (English, Canadian French)
• China (Mandarin)
• Hong Kong (Cantonese)
• Italy (Italian)
• Korea (Korean)
• Mexico (Spanish)
• Spain (Spanish)
• Switzerland (Italian, French, German)
• Taiwan (Mandarin)

With iOS 6, Apple has continued to improve Siri, adding in new features such as Sports scores, stats and information, as well as the ability to buy movie tickets, and even support for Passbook. By adding in new languages and more support for external applications such as Passbook and Yelp, Siri is becoming more integrated into the iOS ecosystem. During its initial release, many users complained that Siri was very limited and couldn’t interact with third party applications.

{Via MacRumors}

Earlier this week, reports suggested that Apple updated Siri in iOS 6.1 to add movie ticket purchases. This would allow users to voice navigate movie theatres, times, prices and ultimately purchase the tickets. Now Apple is working backwards and connecting Siri to its already existing applications. Apple has released an update to the Apple Store app, adding support for Siri and the ability for users to email PassBook enabled gift cards through the app.

Although the two new features appear to be included in the Apple Store app, they have not yet been enabled yet. It is possible that Apple is waiting to include the features in iOS 6.1 alongside the movie ticket purchasing feature. With Siri integrated into the Apple Store app, users can now ask questions such as, “How much is the Macbook Pro?” and Siri will automatically route them to that specific section in the app and will pull up the product page for the Macbook Pro.

What’s New in Version 2.4

– Buy new gift cards and email them to friends and family right from the app. These gift cards are easily integrated with the new Passbook app (U.S. only, iOS 6 required).

– Ask Siri to help you find prices and shop for Apple products. (Siri-enabled device required.)”

The Apple Store app with the new update is now available on the App Store [Direct Link].

{Via MacRumors}

Apple released an iOS 6.1 beta to developers recently, and features that are expected to be in the new update are now being shown off online. One of these new features in iOS 6.1 is the ability to purchase movie tickets through Siri. Apple is bringing movie ticket purchases to Siri, allowing users to simply tell Siri to book them tickets for a specific showtime, as Siri can already look up the showtimes and the movie theatre that it is located in.

Developers testing 6.1 on their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch say that the feature operates on Fandango and Siri describes the commands in the information menu. A user can simply ask Siri to buy any number of tickets for any movie. Siri will then bring up local movie theatres that are playing the movie.

You can also manually go through each window, first choosing a movie theatre, then a movie, time etc. The feature is currently available only in the United States and not all theatres are supported. Supported theatres have a tiny movie tickets icon that tells the user which one they can buy tickets from. With this new feature, Siri has become more useful and is now more interactive with some of the features introduced with iOS 6.

{Via 9to5Mac}

Since the introduction of Apple’s popular iPhone 4S last October, the company has gone ahead to air a number of ads for the smartphone’s groundbreaking personal assistant, Siri. Late Monday, Apple began to air a new commercial for Siri, this time using a different celebrity, director and producer Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese is best known for his work in popular and classic movies such as Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. In the ad, Scorsese uses Siri to search for traffic in Manhattan, find his friend, and reschedule appointments. The ad begins with Scorsese in a cab in New York City and continues on as follows:

Scorsese: What’s my day look like?

Siri: Another busy day today.

Scorsese: Are you serious?

Siri: Yes, I’m not allowed to be frivolous.

Scorsese: Ah, OK. Move my 4 o’clock today to tomorrow. Change my 11AM to 2.

Siri: OK, Marty. I scheduled it for today.

Scorsese: Is that Rick? Where’s Rick?

Siri: Here’s Rick.

Scorsese: Oh, no that’s not Rick. Now, how’s the traffic headed downtown?

Siri: Here’s the traffic.

Scorsese: Oh, it’s terrible, terrible. Driver, driver, cut across. Cut across. We’ll never make it downtown this way. I like you Siri, you’re going places.

Siri: I’ll try to remember that.

In the ad, Scorsese uses many apps, including Find My Friends, Maps, and Calendars. The ad then ends with Scorsese complementing Siri, saying, “I like you Siri, you’re going places” and Siri responding, “I’ll try to remember that”.

This is the fourth and most recent celebrity ad done by Apple to promote Siri. Apple has done Siri/iPhone 4S ads with Samuel L. Jackson, Zooey Deschanel and, John Malkovich in the past.

{via MacRumors}

Apple announced iOS 6 during the company’s annual WWDC conference, and showcased some of the main features of the new update including a revamped Maps application and Siri improvements. The Cupertino company released an initial beta to developers directly after the conference, allowing developers to test the new features on the their devices and then released iOS 6 beta 2 in late June.

On Monday, Apple released iOS 6 beta 3 to developers, fixing bugs and adding a number of new features. This latest beta comes comes as Build 10A5355d, about three weeks after the last with Build 10A5338d. Some of the features of iOS 6 beta 3 include:

• Roadwork and traffic accidents showing up in Maps app
• Answer and Decline buttons for FaceTime calls have returned
• iMessage on iPad now accepting phone number as valid contact info
• Greater 3D Flyover coverage in Maps
• Glyphs for bookmarks, Reading List, and history in Safari
• Auto-brightness changes gradually

One of the other main features noticed was a change under the Navigation settings, giving users the option to measure distance in kilometers or meters, adjust the volume of the navigation voice, and providing map labels in either normal or large that can display in a local language or strictly English.

Apple’s iOS 6 betas continue to improve with each release and give developers the chance to test each feature and use it with their own apps. Apple is expected to release several more betas before the final public release, which is expected during the September / October timeframe. It is also likely that the public version of iOS 6 will release alongside the next generation iPhone 5 which is also expected during the same timeframe.

{via MacRumors — Image Credit: 9to5Mac}

Apple’s popular iPhone has been on the market since 2007 and has picked up a number of new features since then, including video chat capabilities, and even Siri, a voice controlled personal assistant. However, even with a variety of innovative technology, the iPhone always fell short when it came to emergency notifications or access. As a result, Apple is now working in tandem with the national government to provide users with automatic alerts in the case of a national emergency in iOS 6.

The new feature in iOS 6, named “Government Alerts” will provide any information regarding national security as well as any major announcements from the local, state, or federal governments. The feature is even being utilized by the National Weather service which will be allowed to issue whether emergency notifications directly to iOS 6 users, and is expected to be up and running later this month.

Users can opt out of receiving the notifications, which can be switched off in the Settings app although it is unclear whether the feature is already running when the device is purchased. The new feature will be available in the iOS 6, and will work on all iPhone models capable of running the next iOS software update, including the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.

{via AppleInsider}

Apple’s WWDC keynote event is only a few hours away, where Apple is expected to introduce new MacBook models as well the next version of the company’s mobile operating system, iOS 6. On Friday, a number of images of iOS 6 banners were posted by CNet, all of which were being set up in Moscone West, the building where Apple’s WWDC  2012 keynote event is being held.

With the images as proof of iOS 6, it is confirmed that Apple will be previewing features of iOS 6 during the keynote event. The images depict banners reading “iOS 6, The World’s Most Advanced Mobile Operating System” being put up by workers in the entrance hall of Moscone West. iOS 6 has long been rumored to be making an appearance at WWDC 2012, with the software showing up in web logs and running on an iPad.

The ‘6’ on the banner appears to have a background of water ripples, likely continuing Apple’s water theme, previously water droplets on glass in iOS 5. This means that the background and other promotional items will likely ship with this new background once iOS 6 is finally announced and later issued for public release.

Apple’s WWDC keynote event begins on June 11th and it is clear that iOS 6 will be a part of it, although specific details as to what will be included in the update is unknown. Other products such as new MacBooks are also expected to be announced. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you updated.

The next version of Apple’s iOS operating system, iOS 6, is expected to be released during the company’s WWDC 2012 conference starting on July 11. Various reports in the recent past have mentioned that the next software update will bring a number of features, including major updates to Siri, Apple’s personal assistant software.

Now that Siri is running on the iPhone 4S and the new iPad 3 has gotten voice dictation, there is every reason to believe that Siri might in fact be coming to Apple’s popular tablet computer. On Monday, a report from 9to5Mac mentioned that Apple may be bringing Siri over to the iPad 3 with iOS 6, allowing users to access all of the features by holding down the home button on the iPad, the same way it currently operates on the iPhone 4S (mock up of potential Siri design).

Siri on the iPad is activated by a quick hold of the home button, just like on the iPhone 4S. The interface slides up from below the display with a clever animation. Siri is built into the iPad as a small window on top of whatever interface the user is currently interacting with. This Siri window with rounded corners sits at the bottom center of the display, as you can see in our mockup above. The Siri iPad interface takes very little space over the iPad interface currently in use, and is designed with the same linen texture as on the iPhone 4S. Siri for iPad also works from the lock screen.

It is unclear if Apple will announce the feature during the company’s annual WWDC conference or hold off until the public release. During the conference, Apple generally provides developers with an early preview of the software and allows them to test out the new features prior to its release several months later. It is also unclear whether developers will get access to Siri on the iPad 3 prior to any public release.

{via MacRumors — Image Credit: 9to5 Mac}

Apple for the first time ever began to use celebrities in its iPhone TV ads only about a month ago. The first ads to use celebrities were for the company’s popular personal assistant Siri, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel.

After receiving very positive feedback of the work done by the Chiat/Day ad agency, Apple is continuing to use celebrities in its ads. In the latest series of ads, the Cupertino company is featuring John Malkovich to star as a user of Siri.

As of Wednesday, two different ads have aired starring Malkovich, the first called “Life” and another called “Joke”. In “Life” Malkovich talks to Siri about life and has the personal assistant explain the meaning of it. “Joke”, however shows off the more humorous side of Siri. The conversation between Siri and Malkovich in “Life” goes as follows:

Malkovich: Life.

Siri: Try and be nice to people. Avoid eating fat. Read a good book every now and then. Get some walking in. And try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.

Malkovich: That’s pretty spectacular advice, actually. Thank you. I enjoyed this chat immensely. You are very eloquent.

Siri: That’s nice of you to say.

The ads take on a humorous tone and play on Malkovich’s odd persona and acting style. Appearing in films such as Dangerous Liaisons and of Mice and Men.

The ads are now airing across the country and will likely be added to other channels as the Cupertino company receives more information on the feedback of the ads.

{via MacRumors}

Wake Smarter puts that fancy bedside alarm clock to shame. It has an amazing variety of choices on how you would like your alarm to behave. There are options for the usual alarm sounds, repeats, snooze-ability, and custom labels. But Wake Smarter goes WAY beyond that.

As an alarm clock it has a daytime display with gorgeous background photos or textures to choose from, and it has a much simpler nighttime display with a black background a red numerals that are easy on the eyes in the dark. The fun begins once you set an alarm. You have the ability to set the alarm to the minute and choose which days of the week it applies to. But then you get to add actions to that alarm. Actions such as having a custom message read to you, or the weather, or the news headlines, or your day’s calendar events, or your Facebook or Twitter news. Even the alarm audio allows you to choose from some unique sounds or a radio station or one of your iTunes playlists. And you can have more that one action on your alarm, so if you can’t choose you can focus on which action you want to have first. You can even control the length of the snooze feature and set it between 1-60 minutes.

There is a sleep timer too that is just as customizable. You can control the length, up to two hours, and set the audio mode to radio, playlist, or choose from about a dozen sleep sounds. The sleep timer needs to be set manually, but the audio will stop as scheduled and not interfere with any of the alarms that are set.

Another great feature of Wake Smarter is the voice control. On the main clock face screen, there is a microphone icon. When tapped, Wake Smarter understands a limited number of voice commands such as “time,” “date,” “weather,” or “Facebook.” Wake Smarter will then read out what you’ve asked for. The text-to-speech function does quite well with difficult words and it’s quite understandable. There is even some level of customization of volume, pitch, and speed for the voice to make it suit your ear.

With all these options and features, navigating has the potential to be a problem, but not so with Wake Smarter. The main clock screen has just three icons to interact with. And even the full-featured Settings screen has only four main icons to find what you’re looking for. They are clearly marked and easily understood as to what they control. You shouldn’t find yourself getting lost in complex menu structures here.

Wake Smarter is a fantastic alarm clock app. It comes with it’s own set of sounds and backgrounds. The features and options include something for everyone. But the voice control and text-to-speech feature sets this clock app apart and make it worth the $2.99 price tag.

What we like:

• Handles both falling asleep and waking up functions
• Completely customizable
• Variety of audio sources including radio, playlists, and included sounds
• Brings Siri-like functions to non-Siri-enabled devices with voice control and text-to-speech

What to know:

• Have to keep the app open

Gallery

Apple is not known for use of celebrities to endorse their products. Of course, there were a few promotions a number years back, with The Black Eyed Peas and popular band U2 promoting iTunes and the iPod. However, Apple has never done a celebrity advertisement that showed faces and instead focused mostly on silhouettes.

Apple recently released two advertisements with actor Samuel L. Jackson and actress Zooey Deschanel. Samuel L. Jackson, known for his roles in movies such as Pulp Fiction and Snakes on A Plane and Zooey Deschanel, known for her role in the movie, 500 Days of Summer are both depicted as users of Siri.

Date Night iPhone 4S TV Ad

Rainy Day iPhone 4S TV Ad

Jackson and Deschanel ask Siri for a number of different things, including scheduling appointments, searching recipes, and playing music. The ad focuses on the celebrities using Siri in everyday situations, something that Apple has started to do recently, particularly with the introduction of Siri. This allows Apple to take a more personal approach to drawing in customers for the iPhone 4S and make it attractive to potential users. Siri launched last October with the iPhone 4S, and is still in beta stage, according to Apple’s website.

The ads were made by TBWA\Chiat\Day, who worked closely with Steve Jobs and other Apple executives on hundreds of Apple ads over the year. The ads feature branding for AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon at the end, as there are no brands mentioned in the ad itself. It’s interesting to see Apple begin to use celebrity endorsements for their products and reach even more customers, who are represented brilliantly by Apple’s choice of Jackson and Deschanel.

During today’s iPad 3 live keynote event Apple will finally unveil the third-generation tablet and release date is expected within two weeks from today. iPad 3 is widely expected to feature retina display with a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, faster processor with improved graphics, better cameras and more.

iPad 3 is rumored to use Dual-Core A5X SoC that will not only be faster but also deliver enhanced graphics and include 1GB RAM. The design is not expected to see major changes however, it is believed that the new iPad will be 0.8 mm thicker when compared with the second gen tablet.

Apple could share an update related to iOS 5.1 software update and could announce its immediate availability. While we haven’t heard about any conclusive evidence which points to inclusion of Siri in iPad 3 Apple could be looking at bringing the “personal voice assistant” to the tablet.

What are your expectations from this years event? Let us know in the comments section.

Check back soon for the iPad 3 live coverage.

08:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
03:00AM – Tokyo (March 8th)

You don’t need to refresh this page! Live updates will appear below:

Sources: Engadget, Ars Technica, The Verge, gdgt

According to a report from Chronic Wire, Apple’s developer seed of iOS 5.1 has passed quality assurance tests conducted by the company. The company issued a number of seeds to developer for iOS 5.1 to ensure that the final public release would be as stable as possible, especially after a number of users complained of battery life issues on iPhone 4S and other issues with iOS 5.

iOS 5.1 may now be ready to be released to the public, likely during the iPad 3 release date announcement event on Wednesday, or perhaps following the event during Apple’s initial sales of the iPad 3. The report mentions that iOS 5.1 is now in Golden Master stage with build 9B176 being the final build to be issued for public release.

The build number of iOS 5.1 Gold Master is 9B176 according to a very solid source, although three different partners who are testing the Gold Master claim to have slightly (by single digits) higher builds numbers on their copies, I’m assuming that’s because right now it’d make sense for those people to be testing what will soon be released as 5.1.1, so I’ve disregarded the claims.

Quality assurance appears to have been conducted over the past three weeks, since Apple issued the last beta version. Apple worked with carriers to ensure that the OS was entirely bug free and worked on all aspects of the iPhone. iOS 5.1 has been reported to include Japanese  support for Siri and a new camera slider from the lock screen among other improvements.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple has been busy getting iOS 5.1 software update ready for release as the company has been seeding beta to developers since November. As new beta updates were released details about future products, features and changes were revealed.

iOS 5.1 beta code had references to an unreleased iPad 2 model and then another beta release revealed that Apple will finally include ability to delete photos from Photo Stream from your iOS device.

In early January, details about the beta code pointing to quad-core A6 (A5X SoC) iPad 3 were widely reported and suggested that iPhone 5 and next gen iPad would support new processors. Now, according to a new leak iOS 5.1 software update will include a new camera button on the lock screen.

Among more than 200 new features which were introduced in iOS 5 Apple enabled a lock screen camera button to enable users to capture important moments quickly. When you double-tap the home button to reveal the quick camera access button instead of the regular button iOS 5.1 will now have a slider. When you slide the camera icon upwards it will launch the camera app so that you take photos with your iPhone / iPod touch camera.

BlogdoiPhone who gained access to “pre-GM” version of iOS 5.1 also claim that the upcoming update will finally include support for Japanese Siri.

We recently highlighted another rumor which suggested that code in operator profiles mentioned iOS 5.1 release date as March 9th. iPad 3 launch event is expected to be held on March 7th and it will be interesting to see if Apple mentions the release date for iOS 5.1 during the event.

{via MacRumors}