Earlier this week, a report from Bloomberg mentioned that Apple is likely integrating Yelp check ins directly into the Maps application. This would allow users to easily track their location in Maps and then check in to the restaurant or venue they go to, right away.

At this point, neither Yelp nor Apple have confirmed that this feature is in fact part of the Maps update in iOS 6. However, if Yelp Check-In is added to Maps, it can also be assumed that other features such as Facebook Places may become part of Maps with iOS-wide Facebook integration being one of the big features.

Other location services such as Foursquare can also be integrated, although Yelp is currently the only service rumored to be part of the redesigned Maps application in iOS 6. Yelp has been part of Siri on the iPhone 4S since its introduction last year and will expand to give more information on reviews, prices, and locations. With Yelp Check-In and Yelp on Siri, discovering new restaurants and venues will likely be simplified over voice commands.

The final public release of iOS 6 is expected to be released during the same October timeframe of the next generation iPhone 5, as both will likely be released together.

{Image Credit: 9to5Mac}

Apple introduced Siri with the introduction of the iPhone 4S last October. During the company’s WWDC keynote event, SVP of iOS Software Scott Forstall took the stage to announce new updates to the personal assistant, Siri, to be included in iOS 6. The software update includes improved features such as asking Siri for sports scores, history of college and professional sports teams, as well as stats, and detailed info on other professional athletes. It also provides up to the minute updates on live sports games.

With Siri on iOS 6 now being able to provide sports information, users will no longer have to go to websites to see updates and scores. Apple also improved on Siri’s abilities to access applications on the device, by allowing Siri to open applications via voice command. Upon a command, Siri does not pull up a menu or navigation menu of any sorts and instead, jumps directly into the app and begins to run it.

The Cupertino company also improved on Siri’s movie and restaurant search capabilities. With restaurant searches, Siri on iOS 6 utilizes data from Yelp, giving information on prices, and reviews and is also connected with OpenTable for quick reservations. Siri is also hooked up with Rotten Tomatoes for movies, giving users direct access to reviews of the movie and the option to watch the trailer without closing the queue. Siri can now also provide quick access to information about directors of movies, actors, actresses and a variety of other details.

Other features include Eyes Free and Facebook integration. Apple introduced Eyes Free by teaming up with a number of car companies to directly build Siri functionality into new models of their cars. The feature can be directly accessed via a button on the steering wheel and will not switch on the screen of the iPhone but will entirely operate through voice commands. Facebook integration operates similarly to Twitter on iOS 5 and allows users to post photos, web pages, and other forms of media through a pop-up menu anywhere in the OS. The company also released this feature as a public API to give developers the option to build this feature into their own apps.

Forstall introduced these updates, and following the explanation of all of the features, mentioned that Siri would now also be coming to the new iPad as well, following the public release of iOS 6 later this year. iOS 6 will be introduced later this year, during the same fall timeframe that the next generation iPhone is expected.

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 on Tuesday October 4th unveiled the long awaited iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S was rumored to receive a major design upgrade, but instead kept its iPhone 4 design, with drastically updated internals.

The iPhone 4S is now packing the heat of Apple’s A5 chip, currently available in the iPad 2. It now holds a much faster processor, an improved camera, clocking in at 8MP, f/2.4
sensor, and face detection.

The fifth-gen iPhone now takes photos 33% faster than the iPhone 4, a massive improvement over the iPhone 3GS, which is still available in 8GB models for free on AT&T with the contract. Other features include longer batter life – 8 hrs talk time on 3G, 9 hours browsing on WiFi, 10 hours video, 40 hours music.

Additional features include new intelligent switching between antennas, HSPA+ 14.4 , CDMA + GSM World phone as well as 1080p video, real-time video stabilization, real-time temporal noise reduction. The iPhone 4S also features Siri Voice control which is being marketed as the most amazing feature of the new device.

With a blend of more than 200 features of iOS 5  and the new iPhone 4S, Apple’s latest offering could continue to retain the number one spot for a long time to come. Apple CEO Tim Cook also mentioned during the “Let’s talk iPhone” event that the iPhone 4, currently $99 and available in 8GB, as well as the new iPhone 4S will be available on AT&T, Verizon, and most recently Sprint.

The iPhone 4S will be available for Pre-Order starting on October 7th and will be available in retail stores for sale on October 14th. The phone will be available in 3 storage capacities, 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

Will you pre-order or pick one up come October 14th?

Shuttervox is set up so that when you say the word ‘Cheese’ it will take the picture. To set it up at first all you need to do is tap the little headphones in the centre of the screen. When you do this it then tells you it is loading the speech engine ready and a red button will show. When this button goes green and it says ‘Listening for keyword’ you are ready to take the pictures.

You postion your device ready for taking the photo and simple say ‘cheese’ when you are ready to take the shot. Shuttervox then listens for the command, if it hears a word but doesn’t recognize it will tell you and listen out for the word again.

When the app finally recognizes your keyword it will then take the picture. Once that happens you can add a title and then share either via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, send via email or just copy to the camera roll. Then you just start the process again with your next picture.

I found that the app didn’t recognize the keyword a lot of the time. Whether this is down to the tone of your voice I am not sure. I had to make sure I said the word in a certain way before it would take the picture and even then I had to say it four or five times before it did. If this happened when I was out and about in public, I may start to feel a little frustrated!

There are currently two versions available. The lite version just has the one keyword available and the paid version lets you have up to four different keywords. Which is handy if you really don’t like shouting ‘cheese’ out all the time!

Pros

• Share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Cons

• Does not always work takes several attempts before it does.
• Would be nice to have a few filters within the app to give it a few more features.