Increasingly, the futuristic novels of Ray Bradbury and other science fiction come to life and find certain manifestations in the modern world. Some 10 years ago it seemed that the computer is a soulless machine, and today you can conduct a dialogue with it, and modern smartphones act as full-fledged secretaries. Yes, until the appearance of full-fledged artificial intelligence for a long time, but there are advances in this direction, which is worth only obedient madame living in Apple products - the famous Siri. What is Siri, how it works and how it can surprise, we will analyze in this material. The list of commands and voice assistant settings are provided below.
All About Siri: What is Voice Assistant?
Siri is an advanced system for recognizing and interpreting human speech. The program is part of all Apple software products, is an integral part of them. Initially, the service appeared in the AppStore application store and was supposed to develop as an independent project, but the California manufacturer of gadgets decided differently, acquired a startup and closed all areas of development except the main one.
Siri is able to respond to various service requests. It helps to find the nearest cafes, knows which films go to the movies, and can include a suitable playlist. Encyclopedic data is also in the competence of Siri. What is an iPhone or the Black Sea Flood - a virtual assistant is able to find the answer to any question.
How to enable Siri?
Most often, Siri is turned on already at the stage of activation of the device, if this did not happen, then it should:
- Go to Settings.
- Open the Siri submenu.
- Turn the toggle switch with the name of the service to the "On" position.
For Siri to function properly, you must have a permanent Internet connection. Also, before using Siri, you should understand that this is a cloud service and all voice commands are sent to Apple’s servers. Some features require access to geolocation and third-party programs.
Siri on iPhone and Apple Watch
iOS and WatchOS were the first platforms that launched the digital assistant. At a demonstration in 2011, Apple engineers demonstrated how to use Siri, as well as the main features of the service. The question and answer service could find out the weather or ask her to write a message. Moreover, all this was done with the help of natural voice commands, the word order in which was not fundamental. The system could catch the point even with poor pronunciation. Later, the service was integrated with Apple branded cards. Using iPhone and iPad, Siri connects to cars and smart home.
A short list of possible commands:
"Any new posts from Oleg?" | Will show the latest SMS and letters from a specific person. |
Shuffle the New Rock playlist. | A specific playlist will be launched in random order. |
"Tell a joke". | Siri will tell one of the pre-prepared jokes. |
"Artem Astafiev is my brother." | The secretary can be introduced to people from the contact list to use simple commands, such as "Call Mom." |
"What is this song?" | Launch the integrated music recognition service - Shazam. |
"Weather for tomorrow?" | View the weather forecast for the next day. |
"How to get home?" | Siri can determine your location and show the way home. |
Siri on Mac
In the summer of 2016, at the presentation of the new iteration of macOS, a more advanced version of the voice assistant was presented, designed specifically for desktops and laptops. Voice assistant helps to work with files, acts as a secretary. Unlike mobile devices, the voice assistant on the computer does not interrupt the work of other programs, and you can communicate with it while performing other tasks.
A short list of possible commands:
"How much space is left on my Mac?" | The assistant owns all the system information about the computer and can share it. |
"Show all files saved under the tag" Work " | The assistant knows all about the files located on the hard drive. |
"Open the last pdf that Anton sent." | The assistant is able to handle complex queries and find files sent by mail or using iMessage. |
"Find on the Internet a photo of the American flag." | The program can show search results from the Internet. Results can be pinned to the notification center for quick access. |
Siri on Apple TV
On the Apple TV set-top box, presented in 2015, Siri is the main control method. You can ask the software assistant to find a movie or series, find out information about the actor, ask to turn on the game, and much more. In the case of a prefix, voice commands are sent to the control panel or smartphone.
A short list of possible commands:
"Find the comedies that came out in 2014." | Siri knows all about cinema and can find any film. |
"Show me starring Matt Damon" | The assistant knows where and who was shot, which means you can find a movie without even knowing the name. |
"What she said?" | Rewinds the movie 15 seconds back if you did not hear the cue. |
"Run Transmission." | Siri also knows how to run applications on Apple TV. |
"Who is starring in this movie?" | Do you like the actor? Ask Siri what his name is. |
Supported Languages
Siri works with most popular languages, but for a long time ignored the great and powerful. For a long time, the service was in low demand due to the fact that there was no Russian Siri. iOS 8 corrected the situation, in one of the last test builds of the system, the assistant finally spoke in Russian. Unfortunately, the innovation did not affect all devices. There are restrictions for Siri in Russian. iOS and macOS support voice control, but Apple TV does not (due to regional restrictions on content).
Language support is constantly being improved, the question-answer service speaks more clearly, more lively, adapts to different types of pronunciation and a certain style of speech. Also, an assistant can be turned into an assistant (male voices appeared later).
Alternative question and answer systems
Speaking of voice assistants, one cannot fail to mention other solutions similar to Siri. What is artificial intelligence and digital assistant, each company understands in its own way and uses different algorithms. Siri's most famous competitor is the Google Assistant. Unlike Siri, this product is cross-platform and uses the Google search service as a source of information.
Similar solutions are offered by developers from Amazon, who came up with the Alexa smart home management system, which combines a search assistant and a secretary.