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Microsoft Opens Cortana Virtual Assistant to Third-Party Hardware Makers

MacBergin said:
What happened to the days of the first iPhone or iPad when Apple lead the charge and created a category?? Now they just come late to the party every time. :(
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Apple has traditionally come late to the party (iPhone, iPad, etc.). Back then, though, they came late to the party and they showed up with the goods that made everybody go, "Ahhhh, well, you were late but you brought some really cool stuff to the party. Thanks!" Now, it's just like, "Anybody seen Apple? Oh, there they are in the corner showing off watch bands, emoji, and earbuds. Oh, wait...I think I saw one of those earbuds on the floor in the other room. I hope they know they lost one!"
 
Really like the amazon Dot, use it daily for all different tasks.
Looking forward to SONOS integration in early 2017.

I haven't tried MS Cortana

We also have a Dot in the Office now its like a PA for a one off £39.00 and its proving useful for alarms, timers, weather and spelling....maybe not ideal for a larger office.

I think these devices are the future.
 
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MacRumors said:
Apple's interest in bringing a Siri-integrated smart speaker to market has been rumored since May. The company is said to be developing a product that would include a speaker and microphone that could be used for features like listening to music, getting news headlines, and more, but further details have so far been thin on the ground.
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Let's be real here: Siri isn't good enough to be a standalone product. Maybe someday, but it has been lagging behind for years now. It's a useful addition to my iPhone but I would never pay money for it separately.

I imagine it would go like this: every time I ask Siri "smart speaker" a question it would say "Here's what I found on the web for [partially mangled text here]:" with no way to view or hear any results, lol.

They've got their work cut out for themselves. Siri is 80% voice controlled search engine interface.
 
i'm always happy to jump on the apple hate bandwagon as of late but i fail to see what this actually has to do with apple.

yes, both companies have 'assistants' like this, but so do most companies nowadays.
 
And this is why Siri will ultimately die on the vine. Siri will be contained within the Apple ecosystem (egosystem?) while Alexa, Google, and Cortana will be more readily adopted. Apple had first mover with Siri and really has blown it.

Yes, it's better at handling privacy but it's just not as functional with useful actions. I've had almost every iPhone since the original and macs since the 128K but Apple is really making me rethink things lately. I don't like it. I wish they would delight rather than frustrate.
 
HMFIC03 said:
PLEASE FIRE TIM COOK
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Sorry, don't have that power and actually would not do that.

I would restrict his role to financial and operations and hire somebody
creative to shake up the place.
They need a ball buster who uses their products and is willing to fight.

Right now Apple just has nothing that I would like to buy and I want them to be good.
They have done mostly well by me. (Yes, a few duds, but tolerable)

Just bought two 2015 MBPs, so I can outwait that latest disappointment.

Watch = meh, just not for me. Maybe if it doesn't need the phone.
Apple Music = double meh
iCloud = only on to be able to use find my phone
Airpods/beats = Wireless anything not for me except trackpad
and that with rechargeable eneloop batteries
Beats with wires = gory design,. I like simple and understated stuff without huge logos.
iPods = dead
iPhone = have 6S plus, good until 9S or longer
iMac/Pro/Mini = I don't do desktop any more
aTV = I have the 4, but only use it for streaming.
They have been missing the boat in gaming for over 10 years.
tvOS= don't acre , I don't whatch tv the way they portrait it.
SIRI = no way

Displays and routers they killed.

Car = who knows what they are "COOK"ing up?
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actinide said:
Don't forget OK BOOBOO

O - KAY - BOO - BOO: apparently it has the right amount of syllables.
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Maybe it will listen to

ba ba booey

or

hit'em with the Heeeeiiiiinn

For me SIRI has never worked.
 
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HMFIC03 said:
PLEASE FIRE TIM COOK
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I wouldn't fire him but as Thunder said he needs a hard faced assistant to do his dirty work (someone who relishes the task) Tim is a bit too nice but I still think he is best as the CEO

Would love to ask Warren Buffett on his long term view on Berksire Hatherway's APPL stock holding.
 
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Chupa Chupa said:
Maybe because you've never tried it out? I was like you until I bought a Hue starter kit on Amazon Day. Since then I bought an Ecobee thermostat and upgraded my Gen 1 August Lock to a Gen 2 w/ Homekit. Now I don't know how I got along without. I don't even bother to lock the door anymore. I just go directly to the car and then say "hey siri lock the door." Done. One of many trivial small things it does but all those small worthless things in life add up to real time gained, just like saving dollars.
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It might be the same thing as an Apple Watch.

I find the Apple Watch immensely useful, I can't live without it now, while others say how useless it is.

Your use case is one that I'd never use. We never lock our doors. We leave through our garage door, which we close with a button in our car, and our door from the garage to the house is always unlocked.

We play music through our Sonos at our house with a Sonos app. I don't think either Google or Amazon can use Sonos to stream music. Thermostat? I have it programmed and never touch it anymore. If it's cold, we turn on the fireplace. Can Amazon help here?

Maybe for some there are use cases, but I can't find any.
 
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Zirel said:
That's funny!

Siri is in my wrist, in my TV, in my pocket, in my couch and in my desk.

Cortana isn't.

Google Assistant isn't.

Alexa isn't.

That's why they need to make this ugly nerdy gadgets.

And they still can't compete with Apple's HomeKit!
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And yet for all those places Siri is she still can't do anywhere near what Cortana, Alexa & Google Now can
 
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Siri is widely regarded as a joke. I try it every once in a while to see if it's gotten any better, and it's often laughably wrong. Dictation is pretty decent, though.
 
StevieD100 said:
Really? For a lot of users NONE of these (Cortana, Alexa, Siri etc) are must haves.
One company I know that is rolling out Windows 10 are disabling cortana by a group policy.
Frankly, I could not give a damm about any of them. There are far more important things that need attention. Like emoji's perhaps? (sic)
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No one needed the iPhone, iPad, or any of those 'new' things, they were all written off as gimmick at first. In fact, Alexa was written off as gimmick but look who's laughing now.

Everyone knows home automation and IoT is the new frontier, and the fact that Microsoft is striking partnerships already should be alarming for Apple, who's only contribution in this space has been buying Nest and putting a lackluster 'app' on its iOS devices.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
It's probably as too late for MS as it is for Apple and Google. I think Amazon wins this race by a few lengths. They were first to market with a voice command speaker, even though Apple bought Siri long before, and maintained its lead even when it slowed down. The new Dot + their aggressive pricing + the fact Alexa actually works blew everyone out of the race this season.

I have a limited HomeKit set up - Hue + August Lock + Ecobee but I'm thankful all these devices are also Alexa compatible should I need to make a switch. Siri is becoming increasingly frustrating and she should work the same on an iDevice as a Mac too. I don't know it because her technology backend is limited or Apple lost it's knack for designing simple-to-use products but it should be humiliating to Apple that Amazon eclipsed them here.

I keep thinking of that 60 minutes piece featuring TC where he or Ive -- don't recall which -- say Apple is always testing new product. Apparently all talk or what they are testing is even worse than some of the stuff they have been releasing of late.
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Because you don't always -- at least I don't -- have my phone by my side when I'm in my house. Also "hey Siri" doesn't work well when your phone is in your pocket. Also because "hey Siri" doesn't work unplugged on all iOS devices. What Dot does is allow you to put an inexpensive voice command speaker in multiple rooms in your house and create a true voice controlled network.
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The Amazon Dot makes Beats Speakers (any speaker laying around) functional at a nice price point. Now that should embarrass Apple. :(
 
I believe this is why Apple dismantled it's Airport Basestation team - I think they were asked to build an Apple TV box that broadcasts wifi signals and spies on you via 'Hey Siri'
 
mkeeley said:
Never understood why they gave it such a long name. Activation names should be short and roll off the tongue. Siri's probably the best in that respect and Alexa next. But OK google doesn't roll of the tongue at all (I use ok booboo instead and it works) and cortana's has one too many syllables.
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Cortana has the same number of syllables as Alexa
 
Chupa Chupa said:
It's probably as too late for MS as it is for Apple and Google. I think Amazon wins this race by a few lengths. They were first to market with a voice command speaker, even though Apple bought Siri long before, and maintained its lead even when it slowed down. The new Dot + their aggressive pricing + the fact Alexa actually works blew everyone out of the race this season.

I have a limited HomeKit set up - Hue + August Lock + Ecobee but I'm thankful all these devices are also Alexa compatible should I need to make a switch. Siri is becoming increasingly frustrating and she should work the same on an iDevice as a Mac too. I don't know it because her technology backend is limited or Apple lost it's knack for designing simple-to-use products but it should be humiliating to Apple that Amazon eclipsed them here.

I keep thinking of that 60 minutes piece featuring TC where he or Ive -- don't recall which -- say Apple is always testing new product. Apparently all talk or what they are testing is even worse than some of the stuff they have been releasing of late.
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Because you don't always -- at least I don't -- have my phone by my side when I'm in my house. Also "hey Siri" doesn't work well when your phone is in your pocket. Also because "hey Siri" doesn't work unplugged on all iOS devices. What Dot does is allow you to put an inexpensive voice command speaker in multiple rooms in your house and create a true voice controlled network.
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If Apple were to come with an solution of their own, it probably priced outrageous. Face it, 2017 will be the moment of truth. If it's still stuck in the pipeline I won't call the plumber again and abandon ship.

I hope Apple is busy with something we all don't know about because it's losing out on all fronts. Still wonder why people visit their stores though... hardly anything new there.
 
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bbeagle said:
We play music through our Sonos at our house with a Sonos app. I don't think either Google or Amazon can use Sonos to stream music. Thermostat? I have it programmed and never touch it anymore. If it's cold, we turn on the fireplace. Can Amazon help here?

Maybe for some there are use cases, but I can't find any.
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Actually Sonos has announced that an Alexa update is coming next year. So if you had an Alexa device you'd be able to bark out commands like skip or whats playing, etc. w/o the need of the app.
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HJM.NL said:
Still wonder why people visit their stores though... hardly anything new there.
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At least in the U.S. half of the store space is dedicated to support. Most of the people in the store are there waiting for a Genius. I'd bet the one's milling around are with someone waiting on Genius and got bored sitting around.
 
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A simple but smart move. Apple starts to look like a dinosaur in comparison to modern Microsoft.
Who would imagine that just 5 years ago...
 
This speaks to a topic I had brought up a week ago.

Apple Music Partners. Where are they?

Apple is falling behind on ubiquity because they're not building the kind of partnerships that Spotify (and now Microsoft) are assembling that enable third parties to make use of the data that we compile about our lives and our tastes. Spotify's partnership with Uber is one such case. But then there are hardware makers like HK who can play Spotify playlists or alarm clocks like Aura by Withings that can wake you up to your favourite music (powered by Spotify). Apple has only now enabled that in Sonos but is far behind with no other hardware makers on board.

Apple can't remain inward looking, specially in markets where it doesn't even compete. Apple's attempt at gathering hardware makers under the AirPlay umbrella seems to have failed as newer devices don't offer it. It was too expensive for consumers who often chose the non AirPlay variations.

It's time to reboot that effort. Offer AirPlay licensing for free and the benefits to users will lead to iPhone, iPad and Mac sales. A Siri licensing agreement would do the same and would only work if you have an iOS or macOS device. Apple has only to gain by getting third party hardware makers to join in supporting Siri and AirPlay.
 
mcfrazieriv said:
I believe this is why Apple dismantled it's Airport Basestation team - I think they were asked to build an Apple TV box that broadcasts wifi signals and spies on you via 'Hey Siri'
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Do you ever touch your iPhone? If yes, you are spied on. Apple knows all, with a bit of good news, they limit sharing all they know. The world we live in unless you choose to be off grid.

Forgot to add:

http://money.cnn.com/2016/12/14/technology/evernote-privacy/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom
 
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bbeagle said:
It might be the same thing as an Apple Watch.

I find the Apple Watch immensely useful, I can't live without it now, while others say how useless it is.

Your use case is one that I'd never use. We never lock our doors. We leave through our garage door, which we close with a button in our car, and our door from the garage to the house is always unlocked.

We play music through our Sonos at our house with a Sonos app. I don't think either Google or Amazon can use Sonos to stream music. Thermostat? I have it programmed and never touch it anymore. If it's cold, we turn on the fireplace. Can Amazon help here?

Maybe for some there are use cases, but I can't find any.
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Hi
All very similar to me
cheers
 
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