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Rumored Siri Speaker in Production Ahead of Possible WWDC Debut

Like many "Siri" products, this will only work in the USA.

I have given up on siri ever working on my ATV4 in New Zealand.
I am slowly in the process of replacing all of my ATVs with Kodi/Android boxes.

Just like I shifted away from iBooks (what a piece of crap) to Calibre and not looked back.

Next I will be repurposing a Mac mini as a Linux box. I have already started moving most of my software needs over to OSS on my Macs, so when I finally go all Linux there will not actually be much change.

For the likes of New Zealand, Apple has grossly over promised and under supplied.
 
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mrongey said:
Here's a list of 4K content currently on Netflix: http://www.whats-on-netflix.com/lists/4k-titles-on-netflix/
Click to expand...

Like he said though, how many of those are truly 4K? A lot of Ultra HD Blu-Rays are just upscaled 1080p. This is because even if they were shot on film, or shot digitally at 4K or greater, they were downscaled to 2k (1080p) for editing/special effects/post processing. They are then just upscaled to 4K for the Ultra HD Blu-Ray release. I'm willing to bet most of Netflix and Amazon's 4K content is made this way as well. It is much more expensive to do everything at 4K for the whole process.

There are a few websites that review Ultra HD Blu-rays and talk about how they were made. If they were shot in 2K and upscaled, shot in 4K and post processed in 2k and then upscaled, or truly shot and post processed in 4K. I haven't seen any yet that cover the streaming services 4K material.

Here is a decent website that covers Ultra HD Blu-Rays. It talks a bit about the 4K streaming services, but doesn't appear to say if the content is real or fake 4K.
http://realorfake4k.com/faq/
 
Gudi said:
Do we all agree that smart speakers are useless garbage nobody wants?
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No, we don't. My Google Home is bloody awesome. I am putting several in my home.

But see, Google actually has a brain behind it. Siri seems like she was developed in a pot palace in Colorado and she's been half baked since she arrived.

I can't even fathom the frustration a Siri speaker would bring. I hope they have a good warranty. If people don't hurl Siri, they will hurl things at her for sure.

Google home "just works" and works well. Google assistant is now open to others so you could see it on a SONOS or any other branded speaker any day now. It's also open to developers.

Apple's lock it down and throw away the key mentality would kill the usefullness quickly.

"Hey Siri, send a text to my mom with Messenger."

"Here is the current stock price for Facebook."


"Hey Siri, how long is chicken good for past the sell by date?"

"Pictures of chickens sailing. I sent a link to your iPhone."

"Hey Siri, order more paper towels."
"I'm sorry, Apple can't get a 30% cut of sales and so I am not allowed to order paper towels."
 
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Karma*Police said:
Along with Apple Watch, Apple Pay, CarPlay, Homekit, Healthkit, AirPods, Apple Pencil, the most advanced silicon (A, M, W series), Touch ID, Swift, AM, iCloud, Siri, etc. The foundation for the future seems solid indeed.
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Agreed. Others seem to forget about or intentionally not list the other advancements that Apple has. They're just more focused on the negativity surrounding what they don't agree with or understand . If it doesn't align with their views, then Apple shouldn't be doing it according to them. Ignorant behavior for some on here.
 
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I have a massive need for this. I don't understand those who don't think it will be huge hit.

Bluetooth or portable speakers are massive business.
 
Shanghaichica said:
I'm looking forward to this. I've been holding off getting an echo or google home in the hope Apple would bring out one.
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I almost purchased a Google home a few months back. And I'm glad I didn't. I think it only made sense for me to wait, being I have plenty of other Apple products that likely will pair with Siri on the smart speaker or some affiliation with the ecosystem. And I'm sure, it will also have Home Kit enabled somewhere in there as for Home Automation.
 
sir1963nz said:
Like many "Siri" products, this will only work in the USA.

I have given up on siri ever working on my ATV4 in New Zealand.
I am slowly in the process of replacing all of my ATVs with Kodi/Android boxes.

Just like I shifted away from iBooks (what a piece of crap) to Calibre and not looked back.

Next I will be repurposing a Mac mini as a Linux box. I have already started moving most of my software needs over to OSS on my Macs, so when I finally go all Linux there will not actually be much change.

For the likes of New Zealand, Apple has grossly over promised and under supplied.
Click to expand...

It's funny, because my wife has set Siri to hte "Australian" voice. And then it doesn't understand her because she doesn't speak with an Aussie accent, and she gets mad at it.
 
BigJohno said:
the iPhone and iPod were products that filled a void in the market place. Everything out at the time was crap! This space however seems crammed full of good competitors with superior products. Siri blows and has been blah for the last few years. It will be just another "cool" apple product and not a must have IMO.
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I’d argue a Siri-in-a-box has the potential for similar market disruption. The current offerings (including current Siri, HomeKit, etc.) are just poor implemtations of very basic, very scattered home automation with a little intelligent assitant built in. They have limited functionality. Most are not customizable to individuals (i.e. mom, dad, and kids using the same product in the same household). The home automation is decades (yes!) behind dedicated systems (Crestron, Control4, Lutron, etc.) The intelligent assitant features really aren’t that much better than Siri - and that’s saying a lot, because Siri really isn’t that good.

For Apple to make inroads in this market, they have to release a vastly superior product. Every Apple product user has Siri already on their phone and maybe watch. What makes a standalone device desirable?
 
Everyone assumes, because of current limitations of SIRI, it is going to be a terrible product, inferior to their competitors.
My assumption is that apple will be improving and updating siri the next few months, fist stop :WWDC.
 
stevet said:
To be fair, Maps, Apple Music v1, Mac Pro circa 2013, the Watch OS v1, and I'm sure I could come up with a couple more with some more thought, were all released before they were ready and didn't fix anything already on the market. And in fact seriously hurt Apples credibility because of the bugs or confusion people they had with them.
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Disagree. The software you cite all worked fine. It might not have worked as well as some competing software but I never felt like Apple rushed it prematurely as much they were just putting it out to see what the market embraced. Same with the hardware. They made a big bet on Mac Pro and it didn't pay off which is not the same as rushing out a product that fails. Apple intentionally put out a wearable that does everything in order to let customers whittle down to just basic features they want. That is not the way Steve Jobs ran the company but then again, Steve approved Siri and it was released just as he died. I actually believe they did push Siri out before they thought it should be out just for Steve.
 
1. Siri generally sucks compared to the other voice assistants out there.

2. I have yet to understand why anyone wants one of these things constantly listening into their homes? Blows my mind.

3. Great work Tim, just what Apple needs right now to fix the product lineup.
 
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Q: Hey Alexa-wanna-be-box: are you based on Siri ?
A: Whuh? I don't know what you mean - shall I look it up on the web?
Q: Ahh, no just forget it...
 
Beerstalker said:
Like he said though, how many of those are truly 4K?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I didn't know that. The link I gave, through, is about streaming. Two of the 101 titles in the list say they are upscaled. Streaming is the only thing that will matter for the Apple TV anyway. I just brought up Xbox and Playstation to show that 4K is becoming a more widespread standard.
 
You realize in order to be doing just fine you actually have to make money right? They've made $0 since they opened their doors. In fact, they were about to go down late last year until they got another round of funding. You don't have a business for long without making money.

MH01 said:
Given it was preinstalled on every latest iPhone ....Idevice with a 3 month free trial, its uptake numbers are very poor.

apple musics problem is that it launched with an awful app , that had horrific UI and is so damn hip hop centric that most people don't realise there is so much good music on it. They don't go past what is the awful Beats 1 station .

AM should have murdered Spotify, though they choose to become hip hop centric..... Spotify will do just fine...
Click to expand...
 
Yes that's a list of Netflix original shows and movies. You also realize they aren't coming through at full 4k through your stream right? Because that would take up entirely too much bandwidth and your cable provider would cap you.

mrongey said:
Here's a list of 4K content currently on Netflix: http://www.whats-on-netflix.com/lists/4k-titles-on-netflix/

If Amazon Prime comes to the Apple TV as rumored there will be even more content.

The processing power is there in Apple's chips, and HVEC is becoming more of a standard. Xbox and Playstation both support 4K now. It's getting hard to find a prosumer camera that doesn't support 4K.

Since I got a great deal on a 4K TV six months ago I'm fine sticking with my old Apple TV until there's one that won't bottleneck my setup.
Click to expand...
 
MH01 said:
Given it was preinstalled on every latest iPhone ....Idevice with a 3 month free trial, its uptake numbers are very poor.

apple musics problem is that it launched with an awful app , that had horrific UI and is so damn hip hop centric that most people don't realise there is so much good music on it. They don't go past what is the awful Beats 1 station .

AM should have murdered Spotify, though they choose to become hip hop centric..... Spotify will do just fine...
Click to expand...
I do not understand the hip hop centric thing at all? I have subscribed to Apple music from day 1. My library has no hip hop in it, my recommendations don't have hip hop in it, my suggested listening has no hip hop in it. If you are talking about Beats1, then maybe, I don't listen to it so I couldn't comment, but beats1 is hardly representative of Apple music.
 
mrongey said:
Thanks for the link. I didn't know that. The link I gave, through, is about streaming. Two of the 101 titles in the list say they are upscaled. Streaming is the only thing that will matter for the Apple TV anyway. I just brought up Xbox and Playstation to show that 4K is becoming a more widespread standard.
Click to expand...

4K streams are basically worse than OTA 1080P. The problem with 1080P streams is not 1080P, but the bandwidth they're given... If you gave them the bandwidth of 4K streams, they'd be undistringuishable at normal viewing distances on sub 70 inch TV's.

That would be different if those 4K streams were all HDR and watched on top notch HDR sets with the latest standard. Then you would not gain much on resolution (because well, distance from screen and degradation from encoding the 4K) but you'd gain in color space and dynamic range of the video.

But, most 4K sets are just crap panels and certainly not up to snuff on HDR; not to mention HDR content is not really available widely.
 
Honestly, today's AI-speaker is the 2017 equivalent of the 1980s 'Clapper'. A faddish device that will go away soon enough. What we really need is smarter AI that delivers services to us via mobile interface - iPhone.
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Karma*Police said:
Along with Apple Watch, Apple Pay, CarPlay, Homekit, Healthkit, AirPods, Apple Pencil, the most advanced silicon (A, M, W series), Touch ID, Swift, AM, iCloud, Siri, etc. The foundation for the future seems solid indeed.
Click to expand...

Unless you are an Apple developer making a 6-figure income developing apps and have Swift as your programming language, nobody else gives a rat's ass. Especially processors. Did you mention iCloud? What a joke.
 
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