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Apple To Open Up Siri To Developers, Release An Amazon Echo Competitor (bgr.com) 82

An anonymous reader quotes a report from BGR: According to a new report from The Information, Apple is finally ready to let Siri grow up. Specifically, the publication relays that Apple will finally offer official Siri APIs to developers, thus paving the way for third-party integrations, the kind that Amazon Echo users can't seem to get enough of. Things like ordering an Uber or pizza are currently impossible, because Siri is locked down by Apple. What's more, Apple is also reportedly working on a standalone device meant to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google's recently unveiled Google Home. If that's true, it's huge news -- Apple has been lacking any kind of smart home hub until now, but a Siri-powered device would be a serious play to get Apple into our homes. Google is the latest tech giant to announce a virtual home assistant. It unveiled Google Home, a small round gadget with microphones and speakers that listen and respond to your questions and commands.
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Apple To Open Up Siri To Developers, Release An Amazon Echo Competitor

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  • Cat Fight? (Score:5, Funny)

    by FatdogHaiku ( 978357 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @08:12PM (#52175803)
    Can we put Siri and Cortana in a sound proof room and let them fight it out?
  • by jetkust ( 596906 ) on Tuesday May 24, 2016 @09:34PM (#52176083)
    I have to give them credit here. If anything, Google or Apple should have been the first one to release the first "Echo". But complacency is one hell of a drug. Looks like they've been dipping into Microsoft's stash.
  • The summary didn't once mention the tech giant Google and their recent unveiling of Google Home.

    • The summary didn't once mention the tech giant Google and their recent unveiling of Google Home.

      The summary does mention Google Home. But this Apple announcement is way more interesting than the Google Home because it will have an open API. That will make a huge difference. A voice activated API opens up a world of possibilities. Google Home offers nothing new over the Amazon Echo.

       

      • Was that an attempt to outdo TFS by mentioning Goigle Home three times rather than only twice, as in TFS? Granted, unlike TFS, you didn't use the same wording each time.

      • Open API? Not good enough. I want to be able to have completely open Infrastructure [mycroft.ai] under my direct control. Mycroft is the only AI that I'm probably going to build and rely on to operate my home. Why? Because if I'm going to have an assistant in my house, it's not going to be a closed box that someone else has the keys to with ownership over the hardware processing my information system. If I'm going to have an AI assistant, I'm going to be in sole control of the Hardware (on premisis), network infra
        • by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

          Your paranoid nut case but thanks for the link to myCroft.
          It looks really interesting I have some ideas for a better echo than echo but the Echo's api is too limited.
          I want the option to use it as a multi room speaker system, intercom, support for google music, and some other functions as well. myCroft looks like it will really help me out.

        • Open API? Not good enough. I want to be able to have completely open Infrastructure [mycroft.ai] under my direct control. Mycroft is the only AI that I'm probably going to build and rely on to operate my home. Why? Because if I'm going to have an assistant in my house, it's not going to be a closed box that someone else has the keys to with ownership over the hardware processing my information system. If I'm going to have an AI assistant, I'm going to be in sole control of the Hardware (on premisis), network infrastructure, and any APIs that operate the system. At least now I might have a use for my Tesla [unixsurplus.com] cluster that's been collecting dust (no I didn't pay nearly that much for the three of those).

          So, that will be fine for you; but most people lack the time and/or the skills to make that a reality, even if they cared.

      • The summary didn't once mention the tech giant Google and their recent unveiling of Google Home.

        The summary does mention Google Home. But this Apple announcement is way more interesting than the Google Home because it will have an open API. That will make a huge difference. A voice activated API opens up a world of possibilities. Google Home offers nothing new over the Amazon Echo.

        Yes it does. Data mining.

        Start talking about "new cars" around the Google Home "hockey puck", and I'll bet a ZILLION dollars that you will start seeing new car ads appear in web pages.

        Apple won't do that. In fact, they have completely disbanded their only foray into that sphere, iAd; proving that they see absolutely no value in coming anywhere near the stinky business of making their Customers their Product. But with Google (and to an extent, Amazon), that is really their ONLY business.

    • The summary didn't once mention the tech giant Google and their recent unveiling of Google Home.

      Oh, you mean their "Me too" "HomeKit", which Apple has had for a year or two now?

  • Why do we need a device to set on the counter? Can't we just as easily set a smartphone on the counter and do the same thing? Maybe this is aimed at people who refuse to buy a smartphone.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Phone mics are terrible at picking up from across the room. That and an always-on gizmo won't have a dead battery, or be misplaced, like a phone.

      Think of a light switch. Sure, you can automate them, but in the middle of doing something else, do you want to go digging for a smart phone or remote... or just flick the switch on the wall? Same sort of idea applies to voice recog gizmos like the Echo.

      • An always on gizmo won't miss the conversation where the terraists talk about the van full of fertilizer. Or the conversation about Dear Leader that isn't reverent enough. Or even the sound effects of illegal sexual practices underway.

        Granted, the cellphone will do a pretty good job of some forms of evesdropping ("Ok, Google" being something it ostensibly is always on to listen for), but not from a fixed geographic location that makes it easy to dispatch peace officers to intervene and stop the antisocial

    • by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

      After I get home from work I put my phone on the charger so I do not have it with me all the time at home. You could of course put this software on your tablet and or smart phone.
      The idea of the Echo and probably the home is a little different. Being a stand alone device that is always plugged in does have some advantages.
      1. It can have much bigger speakers for better quality sound.
      2. It can have a much more complex microphone array for better voice recognition.
      The Echo is not that much more expensive than

  • Unless it can cook and clean, what good is it?

  • So they're finally opening it up to developers. Maybe they'll regain some of the features that they already had, but subsequently lost after they acquired Siri.
    Meanwhile the original developers of siri have moved on to viv [viv.ai].

    But the real issue is that Apple have hobbled the usefulness of Siri by not letting it gather all the information on you like Google Now (Google Assistant) so it will never be as personal or as useful.

    I'm predicting that they will make it, it will be good but not a best in class, it
    • "But the real issue is that Apple have hobbled the usefulness of Siri by not letting it gather all the information on you like Google Now "

      This right here is the double edged sword of these services. They really aren't very useful without forgoing privacy.

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