Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Apple Inc.

Former Apple Insider: “Steve Would Have Lost His Mind Over Siri”

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:25:12 +0000

Tim Cook has been profiled in this month’s issue of Fortune. Cook is being portrayed as a leader that is approachable. When a group of investors visited Apple as part of a “bus tour,” Apple CEO Tim Cook actually showed up to the meeting and answered questions diligently. This is something that Steve Jobs never did. As CEO, Cook also issued a dividend to shareholders and created a program to match employee gifts to charity. Cook also sits randomly with Apple employees in the cafeteria at lunchtime whereas Jobs typically dined with design chief Jonathan Ive. This is a small difference that employees have seen in terms of interacting with their CEO. In terms of shortcomings at the company since Jobs passed away is Siri. Siri is still in “beta” mode and it’s response time is considered slow. The servers and software powering Siri are inadequate. “People are embarrassed by Siri,” stated a former insider at the company. “Steve would have lost his mind over Siri.”

iSuppli: Apple To Spend $27 Billion On Semiconductors In 2012

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:32:18 +0000

iSuppli’s head of electronics and semiconductor research Dale Ford is predicting that Apple will spend $27 billion on semiconductors in 2012. He presented his prediction at the company’s Technology, Media, and Telecommunications Summit. Apple is set to maintain a huge lead over Samsung through at least 2013. Apple went from being the third largest buyer of semiconductors in 2009 to the front in 2010. According to iSuppli, Apple spent $23 billion on semiconductors in 2011, which is over 50% more than their closest rivals. Ford also pointed out that Apple’s microprocessor spending has grown from $9 billion in 2009 to $27 billion this year. Ford is predicting that Apple will spend $29 billion on semiconductors next year.

Intel remains the largest chipmaker with a 15% marketshare of the semiconductor market. The market was estimated to be at $311 billion last year. Samsung has 9% of the market. When Apple acquired Intrinisty, the company designed the A4 system-on-a-chip processor that made its way into the original iPad and the iPhone 4. Apple also has a stake in Imagination Technologies, the company that provides graphic processors for the A-series chips.

Report: Apple Ships Over 13.6 Million iPads In Q2 2012

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:00:16 +0000

According to a report by DisplaySearch.com, Apple Inc. has shipped nearly 17.2 million mobile PCs in Q1 2012. DisplaySearch cites the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report for the data. About 80% of Apple’s mobile PC shipments were iPads, which hit over 13.6 million units in the quarter. Total PC shipments in Q1 2012 were 76.2 million units. This led to a seasonal drop of 15% compared to Q4 2011. Apple’s mobile shipments of 17.2 million mobile PCs worldwide for the quarter gave them a 22.5% market share. This is more than double their closest rival, Hewlett Packard.

Rumor: New iPhone Will Have Less Than A 4-Inch Display

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:57:44 +0000

There are rumors that the Apple iPhone 5 will have a screen that is larger than 4 inches, but a source with 9to5Mac has heard that the iPhone 5 will have a display that is 3.999 inches diagonally. The iPhone 5 prototypes are floating around Apple’s headquarters in thick, locked shells to disguise the exterior design to “undisclosed” employees. Apple will increase the size of the display and leave the current resolution, but pixels will be added to the display. The new iPhone display resolution will be 640 x 1136 according to 9to5Mac’s sources. This makes the iPhone 5 176 pixels longer. The screen will be the same at 1.9632 inches wide, but it will be made 3.484 inches tall. The new resolution is close to a 16:9 screen ratio.

IBM Does Not Want Employees To Use Siri At Work

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:51:38 +0000

If you have an iPhone 4S and work for IBM, you may want to avoid using Siri. Siri is the virtual assistant built into the iPhone 4S. Siri transmits everything you say to a data center in Maiden, North Carolina. IBM CIO Jeanette Horan said that Siri has been banned because “the company worries that the spoken queries might be stored somewhere.” Apple primarily collects all of this information to help improve responses by Siri. Recently I wrote a list of the funniest Siri responses, which clearly shows how inaccurate the virtual assistant can be to search queries. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a warning a couple of months ago because some of the data that Siri collects can be very personal.

Edward Wrenbeck, the lead developer of the original Siri app disagrees that people should be worried about the virtual assistant service. “I really don’t think it’s something to worry about,” he said in an interview with Wired. “People are already doing things on these mobile devices. Maybe Siri makes their life a little bit easier, but it’s not exactly opening up a new avenue that wasn’t there before.” One of the reasons why IBM does not ban Google is because the company anonymizes search results, which makes it difficult to trace back to an individual user after 9 month.

“We strike a reasonable balance between the competing pressures we face, such as the privacy of our users, the security of our systems and the need for innovation. We believe anonymizing IP addresses after 9 months and cookies in our search engine logs after 18 months strikes the right balance,” says Google in their policies and principles page.

Apple Design Leader Jonathan Ive Gets Knighted In Buckingham Palace

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:40:13 +0000

Apple design leader Jonathan Ive was knighted today at Buckingham Palace. The honor was performed by Princess Anne. His knighthood was first announced back in December. As part of the knighthood, Ive gave a rare interview with The Telegraph. When in college, he studied design at Newcastle Polytechnic (now known as Northumbria University). He often goes back to give guest lectures there.

“One of the things that was interesting about my time at the school of art and design is that you were in very close proximity to graphic designers, fashion designers and fine art students. That’s one of the things that really characterised my time at college and I think it characterises a lot of the energy and vitality in London, this density of such creative diversity,” said Ive in the interview. He added that while at the university, he first encountered an Apple Mac. He considered himself technically inept, but he was amazed to find that the Mac was a computer that he could actually use. “I suddenly realised that it wasn’t me at all. The computers that I had been expected to use were absolutely dreadful.”

This made Ive curious about the people behind the company that made the Mac. Twenty years ago, Ive moved to California to join the company full time. Even though Ive is often credited as being the lead designer for products like the iMac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad, he always uses “we” rather than “I” when discussing Apple’s design process in order to emphasize a team aspect.

TiVO Streaming Device Coming To iOS This Summer

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:24:47 +0000

TiVo is releasing a new device that will transcode content for viewing on the iPhone and iPad. The company announced the new device at the 2012 NCTA Cable conference in Boston yesterday. The TiVo streaming device will be available for purchase later this summer and it will connect to TiVo Premiere or the Premiere Q DVR. The content will be able to stream on iOS devices at the same time without interrupting what is playing on TV with a choice of download or stream.

Why Was The Apple Logo Upside Down On Earlier Laptop Models?

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:11:11 +0000

Former Apple employee Joe Moreno said that the company has an internal system called “Can We Talk?” Any employee can raise questions on almost any subject. Moreno asked the forum “Why is the Apple logo upside down on laptops when the lid is open?” on earlier models.

The Apple design group said that they studied the placement of the logo and discovered that if the Apple logo was placed in such a way that it was right side up when the lid was opened, it ended up being upside down when the lid was closed from the point of the user. The user often tried to open the laptop from the wrong end. Eventually Steve Jobs reversed his decision about the way that the Apple logo looks on laptops. Opening a laptop from the wrong end is a self-correcting problem that only lasts for a few seconds but viewing the upside down logo is a problem that lasts indefinitely.

TOP 80 FUNNY SIRI RESPONSES

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 22 May 2012 00:34:29 +0000

Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface) is an intelligent personal assistant. The application uses a natural language user interface, but it is not 100% accurate. Siri responses have become a meme, but Apple is currently dealing with a lawsuit over the inaccuracy of the service. Below is a gallery of over 80 of funny Siri responses:

Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Apple Inc.

Former Apple Insider: “Steve Would Have Lost His Mind Over Siri”

iSuppli: Apple To Spend $27 Billion On Semiconductors In 2012

Report: Apple Ships Over 13.6 Million iPads In Q2 2012

Rumor: New iPhone Will Have Less Than A 4-Inch Display

IBM Does Not Want Employees To Use Siri At Work

Apple Design Leader Jonathan Ive Gets Knighted In Buckingham Palace

TiVO Streaming Device Coming To iOS This Summer

Why Was The Apple Logo Upside Down On Earlier Laptop Models?

TOP 80 FUNNY SIRI RESPONSES

80. Siri will now call you “ambulance” from now on.

79. Siri is an accomplice to your crimes.

78. Can’t you see that I am hitting on you, Siri?

77. Siri gives a philosophical reason why it cannot make a sandwich

76. Siri gives a philosophical reason why it cannot make a sandwich

75. I don’t want to listen to “Sunday Morning” damnit!

74. What does calories in a bagel have anything to do with picture of President Obama?

73. Don’t be creepy Siri.

72. Siri knows how to talk dirty.

71. Siri’s religion is siliconism.

70. Siri and user fight, but make up.

69. Siri thinks “say thank you in Chinese” is offensive.

68. Siri should know who Steve Jobs is.

67. User is hostile towards Siri… hilarity ensues.

66. Best history lesson ever.

65. Siri sounds like Sheldon Cooper here.

64. Sorry user, Siri does not love you.

63. Big Macs sound very healthy, thanks Siri!

62. Siri can be ruthless even if it is your birthday.

61. You may not like Siri, but Siri respects you.

60. Siri just dissed your list of contacts without much work.

59. Siri knows when your nails are long.

58. Don’t ask the meaning of life from Siri.

57. Siri obviously does not know much about the rap game.

56. Siri has to learn how to take better notes.

55. Who let the dogs out?!

54. Way to help the user build their self-esteem, Siri.

53. Apparently “Santa” sounds like the “Philippines.”

52. If you are worried about monsters under your bed, go to Bed, Bath, & Beyond.

51. Don’t drink and Siri.

50. Siri knows Star Trek terminology. Nice!

49. Siri thinks that George W. Bush sounds like “Cayman Islands”

48. Siri, I did not want to know the time…

47. Nice attempt at a joke, Siri.

46. The user probably changed the name of the phone to “Bitch” but still funny nonetheless.

45. Giving Siri a pep talk.

44. Siri thinks your music sucks.

43. Siri is sensitive about it’s age.

42. Siri is sexy.

41. Thanks for being my friend, Siri.

40. No rain in sight?!

39. I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.

38. Siri has never heard of Wham!

37. No comment on your life.

36. Siri, I wanted to know Chantel’s number not how many people are named Chantel…

35. Monty Python reference, check.

34. Siri has a pretty face.

33. Thanks Stuart Smalley!

32. Siri does not kid around.

31. Don’t wake me up in the morning, Siri!

30. What a random guess.

29. Siri is mean.

28. But you just told me the time!

27. Who’s Your Daddy, Siri?

26. Siri is biased!

25. Pulp Fiction Siri test.

24. Siri is not sympathetic about your E.D. problems.

23. Great advice, Siri.

22. I did not know you can adopt orphans from a cleaning service.

21. Siri is not available for marriage.

20. Siri does not want you to cheat with other mobile phones.

19. Siri does not get women.

18. Siri does not have a birthday.

17. Siri avoids discussion about theology.

16. Siri clearly does not care about Black Eyed Peas.

15. Not Jewish temples, Shirley Temple!

14. Siri wears aluminosilicate glass and stainless steel!

13. Siri, you don’t get time off.

12. Siri is from California just like the box says.

11. Siri likes the way you sing.