Every time you use Siri, Apple stores that information on their servers unless you opt out. There was some concern about Siri’s privacy policy recently so Apple spokeswoman Trudy Miller revealed on Wired what happens to data that is stored. It turns out that Apple may keep your Siri data for up to two years in an untraceable manner.
Today the 2013 Chevrolet Sonic and Spark vehicles with Chevrolet MyLink will be available with Siri, the intelligent assistant maintained by Apple Inc. “The Chevy Sonic and Spark are the first vehicles to offer Siri Eyes Free integration,” said Chevrolet marketing director for small cars Cristi Landy. “Safe, easy, reliable and portable connectivity is a top priority for our customers, and Siri complements MyLink’s existing capabilities to help deliver an incredible driving experience.”
There was a job posting on the Apple website for a position called “Siri UI Engineer.” The job posting was looking for an engineer that has experience with Unix (OS X). The position specifically mentioned OS X and not iOS. Siri has been released only on iOS so far. The posting has been removed after it received some attention from the press.
Adam Cheyer, one of the co-founders of Siri and Engineering Director at Apple’s iOS group, has stepped down from the iPhone-making company. Siri was one of the key features in the iPhone 4S and now comes in the third generation of the iPad and the iPhone 5. Cheyer co-founder Siri in March 2008 and stepped down from Apple according to Bloomberg. Cheyer wanted to spend more time with family and on other projects. Apple acquired Siri in early 2010. The company has built a voice assistant app that could turn voice commands into actions. This project was created as part of an A.I. project at SRI International. Cheyer is the second Siri co-founder to step down from Apple after the acquisition. Last October Siri co-founder and CEO Dag Kittlaus left.
Martin Scorsese, the movie director known for movie hits like Goodfellas and The Departed, is now the star of a new Apple Siri commercial. In the commercial, Scorsese asks Siri about his schedule and traffic. He also checks to find out where his friend Rick is using “Find My Friends.” He does all of this while sitting in the back of a cab in Manhattan. Check out the ad below:
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Google is accelerating their plans to launch a rival service to Apple’s Siri according to The Wall Street Journal. When Apple releases iOS 6, Siri will be supported in additional languages and will understand additional commands about sports, movies, restaurants, etc. Siri will also be integrated into certain BMW, Landrover, GM, and Audi cars as part of an “Eyes Free” service.
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Rumor has it that the Siri voice assistant program will be coming to the iPad this fall when the iOS 6 operating system is released. Although some people were disappointed that Siri was not available in the third generation iPad, it is rumored that Siri for the iPad will not take up the whole screen when being released for the iPad through iOS 6. Siri is expected to pop up from the bottom of the screen and keep a portion of the screen free. When we find out more, we’ll write an update about it so stay tuned.
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.”
