Could Siri Shortcuts Replace Automator on macOS?

Siri Shortcuts always seemed like an iOS version of Automator from macOS. Automator has served as macOS's application for creating workflows. According to 9to5Mac, Siri Shortcuts could come to macOS, but that seems weird to stand alongside Automator, possibly suggesting that Siri Shortcuts could replace Automator. If that happens, and Automator is completely deprecated, it could ruin some people's workflows. If Apple decides to do this, it could have consequences who still use Automator. I think it's important if Apple finds a way to preserve Automator functionality in Siri Shortcuts. I'd like it even better if Apple removed Siri Shortcuts all together. They're so confusing and the execution is pretty terrible, at least from my experience. Siri's lines are awkward, remembering and summoning a shortcut is more difficult than doing the task yourself, and a lot of obvious commands are missing. This is not how the future of Siri should look.

Apple Looking to Social Media to Improve Siri

Siri is notorious for its constant mistakes when compared to other smartphone assistants. Siri’s goof ups are perfect material for a short tweet. Now, Apple has posted a job listing that will check how Siri is perceived by the world on the internet. This would effectively be finding issues that are common on the internet and reporting them to the team that works on Siri. Most people are finding this as either the world’s slowest knee jerk reaction or as job that shouldn’t exist. Siri has so many issues, it’s hard to believe hiring someone to look up issues on Twitter would do much. Siri needs improvement, that’s for sure. How to get that improvement is up to Apple, but it needs to be effective and fast. 

Use Hey Siri to Activate Google Assistant

A while back, Amazon and Microsoft teamed up to bring Alexa to Microsoft's smart speaker and Cortana to Amazon's Echo line. While this isn't a collaboration of any kind, Google has now used the Siri Shortcuts feature in iOS 12 to make it possible to activate the Google Assistant from Siri. Update the Google app on your iOS device and follow the "Add to Siri" prompt. You should be able to use the phrase you use for Google Assistant. If you pick "Hey Google," you would essentially say "Hey Siri, Hey Google."

The Shortcuts App

One of iOS 12's headlining features is Shortcuts. Shortcuts, in my eyes, is Apple's alternative to giving us a SiriKit, which would let developers make Siri commands freely, without the restrictions Apple puts on today. Shortcuts do not pull this off well. If I start laundry and I need a timer for 25 minutes, I could ask Siri to set a timer for 25 minutes. If I make a shortcut so all I need to say is "set a timer for the laundry," then that sounds cleaner on paper. Apple's own example recipe for this consists of sending a notification through the Reminders app to let me know my laundry is done. There is no function to set a timer, so their solution is to send a reminder. Really? With a timer, I can see how much time is left on the lock screen, and I get an alarm that keeps beeping until I acknowledge it. With a Reminder notification, I get a buzz in my pocket and nothing else. A buzz that is no different than a Twitter update. Given that Apple has access to the whole operating system, and that they made this workflow, you'd think they would make a timer. I think what's more boggling is the fact that this is one of the more practical use cases, and it is still terrible. Here are just a few impractical use cases: downloading a file from a URL copied to your clipboard, creating custom date format patterns, and playing the entire album of the song you are currently listening to. Most of these are either redundant or so impractical, I would never create a shortcut for them in the first place. Why would I need a shortcut to take a picture if I can already get to the camera from the lock screen? And all of this is disregarding the sloppy execution of it all. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go ahead and try it out for yourself. The app is riddled with discontinuity when running slightly more complex workflows.

iOS Mogi

Members of the Apple community often share neat and creative concepts for their vision of how iOS could be. Kévin Eugène calls this new concept "iOS Mogi," named after a fishing village in Japan. Siri is context aware and non-intrusive, so summoning her does not take up the whole screen, but acts like a notification banner instead. There are a lot of interesting use cases, so I recommend checking out the whole article. In short, it gives Siri a much more meaningful purpose. A context aware Siri is much better than the static and linear way our Siri responds to requests.

Image Credit: Kévin Eugène

Siri is Getting Smarter

A while back, Loop Ventures performed a test to see which smartphone assistant was the best. Back then, Siri gave an appropriate response to 52.3% of the queries, with Google Assistant getting 81%. Now, Siri has answered 78.5% of 800 queries appropriately, trailing Google Assistant at 85.5% [Source: Loop Ventures]. This doesn't mean that Siri will be able to answer every question with the same consistently, as the questions are all relatively simple requests and put into specific task-orientated categories. Siri definitely has a lot of catching up to do, but Siri will hopefully become more reliable in the near future.

iPhone X Satisfaction Rates

According to John Gruber, the iPhone X has a 97 percent satisfaction rate. However, breaking down this data further reveals something interesting. Looking feature by feature, there are great ratings across the board, with almost every feature above 80 percent satisfaction. All but two: Portrait Selfies and Siri. Portrait Selfies comes in at a fair 60 percent, but Siri is at 20 percent. I believe this is another sign to Apple to get Siri up to snuff with its competition. With Alexa, I don't have to memorize every feature. I can ask it, and I typically get a response, especially with trivial questions. With Siri, my commands are scripted. I ask things I know I'll get a response to. Anything from that will return a Bing search. In iOS 12, I'd love to see Siri finally catch up with its competitors.

Google's Chief of Search and AI Acquired by Apple

Apple has hired Google's chief of search and artificial intelligence [Source: The New York Times]. This is a great hire by Apple. I think this will take Siri in a much better direction than it was going before, especially with HomePod on the market. I think within the next two years, we could see a radically different Siri, as Apple has been ramping up on hires for A.I. recently. 

How to Make HomePod Compete with Alexa

Tim Cook has been cited to say that Apple welcomes competition and that HomePod has some features that differentiate itself from the competition. Which, to some subjective sense, is true. But I wouldn't say they make me buy a $349 HomePod versus a $149 Echo Plus. So here are some ideas that would make HomePod different than the competition. HomePod is in the Apple ecosystem and Apple is all about continuity. Apple should implement a NFC sensor in the HomePod, so if I want to handoff my audio from my iPhone to my HomePod. Obviously, Bluetooth would still be a connection option, but being able to quickly switch audio with a physical tap would be nice. Building on that, if the HomePod could wirelessly charge my iPhone, Apple Watch, or AirPods, that would make it a nice smart hub centerpiece to any house. Finally, iBeacon is a technology Apple created a few years ago to help determine indoor location. If Apple could implement iBeacon to help determine which room I'm in, Apple has a lot of potential. I could have automations go off by walking into a room. I could ask Siri to turn on "the fan" or "the light." It would know which fan I'm referring to because it knows what room I'm in. If I had multiple HomePods or Apple TVs, it would know the best way to stream audio or video and where to listen for "Hey, Siri." I think these ideas would set HomePod apart from the competition.

'Hey Siri' is Coming to macOS

Thanks to Jonathan Levin, Steven Troughton-Smith, and Guilherme Rambo, we know that "Hey Siri" will be coming to macOS in an update. Or at least the iMac Pro. The iMac Pro will likely have an A10 chip that will allow for this feature even if the iMac Pro is off. Given that this iMac Pro is meant for professionals, or at least high-end consumers, this isn't a big deal if the feature is exclusive. Similar to Touch Bar, professionals aren't interested in gimmicky features like these. That being said, it is interesting to see dedicated chips that can perform tasks when the device is off. 

Confirmed: "Hey, Siri" is coming to the Mac pic.twitter.com/Dw9bRAzbxD

— Guilherme Rambo (@_inside) November 18, 2017

'Hey, Siri' Listens Better After a Failed Attempt

Apple has published a new entry in their Machine Learning Journal. It details how 'Hey, Siri' works better after a failed attempt. In short, there are two thresholds for how likely Apple heard the phrase. At the higher threshold, Siri starts listening to your request. However, the lower threshold lowers the sensitivity for a followup attempt. It's very interesting to see the inner workings of Siri.

Siri Leadership Transferred to Craig Federighi

At WWDC, we saw some vast changes for Siri, specifically machine learning, something Apple usually doesn't do for privacy reasons. This can likely be attributed to the Siri leadership position being transferred to Craig Federighi. We didn't see many new features for Siri aside from translations, but perhaps this is the framework of a new Siri. If this is true, that would be great going down the road, as we would probably see less "5 new Siri features each year" and more "Let's just ask Siri." I've mentioned how if I have a random trivial question, I can ask Alexa and she'll tell me the answer a majority of the time. Meanwhile, I don't bother with Siri because I know she'll just do a Bing search and move me over to Safari, defeating the purpose.

Siri: The Movie

When Apple is producing Carpool Karaoke for Apple Music, what can you expect at this point? Be advised, this is not a full movie, just an ad. It is quite humorous. It stars Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson asking an excessive amount of questions to Siri (You expect me to believe he uses Lyft to get around?). But it's hilarious to watch because of how off the top it is. You can watch the video in the embed below.

Siri to Expand Third-Party Functionality

Currently, developers can only use Siri for very specific tasks, such as booking a ride. This is expected to expand to more options at WWDC according to Reuters. While it probably won't give developers full access to Siri, it is a step in the right direction. Reuters says, "[T]he Cupertino, California company is likely to stick to its tested method of focusing on a small amount of features and trying to perfect them, rather than casting as wide a net as possible, according to engineers and artificial intelligence industry insiders."

Apple Smart Speaker Already in Production

Just before WWDC, Bloomberg reports that Apple's smart speaker is already in production. While they will not ship until the end of the year, Apple may announce it at WWDC. In addition, we are expecting a Siri update at WWDC, as many complain about the lack of Siri functionality when compared to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. WWDC starts this coming Monday.

Alexa Adds iCloud Calendar Integration

iOS users will finally be able to sync their calendars to Alexa via iCloud. This lets Alexa read off your schedule for the day and add events. To enable this, just sign into iCloud in the settings of the Alexa app for iOS. It's nice to finally have this feature. I was a bit disappointed when I got my Echo a year ago and it didn't have this integration. 

Siri Gets in on April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day is always an interesting day for me. It's the one day where I'm momentarily surprised by something and then come to expect it for the rest of the day. It's also the day I have to remember where the apostrophe goes in Fools'. But Siri seems to spend her day switching doorknobs in the ninth dimension. Ask her how her day is. See what she says. If you ask her to flip a coin, she might give you a combination of both. Thanks to MacRumors for the story.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Reverb

With Siri making its debut on the Mac last year, third-party developers have made it so Alexa is available on macOS and iOS. Reverb is a free app that uses AWS to emulate Alexa's abilities. It's really impressive. If you're embedded in the Amazon ecosystem, this is definitely the app for you. Reverb is available for free from the iOS App Store [Direct Link] and Mac App Store [Direct Link].

Siri Gives LEGO Batman Movie Responses

For the upcoming film, The LEGO Batman Movie, Siri will give a witty response when you say "Hey 'Puter" or "Hey Computer" [Source: MacRumors]. This is a reference to how Batman can say the phrase to his computer and get a response. There are quite a few responses, mostly summed up in the image below.

Image Credit: MacRumors

Google Assistant

Today, Google announced their Google Assistant. The Siri clone is compatible with their new flagship phone (which definitely didn't copy any other smartphone), Pixel, their Amazon Echo copy, Google Home, and their other products. Man, Google should've gotten George Lucas to speak at their announcement, because this feels like a new edition of The Clone Wars. I mean, what can you say about Google Assistant? It's an evolution of their "Ok Google" tool, but with a voice and interface. It did what Siri did to Voice Control. Is it a clone? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. The technology industry moves as a whole in order to work. Google was definitely lagging behind with voice assistance, and they needed something to compensate for that. Every company does it. Frankly, it's what technology has come to as a whole.