USA TODAY International Edition
Siri gets more on her plate
Siri takes on bigger role in tvOS and, yes, is coming to the Mac
Digital assistant finally coming to the Mac. Ed Baig,
To SAN FRANCISCO many of the folks keeping score, Apple was already behind rivals heading into its annual Worldwide Developers Conference here in San Francisco.
In the hotbed fields of artificial intelligence, virtual reality and voice response, Apple has lagged behind Amazon, Google and Facebook — even though Apple’s Siri was the first to familiarize most people with the idea of a vocal personal assistant.
I’m sorry to say that Apple didn’t say a peep about VR or AR ( augmented reality) during what was a packed two- hour presentation. Or spend much time focused on artificial intelligence.
What the company did do — and really, it had little choice — was give Siri more to do and to open her up to third- party developers. In theory, she’s more able on the watch, on Apple TV and in the car, and yes, finally, comes to the Mac.
WWDC has never been the venue at which Apple typically announces new hardware. But in unveiling updates to the software that runs on Apple’s chief product lines — watchOS for Apple Watch, tvOS for Apple TV, iOS10 for iPhones and iPads, and the newly christened MacOS Sierra for Macintosh PCs — you can already start to think about how the products the company sells might benefit.
What stood out:
uApple Watch. Basic navigation appears to be improved, and Apple claims apps load much faster. Meantime, the most promising new way to respond to a message you receive on the watch is to “scribble” that response. And a new SOS feature will let you summon help in an emergency by calling via the phone in your pocket, or, if you have Wi- Fi connectivity, directly from the watch itself. And, oh yes, Minnie Mouse will at last be joining Mickey as one of the fresh new watch faces.
utvOS. Here’s one of the areas in which Siri will assume a bigger role. Using voice, you can search for something to watch by topic, and, here’s a biggie, search YouTube. Apple has also added a promising new remote app for Apple TV to the iPhone. I’m pleased they’ve also added a single sign- on feature that promises to let you access certain TV channels without having to enter separate credentials for each.
uMacOS Sierra. The OS X name is being retired. And the Mac is also no longer without Siri. You can use Siri on a Mac to play songs, tell you how much storage is on the computer, spell a word or find files. It’s about time. Microsoft, for example, has had its Cortana voice assistant on Windows 10 PCs since introducing this latest version of Windows. Among other features: You can use Apple Pay to pay for stuff on the Web from your Mac, using TouchID on a nearby iPhone or the Apple Watch for authentication. There’s also a picture- in- picture feature similar to a feature already on some iPads. And you can unlock your Mac when wearing the Apple Watch, without having to use a password.
uIOS 10. Tim Cook called the new iOS 10 the mother of all releases, and collectively there’s a lot here. The lock screen appears to have been dramatically improved with 3- D Touch integration.
Among the fancy new tricks in Messages: You can send a missive in your own handwriting, swap out words such as “pizza” for an emoji of a slice, or take advantage of an “invisible ink” feature that conceals a message until the recipient swipes to see it.
Apple Music has been redesigned and from afar appears to be more intuitive ( though I need to spend some time inside the newly revamped app). The Maps app also has been revamped, with the ability to make restaurant reservations or book an Uber — but the real test comes when I see if it is any better than predecessors at actually directing you from point A to point B.
Finally, the new Home app appears to improve the prospects for Apple’s HomeKit initiative and home automation.