Inside iOS 9: Siri brings new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more in iOS 9

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2015
With Siri replacing Spotlight in iOS 9, Apple's personal digital assistant has received a new brain that lets her retrieve information sports and weather, find photos, look inside apps, and more.




Sports and weather have previously been available via Spotlight and Siri, but iOS 9 expands their usefulness. Entering just the name of a baseball team is enough to retrieve the score of their last game, along with their upcoming schedule and related websites.

Weather is now more detailed, showing hour-by-hour forecasts along with current conditions.




Siri now seems to have basic math skills baked in, no longer relying on Wolfram Alpha for unit conversions or simple equations. Typing in "8 cups" will instantly provide a conversion to liters, for instance.

Searching for contacts brings a new quick-access layout, with buttons to initiate a FaceTime call, message session, or phone call with people in the search results. Previously, users had to tap on a search result and were brought to the Phone app to complete the action.




Siri also gains the ability to search within apps, and link directly to content within those apps. For example, users who recently searched for flights to Maui via the Kayak app could search for "Maui" using Siri and be taken directly to the Kayak search result.




Additionaly, Siri now comes with more context about users' data. Asking Siri to "show me photos I took in May" will bring the user to the Photos app with only those photos shot in May displayed, while saying "Remind me about this tonight" will automatically create a context-aware reminder --?for instance, Siri could prompt users to revisit an email later on.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    roakeroake Posts: 809member
    [quote]With Siri replacing Spotlight in iOS 9, Apple's personal digital assistant received a new brain[/quote]

    Frokenstein! Eets, alive! ALIVE! It scares me so!
  • Reply 2 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I was really hoping to see Siri coming to OS X in the new version. It doesn't seem so.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member

    It would be nice if some of Siri's functions were baked into the phone. There's no reason Siri should have to reach her servers when I want to call or message a contact that is already in my phone. It would be much faster.

  • Reply 4 of 30
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Quote: "new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more..."

    Yet another demonstration that Apple thinks its typical user is an immature twit with nothing better to do than obsess over "sports, weather, photos."

    It'd be nice if Apple would expend some effort to make their products useful to those of us who work for a living doing the hum-drum but necessary, you know things like a spell checker that's not worthless or the ability to move files between apps and devices without a lot of clumsy shuffling.

    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:

    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.

    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.

    You see the efforts in market to either of those groups in Apple's ads. The company doesn't even seem to realize that any other sort of customer exists. The world, for Cupertino, consists of artists who don't have to labor much to create and trust-fund babies with lots of money unearned by actual labor.

    But that was 20 years ago. Apple needs to realize that Windows doesn't own the work-a-day market like it once did. Apple needs to build products that get work done, and by that I don't mean silly stuff like a Siri that's more like a nanny for the clueless than a tool for people who work for a living.

    People who, for instance, don't obsess over with their heart rate is every blasted second.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    inkling wrote: »
    Quote: "new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more..."

    Yet another demonstration that Apple thinks its typical user is an immature twit with nothing better to do than obsess over "sports, weather, photos."

    It'd be nice if Apple would expend some effort to make their products useful to those of us who work for a living doing the hum-drum but necessary, you know things like a spell checker that's not worthless or the ability to move files between apps and devices without a lot of clumsy shuffling.

    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:

    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.

    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.

    You see the efforts in market to either of those groups in Apple's ads. The company doesn't even seem to realize that any other sort of customer exists. The world, for Cupertino, consists of artists who don't have to labor much to create and trust-fund babies with lots of money unearned by actual labor.

    But that was 20 years ago. Apple needs to realize that Windows doesn't own the work-a-day market like it once did. Apple needs to build products that get work done, and by that I don't mean silly stuff like a Siri that's more like a nanny for the clueless than a tool for people who work for a living.

    People who, for instance, don't obsess over with their heart rate is every blasted second.

    You seem to have become a member of the entitlement generation. You know, you could use android, windows, or even start your own company if you're so upset with the mentalities of the powers that be.
  • Reply 6 of 30
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    Quote: "new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more..."



    Yet another demonstration that Apple thinks its typical user is an immature twit with nothing better to do than obsess over "sports, weather, photos."



    It'd be nice if Apple would expend some effort to make their products useful to those of us who work for a living doing the hum-drum but necessary, you know things like a spell checker that's not worthless or the ability to move files between apps and devices without a lot of clumsy shuffling.



    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:



    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.



    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.



    You see the efforts in market to either of those groups in Apple's ads. The company doesn't even seem to realize that any other sort of customer exists. The world, for Cupertino, consists of artists who don't have to labor much to create and trust-fund babies with lots of money unearned by actual labor.



    But that was 20 years ago. Apple needs to realize that Windows doesn't own the work-a-day market like it once did. Apple needs to build products that get work done, and by that I don't mean silly stuff like a Siri that's more like a nanny for the clueless than a tool for people who work for a living.



    People who, for instance, don't obsess over with their heart rate is every blasted second.



    Isn't it ironic that iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 were both announced at Apple's WorldWide DEVELOPERS conference?

     

    Apple is doing tons to support a healthy ecosystem of software (and hardware) development for their platforms. It is unreasonable to expect Apple themselves to be able to create every solution that you expect them to. Just like any company, they need to have a sharp focus, and clearly their many focuses are working to their advantage, and for the benefit of us all, including you. 

  • Reply 7 of 30
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:



    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.



    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.

     

    I've been a Mac fan because I recognize the love and attention to detail that went into creating the Mac experience. I used to read the manuals that came with Mac hardware and software simply to study their clean, elegant design. (Does anybody remember the Inside Macintosh series?)

     

    I don't cleanly fit into either of the above two categories. I am a creative professional that chooses the Mac because it "just works".... or rather "works better for me". Yesterday, I spent several hours sitting at a Windows computer using Microsoft Publisher to print out labels. The editing experience was so clumsy... I couldn't even find Copy/Paste very easily, and using the keyboard shortcuts felt awkward and unnatural (because the Cntrl key is much further away than the equivalent Command key on Mac keyboards). I could've done the same task on a Mac in half the time, not because of my comfort level, but because the human-computer interaction is so much better.

  • Reply 8 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    coolfactor wrote: »
    I've been a Mac fan because I recognize the love and attention to detail that went into creating the Mac experience. I used to read the manuals that came with Mac hardware and software simply to study their clean, elegant design. (Does anybody remember the Inside Macintosh series?)

    I don't cleanly fit into either of the above two categories. I am a creative professional that chooses the Mac because it "just works".... or rather "works better for me". Yesterday, I spent several hours sitting at a Windows computer using Microsoft Publisher to print out labels. The editing experience was so clumsy... I couldn't even find Copy/Paste very easily, and using the keyboard shortcuts felt awkward and unnatural (because the Cntrl key is much further away than the equivalent Command key on Mac keyboards). I could've done the same task on a Mac in half the time, not because of my comfort level, but because the human-computer interaction is so much better.

    Totally agree, how about this one ... instead of right clicking a second drive that's attached to a Mac and selecting 'Eject' or dragging to the waste bin ... here is the Windows 8.1 procedure ...

    To remove a mounted drive in Windows 8.1

    Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

    On the left, under Storage, click Disk Management.

    Right-click the mounted drive that you want to remove, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

    Click Remove, and then click Yes.
  • Reply 9 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post





    Totally agree, how about this one ... instead of right clicking a second drive that's attached to a Mac and selecting 'Eject' or dragging to the waste bin ... here is the Windows 8.1 procedure ...


    To remove a mounted drive in Windows 8.1



    Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.



    On the left, under Storage, click Disk Management.



    Right-click the mounted drive that you want to remove, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.



    Click Remove, and then click Yes.




    To be fair you really only need to click on File Explorer in the dock tray, then right click on the drive and choose eject. 

  • Reply 10 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Siri has always been really good with sports and also making calls, texts and reminders. Where she still sucks is finding very specific information on the web. I always ask Siri first but usually end up using Google, or asking Siri to use Google. Recently she said she had no information on a particular subject yet displayed the exact answer I was looking for in the search query results. She should be able to at least read her own web search. I recently asked her for information about North American Song Birds and she said I didn't have any North American in my music collection.

  • Reply 11 of 30
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mike1 View Post

     

    It would be nice if some of Siri's functions were baked into the phone. There's no reason Siri should have to reach her servers when I want to call or message a contact that is already in my phone. It would be much faster.


    Well, right now she has to go to the cloud just to determine what you said, before acting on it.  

     

    Certainly a possibility for a future iPhone / iPad is to have dedicated HW to manage the speech recognition.  That application specific DSP would seem to be right up Apple's customer hardware alley.

  • Reply 12 of 30
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post

     

    I recently asked her for information about North American Song Birds and she said I didn't have any North American in my music collection.


     

    So you prefer the European singers, then?

  • Reply 13 of 30
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    Quote: "new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more..."



    Yet another demonstration that Apple thinks its typical user is an immature twit with nothing better to do than obsess over "sports, weather, photos."



    It'd be nice if Apple would expend some effort to make their products useful to those of us who work for a living doing the hum-drum but necessary, you know things like a spell checker that's not worthless or the ability to move files between apps and devices without a lot of clumsy shuffling.



    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:



    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.



    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.



    You see the efforts in market to either of those groups in Apple's ads. The company doesn't even seem to realize that any other sort of customer exists. The world, for Cupertino, consists of artists who don't have to labor much to create and trust-fund babies with lots of money unearned by actual labor.



    But that was 20 years ago. Apple needs to realize that Windows doesn't own the work-a-day market like it once did. Apple needs to build products that get work done, and by that I don't mean silly stuff like a Siri that's more like a nanny for the clueless than a tool for people who work for a living.



    People who, for instance, don't obsess over with their heart rate is every blasted second.

     

    It's strange that you used "need" to the most successful company in the world a lot. It's like Apple is gonna be.. uh... doomed.

  • Reply 14 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    mstone wrote: »

    To be fair you really only need to click on File Explorer in the dock tray, then right click on the drive and choose eject. 

    I'm confused, I am reading a blog posted Today, Wednesday, 23rd of September 2015 and there are posts from months ago here???
  • Reply 15 of 30
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    Quote: "new smarts to sports, weather, photos, and more..."



    Yet another demonstration that Apple thinks its typical user is an immature twit with nothing better to do than obsess over "sports, weather, photos."



    It'd be nice if Apple would expend some effort to make their products useful to those of us who work for a living doing the hum-drum but necessary, you know things like a spell checker that's not worthless or the ability to move files between apps and devices without a lot of clumsy shuffling.



    And yes, I know how Apple got this way. In the mid-nineties, what little market Apple had were:



    1. So-called "creative professionals" like me.



    2. People too technically illiterate to manage the complexities of Windows hardware. They liked Apple's "just works" mindset and didn't care that almost no business software ran on it because they apparently played and danced their lives away.



    You see the efforts in market to either of those groups in Apple's ads. The company doesn't even seem to realize that any other sort of customer exists. The world, for Cupertino, consists of artists who don't have to labor much to create and trust-fund babies with lots of money unearned by actual labor.



    But that was 20 years ago. Apple needs to realize that Windows doesn't own the work-a-day market like it once did. Apple needs to build products that get work done, and by that I don't mean silly stuff like a Siri that's more like a nanny for the clueless than a tool for people who work for a living.



    People who, for instance, don't obsess over with their heart rate is every blasted second.



    I like how so-called "creative professionals" always think software should be dumb and ugly, instead of smart and pretty.

  • Reply 16 of 30
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by brucemc View Post

     

    Certainly a possibility for a future iPhone / iPad is to have dedicated HW to manage the speech recognition.  That application specific DSP would seem to be right up Apple's customer hardware alley.


    Would almost bank on iPhone 7 sporting this.

  • Reply 17 of 30
    Totally agree, how about this one ... instead of right clicking a second drive that's attached to a Mac and selecting 'Eject' or dragging to the waste bin ... here is the Windows 8.1 procedure ...

    To remove a mounted drive in Windows 8.1

    Open Computer Management by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, clicking Administrative Tools, and then double-clicking Computer Management. Administrator permission required If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

    On the left, under Storage, click Disk Management.

    Right-click the mounted drive that you want to remove, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.

    Click Remove, and then click Yes.

    Wow! You got yourself all the way into the dark parts of Windows for that? I don't know who sent you on a goose chase but ejecting a drive only requires going to the tray, locating the eject icon and right click on it then select the device you want to eject. At least that's how Windows behaves on a PC. It might be different running on Mac hardware.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    mnbob1 wrote: »
    Wow! You got yourself all the way into the dark parts of Windows for that? I don't know who sent you on a goose chase but ejecting a drive only requires going to the tray, locating the eject icon and right click on it then select the device you want to eject. At least that's how Windows behaves on a PC. It might be different running on Mac hardware.

    That post has resurfaced from a long time ago due to a glitch in AI's database. All old news and done and dusted thanks. I was new to 8.1 at the time but have it running on an external drive on a new Mac Pro using Thunderbolt thanks to Windows to Go (as in not using Boot Camp). So all is well. The issues were all solved by using an MS three button mouse! LOL
  • Reply 19 of 30
    mike1 wrote: »
    It would be nice if some of Siri's functions were baked into the phone. There's no reason Siri should have to reach her servers when I want to call or message a contact that is already in my phone. It would be much faster.

    I didn't go back to watch the announcements video again but I think I remember that when asking Siri for information that resides on your phone that she doesn't go out to the servers. Such as finding photos in your photo library, etc. I could be wrong because I'm getting old but not cranky about the products Apple creates. If I felt like Apple was letting me down that much I would realize there are other choices. In my case Apple is making things great.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    wrong thread. Why did all these old posts reappear?
Sign In or Register to comment.