Talking To Siri

Sweet-talk SiriTM into doing practically anything! Apple’s Siri voice technology is even more amazing when you really know how to talk to it. Now, two top Apple tech experts show how to talk Siri into doing more than ever before! Just look up what you want to do, and you’ll find tested step-by-step instructions for getting exactly the results you want. From start to finish, this book is packed with quick and easy ways to make Siri even more reliable and useful—and way more fun! • Get more accurate recognition every time you use Siri • Ask questions that avoid “misunderstandings” and lead to precise, accurate answers • Check weather forecasts, stock prices, and lots more • Help Siri recognize and connect with your spouse, children, and parents • Use Siri to stay in touch with friends, colleagues, and customers • Transform Siri into your personal media DJ • Find the nearest store that’s selling whatever you’re looking for • Let Siri calculate restaurant tips and “splitting the tab” • Use Siri to organize your life—and never miss another commitment • Answer math and science problems with Siri and Wolfram Alpha • Dictate memos, text and Twitter messages, and even blog posts • Make sure Siri responds only to you, not to an impostor

*Includes a new Q&A with the creator of Siri! Sweet-talk Siri for iOS 7 into doing practically anything! Under iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks, Siri is better than ever: faster, smarter, more responsive. And it’s even more amazing when you really know how to talk to it. Top Apple experts Sande and Sadun introduce you to the newest version of Siri. This release offers more functionality than you ever thought possible! You’ll find tested step-by-step instructions for perfect results--including new Siri techniques and responses you won’t discover anywhere else! Teach Siri to recognize requests and take dictation more accurately Help Siri recognize, track down, and connect with family and friends Transform Siri and iTunes Radio into your personal DJ (and tell Siri what songs you never want to hear again) Check Yelp or Rotten Tomatoes reviews and place OpenTable reservations Return calls, play specific voicemails, and check your email Make appointments, take notes, and set reminders Blog with Siri using email or text messaging Tweet updates and track up-to-the-minute Twitter trends Trigger reminders when you arrive at the supermarket, drugstore, or any other destination Retrieve up-to-the-minute sports stats Use Siri to control apps, access device settings, and enable Airplane mode Teach Siri how to pronounce names correctly Find the nearest store selling the products you need Answer math and science problems with Wolfram Alpha Make sure Siri responds only to you, not to an impostor Discover the silly side of Siri (including our top 10 Siri jokes)

Sweet-talk Siri® for iOS 6 into doing practically anything! In iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion, Siri is more amazing than ever—and it’s even better when you really know how to talk to it. Now, two top Apple® tech experts show how to talk the newest version of Siri into doing more than you ever thought possible! Look up what you want to do, and you’ll find tested step-by-step instructions for getting perfect results—including new ways to do everything from checking football scores to posting on Facebook! Teach Siri to recognize requests and take dictation more accurately Check Yelp reviews and place OpenTable restaurant reservations Launch apps hands-free Find out where your friends are right now Choose a great movie with Rotten Tomatoes reviews Get up-to-the-minute player stats for baseball, football, or soccer Blog with Siri using email or text messaging Tweet updates, complete with location or appointment info Create location-based reminders that trigger at destinations like the drugstore Help Siri recognize and connect with your family and friends Transform Siri into your personal media DJ Find the nearest store that’s selling whatever you want Answer math and science problems with Wolfram Alpha Make sure Siri responds only to you, not to an impostor Discover the silliness Apple engineered into Siri

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2017 From the author of the viral New York Times op-ed column "To Siri with Love" comes a collection of touching, hilarious, and illuminating stories about life with a thirteen-year-old boy with autism that hold insights and revelations for us all. When Judith Newman shared the story of how Apple’s electronic personal assistant, Siri, helped Gus, her son who has autism, she received widespread media attention and an outpouring of affection from readers around the world. Basking in the afterglow of media attention, Gus told anyone who would listen, "I’m a movie star." Judith’s story of her son and his bond with Siri was an unusual tribute to technology. While many worry that our electronic gadgets are dumbing us down, she revealed how they can give voice to others, including children with autism like Gus—a boy who has trouble looking people in the eye, hops when he’s happy, and connects with inanimate objects on an empathetic level. To Siri with Love is a collection of funny, poignant, and uplifting stories about living with an extraordinary child who has helped a parent see and experience the world differently. From the charming (Gus weeping with sympathy over the buses that would lie unused while the bus drivers were on strike) to the painful (paying $22,000 for a behaviorist in Manhattan to teach Gus to use a urinal) to the humorous (Gus’s insistence on getting naked during all meals, whether at home or not, because he does not want to get his clothes dirty) to the profound (how an automated "assistant" helped a boy learn how to communicate with the rest of the world), the stories in To Siri with Love open our eyes to the magic and challenges of a life beyond the ordinary.

How does a woman protect herself from an enemy she can’t see? Law school graduate Whitney Garrison is a survivor. She admirably deals with her mother’s death, mounting student debt, dwindling job opportunities, an abusive boyfriend, and a rare neurological condition that prevents her from recognizing human faces. But witnessing a murder might be the crisis she can’t overcome. The killer has every advantage. Though Whitney saw him, she has no idea what he looks like. He knows where she lives and works. He anticipates her every move. Worst of all, he’s hiding in plain sight and believes she has information he needs. Information worth killing for. Again. As the hunter drives his prey into a net of terror and international intrigue, Whitney’s only ally, Detective Leo Baroni, is taken off the case. Stripped of all semblance of safety, Whitney must suspect everyone and trust no one—and fight to come out alive. “A heart-stopping ride . . . Mitchell’s deft hand with characterization and the twist y plot made this a compelling read i couldn’t put down.” —Colleen Coble, USA TODAY bestselling author of One Little Lie and the Lavender Tide series

Find out what Siri's got up her sleeve with this fun and friendly guide! Who couldn't use a little extra help these days? Answers, information, reminders, and all sorts of additional help are only a verbal query away with Siri, the artificial intelligence personal assistant. Siri made her debut with the iPhone 4 and is now updated for iOS 6 as well as the third-generation iPad and she is ready to assist! This easy-to-understand guide walks you through the vast array of capabilities that Siri boasts, from creating texts and e-mails from dictation to getting directions to finding a restaurant in the area. You'll discover how to check the weather, get sports scores and schedules, look up a movie review, get Facebook and Twitter updates, make dinner reservations, and much more. Explains how to finesse the perfectly worded questions for Siri in order to get the most helpful and accurate answers Details how to have Siri make phone calls for you, look up information in a dictionary or on the web, or get music Walks you through using Siri to get stock quotes or enter numbers into a calculator and get an answer Shows you how to use Siri to set reminders and alarms, take notes, get turn-by-turn driving directions, and more Just like Siri, the straightforward-but-fun Siri For Dummies is here to help you!

A deconstruction of gender through the voices of Siri, HAL 9000, and other computers that talk Although computer-based personal assistants like Siri are increasingly ubiquitous, few users stop to ask what it means that some assistants are gendered female, others male. Why is Star Trek’s computer coded as female, while HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey is heard as male? By examining how gender is built into these devices, author Liz W. Faber explores contentious questions around gender: its fundamental constructedness, the rigidity of the gender binary, and culturally situated attitudes on male and female embodiment. Faber begins by considering talking spaceships like those in Star Trek, the film Dark Star, and the TV series Quark, revealing the ideologies that underlie space-age progress. She then moves on to an intrepid decade-by-decade investigation of computer voices, tracing the evolution from the masculine voices of the ’70s and ’80s to the feminine ones of the ’90s and ’00s. Faber ends her account in the present, with incisive looks at the film Her and Siri herself. Going beyond current scholarship on robots and AI to focus on voice-interactive computers, The Computer’s Voice breaks new ground in questions surrounding media, technology, and gender. It makes important contributions to conversations around the gender gap and the increasing acceptance of transgender people.