Vig the Geek

Squashing the rumors about PROOF that people know what is coming next for iOS devices

Adobe killed Flash for mobile devices beginning with the next version. FINALLY!

Siri is amazing

By now, almost everyone has heard of Sir, the new virtual assistant Apple has included on the iPhone 4S. I’ve been getting to know her for the last 45 minutes or so and I have to say that it’s amazing. Siri was initially the company that developed the artificial intelligence and launched an app with it. Apple snatched them up and integrated Siri into the new version of iOS and made her available only on the iPhone 4S so far. I refer to Siri as a woman because it is a female voice that interacts with you.

Siri has a bit of a sense of humor as well. I’ve been asking her very personal, human questions to see what she responds with. Very rarely does she tell me there is no answer or she doesn’t understand. More often than not, I get a quick witted reply. The AI is amazing that it can recognize the intent of the question over the syntax and formulate an answer nearly immediately. I will continue to work with this and find the limitations and use cases. For now, check out the attached slideshow for an example of some “conversations with Siri.”

The magic of Siri is that she is conceptual. You do not need to say “What is the weather report for zip code xxxxx?” You can simply say, “Siri, will I need an umbrella on Tuesday.” You can say “Siri, can you send Ty an iMessage?” You speak to Siri exactly the way you would to a human personal assistant. She is able to follow the flow of a conversation. As Scott Forstall showed us at the keynote, you can text me with something like “When can we go to lunch?” When that comes in, I can ask Siri, “what is my schedule like for Friday?” If she responds that I am free all day, I can simply tell her to reply. Even though she left the messages app and went to the calendar app, she understands that it was all to get to a response to your request for lunch.

I found an issue in the much talked about Facebook for iPad app and show it here. It’s small, but exists nonetheless.

Upgrade app from AT&T

If you have an iPhone and you’re looking to upgrade, there are several options. You can visit a store, call AT&T or log into ATT.com and check your account. With over 500,000 apps on the app store, and a long relationship with Apple, it stands to reason that AT&T has made it easier still. The ATT Upgrader app allows you to input your number, last 4 of social security number and billing zip code to get an immediate look at your status.

Whether or not you are eligible for an upgrade, you can purchase a new phone from within the app. Even if you are ineligible you are greeted with a message that says,

You are not eligible at this time for an upgrade at a discounted price. However, you can take advantage of our no commitment pricing

On October 7 when the iPhone 4S launched, this was the easiest way to complete the purchase. Apple’s website was overloaded making a connection to each carrier. The phone number to Apple was not letting anyone through. Anyone with special pricing such as AT&T government or premier accounts was told that the transaction could not be completed online. If the Apple site let the customer in, a carrier would have to be selected, which was the common choke point. Using the AT&T Upgrader obviously connects only to AT&T which alleviates part of the processing problems during high volume upgrades. Of course, it is only built for iPhone customers upgrading to new iPhones. However, if you fall into that category, download the free app and give it a try. You’ll have your new phone on the way in no time.