Tag Archives: siri

How to Navigate your new Apple iPhone X with no home button

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So I’m sure you’ve seen by now that unlike every previous iPhone ever created, we have been left without an official home button on the brand new Apple flagship smartphone, the iPhone X. Understandably, you might have a few questions about some of the commands the old home button used to control, and HOW TO adapt to Apple’s new design.

How to Unlock Your New iPhone X

Obviously, there is no TouchID anymore with the absence of the official home button, but not to worry! FaceID looks quite promising (and speedy, too).

It works exactly how it sounds it works. Look at your iPhone X and (given you’ve set up your security preferences) your phone will unlock, with a swipe of the screen to finish the process.

Now that you’ve unlocked your phone, you might want to know how to bring up the home screen?

How to go to the Home Screen on Your New iPhone X

Swipe up from the bottom of the screen. It probably couldn’t be any easier than this (unless we still had a designated button).

What about the Control Centre?

It’s as simple as swiping DOWN from the TOP RIGHT hand side of your new iPhone X.

To bring up your notifications, it’s the exact same action, but from the TOP LEFT hand side of the screen. (Even the centre of the screen will do the same job)

How do I Switch Between Apps?

Okay, imagine that your new iPhone X still has a home button. To swipe right, swipe your finger/thumb from the bottom left corner of the phone and draw an imaginary semi-circle over where the home button used to be. The same goes for swiping left, but swap sides.

Where is Siri?

If you don’t want to do the regular call for Siri – “Hey Siri”, not to worry! Just press and hold the power button on the right side of your new iPhone X.

What about Apple Pay?

This one can take some getting used to.

Double clicking the power button on the right side will bring up your wallet. You will then need to use FaceID to make and complete a payment.

How do I Screenshot?

Super simple! Simultaneously long hold press both the power button and the UP volume button. It’s handy that these two buttons are parallel to each other.

And finally, what about Hard-Resetting my new iPhone X?

It’s a little tricky, and you might not get it your first time, but bare with me.

Really quickly, tap the volume UP button, followed by the volume DOWN button, then HOLD the power button down. You should eventually see your screen go black and the Apple logo appear.

I hope this guide helps you overcome and adapt to the changes that have been made. Nothing is ever too difficult to adapt to for us Apple faithful.

Click HERE for the latest prices on the iPhone X.

News

Apple’s acquisition of VocalIQ: Siri improvements on the way

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Apple have quietly acquired an artificial intelligence-based, self-learning, voice recognition startup, VocalIQ. Based in Cambridge in the UK, VocalIQ has put ten years of research and development into their intelligent API. Apple most likely will use this API, that learns from your language usage and semantics, to increase the functionality of voice assistant Siri. Whilst Siri is in dire need of improvement before being accepted as a fully-functioning virtual assistant, Apple’s VocalIQ acquisition is also set to be used across a wide range of other applications.

Bright Future Ahead

Apple’s not-so-secret automotive project, code name Titan, should benefit greatly from this new speech recognition technology. According to Forbes, VocalIQ had already been working with General Motors in 2014 on the integration of voice commands with existing and future automobiles. When considering that VocalIQ learns from all interactions, all recorded voice samples, it should be safe to say that big advancements to Siri are on their way! Apple’s voice-activated assistant currently receives a billion voice requests in a week, this data is sure to be invaluable to their new API. VocalIQ have supplied Apple with an API that is set to develop rapidly, thanks to its contextual learning capabilities. The sheer volume of data that Apple is sure to feed into their new API will hopefully bring breakthrough developments in voice recognition.

Global Advancement in Voice Recognition

Enhanced voice command functionality can benefit many of Apple’s productivity boosting-devices. Although the acquisition was confirmed by a statement in the Financial Times, no other official statements have been made from Apple, as is the case with most of their acquisitions. Despite the lack of information available regarding future plans for the VocalIQ API, one thing is for certain. Should Apple successfully engineer fully-functional voice recognition in pain-and-effort free manner, the way we use our devices will change completely on a global scale.

Apple TV

5 changes to Apple TV that could improve your experience

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Apple TV is another one of Apple’s great and innovative products. And like all Apple products, the Apple TV also get regular updates. The latest update for Apple TV was recently sent out, just last week. The update was the 7.0 update for third generation Apple TVs only. However, the highly anticipated update fell flat with many Apple TV users. With the new update, the new features that Apple TV users got were new icons, a new Beats Music Channel, and a Family Sharing feature. Even though the new icons were esthetically pleasing, they still didn’t add anything new to the Apple TV in terms of usability. Many users stated that the new update did nothing to improve the Apple TV experience. So, below are 5 suggestions to Apple to improve its Apple update and make the next update a better one.

Safari plug-in for queueing videos

Many people watch YouTube videos on their computer, iPhones, or iPad by simply typing in the web address in their browser and watching videos. However, the experience of watching YouTube videos through the Apple TV is not always so streamlined or a pleasant experience. Surfing through the YouTube channel with the remote has been described as “clunky”, and trying to send a video from your iPhone or iPad using AirPlay can be a long wait and can only be done one video at a time. One suggestion for the Apple TV was to be able to surf around with Safari and right-click videos around the web to add them to a “watch later” list that’s synced through iCloud to my Apple TV.” It’s a much easier and streamlined process to be able to watch videos online or on your phone instead of through Apple TV. However, the experience of watching online videos would be much better through the television.

Universal Search

Instead of sifting through each channel and their myriad of choices, Apple TV users should be able to search for content across all channels at one time, in order to find what they are looking for. This is a lot to ask, but when other streaming products like Roku and Kindle Fire are making strides to provide this feature, it’s time for Apple to get a leg up on them.

roku-3-player — Roku – One of Apple TV’s major competitors

Siri

We are all familiar with the voice activated program on Apple iPhones called Siri, Having Siri be available on Apple TV would be a great feature in the next update. (Kindle TV has a microphone already built into the remote.) The ideal scenario would be that someone speaks directly into their Apple TV remote saying, “I’d like to watch Whoppi Goldberb films on my Apple TV”, and these films will come right up.

One Login

There are a number of channels available on Apple TV. Some of these channels are paid for by the user. However, for each pay TV channel, the Apple TV user is required to log in in for each and every time they want to view the channel. This is because those channels don’t all support the same provider. Each time you want to watch the channel, you have to search around for the login screen and login every time you want to watch a new channel. The best way to solve this problem is to create only one place for the user to log in just one time. Also, a notification of when there’s an update through the Apple TV, perhaps through email once the user logs in, would work as well. This streamlined approach makes it much easier to use.

Open SDK and a channel store

Apple TV competitors like Fire TV and Roku allow for their users to leisurely look through the Channel Store and choose whatever channel they want. Apple TV places channels on the lineup without you choosing them, so they just sit on your user page even if you don’t want that particular channel. Apple should create a better way for their users to pick the channels they want to watch or sign up for, and reject the channels they do not want. It’s recommended that Apple should, “greatly expand the channel offerings through an open SDK without users becoming overwhelmed by screen after screen of icons.”

There are sure to be more suggestions that Apple TV users have for the company before the next update. Can you think of a few?

iPhone

Top 5 Features of iOS 7

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The latest Apple operating system is due to be released shortly, and like everything Mac, iOS 7 is generating a lot of buzz. Compared to previous updates, there are some substantial additions and changes. Apple has promised it’s their most advanced mobile operating system yet, that will make usage “easier, faster and more enjoyable.” The top 5 updates we’re excited about are:

Apple - Updated built-in apps — Apple – Updated Built-in Apps

1. Upgraded pre-loaded apps:

While the Apple store offers lots of alternatives to the standard apps, the iPhone’s default apps will get a makeover with iOS 7.

The weather app is now reportedly similar to Yahoo! Weather and has beautiful graphics that capitalize on the crisp retina display.

The calendar has a cleaner interface and allows users to swipe and zoom through their schedule.

Safari comes with new 3D tabs, enhanced bookmarking capabilities and Twitter integration. And perhaps best of all, the Mail app now includes better photo sharing capabilities, so you’ll no longer be limited to emailing four pictures at a time through the photos app.

Apple - Updated Siri App — Apple – Updated Siri App

2. Significant upgrades to Siri:

The integrated virtual assistant now comes with the ability to choose between male and female voices and interact in other languages, such as French and German. It also has enhanced voice control features so you can speak up to change the brightness of your display or enable and disable Wi-Fi. You can even ask to have Twitter and Wikipedia entries read to you!

Apple - Updated security — Apple – Updated Security

3. Better Security:

Smartphones are a common target for thieves, with iPhones being among the favorites to steal. To protect against theft, Apple has included a new security feature, called Activation Lock, with iOS 7. In the unfortunate event your iPhone is stolen, unless the thief can enter your iCloud user name and password he won’t be able to reactivate your phone. That’ll give you time to back up your data to iCloud, attempt to locate your phone through the GPS-enabled Find My Phone app and rest assured that at least a giant bill isn’t being accumulated with your service provider.

Apple - New iTunes Radio — Apple – New iTunes Radio

4. iTunes Radio:

Previously known as iRadio, the streaming music service is similar to Pandora and lets listeners access inbuilt stations. The service has smart features such as the ability to learn which songs you like and which you don’t. And because it works in conjunction with iTunes, if you hear a song you like you can purchase it.

Apple - Home Screen Transparency — Apple – Home Screen Transparency

5. Home screen Transparency:

iOS 7 has been designed to track motion, making it possible to view what’s behind your app icons. What does this mean for you? When you’re viewing your apps, your wallpaper will still be visible. While not a significant chance with regard to functionality, it is the newest feature of the iPhone and makes for a cleaner, simplistic look.

While other operating system updates have come and gone without generating significant buzz, iOS 7 will have more impact on users. In addition to our top five favorites, it boasts a host of other features, too, with yet more rumored to surface by the release date. Overall, this significant update will make for a cleaner look and even more user-friendly experiences certain to please Apple fans.