Some things are just what they are and to keep on beating the old lady we couldn’t find any better account over the web than Chris Pirillo’s article for chris.pirillo.com.
As we investigate the current state of matters between Windows and OS X, people tend to mention the same two or three differences that stand out more than others. Gamers claim that OS X is terrible for gameplay; programmers might say that Windows offers a more open-ended environment for developers, and just everyone can agree that the price of entry to the platform is less for a Windows-based PC.
Did you know that OS X actually has quite a few advantages over Windows? Depending on what you plan on doing with your computer, you might find that your job can be done easier on the Apple platform. In addition to some pretty impressive proprietary software, each Mac comes complete with a variety of programs that are easily comparable to very expensive software equivalents on the Windows platform.
Here are six reasons why OS X is better than windows:
Included Software
While Microsoft Windows does come with a variety of great programs, OS X has the value-add of the iLife Suite. These apps are actually very good at doing the tasks for which they are designed. Without installing a single extra app, you can create music, manage your photo collection, enjoy a full-featured video and music store, edit videos, and more.
The email app included in OS X is extremely easy to use. In fact, I prefer it over Thunderbird, which is my absolute favorite email program for Windows. It was heartbreaking letting Thunderbird go when I made the switch, but Mail.app is actually leaps and bounds beyond many more costly email applications.
App Store
There’s something to be said about an app store that controls the flow of applications. Not only are you safe from dealing with malicious apps, but your purchases are all made through a single company. This means that if something does go wrong, you can dispute any and all purchases with the app store rather than having to chase down individual retailers and/or software makers.
Updates are extremely easy. All you need to do is check for updates through the Mac App Store and all of your associated apps are updated at once. No fussing around with each program individually. This is truly a one-stop-shop for the software installed on your computer.
Video Editing
Video editing on OS X versus Windows is a hot button topic among those who work in video. Macs are widely used because of the flagship editing program Final Cut Pro. Apple has gone to great lengths to make sure that Final Cut Pro is established as an industry standard for video editing. Not only is Final Cut Pro extremely efficient and capable of pushing out extraordinary content, but it’s relatively inexpensive. Not to mention, you can only get it on OS X.
As mentioned before, the iLife Suite ships with every Mac. One of these programs is iMovie, which is undoubtedly one of the best “free” video editing programs on the market today. With the right amount of patience and know-how, you can accomplish extremely complex and incredible video edit techniques including picture-in-picture and chromakey.
An often unexplained difference between OS X and Windows is how the kernel addresses video. OS X is designed very differently from Windows in this regard. While in Windows, programs will fight over CPU time and the vast array of permission barriers do little more than bog processes — including video playback — down significantly. OS X, which is based on UNIX, has a streamlined approach to how these processes work, and the result is smoother video playback and an overall more efficient editing process.
If you want proof of this, take a Core 2 Duo PC and a Mac with the same specs and try to edit 1080p video using a professional editing program. You might be surprised at how much more efficient OS X is at handling these processes.
Community
The Apple community is renowned for its tight-knit and welcoming environment. Documentaries have explored the “Cult of the Mac” phenomenon to some detail, and there’s no question in my mind that the Mac is essentially the Volvo of the computing world.
Mac users are often stereotyped as being stuck-up artsy types that spend all day at coffee shops. While this may be true in some cases, the reality of the matter is that the community that forms around Apple and its products is actually quite remarkable. Remember, despite all the press that Apple gets, it’s still a minority user ground by a large degree. Windows is, even now, beating the daylights out of OS X in terms of user volume.
Lessened Virus Threat
Obscurity breeds security. This is a general rule in the world of PC security as attackers generally target the larger pool of users. This isn’t to say that viruses don’t exist on OS X, but the number seen in the wild over the past 10 years can be counted on your fingers. Windows anti-virus programs are often updated daily to keep track of the latest threats.
This could also apply to Web-based exploits, malware, and spyware. While not technically viruses in their own right, these scripts can threaten the security of everyone from individual home users to enterprise-level organizations.
This doesn’t mean that OS X is more secure than Windows. It isn’t, and that’s been proven time and time again. What it does mean is that there is some added advantage to being on a platform that is still flying under the radar. This could change tomorrow.
Stability and Flexibility
OS X is a great OS, and it is arguably more stable than Windows due in part to having a predictable hardware profile. OS X is made with a specific set of hardware in mind. This allows developers to work within a predictable set of parameters as the limitations and needs of the OS are standard across the board. With Windows, you never know what odd hardware interface is interacting with what process to keep your video card from crashing your entire system. If you’ve ever seen a blue screen after loading two GPU-hungry programs at once, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
One trick that OS X does that Windows can’t is run the opposing operating system within a virtual machine. Windows has no supported method of running OS X in parallel with Windows programs. On OS X, you have the option of running Windows through programs like Parallels and VMWare Fusion. Failing that, you can use Boot Camp to run Windows natively as a primary operating system on boot-up.
On a hardware level, Macs and PCs aren’t very different from one another. It’s the software that makes up the largest degree of separation between the two platforms, and even this is only a minor difference at best. Is OS X better than Windows? That’s hard to say, as everyone has their own set of tastes and needs. While I am personally a big fan of the OS X UI, Windows is still an excellent platform for gaming and doing many of the things that I enjoy doing.
In string theory, physicists tell us that the subatomic particles that make up our universe are created within ten spatial dimensions (plus an eleventh dimension of “time”) by the vibrations of exquisitely small “superstrings”. The average person has barely gotten used to the idea of there being four dimensions: how can we possibly imagine the tenth?
Below is a transcript of the narration from those animations. The ideas presented here come from chapter one of a new book called “Imagining the Tenth Dimension: a new way of thinking about time and space”, written by Rob Bryanton.
0. A point (no dimension)
We start with a point. Like the “point” we know from geometry, it has no size, no dimension. It’s just an imaginary idea that indicates a position in a system.
1. The first dimension – a line
A second point, then, can be used to indicate a different position, but it, too, is of indeterminate size. To create the first dimension, all we need is a line joining any two points. A first dimensional object has length only, no width or depth.
2. The Second Dimension – A Split
If we now take our first dimensional line and draw a second line crossing the first, we’ve entered the second dimension. The object we’re representing now has a length and a width, but no depth. To help us with imagining the higher dimensions, we’re going to represent our second dimensional object as being created using a second line which branches off from the first.
Now, let’s imagine a race of two-dimensional creatures called “Flatlanders”. What would it be like to be a Flatlander living in their two-dimensional world? A two-dimensional creature would have only length and width, as if they were the royalty on an impossibly flat playing card. Picture this: a Flatlander couldn’t possibly have a digestive tract, because the pipe from their mouth to their bottom would divide them into two pieces! And a Flatlander trying to view our three-dimensional world would only be able to perceive shapes in two-dimensional cross-sections. A balloon passing through the Flatlander’s world, for instance, would start as a tiny dot, become a hollow circle which inexplicably grows to a certain size, then shrinks back to a dot before popping out of existence. And we three-dimensional human beings would seem very strange indeed to a Flatlander.
3. The Third Dimension – A Fold
Imagining the third dimension is the easiest for us because every moment of our lives that is what we’re in. A three dimensional object has length, width, and height. But here’s another way to describe the third dimension: if we imagine an ant walking across a newspaper which is lying on a table, we can pretend that the ant is a Flatlander, walking along on a flat two-dimensional newspaper world. If that paper is now folded in the middle, we create a way for our Flatlander Ant to “magically” disappear from one position in his two-dimensional world and be instantly transported to another. We can imagine that we did this by taking a two-dimensional object and folding it through the dimension above, which is our third dimension. Once again, it’ll be more convenient for us as we imagine the higher dimensions if we can think of the third dimension in this way: the third dimension is what you “fold through” to jump from one point to another in the dimension below.
4. The Fourth Dimension – A Line
Okay. The first three dimensions can be described with these words: “length, width, and depth”. What word can we assign to the fourth dimension? One answer would be, “duration”. If we think of ourselves as we were one minute ago, and then imagine ourselves as we are at this moment, the line we could draw from the “one-minute-ago version” to the “right now” version would be a line in the fourth dimension. If you were to see your body in the fourth dimension, you would be like a long undulating snake, with your embryonic self at one end and your deceased self at the other. But because we live from moment to moment in the third dimension, we are like our second dimensional Flatlanders. Just like that Flatlander who could only see two-dimensional cross-sections of objects from the dimension above, we as three-dimensional creatures can only see three-dimensional cross-sections of our fourth-dimensional self.
5. The Fifth Dimension – A Split
One of the most intriguing aspects of there being one dimension stacked on another is that down here in the dimensions below we can be unaware of our motion in the dimensions above. Here’s a simple example: if we make a Möbius strip (take a long strip of paper, add one twist to it and tape the ends together) and draw a line down the length of it, our line will eventually be on both sides of the paper before it meets back with itself. It appears, somewhat amazingly, that the strip has only one side, so it must be a representation of a two-dimensional object. And this means that a two-dimensional Flatlander traveling down the line we just drew would end up back where they started without ever feeling like they had left the second dimension. In reality, they would be looping and twisting in the third dimension, even though to them it felt like they were traveling in a straight line.
The fourth dimension, time, feels like a straight line to us, moving from the past to the future. But that straight line in the fourth dimension is, like the Möbius strip, actually twisting and turning in the dimension above. So, the long undulating snake that is us at any particular moment will feel like it is moving in a straight line in time, the fourth dimension, but there will actually be, in the fifth dimension, a multitude of paths that we could branch to at any given moment. Those branches will be influenced by our own choice, chance, and the actions of others.
Quantum physics tells us that the subatomic particles that make up our world are collapsed from waves of probability simply by the act of observation. In the picture we are drawing for ourselves here, we can now start to see how each of us are collapsing the indeterminate wave of probable futures contained in the fifth dimension into the fourth dimensional line that we are experiencing as “time”.
6. The Sixth Dimension – A Fold
What if you wanted to go back into your own childhood and visit yourself? We can imagine folding the fourth dimension through the fifth, jumping back through time and space to get there. But what if you wanted to get to the world where, for example, you had created a great invention as a child that by now had made you famous and rich? We can imagine our fourth-dimensional selves branching out from our current moment into the fifth dimension, but no matter where you go from here the “great child inventor” timeline is not one of the available options in your current version of time — “you can’t get there from here” — no matter how much choice, chance, and the actions of others become involved.
There are only two ways you could get to that world – one would be to travel back in time, somehow trigger the key events that caused you to come up with your invention, then travel forward in the fifth dimension to see one of the possible new worlds that might have resulted. But that would be taking the long way. The shortcut we could take would involve us folding the fifth dimension through the sixth dimension, which allows us to instantly jump from our current position to a different fifth dimensional line.
7. The Seventh Dimension – A Line
In our description of the fourth dimension, we imagined taking the dimension below and conceiving of it as a single point. The fourth dimension is a line which can join the universe as it was one minute ago to the universe as it is right now. Or in the biggest picture possible, we could say that the fourth dimension is a line which joins the big bang to one of the possible endings of our universe.
Now, as we enter the seventh dimension, we are about to imagine a line which treats the entire sixth dimension as if it were a single point. To do that, we have to imagine all of the possible timelines which could have started from our big bang joined to all of the possible endings for our universe (a concept which we often refer to as infinity), and treat them all as a single point. So, for us, a point in the seventh dimension would be infinity – all possible timelines which could have or will have occurred from our big bang.
8. The Eighth Dimension – A Split
When we describe infinity as being a “point” in the seventh dimension, we are only imagining part of the picture. If we’re drawing a seventh dimensional line, we need to be able to imagine what a different “point” in the seventh dimension is going to be, because that’s what our line is going to be joined to. But how can there be anything more than infinity? The answer is, there can be other completely different infinities created through initial conditions which are different from our own big bang. Different initial conditions will create different universes where the basic physical laws such as gravity or the speed of light are not the same as ours, and the resulting branching timelines from that universe’s beginning to all of its possible endings will create an infinity which is completely separate from the one which is associated with our own universe. So the line we draw in the seventh dimension will join one of these infinities to another. And, as boggling as the magnitude of what we are exploring here might be, if we were to branch off from that seventh dimensional line to draw a line to yet another infinity, we would then be entering the eighth dimension.
9. The Ninth Dimension – A Fold
As we’ve explored already, we can jump from one point in any dimension to another simply by folding it through the dimension above. If our ant on the newspaper were a two-dimensional Flatlander, then folding his two-dimensional world through the third dimension would allow him to magically disappear from one location and appear in a different one. As we’re now imagining the ninth dimension, the same rules would apply – if we were to be able to instantaneously jump from one eighth dimensional line to another, it would be because we were able to fold through the ninth dimension.
10. The Tenth Dimension – A Point?
Before we discussed the first dimension, we could say that we first started out with dimension zero, which is the geometrical concept of the “point”. A point indicates a location in a system, and each point is of indeterminate size. The first dimension then, takes two of these “points” and joins them with a line.
When we imagined the fourth dimension, it was as if we were treating the entirety of three-dimensional space in a particular state as a single point, and drawing a fourth-dimensional line to another point representing space as it is in a different state. We often refer to the line we have just drawn as “time”.
Then in the seventh dimension, we treated all of the possible timelines which could be generated from our big bang as if this were a single point, and imagined drawing a line to a point representing all of the possible timelines for a completely different universe.
Now, as we enter the tenth dimension, we have to imagine all of the possible branches for all the possible timelines of all the possible universes and treat that as a single point in the tenth dimension. Whew! So far, so good. But this is where we hit a roadblock: if we’re going to imagine the tenth dimension as continuing the cycle, and being a line, then we’re going to have to imagine a different point that we can draw that line to. But there’s no place left to go! By the time we have imagined all possible timelines for all possible universes as being a single point in the tenth dimension, it appears that our journey is done.
In String theory, physicists tell us that Superstrings vibrating in the tenth dimension are what create the subatomic particles which make up our universe, and all of the other possible universes as well. In other words, all possibilities are contained within the tenth dimension, which would appear to be the concept we have just built for ourselves as we imagined the ten dimensions, built one upon another.
The Book:
“Imagining the Tenth Dimension: a new way of thinking about time and space”
This unique book touches upon such diverse topics as Feynman’s “sum over paths” approach, quantum indeterminacy, and the soul. More than just a scientific exploration, “Imagining the Tenth Dimension” is a mind-expanding exercise that could change the way you view this incredible universe in which we live.
Chapters:
01 A Quick Tour of Ten Dimensions
In this chapter, we explore much more fully the information presented on this site: a way that the ten dimensions can be imagined, with each stacked one upon another.
02 The Quantum Observer
This concept comes from quantum physics, which tells us that subatomic particles are actually waves of probability. It is the act of observation that collapses these waves into one particular state. According to the structure we’re exploring here, how does the “quantum observer” fit into the picture?
03 The Flow of Time
While Einstein’s theories treated space and time as an entity, the more common approach in string theory and physics has been to treat time as an aspect which is separate from the other spatial dimensions. In this chapter we argue that time is indeed the fourth spatial dimension, and it is only our unique viewpoint as quantum observers that gives us the illusion of time being a one-way “arrow”.
04 The Binary Viewpoint
What happens when you divide any point in the universe into “here are the things it is” and “here are the things that it isn’t”? That’s the binary viewpoint of reality. Popularized in the film “The Matrix”, and in Star Trek’s “holodeck”, the idea of a world that could be indistinguishable from reality if we only we had a fast enough computer with a large enough memory has interesting connections to the way we are imagining our ten dimensions. In this chapter we explore how this reductive analysis of the universe might be applied to the ten dimensions we’re imagining.
05 Memes, Music and Memory
One of the contradictions that seem to be inherent in the “quantum observer collapsing reality” argument is that there would be no subatomic particles without an observer. Everett’s “Many Worlds Theory” is now becoming more popularly accepted by string theorists as one explanation of this apparent contradiction. His theory explains that an observer is not necessary because all possible states do actually exist simultaneously, and the act of observation is not “collapsing” a particle, it is merely “observing” a part of a wave in one of its simultaneously existing states. Still, whether we are “observing” or “collapsing”, the end result is the same. But does the quantum observer have to be a person? In this chapter we explore the many other ways that a quantum observer could be present, including some of the more metaphysical aspects of this discussion.
06 The Anthropic Viewpoint
There are usually two versions of the Anthropic Viewpoint. The first says that the reason we live in such an unlikely universe, created from countless lucky coincidences that led to the complex world we see around us, is that if those lucky coincidences hadn’t occurred we would not be here to ask the question of why we are here. However, the version of the Anthropic Viewpoint that is more relevant to our discussion says that all the other less fortunate universes do really exist, we’re just not in them. Some criticize the anthropic viewpoint as being a dead end or a cop out. But, as we explore in this chapter, this second version of the Anthropic Viewpoint is currently popular under a different guise in modern physics, and fits in well with our version of the ten dimensions.
07 The Paradoxes of Time Travel
It keeps coming back to this: the difference between the worldview presented here and the view of science in general stems from the proposition that time is a full spatial dimension. If time really is a spatial dimension, then free motion within it should some day be possible, and in chapter 3 we explored some of the ways that scientists have proposed that time travel could occur. But there are also many famous stories and films that imagine what it would be like if we could travel in time. In this chapter we look at this subject as it has been presented by works of fiction, and explore how these viewpoints fit (or don’t fit) with the ten dimensions we are now imagining.
08 Dark Matter and Other Mysteries
Dark Matter and Dark Energy are two of the biggest quandaries currently facing modern science. In this chapter we look at our new concept of the ten dimensions and explore whether any of the current unsolved mysteries of physics could some day be found to have their answers hidden within this new way of viewing the world. We also explore some of the more paranormal mysteries which might have an explanation from this viewpoint. As a mind-expanding exercise, we also explore some of the other ways that reality could be connected together that we are not currently conscious of, plus the hidden processing that the brain could well be executing to participate in the reality we are imagining here.
09 How Much Control Do We Have?
We have now imagined a reality where everything is possible. Everything that could have happened, did. Everything that is about to possibly happen, does. Even the things that we know didn’t happen or couldn’t happen on our own timeline, did happen elsewhere in another part of the dimensional construct we’re imagining. But if that’s all there is, then what is the point? As creatures with free will, should we care what we’re about to do if there are other universes where we did the opposite? And if everyone around us is capable of every possible good and bad thing imaginable, how do we ever get anywhere? This chapter attempts to put these questions into perspective.
10 Triads: The Ten Dimensions Revisited
This chapter provides us with some different ways of thinking about the ten dimensions that may be useful to those who are still having difficulty with the concepts presented. Rather than just being a re-statement of chapter one, we look at some new ideas which might have been too big to assimilate without first having worked our way through the other chapters.
11 Interference and Connections
In the final chapter, we add another wrinkle to our construct which helps us to imagine the mysterious nature of life, and the forces from the higher dimensions that could be helping us all to move in certain directions.
The “theory of reality” that I advance on this website and in the book “Imagining the Tenth Dimension” is not the one that is commonly accepted by today’s physicists. Anyone wanting to know more about the currently established thinking behind string theory and the tenth or eleventh dimension should refer to such excellent books as “Parallel Worlds” by Michio Kaku, “The Fabric of the Cosmos” by Brian Greene, or “Warped Passages” by Lisa Randall.
“Imagining the Tenth Dimension” is a professionally bound and printed soft cover book, 214 pages, with illustrations. It includes eleven chapters and an index, plus the lyrics to twenty-six songs which help to explore the concepts being presented.
“Imagining the Tenth Dimension” is published by Talking Dog Studios and its a book written by Rob Bryanton. If you want to contact the author:
Rob Bryanton, President
Talking Dog Studios Inc.
1212A Winnipeg St.
Regina, SK Canada
S4R 1J6
This collection of LEGO-based Victorian houses is made by Mike Doyle. In order to construct these remarkably organic structures, Doyle used over 200,000 individual pieces for the 3 houses featured, and spent 400-600 hours on each one. While LEGO might not be the most common artistic medium, it’s pretty awesome to see how creatively it can be used when you put an insane amount of time into it.
The opus magnum and most recent piece of the collection is “Victorian on Mud Heap,” shown directly above and at the top of this entry. This is the largest of Doyle’s LEGO house collection so far. The most impressive thing to me is that no foreign (i.e. non-LEGO) materials are used at all in this house, or any of the others. Talk about dedication. Says Doyle of this piece: “For me, this piece speaks to the inherent unpredictability of those things which we call our foundation…The piece offers no answers or necessarily any hope, but rather points to life’s fragility.”
The second most recent part of the collection, shown above, is “Three Story Victorian with Tree.” The seemingly natural growth and decay that Doyle has managed to convey here is pretty remarkable. Check out more of Doyle’s work on this house and more after the jump.
Doyle’s first installment of this collection is simply titled “Two Story with Basement.” While not quite as elaborate as the more recent additions, it still has a similar feel and is nearly as impressive in terms of the time and pieces put into its construction. It’s cool to be able to see the progression that Doyle has achieved throughout this project:
Be sure to check out Doyle’s blog here for more info on the LEGO project!
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was introduced on January 9, 2007.
An iPhone functions as a camera phone, including text messaging and visual voicemail, a portable media player, and an Internet client, with e-mail, web browsing, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The user interface is built around the device’s multi-touch screen, including a virtual keyboard rather than a physical one. Third-party as well as Apple applications are available from the App Store, which launched in mid-2008 and now has well over 300,000 “apps” approved by Apple. These apps have diverse functionalities, including games, reference, GPS navigation, social networking, security and advertising for television shows, films, and celebrities.
There are four generations of iPhone models, and they were accompanied by four major releases of iOS (formerly iPhone OS). The original iPhone established design precedents like screen size and button placement that have persisted through all models. The iPhone 3G added 3G cellular network capabilities and A-GPS location. The iPhone 3GS added a compass, faster processor, and higher resolution camera, including video. The iPhone 4 has two cameras for FaceTime video calling and a higher-resolution display. It was released on June 24, 2010.
Dear Nintendo: Follow Microsoft’s Lead And Start Making Games For iPhone NOW
Today, Microsoft launched Kinectimals, a cutesy kids game for iOS that costs $2.99.
Microsoft isn’t going to rake in any massive amounts of money by developing for iOS, but My Xbox LIVE briefly broke the App Store’s Top 10 Free Apps list.
The company is wise to diversify its mobile offering beyond Windows Phone.
Nintendo needs to be doing the same—especially in case its next generation of consoles flop.
We aren’t talking about developing new and exclusive titles, though. We’re talking about porting legacy games like Pokemon Red and Legend Of Zelda: Link’s Awakening to one of the largest mobile platforms in the
“Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. Siri is so easy to use and does so much, you’ll keep finding more and more ways to use it.”
It understands what you say.
Talk to Siri as you would to a person. Say something like “Tell my wife I’m running late.” “Remind me to call the vet.” “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri does what you say, finds the information you need, then answers you. It’s like you’re having a conversation with your iPhone.
Talk to Siri as you would to a person. Say something like “Tell my wife I’m running late.” “Remind me to call the vet.” “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri does what you say, finds the information you need, then answers you. It’s like you’re having a conversation with your iPhone.
It knows what you mean.
Siri not only understands what you say, it’s smart enough to know what you mean. So when you ask “Any good burger joints around here?” Siri will reply “I found a number of burger restaurants near you.” Then you can say “Hmm. How about tacos?” Siri remembers that you just asked about restaurants, so it will look for Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood. And Siri is proactive, so it will question you until it finds what you’re looking for.
It helps you do the things you do every day.
Ask Siri to text your dad, remind you to call the dentist, or find directions, and it figures out which apps to use and who you’re talking about. It finds answers for you from the web through sources like Yelp and WolframAlpha. Using Location Services, it looks up where you live, where you work, and where you are. Then it gives you information and the best options based on your current location. From the details in your contacts, it knows your friends, family, boss, and coworkers. So you can tell Siri things like “Text Ryan I’m on my way” or “Remind me to make a dentist appointment when I get to work” or “Call a taxi” and it knows exactly what you mean and what to do.
It has so much to tell you.
When there’s something you need to do, just ask Siri to help you do it. Siri uses almost all the built-in apps on iPhone 4S. It writes and sends email messages and texts. It searches the web for anything you need to know. It plays the songs you want to hear. It gives you directions and shows you around. It places calls, schedules meetings, helps you remember, and wakes you up. In fact, ask Siri what it can do — it even speaks for itself.
What is Siri?
Siri is the intelligent personal assistant that helps you get things done just by asking. It allows you to use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. But Siri isn’t like traditional voice recognition software that requires you to remember keywords and speak specific commands. Siri understands your natural speech, and it asks you questions if it needs more information to complete a task.
Siri uses the processing power of the dual-core A5 chip in iPhone 4S, and it uses 3G and Wi-Fi networks to communicate rapidly with Apple’s data centers. So it can quickly understand what you say and what you’re asking for, then quickly return a response.
Siri is currently in beta and we’ll continue to improve it over time.
Using Siri
How do I ask Siri something?
To talk to Siri, hold down the Home button on your iPhone 4S. You’ll hear two quick beeps and see “What can I help you with?” on the screen. Just begin speaking. The microphone icon lights up to let you know that Siri hears you talking. Once you’ve started a dialogue with Siri, tap the microphone icon to talk to it again.
There’s more than one way to talk to Siri. When the screen is on, simply bring iPhone 4S up to your ear. You’ll hear two quick beeps to indicate that Siri is listening to you.
Siri also works with headphones and Bluetooth headsets. When you’re using headphones with a remote and microphone, you can press and hold the center button to talk to Siri. With a Bluetooth headset, press and hold the call button to bring up Siri.
Siri waits for you to stop talking, but you can also tap the microphone icon to tell Siri you’re done talking. This is useful when there’s a lot of background noise.
What happens after I ask Siri a question or ask it to do something?
When you finish speaking, Siri displays the text of what you said and provides a response. If Siri needs more information to complete a request, it will ask you a question. For example, if you say “Remind me to call my mom,” Siri will ask “What time would you like me to remind you?”
When you use earphones or a headset, Siri reads back text messages and email messages that you’ve dictated before you send them, and it reads back the subjects of reminders before you create them. This is especially helpful when you’re driving and can’t see the iPhone 4S screen.
Do I have to say things a certain way to get Siri to respond?
No. You can speak to Siri as you would to a person — in a natural voice with a conversational tone. If you want to know what the weather will be like tomorrow, simply say “What will the weather be like tomorrow?” Or “Does it look like rain tomorrow?” Or even “Will I need an umbrella tomorrow?” No matter how you ask, Siri will tell you the forecast.
Does Siri work out of the box, or do I have to teach it?
Siri works right out of the box, without any work on your part. And the more you use Siri, the better it will understand you. It does this by learning about your accent and other characteristics of your voice. Siri uses voice recognition algorithms to categorize your voice into one of the dialects or accents it understands. As more people use Siri and it’s exposed to more variations of a language, its overall recognition of dialects and accents will continue to improve, and Siri will work even better.
Siri also uses information from your contacts, music library, calendars, and reminders to better understand what you say. So it responds more accurately when you ask to make a phone call, play music, or create an appointment or reminder.
If you like, you can reset what Siri has learned about your voice by turning Siri off and then back on in Settings > General > Siri.
What Siri Can Do For You
What types of things can I ask Siri about or ask it to do?
You can ask Siri to make a call, find a business and get directions, schedule reminders and meetings, search the web, and more. You can even ask Siri “What can you do for me?” or tap the “i” in the right corner of the screen when you bring Siri up. You’ll see examples of things Siri can do, along with ways you can ask for things.
How does Siri learn who I am?
If Siri knows who you are, it can use your information to help you. To make sure Siri knows who you are, select your contact information in Settings > General > Siri > My Info.
Your information is used for questions like “How do I get home?” or “What good restaurants are near work?”
How does Siri learn about my key relationships?
Siri also helps you by learning about the key people in your life. The first time you ask Siri to call your sister, it will ask you who your sister is. That information is stored in Contacts along with other relationship information like “mom,” “husband,” and “grandma.”
How do location-based reminders work?
Because Siri knows your current location and other locations like “home” and “work,” it can remind you to do a certain task when you leave a location or arrive at a location. So if you tell Siri,“Remind me to call my wife when I leave the office,” Siri does just that.
To turn off the ability for Siri to use your location, go to Settings > Location Services and set the switch for Siri to Off. Regardless of how Locations Services is set for Siri, information about your location is not tracked or stored outside the phone.
Does iPhone 4S take dictation?
Yes. iPhone 4S supports dictation in any app that has a keyboard. So instead of typing, you can speak and your words will be entered as text.
To start dictation, tap the microphone button on your keyboard and start talking. When you’re finished, tap Done and your words will be turned into text. Dictation for each language is built into the keyboard for that language.
Is Siri accessible to blind and visually impaired users?
Yes. VoiceOver, the screen reader built into iOS, can speak any text that’s displayed in responses from Siri. You can navigate through the responses and have each one read to you. This includes the days of a weather forecast, the body of an email, the details of an answer from Wolfram|Alpha, and more.
Language Support and Availability
Siri works exclusively on iPhone 4S. Siri understands and can speak the following languages:
English (United States, United Kingdom, Australia)
French (France)
German (Germany)
In 2012, Siri will support additional languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish.
Can I use Siri in any of these languages in other countries?
Yes. Siri can be enabled in any country, and you can choose to speak to it in English, French, or German. However, Siri is designed to recognize the specific accents and dialects of the supported countries listed above. Since every language has its own accents and dialects, the accuracy rate will be higher for native speakers.
At this point and time nobody is quite sure how Siri works. However some speculate that all of the information transmitted throught the software is stored. That gathered information in return is able to learn more about how people use it, while initially providing better results. Siri is Apple’s answer to Google ‘Voice Actions,’ which was first rolled out in August, 2010. The bottom line is that Siri is growing as we speak, and personally I cannot wait to see where it will be in a couple years.
Now you are trying to comprehend how in the world does this tech stuff relate to inspiration? Well considering we have never experienced something like this as consumers, this attracted my attention. What better way to tell you about it, than showcasing entertaining outcomes!
So we went on the web to find how’s Siri going in her debut year on iphone 4s. Here are some classical moments :
Some of the following results that we stumble upon are pretty hilarious. Very crazy to think that a piece of software could have so many outcomes to our questions. If you have an iPhone4S, you can try to ask the following questions and see if you get similar or better results.
Please Note: Some of the following statements might not be safe for a working environment.
Some things are just what they are and to keep on beating the old lady we couldn’t find any better account over the web than Chris Pirillo’s article for chris.pirillo.com.
Video editing on OS X versus Windows is a hot button topic among those who work in video. Macs are widely used because of the flagship editing program Final Cut Pro. Apple has gone to great lengths to make sure that Final Cut Pro is established as an industry standard for video editing. Not only is Final Cut Pro extremely efficient and capable of pushing out extraordinary content, but it’s relatively inexpensive. Not to mention, you can only get it on OS X.
