Siri

iOS 7 is bringing tighter integration with automobiles starting with the 2014 vehicle model year. One of the ten features of iOS 7 shown off at WWDC today is iOS in the Car, which brings more features into the displays built in to an increasing number of cars from major manufacturers.

Just demonstrated at WWDC 2013, Siri has had a makeover and an upgrade for the newly announced iOS 7. Now included in Siri is Bing results, Wikipedia, Twitter, and Siri can control more of the device than ever before. It can adjust your screen brightness, turn on and off Bluetooth, and more besides. Siri also has a new male and female voice, and has had a UI overhaul in fitting with the rest of iOS 7.

BMW announced this week that 2014 models equipped with its iDrive 4.2 interface will include Siri Hands Free mode, making it possible to pair an iPhone with your car and use Siri without ever taking your hands off the wheel.

After privacy concerns were raised regarding data it gets from Siri, Apple has revealed that it keeps that data for up to two years. Apple generates a random string of numbers to associate with your voice data, rather than using your Apple ID, and any Siri data they collect from you goes under that number. Data, however, is decoupled from that number. According to Wired an Apple spokesperson explained:

If you've ever used Siri, you've most likely been given the response that your request couldn't be completed and you could perform a web search instead. In some cases, Siri doesn't understand names or words correctly which causes confusion which results in an error or incorrect results.

There's actually a way to edit your request directly within Siri without having to try and dictate it all over again.

Here's how:

Ten months ago at WWDC 2012 Apple introduced Siri Eyes Free for integrating Siri voice interactivity with automobiles. On the screen behind Scott Forstall were the logos of nine auto manufacturers: Audi, BMW, Chrysler, GM, Honda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, and Toyota. To date, only one manufacturer has delivered: GM. They committed in November to integrating Siri into the youth-oriented Chevrolet Sonic and Spark, demoed the integration at CES 2013, and cars equipped with the feature finally started rolling off the assembly line in Michigan last month. Chevy has already started advertising Siri Eyes Free integration for the Sonic on television across the United States.

Marc Edwards of Bjango, Guy English of Kicking Bear, Loren Brichter of Atebits, Sebastiaan de With of DoubleTwist, and Rene Ritchie of Mobile Nations talk human interfaces of the future, including Siri, Google Now, Kinect, Leap, MYO, Project Glass, iWatch, Oculus Rift, and more!

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Rene and Guy talk to Grant Paul, aka chpwn, about developing for jailbreak, hacking the Nintendo Wii, the architecture behind SpringBoard and Apple TV apps, Siri, the future of file systems, and taking things to 11.

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At CES 2013, Chevy showed off Siri Eyes Free integration in the compact Sonic and subcompact Spark, and today Honda has announced that later this year they're bringing the same to three substantially larger vehicles in the corporate stable: the 2013 Honda Accord, Acura RDX, or Acura ILX.

Siri very nearly became a staple of the Droid line of Android phones before Apple purchased the company in 2010. Originally a standalone app available for iPhone, Verizon had signed a deal with Siri in late 2009 in order to put the service on every Droid phone, but the deal was cancelled after Apple purchased Siri for themselves. According to the Huffington Post:

When Apple swooped in to buy Siri, it insisted on making the assistant exclusive to Apple devices, and nixed the Verizon deal. In the process, it narrowly avoided seeing Siri become a selling point for smartphones powered by its biggest rival, Google.