Siri

AssistantExtensions is a jailbreak app for iPhone 4S that greatly enhances what you can do with Apple's Siri virtual assistant, including voice activation, app launching, translation, and more. Developers can even add their own, custom commands via a new plug-in architecture. That means, unlike the limited built-in functionality Apple provides, many more powerful, and interesting, commands become available.

It turns out that Apple's Siri voice assistant is enabled by special noise reduction hardware called earSmart, wired right into the Apple A5 processor. The technology is made by Audience, which has an earSmart-less chip in the iPhone 4. The difference is, the iPhone 4 chip was designed to reduce noise when speaking directly into the microphone (like when you're on a phone call), while the chip in the iPhone 4S is designed for a wider field of sound, so you could talk to your phone at arm's-length (as one tends to with Siri) and still benefit from noise cancellation. The bundling of earSmart with the processor explains why the A5 chip was so much bigger than expected, even after taking into account the second core. It also means that, if you're still desperately clinging to the hope that Apple will someday update the iPhone 4 with Siri functionality, now's the time to let go.

In the latest episode of CBS's "The Big Bang Theory" titled "Beta Test Initiation", Raj Koothrappali starts a relationship with a well-known woman - Siri.

There's a new virtual personal assistant in town and her name Evi. Created by True Knowledge and running Nuance’s voice recognition technology, Evi is going to give Siri a run for her money - once the servers aren't slammed, that is.

While Nuance can't comment about any relationship with Apple, it's widely believed their technology powers the voice recognition and dictation behind Siri, the iPhone 4S artificial assistant. It also powers several of their own apps in the iPhone and iPad App Store, including the industry leading Dragon Dictation and the new Dragon Go.

Live from CES 2012, we talk to Nuance about the current state of voice recognition, how it's helping to re-define mobile, and where it's heading in the future.

9to5 Mac has uncovered what could be Apple's plan to bring Siri dictation to the iPad once iOS 5.1 is released.

Our own tipster Sonny Dickson was looking through the iOS 5.1 beta 3 settings application on the iPad and discovered a new section in the keyboard menu called “About Privacy and Dictation.” When opened, as shown above, the iPad provides the user with the standard legal literature and feature information for Siri Dictation.

According a report by network metrics firm Arieso, iPhone 4S users are consuming twice the amount of data than users of earlier iPhone models, and the reason is Siri. Siri is getting the blame for the huge increase in data consumption as it communicates with Apple’s servers to provide its personal assistant features.

USA Today, based on sources who have previously worked at Apple, is contributing some more information to the increasingly large Apple Television rumor pile.

Apple is said to be looking at a 42-inch or larger LCD TV with built-in Wi-Fi. Inside the locked-down studio of Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, there's a slick 50-inch TV, according to the source who worked at Apple.

The TiPb staff picks their favorite devices, features, stories, and new or majorly updated apps and accessories of 2011!

The TiPb editors, writers, contributors, forum admins and moderators, and podcasters have come together to nominate and select the winners of the 2011 TiPb Editors Choice Awards. They were all tough choices, and a lot of things we love simply didn't qualify for consideration -- weren't new or weren't majorly updated for 2011. But a lot of really, truly great stuff was. These, then, are our picks of the year.

• Want an alternate take? Try our 2011 TiPb Readers Choice Awards!

A twelve year old boy and his mother have been left in a state of shock after a Siri on demonstration model of an iPhone 4S insulted them. The iPhone 4S was being displayed in a Tesco’s supermarket in the UK and earlier in the day pranksters had messed around with Siri and set its owners name as a seven word string of insults.