Will Siri Become Available for OS X?

Tuesday, Apple announced Siri for the iPhone 4S. This artificially intelligent virtual assistant can schedule meetings, answer questions, send messages on your behalf, and even read them to you. There’s apparently very little that Siri doesn’t do for you. This makes me wonder if Siri could eventually find its way to OS X. After all, don’t desktop Macs have plenty of processing power and memory to put Siri to good use?

I have used Dragon: NaturallySpeaking for the PC. With it, I could control various aspects of my system, including opening programs on command and controlling my various multimedia software. At that point, I felt as if I was just a year or two away from being able to utilize artificial intelligence to handle my day-to-day scheduling and information needs. Unfortunately, the technology didn’t seem to advance very far from being simple voice recognition software. Let’s face it, artificial intelligence can only take us as far as the programmers can predict our needs.

The demonstration and marketing material behind Siri brought back memories of sitting at my computer , arguing with it over the proper pronunciation of simple commands. What Apple has managed to make out of that popular virtual assistant company it acquired back in 2010 appears remarkable. If it’s actually managed to bridge the gap between functionality and voice recognition, then bravo to Apple. My question now is whether or not Siri will find its way to a desktop platform such as its flagship OS X operating system.

Here are a couple of solutions that can help you get by while waiting for Siri to officially become available on OS X.

Dragon Dictate:

For now, we do have several commercial alternatives available. Dragon Dictate, for example, is an incredibly robust alternative that allows you to program basic commands such as “Post this on Facebook” and “Reply to that email.” But it still isn’t quite there when it comes to communicating back to you. Siri will read your email to you and ask you whether or not you’d like to reschedule conflicting appointments. Dragon simply relays your commands to the system and takes dictation.

Speech:

Did you know Apple has built-in a power speech recognition software to OS X already? It’s not very good, but it is rather interesting to try. By going to System Preferences and selecting Speech, you’ll be able to activate Speakable Items on OS X. You can talk to your computer by either holding down a toggle key, or saying a keyword prior to every command. This app does have some serious downsides, however. Speech recognition is iffy, and it doesn’t appear to learn your voice the way Dragon and Siri do. Also, commands are preset and specific, requiring somewhat specific input to carry out. Even after calibration, it took me five or six tries to close iCal using Speech.

There are many other alternatives out there, including MacSpeech Dictate . Do you know of any good solutions to bring Siri-like functionality to your Mac? Comments are welcome.

Siri for iPhone 4S Announced.

Announcements made by Apple Tuesday, one in particular stands out as potentially being the most incredible. Apple fans around the world tuned in to live streams, blogs, and their Twitter feeds to find out all about the new iPhone 4S, a significant update from the iPhone 4 in terms of processing power and camera capabilities. Among the updates is a new integrated piece of software that goes by the name of Siri.

Siri was a mobile “assistant” app developer that developed apps that act as artificial intelligence assistants, answering verbal questions from the user on a wide range of topics including suggested local restaurants and the weather. Siri hit the iTunes and Android App Store with a bang in 2010 before being quickly bought out by Apple for an undisclosed amount in April of 2010. Since that time, it appears that Apple has been working hard to make Siri an integrated part of the overall iOS experience.

In the video below, Chris Pirillo speaks with the founders of Siri in 2010, just weeks before the company was bought by Apple. At the time, Siri’s artificial intelligence app was available on iOS and Android.



Siri’s voice-recognition technology learns your vocal patterns and becomes more accurate as you use it. In addition, the voice-to-text feature is available anywhere you see a keyboard in iOS. This means that Siri works as both an integrated search mechanism and a capable dictation system for the iPhone 4S.

Where Siri really appears to show its usefulness is in its ability to interpret simple questions and commands and immediately relay the results to you. Without even looking at your phone, you can set appointments, text your contacts, ask about nearby businesses, look up information on Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha, and even have Siri tell you bits of information such as how many days are left until Christmas.

While scheduling appointments with Siri, the artificial intelligence will recognize any scheduling conflicts and ask you if you’d like to move one of the appointments to avoid any issues. You can even tell Siri to give you a location-based reminder, should you need to be reminded to get something done once you arrive at a specific location.

Supported languages include English (US, UK, and Australian), French, and German. Siri launches with the iPhone 4S in beta, but will be updated as development continues.

If you’re a current iPhone 4 owner and you want Siri integration, you’re out of luck. It appears that Siri is being reserved only for iPhone 4S customers at the present time. The iPhone 4S will be available on October 14, 2011.