Apple is also slated to refresh its entire software lineup. It’s also extending Apple Pay to the web, so users can pay for purchases made on their Mac computers. An overhaul of its music service also could be in the mix.
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Beyond just dissing Microsoft, Siri on the Mac can answer a lot of the same questions as her iPhone- and iPad-based versions, but she can also intelligently search your Mac’s files.
As expected, Apple has announced that its Siri digital assistant is coming to the Mac. The retooled watch software, due in September, will include an “SOS” feature that will automatically call for help in emergencies.
Apps like Uber, Pinterest, RunKeeper, Square, Vonage, and Skype will also be supported.
In some respects, Siri remains plenty competitive, at least so long as you stick with Apple’s other services. It’s also adding services like Dish’s Sling TV and Fox Sports Go. Cook opened the presentation by calling for a moment of silence in the wake of yesterday’s deadly attack in Orlando and closed by announcing the coming launch of Swift Playgrounds, an iPad app created to encourage people – especially school children – to learn how to code using Apple’s programming language Swift.
Apple’s wise-cracking digital assistant will play a larger role in the company’s products. A new, simpler interface will improve the user experience, said Apple. So here’s our quick and easy list of the biggest announcements at WWDC 2016.
Owners of iPhones and iPads make 2 billion requests to Siri every week, said Craig Federighi, the company’s vice president of software engineering, during the event in San Francisco today.
Google still remains the default for Safari. Currently, the virtual assistant is set apart from most other services in the iPhone. It added the ability to respond to a spoken “OK Google” in 2014, but removed that feature a year later, saying not many people used it. Chrome users can still click on a microphone icon to activate voice commands.
It has announced a couple of features that helps bring all of Apple’s platforms together.Apple has chose to focus on seamlessness between all three aforementioned platforms, and has named one of macOS Sierra’s core features Continuity.
Apple, however, has been largely unwilling to pry too deeply into your personal information. The feature also gets rid of files that you will never use again. Google has already been doing that through a photo app it released a year ago.
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Google, of course, makes money from advertising that’s keyed to individual interests. “We want all of your documents and your desktop accessible to your everywhere”, said Federighi.
