#audioos

Apple’s Siri is a virtual assistant that’s built into Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, macOS, tvOS, and audioOS operating systems. It purportedly uses voice queries, gesture based control, focus-tracking, and a natural-language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions by delegating requests to a set of Internet services. Apple’s HomePod feature Siri voice…

Apple has acquired Voysis, an artificial intelligence startup that developed a platform for digital voice assistants to better understand people’s natural language, according to Bloomberg News.

Apple’s SiriMark Gurman for Bloomberg:

Voysis’s system taps into Wavenets, an AI-based method for creating more human-like computer speech that was first developed by Google’s DeepMindin 2016. Voysis…

Apple’s HomePod usually retails for $299 for customers, but Apple retail and corporate employees can purchase a HomePod right now at a nice discount: half price or $149.50. It is possible that Apple is trying to reduce inventory of the HomePod ahead of a rumored product update.

Stereo pairs create an even wider soundstage for an incredible listening experience on HomePod.

Benjamin Mayo for 9to5Mac

Apple cancels rumored March event with ‘iPhone SE 2’ delayed indefinitely

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, Apple has canceled a special media event originally set for March after experiencing continued production delays to the “iPhone SE 2,” Cult of Mac reports, citing “a source at Apple.”

Apple’s new budget-friendly iPhone is said to closely match iPhone 8’s physical specs

Brad Gibson for Cult of Mac:

A number of other problems played into the decision to delay the…

Whither WWDC 2020? Santa Clara County recommends companies cancel mass gatherings

As we creep ever-closer to June and the time when Apple will have to make a decision regarding their largest annual event, people are asking, “Will Apple cancel WWDC 2020 due to the COVID-19coronavirus?” In new guidance from the County of Santa Clara’s Public Health Department to protect residents of the county from coronavirus, the department announced six new confirmed cases of COVID-19. There…

Apple needs to cancel the physical side of WWDC 2020

Despite the importance of WWDC to Apple, developers, and users, Computerworld‘s Jonny Evans “can’t see the good corporate citizen Apple strives to be holding the show in June on strength of the coronavirus threat.” This is why Apple needs to cancel the physical side of WWDC 2020.

According to the latest figures from Caixin, there have been 80,566 confirmed cases in China, with 52,109 recovered,…

Google cancels ‘physical’ I/O event due to coronavirus concerns

Google has announced that it will cancel the company’s in-person I/O event this year over COVID-19 coronavirus concerns. The company is said to be looking into an alternative format.

9to5Google:

Tickets will be fully refunded by March 13, while registered guests this year will automatically be able to purchase I/O 2021 passes (via Twitter). Looking forward, the company is going to “explore other…

Apple is changing how it develops its software to cut down on bugs

“The initial release windows of both iOS 12 and iOS 13 saw users complaining about a plethora of bugs both major and minor. Apple has plans to mitigate this problem when iOS 14 launches next year, according to sources who spoke with Bloomberg,” Samuel Axon reports for Ars Technica:

A major factor contributing to iOS 13’s rough launch window was the fact that many Apple developers were making…