I do. That's why I use OS X. All the fun of UNIX with none of the hassles of Linux, and none of the spying of Windows (and what little non-anonymous "spying" there is (Spotlight Suggestions and iTunes Library Details-Sharing), is easly turned off via GUI switches).
"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
Think before you hate.
Do you have a link to the source code for public review for both the firmware and software that runs this feature?
Of course not; but I am an embedded designer with nearly 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience; and so I have a pretty good idea of what is, and is not, practical. And continuously, or even bursting, the ambient audio picked up by your phone over WiFi (and how else could it do it?) just so that the NSA could plow through the mud to do SIGINT would absolutely KILL battery life, period.
So, if you REALLY want to make this into a "Big Brother" rant, you would opine that the "Hey Siri!" CHIP that I have postulated ACTUALLY listens for a whole SLEW of "keyphrases", but only "wakes" the phone (to your knowledge) when it hears the "Hey Siri!" phrase, otherwise it just silently slurps-up and transfers the audio for a period of time after ANY of the "secret keyphrases".
See? I can engage in wild speculation, too, just like you are. Except mine is even more believable than yours... But it still ain't likely to be true.
Wanna test it? Wait until the iPhone 6s comes out, and put it in front of a speaker playing a simple loop of likely key phrases, but NOT including "Hey Siri!". Stuff like "Guns, Drugs, Al Quaeda, Quran, Attack, Bomb, Militia, Anthrax, Obama, Iran, Iraq, Nuclear..." You get the picture. Then see if the battery life tanks, and the WiFi traffic from the phone roughly follows when you have the audio-loop on.
Come back with THAT info, and I'll be HAPPY to subscribe to your Newsletter!
You yourself said it can't be an app and then you proceeded to link me some apps? Point is that this "feature" has been on android for a long long time. You don't know any details about how big apple's gifs are going to be or how well the thing is gonna work. It works pretty well on S4, and the quality is good. You can even choose the areas you want to animate and those you want to remain static. It's fun but it's just that: a gimmick. And that is exactly what it's gonna be on ios.
Also, Nokia phones also had this built in. Also, zoe is an in built app for htc phones.
You are the one that brought up Zoe, which is an APP, not and in-built feature. Witness the fact that Zoe is also available for iOS. THAT is why I felt compelled to say "Well, if you want to talk about APPS, here's some that PRE-DATE 2013, when the Samsung S4 apparently added the Motion GIF creation to their Intrinsic camera software.
You are correct that I don't have any specs on the Apple feature, however. So, let's just table this until more info is available.
All the major operators are moving away from the 2 year contract yet apple still list the iphone prices in terms of a 2 year contract.
I am guessing even Apple knows that many customers are going to balk at the iphones true starting price of $650.
Have you priced any unlocked Samsung phones lately?
Yes, Samsung flagships are similar in price to iPhones... on paper. The street price is often much lower.
For example, in France, the Galaxy Note 4 initial listed price was 749 euros whereas the 16 GB iPhone 6 was 709 euros.
The price I actually paid for my Note 4 (new, unlocked) about 1 month after release was 575 euros. Getting an iPhone (new, unlocked) below its listed price is nearly impossible. And the price doesn't drop until near the time the new model is out.
Well, I must admit that I was dealing with U.S. prices. Apple has always been more expensive outside the U.S.; in fact, somewhat ridiculously so, IMHO.
But getting any current Apple product, even in the U.S., significantly below MSRP, is nearly impossible. Always has been. Some companies simply don't "deal". In Apple's case, they don't "deal", unless you are a large enterprise or education customer, or are a student or otherwise in "education". customer.
But, as I said, MSRP to MSRP, Samsung == Apple in price, when talking about similar-spec'ed devices.
Samsung animated photo and htc zoe. Seek the truth and ye shall find it.
The article on the Samsung S4's new "Animated Photo" feature marks it at 2013, hardly "Half a decade ago". Plus, it produces massive 8.5 MB animated GIFs that are only 800 x 450. Ick! Perhaps that resolution has increased with later models; but when it was introduced, it certainly wasn't spectacular by any measure. And it's COMPLICATED and somewhat finiky to use.
As far as the HTC Zoe: That's an APP, and thus doesn't count. Heck, it even runs on iOS; so it's HARDLY a built-in feature for ANY Android device!
Because, as far as Animated GIF APPs go, the Apple App Store lists SEVERAL, some of which are SURE to pre-date the Samsung and HTC offerings. In fact, I find one for iOS, LoopCam, that has a reference on Google dated 11/30/2011.
Apple should have gone out of their way to state exactly what you just said, in bold capitals, when they announced the feature in the first place. Because it does sound mighty creepy - and not everyone is a techie, and has a solid understanding that the creepy reading of the new feature would involve impractical device usage.
Actually this has been a feature in galaxy devices for about half a decade now.
Citation, please? Even the snarky articles I found that claim that "Android had this first" fail to mention the "Live Photos" feature. And having it in available in an App doesn't count.
Yeah, it's been steadily diluting...since at least the clamshell iBook vs Powerbook days... but it wasn't until they stripped the eth port out that its credibility as a 'pro' device was completely removed.
Not sure what your comment about "steadily diluting" actually means; but you do realize that the Ethernet port was replaced by a far more capable Thunderbolt II port (MacBook Pros without a dedicated Ethernet Port have TWO Thunderbolt Ports, each of which can support a variety of "adapters", including Ethernet, don't you?
Except the Surface Pro runs a real operating system, not a curated 'toy' consumer operating system. You can bid again when Apple puts OSX on one of their pads.
Anyway, I think you meant 'Surface RT' killer, but it's already dead, dude.
No. I wrote what I meant. Who cares about the specific architecture? It is aimed more at the Surface Pro than the RT.
Time will tell if it draws Developers; but I have a feeling it will.
And remember: It already has much better battery life than the Surface Pro, also runs MS Office, and as a bonus, has an OS that doesn't send every stinkin' molecule of your farts to the mothership, no matter what you do...
But if you wanted to spend it on something worthwhile, you'd buy an Apple device.
worthwhile?
I like the East River. I don't like PRISM participants.
Then you'd better roll your own OS, and your Router's OS, and your ISP's OS, and the OS in every bit of network hardware and software between you router and the endpoint of every packet you let fly.
So what you're saying is the hardware is a year old and the feature set is 3 years old and they pounded out a complete OS in under a year because they're too cheap to dip into the kabillizion dollar cash reserve they're sitting on instead of "diverting resources".
So you think that Apple can just call up a Temp Agency and order-up an OS Development Team on a moment's notice? It probably takes them several months before a new hire on an OS-level Dev. Team is even a LITTLE productive!
Amen to that. It is amazing that in this day and age, no one at Apple seems to have noticed just how bloody creepy this "feature" sounds.
It's only "creepy" until you stop to think about how it works.
The PHONE is responsible for interpreting the "Hey, Siri" phrase. That's why it isn't customizable. They have some little, dedicated custom IC who's ONLY job is to listen for "Hey, Siri", and THEN wake up the rest of the Phone to gather up the command.
That's why the first generation of the feature only worked with the phone plugged in. Because they hadn't gotten the custom "Hey Siri" chip back from the fab-house, and had to keep the main SoC alive to listen for the wakeup phrase.
So no, this isn't a Samsung TV. Until you utter the wakeup, I would bet $1,000 that your audio doesn't go anywhere but into the "Hey Siri" chip.
And besides, do you know how much POWER it would take in Standby to send that voice data CONTINUOUSLY over WiFi? You'd go through the battery in less than a day.
I call bullshit. And I guess I'm insane because I always use my PS4, and previously, Xbox ONE to use Netflix for ~4 hours a day. It hasn't increase my electricity bill by more than $5/mo (I monitor it regularly). I suspect many others do too (my friends all do), so I don't know what the fuck you are talking about.
$5.00 a month JUST to run your GAME CONSOLE?!?
Holy Fuck! My 15,100 BTU Air Conditioner only increases my summer electric bill by about $15 a month. And that's running almost 24/7!!!
Better watch out! Your PS4 may well decide to sprout a killer energy beam like the M5 unit on TOS, just to feed itself during a gaming session!
Well, howabout the other 90% of the media-consumption market that doesn't have an XBox One or PS4 connector implanted on the side of their neck, so they can be immersed in fantasy-land 24/7?
All the major operators are moving away from the 2 year contract yet apple still list the iphone prices in terms of a 2 year contract.
I am guessing even Apple knows that many customers are going to balk at the iphones true starting price of $650.
Have you priced any unlocked Samsung phones lately?
Call the iPad Pro what it is, the iSurface RT. Writing credible productivity apps isn't like slapping together the latest Angry Birds clone (though I'm sure the App Store crapflooders will try) and without real productivity apps, what purpose does the iPad Pro serve?
Just how long, for example, do you think it will take Adobe to add iPad Pro specific features to their iOS Apps?
Siri can hear you when the phone is powered off ??
Can I assume someone just started advertising this NSA capability as some new feature ?
WTH would be stupid enough to use this ?
If I know Apple (and I do), the "Hey Siri" is recognized locally on the phone, and if it hears THAT, THEN it wakes up enough to start capturing/uploading speech.
Apple would never, ever, ever open themselves up to the screams of the masses if it was discovered that their iPhones were "eavesdropping" on them 24/7.
Why does there have to be something "revolutionary" every year (or two years)?
Because Apple's stock price won't stay in the stratosphere if they just keep pumping out 'same but better' products like these. It's priced on 'revolutionary', not 'bread and butter'.
Um, something like a Smartphone is always going to pretty much be "The same, but better" year-over-year. What did you expect? Built-in Projector? Cold Fusion Power? Antigravity?
And there truly are innovative and unique things about the new iPhones: 3D Touch and Live Photos come to mind, and I'm sure there are others if I dig into the spec sheet.
Live photos? Maybe Apple will call them videos or maybe movies. It would give you a cinematic experience of what else was going on when the photo was taken.
Of course it is a video; but the idea of making a consistently-short video automatically with the touch of a button, then having the Photos app treat them more like a photo than a video is unique. Not earthshatteringly so; but the audience did think it was pretty cool, and it does allow you to capture something like someone cracking a smile without a bunch of extraneous video.
None of this seems "revolutionary" or "magical". Some of it looks like a rip off of Amazon TV, Google Translate, and the same look as last year's model which was nothing more than a larger look of the year before that's model. What happened to Apple supposedly "leading" the way? Did the sheep cause the shepard to fall behind?
Remember, the Apple TV hardware was actually done almost a year ago; but they didn't want to divert the resources from iOS to write the TVOS. So, that means that the new Apple TV went through the Design Freeze phase almost three years ago, which was definitely before the devices you mention above being released.
I know that doesn't matter to the marketplace; but it does help explain why it seems a bit "me too" for Apple.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think any OS is ready for the general user.
Funny; in your long-winded rant, you didn't once mention OS X.
Does nobody else think this is unacceptable?
I do. That's why I use OS X. All the fun of UNIX with none of the hassles of Linux, and none of the spying of Windows (and what little non-anonymous "spying" there is (Spotlight Suggestions and iTunes Library Details-Sharing), is easly turned off via GUI switches).
"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
Think before you hate.
Do you have a link to the source code for public review for both the firmware and software that runs this feature?
Of course not; but I am an embedded designer with nearly 40 years of paid hardware and software development experience; and so I have a pretty good idea of what is, and is not, practical. And continuously, or even bursting, the ambient audio picked up by your phone over WiFi (and how else could it do it?) just so that the NSA could plow through the mud to do SIGINT would absolutely KILL battery life, period.
So, if you REALLY want to make this into a "Big Brother" rant, you would opine that the "Hey Siri!" CHIP that I have postulated ACTUALLY listens for a whole SLEW of "keyphrases", but only "wakes" the phone (to your knowledge) when it hears the "Hey Siri!" phrase, otherwise it just silently slurps-up and transfers the audio for a period of time after ANY of the "secret keyphrases".
See? I can engage in wild speculation, too, just like you are. Except mine is even more believable than yours... But it still ain't likely to be true.
Wanna test it? Wait until the iPhone 6s comes out, and put it in front of a speaker playing a simple loop of likely key phrases, but NOT including "Hey Siri!". Stuff like "Guns, Drugs, Al Quaeda, Quran, Attack, Bomb, Militia, Anthrax, Obama, Iran, Iraq, Nuclear..." You get the picture. Then see if the battery life tanks, and the WiFi traffic from the phone roughly follows when you have the audio-loop on.
Come back with THAT info, and I'll be HAPPY to subscribe to your Newsletter!
But not before.
You yourself said it can't be an app and then you proceeded to link me some apps? Point is that this "feature" has been on android for a long long time. You don't know any details about how big apple's gifs are going to be or how well the thing is gonna work. It works pretty well on S4, and the quality is good. You can even choose the areas you want to animate and those you want to remain static. It's fun but it's just that: a gimmick. And that is exactly what it's gonna be on ios.
Also, Nokia phones also had this built in. Also, zoe is an in built app for htc phones.
You are the one that brought up Zoe, which is an APP, not and in-built feature. Witness the fact that Zoe is also available for iOS. THAT is why I felt compelled to say "Well, if you want to talk about APPS, here's some that PRE-DATE 2013, when the Samsung S4 apparently added the Motion GIF creation to their Intrinsic camera software.
You are correct that I don't have any specs on the Apple feature, however. So, let's just table this until more info is available.
All the major operators are moving away from the 2 year contract yet apple still list the iphone prices in terms of a 2 year contract. I am guessing even Apple knows that many customers are going to balk at the iphones true starting price of $650.
Have you priced any unlocked Samsung phones lately?
Yes, Samsung flagships are similar in price to iPhones... on paper. The street price is often much lower. For example, in France, the Galaxy Note 4 initial listed price was 749 euros whereas the 16 GB iPhone 6 was 709 euros. The price I actually paid for my Note 4 (new, unlocked) about 1 month after release was 575 euros. Getting an iPhone (new, unlocked) below its listed price is nearly impossible. And the price doesn't drop until near the time the new model is out.
Well, I must admit that I was dealing with U.S. prices. Apple has always been more expensive outside the U.S.; in fact, somewhat ridiculously so, IMHO.
But getting any current Apple product, even in the U.S., significantly below MSRP, is nearly impossible. Always has been. Some companies simply don't "deal". In Apple's case, they don't "deal", unless you are a large enterprise or education customer, or are a student or otherwise in "education". customer.
But, as I said, MSRP to MSRP, Samsung == Apple in price, when talking about similar-spec'ed devices.
Samsung animated photo and htc zoe. Seek the truth and ye shall find it.
The article on the Samsung S4's new "Animated Photo" feature marks it at 2013, hardly "Half a decade ago". Plus, it produces massive 8.5 MB animated GIFs that are only 800 x 450. Ick! Perhaps that resolution has increased with later models; but when it was introduced, it certainly wasn't spectacular by any measure. And it's COMPLICATED and somewhat finiky to use.
As far as the HTC Zoe: That's an APP, and thus doesn't count. Heck, it even runs on iOS; so it's HARDLY a built-in feature for ANY Android device!
Because, as far as Animated GIF APPs go, the Apple App Store lists SEVERAL, some of which are SURE to pre-date the Samsung and HTC offerings. In fact, I find one for iOS, LoopCam, that has a reference on Google dated 11/30/2011.
Prove me wrong, or STFU.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
So, what about it? How do you talk yourself out of the laws of physics as applies to battery capacity and power usage?
Apple should have gone out of their way to state exactly what you just said, in bold capitals, when they announced the feature in the first place. Because it does sound mighty creepy - and not everyone is a techie, and has a solid understanding that the creepy reading of the new feature would involve impractical device usage.
I agree with all that wholeheartedly.
Actually this has been a feature in galaxy devices for about half a decade now.
Citation, please? Even the snarky articles I found that claim that "Android had this first" fail to mention the "Live Photos" feature. And having it in available in an App doesn't count.
Yeah, it's been steadily diluting...since at least the clamshell iBook vs Powerbook days... but it wasn't until they stripped the eth port out that its credibility as a 'pro' device was completely removed.
Not sure what your comment about "steadily diluting" actually means; but you do realize that the Ethernet port was replaced by a far more capable Thunderbolt II port (MacBook Pros without a dedicated Ethernet Port have TWO Thunderbolt Ports, each of which can support a variety of "adapters", including Ethernet, don't you?
Except the Surface Pro runs a real operating system, not a curated 'toy' consumer operating system. You can bid again when Apple puts OSX on one of their pads.
Anyway, I think you meant 'Surface RT' killer, but it's already dead, dude.
No. I wrote what I meant. Who cares about the specific architecture? It is aimed more at the Surface Pro than the RT.
Time will tell if it draws Developers; but I have a feeling it will.
And remember: It already has much better battery life than the Surface Pro, also runs MS Office, and as a bonus, has an OS that doesn't send every stinkin' molecule of your farts to the mothership, no matter what you do...
But if you wanted to spend it on something worthwhile, you'd buy an Apple device.
worthwhile?
I like the East River. I don't like PRISM participants.
Then you'd better roll your own OS, and your Router's OS, and your ISP's OS, and the OS in every bit of network hardware and software between you router and the endpoint of every packet you let fly.
So what you're saying is the hardware is a year old and the feature set is 3 years old and they pounded out a complete OS in under a year because they're too cheap to dip into the kabillizion dollar cash reserve they're sitting on instead of "diverting resources".
So you think that Apple can just call up a Temp Agency and order-up an OS Development Team on a moment's notice? It probably takes them several months before a new hire on an OS-level Dev. Team is even a LITTLE productive!
You don't think things through very well, do you?
Indie film makers tend to use video cameras, not cell phone cameras.
What the fuck good is 4k video quality when the image is shaky all to hell because the camera isn't mounted on a steadycam, or at least a tripod?
Actually, I seem to remember an indie film that was quite well received at Sundance this year, that was shot completely on an iPhone 5s.
And there are examples going back to the 4s, too.
In fact, there's even an iPhone Film Festival now.
So, suck it.
Amen to that. It is amazing that in this day and age, no one at Apple seems to have noticed just how bloody creepy this "feature" sounds.
It's only "creepy" until you stop to think about how it works.
The PHONE is responsible for interpreting the "Hey, Siri" phrase. That's why it isn't customizable. They have some little, dedicated custom IC who's ONLY job is to listen for "Hey, Siri", and THEN wake up the rest of the Phone to gather up the command.
That's why the first generation of the feature only worked with the phone plugged in. Because they hadn't gotten the custom "Hey Siri" chip back from the fab-house, and had to keep the main SoC alive to listen for the wakeup phrase.
So no, this isn't a Samsung TV. Until you utter the wakeup, I would bet $1,000 that your audio doesn't go anywhere but into the "Hey Siri" chip.
And besides, do you know how much POWER it would take in Standby to send that voice data CONTINUOUSLY over WiFi? You'd go through the battery in less than a day.
Think about it.
"New Siri feature allows you to speak to your iPhone whether you're powered on or not."
Which means that the iPhone is never really "off". Which means that it's ALWAYS listening to you. Which probably means that the NSA is listening too.
No thanks.
I GUARANTEE it isn't "listening" until it hears "Hey, Siri", which it detects LOCALLY.
Can you imagine the standby power requirements to run the WiFi 24/7 JUST to hear you utter one, non-customizable, phrase?
Think before you hate.
I call bullshit. And I guess I'm insane because I always use my PS4, and previously, Xbox ONE to use Netflix for ~4 hours a day. It hasn't increase my electricity bill by more than $5/mo (I monitor it regularly). I suspect many others do too (my friends all do), so I don't know what the fuck you are talking about.
$5.00 a month JUST to run your GAME CONSOLE?!?
Holy Fuck! My 15,100 BTU Air Conditioner only increases my summer electric bill by about $15 a month. And that's running almost 24/7!!!
Better watch out! Your PS4 may well decide to sprout a killer energy beam like the M5 unit on TOS, just to feed itself during a gaming session!
I don't understand who they are targeting here.
Well, howabout the other 90% of the media-consumption market that doesn't have an XBox One or PS4 connector implanted on the side of their neck, so they can be immersed in fantasy-land 24/7?
yawn, if i really wanted to waste money i'd throw it into the East River.
But if you wanted to spend it on something worthwhile, you'd buy an Apple device.
All the major operators are moving away from the 2 year contract yet apple still list the iphone prices in terms of a 2 year contract. I am guessing even Apple knows that many customers are going to balk at the iphones true starting price of $650.
Have you priced any unlocked Samsung phones lately?
Call the iPad Pro what it is, the iSurface RT. Writing credible productivity apps isn't like slapping together the latest Angry Birds clone (though I'm sure the App Store crapflooders will try) and without real productivity apps, what purpose does the iPad Pro serve?
Just how long, for example, do you think it will take Adobe to add iPad Pro specific features to their iOS Apps?
Siri can hear you when the phone is powered off ??
Can I assume someone just started advertising this NSA capability as some new feature ?
WTH would be stupid enough to use this ?
If I know Apple (and I do), the "Hey Siri" is recognized locally on the phone, and if it hears THAT, THEN it wakes up enough to start capturing/uploading speech.
Apple would never, ever, ever open themselves up to the screams of the masses if it was discovered that their iPhones were "eavesdropping" on them 24/7.
No, we have Samsung TVs for that...
Why does there have to be something "revolutionary" every year (or two years)?
Because Apple's stock price won't stay in the stratosphere if they just keep pumping out 'same but better' products like these. It's priced on 'revolutionary', not 'bread and butter'.
Um, something like a Smartphone is always going to pretty much be "The same, but better" year-over-year. What did you expect? Built-in Projector? Cold Fusion Power? Antigravity?
And there truly are innovative and unique things about the new iPhones: 3D Touch and Live Photos come to mind, and I'm sure there are others if I dig into the spec sheet.
Live photos? Maybe Apple will call them videos or maybe movies. It would give you a cinematic experience of what else was going on when the photo was taken.
Of course it is a video; but the idea of making a consistently-short video automatically with the touch of a button, then having the Photos app treat them more like a photo than a video is unique. Not earthshatteringly so; but the audience did think it was pretty cool, and it does allow you to capture something like someone cracking a smile without a bunch of extraneous video.
None of this seems "revolutionary" or "magical". Some of it looks like a rip off of Amazon TV, Google Translate, and the same look as last year's model which was nothing more than a larger look of the year before that's model. What happened to Apple supposedly "leading" the way? Did the sheep cause the shepard to fall behind?
Remember, the Apple TV hardware was actually done almost a year ago; but they didn't want to divert the resources from iOS to write the TVOS. So, that means that the new Apple TV went through the Design Freeze phase almost three years ago, which was definitely before the devices you mention above being released.
I know that doesn't matter to the marketplace; but it does help explain why it seems a bit "me too" for Apple.