Siri

Upgrading to iOS 6? Be careful about leaving your locked iPhone unattended unless you change some settings. Otherwise an unscrupulous stranger could order Siri to send tweets and Facebook posts from your account that you didn't make -- even if your phone is locked.

Apple has added the ability for Siri to interact with Twitter and Facebook from the lock screen, just like you can use Siri to send text messages and e-mails and make calls on a locked device running iOS 5. If you don't want Siri to conduct these sorts of activities while the device is … Read more

iOS 6 was first previewed during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference last June, revealing a few big changes, and many more minor tweaks to the operating system that powers the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.

You'll need to update to iOS 6 before you can take advantage of the new features, so be sure you've done that before diving into the new features. Here are just a few of the best features and how to use them. We'll continue updating this page with more tips and tricks as we have them.… Read more

Siri was useful on iOS 5, but it often felt like it should be capable of more. With iOS 6, Siri has gained some new capabilities, all of which are nice additions to the personal assistant on iOS.

Siri can now make reservations, give you movie info, keep you up-to-date on sports, launch apps, and post to Twitter and Facebook on your behalf. Let's start by taking a look at the process to make a reservation using Siri.

Twitter and Facebook

Apple has added its digital assistant, Siri, to the iPod Touch, the company announced at its event in San Francisco today.

The change was included with upgrades that are also included on Apple's new iPhone 5. As CNET reporters at the event and on CNET's live blog noted, Apple has made a Touch that emulates the functions of an iPhone, without the phone service.

The device is also available in a myriad of bright colors and with a wrist strap, which may indicate that Apple is shooting for a younger crowd for the device.

CNET's reviews of … Read more

One of Siri's founding members from long before it was acquired by Apple and turned into the feature found in the iPhone 4S, has left the company.

Adam Cheyer, who co-founded Siri, Inc. in March 2008, has left his job at Apple, Bloomberg reports. CNET has learned that his departure took place months ago, and that the decision was fueled by a desire to spend more time with his family and eventually work on other projects.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple purchased Siri in early 2010. At the time, the company had a … Read more

I've owned an iPhone every year since its 2007 debut. Every one. The reward for such reckless upgrading has been a sense of the iPhone's evolution over those years. What started as a device that had not many apps to speak of, but dripped futurism, has become an always-on, location-aware, frighteningly integral part of my nervous system.

While I've listed what we expect out of the next iPhone, I haven't told you what I want. So, here's my own personal list of what matters most...to me.… Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Nokia again faces make-or-break point with new Lumia phones.

- CNET First Take: Nokia Lumia 820.

- CNET First Take: Nokia Lumia 920.

- Why Nokia nixed an SD card slot for the Lumia 920.

- The secret behind Nokia's 41-megapixel camera phone.

- Nokia's new PureView image stabilizer is amazingly faked in this promo video.

- 4Chan goes public with its API, boasting 22 million unique monthly visitors.

- Spike Jonze's new film is about a man who falls in love with his phone.

- Kinsey Institute pulls app encouraging users to log sexy time.… Read more

Compared to Apple's Siri speech-activated personal assistant, IBM's Watson is a genius.

Zooey Deschanel might ask Siri, "Is that rain?"

She might ask Watson, "Who's the author that wrote, 'It was a dark and stormy night'?"

(Edward Bulwer-Lytton, for the literary-minded among you.)

Until now, Watson's tech has been too big to cram into a mobile device. All those smarts takes a room full of servers, an incredible amount of calculations and a thick wire into the electrical mains.

That's about to change.

The power consumption behind Watson's performance is &… Read more