Nuance brings Siri-like features to Android and iOS apps with Nina

Nuance, the company behind Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition products and Apple’s Siri voice assistant, has released a software developer’s kit and a set of APIs that enterprise clients can use to integrate voice controls into their Android and iOS apps. The new platform, known as Nina, differs from Siri since Cupertino’s voice assistant doesn’t currently work inside non-Apple applications.

All Things D recently had some hands-on time with Nina. The publication described the technology as bringing together what Nuance does best: speech recognition, text-to-speech, natural language understanding and voice-ID biometric technology. The service is designed with banks, insurance companies and other similar customer service businesses in mind where communication with the customer is key.

The Verge also spent some time with Nina, ultimately concluding that it’s Siri for apps, which isn’t exactly a bad thing. The banking app they took for a text drive reportedly lived up to Nuance’s reputation in form and function. Furthermore, they noted that Nina’s voice sounds a lot like Siri’s but don’t expect Apple to head to the court room since the two products are distinctly different in their application.

Nuance is making the SDK and APIs available to developers in the US, the UK and Australia. One of the first companies to take the technology for a spin is USAA, a financial services provider that primarily works with members of the US military and their families. USAA will be running a pilot program set to start later this month before introducing a public version early next year.

Legal Siri port for iOS 5 devices released, proxy still needed

Following weeks of efforts reverse-engineering Apple's Siri personal assistant feature, a trio of developers have come up with a solution that's said to work on any jailbroken device running iOS 5 and avoids the copyright infringement inherent in previous hacks.Dubbed Spire, the new Siri port is available for free on Cydia and was tested to work on the iPhone 4 and 3GS, third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, and first generation iPad.

Spire is the work of well-know iOS hacker chpwn (aka Grant Paul) along with developer Steven Troughton-Smith and Ryan Petrich.

Unlike previous Siri ports, Spire obtains the files necessary for Siri from Apple's own servers, so technically this is a "legal" hack since the files are not being widely distributed by a third party. However, because Apple only officially supports Siri requests coming from the iPhone 4S, you'll still need access to a 4S' authorization token and must route that information through a proxy server.

Chpwn explains the limitation in the Spire Proxy FAQ, "Apple has made it very likely impossible to defeat the authorization requirement. I reverse engineered it, and it does not appear possible to connect Siri to the cloud without information from an iPhone 4S." He goes on to suggest you could ask and iPhone 4S-owning friend for their authentication tokens, or perhaps someone will come up with a for-pay service where you can rent some space on a Siri proxy attached to one of their iPhone 4S devices -- though if you really want Siri that bad maybe you should consider getting an iPhone 4S and avoid jumping though hoops.

At least until the iPhone 4S is jailbroken and hackers find a way around the proxy server issue, this is the best Siri port so far. That said, if you already own an iPhone 4S and just want Siri on another device of yours you can download the 100MB app and give this a hack try.

Remember you'll need a jailbroken device to install Spire. Conveniently enough, the iPhone Dev Team just released an untethered jailbreak for devices running iOS 5.0.1 (not including the iPhone 4S and iPad 2).

Google's answer to Siri: Majel

Since the release of Apple's voice-activated assistant, there have been countless "Siri-killers", "Siri-like apps" and "We already had Siri" headlines littering the web. However, Google's Android may finally provide a worthy analogue to Apple's attempt at understanding natural language. 

Codenamed Majel (may-jell), the new system will supplant Android's current system, Voice Actions, early in 2012. The new technology promises to interpret your everyday language instead of relying on Voice Actions' rigid verbal command syntax. 

In an interview regarding Ice Cream Sandwich, Google Android director, Matias Duarte noted, "Our approach is more like Star Trek, right, starship Enterprise; every piece of computing surface, everything is voice-aware." hinting at a future where voice activation is ubiquitous among devices.

If you happen to be a Star Trek nerd, the name choice is a curious one. As fellow trekkies may know, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry was the wife of Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry. She portrayed Nurse Chapel in the original series and Lwaxana Troi in later shows (namely TNG) but perhaps her most recognizable role was that of the Enterprise computer. Majel (the actor) did voice acting for the ship's computer throughout most of Star Trek's history, including the 2009 movie.

Few details are known, but it is safe to say Google has the means to make something amazing. Where Siri was based on DARPA research from decades passed, Majel could be based upon many years of voice data analysis from Google's 411 and Voice services. The company also acquired Phonetic Arts in 2010, a business which specialized in human-like voice synthesis. Together, these things lay the foundation for an impressive virtual assistant experience.

Much like Siri, the initial release of Majel is expected to be somewhat less sophisticated than the final product. The software will not feature natural language commands at first, although it should still provide answers to your questions by utilizing Google's own services. Controlling the actions of your phone and its applications by speaking in everyday language will be coming at a later date.

Developer hacks Siri to start car engine

Apple's iPhone 4S launch in October saw the beta release of the company's new voice assistant, Siri. Since then developers have been working away releasing all kinds of weird and wonderful hacks for the new voice service. Among the many different uses people seem to have found for Apple's Siri service, the latest addition to its "powers" repertoire stands out -- Siri can now start your car's engine, and even turn it off.

Developer, engineer and self-proclaimed tech enthusiast Brandon Fiquett has found a way of using Siri to execute voice commands controlling his Acura TL. In a blog post on his site, he detailed how it all worked: "I created a new ruby plugin that is used by plamoni's "Siri Proxy", a proxy server for Apple's Siri assistant. This proxy server allows for the creation of custom plugins that can intercept recognized speech and perform virtually any function imaginable (programmable, scriptable)."

"The Siri Proxy plugin I wrote handles interaction with a php script that runs on my web server. The php script, which I developed months ago for personal use, allows me to send commands to my car which has a Viper SmartStartmodule installed," he explained.

So assuming you have a Siri-enabled Apple device, Viper's SmartStart installed in your car, and some patience this should be possible for all. The current commands Siri accepts are "vehicle arm, vehicle disarm, vehicle start, vehicle stop, vehicle pop trunk, and vehicle panic."

It works by sending the voice request from Siri to the Viper server, which is then relayed to the cellular connection in the car. From there it broadcasts an update by RF to the remote control activating the requested function.

Piquett has made the Siri proxy plugin and the SmartStart php script available on Github for those that are curious of how it all works, or want to try it out for themselves.

A couple of weeks ago hackers reverse-engineered the Siri voice assistant making it work on almost any device with a valid Apple unique identifier, which is required in order to identify the device on Apple's dedicated Siri servers.

Hackers reverse-engineer Siri to work with any device

Hackers have supposedly managed to reverse-engineer the exclusive Apple Siri personal assistant feature that debuted in last month's iPhone 4S release. They claim the feat enables them to make the service work with virtually any device, including the competition's Android handsets.

"Today, we managed to crack open Siri’s protocol. As a result, we are able to use Siri’s recognition engine from any device. Yes, that means anyone could now write an Android app that uses the real Siri! Or use Siri on an iPad! And we’re going to share this know-how with you," Applidiumcommented in a blog post about their newly discovered hack.

The team discovered that the service requires a HTTPS connection and identified the Siri server as guzzoni.apple.com. It also required a valid certificate but they found, surprisingly, that a self-signed certificate could be used in place of the valid Apple supplied certificate. “Seems like someone at Apple missed something!”, the researchers wrote.

Security protocols aside, the service works by compressing and then sending the audio to the server. The server then uses a variety of methods to validate the device is trusted, including an identifier unique to each iPhone 4S. Once this stage is complete the servers then send the processed data to the handset.

As evidence of the hack, the folks at Applidium provided a recording of them trying out Siri’s speech-to-text feature (in French) and a text file with the decoded request. The sound sample never went through any iPhone, but nonetheless they were able to get Siri to analyze it.

For developers and those generally curious it offers a good insight into how the service works, and more crucially, how it communicates with Apple's servers. Applidium also released the tools that helped them gain access, which will no doubt prove useful to developers wanting to integrate apps functions into Siri.

However, while they did crack Siri they also realized that each iPhone 4S features a unique identifier used when connecting to the Cupertino-based servers that provide the service. So in order to hack it  you would need to first purchase an iPhone4S, or at least have a willing friend hand out there unique identifier. There is yet another catch, though: Apple has stated they can blacklist any phone from the Siri service if it is flagged for excessive traffic, so finding a willing participant might end up rather fruitless.

Apple has a very proactive, somewhat aggressive approach when it comes to security and exploits so it is uncertain how long this exploit will remain valid. Less than a week ago a developer was booted from Apple's developer program for demonstrating an exploit in the App Store.

Apple iPhone 4S Review

Apple’s fifth generation smartphone was unveiled today after months of speculations. No iPhone 5 as of now. Apple calls it the best iPhone ever, but, there have been negative impressions as well because everyone expected more.
iPhone 4S for sure packs a lot of punch and the negative feedbacks are because Apple raises the bar higher every time it launches a new iPhone. There isn’t anything wrong with the iPhone 4S, so, lets look at our iPhone 4S review and see what it has to offer. Whether or not it meets your expectations, do let us know.


No changes in the design – exactly the same. Same materials, same look.

Siri will run only in the iPhone 4S (and presumably the iPad 2). Siri needs the faster A5 processor to run and that is available in only these 2 models. Siri on iPhone 4S lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. It really understands natural language and follows complex commands. It’s conversational too, so it will reply back to you and you can reply back to it.
Siri also pulls information from Wikipedia and Wolfram Alpha to give you smart answers to your questions. You can even ask him for definitions, which Siri will read out loud.
Siri actually interprets what you are saying. You just talk to it like you would talk to another person. So instead of asking “tell me the weather today” you can just say “Do I need a raincoat?” and it will reply “It sure does look like rain today!” Or if you say “Wake me up tomorrow at 6am” it will automatically set up the alarm for you. Or “hey, remind me to buy milk later” and it will remind you to buy milk as you pass near a grocery store (Siri is location aware).
Siri writes and sends email messages and texts — and reads them to you, too. It searches the web for anything and everything you need to know. It plays the songs you want to hear. It helps you find your way and shows you around. It places calls. It schedules meetings. It helps you remember. And it wakes you up. Siri tells you almost everything.
Without any doubt, Siri is an awesome add. How efficient it is remains to be seen (it is still in Beta phase). More on what Siri can do for you is available on Apple

2 cores in the A5 chip deliver up to 2 times more power and up to 7 times faster graphics. It will make iPhone 4S quick and responsive. Pages load quicker. Gameplay is better. The A5 chip is also power-efficient – iPhone 4S has better battery life than its predecessors.
iPads had Dual Core A5 processor till now and the iPhones are getting Dual Core A5 for the first time. It will not be available in any other iPhone model. Also, it is critical to run Siri.




There’s a new 8 MP camera in the iPhone 4S as compared to the 5 MP camera in iPhone 4. That is an increment of 60% pixels. Apart from having more pixels, it also has a CMOS backside illuminated sensor. According to Apple, you get 73% more light than the iPhone 4 sensor.
Apple has also remodeled the lens system, with five lens elements. The custom lens uses five precision elements to shape incoming light, which makes the entire image sharper. The larger f/2.4 aperture lets in more light, so photos look brighter. The camera system is also faster than the previous version.

Taking photos definitely got better with iPhone 4S.

iPhone 4S allows you to do 1080p HD video recording with image stabilization and temporal noise reduction. The advanced backside illumination sensor and larger aperture let in even more light. Improved auto white balance makes color even more accurate.
iPhone 4S automatically steadies shaky shots with video stabilization. You can shoot video right in the Messages app and send it through iMessage or as an MMS. You can attach it to an email or post it on Facebook or YouTube. 
Creating videos definitely got better with iPhone 4S.


iOS 5 includes more than 200 new features for your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Details available at Apple. There is no denying that iOS 5 makes your iPhone further productive and powerful.iOS 5 is releasing on Oct. 12th and previous versions of iphone can also upgrade to iOS 5.




iCloud can be used to stores your music, photos, apps, mail, contacts, calendars, documents, and more. And wirelessly push them to all your devices. It will be automatic, effortless, and seamless. iTunes will be moving over to iCloud. With iCloud, you can have iTunes automatically download new music purchases to all your devices the moment you tap Buy. You can also access past music and TV show purchases from any of your devices — wirelessly and without syncing.
Using iCloud Photo Stream, you can take a photo on one iOS device and it automatically appears on all your other devices, including your Mac or PC. More details of iCloud are available here.




iPhone 4S is the first phone to intelligently switch between two antennas to transmit and receive, so call quality is better. It also doubles the maximum HSDPA data speeds to 14.4 Mbps.This means faster connections, faster loading and reloading, and faster downloads. And iPhone 4S is a world phone, so you can use it almost anywhere. Whether you’re a GSM or CDMA customer, you can roam GSM networks in 200 countries around the world.


Overall, iPhone 4S is a very nice phone to have. Go for it. You’ll never regret it!