Apple to Bring Siri to Desktop, Laptop With OS X 10.12: Report

Siri could soon arrive on OS X. Apple is currently readying a new update for its desktop operating system that features the digital voice assistant, according to a media report. Siri is currently available for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

For OS X 10.12, the next major update to Apple's desktop operating system, the company plans to bring Siri to it, reports 9to5Mac. The report claims that the Cupertino-based company could make the announcement public as soon as around June at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference.

9to5Mac claims that Apple has been exploring this feature for the desktop platform since 2012, but it wasn't until recently that Apple had managed to develop a clear vision for Siri's integration on the Mac. Microsoft on the other hand brought Cortana to the desktop with Windows 10 last year.

According to a mockup by the publication, Siri will have a dedicated button in the Menu Bar next to the Clock and Spotlight icons. Tapping on the button would bring up a small, dark, transparent and colourful sound waves, urging the user to ask their question. The report says that when the OS X-powered machine is plugged to a power source, user will be able to use hands-free "Hey Siri" command to activate Siri.

As we mentioned, OS X won't be the first desktop operating system to feature a digital voice assistant. Windows 10, which Microsoft released to the general public on July 29 of 2015, also features Cortana, its digital AI assistant. The feature enables a user to listen to messages, use voice commands to set reminders, and ask queries such as update on weather and traffic. Cortana for PC also works in conjunction with Cortana for smartphone, syncing all the updates and changes in real-time to offer a continuity.

Google's Google Now, while isn't available as a standalone application or integrated feature on any operating system, can be accessed using a Web browser.

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...

Flexible Camera Developed That Can Be Wrapped Around Objects

A team led by an Indian-origin professor at Columbia University has created a novel sheet camera that can be wrapped around everyday objects to capture images that cannot be taken with one or more conventional cameras. "Cameras today capture the world from essentially a single point in space. While the camera industry has made remarkable progress in shrinking the camera to a tiny device with ever increasing imaging quality, we are exploring a radically different approach to imaging," said Shree K Nayar, computer science professor at Columbia University. "We believe there are numerous applications for cameras that are large in format but very thin and highly flexible," added Nayar who graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, in 1984. Nayar's team designed and fabricated a flexible lens array that adapts its optical properties when the sheet camera is bent. This optical adaptation enables the device to produce high quality images over a wide ...

Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) Leaked in Press Images

The anticipated successor to the popular Samsung Galaxy J1, tipped to be called the Galaxy J1 (2016), has once again been leaked in images on the Web. While in the previous leaks we have seen the unannounced smartphone in its Black colour variant, the new leaked image shows the handset in two additional colour variants. The image tweeted by @evleaks on Monday shows the Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016) smartphone in Gold and White colour variants. The design of the handset also fall in line with the models leaked in images previously. It is worth mentioning that the screen bezel seen in the image stay black in all the three colour variants. The smartphone is seen featuring a physical home button, along with a multi-window, and a back capacitive button on either side. At the back, the smartphone sports a camera at the centre with a LED flash and a speaker on either sides. Samsung is yet to announce the smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy J1 (2016)leaked in images last month as well...

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