Apple Hiring Siri Engineers for Additional Language Support

Ahead of iOS 8 and the release of several new products later this year that will likely take advantage of Siri, Apple may be planning to bolster the virtual assistant with a range of new and improved languages.

Apple has posted several different job listings for Siri Language Engineers that are “highly motivated and an “expert in foreign languages with strong software development skills.” According to the listings, posted largely between June 10 and June 19, Apple is seeking engineers fluent in Japanese, Norwegian, Turkish, Danish, Australian English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, Thai, Russian, British English, and Cantonese. Emphasized languages above are not currently supported by Siri.

Come and join the team that teaches Siri how to understand and speak new languages. We are an extremely diverse and passionate group dedicated to bringing the future of intelligent assistants to the world.

Each position’s responsibilities include tasks like developing natural language processing code specific to each language, providing suggestions towards new product features tailored to home markets, and daily interactions with other teams at Apple. Along with fluency in the target language, applicants are expected to have a proven track record delivering product-quality code as well as iOS or OS X development skills and proficiency with Java, perl, and shell scripting.

Apple has previously made several language related hires for its Siri team, recruiting a number of Cloud Services Engineering Interns fluent in a range of languages back in 2012 to work on support for additional languages for the service.

At the current time, Siri understands and speaks English (US, UK, Australia, Canada), Spanish (US, Spain, Mexico), Chinese (China-Mandarin, Hong Kong-Cantonese, Taiwan-Mandarin), French (France, Canada, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Japanese (Japan), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), and Korean (Korea).

While the current version of iOS 8 available to developers does not add any additional language capabilities to Siri, it is possible that a Siri expansion is on the horizon for a later version of iOS 8, perhaps iOS 8.1, or iOS 9.

iOS 8, to be released to the public in the fall, does, however, feature a number of other Siri improvements including hands-free “Hey Siri” voice activation, Shazam integration, streaming voice recognition, and the ability to open the App Store.

Withings Debuts ‘Activité’ Fitness Tracker With Traditional Watch Design [iOS Blog]

Withings today unveiled a stylish new fitness tracker, the Activité, which bundles activity tracking capabilities into a traditional-style watch. Unlike smart watch and fitness band offerings from companies like Samsung, Pebble, Nike, and more, the new Activité features a round, analog watch face protected by sapphire glass and attached to a leather band.

Inside, the watch includes sensors that track steps taken and sleep quality, also helping users to calculate calories burned. An included secondary dial tracks a user defined metric, such as distance walked or calories burned. The Activité connects wirelessly to the accompanying Withings Health Mate app.

In an interview with WIRED, Withings chief marketing officer Julien De Preaumont said the company’s mission with the Activité was to have an impact on health with a design people like.

“Our mission is to have an impact on health,” Julien De Preaumont, CMO at Withings, tells WIRED. “That requires devices that we’ll use in the long term.” The Activité is so pared down, the design borders on obvious: “Let’s use the design of a classic watch that we know people like,” De Preaumont says.

Because of its simple design and its limited tracking abilities, the Activité is powered by a traditional watch battery with a charge that lasts up to a year, a far more impressive battery life than many of its competitors.

Withings has an existing fitness tracker, the Pulse 02, along with several other health and fitness related products, including its line of smart scales, a baby monitor, a blood pressure monitor, and an upcoming sleep tracking system, the Aura.

Available in two separate color varieties, black and silver, the Withings Activité will ship this fall for $390.

Microsoft Offers MacBook Air Owners $650 Trade-In Value Towards Surface Pro 3 [Mac Blog]

Microsoft today announced that it will provide up to $650 in store credit for select MacBook Air models, in an effort to get MacBook Air owners to switch to the company’s new Surface Pro 3, which it claims has the “power of a laptop in a lightweight, versatile form.” Trade-ins must be conducted within a Microsoft retail store.

First announced in May, the Surface Pro 3 offers a 12-inch display, a thin design, Core i3, i5, or i7 processors and a new Surface Pen stylus with 256 levels of pressure sensitivity, aiming to compete with Apple’s ultra thin MacBook Air. Previous Surface tablets were designed to take on Apple’s line of tablets, but Microsoft is poising its newest version as a MacBook Air competitor.

The entry-level Core i3 Surface Pro 3 retails for $799, with improved versions sporting a Core i5 and Core i7 processor available at prices between $999 and $1949. With the discount for turning in a MacBook Air, customers could pay just $150 for an entry-level model.

According to the terms of the deal, trade-in values may vary, which suggests that only good-condition current-generation MacBook Airs will be eligible for the full $650 credit. It is not clear how much Microsoft is offering for older models at this time.

MacBook Airs eligible for trade-in must power on and be in working condition. Water-damaged devices and those with cracked screens may not be traded in. A purchase of the Surface Pro 3 is also required to get the maximum trade in value, and Microsoft plans to run this deal through the end of July.

Bono Recounts Fight With Steve Jobs Over (Product) RED Branding, Urges Apple to Do More

Over the weekend, Apple’s chief designer Jony Ive and musician Bono attended the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, where Bono was honored with the LionHeart Award for his work with the (Product) RED campaign to raise money for the fight against AIDS.

Ive during his interview at the Cannes Lion Festival
During their appearance, Ive and Bono sat down for a 45 minute interview. While the entirety of the interview has not yet been shared, Cannes has posted a short highlights reel, with the first two minutes of the video featuring Bono. In the spot, Bono describes working with Steve Jobs on (Product) RED, recounting a particular conversation with Jobs over the parentheses that are part of the (Product) RED name logo.

Jobs initially wanted to forgo the parentheses to keep anything from “interfering with the logo”, but after a disagreement with Bono and some time to sleep on it, he conceded to the parentheses but never in Apple Stores.

As described by AdWeek, though Ive and Bono are old friends and Apple has worked with (RED) for many years, Bono went on to complain on stage about Apple’s quiet involvement in the project and the company’s reluctance to put (RED) branding on products.

Bono went so far as to stand up, pull out an official (Red) iPad cover and remove the device, illustrating to the audience that the only actual nod to the nonprofit was inside the cover and therefore always obscured by the tablet.

“Where’s the (Red) branding?” he asked Ive. “Nobody can see that. This is modesty run amok. This is the Apple way. They’re like a religious cult.”

Ive seemed unfazed by Bono’s slights, noting that Apple and Product (RED) have a strong alliance. “We started in 2006 with one (RED) product, a nano, and now we’ve got well over half a dozen. It’s been really, really special for us.”

Over the course of Apple’s partnership with (RED), the company has released (RED) iPod nanos and shuffles, iPad Smart Covers, iPhone Bumpers, and iPhone 5s cases, with a portion of each sale going directly to the charity.

Last year, Ive even teamed up with designed Marc Newson to create multiple one-of-a-kind products that were auctioned off by Sotheby’s, with proceeds going to (RED). A range of items including solid gold EarPods and a red Mac Pro were auctioned, bringing in nearly $13 million.

To date, Apple has raised approximately $70 million for (Product) RED, with 100 percent of that money going towards HIV/AIDS programs in Africa. The full interview may be shared by Cannes in the future, but in the meantime, a slideshow created on Storify gives the highlights of the event.

More Durable Touch ID Sensors for iPhone 6, iPad Air, and iPad Mini Coming From TSMC

A report from China Times (via GforGames) claims Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is expanding its 8-inch chip plant in order to produce Touch ID sensors for the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. TSMC is planning to produce 120 million Touch ID units in 2014, a 233 percent year over year increase as the sensor expands beyond the flagship iPhone to other iOS devices.

In line with a previous report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, today’s report claims Apple and TSMC are using tin to increase the durability of the sensor compared to the current version found in the iPhone 5s.

Supply chain sources say TSMC is scaling its mass production of new Touch ID units to begin delivery to Apple by early July, with third quarter production more than doubling over the previous quarter. A previous report had indicated that the first shipments of new Touch ID sensors began by early May, but these may still have been early batches for testing.

Similar to the iPhone’s Touch ID, the iPad version will support the expanded functionality made possible by iOS 8′s new SDK that allows third-party apps to access the fingerprint scanner for verification purposes. Touch ID also is rumored to be part of a mobile payment system under development by Apple.

Recent leaks hint at how the next-generation iPad Air and iPad Mini may appear with a Touch ID module and other design refinements such as a changed speaker grille and recessed volume buttons.

Next Generation iPad Mini Depicted with Touch ID [iOS Blog]

Apple.club.tw shares an image of what appears to be models of the next generation iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPad Air.

The iPhone 6 models have already been covered extensively, while we got the first glimpse of the purported iPad Air 2 just last week. The iPad Air 2 model was shown to depict Touch ID, changed speaker grille, and recessed volume buttons.

The new image doesn’t reveal any more details except the depiction of Touch ID on the new iPad mini. This year’s iPads have been widely expected to gain Touch ID capabilities. Apple first introduced the Touch ID fingerprint scanning system with the iPhone 5S, and will be extending it to allow Apps to begin using it with iOS 8.

Users Noticing Significant Improvements in Apple Maps Data with Quick Corrections

Apple’s Maps has been the subject of a significant amount of criticism since its launch with iOS 6. Apple had replaced Google Maps data with their own map data which had comparably worse coverage, especially in international markets. There had been enough outcry that Apple CEO Tim Cook posted an open letter apologizing for Apple Maps. There had been hopes that the Apple Maps application would be improved with iOS 8 but internal politics were said to have delayed those plans.

Still, Apple does seem to making efforts to improve their mapping data. In April, they started deploying notifications to let users know when problems had been fixed.

Meanwhile, some users have recently noticed a significant improvement in POI (points of interest) data in their local Apple Maps. A discussion thread in MacRumors forums reports one user’s experience.

Over the past month, I’ve noticed a TON of changes. POI markers are being moved to their correct locations, names and information for POIs are being corrected, and tons of places are being added that simply weren’t there before. I don’t know if it’s merely coincidence, but A LOT of these changes are the exact ones that I’ve been reporting to Apple.

And I’ve noticed this happening on a weekly cycle. It seems like every Friday, a whole bunch of new changes are implemented in my neighborhood. All week, nothing happens, but then when I check on Friday/Saturday, I see that many of the suggestions that I had made during the week were suddenly implemented into the map, and its POIs suddenly look a whole lot better.

The same user also posted to Reddit, where several other have confirmed the same improvements in data and quick turnaround time with corrections.

Apple has made number of mapping-related company acquisitions in the past year, including Broadmap, Hopstop, Locationary, and Embark, and it’s likely those acquisitions will be bundled into a future Maps update.

First Leaked Display Part from the 5.5-Inch iPhone 6

The first alleged parts from the larger 5.5″ iPhone 6 have been shared by 9to5Mac. The image shows the front and back of an LCD backlight panel that measures ~14 centimeters or ~5.5 inches diagonally.

The site claims this represents a part for the 5.5″ iPhone 6 which has been rumored to be launching later this year. Apple is also expected to produce a 4.7″ model as well.

We’ve already seen some possible part leaks for the 4.7″ model, but this is the first part leak for the 5.5″ model. Reports had originally suggested the 5.5″ model would be released after the initial 4.7″ iPhone launch. More recently, however, we’ve heard that Apple may have solved whatever production challenges they ran into with the 5.5″ model.

Possible parts for the 4.7″ iPhone 6 model that have leaked include the front panel, batteries, rear shell and chassis molds. Meanwhile, the same LCD backlight for the 4.7″ model was photographed in May. For comparison:

Alleged 4.7″ iPhone LCD backlight
The 4.7″ and 5.5″ backlights share a similar design with each other and with the iPhone 5S LCD backlight. The data connector between the 4.7″ and 5.5″ models do seem different, however.