Siri gets serious in iOS 8

Siri displays the weekly local forecast after being asked for tomorrows temperature. The program presents the forecast in a list that shows the temperature in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Siri displays the weekly local forecast after being asked for tomorrow’s temperature. The program presents the forecast in a list that shows the temperature in either Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Siri, Apple’s voice recognition assistant, received updates in iOS 8, which was released last month. New features included the ability to use apps directly from Siri, hands-free activation, and the power to purchase digital content directly from Siri.

Important information, such as weather, is readily available to users. When asked about weather conditions, Siri has the ability to update the user to both current conditions and probable conditions for the rest of the week if asked about the next day.

Siri is also able to access past game scores about football. On Wednesday, Siri was asked which NFL team won their game the day before. Though there were no games the day before, Siri provided the schedule for upcoming games.

The maps feature of Siri opens the user to vocal directions that instruct the user step by step to reach their desired location. The detailed vocal directions was included for both the comfort and safety of the user. In addition to vocal directions, Siri offers the option of viewing maps in a three dimensional fashion.

Although the music recognizer, Shazam, had existed before, in the new round of iOS, the app partnered with Siri to create a faster way to identify music. By asking “Shazam this” or “What song is this,” Siri “listens” and tells the user the name of the song and artist of the music. Additional features are also included, such as the option to buy the song on the spot or extra information about the particular track.