Friday, July 25, 2014

Siri's Hidden Features!



With the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, Steve Jobs and Apple completely re-invented the mobile phone, ushering in the smartphone revolution we know today. 

In 2011 with the iPhone 4s and its iOS 5 operating system Apple also gave us Siri- the intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator that uses a natural language user interface to answer questions, make recommendations, and perform actions.

 Siri is Norwegian for "beautiful woman who leads you to victory" and can be launched by holding down the Home button, or (if you have the 'Raise to Speak' feature enabled in Settings> General> Siri) by raising the phone to your ear, or if you have the Apple Ear Pods or a similar Apple supported headphones connected, by holding down the middle mic button.

Other than the basic stuff such as getting Siri to call someone in your contacts or getting  turn by turn directions to your destination, Apple's amazing little assistant has a ton of other less well know and incredibly useful features.

So without further ado here are some of the most useful of Siri's hidden features.

1.  Read and search your emails and notes.

Siri can read all your emails by simply saying 'read my emails' or you can get her to read the last email received by saying 'read last email'.  And not just the email heading; she will read the entire content of the message. Also at the end of each email she will offer you a chance to dictate a response and then ask whether to send it or not. She can also find your notes by asking her to 'Find my note about (insert subject of note)'. This saves you so much time trawling through your Notes.

2. Set up a Reminder by simply asking Siri to.

Setting up a reminder in the Reminders app is a bit of work in my experience. So much easier to ask Siri to do it for you. For example when I wanted to buy the Sunday paper I just asked Siri to 'Remind me to buy the newspaper on Sunday' and she automatically setup the reminder in the app along with the alarm for 9 AM Sunday morning. Also you can ask Siri to remind you to buy the paper when you reach your Office or when you leave Home as long as you have those locations set up under your name in the contacts. If not Siri will give you the option to do so as well.

3. Get Siri to turn features off and on.

Siri can easily turn off or on Bluetooth, WIFI or Do Not Disturb etc, in the control panel. This is a huge help if your driving or just plain lazy to do it. Or simply want to look cool.

4. Go straight to a specific Settings screen or open an App.

Instead of going through multiple Settings screens to get to, for example, Location Services, simply ask Siri to 'Open Location Services'. So much faster! You can get Siri to open an App the same way.

5. Stumped for a good movie to watch? Ask Siri!

Siri can search for movies for you to watch based on their Tomatometer rating, simply by asking, for example, 'Find me some good Science Fiction movies to watch'. Siri will then search and list SF movies by their rating on Rottentomatoes.com. This one really took me by surprise, as I managed to find some hidden gems thanks to Siri.

6. Too lazy to post to Twitter or Facebook yourself? Get Siri to do it for you!

By saying 'Post to Facebook I am sad' Siri will give you the option to confirm or cancel the message 'I am sad' to be posted on your default Facebook profile. For Twitter start with the word 'tweet' or 'post to twitter'.

7. Get Siri to play the music you specify.

Siri can play your playlists by saying their name. She can play specific artists and bands by saying, for example, 'Play Bryan Adams'. Or if you want to specify a genre, say, country music, she can play that as well. So useful and fast this feature.

8. Do currency conversions and number calculations with Siri.

Ask Siri to covert currencies by saying, for example, 'How much is 1000 Euros in US Dollars?'.  She will come up with a comprehensive set of data including a chart showing the currency values over a period of time.
Also numerical calculations can easily be done without bothering to open the Calculator app, simply by asking Siri 'How much is the square root of 22000' for example.  She can even do more complex stuff such as finding the cosines etc.

9. Schedule a meeting with someone.


Siri can set up a meeting with someone by just saying 'Schedule a meeting with my lawyer' as long as there is someone with the relationship associated to your contact profile. She can also send an invite to the said party.

10. Find your ETA.

If you're on the road and need to find out how much longer to your destination, simply say 'What's my ETA?' Siri will give an estimate based on traffic and route changes.

11. Teach Siri to pronounce the names in your contacts the right way.

Sometimes Siri cannot get the pronunciation right due to the vastly different types of names the world-over. This can be fixed somewhat by saying 'Learn to pronounce my name' or 'Learn to pronounce (any name in Contacts)'. Siri will then give an opportunity to say the name correctly and then she will give 3 options for you to choose from. Simply choose the option closest to the correct pronunciation.
Also you may tell Siri to call you by a different name, by saying 'Call me baby', for example, and she will call you 'baby' all the time.

12. Have fun with Siri's quirky side.

Besides the usual snubs to any colorful language, Siri has a genuinely funny side to her as well. Here are some questions known to elicit some laugh-out-loud remarks from her.

Who let the dogs out?

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

I think I am drunk.

Open the pod bay doors.

How old are you?

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Leaked photo of the new iPhone 6 or iPhone Air.






Cannot wait for this. Slated to be released mid September 2014.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Xiaomi Mi4 smartphone review hands-on video!



Latest flagship smartphone from the Chinese company Xiaomi is a stunner. Like a large iPhone.
Metal encased, sleek brushed line and gorgeous 5 inch display. The Mi4 with ultra-slim bezel design, 801 Snapdragon 801 2.5GHz Quad-core CPU, 3800mAH battery, 4G LTE, 3GB LPDDR3 RAM, 67.5mm wide.

Looks incredible, makes me wanna rush out and buy it, unlike the plastic fugly crap from Samsung.
No wonder Samsung is sliding so bad in sales in China, with all these amazing phones coming out for dead cheap! The Huawei Ascend P7 is another metal encased beauty.




Sunday, July 20, 2014

Florida jury awards $23.6 billion to widow in smoking lawsuit



This is utter incredible but well deserved. Beginning of the end for the Tobacco Industry. This'll make every loon with a chest cold sue the cigarette companies for a billion or two.

"A Florida jury awarded a widow $23.6 billion in punitive damages in her lawsuit against tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, her lawyer said.
Cynthia Robinson claimed that smoking killed her husband, Michael Johnson, in 1996. She argued R.J. Reynolds was negligent in not informing him that nicotine is addictive and smoking can cause lung cancer. Johnson started smoking when he was 13 and died of lung cancer when he was 36."

Friday, July 18, 2014

JIBO- first family robot designed as home companion!

Ohh, ahh, that's how it starts, then there's running and screamin'

Say Hi to JIBO- the first robot companion for the home. Someone that will live with us and play with and help us. Till, of course, he becomes self-aware and tries to kill us all! :)




Source

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 shot down in an utterly horrible despicable act of terror.

This is utter horrible, that in this 21st Century, man still can do this type of thing to other men, not to soldiers from the enemy side, but helpless innocent civilians :(

Innocent people families, babies, children just trying to go home, and cruelly snuffed out by these beastly excuses for humanity.

These terrorists should be wiped out, exterminated like the vermin they are.

It's come to the point that passenger aircraft should be armed with countermeasures against missile attacks, such as chaff.

Russians are known for shooting down commercial jets. Back in 1983 the KAL Flight 007 shot by a Russian Sukhoi fighter. Either these Russians are born blind or they got serious mental issues. Makes me sick to the core this act of horror. Makes me ashamed to be a human.


iPhone 6 confirmed final specs!

Here are the final specifications for Apple upcoming mega- smartphone.

UPDATE- leaked image of an iPhone 6 case by Spigen confirms the size and location of key features.


Unbreakable Sapphire crystal display.

Touch ID fingerprint sensor with integrated support for third party vendors, apps and PayPal! (Yes PayPal support confirmed for TouchID in iOS 8!)

Dimensions and weight- 13 x 6.5 x 0.7 cm and just 113 grams in weight

2Ghz A8 Quad-core processor and M8 co-processor confirmed!

4.7 inch and 5.5 inch versions to be released.

4.7" iPhone 6 will feature a resolution of  1704 x 960 and a pixel density of 416.

8 megapixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization!

Aluminum body with rounded edges.

1850 mAH battery. Thickness will be only 2mm. With iOS 8 and new hardware optimizations this is confirmed to last 18 hours with 3G.

So not too long to wait folks, this will be Out on the 19th of September!



The new Boeing 787-9 doing some amazing flying prior to airshow!

Boeing has a new gigantic Dreamliner ready to fly you to a hot destination, Engadget reports, and the company decided to demo the longer 787-9 variant at the Farnborough Airshow in London. To highlight the new aircraft’s powers, 787-9 pilots performed various extreme maneuvers, like steep takeoffs and high-bank turns off the ground – or the kind of airplane action you’ll hopefully never have to experience yourself – with Boeing recording the whole experience on video.
The demo flight was performed with a very light load on board, with pilots showing off airplane capabilities that aren’t likely to be actually used during regular flights.

Seeing this video reminded me of an incident I saw when I was in Australia about ten years back.
When in Melbourne Australia once I saw a 747 come down so low over a park and then rise up again. pilot must've been high or something.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

First iPhone 6 Clone is Out, Runs on Android!

Hey guys, here's the latest on the iPhone 6 happenings for the week!
A Chinese iPhone 6 clone has been introduced to the market a full 2-3 months before the real deal! And it runs Android!

Only way I reckon an Android bitch can get something classy in their little hands. lol.
Wonder if this sorta thing has ever happened to any of the high-profile Android launches?? lol.



French website Nowhereelse.fr has posted 16 photos of a seemingly identical to an iPhone 6 device. The phone is working just fine and it has the looks and some of the feel of the Apple gadget, but it runs on a modified version of Android OS, just like all the other clones. 
 
According to the source of this story, the clone was made using technical designs, industrial models and the back casing was copied after the rear shell of the iPhone 6 that was smuggled out of the Chinese manufacturing plants working with Apple.

Source- http://news.softpedia.com/news/First-iPhone-6-Clone-is-Out-Runs-on-Android-450506.shtml

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Real Racing 3 instant car service bug, cheat, loophole discovered!!

Just noticed this and it seems to work everytime!

After you set your vehicle for servicing in the Service screen, come back after playing another race and just the click the gold icon on the right of the tab and your car will be instantly serviced without using any gold, whether you have any gold or not!



It work with all three mechanics, everytime, all the time!
Tested only on the iOS version, cannot guarantee similar results on Android.


Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Bank of Ceylon caught stealing money from user accounts and ATM fraud!



Money suddenly disappearing from my Bank Of Ceylon account. Sometimes Rs. 5000/- just disappears, another month Rs 3000 vanished.
When I called the head office in Colombo they said they have no idea what happened. They won't say what happened or take responsibility for the error, and they won't give the money back.

I have a friend who also used to have this problem with money suddenly vanishing from his Bank Of Ceylon Savings account. He got sick of it, consulted a lawyer and decided it was not worth the trouble for a lawsuit and simply moved on to Commercial Bank. But he lost around a total of Rs. 45,000/-

According to a banking consultant I spoke to he says that nowadays none of the youth, or 20-30 somethings go to the Bank of Ceylon anymore. Everyone now banks at Commercial or Seylan or Sampath banks. Bank of Ceylon is now mostly used by really old people. Their business is dying along with the customers.

He believes that the bank must be skimping money from user accounts on a regular basis to compensate for lost revenue from the younger generation.

Also recently I went to get some money from the Bank of Ceylon Keselwatta branch. I withdrew 18,000 using my Mastercard debit card. All I got was 17 thousand Rupee notes and a fifty Rupee note! SO I am at a loss for Rs 950/-.

I went immediately inside and complained to the manager. Without making an effort to check the ATM data or any such thing she said, that this couldn't possibly happen, and that it wasn't their fault and that they cannot compensate for my loss.

If I wanted them to check the video data from the ATM surveillance camera that I would need to submit a request in writing to the Head Office in Colombo.

So this is the sad state of the Bank of Ceylon. They use such horrible tactics such as ATM fraud to keep their earnings within the limit.
They insert fifty or hundred Rupee bills instead of Rs 1000/- notes so when the user withdraws from the ATM they get a lower amount but their account is debited the full amount that they typed into the machine!

The profits made from such ATM fraud must be vast and my banking consultant I spoke to said that he has been hearing of such ATM money inconsistencies from Bank of Ceylon branches as far apart as Anuradhapura and Kurunegala!

So this is the sad state of a once great bank.
Due to the rise and popularity of competing banks they have been forced to resort to underhand tactics to keep their earnings and pay their staff.

Please be aware of this when using the Bank of Ceylon accounts and ATM machines.